Last article I worked out the domain of Degrenoc Iron-Fang, Hobgoblin Warlord and Vassal of Nindukugga. Now I’m moving onto his rival, an Ogre Warlord. Now I’d like to do something interesting with this Warlord. Not just a big dumb strong violent Ogre. They’re boring and I’ll likely have a pair of them off the map. I’ll read the Ogre entry over again and see if something interesting jumps out.
The entry mentions that a village has a chance of a Shaman, Crusader, and a Witch Doctor, or Mage. The class abilities on top of either on top of an Ogre that’s rather interesting. A Witch Doctor Ogre that would be between levels one and two … hmmm. It says that he would have the stats of a Champion which would make him HD 5+1 which is a little low but he’ll have class powers. I’ll likely have to bump him up to a Sub-Chieftain when I build him out. Looking at the Mage class I had another idea, instead of making him a Mage I’ll build him out as a Warlock. That will add an interesting element to him.
This section of Nindukugga’s Realm had 65 hexes available and I used 39 of them on Degrenoc Iron-Fang so I’ve got 26 for this Warlock. I’m going to take a look at the hexes available on the map and see what it looks like. I’ll put up Degrenoc’s Realm for reference as well.
Talk about not having the prime territory. Where Degrenoc is out at the point of spear this Ogre is much more in a defensive and support role, I doubt very much that the Ogres would appreciate being told to support Degrenoc’s efforts in the situation of an assault on the Borderlands Turos’s. I guess that’s part of the reason they’d fight as much as I see them doing.
I’m going to say that this Ogre is likely not in Nindukugga’s favour and is in danger of being replaced. Either by Nin’s action or by one of the Ogre’s Vassals. That’s interesting. A desperate ruler. I’m going to make a departure from the way I did Degrenoc and stat up this Ogre ruler first and Realm Domain second.
Naazig, Ogre Warlock: Int 11, Wil 15; MV 30’/90’, AC 5, HD 5+1, hp 33, #AT 1 (Spear+, 1d6+4/1d8+4), Save M5, ML +2, AL C
Hmmm, even with a few levels of Warlock abilities he’s going to be a little weak. I was right about Sub-Chieftain.
Naazig, Ogre Warlock: Int 11, Wil 15; MV 30’/90’, AC 6, HD 6+1, hp 37, #AT 1 (Spear+, 1d6+5/1d8+5), Save M6, ML +2, AL C
That’s a better base to work with. So I’ll go through and roll up some magical items and pick his spells. I think I want him as a Demonologist. So I’ll create a summoned demon for each of his summoning spells.
Naazig, Ogre Warlock: Int 11, Wil 13, Con 11; MV 30’/90’, AC 8, HD 6+1, hp 37, #AT 1 (Spear 6+, 1d6+5/1d8+5), Save M6, ML +2, AL C, XP 980; SA+1, LA+4, ML+0; Special: Conjure Dark Powers, Conjure Hellion (1/day), Corrupted Weakness - Obsessed, Enervated, Mutated (Third Eye, Telepathy 3/Day), Minor Magical Research; Proficiencies: Alchemy, Healing, Theology, Occultism, Mastery of Conjuration & Summoning; Spells: 2 1st, 2 2nd, 2 3rd; Repertoire: 1st - Beguile Humanoid, Conjure Cacodemon Spawn, Discern Magic, Thunderclap; 2nd - Conjure Imp, Dominate Humanoid, Webbing; 3rd - Conjure Hellion, Fireball, Summon Hell Hounds; Potion of Trollblood, Potion of Invisibility, Bracers of Armor +2, Wand of Thunderbolts (10 charges)
Cacodemon Spawn, Humanoid Wingless, Speechless: MV 40’/120’, AC 3, HD 2, hp 14, #AT 3 (2 claws/bite 9+) 1d2/1d2/1d3, Save F2, ML 0, AL C, Size M, XP 29; Special: Resistant to acid, cold, electrical, fire, poisonous and seismic damage, lightless vision (90’), telepathy; Special: Poison (Instant effect, +2 Death Save vs. Death), Aura (Necrotic)(5’ radius and deals 1d8 Necrotic damage per round)
Gazgath is a man sized, 7’ tall featureless black and red form that crackles with necrotic energy and elongated talons.
