(From the Journal of Jearomy, former Squire to Sir Du’Port of Gettybury)

I remember the first time which I first saw a hint of weakness in my former master. All four of the Knights of Gettybury were busy praying for courage and wisdom while myself and the other squires waited solemnly, fearful of the task ahead of us, for this night, we were to enter the dark church of Orion and take back the crypts and mausoleums which they had stolen from the people. Word had it that they were using our loved ones, many of whom died in the great Plague just 24 moons ago, in rituals designed to defile the land, and bring more death and destruction upon the innocent heads of Gettybury.

Nobody saw him come in, and before anyone could react we found ourselves to be surrounded. This man, I shall never forget his face, for it was hideous! This desecrater of mankind was but a scarecrow of a man, yet strange and bizarre powers radiated from him. He said that he knew what they were planning, and he could had let them just come to him, but he wished to use the order as a lesson to all whom appose his powers. He said his name was Wrath, and told us the he was the new way.

Sir Gledis drew his sword, and meant to strike the evil apostle down, however with a simple gesture, the dark shadow of Wrath stopped Sir Gledis in his tracks. What he began uttering will always remain unknown to me, but I saw him holding the seal of Orion, and I watched as all of these brave knights, who have fought larger and stronger monstrosities, coward from the little man. I, seeing this, covered my ears, and I am sad to say that I ran away. That was the last that I have seen of Sir Du’Port, and indeed, of any of the Knights of Gettybury.

Evil clerics have powers which many people have forgotten about. Chief among them is the ability to turn paladins! Granted, that it is very difficult. Paladins are living beings, not undead, therefore an evil cleric turns a paladin as if the cleric were 3 levels lower then what he is. Paladins are turned according to their level, and weaker paladins are turned first. Because paladins are living people, they cannot be destroyed by words alone, therefore, when D is indicated, this simply means that the paladin has been turned automatically.

Evil clerics can also dominate and control undead, if a D is indicated in a turning attempt, the unintelligent undead is permanently dominated by the cleric. This generally doesn’t effect player characters, at least not directly, but many a messy war has been caused between evil magicusers, and this tends to quickly become the problem of adventurers.

Intelligent undead also will hold a grudge if they are forced to do the evil cleric’s bidding, they will comply as required, however at the first opportunity, the undead will punish the cleric in some horrible way.

I have seen Leopald, he and I go back to our time as squires to the Knights of Gettybury. He is a ghost of a man now, I almost didn’t recognize him! Fore, I found him cowering in the streets like a common begger, we saw each other at the same time and he instantly bolted, however a man in his condition was no hard task to outpace.

Once I convinced him that I meant no harm, and wanted nothing more then just information to his wellbeing, did he talk, insisting a pint of grog in some dank hole of a tavern before complying with my request.

What he told me chilled my bones. Apparently Sir Rapaport, escaped the night of slaughter with his life, and contacted my old friend, together they secretly attempted to enter the graveyard of Gettybury, however the evil was even stronger then what was made apparent on that terrible night all those years ago.

Leopald shuddered as he recounted how Sir Rapaport kneeled before the grave of Saint Thomas, praying for his blessing and aid so that he may avenge his fallen brothers, and defeat the unspeakable evils which punish this fine city with their wickedness.

At this point it took a deal more rum and water before I could convince Leopald to finish his story, and what he told me was shocking, for, as he has reported, the spirit of Saint Thomas himself rose from the stone, however the evil that has corrupted the cemetery had also corrupted even the soul of our fine hero! Without warning, and with a single touch, Leopald says, Saint Thomas drained the life of brave Sir Rapaport as a weed sucks the life of the plants around it, leaving the brave paladin a dry husk.

Understandably, Leopald took flight, but, and this is more shocking and unsettling still! This was not the last that he had seen of Sir Rapaport, for a year after that dark night Leopald says that he saw him again, and he was angery. Rapaport called him a gutless coward, and that Leopald was going to make sure that he lived the rest of his life as a coward as well.

It appears that Sir Rapaport haunts my old friend, taking away anything which he earns for himself. He swears that the spirit of Sir Rapaport murdered his sick mother, as well as his wife Helen. Rapaport had murdered two of his three children, burned down his family home, and slays anyone brave enough to give him employment. Leopald is convinced that one day soon, Sir Rapaport is going to arrive again, and this will be the last time that anybody will see him alive.

Indeed, after that meeting, I let Leopald go on his way, but a few weeks when I went to look him up again, I discovered that just moments after our talk, his body was discovered drained of both life and blood. I instantly reported to the church, offering to pay for a full funeral, however they told me that this was impossible as the corpse was brought in to be cleaned and blessed, but when the priest pulled back the shrouds, the corpse of Leopald was gone.

UNDEAD PLAYER CHARACTERS

Dead characters belong solely to the Dungeon Master, unless this is part of an adventure. The Ravenloft box set, “The Grim Harvest” contains rules to running undead characters, but for this article, we are going to stick to core rules, and a dead character is lost to the PC.

Many intelligent undead have the ability to turn their enemies into undead servants. Player Characters who have been slain by an energy drain (reduced to 0 levels) are dead but rise as a form of the undead which killed them. All of their former levels are returned, and they have access to the skills which they possessed in life, however this is generally augmented and more effective to an undead. The new undead will serve the one who created it, if this creature has been slain, then he will be independent.

An undead classed character still gains experience until he reaches his max level, the max HD for the undead he has become, thus a 3rd level thief who has been slain by a Wraith will be able to gain 3 more levels to reach his max HD of 6th level. In regards to his class, mixed with undead abilities, he will always use the most beneficial system, thus a warrior who has becomes a ghost will roll hp with a 1d10, not the typical 1d8, he will also use the warrior THAC0 if this is better then the THAC0 of the undead.

A character of a higher level then the creature which slew him will only regain the max HD of his new form, and all benefits of levels above this number will be lost, however a DM must consider if some of this knowledge is kept, such as the case of a 12th level wizard who falls to the hands of a Wight, many of his stats will be dramatically lower, but he may still be able to cast spells as a 12th level wizard, granted that it still must have access to its old spellbooks. This is completely up to the DM and how he runs his campaign, but regardless, the wizard wight in question could still cast spells as a wizard of 5th level.

An undead character will always become evil and will usually blame those who he traveled with for allowing this to happen, and will seek revenge upon them. This can include henchmen and hirelings which feel wronged by the PCs who, with all of the powers and abilities, could have done something to help him.

The undead will typically wait until he is at max level before exacting his revenge, he may follow those whom he feels wronged him the most, and kill innocent victims until achieving the powers that it needs, and can concoct wild and intelligent schemes to get the most out of his revenge, knowing full well that time is on his side now.

