Dinosaur Riding Barbarians

General questions, debates, and rants about RPGs

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

So I'm going to take the lack of commentary on my Logistics post as evidence that it is completely flawless, the Second Coming of Tabletop Jesus that will usher in the millennium of better sales than video games. So while there are a few things I want to go back and touch up at some point - I think influence logistics need to be reworked a bit to be more distinct from land, I need to nail down the rules for larger-than-Huge creatures, and eggs and juvenile dinos need prices - the next big thing I need to get done is feats. I need feats to design the bestiary, because certain types of bad guy or dino absolutely need things like "extraordinarily strong." So let's get some feats going.

Feats

Unless otherwise specified, all feats provide competency bonuses. Since these bonuses are of the same type, they do not stack with one another.

Capabilities:

Superior Strength: +1 Acrobatics, +1 Combat, +1 Intimidate
Incredible Strength: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Intimidate

Superior Durability: +1 Endurance, +1 Survival
Incredible Durability: +2 Endurance

Superior Charm: +1 Animal Handling, +1 Deception, +1 Persuasion
Incredible Charm: +2 Animal Handling, +2 Persuasion

Superior Will: +1 Intimidation, +1 Persuasion, +1 Willpower
Incredible Will: +2 Willpower

Superior Perception: +1 Perception, +1 Investigate, +1 Survival
Incredible Perception: +2 Perception, +2 Investigate

Backgrounds:

Acolyte: +1 Medicine, +1 Occult
Priest: +2 Medicine, +2 Occult, +1 Poisons

Architect: +2 Engineering, +1 Perception

Blacksmith: +2 Blacksmithing

Charlatan: +2 Deception, +1 Persuasion, +1 Perform

Farmer: +1 Blacksmithing, +1 Endurance, +1 Survival

Gladiator: +1 Combat, +1 Perform, +1 Animal Handling
Champion: +2 Combat, +1 Intimidate, +2 Perform

Hunter: +2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception

Minstrel: +1 Persuasion, +1 Perform, +1 Deception
Bard: +2 Perform, +2 Deception

Noble: +1 Persuasion, +1 Finance

Sailor: +1 Acrobatics, +1 Endurance

Scribe: +2 Finance

Slave: +1 Deception, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate

Soldier: +1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate
Elite: +2 Combat, +1 Perception

Thief: +1 Larceny, +1 Stealth, +1 Deception, +1 Poisons
Master Thief: +2 Larceny, +2 Stealth, +2 Poisons

Techniques:

Armor Master: Increase DR from worn armor by 1.

Blind Fighting: You may ignore all penalties imposed by blindness for attacks made to or from hexes adjacent to you. This includes attacks made to adjacent enemies and attacks adjacent enemies make to you.

Blitz: You may blitz when attacking, provoking an attack of opportunity from the target enemy but doubling your Combat bonus to damage.

Colossus Slayer: You take no penalties to Acrobatics checks made to climb a moving creature.

Die Hard: Whenever you are above 1 HP and hit by an attack that would reduce you below 1 HP, you are instead reduced to 1 HP.

Dual-Wielding: You take no penalty to off-hand attacks and have a +1 equipment bonus to Acrobatics checks made to avoid attacks so long as you're wielding a weapon in both hands.

Duelist: The crit range on any hilted, one-handed weapon you wield is expanded by one.

Lancer: Whenever an attack of yours ignores DR, you deal an extra 2 points of damage.

Mounted Combatant: You may roll Animal Handling instead of Acrobatics to dodge an attack whenever you're riding a mount.

Piker: Whenever an enemy enters a hex you're threatening with a reach weapon, you get an attack of opportunity on them.

Shield Crusher: When wielding a two-handed, hafted weapon, anytime you miss an enemy with a parry bonus but your result was at least 10, make a damage roll anyway. If you deal at least 15 damage on the attack, the target takes half damage. If the parry bonus is granted by a shield, the shield is shattered. If it's granted by a wielded weapon, the weapon is disarmed.

Sniper: The range on your ranged weapons is increased half again.
I am undecided whether people who are not Heroes (the class) should be able to get techniques, and whether Heroes should ever be asked to choose between taking a technique or a capability/background. I'll need to figure that out before writing any human enemies, although dinosaurs won't have anything but capabilities so I can figure them out with just what I've got.

Player characters will probably start with one capability, one background, and one feat that can be either a capability or a background. Then I'm guessing Heroes will get a technique on top of that. Over a course of a campaign, most classes will get an additional 2-3 feats (which may be confined to certain categories) while Heroes will get like a dozen. It's more important to keep things balanced within categories than between categories, and within the backgrounds category specifically it's not a big deal to me if some of the backgrounds kind of suck, because that category needs to be exhaustive so that every human NPC can have at least one (and usually no more) background feat. New arts can be learned during play, so it's not a huge deal if a farmer Warlock starts out at a disadvantage compared to a priest. You'd kind of expect that, and the farmer can pick up the priest's arts further down the road. Classes should probably be paired with recommended backgrounds to avoid people blundering into sub-optimal pairs accidentally, though.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

So it turns out that my system lends itself to very compact statblocks since so much is derived from skills. That's pretty cool.

On the other hand, I had to revise some of my math due to dinosaurs turning out to be actually rather large. Diplodocus and t-rex are actually gargantuan, not merely huge, which means brachiosaurus is two size categories larger than triceratops, not just one. This means that triceratops, anklyosaurus, and stegosaurus are about as tough as I was expecting diplodocus to be, and diplodocus and especially brachiosaurus have huge, triple-digit piles of HP. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Also, size provides a penalty to Dodge that's incorporated into the stats but which I forgot to incorporate into the actual list of modifiers in the size parentheticals. I know how I feel about this, and it is not a good feeling.

Dinosaurs

Allosaurus, Trained
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Pursuit Predator (+2 Acrobatics, +2 Combat)
Weight: 680 stone
Carrying capacity: 75 stone (125 stone with saddle)
Speed: 60 feet (12 hexes)
HP: 60
Attacks: Slashing Bite +2 (4d6+8), Left Claw +2 (2d6+8), Right Claw +2 (2d6+8), Tail +0 (1d6+8)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +6 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Slashing Bite: Whenever an allosaurus hits with slashing bite attack and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the allosaurus is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Allosaurus, Wild
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Pursuit Predator (+2 Acrobatics, +2 Combat)
Weight: 628.5 stone
Carrying capacity: 50 stone
Speed: 60 feet (12 hexes)
HP: 45
Attacks: Bite +0 (4d6+8), Left Claw +0 (2d6+8), Right Claw +0 (2d6+8), Tail -2 (1d6+8)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +6 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Slashing Bite: Whenever an allosaurus hits with slashing bite attack and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the allosaurus is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Ankylosaurus, Trained
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 412 stone
Carrying Capacity: 225 stone (275 with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 115 (DR 15/-)
Attacks: Front Left Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Club Tail +2 (2d8+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +7 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Club Tail: The ankylosaurus' primary weapon is its club tail, and it is naturally adept at using it despite its location on what is ordinarily an unwieldy position. The ankylosaurus' club tail weapon does not take the usual penalty for a tail-mounted weapon and may attack to a range of two hexes from the ankylosaurus' tail hex, including wrapping around to hit targets adjacent to the leg hexes or passing over the leg hexes to hit targets to either side of the head.

Heavy Armor: The ankylosaurus' hide is impenetrably thick. They have an additional DR of 5 on top of their natural armor, and they are not vulnerable to piercing attacks.

Ankylosaurus, Wild
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 390 stone
Carrying Capacity: 175 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 95 (DR 15/-)
Attacks: Front Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Club Tail +0 (2d8+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +5 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Club Tail: The ankylosaurus' primary weapon is its club tail, and it is naturally adept at using it despite its location on what is ordinarily an unwieldy position. The ankylosaurus' club tail weapon does not take the usual penalty for a tail-mounted weapon and may attack to a range of two hexes from the ankylosaurus' tail hex, including wrapping around to hit targets adjacent to the leg hexes or passing over the leg hexes to hit targets to either side of the head.

Heavy Armor: The ankylosaurus' hide is impenetrably thick. They have an additional DR of 5 on top of their natural armor, and they are not vulnerable to piercing attacks.

