Wizard: “I’m guessing there’s something more going on with that statue’s mouth- I use Arcana to try to feel out a magic aura. I get a 28.”

DM: “There’s definitely some kind of problem with it. You’re not sure you want to go in there.”

Swordmage: “I’m trained in Arcana too. I get a 35.”

DM: “Uhh, you also detect a problem.”

Psion: “We must not be rolling high enough. Lemme see… 38.”

DM: “It’s bad, OK? Seriously.”

Wizard: “Can I try again?”

DM: “Everybody make a perception check.”

The players shout out numbers between 14 and 32.

DM: “Everbody who got 15 or higher sees this door.”

Ranger: “I tell the Barbarian where the door we all spotted is.”

• With multiple people rolling, the effectiveness of skill DCs drops. Higher DCs are much easier to accomplish with multiple rollers since the effect of variance is reduced.
• The person with a good idea just tends to be the catalyst for other people rolling- and then them getting the credit for the result.
• It dilutes the effect of training for characters.
• Having a group roll and wasting time getting multiple results, when they’re likely to succeed and it not matter at all who rolls what (or whom assists whom.)

These are not issues with 4e specifically (3e’s skill points had the same issue, and I’m sure there are other skill systems that do too), but 4e gives us a good tool to deal with this.

Base Suggestion: Group Training

When calling for a group check (i.e. multiple characters rolling the same skill), simply give the party as a whole one piece of information about the situation per PC trained in the skill. It is assumed that PCs will share knowledge and work together to overcome obstacles, and thus come up with a set of conclusions that would be shared.

This rule does not apply in a situation where only one PC would be rolling at a time: either the PC is separated, or for most skill challenges. It also does not apply on opposed checks (say, stealth versus perception.)

In a published adventure, where the DCs for a room are listed, you can simply ignore those values and start at the bottom, giving one of the results for each trained PC in the party.

For example:

The party has come across a room filled with ancient tapestries. Instead of calling for everyone to roll history, the DM asks how many PCs are trained in History. It turns out the Warlord and Paladin are.

The DM informs the party that the tapestries are from ancient Bael Turath (piece of information #1) and depicts a massive victory at a location at the east of the Nentir Value (piece of information #2.)

OPTION #1: Untrained Characters

Because everyone wants to contribute and you can get more variance in results, you can have anyone not trained make a skill roll as normal, and if they beat the DC, you add an additional piece of information as if they were trained.

For example:

In the example listed above, the trained characters have determined the first two pieces of information that they can determine from ancient tapestries. The Wizard, untrained in History but intelligent and with added bonuses, rolls and gets high enough to get an additional result. The DM also informs the group that the battlefield in question is also likely to contain some leftover infernal energy around the site of the battle.

OPTION #2: Untrained Characters + Risk

You may want to introduce an element of risk to untrained characters attempting something they are not specifically skilled at. When working together on a problem, sometimes an attempt to contribute can lead the group down the wrong path.

Thus, like in the above two examples, the DM asks how many players are trained in the skill. Then any characters untrained in the skill MAY make a roll, with a hidden DC set by the DM. He totals up the number of trained PCs plus those who beat the DC (successes) and the number of those who tried to beat the DC but failed (failures.)

In a list, the DM gives a number of accurate pieces of information about the situation equal to successes, and a number of inaccurate pieces of information about the situation equal to failures, and delivers them in no particular order.

For example:

As before, the tapestries are there, with 2 trained characters in history, 1 untrained who rolled well, and 1 untrained that rolled poorly.

The DM tells everyone:

• The tapestries are from ancient Bael Turath (true)
• They depict an ancient battle somewhere to the east of the Nentir Value (true)
• Bael Turath probably lost the battle (false)
• There is probably some infernal energy leftover at the site (true)

There are probably a few more variations of this that could be carved up as well, but ultimately, the goal is to speed up group skill usage that seems to come up so often, and cut down on the “me too” effect where everyone should roll for everything.

Acrobatics as Mechanics.

Let’s look at the mechanical abilities that Acrobatics gives you.

Acrobatic Stunt: this is a direct link to page 42, and the most mechanically “open” use of Acrobatics.  Think of something cool to do and the DM tells you how hard it is to do.

