Black was the Root, but Milky White the Flower (Pharmakeia for M&M)

The people have been clamoring (clamoring!) for more overwrought Mazes and Minotaurs houserules. And who am I to deny them? Indeed, who am I?

When you want to make a potion, describe the effect you want to produce and add ingredients. There are two kinds of ingredients, Animal and Vegetable. Animal ingredients can be obtained from slain creatures, so long as the creature has things like blood and flesh. Tiny, Small, and Medium creatures provide 1 ingredient, Large creatures provide 2, and Gigantic creatures provide 3. Animal ingredients may produce effects that relate to the animal they came from: An eagle may give eyesight or flight, a bull may give strength or horns or rage at the color red, obvious stuff. Animal ingredients are not rations, they are stuff like blood or powdered horn or eyeballs.

Vegetable ingredients may be either found or bought, but the only plants useful for Pharmakeia are the Six Sovereigns:

1. Mystic Mandrake, whose form is that of both man and woman. The one who pulls a Mystic Mandrake from the earth* must make a Mystic Fortitude save or lose (temporarily) 1d2 of a random basic attribute, except luck. Roll 1d6 to see which attribute is affected, but if you roll luck there is no effect. The effects of Mystic Mandrake are described below.
2. Scorching Cinnamon, whose element is Fire, which can cause fevers and alleviate sorrow.
3. Limpid Lotos, whose element is Water, which can dampen pain and produce euphoria.
4. Fuming Frankincense, whose element is Air, which can make one feel light-limbed or light-headed.
5. Earthly Amaranth, whose element is Earth, which can make the limbs strong but static.
6. Holy Moly, whose element is Aether. The one who pulls a Holy Moly from the earth* must make a Mystic Fortitude save or lose 1d2 Luck. The effects of Holy Moly are described below.

*This is exact wording that you should exploit

In each locale, only one of the Six Sovereigns grows, and can be found with a Hunting roll. The MM may either rolls or choose which one makes sense. A city state may sell 0-5 of them, depending on its size and prosperity (1 for small, 2 for medium, 3 for large, ±1 for poor/rich, +1 for Magocracy).

Four of the Six Sovereigns have a basic element associated with them, and can produce effects relating to that element (e.g. water-breathing for the Limpid Lotos). All potions with one of these elements give an extra spell point when imbibed by an elementalist who uses that element, and take a spell point away from an elementalist who uses the opposite element. Using two ingredients with opposite elements negates this effect.

To turn the ingredients into a potion requires a source of water, a source of fire, a fire-proof and water-proof container like a pot or a beaker, and 10 minutes. The process is mostly just boiling the ingredients. What makes it a potion instead of just soup is the divine names and secret words you speak into the brew.

For each ingredient that you use, state how it is contributing to the overall effect, and roll a d10+10, and check if the result is below your luck score and your wits score. If it is below both, that ingredient functions in the potion as you described. If it is below one but not both, that ingredient functions in the potion but produces a side-effect. If the roll is below neither score, that ingredient does not function or contribute to the potion. A roll of 10 (or, 0) is always a failure in this way, even if your scores are above 20.

Example: Boops has a luck score of 17, and a wits of 12. He rolls a 1d10+10. If he rolls a 1, his result is 11 and is below both, meaning the ingredient functions perfectly. If he rolls a 2-6, it is below his luck but not his wits, and it functions with a side-effect. If he rolls 7 or more, it does not function at all.

If the MM is unsure of the effects of each individual ingredient on the main effect of the potion, just assume a numerical increase: there's an extra dose, or it lasts twice as long, or its effect is twice as strong, etc. Thus, if an ingredient does not function, the result can be simply determined. However, its more fun if you can figure out what happens if your Limpid Lotos functions but your Gill of Fish does not in your potion of water-breathing.

Potion effects can, at minimum, reproduce the effect of a spell using one Power-point per ingredient. For instance, you can get a +2 to a score similar to a Divine Blessing. However, just as making a potion is more chaotic than normal spells, potions can also break the rules of normal spells. A two ingredient "blessing" potion can, for instance, give a temporary +4 to a stat, where using Divine Blessing with 2 Power-points can only give +2 to two different stats.

If an ingredient has a side effect, the MM should use whatever is funny and makes sense, write it down, and not tell anyone until they drink it. If the MM is unsure, two tables are provided below. For all diseases and mutations, they last for the duration of the potion, and then the character makes either a Physical Vigor or Mystic Fortitude save (their choice), otherwise it sticks around until cured. For Benefits, roll a d20 + luck modifier. If it is over 20, it sticks around.

Animal Side-Effects (d6)

1. Disease. A purely negative effect, like coughing up feathers or blindness.
2. Mutation, limbs. Your legs become a snake tail, or your arms become wings or some-such.
3. Mutation, facial. Your whole head becomes an animal head.
4. Mutation, personality. You gain the pride of a lion, or a sibilant hiss in your voice, or an irrational fear of mice, or whatever.
5. Mutation, minor cosmetic. Your eyes become goat eyes, or you're a bit slimy, or something. No effect besides people can tell you used a potion.
6. Benefit. You basically just get a free potion effect, like if you used a potion of Eagle Flight you get the Eagle's Eyesight thrown-in.

Vegetable Side-Effects (d6)

1. Disease, lame. You come down with an ignominious imbalance of the humors: A fever, cough, diarrhea...
2. Disease, cool. You come down with a rather interesting imbalance of the humors: Coughing fire, river-like tears, stone hands...
3. Mutation, personality. Your personality shifts one step towards the sanguine, choleric, etc. depending on the plant.
4. Mutation, minor cosmetic. Your hair starts smoldering, or your skin turns grey. No effect besides people can tell you used a potion.
5. Elemental Energy. You can cast the magnitude 2 Elementalist spell for the relevant element, once.
6. Benefit. You basically just get a free potion effect. You can breathe fire, or have skin like stone. Cool!

Mystic Mandrake and Holy Moly act a little differently from other ingredients. They have no side-effects when used in a potion, treating a result that indicates side-effects as merely a success. Mystic Mandrake does not "count" as an ingredient for the purposes of determining the strength of a potion. Instead, due to its affinity for balance and humanity, it negates one side-effect produced by another ingredient. Holy Moly does count as an ingredient when determining potion strength, but has no properties of its own. When any magician drinks a potion containing either, they get an extra power point.

Obviously, Magicians of various kinds are best at at Pharmakeia, with their high wits and luck, but most cities also have a Pharmakeus who can make potions out of ingredients brought by hunters and warriors for a considerable fee. A normal Pharmakeus has ~13 luck and ~16 wits.

To All the Phantom-Nations of the Dead (GLAUGUST, M&M)

In accordance with the festival of Glaugust, Purplecthulu has revealed a prompt: "Resurrection Magic". Which, tbh, I kinda covered in my last post, but whatever. I can afford to spill ink on the subject.

Death, the Realms of the Dead, and Leaving Them

Per the Mazes and Minotaurs rulebook:

Characters who are reduced to zero Hit or less must roll D20 and add their Physical Vigor modifier.

