Owen K.C. Stephens's Blog, page 68

Rowdies, for Starfinder (Really Wild West, GammaFinder, FreedomFinder)

The standard system for creation npc opponents in Starfinder is specifically designed to focus on making foes that can last through a fight and work well alone or in groups of 2 or so. It’s simple and easy–a typical encounter for a group of 5th level PCs is CR 5. If you want to combine lower-level challenges the rules cover that as well.

But what is doesn’t do well it let you throw 8-24 foes at the heroes, and have that be a typical encounter. Technical you can through 12 CR 1 creatures at an 8th level party, but truthfully they won’t actually pose any significant threat. And, of course, there are no CR -2 creatures to collect 12 of to challenge a group of 5th level heroes.

So, enter the Rowdy

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(art by Warpaintcobra)

Designed specifically for the Really Wild West (and named to be appropriate for that pulp-fantasy-western 1891 setting, though just as usable in standard Starfinder, GammaFinder, or  FreedomFinder campaign), Rowdies are creatures that are less dangerous, and much MUCH less durable, than the core creature they are based on. As a result while they have the game values to be an interesting challenge for PCs, you can use four times as many rowdies in an encounter as the core creature they are based on.

So if you need 4 members of a typical gang to attack the 4th PC’s train as a typical fight, you just add the Rowdy graft to a CR 4 foe and you are all set. If you want to let the 5th-level PCs fight their way past a hoard of 24 staggering undead, slap the Rowdy graft on a CR 0 monster (since 6 CR 0 monsters is a typical CR 5 encounter, 24 CR 0 Rowdies are also a typical encounter).

Rowdies are also useful for backup to a major foe, without overshadowing the foe. If you want a CR 6 encounter to challenge your 5th level heroes, a single CR 4 main foe, and 4 CR 4 rowdies neatly fits the bill.

The mechanical adjustments of the graft are fairly straightforward:

Rowdy Graft

*Reduce initiative bonus by -5, -10, -15, and -20 for the 4 rowdies. (It’s best if they don’t all act at once, but if you need to simplify initiative, you can have them all go with a -12 penalty to their initiative modifier).

*Reduce all attack bonuses by 1.

*Reduce all save DCs by 3.

*Reduce average damage by 50%. (Or close to it. If it’s normally 1d8+7, taking it to 1d4+3 is close enough. Or, just roll normal damage and halve it for each attack).

*Reduce all ACs and saving throw bonuses by 3

*Reduce HP by 75% (round up).

*If the base creature has special attacks or spells with limited uses/day, only one of the four rowdies should use them. If that rowdy is dropped, any remaining uses can apply to a second rowdy (you can track resources in a single place for simplicity).

It’s also important to give PCs an opportunity to recognize a rowdy, since they may well use different tactics and resources when facing them. After all sine the game doesn’t promise players that encounters will be balanced, if you tell players there is a pack of 16 wolves surrounding their camp they may well think this is an encounter they are meant to flee or avoid at any cost.

By the same token, you want to be able to scare players now and then.

The Next Last Stand

The “Next Last Stand” is a campaign idea, which spawned a bit of fiction. Both are presented below.

Campaign Idea: “The Next Last Stand”

You build a character explicitly to begin with a scene where you died heroically, delaying enemy forces in a last stand that achieves greatness, even though your death is inevitable.

Encounter 2 is with the rogue Valkyrie who recruits you, in death, to join the Verloren, the “Lost Troops” who are the only hope for staving off a planar apocalypse.

Fiction: Last Stand of Knight’s Bridge

“Stay calm! If you can’t carry it, set it aside. Do not block the path! Move, quickly.”

Valaina’s voice was ragged, the warning harsher in her throat the fiftieth time than it had been when she first shouted it an hour ago. There were still refugees streaming past her, rushing out of Arches Square and the roads that ran into Oldstep and the Tanner’s Town. But the numbers were far fewer, and she realized with a shock most of those running toward the Knight’s Bridge now were truly carrying only small bundles, and several showed smoke stains on their clothes.

And a few had wounds.

She turned to her cohort and waved to indicate they should keep directing power over the bridge, to the relative safety of Aldenear Citadel.

Her eyes scanned for, and quickly spotted, a lanky blue-skinned lad in a hauberk, carrying a massive plate of wood and steal over his shoulder and guarding the closest avenue from Oldstep.

“Sinjin!”He turned at the sound of her voice. “How close is the main force?”

The lean orc armiger set his bulwark shield against the corner of the lesser Knight Bridge tower, and nimbly climbed up its tightly-fit stone side as if it was a ladder, the weight of his armor and toolkits slowing him down not one bit. Once he reached the peaked roof he braced a leg and swing out like the lookout in a ship’s rigging, barely hanging on to the tower with one hand and using the other to shade his eyes from the flashing light of magebolts streaking back and forth across the skies.

His face looked paler than usual, but his voice was calm and strong.

