Reaching for Things You Shouldn't (Class: Wizard)

Another remix of Loch's immaculate Wonder-Worker, meant for a theoretical all-wizards game in the style of gnome comic Witch Hat Atelier.

ghst410

Mage

Start with: Traveling clothes, your Grimoire (1 Slot), three non-taboo Implements of your choice (see below), a light pocket knife. 

A - Crown, Spellcasting, +1 MD
B - Enchantment, Second Sight, +1 MD
C - Specialization, +1 MD
D - Artifice OR Gramarye, +1 MD

Crown
Like most living beings, you have a Crown, which is an invisible extension of your anima, or soul.

Unlike most living beings, your Crown extends [templates] * 10 paces around you, allowing you to cast spells onto anything that you can see within it. Spell effects that would leave your Crown falter and fail unless otherwise stated.

All spells you cast must originate within your Crown. 

Spellcasting
You can cast spells by combining a Word with up to [templates] Implements. You start with the knowledge of 2 Words, rolled randomly from the d60 list below.

Your Words are kept in your Grimoire. You can only use Words if you have a physical representation of them on your person (usually in, say, your Grimoire). Having a Word inked or branded onto your body bypasses that restriction, but marks you as a maleficar, an outlaw mage.

Words can be found in Grimoires of other spellcasters or in places where mages congregate or once congregated, but also inscribed on walls of ancient ruins or innards of powerful Monsters. When in a Libram, a place of great knowledge, you must roll randomly for the Word from its list.

It takes 2d6 days of downtime and uninterrupted access to the source of a Word to copy it into a Grimoire. A Grimoire has no practical limit on the number of Words it can contain. 

New Implements must be found in the world, or bought from artisans, which are available in most towns with a heavy mage presence.

Addendum: Magic
To cast a spell, dedicate a number of Magic Dice (MD) to it and roll them. They return on 1-3 and expend on 4-6, as usual, and are replenished at the start of each day after a night's sleep.

A given spell has [sum] points of power - dealing [sum] damage, reducing [sum] damage, etc.

Things beyond just damage allow creatures with the same or more HD than you to save. 

If you roll doubles when casting a spell, a Mishap occurs. Consult the following table, using the [value] shown on the doubles to determine the specific Mishap:

1. Fizzle - The spell fizzles out in a harmless, but messy and noticeable burst of [word].
2. Scatter - The spell affects a different target from the intended one, chosen at random.
3. Mangle - [word] is twisted into a different, related Word that weakens the intended effect.
4. Backfire - The spell works as intended, but you take [dice]d4 damage as [word] lashes back at you.
5. Overflow - Immediately add another MD to the spell, potentially causing additional Mishaps or Catastrophes. If you have no MD left to add, take 1d6 damage instead.
6. Reversal - The spell produces the opposite of its intended effect, and [word] is replaced with the appropriate opposite Word if possible. 

Kamome Shirahama

If you roll triples, the spell causes a Catastrophe in addition to any intended effects as its magic grows too wild to control. In that case, you must choose how the Catastrophe manifests:

• Transformation - Suffer [value] cosmetic changes themed around [word], with every third total change also granting a [word]-related ability. Reaching 10 total changes results in your body being fully consumed by magic as you permanently transform into a Monster.
• Desolation - Afflict an area within [value] bowshots around you with [word]. The effect is always disruptive (if not outright harmful) and long-lasting (if not permanent), creating a notable local landmark.
• Incarnation - Embody the magic into a new type of Monster of the [word] with [value] HD. Note that this creates a type of Monster and not necessarily a singular specimen, meaning that it will be permanently unleashed onto the world unless immediately taken care of.

Naturally, causing a Catastrophe marks you as a maleficar, provided it can be traced back to you.

Enchantment
Instead of simply casting spells, you may now use them to enchant items.

To enchant an item, cast a spell with a Word and chosen Implements onto it like you normally would by rolling MD. Enchantment takes 1 hour per MD used.

MD used for enchanting are indefinitely invested into the item and do not return to the mage's pool until they are reclaimed by the mage at any point afterwards or the item is destroyed, ending the enchantment in either case. Spent MD remain spent upon being reclaimed.

If an enchantment must grant a numerical bonus beyond obvious utility, use [dice].

