Monster: Avoral

Monster: Avoral

Guardinals are animalistic champions of pure good. Monster Manual describes only two types of guardinals - avorals and leonals. Here is my attempt at converting the avian avoral. Includes two new Sorcery spells.

Monster: Grimlock

Monster: Grimlock

Grimlocks are blind underground-dwelling humanoids. Despite their lack of eyes, they can form a picture of their surroundings by combining aural and olfactory sensory input.

Monster: Grick

Monster: Grick

Gricks are quite simple monster that should be thrown at inexperienced adventurers. They are pictured with no eyes, but their description and statblock do not have anything about them being blind. Strange.

Monster: Gray Render

Monster: Gray Render

The gray render is a very simple monster. It has a kangaroo pouch and it sometimes becomes very attached to other creatures.

Sorcery: Flight Spells

Sorcery: Flight Spells

In my fantasy setting, sorcerers with a dragon bloodline are granted access to flight spells. This category already contains such spells as Flight, Hawk Flight, Personal Flight, but I feel that this category needs something extra.

Monster: Gorgon

Monster: Gorgon

No, not the snake one. I don't remember ever using gorgons, but I've always liked them.

Alchemy: Alchemical Capsules

Alchemy: Alchemical Capsules

Most adventurers prefer to be constantly ready for any dangerous situation. Alchemical elixirs take some time to use or even find in the pockets or bags, so alchemists have devised a way to concentrate their elixirs to be able to fit into small capsules that can be used swiftly. Such capsules were introduced in Complete Adventurer for D&D 3.5.

Monsters: Stone Golems

Monsters: Stone Golems

Here we have the last golems from D&D 3.5 Monster Manual. Stone golems come in two variations - standard SM+1 ones and hulking SM+3 ones. Slow piles of hit points.

Monster: Iron Golem

Monster: Iron Golem

The iron golem is tough, strong, and has a poisonous cloud attack.

Hazards: Horror Environments

Hazards: Horror Environments

Here we have environmental hazards from Heroes of Horror and Lords of Madness converted to GURPS.

D&D Taint in GURPS

D&D Taint in GURPS

Heroes of Horror introduces a new mechanic to D&D 3.5 – taint. It is practically identical to the corruption mechanic found in GURPS Horror, pp. 22, 146-128, but somebody still might want to tweak it to have D&D flavor. Let us delve into that, but I expect the delve not to be very deep and thorough.

Powers: Psicrystals

Powers: Psicrystals

A common concept in fantasy is a spellcaster having a familiar, typically an animal imbued with increased intelligence, special abilities, and/or speech. In D&D, familiars provided minor (usually) benefits, but were often discarded in favor of an alternative ability because having a vulnerable critter that will cause you to lose XP upon death is not something many players wanted. In GURPS, familiars are described in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 5 – Allies and expanded upon in Pyramid #3-75. Sure, mages get all the fun things, but what about the psis? Expanded Psionic Handbook for D&D 3.5 has psicrystals – psionic analogues of the familiars. Let us try to convert them, using existing frameworks.

Monsters/NPCs: Gnomes

Monsters/NPCs: Gnomes

And here we have three gnome warriors made using gnome racial templates.

Monsters/NPCs: Gnolls

Monsters/NPCs: Gnolls

Here we have gnolls from Monster Manual and Monster Manual IV for D&D 3.5. Their racial template is very cheap - fits for a player character.

Lens/NPC: Half-Fiend/Half-Fiend Human Cleric

Lens/NPC: Half-Fiend/Half-Fiend Human Cleric

While fiendish creatures are distant relatives of the fiends, half-fiends are direct progenies of a fiend and another creature. In this example, we apply the half-fiend lens to a human cleric of Erythnul.

SM+2 Low-Tech

SM+2 Low-Tech

And here we have GCS Libraries for SM+2 Low-Tech gear for giants and all other SM+2 humanoids

Weapon Table - link
LT GCS Library - link
LT Instant Armor GCS Library - link

SM+1 Low-Tech

SM+1 Low-Tech

And here we have GCS Libraries for SM+1 Low-Tech gear for ogres and all other SM+1 humanoids

Weapon Table - link
LT GCS Library - link
LT Instant Armor GCS Library - link

SM-2 Low-Tech

SM-2 Low-Tech

And here we have GCS Libraries for SM-2 Low-Tech gear for halflings, goblins, gnomes, kobolds, and other SM-2 humanoids.

