NPCs/Templates: City Guards and Blue Guard

NPCs/Templates: City Guards and Blue Guard

The content of this post wasn't made by me, but by my friend who is GMing a 2+-year long play-by-post fantasy game set in a magical metropolis. Mundane city guard templates can be used in almost any fantasy setting, and the reflavored Blue Guard may represent any specialized antimagic police force.

Sorcery: Sha'ir Spellcasting

Sorcery: Sha'ir Spellcasting

The sha'ir is an obscure base class for D&D 3.5 with unique mechanics and flavor. It is one of the two classes that can cast both arcane and divine spells natively. These arabic-flavored spellcasters rely on a gen familiar - a tiny genie - when casting spells. This gen fetches spells from the Elemental Planes, but the genie masters are fickle - the spells always have a chance of failure. Sorcery can be modified to represent sha’ir spellcasting.

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs III

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs III

The last three elixirs from Pyramid #3-28. Potion of Nightmares causes the subject to experience a nightmare next time he goes to sleep. Potion of Shadow Form transforms the subject into a two-dimensional shadow. Potion of Sleeplessness can make the subject sleepless for a week or so.

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs II

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs II

More elixirs from Pyramid #3-28. Ointment of Dream Walking allows the subject to project his mind into another person's dreams. Ointment of Grooming makes hair fall off. Potion of Greater Healing is a stronger version of Potion of Healing.

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs

Alchemy: Additional Elixirs

GURPS Magic is not the only source of published elixirs. There are several more in Pyramid #3-28. Alchemical Ink makes ink resistant to removal. Potion of Animal Friendship makes the subject more appealing to animals. Potion of Celerity accelerates the subject. Potion of Combustion burns the subject from within.

Alchemy: Exotic Preparations

Alchemy: Exotic Preparations

In addition to elixirs, GURPS Magic present use three exotic preparations. Alkahest is an universal solvent that is hard to contain. For homunculi refer to the Construct Crafting rules. Philosophers' Stone is an alchemical catalyst. Ordinary acid was included too.

Alchemy: Skill Elixirs

Alchemy: Skill Elixirs

The last elixirs from GURPS Magic enhance various skills and senses.

Alchemy: Mental Elixirs

Alchemy: Mental Elixirs

GURPS Magic provides only five mental elixirs. Potion of Charisma makes the subject more charismatic. Potion of Foresight causes prophetic visions. Potion of Hardheartedness dispels love. Potion of Memory enhances memory. Potion of Wisdom increases IQ.

Alchemy: Mental Control Elixirs II

Alchemy: Mental Control Elixirs II

Last three mental control elixirs. Potion of Gullibility makes the subject gullible. Potion of Love makes the subject fall in love at first sight. Potion of Truth makes the subject unable to lie.

Alchemy: Mental Control Elixirs

Alchemy: Mental Control Elixirs

The first batch of the mental control elixirs from GURPS Magic. Pastille of Drunkenness makes the inhalers drunk. Potion of Forgetfulness causes amnesia. Powder of Friendship makes the consumer more friendly.

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs III

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs III

The last four medical elixirs from GURPS Magic. Ointment of Resurrection can bring dead back to life. Potion of Tranquility prevents the subject's emotions from changing. Potion of Youth ages the subject backwards 1 year. Universal Antidote neutralizes poisons.

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs II

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs II

More medical elixirs from GURPS Magic converted to my metatronic alchemy system. Potion of Hybridization is the origin of owlbears, it seems. Potion of Health cures diseases. Potion of Long Slumber lets the subject enter suspended animation. Ointment of Reanimation can make a corpse talk.

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs I

Alchemy: Medical Elixirs I

GURPS Magic has many medical elixirs. While I have already converted the Potion of Healing and Ointment of Regeneration, there are quite a few of them left. Alchemical Antidote is a cheap alchemical countermeasure against alchemy. Ointment of Eternal Rest is a tool for embalmers. Potion of Awakening is a surprisingly expensive potion to wake a person up. Potion of Fertility is a potency enhancer. Potion of Lichdom is a way to achieve eternal unlife.

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs III

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs III

Last four magical elixirs from GURPS Magic. Potion of Transformation changes the subject to the form of an animal. Potion of True Sight allows to see through invisibility and illusions. Potion of Water Breathing allows to breathe water. Potion of Water-Walking makes the subject able to walk on water.

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs II

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs II

Some more magical elixirs from GURPS Magic. Ointment of Pain Resistance hardens the subject against pain. Potion of Invisibility does not last long, but is still immensely useful. Potion of Luck is a great thing as well. Potion of Magic Resistance is a cheap protection against mages.

