High in the Air, the Tree its Boughs Display'd, And O'er the Dungeon Cast a Dreadful Shade (GLAUGUST, M&M)

GLAUGUST. Semiurge. 500 words. Go.

EURYALE'S TREE

The Gorgon stole the eye of Dew, planted it on the isle Erseopis. It grew to take the whole isle, shedding soft tear-rains and fruiting weirdly.

The Trunk: 100' in diameter, haunt of giant snails. Giant snails may produce sticky slime or slippery slime. Eldest snail, Apatros, intelligent and morose. Burrowed in, 40' up and 3 chambers deep (each chamber covered in slime of either type, with 2d6 spears scattered about). Desires humanity, and Alkmene. Possesses an Amulet of Merfolk + 15 SC.

The Roots: Labyrinthine. Each dungeon turn of wandering, roll 1d6 each for: Albino lion, Alkmene, Fountain of Healing. Encounter on a 1. All three sacred to Artemis. Alkmene: lost princess grown up. Wants adventure. Possesses Bow of Artemis + 1 lucky silver. Albino lion: Alkmene's overbearing protector. Killing it's a sin. Fountain: Heals 2d6 to folk sinless before Artemis. Otherwise, deadly.

The Branches: 200' up. Leaves like sails. Petrified birds. Strange glass fruit (1d6):
1. Extra head
2. Sleep 1d3 days
3. Turn into bird 1/day
4. Silver eyes, see no beauty or ugliness
5. Remove all sins (if you have a lot, lose a level)
6. Turn into Regular Human (negates mutations).

The Dew's eye can be found up here, unharmed among the boughs. She would grant a wish to the one who returns it (though, she's not easy to find herself). 1 in 6 chance to find the eye per dungeon turn of searching, if you know what to look for. Also 1 in 6 chance that Euryale shows up.

Nest of Euryale: Nest of branches and stone limbs. A Gorgon with wings, immortal but starving, can only eat what she can't petrify. Her shrieks warn of her coming (cannot surprise). Festooned with 100 GC of bangles and piercings. Also a Rod of Lightning, and Amulet of Protection. Looking on her ugliness petrifies.

The wood of the tree has an affinity for moonlight, and a resistance to burning. Boats made of it will not get wrecked while the moon looks on them, and can travel, on average, 1.5 times faster (sailing by night).

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.

Mazes and Minotaurs Houserule: Minor Interventions

Gonna be going on a vacation with my WIFE (new development!) and her family, and the people want Greek mythology, so I'm gonna be starting a Mazes and Minotaurs campaign (or maybe just doing a one shot). As a ruleset, it's worth giving a look: It's unserious, creative, seemingly very playable, and full of little editorial blurbs talking about the spurious history of the game and of gaming as a whole. Also it's free, and well laid out (even with its hilarious and/or cringeworthy clip-art illustrations). Since I'm going to run it, I wanted to write down a little houserule before I forget.

While it takes a priest to invoke the mighty Divine Intervention of one of the Olympian gods, the lesser gods of earth and sky, of virtue and happenstance, may be called forth by any character. To call a god, a character must perform an invocation lasting a full combat round and naming (if only vaguely) the god they desire to appear, and then must roll a d20, modified by their Luck, Level, and (in the case of Magicians) their class's Magical Talent (Orphic Voice, Elemental Mastery, etc.), against a target number of 20. An unmodified roll of 20 always succeeds.

On a success, the god named (or another appropriate god or spirit of the GM's choice) appears, "stepping out" onto the scene like an actor from the chorus or from some unseeable backstage. The character who invoked the god has, of course, no control over them whatsoever, and they are by default a neutral observer to the events before them (the GM might also make a reaction roll, if the god is fickle enough). They may be propitiated, however, to make them well-disposed to the invoker's requests (or, by contrast, offended, or propitiated by an enemy). The powers of the lesser gods are not to be taken lightly, though they tend to favor less spectacular displays of power than the Olympians. At least, they may replicate any effect of mortal magic (though tending towards their domain), and several more powerful and subtle effects, and cannot be killed by any mundane means.

On a failure, the god does not appear before mortal eyes (though the gods are always watching in matters of their concern). They cannot be invoked again for a nebulous and entirely arbitrary amount of time. Magicians of all types (who, of course, deal regularly with such spirits) may expend their Power points to reroll a failed invocation: 3 power points will allow a single reroll, while 6 power points (equivalent to a true Divine Intervention) ensures that the lesser god appears.

However, Magicians can only reroll invocations to lesser gods over which they have sway: Elementalists and Nymphs have sway over the elemental and natural gods of their domains, gods of rivers, winds, or flames; Lyrists and Sorcerers have sway over the gods of the human heart, personifications like Death, Justice, and Rage, as well as the shades of the dead; and Priests have sway over the gods who act as servants of their Patron god, such as the clouds of Zeus, the muses of Apollo, or the furies of Athena (as well as those gods who are the servants of all the gods, such as Iris or Hebe).

