Knockback rules from TOR 1st to d20 games

Quick post!

I’ve been running the One Ring 1^st Edition for almost 2 years now. The campaign so far is a mix of Gareth Hanrahan’s amazing Darkening of the Mirkwood campaign with (also his) Tales from the Wilderland’s six scenarios. The combination (of course) is natural and the campaign already captivated my players.

Anyway, this post is just to share the one rule from The One Ring 1st that both I and my players keep forgetting but which I believe would be a cool addition to any d20 Fantasy game -  D&D, 13^th Age, Pathfinder, OSE, B/X whatever – the Knockback rule.

Basically, when you’re hit you can choose to lose your next action and fall prone to reduce all damage just taken by half (rounding up).

Would this work smoothly on B/X, DCC RPG, OSE, and older versions of the game (even D&D 3^rd)?

Definitely yes!

What that also works on 13^th Age, Pathfinder 2E, D&D 5E? Well, despite loving those systems, I haven’t narrated them much so…

13^th Age – OK, as far as I’m aware there is no prone condition here. So, my first reaction would be that if any PC invoked the Knockback rule, the Escalation Die doesn’t go up that round (unless if stolen by the enemies).

Pathfinder 2E – Invoking the Knockback rule requires spending 1 Hero Point.

D&D 5E – Besides all the usual disadvantages (no pun intended) that you have for being Prone, AFTER you get up, you will have Disadvantage until the end of your next turn.

The Wanderer, a (very) weird class for D&D B/X or OSE

Yes, sir. I am still alive (sort of…) and yes, I should update this blog more frequently. Unfortunately, besides being still incapable of keeping an organized schedule or goals, I have been over my head with a thousand other things. My life is indeed a mess and I wish I could hide in this tower’s fastness for an incarnation or two but, alas, there is no rest for the wicked. On the bright side, I have been running weekly games for two different tables, besides participating as a player in a third. So, (nerdy) life is good (while it lasts).

This (poorly and probably unplayable) attempt at a class is something that I have been cooking for some years. Basically, I wanted to a "Gandalf class". No, not a magic-user or a wizard. That is not how I see the Grey Wanderer. Mithrandir for me is someone who travels a lot, knows a lot of stuff (and people) and uses that knowledge to help his allies (and his plans). This is my “adventuring sage” class if you will. So, I wanted a class that attempted mechanically to do that… in an OSR game. Of course, such a class would have rules that are inherently too much “metagamic” for OSR, which I respectfully disagree with. But I am the kind of person who loves the narrative features of D&D 5E Backgrounds (which, of course, were removed from “5.5” or whatever the soulless mercenaries at WotC are launching this year), FATE’s Aspects, cooperative emergent world-building, and mechanics in general that let you get some table input into the narrative. After all, the plaque above this tower’s entrance says “Where Old and New School Meet”, no?

All references below are to the amazing OSE SRD, which can be found HERE.  

Fair Warning: Besides been heretical, unorthodoxy, and probably capable of corrupting traditional family values, this class also requires constantly moderation by the Referee. For me, that is part of “my job” as a referee and game narrator. If you don’t agree with that, then probably you won’t like this class and shouldn’t allow it at your games. In fact, if you prefer games where the Referee is more a impartial umpire who never interferes, then this class is probably not your game style (I love both impartial and narrative games, and I know when I’m running one or the other).

The fiction is King! (Or Queen!): the Wanderer is part of a game tradition that gives importance to the fiction, narrative sense, or verisimilitude of the game. Most tables actually follow this principle without noticing. It basically means – use your common sense (not the rules!). Therefore, no Wanderer ability can be used if breaks the table’s disbelief regarding their game. Each table, of course, will also have their own levels of acceptable verisimilitude and suspension of disbelief. In the end: have fun!

 

The Wanderer

Requirements None

Prime requisite  CHAR

Hit Dice 1d6

Maximum level 10

Armour None

Weapons Any

Languages Alignment, Common

 

The Wanderer attacks and saves as a Thief of the same level.