Balance: Can you stay upright on an unstable surface?  This use of Acrobatics answers that.  I don’y know if anyone really uses this directly, but it is heavily implied in many contexts.A GM could use the mechanics with terrain effects for an encounter based on treacherous and unstable ground.

Escape From a Grab: You’ve probably used this a lot in combat.  An uncommon use though, is:

“You can also make escape attempts to get away from other immobilizing effects,as directed by your DM.”

Creative players can stretch this to leverage their acrobatics in interesting places; Creative DMs can create fiendish hooks based around this.

Escape From Restraints: When you get to the essence, this is just another version of escape from grab.  In this though, the grab is more static but also heightened in difficulty to escape.  The same permutations apply here.

Reduce Falling Damage (Trained Only): If you’re trained in Acrobatics you use this on reaction to fall.  This use is specific enough that its permutations are obvious and situational.  It does have some extensions and uses in the other lenses however.

Acrobatics as Platform

Acrobatics as Sense

Acrobatics as Social Skill

Alcohol has a long history in the Dungeons & Dragons game; innumerable campaigns have started in a booze-serving tavern, heroes often relax with a cool ale at the local inn between delves, and every gamer should be familiar with the archetypal player calling-out that he’s “getting drunk” while at a bar.

Curiously, there have not been many hard rules for actually getting drunk. Gygax had rules for intoxication back in the 1st Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, but these were excised in the more family-friendly years of 2nd Edition. This article aims to restoring the drunkenness to D&D, easy to remember and easy to use rules, which follow the design of 4e.

Getting Drunk

Being intoxicated is treated like a disease. It uses the standard disease track with the following additions:

• Checks: Endurance checks are used to improve or maintain your condition. You cannot worsen through failed Endurance checks.
• Short Rest: Endurance checks are made after each short rest and not after extended rests.
• Cured: A successful check at the Hung-over state removes the disease.
• Good Night’s Sleep: Taking an extended rest moves you to the Hung-over state.
• Sober-up: As normal, a Heal check can be used in place of an Endurance check.

Types of Booze

Different types of alcohol are not identical, there are subtleties created from the material the drink is created from, and through different methods of fermentation and brewing. Regardless of the variety, all drinks lead to intoxication.

After finishing a drink, the character makes an attack roll against their Fortitude defence. The attack bonus varies depending on the variety of alcohol and the character’s level. Consuming a drink uses the following rules:

• Being Hit: Successful attacks impose the associated penalties and the character is intoxicated.
• Penalties Do Not Stack: Penalties suffered from being hit by identical drinks do not stack.
• Effects Stack: Penalties from the Effect line are cumulative.
• Intoxicated: Being hit moves the character to the initial effect on the Intoxication disease track.
• Worsen: If the character is already intoxicated they move down a state on the disease track.
• Ends When ‘Cured’: Unless otherwise noted, penalties last until the character reaches the Hung-over state.

Additionally, some drinks have an extra effects dependant on the state of Intoxication. The character only suffers the effect of the drink consumed to reach that state, even if different types of drink had been consumed earlier. This effect lasts until the character moves up the disease track.

Competitive Drinking

Many adventurers engage in alcohol-related challenges, each attempting to out-drink the other. These drinking games either involve seeing who can drink the most before passing-out or seeing who can drink faster.

For the first variety of drinking game, the standard rules presented above are used. The loser is the first to be “drunk under the table”, which is the first to reach the falling-down state and fail a saving throw. It can be played as a party, with the winner being the only person who doesn’t pass-out.

Instead of rolling attacks against themselves, in a drinking competition characters can roll attacks against their opponent’s defence. Applicable powers – such as Utility powers – can be used normally, but outside assistance is generally discouraged or seen as cheating (but does not always prevent help from allies).

Contests of speed require additional rules, and can be played as a simple Skill Challenge paired with the above drinking rules. This adds an additional layer of difficulty to the Skill Challenge: succeeding before falling unconscious.

Speed Drinking

Drinking in Combat

Significantly intoxicated PCs are at a disadvantage in combat. They might be dazed and suffering penalties to skills making encounters more difficult without an equivalent bonus to experience.

