Friday, February 22, 2013

Arcis Enumre- Rockpriest (Cleric and Dwarf Variant)


There's nothing stopping this kind of class from being more broadly applicable but I mostly put it together because I wanted to help emphasize the godlessness and divine disconnect of Elfs in this setting. Also the "cliche" of the dwarven paladin was an interesting one to stumble across when I was first getting into this hobby.
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from Warhammer Online
HD: d6
Save: as Dwarf
Attack: as Dwarf
Advance: as Cleric
Requirements: Strength 9, Constitution 9, Wisdom9
  • Rockpriests may use only a quarterstaff or magic staff as weapons or as/in addition to their holy symbol.
  • Rockpriests may wear any armor, but may not use shields.
  • Rockpriests begin with 1 spell from the Cleric's spell list at 1st level, and gain Cleric spells at the same rate as a Magic-User.
  • Rockpriests have infravision 60', allowing them to see in the dark.

by Rayph
Rockpriests are dwarfs who have forged a strong connection both to the stone and earth of the Physical plane and to their jolly but serious goddess Bomdutra, Dwarf goddess of duty, stone, and beer. Rockpriests are also called Dwarf Priests or Beer Priests.

A Rockpriest spends all their time steaming drunk. It's the only way they can properly commune with the gods to cast their spells. When thoroughly drunk, a Rockpriest is -4 to hit with weapons, as if blinded, but suffers no other penalties of blindness. Rockpriests in this state cannot speak any language except Dwarf and Elf, though they understand any language they know. There are upsides to this holy state, however. A Rockpriest in this state is aligned with both the Spiritual and Physical planes, and all saving against their spells save at -4, a penalty which stacks with any other penalties to saving vs. spells.

All Rockpriests know both Spiritus and Material.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Shyguy B/X Class

I'm a huge fan of the first two Paper Mario games, and to a lesser extend the third one. I've long kicked around the idea of doing a table-top game with it since it's ready made for the idea, at least if people stick to playing the kinds of characters who are often Mario's sidekicks in these games. The Shyguy works really well as a kind of Fighter-Also but I ultimately think I'd go with Savage Worlds or something for a full-on game of Mario RPG.
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HD: d6
Save: as Halfling
Attack: as Cleric
Advance: as Cleric
Requirements: 8+ in all Ability Scores.
  • Shyguys cannot use armor or shields. They are pretty much always dressed as some variant of Shyguy, mask and all. They get +/- 2 AC for this.
  • Shyguys can use any weapon, but only one kind of weapon at a time. Their name changes to reflect this, e.g. if they pick up a spear at first level they are now Spear Guy and can use any spears they find but only spears. They may learn a new type of weapon in play, but are then restricted to that. It takes a full day for every session you've spent with your previous Name Weapon to get used to a new Name Weapon. Shyguys add their level in damage to their Name Weapon.
  • Shyguys are all either Clever, Sneaky, Nimble, or Tough.
    • Clever Guys have a magic comic book that describes a number of First Tier spells equal to their Intelligence Bonus.
    • Sneaky Guys have all the ability to Hide as a Thief of their level, but no other Thief abilities. If you're using LOTFP I guess this would mean they have Stealth 5/6 at level 1 and then Stealth 6/6 after.
    • Nimble Guys can make a free movement whenever they are attacked. They get a +1 damage bonus with ranged attacks.
    • Tough Guys ignore the first attack that any creature makes against them. This does not include things like gaze attacks or paralyzing touch or magic missile, but it does include big area attacks like Breath Weapons which would include them.
  • Shyguys are considered to have Charisma 18 for the purpose of hiring or keeping Shyguy retainers.
  • When retreating, Shyguys will always trip on their robes once, because that's just adorable.
  • Shyguys speak the Common tongue as well as the secret whisper-language of the Shyguys. 
  • At level 5, a Shyguy's Name Weapon may be a magic item like a rod, wand, or staff. If these items do damage then the Shyguy's Name Weapon bonus will apply to all damage. If the item is limited to a number of charges, the Shyguy gets 1d6+1 additional charges out of the item. If it is limited to a number of uses per day, the Shyguy can use that item an additional time per day.
  • At level 8, they get a Job. Their Job determines their additional abilities and also lets them order any Shyguy without a Job as if that Shyguy were one of their retainers. Shyguys become either Generals, Scholars, Crooks, or Knights
    • As long as Generals have retainers they can elect for a retainer to take damage from an attack or from falling instead of them. Morale and reputation never suffer when Shyguy retainers are sacrificed in this way.
    • Scholars know a number of total languages (including the languages and any bonus languages from 1st level) equal to their Intelligence, and a number of First Tier spells (including any spells gained at 1st level) equal to their level.
    • Crooks gain all additional abilities of a Thief half their level. If you're using LOTFP that means pick two skills other than sneak attack, you have those 6/6.
    • Knights can use all armor, and reroll any save which they critically fail a number of times per day equal to their Constitution score.
  • At level 10, they may assemble an Engine, a land-going vessel which can house a deceptively large number of Shyguys (up to 100), has AC -3/21, can absorb 10+1 HD of damage, and does damage equal to the Shyguy General's hit points. For every million points of XP a Shyguy acquires beyond level 10, their Engine's HD is improved (10+2, followed by 10+3, etc).
  • Shyguys may advance to level 10.