Lesser gods may also be propitiated through longer and more expensive invocations. These longer rites take 10 minutes, and include a sacrifice of some equivalent monetary value (whether through throwing gold in a lake, burning expensive incense, pouring expensive wine, or the slaughter of animals or people). This starts at 1 Gold Coin for a +1 bonus to the invocation roll (and to the reaction roll, if the GM makes one), and increases to +2 at 10 gold coins, +3 at 100 gold coins, etc.

This houserule I think takes care of a few big gaps in the original rules. Firstly, the lack of non-olympian god representation (common in Greek myth content from the nerds of the 80s). I feel that the common appearance of the gods of all sorts is an integral part of the feeling of a Greek myth or a Greek drama. It is a poor representation of Greek myth that does not allow the river Scamander to take offense to Achilles, or Right Logic and Wrong Logic to debate in the Academe of Socrates.

Secondly, the lack of non-combat spells for many of the magicians. An Elementalist of Air can call up winds to serve as a shield, but has no power to fill the sails of a trireme. A Sorcerer can command the living, but has no ability to perform that most basic form of hellenic magic which calls up the spirits of the dead. The Astute and GLOG-minded reader will notice parallels to the most prototypical and elegant GLOG magic ability. The ability to transform a physical task into a roleplay negotiation is probably one of the most fun magic rules ever written, in my opinion, and should probably be included in whatever setting has room for it (the prospect of persuading a Warp Drive occurs to me, and tantalizes). Fair credit to Loch as well, whose Magos was not far from my mind as I wrote this.

GLAUGUST TAX: SPELL(S) OF THE EVIL KING

I cannot, I think, elaborate all the spells of the evil king, but I can write one, with some wifely help.

Turquoise Doom
R: Touch T: Object, creature, or concept weighing less than 10^[dice] pounds D: Permanent
Encases the target in [sum] layers of beautiful and indestructible eggshell, blue like that of a robin (and also the size and weight of a robin's egg, no matter what is contained therin). Each layer may only be broken by genuine tears of sorrow for the thing contained therein. For each layer, a different person must weep. The tears don't need to fall onto the egg: it suffices that they fall on any earth worked by human hands. Laughter is nearly weightless, and your own death is around 1000 pounds. The EVIL KING's death is trapped this way, though none know it, and he considers it safe, since who on earth would cry over his death?

Fifth Fantasy Revised Classes

I fiddled with these ones a while ago but they never got typed up. Not playtested but I like them better.

Fighter

Paladin Journeyman

A Link type

Skills: Investigation, Sleight of Hand

Knack: Once per day, you can use an item without expending its uses, e.g. a potion remains undrunken, an arrow remains unshot. +1 use per day at every even level.

Weak Point: Once per fight, you can use a noncombat item to attack (anyone can do this but its especially good for you). For example, use a warming blanket to wrap an ice ghost, or throw a lantern at a monster. If it makes some amount of sense, it stuns the enemy for a round, in addition to whatever damage it might do. This might destroy the item. If it makes no sense, this ability isn't expended.

Ranger Cook

A Senshi type

Skills: Nature, Survival

Hearty Meal: When the party takes a rest and eats a meal prepared by the cook with fresh ingredients, they gain HP equal to the cook's level. If they would regain HD, they regain 1 extra.

Cookery: If the cook uses an edible elemental material to prepare a dish, their food gives one of these effects
- +2 to 1 stat (Fire -> STR, Ice -> CON, Storm -> AGI, Light -> PRE, Dark -> LOR)
- Resistance to damage of the opposing type (Fire -> Ice -> Storm -> Fire, Light -> Dark -> Light)

Rogue

Adept Bard

Leave the wizarding up to the wizards

Skills: Performance, Persuasion, History

Fame: When you would gain favor from a quest, you may spend a downtime action telling tales to gain double.

Rumor Mill: When you gather rumors as an action, you may spend 1 favor to do one of the following
- Learn 1d4 more rumors
- Learn if a rumor is True
- Spread one of your own rumors

New Rule: Favor

Favor is a measure of your standing in a town. It functions as a secondary currency to Guilders. When you forgo payment for a quest, or give gifts of magic items, you gain Favor in that town equal to the Guilder value. You receive a bonus to reaction rolls from townsfolk equal to your favor, up to a maximum of 6. By default you can only spend favor to receive hospitality, at a rate of one favor to four days. If you accrue negative favor (through overstaying your welcome or evil acts), there is a [negative favor] in 6 chance per week that you get run out of town (this is also checked whenver you enter town). Favor (and negative favor) for each town is halved at the Moonday, except for the town you are staying at for moonday.

Universal Subclasses

These can be taken by any class, and have unique names for the main class you take them with, given as Subclass (Fighter name, Rogue name, Mage name).

Beastmaster (Ranger, Tamer, Summoner)

Skills: Animal Handling, Insight

Friend to All: for Living creatures, you may cause them to reroll reaction and tatke the better result. A roll of 12 means they are friendly to you.

