Greetings, this is Caesar Slaad (known in various other parts of teh intarwebs as Sangrolu or Psion; known in meatspace as Alan). I’m a guest poster at The Gamer Dome. Propagandroid saw my idea for a little project on one of the forums we both haunt, and invited me to share it with the wider gaming blog community here.
The motivation behind this project is to address some criticisms and concerns about Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder RPG, a fantasy roleplaying game that is supposed to be largely compatible with the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules set. As stated during the run-up to Pathfinder, backwards compatibility is not the only goal. Improving the game and adding options were also stated goals. Goals such as these tend to run counter to the goal of compatibility.
I’ve heard many suggest (online and in meatspace) that Pathfinder’s compatibility with D&D/D20 3.5 material would be poor at best; though I considered many such fears exaggerated, I had concerns of my own. I have also heard many exasperated rants that the Pathfiner rules really couldn’t hope to fix anything and remain compatible.
I didn’t play with the beta rules a lot, but when I received the actual product, I was pleasantly surprised at how close it held to many important central assumptions behind the D20 3.5 rules. But how well would it really handle material written for D&D 3.5?
One can argue on forums about how you think it will play all day long. But the best way to tell for sure is to play it.
This brings us to the pathfinder experiment. The idea is fairly straightforward: over the next few months, whenever the opportunity arises (at game days as well as in off weeks with my home group), I will run an adventure written for 3.5 using the Pathfinder core rulebook.
I want to keep the parameters for this experiment simple. I won’t be doing a full pathfinder re-write of the adventure. Any tweaks I do to the adventure will be limited in scope to what I would do at a home game for an impromptu session. As a general guideline, there wont be more than a page of typed (or scrawled) notes.
Upon completion, I’ll type up a report summarizing how the session went, with special attention to difficulties encountered, steps needed to make the adaptation work, as well an any impact of new rules and options. I won’t assume the use of any other products (e.g., the Bestiary), but if I such a product is used, I’ll note it in the writeup, along with an assessment of any additional impact it had.
So with no further ado, here’s the summary of my first such game. I hope that this is enlightening for anyone considering whether to use Pathfinder for their fantasy gaming. PATHFINDER EXPERIMENT I: TIDE OF EVIL Adventure:Tide of Evil, part of Goodman Games’ DCC #48, The Adventure Continues Recommended Level: 4-6 characters of 4th level Actual Characters:
“The Sorcerer”: Halfling Sorcerer 5 (Air Bloodline)
Fegli Stonecutter: Dwarf Cleric 5 (of Torag)(Healing, Sun domains)
Agrist the Cleaver: Dwarf Fighter 5
Ferra: Halfling Rogue 5
Other Rules/Products Used: Paizo GameMastery Critical Hit & Critical Fumble decks.
This first game I ran in “The Pathfinder Experiment” came about when I was running a game for an “off-day” for our group (i.e., most of the regulars were missing.) It hadn’t really been my explicit intent to make this a Pathfinder Experiment game; I had intended to run the first of these in a near future gameday.
However, I had given the 2 players in attendance a choice of playing Pathfinder, Starblazer Adventures, or a Fantasy Craft adventure set in Freeport. They leaned towards Pathfinder.
We had to decide what level to play. I sort of left it to the players if they wanted to play 1st level or “higher”. They said higher. I picked 5th, and I figured this wouldn’t be too hard to make characters for, but would give us a better look at some of the class changes in Pathfinder.
So, I pulled out DCC #48: The Adventure Continues, a hardback compilation of adventures for 4th-6th level characters. I picked out Tide of Evil pretty arbitrarily, to discover after reading the fine print that it was really for 4th level characters. That’s okay: DCCs have pretty good scaling notes. I planned on upping the entry trap and the nastiness of the merrow barbarian.
Character Creation
The players made a Halfling Air-Bloodline Sorcerer and a Dwarf cleric of Torag. The sorcerer player caught on to his new features quickly. The dwarf player took a little more time to explain what channel energy is and the deal with 0-level spells.
