Playable Species: Goblins for LotFP

Goblins

Goblins are tiny, crazed, insane, chaotic, murdering, backstabbing, comical, curious, silly, monstrous, evil, cute, criminal, cowardly, conniving, deadly, sneaky, scheming, little people who have few friends but are sometimes generally loyal to those friends for at least some of the time.
Goblins are considered a plague by most other sentient species, much like locusts, but this mostly unfair propaganda and hearsay.
Goblins are a type of Faerie, and as such, tend to be treated as “special” cousins to other faerie folk. While goblins may be invited to faerie parties as individuals, faeries will always politely decline invitations to goblin parties. They are more tied to this world than most other faerie, and so do not have the innate magical powers enjoyed by most other types of faerie.
Goblins will eat just about anything, having stomachs capable of breaking down the most rotten and vile organic matter. They are also often the carriers of disease, due to their scavenging and lack of hygiene habits.
Goblins procreate at every given opportunity, and female gestation periods are very short; only a few months, and they usually produce d4 children at a time.
Goblins aren’t particularly interested in building things, unless they directly help the goblin achieve an immediate goal. Like, goblins won’t build catapults to defend their villages from possible future attack, but will build them to launch themselves over fortifications that get in their way.
Lastly, goblins are mostly nocturnal creatures, who live in the darkest forests and in natural cave systems, or mines they’ve taken over from other beings.
Hit Die: d6
Alignment: Chaotic (while most non-magical sentients are Neutral in alignment, goblins exist
Saves: Fortitude: 16, Reflex: 15, Willpower: 18, and these decrease by 2 every four levels. Or use the saves as an LotFP Specialist.
Abilities: +1 To Hit at first level. Can see in the dark, but is -1 on all rolls in daylight.
Experience: As LotFP Halfling
Level Up: Roll once on the table at first level and every level afterwards. Young, inexperienced goblins tend to be more level-headed and easier to get along with than older goblins. This table is based on the work of Joseph Manola and his blog post:
  1. Tinkerer: You love fiddling with things, especially when you have a specific goal in mind. Whether it is deactivating a trap, cracking a safe, designing a hot air balloon made from hundreds of giant spider bladders… you get a +1 to Tinker skill.
  2. Beast Affinity: Pick one of the following creatures: giant bat, giant rat, giant spider, or wolf. You have an intuitive rapport with such creatures, and they won’t attack you except in self-defence or when really, really hungry. If you encounter such a creature with a number of hit dice equal to or less than your own, you can try to press it into service as a mount by spending 1d6 hours ‘taming’ it and making a Charisma roll. If you succeed, it will let you ride it for as long as you keep it well fed, but if you fail then it attacks you once and then runs off. Receive a +1 to your Charisma Mod useable only for this ability, when this is re-rolled.
  3. Biter: All those hours spent filing your teeth has finally paid off! You have a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, which you can use to chew through wood, ropes, etc. Instead of making a weapon attack, you can bite for 1d4 damage. Add a +1 to bite damage when this is re-rolled.
  4. Bouncer: You can jump a distance equal to your full height straight up from a standing start. You take half damage from falling. Add a foot to jump height whenever this is re-rolled.
  5. Coward: You know how to serpentine. You gain a +1 bonus to AC and whilst running away screaming.
  6. Crazy Reflexes: Your body constantly jerks around in unpredictable ways, giving you a +1 AC bonus.
