#3E-Proficiency

[thydungeongal]

Recently I've started reading For Gold and Glory which bills itself as a fairly faithful retroclone of AD&D 2e. One thing that jumps out at me is the skill list. It's full of skills like "seamstress/tailor" which have no clear application to an adventure game. The text emphasizes that any adventurer can make repairs to clothing, and the skill is only used when you want to make a new outfit from scratch. As someone who I assume has read AD&D 2e, do you have any idea what these skills are for? I have a few guesses:

Players are expected to create a character that makes fictional sense with no regard for optimization. The GM then tailors (heh) the adventures to make sure they win, thus affirming their choice to not optimize

players are expected to roleplay downtime in a very granular way, which includes finding employment for their character.

But these are just guesses, I'm not familiar with how people actually played this or what the designers intended

I think the skill list being like that is largely informed by this sort of design philosophy that the non-weapon proficiency system doesn't exist just to model player characters. There's very little actual incentive for players to pick some of those non-weapon proficiencies for their characters, but they exist as choices because not everyone in the setting is going to be an adventurer. As far as I know, there also isn't really an incentive for a GM to tailor adventures to PCs so that their non-adventuring skill picks end up being useful to the adventure (even the more linear latter AD&D 2e adventures rarely present situations where a very specific skill holds the key to solving a situation).

It's fun imo even if it isn't perfectly in line with the rest of the expectations of the game. Non-weapon proficiencies had their start in AD&D 1e supplements and I guess were another patch added into the game to address player issues of "How will I know if my character can do [X]?" and then it made its way into both AD&D 2e and BECMI. It's one of the many decisions upstream from the massive upheaval that was D&D 3e's approach to testing player characters, so AD&D 2e was in many ways still, like, a weird middle ground where they clearly wanted these systems but didn't quite know how they fit. Anyway.

[vintagerpg]

PHBR1: The Complete Fighter’s Handbook (1989) is, love it or hate it, probably the defining book of second edition AD&D in a philosophical sense. The idea here is to spice up the fighter, the least mechanically interesting character class in the roster. This is partly accomplished through new combat rules — there are fighting styles, special maneuvers, a whole new martial arts system. I don’t find these particularly interesting, but they are sturdy enough if you want some extra crunch.

More than the extra rules, PHBR1 introduces character kits. These are sort of a collection of aesthetics, roleplaying cues and perhaps a single special mechanic tweak in exchange for some sort of hindrance. In sum, at this point, they’re the illusion of variety with very little mechanical impact. Thus, the generic fighter can become a swashbuckler, a pirate, a gladiator, a cavalier and so on, without knocking the game out of balance with a billion different rules and powers. For now.

Illusion or not, kits become pretty central to the 2E experience almost immediately, which is pretty neat, because, as I said, they’re primarily packages of vibes instead of weighty mechanical options. Much of their ambiance is derived from the non-weapon proficiencies — in the main rules these were optional, but their use in defining character kits really solidified their place in the core play experience, even if, as a skill system, proficiencies are inadequate.

All of this is pretty formative, I think, to 3E, as well, where the tinkering with character builds mutate kits into prestige classes with significant mechanical impact (ironically while removing any real reason to play a fighter past prestige level). This book also lays the ground work for the tactical focus and feats of the later Players Option book that in turn is a clear prediction of 3E combat.

[thecreaturecodex]

Herexen

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[As part of PF2e's divesting from the OGL, a number of classic monsters inherited from the 3e Monster Manual and the Tome of Horrors have undergone some branding changes. Ankhegs are ankhravs, treants are arboreals, kytons are velstracs. And huecuvas are now herexens. The name "huecuva" was taken from Mapuche mythology, but the actual entity has nothing to do with undead clerics. And the mechanics of the D&D/PF1e huecuva are a remnant of a Gygaxian-era gotcha encounter--what looked like a kindly cleric infected you with disease by touch--and is weirdly low-intelligence. So I welcome this change to both name and mechanics wholeheartedly.]

Herexen CR 2 NE Undead This person is clearly dead, with rotting skin and half-missing facial features. It wears a holy symbol around its neck, but its talisman has been clearly defaced.

When a cleric forsakes their god before dying, their body may rise again as an undead heretic known as a herexen. Herexens hate the god they once worshipped, and go out of their way to desecrate holy spaces, interrupt festivals and slay adherents of the faith. They may attract necromancers or death cultists with their activities, and some even continue to advance as clerics, albeit turning to the worship of some demon lord, god of undeath or similar fell power. Herexens may be found as lone predators, or gathered together into parodies of worshipful congregations. In numbers, herexens often engage in cruel parodies of liturgical ceremonies.

A herexen focuses its attacks on divine spellcasters, especially those that worship the god that they once did. A formerly sacred weapon in their hands becomes a tool against all servants of the divine. Herexens are capable of using some clerical magic, thematically similar to that of the god they once followed. They can also inflict negative energy with a touch, which they use to both harm others and to heal themselves or any undead they may have allied with. When slain, a herexen explodes in a burst of negative energy.

Herexen                                CR 2 XP 600 NE Medium undead Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9 Defense AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural) hp 18 (2d8+9) Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +7 Immune undead traits Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee slam +3 (1d4+3) or masterwork dagger +4 (1d4+2 plus blasphemous strike) Special Abilities death throes Spell-like Abilities CL 2nd, concentration +5 7/day—bleeding touch (1 round) 3/day—inflict light wounds (DC 14) 1/day—cause fear (DC 14) Statistics Str 14, Dex 15, Con -, Int 11, Wis18, Cha 17 Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 15 Feats Toughness Skills Disguise +8, Knowledge (religion) +9, Perception +9, Stealth +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Knowledge (religion) Languages Common, Necril SQ blasphemous focus (Death domain, dagger) Ecology Environment any Organization solitary, pair or congregation (3-12) Treasure standard (defiled holy symbol, masterwork dagger, other treasure) Special Abilities Blasphemous Focus (Ex) All herexens are tied to the god that they worshiped and abandoned in life. This grants them access to a single domain or subdomain of their god (aside from the Good or Healing domains), from which they can use the 1st level granted powers as a 2nd level cleric, and can use the 1st level domain spell as a spell-like ability 1/day. A herexen loses these abilities if it is not carrying or wearing a defiled holy symbol of that god. A herexen also gains proficiency with that god’s favored weapon. Blasphemous Strike (Su) When wielding the favored weapon of its former god, a herexen deals an additional 1d6 points of damage against extraplanar outsiders or creatures capable of casting divine spells. Its blasphemous strike counts as evil for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. Death Throes (Su) When a herexen dies, it explodes in a burst of negative energy, dealing 1d6 points of negative energy damage to all creatures in a 30 foot radius (Will DC 14 halves). The save DC is Charisma based.