If combat is taking place in a bar or similar location, DMs should consider applying similar penalties to monsters. If the PCs are inebriated it makes sense that their opponents might also be somewhat drunk. If the majority of the part is hammered and thus dazed, instead of denying actions and reducing combat to a crawl, it’s possible to award addition Move actions each round to any sober creature.

If a character drinks to excess knowing or suspecting they may be involved in an encounter then intoxication was their choice and the DM is under no obligation to adjust the encounter. However, if the player did not suspect an encounter was likely, the Dungeon Master can treat the intoxicating effect as terrain and adjust the level and difficulty of the encounter accordingly.

Among the gods’ creations, gryphons stand apart. Their close relationship and important mission gives the gods a unique attitude toward the race as a work in progress.

Unlike many races, gryphons were not created with variety in mind. At first, the only gryphon in the world was the meridian gryphon, but, once imperfections were found (which didn’t take long), the gods began work on the twilight gryphon as an update to the race. Generally, the gods are content to leave old “versions” alive and functioning, but their attitude toward their newest creations leaves little doubt of their motives.

Frustratingly aware of this hierarchy, gryphons have adopted a wide variety of attitudes toward their creation status. As a race, all gryphons start as favored children, lording themselves over their predecessors, but are soon forgotten in the race to create a better gryphon. Most gryphons merely accept this as a divine personality trait and do their best, many attempt to achieve a high status in the hopes of redeeming their races, and a few angrily catalogue new gryphons to emulate the newest creation.

The Arimaspi

At the end of the Dawn War, the primal spirits realized the dangerous step they had taken to claim the world. In a rare moment of clarity and teamwork, the spirits decided to create a race that would assist in keeping the gods and primordials out. The result was the arimaspi.

The arimaspi are crude, one-eyed humanoids with vast primal powers, and they have goals opposed directly to the gryphons. Since the arimaspi have never been watched closely by the primal spirits, they have developed wickedly over time, with a hunger for wealth, which they create from stolen divine power.

Since gryphons were made to avoid detection, most of them cannot interact with arimaspi. In general, they are simply invisible to one another, but several circumstances suggest that they are compelled to avoid each other as well. Those gryphons who can interact with arimaspi, however, are bitter enemies with the race. Some hunt them, others hunt their treasure to reclaim the divine essence. When the two races meet, blood will inevitably be spilt, and death to one faction or the other is likely.

All gryphons, even those unable to see the arimaspi, despise the race. Even those gryphons who begin life indifferent to them inevitably come to discover that the arimaspi will never rest until all divine power has been destroyed, including gryphons. Those gryphons who cannot hunt the arimaspi themselves often hire adventurers to destroy tribes nearby. An arimaspi scalp is a common trinket for gryphons, and they delight in sharing stories of how the scoundrel fell.

Physiology

To many, gryphons are symbols of divine power, but few realize that the race begins rather humbly. The godly power that flows to gryphons comes at a price that only the best can pay, and few can master.

Early Life

Most gryphons begin their lives by hatching from agate eggs with an intelligence comparable to humans at the same age. In fact, much of a gryphon’s early development happens at the same rate as humans. They learn common slightly faster, but are unable to speak  it until they achieve discipleship. Until it is fifteen years old, a gryphon is cared for by its parents in a family relationship, often with two or three siblings.

From fifteen, however, life changes dramatically, as the young gryphon first hears The Call. From this moment, a biological clock begins ticking within the gryphon – counting down a single year. If the young gryphon can successfully transfer divine energy before the clock runs down, it gains a boost of divine and primal power. This sudden burst has the effect of promoting the gryphon to a disciple of its type.

The Psentil Griffins

Those gryphons who choose not to heed the call, or cannot heed the call receive a terrible fate. Having forfeited their birthright, they remain in the same form, with limited power and average intelligence. To scholars, they are merely called griffins, but to their own kind they are called “the psentil,” a word meaning lost, failure, or (some say) enemy.

Griffins breed true, making these creatures far more numerous in the world than their immortal cousins. Many humanoids capture the psentil for mounts and companions.

