Psion/Nomad in 5e

The final conversion for getting my Patfinder/Midgard campaign moved over to 5e is finding some way to implement the Psion class, as presented in Dreamscarred Press' "Ultimate Psionics" (a great product, but very Pathfinder-y).

In this case, the player has specialized as a "Nomad" (teleportation, I mean "psychoportation" specialist), and in keeping with my "just get this working" ethic, here is how I'm handling his character. It's going to be a work in progress, and the player is willing (and eager) to work with me to get the feel right over the first few sessions.

First off, Psions are analogous to Wizards. They improve their powers through careful study and have "specialist schools".

I had already decided to use "Psionics as another flavor of Magic" in the PF version of this campaign. Simply put, "magic" derives from three sources - arcane (powered by the structure of the material plane, by way of ley lines, and wielded through ritual and pattern), divine (powered by the collective belief of trillions of souls, both alive and post-alive, and wielded through emotion), and psionic (powered by the creative energies of the astral "Sea of Possibilities", and wielded through mental discipline).

But for practical purposes, I'm using the "Point System" magic from the DMG, and adding "Nomad" as a school of magic with the following properties:

At 1st level, you gain "Psionic Focus", which is similar to "Concentration". It takes one action to become focused, and if you ever fail a Concentration check, you lose focus as well. While focused, you can "cast" cantrips at no point cost (Normally they cost 1 point), and can manifest any special abilities. Your Intelligence is your casting attribute.

At 2nd Level, you gain "Nomad's Step" - while focused, you can use your action to teleport within line of sight up to 15 feet away, +5 feet for each level above 2nd. You also gain "Catfall" as an always prepared Cantrip. (Catfall is a single-person Feather Fall limited to 20' + 10' per power point spent.) Note, replaces  "Arcane Tradition" - not sure about gaining extra Feather Fall, but that seems to be a decent way to simulate the Nomad's growing control over space and time.

At 6th Level, you gain "Inconstant Position" - use your reaction to give any attack a 50% chance to miss you. You may use this power up to 1+(level-8)*2 times after a long rest.

I'll wing it from there.

I'm "reskinning" some of the spells to sound more "psionic-y", but the game effects will be the same.

I'm leaving Arcane Recovery in, though I need to work out how many points you can recover. It'll probably be something like "regain your caster level in points".

Lastly - since "Psionics" is another form of magic, it's treated as magic for any detection or resistance checks.

There are a lot of holes in this system, such as how many "spells" does a Psion get, and can they collect them like Wizards, or are they "hard coded" like a Sorcerer? Though "Sorcerer" matches the original vibe of "psionics is stuff you know how to do", I like the Psion class as an explorer of the Psionic arts, and though having to prepare a limited number of spells is possibly goofy in this case, I think it will work fine for play balance.

Mongoose Traveller Character: Abigael Tynan

Field Agent 3 Abigael "Abby" Tynan - Age 34
Str:  5(-1)  Int: 9(+1)
Dex: 11(+2)  Edu: 7(+0)
End:  7(+0)  Soc: 7(+0)
Skills: Persuade-3, Deception-2, Communications-1, Investigate-1, Streetwise-1, Flyer-1, Melee-1, Carousing-0, Art(Singing)-0, Art(Songwriting)-0, Trade(Waitress)-0
Possessions: TL-12 Wafer Jack, Cr30,000

Enemies: Count Haakon of Sacnoth

1/2 Term Performer(Singer/Songwriter), 3 Terms Intelligence (Field Agent)

Abby grew up on Sacnoth (Sword Worlds/Sacnoth A775956-C), where she had a brief career as a singer/songwriter. When one of her more political songs became a hit, the local noble whose corruption she was satirizing (Count Haakon) took offense and put an end to her career.

Hoping to escape Count Haakon's reach, Abby applied to be a colonist, but was rejected - the colonial office couldn't risk the wrath of Count Haakon. Dejected and wondering what to do with her life, she was approached by Sword World Intelligence, who moved her to the capital of the Confederation, Gram (A895957-C). Though reluctant to move to her homeworld's chief rival in the Confederation, Abby realized that Gram was probably the one world where Count Haakon's influence would not reach.

Abby rose quickly through the ranks, making a name for herself as a field operative. Her good looks and easy nature made her a natural operative, and she helped to uncover numerous worker revolts and other threats to Gram's leadership.

In her 4th term, an unknown enemy blew her cover and her brother was nearly killed. The service decided that they no longer required her, and she was mustered out. Unusually, Abby was permitted to retain her wafer jack (TL-12, hidden access port), though she did have to turn in her software package and submit to a wafer-jack wipe to remove any classified data.

Tengu, D&D 5e Style

Similar to my previous Catfolk post, another of my players is playing one of the "Ravenfolk", also known as Tengu, Huginn, or Heruti.

So here is the Racial Template I plan to use for Tengu. It is based off of Kobold Press's "Advanced Races 5 - Ravenfolk" book by Wade Rockett, which is released under the OGL. (The Open Content of his product includes new feats, spells, magic items, gear and player character race abilities, the last of which is what I am using for inspiration.)

Note: this edit includes numerous suggestions from James Ray, Benjamin Eastman and others I don't mean to slight by not remembering.

Tengu/Ravenfolk Traits

• Ability Score Increase: You are fast and highly observant. Your Dexterity increases by +2 and your Wisdom by +1.
• Age: Tengu leave the nest at 12 years of age and can live to over 100 years.
• Alignment: Tengu favor no particular alignment, and are as diverse in outlook as Humans.
• Size: Tengu are medium sized creatures. They stand roughly 5 feet tall and due to their hollow bones, weigh roughly 100 pounds.
• Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Keenly Observant: You have innate proficiency in Perception.
• Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet as if you were in bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
• Natural Weapon: Bite (1d4 Piercing)
• Languages: You can speak, read and write both Common and Feather Tongue

In the original text, Tengu also had proficiency in all sword-like weapons, due to their cultural upbringing, but I think that in 5e, that might be better left to a Background, so I have not included it. Likewise, though "gifted linguist" is part of their back story, I'm not sure how best to represent that in 5e. Maybe they take much less time learning a language than normal?

Also, I'm balancing the original race's high Dex/Wis by making them naturally proficient in Perception. I considered the suggestion to drop Perception in favor of Stealth, but Dex+2 and Stealth sort of shoe-horns them into Rogues. Also, in my view of Ravenfolk, making them fast (Dex+2) but keenly observant (Wis+1, Perception) fits them better.

The Children of Odin see all....

