Owen K.C. Stephens's Blog, page 58

Role Relics, Pt. 1

I’ve just been thinking about what magic items designed to encourage specific roles or playstyles (perhaps given to children who enter a fantasy world on a roller coaster and each are given a single relic to help them out) might look like.

Two came to mind immediately. I’m vague on details like cost and such, because these are designed to be character-defining relics that stand outside normal rules. And these should work for most d20-evolved RPGs.

[image error](Art by Андрей Трубицын)

Shield of Tanking

While you have this shield equipped, any foe that can see you and has line of effect to you, but has not attacked you in this combat or forced you to make a saving throw, takes a -2 penalty to attacks and against anyone else and the save DC of effects against others is reduced by 2. The first time a foe attacks you, if they do damage, you take half damage. If a foe’s first attack against you also attacks other targets or forces them to make saving throws, the foe does not take the shield of tanking’s penalties against those targets.

Staff of Acrobatics

Any round in which you make no attack rolls and do not force anyone to make a saving throw, you roll twice and take the better result on all Strength- and Dexterity-based skills based on movement or maneuvering (such as Acrobatics, Athletics, Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Swim, and so on), and gain a +4 bonus to your AC and all saving throws. If you fail such a check, and it was to get you to some location you could have arrived at through flight, the check is treated as a success, but your turn ends.

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Tales of the Intrepideurs’ Guild, Pt 2

So as I noted a little over a week ago, I am starting a Fantasy AGE campaign, specifically designed to help me have a place to try things out as the Fantasy AGE developer for Green Ronin Publishing. This will be the “Tales of the Intrepideur’s Guild,” and have as a framing device that the PCs are entry-level professional adventurers belonging to the aforementioned guild, and doing jobs it sanctions.

I explained a bit about why such a guild would exist in the imaginary game world of Fage I am creating for this campaign. Now I want to delve a bit into the guild itself.

For this article, we’ll discuss the guild’s place in the world of Fage.

The Intrepideur’s Guild is one of the major “Slate League” freelance unions (an unofficial designation that comes from only the most successful such groups able to afford slate tile roofs for all their guildhalls). It among the oldest still-active freelancer unions, third only to the Ratcatcher Society and the Right and Honorable Order of Dragonslayers, both of which are a good deal smaller and not considered Slate League institutions (though the Dragonslayers were, at one time). It is also among the most trusted (along with the Lady’s Sewing Circle and Heroic Alliance) most widespread (challenged in that regard only by the Council of Warlocks and Alchemists’ Consociation), and most successful (consistently placing in the top three best mission-clearance rates, often with the Court of Justiciars and Council of Warlocks, though it worth noting the Lady’s Sewing Circle refuses to discuss their clearance rate, or who their clients are).

Nearly every major city has a Intrepideur’s Guildhall, along with many towns, trading posts, and crossroads. Outside of emergency or disaster relief, only members of the guild in good standing can stay at a Guildhall, and they can do so extremely cheaply—though anyone staying for more than a few weeks without taking on some missions (officially called “Quests”) will get relocated to another Guildhall if members who are on quests need the room.

Because the guild will only accept and sanction quests from individuals or groups that agree to a set or rules regarding the treatment of its members, most city-states and townships have formal treaties with the it. these treaties insure that the guild will have a guildhall at a set rate or tax, that income from performing quests is not taxed, and that guild members are treated fairly and legally always have the right to demand to see an Intrepideur’s Guild representative before being taken to trial or having any criminal punishment carried out.

In many ways, the Intrepideur’s Guild is a government itself, run by a Guildroyal (currently Guildmistress Akachi), overseen by a Council of Senior Hallkeepers, and able to negotiate with the most powerful city-states on near-equal footing. Of course the Intrepideur’s Guild lacks a standing army, and city-states can gather in alliances… but since the guild also shows no sign of wanting to impose its will on anything beyond how its own people are treated, most governments consider the benefit of access to its quest-boards more than worth the cost of agreeing to its terms.

After all, sometimes you need a high-level Intrepideur.

[image error](Art by Jesse-lee Lang)

So, how does the guild decide what Quests to take? How do you join? What’s in it for the Intrepideurs?