Ascension

By heeding The Call, a gryphon shows its desire to advance in power and assist the gods, which is awarded with discipleship. This gives the gryphon a tremendous leap in power – a power which promises more.

With this power, however, comes the ability to dismiss the allure of The Call. Due to the danger in following The Call, most gryphons only hunt once or twice a month for enjoyment and for status with other gryphons.

On the other hand, a number of young gryphons never do dismiss The Call, hunting with a fervor beyond their ken. Those who survive the perilous hunt unlock further potential, ascending to the ranks of champion and, finally, exarch. These creatures are surpassingly rare, and can be fairly young or unbelievably old when they reach these ranks. Indeed, only the strongest of souls would dare to battle such beasts.

Markings

From a distance, telling the difference between gryphons and the fallen psentil can be difficult. Once the gryphon closes, however, the signs become obvious.

When a gryphon ascends to discipleship, the release of divine energy causes strange runes to appear on the gryphon’s feathers and, in some cases, fur. More than mere symbols, these runes are a conduit to the Astral Sea, which allows a gryphon to continue to grow in power. Indeed, each time a gryphon ascends, these runes alter to display more powerful runic words.

Those adventurers who dare to combat a gryphon can obtain a great reward in these rune covered feathers. By combining them creatively, adventurers can cast nearly any ritual they have heard of, as if the feathers were a ritual scroll. Usually, a single gryphon only has sufficient feathers for conquering adventurers to cast two or three rituals of the gryphon’s level or lower.

The power inherent in their feathers is hardly lost on gryphons, of course. Many gryphons will use their own feathers to barter for materials or aid, even offering them as a reward to adventuring parties if the quarry is important enough. A gryphon who harvests its own feathers, however, does so at a price. For two weeks, the gryphon moves at half speed while flying and, due to a loss of divine energies, takes a -2 penalty to all attack rolls. Since the gryphon is considerably weaker during this time, only a particularly desperate or bold gryphon attempts such a gambit.

Gryphons are the powerful byproduct of an ancient shadow war between the gods and the primal spirits. A melding of divine and primal powers, they resemble an artful combination of feline and fowl – most notably, lion and eagle.
Gryphons were created in several spheres of influence, with diverse missions in the world to manage the flow of divine energy. Whatever their goals, gryphons pursue them with a single-mindedness that contradicts their dual nature.

History

When the Dawn War finally concluded, a stalemate was called between the primordials and the gods. The primal spirits, strengthened by numbers and the power of the world itself, decided that no side would win the war, despite how nearly the gods had come to victory, and moved to claim the domain as their own.
Long considering the primal sprits to be allies, the gods were caught unaware by the sudden turn. As beings of reason and logic, the furious assaults by the spirits against both sides appeared to be madness to them, and, at first, the gods resisted. However, it quickly became clear to the gods that the world would not survive the death of its spirits and withdrew.

A Loss of Power

Cast from the world they had saved, the gods were left to stew in the broken terrace of the Astral Sea. Weakened and dwindling in numbers, the gods had paid a dear price with the end of the war. Powerful artifacts remained behind, and the gods’ relations with their followers became distant quickly. Further, in order to keep the world safe from divine and elemental tampering, the primal spirits created guardians that would hunt down foreign powers and destroy them.

These creatures, called arimaspi, were powerful and beautiful in form, but despicably cruel and ugly in spirit. Frightfully efficient, these one-eyed creatures forever hunted divine and elemental energies, which they could reform into gold – the substance they desired above all else. In time, the gods feared, the spirits might reduce them to the power they had held long before the Dawn War. They dared not imagine what would occur in their realms if this came to pass.

But the prayers of their followers did not cease to call for aid, and the gods could not stay idle for long. To most, the situation was hopeless. Warded from the world, the gods knew they would never walk the earth again. In these conditions, their worshippers would hardly last a single generation.

To an immortal being, such a length of time was infinitesimal – and utterly terrifying.

Ortenz’s Plan

The betrayal of the primal spirits was still fresh in the god’s collective divine minds, leading most to initially despise them. Angelic armies patrolled the border of the worlds, and were commanded to destroy the spirits if they crossed the threshold. In the end, though, the gods would not assault the world for fear of destroying it. Vengeance, however, was an acceptable topic and indeed the common tongue of the Astral Sea for years.

