My thoughts about Gaz8: The Five Shires and high-level Halflings

 

Art by Clyde Caldwell, source

I like this one. Interestingly it is written by Ed Greenwood, who of course is famous for being the creator of the Forgotten Realms. It's interesting that TSR also asked him to work on other worlds such as Mystara here, and I think he rose to the challenge well. 

It's difficult to write about D&D halflings without thinking about Tolkein's hobbits. The name of the nation, the Five Shires, is a clear homage to the Shire where Frodo and Bilbo Baggins lived and where Tolkein's most famous adventures (The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings) started. So are these halflings just hobbits with a name changed for copyright reasons? Not exactly. There are similarities, with the rolling countryside and sylvan forests. But these halflings are tougher and are more willing to both defend themselves and explore the wider world. In fact there is a halfling militia, halfling commandos/vigilantes known as Fangs and halfling pirates on whom there is a whole chapter. This differentiates them from Tolkein’s hobbits sufficiently to grab my interest. 

And they do need to defend themselves. The biggest and most obvious threat is the orcs of the Cruth Mountains. Throughout the history of the land the orcs have raided, invaded and occasionally tyrannised the halflings. However, the hin (the halflings' name for themselves) have also had major problems with both humans and dwarves. The dwarves are no longer a substantial influence in the area. The most significant human threat is from the Black Eagle Barony in the east, just over the border in Karameikos, though pirates on the Sea of Dread (from Ierendi and possibly Minrothad and other coastal realms) have also been an occasional problem, particularly around maritime trade. Halflings have also had horrible experiences with mages of Glantri, whom they now fear and distrust. Although it can be assumed that orcs and halflings are automatically enemies, the halflings of the Five Shires have enough friendly and business interactions with humans that many more opportunities for intrigue and diplomacy can be found. Is that merchant from Karameikos actually a spy for the Black Eagle Barony? Is it possible to persuade the pirate captain to leave the coast of Seashire alone? The wandering Glantrian wizard has generated a lot of suspicion but is he responsible for some disappearances in nearby villages? 

And despite mostly being peaceful villages and rolling countryside, the Five shires have their own collections of carnivorous monsters, particularly the Deep Glaurant. Unlike some gazetteers, the opportunities for adventures and dungeons are plentiful in the borderlands of the Five Shires, and I am glad for that, even if the resident halflings have reservations.  

High level Halflings

One of the aspects of halflings explored in this gazetteer is what happens with halflings after 8th level. According to the B/X rules, halflings can reach a maximum level of 8 (Sheriff, or in this gazetteer Knight-Guardian). This is a severe restriction even in Expert-level campaigns where halflings will find themselves left behind while human characters are continuing on to name level, and even elves and dwarves have a bit more growth available. There are two possible answers to this. Firstly the attack ranks and accompanying abilities detailed in the Companion Rules are a solution for those halflings that prefer to keep a martial focus and develop their weapon skills. Secondly this gazetteer introduces the Halfling Master, a sort of prestige class that gives halflings that qualify powers similar to druids. However, at least according to the Gazetteer these halfling masters are guardians of the Five Shires, not wandering adventurers. If DMs stick to this idea then perhaps becoming a Master is not a good option for a halfling PC hoping to join his high-level adventuring companions in far off lands and deep dungeons. If the DM drops this requirement then Masters could become a bit too popular, eclipsing the martial halflings progressing through attack ranks. I have not quite decided on my prefered way of handling this. 

This does sort of reflect my post on high level elves where borrowing ideas from Gaz5: Elves of Alfheim, I went with the idea of high-level elves progressing as either Elven Lords (with relatively simple advancement) or Elven Wizards (who require specialist training in Alfheim to progress to the next level).  What if halfling masters could wander from the Shire and join their human and elven adventuring party, but when they are ready to level up they need to spend time (two months or so) in the Shires, training with their fellow masters?  If they don’t or cannot return to the Shires then their progression is paused. This seems like a reasonable compromise though I have not playtested it. 

Long-running followers of this blog might remember I created the Halfling Defender class long ago, a sort of fighter/cleric for halflings. But that was for Kaelaross, long before I got hold of this gazetteer. I have barely noted its existence since writing about Mystara, and as such I don’t think I’ll use it, at least not in Mystara. In some ways this is a bit of a pity. Dwarves have the standard dwarf warriors and also dwarf clerics (a class from Kaelaross that I have brought over to Mystara) while elves have their standard elf spellswords (casting magic user spells while wearing full armour) and the elven ranger. Halflings, at least at low levels, seem to just have one class to choose from. But seeing as Halfling Masters fulfil the role of halfling clerics, Halfling defenders now seem rather redundant. I shall ponder this but for the moment defenders are out, masters are in. 

Druids? In Mystara?

Source

In most editions of D&D, from 1st Edition AD&D, there have been druids - priests of nature who are similar to but not the same as clerics that follow more personal deities. In Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert druids do not exist. By all means have a neutral cleric that worships nature, but they still function as clerics. 

