The Necromancer: A New OSRIC Class. Part III

Second Level Necromancer Spells:

Agent of Shadow
Level: 2
Range: 60 ft
Duration: See below
Area of Effect: 1 Shadow under the Necromancers control.
Components: One eye from a specially sacrificed human or demi-human victim.
Casting Time: 1 turn
Saving Throw: none.
This spell allows the Necromancer to send a single Shadow which must already be under the Necromancers control far beyond the normal distance at which he could retain control of an undead creature. The creature will perform one task for the Necromancer (typically scouting or assassination) before returning to the Caster. If the Shadow's task takes it beyond the Necromancers Shadow Agent radius (equal to 2 miles for every level of the Necromancer) it will either abandon it's mission and return to the Necromancer (50% chance) or else attempt to complete the mission. If it attempts to complete the mission it will break out of the Necromancers control after fulfilling it's objective. If this is the case it will not return to the Necromancer once it's errand is complete.

Corpse Touch:
Level: 2
Range: Caster
Duration: 3 rounds plus 1 round/level
Area of Effect: Caster
Components: Grave Dust
Casting Time: 2 segments
Saving Throw: vs Spell
The spell causes the Necromancers hands to turn a shade of corpse-blue. Each round until the spells duration expires, the Necromancer may make a normal weapon attack using only his hands. Any foe hit suffers D4+1/level hit points of cold damage as the chill of the grave suffuses their bones and must take a saving throw vs spell. If the save succeeds, there is no further affect from the Necromancers touch this round. If the save fails, the victim must take -1 to all future dice rolls until he has had to chance to warm up around a fire. This is a cumulative effect, so a victim who fails this saving throw twice suffers a -2 to all dice rolls. The Necromancer can make one such attack per round until the spell expires, counting as a weapon attack. The Necromancer is free to cast other spells without causing the spell to expire, but may not make a Corpse Touch attack and cast a spell in the same round.

Improved Animate Dead
Level: 2
Range: As Animate Dead
Duration: As Animate Dead
Area of Effect: As Animate Dead
Components: As Animate Dead
Casting Time: As Animate Dead
Saving Throw: As Animate Dead
As Animate Dead, except that the 1d6 creatures affected reanimate with half the hit dice they possessed while living. They attack as they did in life, but lose the benefits of strength, dexterity or weapon specialisation. They have D8 for hit dice, regardless of their previous hit dice type, may wear armour, attack with normal weapons and turn as ghouls. The bodies cannot have been dead for longer than a week and must be more or less whole.

Manufacture Ghoul
Level: 2
Range: touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 unwilling Sacrificial Victim (see below)
Components: 1 Formally sacrificed victim, human flesh and 1000gp worth of rare herbs, unguents and lotions.
Casting Time: 1 night
Saving Throw: none
Creates a ghoul from a sacrificial victim (willing or otherwise). The victim must be human, and no other activity can be conducted that night. At midnight, the victim is first fed the flesh of another human (who must be a friend or loved one of the victim) and then sacrificed, his bleeding heart removed from his or her chest and held before his still living eyes until he expires. At which point, the Necromancer must anoint and paint the body using foul, ancient runes. At dawn the ritual ends, and at dusk that same day, the sacrificial victim shall arise as a ghoul under the control of the Necromancer. The ghoul will count towards the maximum hit dice of undead the caster can have under his control at any one time.

Sense Life
Level: 2
Range: caster
Duration: From Dusk till Dawn or Dawn till Dusk
Area of Effect: 120 ft radius
Components: A drop of still-warm blood dabbed on the forehead of the caster.
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: none
Three times during the spells duration, the Necromancer may concentrate for a single round to sense the presence of life within 120ft of his current position. Walls, doors, fences and the like prove no barrier to this ability. However, the Necromancer will only learn the direction in which the life is present and the intensity of that life force (number of warm bodies present, their rough size and so on). He will not be aware of the exact location of these living beings. if, for any reason, the blood is wiped from the casters forehead, the spell expires.

Summon Ghouls or Ghasts
Level: 2
Range: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
Duration: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
Area of Effect: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
Components: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
Casting Time: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
Saving Throw: As Summon Skeletons or Zombies
This spell follows the rules for the first level Necromancer spell Summon Skeletons or Zombies, with the exception that it first attempts to Summon Ghouls or Ghasts, only summoning skeletons or zombies if no Ghouls or Ghasts are within range of the spell.

Wisdom of the Dead:
Level 2
Range: 60ft
Duration: 1 turn per level.
Area of Effect: The intact body from which the skull spell component was taken.
Components: 1 Skull. Grave Dust. 10gp worth of unguents and ink
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
By means of this spell, the Necromancer can interrogate the soul of the being to whom the skull belongs regarding events that have occurred within fifty feet of the body. This body must have previously undergone a night long ritual in which the body is adorned with dark runes which will tie the soul of the dead being to it's corpse. Should the body ever be dismembered or the skull destroyed, the soul will be freed from it's bondage and the skull in question may never be consulted again.
Corpses which have been prepared in this manner do NOT count towards the maximum HD of undead the caster can have under his control at any given time. They are not motile and, other than the ability to sense events around them (line of sight is not required) count as ordinary corpses for all other purposes and game rules.

OSRIC House Rules

For those of you who are interested (probably just the players) here are my standard OSRIC house rules. These are the basic rules that apply to any OSRIC game I run - but some rules may vary with the nature of the campaign setting. In Hyborian Age games, for example, all PC's must be human.

OSRIC House Rules:

Rules and Decision Making

• The DM IS the Rulebook.
• No flipping through books at the table because you want to prove the DM is wrong. The DM is never wrong. If there is a discrepancy, the BOOK IS WRONG. Not the DM.
• The DM's decision is final.

