Re: Goblin Porcupines!! Was: Favorite ship!

Paul Westermeyer wrote:

> Adam aka Nightdruid has done a kickbutt article on the porcupine. He
> really brought it to life, I'm constantly searching for a way to get
> the Jammers to fight one! Not sure if he has sent the article to the
> list or a website yet, he asked me to proof it. If he hasn't, bug him
> for it. It is just a real nice piece of work:)

        Pretty certain I did.  Anyways, here's part II of the article, this
time covering the runecasters needed to build the porcupines.

Goblin Rune Casters
        Goblins in wildspace have a higher number of spellcasters in their
tribes than their groundling cousins.  A typical tribe has a head shaman
with two or three apprentices and one to three witch doctors.  Except
for the head shaman and the primary witch doctor, all of these
spellcasters are 2nd or 3rd level.  Spellcasters are spread out among
their ships to reduce the risk that a disaster will seriously diminish
the goblins' meager firepower.  Goblin kings have many spellcasters at
their disposal, often several dozen.  Witch doctors are almost never
encountered on ships, as they are needed to craft furnaces.  Goblin
witch doctors are rune casters.
        Goblin runes are unique among runes of other races due to their unique
runes.  In appearance, the runes are no different than the runes used by
other races, but are subtly different.  The goblins treat their runs
with a special phosphorus paste, which cause the runes to glow ever so
slightly.  The glow is not noticeable unless viewed with infravision,
glowing in a variety of colors.  Further, scents and texture are also
used to create subtle differences between individual runes.  The goblins
make good use of these differences, using a single rune to exchange a
great deal of information.  The runes are also useful in misdirecting
invading humans, dwarves, and other races.  The shape of a way rune may
mean "safe passage" but the hidden messages within may warn of a deadly
trap ahead.
        In game terms, a goblin rune caster is similar to both an elvish totem
caster and a runemaster (see Evermeet, Island of Elves, the Viking
Sourcebook (HR1) and Dragon #257), but different from both.  They are
witch doctors (mages) that make use of the rune caster kit provided
below.  They are able to use the following magical runes:

Bloody Owlbear
Duration: Special (1 turn)
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        This rune is often placed on an crude bone or wooden amulet.  The rune
retains its magic until the amulet is donned by a goblin.  Once donned,
the goblin is enchanted with a berserker rage, temporarily gaining d6
extra hit points, gain an extra attack each round, and a gain a +1 to
hit and damage rolls.  So violent does the goblin becomes that he
remains conscious even if dropped past 0 hit points.  Only death at -10
hit points or the end of the rune's magic cause the goblin to lose
consciousness.  The goblin cannot differentiate between friend or foe,
so amulets with this rune are rare and almost always used as a last
resort.  Cornered goblin warriors will use such amulets to try and take
as many foes to the grave with them.

Venomous Wyvern
Duration: Special
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        A crude rune, the venomous wyvern is often inscribed on arrow heads.
When the arrow is fired, the arrowhead becomes enchanted with a toxic
poison.  A target struck by the arrow must make a save vs. poison or
suffer paralysis for 2d8 rounds.  Goblin warriors call this the Wyvern's
sting and favor using it.  Once the arrow is fired, the rune loses its
enchantment, no matter if it hits or not.  It can be used in conjunction
with the Rot Grub or Murderous Manticore runes, but not both.  Multiple
wyvern runes are not cumulative.

Striking Viper
Duration: 1 day
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        Often worn on amulets or pieces of jewelry, the striking viper bestows
great quickness on a goblin.  The wearer gains a +1 bonus to their armor
class score and an extra attack each round in combat.  Only a chief's
bodyguards commonly carry amulets with this rune to better aid their
defense of their liege.

Howling Worg
Duration: 1 day
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        Another rune commonly found on amulets, this rune gives the wearer the
ability to communicate with worgs.  The goblins use this rune to easdrop
on the conversations of their untrustworthy wolfish allies.

Feasting Scavvar
Duration: Special
Inscription Time: 1 day

        This rune is inscribed on a spearhead to be used in a ballista.  When
fired, the rune enchants the ballista to home in on crewmen on other
ships, striking with a  +2 bonus to hit.  The bonus only applies to
attacks against crewmen, not the ship itself.  If fired at a ship, the
rune's magic is wasted with no effect.  Only one rune can be inscribed
per ballista bolt.

Screaming Skull
Duration: Special
Inscription Time: 1 week

        A series of runes, these runes are carved into a skull.  So many runes
are carved that the skull is nearly completely covered with runes.  The
enchantment in the runes remain until the skull is hurled.  When thrown
or hurled by a sling, the skull emits a screaming sound.  Anyone within
20' of the skull must save vs. spell or suffer the effects of a fear
spell.  The skull shatters on contact, inflicting d8 points of
cold-related damage to any target struck.

