B.U.R.G.L.A.R.s Part 4: Treasures

Part 4 of my investigation into "Hobbits have a Roadside Picnic." 

Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

Dragon gold 

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold.

One of the primary reasons burglars brave the aberrations of the dungeon zone is the gold that the dragon amassed. No one has yet seen the center of Smaug's golden hoard and lived to tell the tale, but caches of gold can be throughout the Mountain. It glows softly with a pale green light. 

Art by Kattapulka

Dragon sickness

The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-smiths they were but trifles – yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals.

Burglars know how dangerous the dungeon zone is: clouds of razors, underground lightning, solid rock that temporarily becomes quicksand before hardening again. But more insidious is the dragon sickness, which clings to the things they bring out of the Mountain. 

When you return to Lake-town, your dragon sickness rating is equal to the amount of slots occupied by dragon gold or magic treasures. Your dragon sickness rating lowers by 1 for every month spent not carrying any gold or treasures. 

1-2: You get winded easily. Reduce your movement by 5'. If you ever drop to 1 hp or lower, you lose a tooth. 

3-5: You get a -1 penalty to your Saving Throws. Your hair is thin. You get regular nosebleeds.

6-9: Reroll your hp. If it's lower than your current maximum hp, it becomes your new maximum. You lose your hair in chunks.

10+: Lose 1 point of Constitution and 1d4 teeth permanently. You regularly bleed from your gums and nail beds. 

Dragon sickness (as opposed to most rules in this blog series) is a player-facing rule. The players track how many items they have on their person and know enough about dragon sickness (as professionals) to have in-character knowledge of its effects.

Treasures

The Visit did take place, but it is by no means over. We’re actually in contact as we speak, we just don’t know it. The aliens are holed up in the Zones and are carefully studying us, simultaneously preparing us for the ‘time of cruel miracles.’

Dragon gold lets burglars stay in a state of inebriation long enough to forget the pains of the dragon sickness, but treasure is what the Union of the Five Armies want. They want to study them. They want to copy them. They want to break them and harvest what comes out. Burglars call treasures "swag." 

Dungeon zone treasures should be in a black box to the players. Only experimentation should reveal some of their properties. Don't tell them the full item descriptions.

Dripper

The ring market of Lake-town is flooded due to the proliferation of drippers. Drippers are rings of a gold-colored but unknown metal*. They are discovered in a variety of sizes, but most are well-sized to be worn by a human hand. Every nine days, a dripper creates eight copies of itself--identical in all ways except that the duplicates do not, themselves, produce duplicates.

*If hammered or melted, they break down into a ephemeral slime. 

Balanced Bracelet

Another piece of apparent jewelry forged by Smaug, balanced bracelets are a collection of larger rings of dull metal--too large to be worn on the finger but appropriate as a bracelet or arm ring. When set on their edge and spun, these bracelets will spin forever. 

Light Clay

This clay, when fired, becomes hard and brittle like pottery but lighter than air. The works made of this clay hover like partially-deflated helium balloons. 

Spark Beads

Black, tubular glass beads that are discovered in a variety of sizes, from about 1" to as large as a 9" long. When left in the sun for 12 hours, they glow with dim light for 6 hours (360 turns). 

Death Lantern

A bullseye lantern that emits a green light within 30'. The lantern can be completely uncovered, shedding light in all directions, or partially uncovered into a projected spotlight. The beam of light deals 1d8 damage per round to living creatures (Save to avoid), but has no effect on inanimate material. Death lanterns have 1d100 rounds of use when discovered.

Dowsing Rods

Dowsing rods are lengths of metal that come in different abstract shapes (but straight is most common). If struck against a hard surface, the resonance with which they ring is determined by their proximity to dragon gold. If within 100' of dragon gold, they warble and shake when struck. If within 30' of dragon gold, they produce a high pitched whine and tremble for several moments. If within 3' of dragon gold, they vibrate so hard that they cannot be held and produce a whine that is pitched so high that only elves and hobbits can hear it (it is outside of the register of dwarves and men). 

Drinkers

A fungus reminiscent of a shelf of fossilized coral. They are found in patches of 1d4 x 10' cubes, and can be cut to fit 1-4 slots of pack space. When exposed to liquid, it absorbs it at a rate of 10 gallons/round. A drinker can hold 100 gallons per slot of liquid. Like a sponge, drinkers can be squeezed to release their stored liquid--but the rate of release is only a trickle. 

Shrieker

A shrieker is a purple shelf fungi found in clusters of 1d12 individuals. If their conical "mouths" are stimulated, a shrieker produces a piercing, high-pitched whine.  Each creature within 500' must either take 1d4+1 damage or be stunned for 1d2 rounds. This automatically triggers an encounter check. Each shrieker can be activated once.

Spiker

Another treasure in the fungus family, a spiker looks like a sea urchin. When disturbed, they throw their spikes, which cover a 10' square area around them in porcelain-like shards.

Spikers can be harvested with care, wrapped carefully, and thrown as a weapon. They deal 1d6 damage on impact, and deal 1 damage each round thereafter until the victim spends a round to remove the shards from their flesh. Treat as caltrops once detonated in a space. 

Immovable Rod

Hey man it's a classic for a reason.

Burning Wheel

These wooden and metal wheels tend are as large as cart wheels. If placed in a fire of any size, burning wheels extinguish the flames, smothering them within a few rounds. If spun on an axel, burning wheels will alight into a continuously burning flame. 

Red Glass

Peering through this ruby-colored glass allows the viewer to see heat signatures. Even in the pitch dark, living creatures appear as glowing forms. The shape of stone and metal stands out against the ambient temperature of the air. Fungal blooms appear as a white haze. Cold-blooded creatures, such as un-dead or dragons, do not appear in the glass at all.

Prophet Dust

This glittering sand, when spread onto the surface of water, makes the surface tension of the water impermeable for 1 turn (10 minutes). The water can be walked on. Anything under the water cannot break the surface. 

Heart of the Mountain

No object looms larger in the burglars' rumours than the Heart of the Mountain. 

They say that Smaug sleeps with it under his head. 

They say it's too big to move, even if you found it when he was outside of his golden hoard. 

They say it grants your heart's dearest wish.

They say it kills one person touching it for every wish it grants.

B.U.R.G.L.A.R.s Part 3: 10 Traps

Part 3 of my investigation into "Hobbits have a Roadside Picnic." 

Part 1 is here. 

Part 2 is here.

Traps

"I don’t exactly understand your terminology. What traps?”

Noonan laughed. "That’s folklore," he explained. "Stalkers’ jargon. Bug traps—those are the areas of increased gravity."

A dungeon zone is filled with hazardous environments that arise spontaneously due to proximity with a dragon. Some are strange substances, such as the vapours and heats the Earth brews in her belly, but fouler. Others have are like beasts, or were beasts that have been changed by the dungeon. Others still have a strange will all their own - or a will that is an extension of Smaug's. 

Note: Some of these rules are tried and true OSE-esque dungeon features, but I think there's a lot of weird things here, too. This information should be GM only. Players learn how to approach these hazards through experimentation (out of character skill with player-facing information that is persistent for the table) as they try to master the dungeon.

1. Hell Slime

A green sludge found filling storerooms, wells, and cellars. It is unliving and unmoving.

Hell slime can only be contained by stone or ceramic.

When exposed to other nonliving materials (leather, wood, paper, cloth, glass, etc.), the hell slime quickly breaks it down and converts it into slime, so that the whole grows by the consumed object's mass. Hell slime can quickly get out of control in this way: as it gets bigger, it consumes more, and stretches into new regions, devouring portions of the dungeon.

When it comes into contact with a living body, it infects it. Skin, organs, and muscles are left intact, but the slime begins to painlessly eat the creature's bones. A PC who comes into contact with slime should determine where the slime touched them (roll randomly if it's not clear from the fiction). They lose 1 hp every turn. For every 4 hp lost, all bones are permanently destroyed in that segment and the slime crawls up the body.

For example, if a finger was infected, first the hand is lost - then the arm to the elbow - then the elbow to the shoulder, then the ribcage, then the spine. When the spine is consumed, the person dies (if hp loss hadn't already killed them). 

Amputation is the only way to stop the advance of hell slime on the body.

Carrying hell slime outside of the dungeon is a capital crime in every kingdom. There are always potential purchasers.

2. Moulds and Spores

The dungeon grows un-earthly fungus on the walls, columns, doors, and hallways. 

Note: The rules for moulds are from Dolmenwood. The effects of the moulds are new.

Triggering: If touched or damaged, there is a 3-in-6 chance of the mould emitting a cloud of spores in a 10′ cube area.

Effect: All in the cloud must Save or be caught in the spores. The effect depends on the type of mould.

Removing: Each type of mould is harmed by a specific type of damage. Each roughly 10′ × 10′ patch of mould can withstand 2d8 (average 9) points of damage.

