#mighty servant of leuk o

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Mighty Servant of Leuk-o

Artist: Donato Giancola TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Mighty Servant of Leuk-o by Donato Giancola

[couchtaro]

Some oldish Chukka and Klonk doodles. Make sure you follow proper safety procedures when booting up your 100ft fantasy jaeger

Bonus

[dndeed]

Crit Role Miniature Rollout: C3E50 Red Moon Rising

With Andrew Harshman

An analysis of the minis used on CR. 

That red moon is indeed arisin’! Oooooey, look at that cinematic shot and cinematic lighting! At the end of the day, I think I have a slight preference for live shows, but the benefit of preproduction is these cinematic mini shots. The same thing probably could be achieve during a live recording with a handheld camera operator (Mega64 does it all the time). But regardless, these shots are awesome for helping establish the scene and giving us a closer peak at all the rad models. Thank you Critical Role production team, it is much appreciated!

Get in the robot Shinji, it’s time for Critical Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 3 Episode 50!

Mini Map Overview

This is a cuh-lassic C2/3 style map, featuring full 3D terrain elements atop a gaming mat. Specifically, a Mats by Mars desert theme base with Dwarven Forge Mountain rocks and blocks. Some wooden stairs and walkway components by Monster Fightclub, and scatter terrain from Pathfinder, HirstArts, and Mantic Games. One tent is from Mantic’s Terrain Crate series and the other is a Safari brand “Civil War Officer” tent famously featured in Campaign 2 Episode 3:

This particular brand of tent must be a popular in the world of Tal'dorei. What about this tent design makes it “Civil War” era? It is a rather tall tent, perhaps the high tent ceiling is made to accommodate an Abe Lincoln style top hat?  “d4 score and seven years ago-” harharhar

The medium sized enemy cult member minis in this encounter are a bit mysterious to me. I suspect they are kitbashed models or resin printed. Possibly modular Frostgrave models? Difficult to say for sure. They are a tad generic, nothing super distinctive or identifiable. But conveniently, armed cultist models are a dime a dozen. If you need some for your own game, you’ll find there are ample options.

Best Mini of the Ep

This here Mighty Servant of Leuk-o model is mighty neat. Not only is it one of the most impressively large construct models. It is one of the only pilotable construct models! Go for it, hop in for a test drive!

Perhaps a sorta mundane detail for most folk, but I really like the decorative lines of gold patterning. Quality production value.

Worst Mini of the Ep

These large tents are pretty nice sculpts. But they are a downright hassle to paint. Them little frilly flaps along the top there, what a bother. Ain’t got time for those sorta tent trubs. 

I’ve painted three of these tents for my own game, that’s over 100 flaps! Yeesh.

See ya next sesh!

#critroleminiaturerollout

[vintagerpg]

The Vortex of Madness and Other Planar Perils (2000) is the last of the Planescape-esque sourcebooks under the generic D&D banner (itself about to be replaced by 3e). It’s a mixed bag.

The foundation, Chris Pramas’ planar locations, intended as a continuation of the Sites series of sourcebooks (City Sites, Country Sites, Castle Sites) is sound. There’s the titular vortex, the black prison of the Titans of Greek myth, the City of Glass in the Elemental Plane of Water, and the demiplane of invention and a Githyanki citadel in the Astral Plane. All of these are well-realized and interesting. But then there is this linked adventure thread involving the artifacts the Machine of Lum the Mad and the Mighty Servant of Leuk-o. Shannon Appelcline, over in the product listing on Drive-Thru, explains that this was a later addition at the behest of the powers that be, converting a generic location book into an adventure. It’s deeply tortured and even before reading Applecline’s explanation, I could see the pretty clear seems between the good stuff and the stuff I want to pitch in the trash — the adventure thread is mostly delineating in sidebar boxes.

The cover telegraphs it. Dana Knutson’s painting is strange, both evoking elements of Planescape while somehow seeming generic and a bit dull (or uninspired). The stair motif was used twice already (Tales of the Infinite Staircase and The Planewalker’s Handbook), both to better effect. This feels like one final attempt to squeeze the last juice from the planar fruit.

[donatoarts]

Another chance to play in the world of Dungeons & Dragons meshed with my love of robots, what a funky mix!Just released for Magic: The Gathering's latest set Battle for Baldur's Gate.

Mighty Servant of Leuk-O

12.75" x 17"  Oil on Panel

[asimovsideburns]

holy shit

[dmsden]

How About a +1 Sword Instead? - Not giving PCs too much magic too fast

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week's Question from a Denizen is from fireshock3000. They ask, "So in my campaign, there is a high turnover for magical items. As such my players have asked for a lot of specific ones (whether from books, other games they were in, or from podcast/live plays the have listened to or watched) which are sometimes more powerful then I think they should have. My question is, how can I give them what they want but not make them too over powered for what I have planned?"

I totally get this. Of course every paladin wants a Holy Avenger, and of course every wizard wants a Staff of the Magi. But, man, those are powerful, end of the campaign type items. So how do you give them to the players without giving them the item whole cloth? Well, good news, friend. I have a way of doing so that also gives you tons of story potential.

There's a flipside to this as well. Let's say your paladin wants part of their character to be an ancestral sword. Before the campaign started, his noble house was almost completely wiped out by vampires, and he fled, but not before taking his heirloom with him. This is a conundrum, right? You want to be able to give the PC cool magic weapons as time goes on in your campaign, but, for story reasons, they'd never stop using that sword. So what do you do?

