Combat Divination for 5th Edition

Blind Warrior by Losev Fyodor

The Southlands Campaign Setting by Kobold Press is full of neat and amazing things, although one of the persistent novelties is the concept of combat divination. In short, they are new Pathfinder spells meant to reflect sixth senses of diviners who foresaw enemy actions and can react in time to them. Divination spells in the core rules are usually not of immediate use in combat, taking time to cast or more for scouting purposes, so the combat divination spells in Southlands get around that by being cast as an immediate action (or reaction interrupting the enemy's turn).

Southlands got a partial conversion to 5th Edition, but my favorite spells were absent. Fortunately they are open content, so I took the time to convert them.

Special Note: Although they may only select spells of the abjuration and evocation schools, it may be thematically appropriate to allow eldritch knights an exception in learning combat divination spells.

Combat Divination Spells by Class

Bard

1st—alter arrow's fortune, anticipate weakness, foretell distraction
2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, distracting divination, seer's reaction, soothsayer's shield
3rd—avoid grievous injury, scry ambush, sudden slip, targeting foreknowledge
5th—sidestep arrow
6th—energy foreknowledge

Cleric

1st—alter arrow’s fortune, anticipate weakness, foretell distraction
2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, distracting divination, insightful maneuvers, seer’s reaction, soothsayer’s shield
3rd—avoid grievous injury, scry ambush, sudden slip, targeting
foreknowledge
4th—anticipate arcana
5th—sidestep arrow
6th—energy foreknowledge

Druid

1st—alter arrow’s fortune, anticipate weakness
2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, seer’s reaction, soothsayer’s shield, sudden slip
3rd—avoid grievous injury, scry ambush, targeting foreknowledge
5th—sidestep arrow
6th—energy foreknowledge

Paladin

2nd—insightful maneuvers

Ranger

1st—alter arrow's fortune, anticipate weakness, foretell distraction
2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, insightful maneuvers, seer's reaction, soothsayer's shield
3rd—scry ambush, targeting foreknowledge
5th—sidestep arrow

Sorcerer

1st—alter arrow’s fortune, anticipate weakness, foretell distraction

2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, distracting divination, insightful maneuvers, seer’s reaction, soothsayer’s shield
3rd—avoid grievous injury, scry ambush, sudden slip, targeting foreknowledge
4th—anticipate arcana
5th—sidestep arrow
6th—energy foreknowledge

Wizard

1st—alter arrow’s fortune, anticipate weakness, foretell distraction
2nd—anticipate attack, distraction cascade, distracting divination, insightful maneuvers, seer’s reaction, soothsayer’s shield
3rd—avoid grievous injury, scry ambush, sudden slip, targeting foreknowledge
4th—anticipate arcana
5th—sidestep arrow
6th—energy foreknowledge

Combat Divination Spells

Alter Arrow's Fortune

1st-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)

Casting Time: 1 reaction

Range: 120 feet

Components: S

Duration: instantaneous

You clap your hands, foreseeing how a small action on your part can set off a chain of events leading to the protection of an ally. Upon casting this spell you impart disadvantage upon a targeted creature's next ranged attack roll made this round.

Anticipate Attack

2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

In a flash of foreknowledge, you spot an oncoming attack with enough time to avoid it. Upon casting this spell you may move up to 5 feet that does not provoke opportunity attacks. You may make this move even if you used your movement speed for this turn. If this move creates enough distance between you and an attacking foe to be out of its range, it wastes its attack.

Anticipate Arcana
4th-level divination (bard, cleric, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Your foresight gives you an instant to ready your defenses against a magical attack. When a foe has cast a spell requires a saving throw or ability check to resist, this spell grants you advantage against that specific spell's effect. This advantage dissipates as soon as you make the first roll against the spell.

Anticipate Weakness
1st-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

With a quick gaze into the future, you pinpoint where a gap in your foe’s defense is about to be, and then you strike. Upon casting this spell, you gain advantage on your next single attack this round.

Avoid Grievous Injury
3rd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

When a foe has successfully struck you but before it deals damage, as the attack gets through your defenses, you receive a foretelling that helps you to dodge just enough to keep the blow from being mortal. Upon casting this spell when you would suffer a critical hit, you impose disadvantage on the target's roll, effectively forcing them to reroll.

Distraction Cascade
2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

Small actions have a ripple effect on reality, and with a flash of foresight you throw a foe off balance. Upon casting this spell, you may target one creature about to be attacked by one of your allies. That creature must succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or have the next attack by one of your allies gain advantage on their attack roll against them.

Distraction Divination
2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

Foresight tells you just when and how to be just distracting enough to foil an enemy spellcaster. You can interrupt a foe’s spellcasting attempt, forcing that target to make a Constitution saving throw or fail to cast the spell.

Energy Foreknowledge
6th-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

As your foe’s spell fills your vision, you thank the fates that you had the foresight to prepare the proper countermeasures. You may use this spell after being targeted by an enemy’s spell that has an acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder descriptors, but before the results of the spell’s success or damage are known. When you cast this spell, you gain resistance against the type matching the spell targeting you.

Alternatively, if you already have an ongoing protective spell on you that has an elemental or energy component, you instead may alter that spell so its type is the same as the spell targeting you. You still gain resistance, but the change to the ongoing protective spell only lasts for the foe’s single spell, after which it reverts to the type it had when it was cast. Energy Foreknowledge's effect also only lasts for this single spell.

Foretell Distraction
1st-level divination (bard, cleric, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

Thanks to your foreknowledge, you know just when your foe will take his or her eyes off of you. Upon casting this spell you may gain advantage on any Charisma (Deception) or Dexterity (Stealth) checks to use the hide action. This bonus lasts for the rest of your turn.

Insightful Maneuvers
2nd-level divination (cleric, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

With a flash of insight, you know just how to maneuver your foe to your advantage. You gain advantage on your next Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check.