This changes in the Mentzer Companion Set where druids are introduced as an option for 9th level neutral clerics. This means that according to BECMI all druids are 9th level or higher. This may be a deliberate design decision, or it might simply be a result of introducing druids in the Companion Set that focuses on characters of 14th-25th level. 

My proposal is simple. Take the BECMI druid but make it an option at 1st level. The down-side is that druids are restricted to non-metal weapons and armour (clubs, staves, slings, leather armour, wooden shields). The upside is they can choose a druid spell instead of a clerical spell for any given spell slot. As per BECMI they use the same saving throws and attack tables as clerics. Druids cannot turn undead. 

I admit this is not exactly balanced - with substandard equipment and no spells at 1st level, the druid will be distinctly squishy, only a little better in combat than a 1st level magic user who has already expended their one spell. On the other hand it does explain why druids are so rare - there is a survival of the fittest that seems appropriate for a follower of nature. I see druids as more of an NPC class than a PC class for adventuring. Also culturally the druid is much more likely to be found in cultures that are still very close to nature and the elements, such as Traladarans and Atruaghin clans. 

Elven Druids

Many druids are human, but there are elven druids. They must abide by the same restrictions on weapons and armour as their human druid counterparts and also have to use the XP progression for elves, which is a lot slower than clerics and human druids. However, they have one major advantage: elven druids retain the ability to cast magic-user spells as normal elves alongside their clerical/druidic spells. They use the spells per day of an elf, but each slot can be used for a magic-user, druid or cleric spell, thus greatly broadening their magical repertoire .  They use the attack tables and saving throws of elves and also have the racial traits of elves  - improved detection of secret doors, immunity to ghoul paralysis and 60ft infravision. 

I know a few months ago I wrote a post about character class options for elves. Right now I am considering replacing the Elven Mystic (poor choice of name given the Rules Cyclopedia) with the Elven Druid. I see them having a similar role in society, but slightly simpler to run. 

New spells and magic items

There are many new druid spells that can be brought in from other editions, starting with 1st edition AD&D. However, these are subject to the DM’s approval. Similarly there are magic items suitable for druids that can be found elsewhere. 

A few years ago I wrote a post about unusual materials for magic items. Ent-heart wood and crocodile hide are both suitable for druids, being non-metallic. Imaginative DMs might also add new items crafted from other natural materials such as ivory or antler, or even weirder stuff such as the chitinous carapaces of giant insects. 

Other Subclasses?

I have recently watched a Youtube video about assassins and monks. The Mentzer BECMI rules, particularly the Rules Cyclopedia, has the Mystic class, while the Headsman NPC is the BECMI equivalent of the assassin. I haven’t yet included in my Mystara world building but they are there ready to appear,

This opens up a lot of possibilities  regarding subclasses. Although not described as subclasses, the Paladin and Avenger described in the Companion rules are variants of the fighter that are nearly as different from the basic fighter as the druid is from the cleric. Am I going to include them? And how does the Avenger fit in alongside the other chaotic fighter subclass, the Chaos Warrior?

Subclasses and World-Building

One thing I’ve realised is that choosing which subclasses appear is a big part of world-building - it shows what sort of folks inhabit your campaign world (in this case my variant of Mystara). Subclasses link into culture and also themes and moods. Paladins tend to indicate heroism and chivalry, assassins tend to indicate cynicism and brutality, monks & mystics tend to indicate exotic cultures beyond faux-Europe, druids tend to indicate times and traditions from long before the high medieval default assumptions. Samurai, ninja and Sohei are all cultural variants of the base classes suitable for the flavour of Japan, or in this blog’s case the Pearl Islands, my Japan-inspired culture in Mystara. Chaos warriors and Twisted Summoners are not so much cultural so much as tying in with my campaign’s themes of the forces of Chaos and its ability to seduce and recruit the power-hungry and selfish humans. Gnome tinkerers are this campaign’s main practicers of magi-tech which, though not central to my campaign’s themes, is nonetheless present. 

The demihuman classes I have introduced are all indicative that demihumans are not just one-class cultures, and that all demihuman cultures have more than one set of abilities that can be used to go adventuring. 

The bottom line is that I am not going to open the floodgates and allow any and all possible subclasses into this campaign. It is unlikely that this blog will see AD&D-style rangers, paladins, illusionists, bards or the like. However, I will allow them as and when they seem appropriate. Some subclasses are rare and this is absolutely fine. Some editions of D&D (particularly 3E and later) treat all classes as being as equal in power and ease of getting started in, and apparently equal in distribution among PCs and NPCs. I do not see subclasses like this - they are much more specialised, more specific than the very broad and common core classes of Cleric, Fighter, Magic User Thief. Subclasses are definitely not core: They are optional and the DM should treat them as such. 

Gnoll Leaders and Shamans

Art by Dave Sutherland, from
1st Edition Monster Manual

Previously I have written a post about humanoid leaders and shamans though that post looked at those species with 1HD or less for their basic profile. As the last of the major humanoid races to be covered, in this post I shall go over my version of gnolls. Although their basic profile has 2HD, nonetheless I envision gnolls having a similar progression to orcs, goblins and hobgoblins, with an extra hit dice added. 

