I’ve disabled anonymous commenting on this blog, the spam comments are getting really annoying and considering how long it’s been since I’ve updated here legitimate comments are fairly rare. If this doesn’t stop the spam, I’m considering disabling comments entirely.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Emperor Ormbast IV was not necessarily beloved by all, but he was widely recognized as a fair, just, and wise ruler. His son, Ormbast V, inherited none of his father’s good qualities. V is greedy and cruel; he instituted harsh new taxes and terrible laws to punish those who didn’t pay. He is also petty, not hesitating to order death against any who he perceived as having slighted him.

Arik Andler, was a captain in the royal army, leading a unit of the most elite soldiers the empire had in its service. As such, he and his men were dutybound to follow the emperor’s decrees. However, time and time again Arik found himself sickened by what he was ordered to do and the direction the empire was heading.

After a great deal of pain and soul-searching, he offered his men a choice: stay and fulfill their oaths to the emperor, or sacrifice their honor in order to fight for the greater good. To a man, they chose to follow Arik.

The renegades dubbed themselves The Oathbreakers. The Oathbreakers are known by their scarlet cowls, which some say they wear to hide their shame, and their insignia: a kite shield cleft in twain.

The Oathbreakers primarily focus on protecting commoners from the Emperor’s tyranny. They raid tax assessors and instruct any able and willing in the art of guerilla warfare, in order to protect themselves and their families.

Encounters with The Oathbreakers

The Emperor puts out a bounty or hires the PCs to fight the Oathbreakers, calling them traitors and cowards.

The PCs are confronted by one of Arik’s men when they are mistaken to be the Emperor’s newest lackeys.

Thanks to Corrin Avatan, Quartermaster’s just been updated with almost 180 new items from 12 different sources.

Added this a couple days ago but forgot to mention it. A helpful fellow named Kyle was kind enough to type up PHB3′s magic items.

MightyWok requested that I post my rules from a Savage Worlds game I ran on Google Wave set in Zendikar, so here they are.

Races

Humans

• Free Edge – Humans begin play with a free novice edge, which they must meet the requirements for as normal.

Elf

• Disliked – Elves are disliked by most other races and get a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-elves.
• Keen Hearing – Their well-developed ears give elves a +2 bonus on notice checks to detect sounds.
  Low-Light Vision – Elves can see well in all but the darkest conditions, and ignore penalties for dim and dark lighting.
• Survivalist – Elves are particularly in tune with the world of Zendikar and begin play with a free d6 in survival.

Goblin

• Agile – Goblins begin play with a free d8 in agility, and may raise it up to a d12+2. Through the expert and master edges, this may be raised up to a d12+4.
• Ambush – Goblins favor ambush tactics, and begin play with a free d6 in climbing and stealth.
• Small – Goblins begin play with the small hindrance, giving them a -1 penalty to toughness.
• Outsider – Goblins begin play with the outsider hindrance, giving them a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-goblins and they are treated particularly poorly.

Kor

• Acrobatic Climbers – Kor base their climbing skill on either strength or agility, whichever is better.
• Hearty – The Kor are a hearty race and gain an extra point to spend on attributes.

Merfolk

• Aquatic – Merfolk have webbed fingers and toes, and can move at their full Swimming skill while in water (-2” per load limit penalty). Merfolk begin play with a free d6 in Swimming.
• Dehydration – Merfolk must immerse themselves in water one hour out of every twenty-four. Those who don’t are automatically fatigued each day until they are Incapacitated. The day after that, they perish.
• Lore of the Sea – Merfolk have a strong oral tradition, granting a +2 bonus on common knowledge checks and they begin play with a free d6 in Knowledge (History).
• Magical Affinity – Merfolk start with 5 free power points. Those without an Arcane Background edge gain no bonus from this trait, though they do get the bonus power points immediately if they later gain an Arcane Background.

Magic

Edges

Arcane Background (Mana)

Associated Skill: Channeling
Starting mana points: 10

Starting spells: 3, at least two of which must be from your chosen color.

When you choose this arcane background, pick a color– white, blue, black, red or green. The color you choose determines what spells you have access to and what attribute your channeling skill is derived from.

You may learn powers from your color’s list, as well as your two allied colors’ lists. Spells from your allied colors’ lists cost 1 additional mana point to cast (your own color’s spells cost the usual amount).

For reference, here are each color’s allied colors:

White: Blue, green
Blue: White, black
Black: Blue, red
Red: Black, green
Green: Red, white

A normal character can only channel a single type of mana; even though you have access to other colors’ spell lists, when you cast a spell from one of them you are using your own color of mana to do it, and the spell is aligned with that color. For example, if a blue mage casts heal (which is on the white list), it is considered a blue spell and uses blue mana.

Versatile Caster

Requirements: Novice, Channeling d8

You may cast spells from your allied colors’ spell lists for their normal cost instead of paying an extra mana point.