Scry Ambush
3rd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: instantaneous

You foresee your foe’s attack moments before it begins, giving you time to prepare yourself. You can cast this spell when you are surprised in an ambush as combat is announced but before initiative has been determined. Doing so negates the surprise for you (meaning you can take normal actions on the first turn of combat).

Seer's Reaction
2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Your foreknowledge allows you to act before others because you knew this was going to happen. This spell can be cast as combat is announced, but before initiative has been determined. You gain advantage on the initiative roll.

Sidestep Arrow
5th-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

With a sudden vision of the immediate future and a few strategic steps, you place a foe in the way of certain danger. You may cast this spell while a foe is targeting you with a ranged attack, including ranged spells, when another foe is within 10 ft. of you.

When you do so, you may move up to your normal speed within the reach of that nearby foe, putting him or her in the way of the ranged attack. Resolve the ranged attack with the nearby foe as the target instead of you.

Soothsayer's Shield
2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Knowing the next attack is coming before it lands gives you the chance to shift and potentially avoid ever being hit. This spell must be cast when a creature attacks you, but before the outcome of that attack is known. This spell imposes disadvantage on that specific creature's attack roll.

Sudden Slip
2nd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You set a series of small events in motion that cause the targeted creature to make a Wisdom saving throw or drop one held, nonmagical item. If the target is holding more than one
nonmagical item and fails a Wisdom saving throw, the item dropped is random. This spell does not affect held magical items.

Targeting Foreknowledge
3rd-level divination (bard, cleric, druid, ranger, sorcerer, wizard)
Casting Time: 1 reaction
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Sometimes, it only takes a small shift to make an attack that much more deadly. This spell must be cast when you have already made a successful attack, but before the damage of that attack is known. The spell adds an additional 2d6 damage to your attack of a damage type identical to your attack.

Review: Deadly Delves Reign of Ruin

Reign of Ruin is a 34 page adventure for Swords & Wizardry by Jon Brazer Enterprises, suitable for a party of 6th level PCs. In terms of transparency I received a complimentary copy for review purposes.

The book opens up with some starting fiction and background. The background is a set-up for the adventure, where the descendant of a long-dead black dragon tyrant mobilizes her minions to menace the warm-blooded races who her forebear terrorized so long ago. The backstory is a bit wordy and rather specific with proper names and regions. I feel that it could be shortened considerably to be more generic for the purposes of individual campaigns.

As for the present era, the plot hook for the party to get involved is via a scout’s last dying words of the razed city of Northam and its need for reinforcements. The other hook involves traveling merchants explaining in more detail that the Ixtupi (lizardmen devotees of the black dragon) have come to attack the village as revenge. Once the PCs get to the town, they find it in the aftermath of a massacre, with a few clues pointing to the identities and motives for their attackers in the form of a survivor’s testimony and draconic graffiti. The clues give a relatively good sense of the opposition for a canny group of players (corpses whose flesh seems to have dissolved off their bodies which is the result of acidic breath weapon), but overall I feel that this adventure could have had a stronger start if it began proper with the party arriving in the town. The merchant adventure hook is too much “tell, not show” and ideally the site of an attacked settlement alone should be enough to attract the PC’s attention.

Further encounters before the main dungeon itself include the village of Mistlevy (the raiders’ next target) and a swamp encounter where the Ixtupi are fighting a rival tribe of lizardfolk. In both of these encounters there is quite a fair number of enemies, but also potential allied NPCs to fight alongside. This does a good job of preventing characters from feeling overwhelmed, but on the other hand risks the GM rolling “against himself” a fair bit if their gaming group is slower-paced. A good idea may be to grant the players the opportunity to control said NPCs; I did this in various campaigns, which made my gaming group feel more engaged with the battle.

Additionally the first encounter has a point where the black dragon main villain makes a personal appearance to wreak havoc before fleeing back to her temple headquarters. The intent of the adventure is that the party will face her down in the heart of her lair, with the first encounter as a taste of things to come. Although mobile and strong like many dragons, the old adage “if it has stats, the players can kill it” holds strong. A bad saving throw or lucky attacks may bring the dragon down at the outset, and given that the final encounter is a pretty clever room full of terrain-based hazards, this would be robbing the gaming group of a good fight later on down the road.

The temple itself has three major levels not counting the aboveground entryway. It has a healthy mix of reptilian monsters, undead, animated objects, and other creature types to prevent combat from getting too monotone. The dungeon is the meat of the adventure, and there are quite a few traps. There was one trap that I liked but felt could have been executed better: stone pillars which summon corrupted elementals if a spellcaster uses magic which deals energy/elemental damage while within their vicinity. It takes an otherwise common tactic of “blast them all” to use against the party in a thematically interesting way. Unfortunately said trap is a one-time occurrence so that it is likely to happen without the players growing aware as to their purpose. A repeat appearances of pillars would engender a cautious mindset in players; they would need to weigh whether they risk using powerful magic against the enemies currently arrayed against them, but at the possibility of biting off more than they can chew. Another involves a room which fills with acidic water while dragonblood brutes (who are themselves immune to acid) attack the party. A hidden lever can be found during combat to drain the room. I particularly like this touch; it combines monsters and environmental hazards together in a way I don’t see often in many OSR modules.

As for enemies, there are mentions of what happens if the complex goes on alert, notably in the form of kobold slaves acting as messengers. However, most of the intelligent monsters rarely go beyond their own rooms and instead prepare to attack PCs who come to them first. This feels a bit artificial, and while it makes sense in some cases (unintelligent undead and constructs) it would’ve been nice to have suggestions for what rooms monsters would retreat to or use as chokepoints in case of an invasion of the temple. Lord knows the complex has enough traps to exploit for this purpose!

The final encounter with the black dragon overlord has a good description of the room in which the battle will take place, with descriptions of terrain for both the party and for the dragon to use to their advantage.

Miscellaneous Thoughts: The maps for this adventure are well-detailed. Full-color and grid-based, they cover the entirety of the main dungeon as well as the first encounter. The adventure also makes clever use of existing class features. The “Open Doors” roll, for example, is used for various feats of strength such as escaping from the grip of a giant venus flytrap or pushing a fallen stone block trap to reopen a passageway.