Gnoll Warrior

These include the basic gnolls members of a tribe and as they grow in size and experience they gain the same abilities as their goblin counterparts, albeit with an extra hit dice. 

Title	HD (d8)	THAC0	Special Abilities
Juvenile or Female	1	19	Stats for Juvenile or Female
Warrior	2	18	As basic monster stats for gnolls
Veteran Warrior	3	17	Set Spear vs charge
Clan Leader	4	16	Junior Commander
Clan Leader	5	15	Inspire Courage
Subchief	6	14	2-weapon Fighting
Subchief	7	13	Middle Commander
Tribal Chief	8	12	Monstrous Mount
Tribal Chief	9	11	Inspire Zeal
Warlord	10	10	Senior Commander
Warlord	11	9	Two-weapon mastery

Their special abilities are: 

• Set Spear versus Charge is the same as for human fighters. 
• Junior Commander - a gnoll warrior of 4HD or higher can reliably command up to 3 normal gnoll warriors per level of the commander. 
• Inspire Courage - Allies within 30' get +2 to morale checks and saves vs fear.
• 2-weapon Fighting - The gnoll warrior can use 2 one-handed weapons, at -2 to hit penalty for both. They must be weapons that a human warrior can wield in one hand (e.g. normal sword, hand axe, mace etc, not a two-handed sword or battleaxe). 
• Middle Commander -  The gnoll warrior can reliably command 1 junior commander for every 2 levels. 
• Monstrous Mount - The warrior can tame and ride a monster larger than himself, which must have HD equal to or lower than the warrrior and be suitable for riding. Hyaenodons (Dire Hyenas) are often chosen but more exotic creatures might be tamed 
• Inspire Zeal - Allies within 30' get +2 to hit and damage and +4 to morale and saves vs fear, usable 1 encounter per day. 
• Senior Commander - reliably command 1 middle commander per two levels. 
• Two-Weapon Mastery - As per two-weapon fighting, but the gnoll warrior suffers no penalty to hit. 

The weapons, armour and equipment for gnoll warriors is entirely up to the DM, though the default gear for a typical 2HD gnoll warrior is: Scale armour, Morning Star (2d4 damage, wielded in two hands), Dagger. Generally speaking a gnoll gets +1 to damage rolls with any one-handed weapon due to its strength. At the DM’s discretion particularly large and strong gnoll leaders may get more of a bonus to damage, including with two-handed weapons such as morning stars. 

Gnoll Shaman

Gnoll Shaman				Prepared Spells by Level
Title	Level	Hit Dice	THAC0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Acolyte	1	2d6	20	1
Acolyte	2	3d6	19	2
Junior Shaman	3	4d6	18	2	1
Junior Shaman	4	5d6	18	2	2
Shaman	5	6d6	17	2	2	1
Shaman	6	7d6	16	3	2	2
Senior Shaman	7	8d6	16	3	2	2	1
Senior Shaman	8	9d6	15	3	3	2	2
Great Shaman	9	9d6+2	14	3	3	2	2	1
Great Shaman	10	9d6+4	14	3	3	3	2	2

Gnoll shamans are essentially clerics, with the same saving throws and spell selections. They can wear any armour but do not use shields. They can use any blunt weapon (like clerics) though prefer using either flails (treat as maces) and morning stars (two-handed weapons, basically spiked clubs,  that do 2d4 damage). 

In terms of spells, gnoll shamans can access spells for chaotic clerics including reversed versions of spells such as Darkness and Cause Disease, and will often pick spells that will either demonstrate their power in combat or protect themselves. Only rarely will a shaman choose spells that aid others, and then only for the benefit of the tribe. 

Gnolls are not particularly devout creatures and have fewer shamans than other species of humanoid. Nonetheless, they have some shamans., who fall into two broad camps - the followers of Chaos and the followers of Yeenoghu. 

Yeenoghu is the patron immortal of the gnolls, and is aligned both to Chaos and to the Sphere of Entropy. He is a vicious, hateful creature that delights in the suffering of others and encourages his followers to do likewise. He is often depicted as an oversized emaciated gnoll wielding a three-headed flail and is the most popular actual immortal among gnolls and their shamans. This is a relatively easy concept for gnolls to grasp (and they are not the most intelligent of humanoids) as many see Yeenoghu as a really big, tough leader of all the gnolls who is giving orders through his shamans. Some gnolls refer to him as The Pack Leader of all Packs. They understand hierarchy within the clans and tribes, and Yeenoghu is at the very top. 

However, other gnoll shamans will follow Chaos as a whole. This is similar to human Chaos Cultists who are more interested in the philosophy and concepts of Chaos than the whims of a single immortal. These chaos gnolls are more likely to ally with other chaotic creatures, such as human chaos cultists. In the Caves of Chaos (module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands) the gnoll clan there has allied itself to the Cult of Chaos led by evil humans, although these gnolls do not have their own shaman. 

Art by Dave Sutherland, from 1st Edition Monster Manual