Skye Prower

Day 29 – The number you always seem to roll on a d20? Hmm… to be honest, there isn’t one.  The closest I can think of was when I was running my first Mutants and Masterminds game.  I seemed to roll an inordinate number of ‘1’s during that campaign. But aside from that, there’s nothing I’m conscious of. My Beginners group on the other hand, they seem to have a weird 18 curse.  Whenever it’s a group roll, someone will either roll an 18, or have a total of 18.  It’s pretty freaky, and it didn’t take long to become a reoccurring joke of the group!

I’m sure most of you will have seen these challenges around.  Where you have a question a day on your views on a certain topic you need to answer for 30 days. So me and a friend decide to do one in tandem.  Only we ended up choosing different topics!  And I thought I’d share mine here just for the fun of it, even if no one is interested. At first I thought it would be easy to do, as I’ve been role playing for a long time now (even if my gaming is in something of a drought right now).  But on the other hand, this is a DnD specific challenge, and I haven’t played as much DnD compared to other games.  For fantasy I’ve mostly played in Iron Heroes games (sorta a low magic, somewhat more gritty variant of DnD) and in the DM chair it was almost exclusively Mutants and Masterminds (I had a very long running superhero campaign world).  But nevertheless, DnD does hold a place in my heart, so lets get to it.   Day 1 – How you got started The short version is pretty simple.  There was a role-playing society at university, so I signed up for it, enjoyed the taster session, and then joined the DnD beginners’ game that started up. Of course, that raises the point of how did I know to look for a role-playing society in the first place.  Well for that, I know about DnD from the original Baldur’s Gate game, which I got shortly after getting my first computer.  (Never finished it though!)  And the manual does make it clear that it is based on the DnD pen-and-paper game.  And so, when I reached Uni, I sought out a role-playing group and thankfully found one.  And I’ve been gaming since.

Day 28 – A character I will never play again Strap yourselves in.  This is a long one.  (Hence also why it’s also a day late.  Had a game on last night) So, the character I will never play again is Corax.  Sorta.  See, there are actually two versions of Corax. The first version was made for Baldur’s Gate, a half-elf fighter mage.  Not my first character for that game, but the one I made once I understood how the game mechanics works.  The idea was a character who primary uses their weapons skills to battle, with the occasionally fireball in case of emergencies.  But because of how the armour and magic system interact (the heavier the armour, the greater the chance a spell fails) I wanted to equip them with a shield and light armour.  Yet, I also wanted the character to have a ranged attack.  A bow wouldn’t work.  You can’t have a bow and a shield equipped at the same time.  The only way to swap between them is to open the Inventory.  Which unpauses the game.  Good luck trying that in the middle of combat. The solution?  Throwing Axes.  There’s even some in the game that return to your hand when thrown, in essence, unlimited ammo. This version of Corax is one I would like to bring back some day.  In fact, he’d work great as a 5th Edition Eldritch Knight, i.e. the Fighter class that gets some spells.  Plus, they even get the ability to bond with a weapon, allowing them to summon it back to their hand.  That even covers the returning throwing axe trick! But then we have the other Corax *shudders*  This was the very first character I made for the pen and paper game, DnD 3.5 edition.  He was based on the BG version, but with some difference.  Mostly due to another DnD RPG: Neverwinter Nights.  In Neverwinter, there were some quests that were locked by class, or needing certain abilities such as casting spells.  Not wishing to miss out on content, the character I made was a multiclass mishmash to try and cover as many of those quests as possible. I took that attitude with me to the tabletop.  Which, as experienced players now, was a mistake.  TTRPG’s are not a single player game.  It’s a group performance.  But I was too dumb to realise that at the time, so I wanted my character to cover as many bases as possible.  I also wanted to take the Dragon Diciple class for all it’s stat boost.  Again, a holdover from Neverwinter, where there is a story where your gear gets stolen. I said before it’s easy to mess up character development in 3.5 if you don’t know what you’re doing.  Well, it’s even easier if you just THINK you know what you’re doing.  First mistake, I started my build with Ranger, not Fighter.  Why?  Well, cause rangers are cool, which they are, and they get two-weapon fighting abilities.  But… they’re not great for multiclassing.  Nor are spell casters, so going into Sorcerer just gave me underpowered spells.  Add in poor feat choices and yeah, Corax was crazy underpowered. Of course, an underpowered character can still be fun if it’s a good character. But.. urgh, he was.  The background for Corax was…. terrible.  I’m kinda embarrassed posting this, but… Okay, so… Corax had an evil dragon as one of his ancestors.  Nothing wrong with that, it explains both Sorcerer and Dragon Disciple.  Then I had him captured by evil cultists of the dragon, who wanted to awaken his dragon blood.  Again, nothing wrong with that, if a bit clichéd.  THEN, the cult traps him, alone, if a frigging FLOATING CASTLE for TEN frigging years.  Alone!  They do nothing too him.  And apparently, to explain why he’s a Ranger, the only things there were to talk to were ravens…. Yeah… Oh, and he just happened to find a bunch of throwing axes up there…. No idea why. For the life of me I can’t remember how Corax escaped.  I probably had a magic portal appear for no reason it was that bad. Corax didn’t even see the end of that campaign.  I got tired of playing him, so the cult eventually caught up with him and took him away.  Can’t say I’m overly sorry.  So yes, the Part-Dragon Ranger Corax is a character I will never play ever again. The original Corax, the brave fighter-mage who met his fate when he encountered a random lone basilisk that was just chilling out on a castle balcony. Maybe one day he’ll see the light of day again.