Rot Grub
Duration: Special
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        Inscribed on arrow or bolt shafts, the rot grub bares a nasty
enchantment.  When the inscribed arrow or bolt hits its target, the rune
causes it to burrow in deeper, causing an additional point of damage and
makes removal of the shaft very painful.  It can be used with the
Venomous Wyvern rune but not the Murderous Manticore rune.

Wolf Spider
Duration: 1 day
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        When worn on an amulet or article of clothing, this rune grants the
wearer the ability to spider climb at will and jump up to 50' once a
turn.  The rune does not grant the ability to traverse webs nor immunity
to spider venom.  Goblin thieves and assassins are most often given this
badge when infiltrating an enemy encampment.

Murderous Manticore
Duration: Special
Inscription Time: 1 hour

        This rune is inscribed on the shafts of arrows or bolts.  When fired,
the arrow is instantly transformed into a small volley of arrows.  The
rune creates an additional d4 arrows in addition to the first arrow.
All arrows will be aimed at the original target, but their aim is poor,
suffering a -1 to hit.  Each arrow requires a separate attack roll and
some may miss their targets while others hit.  This rune can be used
with the Venomous Viper rune, but not the rot grub rune.

Coiled Dragon
Duration: Permanent
Inscription Time: 1 week

        Found on the masts of goblin ships, the Coiled Dragon acts to control
the smoke of the pump furnace.  This rune concentrates the smoke into a
single stream that quickly exists the air envelope rather than
dispersing into the air envelope and polluting it.  Ships without this
rune can still spelljam, but can only achieve a ship's rating of 1 and
cannot achieve spelljamming speeds.

Salamander
Duration: Permanent
Inscription Time: 2 weeks

        A complicated rune, the Salamander is always inscribed into the Pump
Furnace itself.  The Salamander transforms the magic inherent to some
woods into a force of motion, allowing goblin spelljammers to fly.  When
a pump furnace is active, this rune glows white hot and actually seems
to move and squirm like a living snake, but is not normally visible
unless one is inside the furnace.  This rune requires some maintenance,
and needs to be cleaned of soot every two months or so.  It takes a full
day and a crew of a dozen goblins to clean the furnace, during which the
furnace cannot be active.  The ship is vulnerable during these times,
and if at all possible, captains will either clean the ship in deep
space or at home base, never when around planets or along routes of
heavy spelljamming activity.

Q'nidar
Duration: Permanent
Inscription Time: 1 week

        Inscribed on the outside of the pump furnace, the Q'nidar, while not
necessary, makes operating the furnace much easier.  When operating, the
fire inside the furnace heats the metal to such temperatures that it
burns to touch.  It may even cause fires if combustibles come in contact
with the metal.  The Q'nidar rune reflects the heat back inward,
transforming it into magic to help power the ship.  With this rune, the
ship requires 25% less fuel than normal.

Rune Caster (kit)
Description: Witch doctors of spelljamming goblin cultures most often
adopt this kit.  Normal goblins treat rune casters with respect and awe,
while shamans are jealous of the obvious dependence upon them by the
goblin tribes of space.  The witch doctors make use of a runic alphabet,
both for casting spells and for record keeping, a feature in goblin
society unique to them alone.  According to legend, the goblin rune
casters were taught both their runic alphabet and the secrets of
spelljamming by a great and wise one-eyed goblin.  Some elvish sages
believe that the legendary teach of the goblin rune casters may have
been an aspect of Odin, but no one knows for sure why the Norse deity
would choose to impart such secrets to lowly goblins.
        Rune casters make use of normal wizard spells in addition to the
special runes they can create.  A rune caster may create one of their
special runes per week per level the rune caster has achieved.  This is
in addition to their wizard spells, but their selection of spells is
limited.  The particular runes that a rune caster has can vary greatly
from tribe to tribe.  Runes are closely guarded secrets of each rune
caster, given only to their apprentices.

Preferred Schools (choose 2): Abjuration, Alteration,
Invocation/Evocation, Necromancy, Shadow.

Barred Schools: None

Role: Rune casters are reclusive members of spelljamming goblin tribes.
They use their runes to create the pump furnaces so desperately needed
by the goblins to travel wildspace.  Additionally, they provide minor
magical aide for goblin heroes and chiefs, increasing their personal
power and prestige.  Due to the dependence of the tribes on them, the
rune casters are almost never encountered on spelljammers.  Instead,
they keep to the goblin lairs, heavily protected by guards and magic.
They dislike personal combat, instead manipulating the chief into
protecting them so that they can concentrate on crafting new furnaces
and other runes to increase the power of the tribe as a whole.

Weapon Proficiency: Rarely in combat, rune casters do arm themselves for
that eventuality.  They always carry a staff usually covered in runes,
which they use to threaten their fellow goblins.  The runes usually
glow, and goblins fear them greatly.  In truth, the runes are gibberish,
treated with glowmoss, but the goblins are too ignorant to figure the
truth out.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: herb lore, runes; Required: None.