Art by: Jeff Easley

The following is a list for Dungeon Masters which consists of spells that cost money to cast. They are organized by spell level. I’ve ignored tiny amounts of money for spell components, and just focused on the big stuff. An asterisks indicates that this is a 1 time cost and the spell component may be reused. These spells are only drawn from the Players Handbook, and not from any other source.

WIZARD SPELLS

• Find Familiar: 1,000 gp
• Identify: 100gp
• Wizard Mark: 100gp
• Deep Pockets: 50-200gp
• Fools Gold: 25-500gp
• Leomund’s Trap: 200gp
• Clairaudience: 100gp
• Illusionary Script: 300gp
• Melf’s Minute Meteors: 1,000gp*
• Nondetection: 300gp
• Sepia Snake Sigil: 100gp
• Illusionary Wall: 400gp
• Magic Mirror: 1,000gp*
• Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer: 100gp
• Vacancy: 100gp
• False Vision: 500gp
• Wall of Force: 5,000gp
• Contingency: 100gp
• Death Spell: 1,000gp
• Enchant an Item: at least 100gp
• Ensnarement: 5,000gp
• Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere: 1,000gp
• Transmute Water to Dust: 500gp
• True Seeing: 300gp
• Drawmij’s Instant Summons: 5,000gp
• Duo-Dimension 500-1,000gp
• Finger of Death: 1,500gp minimum
• Forcecage: 1,000gp
• Mordenkainen’s Sword: 500gp
• Simulacrum: damage repaired at 100gp per hp.
• Antipathy-Sympathy: 1,000gp
• Binding: 1,000gp per HD of creature
• Sertens Spell Immunity: 500gp
• Symbol: 10,000gp
• Trap the Soul: 1,000gp per HD of target
• Shape Change: 5,000gp
• Succor: 5,000gp*
• Temporal Stasis: 400gp

PIREST SPELLS

• Augury: 1,000gp*
• Flame Walk: 500gp
• Glyph of Warding: 2,000gp
• Rainbow: 1,000gp if no rainbow is present
• True Seeing: 300gp
• Forbiddance: 1,000-5,000gp
• Transmute Water to Dust: 500gp
• Succor: 2,000-5,000gp

THE MOST POPULAR wizard badguy in D&D history is, of course, the Necromancer, which always sounded funny to me, because clearly, the necromancer isn’t the most dangerous. Perhaps he is the sickest! But as far as sinister goes, clearly another specialist holds the title, and he is “The Illusionist".

Illusions deal with spells to deceive the senses or minds of others. Spells that cause people to see things that are not there, hear noises not made, or remember things that never happened are all illusions.

-AD&D Players Handbook

Illusions are, indeed, a very large subject. No other school of magic has the attention to detail as the school of illusion, because like no other school, this school can either break the game, or make it. Spells from the other schools of magic are clearly defined, but this just isn’t so with Illusions, many of them just list what they can and can’t do, leaving a bulk of the work open to conjecture and the caster. I’m not going to sit here, and even attempt to relate illusionary magic in practice, the options are truly limitless, but what I am going to do is talk about how damage is delved in illusions. Now keep in mind, many illusionists like to put tricks in them, especially villains who have had a long time to prepare, they’ll layer them with real and imagined dangers, and even cast illusions within illusions. And, while the possibilities for constructing heinous and deadly illusions are endless, how they do damage is set firmly in stone, and it is this stonework, the backbone of the illusion system, that we’ll be delving into tonight. So grab your spell books and your quills, and prepare yourself for a dark and odious adventure: Into the mind itself!

A CRASH COURSE IN ILLUSIONARY MAGIC

There are several factors which make an illusion work (or not work), the most important element is believability. An illusionist must know the creature or thing which he is creating, and he must know it well! If he tries to create a dragon, but has never seen one, then his dragon is going to be lacking, just information that he’s heard, however if he has seen a hobgoblin, then he can create a very convincing hobgoblin, well, with the proper magic and use of spells he can. It will be indistinguishable from the real thing.

The second element of believability is appropriateness. Does the thing belong there? An illusionary wall works really well if it is placed where adventurers have never been, but one popping up in an adventurers home would be iffy at best.

The final ingredient, and of equal importance, is that the illusionist must maintain the illusion. If the illusion is of a troll with rabies, it is the wizard which dictates his hits and his misses, he’ll also be responsible for giving the illusion battle damage if he chooses too. This thing doesn’t really exist but in the minds of the people watching it.

Illusionary Attacks

An illusion is only as good as it’s creator. A low lever mage can create an illusion of a massive monster, but it won’t attack as the real thing, it is limited to the same THAC0 as the wizard who created it.

Damage caused by an illusionary attack is an illusion as well, and only exists in the minds of the victims. DM’s should tell them how much damage that they are taking, but keep track of their real hitpoints behind the screen. Illusionary damage will disappear after 10 to 30 minutes (1d3 turns).

Because of this, an illusionist will probably just use illusions to hold off an attack for as long as possible, however, characters who are killed by illusionary damage believe themselves to be killed, the illusion has gripped their mind to the point where they actually believe that they are dead. At that time, the character must make a System Shock check, if they fail it, they are so convinced that their bodies actually stop working, however if the system shock roll is passed, they will faint for 1d3 turns.

Illusionary Instant Kills

Because illusions are about trickery and deceit, no real damage ever takes place. We can, however force an instant kill in a variety of different ways. The most popular, and easiest to pull of is an illusionary trap. People who suddenly see a giant rock falling on them won’t have time to figure out if it is real or not. In cases like this, a System Shock roll is checked immediately, failure indicates that the victims heart has burst from the fear! Success entitles the victim to a saving throw vs. spell, if this is failed as well, then he will believe that he is dead for the standard 10-30 minutes, but if he can pass, then he’ll instantly see that this wasn’t real.

An illusion can create some exciting and realistic effects, but an illusionary monster can only perform actions which the wizard knows about, or can comprehend. Thus, a dragon could use it’s breath weapon, however it doesn’t have dragon infravision or other abilities such as poisoning water, as this is just to far out of the scope of what an illusion can handle.

This doesn’t mean that since a mage can’t give an illusion innate abilities, that the person fighting them won’t. For instance if a warrior has fought a medusa, and is aware of it’s ability to turn flesh to stone if you lock eyes with it, and he accidentally finds himself staring at it, his mind will create the illusion that he is turning into stone and suffer those effects, while those that have never seen or heard of one wouldn’t suffer the same woes.

Other Capabilities Of Illusion

Illusions are only as real as the illusionist can make them. If the casting wizard is struck, or otherwise attacked, his illusion will fade away. A stronger illusionist is also capable of taking over the illusions of a weaker mage, and turning it against them.

