Spes Magna Games

So, if I’m heading toward a new campaign starting circa October of this year, and if this campaign is to use the 5E D&D ruleset but with influences from early edition Oriental Adventures and Birthright, that means renaming, tweaking, and rewriting a certain amount of material. For example, no OA-inspired setting would be complete with a samurai character class. After rummaging through my bookshelves, I found five books, each one with a version of the samurai. To wit:

Oriental Adventures (1E): This character class starts with katana specialization and the possibility of specializing in daikyu, making samurai the only class allowed two weapon specializations. As they advance in levels, samurai become proficient in horsemanship, the bow, calligraphy, painting, and poetry. They gain multiple attacks at higher levels. Samurai can focus their ki via a “loud, fierce shout” that increases attack and damage ability. As samurai earn levels, they become more able to damage foes, gain immunity to fear, are harder to surprise, and can cause fear in their enemies.

The Complete Fighter’s Handbook (2E): This warrior kit grants bonus weapon and nonweapon proficiencies that focus on samurai weapons and skills. The kit grants the “loud, fierce shout” ability found in 1E OA.

Oriental Adventures (3E): This character class grants an ancestral daisho at first level. The daisho becomes more powerful as the samurai earns levels. Starting at 2nd level, the samurai gains bonus feats drawn from a list of feats associated with the different samurai clans.

Complete Warrior (3E): Another take on the samurai as a character class. This time the samurai gains daisho proficiency at 1st level, but the samurai’s daisho do not gain power as the samurai advances in level. At 2nd level, the samurai learns to fight with both katana and wakizashi at the same time. After that, we see a return of the “loud, fierce shout” theme coupled with a gradually improving ability to cause fear in enemies.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (5E): The samurai is a fighter subclass, available starting at 3rd level. The samurai gets a bonus skill proficiency and a “fighting spirit” to start. The latter improves a single weapon attack and grants bonus hit points. At higher levels, the samurai becomes an “elegant courtier” and his fighting spirit ability expands and improves.

Out of these five options, I prefer the samurai be its own class rather than an add-on (2E) or a subclass (5E). These abilities seem a must:

1. Emphasis on the daisho.
2. Skills that combine martial and courtly foci.
3. Some sort of “loud, fierce shout” ability.
4. Some sort of ability to cause fear, perhaps related to the “loud, fierce shout” ability.

Samurai subclasses (available starting at 3rd level) might focus on different different fighting styles. For example, a Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu style would focus on fighting with two swords, using one for offense and the other for defense, whereas a Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu would focus on drawing and cutting with the sword as a single motion. What might these look like in game terms and modified for a fantasy world? Well, I’m not sure about that.

My initial thoughts involve basing different subclass abilities on the themes of eight or so samurai fighting styles. To fit the subclass pattern of things, each style would need to grant an ability at 3rd, 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th levels. Since I’m not even going to attempt create 40 different abilities, I’d combine fighting styles, ignore this, emphasize that, et cetera. My goal isn’t historical accuracy.

If I whittled down, say, eight fighting styles to three or four, I could then create a “menu” of character options for the aforementioned levels. A samurai who focuses on a single style would have greater ability within a narrow field, whereas a samurai who dabbles a bit in different styles would have a wider range of weaker abilities.

Perhaps over the next few days, I’ll put together a rough-draft samurai class?

Next up, to repeat myself, for the first time in a while, I’ve finished a new Spes Magna product, this time for 5E D&D. The Ways Of… presents seven new monastic traditions, each one available to a different core rules race.

Tags: 5E D&D, Character Classes, samurai

If I were handing out trophies to character classes, the prize for Most Liked But Least Played would go the monk. As a player, I like monks. They look like a lot of fun. Since I started RPGing in the late 70s, I’ve seldom played a monk. (The most I’ve played a monk was in the Neverwinter Nights computer game.) The same situation applies to other games. For example, in super hero games, I dig the martial artist, but when I (rarely) get to play in a super hero game I’m most drawn to the brick archetype.

In earlier editions of D&D, monks tended to all be pretty much the same. The introduction of prestige classes brought with it some variety, to be sure, but we old-timers had to wait until the 3E DMG for those. Before that? Well, there was September 1981’s articles about the monk published in Dragon, and our AD&D campaign quickly switched over to the rewrite of the monk class presented in that issue. That really didn’t introduce variety. I suppose a gaming group could have used both the AD&D PH monk and the Dragon magazine monk, but the former’s clear inferiority would make that an odd choice.

Nowadays, in 5E D&D, the rules rewrite the prestige class concept into various subclasses, with each character choosing a subclass at 3rd level. For monks, this means a choice between various monastic traditions. In the 5E PH, we have the Ways of the Open Hand, Shadow, and Four Elements. Xanathar’s Guide expands choices with Ways for the Drunken Master, Kensei, and Sun Soul. (I’m sure there are others examples out there, but I don’t own those books.) Based on the idea that options are good, this is a good thing, but my grognard sensibilities still pop up once and a while.

