The Library of Attnam

Class: Really Good Pedigree

2026-08-13T14:06:06.611+02:00

Based on the other dogs, but with Incunabuli's idea of dog breeds as abilities mixed in.

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
from Magic the Gathering

This is a racial class, so its template A can only be gained during character creation.

Items: collar or a similar trinket

Skills: Hunting, Guarding, Burrowing, Scent-Marking, Pleading Eyes, Emotional Support

Age: You are adult at one year and will live to about twelve years.

Per template: +2 hp

A: Canine, +1 Gift

B: Really Good Nose, +1 Gift

C: +2 Gifts

D: Epic Nose, +1 Gift

Canine

You are a dog. You cannot speak, but can communicate with those you know well.

You have great senses of smell and hearing. Test Awareness to get an olfactory image of every creature and object that has recently passed through the nearby area.

You have no hands, but can run really fast (+2 Movement Speed).

Your bite deals 2d4 damage. You can safely consume raw or slightly spoiled food and murky water.

Really Good Nose

You can smell the weird stuff - poison, disease, magic, undeath - though you rarely get any specifics.

Epic Nose

If it is at all possible to track something by scent, you can do it - even incredibly old or well-concealed smells.

When you sniff something, you can ask one abstract question about it. Another question is possible after 10 minutes/hour/day/week/month/year of sniffing. For example: Does it work for a druid? Is it having an affair? What is its favourite colour?

One of the PCs in my campaign right now
is a three hundred years old dog (long story)
currently learning surgery to give himself
human hands and posture.

d12 Gifts of Good Pedigree

Really Good Eyes: You can see clearly in minimal light. You can see invisible things as a slight lensing in the air.
Best Friend: Choose one character as your Best Friend. When cooperating against a threat, you both have an advantage.
Medicinal Slobber: You can lick an injury to stop bleeding, no test necessary. In addition, if the injury might be infected, poisoned or diseased, the victim gets an advantage on their save.
Takedown: When you use a combat manoeuvre on a human-sized or smaller foe, you may also automatically grapple them. Your grapple tests have an advantage.
Go for the Throat: Your attacks against a grappled or prone target add an extra die of damage.
Street-Raised: You can swallow anything that fits into your mouth and regurgitate anything you have eaten (but not digested or passed) at will. You are immune to non-magical poisons and diseases.
Sighthound: You are as fast as a horse. Gain further +4 Movement Speed.
Snarling: While you spend the whole round yapping, growling and dancing menacingly in place, enemies must save vs fear or be unable to approach or attack you.
Shaggy: You are immune to cold weather and resistant to cold damage.
Watchful: Unless explicitly distracted, you cannot be ambushed or surprised, even while asleep. You can control and guide a group of animals with strict precision. They will not wander or get lost without your knowledge.
War-Trained: You are one of the big dogs. Your bite deals 2d6 damage. Gain further +1 hp per template.
Guide Dog: You cannot be tracked except by magical means and can always find a path to any place you have been to.

Class: Nightmare

2026-07-13T08:41:00.000+02:00

One of the players in my just-finished D&D 5e campaign rides a nightmare. In preparation for switching to GLOG, I want to let them play as the nightmare.

from D&D 5e

A: Nightmarish, Fiery, Horse That Leaps Over Land And Sea And Sky

B: choose one of Dream Travel or Dimensional Travel

C: Fiery Steed, Trample

D: Fiery Breath and the other Travel ability

Nightmarish

You are a horse, but scary. You cannot speak, but can communicate with those you know well.

You have no hands, but can run really fast (double standard Movement Speed) and count your ~~Strength~~ Might twice for the purposes of Inventory Slots.

Your teeth are razor-sharp and your hooves smoulder - deal d10 damage "unarmed". You can only eat meat.

Fiery

Your mane and tail are on fire. You have fire resistance and shed light as a lantern.

Horse That Leaps Over Land And Sea And Sky

You can walk on water. You can also run on air, but must end each movement action on a solid ground, or fall.

Fiery Steed

You are now immune to fire and may confer fire resistance to one rider.

Trample

You can move through the space of any creature smaller than you and test Might. On success, they are knocked prone and get no attacks of opportunity against you.

You may trample multiple creatures in a single movement, as long as you fail no Might test. On a failed Might test, you lose the rest of your movement.

Fiery Breath

Deal 2d8 fire damage in a 15 feet cone. You can breathe again once you devour a ration's worth of raw flesh.

Dream Travel

Instead of a long rest, you and your rider may dive into the Dreamlands. You can follow the scent of anyone whose blood you have ever tasted and enter their dreaming, if they are currently asleep. Dreamers will remember their interactions with you as strange nightmares.

Sidebar: Willpower (wp) is basically mental hp or sanity, decreased by stress rather than damage. Once you run out of wp, you start freaking out and may gain Vice if you take further stress. I should post the full rules one day.

In a dream, your attacks deal stress rather than damage. If your target is reduced to 0 wp, they wake up covered in cold sweat, their rest forestalled, and gain a Vice of phobia towards you.

Should your dreaming form be reduced to 0 hp or wp, you wake up. This may strand your rider, if they were not riding you at the moment of your return to the waking world.

Dimensional Travel

You can smell dimensional intersections - fey crossings, thin places, inactive portals, etc. Take 1 Fatigue to kick open a rift in such a weak location. It stays open for d6 minutes.

In most of Creation, Twilight is close enough that you can always open a portal there.

Twilight

2026-07-10T08:03:12.103+02:00

Just beyond the first veil, where the living heartbeat of Creation fades into stillborn silence, lies Twilight, also known to different people as the Shadow Realm, Darklands, World-Shade, Penumbra, Upside-Down, Abyss, Stíny, or the Other Side. It is a dark and decaying mirror-realm, an uncanny echo that clings to the living world like a black mould. A shadow that hungers.

Indeed, Twilight shadows and mirrors Creation, but imperfectly and slowly, always struggling and failing to catch up to the endless changes of the real world. Twilight cities are hollow, their streets silent and broken. Permanent structures - mountains, temples, great trees - are always present, yet everything ephemeral is fragile, or missing, or found in states of ruin. Shattered cups, torn banners, books whose pages crumble to dust at the lightest touch and whose ink spells only madness-muddled nonsense.

Some say that Twilight lies at the very edge of Creation, where it meets the Dead Dimensions and the endless Void Beyond. That this uncanny mirroring is a universe's defence mechanism, a thin layer of corrupted reality that, just like tarnish, seals and protects the healthy reality beneath it.

Upside Down concept art from Stranger Things

There is little light in Twilight. No sun, no stars, nothing but the suffocating blackness of perfect night. Torches sputter and even magical flames grow dim. Only occasionally is the realm's cimmerian firmament punctured by thunderstorms of red lightning, or contaminated by creeping clouds of bioluminescent, carcinogenic spores. Sunlight, if somehow cast into this realm, does not illuminate - it burns and scours away creatures and matter of Twilight, leaving behind only drifting motes of soot.

There is no water in Twilight, at all. While blood will remain in the veins and liquids in their bottles, any spilled drop or free-flowing stream rapidly dissipates into nothingness. Attempts to conjure water end in failure and water elementals perish screaming.

The vegetation of Twilight is sparse and terrible. The only things that truly grow there are black mould and wrixling vines, which feed on warmth and magic, respectively, rather than light. Trees stand as pale ghosts of their counterparts in Creation - dead and petrified, their branches twisted skyward in eternal agony. Leaves or grass collapse into ash when touched.

Yet Twilight's ashen bedrock bears one treasure the living world cannot produce - black iron ore that, once smelted with captured souls, can be forged into spectre-slaying soulsteel weaponry.

And rarely, strange monuments can be found in Twilight that are not a reflection of the mortal realm. Obsidian monoliths, inhuman statues, sprawling complexes of bleak geometry. Necromancers claim that these mark the entrances into the Labyrinth, a vast under-realm of impossible angles and shifting gravity. The Labyrinth is said to touch most worlds - including the Land of the Dead, the Dreamlands, and perhaps realms even older and odder.

Class: Fashion Wizard

2026-07-01T11:25:02.542+02:00

No orb-fondling tower-dweller, you are not. Halfway between an artificer and a socialite, you have the correct attire, taste, but most importantly, opinions.

by sundae_jck

You are Chartered and likely from a good family.

Items:

lavish clothes of your own design,
another set of clothes of your own design,
yet another set of clothes of your own design,
needles and thread,
a pre-approved business loan from a local bank, though at a truly draconian interest rate.

Skills: Fashionista and two topics of trivia that you can keep talking for hours about

Perks & Flaws:

While wearing a fancy and expensive clothes, cape or hat, you can destroy it to reduce an incoming attack's damage or spell's [sum] by 2d6.

Moaning and raging about the irreplaceability of the lost piece of apparel is optional, but highly encouraged.

You cannot use magic while dirty or badly clothed.

For example, falling into water will prevent spellcasting until you can dry off, unless you were already wearing a fancy swimming wear.

Cantrips:

Interesting: With concentration, you can prevent others from leaving a conversation with you. There is no save, but remember that concentration can be broken by punching you in the face.
Important: Make your clothes billow dramatically or a faint, pleasant music follow you.
Inspired: Telekinetically control needles and thread within 30 feet, though your control is not forceful enough to cause damage.

Spells:

This spell list draws heavily on the elf wizard, handsome wizard and silk wizard traditions.

1. Flying Needles

R: touch; T: [dice] needles; D: concentration

Enchant [dice] needles, connecting them to your fingertips by invisible, ethereal thread. Enchanted needles can be used as throwing knives and they will attach the thread to anything they strike. Save negates, but only if the target could see the thread. You count as touching anything connected to you by a thread.

The thread can be stretched effectively infinitely and can only be severed by effects that can harm ghosts. At will, you can make the thread visible and tangible, but also only as strong and stretchy as a silken rope. It cannot be changed back and disappears when your concentration is broken.

2. Clean

Up to [highest] touched creatures or objects no larger than a child/man/horse/dragon are instantly cleaned, groomed and perfumed.

One may specify the grooming, e.g. shaving, shaping or trimming of the beard; type of perfume, etc. This does not destroy the filth, merely puts it into a neat pile on the side.

3. Mend

R: touch; T: object or construct

Fix a target with [dice] or less Cracks. This does not affect a target with more than [dice] Cracks at all (no "partial fixes") and cannot replace missing pieces. Alternately, instantly remove up to [dice] malfunctions. Complex objects (clockworks, magic contraptions) might require a skill test to be properly mended.

4. Beautify

Touched creature or object no larger than a child/man/horse/dragon is altered into a more beautiful form of the same type (e.g. humanoid, chair). The new form must be considered more beautiful by either the caster or the target.

This also restores [sum] points of damaged ~~Charisma~~ Presence, or grants +[dice] Presence bonus if it was undamaged. No other characteristics or abilities are affected.

The effect lasts for [sum] hours and can be made permanent at 4 [dice], but is always broken when the target is killed or shattered.

5. Feather Fall

R: 30'; T: [dice] creatures or objects; D: until each touches the ground

Rather than falling, the target slowly (possibly alarmingly so) descends, their clothes beauteously billowing around them. Can be cast as a reaction.

6. Choose one of:

Silk to Steel

D: [sum] minutes

Touched silk object becomes as steel. Silk clothes grant armour as leather/chain/plate/plate and shield, silk thread can serve as wire, silk rope works as a steel rod, etc.

Works on other fabrics as well, but only for [sum] rounds. With 4 [dice], you can make the effect permanent.

Steel to Silk

D: [sum] minutes

Touched steel object becomes as silk. This makes weapons fairly useless, steel bars as silk ropes, armour as clothing, etc.

Works on other metals as well, but only for [sum] rounds. With 4 [dice], you can make the effect permanent.

7. Speak with Fabrics

Talk to clothes and cloth for [sum] minutes, or ask [dice] questions they must answer, save negates. Textiles only know about things that touched them, but they can tell a lot from a simple touch.

8. Powerful Presence

T: self; D: [sum] hours

You project an aura of magnificence and poise. Gain +2×[dice] to saves against charm, domination and fear. Easily impressed creatures (peasants, lesser fairies and petty nobles) must test Morale or fawn and grovel.

9. Silken Servant

R: touch; D: [sum] hours

Enchant a set of clothes or a fabric doll no larger than a child/man/horse/dragon to serve you. It can follow complex instructions, but cannot fight and will collapse after a single blow.

10. Mirror Mirror

D: 10 minutes

Reach into a mirror-like surface and pull out [dice] illusory copies of a creature mirrored on the surface. The mirror must be large enough for them to pass through. The mirror clones behave as you wish. They can walk and talk, but cannot pick anything up and burst like a bubble if struck. You can alter their clothing, grooming and styling at will.

If you mirror yourself with 3+ [dice], you can see through your clones' eyes and hear through their ears, cast your spells through them, and switch places with your mirror twin as a half action.

Shadows of Arezzo Giulia Ferraro
by Bruce Luan

Emblem Spells:

You have access to a powerful crowd control and a single-target save-or-die emblems, but both are tools of art and admiration, not crude and callow murder.

11. I Expect You To Dine

R: 30'; D: concentration

Up to [sum] total HD of creatures find themselves unable to move, no save. If sitting, they will be tied to the chair with ribbons; if standing, their shoes will be sewed to the carpet, etc. As an action, they can attempt to tear themselves free with -[dice] penalty, and any hostile action against a target also breaks the spell.

12. My Lovely Doll

Touched creature of 2×[dice] or less HD is turned into a tiny puppet of themselves, save negates. They are helpless but fully aware. Lasts for a minute/hour/day/eternity, but any damage suffered by the doll reverts the transformation.

by Chelsea Boy

Dooms:

Your eyes turn into buttons for 10 minutes, leaving you blind.
Your skin turns into skin-coloured silk, permanently. Take double fire and slashing damage.
You transform into a tiny, beauteous doll. You are helpless but fully aware, forever.

You can prevent (but not revert) all your Dooms by discarding and forswearing all your worldly possessions. Once you take this vow, you may only own and use simple, mundane clothes and tools; and may not own, use, or even carry money and valuables, properties and deeds, or magical and masterwork items of any kind. On the bright side, as a mendicant ascetic you are no longer bound by your Flaw and may keep your magic no matter your appearance and apparel. On the bleak side, this is considered a fate worse than death by many a fashion wizard.

Should you ever break this vow, you immediately suffer your final Doom. Maybe finding a way to animate your doll-body or transmigrate your soul into a more suitable vessel is the better solution.

