Dungeon Stuffers - No more empty rooms!

I hate reading a dungeon and finding it full of empty rooms. It's a pet peeve; adventures should be full of adventure! Can you imagine the horror of finding an empty chest? Repugnant. So here's some ideas for things to stick in them.

1. The Bishop's Hidden Bath Chamber
The room contains an altar with a threadbare embroidered covering, two braziers and a small statue of Hygeia (or whoever the god of health or purity is in your setting) - all remarkably still standing upright despite being clearly long abandoned.

If inspected closely it will be revealed that both the braziers and the statue are built into the altar stone, not separate objects, and that the statue rotates on its base 180°.

If both braziers are lit and the statue is fully rotated so that it is facing against the wall, then a hydraulic pressure system that exploits the expanding air from the brazier's heat will cause the altar and the wall behind it to slowly rotate to reveal the room beyond (see below). If the statue is returned to its original position then it will rotate closed again (this is powered by a spring, and doesn't require the braziers to still be lit).

The room beyond contains a miraculously located natural hot spring with restorative powers. Anyone bathing in it for an hour will heal 1hp per Hit Die they possess, be cleansed of any natural diseases or parasites of the skin or muscles and restore 1 point of lost Strength, Constitution or Dexterity. 

Two curtains hide the sides of the room, behind each of which is a chest for storing clothes and personal belongings. The chest on the right has a ceremonial amulet of gold and garnets worth 1200gp. The chest on the left contains a bottle of liquid soap and perfumes (worth about 200gp) and a animated statue of a lithe young woman as a bathroom attendant (stats as Caryatid Column), which will attack anyone not wearing the amulet from the chest on the right, seeking to expel them from the room rather than cause serious injury.

2. The Window Office
The room contains a simple office, with a large and ornately carved mahogany desk and high-backed chair (worth 3,400gp as a set, 1000gp and 200gp individually. Both items of furniture are extremely heavy and easily damaged without considerations being made, a Tenser's Floating Disc at the minimum would be needed to easily extract them) in front of a large arched window.

Examination of the desk drawers will reveal a bottle of rough whiskey and a hand crossbow loaded with a poisoned quarrel (Type B, Insinuative) in the bottom right drawer. A full turn spent examining it will reveal a hidden button in the carvings that if pushed will release a hidden drawer containing a map of this whole dungeon level, including hidden doors.

The window behind the desk shows a pastoral vista that changes with the day and night outside but on examination does not correlate to the actual scenery outside the dungeon (indeed, this room is probably subterranean or internal). The display is an illusion, behind which lurks a Homunculus named Gaxplat who hid there when it heard the door open (if the party is quiet enough, he will instead be sitting behind the desk with his feet up, drinking from the whiskey bottle). Gaxplat will bite the hand of anyone who reaches past the illusionary image, causing d3 damage and provoking a save vs. magic or falling into a comatose slumber for 5d4 minutes, after which it will attempt to flee out the door holding its master's spellbook (containing 22 random spells of levels 1-6).

3. The Snoring Djinn
This room isn't just empty, it's been swept clean by a powerful wind blowing from a whirling vortex on the far wall. All dust in the room has been rammed into the near wall so hard it has formed a permanent crust. The wind that emerges from the vortex isn't constant, but acts as a Gust of Wind spell but strong enough to affect man-sized creatures as if they were small flying beings and trigger a Save vs. Breath Weapons or cause the affected to fall prone. This gust triggers at a random initiative count in every round. The side walls are relatively unaffected but anyone standing in the doorway when the wind triggers will be pushed back as well. Floating either side of the vortex are a air elemental, with their gaseous form still able to support crested ceremonial helmets upon their cloudlike heads and holding ornate halberds (stats as normal elemental, but with AC1). These will attack anyone attempting to pass through the vortex, and will pursue them past it.

On the other side of the vortex, the wind continues to blow and flaps a aquamarine silk curtain beyond which can be seen a well appointed bedroom. Upon the bed lies a hugely fat Djinn in sleep, whose snores cause the gusts. Waking him will immediately end the wind gusts and provoke a reaction roll, but if not awakened gently this roll will be made at -6. The Djinn, named Bompa al-Rih, if not hostile with his awakener will realize that he has overslept and is now 3,000 years late for an appointment with the Ambassador of the Marids and will be in a hurry to dress and leave through the door to the northwest, which opens out into a vista of endless sky - the Elemental Plane of Air. He will thank the party and promise to grant them a Wish when he returns from his appointment - on each subsequent roll of a 6 on the encounter roll, roll again; on a second 6 he is finished and teleports before the party, mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief and a harrowed expression, to bestow them their Wish.

Play Report - The Bile Rises, Part 1

This being the account of Zog, of the Tribe of the Rising Bile,

I write this at the behest of the Bloody Steward we found in a locked chamber underneath the House of Rituals, some ancient ghost or magical construct - its true nature I cannot discern, only that it is hungry for knowledge, and is willing to part with much in return. Knowledge that will reveal to me the path to great power.

We awoke to darkness, crushing pressure, and a miasmatic stink that filled our senses. All we could do was writhe, like worms in the filth, struggling for breath, until finally we found the surface - a charnel pit of corpses much like ourselves. We were as children born anew, but born not in soft innocence but in bodies that were healthy, strong, and sharp as knives. We were instantly curious and emerged blinking into a world new and filled with dangers we were yet ignorant of. 

At first, we were drunk with the thrill of discovery, forging ahead in every direction, finding islands that floated in the air like clouds and a tree tall enough to touch them, and ants the size of mastiffs. Industrious, as if by instinct, we clothed ourselves in armour of treebark and armed ourselves with cudgels of stone and branch. Content, we slept in the branches of a tall tree. And then we awoke again in darkness.

