Status Ailments

The most common perils of a dungeon-delving career are probably injuries and death. But sometimes special effects kick in that don't kill a delver outright, but do make life a little more difficult for a while. Here are some of them.

Drain
The living dead hunger for the life-force of those still living. Any undead monster greater than ghouls and ghasts are likely to drain the living essence out of their victims. The effect is called Drain, and is normally inflicted one or two levels at a time. If the total of Drain levels exceeds the level of the character suffering from them, he is cursed to a living death.

Each level of Drain causes -1 to attacks, saves, and hit points recovered (both for spells and for any single stretch of rest & recuperation), and it blocks the highest available spell slot from being used (so with enough levels drained, you can lose all spells and it may be virtually impossible to recover hit points). Each week of complete rest reduces the Drain level by 1. If the PC goes a month without eliminating a Drain level, all remaining levels convert to permanent level loss.

A Remove Curse spell converts all Drain levels into temporary level loss (which, after you convert the attack & save stats, is usually a big improvement). A week of rest recovers one level, but going a month without recovering a level renders all remaining temporary loss permanent. XP gained while level is temporarily reduced should be recorded separately, added to the PC's total only when all temporary levels are either eliminated or converted.

Grave Rot
This ancient curse manifests the hunger of the grave, forever striving to devour the living. The victim of grave rot gains no benefits from magical healing and has only a 10% chance of recovering any hp on any given day of rest. Wounds and even minor abrasions begin to fester, so that the character soon looks and smells ghastly. Each day the character bears wounds and fails to recover hp, he loses 1 Charisma. When hp is full, he recovers 1 Charisma per day of rest.


Paralysis
The victim is helpless for 1d4+2 turns after combat ends. Any Cure spell can end this effect in lieu of other effects.

Stun
A stunned combatant can't attack, reduces speed to 1/3 normal, suffers -4 on AC & Saves, and can't focus on magic at all. This status normally lasts only a single round.

Weakness
Each level of Weakness causes -1 to attacks and damage. Weakness persists for 1d6 turns. If additional levels are added before the first levels are fully recovered, roll duration again and start the count anew. If a character suffers more levels of weakness than her level, she recovers from half when the duration lapses, and compare again the following turn.

Arcane Lore: Echoes & Incantations

"Certain names have the power to echo across the worlds when intoned, and there are always things listening for those names to be spoken... The only thing that tethered the Children of Night to reality was their names, and each time a name was called, that tether pulled a Child closer to wakefulness... Taking the root of a name and changing it, or masking it behind foreign mortal languages enabled a sufficiently cunning priest to draw upon a fraction of a sleeping entity's might without rousing it... The Children sleep fitfully yet, and their dreams are less pleasing to them than once they were."

 -Lucien Soulban & Sven Skoog, Clanbook: Baali

Art by Vince Locke

And so I accidentally deleted this post and must reconstruct it. Or maybe it was eaten by the things that slumber beyond the bounds of time and space? Whatever. Let's see if we can improve on the original.

Traditionally, magic in D&D is a matter of resource management: memorize a selection of spells before the adventure, cast each once per day, and when you get back to town where your spellbooks are safely stored, you can change your memorization. "Once per day." It feels a little like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

But Partholon is a little less fairy tale and a little more weird tale, so I want magic to carry an edge of danger, a sense of temptation and consequence. I also happen to be fond of risk management as a game mechanic. Some brainstorming, some playtesting, and a little help from the Amazing Sam of Difficult Terrain, and we've got a fun twist on Vancian magic that continually offers players interesting choices.

Incantations & Echoes

When a spell's incantation and infra-rational formulae are memorized, that spell can be cast at any time. The first casting each day is as safe as chanting the names of dead-but-dreaming abominations in order to steal a fragment of their powers can be. A daring or desperate mage can "echo" an incantation, casting the same spell a second time, but there is always a price. The more a sleeper's deathly slumber is disturbed, the more exhausting it is to channel its dreams into the waking world, and the more difficult it is to conceal this transfer of power from the things that stalk the shadow-realm.

When a mage echoes a spell, he suffers 1d6 damage. If this damage would reduce him to 0 hp, he rolls on the Echo Table instead. Additionally, if the next chance encounter check is affirmative, there is a 1 in 4 chance that the encounter will be with a Thing From Beyond (see below).