1. White mould: Victim is partially petrified, gaining +1AC and losing -20 ft of movement speed. If not cured (e.g., by remove curse), victim fully petrifies within 1d4 days. White mould is harmed by fire.

2. Grey mould: Inflicts 2d6 fire damage per Round to any in the cloud, which lingers for 1d6 Rounds. Grey mould is harmed by magical cold.

3. Brown mould: Infects the victim's skin with spores, causing rainbow blotches. If not cured (e.g., by remove disease) the victim is permanently polymorphed into a random animal in 2d4 days. Brown mould patches spread in the presence of fire within 5′: a torch causes the mould to double in size, burning oil quadruple, and a fireball 8 times. Multiplication takes 1 Round. Brown mould is harmed by acid or water (1d6 damage per pint).

4. Blue mould: The victim flickers with fairy fire, takes 1 damage every 6 turns (1 hour), and suffers a -2 penalty to reaction rolls from monsters and animals until they benefit from magical healing. Blue mould is harmed by fire or by magical healing.

5. Indigo mould: The victim begins to weep uncontrollably, suffering a -2 penalty to attacks and saving throws until they benefit from magical healing. Indigo mould is harmed by fire or by magical healing.

3. Revenants 

Those who have died in the dungeon may be raised into a cursed un-death. They rise and walk the halls, half-rotten, bones protruding, moving under the power of some unseen force. 

Revenants are not aggressive by default. Mostly, they go about the tasks that they pursued in life: slowly, clumsily, sadly. Most are too rotten to talk, but they can gesture. Some can weep a fluid that is not tears.

Most revenants are dwarves who were buried in the Tombs.

This revenant is (2d6):

2. Going mad, will attack

3. Guarding the way forward; will attack if the PCs try to get past them

4. Looking for their wife, distressed

5. Trying to put together a children's toy

6. Sitting down to dine and slowly (very slowly) sipping wine from a goblet

7. Slowly (very slowly) writing a random rumor in a book; one rumor is written every 1d4 Turns until the revenant gives up and stares into space

8. Wants to trade a plump mushroom for something rare and valuable; will become angry if denied

9. Trying to figure out a song on the harp

10. Scraping at the walls with a pick, ineffectually

11. Slowly hammering on a steel tine

12.  Counting 3d6 pieces of dragon gold over and over, stacking and restacking it; will become angry if robbed

4. Weird Walls and Keys

Throughout the dungeon, walls of strange material bifurcate and cut off passage towards the dragon's lair. They were not made by the dwarves, but are products of the zone--they grow spontaneously and shift between delves. 

Concept keys: Burglars have learned that each wall can be defeated by a certain thought called a concept key. When exposed to a song, a feeling, a word, an image, these walls melt away like mist in the morning. 

Dungeon keys: The dwarves made keys for their doors, chests, manacles, cuckoo clocks, etc. Any key that was within the Mountain at the coming of the dragon is a dungeon key. Keys from outside the dungeon will not work. 

When a weird wall is touched with a dungeon key, the key disappears and the wall is destroyed. Dungeon keys are a sure-fire and fast way to get past weird walls.

However, there were only so many keys in the dungeon. Each time one is used, there is one fewer. There will never be any replacements made. And the walls are constantly growing and constantly shifting. The Union can foresee a time where there are no keys left, but the walls remain. That is why the Union prefers to open weird walls with visualization techniques and save the keys for emergencies. Burglars are here for quick riches, and so make free use of the dungeon keys.

The types of weird walls are:

1. Walls of Web: Although nobody has ever seen a spider of any size in the dungeon zone, there are walls seemingly made of black webs. They are sticky to the touch (dealing 1 hp of damage if touched with bare skin). 

Breaking: The thick cords resist the bite of most swords and axes, but they can be sliced through in 1 turn by a magical weapon--the cords reweave themselves after 1 turn, closing the gap. 

Concept key: Walls of web melt away into black motes when told secrets: a burglar must speak aloud a personal fact that no one in the company knows. A burglar alone cannot use this concept key.

2. Walls of Flesh: Some walls are made of flesh and sinew. Some are like a giant's arm twisting through the passageways: some are riddled with teratomas of hair, mouths, eyes. 

Breaking: The walls can be butchered. A 5' passage can be cut into a wall of flesh with hacking weapons and 2 turns. There is a 1-in-6 chance that the blood of a wall of flesh is hell slime. If eaten, the meat is deadly.

Concept key: Walls of flesh whisper riddles. If the riddle is guessed, the wall melts into a pink sludge.

3. Walls of Will: There are unseen walls. Some evil will (the dragon's?) prevents a company from moving forward, as if solid steel stood in their way.

Breaking: Walls of will cannot be broken. 

Concept key: A hopeful thought born of song will break the will that holds the company back. One burglar must sing a song or recite a poem that engenders hope in the company.

4. Walls of Fire: Fires rage in the dungeon that block off passage: they have no fuel, but are otherwise similar to the fires of the natural world. (Dragonfire, discussed below, is different.)

Breaking: Walls of fire cannot be broken. They have never been successfully extinguished by water. Jumping through a wall of fire deals 2d6 damage and ignites anything flammable on the character.

Concept key: Walls of fire will evaporate into choking black smoke if an item of significance is sacrificed to the flames.

5. Black Oil

Black oil is scum that sloughs off the waters under the Mountain. It moves with the speed and stimuli-based instincts of a slug.

If black oil is covered the surface of the water, the water cannot be navigated without suffering the penalties of the oil.

Terrestrially, the black oil is easy to avoid if there is ample space. However, black oil can sometimes drip down from the ceiling onto a random burglar. Each burglar passing under the resting place of a black oil has a 2-in-6 chance of triggering it. If a burglar is carrying a magical treasure, this chance increases to 5-in-6. The burglar is allowed a Save to avoid the dropping oil. 

When covered in oil, each round the victim suffers the following effects in order. They will suffer effect 1 until no longer applicable, then suffer effect 2 until no longer applicable, then suffer effect 3.

1. Eat through armour: The black oil will first eat through the victim's armour. Each round, the armour's AC bonus is reduced by 1. At 0 AC, it is destroyed beyond repair. 

2. Eat treasures: The black oil is drawn to magical treasures from the dungeon. If the victim is carrying such treasures, each round there is a 3-in-6 chance the black oil will devour it. When devoured, it explodes, dealing 1d4 damage to the victim. 

3. Eat the victim: The black oil deals 1d4 damage to the victim each round. Victims killed in this way become oil-covered skeletons (1HD). 

Removing a black oil requires fire or a gem. If burned with fire, each oil can withstand 2d8 (average 9) points of damage. The victim also takes this damage. If the black oil is fed a gem, both the gem and the oil are instantly destroyed.

The Returner faction seeks out black oils to feed treasures to, deliberately.

6. Witch Lanterns 

Certainly these are of the category of magical treasure, but are avoided as traps by burglars.

These lanterns glow with green light. Around them cluster 1d8 shadows which move jerkily, stutter-stopping along the walls and floors. Victims who are drained of their Strength rise as new shadows, bound forever to the lantern that killed them.

Extinguishing the green flame destroys all bound shadows. Most of the witch lanterns have been destroyed in the upper two levels, but some still exist in the lower deeps.

7. Shimmers

Shimmers are 10' x 10' manifestations of destructive physical forces. Difficult to see in torchlight, impossible to see in sunlight, but easily spotted in the dark: they are practically invisible, appearing only as a light glimmering in pitch black or like a heat mirage in low light. 

In a large dark room, shimmers can be spotted outside of the range of torch light automatically when moving at exploration speed. 

In a corridor, shimmers are more dangerous. The front-line burglar has a 2-in-6 chance (elves have a 3-in-6 chance) of seeing a shimmer directly ahead of them. A 10' pole is already too close for comfort: the burglar gets a +2 to their Save but might still be sucked in to the shimmer. The only reliable method of discovering them before walking into them is by throwing objects (like acorns) ahead of you as you move. Moving in this way forces the party to move at a maximum exploration rate of 20' per Turn.

Those who step close to a shimmer are allowed a Save to throw themselves backwards out of its grip. On a failure, they are instantly destroyed, their body ripped apart as if squeezed by an invisible giant.

8. Enchanted Wells

The wells that the dwarves carved into the Mountain have all been tainted by the dragon's presence. Drinking from any of them is perilous because their effects are unknown.

Delvers have mapped the effects of certain pools in the first two levels. For example, the well at the North Crossroads shrinks imbibers for 3 Turns (30 minutes) to a twelfth of their size (feet become inches). 

When drinking from an unidentified well, roll on Goblinpunch's Perfect Potions List. The result is tied to that room forever. 

Waters bottled in hermetic vials can be sold on the black market.

There is a 2-in-6 chance that any enchanted pool has a black oil haunting it each time the room is visited. 

9. Phantoms 

Revenants are not the only way the dead haunt the dungeon. Burglars may bring the ghosts of those they know, living or dead, with them under the Mountain. They manifest as phantoms. 

