jacinto classes, flowerland, is this gonna work, magic, monsters, rituals, spell

flower power

I have been rereading about Coins and Scrolls wizards and Goblin Punch spellcasters and have been thinking about my own dice pool magic system (scroll down a little past the fishing stuff). The dice pool makes magic feel more like this amorphous reserve of supernatural influence instead of a bunch of bullets in a gun, while preserving the resource management aspect that makes Vancian magic appeal to me. You’re never quite sure how much you can and should do in a day.

I’ve also been rereading Wonders and Wickedness and reading Paolo’s Marvels and Malisons. I like the distinctness of spell schools and have been thinking about how those would manifest in Flowerland (i.e. the blog post below)
 
ON HOUSES
Planes are the Old World’s crude understanding of the shape of Creation. As the peoples of Flowerland know, our world is made of structures, not surfaces–Houses, not Planes. The Grass House, the Mud House, the Moon House, the Iron House, the Ash House, the Salt House, and the elusive Labyrinth Betwixt are the most known in Flowerland, though of course there are others, some obscure, some defunct. The Houses respect neither topology nor topography–if you walk towards the palmetto scrub, you approach the Grass House as well, and as midnight or noon draw near, so too does the Grass House, whether or not you think you are moving. Should you, in the heat of summer and the brightness of noon, find carrion-eaters crowded around a kill out in the scrub, watch your step carefully–when the auguries of Grass are many, you stand on the threshold of its House.

Magic is: opening a door to a House and shaping what comes out, calling forth its denizens to do your bidding.

SORCERERS
HP, XP, Saves, Skills as wizard/magic-user

You have Power dice equal to your level. When you cast a spell, you can roll as many of them as you like; the more dice you roll, the greater its effect. When a description refer to a spell’s Power, that is the number of dice the caster rolled for it.

  • For each die that comes up a 1 or a 6, after you resolve the spell’s effects, remove a Power die from your dice pool until you take a long rest. (Rolling a 1 means you whiffed it a little and rolling a 6 means you exhausted some part of yourself)
  • If you get pairs, Something Bad happens 
  • If you get triples, Something Terrible happens

At level 1, pick a House: Grass, Mud, Moon, Iron, Salt, or Ash. You know two random spells from its list. you can cast any spell you know, but you can only learn spells from your House. you do so by exploring your House, by bribing and pestering other sorcerers into tutoring you, or studying another sorcerer’s notes. You can learn to cast spells from other Houses, but each has its own requirements.

    THE GRASS HOUSE
    If you are a sorcerer and did not choose Grass as your House at level 1, you can gain attain its power and access its spells by eating the divine carrion at the center of the Grass House, soft like custard, rich like dessert, foul beyond comprehension.
         Sorcerers who can cast Grass House spells find carrion equally delicious and disgusting and can live off of it without fear of disease or malnutrition.

    GRASS CURSE
    Under the roof of the Grass House, your shadow is a curse, and when you cast your shadow you cast your curse also. The sorcerer can cast their Grass Curse on someone touching their shadow, inflicting them with a persistent sunstroke that bestows a penalty to all rolls equal to the spell’s Power on a failed save. If sorcerer’s shadow is being cast in the hot sun–the Grass House sun, the cruel sun that scorches the palmetto scrub and bakes the sugar sand trails–spell gains a +1 Power without the sorcerer needing to roll another die. This hex lasts until the victim immerses themselves in very cold water or another sorcerer lifts it with magic.

    • Something Bad: You put too much of yourself into the curse. You can’t regain any dice lost in the casting of this spell until the victim is cured or you eat them (takes at least an hour).
    • Something Terrible: You are afflicted with the Grass Curse, but the only way to lift it is to cure the victim while they still live. Failing that, there are some exceedingly rare and dangerous to procure cures.

    WEAVE SIGN OF GRASS
    A sorcerer casts this spell by spending an evening weaving grass, withes, reeds, or similar vegetable material into a palm-sized medallion bearing the Sign of Grass. If they lose any Power from this casting, they cannot ever recover it from resting, and must restore their lost Power in some other (dangerous, difficult, and probably disturbing) way. The wearer of the Sign of Grass receives a bonus to stealth checks equal to the spell’s Power while in scrub, forests, the prairie, or other similar environs.

    • Something Bad: the Sign bestows a minor curse in addition to its benefit.
    • Something terrible: the Sign bestows a major curse in addition to its benefit.

    If the sorcerer wishes, they can automatically incorporate a minor or major curse into the Sign. However, this causes Something Bad and Something Terrible to permanently afflict them with the same curse bound to the Sign.

