GLAUGUST #2 - Books As Treasure. No Spellbooks.

This picture just screams "Adventurer in a Library"

The second GLAUGUST post. Time is running out, so I'll keep this one short;

When a party or individual acquires a book, they gain a Library rating. Most books supply +d3 Library, but particularly comprehensive works such as whole sets of encyclopedias might provide a great deal more. The uses of Library are as so;

Research: Roll under your Library rating to uncover a useful fact relating to a particular topic you're researching. This can be either a Short-Term or Long-Term study, depending on the topic. Examples include;

• Short Term: The attributes of a monster species, what would be the outcome of two given spells or items interacting, the genealogy of a public figure. Takes 2d6 hours.
• Long Term: Leads to the location of a lost dungeon, a way of improving a common piece of equipment such as the telescoping 10' pole or the paracord rope, the location of a specific magic item. Takes 2d6 days.

Identification: You can determine the exact properties and history of a magic or historically significant object, including its approximate value. Success also identifies any possible curses and the means to break them. Takes 2d6 Turns.

If successful, subtract d3 from your Library, as that topic is now exhausted from your available research materials. If unsuccessful, that topic cannot be researched again until you have increased your Library rating.

Trivial questions such as the location of a well-known city or landmark, only 10 minutes and a roll under the current Library rating is required, and nothing is lost in the event of success. However that subject is still off-limits until the Library is added to.

GLAUGUST #1 - KING OF LIES - Spells of the Evil King

GLAUGUST GLAUGUST GLAUGUST

The most terrible wizard-king in all of history wasn't a necromancer, or a diabolist or anything like that. If he had been his reign would have been shorter, we would have seen what he was doing and opposed him sooner. No, he was an illusionist.

Mark of the Beast
It all seemed innocent enough at first, just a way of keeping in contact with his officials. It seemed modern, convenient. But this is where it all started to go wrong.
The subject, who must be willing and have HD no higher than the [dice] of the spell at the time of casting, acquires a permanent psychic connection to the caster, physically manifesting in the form of a symbolic tattoo in a location on the body chosen by the caster. The subject can specify circumstances under which their connection will be suppressed or broken at the time of the casting, typically to permit them a period of privacy and a way of permanently breaking the connection. The mark need not be in a place immediately visible, it can for example be located on the inside of an eyelid or under the tongue. This connection allows the caster to at any time appear before the subject, to speak and listen as if they were in the same room, though the caster is only visible to the subject and any others in the area who bear the same mark.

DoppelGangstalking
Imagine how powerful a wizard you have to be to make politicians worse.
Any of the Evil King's inner circle who were insufficiently loyal were subject to this spell. None of them were sufficiently loyal. The spell produces a living illusionary copy of someone bearing the caster's Mark of the Beast. This doppelganger is absolutely obedient to the word of the caster's commands, but they are ontologically evil and will twist any order to the goal of maximizing human suffering if it is given any leeway to. The doppelganger discorporates into mist by the next dawn if it does not kill its original, so that is usually its first command. As an illusion, it can only exist while observed by another living being, but once it kills its original it is able to inhabit their body and thus gain permanent observation by the caster through the Mark. All actions taken by the doppelganger are illusory, but can still result in harm or death of others through psychospiritual shock. Victims of the doppelganger with HD that exceed the [dice] used to conjure it may Save vs. its attacks and abilities (typically identical to those possessed by its original), even if those abilities would not normally allow a Save, due to their phantasmal nature.

Skillshare
Fundamentally, he didn't want to rule a kingdom, but a clock made of interchangeable gears.
The caster transfers [dice] skills or abilities held by any subjects bearing his Mark of the Beast to either himself or any other, for [sum] Turns. The original loses the abilities and skills transferred for the duration.

Antimemetics
Inconvenient truths had to be pruned to maintain the system he had created.
The caster spiritually poisons an idea, which they then convey to another. This could be the memory of a person, an event, a piece of media, an idiom or a philosophical or political stance, or even a language. Very basic primal core concepts, particularly those that are biologically essential, are too resilient to be targeted, at the DM's discretion. The person initially subjected to the spell must Save or find the idea gradually fading into incomprehensibility over the course of a week, until it eventually becomes a mental blindspot they cannot even imagine. Any time they discuss it even in passing with another person capable of understanding them, that person too must Save or have the idea poisoned for them too. This continues on for [dice] degrees of separation. Antimemetics does not permit a Save to anyone bearing the caster's Mark of the Beast.

Perception Filter
Eventually, prophylactic measures had to be taken.
The caster can designate any number of immobile features of the world that the subjects become unable to perceive or conceptualise. Against unmarked subjects this lasts [sum] Turns, Save negating. Bearers of the caster's Mark of the Beast are not permitted a Save, and can all be freely made subject to perceptual filtration for as long as the caster chooses to keep 1MD dedicated to the task.

Loophole
And so the illusion of choice came crashing down.
The caster can fundamentally alter [best] clauses of some binding gease or contract established through magic, without being subject to the normal penalties for breaking it. The cost is that this places the caster into spiritual superposition for 1 year per clause altered, during which time if they are slain their soul is utterly obliterated beyond the possibility of revival even through divine intervention. There is however nothing stopping the caster stacking the time they spend in this state infinitely.

Eidolise
Eventually the only people he trusted were figments of his imagination. That didn't hinder him much.
The caster manifests a sublime thoughtform, all but indistinguishable from reality. This is similar to a doppelganger but is perfectly obedient to the caster's will, not just their stated words. It can be of anyone or anything the caster has ever known, or even created purely from the caster's imagination, though in this case the resultant Eidolon will be vaguer and less believable, permitting a Save vs. its abilities to negate even for those that do not normally permit Saves, and having half normal effect even on a failure where a Save is permitted. When creating an Eidolon of a specific individual or monster, it cannot manifest any power or skill that the caster has not seen the original employ. The Eidolon costs 1MD per HD to create, and remains in existence as long as the caster is willing (and able) to roll the requisite MD each morning to maintain it. As with a Doppelganger, an Eidolon cannot exist when unobserved by a sentient being. 

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 concealed button in the carvings that if pushed will release a hidden drawer containing a map of this whole dungeon level, including secret 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.