Counterspells, Magic Detection, and Dispelling

To be used as houserules or alternate class features

This one has been sitting in my drafts for a while. It is unfinished but I'm putting it out anyways because I likely won't finish it, and it might inspire someone.

Counterspells

'Counterspell' is not a spell in itself. It is a category of procedures applied to any given spell to make the spell simply not work. These can range from casting the opposite spell (Shatter vs. Mending, Fire vs. Water), to simply distraction (mundane or arcane), to stealing the energy of the spell. When a wizard or magically adept character sees a spell being cast, they can attempt a counterspell. Roll a contested check: on the countering side, d20+[Caster level]+[Spellcasting Score]; on the casting side, d20+[Caster level]+[Spellcasting Score]+[Spell Level]. The countering magician may use a spell to increase their bonus, adding the spell's level to the roll (or double the spells level for an opposite spell).

If the Caster wins, the spell prevails, and the counterspell possibly has a mishap. If the Counterer wins, they may consult the following table and choose one option in accordance with the difference in the rolls.

Difference	Effect
1	Deflect: The spell changes direction just before it reaches the target, up to 90 degrees
	Enfeeble: The spell falters, only producing half the effect
3	Distract: The caster makes a concentration check. If they fail, the spell wild-surges, explodes, mishaps, or dooms
	Rewind: The spell is returned to the caster, and any spell used to counter is also returned.
	Shatter: The spell splinters, dealing [spell level]d6 or [spell level] damage to its target
5	Negate: The spell does not work
	Awry: The spell has a different (but not opposite) effect. Fireball may become wind-ray, cure wounds becomes cured meats, etc.
7	Siphon*: The counterer absorbs the spell's energy, which may be stored in magic items or as spell slots
	Reverse: The spells effect reverses completely. Fireball becomes water-pseudosphere, cure wounds becomes cause wounds, etc.
	Reflect: The spell now targets the caster (or a random creature if it already targeted the caster)
9	Explode*: Choose a point on the spell's original trajectory. The spell explodes at that point, dealing [spell level]d6 damage in a [spell level]*5 ft. radius
	Doom*: The spell triggers a doom in the caster, or causes the worst possible mishap or wild magic surge.
11	Seal*: The caster can no longer cast magic for [spell level] (roll d[spell level]: 1. seconds 2. minutes 3. hours 4. days 5. weeks 6. months 7. years 8. decades 9. permanent)
	Steal*: The counterer learns the spell and the caster forgets the spell. As well, the counterer gains a temporary spell slot of the spell level.
	Unravel*: A wild-magic or null-magic zone is created around the caster
13	Death*: The caster is killed
	Magician's folly*: The caster is effected by a permanent effect, transfiguration, enchantment, or curse of the the counterer's choice, subject to DM discussion.

* these options also negate the spell

Magic Detection

Magic detection is, of course, not a spell either. Rather, it is a suite of tools, lore, mathematics, neuroses, and mutations that allow wizards to perceive the structure of spells, supernatural influences, and invisible creatures.

A knack will here mean a supernatural mutation, mnemonic device, or neurosis which may aid in detecting magic. A bauble is a physical tool such as a lens, crystal, or fetish which helps one do the same. Certain divination spells may also assist. Familiars may also help.

Knacks and Baubles have certain intended targets (e.g. fairy magic, divine magic, fire magic, etc.). Both have a 1 in 2 chance of positively identifying influences of that type, a 2 in 6 chance of positively identifying neutral magic, and a 1 in 4 chance of correctly detecting magic of a very different type. As well, both have a 1 in 6 false positive chance. Divination spells have a flat chance (1 in 4 for cantrips, 2 in 6 for 1-4 lvl, 1 in 2 for 5-7, 4 in 6 for 8-9. 1 in 10 false positive for cantrip-4th lvl, 1 in 20 for 5-9).

Knacks may be used quickly (in 1 round), but the use of a knack deals 1 wisdom damage and prompts a save vs. wizard eyes. Baubles take 1d6 rounds to find, set up, and use, but do not have any ill effects. Divination spells of course take a spell slot. Multiple tools may be used in succession, and this is recommended.

[Example: Algol the Hidden has 2 baubles and 1 knack: A quartz orb (detects wizardry), a sorcerer's mask (detects spirits), and a third eye (detects dark magic). While travelling, they encounters a man they suspect is a werewolf (he, in fact, is). They first examine with the mask (werewolves are acceptably close to spirits, 2 in 6). They looks through their mask and sees a fearsome, if ethereal, wolf form over the man! Or wait, maybe that's a trick of the light, or simply a wolf spirit, since it soon passes (in fact, it was a false positive and has no bearing on the man's nature). 

Algol, now unsure, looks through their quartz orb (werewolves are very different than wizards, 1 in 4). Nothing comes of this. Maybe he isn't a werewolf? Greatly concerned, Algol peers with their third eye (a discussion of whether werewolves are dark magic ensues. It is decided they are. Also, Algol suffers 1 Wis damage and makes their save for Wizard Eyes). Algol sees the stain of death on his teeth and the wicked claws of his true form! They were right! After a small skirmish, the man is justly imprisoned.]

Wizards begin with 2 baubles and 1 knack. Sorcerers and Warlocks begin with 2 knacks and 1 bauble. Knacks may be gained from magical deals, maddening texts, and certain potions. Baubles may be purchased from other wizards, crafted with special ingredients, or stolen. Some baubles may be used by mundane characters.

Some Baubles

1. Erratic Clock (Chronomancy)
2. Magician's Pendulum (Magic Items)
3. True Quicksilver (Necromancy)
4. Otherworldly Ring (Planar)
5. Elemental Barometer (Elemental)
6. Scope of Many Lenses (Wizardry)
7. Shamble (Witchcraft)
8. Phantasmagoric lantern (Illusion)

Dispelling

Technically, dispel magic is a spell. The spell is a brute force form of a more general principle: spells may be disrupted by altering the delicate but mundanely untouchable structure of a spell. This is easier and more graceful if the dispeller knows the workings and nature of a spell (found by magic detection or guessing)

Lest Thou Be Filled Therewith (GLoG: Wizard) + d6x7 Sandwiches

Confection Wizard

Starting Equipment: Chef hat but it has a wizard brim, wooden spoon
Perk: Advantage on reaction for children and nobles
Drawback: Effects can be dispelled by water
Cantrips:

• Conjure a handful of sparkly sugar-substitute. No calories. If you throw this at someone, its about as effective as sand.
• Spend 10 minutes running your hands over your clothing to remove any stains or dirt.
• Taste a food to learn how long ago it was created, and get an impression of its creator

Spells: 

1. Crystallize
2. Summon Candles (see Here)
   
3. Steel to Spun Sugar
4. Rock Candy Regalia
5. Candycane of Thalia
6. Savorous Sweets
7. Gingerbread House
8. Summon Marshmallow
9. Cottoncandy Web (as Entangling Web)
   
10. Become Delicious (see Here)
    
11. Chocolate Replica
12. Let Them Eat Cake

Crystalize
R: 60' T: Creature or Object D: Instant
Target takes [Sum] damage. Plants or other especially sugary creatures take twice as much. Sugar will drop out of solutions, and rations will be candied. By default, this crystalizes sugar, but with 2 dice you can target salt, and with 3+ you can target more esoteric compounds.

