Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

A to Z of Vampires: Moroi

The Moroi (male) and the Moroaica (female) are "living" vampires from the legends of Rumania.  Living, because despite some overt vampire like traits they are living, breathing people and can be harmed or even killed like everyone else.

Legends abound on the how a Moroi is born and what makes them different from a Dhampir.   With a Dhampir the mother must be human and the father a vampire.  For the Moroi both parents are living.  According to some accounts a Moroi is created when a baby is born with a caul or a vestigial tail.  In other legends a Moroi is the result of an incestous relationship.   Of course a Moroi can also be the product of two Moroi.

On their death Moroi will become a vampire, a Strigoi.  This is actually pretty close to the separation between the Living and Dead vampires in the Hollows Series by Kim Harrison and even the Vampire Academy books by Richelle Mead.

In the Pathfinder RPG, the Moroi are a type of Dhampir race.  That race has a lot going on, I tend to like something a little simpler.

Moroi by Diana Martinez
Moroi Race
The Moroi are a race with the blood of ancient vampires in their veins.  Some speculate that the Moroi came first and vampires followed after their deaths.  Still others claim that the vampires were always first and they perverted the Moroi to their current state.
Once the Moroi had a great empire with the undead Strigoi at the top of their ranks and thousands of human slaves.  This empire has long been overthrown and destroyed but Moroi remain.  Many of the living Moroi know of this history and act as if they still were the royalty they once were.

Physical Description:  Pale, tall and thin, Moroi look like humans carved from marble or ivory.  Their features are sharp but fine.  Thier limbs and fingers are long and look delicate, but are deft and fast.  They are all physically attractive, cultured and refined despite what their true upbringing might have been.  Despite their loss of power and position Moroi families are still quite wealthy.
Males tend to be 5'11" to 6'9" though only weighing 110lbs to 160lbs.  Females are 5'7" to 6'2" weighing 100lbs to 140lbs.  So quite thin indeed.
Skin tones are universally pale. Hair color tends to be black for both males and females.  Some Moroi families have been known to have an occasional red head or platinum blonde.  These births are a great omen.  Eye color also tends to be pale though some are born with black irises and others red.

Moroi reach maturity at 16 years of age and live approximately 120 years.  Most are able to pass as human or sometimes half-elf.

Moroi are cross-fertile with humans and half-elves with Moroi traits being dominant over 3 generations.  Moroi however find such matings beneath their status and they generally prefer their own kind.  Intermarriage of cousins in Moroi society is common and acceptable.

Standard Racial Traits (3rd Era Games)

Ability Score Racial Traits: Moroi are quick, graceful and always charming, but somehow appear to be thin and underfed. They gain +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, and –2 Constitution.
Size: Moroi are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Type: Moroi are humanoids with the Moroi subtype.
Base Speed: Moroi have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Moroi begin play speaking Common and Moroi. Moroi is an ancient language understood by all vampires.  They may learn other languages based on their Intelligence and Linguistics skill
Senses: Moroi have Darkvison to 60'
Undead Resistance: Moroi gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects.  This resistance also works against the Moroi in terms of magical healing.  Any spell or spell like affect that heals will take a penalty of -1 hp.  Ex. If a Cure Light Wounds spell would normally heal 3hp of damage, it would only heal 2hp on a Moroi.  This includes the Laying on Hands ability and potions.  It is possible for a result of 0hp to occur.

Favored Classes: The Moroi favors classes that allow it to use their innate magical abilities such as  Bard, Sorcerer and Warlock.  Moroi Sorcerers are typically of an Undead or Vampire bloodine. Moroi Warlocks typically are Death Pact warlocks.

Alignment: Morio tend towards Chaos and Evil as a race, but individuals can be of any alignment. Lawful Good Moroi, while not unheard of, are rare.

Basic and Advanced Era Games
Moroi have a minimum Charisma score of 14 and a minimum Dexterity of 12.  Their maximum Constitution is 16.

A moroi character of can opt to be a fighter (maximum of 9th level), a thief, an assassin (maximum of 10th level) or a witch (maximum 13th level). An moroi character can also be multi-classed, i.e. a fighter/witch, a fighter/thief, a witch/thief, or a fighter/witch/thief.  Thief can be substituted for assassin where appropriate.

Moroi characters have a 90% resistance to sleep and charm spells (if these spells are cost upon them a percentile dice roll of 91% or better is required to allow the magic any chance of having an effect, and even then the saving throw against spells is allowed versus the charm spell).

Moroi have the ability to see into the infra-red spectrum, so they are able to see up to 60' in darkness, noting varying degrees of heat radiation.

As has been shown previously, moroi characters add a bonus of +1 to their initial dexterity score. Likewise, as moroi are not as sturdy as humans, they deduct 1 from their initial constitution score.

Moroi as a Class (Basic Era)
Moroi generally follow the example of the Elf class. instead of magic-user spells the moroi use witch spells.


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Leprechauns for Basic Era Games

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Here is something I have been working on for a little bit.  I think it would work well in the right game.

Leprechauns for Basic era FRPGs

Leprechauns are small humanoids that live in the same general areas as do elves. While elves prefer the open spaces, Leprechauns live underground in elaborate burrows and low. They share many similarities with halflings and gnomes but are actually more closely related to pixies, faeries and distantly elves.

The typical Leprechaun stands 3' to 3½ ' tall, and weighs about 45-50 lbs; About the same size as a Halfling. Their skin color ranges from tan to a pale, if pinkish hue, their hair is typically any shade or red though some are darker, and their eyes can be any shade of green. Leprechaun males typically have longer beards the same color as their hair. Leprechauns generally wear natural fibers with quite a bit of green in them, though they decorate their clothes with intricate stitching or fine jewelry. Leprechauns reach adulthood at about age 40, and they live about 400 years, though some can live almost to 600 years.