They took a long time to pick spells, so I drew up two additional characters to round out the team (this is a Goodman DCC: a round party is a good idea.) I pulled out Temple of the Death Goddess by Green Ronin and converted two of its pre-generated characters to Pathfinder. (Side note: I WAS considering running Temple of the Death goddess, but I actually didn’t want to nix the Cleric’s new ability the moment he tried to use it, which you’ll understand if you own the adventure.)
For the characters I made, I started with the characters as-is magic item wise (yeah, I know they changed some body slots and that sort of stuff. No time to worry about that.) I mostly re-picked the skills, added 1 extra feat from the new progression, and added the new class abilities.
One nice thing about the new skill rules came to light. The adventure recommends some players have swim skill. I devoted one point to swim for both the fighter and the rogue. With just one point and their stat mods, they had some pretty respectable modifiers right off, which sort of illustrates the impact of the new skill rule.
We had a bit of a discussion at the table about the new favored class rules. For those who don’t know, favored classes are not a race element anymore; the player chooses a favored class. Further, you aren’t penalized for multiclassing outside of your favor class outside of missing out on the minor kicker of 1 hp or skill point per level you take in your class.
At first, divorcing race and favored class sort of bugged me. I liked that the flavor of fantasy races was built into the rules in 3.5. However, the way that humans get a roving ability bonus and specific races get +2 in two specific stats and -2 in a third essentially does the same thing: it makes it so humans are reasonably competent at a variety of classes, but races are good at the classes that can best use the boosted stats.
The Adventure (Note: Spoilers to Tide of Evil in DCC #48: The Adventure Continues follow)
I gave the halfling rogue to the player who made the halfling sorcerer, and gave the Dwarf cleric player the Dwarf fighter to run.
The adventure involves a seaside village being extorted by a trio of hags and tribe of merrows (aquatic ogres). The village got fed up and hired a party of adventurers to deal with the problem. In the back story, I reasoned that each was from a village of their race that traded with the village of Sandyshore, and decided to team up to take on the contract and return the area to livelihood.
The dungeon itself lies in an outcropping of coral reef. The PCs made their way there. There was an enhanced trap at the entry, but all the players made the necessary saves and the spear failed to hit.
Some of the early encounters were with undead aquatic creatures of various stripes (the reef is partially submerged at low tide and fully submerged at high tides.) This turned into an immediate boon for the party, because the stinking sorcerer took Command Undead! Command undead isn’t all that potent when your main targets are 1 hd skeletons, but this adventure had multiple high hd undead aquatic creatures. It was sort of a theme. So as the adventure wore on, eventually the group had a troupe of undead scrags, seacats, and sharks with them.
After the party had accumulated a few undead toadies, they were in a fight with a merrow barbarian. As advised by the scaling notes (and so I could play with the new rules, too), I added 2 levels of barbarian to the merrow leader and picked out some rage abilities: quick reflexes and increased damage reduction. The quick reflexes did allow the barbarian to erode some of the party’s undead advantage.
Now, the party had taken out a merrow earlier, but failed to take out two in the adjacent room. I’m not one to run my dungeon in a “sit and wait” fashion, so I decided that the two merrows they left at their back would come and explore when their neighbor showed up dead. So, they hear a combat from down the hall, and head that way. With little warning, the halflings were bushwhacked by two merrows. One merrow inflicted a critical hit on the halfling Ferra; using the critical hit cards, it pinned one of the her arms.
The sorcerer used grease on the assailing merrows, which initially was a clever move, and did suppress attacks for a few rounds. However the merrows had reach, and moved back, which made trouble for the players trying to attack them across the grease when the Agrist arrived.
When Fegli arrived, he managed to stabilize the rogue. He wanted to try out his shiny new channel energy ability, but none of us quite had the full story on how it worked. The fact that you can (must) choose to affect living creatures or affect undead slipped past us. The sorcerer’s player advised him that if he did his channel energy there, it would zap the undead dealing with the merrow barbarian. So he opted to just heal the rogue, when he could have been boosting the whole party.
