Bufo sapiens
Bufo Sapiens! The next campaign is going to be a first in Claymore history. It is not going to be a human-centric story, it will be a Toad-centric story. We are going to play as Toad-men, called by their Vox name Bufo sapiens by most humans. The campaign will center around Bufo-sapiens, in a Bufo-sapien culture, with Bufo-sapien problems. Humanity will be distant and alien.
I am planning on this being a mini campaign meeting 4-6 times, Players will be established middling leaders within a Bufo sapien tribe. PCs will start at level 3 with 30 XP, you can be a fighter, thief, priest, or wizard. If you want to have more than one class--fighter, thief, and priest can be freely combined, but wizard can only be combined with thief.
Ability scores will be 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
For those that are interested I will post more information about Bufo sapiens, and we will have a session 0 where we will generate character. So far I have heard from 3 players that they are interested. If you don’t reserve your spot soon, you’ll have to play a tadpole.
I am planning on this being a mini campaign meeting 4-6 times, Players will be established middling leaders within a Bufo sapien tribe. PCs will start at level 3 with 30 XP, you can be a fighter, thief, priest, or wizard. If you want to have more than one class--fighter, thief, and priest can be freely combined, but wizard can only be combined with thief.
Ability scores will be 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
For those that are interested I will post more information about Bufo sapiens, and we will have a session 0 where we will generate character. So far I have heard from 3 players that they are interested. If you don’t reserve your spot soon, you’ll have to play a tadpole.
Session 0
If you want the opportunity, have a picture of a species of toad that you would like your Bufo sapien tribe to be based on, we will vote during the session.
We will also decide on peoples' character classes and test Discord to see if we like it better then Google Hangouts.
Starting Mental Map |
Actual Map |
The players started having lived in this area their whole life and had a general mental map of the terrain (left). After the campaign was over I added the actual map (right) for comparison.
Impassable mountains lay to the North and West. To the South and East there is a grassland. Going too far into the grassland is dangerous, it is the homeland of your tribe's most intractable enemy--Humans.
Impassable mountains lay to the North and West. To the South and East there is a grassland. Going too far into the grassland is dangerous, it is the homeland of your tribe's most intractable enemy--Humans.
General Info about Bufo sapiens
Description: Different tribes of frogmen look like humanoid versions of different frogs or toads. Each 'type' is called a morph by the few humans that recognize the distinction. The term in Vox for frogmen, Bufo sapien, has come into wide spread use in the west--barring Delmoor which uses the term Buafear. They range in size from 1 or 2 feet tall up to 8 or 9 feet, with the vast majority being man sized.
Psychology: Bufo sapiens are of average intelligence and are hyper perceptive. However, they have substantially alien psychology, dividing animal life into two basic groups, amphibians and non-amphibians. They think about good and evil only secondarily to this primary division. Their Psychology tends to stem from the fact that they are amphibians. They think of water as primary and lands without it as barren. Dry and hot things invoke disgust in the same way that slimy things do for humans. Hair is seen as particularly unsanitary and Frogmen will carefully wash mammals before eating them. Among Bufo sapiens each morph is thought of as a entirely different type of organism, equivalent to the difference between goblins and gnolls to a human. All Frogmen hate Lizardmen, and preferentially seek to destroy them.
Ecology: Bufo Sapiens generally live in swamps and marshes where their biology gives them an advantage. However, the idea that they must keep their skin wet at all times is overblown. A Bufo sapien can go several days in a relatively dry environment without ill affect. Toad-like morphs can go much longer. Frog-like morphs can go an hour without breathing. Toad-like morphs 10 to 15 minutes. Different Bufo sapien morphs cannot interbreed, generally. All Bufo sapiens lay soft-shelled eggs in water, which hatch into tadpoles around 2 feet long. Tadpoles turn into miniature adults after 1 to 2 years, reaching sexual maturity in 3-4, and having a life span of about 12 years. They grow continuously their entire lives. Bufo sapiens are carnivores eating bugs and worms, but also raw meat and fish.
Culture: Bufo Sapiens are hunter-gatherers that do not use fire and hence have no form of metal working. They also do not plant crops but do have animal husbandry, using giant fiddler crabs as pets, meat-animals, and sentries. Giant toads and frogs also sometimes fight alongside Bufo sapiens. Bufo sapiens almost always use spears in combat usually with a (inferior) wicker shields. Most Bufo sapiens do not display parental care to their eggs or tadpoles, but after metamorphosis the new adults seek out their tribe and are considered full members. Those that do watch after their young will have breeding pools that they guard, often forming the center of their territory. In either system parentage is never known and no family structure exists. Bufo sapiens will war among themselves. But more than any other evil creature, they only do so when there are no external (non-amphibian) threats. Practically these means that many frogmen tribes live in total peace among themselves for decades at a time. Although they are a stone age culture Bufo sapiens prize metal and will trade to get it, or even better raid to get it.
