Spes Magna Games

Back in June 2021, I mused about how to take OSRIC‘s magic-user and tweak it into the wu jen from TSR’s Oriental Adventures. That effort (which you can read here) focused on alternative class features rather than putting in the time needed to create a new list of spells for a new type of magic-user.

Today, I’m once more whipping out Erin D. Smale’s BX Options: Class Builder and crafting an entire wu jen class. Since the wu jen has some quirks that didn’t quite fit the BXO:CB’s parameters, I had to make educated guesses at some of the XP costs for certain class abilities.

Nota Bene: Those previous links are affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I get a few coppers. Also, much of the class description below comes from Oriental Adventures after some minor editing.

Wu Jen

Wu jen are sorcerers, people of mysterious of powers, who command the elemental forces of magic. They seldom live with the rest of human society, preferring to be hermits who live in wild places where they can purify their bodies and minds. Wu jen learn spells from spirits and other supernatural powers.

Requirements: Minimum Intelligence 13, cannot be Lawful
Prime Requisite: INT
Hit Dice: 1d4+1
Maximum Level: 14
Armor and Shields: None
Weapons: Club, blowpipe, dagger, short bow, short sword, shuriken, sling
Languages: Alignment, Oni, Tengu, Trade Tongue

Restrictions

Stronghold: When wu jen reach 11th level, they may build strongholds.

Taboos: Since wu jen draw their power from supernatural sources, they must operate under special taboos which might seem silly to others. These taboos are important to wu jen, for wu jen who violate their taboos (willingly or otherwise) lose the ability to cast the highest level of spell they have access to for each violated taboo. So, a 6th-level wu jen (able to cast up to 3rd-level spells) who violates two taboos can cast only 1st-level spells. The typical period of spell ability loss is one day per violated taboo. A wu jen has one taboo at 1st-level and gains one more taboo at levels 5 and 10. Some possible taboos are suggested below:

• Cannot eat meat
• Cannot have more treasure than can be carried
• Must make a daily offering (of food, flowers, incense, et cetera) to the spirits
• Cannot bathe
• Cannot cut one’s hair
• Cannot drink alcohol
• Cannot wear a certain color
• Cannot light a fire
• Cannot sit facing a particular cardinal direction

Abilities

Combat: Wu jen make attacks and saving throws as magic-users. At 1st level, wu jen select one weapon from the list above. The wu jen gains a +1 “to hit” bonus with the chosen weapon.

Elemental Spells: The elements are earth (including metal), water, fire, air, and wood. A wu jen’s spells do not have defined sources related to their effects. In other words, a magic missile is not “a magical energy dart”. A lightning bolt is not “a bolt of lightning” nor is a stinking cloud “a nauseating cloud of vapors”. Wu jen determine the elemental manifestation of their spells when they casts them. This might modify the effects of the spell, as determined by the DM, but much of the time the effects are cosmetic.

At 1st level, a wu jen selects one element to become keyed with, but he has knowledge of the other four. When wu jen memorize their spells, they assign an element to each spell. This helps determine the effects of the spell when it is cast. Once per day at 1st level, a wu jen may invest a spell with additional power if that spell has a keyed element. Doing so has one of the following effects (chosen by the wu jen):

• The wu jen may cast the spell without having to speak or gesture.
• The spell’s range and duration are increased by 25%. This does not apply to a range of 0 or to durations of instantaneous or permanent.
• Saving throws against the spell are made with a -1 penalty.
• For effects not related to range and duration, the spell takes effect as if the wu jen’s caster level were one higher.

When wu jen gain access to a new level of spells, they gain another daily use of this keyed element ability. At 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th levels, wu jen add another key element to their repretoire. Thus, by 11th level, a wu jen has mastered all five elements.

Ki: Wu jen practice strict mental training. Once per day at 1st level, wu jen may tap into their ki to gain a +3 bonus to initiative. This may be declared after initiative has been rolled. Once per day at 4th level, wu jen may tap into their ki when casting a spell that is three or more levels lower than the wu jen’s level. The wu jen does not lose memorization of the spell after casting it.

Magical Research: Wu jen may research new spells. At 9th level, wu jen may create magic items and research magical effects.

Meditation: Meditation is a deep state of concentration. One hour of uninterrupted meditation is as restful as two hours of sleep. While meditating, wu jen are oblivious to hunger, thirst, and weather. They are still conscious while meditating, aware of their surroundings, and thus are not any easier to surprise or slower to react to danger.

Spell Casting: Wu jen learn and prepare spells like magic-users, to include keeping spellbooks. They have the same spells per day as magic-users.