Catfolk, D&D 5e Style

I'm planning to switch my home "Pirates of Pathfinder" game over to 5e. My players in that campaign are largely disinterested in the sophisticated character building and combat options of Pathfinder, and I think 5e would be a better fit for them. Plus, I'm all excited about 5e these days. :)

However, one of my players likes to play Catfolk. Those aren't represented in 5e yet.

Here is how I intend to port the OGL Pathfinder Catfolk player race to 5e. Please see the link above for fluff details, I'm going to stick pretty close to mechanics here, though with an attempt to make it "read" like 5e.

Catfolk Traits

As a Catfolk, you are a natural explorer and trailblazer, curious and brave by nature. Your people are known to be generous and loyal to their family and friends, and catfolk are friendly with any people who offers goodwill.

• Ability Score Increase: You are likable and agile. Your Dexterity increases by +2 and your Charisma by +1.
• Age: Catfolk reach adulthood at 15 years of age.
• Alignment: Catfolk are generally Good, with the majority tending towards Chaotic.
• Size: Catfolk range from 5 to 6 feet tall, with female Catfolk tending to be 5" shorter than males on average. Catfolk are medium.
• Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Sprinter: You gain an extra +10 feet of movement when you Dash.
• Natural Hunter: You have an innate proficiency in Survival and Stealth skills. You are also proficient in the use of your claws (1d4 Slashing) for melee.
• Cat's Luck: You may claim Advantage on one Dexterity Saving Throw. This ability recharges after a long rest.
• Darkvision: Accustomed to nighttime hunting, you can see in dim light within 60 feet as if you were in bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
• Languages: You can speak, read and write both Common and Catfolk.

I'm not doing anything with Subraces for the moment, though the SRD Catfolk gives plenty of room for adapting the various racial feats and such.

I'm also considering a different take on Cat's Luck, which is mostly inspired by how my player keeps trying to use it. Instead of claiming Advantage (which mimics the OSR version), I might allow a re-roll, keeping the second value.

Next, I'll try adapting the Huginn or Tengu "Ravenfolk".

Notes: Thanks to Sean Bircher for his suggestions.

A quick thought on Traveller Social Standing

The topic of "why doesn't Traveller have Charisma, and how do I represent a boorish Noble?" comes up with some frequency in Traveller discussions.

Aside from the obvious hack of just giving characters a 7th stat for Charisma (which works fine), you can also get some mileage out of an alternate reading of the Traveller description for Social Standing (SS).

In Starter Traveller, the book says, "Those with social standing of B+ (11 or greater) are considered to be noble, and may assume their family's hereditary title." That's pretty straight forward.

But what if you decide instead that SS is how well does the character handle themselves in social situations? Assuming that SS of 11 or better is having "courtly manners" that would imply a noble background, give the player the option of actually being a noble OR having some other back story to explain their knowledge of courtly ways. It might even be possible that a high SS player came from a bloodline in exile, or that they served a noble family and the character is "passing".

Of course this is a two-edged sword. The Referee would then have to permit "fallen nobles" who has SS of less than their family due to apathy or ennui, but still maintained their title.

However, interpreting SS even more loosely allows lowborn characters who are highly charismatic to have entre into high SS situations because, though they're unlearned in manners, they have a magnetism that even nobles find charming.

I prefer this interpretation of SS. Just like having a high Education does not automatically make you a professor, having a high Social Standing ought not force a player into the nobility.

Just a thought.

More Superheroes!

I put this question to my family - what sort of RPG(s) do you want to play over the Christmas break?

Their choices were, "The Pathfinder Pirates Game", "Swords & Wizardry, though moving away from Dyson's Delve if you guys want", "Traveller", "Mekton", or "Super Heroes".

Unanimously and quickly they chose "Supers!".

So I need to get my ideas hat on and come up with some good villains for them to fight....

Comfort Food

Why do I always go back to Classic Traveller when I'm feeling down?
Is it because of nostalgia for the countless hours I spent in my youth designing spaceships and worlds?
Is it because of the inherent simplicity of the rules make it easy to run "thought scenarios"?
Or is it because in Traveller, the universe is truly what you make it, with the rules offering as much or as little direction as you desire?

I've all but given up on running an ongoing campaign at home or with friends, but on days like today, I still daydream about jumps into poorly mapped out systems, facing off against rival crews/gangs who heard the same rumors as you did about lost treasures and civilizations, suiting up in your best new gear in hopes that you're not bringing a knife to a gun fight, and doing 2d vector math while juggling limited computer processing resources.

Ok, maybe not so much that last one. :)

Are Supers in my Future?

I've had little luck getting any RPG action in at home. We did start off off a Pathfinder-based "Pirates" game, set in Midgard's Western Sea, which I'll blog about once we actually get going.

But in the mean time, I've become interested in Superhero games.

I'm sort of late to the Superhero Comics scene. Like VERY late. Sure, I read my neighbor's Spiderman comics as a kid, and I watched all the usual 70's and 80's superhero TV shows like every other geek my age, but it wasn't until Avengers and then Guardians of the Galaxy that I actually got really interested in Superheroes.

So I've been looking for a game system that can accurately model everything from the recent Marvel-verse movies (Avengers&Spinoffs, Fantastic-4, X-Men, etc.), the recent DC TV serieses, and other "caped crusader" type situations.

At first, I was pretty sure the Mutants & Masterminds was going to be my "ride". It's D20 based, has HeroLab support, has TONS of supplemental materials, and was able to handle any of the character concepts I threw at it. But it had one serious drawback for my gaming group - the players really need to understand the character build system to get the most out of it.

For the same reason, I've ruled out the various FATE based systems. While they seem like they'd be very playable in the right circumstances, my group isn't the sort who embraces clever rule mechanisms - by and large, they're happier with "I want to do X, what do I roll?" rather than the level of Narrative responsibility that FATE requires.

So I think I've found the perfect game: Supers!, revised edition. Character building is as simple as spreading 20 "dice" around various stats and dreaming up what super powers you want. Game play is creative, but "narrative control" is mostly limited to describing how you use your powers to attack or defend. You can get pretty creative with that, like defending against a gun attack with your Composure - basically, staring down the bad guy, and unnerving him so much that he misses you with his attack - or using Super Speed to body-slam someone, who could use Super Strength to resist you, or maybe use the ability to phase out of existence to not be there. Of course you could simply try to dodge the charge, or resist an attack with your innate toughness. The reason you have so many options is that once you use a single source of power in a round, you can't use it again. So if you blow your Elemental/Fire control making a shield, you can't then turn around and fire-blast someone in the same round. Lots of fun choices to make!

I received the print-on-demand book from RPGNow yesterday. My daughter asked me what it was, and immediately told me what sort of superhero she would play.

