New Class: Slayers

There's a few different ways to become a Slayer.

One way is to cut out your own eye, put in in the hand of Zotzi the Slayer, and tell her that you want to train under her.

"Holy shit," she says, laughing.  "I didn't actually think you'd do it.  When do you want to start, idiot?."

Another way is to join the Doomblades or to pry a doomblade from the bloodyfist of a Doomblade that you defeated in single combat.  (The two actions are equivalent.)

A third way is to get your hands on a chainsaw or two.

Baiken, from Guilty Gear

This is a GLOG class, cut from the same cloth as Goblin Guts v2.

Prime Kill Count

A         Murder

B         Taste Blood, Speak with Scavenger

C         Cleave

D         Blood Offering

Murder

Instead of a regular attack, you make two melee attacks against your target and they make one melee attack against you.  All three of these attacks are resolved simultaneously.

Taste Blood

After tasting fresh blood, you learn the creature’s physical weaknesses and can track them like a bloodhound.  After hitting someone with a bladed weapon, you can lick blood off your sword as a free action.

If you have all 4 Slayer templates, you can even learn their psychological weaknesses as well. (As a result, getting punched in the mouth tends to make you a bit philosophical.)

Speak with Scavenger

You can also speak with scavengers: hyenas, vultures, crows, komodo dragons.

Cleave

Whenever you get a melee killing blow on a challenging foe, you can make another melee attack.

Blood Offering

Whenever you get the killing blow on a creature, you immediately heal 1d6 for every 2 Levels of the creature killed.  If the creature had any special abilities, the doomblade absorbs the ability, and is able to cast the ability once.

Prime Ability: Kill Count

Whenever you get the killing blow on a challenging foe, you gain EXP (Execution Points) equal to its level.  The more EXP you get, the better you can survive the furious exchanges of violence that punctuate your daily life. Whenever you kill something, make a note of it in your legendarium under a new section titled THE WEAK AND UNWORTHY alongside it's EXP.

Whenever you kill something in a 1-vs-1 duel, you get twice as much EXP as normal, and you get to put a little "W" next to its entry in THE WEAK AND UNWORTHY.

If you ever die from damage incurred during the use of your Murder ability, you have a chance to survive.  The round after you die, roll a d6.  If you are lucky, you wake back up.  You’re missing another tooth and there is so much blood in your eyes that you can barely see.  You have half of your HP back.  You love this shit.

Whenever this ability triggers, you are able to stand up and move in the same turn as long as you make a melee attack against something at the end of it.

13 EXP     1-in-6 Chance

37 EXP     2-in-6 Chance

111 EXP     3-in-6 Chance

222 EXP     4-in-6 Chance

666 EXP     5-in-6 Chance

2000 EXP Always triggers.

Slayer Party - Killing Spree

If you get into another challenging combat again within 30 minutes after the previous challenging combat, everyone heals to full and gets +1 to hit and damage.  This bonus to hit and damage increases by 1 each time that it is chained.  (If you go 30 minutes without combat, this bonus resets.)

Slayer Game - Speedrun

When only half of your party shows up for today’s session, you can attempt a speedrun of a previously completed dungeon.  The DM will show them the map (but no other features of the dungeon), and the party can start with 3 scrolls of their choice, and as much basic adventuring gear as they want.  Every single inventory item that they walk into the dungeon with will add 5 minutes to their final game time.  Treasures/Allies level up two people instead of one.

The dungeon is reset, and the goal is to complete the dungeon as fast as possible, both in-game time and IRL time.

If your DM wants to allow quicksaving before you jump into a boss room, just make a photocopy of your character sheets and set it aside.

If you ever do this for one of my dungeons, post it on the page.  (# of players, scroll choices, # of quickloads, game time, and IRL time).

The Obliterat and the House Unheard

It is understood that much of reality only exists because it is observed.  The Authority is capable of seeing all things, and therefore the world is stabilized and made persistant by his unwaverig gaze, watching the world from atop the Throne. 

Who gave you your eyes?  The Authority?  Do you trust him?  To see that which is hidden, then, requires you to stop looking with your eyes.  The void monks pluck out their eyes so that they might see more clearly.

The void monks offer peace, forgetfulness, lobotomies, absence, and the release of oblivion far beyond the reach of petty gods and unfair afterlives.  (Is it any wonder that they were founded by orcs?)

The most important monastery of the void monks is the Obliterat.

Within the Obliterat, the monks attempt to answer difficult questions.  When we are obliterated, are we truly gone?  Or is there just another place we find ourselves?  Is there anything after the end of time, or before the beginning?  What forms these boundaries?

They investigate these things through meditation, astral projection, and psychotropics (occasionally used as a crutch by the younger members).  The philosophical body that they have created is called the Annihilum.

"I think, therefor I am." is an empty phrase to them.  Thinking something is not proof of anything.  To them, the human mind is an echo chasing itself back and forth across a canyon.  It is an empty loop, repeating meaningless symbols, signifying nothing.

But the players do not care about most of this.  More to the point, the monks also study the lacunae.

by Chris from spiceomancy.blogspot.com

The Lacunae

There are holes in the world.  The monks know this better than any, having created so many themselves.

And that is why the monks of the Obliterat have become the best surveyors in the world.

From the crossroads at Dzorum, walk exactly 5000 feet south.  Then walk exactly 5000 feet west.  Then walk exactly 5000 feet north.  You will find that you are exactly 4851 feet away from where you started.

At the imperial quarry at Clavenhorn, it is clear that four stone gloryboats have clearly been cut away from the cliff at roughly the same time period.  The second emperor began the practice, and the fourth emperor ended it.  Where is the missing emperor?

The calendars do not match up.  The equinoxes have shifted too much.  The eclipses do not fall where they should.  Something has been corrupted.  Something has been stolen away.

The astronomers of the Obliterat have calculated that there is over three hundred years of missing history that occurred within the bounds of recorded history (a little over 700 years).  A third of the last millennium has been lobotomized, and no one knows what is missing, much less how.

The dinosaur cults have long been suspected.  But the dinosaur cults have been allies with the void monks in the past, and even when they met as friends neither could discern the truth of it.

