Howl’s Moving Castle is a movie that is near and dear to my heart. I love it so much, earnestly.
I watched it again, and it sparked this - originally, a pure conversion, but it got out of hand and developed a slightly grimmer spirit of its own. This class is pretty powerful - use with caution, I suppose?
I watched it again, and it sparked this - originally, a pure conversion, but it got out of hand and developed a slightly grimmer spirit of its own. This class is pretty powerful - use with caution, I suppose?
(I wrote the above words months ago. This has been a draft for a while.)
A Wizard is someone who owes much – or perhaps all – to the Otherworldly Powers, which lurk in the All-Consuming Fog at the northern borders of Outshire.
A Wizard is a heartless creature wearing the skin of a youth it tricked and ate.
A Wizard is a desperately sad thing, driven out by the ignorant and decried as a monster.
Wizards are not welcome in the dales and towns of Outshire.
But they come all the same.
THE HEARTLESS
+1 MD and +2 Spells per Template, including Delta Templates.
Starting Items: Neat Clothes, Second Outfit (Extravagant), Year-Round Train Tickets to Mariongold, 5 Books, impractical or ostentatious weapon (e.g., cane-sword, derringer, filigreed golden knife).
A – Transformation, Fog, Subtle Magic
B – Method
C – Second Senses
D – Partial Transformation
-
A Wizard is someone who owes much – or perhaps all – to the Otherworldly Powers, which lurk in the All-Consuming Fog at the northern borders of Outshire.
A Wizard is a heartless creature wearing the skin of a youth it tricked and ate.
A Wizard is a desperately sad thing, driven out by the ignorant and decried as a monster.
Wizards are not welcome in the dales and towns of Outshire.
But they come all the same.
THE HEARTLESS
+1 MD and +2 Spells per Template, including Delta Templates.
Starting Items: Neat Clothes, Second Outfit (Extravagant), Year-Round Train Tickets to Mariongold, 5 Books, impractical or ostentatious weapon (e.g., cane-sword, derringer, filigreed golden knife).
A – Transformation, Fog, Subtle Magic
B – Method
C – Second Senses
D – Partial Transformation
-
Δ – Sanctum
Δ – Fog-Eaten
Δ – Whole Again
Δ – The Power to Take
Perk: Heartless
You are a Wizard. In the armour of your soul there are no weaknesses. You cannot be debilitated by loss. You are ageless, although young at the moment.
You can convince foglings, the creatures of the Fog, to work for you, for various purposes.
Drawback: Heartless
You are a Wizard. You are unable to cry or feel grief. You cannot muster heartache. Your world will leave you behind, someday, if it doesn’t destroy you first.
There are certain rules you must obey:
Transformation
The first power of the Wizard is to transform – it is the most dangerous and least subtle thing any Wizard could do. As such, most are content to wear their charming human faces.
Choose the nature of your Transformation. Most Wizards become beasts, flames, creatures of myth – dangerous and impressive, if monstrous.
The wizards gathered in the mage-city of Llanway (far to Outshire’s west) refer to their Transformation as their “Other Self”. This term has stuck.
You may Transform at will – while Transformed, whenever you cast a spell, your MD Explode, i.e, roll again on a 6, adding the result to [sum] and incrementing [dice] by one. The rolls from exploding dice don’t cause Mishaps, just the initial rolls.
You are also a giant monster. You gain Extra HP equal to twice your Fog stat (see below), and likely gain access to other abilities such as flight, fire-breath, venom, water-breathing – stuff like that.
Drawbacks include being a giant monster, and thus having everyone nearby that doesn’t know you screaming and shooting at you, that sort of thing.
Fog
You have a new stat, called Fog – it begins at 0. It represents the loss of humanity.
Every time you revert from your Transformation, roll a save. If you fail, gain a point of Fog.
Fog does four things:
Should you teach someone magic, you can lower your Fog by 1.
Taking an Apprentice is an involved process, which, of course, creates another Wizard.
Subtle Magic
You gain passive magical abilities, subtle in nature but pervasive in their influence – a consequence of being half-in, half-out of the Fog. These abilities must be passive, i.e, always active and requiring no input, and subtle – no fire or lightning, no incantations or staves.
You start with 2 and gain another whenever you gain a Template.
For some examples:
You have refined your art – no mere flinger of blind incantations, you have begun to fortify and refine your methods and practises: how have you gone about that? Choose one of the following options.
Second Senses
You have changed again, become more attuned to the strange and otherworldly.
You can detect the presence of magic or active spells as a distinctive smell and a faint shimmer of disturbed light. You can instinctively tell how many [dice] were invested in a spell.
Furthermore, you know automatically when you’re in the presence of other Wizards, and can detect such things as Familiars, Servants and Simulacra by their presence alone.
Partial Transformation
You have mastered the border between your forms - for now, at least.
You can now manifest parts of your Other Self - a tail, wings, claws, and so on - gaining the benefit of such a part, such as flight or water-breathing.
When Partially Transforming, you don’t get the exploding MD or extra HP, but neither do you need to Save vs. Fog.
Spells
You know two spells at Level 1. You may:
From second level onwards, you have access to two Spell Lists – the Hedge-Mage list, and the associated list for your chosen Method.
Roll 2d8 at Level 2, 2d10 at Level 3, and choose two spells at Level 4.
You may choose which list you roll each of your dice on.
Should you roll a duplicate, move up or down the list until you hit a new spell.
Mishaps
If you roll doubles when casting a Spell, roll on the following Mishap table:
Δ – Sanctum
In a building which you own, have built, or occupy without contest, convince a Fogling to become the spirit of the building.
Your new Domovoi means that your building is partially in the Fog - perfect for a magical Sanctum!
Inside your Sanctum, you can undertake [1d6+Dice] months of work to create a Scroll of a spell you know, you can summon a Fogling of [dice] HD into a ritual circle, and other such Wizardly processes.
You also know instantly if another Wizard enters your Sanctum.
Δ – Fog-Eaten
Allow your Fog to reach 13.