Weapon Table - link
LT GCS Library - link
LT Instant Armor GCS Library - link

SM-1 Low-Tech

SM-1 Low-Tech

I have encountered a problem in games with non-human characters with SM lower or higher than 0. The problem is the amount of time and effort required to redo the weight, damage, reach, and prices for items of different SM values using the rules from GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2 - Weapons and Warriors. So, I've decided to make a table for SM-1 weapons and GCS libraries for all other items from GURPS Low-Tech and GURPS Low-Tech - Instant Armor. Obviously, some items are not to scale, such as firearms, so I've omitted them from the libraries, but might have left other inappropriate items in - user discretion is advised.

Weapon Table - link
LT GCS Library - link
LT Instant Armor GCS Library - link

Pantheon: Archomentals

Pantheon: Archomentals

Archomentals, again, do not have definitive dogma, but ask their worshipers to forward their goals. Good archomentals, just like celestial paragons, do not encourage the formation of their cults, so only evil archomentals are listed.

Pantheon: Archdevils

Pantheon: Archdevils

Again, just as demon lords, the archdevils do not have a definitive dogma. Most of them require their priests to find ways of them to gain power on the Material Plane.

Pantheon: Demon Lords

Pantheon: Demon Lords

While I am done with the truly divine part of the pantheon, I still have to cover three categories of quasi-divine beings that still can grant spells to their worshipers. Demon lords usually do not have a clear dogma, and their clerics take a generic demonic disadvantage for the Pact limitation or something appropriate to the goals of the demon lord.

Monster/NPC: Githzerai

Monster/NPC: Githzerai

The githzerai are chaotic relatives of the githyanki that live on the chaotic plane of Limbo.

Monsters/NPCs: Githyanki

Monsters/NPCs: Githyanki

Githyanki are evil humanoids that were enslaved by the mind flayers a long time ago, but since then have broken free and relocated to the Astral Plane. Some of their warriors, called gish, possess magical abilities. High-ranking githyanki wield special silver swords that disrupt psionic abilities.

Alchemy: Alchemical Styles

Alchemy: Alchemical Styles

GURPS Thaumatology – Magical Styles provides an engine to build various styles of magic, and GURPS Powers – The Weird has a framework for weird science styles. I feel that my Metatronic Alchemy system is robust enough to handle its own styles. I just have to create a similar framework.

Planar Traits

Planar Traits

In D&D, each plane of existence has its own properties that can be split into four categories – physical traits, elemental and energy traits, alignment traits, and magic traits. Let us try to represent these traits in GURPS. Many of the planes have more specific traits that deserve expanding upon in separate posts, but now right now.

Powers: Outsider Channeling

Powers: Outsider Channeling

Here is a worked example of a divine magic tradition that is based on loa from GURPS Horror – Madness Dossier and corruption from GURPS Horror. While it has some similarities to Pact Magic, it has both flavor and mechanical differences.

Monster: Girallon

Monster: Girallon

Girallons are four-armed gorillas. And that's pretty much it.

Pantheon: Other Deities

Pantheon: Other Deities

And here we have the rest of D&D deities that are more or less relevant to my setting. Again, most of the info is taken from Wikipedia, D&D splatbooks, and AuldDragon's blog.

Pantheon: Other Racial Gods II

Pantheon: Other Racial Gods II

Again, some more racial deities with information based on Wikipedia articles, AuldDragon's blog, and excerpts from the D&D books.

Pantheon: Other Racial Gods I

Pantheon: Other Racial Gods I

Here we have some more deities for less common races in my setting. Again, a big thank you to AuldDragon for providing extended lore for deities that feel quite lacking otherwise.

Pantheon: Vile Deities

Pantheon: Vile Deities

Book of Vile Darkness for D&D 3.0 describes several vile deities that could be inserted in any setting.

Pantheon: Exalted Deities

Pantheon: Exalted Deities

Book of Exalted Deeds for D&D 3.5 details six exalted deities that are not setting-specific. Here's how I represent them mechanically in terms of GURPS and Sorcery.

Monster: Gibbering Mouther

Monster: Gibbering Mouther

The gibbering mouther is an amorphous mass of mouths and eyes. It can use only six mouths at the same time, and can create protoplasmic manipulators to push objects (hence No Fine Manipulators, not No Manipulators). It can spit acid, soften earth, confuse creatures with its gibbering, and attack six times per second. It has so many eyes that it effectively has Injury Tolerance (No Eyes).