Brachiosaurus Superheavy
Traits: Colossal (-8 Attack, -8 Stealth, x5 Damage, +8 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Superheavy (+4 Endurance, +2 Combat, +1 Perception, -2 Speed, natural armor)
Weight: 12600 stone
Carrying capacity: 480 stone
Speed: 60 feet (12 hexes)
HP: 290 (DR 20/piercing)
Attacks: Neck -2 (3d6+30), Front Left Stomp -2 (6d6+30), Front Right Stomp -2 (6d6+30), Rear Left Stomp -4 (6d6+30), Rear Right Stomp -4 (6d6+10), Tail -4 (3d6+30)
Dodge: 2
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +10 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Brachiosaurus, Trained
Traits: Colossal (-8 Attack, -8 Stealth, x5 Damage, +8 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Pack Animal (+2 Endurance, +1 Perception, -2 Speed, natural armor)
Weight: 8780 stone
Carrying capacity: 400 stone
Speed: 60 feet (12 hexes)
HP: 250 (DR 20/piercing)
Attacks: Neck -6 (3d6+10), Front Left Stomp -6 (6d6+10), Front Right Stomp -6 (6d6+10), Rear Left Stomp -8 (6d6+10), Rear Right Stomp -8 (6d6+10), Tail -8 (3d6+10)
Dodge: 2
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +8 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Brachiosaurus, Wild
Traits: Colossal (-8 Attack, -8 Stealth, x5 Damage, +8 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Pack Animal (+2 Endurance, +1 Perception, -2 Speed, natural armor)
Weight: 8365 stone
Carrying capacity: 320 stone
Speed: 60 feet (12 hexes)
HP: 210 (DR 20/piercing)
Attacks: Neck -7 (3d6+5), Front Left Stomp -7 (6d6+5), Front Right Stomp -7 (6d6+5), Rear Left Stomp -9 (6d6+5), Rear Right Stomp -9 (6d6+5), Tail -9 (3d6+5)
Dodge: 2
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +1 (Apprentice), Endurance +6 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sidebar: The Brachiosaurus Superheavy

The brachiosaurus superheavy is significantly larger than any brachiosaurus that actually lived (to the best of our knowledge). These brachiosaurs are bred for size and power for use as mobile fortresses and are based on the argentinosaurus rather than the brachiosaurus.

Compsognathus, Trained
Traits: Tiny (+4 Attack, +4 Stealth, x0.25 Damage, -3 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Pursuit Predator (+2 Acrobatics, +2 Combat)
Weight: 1 half-stone
Carrying capacity: No
Speed: 25 feet (5 hexes)
HP: 5
Attack: Bite +10 (1d2+2)
Dodge: 20
Skills: Acrobatics +6 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +6 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Compsognathus, Wild
Traits: Tiny (+4 Attack, +4 Stealth, x0.25 Damage, -3 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Pursuit Predator (+2 Acrobatics, +2 Combat)
Weight: 1 half-stone
Carrying capacity: No
Speed: 25 feet (5 hexes)
HP: 3
Attack: Bite +8 (1d3+1)
Dodge: 20
Skills: Acrobatics +6 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +6 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Deinonychus, Trained
Traits: Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 35 stone
Carrying capacity: 1 1/2 stone (2 1/2 stone with saddle)
Speed: 40 feet (8 hexes)
HP: 15
Attack: Bite +6 (1d12+6), Sickle Claw, Left +6 (1d6+6), Sickle Claw, Right +6 (1d6+6)
Dodge: 15
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a deinonychus hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the deinonychus is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Deinonychus, Wild
Traits: Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 32 stone
Carrying capacity: 1 stone
Speed: 40 feet (8 hexes)
HP: 10
Attack: Bite +4 (1d12+4), Sickle Claw, Left +4 (1d6+4), Sickle Claw, Right +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 15
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a deinonychus hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the deinonychus is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Diplodocus, Trained
Traits: Gargantuan (-6 Attack, -6 Stealth, x3 Damage, +6 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Pack Animal (+2 Endurance, +1 Perception, -2 Speed, natural armor)
Weight: 3000 stone
Carrying Capacity: 300 stone (360 stone with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 180 (DR 15/piercing)
Attacks: Neck -4 (1d10+6), Front Left Stomp -4 (2d10+6), Front Right Stomp -4 (2d10+6), Rear Left Stomp -6 (2d10+6), Rear Right Stomp -6 (2d10+6), Tail -6 (1d10+6)
Dodge: 4
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +8 (Master), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Diplodocus, Wild
Traits: Gargantuan (-6 Attack, -6 Stealth, x3 Damage, +6 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Pack Animal (+2 Endurance, +1 Perception, -2 Speed, natural armor)
Weight: 2800 stone
Carrying Capacity: 240 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 150 (DR 15/piercing)
Attacks: Neck -5 (1d10+3), Front Left Stomp -5 (2d10+3), Front Right Stomp -5 (2d10+3), Rear Left Stomp -7 (2d10+3), Rear Right Stomp -7 (2d10+3), Tail -7 (1d10+3)
Dodge: 4
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +1 (Apprentice), Endurance +6 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Gallimimus, Trained
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 78.5 stone
Carrying capacity: 5 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 30
Attack: Bite +0 (1d6+8), Tail -2 (1d8+8)
Dodge: 14
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Master), Combat +5 (Master), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +5 (Master), Stealth -1 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Gallimimus, Wild
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 78.5 stone
Carrying capacity: 5 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 30
Attack: Bite +1 (1d6+5), Tail -1 (1d8+5)
Dodge: 14
Skills: Acrobatics +3 (Journeyman), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Stealth -1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a utahraptor hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the utahraptor is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Iguanodon, Trained
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 486 stone
Carrying Capacity: 150 stone (200 with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 85
Attacks: Bite -2 (1d6+4), Front Left Stomp -2 (1d6+4), Front Right Stomp -2 (1d6+4), Rear Left Stomp -4 (1d6+4), Rear Right Stomp -4 (1d6+4), Tail -4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 7
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +4 (Master), Perception +5 (Master), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Amphibious: The iguanodon can swim through water at the same rate as it can walk across land.

Iguanodon, Wild
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 486 stone
Carrying Capacity: 100 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 65
Attacks: Bite -2 (1d6+4), Front Left Stomp -2 (1d6+4), Front Right Stomp -2 (1d6+4), Rear Left Stomp -4 (1d6+4), Rear Right Stomp -4 (1d6+4), Tail -4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics -4 (Apprentice), Combat +2 (Apprentice), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Amphibious: The iguanodon can swim through water at the same rate as it can walk across land.

Stegosaurus, Trained
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 395 stone
Carrying Capacity: 225 stone (275 with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 115 (DR 10/piercing)
Attacks: Front Left Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Spiked Tail +2 (2d10+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +7 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Spiked Tail: The stegosaurus' primary weapon is its spiked tail, and it is naturally adept at using it despite its location on what is ordinarily an unwieldy position. The stegosaurus' spiked tail weapon does not take the usual penalty for a tail-mounted weapon and may attack to a range of two hexes from the stegosaurus' tail hex, including wrapping around to hit targets adjacent to the leg hexes or passing over the leg hexes to hit targets to either side of the head.

Stegosaurus, Wild
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 378 stone
Carrying Capacity: 175 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 95 (DR 10/piercing)
Attacks: Front Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Spiked Tail +0 (2d10+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +5 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Spiked Tail: The stegosaurus' primary weapon is its spiked tail, and it is naturally adept at using it despite its location on what is ordinarily an unwieldy position. The stegosaurus' spiked tail weapon does not take the usual penalty for a tail-mounted weapon and may attack to a range of two hexes from the stegosaurus' tail hex, including wrapping around to hit targets adjacent to the leg hexes or passing over the leg hexes to hit targets to either side of the head.

Sidebar: Stegosaurus Plates

It's not entirely known what stegosaurus plates were for. They definitely weren't armor, as unlike properly armored dinosaurs like anklyosaurus they don't actually cover the most vulnerable parts of the body, that being the flanks. The two prevailing theories are that the plates were used for regulating body temperature or for attracting mates. Neither particularly needs game mechanical support, so as far as the game is concerned they're just cool looking.

Telmatosaurus, Trained
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 95 stone
Carrying Capacity: 15 stone (19 stone with saddle)
Speed: 40 feet (8 hexes)
HP: 72
Attacks: Headslam +1 (1d8+5), Rear Left Stomp -1 (1d4+5), Rear Right Stomp -1 (1d4+5), Tail -1 (1d4+5)
Dodge: 9
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +6 (Master), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Stealth -1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Amphibious: The telmatosaurus can swim through water at the same rate as it can walk across land.

