The Slayers Triumvirate (Barovnia NPC Party)

Barovania, that haunted, cursed land draws a multitude of individuals to its forsaken soil. These travelers are far from uniform in purpose; some seek to exploit the near anarchy of the place to loot and profit while others come to try and do some good for a land that so desperately needs it. Most fall in between these two extremes, as it is with many things.

The Slayers Triumvirate is a small group of adventurers that has banded together for one purpose; monster hunting. Each of the three has there own reason for such a thing, but none of which come in conflict with the other - at least not thus far. They have also managed to become surprisingly good friends in the short time they've worked together, but one must be able to trust those they fight with if they are going to survive in a place such as Barovania.

The Slayers Triumvirate

Praxia, Blade of Mercy
( Murder Princess, Level 3) STR: 14, DEX: 9, CON: 13, INT: 8, WIS: 12, CHA: 16, AL: Chaotic, HP: 21, AC: 16 (Enchanted Medium Armor), DMG: 1d12 + 1 (Blade from the Heart, Creates Heavy Weapons, counts as magical)

Other Gear: Magic Sandals that allow one to Jump as the spell, an Owl companion only she can communicate with.

Praxia is a young woman from Sithicus, a barbaric land ruled by the ruthless Soth Adder. Born a peasant, she was witness to the murder of those she loved and cared for at the hands of the iron-fisted despot's minions. Her raw hatred for the strong that prey on the weak manifested into the powers of a Murder Princess - and she now searches for powerful monsters and miscreants to kill as viciously as possible.

Gertie Goertz (Magitek Engineer, Level 3) STR: 8, DEX: 13, CON: 9, INT: 17, WIS: 10, CHA: 11, AL: Neutral, HP: 8, AC: 13 (Light Armor (work smock), DEX bonus) DMG: 1d4+2 (Clockwork Pistol)

Other Gear: Magitek Purple Ray Generator (Cure Light Wounds x3 A day, as per spell), Happy Interaction Crystal (Preforms introductions and diplomacy in lieu of a charisma check, Favored Item), A currently inoperative robot that she desperately seeks a power source for.

Gertie is a brilliant young girl who hails from the Dark Capital. Knowing full well that her talents with Magitek would have had her drafted by the degrading Shadow Government, the child prodigy instead decided to flee to greener pastures, eventually meeting up with Praxia and joining forces with her. Gertie indulges her friend's beast killing tendencies for a disturbingly simple reason: a theory that behemoth hearts would be able to power any number of fantastic devices.

Brap (Octorock, Level 3) STR: 9, DEX: 13, CON: 16, INT: 14, WIS: 8, CHA: 9, AL: Good, HP: 14, AC: 12 (Enchanted Shield that can expand to provide cover, DEX bonus), DMG: 1d6+1 (Spitting Rocks)

Other Gear: Lunar Head-Phones (Plays encouraging fanfare that counts a Bless spell when activated, makes it impossible to hear quiet noise while in use though)

Brap escaped from armies of Izdrannon the Devil Swine after a bit of a disagreement with his Iron Knuckle commanding officer; namely one that involved an escaping group of elven refugees. Unwilling to hurt non-combatants, Brap voiced his complaints with a rock to the head and a swift leaping retreat. Knowing return to the legion would mean his death (and really not desiring it in the end) Brap sought Barovania as a place to hang out for a while and instead found trouble in the form of two wandering female monster hunters.

The Octorock now has a hard-won trust with both Gertie and Praxia, whom he now worries about incessantly. 

Photodump for a yet unnamed settting

In the midst of all the other stuff I'm doing, I've been working on a setting for a fantasy game using Chaosium's BRPG system. I want to call it "Akenia" but I'm not 100% sure of that name yet.

Its inspired a lot by anime; but I want to stress its closer to what I feel is the more imaginative aspect of that medium. Eh, pictures are worth a thousand words and all that, so -

 It'll be a bit before I get this to fruition, but when I do I'd like to run this for my home group and people on G+ at the same time. Its also kind of connected to another thing I wanted to do where a lot of the major power players in a setting were controlled by people other then myself.

Getting your Magic Chocolate into your Techie Peanut Butter

Ever since I played Final Fantasy 3 (6, whatever) as a kid I've been enamored with the idea that you could totally mix Magic with Technology. Before then I had always thought the two were mutually exclusive, as if inventing fire arms would inadvertently cause all the pixies in the world to spontaneously combust or something.

