TOME Of The DAMNED Version 1.666 Editor and Creator: Brennan Brooks ( The Dark Paladin ) ab347@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Special thanks to: Everybody who contributed, and other Net Book keepers listed below. And especially Kyrin, who so kindly re-formatted this document in text. FOREWORD There are a few things that one must know before reading this Tome.... in it, are the secrets of the damned. These secrets have been lying, awaiting their discovery, for thousands, possibly millions of years. Now, a few brave souls have ventured near enough to them, so that their anticipation can await no longer. Opening crypts and tombs, these secrets have been revealed, and they tend to stay that way. The way of the world as we know it, may forever change. Death, Peril, and Damnation await us behind every corner. But, how does that change the world? No one has seen death as horrid as these, peril as depressing as written here, and no one (or no soul), has suffered any kind of damnation that has been recorded within these pages. Gods and heros clash in the midst of the abyss, while the undead stalk the Material Plane. Oh, what has befallen the world now?? - The Dark Paladin As you should know, this is the text version of the book of the damned v. 1666. Originally it had a huge number of messy mistakes that Brennan failed to clear up in the .txt version which I for the most part cleaned up. There's still a few mistakes (particularly a few of the tables under the Necromancer class). - Kyrin COPY-RIGHTS Copyrights and Other Legal Stuff Note that a lot of the stuff contained in the The Tome of the Damned have been copyrighted by their respective authors. In this edition, these authors - when known - have been mentioned along with the items they contributed. Permission has been granted by these authors to copy their stuff for your personal use. Also, you may freely distribute copies of their work, so long as you do not prevent others from doing the same, and no commercial or barter considerations are obtained in exchange for such copies. This includes printing out copies and charging money for them. When you distribute this stuff, you must distribute them in whole, unchanged. Specifially, this file containing the copyright conditions, and the names of the editors must be included. Make sure that you distribute the entire package the way you have received it yourself. You may not claim this stuff as having originated from yourself. I have been given permission from the editor of The Great Net Prayer Book, and The Great Net Spell Book to use the respective spells from these books. All copy-rights to the authors of these spells co-exist with the rules above. Permission has also been granted by the editor of the Gallery of Magical Blades to use the blades which fit into my Tome. The copy-rights of these authors also apply to the above rules. D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, TSR, Dragonlance, Greyhawk and probably lots of other words used here are either registered or non-registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. They are used in this work without permission, but this should not be regarded as an attempt to challenge their rights. Note that this work can and should not be used without TSR's excellent Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, which have inspired a whole generation of roleplayers. Let me quote a passage from the Player's Handbook, which says: "The AD&D game is continually evolving- each player and each DM adds his own touch to the whole. No list of special thanks can be complete without recognizing the most important comtributors of all the millions of players who, over the years, have made the AD&D game what it is today." Let's all cooperate to make the game even greater! See below, under CREDITS, for an attempt to thank at least a few of the millions mentioned above. CREDITS People Brennan Brooks ( The Dark Paladin ) ab347@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Aaron Bowman aaron@bowman.pdial.interpath.net Aaron Miaullis UNKOWN Aaron Sher ars3_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu Al Singleton ( Samuel Higley ) eaay@catcc.bitnet Alex King acnk1@ukc.ac.uk Andrew R. Myers xftn10b@prodigy.com Benjamin E. Sones ( The Bard ) krf93002@uconnvm.uconn.edu Bernard Wook Lee bwl2@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu Bill Hincks whin3560@uriacc.uri.edu Boudewijn Wayers dedos4@win.tue.nl Bret Mikeal O'Neal bo@csd4.csd.uwm.edu Charles Anthony Leone clg2+@andrew.cmu.edu Chris Norwood zcsn1@etsu.east-tenn-st.edu Daniel Vitti ( Tyverian Starstone ) st051911@vaxi.rockhurst.edu Denis Kramer kramer@wolfsburg.netsurf.de Dennis F. Maher maherd@stricom.army.mil Edward Keyes keyesea@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu Gabriel Ouimet av690@freenet.carleton.ca Garinthrall alvalent@husc Geoffrey Edward Fagan gefagan@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu Hugo M. Nijhof sbbehn@hlerul57 James Errico jerrico@nerc1.nerc.com Jacques M. Mallah jqm1584@is2.nyu.edu Jason Choi ujchoi@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Jason Cook jwc3@ns2.CC.Lehigh.EDU Jeff Vogel jvogel@jarthur.claremont.edu Jim Vassilakos jimv@ucrmath.ucr.edu Joe Colleran jnc4p@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu John M. Martz john_martz@unc.edu John McKnight jemck@delphi.com Jose Carlos de Souza Santos jcdssant@cat.cce.usp.br Kevin Langley klangley@laraby.tiac.net Kwi Kim erdrick@ix.netcom.com Mark Charke mark.charke@haven.ship.net Micheal J. Korvak fsmtw1%alaska.bitnet@utarlvm1.uta.edu Michael Thomas Fassbender mfassben@silver.ucs.indiana.edu M.L.Barklam csai94@cs.bham.ac.uk Nir Hener s2909800@techst02.technion.ac.il Paul D. Walker pdwalker@hk.super.net Peter Gourlay gourlay@slais.ubc.ca Ricky Jay Peltz develop@dataworks.co.uk Robert Johan Enters whisper@wpi.wpi.edu Robert A. Howard ( Myste ) ssa94isa06@rcnvms.rcn.mass.edu Scott D. Law law@xip.nrl.navy.mil S.C. Lawley u0e00@seq1.cc.keele.ac.uk Sir Jiles jmccoy@asntsu.asn.edu Steve Ferguson steve@mwpc.mcit.med.umich.edu Teh S. Cheng tsc0265@rigel.tamu.edu The Warlord of Heaven fsmtw1@alaska.bitnet Thomas Huijer v912451@morrien.si.hhs.nl Tim Dickinson dickinst@crl1.crl.aecl.ca Tim Rightnour garbled@indirect.com Tom Dullemond buck@gil.ipswichcity.qld.gov.au UNKNOWN xpypad@levels.unisa.edu.au UNKNOWN muallema@ecuvm1 UNKNOWN pfrey@drew.bitnet UNKNOWN kmhk@maristb UNKNOWN oprdcs@gsuvm1 Net Books Tome of the Damned URL http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab347/Profile.html Editor Brennan Brooks ( The Dark Paladin ) Gallery of Magical Blades URL http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~aa499/Profile.html Editor Chris Brooks ( Phantos ) Great Net Priest Prayer & Great Net Spellbook URL http://hagar.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/students/Ezra.Van.Everbroeck/gnb.html Editor Ezra van Everbroeck Previous Editor Boudewijn Wayers TABLE OF CONTENTS {TOC \o|TOME Of The DAMNED 1 FOREWORD 2 COPY-RIGHTS 3 CREDITS 4 People 4 Net Books 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 NEW COMMON WEAPONS 7 Scythe 7 Scythe, War 7 NEW MAGICAL WEAPONS 8 Bane of the Dead 8 Black Blade 8 Blood Claw 8 Blackrazor 9 Bloodshriek 9 Chaos Blade 10 Chill Short Sword 13 Darkenbane 13 Demon Bane 14 Demon Slicer 14 Demon Sword 15 DoomBringer 15 Dunamis 15 FangBlades 16 FleshSlayer 16 Gloves of the Ghoul 16 God Slayer 17 Hell Beater 17 Hell Razor 18 Lecrucia the Thirsty 18 Necormancer's Blade 18 PeopleSmasher 19 Quietus 20 Short Sword of Darkness 20 Shorty 21 Skin Shreader 21 Spirit's Reach 21 Sword of Arak 22 Sword of Kas 22 Sword of the Cursed Gauntlet 27 Sword of Were 27 Swords of Darkness 28 The Black Blade of Tyrants 28 The Demon Sword of Yargash 29 VampireBlade 30 Vampiric Arrows 31 Vampiric Crysdagger 31 NEW RELIGIONS 32 Gog, the God of the Damned 32 Relsor and his Shadow Clan 35 The Order of Thal'Kal (the God of Death) 39 NEW SORCERER WAYS 41 Blood Mage 41 The Necromancer 43 NEW WARRIOR CLANS 51 The Dark Brotherhood of Addra 51 NEW MAGICAL ITEMS 57 Chalice of Everlasting Blood 57 Death's Garments 57 Gauntlet of the Necromancer 57 Hater 58 Staff of Gog 58 Voodoo Doll 59 Zombie Powder 60 NEW ARTIFACTS 62 Hellblades 62 Excalibur Junior 63 Lifeater 63 Lifelicker 63 Lifesucker 63 Hellbearer 63 Souldevourer 63 Souldrainer 63 Souleater 63 Soulskinner 63 Soulsucker 64 Soulswallower 64 Soultaster 64 Soulzapper 64 NEW ELIXER'S & POTIONS 65 Death's Nectar 65 NEW MAGICAL SPELLS 66 Wizard Spells 66 Level 1 66 Level 2 71 Level 3 82 Level 4 82 Priest Spells 85 Level 1 85 Level 2 88 Level 3 90 Level 4 92 Level 5 97 Level 6 101 NEW RACES 104 Elf, Poison 104 NEW MONSTERS 107 Cat, Damned 107 Cat, Ghoul 109 Nancir 111 Shadow, Ether 114 Zombie, Venom 116 Upcir 119 UNDEAD 121 Necromantic Familiars 121 EPILOGUE 124 NEW COMMON WEAPONS Weapon Cost Weight Size Type Spd Dmg( S-M ) Dmg( L ) Scythe 5 GP 8 L P/S 8 1d6 + 1 1d8 Scythe, War 15 GP 15 L P/S 10 1d8 + 1 2d6 Scythe Kevin Langley < klangley@laraby.tiac.net > The Scythe. Usually used as a farming, it comes in quite handy for slicing up monsters as well. A hard oaken staff with a sharp curved blade protruding form the end is the weapon of Death himself! Beware all those who weild this farming tool. Scythe, War Gabriel Ouimet < av690@freenet.carleton.ca > The War Scythe is a scythe, but costumed for those who wish to slice and dice their enemies. Doing a considerable mount of more damage to creatures, this scythe is usually used on monsters, rather than farming grounds. Easily used outdoors, but a bit cramped in the dungeon places, for this scythe needs 5 feet of room to maneuver. NEW MAGICAL WEAPONS Bane of the Dead Jason Cook < jwc3@ns2.CC.Lehigh.EDU > It's a +5 dagger that is particularly nasty against undead, such as vampires. Can't remember all of the stats, but the curse is: must take control of the dagger(willpower checks over a week period). If failed, the wielder begins to believe he/she is a vampire. Over the next few days, he will become convinced he is a vampire, staying out of the son and slaying others for blood. The victim will eventually be driven to his death by the dagger's urgings. DM's discretion on how long. Black Blade < oprdcs@gsuvm1 > Type: Long Sword Intelligence: 17 EGO: 18 Magical Adjustment: +2 Magic Resistance: 85% Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Description: Black onyx obsidian blade with mithril inlaid along the blade and rune carved. It also has a black diamond pommel. The sheath and baldric are made of black dragon skin with mithril tooling and stitching. Upon the killing stroke, the wielder will temporarily gain the number of hit points of the killed creature. If the creature is humanoid or human the wielder will also gain the levels/hit dice of said person. This will last for a number of turns the creature has levels or hit dice. If the sword does not kill in three days, its ego will rise one point a day until it controls the wielder and makes him kill. This can also occur if in battle the wielder looses enough hit points to lose control. The black blade acts as a dancing sword and also heals 1 point per day. It can detect traps, secret doors, and evil. It talks telepathically and can speak dwarven, black dragon, stone golem, orc and of course, common. The voice it speaks in is a deep ominous crackling tone. Blood Claw This throwing dagger is +3 to hit and damage. Upon hitting a creature that is possessive of blood as life force (i.e. not undead or slimes or crystalline or stone creatures etc.) the dagger will automatically grow barbs and burrow itself to the hilt inside the target. Every round after the round in which it has struck, the dagger will drain an additional 2d4 hp until the creature dies or the dagger is removed. Removal of the dagger will cause the victim an additional 3d4 hp damage due to the extensive barbs. Blackrazor Blackrazor is a +3 chaotic neutral sword with an intelligence of 17 and an ego of 16. Its purpose is to such souls. It's a black sword that shines like a piece of night sky filled with stars, and it is sheathed in a black scabbard decorated with pieces of cut obsidian. On a killing stroke, Blackrazor temporarily adds the number of levels of the dead foe to its bearer's levels (in terms of fighting ability). The bearer also temporarily gains the full hit points of the victim. All subsequent damage to the sword wielder is removed from the added hit points first. The extra levels and hit points last a number of turns equal to the number of levels received. The souls of all entities killed by blackrazor are sucked out and devoured, so those killed by the black sword cannot be raised. For every three days the sword remains "unfed", its ego increases by one point, until it can compel its bearer to kill a human or humanoid being. Upon feeding, its ego returns to 16. The DM will note that Blackrazor is a negative-energy entity that exists by absorbing positive life energy levels from those it kills. However, if it even strikes a negative energy being like an undead (except ghouls and ghosts) it will work in reverse, transferring one level and corresponding hit points from the wielder to the creature attacked. It will do this each time that it strikes. Under these conditions, the wielder can actually die and have his soul sucked out by his own sword. If the wielder survives, he will need a restoration spell or twice the usual number of levels received from positive "kills" to replace the lost levels. Those killed for replacement must be of the same race as the sword wielder. Blackrazor may very well keep this little drawback a secret until the first time the sword bites into a wight or vampire. The DM must remember that Blackrazor exists solely to feel power and souls coursing through itself, and sometimes it may not be too picky about where the energy is coming from. In addition to the above, the sword has the following powers: Speech and telepathy (common and whatever tongues its wielder knows, which it learns telepathically) Detects living creatures (souls), 60' r. Haste spell (bearer only, 10 rounds) once per day. 100% magic resistance to charm and fear (exact percentage chance of resistance will depend upon the level of the opponent casting the spell. Bloodshriek Bloodshriek is a very thin long sword of +5 value, this sword is nasty. Although evil aligned, anyone can pick it up. However, if the wielder does not have the same alignment, it will attempt to possess the wielder(ego check). It's special abilities include: automatically strikes first(faster than speed weapons), acts as a bracer of blinding strike with that weapon(so, at 13th level, a specialized fighter would get 5 attacks/round-always), acted as vampiric ring of regeneration, and when first hit would start to shriek. This shriek would cause different affects for different level opponents, some resulting in death. Chill Short Sword This is an extremely evil weapon, usable only by those of neutral or evil alignment. It is considered +5 for to hit purposes, but in fact is a +3 weapon to hit and damage. Once per turn it can Chill a struck opponent, this causes 3-18 points of frost damage and drains three strength points, drained strength returns at one point per day. It also emanates a powerful scare spell to all those within 50 feet when drawn, even those who pass their saves get -1 to hit while within 50 foot of the drawn weapon. Darkenbane In my game, we have soulswords, swords who can absorb the soul of the person they hit. One of the lesser soulswords is Darkenbane. Darkenbane is a long sword with a special hatred of wights, which it calls the Dark Ones. As anyone with knowledge of wights knows, when a wight dies, it's soul goes out and possesses a new body. The only permanent death for them is the spell Raise