Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Grognard's Grimoire: Minor Chaotic Traits

In the campaign setting I've been tinkering with recently, I've decided that Chaos will play an important role, being a metaphysical cancer that has not only spawned the demonic realm of the Abyss, but actively works to consume reality itself. Throughout the universe, there are some places where Chaos has worn down the walls of reality to such an extent that a malign radiation seeps through and warps everything that comes into contact with it.

Living things that are exposed briefly to the raw stuff of Chaos may exhibit Minor Chaotic Traits, such as those listed on the table below:

1 +1d4 Hit Dice
2 -1d4 Dice: Creatures whose Hit Dice drop to 0 become Shadows, which is animate Chaos.
3 May only be hit by magical weapons
4 Takes maximum damage from any magical weapons or items specifically aligned with Law
5 May cast darkness (30' radius) at will
6 Gains +1 to hit against Lawful creatures
7 Lawful creatures gain +1 to hit the creature with this trait
8 May cast cause light wounds 1d4 times per day
9 Gains +1 saving throws against spells cast by Lawful creatures
10 Suffers -1 saving throws against spells cast by Lawful creatures
11 Physical appearance changes to that of another creature whose Hit Dice are either higher (1-3) or lower (4-6) than its own.
12 Roll again. If this result comes up a second time, roll on the Major Chaotic Trait table instead.

Coming Up: Major Chaotic Traits

5 comments:

  1. That's awesome, I love it!

    Does Chaos have any specific game effect on characters, i.e.; player characters who choose to be Chaotic? Or don't you allow that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This reminds me of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying. There too chaos is conceived of as a metaphysical cancer that breaks down reality, and produces strange and unnatural changes in people and things. That's one of the best things about WFP. It allows a pleasing cross-genre horror element to come into the fantasy setting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. On this dice thing, in case you aren't reading old comments. These are nice:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/Judges-Guildmasters-TSR-Dice-from-the-Orient-1974-1976_W0QQitemZ300258515530QQihZ020QQcategoryZ44112QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is fun stuff. I did a table like this in one campaign, due to an area being controlled by demons, and leaking abyssal energy or some nonsense. Anyway, the players would get minor, medium, and major demonic traits the longer they stayed. They ranged from marginally beneficial for the minors, to completely debilitating (in a social sense at least, and sometimes in a physical sense) at the major level. It was a hoot except that only one or two players bothered to keep the effects longterm.

    The party ranger got the medium effect "Animals avoid you and snap at you if cornered." right after get got the Pounce ability from 3.0, which is something to the effect of "You can still make a full attack at the end of your charge." He was torn between the two.

    Anyway, fun post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Does Chaos have any specific game effect on characters, i.e.; player characters who choose to be Chaotic? Or don't you allow that?

    I'd certainly allow it, but they'd then start to suffer a number of unpleasant effects, as will be described in the next installment of the Grognard's Grimoire.

    ReplyDelete