Tuesday, October 24, 2023

GLOGtober 23': Failed Gods and thier consequences

My first entry for this year's GLOGtober is slightly late, I was a bit stuck on this first entry. Now could I have set the first entry aside and first done a different one that was easier, yes yes I could have. For the first entry I rolled a 1, but couldn't think of something that spoke to me, so I rolled again, either as a replacement or something to combine with the first prompt, and got another 1. Damn what a coincidence, so I rolled my d6 again and can you guess what result I rolled that third time?

Challenge 1: Failed Gods and their consequences.



The Heavens do not weep, they bleed. A thousand years ago a being known as the Three Legged Spider attempted to breach the vault of the sky, to take the Throne of Heaven for itself. It successfully cut open the firmament, but itself was greviously wounded. The Heavens ooze thier ichor to this day, slowly cleaning out the wound. The poisoned divinity still drips down to earth, giving birth to monsters like Nothic and Ettercaps.



The Three Legged Spider, is a failed conqueror and a failed god. It lies curled up somewhere deep, deep beneath the earth. If you could find a shrine to it, and if it has any power left in it, these spells might be granted.

  • RAZOR LOGIC: select up to [dice] parts of the enemy's stats to temporarily cut out of existence. They no longer interact with that system for [sum] rounds. For example, razoring HP would mean the enemy no longer takes damage or deals damage. If you razored CHA, they can no longer make related checks or hold retainers. At 4 [dice] this effect is permenant.
  • BLACK HAND: For [sum] rounds, one of your arms turns invisible. You get an illusory arm on the same side that you can control freely. Small objects, like a dagger, held in this arm become invisible. The arm can interact with ghosts, pass through walls, etc.
  • SPITE:  Whenever the target creature would roll a critical success, it becomes a critical failure instead. Target will also feel anxious and irritable for the spell's duration. Duration: 1 [dice]: [sum] rounds, 2 [dice][sum] days, 3 [dice][sum] weeks, 4 [dice] [sum] months.




Gods are are destributed things, they are more patterns then entities. So what destinguishes a god from the background noise of existance? What seperates one god from another? The answer is the god's dream, each god is/has a dream of world.The Three Legged Spider's dream is a world of descrete objects where each thing is one thing and one thing only. Many gods blur together with thier sisters and have no issue with that for thier dreams are close, but to the Three Legged Spider it is a mark of failure.




We know that the Three Legged Spider lost it's limbs after it cut a hole in the sky, but how exactly that came about is a mystery.

Some say that the five Heavenly Dogs ambushed it and tore off a limb each, at which point it fell into the sea.

Some say that the five Heavenly Dogs each grabbed one of it's limbs, and to escape the Three Legged Spider, severed it's legs itself.

Some say that the four Heavenly Dogs cornered it, and decreed that to answer for it's crimes they will take it's limbs. The Three Legged Spider promised that it will never look upon the sky, if the Dogs swore to each take precisely 'a leg and fourth of that'. The hounds agreed believing that this would leave the arachnid limbless, not realizing that they promised to take an additional fourth of a leg, not a fourth of it's legs. They seethed as the smug bastard crawled into the underworld.

Some say that upon seeing the Heavens open the Three Legged Spider felt guilt for the pain it had caused. So in penance it sewed the wound shut, penitantly using five of it's legs as splints to keep the sky from collapsing.

Some say that it was betrayed. By far the most popular story. It's lietenant, it's closest friend, maybe even it's lover backstabbed the Three Legged Spider and stepped into the wound instead of them.

Five stories, precisely the amount of legs the Three Legged Spider doesn't have. 
They are all wrong.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

More Strangers


 Inspired by this post, I decided to make my own post in this style from character ideas I had lying around. Also shout out to Cat Dragon for providing feedback and editing help with this post!

1.Elena Smirt

Most gnomes smell of petrichor and ozone, Elena smells of ozone and charcoal. A doomsayer and heretic, following her own syncretised form of Annitism and Humorism called “Gnomsitism”. Has a habit of ranting like a lunatic. Pissed someone off with her rancid demeanor; who’s she on the run from?

Stats. As a Cultist from The Monster Overhaul (p.19), except her Blight doesn’t recharge if she hasn’t ranted about doom to someone, and are all powered by the element of ASH (fading fire, apocalypse, genesis). By her gnomish nature she can take 1d4 nonlethal damage to create a jolt of electricity, and as a properly raised gnome has the Tinker skill and speaks Gnomish (the language of gnomes, inventors and weather). Knows the Leap of Faith delta (from the Annitism post) and will initiate anyone willing to join her cult.


