new age dnd – hex culture

January 24, 2017 jacinto classes, flowerland, magic, new age dnd, new barbary, occult

something is wrong character creation

strange beings come out to make mischief in the weirding light of the spiral moon

A super-pared down 5e-ish thing for Flowerland/Weird Florida. Checks are the typical 1d20+ability score mod+proficiency bonus (if applicable), but classes are more thematically defined packages of proficiencies instead of discrete lists of skills and abilities. Magic is an unreliable accretion of superstitions rather than a very formalized list of abilities, and HP is a small, easy come/easy go buffer between mobility and death. All of this should fit the mood better than the more high fantasy feel of rules as written 5e D&D.

ABILITY SCORED

Roll 3d6 for Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Use the following ability score modifiers. If your modifiers have a negative total, you can reroll all of your ability scores. Once you have a viable character, you can swap two ability scores of your choosing.

HIT POINTS

Don’t exist. We are using the endurance/stopwatch system. Everyone starts out with 6+CON mod EP.

You can recover EP equal to your hazard die by resting an exploration turn (triggers an encounter check). Each time you rest, your max EP reduces by 1. Eating a ration lets you recover EP without losing any points from your maximum.You can’t take a rest in situations that are draining your EP.
You recover all of your EP, and you max EP returns to normal, when you take a long rest in a safe place.
You gain +1 max EP when you level up.

CLASS/BACKGROUND/PROFICIENCY
Your proficiency bonus is +2, and increases by +1 every 4th level. Add your proficiency bonus to tasks your class is good at. The listed die value is your Hazard Die, which determines how much EP you can recover when you rest and how much your weapon attacks deal.

Cacique [1d6] bullshitting, winning contests, brawling, barking orders, making friends/rivals, etc
Warrior [1d8] fighting, climbing, swimming, jumping, athletics, etc
Thief [1d6] picking locks, picking pockets, sneaking, climbing, etc
Cleric [1d4] performing apotropaic rituals, speaking with authority, praying to spirits, etc
Witch: [1d4] performing dark rituals, inuiting, animal handling, bargain with spirits, etc
Hunter: [1d8] ambushing, marksmanship, tracking, naturalism, hiding, etc
Scholar: [1d6] knowing languages, history, teratology, medicine, etc
Diva/Adonis: [1d6] dancing, singing, seducing, conversing, distracting, etc

EQUIPMENT AND INVENTORY You start with 3d6×10 dollars. $1 = 1 sp. Buy stuff off of the LotFP equipment list.

We are using this inventory system.

SAVING THROWS
Basic ability score checks. Pick one saving throw; you can add your proficiency bonus to it.

MAGIC/RITUALS
Anything that we would recognize as a spell from D&D is far beyond the capability of humans, and generally requires the intercession of a god or demon. Rituals are slower and quieter and subtler, but they are also powerful rules the supernatural world must abide by. Anyone can try to perform a ritual, but people who spend their time close to the supernatural (witches and clerics) are better at them.

Players do not get to see the list of rituals. They discover rituals as rewards, by accident, in books, through rumors, by joining factions. Some are common and most people know about, some are kept secret by powerful organizations. Players will be part of an adventuring Company that will help explain why a new crop of characters might know a bunch of weird rituals after the last group got a TPK.

[simple] rituals are easy to do. You just need the right component and the right action, like throwing salt on a monster or chanting a certain phrase. Some simple rituals people perform on accident, and this can be dangerous.
[complex] rituals are hard. They require a lot of practice and knowledge. Making a talisman, reciting a long passage of holy writ, or inscribing a pentagram just right are all complex rituals. They take a month to learn from a tutor or a text. Complex rituals are easy to perform incorrectly, and this can be dangerous.
[apotropaic] rituals are the rites clerics use to drive back the supernatural and defend humanity. When they require a check, use WIS. When they require a saving throw, the DC is 8+WIS mod (+proficiency bonus if ritual caster is a cleric)
[dark] rituals are the rites witches use to have their way with the world. When they require a check, use CHA. When they require a saving throw, the DC is 8+CHA mod (+proficiency bonus if ritual caster is a witch). These rituals are often illegal.
Players can perform impromptu rituals if they make sense. If someone is bitten on the arm by a werewolf and the cleric makes a rosary tourniquet, it is ritually potent enough to work even though it’s not listed below. These might have high DCs, or the victim might get advantage on the saving throw.

purity rite [apotropaic] [simple] Cast salt on an impure creature (devils, demons, undead, fey, etc). They must make a CHA saving throw or flee for a turn.

warding rite [apotropaic] [simple] Pour salt in a circle around you. Impure creatures must make a CHA saving throw to cross it. Lasts until disturbed or you leave the circle.

