Thursday 30 April 2020

Monster: Caller in Darkness

Monster: Caller in Darkness

The caller in the darkness is a psionic vortex made of multiple minds of those who died while in terror. It seeks other living beings to consume.

Wednesday 29 April 2020

Monster: Folugub

Monster: Folugub

The folugub is a beetle that can dissolve crystals with its tongue, then slurp up the resulting goo. Why is it an aberration instead of a magical beast? We will never know.

Tuesday 28 April 2020

Monster: Thri-Kreen

Monster: Thri-Kreen

The thri-kreen are a race of hunters and nomads that resemble four-armed humanoid mantises. They possess some innate psionic abilities, but their racial template is a bit too expensive to be viable for player characters.

Monday 27 April 2020

NPCs: Psionic Racial Examples

NPCs: Psionic Racial Examples

In this post I will make several sample NPCs using the psionic racial templates from the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

Sunday 26 April 2020

Racial Templates: Psionic Races

Racial Templates: Psionic Races

Since I've converted some psionic monsters, let's cover the not-yet-converted psionic races from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and Complete Psionic.

Saturday 25 April 2020

Monster: Psion-Killer

Monster: Psion-Killer

This is a crystal golem that has some anti-psi abilities. It's good at punching psis too. One of my favorites.

Friday 24 April 2020

How to: Favored Soul/Oracle Abilities

How to: Favored Soul/Oracle Abilities

The favored soul/oracle to the cleric is what the sorcerer is to the wizard. In D&D/PF, this is a spontaneous divine spellcaster. In GURPS, I made them slightly different mechanically. Where the cleric represents powers gained through study and religion as an organization, the favored soul is an unwilling recepient of the divine power, chosen by the deity.

Thursday 23 April 2020

Alchemy: Dungeon Concoctions VII

Alchemy: Dungeon Concoctions VII

I haven't done many elixirs in a while, so let's catch up and convert the elixirs from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 3: Artifacts of Felltower and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Cold Shard Mountains.

Wednesday 22 April 2020

How to: Inquisitor Abilities

How to: Inquisitor Abilities

The inquisitor is a divine spellcasting class from the Pathfinder RPG. Here I will try to convert some of its class abilities to GURPS.

Tuesday 21 April 2020

Treasure: Epic Weapons

Treasure: Epic Weapons

This post will convert epic weapons from the Epic Level Handbook for D&D 3.0 to GURPS. Just like with most of the epic magic items, most of these are just normal magic items, but with bigger numbers.

Monday 20 April 2020

Arena: Mind Flayer Sorcerer vs. Human Fighter Vampire

Arena: Mind Flayer Sorcerer vs. Human Fighter Vampire

Here's another combat scenario, where we decided to try out something more high-powered - mind flayer sorcerer and human fighter vampire.

Sunday 19 April 2020

Arena: Minicore vs. Otyugh

Arena: Minicore vs. Otyugh

In this installment, the arena's contestants are monstrous, but without any supernatural qualities - a minicore and an otyugh. The fight didn't last for 33 seconds, like the last one, but was nonetheless fun.

Saturday 18 April 2020

Treasure: Epic Armor

Treasure: Epic Armor

Epic Level Handbook is one of the few D&D books available on the SRD. It has some high-power magic items, but most of them are just "normal magic item, but with bigger numbers." So, it shouldn't be difficult to convert them. This post will detail epic armor.

Friday 17 April 2020

Arena: Thug vs. Tiefling Warrior

Arena: Thug vs. Tiefling Warrior

This is the start of a new series of posts, where I run test combats with my friends, using NPCs/adventurers/monsters, and write turn-by-turn reports. In this one, the arena contestants are a thug and a tiefling warrior. Two simple humanoid warriors with swords and ranged attacks. Should be fast and simple, right? I thought so too.