"Can we... s-switch them off?" wondered Stacey. Ziona glanced back towards the fleeing Eggman.  "Leave him.  We need to get rid of this robot and find the kids."

Day 27 – A character I want to play in the future.   Sorry for the (yet another) delay.  Yesterday was kinda crazy busy.   So, the character I most want to play. I mentioned it before in chatting about DnD, but here’s the official answer.   Nim, my half-elf monk.  But, she’s not your ‘study in a monastery/martial artist’ monk.  Instead, she’s a dancer, who uses her dance moves to fight in combat without ever losing her rhythm (In theory).  She was born after her mother had an affair, which was rather obvious given both her parents were Elves, and after her younger sister was born, ran away from home thinking she was uncared for, and ended up joining an Entertainer’s Troupe.  I haven’t fleshed out the backstory much more, as that will depend in what ever world she might end up in. Her name was originally going to be Nimue.  But, as I was coming up with the idea in my head, I had a pretty clear image in my mind how I wanted her to look.  Only to realise the image was that of Din from the legend of Zelda games!  So I shortened the name to ‘Nim’ to fit that more! I was going to also mention Noi, a half-elvin Warlock, who I wanted to play since I first got the 5th ed books.  However, one of my players in my Beginners’ game is wanting to try their hand at DMing (they grow up so fast *sniffs*).  So it looks like Noi might get a chance to be played very soon. I chose Noi over Nim because Nim requires… a bit of complex rules (multiclassing) a bit of rules tweaking (with a Drunken Master bonus that doesn’t work with the concept) and possible some house ruling to work properly.  And that’s not something fair to spring on a new GM.

"H-h-how?" gasped Stacey. Eggman tried to make good of the distraction and escape as the robot's massive fists aimed a blow at Seviper.

Day 26 – Favourite Non-Magical Item?   I expect the idea here is to answer with something practical and flexible, like a rope, or a bag of marbles or something.  But for me, it’s a weapon, the elegant Rapier.   Partially, it’s because it’s a weapon very similar to the one used in fencing, a sport I used to do when I was younger.  And partially because it’s a finesse weapon, so you can use your Dexterity instead of your Strength when wielding it.  As it stands, it’s the most damaging of all the finesse weapons.

