d20 Malhavoc Press The Book of Experimental Might.pdf

EXPERIMENTAL

BOOK

MIGHT

A sourcebook by your request

By Monte Cook

Requires use of the Dungeons & Dragons® Third Edition Core Books, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

This book utilizes updated material from the v. 3.5 revision.

Additional Credits

Editing and Production: Sue Weinlein Cook

Cover Illustration: Kieran Yanner

Interior Illustrations: Kev Crossley, Eric Lofgren,Jennifer Meyer,

Scott Purdy, Arne Swekel, Tyler Walpole, and Kieran Yanner

Cover Design: Peter Whitley and Caroline McKee • Interior Page Design: Peter Whitley

Playtesters: Sue Cook, Matt Filla, Mark Karau, Jacquelynn Karau, Tod Gagliano,

Sarah Schneider, Keith Strohm, and Kent Wayson

For supplemental material, visit Monte Cook’s Website: < www.montecook.com >

“d20 System” and the “d20 System” logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used according to the terms of

the d20 System License version 6.0. A copy of this License can be found at < www.wizards.com/d20 > . Dungeons & Dragons ®, D&D ® , and Wizards of

the Coast ® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used with permission. Malhavoc is a registered

The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned.

This edition of The Book of Experimental Might is produced under version 1.0a, 6.0, 5.0, and/or draft versions of the Open Game License, d20 System License and

Trademark Logo Guide, and the System Reference Document by permission of Wizards of the Coast. Subsequent versions of this product will incorporate later versions

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Designation of Product Identity: The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, version

1.0a: Any and all Malhavoc Press logos and identifying marks and trade dress, such as all Malhavoc Press product and product line names including but not limited to

The Complete Book of Eldritch Might, The Book of Hallowed Might, and Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved; any specific characters, monsters, creatures, and places; capital-

ized names and names of places, artifacts, characters, countries, creatures, geographic locations, gods, historic events, magic items, organizations, and abilities; any

and all stories, storylines, histories, plots, thematic elements, and dialogue; and all artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, illustrations, maps, and cartography, like-

nesses, poses, logos, or graphic designs, except such elements that already appear in final or draft versions of the d20 System Reference Document or as Open Game

Content below and are already open by virtue of appearing there. The above Product Identity is not Open Game Content.

Designation of Open Game Content: Subject to the Product Identity designation above, the following portions of The Book of Experimental Might are designated as

Open Game Content: the class tables and “Class Features” sections in Chapter One; the feats in their entirety in Chapter Three; the names, spell parameters (range,

duration, etc.), and game mechanics of the spells in Chapter Five; the magic items in their entirety in Chapter Five; and anything else contained herein which is already

Open Game Content by virtue of appearing in the System Reference Document or some other Open Game Content source.

remainder of these Open Game Content portions of this book is hereby added to Open Game Content and, if so used, should bear the COPYRIGHT NOTICE “ The Book of

unauthorized use of the artwork or non-Open Game Content herein is prohibited without express written permission from Monte Cook, except for purposes of review or

use of Open Game Content consistent with the Open Game License. The original purchaser may print or photocopy copies for his or her own personal use only.

This document is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental.

THE

The Book of Experimental Might

Table of Contents

Introduction: ONE MORE TIME

Overview ...........................................................3

Using This Book ...............................................3

Chapter Four: PLAYING THE GAME

Hit Points ........................................................33

Why Grace and Health? ................................................33

Design Decisions: More Hit Points ....................................33

Disabled, Dying, and Dead ..........................................34

Magical Healing ...........................................................34

Design Decisions: Magical Healing ..................................34

Shielding Others .........................................................34

Poison ..............................................................34

Actions in Combat .........................................35

Drawing an Item............................................................35

Readying/Delaying........................................................35

Standing Up....................................................................35

Taking a Breather .........................................................35

Design Decisions: Breathers ..............................................35

Chapter One: CLASSES

Clerics, Druids, and Wizards ........................5

Sidebar: Twenty Levels of Spells .....................................6

Spells per Level...............................................................6

Design Decisions: New Spell Progression .........................6

Cleric Disciplines ..........................................................6

Design Decisions: Divine Presence ......................................7

Design Decisions: Healing ...................................................8

Design Decisions: Turn Undead ...........................................8

Druid Disciplines................................................................9

Design Decisions: Druid Disciplines .................................11

Wizard Disciplines ............................................................12

Design Decisions: Familiars ................................................15

Paladins and Rangers ....................................17

Paladin Disciplines .......................................................17

Ranger Disciplines .......................................................18

Bards and Sorcerers ....................................21

Runeblade........................................................21

Design Decisions: The Runeblade ......................................22

Design Decisions: Runeblades in Play ..............................26

Chapter Five: MAGIC

Magic Item Pricing and Spellcasting

Costs ................................................................36

Spell Lists .......................................................36

Cleric Spells .................................................................36

Design Decisions: Virtually No “Save or Die” ..................37

Design Decisions: Missing Spells .....................................40

Druid Spells ...................................................................41

