Monday, October 14, 2019

Accursed of G_d (Class: The Leper)

Luke 17:11-19
Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
[11] And it came to pass, as He was going to Jerusalem, He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. [12] And as He entered into a certain town, there met Him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off; [13] And lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. [14] Whom when He saw, He said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean. [15] And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God.

[16] And he fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. [17] And Jesus answering, said, Were not ten made clean? and where are the nine? [18] There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger. [19] And He said to him: Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.

While healthy Judeans and Samaritans hated one another, their lepers knew no race or creed. Lepers are shunned by their communities and viewed with a healthy combination of dislike and fear. This, in turn, means that lepers are free from ordinary social expectations and strictures. They are expendable. When one dies, another will come along shortly.
Does this sound familiar?



The Leper


You receive +1 HP for every template you possess. You are not assumed to be able to wear armor, though your history or a template from another class may give you this ability anyway.
Starting items: Filthy bandages (leather -1), walking stick, large handbell (as a club).
Skills: 1. Courtier, 2. Doctor, 3. Conman, 4. Farmer, 5. Sailor, 6. Priest, or choose from another class. Lepers come from all walks of life

Half-Caster: You are a half-caster, learning only two spells and gaining only two magic dice. You have no cantrips, but you do have a Perk and a Drawback.
Perk: You and your black magic are terrifying to any civilized creature. If a spell deals damage to an intelligent creature, they must make a save against Fear or be frightened of you for one minute. If your spell effects an area, your Dungeon Master might decide to roll a Morale check for every intelligent creature in that area.
Drawback: You have leprosy. You are a leper. Also, you can only cast spells while ringing a large handbell and screaming at the top of your lungs. Gandalf you ain't.
  • A Leprosy
  • B Horror of Death, +1 MD
  • C Mad-Eyed Preacher, Token of G_d
  • D Mark of Cain, +1 MD

Leprosy

You have leprosy, which is a curse inflicted by G_d for the sins of the world. This disease gives you disadvantage on saves against any other disease, but grants you advantage on saves against Fear and makes you immune to Agony or other effects which cause pain. For now you can conceal this with heavy clothing, but if people find out about this they will shun you. You have a cumulative 1-in-6 chance each day of being driven out of any town or city where you are recognized as a leper.

Horror of Death

The disease has ravaged your body, and you are immediately recognizable as a leper. Wearing a mask might work from a distance, but the smell of blood will clue off  those nearby. You have disadvantage on any save against injury. Intelligent creatures will go far out of their way to avoid coming near you; this includes pirates, orcs and bandits who would usually attack an unarmed traveler.
Intelligent creatures ordered to attack you at melee range must make a save against Fear or they will ignore these orders. Additionally, you can attempt to Turn any number of intelligent creatures within earshot by ringing your bell and screaming "Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!" over and over again. You learn one spell from your list by rolling 1d4


Mad-Eyed Preacher

To some, your disfigurement is a sign that G_d is displeased. The fact that you life has been preserved despite the extensive bodily corruption indicates that you have been chosen to express that displeasure. If you place yourself near the gate of a town or city and begin to rant you will attract 3d4 faithful, 1d4-2 of the local priests, and 1d4 guards or agents of the local noble. Each group takes you seriously, but assume that the priests and guards are reporting everything to their respective bosses. You can turn public opinion very quickly in this way, though you may draw the hostile eye of the rich and the powerful by doing so.
Token of G_d
Religious figures will hunt you down in an attempt to heal your disease with a holy miracle. Losing your leprosy will also cause you to lose every template in this class (but you do not forget spells known). If you want to avoid this, assume that you have a cumulative 1-in-12 chance of encountering one of these holy men every day you spend camped outside of a town or city.


Mark of Cain
Your disease has progressed to the point that it is not immediately obvious what race you were before your infection. Intelligent creatures will do their best to go unnoticed by you entirely. Any intelligent creature of 2HD or less must make a save against Fear to make a ranged attack against you, in addition to their normal unwillingness to enter melee range. Unintelligent undead (zombies, skeletons, some mummies and ghouls) will mistake you for one of their own and will not attack you without orders. You learn one spell from your list by rolling 1d4


