He was just one day from retirement (NKOG Class: Guards)

I've recently had trouble in one of my games with a busy player, dropping the party from 3 to 2 characters. To solve this I used The Crew class as a support class to represent the parties hirelings (which were, in fact, a pirate crew). This worked fantastically and so I've decided to make my own version, it is designed to be played collectively by the party or by guest players and so has some simplifications compared to other classes in my system.

The Guards

"STOP You've violated the law, pay the court a fine or serve your sentence." Source Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages & Bethesda's ESIV: Oblivion

Starting Equipment: Fancy Armor (Medium), Long weapons, mementoes of their families

Background Question: Who or what did they first protect?

XP Trigger: Special. Guards level is always the average of the parties level.

Starting Stamina: 1d12+6 rolled each time they recover

A:	Guards! Guards! Guards!, Look Out Sir!
B:	Captain of the Guard
C:	Charge! one at a time, +1 Lieutenant
D:	We'll Handle it, +1 Lieutenant

A: Guards! Guard! Guards!

The entire squad of bodyguards are represented by one HP pool which becomes equal to 1d12+6 each time they recover. When they take damage they act as one target. Any effect that would kill or Wound a character instead cause 1hp to be lost as a single guard dramatically dies. Other effects either affect them all or fail completely.

If reduced below 0 HP, the Guards all die in tragic-comic fashion except for the Named Characters. If these all survive to recruit a new crew within 1 session, they can become The Guards again. Otherwise, they disband except for one Named Character who can start to gain classes.

The Guards have encumbrance as a normal character and can only carry the same coin as a regulars character. They will inevitably lose, forget or have stolen from them anything beyond that. Weapons, clothes, ammunition and armor do not occupy inventory slots. Guards need 10 copies of a weapon or item to benefit from it. They consume rations and ammunition as if there were only one of them.

At any one time the guards have as many people as is needed for the scene, if needed the rest can pour from a side room where they were standing guard or gambling.

A: Look out Sir!

The bodyguards can leap in front of an attack that would wound an ally they can see. They take the damage instead as the guard tragically dies.

B: Captain of the Guard

The Guard squad gains ranking members for each template they gain past B, these members have a name, skill and family. They can each act with this skill once per session before fading into the background. The First named character is the Captain, each other character is a Sargent. When a ranked character dies other are promoted to fill the spaces.

C: Charge! one at a time

The Guards can one at a time charge at an opponent and die pointlessly to them. However the opponent will be unable to move until the guards are all dead or they chose to retreat on their turn.

D: We'll Handle it

The bodyguards can sacrifice 1d6+3 stamina, and one ranking character to split off a group to scout, guard or escort something. They will inevitably die but they will be mostly successful in their mission and leave the ranking guard behind to die dramatically after giving the party the information they need.

For example, the guards sent to escort the prince are all found dead but Graham, who was one day from retirement, is bleeding out on the side of the road. He lets the party know that the prince escaped with a ranger they found in a nearby town and is heading towards the capital. He then lets out his last breath, still clutching a photo of his husband.

Godly feats (GLOGtober 2 #6)

GLOGtober Challenge #: Rolled a 6, Notes about a family of gods.

Feat: Divine Favor

You have the favor of one of the gods, choose one below and gain the power listed. You can use that power once per session. You can take this feat multiple times to dedicate to multiple gods.

The First Gods

The Shinning One

Father of the gods, the shining one is the flame handed to humanity by Prometheus, the first god born of a titan to face the other titans. 

Power: Turn Undead. You raise your holy symbol as an action and pray as a holy light bursts forth. Any undead lit by it must save or become Fearful (f) and take Half-Level d6 damage (p)

Zin, The Lawbringer

When the His light reflected of the first piece of steel wielded by men the Lawbringer was born. He forged humanity into an army to fell titans.

Power: Truthful Concecration. You alight some holy oil, while someone has their hands held within the flame will not be burnt, unless they lie.

Hestia, The Hearthkeeper

The youngest god, a spark from The Shining One landed upon the fires of those who could not fight and the goddess of the hearth was born.