nazar [apotropaic] [complex] DC 14 Spend a long rest and 10 gp making a blue eye bead. Anyone who carries it will have advantage on saving throws versus curses. It cracks the first time its bearer is the target of a curse, whether or not they succeed the saving throw. If a would-be creator fails a check to make a nazar, all nazars they have already made lose their power.

casket rite [apotropaic] [simple] Seal a coffin with silver nails. If the interred has the will and ability to rise as a restless corpse, they must make a CHA saving throw to succeed and will not be able to try again if they fail. If a witch is trying to raise them, they must make a CHA saving throw before they can attempt it, and cannot try again if they fail.

revenant rite [dark] Bury someone with a smoldering piece of cypress charcoal on their chest, and they will return as a restless corpse. If they don’t want to come back, they cane make a WIS saving throw.

ill rite [dark] [simple] Cast grave dirt on a human as you whisper a cursed syllable. They must make a WIS saving throw or suffer a wasting illness, losing 1 EP a day until they die.

rite of calling [dark] [apotropaic] [simple] Summon a corpse by calling its name at night at the edge of the woods, the mouth of a cave, the bank of a river, or the shore of a lakeThey may or may not be friendly, and if they don’t want to come they may make a CHA saving throw to avoid the summons.

red ribbon rite [dark] [simple] tie a red ribbon to a bound or incapacitated spirit (fiend, fey, elemental, undead, celestial). It must make a CHA saving throw or consider you its master. It can remake the saving throw every time your orders humiliate it, place it in danger, or require it to violate its nature.

shrine rite [dark] [apotropaic] [complex] spend a turn building an impromptu shrine from ritual stones to a spirit (fiend, fey, elemental, undead, celestial) to communicate with it directly. You can ask it to cast a spell, perform a task, guard you, reveal a secret, etc. It may or may not be friendly. Each spirit has its own shrine rite, and they must be learned separately. Ritual stones may be reused.

