DragonMagazine422.pdf

Issue 422 | APRIL 2013

A Dungeons & Dragons ® Roleplaying Game Supplement

ContentS

14 Building ChArACter

By Matt Sernett

Have you grown tired of humble farm boys

and rebellious duke’s daughters? Roll up a

new, unique background for your hero.

A Funny thing

hAppened . . .

By Steve Winter

“Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” Those

words weren’t written for roleplayers, but

they could have been.

35 BArlAr’s BuCket helm

By Ed Greenwood

Barlar Belasko is a man of above average

height, handsomeness, and ego. But an

annoyed wizard brought him down a peg.

hyrsA m, prinCe

OF sAtyrs

By Mark Monack

Hyrsam is so ancient that he remembers—

and misses—a time before Corellon and the

other gods discovered the Feywild.

tinker gnOmes

By Daniel Helmick

As dwarves need to mine and elves need

to sing, the tinker gnomes of Krynn need

to invent.

On the COver: Ralph Horsley offers a glimpse of a harrowing ride aboard a whooshwagon, one of the lesser-known inventions of the

tinker gnomes. Maybe they’re lesser-known because so few passengers live to spread the tale.

EDITORIAL

A Funny Thing

Happened . . .

By Steve Winter

422

Dr agon

Apr il 2013

Senior Producer

Christopher Perkins

Producers

Greg Bilsland, steve Winter

Managing Editors

Kim Mohan, Miranda Horner

Development and Editing Lead

Jeremy Crawford

Developers

Robert J. schwalb, Chris sims

RPG. Horror is difficult, because the inevitable jokes

continually break the tension. But humor is at least

as tough, if not tougher, thanks to the give-and-take

dynamic of a D&D session. If you don’t believe me, sit

someone down in front of an audience and order that

person to “Be funny . . . NOW!” Unless your victim

has uncommon talent or many hours of experience at

improvisational theater, the odds favor the next few

minutes being a disappointment.

A comic strip is 100 percent under the cartoonist’s

control. A movie or a TV show can be tightly scripted

and can shoot many takes to maximize the laughs.

Stand-up comedians rehearse thoroughly and have to

deal with hecklers only occasionally. Trying to run a

comedic RPG session is like delivering new material

to a room filled with hecklers, and you get exactly one

chance to hit all your marks.

That’s why, even in April, we don’t go overboard

with “how to make your D&D game funny” adven-

tures or articles. We’ll run an oddball adventure

about owlbear racing or offer an article featuring

tinker gnome whooshwagons (and even put one on

the cover of the magazine), but for the most part, we

expect you to bring your own laughs to the table. Or,

more correctly, we know you will bring your own

laughs to the table, and there’s no need for us to weigh

things down with many of our own.

“ Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are

interested and the frog dies of it .”

Senior Creative Director

Jon schindehette

Art Director

Kate Irwin

E. B. White

Publishing Production Manager

Angie Lokotz

Considering the hundreds if not thousands of

roleplaying games that have been published, is it

surprising that only a relative handful have been

“comedy” games? We have a few straight-up humor

games: Too n , Paranoia , Low Life , Ghostbusters . We

have games that are parodies of their genres or

even of themselves: HackMaster , Macho Women with

Guns , Spaceship Zero (a game so subtly thorough in

its parody that an alarming number of people never

realized a joke was involved). We have games meant

to be played straight but that almost always devolve

into humor: Gamma World , any superhero RPG with

random power selection.

And then there’s every other roleplaying game in

existence. No matter how serious a particular genre

or set of rules is meant to be, humor is bound to worm

its way in. Keeping it out takes a tyrannical Dungeon

Master, players with fanatical dedication to serious-

ness, or both.

Let’s face it: When a great one-liner pops into your

head at the table, only a person with towering will-

power can hold back from blurting it out. It’s who we

are as gamers. The stereotype of the silent, socially

awkward D&D player notwithstanding, roleplayers

are a gregarious bunch who love a hearty laugh and

who can’t resist sharing a good joke.