Religion: Bufo sapiens were created by Croa Croa, a frog-like demon prince that fought with Eshrenel in his rebellion against Valroon. Croa Croa and all his powerful lieutenants were believed to be killed in that rebellion. Before 1409 Bufo sapien priests worshiped various weak and unorganized demons that served Croa Croa before his death. Such shamans were limited in power. In 1409 a powerful demon (not a prince) named Bulllbin appeared and started guiding Bufo sapiens. There after, Bufo sapiens had more and better priests and gained some influence in the world, however they never matched the importance of any of the goblinoids or orcs.
Magic: Bufo sapien wizards are very rare. Their short lives makes the years of study needed to became a wizards particularly difficult. The few that have been verified seem to have been taught magic by goblins originally.
Game Mechanics
+1 to Dex
+1 to Wit
-2 to Con
Perception of 25%. +25% to Perception in water.
Night Vision.
Cold Blooded: 25% damage from cold, but -5UP for every 5 damage suffered. Only need 25% of the food a similar human would need.
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Bufo sapien Priests
Requirements: Bufo sapien
Armor: Any leather, padded, hide armor, any shield
Weapons: Spear (1st), Bow, Dagger, Club
Spheres: Authority, Combat, Healing, Nature
Special:
Holy Feats: Elemental Attack must be Earth or Cold (Dam: d10, Fot or -5UP. W/major relic: d12+4, For or -10UP).
Can perform: Summon Demon and Icy Storm (functions like Lightning Strike but causes cold damage plus Fot or -10UP).
Vestments: Brown cloak, cape, or hood. Any Jewelry.
Holy Symbol: Water taken from any natural body of water that lacks fish.
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Poison
Bufo sapiens produce a psychoactive poison from glands spread out over their skins. Some individuals, usually large or socially dominant individuals, develop noticeable Parotoid glands on their neck and shoulders that produce these compounds in high enough volume that the poison has additional game affects.
The base affect of the poison is that any creature that bites the Bufo sapien must take a Wil or Fot check. If the attacker fails it suffers hallucinations and alterations to his mental processes such that his actions become random and potentially dangerous to people around them (roll action on Confusion table).
Every time a Bufo sapien levels they may spend 1 XP to increase the affect of their poison. Each XP spend means that they produce 1 “charge” a day, to a maximum of 8 XP for 8 “charges”. “Charges” can be used in the following ways.
Charge Affect
1 Increase potency (target gets -10% on Res check)
2 Increase efficacy (target rolls on Chaos table not Confusion table)
3 Excrete 1 dose of the poison (contact poison, stays potent for 24 hours)
6 Aerosol poison (1 target, Fot / Wil to negate. Takes an attack)
Affects can be mixed and matched, so for 4 charges you can excrete a dose of poison with increased potency, or for 8 you can make an attack using Aerosol poison with increased efficacy.
Bufo sapien weapons
Bufo sapiens will have a few new weapons, the blowgun, and the boomerang. Each is in their own weapon group and each takes 12 skill points to learn.
+1 to Dex
+1 to Wit
-2 to Con
Perception of 25%. +25% to Perception in water.
Night Vision.
Cold Blooded: 25% damage from cold, but -5UP for every 5 damage suffered. Only need 25% of the food a similar human would need.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bufo sapien Priests
Requirements: Bufo sapien
Armor: Any leather, padded, hide armor, any shield
Weapons: Spear (1st), Bow, Dagger, Club
Spheres: Authority, Combat, Healing, Nature
Special:
Holy Feats: Elemental Attack must be Earth or Cold (Dam: d10, Fot or -5UP. W/major relic: d12+4, For or -10UP).
Can perform: Summon Demon and Icy Storm (functions like Lightning Strike but causes cold damage plus Fot or -10UP).
Vestments: Brown cloak, cape, or hood. Any Jewelry.
Holy Symbol: Water taken from any natural body of water that lacks fish.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poison
Bufo sapiens produce a psychoactive poison from glands spread out over their skins. Some individuals, usually large or socially dominant individuals, develop noticeable Parotoid glands on their neck and shoulders that produce these compounds in high enough volume that the poison has additional game affects.
The base affect of the poison is that any creature that bites the Bufo sapien must take a Wil or Fot check. If the attacker fails it suffers hallucinations and alterations to his mental processes such that his actions become random and potentially dangerous to people around them (roll action on Confusion table).
Every time a Bufo sapien levels they may spend 1 XP to increase the affect of their poison. Each XP spend means that they produce 1 “charge” a day, to a maximum of 8 XP for 8 “charges”. “Charges” can be used in the following ways.
Charge Affect
1 Increase potency (target gets -10% on Res check)
2 Increase efficacy (target rolls on Chaos table not Confusion table)
3 Excrete 1 dose of the poison (contact poison, stays potent for 24 hours)
6 Aerosol poison (1 target, Fot / Wil to negate. Takes an attack)
Affects can be mixed and matched, so for 4 charges you can excrete a dose of poison with increased potency, or for 8 you can make an attack using Aerosol poison with increased efficacy.
Bufo sapien weapons
Bufo sapiens will have a few new weapons, the blowgun, and the boomerang. Each is in their own weapon group and each takes 12 skill points to learn.
bufo_sapien_weapons.doc | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | doc |