January 18, 2017 jacinto demon, elves, fairy, flowerland, monsters, new age dnd

blades of grass

a 5e monster for weird florida. Been thinking about Pearce’s Monstrum 1 and Monstrum 2 posts, and while I haven’t faithfully applied those principles here, I wanted something that didn’t immediately and obviously fit into the D&D taxonomy (in some ways it doesn’t matter if your kobolds are dogmen or lizard people or birdlings or shivering clouds of diamond dust if players know that it’s a fodder enemy in the same genus as goblins and bullywugs).

~~~

you might think it’s a coyote at first when you see it running down the trail–its skeleture is right, and it has that canine posture on all fours, but then it rears back on its hind legs and then keeps going, sprinting like a human, reaching for you with its sharp fingers. it looks more like a person up close, but its mouth is a little too wide and its teeth are far too sharp, and when you cut it, its blood is pink and viscous, like real blood mixed with milkweed sap.

GRASS HOUSE DWELLER
medium fey, chaotic neutral
Armor Class 15
Hit Points 7
Speed 40 ft, 60 ft on all fours, 30 ft climb speed
STR 8 (-1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 10 (+0)
INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0)
Skills: Stealth +6
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages unknown
Weaknesses radiant damage, makes their blood burn like wet sodium
Graceful. Can take the Disengage or Hide action on each of its turns
Hide in the House. Has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when hiding in grass
Grass House Walker. Moves through palmetto, tall grass, and natural difficult terrain silently and without penalty
ACTIONS

Claw. Melee weapon attack. +4 to hit, 1d6+2 slashing damage
Green glass blade. Melee weapon attack.+4 to hit, 1d8+2 slashing damage, breaks on a roll of maximum damage.
Weird. The dweller can cast one of the following spells per short rest. Use WIS as spellcasting ability score. Its spell save DC is 14 and its spell attack bonus is +4

as entangle. The dweller gently palpates the ground; if it is stone it flexes like soft flesh, if it is dirt or sand the dweller reaches below the surface and manipulates something unseen there. Slender pale arms churn through the ground, delicate strong hands with opalescent fingernails drag down whatever they find.
as fog cloud. The dweller scores the earth deep with its claw and black smoke boils up out of the gash.
as unseen servant. There is the faint smell of cut grass and open earth, pollen and tiny insects hang in the air.
as thunderwave. The dweller throws back its head and roars like a thousand thousand cicadas, it’s the worst sound you’ve ever heard, you can taste it in your teeth, feel it blast through the fine bones of your jaw and ears.

Pact. Once per day: Three dwellers within 5 ft of each other can use their action in the same turn to summon a demon if they are outside in a wilderness area. Roll or choose based on situation, all have fiend type. Demons have their own initiative and act in the interests of the dwellers unless separated from their summoners, in which case they act of their own free will.

sunstroke demon (as yellow faerie dragon) a ragged coyote corpse leaking mirage-shimmer from the rents in its hide, running weightlessly across the ground, flitting from branch to branch as easily as a crow.
palmetto demon (as imp) scuttling mass of palm scrub detritus: palm fibers, browning fronds, broken roots, sand clods. It doesn’t change shape, but just shows you what it’s been all along, changing from spider to rat like an optical illusion resolving itself
anhinga demon (as spectator) has a 60 ft swim speed. it coils through the air like an eel through water, braided serpentine bodies throwing off coils and wings that dissolve into black feathers as fast as they form. its conjoined heads are spotted with angry red eyes, each stare carrying a different curse.
ash demon (as azer) it could almost be a charred corpse and often disguises itself as one, but its skin is thick like charcoal. when roused the red glow of its internal flame can be seen through the cracks in its skin, and its breath is heavy with smoke.

There are dwellers in other houses, too. The Petal House Dwellers have the character of both spiders and moths, and their magic is white and filamentous. The River House Dwellers are hulking and patient and make familiars of toads and crocodiles. There is a Pure House, too, a House long ago and far away and high above, with dwellers of infinite beauty and cruelty, who drink up the creatures of the earth, who would pull apart the world like a ripe fruit and eat it if they could.

August 23, 2016 jacinto new age dnd, spell

good, actually

So Pathfinder gets a lot of crap for being enormously complicated, but many of its spells–particularly the obscure ones–are quite good.

Swarm Skin

Climbing Beanstalk

Whip of Spiders

Curse of Burning Sleep

Anonymous Interaction

Mirror Hideaway and Mirror Transport

Dance of a Hundred Cuts

Marionette Possession

Reckless Infatuation

Burning Gaze

Threefold Aspect

July 6, 2016 jacinto classes, new age dnd, rituals, type v, witch

toil and trouble

Extensive rewrite for the 5th edition Warlock class. It’s actually my favorite to play in 5e, but there are many interlocking abilities. This version

conforms more to the pattern established by other classes
has abilities that stand alone, and don’t require extensive cross-referencing
smashes the cleric, druid, and warlock together. I want to get 5e down to four or five classes and get a wider spread of character archetypes with kits. Ideally, I’ll have fighter, warlock/witch, rogue, and wizard
is based on archetypal things that witches do, like turn into animals, call up spirits, or brew potions.
has an element of risk. Shapeshifting warlocks can get stuck as animals, potions can go wrong, familiars can get loose.
makes some assumptions about the kind of campaign. Probably can’t go toe to toe with a monster of equivalent CR the way most classes-as-written can, most of the healing is shunted off to potion-making, so healing is a bit more important as a resource, and I cut out damaging cantrips.

WARLOCK/WITCH
a Type V D&D class

from tactics ogre: wheel of fortune

CLASS FEATURES

