The flickering flames of the fireplace cast dancing shadows across the study, its lone occupant paying no heed to the twisted shapes as it sunk deeper into the high backed leather bound chair. The wine glass beside him untouched on the side table Arctas's attention lay fully on the twisting black oak staff he caressed in his hands, the silver runic patterns across its surface coming to life in a dull white glow as the power within them both was now channelled into the orb of crystal at its tip. The clear transparent gem slowly filling with a growing swirl the colour of morning mist, focusing his mind he narrowed this thoughts to a ring studded with sapphire engraved with the rune of his house. Twisting and inspecting the ring in his minds eye the swirling mist within the orb twisted like moulded clay, a low buzz of noise beginning to grown drowning out the crackle of burning wood from the fireplace. "..his clans hospitality. " the words reverberating from the crystal the mist finally took form focusing upon a  young Enchantress as a single word slipped from his lips "Ah Granddaughter."

Welcome to the first edition of 3rd Party Show Case, this series of articles aims to highlight some of the more interesting 3rd party and homebrew creations available online. When able to we will credit the original creators and post links directly to the material.
The first 3rd party class I’ll be highlighting is a personal favourite of mine the Heartless Mage prestige class which can be found on the D&D Wiki and was created by Surgo, an alternative to lichdom the Heartless Mage gains immortality and powerful spell like abilities at the cost of emotional sterility and a obsidian box containing their heart.

Becoming a Heartless Mage

The Heartless Mage is quite an easy prestige class to enter as the skill requirements can be gained at either level 7 in D&D 3.5 or level 10 in Pathfinder, while the Magic Jar can be gained at 9th for a Wizard or 10th level sorcerer.  However due to Charisma skill penalty this class gains each level it is not recommended for any social characters which means most sorcerers will not want to enter it.  
The base attack bonus remains poor as does reflex saves but the Heartless Mage is one of the fewer spell casting prestige classes which gains a improved fortitude save while retaining full spell casting. It does suffer however from poor skill points and limited class skills.

Requirements:

Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 10 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 10 ranks.
Spell Casting: Must be able to cast 5th level arcane spells, including magic jar.

Hit Dice: D6

Class Skills:
The Heartless Mage class skills are: Concentration (Con), Craft (alchemy) (Int), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Heartless Mage prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Heartless Mage gains no proficiency with armor or weapons.

Spellcasting: Every level, the Heartless Mage casts spells (including gaining any new spell slots and spell knowledge) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he had previous to gaining that level.

Box the Mortal Heart (Ex): At 1st level, the Heartless Mage removes his own heart and places it within an obsidian box worth at least 1,000 gp. The effect of this transformation is that whenever the Heartless Mage is killed, the obsidian box holding his heart may be used as a focus component to a raise dead or resurrection spell. Using his heart in this way means that he is returned to life without level or XP loss. Should the Heartless Mage’s heart be destroyed or removed from the box, he is instantly killed wherever he stands. In addition, each level of Heartless Mage grants a cumulative –1 penalty on all Charisma-based checks. Also, from this point onward the Heartless Mage does not age further or advance in age categories.

Lessons of the True Heart: At 2nd level, a Heartless Mage may use any of the following spells as spell-like abilities: heart of stone, hoard life, and false life, each usable once per day. When he uses these abilities he must use the obsidian box holding his heart as a focus component, and the box counts as the final resting place of his heart for the effects of this spell.

True Ownership (Sp): At 3nd level, the Heartless Mage improves the mystical connection to his heart. He may cast scrying and discern location as a spell-like abilities at will, but only if he is seeking the obsidian box holding his heart.

Heartless Resurrection: At 4th level, the Heartless Mage does not die when his body is killed. Instead, his soul is transferred to the obsidian box containing his heart (treat as a tiny construct with a hardness of 20 and no movement abilities). While in this form, he may cast magic jar at will as a spell-like ability (caster level equal to his character level, and his obsidian box is the focus). For the purposes of this effect, soulless bodies in perfect physical condition (such as clones preserved by gentle repose or soulless bodies produced by magic jar effects) can be targeted by this effect as if they were living. If the body possessed is a duplicate of the Heartless Mage’s own body (via clone or a simulacrum spell, for example), successful use of this ability counts as a true resurrection on the Heartless Mage with a material component being the body he is possessing (it is consumed).

