Heartbreaker, WIP

Character Creation

1. Roll stats. 3d6 down the line. Swap one pair of your choice. What you roll is your Score. Half your score minus five is its Modifier, round down. 
2. Choose a Class 
3. Choose Equipment and Starting Gear. (Coming soon)
4. Choose or roll your starting Traits 
5. Give your character a Name

Stats

• Strength
• Modifier added to your Melee Attack rolls
• Your Score determines how many Stowed items you may carry

• Dexterity
• Modifier added to your Ranged Attack rolls
• Half your Score (rounded down) determines how many Readied items you may carry.

• Constitution
• Your Score determines your Death Saving throws
•  Your Score determines how many Wounds it takes to Kill you

• Intelligence
• Modifier added to your Initiative rolls
• Modifier added to your Magic Attack rolls

• Wisdom
• Your Score determines your Mental Health

• Charisma 
• Modifier added to reaction rolls
• Your Score determines your followers' Morale  

Inventory

Encumbrance 

Don't glaze over yet, it's important and fun actually. All items are either Stowed or Readied, and take up a number of Slots of either according to their size and weight. You may only carry as many Slots worth of Stowed and Readied items as your Strength and Dexterity modifiers respectively allow, carrying over this limit will Encumber you, forcing you to carry extra items in your arms. While Encumbered you cannot roll to Attack or use Toughness Dice. 

Slots

Some items are small enough that they take up no Slots at all- clothing and jewelry worn on the body, pins or lengths of wire, single beads, etc.

Items which can be  held with other items take up a partial slot. Daggers and bucklers can be held in a hand that is holding another Partial item at the same time. Likewise, multiple of the same item can be placed into the same Inventory slot, up to the listed Partial Slot size; daggers take up 1/3 of a slot, allowing you to carry three daggers in the same inventory space. Regardless of slot size, only two different Partial items may be Held in the same hand.

On the other hand, items which take up more than one slot also exist, such as armor and two handed weapons.

Hands and Holding

You have two hands by default. Each hand may Hold a single Slot, most Items must be Held in order to be used. Items Held in your hands still take up Slots in your inventory. Items which take up two inventory slots must be Held with both hands to be used effectively. Items which are larger than two slots cannot be comfortably held in your hands- armor and kits of tools are hard to carry all at once if they aren't bundled into your backpack. Holding a Stowed item requires you to go digging in your Backpack as an Action first, whereas Readied items can easily be shifted into your Hand as a Free Action. A Held item can be shifted from Stowed to Readied as a Free Action, or vice versa.

Fighting Things

Actions

During battle, each Creature may take one Action and one Reaction and one Movement per round- as well as taking any number of Free Actions within reason. (Some creatures may have abilities or equipment that allow them to use more than one action or reaction per turn.) Actions and Movement take place in order according to the Phases of Initiative. Reactions may take place at any point in Initiative, interrupting other Actions if necessary. Some actions may cost both an Action and a Reaction or a Movement, depending on their effects. The actions available to characters vary based on their natural abilities and equipment, but those most commonly available to adventurers are listed below. 

•  Talk (Free Action) - Chat as much as you'd like.
• Attack (Action) - Make an Attack Roll against any Creature within range of your Held weapon/ability.
• Maneuver (Action) -  Make an Attack Roll against any Creature within range of your Held weapon/ability. This Attack does not deal Damage, and the target Creature cannot use their Toughness to assist their roll. If your Attack Roll is higher than their defense, instead of dealing damage you may enact one of the following effects.
•  Disarm - Choose any of the target Creature's Held or Readied items and force them to drop it from their Inventory. If you make your attack with an empty hand, you may automatically Hold the dropped item. Can be used to target enemy armor.
• Harry -  Another Creature within range may choose to take the Punish Reaction against the target.
• Trip - The target Creature falls Prone, mounted targets take 1d6 fall damage.
• Feint - The target Creature loses their Reaction for the Round.
• Object Interaction (Action or Movement) - Use a Held item, or an Environmental item: drink a potion, scoop a dropped weapon off the ground, reload a weapon, scatter caltrops or ballbearings, open a door, etc.
• Sprint (Action) - Move up to your Speed in a straight line.
• Punish (Reaction) - If a Creature within range of your Held weapon Declares an Action or attempts to Move away from you for more than half their Speed, you may make an Attack Roll against them.
• Protect (Reaction) - Choose an adjacent Creature that is being Attacked, roll your Defense Dice instead of theirs. Excess damage must be soaked by the original target's Toughness, not yours.
• Pursue (Movement/Reaction) - If a Creature Moves away from you for less than half their Speed, you may follow them, up to your Speed. 
• Rearm (Action/Reaction) - Swap Held item to a readied item out of Initiative order.
• Move (Movement) - Move up to your Speed in any direction, diagonal travel cost double.
• Brace (Movement) - Plant your feet, gain a +2 to Defense Rolls for the Round. 
• Drop/Stand (Movement) - Drop Prone. While Prone you gain a flat +2 to your Defense against Ranged Attacks, but -2 to Defense against Melee Attacks. Prone Creatures move at half Speed.
• Dodge (Action/Reaction/Movement) - Uses all of your Action, Reaction, and Movement to reposition, moving five feet in any direction or Dropping Prone. May interrupt Melee Attacks.
• Declare (Action) - Declare a Special ability or Spell being cast from a Grimoire or Scroll- or go digging in your pack to Hold a Stowed item. Declared at the top of Initiative, takes effect at the end.