Well get to that stuff in time!

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OGL Warlock for Starfinder Part 8: Archetypes and NPCs

Unlike a lot of other d20 games, the Starfinder Roleplaying game needs special rules to apply archetypes to PCs of any class, and to create NPCs for that class. So even if you have all the stand-alone class rules, you haven’t really “finished” a class until you have these.

So, here are the last rules you need to fully integrate warlocks into any Starfinder Roleplaying Game campaign you might have (such as the Really Wild West!).

(Really Wild West Lashunta Celestial Warlock by Jacob Blackmon)

Warlocks with Archetypes.

As with any Starfinder Roleplaying Game class, a warlock that takes an archetype has some of its class features altered or replaced, as noted below.

Altered or Replaced Warlock Class Features

For any level at which an archetype provides an alternate class feature, a warlock who takes the archetype alters or replaces the listed class features.

2nd, 9th: You do not gain an invocation.

4th: You do not gain your pact boon until 5th level. At 5th level you gain a pact boon rather than an invocation.

6th, 12th, 18th: You do not gain a patron gift.

(Really Wild West Tiefling Fiendish Warlock by Jacob Blackmon)

Warlock Class Graft

If you wish to make a warlock NPC, you can use the following class graft along with the standard rules for doing so found in the Starfinder Alien Archive.

Special Rules – Patron: Select a patron and give the warlock the associated eldritch blast and eldritch power. The eldritch blast should do damage appropriate for the NPC’s CR.

Special Rules – Spells: All spells must be selected from the mystic or witchwarper spell list. If the warlock is CR 10 or higher, reduce the level of all its available spells in each encounter by one spell level.

Required Array: Spellcaster.

Adjustments: +2 to Reflex saving throws.

Skills: Master Bluff, Intimidate, and Culture or Perception.

Ability Score Modifiers: Highest bonus goes to Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom, then Dexterity and Constitution.

Gear: Light or heavy armor (item level = CR), small arm (item level = CR), and basic melee weapon (item level = CR – 1).

ABILITIES BY CR

CR           Abilities

1              Patron and one special ability.
2              Patron, one invocation, and one special ability.
4              Patron, pact boon, one invocation, and one special ability.
9              Patron, pact boon, one invocation, one patron gift, and one special ability.
12           Patron, pact boon, two invocations, one patron gift, and one special ability.
15           Patron, pact boon, two invocations, two patron gift, and one special ability.
20           Patron, pact boon, eldritch mastery, two invocations, two patron gift, and one special ability.

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Worldbuilding Through Language, Part 1

The online Merriam-Webster dictionary has a “Time Traveler” function, which allows you to see what words first saw print in a given year.

Which means if you have a campaign set in a real-world year, you can create a list of words that were first used in print that year. This becomes a list of the cutting edge of new discussions in various fields. If ‘antibiotic’ is first used as a word in 1891, and that’s the year of your campaign, that tells you something about the state of medicine and awareness of it as a concept. It also means you may want to look at the history of the word and see how it was being used. (Antibiotics, for example, were being explored as a concept in 1891, not yet available).

As an example of what I mean, here is a list of words first used in English in print in 1891, the year of my Really Wild West campaign.

[image error](Art by Digital Storm)

addictive

antibiotic

anti-gang

antimicrobial

appendectomy

atmospherics

AWOL

balloon tire

batting cage

bipartisan

bodywash

collective bargaining

compass rose

diving board

domestic violence

electromagnetic radiation

electron

exhibitionism

eyedropper

fair catch

fair market value

fellatio

fine print

fingerprinting

flea market

frenemy

handheld

house detective

leatherneck

legwork

motion picture

multimillion

mystique

nationwide

neuron

prosciutto

reinforced concrete

secondhand smoke

seismogram

skeletonizer

slot machine

stinking smut

supersecret

supraliminal

synesthesia

table tennis

tabloid

Tasmanian tiger

tattersall

time card

torpedo tube

trade in

transpacific

traveler’s check

tuberculous

ultrarich

vaccination

wasabi

water cannon

wiretapper

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Really Wild West “Doomstone” Campaign — After-Action Report (Game Session 4)

Since people still seem to be enjoying after-action reports of my Really Wild West: Doomstone campaign, here’s a write-up adapted from notes taken by my wife Lj (who is playing the fenrin operative bounty hunter named “Sawyer”) as a quick report for Session Four!