Day 25 – Favourite Magic Item? We’re going back to Ravnica for this one. Now, most of the DnD game#s haven’t been that magic item heavy, so in some ways it’s like asking a player who only every plays Barbarians ‘what is your faviourate spell?’.  But I’ve read though enough books to have some ideas, and from Ravnica, there’s the perfect item for me.  Mizzium Aperatus. A Mizzum Apperatus is a crazy mismatch of magic-tech that a magical character can wear, and use to cast spells.  What makes it so much fun is that you can use it to try and cast a spell you don’t actually know.  But, you have to pass a check, or you cast a random spell.  Crazy magical fun all round.  Now if only there was also a way to tie it into the Wild Surge table!

Day 24 – Favourite Energy Type? Pretty easy one this time, and some of you who remember earlier question may see this coming, but Cold!  Sure, it’s pretty common and easily resisted, but thematically is a, excuse the pun, really cool energy type.  And it covers the whole range from Water to Snow to Ice and many other things.  And there is a lot you can do with it beyond just damage.

Day 23 – Least Favourite Monster? Hmm, this was a tricky one.  Sure, I’ve monsters I’m not so keen on.  But nothing really sprung to mind that I’d go ‘Oh no!  Not THAT!’  After some more pondering, I thought that what I really hate in DnD is ‘Save or Die’ effects.  Cause just one bad dice roll and you go from 110% to dead beyond recovery.  Looking at you in particular, you basilisk hiding at the top of the tower in Baldur’s Gate.  (For context, Baldur’s Gate does have Save or Die monsters, such as the Basilisk that turns you to stone.  But, there are several ways to come back from the dead.  EXCEPT for the main character, who if they die, game over.  So… Instant death effects, coupled with a game over condition = not fun.  And to make it worse, there are even some conversations that can instant kill a character.  I lost an hour of play cause I didn’t except to instant die talking to someone.) Sooooo…. In that vein…. I can’t remember this monster’s name.  But it was from 3.5, one of the supplemental Monster Manuals.  An undead creature that had died by drowning.  I remember the last part because it had an Aura of Drowning.  Fail one save, massive penalties.  Fail two saves, unconscious.  Fail three, instant death.  This this almost wiped the whole party, and it wasn’t a fun fight at all.

Stacey keep groaning.  He tried to push himself up, but his arms gave way. "Enough of this nonsense!  SMASH THEM!" Eggman yelled to the robot, who stomped forward to oblige. 

Day 22 – Favourite Monster Overall? KOBOLDS!  Kobolds Kobolds Kobolds!  I just love these cute little draconic beasties. Those of you who remember my answer to favourite NPC probably saw this coming.  But yes, Neverwinter Nights is the reason I started loving these little guys so much.  Mainly for both their cunning and comedic effects. Now individually, a little Kobold is no match for even the most green adventurer.  And skilled adventures laugh at them.  Thing is, if you play Kobold right, they shouldn’t.  Mazes, traps, dirty tactics, jars of rot grubs falling on players.  All these things are Kobold standard tactics.  So if your players don’t take a Kobold threat seriously, you can teach even a skilled party to be very wary of the little buggers! That’s cunning, and then you have comedic.  Because of their traps, their cowardly personality, and just the way they talk and yip, Kobold are rife for anything from actual slapstick to very dark humour.  You can play them seriously of course, but I feel they work best as an almost comic relief race.  Even in a serious campaign, just a little silliness can help left the bleak mood for a little while.

Day 21 – Favourite Dragon colour or type? I mentioned by in the undead question about Liches.  Specifically, what I had in mind was the Dracolich.  C’mon, a crazy powerful skeletal dragon with extra magic! Butttttt…. In the same way it missed out on the slot there, as I thought more, again, the poor Dracolich was pipped at the post by another. The Psudodragon.  As the name implies, it’s not a true dragon.  Though from all appearances it is one, aside from one detail.  It is the size of (and has the personality of) a housecat.  C’mon, a tiny, cute dragon you can keep as a pet!  Adorable!  It’s just a shame only certain Warlocks can get them as familiars in 5th Ed Dnd unless your GM is kind.

