GLAUGUST #3 - Futility of categorization (Microfiction)

"The first thing you must disabuse yourself of is that there is any such thing as magic." Spake the old wizard Kaitos. It was, his apprentice thought, not the most auspicious start to his first true magic lesson.

"But master, how can you say that when I have seen you work magic before?" Abe wheedled.

"Oh, have you?" The old sophist smirkingly condescended, stroking his grey beard as he regarded the boy sitting crosslegged on his workroom rug. "What magic exactly do you remember me working?"

Abe bristled at the tone, and struggled not to let it show on his face; though he was sure it did. Just when he thought he had proven himself capable and responsible enough to be let into the wizard's confidences and gain the wondrous treasures of knowledge he had been promised, so it turned out to be yet another opportunity for the lore-miser to humble him further.

"I have witnessed you brew potions for castle lords going off to battle that can do in moments what takes a physicker weeks or months to heal, I have seen you bewitch the mind of a peasant who darkened your door, I have seen you call unwholesome spirits into a chalk circle and scribe amulets with celestial figures that can turn away any blade or arrow arrayed against the bearer." Abe said, arms folded resolutely. "How can you do such things and tell me there is no such thing as magic? You cannot expect me to believe that such feats are all mummery!"

"Mummery? Who said anything about mummery!?" Kaitos cried out, drawing himself up to his full height in indignation. "You reckon me for an actor? Lower even than a harlot, whose work at least has the virtue of truth? Is that what you think my implication is, boy? Or was I wasting my breath teaching you what rudiments of rhetoric will fit in your peasant skull?"

Rhetoric? So, this was a test, not a lecture. He had missed something vital in his master's meaning.

"So... the works you enacted are true, but magic is not? So, they are not magic but part of natural philosophy?" The boy hazarded. At this is master let out a bark of derision.

"Philosophy? No, no, no, boy. There is no philosophy to it. What constancy can one expect of djinn? What can you learn about God from the hypnotic Will? Philosophy forms a corpus, a chain of wisdom in which each link must be bound to its neighbours." The greymaned flummoxer decreed. "Think, boy, prove I haven't been wasting my wisdom on your misbegotten ears."

Abe frowned at this, and set his chin upon his fist as the woodcuts showed great minds of antiquity in thought, as if that too would act as a talisman. After a long moment of silence, his eyes lit up.

"There's no link between them at all! That's what you mean!" The apprentice cawed, delightedly.

Kaitos gathered his beard in the ring of his thumb and forefinger and swept it to a point, as he was want to do when mildly pleased, and Abe knew he had hit the mark. Nevertheless his master commanded "Expound."

"The distillation of virtues into forms that can be imbibed, the empowerment and projection of spiritus to influence that of another, the geometries and resonances that can call up and command all manner of creatures of the upper air, and the correspondences that can entangle a disc of pure metal with the influence of the stars. The one thing these all have in common; nothing. They are all distinct and divisible acts, in no way related to each other in theory or practice. There is no such thing as magic, for magic is a blanket thrown over a collection of unrelated mysteries." Abe folded his arms in satisfaction, sure that was right.

"At last, we come upon the exactitude." Kaitos responded, his beard having been smoothed into a fox's tail. "Yes boy, let it be known that every spell cast, every philter poured from your cauldron, every meditation and eastern art, all of them are singular mysteries, clawed from the baffling darkness at the edges of the world."

"So you are an actor then, pretending at scholarship." Abe replied, so buoyed up was he by his triumph over his master's pettifoggery. Correct though he was, there was a second part to the lesson - that even though there was no such thing as magic, there was such a thing as the Spell of Batrachification.

-

TLDR; D&D (by which I mean OD&D, BX and AD&D derivatives) already does this. Some spells use words, some use gestures, some use components, some use a combination of the three. Some last all day, some are over in a flash. Some have weird esoteric little exceptions and caveats, like needing to use a powdered luckstone - a magic item in its own right! - as a spell component to get the best results out of an Identify spell. There is no true systemisation of magic in D&D, and it's better that way.

