From the good folks at Renderosity and the talents of Powerage comes this awesome set of armour for the Millenium Big Cat!
Ok, they’re calling it the Big Cat Armour but we all know what they mean, right? Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve a certain He-Man to render. His pet is getting lonely.
All together now:
By the Power of Greyskull!
Next: Giant Riding Chickens. No, really.
Here’s the four undead adventurers I’ve generated for our one-shot game, primed and ready to download as 4th level characters. These were generated in Character Builder but use my own custom character sheet layout as the default one sucks worse than a bathtub full of lemons. There’s no character backstory or personality to these guys – that’s down to the players – but I’ve dropped plenty of hooks into the builds for them to play around with. As ever, 4e’s character generation system continues to impress.
If you’ve not seen the Revenant race (it was a D&DI exclusive released in Dragon #376), it is an undead soul returned to a semblance of life at the will of the Raven Queen. While they normally gain fresh bodies (which can look unlike their previous one) and little memory of their past life, for these characters I put them right back into their rotting corpses with memories reasonably intact.
Buildwise Revenants gain +2 Dex & Con, +2 Endurance & Intimidate, Low-light vision and access to their previous race’s Feats, Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies (among other things – I’m not going to give away all of Wizards’ secrets!). It’s a great race for any class, and a terrific choice if your favourite character just bit the dust – simply resurrect him as a Revenant and keep on playing.
There’s a whole host of Revenant-specific Feats which bring them closer to their original race (Dwarf Soul, Human Soul, etc) as well as ones which enhance their undying nature. This makes Being Dead a sliding scale – you can decide through the use of the Feats just how far down the path of undeath you want your character to be. For these characters I wanted them to be freshly dead (so to speak) so mainly chose Feats to bring them closer to their racial archetypes, but with a side-order of deadness.
On to each character in turn. Click the names to download the PDF character sheet.
Kudruk the Revenant Dwarf Fighter
Clad in Reinforced Scale Armour +1 and hefting a Thundering Battleaxe +1, Kudruk is the epitome of the Dwarven Fighter archetype. Were it not for the rotting stump of a missing hand behind his Heavy Shield and the maggots in his beard, you’d hardly notice he wasn’t quite… alive. With the Geography – Mountains background, Dwarven Weapon Training and Defensive Challenge Feats (not to mention his prized Cask of Liquid Gold) this is your typical loyal Mountain Dwarf who is a firm friend both in combat and out. The Death’s Blessing feat means he no longer needs to eat, drink or breath. Death has fully taken this brave, noble dwarf.
Gallowine the Revenant Tiefling Rogue
Gallowine was an acrobatic Tiefling burglar. Now he’s a dead acrobatic Tiefling burglar with a missing lower jawbone. One of my players has been wanting to play a mute character for ages, and this is for him. I’m expecting lost of silly mimery at the table :D
Wielding paired daggers (one of which is a Poisoned Dagger +1) and clad in Bloodcut Leather +1, Gallowine is a dextrous knife-fighter through and through who will cut, slice and poison his way into battle. He’s not stupid though – his Amulet of Health +1 grants Resist 5 Poison in case he cuts himself. Shame that forward thinking didn’t help him dodge the Gnoll’s mace. His attacks are all about getting into position for that all important Sneak Attack. I’d be surprised if he didn’t get Combat Advantage every single round. A mute killer, literally.
When it comes to Feats, Tiefling Soul lets him channel his savage infernal glee to gain a +1 attack and +2 damage on one attack once per encounter. It’s a small bonus, but speaks volumes about this guy’s nature. The Life Thief feat lets him reroll 1s and 2s on Sneak Attack damage against the victim of his Dark Reaping power. Combining Dark Reaping with Sneak Attack is Brutal. Literally.
By my math, Trick Strike + Tiefling Soul + Dark Reaping + Sneak Attack with his Poisoned Dagger will do 3d4+2d6+1d8+10 and potentially leave the poor victim with ongoing Poison 5, Weakened and sliding one square with every additional hit. Ouchy ouchy ouch ouch ouch.
Outside combat, I’m sure he’s quite a nice guy though. Bit quiet.
Calder the Revenant Eladrin Wizard
Calder is a Moon Elf Eladrin Wizard with a close affinity to his patron the Moon. He was born in the Feywyld under a Hunter’s Moon and that has been his symbol ever since. His Staff of Wind +1 (and crutch for his missing (presumed eaten) leg) is topped with a silver full moon, his Shimmering Cloth robe is pale lunar grey and his Ornament of Alertness +1 is a moon adorned with a single eye. How many times can I use the word Moon in a single paragraph?