You can find Session One here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Two here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Three here.

If you don’t recognize a reference, it may (or may not) be in a previous session, or at the updated campaign notes page.

Day 12

Heroes spy on the enemy encampments on Neblin’s Ridge. There is a camp at a mine entrance at the base of the mesa, and on top an outpost with a tower and a wind sock, and a couple of miles away a telegraph hut with a wire trailing off to the East. There are multiple species present among the gang running the camps, including seprent-folk.Using ask the wind their name , PCs determine the following:A Large serpentfolk (with a snake lower body) wearing onyx armor is Aakath-ka (naga form). He is a Monstrous humanoid, venomous, spell casterThe human who seems to be a foreman is – Boston Bob (bowler hat)No special powers, has a price on his head ($200)Busted during the war for smuggling refugees out of cities on military trains for moneyThe PCs form the following planThe human mechanic makes a timed cutter box to go off an hour before dawn, to be placed on the telegraph wiresHuman soldier watches the camp for the dayFenrin operative flies around to check the telegraph (using DaVinci wings), plants the cutter, looks for a way up, and checks the outpostCentaur paladin keeps our camp safe, secure, and secretWhen the cutter goes off, we immediately attack the outpost up on the mesaThen, we attack the camp at the mineshaft at the base of the mesa within the hourReconThe fenrin operative finds a switchback good when it’s dry – will take 3 hours to get from there to the outpostSet the cutter on a particularly difficult place to repair on the wireSpot 3-4 criminals in the outpost watching the Western skies (the direction of the Circle Axe) – packing pistolsThere is a manticore nest next to the house and a platformed tower with a crane and a windsock. Think this may be Gaotma‘s base of operations, and his minions don’t know he’s dead yet–just late.The human soldier spends a day observing and notesSverfeblin come out of the mine, escourted by some humans and a snakefolk, and pulling a sledge. One of the sverfneblin appears to be in charge of them – has questions for Boston Bob, isn;t happy with the answersSome kind of strange questioning going on – sverfneblin taken to a blackout tend and peered at from outside (are the gang member checking the deep gnomes for some radiation glow?)There is an underground storage, with a trap door in the camp, and boxes from the sled (which seem to be very heavy) are lowered into it.The rowdies who came out of the mine undergo some kind of procedure in a tent that takes 30 minutesThey come out rubbing their faces and somewhat cleanerDifferent rowdies escort the sverfneblin back into the mine.

Day 13

The attack on the Outpost on top of the mesa takes too long and is too noisy, because half the player’s skill and attack rolls were 1 or 2. Even so, manage to defeat all the rowdies, including one dressed in red who apparently could cast spells, but only when accessing his own blood.

LOOT: Sawed off shotgun; 3 bowie knives; cultist wavy dagger; emblem (of a twisted barbed wire, held by pliers, blood drops coming off the barbs, similar in style to the poison emblems fund earlier); $50; piece of paper from a writing desk

Soldier/mystic talks to the dead. One says: “Dark days are coming, mortals will not survive, ascension is the only option”

The letter was as folows:

Dathaca,

I understand your doubts and concerns, but I assure you this venture is worth the risk. Allow me to address your concerns individually.

The Daemon Darklings are mortals best route to gain the powers needed to protect ourselves against the outer powers. Of the Six Dread Fates that have proven able to empower a Darkling, Venom seems most within my reach now that I have accessed the alchemical process of the Aresian War Clouds. That will not be enough, of course. I’ll need a Genus Foci, a Concept of Thought, to draw the lingering spirit of the Comte de Adalgiso back to the Material Plane.

The cost of such an operation will not be insignificant. But with the promise of unlocking the ability of Ascension, and the Theosophic formula to prove it possible? I believe I will be able to procure the needed patrons.

What I lack is the martial backing to ensure our patrons remain our allies rather than our masters. With backers from the Material world, I could perhaps just hire the needed defenders. But against the Scale of Aakath, I have no doubt more… experienced warriors will be needed to protect our interests. My belief is that your contacts, especially Gaotema and his band, will allow us to deal on equal footing.