Sexy-Librarian-Guy
If a Shyguy's mask is lost, they will cover their face and fall prostrate before their true face may be seen. If this mask is not returned immediately, they will vanish in a puff of purple or green smoke and are considered dead. A Shyguy vanishing in this manner always leaves behind 1 gold per level, regardless of coins and equipment carried.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Arcis Enumre- Scrivener (Magic User Variant)

Bards are a weird catch-all class and as time has gone by they've picked up more and more abilities that don't quite fit anywhere or aren't enough to fill up a whole class. They're minstrels, they're magicians, they're illusionists, they're thieves, they're fighters, they're Dirk Benedict from the A-Team, they're assassins and great at poison for some reason.....I wanted to make a bard that was a bard like Shakespeare was a bard, tying into some of my feelings about Magic-Users. I wanted an option for a class whose knowledge of magic is incidental to their real interests. I also wanted a class of adventurers from the opening of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. I don't know that they quite work as a class to themselves and I think for the most part I'm just going to rely on Alternative Spellcasting for the same effect.
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Bartleby Art by Rebecca Dart
HD: d4
Save: as Magic User
Attack: as Magic User
Advance: as Thief
Requirements: Intelligence 9, Wisdom 9, Constitution 8 or lower
Prime Requisite: Intelligence; Scriveners with Intelligence 18 earn 5% bonus xp.
  • Scriveners roll 1d6x10 for their starting gold.
  • Scriveners do not receive a spell at 1st level, but are considered to have a spell slot for the purpose of Enchantment.
  • Scriveners have a locked spell progression (see below, but not as far below).
  • Scriveners can use Cleric spells inscribed on scrolls.
  • Scriveners know one additional language. Scriveners can copy a book in a week or write a book in a month.
  • Scriveners can create 1 one-spell scroll per day at level 3, and another at level 9.
  • Scriveners of level 6+ are considered to have certain texts memorized; any text the Scrivener has copied 10 times or more (up to the Scrivener's level) may be denoted as Favorite Works. The Scrivener may expend Clairvoyance in order to recall a single fact from any of these texts.
  • Scriveners have limited advancement opportunities and are usually poor or lower class; they advance to level 12 and cannot build keeps or hold domains.
  • A Scrivener may expend a spell slot to Enchant.
Scrivener Spell List:

1 None/Enchant
2  Read Magic
3 Comprehend Languages
4 Locate Object
5 ESP
6 Clairvoyance
7 Dispel Magic
8 Charm Person, Charm Monster
9 Mirror Image, Remove Curse
10 Infravision, Contact Higher Plane
11 Confusion, Feeblemind
12 Sleep, Geas
Enchantment

Scriveners are sometimes called Scribes or Bards (in the master poet and storyteller sense not the Sister Golden Hair sense) and have the ability to Enchant a number of times per day equal to their level. Scriveners possess no unique magical aptitude and acquire their abilities through repetition over a long time. Eventually, they know certain stories, jokes, curses, legends, and riddles inside and out.