Rolls of doubles during enchanting cause an Enchantment Mishap to occur, which is determined using its own table:

1. Breakdown - The enchantment fails and the item breaks, remaining unusable until fixed.
2. Outburst - The spell cannot be contained within the item, and is resolved as if cast normally.
3. Binding - Invested MD fuse with the item and can only be reclaimed by destroying it.
4. Drift - [word] is twisted into a different, related Word that weakens the intended effect.
5. Awakening - The item gains sentience and a colorful personality befitting of [word], and may refuse to cooperate in the case of a conflict of interests.
6. Curse - The item gains a malevolent downside, utilizing [word] to hinder its user in some way.

Rolls of triples cause a Catastrophe like they would during spellcasting.

Second Sight
You gain the ability to see Crowns.

This allows you to identify fellow mages and other spellcasters and tell how powerful they are at a glance, as well as see incorporeal beings (like spirits, whose bodies and Crowns are essentially one and the same) and recognize the presence of other living creatures (for example, you could tell if someone is in a pitch black room with you, but not who it is).

Specialization
Select one Word you know and one Implement in your possession.
Spells you cast that use this Word or this Implement retain MD on rolls of 1-4.

Artifice
You can now create Implements. 

To make an Implement, you must take a mundane object and ritualistically prepare it over 3d6 days of downtime. The object becomes an Implement, gaining the appropriate effect. If there is no effect already associated with this type of object, you may suggest a new one.

You automatically gain specialization with every Implement you make.

Gramarye
Once, at any point after taking this template, you may invent a new Word.

This can be any Word from the lists below that you haven't encountered yet, or you may propose an entirely new one. In either case, you gain specialization with this Word, and may cast spells with it even if it's not present in physical form on your person.

It only takes 1d6 days for you to inscribe your Word onto a physical object. Even if you choose not to, others will be able to learn it by cutting you open and transcribing it from your internal organs.

pseudokap

Words

A Grimoire taken from another mage will usually contain 1d3 Words. A Libram can offer the knowledge of 4-8 Words, often vaguely linked by a common theme.

1d60 Words:

1. Slime
2. Ice
3. Vermin
4. Paper
5. Courage
6. Crystal
7. Silk
8. Confusion
9. Rain
10. Invisibility
11. Rope
12. Fish
13. Fungus
14. Mending
15. Smoke
16. Song
17. Healing
18. Light
19. Water
20. Wax
21. Silence
22. Clouds
23. Acid
24. Fire
25. Wood
26. Soil
27. Gold
28. Web
29. Gravity
30. Sand
31. Embers
32. Steam
33. Snow
34. Heat
35. Oil
36. Iron
37. Birds
38. Ash
39. Plants
40. Awe
41. Whisper
42. Echo
43. Dream
44. Waves
45. Stone
46. Frost
47. Silver
48. Joy
49. Lightning
50. Livestock
51. Mist
52. Growth
53. Mud
54. Calm
55. Wind
56. Mechanism
57. Roar
58. Shadow
59. Flowers
60. Clay

This is not an exhaustive list, and many other Words can be found in the world.

1d20 Taboo Words:

1. Flesh
2. Hunger
3. Ruin
4. Phantasms
5. Charm
6. Chaos
7. Disease
8. Memory
9. Pain
10. Fatigue
11. Poison
12. Fear
13. Sorrow
14. Beholding
15. Ghosts
16. Decay
17. Bone
18. Void
19. Rage
20. Blood

Casting spells that utilize taboo Words, as well as their mere presence within one's Grimoire, marks the person in question as a maleficar.

Conner Fawcett

Implements

Implements take up 1 Inventory Slot unless otherwise stated.

1d20 Implements with Direct Effects:

1. Wand - Create or conjure [word] at a distance.
2. Rod - Make a strike charged with [word].
3. Staff - Fire a cone-shaped blast of [word]. 2 slots.
4. Sword - Cut through [word]. 2 slots.
5. Orb - Get a vision of nearby [word], or something in nearby [word].
6. Censer - Affect all in your Crown with [word]. 
7. Horn - Drive out all [word] from your Crown. 
8. Jar - Draw in [word], sealing it within. Contains 1 thing at a time.
9. Hammer - Break [word] with a strike.
10. Veil - Become invisible to creatures of [word], and [word] itself. 
11. Lantern - See through [word] in your Crown.
12. Mask - Speak and ask questions of [word] for a time.
13. Alembic - With an hour’s work, distill a Potion of [word]. 2 slots.
14. Spindle - With a touch, mend something with [word], or [word] itself.
15. Fan - Move [word] within your Crown. 
16. Chain - Contain or immobilize [word], holding it in place. 
17. Key - Create a path through [word], allowing for harmless passage.
18. Bell - Animate [word] or a construct of [word] to obey simple commands.
19. Scissors - Separate [word] from something, or something from [word].
20. Chalk - Summon a spirit of [word]. Consumable, has 6 uses.

