A Dragon

Suddenly, in my campaign, I needed a dragon. I use them rarely, but now the players would eventually meet one, and even though I doubt they will come to blows with it I felt it necessary to at least have some sort of stats for it. It got me thinking a lot about how stats for a dragon ought to look. For one, they should all be unique, at least I feel that way. They’re magical beasts, the worst adversaries, not common beasts. I did want a standard, red fire-breathing dragon though. An old warrior of his kind, a majestic, proud and greedy creature. This is what I wound up with.

By William McAusland (Outland Arts)

IRONAX DRAIGH’TUR

20 HD Ancient Dragon

HP 118; AC 18
Move as unburdened man
Flight is faster, but poor maneuverability

Fort 4; Ref 6; Wil 3
Magic Resistance 50%

2 Claws @ +10 (2D8)
Bite @ +10 (3D8)
Tail @ +5 (2D6, sweep, knockdown)

Fire Breath in 100’x100’ Cone, deals 6D8 Damage (Ref ½), D3 Rounds to recharge, replaces other attacks

Dragon’s Voice, SUGGESTIVE WORDS or POWER WORD: STUN at will.

Dragon’s Gaze, ESP or FEAR at will if gaze is met.

Dragon’s Nose, DETECT MAGIC or DETECT GOLD at will.

Dragon’s Blood, a non-dragon mortal may be bound by a GEAS (if willing).

Dragon’s Ears, 4/6 chance to detect invisible creatures, surprised 1/12.

Equipment slots

I use the LotFP encumbrance system; I like it’s blend of doing away with math but retaining a bit of complexity as compared to the very bare-bones systems of “carry STR items”. For my current campaign, this strikes a good balance.

I have made one addition to it, though; the “item slots”. As some players start to outfit their characters with scrolls, potions, weird bombs, poison-covered undead ferrets or green slime jars, things can get a bit out of hand. It makes sense to track at least on a rudimentary level where all this stuff actually is, and how readily available it is.

SLOT	SPACE	ACCESS
Belt	4	Immediate
Back	1	1 rd
Pockets (cloak)	1	Immediate
Pack/satchel	10	D3 rds
Sack (in hands)	10	D3 rds

The back slot may hold an Oversized item. Such items must otherwise be held in the hands. All other Slots hold only Standard Items. Armor adds encumbrance as normal. Any worn items, including armor, is listed separately, and apart from armor they do not encumber the character. In addition to this, any character of course has two “hand slots”, but I find tracking this goes too far into fiddly territory for me. A character with a Great Weapon is assumed to old it over her shoulder, otherwise the hands are most often kept as free as possible to allow for easy movement and manipulation. I’ve changed the rules as we went along to include “stacking” of certain items; for example flasks such as potions, oil or holy water stack two in a slot, iron rations and torches stack three.

This imposes some interesting limits on the characters; they really can’t carry an unlimited amount of items around, especially oversized ones. Pretty soon they will be carrying around their loot in filled sacks, carrying chests between them and running into all sorts of fun.

Tracking this is pretty easy, the players use different methods (and I’m not too particular about it, as long as they keep track). Letters next to the relevant items (Be or Ba etc) works, as does making little sections in the equipment list.

The other life

My campaign isn’t as suggestive or dream-like as many others; it’s in all honesty pretty bog-standard fantasy, although the frequency of monsters (humanoids especially) is dialed down a lot, inspired by LotFP’s philosophy of keeping things strange.

Recently, however, I’ve begun introducing the more philosophical thought that adventurers and other bizarre fringe-creatures really are explorers of the “beyond”, that there’s something outside civilization which they dive into. It could be that “mythic underworld”, it could be the Fae encroaching on reality, but they go where sane people wouldn’t. And they also go places which civilization would rather see not exist at all, into the badlands, deep forests and dismal swamps.

This adds a more suggestive feel to the classic “murderhobo”, they really are to be feared, not just because they are violent and follow their own strange morals, but because they enter the unknown, and who knows what they’re bringing back? The local peasants have been leaving offerings to the swamp hags for centuries, and apart from the occasional lost child there’s never been a problem. They don’t need the hags killed, and the definitely don’t need the hags angered.

It also explains the PC’s powers and abilities; they have a touch of the fantastic on them, the mythical, and so they can access abilities and secrets beyond those who are afraid to upset the balance.