If the result is less than 10, the character is dead.

If the result is 10 or more, the character does not die but is immediately incapacitated and will die if he suffers 1 more Hit of damage (coup de grâce).

If the result is 20 or more, the character will still die if he takes 1 more Hit… but until then, he can still continue to fight, showing heroic (or desperate) resistance as he hovers on the brink of Death! Once the fight is over, however, he will immediately fall unconscious and become incapacitated.

There are some ways to use Magic to bring characters back from the dead, provided they haven't been dead for very long: The Napeaea's Kiss of Life, and the Mithraic Priest's Divine Resurrection. The reason that these have a time limit is that they serve to snatch you from the hands of whatever psychopomp came to collect (typically, Thanatos or Hermes, or more rarely Hecate or some Fury). The further the psyschopomp gets, the more difficult it is to accomplish. However, if they aren't Fated to die, the psychopomp will never come for them at all, and there is no time limit.

Once the soul passes the river Styx (which takes about 10 minutes), it is in the possession of the tight-fisted and melancholy Hades. There are but few ways to call them back once this happens. Before this time, the intervention of an olympian god can free the soul and return them to their body. After this, even the gods can do nothing, since the dead are Hades' rightful inheritance.

A few exceptions here: Asclepias, god of healing, and his daughter Panacea, can snatch even the soul of a rotting corpse from Hades' domain (Don't ask him to do it more than once, it got him in real trouble before); Psychopomps like Hermes or Hecate can forestall collecting if you can convince them, or even retrieve the dead from Hades, but not for very long, a week at the most (Thanatos could, theoretically, also do this, but that guy likes his job too much); and Chronos can always do some shenanigans, that old coot. Especially notable persons (level 6, or luck 21, or did something super cool, or maybe was just hot) might also be just taken up by Zeus to be a god instead of dying (but that is basically character death anyways).

But, suppose you want to resurrect someone "on your own power", so to speak, who has been dead a long time. How might you do it?

Calling up Shades

Anyone can try to call up a shade. Sorcerers and Lyrists are especially good at it, due to their affinities with the mortal heart. All that is needed to do so is to know their name. Also, for ever dungeon level they descend, they get a +1 to their minor intervention roll, due to being closer to the cthonic land. Unfortunately, shades can't really do anything. Total irrelevance to mortal affairs is one of the rules of the underworld. They can't even speak, they just hang around looking mopey and translucent.

To act upon the world, shades need blood, fresh from a living creature. The total lifeblood of a chicken spilled on the ground is basically the minimum requirement. Medium beasts count as 2 chickens, large beasts count as 3. For each such "point" of sacrifice, the shade temporarily (about an hour) regains one of the following abilities, in order:

1. The ability to speak. They can tell you, in tones of melancholic boredom, about their life or anything they know about, and can also warn you of your Fate.
2. Their hungers. Any desire which runs strong enough to become a bodily need is included here: love for a lover or child, revenge on a hated foe, want for glory... If they have no such driving passions, then they want food, warmth, and more blood. In this state, they may curse and bless, plaguing someone with 1d6 days of sickness and nightmares (no benefit from sleep and rest, and they may die), or blessing someone with 1d6 days of health and pleasant dreams (double benefit from sleep and rest).
3. Their emotions. Most of their personality returns with this, and they can restrain themselves from unleashing their hungers on whomever they come across.
   Unlike living mortals, shades who are once more in possession of their personality can grant aspects of themselves to others. The mortal they give themselves to can either temporarily replace their score in the shade's highest attribute with the shade's score, or receive a +1 to that attribute permanently; That mortal will also receive some of the shade's personality traits and quirks, either temporarily or permanently according to the effect, and others may recognize the mortal as being "just like" the shade (which may improve or ruin relations).
4. Their reason. With this, the personality that the shade had in life is totally restored. They can act with their full faculties and restrain their desires (to the extent that they could in life). They also regain their reason for living, and can make plans for tha future and convince others to follow them. They can also use the magic they knew in life.

So, how can you use a person's shade to bring them back to life? No amount of blood will give them a body, but any amount of blood will make them fit to inhabit a body. For a shade to inhabit a body, that body needs 3 things: it must have a humanoid form (not too large or small), a system to contain and impel blood, and it cannot have been inhabited by another human soul.

The shade's own body could work, provided its in good condition. An Iron Warrior could work, with some modifications, or some magical artifice in clay, but these require ancient secrets to accomplish. Another human body could not work, since the body is too hostile to a foreign soul. With such a body, the duration of the effects of blood is extended to a full day. After each day, the shade loses one ability from the above in reverse order.

Human blood is terribly effective for shades: Half the hits of a human counts as 2 chickens. However, after its use, the shade will crave it unstoppably. Using your own blood for a shade will almost certainly cause them to haunt you forever, and a shade in a body with a taste for human blood is, for all purposes, an Empousa (or Empousos, I guess, if they're a guy). Also, while calling up a shade and giving them blood is perfectly kosher, purposefully putting them in a body is an act of hubris and the practitioner loses 1d6 Luck.

Calling on Hades

Hades does not answer interventions, major or minor. He's busy, you see, and showing up for every pitiful mortal who calls on him is an affront to his dignity. No, you don't call up Hades, you call on him. If you want anything, you'll have to make an in-person appointment. The most he'll do is send a Lampad or Thanatos to open the front door for you.

Getting into the underworld is not particularly difficult. Obviously its more difficult to get there alive, but Hades doesn't have any qualms with you being there. But retrieving a soul from the Underworld is a more audacious task. It cannot be done by stealth or trickery: It needs the consent of Hades.

Hades is, principally, bored. Titanically bored. He wants to be entertained. He has, however, seen and heard the petty dramas of the whole crawling mass of humanity. It's going to take something really moving to get him to consider your request. By the way, he's already heard the greatest song in the world, so you're going to have to try something else. I suggest puppets.

If Hades is convinced by your request, he'll set you one final task, a requirement to take them out of the underworld. This will generally be some flavor of impossible. More commonly, it won't be possible to you, for some reason of ideals or temperment. If you fail, the soul you went to rescue is lost forever. Nice try, though.

If you fail to convince Hades in general, he'll kick you out of the underworld, and you'll lose 1d6 luck points for wasting his time. Make sure you give him sufficient offerings for the rest of your life so you don't end up in Tartarus with all the other annoying people trying to cheat death.

If you succeed, however, the shade you rescued is brought entirely back to life. They get a new physical body, in their prime, with no strings attached. They're free to live out the rest of their mortal life, and maybe eventually ascend to godhood. Everyone involved will also gain 2000 Glory or Wisdom for the experience. Either way, they're sure to be famed forever.

All methods of true Resurrection (i.e. not the psychopomp-snatching of normal magic or the shade-calling of a minor intervention) come with this caveat: It only works once. Hades does not let anyone escape forever, and he tends to get angry with people who try.