And yes, old friend, there will be money in it well before we make our fel godlings. I have already received interest from numerous individuals of means, and am sure

This letter was handed to players as a prop, crumpled and stained. Also a few letters had a tiny drop of gold ink in them. The players noticed, and wrote out the gold-flecked letters to discover the spelled )-B-E-Y. With this information, they release the letter had a secret magic message OBEY that compelled the addressee.

Then, the PCs attacked the camp in front of the mine shaft at the base of the mesa.

And discover the Chimera Kid is there, even though they never noticed him in their recon.

[image error](The Chimera Kid, Art by Jacob Blackmon)



The human solider opens by tossing sticks of dynamite into the tent area, taking out number ruffians.Akatha-ka casts spellsAnother red-clad cultists that uses blood magic, but has a neat wire on his wrist he can pull to just shed 1 drop of blood for each spell.The Chimera Kid engages the Centaur Paladin, with ram’s head hammer, poison pistol, and fire pistol. He severely damages her, and she him, but then he flies away to engage other targets with his own DaVinci wings, and he drops.Akatha-ka targets the fenrin operative with a psychic thrust attack – hateThe operative fenrin focuses on Akatha-ka with her awareness – she is able to see through his blurThe human mechanic and her dron Pinion use two sticks of dynomite to take out ruffians in a rifle position, then hold a spot in the middle of the camp for the rest of the conflict. She is poisoned by the Chimera Kid’s pistol as he flies by, though the centaur paladin’s lay on hands later fixes that.The centaur paladin turns out Akatha-ka with her smite… and he is of the dragon type. He has significant DR, but the smite ignores it, and the centaur paladin takes him out, then takes out Boston Bob.The human solider, rifle in hand, manages to take out the flying Chimera Kid

Aftermath:

There is an irradiated mutant plant behind a bulwarkIt was growing out of Sverfeblin skullDug it up from a gravePCs wonder why did the gang kept it? But decide to destroy it and the skull) with fire.The soldier/mystic uses Grave Words on many of the bodies. The Chimera Kid’s corpse says – “You can’t confuse other worlds with other planes or you’re gonna have a bad time”Within the storage under the trap door are twelve ammo boxes – all hooked together like it’s gonna be lifted all at onceThey are all locked – no keys on any of these bodiesThe human mechanic picks one openInside are lumps of unrefined green iron ore – it glows. And gets on her skin through her gloves. She has to clean her hands thoroughly to stop having glowing specks.

LOOT: Six miner hats (butane lights on them)

The PCs choose to pause here, recuperate, then go into the mine itself.

XPs: 2400

Bringing the PCs to 14,400 (15,000 to 6th)

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OGL Warlock for Starfinder Part 8: Eldritch Mastery and Index

At long last, below is the 20th level class feature, Eldritch Mastery. With this article, we have a complete Starfinder Roleplaying Game version of the OGL warlock from 5e.

Here’s the index of where to find elements of the class:

Class table and proficiencies
Spell access and spell slots
The Fiendish patron
Fiendish patron gifts
Invocations
Pact Boons — Pact of Armor and Pact of the VEssek more pact boons here.
— Pact of Alteration and Pact of Change

[image error](Art by Jesse-Lang Lee)

Eldritch Master
At 20th level, you gain the ability to cast spells as a mystic, technomancer, or witchwarper (your choice) of 13th level (gaining spells known and spells per day as a 13th level character of the selected class, with a caster level of 13 for these spells). Once this choice is made, it cannot be changed. You cannot cast any spell that requires you to have a class feature you lack.

Additionally, you can select any one patron gift from any patron that does not list a level requirement, or any patron gift from your own patron.

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OGL Warlock for Starfinder Part 7: More Pact Boons

We’re close to wrapping up one complete build for our OGL warlock for Starfinder. We’ve done the class table and proficiencies, spell access and spell slots, the Fiendish patron, its patron gifts, a set of invocations, and the first two pact boons. We offer up two more pact boons here.