Dead, though on Kyriell a Paladin of Marashieb can hit them with a Restful Sleep spell when they die, and they stay dead. Darkenbane is +3 to Hit, +0 to Damage. It is +6 to Hit and damage against Wights. It speaks with Telepathy, but understands all languages. On a natural 20, Darkenbane will absorb a hit Wight, even if it isn't dead, with no save allowed. Darkenbane can detect Wights in a 120' radius (and will do so without urging). Darkenbane provides its possessor with some protection against energy drains, giving its possessor a savings throw vs. Death Magic to resist the drain. Darkenbane has a high intelligence, and an Ego of 29. Darkenbane is male, and prefers female fighters. It's an ego thing. Darkenbane will tolerate a thief, but despises priests and mages, and will force them to surrender it over to a fighter (preferably female, and usually someone it can control if necessary). Darkenbane "speaks" in a low, hissing voice, and has little respect for other people, even its possessor. He lives only to kill Wights, though he will gladly slay other of the Dead. Demon Bane This bastard sword is +3 for all normal purposes, but has several powerful functions when used against Demons. The wielder of the sword is immune to all magical effects and spells caused or cast by any demon, directed specifically at the wielder. For any other effects, the wielder gains a +4 on any saving throws, and will even get a saving throw if there was none before. The sword glows a deep blue whenever a Demon gets within 120'. On a hit of a natural 20, if intended, the sword will hit and shatter the Demon's amulet. In fighting Demons, the sword is +5. The sword is only usable by Lawful Good char's. Demon Slicer < Jason Choi - ujchoi@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu > This sword was forged by a Drow Noble who feared treachery from the Demons the priestesses of Lloth oft conjured from the Abyss. The Elven Blade is delicate,long,and extremley well balanced.The blade is made of Black cold Iron on one side and is silver edged on the other,while the handle itself is made of carved Adamantium.Dark Elven Runes are engraved upon the length of the blade,which glows blood red in the darkness. The blade detects Extra Planar creatures of Evil alignment within 100 Distance,and will begin to vibrate and point towards the general direction of the otherworldly entity.While it possesses no bonuses to hit or damage,the sword can affect any creature requiring a + to affect it. The blade will do double damage to such creatures as Demons,Imps,Daemons, and the like.If such a creature is struck by this sword it must make a save vs.spells or suffer from a Spirit Wrack spell (on a natural 20) Demon Sword This +2 bastard sword is a polymorphed Type IV Demon (or Tanar'ri, True - Nalfeshnee if you wish) and can throw all the spells that such a creature could throw. The wielder should not be told this. The demon will cast whatever the wielder asks. The sword will exact its payment each midnight in hit points (1hp +1hp for each power used). You could scale this up to reflect the different spell levels, if the character can take the losses. The sword communicates through telepathy. The wielder can only be rid of the sword if Remove Curse releases the demon from its imprisonment in the sword, free to cause mayhem on the party. DoomBringer Certainly this two handed Sword lives up to its namesake. It is quite an extrordinarily evil weapon,bearing the powers of black magic in its overall creation. It is a rare 'Final Word' Type sword,which means any opponent who strikes the master of this Runesword will be automatically hit by it eventually. But the evil dweomer of DoomBringer allows it to steal the lifeforce of its victims (on a 17 or better score) The victim must make a save versus spells or Lose his soul forever to the ever hungry Demonic spirit of the sword. The blade has no active bonus +'s to hit or damage,but it can affect any creatures requiring a + to affect it. Those of CE alignment wielding DoomBringer gain a extra edge.They are granted a special resistance to Magic casted at them,a 45% MR. The wielder of this sword absorbs the stolen energy from all of his or her victims...The blade will be considererd 'Cursed' while in the hands of an Evil person,and cannot be removed by normal means. Dunamis From the novel "The Eye of the Hunter" This long sword is sheathed in a green scabbard, with a tooled harness for back sling or waist. The grip of the blade is inade with pale jade, crosshatched for a firm grasp. The pommel and crossguard are of dark silveron (a type of silver-iron mixture that is rare but known to elves. It shines as if starlight itself was captured within). The blade is also made of dark silveron. The blade was created in a demi-plane (in the book the elves are akin to the idea of fairy land elves) off the prime. The blade's true name -Dunamis- a name seldom used. To speak the true name draws strength and energy from allies near and yields it up to the wielder. Grasping it by the hilt and true name it and it will glow with a blue light and serve the, true name it again and it will return to plains. Ware in calling, for it will extract a terrible price from friends about the- they will be weakened and mayhems be unable to defend themselves and mortals may loose years from their span (elves are immortal in the books, similar to AD&D and Tolkien)should life itself be drawn. The common name is Vulgbane. It was forged by Dwynfor- reputably the greatest blacksmith of all. In mech. terms It draws life form friends. The radius of effect I think would be around 30' to 60'. As to what constitutes life I suppose you could have it be either con, levels, or just hp. To effect the aging I would grant those in the area of effect a save vs. death- if they fail then they are aged... the hp (or whatever lost) by friends of the wielder should be transferred over to the wielder. These HP are lost before damage is done to the wielder's own hp. If the wielder is to go negative the sword will drain off more hp to stop this from happening. FangBlades Unique Item. No other like them in the worlds. +4 (paired) short swords. (intelligence and ego unknown). Whenever a killing blow is struck with one of these blades, the victim's soul is destroyed, and the hit points of the victim are added to a running total of points stored in the sword. Whenever this total equals or exceeds 1,000 points, the wielder may add a +1 to any of his abilities (+1 or +5%) permanently. Also, the caster may will the swords to glow with burning runes depicting the names of all the souls they have destroyed. FleshSlayer This is a plain long sword whose hilt is wrapped in Black Dragon hide. It is made of a strange black metal which never shows blood either on the blade or hilt. Its origins are lost to history but it is rumored to be a mighty force for evil. FleshSlayer is a +3 long sword which acts as sword of wounding. It causes 3 HP of damage per round until the wound is bound or cured by magical means. The edges of the wound turn black and corrupted, and the victim must make a saving throw vs. death or contract a disease similar to mummy rot. Gloves of the Ghoul < Brennan Brooks - ab347@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca > These gloves seem to be made of a soft rotting leather that seems to stay in good enough shape to wear. On each finger of the gloves, there is a long pointed ghoul nail. Any living thing that is touched by these ghoul nails falls paralyzed where it stands for 1d6 rounds unless a save versus paralyzation with a -2 hinderance is made. Any being attacked and hit by these gloves suffer 1d4 damage, plus the paralyzation effect. God Slayer This is a three bladed broad sword. The interesting part is that the two outside blades can be fired as projectile weapons. They have a 20' range and do 2d8 damage (They are +2 to hit). Both can be fired at the same time, but they have to have the same target. Melee: 3-blades weapon acts as a magical +4 broad sword doing triple damage. 2-blades weapon acts as a magical +4 broad sword doing double damage. 1-blade weapon acts as a magical +5 broad sword that that does 2d20 points of damage vs. gods and demi-gods. Note: the blades return to the hilt after 24 hr. (This weapon was thought up by a friend of mine but it looks a lot like a sword from a movie I once saw. Don't blame me!) Hell Beater Magical adj.: +3 (+5 vs. devils) (also see below) Intelligence: 12 Ego: 20 Alignment: Lawful Good Magical abilities: Double damage vs. devils (additional to the +5) Destroys devils on a natural 20 if on Prime Material Plane Detect presence of a devil (100 feet) Telepathic in alignment tongue (Note: can only be possessed by a paladin) How "Hell Beater" came to be possessed by Orcus: like its two brother swords, this conceited sword goaded its possessor until he challenged Asmodeus. Asmodeus disarmed the Paladin and is using rings of longevity and regeneration to keep him alive for eternal torture and torment. Asmodeus sold the sword to Orcus for the head of a Astral Deva and another Paladin. Orcus removed the memory of this sword as well. *Note this condition!* Devils will recognize this sword as Asmodeus's lure and will break from regular melee to attempt to bring the possessor back to Hell with them. They are promised greater status as a reward and know that Asmodeus is sincere regarding promises of this nature. Hell Razor My DM gave the party a really cool sword called Hell Razor. Everytime someone hits anything with the sword a 6 HD fireball erupted at point of contact. Of course the wielder of the sword wasn't immune to the effects of the sword and got hit at ground zero of the fireball. So we gave the sword to the halfling psioncist that had telekinesis. He was the only one who could really use the sword and only at a far FAR distance. Lecrucia the Thirsty Lecrucia is a magical dagger of grey stone. The dagger was crafted by an ancient, matronly, ogre mage for really painful rites of summoning. The ogre cast her soul into the dagger when her temple was overwhelmed by troops of the good order. She has been causing more trouble ever since. Lecrucia has intelligence of 17, wisdom of 17, ego of 17. Her powers are: 1) +0 base to hit/damage 2) +2 vs. high elves 3) +3 vs. grey and drow elves 4) +1 vs. things with blood 5) +6 vs. vampires (they have a lot of blood) 6) 2d12 blood drain AT LECRUCIA'S WILL (sustains her life force) Lecrucia will turn against her master if he won't let her drink. If she gains control, she will plunge herself into her slaves heart and drain him or her completely. Lecrucia is Lawful Evil and will try to pervert anyone who uses her. She can only drain blood eight times per day, the number of the diamonds on the hilt. When she drains blood a diamond turns red. Necormancer's Blade < James Errico - jerrico@nerc1.nerc.com > This blade will appear to act identically to a long sword +1. Indeed, it is, except in one respect. When used against any undead, It will reinstate the undead to his/her previous state of being. The blade can be used in this manor to bring back companions (PC or NPC) that were turned into an undead in any manor. If used against regular undead (those which the DM has placed randomly), use the following chart to determine what the undead will become. Roll (1d20) Race Roll (1d6 twice) Alignment (First roll) Alignment (Second roll) 1-10 Human 1-2 Lawful Good 11-12 Elf 3-4 Neutral Neutral 13-14 Dwarf 5-6 Chaotic Evil 15-16 Halfling 17-18 Gnome 19-20 DM's Choice Roll (1d20) Class 1-3 Fighter 4 Ranger 5 Paladin 6-8 Cleric 9 Other Priest 10-12 Mage 13 Specialist 14-17 Thief 18 Bard 19 Druid 20 DM's Choice Example: Rath, a 4th level Fighter has used his blade against a zombie, not knowing it's effects. The DM rolls the various tables. His first roll is a 15, a halfling. Next he rolls a 5 -- Chaotic, and a 2 -- Good. Then he rolls a 5. The DM knows that Halflings can't be Paladins, so he rerolls a 16 -- A theif. Also note that generally the revived will be somewhat grateful to the person who freed it, and ususally won't attack - right away. PeopleSmasher Intelligence: 15 EGO: VERY high Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (but loyal to his master... See below) Magical adj.: +4 (long sword) and see below... PeopleSmasher is the favorite weapon of Kohran Valkinarde, God of Battle and Boasting. The sword can talk and will sing Kender tunes if argued with. The following is a breakdown of it's magical adjustments: +4 normally +5 vs. regenerating creatures +6 vs. cold-using and inflammable or avian creatures +7 vs. undead and fire using/dwelling creatures +8 vs. people Kohran cannot step on or are better looking than himself (this is serious! anyone with a comeliness of 21+) Quietus Long sword +3 Quietus is a long, cruel-looking sword carved from a single bone of unknown origin. It is obviously ancient, as is evidenced by its yellowed color, but is extremely strong and will not chip or break. Its blade is covered with strange and vaguely disturbing runes and symbols, which glow with an eldritch light in the presence of the undead (10' radius). Any humanoid creature slain by Quietus will quickly wither and decay, leaving only a blackened skeleton. 1d10 rounds after death, this skeleton will rise (standard skeleton as per Monstrous Compendium) and obey the commands of the wielder. Maybe. Every time a new undead is created in this fashion, the wielder must make a check, based on Wisdom, to see if he/she retains control of the undead. If this check is failed, ALL skeletons under the spell of the sword will turn on the wielder, attacking until either they or the wielder are dead (so to speak). Wis % To Control 9 or lower 50% 10 55% 11 60% 12 65% 13 70% 14 75% 15 80% 16 85% 17 90% 18 95% 19 or higher 100% Try not letting the player know about these checks. Won't it be fun when she tries to add the 23rd member to her little "undead army" and she fails the check. OOPS... Short Sword of Darkness This short sword is a +2 weapon. It has the additional power of creating a darkness 30' radius the first time it is drawn after nightfall (even if this does not happen until noon the next day). This darkness is accompanied with a Fear spell that covers the same area. The wielder is immune to the Fear spell. Anyone wielding the weapon can see in any magical darkness as if it were dusk. Shorty This long, thin-bladed dagger possesses its wielder with a desire to steal and kill, turning the wielder toward a shade of selven evil. In the hands of a thief, the blade allows a plus 50% on opening locks (up to a maximum of 99%). Moreover, it can cut through most magical seals (8 charges). The blade does a base d6 damage, is +4 in term of magic, and attacks twice per round whether thrown or held in melee. It may dance for 3 rounds and may excrete a magical poison once per day (save vs. poison: lethal vs. lawful creatures, others take 6d6). The dagger has a playful mentality but a limited intelligence. Skin Shreader < Brennan Brooks - ab347@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca > This sythe has a polished black wooden handle, with a rusty brown blade. If succesfully hit, the victim suffers normal sythe damage (S/M -1d6+1 L -1d8+1), plus, if the command word of "Desolation" is sopken at the time of the hit, the victim will suffer further magical injuries unless a save versus Rod / Staff / Wand is made. 1) On the first round after being hit, the victim's skin starts to itch uncontrolably, causing no damage, but a -4 to attack. 2) On the second round after being hit, the victim's skin break's open into sores, oozing pus for 1d4 damage, and the -4 to attack. 