You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8148374" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/7kXMJTm.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="https://i.imgur.com/i32bnnH.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Chapter 8: Equipment & VehiclesOld vs New: To the latest version’s credit, it does have a lot of fancy new full-page artwork (resized for ease of display on certain forums). Unfortunately a lot of it isn’t always contextual to the relevant chapters at hand.This relatively brief chapter covers the new innovations of Imaria that may not be found in your typical D&D world. We first open up to how the fall of Iltheria caused a breakdown in infrastructure, and most people in Krymaris use a barter system where items of immediate practicality have greater value than luxury goods. There’s no rules to simulate this besides suggesting the DM use fiat to jack up prices.We also have a Technology Chart table showing the overall rarity of equipment based on the relevant continent:<img src="https://i.imgur.com/uZfgP4D.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Everything but renik weapons are hard to come by on Krymaris and Thalagrant, Thar’Nandria is very resource-poor, Lunalia is the highest-magic realm of them all, and one can find a bit of everything in Phaelan’s Republic provided they’re not too mana-intensive.Weapons: We have a list of 18 new weapons, with 7 of them being firearms and 4 of them technically being existing PHB weapons but built with renik. To start off with the lower-tech ones, we have a nifty Boomerang (1d4 thrown weapon that returns to your hand), Bolas (no damage but reduces speed to 0), Wing Blades (put on winged creatures to let them melee attack while flying without use of hands for 1d8), Bastard Swords (like a longsword but 1d10/1d12 if in both hands but you need to have 17 Strength to wield it one-handed without suffering disadvantage), Cane Swords (1d6 but concealable), and Brass Knuckles and Scythes (1d4 and 1d8).Our 4 renik weapons include a renik shortsword, longsword, greatsword, and a Reave (which is a 1d10 polearm). The swords are identical to their steel counterparts, but have higher prices to compensate (25, 50, and 75 respectively). Additionally, they deal 1d4 bonus damage to spellcasters and any spellcaster that wields them suffers the Poisoned condition, even if they’d be immune to the conditionNow for the firearms! Guns in Imaria are modeled off of real-world Age of Sail variants, meaning that they need black powder and pellets to fire. Bayonets can be attached to the end of them, dealing 1d8 piercing for the low price of 5 gold. Firearms have several special rules: their ammunition cannot be retrieved after being shot, their loudness makes it easy for creatures to notice the shooter’s presence (+10 to +20 on relevant Perception checks), and they suffer Misfire which is basically a Critical Fumble. Each firearm has its own Misfire chance, ranging from a natural 1 to as much as a natural 1-4. Misfires not only auto-miss, the gun jams and require an hour’s worth of maintenance to put them back into working order.All that said, firearms, are pretty good damage dealers. The humble flintlock pistol deals 1d8 piercing, while a repeater pistol deals 1d12 and can fire up to 4 times before reloading. The Arquebus and its double-barreled variety deal 2d10, while the Blunderbuss deals 2d8 in a 15 foot AoE cone (d20 is rolled for misfire purposes, but enemies must make a Dexterity save to avoid damage). Finally, the impressive Handcannon deals a whopping 4d10 damage but requires its own special ammunition of small cannonballs which can hit multiple targets in a line. Additionally it deals double damage to objects and advantage on attack rolls vs stationary objects.Countering their high damage rates are their expense and relatively short range. Even the Arequebus has a 50/150 range and it’s the longest-ranged one in the book. Even the flintlock is 50 gold pieces minimum, with others ranging from 100 to 400 gp. Due to these setbacks, I can’t see firearms being a common choice save for damage-dealing builds and Black Powder Rangers.Old vs New: The Handcannon originally dealt a whopping 8d6 damage.Armour: We have 4 new sets of armor and 2 new shields! The Gun Vest has AC 11 + Dexterity and gives multiple holsters for firearms, but is a costly 150 gold pieces. Given that said armor has no special rules for drawing firearms faster, it’s clearly a waste in comparison to leather armor. Chitin Half-Plate and Chitin Plate are Light and Medium Armors fashioned from the shells of Mantideans. They are very lightweight and provide good AC values for their category (13 + Dex mod and 16 + Dex mod [max +2] respectively), but are appropriately pricey at 250 and 1,000 gold pieces respectively. The heavy Crystalline Plate functions as normal plate armor, save that it requires an 18 Strength to wear properly, and can reduce enemy ranged attacks that deal energy damage by 1d10 + half the wearer’s level on a reaction. It doesn’t say how level is determined when NPCs wear it; is it based off of their Challenge Rating or Hit Dice?For the Shields, we have a Shoulder Pad that grants +1 AC but requires 17 Strength, cannot stack with other shields, and can be wielded while keeping one’s hands free. The Leporine Tower Shield is a big shield sized for Small creatures. For them it grants +3 AC and can give half-cover against ranged attacks via spending a reaction. For Medium and larger creatures it uses the stats for a normal shield. Both shield types cost 50 gold pieces.Old vs New: Chitin Plate originally had 1 more point of AC.Adventuring Gear: This covers a bunch of miscellaneous material, including gunpowder and pellets. We also have a Black