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. 

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

Just a classic wizard.

Class: Magician

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grimoire of the Known Magical Arts

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

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

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

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

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

Dried Monster Hearts - 10gp x HD of Monster

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

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

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

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

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

Four Grimoires - GLOG

The Secret Diary of Archbishop Oda of Nêmes

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

The Expedient Banishment

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

Talisman of the Dorian Mysteries

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

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

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

The Pyramid of Power

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

Bane Against A Basilisk

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

The Rakshasa Yoga

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

Asura's Grasp

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

Light  As A Feather, Stiff As A Board

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

Brew Shakti Oil

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

Roar, Lightning Mind

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

Distant Aethyrs

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

Zeta Ray

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

Adamantize

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

Nexus Tuning

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

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

Time Crystal

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

The Copper Crowne

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

Glamour-Awe

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

Craft Blasting Rod

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

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

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

Barrowhide

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

Bake Starbread

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

The Folly of Alchemists is Believing Man is Perfectable - Fantastic Implants

Originally intended to be GLOGTOBER content, but that ship has long since sailed, ho-hum.

Inspired by this incredible post (and excellent blog overall).

The sorcerers of old were ever searching of ways to transcend their feeble biology, to allow their bodies to match the transcendant powers their minds were able to encompass. Of these practices the rite of lichdom is by far the most enduring, but in the tombs of sorcerers who sought to expand their powers rather than prolong their lives can be found relics of another tradition - the replacement of mundane flesh with fantastical artifice.

d66 Eye Replacements
11. Adamant Orb: Completely indestructible, ignore any facial wounds that target this eye. You will never be permanently blinded while you have it.

12. Apatite Deciever: Brilliant blue faceted apatite. Allows you to cast an illusion over your face, letting your features appear however you wish.

13. Autochthonic Eye: Mummified eye of an elder race, like the serpentmen or gigantes, set in amber. Lets you read their language and understand the purpose and operation of their artifacts instantly by sight.

14. Balorian Marker: Emits an eye-wateringly bright but narrow red beam of light. Anyone you make eye contact with must save or be dazzled. If implanted on your dominant side, allows you to aim ranged weapons with startling accuracy (+2 to hit). Makes stealth impossible in the dark unless you wear a patch over it - the light is visible even through your eyelid.

15. Bibliographic Oculus: Marble orb, bound with brass rings, set with a quartz lens. Records up to five thousand pages worth of text that has been presented before it, allows you to recall it to your vision at will. Can function as a spellbook.

16. Cathexic Monitor: Polished welo opal, set with a ring of rosegold on one side to imitate a iris. Allows you to see how much emotional energy is invested in objects, by a roseate glow about them. Things nobody cares about are unlit, while something considered very important is limned with a rosy flame.

21. Clay Eye: Simple orb of fired river clay, with a stylus-marked sclera and pupil. Lets you identify the presence of motive force in animated objects, golems and the like without having to see them move.

22. Coalblack Sphere: Carved and resin-varnished coal, perfect in every detail right down to the veins on the surface of the eye. Staring at something intently and squinting causes it to catch fire as if a lit torch had been pressed up against it, thrice per day. 

23. Daguerrotypic Lens: A sphere of polished tin, set with a dark lens of smoky quartz. Lets you perfectly memorize up to 15 images and recall them to memory. If implanted on the same side as your dominant hand, you can sketch or paint the scene from memory in photorealistic detail in a tenth of the time it would normally take an artist to depict.

24. Diamond Gaze: Faceted and uncomfortable, the socket it is placed in weeps metalic gold resin that collects like candlewax around the lower eyelid. You may determine the market value of gems automatically, and identify magical gems and jewellery.

25. Excogigating Oculus: A perfect sphere of hardened glass, within which can be seen moving thousands of intricate clockwork mechanisms and miniscule diamond lenses. Roll a d20 at the start of the day, at any time thereafter you may swap the result of this die with any other made by yourself or anyone within your field of vision.