Rock Candy Regalia
R: Touch T: Creature D: [dice] Hours
Target is bedecked in crystalline jewelry and fondant in the form of an elaborate formal costume. They gain +1 AC and are sufficiently dressed for a ball. (The transformation is pretty much just like Cinderella)

Candycane of Thalia
R: 30' T: Creature or Object D: Instant
A giant candycane grabs the target and drags them [highest]*5' (maximum) in any direction and path. It has a strength of 18. If the target is small and without anything to hook onto, it only can drag them half that distance.

Savorous Sweets
R: Touch T: N/A D: 1 Minute
[dice] magic, dice-shaped candies are summoned in the caster's hand. They each heal whatever number was displayed on the die when eaten.

Gingerbread House
R: Touch T: Special D: 8 Hours
A fully furnished gingerbread house of up to [dice]*100 Square Feet is constructed over the course of the next 10 minutes by Elves (the chill kind, not those other bastards). Obviously not effective for rain, but very good for winds and snows. Also counts as rations! Can't be constructed to overlap with things too big for it to contain (e.g. pillars or trees). Also, the elves can be rather skittish, and have a morale of 6+[highest]. They'll resume work when danger is gone. If [sum] is more than 12, it is permanent (though not imperishable).

Summon Marshmallow
R: 60' T: [dice]*10' diameter D: 1 Minute
A giant marshmallow explodes into existence with a muffled Fwumph. Creatures in the diameter are flung comically away, traveling 5 feet beyond the circumference of the marshmallow. Can be cast in reaction to falling. Highly flammable.

Chocolate Replica
R: Touch T: A sufficient amount of chocolate D: [dice] hours
Over the course of a minute, you shape the chocolate into a shocking lifelike simulacrum of whatever object you desire. For the duration, the chocolate behaves as that object would behave. For instance, a chocolate cart could haul loads that would normally break the weaker material, or a chocolate sword would be sharp enough to deal damage. When cast with more than 3 Dice, this can include being animate and mimicking sentience (though, creatures made with this spell have an eerie, permanent smile). If attacked, the replica has [highest] HP, no AC, and cannot attack. At the end of the duration, the replica becomes a mundane, though still very lifelike, chocolate statue.

Let Them Eat Cake
R: 200' T: [sum]*10 creatures in range D: Instant
A Small, Delicious cake in a flavor appealing to the individual appears in front of each creature in a small burst of confetti, hovering until they grab it. This cake counts as a single ration.

Mishaps:
1. MD only return to your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours
2. Take 1d6 damage
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.
4. Lose sense of taste for 1d6 days. This includes aesthetic taste (though you probably didn't have that anyway).
5. Overcome by a Bitter-Sourness for 1d6 rounds (its like a Warhead mixed with Black Tea)
6. Require [highest] additional rations, or [highest]/2 rations with considerable sugar content.

Dooms:
1. You become made of sugar for an hour.
2. You become made of sugar for a day.
3. You are permanently made of sugar

Extra: d6x7 Sandwiches

What is Above is What is Below (GLoG: Wizard)

 

Mage of Pacci (Single Template)

You've studied under the tutelage, or the tomes, of that eccentric wizard Pacci. Among wizards, he alone was simple: the man liked to flip things upside-down. The teachings of Pacci can be learned within a week, but can only be applied through leveling up personal growth.

This template counts as if you had advanced (or started) in a wizard class. However, when you would gain spells from your wizard class, you gain 1 less than normal, and gain the spell Pacci's Inversion instead.

Pacci's Inversion
R: Line of Sight T: Creature or Object D: Instant
Target is picked up and flipped upside-down by some golden sparkles. This spell can target a [dice] HD creature, or an object sized up to: human-sized, ogre-sized, house-sized, tavern-sized

If you take this as your first wizard template, you gain any other spells from the Orthodox Spell List.
You also gain the following cantrips:
1. Move a light object with a wave of your finger. You could cause a coin to roll along the ground or turn the pages of a book, but you couldn't open a door or lift a stone.
2. Flick something within 30'. Cannot deal damage, but can knock over a coin or make a faint noise.
3. Enchant a hole or divot to act as a springboard. Increases one jump by 5'. Can spend dice as a spell to increase the jump by [dice]*10'. This technically counts as a casting of Pacci's Inversion

You gain no perks or drawbacks as a Mage of Pacci, but you might gain some when you learn another wizard school. Each template of another school that you take can replace one Mage of Pacci cantrip.

Stolen shamelessly from Zelda.

Stolen by Bats: Correspondent

 

Sunless Seas

No permission from Loch. If he wants to make his own (undoubtedly better), use his.

Correspondent

They say...
You've begun to study the Baroque and Primeval writings of Xanadu. Unwise, if you value your eyebrows.

+1 Mirrors and +1 Sigil per Template
Starting Equipment: Pot of Violant Ink, Faded Morning Suit, Burning Smell, Semiotic Monocle, 3 Blank Lead Plaques.
Skills:1) Academia 2) Archaeology 3) Engineering 4) Law 5) Poetry 6) Astronomy
A - Inflammatory Language, Adamic, +3 Sigils
B - Mixed Media
C - Gramarye, Eyes of Icarus
D - Red Science

Inflammatory Language
You've learned a few symbols of the language they call the Correspondence. As far as you can tell, each symbol is a highly specific, yet incredibly vague ideogram. You know how to write and use 3 such sigils, and you can get a vague idea of the contents of a message written in any common Correspondence sigils.

That is, if you can survive reading the message. Writing Correspondence on anything has the effect of setting it on fire, and reading correspondence written on anything has the effect of setting you on fire. Paper is set alight by 1 unique sigil, Stone by 3, Lead by 6. Reading a message in correspondence deals 1d6 fire damage per unique sigil. This is not based on comprehension, but rather on concentration. Looking at a Correspondence message through your Semiotic Monocle reduces the damage by one sigil.

