Doom Striders

[Ghostwind]

Catapults and ballistae are the weapons of yesterday’s armies, impersonal tools of warfare that were imprecise and whose loyalties depended on the crews manning them. Doom Striders presents a new type of weapon designed for more heroic play styles and face-to-face encounters. Whether you’re looking for a weapon to throw at your opponents in the next mass combat encounter, or an

effective offense against a dragon guarding its horde, you’ll find something within the pages of Doom Striders.

At their heart, doom striders are magical constructs whose purposes are limited only by the imagination of their creators. Wizards and sorcerers craft them as weapons of war or as a safeguard to privacy; clerics can build them as monuments of faith and might; warriors might seek to lead one into the thickest of combats. The choice is yours...

 

[trancejeremy]

Doom Striders from Bastion Press is basically a d20 fantasy mecha sourcebook. Mecha being giant robots piloted by people. As vehicles, doom striders first appeared in their "Oathbound: Arena" from last year, but they are fully fleshed out (and slightly changed) in this book. It's written by Sam Witt, who also did Bastion's earlier Airships, which was on fantasy airships.

I am not much of a mecha fan, though I did go to see "Robot Jox" in the theater (because a friend dragged me) and actually quite enjoyed it (though mostly because I am an Anne-Marie Johnson fan. I've always had something of a crush on her since I was a teen-ager).

Generally speaking, they are a reasonably decent fit in some fantasy worlds. Most Japanese science fiction cartoons I've seen tend to blur fantasy and science fiction. Even the Godzilla movies did this - sometimes there would be a giant robot/mecha fighting Godzilla, but other times, there would be Mothra, who has some connection with Faeries and magic (those two little singing women are faeries). Generally speaking, it depends on how high the fantasy is.

Oathbound, Bastion's flagship setting (as they call it), is very high fantasy. It has every thing from fallen angels to airships to walrus people. So doom striders works quite well there. Will they work in your world? It depends.

The first part of this book actually addresses these issues. Quite well, I thought. But then it sort of jumps into running a mercenary campaign, which I think was putting the cart before the horse (or Strider before the Doom). But right after that comes the crunchy info on doom striders, including how to make them.

It's really easy to design a doom strider. Basically, you just pick a Torso size, then pick the limbs you want (size & number), then the head, then fill up all the slots those parts have. (Actually, I had something like this as a kid. Micronauts? Something like that, the head and limbs were held in magnetically.)

Each has a number of slots that can be filled with equipment or weapons. Sizes use the standard d20 conventions, Mediums, Large, Huge, Gargantuan, Colossal, Super-Duper Humongous. Obviously, smaller ones tend to be more like powered armor than mecha.

Game mechanic wise, doom striders are essentially treated as any sort of other creature. They have hit points, ability scores, etc. These things are actually very much Dependant on the Captain or pilot of the doom strider, there is something of a symbiosis. Put a 20th level fighter with a 24 strength in, and well, you'll have a really powerful doom strider. But in a 1st level commoner halfling, and you'd have a wussy doom strider. There are some modifiers, (hit points are multiplied from 1 to 8 times depending on the size), but it's still mostly based on the captain.

For instance, take Birna, a 10th level Barbarian with 112 hit points, an 18 Strength, a Dexterity of 16, and a Base Attack Bonus of +10/+5, and stick her into an "Invictus" model doom strider, which is huge. The end result would have her doom strider having 224 hit points (112 x 2, the multiplier for Huge doom striders), a Strength of 23 (Birna's 18 plus 5 for the Huge doom strider). The doom strider is somewhat like armor, in that it has a maximum dexterity bonus. In this case, the maximum is +1, so Birna's +2 Dexterity bonus is somewhat wasted.
So in a way, you can think of the doom strider almost as a template being applied to the captain, resulting in a creature.

The only major difference is that because some doom striders have a crew, they can perform several things at once. Generally speaking, each additional crew member controls one set of limbs and the weapons mounted on them.

Well, also pretty big is the effect that criticals can have on doom striders. Critical hits just do points of damage to creatures (well, unless you are using Bastion Press's critical hit system from Torn Asunder). But to doom striders, criticals can destroy parts.

Doom striders basically have two choices for weapons - either upsized melee weapons (like a gigantic sword or axe or nunchuku if you have a ninja doom strider), or on board magical ranged weapons. If a melee weapon is used, then using a "full attack" option will allow multiple attacks, if the Captain's Base Attack Bonus allows (that is, over +5).

Besides normal weapons that have been super-sized, there are doom strider only weapons, such as the Lash Hammer, Grinder Club (sounds like a sandwich) and Shudder Fist. You can also put a "Beak" on them, so they can do really nasty head butts. (The cover of the book shows a doom strider with a beak)

If melee weapons aren't your thing, there is a wide variety of ranged weaponry. Blizzard Throwers, Chain Cannons, Lightning Spikes, Devourer Pods, Thunderguns, Shard Cannons. Some are magical, some seem to be almost like guns (the Thundergun and Wyrm Tongue), though these are also magically powered. Each weapon has it's own advantages and drawbacks, so you need to pick the one that fits what you plan on doing with the doom strider.

Besides weapons, there are a variety of other devices that can be installed. Armor (including Reactive and Energized), and other protective things like Glyph Plates, that can absorb spells; Avoidance systems, that automatically make the doom strider swerve and evade; and my favorite, the Shiver Cloak, which is sort of a cloaking device, more like the thing the Predator had than completely invisible. Also jump jets, which let it hover for a while. And passenger and cargo pods, for non-combat uses.