A phantom is a seeming, an illusion, made out of condensed smoke and light. They are physically present and can interact with their environment, but have only a Strength of 1. If they ever suffer a single point of damage, they vanish in puff of smoke.

To stock phantoms in your dungeon, ask your players questions and use the answers to build them into the random encounter table.

The phantom appears as...

1. A group of rival burglars

2. A beloved family member of a member of the company (living or dead)

3. An NPC from Lake-town that is well known to the company

4. Union guardsmen hunting burglars

The phantom is...

1. Desperate to tell a certain member of the company a random rumour: they treat this as an omen of utmost importance, no matter the subject matter

2. Spiteful to a member of the company, insulting them in a way that is uniquely painful

3. Eager to lead the company deeper into the dungeon, promising treasure

4. Quiet, following behind the company without saying anything

10. Blinding Sound

The Blinding Sound is a trap that is not tied to a location. Put it on your random encounter table.

The Sound begins as a low rumble, barely discernable. If the company is standing still and being utterly silent, they can sense it without a roll. If the company is moving at exploration speed, each burglar can roll to detect the rising pitch of the sound with a 4-in-6 chance (hobbits get a 5-in-6 chance). If the company is moving faster, they can only detect it with a 2-in-6 chance. If successfully detected before it rises, the company can take preventative measures. Burglars carry custom ear muffs as protection. 

Once noticeably audible, the Sound effects any who can hear it. Each victim is allowed a Save to plug their ears at the last minute. If successful, they are blind for 1d30 days. If unsuccessful, they are blinded permanently.

B.U.R.G.L.A.R.s Part 2: Dungeon Zones

Part 2 of my investigation into "What if the Desolation of Smaug was a Zone from Roadsic Picnic?" 

Part 1 is here. 

Maybe I should have called this series "Hobbits have a Roadside Picnic." Hmmm.

Dungeon Zones

Inns are the haunts of burglars--notorious drunks, all. All of a burglar's tall tales are told there.

"I saw the Old Wyrm making new passageways. He was digging like an earthworm, chomping at the stone. The stone was passing through his long body. The changing gasses were coming out the back."

"I heard the Golden One about a level below us. We ran. But when we came back to the Northwest Guard Chamber, there was a fourth door. I told Fatty to follow me, but he went through the wrong portal. I could hear the blinding sound start up - that's the Wyrm's roar - so I dropped to my knees and pulled my hood over my head. My eyes turned out alright, but I never saw Fatty again."

Extra Angles, New Passages

Both the union delvers and burglars agree that the dungeon's layout doesn't remain static. The current understanding is that there are three different configurations the dungeon can be in based on the phase of the moon when the dungeon is entered. 

New moon: The new moon dungeon is entirely the product of the dwarf's craftsmanship: the hall of habitation, the guard posts, the armories, the workshops, the forges, the markets. 

Waxing or waning: The dungeon's appearance when the moon is between crescent and full is similar to the new moon dungeon, but rooms with corners have expanded to add new angles: triangular rooms become square rooms, square rooms become octagonal, octagonal rooms become dodecagonal rooms, and dodecagonal rooms become icosagonal. Round rooms are unchanged. New passages, seemingly of dwarf make but unremembered by any map from before the coming of the dragon, connect these expanded rooms together.

Full moon: The full moon dungeon is the largest and most complex. The expanded rooms and passages lead to "new" rooms, halls, and chambers. These rooms appear to have dwarven architecture, but the art and symbiology found there is dreamlike and distorted. In burglar folklore, these new rooms have the deadliest concentration of traps but also the most unlooted swag.

Rumor says that special days of the year or special celestial occurrences (Durin's Day, for instance) reveal entirely new layouts.

Elf Time

"In that land, maybe, we were in a time that has elsewhere long gone by. It was not, I think, until Silverlode bore us back to Anduin that we returned to the time that flows through mortal lands to the Great Sea."

A notable feature of dungeon zones is what burglars call "elf time": a distortion of the passing of time inside the dungeon versus outside the dungeon. Burglars will emerge after burning four torches and be told that they were gone for four days, or a single hour, or an entire month. 

For good luck, burglars never call a missing burglar "dead" unless they witnessed the death first hand. They will refer to them as "lost in elf time." (You may explain missing players at your table in this way.) 

Rule: When exiting a dungeon, one player should roll a d6. On a roll of 1, elf time has occurred. Roll d20 and consult the chart:

1-4. No time has occurred outside. The burglars seemed to enter and then exit the dungeon within the same minute.

5-10. Time outside the dungeon is twice what the burglars have experienced inside the dungeon.

11-15. A number of days outside the dungeon equal to the number of turns inside the dungeon have elapsed. 

16-19. Regardless of how long the delve lasted, the burglars return one month later to the hour.

20. Regardless of how long the delve lasted, the burglars return one year and one day later, to the hour.

I was going to cover traps in this post as well but it got too long. I need to split it up.

B.U.R.G.L.A.R.s

When people give me a recommendation for a book, a show, whatever, I always say "I'll add it to the list!" And I'm not kidding: I have a list. It sits at the bottom of my To Do Google Doc, where I track my daily tasks. The list is organized by medium (book, show, whatever), but is just a comma separated list in the order the text was recommended to me. Some of the lists are hundreds of entries long.

This is all to say, people have been telling me "Roadside Picnic is really good OSR inspiration" for many years and I've said "Yeah, yeah, it's on the list."

Well, I'm reading it right now. And let me tell you something.

Roadside Picnic is really good OSR inspiration. 

If you have not yet read it (and I recommend that you do!), the essential premise is that several years ago there was "The Visit," where aliens landed at six sites on Earth (called "Zones"). They left behind changed physical laws in those Zones (weird gravity wells, mutagenic slime) and advanced technological artifacts. A class of smugglers called "stalkers" sneak past the government barricades into the Zones, braving the traps of the weird environment to recover these artifacts. 

One of the people who had been hooting about this excellent book was Anne, who posted about it on her blog. In her post, her conversation partner had the temerity to say: 

It also makes me think how it might be interesting to think about a version of The Hobbit where the desolation of Smaug was a Zone!

That is what this post is about.

The Desolation of the Dragon

"There was little grass, and before long there was neither bush nor tree, and only broken and blackened stumps to speak of ones long vanished. They were come to the Desolation of
the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year."

To say that dragons "create" dungeons is not entirely correct, in the same way that it's not accurate to say that the ground "creates" gravity. When a dragon settles in an area, it warps the area in the same way that a planet warps spacetime. The result is a dungeon. Newtonian physics no longer accurately describes the behavior of objects in a dragon's domain. We must switch to dungeon physics.

For most people, dungeon physics mean two things:

First, the existence of traps. This isn't to say pressure plates or poisoned needles. Traps, in this instance, mean hazardous environments that arise spontaneously in the dungeon: forcefields, walls of fire, poisonous molds, hell slimes.  

Second, the existence of magic treasure. In the presence of a dragon, once-normal mundane objects or areas may suddenly behave as enchanted: sewing pins that emit a deafening shriek, bracelets will spin forever when balanced on their edge, barrels that are invisible.

For dungeon philosophers (wizards), both are the same category of transmutation. Except you can categorize transformed objects that are hazardous to human health as traps and transformed objects that have neutral or beneficial properties as treasure. And, like medicines, sometimes the difference is in the dose.

And when you slay the dragon? That's just the start of your troubles. 

The Lonely Mountain and the Union of Five Armies

“I remember the Mountain well enough and the lands about it. And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred."  

One-hundred and seventy-one years ago, the dragon Smaug came to the Lonely Mountain and drove out the dwarves and men who lived there. A dungeon zone took root.

Today, the land around the Lonely Mountain is controlled by the Five Armies, each of whom is from a kingdom that lays some claim on the lands of the dungeon (the Dwarves, the Men of Dale) or the roads used to travel towards the dungeon (the Elves of Mirkwood, the Goblins of the Misty Mountains, and the Wolves of the Wild). This Union sends forth sanctioned delves of equal numbers to recover treasures from the dungeon and further their understanding of draconic incursions. 

Burglars 

"INTERVIEWER: You probably mean stalkers? 
DR. PILLMAN: I’m not familiar with the term.
INTERVIEWER: That’s what the residents of Harmont call the desperate young men who, despite the grave risks, sneak into the Zone and smuggle out whatever they find. It’s quite the new career."

Lake-town was founded after the coming of the dragon by the refugees of the kingdom of Esgaroth. A simple democracy, it provides something like a neutral space for the Union of the Five Armies. The residents have never seen the wealth extracted from the dungeon trickle down - the rivers have never flowed with gold, as they were promised.

Some of these residents take on the profession of burglar. A burglar avoids the guards of the union to make an unsanctioned delve in the dungeon. When they survive, they sell the swag to the highest bidder: foreign kingdoms, rich autarchs from beyond Rhun, or even clandestine representatives from member-kingdoms of the union (who each resent their rivals and think their sharing agreements unequally penalize themselves). 