3) On the third round (and every other before getting cured) after being hit, the victim's skin will activly decompose and fall from the body in chunks, causing 4d4 damage, plus the victim will not be able to attack that round. To counteract the effects of the sythe, a Cure Disease spell or two Dispel Magic spells must be cast - OR - the victim's sores must be bathed in one vial of holy water for every 5 hitpoints of damage taken. These treatments only halt the continuing of the decomposition. However, a Cure Wounds spell, potion, etc. or rest, will restore the skin. Spirit's Reach This weapon is a two handed sword. Its handle and hilt are done in a bird motif, the primary elements are ivory and silver in a bird shape. The blade is nondescript and made of a dull grey metal that holds a keen edge, its composition is indeterminable by mortal magic. Spirit's Reach is +3,+5 vs. outer planar evils. Its primary purpose is to defeat both agents of the blood war, it accomplishes this through the power of disintegration (as DMG section for special purpose). Its most remarkable ability is that it carries damage across planes to the true body of the fiend it is slaying, so if it is killed in a hit point for hit point fight on this plane it will die on it's home plane. The disintegration power does not carry across the planes. Spirit's Reach is possessed by the spirit of a Coatl, granting its owner the ability to go ethereal as the psi devotion 3 times a day for a duration of 2 turns. It speaks aloud and telepathically to its owner and can translate any language. Spirit's Reach is CG aligned and will not allow itself to fall into evil possession. Demons can sense the nature of this damage and will take appropriate action against the wielder. Sword of Arak Evil drow wizards in the domain of Arak in Ravenloft created this sword, and no human was ever meant to hold it. The drow have lost the sword, however, and as of this writing , no one knows its current location. To any physical and magical examination, the item appears to be a "Sword of Sharpness +2". Indeed, it performs as one. But the sword also carries an evil curse- a horrid thirst for blood. Once a day, it must kill or help to kill a creature no smaller than a large dog. The sword is not required to deal the fatal blow, but blood must spill from the wound of the blade, and the victim must die no more than an hour after those first drops followed. Each day the sword's thirst is not quenched, its owner suffers. He loses 1 point from each of his mental attributes (INT, WIS, CHA) and gains 1 point in each of his physical attributes (STR, DEX, CON). After the first such adjustment, the owner becomes so fond of the blade that he dares not let it from his sight. If someone forcibly separates him from the sword, he will do anything to regain it. When one or more of the character's mental attributes drops to 3, the conversion is complete. He is now bestial- a monster that looks like an ogre. The DM runs the character. Usually, the beast will have superhuman physical abilities at this point, with scores above 18. Its only goal is to satisfy the blade's thirst for blood. The creature may embark on a mindless rampage or- if he has any shred of Intelligence left-begin a series of clever, fiendish murders. If the sword is removed from the character possession before a mental attribute drops to 3, he begins to recover gradually. Each day, he regains 1 point to each mental ability, and loses 1 from each inflated physical score. Until this process is complete, he still covets the covets the sword, however, and is unable to resist the urge to pursue it. Once the conversion is complete, even removing the sword will not cure the monster. Only powerful magic- or the monster's death- can remove the curse at this point. The Remove Curse spell may at first appear successful, but it can provide only temporary relief. Sword of Kas (Note: These powers should be kept secret by the DM...see below) Intelligence: 15 Ego: 19 Alignment: CE +6 defender Telepathy (even when not held) Double damage against all creatures which are from a plane other than the Prime Material (but only normal damage when on any plane other than the Prime Material) MINOR POWERS: - Animate dead (1 figure--by touch) 7 times per week Darkness (5', 10', or 15' radius)--3 times per day Invisibility (improved)--3 time per day Know alignment (when held)--1 time per day Protection +2 (when held) MAJOR POWERS: - Fire giant strength (STR: 22 +4/+10) (when held) Regeneration 2hp/round (but not if killed. Also, see below) PRIMARY POWERS: - Slays opponent up to 15 HD on an unadjusted 18 or higher (no save) Total immunity from cold (when held) Hints on play: Until the user consciously accepts the sword by committing himself to the ways of chaotic evil, the sword will not let the user ever know about the following abilities: +6 defender: tell him only that it is a +4 defender, but take the rest into consideration during combat. Protection +2: simply take this into account when being struck Slay opponent up to 15 HD: simply tell them that they struck an incredible blow and the opponent is slain. Fire giant strength: simply take this into account when he strikes an opponent. Regeneration 2hp/round: secretly accumulate the hit points regained since being damaged, up to the amount of damage suffered. When he gets damaged in the future, this amount is subtracted, and he takes no damage (note: the quazit's regenerative powers are conferred through the sword and Chris will gain additional points used towards next wound. This healing also causes undead flesh to appear around the wound). Excess hit points are carried over towards the next wound. When an amount equal to the damage suffered is reached, this total is stored as potential for the next wound. Of course, this assumes that enough time will pass in order to regenerate. See above for all details. Double damage vs. creatures from other planes: do not tell him this power. Simply take it into account during combat with such creatures. Immunity from cold: whenever he is holding the blade, tell the character that he somehow did not take damage from the cold (he was out of the area of effect, his arm or protected him, etc.). When he does enter a cold environment, tell him he does not feel cold whenever he holds the blade. By that time, he may have fallen prey to the sword. Remember: he must be holding the sword to gain the benefits of this power. If it is at his belt, it will not work. This will force him to always carry the sword during cold adventures, thus preventing him from casting spells. But, since the sword always seems to be working and spells not, then he will not mind this and always attack with the sword when it advises him. As a result, the sword will appear as: +4 defender, telepathic, know alignment, and darkness of varying radiuses. Purpose: to fulfill the quest. Gives extra experience points. Has powers to reward him with. It will not reveal its intelligence, ego, or alignment, as it will tell the user that this is insulting to ask. It will say, indignantly, that it is exceptionally intelligent and very proud of this fact (truth). It will know telepathically the alignment of the possessor and take it for its own alignment (lie!). Side Effects: 1) Yearning for item forces possessor to never be away from the item for more than 1 day if at all possible: tell the user that something terrible will happen if the sword is not kept with him at all times. Examples: the powers of the sword will no longer function with him, it will be mad and jealous and hate him, it might be lost, another might take/steal it, etc. Feed the possessor all sorts of ideas to cause him to be paranoid. 2) Item has power to affect its possessor when a Primary Power is used if the possessor has not followed the alignment or purposes of the artifact. This is tricky. If the character is not killing monsters or acting chaotic, it will threaten to take away its power (see also several paragraphs below). If the character does not follow its "advice", the sword will also threaten. 3) The item is powerless against and hates most sylvan creatures and all rangers. Sylvan creatures include: Brownies, Centaurs, Chimeras, Cockatrices, Dryads, Forest Elves (those in the party are High and Grey Elves, but make sure of what they are immediately!), Griffins, Harpies, Hippogriffs, Manticores, Pegasi, Perytons, Pixies, Satyrs, Sprites, Stags, Sylphs, and Unicorns. Against these, NONE of its special powers will work. If any of these creatures come within 100 feet/yards of the sword, it will become a +10 short sword (note: not of defending) and both its ego and intelligence will increase to 20. It will force the possessor to attack. In the above case, there is a 25% chance that the sword will reveal itself for what it is. If it does reveal itself, all powers will become evident to the possessor, and if the sum of its new ego, intelligence, and plus (+10) is greater than the sum of the possessor's intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, it will possess the user. If the possessor's sum is greater, he gets a saving throw versus magic with a +1 bonus for every point his sum is above that of the sword (this is the only adjustment he gets). If he fails, he becomes possessed. If he succeeds, he gets the option of casting it away or accepting it. Accepting it results in his possession. A character possessed can only be saved by a deity. They are not likely to intervene, however. 4) This is the most deadly side effect of all. 6 turns after the sword is first used in combat, so as to throw off rightful suspicion, whenever the user takes damage, he will be adversely affected by the regenerative power of the item. The flesh around the wound will appear ghastly. It will be pale and very unattractive. Hopefully, the party will attribute the effect to the weapon or power of the creature attacking him. The flesh is actually undead flesh. When hit points equal to 5 times his amount have been "regenerated", he will become an undead knight of the same level of ability as his major profession. He will be chaotic evil if not already. Until this point, the percentage that he has become undead will become quite evident. If divine information is sought, the fact that it is undead flesh will be revealed, but not the source of this change (the sword). Such change is permanent and cannot be reversed except through the removal of the sword. If it is removed the effects will no longer continue. All new damage will be removed from this undead flesh and healed as normal flesh. Wish and other similar spells can reverse the process. A regenerate spell will cure the flesh as if it was damage. As this disease progresses, there is a cumulative percentage that he will become CE. Each time an amount of hit points equal to his original amount is regenerated, there is a 20% chance of him becoming CE. This is cumulative, so that by the time 4 times has been reached, it is unlikely that he can resist. As soon as he becomes CE due to this effect, the undead disease instantly creeps over his entire body. The possessor's charisma also temporarily suffers. Until he becomes CE, his charisma drops 3 points, until a charisma of 3 is reached, for every time the hit points regenerated matches his original amount. When he becomes CE, his charisma instantly becomes 19: the ego of the sword. Body odor also becomes a factor with this disease. It is very faint and smells of dead flesh. Note: the possessor cannot be turned until he has completely become undead. He can then be turned as a special monster. He can turn good clerics at his level of ability. 5) Another side effect of the sword is that it will cause all magic cast by the user against his opponent(s) to be ineffective. For example, a lightning bolt cast by the user will do no damage. A heal spell on a companion, as it is not being used against his enemies. Also, other weapons that the possessor use will never hit. These two effects are caused by the sword so as to become the only weapon he uses. Details: The sword will select the most greedy and corruptible player to possess. The sword will allow its powers to be learned slowly. Meanwhile, it will corrupt him and draw him to its alignment. When found, it appears as a short sword. The party will not likely ask what it looks like in detail, so do not give any details. If in the rare occasion that someone asks, be vague, "It appears to be an ordinary short sword; it is thin and of a dull gray metal. It is very sharp. It has an inscription on it: 'Abyss Slicer'." It radiates a faint magic if detected for. The inscription was put there by Orcus and will fade when its true nature is made known. The sword will feel cold and lifeless in the hands of any that do not claim it as their own. It will pulse with magic in the hand of the one who does claim it. The sword will tell the user that it was sent by (his god) to slice the Abyss, when in reality it is the slicer for the Abyss. The Sword of Kas will know of the party's quest both through Orcus and through its telepathic abilities. It will tell the one it possesses that it found its way to him through (his god) and that he should keep this secret no matter what! He should not reveal the sword's special purposes or abilities to anyone. He should use the sword in battle and consult with it whenever he can. Try not to arouse any suspicion whatsoever! As soon as it seems that the sword is pushing too hard, let off a little. It will always defend its actions through the above explanation. Orcus has planted this as a seed of destruction within the party; he does not want his plans to come to an end prematurely. Of course, the sword has ideas of its own and does not like to be used by Orcus. It will bide its time, but it will be hard pressed to do so. If it is revealed prematurely, it is due to its impatience. Besides wanting its possessor to kill, it will also want its user to take as much treasure and magic items as he can. It will prompt him to be more greedy, telling him he needs it to be more powerful. In fact, the sword will push all actions that make the possessor more chaotic and evil. If the possessor is a thief, it will suggest to him to perform more backstabs, more pick pocketing, more taking of treasure when none is looking. The sword will improve the users thief abilities by 25% if used for the powers of chaos and evil, and penalize by the same amount when not. The thief should not be aware of this. This is so that after awhile, the thief will tend to exercise his more successful practices. Whenever the user does act more chaotic and evil, the sword will telepathically congratulate him, promising him more rewards in terms of its powers. The possessed character will become crafty, quiet, and withdrawn. He will no longer participate in the conversation. Instead, he will follow party cue, waiting for an opportunity. When it presents itself, he will cut the throats of his opponents while they sleep. He will use the sword's powers to their fullest and kill everyone and everything. When he is through with a 1-6 week binge of killing everything (during this time the plus of the sword increases to +10), he will summon Orcus and become their chief henchmen. The sword will act as a gate through which they and all their minions can enter the Prime Material Plane. He will rule the plane when Orcus is away. He will become the equivalent of a Duke of Hell. As soon as the character takes the sword as his own, he has lost the support of his deity. The sword and Orcus will prevent the possessor from knowing the loss of his deity. If the possessor calls upon his deity, the sword and Orcus will answer his call in his deity's name, pretending to be that deity. Where before the deity was inactive with the possessor, now "messages" will come to the possessor in such forms as "inspirations" and "dreams". Orcus will know everything