The following skill list is designed with the intent of implementing a big distinction, and thus for either the absence of classes entirely, or their relative insignificance. Presume the intent that a player character can readily start with a few skills rated at 5+, but that skills of 8+ are exceptionally rare. Much of the structure of the system is inspired by a fundamental misreading of the Cyberpunk 2020 rules, which I realized many years ago was incorrect, but ever since have suspected would be better than Cyberpunk’s actual skill system. Most of the rules that would be required to make it playable are still missing or nonexistent—consider it to be more of an illustration of a setting and a mechanical idea, than a useful component.

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Brawling encompasses combat at the closest range, usually unarmed but equally with knives and foreign objects. It is rolled both to attack and for the defence, but rarely if ever outside of combat. A character with Brawling 2+ is recognizably dangerous, if desired. A character with Brawling 5+ can safely block bladed weapons bare-handed. Brawling 10 is held by Admiral Rawan al-Dawla, commander of the Northern Fleet of the Sittishan Empire, and founder of the Sapphire Mirror wrestling school.

Celerity is a unique skill not associated with any attribute. It is added to initiative rolls in combat, and each rank of Celerity also grants an extra 1m of movement per action. Celerity 10 is held by the philosopher and novelist H. Vagabond, famed for their tales of alternate pasts.

Ceremony covers both the political and religious spheres, where the two differ. Ceremony 2 is sufficient to know all proper observances for ordinary occurrences, Ceremony 5 to lead major events or celebrations, and Ceremony 8 everything required of the leader of a major religion or a head of state. Ceremony checks might be made to improvise new rituals, follow foreign customs, or propitiate unknown spirits. Since the fall of the Last Caliphate, there has been no leader with Ceremony 10.

Command comprises charisma and force of presence, and is as well-loved by demagogues as on the battlefield. Command 1 can sway up to 10 people with a single check, and each subsequent rank doubles the scope affected, up to a mob of 5,000 with Command 10—presently held by Queen Esmeralda II, and used prominently in her unification of the Five Islands.

Fighting is weapon-work, from sword range out to the reach of a thrown axe. Like Brawling, it is rolled in combat to attack or defend, with suitable arms and range only. A character with Fighting 2+ is recognizably dangerous, if desired. A character with Fighting 8+ can parry musket fire with a blade. There are no current claimants to Fighting 10, and some occultists suggest that there may never be again.

Fortitude is primarily a resistive and defensive skill, and most notably is used as a save against poison, fear, and death. It can also be used to resist exhaustion. Each of Fortitude 2+, 5+, and 8+ also reduces the value of each die of damage taken by 1, to a minimum of 1. Fortitude 10 is held by the prophetess and alleged immortal Kiranna Makariy, currently in the court of Empress Eudoxia.

Insight is primarily used as a defence or save against deceptions, though it can also be rolled actively to analyze motivations. A character with Insight 5+ can only be ambushed if they are entirely unaware of the attacker’s presence. Insight 10 is currently held by Eliezer Belmonte, twice-convicted apostate and leader of the Irredemptionist movement.

Journeying is used to navigate, to make the best use of mounts and vehicles, and to understand and survive in the wilderness. Journeying 2+ is sufficient to reside indefinitely in suitably hospitable wilderness, building your own shelters and living off the land; and necessary to fight effectively from horseback or at sea. A character with Journeying 8+ considers all wilderness quite hospitable indeed! Journeying 10 has been passed down in direct patrilineal descent from its first bearer, Asmond Haaraldsson, and is now held by the Arctic explorer Aleks Gehardsen.

Law is a strange skill, encompassing both knowledge of legal systems and the ability to identify just outcomes; it can also be used as a defence against certain social and economic attacks, against attacks that threaten the integrity of the soul, and to prevent oneself from acting unjustly. Because of its role in balancing and regulating virtue, each of Law 2+, 5+, and 8+ provides a +1 bonus to all saves, and to any check rerolled with focus. Law 10 is currently held by the archangel Raguel.

Lineage is almost never rolled, instead measuring the strength with which the character is influenced by their divine ancestor(s), if any. It also cannot normally be increased after character creation, though special circumstances may make this possible. Each bloodline has different benefits for different ranks of Lineage, with the only true commonality being that Lineage 8+ is required to wield divine artifacts. Lineage 5+ may instead represent an inheritor of multiple divine bloodlines—benefiting from one at a –1 penalty to rank and the other at a –4 penalty. Thus Lineage 10 is unique in having multiple existences associated with different bloodlines, namely those of Empress Eudoxia (blood of Pohjola), the Zhaohai Emperor (blood of Huangdi), the merchant-adventurer Lucie d’Isle (blood of Lilith), and the nameless Matriarch of the Blue Mountain Sect (blood of Simurgh).

Logistics is rolled to organize projects at scale, and particularly to manage businesses, make effective use of capital, and turn bureaucracies to desired ends. It also reflects the quantity of abstracted resources available to draw upon without risking overreach: Logistics 2+ ensures the character can trivially arrange transportation to any reasonable location, Logistics 5+ supplies a team of goons or specialists precisely where needed, and Logistics 8+ ensures essentially anything not unique and possible to purchase is ready to hand. Logistics 10 was forged by the economist Juma Manya, replacing the Handcraft skill and breaking the power of the guilds.

Lore encompasses all fields of theoretical, historical, and philosophical knowledge. Every two ranks of Lore permits a character to declare an additional specialty to which their Lore especially pertains. With Lore 2+ a character knows all common information in their areas of speciality. Lore 5+ includes comprehensive expertise in those areas, and Lore 8+ represents a world-class scholar in all such areas of speciality. Lore checks are rolled only for information surpassing this level or outside of a specialization. Lore 10’s most recent bearer, the philosopher Sophia Makropoulou, is said to have sealed it before her death, requiring the solution of a chain of puzzles before a worthy successor can attain it.

Mischief largely encompasses the classical thief-skills of stealth, sleight of hand, climbing, safecracking, sabotage, and such; though the more advanced sorts of mechanical trickery may instead fall under Technics. It also includes disguise and impersonation, the forging of documents, tradecraft, and other related matters. Mischief 2+ allows the character to freely choose whether or not they wish appear to be “up to no good.” Mischief 5+ allows all the normal functions of the Mischief skill to be performed fully silently. Mischief 8+ ensures that your calling-card, if you leave one, will be instantly recognized by detectives worldwide. Mischief 10 is likely unclaimed, though this remains difficult to verify.

Mysteries governs understanding and practice of what more subtle occult arts remain in the world, after the loss of Spellcraft. Each ritual will have a minimum Mysteries rank to allow its performance, and a character that begins with Mysteries 2+ will know one ritual at character creation. Mysteries 8+ is necessary to develop new rituals without the use of the Spellcraft skill, as is now necessary. None of the alleged current holders of Mysteries 10 are believed to be credible at this time.

Observation encompasses the timely detection of dangerous, misleading, or useful elements of one’s environs, the identification of clues, and the general honing of senses to excellence. It can also be used as a defense against being caught unawares, and often directly opposes Mischief. Observation 5+ is sufficient to guarantee that all necessary clues will be found and recognized as clues—though of course their interpretation is still a matter for cleverness! Observation 10 is currently held by Marinette Corail, one of the founders of the Sleepless Agency and former bodyguard to the President of the Grande Confédération.