Miniature Ranni from Elden Ring

RadMans

2026-06-29T23:25:00.000+02:00

So, deadEarth... Such an incredible marvel of insane game design. Reading this thread, I fell in love with the idea that if you just completely reworked the main resolution mechanic, removed the sexism, reworded most of the rules so that they made a semblance of sense, replaced... Yeah, I started to hack it, because the characters that survive character generation are incredibly amusing and worthy of being played, just not in the deadEarth engine.

I have regained my sanity before getting too far, but I still have this automated character generator with a revised list of skills and no rules to accompany it. If ever a strange mood compels me to refine the nearly two thousand radiation manipulations (i.e. reality-warping mutations) into a format and content I would be happy with, I will let you know. But don't hold your breath.

The Last Stand: Diceless Pseudo-Wargame

2026-06-22T05:24:00.000+02:00

Caput Caprae has reminded me of a game we used to play with my brothers when I was about twelve years old, which could be considered an extremely rudimentary kind of wargame. Maybe. We have built many a fortress from LEGO and wanted to have a nice siege, but knew nothing about wargames. So we made our own. These are the rules reimagined from what I remember, because of course there were no written rules.

You only need LEGO blocks to play this game. I will refer to the block names from here.

Units:

Soldier (1x1 Brick or 1x1 Brick, Round) is the basic unit.
Rider is a soldier on a horse (1×2 Plate). They are better in melee.
Hero is a soldier with a coloured cap (1×1 Plate, Round). They get superpowers.
Catapult (1x2 Brick) allows you to use the Missile action.
Siege tower (2+ stacked 1x2 Bricks) allows soldiers to move over bulwarks.
Dragon (2×2 Brick) is a bit overpowered.

The rest of the blocks should be used to build forts and fortifications.

Setup:
Prepare your terrain. We usually had a carpet as the dry land, with the floor around standing for the sea. Books and boxes and whatever else you have at hand can make for nice cliffs and mountains. And of course, don't forget to prepare your LEGO castle.

Decide how many units of which kind each player will get. There were no unit prices in our game, we made up a scenario and each player would take whatever units seemed appropriate. The Last Stand actually refers to a popular scenario of ours - one player gets the castle, the other player gets a much bigger army besieging it.

On the other hand, the number of caps for heroes and mages should be about the same for all players. If you don't have enough caps for everyone to have the same choice of hero powers, then the player who will go last in turn order picks one cap, then go in reverse turn order until the desired number of caps is chosen.

The players then deploy their units at will. Once again, in a pre-made scenario, this didn't matter that much. Units cannot be attached to the bulwarks they stand on - either cover the walls in smooth tiles or put the units across the pins. We want not-so-stable, free-standing units for the Missile action.

Turns:
Determine who goes first, then players alternate turns. On your turn, take one action chosen from the following types:

Missile
Move & Melee
Magic

Missile

You can only take a Missile action if you have a catapult on the battlefield. You also have limited ammo per turn - we played with 2 or 3 shots, I think.

Put your hand over any of your catapults, then throw a projectile. Any unit, friend or foe, that gets knocked over is killed. If a unit is knocked back but not over, it survived. Note that units that are harder to kill in melee get no such protection against missiles, and fortifications can also be knocked down by missile fire.

Our projectiles were usually 2×2 Brick or 1×3 Brick, but sometimes we also had glass marbles or bearing balls. We never did this, but you could have several kinds of siege engines with different ammo, like making a ballista by shooting a rubber band. Or use dice as missiles.

Move & Melee

Move one group of units across the battlefield. They cannot pass through enemy units, bulwarks or castle walls, or other impassable terrain. Otherwise, you are the judge of what counts as "too far to move in a single turn". Forts and fortifications should have some access point that you can conquer. Or you can move a siege tower next to a wall, then on your next turn move your units inside. Riders and catapults, however, cannot use siege towers.

Castle gates, by the way, can only be destroyed by missile fire (don't attach the gate firmly), a Shatter spell, or by a hero with Might. We didn't use any battering rams.

When (groups of) units end up adjacent, a melee ensues. Sum up the number of kills each side achieves, then remove that many units - the resolution is simultaneous and the sides can achieve mutual wipe out.

Each soldier causes one kill.
Each rider kills two and takes two hits to kill. One hit alone does not cause them lasting harm.
Heroes cause [1 + number of caps] kills and take the same number of simultaneous hits to kill. This can be further modified by their powers.
Dragons are a bit of a special case, see below.
Catapults and siege towers cannot attack in melee, and get "killed" in a single hit.

For example, Alice moved 2 riders and 8 soldiers next to Bob's group of 10 soldiers and a catapult. Alice gets 12 kills, Bob gets 10 kills. Bob's group is completely wiped out, while Alice keeps 1 rider.

The active player decides which units from a group (both their own and enemy) are killed, but should start from the closest units. Especially if a group of soldiers is guarding a hero or a siege tower, you cannot kill the protected unit before removing its guardians.

Magic

You can cast one spell per action by removing one cap from any of your heroes. This may cause them to become a normal soldier.

Berserk: The hero's group deals double damage until the end of your next turn.
Protection: The hero's group cannot be harmed until the start of your next turn. If the units are knocked down by a missile, they must be restored to their original positions.
Curse: Choose a player to curse. If the cursed player wants to use a Missile action on their next turn, they have to do so blind.
Brambles: Choose a player; their units cannot Move & Melee on their next turn.
Fear: Move an enemy group of units.
Construct: Build and place a new structure somewhere near the hero. For example, a ramp to the castle walls.
Shatter: Remove (a part of) a structure.
Summon: Deploy a new group of units. The group is placed around the hero. You may not add more units than you had at the start of the game, so either you have kept some in reserve, or you are summoning the reanimated bodies of your dead soldiers.

Heroes:
Heroes get superpowers (in addition to the Magic action), denoted by the colour or shape of their cap.

Might: Counts as a catapult and may destroy structures by attacking them.
Shield: Cannot be killed by missiles or magic. If the unit is knocked down by a missile, it must be restored to its original position.
Immortal: When killed, remove one of their caps and re-deploy them at the end of your next turn.
Assassin: Can scale walls and terrain, so can Move pretty much anywhere on the table.

By the way, you can put a hero on horseback for that extra bit of power.

You can also make fun hero combination like an immortal assassin - move them behind enemy lines to kill a valuable unit in melee, and though as a lone unit they will be killed, they will just come back for another assassination.

Dragons:
Dragons are like heroes on magical steroids. They can fly (as Assassin) and use fire breath (as Might). They also kill 10 units in melee and have to be hit by 10 units simultaneously to die*. They can also be ridden by a hero.

*) I think. I don't remember the exact number, but it was something like this.

The Square Kingdom of South America prepares for battle...

...with the hundred heroes of the Round Realm...

...who serve the accursed Skull Titan...

...while the immortal Dragon Queen of Africa
watches from afar, ready to pounce on the weakened winner.

The Orb of Wishing

2026-06-15T15:24:12.106+02:00

This might be one of the most fun magic items I have ever given to my players:

A larger crystal orb (1 Slot) that glows with strong inner light.
When you first touch the orb, you are flooded by strange visions that paralyse you until you succeed on a Will save. Once you pass, you gain control of the orb and may channel a sliver of its power - you have three wishes. It is not possible to wish alternatingly; once somebody else gains control of the orb, you lose any of your remaining wishes and may never again control the orb.

Zuran Orb from MtG

So far, the players have wished to:

Destroy the orb's guardian, averting a looming TPK.
Cure 50 years of unnatural ageing.
Regrow both hands of one unlucky companion.
Be cured of all ills. (Said character was severely injured and double-cursed.)
Become rich. (Wish pending completion, wait for the next session.)
Be young forever.
Grant human speech to their dog companion.
Resurrect a long-dead scientist for his lost knowledge.
Cure a fatal anaphylactic shock. (On the same character who had previously lost both of his hands...)

These wishes are in no way a monkey's paw. They follow the spirit of the request and sometimes even go a bit further, when the wording of the wish would needlessly weaken its beneficial effect. And yet my players are already paranoid, carefully planning on what to do with their effectively unlimited wishes. But are they truly unlimited? Who can they trust with the power of the orb, once everyone in the party has had their wishes granted? How can they compel anybody to wish for them? What if a word gets out? The schemes are piling up and up and up.

I must thank Skerples and Archon for the idea of giving the players a campaign-wrecking item early on and letting them loose. It is working gloriously.

Mythic Weapons

2026-05-21T15:12:31.978+02:00

I love the idea of specialist weapons and how this is used in Mythic Bastionland. Here are d100 such weapons.

by Wayne Reynolds

This weapon is...

...and deals +d10 damage...

in a duel
in a battle formation
in a cramped space
in a wide-open space
in the first round of combat
in defence of (d4) innocents/the ruling class/secrets and lies/your home
in pursuit of (d4) knowledge/forgiveness/renown/revenge
in untamed wilderness
in water
in pitch darkness
at night
while in (d4) candle/sun/moon/twilight (+2d10 in Twilight)
while at full hp
while at 0 hp
while bleeding or injured
while leaping or falling
while above your foe
while below your foe
while the foe is in their home
while the foe has attacked you first
while lavishly clad
while near-naked
while masked
while mounted
while music is playing
while singing
while praying, loudly
while leading a charge
while mocking your foe
while already dead
while possessed
while (d4) hungry/filthy/drunk/blinded
when outnumbered
when also using a shield
vs people with a shield
vs people with no shield
vs people with no helmet
vs people wielding a one-handed weapon
vs people wielding a two-handed weapon
vs people wielding no weapon
vs mounts
vs mounted
vs armoured
vs unarmoured
vs known liars
vs known debtors
vs oath-brakers
vs law-breakers
vs law-enforcers
vs warriors by trade
vs magic-users
vs sword-wielders
vs virgins
vs nobles (+2d10 vs royalty)
vs women and children
vs friends and family
vs wild animals
vs animal people and talking animals
vs humans (50% chance of only a specific ethnic)
vs demi-humans (50% chance of only a specific ethnic)
vs greenskins (50% chance of only a specific ethnic)
vs elves and plants
vs dwarves and fungi
vs creatures smaller than you are
vs creatures larger than you are
vs creatures of magic
vs creatures of darkness
vs the Dark Ones
vs celestial spirits
vs terrestrial spirits
vs chthonic spirits
vs infernal spirits
vs undead
vs dragons
vs constructs
vs man-made monstrosities
vs extradimensional horrors
vs unseen foes
vs prone foes
vs poisoned foes
vs disarmed foes
vs fleeing foes
vs superior foes
vs uninjured foes
vs bleeding or injured foes
vs the sick and the deformed
vs flying creatures
vs aquatic creatures
vs summoned creatures
vs scaled creatures
vs horned or antlered creatures
vs shelled or boney creatures
vs poisonous or venomous creatures
vs many-limbed creatures
vs a foe you have already battled before
vs a foe that has wronged you
vs one specific nemesis from your backstory
vs those whose full name you know
vs those you have broken bread with
vs your employer

Handkerchief of Holding

2026-05-07T11:04:00.001+02:00

As my current campaign is nearing its end, I would like to share the contents of the party's "hankie of holding", their portable hole, after seventy-something sessions. As a bonus, it is nearly a d100 table.

I love Munchkin.

A bronze prosthetic arm. Once grafted, the hand can be shot out on a chain (30 ft) and controlled even when extended.
A golden coin with a lightning-like emblem
Silver coins with a runic cobra emblem, 4
Half of a treasure map
Hand mirror and comb, both embellished with dragon motives
Chess table, heavily scratched
Chess pieces, magical, missing a white pawn
Bottles of aged wine, 10
Lots of dirty books, to be sorted
A book titled "A Practical Guide to the World of Little Fairies: All Fey from the Thumb-Sized Sprites to the Exceptionally Large Toddler-Like Gnomes", in Elvish
A book titled "Balalán: The Myth, the Legend", badly translated into Hinnish
A book titled "Ley Lines 201", in High Imperial
A book titled "Being a God", in Dark Speech
A book titled "Getting Started with the Undead", in Dark Speech
A book titled "Conversations on Primordial Magic", in Dark Speech
A book titled "Magical Batteries in Theory and in Practice", in Dark Speech
A book titled "Biomancy and Biokinetics: An Exposé", in Dark Speech
A book titled "Of Beateous Peoples and their Mist-Shrouded Isles", in Elvish
A book titled "A Dragon Tale A Day", in Draconic
A lexicon of trollish runes
A book titled "How to Quickly and Easily Exterminate the Dark Ones", written in an eclectic mix of Draconic, Hinnish and Thieves' Cant, but using exclusively trollish runes. A thousand page tome written by a harengon alchemist who was often described as stark raving mad. It seems he truly was. His entire magnum opus is built on the unwavering assumption that the Dark Ones are physiologically and psychologically identical to the common household rat. On the other hand, it does contain a few genuinely excellent alchemical recipes for rat poisons.
A book titled "The Triune Divinity: Two Truths and a Lie", in Low Imperial
A book titled "All the Drugs and their Effects: A First Hand Testimony", in Elvish. Authored by Tamlin Nerri, with a hand-written inscription reading: "To my dear friend Tardinal, with platonic kisses always yours, Tamlin". The prose is passable, but feels like the author was high the whole time.
A huge tome bound in black leather; its title "The Aristocrats" is emblazoned in tiny letters on the spine. Still chained to a wooden lectern.
Bag of 1771 gold pieces and 50 silver pieces
Rope, 15 yards
Pieces of a shattered jade statue, 5
Silvered letter opener
Four of diamonds, chewed up
Saxophone
Torches, 14
Tinderboxes, 3
Underdark spices, 2 doses
Gel of regeneration, 2 doses
SuperSunScreen™, 3 doses. Offers resistance to radiant damage and protection from sun-based vulnerabilities for 8 hours.
Depetrification salve, half a dose
Decontamination pills, 2
Elixir of invulnerability
Potion of death ward
Potion of lesser healing, 2
Potion of lesser restoration, 3
Potion of maximum power, 2
Vial of poison, unidentified
Vial of holy water
Vial of silver dust
Truth serum, 4 doses
Pipe weed, 14 doses
Black lotus, 3 doses
Shadow fairy dust, 3 doses
Clean change of clothes
Crowbar
Hammer
Pick-axe
Wooden stake
Body pillow, stolen from the Antling Citadel
Longsword
Manacles
Spell scroll, empty
Spell scroll, Guards and Wards
Spell book, shot through
Mithril plate armour, shot through
Cloak and feathered cap with a monogram "H.M." (Hubert Malévol)
Signet ring of the Malévols, their chalice has been defaced with crude scratches imitating thorny brambles
Box warded against magical radiation
Egg that summons a purple worm when crushed
An enchanted quill that writes down what you dictate
A tea set, magical
Herbal tea, 10 doses
Black tea, 10 doses
Violet tea, 3 doses
Blue tea, 4 doses
Fairy dragon coffee, 2 doses. When drunk, the drinker's speed is tripled, they have +5 AC, an advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gain +2 Actions. In the next round, however, the character loses their Action and suffers one level of Exhaustion.
Wood infused with god-power, 1 cord
Backpack, embroidered with "❤️ From Mum"
Food rations, 2
Slingshot
Basilisk tooth dagger, counts as +3 against stony creatures
A magical staff made from a gnarled branch, with a crystal set into its tip. It is wrapped in several layers of cloth and carefully bound, with a tag reading: "Warning, cursed item. Do not touch!" and "Seriously, don't touch it. It's not worth it." handwritten beneath it. When a magic-capable character touches the staff, they are dematerialized and imprisoned within the crystal. A character trapped inside the crystal can still see and hear the outside. They may expend a spell slot to materialize for a number of hours equal to the spell slot's level, but once that time expires, they dematerialize again and, regardless of distance, are instantly drawn back into the crystal. Any number of characters may be imprisoned within the crystal.
A black iron quarterstaff. Requires attunement by a spellcaster and serves as a spellcasting focus. While wielding the staff, the bearer: a) Has resistance to fire and necrotic damage. b) Gains the Hellish Rebuke spell. c) Whenever they cast a spell that deals fire or necrotic damage, they may suffer one level of Exhaustion to make that spell automatically deal maximum damage.
A demonic cup. When filled with fresh innocent blood, allows communion with any demon whose true name you know.
Tears of Irias, 2. Pearls that allow communion in dreams when swallowed.
Uniform of Irias' personal guard. Black with yellow decorations and a faceless mask.
Uniform of Xiximanter's army officer. Black with emerald and orange embellishments.
Stolen suitcase of viscount Lucius Malévol. Filled with frilly clothes, plus 122 gold in a pouch.
Golden medallion bearing the visage of a sleeping elf princess, wrapped in Malévol's silken undies
Scroll case with the maps of Xiximanter's military headquarters, thaumic bomb factory and the sewers of Balalán
Wine bottle filled with the antimagic blood of Eldjárn Wrixling, 2 doses
A fragile glass sphere filled with vitriolic acid
Shadowy copies of a fistful of jewelry
Lard
A cursed short sword of the plague. Every successful hit applies the Contagion spell, but the curse has a harmful effect on any wielder not immune to diseases. Such wielder must, at the end of each battle, succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be afflicted with a random disease as per that spell.
Simple gold stud earrings. Once both are put on, a strange curse takes effect - the wearer cannot remove the earrings without the Remove Curse spell, and at the same time becomes incorporeal. They remain normally visible, only slightly translucent.
Brooch of beauty. The bearer is covered by a permanent illusion that functions like a makeup, concealing any imperfections in appearance - undeath, mutations, etc.

