Other Tales and Emephera

Part One: Monsters.

Sunflowers (From an idea by Larry Niven)

• Number Appearing: 1 sq yd to 31x31 miles fields (100 per sq yd)
• Armor Class: 10
• Move: 0"
• Hit Dice: 1 hp each.
• Treasure: See description.
• Attack: Special
• Align: Neutral
• Intellegence: Non-
• Size: Small (4 inches) to L (12 feet)

Sunflowers are silver-faced, semi-carnivorous plants. In large patches the sunflowers not on the edge of the patch have depleted the soil. Sunflowers respond to outside stimuli and focus sunlight on anything flying overhead, frying it to crisp if they can. They do 1d6 per exponent of 10 sq yards; i.e., 1000 sq yards do 3d6, one square mile (2,919,542 sq yds) does 6d6 points of damage. Range is 300" but at double range they do 1/4 damage, at triple range, 1/8 damage.

On a calculator, take the LOG10 of the sq. yardage, and round to the nearest to calculate damage.

Gauss Dragon (Thanks to Norman Henderson for this nonsense)

• Number Appearing: 1
• Armor Class: -1
• Move: 9" / 24"
• Hit Dice: 9 - 11
• Treasure: H,S,T,U
• Attack: 1-6, 1-6, 3-24
• Alignment: Lawful Neutral
• Intellegence: Average to Very
• Size: Large (48' long)
• Chance of Speaking: 60%
• Chance of Magic use: 75%
• Chance of Sleeping: 40%

Gauss Dragons are silvery creatures, with a metallic sheen to their bodies. The breath weapon of a Gauss Dragon is one Magic Missle (as per spell) per hit point. Because of the nature of their breath weapon Gauss Dragons have strong magnetic fields, are -2 to hit with metallic weapons and a successful strike with a metallic weapon will transmit a 1d3 electric shock to the wielder unless precautions are taken.

Gauss Dragons prefer very cold climates, preferably ones with extremely bad weather. Gauss Dragons love lightning storms.

Alcohol Dragons

• Number Appearing: 1
• Armor Class: 4
• Move: 6" / 24"
• Hit Dice: 10 - 12
• Treasure: H,3S
• Attack: 1-4, 1-4, 3-24
• Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
• Intellegence: Average
• Size: Large (48' long)
• Chance of Speaking : 30%
• Chance of Magic Use : 10%
• Chance of Sleeping : 75%

Alcohol Dragons tend to have an appearance of poor health. They fight at -2 to hit on most occasions because usually they're drunk on their own breath weapon. But they are still dragons and should not be taken lightly!

The breath weapon of the Alcohol Dragon is, of course, Alcohol. Failing a save will result in intoxhication, and an impared fighting ability.

The favored attack of the Alchol Dragon is a crushing attack in which it simply lands on it's opponents.

Alcohol Dragons tend to favor warm climates, preferably near vinyards. Extremely rare, the inclinations and abilities of the Alcohol Dragon may actually make it a desirable neighbor for certain people.

Scrubbing Bubbles:

• Number Appearing: 1-20 x 1000
• Armor Class: 7
• Move: 6"
• Hit Dice: Special
• Treasure: None
• Attack: 1-3
• Alignment: Neutral
• Intellegence: None
• Size: Large Colonies

Scrubbing Bubbles were invented by a wizard who wanted to keep his dungeon clean but didn't want to work at it. Scrubbing Bubbles are more an annoyance than anything else, but they can be painful. They are only found in closed passageways and rooms and roam about dungeons cleaning walls, floors, and furniture. Upon encountering a party Scrubbing Bubbles will seep in though armor and... Clean! The sensation is not unlike being attacked with a million stiff toothbrushes and inflicts 1-3 points of abrasive damage.

Scrubbing Bubbles can be dissuaded with large volumes of water, and will avoid fire.

Cantrips

Sort

Seperates 1 cu yard/level, minimum 1 cu yd (or else it wouldn't be a cantrip, now, would it?), of any mixture of dry materials: Salt and pepper, for example, or gold, platinum, and bronze.

This spell does not affect living things, and cannot be used to separate materials bound together, i.e. mortar, plaster or stone.

Count:

The follow up to Sort, Count verbally announces the number of objects in a one cu yard/level area (mininum 1 cu yd), like grains of sand or pieces of silver. Count can count 10 * (level of caster +1) things, i.e. a zero or first level MU can Count 100 things, a second, 1000 things, a third, 10,000 things, and so one.

Remove

Like Sort, can Remove a (number) of (things) from a pile of things. Same restrictions and capacities as Sort.

Elf's Guide To Kitchen Magic Items.

Got a high-magic world, but not sure how to name things? A long time ago I ran a high-magic world, and came up with this chart for elvish names for common magical items. The names are all Tolkien's Elvish, and are reasonably accurate and descriptive.