Adamic
Next to Correspondence, every language is trivial. You can begin to understand any language in about an hour, given reference materials.

Mixed Media
You can depict correspondence in other forms than simple writing. If you have a skill in an artform, you can use that to communicate Correspondence Messages, with the same effect on the medium and audience as regular Correspondence Messages.

Gramarye
You can create Correspondence Messages that communicate something definite, so long as what you communicate is a synthesis of the Sigils used. For instance, if you use the Sigils "To Become Fire Rather Than Be Burned" and "The Conquest of an All-Too-Familiar Rival", you could communicate "My rival has surrendered and we're friends now", or "I'm blowing you up with a Hydrogen Bomb", or many other things. Rarely, this can produce esoteric effects.

Eyes of Icarus
You have developed some ability to withstand Correspondence. You reduce the damage of all Correspondence Messages you read by 2 sigils.

Red Science
You can now reliably produce esoteric, world-bending effects using combinations of Correspondence sigils. When you do this, roll d6s equal to the Sigils that you are using. If any show a 1, a 6, or Doubles, your Red Science fails, and deals damage equal to [sum] to you. You might just want to use the Sorcerer to adjudicate this.

Hypogeum Classes, Revised

I was looking over my Hypogeum Classes recently and, wow, they are bad. There's a whole class for heists. Heists! Completely irrelevant to the game. So I'm making them better.

Percichen on Tumblr, I think

Sword-Artist

Sword-Artists are those who kindle and unleash their Life, transmuting it into Magic. Unlike sorcerers, they don't need to supplement their Magic with potions. However, their chaotic and fiery Magic is pretty much completely useless for spells. Instead, they just punch people clean in half. Sword-Artists are commonly found among Humans and Darklings. Greyfolk are less common, and Folk are rare to say the least. Skeletons cannot become Sword Artists.

Each template of Sword-Artist gives +1 To-Hit

A: Sword Art, Soul of Flame
B: LIKE LIGHTNING
C: War Aspect
D: Life-Drinker

Sword Art
By focusing for one round, you may unleash an attack that always hits and deals an extra d4 damage for each sword artist template you have. If this doesn’t kill them, you’ve misaligned your meridians and can’t use this until you rest.

Soul of Flame
When you attack with a Sword Art, white flames kindle around you. You do not control these fires, but they do not hurt you. Your next turn, if there is anything flammable nearby (besides your own clothes), your fires will start normal fires.

LIKE LIGHTNING
You can choose to sunder your weapon when you use your sword art. When you do, the d4’s become the weapon’s die. For the rest of the fight, your pure killing intent functions as that weapon (though melee if it was ranged).

War Aspect
When you fight with your pure killing intent, it instead functions as any weapon you have held before. Fights don’t end until everyone you can reach in one turn is dead. You must keep fighting until the fight ends.

Life-Drinker
When you kill a being that did not die instantly to your sword art, your meridians are re-aligned, and you count as having an extra sword artist template.

Satoshi Matsuura

Strife's Child

A Strife's Child is an Adventurer, a Dancer, and a Coward. They can feel the rhythm of Battle, and move in time. Anyone can become a Strife's Child.

Each template of Strife's Child gives +1 AC

A: Motif, Abscond
B: Clever Thing
C: Battle Tech
D: Finisher

Motif
While in Combat, you may focus for a round to begin a kind of war-dance, or battle-trance, which increases the tension of all creatures in combat. When you begin a Motif, place a d6 on the table showing a one. This is the Motif Value. Increase it by one each round. All creatures get a bonus to To-Hit and Damage equal to the Motif Value. If a creature attacks with advantage, double this bonus.

You may end this effect at any time on your turn.

(Motifs stack with multiple Strife's Children)

Abscond
You may always flee combat.

Clever Thing
You have a feel for the mechanisms found in the Hypogeum, their connections and their ebb-and-flow. If you have seen a lock or key, you know its match by sight. If you find a mechanism, like a lever, by examining the floors and walls around it closely, you can tell roughly the direction its corresponding mechanism would be in (e.g. if it opens a door, you could tell what direction the door is in). You have advantage on strength checks to push large blocks, stuck doors, rusty levers, precarious statuary, etc.

Battle Tech
You may increase your To-Hit, Damage, or AC by the Motif Value (in addition to the normal Motif bonus). You must decrease another of these values by the same (e.g. if the Motif Value is 3, you could increase your To-Hit by 3 and decrease your Damage by 3)

Finisher
You may end your Motif with an attack or spell, which gains advantage. Your DM may allow you to customize your finisher with elemental damage or a special effect.

Lily Seika Jones, I think

Charm-seeker

Charm-seekers seek after charms, obviously. Charms are natural or artificial objects which store Magic and Spells. A Charm will absorb ambient magic from the atmosphere to recharge its spell. A Charm-seeker will naturally have an affinity for a certain type of charm based on their own inherent magic.

While Charm-seekers can be found in every race, each race has a different approach. Charm-seekers are most common among Darklings, who tend toward scholarly obsession. Folk Charm-seekers are very cautious and wary, while Humans tend to be experimental and flippant with charms. Skeleton and Greyfolk Charm-seekers tend to be very ostentatious.

(Digression: Charms are items that contain a spell and at least 1 MD. Anyone can use them, but if the MD are used up it normally takes like a week for it to recharge. Also, if a scroll has its MD used up it just crumbles. A used up charm can't be used to cast as a Charm-seeker)

A: Relic
B: Affinity
C: Ritual, +1 MD
D: Aspect

Relic
You possess a charm which resonates with your heart, called your Relic. It gives you two spells and +1 MD which recharges over 24 hours (in addition to the MD contained within that takes a week). Your Relic determines the type of Charms you seek (e.g. a Fire Wand means you seek Fire or Wand charms). You can cast spells contained in charms with the MD your Relic gives you (not the one it contains).

If you lose your Relic or you find a Charm which better resonates with your heart, you can spend a week attuning to it. The new charm must be one that could have been used by your old Relic (e.g. you couldn't start with a fire wand then change to a water orb, at least without changing to a fire orb first).

Affinity
You've grown in your connection with your Relic, and you come to understand some of the Forces of this world through it. You can identify when something is aligned with the same Force as your relic. When you encounter a creature aligned with that force, you can reroll the lower die of the reaction roll.

Ritual
You can destroy a charm for even greater power. When you do this, you may add another MD (in addition to any you spent on the spell and the MD contained withing the charm) to the spell the charm contained. You may also attempt to create a different effect related to the Charm's spell.