Telmatosaurus, Wild
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Herd Animal (+1 Perception, +1 Combat)
Weight: 82 stone
Carrying Capacity: 11 stone
Speed: 40 feet (8 hexes)
HP: 58
Attacks: Headslam +0 (1d8+3), Rear Left Stomp -2 (1d4+3), Rear Right Stomp -2 (1d4+3), Tail -2 (1d4+3)
Dodge: 8
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +2 (Apprentice), Endurance +4 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Stealth -1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Amphibious: The telmatosaurus can swim through water at the same rate as it can walk across land.

Triceratops, Trained
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 995 stone
Carrying capacity: 225 stone (275 stone with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 95 (DR 10/piercing)
Attacks: Horns +2 (2d12+8), Front Left Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp +2 (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Tail +0 (1d6+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +7 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Triceratops, Wild
Traits: Huge (-4 Attack, -4 Stealth, x2 Damage, +4 Speed), Quadruped (-1 Acrobatics, +2 Endurance), Tank On Legs (+2 Combat, +1 Endurance, natural armor)
Weight: 945 stone
Carrying capacity: 175 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 95 (DR 10/piercing)
Attacks: Horns +0 (2d12+8), Front Left Stomp +0 (1d6+8), Front Right Stomp (1d6+8), Rear Left Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Rear Right Stomp -2 (1d6+8), Tail -2 (1d6+8)
Dodge: 6
Skills: Acrobatics +0 (Apprentice), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +5 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Tyrannosaurus, Tamed
Traits: Gargantuan (-6 Attack, -6 Stealth, x3 Damage, +6 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Super Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +4 Combat, +2 Stealth, natural armor)
Weight: 1285 stone
Carrying Capacity: 90 stone (150 stone with saddle)
Speed: 70 feet (14 hexes)
HP: 75 (DR 15/piercing)
Attacks: Crushing Maw +2 (4d12+48), Left Claw +2 (5d6+24), Right Claw +2 (5d6+24), Tail +0 (2d12+24)
Dodge: 9
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +8 (Master), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Stealth -2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Tyrannosaurus, Wild
Traits: Gargantuan (-6 Attack, -6 Stealth, x3 Damage, +6 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Super Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +4 Combat, +2 Stealth, natural armor)
Weight: 1285 stone
Carrying Capacity: 90 stone
Speed: 70 feet (14 hexes)
HP: 75 (DR 15/piercing)
Attacks: Crushing Maw +0 (4d12+36), Left Claw +0 (5d6+18), Right Claw +0 (5d6+18), Tail -2 (2d12+18)
Dodge: 9
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Journeyman), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Stealth -3 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Crushing Maw: The tyrannosaur's bite is incredibly powerful. It deals an additional 1d12 damage and doubles the damage bonus from Combat (including existing size bonuses). Additionally, if a creature is wounded by the tyrannosaur's crushing maw, they must succeed at a TN 15 Endurance save or else become diseased afterwards, inflicting a -1 penalty to all skills. The save must be repeated every 24 hours, and the penalty stacks if the save is failed multiple times. Once an afflicted creature has succeeded three times, the disease begins to fade. The penalty decreases by 1 every 24 hours (no save is necessary at this point) until it goes away and the creature has fully recovered. If the save is failed by 10 points or more, the creature dies from the disease.

Utahraptor, Trained
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 85 stone
Carrying capacity: 11 stone (15 stone with saddle)
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 51
Attack: Bite +4 (3d6+9), Sickle Claw, Left +4 (1d8+9), Sickle Claw, Right +4 (1d8+9), Tail +4 (1d4+9)
Dodge: 14
Skills: Acrobatics +4 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +3 (Master), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Stealth +4 (Master), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a utahraptor hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the utahraptor is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Utahraptor, Wild
Traits: Large (-2 Attack, -2 Stealth, x1.5 Damage, +2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 78.5 stone
Carrying capacity: 5 stone
Speed: 50 feet (10 hexes)
HP: 30
Attack: Bite +2 (3d6+6), Sickle Claw, Left +2 (1d8+6), Sickle Claw, Right +2 (1d8+6), Tail +2 (1d4+6)
Dodge: 14
Skills: Acrobatics +4 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Stealth +4 (Master), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a utahraptor hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the utahraptor is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Sidebar: Utahraptor Is Not A Horse

Utahraptor weighs about the same as a modern horse, but unlike the powerfully built quadrupeds, utahraptor has chicken legs. Size and muscle still give utahraptor the ability to carry plenty of weight, but it will buckle under the kind of weights you'd expect a horse to carry. The average human weighs in the neighborhood of 10-12 stone, and that is most of a trained, saddled utahraptor's carrying capacity. Add in 1.5 stone for heavy leather armor, a half-stone lance, a similarly heavy sword, plus a shield, and you're already close to maxing out a raptor's carrying capacity. An average woman or a slim man can ride into battle moderately well armed and armored, but full plate armor is right out, and forget adding a second rider.

Velociraptor, Trained
Traits: Small (+2 Attack, +2 Stealth, x0.5 Damage, -2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 2.5 stone
Carrying capacity: No
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 8
Attack: Bite +6 (1d6+3), Sickle Claw, Left +6 (1d3+3), Sickle Claw, Right +6 (1d3+3)
Dodge: 17
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +1 (Journeyman), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +8 (Master), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a velociraptor hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the velociraptor is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.

Velociraptor, Wild
Traits: Small (+2 Attack, +2 Stealth, x0.5 Damage, -2 Speed), Chicken Legs (+2 Acrobatics, -1 Endurance, +2 Speed), Ambush Predator (+1 Acrobatics, +2 Combat, +2 Stealth)
Weight: 2.5 stone
Carrying capacity: No
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 5
Attack: Bite +4 (1d6+2), Left Claw +4 (1d3+2), Right Claw +4 (1d3+2)
Dodge: 17
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +0 (Apprentice), Perception +4 (Master), Stealth +8 (Master), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Sickle Claws: Whenever a velociraptor hits with one of its sickle claws and deals at least one point of damage, the target must make an Endurance save against TN 15, plus an additional 2 points for each size larger than the target the velociraptor is and 2 points less for each size smaller. If the target fails, they take DoT for one round, and may make a new Endurance test to stop the bleeding every time they take damage, after taking the damage.
Last edited by Chamomile on Fri Oct 28, 2016 11:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Alright. Let's finish out the bestiary and also do a little bit of setting-building with realms.

Tyrannassyria

Tyrannassyria is a military state led by a warrior king. While they maintain a priest class just like every other kingdom, the king derives his right to rule not based on being high priest or some kind of incarnate god, but rather due to his martial prowess and proud lineage (which, granted, does go back to a god). The Tyrannassyrians marshal their forces and go raiding every year, sacking cities that neighbor their empire to bring back treasure and slaves. Some cities pay a smaller annual tribute to be taken off the list of potential targets.

Every able-bodied Tyrannassyrian man is expected to take part in these raids at least once, and every household is expected to send at least one man to each annual raid. As such, the Tyrannassyrian army is primarily comprised of light infantry and artillery slinger units, however they also have a professional core of heavy infantry, artillery archers, and triceratops cavalry. These are fulltime soldiers who work directly for the king and his officers. The king's inner circle have complete legions of professional soldiers, while other officers have smaller forces and govern a section of the hinterlands, including having the right to gather up forces from those hinterlands. The king himself leads the most feared and most infamous of all Tyrannassyria's military units, a powerful cohort of tyrannosaur cavalry.

All of Tyrannassyrian society fits into a chain of command. The king is on top, his most powerful ministers lead legions underneath him, beneath them are the captains of individual cohorts, below them are the ordinary soldiers (professional soldiers outrank, but do not directly command, citizen soldiers), beneath them are a soldier's family, and beneath them are the family's slaves. Everyone is a part of this hierarchy. The blacksmith is also a soldier, a priest is likely second in command to a cohort, a merchant is a lesser captain of a special cohort who is outranked by ordinary captains but himself outranks soldiers, and so on. Captains of cohorts and commanders of legions are free to structure their men in any way they'd like, so the exact chain of command within a legion or cohort can be anything from very simple to a byzantine nightmare.