click to make legible

HIT POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d6 per warlock level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 1d6 + Constitution modifier, minimum 4
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 + Constitution modifier per warlock level after 1st

PROFICIENCIES
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons
Tools: Choose one from herbalism kit, poisoner’s kit, and alchemist’s kit

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Animal Handing, Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Nature, Religion, and Survivalism

PACT MAGIC

Cantrips. You know two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown on the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.

Spell Slots. The Warlock spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

Spells Known of 1st level and higher. You know one 1st level warlock spell of your choice. The Spells Known column on the Warlock spellcasting table shows when you learn more warlock spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a level for which you have slots. When you gain a level, you can replace one of the warlock spells you know with another spell of your choice from warlock spell list that you have slots for.

Spellcasting ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a warlock spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell Save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
Spell Attack modifier = proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

Spell Recovery. When you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level equal to or less than half your level (rounded up).

Spellcasting Focus. You can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells

OTHERWORLDLY PATRON

Pick one of the following Otherworldly Patrons. At levels 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17, your patron teaches you additional spells; add them to your list of spells known and do not count them towards your limit.

SPIRIT OF THE HEAVENS

from mononoke

1st: bless, purify food and drink

5th: augury, lesser restoration

9th: clairvoyance, remove curse

13th: divination, locate creature

17th: greater restoration, scrying

ANCIENT BEAST

from black desert

1st: animal friendship, speak with animals

5th: animal messenger, spike growth

9th: plant growth, water walk

13th: conjure woodland beings, dominate beast

17th: awaken, commune with nature

STORM GOD

from final fantasy

1st: create or destroy water, thunderwave

5th: blindness/deafness, gust of wind

9th: call lightning, sleet storm

13th: control water, ice storm

17th: cone of cold, planar binding

FIRST GIFT

At level 3, your patron rewards you for your service. Choose one of the following First Gifts.

FIRST GIFT: BORROWED SKIN
You can polymorph into any beast with a CR equal to or less than 1/3 your level. When you cast polymorph in this manner, it lasts until you lose concentration, with no other limits on duration. If you fail your Constitution Saving throw to maintain concentration with an odd result, you become trapped in your beast form until you take a short rest. If you reach 0 HP while in your animal form, you do not transform back, but continue to deduct hit points from your true form’s HP pool. You must take a short rest before using this ability again.

FIRST GIFT: BRASS RING
Pick one of the following: imp, sprite, pseudodragon, or a single beast with a CR of 1/2 or less.
   As an action, you can summon that creature into an empty space within 15 ft. The servant is friendly to you and your companions. Roll initiative for the servant, which has its own turns. It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any commands to the servant, it defends itself from hostile creatures but otherwise takes no actions. The servant disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when you dismiss it as an action. If the servant dies, you cannot use this ability again until you take a long rest. The servant recovers all of its HP when you take a long rest.
     This ability requires concentration to maintain. If your concentration is broken, you lose control of the servant, it becomes hostile toward you and your companions, and it might attack. An uncontrolled servant can’t be dismissed by you.
   When you take a long rest, you can choose a different creature on the list of eligible creatures to summon. You must take another long rest to choose again. If you perform a 10 minute ritual using the remains of a fey, elemental, fiend, or beast-type creature with a CR equal to or less than 1/4 your level, you can add it to the list of creatures you can summon with this ability.

FIRST GIFT: STRANGE KNOWLEDGE
Learning. If gain the following proficiencies if you do not already have them:

Arcana skill
herbalism kit

Ritualist. If any of the warlock spells you know or learn have the ritual tag, you can cast them as rituals. If you find any ritual spell in a scroll or spellbook, or see it cast, you can attempt to recreate it as a ritual. This requires an Intelligence (Arcana) check vs a DC of 11 + Spell Level. If the spell exceeds half your level (rounded up), you make the roll at disadvantage. If you succeed the check, the ritual proceeds as it should; if you fail, catastrophe strikes as determined by the DM).

Potion-maker. When you find a spell with a level of 5 or less, and that spell has a range of Self or Touch, you can memorize it as a recipe. This process takes 50 gp per spell level and 1 hour per spell level, as you impress the formula into your mind with the aid of exotic drugs. You can learn as many recipes as you like.
You can brew potions using your recipe book. This process requires

50gp/spell level (in ingredients)
1 hour/spell level (fretting over alembics and stirring cauldrons)
A Wisdom (herbalism kit) check with a DC of 11 + spell level. If the spell exceeds half your level (rounded up), you make the roll at disadvantage

If you fail a check, the potion functions as a vial of poison (the DM should roll this check outside of the player’s view and not tell them the result). If a spell can be cast at multiple spell levels, you can choose which at the time of brewing, but you must pay the extra money and take the extra time. A potion causes the exact same effects as the spell it is based off of on the creature that ingests it. You count as the caster if it comes up in the spell description.
