Greywulf's Lair

Tag Archives: Christmas

Santa Baby

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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¶ Posted 24 December 2009 † greywulf § Renders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: daz studio, render

Orcs like Christmas too

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¶ Posted 21 December 2009 † greywulf § Renders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: Carrara, orc, render

Have you been a good little goblin?

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¶ Posted 18 December 2009 † greywulf § Renders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: daz studio, goblin, render

Christmas du Jour: Saint Nicholas

To kick things into the Christmas spirit, here’s a re-post of a certain portly bearded gentleman in red robes, all primed and set for your Epic 4e D&D games. Enjoy!

“Who threw that?” The voice boomed from deep within the white beard as the figure turned. A handful of children skittered behind market stalls, giggling with glee. Nicholas’ laughed deeply as he swept the remnants of the snowball from his robes. “Ah children,” he muttered to himself, “I’ll be seeing you later. First, I’ve to pay a visit to a certain Demon Lord who deserves no presents this year.”

Born in an orphanage, Nicholas has spent his entire life with two obsessions; children, and thwarting evil. He considers childhood to be like the stars themselves – points of light where a person’s life shines brightest. Much to the annoyance of the Church of Pelor the common folk consider him a living Saint for his work protecting their young ones.

DAZ Studio + postwork. Click to enlarge.

Notes: Here’s one guy who needs no introduction. Santa Claus for 4e D&D! He’s a kickass Epic level Star Pact Warlock complete with lots of lovely Following Yonder Star (O star of wonder, star of light) Powers. The key to this character though is his Rituals; spells such as Silence (punctuated with the sound of sleigh bells), Discern Lies (“Have you been a good little boy?”), Knock (for coming down chimneys), Wizard’s Escape (for going back up chimneys), Drawmij’s Instant Summons (calling Reindeer) and Hallucinatory Creature (“I want a puppy!”) all add to the whole Saint Nick-ness of it all.

In combat against Evil, Saint Nicholas is unrelenting using a combination of Starlight, Cold and curses to freeze the hearts of bad little boys and girls everywhere. You really, really better be good when this guy’s around!

His Scythe of Winter +4 counts as a Staff of Winter and the +4 bonus applies as both an Implement and to attack and damage rolls. The Iceburst Robes +4 act as Fireburst Armour except the damage is Cold rather that Fire.

I can’t heap praises on the Javascript 4e Character Generator enough. It took just 10 minutes to create this 22nd level character including Paragon and Epic options, Rituals from Dragon 366 and more. The only thing I had to do was reformat the output to my preferred blog-friendly layout and add magic items. Done.

While heaping praises, I’ve got to throw some Wizards’ of the Coast way too for the Warlock class for all of it’s flavour-filled three-classes-in-one goodness. Oh yeh.

Saint Nicholas Doomsayer
Lawful Good Male Human Star Pact Warlock / Doomsayer / Demigod – 22

STR 14, CON 19, DEX 13, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 20
HP 136, bloodied 68, surges 34×12/day
AC 30 (Iceburst Robes +4), Fort 29, Ref 28, Will 29, Squares 6, Init +12

Scythe of Winter +4, +19 vs AC, 2d4+6, Heavy blade
Warlock’s Curse/w, Dire Radiance/w +19 vs Fort, Eldritch Blast/w +20 vs Ref, Eyebite/w +20 vs Will
Dreadful Word/e +20 vs Will, Ethereal Stride/e, Frigid Darknes/e +19 vs Fort, Sign of Ill Omen/e +20 vs Will, Fates Entwined/e +20 vs Will, Cold Fire Vortex/e +19 vs Fort/Ref, Strand of Fate/e +20 vs Ref, Entropic Ward/e
Dread Star/d +20 vs Will, Hunger of Hadar/d +19 vs Fortitude on secondary attack, Thief of Five Fates/d +20 vs Will, Shadow Form/d, Tendrils of Thuban/d +19 vs Fort, Eye of the Warlock/d, Delusions of Loyalty/d +20 vs Will, Long Fall Into Darkness/d +20 vs Will

/w = at-will, /e = per encounter, /d = daily

Acrobatics +14, Arcana* +20, Athletics +15, Bluff* +21, Diplomacy +18, Dungeoneering +17, Endurance +17, Heal +17, History* +20, Insight* +20, Intimidate +18, Nature +17, Perception +19, Religion* +23, Stealth +14, Streetwise +18, Thievery +14
Common, Elven

* Class Training

Action Surge, Alertness, Astral Fire, Durable, Human Perseverance, Jack of all Trades, Mounted Combatm Raging Storm, Ritual Caster, Skill Focus (Religion), Wintertouched, Combat Anticipation, Devastating Critical, Great Fortitude, Twofold Curse

Rituals Known:
Animal Messenger-1, Banish Vermin-1, Comprehend Languages-1, Magic Mouth-1, Silence-1
Endure Elements-2, Arcane Lock-4, Enchant Magic Item-4, Hand of Fate-4, Knock-4, Traveler’s Feast-4
Hallucinatory Item-5, Bolster Object-6, Discern Lies-6, Disenchant Magic Item-6, Leomund’s Secret Chest-6, Phantom Steed-6, Wizard’s Escape-6, Sending-6
Wizard’s Sight-8, Scribe-12, Drawmij’s Instant Summons-12, Hallucinatory Creature-12, Farsight-16

* The numbers after the Rituals denote level. Some are from Dragon 366.

