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I'm working on the rules for Plaguebearers from Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. I got this far, but could use some help, as noted below.

]d20 Plaguebearers

It is said that the fate of those who die of the foul disease Nurgle's Rot is to serve the Lord of Decay forever in the most disgusting form of a daemon called a Plaguebearer.

Plaguebearers are the rank and file of Nurgle's legions, but are more than a match for any man. These loathsome Lesser Daemons are crafted from the blighted soul-stuff of mortals who have been slain by Nurgle's Rot. A Plaguebearer carries the marks of Nurgle's Rot through eternity.

The Plaguebearer's body is swollen with contagion, and churning innards spill from tears in their rancid skin. What little of its skin that can be seen beneath the discharge of innumerable sores tinged with suppurant greens and vile browns. Huge black flies lay their filthy eggs on these foul daemons, and clumps of maggots crawl and clamber over their putrid hides, feeding on the putrescent matter that drips from their oozing sores. When the flied hatch, they swarm around the Plaguebear in a buzzing could of vileness and will turn upon and attack its enemies.

It has a single baleful eye and from its head sprouts a long horn. In its clawed hand the daemon carries a sword with a distorted barbed edge, dripping with noxious infection. This is the Plaguesword of Nurgle whose touch brings disease and death to mortal creatures.

STR 19
DEX 3
CON 15/19 (Mark of Nurgle)
INT 11
WIS 10
CHA 9

Will Save +9

FEAT: Plague Bearer
You carry a highly contagious disease to which you are immune, spreading disease and pestilence wherever you travel. You are a carrier for the disease Nurgle's Rot. You are immune to this particular disease. You carry this disease and may infect others.

FEAT: Mark of Nurgle
Gains +4 Con, becomes evil-aligned, can never be changed back, for any reason.

PLAGUESWORD
The Plaguesword drips with venemous slime A wound from this weapon will likely kill a mortal creature outright
Magical weapon, slashing, masterwork (+1 to hit) causes 1d10 points of damage.

(rules? cause some kind of aggravated damage, maybe 1 damage point caused becomes d3 to d6 damage caused, due to being racked by pain? Always causes max damage, since a tiny scratch hurts like a major blow? Addt'l chance of infection, catching Nurgle's Rot?)

UNNATURAL CLOUD OF FLIES
The Plaguebearer is surrounded by a black cloud of flies. When the Plaguebearers are fighting these evil buzzing creatures fly into the eyes and mouths of their enemies, clogging their ears and mouths, and crawling ip their nostrils. You suffer a -4 to hit penalty when attempting to attack a Plaguebearer. Models wearing comprehensive ear, nose and throat protection (ie, a space helmet still suffer this bonus becasue the cloud of flies still markes the target hard to hit.

NURGLE'S ROT
(Need rules for some kind of super-disease.)




DEMON TRAITS
Plaguebearers possess the following traits

- Immunity to electricity, poison, a disease-based effects of any kind.
- Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10.
- Summon (Sp): Many demons share the ability to summon others of their kind (the success chance and type of demon summoned are noted in each monster description). Demons are often reluctant to use this power until in obvious peril or extreme circumstances.
- Telepathy.

Except where otherwise noted, Plaguebearers speak Abyssal and Infernal.

NURGLE MUTATIONS (optional)
Horn
You have a horn jutting from your forehead. A common Plaguebearer mutation.
You gain ??? (natural attack?)

Chitinous Skin
Chitinous plates that begin to grow on your flesh.
You gain a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class.

Single, large baleful eye
Most Nurgle Plaguebearers have this mutation
A common mutation among Nurgle. +2 to Spot checks.

Bloated Form
Your body is grossly bloated and your limbs thick with flesh.
You gain +6 hitpoints

Terrible Body Odour
You have a terrible body odour
You suffer a -2 Cha penalty.

Improved Natural Strength.
Your strength is greater than that of your peers.
You gain a +1 bonus to your Str score.

Poor Natural Strength.
Your strength is worse than that of your peers.
You suffer -1 penalty to your Str score.

Hearty Constitution.
You are well-built compared to your peers.
You gain a +2 bonus to your Con.

