Thursday, June 18, 2020

Thief Guilds of the Blessed City (GLOG Classes: Thief Guilds)

    Thieves! Good stuff, thieves. Sneaky troublemakers who never seem to suffer the consequences they deserve. These are Lexi's thief guilds.

    As a Thief you can wear light armor but can not carry shields. You never fumble with knives or clubs. Your Guild will give you other proficiencies.

Dagger Cults

Source: Wikimedia.

    The worshipers of Volund. They form small groups wherever there is both industry and poverty. Though a cripple and half-blind, Volund exacts revenge for even the smallest insult. His followers revel in escalation of violence. Disproportionate responses are how they honor their g_d.

Skills: 1. Smithing 2. Animal Handling 3. Opera. You are proficient with slings and garrotes.
Starting Equipment: three daggers (light), a sash for holding daggers, half a dozen beautifully worked sheathes for daggers, a whetstone of an appropriate size for daggers and an object from the ninjas's equipment list
  1. Purpose
    ✧ You talk to knives as if they were people. Your thrown weapons have double range and +2 to-hit.
    ✧✧ You have names for each knife and assign eccentric personalities to them. Your attacks ignore cover of any kind; thrown weapons turn corners and navigate dense underbrush to hit targets within range.
    ✧✧✧ Sometimes, the knives talk back. You may forego attacking and spend your turn whispering the name of a target to your weapon; if you do so, your next thrown attack at that target automatically hits.
  2. Myriapod
    ✧ As the Volundarkvitha says: "Many legs make light labor". Whatever that means, I guess. You may wall-run horizontally for 20'.
    ✧✧ You can wall-run at a dead sprint for 60', and can climb as quickly as you can walk.
    ✧✧✧ By now you're faster across vertical surfaces than horizontal ones. You may wall-run straight up, or in a loop, and you treat falls as being 30' shorter if it is possible to run down an adjacent wall
  3. Cachaemia
    ✧ Spite and gallows-humor has built up in your blood. While injured, you may smear weapons and projectiles on your wounds to have them deal an extra point of poison damage on their next hit. Your friends can do this as well.
    ✧✧ Your blood is true poison now. 1 HP's worth of your blood deals 1d6 damage if ingested. Additionally, you are immune to most poisons and take half-damage from venomous monsters.
    ✧✧✧ When take slashing or piercing damage, your blood fumes out in noxious clouds. Adjacent creatures take 1d6 damage, or 1 damage on a successful save. Creatures which bite you take 2d6 damage without a save, and creatures which eat you die immediately. If you see an attack coming, you can designate nearby creatures to automatically pass their save.
  4. Coiler's Flesh
    ✧ In strange rites you have tasted the blood of the Worm. You understand birds, though they don't like being understood by humans and fall silent if they know who you are.
    ✧✧ You can understand anything with feathers or scales, and speak to them in their own language. Conversation is now possible. Your dreams are filled with thoughts of treasure and violence.
    ✧✧✧ You can speak to metal and precious stones. Gold gossips, iron is racist, gems are dreamy and whisper of the past and the future. You may construct a hoard of at least 500 gp. The hoard is impossible to find until you are killed.
  5. Swan Feathers
    ✧ Dagger Cultists know the secret art of ramie production. You can make garments (traditionally shirts, though it could be capes or trousers) out of wild nettles. It takes three days and 1 HP (taken from your maximum) to craft such a garment. The wearer may ignore gravity for thirty seconds a day, resetting at dawn.
    ✧✧ Your garments now count as leather without taking up any inventory space. The magic resets at dawn and dusk. Existing garments may be retooled with one day of work.
    ✧✧✧ Wearers have flight for sixty seconds which moves them as fast as they can run.
  6. Tömösváry
    ✧ Delicate horns pierce the skin of your temples. You can sense movement within 20', making it impossible to surprise you while awake [unless it's a ghost or something, or an ambusher shoots you from farther than 20' (which is not unlikely)]
    ✧✧ The horns curl backwards like a ram's. You have a better sense of smell than a dog, and can see solid objects within 20' at any light level.
    ✧✧✧ The horns sprout razor-filaments which shudder in response to light and motion. You know the HP total of every living thing within 20', and can hear physiological changes when they are lying or afraid.

Thugs Guild

The most noble seal of the Thugs' Guild. Accept no substitutes.

    Those who do it for a living. "Thieves Guilds" are a bit of a stupid idea, aren't they? Why would criminals form a guild of all things? What, do they offer one another insurance? Is there a pension for thieves who are too old to steal? What sort of incentive do they have to not rat one another out immediately for rewards and favors from Johnny Law?
    Now, a Thugs Guild, that makes a lot of sense. There are a thousand reasons why a legitimate businessman might need to hire the services of Rudy (two meters tall, cornrows, wrap-around green shades, dual-wields nunchucks) and Boris (two meters tall, ginger fuzz, big raggedy scar over his eye, carries a baseball bat everywhere he goes). Consider the club bouncer, the bank security guard, the anti-shoplifting squad — plenty of honest work out there for the hench among us.
    And Rudy and Boris have a lot of reasons to unionize. It seems if they aren't being kicked in the teeth by Angelina Jolie then they're being tossed out of helicopters by Daniel Craig. That's dangerous work, often non-OSHA compliant, with minimal benefits (unless you really enjoy being abused by Daniel Craig or Angelina Jolie). Thus: the Thugs Guild.

