Sample File the Quintessential Drow
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Sample file The Quintessential Drow Sam Witt Contents Credits Introduction 2 Editor Character Concepts 4 Matthew Sprange The Prestige Drow 13 Developer Tricks of the Trade 28 Paul Tucker Drow Feats 36 Cover Art Tools of the Trade 39 Anne Stokes Drow Spells 48 Interior Illustrations Fleshcrafting 53 Chad Sergesketter, Eric Bergeron, Sarwat Chadda, Stephen Shepherd, Tony Parker, The Gravebond 66 Alejandro Villen Religion of Horrors 76 Production Manager The Game of Bones 82 Alexander Fennell Arachnophilia 94 Playtesting Silken Strongholds 108 SampleSteve file Mulhern, Mark Howe, Daniel Scothorne, Mark Sizer, Michael Young, Mark Designers Notes 121 Billanie, Daniel Haslam, Jamie Godfrey, Index 122 Alan Moore Drow Character Sheet 124 Proof Reading Licenses 128 Ashley Tarmin Open Game Content & Copyright Information The Quintessential Drow ©2003 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. The Quintessential Drow is presented under the Open Game and D20 Licences. See page 128 for the text of these licences. All text paragraphs and tables containing game mechanics and statistics derivative of Open Game Content and the System Reference Document are considered to be Open Game Content. All other significant characters, names, places, items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. If you have questions about the Open Game Content status of any material herein, please contact Mongoose Publishing for clarification. ‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are Trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms of the d20 System Licence version 3.0. A copy of this Licence can be found at www.wizards.com. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, and are used with Permission. Printed in Canada. Mongoose Publishing Mongoose Publishing, PO Box 1018, Swindon, SN3 1DG, United Kingdom [email protected] Visit the Mongoose Publishing website at www.mongoosepublishing.com for additional rules and news 1 INTRODUCTION practiced by this race. The first is used by the drow to Introduction create slaves that perfectly fulfil their required function while the second transforms even a common house he drow are evil. Sundered from their surface spider into an instrument of divine wrath. brethren for sins against the world, the drow Thave nurtured their hatred for centuries, The Religion of Horrors and Grave Bonding chapters developing new and more exotic types of evil. From delve into drow religion. The Fatespinnner is the their horrific ovarisites used in the gestation of their chief drow goddess, a spiderish deity renowned for children to the arachnurgical rites used in their brands her intricate plans and alien cruelty, who is attended of despicable magic to the dark secrets of fleshcrafting, by a host of drow deities. Grave bonding is a form of the drow have created evil all their own. Lurking divine magic in which the drow trades his life essence below the surface, they brood over the fates of their for a greater connection to his gods, blurring the lines enemies while formulating new types of magic and between life and death. The last chapters cover the developing new martial skills. Ancient, decadent, and Game of Bones and the woven lairs of the drow. The thoroughly vile, the drow are the ultimate enemy of Game of Bones, an ancient and chaotic game of noble any who earn their ire. scheming, assassination, and outright murder, is played by all drow nobles as they strive for position and favour This volume in the Quintessential series presents the within their great cities, which are constructed from drow in all their hellish glory, revealing for the first woven webs and crafted flesh. Using the rules in this time their practices from birth to death and beyond. chapter, players will be able to take part in the Game of Contained within these pages you will find the secrets Bones themselves and, if they are skilled and lucky, to of the drow, enabling Games Masters to create dark build their own woven lairs to defend themselves from elf villains or players to design the drow characters of their enemies. their darkest dreams. With the information provided in this book, Games Character Concepts offers many options for a drow Masters and players alike will be given the knowledge character’s background. From the alchemically born they need to bring the drow fully into their campaign, drow created by parents obsessed with a particular as enemies or protagonists. Be warned, however, that type of child to the sac child raised by the demonic these dark elves are indeed dark – you will not find any