[thehomelybrewster]

Ability Scores in 5e & Other RPGs

This little rant is inspired by a post by a blog named The Angry GM, titled "Your Ability Scores Suck" as well as a post titled "8 Abilities - 6, 3, or 4 Ability scores?" by DIY & dragons, because those two articles and my past few months of looking at various TTPRGs have led me to some insights into my own philosophy in how I like TTRPGs and how I feel about 5e's Ability Scores.

So let's look at how a couple of RPGs handle ability scores or their equivalents. Namely I'll look at D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, The Dark Eye (4th Edition Revised), CAIRN, and Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon is relevant to this. And it'll actually be the second game we'll discuss, but the first obviously has to be...

D&D 5th Edition

D&D famously has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. In most situations the exact ability score no longer is that important, however, since from 3e onwards d20-based checks have become the near-universal input you play D&D with. This means that instead the ability score modifier is key, which ranges from -4 to +5 for most player characters.

Now while these six scores might seem pretty equal, players have quickly figured out that certain ability scores are more desirable than others, unless you play specific classes.

Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are for example the three most common saving throws. 109 out of the 361 spells in the Player's Handbook force a saving throw using one of these three ability scores, while Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma only have 24 spells. Thankfully every D&D class gives proficiency with two saving throws, one of the three major ones, and one of the lesser ones (and certain subclasses as well as the monk get more saving throw proficiencies, but that's besides the point).

Additionally, when it comes to skills, and thus out-of-combat usefulness, Strength only has one skill tied to it by default (Athletics), while Constitution has none. Charisma has four skills to its name, Dexterity three, and both Intelligence and Wisdom have five.

Now the DIY & dragons article mentions that there are effectively three axes you have to cover with your ability scores: physical vs mental, force vs grace, and attack vs defense. That leads to eight abilities total. In 5e, using what we know about the game, we can make some great deductions.

For one, Strength is almost exclusively concerned with physical force attack, while Constitution nearly exclusively covers physical force defense. Dexterity meanwhile fully covers physical grace attack, as well as physical grace defense, since it affects AC and is used for Stealth, as well covering evasion-type saving throws. Dexterity is incredibly powerful in 5e, arguably the most powerful ability score.

On the mental stat side, the lines are less clear. All three ability scores can be used for offence, though Intelligence, being the casting ability score of only wizards and the generally utility-based artificers is the least offensive of the three. Still, its association with wizards means it probably is best associated with force, because fireball. Charisma easily can be sorted into grace and is mostly offensive, and Wisdom straddles the line between force and grace, but is also both clearly offensive and defensive.

As you can see, Intelligence & Wisdom & Charisma are rather ill-defined, a point also made by the The Angry GM article, but mechanically Wisdom is universally useful, while Charisma is either super important (because you're playing either a Charisma caster or a face-type non-caster, such as a rogue), or can easily be sidelined/dumped. In fact a lot of tables seem to disregard or minimize Charisma when it comes to roleplay, my tables have definitely done that. Mostly because you don't want to have players not participating in roleplay encounters because they don't have at least a +2 in Charisma and several skill proficiencies in that area.

Speaking of proficiencies, for skills the maximum you can add is +6 or +12 if you have expertise, while with saving throws the maximum proficiency bonus is +6, so with saving throws in particular, a +5 for a saving throw from that relevant abilty score is a massive defensive boon, though it's often less relevant for skill checks.

This knowledge, as well as the known issues with Intelligence-based skill checks often being seen as gate-keeping plot relevant information, leads to the realization that Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma are the three most frequent "dump stats", with the latter two in particular often having implications in out-of-combat situations, while Strength is a "safe" choice for full spellcasters.

Now let's think about how other games handle this... Let's begin, as I threatened in the beginning, with...

Pokémon

Pokémon famously uses six so-called base stats for its collectible creatures: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Using the system described by DIY & dragons, Attack and Defense clearly map onto the physical, and Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense clearly onto the mental. There is no distinction made between grace and force. HP is a universally defensive stat, and Speed is both offensive and defensive.

Naturally, Pokémon doesn't involve dice rolls. These stats are used for formulas and comparisons. But you can already see that Pokémon, at least since Special got split into Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense starting in Gold & Silver, has a clear division of these stats, with it being clear what they do.

Now due to the mechanics and the goals of Pokémon, an individual character (read: the actual Pokémon) doesn't need to have balanced stats. Largely also because these stats only affect combat, the main mechanic of these games. Any out-of-combat activity present in Pokémon games in fact uses distinct stats, completely distinct from the base stats of the Pokémon. These can then be discarded/put into the background when that out-of-combat activity, such as Pokémon Contests, is removed from subsequent releases.

Now let's look at a D&D-related game that has a different approach to ability scores, because it provides a stepping stone to look at different RPGs...

Pathfinder 2nd Edition (Pre-2023 Revision)

Pathfinder, being a game spun out off the 3rd Edition of D&D, also uses the six ability scores that D&D uses: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Just like with 5e, Pathfinder associates certain skills with certain ability scores, and just like 5e, Strength and Constitution are connected to only one and no skills respectively.

Still, that's just part of the bigger picture. Pathfinder 2e, just like D&D 3e, doesn't use ability scores as saving throws. Rather it uses three distinct saving throws that are tied to ability scores. Those saving throws are Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). These are, for the keen-eyed, the same ability scores that are the primary saving throws in 5e. This means that defenses are covered exclusively by these three ability scores, and of these Constitution remains purely defensive, while Dexterity and Wisdom also have offensive capabilities. Still, the offensive power of Dexterity is lowered because in general it cannot be used to increase your weapon damage, contrary to how 5e does it.

It should also be noted that both when it comes to skills and saving throws, the calculations for rolls are very different than in 5e! If you are proficient with a skill or saving throw, you add both a bonus equal to your degree of proficiency (from +2 to +8), as well as your character's level, to the roll, in addition to your ability score modifier. This leads to massive bonuses, especially since magical effects can be added to that, too. Of course Pathfinder uses a sliding scale to determine difficulty classes and has a degrees of success system, but with that knowledge, the -4 to +5 you add to your rolls will matter less than 5e's ability score modifiers do. In general, as long as the modifier is at least a +1, it's fine.

This has actually led to Wisdom being considered a dump stat for many Pathfinder players, and that especially applies when playing with one alternate rule that I want to highlight.

In the Gamemastery Guide, the Alternative Scores variant rule splits Dexterity into Dexterity and Agility, merges Strength and Constitution, and makes Charisma rather than Wisdom the relevant ability for Will saving throws. That variant rule acknowledges the power of Dexterity and the relative weaknesses of Strength and Constitution, but somehow strengthens Charisma further. I don't have any numbers or insight on how popular this alternate rule is, but given what I know about Pathfinder 2e character optimizers, I wouldn't adopt the change to Will saves if I were to run this variant rule myself.

Still, the knowledge of these three saving throws puts us nicely into the realm of indie RPGs, which have really run with this. So let's look at one as an example.