Unnatural Commerce: Wu jen often have dealings with tengu and oni. They gain a +1 reaction modifier when dealing with such creatures.

Tags: B/X D&D, Character Classes, Oriental Adventures

After being away for a bit, it’s time for another installment using Erin D. Smale’s BX Options: Class Builder and TSR’s Oriental Adventures. The hengeyokai is a race-as-class option for B/X D&D. As before, much of the descriptive text for the class comes from the latter source (albeit with some editing).

Nota Bene: Those previous links are affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I get a few coppers.

Hengeyokai

Hengeyokai, intelligent creatures who can shape change, often live on the fringes of human-settled lands. Several subraces exist, each a different type of animal. They are found throughout the world, usually on the fringes of human-settled lands. The ability to change shape is natural to hengeyokai. They are not lycanthropes. A player who decides to have a hengeyokai player character must have the minimum and maximum required scores for the race depending on the character’s animal form. The traditional forms are carp, cat, crab, crane, dog, drake, fox, hare, monkey, raccoon dog, rat, and sparrow. A hengeyokai can assume any one of three shapes: its animal form, its human form, and a hybrid form that combines both animal and human features. The latter form is the hengeyokai’s natural form.

Requirements: See Hengeyokai Animal Forms table.
Prime Requisite: See Hengeyokai Animal Forms table.
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: 12
Armor: None, but may use shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Hengeyokai, Trade Tongue

Restrictions

Stronghold: When hengeyokai reach 9th level, they may build strongholds.

Abilities

Change Form: Hengeyokai can change from animal form to hybrid form to human form. This ability is limited, however. The number of times a hengeyokai’s level equals the number of times a hengeyokai can change forms in one day. For example, a 1st-level hengeyokai can change from human to animal form once in a day. The 1st-level hengeyokai then has to remain in animal form until the next day. A 3rd-level hengeyokai can change form three times in one day, et cetera.

Changing form requires one complete round during which the character can do nothing else. Clothing and equipment do not change form along with the hengeyokai. In each form, the hengeyokai has certain advantages and disadvantages. In all cases, however, the character’s level and ability scores are unchanged.

Damage taken in one form carries over to other forms. So too with ongoing effects, such those of certain spells.

Form – Animal: While in animal form, hengeyokai have the AC and movement shown on the Hengeyokai Animal Forms table below. Hengeyokai are small-sized creatures in animal form, and they are almost indistinguishable from a normal animal, at least in terms of appearance. In animal form, hengeyokai have 90-foot range infravision, and they can speak with animals (including other hengeyokai in animal form) at will. Of course, in animal form, hengeyokai have limited to no ability to use equipment. They cannot cast spells in animal form, nor can they speak normal languages.

Also, in animal form, hengeyokai have half as many hit points maximum as normal. Thus, a 1st-level hengeyokai with 6 hit points has at most 3 hit points in animal form. Since damage carries over from one form to the other, a hengeyokai damaged in hybrid form or human form might not be able to assume animal form without becoming unconscious or even dying.

Form – Human: Hengeyokai in human form are indistinguishable from normal humans except for some tell-tale distinctive feature carried over from animal form. For example, a monkey hengeyokai might have long arms. In human form, hengeyokai can cast spells, use equipment, et cetera, but they do not have infravision and lose the ability to speak with animals at will.

Form – Hybrid: This is the natural form of hengeyokai, being a humanoid with animal features and characteristics. For example, a crane hengeyokai has feathers and a beak. In hybrid form, hengeyokai have no special movement rates. They can speak with animals (including animal-form hengeyokai) at will as well as speak languages normally. They have infravision with a 60-foot range. Hengeyokai in hybrid form can use equipment normally as well as cast spells.

Combat: Hengeyokai make attacks as clerics and make saving throws as magic-users.

Spells: Hengeyokai are attuned to the clerical and magic-user spells. They receive cleric spells from their innate connection to the spirit world. They learn magic-user spells the same way as a magic-user, to include keeping a spellbook.

Tags: B/X D&D, Character Classes, Oriental Adventures

More fun with Erin D. Smale’s BX Options: Class Builder and TSR’s Oriental Adventures! Today I convert the AD&D bushi class to B/X D&D.

Nota Bene: Those previous links are affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I get a few coppers. Also, much of the class description below comes from Oriental Adventures after some minor editing.