Power: Comforting Flame. You pray over a Wound and touch a coal from a hearth (a fire that had been used to cook food) to it. That wound becomes completely healed

The Second Generation:

Talos, The Stormbringer

Born of desperation, the titans of storms had called upon clouds to obscure the battlefield from His light. Alone and cut off from his father Zin ordered every archer to fire up, they pierced the clouds and a single beam of his light flew down. The first lightning bolt was Talos, who led the fight and felled the first titan, claiming the storm as his own.

Power: As lightning moves. As an action you instantly fly your full movement, becoming surrounded in winds and lightning. Any characters you pass over or though take Half-Level d6 damage.

Zois, The Gravekeeper

Zin came back from the field of battle to find Hestia covered in mud from digging graves. Despite his exhaustion he dug alongside her. The shovel they held, stained in the tears of two gods became Zois, who mourned for the fallen.

Power: Still the Dead. You can speak the rites over a corpse and place silver coins on the eyes. The body cannot be animated as undead or otherwise possessed unless the body is desecrated and 1d6 years pass. This works on undead.

Dama, The Weeping

The people starved and Hestia could do nothing. She cared for them as best she could but they could barely stand. The Shining One saw their plight and with Hestia helped them learn to grow fields. The seeds sown by the gods grew Dama, who wept for her starving people.

Power: Reap and Sow. By praying over a crop or fruit tree you can conjure rations equal to your level. These rations never spoil, even after they've been processed.

The Chthonic Ones

Only spoken of in hushed tones, the Chthonic deities live beneath the ground where dead souls pass by. They are taboo to talk of and have very few worshipers.

Tartarus

When the gods had beat each titan they found that the people could not live while they still remained in the mortal realm. So they forged chains, to imprison the Titans elsewhere. Those chains are Tartarus who digs forever deeper to bury the titans away from the gods people.

Power: Chains Below. With a dark prayer to the lord of chains you call upon his power, a character you can see is dragged by chains beneath the earth for a turn, before being ejected at the end of your next turn.

Hypnos

An offspring forbidden by the gods, when Tartarus dug into the realm he found a companion who was not his prisoner. The titan Hecate had hidden where the gods could not find her, and from this union of god and magic was born Hypnos, a god of magic. 

Power: Lost among Dream. When you sleep you can travel, and bring allies with you, into someone you knows dreams. The dream acts as dreams would be expected, when they wake up they will think it was just a normal dream, and not suspect magic unless they have significant reason too. 

Hades

When they found the River where mortal souls flowed in an endless cycle between life and death, the gods knew they could not leave such a place unguarded, so it was that Hades was born, climbing from the river to protect their souls.

Power: Lord of Jewels. You may call forth rare minerals, however they yearn to return beneath the ground and so cannot be sold and must immediately be worked into something new to prevent them from sinking back into the earth.

Weapons of less destruction (GLOGtober Challenge 1 #4)

GLOGtober Challenge #1: Rolled a 4, Magic items that are unintentionally also magic weapons.

Cleansing Rod.

A failed mage was known for washing not as often as they should. They had a distaste for the sense of water flowing over them and therefore decided to solve this problem as their graduate project. The rod cleansed them quite effectively, however as their graduation approached they began to lose weight, they got pale and started to grow sickly despite eating well. When they passed away the chirurgeon concluded that he had cleansed his humor's and thus doomed himself to a slow death.

The Cleansing Rod can be used, over 1 minute, to cleanse a person of all filth. Thus rendering them clean and even smelling pleasantly of  lavender (giving a +1 to social checks). However the cleansed person can no longer benefit from Recovery or rations and will begin to starve. 

A highly skilled medical practitioner may be able to come up with a cure: drinking a healthy persons bile or other digestive fluids.

Cursed Tome

The librarian had noticed a distinct trend, the romance novels were disappearing at a staggering rate, however none were being booked out. So he decided to make a trap to catch the horny thief.