Cairn

This lovely little game written by Yochai Gal has been a well-supported indie darling and is currently in a playtest for a 2nd edition.

Cairn uses three ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower. It also uses a d20 roll under system, contrary to 5e and Pathfinder. This means that you aim to roll below your ability score, rather than adding a number to a d20 roll and seeing if you can meet the difficulty class threshold.

They are also, in combat, mostly defensive. Strength in combat mostly concerns surviving blows. Dexterity is used to determine if you move before the enemies and for escaping combat. Both Strength and Dexterity can be used for saving throws against certain spells. In combat Willpower is necessary to cast spells without suffering penalties.

Offensively none of the three ability scores are that important. They don't add to damage, they aren't important for making attacks, or anything of the sorts. Spellcasting outside of dangerous situations usually doesn't involve die rolls either.

This makes the three ability scores very balanced, but it also gives them comparatively little meaning. They are your protection from harm. Including out of combat. But Cairn doesn't know skill checks whose failure state isn't "nothing happens". If player characters have no pressure, they succeed. Especially if they have useful equipment for it.

Using the DIY & dragons blog post as reference, Strength only represents physical force defense, Dexterity only represents physical grace defense, and Willpower represents mental grace and force defense.

So, let's look at a different roll-under system, one that might provide additional inspiration for game designers...

The Dark Eye (4th Edition, revised)

The German TTRPG The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) is old, almost as old as D&D, and in its design its often as an antithesis for D&D. It's incredibly math-y, has a generally less heroic (but also categorically "good") playstyle, and is a class-less (kinda), level-less system. To ensure I know what I'm talking about, I'll focus on the 4th edition, which has by now been superceded by its own 5th edition, because that's the one edition of it I actually played.

DSA (its German acronym which I will use for brevity's sake) uses eight attribute (!) scores:

Courage, Cleverness, Intuition, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, and Strength.

Each of these eight attribute scores affects the character directly. Heroes have base values (melee attack, ranged attack, parry, initiative) that are calculated by adding together set combinations of attribute scores and dividing the sum, most often by 5, to determine those base values. For brevity's sake, let's look at two of these base values: attack and parry. Attack is calculated with Courage + Agility + Strength, while parry is calculated using Intuition + Dexterity + Strength. Both use two "physical" attributes and one "mental" attribute.

Similar rules also apply to calculating how much your character can withstand, be it through their general vitality (which is equivalent to hit points), their endurance (mostly used as a resource for athletic feats), and their wound limit, all of which can be used to defeat characters. Even the amount of astral points, the spellcasting resource, is calculated using your attribute scores. Every attribute is used at least once when calculating these eight values, with only Cleverness, Charisma, and Dexterity being used only for one of these eight fundamental character traits, with Charisma being the least important, because it is only used to calculate astral energy points, which are irrelevant for characters that don't know spells.

Furthermore skill checks in DSA are made by rolling three attribute checks in a row and then using skill points to modify the results if necessary. Skills use either three distinct attribute scores (e.g. Cooking, which requires Cleverness & Intuition & Dexterity), or two attribute scores (with one being used twice, e.g. Perception requires one Cleverness check and two Intuition checks). Simple attribute checks where you use only one attribute are rare, with heavy lifting often being the key example for it. There are also loads of skills in DSA, with the character sheet per default having twenty four skills, with more being common on most characters.

As you can hopefully see, all eight ability scores are used very often and impact your character greatly. They are furthermore more clearly delineated than the D&D standard, however they also don't map onto the DIY & dragons parameters for ability scores, despite having eight of them!

Conclusion

What can we learn from this? Well, honestly, draw your own conclusions. The six ability scores of D&D and Pathfinder are not the "be-all and end-all", that's for sure. You really need to think about what your game wants to do.

Is it just combat-focused? Then all ability scores should matter in combat and to (roughly) the same degree!

Does your game consist of multiple gameplay elements? If yes, then they should all be accessible and fun for players even if their base stats are "bad" in one aspect, while still allowing for specialization of player characters.

Generally, there is no "one size fits all" solution, and this rant hasn't even gone into ambiguity between different terms, the implications of specific terms and associated thresholds, or the exact history of ability scores in D&D before 3rd Edition!

Anyway, I hope this was legible, fun and informative.

[earlgraytay]

Wait do tieflings still have +2 Cha and +1 Int? I thought WotC got rid of ability score modifiers for different "races"/ancestries

Unfortunately, both things are correct.

... Wizards has been churning out these books that contain a bunch of errata-fixes, Alternate Ways To Play, and stuff like that-- kinda like the 3e Unearthed Arcana book, except that there's so. many. more. of. them. Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything, and so on and so on.

And one of the things they've really been pushing with these books is a model of the game where different species don't have innate ability score increases (or cultural weapon proficiencies/skill proficiencies, or any sort of proclivity for a particular class, or... you get the idea). They've really taken the backlash about how D&D Is Racist to heart and have given people who don't want to play a game like that the tools they need to do so.

....Except that a) the shit in the Everything books only overwrites what's in the Player's Handbook if your DM says so, and b) it's a band-aid solution at best and shoddy game design at worst.

Because, like... look... yes, the model of the world that D&D is based on is fucked up; the idea that people can be divided into separate "races" that each have their own culture and are fundamentally good at different things is Bad irl and is Bad in D&D.

But also, character creation in a TTRPG is about making interesting choices. Whether it's like, Gamma World 4e where the "interesting choices" are "roll on a table and make sense of the abomination you've created", or a PBTA game where your skin mostly determines what kind of story you want to tell, or D&D where you sit down and crunch a bunch of numbers. You're making choices that give you certain abilities and lock you out of others.

In D&D, the two fundamental choices that you make at the start of every game are "species" and "class". Are you an elven wizard, a halfling rogue, a human fighter, a dwarven cleric? These choices are supposed to shape how your character interacts with the world on both a mechanical and characterization level.

Taking one of those choices and making it, essentially, "how fast do you want to move and do you want a spell-like ability or a feat"... I feel like that's a bad idea from a game design perspective, even if it's the correct idea from a Not Having A Fucked Up Worldview perspective. Because, like, it turns a choice that's supposed to be incredibly meaningful for the first few levels into "eh, whatever your DM feels is Goodthink".

The way I would honestly handle it is to make backgrounds more mechanically important than they are in 5e right now and offload most of what used to be ~racial traits~ into backgrounds. Keep "what species are you" as an actually interesting choice, but move most of the crunch into a place where you could be a human raised by dwarves if you want.

[talenlee]

4e: Having A (Weapon) Type

Surely I’ve written about this already.

The 4e weapon system is one of its strongest points and it’s strength is directly linked to the ongoing attempt to make ‘person who uses a weapon’ as someone who can do cool or good things and not just being there to hold the wizard’s bags. The fundamental design of melee weapon-wielding characters’ powers is that the powers tend towards a generic set of effects, doing damage, pushing people around, pulling them, repositioning you – all that kinda jazz. But then, through feats, the powers that checked for weapons would be able to check the weapon you were using and add on special effects.