So far I haven’t really considered if this should influence game-play or mechanics. It somehow feels like it shouldn’t have to, that D&D is written to reflect exploration of this Beyond. It’s interesting to consider that, at least to me, D&D is weakest as a system once it instead seeks to model the “real” world, the mundane world of peasants and kings, harvests and taxes. Who needs it? Give me a carousing table, an equipment list and a list of hirelings stupid or desperate enough to be willing to venture out beyond civilization, and then let’s head into adventure again…

One consequence, at least in my campaign, has been making the guardians of civilization more powerful, not less. Veterans have 2 HD, and knights have 3 HD, many NPC clerics are rather high level. They’re the strongest champions of the “normal”, the bulwark against dragons and undead and old gods; they should be powerful, although predictable and rarely in opposition to the PC’s unless they’re very actively spreading chaos in the lawful parts of the world. They are, to some extent, the future, the inexorable advance of civilization as it pushes the Beyond and claims new lands.

I was worried that this might be a bit boring and predictable, but instead I find this trope is really helpful in play. My players hate the tax-men, bishops and barons who interfere in their work, and as they grow more powerful they become more and more of a threat to the established order, as criminals, rebels, “false” prophets and renegades. It generates conflict and flux – in other words, fun!

The Pipes that played at the World’s End

A set of bag pipes. The bladder is made from the descaled skin of some deep-sea creature, and is a sickly purple. The mouthpiece is made from ebony, and carved in the likeness of a beautiful maiden. The four pipes are all made from bone (appears to be from a large horse, to one knowledgeable about such things), and are respectively red, white, black and ashen, Each is carved with a verse in old Latin (different for each pipe, see below) and smell of sulfur and dirt. The four bone pipes detect as magic, the rest of the item does not.

Making noise with it is fairly easy, but actually holding a tune is no easier than playing a bag pipe. The magic of theses pipes is not released unless a tune of at least a few notes is played on them; the specific tune does not matter, it may even be improvised, but getting that far requires practice.

Treat “bag pipe playing” as a skill, with an average character having a 1/6 chance of making a pipe produce a melody. The real trick is playing several of the pipes together, and in harmony; this requires far more skill, as a -1 modifier is applied to the chance of success with this skill per additional pipe played. Each time a character successfully plays one of the pipes, allow him or her a percentage chance equal to INT to increase the skill value by one. Beyond 3/6 skill, however, this can only be rolled if more than one pipe is played simultaneously.

Of course, a far easier (and safer) way to increase the “bag pipe skill” beyond 3 (up to that point, playing only the pale pipe is a safe way to practice) is to make another, non-magical bagpipe and use it for practice, as is finding a skilled musician and convincing/paying/fooling her into making a nice harmony for you.

So, what do these pipes do? Well, it depends on what pipe you play. The effect listed below is applied on all living beings who hear the music except whoever is playing the pipes for as long as the music is heard, and a successful saving throw negates the effect, although a new save must be made each round the music is heard. Plugging your ears or casting a Silence spell are viable forms of defense, although the pipes themselves will instantly negate any Silence spell if played within its area of effect. They have no effect on soulless beings, such as animals.

PIPE	INSCRIPTION (LATIN)	EFFECT
White	I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.	Struck by a virulent plague; act at -4 and lose D6 CON per day until dead. The plague is highly contagious, also efter the music has stopped.
Red	And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.	Fly into a murderous rage. Attacks any enemies in sight, but if none are available will progress to strangers and then lastly to friends and family. If no one is present, They will not attack the player of the pipes, but any of her companions are fair game.
Black	I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”	Taken by a horrible hunger. Eats anything edible in sight, and when food is gone will progress to any other at least edible things (textiles, leaves, paper etc), which causes 1 HP damage per round. After this, any other beings will be attacked to be eaten, and lastly the affected will eat herself.
Ashen	I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.	Oddly, this pipe has no effect if played on its own. It does, however, have dramatic effects if played in harmony with the others (see below).

It is when more than one pipe sounds at once that the truly horrifying power of these pipes are unleashed. However, attempting this unsuccessfully is very dangerous; a failed attempt to do so will strike the musician with the individual effect of each and every pipe played. Each of these effects is permanent, and will require a Cure Disease or Remove Curse spell to be removed. The effects produced below are not permanent, unless they are tied to playing the white pipe, in which case they remain alongside the plague.

