Spell Wall

Wizards and magic. It was only a matter of time before some jerk weaponized them into War Mages. 

Then it was only time before someone countered the War Mages. That's where the Spell Wall comes in: shield fighters trained to redirect enemy caster's magics and use it to bolster their own abilities. 

Requires an equipment endurance system to keep on the level. 

What'll be made to counter these? Something terrible I bet. Arms races always are; you start off with a pointy stick and end up with cyborg-tarrasque. 

Spell Wall

 Every template you take gives you a +1 to Shield Endurance. 

Starting Equipment: Standard Shield, 3 blank scrolls or 1 active scroll, shield repair kit

Starting Skills: 1) Magic Lore; 2) Military History; 3) Blacksmithing

A. Field Repair, Magic Absorbing, Magic Channeling

B. Nemo's Ingenuity 
C. Hold the Line, Magic Eater

D. Vomito Magicae

Field Repair

Once per day, during a short rest or lunch, you're able to restore the condition of your shield, should you have a repair kit at hand. This is opposed to only during a long rest. 

Magic Absorbing
While you don't generate magical energies yourself, you've learned to absorb energies directed against you. When holding your shield in hand, you can absorb and store 1 MD per Shield Wall template, until used. To do this, Save vs Spell (even if the spell typically doesn't offer a Save) - on a failure you suffer the spell normally. On a success, the spell carries out as normal, however you get to choose the dice being absorbed. Dice showing 1-3 do 1 endurance damage to your shield; 4-6 do 2 endurance damage. MD absorbed in this way do not return to the caster's pool until it naturally refills.  

Magic Channeling

Now that you've contained the spell, what are you gonna do with it? You've got a couple of choices: 1) Use it to boost your Save Vs Magic 2) Channel it into a blank scroll when you have a safe moment to concentrate

Nemo's Ingenuity

"I jus' 'acked i' on 'here, didn' I?"

Your shield hand now counts as "free" for the purposes of using a scroll. Because you've tacked it on there. With a tack. Wizards cower at your arcane prowess. The scroll is still consumed upon casting. 

Also, you can now immediately channel a spell into a blank scroll on the back of your shield. 

Hold the Line

You've formed a unique bond with your shield and, let's be honest, it's gonna take a lot of punishment in your line of work. To counter that, you're now able to channel the magic in your head into your shield in order to repair endurance checks at a 1:1 MD cost.

Additionally, when you channel MD to boost your Save vs Magic, you do so for people in 10' radius around you. 

Magic Eater

When things are proving difficult, you can consume a scroll via your mouth, with your teeth, to gain a magic di. 

Vomito Magicae

Again, you're no wizard: your control over these spells in your head is tedious at best. Sometimes it's best to let them out. As an interrupt action, while a caster is casting, you may release any number of stored MD you have in your head. These are rolled in conjunction with the caster's and count in terms of double/triples/quads. 

Continue Reading...

Rat Master Redux

 I'm in the process of setting up a generic fantasy game using the GLoG for some friends, most of whom are new to the TTRPG scene. One of which wants to play a Rat Master. Not a problem, I love that class, however the trouble lies in that it's not exactly a GLoG class, as it's laid out over a span of nine levels, rather than four templates. 

So, I took out my files and started removing serial numbers. 

What's presented below is a combination of Arnold's original class, some parts from Knock's Swarm Master (word for word in a large amount of places), and a few of my own addons. 

Rat Master

For every template taken, your Horde Die (see below) increases one step and you gain +1 on Save vs Disease. 

Starting Equipment: Dang rags, bottle of high proof low quality hooch, cool looking rock

Starting Skill: 1) Locksmith 2) Pickpocket 3) Mucklurker

A. Rat Friend, Summon Horde

B. Transfer Affliction

C. Guest of the Rat King

D. Rat Apotheosis, Embrace the Rat

Rat Friend

You can speak freely with all rodents. All rodents recognize you as a beloved of the rat god, and will improve their starting attitude toward you one step. This protection does not extend to your friends.

Additionally, you know that rats love to gossip. When gathering rumors, you gain an additional template amount of rumors. 

Summon Horde

You call forth a horde of rats to your current location, which will serve you faithfully, though not always without complaint. 

You gain a Horde Die, starting at d6, and may increase it up one step by taking an exploration turn (10 minutes), up to your maximum die, starting at d6 at template A to d12 at template D. 

Taking risky actions (noted in Horde Moves below) can potentially cause the Horde to reduce in number. When performing the action, roll the Horde Die. On a 1, the Horde is reduced a step. 

Transfer Affliction

Once per day, you can transfer a disease, poison, or curse onto a willing rat. Rats of your horde always count as willing, but prepare for complaints. Also, there is potential for it to spread any disease it bears for you. It’s a rat, after all. 

Guest of the Rat King

Should you find a Rat King, you’ll be welcomed into it’s “court” as a guest. This mostly means you can come and go freely, receive one secret for free per visit, and won’t be eaten if it knows you’re alive. 

Rat Apotheosis

You can establish a stronghold in the sewers beneath a city. You attract the local Rat King, 2d6 loyal wererats, 1d3 paladins of the rat god, and an insane cartographer. 

Embrace the Rat

At every level above 4, you have the option to take a template of rat based Lycanthropy as an Ω template, rather than a Curse Template. 

Dice Step

1 < d4 < d6 < d8 < d10 < d12

Horde Size	Number of Actions
d4	1
d6	2
d8	3
d10	4
d12	5

Where we going today, Boss?

Horde Moves Based on the size of your horde, they can perform a number of moves at once (see above)

With at least a turn, hordes may be commanded to…

• Perform Domestic Services - as they’re able, by combining their tiny strength
• Perform Manual Labor - Tunneling, burrowing, clearing rubble, gnawing corpses into oblivion, etc. This is a risky action and many tiny bodies could be crushed.
• Forage and Scavenge - The horde can produce enough food for individuals equal to the result of the horde die. It will not be gourmet.
• Bear Burdens - Individually, they are weak, but together the horde is strong. They can carry up to [Horde Size] worth of inventory space
• Carry Their Master - Using their combined strength, the Rats hoist their master upon their tiny rat shoulders and carry them at Move equal to 10 + [Horde Size]
• Search an Area - The horde can find traps, hidden doors, and other secrets in an area with a roll of the horde die of 3+. If traps are found, the horde has a 3-in-6 chance of accidentally triggering them. This results in the horde die being reduced one step.
• Scout Ahead - Rats are stealthy and observant. I mean, they’re rats. You can send them out 30 + 10 ft/template from you, where their keen senses allow them to avoid surprise and spot ambushes on a horde die roll of 3+.

Within a round, the Horde can act quickly to…

• Protect their Master if they are unarmored - If commanded to protect their Master, improve Defense by a roll of the Horde Die. This is obviously risky.
• Attack their Master’s enemies, if the Master is unarmed - Inflicts Horde Die in damage to all enemies within 30 ft. This, too, is a risky action.
• Sacrifice Themselves for Their Master - If struck, the swarm will sacrifice itself without being commanded to. Reduce the Horde by one step, then subtract a roll of the swarm die from the total damage suffered to the Master this round.

For the life of me, I'll never know why Google Drive and Blogger don't work well together when they're owned by the same company.

Continue Reading...