A Leprechaun character must have a score of 9 or higher in both Charisma and Dexterity. Leprechauns are similar to Elves in terms of play, they can act as fighters (though not as good as true fighters or Dwarves) and can cast spells as do Magic-Users, though they are limited to the Enchantment school.

Leprechauns are inherently magical, many excel in areas of enchantment and other magic, and most all Leprechauns know at least a little magic. Adventuring Leprechauns can cast wizard spells as indicated below.

Leprechauns tend to be Neutral in alignment, but quite a few are Lawful.  Chaotic leprechauns are known as Fear Deargs.  These leprechauns are of sour temper and typically wear red.

Prime Requisite: A Leprechaun has two Prime Requisites: Wisdom and Dexterity. If either of these Ability scores is 13 or greater the character gains a 5% bonus to Experience Points earned every adventure. If both are 13 or greater, the XP bonus if 10%.

Weapons and Armor: Leprechauns may use any weapon, but it needs to "sized" to fit them. Typically any weapon sized for a Halfling character. Leprechauns may not use "two-handed" handed weapons such as two-handed swords, long bows, battle axes, and other larger weapons.

Leprechauns may wear any type of armor, but most prefer "natural" armor such as leather or hide.
Leprechauns may use any magic item that is useable by Magic-Users and any magic weapon.

Special Abilities

A Leprechaun has a number combat advantages, due to it's size and familiarity with various terrain.

Combat: Leprechauns use a combination of melee weapons and magic in combat situations. All Leprechauns gain the following bonuses when in combat.

-2 bonus to Armor Class when attacked by creatures larger than man-size.
+ 1 bonus to initiative rolls.

Luck: The greatest power of a Leprechaun is it's "Luck".  Once per day the Leprechaun can effect one die roll with luck.  Giving it an automatic +1.  This feature must be used before the roll is made, but it can be used on any sort of roll.  As a leprechaun increases in levels he may use a spell slot to convert spell levels to luck.  So a 4th level spell can be converted to +4 on a roll.  The points have to be used at one time, no splitting them up among different rolls.

Superstitions:  This is considered to be the other side of their luck ability. In order to have good luck the leprechaun has to observe a number of superstitions.  While they might seem to be harmless or even non-sense the leprechaun must follow them or take steps to avoid them.  For example a leprechaun will typically carry a lucky charm, such as a four leaf clover or rabbit's foot, for every level they have gained.  If they do something that would normally cause bad luck (lighting three on a single flame, walking under a ladder, letting a black cat cross their path) they must use their luck item or do a small ritual to "break the curse". This could include putting a lucky copper piece in their shoe, kissing a "blarney" rock, whistling a song backwards, or any number of other small rituals. Failing to perform this ritual right away will result in the loss of one point of good luck.

Hiding: Leprechauns are difficult to spot. In their natural habitat, dense wooded areas, low hill lands and natural (not man-made) underground formations a Leprechaun can only be detected 25% of the time (GM rolls). In man-made dungeons this increases to 35%. The Leprechaun must remain still and not be carrying any type of light.

Leprechaun's Gold: There is a legend that leprechaun's guard a pot of gold. There is some truth to this.  If someone were to beat a leprechaun in some form of personal challenge (cards, drinking, or being found when they would rather stay hidden) the leprechaun is obliged to grant the winner a gold coin.  This coin will grant the winner a single +1 to any roll.  This luck comes from the leprechaun's own pool of luck for the day.

Languages: In addition to the common and alignment languages Leprechauns may also speak Leprechaun, elf, gnome and goblin.

Vision: A Leprechaun can see twice as well as a human in low-light conditions (starlight, moonlight, torchlight and a "light" spell, but not "Continual Light").

Spells: As mentioned, Leprechauns can use Magic-User spells like an elf.  They favor Enchantment and Charm spells.  Leprechauns cannot use necromancy.

Advancement
Leprechauns may advance only to 9th level "Tighearnán" (male) or "Tuilelaith" (female). This is balanced by the Leprechaun's magical ability and their ability to also fight better than a same level magic-user. At 9th level a Leprechaun may settle in area and attract other Leprechauns to form a clan, or gather their family together for a clan as it's Chieftain. In any case there will only be a small gathering of immediate family and some close relations.  Leprechauns are so spread out though they immediately assume any other leprechaun they meet must be a related and refer to each other as "cousins".

Leprechauns are known as "solitary faeries". This makes them great candidates for an adventuring race.  They will settle down in a area but there must not be any other faerie species in the area, especially pixies and other "trooping faeries".  Leprechauns and Pixies have an uneasy truce.



Leprechaun EXPERIENCE TABLE
LevelTitle
XP
Hit Die
1
2
3
4
5
1Nuacht
0
1d6
1
2Laoch/Laochra
3,000
2d6
2
3Gaiscíoch
6,000
3d6
2
1
4Curadh
12,000
4d6
2
2
5Marcach
25,000
5d6
2
2
1
6Máistir
50,000
6d6
3
2
2
7Oifigeach
110,000
7d6
3
2
2
1
8Mórghléas
220,000
8d6
3
3
2
2
9Tighearnán/Tuilelaith
400,000
9d6
3
3
2
2
1


Leprechaun SAVING THROWS
Level
1-3
4-6
7-9
Death Ray or Poison
12
10
8
Magic Wands
13
11
9
Paralysis or Turn to Stone
13
11
9
Dragon Breath
15
12
9
Rods, Staffs and Spells
15
12
9

Leprechauns use the same attack to hit rolls as do fighters, dwarves, elves and Halflings.


