Spes Magna Games

What am I doing this weekend? Funny you should ask. I’m statting up Krampus for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Swords & Wizardry, Fate Accelerated Edition, and Dungeon World. I’m formatting each Krampus into separate PDFs, and I’m thinking about bundling them together and putting them up at DriveThruRPG. Ho-ho-hozzah!

And now for another magic item. See Baruch 5:1-9 for more information.

Garment of Sorrow and Affliction: This magical article of clothing appears to be (and duplicates the powers of) a specific type of magic robe. Roll 1d8: Robe of Blending (1-3), Robe of Eyes (4-6), or Robe of Wizardry (7-8). Unfortunately, this garment is cursed. It will function as the determined type of magic robe for 1d6+6 uses before the curse activates.

The curse afflicts the wearer with fits of brooding and melancholy, causing him ignore any given situation (50% chance). Once per day, the wearer must make a saving throw. If he fails, he attempts to destroy himself in a manic fit of hopelessness. This fit of suicidal mania lasts for 2d6 combat rounds. Usable By: All Classes (Robe of Blending), or Magic-User (Robe of Eyes or Robe of Wizardry).

Tags: Catholic, Krampus, magic items, Swords & Wizardry

See 1 Kings 17:10-16 and Mark 12:41-44.

Stories about a wandering prophet tell us that some time ago in a foreign land during a time of famine there lived a widow with only one son. The prophet arrived at the widow’s home one day, and local customs regarding hospitality required the widow to feed the prophet. When she complained that she had only enough food for her and her son to have one final meal. The prophet told her to prepare a meal for him, and that afterward she would never go hungry. The widow did so, and after that her jar of meal never went empty.

Jar of Zarephath This plain earthenware jar, kept in a grand temple in an important city, serves as the city’s protection against famine. The priests regularly distribute meal from the jar to the city’s poor and abandoned, giving each person a day’s worth of meal. No matter how often this is done, the jar is never empty. In times of famine or siege, the jar helps ensure a modest diet for the city’s inhabitants. Usable By: Lawful only.

Later stories of another wandering prophet speak of an impoverished widow who gave all of her money, amounting to only two of the smallest of the coins of the realm, to the city’s temple as an offering. The rich and haughty who witnessed this felt inclined toward scorn at the widow’s pitiful offering, but the wandering prophet defended her, saying she gave all she had rather than only a portion of what she could spare.

The Widow’s Mites These two coins appear to be nothing more than common copper pieces, but they hold a powerful blessing. Their possessor can call upon this blessing in a time of trouble or danger. After doing so, the possessor will succeed at his next attack roll, saving throw, or other action so long as that action is done for the benefit of another, even if this means the possessor puts himself in harm’s way (such as by leaping in front of a Lightning Bolt, et cetera). After the blessing is called upon, the coins vanish, seeking out the next worthy person to benefit. Usable By: Lawful only.

Tags: Catholic, magic items, Swords & Wizardry

The Bellicose Sisters of Saint Sebastian live in well-fortified abbeys wherein they practice the arts of war in addition to devoting their time to prayer and service to the poor and the orphaned.

When the first packs of varulfs invaded the Commonwealth’s northern frontiers, the Papal Legate’s soldiers proved barely adequate to the task of repelling the lycanthropic threat. Saint Sebastian of Narbonne appeared to Abbatissa Elisabet via locution. The martyr pulled an arrow from his body and fired it at a charging varulf, piercing its heart and killing it instantly. He then handed his bow to Elisabet, at which time she awoke from the vision intent on forming a martial order of nuns to protect the Commonwealth’s marches.

At first, the Papal Legate opposed Elisabet, but after several years of prayer and penance, her request was granted by Pope Hadrian IX. The first company of Bellicose Sisters established an abbey at Haguenau. Within a year, the nuns met a varulf company near the banks of La Moder. The bloodshed was horrific. Most of the nuns died, but the varulf company met with total annihilation. The order’s fame spread, and young women rushed to join the Bellicose Sisters.

Today, the Bellicose Sisters command nearly a dozen fortified abbeys, and they number in the hundreds. Varulf packs still hunt the frontiers, but the ravaging packs that once threatened entire communities have been either destroyed or driven back into the savage wilderness beyond the Commonwealth’s reach.

The stats below are for the Bellicose Sisters’ rank-and-file. Senior nuns have more Hit Dice and cast Cleric spells.

Bellicose Sister of St. Sebastian: HD 2+2; AC 7 [12]; Atk 1 melee weapon (1d6), or 2 arrows (1d6); Move 12; Save 16; AL L; CL/XP 3/60; Special: +2 saving throws against paralysis and poisoned, blessed arrows

Blessed Arrows: Against the forces of Chaos, a Bellicose Sister’s arrows are especially effective. Treat a Bellicose Sister’s missiles as +1 arrows, modifying attack rolls and damage appropriately. Against Chaotic lycanthropes, a Bellicose Sister’s arrows also inflict double damage.

Tags: Catholic, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

Yndspeers appear as a bizarre avian-like humanoid roughly the size of a dwarf. A yndspeer is devoid of feathers except for a crest on its head and a tuft growing downward from its abdomen. Rather than wings, a yndspeer has stubby arms and hands. Males also sport wickedly sharp, upward curving barbs on their legs half way between the knee and ankle. These creatures cannot fly, but move rapidly along with a herky-jerky gait. Despite their somewhat comical appears, yndspeers are mischievous and cruel.

HD 1+1; AC 7 (12); Atks barbed spear (1d6); SV 18; Special spears lodge in victim (save negates); MV 12; AL C; CL/XP 2/30

The lyuwvis — a bizarre hybrid of frog, lion, and fish — hunts coastal marshlands. In the water, it swims sluggishly; on land, it hops about on its legs or else scoots through muck and mud on its belly. What the lyuwvis lacks in grace, it makes up for in strength and tenacity. This monster grows to the size of a large hound, and its powerful jaws inflict terrible wounds. The lyuwvis spits a noxious mixture of mud, saliva, and mucous before it attacks. Those struck by this foul substance find their reflexes impeded (as a Slow spell; save negates).

HD 3+2; AC 5 (14); Atks bite (1d6+2); SV 14; Special noxious spit; MV 6 (Swim 6); AL N; CL/XP 4/120

Tags: Catholic, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

“Some things in life are too beautiful to be forgotten. These things may be what men do in this world; they may even be their manner of passing from it. For example, almost every country has instituted a memorial day to recall the supreme sacrifice its patriots have made in defense of country and civilization. Because life was the most precious thing they could give, the living cannot forget their gift. They themselves could not ask for any such memorial, nor could they institute it; that was left to their survivors.” — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Tags: Catholic, Memorial Day