Every day that passed, we died and were reborn again. It seemed we were crudely immortal, at least until the pit ran dry - what would happen then, we could not say and still cannot, so vast is the pile of corpses. 

The next day, we followed faerie lights into the swamp, where colossal stag beetles clashed in some instinctual rite. Pensively, we left them engaged in their battle and crept past. The lights led us to a marvellous pool that shimmered with rainbow light. Two of our number decided to bathe in it, and while the experience was wonderful, both found themselves unwilling to leave and peacefully died. One of us, who named himself Krudge, awoke changed in some subtle way. His eyes glittered with some strange inner light, and his hearing was sharper than ever, though his ears were outwardly unchanged.

This change, whatever it was, did not help him, however, when we found a strange dedicatory pillar with an offering bowl at its base. Krudge, his greed consuming him, took the offering bowl for the small pile of gold it contained and was immediately struck dead. For the next whole day, he felt a sense of doom, but nothing further transpired. Meanwhile, another of our number, Blurk, found a phial of purple goo while exploring and as is the custom when encountering strange fluids in the wilderness, immediately drank it down. He has suffered persistent headaches ever since.

The next day, the sky rained hot ashes. Taking this as a portent of doom, we were filled with urgency and decided to split up into two groups to explore the forest faster. Krudge's group encountered a tree that grew black fruit. Upon eating but a single bite of it, his feelings of impending doom were justified as his body instantly collapsed into fine ash. We had discovered another danger, and a potential weapon, and were glad for it. The mountains beyond the grove of black fruit were described by those who saw it as "sick" in some fundamental way. Everything was diseased, leprous, and drained in some way, even the very stone itself. But there we met the first friendly face we had ever seen, another goblin, and a female to boot! Though, admittedly, one of the most slovenly and failsome mien. 

Rinny, Priestess of the Great Lady

She dwelled in a shrine of some god unknown to us. One of our number, Grick, had taken it upon himself to tend to the shrine, for it was overgrown with mildew. This amused the gobliness, Rinny, who renamed him Brick, deciding it sounded better. Brick conceded it did, and in return for obsequiously permitting a female he had known for less than ten minutes to change the very lynchpin of his being, he was bestowed with her pet rat, which granted him the repulsive and verminous powers of her goddess, the "Great Lady". Rinny also told us of an acquaintance of hers, a witch, who lived to the east, and recommended we see her.

To the north, we found a road, and were immediately cut down by the swift blades of red-skinned soldiers. On our next, more furtive, return, we found an overturned cart by the side of the road, beneath which we found an excellent boon - a pair of bangles in the form of simian paws that granted the wearer superior deftness of hand and foot in climbing. Emboldened by the discovery of this treasure, we followed the road to, we hoped, further riches. What we found was far stranger, yet had as great an impact - the beheaded statue of some ancient monarch, grand and distinguished in raiment, and despite the defacement still unmistakably goblin. We were a rootless people then, wandering among the ashes of a greater history, but for the first time, we understood the magnitude of what was lost. The bile rose in our gullets to know what has been taken from us.

The next few days were a riot of activity. We made weapons and armour - crude things of stick and stone, but at least we would be able to put up a fight - and set off in different directions, our knowledge of the surrounding world spreading like fungal cilia probing their environment. A multitude of deadly wonders surrounded us; flies the size of melons that moved so swiftly the eye could not follow, beetles as tall as trees, creatures that merged the features of beast and bird, or like cats that flowed like liquid, we found a dead red warrior like those who cut us down on the road and held steel for the first time. We tossed his corpse into the charnel pit, to add his strength to our own. One of our number found a shirt of iron links, rusted but still usable, and holding it miraculously survived a strike of lightning! We took this as a good omen and hurried back to the house of rituals to stash the shirt before we expired, but by morning, it seemed to have no further miraculous properties.

On the fourteenth day, we found one of the most disturbing discoveries, a village, near intact, habitable even, but devoid of any signs of life. Its only residents, we thought, were bones. Bones of children, exclusively. The village was filled with useful things, though, so we could not ignore it. When we were attacked by a pack of child ghouls, it almost came as a relief to have an answer as to the fate of this place. It was around this time that we made contact with the first full goblin tribe, unfortunately for us, it was the Skumbloods. Blurk was taken captive and beaten bloody without cause by their leader, Raz, who was ignorant of our strange condition and so escaped through transmigration.

Powerful magics fell into our lap. Another group discovered a strange idol in the form of a colossal ruby skull, hundreds of thousands of carats of cut gemstone, that screamed in a voice dripping with fury for us to destroy the shrines of the other gods in return for its power. Not wanting to offend Rinny, we refused. This skull god relented with surprising ease and bestowed its powers on our member Noten with only a vague promise to inflict general destruction. Meanwhile, another of our scouting groups found the home of Rinny's witch acquaintance, who brusquely beckoned one of our kind into her hut, bound him to an imp and bestowed the powers of a magician upon him, claiming to have been paid in advance by an unknown benefactor to do this. Afterwards, we were kicked out of her home and told that we would never find her again. We considered this a great win on all accounts.

The next day, amongst dense mist, we set out for the ghoul village to retrieve our lost treasures, but encountered a travelling coffle of goblin slaves being led by two immense ogres. Not foolish enough to challenge them, and knowing we could not be kept long in bondage anyhow, we submitted to join the coffle, which took us north. Oddly, the goblin slaves seemed to be even more feral than normal, capable only of short, clipped sentences. At some point, the ogres mysteriously decide to cut us free. We were suspicious but fled anyway, only to run into the territory of a black dragon. Only Kludge survived by hiding in the mud. Had the ogres delivered us up to the dragon, perhaps?

