jacinto classes, demon, djinn, spell, type v

pokédungeon

I don’t like Find Familiar or Conjure X spells in 5e D&D, and I’ve been circling around the idea on how to fix them for a while. I think this is how I will do it next time I run Type V–spells that call up a critter what does as you say, but prevents the caster from recovering the spell slot used until the creature is dismissed. This sort of amortizes the benefit of a spell slot over the course of a day, as opposed to making them a single-use get-out-of-jail-free cards. It also gives me a measure for what these creatures should be able to do–there needs to be a reason to pick this spell over any other 1st level spell. Finally, it means I don’t have to fuss with class mechanics, which is a big plus. How to implement this:

  • Wizards can get this spell as is.
  • Warlocks can get this as an Invocation that lets them use a Warlock slot to cast it 1/day.  (Being able to cast it 1/short rest would let warlocks be able to easily circumvent the cost of losing the spell for the day, since they could just dismiss the creature and take a short rest.)

I’ll probably make a version for 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels, as well. Stronger versions might only be for a single creature.

Minor Covenant
1st-level conjuration 

Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Component: V, S, M (an opal, ruby, piece of quartz, or sapphire worth at least 50 gp)
Duration: Permanent

You summon a lesser spirit that appears in an unoccupied space that you can see in range. A spirit summoned by this spell disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or you choose to end the spell, which takes an action. As long as this spell is in effect, you cannot regain use of the spell slot you used to cast it.

The kind of material component you use determines the kind of lesser spirit this spell summons.

  • An opal summons a sylph
  • A ruby summons a least djinn
  • A piece of quartz summons an true gnome
  • A sapphire summons an undine

The spirit will not attempt to harm you or your companions. It receives its own place in initiative. The spirit obeys any verbal commands you issue it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any commands to it, the spirit will follow you without taking any other action.

As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the lesser spirit. It disappears into the Void where it awaits your summons. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 10 feet of you.

The spirit can break free from the bonds of this spell. It may make a Wisdom save whenever

  • you give the spirit a new command
  • you insult the spirit or place it in egregious danger
  • you command the spirit to perform an action that requires it to ignore one of its compulsions or perform one of its taboos.

If the spirit succeeds its Wisdom saving throw, it breaks free from your control, becomes hostile to you and no longer obeys your commands. You cannot temporarily dismiss it, and ending the spell no longer causes the spirit to disappear, though it does allow you to recover the spell slot used to cast this spell.

Sylph

from bravely default

Small elemental, unaligned                                                          

AC: 15
HP: 6
Speed: 0 ft, fly 30 ft.                                              
STR: 4 (-3) DEX: 20 (+5) CON: 8 (-1)
INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 10 (+0) CHA: 12 (+1)                   
Skills: Perception +2, Sleight of Hand +7, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
Languages: Common, Sylvan
CR: 1/8                                                         

ABILITIES

  • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The sylph can innately cast the cantrip Gust. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
  • Keen Smell: The sylph has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
  • Ethereal: Sylphs can squeeze through spaces as if they were Tiny creatures

                                                                              
ACTIONS

  • Superior Invisibility: The sylph magically turns invisible until its concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment the sylph wears or carries turns invisible with it.

    DISPOSITION
    Sylphs are spirits of air and propriety. They despise rudeness, ugliness, and violence, and delight in courtesy, beauty, quietude, and refined conversation. Despite their ostensibly peaceable and orderly natures, sylphs will steal, murder, and torment to punish those they have deemed transgressors. 

    from final fantasy 12 revenant wings

    True Gnome

    Medium elemental, unaligned                                                    

    AC: 11 (natural armor)
    HP: 19
    Speed: 30 ft                                                              
    STR: 15 (+2) DEX: 10 (+0) CON: 14 (+2)
    INT: 4 (-3) WIS: 12 (+1) CHA: 12 (+1)                   
    Skills: Perception +2, Nature +4
    Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing
    Languages: Common, Celestial                                 
    ABILITIES

    • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The true gnome can innately cast the cantrip Mold Earth. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
    • Quiet Strength: The true gnome has advantage on Strength checks to lift, carry, bend, break, and otherwise manipulate inanimate objects

                                                                                  
    ACTIONS

    • Punch: Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 2d4+2 bludgeoning damage.