Anyone outside this hierarchy has no rights at all in Tyrannassyrian society, and when a sacked city is temporarily occupied for longterm looting, the unfortunate citizens of that city can be and often are slaughtered with impunity.

Working for Tyrannassyria

First of all, you're an asshole. This is totally playable, however. Tyrannassyrian commanders and captains are perfectly free to hire foreign mercenaries on a temporary or permanent basis, and a legion commander who wants a steady stream of non-raid profit might promote one or more of his professional soldiers to a position of minor captain of a caravan-cohort, whose job is to make bank and give the commander ten percent. Any foreign companions the captain ends up adding to the caravan are then a part of his cohort, and thus a part of Tyrannassyrian society. Tyrannassyrian caravans will be left to their own devices about 75% of the time, and spend about 3 months on average on campaign with the Tyrannassyrian army, which will march on a hapless neighboring city, pillaging towns and villages in the countryside before closing in on the city itself, whereupon they may attempt a siege but, being in rather a hurry, will usually make an attempt to storm the city and secure a quick victory.

Tyrannassyrian Units
Tyrannassyrian Soldier (Farmer)
Traits: Farmer (+1 Blacksmithing, +1 Endurance, +1 Survival), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +3 (1d8+3)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Tyrannassyrian Soldier (Blacksmith)
Traits: Blacksmith (+2 Blacksmithing), Superior Strength (+1 Acrobatics, +1 Combat, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 11 stone
Carrying capacity: 2 stone (3 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 9
Attacks: Spear +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 13
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Apprentice), Blacksmithing +4 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Tyrannassryian Slinger
Traits: Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Sling (+1 combat, 1d6 damage, short range), dagger (+0 combat, 1d4 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 1.5 stone (2.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 7
Attacks: Sling +2 (1d6+2), dagger +2 (1d4+2)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +1 (Apprentice), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Investigate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Tyrannassyrian Heavy Infantry
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Spear +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Tyrannassyrian Archer
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Longbow (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), short sword (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Longbow +4 (1d8+4), short sword +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 11
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Tyrannassyrian Trike Handler
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Short sword (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Short sword +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 11
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Animal Handling +5 (Master), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Tyrannassyrian Trike Cavalry

A Tyrannassyrian trike cavalry crew consists of a trike handler, a heavy infantry to repel boarders, and two archers riding atop an trained triceratops with a standard quality saddle and reins (granting a +1 Animal Handling bonus to the handler).

Tyrannassyrian Rex Cavalryman
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (+2 Combat, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Masterwork spear (+2 combat, 1d8 damage), masterwork shield (+2 dodge), masterwork longbow (+2 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Spear +6 (1d8+6), longbow +6 (1d8+6)
Dodge: 11 (12 w/shield)
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +5 (Master), Combat +6 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Tyrannassyrian Rex Cavalry

Tyrannassyrian rex cavalry will have two rex cavalrymen if it's part of the king's cohort. If it's the mount of the king, a commander, or a very lucky captain, it will have a rex cavalryman as the driver and the owner of the rex as passenger. A bog standard Tyrannassyrian captain wouldn't have such a mount, so owning such would be the exclusive domain of named characters with class levels.

Tyrannassyrian Captain
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (+2 Combat, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Masterwork spear (+2 combat, 1d8 damage), masterwork shield (+2 dodge), masterwork longbow (+2 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics), fine clothes (+1 Persuasion)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Spear +6 (1d8+6), longbow +6 (1d8+6)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +2 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +4 (Master), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +4 (Master)
Well, that took a lot longer than expected. Going forward I'm going to try and write up Brachiosumeria, Dino-Egypt, Grecosaurus, Romasaurus, Triceracelts, Raptor Scythians, and Minoans But Instead Of Normal It's With Plesiosaurs.
Last edited by Chamomile on Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
OgreBattle
King
Posts: 6820
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:33 am

Post by OgreBattle »

aesthetically what does the clothing, tools and so on of these people look like. I'm imagining some kind of Aztec look for the Tyranosarus warlords
User avatar
momothefiddler
Knight-Baron
Posts: 883
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:55 am
Location: United States

Post by momothefiddler »

I assume something more like this:
Image
(They're Assyrians)
Last edited by momothefiddler on Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Indeed, everything I've got so far is basically just [ancient civilization I happen to know] + [dinosaurs and/or magic]. I'm not thrilled with how derivative that is, but I've trawled a couple of places for ideas and they've pretty consistently delivered me either the exact same thing or they've pointed me to Dinotopia, so this is what I've got.

Brachiosumeria

Brachiosumeria is a collection of city states each led by its own priest king, each of which venerates a specific patron deity. Temples within the city still offer charms and prayers for other deities (though a specific deity's services may be suspended if they're patron of a city the temple's city is at war with), but one god in particular is considered higher than the rest. Thus, a citizen of the fire god's city can still get blessings from the god of night, or the god of war, or the god of the sun, but they'll do it by going to a temple run by fire priests where the fire god is venerated above all others, and will probably be required to make sacrifices to the fire god in equal amount to whatever god they actually want to solve their specific problem.

The priest king of a city claims his position through divine right, often claiming to be descended from the city's patron god, and is initiated into all the greatest secrets of the priesthood. The king's high priests are likewise initiated into all or most of the secrets, and rank in government remains tied to knowledge of mystical/religious secrets all the way down to magistrates of hinterland villages being the local priests of that village and town guards being supplied with charms (sometimes purely symbolic) of the god whom they ultimately serve. Government scribes and captains of the army, officials whose actual skills are completely unrelated to religion, are still required to know enough prayer and ritual to pass as an acolyte of the faith and to wear the holy symbols of the patron god.

Differences between one Brachiosumerian city and another are not as significant as you might think, given this. The fire god's city has giant bonfires on festival nights, and the night god has...also lots of giant bonfires, so that festival goers can see what they're doing in the middle of the night. The sun god's festivals take place during the day (and at different times of year), but also include lots of drinking and dancing and music, just like everyone else's festival. Every god considers it their divine mandate to rule over all others and will raid other cities to do so, and festivals are more extravagent when the city's had a good raiding year and more subdued or even cancelled altogether when it hasn't. The priesthoods of the god of fire and the goddess of blood have very different cultures from those of the god of the sun and the god of law, but for the citizens of a city they're pretty much just tribal rallying points.

The Brachiosumerian militaries are small, professional armies comprised primarily of heavy infantry, backed up by levies equipped with a bow. Although relatively rare, the brachiosaur superheavies of the Brachiosumerian city-states tend to dominate their military formations simply due to their massive size. Each city can usually field only a half-dozen or so of these massive war beasts (compared to hundreds of professional infantry and thousands of levies), and it is more common for them to be boarded and captured rather than slain, both because of how valuable they are and because of how impossibly durable they are.

Working for Brachiosumeria

Each individual Brachiosumerian city-state controls the resources of just one city, and raiding is typically preferred to trade as a means of acquiring resources that the city lacks. Raiding is not a very reliable or efficient means of acquiring resources, which means that merchant caravans are very valuable, even as they are at greater risk in a wartorn land full of bandits, deserters, and enemy armies. Brachiosumerian city-states are also more than willing to hire foreign mercenaries for their wars, and because society is more about tribal allegiance to a specific god than following any specific code of laws, any such foreign mercenaries willing to kiss the ring are effectively citizens of the Brachiosumerian city-state even if they don't actually live there.

Brachiosumerian Units

Brachiosumerian Conscript
Traits: Farmer (+1 Blacksmithing, +1 Endurance, +1 Survival), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Axe (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Axe +3 (1d6+3)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Combat +2 (Apprentice), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Brachiosumerian Soldier
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (-1 Acrobatics, DR 4/-)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Spear +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Brachiosumerian Archer
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Longbow (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), dagger (+0 combat, 1d4 damage), scale armor (-1 Acrobatics, DR 4/-)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Longbow +4 (1d8+4), dagger +3 (1d4+3)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Brachiosumerian Brachiosaur Handler
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Superior Charm (+1 Animal Handling, +1 Deception, +1 Persuasion), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Axe (+1 combat, 1d6 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Axe +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Animal Handling +6 (Master), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Deception +1 (Untrained), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Brachiosumerian Elite Infantry
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (+2 Combat, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), axe (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (-1 Acrobatics, DR 4/-)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +7 (1d8+7), axe +7 (1d6+7)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

The Brachiosaur Superheavy

The superheavies are the pride of every Brachiosumerian city-state. Each city has at least one, sometimes two or three, and usually an equal number of ordinary trained brachiosaurs. The standard crew for a superheavy is eight. Its commander (typically either the king or one of his highest priests, but if they have more than two or three, the remaining brachiosaurs may be left in command of a regular priest or captain), its handler, two elite infantry, three archers, and an acolyte to treat the wounded. The battle platform built atop the brachiosaur is a small house weighing about 200 stone, and the crew with their gear come out to about 150 stone more, leaving 50 stone or 140 stone of spare weight depending on whether it is an ordinary brachiosaur or a superheavy (respectively). At least 40-50 stone is always left free, however, to make sure the brachiosaur doesn't immediately buckle under the weight of an enemy boarding party.

