Armour in D&D

I have definitely talked about this before. I'd link it if I was smart.

Anyway, we're talking old D&D 'cos 5th is fussy and I don't know it. I'll assume it's identical.

Things that guys in plate are scared of: Poleaxes, cannon balls, being hit with a club A LOT, loads and loads of arrows, getting pinned down and jabbed in the eye or armpits with a dagger.

Other armours do different things. We could make them all do a unique thing, but this requires knowledge and controversial assumptions (more so than usual). So what kind of common thread does, say, chain have with plate?

Assuming full and unrealistic coverage of the body, they're relatively similar. Swords are bad at both. Both are hoping pointy things don't get lucky. Both don't like getting whacked with large blunt objects very much.

Verisimilitude is a better word than realism. Realism can go do one, I wanna feel it. Feel and real are far apart.

Armour either works or it doesn't.

What if it has a defence profile? Melee weapons are only doing 1-12 damage, baring super strong people.

When you take damage you look at the table. / means no damage. It stops at 12 'cos that's the human peak. When the dragon bites you in half it ignores your tin hat.

Plate

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
		/		/	/	/	/	/	/	/

Chain

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
/	/	/		/		/			/

Breastplate

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
/		/		/		/		/		/	/

And so on

Alternative Troika Skill

1d3+3 creates a feeling of unfairness in some players. Which they don't like. Each to their own.

Here are some other ideas:

Everyone starts with 6 Skill. Done.
Skill doesn't exist. Roll 4d6+12 for Stamina. When you want to Test Your Skill you spend 1 Stamina to behave like you have 6 skill. If you don't want to spend stamina you just use your Advanced Skill rank.
Skill doesn't exist. Add 2 to all existing Advanced Skills in backgrounds and just use them. Reduce all enemies by like 10% skill. If you don't have an appropriate skill you must Test Your Luck to succeed.
Everyone starts with 6 skill. When they are reduced to 0 Stamina they are removed from danger somehow and reduce their Skill by 1. They probably can't get that back. It's an injury. Possibly have some kind of magical healing thing if you're a wuss.

Done!

Some Ways of Killing D&D People

We live in a world without hitpoints. Death is not a certain countdown.

1. Smash Bros HP. Play D&D as normal but add your damage up. When your damage passes a threshold, save or die. Roll d100 and roll over your damage total or die. Do this every subsequent instance of getting hurt.
   
   Maybe use the old HD as the threshold. Like, wizards start testing at over 4 damage. Or alternatively save every time they take damage, screw the bookkeeping.
   
2. I'M THE FUCKING DADDY system. Standard HP, except they are now how you hit things. Gamble your HP as dice. Each HP spent lets you roll a die, but keep the same number as you usually would. Rolling to hit, spend 3 HP, roll 3d20 and pick the best one. Spend 8, roll 8, keep 1 and so on. All violent action takes energy.At 0 HP you are at the whims of the enemy. They can automatically kill you, or the DM can have them do something else, like kidnap you or chop your arms off.
   
   Damage works like normal, but use HP to roll the dice.
   
   Probably wanna increase HP pools a bit.
   
3. DAMAGE DICE EXPLODE. The d4 knife is now interesting
   

Unsure death is fun. Having a sense of impending doom is fun. Knowing you can take a couple of shots is too comfortable. Turning your life resource into currency is exciting.

D&D more Troika

Following on from my previous post on making initiative enjoyable (and arguably more realistic*) I've got the comprehensive and very complicated way you can make D&D fit better.

1. Use that initiative system
2. Attack rolls are contested, with the winner dealing damage
3. AC is replaced by damage reduction

Some armour DR:

Full plate - 8

Half-Plate/Chain/splint/whatever flexible metal bullshit you have going on - 4

Padded/leather/cloth/etc etc - 2

Shields might add 1DR or +1 in combat rolls. Or both? Shields are pretty great.

Feel free to add DR ignoring rules for bludgeoning weapons, and also make it so grappled enemies do not receive the protection of their armour (pin them down and stab them in the eye holes)

Anything that might otherwise increase your AC instead increases DR

* Realism doesn't matter, but have you been in a real brawl? Or some sort of emergency situation? People choke, step up, fall over, and otherwise don't take turns.

Troika! Initiative Rules

(UPDATE: The cards exist and can be owned now)

This initiative system can replace most I-go-you-go style initiative arrangements in role-playing games without much fuss. You need the following:

• Two identical cards for each player character
• One card that signifies the end of the turn
• An abundance of one card to signify henchmen
• An abundance of one more card to signify enemies 

When a fight breaks out you gather up the player cards, the end of round token, henchman tokens equal to the number of henchmen present, and a number of enemy tokens equal to the total initiative value of all enemies. Shuffle these.

Draw a card, the owner of the drawn card acts. If the end of round card is drawn you gather up all the tokens and start again.

Player tokens

Each player gets two. You could play with this for spells that speed up or slow down, but generally don’t fiddle with it too much. (delayed actions, aiming)

Enemy tokens

When you draw an enemy token any enemy may act. This means that a single enemy can perform multiple actions in a given round, even above the number of initiative tokens they contribute. Assume this represents the bolstering effect of having leader-sorts around, or lots of their friends. In practise the GM is encouraged to not use this to purely mechanical advantage, but in a way that makes sense and is enjoyable for everyone.

