Vile Experiments in Anhelm?
I bought Eldritch Ass Kicking a few years back. ... I've come to realize that there are some wizards who are not exactly moral. It's sad, but it's also true. In fact, some Wizards not only aren't moral, some revel in being downright evil. They have to. It's their job. If they didn't do their job, my players would get bored and no one wants that. Some of my more evil npc wizards were simply fascinated by the rules for experimenting on animals and pets. And some of them, having read the rules, thought "Oh! But...why stop there?" The dastards are actually considering human experimentation. Not on other wizards, of course, those fight back. But upon any of the hapless population that is fortunate enough to survive the breaking of Anheim but unfortunate enough not to be slinging spells. Trouble is... I am confused as to how feasible the process would be, what modifiers might be involved, and most of all... what stats I might assign to farmers and laborers. What are your thoughts on this evil and outrageous practice that some epic villains may decide to engage in?
What a devilish and sinister question!
First, things first, I would recommend anyone interested in including fully statted commoners into their game to grab the quick and dirty Commoners pdf here. It will get you started thinking about creating commoners. Obviously, the fun will be figuring out how they have survived this long. Are they really good at hiding? Have they been protected by a wizard? Or, in the case of the question above, are they test subjects for some half-mad wizard’s vile scheme?
Second, I might use the same process dealing with creatures as with humans. Come up with some augmentations, like those listed on pgs. 41-42 in the rulebook, that range between +2 to +4 modifiers to the base TN of 15. In general, the lower the modifier, the more narrow and limited the augmentation should be. But why stop at +4 modifiers? More powerful wizards will want to keep pushing the limits. The basic rule of thumb is that the bonus the subject gets will be double the modifier to the TN. So, if Rabdak the Fire Wizard augments his butler to be able to shoot fire from his fingertips at a TN of 25 (base 15 + 10 modifier), his butler would attack with a total of a +20 with his fiery fingernails. (Drycleaning, quite literally!)
The final question you may ask yourself is - why modify commoners anyway? What good does it do when they can be unpredictable and possibly escape after you have given them such potent power? (What evil wizard would want his experiment to get loose and join the enemy side? It most likely will happen if the commoner is crafty enough to have survived this long in Anhelm.) On the other hand, if they are loyal, then they might serve as a valuable and potent last line of defense or even a pawn to draw out your true enemies.
And remember - a living commoner would be a very valuable thing in the eyes of many goodly wizards. Perhaps one could be traded for the release of an imprisoned colleague. Or used as part of the price in some sort of arcane barter. It would be wise for a wizard who has trapped such an ordinary man or woman to keep things quiet until the moment is right.
But then again, some wizards might not even care about the perceived value of their test subject. For them, it is all a game, and that hapless commoner is just something else to toy with.
It’s a fun but creepy question. Thanks for it, Ron.
- Nathan
The Problem with Magickal Skills
In the upcoming Mirrors adventure, there is also a new magickal skill.
Cool, right? The problem - neither of these magickal skills actually follow game rules and have a counter or opposite magickal skill.
Hmm.
Both of these magickal skills are very unique. Shifting (a sort of teleportation skill) could very well have an opposite, but it would end up being a very limited and narrow magickal power. It might be something like “grounding”, where a wizard firmly plants herself in a location and cannot be moved. There is a little potential there. (And to note, shifting itself is a fairly limited power as I point out in the Perilous Pool adventure.)
But this doesn’t solve the problem that there are things wizards should be able to do, like teleportation, that shouldn’t really require a roll at all. I included one in the game that every wizard has - the ability to fly. Can you imagine how boring a bearded wizard with God-like powers would be without the ability to fly? Lame.
So at this point, if I do an EAK 2.0, I am probably going to build in more innate skills that a wizard can just do. Maybe there would even be a little rating system, so some wizards would have a little more flight ability than others. If you have any suggestions, toss them in the comments section below.
Things to Do This Week:
- Finish Mirrors.
- Rebuild the EAK site.
- Throw up some new free thing for Barbarians Versus and EAK.
Later this week, check out the blog as I respond to a really cool idea from some fan mail.