Echo Table

2d6	Result
12	You got lucky, punk Everything is fine... for now.
9-11	Woops, something noticed! Roll again the next time you cast an Echo.
6-8	You arrogant fool! Roll again the next time you cast any spell.
3-5	Bad trip! Out of body experience or total comprehension of infinity. Either way you're catatonic. Save vs Magic each morning to see if you come out of it.
2	Ye gods, no! Devoured by invisible demons, or yanked to a higher plane. Either way you vanish. Roll for resurrection survival: if you pass, most of you comes back.

You may notice that this is frankly just a modified Reaction Roll. I like to get more mileage out of existing resources rather than compounding the number of charts I have to keep track of.

Clerics and Others

Clerics channel their power from the cosmic spheres and the higher planes, and Druids invoke the spirits of the natural world and the twilight realm of faerie, but the mechanics of echoing spells remain unchanged. Other spellcasting classes have not yet appeared in the campaign.

Things From Beyond

This is the perfect time to throw in any wild, weird, and awesome monster that just doesn't have a place in the normal campaign milieu. Sleestaks, xenomorphs, terror dogs, splugorth, mind flayers and beholders: whatever you've always wanted to use without making it a part of the world. If you're using this echoed spell concept in a more d&d-traditional or even a gonzo campaign, there's still plenty of room for eldritch weirdness. Use the Psionic Encounters table from the 1e DMG, make a Realms of Crawling Chaos encounter table, use the stat-block for an invisible stalker and play it like the Predator - this is a chance to go outside whatever your campaign's normal boundaries may be without consequence. Even a silly encounter with flumph philosophers in the middle of a grim & gritty adventure can work out just fine as long as the creatures are clearly manifesting from outside the campaign world.

Legends of Partholon: the Bloodreaper, Ariokk

Art by Steve Argyle

Names & Titles: Ariokk, the Bloodreaper, the Duke of Blades, Prince of the Seven Darks

Symbols & Depiction:  In Tyrhennea, he is depicted with the arms and armor typical of the Delian bronze-age - what the Imperial imagination considers primitive and semi-barbaric. His face is always kept hidden. Vagyars depict him as a savage cloaked in the skins and bones of his kills - beast and man alike.

Prestige: One of the few Chaotic gods in the imperial pantheon, Ariokk revels in bloodshed and brutality. He serves Valkas as a frenzied warrior who balks at nothing, and is regarded as a patron of warfare. Tyrhenneans prefer to keep his worship at something of a distance, but many Vagyars embrace his patronage - especially berserkers.

Veneration: Ariokk's windowless temples bear mosaics depicting the most horrifying scenes of slaughter, murder, and appalling violence of every stripe. Most soldiers disdain this mad god's patronage - at least while they remain at home or in a quiet garrison. In the fog of war, it is common to hear the battlefield prayer, "Blood and souls for Ariokk!" as kill after kill is dedicated in his name.

Any place or object associated with him is held as savage and dangerous. There are rumors that his cult includes certain priests or zealots who sacrifice to him through random murders and worse.

Legends: The poet Grucca frequently depicts Ariokk as a villain, occasionally as a treacherous and untrustworthy ally to the gods and heroes of his tales. Ariokk lends his blessings to anyone who shows strength, courage, or savagery, without regard to his supposed loyalty to Valkas. Grucca even claims that Ariokk is the god most hateful to the Lawgiver.

It is also said that Ariokk was the chief patron of lost Agha-yin. Some variations of the legend tell that he was once a wise sorcerer-god, but that he gradually devolved into madness, perhaps as a result of the growing depravities among his worshippers. In these tales, it was Ariokk who destroyed Agha-yin, smiting its towers and driving its armies to slaughter the populace before sending the entire island-continent to drown beneath the Sedrian Sea.

Fighters in Partholon

Art by Storn Cook

It seems that, by and large, the OSR as a whole has embraced the idea that the fighter needs a little something extra - the writeup as it appears in Holmes, B/X, or BECMI is lacking somewhat compared to other classes. There are some hints in Chainmail and the LBBs as to rectifying the imperfection, and some ideas have become so prevalent as to be almost standardized within the OSR. I've got my own ideas. 

The Fighter is already a veteran of several battles before he begins his dungeon-delving career. He may have been a member of a village militia or a city guard, or may have fought in some warlord's campaign. He may come from a lineage of knights or similar warrior-lords charged with safeguarding the realm. Whatever his background, he has left the battlefield behind and turned to crypts and catacombs, hoping that his battle-skills will keep him alive long enough to collect lost treasures.