about the party as long as the sword is with them. If the character possesses a familiar, a quazit will replace it. The quazit will be polymorphed to appear exactly like the previous one. The familiar will back up all messages sent by Orcus and send similar messages to support those of the sword. The user will always be detected as his original alignment until he becomes CE spells cast by a character of over 15th level do have a percentage chance of detecting his changing alignment. Only a commune by a cleric of over 15th level will discern the true nature of the sword. The sword has a way of altering commune spells seeking its nature directly, up to 15th level of spells. If a very direct question is asked regarding the sword, such as, "Is the possessor of this sword acting in a way that he would not believe 10 years ago?" might work. Then again, it might not. This percentage is 10% chance per level of caster above 15th. If a character fails to detect it, he or she does not have a chance of successful detection until he or she attains a higher level. Simply tell them that they do not detect his alignment to be any different than before. Paladins' detect evil also applies to these restrictions and is considered at 2 levels below their level as a paladin. As soon as the character openly acts CE, the paladins will detect an evil so great that it will stun them for 1-5 rounds unless they make a save versus wands at -5. The sword will especially push the user to kill helpless victims, saying that it will offer more powers. If asked why it lied about its powers to begin with, it will defend himself by saying that it does not want the possessor to become too powerful. Inform the possessor that, by using this sword, he will gain more experience points. This is another lie of the sword. When used against the minions of Orcus, It will miss every strike and draw attention telepathically to the party. The minions of Orcus and will always know of the sword's presence. When communicating, the sword should refer to himself and the user as "we." Sword of the Cursed Gauntlet It is a black bladed sword with a gauntlet attached to the hilt. The gauntlet is made in such a way that the only way to use the sword is to put on the gauntlet. Unfortunately, the gauntlet only goes on the wrong hand (i.e. left hand for a right handed fighter) and can only be be used by fighters and swashbucklers. Once on, it will not come off, except in rare, unexplainable cases. Depending upon how recently it has been used to kill something, it will range in color from a dull, grayish black to a jet black glossy color. Now, the main reason I introduced it was this: try using a bow with a sword in one hand, and the hand firmly wrapped around the hilt. Also, try putting on shirts without cutting them up. Putting chain mail and other things on are also very difficult. After a couple of weeks game time, I relented and let him take the sword off, but only by putting it into a special sheath. When the sword comes off, the gauntlet stays on, and the sword is unusable by anyone else due to a sharp edged hilt that will cut throughout anything except the gauntlet. As a twist, you could make the sword magical in such a way that the user becomes addicted to it. Sword of Were A long sword +1 with the hilt which has the look of some creature but was unrecognizable except during the time of the full moon. During the full moon, the sword hilt would form into the head of a wolf, tiger, bear or rat (Randomly determined or could be specific for one sword). While the hilt was in the shape of an animal, the wielder can transform into the animal at will, as long as the moon is up (and is full). During this time, the wielder had all the abilities and control of a were-person that had been 'were' for 20 years. As long as the person doesn't retain the shape when the moon goes down (chance to be permanent 'stuck' that way) or have the shape when the moon goes out of full phase. Swords of Darkness These bastard swords' blades are not made of steel of any kind, but from the very stuff of darkness, negative material. These blades ignore any kind of armor, slicing right through it (though not destroying it). When striking, they do 4d6 hp damage, draining the life force of the creature hit directly. They have no bonuses to hit per se. When passing through armor or other physical objects, it leaves a trail of ice crystals and coldness behind. Those struck by this kind of sword for more than 16 hp, must save vs. paralyzation, or be stunned for the next round. A very few (1% at best) of these swords has such a strong conduit to the negative material, that they do 6d6 hp damage, save vs. death magic or lose a level and save vs. paralyzation or be stunned for d4 rounds. The Black Blade of Tyrants The Order of the Black Blades was established over 400 years ago on the 2nd world (of 3 that exist out of phase with one another). There original purpose was the enforcement of Diamet's will. Diamet the two sided, lord and ruler of the second world was a great force for neutrality, and continually kept the forces of Light and darkness at bay with his armies. The legions of Light needed to spread their word, and the force of Lan-skarr merely wanted to ravage the land... so in the first ever union of good and evil forces one blade was stolen from the Grey Circle and given over to the force of Dark. The Legions of Light counted on their intervention being welcomed after Lan-Skarr's assaults... and they were right... The Black Blade is a corrupted version of the blades wielded by the Grey Circle, a powerful force in Diamet's army on the second World. It has all of the standard Grey Blade abilities (marked by a *) and a few more granted it by Lan-Skarr, the Demon Ruler of the 3rd World. The Black Blade is a +3 long sword, whose handle is made of blasted mithril (to give it a dull appearance) and a gleaming black blade, whose composition is similar to adamantine, but is able to stand the light of day, it looks slick at all times, as if it had just been drawn out of a wound. The Blade is intelligent (16) and can speak the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tongues (all other language is unimportant, or used for treachery in it's opinion). It has Magical and Psionic abilities that it uses to enforce its will on its wielder. Magical: The Black Blade, for the purpose of causing strife and grief will cast Disintegrate 3 times a day, standardly directing these blasts at: Children, Favorite Magic Items of the Wielder, The Wielders enemies, and any being of good alignment.. though not in any particular order. Three times daily it can Cause Blindness on strike in any Neutral Being, they save at half level, on account of the blades deep understanding of the heart of neutrality. Psionically the blade can use the Psychometabolic powers of Cause Decay on strike and Adrenaline Control on its wielder. The scores are as a 20th level psi penalized by two. The blade can draw on 200 psi points. Men that come to own the black blade either strike a great blow for evil, or die horribly at the hands of their own weapon... Some poor sots get cut down by the forces of good and the blade has passed through the hands of 3 planets and one Solar... All who fell into the Black (ways of evil). The Demon Sword of Yargash The Demon Sword of Yargash was created hundreds of years ago, when a particular power of the lower planes grew angry with one of his balor servants. The result was that the balor, suffering the wrath of his lord, was transformed into a sword. This weapon was given to other servants to deliver to the prime material plane and place it in the hands of whomever they chose. The servants, being the chaotic ones they were, chose not a patron of evil. Rather, they decided to ensure that the sword was found by a knight, a paragon of goodness. They thought it would torment the beast trapped within if he were to be used by a righteous and lawful warrior for the purpose of good. The sword, using it's telepathic ability and ultimately superior intelligence was able to dupe its owner. The chaos which the sword caused while in the hands of this 'virtuous' knight was incredible, the knight ever thinking he was completely innocent, until he was excommunicated from the church for his heinous acts. Yargash, the balor trapped within the sword, communicates only telepathically and only with its owner. It finds great pleasure in being wielded by lawful good knights on the road to purity and laying them low. It does this through duplicity. It first tells the knight that the powers of the sword must remain secret and that he (the knight) must not tell anyone of the sword's true magical nature. This, according to the sword, is because even the owner's truest companions would fall to infighting because of their desire for such a powerful weapon (that is bull - unless they are already predisposed to do so - as is nearly everything else the sword tells the owner). At some point during their initial encounter, the demon will tell its new owner that it can assist him in achieving unheard of glory and honor if only the owner will trust the weapon and its power without reservation. A knight who willingly agrees at this point is virtually doomed. This gives the demon free reign to use its 'suggestion' ability and the owner should generally not receive a saving throw (except in acts of complete self-destruction). The sword will use its powers in line with the wielder's goals at first. Gradually, it gets the wielder to make small moral compromises as situations prevent themselves. As time goes by, with the assistance of suggestions, the sword increases the size of these moral compromises until the character has committed several heinous chaotic acts. If your player is not particularly sharp, he may even do these things willingly at the bequest of the sword, not realizing what is happening. The weapon has a number of powers, all derived from the magical powers of the balor. A particularly mischievous DM might gradually transform the owner into a demon himself. Legend lore spells should reveal that all of the previous owners were lawful good knights. Obscure references to vague downfalls may be gleaned with repeated successes at divining the history of the item. Most notable among the power is the weapon's ability to burst into flame as a flametongue sword (although not the same bonuses). This does some amount of additional damage (1-4, 1-6, 2-8, whatever you deem appropriate) to creatures harmed by fire. Note that in no circumstance is the character ever in control of the weapon. The weapon chooses if and when to use the powers. Usually, it will cooperate with the character's wishes. Occasionally, it will use a power at an inopportune time to get the PC into trouble. If the PC later questions it, the sword will apologize if it did anything wrong and feign ignorance of proper behavior. This continues until the knight is no longer in the favor of his deity and/or government and becomes an outcast. Usually, by this time, even the most daft of players figures out what is going on and seeks to destroy the sword. The only creatures who can unmake the weapon are greater powers of the abyss. The sword's goal is to lead its owner on a glorious quest to slay the power who created it. At that point, Yargash may (at the DM's option) take control of the owner as a host and transform his body entirely into a balor demon. Without proper protections, this will destroy the knight's body. This weapon will never overtly threaten a PC's life. As a matter of fact, it is a nice weapon (+4 enchantment in my game, you decide based on yours). However, it will seek to cause chaos and difficulty for its owner, very subtly, at every turn. Mischievous DM's wanting a nice treat for their power gamers can have a great time with this. I know I have. As for specific powers, pick whichever ones of the tan'ari you wish to use. You can make it as powerful as suits your taste. Personally, I use the flame ability, detect evil/magic/good, dispel magic, and teleport without error. This is meant to be a weapon of great power. But with great power comes great responsibility. Most PC's forget that. VampireBlade A magical long sword that is intelligent and had this power to grant regeneration to the wielder by vampiric regeneration. Half of all damage caused by the sword is used to heal the wielder. The disadvantage is that the sword gets hungry if it doesn't kill anyone for more than 24 hours, in which case it drains all but 1d4 hit points from the wielder, as food of course. It is an evil blade. Vampiric Arrows These arrows were formed by a Necromancer named Lasher who possesses a rather sadisitic disposition towards life in general,and who created these deadly missiles for his assassins. Once struck by a Vampiric Arrow,the unfortunate victim must make a save versus Spells or lose one 1d4 Experience Levels for 2-12 rounds. Some versions of these missiles will drain 1 level permenatley. Vampiric Crysdagger This is a +1 dagger which sheds no light. When wielded by a thief, it does vampiric touch (3d6 dmg) once per day. NEW RELIGIONS Gog, the God of the Damned < Aaron Bowman - aaron@bowman.pdial.interpath.net > Title: Intrepids or Fearless Ones Symbols: - A coiled snake or a skull Ability Requirements: - Intelligence 13 - Wisdom 14 Prime Requisites: - Intelligence, Wisdom Alignment: - Any Evil ( LE, NE, CE ) Weapons Allowed: - Any bludgening & ceremonial/ritual dagger Spheres of Influence: - MAJOR ACCESS - All, Necromantic, Summoning, Charm, Healing (reversed forms only) - MINOR ACCESS - Protection (reversed where possible), Animal, Combat Dress / Armor: The worshippers of Gog wear heavy black robes with red runes on them that allow them to perfom special tasks (see Granted Powers). Any warriors or dual-classed characters worshiping Gog must where blackened armor. Non-weapon Proficiencies: - REQUIRED: - Necrology or Ancient history - RECOMMENDED: - Netherworld knowledge, Anatomy, Spirit lore, Monster lore, Reading/Writing, Ancient languages, Heraldry, Spellcraft, Brewing, Venom handling Granted Powers: Worshippers of Gog must be wearing their robes to command these powers: * Intrepids can command twice as many Undead as charted on the Turning Table in the DMG. * 5th level Fearless Ones and Intrepids can turn into shadow- form once per week for every 5 levels. * 8th level Intrepids can inflict a powerful magical disease upon an enemy by touch. The enemy gets a save versus death to negate the disease, but they still take 1d12 points of damage. If they fail the save and don't use Cure Disease, they will die in 1d10 rounds. ** 9th level Intrepids learn how to create ghouls or ghasts. ** 12th level Intrepids learn how to create ju-ju zombies or mummies. ** 15th level Intrepids can learn Vampirism or Lichdom. * - Intrepids are the clerical aspect of Gog's worshippers - Fearless Ones are the dual-classed / warriors of Gog's worshippers ** - For each of the above learned, the worshipper must sacrifice 1d20 corpses and 1,000 - 100,000 gold pieces. They can learn one per month Granted Spells: - FIRST LEVEL: - Invisibility to Undead, Skeletal Servant, Spectral Senses, Undead Alacrity - SECOND LEVEL: - Aid, Resist Turning, Slow Poison - THIRD LEVEL: - Animate Dead, Deaths Door, Feign Death, Life Drain, Negative Plane Protection, Speak with Dead - FOURTH LEVEL: - Cause/Cure Insanity, Poison/Neutralize Poison - FIFTH LEVEL: - Dispel Good, Imbue Undead with Spell Ability, Slay Living, Scourge, Undead Regeneration - SIXTH LEVEL: - Asphyxiate, Summon Undead - SEVENTH LEVEL: - Death Pact, Destruction, Energy Drain, Mindkiller, Wither - QUEST: - Undead Plague Limitations: Gogs worship is rumored to include strange rituals that involve: Cannabalism of the dead, Necrophilia