In the confusion, though, Kludge stumbled across a treasure - a helmet of make so strange it had to be magical. He hid it before his death, and the next day we returned to recover it and his last body. On our way back, we spied some giant mantises engaged in battle with something we never saw to the west - fortunate, it seems, for one of the mantises was turned to stone by the sight and fell out of the sky.

It was some time after this we found a village of goblins. Civilised and law-abiding, to an unusual degree. Here, Blurk encountered a goblin artificer who offered to teach him the art, requiring only a suitable gemstone and a piece of bark from the top of the tallest tree in the jungle to craft a training tool. What followed as a time of much misadventure, with no less than four rafts being destroyed by crocolisks in our attempts to navigate the river between our home and the village. But, with the aid of the climbing bracelets we were able to accomplish the artificer Garbett's requirements, and with the powers of an artificer Blurk immediately created a talisman to ensorcel his former teacher to his service for one simple reason - he had in his possession a set of irreplaceable thieves tools, which we used to bypass the lock separating us from you, oh Steward. 

THE BILE RISES

GLoGmas 2025: Treasures Glow In the Dark

 A GLOGmas gift for Grek of Grackle Court, and their post-apocalyptic GLOGhack, GLoW. Merry GLOGmas!

Purity Is The Power To Contemplate Defilement - Ritual Purity for OSR Clerics

This came from a casual discussion on the glogosphere, but struck me as such a good idea that I had to write it down. 

Many Cleric spells in several OSR rulesets have reversed forms, but it's often unclear how legal they are for PC's to employ. Sometimes they are interpreted as being limited to Evil Priest NPCs, other times that they might be permitted for use by PC's in extremis, or just that a nebulous warning that using them too much might result in alignment change. This is how I'm going to start handling the matter.

At any given time, a Cleric can be in one of two ritual states: Purity or Defilement.

While in a state of Ritual Purity, their spells heal, illuminate, restore, and preserve, returning the fallen world to its proper state. All spells produce their normal effect.

While in a state of Ritual Defilement, their spells harm, deceive, break, and corrupt, reflecting human sin back upon the world. All spells produce their reversed effect.

At any time, a cleric in a state of ritual purity may choose to break the state, converting any memorised spells to their reversed forms. However, returning to ritual purity is harder than breaking it, typically requiring a return to a temple and spending a day in ablution and annointment - this explicitly does not require an Atonement spell to be cast nor is it accompanied with any sort of Geas or Quest; ritual purity is not the same thing as moral purity, and defilement is not punished, just rectified.

This presents an interesting logistical decision, particularly on a deep dungeon crawl - the party may encounter enemies potent enough to make a Slay Living or Harm very welcome, but once that bridge is crossed, then that Cleric is no longer able to provide healing, traditionally one of their most valuable party roles. At the bottom of a multi-level dungeon, with potentially dozens of encounter rolls between you and safety, this is no small thing. Bringing multiple clerics might be the meta strat, which is probably not too difficult - clerics are a pretty solid class, with few great weaknesses. I rarely ever actually see the stereotype of tables where nobody wants to play the healer; clerics are great at every level, and party composition tends to reflect that.

Settings where clerics of opposing alignments can be part of the same religion, or at least acknowledge the same cosmology - like Skerples' contextless OD&D, Deus Ex Parabola's Unfinished World, or WotC's Eberron - might be best suited to this idea. Some sects may even voluntarily choose to exist in a state of defilement for reasons both practical and theological.

Besides voluntary defilement, certain creatures or situations might induce it - getting energy drained by an undead, dealing peaceably with a demon, or getting extremely dirty, especially from something ritually unclean like gore, excrement or corpse-ash, would probably break your ritual purity. Maybe I'd allow a save for those sort of involuntary situations, but maybe also not - it might be amusing to figure out how the party gets their healbot through the sewer level.

It might possibly be prudent to introduce a magical item or even a mundane equipment item that allows Ritual Purity to be restored in the field, but make it either rare, expensive or awkward.

There's No Trick To It - Magician (GLOG Class)

Just a classic wizard.

Class: Magician

You might be a High Magician in a star-spangled robe and pointed hat who studied in the storied halls of academia, or the son of a village witch who learned your mother's craft for she had no daughter to pass it on to, or a fur-clad shaman with a spirit's face painted on your own who drags mysteries out of the primal dark. However you came by it, you have knowledge of the secret ways that move the world that mortals were never meant to know.

Equipment: Robes & Hat, Satchel, Staff, Dagger, Lantern, 2 x Bonus pieces of equipment based on starting Magic Art (see below).

+1 to Saves per Template
A: 2 Magical Arts, Magesight
B: Familiar or Implement, +1 Magical Art
C: Ritualist, +1 Magical Art
D: Secret of Secrets, +1 Magical Art

∆: Archmage
Know at least 5 Magical Arts, find one of the five Pillars of Creation, and etch your personal mark onto it.
Create a new Magical Art, negotiated with your DM. Further negotiations can take place after it's created if it proves too strong or too weak - new magic has a tendency to "settle" over time.

A: Magical Arts
You begin with knowledge of two of the known Magical Arts; others may exist - probably in strange and foreign parts - but you will have to find them first if you want to learn them. You gain a bonus item from each of your starting Magical Arts. At each subsequent Template, learn a new Magical Art and gain the Advanced form of one Art you already know.