Equipment: Rune casters carry the usual assortment of herbs, spell
components, and other various bits that a typical wizard carries.  In
addition, they keep their staffs on hand along with a rune or two to
protect themselves.  They always have a pouch with the equipment needed
to carve runes into wood, leather, or even iron.  They must frequently
replace said equipment, and constantly send their servants out to find
replacement pieces.  They often keep far more equipment than they need
in the event of accident or to confuse would-be thieves.  Their spell
books are always hidden well and coded to deter theives.  A rune
caster's lab is rarely portable.

Special Benefits: Rune casters can cast both magical spells along the
ability to craft runes.  A rune caster can learn one rune per level they
have achieved.  In addition to their mage spells, a rune caster can
craft one rune per level per week.

Special Hindrances:  Rune casters are more limited in their spells than
other spell casters.  They can only learn spells from two schools, and
cannot specialize in any school.  They may advance to 9th level, but
encountering a rune caster over 6th level is rare.  Optionally, a rune
caster with exceptional intelligence may gain additional levels per the
DMG.

Wealth Options:  Goblin tribes provide support for their rune casters,
so they have little need for money.  Rune casters start with d6 x10 gp
and higher level rune casters tend to be very wealthy, well bribed by
the chiefs.


Bloody Maw (sample fleet)

Porcupine Ships (all)
Tonnage: 30 Tons
Hull Points: 30*
Crew: 55
Maneuverability Class: D
Landing: Land & 50% chance of water
Armor Rating: 7
Saves As: Thin wood
Power Type: Pump Furnace
Ship's Rating: 2
Standard Armament:
            4 light ballista, crew 1 each
        Ram-mines
Cargo Capacity: 18 tons
Keel Length:  85'
Beam Width: 60'

*The Wings of the Night has 20 hull points.

        The goblin tribe Bloody Maw is a fair sized nation, with a total of
eight porcupine ships.  The ships are almost always encountered
together, as the goblins do not want to risk losing a ship to accident
or a more powerful ship.  They prey on local tradesmen and other light
vessels they encounter.  Unless a ship is known to have a green crew or
badly damaged, the Bloody Maw never attacks any ship larger than a
squidship.  Tradesman and wasps are their preferred targets.
        All eight porcupines have twenty four sailors, six weaponeers, twenty
archers, and five officers.  The crewmen vary only in the training and
duties they have.  Officers have more variety, depending on the ship.
The goblin chief sometimes rotates crew and officers to keep the
ambitious off balance.  The crew have the following statistics.

Goblin, Sailor: AC 6; MV 6; HD 1-1; THAC0 20; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon; SZ
S; ML 10; XP 15; mace, spear, studded leather armor, shield.

Goblin, Archer: AC 6; MV 6; HD 1; THAC0 19; #ATT 1; Dmg by weapon; SZ S;
ML 11; XP 15; short sword, light crossbow, studded leather armor,
shield.

Goblin, Weaponeer: AC 5; MV 6; HD 1+1; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon;
SZ S; ML 12; XP 35; battle axe, scale armor, shield.

Goblin, Officer, Typical: AC 4; MV 6; HD 2; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg by
weapon; SZ S; ML 14; XP 35; chain armor, shield, short sword, battle
axe.

Glepk: (Captain of the Groundling Slayer): AC 3; MV 6; F2; hp 13; THAC0
19; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon; SZ S; ML 14; XP 65; chain armor +1, shield,
short sword, battle axe.
        By far the largest and most vicious goblin aboard the Groundling
Slayer, Glepk earned the rank of captain the old fashioned way: he
killed the former captain.  Since then, he has ran a tight ship, putting
down any sign of resistance to his rule swiftly and brutally.  He is
quick with the lash and his crew hates him for it.  When in combat, they
suffer a -2 to their morale unless Glepk is slain.  If their captain is
killed, the crew must make an immediate morale check or surrender.

Holpic: (Captain of the Wings of the Night): AC 6; MV 6; F3; THAC0 18;
#AT 1; Dmg by weapon; SZ S; ML 14; XP 35; leather armor, shield, short
sword, spear+1, Str 15.
        Holpic considers himself a goblin knight, with a great mobat as his
steed.  Probably the strongest goblin of the entire fleet, Holpic
carries a great spear he uses as a lance when riding his mobat.  His
ship carries a flying cavalry of ten mobats, who he personally leads in
combat.  The Wings of the Night has been partially hollowed to make room
for these creatures to fly in and cling to the ceiling to hide from the
light of nearby fire bodies.  The mobats provide mobile archery mounts
for the goblins but are only released when the target ship has been
immobilized.

Chief Kaeak: AC 4; MV 6; F6; THAC0 15; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon; SZ S; ML
14; XP 35; chain armor, shield, short sword, battle axe.


--
Adam Miller