Campaign Pitch: Lost in Carcosa

2026-04-27T16:19:00.002+02:00

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

Cassilda's Song
"The King in Yellow", Act I, Scene 2
Robert W. Chambers (1895)

Carcosa is a malignant planet 153 light years away from Earth, orbiting a nameless, dying binary star in the Hyades Cluster. Carcosa is also a foreboding city in the middle of the black lake Hali, a pallid and sepulchral metropolis of whose inchoate inhabitants one better dares not speak. Carcosa is a tale of far-future technology and magnificent, maleficent architecture and inhumanly horrific sorcery and the primitive tribes that eke out a meagre existence amongst these remnants of awesome, awful yore.

So, is this a...

Actually, I don't really have a simple reference for this setting. Carcosa mixes weird science-fantasy, Lovecraftian horror and swords & sorcery adventuring into a game of psychedelic wasteland survival in a world full of radiation, mutation, dinosaurs, mutant dinosaurs, killer droids, psionic oozes, alien martial arts, ray guns and other lost wonders of stupendous science.

Have some pictures:

Temple Entrance by BeastScrollGames

All unsourced images are from Pinterest,
where the original source was not found.

by Noriyoshi Ohrai

from Morrowind

by Richard Hescox

by Wayne D. Barlowe

from Universum: War Front

You will play as...

A wasteland scavenger and survivor, one of the rainbow-coloured "humans" that brave the death-filled wilderness sprawling between the fortified villages that dot this planet's broken landscape, searching for treasure (certainly), glory (ostensibly) and perhaps even a meaning. Any meaning at all.

There are no people except the fifteen races of Man - Alabaster, Blue, Bone, Bronze, Dolm, Fuchsia, Gold, Green, Jale, Onyx, Orange, Purple, Red, Ulfire, and the ever-elusive Space Men. Twisted by millennia of travesties and tribulations, they are a combination of hunters-gatherers, mutants, cyborgs, maddened cultists and even more peculiar folk. Some would argue that these "humans" are human no more.

Sidebar: Humanity is not native to Carcosa and there are next to no other mammals. You will find no sheep or wolves, but you might certainly encounter giant reptiles, terror-birds, weird insectoids, alien fungi, etc.

There are no classes except four: Fighter, Trickster, Tinker and Psyker. Why? Because the classes serve as merely a chassis for the tricks and talents that you will uncover during your wanderings. Indeed, this should be a game of discovery. You will be exploring the merciless expanse of Carcosa, where every path leads to danger, every crumbling monastery houses a sage and every foreboding ruin hides a secret. Butcher the dangers for their cybernetic parts, force the sages to teach you their techniques, steal the secrets to unlock phenomenal cosmic powers. You will gain abilities by travelling, training, investigating and taking a risk.

Basically, mix a bowl of grotesque horror, pulpy trappings and gonzo comedy, then sprinkle it all over a big hex map. That is Carcosa.

Do you want to...

Travel between xenophobic village-states ruled over by cybernetic god-kings and psionic witch-queens? Every village hoards rumours about strange Wonders - scraps and shards of alien gadgets - just waiting for someone foolish enough to try and claim them.
Win these Wonders and listen to their whisperings? Such whispers are said to be the blessings of the Black Monolith that bring great fortunes and far greater ruin.
Descry monuments that chronicle the failings of incomprehensible civilizations long extinct and their horrid rituals that could bind gods to your will, if you are willing to leave your humanity behind? You will never dream of pleasant things again.
Follow your nightmares towards resplendent, repugnant places where one might glean transcendental truths, such as how to punch really really hard? Insanity will nip at your heels.
Pretend that you are fine while getting addicted to lotus and tearing killbots apart with your bare mind? You will need someone to bring you back.
Deal with whatever strange forces may threaten the survival of the small village that is your newfound home, maybe improve the lives of your friends, and perhaps even lead them to a better future?

by Dark Fables

Once again, here are d20 questions and answers about the campaign and setting, courtesy of Jeff Rients:

What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

There is no divine magic, no otherworldly benevolent beings and no centralized religious organizations. Religion on Carcosa is more about awe and appeasement - some cults worship the Old Ones and their spawn, others ancient technology and AI angels, or powerful monsters and extraterrestrial entities. Sometimes, these cultists are spared, or even rewarded.

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

The party will soon find themselves in the town of Lon Barago which houses a large market every weekend. The Bronze Women village of Jahara to the west may have other items that are trickier to track down, especially medicine and drugs.

Few people in Carcosa are interested in gold, by the way. Rather than any single currency, goods are usually bartered, with food, bullets or energy cells, and especially Wonders all being good bargaining chips.

Where can we go to get plate mail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

You are unlikely to find anyone who knows how to produce plate armour, even if you could find the metal to make it in the first place. Carcosa is an eclectic mix of bronze age villages and rotting alien super-tech, where few people have the time, opportunity and resources to master a skill such as armour-crafting. That being said, you could have something fashioned out of dinosaur leather, and should you be lucky in scavenging some irradiated ruins, there are many stranger armours to be had - from laser-resistant synth suits to hulking powered exoskeletons.

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

The most evil of all the Purple Men, Ikhon the Judge, is known for his unmatched mastery of the Four Arts: Killing, Psychic, Scientific and Sorcerous. He rules a small village far to the south-west, protected by advanced weaponry and soldiers clad in power armour. The Old Ones yield to his will.

Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

You know of no finer masters of the Killing Arts than Lon "the Brightest Terror" and Barago "the Swift and Silent Beginning", the two leaders of the town of Lon Barago. They have forged a sanctuary for escaped slaves and refugees of all kind, forming a small but growing community. This is quite an unlikely situation - people of all races living and working together, spared from the common xenophobia that permeates the wastes.

Who is the richest person in the land?

Ikhon the Judge is said to possess vast amounts of wealth.

Where can we go to get some magical healing?

You surely mean technological healing. Medical Wonders do exist, but they are not easy to come by. In all other cases, you must make do with crude surgery and lotus.

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

The many-coloured lotus can cure many ailments, but may also kill the unwary. Ask your local dealer, likely from the Red Temple near Lon Barago.

And while sorcery is usually used only for conquest and perversions, it is capable of amending afflictions that nothing else can ameliorate - at a price. For example, petrification can be undone by the Lurker Amidst the Obsidian Ruins, the dead can be raised (in a manner of speaking) by the Desiccating Slime of the Silent Halls, and radiation sickness may be lifted by the Weird God.

Is there a magic guild my magic-user belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

There is no magic in Carcosa - in the traditional sense. Fireballs, divinations and protective wards are replaced by rocket launchers, psionic prescience and mutated bone plates. There also exist the grand rituals of the long-vanished Chirrappakka that allow a sorcerer to humble the elder gods and draw upon their powers - at a sickening price. Finally, there are many local marvels found only in a single village or cave, such as infernal pigments, sorcerous sourdoughs, or memetic chants.

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert?

Ali-ilil the Apiarist is a lotus-seller, apothecary and sage who lives in the village of Jahara. He also deals in maps. He may be addicted to the philters he sells.

Specialised experts are scattered in various other villages. There is no central hub of hubbub.

Where can I hire mercenaries?

Lon Barago maintains an informal standing militia. Most of the men and women in the town know how to fight. For a good wage or a share of treasure, it should not be hard to find people willing to have an adventure.

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from the Law?

Sorcery is universally considered wicked, so you are best to hide any such tendencies. Some villages broaden their idea of magic to include not just the ancient, eldritch rituals, but psionics and mutations as well. On the other hand, no villagers are likely to complain about a person carrying an axe or rifle; it's rough out there.

Bone Men are pretty much always regarded with suspicion, if not outright reviled.

Which way to the nearest tavern?

The Hole in Lon Barago serves fermented drinks and is the place to go for all sorts of shadiness.

What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

A large spherical hunter-killer robot stalks the wastes just south of Lon Barago. No one knows who created it or for what purpose, but it has been stealing away travellers for month now. Few have encountered the machine and lived to share their tales.

The rulers of Lon Barago will also pay for proof of any killed slaver or spawn and the town of Jahara is said to have its own share of troubles with monsters.

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight in?

She of the Lake, an up-and-coming techno-priestess, has just started assembling a petty empire for herself via brutal conquest. She lives on an island far to the east and, if rumours are to be trusted, offers great power to those who swear their fealty to her.

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

A nearby castle of Jale Men runs gladiatorial games of sorts. The prize is that the winners gain the honour and privilege of being fed to the Jale Men's god.

If you wish to prove your martial prowess, a better bet would be to find a monastery and challenge the monks for the knowledge of their secret technique.

Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Yes. They are exactly the kind of secret you might want to investigate should you wish to master unnatural powers.

What is there to eat around here?

Not much. Most villages subsist one stretch of bad weather away from the brink of starvation and a well of clean water is a treasure that can buy a lord's favour. Wheat and fruits are not common; people live off mushroom stew, lizard eggs and meat, fish, insect paste, sweet cacti, bitter tubers and all sorts of strange roots. Dinosaur meat is a rare feast.

On the other hand, drugs are relatively easy to acquire, with chewing lotus, worm spice and alcohol available pretty much everywhere. What is often called beer or wine on Carcosa is actually a kind of kombucha, various organic remains fermented with the help of certain yeasts and fungi.

Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

The Elder Signs, rune-inscribed metametal tablets that keep the Old Ones at bay and compel b'yakhees to do your will, would probably be quite handy. Other than that, the most common reason to brave the decidedly deadly ruins of yore is a chance to find a Wonder such as a plasma blaster, holo-projector, shield generator, robot scrambler, alien mutagen injector, or a car.

Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with a hoard of treasure?

If by a dragon you mean a laser-breathing dinosaur, there are rumours of such a beast's lair to be found in the mountains to the north-west. It is questionable what kind of a treasure hoard might such a monstrosity possess, but one could tear the many alien cybernetics out of its body and instigate their own ascension into eternal chrome.

And here are d12 assorted questions from the other lists, where the answers differ significantly from my previous pitch:

What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?

There are only four classes available, but they serve simply as a chassis for the various special techniques you can learn from masters and manuals found across the wasteland. Thus basically all of the classes, save for maybe Tinkers, have some form of ~~martial~~ Killing Arts to learn.

Oh, and they are real techniques like the Jedi force push.

Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?

As a starting boon, you can choose a sorcerous ritual capable of compelling an elder evil to do your bidding, but you have to perform it during play.

Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the time-lost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the Sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf Conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?

You don't need a backstory or character concept for this campaign, at least in the beginning. You will start as a nameless slave thrown into a dungeon of an indescribable god. Make a name for yourself during play.

On the other hand, there are no impregnable fortresses, no ancient organisation that will hunt you down with an army, should you upset the local balance of power, and no powers that be to uphold the status quo. Few things are impossible for a small, well-armed group with a plan. Few rulers are immune to being shot in the head with a laser rifle, and taking their village for yourself once you murder them is par for course. You can achieve renown, you can quickly amass power and you can start changing the world, if you are willing to take risks.

These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?

Not at first, no. I am too invested in the theme and tone and it would ruin the discovery aspect of play. But you can always tell me what you would like to see and if it fits the flavour at least a bit, I will hide it somewhere in the world for you to find.

So anyway, how do I win in general?

That's a good question which I don't really have an answer to. Maybe you could:

Take over a village and build it up into a beacon of civilization and/or a military powerhouse.
Repair a flying saucer and leave this planet for greener pastures.
Wish upon a bound Outer God to have a grand palace and slaves aplenty.
Shed your mortal flesh and ascend to pure conceptual form, cyber-heaven or other higher sphere of existence.
Overdose on lotus and delve into the deepest reaches of Dreamlands.
Drive your tuned-up nuclear-powered car into the binary sunset, never to be seen again.

What language stands in for Common? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?