Passions governs mastery of both your own emotions and those of others, as well as your ability to portray your emotions clearly. It is used primarily in performance and oratory, and can also be checked as a social defence. Like Command, the number of targets whose passions can be inflamed at once doubles at each rank, scaling from 10 up to 5,000. Passions 10 is held by the demagogue Victor Brand, vice-president of the Grande Confédération, generally understood to be the true political leader of the ruling Free Soil party.

Physique governs the raw might and appearance of one’s physical form, and is used as a defence against displacement. It is also checked for feats of athleticism, and its rank determines the maximum weight one can lift, throw, and shove, and the sturdiness of objects one can easily destroy. Physique 10 is not currently extant in the world.

Physique	Capabilities
1	Carry a heavy rucksack, throw a hammer.
2	Lift your own weight, check open a stuck door.
3	Throw a cannonball, pull a cart.
4	Kick down locked doors, carry twice your weight over a shoulder.
5	Lift a horse, throw a person, bend iron.
6	Shatter doors, lift boulders, pull a wagon like a team of horses.
7	Throw a horse, shatter chains by flexing, kick down brick walls.
8	Rip apart steel, lift a cannon.
9	Throw boulders, tear open city gates.
10	Tear down stone walls, carry a wagon on your back.

Reflex governs evasive ability, and is used as a save against grenades and other area attacks, as well as many traps. It can also be used as a defence in place of either Brawling or Fighting. Against Shooting, it doesn’t apply as a defense directly, but each of Reflex 2+, Reflex 5+, and Reflex 10+ increases the moving target penalty for Shooting attacks by 1 point. Reflex 10 is held by the disgraced former Royal Champion of Laksonia, the musketeer Theron of Mnizous.

Shooting is used almost exclusively to attack with firearms and bows. Shooting 2+ is required to reload a firearm during combat, and Shooting 5+ to perform any kind of “trick shot” or effectively captain an artillery piece. Shooting 10 is said to be wielded by the quasi-mythical outlaw Panthère de l’Ouest, operating on the frontiers of the Grande Confédération.

Technics governs the invention, operation, and repair of industrial devices, the compounding of chemicals, and the practice of modern medicine. It is the youngest skill, having only recently supplanted Spellcraft, but while its place in the world is yet uncertain, it has already shaken the foundations of society. Of particular tactical relevance, Technics 2+ is sufficient to stabilize a critically injured character and Technics 5+ is required for effective field surgery. On the industrial side, Technics 2+ allows the operation of a steam carriage or locomotive, and Technics 8+ virtually guarantees a stream of patents with suitable Logistical support. The polymath inventor Manijeh-Khanum has held Technics 10 since its creation.

Will governs the ability to control one’s motivations; to want only what one finds reasonable to want, and make choices without regret. It is used primarily as a save against incorrect action and temptation. Each of Will 2+, 5+, and 8+ also increases a character’s maximum focus pool by one point. Will 10 is held by Reynard Winnow, the Living Saint of the Präedoxians.

Wordcraft governs facility with prose, verse, and rhetoric. Unlike Command and Passions, it faces no limits of crowd size nor must it influence all its targets simultaneously; the greatest works of Wordcraft continue the writer’s influence long beyond their death. Spoken, it is much more limited in its use, being largely restricted to situations of formal sophistry or poetic performance, where word-twisting talent overcomes more direct social ability. Wordcraft 2+ entails the ability to read and write in the languages of the classics. Wordcraft 5+ transforms from an almost exclusively active skill into a potent social defence, given sufficient time to react. Wordcraft 10 is currently vacant.

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The twenty-one non-Celerity skills are divided into three attributes of seven skills each. The attribute of Competence encompasses the skills Command, Journeying, Lore, Logistics, Mysteries, Technics, and Wordcraft, associated with archetypal professions. The attribute of Righteousness encompasses the three traditional saves of Fortitude, Reflex, and Will; and the four quasi-defences of Insight, Law, Passions, and Physique. The atribute of Conformity encompasses the four social paradigms of Ceremony, Lineage, Mischief, and Observation; and the three fighting traditions of Brawling, Fighting, and Shooting. Attribute ranks are added to checks made with their corresponding skills, but do not modify the effective rank of the skill for threshold benefits.

Of the twenty-two skills, eighteen are considered to be in the domain of a particular gender. Ceremony, Fighting, Insight, Journeying, Mischief, Passions, Will, and Wordcraft are traditionally masculine; and Logistics has been adopted into masculinity as well. Command, Fortitude, Law, Lineage, Lore, Observation, Physique, and Shooting are traditionally feminine; and Technics is generally treated as feminine as well. Lore, Reflex, Brawling, and Celerity are considered to be androgyne. Some cultures may have locally different expectations, though variation is rarer than in other aspects of gender. A character with a total of 30+ ranks in matching gendered skills meets one of the cultural requirements to be perceived as that gender (the other requirements, naturally, vary locally). A character that fails to present a gender but has at least 20 ranks in androgyne skills will be perceived as a Sage outside of gendered concerns.

This isn’t, strictly speaking, a gift; but it was made impelled by the thought of a particular muse. It is not setting-specific whatsoever, but it is extremely genre-specific. It also uses the Δ mechanic to inject blatantly storygame-style structures into a nominally old-school framework. Use with caution. Note also that the numbered lists in this post are not intended for use as d12 tables.

Δ: Niece / Nephew

Requirement: When the party’s faced with a problem they don’t know how to solve, and are trying to discuss plans for what to do next, suggest, “Well, if my Auntie were here, she’d…” and proceed to describe a sequence of actions well outside the capabilities of plausible adventurers that nevertheless would completely resolve the current situation.
Benefit: Create an eight-segment clock for Auntie. If the party rejects your plan as impossible, fill a segment. If the party decides, against all wisdom, to try it anyway, give them each a free reroll of any one die during the attempt. Once each session, repeat this benefit when you complete the requirement again.

Δ: Presents from Auntie

Requirement: You have at least four segments filled on Auntie’s clock, and one of your companions has expressed doubt about whether she’s real and/or lives up to your stories.
Benefit: You receive a package from your Auntie, delivered by sufficiently implausible means if needed to ensure it arrives before it would be too late to help solve the problem you are currently facing. It contains 3d8 cookies, an art object that reminded her of you, and a useful item thematically resonant with the stories you’ve been telling about how she handles things:

1. A mirror that reflects distant places.
2. An endless piece of string.
3. A martial arts manual.
4. Half an hour of control of a satellite.
5. A scroll of transmute problems to other problems.
6. A totally untraceable gun.
7. A flute whose melodies can only be heard by those who love Justice.
8. A cure-all elixir.
9. An implausibly persuasive manifesto.
10. A pair of boots that will get you where you need to be, with certainty.
11. A vital piece of blackmail material.
12. A set of brass knuckles that count as everything for the purpose of bypassing damage resistances.

