Long John Silver 5e

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, and I feel like revisiting my Tim Curry series with his Long John Silver: the peg-legged cook, pirate, quartermaster and villain of the wonderful book Treasure Island, and the fun adaptation Muppet Treasure Island! 

Long John Silver
Medium Human, Neutral Evil
AC 15
HP (8d10
Speed 20 ft.

Str 16 (+3)
Dex 16 (+3)
Con 10
Int 12 (+1)
Wis 15 (+2)
Cha 14 (+2)

Saving Throws Str +6, Con +3
Skills: Perception, Deception, Intimidation, Survival
Senses passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Undercommon
CR 5 (1,800 XP)

Crafty. Silver may use Deception in combat to cause attacks against him have disadvantage for the round.

Actions
Multiattack Silver gets 2 attacks with his cutlass (scimitar) or one with his cutlass and another with his pistol (hand crossbow)

Cutlass. Melee weapon attack: +6 to hit, 5 ft. reach., one target. Hit 1d6+5 slashing damage

Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6+3 piercing damage.

Reactions
Parry. Silver adds +3 to his armor class against one melee attacker that would hit. Silver must see the attack, and be wielding a melee weapon

I see you shiver with anticip-

This is adventure 10 of 25 that is roughly designed to take characters from level 1 to 25 that I will be sharing over the month of September. These posts are a part of Asshat Paladin's OSR Short Adventure Challenge, and utilize his Get Ready, Get Set, Go! format. It's also this week's Tim Curry Tuesday post... probably the only one this month, unless I get really creative...

Lastly, don't forget to vote on my new poll - What is the Defining Element of Steampunk?

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I see you shiver with anticip-
A Get Ready, Get Set, Go! Classic D+D adventure set in the lands granted to the characters

Get Ready:
As the adventurers explore their new lands, a thunderstorm blows in and reveals an unknown castle inhabited by strange people.

Get Set:
The weather turns foul as the adventurers make their first foray into their granted lands. With a flash of lightning they spy a castle perched on a hilltop. The castle is home to Lord Frankonfuhrter and his various retainers, including Prolitarian the Hunchback, Fuchsine the maid, Brazil the lady lackey, and a large number of other strangely clad people.

Go!:
Everyone living in the castle is INSANE (they're also actually members of the Unseelie Court)! In addition to the (supposedly) human retainers, Lord Franonfuhrter has also created a Flesh Golem (oddly called "Stony") that breaks loose during the night. The castle is also full of strange machines and traps. For instance there is a device in the lords workshop that can turn anyone in the castle to stone. It also can teleport petrified people to the main hall. The main hall itself has a large water filled pit under the floor.

Important NPCs:
Lord Franonfuhrter (Unseelie Fay Lord)
Prolitarian the Hunchback (mate/brother of Fuchsine)
Fuchsine the Maid (mate/sister of Prolitarian)
Brazil the Lady Lackey (mate of Ed)
Ed the Lackey (mate of Brazil, unwilling donator to the Flesh Golem)

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Gaal

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday Thursday! Allow my to introduce you to Gaal of Earth 2.

Gaal, like many of Tim Curry’s characters is a villain. In this case his is a murderer who has been marooned on Earth 2 (aka Planet G889). The wonderful thing about Gaal is how archetypal a character he is. In Star Wars he could easily be a fallen or failed jedi, or even someone with just a hint of force ability. He’d work equally well in the Star Trek universe (outside of TNG anyway) pretty much as is. Classic Traveller? Easy. Alternity? Heck, that might work best of all! Just about anywhere you can put the PCs into a position where they’re stranded somewhere, Gaal can make an appearance.

There isn’t even any reason you couldn’t have Gaal show up in a D+D game. He’d work equally well somewhere deep in a megadungeon or on a desert island.

Gaal
Force Touched Criminal
Dexterity 2D+2
Dodge 3D+2
Knowledge 2D+1
Intimidation 3D+1
Survival 4D+2
Willpower 3D+1
Mechanical 1D+1
Perception 3D+1
Persuasion 4D+1
Strength 2D+2
Technical 2D
Control 1D
Sense 1D
Life Sense
Life Detection

Equipment: Bone jewelry, ragged robes

Background: Gaal is known to have killed over two dozen sentients in cold blood. He is ultimately dedicated to one thing: his own survival. Beyond that nothing else matters to him. He will lie, cheat, steal, and sometimes even tell the truth if it'll save his own skin.