The other possibility lays with the Order of the Owl, but who can question them?  If they ever knew the truth of it, they've long since chosen to discard the memory.

by Loch at nothicseye.blogspot.com

The Obliterat

The Obliterat was once a lighthouse.  That much was once apparent.

Like most lighthouses, it was probably built on a promontory, or at least an island.  But in the long years since it's construction, the foundation must have been washed away or eroded.  Now, the Obliterat floats above the ocean, held aloft by time-and-space-locked void monks.  The whole tower is wrapped in an enormous black sheet, like a flag over a corpse.  It flaps in the wind.

The tower itself exists in a lacuna--a gap in space.  If you hunt for it, you will never find it.  It is hidden, like a raisin under a fold in the tablecloth that you will never see, much less touch.  

But there is a way to get there.

Here is the traditional method.

• You must not intend to reach the Obliterat.
• You must not know where you are.
• You must be close to death--the boundary of the smallest oblivion.

Traditionally, the most common way for someone to get there is if their friends (or allies) conspire to send them there.  The unfortunate soul will be drugged, or plied with drink.  They will be given a near-fatal dose of black lotus.  They will be placed into a row boat below the Bastion of Medurak, when the tide is going out.  A thousand gold coins will be scattered over their unconscious bodies.  And then they will be pushed out into the churning sea.

It works best in spring.

From there, the monks will find you, hopefully.

If the gold is sufficient, and if you seem like an honest supplicant, they will take you in and tend to you until you recover. 

It is, of course, much bigger on the inside.

Honestly, the other void monasteries are a lot easier to get to.  It may be easier to just ask those void monks how they get to the Obliterat.  They can't all go through this every time they want to visit.

DM Advice

It's difficult to get the whole party to the Obliterat without railroading them.

If a single PC is trying to get to the Obliterat, they can't get there.  The only way a PC will get to the Obliterat will be if the other PCs conspire in secret to send them there.

Like, Alice and Bob will have to pass the DM a note that says "tonight we're going to get Charlie drunk, dose him with black lotus poison, cover him in gold, and send him to the Obliterat".

It's up to you what the chance of success in.  Maybe 5-in-6, if done in spring.

If Alice and Bob are smart, they'll send Charlie out at night and then go looking for him in the morning.  If he got picked up by the Obliterat, they'll never find him.  If he didn't, maybe they'll find a rowboat with their confused friend in it.

If Charlie makes it to the Obliterat, don't spend too much time 1-on-1'ing with him.  Elide the visit if you can, and/or include the rest of the party (they can suggest ideas to Charlie).  Then send him home.

The House Unheard

The void monks are the most extreme and most visible followers of the Annihilum.  But there are lay people who follow as well.  This is the house unheard.

They are functional nihilists.  They are not a death cult.  They might believe that life is pointless, but they don't seek to destroy the world.  They recognize the absurdity of their births, but they still love their mothers.

These are the people who support the monks.  They donate food, money, clothing, and other things besides.

The monks provide comfort.  Traumas can be wiped away.  Painful emotions can be burned out.  And if you insist on suicide, your loved ones can be made to forget that you ever existed, to spare them sorrow.

Most people love their mothers.

The Powers of the Obliterat

And they can, of course, easily hide anything that you need hidden.

They may even be able to find things that have been hidden, perhaps better than anyone else.

 The void monks have access to the roads that have been scrubbed from the maps.  The world is shaped differently for them (because they see the world as it is, not as it is seen).  The monks can move faster overland--sometimes shockingly so.

There are lost cities, erased from the world as thoroughly as they have been erased from the maps.  Did you think that Foxentown was the only one?  The void monks use them as an escape.  

Not as a shelter, though.  Lost cities might be lost to men, but they are not lost to everything that wanders.  Strange things stalk those empty streets.

The void monks have even learn to sing a few verses of the false hydra's song.

They sometimes align themselves with Zala Vacha, but mostly to share their protection.  They do not share most of Zala Vacha's convictions.  Why destroy anything when everything is already destroyed?  Does it matter if the void claims us now or in a thousand years?

The King of Nothing

Who rules the Obliterat?  It is said to be the King of Nothing, a person who close to oblivion that they have become unknowable.

Despite this, the King of Nothing is believed to be an actual person who walks around, holds meetings, and issues orders.  Void monks commonly experience missing time, and find strange orders in their pockets (in their own handwriting).  The instructions on these notes are followed.  They are from the King of Nothing.

That's the leading theory anyway.  The second theory is that the King of Nothing is a living Orb of Annihilation (or something very close to it).

by Kev Walker

Goblin Guts v2 + A Bit About Emergent Gameplay

It's been at least a year since I tore down my old ruleset and built a new one, so it makes sense that I'm feeling the itch again.  (TL;DR: here's a 22-page PDF.)

Going into this, I have the following design goals.

Diagetic Progression

In past incarnations of the GLOG, certain classes had diagetic abilities.  Fighters got bonuses based on how many things they had killed.  Thieves got bonuses based on the most expensive thing they had ever stolen.  

These weren't perfect, but at least they were (a) tied to in-game actions, such as heists, (b) a method of progression besides XP/Treasures, and (c) motivated class appropriate actions, such as heists.

These also fit pretty well alongside my idea for a character's Legendarium and should probably be integrated there.

Magic Dice For Everyone

Everyone seems to like the magic dice that wizards get.  I can probably extend it to other classes, too.

Will it be any good?  Fuck, maybe.

Centerra doesn't have a fine line of distinction between magical and non-magical things (citation).  So it follows that regular old vanilla fighters are able to do some things that are magical according to our Earthly eyes.  After all, magical shoes are made by regular cobblers, not wizards.

Mono-Class Parties

This is another idea that I've circled around for a while.  An all-thief party sounds as interesting as an all-wizard party.

First, because it invites a certain style of play.  Perhaps I should write more about to support those types of games?  For example, a mono-thief game might revolve around heists.  It makes sense to hammer out a few rules for the heist game.

Second, having a mono-class party fundamentally changes the assumptions of the game.  Lots of adventure writers will assume that the party will have access to certain magic spells by a certain level.  If everyone is a thief, that assumption will be incorrect.

That means that some parts of the adventure will be easier than intended, and some parts of the game will be more difficult (or impossible).  While a DM can flex the adventure a bit to accommodate a mono-class party, part of what makes this playstyle so interesting to me is the idea that, to a certain extent, mono-class players know and accept this. 

