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t May 24. 2013 Some sketches from the previous session....  

Posted by Hawke at March 15. 2013 I will post scheduling discussions here. We are tentatively scheduled for session #7 for World of Beru campaign, Sunday, March 24th, 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm. Lots of updates from previous adventures, to be posted soon, or view the unedited video on the youtube channel.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012   Most of the humans from the World of Beru are pretty much considered "barbarians". There are a few pockets of "civilized" humans here and there,but they are by far the minority. There are many different styles of human barbarians. The barbarians still living in the civilized human lands of Sapientium, are pretty much Celtic/Gaelic types, with some Norse-like in the far North lands of that kingdom. There are jungle-style barbarians, Polynesian-style, African-tribal-style, Mongolian style, Native American style, and just about any other culture that "more civilized" type cultures would call "barbarian", though that is too over broad an example. The Sapientium barbarians have resisted learning the Latin tongue, and fought the centuries of Elven occupation. They hide in caves and small woods (they can't hide in larger woods because the wood elves generally control those). They have a tentative peace with King Arthur's reign, he won't sent troops to hunt them down, if they won't raid the villagers.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 The group of humans in a currently peaceful human-lead kingdom, call themselves "Sapiens", show for "Homo Sapiens" meaning in their tongue they call "Latin", "wise or knowing man". Their call their kingdom "Regnum Sapientium", "The Kingdom of the Wise", since they have now  known decades of peace, and live peacefully, though warilly, with their neighboring non-humans. Most generally shorten the name to just "Sapientium". They are surrounded on all sides of the kingdom with non-human lands. This is pretty much a directly Arthurian setting in this area. All Elves have a quasi-latin-like approach to language. The Arthurian Human kingdom was greatly influenced by the High Elves, and thus also takes that on, but as actual Latin. The humans in this area were originally tribal (Celtic/Gaelic). All the humans in this area, initially learned the lower “vulgar” tongue of the High Elves during this occupation of hundreds of years. Most of the humans respected but feared this much more advanced people. Until the High Elves came along and “civilized them”. Later the Elves lost interest, and pull back some of the borders, leaving the humans to fend for themselves. It has been hundreds of years since the Elves left the humans to their own rule in this area. There was war and chaos for centuries, until Uther Pendragon began to unite the kingdoms. Over time, the language of the humans in this area drifted to their own variant of the Elven tongue, that the humans now call “Latin”. The humans that do not hold on to their old Celtic/Gaelic roots, call themselves the “Latiniatus” after the structure of the Elven tongue. After the fall of Uther Pendragon, war spread anew, until the rise of Arthur Pendragon. Arthur has brought peace and prosperity to the human lands of the Latiniatus (as the Elves call them) for many years. But trouble is brewing, that will directly affect all the surrounding lands and people, human, elf, and otherwise. Those of Arthur's lands call themselves the Sapiens, from Homo Sapiens “wise or knowing man”. Their land others simply call "Sapientium". This only applies to the humans from this “Arthurian Age” part of the world of Beru.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 Humans are one of the most diverse species on the planet, but also one of the most pitiable. Though there are pockets of advanced humans scattered throughout the World of Beru, most are primitive small tribes, many just cave men or other very primitive groups. Generally it has taken the influence of the more ancient races to bring some clusters of the humans up to a more comparable level. This has plagued some parts of the world as the humans test the limits of their new-found technologies and abilities. Some humans have become very expansionist, and have goals that include attempting to conquer the world, drive out non-humans, and other outrageous goals. Human lands tend to have almost as much trouble with war as some of the ruined lands of the Orcs, and other "evil" species. There are a few human bastions of peace however. One group of humans calling themselves in their own "Latin" tongue "Sapiens" for their own classification of "Homo Sapiens" (wise or knowing man), has established a peaceful kingdom after many centuries of war, calling the kingdom "Sapientium" or more completely "Regnum Sapientium" "The Kingdom of the Wise".