A: Magesight
You can perceive the presence of the supernatural. Just ask the DM if something is magical, and they are obliged to tell you the truth of the matter. With a Turn of careful examination, you can also determine in general terms what a given magical effect's purpose is, e.g. "Stepping into this circle will teleport you elsewhere.". This manifests for you in symbolic terms; a sword enchanted such that it bursts into fire in combat might appear to have a large salamander sitting on its blade, while an enchanted shirt of mail being unfurled might sound like a distant army roaring in victory to your ears. Magesight explicitly cannot reveal the presence or nature of illusions and curses, which by their very nature conceal and deceive.

B: Familiar
You have summoned a minor tutelary spirit to aid you in your magical practice. This spirit can switch between two forms: one a mundane animal no larger than a fox, the other a knee-high, horned, winged, homunculus with luridly coloured skin. It has a flight speed equal to its Movement speed in its homunculus form and whatever abilities are common to its species in its animal form. They have 1HD, +1HP/Level of the magician, AC12, 6' Movement (plus flight in homunculus form). Familiars can fight, using whatever natural weapons their animal form has or wielding small (d4) weapons in their homunculus form. Familiars can speak any tongue their summoner can, and in animal form can speak in animal noises that only their summoner can understand. Familiars are absolutely loyal to their summoner, though they often affect argumentative or grating personalities to teach their mage humility. Besides this, they can perform several useful services in return for a bit of their summoner's life force;

• For d6 Hit Points, they can answer 1 question as if consulting a Sage NPC for a short-term study.
• For 2d6 Hit Points, they can perform any Magical Art the magician knows or has observed being used, without any component required.
• For 3d6 Hit Points, they can transform into a monstrous guardian form, gaining additional HD, attack bonus, AC, and damage equal to their summoner's Templates, plus natural weapons that deal a base 2d6 damage. This is either a Dire version of their animal form or that of a fire-snorting cloven-hooved demon. The transformation lasts until the next Dawn or until dismissed by the magician's command, whichever comes first.

A familiar cannot be killed while its summoner lives, but can be dispersed. If reduced to 0HP they disappear and reform the next day at dusk.

B: Implement
You have a bound tool of your craft; a wand, blade, chalice, ring, or lantern is traditional, but others exist. It takes up one equipment slot or inventory space, depending on its form. As long as you have it on your person, you can perform Magical Arts without any reagent or other tool up to [Templates] times per day, just using the occult authority bound up in your implement. Your implement also has a significant magical ability based on its form. Negotiate this with your DM, some examples are;

• A wand that allows you to telekinetically manipulate objects at a distance as if you were standing at the position you point it at.
• A chalice that allows you to store a magical effect by drawing it into itself as an effervescent liquid. Save or the effect spills onto you if it is not your creation. The liquid magic can be poured or drunk to transfer the effect. 
• A ring that can make one magical effect at a time permanent - the effect it is perpetuating can be changed, which ends the previous effect.
• A blade that can damage incorporeal beings and counts as having a magical plus equal to the Magician's Templates for purposes of determining whether it can harm beings with supernatural resilience. In addition, you never fumble with an implement blade.
• A lantern that can illuminate the presence of invisible beings within its brightly lit area (typically a 30" radius).

C: Ritualist
You can now formulate rituals that enact modified or exaggerated versions of the effect of your Magical Arts. A ritual casting can bend or break the rules of the Magical Arts or combine multiple Arts into one, but must still fall within the general purview of the Arts you know. A ritual enactment of Elementalism could summon a known element from nowhere, for example, or bind an elemental to an extended service. For each modification you add, the DM can specify one of the following requirements;

• Ritual must be enacted in a place of innate magical power.
• Ritual requires expenditure of a lot of money, often in the form of large quantities of Granulated Azoth (500gp x Total Requirements).
• Ritual can only be performed once every week/month/year/decade, or only at a specific time or celestial confluence, such as a full moon, a planetary alignment or a seasonal equinox.
• Ritual requires the assistance of a particular person or category of person, like an Alchemist or a bearer of royal blood.
• Ritual has a X:6 chance of backlashing in some kind of Monkey's Paw fashion (each increase of X:6 counts as one Requirement).

This is also how you can create magical items. Single-use items typically add only a single requirement; items with daily uses add 1-3 per use, and permanent items at least 5.

D: Secret of Secrets
You can now perform the single greatest act of magic a mortal can enact, the legendary Wish. A Wish can do almost anything, but it is neither totally omnipotent or wholly convenient. A Wish for wealth or a specific magic item is usually answered with a vision revealing where such a treasure can be found and legally claimed, rather than instantly dropping it into the magician's hands. Likewise, a Wish for an enemy to die will usually reveal the location of a weapon or ally capable of slaying them. Wishes for deliverance from peril are usually answered more immediately; deathtraps break down, avalanches part to leave the magician unharmed, and deadly poisons mysteriously burn themselves through the victim's system without any lasting harm. Wishes are very quick and can be used as interrupts outside of initiative order, even as part of another action - Wishing for a powerful enemy to fail their save against your magic is entirely valid. You can only perform one Wish per level safely, so once you reach this level you have four Wishes. For each Wish you cast above this number, reroll your HD until you roll lower than your current HP and take that as your new HP total. Certain beings of demigodlike stature may be able to bestow additional free Wishes as a reward for services rendered.

Grimoire of the Known Magical Arts

Unless otherwise specified, using a magical art must be declared at the beginning of the round and is enacted at the end. A magician who is injured before then has their magic interrupted, wasting any uses of material components.