“They’re marching through Oldstep now, lady. They could rush us in ten minutes, or a tad less, if they rushed us. But are clearing every arch and building.” He paused, then looked down at her. “There won’t be many more fleeing to use from there, m’lady.”

Valaina nodded and waved him down—his keen eyesight, and it’s ability to cut through smoke and haze, were worth the risk of running him up high once, but she’d not leave him there to be a target for mage or sling-stone.

Besides, she was going to need him soon.

She marched calmly to where the Tower Guard were holding the line onto the bridge proper, and maneuvered herself next to Guard Kinnon, the watch commander, and Elder Berett, though the “elder” was no more than twenty summers old, and the bands of mastery on his robe cuffs had been roughly stitched in place just hours earlier.

“Liegemen, it’s time to prepare the withdrawal. The enemy is nearly upon us. We’ll want to give people every change to make it to Aldenear, but once the enemy is here it’ll be too late to begin to fall back. We need ordered lines, and warn the yeomen some folk aren’t going to make it. We can’t let that break the formation.”

Kinnon nodded and turned to begin giving orders, but Berett put a hand on the guard’s shoulder.

“Can’t we redirect refugees to go around the moat and killing field? Rush through the city to the farther gates? The enemy is just coming up this one direction, so far, so surely some of them could enter Aldenear from the harbor-side? I know they won’t all make it, but…”

Before Valiana could speak, Kinnon shook his head and cut Berett off.

“Once the enemy forces take the Knight’s Bridge, the citadel will have to close the curtainwall gates. And the bridges—ALL the bridges—with be brought down by sappers. Those fleeing from the far side will be cut off as well, with little warning. Otherwise the moat and killing field won;t serve their purpose.” Kinnon waited a moment, staring into Berett’s eyes to see that the young Elder had understood, the turned and walked to his men, leaving Berett’s hand hovering mid-air.”

Berett turned to Valaina, his eyes wide.

“M’Lady, most of the city will be fleeing through the far gates. There are far more neighborhoods with access to the Queen’s Gate and Harbor Gate. If those are closed and their bridges destroyed as the enemy takes Knight’s Tower…”

Valaina nodded, grimly.

“You’re right Elder, but there’s nothing to be done for it. It’d take hours to evacuate the city, and it’s not time we have. Once the bridges come down, any remaining cityfolk will have to flee into the fields. they’ll have no walls, but the invaders can’t sweep the surrounding lands thoroughly until the citadel is taken.”

A hint of desperation came into Berett’s voice.

“My lady, they have necrothurges! Every death will swell their ranks. Which means every minute we buy here not only saves our own, it robs them of more troops. If we hold the Knight’s Bridge Towers, even briefly, we buy the city more time to flee through the far gates.”

Valaina shook her head. She nodded to the assembled guard, who were nearly in formation preparing to move slowly back from the two Knight’s Gate Towers. Only a trickle of refugees fled past them now.

“If we hold, all who stay here are lost. There will be no relief for us, and the oncoming forced will overwhelm us. I cannot ask the yeoman guard to die here, they will be needed on the citadel’s walls soon. And my cohort alone cannot stave off this advance As you note, they have necrothurges. Without a warder…”

“I’m a warder.” Berett voice was calm, for this first time since he had arrived at the towers.”

“Elder…” Valaina began gently.

Berett shook his head. “I don’t mean I am a warder because I am an Elder. I know these” he waved vaguely at the bands on the end of robe’s sleeves, “are a measure of desperation. But I am a trained warder, lady. I came up through the Siege and Fortifications house of the School of Abjuration. Put me in a tower,” he nodded at the greater Knight’s Bridge Tower, “and I can screen a unit of two score or more against all hexes and maledictions. I swear it.”

Valaina looked at her cohort. Nine squires, each lacking only patrons and experience from being full knights. Ten armigers, each with a massive bulwark shield.They could span the gap between towers, but…

“We haven’t the support, Berett. We’d need lancers, crossbows in the towers…”

Berett, very much looking an Elder for the firs time, turned to the assembled guard formation.

“Who among you yeoman have family on the far side of the city?”

Half the assembled guards raised their weapons, spears and crossbows held high.

“How many will give their lives to buy those families more time to flee to Aldenear?”

Not a single weapon lowered.

Berett turned back to Valaina. “Thirty, maybe forty defenders lost here. To prevent hundreds or thousands from becoming soldiers for the Adversary. Tactically, a good trade.”

Sinjin had come up beside Valaina, and when she glanced at him, he nodded, almost imperceptibly.

A distant scream echoed up from the streets of Oldstep, but was cut short.

Valaina nodded.

“We are guided by your wisdom Elder. Kinnon!” The guard commander turned from his formation. “Ten lancers, ten crossbowyers, volunteers only. Those without families and older than thirty take precedence. Then get across that bridge immediately, and beyond the curtainwall. No lingering, not for anything!”

