Ashes to Ashes - DnD 5e Subclasses

    I did it anyways, of course. Here are three subclasses for the Ranger class of DnD24, for use in my potential upcoming game set in the time of the Twenty a decade or so after the demise of Resh, the last to fall.  

 VENGEANT 
3- Winds of Hatred 
    They cannot deny you, far-hunter, chain-breaker. Ranged attacks you make can pull ammunition from the winds, solidifying into whisper-thin throwing knives, crossbow bolts of coiling fog, and arrows fletched with storm-gales (they lose the Ammunition property.) You have advantage on ranged attack rolls against targets below you. You are, technically, immune to the law, but most soldiers and judges don’t believe you.
3- Speak with the Wind
    Hawks know a song of fierce joy- thunder knows a song of undeniable hate. You know the language Feather, spoken by all winged things. You’ll have to bribe birds to care about anything but preening, eating bugs, and fucking. You’ll have to richly bribe storms to care about anything but wars, geographical features, and fucking. It’s pretty hard to get a storm’s attention without demolition-grade instruments. Additionally, you gain the attention of the minor wind-sprites of breezes and zephyrs- while they are below full sentience, they curl around your fingers like cats and follow whispered commands in Feather (you may cast Mage Hand at will.)
7- Voice of Thunder
    The gale, the lightning, and the driving rain dwell in your chest. When you wish, your voice can be heard for up to a mile in any direction and is carried by the howling wind and pealing thunder. You are immune to the deafened condition. WIS/long rest, unleash a shout that stirs the storm around you. For ten rounds, in a 30’ emanation centered on you, creatures other than those you designate cannot take the Disengage action and treat movement towards you as difficult terrain.
11- Winds of Freedom
    The South Wind no longer blows, but in the heart of all storms is a forever yearning. You may Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. When you do, you may treat your movement as flying until the end of the turn, though you still fall if you do not end your movement on solid ground. You take half damage from falling, and it can never bring you below 1HP.
15- Eternal Retribution
    There is no enmity as enduring as the scouring wind, who will circle the world and return tenfold. Whenever you roll initiative, you may designate a Nemesis. Your weapons are treated as if they had the Push and Slow mastery properties, and deal an additional d6 of bludgeoning damage to your Nemesis. You cannot designate a new Nemesis until the old one is dead. When you die, you may make one ranged attack against your Nemesis wherever in the world they are (ignoring range and line of sight.) You get +20 to the attack roll, and any hit is a critical hit. The winds will carry your final spite.

 

WITCH-HUNTER
3- Lessons of Shamqa Netmaker
    Around the campfires is often heard the joke that children of Nun are born as seals, and must learn to walk on land rather than swim in the waves. It is true that Nun taught her people well the arts of the ocean and the winds, but you had another teacher of the secret ways of Gishum, spoken of less often by the foreigners. You have proficiency with net weapons, and attacking with a net does not prevent you from making multiple attacks in a round. Knots you tie cannot be untied except by you, and you can untie them with a whistle. You have a 20’ swim speed and can hold your breath for CON hours. You have a particular taste for fish.
3- Charms and Gestures
    Magic is a current, a wind, a braided rope. It is the causeless effect, and its mysteries and dangers are well known to you. Magi dabble recklessly and borrow from the uncertain future, and there will come a time that their recklessness will crash back like the tides. You have learned the ways to flow with the waves, to weave strong knots. You learn two spells from the Magi Ritual spell list, and can cast them using Ritual Casting (but not with spell slots.) You discover an additional spell at levels 7 and 15, and may learn more through play.
7- Tangle the Skeins
    Their weavings are fragile when rushed so, condensing hours of study into quick motions and whispered words. Just one thread pulled loose and the pattern is lost- what happens when you cut the whole ravel? When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you may use your Reaction to make a melee attack against that creature. When you damage a creature concentrating on a spell, they have disadvantage on the check to maintain concentration. If a creature loses their concentration in this way, they take psychic damage equal to twice the spell’s level as the strands snap and lash. Additionally, you may become distracting in more mundane ways. As a reaction, you can force a creature who can see or hear you to roll a skill check with disadvantage. It isn’t obvious you’re doing it on purpose if you don’t wish.
11- Sealskin Cloak
    You wear a second skin- one of delicate threads and heart-mutterings, of bell-charms and the smell of salt. With such a warding, you cut through magic like a cormorant through the waves, like a needle through skin. When you succeed on a saving throw against a spell, you are immune to any damage and effects it would have caused. When something bad is about to happen, you get an instant warning to do Something- you can take one action before the DM tells you what happens. 
15- Pull Taught the Weft and Warp
    You are the shark who pulls the fisherman beneath the waves. You are the shuttle of the loom, and the knot closes by your will. Let the magus who thinks he knows no fear look well upon your face. You may cause creatures you restrain to be affected by Silence and Slow effects for as long as they remain restrained. You may ignore bonuses to AC granted by Abjuration spells. WIS/long rest, when you succeed on a save against a spell, you may use your Reaction to yank on the threads of magic to pull yourself on their currents. The spell fails, and you instantaneously appear 5’ behind the caster. 