CHARACTER HIT ROLLS (on 1d20)
Level
Target's Armor Class
Leprechauns9876543210-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
1-310111213141516171819202020202021222324
4-6891011121314151617181920202020202122
7-96789101112131415161718192020202020


Section 15 Copyright Notice

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008. Chris Gonnerman.

Labyrinth LordTM. Copyright © 2007, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Leprechauns for Basic era FRPGs" Copyright ©2015, Timothy S. Brannan

Monday, December 1, 2014

The Basic Illusionist

It slipped under my radar, but +Nathan Irving quietly released his excellent Basic Illusionist a few days ago.

If you remember the Basic Illusionist was Nathan's entry into the S&W Appreciation Day back in April of 2014.  Since then the book has seen some edits and it is now available as a proper DriveThruRPG download.

I talked about this book at length back in May.  Everything I said then applies still.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/05/pwwo-basic-illusionist.html

I mentioned a few games it works well with (PWWO) but since that time I have also used it in conjunction with other books.

ACKS Player's Companion
The Gnomish Trickster has a number of good spells that work well for the Illusionist.  All the arcane spells tagged as (ill) for illusion would work nicely as well.

Adventures Dark and Deep
This game has both an illusionist and a mountebank classes.  Not to mention plenty of spells.

The Companion Expansion
This is another "Companion" style book for Basic-era D&D and clones and is something of a forgotten treasure.  It also has an Illusionist Class that is roughly equal with the Basic Illusionist, but the real feature of this book is the expanded spell list.  If you are looking to extend your illusionist a bit more with more spells then this is a good way to do it.

Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion
Given it's aim to emulate AD&D via the Basic D&D-like rules it is no surprise then this illusionist cleaves very close to the source material.

I stand by my assessment of this book that I made then.  This is hands down one of the best books of this type you can get and really captures what the OSR is about.  Also, if you are playing an illusionist of any sort in any of the games I have mentioned, then by all means get this book.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Kickstart Your Weekend: Barrel Rider Games

James Spahn over at Barrel Rider Games has been quietly releasing a steady stream of work for Labyrinth Lord and Old-School Games for a couple of years now.

I have posted a number of times about BRG over the years and reviewed a lot of his work.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/search?q=barrel+rider+games

Where BRG really shines is getting out PDFs of a single class for a buck.   You don't have to buy everything they make, but there is certainly something for everyone.

So it is my pleasure to let you all know about BRG's fund-raising drive to get some new equipment to put out the Class Compendium.  Promising to over 200 pages (and I expect it will be more than that even) the BRG Class Compendium will feature some of class from his catalog with plenty of updates to some of the earlier ones.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/class-compendium-for-labyrinth-lord

He is asking for a modest $550 via Indiegogo.  Which honestly I feel is reasonable.  You are making an investment in his company and getting nice book of classes in return.  Also this means the BRG can keep doing what they have been doing the best; short sweet pdfs for a buck.

I think this is a good cause.  You spend some money, you get a book.

You can also find him on the web at:
https://www.facebook.com/BarrelRiderGames

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Healers in Old School D&D

I was going through some old materials the other day while working Strange Brew and found my notes on the Healer class.

That got me thinking and I dug up my 1st Ed AD&D characters and found my character Celene (enspired by this bit of Elmore art).  She was a Healer. Not a Cleric. Also she was my first 2nd character. Stuffed into the wrong folder I guess.

The healer I used back then was an odd mix of materials I had written for the witch, a necromancer class that no one has seen and the Sun Priest.
They all related in a weird way.

I tended to use Clerics more as the Occult Researchers of D&D.  If it was an evil monster then they knew about it.

So healers, even pacifist ones, had more to do in my games.

Did any of you use Healers as a seperate class? If so how did it work out for you? Did they have awesome 80s hair?



Friday, May 23, 2014

PWWO: The Basic Illusionist

Time for another edition of Plays Well With Others.

The one thing you can say about the entire OSR Gestalt that despite it all there is still a sense of community and of giving back.  Case in point, The Basic Illusionist.

The Basic Illusionist is the brain-child of +Nathan Irving and was first seen during the S&W Appreciation Day Blog Hop.

Go to his blog now and grab a copy.  Oh. Did I mention it was 100% free?
http://secretsoftheshadowend.blogspot.com/

Before I delve into the book itself. Lets take a moment to look at this cover.
Seriously. That is a cool ass cover. I am not sure what made Nathan Irving choose this piece ("Beauty and the Beast" by Edmund Dulac) but I love it.  The title works in seemlessly, like they were meant for each other.  The woman in foreground is no longer the "beauty" but she is now an Illusionist.

Ok.  So the book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry, but there isn't anything here keeping you from using any Original of Basic inspired system.  I know it works out well in Labyrinth Lord and Basic D&D and it really should work well in ACKS, Spellcraft & Swordplay or any other system.  Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might be a trick, but they have an Illusionist class already (more on that later).

Getting into the book now we have 34 pages (with cover) on the Illusionist class. The book starts off with a helpful FAQ.  Personally I think Nathan should also put that FAQ on his blog as a page so every knows why they should get this.  The Illusionist class itself is in S&W format, but the only thing keeping you from using this in any other Basic or Advanced Era game is a table of Saving Throws.  Copy over what ever the Wizard or Magic-user is using in your game of choice and give them -1 bonus to saves when it comes to illusions.
The Illusionist gets a power or feature every odd level, but nothing that is game breaking when compared to the wizard.  The Illusionist trades flexibility for focus in their magical arsenal. There is even an Illusionist variant class called the Mountebank.  Which is more of a con-artist.  Not sure how it compares to other classes of the same name.

