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.

Legend of the 5 Rings Samurai - GLOG

I love Legend of the 5 Rings, or more accurately I love its setting of Rokugan. It is not an attempt at authenticity to feudal Japan, rather it's a gloriously technicolour pan-asian mishmash running entirely on vibes. Real samurai were mostly horse-archers during the time they were militarily significant but Rokugani samurai have a cult of the sword because that's what Kurosawa and anime taught us. I love it because it's inauthentic, imaginative and wide-eyedly romantic. It also happens to be eminently GLOG'able due to its School system. Here I render a few of my favourites, in the fashion of Deus-ex-Parabola's 5e conversions.

Samurai
You have a number of Void Points equal to the highest of your Wis or Xha modifiers (in a proper Rokugan game I'd probably replace the usual six attributes with the five elements, but this will do for purposes of general OSR compatibility) plus your School Rank (i.e. your Templates in Samurai Schools, you don't get any Void Point increase from following strange dishonourable ways of other classes). You can spend Void Points to add +d6 to any weapon attack or skill roll taught by your School, if you have trained in multiple schools (rare, but it does happen) you can use this on them all, some School techniques give other options for spending Void Points. The maximum number of Void Points that can be spent in any one round is equal to your School Rank. You get any used Void Points back after you sleep a full night.

Samural Schools are categorised as either Bushi, Shugenja, Ninja or Courtier, plus occasionally some weird ones like Artisan. For now I will just be covering Bushi, who are Fighting Men and as such never fumble with conventional weapons. Maybe I'll do Shugenja if people like this.

I will not fail.

Crab Clan: Hida Avenger
You are a warrior in a clan that hasn't been off a war footing in over a thousand years. You guard a wall that seperates the Empire from a literal incursion of hell into the material plane. Not for you is learning how to elegantly kill a man in one stroke after staring at eachother for five minutes or how to attain oneness with the universe through meditation on the sword. You drilled in full armour until you collapsed from exhaustion, then recovered your stamina listeing to lectures on military philosophy, siege tactics and monster recognition, and when that was done you drilled again. Eventually you did not collapse, and you were ready.

Skills: Athletics, Tactics, Shadowlands Lore, Intimidation.
Weapons: Sword, Bow, Hammer, Mace, Greataxe
Starting Equipment: Light or Heavy Armour (your choice) with slate grey lacquer, hardwearing clothes, katana & wakizashi, one heavy weapon or polearm that is part of the School's weapon groups, furoshiki, a finger-sized bar of jade, 3 koku (about 10gp each).

+1 Attack and +2 HP per Template, the Crab Clan are tough and seasoned soldiers.

A: Way of the Crab, The Mountain Does Not Move
B: Two Pincers One Mind
C: Hida's Rage
D: The Mountain Does Not Fall

A: The Way of the Crab
The crab is not encumbered by his shell, neither are you. You can do everything except stealth in heavy armour as well as you could without, even swimming. When wielding a heavy weapon, any damage rolls below your School Rank+1 are treated as being equal to it.

A: The Mountain Does Not Move
You reduce all damage by your Con modifier or 1, whichever is higher. This is counted against each attack made against you, and even applies to psychic or spiritual damage.

B: Two Pincers One Mind
You can make two attacks per round when wielding your School's weapons. Any penalties to your attack rolls - such as from hostile spells, exhaustion, difficulty or darkness - are reduced by 2 points.

C: Hida's Rage
At this rank, you have learned to channel a portion of the legendary berserker fury of the Clan's founder. You may allow any enemy in close combat with you an attack of opportunity against you, in return you get an additional attack against them this round.

D: The Mountain Does Not Fall
Spend a Void Point to ignore being stunned, dazed, fatigued, subject to magically induced emotions, or the need to sleep for 8 hours (obviously, you don't regain any Void Points if you don't sleep).

For the coward there is no life.
For the hero there is no death.

Crane Clan: Kakita Duellist
You remember that crack up page about killing a man with one stroke? That's these guys. The Kakita family are descended from (and bear the name of) the literal greatest swordsman who ever lived - and by the Kami did he know it. The Crane are however at heart not a warlike clan, their power is in the realm of politics, fashion and money - damn near every Empress in history has been a Crane and they practically designed Rokugani high culture from the ground up - art styles, poetry, cuisine, dress sense, all the things that make a Rokugani distinct from the gaijin beyond. As such, you weren't trained for the battlefield but for the court - to win honour duels on behalf of a Doji courtier according to the precepts of Kakita's foundational text, The Sword. Does this make you any less deadly than the Lion or the Crab? Oh, goodness, no. Not at all.

Skills: Etiquette, Heraldry, Any three artforms of your choice; ikebana, poetry and painting are popular.
Weapons: Sword, Bow, Spear.
Starting Equipment: Light armour with sky-blue lacquer, fashionable clothes, katana & wakizashi, any 1 other weapon, furoshiki, hair bleach, 10 koku.

+1 to Attack and +1 to Defence per Template, the Crane are precise and careful.

A: Way of the Crane, The Speed of Lightning
B: The First and Last Strike
C: Strike From The Void
D: Strike With No Thought

A: Way of the Crane
You act as a "third side" during initative, rolling on your own with a modifier equal to your School Rank. If your initiative is higher than your opponent, you may add the difference to your damage rolls.

A: The Speed of Lightning
You are immune to ambush, and still act as normal during a surprise round.

B: The First and Last Strike
Kakita taught that any fight could be won with a single blow - and should be. You may choose to hold your attack back to the end of the round during the spellcasting phase, if you do then your attack can be interrupted - if you take damage you must Save or lose your attack. If you succeed, however, your damage is doubled - including the bonus damage from Way of the Crane, if any. This is typically done in a iaijutsu strike where you unsheathe your sword, strike, flick it clean and resheathe it in the same motion - a fighting style both wildly impractical and unbearably cool.

C: Strike From The Void
You can now spend Void Points on damage with any School weapon. Not everyone knows this, but when you do so your weapon counts as having a magical plus equal to your School Rank for purposes of bypassing supernatural resistance.

D: Strike With No Thought
A true student of the sword needs no technique, he simply acts as the sword demands. You get an attack of opportunity against anyone entering melee with you, a number of times per round equal to your School Rank.

Defy Definition

Dragon Clan: Mirumoto Niten
If Kakita was the stamp from which all people judge a swordsman, Mirumoto was the guy who completely broke the mold. Win every fight with one strike? Then why am I wearing two swords? He thought. Like all Dragons, he had a bad habit of flying in the face of all established wisdom and somehow still winning regardless. So was the Niten style created, wielding both katana and wakizashi simultaneously, emphasising fluidity and practicality over stance and technique. The Mirumoto are also the Kakita's primary rival for title of best duellists in Rokugan. Combats between the two families are usually tense and have surprising outcomes - it was Mirumoto's son Hojatsu who finally defeated Kakita, though he too died in the act.