The adventure itself is rather expensive for its size ($10 for a 34 page adventure). Given that adventures have limited replay value for gaming groups, this reduces its viability in comparison to other Swords & Wizardry products of similar length but at more affordable prices. I understand the need to make up costs especially given the detail of the maps, but as a consumer it will not be an attractive option.

Clarification: The book's price as a PDF dropped to $6.95

In conclusion, Deadly Delves: Reign of Ruin rates well for an OSR adventure. It has the core idea of a dungeon delve, but the terrains, traps, and enemies are varied and well-detailed enough to keep the players on their toes. Its low points are that the BBEG shows up too early (and thus risks the potential for an early death), as well as the fact that temple has a high enough number of traps to the point of triggering player paranoia which can slow gaming to a crawl. But overall the good outweighs the bad in this dungeon crawl. My final verdict is a 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 3 for the purposes of OneBookShelf.

The Northlands Saga, Cast of Characters

So around mid to late 2016 I snagged a PDF copy of the Northlands Saga Complete for Pathfinder. During this time I noticed an increasing crop of Nordic-themed RPG supplements as of late, and the idea of a full adventure path in a cold land of viking warriors was quite appealing. Yet gaming priorities prevented me from running this until early this year. As of now we're very far into the 2nd of 10 adventures within this book, and are having quite a bit of fun. I decided to chronicle our exploits in a campaign journal here.

This first covers the heroes of the North, both past and present. In other words, the PCs. As of this posting, all of the PCs save Grackleback are part of the current party.

Meet the Cast

Amund: An ingarsuk (giant from Inuit folklore), as a young boy Amund was captured in a Northlander raid and taken south to the domain of Halfstead. He spent his childhood in the town of Silvermeade Hall, earning a living as a hunter's apprentice and earned a place at the jarl's table in spite of his oft-distrusted heritage. A man of few words, he is still technically a boy in giant years, but for the time being he is assumed to be merely giant-blooded (humans with a distant touch of giantish heritage) by other villagers.

Mechanical Information: Jotunn Racial Paragon Class from Rite Publishing. Amund serves as a mix of melee and ranged support, alternating between spears, fists, and boulders. He's an accomplished hunter, and helped the party track down quarries and weathered the worst of the Northlands' climate.

Askeladden of the North: Raised alone by a mother who never spoke of his father, Askeladden heard many heroic sagas from her later forming his aptitude for skaldship. But a tragic storm at sea changed his fate, taking away the one person he respected more than anyone else in the world. He lived an itinerant life as a bandit, before meeting his match against a man he calls only "the Shieldstorm." A short yet fast friendship was formed out of this unlikely circumstance, but one day Askeladden's friend, disappeared, leaving but a handwritten recommendation to Jarl Olaf Henrikson to train Askeladden as a huscarl. Jarl Henrikson accepted, albeit grudgingly, and the skald isn't exactly happy about the situation either.

Mechanical Information: Skald hybrid class from Paizo Publishing. Although capable in melee combat, Askeladden is very heavy on using heroic ballads and minor magics to enhance the rest of the party's combat prowess. He's an experienced metalsmith and crafted more than a few magical arms for the party.

Grackleback: A troll-blooded woman of Silvermeade Hall, Grackleback is a rather friendly if gluttonous associate of Jarl Henrikson. She is not well-liked by the other inhabitants due to her heritage, although she and Amund got along well enough.

Grackleback's player bowed out of the campaign, and so the troll-blooded left the quaint village of Silvermeade Hall to search for an old friend...

Mechanical Information: a Rogue through and through, Grackleback fights with her claws, taking advantage on ambushes and openings in enemy defenses to bring down foes before they can strike back.

Syrasi the Curious: An elf whose people ventured north fleeing religious persecution, Syrasi is an accomplished worker of the magical arts. Jarl Henrikson was the one who requested she travel to his town to help consult him in supernatural affairs, although her other reason was that his departed wife contacted her from beyond the grave to help their daughter Runa control her magical heritage. Currently a free agent, Syrasi accompanies the party on their travels, motivated out of altruism to fight the many evils arrayed against them and the people she loves.

Mechanical Information: An elf Witch with variant racial traits suitable for cold travel, Syrasi focuses heavily on hexes and curses to debilitate enemies. She knows a variety of magical spells useful in and out of combat, and can craft magical scrolls.

Vigbjorn: A troll-blooded warrior of Silvermeade Hall, Vigbjorn displays great intelligence and mind's worth the envy of any warrior, which causes more than a few opponents to underestimate what they view as a "monster." Originally meant to serve as expendable cannon fodder in battle who managed to survive, he's now a steadfast companion of the other party members.

Mechanical Information: Multi-class Barbarian/Rogue with the Scout archetype, allowing for Sneak Attack damage to be applied during a charge attack. Hit fast and hit hard is the name of the game for Vigbjorn.

Aluki: An Ulnat woman from the village of Laquirv in the Far North. Aluki first met the party when her kayak was set adrift by a storm and crossed paths with their ship. She helped them fight against the Children of Althunak, a demonic cult terrorizing her people, and later on became smitten with Syrasi and volunteered to travel with them for a time.

Mechanical Information: Is an outdoors survival expert, capable of drawing upon magic to help the party better brave the harshness of nature. Specialized in ranged archery, able to shower foes with arrows from across the battlefield.

Are we seeing an increase in Nordic-themed RPGs?

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim received a Special Edition upgrade around late October this year. Funnily enough, the months leading up to that reignited my interest in the game but when the new version came out I did not touch it save for a few hours of experimenting. The truth of the matter was that not all of the old mods of the 2011 version were transferred or compatible, and the lack of Skyrim Script Extender or SkyUI support more or less killed any good reason to use the new version even though I got it for free.

