Rynath Monster: The Chain Wreck

According to legend the first Chain Wrecks came into existence in a dungeon deep beneath the Phaen Moors. Powerful agents of entropy, Chain Wrecks are the tortured souls of those who perished in bondage.  So terrible was their death, so vile is their thirst for retribution, that they blame all life and will stop at nothing to bring the universe one step closer to oblivion.

Though incorporeal, due to the spiritual weight of their cursed chains, Chain Wrecks display a shocking amount of "physical" strength.  They prefer hit-and-run tactics such as flying through walls across narrow hallways and small chambers.  Utilizing such tactics, one Chain Wreck alone is capable of decimating an entire village or a small town.  Those left alive will pray for death as cursed chain fragments now torment them from within, preventing their wounds from ever properly healing.

Particularly dreadful are the larger, more brazen, Howling Chain Wrecks who announce their presence with a maniacal, chain-rattling howl that can stifle the courage of even the most stalwart warriors.

Chain Wrecks can speak whatever language they knew in life, but they suffer such sadistic madness that any conversation is....unlikely.  Chain Wrecks do not hoard treasure on purpose.  Any treasure found near them will undoubtedly be found on one of their victims.

Chain Wreck D&D 5th Edition

 Chain Wreck OSR

For those of you interested in art, here's the unrefined sketch.  Looks like crap, but seeing as it was already my 3rd or 4th attempt, I stuck with it.  Just like writing, drawing is a process.  Tough it out; stick with it.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Character Sheet Revised

It was only a matter of time before I decided to revise my 5th Edition character sheets.

The most notable change is the horizontal placement of ability scores as opposed to a "list."  Lists are usually easier to read, especially at a glance, but I think this format works.  Overall, it sort of has a "Dark Heresy meets D&D" vibe, which wasn't my goal but I like the outcome.  I included two versions, Gold and Black.  I also removed the italic lettering on the spell sheet and corrected some minute alignment issues.

For earlier versions of this Character Sheet see the side-bar on the right.

D&D 5th Revised 09/18
D&D 5th Revised 09/18 Fillable

D&D 5th Revised--Gold 09/18

Rynath Artifact: Line-Breaker Becomes Pain's Gift

Vatra Nok

Dwarven Forged during the Barol-Thanon Betrayal, this hammer was meant to break the lines of rebellious clans and was baptized Nyord Utos, "Line-Breaker," but was best used by Prince Bran-Thanon to break the back of the wicked Ice Dragon, Cortlvaq.  Re-dubbed, Arun-Pur, "Pain's Gift" resurfaced decades later in the possession of the brigand, Vatra Nok, who is said to have perished in the Othon Gorge when he stumbled into the terrtitory of Winter Gnolls.  Pain's Gift is believed to be lost forever in the frigid mountains of Dwimorbura.

Arun-Pur "Pain's Gift"

• Pain's Gift is a War-Hammer so dense that a 16 or higher strength is required to wield it properly. Trying to wield it with a 15 or lower strength incurs disadvantage (or -4) to all hit rolls. 

• It does 2d6+3 points of damage on a hit.

• Scores a critical-hit on a natural 19 or 20 and a Constitution: 15 (or Paralysis) save must be made by the target of the hit to avoid being stunned for 1 round.  Also, any metal armor worn by someone critically-hit by the hammer suffers 1d4 points of armor-class loss.  

Quirk:  Pain's Gift is warm to the touch and "steams" profusely.  The steam is mystical and can not be suppressed in any way.  Anyone wielding the hammer suffers disadvantage on all stealth rolls.

More D&D 5th Edition Character Sheets

  

I have a large collection of RPGs.  It became a routine:  Hear about a game, buy it, figure it out, and ultimately make it my own by redesigning the character sheet.  Nothing helps you understand every aspect of a game better than designing a character sheet for it.

The first question I always ask:  Can I make this a one-page character sheet?  It's always my goal to fit everything on one page.  In a way, its a barometer for how complicated a game is.  But, not always.  Some games are actually fairly simple yet require a lot of booking-keeping.  Many games have optional layers of complexity and offer complete character folios several pages in length (eg, Pathfinder's Character Folio, a nice looking product for sure, but how many people actually use it?)  The simple act of flipping your character sheet over to look at the back or even turning pages causes a certain level of inefficiency to the gaming experience (it's kind of like pausing and having to look up a rule in the rule book(s).)

Now, is this really that big a deal?  No.

But more and more, I'm an OSR guy.  I have really come to appreciate the beauty of simplicity.  Just picked up Frostbitten & Mutilated by Zak Smith, another great product by that guy.  More on OSR products another time...

Throughout most if it's history Dungeons & Dragons only required a single page character sheet.  I remember, back in high school (in the late 80's) any time I was bored in a class I would just start writing out character sheets on lined paper.  Many gamers back then probably produced very similar looking sheets.  The game was simple and there was always plenty of room on the page for everything your character had including all the spells if you multi-classed or were playing a Magic-User or Cleric, but having a separate page for spells wasn't unheard of.

Remember these?  Nice stats!

Eventually no one used hand written sheets.  The official ones were too cool, and if we designed our own, it involved a lot of cut and paste and photo-copying, and wow, it was tedious and fun.  Would not have the patience for that any more.  These days require a different kind of patience.

Frankenstein's Character Sheet.

Don't even remember designing this one for DC Heroes.

3rd Edition D&D opened the floodgates.  With the addition of feats, skills, extensive class abilities, animal companions, and the necessity of  owning many magic-items, one-page D&D character sheets flew out the window.  This information bloat continues with Pathfinder -- which, don't get me wrong, is a fine game and I pre-ordered the 2nd Edition play-test, if only just to own, who knows.  (Love Wayne Reynolds art.)  I'll do a later post on Pathfinder character sheets.

With 5th Edition we have returned to simpler times.  Without talking about the game itself, the rules have just the right level of complexity that makes designing character sheets a joy.  Everything comfortably fits on one page (except spells.)  The official character sheets for the game aren't bad, but I had to customize my own.

 Little side note:  Back when 5th Edition was D&D Next, WOTC asked people to send in their character sheet designs.  Not sure if they were looking for talent or just inspiration, but whatever.  Below is what I sent in.  I think it resembles the final official sheet in tone, i.e, grey and white, and it  shows how my own designs have evolved since then.

On to the alternate 5th Edition character sheets.  The files attached include a spell sheet.


This sheet is similar to the one in my first post with the addition of proficiencies.

DD5thProficiencies

This is a full-on Dungeoneer sheet that lists a bunch of items that are commonly needed in a dungeon crawl.  I've always liked the idea of having to track all this stuff.

DD5thDungeoneer

The Dungeoneer

And here we have an alternate layout linking skills directly with abilities.

DD5thAlternate

And finally, a few more of my sketches...

A Monk I rolled up for Pathfinder.

An Elf I rolled up for the OSR.

A new Acolyte.

Until the next time....