Despite all that natural levity, humor might be

the hardest of all atmospheres to maintain in an

Digital Studio Consultant

Daniel Helmick

Contributing Authors

ed Greenwood, Daniel Helmick,

Mark Monack, Matt sernett

Contributing Editors

Ray Vallese, Penny Williams

Contributing Artists

Adam Danger Cook, Ralph

Horsley, Hector Ortiz, sarah

stone, Tyler Walpole, eva

Widermann, Kieran Yanner

Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, D&D Insider, their

respective logos, D&D, Dungeon , and Dragon are trademarks

of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States

of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or

artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written

permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. This product is a work of

fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events

is purely coincidental.

Hyrsam, Prince

of Satyrs

By Mark Monack

Illustration by Hector Ortiz

The Satyr Prince Hyrsam, he sings

Of times more than mere story—

Before gods or masters or kings,

Before death, fate, or glory.

Why does he cry for days gone by

Beneath locks curl’ d and tawny?

He smiles wry as he’s heard to sigh

“ ’Twill be all nonny, nonny!”

that pristine condition. In public, he plays the consum-

mate bon vivant, traveling from court to court with

his coterie of musicians and minstrels, entertaining

the various fey courts. But in the shadows, he sings

secret songs of sedition and rebellion. His father, Lord

Oran, actively refutes the rumors about Hyrsam’s

involvement in the fall of various kingdoms that have

collapsed in the wake of his visits, but only because

Hyrsam is so careful to keep his hands clean. Not

even Hyrsam knows whether the Green Lord actually

believes the stories about his son’s political intrigues.

Though Hyrsam plays the fool for the nobles of

the Feywild, he is both clever and erudite, with an

in-depth understanding of how to manipulate others.

His true goals are both far-reaching and ambitious:

Hyrsam seeks no less than the complete collapse of

all fey kingdoms so that the Feywild might return to

its original pristine state. To that end, his songs sow

the seeds of rebellion wherever he goes, and his revel-

ers offer whatever clandestine assistance they can to

rebels and traitors.

—Traditional Faerie Song

M aster of r evels ,

M aster of r ebels

Hyrsam is one of the most ancient fey creatures in exis-

tence. The eldest son of Oran, the Green Lord, Hyrsam

remembers the earliest days of the Feywild, before

Corellon and the other gods discovered it, and even

before the fomorians held dominion over the plane.

In those days, the Feywild was a brutal but beauti-

ful realm occupied by the fey creatures who would

one day become the members of the Court of Stars.

No elves, no eladrin, and no drow existed then. Corel-

lon, Sehanine, and Lolth had never yet trodden upon

these faerie shores. Gnomes, satyrs, dryads, and tre-

ants frolicked and capered in the brightest sunlight,

unfettered by the strictures of court or church.

Hyrsam remembers those days well, and his fond-

est desire has always been to restore the Feywild to

H yrsaM l ore

A character knows the following information about

Hyrsam with a successful Arcana check:

DC 18: Hyrsam is a handsome satyr with curly

locks that fall in wild tangles around his curved spiral

horns and down his fair face. His dark eyes f lash

Apr il 2013 | DRAGON 422

Hyrsam, Prince of Satyrs

e ncountering

H yrsaM

A Dungeon Master might incorporate Hyrsam into an

ongoing Feywild campaign that is reaching the end of

the paragon tier in a number of ways.

Hyrsam Level 23 Elite Skirmisher (Leader)

Medium fey humanoid, satyr

with hidden passion and rebellious light. He always

dresses in ordinary traveling clothes when interact-

ing with commoners, and he is in regal finery when

appearing before the nobles of the fey.

A hero of the Court of Stars, Hyrsam has used his

powers to topple numerous fomorian strongholds.

He can wield his magic fiddlestick like a rapier, to

deadly effect. His music, which some say is audible

even to the spirit, can charm allies and enemies

alike, allowing him to manipulate them both on and

off the battlefield.

DC 23: Legend holds that Hyrsam was born from

the very first notes of music. Indeed, some go so far as

to say that he is music incarnate. As the fey spirit of

revelry, he is effectively immortal. If killed, he reap-

pears elsewhere in the Feywild at the next dawn or

dusk. Those same legends state that if he is deafened

at the moment he dies, he will remain truly dead.