The fighter is in many ways the easiest class to play.  He doesn't depend greatly on planning and forethought (though he will benefit from both!) and with proper equipment is about as ready as he'll ever be for whatever situations come up. He can adapt to most any situation as needed, but his standard tactic (kill monsters and stay alive) is a smart choice most of the time.

Basic Traits

Guard: When a fighter chooses to fight defensively, he gets the normal +2 bonus to AC, but can also grant an additional +2 AC bonus to a nearby ally. Guard bonuses do not stack, so a given individual can benefit from only a single fighter's protection.

Overkill: The fighter is trained to fight his enemies not as individuals but as a unit. When he deals damage in excess of that needed to slay a foe, he can deliver the excess damage to another foe in reach (so long as that target's AC is no greater than the fighter's attack). He can combine his movement and attack if needed to deliver the overkill.

Martial Skill: The fighter has learned how to get optimal performance out of all manner of weapons. A fighter can:

• can move and shoot with bow or crossbow
• use a spear one-handed, or set against a charge for first strike and x2 damage
• charge with a spear or lance for +2 AP and x2 damage
• add his Dex bonus to AP and damage when fighting with two weapons

Expert Traits

Hero: +1 to Command and Leadership [that's Number of Retainers and Retainer Morale]

Champion: a further +1 to Command and Leadership

Daunting: Starting at 8th level, when the fighter moves to engage enemies of 4HD or less, he may force them to make a morale check.

Warlord:  By ancient custom, only the most powerful warriors could be recognized as boyars, the warlords who governed and protected the clans. Imperial rule replaced the boyars with barons who grant their position to legal heirs, but with the decay of Imperial authority, the ancient customs are being revived. A fighter who declares himself a Warlord will attract a small army of followers above and beyond the command allotted by his Charisma. If he doesn't want trouble with the local barons or Duke Bellorum, he may seek to pledge fealty or claim a domain in the wilderness beyond Imperial control. If he doesn't mind defying the authorities, he may claim existing settlements as his own, or he and his men can live as brigands and outlaws within Imperial lands.

The Fighter

Level	XP	HD	AP		Traits
1	0	1+1	1		Guard, Overkill, Martial Skill
2	2,000	2	2
3	4,000	3	3
4	8,000	4	3		1d8 damage, Hero
5	16,000	5	4
6	32,000	6	5		Champion
7	64,000	7	5
8	120,000	8	6		1d10 damage, Daunting
9	240,000	9	7		Warlord
10	360,000	10	7
...	+120,000	+2 hp	...

Saves: +2 Physical

The Rangers of Partholon

Art by Kelly McLarnon

In my concept, a ranger is a stealthy character and an indirect combatant, an opportunist and a problem-solver. I'm treating the class as taking the role normally filled by the thief in classic campaigns, because I like this flavor more. Earlier versions of this class were more heavily influenced by the Dunedain of Middle-earth, but this version owes much of its flavor to Aspar White of Eslen.

The Ranger is an expert hunter and tracker, accustomed to traveling on her own through the wilderness and living off the land. Her nomadic lifestyle makes her a figure of suspicion when she ventures into settlements, but the opinions of ignorant strangers are a small matter in her eyes. Prior to her treasure-hunting career, she patrolled the wilderness, hunting monsters before they could become a threat to innocent villagers, and occasionally collecting bounties from whatever baron happened to be nearby when she needed money.

Rangers generally see one another as affiliates in a loose network or brotherhood. Most are solitary, but some work in bands, and some carry on a family legacy. Two of the most famous names among rangers are the Watchkeepers and the Stargazers.

The ranger's combat style emphasizes speed and mobility. She exploits opportunities when they appear, and creates them when she needs them. She is not trained to fight in plate or mail.

Stealth Skills 

(The referee should roll for stealth skills, so the player cannot be sure of the result. The PC will believe she is successful until confronted with evidence to the contrary.)
Hide in Shadows: Anybody can hide if they can actually get out of sight. The ranger can attempt to hide with no better concealment than the shifting shadows of torchlight.
Hide in Wilderness: The ranger is even better at hiding in the wild. With 1d3 turns of preparation, she can attempt to conceal her entire party. If she is only trying to hide herself, roll 2 Skill dice instead of just 1. 
Move Silently: When hidden, any movement will normally give away the hiding character's position. The ranger can attempt to move without giving herself away.