Skills: Athletics, Magic Lore, Meditation, Theology.
Weapons: Sword, Bow, Any one weapon group of your choice.
Starting Equipment: Light armour with green lacquer, tough clothing, katana and wakizashi, any one weapon, furoshiki, copy of Niten, 5 koku.

+1 to Attack and Saves per Template, the Dragon are uncanny and perceptive.

A: Way of the Dragon, Calm Amidst Thunder
B: Strong And Swift
C: Furious Retaliation
D: Heart of the Dragon

A: Way of the Dragon
When wielding the katana and wakizashi simultaneously you may riposte any attacks that roll 1+School Rank on the d20, immediately making a counterattack and adding your School Rank to your damage on a hit.

A: Calm Amidst Thunder
When you fight an opponent in simultaneous initative with you and your damage would kill him, his damage is not applied to you even if it would hit. You may also make a double attack when wielding the katana and wakizashi simultaneously, but if your damage does not kill your target they get a free attack of opportunity against you.

B: Strong And Swift
Niten is not a set of instructions to follow, but a map to be explored - in a thousand years of study, there is always something new to find. You may now attack twice per round when wielding School weapons. Furthermore, attempts to perform special maneuvers like trips, pushes, disarms and the like are made with a bonus equal to your School Rank.

C: Furious Retaliation
You gain advantage on all attacks against anyone who has dealt you damage within the last round.

D: Heart of the Dragon
The Dragon is everywhere and nowhere, his claws and teeth and scales are all around you. You may now spend Void Points to gain additional attacks on a one-for-one basis. You can do this even outside of your turn in response to an attack against you, in which case you count as being in simultaneous initative with your attacker.

Duty, Honor, Leadership

Lion Clan: Akodo Bushi
The Lion are among the most traditionalist clans in Rokugan and their fighting style shows it. While other schools teach elaborate specialised techniques and compare their swordsmanship to painting or caligraphy, the Akodo family drill the foundations of kenjutsu and military theory into their students again and again in a fashion more like hammering nails than high art. Who cares about complicated tactics and showy "secret techniques"? Just strike exactly as you intended, repeat until dead - a tactic that works every time. The Lion's way is the way of victory, and if you have any doubt as to the efficacy of their simple, traditional ways, just ask to whom the Emperor has trusted the bulk of his legions to command - perhaps it would be better to call it the Lion's share. 

Skills: Athletics, Tactics, History, Heraldry.
Weapons: Sword, Bow, Spear, Polearms.
Starting Equipment: Light Armour with yellow lacquer, conservative clothing, katana and wakizashi, any one weapon, furoshiki, tessen, 5 koku.

+1 to Attacks per Template, +1 to Damage on A, C. +1 to Defence on B, D. Lions are fierce and natural warriors.

A: Way of the Lion, Strength of Purity
B: Fangs of My Fathers
C: The Hand of Destiny
D: The Final Lesson

A: Way of the Lion
You critical hit range expands to 19-20, this stacks with any other effects that expand critical hit range. If the system you're playing in doesn't usually have double damage on natural 20 attack rolls, you still do - tell the DM I told you so.

A: Strength of Purity
The wicked man fears the blade held in the hand of the righteous. You add your Xha modifier to damage against creatures of supernatural evil, chaotic humanoids and foreigners (unless the Emperor permits their presence on Rokugan).

B: Fangs of My Fathers
You can make two attacks per round when fighting with your School weapons. The first blow is yours, the second from you ancestors - it still does minimum damage on a miss (1 per damage die plus your Strength and Damage modifier, usually), even to targets that have magical resistance to your attacks.

C: The Hand of Destiny
All things are predestined, there is no such thing as luck. At the start of the day you recieve a number of d20 rolls equal to your School Rank - note down the results, these can be used to replace any of your own attack rolls or the attack rolls of anyone else within 10' of you. If you wish you may spend Void Points during your morning meditations to gain additional rolls.

D: Akodo's Final Lesson
There are no failures. Your attacks now deal a minimum of your School Rank damage, even on a miss. Furthermore, you have advantage on your next attack made after a miss.

Choosing between two evils
is still choosing evil.

Phoenix Clan: Shiba Yojimbo
The Shiba are unusual in many ways, unlike all the other kami-descended families they are subservient to the Isawa clan who are descended from a human hero - arguably the greatest mortal man in history, having single-handedly elevated the practice of magic from simple divinations and blood rites to the elemental glory of the shugenja's art but merely a man all the same. In a clan that espouses pacifism as the highest ideal they train for war. With the Phoenix way of war focusing on the judicious application of their unmatched magical power, the bushi of the Shiba clan concentrate on defending their vulnerable shugenja cousins so they can invoke their spells in safety. Intensely spiritual, devoting as much time to mastery of the self through the no-mind technique, the Shiba produce warriors with the aspect of monks and the purity of fire.

Skills: Athletics, Etiquette, Magic Lore, Theology.
Weapons: Sword, Bow, Spear, Mace.
Starting Equipment: Light Armour with red lacquer, austere clothing, katana and wakizashi, any 1 other weapon, furoshiki, oil lamp, 5 koku.

+1 to Attacks and Void Points per Template. Phoenix are focused and spiritually strong.

A: Way of the Phoenix, A Single Life
B: One With Nothing
C: Everywhere and Nowhere
D: The Purity of Fire

A: Way of the Phoenix
Mastery of "no-thought" sharpens your sensitivity to the Void. Your Void Points now count as d8s, and return to your pool on a roll equal to or below your School Rank.

A: A Single Life
Understanding your place in the universe makes it easy to sacrifice your life for another. You can attune yourself to another person by spending a Turn in shared meditation with them, thereafter until the next dawn you may intercept any attacks directed against them using your own Defence as long as you remain within 10' of them. At a cost of a further Void Point you can also intercept hostile spells and other effects that require a Save.

B: One With Nothing
Whenever a spellcaster (even an enemy) in your immediate area loses a Magic Die to a roll of 6, you gain a Void Point - these can exceed your maximum but are lost at the next dawn if unspent. When you lose a void point on a roll of 8 a spellcaster of your choice in the immediate area gains a Magic Die.

C: Everywhere and Nowhere
Flowing with the Void, the bushi can now attack twice per round with any School weapon. You can strike incorporeal beings as if they were solid, and your weapons count as having a magical plus equal to your School Rank for purposes of damaging supernatural enemies. If you spend a Void Point this becomes an actual magical plus to attacks and damage for a number of rounds equal to the d8 roll.

D: The Purity of Fire
Your spirit burns so brightly it is nearly inextinguishable, surely all heavens and earth will fall before a warrior with such purity does. When you are subject to an attack that deals multiple damage dice, or multiple successful attacks in a single round, you may spend a Void Point to reduce the damage you take by a number of dice equal to your School Rank to a minimum of 1.

