As a long-time dungeon master, geas has always been one of my favorite spells. Not to be used every session, or even every campaign, it can nevertheless be the jumping-off point for some interesting stories. Imagine it: the players storm the wizard’s tower only to be defeated and fall under his power. Against their will, they begin some quest at their foe’s bidding. Do the players resist his power and sacrifice their own vitality, or do they submit to his will? In doing his bidding, do they discover that the “evil wizard” is merely misunderstood? The storytelling possibilities are endless.

Therefore, I proudly present the following versions of the Geas spell: a 20th level wizard attack daily power, and a 14th level arcane ritual.

Geas

Wizard Attack 20
Daily
Charm, Divine, Implement, Psychic, Thunder
Standard Action Area burst 2 within 10 squares
Target: enemies in burst
Attack: Int vs Will
Hit: 2d6 plus intelligence modifier psychic damage and the target is dominated (save ends).

Special – When reducing a target to 0 or lower hit points with this spell they become geased.  While geased, the target must work to complete a task the caster assigned to them when casting the spell.  Any day that they do not work towards that task they lose one healing surge from their maximum number of healing surges.  If the target’s maximum number of healing surges reaches zero, they die. The geased effect ends after a number of days equal to the caster’s level, or once the task has been completed.

Lesser Geas

Obey! Venture to the peak of Deathskull Mountain and retrieve a tail feather from the firehawks who nest there!

Component Cost: 1000 gp per creature geased
Market Price: 4200 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
Level: 14
Category: Binding
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: One day per caster level or until the assigned task has been completed.

At the completion of this ritual adjacent creatures, up to one per caster level, become geased.  While geased, the target must work to complete a task that the caster assigned to them when casting the spell.  Any day that they do not work towards that task they lose one healing surge from their maximum number of healing surges.  If the target’s maximum number of healing surges reaches zero they die. The geased effect ends after a number of days equal to the caster’s level, or once the task has been completed. The caster’s arcana check determines the maximum level of creatures that can be affected.

Axes grind and maces clash as wounded fighters fall to the ground
Severd limbs and fatal woundings, bloody corpses lay all around

Iron Maiden
“Invaders”

Want to up the ante in your game? Characters get knocked down just to get back up again? Try these optional rules for character scars and maimings.

Weather blasted in the heart with a ray of white-hot flame, shot in the liver with an arrow, or stabbed in the neck by a raving marauder, some wounds are going to leave a mark, if not result in serious and permanent disability, assuming that the victim survives at all. The maimed, the amputees, the crippled begging outside the temple of Heironious, Aries or Hextor, all are the evidence of the price of the battlefield. Thus, these rules are intended to bring more life to the threats which wound the crusaders.

Optional Rule: Sertious Injuries, Scars and Maimings

When a hero or important NPC takes enough damage to be reduced to negative hit points, check on the Serious Injury, Scars and Maimings chart to determine where the blow fell that laid the character low.

With the exception of destroyed organs and severed limbs, which require regeneration to regain, these effects should be reversible through the use of magic such as Restoration, Heal, or other magic or effects that heal permanent ability damage. There are also rumors of magicians and priests who have crafted magical prosthesis for those so hurt, as well.

Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings (roll 1d20)

Head Chart (roll 1d20)

As always, when introducing optional rules like this, especially rules that increase the danger for the player characters, it is necessary to discuss them with the group you’re playing with. Unless everyone consents to having more fun by making the game more dangerous, don’t use them. Nothing makes some players hate playing more than DMs springing new rules on them out of the blue.

These optional rules are compatible with 3.5 D&D, 4e D&D, d20 modern, and Pathfinder RPG systems.

Following up on our last article on new Fourthcore criticals here is a ritual that healers can use to re-grow those severed limbs.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series, “Character Scars and Maiming”, because everybody has more fun when the characters get messed up.

Regeneration
Applying sacred ungents to your comrade’s severed wrist, you pray to the gods of life to restore wholeness to their body. To your companion’s astonishment, your wounded friend’s hand begins to slowly grow out of the stump of their arm.