About a month later, I saw a Pathfinder setting which combined two disparate elements of steampunk and Norse mythology into an interesting blend: Rhune, Dawn of Twilight. I'm still in the course of reading it, but it's quite a cool book. It has a strong sense of theme rather than trying for a "kitchen sink" approach, and core assumptions are built into the framework. For example, the Material Plane is not a globe, but rather the trunk of Yggdrasil the World Tree while the other planes of existence are its leaves, branches, roots, etc.

Then I was reminded of another book I got recently: the Northlands Saga by Frog God Games, which also released in its Complete version in early 2016. It was at this point I began noticing a pattern. After an illustrated book of the Poetic and Prose Eddas became a best silver seller on Drive-Thru RPG, this all but confirmed it.

Back in 2012, Cubicle 7 Entertainment released the stand-alone RPG Yggdrasil, a game set during a mythical Age of Vikings. Although Midgard by Kobold Press drew more upon Central and Eastern European themes, it did have its fair share of Nordic elements such as the world surrounded by a giant world-serpent eating its own tail.

Interest in Nordic themes is far from recent even in tabletop gaming. Going as far back as Deities & Demigods the Æsir–Vanir were described alongside the Greek and Egyptian pantheons, and quite a few campaign settings had their own pseudo-Scandinavian realms. But in regards to whole settings and sourcebooks there does seem to be a lot more Viking-related gaming material as of late. Part of me wonders how much this coincides with Skyrim's popularity (both the original 2011 and latest upgrade), and how much of it was just always there.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!

The Lost Lands: Cool Ideas on Gods & Cosmologies

Karatha Obbaros from the Ghost of Broken Blades (Paizo)

I've talked about Frog God Games' stuff before, but that was mostly in the context of their adventures. This time I combed through a few of their sourcebooks for their overall setting, the Lost Lands. The two books in question are the Borderland Provinces and Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms.

While Lost Lands is very much a traditional fantasy setting in the vein of old-school D&D (humanocentric, Law vs. Chaos, etc), it has some unorthodox ideas in regards to cosmology, alignment, and divinity.

Heresies and Divine Power: Expanded on in Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms, the divine conduits linking deities to worshipers and divine spellcasters is an involved affair. Prayers, religious hymns, and similar rituals are a primary means of sustaining this relationship and are all specific in form and function due to the fact that deities govern different aspects of reality.

So the demonic cults of Orcus, Demogorgon, etc, hatched upon a plan to drain the power and influence of the gods. By creating false rituals masquerading as "forgotten knowledge," they can subtly pervert the rituals with bogus advice, potentially cutting off faithful mortals from their patrons. Even worse, a few of these heresies are capable of redirecting said conduits to the demon lords, thereby granting them more power to act on in the planes.

So the Lost Lands has church inquisitors and merciless heretic-hunters, but beyond doing this just to prop up the existing power structure they have a greater incentive. Heresies aren't meaningless affairs of "do we use red wine or white wine for the Winter Solstice?" but more akin to fifth columnist spies weakening the safety and security of the mortal world, if not the multiverse.

Beyond this, Frog God Games subscribes to the "alignment as cosmic allegiance" format like Original D&D. In Borderland Provinces, there's a heretic Cleric of a Lawful Good deity by the name of Bantar Prayershield who's nice, kind, and does many of the things expected of said alignment. Unbeknownst to himself, Prayershield's actually Chaotic Evil because his religious teachings are unwittingly giving power to demonic forces.

This may irk some players who are used to alignment as personality, and I get that. But when Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos are tangible cosmic forces, this idea can make a sort of sense in unwittingly strengthening one of them at the expense of the others. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it does set down a unique precedent.

Theomonarchy of Sorts: One of the last great empires of the known setting was the Empire of Foerdewaith, a grand human nation whose influence spread across the continent but is now on the decline. During its heyday, there were a set of three deities, Archeillus, Muir, and Thyr who played an important role in imperial functions.

Archeillus is the God of Rightful Rule and Protector of Nobility, set out the laws and customs for the empire's function. Muir was the Goddess of Virtue and Paladins and whose worshipers comprised the empire's military including an elite unit of Justiciars (a paladin subtype in the books). Thyr was the God of Law and Justice whose purview was internal order and the creation of an enlightened feudal caste system for humans where every social class had a vital role in societal stability. The book makes mention that Thyr went by different names in many lands and was once worshiped by all of human royalty in the past.

Although the Empire's decaying and new religions are supplanting traditional rule, the role of the above Three Gods gives an interesting take on things. Whereas in many settings the nobles of nations tended to be separate from the church to an extent (like historical Europe in places), the Lost Lands takes the idea of a Divine Right of Kings by making the empire's leadership connected to the gods in a tangible way, whether it's by counting members of the Cleric class among their ranks or having mortal laws spring from the penmanship of the gods themselves.

The creator of the world is an evil god: He doesn't get a lot of screentime in products proper, but the Borderland Provinces make mention and include an entry on a deity known as the Father. He existed for as long as there has been life on the world of Lloegyr and predates the concept of mortal worship. He is an embodiment of the world itself, and among the earliest civilizations he represented the harshness of the primordial world. Conflict, strife, kill or be killed, that is the Father's mantra.

Beyond this, little more is known of him; his worship faded away to become virtually unknown, and some esoteric texts mention that his true name and legacy was erased by the actions of an equally primeval good deity known as the Goddess. Over time, other more modern deities grew in worship, who are believed to be his children when he's mentioned at all, and now the Father's only known among a few decaying tribal societies.

I find this interesting in that it reminds me of the Greek legend of Chronos, the ur-deity who ate his children only to be killed by them as they became the Greek Gods. In most D&D settings the creator of the world/Material Plane is usually not worshiped at all, is very distant, or an overdeity of sorts. Lost Lands turns things on its head a bit by making their world's creator a wicked entity representative of harsher times.

Fifth Edition Feats and the Danger of Straight Conversions

When browsing the 5E storefront on Drive-Thru RPG, I notice that a lot of the material is geared towards crunchier aspects; ones useful to players especially so. This is in contrast to Wizards of the Coast adventure-focused release schedule, so I get the feeling that the PC-friendly material's being left to third party publishers.