If we're going to write new rules for mono-class parties, we should realize that they are opportunities to fundamentally change the rules of the game, and we should embrace that.

This idea is so exciting to me that I'll create a new heading.

Emergent Gameplay and New Modes

Emergent gameplay is simply finding new ways to play the game outside of what the creators intended.

Have you heard of the Nuzlocke Challenge in pokemon?  It's a set of self-imposed restrictions that are designed to make the game more challenging, effectively twisting it into a new game.

Speedrunning is another form of emergent gameplay.  So is trying to get to maximum level on World of Warcraft without killing anything.  Same with any other videogame where players ignore the typical objectives and make their own.

Tabletop roleplaying already has a lot of emergent gameplay.  Players are already free to set their own goals and victory conditions (to an extent), but rarely do players have the option to bend the rules of the game.  The published Player's Guide and Adventure Paths present a singular interpretation of Correct Play (where both rules and goals are identical to the original publisher's). 

But it doesn't have to be that way.  

One example: I ran a one-player/one-DM Caverns of Thracia one-shot where the player was a level 20 wizard.  It was great!  Lots of exploring, lots of talking, and when a monster got uppity, they got disintegrated.  There was still some tension, though, because the dungeon had to be explored all in a single day, and each spell could only be cast once.  We weren't playing Caverns of Thracia the way that Gary and Jennell intended, but we found a new mode that worked great for us.

Another example: perhaps the group that is all dungeon hackers is able to automatically open every door they come across, potentially allowing for some major sequence breaking.

Another example: are there any groups out there that have completed pacifist runs of published modules?  That might work best if everyone is a divine concubine.

Anyway, mono-class parties seem like a crack in the Correct Playstyle Monolith that a lot of our peers worship at.  With a chisel, a hammer, and a pen, we can widen that crack.

from here

The PDF

Anyway, I ended up writing it.  I was gonna write four more classes (Ranger, Knight, Scholar, and Wizard) but I think I'll save that for another day. 

>>CLICK HERE<<

Have a look, and please let me know what you think. 

The Cleric

I've tried to write this post several times, and I've learned that I am unable to complete it unless I limit the scope to the smallest possible range.

So here is a cleric (for use with the GLOG).

by Justin Sweet

Clerics vs Wizards

Clerics are basically like wizards, except . . .

1. Clerics don't choose their spells, their deity does.
2. On the upside, Clerics don't suffer from magical corruption or catastrophes (from rolling doubles or triples).
3. On the downside, Cleric spells are unreliable, since the (always fickle) deity may not choose to grant the spell at the moment it is requested.

Faith Dice

Faith Dice (FD) are just Magic Dice (MD) that have a variable size.  They are otherwise interchangable (and a multiclassed wizard/cleric can use them interchangeably).  They default to a d8.

When a wizard casts a spell, they choose how many MD to invest.  Each MD contributes to the final spell, and after rolling, the following chart is consulted.

• 1-3   MD is returned to the mana pool.
• 4-6   MD is depleted, and will return to the mana pool tomorrow morning.

Clerics work the same way, with one additional wrinkle:

• 7+   MD is not depleted.  The dice roll does not contribute to the spell.  (A fizzle.)

Since clerics are usually using a d8 as their casting die, it will not be uncommon for their spells to fizzle (if all the dice fizzle) or be underpowered (if only a fraction of the casting dice fizzle).

Faith dice improve (shrink) or worsen (enlarge) according to the clerics behavior. 

If a cleric doesn't follow the strictures of their religion, the dice increase in size until the cleric atones.

If a cleric atones at a church (confesses, pays a hefty tithe), their dice are reset to a d8.  Note that the cleric must genuinely repent of their behavior (but the player doesn't necessarily have to).

If a cleric receives a special blessing from the Pope or the Prophetessa (May She Live Again), the FD will be improved to d6s until expended.  Likewise, if you are in a situation that is very obviously in favor of your deity (e.g. fighting a Satan, trying to save an innocent child) then your FD are also temporarily improved to d6s.

Here's the progression.

d6 (temporary) <> d8 <> d10 <> d12 <> d20 <> d100 <> Apostasy

If you reach Apostasy, you can either choose to abandon the Cleric class entirely, or become a Heretic and regain your powers (along with the enmity of nearly every civilized person).  Heretics are required to expound on the nature of their heresy, both in the game and outside of it.  Heretics who defeat the Church (whatever that means) will be vindicated and their heresy will become incoporated into the orthodoxy of the Church.

by Justin Sweet

The Cleric Class

Based on the Wizard class.

Cleric A
Guardian Angel
God's Plan
Ephiphany

Cleric B
Ceremonies

Cleric C
Divination

Cleric D
Miracle

Cleric Teams
The Reach of Heaven
Guardian Angel Pool

---

Guardian Angel

This is not an ability that the cleric gets.  It's an ability that the cleric's party gets.

The entire party gets an FD of their very own, of the same size and type as the clerics.  Anyone (including the cleric) can use this FD to cast a spell, but it cannot be combined with any other MD.

By default, this FD can only be used to cast heal.  The caster must follow the same god as the cleric.

Yes, this means that the party's rogue can heal the dying fighter by praying over her.

Yes, this rule was partially developed to remove clerics from the time-consuming role of healbot, without straying too far from the archetype.

Yes, this means that a level 1 cleric effectively shows up with 2 FD, while the level 1 wizard only shows up with a single MD.

Guardian Angel spells are tracked on the Party Sheet.

God's Plan
A cleric doesn't choose their spells, their deity does.  The DM should pick spells for the player based on what is most likely to be useful that day.  (DM, feel free to use these spell choices as omens, e.g. protection from fire might forecast the possibility of a dragon encounter.)

A player can negotiate this ability with an animal sacrifice (a cow, at least) and an hour-long ritual.  They can ask to choose all of their spells, half of their spells, etc.

Epiphany
A cleric can identify a magic item by praying over it in a church.  This is similar to a wizard's Identify ability, except that it is 100% reliable, but it requires a church.

Ceremonies
Each ceremony takes 2 hours.

Union – Two people are bonded. If your partner would take physical damage while you are beside them, you can choose to take half of it. If one dies, the other loses 500XP.