Who’s she running from? (1d4)

  1. Zinlas Smirt, her conservative grandmother and high priestess of Gnome Ann Isle. Elena’s stolen a 10’ Idol of Gnome Ann which grants 1 MD to magics that defy or reinforce impossibility once a day. Pursued by gnomes on lightning skiffs.

  2. The Driftwood Papacy, it was inevitable. Elena’s stolen a sacred canister of Hyper-Vomit, which can induce divine hallucinations and megalomania from just a single drop. Pursued by Wind Crusaders and Driftwood Liturgists.

  3. The Flints, a notorious pirate crew, feared for its two gay dads and horde of adopted children. She “stole” their boat cat, Bubsy ‘Fatfuck’; in actuality Fatfuck stumbled onto the wrong boat during a night of heavy drinking. Pursued by the Berg Flint, Elena is convinced they are going to gut her like a fish, which is untrue. They just want their cat back.

  4. Corniva Smirt, her ex-wife. They divorced in mutual agreement; it was either Elena or the Spiders and Corniva chose the latter. What was not mutually agreed on is that Elena stole the child they crafted together, Horlo Smirt with stats like Robot Servant  (MO: p.301) except he is a fully sentient child, who is impacted by mind-altering effects and is torn between the moral codes of both his mothers. They are pursued by clockwork creatures and plush doll men.

2. Jack Ashtray! The Hurricane!!! The Man with a Suitcase!!! The Greatest Liar in the World!!!!!



A cocky and ostentatious wizard wearing an obviously fake mustache and a candy cigarette in his mouth. Has a seemingly unending supply of paper glasses, prank toys, cheap magic tricks and cards on him. Cracks jokes in the face of terror. Wheels around a suitcase that makes your stomach churn. What’s this guy’s angle?

Stats. 1 HD, has Fast Talk, Raconteur and Rover as a Rake, and the Slight of Hand skill. Knows 1d6 ‘spells’ from this list, which are all utterly fake. Inside the suitcase is a curled up mummy. One of the first liches, horrendously powerful, deeply cursed, imobile. It hates existence but loathes itself too much to die.

This Wretch believes that it’s under a very powerful binding spell, so subtle that it can not even perceive it. Due to the constant terror of being next to such a malignant power, Ashtray is immune to all other fear.

Seriously, what is this guy’s angle?(1d4)

  1. I got some real power on my hands, some bonafide sorcery right here. Ancient wizard or not, this thing is a mark if I ever saw one. I could make a lot of money!

  2. This old sack of bones thinks I’m a wizard, and you know what? Who’s to say I’m not? Fake it till you make it, baby!

  3. My hair is falling out, I can’t sleep due to the nightmares, but I can’t just throw it away. It has promised to make me regret ever being born. I need to get rid of it!

  4. Better men have tried to kill it, and better men have failed. But the world could do with less scoundrels like me, and it could certainly do without this horror. While I still have the upper hand, I will destroy it!

3. Crabcules

Not his real name, just the moniker he’s going by on dry land. Believes crabs to be biologically superior beings, but not actively bigoted against any land folk only because he hasn’t ‘figured out the hierarchy’ up here.  A nobleman and martial artist belonging to an empire from beneath the waves, has come to the surface world because to find a worthy opponant.
Stats. As a Giant Crab (MO: p.271) but otherwise as a Knight (p.21). He’s very easy to goad into any kind of contest, and if defeated either fairly or spectacularly swears unwavering loyalty. This is the only way to recruit him. When underwater his shell provides armor as plate and shield because he knows how to breathe good.

Aquatic Martial Arts.(1d4)

  1. Practices the Secret Art EXCELLENCE IS UNATTAINABLE as an Artist. Seeks a master who can teach him how to do The Self Remade when one’s musculature is constrained by a thick shell.

  2. Learns styles like a Duelist would. The style he already knows is by convergent evolution similar to the Cynical style of Cynocephali, from which he knows a stance equivalent to Aggro and a technique analgous to Humerus. Seeks a master who can teach him the Panache one needs to subdue foes without crushing them into paste.

  3. Follows Ways as a Monk would. Has 1 Ki and knows the Ways Roar of the Raging Gale and Grasp of the Broken Mountain. None of these landfolk take his kung-fu seriously, so he seeks a master who can teach him Honor.

  4. Has studied an ancient and venerable style, based on the beast known as the ‘Mantis Shrimp’ among land folk. With a turn of meditation can prepare himself to snap his claws so fast that it sends out a shockwave. Underwater this does damage as a cannonball, on land like a wet rubber band. Confident he can figure out how to make it work up here by himself.

4. Flesh Fairies

These fluttering, cat-sized sisters were all born in the same ‘litter’ of a Fleshive, designed to be healers. They have a telepathic bond with each other, and a more distant one with the hive that spawned them.

