Electric Defense Negation

By connecting a device to an electric defense such as an electric fence, the current would be redirected to the device leaving the fence completely neutralized. Connecting the device to an energy source, in effect, creates creates a complete circuit that will pull all available energy which will result in tripping any circuit breakers or fuses. If no circuit breakers are in place, the conducting medium (the wires) will super heat and likely melt.

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Power Draining

This technique requires that actual device to be in close proximity to a power cable or wire rather then a use a cable that is connected to the device. By placing the device adjacent to but not connected to a power cable, the anti-electrostatic field it generates would literally drain the power from the cable. But obviously, you wouldn't want to be the poor sap to be holding the device in this scenario because of the dangerous radiation it would create.

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Lightning Deterrent

Place several devices on the tops of high towers or suspended in the air by large balloons secured with long cables. These devices suspended in the air serve to suck the electrostatic charge out of the sky. The result is that when a rain storm begins brewing, all of the static electricity generation creates a "plasma ball" effect with each of the devices. By draining the electricity from the sky, there is never any danger of damage from a lightning strike below. No one needs to use lightning rods. Another upside to this is that there is a spectacular view during the storm. A downside is that there is a greater amount of gamma radiation; while this typically isn't a dangerous amount in small doses, over time it can contaminate crops and drinking water and devastate the ecosystem. Using a mobile ground as a lighting deterrent is forbidden near residential or agricultural sites.

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It's tough to cram in all the drawbacks and the compensatory security measures in just 100 words. Gamma radiation can be blocked with enough mass. So you use depleted uranium around the device and then shield it with lead walls. The danger should be minimal. Then you just connect a few heavy gauge cables to the device and let the cables do the work of conducting electricity to the device. It's like a nuclear power plant; it's safe as long as you have the proper security measures in place. Go to Comment

Ever play a game of Spycraft? (http://www.crafty-games.com/product_catalog/spycraft20) This is extremely useful in a future setting. Why not weave a tuxedo liner out of this stuff for light-weight knife resistant armor?

Not an original idea by any means, but thanks for sharing! I'm actually going to use this. Go to Comment

9. Weaved to make a light-weight, knife resistant tuxedo liner.
10. Improvised bowstring. Go to Comment

hahahaha. Oh xkcd. How I love thee. Go to Comment

Padre Alexandro Pedro Baptista Martinez, former Spanish Mounter Militia.

Born March 14,1698 in Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia, then capital of the New Kingdom of Granada (Nuevo Reino de Granada), part of the Viceroyalty of Peru (Virreinato Del Peru). Alexandro, a criollo (pure Spaniard born in the New World), was only three years old when his parents were killed on a visit to a Capuchin mission during the Wayuu Uprising of 1701. He was taken in by Capuchin friars who survived the attack and helped the child escape with his life. The Capuchins were an enlightened order. They were followers of St. Bonaventure, who taught that all the sciences are but the handmaids of theology, and that true understanding of God comes from the senses, reason and intellect. The friars taught Alexandro many things, including alchemical knowledge that they had rediscovered. Alexandro excellence in the studies of metallurgy and transmutation were only matched by his theological studies, and it was clear to him at an early age that the priesthood was the life for him. He was ordained in 1719.

The Wayuu Indian threat had grown even more serious by this time. Of all the Indians in the territory of Colombia, the Wayuu were unique in having learned the use of firearms and horses. Alexandro felt compelled to minister to the brave Spanish militiamen on the frontlines of the skirmishes with the Indians who had murdered his parents, and immediately volunteered to join Colombia's Spanish Mounted Militia as a Padre. Padre Martinez enjoyed his role as a soldier-priest for many years. All of that changed in 1727 when 2,000 Wayuu attacked the fort he was stationed at. Although the Wayuu were repelled, it was the retaliation that sent Padre Martinez's faith whirling. He watched as men to whom he had given communion gunned down children with muskets he had blessed. One Wayuu woman in particular he could never forget: a woman with a son around three years old. Padre Martinez stood by as the little boy's mother was raped and murdered in front of him. He remembered the look in the mother's eyes as they slit her throat. He remembered the boy's eyes too. That was the day he decided to desert the militia and leave Colombia forever.

