Cults of the Dalhat

 

 

Women's Cults

 

Maruyet, Queen of Shepherds

When the world was young, Maruyet and her husband Pamenha were queen and king of the world. It was she who cursed him and all his sons with a weakness of the blood for his cruelty and infidelity, and her daughters who form all the six kins of the Marukhas to this day. All these kins still owe fealty to Maruyet under a thousand auspices, but the Dalhat keep to the oldest way of all.

• Symbols: Horses, giant bearsquirrels, bows, lassos, mountains, menstrual blood.
• Membership: Dalhat women.
• Minor Abilities: 
• Cure Stock 
• Ease Birth
• Hasten Mount
• Swift Arrow
• Major Abilities:
• Fertile Herds 
• Hasten Squadron

Maruyet, Queen of the Dead

In the valley of the river Helyente, there is a great depression, worn away by the waters throughout time immemorial but now left dry. Beneath those sands lie the stone skeletons of tens of thousands of ancient beasts, killed in some great cataclysm before time. The priests of the Queen of the Dead make a faith of raising them back to life as war-mounts for the nobles of the Dalhat.

• Symbols: War-birds, crested civets, crossed daggers, the grinning skull.
• Membership: Dalhat noblewomen, especially Valley Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Cure Wound
• Exsanguinate
• Sense Life 
• Speak With Beast
• Major Abilities:
• Raise Beast
• Raise Dead

Maruyet, Corpse Eater

The Qilqil kin, despite close relation and shared language, have long been the deadliest foe of the Dalhat. With enmity comes contact—raiding and incorporation, argument and ceasefire. One does not fight for so long without learning from one's opponent.

• Symbols: Ravens, elk, bows, lassos, mountains, the hanged man.
• Membership: Western Dalhat women.
• Minor Abilities:
• Avert Decay 
• Befriend Carrion
• Blight
• Blood Drinker 
• Major Abilities:
• Call Carrion
• Distant Eyes

Dalhat, First Queen

Maruyet's youngest daughter was the greatest, or so it is said. When she was exiled into the northern forests, she drew together her people amidst great hardships, drove out the weak folk who had lived there before, and birthed a kin to last the ages. Her cult has lessened in importance over the centuries, but it is still strong amongst the folk of the new-conquered east, and as always, in the family of the Queen herself.

• Symbols: Mother's Mountain, the Beast, maces, Dalhat's Crown.
• Membership: Dalhat noblewomen, especially Far Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Hasten Mount
• Physical Prowess
• Swift Arrow
• Trace Ancestry
• Major Abilities:
• Hasten Squadron
• War Mantle

Quandar, Warden of Heaven

When the winter snow melts, girls who have just survived their eleventh winter and completed their first initiation are sent with their family's priest of Quandar to learn those mysteries they had not yet been privy to. That these priests are most often sages, shamans, and scholars from distant lands is no matter—their education in the ways of the Dalhat is thorough.

• Symbols: Silver genets, falcons, constellations, styli.
• Membership: Eunuchs, especially enslaved foreigners.
• Minor Abilities:
• Heavenly Almanac
• Read Stars
• See Fabric 
• Speak With Dead 
• Major Abilities:
• Call Ancestor
• Starfire

Yandazan, Mother of Dawn

Far to the east, Maruyet's malcontent younger sister is said to be the tutelary goddess of the Tubay people, who are in many ways sisters to the Marukhas just like their deities. Despite the ill-will involved, the Dalhat still keep shrines to her, for she is family, and she holds the Holy Ones of the southern mountains to be sacred in her name.

• Symbols: Golden eagles, Holy Ones, axes, the rising sun, gold and jewels.
• Membership: Dalhat noblewomen, especially Great Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Befriend Eagle 
• Find Prey
• Flame Arrow
• Sense Wealth 
• Major Abilities:
• Flame Storm 
• Take Wing

Ginishana, Lady of the Snow

No one can quite decide whether the Lake People are truly Dalhat or merely tributaries, least of all the Lake People. Still, though their mighty goddess has been overtaken or syncretized in much of the marsh, her cult still persists in a purer form in the western reaches—and none could find it in themselves to deny her power when her snows blanket the frozen waters in an endless white waste.

• Symbols: Owls, spears, lanterns, the moon.
• Membership: Lake People women.
• Minor Abilities:
• Crystal Skin
• Frozen Wind
• Light
• Resist Cold
• Major Abilities:
• Icicle Spear
• Snowstorm

 

Men's Cults

Pamenha, King of the Sky

Maruyet's husband was once a magnate in his own right, before she cursed him for his misdeeds. Now he is much reduced, a mere subordinate, but still his powers are great: without him, the grass would not grow and the wind would not blow. His is the power of life and light, and none would do well to forget it. All his sons still know his name, and across the steppes his cult has never diminished.

• Symbols: Geese, sheep, spindles, the steppe, the sun, the sky.
• Membership: Dalhat men.
• Minor Abilities:
• Bless Armor
• Call Wind 
• Ignite
• Mending
• Major Abilities:
• Call Storm
• Fertile Grass

Pamenha, Depths of the Lake

Not all the Dalhat live careful, fragile lives on the high steppe, eking out a living from the thin soil amidst countless sheep. Around the deep, mighty, frigid waters of the great Lake and his many tributaries, the art of farming the rich earth is well-known and well-practiced. Pamenha's sons have not wholly given up their nomadic ways, of course, but by his power, they can dwell still for a while.

• Symbols: Ospreys, seals, nets, plows, deep waters.
• Membership: Dalhat men, especially near the Lake and rivers.
• Minor Abilities:
• Call Fish
• Call Wind
• Mending
• Seal Form
• Major Abilities:
• Fertile Grain
• Quell Storm

Rahyan, Keeper of the Flame

In the western mountains live the Half-Men, huge and mighty folk with the bottom half of a yak and the top half of a squat, ugly man. When the world was young, their mighty god Rahyan deserted them to serve Maruyet. Ever since, he has been held in high esteem among the Dalhat, for his wool is finer and tougher than any sheep's, his hearth kinder than any man's, and his steel sharper than any city-made thing.

• Symbols: Yaks, Half-Men, yurts, looms, anvils, grindstones.
• Membership: Dalhat men, especially Western and Great Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Ignite
• Filling Meal
• Sharpen Blade
• Warming Flame
• Major Abilities:
• Masterwork
• Warding Light

Mayanat, Far Wanderer

Not so long ago, a man called Mayanat was born to a Muryan mother. Fate was never kind to him; his family was raided and forced into exile, and he wandered the world for many years, becoming by necessity fiercer and wilier than any man should have to be. After he had made his way all the way across the world and back, visiting every land, he returned, and saved his people from great peril. His fame has spread across all the Marukhas.

• Symbols: Gulls, horses, shoes, staves.
• Membership: Dalhat men and female eunuchs, especially Valley Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Concealment
• Gift of Tongues
• Hasten Mount
• Invigorate
• Major Abilities:
• Boundary Line
• Safe Travels

Timenka, Great Hunter

Hunting is a way of life to the Dalhat, important enough to be restricted to neither women nor men, but the techniques of the wide open steppes and high mountains do not lend themselves to the close, dark forests of the north. Even the Forest People, weak as they are, have something to offer. They do not hunt the reindeer, holding them sacred, and so neither does the Dalhat cult who has adopted their god, though many of their sisters are not so scrupulous.

• Symbols: Bears, reindeer, bows, skis, snowshoes, trees.
• Membership: Forest Dalhat men and women.
• Minor Abilities:
• Concealment
• Darksight
• Swift Arrow
• Resist Cold
• Major Abilities:
• Tree Meld
• Silence

Doryeshant, Weaver of Darkness

There are secrets not fit to be spoken outside the holiest of holies, and even then, they are to be whispered. Such mysteries does the Spider of the Deep, who binds the sun beneath the earth each night, keep safe in her web, and the only mortals with whom she shares them meet in secret to receive them silently. It is said the Spider Riders, or perhaps Half-Spiders, of the distant north consider the Dalhat friends for their shared reverence of the mighty one.

• Symbols: Spiders, webs, torches, caves.
• Membership: Dalhat noblemen, especially Forest Dalhat.
• Minor Abilities:
• Brew Poison
• Call Darkness
• Call Spiders
• Silken Snare
• Major Abilities:
• Mother of Monsters
• Star Cloak

Yaisodek, Lord of the Marsh

The King of Birds may now serve the Queen of Shepherds, but if she could have conquered him, she would have. One cannot kill what one cannot grasp. Now his people paddle from northern sea to eastern sea, trading with all they meet, and any who would waylay them must reckon with their so-called masters. It is not so bad to pay tribute, especially when one's fame and cult grow among all who traffic the waters.

• Symbols: Serpents, snakebirds, spears, canoes, coin.
• Membership: Lake People men and Dalhat men, especially near the Lake.
• Minor Abilities:
• Assess Value 
• Calm Waters
• Find Path
• Poison Strike
• Major Abilities:
• Call Serpent
• Snakebird Form

 

XVI. The Tower (GLOG Class: Wizard)

Via Wikipedia, by Pamela Colman Smith

 

To play this class, you will need either a full physical 78-card tarot deck or a method of imitating one satisfactorily (the Dash Delta dicebot on Discord has a very nice tarot feature that includes reversed cards, an essential element of this class). You are encouraged, but not required, to play your cards with all the panache and theater you can muster and to perform normal readings in the course of the game.

