Luridian Assassin

Luridian Assassin

AC: as chain (breast plate, gorget, and face-plate)

HD: 5d8 (30 hp)

Attacks:   

• 2 with a Luridian long-sword, +7 to hit, 
• Damage: 1d8+2
• Critical Hit on a natural 18, 19 or 20. 

Initiative: +4

Stealth: 4 in 6.

Save As: fighter 10

AL: neutral 

Morale: 11

XP: 350  

  

If the Luridian wins initiative she will size-up her opponent, letting them act first, thus gaining advantage on her first strike.

Luridian Assassins have their eyes burned out at birth, yet somehow they can see…

They will never use magic or poison.

Nobody seems to know why or how they choose their targets.

Luridian Assassin

About the drawing  

The more I draw in ink, the more I want to.  This was a pure ink sketch, no pencils or digital altering (except to remove my signature; didn't like the way it looked for some reason, and I've been experimenting with a new signature involving GP for Graphite Prime.)  Anyhow, I'm beginning to love the chaos of drawing ONLY in ink.

R.I.P. James Smith.

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.

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.

Traveller: Evolution of a Character Sheet and.....Fantasy Traveller?

What got me interested in Traveller was the cover art for Alien Module 3: Darrians.  Art sells, that's a fact.  If I ever publish an RPG I will fork out whatever money necessary to acquire a beautiful cover.

Of course I only ever flipped through Darrians a few times when I bought it, it was the Mongoose Traveller Core Rulebook that I fell in love with.  It's a slim, solid black, well constructed book that encapsulates all you need to run any sci-fi game. And I mean any.  I love the simplicity and elegance of this system.  If it has one flaw, I'd say that flaw is a character advancement system that seems like an after-thought and also that Education and Intellect are too closely related.  Character creation is all based on random rolls and I think advancement should be as well.  Perhaps after so many XP or so many sessions, a player could roll on one of the career tables in their career path.  Just a simple house-rule waiting to happen and something that I have incorporated in a somewhat related project of mine...

Anyhow over time I collected almost every book in the Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition Line and over the past several years designed and redesigned the character sheet.  The official sheets for this game look nice and work just fine, but I'm all about space maximization and printer friendliness.   

***Traveler players are a technical bunch.  But, if character sheet evolution bores you, then skip to the bottom of the page for the final sheets and some thoughts on Fantasy Traveller.*** 

These early designs aren't too dissimilar to the official sheet.  Here I was mainly concerned with how to present the skill ranks (to the left of the skill, as opposed to the right, as on the official sheet.)  I also switched back and forth between lines and boxes for the bottom info.  Ultimately, I would settle on lines.

At this point I became interested with cramming all the skills into 1 or 2 columns.  The first sheet below doesn't even list the skills, and I quickly determined that just didn't feel like Traveller. 

And here I flirted with the notion of splitting the skills into different categories, but that gets tricky in Traveller because skills can be used in different ways.  I would use this idea later...

With my designs for Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, the appearance for what would be my final format becomes apparent.  Here I added in hit-point boxes, though I've never known any one who tracks hit-points on their actual character sheet.  Psi has also been added as a Stat and more slots are created for the career terms.

At this point, the character sheet is formatted for Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition and it feels complete to me.  The rules for 2nd Edition are basically a cleaned up, streamlined version of 1st.  I love the addition of boons and banes and the Prisoner career.  The layout is nice, but I have to say I prefer the 1st Edition solid black cover with black and white interior art.  Just because art is in color doesn't mean it's better, or modern for that matter.  

Of the two sheets below, the Redline version is my go to.  I feel that the red boxes allow your stats to stand out more, where as too much black can drown out pencils.  Plus, the black and red color pattern matches the Traveller theme.

Traveller 2nd Edition-Redline

Traveller 2nd Edition-Black

And then there's this...