  7. Filth Eater: You can survive on a diet of just about any kind of organic matter. You gain a +1 bonus to saves against poison and disease.
  8. Survivalist: Having spent so much time in the wilderness, you have developed a certain awareness and knowledge of the wild. You know which worms are safe to eat, and which tracks belong to scary monsters you don’t want to cross paths with. +1 to Bushcraft skill.
  9. Hyperactivity: Once per day you can go completely hyper for 1d6 rounds, moving at twice your normal speed and attacking twice per round. However, you are -1 To Hit.
  10. Lunatic: Your mind is so warped that it’s very difficult for other people to control. You gain a +1 bonus to saves against mind-affecting powers and spells. Also you are crazy, but frankly you were probably crazy already.
  11. Mimic: You can perfectly mimic the voice of anyone you have heard in the last 24 hours, but can only maintain this mimicry for a maximum of 1d6 rounds before breaking down into fits of hysterical giggling. Add 1 round every time this is rolled again.
  12. Mushroom Mystic: Pick one first-level Magic-User or Cleric spell. You can cast this spell once per day, but only while feeling the effects of a hallucinogenic drug. Rolling this result again allows you to pick a second first-level spell.
  13. Poison Spit: Your saliva is so bacteria-laden that you can envenom any edged weapon by licking the blade. The next person stabbed with it must save vs. poison or suffer 1d6 days of horrible, incapacitating sickness, which begins 1d3 hours after they are stabbed. Rolling this again makes the victim -1 to save.
  14. Rat Head: You’re a rubbery little freak, and as long as you’re not wearing inflexible armour you can squeeze your whole body through a the width of your own head.
  15. Sneak: As long as you’re not heavily burdened, you can move as soundlessly as a cat. Receive a +1 to Stealth skill. When this is re-rolled, you keep getting a +1 to Stealth, until you have 6 points in the skill. After that, you get a +1 to Sneak Attack.
  16. Spider Climb: You are a nimble climber, able to scale surfaces and angles that seem impossible to others. +1 to your Climb skill.
  17. Desecration: You love to smash things and smear your own feces all over other people’s stuff. Given 1 turn, you can permanently lower the value of everything in a 10ft square area by 10%. Rolling this again means 20%, then 30%, etc.
  18. Swarm King: You have a swarm of pet vermin of some kind (rats, spiders, centipedes, etc), which either follow you around or are carried with you in a sack. On your command they can be ordered to swarm people, who then suffer a -1 penalty to attack rolls, damage, and AC for as long as they’re covered in swarming vermin. (They don’t get a save against this, but the effect ends if they find a way of getting the swarm off them: jumping in water, for example.) You can also use them for anything else you think a swarm of vermin would be useful for, but you can’t give them any command more complex than ‘go over there’ and ‘come back’. Your swarm is big enough to engulf up to one person per level. If this is rolled again, then re-roll for a different result.
  19. Twitchy: You only sleep 1d4 hours per night, but never seem to suffer any ill effects as a result. Because of this, you are only surprised on a 1 in 6, and receive a +1 bonus to Reflex saves.
  20. Stab Frenzy: When you successfully hit someone in melee with a small or tiny weapon, you may immediately attempt to stab them again, with a -1 penalty to hit and damage; if you hit then you may attack a third time (with an additional -1 to hit and damage, for -2 total), and so on until you either miss, hit but inflict 0 damage, or kill them. You can only use this ability while screaming and gibbering incoherently. If this is rolled again, then re-roll for a different result.