I can swim.

Scorpion Clan: Bayushi Ambusher
The Bayushi clan's version of the Frog and Scorpion aesop has a different ending. If the Crane are the Emperor's left hand, and the Lion his right, then the Scorpion are his under-hand. The Kami Bayushi was less idealistic when it came to human nature than the rest of his brothers and sisters, and knew that an empire ran by people devoted to honour would inevitably fall to those without. So he chose to play the villain to spare the others the shame of having to dirty their hands, recruiting thieves, spies and assassins into his new clan. The shadow-people of the Empire, to do the things that tarnished their own honour so that others didn't have to. To be mistrusted, so others would have an example of what not to live up to. No clan is more maligned, has fewer allies or more enemies.

And yet, they still keep swimming.

Skills: Athletics, Etiquette, Stealth, Dissembling.
Weapons: Sword, Spear, Dagger, Chain.
Starting Equipment: Light Armour with black lacquer, dark clothing, katana and wakizashi, any 1 other weapon, furoshiki, personalised mask, 5 koku.

+1 to Attacks and Surprise Rolls per Template. Scorpions strike fast and from the shadows.

A: Way of the Scorpion, Pincers & Tail
B: Strike At The Tail
C: Above & Below
D: Pincers Hold & Tail Strikes

A: Way of the Scorpion
Tied initative always breaks in your favour, when initative is in your favour you gain a bonus to your Defence and Attack rolls equal to your School Rank.

A: Pincers & Tail
You have a Tail Die of d6, which is dealt as unmodified automatic damage to the target in combat with you that has the lowest HP. This represents a multitude of probing jabs, kicks, thrown stones, pommel-clonks and shivvings you deal alongside your usual attacks to cull the weak. If this damage kills a foe, it may be rolled again against the next-weakest a number of times equal to your School Rank.

B: Strike At The Tail
If an opponent is stronger than you then first, take away his strength. When you successfully perform a maneuver to trip or disarm an opponent, you may immediately make an extra attack against them.

C: Above & Below
When you attack, do so from unexpected angles. You may now attack twice per round, futhermore your Tail Die increases to d8.

D: Pincers Hold & Tail Strikes
When you hit the same opponent with both your attacks, you may make a third. If you spend a Void Point on this third attack, the opponent who survives must Save or be stunned for 1 round by the psychic venom of your attack.

One cannot capture the wind

Unicorn Clan: Shinjo Horsemen
The Kirin Clan spent eight centuries outside Rokugan, scouting the surrounding lands for external threats. When they returned, riding from the West through the Shadowlands like an invading army, it caused one of the biggest upheavals in the Empire's history, as their ancient territories held in trust by other clans were once again ceded back to their old masters. What's more, though they had done their best to preserve their Rokugani traditions, time and extremity had led to the now Unicorn Clan having picked up a number of odious foreign customs like eating meat, leatherworking, and some decidedly unconventional fighting styles.

Skills: Athletics, Riding, Gaijin Lore, Hunting.
Weapons: Sword, Spear, Bow, Polearms.
Starting Equipment: Heavy Armour with purple lacquer, rugged clothing, katana and wakizashi, any 1 other weapon, furoshiki, quality riding horse, 10 koku.

+1 to Attacks per Template, +1 to Initative on A, C. +1 to Defence on B, D. Unicorn warriors strike like the wind and are gone before foes can retaliate.

A: Way of the Unicorn, Dance of the Blade/Yomanri
B: Four Winds Strike
C: One Spirit
D: Dancing With The Fortunes

A: Way of the Unicorn
Most Unicorns learn to ride before they can even walk. On horseback you add your School Rank to Defence and Damage. Your steed uses your Defence score.

A: Dance of the Blade/Yomanri
You learn one of the techniques the Unicorn picked up on their long sojourn;

• Dance of the Blade: In response to an attack against you, once per round you may make your own attack roll; if it exceeds your foes' roll their damage is reduced by d6.
• Yomanri: Traditional Rokugani archery holds that the loosing of an arrow should be instinctual, meditative, letting the arrow find its way. Gaijin think it's better to just aim. You can delay an archery attack until the end of the round, like declaring a spell. If you do, and are not interrupted by an attack, your shot automatically hits.

B: Four Winds Strike
You may now attack twice per round. You may make a move action between attacks without provoking an attack of opportunity.

C: One Spirit
The bond between you and your steed is now on an almost spiritual level. You can bond with a horse by investing a Void Point in the animal, which remains invested for as long as you choose to maintain the bond. While invested, your steed responds to even complex commands with human-like intelligence and you can perform impressively improbable feats of horsemanship like mounting your steed while it is galloping full speed or fighting proficiently while hanging sideways on the saddle. Your bonded steed will never fumble an athletic feat like jumping a fence and the damage multiplier for charging with a lance increases to x3 while riding it.

D: Dancing With The Fortunes
Unicorns are famously lucky, they had to be to survive 800 years of self-imposed exile. Once per round you can spend a Void Point to reroll a die (any die, including damage) rather than gain a bonus to your roll, even critical failures. 

Dark and sinister man, have at thee - GLOG Duelling Styles

Answering Locheil's challenge here.

Loch's original post mentioned Lessons that some fighting styles had, but didn't elaborate on them. I interpreted them as extra special bonuses you could gain once mastering all techniques within a given style. I leave it up to the DM how they are acquired, probably via questing.

Ψ - Gloriam
Style of the de Voltenes, an aasimar noble family descended from ancient heroes, now sadly degenerate and impious - their youngest son rumoured to have been born a tiefling as divine punishment and sent to the New World aboard a slave barge to save the family's face. Requires the use of a silvered blade.

1. Technique: Ave Igna - Shout a holy word aloud as you execute a lunging fleché and the wound site sparks on contact - your attack causes fire damage on a hit, and may set flammable things alight.
2. Stance: Pinhead Dance - As long as you have an elegant weapon in hand, you cannot lose your balance no matter how narrow or unsure the surface you stand upon. What is considered elegant changes with fashion and circumstance, but in general; rapier yes, thousand-folded eastern disembowelling scimitar yes, sledgehammer no, lochaber axe no.
3. Technique: Speculum Solis - Use the mirror-polished surface of your silvered sword to dazzle your foe. Target must Save or be blinded for one round, in addition to being stabbed. Only useable outdoors in the daytime or with an equivalent source of light - a Daylight spell is fine.
4. Stance: Immaculate - You cannot be muddied, bloodied, dusted, splattered or moistened by the to-and-fro of combat. Mostly this is just showing off, but exceptionally useful when fighting things that have acid for blood, emit gouts of spores when poked, or other such nonsense.

