This guide was designed to supply definitions for those of you who are unfamiliar with the game terms that get thrown around here with no regard to anyone's misunderstanding. I realize that not all of us have been doing this as long as have I and the people who helped add to my archives, and don't want you to go away confused and thinking that you'll never be able to play these games or use the information that we've worked so hard to bring you. Thus, this Portable Refrence Guide.
As I write this, the Guide is still short, very short. Therefore, the Index I'm placing here is sort of unnecessary, but one hopes that there will become needed in the future. Bear with me, please.
THAC0: To Hit Armor Class Zero (0); the number that the character in question needs to roll on d20 to hit a character with an armor class of zero. Used to determine combat results.
Special Abilities
PP: Denotes a rogue's percentage (rolled on d100) to Pick Pockets
OL: A rogue's ability to Open Locks
F/RT: A rogue's ability to Find and Romove Traps
MS: A rogue's ability to Move Silently
HS: A rogue's ability to Hide in Shadows
HN: A rogue's ability to Hear Noises
CS: A rogue's ability to Climb Surfaces, sheer or otherwise
RL: A rogue's ability to Read Languages other than the ones he knows
Alignments
CG: Chaotic Good Davy Crockett types
CN: Chaotic Neutral Madmen, those who really don't care
CE: Chaotic Evil The scum of the multiverse, the worst, most despicable critters around
NG: Neutral Good They tend towards niceness, and follow the rules that seem best at the moment
TN: True Neutral Help which ever side needs it, and switch sides when one starts to win
NE: Neutral EvilThey tend towards rude manners and do what they want
LG: Lawful Good They're so good that being in the same room with them for long rots teeth
LN: Lawful Neutral Everything has a purpose, and they make sure it fulfils it; politicians and bureacrats
LE: Lawful Evil Don't break the rules unless you can come up with a legal way to do it, and then feel free to have fun!
Deciding that he needed something to help him blend in, and tired of having his illusions shattered left and right by anceint wyrms, he sought the aide of a silver dragon who taught him a great deal more than he had first known about things such as polymorphing. The idea came to the, then, somwhat, young mage to plant this ability on an article of clothing, making it easier to carry around and use.
He did and it was.
The cloak gives its wearer the ability to assume the form of any species of dragon, once a week, and for any length of time. The character becomes a dragon mind and body and cannot use any spells (s)he may have memorized, but can use the innate abilities of the new form. Unless used by Serzen himself, the cloak cannot transform the wearer into a wyrm of greater than one hundred fifty years; frequently, the resulting dragon is not greater than seventy-five years.
At the end of each two hours that the character has been transformed, (s)he must make a Wisdom check or become totally lost to the wyrm's instincts and unable to be returned to his/her true form without either a remove curse or a wish. The Wisdom check carries a -3 cumulative penalty. (ex. If a charater with a Wisdom of 14 dons the cloak, after two hours, the character must roll a 14 or lower on d20 or be lost to the beast. After four hours, the character must roll an 11 or lower; after six, a 7 and so on.)
XP Value: 12,000
GP Value: 50,000+
Long ago, before the elven gods were expelled from one of the Prime Material worlds, Dolran, the most powerful (though also the most evil) of them, became upset that his people were constantly allowing themselves to be defeated by mere humans. Dolran crafted an elf to be a champion of his people, naming the elf Kaye. Kaye was brilliant, well learned in magic and the arts of combat. A brilliant speaker, he unified the elves under him and set out on a campaign to retake the elven homeland.
Kaye's band of elven warriors, though dedicaed to their cause, were quickly defeated by the men and their steel weapons. Furious, Dolran put his evil mind to work and all of his power together to create the Damkaye-- the Staff of Kaye. Dolran personally brought the staff to Kaye and presented it before the eyes of the entire elven nation, hoping his presence would lend weight to Kaye's position and authority.
With the power of the Staff, Kaye led the elves to victory over the men and, indeed, forced them back into a primitive society. The true Purpose of the Damkaye was to give its wielder the ability to take over the world, which the elves might have accomplished, had Kaye not accidently lost his grip on the staff and dropped it.
He died shortly thereafter.
The Staff is, obviously, Chaotic evil and bestows the possesor with the following abilites:
The character possessing the Damkaye slowly comes to hate all races not elven and desires to take over the world in the name of elvenkind and exterminate all other races of beings. The full affects are realized after about ten days, and a successful save vs Death Ray can put the affects off for another day, at which time another save is required, unless the character does not wish to lose the feelings...
The only way to destroy the Staff is to take it to the Plane of Mechanus and put it between the teeth of two of the great cogs that make up that Plane, allowing their mechanical nature to drain the magic from the staff and their great mass to crush it into nothingness. Dolran will try not to let this happen, as you can imagine.
The necklace stores 15 hp worth of positive energy which may be used in an any manner the owner desires (e.g. heal his/her wounds, or those of companions or NPCs, fuel for spells requiring life essence, etc.). The application of these energies takes concious effort on the part of the owner (i.e. it will not happen automaticly if the owner is unconcious or dead), but no command word need be spoken, only concentration.
The used energies are replenished at the rate of one hp worth per hour, to a maximum of 15 hp worth of energy. No character may possess more than one of these anywhere on his/her person (including inside bags of holding, portable holes or any other form of storage), for the immense amounts of energy would destroy the character instantly; no saving throws are allowed under these circumstances.
XP Value: 75,000
The Discipline is fully described in White Wolf's Dark Ages Companion (WW2804), pages98-100. Due to the nature of this site, and my lack of permission from White Wolf, I'm not re-printing the article.