COMBINATION	EFFECT
White+Red	The murderous rage becomes part of the plague, and does not abate until the sickness is cured.
White+Black	The horrible hunger becomes part of the plague, and does not abate until the sickness is cured.
White+Ashen	Anyone who dies from the plague rises as a 2 HD Undead creature, which is still a carrier of the plague.
Red+Black	The enraged will attack with bites trying to devour others, sating their hunger this way.
Red+Ashen	The rage will affect even corpses, which will rise or claw their way out of the ground and go on a rampage as 2 HD Undead.
Black+Ashen	If possible, the affected will eat other living beings first and after this corpses or decayed flesh.
White+Red+Black	The enraged attack with bites as above, and this effect becomes part of the plague.
White+Red+Ashen	The murderous rage becomes part of the plague, and anyone who dies from the plague rises as a 2 HD Undead.
Red+Black+Ashen	The enraged will attack with bites trying to devour others, and once having fed this way will turn into 2 HD Undead who crave nothing but living flesh.
All pipes	Zombie Apocalypse! Or, to be more specific: The plague will cause the enraged to attack with bites trying to devour others, and will also cause anyone killed by it or by a carrier to rise as a 2 HD Undead, which craves living flesh.

Encounter activity

There are a lot of tables describing the activity of a random encounter out there, some of them really good, but I went ahead and put one of my own together anyway.

Source: Paladin-Ciel @ dweciantart

I like to have a balance between a reasonable number of different results, some room for me to improvise around the results and also a curve that averages towards more “reasonable” results. A bit boring, but I like how it creates a believable dungeon and it also means the players’ can intuit something about the dungeon and make smart choices based on this.

This one is also weighted to provide a separate result for mindless undead, which is really handy when running the Barrowmaze.

Roll	Encounter activity
2	Running from other creature Roll for hunter, on higher Lvl chart if necessary
3	Returning to lair after fight Random number of creatures @ D8x10% HP.
4	Just passing by Less inclined to fight, on different errand.
5	Setting up camp or lair Noisy, most likely guards posted
7	Fighting another creature Roll on same table. Noisy, easily detected.
8	Defending territory Looking for invaders, hostile or -4 Reaction
9-11	Hunting or exploring Wary. Party might be dinner and/or marks.
12	Chasing other creature Roll for prey, or use Giant Vermin (D6)
Roll 2D6, OR D6+6 for mindless Undead UNDEAD: Also roll D30 on “What’s up with these Undead?”

A fashion statement

My players are still plunging into the depths of the Barrowmaze, and as is typical for that dungeon they keep running into a LOT of undead. My “What’s up with these Undead” table does provide flavor now and then, but I use a D30 on it to avoid making the encounters too strange. Also, one of my players has the habit of asking what the creatures look like or are wearing, since they met a group of them in priestly robes who all had valuable holy symbols…

Sure, I could think on my feet as I have so far, but why not a table instead. Nothing too meaty, just something to give me a starting point. Find a suitable row on this – there should be one, most of the special undead types will slot nicely into one of these. Column seven feels like it might be “one use”, at least for some of these entries, but I’ll see when I get to use it in play.

Sorry for making this an image, but the tables formatting in WordPress is just too much of a hassle. I’ve provided a PDF for better usability and printing, if anyone should want it.

Beastmen

Beastmen come in many shapes and sizes; their chaotic nature means they are of an almost infite variety. There are some larger and slightly more homogenous groups, however, and these have been given names by the human tribes which are still in common usage. All beastmen are aligned with Chaos; a few very rare number of outcasts or isolated communities may control their beastial natures and act in more civilized manners, but their allegiance is in their blood and not so easily removed.

COMMON BEASTMEN
NAME	#ATT	LEVEL	MOVE	SIZE	NUMBER	TREASURE	TYPICAL EQUIPMENT
Brood	1	1	50′	S	2-12	B/I	Hand Weapon OR spear, bow (1/2) OR shield
Bray	1	2	40′	M	2-8	B/II	Hand Weapon & shield OR Great Weapon, hides (+1)
Bray, shaman	1	3	40′	M	1	B/II	Spear, hides (+1)
Bray, chief	1	5	40′	M	1	B/III	Great Weapon, hides (+1) (or magic items)
Taurun	2	5	40′	L	1-3	B/II	–

BROOD are minor beastmen, often very twisted by their bestial parts, hunched and perverted and with limited intellect. They are easily dominated by the larger Bray and are seldom found alone. They are little more than slaves in Beastman society, and their morale is terrible; if their Bray leaders fall, they are sure to scatter. The Brood in a single area typically display the same animal traits (see below) which might modify their statistics and abilities slightly.