Kinnon began selecting men and women with their weapons raised, and dressing the line to fill the gaps.

“Sinjin, set the armigers. Bulwarks down, one swordsman behind each, one lancer behind that. Set one at each tower door. Elder?”

Sinjin rushed off, and Berett looked at her.

“Take the crossbowyers. Six to your tower, and they guard you above all else. Four to the other tower. As long as you ward us, we’ll hold.”

Eyes wet, Elder Berett nodded, and hurried over the the gathered crossbow-armed guards. Kinnon’s remaining unit was already falling back, and a single old man with a ragged bundle–fat cat sitting atop it–was scurrying up to rush with them across the bridge.

Valaina marched over to her position, the center of the line of defenders, behind Sinjin.

“WE HOLD.”

From the streets into Oldstep, a shambling figure staggered forth. It was dirty, and hunched, missing most of its face and part of its left arm.

Behind it, were many more.

Sinjin’s strong voice bellowed, and he drew a hatchet and braced his massive bulwark.

“ALL TOGETHER, IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT!”

.

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Summoning for GammaFinder and FreedomFinder (Starfinder-compatible)

Yep, another tiered power, appropriate for use as a tiered mutation for GammaFinder, or Power Set for FreedomFinder (both Starfinder-compatible setting hacks).

This is summoning as a power, which for balance purposes is always treated as spell-like, but the player and GM can be flexible with the nature of the power. Perhaps your genetic sorcery extends to summoning daemons… even if you would rather not deal with such creatures. Perhaps you are a fire-manipulator, and the fire elementals you summon are just forms or pyrokenesis. maybe you have a form of technokinesis and technopathy, and can turn anything into servant robots.

We’ll be touching on some of those related powers later, but for now, let’s look as summoning as a tiered power.

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(art by grandfailure)

Summoning (Sp)

When you first gain the summoning tiered mutation, you must decide what type of creature you summon, from the following list: aeon, agathian, angel, archon, azata, daemon, demon, devil, elemental (select one subtype), fey plane beast, inevitable, protean, robot, or shadow creature. you are not restricted by the normal summoner requirements (you can summon demons even if you are lawful good… you poor soul).

These re summoned as the appropriate summon creature spell, obey you (regardless of alignment difference, though evil creatures will tend toward evil methods unless given orders restricting their options, even of summoned by good-aligned characters), and understand any orders you give.

Summoning grants you upgrades, which are special powers you have with your summoned creatures that acts differently than the summon creature spell. You can select from the upgrades below. Once made, these choices cannot be changed. You cannot select an upgrade more than once unless it says otherwise.

Upgrades:

Broad Summoning: You can select an additional type of creature to summon, and mix and match your summoning to include any of your allowed types.

Communication: You and your summoned creatures have limited telepathy, which only works with each other (but functions regardless of language).

Environmental: Select one environmental graft. You can apply it to any creatures you summon. The creatures gain all the abilities always granted by the graft, and any one of those sometimes granted. A given summoned creature can only have one environmental graft applied to it. You can select this upgrade multiple times. each time, you select a different environmental graft.

Language: Creatures you summon know a single language you know, fo course chocie, and can communicate in this langauge.

Lasting: You can have a single summoned creature be persistent when it is not in combat. However, if it makes an attack or is attacked, forced to make a saving throw, or takes damage, it reverts to having a duration of 1 round/level.

Variable Sizes: You can summon creatures up to one size larger, or two sizes smaller than those normally summoned by the appropriate summon creature spell. This does not impact their stat block or reach, only their actual size.

Tier 1: You can summon creatures (as summon creature I) as a full action once per day.

Tier 2: You gain one upgrade.

Tier 3: Your summoning can now act as creature summoning II. You regain the ability to use this power after you expend Resolve Points to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

Tier 4: You gain a second upgrade.

Tier 5: Your summoning can now act as creature summoning III. You can now use this ability at any time by expending a Resolve Point. If you use this ability while any previously summoned creatures are still extant, they immediately dissappear.

Tier 6: You gain a third upgrade.

Tier 7: Your summoning can now act as creature summoning IV.

Tier 8: You gain a fourth upgrade. You can now use this spell-like ability as a standard action.

Tier 9: Your summoning can now act as creature summoning V. You gain a fifth upgrade.

Tier 10: Your summoning can now act as creature summoning VI. You gain a sixth upgrade.

WANT MORE GAMMAFINDER?! OR FREEDOMFINDER?

I now depend on my Patreon for more of my income and support than I ever expected to. If you find any value in my blog posts or videos, I could use help with the Patreon. If you can spare a few bucks a month, it’s a huge help. If not, even just sharing and linking to my blogs, videos, and the Patreon itself is a huge help that just takes a moment of your time.

Thanks, everyone.