Thursday 16 April 2020

Monster: Devil Wyrm

Monster: Devil Wyrm

The devil wyrm is a pink, fat wormlike creature, a foot-and-a-half in diameter. A serrated maw caps each end of its body, while thick chitin covers the segments between. Devil wyrms are predatory, subterranean annelids with a taste for humanoid flesh. A devil wyrm lairs in a hole in a wall or floor that they dig out with their teeth and corrosive saliva. This dark den contains uneaten remains of the wyrm's prey, which often includes treasure. I've actually used this monster against the PCs a few times.

Wednesday 15 April 2020

How to: Cavalier Abilities

How to: Cavalier Abilities

The cavalier is a base class introduced in Pathfinder RPG. It's not very powerful mechanically, but is quite flavourful. While it's one of my favourite Pathfinder classes, I never got a chance to play it. The class isn't really suitable for traditional dungeon crawling, as it usually requires a mount.

Tuesday 14 April 2020

Monster: Shen Lung (Spirit Dragon)

Monster: Shen Lung (Spirit Dragon)

I have a lot of D&D monsters that I have converted a long time ago. Updating the conversions and posting them here when I have nothing better to post sounds like a good idea. This is one of the lung dragons from the Oriental Adventures.

Sunday 12 April 2020

How to: Wizard Abilities

How to: Wizard Abilities

The wizards in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG do not have many class abilities. But wizard still is an iconic class, and here's how I represent it in my games. I will also describe the general limitations of arcane magic (mostly inspired by the Wizardry Refined article from Pyramid #3-60)  in this post.

Saturday 11 April 2020

How to: Ranger Abilities

How to: Ranger Abilities

This post will detail my way of converting ranger's class abilities from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder.

Friday 10 April 2020

How to: Paladin Abilities

How to: Paladin Abilities

In this post, I will try to convert the paladin class abilities from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG to GURPS.

Thursday 9 April 2020

How to: Cleric Abilities

How to: Cleric Abilities

This post will detail my way of converting cleric's class abilities from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder.

Wednesday 8 April 2020

How to: Sorcerer Abilities

How to: Sorcerer Abilities

You probably know that I love Sorcery. The sorcerer was one of my favorite casting classes in D&D, where the sorcerers gained their spellcasting powers through their draconic heritage. This bloodline dependance was later expanded in the Dragon Magazine to include some other magical bloodlines. Pathfinder went all out and made a long list of bloodlines.

Tuesday 7 April 2020

How to: Fighter Abilities

How to: Fighter Abilities

Yes, you read the title correctly. Obviously, I will be talking about the abilities of the Pathfinder fighter, because the D&D one does not have any. Most of the unrepresented abilities are either basic things that everyone can do, or are combat perks.

Monday 6 April 2020

How to: Druid Abilities

How to: Druid Abilities

In this post I will describe ways to convert druid class abilities from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG to GURPS. The Nature, -20% power modifier is actually very limiting (perhaps even underpriced), so when a player considers playing a druid you should remind him/her of the implications. Consider using the Druidic, -10% power modifier from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, if you think that the former is too limiting. GURPS druids end up being very different from the D&D/PF druids, as they aren't divine spellcasters, but nature spellcasters. But I like them better that way.

Sunday 5 April 2020

How to: Bard Abilities

How to: Bard Abilities

Just like the last post, this one will cover some class abilities that bards have in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder RPG and how to represent them in GURPS. Or at least how I would represent them.

Thursday 2 April 2020

How to: Barbarian Abilities

How to: Barbarian Abilities

I am going to tackle a request that I received a long time ago. I have not forgotten about it, I still have everything saved in a text file. Like the post that converted the basic monk abilities from D&D/PF, this one will detail some barbarian abilities.

Wednesday 1 April 2020

How to: D&D Elemental Resistances

How to: D&D Elemental Resistances

Perhaps you have noticed that I use a not very rules-as-written approach to elemental resistances when statting up D&D monsters. That is intentionally, and the approach went through several iterations before I was satisfied with it. I will explain my reasonings here. Keep in mind that it's not RAW, it's my houserule.