His spells are centred around thunder and spheres with the occassional direct attack spell (Magic Missile and Acid Arrow – that’s his Hunter’s Moon heritage coming into play) in reserve for when things get tough. I haven’t listed Calder’s Rituals as they’re unneeded for this one-shot game, but I’d expect them to continue the lunar theme.
Feat-wise he has Eladrin Soul and Moon Elf Resilience. Even though he’s dead Calder is a Moon Elf first and foremost. I’m loving how he can spend a Healing Surge when using Fey Step – even the briefest touch of his home plane refreshes him. Again, it’s a minor bonus that brings great role-playing potential. His remaining Feat is Chill of the Grave. This changes the damage type of his Dark Reaping to both cold and necrotic. Doesn’t get more moonlike that that, methinks.
His friends call him Moony. No idea why.
Sir Bors the Revenant Human Paladin of Pelor
C’mon! Undead Paladin! Underneath that Dazzling Plate Armour +1 Sir Bors is a rotting zombie husk with split guts only barely contained by the solid metal. He wields a mighty Vengeful Greatsword +1 which gives him a stonking +2 attack and +1d10 damage against a foe who hits a bloodied ally. Don’t mess with his friends when they’re hurt! Not even the dead ones.
This is one Paladin who focuses more on Strength rather than Charisma. He’s a might-makes-right kinda guy with attacks that are all about doing as much damage as possible before moving onto the next sinner. Why does Pelor still bless his actions and why does his Lay on Hands work on his undead allies? Why is he allowed undead allies at all? Perhaps some unspeakable deal has been struck in the heavens between Pelor and the Raven Queen to permit this and prevent the spread of Yeenoghu’s domain. Or maybe Pelor just hasn’t noticed yet. Who are we to question the ways of the gods anyhow?
Sir Bors is a hereditary noble with ancestral holdings somewhere in the area (don’t you just love Background options?). The Human Soul Feat gives him +1 to Fort, Ref and Will, and Human Perseverance grants +1 to saving throws. For a dead guy, he sure is determined to stay alive. Add in Mighty Challenge and this is one Paladin who plans to be the last dead guy standing in any battle. Apart from the one where he died, of course.
And there you have it. Four very different characters, but all tied with a common theme, and all very D&D. Did I mention that 4e character generation rocks?
Last week we had Spears, and this time it’s bows and arrows. The free Arcane Archery set gives us three different styles of bows and matching arrows smart-prop’d to Michael 4 or Victoria 4.2, all primed and ready to go. There’s even an upper-torso pose for M4 included too – not one for V4.2 though I suspect the M4 one would work fine with minor tweaking.
It doesn’t get more Endday Campaign than this.
Sometimes the real world conspires against us and one or more players can’t make the gaming session. Every game group should agree what to do when it happens. In our case, we usually put the campaign on hold and play a one-shot single session adventure for that night. This is easier on the GM who doesn’t need to rework the session to accommodate the missing player, and easier on the absentee who won’t end up feeling like they’re missing out on all the action in the main campaign.
With that in mind, I’ve developed a habit of jotting down all those silly ideas we GMs have that would make for a great one-night adventure. Add a few notes and with a fair amount of winging it on the night, and (if the fates smile upon us) the evening should go without hitch. It also gives us (players and GM alike) a way to playtest things we aren’t willing to subject our precious mainline campaign to just yet (such as 4e’s Monks and Assassins) and can provide a welcome change of pace. If your campaign is coming to a dramatic climax, try running a silly toon-based session when Bob can’t make it, for example.
Most of these one-shot ideas begin with a “What if….?”. Here’s a few:
One of my silly ideas is going to become the next session for our little gaming group. Here’s my notes, in full.
Total Party Unkill
What if the heroes are defeated in the dungeon then return to unlife to complete their quest?
“We will not rest until we have returned the Sacred Feather of the Raven Queen”. So swore the heroes to the elderly cleric before they set out on a quest to recover the stolen relic.
They failed.
In the final battle against the vile Gnoll Demonic Scourge and his horde the heroes fell, utterly vanquished by forces greater than they (and several poor dice rolls). Their remains were gnawed then dumped in a forgotten corner of the dungeon to rot. Time passes, and on the next full moon…….