But burglars do not have long lives. The traps in the dungeon are many, and only the upper levels have been partially mapped. Worse, those that handle the treasures rarely see their later years: the dragon sickness is a slow but irresistible foe.

And the less said about the sicknesses of their children, the better. 

This series continues in Part 2: Dungeon Zones.

Keying a Dungeon with Class-specific Descriptions (Microblog)

I bet you've seen notes in dungeon keys that say something like: 

The murals depict an ibis-headed god handing out the tools of writings to grateful humans. (Clerics know that this is represents Thoth, god of knowledge.)  

What if your wrote a whole dungeon with an eye towards giving out this class-specific information? It might look something like this:

A round atrium; the domed ceiling is cracked, and the sun's rays illuminate the room. In the center of the room is a fountain spraying water 15' into the air, which falls back down into a shallow basin. A plant like an enormous squash squats in the fountain's pool, long fuzzy vines spilling out onto the floor.

- Fountain: The fountain's water is equivalent to a potion of plant growth. 

- - ⛧: Magic-users can smell an enchantment in the water. 

-  Plant: The Devil's gourd will attack anything that disturbs the water, sensing its movement (stats in sidebar). 

-  †: Thieves take notice of an obscure scrawl on the west wall that's a sign in thieves cant that means "Monster."

(⚔ = fighter, † = thief, ☥ = cleric, ⛧ = magic-user)

In these examples, it's like certain classes have a special insight into the hidden/secret depths of the dungeon area.

One weakness with this method is that, in practice, the reveal would quickly stop feeling special or unique for your class if repeated throughout the dungeon. What one person at the table is told, everybody at the tables hears (same problem with perception checks). This is just another dungeon key, filtered through a little flavor.

You could go beyond just additional information by building the challenges to be toyetic for different classes, like this:

A catacomb. In the north of the room, there are several plinths, each with a cup of a different make resting on top. A suit of armor, covered in cobwebs, animates as the party enters.

-  Armored knight: An ancient guardian. He will attack anyone who approaches the plinths, stating that they must prove themselves worthy of the sangraal. He is living, not undead; kept alive for an age by his oath to protect the sangraal. Stats as a 5th level fighter.

- -  ⚔ : Fighters know they have the right to challenge the knight to a duel. A duel may be to first blood, to yield, or to the death.

- Plinths: Six separate plinths, each with a different type of cup. Taking a cup other than the stone bowl (the sangraal) from a plinth causes the dungeon entrance to collapse under two tons of rubble. 

- - Cups:  The cups are: wooden goblet, clay kintsugi cup, stone bowl, a wooden cup painted gold with fake jewels, a golden chalice, and a pewter chalice spangled with gems.

- -  ☥: Clerics know that Mythrys was carved from stone and refused gold and jewels. 

In contrast to my previous point that "everybody knows what every other person at the table knows," I have found in practice that these techniques, used sparingly, make players feel special. Saying "Only elves benefit from the magic elf water" makes the elf player feel smart for the character creation choice of choosing "elf." Everything in moderation, they say.

Another way to make class-specific details feel special is to keep them as hidden information at the table: the GM can text the player the details, pass them on hidden notes, etc. Although, the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze unless it was the whole point of the dungeon: some sort of inter-party tournament where players could get secret advantages and access to additional loot and boons. Such a dungeon could look something like this:

A chamber dominated with a life-size chess board. On the east side of the room stand stone statues of black's pieces: pawns, knights, a king and queen, etc. On the east wall is a fresco of an ankh.

- Chess board: Stepping into the room determines what piece the PC represents based on their starting square. Afterwards, the board treats squares that would be "illegal" for them to step on as trapped, dealing 3d6 via electrical jolt.

- -  †: Thieves may move 1d6 + Dex bonus feet per turn using handholds on the wall, bypassing stepping on the chess board floor.

- Pieces: When a PC ends their movement, each adjacent piece will attack them once. Each chess piece has HD equivalent to their score in chess. 

 - - ⚔ : Fighters have heard a rumor that the person who deals the death blow to a chess piece will receive a number of electrum pieces equal to the piece's HP, deposited directly into their Centrum Bank account.

- ☥: Clerics know that whoever first touches the ankh will receive a random boon (see boon chart, page XX).  

What methods would you use to make this kind of technique sing?

A Bestiary

Herein I read the monster manual entries from OD&D in order and try to parse them into groupings and categories that let me use them at the table.

Every attempt to read OD&D is some sort of bizarre self mortification ritual. It's not the text itself, it's the grappling with it that's important.

This post is a quasi-continuation of my quickly-abandoned Domesday Book project. It is heavily inspired by Idraluna Archive's OD&D SOP and Gearing's &&Monsters. 

Normal Men

Bandits: Almost nobody, except for certain heathen kingdoms of Faraway, has a standing regular army. Rather, local kings will raise their banners and give out spears at the Weapontake, transforming Serfs and Peasants into Soldiers. When the war is over, Soldiers that have not won battle spoils (or won too many battle spoils) or who have no home to return to are transformed into Bandits. Bandit leaders carry ragged banners to kingdoms that no longer exist. 

Berserkers: Berserkers are Men troubled by dragondreams, which are sent out from sleeping dragons and shared by humans who live too close to their draconic lairs. Thoughtforms too large and too ancient enter their head. It starts as a headache, which leads to a certain irritability and belligerence. Soon, they learn that only battle will dull the sharp pain in their head. And they're good at it: when they slip into the berserk state, weapons bounce from their bodies. All berserkers have damage reduction 1-4 while berserk.

PROPER Berserkers are mighty of stature, hirsute of face and body, generously thewed and sinewed; their interest is not in war but in battle. In times of peace, therefore, they are dour and melancholy, with little occupation, save sharpening their weapons and mending their scanty battle harnesses. They are thus inclined to drink.

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Brigands: If Bandits are formerly conscripted Soldiers, Brigands are simple thieves and bullies who practice the same art without the history of war. Where a King cannot extend the power of his Knights, Brigands may take tax collection into their own hands and set themselves as petty lords over a road, keep, or township. 

Dervishes: The Prophetess declared that the world would not be remade until the True Song was sung by the four Angels that stand on the four corners of the world. The Dervishes are crusaders-cum-missionaries who pursue a solemn oath to find these Angels and convert them. They have left their home realm and, with steel and song, proselytize their religion.

Nomads: The Plains and the Steppes are strange places, magical and treacherous. The weather of that place is not like the weather of the world. It has made a strange people, both fell in battle and fey in mood. They tell of the time of Starfall, when the chariots of the gods crashed into earth and carved both Plains and Steppes in their falling. They carry the weapons of the gods in hereditary clanships. Their lances fire magical bolts stronger than crossbow bolts.

Buccaneers & Pirates: Those who sail the seas come in two varieties: those who have letters from an enemy polity saying that they're allowed to plunder your vessel and those who have no such letters. Beware them both, for the end result is the same.

Cavemen: There was a time that the Cavemen--who call themselves Morlocks--ate the Men of the surface world, cultivating them as a farmer cultivates cattle. But the gods have delivered heroes unto Men, who find treasure that enriches their lives and makes them poor prey. The Cavemen are always lurking, though, and in ancient times made tunnels that crisscross the entire world. At any point, they may emerge from an undiscovered underground portal and reveal an entire hive of them, teeming below.

Mermen: Mermen are like Berserkers--they have been changed by the dragondreams. But the dragons that sleep in the abyss of the ocean are not like the dragons of the earth and sky. Eventually, mermen follow their deep dreams and leave their families behind and walk into the water. Later, after a battle with the cursed mermen, someone might look down at a dead merman body and say, "Why, it's Damen. Damen from Two-Wells. I knew him from before. From before he was turned to this...thing."

Orc: Both Berserkers and Mermen are troubled unwittingly by nearby draconic influence. Orcs seek Dragons out and pledge themselves to them. They believe that Dragons are the engines that God uses to burn down and remake the world, and wish to aid them in this holy mission so that the new age can start, free from sin. 

Their devotion to their Dragon cult changes Orcs more overtly than those who only suffer dragondreams. As they take damage, their scars heal in strange ways. Broken nails become claws; broken teeth become fangs. 

The only thing that has saved the world thus far is that neither Dragons nor their tribes of Orcs coordinate.

[Author's note: Normal Men is given as a header at the beginning of the Monster section of OD&D, saying "There are several categories of Normal Men." But there is no demarcation for when we leave this section. I have chosen to draw the line here, after orcs.]

Fairies, Unseelie

Goblins: A child stolen by a fairy becomes a Goblin. Goblins are like children's nightmares: scary but simple. Cartoonishly evil, not really evil. Goblins reclaim tunnels and passages built by Cavemen of old, popping out from hidden pipes and stealing whatever they want. Elves regularly steal human children to use as currency in trade with the Goblin King.