    PACT OF GRASS
    Summons a Child of Grass with HD equal to the spell’s Power and HP equal to the sum of its Power dice. The Child appears as an oversized coyote on all fours, a thief with hair the color of dust and eyes the color of rainwater when it lurches to its feet, and a crow when it leaps into the air (as wolf, as thief with levels equal to its HD, as bird with trivial combat statistics). The Child of Grass remains as long as it pleases, but it only remains bound to the sorcerer’s service for a number of turns equal to the spell’s Power, at which point it is free to do as it pleases, though the sorcerer may bribe it into further service.

    • Something Bad: the Child of Grass wants something like: to eat carrion (either very fresh or very ripe), to make mischief, to know where its summoner lives. It will turn on the sorcerer if it doesn’t get it very soon.
    • Something Terrible: the Child of Grass appears and turns on the sorcerer, either attacking right away or fucking off back to town to start raising hell. It cannot be summoned again until the sorcerer hunts down and eats it.

    BLADE OF GRASS
    Make a blade of sawgrass or a saw palm frond impossibly strong and sharp. Sawgrass acts as a one-handed, bladed weapon of fine make (1d6+1 damage) while a saw palm frond acts as a two-handed, bladed weapon of equal quality (1d8+1 damage). The blades are sharp enough to cut through steel as if it were firewood and damage enemies resistant to nonmagical damage. The effect lasts a number of turns equal to the spell’s Power.

    • Something Bad: the Grass House turns against the sorcerer, making all grass like blades to them. Leaves and fronds are as sharp and strong as steel: walking on grass deals 1d4 damage/round and ruins shoes and boots, walking through scrub deals 1d12/round and reduces  AC by an equal amound (down to sorcerer’s unarmored AC value). Lasts
    • Something Terrible: the Child of Grass appears and turns on the sorcerer. It cannot be summoned again until the sorcerer hunts down and eats it.

    MILKWEED GIFT
    The sorcerer cuts open their inner arm, dealing damage as dagger, and milkweed sap oozes out. When applied to an injury, it heals HP equal to the sum of the spell’s Power dice. The sap can be apportioned between multiple people, but it loses its power after a turn. The HP damage caused by this spell can only be healed with time–only time can give back what the Grass House has taken.

    • Something Bad: The Gift’s sap attracts a colossal swarm of red butterflies to the caster. This makes stealth nearly impossible, and the caster takes +1 damage from weapon attacks as the butterflies lap at the wound with anticoagulant proboscises.
    • Something Terrible: The Gift does not heal properly. Each day, the sorcerer must make a saving throw or the wound will ooze milkweed adulterated with blood and the sorcerer loses 1 point of Constitution. This lasts until the sorcerer undergoes some pretty serious curse-lifting effort or they die.

    EAT SHAPE
    This spell has two uses: if the sorcerer casts this spell on a ripe animal carcass that had HD in life equal to or less than the spell’s Power, they can eat it to turn into the creature. They can also cast the spell to turn into a creature they have already consumed in this manner, though the Power still has to meet or exceed its HD. The spell lasts until the sorcerer chooses to change back, but they cannot speak, cast spells, or recover Power until they do. In animal shape, sorcerers look like carrion–sticky with blood, broken bones emerging from their hide, dirt and roots tangled in their ruff.

    • Something Bad: the sorcerer cannot turn back into their original shape until sunset or dawn, whichever is further away.
    • Something Terrible: the sorcerer cannot turn back into their original shape at all, barring powerful ritual intervention

    THE NATURE OF HOUSES
    Unclear. Dungeons/universes/deities/spell schools. Some were raised or destroyed just past recent memory (such as when Heche Ke Eche, Cacica of the Dead, stopped shut all the doors and ways to the Ghost House with great lead nails and destroyed all of its extant dwellers in a terrible fit of pique, or the night the Moon House was born or perhaps opened agin from the disastrous sinking of Don Fernando’s barge). Others have been around for as long as recorded history, maybe built by something that came before, maybe born from the ritual weight of natural phenomena. Some Houses seem to have volition, some seem content to be a location, others are nearly impossible to enter and barely have internal geography. The Ghost House had doors of the sort that Heche Ke Eche could nail shut (according to legend), but the ways to the Moon House are still waters and bone-filled groves and the shadows of the jacarandas in moonlight.

      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
      jacinto clerics, delving deeper, rituals, san serafín

      here in the house of death

      a few gods with a focus on the way they interact with people and the way their worshipers perceive them. also, a demihuman race-as-species you should be able to slot in to most nearly any game. i tried to make it play distinctly from human characters without demanding a lot of buy in from players. borrowed some of the d&d language as word game rules in this dungeon of signs post.

      Heche Ke Eche
      Mama Muerte, The Sheikha of the Dead

      The first of the living to die, and the first of the dead to return to the Lands of the living. Pray to Heche Ke Eche to raise the dead, speak with the deceased, or save someone from death’s door. She is cruel, wise, patient, a friend to the dispossessed and an enemy of the arrogant. She likes rum, cash, cigars, and prefers her shrines and temples gaudy and personal.