 

SURVIVOR
3- Hound and Hare
    The mouse that hides from the keen nose of Death’s dogs is found and dug out. The clever rabbit knows when to watch and when to run, run far, and run fast. You have learned the ways of Ayin, fleeing for the land beyond where Death can not catch you- but it is a far, far journey, and you are ever listening for pursuit. By using a potent blend of herbs, breathing techniques, and mental fortitude, you no longer need to sleep (but still require Rests to eat, maintain equipment, and refresh abilities). When everyone else is Surprised, you can declare that you simply weren’t there until your first turn in initiative (at which point you appear at a point of your choice within 15ft of an ally.) You and any group you guide can traverse hexes of rough terrain, Scout, and Track while traveling at normal speed (instead of half speed.) Each Long Rest you can ask one of the following questions about the environment as you survey the area.
    Where is the closest drinkable water?
    How do I avoid the most dangerous predator in the area?
    What is the most fortifiable defensive location around?
    Is something hidden from me here?
    Am I being tracked, followed, or watched

3- Ways of Necessity
    You must travel light to avoid Death’s detection. You cannot leave a heavy footprint in the world for it to track- take only what you can carry and improvise the rest. If you are careful, you can find all you require under the inattentive guard of the Earth’s many daughters. You can Forage for supplies in any environment, and can retrieve useful materials and tools beyond simple Rations. You can Forage while traveling instead of Scouting, or during downtime or Long Rests - for each 8 hour shift spent foraging, test Navigation, Nature, or Medicine. On a success you retrieve PROFd3 Rations worth of food (each Ration feeds one person for one day.) You may instead spend a Dungeon Turn (10 minutes) to make the same check and find one Ration. 

    Whenever you would find Rations, you may instead scavenge any Improvisation from the following list instead, replacing Rations 1:1. The Improvisations you produce are cobbled together from natural materials - work with the DM to describe what they actually are. You can’t carry more than PROF+WIS  Improvisations at a time, or the oldest breaks down into mulch and stone. Remember- you must travel light. At level 11, you may Forage for Advanced Improvisations.
7- Song of Seeking
    You are not the first to seek freedom from the gaze of the Gods. In the long and roving travels of your brethren, the paths they have trod are recorded in song, detailing searches in places foreign and alien for clues on how to escape the world. You know one song from the following list, and can learn others by visiting the associated location and writing it yourself, or singing with a fellow Survivor who already has (though finding those who hide from Death is no easy feat.)
11- Chase the Dawn
    It is told over cookfires amongst the nomads of Ishdara, when gathered around the Cairn of Ayin, of the time the honored Hero-Ancestor raced the Night. It was forbidden to seek beyond the edges of the world, but storm-lunged Ayin, Ayin of the stone-crushing step, outran the Law, chasing the Sun into the West faster than Night’s agents could follow. Only when she stopped to drink did the ice-death find her, and froze her bones far beyond the furthest maps. Around her empty Cairn, one can learn how she did it.