Every race of Man has its own coloured language, but the most common are certainly Red, Green and Blue tongues. They are somewhat mutually intelligible, but have very different ways of writing. Speaking of which, literacy is rare on Carcosa. You are considered illiterate until you reach rank 6 in a given language.

Lon Barago is split roughly half and half between Green and Red.

What do birds know?

The bird people, Chirrappakka, have brought humanity to this planet and ruled over them for eons. It is their ruins that you are desecrating, their technology that you are stealing and their mistakes that you are paying for. They knew everything.

Is there weaponized Squid?

Given how many Lovecraftian monsters roam these lands, you can expect to encounter all manner of dangerous squids and squid-like organisms. How much they can be weaponized is entirely up to your ingenuity.

What cultures approve of cannibalism?

Many. For some, it is a matter of staving off starvation, for others a religious rite. It is polite to ask before eating someone's fallen brethren, but such a question will not spark outrage - cannibalism is uncommon but widely accepted.

Which is the Rome but with lava? Like the fire country in this world?

Mount Voormith'adreth to the far north-west.

How much money can I make inventing siege engines?

There is nobody to buy such machines, but you can certainly use them for your own enrichment by razing other villages.

What is the most significant tree to the economy of the starting place?

All quality wood is precious. While firewood can usually be gathered easily enough from the brittle wasteland bushes, forests are deadly hives of horrors and wood logs are thus hard to come by. Villages are built from adobe or stone and clay, and instead of wooden furniture, you can expect sitting mats of reed and tables of stone.

by Don Lawrence

Beast of Burden Parasaurolophus by Raphael Meireles

by Tim Molloy, from Empire of Bones

Insectoid Statue by macteg

from Valerian

from Barry Sonnenfeld's Dinosaurs vs Aliens

Lost Carcosa by Laura Mazza

Campaign Pitch: City of Magic

2026-04-20T09:02:00.001+02:00

Viscount Hugo P'flem-Malévol has slipped, fallen and died.

His obituary in Wizarding World's Words read:

Hugo P'flem-Malévol was peerless among gentle-wizards. While many knew him only as an eccentric recluse with a score of spell-patents under his belt, those close to him will never forget his legendarily wicked sense of humour and untoward charitability. No guest left his house hungry, thirsty and impoverished. Whenever disease, fire or calamity struck our city, Hugo was there.

His death was a tragic accident and any allegations in the nature of "He deserved it, after what he did to those orphans." or "I bet it was a curse of a woman scorned. He was really sleeping around. And he liked them monstrous!" will be sued for calumny. He has reserved a sizeable sum from his estate for post-mortem lawsuits.

His funeral was extremely well attended by crowds of cheerful mourners, some of whom remained in vigil well into the night, dancing and drinking. In death, as in life, he has touched many in ways they never knew they could be touched.

You are all beneficiaries of Hugo P'flem-Malévol - his children (legitimate or not), relatives close or many times removed, old servants or acquaintances, or even just random people he took liking to - coming to Fërn, the second City of Magic, for a reading of his last will and testament. Surely you must wonder who will inherit his magical mansion and patent rights?

Hugo P'flem-Malévol
by Bryce Cook

Half a millennium ago, an unknown event caused a worldwide collapse of ley lines and magic in general, leading to the unravelling of many workings of High Magic that people once took for granted. But then a second blow came, even harsher than the first - the gods had vanished. Prayers fell on deaf ears and priests were bereft of their divine magic. Worry became panic became unrest became frenzy. Churches, empires and civilizations crumbled. This event had since became known as the Collapse, or a CK-class Reality Restructuring Scenario, as wizards like to call it.

The poetically inclined historians claim that the Unenlightened Years that followed the Collapse lasted for exactly 333 years. The factually inclined historians lament the irreplaceable loss of knowledge this tumult has brought.

The Aunian Empire had finally shattered, after centuries of decline. Ghal-Dèroin, the first City of Magic, sank after all of its enchantments failed at once. Orosim, the Djinn Democracy, has been lost to the red sands of Utabi.

A new philosophical school of Humanism has started to spread its teachings, emphasizing the agency of humans, reliance on human reason, understanding and free will, and rejection of the divine. This has led to multiple religious wars, witch hunts and racial tensions, but also an unprecedented burst of scientific advancement.

Alchemical fire powder, once a novelty concoction used mostly as a non-mage's cumbersome replacement for a fireball, became more widely used with the invention of "guns". Now known as gunpowder, it is slowly reshaping the modern battlefield.

And last but certainly the most important of all - in the middle of the Unchartable Woods, a small cabal of disenfranchised wizards founded a research camp that would soon become the second City of Magic, Fërn. The Unchartable Woods were likely quite queer even before the Collapse, but since then they have become a nightmare in green. Full of shifting distances and weather patterns, mutated wildlife and spirits, lost and forgotten places and no-longer-people, and general detritus of things that should not be, the Woods are an exciting treasure trove of everything unnatural and magical - especially for those wizards who do not really care about things like coming back from a research trip with the same number of hirelings as they left with - and sparked an expeditious, precipitous series of magical breakthroughs that brought Fërn a world-wide renown. The camp became a fortified lab complex, then a small town with several towers, then a large town with a fledgling university, then a city that still continues to gather fantastical things from around the world and grow. It is said (by wizards) that it was this founding of an independent settlement fully devoted to discovering and understanding the new paradigms of the world that heralded the coming of the current Age of Enlightenment.

It is now year 526 After the Collapse (AC) and your chance to work with bleeding edge magic - exciting, unpredictable, ready to be exploited and exploded - starts right now. The magical industrial revolution is coming and it is up to you whether your grand dreams will amaze the world with strange machines and stranger magicks, or drown in explosions and madness.

by Sean Andrew Murray

So, is this a Harry Potter setting?

Kind of, but not really?

The closest reference I can think of are the early Discworld books, where the Unseen University is shown as a rather cutthroat place. The best way to rise in rank and reputation is to be powerful enough that no one can say no; the second best way is for your superior to suddenly vacate their position. You do not go about murdering people, of course - you would be subject to ridicule and maybe even (Gasp!) prosecution - but accidents happen all the time. Now expand this attitude to a whole city of wizards, full of unearthly locations, unethical experiments and murder mysteries.

Adding to that, spells (in this cosmology) are semi-sentient spirits living in a wizard's brain. This is not great for sanity. Wizards are basically half-mad "scientists". Ambitious, irresponsible, suicidally curious. If they had a motto, it would likely be: "Why not?" The whole City is teetering on the brink and something will give, probably sooner rather than later.

But getting back to Harry Potter... I guess if you strip away the fairy tale glasses that at least the first few books had going and take a hard look at the wizarding world, this actually might be a Harry Potter setting. After all, the wizarding world is a frighteningly dangerous place. Students of Hogwarts are expected to handle things like mandrakes - who will instantly kill you if your earmuffs slip off - on a daily basis. People get maimed or even die yearly. Nobody bats an eye when a student loses all the bones in his arm to a professor's spell gone wrong. Children as young as eleven are inducted into a beloved sport that involves flying at breakneck speeds high above the ground, while two players' literal job is to shoot you down with a cannonball-like enchanted orb. Different sport involves throwing kids in front of a dragon - all great fun, by wizard standards. Dementors can destroy souls and not only are they stationed around Hogwarts as guards, they are repeatedly shown being barely held back from devouring some of the students. There is a forbidden forest full of deadly creatures right next to the school. These wizards frankly don't have very much in the way of common sense, which is just the perfect flavour for this campaign.

by Michael Dashow

Do you want to...

Own a haunted house?
Get turned inside-out by an eldritch horror you summoned to do your house chores?
Explore lost ruins and reality-shards?
Accidentally remove your internal organs with an experimental magitech you just built?
Travel to different dimensions?
Cause a diplomatic incident on the Moon?
Infiltrate the ioun collider laboratory to steal their research?
Join a doomed archaeological expedition?

by Florian Stitz

by feliciacano

Narcomancer
by retrovenus

Please note that all classes linked below are subject to review and perhaps revisions before play. Not major revisions, but enough to fit my ruleset.

You will play as...

At least at the start of the campaign, all players are young wizards who just came to the City. Other classes will be unlocked during play, depending on what the party will be doing and where will they go. Some of the classes to unlock are:

Thief
Spell thief
Berserk (berserk wizard, anyone?)
Literally a dog (and still a wizard)
Many goblins (you play as all of them)
Time-displaced knight
Wandslinger
Serial killer
Citizen of the Moon
God's only son
Vampire or werewolf
Friend to fairies
Friend to fungi
Brave mouse
Living portal
Sentient slime
Goldfish-powered automaton
Beggar
Dwarf, gnome, rabbit, unicorn, etc.
Even a fighter, if you insist

Frankly, if you want to play as something, just ask me and we can probably make it work. This is a city of barely sane wizards in the middle of a broken reality masqueraded as a forest. There are bound to be weird things abound.

by Bone Dust

Lets go over some more questions about the campaign and setting. First, Jeff Rients' venerable twenty questions:

What is the deal with my cleric's religion?

You are not a cleric, you are a wizard, Harry. Wizards know that "god" is just a title. The celestial gods can no longer meddle in the affairs of mortals after the Collapse and the petty gods who remained are just that - so petty they were unaffected. There are still plenty of terrestrial gods around - shrine spirits, tutelary deities, genii loci, demigods - and they may grant personal favours and perform minor miracles, but a wizard is more than a match for a petty god.

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

Pretty much anywhere in the City. And as this is a city of wizards, you can buy as many magic items as your wallet can stomach - try the Machine & Magic Market or the Bootleg Bazaar.

Importantly, hats, robes and wands can be purchased cheaply from many thrift stores, or stylishly from one of the branded stores; the Alchemists' Guild holds a near-monopoly on legal (and some would claim that illegal, too) drugs and potions; and Shantytown veritably crawls with disreputable wizards who might be all too willing to deal with illegal magic, for the right price.

Where can we go to get a plate mail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

Alrik Stahlbrand can get the job done. Ask around the Red & Pleasant District.

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

That would be Pentes Phalanges, the five archmages who rule the City.

Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

Andókai, the Headmistress of the War College, is often awarded that title, but many would object that while she is without a doubt an extraordinary fighter, she is also a wizard. War wizard, but a wizard nonetheless, and thus should not be considered a proper warrior.

From the non-magical warriors, grandmaster von Untermünkheim of the Hunters' Lodge and Invincible Ivory, the Champion of the Pit, are usually mentioned in one breath as the best. There have been many attempts to arrange a fight between the two, but so far they have both spurned the challenge.

Who is the richest person in the land?

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar Ilteourenoradonossalensdottir, the Archmage of External Affairs (who handles trade and tariffs) and Tanisha Tarako, the Archmage of Internal Affairs (who handles finances and taxes) are likely sitting on the largest funds, but as these are state funds, they cannot really claim this wealth as their own. The largest personal hoard belongs to Ashanti the dragon banker.

The standard currency within the City, by the way, is a mag, short for "magically infused scroll", which is split into centimags, or just cents. Mags are essentially banknotes, while cents are copper coins and dimes are silver coins. Each mag is worth 1 MD.

Where can we go to get some magical healing?

The best treatment (and enhancement) can be bought from the doctors of biomancy at the Academy, but their services are expensive. If you need a quick, cheap and discreet procedure (choose two), there are several private practices at the Surgeon Row.

Should you choose to expand your horizons at the University, it has a free student infirmary, but the healers are usually swamped, not equipped to handle more delicate cases, and they will ask uncomfortable questions if your injuries are strange enough.

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

See above. Though there's no cure for death, I'm afraid.

Is there a magic guild my magic-user belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

You can become a student of the Wizarding University, then peruse the university store, though the prices are not at all student-friendly.

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert?

The Alchemists' Guild, the Stygian Library and Downtown, respectively.

Where can I hire mercenaries?

Buying a round of ale in one of the more disreputable taverns is a safe bet. There are always people willing to risk their lives and limb for good money. If what you are looking for is more of a partner in adventure or a large group of battle-hardened veterans, try the Hunters' Lodge or the War College, respectively.

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from the Law?

Not in the City, but note that casting spells on unwilling targets can easily be classified as assault with magic. Mind manipulation is also very illegal and extremely harshly judged by society at large. It is, after all, the uttermost violation of personal agency and privacy. Possession of a charm spell is treated pretty much like possession of a date rape drug.

On the other hand, necromancy is mostly okay! Buy your corpses legally and nobody will bat an eye when you stroll around with a skeleton in tow. Zombies are a biohazard and thus subject to severe fines if not meticulously maintained, while ghosts are considered an ex-living person and should be employed, not bespelled.

Which way to the nearest tavern?

Down the road, any road. From seedy taverns in Downtown and Shantytown to high-class dining and entertainment establishments in Uptown and Wane & Fallow District, the City offers it all. A gentle(wo)man of discerning tastes might also wish to swing by the bathhouses or Little Lilith.

What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

The Hunters' Lodge keeps a ledger of known monsters and bounties on their death or capture, if we are talking about literal monsters. If we are talking about metaphorical monsters, you could try to take down one of the gangs that plague the poor parts of the City, or find a way to counter the druids that always work towards the City's violent destruction.

Among wizard students, a sure path to fame is to brave the depths of the old Defence Against the Dark Arts building and abscond with some trinket without being caught. That place is scary.

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight in?

There probably are, but the scope of this campaign will be limited to the City and the Unchartable Woods around it. Do not expect any globe-trotting warmongering.

You could get involved in the secret wars inside of the city, of course. Ask the vampires or the rats.

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

The Pit in Shantytown is your best bet. There are also duelling clubs, a local offshoot of football called fireball and rat-catching sewer-races.

Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Oh yes! They are secret. Don't worry, you will find them.

What is there to eat around here?

All food in the City is imported, as there is no space for crops or livestock and no magic capable of creating food survived the Collapse. This is in fact a constant worry of the ruling archmages, as loss of the railroad or political unrest in one of the City's bread baskets might easily lead to famine and riots. A fabulous contract awaits an inventor of a reliable food production magic.

But back to eating - shipments of food from all over the world arrive to the City every single day, so you can find any and every kind of cuisine in establishments ranging from the cheap and questionable street vendors, to the affordable and still questionable inns such as Gristle Ghoul Grub (Cannibal allegations were never confirmed!) and Fugly Bob's, or even the legendary (and excruciatingly expensive) Le Restaurant Tranquille.

Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

Many people come into the City with the dream of uncovering an ancient artifact or a new deposit of occultum. The very reason why the City was built deep in the deadly Unchartable Woods is that this place overflows with strange treasures. Maybe you can recover pre-Collapse or even primeval spells from alien ruins, or chase the rumoured spelljammer crash site, or tame a hitherto unseen magical beast.

Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with a hoard of treasure?

The banker dragon technically counts? But if you are looking for a monster that is not a treasured member of society, look no further than the Unchartable Woods. They are infested with man-eating monsters and mind-bending treasures.

Goblin electromancer...
by Bone Dust

...and her familiar
by Bogdan Tomchuk

Next on the menu are the Mad Queen's ten only slightly mad questions:

What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?

There are surprisingly many wizards who specialize in magical martial arts. From the top of my head: sword mages, adipomancers, muscle wizards and probably more that I am blanking on right now. If you want a non-wizarding martial monk, sure there are some, but it is kind of expected that you will be a wizard in the wizard campaign.

Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?

Do that in game. This is how you get a familiar, after all.

Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the time-lost princess of the Brass City and the daughter of the Sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf Conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?

Mostly yes, but keep in mind:

You can still be killed. Backstory, no matter how awesome it is, gives you no protection from dying ignobly. Do not play a character you couldn't stomach to lose to a random crit.
All of that happened far away and will probably not be a central plot point. You are new to the City of Magic and cannot be the lost daughter of the third archmage.
If you want special powers related to your backstory, take a relevant class. There is a class that gives you powers as the daughter of the Sun, for example.

If I eat someone's heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?

Yes! It is rather looked down upon and not always safe, but eating various body parts of creatures of magic can give you powers. Wizards count as creatures of magic, by the way. Yummy.

These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?

Sure, converting or creating new classes sounds like fun. The City of Magic can stomach the strangest of entities.

If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?

You. Depending on what you made it from and what spirits you bound into it, it might even have an opinion on how dumb the name you gave it is.

Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all?

No, unless all players in question agree that they want to proceed. There will be no sneaky PVP.

Actually, how do I win in general?

That's a good question which I don't really have an answer to. Maybe you could:

Graduate from the Wizarding University and get a tenure.
Invent a ground-breaking magitech and overturn the market.
Get elected and really change things around.
Marry into a powerful (crime?) family.
Take over or establish a secret cult and retire to enjoy being the one in charge.

What language stands in for Common? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?

The City is positively teeming with people gibbering in a hundred incomprehensible languages, but most also speak the eclectic Trade Tongue. As a wizard, you probably want to know Low Arkanum, the language of magic, too. It is kind of important.

How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No, not once a day - just, like, normally?

Elementalists can do that, or you can master Djinnish.

Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers, and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?

There are precious few illegal practices, at least within the City - mindcraft (because wizards treasure their secrets and free will, thank you very much), dread necromancy (just buy your corpses legally and stay away from necro-plagues) and filthomancy (because it is gross and disgusting and stupid). Blood magic and summoning also sometimes get the side-eye, especially if there are rumours of human sacrifices and elder evils.

But sure, you can be both. While wizarding traditions are mutually exclusive, you can always learn illegal spells on the side.

by Bjorn Hurri

by Marton Adam Marton

Followed by Filthy Pig's somewhat disturbing questions:

Is there blood magic? Necromancy? Can I start off with these powers or do I have to get them diegetically during play? Will these things get me hanged/drawn, quartered and burned over water/tortured/burned at the stake? Is your necromancer working off the "divination from the dead" definition or is it cool?

Yes.

Both are an option.

Blood magic is more likely to see you shunned and hunted that necromancy, at least within the City.

My necromancers are the coolest.

Will my limbs get hacked off? Can I get new limbs? Do they have to be human or can I have monster parts? Is there a class that does all this or is it just an NPC?

Yes.

You definitely can get monster parts (they need to be fresh, though) or mechanical limbs or necro-grafts.

Biomancers of the Academy can help with the monster-sewing, alchemists with the mechanical replacements and necromantic inventors with undead prosthetics. All of these are playable classes.

When was the last plague in the setting and how soon can we expect the next one? Can we swindle people by selling fake plague cures?

The Archmagery of Health works tirelessly to never see a repeat of the Platypus Plague, but there are a hundred things that could go wrong and release an experimental contagion/parasite/curse into the streets.

Sure, but it won't be just the angry customers going after you. If you do not have the correct permit, the bureaucracy of the City is without mercy.

Cannibalism gives you: A) kuru, B) magical powers, C) full stomach, D) yet another unexpected twist?

In order: C, A, B, D. Isn't this the second time that eating people was brought up?

What can't I do that isn't super obvious?

Ruleswise, there are limited options for flying, telekinesis, teleportation, resurrection, divination, extradimensional storage and long-range communication, as all of them can break the game by offering a boring solution to most obstacles/consequences/mysteries.

Storywise, you shouldn't abuse mental magic like charm and mind reading unless you want to end up in prison. There are very strict laws about that kind of things.

by Sean Andrew Murray

And finally, Scrap Princess also asked some questions. They... are. They are indeed.

Is there weaponized squid?

Yes, and you can play as a robo-squid or an octopus wizard.

Is there undead robots?

Yes. You can fight them; you can make them; you can play as one.

Do icebergs walk across the land?

Not around here, though the weather in the Unchartable Woods does have its moments of craziness.

What do birds know?

What do they not know?

Does medicine work like it does here but no-one knows CPR or does it work like a cartoon so I cure amnesia with more head injuries or does it work like medieval European people thought it did with demons in your teeth?

Demons in your teeth. Or actually a mix of all three, but as a wizard, you do not trust those doctors who tell tell you that a balanced diet does not include random glowing liquids. Basically, most diseases are evil spirits or curses that can exorcised or sucked out with the right kind of leeches. There are many kinds of leeches and you obviously need to know which kind to use.

I want to play a hobbit but really I'm the fleas controlling the hobbit. Where is that in the book?

It's not an exact fit, but you could play as many goblins possessed by a daemon sword? But if you say pretty please, I'm sure mind-controlling fleas would make for a splendid wizard.

How much could I rent my body out to spirits before I lost control of my character?

Depends on your contract. Get a lawyer.

What level do I have to get my character to before I am the GM?

Not happening in this game. The rules are deliberately set so your character's abilities get broader rather than overwhelmingly strong.

What is the dumbest thing I can spend my money on?

I don't know, a cozy life somewhere far away form the City where nothing will blow up in your face? Most wizards would find that the dumber alternative to living in a haunted house that has a jury-rigged particle accelerator in the basement.

How ugly can my guy be? Like can I basically be a walking fish?

As ugly as you wish. We could make it into a special ability.

Not only can you be a walking fish, you can be a non-walking fish, too.

The lamp oil? Is that like cooking oil, kerosene, white spirits or napalm?

Lamp oil is like cooking oil, it won't really burn well. You can buy high-proof alcohol or alchemical combustibles, though.

How does physics work in this world?

From a commoner's point of view, common sense and similarly to real world.

From a wizard's point of view, a lot of it is magic and will probably be explored during play.

Can I start with weapon hands?

Sure, just play as a beast of war.

What cultures approve of cannibalism?

That's the third time! Third time!

Also ratlings, some elves and many intelligent "monsters".

Also define cannibalism. Is eating a thinking plant cannibalism?

Can my character not be real, but a hallucination of another character?

Yes.

Which is the Rome but with lava? Like the fire country in this world?

Orosim, the Djinn Democracy, or Kani, the triplet-city of ashen elves.

Can I invent an insect?

Sure? Unless you play as a bug collector and want to (out of game) establish a new bug to catch, or you play as a biomancer and want to (in game) create a new insect, I fail to see the point, though.

Is there reverse fire?

Winter witches have a spell that conjures blue, freezing flame. You are free to invent a spell that unburns things.

How much money can I make inventing siege engines?

Probably a lot, with the right buyer. Weapons sell well to foreign despots.

What is the most significant tree to the economy of the starting place?

The City of Magic is built smack dab in the heart of the Unchartable Woods, yet the most significant tree is foreign to the Woods. Black walnuts are planted regularly across the whole city and as an unbroken threshold around the Central Park, as their unique properties ward off wrath of the Woods against this urban incursion.

The second most significant are the undoubtedly more obvious wand-wood trees, which are however not a single genus but rather a condition of trees growing in auspicious locations.

The most significant stone is quartz.

by Sean Andrew Murray

by Andrea Piparo

by Christopher Burdett

by Keith Thompson

by Bjorn Hurri

Unchartable Woods in daylight...
by Victor Lahlou

...and at night

from Ivion, I think

Get Comfortable

2026-02-06T12:59:00.001+01:00

I have long disliked the idea of ever-increasing endurance - that is to say, I don't like hp based on levels. I have tried the obvious answer of "your Constitution is your hp". Your attributes can increase, but it is a much more gradual and limited process. It worked!

However, I quickly ran into a problem. Constitution was already a good attribute when it only influenced your hp, but when it directly determines them? Now everyone needs a high Constitution. This also runs counter to my other beloved idea of divorcing combat from your attribute values, as combat is something that every adventurer will find themselves in and it feels bad to be forever haunted by a single unfortunate roll at the very start of the campaign. Nowhere is this felt more than in your hit point total.

And now what? As always, Arnold already had an answer ready. What if everybody has 10 hp?

Unlike Arnold, however, I kept the rest of the rules as is. Every PC has 10 hp, but monsters still have HD, you still swing your two-handed axe for d10 damage and you can still be hit in the face with a 6d6 fireball. This gives starting PCs more survivability while making big monsters a threat that is always better to outmanoeuvre and outsmart, rather than fight head on.

And I can hear you wailing in outrage: But what about my squishy wizard and/or beefy barbarian?

Well, my deers, that's what class abilities are for. Fighters still get extra hp per template. Wizards still cannot use armour, so their hp will not stretch as far as one might think. And barbarians get other powers to show off their unbreakable bodies.

But this brings us to another question: Should experienced PCs be harder to kill?

Yes, I think so. Lets ignore the breadth of options for defending yourself that comes with higher templates and better equipment for now. There still should be a way for experienced PCs to increase their hp totals, but ideally one that does not result in permanent hp bloat. What way? A diegetic way!

from Delicious in Dungeon

Condition (Con) is a measure of your general well-being that determines your maximum hp and can be used to recover Fatigue or attribute damage. After every long rest, calculate your Condition anew following the table below and set your current hp to this max.

Totally coincidentally, I have renamed Constitution to Vitality. Also armour penalty (AP) is equal to 1/2/3 for light or shield/medium/heavy armour.

Your Condition may not be higher than 20. Any points above 20 are converted into temporary hp instead. On the other hand, if you end up with negative Condition:

do not regain uses of daily special abilities (such as the magic of wizards), and
test Vitality per each negative point. Every failure causes 1 Fatigue.

You still cannot have less than 0 hp.

5) Use only the best one in each category of comfort.

6) Recovery cannot bring you below 0 Condition.

from One Piece

Fun implications:

Spending extra money on good food, baths and housing is now always a consideration. It might even be worth it to hire a cook to travel with you, so that you can have some creature comforts in the middle of nowhere. Money sinks are good.
Magical sustenance or nutritional pills, no matter how convenient, do not grant comfort. A home-cooked meal is a home-cooked meal.
Getting invited to be a noble's guest is now a reward in and of itself, and so is finding a hot spring deep in trackless woods.
The undead do not eat, therefore receive no such comfort. The frustrations of undeath are now mechanically supported.

Class: Mer-Cursed

2025-12-17T14:18:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, you are left broken, swaying as flotsam with the waves.

Sometimes, you are found by the Kraken.

Sometimes, you fall in love.

Underwater Breathing - The Awakening

A: Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep

Only women may advance to further templates.

B: His Control Stops With the Shore, random Gift

C: choose two Gifts

Δ: gain another Gift when you give up your legs, your ability to breathe air, or your human speech

Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep

You have a skin as gray and slippery as an eel, rows of sharp shark teeth (d6), bulging eyes that can see in minimal light, and a hunger for raw flesh. You can breathe underwater and swim as easily and quickly as you would move on dry land.

His Control Stops With the Shore

Your cravings for raw flesh grow insistent. Animal meat satisfies, but feels a bit empty. Man-flesh, on the other hand, is a glorious delight to your palate. Eating man-flesh once per week stops your ageing; once per day reverses it towards your prime. Each HD of man-flesh consumed also grants you +1 max hp until you next rest.

d6 Gifts of the Fathomless Depths

Beauty Untarnished: She cares. At will, cover your ~~cursed~~ blessed form with a glamour, gaining the appearance of a gorgeous land-dweller. You may also weave illusory clothes and hide any injuries, blemishes, grime, blood splatters or other imperfections.
Voice Unbridled: ~~Her~~ ~~Your~~ Her voice is bewitchingly beautiful. When you sing, name an emotion and test Charisma/Singing. On success, your song provokes that emotion as long as you keep singing. On failure, it still has a profound effect, but with unintended, possibly disastrous consequences.
Words Unnecessary: They all care. You can speak with all water-dwelling creatures.
Things Unsaid: You are one of them now. You have a sonar-like awareness of your surroundings while in water.
Promise Unbroken: You would kill for them. For her. Your scaled skin is as tough as chainmail and your overlarge teeth can shatter steel (d10 damage).
Love Unconditional: She reciprocates. You can cast and learn spells as a wizard. Gain 1 MD and 2 spells chosen from the sea sorceress, servant of the sea, deep mage or nereid spell lists.

Parma Magica

2025-11-04T15:48:00.002+01:00

Magic is life and life is magic. Every soul radiates energy, forming an aura around itself that prevents astral intrusion and repels parasitic spirits. Wizards call this natural shielding effect the parma magica. This unseen mantle surrounds every ensouled creature and every object imbued with lasting magic, warding them against direct magical manipulation.

Think of your aura as an invisible yet iridescent bubble, quite slippery to the touch of spellcraft and extending slightly beyond your body, also enveloping body cavities, clothing and what one "attends" and carries close. Magic that tries to manifest inside of your aura will be shunted just barely off target.

Basically:

A wizard attempting to teleport a rock into your body (or vice versa) will find it materialized harmlessly beside you.
A portal closing on your torso will shove you outward rather than slice you in half, unless it is physically impossible to be shoved.
Being inside an object when a spell of intangibility ends causes you to be pushed out and take damage as if you had fallen that distance.
Hydromancy cannot freeze your blood, telekinesis cannot pinch a vein in your brain, fireball cannot be evoked directly in your stomach, etc.