Illusions are only as real as the victim makes it. They can’t make things invisible, however they can make something appear to be something that it isn’t. An illusionary pit isn’t really a pit at all, the victim won’t fall into it, but he will believe that he has and probably suffer the effects of an instant kill. Illusionary pits are more often used as a way to steer enemies into real pits which have been concealed by illusions as well.

An illusionary object cannot hold any weight, because it really isn’t there, thus an illusionary bridge would be detected by an enemy throwing a rock at it, unless the illusionist is nearby and aware, and can quickly add the additional illusion of a rock hitting the bridge.

An illusionary wall would trick a victim enough that he could lean against it, his mind would just assume that it was there, however if somebody were to push him, then he would fall right through it.

Illusions & Saving Throws

A saving throw is usually not automatically granted, a player has to state that he believes that what he is seeing is an illusion, at this time a DM can make a secret die roll to check if he can pass his save or not, if he can, then he sees the illusion for what it really is. If one person can pass their saving throws, then the rest of the party has a +4 to their saves, those who fail are convinced that what they are seeing is real, and what the other is seeing is the illusion.

Final Thoughts

With all of this information, hopefully the idea of illusionary magic is less daunting for you. It tightens up what an illusion is and isn’t capable of, and how much information and strength is given to our illusions by the victim himself.

There is still a ton of creativity involved, more so then any other school of magic. If you are interested in illusions and how to create really good ones for your badguys, then I suggest a module called “Web of Illusion” which is part of the Ravenloft series, that centers around a temple constructed by a Rakshasa, the true masters of Illusion! It is a very thoughtful piece (and a really crappy adventure) which gives a lot of insight on how to weave these things with reality to make them more effective, and really push the boundaries of what the illusion is capable off.

Zayle’s Jewelry & Gems

For the adventurer’s who are looking to sell hard to sale items, or lighten their purses Zayle is your man.

Right on the city square is a fine, two story building with a lavish marble façade, the name “Zayle’s Jewelry and Gems” is proudly carved above the door. Zayle offers several services, he is an expert appraiser, and scholar of several time periods. He appraises items for 10%, and will also answer questions as a sage for a fair price.

Zayle offers two ways to turn gems and precious stones into gold, he will either buy the piece for half of what it is worth (up to 1,000gp) or he can sell the piece for 25% commission. Zayle can usually sell a piece in about 2 weeks, he knows everybody who buys expensive wares and can move a product fairly quickly.

He is a very popular store for adventurers, he is open 4 days a week (Tuesday-Friday) from Noon until 5pm. He is closed on all holidays, major and minor, with the exception of the holidays based on romance and love, for those days he stays open from dawn until 5pm, and this is when he makes most of his money. Zayles does much of his buying and selling by appointments only, these appointments may or may not be during regular business hours.

STOCK IN TRADE

If the optional encumbrance rules are used, he can lighten the weight of treasure being carried by selling the adventurer jewelry and other objects which are much lighter. For 10% in profit, he can lighten a load of treasure carried by 75%.

Zayle always have many different pieces available for purchase, and he does produce much of his own jewelry as well as buying fine pieces, thus he will be happy to purchase any loose stones which an adventurer has found.

Zayle is not a fence, and if he believes that something was stolen, he will detain the seller and have the city guard summoned to arrest them. Zayle gets a large percentage of his profits for doing this too, thus he is always up to date on stolen merchandise and who is wanted.

DM: Use your discretion as to what a player tries to sell, when lightening a characters load, it will be impossible to determine exactly what form the gold is in, but it will be a combination of Jewelry set with precious and semi-precious stones.

Zayle also sells appropriate Equipment from the PHB that is of superior quality, thus these prices are doubled. He offer a few items which may interest adventurers.

CHESTS: He sells both Large (10gp) and Small (5gp) chests which reduce a thieves chance to open them by –50%.

LANTERNS: Which are hooded and of such fine quality that they burn half the oil then the standard lantern (14gp)

LAYOUT

The building is brick and wood, with a Marble front. Zayle and his family live in the upstairs rooms, while business is all handled on the first floor. He likes to hire gnomes who work whenever they wish and let themselves in by the side door. This is also the door which Zayle and his family uses to come and go.

A. Storefront: (30’ x 50’) This room contains shelves and display cases of Zayle’s wears, jewelry is mainly kept under the counters, Zayle prefers to talk to the buyer and get a feel for what they may be interested in buying, and what they can afford, before actually showing them anything. He spends all of his business hours behind the counter, not trusting anyone but himself to run the store.

A private door is set behind the counter, this door is average thickness and regular lock quality. The front door, however, is another matter. It is thick wood, reinforced with iron settings and a lock which is resistant to picking (-75%). Any attempt to bash this door down will draw the attention of the local guards.

B. Workhouse: (20’ x 35’) This small area features a small forge meant to melt down small amounts of precious metals, and turn them into jewelry and other items made of precious metal. Zayle likes to keep at least six gnomes on staff, and this area features all the tools that they need to refine and cut gems and stones, as well as finish objects of art.

The private entrance to this area is a high quality door, reinforced with iron and set with a lock which resists picking at –75%. All gnomes who work for him has a key, which he asks them to return before wandering out of the area, as do all members of Zayle’s family, who use this door for their private use as well.

The stairway doors are average doors, with average locks. The door to the living quarters is rarely kept locked, however the door leading down into the basement is always kept locked except during business hours. The side-door key fits both of these locks.

C. Living Area: (30’ x 30’) Meals are always eaten outside of the home, Zayle has a wonderful knack of getting invited to dinner, but he also handles much of his off-hours selling during dinner with collectors. If adventurers need an expensive and impossible to find item from him, he will typically set up a dinner at an expensive fine restaurant which will charge 10gp per person, he will expect the buyer to pay. This living area is designed for comfort. A nice hearth fireplace warms the entire upstairs nicely, furniture is all of highest quality, and he has an extensive book collection with most titles aimed towards the subject of history. This space is compact but extremely comfortable.

D. Master Bedroom: (20’ x 30’) Again, comfort is the key word here. A large canopy bed dominates the room, the other piece of notable furniture is a vanity which he and his wife share, however he spends more time primping himself then she does.

E. Master Wardrobe: (20’ x 20’) Both Zayle and his wife have a deep love for fine clothing. This room is kept completely researved for the master’s clothing, each day 4 attendants arrive to help everyone get dressed, starting, of course, with Zayle himself. There job is also to bring some breakfast for the family to eat, they typically stay until 10am, then leave until 9ish when their services are required to prepare the family for bed. On occasion, Zayle has a servant on hand during the day for odds and ends, but help is always coming into the house. They are all paid a fair wage and enjoy their jobs as much as can be expected.