Style of Play:

• This will be old school gaming – take a look at the “Old School” Primer I sent you for ideas.
• The DM will adopt a slightly adversarial relationship with the characters. I will not be actively trying to kill off your character but neither will I show any mercy. No punches will be pulled either. Do not expect to be capable of defeating every foe you might encounter.
• That being said, save or die effects will be fairly rare, and there will always be a way to avoid having to make that save.

Absent Players:

• Where possible I will try to to “write out” absent characters for the session they miss, in which case absent players get 0xp for the session. If this is not possible (the last session ended halfway through a dungeon with no “safe area's” discovered yet, I will play the character VERY CAUTIOUSLY and your character will earn 1/4xp for the session.

Player Roles:

• These roles may be permanent or they may be rotated as the players prefer.
• The Party Caller is the party spokesperson. He tells the DM what the group wishes to do and how it is going to be done.
• The Mapper makes the maps. Note if you are the mapper, it is assumed that your character is actually mapping the dungeon as you explore. Anything that happens to the party map will happen to the players map as well. If the party map is destroyed or stolen, you'll loose the actual, physical party map. Make copies. You have been warned.
• The Journal Keeper keeps the players campaign journal. The DM will keep a journal of his own.
• The Treasure Tracker keeps track of the party treasure and who (or what) is carrying loot that has yet to be parcelled out.

Character Creation:

Note: I occasionally use an alternative system for non-humans characters in my campaigns. When the alternative version is in use, level-limits for non-humans are discarded. non-humans instead have a 10% xp penalty. Check with me before play.

• As per the OSRIC rulebook which I have made available to you, with the following alterations.
• There are no alignment-based languages.
• Fighters may specialize and double specialize at first level as per the fighter class description if they wish.
• Paladins and Rangers may not specialize or double specialize.
• I will be imposing racial level-limits. This means demi-human characters should seriously consider multi-classing. However, I have house-ruled some of the level limits as listed below. Additionally, once this level limit is reached, characters can continue to gain levels in these classes but require twice the listed xp to advance to each new level.
• Dwarfs can be 18th level fighters and max level 8th thieves.
• Elves can be unlimited level Magic Users and max level 8 thieves. Elf (and half-elf) dual classed magic-users can cast arcane spells while wearing any armor permitted by their classes up to and including chainmail provided it has been made by an elf or custom made for that character (double the cost). If you think this seems unbalanced, remember that elves have no souls and cannot be raised from the dead.
• Gnomes can be unlimited level Illusionists
• Halflings can be 8th level clerics.
• Half Elves can be 18th level Rangers.
• Half-Orcs can be 18th level fighters or barbarians.
• Ignore random starting age. Simply pick your characters age.

• Also see below for optional character classes.
  

Alignment:

• Alignment is a guide not a straight jacket
• Paladins will not loose their powers by associating with non-good party members and will only loose their powers if they knowingly allow evil aligned party members to engage in evil acts. Petty acts of evil or selfishness (such as refusing to contribute funds to pay for a replacement weapon for a character who lost it through this own stupidity) do not count. Banditry and murder do.

Reduced to Zero Hit Points and Death:

• At 0hp the character is merely temporarily incapacitated , knocked out, stunned, or lying in a groaning heap. He does not lose a hp per round due to bleeding. Cure spells will return the character to consciousness with no loss in memorised spells or penalties to dice rolls. The character can carry on adventuring as normal.

• At -1hp or below the character loses all memorised spells. The character is now unconscious and bleeding to death. The character loses an additional hp per round until bandaged by another character(a full round action. The character will remain unconscious until brought back to a positive hit point total by magical or natural healing.

• Even when conscious (back to positive hit points) the character will feel the effects of such serious injuries for some time. This is represented by a -1 modifier to all dice rolls for every negative hit point sustained by the character. This is cumulative -if the character was brought back to positive hit points and then dropped down to negative hit points again (even in the same counter) the total number of negative hit points acquired is used to calculate the negative modifier. This represents broken bones, sprains, deep muscle wounds, blood loss etc. This is refered to as a wound penalty.

• The negative modifier is reduced by 1 for every full day of undisturbed bed rest.

• Special Case: The heal spell instantly restores a character to full health. He regains full hit points and does not suffer any negative modifiers to dice rolls due to injury.

• Any wound that drops a character to negative 5 hit points will leave a scar. For every five scars the character much choose to loose a point from either charisma, strength, dexterity or constitution. This reflects the general wear and tear of so many serious wounds on a characters health and appearance.
  
  
  Example:
  
  Yoshi has 7 hitpoints. He is dropped to -6hp in a fight. He bleeds for one round and reaches -7hp. Then the party skukenja casts cure light wounds, healing him of eight hit points.
  
  Although he is now on 1 hp and conscious, Yoshi essentially remains incapacitated. He is at -7 to all dice rolls and has lost all his remaining memorised spells. After leaving the dungeon, Yoshi rests for three days at the party camp. He regains 3 hp and reduces his dice roll penalty for being injured to -4.
  
  On the fourth day the party is attacked by Brigands. During the fighting, Yoshi catches an elemental burst from a bandit wu-jen and goes down to -1 hit points. Adding this new wound penalty of -1 to his existing wound penalty results in a total wound lenalty of -5. He is now at -5 to all dice rolls and will require a total of 5 days of bed rest to recover from his wounds.
  
  With the party Shukenja dead, Yoshi remains unconscious for two more days, until he recovers two hit points through natural healing and sits on 1 hp. These two days count as bed rest so he is now at a -3 wound penalty. After three more days of bed rest, he is now on 4hp.
  He no longer operates under a negative modifier to all dice rolls.
  