Personality: Slick, smooth, and utterly malicious. He will use his "magic" and trickery to ingratiate himself with anyone he thinks is either a danger or has something Gaal wants.

Objectives: Survival, and escape

Quote: "You must remember, little one, there's no such thing as right and wrong. Not here."

Connection with Characters: Gaal will use the characters any way he can.

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August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Also, don't forget to vote on the poll to the right!

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Hexxus

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! Allow me to introduce you to Hexxus, a being of destruction that is toxic to all around it. Ancient stories first describe the blight in a distant tropical forest, but it has appeared numerous times in many places that were once verdant lands that are now toxic wastelands.

Hexxus
No. Enc.: 1 (0)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60’ (20’)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1
Damage: 3d8
Save: L5
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII

This being appears as a large black gooey mass, that is constantly surrounded by a cloud of thick noxious vapors. It is very intelligent and malicious, and seeks to destroy any natural vegetation it encounters. Hexxus can attack with a toxic swipe, which causes 3d8 damage with a reach of 10'. Anyone within 5' will automatically suffer an attack from the toxic fumes that surround Hexxus (class 3 poison).  If attacked with a flame based attach Hexxus may immediately expel a gout of flame 60' long that causes 10d6 points of damage to anyone hit (save for half). This causes Hexxus to lose the Toxic Weapon ability for 1 hour.

If encountered in a toxic or radioactive area (it's preferred habitat) Hexxus gains the ability to regenerate 1d4 hit point per round, and the toxic cloud grows to 10'.

Mutations: Reflective Epidermis (Radiation, Poison, Fire), Toxic Weapon (Gas Breath), Epidermal Sensitivity (Plant-based attacks)

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This might come as a shock, but August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Vincent Price

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Cardinal Richelieu

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! By popular demand you chose Cardinal Richelieu for last weeks post, and I presented a 4e version.

I didn’t receive any feedback. My guess is that since I’ve been primarily focused on old school D+D and have relatively few 4e interested readers that my post fell on deaf ears. That’s fair. It’s like offering fries and a hamburger at a Chinese place. This doesn't mean there wont be more 4e material (there will) but for now it will continue to be a small portion of my posts.

So,without further ado may I present Cardinal Richelieu for Rules Cyclopedia D+D

Cardinal Richelieu
12th Level Lawful (evil) Cleric
30 HP XP: 510,320

Str: 9
Int: 13
Wis: 16
Dex: 10
Con: 8
Cha: 15

Speed: 120’ (60’)

Spells: Cure Light Wounds, Detect Magic, Purify Food + Water x2, Find Traps, Hold Person x2, Resist Fire, Blindness, Cure Disease, Remove Curse, Curse, Cure Serious Wounds, Poison, Protection from Evil 10’, Quest, Truesight, Barrier

Equipment: Plate Mail +2, Blood Robes, Rapier +3, Sudden Shot, Ring of Quickness, various potions and scrolls, 7,600gp worth of jewelry and gems,

Cardinal Richelieu is often accompanied by the Captain Rochefort (F8, Rapier of Slicing +2) of the Cardinal’s Guard, when he’s not out acting on the Cardinal’s behalf. The Cardinal is always protected by 2d8 Cardinal’s Guards (F3) armed with halberds. If things begin to go poorly he will not hesitate to use all of his powers to save himself.

Blood Robes - These clerical vestments provide a bonus to all saving throws of +1, +3 if the wearer is actually a cleric.

Sudden Shot - This magical hand crossbow folds down small enough to fit up a sleeve or in a pocket, and provides a +3 bonus to initiative for the round it’s used. It may only be fired once per day, and causes 3d4 points of damage.

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This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage!

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Cardinal Richelieu

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! By popular demand you have chosen Cardinal Richelieu for this weeks post! Now, as you know, (or might imagine if you didn’t) Disney took some liberties with Dumas’ story by having Richelieu plot to overthrow the king. Clearly, there were other liberties as well, but for this post we’re going to focus on the character from the Disney movie.