Consumable implements vanish upon use, necessitating finding or buying more.

1d20 Implements with Modifying Effects:

1. Antique Pentacles - Spend 1-to-1 to increase [sum]. Consumable. Start with 10.
2. Linen Tunic - Increase [sum] by 3 as long as your bare skin is in direct contact with the earth.
3. Spark-split Branch - Affect up to [dice] extra targets, but reduce [sum] by the number of targets.
4. Gearwork Dial - Delay an effect for up to [sum] minutes, setting a condition upon which it triggers. You don’t need to be conscious for it to trigger. If the time passes without it triggering, the effect simply doesn’t occur.
5. Bullhide Belt - While the belt is buckled, the [sum] of spells affecting you is lowered by 3.
6. Furled Bloom - Spells overspill to things near them. Consumable. Start with 6.
7. Silvered Mirror - The next spell that affects you is deflected back at its source. Consumable, has 2 uses: cracks on first use, then shatters into pieces.
8. Cricket Brooch - Increase [sum] by 1 for each day spent without sleep.
9. Albatross Feather - Replace [word] in this spell with gale. Consumable. Start with 6.
10. Flint Arrowhead - Imbue the spell into a projectile, like an arrow or a slingstone, that you must immediately fire. The spell is cast on impact. Consumable. Start with 6.
11. Communion Chalice - You may add your MD to spells of those who drank from this chalice, as long as you're within each other's Crowns. You both suffer Mishaps and Catastrophes.
12. Beeswax Candle - When lit, anything illuminated by the candlelight is considered to be inside your Crown. Consumable. Start with 3.
13. Hush Scarf - While wearing this, your spells are no louder than a whisper, and people in your Crown must save to realize that their effects originate from you.
14. Twin Rings - As long as you wear one, its twin produces a [templates] pace wide "bubble" of your Crown around itself. If the twin ring is worn by another, you share each other's Crowns.
15. Thrumming Diapason - The spell's effect repeats [dice] rounds in a row. 2 slots.
16. Horn Cane - Allows you to affect horned animals you can see, even if they’re not in your Crown.
17. Sun Medallion - Increase [sum] by 2 when in direct sunlight. Moonlight and starlight versions also exist.
18. Scrivener's Ink - Spend 10 minutes to inscribe a sigil on a surface as you cast the spell. The spell takes effect when the sigil is touched, even outside your Crown. MD used to cast the spell remain invested until the sigil is activated. Consumable, has 3 uses.
19. Beast Familiar - A loyal animal companion. Has its own Crown of 5 paces around it, which counts as yours as long as the familiar trusts you. Any 1 HD animal can be a familiar.
20. Enchanting Salts - Used to substitute MD during enchantment, allowing to enchant items permanently without investing own MD. Consumable, required quantity scales with MD used for enchanting: a 1-slot lockbox (1 MD), a barrel (2 MD), a cart (3 MD), a ship's hold (4 MD).

As with Words, the Implements list is not exhaustive, and others may exist.

1d12 Taboo Implements:

1. Bone Dagger - Cut yourself with this dagger, adding damage you take to [sum].
2. Mage Femur - Add 4 to [sum] if harming another spellcaster. 2 slots.
3. Leaden Coils - Reduce your Crown to [template] paces as long as you wear them, making it invisible to those who can see Crowns.
4. Patchwork Poppet - The body of the last person whose blood was spilled on it is considered to be inside your Crown, at any distance.
5. Bronze Needles - Snap one in half to allow your spells to affect the inside of living creatures. Consumable. Start with 6.
6. Black Powder - Causes [word] to violently explode. Consumable. Start with 6.
7. Dried Tongue - When you see another mage use a Word, you can mangle that Word into a related one. Consumable, has 6 uses, then burns to ash.
8. Onyx Tablet - Infuse a corpse with [word], giving it motion and a strange power. You command the resulting shamblers. 2 slots.
9. Horvat's Nails - Your Crown also originates from any body, living or dead, that has 3 or more of these nails in it. You start with 8.
10. Funerary Brazier - Replace [word] in this spell with ghostflame. Ghostflame is pale in color and burns things without sound, light, smoke, or heat. 2 slots.
11. Cracked Hourglass - Spend years off your life 1-to-1 to increase [sum], growing visibly older.
12. Ritual Paint - Transform yourself or another into [word] or a creature of [word] for a time. Consumable, has 6 uses.