  • Pich: Cherub-faced and sanguine. Talkative and curious, wants to be friends with everyone and has telepathy-inducing saliva. The human interpreter with a good bedside manner.
  • Vert: One-eyed and choleric. Small-dog energy, wants to protect her family from all conceivable threats, and has numbing saliva. The anesthesiologist and lookout.
  • Holi: Toad-faced and phlegmatic. Lethargic but precise, wants to study novel organisms and has flesh-sculpting saliva. The surgeon and secret keeper.
  • Mori: Large-mouthed and melancholic. Agoraphobic, wants to take a nap and has antibacterial saliva. The pathologist and nest builder.

Stats. As Skeeters (MO: p.212), but they act as one and only get one attack that inflicts a chosen saliva on a failed CON save. They have 7 morale together and 2 morale when alone. Outside of combat, they can serve as excellent physicians and maids if you're not squeamish. 

If they like you enough they will offer to brew you healing potions. To make one they need diverse organic materials and a day of downtime. They are selective about who they give their potions to, because in addition to the usual effects the imbiber must save against gaining a random mutation. After saving, roll a d8. If the result of the d8 is equal or lower than the amount of mutations obtained from these potions, the imbiber becomes a child of the Fleshive with all that entails.


What the fuck is a Fleshive? (1d4)

  1. An ever-bubbling pot of the soupborn, these sisters were born in a tribe with a very advanced understanding of the brewing arts. The girls are on an adventure to see the world, and ask for souvenirs and stories in return for their services. Pich is charming enough to rope her sisters into escapades, and can somehow fit in any social setting.

  2. A floating colonial organism, basically a giant sky-bound siphonophore. The girls got separated during a storm and ask for help finding their way back in exchange for their services. Vert took responsibility for this mission. She can predict the weather and hates sky-whales in particular.

  3. A creation of a flesh cult, a living breathing temple. The girls are out on missionary work, and ask for conversions or donations in exchange for their services. The sisters look to Holi for guidance, for she is a well read religious scholar.

  4. Once a dragon now something like a tree, with roots that dig deep into the veins of the earth. The girls are on a diplomatic mission, and will exchange their services for someone who will put a good word in with the local authorities. Mori can burrow as fast as she flies, so she’s the envoys’ pathfinder on top of making sure her sisters brush their teeth regularly.



Discussion:

There is a sensible amount of hyperlinking that can be put into a post, i think I have gone to far.

Elena is an old PC from the August Synod mini-campaign from a while back. She is an utter mess, it was wonderful remembering her.

Ashtray was a character from an abandoned web comic project about a road trip across America in the SCP-verse. This project was going to have 6 main characters. 4 humans each with ties to one of the GOIs, the Wretch and a sentient minivan. Jack was planned to be a Gamer Against Weed, who used to be a part of AWCY?, until he got away. So his deal is sort of like Journey to the West if Xuanzang followed dril instead of the Buddha and Sun Wu Kong had zero redeeming qualities. The project stalled and eventually my intrest into the SCP-verse died. When I heard of Mob Psycho 100, I instantly fell in love with Arataka Reigen, but was also upset that someone wrote the premise of 'fake wizard pretending to be a real wizard' so much better then then I though of it.

Crabcules is a character from a failed shonen webcomic project. He is composed of three 'jokes'. Joke number 1 is a combination of the carcinzation meme with the stock shonen badguy motivation of being obsessed with strength and considering themselves the ultimate being. Joke number 2 is the visual gag that while everyone else is drawn in a cartoony style, Crabcules is rendered as a photorealistic crab. He would still do absurd anime nonsence like flash-steps and what have you, but as a visually utterly un-anthropomorphic crab. Joke number 3 is based on this tumblr post:

Where a weak non-combatant main character says to Crabcules "Yeah you could kill me, but that's not hard. I bet your so weak that you can't build a house." To which Crabcules responds by running off to learn carpentry, and progressively the non-combatant character tricks Crabcules into learning cooking, poetry, non-lethal combat and ballet. This eventually leads Crabcules to gain enlightment which allows him to do that that Jojo scene with the frog, and of course learn the power of friendship.

The illustation for the flesh fairies is uncolored becouse coloring is hard, and thier illustration is already the most difficult one to do. Thier origin will remain undisclosed to the public, if you manage to guess it correctly, you will earn my eternal terror.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Exquisite CΔrpse: Forest Law

 Sorry this post is a little late, I got distracted by things. Shout out to Xenophon of Athens, RandomWizard, semi-IDIOT, deus ex shit, Purplethulu, TheFirstGokun, Spwack, Sundered, Squig, theisticGilthoniel, Filth Pig and Phlox for participating. I have added a lot of connective tissue between these templates to tie them together, but left each delta itself unedited.