 

Via Wikimedia, by Mikhail Vrubel, located by primeumaton

Class: Fortune-Teller

 

Skills: Bluffing and 1d3: 1. Shoeing Horses, 2. Storytelling, 3. Silversmithing

Starting Equipment: A 78-card tarot deck, an iridescent or otherwise colorful robe, a crystal ball (completely inert), a dagger, and a stout staff. 

A: The Tarot, Hand of Fate, Trusted Voice

B: Destiny, +1 Hand

C: Scry, +1 Hand, +1 Fate

D: Burn, +2 Hand

The Tarot: At midnight, shuffle your deck (adding any cards which were in your hand, played, or discarded back in), draw a number of cards equal to your Hand (3 at A template), and add them to your hand, which you may look at. Cards in your hand must remain in the orientation in which they were drawn (upright or reversed). You may play a card face-up to activate its effect, and you may stack additional cards from your hand face-down beneath it to enhance its power (card descriptions use the notation [stack] to represent the number of cards used, with the initial face-up card counting as 1). If a card is destroyed in-fiction, remove it from your deck and do not add it back in until you acquire a replacement. Card effects may target any contextually appropriate person, creature, or object that you can see within earshot, unless otherwise specified. In combat, playing a card in any way takes your action unless otherwise specified.

Hand of Fate: You have 1 Fate. This may be spent, at will, to discard a card from your hand and replace it with a random card drawn from the deck, or to flip a card from upright to reversed and vice versa. You may temporarily acquire more Fate from cards of the Major Arcana, as detailed below, and there is no limit to how much Fate you may have at any given point, but at midnight, no matter how much Fate remains, it is reset to 1.

Trusted Voice: Your regular readings are treated with respect by all folk, and your predictions are widely held to be trustworthy. You are under no obligation to tell the truth about your divinations, but if you acquire a reputation for dissembling within readings, you lose this ability.

 

Destiny: You may discard any number of cards from your hand to draw and play a random card from your deck sight unseen, with [stack] equaling twice the number of discards.

 

Scry: Before shuffling and dealing your deck at midnight, you may choose to search it and place one card of your choice into your hand. This reduces your Hand by one (and the chosen card still counts towards Hand) until the next time you shuffle your deck and refresh your hand.

 

Burn: Draw randomly or pick from your hand three or more cards, which must remain in the order and orientation they were drawn/picked in (you can mix and match drawing and picking). Create a reading based on this sequence of cards and negotiate an effect for it with the DM, which transpires immediately. The cards you use for this ability instantly burn to ash and may never be used again. Any replacements you acquire for them are inert and powerless, including in regular readings.

 

Suits

 

This is where I reveal I'm a coward and a rube and didn't come up with 156 bespoke effects for 78 cards in upright and reversed orientations. Sorry. Instead, each suit (including Major Arcana) has an upright and a reversed effect, and each card of the Major Arcana also has unique upright and reversed effects. DMs and players are encouraged to come up with unique abilities for each card of the Minor Arcana as they come up, or I may create an additional post with further effects if I feel up to it (no promises).

 

Swords:

• Upright: An unlikely accident befalls the target and deals [stack]d6 damage to it. You may choose whether this coincidence transpires in [stack]d6 rounds or [stack]d6 minutes.
•  Reversed: The next time the target would take damage, an unlikely coincidence intervenes, reducing the damage by [stack]d6. May be played as a reaction.

Wands:

• Upright: Target flame (open or contained) either explodes into a blinding display of fireworks (all who see it must save vs blindness until it's over, lasts [stack] rounds) or into a cloud of choking, obscuring smoke with a radius of [stack]×10 ft.
• Reversed: [stack] targets must save vs confusion, taking -1 to all rolls instead on a success. The effect lasts 1d4+1 rounds.

Cups:

• Upright: Gain an intuitive and perfectly accurate empathetic understanding of the emotions of either 1 target for [stack]d6 minutes or [stack] targets for 1d6 minutes.
• Reversed: A target becomes completely emotionally deadened (immune to fear, pain, joy, lust, etc) for [stack]d6 rounds, or [stack] targets are so affected for 1d6 rounds. 

Pentacles:

• Upright: The target heals [stack]d4 HP. If this would bring them above their max HP, they gain [stack] max HP until the next time this card is shuffled back into the deck.
• Reversed: 1d10×([stack]-1)×10 large, foreign gold coins appear in your hand and disappear a minute later, or 1d10×10 large, foreign gold coins appear in your hand and disappear a minute/hour/day/week/month/year later (increasing per [stack]).

Major Arcana:

• Upright or Reversed: Gain [stack] Fate.

Unique Card Effects

 

0. The Fool:

• Upright: All bonds (physical, mental, social) restraining [stack] targets burst asunder instantly. The targets cannot be bound, slowed, hindered, or otherwise restrained for [stack] hours thereafter.
• Reversed: [stack] targets are seized by chains restricting all their limbs (if any), which disappear after [stack]d4 rounds. Each round, they may use their action to save to escape.

I. The Magician:

• Upright: For the next [stack] minutes, either [stack]+1 human-sized (or smaller) targets or one target no bigger than ([stack]+1)×4 times larger than human-sized float up to no higher than [stack]×10 ft above the ground at your will. Each round, they may use their move to save to escape. You may end the effect at will.
• Reversed: For [stack] rounds, [stack] targets have their weight magnified, slowing them by [stack]×10 ft (or more on particularly soft ground) and causing them to take [stack]d4 damage per round as they're crushed under their own weight. Flying targets immediately plummet to the ground.

II. The High Priestess:

• Upright: For [stack] hours, you can see all magic effects and intuit their basic functions, penetrate all illusions, sense traps on a 5-in-6, and interpret all omens clearly.
• Reversed: [stack] targets are disguised as something with roughly similar shape and size for [stack] hours.

III. The Empress:

• Upright: Target living thing grows—plants, fungi, and the like grow to cover an area no more than [stack]×100 ft to a side permanently, while animals and the like grow to [stack]+1 times their original size for 10 minutes, adding +[stack] to their Strength modifier.
• Reversed: A target withers and desiccates, taking [stack]d4 damage and [stack]d4 Strength damage (save for half). If played on a plant, fungus, or the like, it and all similar living things within a radius of [stack]×50 ft instantly die with no save.
  

IV. The Emperor:

• Upright: You may speak with [stack] of the following categories for [stack] hours: animals, plants, corpses, doors, stones, weapons, clothes, and speakers of any specific language. They have personalities befitting their nature and are not automatically cooperative.
• Reversed: [stack] targets are completely silenced and unable to create noise for [stack]×10 minutes.

V. The Hierophant:

• Upright: [stack] targets must save vs charm. If charmed, they treat you like a trusted (but not boon) friend for [stack]d6 minutes.
• Reversed: Create an illusion deceiving up to [stack] senses, which you can control and move for [stack]d4 minutes, after which it disappears.

VI. The Lovers:

• Upright: Target object no larger than a cube [stack]×5 ft to a side is repaired, even if it was reduced to dust, or target heals [stack]d6 HP.
  
• Reversed: Target object no larger than a cube [stack]×5 ft to a side is shattered into a million pieces.

VII. The Chariot:

• Upright: For [stack] rounds, a target may move at [stack]+1 times their normal speed and may take an additional action every round in combat. After the effect ends, the target is lethargic (cannot move, has no action in combat) for [stack] rounds.
• Reversed: For [stack] minutes, a target must save each round or lose their action and is slowed by [stack]×10 ft.

VIII. Justice:

• Upright: Speak a proper name and pick a condition: until you reach the bearer of that name or until the bearer of that name is dead. Until the condition is fulfilled, do not reshuffle this card unto the deck; it remains in play. You know the exact direction and distance of the target constantly, no matter where it is, and all attacks made against it gain +[stack] to hit, even if you'd wish otherwise.
• Reversed: [stack] targets are concealed from [stack] senses for one hour, or one target or location is concealed from [stack] senses for [stack] hours. 

IX. The Hermit:

• Upright: After 11 minus [stack] minutes of study, you understand the literal meaning of a piece of writing or other object of art.
• Reversed: You can hear a target's thoughts as if they were your own for [stack] minutes. They may save to feel your presence in their mind.

X. The Wheel of Fortune:

• Upright: The next [stack]×2 times you blink, you instantly appear wherever you were looking before you blinked when you open your eyes.
• Reversed: Name a category. For the next [stack] minutes, everything in that category within sight approaches you—anything which can move under its own power slowly wanders towards you as if of its own accord, anything which can't floats at a sedate but inexorable 10 ft per round.

XI. Strength:

• Upright: The next [stack] attacks and harmful effects targeting a target miss or fail as if by coincidence. May be played as a reaction.
• Reversed: [stack] arrows appear from thin air and orbit you for the next hour. You may launch any number of them as an action; they cannot miss or be mitigated in any way and each deal 1d4 damage.

XII. The Hanged Man:

• Upright: For [stack] hours, everyone you meet will treat you like an exotic but important and fascinating foreign dignitary, granting +2 reaction. For this duration, you cannot be ignored and are the most interesting thing in any room you walk into.
• Reversed: For 8 hours, you gain +[stack]+1 AC if you are unarmored, as though objects which approach you suddenly slow to be easily avoided, and you are always the least interesting person in any group or crowd.

