I've spent a good chunk of today adding to the bestiary, converting monsters out of the 2e Terrors of the Desert, mostly using the stats from 4e's Creature Catalog as a guide. But, since it is more explicitly a work in progress (as opposed to a work that's getting fiddled with as I go along), here's the Gear chapter.
Gear
Athasians need many of the same tools of people of other worlds; loads must be carried, crops must be harvested, clay must be shaped, and food must be prepared. As Athas does not have much metal, especially for such mundane concerns, tools are more likely to be stone where an edge is called for, or bone when a tool needs to be strong and light. Necessity has made Athasians highly inventive with these materials... and so should players and game masters.
One significant change from the Fantasy Companion is that Athas uses ceramic pieces, rather than gold pieces. Items not normally made of metal will cost an amount in ceramic pieces equal to their cost in gold pieces. Some items will be made with alternate materials; a grappling hook may be made of strong bones, caltrops may be shaped stone, or a chain may be made of giant hair instead of iron. Items made of metal will cost 100 times their usual cost. Most ceramic pieces can be broken into 10 pieces, known as bits.
Books: Literacy is rare on Athas, and books are even rarer. While the means to make books of flat paper between heavy covers exist, many Athasian books are instead what we would consider scrolls; even when made of shorter sheets of paper or vellum, they will often be rolled into a cylinder, protected on the ends by wooden caps. It is said that sorcerer-kings keep vast libraries, to which their templars have access.
Clothes: Clothes on Athas vary widely between cities and social classes. The people of Raam prefer dark, concealing, voluminous clothing, while in Draj, people wear little clothing due to the humidity of the perpetually baking mud flats. Cotton and linen, of varying qualities, is common across the Tablelands, and many in the upper classes wear silk. In cities, where shade may be available, many Athasians (outside of Raam) will wear little beyond a breechclout. Clothes for long distance travel will always include head coverings, and will usually cover the entire body; you may be as tough as a mul, but the sun wants you dead.
Distillation Kit: A distillation kit is often a water-resistant hood connected to a container, erected above a dark-colored pan, letting the heat evaporate any liquid, and the hood to channel it to the container. Distillation kits can produce up to a day's worth of water, but require some source of moisture to distill; they're nearly useless on a salt flat. A distillation kit will cost about 50 cp, and are fairly fragile once set up; the pieces might not break, but the water is easily lost.
Fire-kit: Unsurprisingly, Athasian fire-kits are usually made with fire-bows, rather than flint and far too expensive steel.
Grappling Hook: Athasian grappling hooks are most often made of the sturdy ribs on a mekillot, or similar beast.
Locks: Compared to the delicate metal contraptions envisioned when someone speaks of picking locks, Athasian locks look clunky and easy to break. However, this underestimates the ingenuity of Athasians; locks will frequently include odd shapes, angles, are require twists and pressures at different points in the unlocking process to open the lock; sometimes, you really do have to hit the door twice after turning the key once to unlock it.
Water: Water is everything, water is life. Every city has wells, most often guarded by the templars and their soldiers, which must be paid for. The average person needs a gallon or more of water each day; thri-kreen can manage with one gallon every five to seven days, but half-giants require four gallons of water a day to stave off dehydration. Extra water is a luxury few can afford; cool water is a delicacy beyond imagining.
Animals
Erdlu: Erdlu are large, flightless, birds; 7 feet tall and almost 200 pounds. Erdlu are a herd animal, used for meat and eggs, and seldom for riding (only halflings will really fit on them). An erdlu will cost rougly 75cp. A larger, more aggressive cousin to the erdlu is the crodlu. They can bear human-sized riders, and are sometimes trained for war, but bear eggs only once a year. A simple riding crodlu is 225cp; a war-trained crodlu can be as much as 1000cp.