Breaking parma magica requires extraordinary power and/or magic specifically designed to pierce and latch onto auras - infamous among these are the feared soul-curses. Even then, such sorcery must burn through the aura, a costly and dangerous feat. Thus also the fireworks that are war magic: It is far easier to hurl fire, lightning or poison - manifestations with physical presence - than to weave a complex curse and still pay a hefty mana cost. Biomancy, whether medical or polymorphic, also suffers from this natural ward and often demands physical contact, allowing the caster's aura to mingle with the patient's. Even then, the process is draining, laborious, and often unstable.

Note that auras only protect the ensouled and the ensorcelled - mundane objects can be transmuted or telefragged without significant resistance. (Undead and constructs are usually soulless but ensorcelled.)

Class: Biotinker Wizard

2025-10-14T14:17:00.000+02:00

Bio-manipulation is my favourite type of power. Its aptitude for body horror and absolutely deranged alteration surpasses even that of necromancy. This wizarding tradition tries to lean into that, and while heavily based on biomancy, vivimancy, viscerology and flesh-crafting, it is even more geared towards tinkering with the bodies of your ~~patients~~ victims.

Does the thrill of discovery throb in your beating heart?
Do you want more beating hearts for things to throb within?
Velexiraptor the Vague
Academy of Biomantic and Biokinetic Arts, PR Department

You are either Chartered and on a retainer of some noble family, or an Outlaw and hunted with extreme prejudice.

Items: white coat, leather apron, scalpel, bonesaw, needle and thread

Skills: Surgery and (d6) Epidemiology, Parasitology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Toxicology, Xenobiology

Perks & Flaws:

You are immune to pain. In fact, you barely remember what it was like when pain inconvenienced you.

Whenever you receive magical healing, save. If you fail, gain a random mutation.

Cantrips:

Sarcography: Make a finger frame over a body to see through layers of skin and flesh (but not bone) as easily as layers of stained glass.
Haematopathy: Taste blood to tell what kind of creature it came from. Drink more blood to maybe learn additional info.
Dermatoplasty: Move or transfer cosmetic features with a touch. You could swap eye colours or pull warts off a toad and put them on a princess. You cannot transfer or remove significant features (poison glands, wings, eyeballs).

Bonesaw from Worm
by TreeSap0

Spell List:

1. Spit Acid

R: 50'

Target takes [sum] damage, then [dice] damage at the end of the next [dice] rounds unless washed.

2. Shape Flesh

R: touch, T: living creature

For ten minutes, target's flesh becomes as malleable as clay to your touch. You can alter their form to resemble another creature of a similar type. This doesn't work on hard tissues like bone or teeth, cannot grant any special abilities (you can make wings, but not wings capable of flight) and might require a skill check to copy somebody else's appearance.

The changes will gradually fade over the course of [sum] hours, but any use of healing magic will delay it by that magic's [sum]. If [sum] is 12+, you can choose to make the transformation permanent.

You can instead use this to deal [sum] damage, but that ends the spell immediately.

3. Fix Flesh

R: touch, T: living creature

As if in a time-lapse surgery, the target's wounds rapidly reknit. Choose one of the following:

Restore [sum] HP.
Restore [dice] points to a damaged attribute.
Remove Wound of up to [dice]×2 severity.

Note that this spell cannot regrow limbs (but might reattach a recently severed limb), nor cure diseases and other afflictions.

4. Fortify Flesh

R: touch; T: living creature

Suppress up to [dice] physical needs or afflictions in the target. For the duration of this spell, the target suffers no negative effects from the problem, but the problem is not cured and will reassert itself once the spell expires. Lesser problems (pain, hunger, thirst, exhaustion, sleep) are suppressed for [sum] hours, while greater problems (bleeding, dying, not breathing) are suppressed for [sum] rounds.

5. Extract Contaminant

R: touch, T: living creature

Pierce the target's skin with a sharp object, then draw out a foreign substance - venom, drug, etc. It must be a foreign substance, not blood or other vital fluid. The contaminant pools in a vial (if you have one) or your hand. The target may save to negate.

With 2 [dice], you can also draw out mundane diseases and parasites.

With 3 [dice], you can also draw out magical poisons, diseases and parasites.

With 4 [dice], you can also draw out heavy metal or radiation poisoning, or possessing spirits.

This is the reason why most biomancers always have a scalpel or a razor-sharp fingernail ready.

6. Sleep

R: 50'

Up to [sum] total HD of creatures that you can see, none of which has more than [dice]×2 HD, fall asleep. Save negates, but already drowsy targets are not allowed a save.

With 4 [dice], you can make the duration permanent. The target no longer needs to eat or drink while sleeping, doesn't age, and you must set an achievable condition that will cause it to wake up.

Meister der Regeneration
by Alexey Kruglov

7. Sensory Revelation

With some supplies and a day of work, you can craft a sthenicon - a face mask shaped like a wooden box, filled with symbiotic flesh. On its own, it grants the wearer an unbelievable sense of smell; gain +1 Awareness per hour of wearing it (up to +[dice]) and scent-tracking.

You can also graft up to [highest] other sensory organs into the sthenicon, if you have those. Depending on what creature you had harvested them from, you might be able to incorporate for example: infrared vision, night vision, 360° vision, sight of invisible things as faint outlines, magic aura sight, poison or disease detection via smell, heightened hearing, etc.

Feed your sthenicon with broth and do not wear it for too long.

8. Choose one of:

Become Delicious

R: 60'; T: [dice] creatures or objects; D: [sum] minutes

Target smells and tastes absolutely delicious. The smell can spread via wind or leave a trail. Insects and hungry creatures will be attracted to the target and attack them as their first choice. Sentient creatures can usually resist the urge to eat the target, but they will be tempted.

With 4 [dice], you can make the duration permanent.

Adapted from here.

Become Disgusting

R: 60'; T: [dice] creatures or objects; D: [sum] minutes

Target smells and tastes outright revolting. Most creatures will try to avoid them, or try to fight them last in a battle. This does not affect creatures with no sense of smell, and some scavengers might be attracted by the smell. This also has a profound effect in social interactions.

With 4 [dice], you can make the duration permanent.

Adapted from here.

9. Flying Syringe

R: 120'

You must hold a vial of fluid while you cast this spell. The vial is transmuted into a glass dart that flies at a target creature. The target must save or be pricked and immediately suffer the effects of the fluid.

For every [die] after the first, pick one of the options below. Most can be picked multiple times.

You can redirect a missed syringe to a different target.
You can affect an extra vial, either mixing the contents together or creating another syringe.
The target saves with a disadvantage.
The syringe can clear corners and bypass cover, as long as you know the target's location.

Adapted from here.

10. Malmutate

R: touch; T: living creature; D: permanent

Target saves [dice] times and gains a random mutation per failed save. If the target chooses to fail its save, roll double the number of mutations and the caster chooses which half are gained.

Saint of Parasites
by Keith Thompson

Emblem Spells:

11. Chimeric Exchange

R: ritual circle; T: two creatures

This spell must target two creatures that negotiated the effects of the ritual beforehand and are willing to undergo it. While the spell requires willingness, it does not forbid coercion or non-magical influence. Subsequently, the two creatures can trade body parts as per their agreement, with the same ease as two items being exchanged. The caster doesn't need to be one of the two parties, but they surely can be.

The exchange can be one-sided. For example, the spell allows you to give someone an extra eye without taking something from them, if both of you agree. This way, you can gain new limbs and organs. You can demand some other form of compensation, though this is in no way enforced by the spell. Gaining new limbs may require that the recipient learns to use them.

The ritual takes 10 minutes. Should the ritual be interrupted, the targets must save or loose the body part that was being exchanged. The creatures are magically sustained while the ritual lasts, but can die afterwards if they traded away a vital organ. The spell also prevents transplant rejection and leaves no scars.

With 1 [die], you can exchange roughly compatible body parts (human eye for cat eye, hand for a paw).

With 2 [dice], you can exchange body parts from incompatible physiologies (living arm for an undead arm, head for an animated helmet).

With 3 [dice], you can mix material and immaterial body parts (hand for a piece of fire elemental's flame, switching souls).

With 4 [dice], you can exchange metaphysical qualities (bravery, damage resistances, skills, abilities).

I stole this spell from here, where more information on it can be found.

12. Tame Cancer

Mix at least 1 HD's worth of fresh meat with a droplet of up to [dice] creatures' blood to animate it into a macabre mass of cancerous growths. It will obey anyone who contributed blood to its creation.

The cancer will react the same way the meat's original owner would to any substances or effects. It makes a great guinea pig.

The cancer begins with 1 Mass and loses 1 Mass per day as it consumes itself. It has 1 HD per Mass, 2×[dice] in all stats* and no offensive capabilities (at first). It loses HD as it takes damage and cannot heal naturally. It may consume 1 HD of a corpse over 10 minutes to gain 1 Mass. At 4 Mass, it is about the size of an average human adult, and cannot grow larger than [sum] Mass.

It may also be ordered to spend 1 Mass to:

Excrete a dose of substance it has previously consumed. This does not work well with special substances (especially those with permanent effects).
Excrete a ration of nutritious goop.
Grow a body part or organ it has previously consumed. It will be fully functional, but likely somewhat misshapen and twisted.
Gain a random mutation.

Adapted from here, here and here.

*) Assuming stats in range 1 to 10. If you use the more standard stats in range 1 to 20, this would be 4×[dice]. Yes, this means that at 4 MD, your pet shoggoth will be highly intelligent.

From Twig

Dooms:

You develop certain... tics. Gain a random insanity.
Your flesh crawls. Save at the start of each day or gain a mutation. Save at the end of each day or that mutation becomes permanent.
Mutagenic degradation and cascading organ rejection. Permanently reduce your Constitution by 1 per day, no save.

You can stall your final Doom with daily transplants of healthy organs, or avoid it completely by transplanting your brain into a new body made of something less feeble and mutable than flesh.

d66 Character Creation Questions

2025-09-25T11:06:00.002+02:00

11. What's wrong with you?

12. What is your current priority?

13. What is your long-term desire?

14. What would it take to make you compromise your own goals and happiness?

15. What would it take to make you compromise your principles and morals?

16. What are your greatest hopes and worst fears?

21. What are you hiding? Why?

22. How far are you willing to go? What or whom are you willing to sacrifice?

23. Who would you kill?

24. What do you keep on you at all times?

25. What do you do in your free time?

26. If you had a sudden windfall of money, how would you spend it?

31. How do you respond to an insult, disrespect or criticism?

32. What offends or enrages you?

33. What do you regret?

34. What is your best and worst memory?

35. Where or who do you feel most at home with?

36. Who is your favourite person? Who is your worst enemy?

41. How would your friends describe you?

42. What do you sound like when you talk?

43. What would you never do or say?

44. What is the one thing you wanted but couldn't change?

45. How do you deal with grief?

46. Are you religious?

51. What do you love or hate the most about yourself?

52. What do you love or hate the most in others?

53. How do you feel about lying? Do you lie a lot?

54. Where did you get a scar or tattoo?

55. What is the nicest or meanest thing you have done?

56. What is your retirement plan? Ideal life after adventure?

61. Do you have a family? Spouse? Kids?

62. What is your relationship with your family like?

63. Where were you born? How was your childhood?

64. Who taught you? Do you like them? Respect them? Are they still alive?

65. Who inspired you? Do you idolise them?

66. Why do you keep trying?

Answer as many or few as you want.

Class: Gnome

2025-07-25T15:49:00.001+02:00

Gnomes are an artificial race created by Dark Lady Ta-tiki-tekh-uata, the Witch Mother, to serve as her attendants, spies and enforcers. Some sources suggest that she tried to replicate the long-lost Sidhe biomantic recipe for turning humans into elves, others claim that she did so successfully, but used her plentiful goblin slaves as the base stock instead of her much more sparse human subjects - in any case, gnomes were the result.

No one has a satisfactory answer for the colourful cap thing.

Old Gnome Wizard by Skywise00

This is a racial class, so its template A can only be gained during character creation. Inspired by Konsumterra.

I have no love for gnomes. They are surprisingly bland fey dwarves. There is no strong theme, no nice twist that would make me want them in my world. Yet for some reason, my players want to play as gnomes. Or rabbits. Making gnomes a regional offshoot of goblins gives them a place in the world, but at the same time, there don't need to be any gnomes save for the player characters, unless the party travels to Pflec. I can live with that.

High level grey cap gnome
From here.

Quest: Visit Pflec or the Witch Mother's lost demesne.

Language: Sylvan (Red, Green, Gold, Blue, Grey) or Pflecian (Svirfneblin)

Items: gnome cap, tool of your hereditary trade

Skills: (per sub-species) Parade, Recall Details, Music, Cooking, Tinkering, Ward-Breaking

Age: There was a mild imperfection in the biomantic formula used to create this race. Gnomes reach adulthood at age 20, but their appearance ages faster than that. A twenty years old, young adult gnome will look like a human in their sixties or seventies. They only get wrinklier and more stooped with age, though this does not affect their physical capabilities much. Gnomes live up to 200 years and in old age start to develop plant-like characteristics - wrinkles become bark, beard is more moss than hair. This is another flaw of the biomantic formula.

A: Gnome Cap, Small Stature

B: Gnomish Magic, +1 MD

Gnome Cap

Gnomes possess an innate magical spark than can be imbued into a special cap, which must be made by the gnome's own hands and have the appropriate colour. Only gnomes can use a gnome cap, but they can use any gnome's cap. Each breed of gnomes has a different power that they can imbue into their cap.

Each gnome can only make one cap at a time. Should they wish to make a new one, the old one must be destroyed first for the gnome's spark of magic to return and be ready for imbuement again. Thus gnomes are highly protective of their cap. Stealing a cap is seen as a heinous crime in gnome communities, often resulting in harsh punishments. Similarly, confiscating one's cap is a harsh punishment reserved for the most vile criminals.

You cannot wear both a cap and a helmet.

Small Stature

You only need half as many rations as a grown man. You can fit into small spaces rather comfortably.

Many items will be bulky for you due to awkward size. You can only wield long weapons (long sword, spear) with both hands and cannot use heavy weapons (great sword, halberd) at all.

You cannot reach the top shelf.

Gnomish Magic

You have learned to use your magical gift similarly to a wizard, though you do not possess a spellbook. Gain 1 Magic Die. Each subspecies gains two spells:

Red: death scythe, speak with blood
Green: misty step, speak with animals
Gold: part crowd, unseen orchestra
Blue: clean up, speak with doors
Grey: make material, move earth
Death: non-detection, spell collapse

You have to be touching your cap to cast your spells - your spells are "memorised" in your cap.

Young blue cap gnome
From here.

Gnome, Red Cap

Red cap gnomes were soldiers and enforcers. Once the most plentiful of gnomes, their numbers were mercilessly culled when the Dark Ones fell, the remaining few fleeing to Pflec or abroad.