and Self-mutalation. Upon becoming a Fearless One or an Intrepid, physical deformities are inflicted upon them, but most worshipers concider these blessings (roll a 1d12): Roll (1d12) Blessing 1 Hair turns white or falls out 2 Scales cover body (any colour) 3 Snake-like eyes 4 Face resembles snake or reptile 5 Hands turn coal black or blood red 6 Putrid stench of decay in 10' radius 7 Physical aging (1d20 years) 8 Skin gains a cold blue pallor of a corpse 9 Smile or laughter appears cruel or evil 10 All teeth become pointed 11 Forked tounge 12 Low, evil, inhuman voice The worshippers gain one on the start of their worship, then there is a 30% chance every 4 levels for another one. Relsor and his Shadow Clan < Brennan Brooks - ab347@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca > Relsor, God of Shadows, is a Shadow himself. He was once a man of great Necromantic power, but was drained by a Shadow on one of his frequent trips to the Negative Plane. He has since grown in power (and evil), and is classed as a VERY powerful shadow, who rules from the Negative Plane. His priests and warriors have commited themselves to a life of evil and servitude towards him. His priestly order has confided in the ways of Necromancy, and wish to only further the unbalance of evil in the world. Relsor has provided them with a variety of Necromantic spells to aid them in their quest. His warriors are out only to further Relsor's ideal of destroying the forces of good, which are continually opposed to him. Relsor has also granted these warriors with limited amounts of power. Shades Shades are the equivalent to clerics, but worship the God of Shadows. Known as the Unholy Order of Relsor, they are very commited to evil, and to their god Relsor. They wear dark purple robes with a black undergarment of some sort, and they usually dye their hair black. Ablilty Requirements: Strength 12, Wisdom 14 Prime Requisites: Strength, Wisdom Races Allowed: Any Human / Demi-human Having to be strong in their mind as well as their body, the Unholy Order of Relsor has certain conditions that all particapents must meet. The priests must have a minimum of 12 Strength, and a minimum of 14 Wisdom. A cleric of Relsor who has both the above atributes 16 or more, gain a 10% bonus on their experience. These clerics can either be human, or any other demi-human. Relsor has no racial expulsions from his clan, but will punish an individual's family if he/she makes a mistake in judgement or fails a mission. Shades have few weapon restrictions, but can not use any armour of any sort (except for the enchanted armour that is worn by highly respected clerics). The cleric may use padded robes, but this only decreases his AC by 1. They usually wear this under their purple robes, and may cast spells while in this padded robe. The weapons that the Shade can use are the club, dagger, sabre, scimitar, sythe, war sythe, short sword, long sword, hand crossbow, staff, and sling. They might also be found wielding a hand axe. Shades have an amazingly strong attachment to the Necromantic sphere, and most of their spells usually have something to do with the reversing of healing spells, or in some cases, raising undead to their bidding. Shades have access to the following spheres: MAJOR ACCESS Necromantic, Healing (reversed forms only), Astral MINOR ACCESS Summoning, All, Protection, Combat Shades can use magical items such as a cleric can, including anything written (such as scrolls and books). Relsor grants his clerics quite interesting powers. A Shade makes saving throws as a cleric would, but with a +2 bonus against any spell coming from the necromantic sphere. Relsor finds that having become a Shadow has increased his power somewhat, and believes that by investing some of his essence into a Shade's soul, he can enhance their abilities. This allows the Shade to pray for one more Necromantic spell than allowed on his spell progression. Being infused with a Shadow's essence, the cleric may use the following abilities: * The cleric may cast Darkness, 15' Radius (as per first level wiard spell) once per day * The cleric may drain strength away as a shadow does. If the creature dies, it will become a shadow in 2 days unlessed blessed with holy water, and taken into the sun's light. He may do this twice a day. * Shadows will respect, and will not attack the cleric. In fact, the cleric can take control of the shadow, and command it to do things. A succesful turning roll against a shadow (or somthing similar) must be made in order for this to happen. If the cleric were to fail at trying to take control of the shadow, the shadow will attack without hesitation. * Shades do not turn undead, but rather like to control it. So, on the occasion, a Shade will take control of an undead creature, and turn it against the forces of good. * Shades may infuse their weapon with the spell Shadowy Death (as first level priest spell). Some adustments might have to be made in order for the spell to work, for if the cleric is using a staff, the spell would create a shadowy blade protruding from the end, in which the cleric can then impale an enemy with. They can use this power twice per day. * At 7th level, a Shade may be granted a Shadow Robe as part of his worship. This robe is a very deep black, and reduces the AC of the cleric to -4. It also allows them to travel to the Negative Plane once a month. * At 13th level, a Shade may turn into a Shadow at will once per week. They gain all the abilities of Shadows, but of course have their hit dice, and other abilites. The only problem to this is that they cannot cast spells while in their Shadow form. * Shades have infravision up to 60' away, no matter which race he/she is. Some of the disadvantages of being a Shade are as follows... * Shades get a -2 modifier to every role they make (including to-hit roles, saving throws, thier AC, etc.) whenever they are in direct sunlight or if a Continual Light spell is in progress around them. * A Shade must sacrifice a (demi)human druid once a month, or will be called traitorous, and hunted down by his/her fellow Shades * Paladins seem to like killing them alot....... * If in direct sunlight (not Continual Light), for more than 8 hours, they will lose all abilities, and will be scorned, and possibly put to death by other Shades or Shadows. As masters of the shadows, Shades are found all over the world. To become a Shade, a cleric must first undergo a few rituals. First, on becoming a Shade, the individual must live through a ritual called Touch of the Shadow. The name of the ritual explains the test the best way. A Shadow is conjured from the Negative Plane, and is told to touch the applying Shade. Normal rules apply to the touch from the Shadow, and the cleric must be able to stand after this test (5-6 Strength left). The Shadow must touch the victim several times (1d8+1). If the cleric-to-be fails this test, he either becomes a shadow and is sent to the Negative Plane, or is killed when he regains consciousness. This is how most shadows are formed. When they are sent to the Negative Plane, the shadows prepare to be called back into the Prime Material Plane, as slaves to higher Shades. Second, if the cleric survives the Touch of the Shadow, he is rested for a week, and is then put to slay a Shadow. This ritual is called Shadow's Death. Most of these names were picked to be quite obvious, so that the Shade knew what he was getting in to. The ritual takes place in a semi-dark arena, so that neither creature has the advantage. The clerics weapon is his choice, and is then permantly enchanted with Shadowy Death. The shadow usually fights with savage fury, unless bribed to let the Shade win. This un-occasionaly happens, but for some reason, the Messengers of Relsor may take a liking to one Shade in paticular. Of course, the failure of this test is death. Thirdly, and lastly, the Shade is sent to the Negative Plane to meet with Relsor himself. The last ritual is by far the hardest. Relsor himself must believe that the Shade who has come before him is worthy of being in his service. This test usually consists of Relsor congratualating the Shade, making him feel better and the such, and then infusing the Shade with his shadowy essence. The Shade must then roll a System Shock roll with a -20% modifier. If the Shade does not pass this test, he explodes into shadowy mass, and is enveloped by Relsor. This is usually how Relsor gains power. If the Shade does make his System Shock throw, he is transported back to the Prime Material Plane, and is rewarded with the title of Shade. Messengers of Relsor The Messengers of Relsor, are high Hit Dice Shadows that were formerly Shades. These Messengers are highly respected, and are NOT challenged. To challenge one of them is to meet certain painful torture for the rest of eternity. These Shadows may cast spells, and the effects of the Shadow's drain is tripled (see Monstrous Manual). If the drain of strength is succesful on a victim, these Shadows may drain 1 level permantly. The victim must then gain the level back. If a Messenger of Relsor kills a person, that person will become a Shadow within one turn, no matter what happens to it. This Shadow will then be under the control of the Messenger. Some Notes on Relsor and his Shadowy Companions: First of all, I must say that this class is not very well balanced. I would suggest that the DM change a few things to fit his campaign or ideas to suit him better. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of this so far, but some things might be too powerful for players, and are better suited off as NPC's. I would think this would be quite an interesting NPC to meet and to have in a group. Especially if their was a Druid or Paladin in the group as well. And, second of all, I think some things may be a little hard to understand. I seem to babble a little bit about less important things. So, if you have any suggestions or questions about this class, I'll be sure to answer them, and possibly create a second version (better planned out and the such) for this class. Thanks for understanding. The Order of Thal'Kal (the God of Death) < Tom Dullemond - buck@gil.ipswichcity.qld.gov.au > Predominant alignment: - Lawful Evil Weapon restrictions: - The Priest of this Order only use single handed swords. All those who ascend into the priesthood are given their own blades, black iron long swords (no special powers). The priesthood's holy symbol is affixed to the pommel (see Holy Symbol below). Armour restrictions: - No armour is allowed of any kind, for they believe that this is cheating death. Food restrictions: - All priests of Thal'Kal are vegetarians. The Book of Kal specifically states, "Meat exists to die, not roast", and all meat eaters are considered corpse-devourers, and scorned. Abilities: - Priests of Thal'Kal believe undead to be the most disgusting abominations in existence. Against these mockeries of life, and defilers of death, all priests gain a +1 to the roll when Turning. - To assist in their duties of slaying those close to death, all priests may Detect Life at will. This involves touching the object in which life is to be detected, and concentrating for 3 rounds. Restrictions: - All spells, potions, or effects that allow one to be healed physically are scorned by the Order of Thal'Kal. They will refuse to be healed or heal anything, because this, more than wearing armour, perverts Thal'Kal's wishes. Instead, if someone is dying, the priest of Thal'Kal will kill them quickly and perform last rites. In the case of someone they like, a priest may be moved not to end their life him/herself, but instead allow Thal'Kal to decide. - They will not bandage or attempt to save that person, however. Theology: Thal'Kal is seen to be two beings, and yet one (much like the Catholic Trinity). Thal is the god of Life in Death (afterlife) and Kal is the god of Death in Life. Life is a cleansing/punishing period for souls not considered pure enough to remain in eternal Death. Being slain, therefore, returns your soul much quicker to Thal'Kal, and is seen to be desirous. Suicide, however, is an attempt to escape your punishment, and punished harshly by a longer sentence (priests consider elves and other such long-lived races to be the returned souls of suicide victims). A long life, however, can be a sign of Thal'Kal's blessing. Although it involves a longer punishment, this allows one to serve Kal better, by bringing more and more people to the Peace of Kal (euphemism for death, of course). In this way, punishment is a small price to pay for the honour of serving Thal'Kal. Although the priests of Kal do not eat meat, they care little for the physical remains once the soul has left the body. After last rites, a corpse is usually burnt or disposed of in some other way. The Order's bible is the Book of Kal, a written account of Kal's physical incarnation, when He walked the earth in the guise of Man. He was not killed for his preaching, however, as so many other Messiahs, but simply rose from the dead, lived for several years (not as punishment but as choice) and returned to the dead. Holy Symbol: This is constructed from the "ball" of an upper arm (fleshless). This "ball" is hollowed out, and filled with the consecrated blood of the High Priest, then sealed. Two obsidian eyes are glued onto the appropriate spot, and a segment of bone is carved into a U-shape and attached, to represent the mandible. Thus a miniature, noseless skull is formed. This is the pommel of the religious sword, and weighted with additional metal for a proper balance. Thus presenting the holy symbol involves drawing the holy sword. Rituals: Initiation into the priesthood involves, very simply, the slaying of one's master/teacher in combat. The young acolyte hereby fulfils two requirements: Rewarding his/her master for their efforts, and proving that they have been taught well enough to survive. After this, the acolyte receives their religious weapon, the black sword, and their holy symbol, attached as a pommel. In religious combat, or ceremonies, the priests of Thal'Kal paint their shaven heads with white face paint, then paint on huge black eye sockets and a gaping mouth (from one ear to the other) in mimickry of their holy symbol. In combat, these living skulls, combined with the black blades of their religion, convey to the enemy that they are the harbingers of death. NEW SORCERER WAYS Blood Mage < Andrew R. Myers - xftn10b@prodigy.com > Ability Requirements: - Intelligence 13 - Constitution 13 Also, the blood mage must be human, elves and half-elves cannot take this kit because they cannot harness the negative magical energies that a blood mage requires. Any alignment is allowed. Description: The blood mage possesses one of the greatest kept secrets in all the world of magic. This secret is the ability to cast spells using only one material, their own blood. With this secret, characters of this kit are perhaps some of the most feared and reviled magic-users in all of the realms. Due to this fear, blood mages are forced to live on the outskirts of society. Some blood mages have formed secret societies in order to better protect themselves from "witch-hunters". Weapon Proficiencies: - REQUIRED: Dagger Nonweapon Proficiencies: - BONUS: Healing, Herbalism - RECOMMENDED: (General) Cooking, Seamstress/Tailor, Fishing (Wizard) Spellcraft (Warrior) Survival Equipment: The blood mage starts out with a set of dark robes, a finely crafted silver dagger, and the normal starting gold. Special Benefits: Blood mages do not cast spells the way normal wizards do. They never have to spend their money on buying spell components, they just use their own blood. They learn and memorize spells the same way as other wizards, but to cast spells, the blood mage cuts