Alright, buckle the fuck up, this is a long one. This isn't a simplified
classis, like the
Fighter or the
Thief. This is a whole-ass Witch.
A real one, in case you were wondering.
Class: Witch (True)
Witches are dark creatures born to followers of the Old Ways who have consorted with spirits, monsters, or beasts. More monster than man, they are an object of both fear and awe. Witches across the old world are regularly abandoned or exiled, so naturally many of them find their way to the Mountain.
There are at least four kinds of witch—categorized by the form which their familiar takes—but all share certain traits and abilities. Most important among these is the ability to perceive, communicate with, and command demons through the use of Maleficent Dice, a process that functions exactly identical to that for casting spells with Magic Dice. If you're playing in a system with proficiency, you have it in staves, knives, scythes, and sickles. If you're a gun witch, you're also proficient with all types of firearm.
Skills: 1. Herbalism 2. Divining 3. Theatrics
Starting Equipment: Peasant clothing, a satchel, a skin of water, a skin of wine, a flint fire-striker, 10 candles, 3 rations of jerky, your choice of a golden sickle or jeweled kris (each a light weapon), one witching tool from the list at the end.
If you're a gun witch, you also start with 10 witch-bullets and a powderhorn containing 10 doses of witch-powder. They're actually normal bullets and powder, but you're a witch. 1 slot each.
A Flawed, Familiar, Black Magic, 1 MD
B Trophy Casting, +1 MD
C Improved Familiar, +1 MD
D Witch's Curse, +1 MD
A: Flawed
While directly exposed to the object of your supernatural weakness, you experience extreme pain and revulsion and suffer -2 to all rolls or 1 damage per round as your form visibly rots, burns, or melts away (whichever effects your GM feels are appropriate). You can take measures to protect yourself; for example a weakness to sunlight can be minimized with voluminous clothing and a parasol.
Good weaknesses include but are not limited to:
- Sunlight and depictions of the sun
- Precious metals
- Ferrous metals
- Melodies
- Your own reflection
- Expressions of strong emotion
- Dogs, horses, and whales
- Running water
- Oil
- Prepared food and cut stone
A: Familiar
As a witch, you have the ability to separate and externalize a piece of yourself in the form of a familiar. This takes 10 minutes of concentration and 1d6 HP each time you do it. If destroyed or separated from you, your familiars melt into a mess of blood and keratin over the next 4 days.
What form your familiar takes determines what sort of witch you are, or perhaps the other way around. You have four options:
- Gun Witch
As a gun witch, your familiars are witch-guns, up to [templates] * 2 firearms. They can be created as any firearm weapon, but require ammunition and powder as normal; deal 1d8 damage regardless of form; and will not fire when wielded by anyone other than you. You are fluent in a dialect of Artifice spoken only by firearms.
At template C when you gain Improved Familiar, your witch-guns deal 2d8 damage and gain the ability to move and manipulate themselves while remaining within your arms' reach. Gun witches who have attained this power are surrounded in combat by a whirling maelstrom of guns and ammo, plucking them from the air in a dance of death before releasing them, empty, to be reloaded by the cross-currents; while stylish, this is a horrifically inefficient way of reloading a firearm and takes twice as long as normal.
- Bug Witch
As a bug witch, your familiars are witch-hives, up to [templates] * 2 swarms of vermin that move at your command. They can be whatever type or types of bug you want, and you can fit them all inside yourself and/or your clothes if you want, which is just horrid. You are fluent in Skittering, a language common to all arthropods.
BUGWITCH SWARM STATS (EACH)
HD 1 HP 4 Size 5' square Immune non-area-of-effect damage
Special Deals 1d6 damage per round to everything other than you within its area that is vulnerable to being eaten by bugs (most things), without an attack roll or save or any of that nonsense. This doesn't stack because, uh, there's only enough room for so many bugs to eat something at once.
At template C when you gain Improved Familiar, your witch-hives are imbued with preternatural strength, allowing them to carry you (or anything else, though they'll still be eating it while they do so) up any surface that a bug could climb; or buoy you slowly aloft on thousands of diaphanous wings at a rate of 10' per round. They can only do this for a few minutes at most—you can't fly overland on bugwings. Unwilling bugluggage may make a STR save to avoid being bugnapped.