(You can't do the first effect with a scroll, but you can do the second)

Aspect
You can perform a Ritual (see above) with all your MD that can manifest the unique synthesis of your inner magic and the Forces of the World. You are clothed in a raiment of power and can summon a unique and legendary weapon for [sum] rounds.

Charm-Seeker Mishaps
1. MD only return on 1-2 for 24 hours
2. Take 1d6 damage
3. Random mutation for 1d6 turns, then save. Permanent on Fail.
4. Obsession. For 1d6 hours, you pick up and refuse to let go of anything related to your Relic
5. You accidentally drained your charm. Add 1 to your [dice] total.
6. You accidentally broke your charm. Luckily, it's reparable. You can still try to cast with it, but it might break.

Varguy

Sorcerer

A Sorcerer is anyone who consumes distilled magic, though most people only use it to refer to someone who uses it regularly. While everyone has an inner magic, most people don't have enough to make use of their spells. Drinking distilled magic gives the Sorcerer the power to cast the spells of their inner being. It also gives them uncanny visions and otherworldly insight which can lead to madness.

As they use magic, it begins to take root in their being, and their minds become more and more attuned to capturing magic from the atmosphere.

Drinking distilled magic can be done by anyone, giving them the first template of Sorcerer. It also deals 1d6 damage to charisma or wisdom. It lasts 24 hours, or until you lose your MD, and all sorcerer templates are lost when it wears off. Gaining or losing sorcerer templates does not mean gaining or losing levels. A first level sorcerer who runs out of Magic loses his sorcerer templates, but is still first level.

Each sorcerer template gives +1 Maximum MD

A: Spells, Distill Magic, Odd Insight
B: The Twelve Branched Wand
C: Palimpsest
D: Wizard

Spells
You know two spells. One is Sorcerous Blast. The other is determined randomly or chosen by you or your DM. You know how to make a Charm so that you can cast these. You also know how to make an impromptu Charm called a Shamble. This takes a minute and some trash. It lasts an hour, or one use, and can't be used by others.

Distill Magic
You know how to get magic out of things. With a way to boil liquids and condense gases, you can produce a dose of Distilled Magic. This takes a magical ingredient, 3 rations, or a large amount of weeds and herbs. You can also distill magic and spells out of charms in a much riskier process.

Odd Insight
When you read a book, examine a mural, or question someone, you can take 1d4 charisma or wisdom damage to ask an additional question about it. This represents the arcane workings of your mind making a deductive/mystic leap, rather than literally reading another fact or asking another question.

The Twelve Branched Wand
You learn two more spells, and Distilled Magic doesn't wear off until you lose all your MD.

Palimpsest
You regain 1 MD per Long Rest, and can edit your spells by rolling your MD. You can make 1 change for each 6. Negotiate with the DM.

Wizardry
You can make an impromptu, one-use edit to a spell if [highest] is 6.

Sorcerer Mishaps
1. MD only return on a 1-2 for 24 hours
2. Take 1d6 Damage
3. Random mutation for 1d6 turns, then save. Permanent on Fail.
4. Blind 1d6 rounds
5. You smell like magic. Magic eating creatures will be drawn towards you until you bathe
6. All your magic comes out of you in an arcane sneeze, everyone saves vs. being dazzled

 

For Sorcerers and Charm-Seekers, when you first roll a doom, select Obsession, Rejection, or Transformation. You follow that doom track for each subsequent doom.

Obsession
1. You become obsessed with your source of power. You must immediately seclude yourself for 1d6 days to pursue your power (contemplating your relic's force or brewing way too much magic). If you do not, you take 1d6 permanent Wis or Cha damage.
2. Every day you don't pursue your power, you take 1d6 permanent Wis or Cha damage
3. You abandon all other goals and seek to become the WISEST WIZARD. Make a new PC.

Rejection
1. Your magic leaves you for 1d6 days.
2. Your magic leaves you for 1d6 days, and you cast your most harmful spell targeting yourself with max MD (does not trigger mishaps or dooms).
3. All the magic leaves your body permanently. Save or Die.

Transformation
1. Gain a beneficial mutation. Gain +1 MD.
2. Gain a malignant mutation. Gain +1 MD.
3. Become a Monster. Make a new PC.

They say Doom can be avoided by slaying the Dragon

God-kings Rule the World: a Short Response to Cosmic

Cosmic Orrery made a post yesterday about Wizards. 3d6 Polar Bears responded to them. I have a few thoughts on both. Unfortunately, blogger is a glitchy mess and I'm not on the Purple Server, so my comments will have to be extended into Content. Not very long content though.

Cosmic's post elaborates on the theme of Wizards and their Domains, and how well a cyclical model of tiny witch-kings creates to the standard dungeons and dragons milleu. It's perhaps not a totally original idea, but I have never valued originality terribly highly. I prefer things to be well-crafted and thought out, so I welcome a post which makes clear the uses of a setting assumption. My thesis is, I think, similarly obvious, but similarly useful: The Wizards that Cosmic describes don't need to be Wizards.

I mean that they need not be scholarly, old magicians, or even skeletal liches. Rather, one can include quite a variety. Ambitious prophets of gods, dark or light. Sword-Saints with magical blades that can cut down 20 men. Some other third thing. All these are likely to seek out magic and wealth, carve out their domain, and fall like lightning. You could probably call them Wizards if you like. But it seems like the powerful tend to blur into each other. If your sword-saint can summon spirit-lightning, he's not so much different from a sword-using wizard. Kill Six Billion Demons has a lot of examples.

Can you spot the Wizard?

 So maybe it would be better to think of them in more general terms. They are simply the Powerful, the god-kings. Some have a scholarly bent, some make secret deals with awful powers, some use swords, some sneak unseen, all are terribly good at killing. All of them are gonna build weird dungeons, make weird creatures, leave weird artifacts, send you on weird quests, and make satisfying noises when you shank them. History is littered with their bodies.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold (Class: Wizard)

 

You are a devotee of the Cosmic Law of ANU. You must keep the covenants, and thereby keep the wheels turning.

You gain +1 Magistrate Die per level, which function the same as Magic Dice.

Perk: When you enter a situation, you always know how its laws deviate from common law. Laws include Cosmic Laws, Physical Laws, Moral Laws, Civil & Military Laws, and Courtesy Laws. 

Drawback: Knowingly breaking a Law disables all your abilities until you make restitution/receive punishment.

(If you don't know the common law for some situation, try and find the equivalent in the code of hammurabi.)