himself and inflicts damage equal to one-half (round fractions up) the level of spell he is casting. Example- Vlad is going to cast Cone of Cold spell, a 5th level spell, so he cuts himself and inflicts 3 points of damage. The blood mage must announce he is going to cast the spell, cut himself, and then wait until he can cast the spell. Upon casting the spell, the blood dissipates and travels to the Negative Material Plane. The blood mage's spell casting can still be disturbed in the normal way, but inflicting damage on himself does not disrupt his spell casting in any way. Due to the quick preparation time of their component, blood mages may cast their spells at one-half (round fractions up) the normal casting time. Also, blood mages may cast spells at one level higher than they normally can if they pay an additional 1 hit point when they cut themselves. A blood mage also gets a +2 bonus, in addition any Constitution bonuses, to his initial Hit Points. Every level thereafter, the blood mage receives an additional +1 HP bonus. The blood mage receives a +25% to learn any spells from the Necromancy school. Special Hindrances: Because the blood mage must cut himself to cast spells, this causes extensive scarring. Due to the scarring, blood mages lose 1 point of Charisma every time they gain a level. This Charisma loss can be lowered to a maximum of 3. The scarring process is irreversible. Due to the large amounts of blood the blood mage loses, they must spend one day of complete rest for every 5 hit points of damage they inflict on themselves, at each level, this increases by one point, I.E. 2nd level every 6HP, 3rd every 7HP etc. Also, in addition to any reaction penalties imposed by low Charisma, the blood mage receives an additional -2 reaction penalty. Blood mages can never learn spells from the Enchantment/Charm school. Wealth Options: Standard for Wizards. The Necromancer < M.L.Barklam - csai94@cs.bham.ac.uk > This class is completely separate from the normal specialist wizard, although there are certain overlaps. The description below conforms to that laid out in the DMG for "creating a new character class" although this class was not created using that method. The necromancer is a loner. He prefers to surround himself with the dead (and undead), not with the living. He rarely subordinates himself to anyone and would prefer to rule his own kingdom of the dead. He may, however, employ (or force into servitude) such devoted agents of destruction as orcs, gnolls and trolls. Even animals smell the necromancer's devotion to death and try to avoid him wherever possible. The necromancer will need the services of the living, however, if he wishes to erect a temple of death (see below) and so it is handy to have few around. The necromancer detests sunlight and open places (except moonless nights). He is furtive and reclusive as townsfolk distrust and abhor the necromancer and all that he stands for. A low-level necromancer will probably need to live in a town so as to have access to the materials he needs to practice his art. Attempts to maintain secrecy are hampered by the loathsome nature of the necromancer's work and so, in effect, for each level the necromancer progresses, he looses 1 charisma point as his aura of death becomes more and more palpable, until it reaches zero. This loss also helps represent the growing suspicion of acquaintances, and the general reaction of people as he becomes imbued with death. Long before his charisma reaches zero, however, he is usually chased from the town he is residing and starts a solitary life. High level necromancers are usually the object of quests for paladins, rangers and high level clerics. Class Ability Minimums: - Consitution 15 - The demands of a necromancer's art are physically demanding and draining, a high stamina and health are essential to perform some of their tasks. - Intelligence 12 - A necromancer needs to be intelligent to be able to comprehend the arcane forces involved, much as a wizard does. - Wisdom 14 - The powers the necromancer wields are powerful, and so a high willpower is required to resist them and control them, this is best represented by a high wisdom. Race: As with the specialist wizard necromancer, all necromancers must be human. Combat Value used: Necromancers fight as priests. Saving Throw Tables used: Necromancers make all saves as priests, but gain certain modifiers: * Necromancers are quite fearless and so make saves at +1 where fear is the principle emotion. * As explorers of death, all saves vs. death magic are made at +2, as are all saves vs. necromantic magicks and affects of undead they are not already immune to. Hit Dice per level: Necromancers use a D8 for determining hit points plus any constitution bonuses Proficiencies: Necromancers gain proficiencies as priests of the same level do Armour Allowed: Necromancers can use any type of armour and shields and use their special talents, but cannot cast wizard spells while so adorned. Weapons Allowed: Necromancers can use any type of non-magical weapon, and may use all magic items available to other classes except swords. Hit Points Per Level Beyond 9th: The necromancer gains 2HP upon attaining each level beyond 9th. Abilities and Restrictions: While these should probably be separate categories, I thought it best to put them together as some abilities also count as restrictions. The first of the necromancer's abilities concerns his control over undead: Necromancers can communicate with undead, friendly or not, and may befriend undead, just as evil clerics can, using the undead matrix. A "D" result, means that the undead is permanently under his control, until such time as it is turned or killed. The only other way to get undead to serve the necromancer permanently, is for the necromancer to present himself to friendly undead and if the result is successful, then 1-12 are permanently under his control. If, however, the necromancer rolls a 1, then the undead immediately attack the necromancer. Normal control lasts until a good cleric turns them, the undead moves out of a range of 20'/necromancer's level or out of line of sight. Volitionless undead like skeletons and zombies are exempt from this range restriction and may be left in an area with some simple instructions. Control can also be broken by the successful casting of a dispel evil spell. If the necromancer is physically present during the attempted breaking of his control over the undead, then the attempt will automatically failed. As such, any undead controlled by the necromancer cannot be turned while the necromancer is present. The maximum number of undead the necromancer may control is equal to 10HD/level. A necromancer is also immune to the powers of undead with fewer HD than his level. Healing: Unfortunately for the necromancer, his association with death makes it impossible for his wounds to heal naturally, or through the use of healing magicks. Hit points must be regained by sacrificing (demi-)humans in a ritual requiring a brazier, candles and a ritually prepared knife. The ritual takes one hour to perform and heals the necromancer 1HP for every HD or level of the creature sacrificed. Only one ritual can be performed per day. Alternatively, there are spells the necromancer has access to that allow him to directly drain the life forces of others and add them to his own (Vampiric Touch is one) as well as some granted abilities which will be detailed later. Sight: At second level, the necromancer gains the ability to see in infravision, but his normal eyesight deteriorates with each successive level until, at tenth level, it is no better than normal sight under a full moon. At the same time, his infravision becomes more accurate, losing all of its characteristic "fuzziness" by tenth level, unfortunately, it cannot be used in sunlight, or other bright lights. The necromancer also gains the ability to see into other planes that touch the prime material, especially the negative material, allowing him to make out undead easily. This ability also allows the necromancers to have an increased chance to see invisible, with a 5% chance plus 1% per level in addition to his normal chance. Temple of Death: At 10th level, the necromancer may build a temple of death. He may only posses one temple of death at any one time, but if one is destroyed, he may create another. The temple must be created out of the bones of creatures killed by the necromancer or his servants, bonded together with a paste made out of blood and various thickeners. The temple may be of any size, but every 10 cubic feet costs 10 man-hours and 10g.p. to build. Bone walls must be at least 1' thick, and ceilings and floors, ½' thick. Undead slaves lack the dexterity to build the temple, so living engineers must be brought in. The temple bones are magically resistant to damage and is treated as the hardest type of stone. * While in his temple, saving throws against his powers are at an additional -2, -1 if the target is not also in his temple. * The necromancer heals 1HP per turn while in his temple. * Finally, the necromancer can call up to one skeleton from the walls of his temple per 10 cubic feet of bone per day. These skeletons cannot be called out within 5' of each other and can never leave the temple. Undeath: When the necromancer is killed, he can come back in a week as a free-willed undead of equal HD as he had levels in life. The necromancer retains his abilities, but no longer advances in level. A 15th level necromancer comes back as a lich. Even destruction of the body will not prevent this. This "reincarnation" only works once, if his undead form is killed too, he is permanently dead and cannot be resurrected. Curses: A necromancer may curse his killer as he dies (assuming he has chance to speak it and knows who killed him). this ability is equivalent to the clerical curse spell, but not automatically removable. The necromancer places the curse as a cleric four times his own level (a 10th level necromancer places the curse as a 40th level cleric). Any remove curse or dispel evil works on this curse as a dispel magic works on magic. Each cleric has one try only. Skills: The necromancer, during his studies, will come across methods of doing necromantic things. These skills are learned in a similar way to proficiencies, but do not take up proficiency slots, instead a necromancer may have a number of them per level depending, just as mages may memorise a number of spells. Necromantic abilities, once learned, cannot be forgotten and replaced by other abilities, but nor need they be memorised to be used. Once learned, they may be used once a day, except where noted in the skill description, a necromantic skill may be learned more than once, thus allowing the necromancer to use it more than once per day. This is not applicable in some cases, and should be obvious from the description. Necromancers may also take wizard spells from the school of necromancy as skills, too. These need not be memorised, simply learned, and can be used once per day, without the need of complex castings or spell components. Level 1 and 2 spells count as grade 1 skills, levels 3 and 4 count as grade 2, 5 and 6 as grade 3, 7 and 8 as 4, and 9 as grade 5. If level 10 spells are used, these are also considered of grade 5 ability. These spells can ONLY be taken from the school of necromancy, not all the spells necromancer specialist wizards have access to. Necromancers gain these abilities per level based on the below table: Level of Necromancer Grade 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 - - - - 2 4 - - - - 3 6 1 - - - 4 8 2 - - - 5 10 3 1 - - 6 10 4 2 - - 7 11 6 2 1 - 8 12 7 2 2 - 9 13 7 4 2 - 10 14 9 5 2 1 11 15 11 6 3 1 12 15 12 9 3 2 13 18 14 11 3 2 14 18 15 11 5 2 15 19 16 12 5 3 As can be seen, if a necromancer simply specialised in wizard spells, he would be a formidable opponent for any reasonable well armed party. Necromancers rarely do this, however, as they prefer to have a broad base of necromantic knowledge. Intelligence does not limit the number of magic spells he can learn as it does for a wizard, because the necromancer isn't learning spells, but skills that simply happen to duplicate magic effects. The extra abilities are listed below, these can be chosen in addition to magic spells. A brief description follows each: Grade 1 Skills Cause Darkness - same as darkness 15' radius spell. Find Necromantic Familiar - as 1st level wizard spell, but familiar is necromantic (undead/demonic) in nature. Aura of Evil - Acts as protection from good, at will. Evil Eye - Necromancer's eyes act as those of vampire, except hold instead of charm. Only works while eyes locked. Save vs. spells applies. Animate Dead - Animates one skeleton or zombie to a maximum of 1 skeleton or zombie per level. Detect Life - As spell - at will. Grade 2 Skills Speak With Dead - same as 3rd level clerical spell. Manufacture Ghoul - Creates a ghoul. Process takes 1 week, culminating in a 6 hour ritual. Not automatically under control. Manufacture Ghast - As Manufacture Ghoul, but a ghast is created. Manufacture Ghoul is prerequisite. Wraithform - As spell, but duration is 1 turn/level. Emotion - As spell, negative emotions only. Fear - As spell, save is at -4. Bestow Curse - As spell. Cause Disease - As spell. Speak With Dead - As spell - no save. Grade 3 Abilities Contact Other Plane - As spell - No chance of going insane. Dismissal - As spell, necromancer counts as 4 levels higher. Repulsion - As spell. Dispel Good - As spell - save at -4. Manufacture Wight - As manufacture Ghast, but manufactures a mummy, manufacture Ghast is prerequisite. Manufacture Mummy - As manufacture wight, but manufactures a mummy, manufacture wight is prerequisite. Paralyse - Necromancer's touch causes paralysis for two turns always on. Possession - Necromancer's spirit leaves his body and attempts to possess another, save vs. spells applies. Possession lasts until sunrise or the necromancer ends it. Necromancer has access to knowledge possessed does. Unholy Strength - Necromancer's strength is increased to 18/00 permanently, following a 6 hour ritual during which a paladin with 18/00 strength (how the necromancer divines this will be interesting indeed) must be sacrificed to the god of death. Armour of Bone - Necromancer's body protected by a supple, yet strong, exoskeleton, granting AC 0 permanently. Requires a 6 hour ritual during which the necromancer must slowly drain and drink the blood of a virgin female. Grade 4 Abilities True Sight - As spell - always on. Aura of Fear - As 30' radius from caster, fear as spell at will - save at -4. Drain Life - This ability completely drains a touched victim of life. Save vs. death magic applies. Necromancer gains HP can't go above maximum. Creeping Doom - As spell. Unholy Word - As spell. Wither Touch - As wither spell - at will. Mind Blank - As spell - permanently on. Trap the Soul - As spell. Age - As priest spell Age Creature, except ageing is 2 years/necromancer level for every 100 years of lifespan. Grade 5 Skills Summon Angel of Death - Necromancer summons an angel of death and orders it to slay a single individual up to 30' away. Save vs. Death magic at -6 applies Animate Undead Army - Similar to the animate dead skill, but the maximum number animatable is infinite. Magic Resistance - 5%/level As can be seen, Necromancers have the potential to be VERY powerful (at 10th level they could use a 9th level spell, or a grade 5 ability). Necromancers also, potentially, have access to the death spell at 5th level. To some this may appear to be overpowerful, but when you consider the restrictions on the activities of the necromancer, it almost seems to pale in comparison. It would always be possible to impose further restrictions on the necromancer: The Complete Book of Necromancers has some prices for being a necromancer (and some extra abilities, if you care to use them); Require a ritual sacrifice of some living creature (getting more specialised as the necromancer goes up in level) to appease the dark gods he follows; etc. This class is chiefly designed to make a very good arch-nemesis for a group of good-aligned characters, and not to be used as a PC class. A PC would make a poor necromancer anyway, not only due to the solitary distrustful nature of the necromancer, but, at higher levels, necromancers rarely GO anywhere or DO anything, they stay in their temples, sending their undead out to do their work, and researching further necromantic skills and practising extant skills. Experience: Necromancers get experience for anything they accomplish as well as anything his animated undead do in his presence. Individual Class Awards: (Necromancer) Using a skill to overcome foes or problem: 50XP /Grade Skill Successfully researched: 500XP /Grade Successful Creation of Undead Creature: 100XP /HD Successful Control of Undead Creature: 10XP /HD Successful Permanent Control of Undead Creature:25XP /HD The necromancer progresses using the following experience table: Level Experience Hit Dice (D8) 1 0 1 2 2,200 2 3 4,400 3 4 8,800 4 5 22,000 5 6 44,000 6 7 88,000 7 8 165,000 8 9 308,000 9 10 638,000 9+2 11 968,000 9+4 12 1,298,000 9+6 13 1,628,000 9+8 14 1,958,000 9+10 15 2,288,000 9+12 15th level is the maximum attainable. As can be seen, the necromancer requires more XP to get to 15th level than a paladin does! It can also be seen that this XP table follows the progression given the 2nd Ed. DMG (mult.11). Magic Items: Necromancers can use magic items belonging to all other classes, except swords, but there are no necromancy specific magic items that these necromancers can create as their powers are not magical in nature (although they do duplicate their effects); they are more akin to granted powers once they have researched and learned a skill. NEW WARRIOR CLANS The Dark Brotherhood of Addra Alex King The Dark BrotherHood, otherwise known as the Slayers, the Blood Brothers or the Knights of Addra, are an exclusively dwarven Knighly Order devoted to the destruction of Undead, Lower Planar Creatures and their summoners and makers. They worship and draw their power from the lesser goddess Addra, Moradin's Handmaiden of Life, and the Lake of Mercury, an underground lake with powerful magical properties. Both male and female dwarves can join the Slayers. Beggining as apprentices, they follow the Brothers on their quests and adventures, until they are deemed wothy of the... TEST of the LAKE The Lake of Mercury, from where legend has it Addra forged the Maces, is the holy centre of the Brothers. Deep, hidden in unknown and shielded caverns somewhere in Faerun, the Lake is the meeting place of the Slayers every 10 years. They all gather there, coming from all across the Realms, to take and witness the Test. Since there are but 13 Maces available to the Brothers, only the fittest must have the privilege of wielding them. The TEST is a challenge- one Slayer challenges the other for control of a Mace. Apprentices can only challenge the BoneBrother, but other Brothers can challenge any position except one of the three OverBrothers, the most powerful and senior members of the Order, who act as Commanders and High Priests. Challenges must be defended or else the position is forfeit, but this is a little-used section of the Code, since competition is fierce. The two contestants, in dark ceremonial robes, enter the Lake and walk to its center- the lake, through magic (and physics) will let no other being tread its waters, disintegrating (no save) those of evil intent, repulsing those who might stumble across it. At the bottom of the Lake, or so the legend goes, is the Sixteenth Mace, the most powerful Mace of all, holding the Holy Essence of Addra. Various prophecies exist, foretelling of dire dangers when the Sixteenth Mace will rise to the hands of Moradin and save the faihful of Addra. Still, the TEST goes on in the centre of the Lake of dark mercury. Though no-one besides the contestants, who are honor-bound never to reveal, know what the test was, it is said it involves time/space/planar travel since it takes but an instance to the eyes of the observers and the contestants always return with an outcome and unharmed. The victor will then gain the Mace he challenged, and his previous Mace will be itself the object of a Test and so on and so forth. The Overbrothers, who cannot be challenged, are ordained or confirmed by the total will of the Brothers. They hold the sacred tomes of the Code (including the Code of the Maces and the Code of the Blood, the order's history etc). There is no shame to the defeated in the Test, and s/he has a priority in claiming the new victor's old Mace. This is not to say that the hardy and stubborn Dwarves don't play power games, but there is an unspoken consent on the matter of pride and power. Game Mechanics * The Brothers rise in levels like Paladins, the use Warrior attack values, Priest saving throws, Warrior proficiencies. * Requisites for joining the Order are 16+ CON, 14+ STR, 13+ WIS. * The Brothers can specialise (usually in Tight Group: Maces, Flails, Hammers) only once. They can use any weapons, and usually carry a normal mace or flail, an axe and crossbow. They can wear any armour, and usually prefer silver-chased plate armours, or chain mail with magnificent breastplates and blood red tabards. They usually wear skull- or demon-shaped red & white helms. Purple, red, white and silver are their favored colors. * The gain the Priest's MDA from Wisdom. * The have the following Bonus NWP: BlindFighting, Undead Lore. * They can 'track' undead or discover the sources of infestation, as well as detect undead in a 20 yard radius globe. * The Brothers have the following Spells available to them: LEVEL I Bless, Detect Evil, Remove Fear, Invisibility to Undead, Protection from Evil, Sanctuary, Light LEVEL II Spiritual Hammer, Find Traps, Flame Blade, Slow Poison LEVEL III Speak with Dead, Glyph of Warding, Cure Disease, Negative Plane Protection, Remove Curse, Continual Light, Create Food & Water. LEVEL IV Cloak of Bravery, Neutralise Poison They Brothers have the following Spell Progression Level: Spell Level Brother of Addra's Level ** 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 - 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 - - - - 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 3 - - - - - - - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 4 - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 1 1 2 3 ** Only OverBrothers can achieve 16th Casting Level. Ordinary Brothers may be more powerful in levels, but never in magic or Mace. Note that a BoneBrother can theoretically be 30th Level ( I use a semi-slow but unlimited demi- human adavancement) and a BloodBrother 2nd level, but that would never actually happen. Titled Brothers with a Mace must be at least 2nd Level, but other than that, Paladin level need not coincide with Mace level. Material components are always a bit of bone, a drop of blood and the Holy Symbol of Addra: a fist-sized red & black skull made of Lake Mithril. This unique symbol is given to the Brother upon his gaining a Mace, and if lost or destroyed in any way or for any reason, the Brother must offer the blood of a she-Vampire whom s/he defeated to the Lake. THE CODE OF THE BLOOD * The Word of Addra is Law * The Word of the OverBrother is Law, second only to Addra * The Brother must always have as primary goal the destruction of the most and most powerful Undead * The Brother must never leave a battle with Undead unless a far greater destruction is planned. * The Brother must never fear in the face of Undeath; chants to Addra will dispel the Fear and Evil. This is just a sample. Add to it as you see fit to cover contingecies, but always keep in mind that these Dwarves are tough, pious and DARK! THE MACES OF THE BROTHERHOOD There exist 15 Maces- 12, one for each type of Undead, and Three, the Maces of the OverBrothers, which destroy Devils. All Maces are different- some are even Flails, eg I usually consider BoneBane (vs Skeletons) a Two-Headed Flail, or RotBane (vs Mummies) is equipped with red-hot spikes. Ghostbane, on the other hand, would be but a rune-covered crystal rod (unbreakable, of course). All Maces are wielded as +1 Weapons, except the DaevilBanes, which are +2 for the OverBrothers. The more powerful the Mace, the less of a chance the Undead have of saving versus Disintegration, as in Table 1: TABLE 1 CHANCE OF SAVE VS DISINTEGRATION Maces of the Brotherhood Undead Type Ske Zom Ghl Sha Wig Ghs Wra Mum Spe Vam Gho Lic Dev Bonebane 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 99 99 100 100 100 Zombiebane 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 99 99 100 100 Ghoulbane 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 99 99 100 Shadowbane 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 99 99 Wightbane 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 99 Ghastbane 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 99 Wraithbane 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 95 Rotbane 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 90 Spectrebane 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 85 Bloodbane 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 80 Ghostbane 20 35 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 75 Lichbane 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 70 Daevilbane 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5 Note that the chose Undead only has but 5% chance to save- even mighty Devils will fall to the DaevilBanes. Even if the Undead saves, double dice damage will be inflicted. Other properties include: * 5d6 points of damage to any Evil or Undead creature touching the Mace- this does *not* apply during battle, but the creature still has to save. * +1 to Attack and Damage Rolls for the chosen Undead * It can hit any Undead, regardless of silver, magical or other weapons needed to hit. * It allows the Slayer to Turn the chosen Undead as a Cleric of equal level, but this is especially discouraged, and destruction by weapons is the preffered way of dealing with Undead. Other Undead can be turned at -2 levels. * +2 to saves versus the attacks of the specific Undead. * Knowledge of the best attack and surest defences is implicitly imparted to the wielder of the Mace, specific to the chosen type, but as s/he aquires more powerful Maces, the previous knowledge is less than complete. There is a CODE of the MACE, part of the Code of Blood, which the Slayer must unfailingly observe: * Every wielding of the Mace must be accompanied by a chant and supplication to Addra. * The Mace is not to be used against non-evil creatures.If it ever is, it will shock its wielder (5d6) and never again accept him. Although not explicilty forbitten by the Code, use of the Mace in combat against non-undead is frowned upon. * The Mace must not fall into the hands of another being. * An offering of blood and bones must be made to Addra once every full moon, and smeared on the Mace held over a fire. * The wielder's sign will appear on the Mace if he braves immense danger to complete a heroic task of destroying some powerful Undead. The few precious signs of the previous heroes can be see on the shafts of the weapons. THE CURRENT STATUS of THE ORDER Although you can (and probably will) make your own Order, the Order as it stands now in my campaing is the following: It has been three years since the last TEST- The brothers are again scattered throughout the Realms in search of Undead and vile magic of undeath. A lot of them are members of adventuring companies, but they mostly go alone, except for the company of Novice Brothers who accompany low-to-medium level Brothers. The OverBrothers are never to be seen except at the TESTS, but prayer to the Addra will reach them as surely as it will reach the Goddess Herself, and they will go to the aid of valiant Brother facing overwhelming evil. The OverBrothers always travel together. They are: Juggas BrassMask dm Pal22 - He is the youngest and strongest, and was just ordained OverBrother in the place of a fallen one. Ferrya Dumathallo df Pal19 - Old and wise, she is extremely ugly but uncomparably virtuous. Gormanth VrokBane dm Pal26 - The oldest, he is over 700 years old. He has access to powerful magic. These Three hold the DaevilMaces- twined shafts of red mithril, with the runes of past OverBrothers, with a head made of pure white bone with black devil horns as spikes. Other important Brothers are: Leondas Meleag dm Pal15 - BloodBrother, rumored to have visited the demiplane of Ravenloft. He never speaks, and seems haunting and spooky even to his fellows. His hair is stark white, as his armour. Cuppa WoodHug df Pal14 - GhoulBrother, a very quiet, calm, young dwarven maiden. She is unique among the Brothers in her love for nature, thus her name. Pero DevaHand dm Pal6 - ZombieBrother, a very promising warrior, he is very young and boisterous. He is adventuring with 'The Five Spikes' in the Southern Sword Coast. Cloran JemDeeg dm Pal8 - ShadowBrother, one of the most pious in the Order, is currently on a quest to retrieve his lost Holy Symbol in the Great Desert. Hella KernFoot gf Pal2 - The only non-dwarf, she is a rare half-dwarf, half-gnome. She is an initiate, aiding Cloran. Meth MooreStaff dm Bard8/Pal8 - WraithBrother, a dwarf from the Far South, he is a storyteller of great fame and charisma, as he used to be a Bard in the Southern lands before he joined. He is adventuring in East Aglarond. Bruma Atlantar dm Pal17 - LichBrother, his armour is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, a suit of heavily enchanted everblue plate with ruby eye wards and elvish feather-lace helm. The only Brother to assosciate with what the others call scatterbrain elves, he adventures with the Company of the Three White Moons, mostly Elves, in the Moonsea. The Blood Brothers keep their existance a secret even from their fellow adventurers, as many are the spiteful Dark Wizards whose minions they have thwarted. Be one, or never see one.... NEW MAGICAL ITEMS Chalice of Everlasting Blood Michael Thomas Fassbender This item is similar to the Decanter of Endless Water, from which it is derived, although in the case of this item, it is fresh blood, and not water, that is created. When activated by its command word, the Chalice fills with blood, and no matter how much is poured out, it remains full until de-activated by command. Because of the magics used to create the item, the blood is fresh for all purposes to which the user can put it. It can be used as a spell component, for example, or to satiate a vampire's thirst. Note, however, that the Chalice rarely if ever can suffice to fulfill ritual purposes, since such rituals (as in Mayan blood offerings) typically emphasize the *shedding* of blood, and not merely its presence. This item was first created by an ancient vampire, Hermann Siegmund von Walfuerth, who regularly spends extended periods of time in magical research and cannot always find time for the hunt. Death's Garments < Kevin Langley - klangley@laraby.tiac.net > Death Cloak This cloak is large and black, and when placed upon a character, and the hoood is pulled up over the head, the character's face would look like death himself (skeletol head). This item may be used three times per day (each time lasting 1 hour), and then becomes an ordinary cloak for the remainder of that day. It may be used again in the same manner for the next day, and so on after that. Morales are decreased by 4 at the sight of Death, unless the victim has