We would love to see what sorts of creative things all of you have come up with for your games.

While we’re here, we want to thank those who have already sent in submissions, plus we thank those who have commented on the blog.

Previously… (Seriously. Check out the previously if you missed it!)

DAY FIVE

New unintelligent undead arrived today. More accurately, the bodies of the attacking dwarven warriors have been re-animated to act as guards, and so has Sigvald.

New arrivals are total jerks; at Jimbo’s suggestion, am trying to figure out how to sneak up on them and put silly hats on their heads while they are not paying attention. Limited success, limited access to silly hats.

Really looking forward to this weekend. Need vacation.

DAY SIX

Weekend vacation canceled due to adventurers. Hid in my strategically important water-filled hole while the dwarf skeletons and the reanimated Sigvald fought the intruders; pretended to be a semi-sentient toxic mold. Have perfected a pretty darn good impression, according to Jimbo. The trick is to make bloop-blurgle sounds and occasionally say things like ‘I am very toxic’; am told that I am quite convincing.

Impression has not been field-tested against actual adventurers; group of humans walked past the door to my room without bothering to look for me.

NOTE: Have taken precaution of writing ‘Warning: Cursed Fountain’ over the fountain and ‘Caution: Haunted Door’ above the doorway to deter entry.

DAY SEVEN

Decided to take the day off, adventurers or no. Aforementioned adventurers currently camping right outside my door, tending to wounds inflicted by Neil and his co-workers on level 2.

Trying to be very quiet. Poker night canceled; now reading a heavily annotated copy of “Menfolk are from the North, on the Ninvellir, standing upon the dwelling place of Sindri’s kin, they who are adorned in gold; Womenfolk should ever remain by the Hearth,” apparently a book of dwarven relationship advice, which I found on the floor covered in reanimated dwarf gunk.

Very interesting stuff. Now feel qualified to date a dwarven woman.

Have decided to grow a beard.

DAY EIGHT

Hate Mondays.

Adventurers left this morning to investigate down to level 3; have been hearing a lot of screaming and commotion coming from below all day. Very annoying.

Redecorating strategically important fountain and theoretically important fountain room to make them more ominous and therefore impractical to investigate. Jimbo has assisted me in adding layers of evil-looking symbols and junk to the wall. After much deliberation, we raided the room formerly belonging to Sigvald for candles and skulls and furs and things.

Having seen it, now strongly considering moving into Sigvald’s old place: very nice acoustics, good Feng Shui, a lovely secret door leading to a crawlspace that leads into the adjoining haunted woods next to the dungeon, excellent carpeting, good-sized closets. Unfortunately, a bit too conspicuous.

Huge main door, covered in skulls. I mean, you just walk into the first level of the dungeon, and you’re like “Oh, man, I bet the mini-boss is in there. Also: treasure.”

Still considering.

DAY NINE

Great day! Killed that group of adventurers, feeling really positive about life.

Quietly knifed the already injured wizard who was on watch; then calmly slit the throats of all the others in sequence. Now have a spellbook and am strongly considering becoming a mage.

Jimbo has volunteered to be my familiar.

DAY TEN

Will be updating further at later date; currently learning to cast spells. Magic not as hard as everyone makes it out to be, apparently.

About the Author
Clinton J. Boomer, known to his friends as ‘Booms,’ resides in the quaint, leafy, idyllic paradise of Macomb, Illinois. He began writing before the time of his own recollection, predominantly dictating stories to his ever-patient mother about fire-monsters and ice-monsters throwing children into garbage cans. He began gaming with the 1993 release ofPlanescape, which shaped his junior high years, and he was first published professionally in the ENnie Award-winning Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting from Paizo Publishing after placing in the Final Four of Paizo’s inaugural RPG Superstar! Competition. He currently devotes a full 99.9% of his waking hours to thinking about fantasy adventure in general or ninjas, more specifically. Boomer is a writer, filmmaker, gamer, and bartender; his short comedic films, the “D&D PHB PSAs,” have over 4,000 subscribers on YouTube and and have been viewed nearly a million and a half times. His debut novel The Hole Behind Midnight was released in 2011; Daniel O’Brien, columnist for Cracked.com and contributor to the New York Times bestseller You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News called it “ … Raymond Chandler meets Douglas Adams by way of a fantasy nerd’s fever dream. And it’s AWESOME.” Boomer is currently the happiest he has ever been in his whole life.