XIII. Death:

• Upright: A target rolls [stack] mutations on the DM's favorite table and heals [stack]d4 HP. These mutations last [stack] days, after which the target saves against each of them, losing them on a success.
  
• Reversed: A target becomes immobile, inactive, and completely immune to any change or harm whatsoever for [stack]d6 rounds. May be played as a reaction.
• Upright or Reversed: You may discard your entire hand and redraw back up to the number of cards that were in your hand immediately before you played this card.

XIV. Temperance:

• Upright: Within a cube no more than [stack]×5 ft to a side, all volatile materials and reactions (fire, acid, alcohol, fuel, etc) are turned to neutral salt.
  
• Reversed: Must be played at [stack] = 2 or greater with a card of the Minor Arcana, which is also turned face-up. You may, for a round, telekinetically control a cube no more than [stack]×2 ft to a side of the associated element (Swords = air, Wands = fire, Cups = water, Pentacles = earth). Attacks made thereby do not require an attack roll, but deal [stack]d6 damage to no more than [stack] targets, save for half.

XV. The Devil:

• Upright: A pit [stack]×5 ft in radius and [stack]×10 ft deep appears in the ground or floor. Anyone this pit appears beneath may save to get out of the way before falling. The pit lasts [stack] hours.
• Reversed: A rope [stack]×50' long appears, tied at one end around something or someone you can see at any distance. The rope is unbreakable and lasts [stack]×10 minutes. If tied around a creature, they may save each round to escape if it would be feasible for them to untie the knot.

XVI. The Tower:

• Upright: Curse the target with a negotiated effect that can be described in no more than [stack]×3 words. After [stack] hours, the target may save to end the effect; on a failure, it is permanent until dispelled.
• Reversed: [stack] targets receive +1 on all rolls for [stack]×10 minutes as fate seems to miraculously and inexplicably favor them.

XVII. The Star:

• Upright: An object glows with bright light in a radius of [stack]×10 ft for [stack] hours. If your foes come within the light, they lose 1 Morale permanently as the light gains a mysteriously menacing aspect.
• Reversed: Magical darkness with a radius of [stack]×10 ft appears, lasting [stack] minutes. Those within must save vs anhedonia, which lasts until they exit the darkness.

XVIII. The Moon:

• Upright: [stack] targets become mortally terrified of something or someone you name for [stack]×10 minutes. On noticing the object of their fear, they flee. Targets with HD equal to or greater than [stack] may check Morale to hold their ground, but they have -1 to hit and -1 AC while afraid.
• Reversed: A magical effect with MD less than or equal to [stack] is permanently dispelled. If the target has MD greater than [stack], it is instead suppressed for 1d6 rounds. May be played as a reaction.

XIX. The Sun:

• Upright: All impurities are removed from a specified substance within the volume of a cube no more than [stack]×5 ft to a side and are set neatly in a dried, powdered pile next to it.
• Reversed: A specified solid, liquid, or otherwise fluid substance is, within the volume of a cube no more than [stack]×5 ft to a side, transmuted to a different substance not more than [stack] steps later than it on the following list: stone, wood, water, alcohol, acid, lead, tin, iron, copper, quicksilver, silver, gold. Any substances not on the list may be placed at the same rank as another substance at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the unit used to determine the maximum volume decreases to spans if the final stage of the transmutation is acid or higher, palms at quicksilver or higher, inches at silver or higher, and fifths of an inch at gold or higher. 

XX. Judgement:

• Upright: Summon a being whose name you state. If the name belongs to a spirit, it appears immediately, but if it belongs to a fleshly being, the owner instantly knows that they were summoned and your location at the moment you played the card. The subject of the summoning is not necessarily well-disposed. If you do not state a name, a random spirit of [stack]d4 HD is summoned instead.
  
• Reversed: [stack] spirits within earshot are banished and disappear, or [stack] fleshly beings within earshot may not approach you or attack you. Targets with HD greater than [stack] may save to negate.

XXI. The World:

• Upright: A doorway-sized passage appears though a surface no thicker than [stack]×5 ft. If stack is at least 5, a doorway may instead be created out of thin air leading to a place you've been before within ([stack]-4)×10 miles.
• Reversed: A wall made of the same material as the ground or floor appears, [stack]×10 ft tall, [stack]×5 ft thick, and no more than [stack]×100 ft long; it may include corners but may not form an enclosure. If one of the cards in the stack is from a Minor Arcana, you may turn that card face-up and form the wall from the suit's associated element instead (Swords = wind, Wands = fire, Cups = ice, Pentacles = living stone).

To Have a Share of the Earth and the Unfruitful Sea (GLOG Class: Cleric)

Artemis or Hecate, via Wikipedia

Artemis, via Wikipedia

 

 

In the base of the rocky hill on which the high citadel of the city of Orchitrave is founded, there is a cave, and that cave wends and weaves and winds its way deeper and deeper into the earth, until at last it reaches the starless grey land of the dead, where shades walk aimlessly back and forth forever. This cave is a temple of the Great Goddess. So too is the lighthouse of Balamne, which towers above all other constructions of mankind, and at whose top a great flaming beacon is lit which has burned since time immemorial and will burn evermore. So too is the vast stone circle of Nials, where women dance madly in the winter snows to bring the renewal of spring, and so are the depths of the woods, where only deer and wolf have trod since the world was young, and any place where two roads meet, and wherever the voices of children can be heard. The Great Goddess wears many faces and bears many titles, never called the same thing twice. Her name is no secret, but no man dares speak it, and the women only sing it in the most secret places for the most sacred and occulted rituals. One more thing there is that all can agree upon: in each hand she bears a torch, for she is the one who lights the way: for travelers, for seekers, for witches, for kings, for newborn babes and the shades of the dead, for hunters and hunted, for watchmen and warriors. She is alight at both ends.

Class: Amphipyros

Skills: Midwifery and 1d3: 1. Astrology, 2. Poisons, 3. Leechcraft

 

Starting Equipment: 7 torches of pitch, linen, and cypress (⅓ slots each); a bronze ritual dagger (⅓ slots, profaned by touching blood); a stone ritual dagger (⅓ slots, profaned by touching wine); a black robe (1 slot carried, 0 slots when worn, +1 stealth); a white robe (1 slot carried, 0 slots when worn, +1 save); and a loyal, intelligent dog (½ HD, 1d6 bite, excellent sense of smell).

 

A: Best and Most Beautiful, Light-Bearer, 2 Flares

B: Honor Also in Starry Heaven, +1 Flare

C: The Rotting Goddess, +1 Flare

D: Mysteries Within Mysteries, +2 Flares

 

Best and Most Beautiful: As a virgin priestess of a virgin goddess, you have +2 reaction with dogs and the god-fearing, and -1 reaction with men. If you ever enter a man's house or violate your chastity, you become ritually impure and may not use any of your abilities from this class. To purify yourself, you must sacrifice a doe, burning its fat so that it reaches the heavens, and bathe in a river under the moon. You may sacrifice an buck, pouring its blood into a pit in the earth, to learn the will of the Great Goddess. She loves cypresses, dogs, witches, and children, and hates that which all gods hate: unfaithfulness to herself and herself alone.

 

Light-Bearer: When holding a torch in your hand, you may expend a Flare to cause the torch to burst into divine flame, activating an Aura you know. The Aura lasts for as long as the torch burns (typically 6 turns/1 hour) and extends to the edge of the torchlight (typically a 30 foot radius). Only one Aura may be applied to a given torch, but after it has been activated, a torch need not be held by you or near you to apply its effect. You may prepare [templates] + 2 Auras, each of which is depleted once used (you may, of course, prepare duplicates). Flares and Auras refresh at the witching hour.

 

Honor Also in Starry Heaven: On the new moon, full moon, equinox, solstice, and when two wandering stars align, gain +1 MD for the duration of the celestial convergence. If multiple of these events coincide, the MD from each of them stack. Learn two spells, rolled on 1d8 from the list. Roll another to learn at C template, and pick one at D template. If you roll a Mishap or a Doom, the Great Goddess will decree a task for you to complete before you can draw on the heavens again.

 

The Rotting Goddess: In imitation of your goddess, you may shift your form and perception whenever it suits you. Your visage is always recognizably your own, but you might appear one moment youthful and callow, the next maidenly and fair or matronly and kind, wizened and decrepit or pallid and decaying. For extra effect, you may even bear up to three faces on one body at once, though the effort involved means that after no more than an hour of this appearance, you will revert to your original form for at least a day.

 

Mysteries Within Mysteries: You learn the deepest truths and secrets and rites of worship. If you find or commission a suitable idol and set it up in a suitable sanctuary, you may establish a temple of the Great Goddess in truth. Around it will grow up a city, and the city will prosper under her patronage and yours, for though she is a goddess of the earth, of death, of the hidden places, so too is she a goddess who stands before the gate, who protects mothers and children, who brings renewal and growth.

 

Auras:

1. That Turns Away Evil: Soft, indistinct, yet pure and all-pervading and silvery-white, like the moon on a foggy night. All spirits, shapeshifters, restless dead, and evil men must save to enter the light and have disadvantage on all saves and Morale rolls once within it. Furthermore, shapeshifters and the restless dead take 1d4 damage per round within the light and, if destroyed, have their shades put to rest and returned to whence they belong.