     You can run as fast as a stallion, moving at quadruple your speed. You blur at the edges when you run, giving attacks of opportunity against you disadvantage and making you immune to the effects of difficult terrain. While using this feature, you can move only in straight lines and must stop and take an additional move action to change directions. At the end of each Dungeon Turn that you used this feature, take a level of Exhaustion.
    Additionally, you treat every fall as if it was 10ft shorter, have perfect balance as long as you’re moving, and can hear a soft and defiant song from due West when you close your eyes and concentrate.
15- Pack Survival
    You have spent long as the hare, bounding quickly between brambles and hiding in burrows. Now you are the hound, a beast of many eyes, unseen as the predator is unseen. Even as Death hunts you, you have Him caged within your teeth. You can speak with dogs and wolves in the primal language of Howl, which cannot utter lies and which sounds as sweet as wine and incense to spirits and ghosts. You can designate others as part of your Pack if they have shed blood for you, and you them. You have the following benefits with your Packmates- you always know which direction they are from you; you can communicate with them using only facial expressions; you can smell if someone has ever harmed one of your Pack; you cannot die or be knocked unconscious while they live and fight (though as soon as combat ends or they all die, you begin dying if your HP is 0.) You have advantage on attacks against enemies adjacent to one of your Packmates.

 

 

Songs of Seeking

Threefold Mantra- Pranaghataka, the Lethal Fen

A repeated chant connecting one to the body and its ailments. Visiting the Fen subjects the singer to the most miserable experiences one could sustain and still live- all others are trivial compared to the memory. You are immune to the negative effects of pain (though not immune to pain.) You can identify poisonous plants and animals by sight, and given a cookfire and ten minutes can render them safe to eat.

The Romance of He- Girsalam, the veiled city

A syncopated poem detailing the love between the Hero-Ancestors He and Zayin and its tragedies. Girsalam is famous for its silk and its dyes, as well as the great stone dome He petitioned the Gods to erect around it. Shadow and color are well known to the singer of the Romance. You can see through smoke, silk, and fog as though it were rippling water. You can spend an hour with dyes and paints to create camouflaging patterns that grant advantage on the next Stealth check rolled.

Khakhassia Dies Alone- Ura-Hu, city of singing ice

Sung most often by a duet, each singing on the exhale while the other creates gruff overtones on the inhale. Haunting and empty when sung alone. A dirge for a young man freezing atop the falls overlooking his home as his love dances her wedding dance to another. Ura-Hu is the furthest north that man has yet ventured, and is a land buried in miles of spired ice and stalked by many-legged Dooms protecting borders and boundaries long lost to the winds. You can stuff a coat with dried grasses to grant its wearer immunity to the effects of cold weather. If you clap into the wind, it changes direction to point towards the nearest human settlement. You can walk atop snow without leaving tracks.

Hymn to the Weeping Goddess - Reshdaga, city of slaves

A polyrhythmic work song shared surreptitiously by the collared of the new Arikan Empire, pleading for a great figure from the sea to grant them respite either through a magical spell, or by devouring them below the waves. Reshdaga grows rapidly through conquest under its new king, son of the last living Hero-Ancestor Resh Thousand-Faces, having allegedly deposed her rule. You can hold your breath underwater for an hour as long as you stay in sunlight. Fish will swim into your outstretched palm and rest peacefully there. If you step into a group of ten or more people, no-one notices there’s one more than there should be. 