Δ: Auntie’s in Town

Requirement: You’ve just filled the last segment of Auntie’s clock.
Benefit: You Auntie is in fact here, and has just taken the sequence of actions you narrated. She’ll ruffle your hair, make disparaging comments about the questionable company you’re keeping, and suggest that maybe you’re grown up enough to solve your problems your own way instead of living in her shadow. She’ll leave you with one more present before vanishing from the campaign. You can no longer use Niece / Nephew.

My Auntie has…

1. A mean left hook that shatters tyranny and can, despite all contraindications, work War’s overthrow and free the World from fear.
2. Knowledge of the seven forbidden names of G-d, before which the world is as malleable as dream.
3. Unsurpassed mastery of the Art of Cutting by which ghosts are created.
4. The Shengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” fifth-generation air-superiority stealth fighter, with vectored thrust and supercruise.
5. A smile that steals kingdoms, sells peace to titans, and disarms gods.
6. Control of the relative rate at which time passes for herself and others.
7. A battlecruiser squadron waiting just outside the hyper-veil, with all hands at action stations and ready to make a crash transfer to realspace.
8. The form of a wolf as tall as the highest tower, with claws of unbreaking adamant, the speed and grace of moonlight, and a growl that shakes walls down.
9. A bootleg copy of the adventure book, even and especially if the DM’s making it all up on the spot.
10. Access codes to every secure system on the Grid and decryption keys for every data vault off it.
11. The spirit of the times in her lungs, justice shining in her eyes, and the People united behind her wherever she goes.
12. A spell for every purpose under Heaven.

This GLoG-compatible adventure scenario and the fragmentary subsystems contained or implied within are based both on the works of my fellow scholar of alchemy at https://redlantern.bearblog.dev/ and on works they are known to admire.

Location and Layout

Salem-Sounan

Salem-Sounan is a small village at a crossroads in an arid plain at the frontiers of a mighty empire, known for its extensive lemon orchards. There’s lots of fragments of ruins around—some say an ancient wizard built a city there, long ago—but none intact enough for any kind of serious adventuring. Tonight, Salem-Sounan is shrouded in a heavy sandstorm, trapping locals and important guests alike in whatever building was closest when the sands hit. For both the player characters and the travellers described below, that closest building was the Tower.

The Tower

At the centre of Salem-Sounan is an ancient tower, squat and crenellated. It’s carved with fragmentary symbols suggesting a lost arcane tradition, making it a popular attraction to visiting wizards, though none have ever been able to decipher anything useful from it. Indeed, many suspect it to be a hoax, carved far more recently to attract tourists to the otherwise fairly sleepy crossroads town.

Dramatis Personae

Long Liuhe

Orthodox Wizard B
MD 5, Hubris 17

Young, conventionally handsome, and dressed as a scholarly minor noble, Liuhe is an Imperial wizard of remarkable power, poor judgement, and truly atrocious political savvy. He’s in Salem-Sounan to meet a contact of which he knows no identifying details, to discuss a matter of some security sensitivity, and so will carefully make conversation with everyone in the Tower in the hopes that one of them will reveal they’re the contact. (His initial best guess is Mitsue.) He’s nervous, and his spells Visualize Madness, Mind Labyrinth, and Magic Missile Mk. VI Standard-Pattern are nominally watching his back. In practice, their whispered comments are just making his nerves worse.

His Hubris 15 effect makes his frankly absurd repository of MD, far surpassing his skill, obvious to anyone with wizard-sight. In fact, his presence is sending ripples of magic across the entire province. If pressed, he’ll claim one of the extra MD is from his luxurious silken robes, and the other two are the results of alchemical experiments performed on him. Not being an alchemist himself, he of course cannot speak to the details.

Marina Vega

Witch B/Socialite A
MD 1, Hubris 0

Marina Vega is a wealthy young widow, veiled and dressed in black. She is awkwardly charming, endlessly curious about everyone else’s magic, and equally happy to speak at length about her own studies in witchcraft and alchemy. Player characters in touch with high-society gossip would know she’s suspected to have poisoned her husband for his fortune. She will initially claim to simply be passing through Salem-Sounan on her way to visit the Imperial core, but it’s embarrassingly easy to get her to spill her true purpose for visiting the Tower: a divination ritual has revealed that she’ll be able to learn the highly forbidden method of extracting cognition essence here. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

She doesn’t have any spells, but can use her MD to enhance effects of potions, poisons, and alchemical concoctions she creates. She knows the recipes for Theriac, Celestial Perfume, and the Sword of St. Germain, and given time to work can figure out how to make almost anything else. She carries a half-dozen hoopoe stones, a single flask of quicksilver, and two distilled essences each of water and order. With an hour to set up proper facilities, she can also cast rituals. Unfortunately, she’s completely useless in a fight without a chance to prepare alchemy or rituals, so she’s hired the mercenary knight Jegen to protect her on her journey.

Tamara Ivanova

Pyromancer D
MD 4, Hubris 8

Tamara is a striking middle-aged woman with eyes that blaze with inner fire. She wears an elaborate sleeveless dress in crimson and white, and heavy jewelry most prominently including a diamond pendant the size of her fist which restores one of her expended MD every ten minutes, drawing energy from the volcano in which she found it. She is quiet but speaks plainly and directly, with the soul-chilling tones of a merciless killer.

She will claim to be a travelling philosopher and writer, supporting this lifestyle with occasional work as a mage for hire. She’ll casually name-drop various revolutionary movements, notorious thieves, and conquering generals as her past employers. She’ll suggest that she’s in Salem-Sounan in the latter capacity, and she just needs the sandstorm to clear so that she can get a chance to catch her target without anyone else in Fireball radius.

She has the innate ability to cast the spells Command Flame, Guardian Hearth, Fireball, Foxfire Shroud, and Infernal Dance.

Jedediah Jovah

Exorcist C
MD 1, Hubris 0

Jed is on the older side of middle-aged, with an unkempt wispy beard and dusty off-white robes. He spits out his chewing tobacco and carefully washes his mouth before constructing any wards, in the event he’s required to. He’s passing through Salem-Sounan on the trail of a Deep Spirit cult, who he believes visited the Tower five days prior, and searching the village for clues to their next destination. He is accompanied invisibly by the angel Mirror.

Mirror

Garbed in polished lorica and a general’s helmet, she drawls euphemized strategic analyses (e.g. “neutralize” not “kill”) around a fat cigar.
Grants +[dice] to AC against mundane ranged attacks for [sum] minutes. Automatically deflects and retargets magic missiles and ray attacks, and bounces the remaining length of line attacks in a direction of her choice, prioritizing the greatest number of enemy targets without regard to collateral damage.

Sano Mitsue

Fox Warlock C

Mitsue wears a hooded cloak to hide their vulpine ears and tail, but cannot hide the invisible foxes (rank 1 Wealdway, rank 1 Gekkering, rank 2 Fox’s Feast, rank 3 Unassuming Guise) that follow them from wizard-sight. They’re here because they sensed Long Liuhe’s power a week ago, identified him from rumour, and decided he sounded fun and they wanted to meet him. Now that they have, and he doesn’t quite seem to live up to the rumours, they’re not quite sure what to do next.