[image error](Art by Grandeduc)

Pact of Alteration (Su): Your physical self is mutated and augmented by bits of technology, magic, and even undead matter over time. Select one of more a biotech, cybernetic, magitech, or necrograft augmentations, which have a total item level no greater than your warlock level. You gain these augmentations, and they do not count against the total number of augmentations you have in any given system. The augmentations are obvious and have a dramatic appearance, similar to what happens to weapons when a weapon fusion is added. This appearance is determined by the player, but should tie into the theme of the warlock’s patron. Once set, this appearance does not change until you next gain a warlock level.

If any augmentation uses charges, rounds, shells, darts, or petrol, those are refilled each time you recuperate*. Any such ammo removed from an upgrade fade away and cannot be used for any other purpose.

You can chance your augmentations each time you gain a warlock level, each time picking augmentation of the listed types with a combined item level no greater than your warlock level.

[image error](Art by chainat)

Pact of Change (Sp): You have gained the power to alter your form. You can cast polymorph on yourself as a spell-like ability. The polymorph spell has a spell-level equal to 1/3 your warlock level 9maximum 6th). When not in combat, the spell loses one minute of duration for every 10 minutes of time that elapses. Beginning at 5th level, you may have one form per warlock level, rather than the spell’s normal limit of 4 forms, but all must be designed between game sessions, and you must regain your daily abilities before you can gain a new form. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again until after you recuperate*.

*Recuperate is my proposed game term to represent when a character spends 1 Resolve Point to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

Tomorrow we’ll define eldritch mastery, and then we’ll be done!

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OGL Warlock for Starfinder Part 6: Pact Boons

We’ve gotten through most of our OGL warlock for Starfinder, with the class table and proficiencies, spell access and spell slots, the Fiendish patron. its patron gifts, and a set of invocations.

Let’s move on to Pact Boons.

Pact Boon
You gain a pact boon at 4th level. Your pact boon is a special link between you and a creature or object that is granted to you by your patron. In most cases any patron can grant any pact boon–the nature of the pact boon says more about the warlock than the patron. Once you select a pact boon, this choice cannot be changed.

Pact boons are obviously the kind of thing we could expand endlessly, but let’s start with two very different kinds of pact boons, which build two very different kind of warlocks. Then we can do two more, tomorrow.

[image error](Art by thanawong)

Pact of Armor (Su): Your patron empowers you to infuse some of its power into your armor. Select one suit of heavy or powered armor with an item level no greater than your warlock level. When wearing light armor, as a standard action you can cause it to gains all the game values of the selected heavy or powered armor. If the light armor’s bonus to EAC or KC is greater than the selected heavy or powered armor, you retain the light armor’s armor bonus. this effect ends when you stop wearing the armor, or you can end it as a move action.

The armor takes on a dramatic appearance, similar to what happens to weapons when a weapon fusion is added. This appearance is determined by the player, but should tie into the theme of the warlock’s patron. Once set, this appearance does not change until you next gain a warlock level.

When active, the pact of armor also adds one armor upgrade that does not count against the armor’s normal upgrade slots. This must have an item level at least 3 levels below your warlock level, and once decided you cannot change it until you gain a new warlock level.

If the heavy or powered armor, or the armor upgrade, uses charges or petrol, those charges or petrol are refilled each time you recuperate*. Charges or petrol removed from the armor or upgrade fade away and cannot be used for any other purpose.

Each time you gain a warlock level, you can change what heavy or powered armor this ability emulates.

[image error](Art by Grandfaulure)

Pact of the Vessel (Sp): You can summon a vehicle formed from planar energy aligned with your patron. Select one vehicle with an item level no greater than one less than your warlock level. You can summon or dismiss this vehicle as a full action. It cannot be summoned in an area it cannot travel in, that does not have space for it, or that would damage a creature or object. Except as noted this acts as a summon creature spell with a spell level equal to 1/3 your warlock level.

The vehicle has a dramatic appearance, similar to what happens to weapons when a weapon fusion is added. This appearance is determined by the player, but should tie into the theme of the warlock’s patron. Once set, this appearance does not change until you next gain a warlock level.

