REF: Red Dragon

More fun with random tables, kiddies! This time it's wilderness. Some rolling of the dice brings us to barren mountain terrain and a result of Dragon, Red. Yikes!

Okay, let's not panic just yet. Some more rolling (and a random dragon name from fantasy name generator) Gives us the following:

Vulluth the Red
AC: -1
HD: 10 (40 hp)
Move: 90 (30') Fly 240' (80')
Att: 2 claws/1 bite/ breath
Dmg: 1d8/1d8/3d8/special
# App: 1
Save: F10
Morale: 10
AL: C

Vulluth is awake, can speak, and cast spells

Spells:
1st Level - Detect Magic, Charm Person, Sleep

2nd Level - Detect Evil, Phantasmal Force, ESP

3rd level - Invisibility 10' radius, Hold Person, Lightning Bolt


So 40 hit points is the first thing that jumps out at me. I'll be honest, if I were placing this dragon as a non-random encounter in my game, I'd boost that total a bit (but keep it within the 10HD cap of 80). This means his breath weapon is going to be much less scary than it could be. He's still got great melee attacks & damage, though. But to be honest, even though they were also rolled randomly, I think Vulluth's real puissance is his spell list.

Other than his detection spells -and maybe ESP- every one of these is combat applicable. Invisibility 10' radius is usually meant to make a party invisible, but it will work for the dragon as well (yes, it still works on the caster even if he is bigger than 10' across) . Imagine Vulluth hearing the party approach and turning invisible. I would be applying some surprise checks, not to mention save penalties to the rolls vs dragon breath that first round!

Sleep, Charm Person, and Hold Person are all classics. Granted a higher level party may dodge the snooze bullet, but the others can eliminate potent combatants right away. Phantasmal Force is also a great combat utility spell.ESP might require a bit more creativity, but knowing what your foe is thinking can't hurt.

The best part about Lightning Bolt isn't even the damage. It's the idea that the PCs are expecting fire attacks and then ZAP!  Or maybe I'm just a jerk DM.

So the party (or some of them) manage to slay the wyrm. Let's look at the loot!

TREASURE:
10,000 cp
3,000 pp
6 pc jewelry-

• 1,300gp
• 1,200gp
• 2x 1,000gp
• 2x 800gp

30 gems-

• 10x 10gp
• 5x 50gp
• 5x 100gp
• 7x 500gp
• 3x 1000gp

Magic-

• Potion of ESP
• Cursed scroll (re-roll prime requisite)
• Scroll of Resist Fire (clerical)
• 3x +2 arrows
• Boots of Traveling and Leaping
• Ring of Invisibility

Not a terrible haul. Nearly 30K in cash (and XP) from the hoard. The magic has some fun items, especially the ring and boots. The cursed scroll makes me smile (see "jerk" above) and some thief or elf type is going to love getting a couple +2 arrows in their quiver.

Curious Objects: Scarab of Protection

This is a powerful, if limited, item that I have rarely seen in play. It won't keep that sword out of your vitals or that lightning bolt from frying you to a crisp, but it can definitely save your bacon..

Unlike a ring of protection or similar, the scarab doesn't up your armor class. Rather, it absorbs certain evil magics, keeping them from harming the wearer. Specifically, it blocks curses and the "finger of death" spell.

Let's start with the latter. Finger of Death is the reverse of Raise Dead. That's a 5th level clerical spell and only certain clerics (i.e. evil/chaotic) are probably ever going to be casting that version. Despite the fact that this situation may not arise too often, having an item that just nullifies it is pretty amazing. Now, as the scarab has limited charges, I would probably allow the targeted PC their saving throw vs. Death Ray first, then -if they failed- take off the charge from the scarab.

What's slightly more likely to come up is the scarab's ability to absorb curses. The description specifies that the curse can be from "spell, scroll, or other effect." In other words, nearly anything. In a BX world where you have cursed magic items, the curse spell, and even certain creatures with the spell-like ability to curse PCs, being able to shrug such things off is not trivial. While the description doesn't specify, I would rule that it would even protect from things like picking up a cursed magic sword or similar, as such things usually require a remove curse  to get rid of.

The scarab only comes with 2d6 charges, but there's no difference in cost for what it stops. So whether it's the Baleful Bishop casting finger of death at you, or a sprite giving you warts, it still costs one charge to block it. The spent scarab is useless and cannot be recharged.

It's important to note that the text says nothing about existing curses. Thus, it won't remove a curse that's already in place (just as it wouldn't resurrect someone already killed by finger of death). So putting the scarab on an afflicted character won't help.

This is another one of those magic items that could add a lot of flavor to an adventure or an NPC without drastically tipping power level with outrageous combat bonuses or similar. Likewise, a PC that finds one may be a bit underwhelmed initially, but as soon as that shaman's curse "bounces off" him, he'll be feeling differently about that little bit of bling.