Day 20 – Favourite Monster: Humanoid/Fey/Other? Hmmm… Well I plan to save my actual favourite monster in this category for the ‘Favourite Monster Overall’ question, and I talked about Hags before, so… Werewolves! I like wolves, I like transformations, so combine the two is fun for me.  Having said that, I don’t like how werewolves are always evil.  I can understand for the unknowing werewolf who involuntary transforms, but once they have control of it, or are born to it, why need they be evil?  Poor wolves have such an unfortunate rep being cast as evil all the time.  And if you have a setting where wolves are evil but foxes are good (looking at you Narnia) that is utter bull*bleep*! Anyway, back to werewolves.  Like many of my favourites, there are lots of ways you can use them.  There is the classic curse of lycanthropy, the feral tribe of shapeshifters, the hidden group wo enjoy their blessings, a group of noble warriors using it to protect the weak.  Or even mixing up the different versions. And don’t forget to howl at the moon!

Stacey just groaned. "Backup!" grinned Eggman as a massive robot burst through the door.

Tails, Island The young fox was covered with grime, oil, grease and dust stains.  But he didn’t care.  Tails was sure he’d found the problem, and had almost fixed it, thanks to all the old manuals he’d found.  Tails was carefully connecting up the wires to the starter when… “HELLOOOOOOO! SOMEBODY HEEEEERE??” Tails gave a cry of surprise at the sudden shout.  Bumping his head on the engine cover, he accidently let the wires he was working on touch.  There was a spark, a cough, splutter, then the aircraft engine roared back into life as Tails fell out of the compartment. For a moment, Tails smiled as he admired his handwork at getting the engine running.  Then he turned his head to look towards where the voice had come from.  With the sun in his eyes, Tails couldn’t quite make out who it was.  It looked like a blue hedgehog.  Briefly, a look of worry crossed Tails face.  It looked almost like the old hedgehog who threw the little fox out of his workshop.  But as Tails’ eyes adapted, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it was a different hedgehog.  Even if he did kinda look like the old grumpy one. “C-can I… help you?” asked Tails nervously.  ------------------------------------------------------- Skye, Feral Forest A long jog later, Skye finally reached the Park Ranger hut.  She quickly ushered the Armadillo inside, heading to the radio room. “H-hello.. Mobotropolis?  Are you receiving me?  Over!”  A sigh of relief escaped Skye as her signal was received. “There was…” Skye paused a moment to consider.  “This is Feral Forest Range Shack 12.  Hostile forces attacked us in the forest.  Two rangers are down…. Prob… probably dead…” Skye had to fight to keep on speaking.  “The force was highly advanced.  I think it may be an invasion, over.”  She wasn’t sure how she knew, but somehow, Skye had no doubt. Sounds outside distracted her.  There was a rumble close by, a buzzing in the air.  “Can… you repeat.  I think they’re here…”  The radio went dead. ------------------------------------------------------- Sleet and Dingo, Mobotropolis Palace Interior Sleet bowed low as he was brought on front of King Acorn, quickly giving Dingo a dig in the ribs to do the same. “Your Majesty, thank you for seeing us.  I have come with a grave warning,” Sleet spoke, trying to sound respectful, though his tone maybe didn’t convey that fully.  He stood back up, his keen eyes taking in the room.  The King sat on his throne and, though old, still looked like he could take up arms if needed.  His bodyguard stood ready, and tense.  They were expecting trouble, but Sleet felt not from him.  Maybe they already knew, or expected?  The only oddity was the King’s daughter.  Not that she was there, even if that was a little odd when bounty hunters were taken to the King, but that she was dressed like any normal civilian, not a Princess.  Sleet wondered if there was some teenage rebellion going on. “Normally I wouldn’t dain to lower myself to speak with the likes of you,” King Acorn replied tersely, to which Sleet just smiled.  “But a Battle Bird Armada craft with two Mercenaries aboard… What have you to say.” “If your Majesty permits, I will show, rather than say,” Sleet replied, pulling out a collection of black-and-white photographs, showing the battle, or rather the aftermath, as the Manticore flew off.  