Beneath the cloak, they wear skintight leather armour with several belts, and carry a frankly goofy number of knives. They have the general demeanour of a teenager who believes they have just cracked the aesthetic secrets to being incredibly cool.

Jegen, Ritter von Erek

Brave Mouse D

Jegen is a mouse, with all that entails; he arrived in Salem-Sounan in the company of Marina Vega, who employs him as a personal bodyguard. He dresses in the armour of a landsknecht, and wields the tarnished viridium pinsword NO SHAME HADES. He speaks slowly and carefully, as if to compensate for his small vocal cords. He is dashing and gentlemanly and if any of the player characters are fellow mice he will fall hopelessly in love with one of them.

He will admit to a bit of magical practice, though no more than the next mouse, and carries a pair of tiny obsidian tablets, encoding the spells Fear and Ghost Beetle. Each is fully charged, with three MD ready for use.

NO SHAME HADES

NO SHAME HADES is a +4 pinsword (medium weapon) of pure viridium, though an unattuned wielder uses her as only +3. As a viridium weapon, she ignores all damage resistances of otherworldly creatures, and triples an attuned wielder’s food consumption on any day she does not taste the blood of foes. Additionally, if failing a saving throw would result in an attuned wielder’s death within a round or less, they have a 19 in 20 chance to succeed at that saving throw. She hates Jegen with a tireless, passionate devotion—the sort that would never let another blade steal the chance she may someday have to pierce his heart.

Cassiopeia

No Class Templates

Cass is a young local of Salem-Sounan and the groundskeeper of the Tower. They’re surprisingly casual about playing host to so many powerful arcanists and heroes, and will happily listen in on as much conversation as possible while offering drinks, snacks, and their best attempts at improvising lodgings.

Dramatis Personae (Actual)

Marina Vega / The Crimson Sparrow

Witch B/Zorro A

Marina Vega’s skills are not restricted to witchcraft; as a youth, she also spent many hours secretly practising fencing and marksmanship. After her husband’s death, she took on the masked persona of the Crimson Sparrow to take revenge on his true killers, and thereafter to fight evil more generally. (She has the Crimson Sparrow’s mask, a cold iron sabre, a bullwhip, and four matchlock pistols concealed in her luggage.) She’s hired Jegen as a bodyguard not because she expects to be in any real danger, but to enhance the impression that she’s helpless without time to prepare.

She’s telling the truth about the divination ritual, but once she finds out who here knows how to extract cognition essence, she intends to ambush them as the Crimson Sparrow and capture or kill them for their usage of forbidden alchemy. In fact, Jedediah Jovah is the one who knows the alchemical secret, and he planned for her divination to (accurately) inform her that he’d be present at the Tower on this particular night. Neither Marina nor Jedediah knows that the other has no intentions of actually going through with any deal.

She’s also the only one present other than Jedediah who’s aware of the correspondence between arcane paradigms and alchemical metals; if she realizes that Jegen is a necromancer, and thus that all six of the paradigms that correspond to sacred metals are represented in the Tower, she will immediately become immensely suspicious that their presence is not a coincidence.

Jegen, Ritter von Erek

Brave Mouse A/Necromancer C
MD 3 plus 3 per spell, Hubris 0

Jegen actually carries six spells, not two. The other four, which he created himself by sealing psychopomps inside obsidian tablets, are Spectral Form, Death, Path, and Animate Dead. He is quite likely the only one who knows how to do this; it’s a combination of two different fragmentary ancient magical arts, which he managed to reconstruct each of just barely enough to fill the gaps in the other. Only his three Necromancer MD will trigger Hubris, so he never uses more than one of them at a time. He relies instead on the fact that each spell-tablet stores its own three MD, allowing him to cast spells at up to 4 MD without any risk of Hubris (but the usual risk of Will damage and drain from the tablet’s dice).

Other than the fact that he’s secretly a necromancer (which is why NO SHAME HADES hates him), he’s exactly who he appears to be. He will fight to the death in the defence of Ms. Vega or anyone he might have fallen in love with, and otherwise will rely on Spectral Form to escape lethal danger. He has no idea Marina Vega is the Crimson Sparrow, and will assume instead that the Sparrow is a serious potential danger to his charge.

The Firebird (Tamara Ivanova)

Phoenix
MD 4, Hubris 8

Tamara Ivanova is a phoenix shapeshifted into human form, in defiance of the gods. She’s in Salem-Sounan to kill Jegen, because she believes he has used necromancy to trap the human princess she loves in eternal sleep, to awaken only upon his death. This is, unfortunately, not true; indeed, he knows no such spell. The original source of this misinformation, and the true caster of the sleeping curse, is Jedediah Jovah.

In addition to the diamond amulet, Tamara also has an enchanted golden apple, which fills any mortal who sees it with the all-consuming desire to possess it. As an immortal phoenix, she is immune. She will be surprised to find that Jedediah is also unaffected.

If she reaches Hubris 10, an angel with a sword of unmelting ice will be dispatched to her location to punish her for her forbidden shapeshifting, arriving as soon as the sandstorm clears.

Tan Hao, Minister of the Winter Archives (Long Liuhe)

Orthodox Wizard D
MD 5, Hubris 17

A highly Hubristic orthodox wizard can’t truly hide, so Tan Hao is doing his best to cover his escape in another manner: disguising himself as a different, rather less notorious, highly Hubristic orthodox wizard. He has arrived in the Tower only a day ahead of assassins from four different factions and a full battalion of light cavalry, each pursuing him for unrelated offences. A fifth assassin, he strongly suspects, is one of the other arcanists trapped in the Tower—most likely a player character or Ivanova.

The contact that has promised him a way to escape the consequences of his Hubris is none other than Jedediah Jovah, who has been sending him hints about a method for transferring Hubris into the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately for him, Jedediah has no intention of indicating to him that he’s recognized the orthodox wizard as his disguised correspondent.

Sano Mitsue

Fox Warlock C

Ironically, the illusionist and trickster is the only one here who’s exactly who they appear to be. They will feel incredibly personally betrayed and insulted if they figure out that “Long Liuhe” is actually some boring Imperial official in disguise. The only secret they’re really hiding (other than the fox ears that everyone will spot immediately) is three improvised explosives stashed inside the cloak.

Cassiopeia

Godchild of the Devil A/Exorcist A

Cass has good reason to be as comfortable around powerful figures as they are, with the Devil—not a devil, the big-D Devil himself—as their godfather. They can summon rapidly-spreading hellfire by whistling, but can never extinguish flames. They also have in one pocket a case of cigars that perfectly match Mirror’s. They haven’t got the hang of actually seeing and talking to angels yet, largely due to lack of confidence, but they’re a dab hand at warding circles.

Jedediah Jovah

Alchemist of Gold D/Sorcerer-King Δx5
MD 7, Hubris —

Jedediah is actually a centuries-old alchemist and magos of power unsurpassed in the modern era. He has manipulated the other six arcanists into all arriving at Salem-Sounan at once, intending to bring them into conflict with each other and take the opportunity to kill them and harvest their metallic essences. With freshly harvested essences corresponding to all six sacred metals, he will be able to perform the ritual to acquire his sixth Sorcerer-King delta template, transforming his body into that of a dragon.