      Worshipers of Heche Ke Eche pray like this: “Oye mama, I have a favor to ask you…” Praying to Heche Ke Eche is like asking your mom for money. Her most devout followers are scrupulously casual and try to never be impressed with anything. If they do not bow and scrape to their own goddess, why should they worry too much about you?
      El Grangúl
      Papa Fin, the Sheikh of the Dead

      Built the wall between the Lands of the Living and the Lands of the Dead. Pray to El Grangúl to exorcise ghosts, keep the dead in their graves, and your ancestors out of your business. He is orderly, condescending, charitable, and an enemy to liars. He likes sacramental wine (you can sometimes get him to bend the laws of nature if he’s drunk enough), golden doubloons, flowers, and prefers his shrines and temples symmetrical and carefully tended.

      Worshipers of El Grangúl pray like this: “Permiso, padre, I have something to ask you…” Praying to El Grangúl is like admitting to your dad you did something stupid. His most devout followers keep records of their prayers in black-bound ledgers, so that they always remember what their patron has done for them.

      The Gunsaints
      Sabata, Sartana, & Django; the Calamity Three; Pistoleros Santos

      The three best sharpshooters in the history of Labyrinthium; they killed each other in a three-way standoff and then banded together in a mythical shootout with Death itself. Now they are a tripartite demidivinity with power over Gunmetal, Gunpowder, and Lead. Pray to the Gunsaints to see your bullets fly true, to ruin the weapons of your enemy, and to successfully complete a mission of vengeance. The Gunsaints like bullets, antique guns, and personal mementos, and prefer shrines constructed in moments of desperation.
      Worshipers of the Gunsaints pray like this: “I swear by the three I’ll kill this motherfucker dead.” Praying to the Gunsaints makes you feel fierce and sick and angry. Their most devout followers carry three guns, one for each saint, so that they can better understand the act of murder.

      Other gods: Hatüey No-saint, Caracaracol, Shams del Sur, Al-Ra’ad al-Kasif, The Queen of Sheba

      The Cats of New Barbary
      A race for old school Dungeons and Dragons

      The Cats of New Barbary are not cats at all, but something like a leopard, something like an Old Barbary macaque, with clever clawed hands and yellow lamplike eyes. They stand three feet tall when crouched on all fours, and can walk on two, though they don’t like to. They aren’t quite as intelligent as humans, and they struggle to speak. The Cats of New Barbary often live in ruins claimed by the jungle, but they can integrate into human society surprisingly well–several regional saints are Cats, and an infamous New Barbary crime boss is one as well.

      Cats of New Barbary can be clerics, thieves, or fighters. They cannot be magic-users.

      • The Cats of New Barbary cannot wear armor heavier than leather regardless of class, and it costs twice as much to fit their inhuman frames. They cannot wield weapons, but their unarmed attacks deal d6 damage.
      • They cannot use scrolls or magic items, regardless of class, but there are a few methods for making their claws bypass supernatural immunities.
      • They can climb any surface a human could conceivably scale, and they do not need equipment or a skill check to do it.
      • They can run twice as fast when on all fours, but they can’t carry anything in their hands when doing so.
      • The Cats of New Barbary have a powerful sense of smell, and can track a scent they know as a bloodhound (4 in 6 chance of success).
      • Outside of New Barbary, the Cats do not enjoy the same legal rights as humans, and Cats unaccompanied by humans are frequently kidnapped, bought, sold, murdered, and chased away without repercussion.
      • The Cats of New Barbary can understand language as well as any human, but a Cat can only speak a number of words equal to its Intelligence score. These are chosen at character creation, and can be from any language. All Cats of New Barbary know sign language, which lets them communicate more freely with anyone who knows it, but their capacity for self-expression is limited–they cannot use any word with more than two syllables when communicating this way.
      jacinto classes, LotFP, magic, occult, rituals, table

      lamentation final fantasy

      that stupid tonberry shanked your summoner before she got all the words out, and now whatever it was she was trying to call up is coming out wrong.

      from final fantasy tactics a2

      How Is Your Summoner Ruining Ivalice? 