5th Edition has feats, but only one of them is OGL. Even including the full array, there wasn't much. Total Party Kill Games came up with a product to address this, with an array of new "core feats." It's extremely popular, regularly in the top 10 5E-Compatible category and already a best silver seller. Two out of the 2 reviews as of this posting are 5 stars.

However, I noticed that over on Amazon a softcover version's available for sale. In contrast the reviews are not so kind. A running theme among them is that many feats are pulled straight from 3rd Edition without the proper rewording of mechanics so as to fit inside the new game's framework. Additionally several are copied directly out of the Player's Handbook for 5th with some slight variations, which is problematic as only Tavern Brawler is OGL. The four and five star reviews on both sites are extremely vague as to why they enjoyed the book in question.

I'd also like to note that this isn't the first instance with Total Party Kill Games. They did a similar book of feats for Pathfinder which I reviewed in-depth, and sold itself on the idea that all of their feats are viable at every level and can effectively replace magic items. Keep in mind that Pathfinder has a wealth-by-level format which makes such a suggestion a tall order. Turns out that most of their feats fell short of the mark, so I'm not surprised to see history repeating itself here.

I do not own the book myself, but I do think it serves as a valuable object lesson for folks doing conversion work. Such a process is like translating a language: you want to make sure you get all the nuances as well. I once asked some questions on things to look out for when jumping into 5th as a 3rd Edition fan on Reddit, and there were quite a few small things which seem similar on the surface but in reality add up to big changes.

What does interest me is that in spite of this, TPK's feat-based sourcebooks are popular sellers all the same. I do worry about quality control, in that this plagued the D20 Boom in the early Aughties and led to a Bust down the road. There's only a few 5E compatible books which grab my eye, and I haven't even bothered with the DM's Guild.

Or maybe it's a case where books are popular in spite of reviews, in that many consumers grab it up all the same without such problems?

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts!

A Comprehensive List of Megadungeons

Entrance to Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves

Back around mid-2012 I decided to create a Master List of D&D Retroclones and Simulators. For a time it became a very popular resource before it was eventually eclipsed by Taxidermic Owlbear's own list (which was inspired in part by my previous efforts).

In regards to last few years we saw the release of several mega-dungeons. The long-awaited Dwimmermount, Castle of the Mad Archmage (a sort of inspiration of the old Castle Greyhawk legacy), and even a consolidated Barrowmaze Complete!

I figured that a compilation of megadungeons would be a worthy project. But first we should define what a megadungeon is. My terms are broad: a megadungeon should be a large enough dungeon which could encompass the better part of a campaign for players to explore session after session. 

So here's my list so far, arranged in alphabetical order. Tell me if you have any others to add, or if I missed any relevant products:

Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE1 and ASE2-3, available for Labyrinth Lord)

Barrowmaze Complete (available for Labyrinth Lord)

Castle Gargantua (available for Lamentations of the Flame Princess)

Castle Greyhawk (WG7 Castle Greyhawk for 1st Edition AD&D, Greyhawk Ruins for 2nd Edition AD&D, Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk for 3rd Edition D&D, Castle Zagyg series for Castles & Crusades)

Castle of the Mad Archmage (available for Adventures Dark & Deep and Pathfinder)

Castle Triskelion (available for AD&D 1st Edition)

Caverns of Thracia (available for 3.5)

The Darkness Beneath (for 1E/OSRIC/etc, collection of adventures in Fight On! magazine)

Depths of Felk Mor (for 5th Edition)

Dungeon Crawl Classics #51: Castle Whiterock (available for 3rd Edition D&D)

The Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor (available for 3.5)

Dwimmermount (available for ACKS and Labyrinth Lord)

Emerald Spire Superdungeon (available for Pathfinder RPG)

Eyes of the Stone Thief (available for 13th Age)

The Grande Temple of Jing (available for Pathfinder RPG)

Maure Castle (available for 1st and 3rd Edition D&D, in Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure and Dungeon Magazine #112, with bonus levels in #124 and #139)

Rappan Athuk (available for Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder)

Ruins Perilous (available for Pathfinder in Adventure Quarterly magazine)

The Slumbering Tsar Saga (available for Pathfinder; Swords & Wizardry version upcoming and a 5th Edition conversion wiki)

Stonehell Dungeon (available for Labyrinth Lord, Down Night-Haunted Halls with 2 bonus Supplements)

Temple of Elemental Evil (available for 1st Edition AD&D, has sequel adventure Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for 3rd Edition D&D)

Undermountain (Undermountain I and II for 2nd Edition D&D, Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, Expedition to Undermountain for 3rd Edition D&D)

World's Largest Dungeon (available for 3rd Edition D&D)

Today I found the most potentially broken PC race in a Pathfinder product

Nilbog Illustration from Tome of Horrors Complete

So I was browsing through the Tome of Horrors Complete one day, and opened up to the entry about nilbogs.  Originally from AD&D's Fiend Folio, nilbogs were a gimmick monster to throw at the party due to a peculiar defense.  Possessing a disease wrought by magic warping the space-time continuum, nilbogs actually 'heal' damage instead of being harmed by it.  And curative magic damages them instead.  Beyond that, they also emit a continual 20 foot radius aura which forces people to roll a Will save or become confused.  The damage-reversal is an extraordinary ability, meaning it continues to function even in an anti-magic field or hit with dispel magic.

Now granted, as a monster this is a rather neat encounter in that their weakness is a rather common part of party arsenals (healing magic), but in the hands of a player a nilbog PC would be immune to over 99% of damage-dealing things in the game.

Lo and behold, there are rules for them as PC race, keeping their trademark defensive capabilities.  Monster PCs have been a rather attractive option in certain gaming circles, and there was a demand for it among D20 players.  It became common in various 'monster manuals' both first and third party to include an "as characters" entry especially for humanoid ones, although in this case this is probably not an option most sane GMs would allow at their table.