Heartless Immortal: When a Heartless Mage is possessing a body with his Heartless Resurrection ability, he may perform a 12-hour ritual costing 1,000 gp in material components that recreates his current body into duplicate of his original body. This counts as a casting of true resurrection with a material component of the body he is using.

Using the Heartless Mage

The Heartless Mages abilities focus heavily on either avoiding or returning from death which may not suit all campaigns and most players will find themselves never needing to use them unless their DM is known for TPK’s (Total Party Kills).  However the ability to cast Heart of stone, hoard life, and false life, once per day can be very useful give a caster extra staying power in a fight and all last a considerably long time.
The major power available to the Heartless Mage is their mastery over the Magic Jar spell once slain and I have personally used this to confound and infuriate many opponents who thought the party was weakened by the death of their main caster before finding their mounts or great beast suddenly turning on them.

It is also this ability that make them a great recurring NPC villain especially for horror, while everyone knows of a lich's phylactery (usually in and out of character) very few would know or predict the Heartless Mages abilities and would simply see them as another mage.

In addition if the Heartless Mage hides his heart within another valuable item (lead lined to hide the necromantic aura or already possess necromantic magic) which the party may take as loot,
due to their immortality and reliance on logic over emotion a Heartless mage could bide their time watching and learning, occasionally subtly influencing events.  
This may lead to Heartless Mage striking at the party forcing them to resist possession when they are at their weakest in another encounter or more sinisterly as the party expose allies or loved ones to danger of the mage they may become alternative targets to damage the party through.

Combined with their ability to use the body of a possessed creature to cast true resurrection and you have the perfect mix for a truly horrific memorable villain. 

The image flickered slightly in the light of the fireplace and for a moment the Enchantress turned her head her gaze directed directly at him as if reacting to his presence, knowing this was impossible Arctas held his analytic stare while allowing himself a smirk more from habit than satisfaction. Perhaps in his younger years he may of panicked cancelling the scrying spell but now in the cusp of his final advance to power such doubts or indeed any fears that were not based in cold logic no longer bothered him. It had been many years since he last seen her in person, in fact he was presumed dead by all their relations but there was something about her smile that brought forth a faint memory, an echo of the barest hint of emotion he had not felt in those many years. He knew all others in the family were lacking the power in the blood they both shared though hers not yet awakened and for his goals to be realised she would have to sacrificed but did he feel now feel remorse?
Musing over his thoughts he listened to the low crackle of the burning wood continuing to watch the images play out before him, the habitual smirk crossing his lips once more he spoke his answer as if to confirm it to the world. "I will let you live your life for now dearest granddaughter after all.. what is time to an immortal?" 

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Well once again Christmas is catching up with us all but that's no reason to give up on the gaming, so for those still struggling to fill their parties loot sack here are some of my favourite ideas for gifts this year. 

If your Dungeon Master is anything like me they have mountains of maps which they have spent hours drawing and never seem to have the right on, for them I recommend the Ye Olde Map Maker a cheap little program that is a great time and space saver. 
Alternatively no space on the table, tired of cocked dice or accusations of roll fudging perhaps a Dice Tower will help and some of the designs for these are becoming quite impressive and entertaining. Though my own firm favourite has always been the classic Leather Dice Cup,  I've linked to one of the more expensive and ornate examples but there are plenty available at much cheaper price.  While I used to use normal cups or a plastic containers these both made a horrible racket and I've known dice to chip in ceramic cups but if  neither of them suit you perhaps you just need Smaller Dice.

I've found dice have always been a popular gift amongst role players ranging from the Ornate Pieces of Art to the Plentiful Lucky Dip but two rather unique examples have been brought to my attention (as well as heavy hinting) by my gaming group.
The DICE+ at Firebox is a electronic dice that can Bluetooth to various tablet games, the list of which seems to slowly and steadily growing. Unfortunately the Firebox site doesn't provide much information but there is a review available at The Verge.
The second little piece that caught the eye of my group was the D20 Spinner Dice Ring, I know if had one of these I would most likely not be able to stop playing with the thing though I can't seem to find anyone who has tried one of these so if anyone has any first hand experience of using one let us know in the comments.
Of course for those wishing personalisation of their tools of the trade you could always give them the means to make their own with a Blank Set Of Dice.