F. Children’s Nursery: (20’ x 15’) A play area set aside for the families 3 children. It is stocked with toys and is also where they do they practice their studies. The three youngest children also sleep in this room. A nanny comes in whenever Zayle’s wife wishes to “get out and be sociable” which is often. Often the children can be found playing out behind the store, there names are Diamond (Female age 3), Opal (Male, age 5), and Bree (Female, age 8)

G. Jerred’s Room: (20’ x 15’) This is the room of Zayle’s oldest boy, Jerred. Jerred has many responsibilities around the home in regards to merchant work. It is Jerred who drives the wagon whenever moving stock is required, as well as maintaining a good relationship with the nearest gnomish village. His room is simple, and quiet. He is not like his father, he is much quieter and is uncomfortable dressed in clothes fit for the higher class. Jerred is only 16 years old, he is the product of Zayle’s sister who died years ago, but Zayle does love and depend on him, he tries to encourage him to dress and act more civilized and be worthy of his class, but he isn’t ever abusive about it.

H1. Treasure Room/Office: (40’ x 20’) This room is cramped, two large columns support the weight of the building, shelves lined with boxes of jewelry are neatly organized by value and size. Materials set to be melted down and unfinished gems fill boxes under the shelves, and a few chests as well as stock items which won’t fit upstairs are kept between the pillars. A desk is set up near the stairs, and a detailed list of buyers and sellers, as well as accounting sheets are all organized in large books kept on a shelf. Zayle keeps very extensive notes about all business transactions, as well as to what stock he moves which dates all the way back to when he first opened the shop.

The southern most column is hollowed out, and hides a secret spiral staircase. Gnomes are commonly in this room, they are aware of Zayle’s strict system, and put finished products away in their proper places, they also always have access to materials which they require to manufacture new jewelry and items.

H2. Secret Room: (20’ x 20’) Zayle is a very wealthy man, but he spends much of it. He dedicates much of his wealth back into his business, thus this room contains chest upon chest of gold and silver which he uses to purchase new products. Only he knows of this place (as far as he knows), and he is very sneaky about going down here unobserved. Only he knows what kinds of treasures that he has down here. If he discovers a magical item, like anybody he will horde it. Zayle will tell sellers that he’ll need a couple of days to gather the money if it is a large amount, this is were he will go but he is always careful not to be observed by the gnomes, and knows better then to ask for privacy (a sure way of enlightening a gnome’s curiosity).

PERSONALITIES

Zayle the Jeweler: AC 10; HD 0; hp 3/
#AT 1; dmg 1d3 (knife); THAC0 20; AL LN; ML 7

Zayle is a short, arrogant, but level-headed man of 35 years. He wears a small, neatly trimmed mustache and he keeps his thinning black hair cut short and greased back. He is a very smart dresser, preferring darks and whites together to form a contrast which he likes. Zayle is never dirty, and requires spectacles when he reads, which is often. He is a tad over weight, but wears a corset to hide it. Zayle is highly intelligent, and has a good memory for faces and dates. He is fascinated by history and is excepted as a sage specialized in human history, and human art. He is an accomplished, and very methodical appraiser, and while he has no fighting skills, most adventurers protect him because he is a great assest to them. He is friends with all noble houses in the area, and knows everyone of any high social standing.

Jerred the Merchant: AC 8; HD 0; hp 7/
#AT 1; dmg 1d6 (short sword); THAC0 20; AL LG; ML 7

Jerred is an opinionated, and rather uncultured young man. He wears leather armor and is skilled at guiding a team of horses with a wagon. He is personable with the gnomes which he deals with more then he does with people. Jerred hates all social classes, as he sees more of the ravages of the poor then his father does. What money he makes, he usually ends up giving most of it to beggars. He doesn’t argue with his uncle, and loves him a great deal, but just can’t find stock in dressing extravagantly while people in the same city starve to death. His high moral code tends to get Jerred into trouble, but his eccentric behavior is excepted by the local lords because of his uncle. Typically Jerred is out on the road, a position he does love!

DM: Gnomes who wish to work for Zayle can either earn 2gp per week or 10gp per month. Alternatively Zayle offers to send 20gp worth of supplies to the Gnomish Village for a months worth of service, this is how most gnomes wish to be paid but PC gnomes will probably be different.

SCENARIO SUGGESTIONS

Scenario 1: A very expensive shipment must be delivered to a neighboring city and Zayle wishes to hire adventurers to escort Jerred there.

Scenario 2: Zayle has purchased a crystal ball he believes to be magical, thus he hides it in his hidden treasure room. In reality, this crystal ball is haunted, and the spirit is leaving it at night as wrecking havoc in the shop, scaring off gnomes, and terrifying Zayle and his family. He hires adventurers to investigate and find the source of this haunting, but will not tell them about the hidden chamber where the crystal ball is.

Scenario 3:A local lady claims that Zayle is the master of a thieves guild, and has stolen an important pendant from her family, and that is all they had. The lady hires the adventurers to break in and steal the pendant back. Of course, she is a local member of a Thieves Guild looking to rob Zayle’s without putting her own neck on the line. Perhaps this Pendant is a magical item, or it could just be worth a fortune.

Zayle’s Jewelry and Gems Shop was designed to be fill a hole in the design of the game and how money is handled. You can either have Zayle like the party or hate it, that is up to you . . . or them if you really think about it. However Zayle does offer a service that all adventurers can use, and may become just as important, if not more so, then equipment shops.

THERE ARE MANY REASONS why we must remove armor. If we don’t take it off, then we can’t heal normally. Armor is always going to rub against wounds, the parasites that live in our padding will make a feast of us. The question isn’t, why do we take our armor off, but more often then not, how long does this take?

Even more important, how long does this stuff take to put back on, and what happens if you are in a hurry? What happens to characters who refuse to take it off? Well, this article looks to answer these questions, but before we can do that, we have to reassign the armor into categories.

ARMOR CATEGORY BY TYPE

There are many different kinds of armor, but they all fit into 1 of three types. Material, Metal, or Suit.

Material One-Piece Armor includes: Leather armor, padded armor, studded leather armor, and hide armor. It is all one piece and usually protects only your vitals.

Metal One-Piece Armor includes: Ring mail, brigandine armor, scale mail, chain mail, and banded mail. Also in one piece and protects the vitals, and sometimes the arms as well.

Suit Armor includes: Bronze Plate mail, plate mail, field plate, and full plate armors. Typically come in many pieces and cover either most, or the entire body.

REMOVING THE ARMOR

All one-piece armors can be taken off in 1 round if you have assistance, but if you are trying to take it off on your own, it requires 2 rounds.

Suit armors aren’t that simple, it takes 1d4 + 1 round to take off with help, double that if you are doing it by yourself.

If a character is unconscious from damage, and requires medical attention, the medic is forced to cut the armor off, this takes 1d4+1 rounds divided in half, and rounding the fraction up. This, of course, destroys the armor and it must be repaired or replaced before it can be used again.