      1. RAMUH. He’s gnarled arms and twisted hands, with skin like lightning-blackened bark, braided into concentric rings. They spin like a confused gyroscope around a lone eye, brilliant with the spiteful white flare of a lightning strike.
      2. SHIVA. She’s a storm of pale blue flower petals, each frozen stone-hard and razor-sharp. They ring like crystal when they strike each other, producing a beautiful, piercing tone that hurts the roots of your teeth and makes your nose bleed.
      3. IFRIT. He’s a creeping patch of consumption, a heaving mass of cinder and charcoal that burns without flame or light everything it touches. Sly yellow eyes well up out of IFRIT as he slides forward, quickly boiling away to nothing from the heat of his internal flame.
      4. MADEEN. She is an endless rotting blossom of wings: swan wings, bat wings, insect wings unfurling, growing, and putrescing off of her shoulders. They twitch and flap, but do not allow for flight; she uses them to drag her limp body on the ground, leaving a trail of black ichor behind.
      5. FAMFRIT. He is a silhouette in the distance of a rainstorm, a shadowy figure seen only in the reflection on the lake’s surface, he is slender black hands rising up from the waters, dozens of them, dragging in fishing lines and nets and boats and swimmers, he is a great slick bulk resting at the bottom, where it is too dark to see.
      6. CARBUNCLE. She is a strange and contagious growth, painful cysts filled with crystallized pus, garnet buboes and diamond teratomas that tear at the flesh around them, epidemics of priceless corpses and hospital massacres.
      jacinto amateur hour, classes, clerics, is this gonna work, LotFP, monsters, rituals

      propagating my incompetence

      Edited the new warlock, but that doesn’t warrant a whole post on it own. I’ve been trying to get this patron system right for over two years, ever since I tried to glue World of Dungeons magic onto LotFP when one of my players cut a deal with The Man With A Clock For A Face.

      With aching slowness, I am teaching myself InDesign. Here’s a thing I made for practice. Thinking my post-Albion project will be a monster hunt/pokécrawl.

      painting by John Singer Sargent

      illustrations by Harry Clarke

      pdf is available here

      jacinto Carcosa, LotFP, monsters, Pernicious Albion, rituals

      Squamous and Noisome

      I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MANY SQUAMOUS BLOBS, CARCOSA. MAN CANNOT LIVE ON OOZE ALONE. Also, those rituals are pretty ick. Here’s replacements. I also like having fairly simple rituals because it means players can summon something on accident.


      SCION OF SUNLESS SEAS


      She stands taller than any man, and wears ruined finery. Her hair is black and her eyes are black and her teeth are black and she stands on a black barge, her ivory servants plying oars through depthless waters that were not there until she arrived.


      HD: 15

      AC: 14 (see description)

      Movement: 90” (boat only; she cannot leave it)

      Damage: d12 (touch, Save vs Paralyze or be knocked prone)

      Alignment: Chaotic


      The touch of the Scion crushes limbs and ruptures flesh as if they were exposed to the immense pressure of deep seas. The voice of the Scion is undeniable; she can cast the Cleric spell Command at will. Her barge can comfortably hold 4 additional people, but they are in reach of the Scion as well as her servants. It is not advisable to fall into the Scion’s waters; even her followers fear them.


      TO SUMMON: At sunrise, pour 20 HP worth of blood (not all necessarily from the same source) into a body of water that extends past the horizon. Wait past sunset, and she will arrive.


      TO BIND: If The Scion of Sunless Seas is ever separated from her barge, she must obey a single command of any length and complexity from the person who returns it to her.


      TO BANISH: If a silver nail inscribed with the Fifth Name of Providence is driven into the prow of her barge, the Scion will glide away, unable to return until summoned by a willing mortal.


      LORD HORATIO NELSON


      He’s still dressed in the finery they buried him in, and still wears the chains they tried to use to keep him in the ground. Nobody knows why Lord Nelson keeps on coming back, or why he’s so damn crazy, but everybody hopes he’ll just go away.


      HD: 20

      AC: 16

      Movement: 180”

      Damage: 2d6 (bite, heals amount equal to damage); 2d6 (cannon); +5 damage to French

      Alignment: Chaotic


      Lord Nelson is a vampire. He can move past obstacles and enemies by turning into a swarm of bats. He can cast Animate Dead and Animate Dead Monsters at will, but only on creatures he has killed himself. He can Charm anyone who makes eye contact with him. Lord Nelson is also completely insane. He is just as willing to command his undead servants and Charmed victims to reenact old victories in the middle of heated battle as he is to use them to depopulate entire towns. In a fight, he switches victims seemingly at random, singing bar songs all the while. Lord Nelson refers to his victims with aristocratic versions of their names, even if he has no way of knowing them.


      TO SUMMON: Burn an entire ship of the line* down to ash OR burn a piece of the HMS Victory in a marble bowl, and Lord Nelson will come scrambling as fast as he can.


      TO BIND: Lord Nelson must obey any legitimately issued royal order or decree read aloud in his presence, even if it was not written with him in mind. He has thus far avoided bondage by murdering anyone he sees with paper.


      TO BANISH: Smoke from any gunpowder recovered from the HMS Victory forces Lord Nelson to flee until the next sunrise. It also makes him very angry.
      *Is this right, Richard G?