Learn What I Heard the Sea-born Seer Relate (GLAUGUST, M&M: Fates)

The lot has been cast, and my quest decided: the PRIMEUMATON spake that I must "Breathe New Life into an Old Post". So I shall, and This post seems apt for my Mazes and Minotaurs game.

Fate

The Fates sit before their hearth at the center of the world (which is everywhere), spinning, weaving, cutting, mending, all the twistings of the lives of men. They do this at the behest and consent of Zeus, king of the gods. Of course, he commands them only because he is fated to. Who can search out the workings of the gods?

All the gods (including rather minor ones) can reveal fated futures to men, and especially to their priests and special oracles (which can sometimes include horrible beasts like harpies or sphinxes). It is a bit of an effort. Way easier to just tell them things that were or are, rather than will be. Further, there is a difference between a thing prophesied and a thing fated. Prophesies can be conditional: You will surely die unless you eat that berry. Fates are absolute: You will kill your father and marry your mother.

The conditional nature of prophesy is not uncertainty in the future: the Fates know your future, inexorably. It's instead the choice of the god giving the prophecy to not give you the full story. They're still truthful, and probably more useful than a fate. But if you choose to eat the berry and not die, that was your Fate from the beginning. If you don't eat it and die, that was your Fate from the beginning too. But the god isn't telling you which one will happen.

When a character levels up, they roll to detemine if their Fate has been decided. Roll 1d10, minus the magnitude of their luck modifier, whether positive or negative. If this result is equal to or under their new level, their Fate is decided. A table of fates is given below, which can be rolled by the DM, modified by the character's Luck mod. Or the DM can simply choose which one they have. The gods have been known to play dice, but they aren't bound by them.

Example: Alexandros and Boops (it means "ox-eyed") level up to level 2, and have a luck mod (after ability enhancements) of +1 and -1 respectively. They both roll 3 on their d10 roll. The magnitude of both their luck scores is 1, so they both subtract 1 from 3 and get 2, which is equal to their level. Then, the DM rolls for their Fates. Alexandros gets a +1 to his result here, whereas Boops gets a -1 to his.

Fates (2d6)
≤2. You are going to (or have already) wronged the gods, and will die an ignominious death and have one of those special ironic punishments in hades.
3. You shall die by the sword. Which probably isn't news to you.
4. You shall die by your child.
5. You shall die in some circumstance (1d6):

1. Fire
2. Water
3. Under the earth
4. In the sky
5. On the horns of a bull
6. Due to Bees.

6. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 5. The result of the second roll is reworded to leave a multitude of interpretations.
7. Roll again. If you roll this result again, treat it as 8. The result of the second roll is complicated by the following factor (1d6):

1. You shall come within a hair's breadth of this fate, but it will not happen.
2. This fate will only come after you have wandered nearly the whole world
3. This fate will only come after you have lost what is dearest to you
4. This fate will only come if you devote yourself to one specific god.
5. This fate cannot come to pass until a certain person or monster is dead
6. This fate is surely impossible, and can be safely ignored! (until it comes down on your head)

8. You shall defeat the terrible [Monster/Evil wizard/What-have-you].
9. You shall learn a great secret.
10. You shall wage a war against [City-state] and win.
11. You shall found a great city.
12. You shall ascend to godhood.
(results 2-5 are "Fated Deaths" while results 8-12 are "Fated Quests")

While you possess a Fate, you cannot die until it is completed. You could be chopped into pieces, turned to stone, cast into the pits of Tartarus, wither until you become a grasshopper, etc. but you can't die. Mechanically, this means that while you could be incapacitated by damage, and "die", effects such as a Nymph's Kiss of Life or a Mithraic Priest's Divine Resurrection have no time limit to work on you, since you aren't technically dead (just mostly dead, and therefore slightly alive). You can also be raised by divine intervention, or even minor intervention (Thanatos will recognize there's been some sort of a mix-up, and bring you back).

However, if you would die, instead you lose something else. This starts at the edges of your life and works in. Maybe you lose your father first, then the rest of your family, then your good name, then that magic item you use all the time, then perhaps a level, then your sight or strength... This also happens if you ignore your fated quest for a year, or do something drastic to avoid a fated death (such as trying to kill your kid). At any time you may declare that you have "nothing left to lose". This stops the "clock" for your tragedies, but you'll roll twice and take the lower result for all rolls that don't work to fulfill your Fate, and you die as soon as possible after you fulfill your fate.

Just because you have a Fate doesn't mean the spindle of Clotho stops turning. You still roll to see if you have a new Fate each time you level up. However, while you have an unfulfilled Fate, your luck modifier doesn't affect the d10 roll (though it still affects the fate-table roll), and you roll an extra dice for each unfulfilled fate you have and take the highest result. Also, rolling a Fate from a level up doesn't tell you (the player or the character) what the fate is. You still need to find an oracle for that, and probably should do it quick before some oracular monster uses it to mess with your head.

Example: Boops levels up to level 3 while still having his fate unfulfilled. He rolls 2d10 to see if he has a new fate, and gets 3 and 8. His luck mod doesn't affect this at all, and he has to take the higher. 8 is higher than his new level, so he doesn't have any new fate.

Finally, none of the gods take kindly to being toyed with. If you use your outlandish Fated Death to do some dumb shenanigans, expect the sudden appearance of your paradoxically unborn child, or a mysterious swarm of angry bees.

Mazes and Minotaurs: d30+ Gods to Show Up for a Minor Intervention

Sometimes a player might make a Minor Intervention without being very specific, or maybe the god they named is busy at the time. Here's a vague list of gods, mostly historical, that might show up instead. I've tried to make it so that the neighbors of each entry are related in some way. The GM may of course decide how the god reacts, but a default behavior is also listed.