Red Cap

When you put on your cap after it has been drenched in fresh blood (enough to actually drench it, a few drops will not suffice), you can take any number of Fatigue points - that number will be X. You gain Xd6 temporary HP, deal +X damage in melee, roll Strength with +X bonus and count as X size categories larger for grappling purposes (without actually growing larger). This lasts until you lose all the temporary HP or take off the cap.

Gnome, Green Cap

Green cap gnomes were scouts and messengers. Most have found refuge among wood elves or druids.

Green Cap

When you put on your cap, you can transform into a natural animal - specifically the animal whose blood and viscera was used during the creation of your cap. This animal can be no larger than a dog and no smaller than a mouse. You can transform as often as you wish, but your equipment (except for the cap) doesn't transform with you, you cannot speak (unless the animal can) and you can only use the animal's abilities while transformed. Your HP carries over between forms.

Gnome, Gold Cap

Gold cap gnomes were entertainers and designers.

Gold Cap

You can manifest tangible illusions from your cap, no larger than what would fit into the cap. For lack of a better term, these illusions are like a hardlight hologram. They can be be pretty much any inanimate object, but they do not have any special effects (illusory potion does nothing), they pop when they would take damage, deal damage or get overexerted (illusory dagger or crowbar are pretty useless) and they last no longer than 10 minutes.

Gnome, Blue Cap

Blue cap gnomes were servants and spies.

Blue Cap

When you put on your cap and close your eyes, you become invisible.

When you put on your cap and hold your breath, you become as light as a feather. When damaged or otherwise distracted, roll Concentration to keep holding your breath.

Gnome, Grey Cap

Grey cap gnomes were custodians and sappers.

Grey Cap

You can manifest small tools and spare parts from your cap, which can be used to repair various mechanisms, from locks to clocks. If not handled by a gnome for more than a day, anything you manifested from your cap crumbles into fine sand - pretty disastrous for any mechanism.

With an hour of time, you can construct a small, fragile clockwork device that performs a simple function. For example, it could be a walking toy soldier, a lighter or a music box.

Gnome, Death Cap

Death cap gnomes are a splinter group of gnomes who rebelled against the Witch Mother and helped the Attnamese Empire in toppling the Dark Ones. They call themselves Svirfneblin and ignorant commoners sometimes know them as Bog Gnomes - a name whispered with disgust and fear. Once the designated infiltrators and saboteurs, they carried out a series of attacks that turned Pflec - a thin stretch of land between the river Amir and the Trollish Peaks - from the breadbasket of the Dark Ones to a haunted, miasmatic wasteland of spellborn horrors.

After the war, imperial magistrates granted the Pflecian Marshes to Svirfneblin along with Hin halflings and some of the few survivors of the dwarven genocide as their new sovereign territory. The so-called "gnomish dictatorship" is the direct result of the resulting anti-imperial sentiment. Hidden behind a nigh-impenetrable mix of mires, mutated war-beasts and curse-warped illusions, Svirfneblin have established tightly controlled enclaves run with relentless efficiency and ruthless surveillance. Paranoid, secretive and unapologetically authoritarian, the Svirfneblin are widely hated for their plundering raids, river blockades disguised as taxation and the occasional disappearing of useful individuals from the borderlands.

And yet, for all their cruelty, they have made their death-bogs thrive.

Black Cap

When you put on your cap, you are warded against all magic. Any magic used on you - baleful or benign - has a 50% chance of failing.

Note that you will have to drop your cap when you want to be for example healed. Also note that your cap doesn't help you against secondary effects of spells. For example, ground coated with a grease spell will still be slippery.

Other subspecies of gnomes exist, such as quicklings and darklings, but they are a) basically extinct and b) not a player race.

Spells:

Clean Up

Up to [highest] creatures or objects within 30' no larger than a human/horse/ogre/dragon are instantly cleaned, groomed and perfumed.

One may specify the grooming, e.g. shaving, shaping or trimming of the beard; type of perfume, etc. This does not destroy the filth, merely puts it into a neat pile on the side.

Adapted from the handsome wizard.

Death Scythe

Plunge your arm into a corpse and pull a black scythe from its chest as it crumbles into dust. The scythe deals 1d8+[dice] damage, or double damage to creatures of the same type as the corpse. It lasts for [sum] rounds/minutes/hours/until dismissed.

Adapted from the necromancer.

Make Material

R: 60'

Produce [dice] slots worth of basic items or equipment from thin air. They are very low-quality and have a 50% chance of breaking when used. You may produce [sum] slots of items instead, but they will be of such poor quality that they always break on first use. Broken items or items older than a day crumble into fine sand.

Adapted from the manufacturing wizard.

Misty Step

R: self and touch; T: creature; D: [sum] rounds

Transform into a fog cloud. You can fly at your normal movement speed, but lose all senses except for touch. For every [dice] after the first, you can take someone with you.

Move Earth

D: concentration

Control a small amount of earth within 30'.

At 1 [dice], you can (a) excavate a bucket's worth of dirt, (b) shape the same amount, (c) cause the earth to swallow a small item or a non-resisting person, (d) knock over a shoddy shack with a tiny tremor.

At 2 [dice], you can move a wheelbarrow's worth and even make the earth slowly levitate.

More [dice] increase the effects further.

Adapted from the garden wizard.

Non-Detection

R: touch; T: [dice] creatures, places or objects no larger than a wagon; D: [sum] hours

Target is warded against divination magic. The target and anything on or in the target cannot be detected or perceived through magical means.

Part Crowd

Raise your hands over your head, then swing them down. Along a 500' line, creatures move out of the way, opening a clear path. Hostile creatures get a Save. The path closes naturally in 2d6 rounds.

Stolen from the civic wizard.

Speak with [thing]

Talk to [thing] for [sum] (real-life) minutes, or ask [dice] questions it must answer. Each [thing] only knows what it cares about:

Animals care about food, shelter, safety, etc.
Blood knows about sex and violence, instinct and base wants.
Doors know what is behind them and who uses them.

Spell Collapse

R: direct line of sight; T: spellcaster; D: reaction

The target caster must make a Concentration check at -[dice], or their spell collapses. In that case, roll d6:

Normal spell effect inflicted on target caster.
Half spell effect inflicted on target caster.
Half spell effect inflicted on you.
Half spell effect inflicted on random target.
Half spell effect inflicted on original target.
Spell works in an unexpected way. GM tells you how.

Adapted from the metamancer.

Unseen Orchestra

D: concentration

You are surrounded by instrumental music, as a single musician at 1 [die] and a full orchestra at 4 [dice]. It can play any song you have heard before, but cannot duplicate speech. The effect can either follow you, or stay anchored to the spot where it was cast.

Adapted from the elf wizard.

Svirfneblin butler by edubenavente

Gnomeblight is a poison developed by Svirfneblin and used profusely against their red-capped brethren during the war. It causes mild gastrointestinal inconvenience when ingested by most species, but rapid necrosis on touch to gnomes - they must Save vs Death; on success they "merely" take 2d6 Con damage. The formula is a tightly guarded state secret of the gnomish dictatorship.

Class: Really Twitchy Hare

2025-07-22T08:57:00.001+02:00

They call themselves Tu'er Ye, but are better known as Harelings, Harengon, Rabbitfolk, Tabbits or Al-mi'raj. They are few and rarely encountered. Their burrows are hidden in the deepest forests and never allow outsiders in. They love to gather knowledge and devote themselves to the search for truth - perhaps because they have lost their own truth.

There are multiple conflicting histories of the Tu'er Ye, each burrow usually subscribing to one version of their racial genesis:

They were created by Dark Lady Ta-tiki-tekh-uata as a more exciting prey for her wild hunts.
They are the chosen warriors of the Moon Rabbit, a god slain in an ancient war, and shall await his glorious return.
They were once simple rabbits who made an unwitting covenant with fey forest spirits, gaining sentience.
They are closely related to the mutated ratlings and their Horned Lords. This is a shameful secret and should never be revealed.
They have escaped from an alternate timeline where rabbitfolk are the norm, not humans.
They are just a boring evolved animal, like humans.
All of the above are true for at least one burrow. Tu'er Ye are subject to a strange phenomenon called "lapinisation", being coincidentally recreated again and again.

And there are probably many, many more.

From Armello.

This is a racial class, so its template A can only be gained during character creation.

Quest: Learn at least two secret histories of the Tu'er Ye.

Language: Usagi, a language whistled at high frequency. If a person who does not know this language hears it, they may mistake it for the sound of birds chirping. There is no written form of Usagi.

Skills: (d4) Decipher, Hide, Overhear, Storytelling

Age: Tu'er Ye are considered adults at the age of 10 and their lifespan is about 50 years. However, many adventurous Tu'er Ye run from home to travel the world as young "teenagers" - about 5 years old.

A: Leporine, Hare-Trigger

B: Lucky Footwork, Bunny Hop

C: Panic Attack

Leporine

You are a bipedal lagomorph, thankfully with opposable thumbs.

You are pretty small - about 3 feet. You have half carrying capacity and many items will be bulky for you due to awkward size. You can only wield long weapons (long sword, spear) with both hands and cannot use heavy weapons (great sword, halberd) at all. You can fit into small spaces rather comfortably. Despite your size, you can run and jump as fast as a human and still need the normal amount of rations due to fast metabolism.

You have long ears (+2 to hearing checks per template) and can hear slightly into ultrasound.

You have disadvantage on saves vs fear.

Hare-Trigger

You are as tense as a bowstring. If you interrupt the GM before they properly describe a new location or opposition, you can take an extra action. This does not work once you know what the target or danger is.

Lucky Footwork

Against effects that allow a Dexterity save for half, take no damage on success and half on failure.

Against other effects that could conceivably be dodged, you may as a reaction reduce their damage to half.

Bunny Hop

You can jump double the normal distance.

Panic Attack

When you fail a save vs fear, you can take an extra action to attack or run away, before any negatives are applied. You can choose to fail a save vs fear against anything, anytime, though you can only be afraid of one thing at a time. Stop being afraid before using this ability again.

The Long Patrol by Kekai Kotaki

Δ: Jackalope

Travel between burrows and learn their stories.

You grow antlers, a sign of divine favour according to your people's traditions. You gain trust and respect of all Tu'er Ye, but face an inescapable wrath if this trust is ever betrayed.

You can speak with all living things. This lets you comprehend and be comprehended by humans, animals, monsters, etc.; but does not work on for example undead, writing or recordings.

Let Them Name It

2025-07-20T12:43:00.001+02:00

My players are currently exploring a shadowy alien dimension. As they have no knowledge of the creatures they encounter, I have prompted them to name their enemies. Here are the results so far:

Shadow idjit

Eugene

Dildo man

Everything is working just fine and I have no regrets, obviously.

Class: Necanthrope

2025-02-13T23:05:00.001+01:00

This wizarding tradition is based on SLA Industries, but tweaked and reflavoured to better fit the magic punk of the Wizard City.

From SLA Industries

Sixty seven years ago, a massive dimensional rift opened above the town of Krew, spewing hell-flames and alien debris for seven nights and days before collapsing on itself. The resulting wasteland was named Chiaroscuro, after the strange chiaroscuro-like glow it emits during the night. From the wreckage came innumerable monsters, but also people wearing strange armour of chitinous plates and metallic barbs and twitching tubing. They called themselves the necanthropes, they claimed to have escaped from a world of untold brutalities and they turned out to be potent mages - unless deprived of their necrosuits.

In time, Chiaroscuro became a new resource - deadly but gladly exploited - and necanthropes started to recruit new members, teaching others how to use a necrosuit. While no one currently has the technology to manufacture a new necrosuit, there are plenty to be found in Chiaroscuro, buried in debris along with their unfortunate former users. The few original necanthropes who survived falling through the rift formed a not so secret cabal, the Teeth, that ostentatiously serves to police its own members and is rumoured to slowly consolidate power for inscrutable reasons.

Xenomorph Cobra by cgfelker

You are an Outsider.

Items: necrosuit

Perks & Flaws:

You must be wearing your necrosuit to use magic.

Necrosuit is a semi-living biomechanical marvel of magitech from another universe, brought Around Here by extradimensional refugees. It forms a symbiotic bond with its wearer, allowing them to store and channel magical energy even if their own talents are rather lacking. It also serves as a spellbook, storing up to 20 spells.

Necrosuits' designs vary wildly, but they are always unsettling, alien and very, very conspicuous. A necrosuit cannot be worn alongside an armour, but grants the wearer AC equal to twice their unspent MD.

Cantrips:

Imperfection: Crack any glass, crystal or ice you can see with a thought.
Notice Me: A creature you can see is forced to acknowledge you.
Becoming: Alter your necrosuit. This allows you to clean, mend or reshape it. However, it will always be an obvious, grotesque, Gigeresque biomagical monstrosity. You cannot make it look "normal".

Bio-Gothique by EnergyJones

Spell List:

1. Gore Cannon: Celrydreahad

R: 60'; T: creature

Momentarily transform your arm into a huge cannon that spews a torrent of psychoactive gore.

The target gets to choose to

either take [sum]+[dice] acid damage,
or suffer a detrimental effect of the caster's choosing.

The effect can be anything that could justifiably be caused by the aforementioned psychoactive gore. For example, the target gets glued in place, or blinded, or drugged, or the gore is acidic and dissolves their armour, or it attracts a swarm of biting vermin, etc. The target knows the exact effect before choosing.

2. Ebb Enhancement: Seven Senses

R: self; D: [sum] minutes

Choose [dice] modifications to your necrosuit's sensory processing. For example: infrared vision, night vision, 360° vision, see invisible things as faint outlines, see magic auras, scent tracking, detect poison or disease via smell, heightened hearing, etc. Your necrosuit mutates to reflect the effects, e.g. growing a hundred tiny eyes.

3. Ebb Enhancement: Necro Mod

R: self; D: [sum] minutes

Choose [dice] modifications to your necrosuit. Most can be chosen multiple times.

Grow any kind of melee weapon.
Grow a new, fully functional limb of any kind.
Gain resistance to one type of damage.
Your suit seals all orifices and provides you with oxygen. You don't need to breathe and ignore airborne toxins.
Sticky leakage allows you to easily climb on any surface.

Your necrosuit's AC is also maxed (as if all your MD were unspent) for the duration of this transformation.

4. Kinetic Ebb Force: Burst

All creatures and loose objects within [dice] spaces of the caster are knocked back [dice]×2 spaces, save negates. Everything affected takes falling damage.

5. Ebb Electricity: Bioluminescence

R: 60' (for shot orbs)

Conjure [dice] crackling orbs of electricity that slowly float around you for [sum] hours. As another action, shoot one of the orbs to stun a creature or disable an appliance, save negates.

