Go Fund Kent Hamilton

Hi all!  I've got a pretty full plate right now and I can't bring you a normal post this week.  But do you know who is always doing cool things?  Kent Hamilton, professional illustrator and concept artist.  You probably know him from his illustrations on this site or from the many recent illustrations he has done for Pathfinder in works such as Bestiary 5, Ultimate Intrigue, and the Pathfinder Card Game.  You can see more of his work at kentconcepts.com, on his Instagram, or on Pinterest.

Why do I bring this up?  Kent just started a go fund me for some expensive art equipment that will let him increase his output.  If you want to support a starving artist who loves sketching and painting fantasy subjects, this is your chance.  Even better, depending on how much you donate, you can get sketches and prints, and at the higher levels he will even sketch or digitally paint your own original character or creature.  Kent never does private commissions like this, so this is an incredible opportunity.

Still need convincing?  Here are some of the illustrations Kent has done just for d20 Despot.

The Swashbucker class I posted back in 2014 needs work, but this painting doesn't.  

Kent's own character, Montalore Bearbriar, dwarven fighter from the Graverobbers campaign.

I forced Kent to draw this ridiculous monster for my Escape from the Lair of the Krampus adventure.

Big Bjorn Gunderson was a character early on in my Guns of the Western Kings campaign.

What are you waiting for?  GO FUND KENT HAMILTON!

-your crowd-funded d20 despot

Sandbox Campaign Part 13: Blood on the Snow

This is part 13 of my ongoing Sandbox Campaign, a campaign which, for a long time now, has totally not been an actual sandbox campaign.  

Before I get started on the adventures of the Graverobbers, I have some news!  My good friend Kent Hamilton, official illustrator of d20 Despot, has launched a companion site called d20 Doodler, where he will be posting daily warm-up sketches of characters, monsters, and scenes from my campaigns or just D&D/Pathfinder-inspired stuff.  I'll be using a lot of these as preview images for my posts, but there'll be plenty more over at d20doodler.com!  Let's check out today's preview image - a sketch of Rikkit, the Graverobbers' lovable goblin sorcerer:

The Death of Rikkit Nightingale - Kent Hamilton

Oh.  That doesn't bode well.

GotWK Campaign Part 2: Blood on the Rails

This is an account of part 2 of my ongoing campaign set in my homebrewed wild west setting, Guns of the Western Kings.  Get caught up with part 1 here.  

Vulture-Tribe Orc Berserker - Kent Hamilton

When we last saw our heroes - Face, Blair, and Heather - they had vanquished a bandit gang of hobgoblins and kobolds in the Sunbeam Silver Mine and discovered that the old mine, long thought to be played out, was still producing silver.  That night, Blair struck off on his own, still convinced that he was evil inside and hoping to save his companions from himself (translation: Blair's player wanted to play a different character).

The next morning, Face and Heather sat in the sheriff’s office.  Sheriff Flant sat across from them, his dirty old boots propped up on his messy desk.  Two of the hunks of silver ore that they had liberated from the Sunbeam Silver Mine rested atop a stack of coffee-stained papers.  Flant took another puff from his pipe, then wheezed, his grey moustache bouncing along with his rattling cough.

“I have to say, everyone in town is mighty pleased that you found silver in that mine, seeing as we was all told it was played out.  Silver was the lifeblood of Sunbeam; without it we been withering up, fixing to expire.  Problem is, that mine is still property of the Deuclair Mining Company.  Mr. Deuclair bought up the whole damn mountain less’n a year after the first silver strike.  Course, weren’t two years after that the mine up an closed, citing a lack of ore, which we can clearly see is no longer the case!”  He laughed and tapped the ore with his foot.  “We cain’t draw none o’ that silver out without oversight from Deuclair.  Our town’s got hope again, but hope’s gotta go through a whole mess o' clerks and lawyers afore it can reach the people.”  He paused and took another puff from his pipe.  “Course, being as the silver ore you liberated was already mined, that’ll fall under spoils of war.  No need to notify Mr. Deuclair on that account,” he winked.

Monster Monday: Figgy Pudding - The Holiday Monster that Really Brings It.

'Tis the season for holiday-themed D&D adventures!  You've heard of the deadly black pudding, but today's Monster Monday is its lesser-known Christmastime cousin, the Figgy Pudding, a truly terrifying dessert wreathed in alcoholic flames that are sure to fill you with seasonal warmth.

illustration by Kent Hamilton

Consider this a preview of next week's post: a short little one-shot Holiday dungeon crawl I'm calling ESCAPE FROM THE LAIR OF THE KRAMPUS!

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is (C)2014 Jonah Bomgaars.

The Swashbuckler - A New Base Class

I really like swashbucklers as a class, and I was disappointed with Pathfinder for a while because the closest thing to a swashbuckler they had was a lackluster rogue archetype.  Of course, I made my own homebrewed conversion of the swashbuckler from Complete Warrior for use with Pathfinder rules.  Then, a few months ago, Paizo released the Advanced Class Guide, promising ten new classes based on combining other existing classes, including a swashbuckler!  Well, that's out now, and the swashbuckler is the only one I've looked at, and... I don't really like it.