Well, many, many campaigns ago, I had a character who desperately wanted to have an heirloom magic sword as part of his story and inheritance. It was really important to him, and I didn't want to say no. I came up with an idea that later I saw the game itself suggesting as well, and then, even later, I saw Matt Mercer use to excellent effect via his "Vestiges of Divergence". At the core, the idea is an item that levels up along with the PC.

This idea is actually baked in the concepts of my current campaign. There's the concept of Pneuma, the Breath of Heroes, an ephemeral trait that sets PCs aside from most people in the world. In the hands of someone without pneuma, that heirloom sword will never be anything more than a normal sword. As someone's pneuma manifests and increases, however, the attributes in the sword could "wake up" and become increasingly powerful.

Let's take our paladin and his family's heirloom. Maybe at first level, it's just an ordinary sword, with only its history to set it apart. When the PC hits level 3 and takes their paladin's Oath, however, the sword begins to manifest its true nature. It becomes +1, and it glows whenever fiends and/or undead are within 120 feet of it. As time goes on, you could have it manifest as a +2 weapon, a +3 weapon, and, finally, maybe around level 17, as a full Holy Avenger, with all the perks thereof. You could even parse things out further, such as initially not being +1 unless you're fighting Fiends or Undead. You might even make a chart such as:

Level 1: Ordinary weapon, or counts as Magic only when fighting Fiends or Undead

Level 3: Magic Weapon; glows whenever Fiends or Undead are within 120 feet.

Level 5: +1 Weapon

Level 7: +1 Weapon, Extra 1d10 damage vs Fiends and Undead

Level 9: Gains the Aura effect of a Holy Avenger

Level 11: +1 Weapon, +2 to Hit vs Fiends and Undead

Level 13: +2 Weapon

Level 15: +2 Weapon, Extra 2d10 damage vs Fiends and Undead

Level 17: Full Holy Avenger

Another alternative, especially with items that're kind of hard to level up like this (such as the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O noted above) is to develop plot around either finding or making the item. Maybe first they have to find the inert Mighty Servant, then they need to find a replacement crystal to serve as its heart, then they need to find the tome that includes the chant to awaken it. This way, the PCs feel like they have a path towards gaining the item they want, but you're not just giving it to them right upfront.

Likewise, if they want a Staff of the Magi, you don't need to hand it to them at early levels. Have them craft their own staff, and have finding the ritual and components to do so part of the campaign's plot. They hear of a wizard who made such a staff, then they have to track down his spellbook/journal. Once they do, then they need to collect the components of it - wood from a singular tree that grows in the Feywild and is guarded by a hydra; a crystal found in the belly of a legendary purple worm; iron bands from the forges of Avernus; and so on. Once they have the components, they must seek the legendary lost world forge of the dwarven gods and make the staff in a ritual that's likely to draw powerful enemies who will want the staff for themselves. Making the staff could be a side campaign all its own!

Ultimately, of course, it's your campaign. If you don't want an item to show up, just be honest with the player. Tell them you think the item is too powerful, and get a feel if there's something a bit less game-breaking that you can help them achieve. They'll definitely appreciate the extra time you took to speak with them about it, and most will be reasonable and understand. There will always be outliers, of course, but you can essentially tell them it's your decision, and that's all there is to it.

Thanks for asking this, fireshock! You are entered in our contest, and I hope this was helpful to you. Until next week, may all your 20s be Natural.

[rollhistory]

Roll History: Mighty Servant and Cloak of the Bat

In this week's Treasure Table, Alex becomes a chaotic warlord in the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O, and Sami lurks in the shadows with the ever-classic Cloak of the Bat!

Plus, an Imp with No Toes, Do I Have To Flap It? and Possessed by the Gazebo.

This episode is sponsored by 3rd Space Gaming - head to www.3rdspacegaming.co.uk/ and use the code ROLLHISTORY at checkout for 10% off your order!

And follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RollHistory to enter our Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft giveaway! If you want!

Check out the Roll History podcast!

[vintagerpg]

Here’s a book I never used: Book of Artifacts, by Zeb Cook.

It’s not for lack of trying, really. The book is packed with 50 magical artifacts, all of which are interesting and many of which are iconic in D&D and none of which I would dream of using in one of my campaigns, no matter how free I was at distributing magic items.

Which is ironic, considering the book starts off by trying to dispel misconceptions about artifacts like “they are too powerful” and “they’re a pain.” Zeb makes a good argument, but it’s still a load of hooey.

The one useful part of the book is at the end, which details how characters can make their own magic items – something glossed over in the DMG. This, too, is like juggling old dynamite, but not the sort of dynamite that would crack the world in half.

All that said, artifacts are cool. Like really, really cool. My favorite is probably the magical war mech, the Mighty Servant of Leuk-o (in my longest running game, the party had occasional access to a tricked out Apparatus of Kwalish and the Might Servant feels like the luxury model of that). There are many more, all worthy of their own campaigns.

Which is kind of the problem with artifacts. TSR devoted scads of adventures to the Vecna artifacts and published a whole box set for the Rod of Seven Parts. I can only run so many campaigns, though, and I don’t want them all to focus around a magical MacGuffin, so in this way Book of Artifacts is of dubious usefulness. But don’t let that stop you, it’s the best kind of useless book.

[asimovsideburns]

guys I found the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O infinite speed glitch