There was a battle with a giant lobster. As the group was traveling with its undead entourage, they were never in any real danger from the lobster. However, this battle and the squid in the next battle did give me a chance to play with the Pathfinder grappling rules first hand. Reducing everything to a CMB vs. CMD roll makes grappling operate pretty much like any other special ability or spell.
The final battle was a showdown in the lair of the sea hags. There was an item planted early in the adventure that served as the hag’s eye, so the hags had time to see how the players dealt with threats and prepare. And they saw how effective the undead scrags were proving. Now I don’t like forcecage because it’s an utter killjoy of a spell (and giving it to a low level monster is sort of dirty pool), but I was more than happy to expend it to trump the sorcerer’s ace card–the hags immediately used the forcecage to trap the remaining undead brutes.
The party had some difficulty seeing through an illusion the hags put up, but eventually managed to locate them and put the hurt on.
I pretty much ran the hags as written, with a few tweaks. One of the hag’s collective abilities called for them to use polymporph on one of the hags to assume an Orca form. I replaced Polymorph with Beast Shape III; applying the mods for a huge creature was pretty quick and simple, with the exception of not having a convenient bite damage table, so I just used the bite listed in the adventure module.
Eventually the party prevailed. The rogue got some licks in, and once fighter was able to get at the hags, their 19 hp didn’t last long.
The sorcerer summoned dolphins and a squid to deal with the orca. As I don’t have the bestiary yet, I just used porpoise and stats in the D20 SRD.
In addition to the Channel Energy gaffe, one thing came up in the “didn’t realize that it had changed” department: it totally slipped by us that cleave and great cleave had changed. Ah well… it’s not like we’ve ever had a player use the “bag full of rats” tactic the change seems to be aimed at solving.
Afterthoughts
The game went well. The only thing that made it unusual at all was the happenstance of how very well the sorcerer’s choice of spells worked for this particular adventure. I really didn’t get to see the channel energy in play due to a misunderstanding of how it really worked.
The much ballyhooed (and poo-pooed) grappling rules? After one lobster and one squid, it seems like it works as advertised. Reducing it to a simple roll vs. fixed DC to get an effect puts in pretty much on the same plane as most other abilities, and invoking the rules during play didn’t seem like it brought everything else to a halt.
As stated, I like the skill rules. I already liked them before I got a chance to make characters and play, mainly because it eliminates the need to sample certain classes before you pick up certain prestige classes. However, this game brought a few other elements of the skill system to light. It highlighted how easy it is to get reasonable competence with minimal investment.
Further, the skill purchase convention has an interesting synergy with the favored class rule. I originally thought that allowing you to benefit from class skills of all your classes might be abusive. But I soon came to realize during our discussion that this is counterbalanced to some degree by the favored class rule.
Speaking of “synergy”: for those who didn’t notice, skill synergies don’t appear in Pathfinder rulebook. This was one of those changes I did bother to look up until it came up in the game. Although I like the intent of skill synergies, they did entail some complication and potential for abuse.
Reporting from George R.R. Martin’s blog, he’s got the identities of seven new cast members. Some of them great, experienced actors, others virtually unknown. But, they are some *big* parts and it’s making it seem more and more real to have them cast. So, on to the castings:
How weird, he’s the brother of Lily Allen. You can see him in puppet form in the NSFW Lily Allen video here.
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Arya Stark is…Maisie Williams. Virtually unknown, and George couldn’t even find anything about her on the Web.
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Sansa Stark is…Sophie Turner. Another relative unknown, and *not* the Sophie Turner you think it is. Whatever Sophie Turner you found, it’s not her.
Crappy pics of both Maisie and Sophie can be found at George’s blog here.
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Robb Stark is…Richard Madden. Primarily a stage actor, but a good-looking chap that I can totally see as Robb.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Daenerys Targaryen is…Tamzin Merchant. Apparently George has the hots for her sex scenes in The Tudors, and she’s old enough to legally have sex in A Game of Thrones. Not sure what all that means, but I’ll have to reserve judgment. I’m not in love right off the bat, but then Dany’s not necessarily my favorite character. I pretty much don’t care about her story, frankly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And finally, Ser Jorah Mormont is…Iain Glen. This fellow seems alright, and rugged enough to play Ser Jorah.
