#ad&d 1e

[anim-ttrpgs]

Dog Physics

(Not to scale)

[thecreaturecodex]

Dakon

"Gorilla Warrior Groom" © Gio Sabadze, accessed at his ArtStation here

[The dakon is yet another monster that appeared in the AD&D Fiend Folio and was then all but forgotten. Maybe it's market saturation; there are so many apes and ape humanoids in D&D that one without a gimmick or any special abilities just doesn't stand out. They did make an appearance in Dragon Magazine 187, getting an "Ecology of the Dakon" article intended to rescue them from the memory hole. It didn't work. But it does have some interesting ideas to emphasize their Lawful Neutral alignment, which I poached here. I did not take the use of titles from the historical Ghana Empire from that article; that strikes me as being too close to unfortunate racial implications. My version incorporates them into Pathfinder by referring to some of that setting's ape monsters, and gives them a howl special attack because apes are loud.

If you'd like to support my writing, check out the Creature Codex Patreon here!]

Dakon CR 2 LN Monstrous Humanoid This creature looks like a gorilla, except that it is clearly comfortable walking on two legs. It wears little clothing except for harnesses for tools and golden jewelry.

Dakons are gorilla-like humanoids with a highly organized society. They are agriculturalists and traders who value gold above other precious stones and metals. All free dakons wear some manner of gold jewelry, typically a ring displaying the name and crest of their monarch. Royal dakons go so far as to wear ceremonial golden armor on special occasions. Dakon villages are built in three dimensions out of wood and fiber, surrounded by wooden palisades for defense; dakons rarely build with stone. A village is led by the strongest warrior, and competitions of strength and intimidation occur every five years to determine who that is. All of the villages in a region pay tribute to a king or queen, who owns the gold mines in the area and taxes all trade. The miners laboring to extract the gold are never free dakons, instead being made up of convicted criminals and the enslaved warriors of their enemies.

Rank-and-file dakons rarely use melee weapons (trusting instead to their powerful fists), although they do carry a brace of javelins when expecting combat. Swords are seen as symbols of rank, and warlords and kings often wield ornate weapons. Every dakon is capable of communicating with other primates and befriending them, and as such monkeys and apes are common domestic animals. Dire apes are frequently used as watchdogs and war hounds. A dakon’s lungs are powerful and they can and do give shouts that can be heard for miles as a warning; creatures too close to a shouting dakon can be temporarily deafened.

Dakons are a proud people and wish to be seen as equals by the humanoids that live nearby them. They staunchly believe in law and order, seeing it as a powerful corrective to the chaotic nature of the demon lord Angazhan, who is seen as the primary architect of evil in their cosmology. The charau-ka are their greatest rivals, and captured charau-ka make up the bulk of their slave force. Dakons do not believe in the death penalty among their own kind; criminals are subject to enslavement or exile, and they are ritually shaved in patches as a sign of humiliation. For the most serious offenses, the shaved patches are burnt or chemically scarred to ensure that the hair never grows back. Dakon religion venerates a wide range of ancestors, nature and elemental spirits; druids and oracles are much more common divine casters than clerics.

Dakon CR 2 XP 600 LN Large monstrous humanoid Init +2; Senses low-light vision, Perception +6 Defense AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +3 natural) hp 15 (2d10+4) Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +4 Offense Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Melee 2 slams +4 (1d8+3) Ranged javelin +3 (1d8+3) Special Attacks howl Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Statistics Str 17, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10 Base Atk +2; CMB +6; CMD 18 Feats Great Fortitude Skills Acrobatics +4, Climb +15, Craft (woodworking) +4, Handle Animal +2, Perception +6 Languages Common, Dakon SQ primate empathy +6 Ecology Environment warm forests Organization solitary, pair, band (3-12), village (6-60 plus 50% noncombatants, 1 2nd level NPC per 10 individuals and 1 5th level NPC), or town (100-600 plus 1 2nd level NPC per 10 individuals, 1 5th level NPC per 50 individuals and 1 8th level NPC) Treasure standard (3 Large javelins, other treasure) Special Abilities Howl (Ex) As a standard action once per hour, a dakon can howl. All creatures within 30 feet of a howling dakon must succeed a DC 13 Fortitude save or be deafened for 1 minute. The save DC is Constitution based. Primate Empathy (Ex) A dakon can befriend apes, monkeys, lemurs and other animals and magical beasts with primate characteristics. This functions as a druid’s wild empathy class ability, except that the dakon can only use it to influence primates and gains a +4 racial bonus. This stacks with wild empathy for dakons who take levels in a class that grants that ability.

[3d34-2]

These are available in August!

US Postal Service issues Dungeons & Dragons stamps

Today, the United States Postal Service announced four new stamp themes for 2024 including a group of ten designs celebrating the 50th anniv

[svalinnside]

a very basic ad&d 1e guide

you know how I did that musical history according to Eddie Munson's battle vest post? well, the urge to Explain Something has come upon me again, so...

d&d is marketed as a collaborative storytelling game. it wasn't the first tabletop role-playing game (ttrpg), but it was the kind of the first commercially successful and widely recognised one

it's probably important to note up front that whilst all of the following is correct in terms of the version of d&d that was out 1983-1989, stranger things canon does not care, and uses all sorts of anachronistic terminology/lore, so ymmv in terms of how much effort you want to put in for time-period accuracy

that said, if you are a total nerd about this sort of thing, here we go!

tools of the trade (irl equipment required to play)

some basic terminology (common vocab and explanations thereof)

some more basic terminology (slightly more specific vocab and explanations thereof)

how to build a character (what's a race? what's a class? wtf are all the numbers about?)

abilities (what the numbers actually do in the game)

races (the different species you can play as)

classes (the different jobs you can have in-game)

I went light on a lot of the nitty-gritty with these, because the point is less "this is how to play canon-era-accurate d&d" and more "here are some buzzwords you can drop into your fic to make it sound like you know what you're talking about", but if you've got any questions about specifics do lmk, I might add more sections!

[ruminalynum]

hell yeah I wanted to write a byler fic but needed to make a reference so of course I found myself reading those fancy 80s D&D rulebooks and modules for like 5 hours #time_managment_goals

They’re super fun to read, btw! Maybe I’ll make some posts exclusively on the fun things I learned about the older D&D editions. But for now, let’s just appreciate the illustrations from AD&D book.

[libraryogre]

Tumblr may joke about its piss poor reading comprehension, but it has NOTHING on D&D grognards.

[oldschoolfrp]

The master of the dungeon invites you inside -- Jeff Easley’s cover for the 1e Dungeon Masters Guide, used from 1983-1990 on the “orange spine” printings of the book, replacing David Sutherland’s original cover art.  Often overlooked in the background, the wizard is backed by an army of goblins, some demons or devils, and at least one dragon with what may be a mountain of treasure.

[sam-seer]

Magic Mouth (Spell): An enchanted mouth suddenly appears and speaks a message... If placed upon a statue, the mouth of the statue moves. Material component: a bit of honeycomb.

Classic illustration from the Advanced D&D Player's Handbook (1978).