The number of potions you have brewed cannot exceed half your level (rounded up). If you exceed this limit, a random potion you have brewed loses its potency.

SECOND GIFT

At level 11, your patron rewards you for your continuing service. Choose one of the following Second Gifts.

SECOND GIFT: WITCH GARDEN
You acquire a home and garden in the form of a 1 acre demiplane. Its exact nature, climate, and contents are a matter between you and your DM. The garden is never more than half a day’s travel away, no matter where you go or where you are. Only you know the way there, though others can follow you (even without your knowledge)

SECOND GIFT: UNBREAKABLE OATH
Anyone who signs a contract with or swears an oath to you must make a Charisma save vs your spell save DC in order to break its terms. They only must follow the letter, not the spirit of the agreement. Paradoxical promises are null and void.

SECOND GIFT: WITCH FLIGHT
You can cast fly on yourself without expending a spell slot. When you cast fly in this manner, it lasts until you lose concentration, with no other limits on duration. You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

FINAL GIFT

At level 18, your patron rewards you for your continuing service. Choose one of the following Final Gifts.

FINAL GIFT: HEART’S DESIRE
Your patron will grant you a wish when you beseech them directly, requiring no action on your part and sparing you the ill effects listed in the spell’s description. However, you must perform an onerous service for your patron before they will grant you a wish again.

FINAL GIFT: MALEFICENCE
You can shapechange yourself into a dragon-type creature without any material component. You receive advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration for this ability, and you must take a long rest before using this ability again.

FINAL GIFT: WAKE THE DEAD
You can cast Animate Undead or Create Undead as a 9th level spell without material components. You must take a long rest before you can use this ability again.

ABILITY SCORE INCREASE

At levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19, you can increase one ability score by 2 or two ability scores by 1. You cannot increase an ability score above 20.

SPELL LIST CHANGES

WARLOCK CANTRIPS
thaumaturgy

druidcraft

control flames*

gust*

shape water*

mold earth*

friends

mending

message

minor illusion

Asterisked cantrips are from the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion (which is free).

ADDITIONAL FIRST LEVEL WARLOCK SPELLS

command
disguise self
feather fall
fog cloud

June 19, 2016 jacinto classes, encounters, idyll, is this gonna work, new age dnd, skills

deep dungeon fishing

Thinking about ways characters might acquire goods in a D&D campaign with more altruistic assumptions than your standard mercenary fare . Hunting and logging are good possibilities, but I feel like they are pretty easy to model using existing rules (Find A Certain Monster, Go To A Location And Retrieve Object are time honored D&D tasks).

Fishing, on the other hand, is a little bit harder to model interestingly. I think there’s a lot of potential in making it tense, especially since it is time consuming, but much of D&D games take place with random monster encounters looming over the player’s heads. Anyways, here’s a stab at it.

FISHING

Anyone can fish. For each turn you spend fishing at a regular spot with standard gear, you have a 1 in 6 chance of hooking a fish. Certain spots and certain baits are better than others and afford better odds of catching something. Fishing spots deep in dungeons tend to have rarer and more valuable fish (multiply the dungeon level by the base value of the fish to determine how much gp it is worth). If you take a fish back to town while it’s still fresh, you can tin it, letting you build up a stock of imperishable rations without needing to special order them.

Once you hook a fish, roll 5 six-sided dice and check to see if they match any of the following categories:

Two of a kind: d12 gp, 1 ration
Three of a kind: d20 gp, 2 rations
Four of a kind: d100 gp, 4 rations
Full House: 2d100 gp, 8 rations
Small Straight: d1000 gp, 10 rations, can be used as an alchemical ingredient
Large Straight: a random consumable magic item
All of a Kind: a Speaking Fish, will grant a Limited Wish if you let it go.

If you rolled one of the above categories, you can immediately reel in and catch a fish of the corresponding size and quality, or you can reroll in hopes of getting a better result and a correspondingly larger fish. However,

the quality of your fishing pole limits the number of rerolls you get before it breaks, and if your final roll when reaching that limits doesn’t result in a catch, your fishing pole breaks.
you can only reel in the highest category you’ve gotten this fishing attempt. If you pass up on a Full House, you can’t reel in a Two of a Kind on your next reroll.

A single fishing attempt takes 1 Turn, no matter how many rerolls you use.

FISHING POLES

Bamboo Stick: 3 rolls
Hickory Rod: 4 rolls
Alchemically Treated: 5 rolls
Almighty Dragon Fishing Rod: 6 rolls
Fisher God’s Favorite Rod: 7 rolls

I am always looking for ways to simplify or replace Vancian magic. It is hard to explain, and while I like it quite a bit, it reflects a very particular kind of fantasy that my games very rarely draw on. For Idyllic D&D, I’d want something more like Dianna Wynne Jones’s magic: friendler, more common, more whimsical, less earth-shaking. Loosely based off of this old class.

WITCH

from final fantasy 14

HP, XP, Saving Throws, and Equipment Restrictions as Magic-user.

You have Witchery dice equal to your level. When you cast a spell, you can roll as many as you like; the more dice you roll, the more powerful the spell.

For each die that comes up a 6, remove a Witchery die from your dice pool until you take a long rest.
Count each die that comes up 1. If the number of 1s exceeds half your level rounded down, the spell goes wrong or fails to take affect.

Spells
You start with 2 spells of your choice and gain another every even level. You can learn more, but must learn them from (rare) books or (grudging) tutors.