Inix: Inix are huge lizards, up to 16 feet long, with tails to match. Herbivores, they can be trained as pack animals, as bearers of howdahs, or as individual riding beasts for half-giants. A trained inix is 2000 ceramic; an untrained one is only about 750cp.
Kank: Ant-like insects, kank are about 8 feet long, and weigh about 400 pounds. They can carry their own weight in gear, including a rider, which makes them valuable caravan mounts. Food producing kanks can secrete melon-sized globes of honey, which makes them valuable for providing food when the surrounding vegetation and meat is less palatable to humanoids. A person can live on these for a few weeks, though they'll need supplemental nutrition to make up for nutrients not in the honey. Kank meat itself is disgusting. A kank is 50 cp, but they are hive animals, even more than erdlu are herd animals; often, someone will own ten or more kank at a time, and wild hives might reach five hundred kank.
Mekillot: Mekillots are mighty lizards, twice the size of inix, but without their long tails, and with hard shells and long, sticky, tongues. They are known to be vicious, often eating careless handlers. They cannot be truly tamed, but can be controlled, and are valuable as beasts of burden, carrying howdahs or dragging wagons. Often, caravans with mekillots will employ psychics with the beast friend ability. A mekillot can be up to 4000 cp.
Vehicles:
While crodlu can be ridden, they are aggressive and difficult to control. Far preferred for travel (unless you're an elf, a thri-kreen, or an aarakocra) is to ride a kank, or to use chariots, howdah, or wagons. Aarakocra can fly, of course, but both elves and thri-kreen will only consider riding an animal or in a vehicle if badly injured.
Chariots: Most often pulled by kank or crodlu (more rarely erdlu). A single beast can draw a chariot meant for a single person, or two beasts for a chariot meant for two, but four are needed if three are to be drawn. Chariots are lighter and faster than wagons; two-passenger chariots are common in war, with a driver and an archer. Small chariots are 100cp, those designed for two are 250, and a large chariot, designed for three, will be 500cp.
Howdah: A frame with seats, a howdah might be thought of a chariot mounted on the back of an inix or mekillot. Normal howdahs are made of wood and leather, but war howdahs will be armored with hide and chitin. An inix howdah can carry five; a mekillot howdah can carry seventeen. Howdahs have roofs; riding in one leaves you at rest, and in the shade (and thus needing half the normal amount of water).
Wagons: Smaller wagons can be pulled by kanks; these might move as much as two and a half tons, hauled behind one to four kanks. Crodlu can also be used; as strong as kanks in the harness, they are also far more likely to take a bite out of their handlers, or the other crodlu. The massive towing power of a mekillot also enables the rolling fortresses that are the armored caravan wagon. Able to hold seventeen and a half tons, they might carry as little as only seven tons of goods, but also a company of soldiers, a score of slaves, and a few well-comforted merchants. Small, simple wagons might be as cheap as 50 ceramic; the elaborate armored caravans will be thousands.
Alchemy and Poisons
Athas does not have a strong tradition of Alchemy as seen in other fantasy settings; a lack of literacy impedes the spread of alchemical knowledge and invention. However, this does not mean that such are entirely unavailable, just that their availability is more sporadic, and it is more likely that characters will find someone who knows how to make a single alchemical item, rather than an array of them. Somewhat common are anti-toxins, smokesticks, and tindertwigs, and the halflings of the Forest Ridge are known to produce things very like the tanglefoot bag. Everburning torches and sunrods are unavailable.
Poison, on the other hand, is a well-developed tradition and art on the Tablelands; the variety of poisons laid out in FC 53 are a good starting point.
Special Materials of Athas
Agafari Wood: The best known, and most available, of the stonewoods, agafari is almost as good as metal. Items made from agafari cost an additional 10cp per pound, but increase their toughness by 2, and take no penalty to damage or AP. Unlike hardwood from the Fantasy Companion, there is no decrease in weight.