• Elementalism
  Bonus Item: Tin of Granulated Azoth (10 pinches)
  Pick one of the four classical elements; others exist, like gravity and light, but for now, you only know the secret name of one. Sprinkle a pinch of Granulated Azoth on your tongue and whisper that name, and it will respond. Issue a command up to [Templates] words long and it will obey automatically. A target of the command can be specified by gesture. For every additional word you want to add, take another pinch of Azoth and make a Save vs. Poison with a penalty equal to the number of extra pinches. On a failure, the command still takes effect, but you are incapacitated for 1 Turn per additional word. On a critical failure, the element goes haywire in some way that is detrimental to everyone around. The element has to actually be present for you to command it; this Art doesn't summon it up. Creatures affected by elemental manifestations you command are entitled to a Save, and any manifestation that would deal damage is limited to d6 per [Template] of the magician, Save for half damage. It takes a week of downtime and 100gp of ritual tools (mostly lots of different examples of the element in question) to learn a new element; each research roll has a progressive 1:6 chance of success (so 2:6 on the second attempt, 3:6 on the third, etc).
• Advanced Elementalism: You can now call up elementals, sentient manifestations of the element you speak to. The summoned elementals have HD equal to your [Templates] and can be increased by consuming extra Azoth as above. A summoned elemental will obey you for 1 Turn before dispersing back into a mundane manifestation of its element.
• Conjuration
  Bonus Item: Stick of Wizard Chalk (10 uses)
  Visualise a mundane item of up to [Templates] equipment slots large and draw a circle big enough to fit it with Wizard Chalk, using up chalk equal to its size. It appears within the circle and can be used as normal, but vanishes after 1 Turn if you stop holding it. The item conjured is generally a generic version of whatever is visualised, but you can also place a rune on a specific item (costing 1 use of Wizard Chalk) and later conjure it into the circle.
• Advanced Conjuration: You can now create teleport circles by marking a target location with a special magical circle, expending one use of Wizard Chalk. At a later time, you can scribe a new circle, either expending as many uses of Wizard Chalk as the time in rounds you want it to stay open or else keeping it open with your own body by standing within the circle, and anyone stepping into the circle is transported to a previously created magical circle of your choice.
• Divination
  Bonus Item: Ephemeris
  By means of consulting your Ephemeris, or if not available, the entrails of a domestic animal at least as large as a goat, you can determine if a specified course of action to be undertaken in the next hour will yield weal, woe, both, or neither. Woe indicates the action of monsters, traps, or hazards, and Weal indicates that the action will lead to a treasure, boon, or useful information. You can divine the future no more than d3+[Templates] times per day.
• Advanced Divination: In place of an entreaty to reveal weal or woe, you can now present up to [Templates] possible actions and divine which of them would be the best. It is possible that none of them yield any positive or negative result, in which case the auguries will reveal this.
• Transmutation
  Bonus Item: Tin of Granulated Azoth (10 pinches)
  Sprinkle a pinch of Granulated  Azoth on a target non-living object no larger than [Templates]x5' cubes and focus your will upon it. For every [Template] you possess, you may alter one of its physical properties, such as opacity, hardness, elasticity, insulation, permeability, colour, taste, or combustibility, to match that of a sample of another material that you have a sample of to hand. Magical materials such as mithril, adamant, and enchanted objects cannot be transmuted, but their physical properties can be bestowed upon transmuted targets if the magician has them to hand. The transmutation lasts 1 Turn per [Template] you possess. It is possible to increase the number of properties altered by adding additional Azoth, but this has the risk of making the reaction unstable: make a Save vs. Blasts with a penalty equal to the number of additional pinches of Powdered Azoth added; on a failure, the magician and everyone in a 10' area suffers (d6xPinches of Azoth) damage as it blows up in their face. 
• Advanced Transmutation: You can now transmute form as well as substance. The transmuted object can be reshaped into anything of approximately the same mass and holds its shape for up to the magician's [Templates] in Turns if the material it is made from is not normally capable. For example, a mass of water could be formed into a statue or the like, and would collapse into a puddle when the time elapsed, while the same statue formed of stone would remain in the same shape.
• Enchantment
  Bonus Item: Flask of Lotus Wine (10 sips)
  Take a sip of lotus wine, let it coat your vocal chords, and make eye contact with another thinking being - they will find themselves thinking your thoughts. You can issue a command up to [Templates] words long, and the target will obey it if they fail their Save. The target of the command can be specified with a gesture. The commands are obeyed for as long as it takes to execute them or one Turn, whichever is shorter. Suicidal commands permit the Save to be made twice, picking the best result, but if it still fails, they are executed. You can increase the number of Words by taking an additional sip of lotus wine, each of which adds an additional word to the command. After doing so, make a Save with a penalty equal to the additional sips or experience a loss of identity, having to obey your own command as if your victim issued it to you! Enchantment transcends the language barrier and may even affect creatures without a language - but not creatures without eyes.
• Advanced Enchantment: You can now keep up to [Templates] creatures bound in semi-permanent thrall to you, rather than issuing a specific command. Additional lotus wine can be drunk to penalise the target's Save by -1 per additional sip, but you too must also make the Save with an equal penalty and on a roll lower than your victim's are bound to serve them until freed, such is the magical Law of Dichotomy - there can be only masters and slaves! Thralls obey your commands without question, but receive a Save if they are forced up against blatantly suicidal odds.
• Illusionism
  Bonus Item: Flask of Lotus Wine (10 sips)
  Drink a sip of lotus wine and allow your vision to fuzz and unfocus, imagine a change in the world, and the magic will make it appear. You can make the image of almost anything you can imagine, but illusions can only be additive - you can change something's appearance or create the image of something new, but you cannot remove anything from the world. Others do not normally get a Save to see through illusions unless they directly interact with them. Illusions can deal psychosomatic damage, but cannot reduce a victim to below 0hp and stable unconsciousness. The maximum damage an illusion can inflict is d6 per [Template] of the magician and permits a Save to negate. It is possible to make an illusion more compelling by increasing the dose of lotus wine, which allows the magician to visualise their illusion more clearly at a risk of becoming lost in it; for each additional sip of lotus wine taken penalises all Saves by -1, but the magician must Save vs. Illusion with an equal penalty or become confused for 1 Turn per sip, acting randomly each round; d6: 1-2. Stand and stare into the middle distance. 3-4. Attack the nearest moving thing. 5. Use a random Magical Art. 6. Covered in spiders! Attack self.
• Advanced Illusionism: Your illusions can now be subtractive, such as making people or objects invisible or creating zones of silence.
• Transformation
  Bonus Item: Pouch containing three sparrows' feathers, a mouse's skull, a tuft of horse's mane, and a bear's claw.
  Place a piece of an animal in your mouth, breathe deeply three times, and on the third inhalation, it vanishes as you become the creature it came from. The transformation lasts up to your [Templates] in Turns if the creature you are becoming has HD equal to or below your own; otherwise, it lasts [Templates] rounds. You can attempt to extend this duration by making a Save vs. Illusions each Turn or round after the duration has expired. On a failure, you become lost in the beast-mind and cannot return to your own form until you next sleep. You can transform into monsters and magical creatures, but in this case, its heart or heart-analogue must be consumed. Note that some creatures may have hearts so large that shapeshifting into other, larger forms may be required first just to consume them! A monster form's supernatural powers may be employed a maximum number of times in total across all abilities equal to your [Templates] in a single transformation.
• Advanced Transformation: Place the reagent in your mouth as usual and exhale three times forcefully in the direction of another, and they shall take on the animal's form instead of you. This can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the circumstance - an unwilling victim is entitled to a Save to avoid your transmogrifying breath. 
• Abjuration
  Bonus Item: Stick of Wizard Chalk (10 uses)
  By drawing a line or circle with Wizard Chalk you can define an area that hedges out a single specified phenomenon, such as sound, light, heat, radiation, or a specific type of magic. It can also contain a specified type of creature, which must make a Save to move through the barrier or else be axiomatically incapable of passing the chalk line, or able to use any of its powers beyond it. The area covered is either 10" wide for a line or 5" radius for a circle per use of Wizard Chalk expended. These wards can technically last forever, but can be easily removed by anyone they don't specifically ward against.
• Advanced Abjuration: You can now expend additional Wizard Chalk to increase the number of phenomena that a ward hedges out, at a rate of 1:1. 
  