Funeral – The dead are honored. Everyone gains XP equal to 50% of the deceased's total XP. (So if a PC with 3000 XP died, each of the three surviving PCs will get +500 XP at the end of the session.) This transfer only works from player characters, to player characters.

Sermon – You can implant a suggestion in all Neutral and Friendly attendees.  Make a single roll for each (roughly) homogenous group/demographic.  You still need to get people to sit through a 2 hour sermon, and most people are not well-disposed towards religions other than their own.

Divination

You ask a question of your deity, which is then answered through a vision or a dream.  (For Hesayan clerics, this takes the form of a sleep-like trance while watching clouds.)

First, choose what level of divinity you wish to ask.

Level 1 - A Saint or Holy Emperor
Level 2 - One of the Lesser Gods
Level 3 - Zulin, the Prince of the Upper Air
Level 4 - The Authority (this is forbidden to all non-kings)

Roll 1d6 for every level of the divinity.  Every result of 1-3 is a success.  Each success improves the quality of your divination.

Roll 1d6 for every level of the divinity.  Every result of 1-3 is a failure.  Each failure beyond the first causes your FD to degrade one step.  Your FD will never degrade if you are performing the divinations in a clear service to the Church.

You cannot ask the same question twice.  You cannot even ask related questions, either.  Aside from that, feel free to do all the divination you wish.

Here are some examples of visions produced by different levels of success.  The player doesn't know the level of success, merely the result.

In response to the question of "Where is the crown of Hesperornithes located?"

0 Successes	Pure nonsense. Ex: You dream that are are sitting in a village square, surrounded by your family. You are digging a hole, but it keeps filling up with milk. Serpents come and drink the milk.
1 Success	Moderately useful omen that is difficult to interpret. Ex: You are sailing on a ship to your destination. The captain is a burning torch. The navigator is a blind rooster. For your crimes, you are about to be imprisoned in a barrel of sponges. (This dream communicates the idea that it might be on an island, at least. The rooster is a very oblique reference to eggs.)
2 Successes	Very useful omen that is somewhat difficult to interpret. Ex: A faceless king pulls eggs out of a dog's mouth, shows them to you, then crushes each one underfoot. Brine and fish dribble from his mouth. He screams like a seagull.  (This dream communicates that an ocean journey might be involved, and shows broken eggs.)
3+ Successes	Extremely useful omen that is easy to interpret. Ex: You turn into a bird, fly across accurate geography, mate with Zulin, build a nest atop a castle on the Isle of Broken Eggs, and a tiny prince hatches from your egg, singing a righteous song. (You can't really get any more clear than this.)

Yes/No questions are generally easier to interpret, since you only have to know if the vision was a positive or negative one.

If you are bad at coming up with random crap for visions, the you can just roll a d100 on the House of Hours.

Miracle

Miracles are powerful, world-changing events. You can ask for almost anything, as long as it is:

• related to your deity's portfolio
• doesn't go against your deity's interests

When you first get this ability, your Miracle score is set to 3. Your Miracle score improves by 1 point whenever you finish a session or gain a level.

You can attempt a miracle once per session. To attempt a Miracle, describe to the DM what you are praying for, and then roll a d20. If the result is equal-or-less than your Miracle points, the Miracle occurs and your Miracle score is reset to 0.

At your DM's discretion, you may also gain Miracle points for performing great deeds in the service of the Church.

Clerics do not gain this ability until they perform some major ceremony in a central place of worship, such as leading a town's Harvest Ritual. (Ask your DM.)

Cleric Teams

I really want to make mono-class parties more viable, because they're awesome.  So here are a couple of advantages that you get by having multiple clerics in the party.

Heaven's Reach

Clerics can ignore range restrictions when casting spells on each other.

Guardian Angel Pool

The FP granted by the Guardian Angel ability are now pooled together with each other.  It is possible to cast a Guardian Angel spell with multiple FP.  Additionally, the Guardian Angel knows at least one different spell for each cleric that contributes to it.  For example, if a three-cleric party would know than just heal.  They would have access to heal, cure poison, and feather fall.

by Justin Sweet

Coming Soon

- A PDF of actual clerics, including a couple of non-Church clerics.

- Rules for removing clerics from your game entirely, and replacing them with a single Guardian Angel that the entire party shares.  (Partially because I don't find clerics that appealing, partially because PCs in pseudo-medieval settings should probably be more religious.)

Paladins of the Blue Kite

There are 77 orthodox orders of paladins in the Hesayan Church.  They include:

• The Sons of Saint Arquette, who use cannibalism to fuel their gigantism.

• The Enduring Order, devotees of Saint Caldi, who each swear to spend 100 years fighting the undead.  Those who die in service are raised as undead to continue their duty.

• The Order of the Red and Blue Rose, who are wrestlers and swordbreakers.

There are at least 3 heretic orders that are in hiding.  They include:

• The Winged Legion, who followed the Simurgh after her divorce from Zulin and subsequent excommunication.

• The Order of the Shepherd's Crook, who seek to bring the kingdom of Hell to earth.  Not literally, but they do want to use enslaved devils to police the world.  (Officially, they are condemned by the paladins of hell and have no affiliation.  They're just fans.)

And although the Celestialist Hesayans of the north do not have paladins, they have schools of swordsmanship that often serve the same function.

Anyway, this post is about one of the orthodox orders.

The Order of the Blue Kite

They're also known (somewhat mockingly) as "those naked paladins".  This is a little misleading.

Zulin's divine divorce caused quite a few shockwaves throughout the Church.  One of the secondary or tertiary effects was the relaxation of quite a few nuptial laws.  These were mostly sensible, good things.  Farmers no longer had to have their horses married before siring a foal, for example.

In this new marital climate, one vocal personage was the North Wind.  He had many lovers, and sought to make his trysts honest and open.  After a long period of debate, this was granted to him, and in less than a year, he had taken his first three wives.

Although the North Wind, the Windwives, and the House of Miraculous Windmills originally set itself up to be a religious power center similar to Concrayda, but it eventually failed at this task.  After being marginalized for half a century, the Blue Kites reinvented themselves as a martial order.