A Scrivener can Enchant a group equal in number to the Scrivener's total Hit Dice (or the Scrivener's Hit Die's value of non-HD peoples or creatures). A Scrivener must share a language with his audience at first level, but may cast Comprehend Languages as a free action after 3rd level to facilitate. A Scrivener may Enchant his audience for a number of minutes equal to the highest value of his combined Hit Dice. In this manner a level 12 Scrivener could Enchant 12HD worth of creatures 12 times per day for 48 minutes each, assuming he always shared a language with his audience.

Creatures who are thus Enchanted get a Save vs. Wands to resist. Otherwise, the creatures are captivated by the Scrivener, unable to leave or attack or do anything other than laugh, cry, or ask questions. This effect ends if the targets are attacked. After the Enchantment ends, affected targets must make a Morale save or else either leave the Scrivener in peace or treat him as 1 level better on a reaction table.

Scriveners are always old.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Arcis Enumre- Gentleman (Thief Variant)


There's nothing stopping someone from being a dashing, gentlemantly Thief using the existing rules. Their special abilities don't particularly give them fun tools to play with if they go that route, and it's a good opportunity to appropriate a few Bard abilities for a game with no true Bards....
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art by Darwyn Cooke
HD: d4
Save: as thief
Attack: as Thief
Advance: as Thief
Requirements: Intelligence 9, Charisma 9
Prime Requisite: Dexterity; Gentlemen (or women) with a Dexterity of 16 or higher get +5% bonus xp.
  • Gentlemen may wear leather armor, or may have their clothes fitted with unobtrusive hidden protection to act as leather armor for twice the normal price for leather armor. They may not use shields.
  • Gentlemen may use any weapon which they can conceal on their person, and as such are prohibited from using two-handed weapons.
  • Gentlemen advance their abilities in a manner similar to a Thief's progression of skills. The skills Open Locks and Find/Remove Traps stay the same, and Pick Pockets improves, but their other skills change, and advance as below.
  • A Gentleman's social requirements and professional engagements prevent him from advancing beyond 16th level.


Sleight of Hand governs a Gentleman's ability to perform simple illusions such as making something appear, disappear, or change through simple technique, or in other words their ability to employ pick-pocket-like trickery unnoticed even when directly observed, as with a stage magician; Move Unseen, if you will. Gentlemen do not scurry about; instead they attempt to Fascinate people, holding their attention and curiosity for long periods of time and allowing others to scurry about unnoticed instead. Despite this, the Gentleman can be adept at Blending Into a Crowd, ceasing to be anything but a face among faces, if presented with the opportunity, as a Thief might with shadows. A Gentleman's instincts may give him a sense or hunch when danger is near, or if they are missing something, but unlike Hear Noise may not grant the Gentleman any indication of the direction or nature of that danger. Gentlemen receive an extra skill, Cover, which governs not only rudimentary skill at disguise but also the ability to maintain a persona or lie convincingly in the face of danger.

Operating under the auspices of these abilities a Gentleman need not be hidden or have surprise in order to Sneak Attack someone.


Gentlemen know how to treat their lessers, and retainers of Gentlemen have their morale improved by 1.

