Half-Ogre/Ogre Race-as-Class for B/X

In a wonderfully weird way to end 2020, this post exists because the cleric in my solo campaign just got polymorphed into an ogre when setting off a magical trap...

Half-ogre PC by  Timothy Truman

Requirements: STR 9, CON 9

Prime Requisite: STR

Hit Dice: 1d10

Maximum Level: 10

Armor: Any appropriate for size, plus shields

Weapons: Any

Languages: Alignment, Common, Goblin, Orc

Combat Progression: as a Fighter

Saves: as a Fighter

XP Progression: as a Fighter

Ogre Strength: +2 to Attack and Damage in Melee Combat

Stronghold: An Ogre may start building a stronghold at 2nd level

Weaknesses: -2 on all Reaction Rolls; -2 to hit Small Creatures (like Halflings and Dwarves)

After Reaching 9th Level: An Ogre will be recognized by humanoid populations as a Warlord and the Ogre will attract humanoid followers from far and wide. Ogres may only hire humanoid mercenaries. Specialists and retainers may be of any race.

Here's to better polymorphs and transformations in 2021.

Have a happy and blessed New Year.

Christ is Born!

Notice that the Christ child is wrapped in burial clothes and lying in a tomb underground

 I wanted to take a moment on this strange and lonely Christmas to not only wish you joy and a Merry Christmas, but to remind all of us that Christ is born today because we are in pain. The peace and the joy the Christian world proclaims today may seem hollow, but contemplate the following hymn of the Orthodox Church:

Born of a Virgin, O Good One who also endured crucifixion for our sake, who by death took the spoils of death as plunder and showed resurrection, being God, O despise not the ones that You formed with Your own hand. Demonstrate Your love for man, O Lord of mercy, and accept Your Mother, the Theotokos, who intercedes on our behalf, O Savior, and save us a despairing people.

He who holds all things in His hand is lying in a feeding trough. He is preparing to go to the Cross, to suffer and to die so that we might have a path through the pain and the despair into the hope and joy of His Kingdom. I am always reminded that He knew me then, when He was born. He knew me when he went to the Cross. Despite this, He still went, for me and for you.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

TLoS: The Fighter

One of my goals in this little experiment is to demonstrate that at its core, 5e is just a bunch of mechanics. The reason this is important to me is that once seen as simply mechanics, there is a tremendous amount of freedom that we have as players of the game to describe those mechanics any way we want to.

At a fundamental level, this is why I prefer older versions of the game and the retro-clones that emulate them — they deal mainly with mechanics rather than the special effects those mechanics represent. It frees those of us who play the game to interpret those mechanics to look the way we want them to without all the effort that I am putting into this little project.

For someone like me, the level of detail that 5e goes to when it describes what their mechanics look like is an unending irritation. For example, one of the 1st level spells available to the TLoS fighter is Hail of Thorns. We are told that:

 the spell creates a rain of thorns that sprout from your ranged weapon or ammunition

What if I want it to be a troop of fey that appear and fire their weapons with my character? Or what if I want the plants of the area to throw parts of their leaves and bark at the creature my character is firing at? Why can't the arrow hit the ground in front of the target and then explode into hundreds of little thorns into the face of the creature? There are all kinds of ways the mechanics of this spell can be described and rather than allowing imagination to run wild with the rules as written, I am forced to ignore hundreds of pages of fluff.

Enough whinging...here are a pair of .PNG files that redefine the 5e mechanics for the Ranger and turns them into an evocative version of the fighter, in the spirit of BX:

 

 

5e & 4+3 Campaign Notes: The Land of Songs

 My eldest requested that I do a write-up of one of the worlds suggested by my last post. I'll cover some of the foundational stuff in this post, and then follow up with the seven classes re-skinned so as to make sense in the world that emerges from this little thought experiment. Thus, I bring you The Land of Songs:

Known by the humans as Leóthland and the dragon kin as Eordracân, The Land of Songs is what most of the world calls the largest island in the world, at the center of the map above. The people of that island, however, know the entire world as The Land of Songs. This is due to their songs of how the world came to be.

The humans and dragon kin of The Land of Songs worship the Song of the Land, who is known in three particularities: Wóthbora the Singer, Leód the Song, and C'hor the Dancing. The Land was once one, sung into existence by Wóthbora through His Song while C'hor was dancing over the abyss. 

Wóthbora gave language to the dragons so as to help teach humanity, to whom he gave the ability to sing — to be co-creators with Him. Rather than use their gifts to sing in harmony with Leód, humanity and dragon kind built an earthly empire that sought the heavens by their own power. So, Wóthbora stripped humanity of the Song, and the dragon kin of either their wings or their intelligence and ability to speak. He then broke the Land into islands separated by the sea. 

