Mano Del Diablo: Hand of the Devil Guild

Not all the guilds in Waterdeep are notorious. Some are so tiny, they slip by the acknowledgment of even the most sharpest of authorities. The Hand of the Devil, is a tiny thieving guild that has once mighty beginnings. It was founded by Constantino De Vastez. As the son of a wealthy exporter, he made many political friends and his cut throat business dealings made him even more enemies.

At the height of his power he controlled all the exports of Caer Calidyrr, the largest port city or the Alaron Isle. His ships and cargo barred the great red hand of the devil. But Vastez overstepped his reach and his rivals vying for power persuaded the king to have him jailed, While jailed, his lands were seized, his family murdered. He was then to stand trial, what little political clout he had left saved him from the hangman’s noose.

He was exiled from the isle. During his transport to a distant island prison, a tempest came upon their vessel, everyone was lost at sea. Vestez, clinging to some floating debris drifted to the coast of Waterdeep. There, he met a orphan boy Erdan. With the boy he has lived the last 10 years in a sewer lair. The name of his mercantile guild, reincarnated, as a thieving guild. The only presence on the surface is a small pub called Latrina Del Diablo (The Devil’s Outhouse). It a tiny pub that caters to sailors, and is used to gather useful information on valuable cargo.

The thieving guild is tiny, consisting of Constantino De Vastez, a lvl 10 rogue, his right hand man, 3 eyed jack, who also tends bar. 4 underlings that are lvls 3-5 and Erdan. They prefer to be not to be brought to the attention of authorities. Since Constantino De Vastez is a wanted man and blamed for the loss of the ship he was on. Additionally, Waterdeep, is headquarters to the Oaklord Trading Company. One of the Partners of Three, who own and run the smuggling company, was the one who spearheaded the assualt upon Constantino De Vastez’s name. I was even an Oaklord Trading Company vessel was taking Vastez to his island prison.

Erdan’s Exile
Erdan was exiled from the guild because of an event. Erdan, hated the dank confines of the sewers of Waterdeep. He preferred the roof tops of tall city buildings, and visage of the city scapes. He copied the moves of the circus performers, learning to scale walls, walk on tight ropes and so on. These were all things that Vastez did not approve of. He feared that Erdan would get caught and lead the authorities back down to him. This was source of great contention between, Erdan and Vastea. Erdan desired a different life.
The final straw was when Erdan swooped in and saved a beautiful women from some thugs in a back alley. The Lady captivated Erdan’s attention. Her husband thanked him and took him in briefly. When Vastez found out, he was irate. The husband, turns out to be Rictila Chandler, one of the Partners of Three, in the Oaklord Trading Company. Vastez banishes Erdan from the guild and from the city, on penalty of death. To enlist the help of his men with out question, Vastez tells his men that erdan taken out a shipment of goods and was keeping it for himself. IF they ever seem him, they are to bring Erdan to him alive. For their troubles he give them a handsome share of the loot.

Currently Vastez, is clinging to life. His advanced age, and poor diet has finally caught up with him. He regrets exiling Erdan. He desires to make amends with him and leave him in charge of his guild and possessions.

House Rules: Fire, Lightning and Acid Damage

Officially, D&D 4th edition rules say that if is not in the spell description, than any additional affects do not exist. By that track you can not use fire spells or abilities to ignite objects unless it states it can in the spell decryption. The upside to this philosophy is that makes the game simpler to run, but the down side it makes it less realistic, in what I think is a critical way. As players we do need t watch our rule creep. We need to strike a balance between realism and the game being paralyzed with rules. I have done a fair amount of research on the D&D forums about this subject. This is what I have come up.

1. Only Fire/Heat/Steam/Acid Spells that cause ongoing damage can damage items or any lightning/electrical spells*- Most spells/powers cause flash damage. This is the equivalent of nearly instantaneous flash of extreme heat. *the only exceptions to this rule is volatile fumes/gases, rules on such an occasion will have be addressed if it arises.