Apparently, she'd already been thinking about what sort of superhero she would play in an RPG, because kids do that sort of thing.

Traveller Character Damage - Pulp vs. Beaten to a Pulp

One of the reasons my home group has given for not wanting to play Traveller is that it's not very "heroic". People can (and do) die easily, and aside from getting better equipment and ships, there's no character advancement to speak of. (Not technically true of course, but "leveling up" is not as exciting an event as it is in D20 games.)

So that got me thinking. Sure, I could switch to "Stars Without Number" (a very well done fusion of D&D and Traveller concepts), but if I were to keep good ol' Traveller as the basis, how could I make personal combat less punishing for the characters without requiring them to always use their Battledress and Plasma Rifles?

Well, one way is to adjust how damage and healing are handled.

In the versions of Traveller I like the best (Classic and Mongoose), damage comes straight off the 3 physical stats. I like this convention because it means as you get hurt, you lose capability. But in both versions, healing is more "realistic", in that it takes days or weeks to recover from wounds. That's SO not Pulp...

Inspired by later edition D&D's handling of damage, I've come up with an alternative, synthesizing CT, MgT and to a very lesser extent, D&D 4+. It's not that different from the stock system(s), but hopefully will be different enough to "pulp" things up a bit.

(Aside: I had a more comprehensive system laid out, but after writing an "or you could just do it this way..." section, I decided I like that way more, so it's the only one I've presented here. Also, CT's standard system is pretty forgiving if you don't actually "bottom out" a stat, so maybe this is just an MgT thing....)

ASSUMPTIONS

• In combat, Endurance represents how "tough" you are, and acts as a buffer against "hard" damage.
• Strength and Dexterity damage is real "broken bone, deep cut" damage, and actually requires healing.
• Instant healing Medkits are available, and fill a role similar but not identical to "Health Potions" in fantasy games.
• Resuscitation of recently dead characters is possible, given prompt attention and/or sufficient medical technology.

RULES

• Damage is applied to Endurance first.
  OPTIONAL: reducing Endurance to zero with the first shot will knock the character unconscious. (The "first blood rule" - I generally only use this for NPCs.)
• Once Endurance is Zeroed, other damage must go to Strength or Dexterity, player's choice. Apply the WHOLE damage to that stat, and spill any extra on to the remaining stat.
• Strength and Dexterity don't start taking damage until Endurance is ZERO.
• Zero out Strength OR Dexterity, and you're unconscious
• Zero out BOTH, and you're dead
• Endurance restores after a "short rest" (1 hour), or by using a Medpack as a standard action.
• First Aid is assumed to happen during the "short rest".
  If it can't for some reason, then Endurance only recovers 1/2, and must heal like other stats.
• Once Endurance is restored, other Stats may heal, though never past their initial values:
• 1d6+END points per Medpack used.
• 1+END point per day for light duty, 2 for "bed rest".
• A doctor can use Medic to assist this recovery
• OPTIONAL: if you use more than 1 Medpack per hour, you'll suffer 1D damage from overdose. This damage goes straight to Strength or Dexterity, player's choice. It might be worth it, if Endurance is higher than the number rolled, but it's clearly a risk.
• Recently (within 5 min) killed characters can sometimes be resuscitated:
• A character who has taken total damage beyond twice the sum of all three physical stats cannot be resuscitated. (For an average 777 character, that's 42 points to "vaporize" from healthy. Though it's only 21 points to "mangle the body beyond recovery" from dead.)
• A Resusci-pack (Cr100,000) will bring a character back to 1 in all stats.
• A Difficult Medical/DEX check can work, but each failure adds MoF to the next attempt to resuscitate.
• Some military armors are equipped with automatic medical drug systems. Assuming the armor's supply of medicine is available, the automatic systems will apply the drug any time the character's Endurance hits zero. However, this will happen AFTER the rest of the damage has been distributed, and will not happen if there is a possibility that drug overdose could kill the character. (No stat left is greater than 6.)

OSR Creature/Encounter Specs

In this post, Wayne Rossi proposes the idea that OSR modules should adopt a relatively standard stat line for creatures, based on a synthesis of the best parts of the existing corpus of adventures. I won't reblog his full proposal, but in essence, he would have creatures (taken from his original post) listed in an encounter as:

Orcs (4) - AC 6, MV 90', Dx 8, HD 1, hp 5,4,3,2, #AT 1, D 1-6, Save F1, ML 8

Black Widow Spider (1) - AC 6, MV 60' (in web 120'), Dx 15, HD 3*, hp 13, #AT 1, D 2-12, SA poison, Save F2, ML 8

This should be pretty self-explanatory and familiar to anyone who has played a pre-3e version of D&D with the exception of Dx (dexterity, useful for breaking ties in initiative, retrofitting "touch AC" or other purposes) and "ML", or Morale Level, which only exists in some variants of OSR D&D. The idea is, throw 2d6 for ML or less to stay in the fight. An ML 7 has an average chance to stick around, whereas an ML 12 will fight to the death.

Wayne also proposes an INT listing, which I wholeheartedly endorse. I'd like to see a switch to modern dice notation also (so 2-12 becomes 2d6, for example), but I digress.

The ML stat gives me an idea for one additional stat that would not be part of the raw creature description, but would be part of the stat block for the encounter:

MO (Motive) - one of "Guard", "Defend", "Explore", "Rest"

Guard - The creature(s) are screening access to some nearby location.
Tactics - Stand and fight. Send one creature to warn the location if the players are winning.

Defend - The creature(s) are inside of a camp of some sort
Tactics - The creatures will not intentionally abandon their camp.

Explore - The creature(s) are investigating the location
Tactics - Fight until 1/2 are wounded or killed, then attempt to disengage

Rest - The creature(s) have set up camp and are unprepared to fight
Tactics - Will count as surprised for 1-3 rounds, then will Defend.

In all motives, a morale failure will result in the creatures fleeing as usual.

On Kobolds as "Dungeon Elementals"

Wayne R. proposed in this blog post that Kobolds might be more interesting as "Dungeon Elementals" - creatures that exist only to reset dungeon traps, lock doors, clean up stuff, etc. Almost more of a Dungeon Maintenance Crew than the race of Draconic Megalomaniacs that they've evolved into.

Go read his article, it's really quite inspirational. I'm not going to repeat much, but instead I'll offer some thoughts of my own.