Wizard Spells ................................................................44

Spell Descriptions ........................................50

Design Decisions: Arcane Lock and Knock.......................52

Design Decisions: The Stat-Boosting Spells ...................55

Design Decisions: No Raise Dead .......................................72

Design Decisions: Animal and Monster Form Spells .....76

Magic Items ....................................................82

Healing Potions ...........................................................82

Design Decisions: Healing Potions ..................................82

Potion and Wand Levels ..............................................82

New Items.......................................................................82

Chapter Two: SKILLS

Background Skills ........................................27

Identifying Magic Items...............................27

New Versions of Old Skills .........................27

Concentration..............................................................27

Design Decisions: Concentration .....................................27

Intimidate ......................................................................28

Tumble ............................................................................29

Move Silently and Hide................................29

Sneak ..............................................................................29

Chapter Three: FEATS

Gaining Feats .................................................30

Swapping Feats ...............................................30

Design Decisions: A Feat Every Level ................................30

Feat List ..........................................................30

Feat Descriptions..........................................30

Design Decisions: Metamagic .............................................32

Appendix

Open Game License........................................84

Introduction 3

One More Time

I had thought I was done. I had righted the wrongs done to me, achieved the victories I strove for,

bested those foes that deserved it, and in the end spared a few that seemed worthy of such consideration.

Some thought I had grown soft by that time. But my adventures were complete. My traveling days were done. I had

accomplished more than any mortal dared dream. I had held the very stars in my hands and crushed empires beneath my

heel. I had forgotten more magical lore than most arcanists had ever contemplated. Although lesser, unenlightened folk

thought me arrogant, surely I had earned a respite from petty struggles and the conflicts of younger mages—had I not?

Yet I found that even I was not entirely master of the Fates—no, not even lord of my own. I discovered that

I must take up my shadowstaff and leave my otherworldly island home one last time.

The multiverse would experience the might of its most terrible son once more.

—Malhavoc

nature. Even when the rules work just fine, I like to

experiment with them and see what other options are

available. It’s fun. The Book of Experimental Might is the

result of that tinkering. To tell you the truth, I never

intended these rules to be published. They were created for

my own games. But I did discuss them in my online jour-

nal at <www.montecook.com> and on the message boards

there, and a lot of readers told me they were interested in

learning more. In fact, the response overwhelmed me. So I

compiled this book by putting together the new stuff I had

created with some stuff from my previous products that is

very important in my current campaigns.

One of the main concepts explored throughout the

material in this book is the idea that the game’s magic sys-

tem embraces twenty levels of spells, not just nine. This is

an old idea, stemming from conversations during the 3rd

Edition design process about the many meanings of the

word “level” in the game. Really, it just makes sense to

offer magic-using characters twenty levels of spells—it’s

easier to remember that a 13th-level character can cast up

to 13th-level spells, not 7th. You’ll see that the material in

several chapters of this book speaks to this idea.

More than any of my previous roleplaying books, this

one is very conversational in tone and relaxed in nature. It

comes purely from my own games that I run for fun, not for

playtesting or any work-related endeavor. This is really just

one gamer talking to another here, nothing more.

Overview

This book is basically a collection of house rules that follows

the general structure of the 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook

and other variants like Arcana Evolved and other Books of

Might from Malhavoc Press. Here’s a chapter-by-chapter

rundown of the contents:

Chapter One: Classes —This chapter presents a new class,

the runeblade, and modified versions of the other core spell-

casting classes. The modifications in large part take advantage

of new aspects of the game presented in this book, such as

the twenty levels of spells described in Chapter Five.

Chapter Two: Skills— Here you will see a few skill-related

rules alterations, such as background skills and techniques

for identifying magic items. This chapter also introduces

variant versions of a few existing skills.

Chapter Three: Feats —This chapter offers a new, more

generous method for gaining feats, in addition to a number

of new feats and updated versions of core feats.

Chapter Four: Playing the Game— This section includes

new rules and alterations that affect the play of the game,

mainly related to health and combat.

Chapter Five: Magic— The largest chapter in the book

offers new rules for magic, in particular material to help flesh

out the concept of offering twenty levels of spells rather than

nine. Many spells presented here originally appeared in

Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved , The Complete Book of Eldritch

Might , or The Book of Hallowed Might. Others are modified

forms of spells from the Core Rules.

Throughout The Book of Experimental Might , all references

to spells, feats, and other rules not in this book come from

the v. 3.5 revision of the three Core Rulebooks: the Player’s

Handbook , DMG, and MM. This sourcebook is protected

content except for items specifically called out as Open

Gaming Content on the title page. For full details, please

turn to the Appendix on page 84. Open content is not other-

wise marked in the text of this book.