This show can’t get made soon enough. I hope HBO picks it up, if even for one or two seasons. The odds of getting a full seven seasons out of it, or of the story even being able to be told in that time are slim to none, but I’ll take what we can get!
I’m honored to host a series of guest posts by famed RPG reviewer and excellent gamemaster, Caesar Slaad. He’s going to be testing out some of the claims made around the Web that the Pathfinder RPG isn’t as compatible with 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons as it purports to be. Here’s what he has to say:
So then, I’m still hearing claims to the tune of
1) Pathfinder isn’t really compatible with 3.5 and
2) Pathfinder really doesn’t fix anything.
To get the “real story”, I am heretofore enacting “The Pathfinder Experiment”. The methodology of this experiment is simple. At off days in my local gaming group, or at gamedays, I’ll run an adventure written for D&D 3.5 using pathfinder. I will not do a “pathfinder rewrite” of the adventure. At best, and modifications I make to the adventure will be either on the fly, or no more expansive than the prep time I would take for a normal, impromptu game.
Then I’ll provide a brief report (for my own reference and for any interested) in
1) how the adventure ran, with special attention to the impact of any back end rules changes (grappling, etc.)
2) any changes that were required to adapt to Pathfinder rules, and how I handled them.
I ran the first such game Friday, so will provide the first report shortly.
Personally I can’t wait to hear the reports coming from Caesar Slaad’s playtest!
The ENnies featured some entertainment this year: sketch comedy performed by the Polyhedrals. Audience reaction seemed quite positive to the sketch, and now a video (not of great quality, sadly) of the sketch can be seen on YouTube. The sketch was called the Four Greyhawksmen, and was based on an old performance by some of the Monty Python crew called the Four Yorkshiremen.
If you haven’t seen this on the front page of RPG Now recently, I’d like to alert any of you who are interested in ordering the Midnight Chronicles film. You can get a download version along with a lot of extra goodies for $14.95 if you pre-order it before August 13th. Here’s the word from RPGNow:
The legate Mag Kiln has been ordered to travel to the small Erenlander town of Blackweir to investigate the disappearance of a fellow priest. In Blackweir, Mag Kiln soon becomes entangled in an old mystery and begins to uncover not only the forbidden legacy of the town, but also the malevolent, prophetic force that grows within him.
Based on the popular Midnight role playing game, MIDNIGHT CHRONICLES is the epic motion picture that tells the tale of two legendary characters, one for the cause of good, the other for the cause of evil. This is the story of their rise, their struggle, and ultimately their fate, as their destinies become intertwined with that of the world and the dark god that occupies it.
This package includes the complete motion picture, plus PDF editions of the complete film script; the Midnight RPG Core Rulebook; and an original Midnight RPG adventure, set within the events of the film.
Pre-order now and be one of the first to receive the movie. You’ll receive an email as soon as the movie and PDF extras release for download.
Format Information: Two Options - HD (1280×578, ~3GB) and Standard Def (853×387, ~1.5GB). Runtime = 100 minutes.
Previously I told you about the disappearance of the award-winning Midnight RPG from Fantasy Flight Games website and all your favorite PDF vendors. With the U.S. release of the Midnight Chronicles movie slated for next week at Gencon, Fantasy Flight Games has started re-releasing the Midnight game setting on PDF sites. Even better, they’ve lowered the prices to $10 for the core book and $7 for the supplements!
I received a copy of this module from Matt Finch, its author and the creator of Swords & Wizardry. Swords & Wizardry is a retro-clone OGL game meant to emulate the original Dungeons & Dragons booklets with some of the supplemental material. I really like Matt and Swords & Wizardry, so I wanted to give a shout out to this excellent product. This is not going to be an in-depth review, because I generally don’t do those, so I’ve included links to other reviews at the end for those of you wanting more information.