2. Before the Gate: Bright, cheerful, warm, and dancing to an unheard tune, like a campfire which holds the night at bay. Within the light, you and your allies have +2 to all saves, and the torch's holder may shorten the torch's life by 1 turn to reduce an instance of damage that an ally receives by 1 point.

3. Who Frequents Crossroads: Singular, precise, and distant, comforting in its solemn loneliness, like a lighthouse sighted from afar. From outside the light, its radiance is not visible, and all within the light seem but a faded grey mirage. Those within count as traveling without light for the purposes of surprising those without (5-in-6 chance of surprise), but are not so subject to surprise themselves (1-in-6 chance of surprise as normal).

4. Holding the Keys: Shimmering with brazen, silvered, gilded threads weaving and unweaving an intricate pattern, like a language that no man can speak. The first time a given lock, ward, or knot enters the light, it has a 3-in-6 chance of unlocking or unraveling. Each time a binding is so undone, the torch's life is shortened by 1 turn. If a binding is not undone, you may not attempt to burst it asunder again until you have gained a level.

5. The Best Advisor: Deep blue in the center, flaring with white pinpricks, and fading to blacker than black on the edges, like the twilit sky fading to obscure easterly night. Within the light, all magical effects are made known, twisting at the edges of vision like the shapes which dance behind your eyelids. Traps and secret doors similarly have a 4-in-6 chance to make themselves known.

6. Bowstring in Tension: Golden-bright, burning sharp in the pupil, like an arrow falling from the sun-blind sky to pierce your eye. All ranged attacks made from within the light have +1d4 to-hit, deal +1d4 damage, and have their range bands doubled.

7. Wide-Ruling: Scintillating with a thousand twinkling lights in every color imaginable, like a vast hoard of priceless jewels suddenly exposed to lamplight. Within the light, your allies have +2 Morale and are immune to fear effects so long as you stand with them.

8. Queen of the Animals: Flaring with proud green and gold like sunlight through the leaves, like wings spread wide, enfolding, protecting, taking flight. Within the light, you speak the tongue of the beasts and the birds, which also gives you +2 reaction with them. If you give them an order, they must save or obey.

9. She Who Gives Victory: Martial and proud and innumerable, like the banners of a great army marching in serried ranks to the horizon and beyond. Within the light, you and your allies have +1 AC, +1 to-hit, +1 damage, and +1 initiative.

10. Of the Wolf: Bold and crimson, hot and steaming, like entrails spilled in the snow, melting a hole in the untouched drifts with the futile strength of their will to live. Within the light, all tracks have a 10-in-10 chance to be clearly limned with intangible blood, with that chance reduced by 1 for every day since their maker left them. If the torch is totally full with life, extinguish it instantly to learn the exact direction and distance to a quarry whose name you know.

11. Singer of Divine Songs: Golden and purple and other colors not truly perceptible to the eyes of mortals, ever-shifting in realms the mind cannot comprehend, like the ichor and ambrosia and clothes and visages of the gods themselves. For every turn spent in the light, those within heal 1 HP. If accompanied by your sacred song that turn (incurring a wandering monster check), the healing increases to 1d4 HP, and each expended MD possessed by those within the light has a 1-in-6 chance of returning to their pool.

12. Bright: Brilliant beyond brilliance and clear beyond clarity, such that all who behold it are dazzled and blinded for a moment, like a star come to earth to grace us with her immortal glory. The radius of this light extends however far the wielder wishes it, even beyond the horizon should they so choose, and they may shape it into the narrowest beam or widest corona or anywhere in between. Unlike the light of any other ephemeral wavering torch, it banishes even magical darkness, and in it, all detail and color may be perceived in richness, sharpness, and clarity even greater than they might display in the most direct sunlight.

 

Spells:

1. Bestow/Remove Curse: Lay with your words a fitting curse on one who can hear you and who has done you ill. Set a just condition for its removal. If the condition is not met, the curse expires in [dice] years and [dice] days—but if cast with 4 MD or more, it is permanent. Alternatively, remove a curse from one who you touch with your bare hand. If the curse was laid by a power greater than yourself, you have a [dice]-in-6 chance of success.

2. Crown of Stars: [sum] scorching stars materialize in orbit around your head, forcing all who see you to roll Morale at -[dice] and either grovel or flee. 1 star winks out per minute since you cast the spell. At will, you may hurl any number of stars at a foe within sight, dealing 1 damage which cannot be avoided or reduced in any way.

3. Darkness: An area of your choosing, no greater than [sum] furlongs square, is instantly consumed by a cloud of utterly impenetrable blackness. Any caught within it must save vs fear or collapse to the ground wailing in despair. It lasts 1 day/1 week/1 month/1 year/forever, depending on [dice].

4. Continual Flame: Allow a flame to burn you; it will consume no fuel nor spread any further, but will cast light and heat until the end of your enchantment. It lasts 1 day/1 week/1 month/1 year/forever, depending on [dice]. This allows Auras to last far beyond their usual measure, but all Flares and prepared Auras invested in Continual Flames cannot be recovered until the flame is extinguished.

5. Speak With Dead: You may ask [sum] questions of a corpse or multiple corpses, which they will answer as truthfully as they can with what they knew in life and what little knowledge they have garnered afterwards. Alternatively, wrest control of [sum] + [dice] HD of undead with no save, for no longer than [sum] hours. If you do not return them to their rest, the Great Goddess will know, and she will punish you.

6. Lay On Hands: If used to touch someone who is about to die, they are stabilized immediately. If used to touch a permanent wound or the sufferer of an intractable disease, the wound or disease has a [dice] + 2-in-6 chance of being healed.

7. Protection from Evil: Weave a web of protection with fragrant oils and smokes costing 10 drachmae per 5 feet of circumference around a person, place, thing, or whatever else. The next [dice] times it would be crippled, destroyed, mortally wounded, invaded, or burned, it isn't.

8. Plague: Whisper horrid curses in the streets or pathways of a place where people gather. The next day, an implacable plague will strike them, killing at least [dice] × 10% of them within a fortnight.

Through the Black Amnesias of Heaven (GLOG Class: Space Witch)

I've mostly been writing short fiction recently rather than working on RPGs. I was trying (and failing) to write a story about a space witch when I realized that it would make an awesome GLOG class, so here we are. The implied setting is some sort of science fantasy thing with technology more advanced than ours in some ways, but not by that much, with the shortcomings being made up for with magic. I don't think there's any computers or any long-distance communications more advanced than radios either. Maybe I'll try to extrapolate this out into a full hack, but honestly I'm not sure what other classes would fit and not get totally overshadowed by this one. Without further ado!

Starting Equipment: An antiquated spacesuit, an aluminum staff (1d4), a snub-nosed revolver (1d8, -1 to-hit per 3 meters past the initial 6 meters) with 12 rounds, 3 sticks of incense, a stick of chalk, a lighter, and a random piece of space gear (at the end of the class).

Skills: Orbital Mechanics and 1d3: 1. 0g Movement, 2. Nuclear Physics, 3. Xenobiology
 
For every template you have in this class, gain +1 to Navigation rolls.
 
A: Magic, Rite of Propulsion
B: Augury, +1 MD
C: Transceiver, +1 MD
D: Void's Embrace, +1 MD

Magic: You know how MD work, probably. Deplete on 4-6, Mishap on doubles and Doom on triples, all the usual stuff. You know 2 spells from your list, rolled on a d6. Roll again with a d8 at B template, a d10 at C template, and a d12 at D template.

Rite of Propulsion: You can see the eldritch winds that flow from the sun and dance amidst the moons and rings. Given a lit stick of incense, an intricate chalk diagram, and a spaceship equipped with arcane sails and a well-maintained shrine to the Nameless Lady of the Void, you can cause the ship to accelerate at up to [templates] gs. This is subject to the vagaries of eldritch weather. The direction of the thrust is at your will, but it doesn't provide a great deal of maneuverability - Piloting checks for fancy flying roll with disadvantage while under this thrust.
 
Augury: You can cast bones, read tarot cards, or perform some other minor divination ritual about a course of action you plan to take soon. The DM will tell you their opinion of the plan with one word: good, bad, or unsure. There's a 1-in-6 chance the DM will instead answer randomly, and this chance increases by one each time you use this ability this day, resetting at the end of the day.
 
Transceiver: When touching a piece of metal suitable for use as an antenna (such as the staff in your starting equipment), you can transmit and receive audio transmissions as if you were a radio.

Void's Embrace: You can breathe in a vacuum and will suffer no deleterious effects from the pressure or temperature. In the absence of food and drink, spending at least 18 hours in every 24 in direct sunlight will sustain you. At any time, you can apply acceleration of up to 1g to yourself in a direction of your choice. This requires total concentration, and if used for flight in significant gravity (or an approximation of such with rotational acceleration), also requires an Int check to avoid losing control.

