Sunday, February 22, 2009

R.I.P. Bahb the Draftee

Turns out, we didn't continue on in the Ruined Monastery.

So, Kesher rolled on a table that I believe he got from Jeff's Gameblog, one that determine's your character's fate if he was left in the dungeon last time.

And Bahb the Draftee didn't make it out. So sad.

On the other hand, it gave me a chance to play my new character. But first, a little background:

In light of Men & Magic, Page 8, Other Character Types:

"There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e., a player wishing to be a Dragon would have to begin as let us say, a "young" one and progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign referee."

I hereby present:

Player Character Balrog:

AC: 2
Move: 6/15

Table of Levels:
Hit Magic Immolate
Level Experience * Dice Resistance ** Damage ***
====== =============== ====== ============= ==========
1 0 1 5% 1d4
2 2,500 2 15% 1d6
3 5,000 3 25% 1d6
4 10,000 4 35% 2d6
5 20,000 5 45% 2d6
6 35,000 6 55% 2d6
7 50,000 7 60% 3d6
8 100,000 8 65% 3d6
9 200,000 9 70% 3d6
10 300,000 10 75% 4d6

* I used the same progression as the Magic-User; this is obviously negotiable.

** Calculated as against an 11th level Magic-User; adjust up or down by 5% for each level difference. Thus a first level Balrog (MR 5%) against a 5th level Magic-User (-6 levels) would be 35%.

*** Only if a hit is scored with the whip, so the opponent can be brought into immolation range, or if opponent is already in contact.

(Good thing these buggers don't use magic, eh?)



I named him Sneerglaw, which a friend of mine pointed out only yesterday was Walgreens backwards. (We were passing a Walgreens at the time).


He was a lot of fun to play. Got to immolate a couple of times (I may need to restrict that in number of uses as well as just damage, but for a sandbox game like this, it seems to be working okay.)

The elf wiped out an entire warband of orcs with but a single Charm Person spell.

Basically, we had a great time. In three hours of gaming we defeated all of our foes (except the Wight; we ran from it). We also got a pretty good map made.

We were exploring Under Xylarthen's Tower, by the estimable Jeff Rients of Jeff's Gameblog fame (which you really should check out if you haven't already -- it's one of the best).

Best of all, the whole party survived.

Can't wait until next time!

4 comments:

Will Douglas said...

Frak! The table really didn't hold its formatting at all. But I think you can see what is supposed to be what.

Jeff Rients said...

A young balrog loose in my little dungeon? I'm pleased as a peach over here.

Sorry about Bahb, dude.

kesher said...

Actually, The Table of Despair can be found in Fight On! #3, created by Aaron Somerville (Korgoth)forThe Empire of the Petal Throne, but obviously useful in less exotic surroundings, as well! It first appeared in a thread on ODD74.

I would also like to point out that Bahb rolled a result of "Thou art lost to time and space"---nowhere does that say "dead"... ;)

Sneerglaw turned out to be a great character. Looking over the write-up a bit more, I don't see any need for tweaking at the moment. Maybe it should take one round to snare someone with the whip, and another round to immolate them, and of course it wouldn't really work with something significantly larger than you, but that's just common sense stuff; you wrote a solid new race.

And thanks again for the booklet of Philotomy's compiled musings, otherwise titled "Supplement M"---truly excellent!

Will Douglas said...

Thank you both for your kind words.

Jeff, it was a joy to explore your dungeon. I'll admit, I had read it months ago, but only remembered specifics after the fact (except your handling of Hobgoblins; I was really captivated by that!). Consequently, the weasels did take me by surprise, but I vaguely remembered something about them after we fought them.

Kesher, I'm glad you enjoyed the character and I look forward to playing him again next month. Good game!