Skills: 1. Intelligent Conversation 2. Tying People Up 3. Getting Da Boss Coffee. You can wear medium armor and are proficient with one-handed guns and blades.
Starting Equipment: a card and a pin indicating Guild membership, a standard-issue blunt object (1d6, ⅓ slot), half a dozen tallboys (1 slot), a pack of menthols and a lighter.
  1. Swagger
    ✧ Your training has given you a distinctive way of moving. If you choose, shopkeepers, street urchins and other minor NPCs immediately recognize you as someone who could beat them up. Morale rolls are made with a penalty equal to the difference between your level and the NPC's HD (minimum -0).
    ✧✧ When you intimidate an NPC, they get a penalty to their morale roll equal to how many of the following things are true:
    • You broke something of theirs in front of them. 
    • You mentioned a specific, non-obvious fact about them (full name, address, favorite food, a sibling they care about, &c) (stacks up to -4)
    • You came up with a good in-character threat.
    • You confronted them somewhere they thought was safe (their shop, their home, their parent's funeral).
    ✧✧✧ You can intimidate anything which can understand your threats. You could bop a dragon on the shin and say "eeeeeehhh nice pile of treasure you got here, be a shame if something happened to it" and they would have to make a morale check. Dragons have very, very high morale scores, but they still have to make the check.
  2. Friends in Low Places
    ✧ You have 1d6 guild contacts in the underworld. They keep you updated of the gossip in the streets. Possible services include:
    • Fence for you to sell contraband.
    • Dealer for you to buy contraband.
    • Information Broker who can swap secrets.
    • Capo who can rent you soldiers.
    • Robber who needs another hand for a job.
    • Gentleman-Burglar who can be hired to steal specific things for you.
    If you move to a different area, it takes you a week to find another 1d6 contacts.
    Additionally you know Thieves Sign, which is impressive for someone with such big ugly sausage fingers.
    ✧✧ You have every common contact, and if you bring a letter of recommendation to a new city you can rebuild your network in an afternoon. If you ask around, 1d6 thugs will follow you on a job for a share of the loot. They have one rank in Exotic Proficiency and skip if they think you are screwing them over.
    ✧✧✧ You can communicate with Thieves Sign with eye contact and blinking, even if your hands are full. Rats, cats, pigeons and possums are willing to negotiate with you — they can be your spies or your thieves in return for food and minor favors.
    You can have a pet rat if you want. Roll on the following table for its name:
    1. Squeaks
    2. Sunny
    3. Reginald
    4. Garfield
    5. Schmendrick
    6. Fido
    7. Marcus
    8. Doris
    9. Rags
    10. Oswald
    11. Adorabelle
    12. Draco
  3. Optimized Looting
    ✧ When you take ten minutes to search a room, you can choose to search it very thoroughly (heh heh). This is a loud process and will alert anyone else in the building or cause an immediate wandering monster encounter. At the end of this thorough search, you will have discovered every secret door, revealed every trap, and piled up anything even vaguely saleable in a heap on the floor.
    ✧✧ You are a skilled appraiser, and can tell the approximate value (well within a magnitude) and the historical/geographical provenance of items and architecture on sight. You can smash priceless-but-intractable works of art into manageable chunks in such a way that they can still be sold for ¼ their value.
    ✧✧✧ You are a master appraiser, to the point of identifying individual works and artists on sight. Magical swords will talk to you even if they normally wouldn't. You know the value of mundane objects to within the nearest 5 gp, and can predict the value of magical items (contingent on your understanding of the magical effects).
  4. Impress Da Boss
    ✧ If you rolled lower than 10 on a strength-related check outside of combat — that is, to move an object, bend a bar, lift a gate or something along those lines — you rolled a 10 instead.
    ✧✧ You have a bag of tricks which can occupy up to 6 slots of inventory. You can pull a mundane one- or two-slot item out of the bag at any time, which then occupies those slots. The bag can be refilled in town with 5 gp of actual money and two hours of theft.
    ✧✧✧ If you can lift something, you can carry it indefinitely. Ignore encumbrance penalties. When people ask "isn't that heavy?" you must grunt and say "not really".
  5. That Didn't Hurt
    ✧ You have two hector points (hP). These represent your ability to ignore karate-kicks and blows to the head. When you take damage from a physical attack, your hP soak it first. You get a single hP back every time you intimidate an enemy into fleeing or reduce a target to 0 HP.
    ✧✧ You have four hP. They now soak damage from poison, fire, falling and magic. You can regain a point by getting drunk or destroying 5 gp of furniture.
    ✧✧✧ You have six hP. You can sacrifice one in combat to roll an attack with advantage. If you take a hit at full hP which overflows, ignore the overflow damage.
  6. Exotic Proficiency
    ✧ Pick a weapon which would be stupid and impractical for an urban setting (an urumi, a three-foot boomerang, a sledgehammer, a pair of nunchucks, a pair of tiger claws). You are proficient with that weapon as a fighter, and get +1 to-hit while using it.
    ✧✧ When making an attack with advantage using your stupid weapon, if both attack rolls succeed you hit twice. You also have +1 damage with the stupid weapon.
    ✧✧✧ Negotiate a special effect for your stupid weapon. An urumi might ignore shields, a missed boomerang might get a second chance to hit on its way back the next round, a pair of nunchucks might tangle enemy weapons. Something cool and intimidating. You get +2 to-hit and damage with the stupid weapon.