The vehicle can drive itself as you direct without any effort on your part, and is considered to have a Pilot check equal to your warlock level + your key ability modifier. If the vehicle uses charges or petrol, those charges or petrol are refilled each time you recuperate*. Charges or petrol removed from the vehicle fade away and cannot be used for any other purpose.

Any damage or changes made to the vehicle last until you next regain your daily abilities and then, even if it was totally destroyed, it is restored to its normal state. Each time you gain a warlock level, you can change what vehicle you can summon with this pact.

*Recuperate is my proposed game term to represent when a character spends 1 Resolve Point to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

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Tales of the Intrepideurs’ Guild, Pt 1

It should come as no shock that, as Green Ronin’s developer for the Fantasy AGE RPG, I want to run a Fantasy AGE campaign. Running (and playing) the games I write and develop for is an important part of being connected to the material as-played for me when I can arrange it, and it helps me build and maintain system mastery.

I have been *meaning* to start a Fantasy Age game for months, but (waves hands at… everything).

However, since I’m only going to be able to run a single campaign at the moment, I want to set up its framework to maximize its benefits to me. That means organizing it so I can run no matter how many of my players can show up, maximizing the amount of time the campaign focuses on game mechanics, and having a framework lose enough I can experiment with and playtest new material without having to spend a lot of effort working it into the game.

My players are, of course, aware that these are goals of mine. I’m currently only able to play in-person with the very small group in my social bubble, all of whom are folks I’ve been playing RPGs with for 20 years or more, so that’s not an issue.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want ANY framing device for the campaign. I just want one with a great deal of flexibility and a focus on small, variable groups going and doing dangerous or difficult things.

And for this game, that’s going to come in the form of the Intrepideurs’ Guild. Which immediately leads to the question, what the heck is an Intrepideur?

[image error](Art by Luca Oleastri)

The word is a portmanteau of Intrepid and Entrepreneur that I am intentionally creating for its slightly cheesy flavor. It will, in-world, be used the way “adventurer” might be in a lot of fantasy game settings. Within the context of the fictional world I am creating, an Intrepideur is someone who makes a career out of being brave and bold, and facing things most people don’t want to.

So in our fictional world (which, for the moment, I am naming Fage), its considered normal to have your day-job be facing dangerous things to make money. In many cases, someone will pay you to do this, because the dangerous things make their lives difficult. In other cases, a group might decide to seek out and face a danger because they think there’s money to be made in doing so. Folks of Fage treat Intrepideurs the way our current world treats first responders, extreme sports athletes and mountain climbers, and entrepreneurs. It’s not for everyone and it’s a bit off the norm, but in general it’s seen as a reasonable choice for people drawn to such work.

Now some of this work is pretty intermittent stuff — if bandits have taken to preying on a road between countries, you can hire Intrepideurs to guard you as you travel it or even to clear off the bandits entirely. Need someone to hunt down and stop an arsonist? Protect your sheep from wolves? Hunt down giant crabs suddenly tearing up fishing nets? Gather the prophetic and altering spice Mordant from the Shifting Desert? Intripdeurs are your best bet.

But there are also some things that happen at least as often as severe weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires, and that really do call for a society to maintain an entire class of people trained to deal with them. Here are some common sources of ongoing Intrepideur work.

Bone Stars — It’s well known that the night sky is the inside of the skull of the giant that was slain by the First Gods to make the world (though there is significant disagreement on which giant, and which gods). Sometimes, the long-dead giant forms a wicked thought in its skull, which flakes off a bit of the bone from the skull and plummets to Fage in a bolt of colored fire. Bone Stars can be seen for days before landing, and are often signs of misfortune or the death of a ruler.

But they also often have actual… things… on them. Screaming, mobile fungi that consume all they come across. Metal spiders that build webs of crystal that drink sunlight. Evil, psychic rats. And whatever it is? It does not belong on Fage. it does not seek balance with its environment. The things from Bone Stars was plagues on the land that, if not dealt with, can eventually scrub whole kingdoms clean of life.

And if one of those Bone Stars lands near your town? You want some Intrepideurs to show up and take care of it. Quick, while it’s small.