This tome appears to be a cheaply bound romance novel attached to a length of rope. Whoever touches the tome will find whatever parts of them touched it covered in a in invisible in that glows in the dark. This ink transfers on touch to other objects or places allowing one to follow the trail.

The tome acts as a flail, however on a hit the target is marked and they can be followed by their trail as long as it is dark enough to see the glowing ink.

Telekinetic Sewing Kit

They became quite common nearby the magic school, many students would make them for a quick profit. A simple telekinesis spell on a sewing kit, the tailors would pay top dollar to be able to sew with two free hands. It all ended however with the Seamstress Murder's where an assassin earned fame by using poisoned needles from the kits to fulfil their contacts. Now they are black market items, purchased by both assassins' and tailors wherever they can find them.

This sewing kit contains 2d6 needles inside that can be guided by a user with mental commands (Sewing kit gives +1 to all related checks). These needles can be flung as if by a magic missile spell at enemies, dealing 1d4 damage each. Unlike magic missile these needles can be poisoned.

Hedge Mages Spells*

The hedge mages are known for being a practical folk, some are known for their incredible skill with a wide range of spells. Most however are just simple craftspeople, using utility spells to support people. Some people, with less sense than muscles, attempt to take from them like they were simple craftsmen, they are quick to learn that simple utility magic can have other effects.

Cantrip: Mending

With 10 minutes of time any minor damage, like tears or cracks,  no larger than your hand can be seamlessly repaired. Skilled users can use it to weld two identical materials together (skill check to do successfully)

1: Light

Slow, visible point, instant 

When cast creates an incredibly bright light, if fired into the air lights up everything in 100ft. If fired close to the ground all creatures within 30ft. must save or be blinded for 1 minute (f) or 3 turns (p). This also creates long shadows that give a +1 bonus to any attempts to hide on the battlefield.

2: Cooktop

Slow, [dice] Nearby pieces of metal, Concentration

You cause [dice] pieces of metal you can see to glow cherry red allowing you to cook atop it like a camp-fire. If cast on weapons the opponent must drop it or take [sum] damage each turn you maintain the spell. Casting on armor generally is ineffective due to it's size and padding worn beneath it.

3: Green Thumb

Slow, Nearby plants, Instant

You gently nurture plants, sustaining them with magical energy, you can grow plants up to [dice] times their initial volume over 10 minutes, shaping them however you want. You can also release it in a burst to grow plants quickly and entangle anyone in them, entangling up to [dice] opponents standing among plant life. These plants have [sum] HP and take double damage from fire.

4: Condensation

Slow, A nearby point or character, Instant

By pulling the air together you can condense the air around into fog and then into liquid. You can fill [dice] waterskins with water over 10 minutes. You can instead conjure this fog about a person, they must save or lose their turn (f) and be blinded (p) as they choke on the fog.

5: Longsight

Slow, Self, [dice] rounds

You bend the air around a ring, such as one made by your circled fingers, that ring now acts as a telescope letting you see incredible distances or observe the stars. This removes penalties from ranged attacks past your weapons range and grants a +1 bonus on checks to see distant details.

6: Birdcall

Fast, Nearby point, Instant

You can create illusionary sounds of any animal or voice you have heard. The sounds lack resonance however and intelligent beings will not be fooled unless the sound is disguised somehow (such as being muffled). Beasts however can be easily startled and scared by the sounds of their predators.

If cast directly into a characters ears they must save or be deafened for [sum] rounds.

7:Unseen Servant

Ritual (2), Nearby Location, [sum] hours
You summon an invisible, intangible servant. It will do your bidding and can perform any and all unskilled mundane tasks at the speed a human could perform them. It  cannot go further than the range of the spell away from the location where the spell was cast and can only take a single harmful action, dealing [sum] damage maximum and being dispelled.

*Spellcasting rules

I know a guy (Downtime rule & contacts)

Relationship Rules

Relationships of NPC’s with the party can be characterized by the relationship level system. The system defines how a character will help or hinder the party. When attempting to persuade, barter or otherwise negotiate with the NPC the characters roll a number of dice modified by their relationship level with them.

