5e Grognard

Here's another spell book by Ed Greenwood from Dragon Magazine #92.  I like this one even though it contains no new spells, but it does conceal a dangerous guardian. The Scalamagdrion Appearance This is a large volume fashioned of parchment bound between slabs of wood and sewn to the black hide of an unknown creature, which has been stretched over the boards to form a cover. It bears no external markings of any kind. Its covers are edged with beaten copper, now discolored to a vivid green by the elements. There are 26 yellowed and curling pages within, and some owners report a binding strip of black hide which the book now apparently lacks. The size and weight of the tome precludes its easy transportation by hand, under arm, or in satchel, and indeed it does not show the wear (scratched cover or corners, blotched or warped parchment due to wetness) typical of books that have seen much traveling out-of-doors. History and Description The true origin of The Scalamagdr...

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  Like I've mentioned before, I work at UPS, and have survived yet another peak season.  Now I can get back on a more regular posting schedule. This brings us back again to  Dragon Magazine issue #92, and another spellbook by Ed Greenwood, Orjalun's Arbatel, and two new spells, encrypt , which lets you send hidden messages, and secure , a beefed up version of arcane lock . Orjalun’s Arbatel Appearance This volume consists of nine plates of beaten and polished mithril, stamped by the elvish smiths of Silverymoon with letters of the High Tongue, graven on small dies that are positioned on the page and then struck sharply with a hammer so as to leave their distinct impressions.  The plates are pierced at the top and bottoms of their left sides (as they are read), and fastened together with bronze rings. The work had an ornate case of stained wood and was carried wrapped in canvas, but these may well have perished. Histo...

We now move on to Dragon Magazine issue #92, and I'll be pulling from Pages from the Mages by Ed Greenwood, and a collection of spellbooks, and, of course, new spells. Phase trap is listed as a transmutation spell, but I changed it to abjuration.  Just felt right.  I will also add phase trap to my sorcerer spell list.  Seems to fit with the ectoplasmic spell ability of the incantatrix I posted. For whatever reason, the thunderlance description is getting weird formatting.  Keeps adding all the extra spaces.  I've tried to fix it, but to no avail. Aubayreer’s Workbook Appearance This book is fashioned of a long strip of green hiexel bark, folded and refolded upon itself accordion-fashion. It is bound, protected, between two rectangular pieces of oiled wood held together with hempen cord.  Upon one of the boards is carved a rune, thus: and by this rune the work can be identified as that of the mage Aubayreer. History and description ...

Moved to my new blog here .

Since the Everstriking Sword was one of my more popular posts recently, I'm happy to bring you another "cursed" weapon.  This creation by David Baldwin is not so much cursed, you can rid yourself of it, but it does come with a drawback. Sword of Cowardice Cursed magic sword Developed by gods of mischief, such as Loki, this weapon is a magical sword +3 with a pommel formed in the shape of an animal, monster, or human head.  This wonderful weapon, however, has also been infused with a cowardly personality. The first time it is swung at an opponent in combat, the sword’s head-shaped pommel will shriek in terror and cry for help. The noise will alert all creatures within a 120 foot radius.  The sword will continue to yell and cry for 2-12 rounds unless a silence spell is cast upon it. The sword will also attempt to avoid combat, twisting in the user’s hands. The holder must make a successful Strength saving throw at the start of every combat round, or else the s...

The Sword of Assassination was originally written by Bruce E. Wright, but here merely provides inspiration for my write up here, since his version relies heavily on the AD&D assassination rules.  Hopefully I roll well on my 2d20. Sword of Assassination Unique magic sword The sword of assassination, also known as the ruby sword , is a potent weapon in the hands of an assassin. If handled by any other type of character, the sword appears to be (and can be used as) a regular blade.   When used by an assassin character, the true nature of the sword of assassination is revealed.  It appears as a short sword made of ruby, with a dull red glow to it, enough to shed dim light.   The sword of assassination has the following special abilities in the hands of an assassin: When in disguise, the true appearance of the ruby sword can be concealed as any other normal weapon, as small as a dagger or as large as a pike or lance.  No matter what weapon it ap...