All these gizmos that the doom strider has (and the doom strider itself) need power. There are 3 basic types of power source - Arcanofurnace, which runs on either arcane spell energy or by burning magical items; Vampiric Translator, which runs on life force sucked from either victims or the crew; and Prayer Engine, which either works on divine spell energy or from the faithful nearby. All basically are fuel tanks that hold energy, and the standard unit is appropriately enough, the energy point.

Spell energy basically comes from spell slots from casters. A spell slot generates a number of points equal to it's level. So for instance, a 6th level spell would fill up the tank by 6 energy points.

While this sounds good, the average doom strider will probably burn through 4-5 points per round, more if it uses more than one weapon, and if it has an Arcanofurnace, it probably only has a capacity of 20 to 30.

Luckily, burning magical items is a better option. It generates a number of points equal to it's value per 1,000 gold pieces per round. (But the value of the magic item goes down by 1,000 gp a day. I might make that decrease more for days where the doom strider was used a lot, at least in combat). There is also a gizmo to allow long distance recharges via spells, so you don't absolutely have to use magic items, they're just more useful for high use doom striders..

Vampiric engines generate one point per hit point drained. This can be a pretty good deal because most doom striders powered by them have nets to scoop up people to use as victims. Kind of like the IRS. (Sorry. Please don't audit me).

Prayer Engines have the same spell slot mechanics and limitations that Arcanofurnaces do, but also get a number of points per round depending on if there are any worshipers of the same god in the area. Some of the pre-made doom striders have passenger compartments to allow worshipers to ride on it. (Polymorphing them into fuzzy dice to put over the rear-view mirror also might work).

As mentioned, doom striders basically work like creatures in combat, so the chapter on how they work in combat is pretty short, only around 10 pages. They're very easy to integrate into regular D&D combat, which is very nice.

Also integrated fairly simply is how they effect character development. Thankfully, there are only a couple of prestige classes, and these are quite appropriate. The Doom Strider Captain, and the Master Engineer. Both are 5 level classes, and are pretty well done, mechanically. They pretty much do what they sound like. There's also a handful or two of doom strider related feats. In a nice touch (I think), they folded the doom strider skills into the Profession category. Profession (Doom Strider Pilot), Profession (Doom Strider Engineer), and Profession (Siege Engineer), all of which are pretty much self-explanatory.

There's about 25 pages of NPCs, with about 25 NPCs, each a Doom Strider Mercenary. Complete with background and stats, grouped into, er, groups. The introduction of the chapter says it lists their favorite doom strider, but this actually seems to be omitted. Except in general terms - you know the Witch Hunters like to use doom striders that have anti-magical gizmos, like glyph plates. And the nasty ones like to use Vampiric powered ones.

There are 23 pre-made doom striders, each fully illustrated. They are given in stat sheet form, it would also have been nice to see the design sheet for them, so you know how they were made.
I've tried to reverse engineer them and while most seem okay, a couple I couldn't figure out how they were made. For instance, the "Shadow Slice" seems to have a Large Arcanofurnace, as it lists 3 slots for it (which is how much a Large takes up). But it has an energy capacity of 30, which the the capacity for the biggest furnace (a 6 slotter). It has a Channel Receptor, which may or may not alter the capacity (the rules say it doesn't, but the chart lists a capacity of 25 for it), but in any event, requires 2 slots, but there is only 1 slot listed on the sheet.

A listing of them in a table would also have been useful. But there's quite a selection.

The art is somewhat different than most Bastion Products. It (especially the doom strider illustrations in back) reminds me of Larry MacDougal's stuff (he was an illustrator for Rifts and some Shadowrun stuff). Somewhat abstract, heavily stylized, but pretty good.

Also, the print size is larger than most Bastion products. Usually, they try to cram in as much material as possible into their books, and use fairly small type face. This, while not for the visually impaired, is pretty big. Though there is little to no white space (and it's the same price as their smaller books). But art aside, it's not one of their better looking books. I've been flipping through Oathbound: Arena, to compare the two rules, and the contrast between the looks of the two books is immense. Arena has a really snazzy layout. Doom Striders isn't bad, but it's nothing remarkable, either. About average.

It's a good book, but it could have been better. As mentioned, while it's 128 pages, the font is a bit too big for my taste (IMHO, though I have to move my head back a little to read it, so my eyes also do agree with the opinion centers of my brain), and some of the text seems like filler. I'm also surprised there aren't any psionically powered engines for doom striders. Seems fairly obvious. I have some confusion about things, like do Wyrm Tongues fire the same shells as Thunderguns (the description says Wyrm Tongues fire much heavier shells, but there is no separate listing for Wyrm Tongue shells), and do the pilots and crew of the doom strider count as worshipers? (No, according to the author when I asked). There also seems to be a glitch on the engine table which confused me (the Channel Receptor problem), at least, it disagrees with the text for the engine types. A couple of times the text refers to things that don't exist elsewhere in the book, like something called "bottled lightning". (Which actually sounds like a drink out of that book I reviewed the other day).

I also really think it needed to have a combat example showing doom striders in action. Being familiar with the rules for doom striders from Arena, I missed a couple of the smaller changes at first. A combat example would have helped make things clearer (and are generally a good thing to have in a book that involves a new sort of combat).

