The Training Dungeon - the Final Chapter

A Token Victory

This morning, JG took the initiative. He told me to clear the dining table and get Team Adventure ready to roll. I needed no further bidding and things were soon in place. I remembered (but the last session was a while ago) that they were hunkered down in room 22, busily getting their spells back and curing each other. JG, after a bit of prompting thought to cast Read Magic on the spell book and duly noted down what spells it had in it. He didn't actually do anything with said spells, however.

The party then set off up the corridor, heading back towards the ogre room where they had identified several passageways as worthy of attention. They had intended to look up the corridor past the zombie room but as they were about to turn up that corridor, they heard the door opening and the chant of "Brains! Brains!" getting louder. TA decided to skeddadle very quickly across the ogre room and down to the area that abuts onto the water area. They had remembered that there was a passageway leading off it, ending up in room 17. As they approached, they spotted a large winding wheel on the wall and a bony arm sticking through a heavy portcullis.

Alurax and Hruthnor decided to turn the wheel and sure enough, the gateway raised a bit. They tried this several times, each time retreating as the portcullis lifted. Eventually, their bravery cut in and they got it all the way up. Everyone else was up at the bend in the passageway while our heroes tried to see what was inside and debated the wisdom of going in.

Suddenly, there was the sound of bowstrings and Akurath took an arrow from an unseen shooter. Another missed Elise. The rest of the party scrambled down to the entrance to 17, and Alurax and Hruthnor stepped in. They started to look around the room; I watched carefully and when they moved across the centre of the room, I deemed that the portcullis had slammed down again. Fortunately, the rest of the party swiftly raised it and got them out, just as a leathery flapping in the ceiling cavity got louder and louder.

The arrow had come from one of the three remaining kobolds who now jumped out from their hiding place at the corner of the passageway and fired again. Garazor took an arrow this time. The members of the party who were facing the right way fired back and one kobold crashed to the floor. The other two legged it.

Finally, the party decided to give the passageway to room 21 a try. They got halfway down the passage before a querying glance from the DM gave them cause for pause. I described what they saw, both thieves having failed their find traps rolls. I had to carefully guide them from conclusion to conclusion before they eventually realised that a section of the wall about six feet off the ground was marked with grubby and large fingerprints. As if someone had been pushing at that bit quite often. They cottoned on that it was some sort of switch to activate the traps and pushed it. Then pushed it again. This switched the trap back on. Lannius edged forward, using his 10' pole and set off two sets of spears that flew out of the wall, then drew back in again. Needless to say, if the entire party had moved down the passageway to the door, at least two members would have taken a possible 3d6 of damage (I'd have allowed a save vs DEX to halve that).

Finally, switching off and switching on again, using a real light switch as a prop, they worked it out and moved forward in relative safety. Both thieves failed their locks roll for the door and most of the strongest characters also failed their Open Doors rolls.

Surprise, surprise, Zhastar the hobbit got it open eventually. Inside, they could see bundles and bundles of stuff, but being very cautious (I wonder why that could be so?) they sent Lannius in, having just about made his Hide in Shadows roll (okay he missed it by one but I was in a generous mood). He made several runs, bringing all the bundles out and eventually the last stone token as well.

JG was delighted to have found the last token and they set off back to the 3rd level and the treasure chamber. But as they were heading along the passageway towards the area of 25 and the shaft, guess who they should see, coming the other way? Yes, eight lean and hungry figures. JG scented the odour of corruption and the chance for revenge. Elise and Zhastar were put to the front and in came the ghouls - holy symbols were displayed and though Elise failed her roll, Zhastar made his and rolled an 11 on the d12. An oil bomb came sailing over the heads of the party and I rolled to see where in the ghoul pack it would land. JG rolled his 2d6 per ghoul caught in the splash and three went down. (yes, I know that in the rules, a direct hit gets the 2d6 and splash damage gets 1-3 but as the oil bomb fell amongst four of them, I ruled that each was susceptible to the full damage. Hey - they could have rolled a 2, or I could have rolled and found only two ghouls were hit) A fourth was on fire but this was only a temporary setback as Alurax and Hruthnor gunned it down with arrow and crossbow bolt. The surviving ghouls shambled off up the corridor and JG and party descended to level 3. I was rolling to see if they met anyone else on their journey to the treasure room but no-one else came up.

