Thursday 1 August 2019

GLOG Class: The Oath Cursed and Oath Rot

Part of the GLOG Cursed Challenge

Pdf link of this post

Oath Rot
 
Listen. Do you hear it? Radiant flesh sings to us, words and promises made whole and given
sword. Oaths once broken come back whole and invulnerable. The rot of light spreads. Honour
is a sickness granted by angels.

 
Oath Rot is when divine forces conspire to make someone into a paladin, whether they like it or
not. The Oath Cursed are those afflicted by it. Being a Paladin is a curse, and it slowly rots away at your sense of self.

4 Ways to Catch Oath Rot
  1. Take up the magic sword of a paladin.
  2. Become cursed by an angel.
  3. Replace a part of your body with a holy relic.
  4. Have your entire body remade through divine magic.

Advancing the Curse

You gain a level in the Oath-Cursed class whenever you do a great service for the Church, help
defeat a powerful force for evil, or complete a great quest for the greater good. It’s a seductive
curse, because, unlike most, it doesn’t force you to be evil. It makes you good. Morals make
more sense now, and you can uphold them. You could make the world a better place, if everyone
would just do exactly as you say.

Oath-Cursed levels replace your levels in whatever previous class you had. If you have the curse,
you can take Oath-Cursed levels whenever you level up.

Having 4 Oath-Cursed Templates

You’re eventually going to break. If you are under the influence of judgement, you’re going to
try and kill someone who has barely done anything wrong, and actual paladins are going to put
you down like a dog. If you are under the influence of mercy, something is going to attack you,
and you’ll sit there frowning as you get ripped to shreds. It might even be your own friends who
end up having to put you out of your misery.

The Cure

Willingly drive yourself mad by committing your sins until you go crazy. For every permanent
madness you get, you can remove 1 Oath-Cursed template. Remove the last template by
sacrificing your honour in the temple to an archdevil, or by killing an angel and desecrating the
corpse.

Oath-Cursed

For each template of Oath-Cursed you have, your HP and Wisdom go up by 1, but your Charisma
goes down by 1.

A: honour-bound, healing touch
B: armaments of heaven, penitent
C: seeker of evil, +1 attack stat
D: judgement or mercy, eternal champion

Honour-Bound

Choose 2 of the following as your sins: thievery, lying, hersey, pride, indulgence. You may never
commit those sins, and if you are ever forced to, gain a point of trauma. Every time you gain a
template in this class, choose another sin.

At template C, those committing your sins are deserving of punishment, up to but not including
death, depending on the severity of their crimes (work with the GM to figure out appropriate
punishments). You will enforce these punishments yourself if need be, and gain a point of
trauma unless you at least try to bring them to justice.

Healing Touch
 
When a creature is close to death (0 hp), you can put your hands on them to heal them for 1 hp.
You cannot do this if they have recently committed one of your sins. You can do this a number
of times each day equal to your Oath-Cursed templates +1.

Armaments of Heaven
 
You wake up one morning wearing plate armour and wielding a glowing sword. You can never
take the armour off, although it provides no penalties for sleeping in it. You can never sell or
give away the sword. The sword glows as a torch, deals +1 damage, and deals double damage to
demons and undead. If someone takes it from you, they become infected with Oath-Rot.

Penitent
 
The curse of the angels is the only one that will ever have a hold on you. Whenever you stop for
lunch or rest, you can spend an hour communing with the angels to remove 1 curse, disease, or
affliction affecting you. This ability has no effect if your affliction, curse, or disease of of divine
origin.

Seeker of Evil
 
Determine up to 3 requirements that categorize someone as ‘evil’ in your eyes. A number of
times each day equal to your oath-cursed templates, you can determine who within 60’ of you is
evil according to your requirements, and which requirements they’ve fulfilled.

Example requirements
  1. Has ever made a deal with a demon or raised the undead. 
  2. Has harmed or killed an innocent. 
  3. Has actively worked against the Church.

Judgement
 
You have finally seen the truth. There is no redeeming those who sin. Your only wish is that you
had known sooner. If you ever witness someone committing one of your sins, or they admit to it,
you must Save or attempt to slay or imprison them at the next opportunity. In extreme
circumstances (to save the world), you can hold your judgment until the sinner has served their
purpose to the greater good, but you must punish them eventually. Your sword also deals double
damage to sinners.

If you ever wrongfully executed an innocent, switch this feature to Mercy.

Mercy
 
Murder is the ultimate sin, and you will have no part in it. Hurting anything becomes one of your
sins. Get +1 save.

If you ever must kill in the defence of the innocent, switch this feature to Judgement.

Eternal Champion
 
You no longer need to sleep, eat, or drink, and in fact cannot. Praying for the amount of time it
would normally take to rest provides these benefits. You no longer age.