    DISPOSITION
    Ursulines are spirits of earth and obligation. They dislike dishonesty, destruction, and disorder, and appreciate respect for wildlife, honesty, prudence, and sleeping. 

    from final fantasy

    Least Djinni

    Small elemental, unaligned                                                    

    AC: 15 (natural armor)
    HP: 2
    Speed: 0 ft, fly 40 ft                                                              
    STR: 18 (+4) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 10 (+0)
    INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 8 (-1) CHA: 14 (+2)                   
    Skills: Stealth +3, Athletics +6
    Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
    Damage Immunities: fire
    Languages: Common, Primordial                                 
    ABILITIES

    • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The ursuline can innately cast the cantrip Control Flames. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 

                                                                                  
    ACTIONS

    • Discern Desire: The least djinni touches a creature and magically knows what the creature most desires at that moment. 
    • Bite: Melee Weapon Attack, +6 to hit, 1 reach 5 ft, one target. d4+4 piercing damage, and the target must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute.
    • Invisibility: The least djinni magically turns invisible until it attacks or casts a spell, or until concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment the least djinn wears or carries is invisible with it.

    DISPOSITION
    Djinn are spirits of flame and desire. They dislike equivocation, moderation, and cowardice. They love the exertion of power, achieving desires, and eating.

    Undine

    Medium elemental, unaligned                                                    

    AC: 2
    HP: 9
    Speed: 25 ft, swim 40 ft                            
    STR: 6 (+2) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 8 (+2)
    INT: 11 (+0) WIS: 10 (+0) CHA: 16 (+3)                   
    Skills: Persuasion +5, Performance +5
    Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
    Languages: Common, Primordial                                 
    ABILITIES

    • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The undine can innately cast the cantrip Shape Water. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
    • Translucency: The undine can become invisible in water as a bonus action
    • Amorphous:The undine can squeeze through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing

                                                                                  
    ABILITIES

    • Claw: Melee Weapon Attack, +3 to hit, 1 reach 5 ft, one target. d6+1 piercing damage, and the target must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute.

    DISPOSITION
    Undine are spirits of water and vanity. They dislike dirt, modesty, poverty, and circumspection. They like performance, ostentation, and cleanliness. They really love drowning people.

    jacinto Uncategorized

    kingdom of the midnight hour

    A little interested in the new 5e SRD/OGL thing going on. DM’s Guild is far less attractive, but it does have me thinking how I would run Forgotten Realms. This is how I’d do the Shadowfell.

    Kingdom of the Midnight Hour
    whence all darkness springs and whence all shadows return. Without light, it is simply an endless void; with light, the shadow of everything that every that ever was or ever happened lives there. The thinking shadows maintain desperate radiant cities. The poorest shadows huddle half-real around hexed coals, while the shadows of kings live in white-hot palaces of imported steel.

    The more powerful the shadow, the brighter the light it needs to exist.  The shadows of gods, down in the Deepest Dark, would need a stolen star to truly exist; instead, they lie nascent and semireal in the dim radiance they have managed to hoard, manipulating events in the Prime Material so that they can breach into reality.

    Subluna
    a city in the Kingdom located on the shadow the moon casts upon the face of the earth during a solar eclipse; its periodic emergence into the Prime Material plane has made it a center of commerce. It is best known for its aircraft: undead giant moths, their carapaces hollowed out for passengers, their wings filigreed with occult silver wire. These are chiefly designed, built, and piloted by a society of exiled Moon Elves, come to live on the shadow of their former home.

    Denizens
    Shadows do not and cannot die, barring extreme and magical circumstances, but in darkness, they must wait in helpless semiconscious potentiality until illuminated once again. Since the Kingdom of the Midnight Hour is infinitely large, falling into darkness might mean years of centuries or millennia or an eternity of imprisonment. Shadows of sentient creatures will, naturally, make any effort to avoid this. Some sell  themselves to wizards in the Prime Material plane as familiars, while others labor as indentured servants to extraplanar masters in return for a magical source of light. Some, however, find a physical medium for their bodies, and it is these that can become adventurers.

    Shadows speak a dialect of the Lingua Obscura, a shadow of a long-lost language. In its classical form, it is used to speak the unspeakable and describe the indescribable, but even creatures as esoteric and sentient shadows struggle with such powerful idioms.

    Powers
    The nominal ruler of the Kingdom of Midnight is King Evening Falls Not Gently, more commonly known as King Gently. It is a dragon eaten by its own shadow, and administers its erratic and violent rule from the White Hot Palace.

    King Gently’s rivals include

    • the Holy Terrors, a triumvirate consisting of the shadows of angels
    • Baron Bar Vashar, an ancient vampire of noble bearing, charitable disposition, and bottomless appetite
    • the Inverse Princess, the less of whom is spoken the better

    Elsewhere

    • The Resplendent Kingdom of Noon (i.e. the Feywild) is home to fairies and reflections. 
    • Kara Karakai, the City At the Bottom of the World (i.e. Sigil)
    • The Gardens of Flame (Plane of Fire), home to everything ever burnt to ash, a paradise and inferno in one.
    • The Abyss: a hell divided into an infinite number of layers, each one dedicated to an infinitely specific kind of sin. An inquiry into the nature of evil.
    jacinto lordy lordy, Pernicious Albion

    SPACE MAGIC

    So I found this mess while digging through my unpublished blog posts. It’s Pernicious Albion circa January 2013, back when it was based directly off of Carcosa, as you can probably tell from the amount of gonzo science fiction elements.