Brachiosumerian Captain
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (+2 Combat, +1 Perception), Acolyte (+1 Medicine, +1 Occult), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), axe (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (-1 Acrobatics, DR 4/-)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Spear +7 (1d8+7), axe +7 (1d6+7)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +5 (Master), Medicine +2 (Apprentice), Occult +1 (Untrained), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +2 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Brachiosumerian Acolyte
Traits: Acolyte (+1 Medicine, +1 Occult), Superior Will (+1 Intimidation, +1 Persuasion, +1 Willpower), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Shortbow, (+1 combat, 1d6 damage, medium range), axe (+1 combat, 1d6 damage), healer's kit
Weight: 9.5 stone
Carrying capacity: 2 stone (3 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 9
Attacks: Shortbow +2 (1d6+2), axe +2 (1d6+2)
Dodge: 11
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Combat +1 (Apprentice), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Apprentice), Medicine +6 (Master), Occult +3 (Journeyman), Perception +2 (Journeyman), Persuasion +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +3 (Journeyman)

Coming Attractions

Once the magic classes are proper written up, each Brachiosumerian city will get a unique stat block for a unique type of priest. God of fire gets a blasty warlock, god of night gets a debuff-heavy shaman, that sort of thing.
Last edited by Chamomile on Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
momothefiddler
Knight-Baron
Posts: 883
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:55 am
Location: United States

Post by momothefiddler »

Chamomile wrote:I'm not thrilled with how derivative that is, but I've trawled a couple of places for ideas and they've pretty consistently delivered me either the exact same thing or they've pointed me to Dinotopia, so this is what I've got.
I understand and respect the desire for originality, but also after I read your Tyrranassyria writeup (and the list at the end) I excitedly took it to several different friends, all of whom were similarly excited by the imagery, one of whom expressed potential interest in making art for this game.

So it's evocative at the very least.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Well, good to know this concept has some strong appeal. I've finished up the Brachiosumerian unit list (except for the priests, who need caster class levels, so we'll come back to them), so now let's move on to

Dino-Egypt

There is no part of the Laurasian desert where life is easy, but in Dino-Egypt it is at least safe, stable, and prosperous. From a powerful capital covered in shrines and temples that magnify the magical might of the Pharaoh and his sorcerous priests, the rulers of the kingdom command distant cities by virtue of their mighty navy and the mutual reliance of all cities on the royal engineering corps to maintain the vital canals and the royal priest caste to maintain the weather. The Pharaoh's greatest duty is to keep pleased the god of the river, and thus keep famine at bay.

Every city along the river (and some military outposts built out in the desert for the sake of mining or timber or other resources) is ruled by a hereditary vassal of the Pharaoh who simultaneously serves as high priest of the local temple. This vassal/priest position is known as a nomarch. Nomarchs are required to send annual tax to the Pharaoh and to provide levy in times of war, but are otherwise largely left to their own devices. They can and occasionally do rule over their cities and hinterland as wicked tyrants, but in Dino-Egypt generosity and benevolence are expected of rulers, and to be known as a tyrant is to bring shame upon your entire lineage. As such, outright tyrants are rare, many nomarchs (and Pharaohs) like to make gaudy public displays of their generosity, and there is a thriving industry for singing the (usually exaggerated) praises of the nobility's virtues. Dino-Egypt is no paradise. The workers have hard (though typically safe) lives, beggars have little recourse and often starve to death, and while the institution of slavery is not nearly as healthy as it is in regions where raiding for treasure and slaves is an annual event, it is by no means banned.

But Dino-Egypt holds a much darker secret than being a more dickish kingdom than we might like that is still less dickish than all of their neighbors by a wide margin. Egypt is best known for its monumental constructions, and while some of these are the massive temples and statues that channel sorcerous might on a kingdom-spanning scale, the majority of them are the tombs. From the small, one or two room tombs of the locally wealthy to the world wondrous tombs of the mightiest Pharaoh, the true purpose of these tombs is shrouded in mystery. Unlike foreign kings who are concerned with conquest and achieving victory over enemies, a Pharaoh's goal is most often to preserve the status quo. Dino-Egypt is united, prosperous, and stable - may it continue to be so. This mindset carries over to the grand projects the average Dino-Egyptian Pharaoh undertakes, not a military campaign to bring home more resources or conquer a rival (most Pharaohs who launch a military campaign do so to shatter an enemy army and prevent continuing raids, not to claim territory, and even when they do claim territory it is usually to prevent an enemy from regrouping - although occasionally it's also because someone else beat them to a resource they really want), but a scheme to become immortal.

In the depths of the pyramid, powerful magic glyphs reanimate the royal (or noble) occupant, bringing his ba (the thought and emotion that make a being themselves) and ka (the spark of life that animates living beings) back to his body to reanimate him, so long as he remains within the tomb (lesser nobles have glyphs only on their coffins, and must sleep in the coffin each night to revitalize their ka or else resume the form of a decayed mummy). The reanimated Pharaoh needs only the magic of the tomb to sustain himself, but in order to maintain his standard of living he is buried with great (and extremely durable) treasures, and, darkest of all, the corpses of his favored servants, all executed at his burial so that they might reanimate along with him. This is a mixed blessing for those so selected. They, too poor to ever afford even a small tomb for themselves, shall live forever, yet also they shall lose their family and all contact with the outside world at an earlier age than if they died naturally.

Sometimes, however, something terrible goes wrong. The ba wants to return to the corpse, and the glyph magic required to make this so is relatively simple. However, a dead man's ka is much harder to work with, and even minor imprecisions in the glyphs and rituals can result in the ka escaping the tomb. This will cause the tomb's unfortunate inhabitants to begin to rot. As the ka often takes much longer to return to the body than the ba, the corpses are mummified so that they remain somewhat usable even when decaying. When first buried, the ka returns (after a harrowing journey through a magical netherworld that may either be the default destination for the dead or some side effect of the glyph magic used to bind the ka back to the body) as a mummified corpse, animate but nevertheless quite dead, and slowly regains its health as the ka is drawn back in. If the ka should escape, this process reverses, and the life spark drains from the mummy again. The mummy can have their vital spark back if and only if they suck the ka out of still-living beings, which will reinvigorate them - but quite temporarily, as their dead body has difficulty retaining ka for any period of time outside of a functioning glyph chamber.

Criminals are rarely punished with particular cruelty in Dino-Egypt. Tomb robbers are liable to get a hand hacked off, but they are not boiled alive or torn limb from limb as they might be in more brutal cultures, and the most typical punishment for most crimes is usually a painful but not permanently debilitating beating. An exception is made for traitors, however. Dino-Egyptian will sometimes intentionally bury them in glyph chambers that bind their ba, but not their ka, back into their body, dooming them to an eternity of torment as their own body slowly rots away. To prevent these from escaping and stealing ka from innocent Dino-Egyptians, guards are left behind - usually constructs of some sort, to avoid having to construct any ka-granting chambers for immortal guards which may be sabotaged or hijacked by the tomb's victim (or alternatively, to avoid damning loyal guards to life as undead mummies).

The Dino-Egyptian military relies primarily on the vast size of the levy it can command. It is comprised of almost nothing but light infantry and archers, but it has a whole lot of them. Elite temple guards can serve as a heavy infantry core, but rarely go so far from their cities as a campaign of conquest would require, and thus only fight in defensive wars. One more reason why few Pharaohs are conquerors. The pride of the Dino-Egyptian military is its navy, and as such they have some amount of plesiosaur cavalry, however boats put dinosaurs to shame for carrying capacity and maintenance cost, and are thus the bulk of the navy. Dino-Egyptian nobility ride into battle in chariots drawn by gallimimus or, if they have the wealth to afford it, by raptors. Despite its colossal constructions, Dino-Egypt does not have many sauropods at all. Because Dino-Egypt is a large and prosperous kingdom with trade contacts across Laurasia and out to the Tethys Islands, it isn't uncommon to see most any dinosaur in a Dino-Egyptian street, including sauropods, but by far the most common, the one you'll see every day no matter what city you're in, is telmatosaurus, who pulls their plows and carries their products from farms or quarries to the river, where boats take care of commercial scale transportation.