Skills

Channeling (Special)
This skill is used for Arcane Background (Mana). If you take the arcane background edge, make sure to toss some points in here! Otherwise, ignore this. The skill is linked to a different attribute, depending on your chosen color, as follows:

• White: Spirit
• Blue: Smarts
• Black: Smarts
• Red: Strength
• Green: Vigor

Spell Lists

White

• Armor
• Deflection
• Healing
• Light
• Smite

Blue

• Conceal/Distract (See New Spells, below)
• Detect/Conceal Mana (See Detect/Conceal Arcana)
• Elemental Manipulation (Air)
• Elemental Manipulation (Water)
• Speak Language

Black

• Entangle
• Fear
• Lower Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Obscure
• Stun

Red

• Bolt
• Burst
• Elemental Manipulation (Fire)
• Speed

Green

• Beast Friend
• Boost Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Elemental Manipulation (Earth)
• Environmental Protection
• Shape Change

New Spells

Conceal/Distract

Rank: Novice
Mana Points: 3
Range: Smarts
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Illusory camouflauge, ghost sounds, etc.

This spell has two similar modes.

As Conceal, all creatures in a small burst are magically camouflaged, and all others take a -1 penalty on notice checks to spot them for the duration of the spell.

As Distract, all creatures in a large burst take a -2 penalty on all notice checks for the duration of the spell.

Thanks to the efforts of Patch and René Winter, items from Adventurer’s Vault 2 are now available in Quartermaster.

A few times a week I get people emailing me asking if I have any plans on updating my 4e random treasure generator, Quartermaster.

I don’t. Or, at least, I didn’t. However, due to the sheer flood of people asking about it, many of whom have offered to help, and more importantly the fact that I’ve searched very hard and can’t find a single other online random treasure generator (there was at least one windows application which was very similar to Quartermaster, though I’m not sure if it’s still being updated), I’m going to compromise.

Below, you’ll find a spreadsheet (in Excel format, though it’s simple enough it should work in any app. I made it in OpenOffice.org, but Excel is the lingua franca of spreadsheets…). If you fill out the spreadsheet for a particular book, magazine, or adventure, I’ll probably add the stuff to the database. I say probably because I reserve the right to refuse to add something for any reason; most importantly, I’m very strict about how things should be formatted, and I will only add things from Wizards of the Coast products.

All of the formatting instructions are contained in the file. To submit something to me, rename it to “Source name.xls,” e.g. “Player’s Handbook.xls” and then email it to itoltz@gmail.com.

And as I said, I’m very picky about formatting. Everything should be spelled correctly, capitalized correctly, etc. Take particular care to ensure that if there’s an apostrophe in an item’s name, you put 3 backslashes in front of it, e.g. “Mage’s Wand” should be “Mage\\\’s Wand”. Also, I’d hope I wouldn’t have to explain this, but whenever I use double quotes in the instructions, they’re only for expalantion purposes. Unless you have some weird item with quotes in its name, don’t ever use a quote mark.

Oh, and finally make sure you include your name so I can give you credit, and your email address so that if I need to get in touch with you about something I can.

Quartermaster Insertion Template

Please choose the April Fools’ Day prank of your choice.

• Tragedy
  • Light: I’ve decided to shut down Encounter-a-Day and take all of my scripts and programs off the internet.
  • Moderate: I have been diagnosed with cancer and have three months to live.
  • Heavy: Hi, this is Asmor’s girlfriend. Asmor died last night, and left instructions to post something here.
• “Subtle” Trolling
  • Fake playtest report of D&D 4.5, which is changed just enough to require buying new books. Lukewarm reception on my part to help sell review.
  • Link to fake press release designed to look like an actual page from Reuters explaining how Wizards of the Coast has received patent on RPGs and is suing White Wolf, Paizo, and other prominent members of the RPG community.
• Clever and Genuinely Funny April Fools’ Joke
  • Yeah, right.
• Non-sequitors
  • Rickroll masquerading as a relevant or enticing video.
  • I’ll be rededicating my blog to my new passion, reviving the sewing tradition of 14th century Danish fishmongers’ wives.

Thank you, and try to act surprised.

Emil Vansenti is the great grandson of Horace Vansenti, the renowned explorer and adventurer Vansenti the Spelunker. The Spelunker left Emil his signature pearly-white armor with a golden symbol of a ram and a crate of treasure maps, places he’d never had the time to explore.

The PCs answer a call set out by Emil, and Emil strikes a deal with them. He will give them access to his great grandfather’s maps and the PCs may keep any treasures found. In return, the PCs will bring Emil along with him, and let him take all the credit.

Emil, as it turns out, is nothing like his famous ancestor. When he dons the armor, he truly looks like a hero, but in reality he is a coward and a prima donna. He complains incessantly while traveling, runs and hides whenever a fight breaks out, and always waits outside whatever cave or tomb the PCs are exploring.

When they return to a town, Emil talks of his grand heroics, how he single-handedly saved everyone’s life and slew the mighty frost lich with his bare hands, etc. Any mention of the PCs at all is simply to cast them as ‘damsels in distress.’ The townsfolk immediately recognize Emil from his armor and believe every word. Women throw themselves at him, men offer to name their next child after him, and children flock around him to hear more of his stories.

I like the idea of minions which require two hits to kill, but it sacrifices a major strength of the minion concept: that the DM literally has to track nothing as far as hit points go for them.

So here’s an idea for 2-hit minions.

1. A standing minion which is hit is knocked prone and its miniature tipped over.
2. A prone minion is considered bloodied.
3. A prone minion which is hit is killed.

On their turn, the minions may stand up as usual. Alternatively, if you don’t mind giving up the easy tracking of prone status, you could tip minions to show that they’re bloodied. I kinda like it like this, though; adds a bit of a sense of urgency, since the PCs have to try to kill them before they get their turn.