You are Transformed Permanently – you are now what the people of Outshire might call a Monster – something to be hunted down, a ravenous terror on the land, and a shame to all respectable Wizards. Expect to be destroyed in short order, or to become a hungry and terrible legend. You don’t need to stop playing your character.
Δ – Whole Again
While at 0 Fog, find genuine love.
Your heart is returned to you, perhaps allowing you to find true peace and fulfilment.
Increase all of your stats by 2. You lose the ability to Transform, but keep your Spells and Subtle Magic.
Δ – The Power to Take
Find genuine love (with more than 0 Fog) and then lose it.
Δ – Fog-Eaten
Δ – Whole Again
Δ – The Power to Take
Perk: Heartless
You are a Wizard. In the armour of your soul there are no weaknesses. You cannot be debilitated by loss. You are ageless, although young at the moment.
You can convince foglings, the creatures of the Fog, to work for you, for various purposes.
Drawback: Heartless
You are a Wizard. You are unable to cry or feel grief. You cannot muster heartache. Your world will leave you behind, someday, if it doesn’t destroy you first.
There are certain rules you must obey:
- You cannot cross lines of salt.
- If you enter a building uninvited, you cannot read, or understand speech, while inside - until given permission to be there.
- You may never befriend dogs. They are always wary of you.
Transformation
The first power of the Wizard is to transform – it is the most dangerous and least subtle thing any Wizard could do. As such, most are content to wear their charming human faces.
Choose the nature of your Transformation. Most Wizards become beasts, flames, creatures of myth – dangerous and impressive, if monstrous.
The wizards gathered in the mage-city of Llanway (far to Outshire’s west) refer to their Transformation as their “Other Self”. This term has stuck.
You may Transform at will – while Transformed, whenever you cast a spell, your MD Explode, i.e, roll again on a 6, adding the result to [sum] and incrementing [dice] by one. The rolls from exploding dice don’t cause Mishaps, just the initial rolls.
You are also a giant monster. You gain Extra HP equal to twice your Fog stat (see below), and likely gain access to other abilities such as flight, fire-breath, venom, water-breathing – stuff like that.
Drawbacks include being a giant monster, and thus having everyone nearby that doesn’t know you screaming and shooting at you, that sort of thing.
Fog
You have a new stat, called Fog – it begins at 0. It represents the loss of humanity.
Every time you revert from your Transformation, roll a save. If you fail, gain a point of Fog.
Fog does four things:
- Higher Fog causes passive supernatural effects to “leak” from you more and more when you become agitated, usually themed around what spells you know.
- Add your Fog to Saves vs. Magic
- You gain [Fog]*2 Extra HP while Transformed.
- For each point of Fog you have, it takes another hour to fully transform back to yourself
Should you teach someone magic, you can lower your Fog by 1.
Taking an Apprentice is an involved process, which, of course, creates another Wizard.
Subtle Magic
You gain passive magical abilities, subtle in nature but pervasive in their influence – a consequence of being half-in, half-out of the Fog. These abilities must be passive, i.e, always active and requiring no input, and subtle – no fire or lightning, no incantations or staves.
You start with 2 and gain another whenever you gain a Template.
For some examples:
- Any time you jump or leap, the air seems to rush up to catch you – your leap is long and step weightless.
- Doors always seem to be unlocked for you.
- You can weave through a crowd without being slowed or followed.
- You can fit yourself into any space that would hold your torso.
- You are always perfectly clean.
- You cannot drown.
- You can make yourself look taller and more sinister than you actually are.
- You can read and write at terrific speeds.
- You make unparalleled cups of tea.
You have refined your art – no mere flinger of blind incantations, you have begun to fortify and refine your methods and practises: how have you gone about that? Choose one of the following options.
- Orthodox – Learned ones, who record in tomes. A method of rote and research.
- Witch – Practical ones, who work with heads. A method of practice and caution.
- Enchanter – Vain ones, who look within. A method of instinct and will.
- Artisan – Direct ones, who build with their hands. A method of refinement and stability.
- Gutter – Truly heartless ones, who fight for scraps. A method of accumulation and bitterness.
Second Senses
You have changed again, become more attuned to the strange and otherworldly.
You can detect the presence of magic or active spells as a distinctive smell and a faint shimmer of disturbed light. You can instinctively tell how many [dice] were invested in a spell.
Furthermore, you know automatically when you’re in the presence of other Wizards, and can detect such things as Familiars, Servants and Simulacra by their presence alone.
Partial Transformation
You have mastered the border between your forms - for now, at least.
You can now manifest parts of your Other Self - a tail, wings, claws, and so on - gaining the benefit of such a part, such as flight or water-breathing.
When Partially Transforming, you don’t get the exploding MD or extra HP, but neither do you need to Save vs. Fog.
+++
Spells
You know two spells at Level 1. You may:
- Choose one from any GLOG source (preferring the subtle or non-destructive), and roll 1d6 on the Hedge-Mage list.
- Or roll 2d8 on the Hedge-Mage list.
From second level onwards, you have access to two Spell Lists – the Hedge-Mage list, and the associated list for your chosen Method.
Roll 2d8 at Level 2, 2d10 at Level 3, and choose two spells at Level 4.
You may choose which list you roll each of your dice on.
Should you roll a duplicate, move up or down the list until you hit a new spell.
Mishaps
If you roll doubles when casting a Spell, roll on the following Mishap table:
- Phenomena – For the next [dice] Hours, you’re surrounded by hallucinatory phenomena which make it distinctly difficult for you to see and hear.
- Outburst - Some element of your Other Self - such as the feathers from your wings, the smoke of your flames, or perhaps the scales of your hide, make themselves extremely apparent. The outburst lasts [dice] Hours. If you Transform during this time, you automatically fail the Save vs. Fog.
- Twisting - You suffer Damage equal to your Fog stat, as some part of you changes in a spasm of fog and magic. If this drops you to 0, you immediately Transform, gaining 10HP but revealing yourself.
- Sickness - The next time you cast a Spell, or you are otherwise exposed to magic, save or vomit up 1MD messily. You recover it on a rest as normal. It usually looks like a bird or a worm. If you have no MD when you fail the save, take 1d6 Damage instead.