Arcis Enumre- Pacifist Class (Fighter Variant)



I'm a big fan of all the classic classes and that includes later inventions like the Monk and Paladin and such, and yes even the Bard. But there's nothing purely sacred about the way a lot of these classes are put together, and I wanted to play around and see what kinds of options I could present for my players by taking aspects of classes and exploding them across multiple different classes, making these sort of rules variants on the core classes, or something close to what Pathfinder did where some class Archetypes replace almost every feature of a class while still recognizably being that class. In this first instance, I made a Fighter who had the moral code of the Paladin and the implied open-palm sanctity-of-life aspect of Shaolin Monks that would work with a few different class interpretations. I also had one of my players in mind, because he generally had a problem killing creatures.
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Gordon Fucking Liu

HD: d8
Save: as Fighter
Attack: as Fighter
Advance: as Cleric
Requirements: Dexterity 9, Wisdom9
Prime Requisite: Strength; Pacifists with a Strength of 13 or better earn 5% bonus xp.
  • Pacifists may use any weapon against unliving or undead targets but if they kill a living person or creature with it, even accidentally, they must surrender that weapon and give up the use of weapons of that type forever.
  • A Pacifist may wear any armor, and may use a shield with any armor except plate. A Pacifist uses the higher value of her Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity to determine any Dexterity bonus to AC (but not to missiles or initiative).

art by Cliff Chiang et al, from DC's New 52 Wonder Woman #10
Pacifists may deal an additional 1d6 on every successful attack as long as that attack does not kill.

Pacifists may intentionally "take" a hit. Those doing so may deal 1d12 unblockable unlethal damage to their attacker.

Pacifists know a form of pidgin Spiritus and, all else being equal, are preferred over normal Fighters in some temples.

Arcis Enumre- Cuckoo Class

The idea with this was something like doing Yotsuba or Mr. Magoo as a class, a character protected by their own divine obliviousness. I also quite liked the idea of the really intelligent and aware character who projected that persona to unbalance his enemies, hence the Tom Baker photo. Someone it was impossible to get the drop on or outmaneuver not because they are so damn amazing and clever but because they're unphazed in the face of the amazing and find amazingness in the mundane instead.
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HD: d6
Save: as Cleric
Attack: as Cleric
Advance: as Cleric
  • Cuckoos may not wear armor. They may use any weapon they find but the weapon has a 1/6 chance of breaking or being absent-mindedly discarded after any fight, and they cannot buy weapons unless weapons are the only thing available to buy in a shop.
  • Cuckoos add their level to hit and damage with an improvised weapon.
  • A number of times per day equal to their level a Cuckoo can be distracted by something else and declare their Obliviousness in the face of danger and consider their AC to be 0/19 for an attack.
  • Cuckoos speak Cuckoo and Elf, Arcane, as well as the languages of Pixies and Goblins.
  • In a combat situation where the Cuckoo is one of several potential targets, a hostile creature must roll a 1-2 on a d6 in order to attack the Cuckoo first. After the creature's first attack, it may notice the Cuckoo and attack freely.
  • Cuckoos may babble in Cuckoo once per day to distract. Babbling is usable once per day, gaining an additional use per day at levels 4, 7, and 10.
  • Cuckoos may advance to 10th level.


Babble which distracts those around the Cuckoo may have one of two major effects. When used during an encounter, the Cuckoo may use this distraction to swap places in initiative with her enemy, or automatically have her party go first in simple initiative. In roleplaying interactions, the Cuckoo can avoid unwanted attention by confusing those around her, beginning a conversation over again from scratch as if for the first time. If this effect is attempted in a large enough group, the group collectively gets a save vs. spell effect, with the Cuckoo's Wisdom score being the DC for the save.

As they level a Cuckoo amasses a Collection. This can be a library, a bag of trinkets, charms on a bracelet, etc. There are pieces in this collection equal to their Level+Wisdom Score. Any time you want to see if you have an item in this collection relevant to the situation at hand, roll 1d100. Rolling equal to/less than the current size of your Collection means that item is in your Collection. You lose things and use them up and give them away all the time, so what's in your Collection at any given time changes a lot, requiring a new roll each time. For every 105000 xp after level 10 you add 1d10 pieces to your Collection.