JG took each of the tokens and slotted them into place. The pillar started to rise into the ceiling, leaving an empty space behind. JG thought that this was it, and that there was no pay-off. Then the bottom of the pillar, now flush with the ceiling, opened up and gold pieces cascaded out.
"How many?" asked JG
"Oh, hundreds" I said
"What, a thousand?"
"Yeah, about that"
Lottery factor strikes again. He was somewhat disconsolate to find that there were no magical goodies in the haul until I pointed out that they had found plenty of magic goodies elsewhere in the dungeon.

There remained only the task of dragging all this loot back to the surface. When they reached the shaft, I pointed out that the rope would not take the weight of characters loaded with stuff and so Lannius climbed up and hauled each bundle up one at a time. He was halfway through when the sound of shuffling and the words "Brains! Brains!" came down the corridor. He at once descended on the rope and waited until the zombies had gone. No-one seemed particularly interested in bundles by a shaft (the cleric's priorty is new recruits, after all) and once the area was safe, the rest of the loot and the party ascended. Pausing only to collect the bones of the friendly ghost, they left the dungeon.

I concluded it there. As a wee giftie to the party, and to equip them a little better for the nasty world outside, I've decided to list out all the magic items that they've found and either let JG pick one for each member or let the dice decide. There will be no xp for these items - just a little something to give them a chance in the big bad world.

The Hex Factor

I had come to the conclusion that eight is too strong a party to be taking on first level dungeons. I had decided quite a while ago that JG would have to reduce the character roster by two and now had come the time to do so.

He decided that Garazor and Alia would be leaving the party at this stage. JG's rationale was that the party he picked (Akurath, Hruthnor, Alurax, Zhastar, Elise and Lannius) filled the slots that he reckoned were necessary for a party. Two fighters, a F/Mu, a Cl/Mu, a cleric and a Thief. In retrospect, Alia had sleep but sleep is in the spellbook that they picked up, and Garazor, whilst very handy, was always seen, I think, as a guest character. Never mind - he may well reappear - it's a big sandbox out there!

Next time, the party starts in the real world, no soft corners. Experience points are there for the taking, but so is death in all its cold and heartless glory.

Saturday Night Fight Club - Stone Giant v Treant

Okay, so it's very unlikely that these two guys would ever face up in their natural surroundings. But this is Saturday Night Fight Club and we can do anything!

In the grey corner, face like granite and body to match, a slab hewn of the hardest elements, it's...

Rocky the Stone Giant



Ignore the bear, he's just there for moral support (and he's brought the Doritos)

AC 0
Move 12”
HD 9 + 1-3 which makes an average of 42
No of atts 1
Dam per attack 3-18
Special attacks Rock Hurling for 3-30 hit points
90% chance of catching a rock hurled against them.
THAC0 12


In the green corner, with more branches than Wal-Mart, his bark is definitely worse than his bite, it's...

Woody the Treant



Just look what he did to the last person who tried to take him on.

AC 0
Move 12”
HD 7-12 average of 41 hp
No of attacks 2
Dam per attack depends on hit dice
7-8HD 2-16
9-10HD 3-18
11-12HD 4-24

Never surprised

Woody weighs in at a hefty nine hit dice, which means that he'll have a THAC0 of 12.

Pretty evenly matched? Well, that's what we're here to find out.

Ding ding, Round 1

We’ll let Rocky have a round of rock throwing at Woody as he comes in to attack

Rolls 12, which means it’s a hit, if only just. Does damage of 12.

Okay, both contenders close for action. Let's see what they roll on their reactions.