Spire of Iron and Crystal is a tournament module written to be played at Gencon 2009. It is 118 pages, includes pre-generated characters, a player map, and other Swords & Wizardry resources to make it easy for new DMs and players to use. Pete Mullen returns to provide more excellent cover art for this project. Devoted fans of modern dungeonpunk or the Elmore/Parkinson days may not like this style, but I truly enjoy a more alien and sometimes comedic style of fantasy art to accompany my gaming. I especially like the nerdy fellow with the cutoff tanktop and the ill-fitting helmet.
Like many people, I’ve been trying to articulate old school feel to people who’ve never played the game. Reading this module was instructive in that regard. The Spire of Iron and Crystal is a fantastic location, the kind of place that fires the imagination and makes you want to explore it and figure out its secrets. Simply put, it’s the kind of location that every adventure module should aspire to.
Another aspect of the module that evoked an old school feel for me was the presence of what amounts to aliens, beings from another place building strange machines and performing weird experiments that result in unimaginable disaster. I think the best modules are those that provide an interesting story for the DM, but one that’s not integral to the story. A well-crafted story gives the DM choices, makes an adventure interesting to read, and inspires a better game. Spire of Iron and Crystal fits the bill here.
I’m definitely going to be taking Spire of Iron and Crystal to Gencon with me as the only D&D(-like) game I plan to run, and if I can find a slot where it’s being run then I’ll probably jump in as a player as well!
Here are the spell lists for the classes in 3.old. We’ve brought back reversible spells, which increases the versatility of spellcasters somewhat, and removed a lot of the 3.x baggage. Also, much to my delight, some classic spells have been reinstated (and renamed spells have had their classic names back). Spell descriptions may also change, based on the principles under which the game is being designed, but it’s too cumbersome to put them here before putting them into the document. Feel free to discuss problems you see or suggestions in the comments.
Reversible spells are marked with an (*).
Cleric Spells
0-Level Cleric Spells (Orisons)
Create Water: Creates 2 gallons/level of pure water.
Cure Minor Wounds*: Cures 1 point of damage.
Detect Magic: Detects spells and magic items within 60 ft.
Detect Poison: Detects poison in one creature or object.
Light: Object shines like a torch.
Mending: Makes minor repairs on an object.
Purify Food and Drink*: Purifies 1 cu. ft./level of food or water.
Read Magic: Read scrolls and spellbooks.
Virtue: Subject gains 1 temporary hp.
1st-Level Cleric Spells
Bless*: Allies gain +1 on attack rolls and saves against fear.
Bless Water*: Makes holy water.
Command: One subject obeys selected command for 1 round.
Comprehend Languages: You understand all spoken and written languages.
Cure Light Wounds*: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5).
Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: Reveals creatures, spells, or objects of selected alignment.
Detect Undead: Reveals undead within 60 ft.
Endure Elements: Exist comfortably in hot or cold environments.
Hide from Undead: Undead can’t perceive one subject/level.
Obscuring Mist: Fog surrounds you.
Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders.
Remove Fear*: Suppresses fear or gives +4 on saves against fear for one subject + one per four levels.
Sanctuary: Opponents can’t attack you, and you can’t attack.
2nd-Level Cleric Spells
Augury: Learns whether an action will be good or bad.
Bear’s Endurance: Subject can perform a feat of endurance.
Bless Weapon: Weapon ignores the damage reduction of outsiders.
Bull’s Strength: Subject can perform a feat of strength.
Calm Emotions: Calms creatures, negating emotion effects.
Cat’s Grace: Subject can perform a feat of agility.
Chant: +1 on attack rolls and saves against fear, 1d8 temporary hp +1/level (max +10).
Consecrate*: Fills area with positive energy, making undead weaker.
Detect Charm: Detects subjects under effect of charm effects.
Eagle’s Splendor: Subject can perform a feat of personal will or social grace.
Find Traps: Notice traps as a rogue does.