I love this idea. It clings to the sort of weird ecology that one might find in a universe where D&D things are possible. Kobolds are to Dungeons (specifically dungeons, not just caves) what Faeries are to Nature. The deepest, darkest Dungeons (as proposed in this blog entry) may touch the elemental plane of Earth, and may not even truly have been "built" so much as "grown". Maybe Kobolds are the Earth Elemental's way of maintaining and driving their creations once they've slipped into the Prime Material Plane. If you subscribe to the "Malicious Dungeon" concept, then Kobolds may be the agents of that malice, like electrons are to electrochemistry. Or conversely, once mortals build their dungeons deep enough, they inadvertently catch the attention of the lords of the plane of Earth, who send their material-plane allies to work the dungeon. Why? Who can fathom the will of Elemental Lords? ;)

In any case, Kobolds themselves are rarely encountered in person. They are exceedingly stealthy and can create secret passages as necessary to move around a dungeon undetected. As minions of the Elemental Lords, they seek to bring order to any dungeon they are charged with. They will coexist with other dungeon inhabitants, but in a Kobold-infested dungeon, even the monsters know to tread lightly. The Kobolds may not interact with them directly, but any denizen who causes too much conflict will find themselves on the wrong end of a trap, or locked in a room they could previously leave at will.

A Kobold infestation is a very serious threat to any mining operation, and many a delve has had to be abandoned after it reached too far into the ground.

So how do you get rid of a Kobold infestation? If you can trap them yourself, you'll find that they are physically unimpressive and easily slain. But hunting Kobolds is almost more like hunting Poltergeists, and their numbers are always more than you imagine them to be. Rumor has it that in order for an Earth Lord to send Kobolds, it must establish a gateway somewhere in the dungeon, and destroying this gateway is the only known way to end the Kobold threat. Once the connection to their Lord is lost, the Kobolds will gradually fade away, perhaps in search of another dungeon, perhaps re-absorbed by the very rock itself.

Character: Vanir the Halfling Storm Sorcerer

I made this guy up for D&D 4e a little while ago, and just rediscovered him while updating another 4e character on the D&D Insider character builder. He's actually a response to a question I asked myself - "Now that I have a Pathfinder Elemental Sorceress, what would a similar 4e character look like?" I got kind of off the rails though, and Vanir shares little with Jinna aside from their elemental sorcery.

To borrow a trick from Numenera, you could describe him as a “Halfling Storm Sorcerer who Dances with Wolves”.

I imagine him as a nearly feral Chaotic Neutral character whose Dog sidekick (NEVER a mount!) is his closest friend. He was found in the wild as a youth, after an unnatural storm took his family from him. Whatever caused that storm left its mark on young Vanir, who has gained an intuitive grasp of the arcana of storms and air elementals. Being so charismatic, Vanir makes friendly acquaintances easily, though his storm-driven temper makes him a dangerous foe.

Vanir only recently came into his sorcerous birthright (typical "18th Birthday" type thing), and he adventures to push the limits of his powers and discover what his true limitations are.

Here's his Summary data. It's not as nice as the HeroLab Pathfinder data, but it will give you the idea.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======

Vanir, level 1

Halfling, Sorcerer

Build: Storm Sorcerer

Animal Master Starting Feature Option: Dog

Spell Source Option: Storm Magic

Found in the Wild (Heal class skill)

Theme: Animal Master

FINAL ABILITY SCORES

STR 12, CON 11, DEX 18, INT 11, WIS 8, CHA 18

STARTING ABILITY SCORES

STR 12, CON 11, DEX 16, INT 11, WIS 8, CHA 16

AC: 14 Fort: 11 Ref: 14 Will: 16

HP: 23 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 5

TRAINED SKILLS

Arcana +5, Athletics +6, Heal +4, Nature +4

UNTRAINED SKILLS

Acrobatics +6, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Dungeoneering –1, Endurance +0, History +0, Insight –1, Intimidate +4, Perception –1, Religion +0, Stealth +4, Streetwise +4, Thievery +6

POWERS

Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack

Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack

Animal Master Attack: Distracting Attack

Halfling Racial Power: Second Chance

Sorcerer Attack 1: Lightning Strike

Sorcerer Attack 1: Storm Walk

Sorcerer Attack 1: Whirlwind

Sorcerer Attack 1: Howling Tempest

FEATS

Level 1: Sorcerous Blade Channeling

ITEMS

Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing) x1

Adventurer's Kit

Staff Implement x1

Dagger x1

====== End ======

The SWords & SWizardry game continues....

I got in a session yesterday for "D&D's Birthday".  A week or so ago, the party had gone on a successful firebeetle hunt in the Delve, and gained enough XP to level up. The wizard's new access to 2nd level spells had him spending tons of GP on researching new spells and creating scrolls, not to mention using "Continual Light" (which in S&W, as in the older D&D's, is permanent) to upgrade party's lanterns.

Last night, the town's mayor invited the part up to his estate for dinner and of course to discuss some business. It seems that the local abby is hot to purify and reclaim the tomb of Saint Ulther (which the party had discovered in the Delve a few weeks ago), but are not happy about the idea that this Delve goes much deeper, and and probably contains increasingly dangerous foes who may wander up during a veneration service to eat some acolytes. So the Mayor and Abbot wish to retain the party as a "cleaning crew", officially sanctioning their activities (in other words, identifying them as friends, not rivals), and are willing to provide some "technical support" in the form of two magical staves - raise dead (8) and cure light wounds (50). The party quickly did the math on the equivalent cost in healing potions and raise dead spells, and decided that was a fair deal. They're on a timetable now though, and needs to get that Delve cleared out inside of 3 months, since that's when the pilgrims are coming.

The next day, the party descended to Level 4 of the Delve, wherein dwelled a huge and fearsome beast (the eventually determined it was a Manticore - really a bit outside their "comfort zone" to engage). The fighter used the Mage's new "Strength" spell to boost himself from a passable 13 up to an 18 strength, the bonuses of which came in handy over the course of the adventure.

As it turned out, there were also a number of goblins holed up down there. As many of their kin had become food for the beast, they were pretty scared, and they were willing to make a deal with the party to help defeat the beast. In reality, they hoped to loot the treasure room while the beast was chewing on the party, but it didn't work out that way for them. Though they took the brunt of the beast's attacks, the goblins and party actually made a fair dent in the beast's health, and only a few goblins died before the fighter critically hit with his battle axe. (The fighter wanted to chop off the Manticore's tail. I decided that if the fighter rolled a 20, he'd succeed. And wouldn't you know it, the next attack was a 20.) The Wizard plugged the beast with a magic missile to finish him off.