Preppies

Source: Thief GI cover by I-GUYJIN-I

    Those who rob for sport. Some are gentlemen-burglars, too proud to work (think A. J. Raffles and Mssr. Flambeau). Some are professionals with complicated reasons and justifications (Carmen Sandiego and Arsène Lupin). Some are rich kids bored with their lives of leisure. A few are just total shitheads.

Skills: 1. Dance 2. History 3. Gamesmanship. You can use shields and are proficient with rapiers, pistols, broadswords and shortbows.
Starting Equipment: An extra-large wallet, a domino mask, a nice suit (as unarmored, +1 reaction) and twenty calling cards with your name [design your own in Photoshop (or Paint)!].

  1. Idol Rich
    ✧ Everyone knows you come from good stock. Your calling cards count as invitations to the best parties in any city they are recognized, and your extensive balleto training lets you run across any structure which can hold your weight.
    ✧✧ A week of fraternizing gets you 1d6 contacts in the upper class. They give you accurate rumors and might let you borrow their yacht. Your calling cards can get you out of minor punishment (for crimes such as parking violations, trespassing, public drunkenness) with a minimum of embarrassment.
    ✧✧✧ Once per city, your calling cards can get you out of a death sentence (for crimes such as murder, kidnapping, blasphemy). You will be quietly escorted to the city limits and asked to never return. Your rich friends will think this is hilarious, unless the crime was against the upper class.
  2. Fancy
    ✧ High Fashion (as unarmored, +1 reaction) counts as leather for you. No one ever thinks it is strange that you are dressed in High Fashion.
    ✧✧ Your reaction bonus is trebled if your party members are also wearing High Fashion. When you take a hit, you may sunder your fancy clothing. The outfit is ruined, but incoming damage is reduced by a d12.
    ✧✧✧ Given half an hour and a knife you can turn any set of clothing into particularly daring High Fashion. Careful; you might start a new trend.
  3. Amateur Cracksman
    ✧ It's more fun if they never even knew you were there. Dark clothing and dance shoes give you a +2 bonus to sneak attempts. You have a 3-in-6 chance of picking a common lock in ten minutes (2-in-6 for something more secure, 1-in-6 for a safe or the like). Your jump distance is doubled..
    ✧✧ Odd how they never think to look behind them, or up. You can silently follow a lone creature for as long as you want. You don't need to roll to climb anything a normal person could climb with a roll, and your lock-picking attempts are improved by 2-in-6.
    ✧✧✧ When you step into a shadow, you leave the scene. Reenter from another shadow when you feel like it. This trick can take you unseen to anywhere, unless it would be literally impossible (the dimensional portal is well-lit and watched by Argus, the wizard teleported to the bottom of a volcano 1,000 miles away, or something else truly absurd). It might be more sporting if you started leaving your calling cards.
  4. Real Professor
    ✧ You've learned the hard lessons of the street. Quite literally — the Thugs Guild holds workshops down at the community center. Refreshments are provided (bagels and lemonade). When striking an unsuspecting target with a blunt object, you may forego damage to knock them prone and dazed for 1d6 rounds. You have a friend in a low place of your choice (except for the burglar, because that's you).
    ✧✧ Did you know the Thugs Guild offers a subscription service as well? It's true! Before a job, you can scare up 1d6 Thugs with one rank in Exotic Proficiency. They will each demand a share. If you lose a Thug, the Guild will expect a reimbursement of 100 gp. You can't get out of this penalty without skipping town entirely. Even you aren't more powerful than unionization.
    Roll to determine your thug's name:
    1. Klaus
    2. "Bubba"
    3. Big John
    4. Natasha
    5. Cash
    6. Rolf
    7. Maurice
    8. Gator
    9. Boris
    10. Crusher
    11. Nickie
    12. The Ethnonym
    ✧✧✧ In recognition of the friendship between you and Thugs everywhere, the Guild has put your name on a little board in their meeting hall. There's even a really ugly bronze statue of you on a park bench somewhere. You can flash your calling cards to get in to the back room of any casino or unsavory club, and you can reach any common friend in a low place within twenty-four hours. Various criminal elements recognize you as a patron of the Art. You can depend on their friendship and silence.
  5. Daddy's Money
    ✧ When you gain this skill, your parents send you a check for 50 gp. If you plan out a job at least a day in advance then you already own the mundane supplies — we've got people for that, you know.
    ✧✧ Your calling cards can be offered as promissories to automatically bribe doormen, revenuers and border patrol. This also works on 4-in-6 actual cops and 3-in-6 actual minor officials (judges, secretaries of politicians, bureaucratic functionaries).
    ✧✧✧ Your parents and any elder siblings have died in a tragic yachting accident at the family ski lodge. You immediately receive 1,000 gp, an estate in the city, an estate in the country, a yacht, a ski lodge, a crypt, 15,000 gp in gambling arrears and whatever grudges or favors your family is owed.
  6. Decadence
    ✧ The family library is extensive, and contains a few elder tomes of hideous secrets. You can cause one of the following effects with a whispered word:
    • Shatter a fragile glass object, like a cup, mirror or window. 
    • Snuff a small fire, like a match, candle or lamp.
    • Kill a small creature, like a spider, mouse or canary.
    • Force a sensation on a person, like a rotting stink, a flash-paper light or the sound of loud whispers. 
    When you use a hideous secret, roll an intelligence save or take a point of damage.
    ✧✧ When you gain this rank, you lose 3 points from Charisma or Wisdom. You can see in dim light as easily as direct sunlight. You know the names and faces of 1d6 of them, which allow you access to all sorts of exciting clubs and secret parties. Gain an MD and a spell of your choice.
    ✧✧✧ When you gain this rank, you lose 3 points from Charisma and Wisdom. They have noticed you and your meddling. Gain a mutation, another spell, and an additional MD. You might need to wear a mask in public now.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Blessed Even More (GLOG Classes: Clerics)