Cacodemon Imp, Scolopendrine Wingless, Speechless: MV 100’/180’, AC 3, HD 4, hp 19, AT# 9 (8 tentacles/bite 7+) 1d2-1/2d4, Save F4, ML 0, AL C, Size M, XP 190; Special: Resistant to acid, cold, electrical, fire, poisonous and seismic damage, lightless vision (90’), telepathy; Special: Horrific (Initial Paralysis Save vs. Cowed under start of next initiative), Swift II, Hug (Hitting with more than 5 attacks inflicts an additional 2d6 damage)
Vath'tulloth is enormous centipede with a long segmented body and dozens of shadowy legs. It’s head features crustacean-like claws and eight thin whip like tentacles.
Cacodemon Hellion, Wyverine Wingless, Speechless: MV 30’/90’, AC 7, HD 8, hp 48, AT# 2 (Talons or bite/sting 1+) 2d8/2d8, Save F8, ML 4, AL C, Size L, XP 1,600; Special: Resistant to acid, cold, electrical, fire, poisonous and seismic damage, lightless vision (90’), telepathy; Special: Berserk, Immune to Fear, Regeneration 4hp/round
Bagrallath is a large sickly green dinosaur like form with gold capped stumps where vestigial arms were. It’s mouth constantly drips blood and its fond of shaking its head to spray it when annoyed. It’s razor sharp talons also appear to be capped in gold and its teeth has been ground blunt.
Now I’ve got the domain ruler, Naazig the Warlock. Naazig’s got problems though. Since I’m doing this organically I can expand on things as I go. I’m thinking that Naazig was the previous domain ruler’s Witch Doctor and the ruler was killed, very likely by Degrenoc Iron-Fang. Certainly by Degrenoc Iron-Fang. I love a good rivalry.
Naazig was thrust or claimed the position of power and by misadventure or intention ended up in charge of the Realm Domain. Now he’s in a position of power that he’s not suited for and he’s trying to hold things together likely day by day. He’d have numerous challenges for his position, the Ogre Chieftains under him all thinking that they should be the boss of bosses and Degrenoc just to the east thinking that maybe he needs a few more hexes of territory.
I like that situation. Naazig’s just trying to survive and solidify his power. I’m thinking that Witch Doctors or Shamans running the tribe is usually not done and he’s pushing back against that as well.
Here’s the section that I’m looking at. Now normally I like my even splits with rulers Personal Domains and Vassals Personal Domains but I’m going to do this differently. Since this Domain is in upheaval I’m going to adjust for that.
Naazig will have four Personal Domain hexes, having two shaved off by Degrenoc to his east, that’s a personal blow that will sting the olde pocket book. A shave that was the death of the previous Ogre Ruler. The rest of the 22 hexes will be divided up by his 4 Ogres Chieftains with 2 at 6 hexes and 2 at 5 hexes. Something like this …
Strongholds needed to hold this territory are going to look similar to Degrenoc’s Domain with both being Outlands Orange.
Naazig’s Personal Domain will require, at its original 6 hexes, 192,000gp. I’ll write him up at about 128,000 since he lost the pair of hexes to Degrenoc.
The 6 hex Ogres Chieftain, 1 and 4, will require 192,000gp of Stronghold for the entire Realm. The Chieftain will take 2 hexes for his Personal Domain and leave 4, at 1 hex each, for his 4 Sub-Chieftains. That’s 64,000 for the Chieftain and 32,000 for each of the Sub-chieftains.
The 5 hex Ogres Chieftains, 2 and 3, will require 160,000gp of Stronghold for the entire Realm. The Chieftain with take 2 hexes for his Personal Domain and leave the remaining 3, at about .75 of a hex, for each of the Sub-Chieftains. That’s 64,000gp for the Chieftain and 24,000 for each of the Sub-chieftains.
Same as Degrenoc I’m going to place these Strongholds somewhat randomly, with less logistics in mind. These are Ogres and they’re not going to have Degrenoc’s strategic sense. The defensive structures went up where there was a cave system or something else to work with. They’re Ogres. Piling up boulders comes naturally to them. There’s going to be minimal trails and certainly no constructed roads for this lot. Maybe one pushed out from the Capital but that will be all. These aren’t road builder types.
