Wizards of the Coast online

I just stumbled across some Twitter accounts belonging to Wizards of the Coast, so I thought I would just share them real quick.

• Wizards novels on Twitter: @WotC_Novels
• Wizards D&D on Twitter: @Wizards_DnD
• Wizards on Facebook

Icingdeath

I created this sword maybe 12 years ago for a minotaur PC, who was a member of the party for which I was DMing. The party was around level 10 (2nd edition rules), and travelled beyond the world of Krynn.

This party was basically a bunch of good guys, who fought evil with remarkable savagery. I decided to use the Ravenloft setting, so I added the Domain of Dread to my own Dragonlance setting. The wizard in the party was a Red Robe with few scruples, which made him susceptible to the influence of the dark powers of Ravenloft.

I needed a character who could pull the party in the direction of good, and as it turned out, the player, who played the minotaur agreed to provide this counterbalance. In order to empower him, and send him on a epic quest, I created the sword Icingdeath.

I stole the name from Forgotten Realms, as it is the name of a white dragon killed by Drizzt Do’Urden. I include the only write up of the sword I could find on laptop. I seem to remember there was a richer back story to the weapon, but unfortunately I cannot find it. I haven’t updated the weapon to 3rd or 4th edition rules either. I don’t have the 4th edition rules, and since my gaming days are long gone, I didn’t see any reason for me to update to 3.5 either.

I hope somebody will find this interesting and maybe update the stats. I’d be more than happy to post the stats on the blog, so if feel free to email me should you decide to update my sword. Email me at dragonlance (at) gigaboot (dot) dk

Icingdeath

Used by: Fighters, The white minotaur.

Description: This sword looks like a normal clabbard, except it glows with a faint white light when drawn.

Powers: Being a Frost Brand Icingdeath has the following natual powers:

• +3 bonus to hit and damage.
• +6 vs. fire using/dwelling creatures.
• Wielder is protected as if he wore a ring of fire resistance:
• Immune to normal fires (torches, flaming oil, bonfires, etc.)
• Large fires, molten lavas, wall of fires, etc. causes 10 hit points of damage each round the wielder is directly in it.
• +4 bonus to saving throws vs. red dragon breath weapon and magical fire.
• Damage rolls are calculated by -2.

Secrets: Icingdeath is an intelligent sword and has the following additional powers:

• Primary abilities: Detect fire using/dwelling creatures
• Locate fire using/dwelling creatures
• Extraordinary powers: Cone of cold 1/day (10d4)
• Blizzard 1/day blinds opponent

Special purpose: Slay fire using/dwelling creatures

• Special purpose power: Paralysis 1d4 rounds save to negate
• Intelligence:14
• Communication: Speech (telepathy)
• Number of languages: 2, Common, Minotaur
• Weapon ego: 21

Defenses: Icingdeath chooses its own user and thus does not permit any lesser fighter to wield it. The unfortunate one is subject to a cold shock doing 2d12 points of damage.

The Hierarchs of Shrentek

This little introduction is something I wrote for a campaign i started about 10 years ago with my old Dragonlance group. I needed an evil nation to counter Neraka and the Dragonarmies, so I made up the Hierarchs. The idea was that they should be very secretive and very violent in order to inspire fear and dread in the party. we stopped playing shortly after, so I never got to use them that much. I was planning on having the Dragonarmies butcher the Hierarchs in a orgy of violence but that never came to pass.

In the wake of the War of the Lance a group of people formed an unholy alliance, which was supposed to turn them into the most powerful force in Ansalon. Their tools were deceit, treachery and murder; and their willingness to commit the foulest deeds. Among these were renegade ogres, draconians and even a dragon or two. Other than that many wicked humans flocked to the group’s condor banner.

The groups, or Hierarchs as they call themselves, are not surprisingly followers of the dark god of vengeance Sargonnas. The Hierarchs are attempting to establish a powerbase in Ansalon and they have chosen the ancient city of Shrentek as their main city. With lightning speed and incredible precision, the Hierarchs’ forces were able to defeat the original inhabitants and take over the city and the surrounding areas. The people that were not killed were used as slaves and they were promptly put to work rebuilding the city in honor of Sargonnas.

Through the hard work of the slaves and the aid of their dark god’s infernal servants, the city was constructed in a matter of months. The Hierarchs solidified their grasp on the area, while maintaining a high degree of secrecy. They are still a rather unknown force, but whispers about them are slowly spreading across the Eastern part of Ansalon. The Silvanesti elves are concerned about an evil power so close to their borders, and are preparing for war.

For the time being, the Hierarchs do not posses the military might to challenge the regions of Khur, Blöde and Silvanesti, which is why they use spies to infiltrate and gather vital information. These spies are spread out all over the Eastern seaboard, providing the Hierarchs with an accurate rendition of the political climate.

The Hierarchs are currently considering a new foe – The Cabal. Gil-Galad has made his home in the area coveted by the Hierarchs, which has caused the two to clash on occasion. Currently, the conflict is not yet violent in nature; however, the future does seem rather unstable. If the Hierarchs decide to go up against the combined might of the Cabal, the region will surely experience destruction and death. Unbeknownst to the Hierarchs, the Cabal is reluctant to enter into an open conflict, because a lot of resources are gathered in Daltigoth.

The biggest obstacle to the plans of the Hierarchs is the tribes of Khur. In terms of military might a united Khur would almost certainly be able to repel any attacking force, given their knowledge of the treacherous lands of the region. Unfortunately, the tribes have a lot of internal rivalry, which prevent them from uniting behind one cause or leader. The Hierarchs are aware of this situation, and they attempt to fan the flames by attacking certain tribes making it look like the work of their enemies. Furthermore, the Hierarchs try to form alliances with some of the tribes that are willing to join the ranks of the Condor. However, since only a fool would trust the Hierarchs, the alliances are shaky at best. Moreover, the Hierarchs have managed to pace spies in many tribes, which give them a lot of information regarding the in fight that takes place. The spies have attained different ranks throughout Khur, ranging from common foot soldier to trusted advisor of the Zulkirs. Evidently, the Hierarchs are a major influence in the region, albeit a hidden one. The Hierarchs’ main goal is to dispose of the Khan who is currently the closest thing Khur has to a regent.

Reading list: What to do now

So, I never got to finish the War of Souls trilogy second time around. Work has been killing me for the last couple of months, and to be honest, that trilogy never fully agreed with me.

So anyway, I started rereading Hourglass mage, even though I read it last summer. However, when I am done with that one, I have no idea what to read next. Perhaps I should go get the Gargoyle King and read that, despite having read all the spoilers already over at the Dragonlance Forums.

It is such a downer that Wizards of the Coast killed off Dragonlance, now that I have money burning a hole in my pocket. Alas, I will have to spent it somewhere else I guess.

Vanity URL – new blog home

I recently purchased a new domain for my non Dragonlance related blogging pleasure. Since I already own a domain, which I use for testing purposes, and generally goofing around, I decided to reconfigure my DNS settings, so my gaming blog now is hosted on www.gigaboot.dk

I also configured Gmail for my domain, just for the fun of it. Hopefully this means I will start blogging a little bit more now.