Tiered Incorporeality and Invisibility for GammaFinder and FreedomFinder (Starfinder-compatible)

It’s a double-sized weekday post with TWO tiered powers, appropriate for use as tiered mutations for GammaFinder, or Power Sets for FreedomFinder) both Starfinder-compatible setting hacks).

Incorporeality (Sp)

Tier 1: You can extend 1 Resolve Point to become incorporeal (as the Universal Creature Rule) as a full action once per day. You can be incorporeal for a maximum of 5 rounds, and must take a move action to dismiss it prior to this. This acts as  a spell with a spell level equal to 1/3 your character level.

Tier 2: You can now become incorporeal as a standard action, and end it as part of any other action.

Tier 3: You regain the ability to use this power after you expend Resolve Points to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

Tier 4: Your ability to become incorporeal is now a supernatural ability (as a result, using it no longer provokes attacks of opportunity).

Tier 5: When you are incorporeal you can now move a single unattended object of up to light bulk with you.

Tier 6: When incorporeal, you can now attack and affect corporeal objects, thought your attacks do only half damage. You can only make one attack each round.

Tier 7: You can now make a normal number of attacks while incorporeal, but still only do half damage. You can now become incorporeal by expending 1 Resolve Point an unlimited number of times.

Tier 8: When you become incorporeal, you can now also make incorporeal an adjacent willing ally (or grabbed helpless creature, or held unattended object, or grappled active foe) and cause them to be incorporeal as well. This takes one free hand. You cannot move to a location where a creature or object you have made incorporeal would be damaged if it became incorporeal while it is with you, and if you stop touching it for any reason the creature or object ceases to be incorporeal.

Tier 9: You now gain the ability to use your land speed to move in any direction while incorporeal, even if there’s no ground there to move on.

Tier 10: You can now become incorporeal without expending a Resolve Point. Once you have done so, you cannot use this power without expending a RP again until after you expend Resolve Points to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

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Invisibility (Sp)

Tier 1: You can become invisible as a full action once per day, as the invisibility spell, with a maximum duration of 5 rounds.

Tier 2: You regain the ability to use this power after you expend Resolve Points to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest.

Tier 3: You can now become invisible as a standard action, with a maximum duration equal to 1 round/level.

Tier 4: You can now make a Stealth check as a move action, even when you have no concealment or cover. This Stealth check lasts 1 round, take a -5 penalty, and if you make an attack roll when you have neither concealment nor cover the Stealth immediately ends.

Tier 5: Your invisibility is now treated as a supernatural ability (as a result, using it no longer provokes attacks of opportunity).

Tier 6: You can now also become invisible by expending a Resolve Point to do so.

Tier 7: If you make an attack while invisible, you can now expend a Resolve Point for it to not end your invisibility.

Tier 8: When you are invisible, you can now touch an adjacent willing ally (or grab a helpless creature or unattended object, or grapple an active foe) and cause them to be invisible as well. This takes one free hand. If you make an attack roll as part of this, you must expend a Resolve Point for it to not end your invisibility.

Tier 9: Your invisibility now lasts 1 minute/level. You can now extend your invisibility (as with Tier 8) to one creature per hand you use.

Tier 10: Your invisibility now lasts 10 minutes/level. Making an attack without expending a Resolve Point does not end the invisibility, but instead reduces its duration by 10 minutes. If this would reduce the duration to less than 0, it instead lasts 1 more round.

WANT MORE GAMMAFINDER?! OR FREEDOMFINDER?

I now depend on my Patreon for more of my income and support than I ever expected to. If you find any value in my blog posts or videos, I could use help with the Patreon. If you can spare a few bucks a month, it’s a huge help. If not, even just sharing and linking to my blogs, videos, and the Patreon itself is a huge help that just takes a moment of your time.

Thanks, everyone.

On Creatives During A Pandemic

Hey, creative person.

Yes, you.

I get it. You have deadlines, and responsibilities, and bills, and people counting on you. People tell you to be kind to yourself, to take a break, to ease up… and you can’t.

I understand. I promise.

Only you can know what can be back-burnered, and what can’t. I won’t pretend to be able to give you advice on that front.

I also want to assure you, the trouble you are having now focusing on things? The lack of spoons, or inspiration, or concentration?

That’s the new normal. I can’t say we are ALL dealing with it. Maybe there are some folks who aren’t having trouble right now. But I haven’t talked to any creative that isn’t.

There’s an additional cognitive load on all of us. Worry, planning, concern, frustration, fear… those things take a toll. that toll comes directly from your brain.

The brain you use to be creative.

So, while I can’t tell you to take a break, or take it easy (because I don’t know if you are in a place where you CAN do that), I do want to encourage you to remember things are not normal.

Whatever you would do if you had something dragging down — illness, technical problems, jury duty, whatever?

Global pandemic qualifies for the same measures.

And everyone gets that.

FreedomFinder, a Super and Heroic Setting Hack for Starfinder.