Fragile Constitution.
You are sickly and weak.
You suffer a -2 penalty to your Con.

Hardness
Your skin can deflect natural blows.
Non-magical attacks against the target do two less points of damage (e.g. a sword blow for five points of damage would actually inflict only three, unless it was a +1 sword - then it would do six points of damage).

Putrescent Exposed Flesh
Your skin is soft and tears easily.
Non-magical attacks against the target do two more points of damage than they would normally.

Blessed by the Gods of Chaos
You are blessed by the gods.
All rolls to hit are at +1.

Cursed by the Gods of Chaos
You are cursed by the gods.
All rolls to hit are at -1.

Fingers like Talons
The bones of your fingers have grown and hardened into talons.
You gain a natural weapons attack that deals 1d4 damage, plus your Strength modifier.

Teeth as Sharp as Needles
Your mouth is filled with hundreds of fine, pointed teeth.
You gain an additional bite attack that deals 1d3 damage, plus your Strength modifier.

Sharp Spines
Sharp taloned spines jut from your back
You gain an additional spine attack that deals d3+3 damage, plus your Strength modifier.

Bloated Form
Your body is grossly bloated and your limbs thick with flesh. You gain 5 wounds and the Sturdy
You gain +6 hitpoints, but may no longer run. Re-roll this mutation if you already have the Elongated Form or Withered Form mutations.

Withered Form
Your body is withered, your flesh hanging loosely from your bones.
The Plaguebearer suffers a -2 penalty to Con. Re-roll this mutation if you already have the Bloated Form mutation.

Hardy Form
Your body is withered, your flesh hanging loosely from your bones.
The Plaguebearer receives a +2 bonus to Con. Re-roll this mutation if you already have the Bloated Form mutation.

Strangely Jointed Limbs
Your limbs have extra joints that articulate differently to a normal human.
The Plaguebearer can squeeze into tight spaces and suffers no penalties to movement or attacks while doing so.

That is an awful lot of rules for one random enemy model (by the standards of Dark Heresy at least, it could be different in the other 40k RPGs)

 motyak wrote:
That is an awful lot of rules for one random enemy model (by the standards of Dark Heresy at least, it could be different in the other 40k RPGs)

He's not using it for the 40K RPGs, he's using it for d20(D&D based systems).

That said, still a ton of rules on one creature.

Ah. Of course, they are D100. My bad.

Make the weapon count as vorpal, and any rule that's not special doesn't need to be explained.

If it's strength is 18, it's strength is 18. There's no reason to explain why it is unless it really makes no sense, like a tiny sized creature with 40 strength

Edit - Also, I wouldn't bother giving them special abilities that make them different. If you want to keep them varied, just mark it down and do it behind the scenes as a DM

 Necroshea wrote:
Make the weapon count as vorpal, and any rule that's not special doesn't need to be explained.

If it's strength is 18, it's strength is 18. There's no reason to explain why it is unless it really makes no sense, like a tiny sized creature with 40 strength

Edit - Also, I wouldn't bother giving them special abilities that make them different. If you want to keep them varied, just mark it down and do it behind the scenes as a DM

Nah, I'm trying to make them special, with an option to add mutations. I don't want to make the blade vorpal, I want it to have some type of magical effect that causes disease/Nurgle's Rot.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

I say vorpal because if I recall correctly on a crit it kills a living creature by severing it's head.

So for your weapon, on a hit make a con check.
On a crit they simply die

Just curious though, how much experience do you have DMing?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Necroshea wrote:
I say vorpal because if I recall correctly on a crit it kills a living creature by severing it's head.

So for your weapon, on a hit make a con check.
On a crit they simply die

The vorpal sword is CL 18. I want to to be good, but not *that* good, and I don't want a counts-as weapon. I want a weapon that reflects its true abilities, like each point of damage becomes d3 or d6 points of damaging. Buff, but without it being too overpowered.

 Necroshea wrote:
Just curious though, how much experience do you have DMing?

I DM'd Warhammer Quest back in the day, but don't really roleplay much. Why?