PUTTING ON ARMOR

Putting armor on is a much more difficult process.

Material One-Piece Armors are fairly fast to put on. With assistance you can put them on in 1 round, but you’ll need 2 rounds to put it on if you don’t have any help.

Metal One-Piece Armors require 2 rounds to put on, or, 4 rounds by yourself.

Suit armors are made of several pieces, and was very difficult to get into. It takes 1d6+4 rounds to get into your suit of armor with assistance, if you are by yourself, then this number will be tripled (multiply it by 3).

Now, of course you can rush this process. Straps can be left hanging, ties left loose, and settings unadjusted. If this is the case, then it will give you a different base AC. An armor put on in haste will not grant any bonuses for weapon types, but the negatives will still be there and your DM has the right to double them if he wants to.

Material Armors can be put on in 1 round by yourself, but at the loss of 1 AC value, thus a hide armor put on in haste would serve as AC 7.

Metal Armors can be hastedly put on in 1 round by one’s self, but would also sacrifice 1 point in AC value, thus a chain mail would have a AC 6.

Suit Armors gain a bonus AC of 1 for every round spent dressing. Thus, a fighter who spends 4 rounds putting his armor on could run into battle with AC 6.


Ramifications of Wearing Armor Too Long

Like I said, armor is not clothing, it is very uncomfortable to wear and it must be taken off. I believe that the easiest method of determining how long an armor can be worn before it starts to take a toll on you is 8 hours + 1 hour per point of AC that it provides without a shield, thus a leather armor could be worn for 16 hours, but field plate could only be worn for 10.

A characters Constitution also comes into play, for every 3 points of CON, you can wear the armor for an additional hour, thus a Fighter with a CON of 12 could wear his armor for an additional 4 hours before it will become harmful to him.

The effects of wearing armor to long is –1 to CON, as well as 1d3hp in additional damages. For every hour after that, the player will lose another point of CON and another 1d3hp of damage. Taking off the armor begins the healing process, CON is regained at the rate of 1 point for every 4 hours spent out of it, hp damage must be healed naturally or magically with the exception of bonus hp from high CON scores which will be replenished with the CON.


Art by: Benjamin G. Davey

THE GLORY OF BEING AN adventurer is not without its headaches. When one is comfortable and warm in one’s favorite chair, and pondering the possibilities of embarking on a grand adventure and coming home rich, I dare say that one is a fool.

A successful adventurer is measured not just by old age, but of course, by his wealth, as well. And I must say that wealth is not an easy thing to deal with, but if you are intent on following this fool’s quest of yours, then I suppose that I must release some of our trade-secrets.

When one slays a dragon, or explores an ancient city left for dead thousands of years ago, yes there is much money to be had, but like all things, it isn’t that simple. One has to think about the state of the world which one lives in. If you go to the market, you pay the merchants with copper. You pay your land lord with silver, you buy drinks, pay for supplies, eat, and pay for services all with either silver or copper, all the while wishing for gold, but the problem is, once you’ve got gold, then what do you do with it? Most inns, once handed a gold coin, often look at it and then at you like you stole it! They don’t have change for that kind of cash. Of course, the problem with gold isn’t the worst of your trouble, I mean, think about it man! Many of the coins that an adventurer finds in his journeys are so old that as they are, they aren’t worth anything but the weight of the metal itself.

Treasure itself is usually handled just as shaky and abstractly as combat. Most players dread role-playing scenes in shops because they just aren’t interested in the money aspect of the game, but as an adventure idea, why not try something that explores the troubles and tribulations of finding a large treasure. This probably works best as a one-shot deal, and it can be fun just to figure out how this stuff would work in your own world.

Of course, I don’t know your world, so I’m just going to stick as close to Core Rules as possible.

COINS OF THE REALM

The first thing to consider is the coins which are in circulation at the time, and which ones are most popular. Looking at the supplies lists quickly tells you what shops are capable of handling what kind of cash. Weapons dealers are more capable of handling large quantities of money, then, say a tavern. In the standard game an adventurer can pay for drinks with a gem worth 800gp and get the proper change back, but think about it! How much money do you think that a tavern owner has in the tavern, and what kinds of coin is typically paid? He probably has lots of copper, some silver, and the odd gold coin from large parties celebrating a victory. He simply doesn’t have the kind of cash to break a gem.

Lets examine the common coins to find their place in the game.

Copper: This is the most common coin, but it must bear the proper seals. A coin from one realm won’t work in another, it must be traded in to the right place and exchanged for the proper coins. This is the coin which everybody has access too, and is easiest to move. Everybody excepts copper and it is the preferred method of barter for simple goods and services which are common to the common man.

Silver: This coin is the backbone of society. The copper is broken down to make chance for this piece. Silvers work everywhere and even foreign coins are generally excepted as Silver itself is worth more then copper. This is another coin of the commoner which can be used to purchase equipment and services which are equally as common.

Gold: Now we are entering the coins of a different society, the upper class! Gold is jealously guarded, the economic foundation of the D&D world is not Capitalism. If a poor man tries to pay for something with a gold piece, the automatic assumption is that he stole it!

This coin is more excepted in cities, but is extremely rare in rural communities. Shop keepers who sale expensive items will gladly take it, but common services won’t generally have the cash to make change, especially if they deal mostly with Copper, like a tavern.

The gold pieces which an adventurer starts out with is considered their life’s savings, and probably isn’t in the form of gold at all, but a combination of silver and copper. Gold is typically not gold at all, but gold written on paper. It measures the worth of something big, like property. Just because a merchant owns a ship worth 15,000gp doesn’t mean that he ever had that much gold, or that once he sales it, he’ll get that much gold for it. Typically he will trade it for products worth that much gold, such as a nice house or 15,000gp worth of horses and wagons. Gold is an abstract measurement of wealth, while the coin itself is fairly rare.

Electrum: This is a very rare coin, probably a metal that isn’t used to pay for anything anymore and bares seals which are ancient. Everybody who isn’t a collector or has the education to realize what this is, is going to just assume that it is counterfeit. It is a curiosity, and nothing more. Electrum is worth more melted down then it is to the market.

Platinum: Much like Electrum, this is an even rarer coin used only by kings and not for the general public. If one finds a large horde of Platinum, one is still broke because there just isn’t any way to move it, nobody except for wealthy dwarves would touch it. This probably is a dwarven coin in the first place, and they won’t look highly at humans who are using it and demand to just have it returned because it was never theirs to begin with. And making change for it? That is simply not going to happen in even the largest of cities. A collector might buy one or two pieces, but getting rid of an entire chest of the stuff would be next to impossible.