What this meant is that the weapon system of 4e is one of the most interesting I’ve seen in D&D where weapon choice is not a simple matter of mathematical superiorities. Back in 3e and 2e D&D there were just weapons that were the best in show. 2e went a step further than 3e did by making it so that some classes were simply not allowed to use the best weapons and this was a point of balance for them, which is how you know that the 2e wizard was so weak, since it only got to use the longsword when it was a bladesinger.

That’s a joke, and the only people who are going to get it are older than me.

4e weapons had basically four things that could be used to distinguish one weapon from any another:

A weapon category. All the hammers were listed as hammers. All the axes were axes. All the spears are spears. This sounds simple, but don’t worry about it for now.

A proficiency bonus. This represents the bonus you get to attacks made with this weapon if you’re trained in how to use it. This makes weapons beneficial to use if you’re trained in them and also represents the level of effect you can get out of being an expert in them.

Damage dice! This represents the scale of damage the weapon can do – multiple smaller dice being more even and capable of doing reliable damage, and single larger dice having more variance between high and low numbers.

Keywords. These are the key spice to this whole soupy mess, which means that suddenly you have a lot of standardised ways to make weapon groups relate to one another.

The keywords that a weapon can have isn’t even that long:

Brutal (reroll low numbers, sick as hell, used by the coolest and hottest heroes)

Defensive (gives you a defense bonus, good for people with shield envy)

Heavy Thrown (a huckable item you can use with strength)

High Crit (when you crit, you really crit)

Light Thrown (a huckable item you can use with dexterity)

Load Free (something to do with crossbows, who cares)

Load Minor (oh no more crossbow stuff)

Off-hand (ranger stuff)

Small (it’s small)

Stout (it’s not small)

Versatile (it can be small)

Every one of these factors can be fine tuned and there are trends within a category. For example, most light blades, in the vein of swords (you know, sword, smaller sword, bigger sword, much bigger sword, much smaller sword) tend to have no keywords that change their damage output, and instead their keywords relate to being usable and flexible. To compensate for this, they have the highest proficiency bonus (typically) for their damage dice, and swing at +3.

But that’s swords, that’s the cisgender white boy who listens to podcasts of the weapon sets. Sure, that’s the one that somehow mathematically winds up on top but that’s just because of fundamental biases from the people who designed the system. And in the context of the weapon system of 4e D&D, there are things you want to be able to do that aren’t necessarily damage (and hush up, CharOp board veterans since there are actually better things than dead and shaving fractions of turns only matters when dealing with spherical goblins in a vacuum).

Polearms and spears tend to be reach based! Axes and hammers tend to be heavy! Flails are chainy and daggers are stabby! But for most part, when you pick up one of these items, most of these traits aren’t immediately evident. Instead, you can invest in feats for proficiency with fancy weapons, or feats that support the way those weapons work. Every single weapon expertise feat, representing skill with that weapon, brings with it a special benefit that changes how those weapons relate to the powers that use weapons.

What this means is that when you play a character who uses weapons, what weapon you choose to use can be a part of how you relate to your powers. If your feats are in demand for something else, you can look at the support your weapon gives a small number of things. Just as an example, one of the most poached parts of the game in Character Optimisation is what I summarise as ‘Polearm Malarkey,’ which when fully developed, lets a defender of some variety interrupt an enemy attack, even against themselves sometimes, and push an enemy mid-attack a square away, then knock them prone – which can be their whole turn, since they were already in the middle of an attack. That’s really powerful but it needs a lot of feats. On the other hand, if you like being able to knock people prone and deprive them of actions and only have one feat or two to invest in it, you could try and wield a flail instead, and use Flail Expertise, then choose your powers in a way that let you impose slides on people. All that malarkey the defender with a fully mature polearm build can do, a level 1 Avenger or Swordmage can do with Flail Expertise…

But there’s not a lot more the flail expertise can do with that.

And that means there’s not just the matter of what a weapon can do but what it can grow into. Crucially though, and this is very important, at every step along the way these weapons are pretty good and offer rewards for what you’ve invested. It’s not like the 3e feat chain design where players take feats that suck pants in exchange for the promise of one day being able to Whirlwind Attack and then have nothing more for their build to look forward to.

Great system. I love when I see a coherent, sensible system like this built into a TTRPG from the baseline. Realism and historicity are not that important when the weapons designed in the game are game objects that players are meant to interact with! Make it so nobody has to make bad choices to get to better choices! You don’t get anything by putting traps in front of your players!

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[onslaughtsixdotcom]

Hit Dice, Hit Points & Weapon Damage: Part 2

Last October I was talking about Hit Dice, Hit Points & Weapon Damage in my various games, and how I want to work to unify some of this.

Since that post I've thought a lot and want to move forward with things it does, and this required a few changes. First up, I recategorized the classes:

Couple things: I will be adding a feat that allows you to bump your Hit Die to the next die up (maximum of d12). I like feats in my games! I think big chunky complex games like what else should have lots of customization options.

Under this system, your hit die is also your hit die, as in the die you roll for damage. Your character does damage, not your weapon. That's not to say weapons won't have differences; I am much more strictly implementing a "light/medium/heavy" system and locking those weapons behind class proficiencies. I prefer light/medium/heavy to the 3e "simple/martial" divide; it just makes more sense to me.

For equipment I'll be starting with my Canonical Weapons List. I really like this one as it simplifies the list just enough. Probably, I will deep dive into the Martial Options I've got for my 5e house rules and compare against the Wolves weapons. (I keep going back but then stopping for some reason. It obviously works in that game or in OD&D. Why am I so hesitant here?)

But, the first thing I've got to cut from the weapons list is the damage. And once that's done, there's a little bit of work to be done to ensure an "archetype" exists for each one--there's 3 damage types, so if there's a heavy weapon there needs to be 3 of them, one for each type.

Light weapons will be disadvantage on damage (roll 2, take the lowest) while Heavy weapons will be advantage or when you take the weapon, you can increase it from your Hit Die up one step (maximum of d12).

Still working on the magic system. I have always liked the way 5e does saves and so I'll be sticking to that, but I am thinking of changing the way they are statted. I think this version of my game is removing "proficiency bonus" the way it works in 5e. You'll still have a base attack bonus that increases with level, but skills are moving to a skill ranks system ala 3e, and saves are probably going to use the New Modifiers system.

And, two house rules that I've been using for a while now that are going to stay: Hit Points are your Hit Die plus your CON Score (no modifiers ever added) and Stats are 1d6+8 six times, assign as desired.

The first thing I'm going to wholly design for this is probably the Barbarian, because I have an interesting and new take on it.

[landoflustfulladies]

How is 3e different from 5e dnd?