Orthodox wizards believe in precision, refinement, and their own perfection, but also tend towards vanity and being ostentatious. Associated with gold.
Witches are practical, malleable, adaptable, and an old tradition. Associated with copper.
Pyromancers are all about the practical application of fire, and are thus associated with the metal that requires the most heat to work: Iron.
Exorcists, users of hallowed magic, focus on purity and cleansing. Associated with silver.
Fox mages are chaotic and tricky like the fae. Associated with mercury.
Necromancers use magic of the dead, and thus associate with the dead metal of lead.

The Red Lantern

He possesses the Ring of Solomon, which can compel any demon, jinn, fairy, or shedah to serve the bearer as a spell, and which he is using to mimic the wards and seals of an exorcist. To avoid the wizard-sight of his victims, he has brought only a single spell into the tower with him, the devil Misguidance. The motes Homunculus, Ail, Mend, and Ruin, the fox-princes Abduction and Prismatic Ray, and the devil Lead to Ruin were supposed to be positioned outside the village as reinforcements, but the sandstorm has cut them off from him. His other sixty-three spells wait in his palace, more than seven hundred kilometres away, and will be of no help.

One of his Sorcerer-King delta templates has removed his Hubris score; any Hubris generated by his spellcasting is absorbed by the land around him, to increasingly destructive effect as thresholds of fives are surpassed. Salem-Sounan currently has an undetectable 2 Hubris, but at 5 the famed lemon orchard will wither and die, and every magos or other wizard present will recognize that the land is being defiled.

Additionally, concealed in his pack are twenty-six carefully packed rare reagents, one providing each possible non-conflicting pair of the seven conventional (i.e., non-metallic) essences.

Misguidance

Normally, she wears a charcoal grey suit with a bloodred tie and a peaked cap. She’s currently disguised as the angel Mirror, largely effectively, but has been unable to resist bringing her favourite cigars.

When they saw what you were, they took you away from the world. Fallen things could not be allowed to touch you, not yet. When you were ready, they laid you upon the altar and cut your heart from your chest. In that moment, you were offered a choice and a covenant. G-d placed the sun where your heart was a moment before, and gifted you armour to turn all harm aside from your flesh, and made of you a breaker of nations.

A: Armour of G-d, Guardian Angel, Castigate the Forsaken
B: Dreadnought OR Sheephound, Stigmata
C: 9,000,000,000 Names
D: Citadel of G-d

Starting Gear: Blessed armour (heavy armour), superlative sword (massive weapon), the sun, two loaves of bread, flask of oil, flask of water

Armour of G-d

Only you can wear your blessed armour; if anyone else attempts to don it, they will be instantly reduced to ash. None who looks upon it can mistake it as anything other than what it is: a corporeal manifestation of your covenant with the Almighty.

It protects you as well as plate +2, and provides you a +2 bonus to all saving throws besides. It can devour other armours, gaining and combining their magical properties, other than their magical +. Instead, the AC and saving throw bonus provided by your blessed armour increases by 1 for each different magical + among armours consumed.

Guardian Angel

An invisible guardian angel waits beside you, seen only by wizards and those who share their sight-beyond-sight. It is not here to protect you. You do not require such considerations.

With a spoken command, you can designate a foe as the angel’s concern; this doesn’t require your action. Once each round in the moment before the angel’s concern attacks anyone but you, or casts a spell on anyone but you, or blasphemes in your presence, the angel will strike them. To most observers, this appears as if lightning struck them from a point in the air just above and behind your helmet, burning a hole in their corporeal form. The strike inflicts damage equal to [templates] + your χarisma modifier + 2, and they take a –2 penalty to any dice rolled for the action that triggered it.

Castigate the Forsaken

You can always use your χarisma as if it were your strength when making attacks.

Additionally, when you strike a fiend or one of the unquiet dead, you can reveal to it the sun in your chest, tripling your damage, overcoming all damage resistances, and launching it as if it had been struck by a speeding train. Once you do this, you can’t do so again until you deny yourself lunch or sleep.

Dreadnought

While you are wearing your blessed armour, if you would be reduced to 0 or fewer HP, instead you borrow HP from your future self. You remain at 1 HP, and any excess damage is instead subtracted from the next healing you would receive. You can’t borrow more HP than half your normal maximum. When you deny yourself lunch or sleep, all HP debt is forgiven.

Sheephound

Instead of designating one foe as your angel’s concern, you can choose to designate all of your foes within 5 metres.

Stigmata

Your blessed armour bleeds from the gauntlets, and that blood is the sunlight. Collecting this light can produce three potions each day, which if drank within the next day restore half a creature’s maximum HP. If they drink directly from your palm, it can restore HP equal to half your maximum instead, if that’s more; but this takes a minute to bleed enough light.

9,000,000,000 Names

You can speak a name of G-d, and the heavens will tear open, and the earth will shake, and everyone else who would have heard it will instead be struck deaf for an hour. In a few seconds, everything within 5 metres of a point in your sight will be crushed and incinerated by the wrath of G-d, dealing 6d6 damage to anyone who doesn’t successfully save to leap out of the area and take half damage. Anyone or anything that survives this damage will still be slammed against the earth, collapsing structures and leaving creatures supine.

Each of the names of G-d can only be spoken once this way—after all HEAVENWROUGHT use this ability a total of nine billion times, it can no longer be used. Additionally, you can only use it once each day.

Citadel of G-d

Let others build their thrones behind walls of wood and stone. Your stronghold is in Heaven, and its only throne is G-d’s. You can open the doors to His citadel from any natural wall, whether cavern or cliff; they can be as small as your hand or as large as a castle gate, but they are always a bisected circle of shining metal. Once closed, they vanish.

The halls of G-d’s citadel are round, not squared; they’re pristine white, perfectly clean, and the air is strangely scentless. Time is subtly distorted there, by an extra second every forty-five days; you would never notice, but you know it to be true. Its hanging gardens can comfortably sustain a dozen people, and anything left there will be preserved unperishingly. Any fiend or unquiet dead who enters the citadel will be instantly reduced to ash as if it had tried to wear your blessed armour.

You can open doors to exit the citadel at any point from which you have ever entered it. If your blessed armour has eaten the armour of another HEAVENWROUGHT, you can also exit the citadel at any point from which they ever entered it.

There is a tendency to burn; To step into the fire full aware,
To let oneself be overcome by what could be and yet is not,
To turn imagination’s form into a shell of simple matter.
And when the fire fails one rises from that ash which still remains,
Beautiful and perfect.

There is a tendency to fight; To turn scarcity to conflict,
To arm oneself against all who might think the same,
To make oneself into a tool by which endings are written.
And when the common ending comes of those who live by sword and bow,
One kills that too.

There is a tendency to smile; To wear a changing mask,
To shape all expectations to surround oneself,
To let identity dissolve into the patterns one fulfills.
And when the pattern too has vanished into culture,
All will preserve it.