- Friend Witch
As a friend witch, your familiar is a witch-tulpa, also known as a friend. Unlike most familiars, this isn't so much a piece of your soul externalized into a physical form as it is merely separated from the rest of your selfhood and sequestered within. While carrying a friend, you gain their visible traits, restriction, and first boon.
Having friends is a bit complicated, so there's a section downbelow (under the spells and mishaps and dooms and such) that details how that works.
At template C when you gain Improved Familiar, you achieve complete (dis)unity with your friends, gaining the second boon of any friend that you carry as well.
- Cancer Witch
As a cancer witch, your familiar is a witch-tumor which (ha, a-ha) quarantines within itself and protects you from the effects of any diseases or other maladies that you contract. You may choose to pass or fail saves against such maladies when you encounter them, and are able to secrete diseased blood from your palms which causes any who contact it to save against transmission of any maladies thus contained.
If you are ever subject to an effect that cures diseases, your witch-tumor dies along with any maladies contained within it and you must create a new one.
At template C when you gain Improved Familiar, you gain the ability to spray a torrent of diseased blood from your palms like a really gross firehose. This costs you 1 HP each time you do it, and reaches, I don't know, at least 30' straight up or up to 60' in a horizontal arc.
A: Black MagicYou are familiar with two
spells from the list way downbelow. One is the
demon known as
Evil Eye, and the other is determined by rolling
1d20. Each time you gain another template of Witch, roll once to attract a new
spell—if you roll a result you already possess, choose the next
spell above or below it that you don't already have.
B: Trophy CastingYou have developed methods of enhancing your power and protecting yourself from the hazards of spellcasting, using your blood and
trophies with significance to the
Old Ways as fuel. You can voluntarily change any number of
MD to show a
6 after rolling them, allowing you to avoid chaos or doom, at the cost of consuming a
trophy and taking
damage equal to the original die result for each
MD to be changed.
Examples of
trophies include:
snake skeletons,
wolf hearts,
shark jawbones, and
jars of ash from the corpses of sentient creatures that burned to death. Only one
trophy may be produced from each corpse, and a corpse must be at least of small size to produce a
trophy. A
trophy takes up
1/3 of an inventory slot.
D: Witch's CurseWhen a powerful witch such as yourself pronounces a
curse, the universe takes notice. In order for this to work properly you must have been legitimately (in your eyes, and those of the
DM) wronged by your victim-to-be, otherwise you can just curse them with
Evil Eye like a lesser witch.
In addition, tales of your exploits and magical potency have by now reached the Civilized Lands and caused folk there to Take Notice. Expect an
apprentice warlock and
1d6 furious witch-hunters to arrive on the next ship—if they aren't here already.
Witch Magic
As a
spellcaster, you are able to perceive and communicate with the spirits known commonly as
spells. As a
witch, those available to
you to command (by means of your
MD) are technically termed
demons, also known as
elementals, though this system of classification is somewhat tautological. Alas.
Other spells may exist, and you may be able to bribe, coerce, or otherwise convince them to join you. By the same token, experienced witches and such met in the wild may travel with spells outside this list.
- Evil Eye
A hunched form with a single large eye and pointed ears; or are they horns? Their material appearance varies significantly between instances—plant matter, stone, raw flesh...
The first demon any witch becomes familiar (ha, aha) with. He may be ordered to harass a target, tweaking their ears and tying their shoelaces together and generally being a nuisance until given a new order. If it matters, he can exert up to [sum] pounds of force at a time during this duration. Owing to his simple-minded and generally servile nature, he is easy to bribe or goad (using MD) into performing tasks outside his usual repertoire—nearly all of which he is wildly incompetent at.
- Hand
She is a mass of red ribbons, stretched across every available space. She 'speaks' seldom, and softly when she does.
While you concentrate, Hand can lift and move objects within a stone's throw gently at a rate of [dice] * 30' per round, or hurl them up to [dice] * 60' dealing [sum] damage to them and anything they impact with a DEX roll for half. If used to crush, tear, etc, she deals [sum] damage per round. She cannot affect targets that pass a CHA save (or have one passed by their holder/wielder/wearer/etc), and is limited to targets of approximate mass relative to the number of MD invested in her: - 1 MD - a handheld object or small animal
- 2 MD - a person plus gear
- 3 MD - a horse or monitor plus rider and saddlebags
- 4 MD - a fully laden wagon
- 5 MD - a small house plus inhabitants and furniture
- Mend
He is grey-skinned and sullen, wearing something that looks like tradesman's leathers. Can be roused to enthusiasm by detailed engineering discussions.