    ORBITAL WIZARD
    Aurelian is a lich that has blasted himself into space with stolen Moth Elf technology, strapped himself onto an arcane satellite, and parked himself in geosynchronous orbit above Silver Fork Carcosa, observing it with grafted-on telescopic eyes. He projects his magic down to the surface with great metal dishes, and is the terror of several small towns scattered across the Western Hemisphere, though cities generally have enough magicians to keep them safe. He also has a small network of spies, which he maintains through magical communication. He often sells information to various Dark Lords, Fairy Sorcerers, and Lunar Giants, as there is nothing he cannot see. However, his field of view when zoomed in is incredibly narrow (the party doesn’t have to worry about being Fireballed from high orbit), so while he can watch everyone that passes through a town, he can’t find them wandering the countryside. Aurelian covets the space station occupied by the gravity dragon known as Charles V, as it is both secure and filled with texts describing the strange space-warping and cthonic magic of the station’s inhabitant. If the party makes a name for themselves and the lich’s spies find out, he will offer to pay them an outrageous sum of money if they kill Charles V. Aurelian will provide the transportation.

    GRAVITY DRAGON
    Charles V is neither chromatic nor metallic; the dragons of Carcosa are affiliated with greater powers and stranger frequencies. He has taken up residence in an abandoned Moth Elf space station, which traces a crazed trajectory high above Carcosa’s surface. His size is immaterial; Charles V occupies several planes and can snake his away around obstacles along alien axes. He does not attack with anything so unsubtle as fiery breathe, and favors tearing of chunks of his enemies with small gravity fields. Depleted uranium weapons deal double damage against him. In addition to various magical tracts, Charles V’s hoard contains maps marking the locations of several other dragon lairs. More on this later.

    OTHER DRAGONS
    Include gamma dragons, are white hot and cause terrible sickness in nearby communities; tidal dragons, which manifest themselves as waves (regardless of the material they travel through, so they are like sentient, mobile Tacoma Narrows Bridge disasters); entropy dragons, which induce catastrophic disorder through their breathe.

    ON SORCERERS IN SILVER FORK CARCOSA

    This is actually recycled stuff from an abandoned campaign
    I hate pointy hats and robes, so in Silver Fork Carcosa, all sorcerers have something terribly, terribly wrong with them.
    About this sorcerer
    • Is bound in an immense brass coffin; carried about on a palanquin by blindfolded and gagged slaves who act in perfect coordination
    • Has a furnace for a heart; requires coal to live
    • Only has one eye located in the back of their throat; must open mouth wide to see
    • Has long, stilt-like legs that terminate in iron spikes
    • Has a head is put on upside down
    • Has lungs that don’t work; golem servant pumps a set of bellows stuck into abdomen
    • Has been embalmed and stuffed with rose petals; perfectly ambulatory
    •  Exudes a powerful odor of lemons
    • Has the voice of a screaming choir
    • Has a millipede instead of legs
    • Has a face (not a mask) carved from ivory; if removed, you can see their brain
    • Is always on fire
    • Has elephant tusks growing from their elbows
    • Has smoke instead of blood
    • Has extra-long, exposed, articulating ribs
    • Has small tentacles instead of teeth
    • Moves in time with the ticking of the giant clock embedded in chest
    • Verbal components of spells manifest themselves as razor blades tumbling from sorcerer’s lips
    • Bulging chameleon eyes afford panoramic view 
    •  Nearly limp body carried about on spider-legged apparatus
    jacinto classes, demon, LotFP

    call you up

    Spirits that a level 1 summoner can choose from. 

    Ursa Minor

    from etrian odyssey

    A lesser bear deity who lost all of her worshipers to a single landslide. She is polite, lugubrious, and faintly maternal. While in her youth Ursa was a goddess of war and wild, she has become domesticated over the last few centuries, preferring the slow pleasures of novels and teatime to the rush of the hunt. Nevertheless, she is always keeping an eye out for potential worshipers, who would put her on a path to becoming the ferocious Ursa Major once again. 