Lesson of Gloriam: On Angel's Wings - At will you may change your body weight to be equivalent to the weight of your sin. The DM will judge how sinful you are, based on past conduct. A truly light soul can fall like a feather and skip across the surface of a pond with a few dainty taps of their toes to propel them. A thoroughly wicked soul cracks pavement tiles when they tread and could make a carthorse strain to pull them from where they stand.

Ψ - Calcolo
Enthusiastic application of the skills taught at the Drezelli School of Mathematics, whose students can be found in most wine bars after exam-season, gleefully taking eachother apart with algorithmic precision. Requires the use of a cubit rod in the offhand.

1. Technique: Point Control - You can never roll lower than your last attack roll in this combat. i.e. If you rolled an 11 one round, and 7 the next, your second roll is considered to have been an 11. The next round your minimum roll would be 7.
2. Technique: Measure Twice - If you win initiative, you may choose to let your opponent act before you. If you do, ignore any bonus to their AC that comes from any type of armour that has gaps - including scales and the like.
3. Stance: Music of the Primes - When your attack roll comes up 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 or 19, you deal an additional 1 point of damage, even if the attack would not otherwise hit.
4. Stance: Long Division - The AC you get from Panache is doubled versus arrows and hurled daggers and the like as long as you have not moved in the past round. Seeming to cross an infinite number of divisions between you and the archer, they are very easy to swat aside.

Lesson of Calcolo: Number of the Beast - At the start of each day you have done at least two of the following things the night before that are pleasing to the Devil;

1. Got riotously drunk.
2. Played a game of probability for money.
3. Attended a lecture on one of the natural sciences.
4. Got in a fight.

...roll a d6. You may add or subtract the result of that d6 from any roll you or another makes today, after which it is discarded. If you roll a 6, keep it and roll another d6, up to a total of three dice.

Ψ - Lirippé

Discrete cloak-fighting style popularised by Antigonese Bladewards, designed to neutralise assassins hiding among the fashionable set to target their masters. Requires a cloak or cape of fine quality.

1. Technique: Clean the Blade - An envenomed weapon that attacks you and misses has its poison wiped clean on your cloak.
2. Technique: Toro! - You may apply your Panache bonus to AC to another person within arm's reach. You do not personally benefit from it in any round you use this technique. If you know Clean the Blade, you may apply it on attacks you intercept this way.
3. Technique: Olé! - You may Parry against attacks directed at another person within arm's reach.
4. Stance: Capa y Espada - While in this stance anyone carrying a concealed weapon must make an opposed Wisdom check or you know exactly what they're carrying, and when you Riposte you may choose to disarm your opponent instead of attacking.

Lesson of Lirippé: The Horns - If you die in defence of another, you have a 2 in 6 chance of instead miraculously pulling through, leaving you on 1hp.

Ψ - SoÞwide

Personal style of the wide-eyed barbarian turned sanctioned witch-hunter Aethelwulf the Questioner, who loathes wizards and takes grim delight in putting them to the question.

1. Technique: Fear & Surprise - If you win initiative on the first round of combat you can backstab your target for +4 to Attack and double damage, providing you have enough movement to run up behind them.
2. Stance: Ruthless Efficiency - You deal +2 damage to anyone who has Magic Dice.
3. Stance: Fanatical Devotion - If you are charmed or otherwise mentally compelled the one who charmed you takes d6 psychic damage every round the effect remains active.
4. Stance: Scarlet Robed - While garbed in cardinal's red you add your [level] to Saves vs. unholy magics. This includes most necromancy, all demonology and anything from a witch's spell list, but not fireballs and lightning bolts and the like.

Lesson of SoÞwide: The Question - You have permanent sanpaku eyes. When you defeat someone you may scream a question in their face, they must Save or answer as honestly as they can before they are removed from combat.

Ψ - Scytta

A style of archery perfected by outlaw poachers and bandit woodsmen of the Stonewood Forest, rumoured to have made deals with druids and witches to keep their brigand villages hidden from outsiders. Requires the use of a longbow and stone-headed arrows.

1. Technique: Stag-Piercer - Add your Strength modifier to damage with bowshots within Close range.
2. Technique: Legs & Eyes - Ignore cover penalties from any shields smaller than a pavise.
3. Stance: Hunter's Eye - Each round you spend aiming, reduce the effective range bracket of the target by one step.
4. Stance: Wind Wyrd - Ignore weather-related penalties to shooting, even in howling winds and torrential rain you can find just the right place to put an arrow in the air such that the wind will carry it where you want it. Supernatural weather may force you to make a Save to oppose it, but you still can.

Lesson of Scytta: Fruit of the Yew - Given a day to forage in a forested environment you can manufacture a single poison arrow that deals 4d6 damage or 2d6 on a successful Save. You can have as many poison arrows in existence at any one time as you have Templates.

The Brand - A Class for Ransack

 A conversion of Locheil's Rotless, which I have been having tremendous fun playing in his Qal Ashen game, for Ransack by Justin Todd, who also writes a damn fine game;

By deWitteillustration

True nobility is exempt from fear - GLOG Class: Caste Noble

Quite by coincidence at least two other noble-themed GLOG classes have been published in the last week. Much like busses, you wait all day for one then three come at once.

You are a Caste Noble, a descendent of great heroes - or exceptionally successful cattle rustlers. In truth, if you go back far enough, there is often little difference. You may wear any armour or shields you wish. You cannot fumble with swords, maces, bows or lances, unless wielding a magical version of those weapons in a formal duel.

Starting Skill: roll twice; 1. Command 2. Heraldry 3. Hunting 4. Character Judgement 5. Siegecraft 6. Logistics

Equipment: Three bronze weapons of your choice, a bronze breastplate and helm, a shield bearing a personal device, a bad tempered warhorse, a signet ring, cloth-of-gold clothes, 3d6x50gp worth of jewellery, one item of choice or two rolls on the Heirlooms & Inheritances table, and a sense of entitlement a mile wide.

Every template gives +1 To Hit & +1 to Reaction Rolls

A: Warborn, Sobriquet, Retainers

B: Raise Banners +1 Retainer 

C: Crush Resistance +1 Retainer

D: Corona, +1 Retainer

A: Warborn

You have the rare quality of Nobility, which is a kind of disregard for the value of life combined with the skill and ability to take it. Against brigands, peasant militia, savage demihumans and beasts, along with anyone else who doesn't have a lifetime of training in battle and hunting (like Soulknives and Ironmen), you roll damage on the following table, using the damage die of your weapon;

1-3 1HD

4-6 2HD

7-9 3HD

10+ 4HD

You kill the indicated number of HD worth of foes. Most peasants, bandits and goblins have 1HD or fractions thereof. Any excess carries over to any other foes in range if your weapon. Be sure to lovingly describe the comical slaughter you inflict.

A: Sobriquet

Your deeds affect the lives of many, and so by them you are known. You start being known as either The Great or The Terrible, at your choice. Your actions in the course of play may change this.