Mend patches holes, welds breaks, and otherwise repairs the touched object instantly, healing up to [sum] + [dice] HP to it if it has HP or fixing any amount of damage short of complete destruction if it does not. If an object has been completely destroyed, Mend may still be able to reconstitute it depending on its complexity and the number of MD invested in him: - 1 MD - simple shapes, blocks of material
- 2 MD - boats, wagons, bridges, most weapons and armor
- 3 MD - artworks, siege engines, sailing vessels, complex architecture
- 4 MD - clockworks, repeating firearms, steam engines
- 5 MD - most corpses (though Mend cannot restore life), most electrical devices
- Shatter
She is boldly colored and somewhat crudely formed, as if pieced together from scrap clay by an inexpert sculptor. Over-fond of complex plans and mechanisms. Thinks she's smarter than she is.
In order to command Shatter, her name must be shouted; not merely spoken. She does exactly what her name suggests to any target within shouting distance, and is capable of wreaking an amount of destruction relative to the MD invested in her: - 1 MD - A few blows with a hammer (A handheld object, an artwork)
- 2 MD - Two folks with tools (A door, a chest, a sarcophagus)
- 3 MD - A half-dozen tradesfolk with block and tackle (A tunnel, a wooden building, an architectural feature)
- 4 MD - A dozen tradesfolk with heavy equipment (A stone building or fortification, a large cavern)
- Enlarge
She is blue-skinned, elephant-headed, enormous. Refuses to believe problems can be solved by any means other than physical force.
Enlarge doubles the size of the touched target [dice] times for up to [sum] minutes. If the target is a creature, it gets +2 STR and -2 DEX for each time it is doubled, and anything worn or carried by it likewise increases in size. For each time size is doubled, weight quadruples.
- Reduce
He is red-skinned, bull-headed, enormous. Refuses to believe problems can be solved by any means other than physical force.
Reduce halves the size of the touched target [dice] times for up to [sum] minutes. If the target is a creature, it gets -2 STR and +2 DEX for each time it is halved, and anything worn or carried by it likewise decreases in size. For each time size is halved, weight is quartered.
- Heal
Wears a linen robe, clinical, detached, omits names and pronouns when speaking. Seen it all before, twice.
Heals the touched target for [sum] + [dice] HP. Alternatively, can be directed to solve specific problems depending on the MD invested in her: - 1 MD - No alternatives.
- 2 MD - Mend broken bones or other long-term wounds.
- 3 MD - Cure a malady such as disease or poison.
- 4 MD - Reattach recently severed limbs.
- 5 MD - Regrow missing limbs or organs.
- Inflict
He is a crying youth with six many-jointed arms. Two cover his face, two hug his body, and two wield straight razors in furious slashing arcs.
Inflict cuts a given target within a stone's throw for [sum] + [dice] damage. He refuses to be directed against inanimate objects specifically, or ones which don't appear to bleed or feel pain.
- Illusion
He is long-haired and vain and aristocratic, pouts if formed into something ugly and preens if formed into something beautiful. His aesthetic sensibilities are focused on bright, clashing colors.
Illusion shapes himself into an object or creature up to [dice] * 5' in diameter, which appears completely real and moves however you desire but produces no sound, smell, touch, heat, etc. Shaping Illusion into a detailed copy of an existing object or creature requires either close familiarity or a reference to work from. Creatures inspecting Illusion closely may roll INT to determine his true nature.
- Darkness
He is a three-meter-long grub, black and shiny and dimly transparent. Clumsy, sleeps more than he's awake.
Darkness attaches himself to the touched target and radiates a cloud of absolute magical darkness in a [dice] * 10' radius. Non-magical sight within or through the radius is completely impossible. He can maintain this effect for up to [sum] hours when attached to an inanimate, unattended, or willing target, or [sum] rounds if attached to an unwilling one that succeeds a CHA save.
- Invisibility
She is faceless, wearing a dark business suit. She chatters with the neurotic, anxious edge of an inferiority complex, especially when performing a task.
Invisibility submerges the target partway into the ethereal plane for up to [dice] * [sum] minutes, rendering them completely invisible to normal sight and able to see other invisible creatures and objects. If cast with 4 MD, she hides the target from supernatural vision of non-invisible creatures as well.