Dasl: Dasl is a crystalline substance used by thri-kreen to create some of their signature weapons, like the chatkcha throwing wedge. Where and how thri-kreen acquire dasl is a secret from most people; dasl chatkcha and gythka are very rare in the hands of non-kreen.
Giant Hair: While adequate rope is made of hemp, and good rope is made of silk, the best of ropes are made from giant hair. Ropes and cables made of giant hair have their hardness increased by 2, weigh half that of hemp rope, and can carry 400# before straining. Giant hair adds 20cp to the cost of most items that incorporate rope, and a 10"/60' length of giant-hair rope costs 10cp.
Hide and Chitin: Many Athasian weapons, armor, and tools are made from the hide, claws, or chitin of the beasts (and sometime peoples) of Athas. Some of these changes will be cosmetic, but the specific beast used my have particular effects. These effects will most often be listed in the creature's entry in the beastiary.
Athasian Weapons and Armor
Athas is a metal-poor world. The common belief is that all of the metal was used up in previous ages, and now only some can be eked from the ground, in rare places. As a result, many tools on Athas are made of alternate materials; wood, bone, and stone are the most common.
This has many impacts on the world of Athas. First, and perhaps most importantly, is that items made of metal are 100 times more expensive than they would be in other places; a long sword, 15gp in most fantasy worlds, is 1500cp on Athas... for that price, you can live quite comfortably for some time; why are you risking your blood in the desert if you can live in comfort for the same price? Weapons made of bone or stone reduce damage and AP by one; weapons made of wood reduce damage by 1 and AP by 2.
Many Athasian weapons do not suffer from being made of these materials; a staff is always made of wood, no matter the world, after all, and many weapons unique to Athas assume such construction. However, all weapons made of wood, stone, or bone are more fragile than metal. When using weapons of bone, stone, or wood, any damage die that aces more than once results in the weapon breaking. For example, if Deestan, with a Strength of d8, swings a club with a damage of Str+d6 and rolls (8 + 6) + (6 + 4), then he is very lucky, but does not result in the weapon breaking. If he rolled (8 + 8 + 4) and (4), he would do the same damage, but his weapon would break, as one of his dice aced more than once. This replaces the standard rules regarding obsidian weapons (FC 52).
The Tablelands, and much of known Athas, is a blasted desert; the 90 degrees that SWADE warns against may be reached not long after sunrise. As a result, worn armor is not common, and full suits are less so. Even experienced warriors will seldom wear more than a coverage for their arms or legs. Full suits of metal armor, if you can afford the templar's ransom for a suit (150,000 ceramic... it boggles the mind) are practically suicide. If a character is more than 50% covered with armor (all four limbs, or two limbs and the chest), that armor bonus is applied as a penalty to Vigor checks against heat... and doubled if the armor is metal. Shields do not incur this penalty. Short-term wearing of armor (such as for a gladitorial match) doesn't cause this problem, but travel in full armor is not recommended. Common armor (cloth and light varieties) will most often be silk, woven giant hair, or various leathers. Medium armors may be made from the heavier scales of inix, or chitin of giant insects, while heavy armors might be carved from the shell of a braxat or mekillot.
The armies of Athas prefer weapons that can be made of common materials... your royal guards may have swords of steel, but your common troop will have a spear with an obsidian tip. However, the lack of steel and the commonality of arena combat have led to a number of unusual weapons being common on Athas... when you have steel, a sword is a good weapon. When all you have is the sharpened jawbone of a jozhal, well... you make do. Weapons that can be made without metal at no penalty are marked with an asterisk*, and cost only 1/100th of their gold price. Other weapons assume a steel construction, and so will have far higher costs; these are reduced to 30% if the weapon is made of bone or stone, and only 10% if made of wood. So, a longsword made of bone will cost, not 1500cp, but a mere 450.
Weapons that can be made without metal include blow guns, bows, clubs, crossbows, harpoons, javelins, lances, staves, scourges, slings, spears, and whips, as well as the Athasian weapons alhulak, cahulaks, carrikal, chatkcha, crusher, datchi club, dejada, gythka, impaler, master's whip, quabone, singing stick, and talid.