FreedomFinder

In the not-too-distant future, the rapid advances of technology and societal change outstrip the capacity of the law and government officials to keep up. As alien species contact humanity (and begin to move in to once-all-human living spaces), terraforming makes the Moon, Mars, Venus, Titan, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, Enceladus, and even the dwarf planet Ceres viable living spaces, FTL travel breaks causality, genetic engineering make superhuman abilities commonplace, and quantum engineering and psionic frequency adjustments (both sometimes called “magic”) allow reality itself to be manipulated, the legislatures and courts of the Sol System governments cannot keep up as they are choked with questions ranging from if telepathy is covered as free speech or is considered unlawful search and seizure to the legality of trying someone for a crime committed by a version of themselves from a slightly different reality.

As is always the case, as societal protections and institutions prove inadequate to protect people, gangs, thugs, immoral organizations (from corporations to insincere religions to secret societies) and a dozen brands of organized crime move in to fill the void, profiting on human need and misery in the process. Justice becomes rare. Even essential freedoms are at risk of being lost and forgotten.

The heroes of this new era, the FreedomFinders, don’t intend to allow that.

FreedomFinder is a setting hack for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, designed to use that games’ rules (with a few additions and changes, the “hack” part). It also draws extensively on the rules for tiered mutations for GammaFinder.

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(all art by Jacob Blackmon)

ARMOR

There is no assumption that character wear armor in FreedomFinder. Without armor,  you get a bonus to EAC equal to your level, and a bonus to KAC equal to your level +2.

If you are proficient with heavy armor, you get an additional +1 bonus to EAC and KAC, and if you are proficient with powered armor, you get an *additional* +1 bonus to EAC and KAC.

You can wear armor—light armor gives +1 to KAC, with a max Dex of +5 and an armor check penalty of -1, while heavy armor gives +2 to EAC and KAC, with an armor check of -3 and a -5 ft. speed adjustment.

You can also have armor be something you pick up with the Geared power set. In that case you get all its functions EXCEPT its EAC and KAC boost, which are limited to those of light and heavy armor above.

You can gain and use armor upgrades with the Geared power set without depending on actually having any armor upgrade slots. They are simply high-tech devices (HTDs). There is a maximum of how many HTDs you can use at once, equal to one, plus one for every kind of armor you are proficient with, +1/3 character levels.

CLASSES

You can be an envoy, mechanic, operative, or solider at no cost. You can also choose to be any other class, but doing so costs your “B” Power Set (see below), Thus a starting envoy FreedomFinder PC has an A and B beginning power set, while a starting technomancer only gets an A Power Set. At 2nd level, both would receive their C power set.

You gain all the normal class features of your class, though you may choose to swap some out for Power Sets using various Alternate Class Features (see Power Sets, below).

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POWER SETS

Every character in FreedomFinder has Power Sets, which are special abilities you possess that place you apart from even the extraordinary members of your species and class. You gain two or three power sets (referred to as sets A, B, and C), depending on your class (see above). Each power set gives you one GammaFinder mutation tier or FreedomFinder Power Set tier at specific character levels, as noted below.

Power Set Tiers by Character Level

1 Power set A tier 1, power set B tier 1

2 Power set C tier 1

3 Power set A tier 2, power set B tier 2

4 Power set C tier 2

5 Power set A tier 3, power set B tier 3

6 Power set C tier 3

7 Power set A tier 4, power set B tier 4

8 Power set C tier 4

9 Power set A tier 5, power set B tier 5

10 Power set C tier 5

11 Power set A tier 6, power set B tier 6

12 Power set C tier 6

13 Power set A tier 7, power set B tier 7

14 Power set C tier 7

15 Power set A tier 8, power set B tier 8

16 Power set C tier 8

17 Power set A tier 9, power set B tier 9

18 Power set C tier 9

19 Power set A tier 10, power set B tier 10

20 Power set C tier 10

EQUIPMENT

You can have any minor, noncombat gear based on real-world items that would normally be light or negligible bulk and 5 credits or less, such as cell phones, flashlights, and so on. You are also considered to have any toolkit you need to use your skills without penalty, as well as a basic medkit if you have ranks in Medicine, but toolkits that grant bonuses must be gained through the geared power set (see below).

You otherwise don’t receive any equipment as “loot,” and this game ignores wealth by level. However, you can take the Geared Power Set for FreedomFinder characters who depend on their equipment to be effective.

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GEARED POWER SET

You have access to devices and items others don’t. You may have inherited such items, have them provided to you by some organization that supports you (or that you work for), or have created them yourself.

If one of your items is lost or destroyed, you can replace it within 30 days, though the GM may require you to undertake an adventure to do so.

If an item uses batteries, ammunition, or other minor forms of charges, it refills every day that you have access to your normal supplies and civilization.