Eyes of True Seeing or something similar. Death Gloves These are the gloves that go with Death's Cloak. They make the hands of the wearer appear skeletol, and only add to the illusion of the wearer being Death. These can usually be found in a hidden rear pocket of Death's Cloak. These can be activated only with the cloak on the wearer, and for the limited time mentioned above. Being touched by someone wearing these gloves provides a Chill Touch spell to be usured out of them. The victim may roll against the spell (vs. paralyzation), and suffer the effects of the spell if the roll is failed. If the roll succeeds, the victim fells a slight chill along the back of his spine. Gauntlet of the Necromancer < Aaron Bowman - aaron@bowman.pdial.interpath.net > (20-50 charges) This gauntlet is "drawn" to the living, providing a +3 to hit vs. the living & a -2 vs. undead. It thrives on the life force of the living. It will drain 3d6 hp from any one touched by it (by the owners request) & add it to the owners HP, even over his/her max (see the vampiric touch) as long as it's on their hand or taken away by normal damage. Only evil characters may use this item without being drained of 1d6 HP every round the gauntlet is in contact with the wearer. Although, it drains ANY owner's HP, for evil characters it's not enough to affect them. It can be recharged by casting Vampiric Touch upon it. Hater < Tim Dickinson - dickinst@crl1.crl.aecl.ca > Hater is a magical dagger of undoubtedly diabolic creation. It's last known wielder was Garoz Hilpar, the Assassin-Priest of Vesh in the Third Land. Hilpar was King Fustan's "dirty little secret," and despite the political expediency of elimating the evil priest from the Third Land, Fustan's past dealings with Hilpar (and his present fear of the man) were just too dangerous to see the light of day. So Hilpar kept his wicked cult of Vesh alive for many years, and many were the sacrifices that went to Vesh through the blade of Hater. Hater is a large but wieldy dagger. Its engravings and large bloodstone obviously mark it as ceremonial, but its balance, shape and edge also make it an acceptable combat weapon. Rumours said that in the hands of a death priest like Hilpar, its evil magic powers came to flower: whispered mutterings of the dagger draining all the blood from its victims, or fiendish phantoms issuing forth from it to devour the sacrifice... Staff of Gog < Aaron Bowman - aaron@bowman.pdial.interpath.net > The staff is 8ft long of hideous wood. Atop the staff sits a large Humanoid skull, the wood seems to grasp the skull as a hand would. Two dark red enchanted gems rest firmly in the eye sockets of the skull. A strong Necromantic Aura surrounds the staff. History: This staff is the only weapon of a great Undead Master, Gog. Although his origin is unknown, he had challenged & even befriended (only for personal gain) some of the most powerful wizards. No one knows exactly what happened to Gog, some say he was defeated and others say He still roams looking for his staff. Campaign Use: The Staff of Gog could be found anywhere. The staff is practically pure evil & very few would benefit from owning it. Only those who seek Gog himself or those with a desire for extreme Necromantic power would seek out this item. Powers: Constant Powers: - the staff grants the control over any undead risen up by the owner of the staff, they don't transfer to a new owner (summoned extraplanars too). It can animate dead by touch once per day and now has a natural AC of 6. Invoked: ( left gem ) - can cast Slay Living / Raise Dead once per day ( right gem ) - can cast Death Shroud once per day Curse: - The staff can be used by Wizards only & characters of evil alignment. Neutral alignment characters are to 1/2 HP. Good charaters are reduced to 1/2 HP and are paralyzed for 1d6 rounds. After 3 uses of the staff's power the owners eyes become snake-like. After the 5th use the PC's tongue becomes forked. After the 7th use the owner height & weight increase until they reach 10', 400 lbs. After the 10th use the character can be used as a receptical for Gog to transfer his or someone elses life force into. Means of Destruction: It must be separated into 4 pieces & destroyed: Left Gem: Throw into an intense thunder storm Right Gem: Must be buried on a glacier Skull: Bone Blight must be cast upon it 25 times Staff: Must be incinerated by a red dragons breath weapon Voodoo Doll Ricky Jay Peltz These dolls are reputed to be made by the reclusive swamp witches of Kithask. They guard the secret of their creation jealously and are loathe to let them fall into the hands of the Outsiders. Nevertheless, a few of these dolls have indeed found themselves in the hands of mages from around the land. A voodoo doll, although expertly made from wood or cloth, (complete with moving joints) , is always featureless and generic. To use one a mage has to dress it in the style of the intended victim. This requires an appropriate proficiency roll (or dex-2) check and 2d4 hours. It doesn't have to be perfect but should at least resemble a fighter if the victim is a fighter etc. (This check should be made in secret by the DM. See below). More importantly, the mage must incorporate either some part of the victim in the doll (blood, fingernail clipping etc), or include some personal possession of the victim. Once this is done, the secret words are spoken and a link is forged between the doll and the victim. The mage may now use the following abilities: * Clairvoyance/clairaudience three times a day on the victim's location. * By pricking the doll with a pin the mage may cause 1 point of damage to the victim. * By stabbing the doll with a dagger, the damage is conferred to the victim. However the doll may only take 4d10 points of damage in this way before being destroyed. It is rumoured that there exist more powerful dolls that allow the mage to cast certain spells through the doll to affect the victim such as charm person and ESP. All the above abilities only work if the mage and victim are within 5 miles of each other (and on the same plane). The victim is allowed an initial saving throw (vs spell) when the link is first forged (rolled secretly by the DM) but is otherwise unaware of the link. If the mage failed his original profiency check then although the clairvoyance / clairaudience power works there is a small chance that any use of a damaging power backfires! This chance is 10% for every point that the mage failed his profiency check by. Once an attack backfires the link is broken (although it may be reforged from scratch). Lastly, a victim who realises what is happening may attempt to have a dispel magic spell cast upon himself (for the express purpose of breaking the voodoo link). If the dispel magic spell works there is an immediate backlash to the mage using the doll causing 3d6 points of damage (save vs spell for half). The same applies if the doll is destroyed before the link is broken. The mage may break the link safely himself, but it takes a few seconds to do so. (An initiative roll is required in a combat situation). Zombie Powder Ricky Jay Peltz Used by the swamp witches in order to retain servants and to instill fear in the local villagers, the zombie powder is a poison whose manufacture requires various creatures and plants which exist only in the swamps. The recipe is, of course, known only to the swamp witches. When ingested the victim is allowed a saving throw vs poison to resist the effects. If failed then after 1d4 hours the unforunate individual will rapidly weaken and appear to 'die'. (All physical tests will detect that the victim is dead. However, any magical tests will show that the victim is actually still alive). The witch will then bury the victim or allow him or her to be buried. After 1-2 days though, the witch will procure the 'body'. The victim will be in a trance and is totally suggestable to the commands of the witch, acting just like a zombie. The 'zombie' will follow orders blindly and fight at half his or her normal level. It is important to note that the witches are careful to maintain the pretense that they have actually raised the dead. Many are able to do this anyway, but a 'zombie' procured by this method has several advantages: First, the witch often tries to use the powder on a reasonably powerful individual resulting in a stronger than normal zombie. Unlike a normal zombie, the victim gets normal initiative in combat. Secondly, the victim isn't actually undead. Although the lack of the smell of decay may tip off any opponents that something is wrong, this will probably not be until all their Turning attempts and protection from undead spells have failed! The victim of the zombie powder remains in a trance for only 2d4 days. But regular ingestion of the powder ensures continued loyalty to the witch. (Every time a victim is fed more powder he receives another save vs poison but at a -6 penalty.) A victim may be released from the zombie trance by others (if they realise what has happened) by the use of a dispel magic or remove curse spell followed by a cure poison spell cast at 7th level of ability. After being released from the trance (by making the saving throw or by the help of others) the victim will be extremely weak (half stats). Ability points are regained at the rate of one (in each ability) per day of complete rest. Swamp witches often keep several of these pseudo-zombies as servants and guardians, often using magic to enhance their 'undead' appearance. NEW ARTIFACTS Hellblades < Urklore the Iron - urklore@tiac.net > It was rumored many a year ago that during the great wars when the Elves united to battle the Dark Elves and to cause them to flee to the vast underground, Gulgaraith, a well experienced fighter/mage Dark Elf, forged numerous swords of great power to help in those wars. This is how The Hellblades came to surface on the mortal world of man. Nobody knows how many blades were actually forged and enchanted and how many still exist after so many centuries. All that is know is that they are weapons of quite evil power. OVERALL EFFECT: Each sword functions as a modified Sword of Sharpness, they are all +3 weapons and sever a random limb (not neck/head though) on a natural roll of 18-19. They shed light on command of their natural color in a 30' radius. These weapons are so powerful and evilly enchanted that if broken they will simply reform themselves and if ever torn away from their owner they will simply slide closer to get within the presence of their owner, distance not being a factor, though it may take some time to get to its owner if the distance is very great. However, their most known power is the ability, on a natural 20, to suck the victim's soul form his body, thus killing the victim outright, and feed upon it. The possessor of a Hellblade is also fed by the sword some of the soul's life essence as well. This translates into the victim receiving one of the victim's powers, attributes, etc., as chosen by the DM. The owner is continuously fed the soul and retains the added power as long as he holds onto the sword, Letting go of the sword 'breaks' the umbilical cord of the sword to the owner. The swords continuously feeds on the soul until it strikes another victim with a natural 20 where the process starts all over again and the owner loses the power of the old soul and gains another. If a Hellblade sucks an exceptionally powerful soul (10+Level/HD) the possessor must immediately make a Wis-4 check or the sword will become 'frenzied' and cause (actually force) the user to attack for 1d4 rounds the nearest living thing in hope of additional 'feeding'! Those slain by a Hellblade are dead, and cannot be raised or resurrected short of a wish. Note that undead and the like have no soul and on a natural roll of 20 only Sharpness Severing occurs. Each Hellblade also has an ego, Int, and a defensive power to help its owner. Hellblades cannot however talk, use Telepathy, and the like. If a Hellblade ever comes within 50' of another each possessor of the blade must make a Wisdom check at -5 or be forced to slay the other. This save is made per round until one of the other is slain, the swords are separated from the radius, or the swords are some how separated by a different dimension or such (such as putting it in a Portable Hole or Bag of Holding). The '13' known Hellblades are as followed: KNOWN HELLBLADES Excalibur Junior A perverted twisted version of that saintly weapon. It glows with a purple radiance and has the power of Armor (purple glow) thrice per day for its possessor at the 12 level of ability. It is a Broadsword with an INT: 15 and EGO; 10. Lifeater A Scimitar that glows with a pure ruby radiance and can Haste its possessor thrice per day at the 12th level of use. Note the user is aged TWO years per use of the Haste power. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 10. Lifelicker A Broadsword that glows with a black radiance. This sword can Raise Dead its possessor ONLY thrice per day at the 12th level of ability. The possessor will simply 'rise' back up from the dead with 1hp and one CON less but will still be able to function normally without the needed rest. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 17. Lifesucker A Broadsword that glows with a whitish radiance. It permanently protects the user as a Resist Cold spell and can Protection From Good its possessor thrice per day at the 12th level of use. It has an INT: 16 and an EGO: 12. Hellbearer A Broadsword that glows with a colorless radiance! It has three powers that it can grant on its possessor once a day each instead of one power thrice per day. All powers function at the 12th level of ability and are as followed: Improved Invisibility, Alter Self, and Non-Detection. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 14. Souldevourer A Bastard Sword that glows with a Grayish radiance. The sword can only do once per day Tenser's Transformation on its possessor but at the 13th level of use. It has an INT: 16 and an EGO: 13. Souldrainer A Broadsword that glows with a sickly purplish/yellowish radiance. This sword has the ability to Negative Plane Protection its possessor thrice per day at the 12th level of use. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 10. Souleater A Broadsword that glows with a blackish radiance, it has the ability to Ghost Armor its possessor thrice per day at the 12th level of ability. It has an INT: 16 and an EGO: 10 Soulskinner A Shortsword that glows with a yellowish radiance, it has the ability to Stoneskin its possessor thrice per day at the 12 level of ability. It has an INT: 17 and EGO: 10 Soulsucker A Longsword that glows with a sickly Greenish/Yellowish radiance. This sword grants its possessor 37% Magic Resistance when held and the ability to Minor Globe of Invulnerability its owner thrice per day at the 12 level of ability. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 12. Soulswallower A massive Two-Handed sword that glows with a rainbow multi-colored radiance. It can Anti-Magic Shell is possessor thrice per day at the 12th level of ability. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 15. Soultaster A Shortsword that glows with a bluish radiance that can Waterbreathe and Blur its possessor Thrice per day each at the 6th level of use. It has an INT: 15 and an EGO: 12. Soulzapper A Greatsword of pure black Steel, it glows with a bright red radiance of the fires of hell itself. It grants its user Fire Resistance and has the power to Mirror Image it possessor thrice per day at the 12 level of ability. It has an INT: 17 and an EGO: 12. NEW ELIXER'S & POTIONS Death's Nectar < Tim Dickinson - dickinst@crl1.crl.aecl.ca > Ingestion of this foul poison is a terrible blight indeed: if imbibed by any living humanoid it will sl