Skills

This one is mostly for me. 

We're gonna use 2d6 from now on, like, I think Apocalypse World and Monster Heart and stuff.

Everyone modifies their rolls by ability score modifiers. Rogues get the edge because they get skill points as they level up, to spend on skills, and thereby become more skilled at the given skill. So it's kinda a hack of Apocalypse World and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

So, you roll your 2d6. You crunch dem numbers.

If the result is less than 6 you have FAILED sirrah FAILED.

If the result is 7-9 you have succeeded but with some hitch, condition or consequence. Like, say you were having a check for some traps, you get an 8, I get to have a roll to see if you inadvertently set the trap off. Or, like just a general spot-check, you get a 9, so I'll say "you hear voices" or "you see a dark shape in the sky", had you gotten one higher I would say "you hear three voices conversing in what sounds like orcish" or "you see a dark shape in the sky. By its expansive wingspan and distinctive tail it looks like a FRICKEN' DRAGON". So yeah.

Oh! IF YOU TRY AND PICKPOCKET A GUY AND GET A 7 IT'S D20 MINUTES UNTIL THE MARK REALISES HE'S BEEN ROBBED.

But if the result is 10+ it's an unconditional success. Brava!

So let's have some exampley fun.

A fighter is trying to get the drop on a hobgoblin sentry, sneaking up behind him. He has a dexterity of 13 (so +1 to his checks). Cool. But he's still wearing his coat of mail, which is a -3 to a stealth check. He gets a 6, which, thanks to the penalties from his armour become a 4, so he's failed, clattering and clanking all over the place. The hobgoblin sees him. Awkwaaaard.

Had he stripped out of his metal armour beforehand the roll would have been a 7, he is successfully sneaking BUT it's a conditional success, so the hobgoblin gets to make a perception check back, he gets a 5, so he pricks his ears up for a second but then does the ole video game "Probably just a rat" and goes back to dreaming gentle dreams of callipygian hobgoblin women, the penultimate thing to go through his head. The last thing is probably gonna be the fighters axe.

But had our goblinoid friend rolled higher, and gotten a success, he would have grown wise to the fighters presence. The highest roll wins. In the event of a tie dice off. Cool? Cool.

But what if in the same situation everyone's favourite ailurophile alpha-bitch elf Kësa* was doing the sneaky sneak. Well for a start she'd probably just shoot the fucker BUT SHUT UP BILLY. She has a single point in Stealth plus her +2 from her high dexterity for a bonus of +3. Her armour is non-metallic so no worries there. She rolls a 7, totals up for a 10 and the guard doesn't know what's hit him.

So we're gonna try this out. 

*Seriously, take Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls, Arwen and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc this chick, and blend them  together and you've pretty much got her down.  

Al-Mi'raj

And I'm back.

LINGER NOT ON THE STAT BLOCK

 

Al-Mi’raj

When the scholar and mad priest Jezirat of Kemet first travelled the lands beyond the temple-cities of his homeland he documented many strange and fabulous things in parts of the world so close to the ken of eastern civilization yet so backward and isolated no-one saw fit to keep a record. Exactly what possessed Jezirat to venture into these backwater regions of the world none can say. He was mad.

But nevertheless of all the unusual creatures thought lost to folklore perhaps the most eerie Jezirat came across was what he called Al-Mi’raj. He wrote of it:

“Also in this place [The Isles of Nennyn] their lives an animal that is in form a very large hare or rabbit. However it has yellow fur and its head is stripped of all skin and flesh leaving it bone bare. Its eye sockets possess a deathly and unreal light that’s gaze, I’m told withers crops. Most strange of all however is the creature’s horn. From the centre of its forehead grows a single black and curved horn like that of a goat. The animal moves with great speed and although it takes the shape of a rabbit it takes great joy in flesh and will hunt game larger then itself, using its worrisome horn as a weapon. Upon occasion, as I’m told, one of the creatures will take the life of one of the pygmy Nennish Islanders and eat their flesh. 

Not only for this reason do the Nennish fear and hate the creature, but also because it is said to be a bringer of disease and plague. Whether this is true or not the Nennish treat it as such are quick to summon witches to dispatch the beast as few mortal trappers are willing to make the attempt, believing the beast to be cursed. Having witnessed one first hand attack, dismember and feed upon a kid-goat, I fear they may be right. 

It is further said that if cursed by the animal the only way to lift the curse is to devour a piece of the animals black heart, a dangerous act as if the folklore is true this part is very poisonous.

In truth I am beginning to suspect that these animals are not true creatures but the manifestation of some malign demon or god sent out to bring pestilence and chaos to the world. In many ways they are the ultimate inversion; a the body of a prey animal in a conspicuous tone, the body of a herbivore ingesting flesh and blood, a dead and rotten skull rising from a still living neck…” 

In his native tongue Al-Mi’raj means “The Ladder”. It is unknown exactly why Jezirat of Kemet chose to name the creature so but it is worth remembering he was not dubbed the Mad Priest for nothing. 

For reasons known only to them the native Nennish-halfling folk themselves refer to the sinister creature as the wopletinger.

Al-Mi’raj  (or Wopletinger)

Size:                       Small (3’ long)                                             

Move:                     18”

Armour Class:      14

Hit Dice:                1

Attacks:                 Horn

Damage:                 1d6

Saves:                     8             

                -6 penalties vs. magical attacks 

Al-Mi’raj can bestow quick and minor curses on their enemies with its baleful demon-eyes. Roll d6:

1.         1. -1d6 decrease to a random ability score

2.        2.    -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks (-2 for skills)

3.     3.   All food tastes like ash. All drink tastes like piss. Saving throw to stomach anything.

4.        4.     You become aware of the horrible true nature of al-mi’raj. Save or you are paralysed immediately with fear and suffer a -8 penalty to your saving throws so shaken up are you for the duration of the curse.

5.        5.    You stink. Sounds silly no? Well you stink so bad people need to make saving throws to be in the same room as you. You stink so bad flies think you’re dead and lay their eggs in you.

6.         6.    Al-Mi’raj has created an empathetic connection with you and when it dies it will try and take up possession of your body. Adventure in of itself.

These curses (except 6) last until the al-mi'raj is slain.