One of the best features of the book is a guideline on illusionist magic and how to play with illusions.  Great even if you never play the class.

What follows next is over 150 Illusionist spells.  Many we have seen before and come from the SRD.  That is not a bad thing. Having all these spells in one place and edited to work with the class is a major undertaking.  I for one am glad to see them here.  Spells are alphabetical instead of sorted by level.
A list of conditions ported over from the SRD is also included. I like that personally.  We all love how the older games and the clones play, but in our zeal we tend to forget that 3.x and later games did in fact have some good innovations and ideas; this is one of them.

We end with a couple of monsters and a two page OGL statement.

Really, this is a fantastic piece of work and really should be the "go to" document if you ever want to play an illusionist.

Playing Well With Others
The design of the Illusionist class (and the book) is such that adding it to any game should really be a breeze.  Adventurers enter a new land and discover a new brand of wizard.  Compared to other custom wizards out there the illusionist is more powerful than his counterpart in 1st Ed. AD&D.  This is not power creep in my opinion, I think Nathan has has actually fixed the classic Illusionist and brought it more in line with the Wizard.

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
+Dyson Logos' Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is an excellent book for playing all sorts of wizard types.  That is oddly enough except Illusionists.  This however is not issue; The Basic Illusionist fits in quite nicely here.  The Enchanter from MT&DP would have some spells that might be good for the Illusionist as well.

Theorems & Thaumaturgy
Another great free product. Theorems & Thaumaturgy comes to us from +Gavin Norman and introduced his Vivmancer class.  Vivimancers and Illusionists are about as different as one can get really.  But Theorems & Thaumaturgy does have some things that the Basic Illusionist can use.  For starters there some more Illusionist spells in T&T that the Basic Illusionist could use.  Both books make the assumption that Illusionists should have access to 8th and 9th level spells.  If you are going to play a Basic Illusionist then it is worth your time and effort to get a copy of Theorem & Thaumaturgy.
Nathan, I would talk to Gavin and see if you can use his spells if you ever expand your Illusionist book. Maybe toss over some elementalist spells his way if you have them.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
+Jeff Talanian's fantastic Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea also has an Illusionist class. Like all the classes in the book it is limited to 12th level.  I had a quick glance over the spell lists last night and there wasn't anything that jumped out at me; the spells are drawn from similar sources.  There is is information though that owners of either could use. Obviously the Basic Illusionist cover many more spells but more importantly it has the guidelines for covering how illusions in the game work.

The Witch
Of course I want to mention my own book. Witches and Illusionists share the ability to cast various figments and charms/mind affecting spells.  I would say that in any game that has both classes that Illusionists should be limited to charm spells up to 5th level and witches any type of figments up to 5th level.  Illusionists then get all (or most) of the Illusion spells and witches get all the curses.

What I Would Want Next
I know. I sound greedy.  Nathan Irving works his butt off on this, puts it together and gives it away for free and I am over here saying "yeah, but do you have any more?"
But my motives are pure.

I would love a print version of this. It would really be awesome.  At 34 pages it is a bit smallish for print, but that is easily fixed.  Add a few more spells (plenty of OGC), some illusion based magic items, a couple more monsters (not a lot) an appendix for using this class in different retro-clones (LL, OSRIC, ACKS) and maybe even stats on adding gnomes as player characters.  Call it "The Complete Illusionist" sell it for a couple of bucks on DriveThru and get a print copy made.  OR Keep it free as a PDF and have print copies up on Lulu.  In any case it would look good on my "OSR" shelf. There is enough OGC out there now to do all of this in fact.  There is enough OGC in the 4 books mentioned above!

Bottom Line:  This is a great book. I loved the awesome art and the fact that it is free. Though I would have gladly paid for it.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Review and PWWO: The Complete Vivimancer

I recently downloaded The Complete Vivimancer the new book from Necrotic Gnome Productions, the same folks that gave us Theorems & Thaumaturgy.

+Gavin Norman, of the City of Iron blog, gives us a new(ish) class, the Vivimancer.  The book is 88 pages and advertised as Labyrinth Lord compatible with both Basic and Advanced stats (more on that in a bit).
The class was introduced in Theorems & Thaumaturgy.  The basic class is a type of Wizard/Magic-User and detailed on two pages.  The experience per level, saves, spells, and attacks are not too different from the Magic-user normal.
For the Advanced option elves and half-elves can also be vivimancers.  Interestingly enough elves can advance to 11th level and half-elves to 10th.  I would have expected it to be the other way around.

The next substantial chapter is on Spells and Laboratory procedures.
The biggest expense in gold and time for the vivimancer is his laboratory.  The vivimancer according to the rules needs to spend 6 hours per day in his lab.  I wonder how much time this leaves for adventuring, eating and sleeping. Update:  This is only when a magical procedure is underway, so not something the vivimancer does everyday. Upkeep costs is 10 gp per spell level, so about 1980gp per month at 20th level. Not unreasonable really.

The next 65 pages detail spells levels 1 to 9.  Like most Labyrinth Lord compatible products the spells are compatible across a wide variety of products.  You could use these with any old school product wizard, magic-user and yes witch.  Though to do so I think robs the class of some it's charm and power.
The spells are a varied sort.  There are some very useful, some are variations on a theme and others will have limited utility to the adventuring vivimancer.  But all have a lot of style.  If you prefer your games a little more G-rated then this isn't a book for you.  While not as over the top as Carcosa or Lamentations of the Flame Princess, there are a lot of cutting things up and putting them back together.

The chapter on magic items is nice varied lot as well, with attention paid to things the vivimancer needs to perform his craft.

We also get Appendices on Psionic Powers and Mutations.  Both are fine and work but in use I might swap out the same rules in the Labyrinth Lord compatible Mutant Future.