Henchmen

Each henchman contributes one token. When a henchman token is drawn the GM must take an action for any one henchman present. They can take instructions from the players but are not obliged to follow them, henchmen are people too.

End of round card

If the end of round card is drawn then all cards, including the end of round card, are put back in the stack. Resolve any per round or end of round activities such as magic effects, fire, poison or bleeding out, remove any cards belonging to dead or absent participants, then draw another card and carry on.

Aim

On your turn you may decide to take aim with your ranged weapon. To do so, declare you are aiming and hold onto your initiative card. When your next initiative card is drawn you shoot, rolling twice and picking the best roll. If the end of round token comes up and you haven’t used your aim action you may decide to hold on to your aim token or abandon your action and put it back in the stack.

Delay an action

You may choose not to act when you hold initiative, in which case you put the token back in the stack. This increases your chances of acting later, but does not guarantee it.

Converting initiative from other games

Enemies contribute to a communal pool of enemy initiative equal to their initiative value, representing the broad press of opposition. Initiative doesn't just represent physical speed, but also confidence of action, bravery and general quick wits. Place your monster on a spectrum, with 1 being a cowardly goblin or a brain dead zombie, 3 being a charismatic captain, 5 being an ancient manticore, and 8 being a dragon who can literally see the future. Place your bad guys in there, trying to stick to 1-3 for the most part, and don’t be afraid to tamper with them if you feel you’ve made a mistake. The system is spongy and forgiving, feel it out until you can confidently throw numbers about.

Converting initiative tampering effects from other games

In general you do not want to tamper with the number of cards anyone uses too much, however sometimes you need to show how fast or slow someone has become. In the caste of a sped up participant, let them use a third (or fourth etc.) card as an additional initiative card for the round (or as many rounds as are required). To slow them, do the opposite. Be strict with round counting, since this might cause them to not see much benefit/hindrance from their alterations before it resolves itself. Violence is capricious.

Alternatively, if you are insistent on being very very fast, allow them to “recycle” their initiative cards for a turn. By which I mean let them put any initiative they draw back in the stack after using it. This could be a finite number of times or only limited by the passing of rounds. For slowness in this case you could force a player to possess two whole initiative cards to act once. Have them hold onto the first one drawn and let them pray another shows.

Head over to the ongoing Kickstarter if you'd like to see these cards made. Just a slice of money left until we can afford them.

SOME RULES FOR KILLING WITH D6S

MELEE COMBAT

1. The attacking player rolls a number of d6 equal to their FIGHTING NUMBER, keeping the result hidden. The fighting number should be between 4 and 6 I reckon.
2. They then declare what they rolled. THIS CAN BE A LIE. Looking for pairs, triples etc. and highest value.
3. The defender then either ACCEPTS the decision and doesn't get to see the attacker's dice (skip to step 5), making what their opponent said true, OR CHALLENGES it.
4. IF THEY CHALLENGE: The attacker reveals their dice. If the attacker was lying, the attacker takes one hit. If the attacker was telling the truth they get to just keep the roll and the challenger takes one hit.
5. The defender then rolls d6 equal to their fighting number and tries to beat what their opponent rolled (quadruples beat triples beat pairs etc, high beats low.)
6. Whoever rolled the biggest and highest set (in that order or importance) deals damage to the opponent equal to 1 plus the difference. (so two pairs vs. would see the loser taking 1 damage, single high number vs triple would see them take 3 damage)

RANGED COMBAT

1. The DEFENDER rolls dice equal to their DODGING NUMBER (4-6)
2. The ATTACKER rolls dice equal to their SHOOTING NUMBER (4-6 again probably)
3. The attacker then compares their dice to the defender's looking for matched numbers. Pick one matched number, if any, and deal damage equal to the number or those numbers you have. 

SO: Bob rolls 1,1,3,5 for shooting Susan. Susan rolls 1,3,6,6. Since Bob matched the 1 and got two 1s, he deals 2 damage to Susan. He could pick the 3 and do one damage, but that's silly.

Alternative Ranged Combat In Troika

According to WW2 British officers, dodging and diving from projectiles doesn't help very much and the troops don't like it.

Shooting someone and hitting someone with a thing you are holding are fundamentally different. The shootee has no input in the exchange other than where they happen to be standing.

Consider cover in terms of 6ths of a person. For each 6th of a person covered by non-shootable scenery give the shooter -1 to their skill. So if someone wants to perforate me, but I'm merely sticking my head over a wall they would receive -5 to hit me.

Bob the Bowman has 5 Skill + 3 Bow Fighting - 5 for my cover = 3. He would need to roll a 3 or less to hit me in my curious head.

SHIELDS - Treat them like any other kind of cover

AIMING - Take a penalty to the shot as if the bits you don't want to shoot are covered.

PINNING - When rolling damage with ranged weapons that fire arrows or bolts or similar, if the die roll is even the projectile is stuck in you. It counts as an item for encumbrance purposes and deals d3 stamina damage to remove unless with a Heal test. Some weapons have a better chance of getting stuck in you, like javelins.

There you go +Oli Palmer

Traps are Magic

Magic is not separate from any other more readily accessible demonstration of will on nature. Power is a difference of levels, with the more wilful user being able to maintain the greater differential. A strong man can lift the tun higher than the weaker man; the distance from the ground (the null state), is greater and so is he.

Go into the woods and pile rocks precariously. You leave your energy behind to be spent later when they fall down.