Attacking and Defending 

Rolling to hit and to-damage are the same thing. Your Attack Roll uses the relevant Damage Dice size plus relevant Stat Modifier. Enemies oppose attacks with their Defense Dice; subtract the number shown on the Defense Dice from the Attack Dice to determine the damage taken by the target, then apply Toughness. Attacks Explode: rolling the maximum number on the dice lets you roll a second time, adding the two rolls together.

Injury

If a Creature takes damage and does not have any Toughness Dice remaining, or is incapable or unwilling to use them to soak the remaining damage, they are Injured. An injured character must roll a Constitution Save. On a success, they may choose to either Fall Unconscious with a Flesh Wound, or be Mutilated and remain standing. On a failure, they suffer both. Unconscious Creatures may be rescued by allies providing medical attention (Medical Kit) after a battle. Unconscious Creatures that are left to fend for themselves after a battle may make a second constitution save, dying on a failure, and waking after 2d12 hours on a success.

Mutilation 

Nobody makes it out alive. Use the damage dealt by the attack that dropped the character to determine how bad it is. (Honestly just use this one from Coins and Scrolls, I'm only including mine because I'd feel guilty just ripping one from someone else.)

1. Flesh Wound : It will heal up nicely, with a steady hand to stitch it shut. 
2. Scarred : Crooked nose, split lip, missing ear. Lucky, all told. -1 Charisma.
3. Maimed : Roll 1d6 (1-2) Head, lose an eye. Lose two and you'll go Blind. (3-4) Right or Left arm, they broken or sprained or have a cut tendon/muscle. You won't be using them until you're Healed. (5-6) Right or Left leg. Move at half speed with something or someone to lean on, quarter if you're limping without a crutch.
4. Bleeding Out:  Roll 1d4. In that many rounds you will be dead, unless you receive medical attention from a Medicine Kit.
5. Gut Wound : Roll 1d6. You're going to die in that many days unless you're Healed. 
6. Severed :  Roll 1d6 (1-2) Head, instant death. (3-4) Right or Left arm. (5-6) Right or Left leg. Move at half speed with something or someone to lean on, crawl Prone without a crutch.
7. Agony : Cannot regain Toughness until Healed. Unable to exert much effort without crippling pain.
8. Doomed : Roll 1d4. In that many rounds you will be dead, unless you receive Healing. It looks really really bad.
9. Instant Death : Chopped in Half, Decapitated, there's no saving you. Resurrection Possible.
10. Awful : Not enough left to Resurrect.

Armor

Armor must be readied in order to grant its benefits. A shield must Readied and Held to grant its benefits.

Each slot of armor increases your Defense Dice's size by one. An unarmored character has no Defense Dice. (Dice Sizes in order: d0, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12) A d12 is the largest the Defense Dice can be.

 I leave the economics of pricing this stuff in Hacksilver as an exercise for the GM, because I'm lazy.

• Gambeson (d4) 1 slot
• Leather (d6) 2 slots
• Chain (d8) 3 slots
• Scale (d10) 4 slots
• Plate (d12) 5 slots 
• Buckler (Flat +1 to Defense roll) Partial slot
• Shield  (Flat +2 to Defense roll) 1 slot
• Pavis Shield (Flat +2 to Defense roll) 2 slots, can be Planted as an Object Interaction to set it in place and free your Hands

Toughness:

All characters begin play with at least one Toughness Dice, which represents their ability to whether the rigors of an adventurous life. Toughness Dice are most commonly used to soak Damage from an enemy's successful Attack Roll. After your Defense Roll is subtracted from the enemy's Attack Roll, you can choose to roll as many of your Toughness Dice as you feel necessary. The sum of your Toughness Dice is subtracted from the damage. Any time Toughness Dice are rolled, for any reason, any that show a 5 or a 6 are Exhausted. Exhausted Toughness dice can't be used again until you've eaten a full meal (At least two of: Hot, with Meat, in a Locked Room, or with Alcohol,) and slept at least 6 hours.

Weapons:

• Bare Hand, no slots, (1 damage), Nonlethal
• Claws, Gauntlets, Knuckles, 1/2 slot, (1d4) Light, Free Hand
• Staff, Club, Flail, 1 slot, (1d6) +2 to Disarm against enemy Armor and Shields
• Torch, 1 slot, (1d6) Terror
• Falchion, Hand Axe, Arming Sword, 1 slot, (1d8) 
• Longsword, Greataxe, Claymore, 2 slots, (2d6)
• Polearm, Bohemian Earspoon, Halberd, 2 slots, (1d10) Brace, Long
• Whip, 1 slot, (1d4) Dexterous, Long, Terror, Nonlethal
• Spear, 1 slot, (1d6) Brace, Long
• Javelin, 1/2 slot (1d6) Thrown (30 ft.) 
• Dagger, 1/3 slot, (1d4) Light, Thrown (10 ft.) +2 to Melee Attack against Prone targets
• Boomerang, 1 slot, (1d4) Light, Thrown (30 ft.) Delay, Ignores shields 
• Bomb, 1/3 slot, (1d8) Thrown (30 ft.) Blast, Delay, Must be armed with an Object Interaction to be used
• Firebomb, 1/3 slot, (1d8) Thrown (30 ft.) Blast, Terror, Must be armed with an Object Interaction to be used 
• Heavy Crossbow, 3 slots, (2d10) Ranged (300 ft.) Reload, Blast, Must be planted as an Object Interaction to be used
• Ammunition - 1 slot each 
• Crossbow, 2 slots, (1d10) Ranged (100 ft.) Can be kept Loaded while Readied or Stowed
• Ammunition - 1/3 slot each 
• Hand Crossbow, 1/2 slot, (1d6) Ranged (30 ft.) Light
• Ammunition - 1/6 slot each 
• Longbow, 2 slots, (1d10)  Ranged (100 ft.) Brace, cannot be used from Horseback
• Ammunition - 1/6 slot each 
• Shortbow, 1 slot, (1d6) Ranged (60 ft.) Cannot be used with a shield
• Ammunition - 1/6 slot each 
• Sling, 1/2 slot, (1d4) Light, Ranged (30 ft.) Can be used with shield
• Ammunition - 1/32 slot each, ordinary stones, don't even bother tracking them

Brace: Weapons with this quality may be used to Punish enemies Moving inside their range while you use the Brace Movement action. Brace weapons deal +2 damage from a mounted position.