    • Stats as a 3 HD black bear
    • If fed three rations, she can Enlarge herself as a 3rd level magic-user.
    • A talented cook and a passable patissier
    The Darker The Hour
    by Patrick Feller, released under Creative Commons

    A wayward young demon taking the form of a small, black cat. Its relative youth and the fact that it has been separated from its siblings has left it afraid and impressionable, if no less malicious. The Darker The Hour craves approval and authority. It loves things that are cool and hates things that are lame. It will cause the greatest amount of chaos possible if left to its own devices.

    • Stats as goblin
    • Can force itself into the mouth of any creature in melee range, though they can Save vs Paralysis to resist. Once in their body, it can make them Charmed by any human in line of sight, though the host can save to resist. Moreover, it can place insert thoughts into its host’s mind. These must be short enough to be said with a single breath, and the host is under no compunction to act upon them–they simply believe the thought to be their own. Hosts do not remember being possessed.
    • Hosts will respond with confusion or hostility if summoners start barking orders at The Darker The Hour while it is possessing them.
    The Damascene Spider
    screenshot from Bloodborne

    Something like a spider, something like a man, born in a crypt as a simple spider, but has grown fat on dead saints. It has acquired something of their benevolence and all of their wisdom, and is the size of a large dog. The Damascene, on one hand, wants to aid the sick, comfort the dying, and give to the poor, while on the other, it wants to wind everything up in silk and slurp them up when they’ve gone all runny. It has given up anthropophagy for now, but views lapses on this front as more venal than mortal.

    • Stats as crab spider. It does not have fatal venom.
    • The Damascene’s bite is not venomous, but it can drool some venom onto a wounded creature, healing them for 1d6+1 HP. This is exhausting for the spider–it must rest 1 Turn and consume 1 ration before it can repeat the procedure.
    • The Damascene can extrude 10 ft of silk (as strong as a rope) per exploration turn.
        jacinto adventures, encounters, LotFP, san serafín

        una isla

        Working on the region surrounding San Serafín. I want there to be more to do than just this one, giant dungeon. I think my players are chafing against having to dungeon crawl every session. I also want to develop a Morrowind/Tekumel-ish setting, a kind of Mozarab Latin America, or a Colombian Exchange with Al-Andalus instead of re-Christianized Spain. 

        Anywhere, here are six locations. 
        I

        Twin creatures of mysterious nature and sumptuous dress sell strange wares beneath a red silk canopy on the side of the road.

        • Arre has the grinning head of a coyote, tongue lolling, eyes a dull red. She is polite, accommodating, and will not insist on anything but a price. She sells magic-user and cleric scrolls (all spells with a level of 6 or higher). She does not take money, but requires a live captive with HD double the level of the scroll’s spell.She fights as a gargoyle (AC 5 HD 4 MV 90 ATK 2 claws/1 bite/1 horn DMG 1d3/1d3/1d6/1d4 ST Fighter 8 ML 11 TT C AL C, Immune to non-magical weapons)
        • Erre has the head of a monkey, expression neutral, eyes a lambent red. He is profane, deceitful, and delights in insult. He sells magic items (three random magic items in stock, changes out each midnight). He accepts only ancient coinage, and each item costs 500+d1000 gp. He fights as a wraith (AC 3 HD 4 MV 120′ (FLY 240′) ATK 1 DMG 1d6+Energy Drain ST Fighter 4 ML 11 TT E AL C, Immune to non-silver and non-magical weapons)

        II
        A small and unpleasant village. The well has been spoiled recently and a spirit haunts the village chief, a man called Nazario.

        • The well was spoiled by the brother of Nazario’s dead wife, who wants to be chief and is sabotaging Nazario’s rule.
        • Nazario is haunted by the spirit Búho because he murdered his wife, the daughter of the last chief, five years ago. He rules the village benevolently, but will kill again to maintain his secret.
        • The villagers blame the haunting and the spoiled well on the nearby encampment of half-djinn. They would have driven away or killed them by now if not for the efforts of the village chief.

        III
        An encampment of half-djinn outcasts. They have thus far maintained a measure of peace and prosperity through the power and guidance of the great djinni Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif, but he has been missing for over a month.

        • A band of slavers has been kidnapping djinni across the Isle. The leader of the encampment, Fátima, wants the slavers killed and her fellows freed.
        • Shams, the great-grandson of al-Kasif, maintains his ancestor’s house, buried beneath the encampment. It contains immense wealth, but its guardians are vigilant and powerful.
        • Befriending the encampment allows players to create half-djinn characters.
        • The half-djinn fight as elves (AC 5 HD 1+1 MV 120’ ATK 1 DMG 1d8 ST Elf 1 ML 8 TT E AL Neutral, Know a random 1st level magic-user spell)

        IV
        A decaying monastery occupied by a society of necromancers. A small shantytown has sprung up around the monastery’s walls, full of indentured servants paying off the necromancer’s services.