As I mentioned a few articles ago I’m using the rule that Large Creature’s families take up 4x the space for the purposes of population limits and growth. So instead of 125 families per hex at the 20 per square mile density it’ll be 32 families per hex. Basically 5 per square mile. They’re Ogres, they need the room.
Being Ogres the tribal names aren’t that creative so we’ll go with Bonebreakers. With all that information I can put together the Domain sheet for Naazig and the Bonebreakers. Insert Joke here about Naazig and the Bonebreakers being my highschool girlfriends metal band name.
Looking at the situation for Naazig its double plus not good. His Personal Authority is starting at a -1 to morale due to his HD. Then since I decided that Degrenoc recently raided him and seized two of his personal hexes … that’s a big old -4 on the morale. So to keep this from collapsing on the first day, ackward, I’ve dropped taxes down, raised liturgy spending, putting his entire garrison on the streets, so to speak, repressing angry population and assumed that morale was pretty good when he took over. All of that to get it to a -3, just a hair over instant collapse.
Consulting back to my article on mineral deposits in the Meniri Mountains I noticed that for the most part all the exploitable deposits are outside of his Domain but that big fat Amethyst deposit and a Silver-Lead deposit are in the Realm’s borders. I don’t think that they’d have the ability to manage both so we’ll put the focus into that Amethyst deposit. Even Ogres are smart enough to exploit that, even if its at a lower efficiency due to brutes managing slaves. Because the pretty rocks become pretty coins.
Gem (Amethysts) Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 800 work gangs and deposit reserves of 1,411,200 work-gang-months.
Mines in for reference
With all that I’ve got enough to stat up the Chieftains and make up the Domain Sheet
With that done I’m pretty close to being about to put Nindukugga’s Realm together and see what’s she’s kicking up to the big guy, Orm. As I’ve mentioned before I’m holding off on the military stuff until I have a solid build for all the players but I’m curious just how many troops Naazig here can put into the field plus I see a future rules lawyering that I need to cut off.
He’s got a Personal Domain Garrison of 612GP. Those troops are going to be his most loyal troops, or his biggest threat depending just how far things have gone. Between his other four Chieftains they have a Garrison total of 4,404GP so a total of 5,016GP for the entire Realm Domain of the Bonebreakers.
Now when you look at the costs of Ogre Troops this doesn’t make sense. With 2,506GP worth of Garrison they can’t afford to even put together a full unit of 60 Ogres? But these are Ogres and a fixed military unit isn’t really in keeping with what they do. They don’t have the disciple for that kind of thing. Each Chieftain is only going to have a few troops and that will be more to be security and deal with random encounters for the realm. 10 or so Ogres has a way of dealing with a problem.
Unlike the Hobgoblins the Ogres are much closer to their Clanhold roots then the fixed military path. Instead of a Call to Arms he’s going to use a Levy Warriors and Levy either .5 or 1 Ogre male per family. That will put 557 Ogres or 1113 Ogres in the field. That’s either 9 units of Ogres or 18 units of Ogres onto a battlefield. Which is an insane number, how could that be? That would crush.
Because when you Levy Warriors you’re calling up the tax base and every loss during the fighting is a family that isn’t going to be there to pay taxes with the head of the household dead. You could lose a quarter of your troops, win the battle and go home just to watch everything you have collapse. That’s why Degrenoc would only do it in a dire circumstance, he knows the risks.
But with Ogres it’s a problem for tomorrow and they likely don’t even see it coming. Besides what Ogre Warrior worth his salt is going to stay home with the goats when there’s shinies to take.
Again this is what comes from detailed world building like this with a solid system like ACKS under it. Naazig is smart enough to know that if he Levies his Chieftains he can’t afford to keep them in the field long so he needs a quick victory and a mostly painless one and one with a metric ton of loot sure wouldn’t hurt. Degrenoc knows this as well and he focuses on logistics and defenses to slow the Ogres and force a campaign until they collapse under their considerable weight.
Next article I’ll detail the two generic Ogre Domain Rulers that are in the rear with the gear. That might be handy for some of you GM’s that might need an Ogre Domain to put in the path of some players.