- Scrying
It has a boxy, geometrically shaped head and a large, hooded eye. Below the neck, it disappears into a mess of black-feathered wings and a single, large crow's foot.
Scrying will allow you to perceive through its eye at will, and can be directed to seek out any target that you know the name of and could identify in a lineup of similar targets regardless of line-of-sight or range, which it will watch for up to [dice] * [sum] hours. If it matters, it flies about as fast as a commercial airliner. For each MD invested in it beyond the first, you may have it perform one additional task from this list: - Relay sound to you.
- Relay touch, taste, and smell to you.
- Allow you to speak through it.
- Alert you under specific conditions even if you're not paying attention (or sleeping).
- Open
He wears a jumpsuit or coverall, and has four many-jointed arms tipped with jagged steel spines. He is a creep, a voyeur, a kleptomaniac, and argues vociferously for you to fulfill his desires.
Opens a target within a stone's throw. Doors are flung wide, shackles bent open, belts come undone. The occupants of armor, clothing, mecha, etc. are expelled. If the target is secured, attended, or sapient, Open is [dice] level with +[best] STR, and skilled at opening things.
- Hold
She is a sinister figure in white, blindfolded, bound in chains and one of those funny jackets that won't let you check your wristwatch. She speaks in a piercing, imperious voice.
Closes and locks (if applicable; doors slam shut, drawbridges slam up, half-drawn swords slam back in their scabbards) a target within a stone's throw, then Holds it in place for up to [sum] rounds. If the target is secured, attended, or sapient, Hold is [dice] level with +[best] STR, and skilled at wrestling.
- Terror
He is an emaciated figure, contorted into a fetal position with wild eyes and every muscle tensed. He is terrified of everything, for absolutely blisteringly incoherent and conspiratorial reasons. If asked to elaborate on a given phobia, he has a 1-in-6 chance of being (in some small part) correct in his fears.
Emanates a burst of psychic Terror, causing up to [sum] targets of [dice] HD or less to roll CHA or flee your presence for [sum] rounds. If unable to flee, targets that fail their saves cower unresponsively for the duration. Targets that succeed their saves or remain in your presence beyond his duration are shaken, and suffer a -2 penalty to everything until they are able to escape you and take a minute to calm down.
- Sleep
He is a twitching, aberrant wreck, paranoid shivers and sharp edges cast in polished steel and white glass. He abhors violence and will wake his targets by shrieking if you plot to execute them.
Causes up to [sum] targets of [dice] HD or less to roll CHA or fall into a deep, coma-like sleep for [sum] hours, from which they can only be awoken by vigorous slapping/shaking (which takes an action from someone nearby) or damage, and during which they do not require any food or water. Surprised targets automatically fail their saves, and if cast on a single target with more than one MD his effects are permanent until awakened.
- Fog
He is a pile of cyan-stained rags and linens that only vaguely resembles a humanoid form. A diffuse, pale glow emanates from where his face would be.
A huge quantity of black Fog pours forth from your mouth and nose, spreading to cover a [dice] * 30' radius for up to [sum] hours, or [dice] minutes in bright sunlight or strong wind. The density and effects of the fog vary with the number of MD invested in him: - 1 MD - The fog is sufficient to obscure details (faces, etc) and apply disadvantage to ranged attacks made through it.
- 2 MD - The fog is sufficient to obscure objects more than 5' away in their entirety.
- 3 MD - The fog is thick enough to conceal an outstretched hand, and completely opaque to supernatural vision.
- 4 MD - The fog deals [best] damage to creatures other than you with every breath, and they must roll STR each round or be struck permanently blind if it contacts their eyes directly. When commanded with this number of MD, Fog instead answers to the name Cloudkill.
- Animate Dead
She is an old woman, black-shrouded and mourning. Her voice carries the weight of centuries, and she teases at ancient secrets.
Animates a touched corpse of [dice] * 2 HD or fewer, raising it as undead. If cast with 2 or less MD the undead raised are unintelligent and will serve you unquestioningly. If cast with 3 or more MD the undead raised are intelligent, created free, and may roll CHA to resist being brought back into the world if they desire. The specific type of undead raised depends on the number of MD invested in her, and the ritual preparations undergone as a part of the casting: - 1 MD - Skeleton. Requires black gemstones worth at least 25 sp, which are placed in the eye sockets of the corpse. Removing the flesh of a corpse that is not already skeletonized takes at least one hour of solid work.
