Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Eyes and Nostrils Hotter than Hell (October 4th)

    The fourth GLOGtober theme: swirling rainbow vortices. An interdimensional portal looks like one of those (I think). 

Source: Horizon Walker by LuckyLeguan
 

Class: Horizon Walker

"Horizon Walkers guard the world against threats that originate from other planes or that seek to ravage the mortal realm with otherworldly magic. They seek out planar portals and keep watch over them, venturing to the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes as needed to pursue their foes. These rangers are also friends to any forces in the multiverse — especially benevolent dragons, fey, and elementals — that work to preserve life and the order of the planes."

    That's the official line, anyway. You are a ranger tasked with patrolling the planes and enforcing a cosmic Prime Directive, ensuring would-be Alexanders weep when they realize they can only conquer one.
    For every template you have in this class, you gain +1 sneak. If you have at least one template in this class you never fumble while using staves, knives, bows, or one-handed blades. You can wear both light and medium armor, and may use shields. 

Skills: 1. Endurance Running 2. Planar Mechanics 3. Counterintelligence

Starting Equipment: sturdy clothing (as leather), champagne saber (light), horn bow (see list below), another piece of planar gear of your choice.

  • A Wide Ranging, Portal Hunter, +1 HP
  • B Ethereal Step, +1 to-hit
  • C Ethereal Hew, +1 HP
  • D Ethereal Defense, Ethereal Prosecution, +1 AC

Wide Ranging
    Choose two of the following adjectives: barren, populated, abandoned, forested, frigid, windswept, arid, damp, craggy, dark, coastal, spooky. While in an area described by that adjective, you can light a fire (given tools, fuel, 60 local minutes and cooperative weather), find enough food for one person, follow tracks a local day old, and may protect one person from poor conditions.
    Every time you level up, select another adjective. Effects stack. Adjectives may be selected multiple times.
Portal Hunter
    Training has given you a special sense for holes in reality. You immediately know if  a new planar portal is opened within one mile. With an hour of meditation, you can sense the exact position of the nearest portal within one mile per level.
    If you focus on a visible enemy for a full combat turn (about six local seconds), your melee attacks against them deal force damage (fully effective against targets corporeal, incorporeal or entirely psychosomatic). If they leave your sight or one of you dies, you lose this focus.

Ethereal Step
    Taking a step parallel to all 10 normal dimensions places you in the Ethereal Plane. While in this state, you are invisible and lose all senses except 30' of monochrome vision. You may drift through solid objects, but if you are inside an object at the end of the step you shunt to the nearest unoccupied space and take force damage as if you had fallen twice the distance. The step lasts for about six local seconds (typically enough time to move 60' horizontally or 30' vertically).
    When you use this ability more than once per local day you have a cumulative 1-in-6 chance to fail to return. Those trapped in the Ethereal Plane age at 1/100th of local rate, and cannot be recovered with only stepping.

Ethereal Hew
    Bilocation is a common Planar power, but impressive nevertheless. When you attack an enemy you may simultaneously attack a different enemy within 60'. If the second attack connects and the first misses, you are now adjacent to the second enemy. If both connect you may choose your position.

Ethereal Defense
    What's better than being in two places simultaneously? Being in no places simultaneously. Once per combat round (about every six local seconds), you may blink in and out of the Ethereal Plane to ignore half of incoming damage. This does not count against your steps.
Ethereal Prosecution
    Rangers aren't actually part of the judicial branch, of course, but "Ethereal Prosecution" is a good name for a template.
    As a senior Horizon Walker you are empowered to make arrests of genies, devils, and other important members of planar society. You need at least some excuse to do this, and too many spurious arrests gets you in trouble with Interdimensional Affairs, but arrestees must make their planar court dates or face serious consequences.
    You may also request backup by saying aloud "I need backup". A pair of junior agents will materialize nearby within 1d6 minutes. They will return once you are somewhat safe. If you get them killed, Central will refuse to send you any more for 1d6 weeks per death. They are members of one or more of the following bizarre races:

  1. Human
  2. Snakewoman
  3. Birdman
  4. Big Squid
  5. Half-Orc, Half-Elf
  6. Obvious Werewolf
  7. Paper Doll
  8. Two Humans

Planar Gear

  1. Sturdy Clothing. Soft leather, boiled leather, protects your important bits. 0 slots worn, 2 slots carried.
  2. Champagne Saber. Works just as well as a real one. ⅓rd slot.
  3. Horn Bow. Not designed to be used on foot. 1d6 damage at 10', -1 to-hit every 5' beyond that. ⅓rd slot.
  4. Fancy Boots. Gleaming leather, curly toes, sharp hobnails. Protects you from the knees down. 1 slot.
  5. Big Hat. Shades you from the sun(s) and impresses the locals.
  6. Large box of Foreign Currency. Contains 50gp, 1d6 of which the people of this town will grudgingly accept. 1 slot.
  7. Conceptual Map. Allows route-planning between spheres.
  8. Clockwork Handbow. A great idea, but the technology just isn't there yet. 2d6 damage at 10', -1 to-hit every 5' beyond that. Explodes in a mess of wires and gears for 1d6 damage in 20' on a fumble. Fires steel darts, comes with a pack of 10. ⅓rd slot and 1 slot respectively.
  9. Grapnel and 100' of silk rope. 1 slot each.
  10. Chroma Glass. A scope which may be adjusted indefinitely to focus over the horizon. Takes about one local second for the focus to move one mile. Red light is lost in the transition. 1 slot.
  11. Packet of Goop Pellets. Not sure what's in this gunk, but if you drop it into a portal the next thing to pass through will be painted blue. Three doses.
  12. Coordinates Booklet. Includes the location of dozens of points of interest. Useful when setting up new portals. Do not allow this information to be captured. ⅓rd slot.
  13. REJOINDER Device. Something like a kaleidoscope. Allows you to view secret messages left in the environment by other Rangers, if you know the settings they used to encode. ⅓rd slot.
  14. Planar Sextant. Allows one to calculate local rate and proximity to a calibrated universal center (where you are and how fast you're going). ⅓rd slot.
  15. Perfect Filter. Looks like a tobacco pipe, extracts all potable water from a substance inserted into the larger end.
  16. Polymultitool. A heavy, complicated set of fold-out toolheads and spare handles. Six seconds of searching gives you a 1-in-6 chance of finding the specific mundane tool you are searching for. 3 slots.
  17. Walking Flask. A sturdy medium walking stick with a concealable 1-liter flask in the head. 1 slot.
  18. Inflatable Boat. Comes with a ripcord. 2' by 2' by 2' compressed, 20' by 20' by 4' expanded. 3 slots.
  19. Three sticks of dynamite. ⅓rd slot each.
  20. A strange or inexplicable curio. Roll 1d6 on the following list:
    1. A statue of a cricket. Makes cricket noises with impeccable comedic timing.
    2. Exotherm salt-shaker. One hearty shake converts a liter of water to ice. 10 doses.
    3. Transitive Opera Glasses. One lens is red, the other blue. When used, you see from their focal point as if you were standing there. ⅓rd slot
    4. Crowd-Patterned Poncho. Looks very strange when standing alone. Blends seamlessly into a crowd.
    5. Sack of cosmic flour. Baked goods prepared from this flour are alive and sentient. Enough for a dozen cookies or one medium cake. 1 slot.
    6. Hell's Eye. A large silvery diamond with a starburst flaw. Critical attacks against the wearer slay them instantly in a manner that destroys their face and other defining features, no matter how bizarre or unlikely that result is.

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