26. Fane Orbit: Brass, with a cinnabar lens, intricately inscribed with minute Adamic script. Can be possessed by a noncorporeal being, allowing them to see through it and communicate telepathically with the wearer. The wearer gains the possessing being's visual abilities, if any.

31. Gorgonized Sphere: Polished granite, with a jagged vein of malachite running through like a serpent's slit-eye. Closing your other eye (if present) and looking through it alone makes you immune to the petrifying gazes of basilisks and medusae. 

32. Hoarfrost Orb: Clear crystal sphere filled with a viscous liquid and flecks of silvery powder. The wearer's vision is not obscured by snow or fog, no matter how thick.

33. Habile Eye: Ivory inlaid with silver in geometric patterns radiating out from an aquamarine lens. Guides the bearer's hand-eye coordination, increasing their skill in delicate tasks such as trap-disarmament and similar tasks, as if they were a Thief of the 3rd level (or giving a Thief +3 levels worth of skill improvements in Climbing, Disarming and Lock Picking).

34. Isocratic Orb: A clear glass sphere, changes its surface to match exactly the wearer's original eye. Persons making eye contact with the wearer automatically assume them to be of equal social status to themselves, regardless of their current attire or familiarity, until given reason to suspect otherwise - at which point they may make a Save vs. Devices to shake off the enchantment.

35. Jacinth Apotropaic: Bright orange cabouchon with a cat's-eye reflectivity. Renders the bearer immune to disease-like curses such as mummy rot, lycanthropy and wasting sickness caused by a Bestow Curse spell and magically induced fear.

36. Karyote Stone: Looks like a bacterium the size of a grape, firm and slightly rubbery to the touch with organelles swimming within. When placed inisde the eye socket will slowly divide into smaller and smaller subdivisions over the course of a week, eventually forming a new biological eye of random colour and possibly belonging to another species, which divides once more to produce a copy of the stone. 

41. Lachrymose Spherule: Marble with a bloodstone cornea. Once per day on command it will weep a single tear of an oily crimson fluid which will act as a Cure Disease potion to anyone who imbibes it within an hour of it forming, and emits a subtle scent in the immediate area which drives vampires and other blood-drinkers into a berserk frenzy, throwing off their human guises and bearing their snarling fangs openly.

42. Malediction Optic: Obsidian inlaid with minute geometric patterns of silver. Allows the wearer to percieve curses on beings and objects as floating achromatic notation in the language of bygone Koth. If the wearer doesn't speak Kothic they can still see curses in this way, but if they also speak the language it will provide details on the nature on the curse and has a 2:6 chance of revealing a non-spell method for removing the curse.

43. Nacreous Spheroid: A beautiful pearlescent orb, optical distortions on its surface give the impression of a rainbow-coloured swirling iris when viewed from the right angle. Amplifies the bearer's charisma to superhuman levels, doubling their hireling limit and loyalty and allowing them to cast Suggestion a number of times per day equal to their Charisma bonus, if any.

44. Numiform Eyecap: An ancient electrum 1 Obol coin, such as those placed over the eyes of the dead. Placed in an empty eyesocket it will affix in place and allow the bearer to see through the ghost of their lost eye. This ghost-eye can see into the spirit world and allows the bearer to percieve invisible undead.

45. Oriform Orbit: Horribly organic, looks like a ball of human gum-tissue with a double row of tiny teeth on one side. Unlike other eyes on this list it provides no replacement vision in the lost eye, however once in place the bearer may open the 'mouth' and if the eye of a dead being is placed in it the bearer may see through it, gaining any special vision modes they once possessed, or allow the Oriform Orbit to chew it up and eat it, allowing the bearer to see the last 5 seconds of the dead's life.

46. Paynim Ocule: Basalt, iris is an incised triskele. The bearer is able to read Ogham and has their alignment move one step toward Chaotic.

51. Quern Gaze: A short cylindrical ring rather than a sphere, granite with a borehole in the centre. Can exert a tortional force on whatever it is directed at, crushing it to a fine powder. This acts as a Disintegrate spell that only functions on brittle, non-living substances, thrice per day.