While our focus is on jewellery I recently been hearing a lot from the ladies in my group about Chainmaille, which appears to be chainmail jewellery and other assorted items. With a bit of help I was directed to Etsy and found a rather nice Dice Bag made in the style though I do think the plastic lock spoils it slightly, there are a few other examples of the style but I think the next item I saw was far more my tastes.
Clockwork Firebird's collection of leatherwork and costume pieces really caught my eye but for a cheap little Christmas stocking filler the Made To Order Runic Snap Bracelets seem to perfect. Personally I think I will be getting one of these for each of my group and there will be a challenge to see who can translate it first and write it out with the Feather Quill Pens they will also be getting. I only wish these were available as pencils more regularly but for those games where a character isn't likely to change these biros will do.

Now my group likes to give presents based on the characters we've played (or at least the most memorable and amusing one) but for Dungeons and Dragons people always seem to struggle with ideas for Rangers and Druids players so I suggest a nice Microwaveable Warmer of their animal companion to snuggle up to over the cold winter period.
Now not everyone likes fluffy toys and that's understandable but in the spirit of my first series of articles perhaps they might enjoy Canned Unicorn Meat or Insectilix Lollies?

Finally what to give the more naughty players for Christmas, the rogue that pick-pocketed the party and pawned off the valuable plot item, the wizard that experiments on the local village or the fighter that just won't stop punching the vital NPC contact? What better than some Christmas Coal Popcorn which is tasty as well as giving a slight hint.

Well I hope at the very least I've helped give you all some ideas so now I guess its time for the mail article. Initially I had hoped to post this on Halloween but I decided not to interrupt the posting of the "Survival Out In The Wilds" series so I guess here is my very own nightmare before Christmas the heartless mage.

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As the torch lit shadows danced across Duncan’s face he surveyed the cave “Well I’m glad you all brought extra rations this time but we must be careful and conserve what we can.” looking over to his dwarven companion he found Sandell already answering the question he was about to ask. “Well there's too much snow to dig through without tools if you wish to keep all your fingers.. though we are in luck. This stone looks worked.. crudely so its not my clans work but if it was some human prospector we may find some tools we can use further in.” Stepping past the group so the torch would no longer hinder his darkvision  the dwarf surveyed darkness of the cavern ahead. Holding his hand out to signal to the others not to advance yet the dwarf stepped forward across the icy stone floor, his free hand now moving to his pack unhooking the throwing axe drawing it slowly he raised his arm if taking aim before hurling it towards the darkness of the ceiling.  

The darkness seemed to get even blacker for a moment before a startled bat fluttered down panicked as Isabel rolled her eyes shaking her head “You missed the bat.”, responding with an annoyed grunt Sandell  waved his hand dismissively “I wasn’t aiming for the bat...” a stalactite seemed to sway for a moment before dropping to the floor, stepping towards the now dead  Darkmantle Sandell retrieved his axe with a smug grin. “Well now we have dinner.”

Welcome to part 4 of the Survival Out in the Wilds series, in this last article we are now going to address possible uses of beasts and monsters as food, the possible things to consider and if Orc really is the other white meat.
This article is a little different from the others, its not going to be as rules focus as the previous three as Craft cooking has an excellent rule variant already available on the D&D wiki provided by the user Eiji which I will post a brief overview of below:

Table: Skill Synergies

Epic Check

You can cook foods that have an almost magical quality to them.