Back in the day, all monks were human. Period. That was it, no other choices were officially available, et cetera. What’s more, every monk of X level had the same abilities as every other monk of X level. This wasn’t a bad thing. It wasn’t a bug; it was a feature derived from a specific vision of what a certain fantasy campaign world looked like. Newer editions of the game have gone different ways. Today, any race can be a monk, and (after 3rd level) monks vary quite a bit in terms of class features.

A while ago, I published The Dwarf. I wrote The Dwarf because part of me still loves the idea that a dwarf character’s class is Dwarf. Such a Dwarf was my very first character (although he soon morphed into an AD&D fighter/thief while our young selves gradually figured out that B/X D&D and AD&D weren’t quite the same game). To quote me: “Old School meets New School in The Dwarf, a new combination character class/race. Now you can relive the glory days of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game, back when a dwarf was a dwarf instead of a dwarf fighter or rogue or whatever. The Dwarf presents a complete race-as-class, including two new subraces, three new archetypes, and three new backgrounds.”

So, with all of this in mind, I thought, “What if some monk subclasses were race specific?”

In 5E D&D, anyone who wants to can play a dwarf monk, for example. When that dwarf monk reaches 3rd level, the player gets to choose whatever monk subclass seems most fun. The player can have a dwarf Drunken Master or a dwarf Shadow monk. Any other race can also follow any of the monastic traditions available. So, if we compare a dwarf Drunken Master and a human Drunken Master, the thing that distinguishes them is race. The class features are identical.

But ought dwarven monks not have a specifically dwarven monastic tradition? And if the dwarves do, wouldn’t the other races as well?

And so I’ve been working on monastic traditions that are race-specific. I’ve left out humans, half-elves, and half-orcs. They can remain content with the plethora of other options. Dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, and dragonborn, however, have their own unique monastic traditions that reflect a particular way of viewing the world and using ki. As of the typing of these words, I’ve completed rough drafts for every monastic tradition except the one for the gnomes. I’ll almost certainly have the playtest PDF available via DriveThruRPG by the end of this week.

When I’m done, seven (maybe eight) new monastic traditions become possible. So far, I’ve written the Ways of the Blade and Bow (high and wood elves), Brimstone (tieflings), the Cave (dwarves), the Dragon (dragonborn), the Hearth (halflings), and the Spider (drow). The gnomish Way of the Prank remains undone, and may turn into two monastic traditions: the Way of the Prank for forest gnomes and the Way of the Clank for rock gnomes.

To end this post, a sample of a few racial monastic tradition features for tieflings, dwarves, and drow, respectively.

Hellish Castigation: Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your furious indigation at being injured causes your ki to boil. If you spend 2 ki points, you have advantage when attacking with a monk weapon or unarmed strike any creature that has damaged you since the end of your last turn.

Deep Earth Way: At 6th level, you learn to speak, read, and write Terran. Also, you can expand your senses by spending 3 ki points. For 1 minute, you gain tremorsense with a range equal to your bonus unarmored movement. While your tremorsense is functioning, you also have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Greater Spider’s Transformations: At 11th level, your ability to channel your ki along eight-fold pathways improves. As an action, you can spend 4 ki points to transform and gain one of the following benefits:

• You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing.
• Gain blindsight with a range of 20 ft.
• You gain a bite attack that is treated as a monk weapon. Your bite inflicts damage as a monk weapon plus 2d6 poison damage.

This ability has a duration of 1 hour. While this ability lasts, you can end one option as an action to gain the benefits of a different one.

Tags: 5E D&D, Character Classes, monks

Today is the first day of Epiphanytide, assuming one is using the Gregorian calendar. For the octave of Epiphany, my Magus character class written for Swords & Wizardry is available as a pay-what-you-want product. This means you can snag it for any price between free and, say, $250. Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote up gold, frankincense, and myrrh as magic items for D&D 5E. That post is here.

One of the better changes introduced into D&D quite some time ago is the idea of domains or spheres of influence through which clerics end up getting themed abilities based on deity, ethos, et cetera. These sorts of clerical special abilities appear early on the game.

For example, in 1988’s Greyhawk Adventures by James M. Ward, we find out that Boccob’s clerics “gain limited sage ability” at 8th level. The ever-popular St. Cuthbert has three orders of clerics: “the Chapeaux, the Stars, and the Billets.” Each order has a different special ability. The Billets, for example, “can cast one friends spell per day.” By the time AD&D 2E was all the rage, specialty priests were an established thing, at least in the Forgotten Realms. No more were the clerics of different deities the same.

(N. B.: That previous link is an affliate link. If you click and make a purchase, I get a wee bit of money.)