  Despite still not feeling entirely at his best (still 3hp short of his maximum) Yoshi's wounds no longer hamper him. He is fit to continue adventuring.
  
  
  

Replacement Characters:

• When a character dies, your new character begins with 1/4 the xp value of the old one.
  

XP and Money:

• Gaining riches gets you experience at the rate of 1GP to 1XP. This applies not just to money but to items (magical or otherwise) sold. However, a magical item that is kept by the party for the use of its members is only worth 1/10Gp value in XP. Even if later sold.
• The fantasy economy is inflated when compared to reality because gold is much more plentiful in the campaign setting that it is in the real word.

Leveling Up:

The following Levelling Up house rules do not apply to the Isle of the Earthsaker campaign.

• Training Costs must be paid to level up. This does not necessarily represent simply the cost of paying someone to spar with or train you but also the cost of alchemical materials, ceremonial supplies for prayer, replacement spell-components, arrows and lock-picks for those used up in training, getting amour repaired after an adventure or training session etc. Training times do not apply as such training is assumed to occur during downtime throughout the characters career. For magic-users I will assume that training costs also involve buying a sufficient spell of common (10GP value or less) spell components to last until the next set of training costs. More expensive components will have to be paid for separately and listed in the characters equipment section along with the name of the spell they are used for and how many castings of that spell this quantity will allow. Illusionists do not need material components to cast their spells.
• Training costs do not need to be spent all at once when the character has sufficient XP to level. The money can be paid in installments. Simply tell the DM how much money you are putting towards training after every expedition and I will keep track of your progress. However, you have your training costs for the next level fully paid before you can level up. You cannot have a "training cost debt" only a "training costs credit".
• Training costs also represent the cost of "high living" associated with the adventuring life-style: Fight hard, play hard.
  

Spells and Components

• Spells that only require verbal components can be cast by a spell-caster with no free hands
• Spells with a somatic component require that the caster have one free hand.
• Spells with a material component require that both hands be free, even if no verbal or somatic components are required. They also require that the spell-caster be in possession of the material component in question – see leveling above.

Surprise Bonus and Initiative:

• The characters surprise bonus never affects the initiative roll, even when using missile weapons
• Every party member rolls their own initiative using a ten-sided dice.

Searching, Trap Finding, Deactivating etc:

• Players with a suitable character (dwarf, gnome, thief, assassin) can choose simply to make a roll to find or disarm things such as traps, secret doors, hidden treasure etc.
• However, should you describe what you are doing, I will apply a bonus or penalty to the subsequent roll based on your actions and the chance of success. Do it really well for an automatic success. Do really badly and get an automatic failure.
• Anyone (regardless of class) can find and disarm traps simply by describing their actions, what they are searching for etc. If you tell me you are carefully opening the door and peeking for trip wires, if there is a trip wire there you will automatically see it.

Miscellaneous:

• Paladins will be happy to know that I will NOT be allowing evil clerics to use their Turn Undead power on them.

Optional Character Classes:

• The Houri, Necromancer, and Barbarian classes (from my blog) are playable in this campaign. Just bear in mind the inherent difficulties of playing so vile a character type as a necromancer. In other words, don't be surprised if your own party kills you. Cavaliers (from Unearthed Arcana) are also permitted.
  
• Demi Human Barbarian Level Limits: Half Orc unlimited, Half Elf 12th level.
• Demi Human Necromancer Limit: Half-Elf 15, Elf 15, Half-Orc 15, Gnome 8, Halfling 8
  
• Demi Human Houri Limit: Half-Elf unlimited, Elf 12, Halfling 8, Gnome 8, Dwarf 8.
• Demi Human Cavalier Limit: Half Elf: 15, Elf 12
  

Karameikos Journal: Session I

I'm one of those supremely lucky geeks who have fellow gamers living across the backyard. Those self-same gamers happen to be pretty good friends, so every now and then we find ourselves playing a completely unscheduled "pick-up" game on the fly. On first attempt at an OPSRIC game a few weeks ago ended in a TPK, so we tried again with the same characters in a different setting with some reinforcements to round out the party.

The party, informally calling themselves "The Shorn" grew up together in the town of Threshold in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Like all those who grow up in this land, they have recently undergone the ritual of "Shearing", where their cloaks are raggedly cut with shears in the hands of their closest family members. The "sheared" are formally cast-out from their homes and families, to make their own way in the world for a few years until such time as they have proven themselves worthy adult members of the family. It's a right of passage that has been practiced for hundreds of years and now, in the case of the P.C's. it's their turn to set out into the wider word, much as their parents did before them.

The characters:

Bogdin: Dwarf male Fighter/Cleric 1/1 Bogdin has shocked his tradition-minded dwarven family by embracing the worship of human Gods. It is his parent's hope that in his travels he will embrace the worship of other (i.e dwarven) Gods.

Elra: 1/2 Elf Female Fighter/Magic User 1/1. As ugly as she is intelligent, Elra is no-one's idea of the stereotypical elven beauty, her body twisted and deformed by an unfortunate mixture of the bloodlines.

Klara: Human Female Assassin 1. Klara has some disturbing skills that have alarmed her colleagues. She excuses her "exotic" knowledge of certain matters by explaining that she has always listened raptly to the tales of the one-armed old men in the taverns of Threshold.

Tungdil: Dwarf male Fighter/Thief 1/1. Tungdil and his brother Bogdin belong to the only dwarf family in Threshold. Unlike his more scholarly brother, Tungdil has embraced family tradition and trained as a locksmith.

