All Hail the Ultra Bastard

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Ultra Bastard, my homemade franken-creature of a ruleset is now available for your perusal. 

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It's a compact (16 pages for core) distillation of the rules I actually play at my table. 

I've previously described myself as a heterodox, universal harvester and that ethos is evident throughout this project. This is a love letter to the hobby, not a product

I am a big believer in the ethos of DIY and the notion that every DM with the inclination to do so, should make their own D&D. I hope you'll chop it up for parts, excise the sections that aren't a perfect fit and re-combine the remaining bits with your favorite house-rules to make a bespoke ruleset that's perfect for the campaign you're running right now.

A few distinctives:

• Classless core with optional, simple-to-implement classes
• Cast as many spells as you like, but they cost HP
• Hit points are capped at the higher of Strength or Constitution score so they never over-inflate.
• Speed Sandwich initiative (per Dwiz)
• Optional Wounds table
• Wisdom is replaced with Alertness. One stat for perception instead of two for mindfulness.
• Familiar, old-fashioned D&D chassis but with Advantage/Disadvantage, slot-based encumbrance and critical hits.

I'm proud of this and I hope you'll tear it apart and make something you're proud of. 

Waxen Shambler

 

My own drawing, referencing this.

The Waxen Shambler (or Candle Golem) is an idea I came up with for a haunted chapel. It's essentially a Shambling Mound, comprising the waxy mass of hundreds of melted together liturgical candles rather than vegetation. 

Waxen Shambler

Armor Class: 10 - a slow moving blob isn't hard to hit

Damage Immunity / Resistances: Immune to normal missiles & bludgeoning attacks. Other weapons deal half damage.

Vulnerabilities: If it takes cold damage, it will move at half speed and only take one attack. If it is set on fire, it will take double the normal recurring damage but will act as if under the effects of a Haste spell until the fire burns out.

Hit Dice: 8d8 (36HP) + Regenerates 5hp / round

Attacks: 

• 2x bludgeoning limbs, +2 to hit, d12 damage
• Engulf - if both limbs hit, the target is swept into the mass of the shambler and will suffocate in 3 rounds unless freed.  

Move: Half human speed

Saves: 12+ 

Morale: Implaccable

Encounter Design

This thing is very hard to kill but pretty easy to flee. It won't chase beyond the church building.

My hope is that it pursues the party around the church area, maintaining pressure but they're smart enough not to stand against it toe-to-toe.

If they set it on fire... characters are likely to die. 

Loot

You'll undoubtedly find the oddments of previous victims lodged amid the mass.

Big inspiration for my design