BRAY are the powerful warrior caste among the Beastmen. They are the same species as Brood, but their chaotic and bestial nature is more pure leaving them taller, stronger and smarter, with an intellect approaching that of a human. Bray are lazy and boorish creatures, but fierce warriors who often lead raids into human lands to steal cattle, abduct fair young men or women or to simply kill and burn in the name of their Dragon gods. The Bray in a given area are usually of the same animalistic nature as each other, but not always, and frequently Bray of one animal nature dominate Brood of an entirely different one.

BRAY SHAMANS are devoted to worship of the Old Dragons, a practice almost unheard of among the other intelligent races. It is unclear if and how these dragons can answer prayers in a meaningful way; these shamans do use magic, but it appears to be of a sorcerous nature. They have all the powers of a 3rd level Magician with 5 randomly determined spells.

BRAY CHIEFS are the warlords and chieftains of their people; very few of these creatures remain alive, but at this power these beings do not appear to age normally and thus some of them have been around for a very long time (these ancient individuals should be granted anywhere from 1-3 additional levels). Many of them carry magical treasures or wield magical weapons (as per the treasure rules, they are apt enough to use any items they possess not specifically restricted to Magicians).

TAURUN are rare among the beastmen; an individual whose nature is so powerful it makes them grow to a huge size (around 12′ tall is the norm, but this varies widely). Unfortunately, most higher intellectual function shrinks with it, and these beasts remain among their lesser brethren serving as laborers and bodyguards. They attack twice in combat, using huge fists, horns, beaks, claws or whichever natural weaponry their chaotic nature has bestowed them with.

ANIMAL NATURE

Beastmen are hybrids of men and beast, in essence; their chaotic nature means they are both less and more than that, and they are able to breed amongst themselves indiscriminately as well as breeding true with humans and sometimes even with animals. In an area, tribe or clan of these creatures, one or possibly two traits usually hold sway due to inbreeding and natural selection based on the environment. Below are some examples, although many more possibilities exist.

BEASTMEN ANIMAL NATURE
2D6	ANIMAL	NOTES
2	Snake	1/3 poison bite (D6)
3	Lizard	Swim, skin as Leather
4	Sheep	–
5	Rodent	One size-category smaller
6	Feline	Dexterity
7	Goat	–
8	Dog	Constitution and tracking
9	Elk	Movement +10′
10	Cattle	Skin as Leather
11	Bird	Wings and flight
12	Bear	One size-category larger

Item breakage in Pits & Perils

I like resource management; I think that’s been made fairly obvious on this blog (consider for example the latest post about Hits in P&P). So far, however, I’ve not included item breakage; I didn’t find a system I found suitable since I want things to move fast at the table when the dice are rolling. Now, however, I think I finally got the formula about right, at least for Pits & Perils and its 2D6 mechanics.

As usual, there’s a lot of inspiration here from a number of seriously good blogs (in this case, check out Last Gasp Grimoire’s rules section and also Necropraxis). These systems are also thought-out for a D20 game, which may suit many of you better.

Now, on to the mechanics. Very much intentionally, they build upon using rolls already being made in the system; this has been a requirement from the get-go. Adding “durability rolls” was something I really wanted to steer clear of, especially in the middle of combat. Also, note that these are not limited to weapons and armor; any reusable tools can break, like a crowbar, lock picks or a rope.

BREAKAGE

Breakage is the term for when an item’s quality worsens by one step. This occurs when the item is used and a natural “2” is rolled (snake eyes). If the item is FRAGILE (in my game, this is a property given to improvised weapons, most spears and clubs and some similar items), then this range is increased by one to a natural 2-3. If the item is of POOR quality (see below), the same thing occurs, and thus an item where both these factors are true will suffer a further deterioration on a roll of 2-4.

For armor and other passively used items, breakage occurs in a slightly different way; the breakage range is reversed. Thus, if a creature wearing armor is attacked with a roll of a natural 12, the quality of that armor is reduced by one step. Otherwise, the process is identical. When using a shield AND wearing armor, the affected character chooses which item is reduced in quality unless he/she has an item which is fragile or in POOR condition; in that case, the increased breakage range is applied and that item must be chosen to deteriorate.

QUALITY

The quality of an item is broken down into four levels.

QUALITY	DESCRIPTION
High	Of superior workmanship, magical item.
Normal	Standard, undamaged item.
Poor	Worn, damaged, bent, bad workmanship. +1 to Breakage range.
Broken	Useless, reduced to pieces. Repair or reforging may be possible (GM’s call).