Advanced Cooking
Certain recipes possesses advanced cooking methods which mimic spells. You may only benefit from these cooking based spell effects 1/day, though you may cook any number of meals you wish.
In general, the formula is DC 20 + (10 x spell level) (cantrips are just 25), and typically with a lower caster level to not as to outdo actual magic. For example, a Cure Light Wounds effect would likely be DC 30. Appropriate material components in the form of ingredients should always be provided.
As you can see these rules are extremely simple and quite effective at making the craft skill useful but not overpowered, I’ve refrained from listing any particular special meals for now though I may cover these in a future article.
As a basic rule of thumb most animals are edible when cooked for long enough apart from a few rare cases however it should be noted that with more unusual creatures the Survival skills from our first article should be used to prepare the creature before cooking.

Here is a few points to consider when your players decide to start preparing dinner:

1. Eating Sentient creatures intentionally is consider an evil act and taboo by many cultures.
This may seem obvious and various races are known for this (Orcs, goblins and kobolds) however you have to remember not all sentient races are humanoid nor are they immediately recognisable as sentient, there have been some cases of some parties killing and eating monsters only to later find out that the monsters are sentient.
The initial case can be considered an accident (in the case of alignment, the locals may still be angry)  but if the party does not regret their actions or continues to hunt these creatures they are definitely committing evil acts.
Eating the flesh of sentient humanoid regularly also runs the risk of ghoulification or in the case of brain eating risk exposure to the hard to detect and deadly prion and is addictive.  

2. Carnivores probably have a higher incidence of parasites and possible toxins, due to biomagnification.
If you are not familiar with about biomagnification I suggest the wikipedia article for more details but in game the effects of this are relatively minor but here is an example of how it can be used from one of my previous campaigns:
The party has recently killed a Dire Boar on the way to a mages tower and fancy pork chops for dinner, boars do actually eat smaller animals and rodents and this Dire Boar been eating the local rats and Dire rats from around the tower.
These rats have been living off the trash from the tower which includes spoiled potions, old remnants of spell components and even the odd discharge magic item or creature, each ingesting a small amount of magical pollution which is then passed up the food chain to the Dire Boar becoming more concentrated and powerful before been passed onto the characters eating the Dire Boar who lack any of its natural built up resistances. This can be particularly deadly in real life though in the game above one character’s skin turned green for 5 hours and another grew a cat tail.

3. Just because its edible or tastes nice doesn’t mean your characters will actually be able to stomach it.
Have you ever been offered fried insects, bulls testicles, sheep's eyes, raw octopus, codfish sperm or Haggis?
Some of these are delicious but by simply knowing what they are or their appearance when served has caused people to vomit or wretch so why would your characters be any different?
In certain cases it may be suitable to have the player roll a Fortitude check to eat (or keep down) the meal at a basic DC of 12 which you should modify to the situation.   

4. How to describe the taste?
I’ve found that the actual difficulty with players who wish to have cooks as characters is when cooking a monster or creature for the first time, they often want a detailed description of the taste.
I find the best solution is to often compare it to existing meals, this can be quite difficult on some occasions especially for the stranger creatures.

If you are having trouble with description it should be noted that carnivores typically have stringy, unpalatable meat with a greasy very distinctly metallic gamey taste, also due to going up the food chain, each consumer processes minerals and vitamins, leaving behind meat with less nutritional value than the food it consumed, with carnivores yielding the least nutritional value. This means the character probably wouldn’t feel as much energy after eating it as he would when eating a steak or turkey meal.

Finally regarding our last topic regarding orcs, the answer should be no unless your using the old boar headed orcs in which case the answer changes to maybe.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this series of articles as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them and please feel free to post any comments or to contact me.

Quick Link: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Grimacing as he bit once more into the cooked rubbery flesh Samuel chewed slowly barely swallowing his meal as he looked on in amazement at Isabel hastily devouring the greasy meat of the darkmantle.  Shuffling towards her trying to distance himself from the small campfire as Sandell cooked another skewered tentacle he plucked up the courage to ask the question “With no disrespect to Sandell’s cooking and thanking the divines for the food, I have to ask how can you eat this so... eagerly.
A look of contemplation crossing her face the young Enchantress paused for a moment before answering “Well when I was an apprentice nearly every meal I ate was porridge so I enjoy the chance to eat anything new after so long..” taking a handkerchief from her she started cleaning her fingers and lips as Sandell nodded approvingly as his rough chuckle echoed in the cave. “Ahh then you’ll be in for treat when we get to my clans outpost, blind deep fish cooked in ale sauce with three different type of mushroom, perhaps with a side of goat.”
As the dwarf stroked his beard imagining the  feast Samuel felt Isabel press against his side now giving him a sly playful smile behind her handkerchief  as she whispered to him “It also helps that the first cantrip I learnt let me give anything the flavour I chose.. I think I be practising it alot if we’re both to to survive honoured grandfathers cooking and his clans hospitality.”   