Fox’s Cunning: Subject figures out a puzzle, trick, or riddle.
Hold Person: Paralyzes one humanoid for 1 round/level.
Make Whole: Repairs an object.
Owl’s Wisdom: Subject gains great insight into a problem.
Remove Paralysis: Frees one or more creatures from paralysis or slow effect.
Resist Energy: Ignores 10 (or more) points of damage/attack from specified energy type.
Restoration, Lesser: Dispels magical ability penalty or repairs 1d4 ability damage.
Shatter: Sonic vibration damages objects or crystalline creatures.
Shield Other: You take half of subject’s damage.
Silence 15′ Radius: Negates sound in 15-ft. radius.
Slow Poison: Stops poison from harming subject for 1 hour/level.
Snake Charm: Charm snakes.
Speak With Animals: Caster can speak with animals.
Spiritual Weapon: Magic weapon attacks on its own.
Undetectable Alignment: Conceals alignment for 24 hours.
Zone of Truth: Subjects within range cannot lie.
3rd-Level Cleric Spells
Animate Dead: Creates undead skeletons and zombies.
Blindness/Deafness: Makes subject blinded or deafened.
Continual Light: Makes a permanent, heatless torch.
Create Food and Water: Feeds three humans (or one horse)/level.
Cure Blindness/Deafness*: Cures normal or magical conditions.
Cure Disease*: Cures all diseases affecting subject.
Cure Serious Wounds*: Cures 3d8 damage +1/level (max +15).
Darkness*: 20-ft. radius of supernatural shadow.
Dispel Magic: Cancels spells and magical effects.
Feign Death: Caster appears dead to all normal observation.
Glyph of Warding: Inscription harms those who pass it.
Invisibility Purge: Dispels invisibility within 5 ft./level.
Locate Object: Senses direction toward object (specific or type).
Magic Vestment: Armor or shield gains +1 enhancement per four levels.
Meld into Stone: You and your gear merge with stone.
Obscure Object: Masks object against scrying.
Prayer: Allies +1 bonus on most rolls, enemies -1 penalty.
Protection from Energy: Absorb 12 points/level of damage from one kind of energy.
Protection from Evil, 10′ Radius: As protection spells, but 10-ft. radius and 10 min./level.
Remove Curse*: Frees object or person from curse.
Speak with Dead: Corpse answers one question/two levels.
Stone Shape: Sculpts stone into any shape.
Water Walk: Subject treads on water as if solid.
Magic User Spells
0-Level Spells
Conj
Acid Splash: Orb deals 1d3 acid damage.
Div
Detect Poison: Detects poison in one creature or small object.
Detect Magic: Detects spells and magic items within 60 ft.
Read Magic: Read scrolls and spellbooks.
Ench
Daze: Humanoid creature of 4 HD or less loses next action.
Evoc
Dancing Lights: Creates torches or other lights.
Light: Object shines like a torch.
Ray of Frost: Ray deals 1d3 cold damage.
Illus
Ghost Sound: Figment sounds.
Necro
Disrupt Undead: Deals 1d6 damage to one undead.
Touch of Fatigue: Touch attack fatigues target.
Trans
Mage Hand: 5-pound telekinesis.
Mending: Makes minor repairs on an object.
Message: Whispered conversation at distance.
Open/Close: Opens or closes small or light things.
Univ
Arcane Mark: Inscribes a personal rune (visible or invisible).
Prestidigitation: Performs minor tricks.
1st-Level Sorcerer/Wizard Spells
Abjur
Alarm: Wards an area for 2 hours/level.
Hold Portal: Holds door shut.
Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: +2 to AC and saves, counter mind control, hedge out elementals and outsiders.
Shield: Invisible disc gives +4 to AC, blocks magic missiles.
Conj
Affect Normal Fires: Increase or decrease intensity of non-magical fires.
Grease: Makes 10-ft. square or one object slippery.
Mage Armor: Gives subject +4 armor bonus.
Obscuring Mist: Fog surrounds you.
Unseen Servant: Invisible force obeys your commands.