Spells:

1. Find Familiar
   Casting Time: 8 hours
   Duration: Indefinite
   Range: -
   Summon a spirit in the form of an animal with no more than [dice] HD. It is intelligent, speaks the languages you do, and will do your bidding, but may have its own agenda as well. It can survive in vacuum and ambulate in 0g without any obvious means. Casting this spell requires [dice] bottles of alcohol and [dice] kg of enriched uranium, which are consumed.
2. Arcane Spacesuit
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice]*2 hours
   Range: Touch
   The target of this spell is encased in a transparent and fully functional spacesuit for the duration. The suit cannot be depressurized by punctures, but will be destroyed when you take a total of 5 damage. 
3. Catapult
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: -
   Range: 100 m
   Fling an object of [dice] slots at a target within range. The target must Save or take [sum] damage. If in a 0g environment, you can instead move [sum] slots or [dice] creatures at a speed too low to cause any damage.
4. Magic Missile
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice] hours
   Range: 30 m
   You create [dice] arrows of magical energy, which float around you for the duration. As an action, you may fire as many of these arrows as you wish at one or more targets in range, which take 1d4 damage per arrow with no Save or attack roll.
5. Overheat
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [sum] rounds
   Range: 30 m
   You may target a metal object, mechanical device, or electrical system within range. This target overheats for the duration. Anyone touching it must Save or take [sum] damage every round they remain in contact. If it's a mechanical or electrical system, it shuts down for the duration, and there's a [dice]-in-6 chance it is permanently damaged or even destroyed. Large, complicated, or hardened systems may be less affected at the DM's discretion.
6. Resist Gees
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice] hours
   Range: 10 m
   For the duration, [sum] targets within range have the effective g-force on them reduced by [sum] gs (to no less than 0g) for the purposes of deleterious effects stemming from that acceleration.
7. Empower
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice]*10 minutes.
   Range: Touch
   The target is charged by a powerful electrical current. At 1 MD, this is equivalent to a car battery. At 2 MD, a 120V outlet. At 3 MD, a spaceship's power grid (aka a small nuclear reactor). At 4 MD, a space station's power grid. If the target isn't equipped to handle this sort of power (this includes all creatures), it takes [sum]+[dice] damage (Save for half, this just fries electrical systems and probably blows them up sometimes).
8. Recycle
   Casting Time: 10 minutes
   Duration: -
   Range: Touch
   Transform [sum] slots of manufactured objects back into their constituent raw materials. Alternatively, purify [dice] cubic meters of fluid (turn the carbon dioxide in the air into oxygen gas and a tiny bit of carbon dust, remove the urea from urine to make fresh water, etc.)
9. Speak With Machine Spirit
   Casting Time: 1 minute
   Duration: [dice] minutes
   Range: Touch
   You may speak with the resident spirit inside anything reasonably construed as a machine for the duration. At 1 MD, this machine may be no larger than a refrigerator. 2 MD, a nuclear reactor. 3 MD, a spacecraft. 4 MD, a space station.
10. Commune With Void
    Casting Time: 10 minutes
    Duration: -
    Range: 10,000 km/100,000 km/1 AU/solar system
    Speak with the Nameless Lady herself and learn one of the following things about the area within range: 1. The orbits and local names of all of the celestial bodies, 2. The orbit and identity of the nearest spacecraft or artificial satellite, 3. The orbit and identity of the largest spacecraft or artificial satellite, 4. The orbit/location of a specific (by name) location, vessel, satellite, or person, 5. The orbit/location of the most powerful spellcaster, 6. The orbit/location of the most politically and socially influential creature, 7. The orbit/location of the largest concentration of sentient creatures.
11. Translocate
    Casting Time: 1 action
    Duration: -
    Range: 10^[dice] m
    Move [sum] creatures (may Save to negate if unwilling) or 100^[dice] kg of matter that you can see to a location within range (you don't need to be able to see the destination, and if you're transporting a spacecraft or the like, this can contain the occupants). The transported objects maintain their velocity. You cannot purposefully translocate to a destination that is within solid matter, but if there's a chance you might do so accidentally, you must Save vs shit getting really messy.
12. Fission/Fusion
    Casting Time: 1 action
    Duration: -
    Range: [dice]*100 m
    Induce fission in a concentration of fissile material no more than [sum] + [dice] kg in mass. If this mass is critical, it causes a criticality incident, and unless this is contained you just set off a nuke. Alternatively, induce fusion in a mass of fusable elemental matter within range. What counts as fusable matter varies depending on [dice]: 1. Hydrogen or helium, 2. Hydrogen through neon, 3. Hydrogen through argon, 4. Hydrogen through iron. Unless this reaction is contained, you just set off a fusion bomb.

Mishaps (d6):

1. Take 1d6 damage.
   
2. Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour.
3. Glow so brightly for the next hour that you become temporarily blind and anyone who looks at you must Save vs blindness for 1d6 rounds.
4. Accelerate all loose objects in the vicinity in random directions - if it's not flung off into the void, anything breakable is broken, and everyone must Save vs [dice] damage.
5. ~0g becomes 1g in the most sensible direction; if there is gravity, it becomes 0g. Fills the room or 50 m radius, lasts 2d6 rounds.
6. A random nearby non-critical mechanical or electrical system malfunctions.

Dooms:

1. Your left hand burns with glowing heat and your right with biting cold. Touching anything with them deals 1d6 damage.
   
2. Whenever you cast a spell, you gain a local gravity field with a radius of 3 m and a magnitude of [dice]*0.25g. It lasts 1d6 rounds.
   
3. Become a random celestial body (d10):
1. Comet, 1d10 km radius, elliptical orbit of local star occasionally bringing you close to a planet of your choice.
2. Asteroid, 1d100 km radius, orbit of your choice.
3. Ring system around the planet of your choice.
4. Moon, orbiting the planet of your choice.
   
5. Dwarf planet, your choice of orbit radius around local star.
   
6. Rocky planet, your choice of orbit radius around local star.
7. Gas giant, your choice of orbit radius around local star.
8. Dwarf star, your choice of location between 10 AU and 50 ly away (yes, 10 AU is very close).
   
9. Main sequence star, your choice of location between 50 AU and 100 ly away (50 AU could totally destroy all life in your solar system, so make sure everyone is ok with this).
10. Something weird (d4):
1. A neutron star, 50 AU - 100 ly away.
2. A quasar, 50 AU - 100 ly away.
3. Star-mass black hole, 50 AU - 100 ly away.
4. Supergiant star, 1-500 ly away.

Space Gear (d20) (thanks to Archon and Squig):

1. Space Pen: Writes in 0g!
2. Space Ice Cream: Ice cream in 0g! Tastes terrible, 3 rations, 1 slot.
3. Space Sword: Just a sword. 1d6 damage, 1 slot. 
4. Space Recoilless Rifle: More of a rocket launcher than a rifle, really. 2d8 damage, disadvantage to hit anything smaller or more agile than a fridge, 3 slots. 1 round of ammo, 1 slot.
5. Space FM Radio: You can strap it to your forearm and get all the freshest space beats. 1/3 slots. (Don't worry, your spacesuit already has short-range radio comms.)
6. Space Battery: Useful for extra power. 1 slot.
7. Space Jetpack: Allows you to maneuver in 0g, but requires a Dex check to control. 2 slots.
8. Space Grappling Gun: 100 m of extruded carbon nanofiber cable, interchangeable magnetic and adhesive heads. 1d6 damage, -1 to-hit per 3 m past 9 m. 1 slot.
   
9. Space Boots: Toggle-on magnets keep you rooted. 1 slot.
   
10. Space Patch Kit: Seals leaks smaller than 1 m by 1 m. 10 patches, 1 slot.
11. Space Tracking Device: Tiny and adhesive. Range of 100,000 km, transmits on FM frequencies.
12. Space Absinthe: Weird alcohol. In space. 10 doses, 1/3 slots.
13. Space Medkit: Bandages, painkillers, etc. 10 uses, 1 slot.
14. Space Chalkboard: Has a static charge so that chalk dust doesn't get everywhere. 1 slot.
    
15. Space Aloe: Alien plant that just so happens to be exactly like Aloe vera in every way. 10 doses of healing goop (1 hp each), which regrow at the rate of 1/day so long as there's at least one left. 2 slots, fragile.
    
16. Space Wand: Laser pointer, also a laser gun. 3 charges in the capacitor, takes an hour to recharge (1d4 damage, -1 to-hit per 3 m past 20 m). 1 slot.
    
17. Space Health Potion: A hypodermic needle full of morphine and magic (cocaine). Heals 1d6 hp, gets you really high and also probably addicted. 1/3 slots.
    
18.  Space Love Potion: A ton of stimulants, hallucinogens, and barbiturates that really shouldn't be mixed; gets you incredibly fucked up. 3 doses, 1/3 slots.
    
19. Space Cat: A horrible tentacley beaked thing with too many eyes, vaguely cat-sized. Loves you, hates everyone else.
    
20. Space Oddities (d6):
1.  Resilient Sphere: Crush this little glass capsule and a transparent bubble filled with breathable air springs up around you, but you can't break it with your own strength, even with tools.
   
2. Ioun Asteroid: Fist-sized, orbits your head.
   
3. Space Cauldron: Spins around to keep the contents under gravity. Terrible idea, works surprisingly well. 2 slots.
   
4. Universal Wrench: Handle with a liquid metal head that shifts form to whatever shape you want it to be in. 1 slot.
   
5. Heat Gradient Stick: About a foot long, one end is liquid nitrogen cold (~ -200°C), the other is about the melting point of copper (~1000°C). The middle is nice to hold. 1/3 slots.
   