The party rushed in to the treasure room (having a fairly good idea what the goblins were up to), and the fighter slew two goblins in one stroke. (The advantages of being a fighter in S&W - you can take out low HD critters quickly) The remaining goblins fled, and the party carried as much of the treasure out as they could (thanks to the Fighter's temporary 18 strength, he just hoisted the treasure chest on his shoulder and carried it out).

And that was the end of that trip into the Delve. The party plans to go right back in, even though that means they won't be able to replace the Strength scroll in time. They want to prevent the Goblins from stealing the rest of the treasure.

However, there is a second Manticore, and it's not going to be happy that they killed its mate. And this time, they won't have a half dozen goblins to distract it.....

More Swords & Wizardry gaming, and a Way to Make Your M-U Spend All His Moneys

Over Thanksgiving, I broke out the S&W book, some dice, and "Dyson's Delve" (an old-school friendly dungeon system) for some impromptu gaming.

I had wife&kids roll up new characters on the spot, going hard core with "3d6 in order, swap two". Stats ranged from 7 to 14, with most in the 9-12 range, so no superheroes. My players chose very standard roles for themselves - Human Fighter, Elf Thief, Human Magic User. The setup was classic "Junior High" level D&D - the players are in a Tavern, when a guy named Dyson comes in, announces that after losing his party (again), he's had it with adventuring, and will give his treasure map to anyone willing to buy him a solid meal. The players fed him, got a few details about the dungeon from him, and set out the next morning.

I'll spare you the details this time, but everyone had fun and want to play more with these characters. My youngest player even told me she really enjoyed the game "even though we just rolled up characters and wrote them down on blank sheets of paper."

I think my success in this game was due to a number of factors.

First, we kept it VERY simple. We only had blank computer paper, dice and pencils. I sketched the parts of the map as they went along, describing the room and not worrying too much about scale. S&W's combat sequence is very simple, with per-side initiative and straight forward attack options. I didn't worry about movement rates and such, since the area was small enough.

Second, I tried to be more descriptive in my narrations. So instead of telling them that the passageway ends in a roughly 20x10 cave with a smooth floor, I'd outline out a rough region on the paper and say, "the passageway opens up before you to reveal a larger room. Some stalactites hang from the ceiling, but the floor is mostly smooth." I also tried to be less "there's a cave here with 10 giant rats" and more "down the passageway, you hear the squeaking of many creatures. As you approach, you can see that you've found a nest of giant rats, and their eyes glint hungrily as they turn from their scraps of food to face you."

(I'm not saying I didn't go for atmosphere before, but this time I completely disregarded any mechanical descriptions, like room sizes, etc. and relied on the sketched map to convey the rough size and shape of the room, and narration to describe the overall feeling and relevant details.)

And finally, I tried to keep some whimsey in the game to balance out the creepiness. For example, when the Fighter made his save against a ghoul's attack, I described the icy feeling of paralysis coming over the character, and his force of will to shake it off - "Not Today!" the player exclaimed. Later, when the M-U cast Sleep on a bunch of rats, he only got all but one of them. The little guy hunched over, shuddered in effort and with a baleful squeak, said something in rattish that probably means, "Not Today!" before he charged in to attack.


So, after the adventure, the players found themselves in possession of around 1000gp each. (In S&W as in all old-school D&Ds, gold is XP, so players tend to have a lot of it.) The M-U started asking about costs for making scrolls and stuff. Normally, Magic Users don't make scrolls at low level, but that ability is one of the things I really like about Pathfinder, so I came up with this:

An M-U can make a scroll of any spell he knows for 100gp + 100gp per spell level. So a 1st level scroll costs 200gp, 2nd 300gp, etc. This matches up (sort of) with S&W's treasure generation rules, and means that (as long as they keep finding gold), M-U players can bring the hurt. But a smart player won't blow a 400gp scroll to get less than 400gp of profit, unless death is on the line.

Also, I figured that an M-U can spend gp on researching spells. For any spell in the rule book that the M-U doesn't know, he can spend 100gp (double each level) to re-roll his "chance to learn" percentage. Twice that if he does not have access to either a spellbook or scroll containing that spell to work from. At high levels, this research is staggeringly expensive, and it's probably more cost effective to find high-level mages and steal their spell books. Even at moderate levels, it's worth throwing a few 1000gp at some adventurers to steal a book for you, if you know it contains spells you want. This works as motivation both for players and patrons.

A Curious Thought About Old vs. New School RPGs, and Player's Attitudes Towards Their Characters

Something about working late hours gets me philosophical, and I feel compelled to take that out on the rest of the web. (Or at least the few sturdy souls who read my blog, and all those search bots who are my loyal followers as well.)

Probably this is an epiphany only to me, but I think I finally get what the disconnect between Old School and New School gamers is with respect to their characters. I'm going to stick with D&D and Traveller as two examples of both Old School and New School games in their various editions. Plus, they're the games I'm most familiar with.

In an "Old School Game", your characters are very random. In both D&D and Traveller, players are admonished by the rules to "make do" with their characters, and only in truly hopeless cases do they get to roll up another before at least trying to play that character. (Traveller famously advises enrolling undesirable characters in the Scouts, because that is the service they're least likely to survive chargen in.)

In more "New School" games like D&D 3e and Mongoose Traveller, (and to a much greater extent games like GURPS or FateCore) you are encouraged to dream up a character concept and then "build" towards that concept through a combination of random and deterministic elements.

So where's the big revelation, you ask?

Well, it's this - in OSG, players are "dealt" characters, but in NSG, players create characters.

The difference has a profound effect on how players approach their games. "Dealt" characters are almost "pawns" or "hands" (as in poker) that give the player capabilities to use during the game, and some characteristics to aid in role playing (OSGs are still RPGs, after all). "Created" characters are drawn directly from the player's desires, and thus more closely represent the players' own alter-egoes.

In my case, I've generally viewed characters as being "dealt" - the challenge of dreaming up a way to play the stats and to employ the powers in a useful way is fun to me. Of course I also come to identify with my characters, since it's not really possible to play a role that does not contain your own personality to varying degrees. But a character's death isn't really any more disappointing to me than the death of a character in a TV show or book that I like.

Which I suppose puts me firmly in the OSG camp, though I think I enjoy the more elegant rule systems that the NSG camp generally has.

I can sympathize with those who view characters as a form of wish-fulfillment though, and given the preponderance of more NSG style games, it seems most people identify with their characters more than a little bit.

What Does Lovecraftian Gaming REALLY Mean?

I've been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft and his peers since I first discovered weird fiction and cosmic horror back in High School. I read everything I could get my hands on - Machen, Chambers, Bloch, etc. The Chaosium fiction collections came out in my early adulthood, and I found (and still find) them a great source for stories I hadn't read before. (Aside: I had to stop reading "A Season in Carcosa" recently, because even though the stories seem innocuous enough, I found them seeping into my dreams. I'll read more once the creeping dread fades.)