    The Masked Clerics are the successors to Aeshe the Great Sage, and therefore successors to the g_ds themselves. They travel the world beating back evil and bringing light to strange pagan nations. Their masks are constant symbols of their unshakeable faith and unbreakable vows.
    But why do clerics wear masks? It's a valid question. The non-answer is "if they aren't wearing masks they can't cast spells". But why is that? And why these very specific images? One of the great mysteries of the world, I suppose. Maybe there's somewhere you could go to try and find answers.


Imagine these gentlemen, but not necessarily gentlemen and they're all wearing silly masks. Source: Wikimedia

Glog Class: Masked Cleric


    You are a Cleric Errant, one who wears a holy mask and commands the servants of the g_ds. A brave campaigner against Chaos. Usually.
    Each order of masked clerics has its own set of tenets, which you must follow or face Doom. In exchange for following these tenets, you have access to angels who can be commanded with Mercy Dice. It's very similar to casting spells with Magic Dice, except it's called something different.
    You never fumble when wielding staves or knives, and can wear light armor. Your order may give you other proficiencies.

Skills: 1. Book-Keeping 2. Public Speaking 3. Archaeology

Starting Equipment: A porcelain mask indicating your order (can be remade for 10 gp if lost), robes from the same order, a walking staff (medium), a shortsword or a mace (light) and one other sacramental.

  • A: Ordained, Holy Mask, +1 MD
  • B: Prayer, +1 MD
  • C: Friends with an Angel, +1 MD
  • D: Monsignor, +1 MD
Perk: If you perform a three-hour ritual, you may direct an angel with one additional MD. This only takes one hour on Hallowed ground.
Drawback: Your power is tied to the oaths of your mask. While wearing it, you must follow the tenets of your order. Breaking the minor tenets while wearing the mask causes an immediate mishap. Breaking your major tenet is an immediate Doom, whether or not you are wearing your mask.

Cantrips
  1. You can choose to accompany your angels with the smell of incense, a pleasant yellow glow, the sound of musical chimes or any combination of these.
  2. You can tell how long a body has been dead for at a glance. This is less of a supernatural effect and more a necessary part of the job.
  3. You can always see angels and other spirits. If you are wearing your mask they can see you as well. In the same way Wizards can detect arcana, you can detect the influence of the supernal, in the form of curses, hatred and the blight of Chaos.

Ordained
    You are a member of a specific social class. People will make assumptions about you and your behavior. They will support you or oppose you based on the mask of your order.
Holy Mask
    Choose the Infant, the Skull, or the Elder. You are a White Mask, Black Mask or Purple Mask Cleric respectively. You are familiar with two angels from your sect's list; one is Hallow and the other is determined by rolling a d8. You may direct these angels by rolling your MD. If you are achieving a victory for the main tenet of your order, roll another MD which is not counted for mishaps or dooms. Up to your level of angels accompany you in your travels. If you are familiar with more (which you immediately are at first level), you can swap them out with an hour of prayerful meditation. You may encounter other angels on your journeys, and they may join you.
    Every morning, decide whether or not to put on your mask. If you do, failing any of the minor tenets of your order leads to an immediate mishap. If you don't, you cannot direct your angels. Taking the mask off before the end of the day leads to a mishap. Putting the mask on later is fine but you won't recover MD until the next morning.