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 Some overview information on Elves in the World of Beru. All Elves have a quasi-latin-like approach to their language, but it is not the vulgar Latin of the Arthurian humans calling themselves the "Latiniatus".   Sylvan/Wood Elves, "Sylvantiatus" Tribal. Fights between other wood Elf tribes. Usually one tribe per major forest, but sometimes fights between 2 or more tribes for control of one forest do occur. Just because you are wood elf in one forest, does not mean you are liked by other wood elves of another forest. Other than fights over resources and woodlands, sylvan elves keep to themselves. They protect their borders, but usually allow established multi-cultural roads to pass through unmolested, as long as those passing through are respectful of the woods they pass through. Even if from an opposing tribe,unless an opposing military force, will be left alone as long as those passing through “behave”. This is an unwritten rule of most wood elves. Sylvan elves are very tribal and live off the land. This means they are rarely in very large groups. One tribe can span many villages, but are usually contained within a single forest body.   High Elves, the “Ascentiatus” High Elves have a richly developed society. With incredible architecture, inventions, magics, and well developed cities. There are several Ascentiatus kingdoms throughout the World of Beru. They are largely a feudal system within each kingdom. Some kingdoms may have a treaty with others, but they are not united in general. Though large in numbers and land, they are not warmongering, nor generally expansionist. If they have recurring troubles on one of their borders, they will eventually become “fed up” with the annoyance, gather an overwhelming military force (and magic), and then drive out the trouble makers from that surrounding area, creating a buffer zone, and claiming the lands in victory, to be settled by military outposts. All the borders of the Ascentiatus are well guarded by military units. No civilian settlements are every found outside of the militarized borders. High Elves are welcome to freely come and go through these borders, but non-High-Elves must endure lengthy bureaucratic procedures for admittance within the kingdom. This includes other elves, though there is preference given to other elves, even from rival kingdoms.   Sea Elves, "Aquariatus" The Sea Elves, or “Aquariatus”, are the “gypsies” of the Elven race. They can be found anywhere that large or flowing bodies of water can be found. Oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, if it can be sailed or swum, then it is their homeland. In general, they are solitary or in small family groups. They have no established kingdom (now, long ago they, did, but were destroyed), and are not tribal. If you are Sea Elf, you are welcomed by all Sea Elves. They are a friendly and mischievous lot. They are very self-sufficient and talented in many areas. They make excellent rogues and bards, in addition to seamen of course. Though all Elves despise the Drow, none hate them more than the Sea Elves. It was though the machinations and contributions of the Drow that the Sea Elves' glorious undersea kingdoms were destroyed Aeons ago. The Sea Elves continue their traditions through song and story, and have excellent memories.     Dark/Drow Elves, Despised by all the “good” races, especially other non-Drow Elves, the Drow were not always “evil”. They have a complex history that most do not know. Though most elves now are under pressure to take acts that others consider “evil”, there are the rare few that rebel against the teachings of Lolth and the priestesses. Usually just rare individuals, sometimes they slowly cluster in hidden underground towns, or above ground. Unfortunately, these rarely last more than a few decades before Lolth finds out and orders their complete annihilation of their kind. Some Drow take the chance of going abroad among other races. Unfortunately most of the ”good” races will generally attempt to capture and kill a Drow on sight.

Posted by Hawke at October 05. 2014 Attached as PDF for easier readability and print-ability *pdf file link is at end of this posting (scroll down). Hawke's Modifications to D&D; 5th Edition Cantrips In my opinion (such as it is), the cantrips in 5th edition are too powerful to be listed as cantrip/orison, and violate the original intent of cantrips when first introduced in the AD&D; 1st Edition Unearthed Arcana, “Cantrips are the magic spells learned and used by apprentice magic-users and illusionists during their long, rigorous, and tedious training for the craft of magic-use.” “Most cantrips are simple little spells of no great effect...” “All cantrips are 0 level, have a 1” range, have a generally small area of effect, require only soft, simple verbal and somatic components, and are cast in a very short time (1/10 to ½ segment). Only those which involve living creatures afford any saving throw.” “The effects of cantrips, and the people and items affected by them, radiate a very faint magical aura.” “Note that despite their simple components and short casting times, only two cantrips can be cast during any round by a single magic-user or apprentice.” - Unearthed Arcana, p 45, 1985. 