Other Magical Arts that might be found in foreign parts may include Necromancy and Diabolism, which are said to employ black candles made of human tallow, Body Control, which turns the power of the black lotus inwards, and Maleficia, which uses inscribed tablets of stygian lead to inflict terrible curses.

The Magic Shop
Unless otherwise stated, each item takes up 1 equipment slot.

Ephemeris - 250gp
A book of tables and charts showing calculations of the position of various astronomical bodies over time. Needs to be replaced with an updated version every quarter at the seasonal Equinoxes. 

Dried Monster Hearts - 10gp x HD of Monster

Salted and preserved in clay-sealed jars under anaerobic conditions. Availability of any given species is not guaranteed, and is based on a cottage industry of processing the kills adventurers bring back.

Goat - 1gp
A common example of Capra Hircus, the silver standard in sacrificial animals. Takes up no equipment slots, but must be herded or led around by a string.

Granulated Azoth, 10 pinches - 100gp
Resembles table salt but with a faint silvery metallic tint. Acts as a bridge between consciousness and the world of matter that is normally deaf to mortal concerns. Tastes salty, metallic, and oddly limey, with an electric spark. 

Lotus Wine, 10 sips - 100gp
Slightly viscous, inky-purple fluid created by fermenting the macerated roots of the Black Lotus. Allows the drinker's mind to escape the cage of its skull and project itself upon the outside world. Mildly dissociative in small doses, highly hallucinogenic in larger.

Wizard Chalk, 10 uses - 100gp
Sulphur-yellow and similar to a tailor's wax chalk, which leaves long-lasting and waterproof marks. Acts as a medium to define boundaries between the physical and magical worlds.

Four Grimoires - GLOG

The Secret Diary of Archbishop Oda of Nêmes

Probably not actually written by the titular archbishop, who was mostly known for a poorly recieved tractate on the sacramental role of poultry, and certainly not secret given its wide distribution. Its spells are no less efficacious for their dubious origins.

The Expedient Banishment

The caster forcefully presents their hand with fingers splayed in the sign of the horns and imperiously declares "Apo Pantos Kakodaimonos!", which causes all beings of lower spiritual vibration - typically Chaotic spirits and disembodied undead - in a 12" cone to flee his presence unless they pass a Save with a -[best] penalty, returning to their own home plane if possible. Cacodemons specifically Save against this spell with Disadvantage.

Talisman of the Dorian Mysteries

By means of this spell, two ounces of bronze, a pinch of frankincense, a dram of olive oil and a piece of clay from a holy river the caster is able to craft and sanctify a protective talisman. The whole mess of ingredients costs about 50gp in any reasonably cosmopolitan town. The spell takes an hour to cast, including the time spent forming the clay into a mould, melting the bronze and anointing the talisman. Once created it will grant the wearer one of the following protections;

• [best]+[dice] bonus HP, restoring at dawn each day.
• Immunity to possession or mind-controlling spells cast with fewer [dice].
• The first [dice] levels of energy drain are ignored, the talisman being destroyed when this reaches 0.
• Seeing in darkness out to a distance of [dice]*20'  (the dark also being a manifestation of primal evil).