If you are known as The Great, any reaction rolls of Uncertain are automatically upgraded to Friendly. Reroll any result of Immediate Attack. Your social inferiors are welcoming and talk openly and frankly around you, but slow to bend to your wishes.

If you are known as The Terrible, any reaction rolls of Uncertain are automatically set to Leave, and any rolls of Immediate Attack are instead rolled as Possible Attack. Reroll any results of Friendly. Your social inferiors are obsequious and obedient, but avoid your pesence and talking about anything that may anger you.

Regardless of your Sobriquet, you are recognised as highborn and may own land, wear armour in a city, and can demand trial by a jury of your peers.

A: Retainers

You have [Templates] servants of exceptional loyalty, whose families have served yours for generations. All have stats as a 0-level man-at-arms. They do not count against your normal hireling limit. If killed a replacement can be obtained on a roll of 2:6 for each month spent in civilisation. Roll from the following table, but your first one is always a Dogsbody, lamentably;

1. Dogsbody: A man with no brain, or the wit to be disloyal. Equipped with livery and a concealed knife, no special traits beyond absolutely unflinching loyalty and obedience - seriously, they will do anything you command - but can carry, set up tents, build fires and cook (badly). Has some kind of odious personal habit, like nose picking or chewing tobacco.

2. Torturer: A terrible person, of singular skill. Equipped with an executioner's sword and splint mail. Can extract d3-1 answers to questions of your choice from a helpless person, no save allowed, but the victim will surely die.

3. Sage: A wise man, devoted to learning. Equipped with a belt knife but will not participate in combat unless cornered. Can identify magical items with a 2:6 accuracy rate per day of study and provide mundane answers on topics of history, geography, theology and art.

4. Bodyguard: The most deserving of retirement, the least likely to attain it. Equipped with a breastplate, shield and spear. Can take a hit for you, at the cost of being taken out of the fight. He gets back up on 1HP as soon as danger is passed, unless a merciless foe takes the time to kill him while he's down or you quit the field.

5. Courtier: Perfumed, silver-tongued, deceitful - and on your side. Equipped with a ceremonial tipstaff - counts as a club, but will not fight if they can flee. Can secure you a meeting with any prominent public figure in d4 days, and allow you to be treated according to your station even in lands hostile to your own.

6. Assassin: Soft of voice, soft of step, dead of eye. Equipped with a leather jerkin, a sap and a poisoned stiletto. Give him the name of an NPC and as many pieces of information about a given target they would wish to keep secret as you can. He has a [secrets]:6 chance of killing them by the next morning, as long as their HD is equal or lower than yours, otherwise he dies unless on a roll of a 1. Nameless NPC's of no importance can be dispatched without a roll, but it will still take a day.

7. Poison Taster: Possessed of a strong stomach, in every sense. Equipped with a dagger and a pouch of medicinal charcoal. Can identify potions for you by taste, and has a 3:6 chance of ignoring any negative effects after hurriedly stuffing down a handful of charcoal.

8. Confessor: An accessory to your many sins. Equipped with a crozier (counts as a club) and gambeson. If you are subject to a curse, they have a 4:6 chance to be able to tell you the exact steps (penances) needed to break it. On a 1, it's very easy.

9. Physician: A scholar from foreign lands with foreign ideas, like hygiene. Equipped with a gambeson, dagger and healer's kit. While he is in your entourage you have +1HP per level, these are lost at a rate of 1HP per day if he leaves or dies.

10. Artist: A weak and tortured man, his memory will outlive you. Doesn't accompany you on adventures, but you may choose to spend money funding his works - you gain no benefit for cash spent in this way, but in the event of your death the gold spent becomes the XP total for your next character.

B: Raise Banners

Any men-at-arms under your direction gain a bonus to their attack rolls and AC equal to your Templates in this class. With a week of drilling peasant militia, you can pacify an inhabited hex of any trouble related to banditry, humanoid attacks or dangerous mundane animals. 

C: Crush Resistance

Any successful attack you make while charging deals an automatic critical hit. If you are also mounted on a horse or chariot, enemies subject to such a charge must immediately test morale.

D: Corona

You apprehend the true name Blood, and may teach it to sorcerers if you wish, they will expect to have to do you a great service in return. You are immune to emotion-based attacks and effects, and may freely control your own blood temperature. Furthermore, any oath sworn in your presence while you bear a bleeding wound, no matter how shallow, is magically binding, with the consequences determined by the wording of the oath. Any such oath must be prefaced by the affirmation "I swear" or "I promise". If you force a bandit to forswear all villainy on pain of death and he agrees, even at swordpoint, then fate will conspire to ensure that his next crime is his last. Any oaths you swear to uphold yourself are just as binding.

Heirlooms & Inheritances

1. A crumbling keep on a rugged (two of the following keywords; rocky, barren, lawless) bit of land, many leagues and multiple terrain hazards away from any large settlement. Would take an investment of a small fortune to make it profitable, but it could be done.

2. A war chariot that once took part in the royal lion-hunt, horses not included.

3. An extensive cosmetics kit, including perfume essences.

4. A distinctive barrel seal, its imprint can only be forged on a 1:6.

5. A pair of incredibly good boots - passed down from your grandfather, having been through multiple wars, and still look just elegantly vintage.

6. A leopardskin cloak, the head of the beast taxidermied to act as a pauldron. Adds a sufficiently exotic flair to make any ensemble fit for court.

7. Five arm-bands of gold-chased bronze. Give one to someone who swears service to you to raise their loyalty bonus by +15.

8. A pair of overshoes mounted on inch-high copper rings. Keeps the hem of your cloak out of the muck, and incidentally lets you walk over caltrops unharmed.

9. Ancestor scrolls, detailing your lineage and your ancestor's significant accomplishments. Allows you to reroll failed Saves versus Fear, if  succumbing would cause you shame in their eyes.

10. The inlaid horn of an extinct auroch, sacred in a time when the gods walked among men. Wine that has been poured from it is as mystically potent as blood.

11. A longsword made from steely iron, left behind by the Ironmen and expertly maintained since.

12. D6 clay blessing tablets. Break them on the steps of a temple to gain a bonus to endeavours related to the god's purview for the next day.

13. D6 clay curse tablets. Throw them against the dwelling of a hated enemy to give him a penalty to a particular action of your choosing equal to the number of tablets smashed for the rest of the day.

14. A mail-piercing poignard dagger, made of iron. Reduces the AV of non-plate armour by 2. Snaps on a natural 1.

15. A set of books and scrolls containing treatises on three of the following subjects, enough to make the reader an armchair expert; 1. Warfare 2. Statecraft 3. Law 4. Myths & Legends 5. Geography 6. Imaginitive Lovemaking.