- 2 MD - Zombie. Requires embalming and preservative agents worth at least 50 sp and one hour to properly apply them, or a corpse which has already been preserved through similar methods. Alternately, zombies can be created with no preparation or materials from a fresh corpse, but will be paralyzed by rigor mortis within [sum] hours.
- 3 MD - Ghoul. Requires a piece of dead flesh and gnawed bone both from the corpse of a sapient creature, a pot of grave earth, a fragment of crypt or tombstone, and ten minutes to force all of the above down the target's throat and into its stomach.
- 4 MD - Revenant. Requires black gemstones worth at least 1,000 sp, the bottled soul of a sapient creature, and one minute to lure the target's soul back to their body using the above as sacrifices.
- 5 MD - Haunting. Requires an item of the target's that had great personal value to them when they were alive, and six hours to carry out the necessary rituals to summon and re-bind them to their corpse.
- 6 MD - Lich. Requires uniquely powerful reagents that are definitely not for sale, and twenty four hours to conduct an elaborate ritual extracting and processing the target's soul. Animate Dead resents answering to this name, and protests its inaccuracy.
- Abjure
He is a small child formed from blue-tinged iron, nervous and fretting with bracelets. He is lonely, friendly, and craves the company of other demons.
Abjures magical effects, elementals, devils, other spells, the animating spirits of undead or constructs, curses, &c back to wherever they came from. He reduces his target's [dice] and [sum] each by his own, completely banishing them if either is reduced to 0; use HP and HD in their place if it's a target that doesn't have those values. If commanded as a readied action, Abjure can affect others spells as they're cast and before they take effect.
- Summon
She is a devilress clad in black businesswear, her proportions slightly off when viewed from the corner of your eye. Her fingers taper to red-stained razor points, and her ever-so-slightly-too-wide grin hides a forest of needlelike teeth. She is quick to inform about the dangers of commanding her, and has release forms and waivers to be signed if you do.
Summons a devil of [dice] HD and [sum] HP for [sum] rounds. The devil is not in any way compelled to do your bidding unless you know its true name, in which case it is unable to harm you and you may dismiss it at will. Commanding Summon with more preparation (and signing more of her contracts and forms) allows a longer duration and more control over the devil to be summoned:
- With one round of preparation (a hasty signature, a quick sigil on the ground) the summoning persists for [sum] minutes and you may make one opposed CHA roll to banish the devil per round (for example, if it's trying to kill you).
- With one hour of preparation (a lengthy perusal of contracts, a well-formed summoning circle) the summoning persists for [sum] hours and the devil is unable to leave the summoning circle until you allow it (traditionally, after it's agreed not to kill you).
Witching Mishaps
- You contract Snoos, a sort of exposure-induced allergy to magical irradiation which causes any further magical effects to stun you into a watery-eyed sneezing fit for 1 round each. In addition, your skin gives off a faint blue glow until next dawn.
- Your veins turn jet black beneath your skin, stiff and painful. You gain no benefit (aside from your blood returning to normal) the next time you rest, and take 1 damage per minute exposed to sunlight until you do.
- Shards of black glass explode into being around you, pelting everything within 20' (including you) for [sum] damage, DEX half. Until the next dawn, any wounds you directly inflict on others are mirrored onto your own flesh.
- A torrent of winged insects issues from your mouth for [dice] rounds, preventing you from doing anything other than stagger around. Anyone within 20' must roll CHA or be likewise incapacitated as they flail and swat at the choking swarm.
- Your mouth seals itself into a smooth expanse, preventing you from speaking or casting spells for [sum] minutes. Stubby mushrooms sprout from all inanimate surfaces in a [dice] * 5' radius ring.
- Up to [sum] nearby corpses rise from the grave and attack you with single-minded intensity, moaning and whispering your name. Plants within a [dice] * 5' radius wither away and will never grow there again.
Witching Dooms
Witch (ha, aha) doom do you get? I guess it depends.
Doom of Fish
- Your eyes grow huge and milky, your flesh grey and slick. You can see in the dark.
- Your skin hardens to glimmering scales, webs grow between your extremities and your body. +4 AC; double speed in the water, half speed on land.
- Your lungs reshape and extrude themselves onto the surface of your skin as gills, and your limbs wither away into sleek-spined fins. You're a fish now, can't speak any language other than Hadeal, and drown in open air.