So there's a lot that sets it apart, despite a similar core mechanical framework. I'll try and hit some high notes though. TLDR same basic engine but with a lot more depth. I will probably still ramble a lot so, uh, time for readmore...

First off, there's a lot more numbers. Instead of the advantage disadvantage system, a lot more things have a direct numerical effect on your rolls. Flanking an enemy for example, gives you a +2 bonus to your attack roll. Being surprised doesn't give enemy advantage, instead you lose your dexterity bonus to your AC cause, well, you aren't dodging.

Second off, just about everything has a bit more depth to it. For example, in 5e weapons have a damage die and maybe a couple tags. In 3.5, there's first off a lot more weapons and use some different dice combos. As an example, falchions and scythes do 2d4 damage. The versatile tag was actually a simplification of the fact that any weapon can be wielded in two hands (well, except light weapons). Wielding a weapon in one hand adds strength to damage, but two handing it boosts your strength bonus to damage by 50%. Oh, and you know all weapons in 5e crit on a 20 for an extra die on damage? Well, default crit in 3.5 is a 20 for double damage, but some weapons have more threat range. A light mace, a shortsword, and a rapier all do d6 damage but the mace crits on a 20, the shortsword on a 19, and the rapier on an 18. That and some weapons do more on a crit. A heavy pick is d6 damage and crits on a 20, but does four times as much damage on a crit. I have gone on this long just about different weapons with different pros and cons. My players all spent significant time thinking about their primary weapons.

Oh yeah, you know how feats kinda sucked in 5e? In 3.5, they are practically character defining. Good news is you get them more often! Every character starts with a feat for free, humans get a second one, and then every three levels you get another one! These are in addition to stat boosts every four levels. Now, some things that were feats in 5e are free in 3.5 (like being able to charge), and some that are feats in 3.5 are free in 5e (like being able to use dexterity to hit with light weapons), bit of a give and take there. But yeah, do it right and you can be pretty insane!

Oh yeah, skills work way different! Instead of picking a handful at character generation to be Proficient in, you get a certain number of Skill Points each level based on your class and intelligence, and you can distribute those between your skills as you please (capped at 4 ranks at level 1, goes up by one each level). Your class has a list of Class Skills you can buy at the normal rate, but you can still buy non class skills, they just cost double and have half the cap. What this means is a fighter might not be as good as the rogue at sneaking but he can still be good at if he wants. This also means you can choose to get a smaller bonus to your rolls in exchange for taking more skills by spreading your points around!

Oh yeah, did it ever strike you that everyone was as good with their weapons as the Fighter, the Designated Hitting Stuff Guy? Well, in 3.5, instead of everyone getting the same proficiency bonus, each class has their Base Attack Bonus. Fighters and other classes with Full BAB go up a point every level, things like Rogues and Clerics go up at a rate that comes out to about 3/4 levels (so at level 20 they get +15), and folks like Wizards get Slow BAB where they go up every other level. So yeah, the fighter will actually be better at hitting things.

God I could go on but even on my bigass monitor I can’t see the top of my post so I should probably ease up. God, and I haven’t even gotten to prestige classes... Uh, those are basically a fancy way of multiclassing that have certain requirements before you start taking them in exchange for being more specialized than regular classes. A lot of 5e subclasses were based off prestige classes from 3.5, so you can probably still play your favorite stuff. There’s also a lot more base classes! Swashbuckler is its own class as an example, instead of being a subset of rogue, it’s an absolutely devastating finesse DPS.

Oh, and monster variety! There are so few monsters in 5e compared to 3.5! I have six different books full of monsters open when I’m planning encounters! Seriously, so much more to work with!

[instantebookmart]

Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual/Study Guide 3rd Edition, ISBN-13: 978-1119378693 [PDF eBook eTextbook] 1104 pages Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (January 4, 2017) Language: English ISBN-10: 1119378699 ISBN-13: 978-1119378693 This is the Student Study Guide and Solutions Manual to accompany Organic Chemistry, 3e. Organic Chemistry, 3rd Edition is not merely a compilation of principles, but rather, it is a disciplined method of thought and analysis. Success in organic chemistry requires mastery in two core aspects: fundamental concepts and the skills needed to apply those concepts and solve problems. Readers must learn to become proficient at approaching new situations methodically, based on a repertoire of skills. These skills are vital for successful problem solving in organic chemistry. Existing textbooks provide extensive coverage of, the principles, but there is far less emphasis on the skills needed to actually solve problems. About the Author David Klein is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University where he teaches Organic and General Chemistry. He is a dynamic and creative teacher and uses analogy to help students grasp difficult topics. Klein’s unique informal voice and manner of presentation help students truly master key topics in this course. He is also the author of Organic Chemistry as a Second Language and General Chemistry as a Second Language, which have both been highly successful. What makes us different? • Instant Download • Always Competitive Pricing • 100% Privacy • FREE Sample Available • 24-7 LIVE Customer Support

[worldcolection]

[Read Online] Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion BY : David R. Klein

[Read] PDF/Book Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion By David R. Klein

Ebook PDF Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion | EBOOK ONLINE DOWNLOAD If you want to download free Ebook, you are in the right place to download Ebook. Ebook/PDF Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion DOWNLOAD in English is available for free here, Click on the download LINK below to download Ebook After You 2020 PDF Download in English by Jojo Moyes (Author).

Download Link : [Downlload Now] Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion

Read More : [Read Now] Organic Chemistry Student Solution Manual / Study Guide, Loose-Leaf Print Companion

Description

This is the Student Study Guide and Solutions Manual to accompany Organic Chemistry, 3e. Organic Chemistry, 3rd Edition is not merely a compilation of principles, but rather, it is a disciplined method of thought and analysis. Success in organic chemistry requires mastery in two core aspects: fundamental concepts and the skills needed to apply those concepts and solve problems. Readers must learn to become proficient at approaching new situations methodically, based on a repertoire of skills. These skills are vital for successful problem solving in organic chemistry. Existing textbooks provide extensive coverage of, the principles, but there is far less emphasis on the skills needed to actually solve problems.

[spacereon]

Nkoyo Asuni

STR: 11 DEX: 18 CON: 14 INT: 14 WIS: 13 CHA: 14

Class: Fast Hero 1

HP: 10 Defense: 19

Base Attack: +0 melee +4 ranged

Fort: +2 Ref: +5 Will: +1

Action Points: 5

Wealth: +1

Feats: Simple Weapons Proficiency, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Point-Blank Shot, Light Armor Proficiency

Occupation: Law Enforcement

Allegiances: The US of A!, The Agency, Good

Skills:

Balance (Dex): 8

Drive (Dex): 9

Knowledge (streetwise) (Int): 6

Listen (Wis): 5

Move Silently (Dex): 8

Profession (Wis): 5

Tumble (Dex): 8

Gear

Ruger Service Six (2d4, Crit. 20, Ballistic, Range 20 ft., ROF S, Mag. 6 cyl., Size Tiny, 1 lb)

Light undercover shirt (+2/+1, Max Dex. Bonus +7, Armor Penalty +0, 2 lbs)

The Agency

It's another episode of the long-running action show, as newcomer Nkoyo Asuni (played by Judy Ojo) finds herself in the midst of danger and deceit! The Agency has singled her out for recruitment, but can the young police officer overcome the secret test of mettle all new Agency Recruits must pass? And what happens when an old enemy of The Agency attempts to subvert the recruitment process for their own dark purposes? Find out this Thursday, at 7PM, on this channel!