Spooky Deer

Δelta: Forest Law

Despite the best efforts of the Church, various heresies, secret societies and mystery cults hide within the cracks of society like weeds. Not all of them need to be rooted out however, many have been absorbed into the Church, or brought to heel or made allies. One such practice is the elven traditions of the Grey-Black Forests, which itself is built upon knots of compromises between it's people, it's trees and the Stag Lords. Thier traditions are strange, on one hand they hold to the virtues of impartial justice and purity, on the other thier lands have a hunting seasons not only for deer but human and elf. When a tiger eats someone in the Grey-Black you do not hunt it down, you bring the beast to court before a Forest Judge. Some Judges are rooted to a single community, others wander. Despite being heretical  it's considered good fortune to meet one, for they are known to carry with them waters of healing and wisdom.

To gain templates from a  rank of Forest Law you must have at least one template from the previous rank. Don't try to cheat this, the Forest can tell. As with many deltas, this list is not exhaustive.

0. Neophyte

To pronounce judgements, one must first prove they are capable of mercy. The conservitive judges may look down upon your initiation if you are neither an elf nor a local, but they can not stop you by the Law.

The Calling: (Xenophon of Athens)
  • Happen upon an injured or ailing wild animal. Treat their condition, and ensure they are healed. You can sense the locations of animals both wild and domestic. 
  • With a gentle mental pull, you can call them to you, and they will come in peace and friendship. You cannot speak with them, but you can exchange emotions non-verbally. If you cause harm to an animal you've called or located, you lose this ability.

1. Acolyte

To pronounce judgement in the Forest, you must understand it. To understand the Forest, you must understand it's waters. Clean and unclean, ill or hale, pure and vile. At this rank you are expected to follow the instruction of your seniors.

The Curing: (RandomWizard)
  • Call to a wild animal stricken with illness, and have them drink clean water from your open hands.
  • With an hour of searching in a wilderness area, you can find medicinal herbs that can cure (or at least slow) any disease. Children and animals in need of such treatment can instinctively sense that you can help them, and will come to you of their own accord.
The Cleansing: (Gorinich)
  • Call to a lost person with stricken with guilt and forgive them for what they have done. 
  • With good clean water and a little quiet you can wash away curses and profane powers. If you can't completely get rid of it, you can at least suppress it.
Take Me Up, Cast Me Away: (deus ex shit)
  • Confront someone in a place they thought was safe. Make them blind and deaf and dumb with a sharp blade. If they didn't deserve this, find another and start again. When they die, find another and start again.
  • When you look into someone's eyes, you can tell if they have seen evil and not confronted it, heard evil and not objected to it, or spoken of evil without condemning it. You learn when and where this happened but not what, specifically, they failed to do. If you remove the offending eye, ear or tongue you may immediately graft it onto someone else to replace a damaged or missing part.

2. Judge

To pronounce judgements, you must have the power to inforce them. There are a number of ways to prove your commitment before the Forest. You are now equal to your seniors, outranked by the Stag Lords, who are outranked by the King of Deer.

Unto The Silent Waters: (semi-IDIOT)
  • Take someone whose sins could not be forgiven by their victim or by two impartial judges of good standing who've heard their testimony. Drown them in the dead of night. Make sure their body is never found. 
  • In dark or murky water you can summon the revenant of the one you drowned to drag down another. If this is judged unjust by higher powers, then you will disappear into the next body of water you touch.
Hands of Glory: (Purplecthulhu)
  • Take the left hand of a thief and the right hand of a murderer, preserve them from rot, and wear them on your person. If you lose the hands, or use the abilities to steal or unjustly kill, you lose these benefits.
  • So long as you have the left hand, mundane locks click open open at your touch, and lights held by you are only visible by those you wish to see it. So long as you have the right hand, you can preternaturally sense illness, injury, and blood.
Blessed Child of Nature: (Spwack)
  • Go out into the wild with nothing at all. Return, well-fed, well-dressed, and well-storied. 
  • If you fought tough-and-nail to accomplish this challenge, then you can arm yourself appropriately, growing your teeth and nails with a thought and shrinking them as you like. If you relied on the benevolence of nature, then you can whistle back to songbirds and have them follow you about, sup with the King of Deer whenever you like, and be politely hunted by tigers.
Dryad's burden: (theisticGilthoniel)
  • offer to swap places with a dryad and have your offer accepted 
  • You now count as a forest creature, a spirit, a tree, and a woman for the purposes of ritual and law. Also there is a particular tree where, if it dies, you die. Burning it down is not generally enough, but a surprising amount of the dryads who swap with mortals were already dying of root rot or something. You can't exit the watershed that the tree is in, lest you die, but you do know that border at all times. Lose this template if you swap back.