Class: Yon Ape People v3

Yon Ape People

The Yon are a species of highly intelligent ape. Their society is very close-knit and orderly, with each village based around two industries; cultivating the flowering fruits their diet is based on, and tending the giant honeybee hives that form the center of each village. As village populations grow, members take a queen bee and hive materials and set out to create a new village and hive complex.
Every member of Yon society reveres bees, in fact, they worship them. The huge hive at the center of the village is also a temple where the Yon gather to pray, exchange news, and organize for work projects. The hum of the giant bees in and around the hive is soothing to the Yon and gives them a clear-headed that can’t be found away from the hive. Tending and protecting the hive, and glorifying the queen, gives the Yon purpose. It is everything to them.
But not all of them.
Some Yon do not hear the call of the bee queen. They find the hum of the hive distracting. They may have an uncharacteristic fondness for violence. They may discover that other people value gold and jewels and money, and with those things, they can become powerful in their own right. They think they’re crazy, or maybe everyone else is crazy. Either way, they leave their village as an outcast. An outcast free to adventure and make their fortune in the world. Many find quick work as warriors for hire due to their great strength and intimidating visage.

Yon Ape Adventurer

Hit Die: d8
Bonuses: +1 melee damage, +1 To Hit. Open Doors, Bushcraft, and Climb skills start at 2 in 6.
Saves: Fortitude: 16, Reflex: 17, Willpower: 16. At levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 all saves receive a +2 bonus. If using the regular LotFP saves, then the Yon saves as a Fighter.
Experience: As Dwarf
Level Up: Roll once on the following table every level after 1st.
  1. No need for armor: You have a +1 to AC in melee when you are not wearing armor, other than a helmet and/or shield.
  2. Favored Enemy: Choose an animal, monster, or sentient species. You get a +1 to hit and +1 to damage against that specific type of creature, every time this is rolled. You are also -2 on Reaction rolls with creatures of that type. You can pick anything from mosquitoes to bears to dragons to humans.
  3. Intimidate: +1 to Charisma checks to instill fear against others. Opposed check: your Charisma mod + d20 vs their Wisdom mod + d20. High roll wins. If they lose, they are immediately put in a defensive stance for d4 rounds. If they lose by 10 or more, they immediately flee.
  4. Save Bonus: +1 to all saves.
  5. Attribute Bonus: +1 to any attribute.
  6. Bonus of +1 to a skill.
  7. To Hit bonus: +1.
  8. Use two-handed weapon one handed. If re-rolled, you can wield a two-handed weapon in your off hand, as well.
  9. Defensive Stance: +1 to Armor Class, -2 to hit.
  10. Offensive Stance: +1 to hit, -2 AC.

Setting Notes: Strathos

I’ve been working on and off on a setting for a year now. Figure I should share some of what that is.

Very rough map

This is a rough map of the continent of Strathos. It is located in the southern hemisphere of the world.  The map is mainly to show a rough geographical positioning of nations and regions in relation to each other. Notice no actual geographical features like mountains, rivers, lakes, or swamps.

Geographic relations to other lands

I will describe in more detail each region on the map in later posts. For now I’ll give a brief summary. The names are all working names until I think of something better, so yeah, I know some of them are stupid.

  • Pretonia: Pretons are the oldest of the human races on Strathos. They are descendents of slaves of the Serpent Men from long ago. They still worship the Serpent Men, who they believe have ascended to the stars. Essentially stone age cave men. Pretons are monsters, essentially, who live to destroy the works of humanity. As the Nords and Hobgoblins swept through Pictland, pushing the Picts South and East, Pretonia was split in two. Pretons are based on pre-Anglo-Saxon invasion Celts.
  • Pictland: Picts are descendents of the Pretons, and are a bit more advanced culturally and technologically. They were poised to be the dominant people on the continent until two major invasions occurred. The Pict language is considered the Common tongue of the continent, and peoples and places are named in the Pict way. Pictland is a huge expanse of mostly unexplored wilderness filled with gigantic prehistoric beasts. It is much like Canada or Siberia: a vast, cold, forest with numerous rivers and lakes and mountains.
  • Yonwood is a large, forested region of impossibly tall trees. The Yon Ape Men are the dominant society here. The place is crawling with giant-sized insects, carnivorous apes, and deadly plants. The weather conditions are similar to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.
  • Mushroom Forest is an area of the Yonwood were the trees are supplanted by colossal varieties of fungus. This is where the fungoids and Needlemen come from. 
  • Nordheim: Home of the Nords, a piratical people who conquered the area a few hundred years ago. The Picts living there became serfs and slaves of the invaders. Nords are based on Vikings, with magnified stereotypes.
  • Hobland: I feel like hobgoblins have always gotten shafted in DnD; they’re described as being organized and technologically advanced, but they only appear in ragtag groups with other monsters that share nothing of their culture. Makes no sense. So this is the Great Hobgoblin Empire. Or, at least, part of it. Picts and goblins make up the lower castes of this advanced feudal society, although there is at least one human-ruled member-state of the Empire. Based on the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Icefields: The Icefields are the permafrost areas. The few people who live here hunt seals and whales. Populated by Frostmen (Fiend Folio, yo) pushed down to the bottom of the world eons ago by the pretons. There isn’t much in the way of easily exploitable natural resources, so everyone else tends to stay away.