16. A folding wax tablet and stylus, for making impromtu notes. 

17. Two Scytale, a cipher rod used to encode messages. Your family patriarch also has an identical one.

18. A lacquered box containing number of common poisons, measured out in microdoses. Using them to kill someone would make you reviled as a coward for the rest of your life, but as long as you consume them regularly you have a +4 bonus to Saves vs. poison.

19. A ball of fine silk twine, remarkably strong and light, 100 meters long.

20. An unusual trinket, roll d6;

1. A sphere of runed iron, the size of an olive. While it is in contact with your skin your body is, metaphysically, considered to be made of iron without actually changing substance. Sorcerers will shrink from you like you were a leper while wearing it.

2. FIVE LIONS RAMPANT - a (+1) tulwar of immaculum, hilt of gold and ivory. Twirling it over your head produces the sound of a host of roaring big cats.

3. The deed to a haunted mansion, which you have to survive the night in to claim ownership. If you succeed, all the tenant spirits become your sworn vassals.

4. A black ribbon, attached to a token of tomb-silver. Can be exchanged for the services of the Assassin's Guild in eliminating any one subject. They will keep sending progressively more deadly agents until the target is dead, or return the token with an apology and a really nice bottle of wine.

5. The porcelain death-mask of your line's founder, decorated with carnelian tears. While wearing it undead roll for reaction with you as normal and can be conversed with, even non-sentient undead - though some knowledge of ancient languages may be required. Those who are hostile were probably slain by your ancestor.

6. An ivory cameo of an elven princess, set in repousséd gold, token of an ancestor's ancient tryst. While holding it close you can see dimly in darkness out to a range of 30ft - enough to fight and navigate around a room in pitch blackness, but not to read or make out facial features - and can passively sense the presence of hidden doors on a 1:6.

My Only Teacher is Nature - Fighter Techniques (OSR/GLOG Compatible)

I rarely ever play fighters. Hybrids, sure. Gishes, paladins, monks, even barbarians, but seldom a farmboy with a sword and board and a yen for adventure. I've always just felt like I was missing out on half the system to play a character without any access to the kind of lateral advancement that spellcasters have. Part of this also stems from a conversation on the GLOG book club, specifically Spwack's idea that fighters need more options to do borderline 'impossible' things, because by standard OSR design philosophy anyone can attempt to do anything possible. There's a lot of wisdom in the old standby of letting fighters try this kind of thing just with a penalty to their attack roll, but I want a way of codifying it into something that feels like an actual way of improving your character. Wizards get the fun of collecting and crafting spells, I want that for fighter-types too. To whit, I have come up with the following rules that I am going to implement in my home OSE and GLOG games; 

Fighters can attempt to perform special techniques; they can try to pull off anything even vaguely plausible, even borderline impossible anime-tier stuff, using any resources available to them. If it's something you'd need a Feat to do in some editions or 10-year-old you believed people could do if only their kung-fu was good enough, a fighter can try it and have a reasonable chance of success. Furthermore, they can refine these attempts into polished techniques they can perform reliably.

This kinda stuff.

Fighters are not just simple warriors after all, they can endure enough damage to kill a normal man several times over, the mightiest of them can take blows from giants that by all rights should reduce them to a pulp. They are proficient with all weapons, a trait that on it's own was sufficient to elevate two members of the Suicide Squad to superhero level. Fighters are instinctual users of the same power that a wizard uses to turn invisible or rend a horde of goblins apart with killing incandescences. 

Here's how you do it;

1. A Fighter can attempt 1 technqiue per day per level, demi-fighters like barbarians and rangers etc. can attempt 1 technique per day for every second level they have. A technique is always attempted as part of an attack roll, and must be declared before the attack.
2. When they first attempt a new technique, the GM should assign it a difficulty out of 1-6. Base difficulty is a 5:6 chance of success, for each additional action's worth of stuff* a technique contains lower this by 1, for each really outlandish action reduce it by 2 or more.
3. Truly extraordinary techniques may have a 0:6 chance of success. However, if they wish, the player may negotiate drawbacks to the technique to reduce the difficulty. Taking a fatigue level, losing a die or two's worth of hp, losing the use of a limb for a certain period, or expending a hard-to-procure resource like a potion are all good examples.
4. If they roll under the success chance on a d6, they do the thing! They should also write down the technique and give it a name, so they can retry the same technique again.
5. If it fails, they should still write it down anyway, except the next time they retry it the difficulty is lowered by 1 point. Every failed attempt in real combat (not sparring) lowers this difficulty. When a technique's success chance is reduced to 6:6 it is now perfected. A perfected technique can be pulled off automatically with a successful attack roll and an expendiature of a daily technique usage. It can even be used after the attack roll is declared successful or not.
6. A character can have a number of techniques in their memory equal to their level. They can still learn new techniques once this limit is filled, but must forget one of their currently memorised techniques to make space. True masters write their perfected techniques into Manuals to avoid losing them permanently (see below).

*To illustrate: a lot of games have rules for sundering, disarming, tripping, grappling, etc. which all take up an attack action, with a technique you can do multiple of those things at once. Like disarming a person with a flick of your blade, grabbing their weapon out of the air, and hitting them with it all in one smooth move (base success chance 2:6).

Special techniques can include any resources at the user's disposal, but if it's tied to a specific weapon's magical effect the user needs that weapon to use the technique, or one with a similar enchantment. An example might be taking a swig of moonshine and spitting it through a flametongue sword. You're going to need at least some flammable liquid and a source of fire to do that.

Why yes, this is all an excuse to post Ranking of Kings gifs, thank you for noticing.

Training & Technique Manuals
A fighter during downtime can spend cash to improve their success chance with a technique, up to a maximum of 5:6 - only testing in the unpredictable nature of real life-and-death combat can perfect a technique. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

Such improvements require access to a training facility with dummy targets, wooden training weapons, and master tutors where the technique can be refined in a semi-scientific fashion. A "fighter's guild", knightly order, mercenary company or the like will likely have such a setup. Training costs a week of effort and 100gp x the chance:6 advanced into. E.g. advancing a technique from a 3:6 to 4:6 costs 400gp.

A technique that has been perfected can also be written into a Manual, which can be read by others to learn the technique. Such Manuals are highly valuable and sought-after, and become a new item of treasure akin to scrolls for wizards. With a Manual a character can freely commit the perfected technique it contains to their memory with only an evening's study.

End Him Rightly

Writing a Manual doesn't require magical ink and uncanny parchment like a scroll, but it does require illustrations. An artist must be employed unless the author is also proficient. It takes a month to write, 500gp, and a successful skill check both for the artist and the author. A failed check results in a flawed manual, with either obtuse language or hard to follow illustrations, reducing the base success chance for the technique learned from it by 1 for each failed roll. The author can of course retry, providing they have enough money and time remaining, and the technique still in their memory.