*Alhulak: Ahulaks are a four-pronged weapon on a short haft (similar to two pick-heads, mounted at 90* angles), connected to a handle held in the other hand by a 5' length of rope.
*Bard's Friend: The bard's friend is a much like a dagger, but with a spiked hand guard. Usually made of metal, they are excellent off-handed weapons, which can be used for defense, or easily-concealed fight-stoppers.
*Cahulaks: Cahulaks are a variant of the alhulak, or perhaps vice versa. Where an alhulak has a single four-bladed handle, cahulaks have two, connected by rope, sometimes up to 12' long. While alhulaks are almost always kept in hand, cahulaks are sometimes thrown, like a bladed bolas.
*Carrikal: A carikkal is an axe, made from the jawbone of a jozhal, its upper edges sharpened, it's teeth jutting out along the handle.
*Chatkcha: The chatkcha is a thri-kreen weapon, a three or four-bladed throwing wedge, sometimes used as a hand-held weapon. Should a thri-kreen miss with a thrown chatkcha, they may use an empty hand to catch it as a free action, requiring an Athletics check. Non-thri-kreen can catch it, but it requires an action; failure by a non-kreen results in d6 damage. Traditional chatkcha are made of dasl; they can be made of metal, but making them of bone, stone, or wood carries the usual penalties.
*Crusher: The crusher is an impractical weapon in skirmishes, but devastating as a second rank weapon in warfare. It is a 20-25' long, very flexible, pole, with a heavy stone or metal ball at the end. The pole is planted in the ground and whipped back and forth, allowing a user to rapidly slam a target from above, each with the force of a hammer. It has a ROF, like a ranged weapon, of 3, but can be very dangerous to be behind.
*Datchi Club: The datchi club is a long, deceptively light, club, studded with teeth or obsidian blades. Those blades tear at unprotected flesh, doing +2 damage to unarmored targets.
*Dejada: The dejada is a scoop-shaped basket, a cestum, worn on the arm, while the other hand loads in pelota, balls which are about 2 inches in diameter (for humans). Most pelota are smooth stones, but some will use ceramic balls filled with poison, gas, acid, or other substances. Halflings of the Ringing Mountains are even known to throw small animals, such as agony beetles.
*Double-bladed spear: Much as the name says, a double-bladed spear is a spear with a blade on either end. Most often, this weapon is wielded similar to a bladed staff.
*Dragon's Paw: The dragon's paw is much like the double-bladed spear, but with a curved hand guard in the middle, on which a third blade is mounted, perpendicular to the shaft.
*Forearm Axe: Worn strapped to the arm, a forearm axe has bladed edges, and a central spike protruding from the shield. The spike is often poisoned, and some versions will be hollowed to hold multiple doses of poison.
*Gouge: Worn on a strap over the shoulder, the gouge is a heavy shaft, on which is mounted a heavy blade. It is most often swung like a battering ram, but can also be used to dig into larger targets who might not be able to get away.
*Gythka: The gythka is a thri-kreen pole-arm, often with a blade on either end. Like the chatkcha, they are usually made of dasl, can be made of metal, but bone, stone, and wood chatkcha carry the usual penalties for such weapons.
*Impaler: Designed for arena combat, the impaler is a 4' shaft mounted with large blade across the top, like an oversized pick.
*Lotulis: The Lotulis is a variant on the double-bladed spear; instead of straight spear-blades, it mounts crescent-shaped bladed, set perpendicular to the shaft. It is considered excellent for disarming, due to leverage combined with the catching blades.
*Master's Whip: Not an arena weapon, a master's whip is a cruel weapon. Rather than ending in plaited leather, it ends in a barbed head, and the barbs are often covered with poison.