There is a tendency to mourn; To live within the past,
To build oneself a castle walled by all that was,
To dredge up all that can be found in seas of history.
And when the daily catch portends uncertain futures,
One throws it back.

There is a tendency to snare; To hold the world in thrall,
To take blind trust and make of it fools’ service,
To seal away all that could contradict one’s truth.
And when cold reality seeks to cut through one’s eternal binds,
It’s but an image.

There is a tendency to guard; To keep all others close,
To make oneself a pillar that can be relied upon,
To become a part of all those that one knows.
And when one cannot be replaced by any means,
One must remain.

There is a tendency to walk; To abandon one’s position,
To cast aside all bonds of duty and tradition,
To trust that the horizon conceals precisely what one needs.
And when one’s fate comes within a breath of catching up,
The road continues.

There is a tendency for things to come in sevens,
To break symmetries and find patterns where none are,
To turn coincidence each time into a puzzle.
And when the world has all been rendered into common mystery,
One solves it.

Wizard

HP: 6 + 4/level
Recoveries/day: 5
Weapons: staffs (medium) and knives (light) only
Armour: no

Eldritch Blasts

Wizards can make attacks with bolts of magical energy, a light ranged weapon that uses Intelligence instead of Dexterity to hit.

Spellbook

A wizard has a spellbook, which starts with two spells in it, chosen by the player from the table below. They can copy spells from scrolls or other spellbooks they find, and can also choose a new spell every time they level up.
[Lv. 3] The wizard can choose or roll an advanced spell—(1) Invisibility, (2) Knock, (3) Levitate, (4) Mirror Image, (5) See Invisible, or (6) Web.

Spells

At the start of each day, a wizard can prepare a number of spells from their spellbook equal to their level. They can cast each of those spells once that day.
[Lv. 3] The wizard can prepare one advanced spell each day.

Customization

When creating a wizard, choose or roll one row; or the left half of one row and the right half of another; or choose separately from each column, if you prefer. Also start with a quarterstaff (medium weapon), travel boots, a spellbook, a pen, and a bottle of ink. When choosing additional spells from the table, don’t gain additional items.

1	Charm	ornate flowing clothes	Ventriloquism	set of magnifying lenses
2	Magic Missiles	fancy uniform	Light	set of survival gear
3	Seal Door	brightly-coloured coverall	Decipher	utility knife (tool, but also light weapon)
4	Shield	simple white robe	Floating Disc	splints, bandages
5	Sleep	silk suit	Darkness	20m of rope
6	Ward	finely tailored robe	Detect Magic	fireproof gloves

Spells

The Darkness, Detect Magic, Light, and Ward spells are identical to those available to clerics.

Charm

Range: 40m / Duration: Varies
The target (if humanoid) regards the caster as a trusted friend and ally. The spell allows a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw, and another saving throw every day to end the charm.

Decipher

Range: 1m / Duration: Instant
Allows the caster to read an ancient, magical, or ciphered text.

Floating Disc

Range: 5m / Duration: 1 hour
Conjures a 1m diameter disc of force, which can carry up to 100kg. It floats 1m above the ground, moving at the conjurer’s command, and following them at up to walking speed.

Magic Missiles

Range: Special / Duration: Instant
Make a barrage of Eldritch Blast attacks that automatically hit a number of creatures in range up to your level.

Seal Door

Range: 20m / Duration: 10 minutes
Magically closes and seals shut one door, gate, or similar access point. The target cannot be opened except by a mage four levels higher, a powerful supernatural creature, or by the Knock spell or any anti-magic effect.

Shield

Range: Self / Duration: 6 rounds
Grants immunity to Eldritch Blast and Magic Missile attacks, +8 AC against other ranged attacks, and +4 AC against melee attacks. Against a rogue’s Sneak Attacks, provides no benefit.

Sleep

Range: 15m / Duration: 6 rounds
Up to 3d4 total levels of creatures within a 10m circle must make Wisdom or Charisma saving throws or fall asleep. “Minion”-type creatures don’t count towards the level limit, and fall asleep automatically with no save. Creatures of level 5 or higher are immune.

Ventriloquism

Range: 10m / Duration: 10 minutes
Causes the caster’s voice to appear to issue from any location within range; furthermore, the spell can distort the caster’s voice to make it unrecognizable.

Advanced Spells

Invisibility

Range: Touch / Duration: Varies
The target creature vanishes from sight. However, they are not magically silenced. The effect remains until magically dispelled, cancelled by either the target or caster, or the target makes any attack.

Knock

Range: 20m / Duration: Instant
A single target door, if sealed, stuck, locked, barred, or chained, is magically opened. This can also target a box, chest, chains, shackles, or any other lock.

Levitate

Range: 20m / Duration: 1 hour
The target, which can weigh up to 150 kg, can be moved vertically by the caster up to 3m per round, or twice that if the target is the caster. Unwilling recipients are allowed a Dexterity or Intelligence saving throw.

Mirror Image

Range: Self / Duration: 10 minutes
The caster creates 1d4+1 exact copies of themself, which remain around them and copy their actions exactly. Attacks against the caster target them or any image at random. If an image is hit, it vanishes.

See Invisible

Range: 10m / Duration: 10 minutes
Allows the caster to see invisible objects and creatures in a 3m wide, 10m long line.

Web

Range: Touch / Duration: 1 hour
Fills an area up to 5m by 25m with sticky webs, that trap any creature that fails a Dexterity or Intelligence saving throw. A trapped character with Strength or Constitution 13 or better can make a Strength or Constitution saving throw every minute to break out, and a trapped character with Strength or Constitution 18 or better can make a saving throw every round.

This cleric and spell list are intended for the same hack as the previous post.

Cleric

HP: 8 + 5/level
Recoveries/day: 6
Weapons: no massive weapons
Armour: all

Exorcism

A cleric can attempt to turn aside the undead, banish evil spirits, or otherwise exorcise dark powers. This may be an action or an extended ritual depending on the target, and is resolved with a roll of 2d6 + the cleric’s level. If the result is high enough to affect the target, then—if applicable—another roll of 2d6 may be used to determine how many targets are affected.

Spells

A cleric is granted spells from their deity, a number equal to their level. Each of these spells can be cast once per day. When there are multiple spell options available, the cleric can change their choice each morning.

Archetype (Deity)

When creating a cleric, also choose a deity: the Sun King, the Green Lady, the Storm Titan, the Masked Lord, the Pale Mountain, or the Bleak Knight. The choice of deity will determine the spells available.

Deity: Sun King

Start with steel plate armour (heavy), a war-hammer (heavy weapon), a prayer-book, an incense-burner, and twelve sticks of incense. Each day, choose the Light or Smite spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Cure or Remove Fear spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also choose the Bless or Know Alignment spell.

Deity: Green Lady

Start with chain armour (medium), travel clothes, a glaive (heavy weapon), a shovel (tool, but also medium weapon), a pouch of herbs, and a prayer-book. Each day, choose the Cure or Purify spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Resist Cold or Ward spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also gain the Speak with Animals spell.

