"As already mentioned, a Smith is able to assist an Armorer. For every 50 horses or mules in a player/character's force there must be one Smith to maintain them."
I see from the master monster list in Mentzer's Master set that a BECMI version of the water weird was presented in the module B7: Rahasia, but that's one of those I've never seen, even on the shelf. I have NOT added the 'weird to the monster list in my Companion project (no rot grub either). For all my musings over my past as a "killer DM" this is one monster that, even as a young 'un, I felt was a little unfair to include in the dungeon. Still, I would like to see how the Hickman's adapted the killer liquid pipe snake to the old BECMI rules.The AD&D game is much more detailed than the D&D game. It has more character classes, more alignment choices, more monsters, and more rules. Where the D&D rules system may reduce a situation to one die roll or a single variable, the AD&D rules system often has a more detailed rule that includes more variables, allowing it to cover situations in greater depth.
Phoenix*
Armor Class: -3………….No. Appearing: 0 (1)
Hit Dice: 9+9****………….Save As: Cleric 17
Move: 360’ (120’)………….Morale: 12
Attacks: 2 talons, beak………….Treasure Type: Nil
Damage: 2-5/2-5/2-5 + see below….........Alignment: Lawful
The phoenix is similar in shape and magnificence to a peacock, though they are twice as large (wingspan of 8-9’) and colored a spectacular red, orange, and gold. They give off a palpable heat, and attacks from a phoenix do an additional 2-8 points of damage per hit to anyone not protected against magical fire. The phoenix itself is immune to heat and cold, as well as poison and disease, is immune to mind affecting magic or polymorph, and automatically sees through illusions.
Renowned for their great healing ability, the phoenix will generously share its curing gifts with any individual in need. Their mere touch can cure disease or serious wounds, neutralize poison, or raise dead. A phoenix may also use restoration and rejuvenation, but will only do so for the most Lawful and deserving creatures as doing so greatly drains them; after performing one of these latter spells the phoenix may not use any healing power for 24 hours.
A phoenix lives 1000 years but is truly immortal; at the end of its life cycle it bursts into a white-hot flame from whose ashes the phoenix will be reborn in a fortnight. The same occurs if the beast is slain (they are only harmed by +3 or better weapons). Those standing within 10’ of a burning phoenix suffer 10-80 points of damage, and any weapon used to strike a death blow will be burned to a cinder if less than +5 in value.
But, yeah...even though I like mine better I don't want to stray TOO far from the stuff already in the books (both AD&D and BECMI when such is available). After all, some of this was puzzled out to be consistent with other monsters already in the game, right? Can't be giving a phoenix a claw attack of 3-18 or something when a red dragon only does 1D8, after all. At least that's MY thinking.
Of the last 9 monsters on my list, 5 have absolutely GOT to be in the game. The other four I really like, and of those 3 already have stats in AD&D. Kind of. Well, really only one (the Marid) but the other two are partly based on creatures already in AD&D...and for that reason (and since they're not REALLY mythological/legendary), I might just drop 'em.
Can I fit seven more monsters and still have space for stuff? Hmmm...it's gonna' be tight, though editing and clean-up might help. I'm tempted to stay up later...no, NO! Must sleep!
Okay, going to bed...the beagles are already snoozing.
; )
[continued from here]Many players think of their characters in terms of their powers and possessions, rather than as people. Such players will be totally at a loss for the first few minutes of play. It is likely they will be angry at the DM for putting them in such an "unfair" situation. They will demand or beg concessions. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY HELP, even if they make you feel sorry for them, Inform the players that they must rely on what they have, not what they used to have, and that this includes their brains and their five senses. Good players will actually welcome the challenge of this scenario.......To escape, the player characters will have to make the best of the opportunities offered by the contents of the various encounter areas. These opportunities may seem meager to the players at first, but this dungeon contains more than enough material for the players to escape from any of the exits if they have the wits and resourcefulness to recognize and utilize it. However, this module is also a test of the ability of the Dungeon Master! It is a virtual certainty that good players, forced to rely on their own initiative, will attempt to use what they find to do things not covered by the rules. In these situations, it is entirely up to the DM to handle these requests with fairness, objectivity, and imagination.
[continued from here and here]
A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, described by one review (per wikipedia) as a "good, workman-like adventure" is the longest of the series, being 40 pages in length and almost totally devoid of interior art. Personally, I find it incredibly interesting that Tom Moldvay was a co-designer in this module...this is the only AD&D module that bears his name as a designer. His other modules are all for B/X or the B/X-derived BECMI (his one module of the latter being a Master level adventure). Seeing his name on it is a bit like seeing Holmes' name on an AD&D module.