*Puchik: A combination punching dagger and main-gauche, the puchik has three blades; a long blade in the center, and two smaller blades, each at a 45* angle from the central blade. The puchik can be used to Entangle an opponent's weapon; the opponent remains Entangled so long as the weapon is, but they can drop the weapon to end the entanglement, as well (unless, like tortoise blades, the weapon is attached to their arm).
*Quabone: A quabone is four sharpened bones, arranged into a radially symmetrical rod. A largely ineffective weapon due to awkwardness, it's given to gladiators when the fight needs to last a long time, or to "arm" those whose fate is to die in the arena.
*Singing Stick: Singing sticks are a pair of short, light, clubs. When used by someone with the Two-Fisted perk, there is an additional +1 to Parry.
*Talid: Known as the "gladiator's gauntlet", the talid is much like a cestus, with spikes protruding from the knuckles and down the hand... and with a sharp, curved, blade along the outside of the thumb.
*Tortoise Blades: Tortoise Blades are small shields (often made from tortoise shells, thus the name), with a blade projecting paralell to the user's forearm. Often used in pairs, they provide good defense on top of their offensive abilities.
*Trikal: The trikal is a 5' shaft, topped with a three-bladed head. The area behind the head is often spiked and serrated. The weapon is well-suited to tests used to trip an opponent (SWADE 108), and the wielder can use either Athletics or fighting, with a +2, when doing so.
*Weighted Pike: A 7'-8' shaft with a weighted, spiked, ball on one end, and a blade on the other. Skilled users will switch between the two in the course of a fight, but a heavy ball dropping on your head, swung on an 8' shaft, will ruin your day.
*Widow's Knife: The widow's knife began life as an agricultural tool, a convex blade mounted on a handle, much like holding the base of a battle axe's head, without the shaft; tools of this sort are often used in the harvest of grain, much like a sickle's concave blade would be. As the widow's knife evolved into a weapon, spring-loaded prongs were added to the handle; they do little damage, but are often poisoned. The broad blade of the widow's knife allows it great range when thrown.
*Wrist Razor: Making the most of a small amount of metal, wrist razors are three blades projecting from a heavy arm band or gauntlet, allowing for bladed, bleeding, punches. They are often used in pairs.
Weapon | Damage | Min Str | Weight | Cost | Notes |
Alhulak* | Str+d6 | d6 | 5 | 900cp | Reach 1, On a raise, can choose between additional damage or target being Entangled |
Bard's Friend | Str+d4 | d4 | 2 | 1000cp | Parry +1 if used in off hand |
Cahulaks* | Str+d6 | d6 | 5 | 1200cp | Reach 1, Two hands, On a raise, can choose between additional damage or target being Entangled |
Carrikal* | Str+d6 | d6 | 3 | 80cp |
|
Chatkcha* | Str+d4 | d4 | 1 | 5cp |
|
Crusher* | Str+d4 | d8 | 5 | 2400cp | Reach 2, Parry -3, Ignores shield bonus, can make up to 3 attacks in a single action (roll Fighting separately, 1 Wild die only) |
Datchi Club* | Str+d8 | d8 | 5 | 1200cp | Reach 1, +2 damage against unarmored targets |
Double-bladed Spear | Str+d6 | d6 | 6 | 200cp | Reach 1, 2 hands, first MAP against second target only -1 |
Dragon's Paw | Str+d6 | d8 | 5 | 1500cp | Parry +1, Reach 1, Two Hands |
Forearm Axe | Str+d6 | d8 | 2 | 1000cp | Parry +1, spike does Str+d4, can hold 3 doses of poison |
Gouge | Str+d8 | d8 | 6 | 600cp | Two-handed, +2 damage on Wild Attack |
Gythka* | Str+d8 | d6 | 5 | 600cp | Two Hands, +1 Parry, reach 1 |
Impaler* | Str+d8 | d8 | 4 | 400cp | Two Hands, Reach 1, AP 2 |
Lotulis | Str+d8 | d8 | 5 | 1500cp | Parry +1, +1 to disarm, Two Hands |
Master's Whip* | Str+d4 | d4 | 2 | 600cp | Parry -1, Reach 2, may be used to apply poison |
Puchik | Str+d4 | d4 | 1 | 600cp | Parry +1, Can use Fighting to Entangle an opponent (opponent can drop weapon to break entangle, or try to free with Fighting or Athletics) |
