GLOG: The Mage

The Mage is my slightly modified take on the traditional GLOG wizard. More than any of my other classes, it takes extremely heavily from the original GLOG Wizards as well as from Skerples' wizard schools from Many Rats on a Stick. Some of the stuff is also a bit crowdsourced from wonderful folks at the OSR Discord.

What is a Mage? 

Mages are a rare thing in Carolingia. While witches and chanters are generally distrusted, due to their potential to harm without recourse and the way more powerful spells tend to go wrong, mages are doubly taboo because of their intercourse with all sorts of otherworldly creatures - demons and fey, starspawn and even the spirits of the dead. Their spells are all spirits summoned up by rituals written in their spellbooks or on collections of runes and put to use in a manner befitting their origin.

Starting Equipment: Robes and a strange hat, a staff, a spellbook or other method of scribing spells, a clay pot of ink, a quill, a stick of incense, a dagger, a sling, and 20 bullets.

Skills: Occult Lore and 1d3: 1. Smoking, 2. Illuminating, 3. Brewing

Damage: 1d6

A: Spellcasting, Spell Scribing, +1 MD
B: Spell Breeding, Preparatory Casting, +1 MD, +1 Spell
C: +1 MD, +1 Spell
D: +1 MD, +1 Spell


Spellcasting: You can pick a list of spells, and write 1 spell from the first 6 spells on that list (picked or rolled depending on your DM) in your spellbook. You do not have to prepare spells; instead you can cast any spell you have written in your spellbook at any time so long as you have MD available. Each spell list has an associated cantrip, which you also know, and a drawback. You gain a new spell from your spell list for every further template of Mage you take (from the first 8 at template B, first 10 at template C, and all 12 at template D).

Spell Scribing: If you encounter a spell written down in any form, you can spend 1 week researching the spell to put it in your own notation and 10 d. of ink and various experimental components to write it in your spellbook. You can spend a week per [dice] and 10 * [dice] d. of various components to instill a spell you have in your spellbook into a staff, wand, or rune. You cannot instill more [dice] into this object than your maximum. When casting the spell through this object you can cast it with at most [dice] MD, and however many MD you choose are removed from the object. Once the object reaches 0 [dice], it crumbles to dust. You cannot put more than 1 MD into a rune or 2 MD into a wand.

Spell Breeding: You can attempt to breed two spells you have written in your spellbook. This process takes a month and 100 d. of various experimental components. The results of the cross-breeding are up to you and your DM to determine. There's a 1-in-6 chance the process goes horribly wrong, and a separate 1-in-6 chance to lose one of the spells involved, removing it from your spellbook.

Preparatory Casting: You can prepare a number of spells no greater than your number of Mage templates by meditating an hour per spell prepared. When you cast these spells, you cannot suffer a Mishap or a Doom. Once you've cast a prepared spell, you no longer have it prepared. You also lose your prepared spells when you sleep or after 24 hours.

Spell Lists:

Spell descriptions can be found here.

Arcana:

Arcana spells are drawn from the very spirits of magic itself.

Cantrip: If you spend 1 minute touching, smelling, and tasting an object, you can determine whether it is magical. If you spend 10 minutes, you can determine the general nature of the magical effect.

Drawback: You cannot bathe more than once per month or consume hot liquids (above room temperature). If you do, you cannot cast spells for a day afterwards.

Spell List:

1.  Detect Magic
2.  Magic Missile
3.  Mage Hand
4.  Unseen Servant
5.  Floating Disk
6.  Magic Stone
7.  Animate Object
8.  Find Familiar
9.  Wall of Force
10.  Werelight
    
11.  Forcecage
12.  Summon

Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  Cannot cast spells for the next 1d4 hours.
4.  Deplete one MD.
5.  Take 1d4 damage and gain a painful, permanent scar in a prominent location.
6.  You summon a random supernatural being as per the summon spell. It's not happy.

Dooms:

1.  Lose the ability to cast spells for a day.
2.  Lose the ability to cast spells for a week.
3.  Permanently lose the ability to cast spells.

Celestial: 

Celestial spells are drawn from the horrors which crowd around the walls of the world.

Cantrip: Your eyes glow with a faint light - not enough to see detail or explore thoroughly with, but enough to see a few feet ahead with. This light only barely shines through your eyelids, but never goes out.

Drawback: You only regain MD when you sleep beneath the stars.

Spell List:

1.  Dancing Lights
2.  Starlight Lance
3.  Bane
4.  Hex
5.  Moonbeam
6.  Blindness/Deafness
7.  Hideous Laughter
8.  Bestow Curse
9.  Crown of Madness
10.  Wall of Light
11.  Crown of Stars
12.  Summon Starspawn

 Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  Glow brightly for 1d6 hours.
4.  Laugh uncontrollably for 1d6 rounds.
5.  Blinded for 1d4 hours.
6.  You summon a random abomination as per the summon starspawn spell. It's not happy.

Dooms:

1.  1d6 moon beasts (HD 2) appear and attempt to drag you to the moon.
2.  2d4 star spawn (HD 3) appear and attempt to drown you.
3.  A pillar of light descends from above, paralyzes you, and pulls you up into the sky.