Let's mix things up with a cursed item, the everstriking sword, originally by Stephen Martin and appearing in Dragon Magazine #91.  Pretty straightforward conversion, except I added the bit about trading for exhaustion.  The original also drained additional points if a creature could only be hit by a certain plus weapon, but since that has been replaced by damage resistance, I left it out. Everstriking Cursed magic weapon An everstriking sword always hits an intended target unless an impossible blow is attempted, such as striking at a target that is out of range of all attacks. This weapon has no bonuses to hit or damage.  However, a peculiar effect comes into play when such a sword is used in combat. If the sword is swung at an opponent and a miss is rolled, then you lose a number of hit points equal to the difference between the failed to hit roll and the target’s AC, making the strike hit, in effect using the your own energy to guide the attack home.  T...

Next item up was originally a psionic item by Roger E. Moore.  Most of my reworking was just editing. Vision Globe Rare wondrous item This is a crystal sphere 6 inches in diameter.  When you hold the globe in both hands you can project images that you receive from spells such as clairvoyance, ESP, telepathy, ect., so that the images will be visible to those who look into the globe.  Any mental pictures that are received from the mind of a contacted being, or images that show what a location looks like, are depicted in the vision globe.  The globe will remain inert if it is held by a character who cannot use it.   The vision globe will not transmit sound or speech, but can depict words if they come through as mental images (for example, if someone pictures in his mind what the word “dog” looks like, instead of thinking the word “dog” as the label that identifies a mental image of the animal).

I'll continue with my weekend barrage of posts, this is one by Ed Greenwood and was a pretty straightforward conversion. Trumpet of Doom Very rare wondrous item When the trumpet of doom is winded, all human, demi-human, and humanoid skeletons and corpses within a 60 foot radius about the horn will be brought into unlife, as per the spell animate dead . All of the undead will obey you without question, to the utmost of their ability. The greater the number of undead animated, however, the shorter the time that they will remain active. If only one skeleton or zombie is animated, it will remain active for 60 hours under your control. If two are animated, they will be active for 30 hours, three will be active for 20 hours, and if 4 or more skeletons and/or zombies are activated, they will be animated for only 10 hours before they collapse again. The undead created by the trumpet of doom may be commanded to “go down!” (at which they will disintegrate into dust) if the use...

I guess I should mention that these magic items from Dragon Magazine #91 are from an article called "Treasure Trove" which is a collection of 47 magic items, most of them submitted by readers of Dragon Magazine.  Like I said, I won't be converting most of them, they are an uneven lot. Today is the Harrowhelm, by Victor Selby.  I felt was powerful enough to assign Artifact status to.  I don't have the DMG yet, so I'm not sure the level of power matches. This is a psionic item.  For the Mind Blast power, I simply copied the power of the same name from the Mind Flayer.  The Innate Spellcasting (psionic) are the same powers of the Githyanki Knight. I do like psionics in my game.  I don't have any in currently, but some are in place.  I plan on using the Psionicist and Psionic Warrior that Khaalis posted over at Enworld.   Harrowhelm Artifact, requires attunement You must be a non-psionic character that can wear metallic armor to...

There are a bunch of magic items in Dragon Magazine #91, some are hit and miss, not sure if all of them are worth converting.  The Gauntlets of Heat were originally by David Baldwin.  Each of the spell abilities were originally usable a certain number of times per day, but I based it on the Staff of Fire.  Produce flame and heat metal are druid spells, and heat metal is on the bard's list as well, so I restricted attunement to those classes.  I also use elementalist wizards and sorcerers, so I opened attunement up to them as well. One of the abilities, flame arrow, is not a 5e spell, so I updated the 3.5e version.  I'm adding it to my ranger, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists.  I'm on the fence about the "at higher levels" portion.  That's an additional 10d6 worth of damage for each spell slot, which is a lot.  Of course, I'm picturing using this to ignite 1 arrow each of a unit of archers in a mass battle as the initial shot in an attack, with e...

Grabbing another magic item out of Dragon Magazine #91, this one by Ed Greenwood. I always find it interesting how many old AD&D items, spells and monsters have such individual unique rules to them, that are similar but different from rules that another item, spell, monster, or class ability.  One of the things I like about 5e and a modern rule set is the idea that you use a standardized rule. Speaking to that, as design note, the girdle of lions has two abilities copied straight from class abilities.  The monk's Slow Fall and the Rogue Thief archetype Supreme Sneak. Girdle of Lions Very rare wondrous item This belt appears to be like any other magical girdle when first encountered. When it is put on, you gain several special abilities.  You can speak with felines (as per the spell speak with animals). The felines, from house cat to sabertooth tiger, will view you as if you had a Charisma of 18 (for purposes of reaction checks). Often the cats will giv...