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Well as the pumpkins are cleared from the street and the stores covert all the Halloween aisles to upcoming Christmas deals I hope you all had a fun Halloween, while my own was spent with friends eating far too many sugary treats and takeaways while watching old B movies and Mystery Science Theater some people out there did some amazing stuff.

I am personally looking forward to seeing what DeviantArt user Ceemdee has created this year with their impressive pumpkin carving, for those of you that haven't seen her work here are a few examples from 2012:

Shadow of the Colossus and Bastion

For anyone who would like to have a try Extremepumpkins.com has a tutorial for beginners.

Finally for you still in the mood for some horror to inflict on your fellow players on the gaming table I highly recommend watching Will Wheaton's Youtube series Tabletop, recently he played the classic horror game Betrayal at the House on the Hill a board game published by Avalon Hill (and more recently by Wizards of the Coast). Players all begin as allies, exploring a haunted house filled with dangers, traps, items and Omens. As players explore the mansion, new room tiles are chosen at random; until enough Hauntings and Omens have occurred and the scenario is discovered with one player often been a traitor.     
In any case its well worth a watch, but now its time to finish the Out in the Wilds series of articles.

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"Tell me why are we doing this again?" Isabel shivered drawing the heavy Worg fur cloak around her as they climbed their way over the rocky mountain path, the sound of the thin snow crunching underfoot and wind almost drowning out her voice.
"These potions must be delivered before the winter snows stops all travel through the mountains for the season and since stone giants are blocking the main pass.." Duncan moved beside her now helping her climb another boulder as she sighed "Couldn't we just get rid of them?"

Sandell grunted from the front of the group as his experienced eyes picked their path "All they want is their sacred statue back, I say when we get to Pryham we find the damm thief who stole it. Anyway I've travelled this mountain for 60 years I'll get us there... hows the leg holding up Samuel?"
The young priest leaning on his quarterstaff grinned from under the thick hood, his gloved fingers playing along the wood "I'm doing fine honoured grandfather with divine grace I've been blessed with health though I'm grateful for these cloaks and gloves Duncan made." The dwarf 's spluttering at the phrase honoured grandfather caused Duncan to smile, it seemed the priest had developed a sense of humour since his fever.  

Welcome to part 3 of the Survival Out in the Wilds series, in the last article we covered possible effects using monster hide and shell would have in crafting armour.  In this article we are now going to have a quick look at what uses other bits of a creature can be.

Our main topic will be the spell reagent rule, this rule set is simple but does rely on firm knowledge of a spells material components and some personal ruling for the DM thus is best for a player or DM that knows his choice of spells well.
In theory it works by the spell caster using a rare and more powerful spell components in the place of (or in addition to) the material components of the spell, granting the in game advantage of up to +3 additional caster level onto the spell depending on the component used.
Casting a spell using a spell reagent does not affect the casting time and uses the reagent up along with the material component. A reagent costs 25gp per point of bonus it grants (25gp, 50gp or 75gp respectively) and can only be used for the spell it was purchased for. However feel free to alter this cost however you wish as the rule set was primarily designed for players to gather their own.

To help understanding we’ll cover a series of examples:
The general enhancement spells such as Bull’s Strength and Bear’s Endurance are the easiest ones to judge and serve as a good introductory point as the material components involved in these spells are usually the fur, feather or dung of the creature the spell is named after.