        • The necromancers can raise any human from the dead, as long as a corpse and their true name is provided. The dead raised this way have the mental attributes, knowledge, and abilities they had in life, but the physical characteristics of their new body. This service costs a number of gold pieces equal to the experience total of the one to be resurrected. Anyone raised this way cannot gain XP.
        • The indentured servants despise the necromancers for their abuse and cupidity, but each is desperate to bring someone back to life.
        • The necromancers know the secret of summoning Las Muertas, but will not teach it to anyone outside of their ranks. A summoner must enroll in the society or else just steal the ritual.

        V
        A band of hunters makes their camp here, hidden inside a thicket. Several of their children have gone missing, and in the weeks since their search started, something has begun to mutilate the horses.

        • The children have been stolen by the spirit Angroda, who maintains her lair in the bole of an immense black tree in the same hex as the camp.
        • The horse-killer is one of the hunters, cursed with lycanthropy. He killed an ancient jaguar while searching for the missing children, and it bit him as it died. He is too frightened to set off on his own and even more afraid of being killed by his friends and family, so he has been satisfying his new hunger with the band’s horses. He fights as a weretiger (AC 3 HD 5 MV 150’ ATK 2 claws/1 bite DMG 1d6/1d6/2d6 ST Fighter 5 ML 9 TT C AL N, Immune to non-magical or non-silver weapons, can summon 1d2 jaguars 1/day)

        VI
        An abandoned hacienda. Withered cattle, untouched by insects, lay dead in locked barns, and the silos are filled with rotted grain. In the manor, the two dozen bodies hang from the rafters.

        • The hanged were once the hacienda’s household. In life, they sacrificed humans to an Old God in return for bountiful crops. When the Saint-king sent an agent to investigate the disappearances, they killed themselves when discovery seemed inevitable.
        • The dead are restless in this house. The bodies will reanimate and attempt to kill anyone who enters the manor. They will do their best to keep anyone from entering the basement, where they kept the remains of their victims.
        • The basement contains the remains of the sacrificial victims, as well as the body of the Saint-king’s agent. Unbeknownst to the murderers, he tripped down the stairs and broke his neck while investigating. He is an immobile skeleton, but is quite friendly and rather voluble.
        • The murderers fight as wights (AC 5 HD 3 MV 90 ATK 1 DMG Energy Drain ST Fighter 3 ML 12 TT B AL C, Immune to non-silver and non-magical weapons). As long as they are still tied to a rafter and nothing living can see them or their destination, they can teleport to any other rafter in the house. If cut from the roof, they cannot teleport, but can move freely.
        jacinto classes, demon, djinn, LotFP

        the happy dead

        Another revision of my summoner class, along with two more spirits.


        Las Muertas
        If a summoner learns the True Name of a dead human, they can call their spirit forth from the Lands of the Dead. These ghosts are invisible to all but their summoner (or those with the means to see magic) and care utterly incapable of interacting with the physical world. However, if their summoner commands them to possess a corpse, they can use it as an intermediary to interfere with the living. Las Muertas retain all of their knowledge, mental capacity, and abilities from life, but acquire all of the physical capabilities and limitations of their host. When a host is destroyed, its possessor is banished back to the Lands of the Dead and cannot be summoned until the following midnight.

        While the personalities and motivations of Las Muertas vary as much as the living, they are uniformly incapable of boredom, though they may enjoy some activities more than others. One of the dead can spend a decade at the bottom of a well unphased. Moreover, leaving the stultifying Lands of the Dead makes them labile and manic–Las Muertas have a notorious taste for rich food, liquor, and tobacco. 

        There are rumors of a town in the northernmost reaches of Las Taifas where summoners call up the dead and willingly release them into the Lands of the Living. The sheikhs denies such speculation.

        Búho  
        Búho is a spirit consisting of 12 porcelain owl dolls.

        • Their heads turn to face the most powerful Chaotic creature in the immediate vicinity
        • Their bodies rattle in the presence of magic. 
        • Each time someone lies in Búho’s presence, one of the dolls breaks. 

        The dolls must remain within 12 feet of each other. They can move as fast as a human, but only when nobody can see them. While unobserved, they can carry small objects. As long as an area has an egress accessible to a normal human, they can leave, even if they aren’t large or strong enough normally (so if Búho is in a room with a closed door, the dolls can leave if nobody can see them. If the door’s locked or actually a heavy portcullis, they’re stuck) If all the dolls break, Búho is banished. Búho cannot speak.