2. Items make base DC check of 10 (or 20 for Lightning/electrical) to be ignited. - This check assumes the item is combustible, or can be melted

3. Modifiers
Magic items: subtract the item’s enchantment bonus or 1/3 of the item’s min level if no enchantment bonus is available.
Magic Items with resistance or elemental properties: If the item offers powers or protection to the matched attack (such as a Fire breath weapon vs. a Flame sword) the enchantment bonus is doubled.

Material Modifiers
Fire/lighting/acid Vs non-magic metals. -5
Fire/lighting/acid Vs Mithril, Ceramics, glass and stone -7
Fire/lighting/acid Vs Adeniamtite -10
Fire/lightning Vs Volatile explosives, gas & liquids (Methane gas, Torch oil) +2

Source of the Acid/Lightning/Fire
Natural lightning strike +10
Lava + 10
Bonfire/building fire/ forge +5
Spell, power or ability: + ½ the casters level

Personal save - A person under fire may choose one item and transfer a modifier equal to reflex modifier from one item to another. This can not be used while blocking using shield vs. blast attack.

Blast Attacks vs. Shields - The total shield modifier may be extended to all the player’s items and the to another player 1 square directly behind them. This bonus if for large and tower shields and ½ of a bonus is offered for small shields. The player using this shield black maneuver can not use personal save too.



Combat Example: A Level 30 Ancient Red Dragon uses Immolate breath weapon on Vincent a level 26 Paladin. Assuming he is struck with the breath weapon. Vincent decides to use his +5 adeniumtite shield of fire protection. The shield get a total of -20 on a DC check because of the material and it’s enchantment bonus (x2 because of fire resistance). +15 offsets the DC roll because of ½ the level of the dragon. This gives a total bonus of -5 on DC check. Roll for the shield first, if the shield makes it the rest of the player’s items will have an -5 to all subsequent DC item damage checks. This bonus can be extended to another player in 1 adjacent square behind the player.

4. The items that fail their DC are destroyed at the end of the target’s next turn.

5. If the means are available, i.e. submersion in water, or dosing with water, a DC of 10 must be made, and items are unusable, but repairable. This must be done by the end of the target’s turn.

6. Elemental affects on materials
Fire, heat, steam, lave, magma, plasma-ignites, incinerated or disintegrates combustibles, melts metals (depends on temp), supper heats then shattered ceramics/glass, stone. Note: with enough heat energy, any object can be completely broken down to it’s base elemental parts, the exception being relics/artifacts.

Lightning, electricity- produces entry and exit wounds, and burns a pathway through the flesh. In the case of extreme high voltage what ever part of the body the energy exits, that part of the body is blown off. the electricity passes through.
Largely un affects glass and ceramics. Ignite combustibles, burns holes into armor, or melts or warps metal objects.

7. The target only makes the item damage DC checks when it is initially hit with the spell/power.

Actions In Combat-Player Handbook

There was this encounter where there was a bunch of dwarves held up in a locked room. It was guarded by a Orc and his pet. The guard was asleep, as was the dog. The rogue wanted to sneak up and kill him outright. In the old D&D rules only an assassin could such a thing, so, I granted them a surprise round (he made a stealth check) and the attack ensued.

What should have happened, was a coup de grace attack on the sleeping guard. He would have double damage across the board with his sneak attack included. The attack certainly would have taken more than half the Orc’s max HP killing outright.

This post will cover combat actions. Rules on movement, skills and stealth will follow.

Aid Another: Attack (+2 attack)
At Will-Weapon
Standard Action
Target: one ally
Attack: Dex or Str vs. AC10
Hit: +2 to on target’s next attack
Special: Bonus ends at the end of your next turn


Aid Another: Skill Check (+2 Skill Check)
At Will
Standard Action
Target: one ally
Attack: DC vs. DC10
Hit: +2 to on target’s next DC roll (+4 max)
Special: Bonus ends at the end of your next turn

Bull Rush: Push Enemy 1 square
At Will
Standard Action
Target: one enemy
Attack: STR vs. FORT
Hit: Push enemy 1 unoccupied square and you shift into vacated space

Charge: +1 attack roll
At Will-Weapon
Standard Action + Movement Action
Target: one enemy
Attack: Selected basic attack
Special: You must have room to move 2 or more squares on a straight path to the target.