There are three tiers of Law. Tier one cannot be acted against. Tier two can be acted against with intrinsic punishment, whether immediate or long term. Tier three can be acted against with extrinsic punishment, carried out by a Lawful being.

By spending 1+ MD, a tier three law may be upgraded to tier two (or may stay the same tier). 2+ MD may be spent to upgrade a tier two law to a tier one law (or with 1+ MD may stay the same tier). You may spend any amount of additional MD on this upgrade. [Sum] may be distributed to upgrade the following (which start at their lowest value, and are upgraded by steps costing their new value):

Immediacy*: 1 Afterlife Consequences / 2 Within the Year / 3 Within the Week / 4 Right Now

Severity**: 1 Stern Disapproval / 2 Half Reciprocal / 3 Full Reciprocal / 4 Twice Reciprocal***

Broadness: 1 Letter of the Law / 2 Reasonable Interpretation / 3 Unreasonable Interpretation

* For tier three this is based on lawful discovery chance. For tier one this doesn't apply.

** For tier one this doesn't apply

***If you don't know, 1 damage or minum status / 1d6 or minor status / 2d6 or major status / death

Most laws start with some place on these tracks. "Eat soup with the Soup Spoon" for instance is a tier three (4/1/1). If you upgrade it to tier two, it stays (4/1/1) but is now naturally punished (You are naturally disappointed in yourself or 1 damage). If you spend 2 of your [sum], you can upgrade the severity (I dunno with this one, at least 1d6 damage in morale). (I'm not going to write for every edge case, figure it out. This class will cause arguing, its called Ludo-narrative resonance)

You can decrease laws in a similar way, but this counts as breaking them.

At Second Level, you can store up a law you encounter and implement it in another situation with 1 MD. After all, it is an emanation of the Cosmic Law.

At Third Level, you can change the punishments (or rewards) for Laws, as long as they are equal. For instance, you could change fines to lashings, or ostracism to mockery.

At Fourth Level, You create a Demiplane. Its inadvisable you enter this Demiplane until you collect sufficient laws to allow you to exist in it.

Hypogeum: the Charm update

Inspired by Random_Interrupt's MTG Wozerd

We're overhauling Relic-seekers and Sorcerers. Both now use Charms (or, if you prefer, Orbs, Talismans, Amulets, Trinkets, Baubles, Wands, Staffs, Books, Sacrificial Daggers, Urns, etc.). Charms can take any form, though every form must be constrained to these rules:

• Charms are stored in an Inventory
• Charms may be lost, stolen, or broken
• Charms require both special crafting knowledge and intrinsic spell knowledge
• Charms are art

When starting as a class, Relicseekers Charmseekers choose what kinds of charm they use, or their preferred magic type. For example, "Jewelery" or "Orbs" or "Runes" or "Fire Charms" or "Sleep Charms" or "Once owned by a Pope". Lore and Speech means you recognize charms of your kind, and can speak with adjacent creatures (e.g. Jewelry and Fire would both let you talk to dragons. Runes might let you talk to dwarves. This is really case-by-case.). Prophecy is mostly the same. So is Power Against Power. Aspect lets you manifest the ideal of your charm.

Sorcerers no longer cast directly, but receive spells which they can make into charms. They still need to consume mana potions to use the spells. Also, distill mana will no longer be a spell, rather an ability. Sorcerer's can make "shamble" charms with only pretty trash in only a minute, but these can't be used by others, can only be used once, and last an hour before becoming completely inert. Proper charms need skill, materials, and time.

Characters who aren't charmseekers can use a charm at 1 MD once, after which it becomes inert for a time (normally about a week) 

I just think they're neat

Update: Random_Interrupt has produced a table of charms (as they pondered in the comments below). They are neat, and may be useful to you!

GLoGhaven

 

:/

I do not like Strixhaven. As an MTG set, it was ill-conceived and cringey. When they adapted it for 5e (curses on its name), they further stripped it of all interest by making every subclass only affect combat (not to mention straight up forgetting what some of the schools were all about). It is egregious and I cannot abide by its very existence in the world, whether I play either game or not. There should not be a world in which Strixhaven, as it currently stands, exists. So it falls to me, the ultimate abiter of good taste, to make things RIGHT. You could rearrange these into wizard school cantrips easily.

LOREHOLD

A: You can read any language that you've never heard spoken.

B: If you have most of the pieces and spend a bit fiddling, broken things work once for you.

C: When you tell a proper story, everyone sits up and pays attention. This includes the dead. 

D: You can talk to ruins, relics, and artifacts. They are surprisingly mobile when they want to be.

PRISMARI

A: As long as you are touching it with your hands only, you can sculpt non-solid elements into solid forms.

B: You can perform a dangerous dance which causes you to become the center of attention. You can do this while attacking.

C: While performing the dance, choose two non-solid elements. You can manipulate those elements in [class level]*5' as if you were using your hands.

D: You can shape non-solid elements into creatures, though you have to take more time for bigger creatures and you can't control more than one.

QUANDRIX

A: You are a smartypants, and can estimate and calculate easily (use Wolfram Alpha) / You can do minor shenanigans: illusory duplicates, acting as though you had two extra mage hand arms, and vanishing completely for half a second.

B: You can spend up to [template] minutes calculating, after which you can summon a fractal that looks how you choose which deals [minutes] damage attacking, has [minutes] HP, and armor as chain. Very Pointy. Lasts [minutes] minutes.

C: You can cause people to think you are an expert and a great wizard by saying something about "quantum"

D: You can sacrifice a fractal to open a portal to its location, which lasts [minutes] rounds.

SILVERQUILL

A: You can create light as a lantern. You bleed ink.

B: You can use up a well of ink to summon a little imp thing. You must give it a secret (may be untrue), which it loves to tell to people (though it loves people admiring it more). Annoyingly intelligent. You can fully control [templates] instances.

C: People believe it when you lie.

D: You can use up a book's worth of ink to fly, somehow.

WITHERBLOOM

A: You can make any organic material into food, or poison

B: You can expend all your rations or all your poisons to make that many noxious pests. You can't control them at all and they love nothing more than causing plague and famine and souring cow milk.

C: You can cause bones (nonliving) to float, and living plants to grow at twice the rate.

D: If you have a whole living creature, you can make the entire thing (including the soul) into food that fully heals all who consume it (if it is the same sort of creature as the consumer, it can even revive the dead), or a potion that transforms the consumer into that creature. Both effects cause the consumer to gain some or all of the memories and feelings of that creature.

EXTRA CREDIT

*: You can keep excellent hold on an item, even if you trip.

*: You can cast spells or abilities one handed OR while running.