Urich: Human male Fighter 1. As the saying goes: "As big as an ox with brains not much better." Urich looks to his smarter, shorter fraternal twin (Vaslav) to make all the big decisions. A double-specialist in the longsword, he's a good man to have beside you in a scrap.

Vaslav: Human male Cleric (Church of Traladra) 1. Vaslav is a young man of handsome looks, considerable common sense and little patience. He has open ambitions to one day become a Patriach of the faith and founder of it's first Fighting Order.

Session One: 1st & 2nd Thaumont, 1000AC.

Having arranged to be Shorn by their parents within a few days of one another, the (now) homeless and jobless PC's rendezvous in the tap-room of Threshold's Grey Minstrel Inn. There they meet and exchange rumours, having decided upon a life of mercenary adventure and discuss the likely possibilities for adventure. Though they learn that Baron Hendrick is once again raiding his neighbours, that a foreign merchant wishes to find a "rock" in the wilderness, the Patriarch has need of men to track down a rogue cleric and that an elf traveller has need of messengers to travel north, they settle on a job much closer to home. Thus, in the early evening, they make their way to the home of a local social-climbing merchant by the name of Caldwell, who apparently has need of "eviction specialists".

Within the opulent surroundings of his fine home, they learn that Caldwell recently completed the purchase of an old, abandoned manor house and it's surrounding lands just five miles west of town. Yet, upon travelling to make his claim on the house, he was abused and chased off by a beautiful woman who threatened to "brain" him with her mace should she return. He offers them 100 gold each if they will rid his new home of this (and any other) intruder, half up front, half in advance. The Shorn seem to consider this a fair price, and accept the offer without haggling. They also accept the merchants offer of a bed for the night and some hurry through the streets to make a few last minute purchases from craftsmen before their workshops close for the night.

They leave with the dawn, passing through the Town gate to the well wishes of the Sergeant on duty. He drinks a toast to each of the newly Shorn in turn, wishing them good luck on their travels. The journey takes only two and half hours, and, shortly, they find themselves outside the Manor described by Caldwell the night before. To all intents and purposes, it resembles a single story roofed Keep, with no crenelations. Even the short towers (a mere 15ft tall) are roofed and lacking in ramparts. The place has far too many skylights (actually little more than open roof-hatches) and narrow windows to be truly defensible. This is a home, not a fortification. One that might keep out a roving band of brigands perhaps, but which would fall quickly to a determined assault by even a small company of determined soldiers.

Brazenly, they advance upon the south-facing entry doors and give them a tug. To their surprise and pleasure, the doors open at once, unlocked and unbarred, granting admittance. The first room their try turns out to be a dining room, recently used by a band of messy eaters. They close the door before investigating the room opposite, interrupting an argument between four goblins sorting through two piles of coins on the floor. The ensuing combat is swift and brutal. Urich takes two nasty wounds, being healed by his brother almost as quickly as he is injured and slaying three of the goblins while Vaslav claims the fourth. Meanwhile, Klara and Elra stand guard at a nearby intersection. It is well they did for no sooner has the last goblin fallen than three men exit three rooms by the intersection. Another scuffle ensues, though the three humans are quickly slain, an elated Elra quickly claiming one fallen mans chainmail.

While Klara and Bogdin keep watch, and Vaslav ensures no-one pockets their hard-earned cash, all six of the party;s backpacks are quickly filled with about 2000 silver pieces. Feeling quite pleased with themselves, the group retires back to Threshold, but not before dragging all the corpses into the dining chamber. They have spent perhaps half an hour in total at the adventure site.

The rather surprised looking gate Sergeant welcomes them back with an exclamation about not having expected their return so soon. They proceed quickly to the house of Fiddlegulph, the gnomish money-changer, where they learn a valuable lesson concerning effort vs reward. By the time the group sets aside a third of their gains for the group fund, pays a 10% holding fee, another 10% fee to exchange silver coins for gold and a third 10% for the evaluation of a gem stone they discovered, each party member emerges with a grand total of 27 gold pieces (and a mere 27xp). The six Shorn mutter and grumble about how this was hardly worth the trip back before quickly set off for the manor once again.

They arrive at about 2 in the afternoon, and are actually surprised to discover that the doors will not budge when they attempt to open them once again. Peering into the dining room through a narrow arrow-slit, they are dismayed to find the bodies they left within have vanished. Oh no. Perhaps they shouldn't have left those bodies lying in the dining room? After all, lunchtime was nearly two hours ago! Unperturbed, Bogdin tries knocking on the door and has a small fusillade of arrows aimed at him from the "tower" windows for his trouble.

Beating a hasty retreat, with only minor wounds, the party retires a few hundred yards south to the remnants of Caldwell manor's village. There in a drafty, roofless, wattle-and-daub hut they settle down to rest until nightfall and recover their spells. While Bogdin rests, his brother keeps himself busy (much to the other's bemusement) by hacking apart another hut and using the wattle to barricade the door to their hut. Despite all his hard work, it's a rather flimsy and pathetic looking barricade that impresses no-one, least of all his brother.

That night, as dusk falls, they return to the south door, arriving just in time to meet a force of 13 goblins -and a pair of "sniffer" wolves- exit the Manor. In the resulting combat, Bogdin is nearly killed by a wolf while Vaslav takes some minor wounds from the second. In the meantime, seven goblin archers pelt the party with missiles (careless of hitting their own wolves) with the remaining six form a defensive line in front of the archers. After several rounds the party finally manages to finish off the wolves and advances on the goblins. A perfectly timed Sleep spell from Elra sends five goblins to the land of nod just as they rest of the party enters charge range. A few moments later, four goblins are murdered in their sleep and the remainder charge home against the heroes. The ensuing fight is bloody but brief. None of the characters (thanks to some inspired teamwork) come close to expiring, though a few more minor wounds are suffered. The last four goblins turn to flee but are cut down before they can reach the safety of the Manor. The heroes run into the Manor before anyone inside can think to close the doors and catch a breather. Although disappointed by the lack of treasure on the corpses of their foes, they console themselves with the knowledge that any treasure these goblins once possessed likely lies unguarded in rooms throughout the manor.