Deity: Storm Titan

Start with a long leather coat (light armour), waterproofed clothes and boots, a wooden shield, a battle-axe (medium weapon), a grappling hook, and 20m of rope. Each day, choose the Smite or Resist Cold spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Cause Fear or Ward spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also gain the Resist Fire spell.

Deity: Masked Lord

Start with a black silk suit, a thick overcoat (light armour), polished boots, a black mask, a winched crossbow (heavy weapon), a case of 20 bolts, and a prayer-book. Each day, choose the Darkness or Detect Magic spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Cure or Ward spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also choose the Find Traps or Silence spell.

Deity: Pale Mountain

Start with unblemished white robes, a steel breastplate (heavy armour), leather sandals, an iron-banded quarterstaff (medium weapon), a necklace of prayer-beads, and a flask of distilled alcohol. Each day, choose the Cure or Detect Magic spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Smite or Purify spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also gain the Immobilize spell.

Deity: Bleak Knight

Start with steel plate armour (heavy), a steel shield, a longsword (medium weapon), a silver amulet, a blank notebook, a pen, and a bottle of ink. Each day, choose the Smite or Wound spell.
[Lv. 2] Each day, also choose the Darkness or Ward spell.
[Lv. 3] Each day, also gain the Bane spell.

Spells

Some of the following spells are available only to clerics of the corresponding deities (notated with SK Sun King, GL Green Lady, ST Storm Titan, ML Masked Lord, PM Pale Mountain, or BK Bleak Knight; and with the level learned). Others will also be usable by wizards, notated as Wiz. Additional wizard spells will be included in the next post in this series.

Bane (BK3)

Range: 20m / Duration: 6 rounds
All hostile creatures in a 15m by 15m area take a -1 penalty to attack rolls for the duration.

Bless (SK3)

Range: 20m / Duration: 6 rounds
All friendly creatures in a 15m by 15m area gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls for the duration.

Cause Fear (ST2)

Range: 20m cone / Duration: 1 round per level
Each creature in the area must make a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw or flee in panic. Additionally, for each creature that fails its save, roll a d20; a result of that creature’s level + 8 or higher indicates that it also drops whatever it’s holding in its haste to escape.

Cure (SK2/GL1/ML2/PM1)

Range: Touch / Duration: Instant
The target can immediately use a Recovery, and regains additional HP equal to the caster’s Wisdom modifier.

Darkness (ML1/BK2/Wiz)

Range: 40m / Duration: 1 hour
Conjures darkness that removes all light from a 20 foot radius sphere. Darkness and Light spells counter each other, restoring the original lighting.

Detect Magic (ML1/PM1/Wiz)

Range: 10m / Duration: 10 minutes
Allows the caster to sense any aura of magic in a 3m wide, 10m long line.

Find Traps (ML3)

Range: 10m / Duration: 1 hour
Allows the caster to sense any hidden pits, snares, and traps within 10m in all directions.

Immobilize (PM3)

Range: 20m / Duration: 10 rounds
One to three human-sized or smaller creatures in range are held immobile and frozen in place; they each receive a Wisdom or Charisma saving throw to negate this effect.

Know Alignment (SK3)

Range: 10m / Duration: Instant
Checks a creature for supernatural allegiances, including the influence of evil spirits and the blessings of the Six Gods.

Light (SK1/Wiz)

Range: 40m / Duration: 1 hour
Conjures light that brightly illuminates a 20 foot radius sphere. Darkness and Light spells counter each other, restoring the original lighting.

Purify (GL1/PM2)

Range: 10m / Duration: Permanent
Makes spoiled, poisoned, contaminated, or rotten food and/or water pure and safe for consumption. Can destroy certain cursed or blighted substances. Affects up to 25 litres of material.

Remove Fear (SK2)

Range: Touch / Duration: 10 minutes
The target gets +4 to morale checks and saving throws against fear, and can immediately make another saving throw against any fear effects they are currently suffering from.

Resist Cold (GL2/ST1)

Range: Touch / Duration: 1 hour
The target is immune to mundane cold, of up to -15C. It gets a +3 bonus to saves against cold effects and takes half damage from all such effects.

Resist Fire (ST3)

Range: Touch / Duration: 1 hour
The target is immune to heat up to boiling temperatures. It gets a +3 bonus to saves against fire and greater heat effects and takes half damage from all such effects.

Silence (ML3)

Range: 40m / Duration: 5 minutes
A 5m radius sphere within range is filled with an aura of complete silence, preventing spellcasting, conversation, and all other noise. The spell can be cast into the air, in which case it is stationary, or onto an object, in which case it moves with the object. Alternatively, it can be cast on a creature, but the target is permitted a Dexterity or Intelligence saving throw to change the target to a point in the air one foot behind it.

Smite (SK1/ST1/PM2/BK1)

Range: Special / Duration: Instant
This spell can be cast without using an action when the caster hits a creature with a melee or ranged attack. The attack ignores any of the target’s immunities and inflicts extra damage equal 1d6 + the caster’s Charisma modifier. Undead and evil spirits are exceptionally vulnerable to Smites, increasing the extra damage to 1d12 + the caster’s Charisma modifier.

Speak with Animals (GL3)

Range: Self / Duration: 5 minutes
The caster gains the ability to comprehend and communicate with any one type of animal. Mundane animals find this sufficiently unusual and interesting that so long as the caster remains friendly, they will not fight while the spell lasts unless attacked first. If the creature is favorably inclined towards the caster, it may perform a favor or service, depending on circumstances and the caster’s Charisma.

Ward (GL2/ST2/ML2/BK2/Wiz)

Range: Touch / Duration: 6 rounds
Grants the target a +2 bonus to AC and all saving throws against supernatural creatures and powers. Additionally, no summoned or conjured creature can willingly touch the target.

Wound (BK1)

Range: 10m / Duration: Instant
The target must make a Strength or Constitution saving throw or lose hit points equal to 1/4 of its maximum plus the caster’s Wisdom modifier.

I’m working on a new hack: something simple I can use to teach people D&D, potentially across a mild language barrier. It’s mainly influenced by D&D 4e, B/X D&D, G24 GLOG, and Godbound, and specialized for local-scale hexcrawling (probably with 4km hexes). The actual rules may follow soon, but in the meantime, these are two of the probably-four classes those rules will support.

Fighter

HP: 10 + 6/level
Recoveries/day: 8
Weapons: all
Armour: all

Extra Attack

During their turn in combat, a fighter can make a free attack in addition to whatever else they do on their turn.

Cleave

If a fighter’s attack does more damage than would be needed to knock out or kill their enemy (fighter’s choice), they can do the rest of the damage to a different target instead. If a fighter hits a “minion”-type enemy that would normally be defeated by any hit without a damage roll, they roll damage anyway. If they roll 6+ damage, they can take out two minions with one attack, and if they roll 10+ they can take out up to four.

Parry

Once per round, a fighter can subtract their to-hit bonus with the weapon they’re holding from the damage of a melee attack against them or anyone in their reach.

Archetype (Style)

When creating a fighter, also choose one style: Bitter Rival, Broken Earth, Consuming Flame, Drowning Rapids, or Falling Sky.