*: If a spell or ability would requires materials, time, etc. you can ignore that and use it as though you used the least amount of those possible [templates] times per day

*: You can use an ability at the same time you cast a spell

*: You know how to find things in any library

*: You get invited to wizard banquets

*: With lab conditions, you can keep spell or ability effects going indefinitely

*: You can slowly levitate a foot off the ground

*: In a land aligned with your college, cast with +1 magic

*: You can try to cast any spell reasonably within your schools domain with instability equal to your magic.

*: Once per template, cast a spell you don't know.

GLoGtober 3: Orbs and Everything Else (Hypogeum)

 

Orbs

As I wrote about in my Previous Post, it is believed there are three prime substances in Hypogeum: Stuff, Life, and Magic. I wrote there mostly about the movements and behaviors of Life, but here I will talk mostly about the behavior of magic. Like Life, Magic can be either found in a pure, gaseous state, or dissolved into another material. As well, Magic has a material memory like Life. This memory takes the form of Spells.

Orbs are a shape of stuff which is good at absorbing Magic. The type of stuff the orb is made of might have some affect on this ability. Certainly, the type of stuff it is made of affects the spells it is predisposed to. Orbs made of a once living material, like bone or wood, cast spells related to the magic present in the being it was procured from. Orbs might have this sort of intrinsic property if made from another magic containing material.

Other orbs are made from materials which don't normally contain magic, or which have had their magic fully drained or purged of its memory. Crystal is most favored for this (see below). Into such a blank orb is placed a seed spell, which can thenceforth shape the magic absorbed into it. This process of shaping can affect the appearance and form of the orb naturally, or very learned people can try to modify an orb to be more suited to a spell or class of spells. This makes the variety of orbs we find in the world.

Orbs, like swords, might not be made of specific type of stuff, but instead be made out of Orb. These can be found commonly, and might be blank, but more often have a spell in them.

Crystals

Crystals are both a shape and a type of stuff. They are ordered and regular. A cubic crystal forms cubes naturally. A pointy crystal forms points, given more stuff to work with. Despite this natural tendency toward one shape, most crystals can be formed into orbs manually, with some skill and persistence.

Crystals are valuable for one property of theirs: It takes considerable effort to get magic in and out of them. This may not seem like a good thing, but it means crystals are often naturally magical blanks, and if you can get pure magic in them, they store it without turning it into spells. It isn't that difficult to do, its just harder than natural processes allow most of the time. If you find a magic crystal out in the wild, that means either someone put it there, or something really magic happened there once upon a time.

Crystals are used in jewelry and art objects for three reasons: firstly, and obviously, its pretty; secondly, it makes good magic item batteries, making the objects useful; and thirdly, for safety. Magic infused crystals glow, and crystals inset into magical objects become infused. If you are handed a fancy thing, you can tell its not magic (thereby, not cursed) if it has crystals that aren't glowy. Still makes it hard to tell if you are being cursed by a magic item, but at least you know that some random jewelry isn't going to curse you.

You could, of course, just use crystals as light sources. Many people do, especially in areas with lots of them. Adventurers who are sorcerers or relic-seekers use them very often.

Runes

Runes are another shape of Stuff. They are very bad at storing magic in general. However, each rune is alright at storing one specific spell. Magic with any other spell memorized, or no spell memorized, simply slides off it. Magic with a memory is very rare in natural, ambient conditions, so just carving a rune and leaving it out won't attract the specific spell it is attuned to. The spell must be transferred to the rune. 

Most runes are carved into other materials. These runes are durable, but can't hold almost any magic. Some runes are written on other materials with ink. These are both less durable and have less capacity than carved runes. Some inks are very good at storing magic, and so have higher capacity than carved runes. 

The best practice, many say, is to scribe with this magic-storing ink on very magical paper or vellum, making a scroll. Scrolls can basically hold a whole spell, both energetically and mnemonically, but casting the spell drains the stuff of magic, which has the same effect as removing all the water in a sand castle. 

Some scrolls exist in the Hypogeum, but they are very rare, and runes aren't used very much in the current era. The most research about them is done in darkling settlements. Scrolls in general are very basic looking, showing a single large rune. Runes also form naturally, as described above, on some spell containing items, like orbs.

Books

Just like scrolls, books aren't common in the Hypogeum. Most Folk aren't much for literacy, but if they are, they paint things on hard tablets or walls, or carve it in clay, or do other things besides. Its simply too damp to make books feasible. However, they do exist.

Books are sometimes brought in by Humans and other otherworlders. These are written in glyphs that only humans can read, and are generally worthless in the hands of others, unless they are collectors. However, some books written by humans are dangerous things known as "poetry", a kind of tool used by humans to enhance their already silver tongues. Poetry read by humans can be intoxicating, and can rival magic in terms of its ability to affect Folk. Some writings in ruins or dungeons have been identified as poetry by human explorers, lending further credence to the theory that humans were the original inhabitants of the Hypogeum. These ruin poems are known for their ability to make any meaning to them impenetrable to all but the most clever and free-thinking Folk (PC Folk).

Books can also be found, rarely, as treasures. Like all treasures, these seem apparently native to the Hypogeum. Often they have a large rune on the front. If the book is a relic, the rune is an indicator of the spell contained within. Some wise Darklings have discovered that treasure books have internally consistent language, unique to each book so far as they have found. This has become widely known, though not widely used except by weirdos.

A note on Treasures and Relics: Treasures are valuable things found in the Hypogeum. Among almost all people, it is generally accepted that one treasure is worth mostly the same as another, barring extraordinary circumstances, and not accounting for taste or individual usefulness. If you bring a fancy hat back from your adventures, its valued the same as a magic item or filigreed staff or, indeed, a book. Mostly they are used for sentimental and aesthetic reasons anyways. Relics are items, sometimes treasures, that can be used by Relicseekers and contain an intrinsic spell. The nature of magic in an relic is such that only Relicseekers of a certain predilection can use them. An Orb couldn't be used by a Bookseeker, after all!

Porbal

Portals

[Post Pending]

Wizards (Damn Them)

The magic present in people is diffuse and faint, normally unusable, just the background level of magic in any place. Wizards are people who cultivate magic in themselves. Most of the time, wizards are sorcerers, also called arcanophages. They drink or eat things with lots of magic in them so that they may concentrate that magic. Most often they drink magic infused water, sometimes (incorrectly) called distilled magic. Not everyone does, though. Relicseekers attune their minds to a certain sort of relic, allowing them to use or siphon the magic inside objects.