Professional Skills
Listen: Use the Skill Roll instead of the normal 1 in 6 chance for listening.
Tracking: Indoors & underground, make a Skill Roll with -1 TN for each turn of delay. In the wild, use the best of 2 Skill Rolls, with -1 TN for each day of delay, rain, or snow.
Wilderness Expert: A party with a ranger gets +1 to Travel rolls, including disorientation, searching, hunting & foraging. 
Free-climb: The ranger is skilled at climbing walls and rock faces without gear or assistance. She can climb 2d6x10 feet per turn, but never more than 100 ft or faster than allowed by Encumbrance. If the roll exceeds either limit, she is unable to make progress. If the roll exceeds both limits, she attempts progress but falls from the halfway point.

Combat Skills
Ambush: +4 AP & x2 damage if striking from hiding or by surprise. If the ranger has successfully hidden, the target may be on guard or even engaged in combat.
Dual Wielding: The ranger adds her Dex bonus to AP and damage when fighting with two weapons
Expert Archer:  When using a bow, the ranger can choose one of three special attacks:

• Move and Shoot: 
• Sharp-shooting: 
• Speed-shooting:

The Ranger

Level	XP	HD	AP	Save	Traits
1	0	1	1	15	Skill: 2 in 6
2	1,500	2	1	14
3	3,000	3	2	13	Skill: 3 in 6
4	6,000	+1 hp	2	12
5	12,000	4	3	11	Weapon damage: 1d8
6	24,000	5	3	10
7	50,000	6	4	9	Skill: 4 in 6
8	100,000	+1 hp	4	8
9	200,000	7	5	7
10	300,000	8	5	6	Weapon damage: 1d10
...	+100,000	+1 hp	...	5	Skill: 5 in 6

Saves: +2 Physical

Have Mule, Will Travel

A mule is a crossbreed of between a horse and a donkey. Mules are stubborn, and if bothered or excited they may either bite or kick... Mules cannot be trained to attack, but will fight in their own defense.
-The Red Book of Moldvay

When your adventure takes you out to the middle of the wilderness, you don't want to be caught short of food, torches, oil, or any other supplies. Every journey back to town is time wasted - and that means chance encounters rolled, and opportunities for death and mayhem without the payoff of treasure. The best way to maximize your carrying capacity without slowing the expedition to a crawl is to load up the extra gear on a mule.

Here's my super-clever Mule Record Sheet:

Obviously I have played Diablo II a few times

If a PC's backpack was laid out the same way, it would only have three or four rows. So, like, a mule can carry a whole lot. If the party is traveling on foot, their usual movement rate is the 60'/20' speed of a fully laden mule, so that's handy. However, if the party is riding horses, their movement could be significantly faster, and they might be wise to ensure their mule never slows them down below 120'/40' speed.

By my encumbrance rules, every item takes up a whole slot - every torch, every day's worth of rations (for each person!), to say nothing of bringing feed for the horses. As great as the mule's carrying capacity may be, sometimes you need an expert to do the packing for you. For a proper adventure, you'll want to hire a teamster or a carter. A carter can pack bundles of objects (such as a week's rations or a six-pack of torches) to take up only two spaces on the Mule Sheet. The carter will also tend to the party's mule and horses during travel and while camping, but will need an assistant if tending more than six animals.

The best carter in Sham is Randol, and he normally charges ten silver pennies a day, twenty if his assistant Maya is required. However, he has been known to offer discounts in the past provided that his employers cover all necessary expenses (food, camping gear, etc). The negotiation will depend on a Reaction roll - a good result will get the discount, a neutral result will require further negotiation, and a poor result will see him stand firm - or possibly insist on some additional 'hazard pay' for traveling into the heart of Kruthar territory!

Travel Rules

Up to this point, most of the campaign play has focused on local adventures, within a few hours' travel from town. Occasionally the party has made longer journeys, but in most cases this has been fairly straightforward, following a trail or a map. Now that the party is getting set to venture into the wilderness, it's time to lay down the rules for an old-fashioned hexcrawl.

Overview

Travel overland uses a hexmap, where each hex represents 6 miles of travel. This hex system is a little abstract compared to exploring dungeons and other adventure sites, but it's a useful way to streamline days of travel, and it simplifies mapping. From the center of a hex to the edge is just about the horizon line in clear terrain, but the entire game of Skyrim would fit into a single hex on this scale. The party can pass through on their way to a known destination, or explore for other adventure sites as much as they like.

