Another little magic item popped into my head:
THE DWARVEN RICOCHET HAMMER
Long plagued by goblins pilfering their mines, the dwarves crafted this ingenious weapon to clear crowd tunnels of opponents.
The Dwarven Ricochet Hammer is a +1 magical throwing hammer doing 1d6+1 damage and has a range of 60 feet. The wielder makes a ranged attack against a primary target. If the hammer hits then the primary target takes damage as normal. The hammer then ricochets. Each target within a 20 foot radius of the primary target roll a successful Saving Throw or take 1d6+1 damage. The hammer then returns to the wielder. If the attack against the primary target misses then the hammer continues to fly out to its range of 60 feet.
If happen to use fumbles in your game then a Natural 1 could prove interesting for any nearby party members.
With Free RPG Day coming up and my schedule being totally crazy, I figured what the heck. Everybody can use some quick pregenerated characters for pick up games or whatever.
They’re all second level characters. 3d6 in order and Hit Points rolled for both levels. And they were rolled up with the official Swords & Wizardry Complete Kickstarter Dice. I didn’t bother putting a name or a gender to the characters. Heck that’s the easy part.
I really threw this together so it ain’t pretty and there might be typo something in there. So you’ve been warned. Enjoy!
Seems like I’m on a monster making kick here. My present the Rat Roach for Swords & Wizardry.
The Rat Roach
HD: 1d4 HP
AC: 9 [10]
Attacks: Bite (1 to 2 Damage)
Saving Throw: 18
Special: Immune to poison, Magic Resistance, Plague Carrier, Hard to Kill.
Move: 6
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30
Many wizards don’t keep the neatest of laboratories and when an accident happens there may be unforeseen consequences. Such is the Rat-Roach. An alchemical experiment went awry created this odd chimera. Part rat. Part Cockroach. Individually, they are more of a nuisance than a threat. But in large numbers, they can cause plagues or worse.
Rat Roaches are immune to poison and have 30% Magic Resistance. When a character is bitten by a Rat Roach, the character must make a Save versus disease at +2 or contract the plague. The first time a Rat Roach is “killed”, it makes a Saving Throw. If successful, the Rat Roach is only severely injured and attempts to crawl away.
What’s 7 feet tall, covered in fur, can easily hide in the forest, and rip you apart with its four claws?
The Quadquatch
Hit Dice: 3
Armor Class: 6[13]
Attacks: 4 Claws (1d6), Bite (1d8)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Stealthy
Move: 12
Alignment: Neutral
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120
This large four-armed humanoid lives primarily in wooded areas. Quadquatches are generally avoid contact with other species but males can become very hostile and territorial during mating season. Quadquatches have a habit of collecting shiny objects. Occasionally, valuable objects can be found in their nests. Some magic-users can craft invisibility cloaks or other magical garments related to stealth from a quadquatch’s hide.
Stealthy: There is a 3 in 6 chance that a quadquatch can surprise a party of adventurers. Additionally, there is a 2 in 6 chance that the creature cannot be tracked by any means magical or mundane.
There’s a good chance that might be a little OSR style mini-campaign (probably Swords & Wizardry) in the near future but it’s going to be for very few people. That got me thinking about henchmen and hirelings.
First, the easy part. Hirelings are 0-Level dudes. They’re the porters, torch bearers, and trap detectors (for an evil party). They have 1d4 HP, a Save of 18, and no bonus to attack. Armor Class and Weapon damage depends on what equipment they have. They never gain XP. That’s it.
Henchmen are either Fighters, Clerics, Thieves or Magic-Users. HP and Save is determined by their class. Only Fighters gain any kind of Attack Bonus. AC and Weapon Damage is determined just like the Hirelings’. They gain one level per two levels of advancement of the party and expect a share of the treasure.
Don’t bother generating any stats for these guys or keeping track of XP. I’m guessing each could easily fit on a 3 x 5 card. Hell. my very first D&D character fit on a 3×5 card.
And I know somebody will bring it up, just use the normal rules for specialist hirelings. This whole idea came up as easy way to throw some help for the PC’s with a bare minimum of bookkeeping.
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