A female voice whispers into each corpse, “You will not rest….”, and the body moves. Re-animated at the command of the Raven Queen herself to complete their oath, the heroes have a second chance to reclaim the relic and return to their village for honourable burial.
Characters
Four heroes, all Revenants from several races and classes. While Revenants are normally reborn into a new body, these look exactly what they are – undead half-chewed animated corpses of low-level adventurers complete with missing limbs and rotting flesh. Lovely.
All I have to do is generate the characters at 4th level and hand them out on the day. Simple.
Encounters
Three encounters, as per MM133. Lay out Dungeon Tiles to suit. See how easy this is?
The Sacred Feather is in the headdress of the Demonic Scourge. He plans to carry out a ritual to rededicate it to Yeenoghu which will grant him some of the Raven Queen’s power. No wonder she wants to stop him.
Conclusion
If the heroes succeed they return to their village in the dead of night and lay the Feather at the foot of the Temple. Their bodies fall where they are discovered in the morning (to the amazement of the villagers) and given burial with full honours.
If they fail, they rise again. And again. And again.
“You will not rest…..”
DAZ Studio, no postwork. Click to enlarge.
The world needs more Femme Noir, don’t you think?
Here’s a quick show’n'tell for DAZ Studio 3.
But first, the setup. I’m using Vicky 4.2 with the Morphs++ pack, the 3Dream’s free Boy Hair, RecieCup’s free Doll character & textures and the Sports Bra and Shorts (included with DAZ Studio 3), so y’all should be able to follow along just fine. If you don’t have the Morphs++ pack you won’t be able to use Doll’s morphs, but otherwise you’re good to go.
Load in Vicky 4.2 with the morphs, add the clothes & hair and apply the Doll texture & morphs. You should have something which looks like this:
In Render->Settings, the dimensions are set to Custom, 640×800. Time to pose Vicky and adjust the camera position. For this setup I used one of the poses included with the (free!) Girl 4 Base. Select the Default Camera in the Scene tab, set the focal length to 180mm and position to suit. I set the SportBra’s ClothThickness (in the Parameters tab) to 1, and adjusted the Cloth and Trim materials in the Surfaces tab to Black with a light grey Specular shade.
Now for the UberEnvironment2 magic. In the Content tab, go to DAZ Built-in Content->Lights->UberEnvironment2 and double-click !UberEnvironment2 Base. Go into the Scene tab and select it, then hop right back over to the Content tab again. Click on Set HDR KHPark then Set Quality 3Hi. In the Parameters tab, change Occlusion Samples from 64 to 128. This will slightly increase the rendertime, but increate the quality dramatically.
See how a backdrop appeared when you set the UberEnvironment to Park? By default it’s set to be invisible when you render, but if you like it (or are feeling lazy and don’t want to add a background scene of your own), you can make it visible by clicking on the little + next to the UberEnvironment in the Scene tab, selecting EnvironmentSphere then settting Visible in Render to On in the Parameters tab.
Hit CRTL-R, and………..
Even though a scene like this is quick to set up (honestly, it took me much longer to explain than it did to build), consider setting up couple of default scenes – one for Victoria, and one for Michael – with your most commonly used morphs (Morphs++, Aiko, FREAK or whatever) in place, UberEnvironment all set up and the camera in position. This will shave a lot of time off your workflow and help deliver consistently great results. But don’t tell anyone I said that, ok?
In summary
Till next time!
To continue the theme, here’s a mashup of the four-colour American Hero and his Iron Age alter-ego as USAlien. Note the similarity between American Hero’s costume design and that of his daughter, All American Girl.
These things don’t just happen by accident, y’know.
December 8 1941, and Private Roger Stevens is stationed at Wake Island when he is hit by a bolt of light from the sky and becomes American Hero. He spends the following months helping repel the Japanese invasion fleet time and again, gaining medals and accolades from fellow soldiers and civilians alike, earning a place in their hearts and history books.
That was the public story. In truth Private Roger Stevens died that day, the victim of a crashing spacecraft. In keeping with its race traditions, the alien occupant took on his form and memories to pay for the lifedebt caused by his negligence. To all intents he became Roger Stevens, and the American Hero was a lie.