6. Brightburn Wand: If you tap yourself with it, you gain +3 MD and +2d6 max HP, but you die in 24 hours. Nothing can prevent your death. 1/3 slots.
   

Don't You Know the Way of Men? (Class: Wizard)

Credit Wikipedia

 

I asked for blogpost ideas, and Locheil said I should make a winter wizard. Ulimately it turned out to be more of an ice wizard and only a little bit of a winter wizard, but so be it.

 

Starting Equipment: A single long pole, a pair of old-fashioned cross-country skis, one weapon of your choice (with 20 ammunition if ranged), a snow globe (explodes into a 30' x 30' x 20' snowbank if shattered).

Skills: Skiing and 1d3: 1. Ice Skating , 2. Ice Fishing, 3. Ice Climbing

A: Hypothermic, Winter's Gift

B: Chillbringer, +1 MD

C: Warding Wind, +1 MD

D: Winter's Harbinger, +1 MD

Hypothermic: Your resting body temperature is 0° C. You are immune to cold weather and magical cold effects unless it's absurdly, unreasonably cold (maybe in the region of -100° C), but you suffer double the effect of heat-related ailments (heat exhaustion, heatstroke, etc). You have resistance to both cold damage and fire damage.

Winter's Gift: You have a pool of d6s known as Microclimate Dice, which function in the exact same manner as Magic Dice. You know 2 spells from your list, rolled on a d6. Roll again with a d8 at B template, a d10 at C template, and a d12 at D template.

Chillbringer: The area within 30' of you is always noticeably colder than the ambient temperature, unless it's already below freezing. If you want, everyone within 5' of you takes 1 damage per round from the cold unless they're wearing winter clothing and extinguishes small flames within the same area. Your touch deals 1d4 damage if it touches flesh or metal armor.

Warding Wind: A chill wind constantly blows around you. Missile attacks against you or targets adjacent to you have -2 to hit. Your aura of cold now deals 1d3 damage per round and can be extended up to 30' away from you. You can move through snow as though it were no obstacle at all.

Winter's Harbinger: The weather in the hex you occupy is always unseasonably cold - summer feels like spring or fall, spring and fall feel like winter, and winter feels like that one winter seventy years your great-grandma told you about. If it's near or below freezing, there's a 3-in-6 chance beyond the usual of snow, hail, or freezing rain (whichever the DM decides is most appropriate). Water freezes at your touch and below your feet.

Spells:  

1. Snow Cave
   Casting Time: 10 minutes
   Duration: 8 hours/days/weeks/months
   Range: Touch
   A snow cave that can hold [sum] people appears, either in already existent snow or a snowbank that appears when you cast the spell. The inside of the cave feels like the perfect comfortable temperature for everyone inside. It cannot be entered by any who the caster does not want to allow in, although it can be collapsed or otherwise destroyed. No harmful magical effects can penetrate the cave.
   
2. Control Water
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: 0
   Range: 30'
   You can waterbend control any water within range that is not inside a creature. You can freeze, melt, or move up to [dice] ^ 3 cubic feet of water or ice (hitting somebody with this water is Save vs Magic or [sum] damage, freezing them in place is a Save vs Magic to avoid getting trapped and a Save vs Magic each round to escape), or turn [dice] ^ 3 cubic feet of water into ([dice] ^ 3) * 5 cubic feet of fog.
3. Winter Storm
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [sum] rounds
   Range: 60'
   Choose [dice] of the following options to apply to the area within range:
   - Golf-ball hail pours down, dealing 1 damage to everyone not under cover each round.
   - Thick fog fills the air, restricting every creature's sight to a 10' range.
   - Waist-deep snow appears, cutting walking speeds in half.
   - Winds howl, making missile attacks impossible, forcing all creatures to Save or be knocked prone each round, and making hearing impossible beyond 10' away.
   - Black ice covers the ground, making all creatures who move Save or be knocked prone and take 1d6 damage.
   - All flames are immediately extinguished.
   
4. Protection from Elements
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [sum] hours
   Range: 30'
   For the duration, [sum] creatures within range take [dice] less damage from heat and cold, and are immune to negative effects from temperature.
5. Speak With Ice
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [sum] minutes
   Range: Self
   For the duration, you can speak with ice in any of its incarnations. It will remember everything that has transpired since it was frozen. Snow is flighty and cheerful, melting ice is grumpy and resentful, glaciers are solemn and wise.
   
6. Mulled Cider
   Casting Time: 10 minutes
   Duration: [dice] hours
   Range: Touch
   [dice] slots worth of liquid are transformed into spiced and mulled cider, as hot as possible while not burning your throat. No matter the conditions, it will remain hot for the duration, and will persist after that but will cool down. Drinking a slot's-worth (which takes 1 action) heals 1d8 hitpoints if hot and 1d6 if cold. No one can benefit from this healing more than once per day.
   
7. Hoarfrost Hauberk
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice] hours
   Range: 0
   You sheathe yourself in a spiked cuirass of ice. This cuirass has [sum] hitpoints, which take damage that would otherwise have damaged you. If an enemy hits you with a melee attack while any of these hitpoints still remain, they take [dice] damage.
8. Wall of Ice
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: -
   Range: 60'
   You create a thick wall of ice within range. This wall can be in any shape with an area of [dice] * [dice] * 200 square feet, and it is [dice] * 5' thick. It cannot intersect any creature. If you enclose a creature, they can Save vs Magic to escape. Each 5' by 5' pillar of ice has 5 HD. The wall lasts until it melts.
9. Cryogenesis
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice] hours
   Range: 30'
   Ice within range transforms into animate human forms under your command for the duration. You can create either [dice] 1 HD constructs or 1 construct with [sum] HD. They deal 1d4 damage or the damage of a weapon if they have one. There must be sufficient ice or snow present to create the constructs, and it continues to melt at the normal rate during the spell.
   
10. Cone of Cold
    Casting Time: 1 action
    Duration: [dice] minutes
    Range: 30' cone
    All creatures in range must Save vs Magic or take [sum] damage and be slowed by [dice] * 5' for the duration. All water in the area is frozen over.
11. Flesh to Stone
    Casting Time: 1 action
    Duration: -
    Range: 60'
    A creature within range that you can see must Save vs Magic. If they have [dice] or fewer HD, they are turned to stone on a failure. On a success, they instead gain [dice] AC and have their speed halved as they are partially petrified. If the spell is cast on them a second time, they will be petrified with no save. If they have more than [dice], they are unaffected on a success and partially petrified as above on a failure.
    
12. Midwinter Knight
    Casting Time: 1 action
    Duration: [sum] hours
    Range: Self
    For the duration, you are clothed in red and white and gain a long bushy white beard, granting you +[dice] AC from the friendliness of your appearance. At will, you can summon a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer. The sleigh can fly at up to [dice] * 100 miles per hour and is invisible to those who bear you ill will. It also contains a list of who's been naughty and who's been nice, and if you arrive at the home of someone on the nice list, it contains a present of elfin manufacture made specifically for them. The present's nature should be agreed upon by yourself and the DM.

Mishaps (d6):

1. Take 1d6 damage
2. Take +1 damage from all sources for the next hour
3. Become deafened for the next 1d4 hours
   
4. Catch a nasty cold (1d4 Con disease)
5. All creatures within 30' must Save or slip on ice and take 1d4 damage
   
6. Become frozen inside a huge block of ice for the next 1d4 hours

Dooms:

1. Your fingers become stiff and necrotic with frostbite. Lose 4 Dex.
2. Your eyes become clouded with icy cataracts. You cannot see anything farther than 30' away, or 60' with a successful Wis check.
3. At the start of every week and every time you cast a spell, Save vs Magic. On a success, your speed is halved as you grow stiff and cold. On a failure, turn into a beautiful statue of crystal-clear, pure, sparkling ice.
   

GLOG: The Druid

I had fun writing a Ranger class earlier this week, so I figured I'd try to give a similar treatment to the Druid. I tried to give it an interesting way of switching out spells, allowing great versatility if you can travel freely between holy sites, as well as the standard Druid stuff of turning into animals, talking to animals, and murdering the Archdruid to take their place. I'm not sure how well the spell preparation will actually work in practice, but it will depend heavily on the campaign. The Druid also gets access to some rather powerful and often incredibly destructive spells if they can find great holy sites - not useful in most games, probably, but it's fun to think about. I did steal a good deal from various of  Ursula Le Guin's young adult novels, but that's pretty much a constant with my stuff.

 

Starting Equipment: A stout staff, a fur cloak, a jar of woad, a small bag of deadly nightshade, and a bone dagger.

Skills: Woodlore and 1d3: 1. Medicine, 2. Astronomy, 3. Stone Carving

A: Land's Warden, Wild's Caller, +1 MD

B: Beast's Form, +1 MD

C: Bird's Flight, +1 MD

D: Archdruid's Challenge, +1 MD

Land's Warden: When you spend the night under the stars at a holy site of druidic significance - a standing stone, a great grove of trees, a high hill, or a pure spring - you may choose to prepare a spell. Roll a d4 on the table for that location type. You may cast the spell selected until you choose to replace it with a different spell. If you roll a spell you already have prepared, you may pick the spell above or below. You may have [template]+1 spells prepared at any given time. When you prepare a spell at a location, you also gain the cantrip and drawback of that location type, and lose your previous cantrip and drawback. If you prepare at an incredibly significant location - an immense henge, an enormous ancient tree, a tall lone mountain, or a deep hidden pool never disturbed by the wind, you roll a d6 instead of a d4.