- Agony – The shape of your Other Self intersects with your current form, painfully melding – whenever you take an action or move, take 1d6 Damage. This lasts [dice + highest] Rounds.
- Fogling - A hungry Fogling with [dice] HD will appear near you at the next sunset. It will likely roost in your house, or follow you everywhere, and wait for you to die, so it can eat your corpse. Foglings are patient and ageless. If you and your companions are ever outnumbered by Foglings, they’ll take their chance and attack.
+++
Δ – Sanctum
In a building which you own, have built, or occupy without contest, convince a Fogling to become the spirit of the building.
Your new Domovoi means that your building is partially in the Fog - perfect for a magical Sanctum!
Inside your Sanctum, you can undertake [1d6+Dice] months of work to create a Scroll of a spell you know, you can summon a Fogling of [dice] HD into a ritual circle, and other such Wizardly processes.
You also know instantly if another Wizard enters your Sanctum.
Δ – Fog-Eaten
Allow your Fog to reach 13.
You are Transformed Permanently – you are now what the people of Outshire might call a Monster – something to be hunted down, a ravenous terror on the land, and a shame to all respectable Wizards. Expect to be destroyed in short order, or to become a hungry and terrible legend. You don’t need to stop playing your character.
Δ – Whole Again
While at 0 Fog, find genuine love.
Your heart is returned to you, perhaps allowing you to find true peace and fulfilment.
Increase all of your stats by 2. You lose the ability to Transform, but keep your Spells and Subtle Magic.
Δ – The Power to Take
Find genuine love (with more than 0 Fog) and then lose it.
You gain the power of Utter Theft. You can expend an MD to Take something. And I mean anything. Youth? Ambition? Money? Patriotism? That River? Your worst enemies? Your closest friends?
When you Take something, it disappears, replaced by Fog. Choose how you store it – as a tessellation on a scroll, in a bottle, inside a lockbox or within a familiar, for example. You can return it at any time, or give it to yourself, or an ally, allowing them to use it. Wizards have been known to steal hearts and move rivers by this power.
The power of Utter Theft is why this world is such a patchwork - heartbroken wizards stealing entire lands from the face of the earth, and hiding them away in their vaults and skulls.
+++
SPELL LISTS
Hedge-Mage Spells
1. Find Familiar
R: Touch T: A Vessel Full of Blood D: Permanent
You summon a talkative 0HD Creature with a bad attitude. It is, technically, a Fogling. This Spell requires no Dice to cast, but if you want the following benefits, you must “feed” the Familiar MD.
You can choose [dice] of the following powers when you feed your Familiar:
- You can swap senses with your Familiar.
- You can speak through your Familiar.
- Your Familiar can pass as an ordinary animal, and hide from Second Senses.
- Your Familiar is unhindered by locks, bars and latches.
- Your Familiar can become invisible.
2. Slow
R: Within twelve paces. T: Anything. D: [Sum] rounds.
The target’s motion is reduced in speed and force, as much as it needs to be, for the duration, although it must remain in motion. This halves a person’s move speed, prevents a fall from dealing damage, slows a speeding train, etc.
Creatures may save if unwilling.
Quicker objects can be caught by investing more dice - a galloping horse at 2, a speeding car at 3, a bullet at 4, and so on.
3. Servants
R: Touch T: [sum] sets of clothes D: Until Dispelled
You summon [sum] 0HD Servants by investing MD. Servants are plain humanoid forms that are capable of lifting, dragging, pulling and working as a team. They are, technically, Foglings. They attack as a group, dealing 1 Damage per Servant, with a +1 Bonus to hit for every two Servants present.
The servants remain until you reclaim the MD, which you can do at any time.
4. Bottomless Cup
R: Touch. T: A Filled Vessel D: [sum] rounds.
For [sum] rounds, whatever liquid is contained in the vessel is infinite in capacity - you can drink and pour, and it will never empty.
5. Smarten Up
R: Line of Sight T: Something dirty or damaged. D: [sum] hours.
Makes someone, somewhere, or something, superficially cleaner or more appealing.
If cast with 4 or more dice, the effect is not superficial, but actual, creating a physical change for the duration - this would repair a broken vehicle or fix ruined clothes for the duration.
6. Moving Objects
R: Line of Sight T: [sum] objects smaller than a horse. D: [dice] hours.
The targeted objects begin to move, as if walking on invisible legs. You choose where they go and what they do. They can’t muster enough force to deal damage, but they can be used as cover, ridden, or used as part of a trap.
7. Sleep
R: Within 5 paces. T: [sum] HP of creatures. D: [dice] hours.
Wave your hand, and place up to [sum] HP of creatures in a confused, dreamlike state, where they are dozy, impressionable, friendly, and unlikely to remember anything. The presence of danger allows them to save against this spell, and damage ends it.
8. Folding Pavilion
R: Touch T: A tent. D: Until the tent is finally knocked over.
The target tent gains [dice] extra interior spaces, the size of average rooms, which are furnished with… weird shit, like too tall chairs and uncannily soft bedrolls. The whole tent has a “liminal space” feeling about it. It will resist [sum] attempts to knock it over.
Incidentally, if you cut it from the inside, Fog spills out.
9. Scrying
R: Infinite. T: Known. D: [sum] rounds.
You hold up a transparent or reflective object, and, for the duration, you can see a person, place or object which you have:
- Previously seen.
- A part of.
- Gained the True Name of. (True Names are ineffable, and totally unrelated to what someone actually goes by day to day.)
If you know a target person’s True Name while scrying, you can hear their thoughts as well.
10. Invisibility
R: Within whispering distance. T: Anything D: [dice] hours.
The target becomes unseeable.
At 2 or more Dice, they also become unhearable.
At 3 or more Dice, they become invisible to Second Senses as well.
At 4 or more Dice, the spell prevents any form of detection, up to and including Scrying.
11. Gate
R: Within sight. T: An aperture. D: [sum] rounds.