Working for Dino-Egypt

As a kingdom, Dino-Egypt mostly has their shit together and doesn't need your help. However, individual nomarchs are often very wealthy and careful of their reputation. Calling a levy to deal with a problem is likely to get the people grumbling in such a way that would require significant public generosity to placate, and it's often much cheaper to hire mercenaries to deal with a problem. The blow to a nomarch's reputation would be even greater if they were forced to call upon Pharaoh for help (some slack is given if they're facing a kingdom-scale threat, but if you can help them with that, you are not working for Dino-Egypt so much as you are allied to Dino-Egypt). Thus, a mercenary caravan might be called upon to bring some persistent and powerful bandits or barbarians to heel, either on their own or as a supplement to the temple guard, or to deal with a rogue mummy (whether a noble whose ka-glyphs failed or a traitor whose subdued his guards and escaped) - rogue mummies are an enormous black mark on a nomarch's (or Pharaoh's) reputation and they will go to great lengths to see them contained discreetly.

In addition, Dino-Egypt's quarries and military outposts in the sandy wastes require regular trade to the abundant river cities to remain prosperous (and alive). Once more than about twenty miles from the river, Dino-Egypt's nominally controlled territory is mostly lawless (and inhospitable), as the fortresses on the border are spaced fifty or more miles apart from one another and intended to detect and delay invading armies, not maintain a secure border against bandit gangs or barbarian warbands just a few dozen strong. Dino-Egyptian merchant caravans also do trade with other nations in the Laurasian Desert, which are often much more dangerous places than Dino-Egypt's heartlands.

Dino-Egyptian Units

Dino-Egyptian Infantry
Traits: Farmer (+1 Blacksmithing, +1 Endurance, +1 Survival), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +2 (1d6+2)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Blacksmithing +1 (Untrained), Combat +2 (Apprentice), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Note: Dino-Egyptian conscripts can be given either a spear and shield or a longbow. Their stats are identical.

Dino-Egyptian Temple Guard
Traits: Soldier (Combat +1, Endurance +1, Intimidate +1), Elite (Combat +2, Perception +1), Acolyte (Medicine +1, Occult +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Masterwork khopesh (+2 combat, 1d8 damage), masterwork shield (+2 dodge), scale armor (-1 Acrobatics, DR 4/-)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11 (DR 4/-)
Attacks: Khopesh +8 (1d8+8)
Dodge: 13
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +8 (Master), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Medicine +2 (Apprentice), Occult +1 (Untrained), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Dino-Egyptian Marine
Traits: Sailor (Acrobatics +1, Endurance +1), Soldier (Combat +1, Endurance +1, Intimidate +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Khopesh (+1 combat, 1d8 damage), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Khopesh +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 16
Skills: Acrobatics +5 (Master), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Dino-Egyptian Charioteer
Traits: Superior Charm (Animal Handling +1, Deception +1, Persuasion +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Khopesh (+1 combat, 1d8 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 9
Attacks: Khopesh +3 (1d8+3)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +6 (Master), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Deception +1 (Untrained), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Intimidate +1 (Apprentice), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Dino-Egyptian Noble
Traits: Noble (Finance +1, Persuasion +1), Acolyte (+1 Medicine, +1 Occult) Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Masterwork longbow (+2 combat, 1d8 damage, long range)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2 stone (3 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 9
Attacks: Longbow +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Deception +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Finance +2 (Apprentice), Intimidate +1 (Apprentice), Medicine +1 (Untrained), Occult +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Dino-Egyptian Chariots

A chariot pulled by four utahraptors is the dream of every Dino-Egyptian noble, however few can afford even two. As such, most chariots are pulled by the far cheaper gallimimus. A chariot is usually driven by one charioteer with a noble as a passenger. They aren't cavalry units used to charge enemies, but rather highly mobile skirmishers used to harass enemy infantry and then retreat at top speed if they attempt to retaliate.
Last edited by Chamomile on Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Dino-Egyptian units are now a thing. I'm now going to take a quick break from writing up new nations and instead talk about how the economy works. Some of this is common knowledge on the Den, but this will also serve as first draft for the essay on this stuff that inevitably needs to go into the book where it is not common knowledge.

The Economies of Pangaea

Pangaea does not have a modern economy. When Pangaeans trade gold coins for a cow, it is not because the gold coin has an arbitrary value which the government recognizes when collecting taxes (which is what makes paper or digital money inherently valuable - you can pay your taxes with it, which means everyone needs it for something). In a pre-modern economy, a gold coin is valuable because it is made out of gold. The coin itself is a valuable commodity. You can melt it down and make fine jewelry out of it. Gold is used as currency because the ratio between its market value and its weight and volume is more favorable than almost any other commodity (precious gems have it beat, however, and those can also be used as currency). A gold coin might have its value stamped on it for easy reference, but it derives that value from the fact that it is made of gold, not from a government's mandate. It is completely legal for a private individual digs some gold out of the ground and uses it to mint their very own coins with their very own face on them, so long as those coins are made out of real and pure gold (merchants checking for counterfeiters test for purity, not accuracy - they do not care who minted the coin or how well they followed the standard pattern).

The Mango Economy

Farmers do not generally speaking buy or sell anything, except when their harvest comes in and they sell it, then immediately spend that money on buying other things. The other 51 weeks of the year they rely on barter to get by, and the bedrock of barter is the mango. Everyone needs to eat, which means a mango is valuable to anybody who doesn't have several weeks' supply of non-perishable food already. Mangoes aren't suitable for use by merchants because they rot too quickly to store longterm and are too big and heavy compared to their value to be easily transported, but this is a bonus for the peasant farmers who rely on them, because what merchants don't want, bandits don't want. Just like merchants, bandits generally want both to transport their ill-gotten gains across long distances and store them longterm, so they're unlikely to ambush someone for a dozen mangoes. So, a single mango is worth a copper coin, but unless it's harvest season and the farmer plans on being in town soon, he probably does not want to sell you a mango (or anything else) for coins, especially not if it's a very large amount of coins that will attract trouble.

Since farmers are also bartering (again, except at harvest time), they won't necessarily trade a one-copper mango for a one-copper sling. If they, personally, are all out of sling-making materials or cannot justify the time to craft a new one before they'll need it (say, to protect a herd from predators), the actual price of that sling could end up being orders of magnitude higher, entire baskets of mangoes. They don't live near enough a market that they can just go find someone else to make a new sling. The value of a sling isn't one copper to someone in the mango economy. It's whatever amount of time, effort, and material will be required to replace it.

Even if a farmer is willing to trade with you at market value, another major drawback of the mango economy is that you don't actually need more than maybe a dozen mangoes a day, and they spoil in less than a week. Any purchase of more than a single basket of sixty mangoes just can't be made with the standard unit of currency. If you happen to have some more valuable stuff to barter that the person you're talking to also needs, great. Otherwise, you are out of luck. If you want to buy a hunting bow, those have a value of 80 copper (or 8 silver), so assuming you find someone willing to sell it to you at market price (they probably have a back-up bow or else the price would be much higher), you'll have to trade them something else. Maybe you can give them a backpack and twenty mangoes or something. Want to buy a farmer's trusty telmatosaurus? Well, that's four thousand mangoes so you can pretty much forget anything even remotely resembling currency trade here, and while your compsognathus has pretty similar market value, unless the farmer has a serious pest problem he needs a small hunter to control, the value he puts on your loyal compy is probably negative, since it needs to be fed meat and does almost nothing in return.