[image error](Art by Dominick)

Catacairns — There have been waves of evil spirits, demigods, and demons that have attacked the World of Fage in the past, sometimes swarming over entire continents. When those things are defeated, it turns out they mostly can’t be “killed” in the mortal sense of the word. But they can be placed within massive underground tomb complexes, which are filled with puzzles and traps and hazards to keep the spirits from ever finding their way to their physical remains, or out into the world. these tomb-prison complexes are known as Catacairns. Some are centuries old, built by fallen empires or lone genius/hermit mages, marked by weird mehirs and monuments.

Mostly, they are pretty stable prisons. Mostly.

But sometimes some energy leaks out of an abandoned Catacairn into the nearby wilderness or town and… CHANGES things. That usually mean a seal or lock has cracked, and SOMEONE has to both deal with the twisted “cairnite” abominations it creates, and go fix the thing. And sometimes cultists or power-mad idiots crack into a catacairn intentionally, to siphon such power, or even release what is within in hopes of being rewarded with vast power. Sometimes the outer locks and traps fail after centuries of disuse, and minor spirits even escape outward, and have to be put down and trapped again.

And sometimes? Sometimes the worst things, at the lowest levels, wake up and start to tear down their whole prison, block by block.

[image error](Art by info@nextmars)

Prismatic Mountains — There are multiple ranges of Prismatic Mountains throughout the World of Fage, and they… shift. Not all the time, but always during the winter. A pass found one year is likely useless by the next. Residents, animals, monsters, even weather shifts from year to year. And Prismatic Mountains are almost always right where you want to take caravans of trade goods through.

So, every year, there’s a huge demand for Intrepideurs to go into the nearest Prismatic Mountain range, and map what they can, learn what they can and, if possible, find a route through. With trade routes cut off nearly all winter, the first group who can prove they can get a caravan through can command steep prices of their route, and some small traders will risk heading into the mountains before a pass is established, with many escorts, hoping to be the first to reach the trade routes on the far side so they can charge premium prices for their wares.

Finding a new route can make Intrepideurs reputation. Finding the FIRT route through in a given year also makes them temporary celebrities.

So there’s the campaign basic set-up. Players will be members of an Intrepideurs’ Guild, starting as Tin-ranked members, hoping to work their way up to Copper, Silver, Gold, and Mithral ranks. They get jobs dealing with problems, each one designed to be a single night of gaming. If a player isn’t free a given night, their Intrepideur can’t make it for the mission that time. Weird things and dangers are built into the campaign setting, so I can test things out and, if they don’t work, discard them never to be mentioned again.

Given the popularity of the Really Wild West session recaps, I may recap my Tales of the Intrepideurs’ Guild game sessions as well. And if there’s interest, I can go into more details on how the Guild is set up to speed play along.

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OGL Warlock for Starfinder Part 5: Invocations

We’ve gotten through most of our OGL warlock for Starfinder, with the class table and proficiencies, spell access and spell slots, the Fiendish patron. and its patron gifts.

It’s time for invocations.

While I could adapt a bunch of hexes from Starfarer’s Codex: Legacy Witch Class (and I may well do that in the future…) but for now I’m going to create a dozen-and-a-half or so without going to that resource, and see how they come together.

[image error](Art by Dominick)

Invocations
A warlock gains their first invocation at 2nd level, and gains an additional invocation at 3rd level and every other level thereafter. If an invocation requires a saving throw, the DC is 10 + 1/2 your warlock level + your key ability modifier unless otherwise noted. You cannot select the same invocation more than once unless otherwise noted. Using an invocation is a standard action unless it says otherwise.

Evil Eye (Sp): You can force a target within 60 feet to succeed at a Will save of gain one of the following conditions of your choice for 1 minute — fatigued, sickened, or shaken. Once you have caused a target to suffer one of these conditions, you cannot cause it to suffer the same condition until after you have recuperated*. If you cause a target to be dazzled, any creature may attempt Stealth checks against that target without cover or concealment as long as it is dazzled. This is a sense-dependent ability.

Eyes of the Nemesis (Sp): If a creature does damage to you or forces you to make a saving throw, you gain persistent see invisibility against them until you next recuperate*. If you are 12th level or higher, you instead gain persistent true seeing against them until you next recuperate*.

Dread Wings (Sp): You can cast flight on yourself at will. The flight has a spell level equal to 1/3 your warlock level (minimum 1st, maximum 6th).