Component Cost: 250 gp for heroic tier characters, 2,500 for paragon tier, and 25,000 for epic tier characters.
Market Price: 520 gp
Key Skill: Heal (no check)
Level: 7
Category: Restoration
Time: 4 hours
Duration: Instantaneous

This ritual re-grows a severed limb on a living creature over the course of four hours.

We have been following the exciting 4thcore developments at Save Versus Death, and thought we’d add to the table joy.  For information on 4thcore, that 4thgore playfully plays off of, read the manifesto at saveversusdeath.com and return to this post.  Here is a supplemental table to add more gore to your games.

In a high-gore 4thcore game, roll 1d20 to establish painful effects of a critical hit (or miss, if you were to apply this chart to effects for damage from friendly fire).  The non-severed effects can be undone in non-combat rounds by spending a healing surge, making the duration of these effects is “for the rest of the encounter”.  For each of the locations where there is more than one potential target (for characters and creatures with 2 arms, 4 legs, 5 heads, etc), roll an appropriate die to determine which is affected.  Severed limbs require rituals to mend.

And in a somewhat more friendly HTML text format:

Tags: combat, critical hit, effect table

Why attack them when they can hurt themselves attacking you?

Inspired by foes of Hluyuk Tikimit, the quivering porcupine, this legendary full-body armor appears as a typical suit of jet-black leather armor. However, when the wearer is attacked, it puffs up and strikes at the attacker, sending prehensile, poison-tipped fangs into the assailant’s flesh.

The wearer can also disengage the fangs, which then serve as poison daggers with spiraled-bone handles. In crisis mode, the armor projects the gruesome fang daggers as a standard ranged attack.

The wearer looks out on the world through a narrow slit, providing identity obfuscation for night-time antics.

For each day that the prehensile fang armor is worn, there is a cumulative 1% chance of it poisoning the wearer, so this deadly weapon of an armor must be used sparingly.

Tags: armor, fang

These worms are found in books throughout the Great Library. They infest the spines of books and consume paper, parchment, and leather, and flesh if it is unwittingly offered to them.

Bookworms manifest as a disease, with a series of increasingly-difficult saves – DC 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 – as a PC is repeatedly affected by bookworms in ancient tomes.  The effects of a bookworm include acute skin rashes dealing 1d6 damage per day and flare-ups which deal 2d6 damage every hour.

Bookworms are also known for preventing the effectiveness of healing effects.  They can only be removed with a long bath of purified water and a remove disease spell.

Here are some great resources for free dungeon tiles.

• http://greywolf.critter.net/tiles.htm
• http://www.dungeoneering.net/tag/base-terrain/
• http://kevslounge.blogspot.com/search/label/Dungeon%20Tiles
• Sci-fi terrain with a Star Wars feel: http://www.the-holocron.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=36&func=select&id=2

There are a ton more out there!  The first 5 pages of Google search results are full of other sites featuring tile sets to choose from.  Also, check out rpgnow.com for more options, including Skeleton Key Games’ epic collection.

Once you’ve found your tiles of choice, print them out and follow these directions to make some great memories at the gaming table.

Tags: terrain, tiles

The Watchers are a race of bio-mechanical floating orbs of flesh and metal with camera lenses as their corneas, a large central eye that is always turned toward to their prey.  The center eye provides levitation and other basic cognitive functions.

In addition to the large central eye, Watchers have 8 retractable compartments containing foot-long extensions that appear long enough to cause their effects before retracting back into the metallic carapace of the Watcher.  Four of these extensions are standard to all Watchers, and 4 with special powers based on the type of Watcher.  Each power recharges 4 rounds after use, and each Watcher can use 2 extensions each round (3 if they do not move):

• Telekinesis: objects up to 300 lbs.
• Lightning Bolt: 3d6 to all in a line, bouncing off conductive surfaces, DC 25 reflex for half damage
• Stun Ray: stuns target for 1d4 rounds, +15, DC 25 fortitude to halve (min 1)
• Fear: DC 25 will save negates, cower in fear for 1d4 rounds
• 4 specific to the type of Watcher

This eye is a gem (the types vary by Watcher) worth 10,000 credits.  Any damage dealt to the Watcher in 20 or more points (after the DR/10) in a single strike disables one of the 8 extensions.  Roll 1d8 to determine which, rerolling any results that correspond with extensions which are already disabled.