Where dungeon exploration is divided into turns of ten minutes, overland travel is played from day to day. Each day, the party begins with a number of travel points based on its exploration speed. Those points are spent to enter hexes until the party runs out of points, and the day's travel is concluded. Often, there will be points leftover, not quite enough to enter the next hex. In that case, these extra points can be invested into a desired hex, which will reduce the cost needed to enter that hex on the next day of travel.

When the party enters a hex, roll a d6. On a 6, the party finds a major site as marked on the referee's map (e.g. ruins, lair, castle). On a 5, the party finds a landmark or settlement that helps to point the way (+1 on next search). The party may spend the hex's cost again to search further. If the refree's map shows nothing but terrain, a successful search will point the party toward an encounter, with the option to avoid it if desired.

Travel Points

Load	Move	Travel
None	120'	12 points
Light	90'	9 points
Medium	60'	6 points
Heavy	30'	3 points

Hex Costs

Cost	Terrain Types
2 points	Imperial road
3 points	Clear, trail, lightly forested, grasslands, settled & civilized
4 points	Heavily forested, hilly, desert, broken land
6 points	Mountain, swamp, jungle

Special Terrain Notes
Much of the Shimrod Forest is a "black forest," where trees grow so thick that sunlight can barely penetrate. In this terrain, horses cannot be ridden and the party must travel afoot leading their mounts.

Usually a hex must be entered to be mapped, but the party can spend an extra point to find a good vantage point (such as a sturdy treetop) from which to map surrounding hexes. From Hilly terrain, the line of sight extends up to 3 hexes away, but is blocked by hilly or mountainous terrain. From mountainous terrain, the line of sight extends up to 7 hexes away on a clear day. These elevated hexes can also be mapped from lower elevation at similar ranges. Mountains can be dimly seen, though not mapped, at 10 hex distance - even up to 20 hexes for some peaks.

Encounters
Each day of travel, the referee will check for encounters. Normally a single check is sufficient, but in more dangerous territory as many as 4 checks might be rolled. The default is a 2 in 6 chance, reduced to 1 in 6 in clear and inhabited hexes, or increased to 3 in 6 in swamps, jungles, and mountains. Encounters may happen in the starting hex, in any of the hexes traveled, or while camping at night.

Disorientation
Each day of travel, the referee will check for disorientation unless the party is following a river, trail, road, or a reliable guide. The default is a 2 in 6 chance of disorientation, reduced to 1 in 6 for clear, open terrain like grasslands, or increased to 3 in 6 for swamp, jungle, and desert travel. In the event of disorientation, the party's travel will be rotated either sunwise or widdershins by one hex face. The party is assumed to reorient the following morning (barring such conditions as would conceal the sunrise, such as terrible weather or camping within a black forest), but runs the risk of becoming disoriented again as usual.

Hunting & Foraging
It's recommended that the party should pack rations for their intended travel time, plus 50% in case of delays. The party extend their supplies at the cost of some travel time for hunting or foraging.


Foraging requires the party to spend 1/3 of its travel points (4, 3, 2, or 1 on foot) and roll:

1d6	Result
1-3	Consume rations as usual
4-5	No rations spent today
6	Add 1d6 rations to supply!

Hunting requires a full day of activity, and requires one extra Encounter check

1d6	Result
1-3	Spend no rations
4-5	Add 1d6 rations to supply
6	Add 2d6 rations to supply!

Forced March
The party can push for greater time or speed to cover more distance, but the following day must be spent resting. No foraging is possible during a forced march, and no hunting or exploration is possible during a rest day.  The party gains an additional 50% of travel points (6, 4, 3, 1)

Riding
Faster travel rates are possible with good mounts.

Move	Travel	Forage	Forced
240'	24 pts	-8	+12
210'	21 pts	-7	+10
180'	18 pts	-6	+9
150'	15 pts	-5	+7

Art by Larry Elmore

To whatever degree the system above has merit, a debt is owed to Mentzer, Proctor, Cook, and the Judges Guild. To whatever degree it is flawed, the blame is largely my own. My sole intent was to recreate the results of these designers through a system that I find simple and fun. If it proves to be a useful plugin for your own campaign, I will be thrilled beyond words.