Trapping isn't a skill. Being a trapper doesn't give you any innate talent for another culture's trapping tools. Knowing what a punji stake is doesn't teach you how to dam and poison rivers to catch fish. Knowledge of specific traps is a skill.


GENERAL TRAPPING RULES:
As long as the trapper is present he may use contributions of stamina from others to pay for the trap(s) if they help.

This only covers traps you can make, not complicated mechanical contrivances.

Each trap is an Advanced Skill. So Bob can have Wolf Hole 3 and Trapping Pit 1 and so on.

The trapper should be as clear as possible with his intentions. Such as "I want to catch rabbits". This is so we know what he's designing it for. A bird-catching Deadfall won't bother a curious coati and the GM will reflect this in the results.

Do the Trapping roll in secret. On a Fumble it traps something entirely inappropriate and potentially harmful in some way (such as an angry moose or the Duke's hunting dog), on a Critical it traps exactly what they wanted to trap regardless of the encounter roll.

Make a separate Random Encounter roll for the traps. So on a 6+ (or however you work it) there is an encounter, then you roll to see what that encounter is. Whatever is rolled is what encounters the trap. This could be an appropriate animal, an unlucky person, or it could be something that will mess with the trap, or just step over it. You'll never know unless you go back to check. Check for encounters every day, if a second encounter happens determine how they respond (get caught be secondary traps, steal the catch etc.)

You can check for traps separately or give a +1 bonus for each additional one. Up to the GM.




Wolf Hole (3 stamina worth of exertion per trap built)
The hunter digs and covers a shallow hole lined with sharp sticks, pointed up to impale or down like barbs to tear. The trap is designed to injure and slow medium sized, heavy stepping creatures like humans. Light footed and narrow legged creatures can expect to avoid them. Any creature injured for 2 or more damage by a stake will have their land movement reduced by half until they can rest for a day and be fully healed.

Lasts for 6 months.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
1	1	2	3	4	5	6

Trapping Pit (12/hole +2 with stakes)

A pit, camouflaged with local detritus, usually several metres deep and a number wide, lined with boards or stones to create a sheer wall to the cavity. Climbing creatures that fall in have one chance to Climb out, failing which they must wait for assistance, starvation or the hunter for relief.

Receive appropriate uncontrolled falling damage. If there are stakes at the bottom they will cause additional damage as follows:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
1	2	3	5	6	7	9

Lasts for 6 years.

Leading Fence (3)

Used to guide the desired prey towards other traps. Leading fences might be made of piled up stones over short distances, just high enough to inconvenience deer and encourage them to walk around, or they might be stake fences stretching for miles herding anything larger than a wombat into a great big pit.

Each leading fence you build represents a significant length of fencing. For each instance of fencing you may add +1 to your chances of getting something in your trap.

Lasts a variable amount of time, depending on the material available.

Deadfall (2/multiplier)

A classic, and an outstanding example of the trappers relationship to magical craft by way of dynamic tension.

Obtain a weight of a suitable heft to kill you intended prey. This could be a rock, some boards, or maybe an entire tree trunk. Support the killing piece on a delicately balanced hair triggered lever system like the one pictured and you'll have yourself a universal remote creature flattening device. 

For each 2 stamina spent making the trap you make multiply the damage it inflicts. So a 6 stamina trap would inflict 3x as much damage, representing the hunter using bigger weights and levers.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Lasts for d6 days

Snare (1)

The snare is similar in principle to the deadfall, but instead of downward, upward. Snares are really only effective against small creatures that can fit their heads in the noose. Anything larger is likely to be either completely indifferent or trapped and injured enough to be dangerous.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
1	1	2	2	3	4	5

Lasts for d6 days

Call of Cutroika

or How To Do Sanity in Troika!

Keep everything as it is but add a sanity score that every player character possesses. Their sanity is equal to d6+6.

Terrifying situations, interaction with outsider entities, psychic attacks and so on can drain your sanity. When exposed to this potential drain you test your sanity by rolling 2d6 looking to roll under your current score. If you fail you lose sanity according to the source.

Dead body - 1
Brutally butchered dead body - d3
Ghost - d3+1
Some kind of body horror thing - d6
Catroika Himself - 6d6

Exposure to cosmic terror drains even the most fortified mind. Some creatures or situations will have an automatic sanity drain. You express it as [automatic drain]/[drain if you fail a sanity test]. To repeat the above examples:

Dead body - 0/1
Brutally butchered dead body - 0/d3
Ghost - 1/d3+1
Some kind of body horror thing - 1/d6
Cutroika Himself - 6/6d6

So like Call of Cthulhu, right?

Running Out of Sanity

I like the Victorian melodrama school of insanity. Keep it light and only vaguely comical.