Saturday 6 July 2019

GLOG Class: Cleric of Gothos the Bloody Impaler

Gothos: God of betrayal, impalement, blood, war, and travel. He leaves impaled victims up as road signs. This is his cleric for Arnold's Cleric class.

Here's the pdf

Cleric of Gothos

Gothos is the god of war, blood, impalement, travel, betrayal and unintentional godhood. He wears a mask of blood and is worshipped mostly by soldiers. He was intentionally worshipped out of existence by his followers (everyone knows that the more worshippers you have the less real you are). He has churches, but they are few and far between, mostly because a lot of people have to die to consecrate them. In general, his worshippers venerate him through battle and bloodshed.

Portfolio
 
War, blood, betrayal, roads, travel.

Strictures

End no battle before first blood is drawn
If you kill someone on the road, make their body into a marker
Never accept command unless it is to betray those who you command

Temples
 
Any city with sufficient military culture will have a temple to Gothos just beyond the city walls. You can find them by cutting the soles of your feet and following the blood where it flows.

Alternatively, any battlefield can be made into a temporary temple if you impale at least a dozen combatants (from either side of the conflict) drain their blood into a basin at the center. This takes about 8 hours of work with proper tools (shovels, knives, spears).

Special
 
All Clerics of Gothos start with 1d4 spears.

If You Cut Them Open… they bleed normally. However, their blood rusts metal unnaturally quickly, and makes fantastic ink for maps.

Divination
 
Sit beneath an impaled body and let their blood drip into your eyes for 1d4 hours. The patterns in the blood will show you your answers. After you do this, you are blind until you can wash out your eyes.

Transfigurations
 
When you roll triples on a casting die, you get a divine blessing from Gothos:

1-2 = Bloody feet. You and your group travel twice as fast on roads
3-4 = Bloody teeth. You don’t need rations when you rest for lunch if you’ve killed a sentient creature since your last rest.
5-6 = Bloody hands. Your hands deal damage as a spear.


Spells

Spells 1-6 are available at level 1. Spells 1-8 are available at level 2. Spells 1-10 are available at level 3.


1. traitorous blood
2. heal
3. ignore weather
4. find the path
5. blood tentacles
6. fog of battle
7. agony
8. endless roads
9. deathless
10. weapon of Gothos


Legendary Spell

Legendary spells are only obtained by doing some great quest in the service of your faith.


1. invincible warrior
2. Gothos’ impalement

Agony
R: sight  T: creature  D: [dice] rounds
Target experiences wracking pain. They must save each round while afflicted or miss their turn.

Blood Tentacles
R: self  T: self  D: [dice] minutes
Smear blood across your chest; [dice] blood tentacles burst forth. They can be used to attack any creature within 15’ for 1d6 damage; on hit, the tentacle is destroyed, and you regain HP equal to the damage dealt.

Deathless
R: touch  T: creature D: [dice] rounds
Target cannot be killed by HP damage while this spell persists.

Endless Roads
R: touch  T: self and up to 20 creatures  D: 2d4-[dice] hours (minimum 1 hour)
At the beginning of the duration, all targets of this spell set out on a road with a destination in mind. At the end of the duration, they will have arrived at any place the road leads to, no matter the distance. Targets can still encounter random encounters along the way, which will not interrupt the spell; it simply lessens the amount of time needed to get from place to place.

Find the Path
R: sight  T: A stretch of ground  D: [dice] hours
For the duration, a path appears where there may previously not have been one. It extends [sum] miles in a direction of your choosing, although it may not be straight. This path will have convenient passage through any obstacles in the way; bridges over rivers, flat roads over a mountain, or a well-kept game trail through the woods.

Fog of Battle
R: 50’  T: [sum] creatures within range, starting with the closest to you  D: [dice] rounds
Each targeted creature must Save or be affected by the fog of battle. While affected, whenever the creature attacks, they must attack the closest creature to them, thinking them a foe.

Gothos’ Impalement
R: 5’  T: a creature at 0 HP  D: [dice] hours
Impale target creature as part of this spell; targeted creature is rendered helpless and healed back up to their full HP. Whenever you take damage while this spell is active, they instead take the damage and you are unharmed. This spell ends when they are reduced to 0 HP.

Heal
R: 50’  T: creature  D: instant
Target is healed for [sum]+[dice] HP.

Ignore Weather
R: touch  T: [sum] creatures  D: 12 hours
For the duration, the targets suffer no ill effects from the weather or the environment, such as cold, heat, or wind. This includes all ill effects. Rain won’t get them wet, wind won’t blow their projectiles off course, and lightning will not strike them. This spell effects unnatural weather as well, or weather created by spells.

Invincible Warrior
R: touch  T: creature  D: [dice] rounds
For the duration, target creature will succeed on every Defence roll and Save they make.

Traitorous Blood
R: 30’  T: a creature that does not have full HP  D: [sum] rounds
Target creature takes [dice] damage, Save to take half damage. If they fail their save, for the duration, they take [dice] extra damage from attacks.