        Búho always tries to reveal secrets and uncover the truth, regardless of the consequences. The older and darker the secret, the more Búho tries to reveal it. It most commonly comes into conflict with humans when it comes across a powerful secret–murder, infidelity, falsified noble lineages. It haunts those it believes to be responsible, hoping that observers can figure out the rules of its abilities to put together the truth.

        jacinto classes, demon, djinn, LotFP

        to slay a king or rout a host

        My abridged copy of 1001 Nights is filed with dubious Victorianisms, but every once in a while it just really comes together. The genie Al-Ra’ad Al-Kasif to the puckishly homocidal fisherman Judar:

        Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given to thee. Hast thou a mind to people a ruined city or ruin a populous one? To slay a king or rout a host?

        So now I’m thinking about summoner types again. The last iteration was a bit too complicated and wasn’t quite doing what I wanted it to do. Here is yet another iteration, one that’s probably pretty close to complete, incorporating some advice from +Arnold K.

        Summoner 3.0
        by Kawanabe Kyōsa


        HP, XP, Saves as magic-user
        Summoners cannot perform magic under their own power, and instead call forth spirits to do it for them. First, a summoner must acquire the true name of a spirit. They can do this by finding it while adventuring or extracting it from the spirit itself, through trickery, violence, or diplomacy. Then, they must bind it. This is analogous to a magic-user preparing spells; the spirits a summoner has bound determines which ones they can summon over the course of a day. Finally, they can summon the spirit, which requires the traditional Loyalty roll (2d6 under a target number between 3 and 12).

        At midnight, summoners can bind spirits whose true names they know. This takes as long as a magic-user memorizing spells from a spell book. Bound spirits, whether they are currently summoned or not, count against a summoner’s retainer total (if applicable to your rules of choice. Otherwise, they can bind a number of spirits equal to half level+Cha mod).

        Summoning a spirit takes as long as casting a spell. When you summon a spirit, make a Loyalty check to see if you retain control of it. A spirit’s base Loyalty is increased by 1/3 your level (if your ruleset of choice does not provide a method for retainer loyalty, start it at 6) If you succeed, the spirit performs a single task for you to the best of its ability, then returns to the void, ready to be summoned again. If you fail, the spirit is free to do as it pleases until you subdue it or bind it again. Malicious spirits will attack you or otherwise sabotage your progress, while benign or neutral spirits will just leave or watch you get eaten by skeletons.

        • If you command a spirit to cast a spell, add the spell level to the 2d6 roll.
        • Spirits commanded to perform exceedingly long-terms tasks might require multiple Loyalty rolls. A spirit commanded to guard its summoner for an entire day would require Loyalty rolls every time it sustained significant damage, for example.
        • For every spirit you have currently summoned, you suffer a -1 penalty to Loyalty rolls.
        • Spirits have their own motives and personalities. If you command a spirit to act against its truest nature, you suffer a -1 to -3 penalty to the Loyalty roll, depending on how egregious the breach of its code would be.
        • You can gain a +1 bonus to a single Loyalty roll by giving the spirit an offering. This can be anything from a bottle of rum to a live goat, but the upshot is a single offering encumbers at least as a significant item and costs at least 50gp×the spirit’s HD.
        • A summoner can banish any spirit under their control at will, but they must be in earshot.
        • Spirits that die return to the void, and cannot be summoned until bound again.

        Example Spirits
        Inklings

        from legend of zelda: wind waker

        Spirits of hexed ink and sublimated shadow, about as intelligent as a human toddler. They possess a catlike susceptibility to affection, but also delight in cruelty.

        Stats: As goblin
        Can spider-climb and squeeze through spaces coin-sized or larger. Inklings take d4 damage per turn in lightless environments are their substance bleeds off into the ambient darkness.

        from dark souls 2

        Agrode
        A crow the size of a mastiff. She has many red eyes, and speaks through the small human face hidden inside her beak. She is obscene, manic, funny, and enthusiastically anthropophagous. Agrode holds power over sight and thought.

        Agrode adores children, and most commonly comes into conflict with humans when she starts kidnapping sons and daughters. Despite the fact that she is a giant, filthy, demonic crow, she actually takes quite good care of them, loving them with all her evil heart and teaching them all the secrets of her wicked wisdom. Some of the greatest witches in history were raised by Agrode. Occassionally, desperate parents leave their children out where Agrode is known to roost. She gratefully accepts them, then kills the parents for neglect.

        Stats: As giant bat, no blood drain, Alignment is Chaotic
        Can cast Comprehend/Obscure Languages, Phantasmal Force, and Forget at will. She can cast Charm Person at will, but only on those below the age of 18.

        from final fantasy xii

        The Queen of Lions
        The spirit of the Queen of Sheba’s consort. Her features are concealed behind red lacquer armor and samite, but she stands a full head taller than the tallest man. She is taciturn, patient, suspicious of magicians, and wrathful towards liars. Hers are the powers of fortitude and purity.