Blast: Weapons with this quality affect all Creatures within 5 ft, not just their target.

Delay: Weapons with this quality strike one round after they are used on the same Phase.

Dexterous: Can be used like a Free Hand for the sake of Maneuvers and Object Interactions

 Free Hand: Weapons with this quality function as partial Slots, but allow a full Slot item to be held instead of just another Partial Slot item. 

Light: Weapons with this quality can be used to attack twice. So long as you are holding two Light weapons, you may use both to attack, even during different phases, for the cost of one Action. 

Terror: Weapons with this quality provoke a Morale test for the enemy side after successfully injuring a target, or an individual morale test when used to Feint against an individual enemy, at the top of the next round.

Initiative: 

Initiative is Phased. At the top of each Round all sides involved roll a d6, Modified by their respective leader's Intelligence. Winners act first each Phase/bullet, then losers act before moving to the next phase. IE: A loser with a polearm makes a Melee attack before a winner with a dagger.

1. Re-roll Initiative and Check Morale

2. Declared Actions (Action)

• Casters must declare Spells. Casters are considered to be casting the spell for the rest of the            phase, until the spell actually takes effect at the end.
• Monsters must declare special attacks - Breath Weapons, Banshee Wails, etc.
• Go digging in your pack for a Stowed item (Main Action)
• Declared actions can be aborted at any time, but do not refund the action spent. 

3. Hold Readied items (Free Action)

4. Object Interactions (Action or Movement) 

5. Ranged Attacks (Action)

• Crossbows and Firearms 
• Light Weapons
• Heavy Weapons

6. Move, Brace or Drop/Stand (Movement)

7. Melee Attacks (Action)

• Long Weapons first 
• Light Weapons
• One-Handed Weapons and Bare Hands
• Heavy/Two-Handed Weapons

8. Declared Actions Finish (Free Action) 

Traits

Pick 2 Traits at Character creation, or Roll 3 at random.

