Sycarion Diversions

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Category: Andras (Page 9 of 17)

Thanks to Keith Davies

September 22, 2011 /

Apparently the hashcash plugin is creating problems. At the time I installed it, it was the best thing I could find. Now that other options are available and Keith was helpful in pointing out the effects of hashcash, I took it off.

I also removed the captcha per the recommendation of the new plugin's authors. I really hated having to add that on.

In regards to the primordials (and possibly the secordials and/or the ultimordials) I will end the series with the idea that started it, an Ice Cream Primordial. The next post will venture outside the classical elements of air, earth, fire, water, wood, metal, aether, sulfur, mercury and salt. For example, the primordials of the Prime Material plane are Howard-esque ape-men. The primordials of the any of the good Outer Planes are likely to be vaguely like an angel or archon. Vampires would be the primordials of the Demiplane of Dread.

When thinking about a list primary substances, the definitions get more interesting when you venture outside the Prime Material. There's ichor (traditionally the blood of a god), ectoplasm (traditionally a spirit material) and the material of the astral plane (traditionally a mental material). You could even recast the shadow as a primordial of one or more planes.

Taking it to a kind of Spelljammer metaphor, you could have a primordial of one crystal sphere instead of one place. For example, you could have the draconians or kender as primordials of Krynnspace or the Green Martians of Solspace.

Beyond that, though, I want something a bit outside those ideas. For my son, it's Candyland (and its neighbors Pieland and Ice Cream Land). For me, I'm not sure yet. I thought about a Buckeyball land with creatures of pure carbon, but that's just a variation of the elemental. I'm looking for something like the Cash Primordials of Moneyland or the Paladins of Didactic Land or the monks of Mathetic Land. These are creatures whose primary essence is more of an idea that a physical substance.

What would a creature composed of monetary value be like? It would have to be able to change forms quickly, stay in motion and feed off the perceived worth given to it by the creatures around it. It could not exist on its own, but would need at least a symbiotic relationship with another race to keep going. I imagine these guys would gorge themselves in the presence of a dragon...

We'll see what the future holds!

Yet More Primordials

September 21, 2011 /

It seems that I need to generate a pdf for all the primordials posts. With that in mind, I'll briefly mention earth and air primordials before moving on to different types.

The earth and air primordials share an ability to become incorporeal. The earth primordial uses this ability to move through solid earth. The air primordial lives as an incorporeal creature taking solid form only when feeding.

Incorporeal beings should not need to eat solid food. The Earth Primordial eats magic, specifically sucking the +3 off a sword +3.  They are also magic resistant, a successful roll indicates that they consumed the spell hurled at them gaining a number of hit points or Constitution from it. Regardless of spell level or effect, an earth primordial receives 1d4 hit points from each magic item drained. There is no upper limit of hit points, after doubling its beginning hit dice, it will simply grow larger.

For GMs that stat monsters, they gain Constitution when feeding and lose it at the rate of one point a week. All spells provide a single point increase to their CON score. In the same way, regardless of plus, an earth primordial gains a single CON point by completely removing the magical effects from a magical weapon.

Yes, it would be an epic encounter if/when an earth primordial gains an artifact. The earth primordial would never drain an artifact, but will be provided an endless supply of food and a super-high CON score/hit points.

The land where Earth Primordials dwell features large landmasses broken up by small oceans. Much of the land resembles the Russian taiga complete with a rich diversity of wildlife and sentient races.

In their home plane, the Earth Primordials are scavengers constantly hunting for magic, usually left behind by unsuspecting travelers. Earth Primordials prefer the rich magicks available on the Prime Material Plane, but are seldom summoned. To get by on their home plane, many of compelled to travel to higher elevations. It seems that trees and other plant life are able to draw magic from the plane itself. It takes several fruit/acorns/pints from these plants to sustain an Earth Primordial, but there is just enough to keep the population alive.

Air primordials can feed from any corporeal creature draining a point of CON to sustain themselves. They enjoy a pastoral culture preferring to keep livestock to sustain themselves. Unless starving, an air primordial prefers to take one or two CON points at a feeding waiting for the CON damage to heal before feeding again. Since they require the equivalent of 4 points of Constitution a day, the herds of livestock normally number from 12 to 20 animals of various types.

Air Primordials practice a form of magic that promotes healing, divination and indirect attacks. (For GMs, consider them Clerics using the Priest's spell list.) They can also sacrifice a point of their own Constitution to heal other creatures once per day.

The plane of Air Primordials is filled will countless floating islands swirling in a multi-colored sky. The clarity of the atmosphere varying according to the season as well as the color of the sky. Air Primordials keep their herds these floating islands.

Culturally, the Air Primordials are not concerned with possessions as they have no real need for material things. They do not build houses or other structures. They lead an aesthetic life filled with contemplation. They have no enemies on the Primordial Plane of Air as they only the only sentient species there. There are other forms of the Air Primordials that are encountered, but all share the same characteristics. Humans on the Prime Material Plane call these other forms Fog Primordial and Smoke Primordial. Aside from a slight change in color in corporeal form, there is no statistical difference.