In the meantime, you can amuse yourselves with a free issue of Kobold Quarterly #14. The price is definitely right, so what are you waiting for? Follow the link to find more information on how to snag this freebie for yourself! Also, if you missed it the first time, we have a fun video showing artist Richard Clark as he worked on the cover of Kobold Quarterly #20.

“You hold in your hands a cut ruby as large as your clenched fist. The light shines on its surface, reflecting your face like a beautiful yet fractured mirror. Beams refract through its structure, causing it to seem to glow in your grasp, and it possesses an unexpected weight. Even in a gem of this size, the heft of the ruby is unbelievable.”

The Eye of Fate is an impressive find with a suitably impressive history. First mentioned some thousand years ago, the eye was discovered by a now nameless sorcerer. He claimed it as his source of power, and used it to establish one of the first empires in the region. His most impressive feat was to slay a dragon that threatened his rule. The magician’s personal refuge was destroyed by siege engines immediately after his death, and his name erased from history in a bold move by Arcus IV, the noble who next assumed power.

Throughout history, whenever a powerful individual rose to great heights, and later fell to treachery or arrogance, it has been believed to be the work of the eye. Less than a hundred years ago, General Dannelan claimed that he had found the eye shortly before he turned on his ruler and seized control of the country. In twelve years, the new king had quelled all resistance and expanded the borders—an impressive feat. His wife, however, poisoned him and left with his adjunct advisor. The eye fell into obscurity at this point, but rumors say an insular noble found it and hid it away, unused.

The eye has three distinct powers:

1. It increases the efficacy of casting spells, providing a +2 bonus to the Magic test, as well as a +2 bonus to Spellpower. To gain these bonuses, the Mage must hold it in at least one hand when casting a spell.

2. It also increases the reputation and social power of the bearer. This second power is more subtle, letting the bearer re-roll his or her dragon die in all social interactions for the purpose of determining influence (not stunt points). However, the second result must be kept.

3. The ruby binds fate to the ambitions of the bearer, altering events so that the owner’s most ambitious desires might come to pass. A kind ear here, a more fortuitous outcome on the battlefield there—the gem is extremely subtle and thus there are no rules for this. The Game Master can choose to manifest this in game terms, or not.

The main drawback of the eye is that it is also appears to warp fate to find a new master. Enemies and even friends have been tempted to steal or murder for it. All attempts to hide that the bearer owns the eye are fruitless, since it shifts fate to become known in a rumor or surprise presentation. Just as it changes events to bring the bearer’s ambitions to fruition, it inspires others to do whatever is necessary to acquire the eye. It takes a truly impressive individual to find, use, and keep the Eye of Fate. The only way to safely own it is to lock it away, unused. However, the eye sometimes shifts events to be discovered again, even when hidden and forgotten by all but history itself.

Perhaps this last part is how it comes to light in your campaign?

While our kobold guards are off chasing the culprits, you can sneak in and download a FREE issue of Kobold Quarterly magazine. Go to the KQ Store, add issue #14 to your cart, and enter the coupon code KoboldWelcome at checkout to snatch a PDF copy of your own.

Issue #14 was our extra-big Gen Con issue, and in its pages you’ll find:

• Exclusive Pathfinder content, including two articles by Paizo staff
• The Ecology of the Tengu—in Golarion and in Zobeck
• An interview with 4th Edition D&D lead designer Rob Heinsoo
• Treasure Trove articles with phat loots to improve your game and bring smiles to players
• Paladins, secret languages, and aasimar PCs
• Secrets of Game Design by Monte Cook
• So much more that it makes us dizzy to even think about it!

The vault will be locked and guarded again on February 14, so act now!

While you’re there you might also want to get a copy of the new issue, Kobold Quarterly #20 and build an elven archer, equip yourself with clever new arrows, and survive fey hunters and their hounds. You’ll also find Jeff Grubb discussing the lost elves of Midgard, an interview with Christina Stiles, a new Zobeck adventure, vile Derro ooze magic, AGE system specialties, 4E racial utility powers, and more. Heck, you might even want to subscribe so you don’t miss a single issue.