Some of the problems I have with it are just problems I have with mecha, period. I think it probably makes more sense to simply develop actual magic powered tanks. Or maybe mount a doom strider torso with weapons on a turret on an Airship (from Bastion Press's Airships), and you'd have Air Cavalry. And of course, it's tricky writing a review like this where I have to keep track of when to capitalize Doom Strider or not (since the name of the book and the vehicles are the same).

But if you like mecha, and want them in your fantasy game, truly as fantasy creations, not just magic powered robots, this is a very good book. Mechtacular! B+

 

[drnuncheon]

"There are some modifiers, (hit points are multiplied from 1 to 8 times depending on the size), but it's still mostly based on the captain."

Considering the D&D definition of hit points (skill, luck, divine favor, etc), basing the strider's hit points on the captain's is pretty brilliant, and ties the character and the mecha even closer together. I like it. This is going on my list.

Are there any rules to tie it in with Airships?

J

 

[JoeGKushner]

Written by Sam Witt and published by Bastion Press Doom Striders brings huge lumbering machines to d20 fantasy campaigns. I’m a big fan of fantasy anime and enjoyed Dream Pod 9’s three mini fantasy campaigns in their Mecha Companion book. I was looking forward to Doom Striders for a long time.

The book works a little backwards in terms of organization. It’s broken into five chapters, campaign, construction, combat, captain (& crew) and allies (& adversaries. It also includes numerous sample doom striders. The book touches on how these creatures could come to be, the levels of both magic and technological skill that is required for even starting the process of a doom strider.

Most of the first chapter though, focuses on the types of doom striders that might be in a campaign, ranting from privateers and mercenaries, to how one would operate and maintain a unit. I have a hard time following some of the idea here in one aspect because it talks about these machines being best in large volume. Well, be that as it may, a quick flip to the rear of the book shows that the lesser striders cost over ninety thousand gold pieces. The DMG suggests that a metropolis has a GP limit of 100,000. How would a city field more than one of these without going bankrupt? No satisfactory answers are present but some options, including scavenging, are present.

In looking at construction, I knew there were some problems right away. While amost every option you could think of is covered, the editing let a lot of errors slip throught. Now most of these aren’t too bad. For example, a doom strider needs an engine or an energy source. These are similar in some ways to the old Helms from the Spelljammer setting. These include the Arcanofurnace that feed on magical items, to the Vampiric Translator that feeds on life.

The problem is in the pricing. The table doesn’t match the text. Not a big deal. However, when looking at other factors, more issues crop up. The game details for various dragonscale armor are provided, but the costs aren’t. Doom striders can have an avoidance system installed, but there is no game benefit from doing so listed in the book. Problems like this plague the construction system making the numerous great ideas suffer heavily as now you have to wonder if the author meant something else. I don’t know if this was caused by the origin of Doom Striders, as they originally hail from an Oathbound book, or just bad luck.

The good news for those who muddle through is that doom striders includes a lot of options and abilities for your machine. Weapons are fully illustrated and have a wide variety of uses and utilities. These range from larger but simple melee weapons, to corrosive cannons, weapons that spit forth an acid fog. Information on using these weapons in a mass combat setting, such as Oathbound Arena, is also included. It doesn’t cover everything though. For example, you’ll find no flying doom striders or those that can turn into other vehicles here.

The author does a good job of bringing doom strider options to life in the combat section. For example, it discusses changing mapping square sizes if everyone is the same size. It notes how doom striders are very vulnerable without their pilots. It breaks down actions and includes material on damaging the crew or specific items. In looking over this section, it’s easy to see how a normal character, in the right sized suit, can easily challenge a larger creature, but not one too powerful. After all, when looking at certain abilities like saving throws, the doom strider uses the captain’s saving throws, and the reflex one can suffer a penalty in a larger suit.

One interesting advantage to a doom strider that shouldn’t be underestimated is the use of spellcasters. Spellcasters can cast spells from their control mechanism. Another interesting effects in spellcasting is that huge doom striders can’t be targeted for spells that effect a creature. Don’t know if I agree with that. Not like other huge constructs can’t be targeted.

When looking at controlling a doom strider, the section on Captain and Crew is vital. It includes some information on binding yourself to the construct as well as how to think about them, as machines that augment the captain. To help the captain, new feats are included that range from reducing the damage you take when a doom strider suffers damage that would injure the crew, to using various monstrous feats from the Monster Manual. New profession skills include doom strider pilot, siege engineer, and doom strider engineer.

Those looking to further their training with the machine can go into the doom strider captain PrC, a five level class that puts the character in command of not only his doom strider, but any crew he might have. The other PrC, the master engineer, is good not only at fixing doom striders and getting more out of them, but also at laying siege to your enemies. Both PrCs are highly specialized though and without using the doom striders themselves, would probably see limited use.

In order to help players and GMs start using the material right away, chapter five, Allies & Adversaries, includes several mercenary units. The start with the name, like Witch Hunter, main characters, and then game stats. The preferred doom strider is supposed to be listed here, but I don’t see it. There are a large number of groups here and most GMs should be able to find friends and foes for the players right off the bat. Some more information on what level a player should be before actually getting his own doom strider, in a mercenary campaign at least, would be good here. I say this because I don’t imagine a hundred thousand gold piece creature being given, even to pilot, by anything under 7th level.