But I have never had a lot of interest in "Lovecraftian" gaming. You know, lots of deep ones going after people, ghouls, big, floppy tentacled monsters, etc. Essentially, the "August Derleth" version of Lovecraft - name dropping and cataloging, but adding anything new.

While I enjoy a good historical wargame as much as the next guy, it seems to me that the general approach to Lovecraftian horror is more like quoting Monty Python skits than writing weird fiction. As a geek, I memorized plenty of M.P. in my youth, but laughing about their comedy is not the same thing as creating "Pythonesque" comedy for people to laugh at.

So, how then does one do something "Lovecraftian" without resorting to name dropping (or re-skinning)? It's a tough question, and I don't claim that I have the skill to produce such a thing. But perhaps I can categorize what it might look like.

What made Lovecraft's stories compelling to me was the way he took things that we all take for granted (or at least took for granted back in the dawn of the last century) and turned them inside out. Jesus' resurrection and plan of salvation, horribly echoed in Cthulhu's return and subsequent scouring of the Earth (recall that HLP was raised Baptist, though he renounced that faith), the fear of finding out that your ancestors were not what you were lead to believe and that you can't choose your own fate, the shock of discovering that maybe a brilliant artist is not as imaginative as everyone believes. The list goes on.

So how do you do something like that in Pathfinder/D&D or Traveller, specifically without invoking Elder Gods and Non-euclidean dimensions?

I'm not sure, but here are some thoughts.

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Traveller

Traveller's Third Imperium (The 3I) is in theory the easiest type of setting to convert to horror, since it rests in the conventions of the real world. However, it already has some "Elder Gods" (The Ancients - not godlike in stature, but certainly in power), hidden secrets (like who the Ancients were - spoiler alert from the 1980's: they were a mutation of a reclusive alien species found in enclaves throughout charted space), strange madness inducing phenomena (some people go mad seeing jumpspace) and hints that there was something more going on with how interstellar travel worked than anyone really knew.

These elements were not blatant expressed in the setting though. In fact, I suspect very few groups actually explored the darker side of the Traveller universe, preferring to focus on its decidedly humanistic and capitalistic themes. Mongoose Publishing's "Secrete of the Ancients" campaign did a good job of re-casting the Ancients as a living force within charted space, and had a nicely Lovecraft-y feel without invoking squid-headed super-beings. (Though there were some interesting ways that the Ancients achieved immortality.) But in the end, it was a Humanist's view of extradimensional horror seasoned with a dash of conspiracy theory, not something that contradicts your concepts of what reality is.

Clearly, something like Mass Effect's Reapers would work for Traveller, though they're more directly Cthuloid, not being "alive" as we know it, etc. But the Reapers are still re-skinned Elder Gods, returning when the stars are right to cleanse the galaxy for their own twisted reasons.

Where can we go in Traveller to reach the disturbing "We were SO WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING" state required by cosmic horror?

Maybe psionic powers are really a mental connection with higher-dimensional beings from "jump space", who can cause the familiar psionic effects, but at a terrible if not obvious price to the psionic. And maybe these beings have a plan? Maybe that's too obvious - science is wrong, mystics are right seems like a cop-out.

Maybe the dawning realization that the entire Nobility structure of the 3rd Imperium is in fact composed of "Manchurian Candidate" type Bioconstructs. And maybe they have been deliberately directing technological progress for the last thousand years, relentlessly pushing for higher and higher power jump drives. And now, misjumps seem to be happening more frequently than in the past. Recently, a long-missing ship has appeared in the outer system with only minimal power signatures on board. A local professor wants to hire a ship to investigate....

Better, even if it's a little "God Emperor of Dune" crossed with the Star Trek:TNG episode "Conspiracy". It undermines with the understanding of how society works, if not the structure of the universe itself. That fits well with Traveller's humanistic focus, which might be a drawback to the concept.

I suppose you could imagine some setting in which punching ships through jump space is disturbing some sleeping entity (reverse-Azathoth?), but then we're back to re-skinning.

Pathfinder

(Sorry, Pathfinder doesn't have an iconic title format like Traveller does, and the web doesn't have their font. But that's not a bad match for the color.)

Pathfinder is already rife with Lovecraft inspired nastiness, but none of it is truly creepy. (ok, maybe Aboleths....) Of course that's because once you catalog something, it's no longer surprising. Many write ups have great atmosphere when you first read them, or really stop to think about them though. But ultimately, it's just another kind of monster to defeat or flee from. Paizo does a good job with huge, world-shattering plots and clearly are fans of Lovecraft (almost too much so, I sometimes think), but I wonder if it would be possible to take a more subtle approach?

What does that cosmic horror even mean in a world with magic, demons, aberrant horrors and monsters? Can you add anything that would invoke actual horror for the players?

What we need is to take something simple and fundamental to the setting, and turn it inside out, changing the significance into something more horrible than you would expect. That's not as easy as it sounds, since countless authors before you have already pushed the envelope on this one.

To really up-end a D&D type fantasy setting, you would need to do something screwy like have the entire thing be happening inside The Matrix. That's right, not magic and gods, but a transhuman post-singularity setting, where reality was a simulation that could be hacked from the inside. The "twist" is that though reality appears infinitely diverse, full of life, magic and will, it is in fact only the shadow cast by cold data, interacting in complex but ultimately artificial ways. Fantasy lives because of the wonder and infinite potential of the fantastical realty. Showing all that to be merely an illusion would be soul-crushing to a denizen of such a reality.

But would that be cosmic horror for the players, or their characters? I imagine it would cause more than a few players to stop playing, though that's only a victory for horror in a meta sense....


As I mentioned at the start, I don't have any good answers. I'm curious if anyone reading has some ideas how to bring cosmic horror to RPGs without simply invoking Lovecraft's memory.

Who Owns the Narrative?

I come to that question after getting the chance to GM some FateCore on Sunday with my at-home group (Wife+kids).

The basic setup is simple - the players are the crew of a small "Space Ranger Cruiser" in a "24th Century: Outer Space!" setting. (No FTL, but tons of space flight.) They found out that someone has started manufacturing killbots in the asteroid belt when one attacked their base on Ceres. They managed to get into the hidden asteroid base with very little opposition (I let them try out some different types of skills and a handful of simple combats), and are poised to enter "Sector 8", which presumably is where all the killbots are being built. (In other words, I went for a straight-up dungeon crawl. At least in the classic games, that's usually a safe bet, though perhaps it was a poor choice for FateCore....)