FANTASY ECONOMY

Now that we got an idea of what each coin is worth, and who uses them, we have to look at the economy in general. We are typically in a world where the Rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. If this changes then the entire system collapses. The rich enforce their status with an iron fist. Most adventurers are surfs, and first must buy their freedom, this might not even be possible, especially if the Lord in question believes you to be a money machine. He may allow you to adventure, but he is still going to demand his share, and if he doesn’t get what he thinks that he is owed, then he could take it out on the adventurers family and loved ones.

One must also take into consideration about what would happen if a large horde of cash suddenly was introduced into the overall economy. It would be good at first, but the more wealthy the common man becomes, the more the truly wealthy will push them down by raising prices.

For example: Adventurers slay an ancient old dragon, much of the treasure he horded would be coins that he slowly took away from the economy for years, now suddenly all of this money is back. The original boom would be massive! But once the king finds out, suddenly the amount of his treasure has been devalued, it isn’t worth as much as it would be if the dragon had been left alive, thus a Dragon is good for economy, and adventurers powerful enough to slay him is bad.

In order to protect his own interests, the king needs to find a way to take as much treasure for himself as he possibly can, and discover a way to devalue the horde at the same time. This can be as subtle as raising the taxes, or as advanced as minting all coins with a completely different seal. Either way he would find a way to suffer the people because if he goes broke, then his kingdom collapses.

MOVING TREASURE

Once a treasure is found, typically it just appears in an adventurers coin purse, regardless of size and weight. This is highly illogical! It is a pain in the bottom to have to deal with this aspect, but it is the stuff that a character has to figure out when he isn’t being roleplayed.

Treasure typically comes from ancient ruins or monster hordes. The chests that are there are typically rotten and worthless, bags are even worse off, and loose coins are even more common. In order to get the treasure itself out, the party had to bring the supplies to carry it out with. The best is a combination of Chests and bags, with a wagon to carry it all.

This all takes place BEFORE the adventurers embark on their quest. They have to estimate how much treasure that they think that they can get out of the place, and plan for it accordingly. For that, we need to know how much each coin weighs.

This is a huge problem! I am but a simple poor man, and I have no idea of what a coin would weigh, but I’m lazy too! I’ve looked all over my books trying to find weight of coins, but so far, nothing. In the interest of just settling the thing once and for all, I’ll say that 10gp=1 pound. Not to say that 1pp=5lbs. But you get the idea.

If we stick to this method, a small chest could hold 400 coins and a large chest could hold 1,000 coins. Of course now we have an additional problem, a full chest weights 125 pounds, and getting it from point A to point B is still a huge problem that must be overcome before you can even get it on the wagon outside.

The more time it takes to actually move the treasure, gives the vultures more time to plan to take it away from you. God forbid that you are forced to leave the treasure trove, because once you come back, much of the treasure will either be looted, or in the process of being looted by folks who planed better then the adventurers did.

The DM is strongly encouraged to go over the Encumbrance rules, and get to understand them so that they can be imposed upon your adventurers with all of their hateful glory!

ACTUALLY MAKING A PROFIT

Lets just assume for a moment, that the adventurers were able to some how haul a bulk of that stuff out. Naturally it is impossible to get it all, the next problem is turning it into something that the player can use, which isn’t always that simple and the DM needs to dream up ways to hassle players even further, something that I know ALL DMs really enjoy doing.

Exchange Rates: The party will have to take their treasure to a big city, which if we did our job of setting the game up properly, should be a LONG ways away. The Exchange office buys coins from other realms and exchanges them for coins currently in circulation. Of course they don’t do this for free, they’ll charge 10-30%, and since they are under the direct influence of the king, they will be very interested in where they got this much treasure. The longer that the party can keep it out of these peoples hands, the more headaches they will save themselves from enduring. Of course, even the Exchange Office has a set limit of how much money they can handle. Being expected to handle thousands of gold coin is a strain on any office, no matter how big.

Appraisers: Of course before we can give our players a headache, we have to deal with one ourselves. The abstract treasure is in our favor just as much as it is for the players. We need to figure out exactly what the treasure consists of, and just because it is listed in Gold Pieces, doesn’t mean that it is all gold pieces because it is much easier to move wealth around with gold items. Jewelry is a great way to carry it, as is objects created from metals such as silver and gold. Art objects are a big pain in the head, but we need to define what these items are. The player won’t, and shouldn’t have any idea of what this stuff is worth until he can get the stuff appraised. This also includes having a treasure counted, because adding machines weren’t common, this is a specialty and requires a hireling. Even if a player has the appraising NWP, he still won’t be an expert at it, and the treasure will have to be examined by an expert to classify it’s exact value. This must be done before a player can hope to sale the treasure.

Of course appraisers aren’t always honest, this trade attracts many swindlers and thieves. An appraiser can lie about the value of an item, he can also slip things into his own pocket. An appraiser is entitled to a percentage of the treasure, usually between 5-10% because it is time consuming, especially with large treasures, and he may need the help need the help of a sage which will also cost the adventurers more money.

Adventurers will probably complain about this, but the facts are that the prettiest stone could be nothing but colored glass, a golden statue could simply be carved wood leafed with gold foil, and an ugly stone could be worth 1,000’s of GP once it is cut and polished. The Appraiser Expert can spot this stuff. Granted, it will take some time, depending on the size of the hoard, any were from 2 weeks to several months to go through everything and classify it for the players. He will also earn a daily rate for himself, because he will have to dedicate himself to counting this stuff and finding the right histories, we are looking at a very large chunk of cash, but luckily the money doesn’t have to be paid up front and can come from the treasure itself.

Buyers: The next stage of this game will be finding a buyer. This can be very challenging, particularly with weird items, such as spell components. If it is in the form of expensive incense then a church might buy it . . . of course they will try to get away with you just donating it, which might not be a bad idea if you really think about it. Having a church indebted to you can get favors from it. Say an adventurer needs risen from the dead, normally this would cost him at least a 1,000gp, but he can probably get it done for free because he is on such friendly terms.

Other buyers are merchants, haggling should be brisk and it has to be an item that they are interested in. A trader of livestock would be less interested in a silver pendent worth 500gp then, say a jeweler. Of course the Jeweler is going to try and haggle down the price to something that is easy for him to afford, and he may also be a swindler, because he himself would be able to appraise the item.

The other kind of buyer is the rich collector. Great care must be taken when dealing with the upper-class! One’s charisma score really comes into effect here because we don’t want to offend the buyer who can just as easily have our heads legally as he can to actually pay us what we want for the item in question. In dealing with the rich, haggling will be slow and careful. The lord will typically ask how much you want for it, and examine it, he could also be an expert appraiser, especially if he is a collector of specialty items.

Naturally a collector will buy one or two items at most, therefore, if you have lots of items, you’ll have to contact lots of collectors. Getting the word out that you have these items requires another hireling, and an expert who knows who buys what. This also lets thieves know what you have and they’ll be trying to get their share as well.