1. The Moirai, goddesses of Fate. Mostly just here to giggle, but might give prophecy.
2. Dike, of Justice. Stern and totally impartial, will cut a liar's tongue out.
3. Aedos, of Shame. A veiled woman with a diffident mien, but audacious in word, will reveal whatever people don't want revealed.
4. Nemesis, punisher of hubris. Sympathetic to the unlucky, spiteful if you've prospered
5. The Furies, punishers of sin. If you did kinslaying or breached xenia, will try to kill you. If not, sit around picking their noses.
6. The Graces, givers of gifts. Will cure one curse (of yours or the enemy), or double your Personal Charisma temporarily.
7. The Hours, of fruitfulness. Their mere presence speeds the growth of plants, but mostly they just dance about.
8. Calliope, of Epic poetry. Beatifically bored, wants to see or hear something interesting.
9. Clio, of History. Will tell you, at length, the details of local history and folklore. Mystic fortitude save to stay awake.
10. Euterpe, Erato, Polyhymnia, of Song. The game is a musical now, no more talking only singing.
11. Terpsichore, of Dance. Everyone present gets +3 to their Grace score temporarily.
12. Thalia, of Comedy, and Melpomene, of Tragedy. In an extended and lively debate about how this should end.
13. Urania, of Astronomy. Very agreeable, if sleepy, by daylight; Would like you to leave her alone at night.
14. Iris, of the Rainbow. If she actually shows up, she has a message for you. It's very important.
15. Hermes. Sometimes just shows up!
16. Pan, of the countryside. Will likely scatter everyone about, like they all got drunk and woke up somewhere random. After this, will randomly bother the scattered party members.
17. Eros, of sudden Love. Will select either the two most likely partners, or the two most unlikely partners, and target them with his arrows (which they might dodge).
18. Morpheus, of sleep. Will send all present to sleep, and give them a collective dream, which might be pretty helpful for conflict resolution (50% gate of horn, 50% gate of ivory).
19. Thanatos, of death. 50% he has come for a random person present. If he hasn't come for a specific person, might be persuaded to end someone early.
20. Hebe, or Ganymede, of youth. They (whichever is present) bear the cup of youth, and offer a sip from the worthiest (highest level) mortal present (they can then offer this to an ally). Restores all health and reduces their age by 2d6, down to 16 at lowest.
21. Heracles, of heroes. Gives 100 glory (mazes and minotaurs XP for fighters) to the hero with the highest glory.
22. Asclepius, of health. His first concern is the sick, dying, and dead; Will cure the most dire present (including bringing the dead or undead back to life).
23. Aristeaus, of bees. Believes the situation can be only improved with the addition of a considerable quantity of bees; They aren't angry but there sure are a lot.
24. A Nymph, of whatever is most prominent in the vicinity. Much older and more powerful than player character nymphs. Character (1d4): 1. Amorous 2. Dread 3. Innocent 4. Wise.
25. An Anemoi, of the Winds. Anemoi (1d4): 1. Bearded and grumpy Boreas 2. Youthful and refreshing Zephyrus 3. Warlike and Blustering Notos 4. Contemplative and sullen Eurus.
26. A Nephele, or more likely quite a few, of the Clouds. Delightful encouragers of philosophy and fantasy and apparent enemies of common sense; Will speculate for hours.
27. A Lampad, or more likely quite a few, of Torches. Silent, mischievous, beckon for you to follow (1d4): 1. into the underworld (maybe back out) 2. into a sacred grove 3. up to the starry heavens 4. to be hopelessly lost.
28. Hecate, of magic. Gives 100 wisdom (mazes and minotaurs xp for wizards) to the hero with the highest wisdom, and changes one curse, enchantment, or fate into something stranger.
29. Proteus, of the sea-change. All know his challenge: To the one who can hold him through 3 of his transformations, will tell the future or grant some (broadly beneficial, but possibly weird) change to their physical forms. If you can't, suffer mutation.
30. Chronos, of time. Unlike most gods, who are flighty and fickle and prone to their own desires, he is very patient, and will slow down time or stop it to hear and consider the situation. Surprisingly, perfectly willing to send you back in time. Resolving paradoxes (or choosing not to resolve them) is his job, and he loves his job.

You can and should comment more gods to add to the list. Default behavior is optional.

Dirt Simple Domains (OSE?)

 

dunno the source, alas

Thinking (as usual?) about clerics. You know that I like gods with some personality. But there's certainly an aesthetic space for something a bit more one-note. Sometimes all that is relevant to a game is that such-and-such shrine is dedicated to the god of fire, or my cleric worships the sword-god, or this blade is holy to the god of frogs. The assumed cleric of an old school game (I'm using OSE as the example, cause its easy) is devoted to the god (possibly God) of light or law or life or something, or conversely to evil/chaos/death. They don't often have strictures, at least not by default, that would prevent them from, say, graverobbing. They're just supposed to, vaguely, advance the cause of good.

So, let's think similarly about the cleric of the god of frogs. They aren't bound that "thou shalt always be slimy" by the trickster frog Glorn. They worship simply the god of frogs, and will try to "advance the cause of frogs", whatever that entails, but in the same vague way that the fighter wants to avenge their parents. When you have a cleric like this, here is what you can do:

First, determine if the deity is lawful, neutral, or chaotic. You can pretty much just let the player pick, or use whatever alignment they are gonna be. This tells you if they are going to use the normal or reversed version of spells, of course.

Then, pick whichever spell on the cleric spell list is least fitting to the god, and replace that with the most fitting spell from the MU spell list of the same level (or illusionist/druid spell list, if you are using the full rules). This can be a bit tricky with only the MU spell list since they can be a little generic, but remember that being old-school doesn't mean we are banned from reflavoring things. For instance, for the god of frogs, I would replace Light with Shield (I would choose Sleep, but we all know Sleep is a bit overpowered)

When the cleric reaches higher levels of spells, repeat this process with the new level, taking into account any fun flavor your cleric mentioned about their god. Our frog god at second level will lose Bless and get Hypnotic Pattern. 

Finally, if you'd like, you can replace Turn Undead with a category of creature that the god would be opposed to. You could also Turn that category as well as undead, maybe increasing the effective HD of the turned creature. I think the god of frogs would be neutral on the subject of undead, but would rather loathe birds.

I don't pretend that this is a new idea or houserules, I just wanted to write about it. I might write up a short list of simple gods like this just for fun later on. I think if I were to add clerics to Fifth Fantasy, it would be in a similar vein.

ANSWERING PHLOX'S 51

GLoGhack: Hypogeum

1. How do I make enough money to have regular meals? (Deus)

Folk will probably feed you if you help them, but currency is not really a thing.

2. What do people do to get Fucked up around here?  (Vayra)

Its hard to find a substance in Hypogeum that isn't psychoactive. The local wisefolk could probably direct you. Sorcerers are arguably constantly fucked up on mana potions.

3. How much racism are we talking? Fantasy racism or regular? (Vayra)

A little racism, as a treat. Humans think Folk are stupid babies, and Darklings are demons. Folk think humans are cool weirdos and maybe thieves, and Darklings are honorable warriors and sorcerers who I'd never like to meet, no sir. Darklings think Folk are hedonists, and humans are possibly creatures of ancient myth. Everyone thinks skeletons are very mysterious, and grimalkin are just humans but friendlier and sneakier.

4. Who's the nearest religious figure I can annoy? (Vayra)

The folk have temples of various sorts, and wisefolk (sometimes relic-seekers) run them. In general, ridiculously easy to co-opt.

5. Why do most sensible people avoid [Magic Users]? (Gorinich)

In order of magic-ness: Sorcerers undergo violent mood swings, relic-seekers are servants of some power, Sword-artists are master murderers as a matter of course, Fools are clowns, Clever-Things are thieves, and Strife's-Children generally lack empathy and fear.

6. What's the local sports team? What do they play? are they any good? (Vayra)

Folk play War. Its basically capture the flag with clubs. Do they know what actual war is? Its still pretty dangerous, because the main field is the parts of the dungeon between two settlements. The teams are simply named after colors, but humans tend to give them more fanciful exonyms, which the folk accept. Your team are the blue mushrooms, and are kinda trash.