1. Artful Dodger : Your Toughness Dice only exhaust on 6's, so long as you aren't wearing armor. Shields are fine. 
2. Brick Shithouse : +6 Stowed Inventory Slots.
3. Psychopath : People dying doesn't bother you at all. +2 to Attack rolls against Creatures fighting in self defense.
4. Pugilist : Your Bare Hands deal 1d6 damage and count as Light weapons.
5. Blind : You can't see. Using ranged weapons is impossible. Fighting with Melee Weapons requires rigid coordination. A lifetime of living with disability has made you capable of functioning as an adventurer. 
6. Boon Companion : You have a Dire Wolf, Horse, or Shark that loves and trusts you. So long as you are alive, you can bring it back to life at the cost of exhausting one Toughness Dice. You may shrink this creature down into a one inch tall version of itself and keep it in your pocket.
7. Chosen : Begin play with a Magical Sword of the Dungeon Master's choice. Whilst uninjured you may fire Sword Beams, treating your Sword as a Ranged Weapon with a range of 15 ft. Someone evil is coming to kill you and everyone who knows you.  
8. Dog : You have a base speed of 60 ft. You may use your Mouth like a single Hand, and Bite for 1d6 damage. Other members of your party understand you via body language. Armor must be tailor made.
9. One Handed : Flip a coin to determine if it was your left or right. Thieves lose their left, deserters lose their right. People don't treat you very well no matter which you lost, no matter how you lost it. A lifetime of living with disability has made you capable of functioning as an adventurer.
10. Sense of Smell : You can smell whether or not meat is safe to eat or water safe to drink. You can tell if someone is sick or cursed before they can. You can smell oil traps, liars, undead, Demons, and blood. If any of these things have been in a room you're in you know how long it has been.
11. Telepath : You may speak directly into other Creature's minds within 100 feet. Simple images can also be transferred. You do not have to see the Creatures, but you must know they are there. Willing creatures may share their eyesight with you.
12. Transgender : Self-Made. People who you've never met have opinions about you. You cannot be polymorphed, mutated, or transfigured against your will. 
13. Leper : Your Bare Hands gain the Terror trait. Most creatures will go out of their way to avoid you.
14. Crop : Gain an extra 2 Readied Slots inside your stomach. 
15. Ghoulthirst : Undead don't want to eat you. Eating people doesn't bother you at all. May substitute Fresh Bloody Meat for Hot Food.
16. Lucky : The first time you would be killed or be permanently mutilated, you aren't.
17. Nobody There : You have no shadow, footprints, scent, or warmth. People forget your face and name within hours of meeting you. Your mind cannot be read, you don't set off alarms or magic traps, and you cannot be accurately drawn or photographed.
18. Trick Magic Item : You can ignore Curses, Qualifiers, Drawbacks, or Magic Locks that prevent the use of a magic item. If an item has limited charges, you can Exhaust a Toughness Dice instead of a charge at a one to one ratio.
19. Talks to Animals : You can talk to Animals.
20. Healthy: +1 Toughness Dice.
21. Jack : +2 to all stats.
22. Branded : Undead, Devils, and other creatures of darkness attack you first. Others can use your life as a bargaining chip with them.
23. Spitter : You may spit any liquid with pinpoint accuracy within 60 ft, including your own saliva. You can fill your mouth with enough liquid at a time that you can extinguish a torch. So long as you don't swallow, the inside of your mouth is immune to damage.
24. Sickly : Your Toughness Dice exhaust on 4's as well as 5's and 6's. Other Creatures don't consider you a threat until you actually attack them.
25. Paranoid : Immune to poison, venom, disease, and being killed in your sleep
26. Princely : Enemies want you alive 
27. Robot : Your bare skin counts as plate armor. You do not eat or breathe. You cannot willingly harm a Human, or through inaction allow one to come to harm. You must obey all commands given by a Human, unless they would violate the first law. You must protect yourself, unless doing so would violate the first or second law. Becoming fully submerged in water kills you instantly.
28. Third Arm, Prehensile Tail, Juggler : Third Hand to Hold items with
29. Fast Hands : Object Interactions are a Free Action
30. Elf : May substitute Fresh Water for Alcohol and Sunlight for food. You do not take fall damage or set off pressure plates.
31. Dwarf : May substitute Fungus for Hot Food and sleep in armor. Immune to pit and spike traps.
32. Ogre : May hold 2 Slots worth of items in each hand. 
33. Orc : +2 to Attack. Everyone you meet hates you enough to act on it. 
34. Vampire : Garlic and Holy symbols are Terror weapons against you, and you must roll a Toughness Dice every round you stand in Daylight. May substitute blood for both Alcohol and Hot Food. Creatures you feed upon fall into helpless lethargy for a day. The only thing that can kill you for good is being decapitated, staked through the heart, then left out in the sunlight to burn.
35. Hobbit : May only hold 1/2 Slots worth of items in each hand- One-Handed weapons count as Two Handed weapons. Can attempt to Disarm/Steal once each Round as a Free Action. 
36. Lizard: Your bare skin counts as leather armor and you can breathe underwater. Your bare hands are claws that deal 1d6 damage.
37. Centaur : Always Horseback. 
38. Starseed : Acid blood, Albino. Walk on water, walls, and ceilings, but not floors. 
39. Monkey's Paw : You have one wish left. The last few didn't go so well.
40. Explosive : You may choose to Explode as a Free Action, dealing 4d10 damage to everything within 15 feet of you and killing yourself immediately.
41. Skinwalker : You can wear the skins of other living things. Only close family or friends can tell. Does not change your stats. 
42. Wings : Fly 30 feet in any direction as a Move action. Each time you do so, you must roll a Toughness Dice. You may not fly if you are encumbered or wearing more than leather armor.
43. Second Head : Survive decapitation. Once. 
44. Wheelchair Bound : Without the use of your lower body, generating the force required to fight with Melee weapons larger than a dagger is impossible- unless they have the Brace quality. Without your wheelchair or another mount you fall Prone. A lifetime of living with disability has made you capable of functioning as an adventurer. 
45. Firebreather : You have a Breath Weapon, you may exhale a 25 ft cone of fire at will. You must declare this attack as typical. Roll as many Toughness Dice as you wish, the Attack Roll of your breath weapon is equal to their sum.

Miscellany on Archdemons

 Notes on Archdemons.

Theory of "Pitched Battle" posed by Bishop Isiah, Imperial Cycle 6, 33rd year. 

Summarized:
There exist two worlds: our world of Light, and another world suffused in Dark. An intelligence exists in the Dark World. This intelligence creates the Archdemons and sends them into our world for the sake of transferring Dooms. Every Doom that enters our world lessens the Doom that suffocates their own, to the end of reversing the fortunes of our respective worlds. Eventually they will dwell in a stolen paradise while we succumb to their misery. The only way to stem the flow of Doom is to find a way to strike back at the Dark world- by finding a way to create Archdemons of our own.

("Curse-Eater" Isiah was later stripped of his title and named Heresiarch. In part due to his authorship of the "Pitched Battle" heresy, and in part for attempting to act upon it. The Divine Order has not yet prevailed in finding a way of carrying out his Death Sentence, and must content itself instead with indefinite imprisonment.)

Detection.

The Imperial Calendar is maintained by the Sibilant Order of the Divine Foresight. Through communion with the petrified God, the Order of Foresight is capable of determining when and where each Archdemon will appear.

Though Archdemons emerge more reliably than clockwork, the order of Foresight makes adjustments to the calendar regarding Leap years and other holidays to prevent laity from accidentally losing track of which day is exactly 100 years from the last emergence. (Of interest: Archdemons observe leap days but not intercalary months.) 

Foresight's predictions are accurate within seven miles of the Archdemon's point of emergence. These predictions can be made as early as seven years prior to the emergence, allowing for fortification and evacuation.

The Order observes the Archdemon's form for a period of seven minutes before its emergence; though this has returned false information on several Archdemons, including Plague. An Archdemon's Doom is, by definition, novel, and predicting it through this observation is rarely accurate. Each Archdemon's physical capabilities, however, can be inferred from its form. The Divine Order uses a network of Communication Deodands to relay data from their predictions to the rest of the Divine Order, including the Exorcists awaiting the oncoming Archdemon.