5th Edition tried changing the definition of cantrips to “simple by powerful spells that characters can cast almost by rote” 5th Edition D&D; Player's Handbook p. 201, 2014. This of course didn't just start with 5th edition, but it was taken even further than previous editions and inflate their effects even more. Instead, I have taken the list from 5th edition, (this same exercise could also be applied to previous editions effectively too) removed all the spells that are “too powerful” to be cantrips and have the moved to 1st level, retaining as cantrips those that qualify to only “have 1” range, …. small area of effect”. If the cantrip was previously a 1st level spell, that is an automatic change back to first level spell isntead of cantrip. Additionally, I have brought back into the list those cantrips from the old UA, and that were the seeds for some great clever uses in ROLE-playing situations, including my personal favorite, firefinger. Criteria for deciding if a cantrip should be a 1st level spell instead: f the cantrip was previously a 1st (or other) level spell, then it is automatically switched back to 1st level. If the cantrip has information that increases its effectiveness when the spell caster is a higher level, then that also should become a spell instead. If the cantrip has more than a 1” range it should be considered as a possible candidate to become a first level spell instead. If the spell can stop or cause more than 1 hp of damage (any kind, including but not limited to non-lethal, psychic, lethal, etc.), then it should not be a cantrip.   Alternate rule: If the larger variety of cantrips you feel is not sufficient, as some people argue that having such powerful cantrips in 3rd through 5th edition help keep spell casters in the battle longer, whereas in the “old days” they would cast, especially at low level, 1 or 2 or 3 spells, and then be spent. That could be considered by some to be a valid point, but they have overcompensated with the cantrips beginning in 3rd edition and incrasingly inflated with 5th edition. To compensate for moving all the powerful cantrips (back) to first level, though 5th edition has already added additional first level spell slots for some classes, DM's may opt to allow 1 or 2 (or more, DM's discretion) additional spell casting slots at first level (only), to help them have a better start.   Cantrips Lists With notes whether to keep as cantrip or move to 1st level instead: If no mark in front, then it is a cantrip as per the 5th edition rules. → An → (arrow) indicates this cantrip should be treated as a 1st level spell (many/most of them were first level spells in previous versions of D&D;), rather than as a cantrip. ± If there is a ± (plus/minus) sign, this is a cantrip from other sources (such as AD&D; 1st Edition Unearthed Arcana) and can be optionally added (or not) depending on DM preferences. ² A numerical super script indicates a footnote number indicates some note for that spell that is recommended to be different than the default as listed in the 5th Edition Player's Handbook. ? A ? (question mark) indicates I am not fully decided on this spell, for not treat as cantrip, but might be modified in the future pending play testing and feedback from others. ¹ Source is Unearthed Arcana. ³ Source is D&D; 3.5 Player's Handbook. 3b Source is D&D; 3.5 Spell Compendium   Alphabetical Cantrips List (5th Edition Only) → Acid Splash → Blade Ward → Chill Touch → Dancing Lights ? Druidcraft → Eldritch Blast → Fire Bolt → Friends ? Guidance → Light Mage Hand → Mending ? Message → Minor Illusion → Poison Spray → Produce Flame Prestidigitation → Ray of Frost ? Resistance → Sacred Flame → Shocking Grasp Spare the Dying → Shillelagh ? Thaumaturgy ? True Strike → Vicious Mockery   Alphabetical Cantrips List (Complete) (5th Edition plus Unearth Arcana 1st Edition and others) → Acid Splash ±3b Amanuensis ±¹ Bee ±¹ Belch → Blade Wrd ±¹ Blink ±¹ Bluelight ±¹ Bug ±¹ Change ±¹ Chill → Chill Touch ±¹ Clean ±¹ Color ±¹ Colored Lights ±¹ Cough ±¹ Creak ±¹ Curdle ±¹ Dampen → Dancing Lights ±3b Dawn ±¹ Dim ±¹ Dirty ±¹ Distract ? Druidcraft ±¹ Dry ±¹ Dust ±¹ Dusty → Eldritch Blast ±¹ Exterminate → Fire Bolt ±¹ Firefinger ±¹ Flavor ±¹ Footfall → Friends ±¹ Freshen ±¹ Gather ±3b Ghost Harp ±³ Ghost Sound ±¹ Giggle ±¹ Gnats ±¹ Groan ? Guidance ±¹ Hairy ±¹ Haze ±¹ Hide ±¹ Knot ±³ Know Direction → Light Mage Hand ±¹ Mask → Mending ? Message ±3b Minor Disguise → Minor Illusion ±¹ Mirage ±¹ Moan ±¹ Mouse ±¹ Mute ±¹ Nod ±¹ Noise ±¹ Palm → Poison Spray ±¹ Polish → Produce Flame ±¹ Present Prestidigitation ±¹ Rainbow ±¹ Ravel ±¹ Rattle → Ray of Frost ? Resistance → Sacred Flame ±¹ Salt ±¹ Scratch ±¹ Shine → Shocking Grasp ±¹ Smokepuff ±¹ Sneeze ±¹ Sour Spare the Dying ±¹ Spice ±¹ Spider ±¹ Spill ±¹ Sprout → Shillelagh ±3b Silent Portal ±3b Sonic Snap ±3b Stick ±¹ Stitch ±¹ Sweeten ±¹ Tangle ±¹ Tap ±¹ Tarnish ? Thaumaturgy ±¹ Thump ±¹ Tie ? True Strike ±¹ Tweak ±¹ Twitch ±¹ Two-D'lusion ±¹ Unlock ±¹ Untie → Vicious Mockery ±¹ Warm ±¹ Whistle ±¹ Wilt ±¹ Wink ±¹ Wrap ±¹ Yawn Link to PDF of these rules: http://spokanerpg.com/archives/rules-mods/hawke-5th-edition-cantrips-modifications-20141005a.pdf/view Link to all the rules modifications: http://spokanerpg.com/archives/ rules-mods/

d by Hawke at October 12. 2014 One of the comments on my youtube channel put it succinctly regarding our shared attitudes about what has happened to cantrips: "cantrips are the role playing spells". More wonderfully entertaining clever stories have been told and retold generated from a creative use of "firefinger" and other "useless" cantrips than ever have been with the extremely over powered zero level spells.