7. What's my sword made of? I started with three rations, what are they? Are they any good? (Vayra)

Swords that come from the Otherworld might be made out of steel, but swords around here are made out of sword, or whatever material you gave the folksmith. Your rations are probably mushrooms, moss, or shadowmeat. Its pretty good. Sweet.

8. What actually is a GLoG? (Everythings)

GLoG is a kind of Taoist Alchemy

9. Where can I find some orbs? (Gorinich)

It is hard to find places without orbs

10. What do orbs do? (Gorinich)

Orbs are the most common type of relic, and are easy ways to get spells, though you'll have to do some research to get the spells out of them.

11. Why's the Milk gone? (Everythings)

No cows. If someone gives you milk, don't drink it.

12. Can I have a pet? Can I have a weird pet? Can it talk? (Vayra)

You can only have a weird pet, cause animals don't tend to get isekai'd with you. Humans sometimes keep Folk as "pets".

13. Am I allowed to be famous from the start or do I have to figure it out in play? (Vayra)

You can be famous in the starting village. This doesn't mean that much.

14. Am I allowed to be cursed from the start or do I have to figure it out in play? (Vayra)

Depends on the curse.

15. What possible explanations would you accept for me being a time traveler, or from a different dimension? (vayra)

Possible explanations: you are human. That's it.

16. Is evil real? What is it? (random_interrupt)

Maybe? Some seekers collect and study "evil", but we're not really sure if that means anything besides aesthetics.

17. Frogs? (Everythings)

Yes but also no.

18. What's the best combat aircraft available? How much does it cost? How much does a flight of four of them cost? (vayra)

Angels supposedly exist. Is that a combat aircraft? Does casting flight make you a combat aircraft? It can make you a ICBM, I guess.

19. That's too expensive. How can I steal one/four? (vayra)

Shut up

20. Are italians real? why not? Can I say my rations are ragu, in case I run into some? (vayra 🙄)

Italians are real. You can start with ragu.

21. Is there some kind of wizard boss, or kung fu boss, how good is his kung fu/wozerdry? (random_interrupt)

There's probably one of each among the darklings, and maybe one among the skeletons?

22. What's the die I'm going to be rolling for checks? Is my character aware of its existence? What's the save vs. existential horror? (fifth)

d20. aware of the dice? If you are a sorcerer you might be. No save, just choose whether you want to comprehend or ignore. 

23. How many children am I allowed to start with? How about chickens? (vayra)

Humans don't start with any, or at least any present. Folk can start with some. Chickens aren't present. 

24. What's the deal with demons in this setting? Pure evil, just a type of creature, incarnations of desire or sin, depends on the subtype? (sylvanas_iii)

some Humans call Darklings demons. more often, they call Fairies  or shadowbeasts demons, and are there more correct. They are just a creature, though.

25. Same as the above, but with angels (sylvanas_iii)

Angels are supposed to exist, and they are just. Humans that developed wings. Sometimes they call the spoiler above angels.

A darkling sorcerer

26. How mad do people get when you pick their pockets? Are we talking "fight to the death" or "nooooo stooooop" or somewhere in between? (vayra)

Darklings fight to the death, Folk are "nooooo stooooop". Grimalkin will take it as a challenge to steal back from you. Skeletons nobody knows, but speculation is that they'll just wait until you die and hope they can pick it up later, unless its very urgent.

27. How long is a round? How is momentum tracked? [Can I make a peasant railgun] (fifth, abridged)

Six seconds, probably. If you could get enough momentum, it'd probably count as a sword-artist's sunder, or if the person is the one with momentum, the strife-child's motif. No, an object can only be passed twice per round.

28. Do I have to be from around here? can I be from space? (random_interrupt)

As previously said, humans are from vaguely the modern world. Maybe you were an astronaut? Ditching the spacesuit would be wise, I think.

29. Roll under or roll over? What are the ability scores and what's an average score? (sylvanas_iii)

Roll over. Standard six. 3d6 or 4d4. or 4d6 and you don't start with a class.

30. What happens if I steal another player's character sheet? can I mind control them, or do I become them? (fifth)

 You get to control them, yes, for the purposes of being ridiculous or not having to wait for their player.

31. How easy is it to learn to cast FIREBALL? (sylvanas_iii)

Sorcerers start with sorcerous blast, which can be fire. They might also be able to distill the spell Set Alight. Relic-seekers could find both, depending on what their relic theme is.

32. What happens at 0 hp? is it different for NPCs? What about below zero? (Vayra)

At 0 hp you get knocked out. Same for npcs, but not the same for shadowbeasts. When you generate your HP, you also generate your -HP the same way. -HP is kept divided by the dice you rolled (i.e. if you roll 3 and 5, it is divided like 3+5, or 5+3). When a negative hit die is depleted, you suffer a wound. If all are depleted, you die. Some NPCs have 1 HP and only -HP.

33. How much xp do I get for buying pizza? (fifth)

am I the one to determine that?

34. Does destiny exist? Can it be changed? Can I stand outside it and watch you all like a spectator at a puppet show? (random_interrupt)

People generally agree that it does. People generally agree it can't. If you manage to watch it, you're probably still a puppet.

35. what direction do numbers go in? (fifth)  

West

36. Have you playtested any of this? (Vayra)

Do I look like someone who's finished a draft to be tested?

37. How many types of magic user are there? do they stack? (sylvanas_iii)

A quote: "Magic is just the academic application of metaphysical power which fighters also wield more bluntly to, for example, be able to take 20 times as much damage as a normal healthy adult". That is to say, they're all magic users. Yes they stack. 

38. Are there sumptuary laws? like, will I get flogged for wearing magenta? (random_interrupt)

Some Folk do that. Most don't.

39. What are the important dates to know? Big festivals, metaphysical anniversaries, eclipses, comets, etc? (vayra)

Without the sun, moon, or stars, or really any repeating temporal variation, there is no such thing. Sometimes two or three folk will decide its party time, and then that's what happens. 

40. Can I play as many goblins? a Mimic? a literal dragon? (sylvanas_iii)

Maybe, Maybe, Maybe

41. What exactly is a hitpoint anyway? Toughness, luck, skill, or chi? (random_interrupt)

Its chi. Attacking someone with any hitpoints just bounces off their AT field or whatever. Which is why some things only have -HP and some attacks bypass HP

42. What kind of goblins are there in this world? if there aren't any, what's the closest thing? (sylvanas_iii)

Folk are vaguely goblins, but also vaguely kobolds and vaguely bullywugs etc.

43. If I play a priest, do I have any actual political power, or will I get treated like any other dusty knave?  (random_interrupt)

Depends on so many factors the question cannot be answered tidily. 

44. Can I use this class I found on the internet with the same name and concept as one you've provided? (phlox)

No, probably not. I've tried to make things rather flavorful and self-contained. You can suggest revisions to the classes though, I'm very open to those

45. What's the optimal substance to consume before playing this GLoGhack? (and why is it orbs?) (everythings)

Sourpatch kids or other fruity, sour candy.