Four Save Model instead of Archaic Model

First, what is the Archaic Model of saves? That’s what I’m calling the Save vs Poison, Death Ray, Breath Weapon, Wands, Spells, etc. Where you’re supposed to use Breath Weapon for area effects and dodging stuff, and Poison or Death Ray is for save vs Death. It’s convoluted, new players constantly have to have it explained to them, then they spend 5 minutes trying to find it on their character sheet, and it just sucks and I don’t like it.

The three save model was popularized by corporate Dungeons and Dragons, and works pretty well by simplifiying saves and therefore speeds things up. I think so, anyway.

Instead of a bunch of sort of random yet arbitrary saving throws with arbitrary values based on… what? I don’t know. My Four Save Model goes like this…

I’ve never played 3/3.5 DnD, so I don’t know how saves work in that game. I’ve played 4th, which honestly is the inspiration for this. Don’t judge me too quickly! 4th was a fun fantasy tactical game, but was marketed incorrectly.

Willpower – Anything that requires a save like resisting delicious ice cream, trying to ignore terrible sounds like Alanis Moressette songs, working through a fear of darkness without a night light, etc
Fortitude – eating a three day old, room temperature Taco Bell Taco Supreme (yes, with sour cream) without getting food poisoning, beer bonging a handle of cheap vodka without puking, seeing your grandparents having sex, etc
Agility – dodging out of the way of a thrown wrench, dodging fireballs shooting up from the floor as you cross a bridge only to discover your princess is in another castle, running and leaping away from the big climactic explosion even though you’re getting too old for this shit, etc
Magic – Pretty much anything not covered by the other three saves. 

These are roll-over values on a d20. In layman’s terms: roll a d20 and get a high number.

The value you must roll above is not arbitrarily chosen by some unpaid game designer with a chip on their shoulder. Instead, it is determined by YOU, the player! Cool, huh?

Willpower is your character’s Wisdom modifier + Charisma modifier, subtracted from 17.
Fortitude is your character’s Strength modifier + Constitution modifier, subtracted from 17.
Agility is (you guessed it) your character’s Intelligence modifier + Dexterity modifier, subtracted from 17.
Magic is your character’s Intelligence modifier + Wisdom modifier, subtracted from 17.

So, there is an arbitrary bit in there; why 17, and not 20? Because some characters will have no modifiers, and they’ll have to save by rolling over 20.

If you have a negative modifier, like from having a really terrible attribute, that modifier is added to 17.  So it IS possible to have to roll a 20 (or higher) for a save.

So at first level, you’ll have a save range of 12-18. Since your modifiers have already been used to determine this value, they are not added to subsequent saving throw rolls. Sorry.

This model is used the same for all classes. So your clericky character should have a decent Willpower, your Fighter-type should have a decent Fortitude, and your Wizardy or Thieving types will have decent Agility.

Other bonuses apply to your roll; like if your character has a +3 vs Poison for whatever reason, then you would add +3 to your Fortitude rolls when dealing with poisons. If your character has a +1 to balance because they have a background as a child acrobat, then you add +1 to Agility rolls when you’re trying to walk on a tight rope.

Easy peasy.

Example:

Tim the first level Fast Talking Specialist has the following attributes:
Charisma:15 (+2 mod)
Constitution: 5 (-2 mod)
Dexterity: 17 (+3 mod)
Intelligence: 9
Strength: 11
Wisdom: 11

So, his Saves are as follows:
Agility: 17-3 = 14
Fortitude: 17 – (0-2) = 19
Willpower: 17 – 2 = 15
Magic: 17 -0 = 17

Yeah, that’s a really shitty Fortitude.

Fortunately, saves can improve! Each class will have an experience progression table which will include improving saving throws.

I haven’t play tested this yet; it is in the thinking about stage right now.