Furious at his drastically reduced influence, Ortenz, the god of travel, slowly came to realize that the solution to the gods’ dilemma might go hand in hand with vengeance. In a summit at his, now lost, domain of Eofyn, he presented a plan to produce spies in the world. Spies that would go forever unnoticed by the spirits.

He organized a team with himself and four now-forgotten gods to undertake a dangerous mission into the world. There, they would capture two powerful primal spirits whom they would reform into servants. The quarries were Grieve, a lion spirit of unknowable stealth, and Photus, an eagle spirit of piercing sight.

A master of planar portals, Ortenz used his considerable power to bypass the primal wards against the gods. To keep the portal from closing, Ortenz sacrificed most of his divine essence and had to remain behind while the other gods searched the world for the spirits on his celestial steeds. The captured spirits, bound to the chargers, returned to Ortenz, but the forgotten gods could not – trapped forever in the essence of the land they had stolen from.

In the final moments of the operation, the arimaspi realized what was happening. The weakened god of travel forced the captured spirits through the portal, but, as he passed through it himself, the arimaspi closed the passage with such power that Ortenz was caught between worlds – beyond the reach of gods and spirits.

Dawn of the Gryphons

Curious if Ortenz’s sacrifice would bring forth fruit, the gods tore the spirits far from the world. Finally held in a central audience with the gods, the spirits were shown to be animalistic and unintelligent, but tremendously powerful. They would, however, be hard to control. It was obvious that they hated the gods as much as each other. To many beings, this would have been discouraging, but to the gods it was a challenge.

Imperfect separately, the gods endeavored to merge the two into a powerful primal beast, adding a divine intelligence far beyond their mortal creations in the world. They crafted powerful bodies to house their primal fury and endowed them with an potent purpose. The final product was the gryphon, a melding of primal spirits and divine magic. Bestial savagery and godly intelligence. Devotion and betrayal. To the gods, it was perfection.

Psychology

In many ways, gryphons are similar to natural beasts. They were organized by the gods from a basic primal beginning, just like most other life in the world. But, when the gryphons were created, the gods were well past their interest in creation for creation’s sake. Gryphons were built with a purpose and sufficient power to carry it out.

The Call

The types of gryphons are widely varied, with a multitude of cleverly engineered abilities, so cataloging them all here would be impossible. There is, however, a single facet that remains central to how a gryphon acts wherever he is in the world: The Call.

Every gryphon describes The Call differently, though most use sound in these descriptions. Some call it a faint tune with supernal lyrics, as real as hunger, though, perhaps, not as strong. Others see trails of divine energy in the world around them, begging to be followed. However the instinct is described, it can have an enormous effect on gryphons who choose to listen.

Ultimately, it is a call to power promised by the gods. The gods discovered long ago that the arimaspi, while powerful, are not well organized. Their attempts to destroy divine energy in the world always succeed eventually, but a moving target is much harder to hit. To this end, the gryphons have the responsibility of tracking divine energy and transferring it to a new location.

Spheres

When first created, all gryphons had the same purpose: to hunt divine artifacts and magic items that channel divine energies, and transfer those energies into living hosts.

However, as the gods “improved” on their creations, they added further purposes and “features.” Eventually, these modified gryphons became known for their diverse Calls, which were separated into spheres.

The three best known spheres are the Solar Gryphons, Lunar Gryphons, and Void Gryphons – created in that order. Since spheres are separated by purpose, instead of alignment, some of the greatest gryphon rivalries are within spheres, rather than between them. Many gryphons consider their cousins in other spheres to be preferable company to those who share their purpose.

The crossed callings of the spheres, however, have an odd effect on gryphons. Gryphons from differing spheres are greatly weakened in each other’s immediate presence. This curse, called Intersection, has the additional effect of revealing gryphons to their rivals, the arimaspi. For this reason, gryphons from differing spheres usually avoid one another, or correspond through letters, signals, or rituals.