Woody rolls a 2, Rocky rolls a 1

Woody gets 18 and 14 to hit, doing 3d6 of damage with each - 9 with the left hook, 16 with the right.

Rocky whams Woody with a 19 – good hit. 10 damage

End of round 1 and as the two contenders retire to their corners, let's see how their hit points stack up.

Woody 19hp
Rocky 17hp

Round 2

Out come the contenders, d6 in hand, ready to roll those reactions. Woody gets a 5, Rocky rolls a 1. Woody is fast as lightning this round. Will he make it count?

He lets fly with those fists again, check those to hit rolls out, 18 and 15.

Damage of 12 and 11. Damn – that’s 23 in total – Rocky is down for the count.

Hell, that was a short one. Those fists are just too lethal at close quarters.

Let’s see if it runs a little differently second time around.

Round 1

Rocky hurls his boulder. Rolls a 12 to hit, again. Check the damage - 17 this time.

Rocky and Woody roll their d6s and both attack at the same time.

Rocky rolls a 4 – missed and no damage to Woody

Woody rolls 13 and 16 – bang, both fists make contact. 13 and 9 damage. That’s 22! Talk about a double whammy!

End of round 1 - back into their corners for a sponge and a pep-talk from their trainers.

Rocky 20hp
Woody 24hp

Round 2

Rocky rolls a 5 and with a 2, Woody goes second.

Rocky swings into action but with a 9, he misses.

Woody replies with 4 and 10 – he’s punching air this round.


Round 3 - let's hope that there's a bit more accuracy this time.

Reaction rolls first, and Woody gets a 2 to Rocky's 1. Stone doesn't exactly move quickly and Rocky is no exception.

Woody lets fly with a 15 and a 7. One fist hits Rocky for 12 damage. Rocky returns the favour but with a 3, Woody dodges it easily and avoids the blow.


End of round 3 and the combatants are down to

Rocky 8hp
Woody 24hp

Round 4 – this fight is going on a lot longer than the first one. Looks like the fans are getting their money's worth tonight.

Out with the d6s again, a roll and Woody beats Rocky by 4 to 3.

Woody swings those fists but Rocky is a bit too quick for him (for once). 7 and 6 don’t make contact.

Rocky replies – 5 – trees move in the wind and Woody is getting plenty of that from the stony one.


Seconds away, Round 5

The lucky d6 has not deserted Woody; 5 to Rocky's 4

Woody rolls to hit, aiming to get the killer blow. One good hit could finish this fight. His left gets a 3, misses completely but with his right, it’s a 15 and the wood thumps home. Let’s see what the damage is.

Exactly 8 damage. Rocky is on 0 hp. As he’s tottering on the brink of unconsciousness, let’s see if he hits.

3 – no, he’s well and truly seeing stars.

Round 6

Well, the referee is not coming in to break this up. Reaction rolls show that Woody and Rocky both get their blows in at the same time. Surely this is the end for our stony friend?

With a 5, he just can’t land that blow. Woody comes in, both fists bunched, 15 and 5 – the left hand inflicts a terrible 12 points of damage and that finishes off Rocky. He hits the canvas like....er..a rock hitting canvas.

But what a contender! Let's hear it for the Fall of the Mountain King! When it came down to it, although they were evenly matched on armour class and hit dice, Woody had two hits to Rocky's one and with some terrible rolls, Rocky just wasn't able to land the blows when it counted, even with the concession of a boulder throw to get things going. This just goes to show how tough those walking trees really are - if you go down to the woods today, you're in for more than just a surprise, I can tell you.

Join us next week when the tough guys of the humanoid gang - trolls and ogres - take on the oldest of Old School monsters - Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Elesalia - The Rose Blades

The Rose Blades are an order of female paladins, or paladines, who operate from a settlement near the Lake of Light. They have a close connection with the holy community on the Isle of Aleandar. They are named for the distinct pinkish hue to the metal of their swords.



