The Black Company (aka Rawr, the Lady)

[drothgery]

Okay, here's my first crack at a 'leveled template' for BC universe spellcasters. It's mostly to add the 'insanely hard to kill' aspect to the normally frail wizard.

Note: I don't think there's any substantitive difference in abilities between the Taken and the characters of similar power who weren't ever Taken (i.e. Longshadow, Bomanz, Tobo, and those of the Circle of 18 who were never Taken.)

Sor/Wiz levels -> Powers
1-4 -> Slow Aging*, Toughness
5-9 -> Evasion, Iron Will, Dwarf's Toughness#
10-14 -> Timeless Body, Great Fortitude, Giant's Toughness#
15+ -> Remain Concious**, Dragon's Toughness#

* As per channelers in the Wheel of Time RPG; age 1 year for every (Sor level + Wiz level)/2 years.
** As per Sword and Fist, can take one partial action/rnd between 0 and -10 HPs
# As per Master's of the Wild; ignore the pre-requisites

ECL: +1/level of the template

 

[hellbender]

Just a couple of thoughts on the project:

Having shepherded the Middle Earth d20 conversion site into being (link in my sig), I can tell you that trying to duke it out over what is the "one way to rule them all" will bog the project down. The way to do it, in my opinion, is to accept that there will be as many interpretations of the source material as there are readers. Then, encourage everyone to post their interpretations.

Another way to give the project some momentum, I feel, would be for someone to start posting hard stats for their conversion interpretations. Even if they're not perfect, post 'em. This is the place to get 'em critiqued and have the bugs shaken out.

That is a great idea and I hope to see people's conversions here (or on the list) as a way to keep this project afloat. I am looking for suitable space for a website to archive all the Black Company campaign ideas, probably on escalix as it doesn't have too many popups.

hellbender

 

[hellbender]

Okay, here's my first crack at a 'leveled template' for BC universe spellcasters. It's mostly to add the 'insanely hard to kill' aspect to the normally frail wizard.

Note: I don't think there's any substantitive difference in abilities between the Taken and the characters of similar power who weren't ever Taken (i.e. Longshadow, Bomanz, Tobo, and those of the Circle of 18 who were never Taken.)

Sor/Wiz levels -> Powers
1-4 -> Slow Aging*, Toughness
5-9 -> Evasion, Iron Will, Dwarf's Toughness#
10-14 -> Timeless Body, Great Fortitude, Giant's Toughness#
15+ -> Remain Concious**, Dragon's Toughness#

* As per channelers in the Wheel of Time RPG; age 1 year for every (Sor level + Wiz level)/2 years.
** As per Sword and Fist, can take one partial action/rnd between 0 and -10 HPs
# As per Master's of the Wild; ignore the pre-requisites

ECL: +1/level of the template

Considering the dark and gritty nature of the Black Company universe, this seems a very reasonable template to use on sorcerors and wizards in a BC-themed game. Life is cheap, and the world is harsh and unforgiving.

hellbender

 

[Black Omega]

Considering the dark and gritty nature of the Black Company universe, this seems a very reasonable template to use on sorcerors and wizards in a BC-themed game. Life is cheap, and the world is harsh and unforgiving.

All more or less true for normal people. But magic users in BC routinely show they can take far more damage than any normal person. No matter what the magic user, they take alot more killing than a simple fighter.

 

[hellbender]

All more or less true for normal people. But magic users in BC routinely show they can take far more damage than any normal person. No matter what the magic user, they take alot more killing than a simple fighter.

Very true. And moreso than an average fighter, magic users are walking targets as through fear or competition (and smarts on the side of the foe) they are the ones that people to go after and try to take out. A good reason would be that it is hard to gauge the power of a magic user and you never know when you are going to have shadow creatures gnawing on your leg or a nest of mad hornets on your noggin.

hellbender

 

[barsoomcore]

You never know when the you are going to have shadow creatures gnawing on your leg or a nest of mad hornets on your noggin.

I always have mad hornets on my noggin. That's where I keep them.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

All more or less true for normal people. But magic users in BC routinely show they can take far more damage than any normal person. No matter what the magic user, they take alot more killing than a simple fighter.

Perhaps Damage Reduction?

 

[Rackhir]

Perhaps Damage Reduction?

DR is not a good mechanisim. Since it represents, effectively not being harmed by damage. The Taken and such are clearly harmed and slowed down by the damage.

I think they also need some mechanisim for progressive diminishment of effectiveness. The traditional D&D "Fight Perfectly Until You Hit -1 and Then Drop" mechanisim does not fit these people very well.

 

[barsoomcore]

The traditional D&D "Fight Perfectly Until You Hit -1 and Then Drop" mechanisim does not fit these people very well.

Not so sure about that -- the Limper was plenty fiesty till they finally finished him off. As was the forvalaka (any and all versions).

Lots of last-minute desperate surges of energy, anyways.

 

[Limper]

Through out the BC books many of the spell wielders have a greatly extended life span, however there is no pattern between the Power of the caster and his level of aging, so this is my take on how I’d handle it if I were writing the world up. I prefer accuracy over balance… (but my views of balance are for another thread).

I figured that this would scale such that a higher order caster would get more benefit from it… the balancing factor, such as it is, is how much the caster wishes to invest in their youth.


Avert Aging
Necromancy
Level: Wiz/ Sorc 2
Components: V, S, Xp
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Personal
Targets: Caster
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (not harmful)
Spell Resistance: Yes

By casting this short but useful ritual a caster may avert the effects of aging for a period of time equal to 12 hours… but at a price. It costs 200 xps to cast the spell this cost is divided by the casters level. Thus you have to cast it twice per day. This is the full package deal for not aging… physically you don’t age as well as the time spent under the spell does not count against your max age allotment.




Now as to the tendency for the big bad's of the BC world not going down at below 0 hps... I'd use a version of the Al-Quadim spell which allowed you to hide your life force, thus making you imune to death by damage... you were however hindered by being chopped all to pieces. For a BC version I'd have to say you'd need a surgeon to repair MAJOR damage (like decapitation) and include a version of the Repair cantrip which could be used slowly to repair the scarring caused.