One of the bodyguards took them, looked through carefully, before handing them to the King.” “Sire, what these pictures show match the reports we have received from Casino Night Zone.  And we have lost contact with the authorities in Feral Forest,” the Bodyguard explained. “The commander of the large craft made a broadcast. He said his name was ‘Robotnik’, and that his was preparing an Invasion,” Sleet interrupted. “Uh… Sleet..” began Dingo, before Sleet jabbed him in the ribs again. “If it is an Invasion he want, he will not find the Kingdom of Acorn an easy target,” proclaimed the King.  “Contact the army, get them on standby.  And I want a direct radio link to Casino Night Zone.” “At once Sire,” the bodyguard bowed, and hurried out. “What about us your Majesty?” inquired Sleet. “You’re mercenaries are you not?  We may soon need some extra soldiers on the payroll,” replied the King. “If there is payment, of course we will help,” grinned Sleet. ------------------------------------------------------- Wave, Mobotropolis shopping district Wave looked in the mirror, admiring her new outfit.  She got some odd looks from the shopkeeper, who insisted the flared trousers were supposed to be for men, but Wave didn’t care.  It matched her Extreme Gear, making her look more like some laid back surfer than a former Battle Bird Armada soldier.  For the first time in her life, Wave truly felt relaxed. ------------------------------------------------------- Robotnik, Wing Fortress The doors to the repair bay slid open as Robotnik strode in, followed closely by Zero.  The Wing Fortress was making its way swiftly towards New Mobotropolis, Wave two was now underway, even if incidents in Casino Night Zone had forced his hand somewhat.  But that was minor.  There was just one large fly in the ointment. “Well Gamma…. I sent you to retrieve a source of Chaos power.  NOT DESTROY IT!” Robotnik bellowed towards the currently deactivated Gamma as smaller robots worked to repair him.  “You better have a good explanation.”  With his download circuits badly damaged, the only thing Robotnik had been able to extract so far from Gamma was a blurry visual. It looked like there was many one of those humanoid animals with Gamma… he couldn’t be sure. His eyes turned towards the Prison pod.  After the energy surge, the hatches had fused shut, and small worker robots were slowly cutting it open. “The scan from the pod has been uploaded,” Zero reported.  “The lifeforms do not match anything in the records.” “Let me see,” replied Robotnik, checking the screen.  It showed several small, blue creatures with yellow hands and feet.  They looked to Robotnik like crude stuffed toys.  “What in the world are those?” he exclaimed. “We don’t know.  The lifeform…” Zero began to repeat and Robotnik rolled his eyes behind his glasses.  “The pod was not able to outfit them with badnik frames.” “Not surprising, given how odd they look,” Robotnik replied, walking over to the pod.  The hatch fell open with a clang as it was cut through.  “Let’s see these creatures close GAH!”  Robotnik jumped back as sevarl small blue robots flew around him.  Zero drew her weapon, but Robotnik call for her to halt, now studding the small robots.  They resembled the creatures from the screen, but metal, almost comical propellers on the top of their head. “You said the pod didn’t outfit them with Badnik frames?” Robotnik asked Zero, taking hold of one of the robots and examining it.  “Correct Sir.  Scanners indicate these are fully robotic in nature.  No flesh and blood parts,” Zero reported. “Are you sure?  Were they robotic before?” Robotnik asked “Negative.  Scans show organic creatures, albeit of a strange makeup,” Zero replied. “Oh HO!  A complete change from flesh and blood to metal and wires.  This will need to be examined,” grinned Robotnik.  He turned to Gamma.  “Maybe I won’t scrap you yet.” ------------------------------------------------------- Casino Night Zone As Tekno hammered on the pod, more arms emerged from inside it to try and grab her.  Across the city, similar scenes were taking place, some Mobians getting to close to the pds and being dragged inside.  Only to repair moments later inside metal shells. Other pods instead deposited squads of robots.  Some already converted Mobians, some filled with various Badniks, and some squads of Swat Bots.  All intent on capturing as many Mobians as they could. And yet, there were gaps.  While the city was surrounded, there were not enough robots to keep the whole perimeter observed.  Some were already lucky enough to escape.  Others were rushing to try and follow.

