Gods Eyes

I just picked up Anomalous Subsurface Environment from Henchman Abuse. It’s quite excellent and I recommend it highly.

One element that I’ll definitely swipe for my wahoo post-apoc setting is the concept of “Gods Eyes”. Here is some text from the module:

The gods of men in these latter days are also the creations of men, though no divinity will admit to this history…

High above the atmosphere, enormous satellites containing the hardware necessary to run these AI’s orbit the planet. They number in the hundreds, and communicate directly to their followers through “eyes” installed in their temples below. These eyes are massive screens through which a god may directly observe its followers, and appear to them.

The gods, through means unknown to simple organic minds, are able to grant spells to their priests. The priests must pray for renewal of their powers at certain times of the day. These times are linked directly to when the AI’s are in orbit directly overhead.

I’m thinking that the Church of Law is devoted to the orbital gods, worshiping them via the gods eyes.

Magic March

I’ve decided to document a bunch of my house rules related to magic and spellcasters during the month of March. A lot of these have been kicking around in my notebooks and random textfiles for years, but I’ve never brought them all together and edited them into something coherent.

The first four posts deal with wizard subtypes and sorcerer variants, mostly inspired from D&D 2e and HackMaster. The next one tackles old-school variants of pact magic and the binder class from the closing days of D&D 3e. Finally, the glyph mage and summoner attempt to be D&D variants of wards and circle magic from the Palladium FRPG.

I’ll keep this post current to compile the material as it’s published. As always, feel free to add any comments or suggestions.

• Specialist Wizards (Schools of Magic)
• Sole Practitioners (Extreme Specialists)
• Sorcerers (Non-Vancian Spellcasting)
• Warlocks (Elemental Sorcerers)
• Binder (Split Class) (Pact Magic)
• Glyph Mage (Split Class) (Magic Symbols)
• Summoner (Split Class) (Summoning Circles)
• Diabolists (Non-Spellcasting Ritual Mages)

(I also did a first draft of the Glyph Mage, called the Ward Mage, using different rules.)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted new material on this gameblog. I see there are at least a few of you who still stop by; hopefully there will be something here that you find can find useful in your games.

Diabolists

(This post is still seriously in draft, but it’s the final entry in my ‘Magic March’ series and I wanted to get it online it while it was still March. I may clean it up when I get the chance.)

Glyph Mage (Split Class)

(Earlier in the month, I wrote up the ward mage class based on the Truename rules from the 3e Tome of Magic. In the end I wasn’t really pleased with it, and am making another attempt here. This time I’m using “Glyphs of Cerilon” by Larry DiTillio in Dragon #50 as inspiration, and am calling them Glyph Mages.)

A glyph mage is an arcanist dedicated to the study of symbols – specifically, magic symbols. These men of magic cast no spells but derive their power from the drawing of symbols and invoking of power words. Their knowledge lies in dusty tomes, arcane symbols, and (especially) glyphs. They believe glyphs to be the very first type of magic, and the basis of all other arcane traditions.

Although the secrets of glyph magic is now obscure and largely forgotten, glyph mages are adept in their use – a lore that they guard jealously.

The Summoner (Split Class)

Summoning is an ancient, nearly extinct, magical art. Summoning circles, in particular, have been abandoned because of the hazards involved. Such rituals create a temporary dimensional gateway calling a random creature from the nether world. The monster will serve its master – for a time – but may not return to its home plane once the control fades…

The summoner is among the most feared of al the men of magic; he is feared because of the sacrifices and self-inflicted wounds required to activate the summoning circles; feared because of the malevolent forces that are controlled; feared because of the evil that walks within the shadows of the summoner.

Like the Glyph Mage, I’ve been inspired by the Palladium FRPG, but am using rules from a different game system in the implementation. This time, I’m just swiping the Monster Summoning spells from HackMaster.

Ward Mage (Superseded)

(In the end, I wasn’t really pleased with this split class. It has been superseded by the glyph mage, based on the Glyphs of Cerilon article from Dragon #50.)

A ward mage is an arcanist dedicated to the study of symbols – specifically, magic symbols. These men of magic cast no spells but derive their power from the drawing of symbols and invoking of power words. Their knowledge lies in dusty tomes, arcane symbols, and (especially) wards. They believe wards to be the very first type of magic, and the basis of all other arcane traditions.

Although the secrets of ward magic is now obscure and largely forgotten, ward mages are adept in their use – a lore that they guard jealously.

I’ve been looking over ward magic from the Palladium FRPG. It’s an interesting system, but seems tricky to use in a game. So instead I’m going to retrofit the truename rules from the Tome of Magic. Like the binder, the ward mage is a special split class. Once again, I’ve limited ward mages to a three-level split class to keep the conversion work to a minimum.

Binder (Split Class)

This time I’m going to step outside the box a little with my Magic March posts. The Tome of Magic was a supplement produced near the end of D&D 3e. It presents a number of alternate magic systems, one of which – the binder – I found quite interesting. You can check out a good excerpt from WotC here. I am presenting a conversion of the binder here as a special ‘split class’.

Split classes work in a similar manner to prestige classes from 3e – or (perhaps more accurately) like a feat tree which require XP. Levels in a split class grant additional special abilities, but do not improve hit dice, BAB, or saving throws. You must expend the required XP and study for at least one week per split class level in order to advance. I’ve limited binders to a three-level split class to keep the conversion work to a minimum.

Binders are spellcasters of some ability who have learned the secrets of pact magic and gained the ability to bind vestiges. Vestiges aren’t gods, or demons, or devils (at least in the usual sense). Instead, vestiges are strange amoral beings that most churches, Lawful or Chaotic, consider taboo because the spirits can’t be touched by the gods. Binders, so named for their willingness to share their souls with these exiled spirits, can summon them forth by means of special rituals.