So if our spellcaster wished to enhance Cat’s Grace he could replace the normal material component of cats fur with the fur of a large cat such as a lion, this would most likely only grant a +1 bonus to caster level however it could be easily argued that due to non magical nature of the animal no bonus should be rewarded.  
A more reliable reagent would be the fur of a suitable Dire Creature so a Dire Lion for this example, this would grant a +2 bonus to the caster level of the spell.
Now our spellcaster wants to cast Bull’s Strength and has a powered Minotaur Horn using this instead of bulls dung (in addition of not smelling) this would grant a +2 bonus to caster level unless it was a Minotaur Lord in which case a +3 might be allowed. Another alternative would be the silver horns of a gorgon which like the Minotaur Lord could also increase the reagents power to a +3 bonus , as general rule the more powerful and suitable the creature is to a spell the greater the bonus.
In the above example this is due to both creatures having a very bull like nature, simply using the horns of a strong creature such as some breed of dragons would not be suitable.

Simple enough so far however things quickly get interesting when more vague creatures come into play for example the Owlbear, it could be used for both Bear’s Endurance and Owl’s Wisdom however due to its dual nature a Spellcraft check DC equal to 15 + spell level would be appropriate to cast.
Consequences for failing the check could be that the spell just doesn’t cast or perhaps some side effects may occur depending on the reagent used, such as gaining a +2 to Constitution and Wisdom instead of +4 to a single statistic or the effect of Rage spell in addition on the person receiving the spell which lasts as long as the original spell is on them.

Other examples of alternative components would be adding a reagent to a spell or improving an existing component rather than replacing though this only works with spells that already have a material component as the example below.
The Displacement spell requires the material component of a small loop of leather, if a spell caster tried to use a Displacer beasts fur as an alternative without the loop would most likely require a Spellcraft check similar to above (as the the shape of the loop is important to the spell.) Using both components together would suffer no problems and would grant a +1 or +2 bonus however a loop made from Displacer beast fur would grant a +2 or +3 bonus.

For a general rule if you believe a spell reagent doesn’t quite fit a spellcraft check should be made using the DC 15 + spell level. Additional factors such as age or damage could cause additional difficulty to the spell. For example Using the fur of a summoned or polymorphed creature for a reagent should increase the DC.

As stated at the start this rule does require a bit of monitoring by the DM though in my previous experiences the party wizard often begins making his own catalog of spell reagents, which has led to some interesting adventures where the wizard has marched the party off to collect the ideal materials.

One further detail to be addressed is the number of reagents recovered from slaying a creature, this can cause a few arguments as after all an owlbear has a lot of fur and feathers and some players believe they should have at least 50-60 spell reagents from the body.
For the best balance I’d say about 5-10 usable reagents are available however this was mostly to balance the cost of the party selling reagents back to other mages.

The next article will focus on the juicy insides of the beasts and answer the question of just how does Dragon taste?

Quick Link: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

“60 years grandfather? How much of it was spent lost?" the gentle teasing clashed with the mild irritation in Isabels voice, it was nearing nightfall and still they had not reached Sandell's clans mining post.
"Well we would of been there two hours ago if I was travelling with dwarves.. anyway be careful there's a cave opening ahead." grumbled Sandell who not minding the cold found his temper wearing thin with the complaints of the Enchantress.
Over the howling wind Duncan could swear he heard a familiar noise, his eyes now scanning the darkening skies they focused a circling bird possibly a hawk weaving unnaturally almost as if intended to noticed. His gaze dropping as it passed over the mountainside above he found his throat tightening as he spotted what the creature was trying to signal. "THE CAVE RUN NOW".

Almost scrambling he rushes over the rock grasping Isabel's arm as he passes pulling her surprised form into a sprint, the others knowing him better do not question what would cause the normally quiet man to shout and simply run. "Not again.. by the nine hells." Samuels pain voice cries out as slipping only to find the dwarfs powerful hand catching him a grim grin on his face "I agree now come on."
A growing thunder of noise above them the group barely reached the cave as the avalanche of snow and ice crashed over the entrance sealing it. Panting heavily in the pitch blackness the group tried to recover their breath, the silence broken by chuckle from Sandell "Swept away in a flood as a child, hit by a mudslide and now nearly crushed in an avalanche.. I think your god wants a personal audience Samuel." the young priests face shook his head smirking "Well I guess his Divine grace will have to learn to be patient."

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