When you hit negative sanity and every time you lose any sanity thereafter roll d66:

11 - Fainting fit. Unconscious for d6 minutes.
12 - Trembling. Until you remove yourself from the situation you tremble uncontrollably. -2 to all rolls.
13 - Panic. Test your luck every time you gain initiative or wish to take some kind of action. If you fail you flee from of the presence of the sanity drain.
14 - Dumbstruck by the uncaring cosmos. You drop what you're holding and just stand there staring for d6 initiative rounds. Can be led but won't defend themselves.
15 - Get them off me! Overwhelmed by the feeling of crawling insects you tear at your skin and pull at your hair. Take no action until you successfully test your luck, while losing 1 stamina per turn due to your scratching.
16 - Unburden yourself. You strip off your clothes and possessions and then sit in a corner hugging your knees or knee analogue. Takes one round per 3 burdensome items carried to fully disrobe, starting from the top of the list.
21 - Wild eyed. People meeting you notice something a bit off. You now have a case of the crazy eyes. People will also tend to remember seeing you, making blending in to crowds awkward.
22 - Tongues. You babble uncontrollably for d6 days. You can reduce your volume but can not stay completely quiet. If you roll a 6 it is permanent.
23 - Mute. You suffer acute aphasia, unable to speak for d6 days. If you roll a 6 it is permanent.
24 - Incomprehension. Words on the page no longer make sense, they slip and slide to confound you. Lasts for d6 days. If you roll a 6 it is permanent.
25 - Trichotillomania. From this day on you nervously pull out your hair. You do it out of sight or at least infrequently, but your patchy baldness stands as evidence.
26 - Hyperventilation. You skip your next turn due to this nervous attack, but are otherwise ok.
31 - Dyskinethsia. Once per game the GM may ask for you to test your luck or perform an involuntary spastic motion.
32 - Akathisia. You constantly fidget about, twiddling, hopping from foot to foot, you can't stay still. Otherwise fine.
33 - Mental callouses. You lose one permanent sanity point and then return to your new maximum sanity score.
34 - Steeled. Now you've seen everything. Gain one permanent sanity.
35 - Cosmic insight. Gain one spell at rank 1 from the random spell list.
36 - Berserk. Gain d6 skill but you must attack someone every initiative. Lasts d6 turns.
41 - Nervous vomiting. Spend a round evacuating your guts, lose 1 stamina. Otherwise fine.
42 - You are strangely ok with this
43 - Gnashing of teeth. Lose d6 teeth.
44 - Kleptomania. The GM will arbitrarily assign items from your environment to your inventory. This might be from other players, or it might be evil ancient artefacts.
45 - Pyromania. When around fire you must test your luck every hour or burn something significant.
46 - Compulsive diet. You secretly eat some inedible substance as a coping mechanism. This costs 1 stamina per day and lasts for d6 months. On a 6 it is permanent.
51 - Hysterical laughter. You laugh in the face of madness! And laugh and laugh and laugh. This continues for d6 hours. If you roll a 6 you die from laughter right there on the floor.
52 - Auditory hallucinations. You hear a loud ringing, screaming, whispering, crunching or other unpleasant sound which distracts you. -1 to all rolls for d6 days, if you roll a 6 it is permanent.
53 - Delirium. You can move and talk but no longer know where you are or what you're supposed to be doing. -4 to all rolls due to confusion and incoherence. Lasts d6 days, if you roll a 6 it is permanent.
54 - Mad flight. If there is a window you will smash through it, if not you bash your head against the wall or a floor until it passes. Damage as falling or as club, lasts d6 turns.
55 - Auto mutilation. You start harming yourself with whatever you're holding. Deal damage to yourself every turn until you successfully test you luck. May defend yourself but do nothing else.
56 - Never the same again. No outward signs, but you lose 1 point of permanent sanity because of the experience.
61 - Screaming forever. You never stop screaming, ever. After d6 days you lose the ability to speak at all and it goes quiet.
62 - Hysterical blindness. For d6 turns you are completely blind. You recover fully when it ends.
63 - You scream like an animal with its leg in a vice, raw and disturbing. Everyone else must test their sanity or lose 0/d6. You stop screaming when removed from the source of terror. People test only once.
64 - It cannot be unseen, but you try. You attempt to gouge your eyes out. Test your luck. If you fail you succeed and suffer 3d6 stamina loss.
65 - Fugue state. You gain no experience checks from any rolls made during this game (including prior to the event) because you don't remember it. You wake up at the beginning of the next game feeling very confused.
66 - Scared to death. Make a new character

Regaining Sanity and fixing your donkey brain


If you spend a night in safety and comfort you return to maximum sanity. Dungeons and the wilderness never count.

If you have a permanent madness then you're shit out of luck. Put out feelers for a Width Doctor or Oneiromancer and hope they can help.

A D66 list of backgrounds for Troika

11 Ardent Giant of Corda
Every giant has a different story about Corda, well told and interrupted with bouts of hysterical crying and laughter, of how they lost it and mean to find it soon enough but oh, what of today? We should drink and cheer, I’ll search again in the morning!

Possessions

• An artefact of Lost Corda, being either an enormous blue star map offering +1 astrology when studied for 12 minutes OR a contraption for telling the weather (5 in 6 accuracy) OR a ruby lorgnette offering +1 Second Sight while worn

Skills
4 Heft
3 Astrology
2 Run
2 Climb



12 Befouler of Ponds
A wise man, a high priest, a pond-pisser, a typical but committed adherent of P!P!Ssshrp. The bloated toad god has no church other than the periphery of ponds where the foulness catches in the reeds and no congregation to address other than the gnats and dragonflies. You council them all the same.

Possessions

• Sackcloth robes, caked in stinking mud and undergrowth. +1 to Stealth rolls in marshy terrain while wearing it, -1 everywhere else ‘cos it stinks
• A large wooden ladle (damage as mace)

Skills
3 Spell - Toad Blessing
3 Swimming

2 Spell – Tongue Twister

1 Sneak
1 Second Sight

Special
May drink stagnant water without harm



13 Burglar
As a second-story man you often have cause to wander. Enemies come naturally from both sides of the law and it pays to keep ahead of trouble.