The heavy use of magic has effects on the body and mind of its users. Both sorcerers and relicseekers gradually are changed and mutated by the presence of magic, in such a way that allows more magic to enter their bodies, and be more easily manipulated. Orb-like organs, maze-like brains, and other mutations allow true wizards to contain many spells discretely, absorb magic naturally, and modify existing spells.

However, learning new spells is difficult. Either new relics or runes must be obtained, or maddening insights must be undertaken. The easier way is to take apprentices. Each person has some faint magic already inside them, and that magic has a memory, and that memory is a spell. Cultivating that magic to the point that a person's natural spell may be cast, and thus learned by the teacher, leaves the apprentice an almost capable wizard. 

Of course, for as many true wizards are out there, there are a thousand middling sorcerers and superstitious relic-seekers, skirting along on not even a basic understanding of the nature and behavior of magic. Such is life.

GLoGtober 1: Blue Knights Collaboration

 

The Knights Azure are a group of knights vaguely martial mounted scholars dedicated to knowledge and censorship. They ride from the Citadel of Flowing Wisdom, a monolithic fortress-archive atop Mt. Napirish in the south. They are known for their insight, their brutality, their vegetarian diet, and their ability to talk to birds.

 

The Citadel

The Citadel is Impregnable, Inhospitable, and Beautiful. It is a whitewashed octagonal structure adorned with intricate geometric carvings, tilings, and windows. The interior room is a wonder of light, design, and, most of all, water. Pools, pumps, pipes, sluices, fountains, and showers cover almost all the single grand room. This is the Archive of the Knights Azure. The water in this room encodes all the information they've gathered, all the secrets they've hidden, and many other things. Understanding the rudiments of the system (which includes manipulating the fixtures, analyzing eddies and currents, tracking the movements of individual drops, examining concentration of trace compounds, and many more mystic things besides) would take years, assuming they would tutor you.

The knights themselves don't occupy this room, which is too delicate (not to mention damp) for habitation. They occupy tents on the flat roof of the citadel. There it is dry, cold, and an area of congregation for their friends, the birds. The knights and birds share a love of singing, and those who understand their songs would find them surprisingly simplistic, tales of shepherd love or nonsense ballads. The birds, the rains, and the knights each serve to bring secrets back to their Citadel.

The Knights

They wear feathers, veils, and painted shields with a ring azure on argent. They shun other heraldry, and generally refuse alliance with temporal powers. They are wizard killers, inquisitors, archaeologists, and, occasionally, givers of knowledge. They are also pompous, international agents with almost no oversight. They are not always ascetic, and certainly not infallible, and some of them don't even know how to read in their own library.

They tend to either only swoop in when things get really bad, or kidnap people who've committed only thoughtcrimes. Mostly its just whatever issues are apparent to a knight errant. When out a-questing, they store the secrets they've found in poisonous cisterns built around the countryside for that purpose, and then send them back to the Citadel via rain.

Some of the secrets the knights keep are people.

Blue Knight Class

You only gain XP for delivering secrets back to the Citadel. Each template of Blue Knight gives you either (+1 MD) or (+1 Attack and +1 Perk) and one spell

A: Encode 

B+: Nothing

Encode

With an hour's concentration, you can dissolve any number of objects submerged in water, encoding their information. The whole portion of water must be poured by you personally (not by the rain or by a river, yes by a pump). At the end of the hour, the objects effectively suddenly transmute into an equal volume of water. 

Blue Knight Spells

1. Conduct Evaporation Target 1. cup/wisp 2. puddle/vapor 3. pond/mist 4. lake/cloud fully evaporates, travels to the location you direct, and condenses
2. Decode Target object emerges from the archives. Dice dictates clearance level. Alternatively [sum] in 20 chance of summoning an secret, object, or creature from an uncontrolled body of water.
3. Counterspell Destroys target spell with dice less than [dice] or sum less than [sum]
4. Water Slash Basically a sword beam, +[dice] damage on an attack, or [dice] damage straight
   

Blue Knight Perks

1. Speak With Birds self explanatory.
   
2. Read Flow You can tell by sight things like erosion, flooding, the effects of a single pebble in a river, etc. Also you can get the gist of most things in the Archives without decoding them.
   
3. Asceticism Half rations and you take no ill effects from cold or dehydration
   
4. Detect Secret Interesting things smell sweet, forbidden things smell dank, works on people's thoughts, books, murals, the Archives, courses of action, etc. 

A collab with the illustrious Zackary, check out their post on Oredon, a part of my Space Fantasy setting.

Legendary MOSAIC

Sword King

You were chosen by the Field of Swords and became the Rightful Heir of some long-dead kingdom.

Items: a Magic Sword of the Three Word Variety, Traveling Clothes, a Tower overlooking a Hamlet which has submitted to you. Also probably the Party, who are your backers.

Benefit: you are a King. If you state your Kingship, peasants who don't know your kingdom is long dead will treat you with all the deference necessary to get you out of their hair.

Drawback: You are basically viewed as a bandit lord by nobles and free legitimacy points by the false monarchs of today.

Sunderer

You are a Slayer, a Killer, and something truly Terrible. Rip and Tear.

Items: 4 Swords, 3 Spears, 2 Axes, and barely modest Rags.

Benefit: If a weapon is anything short of adamant, you can sunder it to deal twice the damage. For the rest of the combat, your Pure Killing Intent functions as that weapon.

Drawback: Combats do not end until either every creature you can reach easily is dead, or you are dead. You must attack so long as combat lasts.

Green Knight

Elven airs hang heavily about you, an atmosphere of repose and contemplation.

Items:  a Sword of strange metal, verdigris'd Panoply, a powerful Rune

Benefit: If you would be slain, and you still possess your Rune, you instead take a long rest. This still applies even if you are decapitated. For a year afterward, any attack can fell you.

Drawback: You have to rest twice as long as others. 

Red Knight

You've cultivated something of an image, and you wield yourself like a weapon.

Items: a Sword, a Halberd, a Shield with a prominent and well known Blazon, and fearsome Armor

Benefit: Everyone either loves or hates you. If someone is perfectly neutral, you get to choose.*

Drawback: You must save or reciprocate all reactions.

White Knight

Good people don't need as many rules as you do. Good people don't try so hard.

Items: a Sword, a Shield, a faithful Horse, a Lance, and a Quest

Benefit: You can declare something as impeding your Quest. If you've been a good boy, a miracle might happen, and the problem will be solved. Or maybe someone realizes they'd be interfering with a capital "Q" Quest, and respects that.

Drawback: If you act irreverent or frivolous, or kill a bunch of people, your Quest abandons you and you are left with the horrid knot in the center of your heart.