Quoted Text for effects:

Damage Reversal (Ex) When struck by any attack that would normally damage the nilbog, it actually gains hit points equal to the damage the attack would have otherwise dealt. A nilbog gains any extra hit points above its normal total as temporary hit points, though it can never have more than twice its normal hit points. (Excess hit points are simply lost.). The nilbog can only be damaged through the use of curative magic and effects (cure light wounds and healing potions, for instance). Curative magic deals damage equal to the amount it would normally heal.

Spatio-Temporal Reversal (Ex) A nilbog constantly emanates an aura of confusion in a 20-foot-radius. A creature in the area must succeed on a DC 11 Will save or be affected as if by a confusion spell (caster level 4th). The save DC is Constitution-based.

Quoted Text for nilbogs as Characters:

Nilbogs as Characters

Nilbogs are defined by class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Nilbogs have the following racial traits.

–2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, –2 Charisma. Nilbogs are quick but weak and ugly.

Small: Nilbogs are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Fast: Nilbogs are fast for their size, and have a base speed of 30 feet. Darkvision: Nilbogs can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Skilled: +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks.

Special Attacks: Spatio-temporal reversal (see above)

Special Defenses: Damage reversal (see above)

Languages: Goblins begin play speaking Goblin. Goblins with high Intelligence scores can choose any of these bonus languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Halfling, Orc.


Disclaimer: Unbalanced choices are a dime a dozen in third party products (and rather common in Paizo books as well), but what made this one interesting in that it's based off of an official monster from an earlier edition, and being in the Tome of Horrors which is a very well-known and regarded book in the community.  I can't see any Game Master in their right mind allowing this as a PC race, but overall the book it came from is a pretty good resource for your games.

A Comprehensive List of White Star Products

So back on last week's chat at Tenkar's Tavern, I inquired into the amount of White Star-compatible material floating around out there, and James Spahn estimated the current number to be around around 50.  This took me by surprise; I understand that the game's a very popular one, but until then my recollection only included about 8 or 10 products, given how ones such as Five Year Mission and Star Sailors stood out so strongly in my mind.

I took a look around OneBookshelf, and found that 50 isn't much of an exaggeration; 53 if we include the official Barrel Rider Games books.  There's a lot of material out there for the game, but as there's no "White Star" tag it's harder to find them except under related purchases.  Still, I combed through the catalog to find some books, and snagged a couple on the way.  Below is a list of compatible products I found so far on OneBookShelf, along with hyperlinks.

For the purposes of this list I'm not including OSR sourcebooks with a sci-fi flair in general, but rather ones who specifically call themselves out as being compatible with the White Star RPG. I'm continually updating this page as more releases come out, so check back here every month or so to see if anything new hit the digital shelves.

Barrel Rider Games:

Brimling: Halflings in Space!

Combat Medic: a support-focused healer class.

Uttin: new alien techno-scavenger class.

White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying [Swords & Wizardry]: the one that started it all.

White Star Companion [Swords & Wizardry]: an expansion book for the core game.

Blue Max Studios:

Ships of the Galaxy: the Monarch Courier: new maps, adventure seeds, and a starship.

Species Spotlight: Abhorrans: three alternative viewpoints for a new antagonistic alien race.

Species Spotlight: Myrmidoni: new warlike alien race.

Technical Readout: Fighters (White Star Compatible): twelve new starfighter ships.

Creation's Edge Games:

Some Miner Trouble: a mini-adventure set around exploring an asteroid mine.

W1: Peril at the Pod Auction- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around sealed dangerous pods for sale.

W2: Twelve Easy Parsecs- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around a company looking for pilots to test their experimental new starship.

W3; Revolt at the Spire- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around delivering a priceless instrument to a resort world.

D20PFSRD:

Event Horizon- A White Star Adventure: a lowl-level horror-themed adventure.

DIY RPG Productions:

The Starrunner Kit: a Sci-Fi Space Toolkit: rules supplement full of new classes, equipment, mechs, adventure generation.

DM Studios:

Space Cede: adventure where the PCs are helping a prison transport, and a new Officer class.

Star Temple of Saturgalia: mini-adventure centered around an abandoned Star Knight temple.

DwD Studios:

Hyperspace Messenger 01-Stunners: Rules for nonlethal combat.

Hyperspace Messenger 02-Robots: New robot NPCs and 'creatures.'

Hyperspace Messenger 03-Aliens: New alien generation via die-based tables.

Hyperspace Messenger 04-Skills: Alternate rule for adding a skill system into White Star.

Hyperspace Messenger 05-Vehicles: 15 new vehicles, rules for haggling and buying/selling cargo.

Hyperspace Messenger 06-Cyberware: New rules and equipment for cybernetic implants.

Hyperspace Messenger Compendium: An 80 page softcover book of the previous 6 products plus star systems.

DYS Games:

Between Star & Void: Sourcebook expansion for Star Knights and Void Knights.

Psionics: A new class and psionics system for Swords & Wizardry and White Star.

Psionics II: Warriors of the Mind: Further expansion on psionics with new classes, alien races, and Wild Talents.

Relics of the Akashics: new equipment and material based on an ancient star-spanning empire.

Tools of the Worldbuilders: New campaign and world-building centric rules for White Star.

Genius Loci Games:

Amazons of Valsuum: a planetary romance Swords & Sandal adventure and setting

Gods of Air & Water: Introduction for a pulp-flavored sci-fi setting and adventure.

InfiniBadger Press:

The Graveyard at Lus: a comprehensive sourcebook on exploring and generating ship graveyards, along with new alien races, technology, and hexmaps.

The Graveyard at Lus Expansion 1: a cross-reference for starships and a new alien race.

The White Star Catalog: a free promotional publication highlighting White Star-compatible books.

Ivanhoe Unbound:

Five Year Mission: a sourcebook heavily inspired by the Star Trek universe.

The Rocker: a galactic musical celebrity class.

Leviathan Publishing:

Drongo: Planet of Peril: a campaign setting planet.

Planetary Transmission Issue #1: fanzine full of new content for White Star.