No more than one talisman can be worn at once. The caster can have up to their max MD talismans in existance at any one time, and must destroy one before they can create another once they reach their maximum. The caster has a general sense of where all their created talismans are, but cannot destroy or depower them remotely without some other magic.

The Pyramid of Power

The caster must acquire a piece of stone from the wall of a temple more than a century old and carve it into a tetrahedron mathematically equilateral to within an accuracy of one fifth of a milimeter that is large enough to take up 2 equipment slots. This spell may be intoned over the resultant pyramid to perform one of several feats; if a blade is placed beneath it it acquires a [dice] magical plus until the next dawn and will not grow dull or break by any natural force during this time, if a person rests while the pyramid is placed above them (usually by means of a tripod stand) they will heal at x [dice] speed with a [best] bonus to Saves vs disease, and up to [best]+[dice] phials of water poured over it are transformed into magic water which is as efficacious as holy water for all purposes besides performing sacraments.

Bane Against A Basilisk

The magus must first acquire a weasel, either wild or domesticated matters not, and feed it the meat of a chicken or snake that has been soused in vinegar while casting this spell. Between the time of casting and the next dawn the weasel acquires a compulsion to attack any basilisk it sees or smells. A basilisk bitten by the enchanted weasel must Save vs Death with a [dice] penalty or be instantly slain. 

The Rakshasa Yoga

Bound in pale blue silk and smelling of spice and exotic flowers, this slim manual describes the discoveries of the limitations and potential of the mortal body and mind by generations of bodyworkers and hypnotists. Studying its spells requires a regimen of calisthenics and a strict diet of pickled vegetables and fish which brings on strange dreams where beast-headed tutelary spirits initiate the magus.

Asura's Grasp

As much an esoteric martial arts maneuver as it is a spell, the caster is able to increase their grip strength and the torque generated by their wrists and shoulders to extraordinary levels. This requires a whole Turn spent flexing, stretching and swinging your arms around. Until the next dawn, the caster makes all brawl/grapple attack with a [dice] bonus, on a success they dislocate one of the subject's limbs of their choice - on a critical success they can snap the subject's neck, requiring a Save vs Death unless the subject is blessed with multiple heads or doesn't have a neck to snap.

Light  As A Feather, Stiff As A Board

The target of this spell must Save or immediately stretch their body to its full extension - arms above their head, standing on tip toes for humanoids, other body plans are affected as one would imagine, it's especially funny on serpents. The target becomes as rigid as a solid oak plank for [sum] minutes, while simultaneously weighing so little that they can be lifted easily with one hand. Subjects of this spell can be used as sturdy bridges across pit traps, 10' poles, short ladders or similar such handling without snapping them out of the effect, but directly causing them harm will permit another Save with a bonus equal to the previous number of Saves.

Brew Shakti Oil

This spell requires an hour, a flask of mustard oil and a measure each of dried jasmine, oleander, cinnamon and hibiscus, all costing about 10gp x MD together. This produces a fragrant oil which when rubbed onto the body increases the muscles explosive strength and toughens skin to extraordinary levels. A dose of Shakti Oil grants a [dice] bonus to damage and grants an unarmoured AC of 10+2 x [dice]. A man using Shakti Oil of 2MD or more can kick down an ordinary wooden door without slowing down. A magus can keep no more than phials of Shakti Oil fresh than they have max MD.

Roar, Lightning Mind

The yogin closes their eyes and takes a deep breath then releases a silent roar of pure Self that blasts outwards in a 10' x [dice] radius in an electric crackle that is felt rather than heard. This restores anything that has been magically transformed back to its original form for [sum] rounds, or permanently if the spell's [dice] exceed that of the magic that caused the inital transformation (in the case of monster abilities that cause transformations, such as a basilisk's gaze, use the monster's HD). 

Distant Aethyrs

Transcribed from the inner surface of a large oblong meteorite that fell to earth. It describes a number of phenomena and physical laws that are outside of the known paradigm of physics. Included are a number of beautiful hand-etched astronomical plates detailing the author's attempts to determine the meteor's star of origin. 

Zeta Ray

The caster projects beams of searing yellow-green-purple weirdlight from their eyes that zip through the air at right angles around obstacles to strike any target within 60' unfailingly. A target of the Zeta Ray with HD lower than [best]+[dice] is instantly teleported to another place the caster can see within 60'.

Adamantize

The caster touches a single contiguous piece of metal and hums a low tune that rapidly descends into the deep dark reaches of the ULF range. This induces a phase-shift rendering it as indestructible as adamant for [dice] Turns.

Nexus Tuning

This spell targets borders and portals between planes and alternate universes. The caster strikes a strange posture, waving their arms and standing on one leg as they form their body into a multiversal "antenna" and adjust the information flow through the targeted dimensional valence. Pull up whatever version of the Great Wheel of Planes you use, the caster can rotate the plane the target links to up to [best] steps, at a cost of 2 steps they can shift one step toward or away from the centre. This one works fine, if you find others then you can use those too;

For every step that the nexus is retuned, a whole day must pass before it can be subject to any further retuning.