Cuckoos can steal anything worth 1 copper without making a check roll.

Additionally, Cuckoos with high ability scores have the following attributes

Strength 13+: You may wear leather armor. You may use any shield you find but have 1/6 chance of losing it or breaking it after each fight.
Constitution 13+: You save as a Dwarf.
Dexterity 13+: You may backstab creatures who are unaware of your presence for double damage.
Intelligence 13+: You level as a Thief.
Wisdom 13+: You may Search for things which are neither treasure nor traps at 4/6.
Charisma 13+: You gain a Pet at Charisma 13, 2 at 15, 3 at 17, 4 at 18. These are mundane non-talking non-magical animals who are not specially trained with 1HD or less. These do not count against your number of Retainers.

Cuckoos reaching level 10 become Cuckoo Kachoos. Kachoos do whatever they want, and are cleverer than given credit for.
  • Obliviousness uses may instead be spent on Saving Throws.
  • Babble uses may instead be spent to reroll to hit or damage rolls.
  • You may check your Collection 1/day to mimic the effects of a magic spell, turn undead, a skill roll, or a natural 20.
  • Kachoos are never the first to be attacked if there are other targets presenting (excepting obvious exceptions).

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Arcis Enumre- Crocmen Class


My wife wanted to play something like the Dragonborn character she had played in a friend's game so I bashed this together. It serves as a pretty decent template for almost all "beastmen"-type character race-classes, really, though if I'd remembered the Labyrinth Lord-compatible Mutant Future Mutant Animal generation rules I'd have just had her use those at the time. No reason we can't use both, though.
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custom figure by "GrownNerd"
HD: d8
Save: as Fighter
Attack: as Fighter
Advance: as Fighter
Requirements: 9 Constitution, no greater than 9 Intellect or Charisma
Prime Requisites: Strength.
  • Crocmen may wear no armor and are proficient with spears.
  • Crocmen speak Crocman and have a 50% chance of knowing Elf. 
  • Crocmen may double their movement in water.
  • Crocmen are always treated as wearing Leather Armor and shield, AC 6/AC 13
  • Crocmen are always considered to be armed with a spear, accounting for damage from bites, claws, and tail slaps. They are also always considered +1 to force doors or grab/hold.
  • Crocmen may never have retainers and are often gouged by the few reputable shops in Arcis Enumre which agree to trade with them.
  • Crocmen can "hide in shadows" as a Thief when in water, swamps, or tall grass.
  • Crocmen never make a poison save for eating garbage. 
  • Crocmen may advance to level 8. At level 8 they may build and stock their own Dungeon, attracting up to 8HD worth of creatures, who may be replaced if they are killed. For every 100K XP after reaching level 8 they may attract an additional 8HD worth of creatures.




Monday, February 11, 2013

Arcis Enumre- Gnome Class

art by Kate Laird




HD: d6
Save: as Thief
Attack: as Thief
Advance: as Thief
Requirements: No ability scores of 7 or less, or 5+ on 1d12
  • Gnomes can use any armor except plate. Gnomes cannot use shields, or wield two-handed weapons.
  • Gnomes speak Gnome and Common, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling.
  • Gnomes can Hear Noise as a level 16 Thief. 
  • Gnomes get an additional bonus language each level. This can allow the Gnome to speak a new language or dialect, conversing with a new bunch of humans and demihumans, or as a very limited Speak-With-Animals ability; like, at level 1 you could choose "rats"... 
  • Gnomes can change size between 6" and 3' at will. Clothes and items they have made change with them but armor and weapons others have crafted do not.
  • Gnomes can advance to 8th level. At level 8, gnomes gain an entourage and can use their status to find free food, drink, and quarters anywhere they are already known.
  • Gnomes are also considered to always have chalk. 
  • Gnomes can eat rocks or gems to survive.
  • Gnomes also receive a free pet or mount at 1st level.

art by Raven Mimura