Recruits for the order comes from all over Elesalia, from Helfgel in the west to the elven human protectorates in the eastern forests, from the Sultanates to the northern barbarians. It is said that the warrior goddess of the paladines, Siranis sends visions to those whom she has chosen when they reach sixteen. Those who have sufficient courage and determination to follow their visions make the journey, which can be hundreds of miles in some cases, to the Lake of Light, where they are received by the order. Worthy candidates for the visions of the goddess are few and many turn back or fall by the wayside into slavery or death at the hands of men or monsters.



Siranis is the Yirovian goddess of guardianship, faithfulness, dignity and duty. She requires no less in those who worship her. She is said to be stern but kindly, forgiving of all save infidelity in whatever shape or form she finds it.


HISTORY

In the year 640BP, there arose a great evil in the Yirovian valley. Some say Dusanbakh, a sorcerer discovered the power that had driven the Empire of the Snake and sought to recreate that evil again. He raised the undead from their graves and flung them against the forces of law and goodness.

Under the influence of Gal Haktal, the green avatar of Tiamat, whose realms included choking, decay, disease, fungus, poison, envy and malice, Dusanbakh and his hordes attacked the isle of Aleandar, a shrine to Clerestris, goddess of healing and mercy. It was captured and defiled.

The sorcerer was only defeated through much effort, battle and sacrifice. The wizard Crusios, a former adventurer and native of the city of Jemorria, who had helped the forces of good retake the valley, was later asked to join the Mages of Power.

Amongst the many brave warriors who fought for Yirovian and to liberate the Isle of Aleandar were four paladines, two senior and two apprentices. Peranta, Maskis, Romavel and Jehatia.



They did not begin as a group, but each pair was drawn to the conflict by a determination to fight evil and drive back darkness. Romavel was killed during the fighting and her body laid to rest on the Isle of Aleandar, in what is now known as the Chamber of the Broken Heart.

The remaining paladines had little time to rest, since the scattered undead, still infesting the valley, were a long time clearing. When eventually they returned to the sanctuary of the Isle, they found a new task waiting for them.

Following the liberation and reconsecration of the Isle of Aleandar, it was decided that the sanctuary required guardians. It could clearly no longer rely on its benevolence and neutrality to protect it and so the three surviving paladines formed the order of the Rose Blades, to fight for law and goodness and to protect the sanctuary. They obtained weaponry and training from the Khereseth and over the years built up a powerful force of paladines with the new recruits that Siranis sent them year by year.

In the year 442BP, a bond-pair of Rose Blades, Nelessia and Trema together with Chamis, a silvering and Delanda, a cleric of Clerestris joined with others in an attack on the Shadow Hands, who had struck a foul blow at the heart of the human settlements in the Ghafan region. Both Nelessia and Delanda were killed. Chamis, though badly wounded was granted full Rose Blade status by Siranis herself.

The Rose Blades are still in existence, pledged to defend the Isle of Aleandar and to seek out threats to law and goodness all over Elesalia. There is no saying where they will be encountered; they voyage at the whim of the goddess and consider it an honour to fight and die in her service.

SOCIETY AND ORGANISATION

There is no formal hierarchy within the order, but older paladines who have retired are consulted on matters of importance. Direction and leadership come through the influence of Siranis and the holy women who live on hermitages on the islands of the Lake of Light.

New arrivals come at the rate of perhaps two a year to join the order, which tends to cover the natural wastage of death from old age and combat.



The paladine receives her rose blade at the discretion of the goddess Siranis, if the girl’s performance, devotion and piety have pleased her. Most, if not all of the paladines become Rose Blades by the time they reach 20. It is possible that a girl will not be awarded the rose blade, in which case she is destined always to be the junior partner in a bond-pair or what is known as a silvering - a sort of associate Rose Blade, obliged to play the supporting role whenever another sword is needed.

Bond-pairs are formed by mutual agreement between paladine and apprentice; it is by no means unusual for a paladine to remain a solo operator.