• Urlad: A 6x6 inch plate, 1 inch deep, made of black marble. Saying the command phrase conviently engraved on the side in silver causes the top surface, also engraved with runes and sigils, to heat up to 350 degreed. A "hotplate."
• Himlad: A white version of the above, it makes things cold.
• Urlin: A glass tube with a black, engraved circular base, it functions as a "hotpot."
• Himlin: A "coldpot."
• Urwilwest: A "hotpot" with holes in the bottom of it, this is a popcorn popper.
• Urhwesta: A tube, 12" long and 5" in diameter. When activated (again, the command word is convieniently available), air is gently sucked in at one end, and blown out the other at high temperature. The tube is typically made of some rare wood, inside of which is a sewn latticework of Red Dragon sinew.
• Himhwesta: Similar to the above, it makes things cold.
• Urang: A "toaster oven."
• Finwil: A smaller version of the Urhwesta, this is a hairdryer.
• Angcol: This is a clothing iron.
• Quencirth: A rather large cube, 26"x26"x26", made of heavy redwood, polished smoothly and engraved with runes. Placing a book open-faced upon the one side that does not have runes will cause it to read aloud the page(s) set upon it. The user must still turn the page. It will read the text no matter how large or small, and it will read in the language of the text. It will read with the voice of the person who activated it. If a magical page is placed upon it, both the Quencirth and the page must make saving throws, the page at paper vs. lightning at +3, the Quencirth at Wood vs lightning at +4, or be ruined. In any event, the Quencirth cannot read magical writings. The item weighs 376 pounds, and understands the follwing commands Start, Stop, Louder, Quieter, Faster, Slower.
• Omabeth: Similar in apparence to the above, it requires that a blank sheet be placed on it, it resevoir filled with ink, and the command word spoken. It will then write, in Elvish, whatever is said in Elvish by the operator, until the page is full or the Stop command is given. It is made of oak, weighs 490 lbs. 10% of all Omabeths were gifts to humans and can also understand and write Common.
• Adubeth: Another cube, similar to the above. This is made entirly of magicked chalcite inlaid with white gold, and surrounded by a strong frame. It had been cut and fixed so that a one-inch plate, hinged within the frame, can be lifted off the rest of the block. A sheet of paper must be placed within, and the resevoir filled with ink, and the top closed. Another sheet must be placed atop the Adubeth, and the command word given. The Adubeth will then copy whatever is written on the facing page above to the page within. The copy process takes fifteen minutes. Magic cannot be copied, and has the same penalties as the Quencirth. The Adubeth is 14"x14"x14", and weighs 407 pounds. Both the Omabeth and the Adubeth have two resevoirs. If the first is filled with etching acid and the second with a neutralizer, the 'beths will engrave onto prepared metal the message intended.
• Fertir: A five-sided figure, a pyramid with a square base. The square face is 14" a side, and the pyramid is 10" high. There are two faces uninscribed with runes, a triange and the square. The uninscribed triangle is the actual base of the thing, and on the triangle face on top there is an inscrivbed circle. Placing a Rimfir (q.v.) in the inscribed circle will cause the Fertir to play it, starting from the begining. It understand the following commands: On/Off, Forward, Back, Dim, Loud, Start Over.
• Paltir: This is a tube, 16" long and 3" in diameter, made of bone covering a crystal rod. A slot at the back is 2.5" in diameter, to hold a rimfir (q.v.). The Paltir will dutifully record everything that occurs in front of it. The arc of vision is 30 degrees in both directions, and records also ultravision and infravision, although the user must have those abilities to see these recordings with a Fertir. The only command for a Paltir is "Start," and it always starts recording at the beginning of a Rimfir and deletes all of any previously recorded material.
• Rimfir: This is small disk, 2.5" in diameter, 0.5" thick, made of a grey crystal. A rimfir hold a maximum of 2 hours of audio and video information.
• Giron: A staff in a scroll case, this is an ivory rod inlade with onyx runes, polished perfectly smooth. Girons are always flat at one end and a rounded hemisphere at the other, and come in a variety of sizes, but the most common is 8.75" long and 1" in diameter. It has three commands, Slow, Fast, and Off. From the elvish "to shake or shudder," this is a vibrator.

Serious Magic Items (The Chains)

Spellbreaker:

2 ft long length of golden chain, with handle and leather wrapping. Requires its own proficiency to use. When threatened with a magical attack, the user can attempt to disrupt the spell by swinging the chain at the caster and making a "to hit" roll as if attacking an AC equivalent to 10 minus the caster's level. The spell need not have been directed at the wielder.

Wandbreaker

Similar to Spellbreaker, Wandbreaker, when weilded and wrapped around any magic item (rod, staff, sword, ect), except artifacts, can destroy the dweomer of the item. Item does receive a saving throw vs. crushing. Wandbreakers are a charge item, and usually hold 1-20 charges.

Chain of the Vampyre

Successfully hitting another living creature with this item and entangling as per bullwhip, the wielder drains 2 hp from his victim per round and receives 1 hp from the drain. These extra hitpoint are lost after eight hours.

Chain of Animal Control

Successfully slipping this chain lasso around the neck of any creature of animal intellegence will allow the weilder to control the item for d4+4 hours, and then the effect wears off. This chain can be used once/day.

Chain of Motion

A 5' length of very fine silvery chain with a rod handle at one end and a small, weighted ball at the other. As the user spins this item overhead (note: this requires at least 11 feet of room) all creatures within 120' (indoors) or 1 mile (outdoors) and outside the 5' radius of the item show up as small spots of light as the chain sweeps in the direction of the creature. Held, sleeping, stoned, or simply still creatures will not show up, but invisible, hidden, or out-of-sight creatures are revealed if they are moving.

Chain of The Long Fall

A 120' length of very light but thick chain, with a 5" sphere at either end. Holding a ball in place and saying the command word and the ball 'fixes' itself in place, regardless of whether it has anything to attach itself to. The other ball can then be thrown down its full length and the chain descended. Another word will cause the ball to come loose. There are four control phrases, two for each ball, so theoretically the user could descend to the end of the chain, fix the bottom ball, release the top ball, let it fall, and continue to descend if the drop were more than 120'.

And, before you ask, Spellbreaker is from an idea by Stephen Brust (does that man ever sleep?), the Chain of Motion is from an idea in Aliens, and the Chain of the Long Fall is from an idea by Isaac Asimov, as in his Lucky Starr and the Sands of Mars book.