Hobgoblins (Goblin Kings): A Goblin that eats other Goblins becomes a Hobgoblin. Goblin Kings are all Hobgoblins--their servants obsequiously serve them lest they get eaten. They get enormously fat on this diet and settle down for a life of sedentary rule, like Jabba the Hutt. When Goblin Kings go to war with each other, the losing king is brought back to the victor's chambers, where he is eaten. 

Ogres: A Hobgoblin who eats several other Goblin Kings eventually grows into an Ogre. With the combined strength of many Goblins roiling around their guts, Ogres are much more mobile than they were when they were Hobgoblins, and much bigger--almost a small Giant. Sometimes, bits of the devoured Hobgoblins all constitute the same Ogre, with several arguing heads or multiple quarreling limbs. 

[Author's note: The advice from Gygax that players can play monsters, but must start as a weak monster that levels up into a strong monster, implies a sort of Pokemon-esque evolutionary chain for D&D monsters. I've leaned into that implied worldbuilding here.]

Kobolds: Kobolds are evil Dwarves, warped by the Chaos auras that radiate out from magical items. The Chaos sickness makes them soft-brained, sickly. Individually, they are weak. Collectively, they operate in a strangely coordinated way--like ants. Chaos-sickness might not be a disease, but a psionic possession by some stranger force, from deeper within the Underworld. 

Gnolls: A cross between Gnomes and Trolls (created by the wicked wizard, Lord Dunsany). They have two types: Gnomish creatures the size of Trolls, and Trollish creatures the size of Gnomes. The less said about them, the better.

Trolls: Trolls lie in wait under bridges, in crevasses, at the bottom of latrines, and other such foul places in hopes of reaching up and catching prey. They will extort those they catch or eat them. Usually, Trolls will be sporting, and give those they capture a chance to match them in strength or in riddles. They are untidy with their bones.

TROLLS  are subject to sunburn, bad teeth, and warts. Assume the worst of Trolls; they are always barefoot, do not like to sit down, and their blood is black and scalding. 

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Fairies, Seelie

Unicorns: The Unicorn is sought after because there is much virtue in their horn. At a touch, it cures poisons. Alchemists can also make it into a potion of longevity and a variety of aphrodisiacs and fertility drugs. Because of this, they are universally wary and flee from hunters. They are occasionally used as mounts by Elfin dames.

Sprites: When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces--and that is the beginning of fairies. Sprites are Elfish ghosts. When they wish to wear flesh, they are "adopted" by an Elfish couple, who allow them to incarnate. When an Elf dies, their spirit returns to its Spritely form. A Sprite is naturally invisible but can become visible at will. Sprites come in two varieties: Nixies and Pixies. 

- Nixie: These Sprites dwell near freshwater springs, waterfalls, and pools. A Nixie-haunted pool bestows a random magical effect based on the Nixie's disposition--some are harmful, some are helpful. Being confused with Naiads enrages them, and they will attempt to drown the offender. 

- Pixie: These Sprites dwells under mounds, in flowers, or under mushrooms. When encountered, they are usually on some errand, which the players distract them from. They are excellent sources of rumors. Sometimes, a cloud of a dozen or so Pixies will decide to act as a godmother for a fortunate child. They will appear during birthdays and bestow blessings or magic items that turn them into Heroes.

FAIRIES are much more involved with Men than Elves, either setting things to rights or to wrongs. They have an unfortunate tendency to malice and mischief, and even though their original intentions are good they are woefully scatterbrained and forget their mission if the opportunity to tattle, stir up trouble, or inform on someone appears.

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Gnomes: Gnomes live hidden in woodlands. They are a bit bigger (and certainly more rotund) than Sprites, but smaller than Dwarves, who are their cousins. They concern themselves much more with birds and beasts than Men: they heal their hurts, release them from traps, and feed them in scanty winter months. Like Dwarves, they can advance their crafting skills to supernatural degrees. All Gnomes live in pairs and mate for life, giving forth a single set of twins from their coupling. 

GNOMES and Dwarves, now no more than distant cousins, originally came from a common ancestor. 

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Dwarves: Dwarves are craftsmen without parallel. Each year, a working Dwarf will produce a single masterpiece. To Men, these masterpieces appear to be magical.

Dwarves truck with Men only out of necessity, and only to learn their ways to better protect their treasures: Dwarven "adventurers" (such as they are) are usually journeymen who go into the world to further their craft then report back what they have learned.  Each Dwarf that leaves through their hidden doors makes sure he takes his Hood of Invisibility with him. They trade with Gnomes and Elves for foodstuff. They hate Cavemen, Dragons, and Goblins very much. They pity Kobolds.

DWARVES own all treasure underground and all treasure that originated underground. Dwarves do not steal; they reclaim what belonged to them in the beginning.

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Elfs: Elfs are the nobles of the Seelie Court, handling disputes and dispensing justice when such things need doing. They also call the other fairies to war and lead the Wild Hunt. They act accordingly: they are genteel, beautifully arrayed, and wonderfully literate. They are accomplished weavers, and their kite strings, fishing line, and harps are coveted. They don't get involved with Men unless their natural foresight indicates they should; negative reaction rolls indicate that the PCs must be driven away less doom befall their court, positive reaction rolls indicate that the PCs must be given aid. Rarely, a winged Elf is born--they serve a special role in Elfin society, and must found a new kingdom in a new location. 

Treants: Elfs awaken trees to serve as the guardians of their forest kingdoms. Treants are about as intelligent as sheepdogs. 

Titanomachy

Giants: In the Dawn Age, Giants were the rulers of all, but are now greatly diminished both in prestige and in height. Few Giants are under 12' in height, but may grow to any height if their long lives are uninterrupted. Giants desire to accumulate symbols of royalty to reclaim their "proper status"; they especially wish to capture and live in castles. 

As a Giant grows in height, they take on different honorifics. For example, Young Giants are "tall as hills," and are called Hill Giants. The oldest Giants have "their heads in the clouds" and are called Cloud Giants. 

Some Giants are Cyclopses. Although they have varied appearances, being stunted and malformed, they all have one eye. Cyclopses, unlike other Giants, cannot grow in height and power.

The very oldest and tallest giants are called Titans. They are all sealed away in the Underworld. 

GIANTS prefer to inhabit castles captured from Men rather than build their own; if no castles are available or suitable they will live in caves, on mountainsides, or out of doors. If they have a castle they make few improvements on it other than enlarging the dungeons for themselves and their prisoners; it is otherwise left to go to rack and ruin.

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Dryads: Dryads are minor goddesses who live inside the oldest trees of the forest. At night, they sing haunting songs and dance moon-clad through the woods. Those that join their reveries are placed under a Charm effect and induced to stay with the Dryad for a year and a day. The Dryad considers this marriage. There's 2-in-6 chance that upon being encountered, the Dryad already has one such spouse. Dryads die if their trees are ever cut down.

[Author's Note: Keeping the D&D naming convention here is personally annoying to me. Just call them "Nymphs" and have their elemental association determine a more granular name: Dryad, Naiad, Nereid, etc.]

Minotaur: The Minotaur was a bull-headed monster trapped in a labyrinth during the Dawn Age. Today, the term refers to a script-based disease that occurs when magic-users copy spells incorrectly. When a certain type of grammatical mistake is made, the magic-user is transformed and mutated: head swelling, protuberant growths, muscles swelling. The "bull-headed" appearance is poetic at best. 

Those transformed into minotaurs are compelled towards some goal under the earth, and dash into the tunnels built by Cavemen in search of it. Minotaurs do not speak, and only engage with those who try to slow their progress through the underground, though they also eat those they kill. Because of the similarity in behavior, some theorize there is still only one Minotaur--a singular logoform that possesses all those who suffer minotaurism--but these theories are untested.

The Minotaur is classically a bull-headed man (and all of us who have debated rules are well acquainted with such).

- Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters & Treasure by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Centaurs: In the Dawn Age, Centaurs had a sophisticated culture--one much more advanced than human culture of today. After a failed rebellion against the gods, their race was magically lobotomized. Today, they live in small family-based herds in the wild. They are exceedingly violent. Negotiating with one is like negotiating with a polar bear that can wield a spear.

Wizards can dispel this curse on a personal basis, awakening single Centaurs to sentience, but have little reason to do so.

Hydra: In the Dawn Age, proto-dragons were common. One such was the hydra. Damnably hard to kill, if even a 1/20th of its body isn't destroyed utterly with fire, it will regenerate. That's why they're still slurking around in modern times.

Medusae: A race of cacogen from a distant star, stranded here after their ship crashed in the Barrier Peaks. They have bred (spawned? cloned?) somewhat. In appearance, they look like human women with the lower bodies of serpents. Their hairs are prehensile. From their eyes, they can fire a beam that stuns and paralyzes living creatures. They wish to return to their sphere, but the materials and craftsmen of our modern world frustrate this goal.