52. Relucent Cusp: Mirror-shined and featureless. Gives a 50% chance of reflecting back any gaze attacks directed against the bearer.

53. Sable Stone: A light-drinking black stone with a bright star at its centre acting as a pupil. Thrice per day it may absorb all light in a given area, acting as a Darkness spell. However, before the Darkness effect may be cast again, the absorbed light must be first expelled, either diffusely as a Light spell or as a penetrating beam of laser light - dealing 3d6 damage in a 120ft line, save vs. wands for no damage.

54. Setiferous Sensor: Resembles a fossilised sea urchin. When inserted into the eye socket it exudes spines in all directions, painfully embedding itself in the cavity beyond the capacity to be removed without a Regeneration or Heal spell to save the patient from dying in the process. While unsightly, it does provide the bearer with subtle senses beyond the limits of human perception - the bearer gains the ability to detect vibrations in the air produced by moving objects, giving them a 5:6 chance of detecting ambush and negating the attack bonus to sneak attacks.

55. Telestic Witness: Appears to be a piece of midnight sky fashioned into a sphere, with a tiny swirling nebula as its iris and a black hole as its pupil. Once per day permits the bearer to identify the exact nature and function of any kind of weird dungeon shit they find - magic mirrors, sinister altars, bottomless wells of chaos, that kind of jazz. No mucking about, just tell them exactly what it does.

56. Thelemic Monocule: A plain white marble marked with a hexagrammatic ideogram on one side. Acts as proof against any visually-induced mind control effects, such as Hypnotic Pattern or the entrancing gaze of a vampire.

61. Ultion Glare: Initially appears to be a nondescript glass eye that changes to mimic the bearer's original, but when in sight of monstrous humanoids it becomes a baleful slitted and bloodshot red, twisting the bearer's face involuntarily into a snarl and filling their mind with images of slaughter. The bearer gains a bonus equal to their level to damage against orcs, goblins, ogres, giants and other such marauding humanoids, exactly as a Ranger does. They automatically reroll any friendly result on reaction rolls with such creatures.

62. Vaticidal Oculus: Smoky quartz with a flower-spray inclusion of iron oxide at its core. The bearer is immune to any effect that alters luck, fate or probabilities, such as Bless/Bane or portent dice, seeming to step through impossible parabolas of time and space to disregard such oracular chicanery.

63. Willemite Revealer: A brilliant yellow-green gem. Permits the bearer to percieve strange radiations - including magic but explicity excluding curses and illusions - as flourescences within their field of vision, and with practice and experimentation to tell them apart.

64. Xylotomous Eye: Tungsten steel with a spiral screw-head pattern as its iris. Permits the bearer to see through wooden surfaces. Even a coating of paint will obstruct this sight, so it's less useful in seeing through buildings than might be expected but it could allow someone to spy through floorboards with great ease, and is exceptionally useful in spotting things hidden in a forest, granting a +2 bonus to surprise rolls in forested environments.

65. Yantra Stone: A brilliantly coloured enamel sphere covered with a circular geometric diagram. A Cleric who bears this eye treats their effective Wisdom as 4 points higher for purposes of determining bonus spells per day.

66. Zendic Orb: Gold-bright brass, set with the ideogram for "Truth" in the ancient tongue of High Acheron. Divine magic washes off the bearer like water from a duck's back, granting them 80% magic resistance against Clerical or Druidic spells. 

d12 Tooth Replacements
1. Aeviternal Molar: A flawless recreation of an actual human molar (actually slightly larger than modern human, due to the creator having a greater concentration of neanderthal blood than is common in the present day), cast in indestructible black adamant. Grants the bearer immunity to the failure chance of potions of longevity - they can prolong their life indefinately though the use of such potions without the cumulative chance of the effect being reversed.

2. Aerobic Incisor: Coffee-brown and horribly pitted along the inner side. Produces enough oxygen to allow the bearer to survive without an external source of air as long as their airway is not obstructed (such as by being strangled).