 

Wild's Caller: You know the intentions, wants, and emotions of any wild animal you can see, smell, and hear, and can communicate your own to them wordlessly. When in an area where a certain species of animal might be found, you may attempt to call an individual to you over the course of 10 minutes, with a [6 - HD]-in-6 chance of success (An HD of less than 1 counts as 1). You may ask the animal a favor, which it will always perform if its motives are not in conflict with your own and if the favor puts it at no personal risk. If the favor does require risk, the animal only has a [template]-in-6 chance of agreeing. You have +3 on reaction rolls with wild animals, and domesticated dogs hate you with a passion.

 

Beast's Form: You may, at will, transform into any non-flying animal of your choice that you have seen that has no more HD than [template]. All of your attributes become those of the animal, except for your mental ability scores and your hitpoints (generally, HD becomes the modifier to attack rolls, grappling rolls, Strength checks, etc., unless your DM decides different penalty or bonus is reasonable). Any injuries and hitpoint loss are reflected between forms. If you spend more than [template] hours in animal form per day, you must Save or disappear in the wilderness to live out your years as a beast as you forget who you once were. If you succeed, you must repeat the Save every subsequent hour.

 

Bird's Flight: Your Beast's Form now applies to flying as well as non-flying animals. Every 10 minutes you spend as a flying animal counts as an hour spent as a non-flying animal. 

Archdruid's Challenge: When you wish, you may challenge the archdruid, who is the leader, although not ruler, of all druids. The archdruid may name the terms of the challenge, which must be equal for you both. This is often, but certainly not always, a fight to the death or the submission. If you defeat the previous archdruid, you take their position. As archdruid, you may gather 1d4 level 1 druids to your cause with a day's notice and 2d6+1 with a month's notice. You may also touch an animal's forehead to command it for 1d6 hours, although doing so means that you take -2 on reaction rolls with all animals of that species for the next week.

Location Types

 

All the spell descriptions not included below can be found here.

Stone

 

Cantrip: You may read any text, regardless of the script and language, if you study it for 10 minutes.

Drawback: If you use any metal implements or wear any metal armor, you take 1 damage per round.

1. Detect Magic
   
2. Illusion
   
3. Mending
   
4. Magic Stone
   
5. Wall of Stone
   
6. Doom of Cities
   Casting Time: [dice] days
   Duration: [sum] decades
   Range: [dice] miles
   The area within range is doomed. Plants will wither and die, drought or floods or plague will blight it, cities will burn and crumble. Nothing here shall prosper for the duration. Casting this spell requires a human sacrifice.

Wood

 

Cantrip: You can set and douse small fires with a touch.

Drawback: You cannot not read or write.

1. Entangle
   
2. Find the Path
   
3. Pass Without Trace
   
4. Commune
5. Wildfire
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [sum] rounds
   Range: 60 feet
   [dice] creatures, plants, objects, or structures within range catch fire. Creatures may Save vs Magic to avoid catching fire, and take [dice] damage per round for the duration (or until they take a round to roll on the ground) on a failure. Plants, objects, and structures burn at their normal rate. This fire is incredibly virulent and will spread at the slightest touch and with the slightest breeze, easily destroying a whole forest or city if allowed to. Water puts it out as usual.
   
6. Grove
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: 3 rounds
   Range: 60 feet
   The area within [dice] * 10 feet of a point within range sprouts trees of a species of your choice. You can choose for this to be an open, airy grove or a dense, tangled one (halved movement speed within). The trees grow to maturity over the duration. Any structures less solid than a 5 foot thick stone wall in the area will be shattered and rent to pieces, while any as sturdy or stronger than that will be weakened and twisted.
   

 

Earth

 

Cantrip: You do not need to sleep, although you must rest for the duration you would normally sleep.

Drawback: If you bathe or wash with water, you lose all your MD until you rest.

1. Mold Earth
   
2. Insect Swarm
   
3. Charm Animal
   
4. Gust of Wind
5. Blight
6. Earthquake
   Casting Time: 1 hour
   Duration: 10 minutes
   Range: [dice] miles
   An earthquake wracks the area around you. [dice] * 25% of the buildings within range are destroyed, mountainsides collapse in landslides, and [sum] earth elementals of various kinds, each with 1d4+1 HD, rise to cause havoc. Within the area, all creatures that walk other than elementals immediately fall prone and must Save vs Magic in order to walk without falling. Anyone inside a collapsing building must Save vs Magic or take [sum] damage, taking [dice] damage on a success. Casting this spell requires [dice] * 100 d. of gemstones and precious metals, as well as a sacrifice of at least a chicken (1 MD), a pig (2 MD), a cow (3 MD), or a human (4 MD).
   

 

Water

 

Cantrip: You can cause plants to sprout from the earth around your feet and desiccate living plants with a touch.

Drawback: Edged weapons deal 1 extra damage per die to you.

1. Control Water
   
2. Invigorate
   
3. Hoarfrost Hauberk
   
4. Control Rain
   
5. Hurricane
6. Nature's Mantle
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Duration: [dice] minutes
   Range: Self
   For the duration, your head sprouts antlers, your back sprouts a pair of eagles' wings, your fingers and toes claws, your mouth long fangs, and your skin thick hair. You gain a flying speed of 120', a charge attack that deals 4d6 damage if you've moved at least 30', a flurry of 4 claw attacks and 1 bite attack for 1d4 damage each, and +[dice] AC (you cannot charge and use your flurry of attacks in the same round). All enemies that see you transform must check Morale as well as Saving vs Fear, becoming frightened for the duration on a failure. Dogs flee at the sight of you. You automatically roll maximum on reaction rolls with wild animals, and can speak with them freely. They will obey your every command for the duration.
   

Fulminate of the Heavens (Class: Wizard)

This is a class for deus ex parabola's G20 hack and Unfinished World campaign setting, not for Carolingia. It's a member of a secret cult of practitioners of the Art of Galvanism, one of the Five Arts.

Lightning Priest by JDDuncan on DeviantArt

Class: Galvanist

You are a cleric of the Fulminate Church, a totally legitimate and not at all heretical sect of the Aeshean religion. The Church is secretive and hidden, not because you are evil or heretical but because the Black Masks are cruel and oppressive. The initiates of the Fulminate Church wear masks of rose-gold in the shape of a cat and cannot see angels, although they will do anything to conceal this fact. You wield the cold fire, the holy adamant-silver lightning, rather than the vile red lightning of Chaos. This is totally miracles like the other clerics do, not one of the Five Arts. You have a pool of Magnetism Dice, which are very similar to (but not quite the same thing as) Magic Dice. These MD will let you create miracles as the greatest of the other clerics.

 

You can wear light armor, but may not use shields unless another class gives you that ability. If you have at least one template in this class you never fumble while using daggers, pistols, or any weapon that is excessively decorated with precious metals.

 

You know one miracle from your list, determined by rolling 1d8. You may learn additional miracles from other Fulminate Clerics, and perhaps from the Builders. Miracles are used by rolling your MD, in a manner very similar to casting a spell. In general, treat them as you would treat a spell, except they are called miracles.

 

Skills: 1. Lying to Authorities, 2. Cult Indoctrination, 3. Upper-Class Etiquette 

Starting Equipment: A rose-gold mask (can be remade for 50 gp if lost), long gray robes, a ritual dagger (light), and one other devotional relic.

Perks: You can cause electricity to crackle and arc between your fingers. This casts light in a radius of 5 feet and can be used to light fires or deliver minor but painful shocks. You will never be struck by natural lightning.

Drawbacks: If you ever enter a body of water, any creatures in it (yourself included) take 1d4 damage as your electricity shocks them through the water. The authorities disapprove of your heresy. If you are discovered, White Masks will denounce you, Black Masks may attempt to murder you, and no properly religious folk will give you the time of day.

• A: Magnetism, +1 MD
  
• B: Resistance, +1 MD
  
• C: Capacitance, +1 MD
  
• D: Conduction, +1 MD 

Magnetism: Your magnetic personality allows you to convince the common folk that you are a cleric, so long as you are wearing your mask. If a real cleric denounces you to them, they have a [template]-in-6 chance of instead turning on the real cleric or at least defying them in this matter. You can induce minor and temporary magnetism in highly conductive or ferromagnetic materials that you touch with a slight current.

 

Resistance: You take 1 less damage from electricity so long as it is not caused by yourself per template you have in this class.

 

Capacitance: When you cast a miracle, you can store it in a conductive object rather than immediately invoke its effect. MD used to cast the spell and not depleted cannot be used again until the miracle has been used, while MD which have been expended cannot be regained until the miracle has been used. Anyone holding the object can use the miracle by saying its command word, at which point it takes effect immediately. If someone other than you uses the miracle, they must roll HRTS or take [dice] damage from electrical backlash.

 

Conduction: Your Resistance now reduces electrical damage by 4d4. If you reduce the damage to below 0, the source of the electricity takes the excess in damage instead.