Disguising himself as a Franciscan monk, Padre Martinez boarded a ship in Cartagena, Colombia and sailed to Veracruz, one of the key ports of New Spain (Mexico). He made his way to a small village west of Veracruz where he attempted to lay low in a small parish church. As the village was very small and remote, there was a need for blacksmithing, and Padre Martinez was happy to fill this need as well. He set up a small foundry next to the church, and soon resumed his alchemical studies of metallurgy and transmutation as well. It wasn't long before his activities and his craftsmanship caught the eye of Monsignor Filipe Antonio Juarez Montoya, Chief Priest of the Inquisition in Veracruz. His agents paid Padre Martinez a visit in 1733, and brought him before the Monsignor. Monsignor Montoya knew of Padre Martinez's desertion, but was willing to overlook it. He had a use for the alchemical talents of Padre Martinez.

Monsignor Montoya explained an aspect of the Inquisition's mission to Padre Martinez that was previously unknown to him. Many infernal and supernatural manifestations had been making their appearances in the New World since colonization began, and the Pope had tasked the Inquisition with combating these evil forces. Many supernatural creatures are harmed by silver, explained Monsignor Montoya, but weaponizing silver has proven problematic to many metallurgists in the past. Therefore, Monsignor Montoya wanted to task Padre Martinez with researching and discovering a technique for creating a silveriron alloy that could be used to make weapon, and then make these weapons exclusively for agents of the Inquisition. Padre Martinez was eager at the chance to absolve his past shame through research and service, as St. Bonaventure would have wanted it. He set to work immediately.

Padre Martinez relocated to a rectory maintained by the Inquisition in Veracruz, and began his research and experimentations to discover a silveriron alloy. For months he worked, but his faith never wavered. Finally, in 1734, he had fashioned a dagger from a silveriron alloy that he had made himself. Monsignor Montoya was thrilled, and embraced Padre Martinez as a brother in Christ. Padre Martinez spent four years crafting silveriron weapons for the Inquisition in Veracruz. One day in 1738, Monsignor Montoya told Padre Martinez that his services were now needed more in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1739, Padre Martinez set foot on North America and entered St. Augustine.

Padre Martinez was puzzled by the fact that he was now in St. Augustine doing the same work he did in Veracruz. He soon discovered that the Inquisition was preparing for an expedition to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. This expedition sounded curious and exciting to Padre Martinez. His curiosity soon took a backseat in his mind, however. The War for Jenkins Ear broke out shortly after his arrival, and St. Augustine was suddenly in a war footing. The Chief Priest of the Inquisition in St. Augustine, Father Manuel Diego de Fernandez, put the expedition on hold and, given Padre Martinez's military experience, detached him to the garrison of St. Augustine. Padre Martinez found his love for soldiery once more as he assisted the garrison in repelling invaders from British Georgia in 1740, and again in an attempted invasion of Georgia in 1742. By this time, the War of the Austrian Succession had broken out in Europe, and the fighting in the New World was all but forgotten. Padre Martinez returned to his Inquisition work in 1743.

The excitement and curiosity regarding the expedition soon returned to Padre Martinez as well. The Fountain of Youth would be a monumental discovery. However, once Padre Martinez learned of the true reason for seeking the Fountain of Youth, his heart sank. Father Diego de Fernandez explained to Padre Martinez that the Inquisition sees the Fountain of Youth as a sin against God, that those who drink from it have no hope of redemption. They believe it is an affront to God, and must be destroyed. Padre Martinez, who had studied alchemy and followed the teachings of St. Bonaventure all his life, could never accept this. For many weeks, Padre Martinez fasted and prayed in silence, seeking God's counsel. He eventually came to his own truth: the Inquisition attempts to obfuscate knowledge and destroy that which it does not understand, and is therefore not a force for good in the world. He could not continue to serve it. On the eve before the expedition was to set out, Padre Martinez transmuted a brittle agent into the silveriron weapons he had made for the expeditionary forces, and prayed. For the second time in his life, Padre Martinez prepared for desertion.

in 1744, Padre Martinez once again donned the vestments of a Franciscan monk and boarded a ship, this time bound for Spain. His ship did not get far before being attacked by a British privateer vessel. After the initial clash, a chase insued and the Spanish ship was blown off course. The British privateers finally caught up with the Spanish ship and sank it. It was by the grace of God that Padre Martinez survived the battle, set adrift on a life boat with no paddles. Although he cannot remember how many days he was adrift, Padre Martinez was about to drink his first mouthful of urine when a French merchant vessel rescued him. A few of the crew spoke Spanish, and he soon found out that the French vessel was bound for Baltimore, the chief port of the British province of Maryland. The Inquisition would never look for a Spanish priest in a British colony, so he agreed to be taken to Maryland. The French sailors agreed to tell the port officials that Padre Martinez was a French monk come to serve the faithful of Maryland, as while Maryland was a haven for Catholics, it was a British colony, and therefore technically still at war with Spain. After 46 years a Spaniard, Padre Martinez was now a British subject.