XP 10,200

HP 215; Bloodied 107

Initiative +20

AC 37, Fortitude 34, Reflex 35, Will 36

Perception +22

speed 8

Low-light vision

Action Points 1; saving Throws +2

Tr aits

O Hyrsam’s song F Aura 5

Any ally that starts its turn in the aura can make a saving

throw against one effect that a save can end. Any enemy

in the aura cannot take actions during Hyrsam’s turn. This

aura deactivates if Hyrsam cannot take actions.

Revel Leader

If Hyrsam is not deafened, at the start of each of his turns,

he can make a saving throw against one effect that a save

can end. He can make a saving throw to end being slowed,

immobilized, or restrained, even if the effect does not nor-

mally end on a save.

Standard Actions

m Fiddlestick F At-Will

Effect: Hyrsam shifts up to half his speed before the attack.

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +28 vs. AC

Hit: 3d8 + 18 damage.

r Discordant Note (psychic, thunder) F At-Will

Attack: Ranged 20 (one creature); +26 vs. Will

Hit: 2d10 + 19 psychic and thunder damage.

Double Attack F At-Will

Effect: Hyrsam makes two basic attacks.

C Irresistible Dance (charm, psychic, thunder) F Recharge

5 6

Attack: Close burst 2 (enemies in the burst); +26 vs. Will

Hit: 1d8 + 19 psychic and thunder damage, and the target

is dazed until the end of Hyrsam’s next turn.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: The target moves its speed as a free action.

Triggered Actions

Music Never Dies (healing, teleportation) F Daily

Trigger: Hyrsam is not deafened and drops to 0 hit points.

Effect (No Action): All effects on Hyrsam end, he regains all

his hit points, and he teleports up to 20 squares without

needing to see his destination.

skills Bluff +24, Diplomacy +24, Stealth +23, Thievery +23

str 18 (+15) Dex 24 (+18) Wis 22 (+17 )

Con 23 (+17 ) Int 21 (+16) Cha 27 (+19)

Alignment unaligned Languages Common, Elven, Supernal

equipment fiddle, fiddlestick, horn of revelry

Hyrsam, Savage

Hyrsam’s dream is not an innocent one. He revels in

memories of the Feywild as a place of savage beauty.

Mighty, legendary beasts populated the Feywild

in the days before the fomorians tried to establish

dominion over it. When the fomorians, and later the

gods, rose to power, they drove many of these massive

beasts into the most distant reaches of the Feywild.

Hyrsam knows these places, and he knows the

songs that can soothe and control these great beasts

of antiquity. Hyrsam occasionally unleashes one or

more of these creatures on an unsuspecting castle,

seeking to reduce its massive fortifications to rubble.

The adventurers might be present during one

of these rampages, and the rulers of the kingdom

could call upon them to stop the legendary creatures.

P rince of s atyrs ,

P rince of s atires

Hyrsam’s court is a traveling menagerie of creatures

from the Feywild and beyond. Although satyrs and

their dark cousins, the satyrs of the night, comprise

the majority of his complement, Hyrsam’s retinue also

includes dryads strolling with lamia, eladrin traveling

with drow, and gnomes capering alongside fomorians.

Almost as noteworthy are the revelers who join him

from distant planes, including renegade genasi, genies,

githyanki, and even dwarves, humans, and half lings.

Hyrsam welcomes everybody into his circle,

regardless of race or alignment. The only require-

ments for his revelers are a sincere love of the

Feywild, a talent for music or storytelling, and a will-

ingness to set aside the prejudices of their former lives

and live in harmony with the other revelers. That

said, Hyrsam has the most fondness for those who

share his dream of returning the Feywild to its origi-

nal unfettered condition.

HyRSAm AS CompAnion

The heroes need not encounter Hyrsam as an

adversary. Hyrsam might accompany them as an

ally in a mission to overthrow an Unseelie despot

or a corrupt archfey. In such a scenario, prepare

Hyrsam as a level 23 companion (leader). Use his

monster statistics as a guide, but change his hp

to 140 and give him 20 healing surges, as well as

access to every bardic ritual and any other rituals

you think he might have.

Apr il 2013 | DRAGON 422

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