What I’ve got here is some different vantage points and perspectives on skills.  Let’s call them lenses. Each lens provides a filter for skill usage in our game.  We’ll talk about the lenses we’re going to use and then we’ll view each skill in the game under this set of lenses.  Many of the lenses you’ve probably already used; others are less common but still worthy of consideration.

Skill as Mechanics

Otherwise known as “Skill As-Is”. The simplest but most important lens.  Mechanics are what a skill is and what a skill lets you actually do within the framework of the game.  It’s important for the obvious reasons — it lets you do stuff — but it’s even more important for what it describes.  The skill description creates the sphere of activities the skill deals with and can affect.  Stealth for example:

Skill as Platform.

You’ve probably already used this lens; 4e’s skill system does not attempt in any way to be comprehensive. This can be a strength if you put some imagination into it. The “gaps” between skills in this edition of D&D compel you to look at skills as a platform for activities that the game hasn’t necessarily defined. If you are a sailor, your skills become a platform for sailing.  Your skills take the context of sailing.  Nature as a platform for sailing is a tweaked version of Nature As-Is.

Using skills as platforms is all about creating happy unions between a skill and other activities that lurk in the gap between skills.

Skills as Sense

You’ve drilled and trained and learned and practiced a skill to near-mastery. What do you get besides a high score?

I have an astronomical Thievery score.  If you give me a lock, I’ll pick it.  If it’s a trap I’ll unlock it.  Those are my basic capabilities as-is.  But let’s look through the eyes of our master thief.  what does he or she percieve? What information do we get when we look at the world through thieving eyes?

Well, I don’t want to alarm you, but the way you’re sitting it would be easy to lift your wallet. I’ve actually already done it.  Sorry, bad habit.  Here you go.

I’ve cased your entire house in a matter of seconds, reflexively, effortlessly; I can tell what sort of locks are on the door (shoddy craftsmanship by the way) and I’m already figuring out what lockpicks I’d use.

Skill as a form of super perception is a reward from the GM to players for skill mastery.  It can also be used as a spice for scene description or narration.  It should always be at GM’s discretion, but wise use of this lens can do some fantastic things for your story.

Skills as Social Network

(thanks to Rob Donoghue)

We’ve been dealing a lot with what you know and what you can do with a skill.  Skills can also define who you know.  To be trained in a skill assumes that you had to know someone to learn from; who else do you talk shop with during adventure downtime?  You have to be a little more careful in how you use this lens as you risk making something like streetwise useless, but the basic premise is strong:  You have a chance to know other nearby people who share in your skillset.

Viewing skills with these lenses, we acquire perspectives and tools that make our stories more interesting and more rewarding.  Now that we have this perspective set, we will apply it to  all the standard skills in the PHB, starting with Acrobatics and ending eventually with Thievery.

I’ve tried deferring costs by having ads, but honestly, I hate having ads. Here’s where I expend the daily “Ask for Donations”.  I pour lots of money and time into the site, and I want to pour more in.  I just can’t justify it financially at this moment.

So I’m asking for your help. If At-Will has provided you with valuable tools and perspectives over the last few years, please consider a donation of any reasonable amount.  There is a donation button on the site now, and I’ll include a donation link in this post.

(this is my first and last donation post.  There is a reason it took a few years to get a donation button, and it’s not because I forgot it. )

Whether you do or do not donate, thank you for reading At-Will.

“What my compatriot means is, we would enjoy discussing how you’ve come to be hear at this very place we have been commissioned to destroy, but as we are in the middle of said commission, we must defer this conversation until–”

“Bull SMAAAAAAAAAASH!”

“…Ahem.  Unfortunately said deferment will have to be of a physical nature since our patron did insist that no one survive–”

“Bull going to break you in half!”

“–I’m afraid that my colleague is correct in this assertion.  Have at you! Huzzah!”

No one knows where Troy and Bull come from.  No one know how one being can be at turns fiendishly clever and dull-witted at the same time.  The divergent personalities of Troy and Bull hold many confusions and contradictions. for those who meet them.  What remains simple is that destruction and mayhem grow from the seeds they plant;  between Troy’s incredible mastery of alchemy (used to created explosives mostly) and  Bull’s supreme ferocity and strength, the  Smashing Brothers can tear down any structure that can be built.   Siege breakers without equal, they can be found in battlefields around the world.