When the senior paladine of a bond-pair reaches an age where she deems it too much to be adventuring or wielding arms any more, she hangs up her sword and goes through a ceremony where she officially hands over seniority to her pair partner, who then has the right either to become a lone paladine or to take a junior partner.

If this happens to a bond-pair and the junior partner is a silvering, then she must apply to another lone paladine to take her on as a partner. It may be that the 'junior' partner turns out to be older than her 'senior' partner.

When on a mission, a bond-pair often takes with it auxiliaries, being clerics (from the Isle of Aleandar) and women-at-arms. In the early days, male fighters were hired as supporting swords but it was found that although generally they behaved themselves, there were incidents that led to deaths and it was decided that a woman-only rule should be enforced. It also led to fewer casualties on missions since men were more likely to try foolhardy rescues.

The age range of paladines is, at any one time,
Teens 8
20s 20
30s 20
40s 20
50s 20
60s 20
70s 20
80s 2

The numbers in each age range may vary by one or two, depending on whether more have been killed in combat but the total number in the order will never exceed 130.

88 of these will be in their 50s or below, and therefore of reasonable military age. Of the 88, perhaps 30 will be lone paladines, 58 being in 29 bond-pairs. From 4-6 of the 88 paladines will be silverings.

It will be noted that those over 50 would tend not to be peregrinatory and may well have moved into mentoring or become clerics at the behest of the goddess. At most, a quarter of the paladines get a peregrinatory calling and of those, perhaps 10% die on adventures. They have the right to be buried on one of the islands of the Lake of Light, although only truly exemplary paladines or those who died in extraordinary circumstances can be laid to rest on the Isle of Aleandar.

Occasionally, Siranis informs a paladine through dreams and omens that she has been chosen for motherhood. This often happens when the soul of a dead paladine is required to be reincarnated - the goddess might have in mind a specific destiny for which she is needed. To ensure that the prospective mother is worthy of the honour, the goddess will send her visions of her future mate and it becomes a holy quest for her to seek him out. Once found, she must then woo and mate with him. This quest she must undertake on her own, and it is for this reason that the choosing of a paladine by the goddess often falls upon a lone paladine, rather than one in a bond-pair, because if it is the latter, the bond-pair is almost always broken by this event.

If a bond-pair suffers a casualty, then depending on the grief with which the survivor takes the loss, she sometimes retires from paladinhood and becomes a holy woman, setting up a hermitage on one of the smaller islands of the Lake of Light. Sometimes, she may become a cleric, sometimes a mentor for the new arrivals each year.

A bond-pair will live in a small complex of two houses, joined at communal chambers. Each complex has a training yard, stables and an armoury. Most have a garden where the paladines tend fruit trees, vegetable patches and herbs for various culinary, medicinal and magic purposes. Older bond-pairs may well have acquired servants who will be housed in rooms adjoining the complex. Amongst the complexes are small shrines where retired paladines live and tend to effigies of Siranis, or of Clerestris, the goddess of mercy and healing.



A Rose Blade is a very serious character, much like Siranis herself. She will be faithful unto death itself if she has given her word. Though the joys of the world have not become strange to her, a paladine of the Rose Blades can sometimes allow her determination and duty to make her appear somewhat humourless. Rose Blades will take a very dim view of oath-breakers and will associate with them only in extremis and then only for a very short while.

As has been noted, the establishment of the Rose Blades was accompanied by an influx of training, weaponry and armour from the Khereseth. Over the next 222 years, the master weaponsmiths continued to supply the paladines with the fruits of their forges so that it can now be honestly said that the Rose Blades hold one of the largest hoards of Khereseth armour and swords anywhere in Elesalia.

Newcomers, are ye hungry?

Mr Gone, Jaerdaph, Tim Shorts at Gothridge Manor - your perspicacity and good taste shall be rewarded!




And ancientvaults - feast on this. I hear that other blogs don't offer such hearty fare.

The Skeleton King wants YOU...

for his Undead Army!