I’m terrible at breaking down NPC stats unless it’s really obvious that they’re wrong, but a quick look at the first character, Reiella Flickerthorn, an elven wizard, makes me wonder if the stats are good. He has a BAB of +6, but +7 on his attack with a +1 long sword, but then a Full Attack of +6. It’s confusing. Level should be a straight +6, +1 for magic weapon and –1 for strength of 8. Somewhere, probably on the long sword attack, there is an error. For some reason, the character’s magic items are total out in gold next to them. Another oddity is that none of the NPC’s have levels in the PrCs. Lastly, I wish that some more thought had gone into the names. Shock, Fear, and Gutripper will probably all get some new names before I’m done with them.

In looking at the pregenerated doom striders, they look good but much like with Mutants & Masterminds, would require some time to break down and double check. For example, are the prices calculated correctly? How about an example walking the user completely through doom strider creation with how the construct is affected by its captain afterwards?

Artwork ranges from average to great. Much of the material towards the end of the book, including all of the sample doom striders, has a rough edge to it, almost like a Tribe 8 setting. Some of my favorite is done by Scott Purdy, Thomas Babbey, and Yap Chonkg Aik. Sadly, the black and white publishing often hinders the excellent work of Yap as many of these illustrations are too dark and obscure details. The editing suffered heavily here as many bits and pieces needed to easily and effortlessly construct a doom strider are missing. Not that the author, Sam hasn’t been a great help in the online community, but such extensive help shouldn’t be needed.

Price wise, Doom Striders comes out ahead of other Bastion products but about average with other d20 products. It weights in at 128 black and white pages for $22.95. Much better than their 96 page books that run the same price. Interior covers are not used. White space is good. Layout is simple two columns with numerous tables helping to even out the text. The pregenerated doom striders in the back of the book also have separate pages so those who just want the illustrations can flip to them. Blank doom strider character sheets are also included. The book does include a two page index. As with many products by Bastion, Doom Striders text is 100% open.

Doom Striders has some strong ideas. The game mechanics are dubious in many places due to missing information or information that contradicts itself. If you can work through the errors, doom striders can provide you with an interesting twist on your campaign.

REVIEWER’S NOTE: Below is some errata via a Q&A style from various postings:

1) on page 21 it states that the minimum size of a component that can be mounted on a medium sized torso is small yet I can't find any small components in the book, are they there, and I just can't find them?

- Assumption there are no small components.

At the moment, there are no small components - I had some plans for small components, but it never quite worked out to my satisfaction. Mark this down as 'room to expand in the future.'

2) "barbed amour provides some minor offensive capabilities along with its protection" the description of the offensive capabilities is great, but what protection does it offer?

- assumption the protection is the same as standard Armour

Yep, barbed armor has the same defensive capability as regular armor but has its minor offensive capabilities as well.

3) on page 49 there is a discussion of mounting conventional weapons, but what is the cost/craft DC/energy cost of a mounted conventional weapon?

- Assumption the actual gold coin cost is the same as the standard arm + that of the weapon. You’re sacrificing the hand control mechanisms, so the overall arm is simpler but the 150% strength increase would call for stronger components. the craft DC is 15 and it uses no energy

That is correct. The cost of mounting a weapon is the cost of the arm + the cost of the weapon. You cannot mount more than a single conventional weapon on each limb.

4) on page 61 it says "next roll the appropriate die (as shown on the doom strider record sheet)" yet there is nothing on the doomstrider record sheets about appropriate die???

- assumption looking at tables 2,3 and 4 of chapter 2 all of the components nicely fit poly dice side with the amount of slots available So I'm drawing up my own tables that correspond the slots used the only thing is what happens if the same number on the tables is rolled multiple times, or if there is a component with empty slots, and someone rolls the "empty" on the table

You're right about how to handle the critical table - this happened during the changes in how the sheets were designed and is a result of me thinking one thing and doing another. My bad.

If a shot hits an empty or already destroyed slot, it passes through the doom strider without further damage. Sometimes, you get lucky.

Quote:
5) on pages 61-62 it says "a doom strider without a captain has a number of hit points as shown on the table bellow" - ummmm I can't find a table below this one just has me stumped - doe

More coming on this one - watch this space.

Originally posted by trancejeremy
"During each round in which a Huge (or larger) doom strider moves, it expends energy points. Medium or Large doom striders must expend 1 energy point per movement action taken during a round. A Huge doom strider burns 2 energy points per movement, a Gargantuan doom srider burns 3 energy points, and a Colossal doom strider burns 4 energy points for every movement action taken."

Besides the contradiction (saying Huge doom striders expend energy points, then giving a point cost for medium and large, so actually all of them do), doesn't this put them on an awfully short leash?

I mean, for instance, the "Faithful" Doom Strider is Colossal and has a energy capacity of 20. So that seems to me to mean that it can only move all of 5 rds ( a total of 150 feet) before it's fuel tank is dry.

You're right - all doom strider's pay to move, at all times. This is an error in the text and the point costs listed following the erroneous sentence are correct.


Doom Strider error/clarification checks

Page 17, Repairs, Component Repairs, 1st paragraph, last sentence: Change “Putting it together (page 6)” to “page 23”.

Page 19, Bone, “Bone increases amount of energy produced by vampire engines by 25%”: Does this mean that you get 1.25 energy points per hit point converted, or does it mean that it inflicts 1d8 x 1.25 hit points when recharging.

Page 21, Table 2, Row “Medium”, Column “Min Size”: Change “Small” to “Medium”.