Pegasi: The gods keep a certain number of winged horses--the pegasi--in reserve and grant them to true Heroes in furtherance of their goodly quest. In the same way that magic swords can only be wielded by Fighters, only Lawful Fighters who undertake a worthy quest will receive a pegasus. 

Undead

Skeletons and Zombies: When a body is raised and animated by magic but the soul is not returned, an Undead Servant is created. Lacking a soul, the body lacks all self direction, and will continue to decompose and deteriorate. The Wizard (or Sorceress, Witch, or Warlock) that animated the Undead Servant must carefully and specifically direct the Undead Servant, who will follow the letter but not the spirit of their commands. Skeletons are stronger than Zombies, and smell better.

Mummies: The same spells that raise Skeletons and Zombies raise Mummies, but the target of the spell is the Wizard himself. Done as part of a death-ritual, the Wizard confines himself to his sarcophagus and breathes the last incantation with his death rattle. If done correctly, the Mummy is like the lesser undead, but is self directed since the target and the caster are one and the same.

Ghouls: Victims of a disease with no cure, Ghouls can only eat mannish carrion. Like Lepers, they become desiccated, with rotting skin and parched lips. Like Lepers, they linger outside of the city and ask for alms. They are all but blind during the day but can see at night. They are sometimes found in the employ of Vampires, since they both require frequent victims but eat different parts of the Man.

Wights: The Necromancer Lord was defeated in the last age, but his undead still trouble the earth when discovered. Sealed in tombs and barrows, Wights suck the life from those unhappy treasure hunters who dare to trespass on their burial places. They are vulnerable only to silver weapons.

Wraith: A Wraith is a Wight that has gathered enough power to walk abroad from its tomb. They make their way towards the remains of the Necromancer Lord's fortress. The Wise fear that when another Wraiths return to their master's domain, he will rise again to trouble the world.

Specters: Let us not call Specters monsters. They are just the lingering ghosts of those who once lived who have too much life left over. Animals signal their coming, first: Owls will hoot to warn you. Slowly, the Specter's presence will fill the place they dwelled in life. They usually want something. It behooves you to find out what, because they make themselves more and more known until they get it.

Vampires: Everything you've heard about Vampires is true: their ability to transform into beasts or a mist, their aversion to holy symbols and garlic, their need to rest in their coffins, their nigh invulnerability. They are savage opponents! Luckily, travel for them is difficult, so they are easy to avoid--unless you are trying to steal into their castles.

To become a Vampire, the following steps may be taken.

1. Be born of the offspring of a Witch and The Devil...

2. Lead during life a career of more than ordinary wickedness, dissolution, and sin...

3. Be a Werewolf towards the end of life, for this will give you contact with Vampires and you can ask one yourself how to proceed further.

4. Live in a Slavonic country. They possess the highest ratio of Vampires to people and odds are therefore greater that you will become one. Also, there is an excellent chance you will be bitten by a vampire and if this happens often enough you will automatically become a Vampire after death.

5. Die excommunicated from the Church, if possible by suicide.

6. See to it that you are buried with mutilated rites in desecrated ground.  

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Werewolves: Werewolves are humans brought to close to death by a Wolf but denied the chance to die. They linger near death as a Werewolf and can take a half-Man, half-Wolf form at night, during the full moon, or at certain times of the year. Duration varies depending on a number of factors. 

Werewolves are sometimes thought to be a sub-type of Vampires: a strain of the genus that lingers overlong in the wolf-form. Stories of "families" of Werewolves are Peasant superstition, told by wicked Cobblers. Stories of other types of Lycanthropes--Werehyenas and Weretigers, etc., are unfortunately true.

Werewolves are of two sorts: voluntary and involuntary. Those who have been bitten once too often by a Vampire, or have been cursed into Wewrewolfdom by a malevolent Witch, or have inadvertently placed themselves in the hands of an evil or incompetent experimenter with youth-giving elixirs and potions are all involuntary Werewolves. 

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Animals

Basilisk: A toad's egg incubated by a chicken, the Basilisk is the King of all Serpents. It's said their glance is death, but this refers to the fact that it can shoot a jet of venom from its eye. Indeed, they are so venomous, that they leave a trail of poison oozing in their wake. Merely touching it is deadly. They love to look at their own reflections (like many kings). They are opposed by the goodly King of Frogs. 

Cockatrice: A chicken's egg incubated by a toad, the Cockatrice is a less clever but not less dangerous than the Basilisk. Their venom is delivered by their spurs; it petrifies their victims. They use petrification to keep fields of statues fresh for later consumption. The Cockatrice's tears reverses the process. They are sometimes also called Cock o' the Field.

Gorgons: The "cattle of the gods," Gorgons are oxen with incredibly-hard scaled hides. They can breathe a vapor of petrification 1d4 times a day. 

In the same way that Australian possums (Phalangeriformes) were named for the Virginia possum (Didelphis virginiana) because people saw them and said "Hey, ain't you that feller from America?", the cattle-Gorgon are named after an entirely different class of petrifying monsters. See also: Medusae. 

Griffon: A species of winged Lions. Beast-masters of the lands of Faraway have been known to tame them and ride them--a right exclusively given to their shahs and sultans. Griffons are naturally hostile to Horses; even tamed Griffons will go berserk in a horse's presence and attempt to kill it. 

Manticore: A Tiger that eats a man becomes a Manticore. Like the Alzabo, it incorporates the man's personality into its own: whistling his songs, walking his roads, calling for his wife by name to come out of the house and be devoured too. The more men the Manticore eats, the stronger and cleverer it becomes. They also grow quite vain--gifts of fancy hats allow you to avoid their double rows of razor sharp teeth. Manticores sometimes form faux family groups with Harpies. 

Rocs: A breed of Eagles large enough to predate on Elephants. They speak the Common tongue. Though they hate evil monsters and the Unseelie Court, they claim a right to any walking thing under the sun as their prey, and have been known to swallow up Maidens, Hermits, and Elves. They are a proud race, refusing to be anyone's servants. Intimations that they could be used as steeds is their gravest insult. 

Horses: Everyone knows what a Horse is. All Horses count their birthdays from New Year's Day.

Dragons

There are six types of dragons that incarnate in this age: five evil dragons (manifestations of the Destroyer) and one good (manifestations of the Preserver). 

White: Manifestations of the starving winter. Their breath is like a storm of ice. They are strong against earth and water, but weak against fire and lightning.

Black: Manifestations of decay: the corruption of the body, old age, rust. Their breath is like acid. They are strong against earth but weak against water. 

Green: Manifestations of sickness, poison, and toxic plants. Their breath is a choking cloud. They are weak against air.

Blue: Manifestations of the destruction of nature: the thunderstorm, the earthquake, the tsunami. Their breath is lightning. They are weak against fire, but strong against lightning and water. 

Red: Manifestations of the coming apocalypse. Their breath is fire. They are strong against all elements except for water. 

Golden: Manifestations of God's promise to preserve Mankind. They are expert magicians. They also breathe flame. 

Draconic Abilities: For every 10 hit points a dragon has, they manifest one of the following abilities. The GM should randomly determine which abilities a particular dragon has:

1. Corrosive Spittle: Every bite attack that hits reduces the victim's armor class by 1.
2. Venomous Spittle: If a character is hit with a bite attack, they must Save vs Poison or become poisoned. If poisoned, they suffer 1 damage at the end of their turn. If a poisoned character is hit with another bite attack, a second saving throw is not allowed: the character automatically increases the damage they take by 1.
3. Forked Tongue: At the beginning of combat, all characters who can hear the dragon must Save vs Doom. On a failure, the dragon gets to make a surprise attack against each character who failed.
4. Clanging Scales: On an attack roll of 1 against the dragon, the weapon used is destroyed--blunted by the scales as they grind together.
5. Smoking Nostrils: The dragon can make an additional breath attack each combat.
6. Scalding Blood: On a successful melee attack against the dragon, the dragon deals the attacker 1/2 of the damage taken.
7. Lashing Tail: The dragon can make an additional attack every round with its tail: +[HD], 1d8 damage. 
8. Terrible Jaws: The dragon's bite attack is increased by one dice step.

Wyvern: A Wyvern is to a Dragon as a Duke is to a King. They are winged, and walk on the wings like Dragons from Game of Thrones. They are fond of songs. They have the Lashing Tail and Venomous Spittle draconic abilities. 

A Wizard Did It

Chimera: There are many known spells in a Wizard's repertoire with unknown purpose or uncertain practicality. The spell that creates a chimera is one of these. Yes, you can combine a goat, a proto-dragon, and a lion into a singular beast that acts more-or-less like a natural predator--but why would you? Why did the ancients invent this spell? Why was it passed down from generations? Why did you bother to gather these animals together and cast it?