3. High Judge

Techically no such rank exists in the Law, but those who rise high are considered first amoung equals. Be careful not to outshine the Stag Lords, who still outrank you in principle.

Clean Hands: (TheFirstGokun)
  • Wear neither foot coverings nor gloves. Do not touch that which is unclean with your bare hands or feet. Eat only from the hands of a devoted attendant, or with long, easily tarnished silverware. If you become dirty or arrogant, you lose these benefits.
  • So long as they are clean, your hands do the work of ten men and women. So long as your feet are clean, you walk, run, and jump with the strength of ten men and women.
Stag’s Salute: (Squig)
  • Bow to a reigning stag of a forest, and be bowed to in turn.
  • When you treat with rulers, be they human or otherwise, you will always be politely greeted. Peasants and smallfolk will typically identify you as nobility. If a crime is committed against you in a forest of a stag who has saluted you, you will be guaranteed a fair trial in their court.
Greedy Arborist: (Filth Pig)
  • Plant a tree in a location you have never seen nor been to
  • Any tree you have planted and the grounds within ten feet of said tree count as part of “your” forest for the purpose of travel, ritual and law.

4. Pariah

Also not a recgonised rank of the judical hiearchy, but the Forest has Laws older then the Antlered King.

Buck Spirit: (Sundered) 
  • Kill the King of Deer. 
  • All wild animals hate and fear you on sight. In addition, when you drink an animal's blood, you gain its most notable features until you drink another animal's blood, or you can turn into that animal for an hour, after which you lose the benefits of the blood you've drank.

5. Anathema

This is a rank is codifed in the Law. Judgement has been pronounced upon you and the verdict is death.

Grown to Purpose: (Phlox)
  • Water five of your trees with the blood of an enemy.
  • Wooden arms and armor crafted from your trees are as effective as +1 steel. When you craft such an item, you can give it a NAME with at least five meaningful words. If you are doing an action that fulfills that NAME, you can temporarily increase the bonus to +5, after which the item shatters forever.

Discusssion:

I may have been a few weeks late with posting this one, but with Exquisite CΔrpse 3 in the works I suddently felt the pressure to finally put up the post for Exquisite CΔrpse 2. Please do not tell me exactly how late I am.

I'm happy I was able to bring this all together into something coherent. Compared to the first one there was a lot less space for things to converge becouse there was only one round, and so it remained a bit all over the place. However I think I managed to bring it all together, the trick for making deltas make sense is specificity. Making Forest Law represent the religious/judical tradition of a specific region really helped bring it together. There are some gaps in abilites you would expect a 'judge' archtype to have, such as understanding of legal codes, however you can qualify for being a Judge by fighting for it tooth and nail to get Blessed Child of Nature, so I think Forest Law is a bit different from city law.

I think despite all the inconsistant quirks of the process a throughline does present itself. To become a judge you must first show that you want to help, then you can serve justice as restoritively or retributively as you feel is correct, but if you want greater power you must break taboos and it may or may not even be worth it.

Another note, according to the doctrine of anti-canon the Stag Lords can be anything from talking deer, to beastmen, to elves who wear antler crowns, but I must insist that the King of Deer is always a huge magical talking deer.




Monday, August 7, 2023

Neither Here Nor There (Class: Elf)

My last post has been around 2 or 3 years ago, those that frequent the secret gathering places of gretchlings will know I never really went away, I just went from a participant to a lurker. Likely becouse I have been playing recently I have had ideas about what to write. I don't want to promise anyone more consistant posting, but I do have a class for you today.

---

They say that when the world was young and magic filled the land, elves worked miracles and wonders. They were tall and beautiful and at harmony with the world. Spells that modern sorcerors and hedge witches would not dream to control played at the fingertips, for spells are kin to elves. That they could with their hands wieve such enchantments, castles of shimmering light, carriages pulled by moths. But this was long ago and untrue.

By some quirk of fate, children are born nowadays with a spark of that elvish art in their souls. Many live their lives being none the wiser to this, aside from a nagging feeling in the back of their head. If only you could be so fortunate. You do not know quite what you are, but they call you an elf, the dwindling rustic folk of dell and cave. The children of the day see you as wild child, a disruption to the proper way of things. The children of the night see as corrupted, a slave that clings to their shackles. They want to seperate what they like about you from what they don't, but it doesn't work like that you are both your halves. So you wander the world, child of the twilight hours, not wild, not domesticated but feral.