Miracles:

1. Galvanic Healing
   R: touch T: an injured person D: immediate.
   The target is healed for [sum] + [dice] HP as regenerating electricity courses through their flesh, and must also save. On a failure, they take [sum] damage as electricity courses through their flesh. If you invest more [dice] you can choose to forego the healing for a different benefit:
   If two [dice] are invested, this is a Galvanic Sealing, which can close a flesh wound or knit a broken bone.
   If three [dice] are invested, this is a Galvanic Curing, which can reform mangled body parts.
   Four [dice] invested result in a Galvanic Creation which can reattach a recently-severed limb or regrow fingers and toes.
2. G_dspeed
   R: touch T: a person D: [sum] rounds.
   For the duration, the target can run as the current through a wire. They can run [dice] * 4 times more quickly than usual, jump [dice] * 4 times higher, and have a [sum] bonus to MOVE checks for shoving. If they deliberately slam into something, both they and that thing take [sum] damage (if the thing is capable of dodging, a save negates damage to both).
3. Ancestral Call
   R: n/a T: self D: 1 hour.
   You call up one of your ancestors in the form of a floating sphere of ball lightning. They will lecture you for the duration about how things were better in the old days when everyone was even more horribly bigoted and generally be insensitive. At the end of the duration, they will answer [dice] of the following questions, usually in an archaic and cryptic manner:
   - What is the greatest threat within a mile?
   - What is the nearest artifact or relic?
   - How do I ally myself with a certain faction?
   - What does this ancient text say?   
   - What is the nearest ancient ruin?
   - Who was the nearest ancient ruin built by?
   - What does this magic item do?
   
4. Static Shock
   R: touch T: a creature or object D: [dice] rounds.
   Make an attack against the target with +[dice] to-hit. On a hit, they take [sum] damage and must save or be stunned for the duration. They may save again each round to end the effect. Each round you spend rubbing a piece of velvet or shuffling your feet in a carpet adds +1 damage.
   
5. Strength of Ten
   R: touch T: a person D: [sum] rounds.
   The target takes [dice] damage. For the duration, the target's Strength is doubled. The target can choose to continue the spell past the duration, but they gain 1d3 slots of exhaustion per round.
6. Clear Mind, Clear Sight
   R: 30' T: [dice] people D: [dice] rounds.
   Targets which are afflicted by mind- or sight-affecting ailments save against the ill effect with a +[sum] bonus, ending it on a success. Additionally, all targets must save or experience violent hallucinations for the duration, confusing them and giving them disadvantage on all rolls.
7. Banish Foul Air
   R: 30' T: [dice] diseased or poisoned people, or a cube of air with sides [sum] * 10' in length D: immediate.
   If the targets are diseased or poisoned people, they save against one disease or poison with a +[sum] bonus, ending the effect on a success. If the target is a volume of air, it is cleared of all ill scents, poisons, and disease vectors (although it now smells strongly of ozone).
8. Arc of Life
   R: 30' T: a person D: [dice] hours
   The target is connected to you by an arc of electricity. Each of you may transfer any amount of HP from yourself to the other at will, and any damage either of you takes is split evenly between you. All magical effects on one of you apply to the other as well, and if either of you succeeds a save, you both succeed. If you pass out of range of each other and do not reenter range within [dice] rounds, the spell ends.
9. Crackling Shield
   R: n/a T: self D: [dice] minutes
   You are sheathed in a sphere of crackling electricity, granting you +[dice] AC and +[dice] to rolls against tangible or magical effects. Anything that touches you or hits you with a melee attack takes 1d4 damage.
10. Salvation
    R: touch T: a person D: [sum] rounds.
    The target gets a second chance. For the duration, when the target rolls a d20, they can take 1d4 damage in return for advantage on the roll. Additionally, each time they take this damage, they must roll HRTS or gain 1d3 slots of exhaustion.
    
11. Chain Lightning
    R: 60' T: [dice] + 1 creatures or things, each within 30' of one other target D: immediate.
    The first of the Fulminate Great Miracles. Only the first target must be within range of you. Each target must save or take [sum] damage.
12. Crown of Adamant
    R: [dice] * 10' T: self D: [dice] hours.
    The second of the Fulminate Great Miracles. Your head is graced with a regal crown of adamant-silver, crackling with power. You shed light within range and gain +[dice] to Reaction rolls. Your enemies have -[dice] morale. As an action, you can cause lightning to strike a creature or thing within range ([sum] damage, save for half). Once lightning strikes [dice] times, the spell ends.

Mishaps

1. Your MD deplete on a roll of 1 or 2 as your Art miracles spark and whizz away.
2. You take 1d6 damage as electricity surges through you.
3. You're too well grounded. The miracle fails entirely, and all invested MD are expended.
   
4. All metal within 30 feet sparks and fizzes. Anyone touching metal takes 1d4 damage.
   
5. Any healing, curing, or buffing you've done within the last day is instantly undone.
   
6. Lightning strikes you. Take 3d6 damage, save for half.
   

Dooms

1. For an hour, your miracles are accompanied by 2d6 ancestors (as per Ancestral Call, except they're not your ancestors) spilling from the afterlife and messing with all your business. Additionally, a random angel (clerical spell) also shows up and starts messing about for that hour.
   
2. 25 + 2d6 ancestors spill from the afterlife for 24 hours. A host of random angels shows up and wreaks havoc.
   
3. Dozens of ancestors start flying about, lightning dances in the sky, a host of angels descends from the heavens to see what the hell is going on, and 2d4 devils show up and start inquiring about your soul and how they might acquire it, for it looks so very delicious. Some ancestors, angels, and devils will leave, but never fear! More will soon arrive. Always.
   

Devotional Relics

1. Collapsing Copper Rod. A highly conductive rod, 1 foot long when collapsed and 3 feet long when fully extended. Very useful for channeling your miracles, among other things, giving your enemies -1 to save against them. 1 slot.
   
2. Decorated Bow. A yew longbow, heavily decorated with amethysts and white gold. 1d8 damage, -1 to-hit every 10' past 50' of range. 3 slots, due to the excess weight.
   
3. Censer. A bronze censer, inscribed with ciphered runes telling of the Fulminate Mysteries. Who knows what deciphering them will reveal? 2 slots.
   
4. Jeweler's Tools. A set of tools including a fine, precise screwdriver, file, loupe, and hand-auger with several bits. Not suited for heavy or gross work.
5. False Mask. Of a sect of your choosing. Extremely illegal. Very fun (although you can't fool real clerics).
   
6. Orthodox Texts. Very much in line with the teachings of the White and Black Masks. A few little subversive "mistakes", here and there. 1 slot.
7. Lesser Mysteries of the Fulminate Church. The very first and preliminary sphere of the Fulminate Teachings. Showing this book to an uninitiated one will get you censured. Letting them read it will get you excommunicated. You can initiate new acolytes, if you wish. 1 slot.
8. Remarkable Glue. Very strong, sets in precisely one minute. Sniffing it gets you high. 1 slot, 10 charges.
9. Universal Solvent. Can dissolve any binding agent or eat through a lock in an hour. Sniffing it gets you high. 1 slot, 5 charges.
10. Myrrh. A very nice-smelling incense. When burned in a censer, provides +1 to the [sum] of a miracle. 1/3 of a slot.
11. Jingling Rope. 100 feet of silk rope, with a little brass bell every 5 feet. 1 slot.
    
12. Gold Wire. 100 feet of very fine gold wire. Useful for making jewelry, or for conducting electricity. Sells for 50 gp. 1/3 slot.
13. Spear of St. Adriana. A short spear (medium) with an aspen shaft twined with white-gold and blue-gold wire, and an arsenical bronze head. 3 slots, due to the excess weight.
14. Galvanic Pin. This rose-gold pin secretly identifies you as a member of the Fulminate Church, to sympathizers and perhaps to exceptionally canny inquisitors.
15. Blade Venom. When applied to a blade (or, say, a pin), the next enemy you strike takes 2d6 damage and must save or be paralyzed for 1d6 minutes. 1/3 slot, 3 doses.
16. Percussive Caps. 10 little mercury fulminate percussive caps. Create a spark and a pop when hit or thrown. 
17. Large Amber. A large, polished piece of amber, containing a fossilized jumping spider. Good for making a static charge, when rubbed with fabric. Sells for 100 gp. 1/3 slot.
18. Velvet Handkerchief. A very refined and well-embroidered velvet handkerchief. Good for building up a static charge. 
19.  Blackmail. Documents concerning a personage of great local importance who knows of the Fulminate Church. It would be bad if word of what these papers contain were to get out, no?
    
20. Something special, 1d6:
1. Lightning Gun. This bizarre small pistol fires a bolt of lightning. 1d6 damage, +1d6 damage per metal object or surface the target is touching. -1 to-hit every 10' past 20' of range. For ammunition, it uses tiny diamonds worth 10 gp each.
2. HAIL BRIGHTEST STAR. An elegant medium jian of ossgold and pale. They can ground an indefinite amount of electricity (+2 to rolls against electrical effects), although sufficient amounts of energy may begin to cause instability in the local fabric of time. 2 slots.
3. Strange Pack of Cards. This pack of cards bears markings unlike any other in the world.
4. Signet Ring. The onyx signet ring of a long dead Umbern king.
5. Ebony Shaft. This arrow, carved of ebony wood fletching and all, will pierce any target unerringly so long as the target will feel no pain.
6. Inexplicable Bottle. This bottle can hold 7 times as much water as it appears to be able to, and 7 times less of any other liquid. 1 slot.