Faces of Pretomournon:The Dwarf with the Eye-patch

Ibbo

A strange-looking creature, small and stocky, but broad and strong. Maybe it's a small man, or maybe a large gnome. Maybe it's a member of an unknown race from a distant corner of Seralin, or even from one of the other moons of Anderove. Anyway, the creature calls itself a “dwarf”.

Dwarves are not native to the Weird opera world, but then, Ibbo is not from this world. He comes from a distant planet located in another universe, where immortals rule over an eternal empire. Ibbo double-crossed one of them, and had to run for his life.

Following an ancient map, Ibbo found his way into a strange multi-dimensional castle, in which he quickly became lost. Wandering through the castle’s many rooms and corridors, the strangeness and horrors he encountered almost drove him mad. Chased by a swarm of vargouilles, he sought refuge in what appeared to be a chapel. It was there he was contacted by Arak-Kur-Mortahn, The Death Titan, a demonic destroyer of worlds traveling from world to world in his ship of the lost. Ibbo vowed to serve the Lord of Twist and The Death Titan provided a portal key that would activate one of the many magical portals out of the castle. Ibbo ended up on Seralin, where he resides to this day.

The dwarf has dull gray skin and wears shiny black leather armor. He wears an eye-patch over his left eye, making him look like a pirate, shaves his head bald, and wears his graying beard short. He speaks with a deep voice that could be described as “fatherly”, or as “disturbing”.

Pretomournon’s inhabitants don’t notice, but Ibbo has the surly attitude of a typical dwarf; stoic and stern, dour and humorless. In addition, he’s very foul-tempered and mean. He fully intends to help the Lords of Misrule to destroy this world and many others after that. Even though Ibbo’s the Disciple of the 5^th Lord of Misrule, he’s happy to let another demon bring about the Apocalypse. It’s for this reason he helps the jester Quinzel to summon her master, Padat The Fall. That, and the girl is easy to take advantage of when she’s in one of her depressive moods.

If not working to cause the end of the world, Ibbo indulges in his hobbies: robbery, theft, murder and tax evasion. Not too long ago he stole a chest of magical weapons from smuggler Vithimiris Reizensteijn, with the help of a key provided by key maker Frederika Gvene. He sold the weapons for a large sum of money to the amazon Demostratia. However, Gvene talked under pressure, and now Reizensteijn has offered a substantial award for "the dwarf with the eye-patch".

Ibbo: AL C; MV 12; AC 6 (studded leather, Dex); Male Dwarf 9; hp 59; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6+5 (dwarven thrower war hammer, Str) or 2d6+10 when thrown, or by weapon +2; S 16, D 13, C 16, I 15, W 10, Ch 15; M 6; items: amulet vs. crystal balls and ESP; XP 2,400.

Ibbo has all the special qualities of the dwarf class.

Location: The lighthouse in the harbor, Quinzel’s apartment in the River District, or committing a crime somewhere else in the city.

See also: Demostratia, Frederika Gvene, Quinzel, Vithimiris Reizensteijn.

Note: Arak-Kur-Mortahn, The Death Titan appears in the one-page dungeon Ship of the Lost.

Stationery Vermin

There are lots of monsters said to be the result of magical experiments, and so are the creatures known as stationery vermin. It seems plausible indeed that these pests were an invention of an office working mage, cleric, or clerk who was tired of misplacing his scissors or pencils. Whatever the truth, now stationery vermin are breeding, and have become a nuisance in any office environment.

Stationery vermin are small creatures, about the size of rats. Each has a piece of office supplies for a head: scissors, a stapler, a pencil, etc. They can be either bipedal and quadrupedal, and there are species that are bird-like and can fly. Apparently, these shapes are independent of the type of stationery – there are both running and flying scissorheads, for example.

Stationery vermin can be trained to follow orders.

Stationary Vermin (2d12): AL N; MV 150’ (50’), (birdlike vermin have 180’ (60’) flying); AC 7; HD 1-2 hp; #AT 1 (bite); Dmg 1; Save Human0; M 5; XP 6. In addition, every type of stationery has a special attack or ability, as given below.

Eraserhead. Erase: At will, the eraserhead can erase magical writing as the 1^st-level magic-user spell.

Glue-Tubehead. Glue: The glue-tubehead can cover any surface with a sticky substance. Creatures touching the glue cannot mow, unless a Str-check is made. If the check is unsuccessful other actions to free oneself can be taken (for example, taking of ones boots or gloves).

Pencilhead: Illusory script: Once per day, the pencilhead can disguise it’s writing as per the 3^rd-level illusionist spell illusory script.

Scissorhead: Cut: The attacks of the scissorhead do 1d6 damage.

Staplerhead: Staples: The attacks of a staplerhead do 1d4 damage.

Tape-Dispenserhead. Constriction: if the tape-dispenserhead’s attack hits, its target’s legs are constricted, making it impossible to walk without falling (1d4 dmg).