The target aperture becomes a portal to the Fog.
You can cast this while in the Fog to exit from any aperture you are aware of.
Alternatively, you can use this spell to drag a [dice]*2 HD Fogling into the world. It has no allies and no enemies, but it hungers for magic.
12. Tower
R: Within Sight. T: A building. D: Permanent
The target building becomes suffused with Fog. It gains [dice] additional rooms in defiance of logic, and its exits lead to [dice] additional locations, again, in defiance of logic.
You may only have one Tower at a time. Casting this spell on another building reverts the changes to your previous Tower.
Subsequent castings of this spell must be at least [1d12 + dice] months later. If you choose to cast it on the same building before then, save. If you fail, the Fog spills into the interior of your Tower. It is now full of monsters, and is a gateway to a terrible pocket dimension full of the things which ate your heart.
Orthodox
Perk: Rote-Learning
If you have a laboratory or sanctum, you can research new Spells with [2d6 - Templates] Months of Work, minimum of 1.
You can also extract Spells from Scrolls with an hour’s work, allowing you to learn the Spell instead of expending the scroll.
Spells:
1. Magic Spear
R: As far as you can throw the object. T: An object and a target creature. D: Instant.
You infuse a physical object with powerful magic, allowing you to hurl it with unexpected accuracy and force. If the object is even remotely spear shaped - broom, staff, branch, or an actual spear - make the attack roll with a +[dice] bonus - on a hit, it deals [sum]+[dice] damage. If the object is some other shape, make the attack roll as normal, and only deal [sum] damage.
2. Knock
R: Touch T: Something That’s Shut D: Instantaneous
You knock roughly on a closed object, forcing it open with a loud bang. This works on closed doors, shut chests, lowered visors, locked padlocks and similar things.
If used on a creature of [dice] or less HD, it will disclose what it is thinking about immediately.
3. Lock
R: Touch T: Something That’s Open D: Until Dispelled.
You tap gently on an open object, forcing it shut with a sucking sound. It cannot be opened by a creature with [dice] or less HD. You can allow creatures to open Locked things, if you choose.
If used on a creature of [dice] or less HD, it will be unable to speak for [sum] hours.
4. Identify
R: Sight T: Something Visible D: Instant
You examine an item, and something peeking through your eyes does the same. Between you, you produce [dice] useful facts about whatever it is you’re looking at.
5. Grease
R: Touch T: A person, object, or [dice*10] square feet of floor or wall. D: [sum] minutes.
Run your hand along the target - it immediately loses all friction, becoming as slippery as possible.
6. Shield
R: N/A T: Self D: [dice] rounds.
You wreathe yourself in choking strands of Fog, obscuring your form and warping the space around you. Gain [highest] AC for the duration. This can be cast on someone else’s turn. Casting shield with 4MD leaves a permanent area of distorted space in your wake.
7. Air Walk
R: Touch T: Anything D: [sum] minutes.
The target can step on thin air as if it were a plane of particularly durable glass. This allows it to run, climb or slide through the air, if you desire.
4. Identify
R: Sight T: Something Visible D: Instant
You examine an item, and something peeking through your eyes does the same. Between you, you produce [dice] useful facts about whatever it is you’re looking at.
5. Grease
R: Touch T: A person, object, or [dice*10] square feet of floor or wall. D: [sum] minutes.
Run your hand along the target - it immediately loses all friction, becoming as slippery as possible.
6. Shield
R: N/A T: Self D: [dice] rounds.
You wreathe yourself in choking strands of Fog, obscuring your form and warping the space around you. Gain [highest] AC for the duration. This can be cast on someone else’s turn. Casting shield with 4MD leaves a permanent area of distorted space in your wake.
7. Air Walk
R: Touch T: Anything D: [sum] minutes.
The target can step on thin air as if it were a plane of particularly durable glass. This allows it to run, climb or slide through the air, if you desire.
Objects targeted by this spell are held upright in the air wherever you cast the spell on them.
8. Haste
R: Within Twelve Paces. T: Anything. D: [sum] rounds.
The motion of the target is increased - it is exactly as fast as it needs to be for the duration, although it must remain below the speed of sound. Hasted targets can make an extra attack per round.
Creatures may save if unwilling.
Casting this spell can also accelerate decay - ice will melt and plants will wilt. With 4 dice, you can rust iron and rot wood. This decay doesn’t work on people, for unclear reasons, likely linked to the presence of a soul - or maybe to humoral balance?
9. Hold
R: Sight T: Anything that can move. D: [sum] rounds.
The target is stopped, put into stasis. It cannot take damage, move, or do anything. No force can act on it. Creatures may save if unwilling, and are not conscious while Held. Targets affected by Hold discolour strangely, their hues shifting bluer for the duration of the spell. When cast on a creature whose True Name you know, you can set the duration to be up to a year, or up to a decade if the target is willing.
10. Sending
R: Infinite. T: Someone you’ve met. D: Instantaneous.
A message you speak aloud of [sum] words or less is carried to the intended recipient by a wisp of Fog, which whispers in their ear. There is no possibility of error. They may respond with [dice] words of their own.
11. Fireball
R: Within 30 paces T: A point in space D: Instantaneous
The semi-mythical spell of destruction. Everyone nearby to the targeted point takes [sum + dice + highest] damage, no save. Fireball shreds buildings, warps metal, reduces people to ash, and craters the very ground where you cast it. People killed by Fireball are totally annihilated.
12. Power’s End
R: Sight. T: A wizard in a prepared ritual circle. D: Instantaneous.
If you can catch another Wizard of [dice] HD or less inside a prepared ritual circle, you can destroy their magic and render them powerless. If you know their True Name, there’s no HD restriction. The ritual circle must be symbolically relevant in some manner to the victim - the Foglings love that. For example, a greedy wizard in a circle made of golden staves, or something.
When cast successfully, [sum] Foglings appear and swarm around the affected Wizard, eating their magic gleefully.
The affected Wizard loses their MD, their Transformation, their Subtle Magic, and all of their Fog - they are rendered a normal human once again - albeit, a heartless one.
