I haven’t done some 5e stuff in a while, so let’s go back to that with the Out of the Abyss season and an optional background feature.
OPTIONAL FEATURE: UNDERDARK ETIQUETTE
You have met the hostile races the call the Underdark home, and while you might not be everyone’s friend, you didn’t end up on their menus. If you fail a Charisma ability check against an Underdark creature, you may remake the check with disadvantage. You must accept the results of the second roll.
Thoughts?
LET’S BURN STUFF!
It was a pleasure to burn! Bombardiers are the children who liked to spend a little to much time in school, and were the people who liked to watch fireworks a bit to closely. You’ve seen how the fire ticked, and now you can make it dance to your own tune.
BOMBARDIER STORY DEVELOPMENT
| d6 | Story Development |
| 1 | You’ve spent days upon days reading about the secrets of fire and have learned to master it. |
| 2 | A traveling alchemist came to your village and you learned his secrets when he was at the town fair. |
| 3 | You liked to take apart your fathers explosive he used for his job. |
| 4 | You were burned as a child and learned the secrets of fire. |
| 5 | You were apprenticed to a local demolition team. |
| 6 | You’ve just know how to mix the powders to make the fire dance. |
LEVEL 3 BOMBARDIER
Attributes increase two by 1
Characteristics Health +3, Power +1
Languages and Professions You can speak another language and add an academic profession.
Magic You discover a tradition or learn one spell
The Mystery of Fire You have learned and mastered the mysteries of fire powders. As an action, you can change a spell into a bomb. This bomb uses all the traits of a bomb from pages 27 of the Demon Lord’s Companion. For each level of spell sacrificed in this way, you make one bomb. These bombs will only last for 24 hours at which point they become inert components.
LEVEL 6 BOMBARDIER
Characteristics Health +3, Power +1
Magic You discover a tradition or learn one spell
All Your Fingers There are only two kinds of people in your line of work-the good and the dead. You gain a boon on all rolls to avoid fire and explosive damage from both magic and mundane sources. In addition, reduce all damage you take from fire and explosive by half.
LEVEL 9 BOMBARDIER
Characteristics Health +3, Power +1
Magic You discover a tradition or learn one spell
Ground Zero You’ve learned how to avoid blasts like the best. When you use a bomb and are in the blast, you no longer take damage from your own bombs. Furthermore, any mechanical, non-magic device you use that has a change to harm you through a failed roll deal half as much damage as before. This effect stacks with All Your Fingers.
Thoughts?
Product-Demon Lord’s Companion
System– Shadow of the Demon Lord
Producer– Schwalb Entertainment
Price– $ 10 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/168258/Demon-Lords-Companion?src=slider_view&affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR-The best DLC I’ve downloaded all year! 100%
Basics-OPTIONS! Have you already gotten tired of all the options in the core Shadow of the Demon Lord book? Odds are not, but here is a new book with races, master and expert paths, new items both magical and mundane, magic traditions, and even more rules for parts of the game not covered in the basic book like vehicles.