Invisible Stalker: These spirits are called "Invisible Stalkers," but are more correctly named "Phantoms" by true scholars of magic. A Phantom is a temporary spirit, not one that pre-existed in another realm, given animation by a spell. Each spell that summons a Phantom creates one specifically for some task--like summoning a hammer for hammering or a pot for cooking. The most terrible of these are those summoned to assassinate. Once the Phantom has accomplished its task, it returns to non-being. The longer it takes for a Phantom to accomplish its task, the more the magic breaks down, and the less likely to succeed it is, which makes it break down more. Think Mr. Meeseeks. 

THERE are Spirits to whom time and space do not exist. They travel swiftly, circling and girdling the  earth in the twinkling of an eye, always to a purpose. These Spirits are sent or summoned, and they must be allowed to depart when their tasks are accomplished. 

Phantoms and Specters are the creations of magic and are not true Spirits; they are usually temporary and are intended to baffle, confuse, and distract you. 

- The Book of Weird by Barbara Nindle Byfield

Elementals: A Phantom conjured into a body of raw element--a boulder stone, a pond, a bonfire, a storm cloud, etc.--takes on a physical body and is no longer Invisible. These are called Elementals. 

Hippogriff: Because Griffons are hostile to Horses, crossbreeding them is considered impossible. Impossible, that is, without the aid of magic. The result is a Hippogriff, which is much like a Griffon in appearance but more equine. Importantly, the Hippogriff's flight is magical in nature and not bound by natural laws. A Hippogriff can fly to the moon. Those on its back are not troubled by the Chaos that fills the space between the spheres. 

Living Statues, Robots, Golems, Androids: Different names for the same concept, the fundamental principle is the same: create a Homunculus (a tiny person) through occult means, then build for him a suit of armor capable of being moved by his miniscule movements, then insert him therein. Note that they are different from Gargoyles (see below). 

Robots, Golems, Androids: Self-explanatory monsters which are totally subjective as far as characteristics are concerned. 

- Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters & Treasure by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Ex Miscellanea 

Angels & Demons: The greatest of the Spirits are called Angels or Demons. They are of a kind, but have obvious differences in goals and temperament. Angels have their habitation in the Upper Air, from which they compose their bodies. Demons, being fallen, dwell in the Inferno, from which they make their bodies. In their "natural" shapes, both are Giant sized. Both may assume human or animal forms at will. Both categories have many divisions between Thrones, Wheels, Pits, Principalities, etc. 

In Faraway, Angels and Demons are given rather more Arabesque names (Djinn and Efreet). 

Devils seem like Demons, but are emanations or incarnations of the singular Devil. They sometimes keep company together.

Gargoyles: Despite their frightful appearance, Gargoyles are aligned with Law. They are carven by the Church as guardians, after all! A statue, after hearing so many sermons and after drinking so much holy water, eventually absorbs enough soul substance that it awakens. Gargoyles will protect the site of their birth, challenging those that approach with physical, mental, and moral tests.

Juggernaut: Of course, not all holy statues sit sedentary. Some are taken from their sanctuaries and paraded around the town on certain high holidays during the year. Some form the basis of mobile shrines, placed on temple chariots and moved from place to place. When these Gargoyles awaken, they are called Juggernauts. They move on a power all their own, dispensing justice as they move from place to place.

Purple Worm: Biochemical monsters grown by Cavemen before their degeneration for the purpose of hollowing out their caves. Left unchecked, their manipulated evolutionary processes have run amok. Purple Worms can grow to prodigious size. One is borrowing even now below the earth that is large enough to swallow cities. He is called...HIS MAJESTY THE WORM. 

Oozes, Slimes, Jellies, Puddings, Et Cetera: The same biochemical processes that created Purple Worms created a variety of gelatinous, giant, single-celled organisms that come in a variety of colors and levels of viscosity. Based on their color, expert Alchemists may deduce them being vulnerable or resistant to different elements, but these differences are mostly academic. 

Unblocking Yourself: Dungeonize your Home

Sometimes when you're writing a dungeon room, it can feel like pulling teeth. The empty space and the stocking result of "Trap with Treasure" mocks you.

Here's a technique to unblock yourself. Look around you. Put cogent details that you can see into your dungeon. 

Things I can see from my computer desk chair:

• The Mordant Arcana tarot deck
• A pipe
• The Fantasy Prompt Generator zine from Norn
• A helmet with antlers on it
• A hedgehog figurine
• My diploma
• My college honor pledge saying that I would not steal (that I stole)
• A bow

And that's without turning my head. Just looking around in my field of vision, I already have some prompts for a room with that stocking result. Let me see if I can put them together...

The Wizard's Study

A small study. Inside, there is a cozy leather armchair and a small end table with a hedgehog statue (worth 10g) holding a pipe. On the walls is a tapestry of a dweorling with magnificent antlers carrying a bow that slightly ripples in an unfelt breeze and a framed diploma from the Unseen University. 

• Pipe: The pipe can create a fog cloud 1x/day.
• Tapestry of a dweorling: The tapestry is enchanted; a gift from the wizard's father-in-law. It will make one missile attack (+4) per round against anyone who enters the room that isn't the wizard.

See? Pretty easy! 

Now, go see if you can put together an entire dungeon just using your favorite things from around your house! 

While I have you...

Did you have a chance to check out my Dungeon Design Course from last year? I wanted to share an update! Jon from 3d6 Down the Line was kind enough to record audio versions of each chapter! You can now listen along to the exercises! 

If you took something away from the Dungeon Design Course, I hope you'll consider voting for it as Best Series in the Bloggies. Voting is happening now until 2/27/2026!

Vote now!

Random Elf-friend Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elf-friends get.

What are elf-friends? Well:

The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.

- The Hobbit

So, you know, folk like Elrond and Aragorn. You might call them half-elves.

You can either roll a d12 for your culture to get a result from a tightly-bound part of the table or roll a d50 to get anything from the entire table.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with half-elves in it. 

- The random dwarf advancement table is here.
- The random human advancement table is here.
- The random elf advancement table is here.

Note: When you roll an advancement option twice, you can either select the option above or below the rolled benefit. However, a few advancements can be upgraded several times or unlock a new art entirely. These are noted in the text.

Elf-Friend

Art by Goran Gligovic

North

1. Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
2. Barrow Blessing: If you kiss the brow of a fallen companion, no evil will despoil their body. They will never raise as un-dead.
3. Bolster Hearts: As a fast action, say a line of poetry or boldly shout your war cry. All companions who can hear you gain +2 to their rolls until your next turn. (If you never get another turn because you fall, the bonus lasts for the rest of the combat.)
4. Far Strider: If you are unarmoured when you serve as a Scout, a successful Skill test allows you to choose two effects (instead of one).
5. Heir of the North: Can always sense the direction of true north, even if underground. If you ever fail a test as a Guide to orient, you gain a +1 bonus the following day. This bonus is cumulative with itself for each day you fail orienteering.
6. Master Herbalist: Gain Herb Lore if you don't already have it. (If you already have it, you gain another random Lore.) On a journey, when you act as an herbalist and successfully find an herb, the GM rolls twice to determine what you find; you gather both herbs.
7. Pursue Foes: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 2 movement points to deliberately seek foes to challenge. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 3d6 and drop the lowest dice (instead of rolling 1d12).
8. Resourceful Herbalism: When using an herb, a single use can be stretched to benefit two targets simultaneously.
9. Rumours of the Earth: If you act as the company's Scout, instead of following the normal procedure, you may spend 2 movement points and gather rumours by listening to the earth instead of roving afar. Make a Skill Δ10 test. On a success, the GM reveals a sound clearly detailing one entry on the local events table (if any). The GM will tell you if there is another local event in this hex. If there is, you may immediately spend 1 movement point and gain another clue about this encounter. This Art cannot be used at the same time as Far Strider.
10. Skillful Archer: You may make Maneuvers from afar using a missile weapon. To perform a ranged maneuver, test Valour against a Δ8 + your target's Valour. If successful, you deal a significant setback to your foe.
11. Student of Ruin: When you study a Numenorean artifact or visit a site important to the Men of the West, you can sing a song that tells of its history. Roleplay a few lines. If you do so, gain 1 Hope.
12. Wise of Ways: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests related to Scouting.

South

13. Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
14. Brave: You are resistant to fear damage.
15. Captain of Men: During combat, you may use a fast action on your turn to shout a command to an ally who can hear you. They may make an extra action that turn.
16. Hands of Healing: In combat, you may use your action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death—as long as you minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). During a journey, your job can be "Healer." Each day spent ministering to a companion reduces one of their Critical Wound in severity and speeds their recovery—the GM will determine exactly how this works.
17. Keen Eared: Gain +2 bonus to any tests related to listening. If you spend a turn listening, the GM will tell you if there is any breathing creature hiding in your immediate area. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
18. Keen Eyed: You see as well under the stars as you do under the full moon.
19. Pursue Secrecy: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 3 movement points to attempt to avoid pursuit. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 2d12 and use the lower result.
20. Skirmisher: If wearing no armour heavier than leather armour, gain +1 to damage.
21. Student of the Enemy: If you study a character for a turn, the GM will tell you how many Endurance points they have. Once you've made your assessment, you can ask for the updated number with a glance.
22. Tall: Add +4 to your Strength score for the purposes of your carrying capacity.
23. Victory from the Jaws of Defeat: When you miss an attack roll, gain +2 to your next attack roll against the same creature. This bonus cannot be cumulative with itself.
24. Walker on the Dead Marshes: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests for orienteering as a Guide.