3. Bacchanalian Cuspid: Carved from crimson Alexandrite. Allows the bearer to throw off the effects of drunkeness with a moment's thought and acts as a Neutralise Poison spell that only affects ingested toxins.

4. Canicidal Canine: Sharp, conical, formed of gray alien metal shot through with silvery streaks of unknown provenance. The bearer's bite injects a save-or-die poison on any dog or wolf-like creature, including werewolves, wolfweres, wargs and the like.

5. Demephitising Dental: A row of flanged and rugose alagdonite mandibular incisors. Purifies the bearer's breath, both inward - allowing them to ignore poisonous gasses and spores by simply breathing through the mouth - and out; eliminating halitosis.

6. Eclipsis Razor: A maxillary central incisor of titanium-capped cerulite. Allows the bearer to make their speech silent to specific individuals, as many as they choose - though they must be aware of them at the time this power is invoked.

7. Furibund Fang: Silver, longer and sharper than human and intricately cast with symbols of baying wolves, packed together tight as sardines. Allows the bearer to enter into a berserker rage, wherein they increase their To Hit and Melee Damage by +2, decrease their AC by -2, and gain 2d6 temporary hit points for 3 rounds. User must consume several handfuls of raw red meat before using this power again.

8. Grammarye Tusk: Ametrine lower canine, inset with a tiny silverwork shrine to Yig the serpent god. A magic-user with this tooth may once per day choose to increase one of the numerical variables of their spells (such as range or damage) by 50% before casting.

9. Hamartia Taster: An oddly sharp ammolite molar. By tasting the flesh of a creature you can determine any special vulnerabilities or resistances it has. 

10. Irroborating Molar: Lead-gray and metallic. Grows into and through the bones of the user's skull, converting the bone into living steel. The bearer has a 2:6 chance of ignoring critical hits, due to the added internal protection.

11. Tentiginous Mandibular:  Crystal-clear mellite incisor. Increases the bearer's Charisma by 2 points and allows them to cast Dominate by kiss once per day - only one target can be Dominated in this way at any given time, the prior victim being freed from influence if another is targetted.

12. Winterkill Fangs: Replaces both the user's maxillary canines with translucent white feldspar fangs. The bearer's breath mists in hot weather but doesn't in cold. Grants resistance to harm from cold weather, reduces damage from cold-based spells by half, and allows the bearer to breathe a Cone of Cold once per day per point of Constitution bonus.

d12 Fingernail Replacements
1. Batrachian Touch: Patterned like a poison arrow frog. The bearer's attacks inject lethal poison on a critical hit, requiring a save vs. death.

2. Drepanoid Talon: Squamous and reddish brown, like the back of a pangolin. On command extends into a curled sickle-blade. Acts as a dagger in melee combat, and gives the bearer advantage on grappling and climbing rolls.

3. Evirating Claw: Pointed and porcelain-like, shot through with pulsing crimson veins. With a touch the victim must save vs. death or suffer a great langour and muscular ache, reducing their melee damage by -4.

4. Foveate Plate: A plate of horribly pitted leaden metal, like the surface of the moon. Bestows 2d6 bonus hit points, rerolled each dawn, from a paramagnetic field encasing the bearer's skin.

5. Hastate Nail: Shaped like the head of an assegai, cast in dark bronze. The bearer's arm can extend 10ft with a whiplike speed, striking as a spear in melee combat.

6. Kinematic Claw: Mirror-shined and intricately inscribed with geometric diagrams. The bearer can perfectly replicate any hand motion they observe. Amongst other uses, this can allow them to copy a person's writing while observing them from a distance.

7. Nebulising Nail: Initially translucent and colourless, spotted along its surface with tiny pores. By touching it to a liquid substance the nail will absorb it, taking on the same colour. Thereafter it will emit the absorbed substance as a gaseous puff in a 90-degree 3' spray.