Page 17, Salvage, 2nd paragraph, 2nd sentence, “… or an appropriate doom strider repair facility (see below).”: Where are the rules for “repair facilities”?

Page 23, Craft (Doom Strider), 1st paragraph: Making Doom Striders requires huge numbers of assistants under these rules. For example:
Medium Torso + 2 Medium Arms + 2 Medium Legs = 64,000 gp = 12.8 assistants
Medium Torso + 2 Large Arms + 2 Large Legs = 84,000 gp = 16.8 assistants
Colossal Torso + Colossal Head + 2 Colossal Arms + 6 Colossal Legs or Tails = 570,000 gp = 114 assistant.

Page 24, Table 5: Abilities, Speed: Change “Movement and Movement Rates, below” to “Speed, pages. 62-63”.

Page 25, The Doom Strider’s Abilities, 2nd sentence: Change “consult the table below” to “consult Table 5: Abilities”.

Page 25, The Doom Strider’s Abilities, last sentence: “Blood batteries” mentioned here is not described elsewhere in the book.

Page 26-27, Avoidance System: Need to clarify game effects when “activated”. Example: does this mean it automatically makes all Reflex saves?

Page 28, Dragonscale Armor, Blue Dragonscale: What is the duration of the lightning ability per 2 energy points?

Page 28, Dragonscale Armor, Red Dragonscale: Does the heat generation ability cost energy points, and what is the duraction?

Page 26, Table 6, Reinforced Infrastructure: What are the slot costs for Doom Striders smaller than Huge? Presumably 1.

Page 35, Climbing Rig, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence: Where is the information on Doom Strider weights and structures that can support them, that are referenced here?

Page 35, Table 8, Limb Extender: What determines the number of slots used (2 or 3)?

Page 36, Detection Lamps, 3rd paragraph: This says the energy cost is one energy point per minute, which contradicts Table 8’s one energy point per 5 minutes.

Page 39, Power Coupling, last paragraph, last sentence: What is “bottled lightning”, since it is not mentioned in power sources section? What hand-held devices are being referred to in that sentence?

Page 39, Powered Torches, 1st paragraph, last sentence: The energy cost here (1 point per hour) contradicts Table 8 (1 energy point per round).

Page 40, Spellcasting Array, last paragraph, last sentence: The energy cost here (1 energy point) contradicts Table 8 (1 energy point per level of spell cast).

Page 40, Strider Linkages: Is there a range limit? Do the Remote Controls on page 34 have a range limit?

Page 40-41, Targeting Beam, 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence: The energy cost here (2 energy point) contradicts Table 8 (1 energy point).

Page 42, Temple Banner, 2nd paragraph: The energy cost here (2 energy points per 5 minutes) contradicts Table 8 (2 energy points per round).

Page 42, Temple Banner: On page 66, left column, second bullet point, it says that a Temple Banner is needed for turning or rebuking undead. Does a Temple Banner augment this like a Spellcasting Array? If so, what are the game effects?

Page 42, Table 9, Vamipiric Translator, Colossal, Costs: Compare with other costs. There appears to be a typo. Perhaps it should be “60,000”. Ths would make it match the Table at end of Vampiric Translator description.

Page 43, Arcanofurnace, 3rd paragraph: When transforming spell energy, is the caster completely preoccupied during this process? Example: A spellcaster sends a 6th level spell into his small Arcanofurnace. Can he get back to fighting or moving on the 2nd round while the Arcanofurnace is digesting the spell, or is he stuck slowly feeding the Arcanofurnace for all 6 rounds.

Page 44, Channel Receptor, 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence: It refers to a “large channel receptor” which contradicts Table 9, which only has one size for a Channel Receptor.

Page 44, Channel Receptor, 3rd paragraph, 3rd sentence: Given that Table 9 only has one Channel Receptor (2 slots), the example is incorrect since it can only receive a maximum of 2 points of energy.

Page 44-46, Prayer Engine, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence: What does this sentence mean in game terms? Does it mean that a worshippers of the designated diety counts even if they are passive (asleep or unconscious) and allied faiths only count if they are actively praying to power the doom strider?

Page 44-46, Prayer Engine, 2nd paragraph: The paragraph appears to not match what is given on Table 9, which only has one Prayer Engine listed. Even if it was assumed that the Arcanofurnace information on Table 9 were used instead, the example given needs to be corrected: large prayer engine would have a capacity of 20 if a follower operated it, or 25 if a priest or paladin operated it. If that is correct, then the 2nd paragraph might be re-written to something like: “ Prayer Engines has the same statistics as Arcanofurnaces with some modifications. The Captain must be at least a devout follower of the designated deity for it to function. A devout follower gets a +5 bonus to the capacity. A holy warrior or priest gets a +10 bonus to the capacity.”

Page 44-46, Prayer Engine: Add “Imbue with Spell Ability” to the last line of the description for Prayer Engine creation requirements to match information from the first paragraph, fourth sentence.

Page 48, Table 10:
Blizzard Thrower: Missing ammo cost.
Chain Cannon: Missing ammo cost.
Shell, Concussion: Why does it have a number for ammo capacity when the other ammo does not?

Page 49, Conventional Weapons, Mounted: What is the ammo capacity of mounted missile weapons?

Page 50, Conventional Weapons, Unmounted, 2nd paragraph, Falchion Example: Exchange “colossal” and “gargantuan”.

Page 53, Lash Hammer: Since it is used as a kind of area effect weapon, does the user get to ignore the size penalties that come with using a big Doom Strider?