This statuesque giant has tan skin. Its hair is braided into a ponytail, and jewelry made of bone adorns it.

Ossein giants are sometimes referred to as bone giants. By using their mental abilities, these giants can manipulate their own body structure. When threatened, they use the ossify skin ability, but they find it much too cumbersome to use outside of combat.

Ossein giants stand 24 feet tall and weigh approximately 12,000 pounds. They have brown hair and most have tan colored skin, but dark brown skin is not uncommon. Some wear jewelry made from the bones of their prey, and most prefer to braid their hair behind them into intricate patterns, winding creatures carved from bone among their braids. These giants can live to be 700 years old.

Most ossein giants are nomadic. They follow large, herd animals, such as dinosaurs. Dinosaurs not only serve as a decent meat source to the giants, but they also provide tough hides and large bone structures that are useful for making tools and equipment. Some ossein giants view themselves as shepherds of dinosaurs, and in these cases, they domesticate and train dinosaurs as mounts.

Ossein Giant     CR 16

XP 76,800
LN Huge humanoid (giant, psionic)
Init +1; Senses detect psionics, touch sight 60 ft.; Perception +19

DEFENSE
AC 32, touch , flat-footed (+1 Dex, +22 natural, –2 size)
hp 218 (19d8+133)
Fort +18, Ref +7, Will +11; +4 vs. mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities ossify skin, rock catching

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft. (20 ft. ossify skin)
Melee spear +25/+20/+15 (3d6+19/x3) or 2 slams +24 (1d8+12)
Ranged spear +14/+9/+4 (3d6+13/x3)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Psi-Like Abilities (ML 16; concentration +19)
Constant—detect psionics, touch sight
3/day—chameleon (+16 Stealth), psionic scent
1/day—body adjustment (6d12), cleanse spirit
1/week—sustenance

STATISTICS
Str 34, Dex 12, Con 25, Int 19, Wis 20, Cha 16
Base Atk +14; CMB +28; CMD 39
Feats Deep Impact, Endurance, Fell Shot, Lookout, Outflank, Point Blank Shot, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Shot, Psionic Weapon, Weapon Focus (spear)
Skills Autohypnosis +17, Craft (any one) +17, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (nature) +18, Knowledge (psionics) +18, Perception +19, Sense Motive +15, Stealth +15, Survival +20
Languages Common, Giant

ECOLOGY
Environment warm hills or plains
Organization solitary, hunting party (2–6), or tribe (25–60 plus 30% noncombatants, 2–4 druids or rangers of 3rd-6th level, 2–4 psions of 3rd-6th level, 1 chieftain egoist of 5th–8th level, 4–8 ankylosaurus, 3–9 stegosaurus, 2–6 triceratops)
Treasure standard (7 spears, other treasure)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ossify Skin (Su) As a standard action, an ossein giant can transform its skin into dense bone. It gains damage reduction 10/bludgeoning, a +5 bonus to natural armor, and light fortification. The ossein giant’s speed is reduced to 20 feet and it cannot run. It gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and a –2 penalty to Dexterity. The die damage for slam attacks becomes 2d8. The ossein giant can transform its bone back to skin as a standard action.

Tactics
Ossein giants are expert hunters. They track prey with psionic scent and sneak up close using their chameleon and touch sight abilities. Thousands of years of hunting have made ossein giants skilled ambushers and very experienced at coordinating attacks in combat.

Habitat and Society
Because most ossein giant tribes move around a lot, tribes do not interact with each other very often, though sometimes they agree to meet every couple of decades to trade goods and information as well as to find mates for young members. When formally joined with a mate, females join the tribes of their husbands. These intertribal marriages do not result in strong bonds between tribes since it might be decades before two tribes encounter each other again. Also, because tribe members must rely on one another for survival, a new mate quickly develops a kinship with its new tribe.

Ossein giants do not believe in ownership of land, but they view the herd they follow as theirs. They aggressively defend their herd from other would-be predators. Although these giants avoid other humanoid settlements and do not seek out conflict, problems can arise if they travel through an unsettled region claimed by a local government that gets perturbed at their presence.