Monster: Storm Giant

Monster: Storm Giant

Here we have the last giant from Monster Manual.

Monster: Stone Giant

Monster: Stone Giant

Stone giants are more or less peaceful, if you do not bother them. They specialize in throwing rocks and blending in with the stony background. Stone giant elders possess inborn magical abilities.

Monster: Frost Giant

Monster: Frost Giant

Frost giants are taller than fire giants, but weigh much less. Here we have a statblock for a common frost giant warrior and for a frost giant jarl - a cleric of Thrym.

Pantheon: Giant Deities

Pantheon: Giant Deities

Giants have a large (heh) pantheon (also known as the Ordning) in D&D. Most of the info was taken from Wikipedia and some dogmas were taken from another impressive blog.

Monster: Fire Giant

Monster: Fire Giant

Fire giants are giants that dwell near volcanoes, wear armor, and are quite militaristic. Very heavy for their size.

Metatronic Scrolls

Metatronic Scrolls

I have always felt that scrolls are often overlooked in tabletop RPGs. In D&D, they usually were used to free up a spell slot for a wizard or for very situational spells. I have not had any experience with scrolls in GURPS, however, but in my opinion, the lack of Vancian casting makes scrolls even more situational.

Monster: Cloud Giant

Monster: Cloud Giant

Cloud giants are the second tallest giants from D&D 3.5 Monster Manual. They have some spell-like abilities, can throw boulders, and are quite nice people in general.

Monsters: Ghouls

Monsters: Ghouls

Ghouls are common undead monsters - sentient, but with an insatiable craving for living flesh. Lacedons are aquatic ghouls, and ghasts are stronger ghouls.

Lens/Monster: Ghost/Human Fighter Ghost

Lens/Monster: Ghost/Human Fighter Ghost

I was dreading this entry, because insubstantiality is very complicated and confusing in GURPS. It's not a 100% accurate conversion, but I did my best. I'll have to standardize insubstantiality types and traits for my setting someday in the future to avoid confusion.

Monster: Griffon

Monster: Griffon

The griffon is a classic fantasy monster with a plethora of different spelling variations. A typical mount for flying knights.

Sorcery: Assorted Spells V

Sorcery: Assorted Spells V

Here are some assorted spells of bullet protection and summon unsummoning.

Monster: Janni

Monster: Janni

Jann are genies that live on the Material Plane and are not aligned with any particular element.

Monster: Efreeti

Monster: Efreeti

Efreet are fire genies with a penchant for slavery.

Monsters: Djinn

Monsters: Djinn

Genies are elemental humanoid outsiders. Djinn are air genies. Some of them possess noble blood that lets them grant wishes to non-genies who captured them.

Monsters: Gargoyles

Monsters: Gargoyles

Gargoyles are common monsters that can camouflage as statues. Kapoacinths - their aquatic cousins - always seemed weird to me.

Alchemy: Desert Poisons and Diseases

Alchemy: Desert Poisons and Diseases

This post converts poisons and diseases from Sandstorm for D&D 3.5.

Sea Diseases

Sea Diseases

And here's the last post with Stormwrack conversions for now.

Alchemy: Alchemical Paints

Alchemy: Alchemical Paints

Alchemy Manual for Pathfinder RPG has a small section about orcish alchemical traditions. Orcs use alchemical war paints to paint their faces to achieve certain effects. I've decided to create a new meta-enhancement for such elixirs and convert the only three paints from the book.

Session Recap: Titanean Escapades, Sessions 1-3

Session Recap: Titanean Escapades, Sessions 1-3

More than a month ago, I started a new game set in my sci-fi setting. Due to bad luck and other complications, only three sessions have been played so far, but I hope that scheduling will be less prone to problems in the future. I'm not experienced in writing session recaps, but it's time to write some and get some practice.

Alchemy: Sea Poisons

Alchemy: Sea Poisons

Stormwrack for D&D 3.5 provides a short list of poisons that are used by sea creatures, but, unfortunately, gives no detailed descriptions.

Supernatural Sea Hazards

Supernatural Sea Hazards

Stormwrack has only a few supernatural hazards compared to long lists of Frostburn and Sandstorm.