Leper Spells

1. Shelter
R: 50' T: an appropriate place to stretch a tarp D: [sum]*2 hours
A heavy canvas tarp springs into existence between three anchoring points, such as trees or rocks. This tarp is waterproof and appropriately camouflaged for the area. It is large enough to provide shelter from the elements to [dice]*2 creatures (ten or twenty feet to a side), but you will have to provide your own nest of garbage and filthy rags. Falling onto this tarp reduces fall damage by half. It can bear the weight of as many creatures as it can shelter.
2. Stones to Toads
R: touch T: [dice] stones around the size of a toad D: permanent
A stone you hold in your hands becomes a live toad with one HP. This is a real motherfucker of a toad, covered in warts and slime and dirt. You can fling it at someone, and a hit counts as 1 point of damage from a spell. The toad counts as one ration. Bon appetit.
3.  Decay
R: touch T: a creature or a corpse D: immediate
You deal [sum]/2 necrotic damage to a creature or a corpse with a touch. Assume corpses have 3 HP. A creature or a corpse reduced to 0 HP by this spell are quickly reduced to a skeleton. If you invested two magic dice, that skeleton is also reduced to dust.
4. Weirdlight
R: 30' T: a point you can see D: [dice] hours
A spherical volume with a radius of [sum]*5 feet is illuminated with a ghastly green light, as if every surface was coated in a bioluminescent substance. Ranged attacks targeted at someone in this sphere are made with a -4 penalty, as distances become difficult to judge. Creatures with infravision are blinded in this area; this includes dwarves and elves.
5. Servant of Samael
R: n/a T: a community of intelligent creatures D: n/a
At some point in the next 24 hours a minor angel (10HD) under the tutelage of Samael, G_d's Poison, will arrive at the targeted community and linger for several rounds. The angel is not your friend and does not care what happens to you as a result of this spell.
If the city is not currently suffering an epidemic, one will begin as 1d3*10 percent of the population are suddenly infected (roll a d10 for each party member to figure out what decile they are a part of). If the city is suffering an epidemic, it will rapidly end as local priests are granted healing powers and local doctors are granted epiphanies. The angel isn't actually responsible for this and the spell doesn't actually summon the angel; rather, think of the angel as having a checklist of places to visit, and this spell as moving an entry up on the list.
If you invested two magic dice you can choose at what point the angel appears, to coincide with a particularly aggressive rant against the establishment or to give you time to escape the area.
6. Drought
R: 5 miles T: a circle 1 mile in radius, centered on a point D: [sum]*[dice] days
In an area around a point you choose clouds will not form and rain will not fall. This spell may be cast multiple times to stack its duration. Ending its effects requires you to cast it "backwards", to reduce the duration by [sum]*[dice] days. The perfect circular hole in the sky is an immediate clue that black magic or divine disfavor is at play, and if the drought lasts long enough to threaten crops or livestock then witch-hunters will be called in.  The spell ends immediately if you move farther than 5 miles from where it is cast: if this happens you take 1 point of damage for every day of duration left, rounded up.

While the exact details of this spell are not common knowledge, it is common knowledge that magicians must remain in the area of any drought they cause.
Mishaps (1d4):
  1. Dice return to your pool only on a 1 or 2 for twenty-four hours.
  2. You take 1d6 damage as parts of your body fall off.
  3. The entire spell fails.
  4. Everyone within 30' is inflicted with Agony for 1d6 rounds.
Dooms of the Leper

You have leprosy. You probably got it from rolling your last Doom in some other class. Also, you don't have three dice so you can't roll dooms. 

Conclusion


This isn't a very practical class for an adventurer and is certainly inappropriate for, say, a politics-focused game, but it might be fun in a misery-crawl or a very low-powered game. While you don't get very good at fighting it is also difficult for you to be killed in a fight, so perhaps it evens out.


These spells are some classic black magic too. Lepers have only one somewhat-crap damage dealing spell (two if you count the toad), but all spells benefit from your perk. You don't have "emblem spells" per se, but Drought can probably be learned from evil sorcerers and witches. Don't forget that the Leper casts spells in the least-stealthy way possible.

3 comments:

  1. it's interesting to note that there's 2 "almost not magic" spells, 2 "magic but kinda weird" spells and 2 "straight up apocalyptic" spells. It's kinda funny to imagine this necrotized homeless man calling forth the angel of death.
    PSA time: 95% of the population is immune to leprosy and it can be treated well with medicine. Lepers have been stigmatized enough for literally all of history.
    Fun class though!

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    1. Ah, I should say I'm not an expert on leprosy, so look it up yourself I might be making things up

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    2. Yes, but remember those last two spells can't be learned by leveling up. I'm not sure what game this fellow would be appropriate for; certainly not any I have run. Thanks for your comment.

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