The Gold Economy

So the mango economy sucks. The gold economy is much better and it is thankfully where caravans spend almost all of their time. It's still less helpful than a proper modern economy because there is a cap on the maximum value of a coin at whatever the most valuable metal around is, and a cap on the total amount of coins at however much of that metal there is to go around. If you have eight stone of gold coins that you're lugging around on your giant dinosaur, you can't just exchange those coins for a much smaller number of coins that have identical weight and materials but have a two extra zeroes printed on them. Your giant dinosaur just has eight stone of currency stuck to it, and anything you buy with that currency is very likely to be heavier. Gems are lighter for their value than coins, but the reason they're so valuable is because they're rare, so generally speaking you can't exchange eight stone of gold for half a stone of rubies, and even if you could, you'd only be delaying the point when your wealth is kept entirely in whatever the most valuable thing per pound is. Sooner or later you are going to need to start keeping your wealth in a vault, and transporting it to distant lands to make exotic purchases is both difficult (because it weighs enough to eat into your giant dino's weight limits, and because if you don't happen to be in the same place as your vault right now you have to go and fetch the gold instead of going directly to where you'd like to purchase the item) and dangerous (because you must physically transport gobs of gold a very long distance instead of just sending a letter from your bank to theirs notifying them to adjust the ledgers on your respective accounts appropriately).

Besides these limitations, however, the gold economy works exactly the same way as the economies that modern people are familiar with. You bring an amount of currency to a shop that has a thing you want, you optionally haggle over exact price, and then you exchange the currency for the thing.

The Favor Economy

In a lot of cultures, it's insulting to suggest that a price tag can be put on a good deed. Many people take offense at the idea that a bag of coins is sufficient payment for helping you hunt down your nemesis and avenge your family. They don't kill for profit. They're not mercenaries. They aren't such a close friend that they'd fight strangers to the death for you, either. No, they did you a favor, because they think you're a decent enough fellow, your cause seemed just and, most importantly, because they expect you to repay them some day when they need something. This is the favor economy.

In a favor economy, when someone does you a favor, you owe them for it, and you are obligated to do them a favor if they ask it of you. Comparing the value of the two favors is haphazard and usually kept between the two parties involved. If there's a dispute, where one party claims a debt is repaid but the other does not, they may bring it before a higher authority like a king or they might just start a blood feud. Likewise, if someone in a favor economy does you a favor and you refuse to perform a favor in return when they ask, they might try to take your head instead. If you don't even have any particular history with that person, if you refuse to do them a favor in return after they've done you a favor just because you don't like the idea of the favor economy, everyone who is a part of that economy might become unfriendly or even outright hostile towards you - and whoever kills you is now owed a favor by the person you refused to repay.

A favor economy can easily handle several hundred and will not collapse completely with several thousand participants, but even a small city will have more than that, let alone entire kingdoms, so often the favor economy applies only to a small, elite group, usually some kind of noble class.

Curiously enough, despite the enmity that exists across much of Pangaea between spells and steel, wizard-lords are almost always in a favor economy with one another. Wizards of various sorts use ambient mana for the relatively minor magical effects they can call up at-will, but the most impressive, kingdom-spanning spells require construction of complex ritual sites, assistance from dozens or hundreds of acolytes, and most importantly, a leyline to tap. Leylines give off enough magical energy that even hundreds of miles away from the nearest one there's plenty enough to supply the kinds of spells a lone caster can manage, but if you want something more spectacular or permanent, you not only need a large enough coven to harness the power of a leyline directly, but you'll want to network several of them together.

This gives wizard-kings a bit of a problem, in that the only thing they really care about is mana, and that the smallest tradeable unit of mana is a giant temple built on top of the most magically potent site in a two hundred mile radius. Instead of giving away a temple entirely, a wizard will commonly trade the use of the temple for one season to whoever they owe a debt to. The wizard who owes the debt will still retain total control of the temple, but he will direct its acolytes to perform whatever rituals have been requested by the wizard who is owed. A general favor economy is built on this basic unit of exchange.

The Devotion Economy

In some places, all that matters is how much you contribute to the cause. This is like a favor economy except instead of tracking favors owed to specific people, you have an ability to demand favors from any member of a group based on how strong your reputation is with that group in general. Nominally this is about being a paragon of the virtues of the group, but in reality it's about not having any effective rumors spread against you nor winning the ire of anyone who has enough clout to have you excommunicated while also making lots of friends (or at least allies) with other members of the group in good standing, preferably ones who are considered particularly devout and virtuous.

If you have more friends than someone else, you can demand almost anything you want from them, and if they try to turn you down, your advantage in numbers will make the will of the group appear to be on your side. When there's a conflict, undecided members tend to gravitate towards whoever already has more support, and rather than risk a confrontation with someone who has the numerical advantage from the start, the other group member will probably comply. Of course, so long as less than half the group are willing to support you over any other member, there are enough undecided people in the group that it is possible to lose the confrontation.

In a devotion economy, rumors are the weapon of the lower class. Devotion economies are sustained on nothing else but demonstrations of virtue, and an easy demonstration of virtue is condemning someone's vices, all the more so because the fall of someone previously seen as virtuous will create a power vacuum that you can step in to fill. This means that people who have no particular enmity with the target of a rumor are reasonably likely to spread it along for no other reason except that toppling those at the top is advantageous for them. Only those who are specifically loyal to the target have any incentive to try and shut the rumors down (or at least not propagate them).

Those at the top of these precarious economies have the unenviable task of trying to direct a group made up primarily of people who want to see them fall. If the group faces no external threats, the leader can dedicate themselves full time to quashing rumors, finding their originators, and retaliating against them with confrontations and accusations of their own. Generally speaking, however, heads of large and powerful organizations want to actually accomplish things, and often a strong minority of the group's members (including several of the most powerful) will actually try to advance some kind of agenda. The more of these people there are, the more powerful the group tends to become, since it is actually accomplishing things. The fewer of them there are, and the more members who are dedicated fulltime to advancing their own interests at the expense of their nominal comrades, the weaker the organization becomes. If it's entrenched enough, though, an organization running on the devotion economy can remain in power for centuries of corrupt mismanagement.

Devotion economies may formalize the confrontations and popularity contests that define its functioning with official inquisitorial procedures and having actual offices with authority over members which are subject to some kind of vote (usually, but not always, from some sort of college of cardinals rather than the organization's entire membership) rather than a never-ending cavalcade of scandal whenever someone's demand of someone else is refused. This formalization makes the organization more stable and predictable, and long-lasting devotion economies tend to have them.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

I still haven't added gallimimus, I'll do that when I add the Stego-Hittite units. After this I'll add Raptor Scythians and call it good for now. I may add in more ocean-based societies (Minoans, Greeks, Romans, etc.) later, but I've got all the basic "what kind of bad guys are there even" covered with just the desert civilizations. I'm debating whether to also add mythological monsters.

Stego-Hittites

The king of the Stego-Hittites is not considered a god, a speaker for a god, or even a descendant of a god. The king of the Stego-Hittites is first among equals, the man who is in charge because someone has to be and he seems to be doing a good job of it. This has two important consequences. First, Stego-Hittite society is relatively egalitarian, with most social mores being enforced by mob justice and most disagreements being deferred to judges, who are appointed informally and ad hoc, and whose only legal power is that they are respected enough to command the loyalty of the able-bodied men of the village. Generally speaking a judge will select and groom his successor (often one of his children) and the community will accept the succession upon the judge's death, but a judge can be cast out at-will. Disputes between villages are settled jointly by their judges, and if they cannot agree, they appeal to the king. Sometimes the king will appoint a regional governor to act in his stead over a certain area.

The second major implication of the king being first among equals is that, like the judges, his only claim to authority is the loyalty of the able-bodied soldiers within his kingdom. Other prestigious psuedo-noble families can split the kingdom with civil war just by claiming that the current king isn't doing his job properly and calling upon the army to defect. If things have been going poorly economically or militarily, the army might indeed split or throw a coup outright. The Stego-Hittites are thus an unstable kingdom, whose borders expand drastically whenever there is a powerful king on the throne and then contract during periods of civil war when outlying vassals break away while the heartlands fight one another for control. Sometimes the kingdom will remain split for multiple generations before one side or another happens across a powerful enough ruler to reunite them.

The Stego-Hittite military is assembled by the king taking a tour of the major population centers, where the locals gather up their arms and join him to march on foreign lands for plunder. This means they have an awful lot of light infantry and slinger artillery. Wealthy warriors show up with armor as heavy infantry or, if they're especially wealthy, with a stegosaurus or ankylosaurus, usually crewed by a few family members (often adult children, siblings, or niblings).