Bushi

Bushi are masterless warriors, men without ties to a lord, temple, or monastery. They are commonly mercenaries, bandits. highwaymen, or wanderers who earn their money however they can. They can be found serving samurai, protecting the court, or swelling the ranks of armies. A few may be high-born aristocrats who have fallen by the way. Most, however, are people of low birth who have chosen the warrior’s way to advance in the world.

Although bushi are often poor, they are seldom out of work. There is always a need for a stout warrior or at least a strong hand. Just as the nobles have their samurai to protect them, the peasants and merchant folk often look to the bushi for protection. The pay usually is not good, but it provides for a bushi’s basic needs. A bushi in a friendly or neutral village or town almost always find employment, food, and shelter, even if the food may be thin rice gruel and the shelter a leaky stable.

Bushi come from all levels of society, but they are not required to belong to a family. The choice is optional. Those who do belong to a family have all the bonuses and penalties for gaining and keeping honor. Bushi often have a measure of self-respect and attempt to follow bushido; however, honor restrictions are significantly less for bushi than other classes.

Requirements: Minimum STR 9, CON 9, and DEX 9
Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: 14
Armor: Any, including shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Trade Tongue

Restrictions

Stronghold: When bushi reach 9th level, they may build strongholds.

Abilities

Bargain Hunter: At 1st level, a bushi has a 2 in 6 chance to find a piece of common equipment available at half normal price. This chance improves by 1 every 5 levels (to a maximum of 5 in 6).

Combat: Bushi make attacks and saving throws as fighters.

Kiai: Once per day, bushi can unleash a kiai, a ki-powered shout. For one turn after unleashing a kiai, the bushi has a +1 “to hit” bonus with all attacks.

Pick Pockets: Bushi can Pick Pockets as a thief of equal level.

Nimble Dodge: Bushi become better at dodging attacks. At 2nd level, bushi have a +1 bonus to AC. This improves by +1 at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels, to a maximum of a +4 bonus. A bushi’s nimbleness is treated like a Dexterity adjustment to AC.

Weapon Specialization: At 1st level, a bushi chooses a specific weapon (such as spear or short bow). Bushi have a +1 “to hit” and damage bonus with their chosen weapon.

Tags: B/X D&D, Character Classes, Oriental Adventures

This week, I picked up the PDF of Erin D. Smale’s BX Options: Class Builder. I’m digging it. The layout is easy to read, the organization clear and thoughtful, and the system simple but robust. Because I’ve long had a lingering fondness for TSR’s Oriental Adventures, I took the korobokuru race from that book, processed it through BX Options, and produced a korobokuru class suitable for B/X D&D.

Nota Bene: Those previous links are affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I get a few coppers.

Korobokuru

Korobokuru are a race of dwarves who live in vast jungles, snowy mountain forests, or barren wilderness areas. They seldom come into contact with humans. Korobokuru prefer remote and forbidding sites of great natural beauty. There they live in simple villages or camps, moving only when forced to by the advance of human settlements. In appearance korobokuru are about four feet tall, with arms and legs slightly longer in proportion to their bodies than a human’s. Most are bowlegged. Their arms and legs are hairy, and males have sparse beards. Most korobokuru have a wild, unkempt appearance as judged by human standards.

Culturally, korobokuru are much less advanced than most of their human neighbors. They hunt and tend small farms in secluded areas, and create simple pieces of art and craft. They normally avoid human contact. Because of this (and the general conceit of humans), humans consider korobokuru to be backward primitives, and rarely accept them as full members of human society. Korobokuru are typically seen as rude, pugnacious, boastful, and somewhat comical by the so-called civilized world. Korobokuru organize themselves into families and clans much the
same way humans do.

Requirements: Minimum STR 8 and CON 12, maximum INT 15
Prime Requisites: STR, CON
Hit Dice: 1d10
Maximum Level: 10
Armor: Any non-plate, including shields
Weapons: Any small or normal-sized weapons
Languages: Tribal, Trade Tongue, Spirit Folk, Hengeyokai

Restrictions

Bad Reputation: So-called civilized peoples view korobokuru with a combination of disdain and pity. Korobokuru suffer a -1 penalty to all reaction rolls when interacting with such peoples.

Stronghold: When korobokuru reach 7th level, they may build strongholds and attempt to establish clans.

Abilities

Combat: Korobokuru make attacks and saving throws as fighters. Korobokuru enjoy a +1 “to hit” against bakemono, goblins, goblin rats, and hobgoblins. Against giants (including creatures such as oni and ogres), korobokuru enjoy a +2 bonus to AC.

Infravision: Korobokuru have infravision, which allows them to see 120 feet in the dark.