The psionics material is from Psionics Unleashed (open content).

Dear Diary,

Just got a new gig as a low-level dungeon guard for Dark Lord Torkelheim, which is all but guaranteed to end in tragedy. This will be my account of how I get killed by adventurers, by the spells of adventurers and/or my own boss, by other dungeon dwellers, by the pet of an adventurer or of another dungeon-dweller, by a malfunctioning trap of some kind, by a curse, or possibly by some other means too horrible and unthinkable to even contemplate, which as Mother always says, is pretty much inevitable.

Anyway, I would list the date and everything, but it would more-than-likely just wind up as a meaningless mishmash of random-seeming letters and numbers with only a vague reference to a made-up calender created by a Grand Designer more preoccupied with crafting artifacts, dragons, and evil cults than a workable solar-trilunar cycle, so I’ll skip it. Also, I live in a muddy hole in the ground and up until this point I’ve primarily caught rats for a living, so it seems somewhat unlikely that I would be aware of any particular ‘date’ beyond ‘have not been killed so far’ (more on that later), so I’ll call today ‘Not-Dead-Yet the 333rd’.

While we’re on the topic, I’ve noticed that I am surprisingly literate for a goblin, but according to Mother it just hasn’t been house-ruled out yet. I’m free to remain literate until such time as I take a barbarian level. Mother has been drinking a lot, recently.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I’m going to count my blessings and will consider the mysteries of literacy no further.

DAY ONE (NDY: 334)

Have been assigned to guard what Dark Lord Torkelheim insists is a strategically important magical fountain on the first floor of the dungeon.

When asked to explain the magical properties of said fountain, he giggled disconcertingly and spoke at great length about what he apparently finds to be a quite hilariously cursed doorway several floors down, to which the waters of the fountain are the only cure.

The curse involves intestinal bleeding and bones transforming into cockroaches, and it was described to me in detail.

Must remember not to ask the Dark Lord questions.

Several other monsters live in the same area of the dungeon (called ‘level 1′), including one very amusing semi-sentient toxic mold named Jimbo who likes to play cards. Nice guy.

DAY TWO

Have discovered that the dungeon does not have many amenities. Am now guarding what could best be described as a very large, strategically important magical goblin latrine.

Have been forced to sleep in my room and catch occasional rats for dinner; the other monsters on my floor of the dungeon are all jerks and/or unintelligent undead.

Very rude bugbear named Sigvald keeps insisting that I call him ‘sir.’ Have decided to play along out of continued interest in the currently unfractured-nature of my skull.

Hate everyone on level 1 except Jimbo. Very cool guy, does some hilarious ‘adventurer human’ impersonations. He invited his buddy Neil the acid-spitting giant spider from level 2 over; have decided to stay up and play cards.

DAY THREE

Jimbo and I now have the entire floor to ourselves; dungeon suffered a nasty attack by dwarves, which lead directly to the slaughter to everyone on level 1 not invited to (and subsequently barricaded into) my strategically important poker night.

Very happy to report that Sigvald and the dwarves killed each other. Amusing side-note: the last dwarf left standing apparently fell into a spiked pit-trap by the front door on his way out.

Reset spiked pit-trap; hoping it looks good on my performance review tomorrow!

Learned a great recipe for rat-based carne asada from Neil; have been invited to come down to level 2 and meet his family for dinner next week, assuming that I survive long enough. Am relatively certain that Neil and his family intend to eat me if I go. Politely told him I would think about it.

DAY FOUR

Had very brief performance review with Dark Lord Torkelheim today; he says that I am the longest-surviving goblin minion he has ever employed. Tried to briefly discuss my retirement package, was told to ‘Burn for all eternity in the fires of Goblin Hell.’

Not certain if he meant that was the retirement package or if that was the conclusion of the performance review; Dark Lord immediately vanished in a gout of shadow-flame.

Also not discussed during the review: my courageous pit-trap resetting, any other health or safety regulations, concerns about fire code and poor lighting, the sudden death of 99.9% of co-workers, payment.

Looking forward to the weekend.

More to come….