These relationships also apply to Factions the larger groups that interact with characters.

Level	Name	Effect
-3	Rival	Will actively seek out the party to obstruct them
-2	Enemy	Will obstruct the party if they come across them, even it it inconveniences them
-1	Opponent	Will deny the party help unless they have a strong motivation, will obstruct the party if it requires little effort.
0	Neutral	Will not help or hinder the party without reason
+1	Acquaintance	Will help the party in easy ways unless they have a reason not to
+2	Friend	Will help the party unless it heavily disadvantages them
+3	Ally	Will actively help the party in whatever way they reasonably can

Downtime: Carouse

When you Carouse, you spend your money making friends and earning favors. You may get drunk at the bar, buying everyone drinks, getting into trouble and helping others get out of trouble, or you may find invite the local librarians out for a nice dinner for some enlightening conversation. Maybe you even go and do some gardening with the local druids. Either way you meet new people and earn Favors.

To Carouse you:

- Describe how you're getting to know new people

- Decide on what skill is most relevant for what you are doing

- Roll your skill check, adding a +1 bonus for each coin you spend

If your result is a:

• Full Success, you earn 2 Favors from the people you met.
• Partial Success, you earn 1 Favor 
• Failure, you earn 1 Favor but a Complication Arises.

Using Favors

Favor's earned by carousing can be spend in two ways:

I know a guy. When the party needs a contact for some service like selling rare goods, purchasing ingredients, or discreet information, you Know a Guy who can help, gaining a +1 to your relationship with them for your first meeting.

Call in a Favor. When the party needs a help quickly or without being able to pay the normal price they can call in a favor from a character they already know. Characters being called on for a favor will help as if they are 1 relationship level higher than they are. This can be pushed to 2 higher at the cost of a -1 to the relationship after as they feel the party has forced their hand.

Complications: 

1. Your Favor is in trouble, such as debt or imprisonment, and needs some help before they are able to help with anything.
2. You manage to make an enemy with a character, a faction or character you have a neutral relationship with will become an opponent until you appease them.
3. You attract attention from the law, you must either pay a coin in fines or hide until they forget your face.
4. You are blacklisted from your venue, you'll have to find a new location before you can carouse in that manner again.
5. You owe someone else a favor, which they will call in before you can use the favor you earnt.
6. You've managed to catch a disease, curse or ailment that while benign now, will get worse each downtime until you find a cure.

Those who hunt leviathans (GLOG Class: Levithan Hunter)

Based of the Whalers and void powers from the dishonored series, this class is a supernatural rogue and assassin. They get their powers from the magical blood of the creatures found in the deep sea, powering the entire economy of the northern coast this glowing blood holds a massive amount of power for those who can retrieve it.

The Void Sea to the north of Neria is considered a place that can never be passed, a seemingly endless ocean where vast creatures destroy anything that sails the seas. That is except for the Levithan Hunters, sometimes called Whalers. These brave individuals sail in vast boats forged from steel and hunt the vast creatures, dragging their corpses back to the shore. The Hunters themselves are feared and respected by many, both because off their skill and the odd powers their exposure to the creatures gives them.

A hunter can be recognized by the tattoo's covering their arms, each glowing with the blood of a leviathan. This blood gives them strange powers, ones often inexplicable to the mages who attempt to study them. Some hunters go further still, ridges on their tattoo's showing where they've placed the bone of a Levithan they've slain. Though seen rarely outside of Grine, where the factories harvest the bodies of these beasts, some hunters travel in land, seeking other signs of the void and other hidden creatures to slay.

A Whaler vessel, the iron body being one of the few things able to survive the onslaught of a Levithan (source: Dishonored: The Dunwall Archives)

Levithan Hunter

Starting Equipment: Heavy leather coat (light armor), A shortblade (light melee weapon), A pistol or hand crossbow (Hand Weapons), A mysterious gift from a god of the void.

Background Question: What drove you to the sea?

XP Trigger: Find occult shrines and secrets.

