The campaign had a great weekend! We're *this close* to unlocked our next fun milestone marker Stretch Goal, and today we get another sneak peek from the Badger chapter, this time looking at one of the new Callings from Pugmire Unleashed!
First up, our current Stretch Goal target, and then our next traditional Onyx Path milestone marker lined up right after... At $11,000 in Funding - Redbubble Shirt Design
A Pugmire Unleashed-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. All backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.
At $13,000 in Funding - Digital Wallpaper
Unleash some great artwork on your monitor with a Pugmire Unleashed desktop wallpaper. Artwork from the book will be used to create a digital wallpaper and will be added as a bonus reward to all backers of this project.
Badger Calling Sneak Peek
Badgers have four callings, representing the four roles they traditionally took in hunting parties. Though many badgers have expanded roles in their society, most train in at least one of these in case they have to go to true war one day, or for when they are called upon to join the hunt due to another’s illness, injury, or even death.
Trapper
Trapping is seen as a dirty job by most badgers, because it is. It involves getting down in the mud and leaves and using camouflage and subterfuge to lure your prey to you. While snipers strike from afar, trappers have to wait until their enemy is almost on top of them before they strike, attempting to tangle up or incapacitate their foes before hitting them with clubs or stabbing them with knives, short swords, and spears. Trappers excel as using the natural landscape to trip people and monsters up, wearing self-made camouflage cloaks and laying deceptive networks of vine and rope or turning what looks like muddy ground into a sucking mire. They’re also known to fight with nets or bolos, trying to capture an enemy’s weapons even if they can’t fully wrap up the enemy.
Trappers have a couple of ways of fighting, depending on the situation and the foe. They learn to set all manner of traps, from simple pit traps and tripwires to elaborate systems of rope and pulleys, and they’re also taught to dual wield a weapon with some incapacitating object, like a net, lasso, or even their cloaks. For a large, dangerous monster, they might work together to bring it down in a huge net so the bashers and snipers can do their job, but when they fight one on one, they seem almost like swashbucklers, parrying and blocking with little more than fabric or rope.
While some badgers think of trappers as little more than a helpful utility, in truth trappers are the most versatile fighters among them, able to battle even with improvised or hastily sourced weapons. They must know when to wait and when to rush into the fray, and they also need to be excellent craftspeople who can come up with a mechanical solution with few supplies and on short notice. If and when badgers start building cities, trappers will almost certainly end up being the engineers who make sure nothing collapses.
Typical trapper: Trappers pull from all badger upbringings, but a lot of polecats are attracted to this calling, as it lets them get away from drudgery and really exercise their brainpower and reflexes alike. It requires one to be able to both blend in and stand out, to think on their feet while looking for a variety of future solutions. Though a trapper’s fur might end up matted and dirty, they take pride in their work, knowing what they build helps their clan and hinders their enemies.
View on a shifting society: If anyone is interested in the possibilities of a settled, secure life, it’s trappers. Though it’s lovely being part of a hunting party, resting somewhere warm and clean after lying in mud all day wrestling with heavy ropes and stinging vines sounds like bliss.
Views on other callings:
Bashers: It seems risky — and a little silly — to just run in and take a hit when you can spend all of five shakes setting up a tripwire first.
Snipers: We like working with them, but they really could be more versatile in their strategies. Why only use a couple of weapons when infinite combinations are in paw’s reach?
Wildspeakers: They’re the best! I love how they can just... produce vines on command? Grow a little nest of thorns for the bottom of a pit? Amazing.
Character Creation
Stamina dice: 1d10.
Stamina points: 10 per level.
Primary attributes: Agility and Vitality.
Skills: Choose two from Know Culture, Persuade, Search, Sense Motive, Sneak, and Steal.
Rucksack: One melee weapon, one shield, a set of medium armor, 50 feet of rope, rations, a camouflage cloak, and a set of trapping tools acquired under unusual circumstances.
Unusual circumstances: 1. Found in a cave in a decrepit package but preserved them for a long time. 2. Forged by a master blacksmith whose name is lost to time. 3. Given to you by a colorful bird in exchange for telling her your story. 4. Pulled from a fishing net thrown into the Acid Sea by a tenacious otter you grew up with. 5. A gift from your parent who realized how excited you were to fiddle with them. 6. Traded for at a strange supply depot you’ve never managed to make your way back to.
First tricks: Simple Weapon Aptitude, Light Armor Aptitude, Medium Armor Aptitude, Shield Aptitude, and choose one form either Create Trap (p. XX) or Trap Sense (Realms of Pugmire, p. 65).
Trapper Tricks
Trapper tricks evoke being aware of your surroundings while using your skills to trip others up, literally. Trapper tricks work well with Agility and Vitality, as well as Cunning.
Camouflage Cloak
As long as the trapper is wearing his camouflage cloak, he has a boon to Stealth checks.
Refinements
When the badger is wearing his camouflage cloak, he may also add +2 to his Defense once before needing to nap. This can be applied after the attack, turning a hit into a miss.
When wearing his camouflage cloak, the trapper no longer needs to roll Stealth to hide or sneak, as long as he’s not in a brightly-lit area. He can use this once before needing to nap.
If this refinement is taken again, the trapper no longer needs to roll Stealth to hide or sneak, even if he’s in a brightly-lit area. He can use this once before needing to nap.
Create Trap
Using her trapping tools, a trapper can create an up to 5 ft.×5 ft. trap in an area she can reach. It must be something that makes sense for the environment (it would be difficult to dig a pit trap into solid stone, but a tripwire could easily be strung across a hallway, for example). It’s up to the Guide’s discretion what kind of trap she can make in the time allotted.
All traps are a difficulty 15 Cunning (Notice) check for an enemy to see, and a difficulty 13 Agility (Balance) check for enemies to avoid once they’ve triggered one.
Refinements
The trapper can increase the trap’s area up to 10 ft.×10 ft.
Traps
Pit Spike - 2d6 stabbing
Tripwire - 2d4 blunt (Prone)
Corrosive - 2d8 corrosive
Snare (Immobile)
Natural Explorer
Same as the hunter trick (Realms of Pugmire, p. 64).
Trap Sense
Same as the ratter trick (Realms of Pugmire, p. 65).
Tomorrow, backers will have access to the complete draft version of Chapter 2, which details the world of the Badgers within the Realms of Pugmire, including all of the rules needed to make them playable characters. Backers will have full access to the draft manuscript by the end of the campaign, before any pledges are processed or payments collected!
So join in! Spread the word! And let's see if we can't unlock the Shirt design today!