Powder Bomb not under Weapons strangely enough, but it is lit via a wick and can deal 4d6 damage (half fire, half bludgeoning) in a 10 foot radius. Stonebite arrows are a unique type of ammunition that can stick into stone and wood objects, capable of supporting up to 300 pounds of weight. Bloodline Coins are literally priceless and can be given to a Blooded human in order to call in a favor within reason, and are given by said Blooded houses as rewards for good deeds. Spidersilk Bandages grant advantage on Medicine rolls in stabilizing targets, and allow one to heal 1d8 bonus hit points during a short rest. Finally we have enhanced versions of existing gear, such as Lunalian Rope which can hold up to 1,000 pounds without breaking, Thar’Nandian Oil which burns twice as long and right as regular oil, and Waterproof lanterns and containers.Old vs New: At the end of Adventuring Gear we used to have a table of sample trade goods to better emulate a barter system. We even had sample gold piece prices for animals you typically don’t see in D&D settings such as a moose (1,000), an ostrich (5) a llama (10), and a capybara (1)!Artifacts & Relics: This single-page section has 4 unique items of Imaria. The Emperor’s Blade is a non-magical yet masterfully crafted longsword that grants +3 on attack and damage rolls, advantage on Drain Mana attempts, and allows Iltherian Knights to store an additional 10 renik charges on top of what they can ordinarily store in the blade. The Lajatang is a Tha’Nandrian spear that makes one immune to the Blinded and Stun Conditions and can grant advantage on an attack roll once per short rest. The Monocle of Insith* grants the wearer Truesight for 10 minutes once per day. Finally, the notable Wyrmhewers are renik greataxes forged by the Iltherians to kill dragons and other large magical creatures. They grant +1 to attack and damage rolls, and +3 additional damage vs Larger and bigger creatures.*Insith is never mentioned again or detailed identity-wise in this book.Old vs New: Four artifacts did not make the final cut. Amber Fang is a magical sword once owned by a Lynnvander hero, granting auto-successes on all death saving throws, +3 to attack and damage, and Mana Drains which target the sword suffer disadvantage. The Diamond Skull grants advantage on all rolls targeted to the organization’s members, grants immunity to aging, and if the wielder is slain they will revive later by DM Fiat. The Gauntlets of Cyrus are in the current possession of a famous Silver Sword member of the same name, granting +2 to the wielder’s Strength but making them incapable of telling direction falsehoods. But lies of omissions are A-OK!. Finally, Night’s Kiss is a sword that vibrates in and out of reality, granting +3 to damage (but not attack apparently) and any target who takes 10 or more damage is knocked Prone on a failed Strength save.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/4lhKxxF.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Airships: Exclusive to the Lunalians, mana crystals unique to the floating islands are used in the process of creating these vehicles to make them effectively lighter than air. An airship’s mana crystals are recharged via exposure to ley lines, allowing them to function for long periods provided that the pilot doesn’t spend too long in mana-poor areas. Additionally, mana crystals are magic items of their own, capable of being powered by the expenditure of spell slots (or necrotic damage and exhaustion in desperate circumstances) and a caster can draw their power out to restore their own spell slots. Crystals which are fully drained are destroyed, so care is needed. When built into an airship, these spell slots can be spent to use special abilities.We have 2 different airship stats: the Scout is a common vessel for subtle travel and maneuverability, and as such are favored by pirates. It’s a rather hefty airship: Hugesize , 500 HP, and crew of 5, and 10 max passengers. It can store up to 40 spell slots, which can be used to take off from land, increase their flying speed, perform the Dodge action, shoot elemental cannons (4d6 damage of a specific energy type), and ramming and sideswipe attacks (cost no slots but are the ship’s melee attacks). The Man-of-War is a veritable dreadnought at Gargantuansize , 2,000 HP, a crew of 25, and 50 max passengers. It can store up to 105 spell slots, has the same abilities as a Scout but does more damage, and it has a special Hellfire Cannon that can do 8d8 fire damage in a 20 foot radius of a targeted point. In spite of the LUNALIAN ONLY policy we do have prices for both airships: 15k and 40k gp respectively.Old vs New: The Man-of-War was originally called the Moon Slayer. Said term in the current version is now the name for a new monster in the next chapter.Old vs New: Most of the equipment is nothing to write home about. However I am a fan of the airships, and think that more D&D settings should have them. The rules for mana crystals and special moves and attacks for airship combat is a nice touch, and can give non-pilot spellcasters feel useful by restoring said crystals’ spell slots. I’m not very fond of the firearm rules; it seems a common trend among D&D writers who grudgingly make guns an option to nerf them so much that using a bow is better in most circumstances. I do understand that D&D takes place at a relative technology level when firearms were in their infancy, but there are many other anachronisms and <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SchizoTech" target="_blank">Schizo Tech</a> in such settings that it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.Join us next time as we wrap up this book in Chapter 9: DM’s Toolbox!</blockquote>

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