Skin Robe

When this robe is put on, the wearer takes on the form of another. A skin robe enables its wearer to be aware of this new form. This allows him a +10 competence bonus on Disguise checks. The wearer adopts aspects of the appearance of another creature, those whose skin comprise the robe. All creatures failing a Spot check versus the disguise wearer see him in this altered form, even those acquianted with the wearer.

Moderate illusion; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, disguise self; Price 25,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Wine of Telling

The various wines of telling inspire wondrous stories of faraway lands in those who drink them. Those consuming the same wine as the storyteller receive bonuses to follow the story as it is being told. In the hands of a powerful enough bard, these stories lead to adventures in these lands. Different wine types lead to different stories (and thus different adventures) -- think forks tuned to different planes.

Here, the effect is felt by those who hear stories told by those under the influence of the wine. For instance, if a bard tells a story about a far away land, and has been drinking wine of telling, all those who can hear the story are whisked away to the foreign land for the duration of the buzz.

Wine of telling is usually served from the clay decanters in which they are distributed. This keeps the sunlight from ruining the flavor or the enchantment.

Price: 500-1000gp. To make wine of telling, it takes someone with a Profession: Vintner of 5 one month per batch. In addition, the vintner must have access (either through arcane magic or access to magical grapes) to the ability to teleport or plane shift. The effects of the wine are limited by which of these powers the vintner imbues the wine with.

Fair Folk

Also known as children of deepwood, these short, slender, pale folk wander the woods throughout Proppia and the Farghoal. They are strong storytellers who revel in adventure that they can spin yarns about, and their song and dance is often heard before they are encountered in person. Fair folk seem mostly human except they are paler and have slightly oversized eyes due to their natural habitat. They have also been known to take up residence in caves and undersea grottos, living in these locations for periods of five years at a stretch before moving on.

They ride tiny horses (actually medium-sized). They wear long, flowing clothing of fine, highly-colored silk. They often wear wings in their dramatic productions and dances, but do not fly, contrary to certain folk tales.

Rumor has it that they are the descendants of elves who mated with humans, though they stand a mere 2-3 feet tall.

They only count in fives, and are usually encountered in groups of five. This is due to a superstition that runs deep in their culture. They are highly enamored with the truth and seek it with every interaction. Lying to them once means never having them trust you again. Though they themselves often pay for services with gold that turns into manure or cockleshells the next day.

They fear iron and collect bronze wherever they can.

Fair Folk as characters:

• Small: As small creatures, Fair folk have the usual +1 bonuses on AC, etc. due to their diminutive size.
• Fair folk base land speed is 15 feet, but they can move this speed even through the deepest forests.
• 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level, all to be applied to nature-based skills.
• Automatic Languages: Fair folk and one other fey tongue.
• Favored Class: Rogue, wizard. They tend to be both at even levels.
• Favored alignment: Neutral
• Unique Languages: Though each fair folk society speaks a strong dialect of the base fair folk language, each of the dialects is mutually intelligible by other fair folk.

Book of Dreams

The stories in the book of dreams are centered around themes that resonate between the Prime Material Plane and the Dream Plane. Readers of a book of dreams travel into the Dream Plane as they sleep, appearing in whatever form is negotiated between the character's will and the passage read. Readers remain on the Dream Plane for the duration of their sleep cycle. If awakened, readers are immediately whisked back to the plane on which the books are read.

Minor tomes allow passage to the Dream Plane for an hour, and Greater/Major tomes transport readers to the Dream Plane indefinitely. There are none too rare cases of adventurers having disappeared for long period of time, only to return to the Prime Material Plane acting like the creature form that represented them in the Dream Plane.

Price: 10,000gp. Books of dreams require Craft Wondrous Item, plane shift, and dimensional anchor to construct.

Book of Escape

This book, when any passage is read from it, transports the reader to a location considered safe by the the reader. This can be anything to a decadent palace to a crib in her parents' home. This depends on the reader and how well the player rolls when the book is read. Higher rolls mean more lavish accommodations, lower rolls more spartan ones. The effect is that of a word of recall spell. The book can be reread, though any passage already read loses its value for any given reader. A typical book of escape has 150 passages for each reader.