Example Techniques

Dance of Wrath
Three strikes executed in the time it takes a common man to make one against the closest 3 possible targets within 30ft of each other, friend-or-foe. This technique is so strenuous it costs the user a level of Fatigue.
(Three attacks in one (-3), uncanny movement speed (-2), Doesn't discriminate targets (+1), Fatigue gain (+1), base success chance 2:6)

Fightan.

Don Schiavona's Percipient Defence (I provided this one, but this whole post is mineable.)
Expend a technique use for the day as a reaction to be able to parry even attacks that you are not consciously aware of for the round, allowing you to keep your full Defence and make an opposed attack roll against the first attack made against you this round, negating it if you exceed the attacker's roll. This technique, once perfected, can be used even when unconscious.

(Uncanny defence (-2), one special action (-2), base success chance 1:6)

Shirasampe
A deceptive technique that appears to the untrained (non-Fighters) to be a seemingly supernatural ability to paralyse foes with a blast of chi from the user's palm. In actuality, it employs no magic, merely knowledge of the prana-bindu meridian system and a pebble hurled with supreme speed and accuracy. The victim must Save vs. Breath Weapons or be paralyzed for d6 rounds, or until they take damage.
(Near-magical effect (-3), requires proficiency in medicine (+1), base success chance 3:6)

For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee - Bloodhunter (GLOG class)

Art by Adrian Wilkins

It's a story as old as the mountains; one day, something foul and poisonous, many-headed and mad from birth, came upon your village with savage hunger. The screams, the stench, the swift, fanged horror in the darkness. It should have been enough to break you. And perhaps it did, in a way; broke you right, broke you sane. After all, if humanity was so great it wouldn't be torn limb-from-limb by nameless terrors in the night. Better to leave it behind, become something stronger; the stalker in the night, the tale that trollmaids tell their bairns to make them fear, that the manticore and the hydra smells on the wind and goes the other way. They won't catch you unprepared this time, you're not prey any more. They are.

Class: Bloodhunter

You are quite tasty in a fight, being proficient with your choice of three weapon groups out of swords, spears, axes, clubs, crossbows and firearms. You are also proficient with nets, bolas and poisons. You can only wear leather armour, but it can be weird leather (see Skinning below), and can wield shields.

Starting skill: 1. Normal Leatherworking 2. Animal Handling 3. Trapmaking

Starting Equipment: Boar spear, messer or hand axe, cudgel, 50ft of rope, crocodile leather armour (light), bucket, bonesaw, saddler's needle and strong thread, stack of pelts and ivory worth 3D6 gp, 1 item of choice or 2 rolls from the list of Hunting Gear.

A: Skinning, Teratology +1 HP

B: Pugnacious, Slayer Tactics +1 attack/round

C: Medusa Head +1 Saves

D: Become Monster, +1 HP

+

Δ Nightmare

Δ Teratovore

A: Skinning

You can convert monster body parts into useful equipment. A monster carcass that is in reasonable condition (not burned to a crisp,  shredded or flattened) yields usable parts equal to its HD/2, rounded up. If you have multiple carcasses of the same species available, combine their HD to determine the number of salvageable parts. With a few hours' work these parts can be converted into weapons and armour. If you have multiple carcasses from the same species to work from, you can total them up to determine the usable parts available to you. 1 monster part takes up 1/2 an inventory slot. You can maintain up to your Templates (including deltas) in slots of monster parts at a time (make a note of what creatures they come from), any in excess of this rot into uselessness at the end of a the session. All parts included into a single creation must come from the same species.

If a creature has a natural attack, you can create a weapon that has the same damage and effects, this requires 1 part per size rating of the natural weapon, plus 1 more for each special effect (poison, etc.) the attack form has. Special effects have a usage die of d6, and can be refreshed by expending a part from the same creature that originated it.

If the creature has natural armour, you can create leather armour that has the same protective value by expending 1 part per weight rating of the equivalent armour (light, medium, heavy). If the creature had any special resistances then these may also be incorporated into the armour for 1 extra part. Like weapon special effects, resistances have a usage die and can be refreshed in the same way.

Note on usage dice: Usage dice is a mechanic that originates with The Black Hack, for simplicity's sake in this class usage dice always start as a d6 that is rolled whenever the item it is attached to is used, drop to d4 on a roll of 1-2, on a second 1-2 roll the trophy or weapon/armour special ability cannot be used again unless refreshed.

A: Teratology

You have a Templates:6 chance to know a useful fact about any given monster you encounter. If you fail this roll you may retry after you have had time to examine the body of one. If the creature has any special vulnerabilities or resistances, you know that first, followed by special attacks, then behaviour patterns.

B: Pugnacious

NPC's can sense, and will fear, the aura of dread violence that hangs over you, one who wears the skins of nightmares. NPC townsfolk and the like can surround you or bar your way, but you always win initiative against them, and they roll morale tests against you with disadvantage.

B: Slayer Tactics

When you succeed in an attack against a non-human foe you can immediately employ a followup maneuver against the target, once per round. E.g. applying a torch flame to cauterize a hydra's neck-stump, attaching a limpet mine to a gorgon's back, tripping up a charging minotaur, etc.

In addition, you can fight a target you can see in a mirror as well as you could looking straight-on. When you do so you are immune to any cognitohazards and gaze attacks the target can employ.

C: Medusa Head 

There is powerful magic in skin and bone, equal to any. You can now use skinning to create mixtures and trophies that replicate monster abilities, or build them into weapons and armour by spending extra parts as normal. This costs 1-3 parts, depending on the strength of the ability (DM decides) and has a d6 usage die. If the ability is passive, it lasts the usage die's roll in minutes.

You can even replicate spellcasting abilities of magical monsters by converting them into a trophy. Such a trophy holds up to the creature's former MD, costing its MD value in parts, and has all their known spells. You suffer any mishaps and Dooms resulting from its use. In this case the usage die is rolled once a day at midnight to regain an expended MD. Liches, immortals and wizards on their 3rd Doom are monsters.

D: Become Monster

You can graft monster organs onto your body, up to the equivalent of your Templates (including deltas) worth of parts. The usage dice of grafted organs refresh whenever you get an uninterrupted rest. The grafting process requires a place to work uninterrupted for 8 hours, surgeon's tools, a big bottle of strong alcohol, and deals you 1d6 damage per monster part used in the graft.

Δ Nightmare 

Stitch together the parts of 3+ different monsters, at least 2 of which must be capable of quadrupedal locomotion, convince or force the spirit of a dead horse to inhabit it.

You have a monstrous steed, a stitched-together chimera animated by the power that comes from the joining of unlike things. It counts in all respects as a warhorse, except two of the following are true;

• It always comes when called, no matter the distance between you, even across planes.
• It only falls when it wants to - if you ride it off a cliff, you can keep going at the same elevation, but if you descend lower it needs a slope to climb higher again.
• It has a power possessed by one of its component monsters, with a d6 usage die that resets at midnight.