Monster: Dunewinder

Monster: Dunewinder

Dunewinders are sand worms with poisonous spines and fire breath. They are described in Sandstorm. Smaller than their cousins from Dune.

Powers: Godminds

Powers: Godminds

Complete Psionic for D&D 3.5 is infamous for its divine mind class that is underwhelming both in flavor and mechanics. A 3rd-party supplement The Mind Divine by Dreamscarred Press presents another take on "divine" psionic characters. It describes godminds - quasidivine beings that can grant psionic abilities. I quite like the concept, so I included it in my setting as separate psionic powers with the Pact limitation.

Supernatural Desert Hazards

Supernatural Desert Hazards

Sandstorm presents a quite long list of supernatural hazards for D&D 3.5. Here's their re-imagining in GURPS ruleset.

Alchemy: Magic-Infused Poisons

Alchemy: Magic-Infused Poisons

One category of D&D poisons that I missed is the magic-infused poisons from Drow of the Underdark. Hopefully, I'm not missing anything else.

Pantheon: Neogi Deities

Pantheon: Neogi Deities

This post describes neogi deities from the Ecology of the Neogi article. The neogi race is quite important in my setting, and the neogi are more religious than usual, so this is a necessary post, even though it is a bit lacking in substance.

Pantheon: Draconic Deities

Pantheon: Draconic Deities

Here are the various draconic deities described in Draconomicon, Races of the Dragon, and an online WotC article.

Pantheon: Illumian Deities

Pantheon: Illumian Deities

This post details the deities of illumians described in Races of Destiny.

Pantheon: Deities of Orcs and Kobolds

Pantheon: Deities of Orcs and Kobolds

In my setting Gruumsh - the main (and only?) deity of orcs was slain by Corellon Larethian, elevating a minor orcish god Nepuun to the head position of the pantheon.

Pantheon: Human Deities

Pantheon: Human Deities

This post details three human deities. While Aventernus is a racial deity of the aventi, an amphibious race from Stormwrack, in my setting he is the main deity of the human pantheon.

Pantheon: Raptoran Deities

Pantheon: Raptoran Deities

This post describes raptoran deities from Races of the Wild.

Pantheon: Goliath Deities

Pantheon: Goliath Deities

This post describes goliath deities from Races of Stone.

Pantheon: Halfling Deities

Pantheon: Halfling Deities

This post details two halfling deities from D&D. Have to mention that there are many more described in D&D splatbooks.

Pantheon: Gnome Deities

Pantheon: Gnome Deities

Here we have gnome deities presented in Races of Stone.

Pantheon: Elven Deities

Pantheon: Elven Deities

Here we have elven deities that are relevant for my setting. I don't provide deity-specific spells this time.

Pantheon: Dwarven Deities

Pantheon: Dwarven Deities

Here we have the dwarven pantheon for my setting. Not changed from the one presented in Races of Stone.

Pantheon: Core Deities

Pantheon: Core Deities

Time to get back to writing up deities for my setting. Most of the core pantheon consists of core D&D deities. Some of them were already written up on this blog. When making new spells I had to come up with a new imbuement skill.

Character: Celebros Thallien, Jungle Elf Shaman

Character: Celebros Thallien, Jungle Elf Shaman

After writing a setting document for my kitchen sink fantasy setting, I came to a conclusion that it would be a good idea to create some sample characters to explore the possibilities of all my Sorcery-based magic subsystems. This should help me see flaws, inconsistencies, and make tweaks. Today we have Celebros Thallien, a jungle elf shaman.

Emulating Fighting Games in GURPS

Emulating Fighting Games in GURPS

A quite long time ago, a friend of mine asked me to find a way to emulate fighting games, such as Mortal Kombat, BlazBlue, or Guilty Gear, in GURPS. I made some notes, but never posted or tested them. Here they are.

Also, this is my second blogging anniversary post. I've been posting daily for two years straight, so from now on I might slow down a bit.

Monsters: Fungi

Monsters: Fungi

Last monsters that start with the letter F in Monster Manual for D&D 3.5. Fungi are either immobile or barely mobile and are not very intelligent.

Monster: Frost Worm

Monster: Frost Worm

I like worm monsters, and the frost worm is one of my favorites. Too bad I did not get a chance to actually use it.

Monster: Formian Queen

Monster: Formian Queen

The last formian from Monster Manual for D&D 3.5. The queen is immobile, big, but has some spell-like abilities.