        Stats: As Ogre, Alignment is Lawful, cannot be harmed by man-made weapons
        Can Turn Undead as a 3rd level Cleric, can speak to animals

        Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif

        from tales of vesperia

        An ifrit, once immensely powerful, now sadly dissipated. He appears as a louche, middle-aged man in rich clothes. He is a knowledgeable accountant and talented lawyer, though leaving him to his own devices in financial matters is not necessarily wise, as his reach exceeds his considerable grasp.

        Al-Ra’ad is a traditionalist djinn, and does not try to push too hard against his summoner’s orders. However, he desperately wishes to repair his ring, broken millennia ago by the wife of an old master, in hopes of restoring his former power. He is also a gourmand and a minor alcoholic, and his appetites occasionally surpass his best efforts and good intentions.

        Stats: As Gnoll, Alignment is Lawful
        Can Change Self at will. Al-Ra’ad is abnormally strong, and can carry twice as many items as normal. He can easily perform any feat of Strength a normal human is capable of, and automatically succeeds all such Strength checks. He only makes checks for tasks that would exceed the capabilities of a single person.

        jacinto items, san serafín, treasure

        serafino artifacts

        Tizona
        An indestructible sword feared and coveted as a weapon of immense destruction. Any sparks struck by its blade ignite fires that cannot be extinguished by means magical or mundane; they burn until they consume all available fuel or else forever.

        a black bone
        A charred tibia, one end wrapped in wire for a handle, the other chipped to a point. This is an weapon that cannot and should not be; to kill someone with it is to disrupt the natural course of Creation. Anything its victims ought to have done will go unfinished, and the events they would have prevented will now proceed. It can be used to subvert prophecy and kill those protected by destiny, both for good and for bad, but each use weakens the relationship between Cause and Effect just a little more.

        la lengua oscura
        As we cast shadows, so too does language; in the distant west they call this speech La Lengua Oscura. Those fluent in it can ponder the unknowable and devise the impossible; there are kings and queens, now long dead, who used it to order their subjects to commit unspeakable acts. True mastery is all but impossible in these latter days, but acquiring basic knowledge has its advantages.

        The Zahir
        A divine weapon that brings salvation to those it destroys. The Zahir slowly consumes the mind of anyone who sees it, filling them with thoughts of Immanence. When any sentient creature sees the Zahir up close, they must make a Saving Throw vs Magic every day thereafter or lose a point of Intelligence as more and more of their mind dedicates itself to pondering the Zahir. Once their Intelligence reaches 0, they become Lawful and fall into a coma. The Zahir can take any form: it can be a penny, a book, a house.

        The Bottom of the City
        There ruled a king in distant West, a king for the ages, a king to rival Solomon, a king to shake the firmament. He was Yahya, or El Pastor, or Prestor John, but today his names are not spoken, and his works are cast away. He is just San Serafin now. His 99 Histories record his fall from grace, but each chapter ascribes to him a different sin and a different punishment, so that all must be held in suspicion and none can be trusted. Whether he is dead or asleep or imprisoned at the bottom of his hated, buried city, all of the Histories  agree on a single point: anyone who finds him will be granted a single, omnipotent wish, a gift from the Almighty, the power to redeem the world or destroy it.

        jacinto nephilim, pseudomonarchia

        Miami Pseudomonarchia Character Creation

        intro
        The mayor’s nephew has been hanging around the wrong kind of the wrong kind of people, and now he’s missing. A mayor’s aide has discreetly approached you and your associates with his last known whereabouts, a list of friends, and the promise of a sizable reward if you can find him without kicking up a fuss.

        All rolls are just a 1d10+Relevant Attribute+Relevant Skill vs a target number. All PCs have a reason to stick together, even in the face of a danger.

        1. Revelation
        All player characters know the truth about the way the world works. Write down how your character found out, though you don’t have to tell anyone.

        2. Attributes
        Roll 1d6-3 for each. Arrange to taste.
        Physique
        Dexterity
        Power
        Perception
        Intellect

        3. Hit Points
        d6+Intellect+Physique+4

        4. Background
        Examples: Snake Handler, Veterinarian, Veteran, College Student, Burglar, Accountant, Cashier, Refugee, Santero
        Any time you can convincingly say “I should be able to do this better because I’m a [your class], you get a +2 to the roll, on top of attributes and skills.

        5. Skills
        Examples: Lockpicking, Athletics, Marksmanship, Andalusi Romance, Theology, Computers, Driving, Beauty, Lying
        Pick 5 skills. Their values are +5, +4, +3, +2, and +1.There isn’t a list of skill, so you can make them up. Skills can help you recall information about supernatural things, but they don’t let you do anything a normal human couldn’t. Miami Pseudomonarchia is not necessarily combat intensive and you don’t have to pick combat skills, but if you want to be a fighting type, this is the place to make it happen.