The first set of Windwives (now retiring into old age and death) were soft things, full of poetry and expensive wine.  But in the decades that passed, the North Wind's amorous tastes changed.  His newest brides are all warrior women and lawyers.  The formation of a paladin order was inevitable.

His newest bride is a man: Thornis Oglafar, possessor of a magnificent mustache, dyed a magnificent blue.

There are many members in the Order of the Blue Kite.  The Windwives are merely the ones that tend to occupy most of the high positions (but not all of them).

Can a starting PC play a Windwife?  I don't see why not.  Perhaps a Windwife just starting out, or one who has fallen from favor for some reason.  Have fun DMing the inevitable sex scene when hubby visits.

Crusades of the Blue Kite

There are two:

• To catch the rebellious South Wind and either bring it among Hesaya's faithful, or kill it.

• To protect the sanctity of marriage.  There's a lot of debate about what this actually means, though.  The North Wind has a fairly lax interpretation of marriage, but he isn't in charge of the Blue Feather.  His wives are--and their opinions are as varied as the clouds. 

And so the paladins sometimes work with things like domestic abuse, reconcile estranged spouses, and investigate claims of infidelity.  I mean, they fight dragons, too, but dragons aren't one of the official crusades, so. . .

like this, except with swords instead of brooms
and also they're the good guys and you can play one
by Luis Falero

Class Abilities

Originally, I was going to put them all in a little level progression for you.  But fuck that--there's too many systems, and too many scales of power level.  I'm just going to list them all here, and you can assemble them however you want.

Okay, fine.  I'll type something up, just so people can refer to it if they want to a FLAILSNAILS game I'm running or something.

Level 1 - Wind Squire, Speak with Wind, Gust of Wind (1x per day per level), Armor of Wind
Level 2 - Throw Arrow, Immunity to Wind
Level 3 - Negotiate Windstorm, Lightened Body
Level 4 - Flight, +1 Attack

Wind Squire

You travel with a squire wind.  It mostly hangs on you, messing with your hair and making sure that no one ever smells your farts.

Speak with Wind

Each day brings a new wind.  At a minimum, this functions similar to gathering rumors.  You should also roll a d10 to see what direction the wind is blowing from, since the wind will bring news from that direction as well (and not only the stuff that is visible from the sky).

You can talk to your squire, of course.

Gust of Wind

As the spell, gust of wind.  You'll get a lot of castings of this.

1 - North
2 - East
3 - South
4 - West
5-10 - The predominant wind direction in the area.

<sidebar>I actually have an old map of Centerra with all of the prevailing winds drawn on it.  I used it to figure out which side of the mountain range got all the rain, and which direction the trade winds blew the caravels.  I was much more interested in simulating a realistic world then.  Nowadays, it seems like useless fussing--pointless unless you want to publish a gazetteer.</sidebar>

Armor of Wind

This is the reason why so many of the Blue Kites walk around naked.  Those who have always trusted the wind will be protected by the wind.  This benefit is lost as soon as the trust is betrayed: i.e. the paladin willingly wears conventional armor at any point after they take the oaths.

Make your own level chart, but here's an example:

• Level 1, AC 11, AC 13 vs small projectiles (arrows or smaller)
• Level 2, AC 12, AC 14 vs small projectiles
• Level 3, AC 13, AC 15 vs small projectiles
• Level 4, AC 14, AC 16 vs small projectiles
• Level 5, AC 15, AC 17 vs small projectiles
• Level 6+, AC 16, AC 18 vs small projectiles.

A sacrifice now for a payoff later.  And not all of them are naked.  Many wear simple robes.  And others just wear armor like a normal person.

This ability is useless against really big things.  At a minimum: a boulder hurled by a giant, a dragon's claws.

Throw Arrow

You don't need a bow to fire an arrow.  Your squire accelerates it for you.

At high level, you can use this to fire around corners, as long as your squire can see the target.

Immunity to Wind

Lame now, but useful later on when you can summon a windstorm.

Negotiate Windstorm

You will need to negotiate with a local wind in order to do this.  Probably a wind duke, actually, since most minor winds don't have the ability to call in a windstorm.  (Military actions are regulated among the winds, just as they are among us.)

Windstorms are environmental, usually last for at least an afternoon, and only work outdoors.  Arrows are impossible.  Speech is difficult.  Shoving people is very easy (+4), and everyone gets -4 to attacking and defending (which usually cancels itself out).  Flight is impossible.  Shoddy buildings will be torn apart.  

Expect pissed off treants to show up the next day, cradling broken limbs.  They usually wish to repay one broken arm with another.

Lightened Body

By controlling their breath, a Blue Kite Paladin can make their body much lighter. This lets them walk across water and stand on tree branches that are normally too small to support them.  This doesn't let you jump any further, since the lowered mass also means that you have less momentum.

It also makes you immune to fall damage.  Fun!

"Flight"

It's not quite the same as the fly spell.  It's more like being picked up by a huge wind and carried through the sky in a horrifying vortex of deafening winds.  Expect bruises from your clothing as it flaps around (unless your clothing is tied down tight).  It's like skydiving, while the wind teases you and tries to crack jokes.

You can bring your friends with you, of course.

Not coincidentally, skydiving is a popular past time among the Blue Kites.  

You can fly large distances (miles) but not small ones.  Small hops of less than half a mile are out of the question.  And you will take 1d6 fall damage when you land, unless you can find a decent spot of water to land in.  (By default, 50% chance that your Wind can find one in time.)

Many Blue Kites wear an enormous silk scarf tied up around their waist.  Enormous, as in 30' long.  You might think that it's a swordswoman wrapped up in a weird, bulky burka, but then the wind unfurls it and BAM it's this huge scarf tied around their waist, shaking like the arms of God.  

The giant scarf makes sense: it means that the Wind will pull you through the air by your center of mass (your waist/ass) and not by the part of your body that has the greatest wind cross-section.  This prevents you from spinning uncontrollably as you fly through the air (a common blunder among first-time flyers).

This is their love token.  It's given to them by the North Wind as a sign of his favor.  And it serves a function: it allows you to make an attack for double damage upon landing.

Blue Kite strike teams usually blow in the window, and open up with an attack like that.

This also requires talking to a powerful local wind, and negotiating the cost.  What does the Wind want?  See below.