Overall I really liked it.  Like the book said why let Necromancers have all the fun.  There is a lot here that can be used in any game really even if you never use them as a class.  Personally I wonder what a bad guy team of a Vivimancer and Necromancer might produce.   Heck with the Advanced rules, a Vivimancer/Cleric.

There are couple of places where Insanity is mentioned but not a lot of details on how insanity would work in a game.

The art is somewhat sparse, but it is all original and unique to this book (ok maybe 1 or 2 are in T&T).  So that gives it a sum positive in my mind.

The book is 88 pages, as mentioned above, and lists at $10.00 for the PDFs.  Maybe a bit higher $/page ratio, but I'll be honest I am not sure where to price these things. I think $7.50 would have been best, but I am not judging.

I have to admit I was set to like this book.  "The Complete Vivimancer" reminds me of the old Bard Games "The Compleat Spellcaster" and "The Compleat Alchemist".  Not just in terms of title and feel, but in terms of content.  This is the sort of thing I enjoy from the OSR/Old School publishing realms.  I like something I can drop into my games with no issues.  Plug and Play gaming.

I would like to recommend this book.  I particularly recommend it as a change of pace from the evil Necromancer NPC.

There is a lot to love about this book.

Plays Well With Others: The Witch and The Vivimancer

Since The Complete Vivimancer is designed for Labyrinth Lord overtly and Basic Era game in general it should theoretically drop into any Old-School D&D game.  Well as it turns out, it does and it does so rather nicely.  Limit the spell levels to a max of 6 and you have a great new class for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and one that fits right in really.  It is also a nice compliment to Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts.   It also plays really nice with my own Witch class.

There are several spells that both Witches & Vivimancers can use from their respective books.  These are just my ideas, your GM would have to choose their own and it is possible that Vivimancer author +Gavin Norman might have some different ideas.

Vivimancer Spells for the Witch
First Level: Entangle, Hormone Control
Second Level: Arcane Sight, Insect Messenger, Pair Bonding, Bleeding Wounds (reverse of Staunch Blood Flow)
Third Level: Accelerated Reproduction, Anthropomorphism (perfect witch spell), Paralysis
Fourth Level: Immunity to Disease, Insanity
Fifth Level: Nature's Secrets, Psionic Awakening (for Aquarians only), Transfer Pregnancy (as a Witch Ritual)
Sixth Level: Impregnate
Seventh Level: none
Eighth Level: none
Ninth Level: witches can't cast ninth level spells.

Witch Spells for the Vivimancer
*Cantrips: Analyze Fertility, Daze, Detect Curse, Detect Poison, Detect Pregnancy, Flavor, Freshen, Inflict Minor Wounds, Irritate, Quick Sleeping, Sobriety, Summon Vermin
First Level: Analgesia, Bless Growth, Blight Growth, Block the Seed, Drowsy, Endure Elements, Far Sight, Fey Sight, Sickly, Silver Tongue, Sour Stomach, Vertigo
Second Level: Agony, Broca's Curse of Babel, Delay Poison, Fever, Mind Obscure, Weaken Poison, Youthful
Third Level: Aphasia, Body of Eyes, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Lesser Strengthening Rite, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Toad Mind
Fourth Level: Abomination, Confusion, Elemental Armor, Narcolepsy, Neutralize Poison, Polymorph, Vomit, Bount/Strength to the Unborn (Ritual)*
Fifth Level: Baleful Polymorph, Dreadful Bloodletting, Gnawing Pain, Steal Youth, Control Outcome of Birth (Ritual)*
Sixth Level: Evaporate Fluids, False Memory, Mass Agony, Repulsion, Crossbreed (Ritual)
Seventh Level: Insanity**, Magickal Conception (Parthenogenesis),  Wave of Mutilation
Eighth Level: Mind Blank
Ninth Level: There are no 9th level witch spells.

*Ritual spells should be cast by a lone Vivimancer at one level higher.
**(Called Greater Insanity to differentiate it from the 3rd level Vivimancer spell)

In both cases I am just listing the level of the spell as it appears in it's respective book.  Some spells might need to be shifted up or down a level depending on the GM.  Also there is some overlap in the spell effects but the casting and mechanics might be different

New Spell: Magickal Creation (Thaumatogenesis)

This new spell is usuable by either Witches or Vivimancers.

Magickal Creation 
Latin: Thaumatogenesis
Level: Vivimancer 9, Witch 8
Casting Time: 2 hours
Range: Touch

By means of this spell a new life form can be created purely from magic.  Unlike Magickal Conception, which takes exsiting life force and shapes into a new life, Magickal Creation uses only magic.
This spell maybe used to impregnate a female or even a male subject. Typically a female subject is used since is most cases (95% of the time) the impregnated male dies in the birth process.

The casting of this spell takes two hours, during which time the caster must be not interrupted. The casting witch must be able to see the target of the spell, either directly or by scrying.  The target, if willing, gains no saving throw, but an unwilling target if aware of the spell can make a save vs. Spells.  A target unaware of the casting must become aware of the situation before they can save.  Many charlatans play on the paranoid nature of many and sell talismans that protect against this spell.

Since this is using the stuff of magic to produce a life, the spell always works and produces a living life form.  What sort of life form produced is indicated by the table below.

d20 Outcome of birth
1-5 The child is born with only the mother’s traits.
6-10 The child is born with both the traits of the mother and the caster
11-12 The child is born a Chaotic outsider, with both the mothers and casters traits.
13-14 The child is born a Chaotic outsider, with only the mothers traits.
15-16 The child is born a Lawful outsider, with both the mother and casters traits.    
17-18 The child is born a Lawful outsider, with only the mothers traits.
19 The child is born as a half fiend, with only the mothers traits.
20 The child is born as a half-celestial, with only the mothers traits.