About the Author

Clinton J. Boomer, known to his friends as ‘Booms,’ resides in the quaint, leafy, idyllic paradise of Macomb, Illinois. He began writing before the time of his own recollection, predominantly dictating stories to his ever-patient mother about fire-monsters and ice-monsters throwing children into garbage cans. He began gaming with the 1993 release of Planescape, which shaped his junior high years, and he was first published professionally in the ENnie Award-winning Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting from Paizo Publishing after placing in the Final Four of Paizo’s inaugural RPG Superstar! Competition. He currently devotes a full 99.9% of his waking hours to thinking about fantasy adventure in general or ninjas, more specifically. Boomer is a writer, filmmaker, gamer, and bartender; his short comedic films, the “D&D PHB PSAs,” have over 4,000 subscribers on YouTube and and have been viewed nearly a million and a half times. His debut novel The Hole Behind Midnight was released in 2011; Daniel O’Brien, columnist for Cracked.com and contributor to the New York Times bestseller You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News called it “ … Raymond Chandler meets Douglas Adams by way of a fantasy nerd’s fever dream. And it’s AWESOME.” Boomer is currently the happiest he has ever been in his whole life.

Blood Scent
The trail of blood leads into the marketplace. Tracks are of no value here, but scent will sort out this lot.

Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Perception checks used to track and to Insight checks used to detect enemies hidden by disguise, illusion, or stealth. If the creatures is bloodied, this bonus increases to +5.

Charging Pounce
As the flesh flies, you catch your enemy off balance, and you quickly throw your weight against him before he can recover.
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: Whenever you hit with a charge attack using your bite or claw, you knock the target prone.

Eyes of the Wolf
The light of the moon is all you need.
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: You gain low-light vision.

Gushing Bite
Your teeth slice through a major vein, and life blood springs from the wound.
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: Whenever you hit with a melee basic attack using your bite, the target takes 3 (per tier) ongoing damage (save ends).

Sudden Leap
Knowing the distance but needing to move quickly, you tense your legs up for a sudden release, taking your enemy by surprise as you fly through the air.
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: When using Athletics to jump, you are treated as having a running start even if you do not move 2 squares before jumping.

Wolf’s Bound
You’ve mastered your curse better than you could have believed. The speed of the wolf flows through you, even when you do not take full form.
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme, form of the wolf power
Benefit: Your gain a +1 racial bonus to speed while in human or hybrid form, to a maximum of 8.

Death Grip
You bury your teeth into flesh, and you lock your jaw. There is no escape for this fool; your foe’s struggles just make the wound deeper.
Paragon Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme, Gushing Bite
Benefit: Whenever you hit with a melee basic attack using your bite, the target is grabbed. The target takes 3 (per tier) + your strength modifier in ongoing damage until the grab ends. This replaces the benefit from Gushing Bite.

Greater Blood Scent
The smell of your enemy floats all around you, making it perfectly clear where to strike.
Paragon Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme, Blood Scent
Benefit: Adjacent bloodied creatures gain no benefit from concealment or total concealment against you, and invisible adjacent bloodied creatures are effectively visible to you.

Pack Fighter
Instincts take over in the fray, and your allies have learned to adapt to your predatory nature, forcing enemies to constantly refocus their defenses.
Paragon Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme
Benefit: Whenever you and an ally are adjacent to an enemy, that enemy grants you combat advantage.

Pack Lord
You are the master in battle and your command your allies with but a growl, setting you up for unforeseen strikes.
Epic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme, Pack Fighter
Benefit: You gain combat advantage against any enemy that is adjacent to one of your allies.

Spine Rip
As your enemy’s precious life dwindles, you sense its weakness and suddenly snap your neck back, jaw still clenched around bone and nerve.
Epic Tier
Prerequisite: Werewolf theme, Gushing Bite, Death Grip
Benefit: If the ongoing damage from Death Grip reduces an enemy to 25 hp or fewer, it is instead dropped to 0 hp, and the grab ends.

About the Author
Brian Liberge is an upcoming freelancer and father of one from Boston, MA. In addition to his previous work on the Kobold Quarterly front page, Brian Liberge is regularly featured on Stuffershack, The Gamer Assembly, and RPG Circus.