I am not a fan of "supermodules." Hell, I even passed on a copy of GDQ1-7: Queen of the Spiders just yesterday, even though it was rated "the greatest adventure of all time" by Dungeon Magazine. Of all the supermodules TSR ever published, I've only ever owned two, and only one of those did I purchase. The only one I still retain in my possession is on "permanent loan" from an old buddy and it is T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil. As it is the only known version of the Temple, I will probably continue to retain it, although I find it fairly unwieldy to use (and have actually only ever used it to run the Village of Hommlet...whadya' know).Not all of the standard B/X classes are available in the Krull game setting. Players are confined to the following choices of character:
Fighter
Wise One
Magic-User
Thief
Cyclops
FIGHTER – Although great fighters do not make great husbands, they’re excellent for killing slayers. The fighter class is the same as in B/X with the following additional abilities:
Dual wield: instead of using a shield or two-handed weapon, a fighter may wield a dagger or short blade in his or her off-hand. Only one attack is rolled, but damage is rolled for both weapons if a “hit” is scored. Only the higher damage roll is used (damage is not added together).
Lightly armored: a fighter wearing leather armor or no armor may double their normal dexterity bonus to Armor Class. For example, a character in leather armor with a 16 dexterity would have a total bonus of -4 (Armor Class 3). This bonus is lost if the fighter wears a shield or armor heavier than leather.
WISE ONE -- The wise one draws his power from the divine spirit and his knowledge of the natural world. A mystic of the wilderness, the wise one is similar to a cleric in most regards with the following exceptions:
Freedom of movement: the wise one may not wear armor heavier than leather and will not carry a shield. He must be unburdened to walk the wilds.
Freedom of spell use: no meditation or study period is needed to perform his spells; he chooses the spells he wishes to use based on daily ability (determined as if a cleric of the same level). The wise one may require the use of certain herbs, totems, or magic stones to perform magic, but in general the DM should assume the wise one has a full stock of such items.
Limits of wisdom: the following spells are not available to the wise one: light, silence 15’ radius, continual light, growth of animals, create water, sticks to snakes, create food, insect plague. If a spell is unavailable, neither is its reverse spell.
MAGIC-USER -- The wandering wizard is no easy role. Magic is hard come-by in Krull and training scarce indeed. The following special exceptions apply to the normal magic-user class:
Knowledge is power: a magic-user learns one new spell per level. The level of the spell learned can be from any level, though no higher level spell may be learned than the level of the magic-user himself (so a magic-user could learn a 4th level spell upon achieving 4th level, but not a 5th level spell). All spells learned are known and need not be memorized on a daily basis.
Power limits: a magic-user can only cast a total number of spell levels per day equal to his level of experience. Thus a 5th level magic-user could cast five 1st level spells, OR one 3rd level and one 2nd level spell, OR one 5th level spell.
Mishaps: a magic-user must succeed at a percentage roll to successfully cast a spell from memory. The percentage chance of success is equal to his Intelligence x5%. Failure to cast the spell correctly may result in an amusing or dangerous mishap (as determined by the DM). Mishaps do NOT count against the total number of spells a magic-user may cast per day…in other words, a magic-user could cast any number of mishaps per day!
THIEF -- These scoundrels are the exact same as thieves described in the B/X rule sets.
CYCLOPS -- The only non-human class available to PCs in the Krull game setting. Cyclops characters are large (generally over 6’) humanoids with the ability to see their own death. A character must have a minimum Constitution of 9 to play a Cyclops; Strength is their prime requisite and a high strength gives them a bonus to earned experience. Cyclops are treated as HALFLINGS in all regards with the following exceptions:
Exceptionally hearty and strong: Cyclops roll D12 for hit points instead of D6. All Cyclops weapons do 1D10 damage plus strength bonuses if any and they do not lose initiative for using a two-handed weapon. A Cyclops wishing to purchase armor must pay 3 times its normal cost to size it to their bulk (note: because of their size and the amount of metal used in their armor Cyclops in chain or plate armor may not use their stealth abilities in the wilderness). Cyclops do NOT gain a bonus to AC when fighting large monsters.
Exceptional throwers: Cyclops’ great strength allows them a +1 bonus for throwing weapons and allows them to add their strength bonus to damage.
Poor depth perception: while their strength allows them to be exceptional throwers, Cyclops are unable to use missile devices (bows, crossbows, and slings) accurately and avoid them.
Know their time: Cyclops know when it is their time to die. A the beginning of each game session roll an 8 sided die; if the roll is LESS THAN the character’s level, they know they will die at some point during the session. The DM should allow the player to choose the time and place of his death. NOTE: even though the die roll may indicate it is NOT the Cyclops time to die, the Cyclops may still be killed through normal misadventure like any other PC; in such a case the Cyclops was either blind-sided or simply refused to admit to himself that it was his time to go.