Fencing is probably the quickest way to get rid of a product, but these guys are only going to give you a max of 50% of its worth, and depending on the size of the hoard, it could be impossible to obtain the gold itself to actually buy the item. Nobody has 12,000gp, or if they do, they won’t be willing to give it up for something that can be stolen from them in a heartbeat, leaving them broke. Fences will buy small items quickly, but probably won’t be all that interested in large items, however if they do know that you have it, then they may send out a band of thieves to relieve you of it.

Finding the right buyer is more important then actually finding the treasure to begin with, because if you can’t turn the treasure into wealth, then it really isn’t worth anything at all!

Lessons of the Game

This kind of game will reveal a lot about our games, and also how we can use money more wisely. What does an adventure need with 2,000gp? It’s not like it is convenient to carry around, and if he’s forced to run away then he will do so by leaving his wealth behind. There are no banks to keep money, and wealth will be counted with property. Buying a house or investing in a business can make all the difference between a successful campaign and a weak one.

What can we gain from giving the money away? It may sound stupid at first, but say that we give a lord the spoils or a treasure trove, for example. That lord is now indebted to us and if he fails to grant us favors, then word will get out that he is cheap and stingy with his money and he’ll fall out of favor. This will be bad for the lords reputation, and bad for the lords title. Granted, a lord won’t drop whatever he is doing to help the adventurer, but he will pull lots of strings that a typical adventurer wouldn’t have access too. Favors can be worth more then gold.

Titles are also something that a character might be interested in buying. Of course this opens up a completely different aspect of the game which a player may or may not want to really get into. Wealth comes with more responsibility, and if we keep this in mind then we become all the better gamers for it.


Art by Larry Elmore

BEFORE WE GET TOO FAR, I do have to get something off of my chest which pertains to this race. I personally hate it, however I will be as subjective as I can as I am looking to get over my bigotry and personal preferences in favor of a nice round gaming world. Hopefully I can keep neutral on the subject of these disgusting creatures.

HALFLINGS IN MYTH & LEGEND

The halfling is just a word that TSR came up with so that they wouldn’t get sued for using the term, Hobbit. Everybody knows this, it isn’t a secret. There are no cultural reference to hobbits or halflings, and are purely rooted in the mind of the writer, Tolken. This doesn’t change its role in a fantasy realm, in fact it helps it more then hinders.

A HALFLINGS PLACE IN THE WORLD

The halfling is a simple supplier, well known for their ability to cook the finest foods and brew the greatest wines and ails. Typically a halfling village will work together to specialize on a specific specialty, such as wine, or cheese. This will be the finest item of its kind and make the town famous, however this specialty is different for each halfling village, thus the halfling enjoys a brisk trade with other cultures and other halfling towns, and unlike the other demi-human races, the halfling alone understands the coins of the realm, and are masters of bartering.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OTHER RACES

As far as the rest of the races are concerned, the Halfling is always the preferred demihuman to deal with, and they enjoy the warmest reactions. This is not an accident, the halfling is a naturally charming and charismatic species who find themselves welcome in foreign lands which are normally off limits to foreigners.

All visitors, regardless of race, are welcome into the community. The halfling loves to trade with them, and they love hearing the stories that the guests have to tell.

Halflings have no racial enemies, and a peculiar way of trying to get along with all neighbors, even the ones that the rest of the races consider to be monsters. Perhaps this is their secret to creating such famous products?

Even stupid beings, such as the Orks have realized that it is better to kidnap a halfling and force him to cook for you, then it is to just out-right eat him . . . not that they don’t enjoy eating halflings or nothing.


THE RACES OF THE HALFLING

The halfling is an odd race who has evolved subtly depending on who their neighbors are. The most common neighbors being, elves, dwarves, and humans.

Hairfoot: This is the most common Halfling, choosing to live close to rural human settlements and villages. They live similar to humans, with all of the trappings of a human village; their crafts being practical and ordinary which will be desirable to the humans whom they cater too. They will create as many different items as possible, but become famous for specializing in one especially.

Stout: This halfling prefers to live near Dwarven cities, and typically have several agreements with each other in regards to all aspects of life. The Stout villages are usually made in hilly, rocky country, near a river stocked with fish. The stout is a capable miner, and has developed some infravision. Their products typically cater to their dwarven allies, and are capable of concocting some amazing technical marvels to get much of the work done, however what makes this halfling unique is that he isn’t as afraid of work as his cousins.

Tall-fellow This, the rarest of halfling, live near settlements and camps of the wood elf. The tall-fellow are carpenters and artists, as well as hunters and gatherers. They keep their homes in the forest glades and live off of the forest, as well as have many agreements with the wood elves for barter.

MAGIC AND THE HALFLING

The halfling isn’t as magically resistant as some races, but he isn’t very good at it either. There are no halfling mages, they simply don’t have the dexterity or the drive to make good wizards. The do collect magical items, or items that they claim to be magic, but in reality, the proud owner has no idea as to what it is or what it does.

THE RELIGIONS OF THE HALFLING

The halfling is a very visual creature, they see the evidence of their gods all around them. Like the gnome, the halfling has no place in the creation myth, they’ve always been here and they always will be here.

The closest thing that they have, and that they all share, is the belief in the legend of Little Man, and the goddess whose name is different for each village, but it is typically the same story about a wondering goddess who searched for the perfect followers and discovered Little Man. She sent him on a quest to tell all of his halfling brothers and sister to worship her, and in exchange she will protect them and let them florish.

Before this time, the halfling led a cold life of hiding and starving. This was called “The Bad Time”. Because they worship the goddess, they are protected and can live in communities and at peace with all around them. There are many versions of this story, with subtle changes depending on the village, as all of them claim to be the very village which Little Man called home.

There are a few other gods, but Halflings don’t worship as humans do, they don’t typically build churches, and it is usually acceptable to make a few sacrifices to the gods, and more important to tell your children about these stories so that they will learn from them. The local clerics are more healers and doctors then community leaders. The true acolytes of the religion are the grand parents who entertain the children with their stories, and if the Halfling would have a temple, it would be the hearth. All Halfling homes feature the hearth which is used for warmth, cooking, and to socialize around.

THE LIFE-CYCLE OF THE HALFLING

The halfling enjoys helping adults as soon as possible. Business is a family affair, with no distinction between the sexes, male and females are equally allowed to succeed or fail at what they do with no one person in a relationship having more say so then the other.

The young are loved and cared for, and much like human children, are born absolutely helpless and fully dependent on their parents. If a parent dies, then a relative will be quick to raise the orphans with love.

The young halflings aren’t forced to work, and have a lot of time to socialize with one another, and encouraged to play games which secretly teach them skills such as rock pitching and hide and seek.