Mechanics or Crunch-This is an amazing book for what it adds. Every one of these pages is crunch. From the new spells to the rules for how to drive in this game, no space is wasted that doesn’t add to the world. New races are added such as halflings and fauns, new traditions such as alchemy are added, and tons of new items are brought into the world. This might be one of my favorite splat books to a system I’ve read in a long time. 5/5
Theme or Fluff-Now I don’t expect much from a splat book in terms of theme, but this one delivers! Let’s look at two things to drive home this point. First are story complications. These are new character additions that provide a detriment and a bonus. They almost function like zero-level feats. You get horrific problems for bonuses that directly come from this problem. An example is you might be ever-so-slightly possessed, but you can also talk to that demon to get bits of lore and knowledge. That’s pure Demon Lord’s Shadow right there. Second, let’s look at azeen. Azeen are foot long worms, that you place in your face or another large orifice and let it crawl/tare inside you. It gives you a whip that you can spring from your hands as an attack. Randomly, in the next 20 days you will crap your pants as the worm violently dies and is violently shot from your body. This is a new forbidden item with strong benefits, horrific complications, and a corrupting influence. Again, this is mainline Shadows of the Demon Lord with full descriptions of horror building up the mechanics with solid storytelling. Absolutely beautiful! 5/5
Execution-This book only comes out as a PDF currently. However, what makes this interestingly is the price, pictures, and writing. Comparing this book to other splat books, DLC is hands down the best I’ve seen in awhile. This book is 50+ pages for 10 bucks. That blows Paizo out of the water! I get a book full of character options, game rules, and monsters that is layed out properly, reads quickly, and is fun for less than half of some other books. 5/5
Summary– I didn’t ask for more options for Shadows of the Demon Lord, but I have wondered about some specific content. And this book delivered on all of it. Want some more steampunk? Well we’ve got airships and even guns now. Want more magic? Well now there is fauns and other magic traditions. Heck, you want to get some Kung Fu in your Demon’s Shadow? Now you can. Crouching tiger, hidden demon away! Everything fits in this book. It’s all from the very mouth of the Dark Hobo himself. It’s a great value, full of pictures to inspire, and quick pleasure to read. This book is well worth your time and money. 100%
I’ve been thinking about this spell for Shadow of the Demon Lord for a bit. Should it be alchemy or should ti be technology? How about it being a spell both could take?
TRANSFUSION TECHNOLOGY/ALCHEMY UTILITY 1
Target Two creatures within reach
________________________________
You quickly pull a connected series of tubes, needles, and vials from your pockets, jam one needle into one target and then another into the other. One target loses hit points equal to its healing rate. The other target gains gains hit points equal to double its healing rate. Roll a d20. On a one, instead of one target healing double, it loses hit points equal to its healing rate as the process works incorrectly and that character is racked with pain from a bad reaction.
I want to make a new tradition. We have technology, but what about alchemy? I’m a biochemist, so let’s make some chemistry in Shadow of the Demon Lord!
ACID VIAL ALCHEMY ATTACK 0
Target One creature within medium range
________________________________
You quickly pull a vial of solvent off you belt and throw it at the target. Make a Intellect attack roll against its Agility. On a success, the target takes 1d3+1 damage and the target is covered in the acid. For the next minute, the target will make an Agility challenge roll at the start of each of its turns. If it fails, the target takes 1d3 damage. If it succeeds, the target shacks off the acid and no longer needs to make any more challenge rolls from this spell.
Thoughts?
You know what I want in my Shadow of my Demon Lord? I want some Star Wars! Let’s make C-3PO!
CONJURE CLOCKWORK SERVANT TECHNOLOGY UTILITY 3
Area A cure of space, 1 yard on a side, originating from a point within short range and resting on a solid surface
Duration 1 hour_______________________
You creature a medium mechanical servant within the area. The servant cannot attack, but it can take its own actions, if directed to do so. It unerringly obeys all commands, but may do so in its own way or comment as it and the GM feels necessary. The servant speaks all the languages you know but also know two more then you do. The servant has the following stats:
CLOCKWORK SERVANT
size 1
Perception 15 (+5); darksight
Defense 15 Health 20
Strength 14(+4) Agility 12 (+2) Intellect 15 (+5) Will 13 (+3)
Speed 10
Immune gaining insanity, blinded, asleep, fatigued, charmed, diseased, frightened, poisoned, stunned
ATTACK OPTION
NONE
Permanence if you spend rare ingredients worth 1gc when you cast this spell, the effect instead lasts until you complete a rest. If you cast the spell this way each day for one month, one week, and one day, the clockwork servant becomes permanently alive.
Let’s keep the hits rolling for Shadow of the Demon Lord
Extra Hand TECHNOLOGY UTILITY 2
Duration 1 hour___________
With a flick of the wrist, you turn on the goggles. They burn out quickly, but they do provide some interesting benefits before they do. These googles give you darksight, and the ability to see just on the other side of some solid objects. You can see up to 10 feet on the other side of an object, and solid objects you can see through appear to be smokey and hazy. Two feet of wood, 1 foot of stone, or 1 inch of metal block this enhanced vision.
Thoughts?
I’ve been reading lots of Schwalb lately, and I have fallen in love with the tech spells. Let’s build on them!