46. How many classes are on offer? How many of them are magic things? (sylvanas_iii)

Sword-Artist

Strife's Child

Clever Thing

Fool

Relic Seeker

Sorcerer

As I said, they are all magic.

47. Can I play (insert literally any character here)? (sylvanas_iii)

Maybe. Try to change the name though.

48. How much do I have to read? (phlox)

You never have to do anything

49. Will we actually be using the inventory rules, or can I just pretend? (phlox)

Its all pretend

50. Why? (purplecthulu)

Desperate Escapism

51. Whom? (fifth)

Thee

some froggish Folk exploring

51 questions for your GLoGhack (and mine)

From Phlox's GLoG discord

1. How do I make enough money to have regular meals? (Deus)

2. What do people do to get Fucked up around here?  (Vayra)

3. How much racism are we talking? Fantasy racism or regular? (Vayra)

4. Who's the nearest religious figure I can annoy? (Vayra)

5. Why do most sensible people avoid [Magic Users]? (Gorinich)

6. What's the local sports team? What do they play? are they any good? (Vayra)

7. What's my sword made of? I started with three rations, what are they? Are they any good? (Vayra)

8. What actually is a GLoG? (Everythings)

9. Where can I find some orbs? (Gorinich)

10. What do orbs do? (Gorinich)

11. Why's the Milk gone? (Everythings)

12. Can I have a pet? Can I have a weird pet? Can it talk? (Vayra)

13. Am I allowed to be famous from the start or do I have to figure it out in play? (Vayra)

14. Am I allowed to be cursed from the start or do I have to figure it out in play? (Vayra)

15. What possible explanations would you accept for me being a time traveler, or from a different dimension? (vayra)

16. Is evil real? What is it? (random_interrupt)

17. Frogs? (Everythings)

18. What's the best combat aircraft available? How much does it cost? How much does a flight of four of them cost? (vayra)

19. That's too expensive. How can I steal one/four? (vayra)

20. Are italians real? why not? Can I say my rations are ragu, in case I run into some? (vayra 🙄)

21. Is there some kind of wizard boss, or kung fu boss, how good is his kung fu/wozerdry? (random_interrupt)

22. What's the die I'm going to be rolling for checks? Is my character aware of its existence? What's the save vs. existential horror? (fifth)

23. How many children am I allowed to start with? How about chickens? (vayra)

24. What's the deal with demons in this setting? Pure evil, just a type of creature, incarnations of desire or sin, depends on the subtype? (sylvanas_iii)

25. Same as the above, but with angels (sylvanas_iii)

26. How mad do people get when you pick their pockets? Are we talking "fight to the death" or "nooooo stooooop" or somewhere in between? (vayra)

27. How long is a round? How is momentum tracked? [Can I make a peasant railgun] (fifth, abridged)

28. Do I have to be from around here? can I be from space? (random_interrupt)

29. Roll under or roll over? What are the ability scores and what's an average score? (sylvanas_iii)

30. What happens if I steal another player's character sheet? can I mind control them, or do I become them? (fifth)

31. How easy is it to learn to cast FIREBALL? (sylvanas_iii)

32. What happens at 0 hp? is it different for NPCs? What about below zero? (Vayra)

33. How much xp do I get for buying pizza? (fifth)

34. Does destiny exist? Can it be changed? Can I stand outside it and watch you all like a spectator at a puppet show? (random_interrupt)

35. what direction do numbers go in? (fifth) 

36. Have you playtested any of this? (Vayra)

37. How many types of magic user are there? do they stack? (sylvanas_iii)

38. Are there sumptuary laws? like, will I get flogged for wearing magenta? (random_interrupt)

39. What are the important dates to know? Big festivals, metaphysical anniversaries, eclipses, comets, etc? (vayra)

40. Can I play as many goblins? a Mimic? a literal dragon? (sylvanas_iii)

41. What exactly is a hitpoint anyway? Toughness, luck, skill, or chi? (random_interrupt)

42. What kind of goblins are there in this world? if there aren't any, what's the closest thing? (sylvanas_iii)

43. If I play a priest, do I have any actual political power, or will I get treated like any other dusty knave?  (random_interrupt)

44. Can I use this class I found on the internet with the same name and concept as one you've provided? (phlox)

45. What's the optimal substance to consume before playing this GLoGhack? (and why is it orbs?) (everythings)

46. How many classes are on offer? How many of them are magic things? (sylvanas_iii)

47. Can I play (insert literally any character here)? (sylvanas_iii)

48. How much do I have to read? (phlox)

49. Will we actually be using the inventory rules, or can I just pretend? (phlox)

50. Why? (purplecthulu)

51. Whom? (fifth)

Now you can answer all fifty-one, or randomly choose however many you want! Hope you enjoyed this brief foray into stealing Transcription.

Town and Settlement Rules

 

Krzysztof Maziarz

When you are inside a town, things take either wilderness/hex turns (three in a day), town turns (take the whole day), or downtime turns (take a week). Each town has 2 stats: Earthly and Otherworldly. Earthly represents the population, resources, and temporal influence. Otherworldly represents the prevalence and power of the mystical. Each ranges from 1 to 5. A 1 in Earthly indicates a hamlet, 2-3 a town, 4 a city, and 5 a metropolis. Similarly, a 1 in Otherworldly indicates minimal magical presence, 2-3 would be average, 4 probably contains some notable society of magicians or priests, and 5 would be something like Endon in Magical Industrial Revolution. 

Hex Turn Actions

Find Shop

To find a shop, first determine what category of item or service you are looking for. Then, roll under the relevant town stat on a d6. If it succeeds, you find the item or service. If you fail, you don't. Repeat this. If you succeed, it is a specialist shop. If you fail, it is a shelf or hidden inventory in a more general shop, containing perhaps 3 items. If the category is simple necessities (typically food or farming equipment), you find one, but can still roll to see if it is high quality fancy stuff.

If the settlement is of considerable size, one can take a second hex turn to try again. If it is small, the DM may say that there is no more stores in town to check. If it has a Bazaar or Market, roll twice and take the better.

Find Quest

To find a quest, roll both stats. If one or both is over, there is a problem in the associated aspect which could do with solving. When it is solved, somebody of that aspect owes you a favor.

Religious Attendance

By spending a tenth of your recent earnings, you buy some sacrifices/donate to the church/purify yourself with incense. You become Ritually Pure, and gain the favor of local religious-types. As well, roll under Otherworldly and you get a minor blessing (post forthcoming).

Have a Good Meal

By spending twice the cost of a ration, gain 1d6 HP (or temporary HP) and have a nice meal. You only benefit from this once per downtime period, but if there is a different pleasant, restful thing in town, like a hot-springs, patisserie, or lodge, you can gain an identical benefit from that.

Local delicacies:

Town Turn Actions

Get an object repaired

Choose an object you want repaired, re-enchanted, or elsewise fixed. Roll under the corresponding town stat, and you find tools, materials, and possibly expertise to do so. Otherwise, it is only half repaired, and may break again or not work perfectly.