        6. Talents

        Examples: Gematria, Monstrous Strength, Tarot Reading, Pyromancy, Demonology, Exorcism, Lycanthropy, Ouija
        Talents function as skills, but they let you perform supernatural acts. All magic is Tampering In What Man Ought Not, and comes with certain risks. Every time you use a talent, you acquire an additional Catastrophe die. Each time you use that talent, you roll your Catastrophe dice with it. They do not modify the situation in any way, unless any of then result in a 1, in which case you fail at the supernatural act you were attempting in a spectacular and interesting way (the demon gets loose, the fireball explodes early, etc). You can clear all of your Catastrophe dice by resting in a place of safety (a good meal, a night’s sleep, whatever).

        You have 4 points to distribute across you talents. You can have two talents with a +2 bonus, or one talent with  a +4 bonus. Catastrophe dice accrue per talent, so having several, weaker talents can be safer.

        You can forgo having any talents to add +1 to all of your skills.

        7. Gear
        You have d10×$100 worth of stuff. Use Google to price it out. Don’t get put on a list.

        jacinto classes, djinn, is this gonna work, LotFP

        bound djinni class

         Bound Djinni
        a class for Old School D&D-alikes
        by edmund dulac

        HP, XP, Saves, Attack Bonus, Equipment Restrictions as Elf.

        You are a spirit of flame and desire, sealed inside a magical vessel such as a ring, lamp, or sword. You must obey the commands of the person who holds your vessel. In fact, you must try to bring about all desires they verbally express in your hearing, whether they want you to or not (they can, of course, tell you to immediately stop what you are doing). You must always follow the letter of your vessel-carrier’s wishes, though you can otherwise interpret them however you want. This isn’t a matter of threat of punishment–this is simply what bound djinn do, though they certainly don’t always like it.

        You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. However, once you have completed all outstanding wishes, you are compelled to return to their vessel until called forth again. You must be within a few feet of your vessel into enter it. You cannot take any items with you.

        Djinn vessels are indestructible, barring Wish-level magic, the fire of an ancient dragon, or divine intervention. Should you manage to get your vessel destroyed, you will be free to do as you please, assuming a magician doesn’t manage to cram you into a snuff box again.

        Water and earth are anathema to djinn. You take d4 damage per turn of submersion or interment. 

        by edmund dulac

        Act of Change
        When outside of your vessel, you can assume any shape you desire, within the parameters of Polymorph Self or Disguise Self. However, your height and length cannot exceed twice your level in feet. Changing shape is also tiring–every time you do so, Save vs Magic or take d4 Constitution damage. You do not need to make this Save the first time you assume a shape after resting inside your prison.

        Act of Creation
        Starting at level 3, you can create objects from nothing, but only to fulfill a command by the owner of your djinn-prison. The total value in gold pieces of objects you create over the course of a day cannot exceed your current experience total divided by 10. If a created object leaves your presence a number of turns greater than your level, it vanishes into black smoke. Djinni-created food and drink nourishes like any other meal if eaten before it vanishes.

        Act of Strength
        Starting at level 5, when in human or demihuman form, you can easily perform any feat of Strength a normal human is capable of and automatically succeed all such Strength checks. You only need to make Strength checks for tasks that would surpass the abilities of a single person. You can carry twice as many objects without being encumbered, as well. This does not confer any bonuses to combat.

        Act of Nature
        Starting at level 7, when in human or demihuman form, you can fly on a whirlwind at will, albeit clumsily, as the Chariot of Air spell.

        Act of Desire
        At level 9, you can grant a Limited Wish to the possessor of your vessel 1/week.

        Etc

        • Typically, the carrier of a djinni’s prison is another PC, though it could be some magician who decided to give the mercenaries a little help. The relationship between a bound djinni and the carrier of their prison comes down to the players, though circumstances will probably conspire to keep them from outright wanting to kill each other–if a djinni engineers a TPK, they might end up stuck in their prison in the bottom of a dungeon for a couple centuries.
        • If you see a tower of diamond or a castle of steel, it probably has a powerful djinni bound at the bottom, supporting the structure’s existence with their presence. Releasing them destroys the edifice, and releases a barely-sane spirit of epochal rage into the world at large.
        • You could have a djinn-binder class who has half thief skill progression and MU XP who automatically gets an NPC djinni. For the semi-competent hero who stumbles onto awesome magical power.
        • There are plenty of people who want a bound djinni of their own. Careless owners of a djinn-prison might find their former servants fighting against them.