Now here's the thing. We've mostly been playing traditional games like Pathfinder, and they're having a little trouble with the idea that THEY get to decide the details of a scene or setting. They are more used to the GM (me) laying it all out for them to explore and reacting instead of acting. I've tried to encourage them with questions like, "What do you think, DO these robots have homing beacons?" but like me, they're having some trouble adapting. So rather than a collaborative effort to make an epic story, this is turning into a plain-old "GM tells us what's happening, we react" game. I do like those kinds of games, but FateCore seems like it would work best with everyone creating the story and the GM just running the bad guys and making judgements about difficulty levels.

Maybe the stumbling block is that they don't have a significant buy-in in the setting. When I asked them what sort of setting they wanted to play, they were noncommittal, though interested to try FateCore. We already have a Fantasy game, so I proposed this "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" type pulp setting as something different. It wasn't until I suggested to my son that he could play a Telepath "Psi-Corp Ranger" that he became more than passively interested in the setting, and my daughter was only interested in playing an "Anime School Girl Brat" whose dad is a Space Ranger officer. Both turned out to be pretty cool characters in the end, but I'm afraid that having a dungeon crawl be their first outing might have been a mistake, since none of them really wants to help "own" the story.

I've also found that it's not easy to work their individual Aspects into the game. As I mentioned, this is more or less a straight-up dungeon crawl, though the characters are more tuned for investigative work. Which is my fault - I fell back on the "tried & true" without regard for how their characters turned out. To their credit, they are taking guard uniforms for disguise and the telepath is lifting names out of peoples' heads to help deceive them.

I know that attempting to GM a game I've never played for a group that's never played the game, and isn't super-invested in the setting is rife with failure possibilities. (When I put it that way, it seems insane that I even tried.) I'm not judging FateCore (which is a very slick rule set), just my ability to employ it properly with the players I have.

It hasn't all been bad - we had some pretty serious laughs when the guards caught the party in the Hydroponics sector, and the School Girl ("I'm really not as young as I look!") used her considerable deception skill to trick the guards into believing that she and one of the other characters were "just being naughty, and please, please, please don't let my dad find out!" She distracted the guards with her Legendary Deception long enough for the "hitter" to slug one in the Jaw (lights out!) and the third character secured the second guard with zip ties and duct tape. (Because even in C24, duct tape is the answer.)

It might be best to, after we finish this scenario, say, "Ok, that's how FateCore works, more or less. Now what sort of game do you REALLY want to play?"

And I have to be OK with it if they say, "Pathfinder!"

Fate&Me

Due to the enthusiastic recommendations of a friend whose judgement I value in all matters related to gaming, I've been interested in Diaspora for some time now. Diaspora is a hard-scifi RPG that is built on the Fate rules engine, and which is greatly (and explicitly) influenced by my favorite SFRPG, Traveller. Up until now though, I haven't had the impetus to plop down the 25 bucks to pick up a copy from the FLGS.

Recently, my son got to play the new Fate Core rules at the FLGS's "RPG Summer Camp" (man, do I wish we had such things when I was a kid...), and I've been reading over the rule book they gave him with great interest. Fate Core is analogous to the core GURPS rules - it's a playable game in its own right, but has no setting in mind, and will generally be extended somewhat to fit whatever type of game you want to play. My wife proactively picked up the Diaspora book for me, since she could see where this was going. :)

You can find a lot of very coherent and informed discussions of Fate with a quick google search, so I'll spare you my "complete newbie's impression of Fate". But the thing to know about Fate-based games like Diaspora is that the game system turns your character's quirks (called "Aspects" in Fate, like "Ace Fighter Pilot", "Attracted to Shiny Things", "I HATE ROBOTS!", etc.) into actual game mechanisms. Everything (characters, items, rooms, starships...) has Attributes, and because of that, players and GMs must understand the rules for how Fate and the "fate point economy" works.

This means that while the rules are simpler than just about any RPG I've played, and a player's imagination is more important than a solid understanding of (for example) how to min/max their character builds, Fate is not quite as friendly to very casual gamers who mostly just want to know "what do I need to roll?" I suspect that WDINTR is a symptom of d20 type games, and any player would quickly adapt to the "How can I exploit the situation to my advantage?" mind-set, but having not had a chance to play yet, I don't know.

So what is Diaspora?

Diaspora is a full RPG written against a pre-Fate Core version of Fate, but is only different in the details. Word on the street is that you can port some of Diaspora's setting ideas to Fate Core and just run with that, and things work out very well. I've already mentioned that it was made by Traveller fans in order to have a harder-science Space Opera game. (Which seems ironic, considering Traveller is MUCH crunchier than Diaspora, but yet less "hard".)

Diaspora only makes one "magic" assumption - the slipstream, which is basically a wormhole between two or more systems. No anti-gravity, no "thruster plates", everything is reaction mass and zero-G (unless you're under acceleration). Diaspora is set in the far future, in a small cluster of worlds, which the players roll up at character creation time. (More of the "Player Buy-in" that's typical of Fate games. Players don't get served the setting, they help create it.) Because of the size of the default "universe" (6 systems, each with 1+ worlds in it worth visiting), players will care more about each world than they do in Traveller. I'm curious to try gaming in such a setting.

One of the more interesting aspects of Diaspora (and Fate in general) is how they handle wealth. Fate in general doesn't concern itself with money. If you want to be rich, give yourself the "Moneybags" (or whatever) attribute. What Diaspora does have is the idea that events (like a ship's maintenance schedule) can do Financial Damage to you which you have to Defend against. You can use the ship's Economic potential to aid your defense, and you can even invoke aspects like "I can get you a deal" or "I know this guy..." to help out, too. If you fail, you take "damage" in the form of a Consequence ("Owes Jabba Bigtime" or "Chartered by Local Noble") that you'll need to take steps to recover from.

You get similar rules for acquiring expensive gear. You make a Wealth skill test against the object's price. If you fail, you still get the object, but you pick up some consequences. It's a novel (to me) way of dealing with possessions, and I'm anxious to see if it works out in practice.

I think Fate and Diaspora sound like a blast, but I must admit that I'm still a fan of more traditional rules. I have to say though, that Fate combat sounds like it will be more narratively satisfying that most d20 combats wind up being.

I'm hoping that I can at least take some cues from Fate into GM-ing my other games, though given Fate's elegant and integrated system, it's not going to be as easy as "drop in some attributes". What I probably will do though, is to more formally adopt the concepts of using actions to create advantages. We do that sort of stuff already ("Can I slam the door and run for it?" "What if I throw a pouch of coins at them, do they stop to pick it up?"), but maybe I need to shift how I conceptualize the action some.