Time Crystal

The right kind of math can do more than analyze, but enact change through the plane of platonic numbers. Perform this alogrithm to collapse your local light cone into a crystaline structure that you can percieve all at once. Gain a number of Portents (d20's that are immediately rolled and kept) equal to the [dice] of the spell, swap out the result of these Portents with any rolls made by you or anyone who interacts with you (such as an enemy swinging a sword at your neck) before the end of your next round. Any unused Portents at the end of your round become extra attacks you must make immediately. When you use a Portent to interfere with the course of causality everyone present remembers both the original event and the new one simultaneously (i.e. the aformentioned foe remembers hacking his sword into your neck and you deftly parrying it at the same time), in a kind of weird déjà vu like feeling. 

The Copper Crowne

This book contains the written rites of the ancient Draoidhe priest-kings that ruled in the era between the end of the Elven Imperium and the rise of the One Church, and consists mostly of fragmented but still invaluable parts of the elves' occult science which was inherited by the very former human servants who deposed them.

Glamour-Awe

The caster must either wear a circlet of three twisted copper wires or else bathe in rain or river water and draw a star upon their brow with oil of mint or lavender - this satisfies the conditions of the spell until they become dirtied or the next dawn, whichever comes first. Upon casting this  spell the caster radiates an aura of supernal awe that overwhelms the senses of all who behold them. Everyone with fewer than [dice] HD who lays eyes upon the caster must Save or be unable to do the caster harm or otherwise act against them, even their speech must be respectful and reverant. Anyone who fails by more than 5 points becomes Charmed, obeying any non-suicidal or abhorrent command given by the caster. Both effects of the spell lasts [sum] rounds.

Craft Blasting Rod

The caster must take a stanged (forked) branch of lightning oak and bind a piece of rock crystal between its forks with copper wire which is wrapped around the rod in a specific knotwork pattern. The result is a magical weapon that deals d10 nonlethal damage to anyone touched by it, adding the caster's Intelligence bonus to attack rolls. Only magic provides protection from the blasting rod (treat nonmagical armour as having AC 10). The 1MD version does only that, more advanced versions of the blasting rod have greater powers;

1. A 2MD blasting rod gains a range of 30'.
2. A 3MD blasting rod can blast away clouds, clearing precipitous and overcast weather, or alternatively cause a cloud to rain - it's all in the wrist.
3. A 4MD blasting rod deals d12 damage and increases its range to 60'.

A caster can only have one blasting rod in existence at any one time as it draws upon his personal thaumaturgic field for power. Elfin battlemages and draoidhe alike wielded them as their badge of office.

Barrowhide

The ancient elves used this spell to ward the entrances to their keeps benath the mounds from their human slaves, such that even if they meant to storm their masters' homes they could not even find them to begin with. The caster crafts a wreath of local plant life and hangs it above a door. The door will thereafter be impercievable to anyone other than the caster and those carrying their personal rune (which every magus has). Attempts to find it without magic suffer a -[dice] penalty and may not be retried by the same person twice. The spell lasts until the next solstice but can be refreshed at any time during the day.

Bake Starbread

The caster must bake farls from wild grains, herbs and berries gathered under starlight while chanting this spell, a process that takes about an hour assuming the materials are already gathered. A campfire will not suffice, a true oven is needed. The result are [sum] farls of enchanted starbread - a thin crisp crust hiding down-soft and fragrant butter-yellow crumb. Starbread never rots and repels vermin as long as the crust is unbroken, and banishes a single unit of Fatigue when eaten in addition to its nutritional effect. Abandoned elfin barrow-keeps are still sometimes found with stores of uneaten starbread, as fresh as the day they were baked. Legends say that a man who eats naught but starbread for a year and a day will become an elf, for this reason the draoidhe rationed it out in small quantities to travelling warriors.

Misplaced Samurai - Cloak-and-Sword Class

 Just getting on the semi-regular GLOG bandwagon for single-level Cloak-and-Sword classes, this one comes from the future.

Class: Sword Dancer
Start with all-encompasing swathes (Medium Armour), a ritual sword (d4: 1. Mandau 2. Kaskara 3. Daab 4. Chokuto) and a five-point code of honour that you cannot be compelled to break by any force.

+1 to Attack and Defence when you have an audience.

Vessel: You can replicate any act of swordsmanship you have ever witnessed, as long as your body is fully covered. This ability has a usage die of d6, and is refreshed by spending four hours performing a ceremonial play that tells the tales of heroic deeds. 

Speaker: You can see ghosts through your mask and can allow them to speak and act through you while in your swathes, if you permit this you are allowed to ask the ghost a favour in return which it must abide by. This favour can be "don't attack my friends" if you're feeling suspicious.

Empty: You can at any time choose to be invisible as long as you are surrounded by people, trees or long grass.

Actor: Your alignment is whatever you want it to be in the moment, this allows you to wield any intelligent swords without complaint.

Stage: While you wear your swathes you can detect all illusions (you can't see though them, you just know what is and isn't an illusion) and can selectively choose to treat them as real to you - walking over an illusionary bridge, cooking food on an illusionary fire, wresling an illusionary sword off a phantom soldier, etc. While you treat them as real, the illusionist who cast them cannot alter their parameters.  

Yojimbo: If someone pays you to defend them or kill another, you have a number of +1's to apply to Defence or Attack equal to the amount of GP paid divided by 10. Each +1 can only be used once, but can be stacked as many times as you like.

Wanderer: Any Esprit rolls of 2-5 that your group makes with anyone who might be described as a noble or warlord are made with promises of ample compensation in return for your service. 

Shed: If you choose to doff your swathes and stand naked beneath the sun with only a sword in your hand, you have only 1hp but cannot be harmed by anything but a sword.