Gimel Goes Drinking Thrice - the Brass Isle of Yiki

It’s a drinking song obviously, a loud and repetitive recounting of the Hero-Ancestor Gimel of the Tower performing ad-libbed feats of drunken might. Known by everyone everywhere, but the only version of use to your quest comes from the Brass Isle, where the long-cooled slag of some antediluvian cataclysm left a bowl of brass in the middle of an otherwise unbroken ocean. Pirates and traders from every port between Reshdaga and Gishum meet here to swap booze-laden tales of adventure. You can take a swig of something alcoholic as a Bonus Action to restore 1d4+XHA HP and increase your critical fumble range by 1 (until you sober up during the next Long Rest.) Pour a drink into a brass cup and you can instantly tell if it's poisoned or unsafe by the discoloration of the metal. Your hands are immune to heat (but not fire damage) and can grasp burning metal without pain.

Silver-and-Black Katajja- the Forests of Artos, where stars die

When sung properly, requires mastery of the resonant throat-singing of the local peoples and makes the ribs of listeners shiver in their chests. In the rain-darkened forests in the far western world, decommissioned stars are gently landed amongst the sky-raking redwoods and ancient grottos. Only here are their shimmering spires dwarfed by the tree canopy and hidden from outside eyes. Bears treat you with respect while singing, and will leave you alone if you do not antagonize them. You can see as well in starlight as in broad daylight, and in total blackness, a single tiny pinprick illuminates the south-western sky for only you. If you are beneath tree cover and even momentarily unobserved, you can vanish into the canopy and re-emerge anywhere else within shouting distance and under the forest’s shade.

Duels in King of Games

Oh hey look a class, too:
The Storyteller
Yes that is a d256 table No it is not finished yet
Roll a Myth and I'll PM it to you, it'll be a good way to get me writing more of them.

   When a duel begins, the Onyx Zone forms, the Pearl Shrouds activate, and each duelist rolls Initiative and then Normal Summons a Monster from their deck in either attack or defense mode, if they choose to do so.

    The Onyx Zone is a sphere of dark force which isolates a duel from the outside world. It displays the events of the duel on its outside surface, and shifting ancient Heraldic symbols on the inside. When a Monster or duelist dies during a duel, they are absorbed into the Onyx Zone.

    The Pearl Shroud is a magical force field that protects a duelist from all harm while it stands.

    On each duelists turn, they may make a Move, a Normal Summon, a Maneuver, and an Attack.

    A Normal Summon can be used to summon any Level 4 or lower monster from your Deck to the field in either Attack or Defense Mode. Monsters of higher Levels must be Special or Tribute Summoned.

    A Maneuver may be either a complicated tactic, an interaction with an object or piece of terrain, to switch a Monster into Attack or Defense Mode from the other, to cast a Spell, or to Tribute Summon a Monster.

    To cast a Spell, roll any number of MD. You may add additional MD to a spell by sacrificing toma, one per toma. Each Monster you banish while you cast a spell adds 1 toma if it was level 4 or lower, two if it was level 5 or 6, and three if it was 7 or higher. Add your Power to the [sum] of the spell.

    To Tribute Summon a monster, sacrifice toma in the same manner as casting a spell. A level 5 or 6 Monster requires at least 1 toma to be summoned, and a level 7 or higher Monster requires two or more toma.

    An Attack can be made either with any Monster a duelist commands in Attack Mode or by the duelist themselves. When a Monster attacks, it deals damage equal to its Attack (plus 1000ATK for each point of Might its master has) to any target not in Defense Mode. The defending player, if they control a Monster in Defense Mode, may choose to pull the Golden Leash to intercept the attack with that Monster instead. If a duelist is damaged, they lose LifePoints from their Pearl Shroud equal to the damage dealt (minus 1000ATK per point of Skill), and roll on the Table of Consequences if the attack reduces them to 0 or fewer LP. If a Monster is damaged by an attack, they lose Defense equal to the damage dealt (minus 1000ATK per point of Skill their master has), and are Banished if they are reduced to 0 or fewer Defense.

    If a duelist attacks, they deal damage equal to the Attack of a relic weapon they wield (plus 1000ATK for each point of Might) to any target, and otherwise follow the same rules as Monster attacks.