His secret remained secure until 1992 when, as a founding member of the Revengers, he was called to defend against a possible alien invasion. These were his own people come to search for him, and during the battle the Heirarch decreed his lifedebt paid in full. It reverted him back to his true form, much to the horror of his team-members and (thanks to the wonders of television) the world at large.
American Hero was no more.
As a non-US citizen he was stripped of military rank and honours, and only managed to avoid imprisonment thanks to the efforts of the superhero community. Taking the name USAlien, he cut a darkly brooding figure on the world stage, an outsider not by choice but by prejudice. He felt he had betrayed his friends, allies, the name of Roger Stevens and even his family – albeit with a lie that had over the decades saved the lives of countless thousands of people. Where previously he had fought for Truth and Justice, he now fought a brutal one-man war against injustice and his own inner demons.
When he died it was at the hands of a coalition of drug dealers and hyperjuicers in an unlit warehouse in the worst part of town. His gravestone bore just five words: “Here lies a true man.”
Kara Stevens is the daughter he never knew. She was born on the eve of American Hero’s fateful unmasking, and during the ensuing witch hunt the government granted she and her mother entirely new identities and new lives for their own safety. While USAlien soon found them he chose to stay away, believing this would put them at least risk.
As a part-alien (though she doesn’t know which race), Kara possesses many of the superpowers of her father – great density through molecular control, strength and flight – but in an entirely human form. When her powers began to appear her mother revealed the truth about her father, emphasising the great and noble deeds he carried out as American Hero. When her sophomore class was threatened by a masked gunman, she didn’t hesitate to step forward as his legacy, the All American Girl!
Dirty little secret: Like the grotesque underbelly that consumed her father, All American Girl has a dark side that threatens to take over. Meet Duality. Oh yes.
Notes: Captain America is really Martian Manhunter, and has a kid! I’m loving the legacy angle of All American Girl – it’s full of “sins of the fathers” promise all wrapped up in an identity that is still trying to find her place in the world.
Power-wise, All American Girl is a terrific build. Her powers centre around Density Control; she can become super-tough (able to shrug off a direct missile hit and lift almost 40 tons without breaking sweat), fly (up to 2500mph), turn totally incorporeal or direct her powers outward and control the elemental earth itself – but not all at the same time. She has Impervious Toughness 4 meaning she’s immune to small arms fire even when not using her Density Control (alien kinetic absorbtion skin ftw!). Adaptation 2 is a welcome bonus thanks to her alien heritage – her body will immediately adapt to hostile environments such as poison, underwater or deep space. It’s at a very low level (a mere Rank 2) to reflect her diluted gene-pool.
When it comes to stats she’s well in the human norm – a popular, healthy, graceful teenage girl with little to mark her as different to any other gal around campus. Until she punches someone through several buildings, flies into the air or walks through a wall, that is. She’s something of a talented singer (and a member of a college band), an art major and has all the skills required of college life (Bluff, Sense Motive, KS:Pop Culture and Drive).
Thanks to her slightly alien mindset, she has Second Chance (Mind Control), and her can-do attitude gives her both Beginner’s Luck and Luck 1 feats. After all, the gods smile on those who try.
Kara Stevens AKA All American Girl, PL10 150pp
Str 14/38, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 16
Tough +4i/+10i, Fort +14, Ref +8, Will +10
Attack +6, Defense +10, Init +3
Adaptation 2, Impervious Toughness 2
Density 12 (+24 Str, Weight x25, adds Immovable 4, Protection 6, Super-Strength 4)
- AP: Element Control 16 (Earth)
- AP: Flight 8 (2,500mph)
- AP: Insubstantial 4 (Incorporeal)
Acrobatics +5, Bluff +5, Computers +4, Concentration +6, Drive +4, Investigate +3, KS:Art +8, KS:Pop Culture +4, Notice +5, Perform:Singing +5, Sense Motive +4, Swim +4
Beginner’s Luck, Luck 1, Second Chance 1 (Mind Control)
Drawback: Involuntary Transformation (into Duality, Uncommon, Major)
DAZ Studio, no postwork. Click for (very) large.
Daughter of disgraced American Hero! New symbol of hope! Overuser of exclamation marks! This gal will kick your ass, and you’ll still ask for her number afterwards.
Bloody love how she turned out. This is soon to be my character for a new online campaign set in our ongoing Mutants & Masterminds universe. Expect full stats, origin (complete with long convoluted backstory for her dear ol’ dad) and more, soon!