ovarisites, you will find many different character types stoic heroes or hidden saints, but rather dark creatures here for use in your game. The PrestigeSample Drow details a filedetermined to survive and succeed, no matter the cost number of prestige classes available only to drow, each to themselves or others. specializing in their own style of evil and gifted with different aspects of drow culture. The Blessed Master, for example, is a master at raising and training spiders The Collectors’ for use in arachnurgy while the tithe taker is skilled Series at taking prisoners and the use of nonlethal means The Collectors’ Series is a range of class and to subdue foes, capturing them for later use by drow racial sourcebooks from Mongoose Publishing, all fleshcrafters. designed to greatly widen a player’s options for their character within the d20 System. Slotting seamlessly Tricks of the Drow, the third chapter, explores torture, into any fantasy-based campaign, each will give a the drow use of slaves in combat situations, and other comprehensive of one class or race within the game, practices of dark elf society. Herein, you will find allowing both players and Games Masters the chance the ways in which the drow use their social skills to to present old character types in a completely new attack one another, positioning themselves for the way without overpowering or unbalancing the game Game of Bones, as well as a look at the innovative as a whole. The Collectors’ Series will not necessarily and dangerous uses the drow find for even mundane allow a player to create a better character, but they will skills. The fourth chapter, Drow Feats, reveals the feats be able to do a lot more than ever thought possible necessary to capture the feel of drow society. From before. social and resource-related feats designed to simulate the nobility of the drow to arcane feats for practicing drow magic to the feats that mimic drow martial arts, you will find a horde of feats for use in your campaign. The next two chapters cover the drow magical arts of fleshcrafting and arachnurgy, two unique arcane arts 2 INTRODUCTION ‘You presume much, Sethok.’ Peshun curled back into the warm embrace of her living sofa, dragging her jagged nails along the gently pulsing flesh around her. ‘This is my home, not some common hall you can frequent as you wish.’ With a smirk, the young mercenary threw back his cloak to reveal the square, obsidian box hidden within its folds. ‘But Mistress Peshun, I knew you would want me to bring you the remains of your lover, fresh from the field of battle against the cursed flayers.’ With a mocking bow, the drow knelt before Peshun, his eyes downcast but his lips quirked up into a savage grin. He offered the box, extending it on his open palm without looking at the noble. Shocked, she held her breath for long beats, let her concentration return to drown out the riot of emotions raging through her. Peshun hated surprises and she loathed youth even more. Satisfied with her composure, she reached out for the small box, closing her hands gently around its smooth black corners. Sethok lunged as soon as he felt the box leave his palm, coiling his long, slender fingers around the fragile wrist of the noblewoman. He bore down with all his strength, grinding his thumbs along the pressure points near the narrow bones and digging his chipped and cracked fingernails into the sleek black smoothness of her skin. ‘He died like a coward, m’lady, screaming your name. It was a disgrace.’ The feral grin on the mercenary’s face narrowed to a slash, a mere slit over his clenched teeth. ‘I killed him myself to save you the embarrassment of having him return wounded like that.’ ‘What do you want?’ The sofa groaned beneath Peshun, its trio of mouths gawped wide near the arm and tongues flicked out to taste her anxiety on the air. ‘My gratitude? You killed my mate and left my house without a master.’ ‘Did I?’ Sethok released his grasp on her suddenly and pushed her back with the tips of his fingers. ‘I do not see it the same way, Lady Peshun. Your master died, by my hand, on the field of battle. That entitles me to certain . considerations.’ His eyes raked her so lasciviously her black skin paled a shade before she caught herself. When this whelp was still sucking at the teats of the milkspiders she had been plotting the overthrow of an entire dynasty. One assassination would not destroy that. ‘Ah, I see. So you have come to claim your reward, then?’Sample With a smouldering file glare of her own, Peshun laid back into the sofa and lifted her arms free of her robes, letting the loose silk fall around her waist in a shimmering puddle.