Prayer
    Once per day, unnerved, unbalanced and at the end of your rope, you can beg for a divine favor. You have a 1-in-6 chance of receiving a single MD and an angel which you are expected to command immediately. Your chances go up by 1-in-6 if you have expended all your MD, if you are injured, or if you have been wearing your mask since morning (these stack). G_d doesn't care about spell lists and might send anything.

Friends with an Angel
    Choose an angel you are familiar with; she follows you without counting towards your limit. This is pretty cool and NPCs will react accordingly. When commanding this angel, your MD exhaust only on a 5 or 6.

Monsignor
    Your actions have been recognized by your Church. It is likely you will be canonized upon death. If you are a member of the White Masks, you no longer answer to your superiors, and are given a few initiates (perhaps 2d6) of your own to take under your wing and train.
    If you are a member of the Black Masks, you will be assigned a high-ranking assassin who will follow you around and kill you if you fall to Chaos. They are a fourth-level Sword-Shepherd trained in the Sacerd style.
    If you wear the Purple Mask, your exploits have earned you a following of disciples (perhaps 1d6) who are eager to learn from and argue with you. You could start a monastery if you wanted.


Masks, Tenets, Angels

The White Mask; the Infant

    The White Masks are the largest sect of religious (as in non-secular) clerics. Members of this sect wear black robes and the eponymous white masks which depict the face of an infant, to remind the world of the importance of innocence and humility.

Tenets of the White Mask:
  1. Do not, through action or inaction, allow an innocent to come to harm. Ignore all other tenets if they would interfere with this, your most important goal.
  2. In all things, obey your superiors in the Church without breaking the first tenet.
  3. Do not initiate violence, except when directed by a valid authority.
  4. Do not touch or interact with corpses, except as necessary for your clerical duties.
  5. Do not touch or carry bladed implements, except as necessary for your clerical duties.
    As a rule of thumb, an "innocent" is anyone with less than 1 HD who isn't trying to fight. Initating violence means to cause initiatives to be rolled, to cast a damaging spell or to make an attack. Rations made from meat are corpses. Arrows are bladed implements. Shovels are bladed implements, but digging a grave is often a necessary clerical duty.

    The first White Mask Cleric was also the first disciple of the Great Sage after His ordeals. Thus, the angels of the White Masks are among the most highly revered. Their clerics are proficient with maces and hammers.
  1. Hallow
    R: 30*[dice]' T: a valid square area at most 30*[dice]' to a side, or [dice] corpses D: [dice]*12 hours.
    This must be performed as a ritual.
    A valid area has four solid corners and something to serve as an altar. In a pinch, four piles of rocks and a dead horse will do. If Hallow is consistently applied to an area for fifty days, it is permanently Hallowed.
    Anything cast in a Hallowed area is a ritual. Demons and elfs will not enter without provocation.
    Target corpses will not rise from the dead. They cannot be resurrected by any force weaker than your Hallow.
  2. Heal
    R: Touch T: an injured person D: immediate.
    The target is healed for [sum] HP. If you invest more [dice] you can choose to forego the healing for a different benefit:
    If two [dice] are invested, this is a Lesser Restore, which can close a flesh wound or knit a broken bone.
    If three [dice] are invested, this is a Restoration, which can reform mangled body parts or cure a disease.
    Four [dice] invested result in a Greater Restore which can reattach a recently-severed limb or regrow fingers and toes.
    Casting with five [dice] makes this a Miracle, which can regrow essential organs or missing limbs, and can cure any number of diseases.
  3. Turn
    R: 20*[dice]' T: [sum] enemies of fewer than [dice] HD D: up to [dice] hours.
    Targets within range are compelled to flee your presence. Intelligent creatures get a save to resist; unintelligent undead do not. Intelligent creatures are also smart enough to take potshots at the cleric from beyond the range. If you take any damage the Turning immediately ends.
    If you invest three [dice] or more, obliterate [dice] undead within range, starting from the weakest.
  4. Hold
    R: 30' T: a door, rope, creature or other movable thing. D: [sum] rounds.
    The target is grappled (or held in place) by an angel. The angel is as strong as an adult human with 12 + ([dice]*3) Strength, a good grip, and a firm place to stand.
  5. Kindle
    R: reach T: a creature or object struck by your weapon D: instant
    Make an attack against the target with +[dice] to-hit. If the attack hits, target takes an additional [sum] points of fire damage without a save. Inanimate objects are hit automatically.
  6. Bless
    R: 50*[dice]' T: [sum] creatures within range D: [dice] hours
    Scream, pray and prophesy as loud as you can while holding your hands above your head. If you have a staff or a sword you should be holding it. While you are doing this all targets within range get a [dice] bonus to every d20 roll they make.
    The effect ends immediately if you take damage or if you drop your hands. A CON check every few minutes would be appropriate.
  7. Haircloth and Ashes
    R: shouting distance T: an intelligent creature with HD equal to or HIGHER than [dice] D: [dice] rounds
    You make a complex theological argument describing the target's many sins. At the end of the duration, compare the [sum] to the target's HP. If [sum] is higher, the target abandons their worldly life and leaves forever.
    If you take damage while making the argument, the casting fails and your MD are lost. The target is likely to attack you unless of a highly religious bent.
  8. Summon Scavengers
    R: 300' T: a point within range D: [dice] hours
    [sum] HD worth of wild animals will swarm the target and attempt to consume it. With one [die], this is mostly insects which will eat unguarded food. With two, this will include rodents and other small vermin, who may attack people in the area. Three [dice] will summon flocks of scavenger birds, and four will summon foxes, raccoons and wild dogs. Stories of powerful clerics summoning 1d100 bears are likely apocryphal.
  9. Deluge
    R: [dice] miles T: a circular area centered on you D: [dice] days
    The target area receives heavy rain. If cast with one [die], clouds gather over the course of [least] days, to steadily rain on the target area for the duration. If cast with two, clouds hurry to the area on sudden winds over [least] hours. If cast with three, the clouds are visibly dragged across the sky within [least] minutes. Casting with four [dice] will cause you to vomit out dark storm clouds which form immediately, and the duration is extended to [sum] days.
  10. Raise
    You touch a corpse and return it to some form of life.
    If one [die] is invested, this is called Question Dead and must be cast on a corpse dead for fewer than 24 hours. The corpse will answer [sum] yes-or-no questions you ask it. They are under no obligations, but will usually be friendly..
    If two [dice] are invested, this is Speak with Dead and must be cast on a corpse dead for fewer than five days. The corpse returns to life for [sum] rounds and can hold a conversation with you. They are under no obligations, and may attack if hostile (if you receive damage the effects end immediately).
    If three [dice] are invested, this is Raise Dead and must be cast on a corpse dead for less than a month. The corpse returns to life for [sum]*2 hours. They may have suffered some ability-score damage from decay, but otherwise are completely functional.
    If four dice are invested, this is Resurrection and must be cast on a corpse dead for less than a year. The corpse returns to life for [sum] days. Decay is halted, memories are retained, and the spell may be cast again when the duration is up. Life, in some form, continues.
    Five [dice] would make this spell a True Resurrection. In theory this would return someone to true life; in practice the risks are too high to make the casting practical, and it is illegal anyway (what would the Emperor do if someone raised his grandfather from the dead?)