Demonic:

Demonic spells are drawn from the insidious creatures which tempt humanity as they strive for its destruction.

Cantrip: You can light and extinguish small fires with a touch. Your hands and fingers are hard, blackened, cracked, and relatively impervious to heat and cold.

Drawback: If you're exposed to holy symbols, your skin begins to smoke and your eyes water. If you're directly touched by a holy symbol, you must Save vs Magic or become incapacitated with pain.

Spell List:

1.  Scorching Ray
2.  Ray of Frost
3.  Darkness
4.  Hoarfrost Hauberk
5.  Imp Familiar
6.  Magic Weapon
7.  Wall of Ice
8.  Darkvision
9.  Cone of Cold
10.  Consuming Shadows
11.  Fireball
12.  Summon Demon

 Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  Cloaked in impenetrable darkness and paralyzed for 1d6 rounds.
4.  Hands are enclosed in ice, useless for 1d4 hours.
5.  Feet are burned severely, can't walk for 1d6 hours.
6.  You summon a random demon as per the summon demon spell. It's not happy.

Dooms:

1.  Your body is taken over by a lesser demon for an hour.
2.  Your body is taken over by a greater demon for a day.
3.  Your body is permanently taken over by a demon prince. Your soul is rent and devoured.

Elemental: 

Elemental spells are drawn from the primal forces of nature in their great majesty and power.

Cantrip: You can identify when a natural place is the home of an elemental, and you know the immediate desires of an elemental when you meet one.

Drawback: If you offend an elemental, you cannot cast spells involving that element until you regain their favor. You cannot take more templates in this class if you've offended elementals and not made it up to them.

Spell List:

1.  Speak with Elements
2.  Produce Flame
   
3.  Control Water
4.  Mold Earth
5.  Elemental Familiar
6.  Gust of Wind
7.  Acid Splash
8.  Wall of Stone
9.  Catapult Element
10.  Chain Lightning
    
11.  Hurricane
12.  Summon Elemental

 Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  The earth rises up and restrains you for 1d4 rounds.
4.  The air flees your lungs. Incapacitated 1d6 rounds.
5.  Lightning strikes you. 3d6 damage, Save for half.
6.  You summon a random elemental as per the summon elemental spell. It's not happy.

Dooms:

1.  1 random element (not air) rebels against you and attacks you whenever it can for the next hour.
2.  3 random elements (not air) rebel against you and attack you whenever they can for the next day.
3.  All the elements rebel against you and attack you whenever they can for the rest of your life. Good luck breathing.

Fey:

Fey spells are drawn from those inscrutable, mysterious, playful, and harsh creatures of wood and earth, the fairies.

Cantrip: You can see in any natural light as if it were full sunlight, and know the size and shape of any underground space you're in.

Drawback: You cannot cast spells while you have any iron, steel, or salt on your person. If you cross a magical abjuration (i.e. a salt circle) or break the laws of hospitality, you lose all your prepared spells.

Spell List:

1.  Charm Person
2.  Illusion
3.  Enthrall
4.  Wild Shape
5.  Silent Image
6.  Command
7.  Polymorph
8.  Bestow Curse
9.  Detect Thoughts
10.  Phantasmal Force
11.  Fear
12.  Cloak of Darkness

 Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  You're surrounded by swirling illusions. Incapacitated for 1d6 rounds.
4.  Become mute for 1d4 hours.
5.  Become charmed by the first creature you see for 1d6 rounds.
6.  Turn into a frog for 1d6 hours.

Dooms:

1.  A great fey (15 HD) appears to you and strongly cautions you to stop causing issues (casting fey spells).
2.  The same great fey abducts you for 24 hours as a warning. You return on 0 hitpoints.
3.  The fey are hunting you with all their might. Say goodbye to your loved ones.

Necromancy:

Necromancy spells are drawn from the souls of the dead and those ineffable creatures which prey on them.

Cantrip: You can kill any plant or animal chicken-sized or smaller with a touch (your DM may impose restrictions on this).

Drawback: If you touch running water, you must Save or take damage equal to your maximum number of MD. Being immersed in running water deals this much damage per round.

Spell List:

1.  Speak With Dead
2.  Animate Dead
3.  Blindness/Deafness
4.  Ray of Sickness
5.  Feign Death
6.  Inflict Wounds
7.  Vampiric Touch
8.  Blight
9.  Circle of Death
10.  Word of Pain
11.  Ritual of Lichdom
12.  Word of Death

 Mishaps:

1.  Take 1d6 damage.
2.  Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3.  All water within 50 feet becomes noxious and poisonous.
4.  The ghosts of those you've troubled arise around you. Incapacitated for 1d4 rounds.
5.  Every human corpse within 50 feet arises as a zombie or skeleton and attacks you for 1d4 rounds.
6.  Your arm attacks you for 1d4 hours.

Dooms:

1.  Your flesh withers with unholy energies. Lose 2 points from all physical stats.
2.  Whenever you cast a necromancer spell, you must Save or have your skeleton seize control of your body for an hour. What are its motives? Who knows.
3.  Your blood turns to glass. If your heart is still trying to pump, it all shatters and shreds you from the inside.