<Shrug> At any rate, Now "Fate Core" is on my radar. My at-home group is mostly anxious to give it a try, so we'll see what happens.

Free RPG Day Loot

I went to my FLGS (Dragon's Lair in Austin) today for Free RPG Day. I'm glad I got there early; by noon, they were almost out of their freebies. Here's what I scored, in no particular order:

• Cosmic Patrol: Quick-Start Rules and The Eiger Agenda
  A cute little 24 page, staple bound book about 4x8 inches.
  This one looks like tremendous pulpy fun.
• Pathfinder: We Be Goblins, Too!
  A follow-on to the previous goblin-centered adventure, this time your "heroes" (and I use the term very loosely) are trying to impress a new tribe of Goblins by chasing of an ogre and his unsavory companions. Assumes you know how to play Pathfinder.
• Castles&Crusades: A Pot of Broken Bones (for 3-4 adventurers, 3-8th+ level)
  They're confident enough of their product not to include any rules primer.
  The adventure looks pretty good, and clocks in at around 10 pages of scenario. I'll probably use it for a Pathfinder game.
• Swords&Wizardry: Hall of Bones
  I was happy to see S&W representing; I think the game is virtually unknown here.
  There are about 6 pages of scenario and maps, and the rest includes a rules overview and a few pages of "Old School Philosophy". So, a very nice introduction to S&W, but definitely an introduction.
• Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Better Than Any Man
  This one is even marked "Ages 18+, Explicit Content".
  No rules, but 96 (yes, 96) pages of setting, adventure and some disturbing artwork.
  This one is fascinating but probably has a very limited audience. Set in the 30 Years War during the Swedish Intervention (yeah, sue me, I'm kind of a history dork too), though this is a D&D based fantasy game, the setting is very realistic, except that there is something horrible going on. (I mean, aside from the viscious wars of religion.)
  I'll probably write about this one once I've had the chance to read it.
• Star Wars: Edge of the Empire
  Fantasy Flight Games' new SW game, though not with any of the fancy dice.
  40 pages of rules intro, pregenerated characters, and a multi-part scenario. I'm not sure about the game system yet (I've only skimmed it), but the presentation is good.
• A double-sided book that has Battletech&Shadowrun RPGs in it by Catalyst Games
  Like the SW one, this is well produced, but on initial skim, I'm not excited by the rules of either game (they're different). To be honest, I'm more into Mekton's "Mech RPG" system, though I do rather like BTech's history. (BTech is actually what got me into miniatures so many years ago.)

I'm hoping to play either "We Be Goblins Too" or "Cosmic Patrol" tomorrow with my kids. LoTFP:BTAM (now that's an acronym) is on my short list to read. Pot of Broken Bones will get converted to Pathfinder and inserted into my campaign. The others I'll get to as time allows.

Jala Stormborn, Pathfinder Sorceress

Here's my latest version of the Jala Stormborn, an Ulfen Sorceress with an Air Elemental bloodline. This version is similar but not identical to the one I put up a few days ago. The statblock below was generated with HeroLab, which I find indispensable for making Pathfinder characters.

(I'm trying to build a Half-Orc Barbarian who might be her travelling companion, but I'm having a little trouble getting his concept right, so his stats will have to wait.)

Jala Stormborn
Female Human (Ulfen) Sorcerer 1
CG Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +1

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Defense

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AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 7 (1d6+1)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2

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Offense

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Speed 30 ft.
Melee Dagger +0 (1d4/19-20/x2) and
   Spear +0 (1d8/x3)
Special Attacks elemental ray (6/day)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 1):
1 (4/day) Feather Fall (DC 14), Color Spray (DC 14)
0 (at will) Mage Hand, Open/Close (DC 13), Detect Magic, Drench (DC 13)

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Statistics

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Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 16
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats Arcane Strike, Eschew Materials, Persuasive
Skills Bluff +7, Diplomacy +6, Intimidate +9, Perception +1, Use Magic Device +7
Languages Auran, Common, Skald
SQ bloodlines (elemental [air])
Combat Gear Oil (2), Sunrod (2); Other Gear Dagger, Spear, Backpack (15 @ 17.5 lbs), Bedroll, Belt pouch (1 @ 2.5 lbs), Candle (5), Chalk (5), Flint and steel, Mirror, Silk rope, Soap, Trail rations (5), Waterskin, 117 GP, 2 SP, 6 CP

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TRACKED RESOURCES

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Dagger - 0/1
Elemental Ray (6/day) (Sp) - 0/6
Spear - 0/1
Sunrod - 0/2
Trail rations - 0/5

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Special Abilities

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Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Elemental (Air) You may change any energy spell to use [Electricity] energy.
Elemental Ray (6/day) (Sp) Ranged touch attack deals 1d6 Electricity damage
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.

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Jala is the daughter of an Ulfen merchant, born at sea during a particularly violent thunderstorm. Always slight person and pale even by Ulfen standards, Jala has always known that she is different from her friends.
(ed: she does not yet have Appraise skill even though it fits her background; she'll grab it next level.)

Jala channels her elemental power into a quick temper, and she is not without the legendary Ulfen forceful will and competitive spirit. Though she is capricious by nature, she respects honor and honesty, and if she does take an oath (an unlikely event - like the wind, Jala will not be bound), she will hold to that oath.

Though many find her sense of humor odd, Jala is an accomplished diplomat, able to bluff or intimidate her way through any situation her Diplomacy fails her.

In combat, Jala fights with a lightning-charged spear, and always has a dagger on hand to handle dangerous situations in her down time. She will seek to engage at range with her Elemental(Lightning) Ray when possible, and will use Color Spray to incapacitate groups of opponents whenever possible. Her Ulfen pride does make her inclined to "play fair" with singular opponents, but she is aware of her physical limits and will not easily be tricked into a losing melee situation. ("How is me using magic any different from you using your muscles?")

As a novice sorceress, Jala mastered a handful of electrical and air disciplines, She has the greatest affinity for air transmutations and pattern illusions, though she also understands conjuration and divination to an extent, especially when the conjuration relates to air or rain.

Jala delights in using her powers (especially her cantrips) and can be a bit of a show-off. In public, She would sooner use Mage Hand or "Open/Close" than her own hands, and she has been known to use Drench to deal with problematic social encounters.

Beneath her playful displays and bravado though is a deep fascination with magic, and a drive to understand her connection with the elemental plane of Air. She knows full well that her soul and fate are entwined with the elements, and she eagerly seeks out new knowledge of the mystic realms which she believes will one day be her home.