Hunter-Gatherer: Korobokuru are able to identify normal flora and fauna two-thirds of the time (a roll of 1-4 on a d6).

Resistances: Korobokuru have a +1 bonus to saving throws made to resist poison, magic wands, rods, staves, and spells.

Tags: B/X D&D, Character Classes, Oriental Adventures

It’s been a few days since I’ve written about OSRIC. My son Christopher and I were out of town visiting Clear Creek Monastery in eastern Oklahoma, and we were largely sans internet during that time. Now that I’m back home and back on summer vacation, it’s time to get to work.

Two of my favorite D&D books from two different eras of the game are AD&D’s Oriental Adventures and 3E D&D’s Oriental Adventures. (Nota Bene: Those are affiliate links; if you click and purchase, I get a few pennies.) While I just adore both of these books, they have seldom found use in any game I’ve ever participated in. I’ve used bits and pieces of both as DM, introducing OA monsters and spells into non-OA settings. Lately, I’ve been thinking I’d like do something more with the OA source material.

In the AD&D incarnation of OA, the magic-user analog is the wu jen, who “are sorcerers, men of mysterious power. They command the elements, spirit forces, and the very powers of nature.” That sounds exciting. The aforementioned elements come in five flavors: earth (including metal), water, fire, wind, and wood (including nature). A wu jen who “learns all of the spells of a single element up to the highest level of spell he can cast” has mastered that element. The 3E OA wu jen has a similar class feature.

The division of spells into five elements pretty much required modifying the magic-user’s spell lists, introducing many new spells in the process. While I’ve never played either OA enough to say for certain, my impression is that the wu jen’s spells are weaker than the magic-user’s spells. If I were putting together a group of adventures, and I had a choice between a 5th-level wu jen or a 5th-level magic-user, I’d go for the latter. Maybe.

So, what does this have to do with OSRIC? Am I proposing to convert AD&D’s OA to OSRIC?

Well, answering in reverse: No, and permit me to explain.

It might be possible to modify OSRIC’s rules a bit so that the magic-user’s spell list becomes a wu jen’s spell list. This starts with a modifier that applies to many spells:

Variable Special Effect: A wu jen’s spells do not have defined sources related to their effects. In other words, a magic missile is not “a magical energy dart”. A lightning bolt is not “a bolt of lightning” nor is a stinking cloud “a nauseating cloud of vapors”. The wu jen determines the elemental manifestation of his spells when he casts them. This might modify the effects of the spell, as determined by the DM, but most of the time the effects are cosmetic.

Next up, we must turn to the wu jen with an addendum to the magic-user’s basic class ability:

Spellcasting: At first level, a wu jen chooses one of the five elements. This is his keyed element, but he has knowledge of the other four. When a wu jen memorizes his spells, he assigns an element to each spell. This helps determine the effects of the spell when it is cast. Once per day at 1st level, a wu jen may invest a spell with additional power from his keyed element. Doing so has one of the following effects (chosen by the wu jen):

• The wu jen may ignore a spell component of his choice.
• The spell’s range and duration are increased by 25%. This does not apply to a range of Caster or Touch or to a duration of Instantaneous.
• The spell’s casting time is reduced by 50% (but to no less than 1 segment).
• Saving throws against the spell are made with a -1 penalty.
• For effects not related to range and duration, the spell takes effect as if the wu jen’s caster level were one higher.

When a wu jen gains access to a new level of spells, he gains another use of this keyed element ability. At 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th levels, a wu jen adds another key element to his repretoire. Thus, by 11th level, a wu jen has mastered all five elements.

So, what might this look like in play? Eric created Chen Mengjia, a 1st-level wu jen, at the start of the campaign. Mengjia can invest his spells with keyed elemental power twice per day. Through skill and luck, the wu jen has advanced to third level. He has two keyed elements: fire and wind. Mengjia memorizes his spells for the day, assigning an element to each spell.

1st-Level: magic missile (earth), shield (air)
2nd-Level: scare (fire)

During the course of his adventuring day, Mengjia encounters a group of skeletal guardians. He casts magic missile, sending two magical stones hurtling towards the targets. More skeletal guardians arrive, and these have crossbows. Mengjia fears a lengthy battle. He imbues his shield of air with fire. A shimmering barrier of magical heat appears. It has a duration of 19 rounds (the normal 5 rounds/level plus 25%). Later when facing a pair of cockatrices, Mengjia imbues his scare spell with air. A fiery, howling apparition quickly manifests and vanishes. One cockatrice must make its saving throw against scare with a -1 penalty.

Tags: Character Classes, Oriental Adventures, OSRIC