Magical Biotech and Monster Making Part II – Monster Making for the GM.

To pick up the biotech for d20 series again, we’ll take a look at “monster design” from the game master’s side with the Spirit of the Times. Some places achieve timelessness. Others have timelessness thrust upon them. A time and place may become a legend, an idealized archetype, a fixed reference point for later civilizations, [...]

Exalted – Geomantic Emulation

And here we have a few more geomantic charms for Exalted. Why? Why not? Admittedly, these are a bit specialized – but they have their uses on occasion. Geomantic Empowerment Cost: —; Mins: Occult 3, Ess 2, Type: Permanent. Keywords: None Duration: Permanent Prerequisite Charms: None The character becomes a living Network Node and Geomantic [...]

Exalted – Stargate Command

In Charles’s ongoing efforts to be nice to people, he wants to give them more room. In fact, he wants to give them the entire cosmos… The Mirror-Shattering Method can allow travel between realities, and thus must be opening (or at least locating and establishing entry and exit points for) a route through Elsewhere. It [...]

Eclipse, Heroic Deaths, and the Old School

A lot of old-school gamers say that they miss the feeling of heroism; that games these days just aren’t the same. They’re right really – and the difference is pretty simple. Old school characters die a lot. They’re quick to make, they start off weak, they catch up with older characters quickly, and they generally [...]

Magical Biotech and Monster Making, Part I – Ingredients

There was an earlier request for this, and – now that I finally have a little time for writing and putting things up again – it’s time to start this particular article-series… d20… covers a lot of settings. The realm of dream? Been there. Virtual reality setting? Done that. High Fantasy? Please! That’s where it [...]

Eclipse – Troublesome Relics

Here we have an a small package for personal relic creation designed for a character who’s own powers backlash against him, even when channeled through a focus, and thus cause him various disadvantages. This isn’t the most efficient possible way of building such relics – for starters, you could simply the abilities purchased for the [...]

Eclipse Martial Arts – Fang of the Wind

All right. Now that reality is no longer beating me over the head with a hammer, it’s time to try to get back on track, starting with a Martial Art for Eclipse d20. Tlantli Ejecatl (Fang of the Wind) (Dex). Stillness is Death. Always in motion, Strike and Retreat. Linger Not within a Foe’s Reach. [...]

Residents of the Ars Goetia, Part II

The “Demons” of medieval tomes were mostly the creation of fevered would -be demonologists and “scholars”. While they might be loosely based on a few genuine mythological fragments, those tattered threads are pretty thoroughly lost in a sea of wild conjecture. For our purposes this is good; it provides a lot of room for turning [...]

Eclipse – Building the Possessed

Today’s request is a character loosely styled after Jason Blood / Etrigan (DC Comics) or Naruto (Anime) – a youngster who’s had a mighty demonic force that some magician couldn’t handle or kill directly imprisoned in his or her body, so that it will die when he or she does. That provides the character with [...]

Residents of the Ars Goetia

When it comes to source material, it’s hard to get much more authentic than going medieval – and the list of “demons” in the Ars Goetia offers quite a lot of inspiration. Of course, when you read that list you don’t find a lot of game-style “demons”. You don’t find much in the way of [...]

Exalted Modern – Aquila-Class Military Shuttle and Helmstones (Artifacts ****)

The Aquila-Class Light Military Shuttle is a slightly-flattened, roughly egg- or manta-ray shaped vessel. While it’s primarily constructed with mortal technology, its essence-based drives provide both lift and thrust regardless of the external environment – allowing both limited underwater and low-orbit operations. Unfortunately, that same reliance on mortal technologies makes these vessels far more vulnerable [...]

Exalted Modern – the Resource Background

For the modern setting, where the universe is a great deal bigger, and things like individual ownership and control of massive organizations happen, a number of backgrounds need to be extended a bit. While ratings are still limited during character generation, it’s entirely possible for a character to become the ruler of several planets, or [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice LVIII – Moonsilver Interlude

Righteous Hala didn’t have the time to accompany Charles to the far end of the universe – but she certainly could spare a few hours with a Crystal Arena to see how well he could defend himself – and to offer some advice on possible attackers and tactics. The boy was obviously amazingly resourceful, but [...]

Exalted – Jouten Formation

Primordials are often assumed to be “nothing but their charms”. They – at least based on the Ebon Dragon’s writeup – have Essence 10, Willpower 10, 1000 Motes, a hundred or so health levels, and… Charms. They also have Jouten – ranging from Gaia’s (rather approachable) Emerald Mother on through Malfeas’s colossal-to-infinite world-body which grows, [...]

Exalted – The Evolutionary Principle

Cost: ––; Mins: Conviction OR Survival 3, Essence 2; Type:  Permanent Keywords: None Duration: Permanent/Scene Prerequisite Charms: None A character with this charm may adapt on the fly to changing  circumstances, drawing new possibilities from deep within themselves. Whenever the user gains motes from a Stunt, he or she also gains an equal  number of [...]

Biomancy and Monster Mashing

Today we have a question/request from Derek. I have a request. Could you please write a book on magical biotechnology and monster creation (as in spellcasters who make monsters, not GM monster design)? Looking at most of the existing examples in d20 land I find most of them lacking. There are plenty of good ideas [...]

Variant Eclipse Shapeshifting – The War Forms

The query here is how to build a shapeshifter who more closely resembles the version found in the Player’s Handbook II – or, for that matter, Pathfinder and several other sources. The basic version of Eclipse shapeshifting involves a serious transformation into another form – taking on both it’s abilities and limitations. Turn into a [...]

Exalted – The Behemoth Cloak (Artifact ****)

OK, lets face it. The normal artifact armor in the basic Exalted book… sucks. The technomagic power armor is better, but quite a lot of players don’t want to be Iron Man or have to deal with the maintenance and repair of their armor even if they vary it’s looks. For them here’s a much [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice – Higher Souls

Thanks to a helpful suggestion from Vaalintine (and the resulting in-character moment of inspiration), Charles has found a reasonable way to fake having some third-circle souls for Aden; he’s building some high-powered manses to take that role. That ties in with his geomantic focus, his associations with building things, his love of manses – and [...]

Eclipsing Wealth, Part II

For today, we have an Eclipse question…. The rules let me have the internal equivalent of pretty much any magic item, whether through Innate Enchantment, Inherent Spell, or Spirit Weapon… but the only mechanism I can find for specifying external enchantments is really clunky. Equipage, with the Signature ability, lets you specify a an expensive [...]