Supine Arcanum

Initiate Brave CR 1/2 XP 200 Human Hussar 1 N Medium humanoid (human) Init +3; Senses Perception +4 DEFENSE AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +3 Dex) hp 12 (1d10+2) Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +0 OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee Tomahawk +4 (1d8+1/×3), Lance +2 (1d8+1/x3), Club +2 (1d6+1), or Dagger +4 (1d4+1/19-20) Ranged Composite Longbow (Str+1) +4 (1d8+1/x3), Tomahawk +4 (1d8+1/x3), Club +4 (1d6+1), or Dagger +4 (1d4+1/19-20) Special Attacks skirmish +1d6 STATISTICS Str 13, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8 Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 15 Feats Mounted Combat B , Ride-By Attack, Mounted Archery, Point-Blank Shot B Skills Acrobatics +6, Climb +0, Escape Artist +2, Handle Animal +3, Intimidate +3, Knowledge (nature) +5, Perception +4, Ride +6 (+10 when riding his bonded mount), Sleight of Hand +2, Survival +4, Swim +0 Languages Common, Slivic SQ mount (mustang), line of the arrow, favored (+1 Skill Point) Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds; Other Gear ...

Alright so we've got our concept, The Ogrekin Battle Cattle. The design doc is simple, and the bullets are laid out as follows. Needs to be strong and hit hard Needs to be tanky and both it and it's mount needs to be able to survive more than a few hits. This matches its giant nature and makes sure it doesn't just die to ranged attacks or a brace.  Needs to be kind of funny: It sounds silly and that's part of the point. They are like fallout super mutants on a cow. The players will laugh, and it will be disarming, which will make that first charge one of these (or a group in a cavalry charge) gives to the players all the more terrifying when it hits and the target basically explodes. It will be funny, then terrifying Now, to step 2! Step 2: Resources So, I know I want to make a mounted character, I know I want to put him on a cow, and I want him to charge things at high speed and blow them up with a single powerful hit. From previous experience in my...

For this post I wanted to try something different. I wanted to focus on one of my favorite things to finish but one of my least favorite things to do, NPC creation. I know it might sound odd, but the process of making characters in my experience is always a long, cumbersome experience. There's concepting, researching the mechanics I need to get it to work, cross referencing... the whole thing can be a pain. That said, I know I'm not the only one who gets anxious at the thought of building new characters, so I'm going to share my process with everyone here, and see if it helps. So, today I'm going to build some Blanks, NPCs that are not so much unique individuals but rather unnamed characters meant to fill in the rolls that you need during a given session. These are the unnamed bandits on the side of the road helping your king of thieves, the apprentices helping your wizard, the cavalry teams chasing you down. These guys don't have names, but they've got solid ...

So, as I said in the last post, this one is one meant predominately for my players, a guide to some of the extra races that are both core to our home setting and common/associated enough with the area that they are options for players beyond what is in the Core Rulebook. That being said, I still think this is valuable to those outside my tiny group of players. For you, think of this as a window into some of the expansive things one can do with this system, a taste of how far one can go with the options for creatures one can play and/or interact in their own world with using these mechanics. Core Races: Feralfolk:  Feralfolk (aka the Skinwalker) are one of my top 3 favorite editions to the core racial options. Interesting mechanically, diverse in options, and unique in execution, there is nothing out there that plays like a feralfolk and is built to be played by players. You can play out your lycanthropic dreams without having to worry about murdering your teammates, you can be...

As stated previously, Ability Scores are broken down into 6 categories that represent the various physical and mental powers of your character and every other creature throughout the game. Now, I know some people can get confused by these so I feel like it's best to go over each one to get everyone up to speed and working from the same definition of each of these going forward. I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen problems at table come about because 2 people have differing definitions of what Ability X is supposed to cover. So, without further adieu, lets get into it. Physical vs. Mental:  Each character has 6 Abilities that can be broken down into 2 groups Physical and Mental. Physical Abilities or Stats, are abilities that are meant to represent your character's physical abilities such as how strong or nimble they are or how hardy they are and ease with which they can shake of diseases. If your character has superhuman strength or get's crippled and is lef...

The basics of the whole game, ability scores are the stats that govern every character and thing your characters are likely to do going forward with few exceptions. If you want to attack a monster with your sword, your Strength (Str) ability score is factored. Your Bard trying to remember what the hell a Lich is? That knowledge check uses Intelligence (Int) to figure it out. Your Rogue trying to barrel roll out of a massive explosion? That's a Reflex save (Ref) which uses your Dexterity (Dex). In short, every skill check, attack roll, and save you will make is effected by these numbers, and therefore it behooves me, to try and walk you through these stats as quickly and (hopefully) painlessly as possible. So, without further adieu, lets get to it. WTF is an Ability, and how do you Score it? An ability is one of the 6 basic stats that effect in one way or another, every part of your character sheet. These Abilities are... Strength (Str) Dexterity (Dex) Constitution (Con) I...