Planetary Transmission Issue #2: fanzine full of new content for White Star.

Ships of Shade Space: New ship sourcebook.

Magic Pig Media:

Have Death Ray, Will Travel: a retro-future setting inspired by pulp comics and early-20th century sci-fi.

Outer Space Raiders: the Norni: nomadic alien racial classes for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders: Space Amazons: warrior-alien racial classes for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders: Zeloxians: bureaucracy-obsessed alien racial classes and equipment for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders Vol. 1: Classes: Six new classes.

Outer Space Raiders Vol. 2: Aliens, Creatures, & Foes: new enemies and monsters.

Stark Space: a cyberpunk-themed sourcebook.

Middle Kingdoms Adventure & Trading Co:

Heart of Darkness: a dungeon crawl taking place in an abandoned starship.

Mystic Bull Games:

Galaxy War 1939- Legacy of the Oros: a WWII-themed science fiction adventure.

Northern Edge Publishing:

High Tech Vehicles: 14 new vehicles and vehicle-centric weapons and equipment.

Okumarts Games:

Star Sailors: the Magical Girl Supplement for White Star RPG: A magical girl-themed class.

The Other Side Publishing:

Sisters of the Aquarian Order: class sourcebook for an order of women space mystics.

Poor Referee's Press

The Space Monkey Player Character: a humorous class where you play as an intelligence simian.

Quasar Knight Enterprises:

Old School Scifi: the Hacker Class: a Vancian-themed computer genius class with new equipment and sample "skill" systems.

Sleeping Griffon Productions:

Distress Signal Tundara- A SciFi Extended Encounter: mini-adventure taking place in a dangerous cargo ship.

Mail Call- A SciFi Extended Encounter: a mini-adventure centered around the PCs part of a courier service gone wrong.

Small Niche Games:

Star Gods Help Us: a humor-themed sourcebook full of new alien races.

WBO04: Stuck on Etholk: a low-level adventure where the PCs are stranded on a dangerous planet.

WBO05: True Night Life: a low-level adventure centered around a robot demolition derby at a nightclub.

WSS02: Gray Nebula: Crewmen, Con-Men, and Lawmen: 3 new classes.

Stellagama Publishing:

Cheating Death: new rules for dodging death, from cybernetic conversion and biological reconstruction.

Scum & Villainy: a criminal-centric sourcebook.

Zeta and Tuko: Two new playable alien classes, along with new equipment and psionics rules.

Thunderegg Productions:

Assimilant Menace! a sourcebook expanding on the Assimilant aliens from the White Star rulebook.

Galactic Ship Ops: a more in-depth system for creating and playing with starships.

OSR Enemy & Mission Generator: a free one-page supplement for creating adventure material.

OSR Sci-Fi GM Screen: an easily accessible collection of printer-friendly image covers and tables.

Interesting 3rd Party Finds: the Expendable Class [Five Year Mission]

So recently I got interested in White Star, a science fiction retro-clone based off of 1974 version of Dungeons & Dragons.  It's been a popular game for nearly a year now in the OSR, and spawned a lot of compatible third party support.  At a whim I snagged up several of them, one of which is Five Year Mission, deriving heavy influence from you guessed it, Star Trek.

Many of the new classes are geared towards archetypes from the show, but the one which stands out most to me is the Expendables class.  You might find it an odd choice to have red shirts as a playable option when you have ones geared towards specialized important roles such as pilot, engineer, guerilla, and so forth.  But the interesting thing about Expendables is that the player who chooses this class controls multiple characters.

Basically, at any one time there are two Expendables in play, with the rest being controlled by the GM and assumed to be off-duty or awaiting orders back at home base.  They all share the same experience points, hit point totals, and game stats, although conditions "in the field" like lost equipment and damage is tracked separately.  When an Expendable dies or is permanently disabled, another one comes into play at the earliest opportunity which makes sense for the plot.  However, PC "death" is still possible if too many die in a short amount of time as they run out of troops.

Beyond just being easily replaceable, Expendables can buy equipment at a 2 for 1 rate at character creation and are capable of taking a blow for others by interposing themselves between an ally and impending attack as a reaction to said attack.

They remind me a lot about the concept for Hirelings, except that they're directly PC-controlled and thus don't have things like morale checks to worry about.  I like the idea, although I get the feeling it would be a hard sale to many players, especially given the fact that it may be a less attractive option than picking an individual named character with the special abilities of other classes.  And in games which have a heavy amount of role-playing and character development (a likelier scenario as PCs climb the levels), it may feel odd to not have a single person to control in the event especially when said Expendables may very well die unceremoniously.  Still, you don't have to worry as much about character death, and having 2 PCs at once can be a viable option at low levels when things are overall deadly regardless of character class.

Interesting 3rd Party Finds: the Portalist Base Class

I figure that quite a few readers here are familiar with the work of Frog God Games.  Albeit their writers are famed for publishing old classes such as the Rappan Athuk megadungeon and Tome of Horrors, they're still making large projects such as the Sword of Air sandbox adventure and the Northlands Saga Complete adventure path.  Most of their books, be they Pathfinder, old-school, or 5th Edition-compatible, can be found on most major online stores.  However, there are some more or less exclusive to froggodgames.com, and one of them's interesting enough that I wanted to show it off to folks.

The Portalist is a new base class themed around a warrior who utilizes extradimensional holes in reality for increased mobility and offensive capabilities.  It's implied that this supernatural talent is a learned ability accessed via research into the foundations of the planar fabric of various worlds.  The ability to create portals is a limited per-day ability and initially comes with restrictions regarding the amount that can be created, their total distance between each other, etc.  However, a Portalist can learn new Portal Tricks as they gain levels, either extending the base abilities of portals (such as maximum range) or granting new uses entirely.  The variety on display is quite versatile; they include such things as opening portals in the nick of time to avoid a deadly attack, creating a connection to an Elemental Plane to shower enemies with deadly energy, or even passing through other planes to gain temporary benefits like etherealness.