Now, I know this is probably not what you’re expecting, but I think that Richelieu would work really well as a 4e Controller. This is probably in part because I just played a session of 4e, and I’ve got it on the brain. Don’t despair, I’ll be doing a Rules Cyclopedia version too.

Now, I see the movie as the story of how d'Artagnan became a Musketeer, and fitting in with 4e, how he got to about level 5. Setting Richelieu as a level 8 controller makes him a good opponent for a party to wrap up level 4 and push into level 5.

Now he isn’t much of a combatant himself, so he’s going to have only average HP, and cause only average damage with his basic attacks. However we’re going to give him several interesting powers that fit in with what happened in the movie.

He will clearly need some backup to take full advantage of his powers. I'd recommend lots of soldier minion swordsmen who arrive in waves, a really ugly 1/2 ogre or orc, and a highly competent one-eyed lieutenant. Oh, and lots of wonderful dialogue too!

Happy Tuesday!

Tim Curry Tuesdays - You pick the next one!

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday!

It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t had time to write up a post for today, so I’m going to ask which character you want to see next?

Cardinal Richelieu - Three Musketeers
Hexxus - Legend of Fern Gully
Dr. Frank-N-Furter - Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Grand Wizard - The Worst Witch
King Arthur - Spamalot
Wadsworth - Clue
Dr. Petrov - Hunt for Red October
Gaal - Earth 2
Gomez Addams - Addams Family Reunion
Chief Elder - Dinosaurs
Other??

The poll to the right closes Saturday night.

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Premier Anatoly Cherdenko

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! In this week’s installment, I’d like to introduce you to Premier Anatoly Cherdenko of the USSR. In the game Red Alert 3, Colonel Cherdenko travels back in time to kill Albert Einstein, upsetting the events of Red Alert 2, and resulting in his becoming the Premier of the USSR. Now, I’m not really familiar with the Red Alert series, but there are lots of screen caps, reviews, and youtube videos. As you might expect, Curry hams it up with an outragious russian accent, and spends his time hanging out with implausibly dressed women. But really, if you were him, wouldn’t you do the same?



Now, I don’t have any games that play in the WWII era, so instead we’re going to make some slight adjustments to the character to have him work as a Sector Governor (aka Moff) for Star Wars/d6 Space. Just the sort of character that your players will love to foil.

Premier Anatoly Cherdenko
Type: Bombastic Imperial Moff
Dex 2d+1
Blaster 3D+2, Dodge 5D
Knowledge 4D
Alien Species 5D+1, Bureaucracy 6D, Law Enforcement 6D+2, Planetary Systems 5D+2, Scholar: economics 7D
Mechanical 4D
Capital Starship Piloting 7D, Astrogation 6D+1, Capital Starship Gunnery 5D+2
Perception 2D+1
Command 3D
Strength 2D
Technical 3D+1
Capital Starship Design 6D, Capital Starship Enginering 6D
Character Points: 5
Move: 9
Equipment: Blaster Pistol (4D+1 damage)Muscovia Sector Governor uniform, datapad, Imperial ID, 1,000 Credits, comlink

Premier Cherdneko (as he prefers to be called) is the Moff of the Muscovia Sector. He was installed by Grand Moff Tarkin in 7 BBY as the Planetary Governor of Novosibirsk, before being awarded control over the entire sector. Over the last decade Cherdneko has ruled with an iron fist, instituting massive industrial growth, and turning Novosibirsk from a sparsely populated agrarian world into a major hub of commerse and ship building. The shipyards in orbit of Murmansk (a gas giant in the Novosibirsk system) produce most of the Imperial resources of the sector. Premier Cherdenko spends about half his time there, and the other half in the Governor's Palace on Novosibirsk.

Cherdenko is a bombastic leader, prone to reward those who succeed lavishly, and equally prone to remove anyone who has too much success, either by promotion to a different sector or other more permanent means. He is highly optimistic about the Empire's chances against the Rebellion, even after the Battle of Yavin, but he also views the Rebellion as a credible threat to the stability of the region, and so pursues them with great vigor.

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Long John Silver

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! In this week’s installment, I’d like to introduce you to Long John Silver: the peg-legged cook, pirate, quartermaster and villain of the wonderful book Treasure Island, and the fun adaptation Muppet Treasure Island!