King of Games: Toneposting

“This is bullshit! The world is completely fucked! When I killed God the well was dry! When I murdered my brothers they slumped to the ground and bled out! When I gutted my sisters they did not even cry! And now I must live? And now I must live still?”

Back then, you understand, they didn’t have what we have now, cards and monsters and modern duels. They only had the weapons of the Gods themselves and so that’s what they dueled with. Naturally, the earth ate them all very quickly.

They said, you can't really lose when you're a behemoth crushing everyone, but it's also really easy. They said, don't you want your victory to mean something? I laughed- apparently I did not.

And so to that self-consuming serpent I said: You must choose, Orobouros, you must choose. Here is how to end the cycle- bite through or let go.

Before the sheltered peoples woke, the Lonely spent eons in the dark. They sang together in that blackness beneath the earth, building the world that their nephews and nieces would inherit. They shared what little they had, took reserved joy in community and purpose, and listened to the hum of MotherFather in the walls. They built great towers, and cramped tunnels, and dripping hydrofarms and buzzing server racks. They carved apart the corpses of their parents until nothing remained but stories, and then they used those stories to build even more. But when the people woke from their long sleep, they looked at what the Lonely had done, and said with concern, “There’s no way for a coke-addicted maniac to get rich quick in an economy like this!”

This was new- they cut the rose and brought it to the others to show. But the other gods did not know which thorn had pricked the first, and so they thought to hold a contest- which thorn was the strongest of the rose, to draw divine blood? The first thing the gods did, of course, was place bets.

Corpse-breath, rattle-voice said they: I see now- a strange game.

* * * *

Because I'm shamelessly stealing every last scrap of this concept and idea from somewhere else I will also steal the idea of posting a class at the end of all this from the much better version of the TBD/A2A ripoff successor, Cath Celdaenn. Go look at it, it's cool.

King of Games posts:
Character Creation

The Duelist 

King of Games: Part 1

Character Creation Tips (stolen from Phlox): Ask questions - Describe how you do it - Immobilize fast foes - Target the weak points - Ask your family for help - Read - Beware foreshadowed danger - Wear a helmet - Look out for victuals.

Step One: Attributes Your character has four attributes:
MIGHT - Strength of body and character; to muscle into conversations, to walk through obstacles, to withstand insult and injury.
SKILL - Swiftness of hand, foot, and thought; to run circles around arguments, to tell tempting lies, to run away from the consequences.
POWER - Intensity of the soul; to wield arcane arts, to impose with your mere presence, to respond overwhelmingly.
LORE - Refinement of the mind; to dispense wisdom, to move with practiced elegance, to be correct.

Roll 4d6, four times in order, then divide by three (rounding down), then subtract four.

At the start of the game, you are Level One, you have the A Template of one Class, and your White Shroud has 8000LP.

Might
You get +1 to hit for every point of [Might] you have.
You save with [Might] to feel no fear, rebuff attempts to knock you or your Monsters over, force through pain, ignore taunts and insults, and resist other threats which require stubbornness or strength.

Skill
When beginning a Duel, you roll 1d20+[Skill] to determine the turn order, higher results going first. Furthermore, you get +1AC for every point of [Skill] you have.
You save with [Skill] to escape, leap aside, react quickly, avoid traps, notice lies, and resist other threats which require alertness and speed.

Power
You add your [Power] to the [sum] of Spells you cast.
Your [Power] cannot save you.

Lore
Everyone speaks Homewards. Additionally, you know 1 + [Lore] extra languages, minimum of 0.
You save with [Lore] to recite refuting precedent, notice illusions, countercharm spells, move slowly and carefully, and resist other threats which require specific knowledge or exact precision.

