April begins as March ends, as it should

April begins tomorrow with a day of tricks and misdirections, such deception not being my specialty do not expect anything clever from me.  But I hope to enjoy cleverness from others.

The origin of the name of the Roman month Aprilis is unclear, it may refer to the opening (aperire) of buds and flowers as Spring arrives or in some way to the goddess Venus, to whom it is a sacred month, or something else.  We just do not know, which is actually rather fun.

I am again doing the the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for April, the theme will be “Around the Sea of Stars” so if you have questions about my setting, please ask.

March, 2019, saw the following posts here:

Down and Out in Taren Kost – Campaign Report Episodes 5 and 6

We have had two more sessions, hot on the heels of Interlude 1 (you can find the earlier adventures here).

Our cast for these, both episodes:

Hartesa Wormwort Ulshyve, dark elf mushroom farmer and inferniculturalist, and self-described hick, with imp familiar “Portobello”.  (Warlock, played by B2)

Reed Greenbottle, Visse agent of Taren Kost’s Trade Directorate, License Enforcement, and stickler for the proper rules.  (Rogue, played by R)

Episode 5

Mercutio “the Green”, dissipated human conman and wild magic sorcerer, color changes as a side effect from his wild magic.  (Played by J)

Episode 6

Skatska, self-exiled acid-breathing Dragonborn who seeks the old gods.  (Paladin and now Warlock, played by D)

Episode 5: Finding a Lost Noble

Slings and Slingers for 5E

To round out Mars’ month, I return to looking at slings (which I covered for D&D 3.x/Pathfinder here) which have historically been ill-treated in D&D (and equally so in Pathfinder).  Historically, the Baleric Slingers were mercenary soldiers prized by the Carthaginians and later by the Romans and served all over the ancient world, David used a sling to defeat Goliath.  For centuries, they were a weapon justly feared.  It should be the same in fantasy games.

So to do that, in D&D 5E it just need a minor tweak (much less than Pathfinder needed): several things need to be addressed:

Damage and Range:  The damage a sling causes is just pitiful, no one is going to be afraid of sling and you are sure not going to be taking down any Golaiths with one.

So, use the following:

• Sling Bullet, 1d6 bludgeoning, Ammunition (range 70/280)
• Stone Stone, 1d4 bludgeoning, Ammunition (range 45/180)

This moves a slinger with bullets into a comparable damage/range band as an archer with a short bow, which is where I think they should be.  (It also includes an increase in the range for the basic sling stone

Sling and sling-related magic items for 5E: Kidney Sling Stone.  (More to follow as I have time to convert older items.)

More information on slings:

Slings at Wikipedia

Slinging.org, a resource site for the modern slinger

Notes: Sling bullet image from the Portable Antiquities Scheme and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Tuesday Magic Item – Stone Smashing Gloves

“Of the many ways to besiege a castle,” said Voddick, holding his shield above his head, “I did not expect to be part of a unit punching their way inside.”

Gollaon nodded, waiting for the smashing sounds to subside.  “It is unexpected but so far efficient.”  He raised his shield to deflect a stone thrown from above.

“How much longer?  The defenders are getting organized.”

“A minute?  They were sure this is the thinnest point of the wall.”

Voddick raised his crossbow and took a shot around his shield.  “Going to be a long minute.”

Stone Smashing Gloves

These gloves range from heavily reinforced leather to fully articulated steel gauntlets, but in all cases the striking surface is made of metal and strongly built.  Runes and magical sigil are inscribed one and around the striking surface and never seems to become illegible no matter how worn the gloves as a whole become.  Supposedly developed for mining, their use quickly shifted to the military field.

They are magical and provide the wearer with a +2 attack bonus and do at least 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a strike (the wearer may do more if a monk or has other abilities) and it inflicts an additional 1d6 points of sonic damage.  Against a rigid, non-living target, the sonic damage is increased by 1d6 and it ignores hardness and against stone the sonic damage is further increased to a total of 3d6.

While attacking with the gloves, the wearer has Resistance to Sonic damage of 5 + their Constitution modifier (minimum 0).

Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 31,302; Weight 2 lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, bull’s strength, shatter; Cost 15,500 + 302 for the gauntlets

For D&D 5E:

Weapon (glove), rare (requires attunement)

First paragraph as above.

They are magical and provide the wearer with a +2 bonus to attack roll and inflicts at least 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a strike (the wearer may do more if a monk or has other abilities) and it inflicts an additional 1d6 points of thunder damage.  Against a rigid, non-living target, the thunder damage is increased by 1d6 and it ignores resistance and against stone the sonic damage is further increased to a total of 3d6.

While attacking with the gloves, the wearer has Resistance to Thunder damage.