Eldritch Reach (Su): The range of your eldritch blast increases. If it has a range increment or is a cone or line, it’s range doubles. If it is a melee attack, its reach increased by 5 feet. If it is a radius, its radius increases by +10 feet.

Eldritch Vigor: You gain Great Fortitude and Toughness as bonus feats.

Eldritch Vision (Ex): You gain the see in darkness ability. If you have darkvision of low-light vision, you also gain a +2 bonus to Perception checks in dim or no light.

Felstorm (Su): Select a grenade that not not a magic or hybrid item, which has an item level no greater than your warlock level -2. You can create the effect of this grenade, as a magic effect, centered on you. You can make yourself, and any ally you can see or hear, immune to this effect. Once you have used this invocation, you cannot do so again until you next recuperate. Each time you gain a warlock level, you may add a new grenade (no higher than your new warlock level -2), and add it to a list of grenades you can emulate with felstorm.

Fel Visions (Sp): You can glimpse the future, though you also see all the possible ways in which the future can be a bloody, horrific mess. You can cast augury at will. After casting it, you are shaken (even if you are normally immune to this effect) until you next recuperate*. This shaken effect cannot be removed by any other means. You cannot use fel visions while shaken or being affected by any fear effect.

Irresistible Voice (Sp): You can cast command at will, except the save DC is calculated as an invocation. After a creature is affected by your irresistible voice, it gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls against you and to saves against your spells and effects for 1d4 rounds. Once you have targeted a creature with this invocation, you cannot target the same creature again until you have recuperated*.

Malediction (Su): You can force a target within 60 feet to succeed at a Will save of gain one of the following conditions of your choice for 1 minute — dazzled, deafened, or encumbered. Once you have caused a target to suffer one of these conditions, you cannot cause it to suffer the same condition until after you have recuperated*. If you cause a target to be dazzled, any creature may attempt Stealth checks against that target without cover or concealment as long as it is dazzled. This is a sense-dependent ability.

Many Faces (Sp): You can cast disguise self at will.

Mesmerism (Sp): You can attempt to charm a creature at will. This acts as charm person, except the save DC is calculated as an invocation. If you are 7th level or higher, it instead acts as charm monster. You can only have a single creature charmed at a time, if you use this ability again whole a previous charm is still active, the earlier charm ends. Once you have targeted a creature with this invocation, you cannot target the same creature again until you have recuperated*.

Minions (Sp): Once per day you can cast a summon creature spell with a spell level up to 1/3 your warlock level (minimum 1st level, maximum 6th level). The summoned creatures all speak one language you know of your choice. The spell has a duration of 1 minute/level, but when in combat each round of combat reduces the duration by 1 minute.

Repelling Blast (Su): When you successfully damage a creature with the eldritch blast from your patron, you may choose to push the creature 10 feet directly away from you. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Retributive Blood (Sp): When a creature within 400 feet scores a critical hit against you, it is targeted by a bestow curse spell, except the save DC is calculated as an invocation, and the curse effect is determined randomly.

Shadowy Mists (Sp): You can cast fog cloud at will, but any part of its area that is in normal or bright light immediately dissipates.

Sphere of Winds (Su): You can create a radius of save, comfortable, breathable air. This acts as a life bubble, except it is centered on you and affects everything with 10 feet.

Whisper of Rest (Su): You can expend 1 Resolve Point to whisper restful occult words to an adjacent creature. The creature may choose to expend 1 Resolve Point of their own to regain points of damage equal to double their level. If they have taken both HP and SP, they can decide where to place the healing their receive, though neither pool can exceed its normal maximum. This is a sense-dependent effect.

Unseen Servants (Sp): You can cast unseen servant and token spell at will. You can only have one of these spells active at a time–casting it against while a previous casting is still active ends the earlier casting.

Unspeakable Resilience (Su): When you make a successful saving throw against a disease or poison, that affliction ends, even if it normally requires multiple saving throws to end it.Any effect it has had on you remains, just as if you have made the normally required number of saves against the affliction.

*Recuperate is my proposed game term to represent when a character spends 1 Resolve Point to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

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