This tome led to the meaning of the term "book" meaning to run from a situation.

Price: 2,500gp. It requires the ability to Craft Wondrous Item and word of recall to create a book of escape.

Otherworld Dog

Otherworld Dog
Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 4d8+8 (26 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (+2 Dex, +5 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip attack
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., spell resistance 10, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +15, Jump +11, Listen +10, Move Silently +14, Spot +8, Survival +7*
Feats: Improved Initiative, Run, TrackB
Environment: A chaotically-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (5-12)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic neutral
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium);
Level Adjustment: +3 (cohort)

A typical otherworld dog stands 4 feet high at the shoulder and weighs 100 pounds. Their coats are a mix of pastel and light-colored hues, ranging from blue to lavender to tan across their coats.

Otherworld dogs do not speak, but they do communicate with each other through a series of howls, barks and whimpers.

Otherworld dogs have never been domesticated, tough some have tried. They have the ability to plane shift a will, complicating the process of trying to keep them in one place for very long.

Combat
Otherworld dogs are efficient hunters. A favorite pack tactic is to surround prey quietly, then attack with all the hounds, tripping prey with their trip attacks. They do not give their prey a chance to escape.

An outerworld dog's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as chaotically-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Trip Attack(): An otherworld dog has a trip attack resembling that of a wolf.

Skills

Otherworld dogs have a +5 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.

*They also receive a +8 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent, due to their keen sense of smell.

Tome of Ensnarement

If read, this tome traps the reader, not allowing them to stop reading until the entire book is complete. This takes varying amounts of time, depending on the intelligence of the reader and the length of the book. The effect requires a DC 35 Will save to avoid.

Minor tomes number a hundred or so pages and are DC 20, and Greater/Major tomes number in the thousands and are DC 30 to avoid. Many an adventurer has met their demise by these tomes, which is why the major ones tend to be found with a desiccated corpse close at skeletal hand.

Price: 20,000gp. Tomes of ensnarement require Craft Wondrous Item, hold monster and dimensional anchor to construct.

New 4e material over at Tailslap!

So I've just published another article at Tailslap, our 4th edition sister publication. This post details Baldrik Ostov, a death knight in service to Orcus.

Another post on Tailslap details a new 4th edition artifact weapon: Ayrte Majak, the Sword of War.

Staff of Wandering

Purportedly developed by the mysterious mage of the Goduanil, versions of this staff have been found in the hands of mist elves and other creatures who maintain civilizations on the fringe of the great ooze flows.

This +1 staff usually provides the following effects:

* freedom of movement
* path finding
* intuit direction

Occasionally, variants of this staff also include some of the following capabilities, replacing one of the above:

* create food and water
* purify food and water
* longstrider

The standard staff of wandering costs 40,000 and requires Craft Staff and the ability to cast whichever spells it supports.

Issue 6 Rereleased!

Claw/Claw/Bite is a resource for storytellers and gamemasters to help create thrilling worlds of adventure for your players to test their mettle in. In each issue, you'll find new characters, creatures, magic items, encounters, and locations for use in your campaigns. We also include little nuggets that will enrich your world with interesting details and intriguing features.

Our goal is to be a "one-stop shop" for you, the gamemaster. With little or no tweaking on your part, you will be able to drop any game element from Claw/Claw/Bite into your adventure setting and run it how you see fit. All of our creations are designed for d20 fantasy rules. And of course, everything is carefully reviewed and balanced to fit into your game without disrupting your play balance or giving you too much rope.

This issue of Claw/Claw/Bite includes:

* Three new characters, including two powerful mages
* Two new locations with five encounters, including Harpy Point
* A new race, the Wyndm-folk
* Nine new magic items, including three new purses and bags
* A minor artifact, the Visage of Scahrossar
* A new spell, Phase Object
* And a new creature, the Begotten of the Old Ones.

Buy it here.