Bolotnik

Class: Feral Elf

While this is a racial class, you don't have to take it at first level. If you cavort under the Moon at night and cast aside the trappings of civilization before her, you may discover that you were an elf all along.

Starting Items and Skills: By Kin.


A: Heartspell, Moondancer, Changeling

B: Smile in the Sky, Plump Round Eye


Heartspell:

You are born with a human body, and the soul of a spell. Choose your spell from a GM approved list. You can always cast it unless your touching Cold Iron Cold Iron is simply iron that is cold, not a special type of metal. It can not be removed from you without killing you, and you can cast it with more finesse than a wizard could ever manage. If you become a ghost, wizards can treat your ghost like any other spell, albeit an unusually intelligent one.


When you roll doubles, you forget your human self for 1d4 turns and forcebly lose a random Tether. Your fae self panics, entering a flight or fight response befitting your nature.

When you roll triples you forget your human self for 1d4 days, forcefully losing a random Tether. Your fae self feels itself wither, and seeks escape. You will run, scream, gnaw your own leg, anything to get away from the fading of magic.



If after a double or a triple leaves you completely untetherd, you run wild indefinitely. However, you can be brought back if someone who cares about you Tethers you back. For example, calling your human name, throwing clothes at you, luring you in with Grandma’s soup.

Moondancer:

You have 4 Moon Dice that you can use exclusively to cast your Heartspell, aside from that they are identical to Magic Dice. Your MD returns to you when you frolic for at least an hour under the moonlight.


You lose 1 maximum MD for each Tether that connects you with the Sun’s world. You can increase your maximum MD back by casting aside any amount of these Tethers before the Moon and cavorting for a full night.


Tools: To cast aside tools requires you not to use crafted instruments. Rocks and sticks on the ground are fine, but not sharpened ones.

Shelter: To cast aside shelter requires you don’t wear clothes or rest in buildings. Making a nest of old rags in an abandoned ruin may be fine, at the GM’s discretion.

Language: To cast aside language requires you not read and tune out the words in speech. You can get by fine with non-verbal communication especially with those you know well.

Culture: To cast aside culture requires you to ignore your vocation, social standing and obligations. Hanging around with vagrants is fine.


No matter how many times you come back from the Sun’s world, she always accepts your pledge, that this time you're truly casting it aside. She is always laughing.


Changeling:


You have two selves, your human self and your fae self. Each Heartspell has it’s Kin, which comes with four Gifts and a favored environment. If you pick a spell that doesn't have a known kin, work with your GM to establish it.


Count both Moon Dice and Magic Dice for your total MD. At 0 MD you appear to be entirely human, at 4 you appear to be entirely fae with all that entails. In between you look like some sort of hybrid. Humans and spirits are both generally more comfortable with you at the extremes of the spectrum than the middle, but the extremes are more uncomfortable for you.


Each MD grants you access to the next Gift on the list and makes it easier for you to sense and interact with the world unseen.

At 1 MD you do not need to sleep, as long as you cavort at night.

At 2 MD you see under moon and starlight as during the day, and can cast a cantrip version of your Heartspell. Cold Iron is twice as encumbering for you.

At 3 MD you can live comfortably in your preferred environment without the Sun’s Tethers, both in body and in instinct. Cold Iron hurts like a hot stove. E.G. Not needing warm clothes in the tundra, not needing shade in the desert,being able to hunt food with your hands and teeth alone.

At 4 MD treat your body as lightly armored, your limbs as light weapons and communicate freely with creatures you share a likeness with. Cold Iron deals max damage to you.


You can choose a new Gift if you aquire more then 4 MD, adding it to the end of the ordered list, but each midnight you meet with 5+ MD you must save or forget your human self for a day.


Smile In the Sky:

Fools think that the Moon is most powerful when it’s full, the wise know that this is not true. The Moon goes dark because her light descends down into the earth, sinking into the ground, onto our tongues, beneath our fingernails. 


When a crescent hangs in the sky, you have Gifts equal to your Maximum Moon Dice if it’s higher then your current MD. On the New Moon you have all your gifts regardless of your Tethers, like it or not.

Plump Round Eye:

As the Moon waxes she collects back the light that has been soaking in the soil. With all this light she churns the world, and bids it dance.


When a gibbous hangs in the sky, you can cast aside your Tethers within a moment's notice. If you break something valuable, like a magic item or someone's faith in you immiditaly restore an MD. During the Full Moon all your Moon Dice fly back to the Moon, leaving you restless and entirely human for the night.

Kins:

Bolotnik

Lanky and sinewy things, stalking between willows on padded feet, long limbs keep it above the water. You might catch a glimpse of one in the mist, as it calls out to you with a mellow voice. Do not dare approach, do not run away, it’s aim is to lead you astray, to turn you around and around in the fog. Stick to the road, make note of landmarks, and count your steps.


Heartspell:

Fog

R: 30’ T: self D: [dice] hours

You breath out a bunch of fog. Everything up to 30' away from you is obscured.

Sunlight, wind, or heat dissipates the fog in 10 minutes. If you cast this spell with

3 or more [dice], other casters lose 1 MD while they remain in the fog.


Starting Equipment: Water-resistant clothes, simple knife, a ration of preserved fish

Starting Skill (1d3): Trapper, Fisherman, Distiller

Favored Environment: Foggy forests, steamy swamps, and misty marshes


First Gift: Pointed ears, and webbed toes. You have perfect vision in mist and fog, regardless of light. You can imprecisely mimic the voices anyone you’ve recently heard.


Second Gift: Your limbs are longer, you have a short tail, if not clearly visible can selectively decide who hears your voice. When you sing in your Fog, you can control the movement of anyone going to or away from your voice. After [sum] minutes of following/escaping your voice, they understand the trick and won’t fall for it again. Time flows strangly in there, it will feel like [sum] days have passed.


Third Gift: Your hands and feet are padded, your teeth grow sharper, and your tail grows longer. Your footsteps are quiet, and completely silent when on all fours. Your bite counts as a medium weapon, and your stomach prefers raw meat and doesn't tolerate cooked food. Direct sunlight gives you a point of fatigue.


Fourth Gift: Your skin is gray like mist. When not directly observed in your Fog, you could be anywhere in it. By casting Fog directly into someone’s ear you can make them forget the last 10 minutes, but only if they fail a save and have [dice]x4 or less HD.


Gluntie Queyne

Gangling, bristly and ungainly fairy women. Horse-faced and haggard and possessed of an abrasive angularity of demeanour. The Glunties dwell apart in realms of fearful loneliness as their capacity to strike men dead with elf-shot makes them formidable and hated and their tendency to imbibe inebriants immoderately makes them unpredictable.


Heartspell:

Magic Missile

R: 200' T: creature D: 0 

Target takes [sum] + [dice] damage, no Save.


Starting Equipment: Traveler’s clothes, hunting bow, and a ration of jerky

Starting Skill (1d3): Banditry, Town Drunk, Shepard

Favored Environment: Wind-swept prairies, fields and steppes


First Gift: Pointed ears and large teeth. You can use vaguely similar detritus in place of ammunition for normal damage, like sticks instead of arrows or peas instead of bullets. Ranged weapons loaded this way do not Tether you to Tools.


Second Gift: Coarsely hairy arms, and long face. When casting Magic Missile, you can split the damage into as many distinct projectiles  as you want, as long as each missile deals at least 1 point of damage.


Third Gift: Your legs are hooved, and your bow-pulling arm has only two fingers. You can move like mounted cavalry, shoot like a horse archer, and can run through grass at full tilt without disturbing the grass. Your stomach is suited to digest raw meat and grass, but not cooked food.


Fourth Gift: Single cyclopean eye. Your Magic Missiles are invisible, silent and deal internal injuries. They are experienced as sudden bouts of localized pain, and can be non lethal if you so wish. 


Gremling

Diminutive borrowers of toys and intricate things, petty breakers of tools left too long in forgotten drawers. Spirits of the unfinished task, cut short by the bent nail or the wrong screwdriver. Mischief achieved they make amends by mending what they had broken, and sometimes more besides. Many a broken marriage has been mended by the ministrations of a Gremling, forecasted by unexpected annoyance and woe.


Heartspell:

Mending

Range: touch; Target: object; Duration: instant

Repair a shattered item. You need 1/(sum) of the item. Can't Mend different pieces of the item into multiple copies. Doesn't restore lost magical properties.


Starting Equipment: Commoner’s clothes, a whittling knife or other clever tool, a ration of stale cookies

Starting Skill (1d3): Housework, Animal Husbandry, Gossip

Favored Environment: Dusty attics, old workshops, and cool dry caves


First Gift: Pointed ears and squinty eyes like a rat. Tools do not Tether you if used to fix things for someone else, and know the Tinker skill intuitively. Objects you mend will tell you their stories. Objects remember and care for only the narrow topic of things related to their function, but they remember people who take good care of them.


Second Gift: You're a head shorter than most people. You constantly unconsciously touch things around you with your quick clever hands, fingers lingering against cracks and faults and points of wear. Your fingers are covered with light brown fur; You can reverse Mending into Break, causing the object to take [sum] damage, but the damage is only revealed the next time someone interacts with it.


Third Gift: You're the size of a doll, and pass for one when still. Despite this you have as much inventory space as in your human form, in a pouch on your belly. If you have any shred of cover, then you are considered to have full cover, allowing you to hide behind cups and cracks between furnature.