Quabone* | Str+d4 | d6 | 4 | 1cp |
|
Singing Stick* | Str+d4 | d4 | 1 | 5cp | Parry +1 with Two-Fisted |
Talid* | Str+d4 | d4 | 1 | 400cp |
|
Tortoise Blades | Str+d6 | d6 | 3 | 900cp | +1 Parry; may use paired for +2 Parry (total) |
Trikal | Str+d10 | d8 | 4 | 1200cp | Two Hands, +1 Parry, +2 for Trip attempts |
Weighted Pike | Str+d8 | d8 | 8 | 600cp | Reach 1, Parry +1, AP 1 when set, AP 2 when swung |
Widow's Knife | Str+d4 | d4 | 2 | 500cp | Spring-loaded prongs can be released for d2 damage (AP 1) |
Wrist Razor | Str+d4 | d4 | 1 | 1000cp |
|
Magical Equipment
Athas has magical (and psionic) equipment available, though never on the open market. Some organizations (the Templar corps of a Sorcerer-King, the Veiled Alliance of preservers, the mysterious psychic Order among them) might have some limited amount of items for trade or assignment, but such are rare, and only for those who have proven trustworthy (or useful, in the case of Templars). Much of this functions as laid out in the Fantasy Companion, though it should be noted that a magical bone sword is still, at its heart, a bone sword; while enchantment frees it from the chance of breaking through normal use, it still carries the penalties for being bone.
Of special note, however, are potions, and tomes and scrolls. Tomes and scrolls are made somewhat difficult by the lack of literacy; even wizards may be functionally illiterate, having learned a complex code of knots or symbols for their magical training, without necessarily learning a more broadly applicable written language. As such, any magical scrolls and tomes must be carefully decoded before they can be used; most often, this is managed by a roll of the arcane skill if the creator had the same Arcane Background as the user, or an Occult roll if from a different background (such as a wizard attempting to use a Templar's scrolls). Each power in a given tome, or on a given scroll, must be deciphered separately. Decoding a scroll requires one hour per power point involved in the power so contained; this is in addition to the activation roll to actually use the scroll. Decoding a tome requires one day per rank of the power. Critical failures when decoding a scroll result in the activation of the scroll, but in a way chosen by the game master (including using the decoder as the target). Critical failures in decoding a tome mean that the character simply cannot use that power from that tome. While the eccentricity of Athasian magicians leads to a variety of different forms for tomes and scrolls, psychics most often imbue crystals, gems, or other solid objects, rather than using something resembling writing.
Potions on Athas are another story; they most often take the form of fruits, which are eaten to release their powers. But, as they are fruits, they may be planted in order to produce magical trees, which may produce additional magical fruit. When planted, they must be tended (watered, pruned, and otherwise cared for) for 1d6 weeks, during which time they will grow to their full size. At the end of this time, the grower (who must have an Arcane Background) makes a Survival check. If the check fails, the tree dies. If it succeeds, the tree thrives, but bears no magical fruit. With a single raise, a single magical fruit is grown; with two raises, two fruits are grown. Regardless, no more fruits will be grown from that tree, unless the person tending it is ALSO an artificer. During the growth cycle, an artificer may enchant the tree. This enchanting process follows the usual process for enchantment, but the value of the tree is twenty times the value of the potion. While being enchanted, the tree will not produce fruit; once the enchantment is completed, it will produce a new magical fruit each week. On a critical failure, the tree is destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment