How a Sorceress Becomes a Planet
Today my first article for Nevermet Press went live: the planet Nyraeve. This is my science-fiction adaptation of Wyatt Salazar’s villain, Neirave, the Sleepless Drift, who is currently “starring” in Nevermet’s cycle. To encapsulate the concept, Neirave is a fantasy-genre sorceress with an affinity for cold who managed to live on after her physical body’s death, and who is now slowly bringing an eternal winter to her region — and eventually, if she’s not stopped, to the world. Many of the articles in Nevermet’s cycle develop the concept further, providing information about locations within Neirave’s forest, for instance, or encounters that can be adapted to any fantasy game. (Nevermet Press presents systemless content.)
I’m pretty pleased with how my article came out. Getting there was half the fun.
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Mythic Japan: the Tengu
A tengu and a Buddhist monk. Print by Kyosai.
The tengu of Japanese legend is an odd creature. It seems to have started out as a type of evil spirit, specifically one opposed to Buddhism. Over the years, the priest-abducting, temple-burning bird-monster became both more humanlike and more benevolent. Tengu became mischievous, powerful creatures not unlike kitsune fox-spirits, and eventually became protectors of Buddhism, seekers of wisdom, and master swordsmen — though they retained their weakness of pride. It became common to ascribe to great swordsmen, such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, tengu training.
Obviously they make a great addition to a game that features mythic Japanese elements.
The Kenku of D&D, which was introduced to fourth edition in the Monster Manual 2, is clearly based on the tengu, but its attributes have changed to reflect its place in D&D lore. The kenku could be used to reflect the mischievous version of the tengu, but it’s a poor match for the demons, and even for the wise blademasters.
So I used stats of my own. In 4e, they look like this:
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Ritual of Rejuvenation
This is mostly a plot-device ritual, but I wrote it up since it came to feature pretty prominently in my game. Its purpose is to extend the life of its caster… perhaps by sinister means. This is the ritual used by evil magicians to bargain with the Raven Queen, trading others’ lives for their own — but it can also be used by a good magician, albeit less effectively.
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4e Mystic project
Well, not really. I’ve decided to rename my take on the Monk class “Mystic Monk” in homage to the Cyclopedia’s Mystic class, in order to differentiate it from Wizards’ in-playtest monk class. I made a few more changes, including one to an epic destiny feature I hadn’t previously noticed was broken (even for a level 30 ability). I think it’s more or less in its final form now. The one major thing I might change is the power source: currently it’s still using Ki, which is deprecated. Aside from that, I foresee no more than a few small tweaks as further play catches minor problems I’d previously missed.
There are design decisions I would make differently if I’d known when I started the project what I now know about the game. I think the process has helped me get a better grasp of the way 4e classes work, though. If I ever get the urge to write up another class, I’ll be able to apply what I’ve learned here. And I’ll know what I’m getting into — 30 levels of powers is no easy task, I can tell you.
I think, in general, it might be a better idea to expand the system by homebrewing new class builds, rather than new classes entirely. Sometimes, though, the existing classes just don’t come close to what you want, and that was the case for the monk when I began this project. In the end, I guess it turned out pretty well. It’s a straightforward class, but it seems to do what I meant it to, and it seems to be roughly balanced against other classes.
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Fox Magic: Allies and Adversaries
I was going to move on from this series, but I realized I hadn’t provided any examples yet. Therefore, my final preview for now will be the following two statblocks: First, the Kitsune Celestial Shrine Maiden, a young priestess ready to defend her shrine and those who worship there. (Yes, I’m aware that miko aren’t exactly priestesses, but anime made me do it.) Second, the Kitsune Wilder Shadow Weaver, a beguiling illusionist all too willing to toy with the minds of others for his own amusement. Following the jump.
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