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (The Gospel According to St. John 1:5)

In D&D 5E, a cleric chooses a divine domain related to his deity. This choice grants access to special domain spells, maybe some sort of bonus proficiency or cantrip, and various special abilities that kick in as the cleric advances in level. Since one of Epiphanytide’s motifs relates to light, I thought an alternate 1st-level Light Domain ability might be fun. This ability would replace Warding Flare.

Confounding Light
Also at 1st level, when in an area of dim light or darkness, you can emit a divine light. You shed bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. This light can be colored as you like. Aberrations, evil-aligned elementals, evil-aligned fey, fiends, and undead creatures treat the radius of bright light as magical darkness. Your Confounding Light lasts as long as you concentrate, up to 10 minutes. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Tags: 5E D&D, Catholic, Character Classes

Nota Bene: The H.P. Lovecraft picture is from Publishers Choice Quality Stock Art, copyright Rick Hershey/Fat Goblin Games.

Yes, I know about Achtung! Cthulhu. By all accounts, it’s a great game, but I don’t own it. I do, however, own The Cthulhu Hack and WWII: Operation WhiteBox, which are also great games. So, what if I combined the latter two, while perhaps drawing some inspiration from the second edition of the also-great The Black Hack?

In my mash-up, the PCs fight against the Axis. They’re also fighting against the Thule Society, an occult society that directs much of Nazi Germany’s occult activities, operating through the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) (with its Wissenschaft (HWW) and Okkulte (HWO) divisions) as well as the Ahnenerbe, a Nazi-backed archaeological and occult organization. (Nota Bene: These groups come from the “Mini-Setting: Nazi Occult” section of WWII: Operation WhiteBox.)

Some character classes come from WWII: Operation WhiteBox. These are the Charmer, Combat Engineer, Grunt, Maquis, Sniper, Tactician, Wheelman, and Überläufer. There are also civilian assets, specifically the Bruiser, Ruffian, Adventurer, Philanthropist, and Scholar, all adapted from The Cthulhu Hack. Or, at least at the moment, I’m thinking that’s how things could work out. Thus, a group of PCs could be comprised entirely of commandos, entirely of civilians, or of a combination of the two. I also might adapt The Cthulhu Hack classes into expanded background “packages” for the military and partisan classes.

For example, let’s explore what the Charmer might look like. This is a very rough draft. The Commando Usage Die would apply to doing commando things, like scaling a cliff, setting an explosive charge, et cetera. It represents the “Special Forces Training” rule found in WWII: Operation WhiteBox (p. 37). Flashlights, Sanity, and Smokes work as described in The Cthulhu Hack.

The Charmer
Charmers rely on a combination of wits and natural charisma to influence others and avoid trouble. They often play support roles in operations, acting as negotiators, translators, and liaisons, but charmers can pull their weight in a fight when necessary.

Starting Stats
Starting HP: 1d6+2
Starting HD: 1d6
Attack Damage: 1d6 or 1d4 in unarmed

Usage Dice
Commando: d6
Flashlights: d8
Sanity: d8
Smokes: d10

Special Features
Detect Deception: Roll with Advantage when attempting to detect deception.

Loyal Allies: The Charmer has a special Loyal Allies Usage Die that starts at a d4. Given time and the proper means and location, the Charmer can call upon a number of allies equal to the Usage Die roll.

His Mind of His Own: Roll with Advantage when resisting attempts to influence the Charmer.

Gaining a New Level
Acquire and share a number of Experiences equal to current HD to advance a Level. When a Level is gained:

Attributes: Roll 1d20 for each Attribute. If you roll over, that Attribute goes up by one. Make an extra roll for either Dexterity or Charisma.

Hit Dice: Gain one HD. Roll 1d6 and gain that many additional maximum HP.

Usage Dice: At every odd-numbered level, increase one Usage Die by one step.

Tags: Character Classes, The Black Hack, The Cthulhu Hack, WWII: OWB

As the fine folk at Gamers & Grognards remind us, “Original Edition Role Playing Appreciation Day is Saturday May 5th!” That’s tomorrow. So, here I go with some ways you too can celebrate.

First, check out my OGL OSR titles currently on sale at DriveThruRPG. I’ve got adventures, character classes, monsters, and more.

Second, click on this link to read through a plethora of posts related to Swords & Wizardry, one of my favorite OSR games. If you’ve been remiss in your OSR duties and you don’t own Swords & Wizardry, you can make amends by purchasing it today. Click here to start atoning.

And, third and most important, see that picture below? If you click on it, you can open and download a two-page PDF that presents El Mariachi de Combate, a complete character class that let’s you fulfill your long-deferred dream of roleplaying a musical luchador. Seriously, I can’t be the only person with that dream.

¡Olé!

Tags: Character Classes, Original Edition Role Playing Appreciation Day, Swords & Wizardry