Preserving Statblocks

I’ve done a few statblocks away from this blog, including some on the Goodman Games website. I am not reproducing those here, because that was paid content, but I did try to include some gameable material in each of the “Real Life Adventures” posts I wrote. You can find them here: Scotland and Orkney, Gilmorton Cove, Algonquin Park, and Halburton Canopy Walk and Wolf Centre. The first and last of these have statblocks which may be of interest to you.

I’ve also done statblocks as part of other posts, for the sheer fun of it. I am reproducing them below in case the original posts go to 404 Error heaven.

Atali’s Brothers

If you go back and read some of the Howard stories from when Conan was younger, such as Rogues in the House or The Tower of the Elephant, you can actually see a progression from a less-powerful and canny warrior to the Conan who can survive crucifixion and recover enough to take on a demon a month later.

In The Frost Giant's Daughter, we see Conan after all of his nearby companions have died in battle - clearly just after the 0-level funnel and having a first solo adventure at level 1. In DCC terms, this adventure might actually have been part of the 0-level funnel (PCs level as soon as they reach the needed XP), and consists of Conan failing his saves against the Frost Giant's Daughter's “allure” ability, making some Fort saves to avoid being too tired by the time he meets the frost giants, and fighting the same. His last Vanahiem combatant might have occurred at level 1 or at level 0; what occurs in the story is possible in both cases in the DCC rules. If Conan has an 18 Stamina, he has a maximum of 7 hp at level 0 and 22 hp at level 1 (minimums of 4 and 10).

If we assume Conan is a level 1 warrior with an 18 Strength, using a weapon that does 1d8 damage, we know that he can do 8 + 3 + 3 (Deed Die), or 14 points of damage on a non-critical hit, or an average damage of 10 on a hit. Conan was born on a battlefield, so his Luck affects his damage rolls; he might be able to do as much as 17 points on a hit, if he was so lucky as to gain 3 "18"s in his initial rolls, but I am going to say he only gains +1.

As a result, we can stat these creatures out easily enough:

Atali's Brothers: Init -2; Atk axe +5 melee (1d10+4); AC 13; HD 2d10; hp 10 each; MV 30’; Act 1d24; SP crit on 20-24 as giant; SV Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +6; AL C.

(And that, thank Crom, is a complete statblock in this system.)

Cyclopean Deep One Pugilist

Cyclopean Deep One Pugilist: Init +2 Atk fist +4 melee (1d3+3 subdual); AC 16; HD 5d8+10; hp 35; MV 20’ or swim 40’; Act 2d20; SP See future; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +4; AL C.

The Cyclopean Deep One pugilist has but a single eye, yet that eye can see into multiple potential futures simultaneously, allowing the pugilist to choose the best possible future. His hit points, attack modifier, and saves all reflect this. If somehow blinded, these each suffer a -2 penalty, in addition to normal penalties for blindness. In the event of a successful Mighty Deed, the Deep One pugilist should be granted a saving throw (DC equal to attack roll with all modifiers) to avoid being blinded (representing its ability to avoid unpleasant futures, unless all futures are unpleasant).

The Cyclopean Deep One pugilist beats captured land-dwelling slaves to a bloody pulp in the arenas of the Deep Ones to stave off boredom on the long nights of winter.