Δ Teratovore

Live on monster flesh as your primary source of calories for a month.

Your unnatural diet has taken a toll on your physiology, for better or worse. You can no longer eat normal food, it's like forcing down mouthfuls of ashes and vinegar if you try, so unappealing is it in comparison to the sublime sweetness of monster flesh. On the upside, you can consume Parts to heal yourself by d6 hp, and increase one physical stat that the monster had higher than yours by 1, up to a maximum total bonus across all stats equal to your Templates. These bonuses last 8 hours. One monster part is enough to sustain all your dietary needs for a full day, but you'll want more.

Example Trophies;

Trollskin Duster: A green-grey leather coat with an oddly rough, knobbly texture, studded with bony dermoliths. The leather is still, in some way, dimly alive despite the tanning and curing it has endured. When the wearer is injured their blood enlivens the coat, which sweats a froth of trollish regenerative hormones and complex proteins, sealing the wound and any damage to the coat. Regular infusions of trollfat-based polish are necessary to keep it in condition if regularly damaged. (3 parts - light armour plus limited regeneration)

Destrachan Horn: Something of a misnomer, as destachans don't have horns. Rather, it is an instrument made from the creature's mummified vocal organs and bone sounding chamber, resembling a pungi snakecharmer's flute. A skilled destrachan hunter who has studied the way they control their breathing to produce constructive interference waves within their resonating chamber can play the horn to produce the destrachan's famed sonic blast. Some of the delicate inner components of the sounding chamber tend to break or have their cartilage dry out and must be replaced from time to time. (2 parts - good attack with a rare damage type)

Rust Monster Essence: A canny teratologist can use some very simple alchemy and an ample supply of rust monster glands to separate out the active element in rust monster saliva that produces incredibly fast oxidization. The creature's mandible itself provides the ideal applicator, and can be fashioned into a squirt-bottle with ease, though some prefer to just keep the stuff stored in ceramic phials for throwing. (1 part - a useful but circumstantial effect)

Bulette Plate: The metalic chitin of the land-shark can be fashioned into excellent plate armour, once its digestive juices have been used to soften the shells for reshaping to a humanoid form. Expert armourers can even incorporate the complex subdermal intercostal muscles that produce the harmonic resonance that allows the bulette to "swim" through the earth. Wearers are advised to use this sparingly, as the muscles quickly lose their stored chemical energy and once exhausted the user risks being left entombed underground. (5 parts - heavy armour, plus a decent special effect)

Beholder Wand: Pristine Beholder eyestalks can be fashioned into wands if submerged into mixture of blood and the creature's magically-charged vitreous humour. The optic nerve can be triggered by applying a mild acid (human saliva will suffice - just lick your fingertips and pinch!), to produce the eye's beam on command. Unlike a living Beholder's eyestalk, the magical charge does eventually wear out.unless immersed in more liquid vitreum. (2-3 parts, depending on the eyestalk)

Hook Horror Sword: The gigantic bony blades of a Hook Horror make ideal weapons once they are mounted on a hilt and the excess connective material pared away. Counts as a tiger hook sword, grants the ability to rend if you hit with two of them in the same or sequential rounds, causing a third automatic hit. (3 parts - medium weapon + special effect)

Myconid Necrospore Dust: Some older myconids have the ability to infect corpses with a fast-growing extension of their own mycelial biome that reactivates parts of the deceased's nervous and musculoskeletal systems, and replaces others. A bit of quick-and-dirty bioalchemy can recondition the spores so that the fungi that grow from them respond to the hunter's pheromones with the same defensive behavior as they would from their originator. (2 parts, good but circumstantial effect)

Nothic Monocle: Mummify a nothic's eye (it shrinks down to the size of a tangerine) and poke a hole in the back where the optic nerve used to be, scour the lens with some rough astrological sigils and bathe the thing in the creature's blood. Look through it at someone to learn something important about them, manifesting in visual hallucinations of their past. Only works once per person, and eventually the magical charge dissipates unless the eye is anointed in fresh nothic blood. (1 part, useful investigative power).

Hunting Gear d20

1. Collapsible gastraphetes (5 minutes to assemble, 2 rounds to reload, hits as a light siege weapon) and 5 bolts. (4 slots). Takes a full grown man leaning his whole weight on it to cock the mechanism.

2. Large-bore Arquebus and 20 measures of powder and shot. (2 slots).

3. A sensibly sized crossbow and 20 quarrels. (1-2 slots).

4. A convincing fake sheep (hollow). (1 slot when packed up).

5. Silvered steel dagger, with hollow handle to be fitted on a pole as a spear (1/2 a slot).

6. Utility harness, makes an extra 2 of your slots quick access (0 slots when worn).

7. Thighbone flute (1/2 a slot).

8. Tower shield with a personal blazon (3 slots).

9. Flask of whiskey cut with troll blood, restores 1hp per swig, contains 10 swigs (1 slot).

10. Two bear traps, deals 1d8 damage and immobilises on a failed save. Strength roll with disadvantage to break free (1 slot each). 

11. Harpoon with rope-loop, heavy weapon, on hit target must save or the harpoon embeds and can only be removed by doing its damage again (2 slots).

12. Spool of strong brass wire, about 50 meters of the stuff. (1/2 a slot)

13. Almanac of Teratological research, gives +1 to first Teratology roll for a given monster species (1/2 a slot).

14. Jar of peppermint oil, extremely strong smell. (1/3 a slot)

15. Camouflage cloak (+2 Sneak in a specific terrain). (1 slot, 0 when worn).

16. A folding treestand, lets you camp up a tree. (2 slots).

17. A gallon jug of refined alcohol (1 slot).

18. A large dog with baggy skin, trained to kill lions. (0 slots unless you carry it, then... I dunno, 4?)

19. A box of 2d6 dynamite sticks. Old, 1d4 weeks away from starting to sweat nitroglycerin.

20. Something stranger;

1. A Gullet Harness, leather strapping covered in spikes. Creatures that swallow you whole take d6 damage per turn and have to save every round or spit you out. Gives you disadvantage on most checks related to agility.
2. NO WAY BACK, a +1 Bastard Sword of acid-pitted steely iron. Terse, violently bigoted, sentimental.
3. A lich's skull, long drained of its magical power but the spirit still stuck around for some reason. Has a 3:6 chance to know any given thing related to magic. Answers to Zarzak.
4. A music box. Once, ever, you can play it to a formerly human creature to paralyze them with the painful recollection of their lost humanity for 1d6 rounds.
5. 3D6 gold pieces worth of assorted silver holy symbols. Makes great bomb shrapnel when hunting unholy monsters, doubling the damage against such prey.
6. A Bane Dagger, a kind of trophy made from the rib of a dead Bloodhunter who became a monster from their own obsession. Pick one specific monster - a monster of that species wounded by this dagger must Save or die, after which the dagger turns to ash.