REPAIRING

Repairing an item up to its original quality (improving quality generally is a more complicated matter, usually handled best by buying a new item) is a Non-combat action which requires the right skill or access to a blacksmith, clothier or similar NPC which will normally be considered skilled at the process. The exakt time requirement, difficulty and cost is outlined below.

QUALITY		REQUIREMENTS
FROM	TO	TOOLS	TIME	MATERIALS
Broken	Poor	Workshop or smithy	Days/weeks	1/10 of item’s value
Poor	Normal	Craft tools	Turns/hours (camp)	Normally none
Normal	High	Workshop or smithy	Hours/days	1%%/100 of item’s value

For magical items, the requirements would probably be more complicated; so far, the situation hasn’t arisen, but I think having a Magician’s workshop becomes an additional requirement as per above, and there would probably be an additional fee to pay for his/her help.

Hit Points (once again)

The discussion about Hit Points seems to be never ending among those of us who play D&D; are they stamina, luck, injuries, skill? I’m not too worried with the discussion, actually; they are a resource which wards off death, and although that might sound dry that suffices for me as a GM. I do not, however, like all aspects of how that resource is managed. The all-or-nothing approach of most D&D versions is simple, but adds little of interest to managing wounds and risk. I’ve toyed with other versions, but so far I’ve been very hesitant because most solutions add complexity to combat, which (although fairly simple in LotFP) tends to be the most mechanical part of the game.

Then I started reading up on and planning a campaign in Pits & Perils, and the match with my concept system was suddenly far better! The lower amount of Hit Points (or simply Hits, here) makes the math work much better, at least to me. Most concepts in this system would probably work with D&D as well, though. I went ahead and included rules for being Felled (struck down to zero Hits or below); I myself don’t mind making that mean certain death, but my players are soft this way…

So, here goes; my system. This is how it has been used so far in my Pits & Perils game, which does not mean any in-depth playtesting, but my players have been very positive. Any commentary on my side is done in italics.

Hits versus Wounds

If a character rests after having lost a number of Hits, she will be able to recover from half of them. The remainder, however, are converted into Wounds. These are more long-lasting injuries, exhaustion and other ailments that will not be cured by a simple rest. For game purposes, resting a Turn (10 rounds) without interruption allows a character to remove all Hits suffered. However, half of these Hits (rounded down) are converted into Wounds. These Wounds are noted alongside Hits suffered on the character sheet, and for all intents and purposes count as damage in the same way as Hits do; they are only different in matters of recovery, as they are not affected by a simple rest.

This does add complexity, and tracking two numbers. The benefit is that any calculations are done after combat, not while combat is happening. Also, the math is pretty simple. And yes, it’s possible to “game” this system by resting only when you’ve suffered an odd number of Hits; that’s intentional, and also slightly risky.

Recovering Wounds

A character will recover 1 Wound from a full night’s uninterrupted rest. For this to be possible on the road, the camp must be well set by a competent Outdoorsman. If a character rests a full day in a bed or in similar environs (a wilderness camp will not do for these purposes), 2 Wounds can be recovered per day. These recovery rates assume that a full ration can be consumed and that water is available. A spellcaster’s HEAL spell will cure Wounds, but will always first cure any suffered Hits (thus making magical healing more effective if used in the calm after a fight, although that is not always a tactical option).

This recovery rate is fairly quick, because I like it that way, but it could be tweaked to be far worse for a realistic approach, especially if you’re not going to use the Injury rules below.

Death and dismemberment

For any but the most important NPCs or monsters, suffering damage from Hits and/or Wounds totaling more than your Total Hits means death. For PCs, and possibly key persona as determined by the GM, this need not be the case; they are simply Felled. A character which is Felled is out of the action completely for the duration of the encounter. If her companions flee or retreat, then she is at the mercy of the enemy and may or may not be revived (usually, she will instead be eaten). Otherwise, a character can be revived once the immediate danger is over, which takes one Turn. A notable exception is if the character is slain by immolation, disintegration or other similarly destructive means (at the GM’s adjudication) or if the damage was too severe (beyond 3 more than Total Hits).

When a character is revived, she must roll 2D6 on the Felled table below to determine her fate. She must deduct one from her roll for each point of damage she has suffered beyond her Total Hits (if any). If revived using magical healing, she modifies the roll with the difference between her total damage and her Total Hits after the spell has taken effect (positive or negative).

Now, these rules do add complexity, although once again only outside of combat. They can also serve to make magical healing or a Cleric even more important; whether that is a good or bad thing.