They begin to explore once again. They finally examine the three bedrooms the humans emerged from, only to find that one has another exit leading into a courtyard (they do not take the time to search these rooms, however). The courtyard seems to have once served as a sort of arboretum or garden, but it is now overgrown with weeds. It reeks of wolf shit and urine. Seven freshly dug graves fill the centre of the garden. The Shorn correctly surmise that this is where the bodies of their first victims wound up. The four doors leading away from the courtyard transpire to lead to other bedrooms. After being clunked on the head by a shit-filled bucket left perched upon one door lintel by a goblin prankster, Tungdil finally realises that he should be examining all these doors for traps before opening them. The party find several treasure stashes in these rooms, all hidden by their (apparently) goblin occupants prior to leaving the Manor to pursue the heroes.

In the final room of the session, they come across two small beings, resembling mangy terriers that walk upright, hunched over a cooking fire toasting bed and heating soup for about twenty man -sized beings. A third sits on it's haunches by a chopping board, where it is busily carving a wheel of cheese into portions. The Shorn stand gaping at the three for a moment (perhaps thinking the Manor empty and theirs for the plundering) while the three kobolds seem equally surprised. As soon as they can react, the three creatures toss their spears to the floor and emit panicked sounding yelps. Unwisely, Tungdil assumes that that the creatures do not understand Thytian (Common) and advises the others that it would be best to kill these kobolds lest they slit the group's throats in their sleep. The three creatures immediately make a break for it out the opposite door and, while the party bicker about whether or not it would be wise to pursue, the trio quickly make their escape. The Shorn are consoled somewhat when Klara (poking about with the ten foot pole) quickly realises that one of the unused pots is heavier than it should be. She is delighted to find out that the pot has been filled with gold and silver coins and a pair of gold rings. No prizes for guessing who ransacked the rooms of the three dead humans then.

Thoughts:

The players have clearly forgotten a few lessons they learned the hard way while playing the "Secret of Lion Castle" a few weeks ago. Hardly surprising considering this was only their second experience of a D&D dungeon bash (let alone an Old School style one). Hence the shit-bucket trapwhich was (by my standards) an uncharacteristically generous reminder of what they should be doing. Sure enough, out came the ten foot pole and within moments the players were their old paranoids, cautious selves again.

My one complaint about the module as written is the lack of monsters for comparatively huge monetary rewards. The four goblins in the second room had a horde more appropriate for an entire tribe let alone the only four goblins (not including the six wandering monster goblins) actaully appearing in the whole dungeon (before I added more). I cut down the size of the horde considerably. Even so, the party wasted a great deal of time and effort carting all these low denomination coins back to civilisation, just to see their cut eroded down to nearly nothing by the money-lending equivilent of "bank charges". They are now determined only to grab gold coins in future -and to buy a few large sacks to complement their backpack coin-capacity. I've told them that a blanket rule like this is unwise as an occasional sack of silver coinage has it's uses, but I'm not about to come right out and tell them what those uses are yet. Heck, there are links to two perfectly good 1st ed Campaign Journals on this very blog. Links I've already suggested they look at and read very closely.

Despite the lack of treasure acquired in this first session, the players seem very happy with their efforts so far. The have (rightly) assumed that the death of 13 goblins and two wolves constitutes a large dent in the monster population, and that they will have a much easier time acquiring treasure from the now relatively unguarded manor. The encounter with the kobolds seemed to shake them out of their complacency regarding the presence of more monsters however, which can only be a good thing for their survival chances. As can be seen by their failure to search for traps or even listen at doors, they were getting a little too cocky. I wonder if any of them have even realised that the mace-armed human female described by Caldwell has yet to make an appearance?

The Necromancer: A New OSRIC Class. Part II

Necromancer Spell-List:
The Necromancer may learn and cast spells from the following list. Like Magic-Users and Illusionists, they learn these spells from spellbooks and scrolls, but cannot learn or use spells from Magic-User or Illusionist scrolls, they may use Necromancer scrolls only. The Necromancer must memorise his spells in accordance with the rules for Magic-Users and Illusionists.

(Note In the Necromancer class/sp table, Spell levels are referred to as "grades". In the original WD35 article, these were spell-like abilities, rather like spells).

Level 1 Necromancer Spells:

Animate Dead
Level: 1
Range: Caster
Duration: Until Next Dawn
Area of Effect: 60ft radius centred on caster.
Components: A number of human-sized, humanoids corpses. 1 Black gemstone worth at least 100gp.
Casting Time: 1 turn
Saving Throw: none
Enables Animation and control of 1d6 +1/level humanoid corpses of human size or less, which rise as zombies at the end of the casting time, whereupon the gemstone crumbles to dust. These zombies will serve the Necromancer until destroyed, affected by a "D" turning result or sunrise. The corpses must have been dead for no more than one week plus 1 day per level of the Necromancer.
Note that there are serious social and legal consequences for the Necromancer is caught in the act of casting this spell.

Cause Darkness
Level: 1
Range: See Darkness 15ft radius.
Duration: See Darkness 15ft radius.
Area of Effect: See Darkness 15ft radius.
Components: See Darkness 15ft radius.
Casting Time: See Darkness 15ft radius.
Saving Throw: See Darkness 15ft radius.
As per MU Spell Darkness 15ft radius.