The Doom of Fish can be escaped by capturing the teeth of a sea monster and burying them in dry land.
Doom of Blood
- Blood crusts slowly around your eyes, nostrils, other orifices. You heal 1 HP per pint of blood you drink.
- Your wounds no longer close, and blood beads slowly through your skin. You no longer heal naturally from food or rest.
- Your skin sloughs off entirely, and a torrent of blood issues perpetually from any uncovered openings in your body. You can't speak any language other than Serumic, and lose 1 HP per hour.
The Doom of Blood can be escaped by removing all of your blood—which becomes progressively more difficult as you advance in this Doom, since it gives you more blood or you'd bleed out even faster than it already makes you.
Doom of Ashes
- Your flesh turns black; your blood thick, syrupy, and magnetic. No wound can kill you, though you still risk death—and dismemberment—by other means.
- Your entire body aches, and your eyes are as black as void. Absolute darkness is daylight to you, but even dim light blinds. Any spells you cast that would create light—even incidental—create magical darkness instead.
- You fade into a charred and insubstantial shadow, rendering you unable to interact with physical objects or speak any language other than Ember. Bright illumination destroys any part of you that it touches.
The Doom of Ashes can be escaped by giving up an archdemon as a burnt offering, in a ritual presided over by a priest of appropriate power.
Doom of Bones
- Bones rattle angrily about and against each other in your presence, causing you and anything adjacent to you that possesses bones to suffer disadvantage on any tasks requiring dexterity or quiet.
- Corpses which possess skeletons animate in your presence and attack you, and even loose bones gain some level of locomotion and will do their best to harm you.
- Your own bones rebel against you, escaping your flesh as an animate skeleton and rendering you unable to speak or understand Clatter if you could before, or—perhaps more importantly—move in anything approaching a useful fashion. On the upside, I guess you don't personally suffer from your first Doom anymore.
The Doom of Bones can be escaped by replacing your (traitorous, scheming) skeleton with bones cut from a suitably impressive
snake. Some crushing and
sintering may be necessary.
Witch-Tulpas (also known as Friends)
Summoning a
friend works the same way as it does with other familiars (
10 minutes,
1d6 HP, et al) but once summoned they are carried within your soul, rather than physically. If you break a breakable
restriction of the
friend you are carrying, you immediately stop carrying that
friend and take
1d6 damage due to psychic shock.
Each time you gain a template of friend witch—including the first—roll once on the list below to determine which friend you are able to summon. If you eat the heart of another friend witch, you gain the ability to summon any friend they were carrying at the time of their death.
As with the spell list, this is just a list of those possible to start the game with as a friend witch and more may exist:
- Nuul Ux, the Ashen Waste
Visible: Pallid; emaciated; charred skin flakes away to reveal pink scar tissue.
First Boon: Spoil food and evaporate water with a glance at up to 60' range.
Second Boon: Weapons wreathed in smoke and cinders, treat all AC as 10 and deal fire damage.
Restriction: Food and drink turn to ash at a touch, granting no nourishment.
- Um-Yanith, the Carrion Feast
Visible: Stinking; plagued with lice and fleas; hair falling out in clumps; skin gleams sickly.
First Boon: Can eat and gain nourishment from any dead flesh, immune to effects of rotten meat.
Second Boon: Gain immunity to one spell or magical ability of any creature you eat, as long as Um-Yanith is carried.
Restriction: Must eat a piece of every corpse you see and have access to.
- Um-Sharan, the Chronicle Worm
Visible: Corpulent; veins and organs show faintly through translucent skin.
First Boon: Able to read (not speak) any language, living or dead.
Second Boon: Recover one memory from anything you consume.
Restriction: Must stop to read any text you encounter in its entirety, and never interrupt a story.
- Hexochre, the Conqueror King
Visible: Smoldering embers for eyes; clothing turns to soot-black, cruelly spiked armor.
First Boon: Clothes harden and transform to black steel plate (17 AC) while Hexochre is carried.
Second Boon: Body gains mass and scars of a warrior hero, count as having +4 STR.
Restriction: Must respond to insults with immediate violence.
- Phoemordia, the Drowned Queen
Visible: Blue-black eyes and lips; white skin; yellow sclera; perpetually dripping.
First Boon: Point to a target within 10' of water; ghostly hands (+5 STR) drag them in.