It an item is a 1-shot (such as a grenade or serum), it is restored (normally by acquiring a new one from the same source as the original) once every 30 days. Alternatively, you can have a 1-shot item be restored every day by treating it as having an item level 5 levels higher than it’s normal item level for purposes of when the Geared Power Set can access it. For example, if you take a item level 1 grenade as a piece of equipment it is restored every 30 days. But if you treat it as an item level 6 piece of equipment for purposes of the Geared Power Set, you can use the grenade once per day.

The Geared Power Set has three subsets, all of which follow the basic Geared rules. These are Geared (basic), Geared (specialized), and Geared (focused). You may take each of these Geared Power Sets as a separate Power Set if you wish to have a lot of equipment beyond comm units and mundane things.

Geared, Basic

Tier 1-10: You gain a number of items equal to your tier. The highest level of these has a maximum item level equal to (double your tier) -2, the next-highest a max of (double your tier) -4, and so on.

Geared, Specialized

Tier 1-10: You have two items , each with a maximum item level equal to your double your tier.

Geared, Focused

Tier 1-10: You have a single item, with a maximum item level equal to your 2 + double your tier. Thus at Tier 3, you can have a single (2 + [3 x 2]) 8th level item. Each time you gain a character level, you may change what this item is. If it has a minor form of recharge, it’s capacity is double the norm for an item of its type.

WANT MORE FREEDOMFINDER?!

I now depend on my Patreon for more of my income and support than I ever expected to. If you find any value in my blog posts or videos, I could use help with the Patreon. If you can spare a few bucks a month, it’s a huge help. If not, even just sharing and linking to my blogs, videos, and the Patreon itself is a huge help that just takes a moment of your time.

Thanks, everyone.

More Junk Spells (for GammaFinder and Starfinder)

Inspired by the hazardous junk rules I designed for GammaFinder, and loving the idea of a Starfinder-compatible junkamancer, I’ve begun looking at what else can be done with junk spells. I especially wanted a 0-level junk spell, and a junk spell that doesn’t focus on AC, attacks, or creating a ‘bot.

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(art by santoelia)

JUNK GIZMO [Technomancer 0]

School conjuration (creation)

Casting Time 1 standard action

Range touch

Range touch

Target at least 1 bulk of inert electronic equipment; see text

Duration 1 hour/level

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

You turn a pile of technological junk into a minor technological item. You must target inert, nonworking electronic equipment of at least 1 bulk. Valid targets include a large broken computer system, nonworking or unconnected computer or robot parts, a destroyed robot or another such trashed mechanical system, or any related electronic components or combination of the above, as long as the junk is found in sufficient quantity.

You can create any minor piece of equipment with a real-world equivalent (alarm clock, camera, digital keys for vehicles you own, timer, watch, and so on) that a GM would allow you to buy at a typical settlement as an item level 0 piece of equipment with a cost of 5 credits or less and light bulk. See the Technological Items section of the Equipment chapter of the core rulebook for notes on the vast array of technological devices beyond the number that could possibly be presented in any real-world book that can potentially be purchased with GM approval.

The item is clearly worthless junk, and always looks like it is just about to break down, but can be used by anyone. You can only have 1 junk gizmo active at a time, and casting the spell again causes any previously created junk gizmo to cease functioning. If using the hazardous junk rules, this spell is not powerful enough to create objects from hazardous junk.

JUNK HUD [Technomancer 1]

School conjuration (creation)

Casting Time 1 standard action

Range touch

Range touch

Target at least 1 bulk of inert electronic equipment; see text

Duration 10 min./level

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

You turn a pile of technological junk into a Heads Up Display (HUD) that collates information and gives it to the HUD’s wearer. You must target inert, nonworking electronic equipment of at least 1 bulk. Valid targets include a large broken computer system, nonworking or unconnected computer or robot parts, a destroyed robot or another such trashed mechanical system, or any related electronic components or combination of the above, as long as the junk is found in sufficient quantity.

You can cause the HUD to be created on yourself or an adjacent willing or unconscious ally. This grants the wearer additional combat awareness. As a result, the character cannot be flanked. Additionally the DC to successfully trick attack the target is increased by 5. If using the hazardous junk rules, this counts as junk armor for interactions with those rules.

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Hazardous Junk, for GammaFinder and Starfinder

In the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, junk has eldritch potential.

There are a slew of spells designed to make things out of junk, at least briefly. These include:

Technomancer 1 junk armor, junksword I

Technomancer 2 junksword II, vigilant junkbot

Technomancer 3 handy junkbot, healing junkbot, junksword III

Technomancer 4 junksword IV

Technomancer 5 junksword V

Technomancer 6 battle junkbot, junksword V

But those spells are all designed to just use NORMAL junk. And in GammaFinder in particular (and to a lesser extend other Starfinder settings), junk may be different. It may be… hazardous. And surely, that makes spells created with it different, right?