Witch
Perk: Confidant
Your reputation is automatically much better than any other Wizard - people will react with respect and caution as opposed to fear.
When someone confides a secret to you, you can lower your Fog by 1, if you choose. If you ever share this secret, increase your Fog by 1.
1. Hearten
R: Within hearing distance. T: A creature. D: [sum] rounds.
This ends up to [dice] mental effects, such as magical fear, despair, or charms.
If cast with 3 or more MD, the target’s next roll automatically succeeds, or, if it’s not about success/failure, gives the maximum value.
2. Disarm
R: Speaking distance. T: A weapon. D: [sum] rounds.
Your tongue twists in your mouth, and the target weapon becomes completely unusable for the duration - swords are stuck in their sheaths, spears go limp, guns jam and machinery fails.
3. Kulning
R: [dice]*100 feet. T: Animals. D: [dice]*10 minutes.
You sing aloud - all animals in the target area will come to you if they are able and fail a save, and will follow and protect you while you sing. Obviously, this is loud. Domesticated animals don’t get to save.
4. Speak with Animals
R: Sight T: [dice] animals. D: [dice] hours.
For the duration, the target animals are made able to speak your language. This is unpleasant and unsettling for them. Animals are, generally, scared and respectful of the Heartless.
5. Empathy
R: Sight T: Humans D: [dice] hours.
For the duration, you are able to read the feelings of people like you might read a book.
6. Eye Spy
R: Whispering Distance T: An Eye. D: N/A
It costs only 1MD to affect an eye. You may replace the eyesight of one of your eyes with whatever an affected eye sees for [dice] minutes. You can have up to [templates] Eye Spies active at once, and can choose to stop affecting an eye at any time.
7. Fickle Winds
R: 20 paces T: Someone you don’t like. D: [dice] months.
Curse a target with the wind’s enmity. Whenever they are outside and not touching a wall, the winds pick up around them, tearing at their clothes and hair, knocking over nearby things, endeavouring to embarrass them, blowing their farts at people nearby, and so on. At higher dice, the winds may even knock people over, or snatch them off the earth completely.
8. Exorcise
R: Sight T: An Otherworldly Creature D: [sum] rounds.
You may target a place, person, object, or anything else inhabited or affected by a Fogling or other otherwordly creature. If it has less than [sum]HD, you may cast it out from the target if it fails a save, driving it away for at least a season. If it has less than [dice]HD, you may make whatever it was inhabiting or affecting anathema to it, burning it like fire.
9. Find Lost
R: Infinite. T: Something lost. D: N/A
After a short ritual, creatures of the Fog provide you with [dice] cryptic clues as to the lost-thing’s location. Things in the Fog are always considered lost.
10. Command Weather
R: A map of the chosen area. T: An area up to [dice]*10 miles on a side. D: [dice] hours.
By manipulating the map of the target area (which can be symbolic, but must feature all major landmarks (even ones eaten by the Fog), you create or control atmospheric phenomena, such as wind, rain, or the Fog itself. The change takes [dice] days to come into effect, and the strength of the weather you declare is modified by dice.
11. Polymorph
R: Sight. T: Any one creature. D: [sum] minutes.
You point, and the target becomes an animal with the same amount of HD they had before. Unwilling creatures may save. You may set a condition for this transformation to end.
If the animal you’re turning them into is symbolically resonant to their personality, vocation and other traits - a policeman into a pig, a bandit into a wolf or a miner into a canary, for example - then the duration is instead [sum] weeks. If you know the target’s True Name, you can choose for it to be permanent until dispelled.
12. Seal Away
R: Touch. T: One creature of [dice] or less HD. D: Until a chosen condition is fulfilled.
Transform the target into a tarlike liquid, a little statuette, or a red smoke, which you then seal inside an appropriate container. They get a save, unless you know their True Name. While the target remains sealed, you have a new Spell based on their capabilities.
Enchanter
Perk: Divided
Your Other Self has become a separate entity in your head - effectively, a full NPC, with a personality like a sibling or a twin. They can disagree with you.
You are conscious even when asleep, and if someone tries to charm or mind-control you, then you can choose to charm or mind-control them instead (placing your Other Self temporarily at the reins of their mind).
You are always in perfect control of your own appearance - you decide exactly who you look like, so long as what you become is roughly human.
Spells:
1. Charm
R: Speech. T: Any creature. D: Until the target learns a different name for you.
Give the target a pseudonym. They believe you’re not a wizard, and instead are an ordinary person who has just become their friendly acquaintance. They won’t do anything they wouldn’t normally do for a distant friend, and certainly won’t fight for you.
2. Fear
R: Arm’s Length. T: One creature. D: Until they haven’t seen you for [dice] hours.
Scream in their face. If they can feel fear, they do, without a save - pulse-pounding, animalistic, prey-instinct terror, causing them to flee and hide somewhere dark and quiet, if possible.
3. Living Hallucination
R: Touch T: A mirror or pane of glass. D: [dice] hours.
You call and twist a Fogling into an intangible image, depicting whatever you desire. The image must be smaller than a cart, but can fool [dice] extra senses (beyond sight) into believing it is real. The hallucination can also talk, and follow orders. The Fogling returns to the Fog once its duty is done.
4. Make Lost
R: Touch. T: An object or creature. D: [sum] days.
If this spell is targeting a creature, they may save. For the duration, nobody can find the target except by magic, and, if they’re a creature, they completely lose their sense of direction. If the target has a True Name, and you know it, this effect can be made permanent. Only magic can find what you make Lost.
5. Poltergeist
R: Touch T: A glass of wine or beer. D: [dice] hours.
You call and twist a Fogling into an invisible force of mischief and pain. The Poltergeist can move things and people as if it had twenty arms and the strength of a soldier, and loves to do so. It’s invisible and very, very quiet, unless it wants to be very, very loud. It can speak and follow orders, but Poltergeists who aren’t supervised tend to misbehave. The Fogling returns to the Fog once its duty is done.
6. Dream
R: [sum] miles. T: A sleeping creature. D: Until they wake.