Its obvious I don't feel that way any more - While I occasionally like to play the two as polar opposites, most of the time my skeptical brain asserts that they probably aren't all that far apart and it would be cool to have Promethean-esque adventures who bridged the gap between the two effortlessly. So yeah, here you go!

I should say there is nothing keeping you from making this class entirely technological OR magical. Just change the name to just Engineer, Artificer or something to that effect and your gold.

Magitek Engineer

Attack: As a Thief
Saves: As a Thief
Hit Dice: As a Thief
Weapons: Dagger, Club, Mace, Crossbows and Fire-Arms or any suitably advanced weaponry
Armor: Up to an include Leather
Level Advancement: As a thief


Class Abilities

Tinker:  Every Magitek Engineer is naturally adept with mechanical devices. Not only can they automatically discern a device's function after a night of study, they may also attempt to repair a broken item or nullify other mechanical hazards, such as a broken power reactor, loose energy cords and the like. The length of time or materials required for such attempts are left to the DM's discretion, but both require an intelligence check to accomplish. Failure by more then 5 (Or a natural 20) means that the device is broken in a spectacular way or that the hazard becomes dangerous for the engineer.

Gadgetry: It can be assumed that the Engineer is constantly inventing, creating and cannibalizing any number of minor devices. These are generally small and reasonably portable, though larger devices are not impossible (if a bit rare).

Anytime a Magitek Engineer is called upon to make a stat check of any kind, they may declare they are utilizing a gadget to solve the problem at hand. Doing so means they may use their intelligence score instead of whatever stat the check was originally meant for. During the process the player may name the tool being used or even describe its mechanism a bit; at the very least they should explain how the gadget is going to accomplish the task presented.

If the skill check succeeds, then the item is a success and the task is successful. Failure indicates that the item is a dangerous failure and the Magitek Engineer is faced with repercussions as dictated by the DM. If the check is failed by five or more (Or a natural 20 is rolled) the item literally does the exact opposite of what the Engineer intended.

 If they so desire, an engineer may mark down a Gadget used in a success as a their favored item. Any future attempts with this particular gadget will allow for one re-roll; however it may only be used for the specific task the Item was originally designed for and the Engineer may only have one favored item at a time. The item can be disassembled overnight, allowing for a new gadget to be named as the favorite after its initial testing.


Perfected Prototype: All the testing, research and failures that the Engineer endures each and every day does pay off; every once and a while they manage to get a gadget to do exactly what they would like to do in a consistent manner. At 3rd level, the Magitek Engineer creates a device that replicates a single first level wizard or cleric spell three times a day. Afterwards, at 6th and every third level after that the Engineer can make a new item that functions in the same manner, save for that a spell of one level higher can be selected for the device. (I.E; A 2nd level spell at 6th, 3rd level at 9th, and so on, maxing out at a 4th level spell on a prototype at the 12th level of experience) Each spell functions at a caster level equal to the level that the Magitek Engineer had attained at the item's creation.

Please note that the spell chosen is purely for mechanical effect - the actual flavor and physical nature of the device is entirely up to the player (Within reason, of course). Also note that while the device emulates a magical spell, it is not a traditional magical effect but a magiteknical one. The exact nature of magitek is dependent upon the campaign setting and the DM running the game.

Home Brewed Meance: Manus Rex

Manus-Rex
Frequency: Unique
Alignment: Chaotic
HD: 8**
AC: 2/17
Attacks: +6/+6/+6 (Grasping Flurry); See Below
Saves: As an 8th Level Fighter
Damage: 1d8 + 4

Special: If two or more of Manus's grasping flurry attacks hit the same target, that character has been grabbed and hoisted up by one of his numerous limbs. On the next round, and every round he retains his hold on them, Manus may attempt to either crush them (Automatically doing 1d12 + 4 points of damage) or stripping off armor or valuable clothing and casting it aside (This takes 1 round for every 2 points of AC the Armor grants). A character may attempt to escape this grasp by making a saving throw versus Paralysis each round after being grabbed. If a character is killed by Manus, it is safe to assume that the monster tears them limb from limb, potentially complicating attempts at resurrection.

Background: The Wonder Smith's creations are not limited to brass and steel; at different intervals of his unceasing life he has experimented with any number of materials - including writhing, living flesh.

Manus-Rex was the product of such a whim, created when the wandering demiurge decided he could use an assistant for his some of larger projects. While the creature turned out to be quite helpful, it was soon abandoned by the Wonder Smith for other things and Manus is still bitter about the matter. For now he scrambles about a ruined workshop attempting to finish half-baked constructions by constantly cannibalizing bits from other works as well as anyone unfortunate enough to pass him by.