“Two Heads Are Better Than One!” Opening

Bull:  We Smash you and you and you….we smash just about everything!

Troy: “Indeed!  Now we sow the seeds for your destruction.  Watch as we prepare our ultimate strategem!”

Bull: “AARRGHH!”

Troy: “Huzzah!”

Bull slams his club into the ground, cracking the earth open while Troy throws miniature firebombs into the cracks.  Whatever they are doing, it doesn’t look pleasant.

As a free action during the opening of the worldbreaker poewr, each player can choose to take on of the following actions:

Spoil the Strategem (DC 23): Ettins aren’t really that clever.  You easily  keep from being hampered by their “ultimate strategem”. Skills: Thievery, Perception, Nature.  Success:  You can ignore the effects of the zones created with the worldbreaker power for its duration.

Read the Attack (DC 23): That is a big club.  You wouldn’t want to be hit by it, so you watch it carefully. Skills: Insight, Perception, Athletics.  Success:  You gain +2 defenses against all attacks from Troy and Bull.

Big Oafs (DC 23): One is smart, the other is strong.  They are both incredibly slow.  You exploit this fact and stay one step ahead. Skills: Stealth, Bluff, Acrobatics. Success: If Troy or Bull miss you with an attack, you gain combat advantage against them until the end of your next turn.

So here’s what I’d like to do sometime. I want to be the entire party for a change. Yes, I know this is supposed to be a cooperative multiplayer game, but darn it I have this whole stable of crazy characters who don’t really quite work right until paragon tier, and I don’t want to have to trudge through 10 levels of LFR just to get there. I’ve got this John Woo-style dual hand crossbow ‘gun-fu’ ranger, another ranger multiclassed to druid with a beast companion and a homebrew feat that lets him be his own wolfpack, a polearm fighter who augments his fighting with Quick Draw and Alchemical Opportunist, a possessed Barbarian/Warlock Hybrid and who knows whatever else – I’d have to go look through my hard drive to find them all. You know what, I.. I just don’t want to have to work my way through all these levels!! I just want to throw them down on the table as is and go nuts!

Check out the Aberrant Rules at its new home and remember…the next best thing to adoration is ABERRATION! Check out the podcast while you’re at it too.

Art by Danny Rupp

A dragon of the underdark, Etherkai in his youth wielded his psychic and eldritch powers with a brash and reckless pride.  Etherkai felt that the power he possessed made him the natural ruler of the underground realms. Following this belief, Etherkai began his empire -building, establishing himself as the god of a people long banished from the surface.  After establishing himself to them as a god of the underground, Etherkai contented himself with taking tribute and sometimes assisting his worshippers in conquering a new area of the vast underground realms.  For centuries, he ruled from a distance.

Etherkai ruled from such a distance that he was unaware of a new god being worshipped amongst his people. In their explorations, they had unearthed an altar to an actual god. Out of curiosity they offered small sacrifices and offerings to this god of pain and torment, and saw immediate response from the god.  Hungry for worshippers after having been all but forgotten, the Lord of Pain spoke directly to each new convert, giving them tastes of power for their worship.

Worship of this true god spread throughout Etherkai’s people.  Soon their new god had only one sacrifice left to ask:  Depose the fake god, and offer his body and mind to the Lord of Pain’s unrelenting torture. Etherkai was ambushed andi imprisoned during a tribute visit.  The dragon was shackled in metal that had been ensorcelled to weaken his physical strength and psychic gifts. His torture began that day, and persisted for a hundred years.

It is unclear how Etherkai escaped, but he is now free of his tormentors.  He roams the underground realms, his mind as warped as his body by the horrors inflicted upon him.  He seeks revenge against this god of pain and his former worshippers, but he also seeks to spread his pain and insanity to all unfortunates who cross his path.  His once-mighty draconic roar has been replaced by a hyena-like cackle echoing through vast caverns.

Etherkai is now known to denizens of the underground realms as the Nightmare Dragon.

Please refer to this article for the most up  to date rulings on the Worldbreaker.

“Opening the Nightmare Realm” Opening

Nightmare Wells