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

 chris_valera wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Necroshea wrote:
I say vorpal because if I recall correctly on a crit it kills a living creature by severing it's head.

So for your weapon, on a hit make a con check.
On a crit they simply die

The vorpal sword is CL 18. I want to to be good, but not *that* good, and I don't want a counts-as weapon. I want a weapon that reflects its true abilities, like each point of damage becomes d3 or d6 points of damaging. Buff, but without it being too overpowered.

 Necroshea wrote:
Just curious though, how much experience do you have DMing?

I DM'd Warhammer Quest back in the day, but don't really roleplay much. Why?

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

 Necroshea wrote:

 chris_valera wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Necroshea wrote:
I say vorpal because if I recall correctly on a crit it kills a living creature by severing it's head.

So for your weapon, on a hit make a con check.
On a crit they simply die

The vorpal sword is CL 18. I want to to be good, but not *that* good, and I don't want a counts-as weapon. I want a weapon that reflects its true abilities, like each point of damage becomes d3 or d6 points of damaging. Buff, but without it being too overpowered.

 Necroshea wrote:
Just curious though, how much experience do you have DMing?

I DM'd Warhammer Quest back in the day, but don't really roleplay much. Why?

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

You just sorta seem like me when I first started doing it. Really focused on the tiny details. After a while, you start to learn how things flow and just sort gloss over a lot of the small stuff.

Anyways, going back to the sword, just make it poisoned. Adjust the fort check as high as you think it should be. Perhaps DC 10 for low level PCs. It's not outrageously hard to beat, but it will make them think twice before getting close to a plague bearer.

Cool idea but I have a question.

What level characters is this monster meant to fight?

Also, monster creation for d20 can be a lot more formalized than just making up rules. The great thing about D&D3.5 is that there are already so many rules you can have fun just seeing how you can use them to achieve a theme. There are appendices in the 3,5 MM with advice on monster creation, IIRC.

For example, you are missing the monster's type -- which would obviously be Outsider in this case. And then, when it is on the Material Plane, it would gain the Extraplanar subtype. This is important first of all because it controls how certain spells, like Dismissal and Banishment, effect the creature. But it also gives you a good starting place in terms of what the monster should be like:

d20 SRD wrote:An outsider has the following features.

+ 8-sided Hit Dice.
+ Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter).
+ Good Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves.
+ Skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.

From: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm

From there, you can browse through the kinds of Feats and Monstrous Feats that would be suitable for the Plaguebearer theme. You can also apply Extraordinary, Spell-Like, and Supernatural Abilities based on the pre-existing spell list and magic system. Finally, you can equip the monster and IIRC there is a magic item creation ruleset in the DMG.

This is so much fun that I will probably take a crack at writing up a Plaguebearer when I have my books in front of me.

 Manchu wrote:
Cool idea but I have a question.

What level characters is this monster meant to fight?

Also, monster creation for d20 can be a lot more formalized than just making up rules. The great thing about D&D3.5 is that there are already so many rules you can have fun just seeing how you can use them to achieve a theme. There are appendices in the 3,5 MM with advice on monster creation, IIRC.

For example, you are missing the monster's type -- which would obviously be Outsider in this case. And then, when it is on the Material Plane, it would gain the Extraplanar subtype. This is important first of all because it controls how certain spells, like Dismissal and Banishment, effect the creature. But it also gives you a good starting place in terms of what the monster should be like:

d20 SRD wrote:An outsider has the following features.

+ 8-sided Hit Dice.
+ Base attack bonus equal to total Hit Dice (as fighter).
+ Good Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves.
+ Skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.

From: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm

From there, you can browse through the kinds of Feats and Monstrous Feats that would be suitable for the Plaguebearer theme. You can also apply Extraordinary, Spell-Like, and Supernatural Abilities based on the pre-existing spell list and magic system. Finally, you can equip the monster and IIRC there is a magic item creation ruleset in the DMG.

This is so much fun that I will probably take a crack at writing up a Plaguebearer when I have my books in front of me.