Do Chores

You do enough odd jobs and errands to afford 3 rations, or else obtain three rations worth of favors.

Relax

You decompress after some traumatic adventuring, and clean all the blood and muck off yourself. The combination of your civil attitude and appearance gives you a +2 to reaction rolls with people.

A Night on the Town

You go out drinking responsibly, having a good time at some pub or nightclub. Spend at least 3 rations, but no more than 10 rations. This counts for 1.5 times the XP.

Rumor Gathering

The Old Ladies, Bartenders, and Midwives share you the gossip. Roll under Earthly and you get some blackmail material, roll under Otherworldly and you hear some true sounding spooky happenings. In addition, roll on whatever rumor table you have at this time.

Downtime Actions 

Train

Working by yourself or with a teacher, you learn part of one skill. By spending three (possibly non-consecutive) downtime actions training that skill, you can become proficient. You gain a small benefit or feature, as well. For instance, the ability to make a second unarmed attack, the ability to pick a specific kind of lock, or the ability to try an impress someone with snippets of a language.

If one of your stats is below average, you could raise that stat by 1, up to slightly above average.

Research

You put out feelers and gather information, whether ancient lore or castle blueprints. If you roll under the relevant town stat, you find at least one piece of information regarding your subject of study. For instance, you might find a stanza of a poem, a useful diagram, or a map with a few rooms filled in. It is definitely true. Otherwise, treat this as several rolls on the rumor table.

Magical Experiments

Select one spell of yours, or one rune or scroll you've found. Describe as well the way you will be experimenting. Depending on the way you experiment, an intelligence (or other mental stat) check, a roll under the town stat, or a sacrifice of materials or coin may be required. You learn a version of that spell which is appropriate to your caster level and is changed slightly to reflect your conclusions. If you fail, save vs. magic or take (caster level)d10 damage.

Set up a Base

You use favors, money, and elbow grease to set up a little place where the party can meet, sleep, and do a bit of preparation. Roll over Earthly and its free, because it was abandoned or you made it yourself. Roll twice more: if the first is under Earthly, it has the amenities you are used to (such that you no longer need to roll for tools for Repairing Objects); if the second is under Otherworldly, it has magical resources enough to do Magical Experiments.

朱玮玮/Zhu Weiwei

[These are abstractions for when you don't want to play out the whole thing, or for when you are unsure of something. If you can run everything by yourself with full detail, and you want to, then you should!]

Domain-Play options for low-level Characters

 

Pictured: The party's base

Cheaper Strongholds

I never got why stronghold building was so expensive. OSE says that a small tower (presumably two floors) costs 15,000 GP to build. That's 1,500 pounds of pure gold. I am no historian, but I find it hard to believe there was that much gold in all of England at the time. That's enough to feed and house 10 labourers for Three and a Half years. I cannot believe it takes so long to build what amounts to a fortified stone hut (even if it was built by the DoT). Even supposing half of it went to material costs (which, there are almost none if you are building a wood keep, which was common) and permission from the lord, that's still 10 labourers for more than a year and a half for something which (according to OSE) takes 30 days to build. Unless making cobble walls (which are all over peasant farms) is much harder than I think, such that those labourers are being paid 50 gp per day (that is, five pounds of gold), this is utterly unreasonable.

 

Firstly, Silver Standard. Secondly, laborers are payed 10 sp per day. It takes 10 labourers a week to build fourty square feet of stone wall on the ground, two weeks if that wall is more than 20 feet above the ground. Half this time and double the height at which it is considered above the ground if you are building in wood. Double the time, the height, and cost if you are building with cut stone. If there is not material available on the worksite (i.e. your wooden tower isn't in a forest, your stone tower isn't on a shale cliff, your cut stone tower isn't in a quarry), you must pay an additional five labourers (per ten labourers) to collect and transport it. Less than this and construction slows. 

 

Players should draw the floorplan of their stronghold. This may then be used (by adding up the surface area of the walls) to calculate costs and time. DM's should put a limit on how many labourers they can hire, based on how many are available and how many would cause overcrowding (i.e. no peasant railgun). Normally 7 can be found in a 1 mile hex on the frontier, and 15 in civilized lands, 30 in populous places. There is a 1 in 20 chance per week of an accident, which may kill 1d4-1 workers and destroy (1d3-1)*40 square feet of wall, but at the least delays the construction another week.

 

Pictured: a 600 sp, 6 week investment.

The Ruins Homestead Act

 

The king and his nobles have become tired of the mismanagement of the land, tired of bandits and goblins hiding out in keeps and waylaying travelers, tired of paying amoral mercenaries large sums and finders-keepers rights just to have the damn ruins fill up again next year. Thus they have approved the Ruins Homestead Act. 

 

If a group of freemen clear out a dungeon with an above ground section, and present half the treasure to the Lord whose land the dungeon is on, give him or his representative a tour of the dungeon to ensure its safety, and swear fealty to him, that group shall be given the land the dungeon occupies and one hide of land around it per fully enclosed room above ground, up to a total of 10 hides, as well as any serfs who live on that land. If this gives one more than 3 hides, one of the company becomes a Gentleman and is a noble. More than 6 hides, one becomes a Knight. Both are expected to render military and other services.

Pictured: guaranteed knighthood

I published for the One Page RPG Jam!

It's a Dunsanian classless system written in-universe. Check it out!

Class: Jongleur

GLoG style

1. Really Good Juggling, "Leap, Whistle, and Fart"
2. Magic for Some Reason
3. Wondrous Catch, Mimic
4. Contortion, Buffoun

6 Level

1. Really Good Juggling, "Leap, Whistle, and Fart"
2. Magic for Some Reason
3. Mimic
4. Wondrous Catch
5. Contortion
6. Buffoun

Starting Equipment: 4 balls, 4 knives, 2 juggler's torches, silly outfit, cynical outlook on life

Tumblr

Class Feature: Really Good Juggling

Given 1 round of preparations, you may juggle [Level+4] handheld items. As long as the ceiling is high enough, you may throw them high enough that they only touch your hands once every two rounds. You may also juggle [Level-1] items with limbs which aren't your hands. When juggling different objects, note down the order in which you juggle them. You may throw up to half (rounded down) of the items juggled with one action, though items thrown in the same round must follow the looping order of your juggling. These items function as improvised (or unimprovised) thrown weapons.

If the number of items juggled is greater than quadruple the HD/Level of an enemy present, that enemy must make a morale check, either regarding you as harmless or fleeing in terror on a failure. This only affects a given enemy once.

Class Feature: Leap, Whistle, and Fart

By making a fool of yourself, you may evoke a jovial response from otherwise hostile enemies. This requires one round of breathing, mental, and abdominal exercises, after which you may perform [Level] rounds of stupid slapstick. Enemies of anything other than the iciest temperaments will pause to chuckle, and more sanguine enemies will break down laughing for a few rounds. Allies must save to remain unaffected.