Weapon of Gothos
R: touch  T: a piercing weapon you are holding  D: [dice] rounds
For the duration, this weapon deals [½ sum] extra damage. You can permanently invest the dice used to make the duration permanent.

Wednesday 3 April 2019

GLOG Parasite Class: Spellbug

Check it out, I made a magic parasite

Wizards learn their magic, clerics pray for it, warlocks deal for it… you were born with it.

Of course, most people who are born with magic become sorcerers, but for whatever reason, you 
didn’t have that outlet. You’re a font of magical energy, but you just can’t use it. You were 
probably frustrated by that. You might have tried to murder wizards and eat their teeth or 
something to learn magic, but no spell ever came out.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn spells. And once you learned a spell, you taught it to 
someone else. After that, it was almost too easy to infect their mind with your specially-bred 
magic virus.

You’re a computer virus for wizards. You can also be used like a magic wand. Have fun.

Sunday 10 March 2019

Pit Monks

Note: I haven't written it yet because I'm lazy, but this class was origionally designed for Grant Howitt's Spire system. Go check it out.

Pit Monks

In the middle of a city in the middle of the world, there is a well. A very, very large well.

Well, not that large. About 10 feet wide or so, but still big, for a well.

Well, this well is called the Pit. It’s bottomless.

Two orders of monk live in this bottomless pit, one at the top, and one at the bottom. They are 
bitter enemies, but can’t get to each other, because the pit is bottomless.

They live in burrows, going all the way down the pit. They practice falling a little further each day, 
so that they’re eventually immune to it. Their philosophy is one of emptiness and (w)holeness, of 
the freedom to fall forever mixed with the constraints of a 10 foot wide pit.

Their master is named Otvor Milenec. He jumped into the pit years ago. He’s probably dead by now.

Class: Pit Monk

Starting Equipment: A grappling hook and spiked shoes.
Starting Skill: 1=history, 2=religion, 3=mountains

A
survivor of 10,000 falls, falling kick
B
crawl of the spider, depth sense
C
wind step
D
endless strike, enlightened by violence

You get +1 Move for every Pit Mystic template you have.

Survivor of 10,000 Falls
You’ve jumped off so many cliffs and bottomless pits it’s practically routine for you. You reduce all 
falling damage by 1. Every time you take damage from a fall, increase this reduction by 1. After you 
increase this reduction past 20, you no longer take any damage from falling.

Falling Kick
Your unarmed attacks deal 1d6+Strength modifier damage. If you fell on a creature and attacked it with 
an unarmed strike in the same turn, this deals +1 damage for every 10 feet you fell.

Crawl of the Spider
When climbing walls, count your Strength as 21. You can climb impossible things at -10 to your roll 
(sheer glass walls, frictionless slopes, etc).

Depth Sense
You always know exactly how far any drop will be before you make it. In addition, you get +4 to any 
roll to catch yourself before or while falling.

Wind Step
Throw yourself off a ledge that is at least 20 feet high. On a success, the wind catches you, and you can 
fly as fast as a horse can run for the next 1d6+1 rounds or until you land. This ability only works if you 
are somewhere the wind can get to you, and only a number of times/day equal to your number of Pit 
Monk templates.

Endless Strike
Your fists and kicks carry the power of the bottomless pit. When you hit a creature you hit them along 
all possible versions of themselves. Your attacks ignore armour and damage reduction.

Enlightened by Violence
When you hit a creature with an attack, you can make a save against any curse or mind-affecting 
condition affecting you, even if it would not normally allow for a save.

Saturday 23 June 2018

Cultured Cannibals: a 1-page RPG

PDF here

You are a cultured cannibal, equally at home while sipping fine wine as while dining on human flesh. Tonight is feast night, and you will get your meal while trying to get the other cannibals to do as you bid.

Monday 19 February 2018

Healing Magic is Horrible

“Healing magic isn’t clean. Not by a long shot. Magic is messy and unpredictable, despite being (technically) a science. When you heal someone, you aren’t putting your hands on them and saying the magic words and they’re all better. You’re taking the two ragged ends of the wound and convincing the person’s body to accept them. Or cauterizing an injury with your bare hands. Or just telling death to fuck off. It sucks.”

“Healing magic is brutal, traumatizing, and dangerous, for both parties involved. It’s like performing surgery, but your tools are all rigged with sensitive magical explosives that can go off partway through the operation. Have you ever tried to negotiate with an infection? Hearing their rasping, sickly voices, the smell of disease in your nose… it’s enough to drive anyone to madness. I once saw guy break a leg while he was with a plant mage; the bone was just hanging out. The crazy fucker cut the damn thing off and shoved a sapling in the wound. Pete needs to prune his legs now.”

“Does a damn fucking good job though.”

TL;DR: healers are less this:
Image result for magic healing

And more this...
Image result for combat medic

Crossed with this...
Related image
And a lot more blood