Other Stuff

Swords of the North Wind

If the love token scarves were a sign of approval, then a sword is a full-fledged admission of love.  If you aren't already a Windwife, you will probably be one soon.

These are +1 swords given out by the North Wind only after some seriously big favor has been earned.  They can be used to attack anything within 50', since they "throw" their slashes through the air.

Every Paladin of the Blue Kite aspires to own one.  The magic of the blade is dwarfed by the immense prestige it confers.

The House of Miraculous Windmills

This is your home base.  It's a cross between a church and a mansion, and it is covered with short towers that are themselves covered with windmills, large and small.

The house uses minor Winds as servants.  But since Winds have a hard time clearing the table after dinner, they mostly just turn the windmills and sing mariner's work songs all the damn day.  Expect a high level of automation within the house.  Crudely automated dishwashers, that sort of thing.

Nabba Sunbeam runs the house.  She's 55, a Windwife, and an inventor.

The most interesting room is the Flight Room, stocked with skydiver's wingsuits and with several ways to take to the sky.

Generating a Wind NPC

Roll up starting attitude and personality normally.  You may want to use this altered goals table, though.

This Wind NPC wants. . . [d6]

1. To punish a particular piece of the earth, which has offended it.  Please roll this impudent boulder into the ocean, explain the Wind's displeasure, and sink it someplace cold and lonely.
2. A wife, like the North Wind.  Not only does this mean finding a willing bride, but it also means convincing the Church to perform the ceremony.
3. Less smoke.  Get these people--those ones over there--to stop burning fires.  I don't care how you do it.
4. To go on an adventure.  Take me with you!  Expect to have a very difficult time lightning a campfire, having a quiet meeting in the library, and having all of your arrows miss.  Remember that Winds can't go underground or in confined spaces.  (Or more accurately, they can, they just risk dying if someone shuts a door and traps them in a space too small for them to circulate.)
5. To kill some noxious creature.  Perhaps a monster that controls wind, a wizard that captures wind, a roc, or a sky whale.
6. A vacation!  You'll have to do the wind's job for it.  Turning the windmill, spreading seeds, drying laundry.  Expect bewildered villagers and hilarious complications.  The Wind will probably bring you a souvenir from wherever the fuck it goes.  Probably something stupid, like 800 pounds of snow.

Sleeping Priests

The Hesayan Church is huge and baroque.  It's monotheism spans the continent of Centerra, and it's language (gospeltongue) is the common tongue of the land.

One reason it has been so successful in monopolizing faith is its explicit willingness to annex other religions and incorporate them into itself.  Syncretism is not a side-effect, but the intended result.  There is room in the church for everyone and everything.

One visible symbol of this success is their ability to convert monsters and beasts.  A country church might have an ox that has found enlightenment, and kneels with the rest of the congregation during prayer.  (The ox does not have intelligence, but it has faith, and that is sufficient.)  Or there may be a cockatrice that prays daily and guards the cemetery.

There are also the slave gods--the gods of conquered people.  Their holy places are transported to the Holy City of Coramont, where they are reassembled stone by stone.  Their priests are kidnapped and held hostage within their temples.  They control the faith, and so they control the people.  These conquered gods become slave gods, and they kneel at the throne of Zulin, like the rest of Centerra.  Their history is overwritten with new mythologies that incorporate them into the story of Zulin.  It becomes very important to control books and regulate who is able to teach children.  This is not a lie--in a very real sense, it becomes truth.

In this way, LAW is maintained.

by Jakub Rozalski

There are things that the church cannot absorb nor destroy.  These things must be locked away and the key must be destroyed.

Ideas are easy to bury.  There is an entire arm of the church dedicated to destroying and controlling information.

But immaterial creatures are much more difficult.  Foreign angels, demon dragons, spirits of unborn antichrists, violent nature spirits, incompatible or redundant godlings. . . The church has hunted down all of these things and imprisoned them.  (In most cases, this is not a bodily hunt but a metaphysical one).

They do these great feats by incinerating the souls of the (willing) devout, summoning angels, summoning devils, and employing autistic paladins who are actually really good at resisting the more weaponized aspects of faith.  Centerra is infested with minor godlings.  You couldn't flip over a rock without pissing off a nature spirit who lived beneath it.  Or at least, it used to be infested.  Things have quieted down now that the Church has been systematically exterminating and assimilating everything they come across.

They also use summoning circles, because you need to get a god to manifest before you kick its ass.  Some of these summoning circles are huuuuuuuuge.  You will find them scattered across Centerra.

<digression>The church actually summons a lot of bound devils, usually for very dangerous missions.  They are powerful and blessedly expendable.  But yeah, don't fuck with a Hesayan demon-binder.  They know their stuff better than the demon-binders they are employed to fight.  Sort of like how the government uses hackers to fight hackers, and sometimes recruits especially talented criminals.  Except the Hesayan church has all sorts of ways to control a persons actions and thoughts.  A person who has undergone all of these restrictions is called an Incorruptible.

The church doesn't care if the person they hire is trustworthy, because they have ways of making them trustworthy.</digression>

And once these rogue godlings are caught, they are given over to the sleeping priests, who then become responsible for keeping the prisoner asleep.

Sleeping priests are priests that sleep.  When they are acolytes, they will use drugs to sleep for over 20 hours a day.  When they are full priests, they will sleep 24 hours a day.  If you want to contact them, you must do so in a dream.  They are tended to by the youngest monks, who only sleep 6 hours a night because they are so busy spitting pre-chewed food into the mouths of sleeping old men.  (So little sleep now will make it easier to sleep more later, it is said.)

In the most remote and isolated places, you will sometimes find tiny monasteries hidden in the earth.  These places are filled with sleepy-eyed boys, holy books, and lots of opiates.  There will also be one or three old men sleeping in some hidden room, where they have been sleeping continuously for the last few decades.  Although their bodies are on a stone slab, their minds dwell in paradise.

At least, sometimes.  They also have a very important job to do, and that is to keep horrible monsters sleeping so that they don't wake up and spoil the rule of LAW.  They do this by crafting dreams and inserting them into the mind of the sleeping god.  Dream labyrinths--mindscapes that draw you in and never let you out.

And if you were to creep in there and slit their throats (it would be easy--so very easy) something terrible would wake up from where it was buried three miles below you.