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(art by Argus)

Hazardous Junk

Hazardous junk cannot be safely kept for longer than 24 hours. After that time you either get rid of it, or make a Fortitude save with a DC of 10 + 3d20. On a failed save, you move 1 step down the affliction track of a randomly-determined ability score. You make a new save each day at the same DC to see if you move back up that track, but if you keep the hazardous junk, you also must keep saving against it.

Hazardous junk is thus normally only used by junkamancers if there happens to be some nearby when they cast a spell. These are the three most common types of hazardous junk.

Biohazard Junk: When you cast a junk spell on biohazard junk, you must make a caster level check (DC 10 + triple the level of spell +1d10 based on level of biohazard). If you succeed, the biological material in the junk absorbs some of the magic, and the spell’s duration is doubled. If you fail, the biological meterial eats away at the magic, and the spell’s duration is halved.

Chemical Hazard Junk: If you successfully damage an adjacent creature made of or protected by this junk (such as someone with junk armor, or any form of junkbot), you must make a Fortitude save (same DC as a spell of that level cast by the creator of the junkspell) or take 1 point of acid damage per 2 levels of the junk spell (minimum 1 point of damage).

If you are made of or protected by such junk, you take 1 point of untyped damage a round.

Radiation Hazard Junk: The first time you successfully damage an adjacent creature made of or protected by this junk (such as someone with junk armor, or any form of junkbot), you are exposed to low-level radiation which bypasses any armor protection you have.

If you hold or wear any such junk, you are exposed to low-level raditation, bypassing any armor protection, at the end of the spell’s duration (even if you drop or remove the junk before that).

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Mutant Magic, for GammaFinder (Starfinder-compatible)

Obviously if GammaFinder has mutant abilities & tiered mutations, and magic, the two will power sources will collide.

The cybersorcerers of the Omega Invasion were the first to unleash suppress mutation spells, which are also believed to have been the key of the negation cuffs they used to capture powerful mutants, though it has spread far beyond their control since the invasion. The DNArcana spell was discovered by genetic sorcerers in the city of Beta, before its destruction, and though not common among most spellcasters is a staple of the Augmented Arcanist Alliance.

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(art by grandfailure)

DNARCANA  [Mystic 2–6], [Technomancer 2–6], [Witchwarper 2-6]

School transmutation (polymorph)

Casting Time 1 round

Range touch

Target one willing creature touched

Duration 1 round/ 2 levels (D)

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

You augment the power of the target’s tiered mutation, increasing its power by one tier. You must expend 1 Resolve Point to cast the spell, and the willing target must expend 1 Resolve Point for the spell to affect it.

Level 2: You can increase an existing tier 1 or tier 2 mutation by 1 tier.

Level 3: You can increase an existing tier 3 or tier 4 mutation by 1 tier.

Level 4: You can increase an existing tier 5 or tier 6 mutation by 1 tier.

Level 5: You can increase an existing tier 7 or tier 8 mutation by 1 tier.

Level 6: You can increase an existing tier 9 mutation by 1 tier. Alternatively, you can grant a creature one mutant ability or tier 1 mutant power.

SUPPRESS MUTATION [Mystic 3], [Witchwarper 3]

School abjuration

Casting Time 1 standard action

Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Targets one creature

Duration 1 round/level

Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes

You temporarily suppress the mutant abilities (including tiered mutation s) of a creature. Attempt a dispel check (1d20 + your caster level) with a DC equal to 11 + the target’s level. If you succeed, the target must make a Will saving throw. If it fails, all its mutant powers and tiered mutations stop functioning, and all bonuses, effects, and abilities granted by the mutations end.

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Thanks, everyone.

Short Fiction: “Carry a Torch Song ” (Sorcerers & Speakeasies)

CARRY A TORCH SONG

(A Sorcerers & Speakeasies short story)

Felspethe moved silently from her office to the interior balcony overlooking the main room, her form concealed in the dark shadows the balcony’s drapes cast from the stage lights hanging just under it. It was a good crowd, tonight. Mostly human, as you’d expect on a Saturday night at an upscale place like the Annwyn Avalon, but with a smattering of feybloods, dworrowfolk, sidhe, and one small block of uroks. She saw with approval that Tam-Tam, the night’s floor manager, was lounging in apparent boredom between the uroks and the nearest humans. It was unlikely anyone would dare bare iron in her club, but it was better if Tam-Tam could calm tensions before they got anywhere near that far if someone had too much to drink.

Or smoke. Or snort.

Her Court was similarly alert, if lazily so. Their dull yellow beaks and dark feathers were nearly invisible in the rafters, up at her balcony’s level, though from time to time a rook or jackdaw would flutter from one beam to another, and sometimes a patron would look up. The larger crows and ravens were much quieter, content to sit in spots picked out before she opened her doors. If they took wing tonight, it would be at her command alone.

One of the largest ravens, nearly three feet from tip of razor-sharp beak to end of it’s tailfeathers, was sitting on the railing of her balcony. It had ignored her when she walked out, but turned it’s head now to regard her with one shiny black eye.