For ten years, Padre Martinez ministered to the poor Catholic people of Baltimore out of St. Joseph's Chapel. Ever was he mindful of not drawing unwanted attention to himself, lest there be Inquisition agents in Baltimore that would become aware of him. In 1748, Padre Martinez contracted spotted fever, and was almost killed by the disease. His strength returned slowly, and though his vigor was slightly diminished, he was fit by 1749. In 1754, the French and Indian War broke out, and the faithful of Maryland needed padres. Although Padre Martinez was 56 years old, he felt the fervor to serve. In 1756 his unit was detached to Fort Frederick in western Maryland, where he ministered to the faithful in the militia as well as the settlers who frequently took refuge from the fighting there. While serving at Fort Frederick, he befriended a scout captain named Jonathan Hager. Captain Hager, a German immigrant to Maryland, owned many acres of land not too far east of Fort Frederick, in the Appalachian Valley, that he planned to charter into a town when the war was over. He believed that many Catholics would someday live there side by side with German Reformed Protestants like himself and peoples of many other faiths as well. Being a frontier town, it would need men who enjoyed peace and quiet, but knew how to shoot when needed. Captain Hager offered to have a home built for Padre Martinez when the war was over. Padre Martinez, who was approaching his 60s, tired of worrying about the Inquisition, and longing to resume his meditations on divine knowledge, agreed with Captain Hager's proposal.

In 1763, at the age of 65, Padre Martinez moved into a small townhouse in Elizabethtown, Maryland. Although the town is controlled politically by Protestants, they are the most tolerant men he has ever met. Jacob Rohrer, the largest landowner and de facto mayor of Elizabethtown, had a German Reformed Church built on land he donated that same year, and set up a German Reformed Priest, Father Eichner, in the church's rectory. But then Jacob and Father Eichner announced that while the town church is German Reformed and, as such, services will be held as appropriate, the church is open to all Christian religions for services as long as the church itself is respected as holy ground. Since then, Padre Martinez has had a good friendship with Father Eichner. The two have agreed on a daily schedule for Father Eichner's services and Padre Martinez's daily mass. They also have amicable discussions on theology.

Now, in 1766, life is peaceful for 68 year old Padre Martinez. But his frontier life falls to anything but peace as members of his modest congregation begin falling victim to the horrors of a skin-wearing Boo Hag. Now, the Padre has taken up his trusty old rifle and heavy saber and seeks out the monstrous old woman. His unwavering faith trusting that the recently missing children might be spared a heinous death as he makes all haste through the deadly swamps. Go to Comment

chilled said, "Please, don't hold back!" Go to Comment

Update: Updated the summary to included a cautionary warning. Thanks for the idea, Mourngrymn. Go to Comment

I like the way you think. I think a lot more culture would be a really good addition.

Also, I recommend that you start adding some idea scrolls. You've got some good stuff here.

Moreover, I agree that the parasites should be a requirement for the larva to take hold on a host.

Additionally, I really like the idea that the beetles can just reattach lost body parts. It makes a lot of sense and is generally a cool idea.

Furthermore, I agree that the host's body would have severely degraded and be near the verge of useless rot. I vaguely relied on the regenerative powers of the Nectar to reverse the decay. However, I think that reworking the process might be in order. Perhaps the first thing the beetle does is "commandeer" the host's heart to keep the blood flowing after the host dies an agonizing death from mass organ failure.

Finally, being more biologically minded, would you be interested in reworking this sub and co-authoring it with me? Go to Comment

I was actually thinking of a massive 100+ pound dunghill, so it's good to hear that I wasn't far off. Go to Comment

I imagine that the beetle would need to eat 4 to 6 humans. Very good point though. Fortunately for the beetle, it lives underground. It is never exposed to the direct sun. Part of my rework on this sub is going to clarify that the beetle is a cave beetle rather than a desert beetle. This should help with a lot of the discrepancies. Go to Comment

Update: Completely reworked everything. Huge thanks to Forganthus for his help. Go to Comment

Update: Changed Habitat to "Any" Go to Comment

Those were Forganthus' brainchild. I agree, the cultures are fantastic. Go to Comment

Terrified of harpies because they remind him of his wife is golden!! :)

It is exactly that! I complicated optimization problem. The benefit of it is that you can introduce all of the important royalty in your campaign in an elegant way, and you give the players a good chance to make friends with them.