FELLED TABLE
2D6	RESULT
-5	Slain
6-7	Dismemberment
8	Grievous injury (4 IP)
9	Severe injury (3 IP)
10	Bad injury (2 IP)
11	Fleshwound (1 IP)
12+	Fine

After revival, the character counts as having Rested as per the rules above, with half the Hits suffered converted into Wounds.

INJURY POINTS (IP) represent serious injuries; they count as Wounds and thus towards total damage. More importantly, they also give the character a negative modifier to any roll made which requires physical activity or concentration equal to one per IP, hamper movement rate på 10′ per IP (meaning armor may sometimes need to be removed) and raise the cost of any Magician spells by +1 SP per IP. Injuries resulting in IP take a very long time to heal; a character must spend at least one month in complete rest per point for them to go away. A Cleric can remedy the situation a lot faster, but a casting of the HEAL spell still only removes one single Injury Point.

DISMEMBERMENT represents permanent injury of some sort. For starters, they come with a Grievous Injury (4 IP) representing time needed to recover from them, but they also require a roll on the table below. In the case of odd injury sources (acid, fire etc) the GM will have to adapt the result below to make it fit the fiction (but the effect should remain the same). Severed legs are assumed to be replaced in some fashion, for arms/hands this is more optional.

DISMEMBERMENT TABLE
2D6	RESULT	PERMANENT EFFECT
2	Ruptured lung	-1 to all physical activity
3	Severed leg	-20′ Movement, -1/-2 to certain rolls (GM’s call)
4	Severed foot	-10′ Movement
5	Shattered bones	Lose 2 Total Hits
6	Lasting ache	Lose 1 Total Hit
7	Scarring	Distinctive feature
8	Lost fingers	-1 to Fine Manipulation (lockpicks, stealing etc)
9	Lost eye	-1 to Missile Attack Dice and Searching
10	Severed hand	Only 1h weapons, shield still OK
11	Severed arm	Only 1h weapons, -1/-2 to certain rolls (GM’s call)
12	Skull crack	-1 to all social/mental rolls, +1 SP cost for Magician

A few potions

I’ve been placing a lot of potions lately, and although I appreciate the basic ones based on standard spells I though I’d put together a short list of “special” potions; I imagine these are created by wizards with a specific knack for potion making, which allows them to create unique things.

D6	Potion	Appearance	Effect	Drawback
1	Troll’s Blood	Murky liquid, chunks of olive green flesh.	Troll regeneration. Regain 1 HP per round for the next 8 Turns. Lost body parts regrow, survive everything but fire or acid.	Cancerous mutations. Save vs Poison or mutate. If mutated, Save vs Poison again or die from shock.
2	Mind’s Call	Airy and silvery liquid, almost on the verge of gaseous, metallic taste	Lightning mind. Thoughts speed up for 1 Turn, allowing time to grasp the situation. Impossible to surprise, always wins initiative, +4 to hit and AC.	Distractions. The quick mind is easy to influence, Will saves are automatically failed while under the influence of this potion.
3	Purifier	Steaming, clear liquid. Bottle of leather-bound ceramics, hot to the touch.	Purifying heat. The magical cleansing removes all diseases and curses and purges poison from the system.	Scalded throat. Suffer D4 damage; unable to speak for D3 days (no spellcasting).
4	Clawing Spirits	Swirling mist, a constant very faint scratching noise comes from inside the glass.	Cloud of claws. When shattered (or opened) a cloud of malevolent, mindless beings are released. 2D6 slashing damage to everything within 10’. Dissipates in 1 round.	Vengeful. If the entity which opened or threw the bottle suffers damage from the potion, this is doubled.
5	False Rot	Thick sludge, smells of rotting flesh. Tastes like fermented cheese.	Semblance of undeath. Emit a strange odor for D6 Turns; all Undead believe you are one of them (of their exact, specific kind).	Undeath. If the drinker is slain while under the effect of this potion, s/he will turn into an undead of appropriate HD.
6	Spider Blood	Yellowish ichor, sweet and not unpleasant taste.	Chitinous growth. Skin hardens into a cracked chitin, painfully (D3 damage). AC +4 for 2D6 Turns. Stacks with armor only if it is worn when potion is drunk.	Shedding. After duration, chitin shreds and reveals a red and sore skin underneath. -4 penalty to all rolls for a day.

Since I know everyone appreciates a nicely laid-out PDF, you can find that by clicking here.