(photo courtesy of Junior Grognard)

Facio the Paladin gets a makeover

This is for Eli at I See Lead People. I knew I'd got it somewhere and here it is. As you can see, the horse is different but it's the same Facio



and see, here he is without his horse. As I remember, they used to be sold in sets of mounted and dismounted positions.

Saturday Night Fight Club - Manticore v Wyvern

At the suggestion of Biopunk, it’s another aerial combat.


Manticore



AC 4
Move 12”/18”
Hit dice 6+3 (average hit points of 30)
No of attacks 3
Damage per attack 1-3/1-3/1-8
Special attack Tail spikes – can fire four volleys of six spikes each, one per round from its tail , 1-6 damage per hit. It doesn’t say whether that is per spike or per volley. I’ll assume it’s per spike, since 1-6 damage for six iron spikes doesn’t seem that much. However, it means that each spike launched has to make its own to hit roll. Seems fair.
Special defences – nil
Size L
THAC0 13 and therefore needs a 10 to hit the wyvern
The manticore will save vs. poison on a 10 or better.
Aerial manoeuvrability class E – “Manticores are clumsy fliers, but they will not hesitate to fling their tail spikes at opponents who get too close”

Wyvern



AC3
HD 7+7 (average hp 38.5)
Move 24”
Manoeuvrability class E
2 atts
2-16 and 1-6 + poison sting.
THAC0 12, therefore needs an 8 to hit the manticore.

Round 1

As both the manticore and wyvern have the same manoeuvrability class, I’ll rule, as I did before, that they both attack at the same time.

I’ll also rule that since they are taken to be in combat, yet moving around and getting their attacks in when they can, they can use all their various attacks at the same time. Remember that a round is quite a long time and I can’t see why claw/claw/bite and tail can’t all be deployed during that time.

Manny the Manticore swoops in, firing off a volley of spikes as he closes and then has a go with his claw/claw/bite routine.

Let’s see how many of his iron spikes hit.

Rolls a 12, 2, 12, 15, 6, 6 - therefore 3 spikes hit, and their damage is a total of 9

His claw/claw/bite scores are 10, 12 and 19 – all three hit and the total damage is 2,1 and 1 – that bite just didn’t bite.

Let’s see what Wylie the Wyvern can whistle up in response. Oops – his bite went a little astray with a hit roll of 3. What of his sting?

5 – well, dragonkind must be hiding their collective faces behind their collective paws at this point. What a shlemiel!

End of round 1 and Manny has taken no hits. He’s down to 3 volleys of his iron spikes (I wonder if that’s where the best iron spikes are harvested?).

Wylie the Wyvern on the other hand is down to 26 hp and if ever a wyvern’s face was red, his is now.

Round 2

We’ll let Wylie have the first strike – he dives in for his attacks and rolls

7 for the bite and 14 for his tail sting. Maybe the tail can make up for the inadequacies of the mouth. Damage of 1 – hmm, maybe not. Let’s see if Manny makes his save vs. poison.

17 – things are just getting worse for Wylie.

Ah well, let’s see what damage Manny can do to Wylie’s body. He’s already done heaps to his ego.

First the tail spikes. 4,3,18,10, 7,9 – only 2 hit, for total damage of 7

Now the claw/claw/bite – 10, 5 and 4. A total of 1 damage from the claw that managed to hit. I wonder what’s happened to my D20? It seems to be rolling low.

End of round, and Manny is down to 29hp and 2 volleys of iron spikes, Wylie to 18. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.

Round 3 and I’ll let Manny have first crack.

4,7,4,1, 15 and 5 – man, what rubbish rolls. Still, what goes around comes around. So that’s just 1 iron spike hit (not sure what happened to the other five; perhaps they landed on a hobbit – we can only hope!) for damage of 1

Claw/claw/bite to hits of 12,7 and 9 – one claw hit for damage of 3!

Okay, here comes Wylie – he rolls to hit – he gets a 4

Facepalm for the Wyverns.