You create a phantasm in the mind of the sleeping creature - they see, feel and fear what you desire. You can encode words and messages, but the creature has to save to remember them when they wake up. If you are disturbed while you focus on the sleeping creature, the Dream collapses.
7. Puppet Strings
R: Sight. T: [dice] creatures. D: [sum] rounds.
You gesture at the targets - they must save or you control their movements as if they were a puppet (i.e., clumsily, stiffly and with a slight delay). Ordinary people fail the save automatically.
If you know the target’s True Name while affecting them with Puppet Strings, they believe the motions you impel them to are their own.
8. Dull Emotion
R: 50 paces. T: [sum] creatures D: [dice] hours, or indefinite if you remain in range.
Choose an emotion, such as anger, joy, fear, disgust, hatred, or sadness. The targeted creatures are no longer able to feel it.
9. Glibness
R: Self. T: Self D: [sum] minutes.
All non-wizards and non-foglings treat you as though you were the King of Aelonglas. (Effectively, as if you were King Arthur returned from Avalon).
10. Simulacrum
R: Self T: Self D: [dice] weeks.
Split your two Selves. One is You, one is the Other Self, your choice. If one dies, so does the other. You can only Transform if your halves are near, and this forcefully recombines them.
11. The Magic of the Heart
R: Touch T: A person. D: Instantaneous.
You are consumed by your true feelings (and thus, agony) for the target for [sum] rounds. After this, you have a new idea for a spell. After meditating for [1d12 - Dice] weeks on this idea, (minimum 1), you may add a new Spell to your spell list, based on the ideas, dreams, feelings and interests of this spell’s target.
You also get to know the target’s ideas, dreams, feelings, fears and interests, with which you could quite easily discover their True Name. If the spell you make requires a save, the person you got it from always, automatically, fails the save.
12. Lichdom
R: Touch T: Someone who trusts you. D: Permanent.
This spell can only be cast with 4 or more MD. It is invisible, undetectable, and possibly even unreal. When you die, the target of Lichdom becomes a perfect mental copy of you, with all of your class features and Spells. This destroys their original personality.
Artisan
Perk: Ash and Clay
For you, tools and processes have a supernatural efficacy - you can batter a piece of hot metal into shape with only a few hammer-blows, make a whole ceramic set with only a stove and a wheel, and so on - as a general guideline, if there’s a task a person can do in a day, you can do it in an hour.
Furthermore, you can destroy a magic item and, with [1d12 - Templates] months of work, make a new Spell themed around the item.
Spells:
1. Bottle Imp
R: Touch T: A Bottle or Other Container. D: [dice] days.
You summon a tiny Fogling into the targeted container. It has 1HP, and can answer [sum] questions about the Fog, magic, lost places, taken things, famous wizards, famous spells, and other sundry unreal things. It will try its level best to be cryptic, but is bound to answer. It fades once all of its questions are answered, or when the duration ends.
2. Tiny Hut
R: Touch T: Area marked by a square or circle [dice]*10ft across. D: Until you leave the Hut.
The area you marked out is enveloped in a rubbery dome or cube, a material that feels a little like rubberised canvas. This material acts like water to people you want to come into the hut, and acts like iron to people you don’t want to come into the hut.
3. Mage Armour
R: No range limit. T: [dice] specific weapons. D: Until the next casting of Mage Armour.
The chosen weapons cannot harm you. Blades slide off, guns jam, spears go rubbery.
4. Speak with Tools
R: Speaking distance. T: As many tools as you can speak to in one place. D: However long.
You ask [sum] yes/no questions of hammers, swords, guns, chisels, files, saws and other implements. Tools know everything about what they do, and nothing about anything else.
5. Mistgold
R: Touch T: Up to [sum] slots of gold. 100 coins / slot. D: Until the gold is donated selflessly.
The targeted gold becomes lustrous, pale and slightly translucent. All creatures who see it understand it is twice as valuable as normal gold and, if they are at all greedy, will likely kill to possess it. Foglings trade only in mistgold.
6. Fabricate
R: Sight T: [sum] slots of raw materials. D: Permanent
You create finished products from raw materials - you turn trees into furniture, hemp into coils of rope, stone into brick walls, ore into metal, and so on.
At 4 or more dice you can Fabricate natural processes, turning trees into coal, coal into diamonds, turn saplings into full-grown trees, and water into clouds.
7. Binding
R: Touch T: A creature, object or emotion in someone’s head. D: Until dispelled.
If you can tie the target in ropes or strings you make it unable to move from the spot where it is tied. The ropes or strings must be seemingly too fragile, but are truthfully immune to all but the most powerful magic Swords.
Emotions made unable to move remain in the state they were bound in (i.e., the calm person stays calm and the angry one stays angry). You may set up to [dice] conditions which will break the binding.
8. Explosive Runes
R: Touch T: Anything D: Until triggered.
You scrape, with a burning finger, a symbol of barely-restrained power into a surface. Fog rarely burns, and the magic resents being used in this way. The next time the marked surface is struck forcefully, or the next time a Fogling or Wizard sees the symbol, it detonates violently, dealing [sum] damage to all nearby, save for half. If the surface was anything less than military grade steel, it breaks, flinging 2d6 extra damage worth of shrapnel, too.
9. Refine
R: Touch. T: Any object. D: Until it’s thrown away or deliberately broken.
Target gets a +[dice] bonus to any roll made with it (including damage), and is, in general, just better in all ways. If you know the True Name of a creature that owns or possesses one of your Refined objects, you can force them to become violently possessive of it.
10. Distil
R: Touch T: Any one object, body-part, substance or Taken thing. D: N/A.
With an hour’s work, you transform the target into a potion with a negotiated effect based on what it was, and [dice + 2] doses. Potions distilled from mundane things do relatively mundane things, potions distilled from magical things do especially magical things.
11. Wondrous Machine
R: Touch T: [sum] slots of metal, wood or stone. D: Until you reclaim your MD.
You may invest your MD to create wondrous machines with [dice] negotiated capabilities, such as automata, flying machines, submarines, digging machines, fucked-up trains, etc.
