On the vicissitudes of a Wizard in DCC RPG

“Low-level wizards are powerful. High-level wizards fear for their souls.”

The phrase from the DCC Core Rulebook sums up nicely how awesome and crazy is the life a wizard. I would like the share how things are going for the spellcaster PC in my DCC RPG campaign.

Our games have been running a little erratically since 2013. We are playing Old School-style, so advancement is slow and diegetic. 5^th level is an achievement and as of this post only 2 characters have reached those heights (in a pool of more than 20 created so far!). I don’t see anyone reaching 6^th level without some really cool quest. Right now the main characters are stuck in the Purple Planet.

The party’s spellcaster is named Arcádio, a human turnip farmer turned Warlock (that is my human variant on the Elf Class, you can check it here). Arcádio was a peasant that after surviving his funnel (I believe it was Sailors on the Starless Sea) turned to the Dark Arts to get revenge on his liege (a hook for the 13^th Skull module that was interrupted when the party was banished to the Purple Planet). Arcádio became a Warlock through his mule, which was actually a disguised demon and is now his familiar (the player elected to play with a type of a familiar that I call Faustian and which uses Arnold K.’s awesome rules, found here).

Arcádio is bound not only to his familiar, but also managed to pledge service to the Horned King (another hook that I hope will eventually take him to Beyond the Black Gate). However, things are not easy for the spellcasters in my games. Arcádio gained a lot of corruption rather quickly (frosty skin, antlers, a pack mentality, a cybernetic virus and a regrown leg of different size are just some of those). Arcádio also suffers from a cool set of mercurial magic and is constantly changing genders (the player even changes names and personality). Arcádio tried to appease different Patrons for some time (including entities from the Court of Chaos) which did not end well. By sheer luck, he and the party’s berserker found an old machine that cleansed them of physical corruptions (the machine was from a Warhammer 40K’s Imperial Battleship, and during that crazy crossover the Warlock almost became a servant of Horus, which showed up as a Patron and used rules from Mutant Crawl Classics).

To make matter more interesting, Arcádio was blinded and brainwashed to Law during Intrigue at the Court of Chaos by none other than the celestial spy Lexaliah (using again more material from Arnold K. from Goblin Punch... I can't find the link, but angels here also deal damage directly to the PC's soul, converting them to Law. In DCC RPG, I do that as Personality damage). Arcádio got rid of all that “Law taint” by making new pacts with his Faustian familiar. Due to the nature of a particular pact, once every seven days, Arcádio must exchanges bodies with his familiar (basically, once every week he is stuck in the form of a goblin-demon). To cure his blindness, Arcádio managed to appease the Horned King, so he is seeing again (but has wolf eyes). And to make things really complicated, when we started the 13^th Skull module, Arcádio got a chance of revenge against his nemesis – that is the Duke Magnussem XIII. The Warlock was so bent on it that he sold his soul to Obitu-Que in order to employ a powerful domination magic scroll. That backfired beautifully and now Arcádio is desperately trying to get his soul back. He also had enough with his Faustian Familiar and all his debts so, after meeting with the Three Fates, Arcádio ditched the Faustian familiar and is (right now) seeking redemption. However, the Faustian familiar had the last laugh, because he still can steal Arcádio’s body once a week. The Warlock tried to “fix” this by contacting another creature from the same plane of existence as his diabolical (ex-)familiar. That creature was a rival and taught him a ritual to be performed while Arcárdio had the familiar’s body. The ritual worked quite well (in a crazy way) – Arcádio didn’t got his true body back, but actually “trapped” the familiar in his mortal body. To make matters more (yes!) interesting, Arcádio is now trapped in the form a magical mask with the face as his old familiar. The Warlock became a living magic item and can only interact with the world if placed over someone’s face.

And that is the “typical” life of a spellcaster (of 4^th level) in my DCC RPG campaign. The fact that the Warlock’s player is feeling trapped, a bit confused, and desperate (but still enjoying the entire madness of the thing) tells me that I am being true to the spirit of that DCC RPG’s phrase.

Oh, and now our party now has a 2^nd level Lawful Wizard that serves the Three Fates. I can’t wait to see how things are going to develop with him.

BONUS CONTENT

Sorry about the lengthy post. I hope you enjoy it. Here are a few more magic items that the players found during my campaign.

A Lance Forged By The Balance is a weapon forged from one piece of some unknown metal that looks like mercury but is (1) solid, and (2) a lot lighter. This magical spear does not give you any bonus to hit or damage rolls but works as a magical weapon. When you pierce a supernatural or incorporeal creature with the spear and pin it down, you can bound the target to that place. For as long as the spear is pinned to a surface, the target can’t move, teleport, remove the spear or die (other creatures can try to remove the spear normally). As far as it is known, the Lance Forged By The Balance can only be destroyed by dragon’s breath or an Eternal Champion’s hands.

The Unendingly Cantankerous and Most Tedious Tales of Agilulf. This old and battered book changes its idiom to that of the reader. If even briefly read, the reader must roll a Will DC 15 or fall at sleep for 1d8 hours. It is that boring.

The Screaming Box. An small ornated jewellery box made from some kind of white wood. If opened it is always (ALWAYS!) empty and it will start to unleash an unending and almost deafening human scream. There is no mechanical effect involved, but most people are freaked out by the noise and would be distracted or even stunned for one or two moments.