Evil Eye
Level: 1
Range: 60ft
Duration: Until eye contact is broken
Area of Effect: 1 PC or NPC vulnerable to the effects of a Charm Person spell.
Components: none
Casting Time: 1 segment
Saving Throw: Save vs Spells
The Necromancer catches the victims eyes with a soulless, terrifying gaze. The affected character must save vs spell or be affected as per a Hold Person spell for as long the Necromancer continues to hold his gaze. This spell will not affect any character or creature not normally vulnerable to a charm person spell.

Feign Death
Level: 1
Range: self
Duration: 1 hour per level
Area of Effect: self
Components: Grave Dust
Casting Time: 1 segment
Saving Throw: none
The Necromancer falls to the ground lifeless, simulating death in all respects. His heart rate, pulse and breathing slow to an imperceptible degree. Only a medical examination or a Detect Life can detect the ruse. Of course, the Necromancer is just as vulnerable to having his head lopped off as any other corpse. The effect will persist for one hour per level, or until the Necromancer takes additional damage, whereupon he shall awake next round and must re-roll his initiative.

Grave Noises
Level: 1
Range: As per Audible Glamour
Duration: As per Audible Glamour
Area of Effect: As above
Components: As above
Casting Time: As above
Saving Throw: As above
This spell works in all respects as an Audible Glamour, save that it can be used only to simulate sepulchral noises, such as moans, groans, scuffling feet, howling, the clanking of chains - in shirt, any noise that might indicate the presence of the Undead.

Speak With Dead
Level: 1
Range: As third level Clerical Spell of same name
Duration: As third level Clerical Spell of same name
Area of Effect: As third level Clerical Spell of same name
Components: The head (or complete corpse) of the dead individual to be consulted.
Casting Time: As third level Clerical Spell of same name
Saving Throw: As third level Clerical Spell of same name
Functions as the third level Clerical Spell of the same name in all respects save level requirements and the requirement for a Holy Symbol.

Speak With Dead (Normal) Animals
Level: 1
Range: As Speak with dead, but affects only normal animals
Duration: As Speak with dead, but affects only normal animals
Area of Effect: As Speak with dead, but affects only normal animals
Components: The head or full corpse of the animal to be interrogated
Casting Time: As Speak with dead, but affects only normal animals
Saving Throw: As Speak with dead, but affects only normal animals
Treat this spell as the Speak With Dead Necromancer spell above. However, this version of the spell affects only dead, normal animals. It does not affect giant animals or insects (giant or otherwise).

Summon Skeletons and Zombies
Level: 1
Range: Centred on Caster
Duration: 1 turn per level of caster
Area of Effect: 125ft per level of the caster.
Components: A Bone Wand carved from the forearm of a fallen warrior, worth 150gp.
Casting Time: 1 full round
Saving Throw: none
The following information applies to all similar "Summon" spells cast by A Necromancer.
The Necromancer may summon up to a dozen undead creatures of this type or types within range to his present location. The combined Hit Dice total of the summoned undead must not exceed three times his Necromancer level. The summoned Undead will immediately move as rapidly as possible to the location of the Necromancer. If no Undead of the summoned type are within the Area of Effect, then up to a dozen lesser undead will be attracted instead. If the Summoned undead creatures are under the control of another there is only a fifty percent chance (+5% per level of the caster above that of the Controller, -5% per level if Controller is of a higher level than the caster) that the summoned undead will obey the summons.
The caster does not need to continue concentrating on the spell once cast. The summoned undead will move to the location of the summoning regardless of whether or not the caster is still present. However, if the caster does maintain his concentration the undead will travel to his current location, regardless of whether or not the caster has moved to a different location after casting the spell.
Summoned undead may be brought under the Casters control using the Turn Undead matrix. Summoned undead are NOT automatically under the casters control and may even attack him once they arrive.If, after the spells duration expires, if the Summoned Undead are not under the casters control, they may remain at the location they were summoned too (50% chance) or else return to their previous location (50%) chance. Intelligent undead, however, are likely to begin a "man-hunt" for the creature that dared summon them.

Tomorrow: Level 2 Necromancer Spells

The Necromancer: A New OSRIC Class. Part I

The Necromancer Character class depicted here is adapted from the version published in White Dwarf number 35. While the flavour text has changed considerably, there are very few mechanical changes to the class as invisioned by it's creator, Lew Pulphiser. Those changes relate mostly to making the Necromancer specifically a Magic-User sub-class rather than the cleric derivative it was originally intended to be.

Necromancers are a very specialised form of magic-user, ones with an unholy interest in the workings of undeath and a morbid desire to prolong their own life through the study and animation of corpses. The "typical" Necromancer (if there is such a thing) is a loner who vastly prefers the company of the undead to living beings, who serve to remind him of his own mortality. Such sinister figures rarely submit their will to anyone save themselves, or their master in the dark art's they pursue. Humanoids rarely enter the service of such a being, lest they wind up serving their masters whim as experimental subjects as well as guards. Even animals tend to avoid a Necromancer, warned away by the all-pervasive stench of death and decay that surrounds them.

As a Necromancer ages in his craft, they become more and more repulsive to other, living beings, loosing what little grasp of their own humanity they once possessed. Desperate to maintain their unholy lifestyle, they must frequently sacrifice intelligent beings in dark rituals to maintain their power, absorbing the life force of the prey to maintain their sinister powers. As they lose more and more of their humanity, they gain a greater affinity with the negative energy of the undead, no longer able to heal themselves naturally or through cure spells, instead requiring the sacrifice of a living being in a long drawn out ritual culminating in the consumption of the victims flesh and blood.