6. Choose one of:

Blue Thermal: Glacial Ebb

R: touch; D: concentration

Freeze water or reshape snow and ice.

At 1 [dice], you can only roughly move, bend and twist ice, or freeze a barrel of water over the course of a minute.

At 2 [dice], you can craft elaborate objects out of ice, though they will be very brittle, or freeze a barrel of water in seconds.

At 3 [dice], you may enhance the properties of objects you shape. For example, a crowbar or armour made of ice can be used as if they were iron, or a gown of snow will not fall apart. However, your creations are no more resistant to thawing than normal ice.

At 4 [dice], you can affect glass and crystal, too.

Creatures resist the effects - water in or directly around them cannot be affected.

Red Thermal: Infernal Ebb

R: 100'; T: [dice]×5' radius

All water in the area is rapidly heated up, boiling in seconds. Creatures resist the effects, only taking [sum] damage.

7. Medical Ebb: Biomanipulation

With a touch, restore [sum] HP, or [dice] attribute points, or a Wound up to [dice]×2 severity.

8. Voice of the Ebb: Syndicate

The caster and [dice] touched creatures who share a language can speak in thoughts for [sum] hours. The spell is unreliable over vast distances and doesn't work across dimensional boundaries.

The caster can dismiss anyone from the syndicate and it ends altogether should they fall unconscious or asleep. Other targets remove themselves when they fall unconscious or asleep, or at will.

9. Kinetic Ebb Force: Field

R: 30'; D: concentration

Create a shimmering square of ebb force (10' × 10'), or a sphere around the caster (large enough for the caster and one other person). The force field has [sum] HP. It can move [dice] spaces per round and can support a person's weight.

10. Kinetic Ebb Force: Focus

R: 30'; T: creatures or objects; D: concentration

You can remotely manipulate targets as if with [dice] invisible hands of your own strength. Each "hand" can move [dice] spaces per round, independently. Creatures can wiggle free of your telekinesis with a successful save, but it takes their action. Telekinetic crushing or choking deals [dice] damage per round.

Gore Cannon: Celrydreahad
From SLA Industries

Emblem Spells:

11. Ebb Enhancement: Death Guardian

R: self; D: [sum] minutes

Animate your necrosuit to work as an independent entity. It shares your HP, MD, abilities and consciousness, but acts on its own (and gets its own action in combat). You can use your spells normally even outside of your necrosuit while this spell lasts.

With no Doom, the suit collapses on the ground once duration runs out. With the first Doom, you have to return to your suit before the duration runs out or die of sudden hemorrhage.

With 3+ [dice], if the caster's flesh body dies while this spell is active, the necrosuit will store their soul and will remain animated indefinitely.

12. Ebb Enhancement: Demon Form

R: self; D: [sum] rounds

Mutate your necrosuit into an unstoppable demon of utter destruction:

It grows [dice]+1 times larger;
its AC is maxed (as if all your MD were unspent);
gain [dice] damage reduction;
all of your attacks are enhanced.

At 2 [dice], take 2 actions per round.

At 4 [dice], take 3 actions per round.

When the spell ends, due to extreme strain you take [sum] irresistible damage and cannot use magic for [sum] hours.

I'm In Love With Your Darkness by DarthNeph

Dooms:

Your necrosuit painfully and permanently bonds with your body. You no longer have skin, only necrosuit. On the bright side, duration of your Ebb Enhancement spells is now in hours.
You lose consciousness and only wake up a day later. In the meantime, your necrosuit has gone on a murderous rampage.
You are now biologically immortal. Once you die, likely violently, you will mutate into a murderous monstrosity that seeks to feed on magic, grow and evolve. It is quite likely, however, that the Teeth will find you first and offer that you join their ranks. They will not take no for an answer.

You can reset your Dooms by surgically removing the suit, regrowing your skin and starting over with a new necrosuit. Alas, you cannot be permanently rid of your Dooms.

Class: Energy Thrower

2025-02-10T10:59:00.001+01:00

Wizardry is powerful and versatile, but fickle. Energy throwing is simple but reliable.

Some people have just enough talent to use magic, but not enough patience to become wizards nor enough power to become sorcerers. These people might become energy throwers instead. They can do exactly one thing, but they can do it all day. Energy throwers are prized by the movers and shakers as good soldiers, but disdained by real magic users as... well, not real magic users.

A: Throw Energy (d6)

B: Throw Energy (d8)

C: Throw Energy (d10)

D: Throw Energy (d12), Ultimate Technique

Throw Energy

At will, conjure a blast of magical energy that deals damage dependant on [template] and has a range of 60 feet.

Most energy throwers content themselves with flinging nondescript globs of colourful energy, but there are some who train themselves in shaping these blasts into lightning, runic orbs, or even temporary weapons. The effect remains the same, though.

Ultimate Technique

Even energy throwers eventually find the motivation to learn a special technique. Roll or choose one of the following techniques:

Energy armour: The same kind of energy throwers who would shape their blasts into weapons might wish to learn how to make armour out of the energy, too. This technique allows one to summon any type of armour (light, medium, heavy) with all properties of a mundane armour, except made of coruscating energy.
Energy bubble: As a reaction once per round, reduce incoming damage by your energy throwing die.
Energy breath: Disperse your blast through your mouth as a cone-shaped emanation with range of 30 feet.
Eye beam: This technique allows you to concentrate the blast through your eyes, dealing d20 damage but blinding you for [digit sum of damage] rounds after each use.
Elemental blast: Choose one element; you can now change your blast into that element.
Twin blasts: Create one blast in each hand, throwing them both as a single action. They each deal only d6 damage, though.
Chained blast: On 10+ damage, the blast jumps to another nearby creature. It can jump a second time, too.
Kamehameha: Technique of the secretive monkey monks. Takes two full rounds to charge up (and can be interrupted), then releases as a brilliant beam that deals 2d12 damage to everything in a 100 ft line. Any wall weaker than a castle bulwark is melted through, too.

The other techniques may be possible to learn via mentors and quests.

5e Lingering Injuries

2025-01-14T16:23:00.000+01:00

In my D&D 5e game, I have replaced massive damage with lingering injuries, but I have never posted the rules. There were a few design considerations when devising this dismemberment table:

I wanted something small and simple, rather than a fiddly subsystem with multiple tables for an eventuality that is frankly rather rare.
I wanted something painful. Dismemberment happens rarely, but it should matter when it does. Even if there is a save, it should not negate a consequence.
I wanted diegetic, not mechanical penalties. While -4 Strength is painful, it is also patently unfun. On the other hand, "You cannot speak." or "You have only one arm." are painful and interesting, because they force the player to actively adapt, rather than do the same old with lower bonuses.

You tell me whether I succeeded or not.

Jan Žižka

While a character cannot go below 0 hp, when a hit would result in enough surplus damage to take them below negative Constitution score in hit points, they roll on the dismemberment table.

Write the surplus damage down next to the injury taken. To remove an injury, first a medical treatment (and a successful Medicine check) is needed, then this surplus damage must be healed. Whenever a character receives (natural or magical) healing, they can decide to regain hp, or to reduce the surplus damage from one of their injuries.

d10 Dismemberments

Panicking, you block the blow with your weapon - successfully, but you only hold a half of your weapon now. Magical weapons get a Dexterity saving throw. On success, you were only disarmed.
The blow was so hard that your armour is all twisted, sundered and useless now. At least all your limbs are still attached. Magical armours get a Dexterity saving throw. On success, you were only sent flying backwards.
Suddenly, blackness. Until this injury is healed, you are in a coma.
Blood everywhere! So much blood! Until this injury is healed, gain +1 Exhaustion level for every strenuous action. Fighting or casting spells is strenuous. Lying in a ditch or shuffling around is not.
Something inside you is broken. Lose all Hit Dice and you cannot regain hp naturally until this injury is healed.
You spit teeth and blood. You cannot speak or cast spells until this injury is healed.
Ouch, my eye! A successful Constitution saving throw means it is too bruised to use, but can be healed. A failure means you are left with an empty socket.
Crunch! Lose d2 legs. A successful Constitution saving throw means they are broken, but can be healed. A failure means they are no longer attached to your body, and healing the injury only stops the bleeding.
Crunch! Lose a random arm. A successful Constitution saving throw means it is broken, but can be healed. A failure means it is no longer attached to your body, and healing the injury only stops the bleeding.
Blood is dripping from your nose, but you have to laugh. Regain 1 hp and immediately get an extra turn.

Difficulty of all mentioned checks is either half surplus damage or 10, whichever is higher.

Class: Ogre Ape

2025-01-04T21:35:00.002+01:00

Depending on the setting, this could be an ogre, an ape, or an ogre ape. (Or a half-giant, or a goliath, even a really brawny barbarian. Any big guy/gal, really.) It has a touch of James Young's barbarian, SaltyGoo's ogre and Skerples' brawler.

Ogre Sitting by vshen

Quest: Visit the Ape Islands, or defeat and devour a bear by your lonesome.

Language: dialect basically unheard of Around Here

Items: loincloth, greatclub (d10)

Skills: Astrology, Cooking, Fishing, Herb Lore

A: Unconquered, Half-Naked

B: choose one of Commanding Roar or Powerful Presence

C: Unyielding

D: choose one of Silverback Punch or Withstand

Unconquered

You are an eight foot tall slab of muscle.

Your unarmed attacks deal d6 damage and other melee attacks +d6 damage.

Take half damage from things smaller than you.

Edit: ~~Double your base maximum HP.~~

This probably requires a bit of an explanation. In my current ruleset, you have base HP based on Constitution and extra HP from class levels. So if your rules have for example Meat and Grit, double the Meat. If nothing like that is applicable, maybe step up their hit dice, or simply give them +2 HP per level?

Half-Naked

You are immune to the negative effects of weather and hypothermia.

Commanding Roar

Once per encounter, you can give a one-word command to a humanoid that is smaller than you. It can choose to fall prone instead of obeying the order.

Powerful Presence

At the start of each round, you can decide how creatures smaller than you react to you: They either avoid fighting you unless there is no other choice, or they gang up on you, ignoring your teammates.

Unyielding

Once ever when you would die, instead regain full HP and gain a cool scar.

Silverback Punch

Once per session, you can knock anything unconscious. This can be used even against things like golems or doors, where unconsciousness should be interpreted liberally.

Withstand

Once per session, completely ignore an attack or effect. If it would normally continue further, you also shield everyone behind you.

This negates secondary effects too (If a trap swings a huge stone hammer at you and you withstand it with your face, you also won't be knocked back.), but may not help much against ongoing effects. (When splashed with liquid flame, you can withstand the initial damage, but you will still be on fire.)

Ritual of Communion

2024-12-30T16:24:00.001+01:00

No wizard is to be trifled with lightly, but when several wizards join forces, they become the stuff of nightmares. Especially if they literally join forces via the ritual of communion.

Winter Solstice by shk28

All wizards partaking in a communion must be within a pre-made magic circle. The wizard who initiates the ritual becomes the communion master, the rest are communion slaves. Communion slaves cannot use magic until they break communion by stepping outside of the circle.

The communion master gets access to MD and spells of all communion slaves, and can use them as if they were his own.

Only one participant is affected by any Mishaps or Dooms triggered during communion. The communion master chooses who is affected - potentially shunting any consequences of powerful spells onto a communion slave. This is often kept secret from the communion slaves, for obvious reasons.

Wizard shackle: Most often forged in the form of a ring or manacle, it obviates the need for a magic circle when starting a communion. The bearer of the master ring can draw upon anyone wearing a linked shackle.

Legendary Resistance-less

2024-12-07T10:06:00.002+01:00

Legendary Resistance (3/day): If the creature fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

I dislike this ability. It is not fun at all.

I understand why it exists - because otherwise there are way too many save or suck powers that can easily leave any boss struggling to take a single turn while the party murders them - but giving the boss several Get Out of Jail Free cards per day, with no clear indication to the players that their attack worked and the monster just decided that "Nope, I don't like that!" feels unfair and unfun to me. On a second thought, giving a clear indication what just happened might be worse, as the player just wasted a limited resource and there is not even a trick to be learnt and abused later - it just doesn't work until brute-forced by running the boss out of their daily uses.

Here are d6 alternatives to Legendary Resistance. While this is parlance specific to D&D 5e, these abilities should be easy to use for any OSR boss just as well.

1. Save Immunity: The boss automatically succeeds on any saving throws it is proficient in.

I like immunity on bosses more than resistances. Giving a boss one or two immunities and clearly communicating that to the players gives them a nice restriction to work around, which breed creativity. Giving a boss some resistances basically just prolongs combat.

2. Save Adaptation: The boss automatically fails when it makes a saving throw of each type for the first time, but always succeeds afterwards.

A variation on Save Immunity, this means that the players' powers just work (fun) but cannot keep the boss bound for long (also fun). It also forces the players to change their approach each round - no spamming the same spell over and over. Few fights will take more than 4 or 5 rounds and this power should reset between encounters, so the boss probably won't become immune to everything.

3. Purge: As a bonus action, remove one effect affecting the boss.

This should be a bonus action, so that the boss can use it without giving up its turn completely, but works best if the boss has other bonus actions that will compete for their place in the action economy. You can debuff the boss, but it will rarely last more than a round. Still, it will cost it a bonus action it could otherwise use for more nefarious purposes. Plus if you can layer several effects, or somehow force it to use its other bonus action, you can keep the debuffs going. This is my second favourite, as it gives the GM some fun decisions to make in the heat of combat and at the same time prevents the boss from sucking for long even if it fails every single saving throw.

4. Reflect: When targeted by a spell that allows a saving throw, the boss and the caster roll an opposed ability check. If the caster fails, their spell is redirected back at them.

Very scary power that nonetheless doesn't help if the boss fails and gets caught in whatever nasty spell the wizard had prepared. High risk, high reward.

5. Unfair Exchange: As an action, the boss targets one enemy that must make a saving throw. On failure, the boss and the target exchange all their temporary effects.

The boss tries to switch its debuffs for a PC's buffs. Once again, very scary but dependant on a failed saving throw of the PC.

6. Redirect: As a reaction when it fails a saving throw, the boss can redirect the effect to one of its nearby underlings.

This is pretty close to the original Legendary Resistance, but the players get a clear indication that their power worked, that the boss is evil, abusing its minions like that, and that there is a solution - remove all minions. Also their power still works, if against a minion, so nothing feels wasted. This is my definite favourite.

For extra fun, instead of minions, give the boss several fully independent shadow clones and have it switch places and effects with the clones. Chaos reigns.