2020-04-10 Monsters and Spells for Just Halberds

I’ve added some monsters and spells to Just Halberds. The monsters

As you can see in the list below, it’s not always about fighting. Bureaucrats make life difficult for you, bards make fun of you, bandits blackmail you. When looking at the numbers below, remember that this is their best skill. If bandits add one when threatening people, they probably don’t add anything when you beat them up. When boars add one when charging, they probably don’t add anything when in melee.

bandits ♡, +1 when threatening, blackmailing, ambushing, hiding
bards ♡, +2 when singing and dancing, telling stories and mocking people
basilisks ♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 due to their *poisonous miasma*
bears ♡♡♡, +2 when they are hurt or defending their young
boars ♡♡♡, +2 when charging into melee
bureaucrats ♡, +1 when using forms and prescriptions
demons ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 with their *flaming weapon*
dragons ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 with their *dragon breath*
dwarves ♡♡♡♡, +2 when handling stone, with heavy armour and a shield
elves ♡, +2 when using their *charm*
frogling ♡, +1 in the first round when jumping
general ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +2 when at war, with heavy armour and a shield
ghouls ♡♡, +2 when underground and using their *aura of fear*
giants ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 when they can use their size
guards ♡♡♡, +0, with light armour and a shield
harpies ♡♡♡, +2 when using their *charm*
hellhounds ♡♡♡♡♡, +2 with their *fire breath*
heroes ♡♡♡♡♡♡, +2, with heavy armour and a shield
knights ♡♡♡♡♡, +2, with heavy armour and a shield
lizard people ♡♡, +1 when telling stories
medusas ♡♡♡♡, +2 with their soft voice, +3 with their petrifying snake hair
minotaurs ♡♡♡♡♡♡, +2 in their labyrinth
mummies ♡♡♡♡♡, +2 with their dry voice, -1 when faced with water
nagas ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 with their *sea of flames* and their *charm*
orks ♡, +1 when using violence or handling iron
spies ♡, +2 when forging, lying, sneaking, or disguising themselves
thieves ♡, +1 when sneaking, climbing, and stealing
trolls ♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 as long they stand on solid ground
vampires ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 with their power of *domination*
werewolves ♡♡♡♡, +2 in their wild shape
witches ♡♡♡♡♡, +2 when using their *charm* and throwing their *curses*
wolves and wardogs ♡♡, +0 but tough

I basically took the monsters from Halberds & Helmets that I really liked, looked at their hit dice and the write-ups I had done at the time, and picked a bonus. 🙂

Halberds & Helmets

Then I wrote up some spells based on the elemental magic users I have in my campaign (one for each element and an animal friend), and the spells I noted on the monster list above and tried to keep it to a line each in the PDF. A ☆ marks the more powerful spells. Learning them should be a reward from somebody in the game. Learning spells in-game from other people remains an aspect I still like very much about the B/X magic system! See 2013-11-26 A Strict Reading of the Magic System for more.

2013-11-26 A Strict Reading of the Magic System

Here’s the list I have so far:

*air bending* controls the air flow in your vicinity (smell, spores, poison)
*aura of fear* ☆ prevents opponents nearby from acting against you
*charm* makes others act like your best friends using your voice (and revulsion, later)
*domination* ☆ forces an opponent to obey your orders (and pure hatred, later)
*dragon breath* ☆ burns down an entire village; anybody who cannot run must die
*fire ball* ☆ causes a small explosion on a surface you can see, throwing people around
*fire bolt* hits an opponent you can see and sets things on fire
*fire breath* ☆ sets somebody nearby on fire, dealing continuous damage
*flaming weapon* turns an ordinary weapon into a flaming +1 weapon, for a fight
*hail of stones* raises nearby pebbles and stones and throws them at a target
*icicle* hits an opponent you can see but needs water to turn into ice
*poisonous miasma* ☆ poisons an entire village and those that cannot leave must die
*sea of flames* sets everything around you on fire, dealing damage to all who stay
*strangulation* lifts somebody up and keeps hurting them
*talk to animals* enables you to speak to all the animals around you
*wave* requires a source of water and magnifies it in order to wash away anything

Perhaps it’s more interesting to consider how I adjudicate some of the spells.

Spells that can conceivably deal damage, deal damage. A spell like *wave* washes away opponents when the difference is five or more, or if the opponent is out of hits.

Spells that enable a subsequent effect need to either happen before combat, like the *flaming weapon*, or require the initiative, and not doing anything, and therefore losing the initiative without an opposed roll.

Spells that affect multiple people at the same time involve all of them rolling their dice and comparing their result to the result of the spell-caster. So when Fo Pi casts a *fire ball* all the orcs in the target area need roll. If they roll less than the fire-mage, they take damage.

Spells that only have a special effect like *charm* can still have an effect based on the difference of the roll: one or two is the bare minimum, like the victim agreeing to some course of action and being reluctant about it. Three or four is the full effect, like the victim being charmed and doing the thing like a friend would. Five or more is a decisive effect, like the victim being a loyal friend for a day or a week, depending on how gullible they are.

#2d6 #Just Halberds #Indie #RPG

Comments

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This is a very tight way of stating monsters; I like it very much.

Having small HPs for heroes and enemies is good to maintain the numbers low and ease the use of maths. It also keeps the battles tense and short, combatants can die fast if they are not careful. Oh, and the heart icon is perfect. 😍 All this reminds me of Zelda, in a good way.

We can also apply to monsters the format used by D&D +1/+3 *vs somebody* magic weapons. For example:

orks ♡, +1 when using violence or handling iron / +3 when confronting elves
skeletons ♡, -1 by day / +1 at night
trolls ♡♡♡♡♡♡, +3 as long they stand on solid ground / +5 when defending their bridge

One final idea is to link HPs to monsters abilities and bonuses. When a monster loses half its HPs it may lose one special ability or get its roll penalized.

– Ludos Curator 2020-04-30 18:05 UTC

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Yeah, that would work!

And yes, Zelda was an inspiration for the heart. 😀

– Alex Schroeder 2020-04-30 19:45 UTC