Using This Book

Even though this book may seem like a hodge-podge of vari-

ous rules, I encourage you to use its contents as a cohesive

whole in your games, as much of it interrelates. For example,

I simply cannot stop tinkering. I suppose it’s in my

The Book of Experimental Might

the disciplines in Chapter One rely on the idea that all characters

get a new feat each level, as described in Chapter Three. The new

metamagic feats in Chapter Three depend on the twenty-level

spell progression to function. And so on. So, if you decide to pick

and choose rules from this book to use, do so carefully.

Because this is a book of my own house rules, I’ve annotated it

heavily—much more than I usually do—to show you not only

what rules I have changed, but why. You’ll find numerous asides,

many of them set apart as sidebars, that explain why I use a partic-

ular new rule or suggest some things to consider if you’re thinking

about using it.

In retrospect, maybe I should have done more of this in my pre-

vious books. On some level, I suppose I always thought it was fun

for readers to look at a rule and figure out on their own why it was

(or maybe wasn’t) a good idea. Lots of author notes and commen-

tary can get heavy handed. In fact, as strange as it may sound, I

loathe reading most designer’s/author’s notes or behind-the-scenes

commentary. In many cases, these notes become a self-aggrandizing

opportunity to bash existing rules, and nobody wants that. Mostly,

though, I never wanted my designer’s blather to get in the way of

the actual rules. I write sourcebooks, rulebooks, and adventures to

be used , not just read, and when you’re trying to reference a rule or

an encounter, a lot of talk muddles things up.

Talking here about what this book is reminds me of what it is

not . It is not an indictment on the existing rules at all. There is no

presumption here that these changes are better than the Core

Rules. They merely exist as an alternative—a change of pace. An

experiment. Something for you to play around with, particularly if

your group has been using the existing rules for a long time and

you feel like mixing things up a bit.

In many ways, the rules here are very generous and make charac-

ters more powerful across the board. Of course, what’s good for the

PCs is good for the NPCs, too. As I’ve pointed out to my players

numerous times, I love making NPCs with all the extra feats (see

Chapter Three). The goal, however, is simply to make things more

fun. These rules and changes address what the game has become

after so many years of play, and—just as importantly—what we’ve all

become: players and DMs who have lots of experience with the rules.

Monte Cook

February 2008

Contributors to The Book of Experimental Might

About the Author

Monte Cook has worked professionally in the game industry since 1988 for companies including Iron Crown Enterprises, TSR Inc.,

and Wizards of the Coast. He is a codesigner of Dungeons & Dragons® 3rd Edition and author of the Dungeon Master’s Guide . He

has designed dozens of popular roleplaying books through his own company Malhavoc Press and also has authored miniatures

games, novels, comic books, and short stories.

About the Illustrators

Born and raised in the Australian coastal city of Darwin, cover illustrator Kieran Yanner came to the U.S. at the age of twenty to pur-

sue his dreams. With some hard work and many a sleepless night he has amassed a broad client base from around the world and

has produced creative works for a number of leading entertainment companies. See more of his work at < www.kieranyanner.com > .

Leeds, England, illustrator Kev Crossley learned early on that a monster lived in the abandoned house down the street—after that, he

saw monsters everywhere. He drew them all the way through school but in art college and university he was told to stop. After getting a

job in computer games, however, people started paying him to draw monsters. Moral? Art college and university were a waste of time.

A native of Western Canada, Eric Lofgren lives there still. The road to his commercial illustration career has been long and varied,

including two years in a commercial sign shop, ten years running his own sign business, and several years working as a tattoo artist

and digital retoucher of photographs. He has been a full-time illustrator for six years. See more of his work at < www.ericlofgren.com >.

Illustrator Jennifer Meyer, sometimes considered a wanderer, currently resides in Massachusetts. A freelance illustrator for more than

seven years, she has published with Malhavoc Press, Green Ronin, Sovereign Press, Hidden City Games, the Bradford Exchange, and

Goodman Games, among other clients. Check out her work for children and adults at < www.jennifer-meyer.com > .

Scott Purdy , a UK-based illustrator, has a great love of horror, evil, and all things tentacular. He wills clients his way if they have

need of nasty critters to bring to life. You can see more of Scott’s work at < www.scottpurdy.net > .

Arne Swekel is well known to game fans for his stunning work in the Magic: the Gathering and Harry Potter trading card games,

computer game titles from Raven Software, and, of course, his genre-defining work for the 3rd Edition Core Rulebooks and many

other titles for the world’s most popular roleplaying game.

Tyler Walpole’s teachers used to scold him for drawing when he should have been paying attention in class. Today, many of those

same teachers are happy that the self-taught illustrator is able to pursue his illustration career full time. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa,

with his wife Petra and sons Keegan and Kaiden, and co-owns a comic book store. Check out his site < www.tylerwalpole.com > .

Malhavoc Press

Malhavoc Press is Monte Cook’s d20 System imprint devoted to the publication of evocative game elements that go beyond tradi-

tional fantasy. Malhavoc products such as Ptolus, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, and The Complete Book of Eldritch Might exhibit a

mastery of the d20 System rules that only one of its original designers can offer. Current titles are available to purchase in print or

electronic (PDF) format at < www.montecook.com > .

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