Once an adult, the halfling is concerned with keeping himself and his family as comfortable as possible. He will work hard to earn the coin needed to buy the best that he can afford, however, he won’t work so hard that he isn’t enjoying the fruits of his labor himself either.

The Halfling is highly family oriented, and burrows house extended members of the family. The old do what they can around the house, and rarely live by themselves unless they have suffered some terrible tragedy, and even then somebody will come and check on them regularly.

Because of the myth of Little Man, the halfling never forgets to be thankful for everything that he has, and this is why he usually stays were he is. He lives content and happy, he’s got a warm fire and wonderful food and drink, and his family is right there to enjoy . . . so why leave? Not all halflings feel this way, a few get bitten by a wonder bug, and they feel that they must answer the call.

A Halfling can become an adventurer for a lot of reasons, such as out of necessity, or to make money, but the most common reason is out of boredom. He wants to live a life of excitement and adventure and simply isn’t as content just hearing about it from guests. In his mind, in order to better understand Little Man, he must become Little Man. His family doesn’t encourage this, but they don’t discourage it either. Neighbors will shake their heads, but wish the traveler well and a safe return.

The quest for fame is also prevalent in halfling society, some have a desire to start their own homestead, believing that a better place is out there where they can find wealth and fame and immortality, as all Halfling villages are named after their founder.

These are things which halflings do when they are still young enough to fail. Typically an adventurer returns to a heroes welcome, even if he has failed: As, to a halfling, failure is just as much of a learning experience as success is, maybe even more so! Therefore, common Halfling myths and stories involve tales of failure. Even the myth of Little Man ends sadly, as Little Man loses everything in the end but his wife, and for his wife he is still thankful. This speaks much of the philosophy of the halfling in general.

LAWS

Halfling villages are typically all pleasant, as like the gnome, they prize craftiness and intelligence over fighting, indeed, it is a taboo to pick a fight with another halfling, even if you think that you can beat him. In these circumstances, it is considered more honorable to simply walk away. For this reason, crimes of any kind are very rare.

Most Halfling settlements have a sheriff to enforce laws, normally he enforces laws in regards to unruly visitors. He has the power to arrest, and to organize a party in cases where he requires assistance, however, typically the strongest and best fighter will lead this deputized party, even if it isn’t the sheriff himself.

Once arrested, the sheriff will keep a prisoner confined until he can figure out what to do with him. This is usually only for a couple of days, and the jail is in most cases the sheriffs shed and if it rains he’ll be needing this space back.

Lawbreakers are given a chance to redeem themselves, but if a law is broken too often, or if it is warranted because of violence, then he is banned from the village and is disowned even by his own kin. To a halfling, being removed from one’s family is the worst punishment that can be imagined. This will either leave a halfling enraged and bitter, or cause him to strive to reform and perhaps one day prove that he is again worthy to carry the family name and return; a very long and hard processes.

The village itself is ran by a mayor, this is typically the most wealthiest halfling in the village, and bears the family name of the town itself, when a village name dies out, then an election is held and the most popular person becomes the mayor.

Typically the mayors are not your average halfling: they are bossy, rude, and used to getting what they want. If they weren’t born into it, then they have gained their position of power by being loud and making promises that they may’ve intend at the time, but once elected didn’t ever seem to get around to actually doing.

Not all mayors are this way, but the majority of them are nothing but bullies who take advantage of the Halfling taboo of fighting. The rest of the halflings honestly ignore them most of the time, saying pleasant things to their faces but only doing as ordered if they really see a benefit to doing it. The only exception to this rule is the poor sheriff who has to put up with the mayor on a daily basis, and doesn’t have the option of just walking away and ignoring him.

The most powerful person in town, with the most sway and favor, is a Burglar. If a town is lucky enough to have a burglar in it, then they feel safe, and famous themselves! A burglar is a local hero who has lived an adventurous life, full of experience and knowledge, and if a bad time comes to the people, he can help them out by bringing money back. Burglars don’t make good mayors, as they are prone to up and leaving on adventures or visiting with friends in far off lands; but in regards to “REAL” power, the local burglar is the true leader of the town.

A Halfling burglar never steals from his own kind, and exemplifies what it is to be a true halfling! He values his sharp wit and luck more then violence, and it is he who has the largest sway in getting help if the village comes under attack because other races listen to him and respect him as well.

WAR

Halflings are brave, but by their own standards; they care little about how other people think. Like the gnomes, they have developed tactics which are common with the little folk: Preferring to out-wit their enemies and allow them to retreat.

The halfling will keep hidden, while the most talented stone pitchers and archers clobber the enemy directly, and others make a lot of noise, well out of sight in an attempt to trick the enemy into thinking that reinforcements are coming, or that there are more halflings out there then what there really are. A band of 300 halflings can effectively trick an enemy into believing that he is being attacked by 3,000. This isn’t magical, it is just that a halfling knows the land better then an enemy can hope to, and a subtle defense has been lying in wait for centuries. Each halfling knows exactly what to do in cases such as this, and they will bravely comply.

An extended war against a halfling village is completely unheard of! Enemies can always be trusted to underestimate them, and the halflings are always willing to take advantage of this gross miscalculation yet reinforce the belief at the same time.

HALFLINGS AND YOUR WORLD

Not all halflings are whining crybabies, they make able bodied warriors and all of them make excellent thieves!

The finer points of roleplaying require the halfling to value all life and allow retreats, and to never fight anybody except as an option of last resorts. Therefore, we DM’s need to make it possible for creative players to outwit their enemies.

Halflings also have a knack at getting the best prices for everything. They have a different sense of moral obligation to others then humans do. To a halfling, it is perfectly expectable to entertain a merchant and eat or drink much of his supply without paying for any of it. After all! They were entertaining him, granted, the merchant may not feel this way when he wakes up, hung over, in the morning, but this is no skin off of a halfling’s nose.

Thieves are local heroes, and this weird sense of right and wrong are common to all halflings. If they see something that they feel that a person doesn’t deserve, wouldn’t miss, or secretly desires to be rid of, then the halfling will take it without the slightest problem. Perhaps one can say that the halfling is selfish, but not when it comes to his family or village, he isn’t morally bankrupt, and despite this fact, humans still enjoy doing business with them, knowing full well that they aren’t going to make a profit by doing so.

Halfling NPC’s will go out of their way to keep adventurers comfortable, and if they are entertained themselves, will treat the adventurer with the same respect as they treat a merchant when the shoe is on the other foot. Entertaining adventurers will be treated to free meals and drinks, and possibly even cheaper lodging then adventurers who keep to themselves.

Halflings know the value of coins, and the more that they have, the better that they can live. This is the prime concern of the halfling, and as long as we remember this, then we’ll be playing the characters correctly.


ART: “The Five Shires” by Clyde Caldwell