These Wondrous Machines have [sum]*2 HP. Your MD are reclaimed if the Machine breaks.
12. Transfer Soul
R: Touch T: A creature and either another creature or an object. D: A full day.
The soul of the first target is moved to the other.
Unwilling targets can save unless you know their True Name.
This takes a ritual lasting a full day, which cannot be interrupted, even by rain, wind or the speech of a non-participant. If you target two creatures, they swap bodies. If you target a creature and an object, the creature becomes a sentient magic object and their body dies. If the object you placed their soul into is limbed or otherwise articulated, the person you placed in there can control and operate it.
Gutter
Perk: Bitter Root
You are especially heartless, now. You are totally immune to mind-altering effects, such as magical Fear, Charms, or the memory eating effect of the Fog.
If you kill another Wizard, you automatically learn one of their Spells.
1. Scorch
R: Sight. T: Anything. D: Instantaneous.
You unleash an invisible fist-sized sphere of heat, which burns and blackens anything it hits. Living things hit by this spell take [sum + dice] damage. Wooden and paper targets take [sum * dice]. Metal and stone ones take [dice] damage.
2. Sense Loss
R: Within sight. T: Something with Senses. D: [sum] rounds.
Cancel up to [dice] senses with a slithering feeling of pressure and pain. Target may save. Senses are replaced by a non-functional Fog-corrupted version which provides no useful input and usually traumatises.
3. Speak to Viscera
R: Touch T: Meat D: However long [sum] questions take.
Flesh speaks with a low, bubbling rumble, with emotion-signals and jolts of pain. You can interrogate your own body, living bodies, dead bodies, hell, even the sausage you had for breakfast. Viscera answers questions about itself, primarily.
4. Grim Fable
R: All who can hear you. T: All who can hear you (except yourself). D: [dice] * minutes.
You regale listeners with a miserable tale of doom and pain, causing them to develop a phobia of [dice] things of your choice, for the next month. People of particular mental will, Foglings, and other wizards may save.
5. Agonise
R: Sight T: One creature. D: [dice] minutes.
Target saves or is wracked with agony for the duration. This agony feels like beestings and spiderbites magnified a hundredfold.
6. Ironic Curse
R: Sight. T: One creature. D: Until dispelled.
Combine [dice] of a target’s loves, fears, deeds and dreams into a painful but not fatal curse with [dice] negotiated effects, and a condition under which the curse will break. If they have more HD than you, they can save.
7. Bitterpox
R: Touch T: One creature. D: [sum] days.
The creature you touch is infected with a supernatural disease which causes horrible coughing, fainting spells, bleeding boils, rashes, overproduction of phlegm and, if it’s warm, narcolepsy. Any creature that touches the infected creature must save or themselves be infected. This doesn’t actually do any damage, and is never fatal, it’s just miserable.
8. Rearrange
R: Touch. T: One creature or object. D: [sum] hours.
Select [dice] features on the target and swap them around as you wish. On a person, features include organs and limbs. Features still function as they did before, even in defiance of logic. Changes revert harmlessly after the duration, unless you know the target’s True Name (should it have one), then the change can be made permanent.
9. Midnight
R: Self. T: Self. D: Until you touch light.
You transform into a cloud of foggy darkness and take flight. While in your form of darkness, you can fly like a quick bird, move through any gap smoke could, can make your face appear hovering in the darkness, and can roar like a lion. Most creatures are shit scared of roaring, flying darkness.
10. Bury
R: Touch. T: One creature of [dice] or less HD, or an object. D: Until dispelled.
You press your hand onto the target - if they are standing on soil, clay, sand or snow, they sink into it and are consumed. Buried creatures usually choke to death, but you can choose to place them in a state of suspended animation. Otherwise, they are flung to the ground, made unable to move but for the terrible weight on their shoulders. Creatures may save.
11. Soul Thief
R: Same room. T: A sleeping, bound or incapacitated wizard. D: Permanent
By conjuring the Otherworldly Powers, you may steal the MD of a Wizard of [dice] or less HD. The Wizard may save, unless you know their True Name.
This theft is permanent, increasing your MD by the amount they had. This invariably kills the affected Wizard. However, there’s punishment for your act - you add the victim’s Fog stat to your own immediately after casting. If the amount of Fog the victim had isn’t known, roll [1d2 * Victim’s Wizard Templates] to determine it.
12. Undoing
R: Ten paces. T: Anything except a Sword or a Fogling. D: [sum] days.
You lay an undetectable curse on the target.
Over the duration, the target slowly (and painfully, if it can feel pain) collapses into dust, removing it from existence. If it’s a creature, they can save, on their final day, to survive the experience with severe scarring. If you know a creature’s True Name, they don’t get to save.
This can only be stopped by Foglings, or by you.
End Note: “The Outshire Campaign”
I can see two ways of doing it: A group of newly Heartless Wizards get up to hijinks after their shared teacher disappears mysteriously, or a Solo Game with a Heartless PC.
Another ideas was a ‘Wizard-Porter’ , the Myrmidon class, where you’re a Fogling bound into the form of a hypercompetent butler for one of these jackass Wizards.
Other classes: I think there’s a… ghost? A fighter? A non-magical cleric? A fog-explorer? Some kind of magical brigand?
8. Explosive Runes
R: Touch T: Anything D: Until triggered.
You scrape, with a burning finger, a symbol of barely-restrained power into a surface. Fog rarely burns, and the magic resents being used in this way. The next time the marked surface is struck forcefully, or the next time a Fogling or Wizard sees the symbol, it detonates violently, dealing [sum] damage to all nearby, save for half. If the surface was anything less than military grade steel, it breaks, flinging 2d6 extra damage worth of shrapnel, too.
9. Refine
R: Touch. T: Any object. D: Until it’s thrown away or deliberately broken.
Target gets a +[dice] bonus to any roll made with it (including damage), and is, in general, just better in all ways. If you know the True Name of a creature that owns or possesses one of your Refined objects, you can force them to become violently possessive of it.