Fate of the Void, Prime Shot, Shadow Walk, Warlock’s Curse
Doomsayer’s Action, Doomsayer’s Proclamation, Doomsayer’s Oath, Fates Entwined, Accursed Shroud, Long Fall into Darkness
Divine Spark, Divine Recovery, Divine Regeneration, Divine Miracle

Other equipment: Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, Portable Hole, Ritual Candle, Flying Sleigh (counts as a Flying Carpet)

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¶ Posted 10 December 2009 † greywulf § Character du jour § RPG ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: 4e, daz studio, render, RPG

A strange disturbance in the force

DAZ Studio, text added in Photoshop. Click to enlarge

VADER: “Luke….. I have felt your presents.”

Heh. The old Star Wars jokes are best.

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¶ Posted 25 December 2008 † greywulf § Fun § Renders ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: daz studio, render, starwars

You'd better be good

Here’s a reprise from Christmas Past: a story from my Grey Scribe alter ego from Christmas Eve 2005. Ho. Ho. Ho!

We ran. The car lay abandoned in the ditch, and I remember scraping my feet along the roadside as we jumped before the car had even come to a full halt. Behind us in the darkness, I knew it was following us, impossibly flying through the air tracking our every movements. We had to hide, though we knew it would find us. Just like it did last Christmas time.

Ahead lay an old house, boarded up after a fire had gutted the inside and taken a sleeping old woman with it. We used to play in there a few years ago, and I hoped we could still fit through the hole in the rotten wood covering the back door. Being fifteen, I’m a different size to when I was twelve. I could tell Zep was thinking the same. He’s filled out a lot more than me.

“Come on!”, I yelled at him, grabbing his meaty arm and pulling him along. I didn’t want a repeat of last year. I wasn’t going to lose another friend.

Grown-ups never tell you the whole truth. They tell you about Christmas, and how exciting it is. They say Santa brings presents to the good little boys and girls. That’s only half the story though. They never tell you everything, do they?

I’d tried to be good, all year. We all had, after what happened last Christmas. By Summer though, it all seemed to be a bad dream. The heat didn’t help; no fair having the hottest Summer on record when there’s so damned little to do. We got heat crazy, and started carjacking, throwing stones at windows as we fled past. I was driving, lobbing stones with the rest. How could I have seen her in front of me? How? She shouldn’t have been on the road, just walking across like that. Stupid bitch. I couldn’t see her, and couldn’t stop either.

We didn’t jack any more cars after that. I lay awake for weeks afterwards, scared that someone had seen us.

Now, we’re running because Santa is coming.

I could hear him, high above us, circling to land. I let go of Zep’s arm, and made it to the door. The rotten board was still there, and the hole was much smaller than I remembered it. I pushed my arm through, then my shoulder. I heard soft thumps of hoofs on snow, and screamed. Somehow, I made it through the gap, and collapsed in the darkness, tears running down my face.

Zep hammered at the board, “C’mon man, get me through this. Stu, help me!”

I could see his face, pale and terrified through the gap in the door. There was no way he was going to get through, and no way I could get the board off in time. I took hold of his arm through the hole.

“Sorry, man.”

I saw the huge red shape behind him, blocking out the moon’s glow. A voice whispered, “Ho. Ho. Ho.”, and Zep was pulled from me like dust being sucked by a vacuum cleaner. I could see Santa dragging him along effortlessly, Zep screaming and tugging at his huge red arm as he was pulled along. It made no difference.

I watched as Santa threw him in front of his sleigh then unhitch his reindeer. They circled Zep so I couldn’t see him at all. Santa’s voice boomed out, “Feeding time, my beauties.”

The screams ended soon after that, though the noises I could hear now were much worse. One of the reindeer looked up and stared directly at me, it’s nose soaked blood red. Grown-ups don’t tell you how Rudolph gets his red nose. I knew then, and wished I didn’t.

They tell you that Santa gives presents to good boys and girls. They don’t tell you what he does to the bad ones.

There was no sign of Santa outside. It grew quiet, and I started to hope that Zep would be enough for him. I promised – promised! – that I would be good next year.

It was then that I heard the thump above me. Something was on the roof. I heard the bang of footsteps on tiles. Soot and snow fell onto the grate in the hearth. Black and white. That’s what it’s all about.

Santa was coming down the chimney.

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¶ Posted 25 December 2008 † greywulf § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Happy Doctor Who Day!

He’s coming to spread joy and happiness to all the good boys and girls! No, not Santa – I mean Doctor Who. The entire UK will stop at 6pm today to watch. Forget the Queen’s Speech. This is what we want to see!

Hmmmm….. maybe NORAD should start a Doctor Tracker. There’s an idea.