So, there's Earth and Air. Next time, I hope to really do something that is not Ptolemaic or Wu Xing.

How Dragons Are Born

September 19, 2011 /

Inspired by an Indonesian folktale, here is a different take on the reproduction of dragons.

As Arda cooled from the fires of creation, the First Ones, Gwerjen and Janma surveyed the emerging landscape. Wanting to leave something of themselves on this alien world, they devised the creatures that would be blessed with a piece of the divine spark. Gwerjen favored strength and aggression. He created the giants first and then the orcs. Janma looked to beauty as a defining characteristic for any sentient creation. She created the elves first. Gwerjen complained that they were essentially orcs with the face of Janma. This remark survives to this day.

Various feya were created as well as the races of men. Each one was created as a variation on the one before. But after the last race of man was created, Janma spoke tenderly to her beloved Gwerjen. She asked him to consider only one more set of beings with the divine spark. She proposed that this final race would be a product of their eternal love.

In love they labored together on their ultimate creation: the dragon.

Dragons are believed to live for thousands of years. Dragons love to talk about their memories of long ago. Those dragons friendly to the races of men tell of human kings from generations long dead. The magic they employ is older than anything recorded by the elves. Some believe that dragons are immortal, a notion that dragons allow others to believe.

Dragons lay a few eggs in their lifetime. They lay viable eggs regardless of the presence of a mate. When they die, their body (unless completely disintegrated or otherwise prevented by magic) will transform into a small number of eggs. Each egg is slightly larger than an ostrich egg. Any creature that consumes the egg will turn into a dragon immediately.

When born, a dragon will eat the other eggs as it immediately. The newborn innately knows where the rest of eggs are located. If two or more eggs are consumed simultaneously, the resultant dragons will all consider each other family. If two creatures consume a single egg, the resultant dragons will consider themselves mates. (Thus encountering female dragons is extremely rare.)

Dragons only live for about 150 years, but a dragon is born with the memories of its progenitor. Dragons do not remember their births, so when encountered, dragons believe that they have lived for thousands of years. If multiple dragons are produced from one litter of eggs, the new family of dragons will share some of the memories of the progenitor, but only one will possess the identity of the parent. The one that takes the identity of the parent will name the others.

Occasionally, an egg will produce a variant form of dragon. The scales may have a different shape or color, some of the memories may not carry over or some other effect. These dragons will go on a quest shortly after their birth to discover their name. Many of these dragons will encounter an ally or enemy of the parent and then will take on the identity of the parent. A few others will forge a new identity for themselves.

In game terms, the effect of this ecology is:

  • About 90% of  dragons encountered will behave as expected in the various Monster Manuals. For example, red dragons will be evil and breathe fire.
  • Encountering a female dragon is extremely rare as there are very few female dragons in existence. Stat-wise, females are no different than males.
  • Gem dragons are born through a genetic wrinkle and so are uncommon, but not as rare as female dragons. Their offspring have a 50-50 chance that they will revert back to the chromatic/metallic grandparent or remain a gem dragon.
  • About 10% of dragons encountered will look like a one type of chromatic/metallic dragon but act like a different one. This could be as simple as a white dragon that acts like a silver dragon or as complex as a green dragon that breathes fire yet acts like a sapphire dragon.

Feel free to use the following Unique Dragon Generator (not made by me, just a reformatted version from a post on Dragonsfoot) to compute unique results. Otherwise here are some tables for dragon offspring:

Number of Eggs: Roll 2d6 and divide by 2 rounding down.

 

Nature of eggs: Roll d20 + d10
1 Metallic Dragon, random type, random breath weapon
2-3 Metallic Dragon, random type, standard breath wepaon
4-5 Metallic Dragon, same breath weapon as parent
6 Gem Dragon, random breath weapon
7-10 Looks like Metallic Dragon, but same characteristic as parent
11-20 Everything same as parent
21-24 Looks like Chromatic Dragon, but same characteristic as parent
25 Gem Dragon,standard breath weapon
26-27 Chromatic Dragon, same breath weapon as parent
28-29 Chromatic Dragon, random type, standard breath wepaon
30 Chromatic Dragon, random type, random breath weapon
Nature of eggs: Roll d20 + d10
1 Metallic Dragon, random type, random breath weapon
2-3 Metallic Dragon, random type, standard breath wepaon
4-5 Metallic Dragon, same breath weapon as parent
6 Gem Dragon, random breath weapon
7-10 Looks like Metallic Dragon, but same characteristic as parent
11-20 Everything same as parent
21-24 Looks like Chromatic Dragon, but same characteristic as parent
25 Gem Dragon,standard breath weapon
26-27 Chromatic Dragon, same breath weapon as parent
28-29 Chromatic Dragon, random type, standard breath wepaon
30 Chromatic Dragon, random type, random breath weapon
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