Gestation depends on the species of the mother, but time in months is often reduced to time in hours.  So if the mother is human then nine months of pregnancy is reduced to nine hours.  The minimum gestation time in any case is two hours. The Caster may also impregnate themselves in this manner producing a clone.

Material Components
Vivimancer: A tissue sample from either the gestating mother or the caster. The tissue is placed in a vat where it is boiled with Agaric, Basil, Figs and Mandrake root till forming a loose, liquid ooze. This ooze is placed onto the gestating mother (or caster).
Witch: Root Agaric, Basil, Figs and Mandrake root (harvested only by the new moon) are combined into a paste, dried and burned.  An athame and a cup, symbolizing male and female powers to direct the spell are required as the focuses. 

Section 15: Magickal Creation (Thaumatogenesis) Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan.
All text of this spell is considered Open for terms of the OGL.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

A to Z of Witches. I

I is for Incantatrix and Imbolc Mage

The Incantatrix is an interesting character class in the D&D game.  She began her life in the pages of Dragon Magazine (issue #90) as something akin to a "spell thief" or a magic-user that could steal spells out of the minds of other spellcasters.  When the game was updated to 3rd Edition another Incantatrix appeared.  This one, in the lands of Faerûn, became a mistress of meta-magical skills.

We even got an "OSR" version for Swords & Wizardry.

For me these are all interesting, but not what I had in mind as an Incantatrix.

Incantatrix comes from the Latin meaning "witch" or "enchantress".  Now games (and books and movies) have played pretty fast and loose with names in the past, but lets use this one to our advantage.

If the name is related to Enchantress then I would expect them to be able to cast, if not master, enchantment spells.  In Pathfinder (and most versions of D&D prior to that) have had schools of magic.  Enchantment is one of those schools.  The Incantatrix then specializes in magic from this school, more so than an Enchantress type Wizard and more so than a Witch.  Also I think I would want to throw in some Abjuration type spells as well.

I did a quick check with my spell spreadsheets and Enchantment and Abjuration spells are about 20% of all spells, 20% of witch and 20% of wizard spells too.  There are also a lot of Enchantment spells that are not Witch or Wizard. A lot of Bard ones for example.
So I am getting an idea here.

So for me an Incantatrix would need to be focused on her Enchantment and Abjuration spells, almost to the inclusion of all else.

Like the Imbolc Mage I did a while back, the Incantatrix would be a spellcasting Prestige Class.
For those not in the know, that is like Grad School.  You focus on something to the exclusion of all else.

Witch by Bloodyman88
Incantatrix

Hit Dice: d6

Requirements
To qualify as an Icantatrix, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Ability: Charisma score of 16 or better.
Feat: any metamagic feat
Knowledge (arcana): 10 Ranks
Spell casting: Ability to cast 3rd level Enchantment spells; Arcane Spellcaster

Class Skills
The Incantatrix's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Use Magical Device (Cha)

Skill points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Incantatrix Progression
Class Level Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells per Day
1st +1 +0 +0 +2 Charm Resistance +1 level of existing class
2nd +1 +1 +0+3 xxx +1 level of existing class
3rd +2 +1 +1 +3 xxx +1 level of existing class
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 xxx +1 level of existing class
5th +3 +2 +1 +4 xxx +1 level of existing class
6th +3 +2 +2+5 xxx +1 level of existing class
7th +4 +2 +2 +5 xxx +1 level of existing class
8th+4 +3 +2 +6 xxx +1 level of existing class
9th +5 +3+3 +6 xxx +1 level of existing class
10th+5 +3 +3 +7 xxx +1 level of existing class

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the incantatrix prestige class.

Weapon & Armor Proficiency: The incantatrix only learns to use simple martial weapons. They gain no additional proficiency in armor.

Special: The Incantatrix gains special powers at each level of her progression.

Spell Use: The incantatrix continues to gain spell levels in her arcane spell class. If she has more than one arcane spell casting class then she chooses one to advance in.  The Incantatrix only gains spells, she doesn't gain extra abilities as if leveling up in that class, such as Witches' Hexes.

Charm Resistance (Su):  The incantatrix is extra resistant to the tools of her own trade.  She gains an additional bonus equal to her CHA + 1/2 her Incantatrix level bonus to saving throws against Enchantment, Charm and Compulsion magic.

xxx: Still working these out. ;)  There are some good powers for the Icantatrix, but I have not worked them all out.




Supernatural AtoZ

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Same Class

Random thought this morning between cups of coffee.

Have you ever been in a game where every character was the same class?
If so what class and how did it work out?

At Gen Con a couple years back I played a Castles and Crusades game where everyone played an assassin. Another time I played some 4e where everyone was a dwarf fighter.

The assassin one worked, the fighter one not as well, but A for effort.

How about you all?


Thursday, January 30, 2014

Custom Classes from Thoul's Paradise

One of my favorite Dragon articles of all time was from Dragon #109 dealing with customized classes for the D&D Basic game. We of course adapted it over to AD&D, though to be fair we played a combination of D&D and AD&D back then.  From that article came the Riddlemaster, Shadowmaster and Beastmaster classes from my DM and the Healer, Sun Priest and Death Mage classes from me.  I had already started notes on the witch including an XP by level that I was fond of and didn't want to change it.

Last week Perdustin over at Thoul's Paradise posted a reflection on this article and got me thinking about the custom classes I had made then.  This week he posted a little on his analysis of the the classes with his tweaks.
I thought I would have a look at my Witch class as well.

Here are his posts:
Customized Classes (part I) and
Customized Classes (part II)

Here is my attempt.



