Thursday 21 August 2008

Pandemonium Cigarettes

Pandemonium is a plane of few pleasures. Something in the very air of the place sews misery, mistrust, madness and sorrow. But the inhabitants of its endless tunnels make do with what small amusements they can come up with. One of those is the Pandemonium Cigarette - which can also be found in some specialist shops in the Lady Ward of Sigil, where the rich wives of the cage's highups are always looking for some new, exotic titilation.

What's special about a Pandemonium Cigarette is that you never know what you're going to get before you light it up. The evil Chaotic Neutral nature of their plane of origin seeps into them somehow. They all look the same - a rather grey, drab bundle of herbs bound in a tight filter. But the results of smoking one are usually different.

Pandemonium Cigarette

Cost: In Pandemonium, 1sp for a dozen. In Sigil, 2gp for six.

Effects: When a character smokes a Pandemonium Cigarette, the DM should roll a d20 and consult the following table. The effects last as long as the cigarette - d4 minutes.

1 - The smoke tastes of strawberries. No additional effect.
2 - The cigarette billows huge amounts of smoke uncontrollably. An area two yards in diameter from the smoker is immediately filled with a thick, cloying gas.
3 - The cigarette burns extremely quickly. The smoker must make a save against dexterity with a +3 modifer to throw away the item before the flame reaches his or her lips. Failure results in loss of a hit point.
4-7 - The cigarette makes a soft, crackling sound in which can be heard the distant sound of chuckling laughter.
8-11 - The cigarette makes a soft, crackling sound in which can be heard the distant moans of a terrified child.
12-15 - The cigarette makes a soft, crackling sound in which can be heard the distant screams of a madman.
16 - The cigarette emits a green glow, which illuminates an area three yards in radius from the smoker.
17 - The cigarette's smoke has a peculiar effect on surrounding members of the opposite sex, whose reaction adjustment to the character is improved by +2.
18 - The cigarette's smoke has a peculiar effect on surrounding members of the opposite sex, whose reaction adjustment to the character is reduced by -2.
19 - The cigarette contains a mild narcotic which reduces the character's attack rolls by -1 for d4 hours, but gives them d3 bonus hit points for the same period.
20 - The cigarette tastes like dung. The smoker must make a saving throw vs. poison or spend two rounds uncontrollably vomiting.
With thanks to Matt for the idea.

5 comments:

  1. Holy cow... you DID like the idea!

    It's like a mini wild surge table. Looks great.

    -Matthew

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  2. Yoink! Totally swiping this concept for the EC PbP I just commandeered.

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  3. Arcona: It was too fun an idea to let pass. Let this be a warning: come up with stuff that's just 'flavour' and I'm likely to turn it into something daft like this.

    Max: So you did take it over in the end? Is there a way to lurk?

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  4. Sort of. Still trying to round up all them dogies.

    It's at therpgsite, in their PbP forum. If it goes well I may switch to a dedicated blog, but I like the post editing suite you get with a board.

    Your Planescape blog is very slick, by the way. I will come knocking if some time opens up and you've got space available.

    Rambling on, you're an old hand at PbP. If you have a minute and care to email me (link at my blog), or PM me via Wilderlands, any advice would be very welcome.

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  5. Maybe taste should be separate from mechanical effect, with a different table. So on this table, 1 becomes no real effect, 20 becomes you get sick. Meanwhile, if you roll a 6-8 on the other table, it tastes of strawberries, and 9-12 is tangy, and 13-15 is smooth, or whatever (and 1 is dung, but not necessarily with mechanical effect). Smoking gives you a moment of taste before the mechanism trips. Instead of 11 different effects, you have 11 time 11 or 12 different combinations of effect and flavor. Much more chaotic!

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