The Black Mask; the Skull

    The Black Masks are the most widespread and adventurous sect. Members of this sect wear white robes and the eponymous black masks depicting a skull, to remind the world of mortality and the surety of Judgment. Their clerics can use medium armor and shields, and are proficient in one-handed guns or swords.

Tenets of the Black Mask:
  1. Do not, through action or inaction, allow a guilty person to escape justice. Ignore all other tenets if they would interfere with this, your most important goal.
  2. Do not, through spoken or written word, through action or implication, lie. Go out of your way to correct misunderstandings, unless doing so might break the first tenet.
  3. Distrust every other cleric and every member of every hierarchy. When in doubt, assume enemy action.
  4. Carry no more money, food or equipment than you need. Any wealth you have in excess must be given to the Church.
  5. Ignore rules of etiquette. Be brusque and straightforward, and do not make smalltalk.
 As a rule of thumb, to "escape justice" means to be able and willing to repeat whatever crimes got them in trouble in the first place. Punishment is usually at your discretion. If an execution would be wildly inappropriate (and not merely excessive), then they probably don't count as a "guilty person". Wealth donated to the Church counts for carousing XP. "Banal politeness" really depends on the situation.
  1. Hallow
    As a White Mask.
  2. Heal
  3. Turn
  4. Kindle
  5. Bless
  6. Glory
    R: n/a T: self D: [dice] hours
    Your head is lit with a halo of divine radiance. For the duration, you are noticeably more attractive. The halo casts brilliant daylight out to [best]*10', and hirelings and party members get a +[dice] bonus to morale rolls and saves against Fear.
  7. Iconoclasm
    R: shouting distance T: a solid object or structure D: instant
    An invisible angel applies sudden sharp force to an inanimate target within range. The strength of this force depends on the number of [dice] you invest; a single [die] is like a blow of a hammer (shattering a household idol or destroying a painting), two [dice] is as effective as two people with tools (knocking over a man-sized idol, smashing open a locked door or chest), three [dice] can do the work of ten men with pulleys and levers (toppling a 20-foot statue, collapsing a wooden building), four [dice] are worth a dozen workmen and a full day (collapsing a stone building, shattering half an acre of woodland). This effect is immediate and must be accompanied with a loud cry.
  8. Demagogy
    R: n/a T: self D: [dice] minutes
    Your voice is supernaturally amplified. You speak like a crowd of [best]*[dice] men, women and children. Intelligent beings with fewer HD than [dice] must save to disbelieve anything you tell them. Animals will flee. Monsters will be attracted.
  9. Dispel
    R: touch T: a supernatural object or an area with a magical effect D: instant
    Lightning wreaths your hand. When you touch the target, its magic is undone if weaker than or equal to your Dispel. If stronger, make a save with a penalty equal to the difference in MD or level of caster (depending on the effect). If you fail a save against a more powerful spell, take [dice] damage. Some magical items will be destroyed, others rendered mundane, and some may regain their power as time passes or on certain events.
  10. Pillar
    R: 30' T: a cylindrical volume [dice]*5' in radius and [dice]*20' high D: [dice] minutes
    The target volume is filled with a roaring whirlwind for the duration. Unsecured objects will be thrown around, and ranged attacks (made from, directed into or passing through) automatically miss. Flying creatures will take 1d6 damage every round from flying debris.
    On their turn, you may choose to move the the pillar 60' in any direction. The mass of rushing garbage deals [dice] damage to unarmored creatures it passes over, no save.