So the biggest issue for me is that the Witch advances to Spell level 8, not 7 like the Cleric or 9 like the Magic-User.  So I roughly split the difference on the Magic cost, rounding up for the more Magic-user like nature of the Witch spells.

If you look at the XP values for the Witch and compare them to Thoul's my Witch is coming up a bit short on needed XP. But that is based on MU magic.  The adjusted Magic cost puts mine and Thoul's a little closer together (see Delta Col).

I'd like to try this again with my old Healer class and see how it worked out.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

PWWO: Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts + The Witch

Here is one of my first "official" Plays Well With Others posts.

Recently I spent some quality time with Dyson's Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts.
Well I rather enjoy this book and I have been looking for more ways to use it. It occurred to me while reading over the Pact Bound and Enchanter that many of the spells would work great with my Witch class and a number of my spells would work great with these classes.

So I went through the book and my book and figured out which "witch" spells would work good for the MT&DP classes.  You can see the fruits of my efforts here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aus4EyYHejOidFlsQVhVUVJPcDhIYWpoQ1RyYmFQMXc&usp=sharing

All my witch spells and the MT&DP classes, with levels.  I want do the reverse later as well, which new MT&DP spells can be used with the Witch.  If you pop into that sheet you might actually see me working on it live.  I am getting rather fond of Google Drive for collaboration.

Dyson is also talking about his book today, looking at some of the Elven classes and subclasses.   Worth checking out and adding in a bunch of new spells.

This book also works quite well if you use his "d12 subclasses" idea.  Here are his tables for the Wizard, Cleric, Enchanter and Elven Warder.

I could do something like that with the Witch, using the Traditions as a guide.
  1. Amazon: +1 to all hits, able to use a sword, spear and bow as weapons. See also
  2. Aquarian (from the Witch)
  3. Classical (from the Witch)
  4. Craft of the Wise  (from the Eldritch Witchery)
  5. Faerie (from the Witch)
  6. Family (from the Witch)
  7. Gypsy (from the Eldritch Witchery)
  8. Maleficia (from the Witch)
  9. Tradition of the Magna Mater (Great Mother)  (from the Eldritch Witchery)
  10. Venefica: Bonus to creation of potions, poisons and balms.
  11. Eclectic: Mix
  12. Choose one or make up a new one.
Certainly works for me.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Warlocks

Just a quick one, still out and on the road.

What do you all think about warlock classes?

I know of a number of different ones, AS&SH, D&D4 and others.  What are your favorite ones and why?

More on this in a bit.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

AS&SH and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts: Plays Well With Others

I often buy games together. Recently my two purchases were Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts. While not explicitly designed for each other, they share a common DNA in terms of Basic D&D via the d20 SRD.


AS&SH has a number of new classes, in particular magic-using  ones.  MT&DP is nothing but new classes and spells. AS&SH is a grittier, almost primitive, experience. MT&DP is straight up Basic/Expert/LL with spells that go up to level 10.   So where does the commonalty lie?

Ok take the MT&DP classes and limit them to 12 levels only.  Typically not an issue. And in some cases also reduce the spells to just 6th level.  Use the Magician as the base class. As far as the powers each class gets, well I would deal with them on a class by class basis.  Maybe give them some of the spells as powers.

Let's take the classes in detail.

Cleric and Wizard 
These classes are pretty much the standard archetypes, use the classes in AS&SH instead and swap out spells as desired.

Elven Swordmage and Elven Warder
These classes can't be used, no elves, but you could make a Swordmage or Warder and split their Casting Ability and Fighting Ability evenly.

Enchanter
Similar to the other Sub-classes"

Fleshcrafter 
This class has so much potential in AS&SH.  Given the horror elements in the game (and even the mythos elements) this classes takes on a more malevolent tone.

Healer
A subclass of the cleric. I would reduce the fighting ability, so "0" for levels 1, 2, 3; "1" for 4, 5, 6 and so on for a maximum of of 4.

Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Unseen
I think these guys would work a little like the warlocks.  The warlock is a bit of a fighter and mage, so these classes are all a bit like thieves and mages.

Necromancer
AS&SH has a necromancer. Just use these spells.

Pact-Bound
This is closer to the concept of the Warlock

Theurge
These guys are neat ideas.  They are close to what would be a cultist in AS&SH. Spellcasters learning from long lost liturgical texts.

So a lot of really good choices.   Honestly there plenty of class choices in AS&SH already, but these can give your game an interesting twist.  Plus they feel right together.

Links

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Even More New Classes from Barrel Rider Games

I have talked about Barrel Rider Games and their collections of classes before.  Here and here.
I figured with yesterday's posting about Basic D&D this would a good one to do.

Barrel Rider keeps coming out with all sorts of classes.  The idea is simple really, fill in the niches that the four core human classes  (and three demi human ones) don't quite fill.  I think now all BRG needs is a class compendium of all the classes in one edited book.

But until then you can pick up a class for a buck.  All these classes are compatible with Labyrinth Lord or other "basic" old school game.  The Mercenary is actually for Starships & Spacemen, but it is still compatible.
The thing I think I like the most that each release is a bit better than the last. Well that and also I can get a class for a buck.  Good for me since my youngest never wants to play a standard class.

Acrobat
Six pages, 1 for the cover and 2 for OGL. This is more ore less an update of the Thief Acrobat class found in the Unearthed Arcana for 1st ed.  This is a full class, not one that starts at 6th level. It is also redesigned with the LL/Basic rules in mind.  The results are good.  It feels different enough from the Thief (and Buglar and Bandit) to justify being  it's own thing.