Needless to say, possession of taboo Implements marks the owner as a maleficar.

Heikala

Addendum: Mage Robes
Mage robes are comprised of a set of well-made robes decorated with charms, talismans, and esoteric patterns, commonly accompanied by a traditional pointy hat. A mage who dons them at the start of the day gains an extra MD that lasts until they are removed, usually before going to sleep.

In addition to their spellcasting utility, mage robes also serve as uniform and status symbol both, making their wearer appear unmistakably as a mage, with onlookers reacting accordingly.

Addendum: Maleficars
Mages who engage in dangerous magic and forbidden practices are called maleficars, and are considered outlaws of the highest order. Identification, apprehension, and prosecution of suspected maleficars falls under the purview of Wardens of the Sovereign Curia of Conduct and Rectification.

Maleficence is punished by Abdicatio, or Un-Crowning - the removal of all magical ability.

 

***  

This class is meant to be less setting-specific and more setting-defining, hence the number of additions compared to the original. By extrapolating its features, it should be easy enough to get a world where:

• All magic is defined through Words.
• All magical items are made using the enchantment process outlined above.
• Dungeons and other adventure-worthy sites have come to exist as a result of past Catastrophes...
• ...and so have all monsters, whether made by wizards or from wizards.

In short, think of a world where "a wizard did it" is the expected explanation for everything.

 

8 Thieves from Beyond the Wall

More Beyond the Wall playbooks converted into Archetypes, this time focusing on the Thieves (or Rogues, as they are called in Beyond the Wall, although Specialist would suit some of them much better). 

These ones are intended for Vayra's Ultimate Thief, but should be compatible with niosis' Hunter as well.

Ben McEntee

1. Adventurous Trader
Starting Equipment: nice clothes (+1 reaction), crossbow (heavy), stiletto (light), merchant's scales, ledger and writing supplies, 200 silvers' worth of common trade goods, cart drawn by a mule (1 HD). 
Skill: Haggling
Benefit: You have 2 extra inventory slots. Items stored in these slots are perfectly concealed on you. In addition, you usually can tell what it would take to bribe a guard or official. 
Drawback: You owe 1d6 × 1000 silvers to a powerful and dangerous lender. They expect regular payments of 10% each week, and if you fall behind, they'll send collectors. Or worse.

Note: Ultimate Thief already has Hidden Pockets as a template ability, but I usually remove it as I prefer the class to be on the lighter side, especially combined with an Archetype.
    
2. Untested Thief
Starting Equipment: dark clothing, blackjack (light), forearm dagger (light), boot knife (light), set of lockpicks, rough rope (10m) with grappling hook, chalk. 
Skill: Streetwise
Benefit: You are proficient in thieves' cant, a secret language of symbols, signs, and coded speech used by criminals. This allows you to disguise anything you say as mundane conversation, identify fellow thieves, and leave and recognize hidden marks and warnings of the criminal underworld. 
Drawback: Your first job went bad and you were made the scapegoat of a crime you may or may not have committed. When you arrive at a settlement, there's a chance the local authorities have your description: 1-in-6 in villages, 2-in-6 in towns, and 3-in-6 in big cities and capitals.
    
3. Local Performer
Starting Equipment: colorful clothes (+1 reaction), shortsword (medium), musical instrument of your choice, hat with a feather, make-up kit, small mirror, deck of cards. 
Skill: Performance (specify type)
Benefit: When you perform, you can captivate listeners within earshot for up to [templates × 10] minutes, causing them to ignore most other things. If you work your recent adventures or some gossip into the performance, people in nearby settlements will have heard about it within a week. 
Drawback: You crave the spotlight. Whenever there's an opportunity to perform or someone asks you to, you must save to resist, even when it's dangerous, inconvenient, or would blow your cover.
    