The homework part of it (designing guests and writing up the score chart) takes a few hours, but you can make it take only a few minutes if you want to stick with 8 or 10 guests instead of the massive 24.

I really like the idea of an extra guest showing up! That would so complicate plans and terrify the seating arrangers.

As far as a combat version goes, great idea! I approve! I could see you positioning defenders inside the local tavern after a necromancer invaded the city. You have a four very intoxicated city guards who have armor, but aren't likely to be very coordinated in a fight. You have a small group of adventures composed of a wizard, a rogue, a fighter, and an archer. You have the barkeeper who carries a battleaxe for such an occasion. You have six villagers who can't fight, but they can be directed to barricade windows and doors using the chairs and tables. Lastly, you have five members of the local hunter's guild who know how to use a bow, but aren't combatants. The tavern consists of the main hall, the kitchen, and the storage room. All three rooms are connected by doors. Stairs under the kitchen lead to a wine cellar. The main hall two entry doors to the street and a back door to the storage room opens into an alley. Lastly, the main hall has 2 large windows, and the storage room has 2 windows. You must position the defenders to defend against zombie swarms (which can pour in through windows or doors), skeletal warriors (which only come in through doors and are immune to arrows), and hideous flesh monsters (which can only come in through doors and can break down barricades). The ultimate goal for now is to stockpile enough food from the storage room into the wine cellar, and then barricade the wine cellar door. The hunter's guild members hate the city guards, the city guards have a warrant for the rogue adventurer, the wizard just came out of a heated debate with the barkeeper about his brew, the archer and the hunter's guild have a deep seeded loathing towards each other, and the villagers are afraid to be near the adventuring warrior due to some scary rumors.

With this scenario, you could easily define the defensive positions, define how well people work together, and determine how well the entire fight plays out based on the defensive positions selected.
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1. King Alfric the 3rd (+1)
3. Lady Pemberton (+1)
5. Lord Pemberton (0)
7. Ambassador Sara Pemberton (0)
9. Comtessa Beatrix Beaufort (+2)
11. Widow McIntrye (+1)
13. Honest John (0)
15. Lady Catherine of Wesshire (0)
17. Valefor Wordenweyn (0)
19. Lady Adalia (+1)
21. Count Hobran, the Reaver (0)
23. Prince Briar (0)
24. The Fool (0)
22. Knight-Commander Gren (0)
20. Senias, the Mystic (0)
18. Lady Adara (+2)
16. Erasmus Clay (0)
14. Priest Lenard (0)
12. Old Man Henderson (0)
10. Duke Frothington (+1)
8. Ambassador Finkvskyl (0)
6. Silk (0)
4. Matriarch Follovya (+1)
2. Queen Yura (0)

Total dinner satisfaction: +10.
Guests enraged with my seating: 0 (these guests would have been likely to seek retribution against me)
Guests Insulted by my seating: 0 (these guests would have been likely to seek punishment for me)
Guests annoyed with my seating: 0 (these guests would have been likely to treat me with disdain)
Guests indifferent with my seating: 16
Guests pleased with my seating: 6 (these guests are likely to reward me personally)
Guests ecstatic with my seating: 2 (including Lady Adara and Comtessa. These guests are likely to give me a substantial reward) Go to Comment

Thank you for pointing those things out. I improved PDF to better clarify things.

The color coding is only used to summarize the combined scores of two guests if seated together. For example, the color of two corresponding cells will be dark green if the combined score is 0 (this could be a +1 and a -1, OR a = and a =). I gave a few more examples of this in the PDF.

The black and red names were my mistakes. I was color coding the names after I had finalized my seating arrangement for that guest. I corrected this in the PDF.

The special conditions are on the far right side of the score chart. These should each impose a penalty if not followed. The penalty should be whatever you deem appropriate: annoyance (-1), insulting (-2), or unacceptable (-3 and causing a scene). I did seat all the guests according to their special requirements, but I had to update the PDF because I had left some out of the score chart.

Thanks for the help sverigesson. It's much appreciated.

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Thanks for the correction, Ted. I updated the sub. Go to Comment