Possessions

• Crossbow & 18 bolts
• Roll of lock picks
• Grappling hook

Skills
2 Sneak
2 Locks
1 Awareness
1 Climb
1 Trapping
1 Knife fighting
1 Crossbow fighting

Special
You may test your luck to find and get in with the local criminal underbelly, if one exists.



14 Cacogen

Those filthy born, spawned in the hump-backed sky lit only by great black anti-suns and false light. Your mother was sailing on the golden barges or caught in some more abstract fate when she passed you, far from the protective malaise of the million spheres. You were open to the power and the glory at a generative time and it shows in your teratoid form.

Possessions

• Pistolet OR Fusil
• 2d6 plasmic cores
• Sword
• Velare

Skills

2 Pistolet Fighting OR Fusil Fighting

2 Astrology

2 Second Sight

2 random spell

2 random spell

1 random spell

1 Sword Fighting

15 Chaos Champion
You no longer have the spiked brass armour  but you still have the ear of your Chaos patron. He’s happy for you to experiment with not plunging your sphere into disorder and, ultimately, darkness but the door is always open. Name your patron.

Possessions

• Ritual scars
• A huge hammer
• Assortment of ragged armour (Modest armour)
• Dream journal, almost full

Skills
6 Language - Kurgan
3 Maul fighting
3 Secret Signs - Chaos Patron
1 Random Spell
1 Second sight

Special
You may call upon your patron for aid once per day, to do so roll three 6s on 3d6, the GM will interpret his intervention.



16 Claviger
The key masters wander the universe fathoming the workings of all entry ways they can find. Though they’re quite fascinated with simple chests and doors they are most excited by metaphysical and metaphorical barriers.

Possessions

• Festooned with keys (counts as modest armour)
• A sledgehammer
• Lock picking tools

Skills
4 Locks
4 Bash Lock
3 Trap Knowledge
1 Spell - See Through
1 sledgehammer fighting



21 Demon Stalker
You stake your reputation on your ability to hunt and kill demonic creatures and those who break bread with them. Goat men in the wilds, or the angel cults of the slums, all needs to be driven back off the edge of the map and into the shores of chaos.

Possessions

• A silver sword OR 16 silver arrows and a bow
• Pouch of salt

Skills
5 Language - Abyssal
3 Spell - Blood Shroud
2 Second Sight
2 Sword fighting
2 Bow fighting
1 Tracking

1 Sneak



22 Dwarf
You are a short, hairy, belligerent, alcohol dependent creature. The latter two may be linked, but you’ll fight anyone who suggests as much. Since there are no dwarf women (or men, technically) there are no dwarf children or dwarf families, so you can fully commit yourself to the important dwarfy endeavours of creating fine art in unusual places. You intend to find the most unusual places ever seen in all the million spheres.

Possessions

• Masons hammer
• Roll of artists supplies

Skill
3 Awareness
2 Sculpting
2 Painting
2 Metalworking
2 Construction
2 Hefting
2 Fist Fighting
2 Wrestling
1 Hammer fighting

Special
May eat gems and rare metals as a food replacement. You in fact far prefer the taste of rare minerals to mundane food.
Dwarves are genderless. You are immune to all compulsions that play on a creature’s desire for the opposite sex. This also means you don’t have sexual organs. Instead of urinating you excrete through sweating, thus explaining the odour.



23 Epopt
A roaming seer, selling your visions at courts and fetes. You are instantly recognisable by your yellow coif and habit as being open for business. Road weary and world wise, your unpopular visions cause you to constantly move on.

Possession

• Yellow epopt outfit, padded for protection against unhappy clients (counts as modest armour)
• Epopt staff, being a walking staff with seeing crystal on one end (counts as staff)
• Collapsable tent, big enough for your stall

Skills
2 Awareness
2 Evaluate
1 Second Sight
1 Etiquette
1 Fist Fighting
1 Run

Special
May test their luck to get a yes or no answer to a question about mundane matters. The GM should make this test in private, not informing the epopt is they are accurate.



24 Exotic Warrior
No one has heard of your homeland, your habits are peculiar, your clothes are outrageous, and in a land jaded to the outlandish and new you still somehow manage to stand out.

Possessions

• A weird and wonderful weapon
• Strange clothes
• Exciting accent
• A tea set OR 3 pocket gods OR astrological equipment

Skills
6 Language - Weird Exotic Language
3 in the fighting skill of your weird weapon
2 Language - Local
2 in one random spell
1 Astrology
1 Etiquette



25 The Fellowship of Knidos
Mathmologists honour the clean and unambiguous truths of mathematics, and coordinate it with their observation of the multiverse. All things can be measured and predicted with the application of the correct mathmatical ratios, their methods applied to penetrate the ethereal surface to glimpse the fundamental numbers below.

Possession

• Large Astrolabe (as mace)
• Abacus
• Lots of scrolls and writing equipment

Skills
3 Mathmology
2 Astrology

2 Spell – Find



26 Fellowship of Porters & Basin Fillers
Luggers are a servile group by nature, most often found in the service of others, weighed down by loads that would buckle a donkey. You take pride in that. Maybe so much that the everyday assignments of the guild could not sate your desire to serve and so ventured out in search of a real challenge for such a talented varlet.