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs I

Alchemy: Magical Elixirs I

Assorted magical elixirs from GURPS Magic. Ointment of Fire Resistance protects the user from fire. Potion of Attractiveness makes the user more attractive. Potion of Flight grants the ability to fly.  Using the Potion of Gambling is a good way to get a knife in the back.

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs III

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs III

Last of the hostile elixirs. Powder of Odium makes everyone perceive the subject as unattractive. Potion of Self-Love makes the subject content with himself. Potion of Unluckiness brings bad luck. Potion of Weakness reduces ST.

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs II

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs II

More hostile elixirs. Potion of Madness is relatively easy to resist, but lasts a long time and messes up the imbiber's mind. Powder of Hatred/Jealousy/Lecherousness are often used to subtly alter someone's mind.

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs I

Alchemy: Hostile Elixirs I

Here we have the first batch of hostile elixirs from GURPS Magic. Potion of Aging ages the imbiber 1 year. Powder of Death is a poison to spike food or drinks. Powder of Frustration makes the subject more likely to fail under stress. Terror Grenade is a very costly crowd control weapon.

Sorcery: Monster Spells

Sorcery: Monster Spells

Pyramid #3-109 has an interesting article - The Teramancers by David L. Pulver. It has a magical style with five secret spells that we will now have in the Sorcery format. Call Monster is a variant of Beast Summoning. Imprint Monster makes a newborn monster loyal to you. Monster Within causes the victim to fail self-control rolls for some violent disadvantages. Primordial Dissolution turns a monster into primordial protoplasm.

Alchemy: Combat Elixirs II

Alchemy: Combat Elixirs II

The second and last batch of combat elixirs from GURPS Magic.

Alchemy: Combat Elixirs I

Alchemy: Combat Elixirs I

The first batch of combat elixirs from GURPS Magic. Most of them make more sense as potions, but I decided to make Powder of Fetching and Carrying a powder with a long duration.

Monster: Belker

Monster: Belker

Belker is an elemental smoke monster from Monster Manual for D&D 3.5. I've never used this monster, and I think I'm not the only one to overlook this creature. Its signature ability is to transform into a smoke cloud and solidify the smoke inside creatures' lungs. While Respiratory Agents usually cannot be applied to cutting attacks, I thought that I can make an exception for this ability.

Alchemy: Animal Control Elixirs

Alchemy: Animal Control Elixirs

Let's start a new series of posts with ready-to-use-and-brew-and-buy elixirs for my Metatronic Alchemy. Here we have 3 out of 4 Animal Control elixirs from GURPS Magic adapted to my system, all available in alchemical and herbal forms.

Alchemical Techniques

Alchemical Techniques

This is a short post with only two new techniques for the Alchemy skill. They may be used either with the standard alchemy system or with my Metatronic Alchemy system. I would also suggest taking a look at Pyramid #3-28 for the Batching, Identify Magical Item, and Identify Elixir techniques.

Sorcery: Banefire Spells

Sorcery: Banefire Spells

Here we have variants of the standard fire attack spells based on banefire - a special kind of decaying fire from the Dominions video game series.

Sorcery: Fate Spells

Sorcery: Fate Spells

Here we have three fate-related spells. Sever Fate Line makes the subject's life short and miserable. Shared Doom is a useful spell in hostage situations. Touch of Bad Luck forbids the subject from using Luck or Super Luck.

Sorcery: Psychic Spellcasting

Sorcery: Psychic Spellcasting

Sorcery can be modified to represent psychic spellcasting from Pathfinder. When Occult Adventures for Pathfinder have been released, at first, I was not very pleased with the system, but I have grown to like it.

Metatronic Alchemy

Metatronic Alchemy

Standard alchemy rules from GURPS Magic look okay, but they seem to be inconsistent with the rest of the system. There are no guidelines on how to create new elixirs and how to price them, and the vanilla pricing seems to assume a TL 3 setting. I have tried sorcerous alchemy from GURPS Thaumatology – Sorcery, but the elixirs end up being unreasonably expensive for one-use items. Thus, I decided to work out a way to base alchemy around Metatronic Generators from Pyramid #3-46. A similar approach to scrolls is described in Metatronic Scrolls.

Sorcery: Bardic Spellcasting

Sorcery: Bardic Spellcasting

Sorcery can be modified to represent bardic spellcasting. Let us see how it is done.

Sorcery: Druidic Spellcasting

Sorcery: Druidic Spellcasting

Sorcery can be modified to represent druidic spellcasting. Let us see how it is done.