As a pirate, Long John Silver will follow the rules as found in the rules Cyclopedia. Per the pirate entry on page 193, Long John Silver is most likely the equivilant of a 8th level fleet commander, or at least he was when he served as quarter master on Captain Flint's ship Walrus. By the time we get to the events of Treasure Island, Silver is probably at least 9th or 10th level.

Long John Silver
10th Level Neutral Fighter
48HP XP: 385,005

Str: 12
Int: 14
Wis: 13
Dex: 9
Con: 7
Cha: 15

Speed: 60' (20') peg leg

Equipment: Pete's Peg-leg (+3 to AC, Speed 150' (50') 1/day),Cutlass +3/+5 vs Sea Creatures, Treasure Map

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Pennywise

Tim Curry Tuesdays

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! In this week’s installment, I’d like to introduce you to Pennywise the Dancing Clown!

Pennywise the Dancing Clown
No. Enc.: 1 (unique)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 150’ (50’)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 7
Attacks: 3
Damage: 1d6/1d6/1d6 + Special
Save: L4
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: VII * 3

Pennywise appears to be a human clown, but is actually the physical manifestation of IT - a being from beyond the universe that feeds upon fear. IT’s favorite victims are children, though it will gladly feast off of anyone who feels terror. In order to increase the effect of fear Pennywise will automatically appear to each individual as a man-sized example of whatever phobia they might be suffering from. When they suffer the effects of their phobia they will take 2d4 points of damage for every round they flee.

Anyone who does not have an active phobia will need to make a saving throw if they are successfully damaged by Pennywise. If they fail they must flee in terror for 1d4 rounds and suffer 2d4 damage for every round spent fleeing. Half of all damage caused by fleeing will be absorbed by Pennywise, healing it of any damage taken.

Pennywise has a WIL of 19, but it is reduced by 2 for every opponent he faces. He is also highly susceptible to damage from silver.

IT is usually active for brief periods after which it tends to hibernate for years or decades at a time. If Pennywise is killed, IT will go into hibernation for 5d12 years, after which Pennywise will again emerge.

Mutations: Regenerative Capability (Special), Bizarre Appearance, Epidermal Susceptibility, Mental Phantasm, Vampiric Field (Fear Only)

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Darkness

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! This will be an ongoing series where every week I will explore a character Tim Curry has played. Why Tim Curry? For one thing he’s done quite a number of characters that just beg to be made into NPCs! For another, the man has that voice... it’s definitely one of the top 5 voices I’d pick if I could only hear every male with the same voice. I have also used Tim Curry as a mental touchstone of an NPC that my players interact with. And I just finished listening to Sabriel, which was read by Tim Curry, so he was on my mind.

For our first installment I’m going to go with the obvious and necessary choice of Darkness from Labyrinth Legend.

They could not have picked a better actor to play this demon. It’s a scenery chewing character, and Tim Curry can gnaw it with the best of them! Darkness makes for a great BBEG

Lord of Darkness

Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 12**** (L)
Move: 180’ (60’)
Attacks: 1 gore/1 weapon
Damage: 2d6+2
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: C12
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: G
Intelligence: 16
Alignment:Chaotic
XP Value: 4,750
Monster Type: Planar Monster, Enchanted (Unique)

The being known as the Lord of Darkness, or simply Darkness, is the spawn and champion of a Chaotic Immortal known as Nox who desired to see the world shrouded in perpetual night and winter. Darkness appears as a 9’ tall satyr with red skin, black fur, and massive curving horns. He wears a sleeveless black robe, and carries a black staff.

Darkness commands a horde of corrupted goblins and other foul beings that he uses as his hands, eyes, and ears on the surface world. Darkness suffers 2d8 points of damage for every round that he is exposed to sunlight due to his deep connection to Nox.

In addition to his natural strength Darkness is capable of using the following powers 3 times/day: Charm Person, Cause Fear, Detect Good (Innocence), Blight. He can also use the following powers 2 times/day: Know Alignment, Produce Flame, Curse. The mere presence of Darkness causes creatures of less than 4HD to automatically make a morale check or be cowed into inaction. Darkness is immune to Sleep, Charm, and Hold spells, Fire, Cold and weapons of less than +2 enchantment.