Possessions

• A wooden yoke which gives you +2 Heft while worn. Suffer -4 to all other physical rolls while wearing it
• Brown over coat and soft doffing cap of the guild
• A bale hook. Counts as a knife for damage and gains you a +1 on rolls to lift heavy objects if used to do so
• Length of rope

Skills
4 Heft
2 Fist fighting
2 Run
1 Hook fighting
1 Sneak
1 Awareness



31 Gremlin Catcher
No matter what country, sphere or abstract dimension you may find yourself in, be sure that gremlins will be there digging their warrens.

Possessions

• Small but vicious dog
• Flat cap
• A club
• A sack
• D6 empty gremlin jars
• A jar with a pissed off gremlin inside

Skills
4 Tunnel fighting
4 Trap knowledge
2 Sneak
2 Awareness
2 Club fighting
2 Tracking
1 Swim



32 Journeyman of the Guild of Sharp Corners
You are an assassin in training, graduated from fighting dummies or branding practise clients, now you have a license to do it for real. You haven’t fully developed the idiosyncratic methods required of a master but you are on the path.

Possessions
Black clothes of the apprentice
Garrotte
Curved sword
3 vials of poison
Crossbow & 6 bolts

Skills
1 Poison
1 Sneak
1 Locks
1 Knife fighting
1 Climb
1 Awareness
1 Crossbow fighting
1 Swim
1 Disguise

33 Lansquenet
You were a mercenary retained in the exclusive service of the autarch, handsomely paid and sent to distant spheres on golden ships to spread the ineffable glory of your paymaster at the tip of your flaming lance.

Possessions

• Exquisite pistolet 
• Bandolier containing 18 plasmic cores
• Great sword
• Brightly coloured clothing with lots of tassels and bells (-4 to sneaking). Though frivolous looking it is in fact built with the autarch’s divine alchemy and considered modest armour while weighing the same as normal clothing

Skills
2 Great sword fighting
2 Pistolet fighting
1 Run
1 Golden Barge Pilot
1 Astrology



34 Lonesome King
You were a king! The ruler of all your surveyed, a great conqueror, a law-bringer! But your horse sped off into the pixie forest, or the court magician saw to it that you dissapeared, or you led a sortie into the stars to put your tsamp on that as well. Either way you are a lost and lonely king without a kingdom, no one has heard of you or your people. Most don't believe you and laugh, or worse they do believe you and shrug at the vagaries of fate.

Possessions

• A nice weapon of your choice
• A crown

Skills
3 Etiquette
3 Weapon fighting in the weapon of your choice



35 Miss Kinsey’s Diner’s Club
The Eaters know that there are only two worlds: the without and the within. They intend to insert as much of the prior into the later as they can while experiencing the finest delights available. All culinary experience is open to them, nothing is forbidden at Miss Kinsey’s. Try the other, other, other white meat.

Possessions

• Sharp metal dentures (damage as sword) OR forked metal dentures (as knife, but on a critical you may cleanly strip all the flesh from one small appendage) OR blunt metal dentures (damage as knife but may be used to eat hard objects)
• Embroidered napkin

Skills
3 Etiquette
1 Strength
1 Tracking
1 Trapping
1 Gastrology

Special
Immune to mundane ingested poisons. Also can identify any object if eaten, gaining knowledge of its material, its origin (if plausibly familiar), and its magical properties. Must be thoroughly masticated, not merely swallowed and passed. This does not grant special immunity to any effects it may possess.



36 Monekymonger
Life on The Wall is hard. One is never more than a few yards from an endless fall but those precarious villages still need to eat. This is where you come in with your edible monkeys (the distinction is purely for appeal, since all monkeys are of course edible). You used to spend days on end dangling your feet off the edge of the world watching over your chitering livestock while they scampered hither and thither. But there was no future in monkey meat, or future on The Wall. You wanted much more and so stepped off. Or you fell. Either way you and some unlucky monkeys are here now and that's all that matters.

Possessions

• Monkey Club
• Butcher Knife
• d6 small monkeys that do not listen to you but are too scared and hungry to travel far from you
• A pocket full of monkey treats

Skills
4 Climb
2 Trapping
1 Club Fighting
1 Knife Fighting



41 Necromancer
The least popular magical practitioners. Shunned by the major centres of learning, they’re left to their own devices on the edges of society, passing on knowledge in the time honoured master student dynamic.

Possessions

• Dusty robes
• The skull of your master OR a zombie servant OR a ghost with whom you have developed a codependent relationship with

Skills
2 Heal
1 Spell - Posthumous vitality
1 Spell - Skeletal Counsel
1 Spell - Torpor
1 Sneak



42 Parchment Witch
Known for your smooth skin, midnight gatherings and being fearful of rain and open flames. The parchment witches are long dead sorcerers who cannot give up the vanity of living and so cover themselves in perfect paper skin. A patiently painted and folded imitation of life to hide ancient bone and gristle.

Possessions

• d6 rolls of parchment skin
• Vials of pigments and powders 
• Collection of brushes

Skill
2 Spell - Protection From Rain
2 random spell

2 Spell - Quench

2 Spell - True Seeing
2 Disguise
2 Second Sight
1 Healing
1 random spell
1 random spell

Special

You are undead so do not need to breathe, circulate blood, and so on. You takes double damage from silver weapons and regain stamina half as effectively from all sources. You must test luck if outside in the rain, made wet, close to open flames, or suffer general grievous wounds. A failure will see your skin ruined. While your skin is damaged you are very obviously a walking corpse and take damage from salt as though it were fire.