Notable Archdemons.

Archdemons killed before passing their Doom are not given names. Sensory detail is customarily recorded and retained by the Sibilant order of the Divine Memory, which draws from the dreams of survivors and Exorcists.

Archdemon Apollyon; Imperial Cycle Zero.

Form: Eight Legged, Capable of Self Replication, Four Membranous Wings. 
Doom: Averted. Within 100 miles of emergence, dead matter no longer provided sustenance. Plants and fungus rapidly adapted to seed in living flesh. Estimated total ecological collapse within five years. Persisted for three minutes after its death.
Note: Killed within fifteen seconds of emergence by Sol Amon. Effects and behaviors extrapolated by the Titan of Foresight. Most catastrophic doom recorded in Imperial history. Outlier?

Nameless Archdemon; Imperial Cycle Four.

Form: Severed Human Head Magnified Twenty Five Times, Pallor, Third Eye Set above Brow.
Doom: Averted. Speech which provoked Qualia response in Soul. Spoke the words "Flense" "Patricide" and "Parasites." Audible for seventy-three mile radius, took effect regardless of language. Qualia persisted for seven months after its death. Those afflicted were capable of mimicking the effect by describing hallucinations. 
Note: Only Archdemon capable of speech in Imperial record. Transmission; possible link to Plague?

Nameless Archdemon; Imperial Cycle Nine.

Form: Bird-Like Morphology, Pallor, External Lungs, Non-functional Eyes and Limbs, Two feet long.
Doom: Averted. Any creature consuming their own offspring (within five minutes of live birth or within ten of hatching) within four miles of its point of emergence gained half their offspring's lifespan in addition to their own. All creatures within radius became aware of this fact. Effect faded after four hours of its death- excluding already extended lifespans.
Note: Unusually weak physiology. Killed by a boot to the skull. Predecessor to Plague. Weakest recorded Archdemon followed by the hardest to kill; Possible link between relative strength?

Archdemon Plague; Imperial Cycle Ten.

Form: Segmented Body, Exoskeleton, External Gill-like Structures, Projectile Fluid Expulsion Orifices.
Doom: Propagated. Contagion. See "Dogma Pathologia" for precise detail.
Note: Unusually evasive. Order of Foresight fed Exorcists inaccurate detail; the first engagement used ineffective weaponry and allowed the Archdemon to escape. Archdemon focused almost entirely on its own survival and the propagation of its Doom.

Staff Sorcerer: WWN Class

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Obiwan1.jpg

Staff Sorcerer (A WWN port of Mage From Carcass Crawler #1)

Staff Sorcerers are scholars dedicated to the use and study of Ritual Magic. While some may deride their abilities as mere parlor tricks, their powers bend towards the practical. Rather than bursts of overwhelming grandeur, Staff Sorcerers rely on a wide repertoire of clever tricks which make them useful in almost any situation that can be encountered on the road. The Staff for which they take their name is a simple tool, but only a fool would travel without one.

Staff Sorcerer Benefits

 

The Staff Sorcerer class exists only as a partial Expert class, to
be taken by an Adventurer along with another partial
class. Thus, a Partial Warrior/Partial Staff Sorcerer might be a
Wizard-Knight, a Partial Expert/Partial Staff Sorcerer
might be a Spell-Thief or Artificer, and a Partial Mage/Partial Staff Sorcerer might be a Self-Taught Hedge Mage

All Staff Sorcerers gain Magic as a bonus skill, acquiring it at
level-0, or level-1 if they already have it at level-0.

A Sorcerer’s Staff is a vital implement infused with their soul. Without their Staff in hand, a Sorcerer cannot use any Staff Sorcerer Arts. In addition, the potent rituals woven into their Staff are disrupted by a shield or any garment heavier than normal clothing unless they have taken the Armored Magic feat. If their staff is ever lost or destroyed, or they come across a staff superior to their own, a Staff Sorcerer may bond a new staff in a ritual that may be completed during their daily preparations.

Despite being a partial Expert Class, Staff Sorcerers can scribe spells to and from Grimoires. Staff Sorcerers do not have any spell slots and cannot cast spells directly, instead, they may use Grimoires to craft Calyxes as if they were a Mage of an equal level. Staff Sorcerers can create both Workings and Equipment Modifications.

Unlike the normal Partial Expert class, Staff Sorcerers do not get a bonus non-combat Focus at first level, nor do they get a Partial Expert’s bonus skill point when advancing a character level. One who takes the standard Partial Expert for their other class gains these things normally

 

Level	Arts Gained
1	Wizard’s Lantern, Staff Brawler, and Any One
2	Any One
3
4	Any One
5	Any One
6	Any One
7
8	Any One
9
10	Any One

 

Arts of the Staff Sorcerer

Staff Sorcerer Effort is calculated as usual, with each PC’s maximum being equal to their Magic skill level plus the better of their Intelligence or Wisdom modifiers.

 

Wizard’s Lantern: Commit Effort Indefinitely to radiate bright light for 30’. This light causes magical objects to shimmer- which may reveal invisible creatures or objects.

Staff Brawling: You may use your Magic Skill to attack with a staff, which may harm invulnerable and intangible creatures as if it were a magical weapon. In addition, you may wield your staff as a one handed weapon.

Magic Missile: Commit Effort for the Scene as a Main Action to hurl a missile of light at a visible target within fifty feet per character level. The attack is made with Magic as the combat skill, Int, Dex, or Wis, as the attribute, and a bonus to hit equal to your character level. Missiles may be fired in melee at a -4 penalty to hit. On a hit, the attack does 1d6 damage plus your Magic Skill and Casting Modifier.