The Purple Mask; the Elder

    Purple Heresy is widespread in the bitter South. Their clerics wear a purple mask which resembles an old man grinning broadly. This imagery is religiously significant in some important way. If you ask what significance it has, the Purple Heretics laugh and call you stupid. Their clerics can use shields and are proficient with rifles.

Tenets of the Purple Masks:
  1. Do not, through action or inaction, allow error to be taught. Use fire if necessary. Ignore all other tenets if they would interfere with this, your most important goal.
  2. Do not share information with the unworthy or those who would misuse it.
  3. Seek out ancient tomes and ruins; do not allow information to be lost or forgotten.
  4. Correct those who are under false impressions, unless this would interfere with the second tenet.
  5. Accumulate libraries and stores of secret information, unless this would break the third tenet.
    A bishop who preaches (or a book which states) that Aeshe died a martyr is "teaching error", a farmer who thinks disease is spread by miasma is not. Authority to teach is the key element, not the nature of the error. Most PCs are unworthy unless strictly necessary. Remember; it's easy to give away a secret, but taking it back costs blood. Err on the side of caution. Stealing from another cleric's secret archive is bad form, but copying isn't stealing even if they get really mad at you.
  1. Hallow
    As a White Mask.
  2. Turn
  3. Kindle
  4. Message
    R: [dice]*5 miles T: a person you know the name of D: immediate
    Sends a message of [sum] words or fewer to a person you know. You can choose to have this happen immediately, or at some point within the next 24 hours. Waking targets perceive the message being shouted at them by many voices. Sleeping targets perceive an angel reading from a scroll in a dream.
  5. Guide Eyes
    R: [dice]*30' T: [sum] creatures D: [dice] minutes
    Targets save or find their eyes drawn inexorably towards a point or direction you designate. If this is behind them, they may choose between turning around or closing their eyes.
  6. Ghost Form
    R: 5' T: self D: [dice] minutes
    You create a duplicate of yourself which disappears after taking any damage. Mundane equipment is copied for the duration. At the end of the duration, or when the duplicate is destroyed, its memories return to you. You may, at any time, destroy the duplicate and immediately move to its location.
  7. Literal Translation
    R: touch T: physical text or images D: [dice] minutes
    Pass your hands over the target as you cast this spell. Words will be reformed in an approximation of their original meaning. You can do this on paintings and sculptures as well, and the angel will do her best to reshape the art in a way that gives you more context. Angels do not necessarily understand complex language, figures of speech, artistic liberties or very subtle symbolism. The target returns to its original form at the end of the duration.
  8. Deserving Truth
    R: touch T: n/a D: permanent
    You trace burning sigils on a surface, such as a wall or a piece of paper. These sigils deal [sum] damage to humans, beasts, monsters, ghosts, undead, angels, devils or any other creature which can see and understand them. They may save to take [dice] damage instead. Damaging the surface ends the effect.
  9. Eye of Eyes
    R: n/a T: a person, place or thing you can name and could pick out of a lineup D: [dice] minutes
    You summon an angel whose eyes you can perceive through at-will. She flies towards the target at one-hundred and twenty miles an hour, then hovers close to it until the duration ends.
    For every MD invested past the first, add one of these effects: sense of hearing, senses of touch and taste and smell, directing the angel to examine the environment, detecting supernal influences, speaking with the angel's voice.
    There are some things in the world you do not want to examine too closely — things like cursed artifacts, the stars, whatever hides behind another cleric's mask. Be careful.
  10. Nowhere
    R: 5' T: a space seven feet long and three feet wide D: [dice] minutes
    A coffin appears in the target space. It is large enough to contain a person, or 7 slots of inventory space, and disappears at the end of the duration. It is always the same coffin.
    If your coffin is damaged or stolen, you will have to apply for a new one from the angels. And for heaven's sake, don't let it vanish with living things inside!
Mishaps of the Masked Cleric:
  1. Sprained soul. Your dice return to your pool only on a result of 1 or 2 for 24 hours. If this is the result of breaking a tenet, instead dice will not return to your pool for 24 hours.
  2. Flashpoint. The casting produces a burst of painful holy light. Your angels panic and are blinded for 24 hours, reducing all casting ranges to touch.
  3. Hypermobility. Take d6 damage, adding the result to [sum]. If this is the result of breaking a tenet, instead roll a Mishap with every casting for the next 24 hours.
  4. The angel leaves in a huff, and cannot be contacted for 24 hours. Other angels will be snippy with you. If this is the result of breaking a tenet, a random angel (besides your Friend) leaves.
  5. Ripple effect. All undead within 10 miles are alerted to your location.
  6. Bearing overload. Flammable clothing catches. Lose your sense of taste, smell and touch for 24 hours.

