You know who else is a superstitious, cowardly lot? Everyone else besides criminals. Dress your scare tactics up in a little drama, tell a good story, and most of your work is done for you. It's about misdirection and control of expectations. Mostly it's about profit, reaping the rewards of fear. You know what you must become.
MORALE
A creature must make a Morale check (roll 1d12, equal/less than the creature's Morale rating) in order to approach you or attack in melee. They may attack from distance or cast a spell without making such a check. A creature failing this check may be Menaced on your next action. They may make another Morale check the next time they try to attack you.
A creature succeeding on the check does not have to make a check to act against you again, but if they failed they may still be Menaced.
MENACE
To Menace a creature who has failed a Morale check against you, or to Menace a Retainer (Retainers may always be Menaced), roll 3d6. If the result is higher than the target's Morale they must flee you as fast as they are able for #Rounds= Menace minus Morale or until they successfully make Morale check against you.
Once a creature has failed a Morale check against you, they may always be Menaced. Retainers as indicated above may always be menaced.
THE LEGEND
Each session you must spread your legend. It is important to embellish well, otherwise you won't be truly feared. After that the DM knows when someone in that session has heard your legend or not. If they have they must add 3 to the result for their Morale Check before determining success.
| There was a man/ woman... |
Personality | Who was | One night they | They met their tragic end | Some still say |
| Proud and cruel | The last heir | Disappeared | In fire | They haunt this town | |
| Kind and naive | The oldest resident | Hid a fabulous treasure | In the water | They guard their secrets | |
| Miserly and bitter | The sole survivor | Took it all, ran off in the night | In the storm | They steal children | |
| Sickly and afraid | A great explorer | Swore their revenge | In the caves | The hills are theirs | |
| Hot-tempered and short-sighted | A secretive researcher | Stood alone against ruin | In the ensuing disaster | They'll stop any who try | |
| Grave and regal | A true beauty | Got the axe | In the forest | It's not safe at night | |
| Weak but friendly | Bound for the hangman | Got captured in a cemetery | Mysteriously, never seen again | They are still searching | |
| Devout and mad | A prime suspect | Wrestled with a demon | In the madhouse | They still crave blood | |
| Penitent and accepting | Friend to the unfortunate | Went mad with greed | In bed, cursing their enemies | They punish their enemies' descendants | |
| Viciously playful | Protecting a secret | Eloped, or so they thought... | Buried alive | They were innocent and cannot rest |
I did not look at the handy dandy ghost story generator written for me years ago by +Patrick Henry Dollah in the old 2013 Secret Santicore before writing this but I should have cuz it was great. You could do that as well. I'll put a link here later I'm sleepy.
SEIZING
You add your level to attempts to grab.
VIOLENCE?
You can throttle someone I guess or you can shake them like a Yoo-Hoo til they pass out. Either way you may elect to do 1d6+Strength Bonus-per-round automatically to any creature whom you have seized (no larger than twice your size).
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
You have proficiency with one of the following:
- Historical Accuracy- All normal weapons and armor. At level 5 your Morale penalty equals your Armor Class bonus.
- Thematic Resonance- One unique weapon that does 1d6+5. At level 5 this becomes 1d10+4.
- A Particular Set of Skills- You have 3/6 LotFP style in Architecture, Sneak, and Tinker. At level 5 these all gain +1.
- Cutting Edge Technology- You can duplicate the effect of a level 1 spell you may use #day=level. At level 5 you may trade 3 uses per day of this spell in order to gain the use of a level 3 spell 1/day. You can trade uses of your starting spell in this way as you advance.
RED HERRING
All your powers reside in your Guise. This is a carefully constructed uniform (usually with a mask) allowing you to seem much more fearsome than you normally are. Your Guise affords you 1 point of Armor Class.
If this Guise is ever ruined or if your Guise is removed then you lose all your class abilities and are a suckier Fighter.
If you are able to escape and leave the area you may return with a new Guise after spending 1 day and 500g for each character level. This may allow you to select new Tools of the Trade.
HAUNT
At any time you successfully scare off (or kill, I'm not picky) everyone in a building you may claim that as a Haunt. You incorporate your Haunt into your Legend when you tell it at the beginning of a session. People are more likely to have heard of you before entering (again the DM should have the call here but should also maybe softball this) conferring your Legend's bonus.
While in your Haunt you earn 5% bonus XP, force an additional +1 penalty to Morale checks against you, and have AC +/-1.