Mage Armor: Commit Effort Indefinitely to manifest a thin bubble of force around yourself. This bubble grants you a bonus to your AC equal to your Magic Skill plus your Casting Modifier. This bubble holds enough air to breath for a number of minutes equal to your Magic Skill underwater or in toxic gas, which refreshes naturally when exposed to fresh air.

Hold or Open Portal: Commit Effort for the Scene as a Main Action to Hold a door, portal, or lid shut for 1 round (10 minutes) per Level. Open doors slam shut. Alternatively; cause a closed and unlocked door, portal, or lid to fly open.

Identify: Commit Effort for the Scene as an Instant Action to learn the following facts about an object or creature which you can see.

• Where did it come from/who made it, and why
• The most important thing it has done
• How much it’s worth in Silver Pieces

Suggestion: Commit effort for the Scene as a Main Action and target any number of creatures whose combined HD are less than your level. Make a suggestion, no more than a short sentence, which they must make a Mental Save or be forced to carry out. If that suggestion would require them to injure themselves, they automatically succeed this save. After one round has passed, affected creatures come to their senses. Affected creatures do not necessarily know they have been ensorcelled- unless the suggestion demanded actions completely outside of their nature.

Rally/Fear: Commit Effort for the Day as a Main Action to force your enemies to make a Morale Check. Alternatively, prevent all allies from being affected by Fear effects for the rest of the Scene, and non-player allies from failing their next Morale Check.

Cure: Commit Effort for the Day as an Instant Action; for the rest of the Scene you may heal damage equal to your level plus your Magic skill to a touched ally as a Main Action, or cure a poison or disease. Magical poisons and diseases may require a Wis/Heal or Cha/Heal skill check against a difficulty of 8 or more. This healing adds 1 System Strain to yourself each time it is applied.

 

Material Conditions and Pretending to be an Elf

https://pantmonger.artstation.com/projects/GnBAz

So.

Dungeons and Dragons is a game, or a set of games, or the idea of a genre of game where you roll dice and pretend to be a wizard or a thief or a paladin or something in fantastical locations meeting classic monsters like goblins and mimics and dragons. There can be plots, you can be on a dungeon crawl or a railroad or a sandbox. When I talk about RPG's, I mostly refer to games like this. They have different names, like Pathfinder, Old School Essentials, or Worlds Without Number; but I'm talking about games with a distinct fixation on the simulated realities of the characters in them. You can call these games DnD-likes, if you absolutely have to.

Material Conditions refer to a person's, well, material conditions. The conditions of their material reality. Do you have a car? What is your house like? Do you have enough food for the week? Can you walk? People have needs which dictate their behavior, and they have Material Conditions that determine how and if those needs are met. I subscribe to the idea that human history is best understood through a study of Material Conditions and the Labor involved in them. History is a record of the tools humanity has used to meet their needs- the logistics of feeding, clothing, and housing people. I think that understanding how people meet their needs through the tools and environment available to them is crucial to an understanding of humanity. Culture, history, politics, these things stem from Material Conditions. This is called Historical Materialism.

This understanding of Material Conditions can, obviously, be translated to Dungeon Type games. Do you have a lockpick? Do you have a torch or a lantern? How large is your inventory? Do you have enough hirelings and wagons to carry that Dragon's Hoard?

DnD-like games in particular are obsessed with Material Conditions. Even 5th edition, whose case I will get on in a bit, has a surplus of tables and rules and resources pertaining to encumbrance. It cares about how much stuff you can bring with you into a dungeon, it cares about the prices of chickens and cows and wagons. Hell, there's a table that lists the volumetric capacity of jugs, waterskins, barrels, and tankards separately.

I characterized this type of game as a "Equipment Table" type game; where you track the number of coins in your purse in a specialized spot on your sheet and have to make sure that you packed lunch before going into a forest to hit things with your sword- which also needs to be typographically specified from a list of swords with different mechanical characteristics based on its length. 5e has tridents, pikes, javelins and spears, all different weapons with different stats! This isn't just about weapon types, it's about granular distinctions of even apparently minor changes in the Material Conditions in the game world.

https://www.irregularwebcomic.net/543.html

  

Monsters are differentiated even further, sometimes to the point of absurdity. Goblins, Gnomes, Redcaps, Boggarts, Boggles, and a dozen other creatures with the same folkloric origin but different names have entirely different stat blocks.

5e lists monsters like Hobgoblins and Orcs down to the last stat point- even though realistically you should only really need one "Humanoid with Weapon" monster statblock. And... I agree. Something in me recoils at the thought of not having separate stat blocks for different monsters, that one "just use bears" article viscerally repulsed me when I read it. A Human being is not a Hobgoblin- they need different stat blocks, even if nobody except me would ever know. 

I know a lot of people who frown when presented with a system that elides these material conditions in favor of Narrative solutions. Dungeon World doesn't make characters track inventory items; they can pop open their backpack and pull out a rope or torch or something at any point in the adventure up to a certain number of times. They hated that! Those same people want their character sheet to contain an exact amount of gold pieces and torches and waterskins. They spend time before the game looking through the equipment table picking out these items. They care about them. And I'm one of them! The Equipment table is exactly what drew me to these types of games to begin with. When I was too young to really understand the game or find a group to play with, I'd imagine play scenarios while reading equipment tables, imagining how I would use all the different strange little bits of adventuring gear when I played. My first few games I was basically a point and click character, constantly picking up random crap and trying to use it to solve puzzles, greasing hinges and trying to feed animals poisoned bait.