Notes: In meta-commentary, this is the companion piece to the Kidney Sling Stone, as I went in for Lithotripsy (which is Latin for stone crushing) on my kidney stone today.  Which seems to have gone well.  Also, I like the image of a dwarf punching through walls.

Gauntlet from the Victoria and Albert Museum and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Tuesday Magic Item – Warrior’s Carnyx

Voddick had to nearly shout to be heard.  “They do like their horns this lot.”

“It would be unnerving if you were not use to such things,” replied Gollaon.

“Still, better than just standing around in silence, eh?”

“Better than the actual fighting part at least,” replied Gollaon with a grin.

Voddick nodded and grinned back.

Warrior’s Carnyx

The long horns are reinforced and made of metal, suitable for use both as a musical instrument and as a weapon.  They are prized by certain types of warrior-musicians who love both music and battle.

Down and Out in Taren Kost – Campaign Report Interlude 1 – Letter from the Matriarch

We could only get three of us together but, by gum! we were going to game. So this is a brief interlude taking place after Episode 4.

Our cast for this interlude:

Hartesa Wormwort Ulshyve, dark elf mushroom farmer and inferniculturalist, and self-described hick, with imp familiar “Portobello”.  (Warlock, played by B2)

Reed Greenbottle, Visse agent of Taren Kost’s Trade Directorate, License Enforcement, and stickler for the proper rules.  (Rogue, played by R)

Interlude 1: Letter from the Matriarch

The Empress is Watching.

 

Here is the official piece for the Draconic Empress of the Sea of Stars, in her human form because it is much easier to get administrative work done when you are not at risk of destroying all of the paperwork the empire requires to function on with a twitch of a tail.

This lovely piece is by the ever-talented Ron Randall, comic book artist and creator of the Trekker series (which I also recommend).  Who I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with at many Portland Comic Cons back in the 1990s.  The photo does not fully do it justice and I will need to get a big flatbed scanner to get it converted to an image for use in the Sea of Stars campaign book.

Enjoy!

Tuesday Magic Item – Command Flag

Voddick wiped his brow and took a swig from his canteen.  “While I am happy to be working with professionals again, the constant drilling is getting tiresome.”

“Not all have your innate discipline, my friend,” said Gollaon with a grin.

“You seem to have found time away from the drill.”

“My talents are not well suited to walking in a straight line.”

Voddick snorted.  “You can say that.”

Command Flag

These flags come in a variety of styles and complexities from a single color marked with a character to complex designs in decorative threads.  However, they are always of a good size so they can be seen across a battlefield.

These flags convey orders even across the tumult of the battlefield, the orders must be simple, “wheel left” or “stand firm” the limit of complexity would be along the lines of “advance to the bridge and hold it.”  While acting on the order, the soldiers gain a +1 morale bonus to melee damage rolls and to saves against fear.

The flag can issue a magically empowered order as often as every five minutes.  However, the order can only be issued to recognized units of up to one hundred and twenty soldiers that have paraded in front of the flag and the commander.  A commander may have as many flags active as their Charisma modifier (minimum one).

Aura moderate enchantment; CL 9th
Slot none; Price 21,000; Weight 6+ lbs
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, mass command or mass suggestion; Cost 10,500

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (flag), rare (requires attunment and see below)

First paragraph as above.

These flags convey orders even across the tumult of the battlefield, the orders must be simple, “wheel left” or “stand firm” the limit of complexity would be along the lines of “advance to the bridge and hold it.”  While acting on the order, the soldiers gain advantage on saving throws against fear.

The flag can issue a magically empowered order as often as every five minutes.  However, the order can only be issued to recognized units of up to one hundred and twenty soldiers that have paraded in front of the flag and the commander.  A commander may have as many flags attuned as their Charisma modifier (minimum one) counting all such flags attuned as only a single attunment.

Notes: Flags and banners are a common theme here, it seems like the sort of item that would be made in a magical world.  Not so useful for adventurers but very useful to governments and mercenaries.  Which can make them good targets for capture or destruction (or recovery from tombs) in a more politics and military themed campaign.

Flag of the “Black Flag Army” Musee de l’Armee, Paris, photo by PHGCOM found on Wikimedia Commons and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Tuesday Magic Item – Kidney Sling Stone

Voddick looked almost physically pained as he watched the sling stones being handed by use of tongs to the slingers, who avoided touched them as well.  “I am disturbed that we are working with people who would use such weapons,” he said quietly.

“There are terrible but they only incapacitate.  There are worse magics out there,” said Gollaon, though there was not much conviction in his voice.

Voddick shook his head.  “Inflicting unnecessary pain is not our role.”

“But sadly attached to our work,” sighed Gollaon.

“Truth.”

Kidney Sling Stone

These shaped stones are often crusted with odd mineral formations and they have an organic feel to their shape.  They are warm to touch and quickly becoming feverishly hot when handled.