Second Boon: If you die underwater, immediately rise as a ghoul but must carry Phoemordia forever.
Restriction: Halve maximum HP. Followers have a 5% chance of desertion per day.
- Zoshardan, the Earthen Sword
Visible: Calloused, grey-brown skin; smell old, like cave dust and wet stone.
First Boon: Create spiked formations from existing stone with a gesture; 3d6 damage, DEX half.
Second Boon: Merge limbs with stone or earth to become immovable; works on walls and ceilings too.
Restriction: Take 1 damage per round exposed to sunlight or running water.
- Vo Fanur, the Elder Dragon
Visible: Ancient, weathered scales; burning eyes; wispy beard, like cobwebs.
First Boon: Accurately appraise values (of treasure) and ambition (of creatures) with a glance.
Second Boon: Breathe 60' cone of poison fire; 6d6 damage, DEX half, you take 2d6 yourself.
Restriction: Roll CHA per creature encountered or be convinced they plot against you.
- Temeri, the Elemental Evil
Visible: Colors shift across body—deep red, bright orange, yellow-white, green-blue-black.
First Boon: Take 5 less damage from fish, blood, ash (including natural fire), or bone attacks.
Second Boon: Speak Hadeal, Serumic, Ember, and Clatter with aristocratic airs.
Restriction: Must be touching all four elements (fish, blood, ashes, bones) at all times.
- Hulk, the Hulk
Visible: Muscles swollen and corded like steel cables; skin a quilt of stark white scars.
First Boon: Focused rage grants immunity to mental attacks and fear. +1 STR.
Second Boon: Violent fury allows additional melee attack per round. +1 STR.
Restriction: Mustn't use ranged weapons or speak except battlecries and taunts.
- Gra Yan Eb, the Hand of Doom
Visible: Dominant hand drips blood continually.
First Boon: Held weapon drips blood and deals +1 damage per round of combat (+2 second round, etc.)
Second Boon: Mark target as an action; one target at a time. Held weapon deals double damage to them.
Restriction: Mustn't hold weapons—even two-handed weapons—or shields in any off-hand.
- Dracula, the Impaler
Visible: Bone-white skin; prominent canine teeth; air of elegance.
First Boon: Gain bite attack for 1d6 damage; heal self for damage dealt or 1d6 per pint of blood drank.
Second Boon: Unless beheaded or burned, can't die and heal 1 HP / hour. Still unconscious below 0 HP.
Restriction: Take 1 damage per second in sunlight or running water. Mustn't enter homes without invitation.
- Cthfanut, the Dark Heart of the Wood
Visible: Limbs like tree trunks, gnarled like knotted oak; hair like lichen.
First Boon: Thick bark grants +4 AC. Impossible to understand your identity, even for your party.
Second Boon: Take 5 less damage from any unnatural source, i.e. manmade fire, sword, knapped stone.
Restriction: Can't use unnatural tools (sharp rocks or draped furs ok, whittled clubs or sewn hides not).
- Mordun, the Moonchild
Visible: Shed dim moonlight (which counts as real moonlight) from pale, glowing skin.
First Boon: Take no more than 10 damage from any single event.
Second Boon: Whenever the DM rolls the maximum result on any die, they must treat it as a roll of 1.
Restriction: Whenever you roll the maximum result on any die, treat it as a roll of 1.
- Firmatur, the Mountain Hearth
Visible: Radiate warmth; eyes flicker like dim, distant campfires.
First Boon: Food you prepare is preternaturally delicious and heals double normal value.
Second Boon: Emotions are calmed within 20' of you, aggressive action requires CHA save.
Restriction: Mustn't make attack rolls.
- Karereca, the Tombed Horror
Visible: Bones visible through flesh and organs; eyes absorb light like holes in reality.
First Boon: Anything with bones that you slay rises immediately as a skeleton, as Raise Dead.
Second Boon: Can control up to [templates] * 4 undead (four times normal limit).
Restriction: Undead you don't control attack you on sight. Automatically fail saves vs. disintegration.
- Grutulat, the Star Serpent
Visible: Points of light shine out from body like holes in a paper lantern.
First Boon: Conjure and control lifelike illusion of constellation as long as you concentrate.
Second Boon: Put target unconscious mind into snake-filled coma as long as Grutulat is carried.
Restriction: Must not enter areas of bright illumination.