4. Dungeon Delver
Starting Equipment: scavenged armor (+2 AC), war pick (medium), bullwhip (light), 3-meter pole, shovel, oil lantern, thick sturdy rope (20m). 
Skill: Architecture
Benefit: You are utterly at home in dungeons and ruins, and suffer no combat penalties from rough terrain, cramped spaces, or dim light. By knocking on a wall, you can tell if there is an open space or any hazards behind it, like water, creatures, mechanisms built into the wall etc. 
Drawback: After your time spent underground, the open sky feels vast and oppressive. When fighting outdoors with no cover above your head, you always act last in the initiative order.
    
5. Young Woodsman
Starting Equipment: hard leather vest (+2 AC), trusty hatchet (medium), whittling knife (light), 1d4 jaw traps, hooded cloak, net big enough for a large boar. 
Skill: Trapping
Benefit: While in the wilderness, you can spend 10 minutes to camouflage yourself, another person, or an object (most likely a trap) in dirt, mud, and surrounding foliage. Camouflaged targets are functionally invisible in the current environment as long as they're not moving. 
Drawback: You have -2 reaction with predatory animals like bears and wolves, as they recognize you as potential competition. In combat, such beasts will prioritize attacking you.
    
6. Gifted Dilettante
Starting Equipment: fine clothes (+1 reaction), cane-sword (medium), letter opener (light), 1d6 books on random topics, golden pocket watch, writing supplies, a winning smile. 
Skill: Etiquette
Benefit: You can read and write at triple speed. When faced with a task requiring a specific skill or knowledge, there is a [templates]-in-6 chance that you recall enough from your studies to act as if you have that skill (for this instance only) or know the relevant factoid. 
Drawback: Most things come naturally to you, until they don't. You must save to ask for help, admit your ignorance, or let someone else take the lead, even when it's clearly the wisest choice.
    
7. Learned Tutor
Starting Equipment: scholarly robes, walking stick (medium), ornate dagger (light), reference tome, educational charts and diagrams, smoking pipe, heirloom memento. 
Skill: Logic
Benefit:  You can teach any skill you know (including its special ability) to up to [templates] people during a rest. Each following day, they must save or forget it. Additionally, by spending 10 minutes examining something, you uncover one useful fact about it, but only once per target. 
Drawback: When you encounter a new curiosity, like an inscription, device, creature, or some other mystery, you must save or waste 10 minutes fussing over it. This doesn't activate your Benefit.
    
8. Assistant Beast Keeper
Starting Equipment: leather apron, wide-brimmed hat, shepherd's crook (medium), skinning knife (light), sack of animal feed, comb and shears, loyal beast of your choosing (1 HD). 
Skill: Animal Ken
Benefit: Animals will never attack you unless you provoke them first. You can pacify an angry, scared, or hostile animal with a touch on a [templates]-in-6 chance, and command a pacified animal to perform a non-dangerous action on another [templates]-in-6 chance.
Drawback: You smell like the barn, which most folk find unpleasant and which tends to betray your presence, making hiding difficult. If you manage to wash the stench off or mask it with perfume, you lose your Benefit until it returns to you.

*** 

Bonus!  

Since Ultimate Thief's skills are mainly suited for a real rat bastard, which is not exactly the vibe for Beyond the Wall, I've expanded the original list to a d30 and added some new, mostly wholesome skills into the mix. Most of them are adapted from Lexi's Scholar and Gokun's Craftsman (for those in the know).

1d10 (more) Thief Skills

1. Stealth
   You can do loud things (running, fighting, breaking stuff) very quietly, and do quiet things (walking, climbing, pulling a knife, rummaging around in a backpack) in absolute silence.
   
   Note: This is just Ultimate Thief's capstone turned into a skill, since I had a different capstone for it in mind. There are only 9 actually new skills, sorry for false advertising 😔
   
   
2. Astronomy
   When in view of the night sky, you can navigate by stars, accurately forecast weather for a week, and make predictions about the future (receiving one accurate, but cryptic detail on a 1-in-6 chance).
   
   
3. Physiology
   Gain a second save against disease. With 10 minutes of examination, you can determine all mundane ailments a living body is suffering from or the exact cause of death of a dead one.
   
   
4. Art
   You have perfect visual recall, and never forget faces, scenes, symbols etc. With proper materials and an hour of work, you can reproduce anything you've seen in a lifelike painting.
   
   
5. Esoterica
   You can read magical scripts and identify whether a specific item or phenomenon is magical in nature, with a 2-in-6 chance to accurately determine the exact magical effect.
   
   
6. Escape Artistry
   You can undo any knot and slip out of shackles and other bindings. Your body is able to contort through any hole no smaller than your head.
   