-

"Stand down! I will not ask you again!" The officer aimed her revolver at the mysterious figure, silhouetted against the crimson moon.

Without seeing his face, she knew he was smiling. "Miss Asuni, you must understand that you are involved in something much greater than you imagine..." He took one step back, a smidge away from falling twenty stories down. The wind blew menacingly.

"No!"

"And now, adieu!" He opened his arms, and let himself fall, as the police officer rushed to the edge.

"...Central, this is Officer Asuni, requesting an ambulance--- what? He is gone?"

And without her knowledge, she was already in the sights of another player...

--

I genuinely don't know why I own d20 Modern. I bought it, but I don't know what for - I sure as hell have never played it, I've barely given it a read or two, and d20 is so much not the kind of system to do high-flying modern-day action. That being said, I'll give d20 Modern this, it's actually got an introduction section - compared to D&D 3E, which gives you a very skippable single page before dumping you straight into character generation, this game gives you a reasonable introduction, telling you what RPGs are, what d20 Modern aims for in terms of themes and aesthetics, how basic rolls are done (you know, before you start tangling with the whole d20 rules shebang), even a game example. And given that all basic and advanced classes have 10 levels at most, there's an implied expectation that characters will end up multiclassing eventually, which opens up the system to many more character concepts than it would seem at first blush. But geez, the d20 cholesterol is strong in this one, with talent trees for the basic classes that go from the very useful (Dodge) to the ??? (oh yes I'd like to deal more damage to inert objects, by more damage I mean ignoring a tiny bit of object hardness) and the Wealth rolls are... look, I appreciate that they attempted at abstracting money because you shouldn't have to worry about individual dollars in a game of modern-day run and gun action, buuut poor Nkoyo ended up practically in the dumps just from getting a basic gun and armor. I mean, any reasonable GM would've just given her the stuff, but by the book it gets rough to acquire gear at low Wealth scores. Realistic, I guess????

[dailyadventureprompts]

Mechanic: Puzzles and Lockpicking

Yeknow what d&d needs?

More Minigames! While I adore the simplicity of d20/advantage, and I have no desire to return to the pre 3E days where everything had its own clunky rules, I think there's a missing gameplay opportunity in limiting everything to be resolved by just a single roll against a DC

Specificly, I'm looking to create a minigame that evokes a character skillfully overcoming a mechanism that doesn't require me to break out any props or handwave away hours of work with a single skillroll. I also want to involve a character's secondary skills as all too often a single ability or proficiency can become a character's entire toolbox.

Since most videogames have dedicated minigames for lockpicking, lets use it as an example of what I want to do.

First comes understanding the challenge: the player rolls an intelligence check vs the difficulty of the lock (adding whatever tool proficiencies they feel appropriate for the lock).  Beating this roll lets them understand the mechanism: Getting a pool of d6s and one of a few “challenges” based off the DC of the lock in question. 

DC 5  | 1 | roll a specific number 

Dc 10 | 2 | get doubles of a specific number

Dc 15 | 3 | get triples / a run of three/ 

DC 20| 4 | quadruple / two pair/ all evens

DC 25| 5 | quintuple / full house/  all odds 

DC 30| 6 | six of a kind/ two triples/ three pair

Once that Pool of dice is rolled out, the character then gets a number of rerolls based on their dexterity and proficiency in slight of hand, representing them actually using their fine motor skills to pick the lock.  If they meet the challenge conditions before they’ve used their last reroll, then they’ve successfully picked the lock. If not, they can either wait for the end of their next short rest with a +5 to the initial DC, or wait until a long rest for that DC to reset. 

And that’s it! A system that simulates fussing with something challenging while at the same time putting the player experience forward and not being too rules heavy. 

Some considerations when using this system: 

Most locks shouldn’t use this system, it’s there for the delicate, fiddley stuff that you DON’T want your players to open/bypass on the first try. This is a lock to the boss room when they can’t be bothered to search the rest of the dungeon for the key, this is the treasure chest containing secret information that you want them to open after an important plot beat has happened. 

Different characters can understand the lock and do the actual picking, letting you do team ups between multiple characters or swapping off between them. 

You can use this system to represent almost anything complex and skill related, provided you can figure out two ability/proficiency combinations appropriate to the task:  picking out a hidden code from a letter and deciphering it, performing an exorcism, engaging in tourney combat before a crowd, solving a maze, willing yourself out of an illusion. 

Two last things: 

I  previously covered a way to make treasure chests more mechanically interesting, and paring them with this sort of lock would be as memorable as any mimic encounter. 

I was heavily inspired for the basis of this system by a youtuber creator called Zipperon Disney, he does amazing stuff, go check him out. 

[vintagerpg]

Player’s Option: Skills & Powers (1995) came out right on the heels of the combat book. Like that book, this offers a bunch of modular, optional rules, this time for character creation. Unlike that book, this one kind of demolishes the status quo of D&D. Essentially, this book takes the entire idea of randomly generated, class-based characters, pretty much the fundamental foundation of D&D, and pitches it out the window. In it’s place, it present a point-buy system (in the tradition of Fantasy Trip, Champions and GURPS).

Basically, you can use points to buy everything. You can use them to buy your attributes. You can use them to buy proficiencies. You can use them to buy class skills (Want a wizard with a longsword? Easy!). Basically, where once there were all these rigid classifications, now everything is modular and customizable. It’s amazing and I love it.

It is, unfortunately, totally broken. The killing flaw here is that the book doesn’t offer a total system, it offers several optional, modular systems. This allows you to replace the traditional attribute system and keep everything else, or swap out rigid characters classes, or whatever. The problem is that in arranging it this way, the discrete systems don’t really work together if you use ALL of them. Which is what I want to do. And, I think, what most people who see the potential here want to do.

And worse, using any of these options renders the characters incompatible with the larger 2E ecosystem — character kits and most of the custom stuff from the various campaign settings all require significant overhauls to work with this book. Which is a bummer, though an understandable one. Shame 3E didn’t pick THIS stuff up, though.

Jeff Easley does all the covers for the Options books, but this one is a real stand-out to me.

[thelibraryofthacey]

[I think the highest level I've ever run any DnD game was 17, and it was for one boss fight. I don't play high levels often (does anyone?) so it's a bit tricky to design stuff for it. But I think Pathfinder's psychopomps are rad as heck so here's the big one for fun! Why did the original absorb lightning? I dunno, 3e and variants loved giving monsters a bunch of random resistances and immunities.]