Expert: Pushing yourself only costs 1 stamina.

Stamina: 6

A:	Voidborne Power (2), Bone Charms
B:	Runes, +1 VD, +1 Power
C:	+1 VD, +1 Power or Rune
D:	+1 VD, +2 Powers and/or Runes

A: Voidborne Powers

The blood of leviathans has mystical powers, the hunters who survive are given tattoo's from their kills. Grating them unique powers. Select 2 powers to begin with.

You have 3 void dice (VD) that you can expend to active a power. At the end of each round of combat you regain 1 void dice. You gain 1 additional void dice with each template.

Powers:

1. Blink: You may instantly move [dice] ranges without provoking attacks of opportunity. This movement can occur in any direction and can end in mid-air. You do physically move this distance and so solid objects and hazards may obstruct you.

2. Dark Vision: You may see in perfect darkness for the scene however you cannot see color. If 2 [dice] are invested you may see living beings even through walls. If 3 [dice] are invested you may see magic and magical materials.

3. Pull: You may pull small objects of [dice] encumbrance to you. You can pull near characters of less than [dice] HD 1 range closer to you.

4. Wind Blast: You can call on the screeching winds of the void and push [dice] close creatures back a range. If they collide with any solid objects, not including the floor, they take [sum] damage. Certain creatures may be able to resist or save against this.

5. Swarm: You call upon a swarm of void creatures that have the appearance of vermin. This swarm has they has [sum] HP can attack with [dice]d to hit and deal damage equal to a third their remaining hp d4s. They will follow some commands but they hunger for flesh.

6. Possession: You leap into the body of an animal with less than [dice] HD and can control their actions.

7. Domino: You bind [dice] characters together and whatever effects one, such as attacks or spells, will also effect the other identically.

8. Doppelganger: You summon [dice] illusionary duplicates, you can control both as if they were you and only reveal which one is real when you wish to physically interact with the world or would take damage.

9. Bend Time: You may take 1 additional action for [dice] turns.

A: Bone Charms

You can use the bones of the void creatures you have slain to craft minor magical artefacts. You can maintain 2+[template] bone charms at once. You may take apart and assemble new charms when you take downtime.

Shadowkill: When you kill an enemy you may chose to instantly reduce their body to smoke.

Beast Whispers: Vermin and creatures near to the void can speak to you.

Apprentice: By granting this charm to another and expending a void dice as long as they hold it you may allow them to use one of your powers with 1 VD.

Fading Light: You regain a VD when you kill a character.

Fragments of Elmira: A womans voice whispers to you, it can guide you toawrds places where silver can be found.

Song of Inspiration: This charms sings quietly, the words can be made out to reroll a dice check once per session.

Bloodlust: When blood is shed you gain +2 stamina on top of your normal stamina this expires when you end combat.

Yearning of the Leviathan: Calls to creatures of the sea, allows the user to breath underwater.

Silence: Absorbs sound around the holder, you may reroll 1s on attempts to hide or sneak.

B: Runes

Runes carved from bone like a charm and embedded under the skin enhance the powers of the void. You may select one of these runes to enhance an existing power when you gain this ability and may choose to gain a power or rune for each template you gain

(Blink) Translocation: Blink now transports you through the void, you no longer pass through the physical world and teleport to the target location. You can only transpose to locations you can see or know well.

(Darkvision) Void Gaze: You can see magical materials and spell when using dark-vision. Void entities and artifacts can be sensed from miles away.

(Windblast) Shockwave: Windblast also effects all engaged characters.

(Possession) Human Possession: You may posses human characters, however your control is poor, you may not speak and will appear inebriated to others. Worthy characters may be able to save to resist this.

(Doppelganger) Deadly Shade: Your doppelgangers may make 1 attack each as if they were you without revealing themselves.

(Doppelganger/Blink) Transposition: When you blink you may switch places with any of your duplicates.

(Slow Time) Stop Time: When you use slow time time completely stops for you, You may make an additional attack action on your turn and your movement can no longer be seen, only the effects of your actions.