Loathed and hated by all around them, Necromancers face persecution from all sensible folk, yet in certain lands they have found welcome and even high status, though such lands are dark and benighted places indeed.

The Necromancer Character:

Minimum Scores: Int 12+, Con 14+ and Wis no more than 12. Cha is also important, as explained below.
Hit Die Type and Number: D4 (max 9) - Please note this does not match the figure given in the advancement table below. Substitute a D4 instead.
Alignment: Any evil
Experience Bonus: none
Armour/Shield Permitted: none
Weapons Permitted: Dagger, Staff, Sickle, Scythe, Flaming Oil
Weapon Proficiencies: Pick 1 +1 every four levels.
Non-Proficiency Attack Penalty: -4
Saving Throws & Attacks: As Magic User of the same level.

Necromancer Class Abilities:

Magic Items: The necromancer may use potions, rings, rods, staves, wands and misc. magical items. He may not use Cleric, Magic User or Illusionist scrolls. Nor may he use any magical armour. He may only use magical weapons with which he is proficient.

Spell Casting: The necromancer may cast a certain number of Necromancer spells per day depending on his character level. See the Necromancer Advancement Table for details.

Control Undead: The necromancer automatically controls any undead that are of his creation up to his maximum limit of Hit Dice (see below). He may also Rebuke and Control Undead as per an evil cleric of the same level (though this does not require a magical item or any other prop, simply an authoritative command that they obey him). Once he has successfully used his Control Undead ability on an undead creature, that creature remains under his control until one of the following conditions occur:

• The undead creature moves more than 20ft x the Necromancer's level away from him (unless left with specific orders to remain in place and guard a given location).
• A "D" result by a good cleric on the Undead Turning Matrix (a subsequent D result is required to destroy the creature).
• The Undead creature is affected by a Dispel Evil spell.

These conditions also apply to any undead created by the Necromancer. The maximum Hit Dice of undead under the Necromancers control at any one time is equal to his Character level x2. However, undead left in place with orders to guard a specific location do NOT count towards this total. Therefore, even a relatively weak necromancer can "command" a mighty horde indeed.

A Necromancer gains full xp from any kills made by undead creatures under his control while he is present and in line of sight. He receives no experience from their kills otherwise.

I Am Your Master: Any cleric attempting to turn an undead creature under the Necromancers control in the presence of the necromancer subtracts one from their check result on the Undead Turning Matrix for every two levels of the necromancer.

Undead Resistance: A Necromancer is immune to the special attacks and special powers of any undead creature with fewer Hit Dice than the Necromancer has character levels. A third level Necromancer, for example, is immune to the paralysis induced by ghouls.

Death Holds no Secrets from Me: The necromancers dark knowledge grants him a certain immunity to the fear of death. As such, he gains a +2 bonus to any saving throws against fear where fear of death is a factor. He also receives a +2 bonus to all saves death magic.

The Blood is Life, the Blood is Unlife: Necromancers do not heal wounds naturally or by use of cure spells. Instead they must conduct an hour long ritual in which an intelligent being is sacrificed in order to heal themselves of any wounds or disease. The ritual requires special equipment including an alter and sacrificial knife. The Necromancer heals himself of damage equal to a total of half the victims hit points at the time the ritual began. Otherwise, a Necromancer can only be healed by the fifth level Necromancer spell, Drain Health. Even reversed cure spells have no effect.

Appease the Dark Ones: A Necromancer must periodically make a special sacrifice to the forces of evil and undeath or else lose his powers. The frequency of sacrifice and the rarity of the victim increase with the Necromancers level in accordance with the table below. If the Necromancer misses a ritual, he loses all his non-spellcasting class abilities until such time as he has "caught up" with the missed sacrifices. Even then there is a cumulative1-in-6 chance per missed sacrifice that a demon or powerful undead entity arrives to claim the necromancers soul instead of accepting the sacrifice.The Power of Undeath Compels Me: As a necromancer rises in level, he becomes more and more like an undead being himself. His appearance becomes more and more cadaverous as he begins to lose touch with his own humanity. Each time the Necromancer gains a level in the Necromancer class he must permanently lose a point of Charisma. At second level his eyesight fades, becoming more accustomed to dusty crypts than the world of the living, and the Necromancer gains infravision out to sixty feet. He also gains the ability to see into the Underworld even in his waking hours, granting him a %5 + 1% per level of seeing an invisible creature.

You Cannot Kill What Does Not Live: Necromancers who are slain by any means will always arise again as an undead being on midnight of the 13th day after death. This occurs even if the body has been completely destroyed. the necromancer will rise as a form of undead with hit Dice equal to his Necromancer levels when alive. necromancers of 9th - 14th level always return as vampires. Those of fifteenth level will return as a lich.

Temple of Bone: At tenth level the Necromancer may create a special Stronghold type known as a Temple of Bone. A Necromancer can possess only one such temple at a time, but may create another should his existing temple be destroyed. The temple must be constructed of human, humanoid and demi-human bones, using the blood of those slain to produce the bones as mortar.

Construction requires living beings (undead lack sufficient dexterity) and takes 10 man hours and costs 10gp for every cubic foot of walls, floor and ceiling in the Temple. Every ten cubic feet requires the bones of fifty man size creatures and the blood of five. The Bone Walls of the temple are supernaturally strong - treat as the strongest type of stone for causing damage. While in his Temple, the Necromancer is at his most powerful. All saves against his spells are at -2 and all attempts to turn undead are at an additional -2 (cumulative with other modifiers such as the presence of the Necromancer). While in his Temple the Necromancer radiates damage at a rate of 1/hp per turn. he may also call additional skeleton troops from the walls - up to one skeleton per ten cubic foot of wall per day. These skeletons do not count towards the maximum number of Skeletons the Necromancer may control at any given time. No matter how many skeletons are destroyed, the Necromancer can always summon as many again the next day, unless the temple has since been completely destroyed.