Page 54, Shard Cannon:
May need to explicitly say whether or not each use drains a charge as in the Corrosive Cannon.
Can a spellcaster with the fireball spell and Spellcasting Array be used instead of a fireball wand in the same manner as done in the case of the Corrosive Cannon?

Page 54, Shell, Shatter: It is missing an entry on Table 10: Weapons, page 48.

Page 58, Vine Clot Bolt, first paragraph, last sentence: Is the reference “falling over” on page 62 referring to “stumbling and going to its knees” on page 63, second paragraph, or does it refer to something else?

Page 58, Water Cannon, 2nd paragraph, last sentence: The critical hit damage example need to be changed to “12d4” to match the information given on Table 10, page 48.

Page 58, Wyrm Throat, last paragraph: Delete or revise everything after the third sentence, since they confuse “reload time” (loading in a new rack/clip of ammo) with “rate of fire” (“chambering in a new round” from the rack/clip).

Page 61-62, Damage without a Captain, 3rd sentence: Where is the referenced table for the hit points of a Doom Strider without a captain?

Page 68, Weapon Attacks and Reach, 4th paragraph, last sentence: Does this sentence mean that Table 10, page 48, needs to revise Energy costs for Beak, Grappling Limb, and Shudder Fist?

Page 72-73, The Binding, 3rd and 4th paragraphs: How does the Remote Controls (page 34) affect the catastrophic effects described here?

Page 73, Nature of the Bond, 2nd sentence: Where is the anti-magic section referenced here?

-----

For a little extrs bonus:

To make Vampiric Engines practical, have the Captain or other crew member get this little magic item described in "Crafty D20 Crafts" on the internet:

Thing of Cheap and Fast Healing: Wondrous slot item (such as a vest) which casts the 0-level spell "Cure Minor Wounds". Use activated. It lists the cost as 950 gp, but this should be double-checked and see whether the costs can be reduced further by making it so that only works for certin classes or alignments or even individual.

Since it need to be activated it is not very useful in battle (unless it being used by one of the crew who serves as the fuel and is not doing anything else), but it allows for an effectively unlimited power source otherwise, only exceeded by a Prayer Engine able to use passive faith energies.

-----

Adventure classes note:

Previously I thought at first glance that Fighters would be the best Captains. Now I suspect that the overall best Captains would be: Druids and Ranger first; Bard, Clerics, Monks and Paladins second; Rogues, Sorcerors and Wizards third.

For those who take the Doom Strider Captain prestige class, the better ones are: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Paladin and Rogue. In some cases this might bump those in second to first.

The best one for the Master Engineer prestige class appears to be the Rogue.




Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeGKushner When going through it to construct a doom strider, I had some problems.

Here are some solutions:
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeGKushner Avoidance Systems has no game effects. (pg. 26-27)

Replace the second-to-last paragraph in the description with this:

Once activated, the avoidance system makes the doom strider leap, duck, and perform other evasive maneuvers for the remainder of the round, or until the captain's next action, whichever occurs later. During this time, it is unable to make attacks, move, or perform any other action. While active, the avoidance system provides a +6 dodge bonus to the doom strider's AC and a +4 bonus to all Reflex saves the Doom Strider must make.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeGKushner Dragonscale costs are variable but not listed (pg 26)

Here are the per slot costs for dragonscale armor, by dragon type:

Blue - 2000
Red - 2000
Silver - 1750
Bronze - 1500
Copper - 1500
Black - 1250
Gold - 1250
Green - 1250
White - 1250
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeGKushner Vampiric Translator on pg 42 is 600,000 gp and on pg 46, 60,000. I'd probably go with the latter.

Go with 60,000. 600,000 is the result of a clumsy finger putting an extra 0 in there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeGKushner Doom Strider groups are suppoed to have a preferred list of doom striders but I can't find it.

Here's the list of doom strider crewmen and their preferred doom strider:

Reiella - Witchbane
Hundrag - Blackhammer
Shock - Shocklance
Fear - Fearnaught

Payce - Blood Deva
Crayn - Storm Runner
Raysa - Angel Crush
Tayger -Strike Archon

Polosian - Crasher
Maniris - Tomb Seeker

Calius and Candida - Scion
Braginos - Star Leaper
Lucisia - Faithful
Pondol - Invictus
Tasos - Beast

Sarndilar - Crypt Warden
Gutripper - Crusher
Darnol - Shadowslice
Haros - Steel Rain

Gakin - Bolter
Turko - Seeker
Yace - Thunderbelly
Fosora - Eldritch Thorn

 

[GameWyrd]

High fantasy meets mech. My first impressions, based largely on artwork, was of Zoids meets anime. I think Zoids haven't quite died off yet so hopefully I'm not the only one who remembers them.

In other words we're talking about great big suits of armour which are driven, rather than worn, by a captain and sometime a crew, animated by mechanics and powered by magic.

As the book itself points out - it's a logical step for a high magic and decent technological society to make. If you have wizards who can create golems and artisans who might even be able to make printing presses, perhaps gun powder, certainly impressive mechanical traps and catapults then surely the two can come together. How about animating a catapult so it fired itself on the wizard's command? How about using a fireball to light a furnace? It all sounds possible. It doesn't sound easy but it sounds possible.

As Doom Striders points out - it is possible but it's not easy. This book would be useless if it simply gave us some examples of Doom Striders and then rules to use them. Fortunately we're not in that situation, neither Bastion Press nor Sam Witt would do that to us. The strength of Doom Striders, indeed the point of Doom Striders, is the construction rules.