Coup De Grace: Slay Enemy/Automatic Critical Hit
Standard Action
Target: one helpless enemy
Attack: determined by attack power (Target take -5 to defense if unconscious)
Hit: Critical Hit; Slay enemy outright if you deal more damage than target’s bloodied value

Craw: Prone-Half Movement Speed
Movement Action
Special: must be prone, and you move at half movement speed.

Delay: Delay your turnOn your turn, you can take no action, opting to take your turn at another point in time. You must take your turn before your turn comes up again in iniative order, or it will be lost.

Escape: Escape from a a Grab
At Will
Movement Action
Target: enemy that has the Grab
Attack: Acrobatics vs. Reflex or Athletics vs. Fortitude
Hit: you end the grab and shift 1 square

Grab: Grab a target
At Will
Standard Action
Target: one enemy *must be the same size or smaller than you
Attack: STR vs. REFL
Hit: Enemy is immobilized, the target may attempt to escape on its’ turn
Special: Immobilized targets can still attack as normal and can teleport, but otherwise can not move

Grab: Sustain a Grab on a target
At Will
Minor Action
Target: one grabbed enemy *must be the same size or smaller than you
Attack: none

Grab: Move a Grabbed target
At Will
Standard Action
Target: one grabbed enemy *must be the same size or smaller than you
Attack: STR vs. FORT
Hit: Move up to half your speed, target is pulled with you.
Special: Target never provokes an attack of opportunity from being pulled. You, however, will if you move from an adjacent enemy square (not including the target).

Opprotunity Attack
At Will
Standard Action (Basic Attack only)
Trigger: enemy leaves a square adjacent to yours, enemy uses ranged or AOE powers in a square adjacent to you. This can be area can be expanded dependent on your reach.
Target: one grabbed enemy *must be the same size or smaller than you
Attack: Basic attack roll
Hit: determined by basic attack chosen
Special: The attack of opportunity take place at the same time of the enemy’s action. If the attack of opportunity reduced the target to 0 hp, then the action is interrupted. Also you can only take a opportunity attack one time against a single target, in a round.

Ready an Action
At Will
Standard Action
Choose a target, and action you desire to take and a trigger. The trigger will be something the target does i.e. a movement, or an action. You immediate reaction can be a move action , standard or a minor action. What ever you pick as a trigger, it must be completed before you initiate your reaction. For example, if a evil priest is about to sacrfice a maiden and you want to kill him, just before he plunges the dagger in her chest, you will need to select the movement up to her as the trigger. If you use his attack as the trigger, he will have already stabbed her before you initiate your counter attack.
* Initiative falls back into order after your immediate reaction

Run: +2 movement
At Will
Movement Action
Target: self
Effects: +2 to speed
-5 to attacks until the start of your next turn
Grant combat advantage to your enemies until the start of your next turn.

Second Wind: +2 to all deffnce + Heal 1/4 max HP
Encounter*
Standard Action
Target: Self
Effects: Spend a healing surge (regain 1/4 you max hp)
+2 on all defenses until the start of your next turn.
*some special abilities can grant more that additional second winds


Shift: move without an opportunity attack
At Will
Movement Action
Target: self
Movement: 1square (unless a ability grants you more)
*Difficult terrain reduces your movement by half, and is rounded down.
*You can not shift when that movement requires a skill check

Squeeze: Move through space ½ your size, ¼ for rogue
At Will
Movement Action
Target: self
Effect: move through space ½ your size, ¼ for rogue
Movement is reduced to 1/2 your movment

Stand Up
At Will
Movement Action
Target: self
Movement: Get up from a prone position.*
*if the space you are prone in is occupied, then you may shift 1 square. If all of those squares are occupied, then you can not stand up. A Craw - Standup double move may be needed in that situation.

Total Defense (+2 to all defenses)
At Will
Standard Action
Target: self
Effect: +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of your next turn.

Use a Power or Basic Attack
This depends on the power or attack you chose.

Walk
At Will
Movement Action
Move up to your movement Most players are 5-6