The class seems like it would be really fun to play especially in combat, and its mobility can lend itself to some out-combat uses.  However, at low levels the Portalist doesn't have a lot of opportunities to use their signature ability willy-nilly (ranging from 1 to 12 over 20 levels), and doesn't increase much over the levels unless you spend feats to gain bonus uses.  Its skill selection is adequate if not exactly robust; they gain two Knowledges, Perception, Stealth, Use Magic Device, but the rest of them tend to be physical-related.

Beyond the class itself are some new related feats, two magic items, and sample portalist-themed organizations to add to your campaign which have material benefits for joining them in extra uses of the group's favored Portal Tricks.  There's a new skill use for Acrobatics for Portalists to teleport on top of larger opponents in an area they'll have trouble reaching.  If done right this can make the opponent unable to attack them at all with certain melee attacks (a giant spider being unable to bite something riding atop its back).

Overall, I'd judge the Portalist as a good Tier 4 if using JaronK's Tier System for Classes.  The portal tricks really help the class move about the battlefield and pull off neat combat tricks, but its low amount of skills, restricted uses per day, and proficiency only with melee weapons make it less versatile than most spellcasters and martial adept classes (Tome of Battle, Path of War).

The Whimsical Flair of Frog God Games (Adventure Spoilers Ahoy!)

Rappan Athuk, Slumbering Tsar, and Tome of Horrors on display at Gen Con

As I mentioned before in a previous post, there's a third party publisher by the name of Frog God Games known for bringing an old school flair to more modern editions and Pathfinder.  Their best known works are highly acclaimed, yet hover outside my normal price range when it comes to sourcebooks.  For my birthday I requested several of their best known works as wish list presents, and now I own some of the company's best work.

The sheer length of such books means that I'm far from completing even one of them, but I skimmed through them as I'm wont to do.  Even early on in my reading I spotted several amusing things which one wouldn't ordinarily find in most gaming sourcebooks.  Although far from a satire, I get a carefree feeling from the writers, that sprinkling little bits here and there into a game to lighten the mood can do wonders for differentiating their adventures from all the others lining the shelves.

I am far from complete in my search, but as I read my new tomes (Rappan Athuk, Razor Coast, Slumbering Tsar Saga, & Sword of Air) I'll be keeping a list of such tidbits, both here and on the Paizo thread.  In case you can't tell, I'm reading Sword of Air right now! :)

Rappan Athuk

Here Lies drnate29, 762-813: The dungeon entrance proper has a large graveyard preceding it, many of them rather new. There's a one-page listing of obituaries bearing the names of players, backers and play-testers, including more than a few titles which can only be Internet handles.

Banana of Holding: The Banana of Holding is one of several new magic items, which can be found as randomly-generated treasure in an underground jungle temple. It is much like its bag counterpart, except slippery when on the ground.

16 Trolls, 1 Jug: One of the encounter rooms is titled 16 Trolls and a Jug of Alchemy. The encounter is pretty much a horde of trolls with a buried Jug of Alchemy as one of the treasures. This very encounter is referenced in the introduction about the old days of whimsical dungeon design, when a dungeon's ecology didn't need to make sense.

2,000th time's the charm: the final and most dangerous level of Rappan Athuk, the sanctum of Orcus himself, has never been reached in 25 years of GMing and playtesting.

Razor Coast

Nothing yet!

Slumbering Tsar

There's a party in Orcus' pants and everyone's invited: The Hidden Citadel dungeon is a giant statue in the shape of the demon lord of death, with named portions separated by body parts. The Lap of Orcus had a financial and entertainment district, including many taverns and an S&M club among other things.

Sword of Air

"I can be the monkey, but you have to drive the train:" the first picture in the book is a monkey on a runaway train, accompanied by a little essay on player agency vs. railroading. I like where this is going.

Joe Platemail: Various FGG books made references to Joe Platemail, usually as an example of how heavy armor might be a liability in certain environments. Turns out that Joe was a real PC in the author's old group games. He was an extraordinarily lucky Fighter with abysmally low mental ability scores. He survived where many others failed by the luck of the dice, but finally met an ignoble end of the hands of his own armor, drowning to death as he found himself unable to swim in heavy metal.

On page 47 of Sword of Air, Joe Platemail III has Pathfinder stats. He's a 20th level Fighter with an 18 in Str/Dex/Con and 3 in Int/Wis/Cha. The text points out that the GM is encouraged to make his legendary luck an actual thing, in that deadly attacks and traps always seem to affect people near him instead of the man himself.

Hillbilly Dragons: On page 53 detailing the wilderness environs, there are two rival families of dragons, the Hatfields (green) and McCoys (blue), trying to claim territorial dominance.

Ewww! On page 60 under random encounters for the Barrier Hills, entry 74-76 on the dice is "something yucky from the Southern Wasteland."

Cuddly and Deadly: The Stoneheart Valley is notable in that the genuine monsters of the world are mostly in dungeons and strange places, and not typical wilderness areas. Due to that, the most common random encounters tend to be mundane animals and humanoids. There are game stats provided for "Fuzzy Forest Creatures" such as deer, rabbits, and squirrels, while the "Still Fuzzy Forest Creatures, but Predatory" includes lions, badgers, bears, and wolves.

That ain't Yogi Bear's Friend: a roving warband of Orcus on pages 62-64 are a vile assortment of folk said to be kicked out of Rappan Athuk for being too Chaotic and Evil. One of the villains among their number is Boo Boo the Ettin, an otherwise normal member of his species.

Tastes great at 0 hp: On page 67 there is an entry for giant catfish:

Quote:

This encounter is with 1d4 giant catfish. As always the creatures are hungry, lazy, and delicious if deep fried in a skillet with some cornmeal and served with some hot sauce.

Halfling Master Race: On page 69 there's an encounter location with a giant egg-shaped obelisk with an ancient language detailing the creation of the common races. Humans from clay, elves from grass, etc, yet no mention of halflings. There's some graffiti written in Halfling claiming that said race was made from the best parts of all the others.