"Go to the sign of Marvel's Axe, a dubious inn on the edge of the Thieves Quarter, in the City of Greyhawk, and look to your own wrist. If you perceive a bracelet and dangling dice, watch for the next throw in the war between Law and Chaos and be prepared to follow the compelling geas." -Signal

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Draconomicon, Payback

I know the name of the game is Dungeons & Dragons but I for one have never been a fan of including dragons willy nilly in the game. Early in my days as a DM I came up with the idea of using a Dragon Hunt as a long running story arc for the campaign. I had the players hired by a mage to hunt down and slay one each of the chromatic dragons. I played the dragons they way I thought they should be and after the first one the survivors decided to stop.

I can appreciate this book as something to read and get an idea for adventures that might involve dragons in a non direct manner but I can't see using this book as it is intended. Even though they suggest dragons are rare they talk about them cavorting around in groups and hunting as parties. I am not sure I can ever get behind dragons in this manner.

For those that are OK with dragons being more common then this book would be something that would be useful. It does a good job treating dragons in a manner much like the Complete line of books does for the demi-human races. The book is divided into a total of nine chapters and then a selection of adventures involving dragons. The chapters in the book are below.

Chapter 1 - Reference
Chapter 2 - Geography
Chapter 3 - Dragon Psychology
Chapter 4 - Role-Playing Dragons
Chapter 5 - Dragon hall of Fame
Chapter 6 - New Dragon Species
Chapter 7 - Magic
Chapter 8 - Hunter's Guide
Chapter 9 - Miscellaneous Information

The book is by no means not a good product and it does what it is supposed to do well. Even though I do not agree with the way that it wants dragons to be used in hte game it is still something that I would use in some manner. I know that this is for 2e AD&D and it is has been redone at least two other times for the later editions. I can speak well of this one only though not having seen the others.

Published: 1990
Pages: 128

From the back cover:

The creatures of lore and legend - of myth and mystery - only the dragons know the answers to the secrets and ciphers that surround them. But brave adventuring souls who have gone before have left behind clues and epistles with valuable information for anyone in persuit of dragons. This tome is a compilation of the lifetime efforts numerous dragon-hunting adventurers, presented to those who crave hints and leads for dragon-questing.


Spell:

Payback


Level: Third
Range: 9"
Duration: 1 Round/Level
Area of Effect: One Creature
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 4 Segments
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic user will cause the target creature to experience a differing result based on how the combat they are involved in goes. The effect is based on their success in striking an opponent they are engaged in melee combat with.

While under the effect of this spell the target creature will suffer damage whenever they successfully strike an opponent in combat. The victim will suffer one point of damage for every point they exceed the required To Hit roll by. For example if a 11 is needed to hit and they roll a 16 then they would suffer six points of damage.

The reverse of this will also be true for the affected target though. While in combat each time they miss they will be healed for each point they miss by. For example if a 14 is needed to hit and they roll a 3 then they will be healed for 11 points of damage.

Victims of this spell who might try to miss on purpose will not reap any benefit from this action. They may not actively do anything that causes them to not hit though they can elect to not engage in combat. This will only affect melee combat rolls and not any missile or magical attack rolls.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

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