Wonderwork
Complete in an instant any task a barehanded person could complete in a number of Turns equal to the number of Witchery dice rolled. Creatures can make a saving throw to resist if the spell affects them.

Creation

Create objects worth a total of 10 × number of Witchery dice rolled in gold pieces. If you are Lawful, they vanish at midnight. If you are Chaotic, they vanish at noon.

Pyromancy

Ignite, extinguish, or move a flame that fits within a number of cubic feet equal to Dice. If used offensively, damage dealt equals the sum of Witchery Dice rolled, and targets may save for half damage.

Polymorph

Transform into a 1 HD animal for a number of Turns equal to Witchery dice rolled.

Pact

Compels a creature with HD equal to or less than Witchery dice rolled to obey the letter of a promise it is making to you.

Darkness

Extinguish all artificial lights in earshot. Cannot be reignited for a number of Turns equal to Witchery dice rolled.

Anemurgy

Control the direction and intensity of the wind in a mile radius for a number of Turns equal to Witchery dice rolled.

Windwalk

This spell transforms the caster into a whirlwind and transports them a number of miles equal to Witchery dice rolled before transforming them back.

Ghost Mail

Deliver an object light enough you can carry it with one hand to a person or place within a number of Miles equal to number of Witchery dice rolled.

Waterbreathing

The caster and everyone they touch at time of casting can breathe underwater for a number of Turns equal to Witchery dice rolled.

April 2, 2016 jacinto classes, i am sick, is this gonna work, new age dnd, ranger, type v

ranger danger

OK, so everyone likes to complain about beastmaster Rangers in fifth edition D&D because they’re not very optimized. Which is fine, but I also don’t like them because their a little boring. This is an archetype about making animal friends. So less of the worrying about action economy and more of the giant wolf mothers. This is based heavily off of the spell planar ally.

from princess mononoke

Geomancer, Ranger Archetype

Geomancy
Starting at level 3, you can perform a 10 minute ritual to summon a little god of the wild. It appears witin 5 feet of you as a beast of your choice, though little gods with a CR greater than ½ your level will not bother to appear. Little gods can speak Common and Sylvan.

When the creature appears, it is under no compulsion to behave in any particular way. You can ask the creature to perform a service in exchange for payment, but it isn’t obliged to do so. The requested task could range from simple (fly us across the chasm, or help us fight a battle) to complex (spy on our enemies, or protect us during our foray into the dungeon). You must be able to communicate with the creature to bargain for its services.

Payment can take a variety of forms. A little god might require you to construct or repair its shrine, kill a rival, or perform a ritual. Some little gods might exchange their service for a quest undertaken by you. As a rule of thumb, a task that takes minutes requires 50 gp/minute, a task that takes hours requires 500 gp/hour, and a task that takes days requires 5,000 gp/day. These payments can change based on the circumstances and nature of the little god; if a task is aligned to the little god’s ethos, the payment might be halved or even waived. Easy or nonhazardous tasks might cost less, while dangerous ones might cost more. Little gods don’t accept tasks that seem suicidal.

You can also expend spell slots to gift little gods with a measure of immanence; generally, the little god will perform a task that takes a number of minutes equal to or less than the sum of the levels of the expended spell slots.

After the little god completes the task, or when the agreed-upon duration of service expires, the creature dissipates back into the wild after reporting back to you, if appropriate to the task and if possible. If you are unable to agree on a price for the little god’s service, it dissipates immediately.

A little god enlisted to join your group counts as a member of it, receiving a full share of experience points awarded.

Once you have performed this ritual, you cannot perform it again until the little god completes its task or dies.

from legend of zelda: ocarina of time

Wild Treaty
At level 7, you can establish a particularly friendly relationship with a certain clan of little gods. Pick a beast you can summon as a little god (such as a raven, brown bear, giant spider, etc.) You can speak to that type of creature as the speak with beasts spell, and all such creatures will be neutral, if not friendly, to you and your allies as long as you do not attack, they are not magically compelled, and you do not actively work against their interests.

Every time you gain a level, you can change your chosen type of beast for another.

Greater Gods
At level 11, pick an elemental, dragon, or fey creature with a CR equal to or less than ½ your level. You can use your Geomancy ability to summon little gods that take the form of that creature. If you meet an elemental, dragon, or fey creature with a CR equal to or less than ½ your level and receive explicit permission from it, you can summon little gods that take the form of that creature, too. Generally, you must perform a favor or pay a price before it will give such permission.

from princess mononoke

Demand Favor
Starting at level 17, you can compel a little god summoned with your Geomancy ability to perform a favor for you that lasts no longer than 1 minute. You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

February 27, 2016 jacinto elves, is this gonna work, new age dnd, san serafín, skills

White Box Backgrounds

In an old school game, I don’t think I like thieves as a class. I like the idea of their skillset being accessible to everyone who goes around stealing things out of old tombs. Also, they feel like a background in the Type V sense, and I really like that aspect of the game. So here are a bunch of Type V style backgrounds for Whitebox, including the thief.

This is based off of the 5MORE system.

When you do something that is difficult, or when failure is both possible and interesting…
Roll 1d6. Add a cumulative +1 to this roll for each of the following:

your relevant ability score is 13 or higher
your equipment is high quality or particularly effective
you are trained in a relevant skill
it’s an easy task or the circumstances are favorable.

Get a 5 or higher. Add a cumulative +1 to this target number for each of the following:

your relevant ability score is 8 or lower
your equipment is shoddy or not made for the job
the task requires specialized knowledge you don’t have
it’s a difficult task or the circumstances are unfavorable

Thief
Pick 3 skills:

Sneak (Dexterity)
Sleight of Hand (Dexterity)
Pick Locks* (Dexterity)
Lie (Charisma)

You take things what aren’t yours. As long as you are in a settlement, you can find a fence who will buy stolen goods. You also always know how to get in touch with the local ruling gang.

Acolyte
Pick 3 skills:

Metaphysics (Intelligence)
Dowsing (Wisdom)
Medicine* (Intelligence)
Performance: Oratory (Charisma)

Your fellow practitioners are generally well disposed towards you by default, and you can use temples of your religion as a free place to say or a sanctuary (though they won’t put up your friends for free)

Assassin
Pick 3 skills:

Disguise (Intelligence)
Poison-making* (Intelligence)
Sneak (Dexterity)
Athletics (Strength)

Assassins always know where to find clients looking for a murderer for hire.

Scholar
Pick 3 skills:

Metaphysics (Intelligence)
Medicine* (Intelligence)
History (Intelligence)
Nature (Intelligence)

You know a Terrible Secret. Figure out what it is with your Referee.

Professional
Pick 3 skills:

Tinker* (Intelligence)
Profession: Player’s choice [blacksmithing, sculpting, baking, whatever] (Intelligence)
Lie (Charisma)
Appraise (Intelligence)

While in a settled area, you can earn back your room and board by practicing your profession.

Performer
Pick 3 skills:

Lie (Charisma)
Performance: Player’s Choice [dancing, singing, flute-playing, whatever] (Charisma)
Athletics (Strength)
Sleight of Hand (Dexterity)

You know a Terrible Secret. Figure out what it is with your Referee.

Hunter
Pick 3 skills:

Sneak (Dexterity)
Tinker* (Intelligence)
Track (Wisdom)
Nature (Intelligence)

By spending a day to hunt and forage, you can find enough food to sustain d3 people for a single day.

(One good thing about how this works is that you can use it for race, too)
Tiger
Pick 3 skills:

Sneak (Dexterity)
Track (Wisdom)
Athletics (Strength)
Nature (Intelligence)

You’re literally a tiger. You deal d8 damage with unarmed attacks, you can live off of raw food, and you heal naturally even when sleeping outside or in dungeons. Unfortunately, you have to get armor custom made and it costs twice as much, and people are kind of afraid of you.

Wood Elf
Pick 3 skills:

Sneak (Dexterity)
History (Intelligence)
Dowsing (Wisdom)
Nature (Intelligence)

You don’t age.

February 22, 2016 jacinto amateur hour, classes, is this gonna work, new age dnd

reinventing the wheel

I speed wrote/designed this today, so it’s a little uneven, but here are four 5th edition classes (with kits) that A) fit onto a single page and B) don’t make me feel like I’m doing calculus. They cover the major archetypes, though the clericky/warlocky one isn’t all that faithful to the traditional Van Helsing type. Pictures of the pages below and a download link here.

February 21, 2016 jacinto classes, is this gonna work, new age dnd, type v, witch

55555

Thinking about running 5e again, probably for San Serafín.

In 5th edition, if you want to play a nature character, you can pick one of the following.

Druids
Nature Clerics
Nature Paladins
Rangers
Barbarians (some barbarians are extra nature-y. don’t get those ones confused with the barbarians that are extra angry)
Fighters with Survival, Nature, and Animal Handling skills

These do have various amounts of hippy and a broad range of mechanical differences, but explaining them even to a very engaged, interested player is KIND OF A LOT. I am playing a 5e game where it took a player three sessions before she could regularly remember if her class was a wizard, warlock, or sorcerer, and that makes sense. You have to dig through the book to really get the differences–there’s nothing about the names that really let you know how they actually work. SO, I’m crushing down the class list to four and then rewriting archetypes to cover a wider range of characters.

FIGHTERS are slashy smashy stabby types. (Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians are getting collapsed into fighter). Monks, too, probably.

Champions: You fight more better
Barbarian/Ranger: Ferocious Conan type, also pretty good out in the wilds
Paladin: Knightly righteous dude, can cast some spells.

WARLOCKS are witchy and wild and traffic in gods and monsters. (Clerics and Druids are getting collapsed into warlock). They can learn to Wild Shape as a Pact Boon and can choose the Pact of Many Gods for a animist/priest/medium type deal. I’ll probably write a patron for a benevolent Abrahamic deity type.

ROGUES are thieves and assassins.

WIZARDS are scholarly magic types.

Sorcerers, Bards, and maybe Monks are out.

Fighter Martial Archetype: Paladin
THIRD LEVEL
Spellcasting. When you reach third level, you can cast cleric spells.

Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list.

Spell Slots. The Paladin spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

Spells Known of 1st level and higher. You know three 1st level cleric spells of your choice. The Spells Known column on the Paladin spellcasting table shows when you learn more cleric spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a level for which you have slots. When you gain a level of Fighter, you can replace one of the cleric spells you know with another spell of your choice from cleric spell list that you have slots for.

Spellcasting ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you sue your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a cleric spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell Save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
Spell Attack modifier = proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

Sense Evil and Good. You know if there is an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within thirty feet of you, as well as its general direction.

SEVENTH LEVEL