8. Obsidian Tecpatl: Razor-sharp and black as night, carved with a side-profile of a skeletal face, could easily cut through a binding rope with a minute's work. If dipped in the blood of a freshly-killed sapient humanoid, holds a charge that can be used to activate any other implant that has limited uses per day.

9. Puissant Finger: Silver-chrome and inset with the constellation Orion in tiny diamonds. The finger it is attached to can be slowly pressed through any solid surface like it was made of wet clay. Useless in combat as it must be pressed in the same place for a few seconds before it will take effect, but can make peep-holes or slowly cut through any surface less than a finger's thickness.

10. Quaffing Digit: Striated and porous like pumice. Allows the user to taste potions to determine their properties by placing their fingertip in the liquid. If tasting would ordinarily reduce the potency of the potion, it is not affected in this case, if the potion is poisoned, cursed or caustic the nail can be sacrificed instead of conferring its penalty to the victim - it turns black, shrivels up and drops off, allowing the victim's normal nail to eventually regrow.

11. Smiting Nail: Silvered, bearing the image of a warrior saint's deathmask. Once per day enwreathes a weapon held in the hand that bears the nail with a radiant silver flame, adding +2d4 damage to the next attack made with it and forcing the target to Save or be stunned with agony for 1 round.

12. Upheaving Claw: Black iron thumbnail, squared like a chisel. Endows the arm that bears it with tremendous strength for purposes of lifting only. The bearer could haul an oxcart off a trapped person one-handed but would not be able to carry it even a single step.

I HAVE LASER BEAMS COMING OUT OF MY HEAD - (GLOG Psychic Paths)

The common man has infinite options available to them, and like the diffuse rays of the sun their will presses itself only lightly upon the World. The true master prunes his will, aligns and collimates it, as a lens focuses light into a narrow point - and the World burns beneath it.

These being possible advancement paths for Locheil's psychic. Go read it first or little of this will make much sense.

MY FOCUS IS EXCHANGE

A: My Paradigm is... I will never go back on my word.

From it I gain the Power... Dis For Dat

I can trade anything for anything. The exchange doesn't have to be balanced, because value is subjective, but everyone involved has to agree it's worth their while. A rich man could buy a year of a bum's lifespan for a million bucks. A soldier could sell his marksmanship skills in exchange for a would-be terrorist's previously peaceful life. More prosaically, people within my Crown can swap places with eachother freely.

B: My Paradigm is...  I will never steal.

From it I gain the Power...  Here For There

I can trade the places of anything inanimate or consenting within my Crown, including myself. If I exchange the places of things that are of radically different mass they both create sonic booms, which can stun and deafen anybody nearby - including myself.

C: My Paradigm is...  I will never work for free.

From it I gain the Power...  Fuck You, Pay Me

Anyone who wishes to attack me or force me to do something I do not wish to must pay me for the privilege. The minimum payment is one gold piece, but each seperate act requires an individual payment - if the gnoll who wants to gut me throws a platium piece they get one attack, not ten. Payment can be in goods as well as legal tender, but the one-for-one rule still applies.

D: My Paradigm is...  I will never accept charity.

From it I gain the Power...  Equivalent Exchange

I can transform objects I own into other things. If exchanging goods for goods, some bastard cosmic exchequer taxes the transaction, meaning I can only transform it into something of half its market value or less. If exchanging legal tender (including gold and gems) for goods though, the transformation occurs at the market price. I can also combine the value of things with identical characteristics, like merging two 50' ropes into one 100' rope or a pile of small diamonds into one big diamond with the combined value of them all (this particular ability makes me incredibly popular with wizards). All coins are considered to have 'identical characteristics' for this purpose, so that giant mound of copper coins I found at the bottom of the last dungeon can be quite easily squidged down into a more manageable pocketful of platinum.

MY FOCUS IS ORDER

A: My Paradigm is... I will never enter a home unwelcomed.

From it I gain the Power... Inviolable Domain

I can exclude a broad or narrow category of things from the area of my Crown, one at a time. They simply cease to exist within it. Whatever I choose applies to me as well, but I can game it through specificity - if I choose projectiles then any bullets in my gun will dissappear, but if I narrow it down to bullets and use a crossbow, I'm good. The excluded things go back to existing once they leave the area of my Crown or I change it to exclude something else.