Extra Hand TECHNOLOGY UTILITY 1
Duration 1 hour___________
You build a robotic hand that you strap to your body and responds to your thoughts. The hand cannot help you attack, but you can use the hand to help you with some tasks. When the spell is cast, choose one stat. You gain 1 boon for all non-attack checks with that sate for the duration of this spell.
Thoughts?
Product-Tales of the Demon Lord
System– Shadow of the Demon Lord
Producer– Schwalb Entertainment
Price– $ 10 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/163527/Tales-of-the-Demon-Lord?term=tales+of+the+demon&affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR-Lean, mean adventure! 90%
Basics-Starting with a small series of death in the far flung town of Crossings, this adventures takes players from starting, zero-level character to master character who have to ultimately face down and prevent the arrival of the Demon Lord. This adventure is a whole campaign in itself introducing a section of the world called Crossings to the players and the GM. Will you be able to face the horrors of things touched by the Demon Lord’s shadow?
Mechanics or Crunch-Shadow of the Demon Lord is it’s own system through and through, and this self contained campaign has the math for the system clearly down. What’s here works well. However, the campaign doesn’t give too much away to the novice GM. I like what’s here in terms of encounters, rewards, combats, and exploration, but I’d like a bit more behind the game’s curtain. This is the first full campaign, so this adventure will serve as the game’s best guide. However, I’d like a bit more to help me get all the expertise I and other GM’s need to better run this system.4.5/5
Theme or Fluff- Schwalb writes an awesome story from the ground up. The book starts by building its own town called Crossing and then builds out. In terms of story, it’s a swift story that’s a great way to get players into the world. Also, this book has a ton of variety from simple go here/kill people, small hex crawls, and even hardcore roleplaying. Every player will get a bit of fun out of this adventure, and every GM will have a blast running this one. 5/5
Execution– Of all the good stuff in the book, the execution is the most lacking. The execution is by no means bad, but I may be a bit to spoon fed by other publishers when it comes to published material. There is almost no box text. Have gamed with the master himself, I know he writes awesome descriptions, but this book will ask you to write most of your own. Furthermore, Shadow of the Demon Lord adventures are short. From the get go, SotDL adventures are designed for about a four hour experience after which players level. That is not bad by any stretch, but the transition and the brevity of the writing is strong change for some GMs. There are breaks in the text. But, I’d like a bit more art, and I’d like the art that’s here to be a bit larger. It’s hard to get those maps to the table and make them a size that looks nice. The adventures do read quickly and easily, and the simple descriptions are enough to get you gaming quick. But, keep in mind that the simplicity of the write ups are there to make the games run fast and with no down time and limited prep time. 4/5
Summary– Tales of the Demon Lord is a phenomenal adventure for SotDL. It’s a full campaign unto itself that covers several different adventure types and play styles. It’s well written, and simply executed. However, this is not a hand-holding product. Tales of the Demon Lord aims to be a campaign, not your paint by numbers GMing guide. It’s several adventures that tell a story, but it doesn’t teach you how to write or design adventures if you’re only passively playing or running this adventure. It’s fun, but don’t expect verbose, cookie-cutter explanations for you to read your players. Expect a lean, mean adventure that you can run quickly and efficiently with minimal prep, memorization, or GM brain loading time. If you get past a bit of shock of how spartan SotDL adventures are presented, then you will really enjoy what’s here. 90%
One of the things I want for the Technology Tradition is the ability to conjure small, mechanical creatures. Let’s start to make that a thing!
CONJURE TURRET TECHNOLOGY UTILITY 1
Area A cure of space, 1/4 yard on a side, originating from a point within short range and resting on a solid surface
Duration 1 minute or until the creature runs out of ammunition
You creature a small mechanical turret within the area. The turret has the following stats:
SMALL TURRET
size 1/2
Perception 13
Defense 15 Health 12
Stregnth 6(-4) Agility 12 (+2) Intellect 10 (+0) Will 10 (+0)
Speed 0
Immune gaining insanity, blinded, asleep, fatigued, charmed, diseased, frightened, poisoned, stunned
ATTACK OPTION
Shot Bolt (medium range) +2 (1d6)
Throat Punch Games 