Stacey tried to cut through the bars, but the suddenly exploded with energy, sending the young lynx flying, slamming into the opposite wall. "Such blindness, I pity you," said Eggman with mock sympathy as a series of loud thumps started echoing down the corridor outside the control room.

"Untwill mowe cwome!  We bwettew gwet thwem owut fwast!" said Stacey, slicing the legs off the last robot. "Oh, am I?" laughed Eggman.  The screens beside him suddenly showed a fox identical to Ziona in all but dress, and sometimes hairstyle, clearling in romantic relationship with a blue Hedgehog, a green Hedgehog, and an Echidna. 

Day 19 – Favourite Monster: Elemental/Plant? I was gonna say Genie at first, for the whole ‘corrupt a player’s wish’ thing, but that’s really not in the spirt of the question.  Then it was the simple Water Elemental, because water/ice is my favourite element.  But then, in Ravnica, we have the Galvanice Weird.  An artificially created ice elemental, powered but lightning energy inside it.  It looks cool, it’s perfect mad magic, it’s not that high a CR so you can throw them at low level parties, and for added fun they explode when you kill them!

Day 18 – Favourite Monster: Outsider (Celestial, Fiend, etc)? I had difficulty with this one.  Demons, Devils and Angels are just…. Not that interesting to me.  I don’t dislike them, and I know they have potential.  But most of the time, I won’t use them unless there is a very good reason to do so.  And of course, if they would tie in with the players, such as a Tiefling or a Fiend Pact Warlock I won’t hold back.  But in general, not my cup of tea. But flicking through the Monster Manual I saw that Night Hags are classed as Fiends.  So this gives me an excuse to talk about Hags, even of the rest of them are actually Fey. So, Hags.  Hags add an almost fairy-tale element to DnD, being the creepy old witch woman in the forest.  Most are pure evil, wanting to inflict misery on others, but also enjoy bargaining, making them more than just a monster to fight.  Their powers reflect this.  They’re not designed for a stand-up fight, but for tricking and deceiving adventures who might seek to stop them.  They make great villains who might not necessarily be directly opposed to the part. Night Hags in particular (to bring this back to the Fiends question) can mess with others dreams, weakening them, causing them to commit evil deeps, and possibly even killing them from lack of sleep.  All to capture the person’s soul for their own use. This makes them both creepy, and very hard to track down.

"I knwow!" called back Stacey, slicing a robot in half. ------------ "Really?  You're fine being cast aside like all her previous conquests?" laughed Eggman, subtly activating a control panel. 

Looks good!

"I dwon' thwink thwey wan us two wescue ouw fwiends!" said Stacey, forming his fire blade and charging in. --- "Don't listen to him, he's talking about a different fox," Ziona tried to deflect. "Oh HO!  What's the problem?  Not told your new squeeze about everyone before him?" crowed Eggman.

Day 17 – Favourite Monster: Beast? Sorry for the delay with this.  I’ve been pretty busy the past few evenings (ironically part of that business being DnD related) and also, I got muddled up with the days, and was kind stuck on the next question, forgetting about this one. But yes, favourite beast.  Wolves!  C’mon!  Wolves are awesome!   Do I really need to say more?  Though the only reason I’m not saying Winter Wolf (i.e. large wolf with ice powers) is because alas they are classed as a monster rather than animal!

"I thwink we nweed two cwack thwese opwen fiwst!" excalimed Stacey as a squad of heavy robots opened fire on the group. "Of course you weren't.  You're a brainless imbecile who can't see my genius, just like the rest of them!" ranted Eggman.  His eyes moved over to Ziona.  "What's this?  ANOTHER boyfriend?  What's the matter, grown tired of hedgehogs?"