For years people have been craving a Fantasy version of Traveller.  There is even a photo-shopped image of a box set called Wanderer floating around the web.  What a tease that is.  So, on and off for a few years now, I have been designing my own.  I used to call it Dungeoneer, which was the default name I tended to give any fantasy system that I worked on.  Now I call it Rynath. The gold sheets below are samples of my first design done a few years ago.  Magic works similar to psionics in that each school has a subset of spells that can be cast at varying difficulty.  Dabbler means you've learned just one of those spells.  I made 12 or 13 career charts, each with the standard 3 sub-career specializations.  The one thing I never did is write up all of the events and mishaps per career.

The black sheets below are a recent refinement of the project.  I streamlined character creation from the usual Traveller style and changed up the skills a bit, including how armor works.  There are no events or mishaps, just a benefit roll after every term and I envisioned 5 terms of 2 years to be the standard with a starting age of 15 + 1d6. 

Currently, this project has evolved away from simply being Fantasy Traveller to a Traveller/OSR hybrid (Old School Renaissance for those who don't know.)  Instead of having careers, I have basic OSR style classes with their own charts (and fewer of them) to roll on with a rare occasion for a multi-class.  The game mechanic is basically Traveller's 2d6 with some modifications.

I'm considering making an ongoing series of posts discussing these Fantasy Traveller and OSR projects.  Until then...

Rynath and the OSR: Part 2

Today I'm sharing the next seven Rynath OSR classes:  Assassin, Barbarian, Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Seer, and Witch.  As I post these, my mind starts thinking--wouldn't some of these options make more sense as Prestige Classes?  After all, wasn't the Companion Set Druid a prestige class? (for lack of a better term).  I tend to view an Assassin as an experienced killer, not a 1st level character.  And the same for the Ranger and the Paladin.  They're more like special forces.  Anyway, putting aside those thoughts and any future revisions (almost guaranteed) here are these seven classes playable from 1st level.


This Assassin's poison mechanics are triggered by critical hits.  The Assassin is the only other class next to the Fighter that can crit on a 19-20 at 1st level, something I find necessary for this poison set-up.  It assumes that the Assassin will always have some amount of poison on them thus doing away with book-keeping.  Sacrilege I know, old-school "D&D" is largely about resource management.  But, this is another method to give combat those exciting holy**** moments (like my Thief's "Combat Theft," Here if you missed my first post on Rynath OSR.)  If someone miserably fails their save, a low-level Assassin can take out a high level opponent instantly.  They are ASSASSINS after all.  The downside is that they may go for awhile without rolling a crit.  Anyhow, this is the idea I chose to post, there are other more traditional ideas I have...

Rynath Assassin

My version of the Paladin is a fanatic holy warrior bred to smite evil!  They're almost like living Saints, and they're not your drinking buddy (though Strongheart seemed like a decent fellow.)  There's probably a little more that I could do with this class, but like the Ranger, I don't want them to be spell-casters.  One of the problems modern "D&D" has is that too many classes are spell-casters.

Rynath Paladin

This Ranger is the classic lone-wolf forester.  He's a survivalist, a hawker, and an ARCHER who knows it's always better to kill from a distance if you can.

Rynath Ranger

The Knight is a class just because I want it to be; a leader, tank, and a defender.

Rynath Knight

Seers and Witches, I could easily roll into the Wizard class by cutting back the Wizard's spells and offering a couple of side abilities.  But, I know I'm not alone when I say that I want to play a Witch, not play a Wizard and call myself a Witch.  If the Seers "Vision" mechanic seems familiar, it's very similar to 5th Edition's Portent ability for the Diviner.  I'm usually not a fan of  "x times/day" mechanics, but it seems fitting for "Vision" and "Hex."

Rynath Seer

Rynath Witch

Not gonna lie, the Barbarian is one of my least favorite "D&D" concepts, and probably should be renamed Berserkers, (Conan is a Fighter, Cuchulain is a Berserker.)  I've never really been satisfied by "rage" mechanics, but I like what I've come up with here and I love my take on their distrust of magic.  All-in-all, I've created a Barbarian that I would actually love to play.

Rynath Barbarian

To complete the series, I'll eventually post the Samurai, Ninja, Pixie, Druid, Bard/Jester, Monk, and Dark-Elf (most of these pictures aren't drawn yet.)  Seeing as Rynath is a series of ideas and not a complete rule-set, I realize these classes are of limited use to people and may only serve as inspiration -- which is fine.   I may end up posting more traditional versions of these classes, but really, what's the point? This is an exchange of ideas.