43 Poorly Made Dwarf
Dwarves are known for being the finest artisans of the million spheres. Give a dwarf a rock and he will make gold, give a dwarf a boulder and he will make a dwarf. You were supposed to be the finest expression of dwarfy craftsmanship, a masterpiece, a brand new dwarf like those made by the old masters. But you were imperfect and abandoned.

Possessions

• Woodsmans axe
• An empty firkin

Skills
3 Fist Fighting
3 Awareness
2 Hefting
2 Wrestling
2 Axe Fighting

Special
as Dwarf, but in addition...
Other dwarves completely ignore you as though you were an item  or openly examined and criticised for your flaws. Though to the non-dwarfy eyes you probably look like any other dwarf.



44 Questing Knight
You are on a quest for the grail, or the sword, or the throne, or for god, or a lost love, or some other significant object. Your sort are common enough, wandering the worlds acting out your romantic melodrama, accusing good folk of being demons or faeries. Generally considered to be harmless.

Possession

• Heavy armour
• A horse
• Lance (as spear)
• Sword
• Shield
• A never ending quest

Skills
3 Jousting

1 Sword Fighting

1 Spear fighting
1 Shield fighting
1 Awareness



45 Red Priest
Evangelist of the red redemption, wandering confessor, cauterizer of the wound of sin. Sin being the accumulation and recreational consumption of mass. How can your spirit fly free while shackled and flabby?

Possessions

• Red robes
• Traditional faceless metal helmet of your order (modest armour)
• Symbolic (but fully sized and fully functional) single headed axe, to help batter down the door to Sin

Skills
2 Spell - Ember
2 Spell - Fire Bolt
2 Spell - Flash
2 Great Axe Fighting
1 Second Sight



46 Rhino-Man
The original Rhino-Men were created by an insane sorcerer several centuries ago, but rebelled and killed him. They are fairly rare creatures, serving as formidable and loyal guards to those who can afford their services.

Possessions

• Horn (counts as dagger)
• Thick Skin (rhino men always count as being modestly armoured)
• Glaive
• Knuckle dice
• a half full firkin of Rhino-beer (20 rations worth)

Skills
3 Glaive fighting
2 Run
2 Bash Lock
1 Gambling



51 Skeptical Lammasu
Body of a bull, head of a man, forelegs of a cat and the wings of a swan, sweetest children of the gods. You, however, were not content to rest on your cloud and instead descended from the heavens (or crawled up from the abyss) and set upon finding your own path among the stars.

Possessions

• Incidental sacred jewellery worth 10d6 monies if traded
• Peaked hat
• Claws (as Swords)
• Hooves (as Clubs)
• Wings, able to fly as fast as a running man over clear ground

Skills
3 Fly
3 Spell - Random
3 Spell - Random

3 Spell - Random
2 Claw Fighting

1 Hoof Fighting

52 Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors
Troika’s very own wizarding academy, pride of the city, experts in pan-dimensional mobility. You were an apprentice of the school and were able to penetrate the (2d6)th door. No master, certainly, but few outside your peers can claim to know more about the vagries of skyward travel than you.

Possessions

• A small functional door, worn on your forehead. You channel your magic through it
• Flashy robes

Skills
2 Second Sight
2 Spell - Astral Reach
1 Spell - Teleport

1 Spell - Web



53 Sorcerer of the 
College of Friends
You were trained in the sub-dimensional academy of the Cordial Wizard God. You spent your childhood learning about the fate of pixies, the colour of magic, ritual grammar and endless other theoretical topics. Now you’re out in the world, discovering that your education hardly accounted for any of it.

Possessions

• Pointed wizard hat you received at graduation
• Pocket full of wizard biscuits (2d6, each count as a ration)
• Wand used to help focus new apprentices, now kept for sentimental reasons

Skills
4 Secret Signs - Witching Words
2 Run
1 Climb
1 Swim
1 Second Sight
1 Spell - Jolt
1 Spell - Amity
1 Spell - Mirror Selves
1 Spell - Protection from Rain
1 Spell - Helping Hands
1 Spell - Spark
1 Spell - Purple Lens



54 The Sublime Society of Beef Steaks
Brawlers believe the application of might and a good beef steak is the universal truth. Words do not have power. Words can no more define the universe than they can build a house, lift a cup, or sear a steak. Might can. Really, they have thought a lot about this.

Possessions

• A weapon of choice
• A small gridiron
• 2kg of premium meat cuts
• Waistcoat
• Bottle of strong but fancy wine

Skills
2 in a fighting skill of your choice
2 Wrestling
2 Swim
2 Climb
2 Run
2 Fist Fighting



55 Temple Knight of Telak the Swordbringer
You were once (and possibly still) a fanatical monk set to maintain constant martial readiness in preparation for the end times when all doorways crumble inwards. You are never unready and always have spares.

Possessions

• The blessing of Telak
• 6 swords of your choice

Skills
2 Awareness
1 Sword Fighting
1 Greatsword fighting

Special
The blessing of Telak allows you to carry as many swords as you like and count them as a single item for encumberance purposes. While carrying 12 or more swords you count as having modest armour, while carrying 36 or more swords you count as having heavy armour. You must be overtly armed at all times or else Telak will take this blessing away until you forge, and donate to the unarmed, a brand new sword.