B: My Paradigm is...  I will never vandalise a work of art.

From it I gain the Power...  Crystalise

I can convert dead or inorganic matter within my Crown into a changeless crystalline form that is immune to the passage of time and back again. Living organic matter can be encapsulated within it but not converted. Beings that have been so encysted (they should probably get a Save to avoid it) remain alive, not aging and requiring no nourishment nor air and could be chipped out but outside my Crown crystalised material returns to its normal state in about 10 minutes in any case. Crystalised air has equivalent physical resilience to ice, but feels warm like polystyrene to the touch. Anything I Crystalise is vulnerable to a Shatter spell.

C: My Paradigm is...  I will never break a written contract.

From it I gain the Power... Indivisible

No part of my body can be separated from the whole, nor can my effects be removed from me against my will. I can still be poked full of holes and have my organs lacerated and bones broken, but I will never die of blood loss or being beheaded. Likewise I cannot be disarmed or pickpocketed, any attempt to do so finds the item held as firm as an immovable rod.

D: My Paradigm is...  I will never damage a work of artifice.

From it I gain the Power...  Pyramid Power

Things that spend time within my Crown subtly get better over time, slowly moving toward their ideal form. Entropy itself flees before my Crown; rust returns to healthy iron, cracks meld together, dirt sloughs like water from waxpaper, dull blades become sharp. The effect extends to living things; diseases halt in their progression and in time reverse their course, wounds never fester and heal at thrice the normal pace and never leave scars, people even age backwards or forwards at an accelerated pace until they reach the age where they are at their physical peak, though it is rare for someone other than myself to be within my Crown long enough to see such an impact. Given enough time, objects and even people might even become better than they were at their best; blades cut atomic-thin, silk ropes become as tough as carbon fibre, skin and muscle as clean and defined as marble statuary.

MY FOCUS IS IDOLATRY

A: My Paradigm is...  I will never take up arms.

From it I gain the Power... Stone Shadow

I can transform my body into a statue carved from solid stone of my choice. I can then step outside of the statue, leaving it behind - it is real and permanent, even if it leaves my Crown. If I grapple someone and leave them trapped in a stony headlock they're probably not getting out without help or a hammer and chisel. Given enough time I can create relatively stable walls or other structures out of interlocking statues of myself, mortared together with naught but handholds and embraces.

B: My Paradigm is...  I will never refuse an offering of food, drink or incense.

From it I gain the Power...  White Jade Shintai

By my will, as many statues created through Stone Shadow as I have levels can be declared Idols. Each Idol has its own Crown, I can see and hear through all my Idols and count as standing in their place for purposes of Telekinesis, Telepathy and Manifestation. At will I can dissappear from where I stand to step out of them. When I do so I cannot leave the area of the Idol's Crown, but I really have moved places and can take back anything I find there with me when I return. If I wish to declare a new Idol once I have reached my limit, one of my previously created Idols of my choosing crumbles to dust.

C: My Paradigm is...  I will never mistreat social outcasts or show unearned respect to the mighty.

From it I gain the Power...  Army of God

I can animate the statues created through Stone Shadow and control them as if they were my own body while they are within my Crown. All the animated statues are as subject to my Paradigms as I am, and so may not bear weapons, but their fists are still made of stone.

D: My Paradigm is...  I will never desecrate a sacred place.

From it I gain the Power...  Smoke of Sacrifice

I gain power from people who worship at my Idols. Any item left within my Idol's Crown as a sacrifice transforms into smoke and is inhaled by the Idol. I can summon to hand anything they sacrifice, and gain one point I can apply to any number on my character sheet for every magnitude of worshippers I have (10, 100, 1000, etc.). Finally, if someone prays before my Idol for a blessing I can bestow them a Power that fulfils their wish, along with a Paradigm of my choosing - as many such blessings as I have Templates can exist at any one time.