I'm currently working on Rynath 2d6 which I would like to post as a complete rule-set.

Rynath and the OSR

OSR:  Old School Renaissance (Revival). This is where I am now.  After collecting (and still collecting) many games and exploring many different systems, I'm back at the beginning...sort of.  Too many rules are starting to get in the way.   Nothing against new games, many are fine and many still have my interest -- see the adventure I recently posted for Numenera:  X'actori But, there is something about the RED BOX.  The B in BECMI.  For me, the ALPHA PRODUCT.  The one that still stands the test of time.  One that is forever burned into my brain as the ultimate representation of D&D.  Of course that was MY introduction and first impressions matter; every generation has their version of it...I think.  But, I'm not just talking about rules here, I'm also talking about presentation and art.  Larry Elmore's BECMI art was MEDIEVAL, you know, the Middle Ages, knights, feudalism, castles.  D&D art has never been as good as that (though Dragonlance, Planescape and Darksun all had great art.)  OK, settle down grognard, to each their own... I'm back at the beginning...sort of.  Meaning as much as I love the old ways, they can, and have been improved upon.  Many people have already done it and done it well.   Many people have their own particular OSR twist.  What I'm calling Rynath is my constantly evolving collection of OSR rules, ideas, and character class redesigns. Rynath is simply the name of my homebrew fantasy world...nothing radical there.  Rynath is capitol M MEDIEVAL, no gunpowder, no flying ships, no multi-fantasy-race metropolises, etc.  Sometimes I've used the name Dungeoneer for my fantasy (projects), but for now I'm going with Rynath.  Rynath - OSR, Rynath - 2d6, Rynath - Traveller,-- three separate, yet related projects I need to blog about.  See end of this post for examples... Rynath OSR System HighLights Below is the Rynath Character Sheet.  Right away you'll notice there are only four ability scores.  I've rolled constitution into strength, intelligence into wisdom, and added resolve.  I thought about keeping charisma, but it's kinda pointless unless you're using retainers which is now driven by resolve. Strength:  Melee Strike Bonus, Damage Bonus, and Hit Point Bonus. Physical saves. Wisdom:  Number of starting Languages Known, starting Skill Points (no matter the class), and Bonus 1st Level Spells.  Intellect saves (illusions and such.) Dexterity:  Missile Strike Bonus, Armor Class Bonus, and Initiative Bonus.  Agility saves. Resolve:  Reaction/ Retainer Bonus.  Willpower saves.  Rynath Character Sheet Skills are the old-school d6 roll and presented similar to how LotFP  (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) does it with some changes.  Every Class gets some skill points eventually.  Every skill starts at 1 for every character and for some skills, ability bonuses are added.  Using a skill takes a variable amount of time and failure can have consequences such as mandatory wandering monster checks. If you succeed at your skill roll then you've done what you wanted to do....period (tired of the Perception check super-skill that stands in the way of everything.) Some classes have different Critical Hit thresholds as they level up, eg. Fighters start with a critical hit on 19-20, by 13th level it's 16-20.  Why?  Helps make combat more interesting and dynamic.  Prevents combat slog and helps Fighters stand out.  Fighters also get 1 free parry every round, where-as every other class has to sacrifice their attack to parry.  (See Parry rules below.) Strike Bonus ("To-Hit" bonus, I like the word "Strike") caps out at level 10. Hit Dice cap out at level 9, just like B/X, but characters starts with a few more Hit Points at level one.  The game is still deadly enough. I incorporate the ever-popular Advantage/Disadvantage.   If you use a Weapon your are not trained in, you attack with Disadvantage.  If you wear Armor you are not trained in you do EVERYTHING with Disadvantage and if you're a spell-caster, targets have Advantage on their saves. XP (experience) is gained by killing monsters and finding treasure.  Nothing new there, except I would give a little more for XP for monsters and hand out less treasure.  Character advancement should be slow. I've thought about doing an Encumbrance System that limits everyone to 10 slots with armor taking up 1-3 and each weapon taking up 1-2.  