Dooms of the Masked Cleric:
  1. Your mind breaks and Chaos flows in like molten lead. The cleric is under the control of the DM for one hour. Their new personality exists in the overlap between Dick Dastardly, Pol Pot and a middle-school bully. They are not necessarily hostile towards the party, but they are likely hostile towards the party's goals, and may need to be restrained.
  2. The same as the above but the affliction lasts for 24 hours.
  3. Permanent loss of control. The cleric flees into the night a depraved wretch whose only delight is carnage and misery. If you were a Monsignor, that "whoosh" you heard was your chance of canonization going flying off.
You can avoid this gruesome fate by truly Resurrecting a great hero, by putting a priest of Chaos to rest, or by recovering a lost page of the Magolg par artenbrar.


Sacramentals
  1. Gold-plated Mace. A medium weapon which deals full damage to the undead. Expensive to replace. 1 slot.
  2. Bottle of Holy Water. Splash this on an undead for 1d6 damage, or on random people in the street in case they are devils. Three doses. You can make another bottle with blessed salt, an MD and a ritual (blessing the salt is also a ritual but a sack of that stuff lasts a long time). ⅓ slot.
  3. Bottle of Blessed Chrism. Can be splashed on undead like holy water, or you can insert a wick and use it like a blessed lamp. In olden days this was a mix of olive oil and balm-of-gilead; now it's just the oil. ⅓ slot.
  4. 10 Beeswax Candles. Nice modern wicks. Shed 10' of light for half an hour. 1 slot altogether.
  5. 100' of Silk Rope. Very high-quality stuff. 1 slot.
  6. Crosier. A T-shaped bronze head on a medium staff. For some reason, angels out in the wild respond well to it. 1 slot.
  7. Ribbon. Twenty feet of it, in the color of your choice. Delightful.
  8. Bone Shoebuckles. Heavy iron things filled with pieces of saints (not necessarily the bones). Your footprints can be tracked with supernal-sight, and you can kick down weak Wizard Locks (or similar spells) as if they weren't there.
  9. Snakeskin Belt. Fashionable. If thrown into a fire, emerges as an immense, fireproof 4 HD viper. It is not loyal or grateful. Its skin can be made into another belt.
  10. Blessed Gun. A normal snapchance (2d6 damage, full minute to reload, -1 to-hit every 10' of range), but it has been blessed. Glows faintly in total darkness. 1 slot.
  11. Horn of Red Powder. Weaker than black powder; guns loaded with it deal 2 points of damage fewer. Red powder catches even if soaking wet, produces no smoke and explodes almost silently. The muzzle flash is lurid red and much brighter than that of normal powder. Ten doses. 2 slots.
  12. Orthodox Holy Book. Contains information about Aeshe, his torture, and what his disciples taught. Hearing this read gives hirelines and party members +1 to morale rolls and saves against Fear. ⅓ slot.
  13. Less Orthodox Holy Book. Contains information about Aeshe's death and the early days of the Church. There's a map scrawled over one of the pages. You need a good reason to own something like this. ⅓ slot.
  14. Very Irregular Holy Book. Contains speculation about Aeshe, his disciples, and their relation to the g_ds. This might be the last copy in the world. You do not have a good enough reason to own it. ⅓ slot.
  15. Calligraphy Set. Pens, brushes, inks, nice paper. Doesn't make you a better writer but it makes you the best writer you can be. 1 slot.
  16. A drawing of the face of G_d. You (yes you, the player) have to actually draw this. Whatever you draw is your character's take.
  17. Fake Mask. Looks just like another sect's mask. You could have a lot of fun with this (and all of it would be illegal). ⅓ slot.
  18. Sacral Mirror. Reflects more than just light. Allows you to see yourself with supernal-sight or to peer around corners. ⅓ slot.
  19. PLACE NO BETS. A handsome heavy weapon, with a squared-off blade and a holy symbol on his pommel. Remembers a lot of folklore and likes to tell stories around the campfire. He also likes to cut the heads off of criminals. 2 slots.
  20. An oddity. Roll 1d6:
    1. A small pair of golden scissors. Their edge never dulls.
    2. A diamond-studded ring in a rococo style. "Eats" fires when you stick your hand in them, and can light kindling with a snap of your fingers.
    3. A ram's horn, polished smooth. Blowing it produces a male chorus singing about the end of the world.
    4. A briar pipe and a few ounces of high-quality tobacco.
    5. A pair of green sunglasses. Canines (including werewolves) are invisible to you while you wear them.
    6. A map to the site of several lost treasures of the Green Heretics. They will pay you 20 gp for it. Their rivals will pay you 30.
Good luck.