Style: Bitter Rival

Start with foppish clothing, polished boots, a steel breastplate (heavy armour), a rapier, and a bottle of absinthe. When fighting a solitary opponent, roll twice to hit and take the better result.
[Lv. 2] When fighting a solitary opponent, once per opponent, automatically succeed at a saving throw against one of their special abilities, instead of rolling.
[Lv. 3] When fighting a solitary opponent without assistance, make two free attacks each turn instead of one.

Style: Broken Earth

Start with steel plate armour (heavy), a sword like a small bulldozer blade (massive weapon), a ceramic mask, and a crowbar (tool, but also light weapon). Never slip or fall when standing on earth or stone, and attack unarmed for 1d6 + Strength modifier damage with stone-crushing fists.
[Lv.2] With a minute of focus, smash through up to a foot of stone bare-handed.
[Lv.3] Increase unarmed damage to 1d8 + Strength modifier. All melee attacks, armed or unarmed, ignore metal armour.

Style: Consuming Flame

Start with a brightly-coloured coverall, nonslip boots, a chain hauberk (medium armour), a steel shield, a battle-axe (medium weapon), and a set of lenses and mirrors. Gain immunity to mundane flame and the ability to spark small fires by touch, and attack unarmed for 1d6 + Strength modifier fire damage.
[Lv. 2] Once per round when attacked in melee, counter with a single armed or unarmed melee attack.
[Lv. 3] Increase unarmed damage to 1d8 + Strength modifier. When you miss an attack, you can burn your life force and sacrifice one recovery to reroll the attack.

Style: Drowning Rapids

Start with a long leather coat (light armour), waterproofed clothes and boots, a kriegsmesser sword (heavy weapon), a pair of loaded dice, and 20m of rope. Gain the ability to breathe underwater, and once per turn while wielding a heavy or massive weapon do an automatic 1d4 damage to an enemy in reach.
[Lv. 2] With both hands free, unarmed attacks do 1d10 + Strength modifier damage as a heavy weapon. As an action, move at full speed through enemies without being attacked.
[Lv. 3] Once between rests, leap and whirl to make a melee attack that automatically hits every enemy within 10m.

Style: Falling Sky

Start with loose-fitting clothes (unarmoured), leather sandals, a longbow (medium weapon), a quiver with 24 arrows, a pair of binoculars, and a signal flare. When making a ranged attack from high ground, roll damage twice and take the better roll. While unarmoured, fall up to 10m safely.
[Lv. 2] While unarmoured, leap up to 5m vertically and 10m horizontally in place of normal movement.
[Lv. 3] With a finger-snap, make unarmed ranged attacks dealing 1d8 + Dexterity modifier lightning damage at 20m range; alternatively, make an unarmed melee attack for 1d10 + Dexterity modifier damage that never misses, when dropping at least 10m onto the target. Fall any distance safely.

Rogue

HP: 6 + 4/level
Recoveries/day: 6
Weapons: light only
Armour: light only

Cipher

Rogues have a list of cipher skills; every rogue begins with the traditional skills of Climb Sheer Surfaces, Find or Remove Traps, Hear Noises, Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Pick Pockets, and Pick Locks. When a rogue does something that one of their cipher skills would apply to, roll a separate d6. If that die rolls a 6, then the action succeeds automatically, ignoring the normal resolution (ability check, or save, or the DM just saying it’s impossible, or whatever).
[Lv. 2] If that die rolls a 5 or 6…
[Lv. 3] If that die rolls a 4, 5, or 6…

Sneak Attack

When a rogue attacks a distracted enemy with a light weapon, they replace their usual attack and damage bonuses with their level + their highest ability modifier + 2. An enemy that doesn’t know the rogue is there, or that’s fighting someone else, is definitely distracted; the DM may rule that other enemies are too.

Better Lucky

Rogues add their level to all saving throws.

Archetype (Paradigm)

When creating a rogue, also choose one paradigm: Assassin, Ranger, Swashbuckler, or Thief.

Paradigm: Assassin

Start with a half-dozen knives (light weapons), a black silk suit (unarmoured), leather shoes, a spooky mask, and a disguise kit. Add Kill Unsuspecting Targets and Disguise to your cipher.

Paradigm: Ranger

Start with chain armour (medium) and the training to wear it, travel boots, a pair of throwing axes (light weapons), a set of survival gear, and an underwater-breathing reed. Add Track and Scavenge to your cipher.

Paradigm: Swashbuckler

Start with a fancy uniform (unarmoured), polished boots, a sabre (light weapon), a grappling hook, and 20m of rope. Add Leap Gaps, Outrun Guards, and Swing From High Places to your cipher.

Paradigm: Thief

Start with dark clothes (unarmoured), padded shoes, a blackjack (light weapon), a hand drill, and a set of mechanics tools. Add Set Traps, See Hidden Things, and Evaluate to your cipher.

I’m fond of the “gameplay loop” of the the Elf class from Basic D&D. You have a very limited daily supply of powerful, encounter-defining magic; but the rest of the time, you’re an entirely competent martial character, skilled at blade and bow. Of course, to some degree every character in D&D 4E plays like an Elf, with encounter and at-will attack powers that can form the core of their tactics in every fight, and daily powers that give them a limited ability to turn the tide of battle. But that’s just the gameplay loop—what if there was a class that captured the aesthetic dichotomy of the Elf, too?

I started constructing an Elf class, a martial/arcane controller that had access to the wizard’s iconic daily and utility spells, and its own suite of martial at-will and encounter exploits; but quickly realized that there was only about half a class there. So I turned to the other source of martial/arcane heroes, the one that in the long run turned out to have the more iconic legacy: the Githyanki gish. The two “schools” of the duelist, Astral and Fey, are closely inspired by these two ancient traditions of battle magic. The resulting class has a decidedly different game-feel from the swordmage, despite having many common aesthetic elements.

In addition to the Duelist class and a handful of supporting feats and paragon paths, this document also contains an expansion of the superior implement system that will be useful not only to Duelists, but also to Swordmages, and the occasional wielder of a pact blade, songbow, or holy avenger. Download the class here.

In the intervening time since I’ve last posted on this blog, I’ve written and tested a lot of D&D 4E homebrew. When I get the chance, I’m polishing it up and posting it. Here, I’ve got two documents of feats that fill in what I see as minor gaps in the existing list.

Arcane, divine, and martial characters all have access to a collection of feats that improve their at-will attack powers—arcane characters have the White Lotus feats, divine the Power of [Domain] feats, and martial the Style feats. Psionic characters, on the other hand, improve their at-will powers via level progression. Primal characters lack an option to similarly improve their at-will attacks, so I’ve written them one: “spirit-chosen” feats themed around the elder primal spirits described in Primal Power. Download the spirit-chosen feats here.

I’ve had multiple players request more variety in the multiclass-feat options available, especially for some of the classes with only one or two multiclass feats. I’ve written 22 more, including two for multiclassing into monk and swordmage subclasses written by my fellow homebrewer erachima—not currently posted publicly, but I’ll edit a link into this post when they are. Download the multiclass feats here.