This would realistically limit what is carried through the Dungeon ( and lets face it, it's all about the Dungeon.)  Being over this limit would penalize you with Disadvantage on rolls. The chart below lists the Armor Classes and armor costs.  Weapons are fairly standard for B/X, BECMI.  Though I feel that a staff should only do 1d4.  Weapons are double the classic prices.  I've thought about giving weapons "qualities", but I haven't....for this system.  I don't want to stray too far... SAVING THROWS SAVING THROWS  are based on ability scores and level (not class and level).  I have three charts to choose from.  Why three?  Because I haven't decided which one is standard.  Probably the first one.  So a 5th level character with a DEX of 13 would have a DEX save of 11 or higher.  The other two charts break the game into 5 tiers of three levels (Rynath classes max out at 15th level) one is a more difficult progression.  These are just other options.   Monsters would base their save on Hit Die and the 9-12 ability score slot.  Treat all Hit Dice lower than 1 as 1.  Of Course I would like to rewrite the monsters in more detail, but this is a quick fix. MAGIC MAGIC is my other main innovation next to saving throws and ascending crits.  I've never liked Vancian magic, even when I was younger.  Having read Jack Vance since then, I certainly have more appreciation for that magic system, but, I still don't prefer it.  Spell points are closer to what I like, but not quite.  I view magic as something dangerous that should physically drain, exhaust, and potentially kill you if you abuse it.  An experienced Wizard should be warped, mutated, or simply aged beyond their years.  You play with powerful forces (Black Magic) and you pay a powerful price. So the magic (and prayer) system is basically this: The spells you know are determined randomly (Clerics inlcluded -- you don't know the role your deity has for you.)  You can cast any spell you know. As you level up, higher level spell charts become available to you.  When you roll for a new spell, you can roll on any chart up to your maximum spell-level allowed. When you cast a spell you make a resolve save with a penalty equal to the spell level (eg. a 1st level spell worsens your resolve save by 1, as second level spell worsens it by 2, etc.) If you fail the save you take x-amount of Hit Point damage per spell level (this depends on Class, Wizards have it the easiest and this curbs the power-level of Elves.)  If you succeed there is no Hit Point loss.  Critical successes and failures worsen or better this verdict -- explained on each Class description. All harmful spells allow for a saving throw even sleep and magic missile and such. Those are the basics of spell-casting.  And it's still something of an experiment.  But this system allows for that unexpected Wizard's sacrifice for the party.  It gives "magic-users" more flexibility, yet the risk of losing hit points causes them to choose wisely when to cast spells. More often than not, you will lose hit points when casting a spell. Clerics basically work the same way. You can use just about any OSR spell list that you want, but Cleric spells don't go higher than 7th-level and Turn Undead has to be a first level spell under this system. See LotFP for that version or simply treat the use of any Turn Undead ruleset as a 1st-level spell. Magic Items have a Usage-Die (except things like weapons and armor and other special or one-use items) so every time you use a magic item is one use closer to it's last.  Usage-Die rules for those who don't know:  You roll a die when you use an item.  Lets say a d8. If you roll a 1 or 2 on the die, the d8 becomes a d6.  If you roll a 1 or 2 on your next use, the d6 becomes a d4.  If you roll a 1 or 2 on a d4, the item becomes useless; crumbles to dust or something. Usage Die starting Die is typically d12 but sometimes d20.  I've never really liked the traditional "charges" system. Sample Magic Item Ring of Invisibility:  This ring grants you invisibility, but every round you wear it, you take 1 point of damage that can not be magically healed and only heals naturally at a rate of 1 point per week.  Also, you must pass a Resolve Save in order to remove the ring from your finger — failure means that you succumb to the ring and can’t try to remove it again for another 1d4 rounds.  If you die from wearing the ring, you turn into a Wraith.  If you die from other means while wearing the ring, the ring slips from your finger and you become visible. Ammo could also use the Usage Die system.  