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Old 11-11-2021, 06:57 AM   #1
hcobb
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Monster Scavengers

Creating magic items requires monster parts and potions (which also require monster parts). Who retrieves these? ("Here's the farm where we raise dragons for their hides.") So who harvests the parts from the wilderness in your campaign? Here's one character I'm running to do this.


Hittok, Human wizard, age 20
ST 8, DX 11, IQ 15, MA 10
Talents: Knife, Literacy (mundane), Naturalist
Spells include: 3-Hex Fire, 4-Hex Illusion, Aid, Drain Strength, Lock/Knock, Magic Rainstorm, Staff III
Language: Common
Weapons: Staff III silver dagger (1d-1), silver dagger (1d-1), brand (1d-2)
Attacks and Damage: Punch (1d-4)
Armor: robes
Equipment: backpack, belt pouch, order book of required monster body parts and campaign diary, pen and ink, 4 healing potions, 2 rations, waterskin, 18 silvers, 20 coppers, jars and bags on loan from the guild pre-marked with the body parts to fill these with.


Note that Hittok has 2 attribute points (and hence 200 XP) over a starting character and has put these XPs into DX. (DX, DX, and more DX until you can't stand to put your hard won XPs into DX no more. Then you consider adding talents and spells.)


Naturalist is noted at being able to extract poison sacs (ITL 126), so I take this as sufficient to extract other monster body parts and safely store these for delivery to the guild. Woodsman would be even better, but memory points are pressing. (Knife is just a useful add-on for someone who's always gathering poison for a paycheck.)


I allow Literacy as the mundane talent for Guild-raised wizards, but only if they learn Aid as well, as there are no idle hands around the wizard's tower.
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Old 11-11-2021, 08:12 AM   #2
phiwum
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
Default Re: Monster Scavengers

Interesting that you call him a scavenger. Surely, he's more of a hunter. Or are there lots of decomposing dragons in your neck of the woods?

I haven't thought about this as a general career path, but I did put together some gargoyle hunters, who I've mentioned previously. I regard them as scum, killing people for their parts. Whether killing dragons for their parts is just as bad is a hard question. They're intelligent but they tend to be the enemy of men (broadly speaking), which isn't how I view gargoyles.

My conundrum, then, is not about how people gather parts from dragons and such, but how a civilized society could allow for the production of potions that use gargoyle innards, most of which probably don't come from clever gargoyles carving up their dead and selling off the bits that are useful to others. I mean, sure, there's a certain practicality to that -- waste not, want not, right? -- but I suppose that gargoyles aren't devoid of sentimentality altogether.
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Old 11-11-2021, 08:24 AM   #3
hcobb
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Monster Scavengers

Note the absolute importance of the journal so that when handing over human body parts Hittok has an iron clad self-defense account of events.
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Old 11-11-2021, 10:02 AM   #4
timm meyers
 
Join Date: May 2020
Default Re: Monster Scavengers

My monster trapper I have yet to run as a PC or NPC

Gregor Gasthamn - human wizard
ST-8 DX-9 IQ-15 MA-10
Spells- Staff I & II, Calling, Giant Rope, Iron Flesh, Glamor
Talents- Literacy (1), Naturalist (4), Tracking(2), Woodsman(2)

Grizzled reclusive mountain-man type with a forked stick (staff). Regularly comes to town with a pack mule of monster skins and parts.
His mode of operation is to track an area for game then set up a tree stand or blind and cast "calling". He rests while the prey is lured/coerced to his location and then he casts giant rope to subdue and kill.
Obviously he cannot always be successful so being up a tree or other "safe" vantage point (Glamour help?) is important.

His experience rewards would go to DX, DX, DX, ST, ST, then maybe a bunch of mana upgrades (about 10 ST) for the staff and DX 13. finally going for staff III and "Little Death" for his final push at 2k & 4K to IQ-16 and 17.
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