Monster: Formian Myrmarch

Monster: Formian Myrmarch

Here's formian myrmarch - a formian with no slave mentality and lack of creativity.

Monster: Formian Taskmaster

Monster: Formian Taskmaster

Here's the formian taskmaster - a mute antman with a mental domination power.

Monster: Formian Warrior

 Monster: Formian Warrior

Formian warriors are one step above formian workers in terms of rank. They are much more dangerous in combat than the workers, but should pose no real danger for adventurer, unless they are facing a whole formian swarm.

Monster: Formian Worker

Monster: Formian Worker

Formians are ant-like expansionist outsiders. Workers are barely sapient, but can cure other formians and mend objects.

Lens/Monster: Fiendish Creature/Fiendish Dire Rat

Lens/Monster: Fiendish Creature/Fiendish Dire Rat

Fiendish creatures are Lower Planes counterparts of normal creatures. Here's the lens and a sample creature.

Monster: Ettercap

Monster: Ettercap

Ettercaps are human-spider hybrid monsters. Should be fun and simple in encounters. We're done with letter E now.

Hazards: Slime, Molds, and Lichen

Hazards: Slime, Molds, and Lichen

Here I convert hazards, such as supernatural molds, slime, and lichen from Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D 3.5. In addition, I convert similar hazards from Frostburn.

Monster: Ethereal Marauder

Monster: Ethereal Marauder

This is another monster that I've never seen used.

Monster: Ethereal Filcher

Monster: Ethereal Filcher

This is a weird monster that isn't very good in combat, but is very adept at stealing things. At first I wanted to give him No Legs (Bounces), but then decided to give him Cannot Kick and One Leg as a feature, because that will still let others target the leg and cripple it.

Monsters/NPCs: Elves II

Monsters/NPCs: Elves II

And three more sample monsters/NPCs based on elf racial templates.

Monsters/NPCs: Elves I

Monsters/NPCs: Elves I

Monster Manual for D&D 3.5 provides several elf subraces and the half-elf race, converted in these two posts. Here are some generic fighters based on these templates.

Alchemy: Frostfell Poisons

Alchemy: Frostfell Poisons

Frostburn for D&D 3.5 provides several poisons specific to frostfell areas with evocative names, but does not provide any descriptions at all, as usual. Here's my attempt at converting them.

Frostfell Diseases

Frostfell Diseases

Frostburn for D&D 3.5 details four new diseases specific to cold areas of the world. Here's my take on the conversion.

Monster: Water Elemental

Monster: Water Elemental

Here we have the last classical D&D elemental GURPSified.

Monster: Fire Elemental

Monster: Fire Elemental

Here's the fire elemental. A reader pointed out that I should also add the primal elementals from Epic Level Handbook, so I did.

Monster: Earth Elemental

Monster: Earth Elemental

Here we have earth elementals changed to match their D&D counterparts.

Monster: Air Elemental

Monster: Air Elemental

GURPS already has statblocks for elementals in GURPS Magic and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9 - Summoners. But I got a request to make templates for D&D-style elementals, so here we are. Racial template is only given for the small variant, but all other sizes are given point values for summoners.

Supernatural Frostfell Hazards

Supernatural Frostfell Hazards

Frostburn is one of my favorite supplements for D&D 3.5. One section that I have always overlooked is the supernatural weather and terrain. Now that I do not play D&D 3.5 anymore, I will convert these things to GURPS.

Monster: Ettin

Monster: Ettin

Ettins are two-headed giants. I kind of like them, they aren't "humans, but bigger".

Sorcery: Force Spells V

Sorcery: Force Spells V

Here's three protective force spells.

Monster: Ghaele

Monster: Ghaele

The one in the left

Here we have the second and last eladrin from D&D 3.5 Monster Manual - the ghaele. Has a plethora of spell-like abilities.

Monster: Bralani

Monster: Bralani

A shapeshifting outsider, one of the eladrins. Never used those, I think.

Monster: Giant Eagle

Monster: Giant Eagle

And here's the giant eagle. A giant sentient bird, a monster that was used frequently in my D&D games.

Monster/NPC: Duergar Warrior

Monster/NPC: Duergar Warrior

Here's a sample duergar warrior - a psionic sadistic dwarf.

Monsters/NPCs: Dwarves

Monsters/NPCs: Dwarves

Here's three simple statblocks for hill/mountain/deep dwarven warriors.