Kate Beaton, of course

Class Feature: Magic, for Some Reason

When you gain this feature, and every time you level up thereafter, roll a d6. On a six, gain one magic token* and one random spell from the following list:

1. Speak with the Dead
2. Find Familiar
3. ESP
4. Illusion
5. Hex
6. Color Spray

These spells are not obviously identifiable as spells when you cast them (appearing to be slight of hand or other tricks). They are still magical in nature. 

Regardless of whether you actually gain a spell, you detect as a magic-user and are considered on par with a witch or necromancer by any priests or other religious officials (this doesn't affect how laypeople view you. Probably they will react with utter confusion if they witness and recognize you doing magic).

Class Feature: Mimic

You may impersonate the voice and mannerisms of a being you have seen or heard. This is a non-magical effect and thus cannot effect the physical appearance. However, if physical appearance is ignored or disguised, you are at once indistinguishable from the being you are impersonating and a hilarious caricature of that same being. Overly serious close relations might be able to tell, but most people would simply think their acquaintance is more funny and/or self-aware than usual.

If performed in front of the individual in question, the individual either finds it hilarious or enraging (50/50).

Kate Beaton

Class Feature: Wondrous Catch

You may catch thrown objects, as long as the attack roll was less than [level*2]. These objects may automatically be added to your juggling if you are juggling when it was thrown. You may also catch magical attacks if the spell attack was less than [level]. The magical attack vanishes if you stop juggling it.

Class Feature: Contortion

You may perform superhuman feats of flexibility. You may fit through any hole larger than your head. As well you may cartwheel and somersault to halve fall damage (space permitting). You can walk on your hands as easily as you walk on your feet.

Class Feature: Bouffon

Your lungs store a surprising amount of air (and other things too). You may use your breath to create a powerful air current. As well, you may breath fire as long as you have fuel and a source to light it. This fire breath acts as a young red dragon's breath.

Mechanical Notes

Powerful early game, eh late game. The Bard without the Bard, the Rogue without the Rogue. The jongleur has the ability to "end" a reasonable amount of early encounters (maybe not as good as a well placed Sleep, but with the ability to take out a lot of those who weren't affected), and then a lot of situational abilities, and one ability which is almost only a downside. The enterprising Glogger could probably crib this for their custom modular rogue class. Probably the level effects need to be rescaled for six level progression. Still, enemy of the church at level 2 is a pretty bad downside in most GLoG settings.

I don't think it would be hard to make a Kagura dancer, Dionysia actor, or other holy entertainer by just swapping out the arcane spells for divine.

* Magic Token is approximately 1d2 spells slots or 1 magic dice. I'm going to use this from now on, because I do not like to write "spell slots/magic dice/etc."; maybe I should just call it a Thaum and be done.

Ritual Purity Rules

I gotta write this before Arnold does

Based on some recent posts by Arnold K and some older posts on Whose Measure God Could Not Take, as well as the content of Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas.

Ritual Purity is a concept present in most world religions. It is often conflated with, though far less often actually identical to, Morality in the context of world religion. It is, of course, concerned with the distinction between pure and impure, clean and unclean. Generally this is important because being unclean is a dangerous state, or a state unfit to preform necessary or socially acceptable activities. An unclean person is not an evil person or a damned person*. It's the difference between, say, an altar-cloth with a pentagram pattern and a altar-cloth which had someone accidentally bleed on it. One is detestable, the other is simply currently unfit.

Uncleanness is most often spread via physical contact. For instance, in Judaism, it is unclean to touch the dead, or to touch someone who is diseased. Sometimes you become unclean simply from yourself, such as in the case of menstruation or nocturnal emissions. Sometimes you become unclean from necessary activities, such as giving birth or butchering an animal. Sometimes a group of people is naturally unclean, and becomes ostracized.

And of course, there are ways to become clean. Bathing. Sacrifice. Time. Unless, of course, you are inherently unclean.

Ritual Purity almost always has some effect relating to religion, as the name implies. Most often, priests must be clean to go about their duties. Offerings must be clean (or sometimes very unclean), lest you call wrath upon yourself. Magicians, depending on the culture, either had to be very clean or very unclean in order to work their magic. According to Mary Douglas, some amount of purity was always required of the Indian upper caste and those who interacted with them.

Now, some rules.

Purity Scale

[unclean/clean things in square brackets may be substituted in the list on player choice]

• Immaculate: You are almost too pure. The spiritual forces of the world ingratiate themselves to you, and the presence of gods is comfortable to you. Sometimes kings make sacrifices to you. It's really quite inconvenient. Gain 1 [magic], which you can use to cast *any* spell. Alternatively, with a short and well known ritual, you can gain the service of a lesser spirit permanently (this causes you to become unclean). When you become unclean, you take 1d6 damage. If you die before becoming unclean, you trigger a divine cataclysm which consumes the surrounding area (which definitely will kill your allies and level/blight/erase nearby towns). Alternatively, you become an amazing human sacrifice. If anyone can sacrifice you to the gods without causing you to become unclean, they gain two levels and a minor wish (this is vaguely known to everyone who passes a contested wisdom check). Things which are unclean: touching another human, touching dirt, eating, wearing dyed clothes [crying or laughing, walking, having another look on you, talking].
• Pure: You are pure enough to interact safely with divine things. The requisite level of knowledge and wealth needed to maintain this state probably qualifies you to be a priest in a pinch. Sometimes it qualifies you to be the center of a cult. If you can already cast spells, you can cast as though you were one level higher a number of times per day equal to your level, and have +1 on two saves of your choice. Things which are impure to you: Mud, touching Clean people, being wounded, eating meat [speaking above a whisper, speaking less than a shout, wearing mixed fabrics, entering a tomb, drinking alcohol]. Things that make you more pure: blessed springs, miracles, a month of fasting and intense baths, actual fire. 
• Clean: You are pure enough to interact at all with nobility. Most normal people occupy this space, and most of the rest are clean ~30% of the time regardless. No effect. Impure things: Shit, Sex, Blood, Dead Bodies, Being Sick, Eating Impure Things [Stagnant water, having a beard, not having a beard]. Purifying things: a day of heavy washing, confessing sins, being anointed with oil, using a talisman, abstaining from sex and alcohol for a week.
• Unclean: It's mildly rude to talk with clean people. Spells have a X% chance of not working, where X is every hour you have been unclean. Impure things: Necrophilia, touching untouchable people, Coprophagia, demonic food, murder, rape, making unclean sacrifices [tanning animal hides, smithing, vagrancy, leprosy, becoming a scapegoat]
• Untouchable: You are considered disgusting by society, and are heavily discriminated against. You may not be allowed to enter stores or inns, and you certainly can never be seen by a priest. Nothing is more impure than you, and you cannot become clean except by incredible extraneous circumstances. You receive 1 [magic] which may be used to cast impure spells which regenerates at midnight. You can expend this during downtime to make a wealthy-level wage in some impure craft. If you choose to be a member of the untouchable caste at character creation, you get two [magic] instead.