In addition, a simplified humanoid brain is used to power the Watcher.  Some of these come directly from humans, while others are synthesized via artificial means.  These brains are programmed like computers, allowing the Watchers to be provided commands that govern their abilities, granting them semi-sentience.

Other stats of interest:

Init: +6 Senses: darkvision 60’ Listen -2 Spot +25
Languages: Telepathy 60’ and either common or none

AC: 26 (-1 size, +3 dex, +14 natural)
HP: 130 (12d12+44)

Defenses: SR 20, DR 10 / psychic
Saves: Fort: +9 Ref: +7 Will: +11
Speed: fly 30 ft.

Attack: Lightning Touch +9 ranged touch and bite +7 melee (2d4), various extensions
Full Attack: Lightning Touch +9 ranged touch and bite +7 melee (2d4), various extensions
Attack Options: Lightning Touch, Spell-like effects

Space / Reach: 10ft. / 5ft.
Base Attack: +8 Grapple: +12

SQ: DR 10/psychic, SR 20, All-around vision, Flight

SA: spell like abilities: Blur
Feats: Alertness, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (Blur)

Abilities: Str 11 Dex 16 Con 18 Int 16 Wis 14 Cha 15

Skills: Hide +12, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (planes) +8, Search +18, Spot +25, Survival +6
Spell-like abilities: 1/day – blur (caster level 13)

DR: 10/good
Spell Resistance: 20

There are several varieties of Watchers, four of which are detailed here.

Reflect Watcher

• Mirror Image: Reflects 50% of attacks back on attacker
• Pass Through Glass: Can pass through reflective surfaces
• Force Shield: 20’, similar to a wall of force.  Impassable, except via telekinesis and shadow dancing.
• Laser Light: 1d6+1 and target must succeed on a DC 25 reflex save or be blinded for 1d4 rounds.

Holo Watcher

• Ghosting: All attackers have a 50% miss chance.  Hits occur against the inner hull, which is considerably smaller than the appearance of the holo watcher.
• Illusions: Projects illusions every round (disbelieve on DC 25 will save).  Favored illusions include doorways and passageways that appear to open along the walls, pits that lead the target to them, as well as spurious letters and numbers and obscuring the actual letters on walls, doors, etc.
• Spotlight: Target must succeed on a DC 25 reflex save or be blinded for 1d4 rounds.
• Ghost Sound: Sounds of approaching enemies, impending doom, creaking locks, levers, doors, etc.

Striker Watcher

• True Strike: Deals 1d4 damage on an automatic hit each round (recharges every round).
• Force Push: Either a living or inanimate target 3 squares.  In this case, the metal spheres can be pushed into the goals for points.
• Dive: The Watcher can shift 1 square to block a shot.
• Laser Beam: 2d8+4 damage on a successful hit (+10 with a DC 25 reflex save for half).

Defender Watchers (Minor)

• These Watchers have the same base powers of the Watchers, but only the 4 core extensions (lightning bolt does 1d6+1 to all targets in a straight line).
• 60hp, AC 23.

Shadow Watcher

• Invisibility: to those who see the visible spectrum, but visible via infrared sensing.
• Fireball: 3d6 to a 4×4 square area, DC 25 reflex for half damage.
• Darkness: as the spell, in a 20’ radius.
• True, Extra-sensory Sight: Can see all, never flat-footed.

Many more varieties exist; feel free to extend these Watchers to fit your own campaign.

Tags: sci-fi