10. Distil
R: Touch T: Any one object, body-part, substance or Taken thing. D: N/A.
With an hour’s work, you transform the target into a potion with a negotiated effect based on what it was, and [dice + 2] doses. Potions distilled from mundane things do relatively mundane things, potions distilled from magical things do especially magical things.
11. Wondrous Machine
R: Touch T: [sum] slots of metal, wood or stone. D: Until you reclaim your MD.
You may invest your MD to create wondrous machines with [dice] negotiated capabilities, such as automata, flying machines, submarines, digging machines, fucked-up trains, etc.
These Wondrous Machines have [sum]*2 HP. Your MD are reclaimed if the Machine breaks.
12. Transfer Soul
R: Touch T: A creature and either another creature or an object. D: A full day.
The soul of the first target is moved to the other.
Unwilling targets can save unless you know their True Name.
This takes a ritual lasting a full day, which cannot be interrupted, even by rain, wind or the speech of a non-participant. If you target two creatures, they swap bodies. If you target a creature and an object, the creature becomes a sentient magic object and their body dies. If the object you placed their soul into is limbed or otherwise articulated, the person you placed in there can control and operate it.
Gutter
Perk: Bitter Root
You are especially heartless, now. You are totally immune to mind-altering effects, such as magical Fear, Charms, or the memory eating effect of the Fog.
If you kill another Wizard, you automatically learn one of their Spells.
1. Scorch
R: Sight. T: Anything. D: Instantaneous.
You unleash an invisible fist-sized sphere of heat, which burns and blackens anything it hits. Living things hit by this spell take [sum + dice] damage. Wooden and paper targets take [sum * dice]. Metal and stone ones take [dice] damage.
2. Sense Loss
R: Within sight. T: Something with Senses. D: [sum] rounds.
Cancel up to [dice] senses with a slithering feeling of pressure and pain. Target may save. Senses are replaced by a non-functional Fog-corrupted version which provides no useful input and usually traumatises.
3. Speak to Viscera
R: Touch T: Meat D: However long [sum] questions take.
Flesh speaks with a low, bubbling rumble, with emotion-signals and jolts of pain. You can interrogate your own body, living bodies, dead bodies, hell, even the sausage you had for breakfast. Viscera answers questions about itself, primarily.
4. Grim Fable
R: All who can hear you. T: All who can hear you (except yourself). D: [dice] * minutes.
You regale listeners with a miserable tale of doom and pain, causing them to develop a phobia of [dice] things of your choice, for the next month. People of particular mental will, Foglings, and other wizards may save.
5. Agonise
R: Sight T: One creature. D: [dice] minutes.
Target saves or is wracked with agony for the duration. This agony feels like beestings and spiderbites magnified a hundredfold.
6. Ironic Curse
R: Sight. T: One creature. D: Until dispelled.
Combine [dice] of a target’s loves, fears, deeds and dreams into a painful but not fatal curse with [dice] negotiated effects, and a condition under which the curse will break. If they have more HD than you, they can save.
7. Bitterpox
R: Touch T: One creature. D: [sum] days.
The creature you touch is infected with a supernatural disease which causes horrible coughing, fainting spells, bleeding boils, rashes, overproduction of phlegm and, if it’s warm, narcolepsy. Any creature that touches the infected creature must save or themselves be infected. This doesn’t actually do any damage, and is never fatal, it’s just miserable.
8. Rearrange
R: Touch. T: One creature or object. D: [sum] hours.
Select [dice] features on the target and swap them around as you wish. On a person, features include organs and limbs. Features still function as they did before, even in defiance of logic. Changes revert harmlessly after the duration, unless you know the target’s True Name (should it have one), then the change can be made permanent.
9. Midnight
R: Self. T: Self. D: Until you touch light.
You transform into a cloud of foggy darkness and take flight. While in your form of darkness, you can fly like a quick bird, move through any gap smoke could, can make your face appear hovering in the darkness, and can roar like a lion. Most creatures are shit scared of roaring, flying darkness.
10. Bury
R: Touch. T: One creature of [dice] or less HD, or an object. D: Until dispelled.
You press your hand onto the target - if they are standing on soil, clay, sand or snow, they sink into it and are consumed. Buried creatures usually choke to death, but you can choose to place them in a state of suspended animation. Otherwise, they are flung to the ground, made unable to move but for the terrible weight on their shoulders. Creatures may save.
11. Soul Thief
R: Same room. T: A sleeping, bound or incapacitated wizard. D: Permanent
By conjuring the Otherworldly Powers, you may steal the MD of a Wizard of [dice] or less HD. The Wizard may save, unless you know their True Name.
This theft is permanent, increasing your MD by the amount they had. This invariably kills the affected Wizard. However, there’s punishment for your act - you add the victim’s Fog stat to your own immediately after casting. If the amount of Fog the victim had isn’t known, roll [1d2 * Victim’s Wizard Templates] to determine it.
12. Undoing
R: Ten paces. T: Anything except a Sword or a Fogling. D: [sum] days.
You lay an undetectable curse on the target.
Over the duration, the target slowly (and painfully, if it can feel pain) collapses into dust, removing it from existence. If it’s a creature, they can save, on their final day, to survive the experience with severe scarring. If you know a creature’s True Name, they don’t get to save.
This can only be stopped by Foglings, or by you.
+++++
End Note: “The Outshire Campaign”
I can see two ways of doing it: A group of newly Heartless Wizards get up to hijinks after their shared teacher disappears mysteriously, or a Solo Game with a Heartless PC.
Another ideas was a ‘Wizard-Porter’ , the Myrmidon class, where you’re a Fogling bound into the form of a hypercompetent butler for one of these jackass Wizards.
Other classes: I think there’s a… ghost? A fighter? A non-magical cleric? A fog-explorer? Some kind of magical brigand?
I like this a lot. But do you think that the mixed group of Heartless Wizard and other classes won't work in The Outshire Campaign?
ReplyDeleteI think it might be a little difficult - the Heartless is very... "main character-ish", I suppose. The other classes would need to be as impactful as this one.
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