Humanity and the dragon kin fell into silence and darkness; however, Wóthbora preserved one peoples and gave the Song back to them. These are the people of the Land of the Song, who strive to heal the wounds of the Land by teaching the world to Dance with the Song.

This is no easy task. It takes brave adventurers to cross the sea into unknown territories filled with ancient ruins from the fallen empire of humans and dragons. Shadows and monsters lurk within. The people of the Land, however, know that each island has its own melody that can add to the Song. Should the island be cleansed and  that melody be found, the island will return to its place as part of The Land of Songs.

5e & 4 + 3

Last month, James over at Grognardia reflected on how the "4+3" structure of how B/X presents classes is simple, sturdy, flexible, and helps build a world that feels real. 

While 5e is not my preferred rule-set (I would play 0e, Holmes, or B/X before I play any other edition), I think it is by far the best of the "new school" editions and (depending on the day) I might even admit that I would rather play it than 1e ADnD. 

One of the reasons I am not enthusiastic about 5e is precisely the reason that it so radically departs from the 4+3 presentation of classes. If one looks merely at the core rules, there are 9 races each with at least two variants and 12 classes with at least two variants each. All told, there are thousands of different mechanical ways to represent a character. Add in the various splat books and this number goes up exponentially. In other words, the only descriptor that can still be applied to both BX and 5e is "flexible," though I probably prefer the word "chaotic" in the case of 5e.

As one might infer from reading my blog the over years, I take great delight in building worlds based on what can be inferred from the rules and mechanics of the game. BX is a fantastic vehicle for this approach. 5e makes such a project virtually nigh impossible due to information overload; however, one of the things I do like about 5e is that it does present all this information as optional. It empowers the DM to put limits on which rules get used and which do not. 

Thus, it invites me to apply the "4+3" paradigm to the races and classes of 5e. What follows is, I hope, inspiring because what I consider to be the "core classes" is, in some cases, not what one might expect. 

Note:  I do have access to a pair of the splat books and am taking advantage of them due to some thematic elements found therein.

 

World One 

Core Classes 

Cleric

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance), Variant Human with Heavy Armor Master Feat 

Fighter

Barbarian (Path of the Zealot), Variant Human with Durable Feat 

Magic-user

Rogue (Arcane Trickster Archetype), Variant Human with Ritual Caster Feat 

Thief

Monk (Way of the Shadow), Normal Human 

Race-as-Class 

Dwarf 

Barbarian (Path of the Berserker), Mountain Dwarf 

Elf 

Fighter (Eldritch Knight Archetype), High Elf 

Halfling

Rogue (Assassin Archetype), Stout Halfling

 

World Two

Core Classes 

Cleric

Sorcerer (Divine Soul Origin), Variant Human with Fey Touched or Shadow Touched Feat 

Fighter

Fighter (Rune Knight Archetype), Variant Human with Fey Touched or Shadow Touched Feat

Magic-user

Warlock (Archfey Patron), Variant Human with Fey Touched Feat 

Thief

Rogue (Phantom Archetype), Variant Human with Shadow Touched Feat

Race-as-Class 

Dwarf 

Ranger (Fey Wanderer), Half-elf

Elf 

Wizard (Blade Singing), High Elf

Halfling

Wizard (School of Illusion), Forest Gnome

 

World Three

Core Classes 

Cleric

Cleric (Tempest Domain), Normal Human

Fighter

Barbarian (Path of the Storm), Normal Human

Magic-user

Sorcerer (Storm Sorcery), Normal Human

Thief

Rogue (Swashbuckler Archetype), Normal Human

Race-as-Class 

Dwarf 

Warlock (Genie Patron), Dragonborn

Elf 

Wizard (Blade Singing), High Elf

Halfling

Warlock (The Fathomless Patron), Half-elf

 

World Four

Core Classes 

Cleric

Monk (Way of Mercy), Variant Human with Healer Feat

Fighter

Monk (Path of the Kensei), Variant Human with Weapon Master Feat

Magic-user

Bard (College of Swords), Variant Human with Ritual Caster Feat

Thief

Rogue (Swashbuckler Archetype), Variant Human with Dual Wielder Feat

Race-as-Class 

Dwarf 

Rogue (Assassin Archetype), Half-orc

Elf 

Bard (College of Whispers), High Elf

Halfling

Rogue (Mastermind Archetype), Half-elf

 

What I love about this approach is that each world has a distinct feel, grounded in the mechanics of the classes themselves. One can start imagining reasons why each class has the mechanics they do. Speaking of the mechanics, since that is all they are, we are free to re-skin everything within a class to better explain them in context of the world in which they appear.

So, which world would you like to run or adventure in?