What about his tail stinger? At last, a 14. Damage of 4 and let’s see if Manny makes his save. Which d20 shall I use? What about that low roller?

20! Is there such a thing as a critical save?

End of round 3 – Manny is on 25hp and has 1 volley of iron spikes left, Wylie has 14hp left. It could all change on the next round.

Round 4 – Wylie gets first go.

Wahoo! He actually hits with that bite of his. It’s been so long since he actually hit, I’ll just check what the damage is.

2d8 – he rolls 9 in total (well, he can’t roll a 1)

And his stinger? 9 – so it’s a hit – just. Damage of 4 and Manny has to save vs. poison again. He looks confident but should he be?

Alas, a 5. Well, that’s my fault, using that low roller. But as both monsters are attacking simultaneously, Manny still gets his attacks in. How will he do?

Tail spikes – the final volley – 11,17,15,15,12,4 – ha! Where were those rolls when he needed them for his save, eh? Ah well, that’s the way the luck goes.

Still, damage for five spikes – let’s make those rolls. 6,3,2,2,2 for a grand total of 15. Wylie is looking damn punctured.

Claw/claw/bite 1,12,10 – a claw and a bite hit home. Manny rolls a total of 8 on his bite (max-I-mum!) and 2 for the claw – ten in total.

That means that in round 4, Wylie has taken a total of 25 damage, and as he only had 14 left, he’ll be hitting the ground in several pieces.

Well, that’s about all we have time for, so…

Wait, wait! I’ve just taken a call from Wylie’s therapist. She says he should re-run that combat; apparently it’s good therapy for his inadequacy issues and problems with self-esteem.

Oh well, I’m up for it.


Round 1

Wylie swoops in, eager for revenge. He rolls a 15 for his bite and chomps home with a total of 9 damage.

Let’s see what his stinger can do. He rolls a 12 to hit. 4 damage and Manny needs to save vs. poison (he’s getting a bit tired of this) . He rolls a 13.


Manny swings that dangerous tail of his, picks up his d20 and rolls

18,16,17,3,8,7 – not bad. Three spikes hit home for a total of 16 damage.

Now for those claws and teeth.

8,16,7 – only one claw rips into Wylie’s scale for a measly 1 damage. Just a scratch.

At the end of that round, Wylie is on 22hp, Manny on 17. If Wylie can score maximum damage with both his attacks, he might knock Manny out of the sky, or at the very least wipe that smirk off the manticore’s bearded face.

Round 2
Wylie closes for combat, mouth open wide, teeth glinting.

Snap! He rolls a 14 for his bite, 9 damage.

Unfortunately, his tail hit roll is a less than perfect 6. Still, he’s brought Manny down to 8hp – what can the lion of the skies pull out of the bag?

It’s spike time. Manny picks a d20 at random (you can’t rely on anything this week) and rolls

18,3,16,15,15,17 – bullseye! Five out of the six spikes hit. He rolls his damage. 19!

This must surely spell doom for Wylie. And just to make sure, Manny gives it the claw/claw/bite to finish things off – or does he?

14,16,14 – good rolls! 2,1,1 – 4 damage.

And on –1, Wylie goes sailing earthward again.

Well, that’s the last time Wylie will be listening to that therapist.

In retrospect, the fact that Manny managed to save vs. poison on the second fight made the difference between them that bit more interesting. I may have made the manticore that little bit more powerful with my iron spike damage rule; that and the fact that Manny did have some splendid dice luck in the second fight. There is only 2 difference between them on the THAC0s and if they made all their hits, Manny would inflict 48 damage whilst Wylie would only do 22. If I’d ruled that Manny could only do a maximum of 6 damage with his tail spikes per round, then he’d do 18 damage maximum, which just doesn’t sound right.

Also, we have to bear in mind that Manny can only fire four volleys with his tail spikes, so if an opponent can keep the battle going longer than four rounds, the manticore’s maximum damage at once drops to 12.

That's it for this week. Join us next time for Stone Giant v Treant.