   
7. Law
   You can write legally-binding contracts, and slip hidden clauses into them with a 3-in-6 chance (causing unintended loopholes on a failure). You also have a 2-in-6 chance to argue someone out of legal charges.
   
   
8. Gambling
   When playing games of chance, you can choose to cheat by rolling twice and picking which result to use. You have a 4-in-6 chance to spot when someone is bluffing or cheating, in or out of the game.
   
   
9. Theology
   By looking into someone's eyes, you can tell if they are burdened by shame, guilt, sin, or true devotion. You count as an ordained cleric for the purposes of officiating marriages and funeral rites.
   
   
10. Mathematics
    You can estimate distance, weight, trajectory, and time with unsettling precision. You may automatically catch anything thrown to you, or snatch projectiles out of thin air that were aimed at you but missed.
    
    

8 Fighters from Beyond the Wall

I feel that Beyond the Wall is treated by the OSR community very similarly to how Hellboy comics are treated by the comic community: whenever it gets brought up, people's thoughts on it usually range from "it's pretty good" to "one of my favorite things ever", but subsequent discussion rarely lasts beyond that.

Because of that, as someone who considers Beyond the Wall their OSR system of choice, I was quite excited to learn that Vivanter of Mediums and Messages decided to try it out. Even though the system ended up not quite working for him, the resulting overview (which I found to be quite agreeable for the most part) made me reconsider my own issues with the game. 

Inspired by Vivanter's playbook conversions, I decided to try something similar and convert 8 select playbooks into Archetypes for Vayra's Ultimate Fighter, although they would probably work just as fine for niosis' Warrior too.

As is tradition, most of the mechanics were shamelessly stolen from other, much more talented people.

Ben McEntee

1. Would-Be Knight
Starting Equipment: chainmail and tabard (+4 AC), shield (+1 AC), arming sword (medium), fine rope (20 m), silver flask, your own horse (2 HD). 
Skill: Heraldry
Benefit: When you challenge someone to single combat, they must save or be compelled to accept. Once the combat starts, they will continue to fight you until one of you yields, falls, or if someone else intervenes. 
Drawback: You must follow a code of honor. You are forbidden from attacking helpless foes, breaking your word, refusing combat challenges, and using underhanded tactics like poison. If you violate the code, you lose all Fighter templates until you complete an act of penance.
    
2. Last of a Fallen House
Starting Equipment: nobleman's clothes (+1 reaction), rapier (medium), parrying dagger (light), bottle of expensive wine, threadworn but kingly cloak, signet ring with your House's sigil. 
Skill: Leadership 
Benefit: When unarmored, you add [templates × 2] to your AC, representing your poise and graceful footwork. If you're hobbled, humiliated, or visibly disheveled, you lose this benefit until you restore your composure and appearance. 
Drawback: If someone slights or insults your noble standing, your House's legacy, or you personally, you must save to resist violently lashing out in response.
    
3. New Watchman
Starting Equipment: gambeson (+2 AC), spear (medium), bow (medium), loud horn, hooded lantern, iron keyring with unlabeled keys, loyal watchdog (1 HD). 
Skill: Alertness 
Benefit: You cannot be ambushed, meaning that you always get to act during a surprise round. Additionally, you add [templates] to your initiative rolls. 
Drawback: You suffer -2 reaction with thieves, con artists, and other criminal types, and they instinctively distrust you. If you speak while disguised, you always betray your identity somehow.
    
4. Village Hero
Starting Equipment: patchwork leathers (+2 AC), sturdiest shield in the village (+2 AC), hardy club (medium), simple knife (light), lucky trophy from the threat you defeated, gnarly scar. 
Skill: Folklore 
Benefit: You have +2 reaction with peasants and other commoners, and can easily find food, shelter, or information in any village you visit. In addition, you are immune to fear. 
Drawback: The threat you once defeated survived, and is now your nemesis. Determine with your GM who or what it is. At the worst possible moment, your nemesis will return to finish the job, heralded only by the aching of your scar.
    
5. Retired Veteran
Starting Equipment: worn brigandine (+4 AC), notched halberd (heavy), old dagger (light), waterskin, set of 10 iron spikes, really good boots, faded sash with your company's colors, old wounds. 
Skill: Tactics 
Benefit: Whenever you arrive at a new place, there is a 3-in-6 chance you've visited it in the past. If you have, the GM will tell you three things you remember about it: one danger to watch out for, one point of interest, and one useful old contact that's not necessarily friendly. 
Drawback: Your old wounds slow you down, halving your effective movement. You can push yourself to move at full speed for one round, but take 1 nonlethal damage as your wounds act up.
    