[Regarding the Primordial type, yes I made that up. It's for extraplanar beings that are neither elementals nor traditionally good or evil. A glaring hole in the cladistics there, WotC.]

[Also featuring villain actions! Villain actions are a mechanic created by Matt Colville to take the thing Legendary Actions were trying to do and make them actually cool (cause let's be honest most legendary actions are boring.) Check out his video on "Action-Oriented Monsters" for the straight dope on that.]

Yamaraj (CR 20)

Huge Primordial (psychopomp), Neutral

Space 15 ft. Reach 10 ft.

Initiative +5

HP 300 (24d10 +168 Con)

AC 21 (natural armor)

Proficiency Bonus +7

Str 19 (+4) Dex 21 (+5) Con 25 (+7) Int 18 (+4) Wis 23 (+6) Cha 25 (+7)

Saves Str +11, Con +14, Int +11, Wis +13

Skills Arcana +11, History +11, Insight +13, Perception +13

Condition Immunities poisoned

Damage Resistances radiant, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from weapons that aren’t magical

Damage Immunities cold, poison

Senses darkvision 120 ft., spiritsense, Detect Thoughts 30 ft.; Passive Perception 23

Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial; telepathy 1 mile

Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft.

- - -

Legendary Resistance (3/day): If the yamaraj fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance: The yamaraj has advantage on all saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Spirit Touch: A psychopomp’s weapons are magical, and can target creatures in the Ethereal Plane (such as those under the effects of Blink.)

Spiritsense: A psychopomp can automatically pinpoint the location of any creature with a soul within 60 ft. of them.

- - -

Innate Spellcasting (Spell DC 22, spell attack bonus +14): The yamaraj’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma. It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

Constant - Detect Thoughts

At Will - Etherealness, Zone of Truth

3/day - Circle of Death, Counterspell, Reincarnate

1/day - Power Word Kill, Soul Cage, True Resurrection

- - -

Actions

Multiattack: The yamaraj uses its Frightful Presence, then makes one bite attack, two claw attacks, and one tail attack. The tail attack must be made against a creature that it didn’t target with any of its other attacks.

Bite +12 melee weapon attack, reach 10 ft., 14 (2d8+5) piercing damage

Claw +12 melee weapon attack, reach 10 ft., 12 (2d6+5) slashing damage

Tail +12 melee weapon attack, reach 10 ft., 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage

Breath Weapons (Recharge 5-6): The yamaraj uses one of the following breath weapons:

Grave Chill: The yamaraj inhales, tearing at the souls of all creatures in a 60 ft. cone. Affected creatures must make DC 22 Constitution saves or take 28 (8d6) cold and 28 (8d6) necrotic damage, and be affected as by the Slow spell until the end of the yamaraj’s next turn. On a successful saving throw, a creature takes half damage and isn’t slowed.

Carrion Breath: The yamaraj exhales a swarm of carrion beetles in a 60 ft. cone. All creatures in the area must make DC 22 Dexterity saves or take 28 (8d6) piercing damage and be covered in beetles. While covered in beetles, a creature takes 28 (8d6) piercing damage at the start of each of its turns and is poisoned. A creature covered in beetles can use their action to brush off the beetles; if the creature submerges itself in water or takes any fire damage, the beetles fall off as well. On a successful saving throw, the creature takes half damage and is not covered in beetles.

Frightful Presence: Each creature of the yamaraj’s choice that is within 120 feet of the yamaraj and aware of it must succeed on a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the yamaraj's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.

- - -

Villain Actions

The yamaraj has three villain actions. It can take each action once during an encounter after an enemy creature’s turn. It takes villain action 1 during the first round of combat, villain action 2 during the second round, and villain action 3 during the third round.

Villain Action 1: Summon the Jury: The yamaraj plucks souls from the Astral Current to aid it in battle. A soul appears in an unoccupied space next to each enemy within 60 feet of the yamaraj that it can see. The souls use the statistics for wraiths, but they lack the Sunlight Sensitivity trait and gain Turn Immunity, making them immune to features that turn undead. These souls act immediately when summoned, then roll initiative at the start of the next round. The souls fight until they’re destroyed, and follow the yamaraj’s commands. The souls disappear if the yamaraj dies.

Villain Action 2: Call the Witnesses: The yamaraj calls forth memories from its foes’ pasts. Each creature of its choice within 120 ft. must make a DC 22 Wisdom save or be entranced by the memory. An entranced creature is forced to relive a moment from its past that exemplifies its personality. While reliving the memory, the creature is incapacitated and cannot move, and it is unaware of its actual surroundings. At the end of each of the creature’s turns, it can attempt a new saving throw to end the effect, and any effect that would cure the charmed condition ends the effect. The yamaraj knows what an entranced creature sees.

Villain Action 3: Pronounce the Verdict: The yamaraj pronounces judgment on one creature it can see. The creature must make a DC 22 Charisma saving throw. On a success, the creature takes force damage equal to half its maximum hit points. On a failure, its soul is torn from its body and it drops to 0 HP and begins dying. The soul appears in the creature’s space, assumes its appearance, and uses the statistics of an Avatar of Death, treating the target as its summoner. The Avatar of Death obeys the yamaraq’s commands and acts on the target’s initiative. While the Avatar of Death is alive, the creature cannot regain hit points or accumulate successes on death saves; if it would succeed on one, it simply does not accumulate a failure.

- - -

Tactics

The yamaraj is a very control oriented boss. It doesn’t output enough damage to threaten a high-level party on its own, so it’s gonna need some backup dancers. The villain actions bring some low-level backup, but it’ll need more than that, wraiths only have +6 to hit so they’re not gonna hit vs. high-level PC’s too often. They don’t need to be too complex, they just need to have damage, let the yamaraj do the weird fun stuff. That said, it can finish weakened characters off.

Regarding Pronounce the Verdict, yes that is the Avatar of Death summoned by the Death card in the Deck of Many Things.

I would consider it poor sportsmanship to have the yamaraj Counterspell a player trying to Counterspell its Power Word Kill. Give them the chance to be cool.

Etherealness can be used to flee if needed. While the psychopomps believe even they are bound to the cycle of death and reincarnation, they do not fault creatures for attempting to preserve their lives, and the death of a yamaraj can be quite inconvenient for them.

- - -

Lore

Appearing as great black dragons with feathers instead of scales, yamaraj are the greatest of the psychopomps, the final judge a soul might face in their journey to the Beyond. The vast majority of souls never see these great wyrms, and are simply sorted by lesser psychopomps like vanths, but occasionally they will bring a yamaraj a soul whose appropriate destination is unclear, or a soul of great importance that the yamaraj might take interest in. For these souls, the yamaraj hold a trial, weighing the defendant’s actions in life to determine its fate in the Beyond.