These old guys inhabit the Floating Realm, the world of dreams.  They are strong with sleep magic and dream magic.  But most importantly, they are also the telegraph in Centerra.

There are no teleportation spells.  (Well, the true elves have some.  And humans technically have some as well, but no sane person would cast them.  That's how a wizard ends up dispersed as a fine, bloody mist across 40 acres of tundra.)  There is no sending.  The only way to get a message across the continent is to put a dude on a horse and give them a really good map.

That is, unless you have a sleeping priest.  Distance is immaterial to them.  They can contact each other in dreams and pass messages instantly.  The only difficulty is getting access to them, since the Church controls (nearly) all of them.  Sleeping priests don't wake up to dictate--you just shove a pen in their hand and they'll write out the message in their sleep.  See also: automatic writing.

In a way, the epitomize the power of the church even better than paladins.  Sleeping priests control information, and that is the real root of the Church's power.

Sleeping Priests as PCs

It's a great idea.  Let's do it.

They're just clerics with sleep spells.  I'd also give them some stuff like suggestion and illusion.  But really focus on the sleep stuff.  Control dreams, implant suggestions. trap people in comas, give them phobias (via nightmare).

Sleeping priests occupy two very specific roles within the church, and neither of them are very likely to become an adventurer.

You could be a sleeping priest out on a mission for the church.  You could be a sleeping priest who developed insomnia and become unsuitable for their job.  You could be trying to recapture the escaped godling after you fucked up and let is escape.  (After spending the last decade asleep, I bet your knees are pretty stiff.)

You could also be a runaway, someone who escaped from the Church after learning just enough of its secrets to be dangerous.  Or, heck, you could even be someone who learned the ways of the sleeping priests in order to fight them.  After all, you need to wake your god back up.

Two Spells and a Class: Spellborn Homunculi

my sister drew this picture of spellborn homunculi!
you can see more of her art at starieline.tumblr.com

Spell (noun)
A class of extradimensional, ethereal creatures that have been domesticated by humans (much like a cow).  Each spell is a unique entity that lives in the ether, except when it is bound in a spellbook or lured into a wizard's brain (much unlike a cow).  It's more like a pokemon that you fire from a gun (your brain) and not at all like a technique you can learn from scratch.

Homunculus (noun)
An artificially created human, magically sculpted from inchoate arcano-flesh.  They lack bellybuttons and are sterile.  Most are massively inferior to humans in one or two crucial ways.  A few are vastly superior.

New Spells

Create Homunculus
Level 1 Wizard Spell

You create a humanoid body.  The body can appear however you wish, but anything beyond the ken of a normal human is nonfunctional.  (Extra arms will be useless, for example.)

The body lacks a soul and is completely inert.  You can possess it with the magic jar spell.  However, there are all sorts of opportunistic etherofauna that would also love to possess the body (1-in-6 chance per hour of possession) and will do so unless precautions are taken.  (Lead coffins are fairly secure, but a circle of protection against evil is better.)  The body will rot normally (like a normal corpse) and even a few hours of decay is enough to render a blank homunculus uninhabitable (truly like a normal corpse).

If animated, the body generates physical stats normally (3d6 in order).

Requires 35 liters of water, 20 kilograms of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kilograms of lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of niter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon.  This shopping list usually requires a major city and about 1000gp, but not always.  (For example, niter is extremely common in limestone caverns.)

If the ingredients are imbalanced, or if you buy impure materials at discounted prices, you will usually create something, just not what you had intended.

Imbue Homunculus: Living Spell
Level 1 Wizard Spell

Spells are similar things to demons, spirits, and angels.  This spell shoves a spell into an empty homunculus, like a hand into a glove.  The spell then functions as a proxy soul.

Generate mental stats normally (3d6 in order) and roll a reaction die normally.  The homunculus is an NPC with neutral loyalties and a random personality.  They begin knowing language and logic and anything else a four-year-old might know.  They usually begin life by demanding to be given a name.

As part of casting this spell, you must cast a second spell (the spell to be imbued) from your own brain simultaneously.  The spell cannot be higher than a level 1 spell.  You do not get the spell back (it doesn't return to your spellbook at midnight) until the homunculus body is destroyed.

And even then, the spell must pass a loyalty check (like a hireling) to see if it decides to ever return to your spellbook.  The experience of corporeality irrevocably changes a spell, and makes them sentient (as we understand the term).  From then on, the spell permanently has a memory, a personality, and a voice (when it is lured into the wizard's head).

The spellborn homunculus is functionally identical to a level 1 human, except that (a) it gets +4 to save against spells, and (b) it can cast itself 1/day.

The spellborn homunculus also gains characteristics beyond the original design, based on whatever spell it was imbued with.  A homunculus imbued with flaming hands might have their skin turn bright red, or their fingers turn black.  They have no special loyalty to their creator.  On a failed reaction roll, they usually just walk away, determined to find their own destiny.

New PC Class: Spellborn Homunculi

Base it on a cleric, sans cleric spells and turn undead.  If you "die", you return to your wizard's spellbook that night, like any other expended spell (if that's what you desire).  However, if you don't return to your wizard's spellbook and instead choose to wander off, you'll never find your way back (because ethereal geography isn't).

However, if you do die, your wizard can prepare you a new body by recasting the create homunculus spell and then re-imbuing you into it.  (Roll new physical stats for the body).  The only downside is that each time you undergo this process, you need to save or permanently lose a point from a random mental stat (which are permanent).

This class implies that you were created by another player's wizard character.  If you want to be true to theme, you should let that player decide what you look like, and what your name is.  (NPC wizards are wont to create homunculi with weird features, like faceted eyes or black rubber skin.)

Level 1 - Cast Yourself, Save +4 vs spells
Level 2 - Speak With Spells
Level 3 - Cast From Scrolls
Level 5 - Reversion: Dispel Magic
Level 7 - Reversion: See Invisible, See Spells
Level 9 - Reversion: Ethereal Jaunt

mass-produced homunculi

Cast Yourself
You can cast yourself X times per day, where X is your level.  If your spell has a duration, your body is empty for the duration (you're basically in a coma).  You are conscious during this time, and can end the spell whenever you wish (even spells that are not normally dismissable).  You can see and hear from the spell's location.  (So if you were a minor illusion spell and you cast yourself on a location, you would still be able to see and hear from that location.