Archer
This is an older class compared with some of the others here.  Five pages, 1 for cover, 2 for the OGL.  The archer is exactly what is says. It is a bow and arrow focused fighter.  This one doesn't have the utility for me as the other BRG classes, but my youngest son loved it.  Still I think something like an extra attack per round before level 15 would have been nice.

Bandit
This class is something of a cross between a fighter and a thief.  Think along the lines of Robin Hood or a Highwayman. He has some thief skills, but some new ones like ambush and disguise.  Honestly it would make a good compliment to the thief.

Barbarian
Another fairly self-obvious class.  Your typical barbarian features are here; survival, calling a hoard, and savage strikes. No beserker like abilities though.  I would have liked to seen more details on the Wilderness Survival skill. Does failure mean they don't find food for example.  This is one of the earliest classes from BRG so I am sure an update would clear these up.  Five pages, 1 for cover and 2 for the OGL.

Burglar
This might one of the signature classes of BRG.  The Burglar brings one of the most iconic figures of fantasy to Labyrinth Lord; the Halfling Burglar.  Simply put the Burglar is a thief option for a halfling.  Since Labyrinth Lord is Race-as-a-class then this is required. Otherwise this is a really fun class if you enjoy playing a halfling.

Dark Elf
Another older one. The Dark Elf is exactly that, the Chaotic, underground dwelling, cousin of the the Light Elves. They have some innate thief like abilities and some magic.  On paper they most resemble a thief/magic-user multi-classed character.  All-in-all a pretty satisfying class.

Dragon Slayer
This one I have avoided reviewing since I have my own Dragon Slayer.  Well technically "mine" was written by my oldest son.   The Dragon Slayer has a lot of nice features which actually make the class more useful than some "Single Purpose" classes.  In fact it could be re-tweaked and be any sort of monster hunting class.

Gladiator
The Gladiator is a professional show fighter. There are a lot neat tricks for this kind of fighter say over the regular fighter.  You could of course do some of this with clever role-playing.  Though the rules here are pretty nice and well thought out.

Half-Elf
The Original Basic rules and the games they have inspired have missed one important race; the Half-elf.  This race-as-a-class gives you a 15-level class that is a combination of fighter and thief.  The class to me seems to be missing something, but I am not quite sure what. Thinking back to the Half-elves I have read in tales, this class would work fine.

Half-Orc
Another one of the missing races from the "Basic" versions of the books.  The Half-orc is a fighter with some nice abilities to cause extra damage and fear in others.  Compared the classic Dwarf and Halfling classes this one works quite well.

Halflings: Tales from the Fireside
This one is a bit different. First it is longer than all the other books at 23 pages.  This is guide on playing halflings and what you can do with them.  It is actually a rather fun book.  It even has an evil counterpart in a monster section.

Mercenary
This one is really neat. It's a Starships & Spacemen class for starters. And it works great for that. In truth it is three classes that you can use how you need.  This takes S&S from something that mostly "Star Trek" and makes it more Traveller. What I think is most interesting here is the market this opens up for BRG.  Suddenly LL classes could now be converted to S&S classes with this template in mind.
I noticed the S&S compatibility license but not the OGL.  Might need to add that.

Minotaur
The Minotaur seems to be one of those classes/races that people either love or hate. Myself I am not a fan. BUT that doesn't mean that this is not a good class. It is one of BRG newer classes, so it is well thought out and written. Plus it is a good class. I mean there is nothing about it that says it is unplayable to me and I am sure that the people out there that love Minotaurs will be very happy with this.  For me, I might "skin" it and make a Half-Ogre class.

Plague & Shadow Wererats
All about Were-rats.  Again this is not a class book, more of an indepth monster guide.  There is history, new creatures and magic items.  Not at all what I expected and I mean that in the most positive way. It was much more than I expected.

Swashbuckler
I am not a fan of pirates.  I know people love them, I never quite got it myself.  For me it is always "ninjas" that get the vote.  The Swashbuckler class allows you to channel your inner pirate.  Like all the BRG class the book is not long (5 pages with 1 for cover and 2 for the OGL) but it gets right to the point and delivers a solid class.  If you like Swashbucklers (and this one is more Erol Flynn and less Captain Jack Sparrow) then this is a good buy.

Sylvan Elf (with Spell list)
This is one of the newer classes. Five pages, 1 for cover and 2 for the OGL, this is for wood or Sylvan elves. Like the normal elf, this one is part fighter and part spellcaster.  But in this case the spell caster is Druid.  To support this the package includes a 13 page document of spells. Actually it is really nice.  To date this is one of my favorite of the BRG classes. It takes a very simple idea and gives you a simple (as in elegant) solution.

The King Betrayed
This one was another surprise.  It is an adventure for characters 3rd to 5th level.  The art in this is greatly improved and the adventure itself looks like it is a lot of fun.  Complete old-school feel. At 15 pages it is just about perfect for an afternoon.

Wanderer
This seven page document details the Wanderer class.  It's like a non-magical (and less combative) Ranger. It has some nice skills and powers and would work well in any game.  What struck me is how quickly I was thinking of NPCs to fill this class and sending him in with my current Old School game.  Lots and lots of potential with this one.  Also unlike the other classes with have some archetypes I can relate to earlier editions, this one seems fairly unique to me.

This is a great deal. 16 of BRG products. For 10 bucks you get Halflings: Tales from the Fireside, Archer, Half-elf, Swashbuckler, Half-orc, Dark Elf, Bandit, Bounty Hunter, Undead Slayer, Barbarian, Assassin, Dragon, Smith and Scholar, King Betrayed, Wanderer and the new (and not available separately) Combat Styles. Not a bad deal at all.

So if you have a couple of bucks and like classes then you can do worse than Barrel Rider Games.