Steal This Setting: Ravnica, Part 2
RSS Subscribers: Please view this post on the actual site because the stat blocks below will not be formatted correctly in your RSS reader.
Please download and install the D&D 4e Attack Icons font to see the stat blocks below correctly. Without it, the 4th edition icons, like the recharge dice and basic attack icons, won’t show up correctly. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience!
Welcome back to the second in my 3-part series on adapting the Magic: the Gathering setting Ravnica to RPGs. If you missed it, please read part 1 first. Last time, we went over the background of the setting and the first two of the 10 guilds, the Azorius and the Boros. Today we’ll explore the Dimir, Golgari, Gruul and Izzet guilds.
House Dimir: A bit unusual in that it doesn’t actually exist… or so most believe. Sort of a “boogieman” guild; people are probably aware of the guild, but believe it is not defunct if it actually ever did exist.
The Dimir basically act as a network of spies, seeking out knowledge they can leverage against their enemies. The ultimate example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand’s doing, every Dimir agent is basically alone, most only knowing their direct superior. Surely, the Dimir could be wonderful allies for the PCs, but cross them and one had best be very careful… If the characters should stumble a bit too close to ancient Dimir secrets in their exploits, it’s only natural that the Dimir might act to keep those secrets secret through any means necessary.
|
||||||
|
||||||
| Mindleech Aura (psychic) aura 10; Enemies within the aura take a -2 penalty to their Will defenses. | ||||||
| HP 740; Bloodied 370 | ||||||
| AC 31; Fortitude 27, Reflex 33, Will 28 | ||||||
| Resist Psychic 10; Vulnerable Radiant 5 | ||||||
| Saving Throws +5 | ||||||
| Speed 6; fly 10 | ||||||
| Action Points 2 | ||||||
| M Sapping Claw (Standard; at-will) ♦ psychic | ||||||
| +20 vs. AC, 1d10+6 damage and secondary attack +18 vs. will, the target loses a healing surge and Szadek heals 15 hp. | ||||||
| r Shadow of Doubt (Immediate Interrupt, when an enemy uses any power within 10 squares of Szadek; at-will) ♦ psychic | ||||||
| Ranged 10; The triggering enemy cannot use that power until the end of Szadek’s next turn. The enemy does not lose whatever action the power required, and may do something else with that action including using a different power. | ||||||
| c Syphon Psyche (Immediate Reaction, when first bloodied; daily) ♦ psychic | ||||||
| Close burst 10; +18 vs. Will; the target loses a healing surge and Szadek heals 15 hp. | ||||||
| Fade into Shadow | ||||||
| As long as Szadek is not in bright illumination, he may make stealth checks to hide even while being observed. | ||||||
|
||||||
| Skills Bluff +20, Stealth +25 | ||||||
|
The Golgari Swarm: Epitomizing the unstoppable circle of life and death, the Golgari let little go to waste. Where the Orzhov exploit death, the Golgari embrace it as part of the natural order. Equally important to them, though, is life.
The Golgari Swarm makes a good bit of background flavor, but lacking any overarching goals or ambitions as a guild, its usefulness seems somewhat limited. Individual members of the guild are probably more useful, as they are driven for personal growth and could easily become a threat, ally, or benefactor to the PCs.
|
||||||
|
||||||
| HP 110; Bloodied 55 | ||||||
| AC 20; Fortitude 21, Reflex 20, Will 20 | ||||||
| Speed 8 | ||||||
| M Bite (Standard; at-will) | ||||||
| +11 vs. AC; 2d8+5 damage. | ||||||
| Dredge ♦ Necrotic | ||||||
| At the beginning of each round after Grave-Shell Scarab is reduced to 0 hit points, roll a d6. On a 6, the Scarab reanimates, regaining a number of HP equal to its bloodied value and gaining the undead keyword. Each Scarab can only reanimate once. | ||||||
|
||||||
|
The Gruul Clans An anachronism from the days when Ravnica still had nature and natural settings, the Gruul guild split into barbaric clans in recent times. The clans are not specifically associated with each other, except in name, and live a nomadic life rife with looting and pillaging.
Ultimately, the Gruul clans do what they must to survive in a world that no longer needs them. Any time you need a barbaric clan, the Gruul are probably a good choice.
|
||||||
|
||||||
| Swarm Attack aura 1; the Gruul Horde makes a basic attack as a free action against each enemy that begins its turn in the aura. | ||||||
| HP 208; Bloodied 104 | ||||||
| AC 17; Fortitude 18, Reflex 15, Will 17 | ||||||
| Immune fear; Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks; Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks | ||||||
| Saving Throws +5 | ||||||
| Speed 5 | ||||||
| Action Points 2 | ||||||
| M Pummel (Standard; at-will) | ||||||
| +6 vs. AC; 2d6+3 damage | ||||||
| R Pelt with Debris (Minor; at-will) | ||||||
| Ranged 5; +6 vs. AC; 1d6+3 damage | ||||||
| a Lob Statue (Standard; recharge 56) | ||||||
| Area 1 burst within 5 squares; +6 vs. Reflex; 2d10+3 damage | ||||||
|
||||||
|
The Gruul Horde is meant to be a rampaging horde of barbarians, primarily humans, but dotted with ogres, elves and other races as well.
The Izzet League Finally, we start to get to the more interesting guilds. The Izzet are lead by an ancient dragon named Niv Mizzet, the most intelligent creature on the plane. His intellect, in fact, is matched only by his vanity. The Izzet League runs the infrastructure of the world, and has managed to entirely stop natural disasters. Unfortunately, their passion for research and experimentation leads to more than enough unnatural disasters to make up for it!
The Izzet give you plenty of opportunities for adventure. An Izzet scientist might hire the PCs to take him down into the sewers to investigate a broken boiler, or ask for an escort to the bowels of the planet to study geothermal vents and plasmatic energy and test his new Electrosprocket Analyzer. Oh, and then there’s the giant steampunk robots and half-bound elementals just itching to escape and start rampaging through the streets of Ravnica…
|
||||||
|
||||||
| HP 58; Bloodied 29 | ||||||
| AC 18; Fortitude 18, Reflex 21, Will 18 | ||||||
| Immune See adaptation | ||||||
| Speed 8 | ||||||
| R Energy Bolt (Standard; at-will) ♦ electricity, see Adaptation below | ||||||
| +11 vs. Reflex; 1d10+4 damage, and an effect or effects based on the keywords of this power. For all the effects, saves end. Acid: Ongoing 4 acid damage Cold: -2 penalty to AC Fire: Ongoing 4 fire damage Force: Knocked prone Lightning: -2 penalty to reflex defense Necrotic: Weakened Poison: -2 penalty to fortitude defense Psychic: -2 penalty to will defense Radiant: Blinded Thunder Deafened |
||||||
| Adaptation (Immediate Reaction, when targetted by power with acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder keyword; recharge 456) | ||||||
| The weird adapts, changing its form to be composed almost entirely of the energy type(s) of the triggering power. The weird and its Energy Bolt power gain the energy-type keywords of the triggering power, and the weird becomes immune to those energy types. Each time Adaptation is used, the weird loses all previous keywords and immunities. | ||||||
|
||||||
|
Stick around later this week as I wrap up the Ravnica series with the final 4 clans– the corrupt Orzhov Syndicate, psychotic Cult of Rakdos, communal Selesnya Conclave, and my personal favorite, the biomantic Simic Combine!
[…] of Encounter a day has begun adapting the Magic set Ravnica to D&D. Parts one and two get you started; the stated goal is for it to be a three part […]