Variant: Hit Dice by Race

This variant is inspired by the way Hit Dice work in OD&D.

The kind of die a character rolls for hit points is determined by his race, not his class. The table below shows the Hit Dice for the most common races:

Race	Hit Die
Dwarf	d8
Elf	d6
Gnome	d6
Half-elf	d8
Halfling	d6
Half-ogre	d10
Half-orc	d8
Human	d8

For the races of the Weird Opera world they are:

Race	Hit Die
Botanoid	d6
Gnome	d6
Morlock	d8
Neanderthal	d10
Nine-Lives Cat	d8
Paragon	d6
Pig	d10
Porcine	d8
Human	d8

One die is rolled at first level, but further dice are not rolled at every level of experience. A character’s class determines at which level he gains another Hit Die. For example, a cleric gains his second Hit Die at 2^nd level, but doesn’t get his third Hit Die until level 4. A magic-user gets a Hit Die every other level.

At levels at which a class doesn’t get a full Hit Die, he gains a flat number of hit points, usually 1 or 2. The following table shows the Hit Die progression for the four main classes:

Level	Cleric	Fighter	Magic-user	Thief
1	1	1	1	1
2	2	2	(+1 hp)	(+2 hp)
3	(+2 hp)	3	2	2
4	3	4	(+2 hp)	3
5	4	5	3	(+4 hp)
6	(+4 hp)	6	(+3 hp)	4
7	5	7	4	5
8	6	8	(+4 hp)	(+6 hp)
9	(+6 hp)	9	5	6
10	7	(+3 hp)	(+5 hp)	7
11	8	(+6 hp)	6	(+8 hp)
12	(+8 hp)	(+9 hp)	(+6 hp)	8
13	9	(+12 hp)	7	9
14	(+10 hp)	(+15 hp)	(+7 hp)	(+10 hp)
15	(+12 hp)	(+18 hp)	8	10
16	(+14 hp)	(+21 hp)	(+8 hp)	(+12 hp)
17	(+16 hp)	(+24 hp)	9	(+14 hp)
18	(+18 hp)	(+27 hp)	(+9 hp)	(+16 hp)
19	(+20 hp)	(+30 hp)	10	(+18 hp)
20	(+22 hp)	(+33 hp)	(+10 hp)	(+20 hp)

Further Notes:

* Fighters gain one Hit Die type greater than normal for his race. For example, a human fighter would uses d10 for Hit Dice. 

* Paladins and rangers use the fighter progression, but don’t get the greater die type.

* Druids and monks use the cleric progression.

* Illusionists and spelldancers use the magic-user progression.

* Assassins use the thief progression.

New Race: Nine-Lives Cat

Nine-Lives Cats

Requirements: INT 9

Ability Modifiers: DEX +1, WIS -1

Nine-lives cats are a race of intelligent shape-changing felines. They are not lycanthropes, and can transform at will. They can assume two shapes: that of a cat and that of a single unique human. Unlike lycanthropes, they do not have a bipedal cat form.

The human form is that of an attractive young woman or, less frequently, a young man. Like normal humans they are very diverse in appearance. They are virtually undetectable from a normal human, except for the pointy, fur-covered cat’s ears that are also visible in this shape. The cat’s ears are easily hidden beneath a hat or cap.

Nine-lives cats have infravision of 120 feet. In addition to their alignment language, common, elvish, and halfling they can speak to normal cats and felines, including big cats like tigers and lions.

Changing from one form to the other costs one round. Armor and equipment do not transform with the character, and his or her cat shape cannot use any weapons, armor or other equipment. A spellcaster in cat form may cast spells, but cannot handle any material components or use magic items.

The cat form is 1’-2’ tall. It has AC 6, Move 120’, and 3 attacks: 2 claws and 1 bite, each doing 1d2 damage. It has a number of d4 hp equal to the character’s level, but may not have more hit points than the human form. Wounds taken in one form carry over in the other. The nine-lives cat dies when the hp of her current form reach 0. However, the cat has nine lives, and if she has any lives left, she’s raised in 1d6 x 10 minutes as per the raise dead spell. If her nine lives are used, she’s dead for good. A dead nine-lives cat cannot be raised, except with a wish, that can give the character a new cycle of nine lives.

Nine-lives cats may select from the following classes, with the indicated level limits.

NINE-LIVES CAT CLASSES AVAILABLE
Class	Level Limit
Assassin	9
Fighter	12
Magic-User	U
Spelldancer	U
Thief	10

Nine-lives cat thieves receive the following bonuses and penalties to thief abilities:

NINE-LIVES CAT THIEF SKILL ADJUSTMENTS
Skill	Adjustment
Pick Locks	-5%
Pick Pockets	+5%
Move Silently	+7%
Hide in Shadows	+10%
Hear Noise	+1*
*Nine-lives cats receive a better dice range for hearing noises. For example, 1st level nine-lives cat thieves hear noises on a 1-3, and at 9th level it is 1-5. Hear noise may never be better than 1-5.