Step Two: Folk
Roll 1d20 or Choose:
1: Lonely- Awoken robot tasked with maintaining the Home before any other folk were raised from cryo. Traditional, and melancholy.
2-6: Kobold- Medium Lizardfolk with frills and a short tail. Burgeoning culture of slam poetry. Blunt, and passionate.
7-11: Dwarf- Short humanoid with glowing patterns of spots and barbels. Burgeoning culture of brewing. Curious, and communal.
12-14: Elf- Tall dark-skinned humanoid with wide damp eyes and whiskers. Burgeoning culture of rumbling song. Cautious, and meditative.
14-16: Poli- Short arthropoid with thick armor plates and four shining eyes. Burgeoning culture of storytelling. Compassionate, and nerdy.
19-20: Human- Medium humanoid with white hair and freckled cheeks. Burgeoning culture of invention. Clever, and moody.

• Folk
• Perk
• Drawback
  
•  Lonely
• You are a machine
• You are a machine
  
•  Kobold
• Immune to Fear, smell sunlight and steel
• Save vs fatigue in the cold or dark
•  Dwarf
• Glow in the dark, perfect mental compass
• Save vs Good Time when offered conversation or alcohol
  
•  Elf
• Darksight, triplejointed everything
  
• Save vs agony in sudden light/noise
•  Poli
• Immune to fall damage, perfect face memory
  
• Save vs honesty when trying to lie
• Human
• When it matters, you're the fastest. +4 initiative
  
• Save vs EMP blast when startled
  

Lonely are almost always on a basic slim humanoid body plan, with gunmetal grey construction painted in geometric patterns with white, black, red, and blue paint. Lights flicker in complex displays on their otherwise featureless face, their long forearms, and their chest. Most average around 7 feet tall, though some are designed for smaller environments like duct work or crawler repair, and therefore are more compact at around 5 feet.

Kobolds sport scales in a range of reddish and copper colors, have wide frills of skin around their necks that can be flared to display unique markings, sport small and blunt claws, and have the usual other lizardlike features (eyes, teeth, tongue, scent pores, noseless, etc.) Their tails are whiplike, long and thin. Most average around 5 and a half feet.

Dwarves have hairless and slightly rubbery skin in tones between grey, pale magenta, and sky. Their chromatophores are dim and difficult to consciously control, so most simply have waving lines of faint light crossing their body in slow undulations at random (though it is said there is an art to discerning emotions with them.) Dwarves of all sexes sport long barbels from their lips and chins, sensitive tentacles that aid in their complex metal-heavy diet. Most dwarves never grow taller than 4 and a half feet.

Elves are long-limbed, with soft dark fuzz on their skin that gives them a round appearance even in thinness. Their eyes are wide and wet, their ears stick sharply out to the sides, and their face has nearly-invisible whiskers sprouting from their cheeks that makes kissing a weird and foreign concept to most elves. With some discomfort, elves can dislocate nearly every joint in their body- with some practice, they can squeeze their entire body through any aperture that can admit their skull. Elves average around 6 and a half feet tall, though some rival even the Lonely.

Poli, or Rolipoli as many call them, are small arthropoid people with a distinctive appearance- their soft body is protected on the rear side of the torso, head, and limbs by thick overlapping plates of chitin armor, with joints that rustle when moved quickly. Their front half is much like an elf or dwarf, a rounded and plump figure with delicate dark colors, interspersed with faint striations of other colors. They have a secondary set of arms that are mostly useless except for holding a cup of bean-juice, and their face resembes a half-mask with the way their feeding mandibles fit together over their mouth. Their four eyes shine with a faint but shimmering white light. Most Poli are around 5 feet tall, with few taller than 5.5.

Humans are a medium folk with skin tones ranging from pale to very dark, though all within a pink-brown spectrum of colors. They have a soft appearance like elves or dwarves that belies how bony their joints can be. Most have thin hair over much of their bodies, with the vast majority having pale white hair. Their cheeks have a series of weak electricity-sensing ampullae in clumps usually referred to as "freckles." When startled, their body electricity discharges in a short-range EMP that disables technological devices for a short while as an automatic defense reflex. This is uncomfortable for most and aggravating for Lonely, so it is considered basic courtesy to stay in front of humans when possible. Most humans are about 5 and a half feet tall, with some few growing to 6 and a half feet, though rarely.