Div
Comprehend Languages: You understand all spoken and written languages.
Identify: Determines properties of magic item.
Ench
Charm Person: Makes one person your friend.
Hypnotism: Fascinates 2d4 HD of creatures.
Sleep: Puts 4 HD of creatures into magical slumber.
Evoc
Burning Hands: 1d4/level fire damage (max 5d4).
Floating Disk: Creates 3-ft.-diameter horizontal disk that holds 100 lb./level.
Magic Missile: 1d4+1 damage; +1 missile per two levels above 1st (max 5).
Shocking Grasp: Touch delivers 1d6/level electricity damage (max 5d6).
Illus
Color Spray: Knocks unconscious, blinds, and/or stuns weak creatures.
Disguise Self: Changes your appearance.
Magic Aura: Alters object’s magic aura.
Silent Image: Creates minor illusion of your design.
Ventriloquism: Throws voice for 1 min./level.
Necro
Chill Touch: One touch/level deals 1d6 damage and possibly 1 Str damage.
Ray of Enfeeblement: Ray deals 1d6 +1 per two levels Str damage.
Trans
Animate Rope: Makes a rope move at your command.
Enlarge Person*: Humanoid creature doubles in size.
Erase: Mundane or magical writing vanishes.
Feather Fall: Objects or creatures fall slowly.
Jump: Subject gets bonus on Jump checks.
Spider Climb: Grants ability to walk on walls and ceilings.
Write: Caster can write a spell he can’t yet cast.
2nd-Level Sorcerer/Wizard Spells
Abjur
Protection from Arrows: Subject immune to most ranged attacks.
Wizard Lock: Magically locks a portal or chest.
Conj
Acid Arrow: Ranged touch attack; 2d4 damage for 1 round +1 round/three levels.
Fog Cloud: Fog obscures vision.
Glitterdust: Blinds creatures, outlines invisible creatures.
Web: Fills 20-ft.-radius spread with sticky spiderwebs.
Div
Detect Invisibility: Reveals invisible creatures or objects.
ESP: Allows “listening” to surface thoughts.
Locate Object*: Senses direction toward object (specific or type).
Ench
Daze Monster: Living creature of 6 HD or less loses next action.
Forget: Subject forgets recent past.
Hideous Laughter: Subject loses actions for 1 round/level.
Touch of Idiocy: Subject takes 1d6 points of Int, Wis, and Cha damage.
Evoc
Continual Light: Makes a permanent, heatless torch.
Darkness 15′ Radius*: 15-ft. radius of supernatural shadow.
Flaming Sphere: Creates rolling ball of fire, 2d6 damage, lasts 1 round/level.
Gust of Wind: Blows away or knocks down smaller creatures.
Scorching Ray: Ranged touch attack deals 4d6 fire damage, +1 ray/four levels (max 3).
Shatter: Sonic vibration damages objects or crystalline creatures.
Illus
Blur: Attacks miss subject 20% of the time.
False Trap: Object appears trapped.
Fool’s Gold: Temporarily transform copper or brass into gold.
Hypnotic Pattern: Fascinates (2d4 + level) HD of creatures.
Invisibility: Subject is invisible for 1 min./level or until it attacks.
Magic Mouth M: Speaks once when triggered.
Minor Image: As silent image, plus some sound.
Mirror Image: Creates decoy duplicates of you (1d4 +1 per three levels, max 8).
Misdirection: Misleads divinations for one creature or object.
Phantom Trap: Makes item seem trapped.
Necro
Ghoul Touch: Paralyzes one subject, which exudes stench that makes those nearby sickened.
Scare: Panics creatures of less than 6 HD.
Trans
Bear’s Endurance: Subject can perform a feat of endurance.
Bull’s Strength: Subject can perform a feat of strength.
Cat’s Grace: Subject can perform a feat of agility.
Eagle’s Splendor: Subject can perform a feat of personal will or social grace.
Fox’s Cunning: Subject figures out a puzzle, trick, or riddle.
Knock: Opens locked or magically sealed door.
