I tend to run a gonzo kitchen sink type of game. The latest iteration named the Narhs - the City of Chromatic Towers - the Metropolis Nation of the Indomitable Suzerain. Imagine Ultra Violet Grasslands meets the tower city Sharn, while paying homage to concept of sandbox play from City State of the Invincible Overlord.
So this new campaign will be based on recently acquired, and oh so super cool OSR game the Black Hack, with some modifications.
The first is the Cleric. While I love Clerics in Trad DnD, I don't think they will work as is from the Black Hack in my gonzo psychedelic kitchen sink game that has elements of sci-fantasy, swords & sorcery, and traditional fantasy. I thought giving a small tweak would work, but I think I ended up with a bit more complexity. Still decent enough for a test drive.
The base classes consist of Warrior, Thief, Wizard.
Warriors can be standard Warriors from Black Hack or they can be Warrior Priests. Warrior Priests follow all rules of Warriors with the following tweaks:
(pg 16/17 - Background): The Background must include reference to the Warrior Priests Patron Power.
(pg 19 - Warrior): Useable Weapons and Armor: Warrior Priests may not use missile weapons other than thrown weapons, and then only in desperation. The Warrior Priest gains no bonus when using Two-Handed weapons. The Patron Power generally expects Warrior Priests to go into battle with a shield bearing the symbol of the Patron Power.
(pg 19 - Warrior): Dealer of Death - the pool of Damage Dice is equal to the HD divided by two rounded up. So they will have one die at Level 1. Gain a second die at Level 3. Third at Level 5 and so on.
(pg 19- Warrior): When you gain a level - They do not roll advantaged for HD. The powers that be are fickle. They only gain a Damage Die every other level, starting with one at Level 1 (repeat of Dealer of Death included for completeness).
Other powers of the warrior, Start HP, Starting HD, Armor, Self Reliant, Shield Bash remain unchanged. [I thought about adjusting some of these, but want to see it in play first].
(pg. 23 - Banish Undead) - this will be a level 1 prayer spell, not an action. They will have to invoke it once they gain prayers.
(pg. 23 - Memorizing Prayers) Once per day a Warrior Priest can spend an hour memorizing a a number of prayers equal to their Level divided by two rounded down from their Prayer Book. A Warrior Priest can only memorize prayers of levels up to and equal to their current level divided by two rounded down. This means that at first level the Warrior Priest will not have access to prayers, but is still expected to lug around at least one prayer book. Failure to do so will result in disfavor from their Patron Power rolling at disadvantage at all tasks until they atone and repent. At level 2 they will be able to memorize one prayer at first level or lower. At level 4 they will be able to memorize two prayers of second level or lower prayers and so on to Level 10 they can memorize five prayers of fifth level or lower.
(pg 15 - Spellcaster) "When turns are being tracked using minutes..." The Warrior priest must be at least second level to be considered a spell caster. Once they are second level and they read it from prayer book and fail it means that something has happened, some action taken was not congruent with the whims of the higher Power. That spell will no longer be available to the Warrior Priest until they atone and repent.
New Rule - Atone and Repent. When the Warrior Priest spends several hours in thoughtful prayer and contemplation, they atone to the higher power, and can now start rolling again normally (without all checks being at disadvantage). At the first opportunity that does not put the agenda of the higher power at risk, they must seek out a temple, shrine, or similar and repent. Failing to do so will result them in disfavor once again. Alternatively they may invoke the level 1 spell Atonement to restore favor to themselves and those amongst them (if they have it memorized or can read from it).
Wizards can be whatever kind of wizard they wish based on background (my current favorite is the psychaecosmic positronic prestidigitator). But a wizard that specifically is tied to a Patron Power in their background is a Priest. The Priest is just a wizard, but uses Prayer Books instead of Spell Books and memorizes and casts spells from the Priest list. A Priest of Law or Chaos Patron may also choose to memorize one spell from a spell book, but if they fail the attribute after casting the spell from the Wizards list they must Atone and Repent (as above for Warrior Priest). Like a warrior priest they must carry at least one prayer book with them. Priests do not start with a familiar, but may start with 1D6 roll for followers (to be developed for each Patron).
SpellBooks: Used to store Wizard Spells. Players can envision however they want they physically don't have to be a spell book, but they somehow store the spells that the wizard memorizes. They take up one slot on a character sheet. A spell book may hold 1d4+1 spells. Wizards start with 1d4+2 spells, so they may end up starting with two spell books. For each spell book roll how many spells the spell book holds. On the character sheet suggest writing SpellBook A (max # spells) and SpellBook B. At first level if the spell books spills over into two or more spell books assume that they are "full". Wizards do not have to take spell books with them on adventures if they do not want to, but must have them to read from. Wizards may spend D8 coins to incrsibe a single spell onto a single scroll to take with them. This takes up one slot in equipment. Or they can take their spell books.
PrayerBooks: Used to store spells, but also contain holy texts, stories, ceremonies, writings, koans, and whatever else relates to the higher Patron. Warrior Priests start with a Prayer Book containing 1D3+1 Prayers of first and second level prayers. Prayer Books Hold 1D3 prayers. The stories, texts, etc. take up a lot more space. Priests start with 1D4+2 Spells of 1st and 2nd level. They may choose up to 2 of those spells to be Wizard Spells that fit into a spell book. If they do this they will start with a Prayer Book(s) and a Spell Book.
That may seem like Priest are more powerful than Wizards, but I want to see it in play first. The Atonement and the need to carry around spell and prayer books could make it interesting.
Higher Power Patrons: That will be up to the DM, but just to round it out, there are several Higher Powers defined in the campaign setting. If a player wants a particular Higher Power bring it up, and we will figure out a way to make it work under the principal of gonzo kitchen sink.
The base Higher Powers in the campaign setting are: The Stewards of Law, the Lords of Chaos, and the two Nuetral heretical deities not tied up in the cosmic struggle of Law and Chaos:specifically the Suffusion of Yellow, and the Bluelander Suffering Supreme God of the Jug that eases suffering and brings peace and love.
Law and Chaos have both types of Priests. A priest should name the Lord or Steward that they follow when created or roll on a table yet to be developed.
The followers of the Suffusion of Yellow have both types as well, although the elders tend to be Priests, and the footsoliders unsurprising tend to be Warrior Priests. The different factions of the Suffusion of Yellow are almost in constant war over their converts, followers, and heretics.
The follower of the Bluelander God tend to be Priests, and may not shed blood or have to seek Atonement. However, atonement is easy for them, and is considered a 0 level spell that they all memorize for free when studying prayers. The first prayer taught to their priests is one of atonement and repentance. Bluelander God's spell list will likely be developed over time and be unique.
Finally, the Sidereal Satraps, the Coke Dwarves, and Halflings are never Warrior Priests or Priests. Quarterlings can be either, although the others that follow the same higher power think they try too hard and ham up the prayers and readings way too much.
Let me know what you think?
CREDITS:
Already mentioned Ultra Violet Grasslands: to much to name, my campaign is a reimagining of several concepts, including the idea of Bluelanders being somehow different, plus adding in some of my own concepts.
Jeff Reints (blog linked to the right) for conceptual higher powers, the Suffusion of Yellow specifically.
And the already mentioned Sharn City of Towers, and City State of the Invincible Overlord.
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