56 Thaumaturge
Wandering miracle workers, the depths of whose clothes are filled with pouches of unguents, holy icons and herbs. No matter the metaphysical need, they are always prepared.

Possessions

• Thamaturgical fez
• Staff, bedecked with charms and bells. May reroll one die on the Opps! Table if using this staff, however may never sneak up on anyone because of the ringing and clattering it makes
• Curled Shoes
• Voluminous robes

Skills
2 in one random spell
1 in one random spell
1 Second Sight
1 in one random spell
1 in one random spell
1 Astrology

Special
May test their luck to just so happen to have exactly the (common) mystical nicknack the situation requires

61 Thinking Engine

Your eyes are dull ruby spheres, your skin is hard and smooth like ivory but brown and whorled like wood. You are clearly damaged, you have no memory of your creation or purpose, and some days your white internal juices ooze thickly from cracks in your skin.

Possessions

• Large cloak
• Soldering iron

Skills

3 Golden Barge Pilot

2 Astrology

2 Pistolet Fighting

2 Healing

1 Run

1 Bash Lock

1 Fist Fighting

1 Cooking

Special

You don’t recover Stamina by resting in the usual manner, instead you have to spend an evening with a hot iron melting your skin back together like putty. For each hour of rest with access to the right tools you regain 3 Stamina. 

May recharge plasmic machines by hooking your fluids to them spending Stamina. 1 Stamina and 6 minutes per charge.

You always count as being lightly armoured.

62 Vengeful Child

Your village was burnt down by ruffians, or your mother was beheaded by snake cultists, or your father was hung by corrupt officials. Either way, you took up the sword and entered the world with a chip on one shoulder and oversized sword on the other.

Possessions

A too-big sword, +1 to Sword Fighting and Damage Rolls while using it. Only you may benefit from this bonus, it’s not magic just sentimental

An old hunting bow & 12 arrows

Skills

1 Sword Fighting

1 Awareness

1 Climb

1 Bow Fighting

1 Run

1 Swim

63 Venturesome Academic

You’re a classically trained academic, a product of the universities of the Brass City, the Palace of Tigers or some other less prestigious centre of learning. 

Possessions

• Reading glasses in a sturdy case (you cannot read without them)
• Small sword
• Bundle of candles & matches
• Writing material
• Journal

Skills

2 Evaluate

2 Astrology

1 Healing

1 random spell

1 Sword Fighting 

Special

You may test your Luck to recall facts that you might reasonably be expected to have encountered relating to the natural sciences and humanities.

64 Wizard Hunter

Some people say man is the most dangerous prey. They're wrong. Can men turn into flocks of seagulls when cornered in an alley? Can men ignite the air and freeze your blood? No they can't. Wizards are the most dangerous prey.

Possessions

• Large sack
• Witch-hair rope
• Crossbow & 12 bolts
• Sword
• d6 Poppets
• Ruby Lorgnette

Skills

2 Tracking

2 Disguise

2 Crossbow Fighting

1 Sword Fighting

1 Sneak

1 Locks

1 Etiquette

65 Yongardy Lawyer 

Down in Yongardy they do things differently. They respect the law. Every day there is a queue outside the courts to get a seat to see the latest up and coming barrister defend his case with three feet of steel. The people follow the careers of their favourite solicitors, watch all their cases, collect their portraits and sneak into the court after hours to dab the patches of blood on white handkerchiefs. In Yongardy they love the law.

Possessions

• Rapier
• Puffy Shirt
• Manual on Yondardy Law

Skills

4 Sword Fighting

66 Zoanthrop

At some point in your past you decided you didn’t need it any more. You found a zoanthropologist and paid him well to remove your troublesome forebrain and so elevate you to the pure and unburdened man-beast you are today.

Possessions

• Nothing except a wooden club. Remove all starting possessions, cast off the shackles of civilisation. You are probably nude.

Skills

3 Climb

3 Run

2 Strength

2 Fist Fighting

2 Club Fighting

2 Wrestling

1 Swim

Special

You are immune to all mind altering effects. You are able to speak but usually choose not to. When making advancement checks in skills related to abstract thought, such as spells or astrology, you must roll twice and succeed on both or else fail.

Items

Astrological Equipment - +1 to Astrology when used. Requires twenty minutes, doesn't need to be outside. Consists of ruby specular, charms against reciprocal observation, and complicated charts of the spheres.

Grappling Hook – Test your Climb skill to attach the hook securely. Everyone climbing it gains +1 Climb skill.

Knuckle Dice – The nimble, petal shaped knuckle bones of goblins make excellent two sided dice. 

Manual on Yongardy Law - If you spend some time studying the manual you may forgo all advancement rolls to instead roll and additional time for Sword Fighting.

Pocket Gods – Little wooden statues made in the image of your numerous gods. If you whisper a secret to one and hide it somewhere you may regain 1 Luck

Poppet - A poppet allows you to reroll a failed Luck roll regarding magic directed at you. Successful or not the poppet is saturated with unwanted magic and is best thrown away.

Roll of lock picks: +1 Lock skill when using these. On a critical failure they break and need repalcing

Ruby Lorgnette: Gain +1 Second Sight will using these to peer at things. Requires one hand to use.

Tea Set - +1 to Etiquette skill when you have the time to sit down and make tea

Velare - A small metal brooch that, when activated, provides a perfect visual disguise for a day. Requires plasmic cores to recharge.

Witch-Hair Rope: Anything tied up with this rope will be unable to change shape.