Working for the Stego-Hittites

The Stego-Hittites are an extremely loose coalition. You aren't really required to show up even for war, although cowardice or disloyalty from able-bodied warriors, and especially from capable veterans, is frowned upon to the point of being totally outcast if you make a habit of it. Popularity with the community in general and the local judge in particular is the entirety of your legal standing in Stego-Hittite society, so the degree to which you have to help out your fellow Stego-Hittites (and especially the village or city within which you specifically live) in order to remain a member of the society is very vague. Close ties with prominent families who are related to kings or else have enough fame and respect to theoretically become king if the current one should become unpopular are also an enormous benefit. Anyone seeking to become not just a part of the Stego-Hittites, but prominent amongst them, would be best off forging ties to prominent members of these prominent families.

Stego-Hittite Units

Stego-Hittite Light Infantry
Traits: Farmer (+1 Blacksmithing, +1 Endurance, +1 Survival), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +2 (1d6+2)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Apprentice), Blacksmithing +1 (Untrained), Combat +2 (Apprentice), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Stego-Hittite Slinger
Traits: Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Sling (+1 combat, 1d6 damage, short range), dagger (+0 combat, 1d4 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 1.5 stone (2.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 7
Attacks: Sling +2 (1d6+2), dagger +2 (1d4+2)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Combat +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +1 (Apprentice), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Investigate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Stego-Hittite Heavy Infantry
Traits: Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +4 (1d8+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Willpower +2 (Journeyman)

Stego-Hittite 'Saur Handler
Traits: Superior Charm (Animal Handling +1, Deception +1, Persuasion +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 9
Attacks: Spear +3 (1d8+3)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +6 (Master), Combat +3 (Journeyman), Deception +1 (Untrained), Endurance +2 (Journeyman), Intimidate +1 (Apprentice), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +2 (Apprentice), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Stego-Hittite Noble
Traits: Noble (Finance +1, Persuasion +1), Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (Combat +2, Perception +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Spear (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, reach), shield (+1 dodge), scale armor (DR 4/-, -1 Acrobatics)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Spear +7 (1d8+7)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +1 (Journeyman), Combat +7 (Master), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Finance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +1 (Apprentice), Persuasion +3 (Journeyman), Willpower +4 (Master)

Stego-Hittite Stegosaurs and Ankylosaurus

There's not a whole lot of room on a stegosaurs' back due to all the plates. As such, a stegosaur is usually crewed only by a handler and a noble. Ankylosaurs have more space, so in addition to the handler and noble there will typically be a pair of heavy infantry.
Last edited by Chamomile on Fri Oct 28, 2016 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Stego-Hittites units and gallimimus have been added. Home stretch on the bestiary here, although honestly the units have ended up pretty samey. I feel like I probably could've gotten away with just having light infantry, heavy infantry, slingers, etc. etc. The Stego-Hittites, for example, have near-identical light infantry as the Dino-Egyptians. I'll probably revise the tougher guys to be more distinct using the class mechanics once I have those fully fleshed out.

Raptor Scythians

Most of the Lauarasian desert and grassland belongs to the Raptor Scythians. The population density of these nomadic tribes is thin, and that partly explains it, but they are also deadly effective mounted combatants with a powerful bond to their utahraptor mounts. The Raptor Scythians are unified by their culture, but not by government. Each tribe is separate from the others, and they fight one another as readily as the sedentary kingdoms.

In Raptor Scythian society, the first loyalty is the family, the second is the tribe, and there isn't much of anything after that. Raptor Scythians will side with Brachiosumerian worshipers of fire gods and war goddesses as easily against a rival Raptor Scythian tribe who worships the exact same nature spirits as they do (though in fairness they worship a different set of ancestors, not that many people could tell just from observing the rites). Shamanism is important to the Raptor Scythian tribes, with the tribe shaman being second only to the chief in importance, but the shaman of an enemy tribe is just another enemy to them. They aren't loyal to spirits of nature and the dead, they just don't want to be cursed.

Glory is at the heart of Raptor Scythian society. Skill with a raptor, effective hunting, effective raiding, and general feats of strength, courage, and cunning are considered glorious. The chieftain of a tribe is the one among them who is considered to have amassed the most glory, and while the position is sometimes psuedo-hereditary, this is only because children are assumed to take after their parents and thus effectively inherit some amount of their parents' glory. This gives them an advantage that often proves decisive, but any member of the tribe can eclipse the chieftain's son if they are committed enough.

Raptor Scythians are perceived from the outside as a terrible dark horde which makes constant war upon the civilized lands, but if that were true there wouldn't be any civilized lands left. The reason for this perception is twofold. Firstly, the Raptor Scythians have limited production and therefore limited trade and no capability to make finished goods, and thus almost all of their urban industry goods come from raiding, which means any given tribe is raiding almost constantly, and that in turn means that Raptor Scythian tribes are more likely to team up with one another than with a sedentary people, because even if they have no particular loyalty to one another, all Raptor Scythian tribes want basically the same things and thus will have very similar priorities when picking targets. Secondly, sedentary kingdoms and city-states are usually at peace more often than not, with warfare generally being a generational event. Raptor Scythians almost never engage in total war, but they instead engage in perpetual skirmishes and raids.

Working for the Raptor Scythians

Raptor Scythians are wary of anyone from outside their own tribe. They will gladly accept allies, but only as allies. They can be friendly to outsiders, but unless an outsider has a child with a member of the tribe, they will never truly be a member of the tribe. Even so, a tribe is more than happy to accept the assistance of a few extra raiders and to give them their fair share of the loot, and to maintain such an alliance indefinitely. You won't be invited to sit by their campfire or ride on their mount, but you can set up your own campfire right next to everyone else's and march your giant dinosaur along with all their raptors and benefit from strength in numbers just the same as you were an actual tribe member. There's not a whole lot of advancement amongst Raptor Scythians, though. They're raiders, so they don't generally do the whole world domination thing. Genghis Khan's greatest feat was uniting the Mongolian tribes, and he had the advantage of already being a member of one of them.

Raptor Scythian Units

Raptor Scythian Hunter
Traits: Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Short bow (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, medium range), dagger (+0 combat, 1d4 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 1.5 stone (2.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 7
Attacks: Short bow +3 (1d6+3), dagger +2 (1d4+2)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +2 (Journeyman), Combat +2 (Journeyman), Endurance +1 (Apprentice), Intimidate +2 (Journeyman), Investigate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Raptor Scythian Warrior
Traits: Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Long bow (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), short sword (+1 combat, 1d6 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Long bow +5 (1d8+5), short sword +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +4 (Master), Combat +4 (Journeyman), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Investigate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)

Raptor Scythian Champion
Traits: Hunter (+2 Survival, +1 Investigate, +1 Perception), Soldier (+1 Combat, +1 Endurance, +1 Intimidate), Elite (Combat +2, Perception +1), Mook (HP bonus = Endurance*2)
Equipment: Long bow (+1 combat, 1d8 damage, long range), short sword (+1 combat, 1d6 damage)
Weight: 10 stone
Carrying capacity: 2.5 stone (3.5 stone with pack)
Speed: 30 feet (6 hexes)
HP: 11
Attacks: Long bow +7 (1d8+7), short sword +4 (1d6+4)
Dodge: 12
Skills: Acrobatics +2 (Journeyman), Animal Handling +4 (Master), Combat +6 (Master), Endurance +3 (Journeyman), Intimidate +3 (Journeyman), Investigate +3 (Journeyman), Perception +3 (Journeyman), Persuasion +1 (Apprentice), Survival +4 (Journeyman), Willpower +1 (Apprentice)
Last edited by Chamomile on Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Chamomile
Prince
Posts: 4632
Joined: Tue May 03, 2011 10:45 am

Post by Chamomile »

Raptor Scythians are complete. All of these will need to be updated once the classes are complete, because every single realm listed needs to have people with class levels in it. Closing in on a first draft right now. A horribly edited first draft that's not consistent as to whether equipment bonuses are reflected in the stat block or not, but it's something to work from.

Question for Momo: How willing would that one art-y friend of yours be willing to make art for this on an "I'll pay you if the Kickstarter works out" basis? I'm starting to seriously consider putting one together and having some art ready to go would make a huge difference, but there's no way I can justify paying for it for the foreseeable future.
User avatar
momothefiddler
Knight-Baron
Posts: 883
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:55 am
Location: United States

Post by momothefiddler »

PM-ed you his contact info, but that sounds potentially doable.
Post Reply