We've got a problem right off the bat in that the swashbuckler is a combination of the fighter and the gunslinger, and I don't like the gunslinger.  It's not just because of the fact that the feel of the gunslinger is totally wrong for most campaign settings, it's also that I don't like their Grit ability.  I'm okay with the 'pool' mechanic for magical or mystical abilities, like the Magus' Arcane Pool or the Monk's Ki Pool, but not with physical abilities.  If I'm playing a gunslinger and I ever say to myself "Oh, I can't do that cool thing I do with my guns because I haven't scored a critical hit or a killing blow recently," that would take me out of my character.  It's a gamey mechanic and it feels wrong and 4th-edition-y.  Well, the new swashbuckler class uses a similar mechanic called 'panache', which is just terrible.  "Sorry, I can't perform that deed right now, I don't have enough panache," said no swashbuckler ever.  Aside from that, the class is generally pretty boring.

Naturally, I decided I would do a blogpost introducing my homebrewed swashbuckler to the world.  I opened it up to look it over, and immediately changed my mind.  My old swashbuckler was basically a word-for-word copy of the swash from Complete Warrior with a few modifications and the ability to take rogue talents.  So I scrapped it and built a new, original swashbuckler base-class from scratch!

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

The following text in gold and the associated table is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is (C)2014 Jonah Bomgaars.

Horrors of the Floating Gardens - a d20 Despot Halloween Adventure

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Happy Halloween, players and GMs!  In the spirit of the season, I've created a brand new nautical horror adventure that you can play tonight!  Or any night, really.  Even during the day, if you wanted.

Apologies for the lateness of the post - I promised on Monday to post this sometime before Halloween, but it took a lot longer to get ready than I expected.  I suppose, technically, as Halloween stands for All Hallows'  Eve, and it is not yet evening where I live, I'm in the clear.

The adventure is available below as a PDF, with a series of maps as separate images.  One of the reasons I took so long is that I had ambitions of creating a professional-looking, publishable adventure, but after much lost sleep and hasty statting-up, I have decided to wait and pretty it up later.

I began playtesting the adventure last night, and it went quite well, though we were only able to make it about half-way through in five hours, so be warned that this one-shot adventure is pretty long.

You many notice that one of the pre-made characters is a swashbuckler, but not the swashbuckler that they've released in the Advanced Class Guide.  This swashbuckler is a sneak peak at my upcoming, original homebrewed class that I hope to have available to you sometime soon.  My patrons on Patreon can currently view a PDF of the Swashbuckler on my Patreon page.

Alright, the adventure is below!  I only ask that people who are currently playtesting this with me, or who are likely to play this with me in the near future, not read the adventure.

Horrors of the Floating Garden: Teaser

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

You awaken, as you have ever since the shipwreck, in your small rowboat.  The seas around you are placid and waveless, as smooth as a silver mirror, but the fog is so thick that you cannot tell whether it is day or night.  The lamp hanging from the prow of your boat still burns, casting a shimmering golden disc on the water around you.  Bobbing alongside your boat is a corpse, floating face down, a hole the size of a gold piece bored into the back of its skull.  The boat striking it must have been what disturbed your slumber.  In passing, you think it strange that the sharks have not come to feast on the body.  But then, maybe the sharks know something you do not.

Just then, you notice a massive hulk of a ship rearing out of the fog.  Could this be your salvation, at long last?  You silently rouse your companions and point out the dark vessel.  As you draw closer, you notice that there are no lights aboard the ship, and the whole thing is covered with vegetation.  Thick vines wind up the three masts, blankets of moss hang from the forecastle, and mushrooms sprout from the hull. 

There's no post today because I'm working on a Halloween one-shot horror adventure called Horrors of the Floating Gardens.  The adventure is designed for 4-6 third-level characters, and it will be available on this website as a PDF sometime later this week.  

If you're a GM on the lookout for a Halloween adventure for your group, check back later this week!  If you are in my gaming group, I will be running this game for you later, so maybe don't check back later this week.  

-your derelict d20 despot

PC Race - Perinin: Cunning Warrior Hares

Last week d20 Despot brought you togbins, a fierce race of cold-dwelling tortoise-men who love to hunt.  This week, continuing my collaboration with Kent Hamilton in celebration of his graduation from concept design school, we bring you perinin, the brave and cunning race of hares that are the togbins' favorite prey.

Kent Hamilton Concepts

Well, as you can see from the above picture, perinin are clearly not the timid prey that togbins wish they were.  Perinin are agile and cunning, and they use their natural knack for tactics to outsmart and overwhelm their physically superior adversaries.

Read on for more information about this Pathfinder-compatible playable race.

PC Race - Togbins: Tortoise-Men of the Wild North

Sorry for the late update; we've got something kinda big today.  Remember in my 2013 year-in-review column when I mentioned that I might start having professional illustrations on my site?  Well, here we go:

Kent Hamilton Concepts

Alright, this may require some explanation.  My supremely-talented friend Kent Hamilton is a concept artist.  For his final project at Art Center, he is looking back on some very old drawings he made when he and I used to run around in the back yard fighting orcs and dragons, and he's redesigning them with his honed and practiced skills.  Here at d20 Despot, I'll be bringing you two of these creatures statted up as playable PC races.  Today, we have the hardy, tortoise-like togbins.  Next week, we'll have the clever, hare-like perinin.

So what are togbins?