Black Knight

Items: a Lance and Horse, a nondescript Shield, and concealing Armor, 

Benefit: You get to kill people and get away with it.

Drawback: Several broad classes of people hate your guts.

White Mage

You are a student of the Art Radiant. A shard of LIGHT has wedged inside your soul.

Items: Dirt repellent Robes, a Big Stick, a Bow made from metal only you can wield, and a bunch of Tchotchkes and Talismans.

Benefit: You can make objects glow. This takes concentration, and can't be done walking, but doesn't actually require you to see. The light lasts as long for as long as you took preparing the object. It sheds light as a torch. You can half the time to make it twice as bright, or double it to make it half as bright. You can tenth the time to make it into any type of light you desire (sunlight, moonlight, octarine, jale, cosmogone, etc.). This light can slowly heal wounds if you focus it on doing so.

Drawback: When you attack a creature that is not a shadow**, you cannot make light for an hour. This stacks.

Sorcerer

You are a student of the Art Fulminant. The World ought bow.

Items: Impractical Robes, a Big Stick, and Orb of fine crystal, Notes on metaphysical realities and the natures of things, 10 uses of various Alchemical Salts.

Benefit: You can make a magical attack of any sort of element you choose. This acts like a bow. It can deal more damage than a bow, but is in proportion harder to use. This difficulty doesn't apply when targeting inanimate objects

Drawback: You are very obviously a sorcerer. Also, using one of these ranged attacks consumes an significant reagent of a nature corresponding with the element (alchemical salts count as any "standard" element). Really powerful spells need more than one ingredient. Ingredients for alchemical salts cost as much as 3 torches

Conjurer

You are a student of the Art Fantastic. Indeed, indeed, it is an Art.

Items: Formal Coat, a Wand, a collection of Mirrors, an elaborate brass Brazier, and a stately Pipe, and 3 Smoke Bombs.

Benefit: You may conjure illusions. The borders of the illusion must be defined by the mirrors you set out, and it takes time to appear according to the time it takes smoke from a special fire you set to fill the area. It can make moving creatures and effects that apply to all the senses. The mirror rule does not apply to illusions on yourself or another creature but the smoke rule does.

Drawback: The conjurations are obviously Fake, or at least obviously magical. You might make a jeweled palace but close inspection reveals it to be cardboard and paste-jewels, or all a trick of light. Conjurations can be made real, or seemingly so, if you know a secret fact about them and their inner nature (for instance, a demon's true name, a ghost's resting place, the origin of gold, etc.).

Witch

You are a student of the Art Malignant. By heaven, you do not mean to be!

Items: Tattered Wraps, darkling Shroud, a bronze Sickle, and a Familiar

Benefit: By glaring at a Person (and specifically a Person) for one minute, you can inflict them with a wasting curse which causes them to slowly die over the course of a week. People carry talismans against this sort of thing, so it doesn't always work, and if someone notices you they might say an incantation or use some other mundane means to stop you.

Drawback: When you successfully use your curse, you become more of a monster

Cultist of Storms

You have devoted yourself to the Winds and Thunders

Items: Plain white Robe, Gold Circlet, Straight Oak Wand, Stormy Eyes.

Benefit: You can tell precipitation a day in advance. You can call storms, which arrive in 24 hours. Unless there is a specific curse on the land, this always works, though you roll a d6: on 1, 2, or 3, it comes with the strength you want; on 4 or 5, it is a day long torrent which might sweep away villages; on 6, it is a either a biblical flood OR you get pregnant. You must stay in the area for it to take affect, and the storm follows you around for its duration.

Drawback: When it rains, you lose yourself in ecstatic frenzy. You can still vaguely direct yourself, but you are compelled to stay outside in the rain, and cannot do anything that doesn't abide by vigorous activity.

Cultist of Idols

You devote yourself to Worship

Items: a fancy Tunic, a Cloak, a carving Knife, Chisel, Hammer, resinous Incense, an Idol of some small god, and Facepaint indicating your holiness.

Benefit: You know how to make idols and shrines beloved by the gods, and the rituals to consecrate them. The level of materials required for an acceptable shrine or idol depends on the god. Shrines are like intercoms, Idols are like houses. Shrines (which are normally pretty simple) act as places where offerings can be made and communication had. Idols are the physical and local presence of a god. Sufficiently fancy objects of devotion tend to distract gods from whatever justice they were dispensing.

Drawback: You have to make an offering to every idol you pass by, or you lose your holiness.

Cultist of Mystery

Some break in your mind leads you to search for things beyond and below daemons and the dead, far out in the depths of the black cosmos and the unseen earth.

Items: Black Robes, a Mask with an eye on it, a Ten-Foot-Pole, a Lantern with a magic cover, a Feather of some import.

Benefit: If you use the magic cover on your lantern, it sheds a light only you can see, which reveals some traps (never all). You know a way to enter the land of dreams and shadows.

Drawback: Choose something that your fellows would want to know. You cannot tell it to them.

Cultist of Passions

LIFE burns in you: LIFE that fucks and kills and eats!

Items: Revealing "Clothes", Thyrsus, strong Alcohol, Honey, raw Meat, Poetry, and a Shortness of Breath.

Benefit: You get double benefit from all downtime activities that aren't rest or work. Your hands count as daggers.

Drawback: When there is any roll to see what you do, the DM may choose either the one rolled or one of the results adjacent.

Flamen

In the morning, the lauds. At noon, sacrifices for his health. In the evening, vespers. The tectonic clockwork of law. May his majesty be preserved, may he reign forever. It'll go on without you, you hope.

Items: Samite Vestements, an ornate Censer, a Book of Hours.

Benefit: You know a ritual for safeguarding a person. It takes an hour, must be performed thrice per day for full effect, and takes a day of intense expenditure to start up. So long as you perform it, the target will not die before his appointed end, and will generally find success and favor.

Drawback: If you don't perform the ritual after you start it, all fortunes are reversed. Might be avoided by loudly mourning and holding a lavish fake funeral for the target. Also the ritual is generally reserved for the local ruler only and is illegal for anyone else. Also you generally have somewhere else to be.

 

*Mechanically: When rolling reaction checks, results above 7 are treated as one result higher, and below seven are treated as one result lower, specifically towards you. On seven exactly, you get to choose exactly what the person thinks of you. (results higher than the highest might be worship or infatuation, and lower than the lowest might be undying hatred)

 **Purposefully vague

Thanks to Gorinich for being my local MOSAIC Strict addict and helping me abide by its principals.