6. Failed Ranger
Starting Equipment: waxed hide (+2 AC), longbow (heavy), hunting knife (light), heavy cloak, flint and tinder, bird call whistle, tarnished mark of your order. 
Skill: Hunting 
Benefit: While in untamed wilderness, you can forage enough food for up to [templates] people and track trails left by creatures up to [templates] days ago without fail. 
Drawback: You abandoned the safety of hearth and home and grew too accustomed to the wild. You gain no rest benefits when resting in civilized places such as towns, villages, or inns.
    
7. Lost Barbarian
Starting Equipment: fur garb (+2 AC), blade of unseen make (medium), bow of unseen make (medium), bottle of alcohol unique to your culture (intoxicating to any constitution), token of your home. 
Skill: Survival 
Benefit: You have devised a patchwork tongue of words and phrases borrowed from many cultures and people you have encountered. When you speak it to someone, there is a 2-in-6 chance they still grasp your meaning. This also applies to animals. 
Drawback: You suffer -2 reaction with nobles and other city-dwellers, as your foreign ways scare and confuse them. There is a 2-in-6 chance any paid service will refuse you, unless you pay double.
    
8. Nobleman's Wild Daughter
Starting Equipment: oversized chainmail (+4 AC), heirloom greatsword (heavy), concealed dagger (light), stashed dress, vial of perfume, handkerchief embroidered with your family crest, personal journal. 
Skill: History 
Benefit: When you hear someone voice doubt in your abilities or dismiss you for your birth, you gain advantage on rolls made to prove them wrong. This also applies to attack rolls against them. 
Drawback: You are being pursued by 1d4 scorned suitors who sought to marry into your family. Whenever you invoke your family name or are recognized as nobility while in a settlement, there is a 3-in-6 chance one of them tracks you down within a day.

 

The Sky for Roof, Mountains for Walls (Class: Cossack)

For Cloak-and-Sword, again. This one shares a lot of DNA with Phlox's iconic Barbarian.

Józef Brandt

Class: Volni
Start with: colorful foreign clothes, decorated fur hat, a shashka sabre, a nagaika short whip, a big bottle of chihir (intoxicating to any constitution), an animal companion (see below). 

You are one of the Volni, free semi-nomadic people of the east. You hail from Dikoe Pole (known in Manteu as Le Territoire Indompté, or simply The Wild Steppe), a region of mostly unexplored sprawling steppes located between the Dragoman Empire to the south and the northern Tsardom, where laws imposed by its neighbors seldom take hold.

Twinsoul: At the moment of your birth, the soul that was meant for you split in two, and one half entered an animal that was born at the exact same time. This is a common occurrence for the Volni and an important part of their culture.

You are accompanied by an incredibly loyal and smart 2 HD animal (usually a horse, though wolves and eagles aren't unheard of), with which you share a soul. This has the following implications:

• You can share senses by closing your eyes and concentrating.
• You can feel each other's emotions and pain when close together.
• You can tell the rough direction to one another when far apart.
• Anyone who holds Esprit for one also holds it for the other.
• Your companion's lifespan is extended to match your own.
• For purposes of faith and magic, you are a single soul in two bodies.

Mechanically, you essentially control both the animal companion and the Volni. In combat, the animal companion acts on the same turn as the Volni.

If one of you dies, the other is doomed to perish within a year.

Steel and Saddle: When rolling damage, you add an extra damage die for each of the following and take the highest result:

• You used one of the traditional Volni weapons, like your shashka or nagaika.
• You fight alongside your animal companion.
• You are outnumbered 2-to-1 or more.

Patchwork Tongue: You speak Surjik, in addition to any other languages you might know. Surjik is the native language of the steppes, composed of words and phrases borrowed from every culture your people ever encountered (which is most of them).

When speaking Surjik to someone who doesn't, there is a 1-in-6 chance for them to still understand what you're saying. This also applies to animals. 

Iron Guts: Your tolerance for alcohol is impressive. For you, weak alcohol (like ale or wine) acts like water, and strong alcohol (like vodka) acts like weak alcohol. After downing a full bottle of strong alcohol, you are immune to fear until you become sober again. If relevant, you have +4 to saves vs getting stupidly drunk.