The psychopomps are a mysterious group of creatures that oversee the machinery of death. While they are infamously reticent about their history, methods, and motives, scholars have uncovered evidence of a time before the Astral Current and reincarnation, and a popular theory states that the psychopomps, or their predecessors, created it. They certainly maintain and safeguard it now, as anyone who has found the Current in the Astral Sea can attest, having likely been driven off by waves of the creatures. Their realm lies somewhere in the Astral Sea, but no one has yet found it and returned to tell of it. A few who have been invited to take a portal there directly report an island made of bone, and buildings made of stone embedded with fossils.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

The Cassell Cynics Part 4

Hana lay on her bed, her mind echoing with Nathan’s words.

“I can look at you, Hana… and I can tell you flat out. If you meet a real dragon? You’re dead. “

@hectab

Those words. They shook her. How could he be so certain? She trained hard, she studied hard. Her A-ranked skill allowed her to increase her strength, speed and stamina. At its highest level, an extreme amount of energy can be expended in 30 seconds, enough for her to lift heavy objects, punch through solid brick. For those 30 seconds, she could be the most powerful person in the entire world!

But none of that was enough?

She pushed herself off the pillow and got up to look at her phone. Nathan said that dragons as people saw them were just physical manifestations of something called an ‘Eldrich Abomination’. But she wasn’t sure what that was.

A quick google search told her that an Eldritch Abomination was a horrific monster, often of otherwordly origin, that inspired terror and broke the sanity of those that witnessed them. These monsters often have ties to the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft.

What the internet search described sounded accurate. Dragons were certainly ‘otherworldly’ and horrific. And they certainly could inspire a great terror. But that last one. She brought her knees to her chest. 

Nathan said that when he saw a dragon in his 3E exam he felt a great hopelessness -- a hopelessness so great that he gave up in the middle of his exam. 

What did he see?

The question tormented her all night. She got up early and ran back to Nathan’s dorm building. She texted Guderian.

“My apologies. I wasn’t able to complete my assignment last night. I will try again today.”

She looked up at the window that was still open. She sniffed the air but didn’t smell Marijuana. “Ugh... he doesn’t go to class. Of course he would sleep in.” She muttered.

Her phone dinged. “Did you find out anything new?” Guderian asked.

She frowned slightly. She didn’t want to lie to her professors. “I’m not ready to turn in my report yet. I need more time.”

A group of guys came out of the building yawning and chatting with each other. They didn’t notice her there. More and more people came out walking. It was several minutes before someone stopped. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.” Hana had already texted her professors saying she was on ‘special assignment’ and would turn in her assignments by email when she got the chance.

She waited and waited and the sun climbed up into the sky. It was about 11:30 in the morning when a paper airplane flew out from Nathan’s window, fluttered slowly before landing on the ground. 

Hana picked it up and unfolded it.

“GO AWAY”

The text was in bright red font with a crude drawing of a middle finger.

Hana huffed in shock and indignation! “Nathan! Come down or I’m coming up there!”

“Buzz off!” Came his voice on the wind.

Hana walked up to the façade of the building. She wasn’t someone who gave up this easily and she happened to be very proficient at bouldering! She leaped up and grabbed onto the fancy outer wall and started to climb up to the second floor! Nathan was in the kitchen fixing some eggs and as soon as he saw her climbing through his open window, hurried out with a frying pan! “No! Get out! Get out of my room!”

Hana ducked the frying pan while rolling. “Not until you tell me what you saw!”

“What I saw? What are you talking about?”

Hana struck a two fingered karate pose and grinned. “What we talked about last night.”

Nathan brandished the frying pan but his look turned to one of confusion. “What did I say?”

Hana sighed. “Don’t you remember? You said if I ever faced a dragon, I would die?”

“Uh...” He suddenly sniffed the air. “My eggs!” He rushed back into the kitchen and turned off the heat.

Hana relaxed out of her karate stance and watched him as he tried to salvage his breakfast when it was clearly closer to noon. “You don’t remember what we talked about?”

“No! I was stoned! You saw how much weed I smoked. You shouldn’t pay attention to me when I'm like that. I’ll say random things that don’t make sense.”

Hana stood puzzled. “But...”

“Look, don’t... don’t tell anyone about the crazy talk I get into when I’m under the influence okay? They’ll have me committed.” He pulled some salt from his bare cupboards.

“Seriously? It was all just... drugs?”

Nathan’s eyes shifted from left to right. “I don’t know what you’re referring to by ‘it’.... so probably.”

“Ugh...” She rested her palm against her forehead. “I can’t believe it.”

“So if that will be all, you can go back the way you came...” He shooed her away.

“Right. Well... have a nice life.” Hana turned on her heel and walked away feeling foolish. “You really are an idiot C-rank.”

“Thank you! And I will!” Nathan bit into his toughened eggs and watched her leave. Once she was gone he let out a soft sigh of relief.

Hana walked away and texted Guderian. “Well, looks like I was mistaken. He’s just a C-ranker. There’s nothing special about him at all.”

“Unfortunate... then I’m afraid he won’t be able to stay here.”

Hana stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean? You’re expelling him?”

“He partially answered the 6th question on the exam. So we thought we could accept him as a C rank until we could better evaluate him. But since your assessment says he is really not up to our requirements he’ll have to be expelled.”

“I thought you would keep him on like Fingel!” She texted frantically.

“Fingel is a special case. Not everyone can be like him.”

Hana’s heart dropped. She didn’t think her careless snarky text would have this level of consequences.

“When will he be kicked out?”

Guderian responded. “Effective immediately.”

“Wait. Don’t do that yet.”

“There’s really no reason to delay. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I don’t think he’ll make it out there. I mean, what if he goes crazy from the brainwashing or what if his parents disown him?”

“That’s not really our concern. It’s just regrettable that we’ll not be able to refund his tuition.”

Hana turned and ran back and climbed back up the façade. Already disciplinary committee members were rolling up on their black motor bikes and racing into the building.

But Nathan had shut his window. She banged on the window for what felt like forever and Nathan came out from the back of the apartment and looked at her furiously until he saw the frantic expression on her face. Then he turned to the door, just as the disciplinary members burst in! 

“No!” Hana could only watch as they surrounded him. Nathan just raised his hands and gave her a sad smile before being goaded outside the apartment.

It was faster going down the face of the building than taking the elevator or the stairs. She met them as they were hauling him out. “Nathan. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. This was... going to happen anyway. It was nice knowing you.” His hands were cuffed behind his back. 

“No, this was my fault. I told them you were C-ranked.”

“I am C-ranked.” He laughed, hanging his head, his messy hair hiding his eyes.

“You’re not...”

“Have fun being a hero.” Nathan was roughly yanked onto the motorcycle, sitting between two officers.

“But you said I would die...”

Nathan turned to her with sad eyes. He pulled the smile. “Have fun.”