Optional. RYNATH OSR COMBAT  RULES Parry:  During a combat round, if you have not acted yet, you can use your action to Parry a successful Strike made against you by making a Strike roll that is equal to or greater than the incoming Strike roll.  Success means you have knocked the attack aside and suffer no damage.  If you choose to Parry, then you can not Strike that Round (unless you’re a Fighter.)  You can not Parry without a weapon or a Shield (unless you’re a Monk.)  Armed with a Shield, you may use your action to Parry an attack made against an adjacent ally — you make this roll with  Disadvantage (unless you’re a Knight).  A Shield can also be used to parry missiles (using your regular Strike Bonus.)  You can never Parry more than once per round. --If you successfully Parry a Critical Hit, there may still be consequences.  You must make a Strength Save — failure means that you roll on the Critical Miss Table.  --If you score a Critical Hit with your Parry, then you can Strike that Round.   Fighters force their opponent to roll on the Critical Miss Table. --If you score a Critical Miss with your Parry, then the incoming Strike becomes a Critical Hit and you roll on the Critical Miss Table. Critical Hit:  If the actual die roll falls in your Crit Range, you’ve scored a Critical Hit and your damage is doubled as follows: 1d8+3 becomes (11 + 1d8+3).  Tripled would be (22 + 1d8+3).   Also, any time you take damage from a Critical Hit, your Armor is damaged and loses 1 point of Armor Class.  You can choose to take this damage to your Shield instead.  A Forge* roll can be attempted later to repair the damage.            *Forge Skill:  One roll equals 1 full day of work.  If the roll succeeds, 1 point of armor is restored, or a weapon improves by 1 Die Type back up to it's maximum.  If the roll fails, try again tomorrow. Critical Miss:  A natural 1 is always Critical Miss.  Roll 1d6 to see what just happened to you. 1.  You Drop Your Weapon and it is out of your reach.  On your next turn you can draw a new weapon and Strike with  Disadvantage, or you can attempt to recover your lost weapon (if no one else has) by making a successful Dexterity Save — attempting to pick up an item during combat takes up your entire action and requires a Dexterity Save. 2.  You’ve been Knocked Down — all Strikes against you are made with Advantage while you are prone.  You Strike with Disadvantage until you regain your footing which only happens after a Dexterity Save — which takes up your entire action. 3.  Your Weapon is Damaged — it becomes the next lowest Die Type (1d4 weapons are destroyed). 4.  You’ve left yourself wide open and your opponent gets a Free Strike against you. 5.  You Drop an Item of Value (determined randomly from your most valuable possessions). 6.  Your Weapon Shatters even if it's magical (nothing lasts forever, and this creates legendary moments.) Healing:  After an 8 hour rest, you recover 1 Hit Die + your Level. Mounted Combat:  If you take damage while mounted, you need to make a Strength Save or fall from your steed taking 1d4 damage. --Missile Strikes while mounted are made with Disadvantage. --Combatants on foot have Disadvantage while Striking mounted opponents. RYNATH OSR CLASSES The Classes I designed for Rynath are on the following list.  Why include classes like Dark-Elf, Monk, Ninja, Pixie, Samurai?  Just because.  Classes are fun to design, so having only 7 wasn't gonna cut it.  Also, Knight, Witch, Assassin, and Seer had to be Classes.  Again, just because I love the concepts. Assassin Barbarian Bard / Jester Cleric Dark-Elf Druid Dwarf Elf / Warlock Fighter Halfling Knight Monk Ninja Paladin Pixie Ranger Samurai Seer Thief Witch Wizard / Sorcerer Here are the seven core (B/X, BECMI) classes.  This should give an idea of how it all comes together.  I will post more over time... Rynath Cleric Rynath Dwarf Rynath Elf-Warlock  Rynath Fighter Rynath Halfling Rynath Wizard-Sorcerer Rynath Thief Rynath - Traveller -- 1st Attempt Rynath - Traveller -- Revised Rynath - 2d6 -- In Progress For Rynath Traveller, I have a total of 13 career charts each with 3 sub-careers.  My first attempt is a straight up Traveller - Fantasy conversion.  My revived attempt streamlines character creation, but is basically the same system.  Rynath 2d6 takes my 21 OSR classes and converts them to a Traveller-ish 2d6 system with very quick/random character creation.  More on all of this later....