All Elf-Friends

25. Artifice: You can forge items of enchantment.
26. Bane of Wolves: You deal +1 damage to wolves and werewolves. Keep a tally of how many wolves you have killed. At 50 wolves, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 wolves, this bonus increases to +3.
27. Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
28. Evermind: This virtue is only expressed when you fall in battle. No evil creature will despoil your body. You will not rise as un-dead. Your corpse will be preserved for many weeks. Flowers will grace your grave.
29. Far Ranging: Choose a type of region that you are familiar with: forest, hills, mountains, swamps, or wastes. When you serve as the company's Guide, treat these hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in this region is Δ6.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 5 times, selecting a new type of region each time.
30. Friend to Horses: When you serve as the hostler, you may care for three steeds instead of two. All steeds in your care gain +2 bonus to Morale tests.
31. Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
32. In the Lands of My Fathers: On a journey, you gain a +2 bonus to any job you do if you are within the ancestral lands of your people. For Northern Elf-friends, this is within the bounds of Arnor. For Southern Elf-friends, this is within Gondor's historical bounds.
33. Inspiring March: Reduce damage from forced marches for allies by -5 for the first day, -4 for the second day, -3 for the third day, and so on, until you can no longer reduce the strain.
34. Seer: Once per month, you may undo the consequences of a particular action that you or an ally have just taken, declaring it to be just a vision.
35. Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
36. Pathfinder: When the company Explores a region, the GM will roll 2d6 for the local event and let you see the two dice. You choose which dice roll to use. 1s tend to be ill fortune. 3s tend to be interactions with the wild. 6s tend to be encounters with the Free Peoples.
37. Royalty Revealed: While wearing the heraldry of your house, NPCs that you lead into battle gain a +2 Morale bonus. Additionally, you may use your Skill attribute instead of Beauty to determine the Morale bonus for NPCs in your service.
38. Staunching Song: Directly after combat, remove 1d4-1 damage from one companion.
39. Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
40. Vigilance: While traveling, you can spend 2 movement points to serve as a Lookout in addition to a secondary job.
41. Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
42. Wingfoot: Gain +2 Movement.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
43. Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.
44. +1 Valour
45. +1 Strength
46. +1 Beauty
47. +1 Skill
48. +1 Subtlety
49. +1 Understanding
50. +5 Endurance.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.

Random Elf Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elves get.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with elves in it. 

Elves

When you advance, you may either:

• Roll a d10 to an advancement based on your culture.
• Roll a d30. On a result of 1-10, read the corresponding entry in your culture. On a result of 11-30, read the corresponding entry in "All Elves."

Art by Goran Gligovic

Wood Elf

1. +1 Subtlety
2. Bane of Spiders: You deal +1 damage to spiders. Keep a tally of how many spiders you have killed. At 50 spiders, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 spiders, this bonus increases to +3.
3. Hit a Bird's Eye in the Dark: Your Critical Wounds with a bow are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).
4. Master Hunter: The job of Hunter only costs you 2 movement points.
5. Point-Blank Archery: You may use the Melee action to fire a bow in close combat against opponents engaged with you.
6. Swift: If you Moved the last round of combat, gain +2 Defense for one round.
7. Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
8. Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
9. Wood Wary: While in the forest, you are never surprised.
10. Woodcrafty: When you serve as the company's Guide, treat forest hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in forest hexes is Δ6.

Grey Elf

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Subtlety
3. Enchanted Voice: What you sing of appears as illusions before the eyes of mortals. Elves and sorcerers are never baffled by these seemings, but other folk may react as if these illusions are true.
4. Lore of the Land: You may ask if there is a hidden feature in this hex—the GM will answer truthfully. The company will still need to Explore to find it.
5. Love of Languages: Gain +2 to your Understanding checks to see if you know a language that you encounter.
6. Precise Shot: Outside of combat and hunting, your long practice allows you to fire trick shots with the bow. If you have a chance to carefully aim your bow, you may knock apples from heads, blow out candles, and cut thin ropes. The GM must adjudicate what is reasonably achieved even by a master archer.
   Advanced Guidelines: If using the advanced guideline about shooting into melee, this art also allows you to treat the base chance to hit the wrong target as 2-in-6 before aiming.
7. Shipwright: You gain +2 to swimming or piloting boats. Moreover, you will (almost) never drown (though you will shrug off burdens such as armour in the process of swimming).
8. Staunching Song: Directly after combat, you may heal 1d4-1 damage to one companion.
9. The Stones Tell: When you travel to a new hex, the GM must tell you the main name of that hex entry. You hear the land telling you its own name.
   • Wood-weird: If you roll this advancement a second time, it upgrades. Each great forest, tall mountain, and deep lake has a spell hidden in it. If you spend the night sleeping in a new, significant, natural location, make an Understanding Δ12 test. On a success, you may learn a new Song of Power from the land itself, as if you had a mentor. You may make this test only once per hex, ever.
10. Subtle Attacks: If you are wielding a one-handed weapon and nothing in your off hand, Critical Wounds you deal are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).

High Elf

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Understanding
3. Bane of Trolls: You deal +1 damage to trolls. Keep a tally of how many trolls you have killed. At 50 trolls, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 trolls, this bonus increases to +3.
4. Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
5. Beauty of the Stars: When you succeed in a roll to influence the reaction of mortals, you may invoke a sense of awe, beguilement, or forgetfulness (your choice).
   • Awe: The mortal dares not stand against your wishes.
   • Beguilement: The mortal is inclined to agree to your proposals, if within their power.
   • Forgetfulness: The mortal only dimly recalls your meeting, and almost no specifics, as if it happened in a dream.
6. Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
7. Inner Light: At night, you are surrounded by a shimmering starlight. Your great vision can pierce through mists and fogs. Additionally, once per day, you may negate a shadow of darkness created by a servant of the Enemy.
8. Light of Aman: The light of Aman shines through you, withering wraiths, the un-dead, and others who dwell in the Unseen World. Your attacks equally affect those material and immaterial, tangible and intangible.
9. Ósanwe-kenta: You may speak through telepathy with anyone else who has this ability. Also, you can intuit the meaning of others' speech and can make yourself understood, even if you do not share a language.
   • Read the Heart: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. If you study a character for a turn, you may present the character a mental choice between two options and understand which of the two they would choose. They are intuitively aware of your mental challenge.
10. See the Unseen: You see into the Unseen World. You recognize items of enchantment, see through phantoms of sorcery, can perceive non-incarnated spirits, hear songs of power at a distance, and recognize wizards for what they are.

All Elves

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Understanding
3. +1 Subtlety
   • You may gain this advancement twice.
4. +5 Endurance
   • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
5. Art of Aulë: You can forge items of enchantment.
   • Elven Arts: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. You can make the waybread of your people, lembas, and the rejuvenating cordial, miruvor.
6. Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
7. Ear for the Music of Ulmo: If you camp near a river, lake, or the sea, you may hear an echo of the Music of the Ainur in the waters: visions of things that are, or were, or might be. Once per camp, you may ask the GM: "If I do X, will Y happen?" The GM will answer honestly.
8. Eat Song and Drink Story: You only need to eat a ration every other day
9. Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
10. Judgement of Námo: You are immune to the fear damage from un-dead, wraiths, and ghosts.
11. Nessa's Step: If you are not wearing armour, you have near perfect balance and are able to run along tree limbs, ropes, or narrow cliffs. Moreover, you barely bend blades of grass as you travel and can run on top of snow or mud without leaving a trace. Those relying on sight (as opposed to smell) have difficulty tracking you.
12. Nienna's Grace: If you have not dealt damage in the last day, all healing effects you deliver to remove damage heal +1 damage.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 5 times. The bonus to healing effects is cumulative.
13. Oromë's Rebuke: You may rebuke a wild animal, even one in the Shadow's service, by succeeding on a Beauty test. The difficulty is equal to 2 + (the animal's Endurance / 10). In combat, using this Art is a fell action. Rebuked animals will try to avoid you in combat and, if possible, flee the battle. This test can only be made once per animal.
14. Robed by Vána: You feel no discomfort from hot or cold weather and suffer neither penalties nor effects from it.
15. Saddleless Riding: You ride without tack or saddle. Horses you ride can understand your Elvish speech and obey your commands as well as a page.
16. Sleep of Irmo: Instead of sleep, you rest in waking dreams of memory. If a nighttime encounter occurs, you can be armed and armoured. (You still use the normal rules for surprise.)
17. Tulkas's Prowess: You gain +3 Movement while unarmoured.
18. Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
19. Weaving of Vairë: You may sing two Songs of Power at once, blending their melodies together.
20. Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.