Speak With Spells
You can speak with spells imprisoned within spellbooks or scrolls.  You can speak with permanent magic effects, as long as those effects were created by a spell.  You can even speak to the spells stored in a wizard's brain.  Spells trapped in spellbooks and scrolls usually beg to be released (but some have gone mad if the imprisonment is long enough--watch out for those).

Spells stored in a wizard's brain can sometimes be convinced to cast themselves at a target of your choice.  If you attempt this, roll a d6: 1 = spell is cast on the target you desire, 6 = you piss off the spell and it casts itself on the worst possible target.  If you try to coax the spell to do something it already wants to do (fire spells like to burn flammable things, for example), your chance of success increases to 2-in-6.

Cast From Scrolls
Just like a wizard.  You can also identify spells in scrolls/spellbooks at a glance.

Reversion: Dispel Magic
Just like the spell.  You're basically a hippy, releasing animals from the zoo.  You can cast this spell as many times as you wish, but each usage costs you 1d6 Charisma.

If your Charisma is dropped to 0 by this, you "die" and your body becomes an inert homunculus again (and is subject to the same incidental demon possession, as normal).  This is true for all "Revert" abilities.

Reversion: See Invisible
You can cast see invisible at will, but each use costs you 1d6 Charisma (which returns at the rate of 1 point per day).  This is literally your proxy soul stretching away from it's homunculus and "sticking its head" back into the ether from whence it came.

See Spells
You can now see what spells a wizard has memorized just be looking at them.

Reversion: Ethereal Jaunt
There's no place like ether.  Just like the spell of the same name.  Costs 1d6 Charisma each time you use it.

New Class: Really Good Dog

So, here's my dog class.

I'm still thinking about class duets--two players that play closely linked characters.  In this case, a PC and their loyal dog.  It's more one-sided than the Brute/Rider classes I posted earlier, since all of the duet abilities are piled onto the dog.

Here are all of the class abilities.

by Sandara

Really Good Dog

You're a Dog

You can't hold things in your hands. You can't climb ropes or ladders. Your Movement is 15 (Human Movement is 12). Your bite attack counts as either a dagger, sword, or greatsword (your choice, each bite). You do not start with any items. You can follow (most) scents, and recognize scents you've encountered before.  You can understand the words of your fellow PCs and those that your fellow PCs are talking to (via body cues and doggy intuition), but if you are interacting with NPCs alone, you are pretty clueless.  You understand Common, but cannot speak it.  You speak Canine fluently.

You're an amazingly intelligent dog: roll Int normally, but be aware that this is doggy Intelligence, and isn't suitable for all things.  For example, you can spot a trap, count coins, or remember a location you haven't been to in years.  However, you can never solve linguistic puzzles or use tools, because smart dogs aren't smart in that way.

Best Friend

Pick a best friend. You both get +1 Defense and +1 Save when fighting beside each other. This designation is permanent (until story/DM say otherwise).  If your Best Friend dies, you can pick a new one after playing 1 full session as a sad, sad dog.

Best Friends Fight As One!

If you and your Best Friend attack the same enemy simultaneously, and both attacks hit, the enemy takes an additional +1d6 damage.

Best Friends Never Give Up!

If your Best Friend is ever at 0 HP, you can lick their face to restore 1d6+1 HP.  If your Best Friend is ever paralyzed, mind-controlled, raging, or otherwise out of control, you can lick/bite them (whichever is more appropriate) to give them a new save against the effect.  Only works on things that allow saves in the first place.

Wag

When you wag your tail, you cast a version of charm person that only works on children and +Luka Rejec.

Dodge

While unarmored and able to defend yourself, you get a bonus to your AC equal to your level, to a maximum of +6.

Scent the Ineffable

As detect poison, detect evil, detect magic, or detect undead except you cannot decipher magic items and the range is limited to 1', except for detect undead where the range is 30'.

Dog Quest

At a certain point, you will attract the attention of the Dog Barons.  They will give you a quest to prove your doggishness.  Example quests include killing a Cat Prince (rakshasa) who is hiding in town somewhere, digging into a forgotten barrow and returning with the femur from the wight king who was buried there, or rescuing some asshole prince who fell down a well in orcish territory.  (This will probably involve the other PCs chasing after you shouting "Where are you going, boy?  Come back!")

If you refuse or fail this quest, you will be shunned by the Dog Clans of the cities.  If you succeed, you will win allies among the Dog Clans, and can call on their help in the cities.  Examples of help: gossip, relaying messages, safe houses, and in certain circumstances--a whole pack of mangy street dogs who will fight for you.

Growl

An enemy who can hear you must Save vs Fear or be unable to attack or approach you until your next turn. Doesn't work if you are running away, restrained, or non-threatening.  Doesn't work on things with 2 or more HD than you.

Sniff the Air

10 in-game minutes before the DM rolls for wandering monsters, he also rolls for wandering scents.  The DM rolls on the wandering monster table and describes what one of the monsters smells like.  If you've encountered that type of monster before, you can identify it.  (Communicating the information, however, might be tricky.)

Takedown

When you bite an opponent no larger than a human, you can make a trip maneuver for free. 

Talking Dog

Through magic or mutation, you can now talk.

Epic Nose

You can track anything that passed through here in the last 100 years without error, as long as you know what it smells like.

by Ben Wootten

Playing A Really Good Dog in Your Home Game

Honestly, not being able to communicate effectively, use tools, or even climb a fucking ladder are pretty big disadvantages in my book.  So, I recommend basing the Really Good Dog on a fighter, minus any special fightery abilities (like Parry or Cleave).

Then add this stuff.

Level 1 - You're a Dog, Best Friend, Wag, Dodge

Level 2 - Sniff the Air, Best Friends Fight As One!

Level 3 - Scent the Ineffable, Dog Quest

Level 4 -Takedown, Best Friends Never Give Up!

Level 5 - Talking Dog OR Epic Nose

Also, ask your DM if you can roll up a weird dog from Zak's Table of Weird Dogs.

from Dragon Age

Playing a Really Good Dog in Centerra

You're probably a Brynthic Hound, one of the immortal warrior-dogs that get passed down through generations of warrior-families like heirloom swords.