Heart Bond: With Any creature friendly to you, you may bond to it. You may only have one bond. It gets a bonus to HP and to your highest stat equal to your level (e.g. if you are level 3 and have AGI as your highest stat, it gains +3 to HP and AGI). It may take on an element you are proficient in, or an element of a material you give it. It will, generally, obey you. If it was summoned, the duration of the summoning is permanent.

Princeling (Knight, Marquise, Magister)

Skills: Persuasion, History

Noblesse: Choose one town as your domain. In your domain, you get +1 favor per quest, and you may gain favor for public works as though it were a gift. Favor does not decay for you at the summer moonday (since you are expected to be out adventuring), but is quartered at the winter moonday (because you should be at home).

De Jure: You may spend favor to attract merchants to your domain, and recruit townsfolk from it for adventures.

Acrobat (Dragoon, Assassin, Adept)

Skills: Acrobatics, Stealth

Leap: You may leap [10 + twice Level] Feet, vertically and horizontally (and both)

Evasion: While in light armor, double your AGI bonus for the purposes of AC.

LIBRA Houserules

Did some setting, now for some rules for my LIBRA game. Again, thanks to Archon. By the way, if you want more content easily insertable into this kind of game, check out some Black Books, Black Auctions, and Anomalous Media. Folks have been working on a lot of this sort of stuff, you'll have to search it out a bit.

---

COMPOSURE
Characters have an attribute called Composure (CM). Psychics and Apsychs get 2dr and Friendlies and Freaks get 1dr of CM per template. Most WIS saves are replaced by CM saves, especially for psychic influence, and CM goes down by 1 for each unsuccessful save. At 0 CM, the psychic influence overwhelms you. You become Connected with whatever psychic force was influencing you (or something else if nothing in particular was influencing you). If your psyche is attacked again, you gain one of these madnesses:
1. Phobia. Of whatever just happened probably
2. Minor Hullucinations. Senses (listening at doors, telepathy, etc.) become unreliable.
3. Vacillation. One character you loved you now hate, and vice versa.
4. Nonverbal. Hope you like charades.
5. Delusion. Paranoia, megalomania, glass piano, etc.

Connections represent footholds that outside influences have in your mind. The GM can always tell you what your Connection would like you to do, and you can always resist, but once per mission per connection the GM can make resisting reduce your next draw by 1. If you have more Connections than maximum CM, you become unplayable as your core psyche is overwritten. But if you are careful, doing the will of alien gods and nefarious agencies can get you some fun prizes, you know. Lore and paratech and more powers.

Composure can be restored by a good nights sleep in a safe place. Madness can be cured with a week of rest (you don't actually have that mental illness, its just a psychic effect). Connections require more difficult methods.

---

F R E A K
2dr HP, 1dr CM per template
A: Evolution
B+: Metamorphosis

Evolution
You get +2 to one stat of your choosing. Add 1 to a random stat for every mutation you have. You may start with up to 3 mutations.

Metamorphosis
When you gain this template, you gain as many mutations as you have mutations.

Note: If you ever have more mutations than your max HP, you become something totally inhuman (and unplayable). Also, unlike psychics, people might notice you just walking around. Writing a mutations list seems boring and there's already plenty of good ones.

---

CATCHING 77 WINKS
Most people visit the dreamlands about once every two weeks. Most people don't remember it. Psychics can. To enter the dreamlands, any character who is either psychically active or has been there before (and remembers) makes a check drawing 1 + their maximum psychic potential, drawing twice as much if under the effect of certain drugs. That character may "bring along" a number of other willing people in their vicinity equal to their psychic potential (who can then bring along their own, who can bring along their own, in a daisy chain). The exception here is Apsychs, who can't enter it at all (they should have a dreamlands specific character to play though).

The Dreamlands is essentially a sword-and-sorcery setting overlaid on the world. Great ones and earth-bound gods, elven civilizations, Ynn, Pagana, Carcosa, throw whatever in. Everyone in the dreamlands has +1 psychic potential. You can always spend a psychic potential to try to wake up, making a check with your highest mental stat or LUCK. Wounds gained in the dreamlands don't stick, but Madness and Connection does. If you die in the dreamlands, you never wake up.

Obviously you can't bring back treasure from the Dreamlands, with very few exceptions, but you can learn lore, make deals, meet other psychics, kill people with your brain, edit the collective unconscious, etc. And if you do want the ancient artifacts you find there, you might be able to learn the location of their real-world counterparts.

Time passes very differently in the dreamlands, so you can adventure for a whole week before the night is over. Even though time passes much faster while dreaming, it doesn't pass much while you aren't dreaming, so you mostly "resume" when you go back, unless a whole week has passed in real life. When you enter the dreamlands, make a check with your highest mental stat or LUCK. If you succeed, you may decide to enter where you left, or at a nearby "acessible" location (e.g. you can't dream your way past a locked door, but you can get back out of a dungeon). If you fail, the GM decides.

---