There are two aspects to Doom Strider construction; the campaign world side and the mechanics.

It takes a great deal of money to build a Doom Strider and needs a lot of resources. It's pretty hard doing this secretly and you're rather vulnerable while you build. If you're building a magically powered, humanoid, dangerous battering ram then the army stationed in the nearby castle is likely to want to have words with you. If you're building a Doom Strider at all then you'll draw the attention of the local authorities. There's a whole plot here, in fact, this could be a campaign. Can the group get the Doom Strider built? The actual campaign world implications of building these creations are up to the DM - but the discussion is needed and welcomed.

The mechanics of the Doom Striders creation are important. If the mechanics were horribly wrong then the whole book would misfire. What we're actually given in Doom Striders is a decent set of mechanics. There's nothing that knocks my socks off here but there's nothing that makes me sigh, close the book and decide to do it myself. It's all about finding the sexiest materials (adamantine, sanctified silver, red dragon scale, etc) and efficient ways to power the huge device (a prayer engine, vampire harness or an arcanofurnace, etc) and fancy weapons on a suitable scale. Generally big is tempting; with a big Doom Strider you'll be able to go for all the mod-cons and fancy weapons, but you'll have to throw gold mountain after gold mountain into the project until the engineers and techno-mages get the designs and construction right.

If some of this - perhaps the magic-technology - sounds familiar then you might be thinking of the Bastion Press produced and Sam Witt penned Airships. In truth Airships is significantly better than Doom Striders but also a welcome companion. The two books are better for one another.

Doom Striders don't tend to do well in dungeons. I suppose you could use the little toe of the biggest Doom Striders to knock down the dungeon door (or what about digging straight down to the loot?). The smallest Doom Striders are barely any good in the typical dungeon crawl or confined space because they'll be lucky if they can raise a weapon or turn around. No, Doom Striders are about castle sieges, battles against hobgoblin hordes or magical melees with angry dragons. There are suitable new combat rules for our Doom Striders. A Doom Strider with a weapon mounted on its tail, for example, has a bonus of +5 feet to its reach. How's this for a helpful suggestion? We might want to use bigger squares on our battle grids for the giant Doom Striders!

It's the captain who is mystically bonded to the Doom Strider. The captain has ultimate control of the war device. This is one of the few occasions this year that I've thought to myself... oh, we need a prestige class. Disappointingly the Doom Strider Captain isn't a career PrC. That's to say there are only five levels of this class and you can qualify for it well before your 15th level. The Master Engineer is the other prestige class offered by the book and again it's only a 5 level quickie.

This is a 128-paged book (black and white, fairly large text and fairly spaced lines too, for the respectable US $22.95) but we're almost done by page 80. The remaining chapter, Allies & Adversaries, looks at "NPC" Doom Strider companies and key NPCs in them. We don't really need this (and I don't really want it) but it does give us a good excuse for nice artwork and does offer a nice way to include already designed Doom Striders. The last collection of pages does nothing other than show off illustrations - this is a visual book for a cinematic fantasy concept.

Yeah, Doom Striders works but doesn't wow. If you want magical mechs in your game then Doom Striders is a good option for you. I'm not convinced that the book would persuade you to include them in your campaign if you weren't already tempted (unlike Airships were you were left willing to re-write and ret-con until you had them in your game).

* This Doom Striders review was first posted at GameWyrd.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I love the concept of Doom Striders. I'm a big fan of Escaflowne and a few other anime/manga series. I loved Airships. The problems I had with this book were the mechanical ones. I can't tell based on your review how you found the mechanics in the book as opposed to the idea in them. Could you elaborate on that aspect a little?

 

[Vaxalon]

"The mechanics of the Doom Striders creation are important. If the mechanics were horribly wrong then the whole book would misfire. What we're actually given in Doom Striders is a decent set of mechanics. There's nothing that knocks my socks off here but there's nothing that makes me sigh, close the book and decide to do it myself."

Did you miss that part?

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Initiative Round
Doom Striders is a 128-page sourcebook published by Bastion Press . The author is Sam Witt. The cover is by Kari Christensen and features two doom striders locked in mortal combat and it is available for $22.95.

Doom Striders is the next in Bastion Press’ series of fantastic ideas to use in your D&D game. Much like Airships, Doom Striders crosses genre to bring the towering menace of Mechwarriors to your game. These are not the laser and rocket spitting metal giants that you associate with Mechs, but wood and metal vehicles that can wield swords and spells like a giant golem. The introduction suggests that Doom Striders are a natural evolution of arms development technology on a magic driven world, evolving from golems and magical armors. Much like Spelljammers, a Doom Strider is controlled by a pilot or captain who provides either motive or fuel to power the vehicle.

Chapter one involves your campaign and how to introduce the Doom Strider to it. This is accomplished by suggesting various scenarios where an arms evolution might take place or an enlightened community where mages, inventors or master smiths might be advancing their knowledge in this field with experiments or a military necessity in an arms escalation. This is also presuming upon a later period of play where clockwork automation or a Steampunk atmosphere is prevalent in the campaign. It isn’t a requirement but makes more sense as far as a logical continuity. The development of this kind of system is costly in magic, material and other resources. Keeping this a secret is a major undertaking if it is needed to be so. The drain on materials and manpower is enormous. The existence of Doom Striders should be treated with the same reaction as the world had to the existence of atom bombs at the end of World War II. If a nation does not foot the bill of creating the Doom Strider then the cost falls falling on the captain and crew who are essentially privateers working for the highest builder although they tend to be more loyal or patriotic than mercenaries who are also discussed. The details of operating a unit of Doom Striders, finding work, selling services, reputation, and contracts are covered. Other factors include expenses; salvage rights and maintenance are also included. This includes the cost of breakdowns, repair and salvaging from downed Doom Striders.