Posted by Hawke at October 14. 2014 My philosophy, for what it is worth, regarding party balance, is that the party is balanced by the variety of character personalities, backgrounds, skills, equipment, etc. allowing opportunities for at least one PC to have some exceptional ability for different circumstances. Of course players can choose what they like, I generally do not restrict the choices the players make, I just try to encourage a lot more of a ROLE-playing approach than a lot of D20 players these days seem to consider. In some situations some characters will have a chance to shine, while others will have to hold back. I don't want players and scenarios to be limited to cliche's and archetypes, but I'll use a few to illustrate some points... When in the High Elven royal court, the barbarian half-orc should probably remain silent while the party's Elven Cleric or Diplomat or other characters with similar negotiation skills does most of the talking. When confronted with complex trap-puzzles, the rogue-types and/or thinkers should probably step up rather than the hack and slashers. When trying to sneak in and steal the Prince Kadakithis's royal sceptre, the stealthiest and quietest members would be best engaged in the activity, and the other party members will have to either act as back up or stand down and wait When someone needs to wade through ancient tomes of forgotten lore, finding key clues that will change the course of the party's goals, maybe even impact the future of the entire kingdom, what backgrounds, connections, abilities, and skills do you want brought to bear in such a situation? Though there might be combat solutions, that is probably not the optimal approach. What the 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition successive increases in combat use of cantrips does is completely change the attitudes of spell casters, especially novice players, to use less creative and thoughtful approaches, and act more like a hack and slasher. Which, for hack and slash players is just fine. That just isn't my style. The original use of the "role-playing spells" known as cantrips, in 5th edition become just another bashing combat tool, diverting that much further away from the desired R-O-L-E-playing and focusing more on R-O-L-L-playing's emphasis on combat capabilities rather than much more varies non-combat capabilities. If you want a lot of combat and action in your campaigns, and are bored with complex character interaction, lots of dialogue, diplomacy, politics, puzzles, riddles, avoiding combat whenever possible, etc, then you will be bored with what I have lined up in most of my campaigns. There are lots of opportunities to get into fights, but that will likely be suicide in either in the short term or longer term if that is the approach you want to take (looking for trouble). There _is_ combat, but that is probably only about 10-20%% of my campaigns at most. So for every 10 hours of gaming, there would only be about 1-2 hours of combat (about one combat per game session with game sessions averaging about 4-5 hours each). This varies of course, but seems to hold up in general. The "spellcasters" have the visible powers of their great magics, but should also have many other abilities based on their Intellect, Wisdom, Charisma, including persuasion, herbalism, knowledge, professions, lore, lore, and more lore. PC's aren't limited to this approach, but neither are they limited to just being spell-casting hack-and-slashers. They don't have to become "dead weight" just because they are out of combat spells. Quite the contrary, many of the greatest solutions to challenges come from ideas, not brute approaches or even necessarily magic approaches, and typically spell casters have either superior intellect, wisdom/intuition, or charisma/persuasiveness on their side beyond their spell casting to help come up with creative solutions to stay "in the action". I recently played a spell caster, and I went with zero combat spells, and I was more actively engaged in helping the party, then ever the other spell casters were that used combat-focused spells. They "ran out" of blasting spells, and didn't have much to fall back on due to that mentality. I was able to keep constantly contributing to the good of the party, some with magic, but often through other abilities, ideas, and actions. All of the above said, I don't usually require the party to have any "required" archetypes, I've had groups of all Elf-rangers, or a gang of rogues, or a band of warriors, though each had distinctive backgrounds that gave them some unique history/abilities/perspectives that would be of use. How they ROLE-play is more important than their mechanics. I totally understand those who do not agree with my approach, and there is nothing wrong with the differences they have for those DM's and players that prefer to implement the D&D; rules as written, and don't mind generally more hack and slash approaches to RPG. Personally, after playing 3 groups through 5e, the cantrips issue totally changed the dynamics in (my view, for what it is worth) a negative way, encouraging spell casters to become "blasters" rather than "thinkers" or "intuiters" or "persuaders". I hope this helps explain in an effective way to you why I take the proposed approach with the house rules. My goal is to encourage as much ROLE-play as possible, without using a completely different system. There is no problem with disagreeing, I welcome it (as long as in-game it doesn't interfere with game-play) and I do intend to make additional "tweaks" to the house rules (Especially the combat crits) as game play sessions provide additional information to help guide the process. What do you think? Happy Gaming!

Posted by Hawke at October 15. 2014 Just a reminder to those new to 5e, it includes ritual casting now (I've used that for years thanks to Thieves' World campaigns), so be sure to read about how that works when weighing the variables.