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Demon Lord Companion Preview 4: Equipment

As I was fitting content into what would be Shadow of the Demon Lord in its final form, I had to make some hard cuts, but nowhere were the cuts more painful than in the equipment chapter.  I had lots of strange stuff in the original draft and I opted to hold them back so I could include more spells, more master paths, and more creatures. The Demon Lord Companion captures a lot of the great content that got left behind and adds rules for crafting and for using vehicles. So let’s take a look at some of the things you’ll find in this book.

 

Alchemical Items

DLC introduces the Alchemy tradition, the alchemist master path, and several delightful alchemical items. Here’s one that you can buy for the low, low price of 3 silver shillings.

     All-Flower Water: Made from a distillation of cow dung, all-flower water is a curative alchemists swear by. You can use an action to drink this liquid or administer it to a willing or defenseless creature within your reach. At the end of the round in which the liquid is consumed, roll a d6. On an odd number, the drinker heals 1 damage. On an even number, the drinker heals damage equal to its healing rate and removes the diseased affliction.

Forbidden Items

It was sad when I had to cut these from the main rulebook. These items riffed off the gross and weird revealed in the dark magic traditions. Here’s the revenant head, a bargain at 100 gold crowns.

Revenant Head: A revenant head is a severed head floating inside a canister filled with pungent yellow fluid. While suspended in the liquid, the head’s eyes twitch, and its mouth moves. Necromantic magic binds the soul to the head, trapping the immortal essence within the preserved remains. When the head is drawn from the container, the fluid spills from the head’s mouth and it can speak in the Common Tongue. Revenant heads remember having one profession. They can see and report on what they have seen. One might know other information the Game Master decides.

Each time the head is pulled from the container, the fluid level drops. The head can be retrieved ten times. When retrieved the last time, the container goes dry and the head rots away, releasing the soul to whatever fate awaits it.

Art by Ivan Dixon, (c) 2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC

Art by Ivan Dixon, (c) 2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC

Marvels of Engineering

Another unfortunate cut given the inclusion of tinkers and engineers, marvels of engineering cover an assortment of technological and explosive items. I hope to design more at some point down the road. Have a bomb for 1 gold crown.

     Bomb: You can use an action to light the fuse and throw a bomb out to medium range. At the end of the round, the bomb explodes in a 5-yard radius, dealing 3d6 + 3 damage to everything in the area. However, a creature that gets a success on an Agility challenge roll takes half the damage instead.

Bombs can explode if mishandled. If an explosive device takes 10 or more damage or a creature handling the device takes damage equal to its Health, the bomb explodes.

Potions

I had to cut back the potions too. DLC adds 10 more potions. The shrinking potion is an exotic item available for 5 silver shillings.

     Shrinking Potion: A syrupy blue liquid that smells and tastes of honey, shrinking potion causes its user, along with everything the user wears and carries, to become Size 1/10 for 1d6 minutes. While at this Size, the user’s Strength is 1, its Health can be no higher than 5, and its attacks deal no damage to targets of Size 1/4 or larger. In addition, the user makes Agility challenge rolls to hide or sneak with 3 boons.

Art by Jack Kaiser, (c) 2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC

Art by Jack Kaiser, (c) 2015 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC

Final Thoughts

I’m on the road for a few weeks and then packing boxes and shipping rulebooks, screens, and the last few dice, t-shirts, and so on. Lots of stuff going on over the next few weeks, so I will likely be quiet until the dust settles. Thanks for reading!