Construction factors are the focus of chapter two. This chapter is filled with charts on construction material, size, abilities, armor & defenses, controls, miscellaneous augmentations, energy sources and weapons & accessories. Many esoteric materials are used for Doom Strider construction, from exotic woods and metals to bone and other necrotic tissue. The modifiers for using each of the factors are included in both the charts and the more detailed descriptions that follow. Doom Striders must be at least medium in size and can be constructed to colossal size. A new Craft [Doom Striders] skill is then introduced. The abilities of a Doom Strider include Hit Points, Initiative, Speed, Armor Class, Attacks/Damage, Saves and the Ability Scores of the Captain. Defenses include things like Avoidance systems and Spiked, Dragonscale or Ablative Armors. Controls range from mechanical to mental or organic controls. Augmentations such as Passenger Platforms and Strength boosters can be added. Doom Striders can be powered in a number of ways such as Arcanofurnaces, Prayer Engines and Vampiric Harnesses. Weapons also run a large gamut of magical and physical effects from enchanted weapons to Blizzard, Fire and Lightning Projectors

Chapter three discusses Doom Strider combat factors. Tracking energy consumption and using a battle grid are important factors in this style of combat. DMs and players familiar with Battletech or Mechwarrior know this but users new to this style of play may want to pick up one of those products to become familiar with it as well. It’s not required, just a suggestion. Combat stats and attack, initiative and damage are handled just like in normal combat. Damage may be directed to the head torso or limbs of a Doom Strider and damage to specific areas may become devastating, such as the energy source becoming destroyed, releasing the remaining energy points of the Doom Strider in a blast of magic energy. If the captain becomes unconscious or killed the Doom Strider is also in serious trouble. Larger Striders with crews or passengers may be able to recover or repair the damage. Weapons and spells may be used as normal actions. Movement is handled by the Doom Striders movement rate and cannot be altered without supplemental movement options added to the Strider. Full round actions are in many ways similar to a character’s full round action and these options are listed also. Weapon attacks, magically powered weapons and spellcasting are covered along with special maneuvers here too. Mass combat rules are essential here. Doom Striders are intended for wading into battle lines of orcs or goblins.

The captain and crew are featured in chapter four. The captain is the only required position on a Doom Strider. Of course, a medium sized Strider would only have room for one being, but colossal Striders may have extensive crews of engineers, pilots and weaponeers on board. The captain, however, is linked to the Doom Strider and his death or the destruction of the Strider proves fatal in both directions. Seven new feats are given for Doom Strider use including Natural Pilot, Scavenger and Hardened. Three new skills are also presented here. These are all Profession skills concerning a Doom Strider like pilot or engineer. Prestige classes such as Doom Strider Captain and Master Engineer are given.

Chapter five deals in sample crews and mercenary groups entitled Allies & Adversaries. These crews and groups include biography and stat blocks of the characters, Doom Strider(s) and history and goals of the groups. Groups like the Witch Hunters and Lost Angels are samples of two of the companies. The Witch Hunters hunt and destroy mages while the Lost Angels seek revenge on the deaths of their parents by Doom Striders. The Banshees are dungeon explorers. Each of these groups has very different motivations and Doom Striders. The remainder of the book gives Doom Strider designs on Doom Strider sheets wrapping up with some blank sheets to design your own style of Doom Strider.

Critical Hit
Doom Striders goes a long way in genre-crossing action, making the worlds of D&D and Battletech or Mechwarrior work within one another. It also combines many elements of the Steampunk genre into the mix. This would work well in Privateer Press’ Iron Kingdoms setting or with Fantasy Flight Game’s Sorcery & Steam products. With its high end technology or even Renaissance magic system it would not sit well in a low-magic or early medieval period setting games. They could however become a method to bring change into those genres in much the same way that the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks brought powered armor and laser swords into 1st edition D&D, thus shaking up the norm of your game and allowing big change to infect the game.

Critical Fumble
Unfortunately as great as this work is in crossing genres it is a limited style and pinions itself much as a Spelljammers or similar setting. This isn’t to say that this is bad but merely that it has limited use depending in your campaign. Epic level settings or settings like Privateer Press’ Iron Kingdoms or Bastion Press’ Oathbound may adapt well into this supplement.

Coup de Grace
Regardless of its limited use in a major game, Doom Striders is a great adaptation of the Mechwarrior genre to the D&D game. It can throw a unique dynamic into an existing party or serve to introduce new NPCs (a Doom Strider crew) to your group and bring a different tone to the game. The Doom Strider sheets are very Michelangelo-esque in nature, adding that Renaissance feel to it. While limited in application it could take your game onto new levels of playing and excitement. Just developing the technology for the Striders could become months of searching and questing for the materials to even construct one or defeat one. Like Airships, this is for the adventurous DM to introduce to his campaign. It won’t work well in all settings but on a limited use or high to epic level, makes for a magnificent challenge.

Final Grade: B+