I'll take a look at what you posted, and yeah, have a crack at it with me. Really I used the 40K to d20 rules. and I'm going from there. I have no idea what level characters it's meant to fight, I just want it to be realistic.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Still working on the Plaguesword, got some suggestions for Nurgle's Rot

Nurgle's Rot (Su)

Nurgle's Rot is the most foul of the countless contagions which afflict mortal beings. It is Nurgle's gift to the mortal universe. It is completely incurable, highly infectious, has a very slow course that turns the infected into bloated, rotting, corpses, and worst of all it corrupts the souls of the infected into new Plaguebearers.

It is as much a spiritual plague as a physical one, as the souls of those infected are slowly leeched into Nurgle's realm, where they appear as warty seed pods growing from cracked branches of gloomy willows. Each pod swells and ripens as the plague destroys its host in the real world and the nascent Plaguebearer feeds upon the victim's dying energies. When fully mature, the podule drops and the newly created Plaguebearer tears himself free. A mortal who resists for a significant period produces an equally long incubation period resulting in a larger, tougher and more disgusting Daemonic Herald of Nurgle. Many sufferers undertake death quests in order to be killed and avoid this fate.

Supernatural disease—slam, Fortitude DC 20, incubation period 1 minute; damage 1d6 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Unlike normal diseases, Nurgle Rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.

Nurgle Rot is a magical and moral plague, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with mummy rot must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.

To eliminate Nurgle's Rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the Nurgle's Rot can be magically cured as any normal disease.

An afflicted creature who dies of Nurgle's Rot is reborn in the Realm of Chaos as a Plaguebearer.

Just think -- at what level should a PC be able to take one Plaguebearer by himself?

Also consider, how would you use it in a game of D&D3.5? Would you have the PCs confront a ton of these guys altogether along the way to the boss or would one of them be a boss for them by itself? OR somewhere in between?

 Manchu wrote:
Just think -- at what level should a PC be able to take one Plaguebearer by himself?

Also consider, how would you use it in a game of D&D3.5? Would you have the PCs confront a ton of these guys altogether along the way to the boss or would one of them be a boss for them by itself? OR somewhere in between?

A Plaguebearer is like a veteran veteran, so maybe 3rd to 5th level. Regular commoners and peasants would die easily, but a few trained fighting men would be able to take one on. A Captain of the Watch would be able to take one, one-on-one.

PCs are more like death-dealing super parties.

Just like they are in Warhammer dude.

You mean WFRP or the WHF or 40k or DH or the BL novels? I get what you mean from your description but not the idea of "just like in Warhammer."

 Manchu wrote:
You mean WFRP or the WHF or 40k or DH or the BL novels? I get what you mean from your description but not the idea of "just like in Warhammer."

I meant Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40,000, but WFRP or the 40KRPG Probably have a different, probably more realistic take. What are their stats there? Do they have like slow and purposeful, feel no pain, or regeneration? the various Warhammer wiki sites mention it.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

I'll look into it when before plunging into statting them up for D&D3.5.

 Manchu wrote:
I'll look into it when before plunging into statting them up for D&D3.5.

Cool. You might as well look up Nurglings, and maybe Bloodletter and Daemonettes while you're at it. Oh and Daemon Princes, too.

Someone on another forums pointed out to me that if you use WFRP 2e stats and believe W x T / 15 = HD, that would make them 5 HD creatures. That seems a bit high, but not overly so. Thoughts?

I also have some new Nurgle/chaos mutations:

Feel No Pain
You can ignore pain that would cripple the strongest man.
Non-magical attacks against the character do four less points of damage (e.g. a sword blow for five points of damage would actually inflict only one, unless it was a +1 sword - then it would do six points of damage).

Pestulant Skin
Your skin is a sickly green, brown, tawny yellow, or has a sickly pale hue to it.
The character's skin is a sickly green, brown, tawny yellow, or has a sickly pale hue. The character will always be mistaken for a leper, or other infected, and will initially be shunned by any sane, thinking person.

Nurgling Familiar
A Nurgling follow you where ever you go, feeding upon the flakes of foul flesh you leave behind.
You gain the services of a Nurgling familiar. You gain +2 Con or +3 hitpoints. Stats of a Nurgling (coming soon)

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com