People you spend the whole night drinking with hold Esprit for you, and you for them.

Story-Fated: When rolling for consequences of Carousing, you may roll twice and pick. If you do, you now hold mutual Esprit with one of the people involved and are bound by fate to cross paths again, for better or worse. 

Steppe-Born: You never suffer penalties when camping or sleeping out in the wilderness, no matter the weather or other natural conditions. However, you suffer those penalties when you are forced to sleep under a roof instead of an open sky.

Wind-Guided: When traveling, you never leave foot- or hoofprints, nor scent by which you can be tracked. You can make sure that none of the ones you travel with leave them either, as long as all of you slow down and travel at half speed. 

Barbare: Your rough foreign manners tend to put people off. You have -2 to reactions from nobles and other more civilized city-dwellers, and are forbidden from entering churches without explicit permission.

Moderation in All Things (Class: Humourist)

For Cloak-and-Sword.

Class: Humourist
Start with: Treated skin-covering garb, a scalpel, a doctor's bag, phlebotomy tools, too many jars and vials.

Leech: With an hour of work, you may extract 1 HD's worth of a specific Humour from a willing or unconscious body. A body contains an amount of Humours equal to its HD, and replenishes 1 HD's worth per day if parted. A Humourless body does not die, but instead becomes sluggish and apathetic.

The Humours are:

• Blood: the Humour of joy and affability. Can be found in children, happy lovers, courtesans, dogs, and angels.
• Black Bile: the Humour of sadness and creativity. Can be found in poets, failed actors, noble scions, crows, and ghosts.
• Yellow Bile: the Humour of anger and daring. Can be found in military officers, athletes, revolutionaries, lions, and demons.
• Phlegm: the Humour of patience and contemplation. Can be found in scholars, priests, old people, turtles, and gargoyles.

A body with more than 1 HD may hold more than a single type of Humour, depending on how many categories it falls under at once (elderly actors, scions turned revolutionaries, bears (considered by some to be the link between dogs and lions), sickly young women).

Temperance: With 10 minutes of work, you may inject 1 HD of an extracted Humour into a willing or unconscious body.
If the body is injured, roll 2d6 and restore Elan for the greater of the two results if the chosen Humour matches the body, or the lesser if it doesn't.
If the body is not injured, it gains the following effect based on the chosen Humour until the end of the day or until it suffers damage (which will violently release the excess Humours), whichever comes first:

• Blood: +1 to reactions and +1 to saves vs love. Must save or be a people pleaser if asked to do something.
• Black Bile: +1 to hit and 1-in-6 chance to see invisible things like angels and muses. Must save or inconsolably cry whenever anything bad happens to you or anyone else.
• Yellow Bile: +1 damage and +1 to saves vs fear. Must save or fly into a rage at any perceived slight.
• Phlegm: +1 AC and 1-in-6 chance to already know the relevant factoid in addition to any other lore roll. Must save or refuse to act without lengthy deliberation when presented with a choice.

Multiple injections of the same Humour stack, increasing numerical bonuses by 1, but adding -2 to saves vs the related drawback.

Bedside Manner: Upon being seen, you are immediately recognized as a physician. You never seem out of place at social gatherings and are always welcome at any club you visit. You have a +2 to reactions from ill nobles and commoners, unless there is already another physician present.
A noble is considered to be ill when any ailment is causing them the slightest discomfort.
A commoner is considered to be ill when any ailment actively interferes with their work.

Life Debt: Anyone you save from certain death through medical intervention holds Esprit for you. Those who held Esprit for them and were present at the time will also hold Esprit for you.

Shorthand: You can write exceptionally fast, matching and sometimes exceeding talking speed. Text written this way is unintelligible to anyone except you and those who you teach how to read it. You are literate in Gryce in addition to any other languages you might know.

Mithridatism: You have +2 to saves against diseases and poisons. If you succeed the save against the same disease or poison three times, you become completely immune to it.

Diagnosis: With 10 minutes of uninterrupted examination, you can precisely determine all mundane ailments a body is suffering from, as well as its current Elan and Fertility type. This also reveals familial connections to any others previously diagnosed by you.

Non Nocere: If you ever attack anyone you previously diagnosed and the attack hits, you kill them instantly, no save. If at least one other person was present, you immediately become an outlaw and lose all social standing. Even if you were alone, you still lose all your Humourist abilities.

 

Credit to Grace on the GLOG server for inspiring this class