Weapon Bond. At 7th level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. you perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a long rest. The weapon must be within your reach during the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.
Once you have bonded the weapon to yourself, you can’t be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to instantly teleport to your hand. For purposes of damage immunity, your bonded weapons counts as magical.
You can have up to two bonded weapons, but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

TENTH LEVEL
Divine health. You are immune to disease. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and gain resistance to poison damage.

FIFTEENTH LEVEL
Taboo. You can issue a divinely enforced edict, preventing all around you from breaking a rule of your creation
When you use this ability, you shout a one-word command. All creatures in earshot must make a Charisma save vs your spell save DC every time they attempt to perform that action. If a creature fails their saving throw, they cannot attempt to perform that action again until the beginning of their next turn. This lasts until you lose Concentration or move from the spot you created the taboo.
You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

EIGHTEENTH LEVEL
Occult resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against all spells.

Warlock Abilities
Patron: The Many Gods
You have formed a pact with a minor deity: a beast, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, or aberration with some measure of immanence. They cannot provide you with the kind of power an Archfey, Fiend, or Great Old One can, but they are also willing to help you personally–you can help them as much as they can help you.
     You can summon one of your patrons with a 10 minute ritual. You can ask it to cast a spell it knows or to perform some other favor, like convey you to a destination, help you in a fight, deliver a message, or retrieve an object. Patrons always require something in return–they feed off of occult power, and you can always expend a spell slot as payment, but they also accept the expenditure of hit dice, blood, favors, treasure, or anything else that aligns with their ethos and goals. More powerful patrons require more sacrifice. Patrons are NPCs like any other–there is always a chance they will demand more for a favor, refuse to help you, or even temporarily become hostile.
     You do not learn spells of 1st level or above. Whenever you would learn a spell, you can give the ability to cast it to one of your patrons. Patrons can cast such spells at will at your behest, enabled by your payments/sacrifices, but when operating on their own prerogative can only cast each spell they know once per long rest.
     You start with a single patron. It is a beast, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, undead, celestial, or aberration with a CR of 1 or less. It can cast your Spells Known at level 1.
     When one of your patrons is reduced to 0 HP, you can revive it with an 8 hour ritual.
      You can gain a patron by establishing friendly contact with a creature and completing a 1 hour ritual in its presence. You can always understand you patron, even if you do not share a language or it does not have a language.

Warlock Pact Boon: Pact of Borrowed Skin

You can use the Druid’s Wild Shape class feature once per short rest.

Warlock Eldritch Invocations

Shapeshifter

Prerequisite: Pact of Borrowed Skin, 5th level

You can Wild Shape into creatures with a CR of 1/4 your level or less.

Maleficence

Prerequisite: Pact of Borrowed Skin, 15th level.

You can Wild Shape into dragons as well as beasts.

November 19, 2015 jacinto classes, new age dnd, type v

poké-esqe

Tried to make a 5th edition D&D warlock pact for Final Fantasy-esque summoning awhile back and I’m still not happy with the result. This fits more neatly into the way 5th edition classes work, leverages the large number of existing creatures in the Monster Manual, and allows for pokemon-style critter-collecting.

Otherworldy Patron: The Monarch

from tactics ogre: let us cling together

You are the student of an asura, deva, or legendary monarch in the Art of Royalty and have learned to command fealty from lesser spirits.

Starting at 1st level
You can spend your action to bind a willing or incapacitated elemental, fey, incorporeal undead, celestial, fiend, or dragon with a CR equal to or less than your warlock level divided by 3, rounded down (If your level is 1, you can bind creatures with a CR of 1 or less). You can only have 1 bound creature at a time. If you exceed this limit, you must choose a creature to release from its binding. Released creatures appear in a space adjacent to you. If they are neutral or friendly, they will simply depart. If they despise you, they will give you at least a 24 hour running start before they start trying to kill you.

You can spend an action to conjure a bound creature for 10 minutes.. The creature appears in a space adjacent to you and is friendly to you and your companions for as long as you maintain concentration. The creature gets its own initiative and turns. It obeys all spoken commands you give it, and commanding it does not require you to spend any actions.

If your concentration is broken, the creature breaks free from your control. If it was hostile before you bound it, it again becomes hostile towards you and your companions, and may flee to cause greater mischief. If it was neutral or friendly, it might require you to convince it to enter your service again, possibly demanding a bribe. You cannot dismiss an uncontrolled creature, and uncontrolled creatures do not count towards your bound total.

The creature vanishes once the 10 minutes expire. Dismissing a controlled creature early is a free action. Bound creatures can die like any other.

You can conjure a bound creature once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

Starting at 6th level
You can bind up to three creatures.You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

Starting at 10th level
You can bind up to five creatures. You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

Starting at 14th level
You can bind up to seven creatures. You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.