Fourth Gift: Your whole body is covered in soft brown fur, and you don’t seem to have distinct internal organs, like a plush toy. You can use Mending with 4 [dice] to restore the magical properties of things, but it leaves you very very hungry for something very very specific. You can’t cast or think straight until you satisfy a peculiar craving slected by the GM.



Moon-Gander

Alabaster skin, cloven hooves, eyes the size of dinner plates. Always first to meet her to meet her smile with their own. Some say they are her favorite, but they only claim that she is theirs. They look gentle, and even kind, but be weary! For it is they who rouse the other kin to prance under the moonlight, for it is they who take away children and make fairies out of them. 


Heartspell:

Moonlust

R: 50' T: creature D: varies

Target creature loves the moon. They want to stare at it, jump up and hold it, or

write poems about it. If [sum] is equal to or greater than the target's HD, they are

stunned for 1d6 rounds. If [sum] is greater than 12, the target is stunned for 2d6

rounds and becomes permanently obsessed with the moon.


Starting Equipment: Bedazzled Clothes, gnarled walking stick, a ration of hard cheese

Staring Skill (1d3): Dancer, Astronomer, Prophet

Favored Environment: Clear and barren places, where neither trees nor clouds occlude the Moon


First Gift: Pointed ears, pupils that fill most of the eye. If you are lost under the open night sky, you will always find a safe place to rest and make anyone who should have ambushed you just as surprised to see you. Language does not Tether you if you're saying good things about the Moon.


Second Gift: Little nubby horns, pale skin. People under the effect of Moonlust will attack anyone perceived as disrespecting the Moon. If [sum] is greater than 6 you can choose to reach your magic down your target’s throat and ‘pluck’ a nerve, they can save to negate. This causes werewolves to turn, elves to suffer the same reaction as rolling a double on casting their Heartspell, and anyone else to do something reckless and wild. At the GM's leasure or a player's wish, a character previously unknown to be an elf may gain a template in Feral Elf this way.


Third Gift: Cloven hooves, deathly pale skin. Food is replaced for you by the Moon, you only need regular access to the night sky to sustain yourself. You can float up to a foot above the ground instead of walking, and no matter how lost you are, you will find a way to your destination eventually.


Fourth Gift: Great big horns, eyes the size of dinner plates. You can choose to have your Moonlust target anyone who hears your voice, but they save against the ‘pluck’ with advantage. You can't choose not to 'pluck' if you can.


Discussion:

First of all, aside from Mending, the spells in this post were sourced from the ever reliable Skerples. Second, this class riffs heavily on Ten Foot Polemic's and Middenmurk's Fallen Elves idea. My interpretion of the concept in large part differs becouse I didn't originally set off to adapt it into the GLOG.

On a whim I decided to stat up a cast of characters which has been bouncing around in my head using GLOG classes. Two of them could be faithfully rolled up with existing ones but not the third. The Fallen Elves fit the facts already established for my third character, so I wrote a class to cover both. This ended up both heavily impacting how I wrote the class, and filled in a lot of the gaps in the character's backstory.

In the past I would go over all the choices I made, but this time I'm going to forgo that hoping to generate more discussion in comments and the various discord channels. I will however explicitly spell out the implied Gift progression for anyone who wants to write their own Kin.
  • The first gifts all consist of some combination of a special elfy extra-sense, an exception to Tethers, and/or a nifty trick.
  • The second gifts expands on the use of the Heartspell in some way. 
  • Third gifts are when elves become wild enough to live without civilisation, so this is the point where they get the bonuses and drawbacks that enable them to do so.
  • Fourth gifts are another expansion on the Heartspell, as well as well as rounding off the physical transformation.
Eventually I will get around to a write up of each Kin in the Elfin Spellery. I wrote the Bolotnik to represent the previously mentioned character, and the Moon-Gander becouse I think Moonlust deserves to have an elf.

On theme in this class that it feels irresponsible for me not to address is how it relates to disability. The Fallen Elves are directly based changelings, an idea that is in part the result the medieval people trying to explain disabilities. This however isn't new ground, the problomatic elements I introduced lies in how I wrote this class to have the trade off of behaving as if you were disabled in exchange for magical power. I think this is a intresting narrative and gameplay space, but it's shaky ground to tread on and just becouse I'm neurodivergent doesn't mean I can't unintentionally propogate harmful ideas. Unlike various druid classes where you are a guy who's deciding to be an anarcho-primitivist, being an elf is something you are born with, which changes the implications segnificantly.

Finally, yes this post's drawing is that of my Bolotnik blorbo.