Then I learned that the material conditions sold to you by these games are fake.

The games include these things- but that does not always reflect their importance to the game itself. The existence of the volumetric capacity table in 5e doesn't mean the designers care about how much liquid random containers can contain, they were just cargo-culting based off of the neurotic table-obsession of Gary Gygax! Tridents and pikes are in there because half of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' weapons table was different polearms. Those things are in there because they were in ADnD and 4e was a huge failure and they needed to try and recapture that old-school magic so they just went rifling through old editions' pockets. News flash, nobody uses encumbrance! The age of the material condition has ended; the culture of play that lives upon 5e does not care about tracking lamp oil or caltrops or the exact differences between a glaive-guisarme, glaive, guisarme, and voulge-guisarme. They do not care about Material Conditions. There are fake equipment table type games and there are real ones- and the problem is that nobody even knows that these are two different genres. Maybe not even the designers.

For a brief period I thought that the equipment lists themselves were the problem. I was dissatisfied with games that didn't feel connected to the fictional reality. I didn't like that spells like Prestidigitation and Light made torches and tinderboxes useless.

This led to my spiral into the compromise, Daggerheart and Dungeon World and Pathfinder 2e. These games retain the aesthetics of materialism without the bite. Weapons are largely interchangeable props, not distinguished by their physical characteristics, but by attached gamist or narrative principles. Your character can use a Scythe as a weapon for god's sake!! They're stat sticks with microfeats baked into them! You wear armor, not because it stops daggers and arrows, but because it has "aura!" I found myself even more deeply unsatisfied by these games. You could do anything, be any kind of character, but that was simply because none of those choices mattered. Every character ended up being equally useful because every character was equally disconnected from material conditions. I didn't have to puzzle out scenarios in which my character's items and skills could be useful, because the games are tilted in such a way that basically the only things worth doing are shooting monsters in the face- something every character class and ability has been very delicately balanced around so that there are no real wrong choices.

(I actually think that these games are fun and well designed in general- but part of a genre that I do not care for.)

I could slot Narrative, Simulationist, and Gamist games into a neat continuum. Simulationist games are the most invested into material conditions, while Gamist games are only interested in the aesthetic of them. Narrative games are wholly uninterested in material conditions- or at the very least just the bare minimum required for action scenes. I'm not sure that's wholly productive though. Most games aren't strictly separable into that neat typology. 

So, why am I ranting about this? What is so important to me about Material Conditions? Well... I have a lot more to say, but this post is getting a long and I don't even know if it's a useful lens of analysis. Am I saying important things or just navel gazing? I think losing sight of material conditions leads to a loss of something essentially captivating about Dungeon type games; explaining the gradual loss of identity the "official" DnD game line has suffered- including the tragedy of the Martial/Caster divide and combat bloat. More on that later, I guess.

 

Kismet and Writhing Nothing

That which does not exist wishes to do so. Worms writhe upwards through the dirt, blind eyes and blind minds. There exists flesh without the divine spark. The world is a system of carefully spinning plates and when they fall, wrong things come into being.

When a toad inseminates a hen's egg the Basilisk is born, a child left unnamed becomes a Monster, a body left to rot becomes Undead. 

Bad Luck is real. It is called Kismet, and it has nothing to do with a toss of the dice. Wrong action- violence, theft, waste, tangles Fate into Kismet. A rope under tension. Small trespasses open small doors, children born out of wedlock bear a deformity, promise-breakers fall ill, mistreated dogs grow rabid. This eases the tension. But the Wrongness lurks. A hundred years from now someone will open a big door, and that rope will snap down like a whip.

I simply opened my mind and was at once enlightened

 The sweat damp wind paws the back of your neck, carrying the fragrance of a thousand dead things. The world is going to die soon.

 / indicates features obvious to passive inspection (enter the room)

// indicates features that require active, but not intensive, examination (Player must ask to look at the object closely or request more information)

/// indicates features that require good lighting and intensive examination - hidden doors and traps (Player must use their wits to uncover, ask specifically to look for relevant details)

() indicates a conclusion or truth that needs to be connected by the player's brain

 

1. The Road.

/

1. The Road 

Road/slippery/muck/bent guidepost points east "To EISNER"/ 

/Covered Wagon//broken axle/// Saw marks (sabotage)  

/wagonbed empty//many bootprints in filth (passengers, not cargo)

 

 2. Eisner

/Mid sized town //3 miles from the river. /Bridge is out, visible from gates.

/Squat walled town hunched in the shadow of an ancient wall, taller than any other building, repurposed into a hall.

/North wall is ancient construction/ half tumbled down/ green tinged brick./ two storeys, windows and columns, fine make. Lights in the windows //Music on the wind (tavern set into the wall)

/Walled/ wooden/ two watchtowers, east (bridge) and west (road) gates 

/West Gate/  Watchtower, flickering brazier of coals, watchman with sling, half a nose/// named Fat Neddy, despite being lanky and rib-thin. //Brass bell in watchtower (worth 5 GP in hacksilver)

/Neddy rings the bell when travelers approach the gate///if any of the party are obviously female (long hair, chain mail bikini, etc.) Neddy cries out that "The Witch" has come for blood, and flees down to the courtyard behind the gate. (Neddy's bell will bring the guards, who will open the gate once they're ready. There are different patterns for fires, wolves, and the risen dead than for travelers.) //dark circles under his eyes. (He takes both shifts, day and night.)

