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Void Design – Temper

Atomic ACKS – Pure-Strain Custom Classes

You know how sometimes you get an idea and can’t focus on anything else until you get it out of your system? I should be finishing up the new characters for my Black City campaign, but for some reason am thinking about how I’d set up a post-apocalyptic ACKS game.

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XP House Rules

Art by David Trampier

Here’s a collection of XP-related house rules. I’ve actually been using these for most of my ACKS campaigns; it’s time I post them…

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Forbidden Magic & Corruption

(This post continues the theme from the past two days, providing information about the Invisible School and life as a Wizard in Minaria.)

The Eaters of Wisdom:

The Invisible School is secretly ruled by the Eaters of Wisdom, an Illuminati-style cabal of high-level Wizards. Ranking Wizards would have heard rumours about them; Autarchs know that they control the Invisible School. It is the Eaters of Wisdom who decree which lines of study are “forbidden” and have the authority to declare a spellcaster “outlaw”.

Currently forbidden topics include:

• Demon-summoning. (It’s fine to summon elementals and natural animals. Shadows and oozes are considered problematic, but not forbidden.)
• Free-Willed Undead. (Skeletons & zombies are fine, but necromantic transformation and free-willed undead are not allowed.)
• Sentient constructs. (Research into the ancient Dwarven warforged is forbidden; this also applies to Juggernauts.)
• Sentient crossbreeds. (Monstrous crossbreeds of animal intellect are fine, but no new sentient species can be created.)
• Cataclysmic rituals. (Such as Cataclysm, Plague, and the like.)

(Of course, the Eaters of Wisdom themselves are allowed to research these subjects, and they jealously restrict all such Forbidden Lore to themselves alone.)

Wizards who conduct forbidden research are declared “outlaw”. To be re-admitted into the order, they must relinquish any forbidden items and material and take a magically-binding vow to avoid such topics in the future.

(Belief in the Light of Truth is not “forbidden”, but will severely limit a Wizard’s advancement within the Invisible School. The use of gunpowder is similarly distrusted, but is generally under civil jurisdiction rather than Wizard law.)

Corrupted Wizards:

The Invisible School keeps and eye for severe corruption in its members. Wizards who succumb to corruption are quietly given the opportunity to “retire” to a remote location and be more careful with their activities. Often, though, corrupted Wizards in positions of power need to be “taken out” by a (super-powerful, super-secret) Eaters of Wisdom strike team.

(In my current campaign, the Invisible School now has a problem with Malakis. He’s been on the “edge of corruption” for several years, but is also one of the most powerful Wizards in Minaria. He was offered a senior position with the Eaters of Wisdom, but rejected it and appears to have gone batshit crazy.)

The Invisible School and You

(This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post, providing some rule hooks for the Invisible School.)

The Invisible School refers both to the actual Invisible School on the shores of the Well of Lered as well as the whole system & infrastructure of Wizard rulership.

All ranking Wizards (5th-level and above) are expected to be members in good standing of the Invisible School. For independent Wizards, their monthly upkeep costs are assumed to include dues & payments to the Invisible School. However, most funding for the Invisible School comes from Wizard-ruled domains (see below).

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