Levitate: Subject moves up and down at your direction.
Owl’s Wisdom: Subject gains insight into a problem.
Pyrotechnics: Turns fire into blinding light or choking smoke.
Rope Trick: As many as eight creatures hide in extradimensional space.
Whispering Wind: Sends a short message 1 mile/level.
3rd-Level Sorcerer/Wizard Spells
Abjur
Dispel Magic: Cancels magical spells and effects.
Explosive Runes: Deals 6d6 damage when read.
Protection from Evil 10′ Radius: As protection spells, but 10-ft. radius and 10 min./level.
Nondetection M: Hides subject from divination, scrying.
Conj
Sepia Snake Sigil: Creates text symbol that immobilizes reader.
Stinking Cloud: Nauseating vapors, 1 round/level.
Summon Monster: Calls creature to fight for you.
Div
Arcane Sight: Magical auras become visible to you.
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: Hear or see at a distance for 1 min./level.
Tongues: Speak any language.
Ench
Hold Person: Paralyzes one humanoid for 1 round/level.
Suggestion: Compels subject to follow stated course of action.
Evoc
Fireball: 1d6 damage per level, 20-ft. radius.
Lightning Bolt: Electricity deals 1d6/level damage.
Tiny Hut: Creates shelter for ten creatures.
Wind Wall: Deflects arrows, smaller creatures, and gases.
Illus
Illusory Script: Only intended reader can decipher.
Invisibility 10′ Radius: Makes everyone within 10 ft. invisible.
Phantasmal Force: As silent image, plus sound, smell and thermal effects.
Necro
Ray of Exhaustion: Ray makes subject exhausted.
Vampiric Touch: Touch deals 1d6/two levels damage; caster gains damage as hp.
Trans
Blink: You randomly vanish and reappear for 1 round/level.
Feign Death: Caster appears dead to all normal observation.
Flame Arrow: Arrows deal +1d6 fire damage.
Fly: Subject flies at speed of 60 ft.
Gaseous Form: Subject becomes insubstantial and can fly slowly.
Haste: One creature/level moves faster, +1 on attack rolls, AC, and Reflex saves.
Infravision: Gain 60 ft. infravision.
Secret Page: Changes one page to hide its real content.
Shrink Item: Object shrinks to one-sixteenth size.
Slow: One subject/level takes only one action/round, -1 to AC, reflex saves, and attack rolls.
Water Breathing: Subjects can breathe underwater.
The “Tough Economy” Special Offer is Back!!: Many in the gaming community turn to games as a welcome respite from their day jobs, using money from those day jobs to buy the games. In these difficult times, some of our loyal customers have lost their day jobs. No jobs and no cash to buy games is a morale buster. Now, we can’t help in the new job department, but one thing we can do is at least help you continue to enjoy the games while you are job hunting. It was our pleasure to help several hundred out of work gamers last fall to have new games to play over the holidays, and given the continued economic difficulties in America and abroad, we have decided to offer the special again to anyone who has since become unemployed.
So, if you did not participate in our Tough Economy Special offer last Christmas and have lost your job since November 30, 2008 and remain unemployed, if you will provide verification of such status to Tony (a_curtis@sbcglobal.net) or the office folks by mail or phone or e-mail, we will send you TWO FREE IN-STOCK GAMES of your choice. Play them, Enjoy them, and know that we will keep this information private and wish you only the best for a quick recovery.
We hope you all enjoy this Summer Warehouse Clearance Sale, and that you find several games you like at these great prices!
Enjoy the games!
Your Friends at GMT Games
Toll Free Order and Support Line: 800-523-6111
E-mail: gmtoffice@gmtgames.com
Characters in 3.old acquire a new feat at 2nd, 4th, and 6th levels, a little faster than standard D&D.
The feats available in 3.old are taken from the 3.5 PHB, with the following exceptions (I know this isn’t a great presentation, but it’s a blog entry…the feats will be laid out as usual in the PDF).
Feel free to discuss problems you see or suggestions in the comments.