- Aklonhu, the Silent Forest
Visible: Predatory mien; long and red in tooth and claw.
First Boon: Continually project zone of absolute silence in 5' radius.
Second Boon: Your unarmed attacks cause targets to forget all language for 1 day per point of damage.
Restrictions: Mustn't communicate beyond simple body language. Shrugs fine, pantomime not.
- Tia Tuneb, the Wayfinder
Visible: Bright light shines between eyes; 30' cone of bright illumination and 30' of dim beyond that.
First Boon: Always aware of distance and relative direction to peak of the Mountain. It is very high.
Second Boon: Cover unlimited distance in one day of walking—not swimming, climbing, etc.
Restrictions: Mustn't ride a mount or vehicle; must travel alone.
- Lolu Lar, the Leaping Dark
Visible: Eerily still when not in motion, then unnaturally fast and twitching. At least four too many eyes.
First Boon: Jump up to 30' without a roll, climb anything a spider could easily as walking.
Second Boon: Sense movement within 60', no blindness penalties within that range.
Restrictions: Mustn't wield firearms, nor cause injury to any of your traveling companions.
- Etun, the Stillborn Godsun
Visible: Soft, deformed figure; oversized head; casts bright illumination with unlimited range.
First Boon: Useful vision; useless vision; misleading vision; or no vision (1d4) each time you rest.
Second Boon: Dwarves and angels will refuse to harm you, take no damage from consecrated fire.
Restriction: Mustn't open eyes.
Witching Tools
- Peasant Clothing. A useful disguise. No slots when worn.
- A nice Satchel. Sturdy and utilitarian. This is your inventory.
- Skins of Water and Wine. The wine is strong, blackberry, and you likely made it yourself. 1 slot each.
- Fire-striker. A bit of flint, useful for making sparks if you've got any iron around. Negligible bulk.
- 10 Candles. Handmade, tallow. Cast 5' of bright light and 5' more of dim, burn for an hour each. 1 slot altogether.
- 3 rations of Jerky. Goat, crow, or villagefolk. 1 slot altogether.
- Golden Sickle. For harvesting herbs, technically, but don't let that stop you. 1/3 slot.
- Jeweled Kris. A classic weapon for spooky folk. Intimidating. 1/3 slot.
- Quill and 10 sheets of Vellum. Useful for taking notes and such. 1/3 slot altogether.
- Mortar and Pestle. Sort of a "travel cauldron", a real one's too big to haul around. 1/3 slot.
- Very Large Hat. Big enough to hide a small child under. No slots when worn.
- High Pointed Boots and Striped Socks. Very fashionable. No slots when worn.
- Trick Ring. Secret compartment. Good for poisonings and such. Negligible bulk.
- Collection of Odd Botanicals. Smell bizarre. 5-in-6 chance of containing exactly what you need, diminishing with use. 1/3 slot.
- Bottle of Scorpion Whiskey. Got a real candied scorpion in it; also quite good whiskey. 1 slot.
- "Black" Cat. Actually calico, under the mascara. Fairly well-trained, as far as cats go; enough to follow you around, anyway. 1 slot, but won't let you carry it around much.
- Poppet. A doll made with your hair. Might confuse very stupid demons or angels that accost you. 1/3 slot.
- Cursed Mirror. One side reflects things much smaller than they are, the other much larger. Not actually cursed. 1/3 slot.
- Cursed Taxidermy. So poorly done as to be unidentifiable. Could be a large cat, mid-sized raccoon, or very small child. Only "cursed" in the twitter meme sense. 2 slots.
- Something weird. Roll 1d6:
- A magic teaspoon. Dissolves in liquid, extremely poisonous, not actually magical. Negligible bulk.
- A cursed grimoire. Screams when opened, eats uncareful mice and beetles. 1/3 slot.
- An umbrella with a parrot's-head pommel. Provides off-color commentary and cusses. 1 slot.
- Cane with a wolf's-head pommel. Bites anyone other than you who grasps it. 1 slot.
- A solid gold femur. Looks human. 2 slots (heavy).
- A magic candle. Does something specific. Roll 1d6 again:
- Casts darkness instead of light.
- Hovers above your head when lit.
- Never runs out.
- Impossible to extinguish, burns underwater or in vacuum.
- Burns hot enough to cut steel.
- Summons a powerful devil. Does not allow the same sort of control Summon does.