Phylactery: At fifteenth level the Necromancer learns the secrets of becoming a Lich. He can become a Lich at any time by spending 10,000gp on a phylactory and performing a night long ritual. Should he die after reaching fifteenth level but before performing this rite he will rise again as a lich. However, if destroyed again before completing a Phylactery and undergoing this ritual, he will be destroyed permanently. After fifteenth level, the Necromancer can also bestow lichdom on any other willing evil Cleric, Necromancer or Magic-User character of 12th level or greater. Again this requires a Phylactery and an hour long ritual. However, unlike the Necromancer, the participating character must succeed at a system shock roll or else the soul will be forever lost (not even divine intervention, a wish or a True Resurrection spell will restore the character to life or lichdom).

Digging the Sandbox: Against the Slave Lords.

I'll be liberally spreading adventure hooks throughout the sandpit for the next series of modules: A1-4 Against the Slave Lords. A classic module set originally designed as tournament modules, the A series could have been purpose designed for Hyborian gaming, were it not for the overwhelming presence of humanoids. It even has carnivorous apes and insect-men, all of which are very Howard-esque in and of themselves. All the A serie modules have been reviewed to death in the past, so I'll concentrate (briefly) on what makes them so apt for my campaign.

The first module presents a Slaver base in a Ruined Temple within a city, meaning that in my sand-box the Temple (and it's sewer level) will be located in Tortage. The module is extremely well written, with a number of challenging traps and encounters. It features a new race of insect men, the Aspis, whom I happen to like very much and will liberally sprinkle throughout other modules (along with lizardmen) to break the monotony of Picts and Pirates. The A-2 Module, Secret of the Slaver's Stockade, is my favourite of the four. Set in a hill-fort, it represents a place where the slavers store their “stock” prior to taking it to market. The module features a number of excellent “Saturday Night Specials” including fun with mirrors, a nice little encounter with the restless dead and a much more memorable encounter with an NPC who could teach big Arnie's character in Predator a thing or two about guerilla warfare. Finally, even the main villains have character – including a Blind Swordsman and great-sword wielding ogre (a huge Cimmerian in my campaign) who knows a few nasty (very nasty) manoeuvres.

As far as conversion goes, both modules are relatively easy to place. A-1 will happen in (and below) Tortage. A-2 will be sited in a Hill fort on one of the islands. All of the modules have a number of humanoid encounters which I'll simply replace with correspondingly dangerous humans. Even the undead encounters have suitably Hyborian themes. All this means I expect the Slavers to feature prominently as the main mid-level campaign villains, especially given that the PC's (as escaped slaves themselves) are very likely to hold a grudge against their captors.

Unfortunately, A2 is where the Slavers mini-campaign must come to an end for my Hyborian players. As much as they are excellent modules, the third module relies on the players visiting a "hidden city" and the fourth involve escaping from the clutches of their slaver captors. I've always hated deux ex machina style railroading, and module three requires that the characters lose a battle to ensure the lead in to the excellent fourth module in the series. I suppose it's entirely possible to take the players out of the Barachan Isles to a city in a foreign land, but in my experience once the players leave your sandbox it can be damned hard to get them back in it. Alas, therefore, A3 and A4 are consigned to the "no" box.

Even discounting the later two modules of the series, A1 and A2 add two new locations to the campaign. One location added to the Tortage Map, and another added to the wilderness map. Namely the Ruined Temple (which I'll be calling "Slaver House") and the Hill Fort stockade itself.

Dungeon Tiles

For the last few days, I've been busily chasing away the Xmas Shopping blues with a little bit of judicious terrain construction. I'm blessed with a multitude of pdf versions of various dungeon tiles produced by a good half dozen companies or so. Pdf's which have been gathering dust, unused, in my archives for several years. So I used the opportunity afforded by Christmas errands to by myself some art materials. I've been busily making dungeon terrain ever since.

One of my main issues has been the cost of printing dungeon tiles. My printer cartridges can only manage a dozen or so sheets of photo quality tiles before they need replacing, meaning it's actually cheaper for me to simply go out and buy the sets (or have them printed professionally) than it is to produce my own. Given this, I've decided to concentrate more on 3D terrain features -bookcases, torture tables, beds and the like- since my dungeon tile collection from commercial products is fairly large anyway.

I've also found that simply selecting the "text and graphics" option when using semi-gloss photo paper produces pretty damn good results as it is, without having to use up more ink with the "photo quality" printer options. Which will hopefully make this little side-project of mine a lot more affordable.

Finally, also to cut down on costs, I'm using ordinary poster card rather than thicker, modellers card, to assemble the 3D models. I've sandwiched two layers together for strength, which still saves on the pennies, before glueing the photopaper on top after printing. I've also been using plenty of scrap card to butress the models from the inside, just for extra strength. I remain a bit worried about storage, so I plan on seeing how durable this first batch is before I go making any more

No pictures yet, because my other half (the photographer in the family) is out and about and I personally haven't a clue to go about taking a decent photo of what is, essentially, a 3D photo. I'll include them in a forthcoming post about what miniatures I'll be using (and have painted) in my Hyborian game - finding miniatures with the right "feel" for the setting can be something of a challenge after all. I'm also planning (finally) on getting those two posts on the Necromancer class for OSRIC finished as well as picking out a few more modules for my Hybrorian campaign.

Until then.