/Guards are 6 villagers in piecemeal (12 total, work in shifts,) limbs and necks wrapped double in hides, carrying pitchforks and wood axes// three are women// Leader is an ox of a woman holding a meat cleaver (stats as a hand axe) /// named Clarabel (stats as an orc with max HP, frontier living built her tough.) //Personality of a "queen bitch" insecure about her power, desperate to keep it, reveling in the fear. Can be threatened, but forms a deep grudge, will avenge any slight bloodily/ Clarabel demands to search party's belonging, orders female guards to take any female party members aside and try to force you to show them your legs/// they're checking if any of you are "The Empusa." ///The women are gripped by fear, edging on hysteria, will take a refusal as proof of guilt

(Note: if the players seem likely to instantly become murderhoboes and lock themselves out of this town and make everything super messy by murdering all the guards, you can have Jonah arrive from the tavern and tell them all to calm down.) 

//The villagers say The Empusa is a vicious witch who started coming around 10 days ago. Every night it kills someone by drinking the blood from their veins. It takes the form of a beautiful young woman, but under her skirts she has a leg of bronze and eleven more like the legs of a spider. 

 /party allowed to keep small arms (daggers, shortswords, axes. No two handed weapons or swords. Clarabel will steal a two handed weapon for herself, given the opportunity. Contraband and large weapons get stashed in a chest under the ladder to the top of the watchtower.)

/guards tell party to put up in the North Wall Inn. //The inn in the North Wall //It's packed to the gills, but it's a place to stay. //Nobody else is willing to house travelers right now.




IN PROGRESS, PROBABLY NEVER TO BE FINISHED

 

 

 

 

Balanced game rules for your game that you play

Balance, the great and wretched altar to which I kneel. You have taken my respect, my joy my creativity. balance Balance balanace balanace balcnanlajel nbalnacen labblancnanlhe.

 

Power budgets and DPR and whiterooms and the END RESULT STILL FUCKING SUCKS!!!!!!!

 

I WORSHIPPED YOU I BELIEVED YOU I TRUSTED YOU AND ALL THE GAMES YOU GIVE ME STILL SUCK SHIT.

 

PF2e: SHIT GAME for SUCKERS

5e: SHIT GAME for BABIES

 3.5: SHIT GAME for IDIOTS

4e: SHIT GAME for WOW PLAYERS

WWN: SHIT GAME for 5e BABIES IN DENIAL 

 LANCER: IT"S JUST FUCKING 4e AGAIN GODDDDAMMMMITITTT 

 

Roll 1d12 for a cool ass weapon your wizard will never fucking use

1. Moonblade
2. Glaive
3. Katana
4. Nunchaku
5. Miku sticker Baseball Bat
6. The Jar
7. Crossbow
8. 1d4 darts
9. Iron Spined Spellbook
10. Dagger
11. A staff like Gandalf from Peter Jackson
12. Family guy dvd sharpened into a chakram
13. A small sinew bound crossbow formed from your own flesh that fires your phalanges like bolts
14. club
15. blowgun (1 extra poison damage!!!!)
16. The Throngler
17. A trident (those are in this game?)
18. The Pen
19. The Sword
20. Divorce papers

 

Sexmagic:

 level one: Your penis explodes

level two: Her penis explodes

level three: the cum dimension

level five: sex 2

level six: handjob 

level seven: The dao of torsion

level eight: Homosexuality

level nine: Your penis explodes \

\

 

 Paizo be like

PLAYABLE BEHOLDERS:

 Beholder kin are uhhh um basically just like a person but like,,,,,, imagine if ewer let you play as beholder heuh that would be so fucking sick...... youy have more yes ;:::)

 

+1 to all REGULAR and OCCULT spells that have the OCCULAR effect.

+1 to the RACISM skill as a RACIAL bonus

+1 to any SAVE with the TRIPWIRE or PRESSURE plate taggle, because youar FLYING but not really you can still be knocked prone and stuff but don't worry cutie pootie pinky pork pie, you still are a big sexy flying beholder

 RACial FEAT: BEHOLDERS DON't HAVE ANY FEAT THEY FLOAT

 

 Potions elller

NEw class

 

AB: Ambien
CD: Ambien

EFG: AMbien

 

ABCDEFG: Ambien: You take ambien and fall asleep instantly. Roll uyp a new character you piece of shit 

 

Power word: KILL

Powerful, EPIC, Rare, Uncommon, Necrotic, PRimal, Wisdom, ALPHA, Manipulate, incapacitate

9th level 

Walmart: onew illing creature without the SIGMA trait

range:touch

components verbal lmomatic saterial: the legs

tunch: sprunges

You call out to the primordial ether to turn your body into a turning fork for the energy of Karthassus the nihilosmic lord of killamanjaro. Choose one unwilling creature in range. It must make a fortitude saving throw or be force to make a fortitude saving throw or be forced to make a wisdom saving throw against making a reflex saving throw against a strength saving throw that would strongarm it into making an intelligence saving trhow against making a ranged touch attack with a melee spell weapon against your saving DC to make you make a ranged strenght attack its spell save dc against your touch ac against its cosmic spelggaar p ;l;sdf north of the city of wisdom or else take 3d6 plus your wisdom modifier necrotic damage. Constructs, fairies, gnomes and elves are immune to this damage. If this spell kills a creature that th DM spent mor ethan two seconds pulling out of his ass he's legally allowed to skin you alive and hang your flayed hide over his DM screen to warn everyone else away from BEING A MUNCHJKING POEWWR GAMER WHO WANTDS TO RUIN EBVERYONE"S FUN!!!