Felspethe smiles. “What catches your attention tonight, Valgrn?”

The corvid’s voice was quiet and deep, very much at odds with its appearance.

“Captain Auburn is back.”

Felspethe raised a long, delicate eyebrow, and scanned the room more carefully. To her annoyance, she couldn’t spot the brazen-headed police agent who should have stood out like a pumpkin in a potato patch.

“Where?” She kept her voice calm — no reason to ruffle the Court.

Valgrn tilted his head and leaned, jutting his beak forward. “There. Standing by the maquette.”

Felspethe’s eyes jumped back to a point they had just slid over, a small roped-off alcove which featured a terracotta statue of a lithe elven figure in clothes a century out of fashion, its face a near match for Felspethe’s own. And sure enough, there was Captain Urielle Auburn, in the smart pinstripe suit that functioned as her uniform nowadays. And, as always, her enruned rifle Killfire was neatly slung over her back, in a well-maintained but obviously military shoulder sheath. The captain’s eyes were boring a whole across the club, though Felspethe didn’t bother to see what she was looking at yet.

Flespethe’s heart fluttered a little, which was almost as annoying as not being able to spot Auburn on her own. She wanted to be annoyed about the rifle, but couldn’t generate any heat behind the feeling. The Annwyn Avalon forbade weapons, but she knew perfectly well a quarter of her patrons concealed some derringer or stiletto. And Auburn could likely flash a badge, or a note from the mayor, and insist on bringing Killfire in anyway.

But most police would have brought something more subtle. It was just so like Urielle to insist on being obvious about it. A smile crept onto the corner of Felspethe’s lips, and it took conscious effort to suppress it.

“Do we know why she’s here?”

Again, Valgrn pointed with his beak, the line of his gesture crossing the steely gaze of Captain Auburn at the location of one of her VIP tables, where a circle of patrons in suits that each cost more than her monthly payroll sat and laughed loudly. The largest of the group was Beula “Breakbone” Jotkin, an ogreblooded uruk famous for being able to punch through brick. No one in the club would want to trade blows with the big enforcer… except Auburn, of course.

But the greater threat was a small man sitting next to Breakbone, and almost certainly paying for her meal. Pleasantly plump, balding and gray-haired, Fodrick Freeburner was the unquestioned head of the Weefolk Beneficent Society… known on the streets as the Halfling Mob. He was an almost cherublike figure, with sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks, who played “Little Father Christmas” in the city’s Yule parade every year.

He was also, Felspethe knew, a merciless criminal mastermind, and a potent necromancer.

She found her mouth suddenly quite dry. If Auburn was here for Freeburner…

“What can you see in the farther branches, my knight?”

As she stroked Valgrn’s feathers, his eyes went from glossy to flat black, as he looked beyond where she could see.

His voice was barely a whisper. “Captain Auburn hunts a killer. She believes it to be Aussker Crackkettle, a minor numbers-runner for Freeburner. Freeburner has kept Crackkettle hidden. She is here to remind him she has gone to war. True war. And that if she does so again, it will not go well for him.”

“And here, tonight?” Felspethe held her breath.

“Captain Auburn will begin no war in your lands. But if Freeburner senses advantage, he may unleash Breakbone upon the captain.”

Valgrn’s eyes regained their normal gleam.

“It is unlikely Freeburner would risk it. But not impossible.”

Felspethe knew the future was too shadowy to ever be sure of anything, and Valgrn had certainly earned her trust with his predictions. But she needed to push the chance of a street war breaking out here, tonight, well into the “impossible” category. And to do that, she needed to make Freeburner wonder if she and her Court would side with him, or Urielle, should blood be spilled. But at the same time, she had to do so in such a way he didn’t perceive it as a threat. She couldn’t operate without his tacit approval.

But she also could not allow Auburn to fight alone. Not again.

“The Captain’s unit in the War, the Stormguard. What was their color song?”

Vagrn’s beak could not smile. Yet, the humor was clear on his face.

“March of Cambreadth. Shall I signal the stage chief to ready for you to perform?”

Felspethe allowed the smile this time. “Indeed. One song, to honor the war hero among us. No one could blame me for that, could they?”

She glanced down again, and was startled to see Urielle looking up at her. She should be invisible here in her balcony, but their eyes locked. Urielle nodded once. And… was that a hint of a smile of her own ?”

Felspethe’s heart pounded but she kept enough composure to simply nod in return, and let her smile bloom to its full glory. Urielle’s eyes widened briefly, and then she looked away quickly.

Felspethe felt the emotions that fueled her mortal form more than food, air, or lifeblood boiling within her. Rather than fight them down, she began to let them coil, where she could access them as needed. This song, this one rare song from the owner of the Annwyn Avalon, would be enough to make anyone considering crossing her pause.

And if it didn’t? Well, Felspethe was sure Urilee Auburn and Killfire would not let her and her court fight alone.

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