Lores: Some Wanderers know pieces of hard-earned knowledge and secrets. Others are gifted individuals who can easily inspire and unite others. Some have a touch of the Otherworld and do what other people would call “magic”. Each Wanderer is unique but all are marked by wanderlust and a desire to see the world (and thus to adventure)

A particular Wanderer’s baggage of special skills and tricks are represented by Lores. Each Wanderer starts with 2 Lores selected from the 1^st level list. When levelling up, they gain 1 new Lore.

Between adventures, if the Wanderer had the time to rest, they could decide to change one Lore from their repertoire.

Limits: unless otherwise written, activating a Lore doesn’t cost an action and you can only activate one Lore per round. You can only learn Lores of the same level or lower than your Wanderer level.

Complications: many of the Lores, once activated, invite the Referee (and/or the table) to add some complications. The idea of a complication is something to make the Wanderer’s life “interesting”. For example, if a Wanderer used a Lore to gain a monster’s friendship, then maybe they own that creature a favour. If they use to gain some new knowledge, they might be in debt to a sage. The Referee, as usual, has the last word. When in doubt, the Referee can “store” complications, using them later on to create an NPC, curse, of challenge suited to the Wanderer.

Hard Mode (Optional): some Referees don’t appreciate the idea of classes that have access to an open pool of powers and can change those powers freely. If you are one of those Referees, change the rule above in that a Wanderer can change their list of Lores only when they level up.

Knacks: a Wanderer starts with 2 Knacks, plus 1 additional per level. Knacks activate a particular Lore (and some Lores require more than 1 Knack to be activated). Knacks are just a fancy name for “spell slots” if you prefer (no, Lores and Knacks are not technically magical, although some might be… it is complicated). A Wanderer recovers all their Knacks after a full night of rest.

Limits: unless otherwise written each Lore costs 1 Knack to activate and you cannot spend more Knacks in one activation than your total Wanderer level.

Referee’s call and vetoes: the Referee can always veto a Lore’s activation. When that happens, it is usually good to explain why the Lore was vetoed. In those cases, the Knack is not spent (but the Wanderer player should also play nice and don’t try the same trick). Again, if this generates discussions and makes your game experience worse, DO NOT USE THIS CLASS. At my tables, these adjudications happen all the time and everyone is fine with that but YMMV.

Learning from their Mistakes (Optional): a Wanderer reduced to 1 hit point that survives the encounter recovers 1 Knack from their ordeal. This can happen only once per day.

 

List of Lores

 

1st LEVEL

A Particular Set of Skills: before attempting any dice rolling requested by the Referee for a mundane task, declare how you learned/mastered such task before. It must be something not unique to a particular OSR Class. No spellcasting, combat, thieving skills, trap detection etc. It can be stuff like setting a fire (even in the rain!), swimming, hunting for food for the party, navigating by the stars etc. If the Referee and the table accept it, you succeed automatically at it (if they don’t approve it, regain the Knack… and don’t push this topic again!). Once you use this Lore, that particular skill becomes a part of your character’s abilities. Because of that, you can’t activate this Lore again in the same game session, in-game week/month, or in the same adventure (as determined by the Referee).

Setting Limit (Optional): Referees that fear this Lore might be abused are free to set as a limit to one skill per Wanderer level. Another option is that this Lore must be activated (i.e., the Wanderer must pay 1 Knack each time). Wanderers are indeed versatile, but they are never trained enough to “permanently” learn a skill.

 

Helpful Advice: you can activate this Lore before another player rolls any dice. You must be at their character’s side and your advice must make a difference. If that applies and your friend fails his check, spend a Knack so that they can reroll it (you can only do this once for each check).

 

Know Thy Enemy: activate this Lore to have complete access to one type of monster's stats during this encounter (including total and current hit points). You must explain how you know that much about those creatures and probably incur some trouble or complication (as decided by the Referee). If your table has an “open monster stat policy” and the Referee doesn’t hide this information, ignore this Lore. This Lore works on common sense. While you might know stats and hit points (and perhaps even the spell list), the Referee doesn’t need to tell you exactly everything the enemies are carrying. However, if you must declare your actions before rolling initiative, the Referee is free to declare the monster’s actions to your Wanderer.

 

Loremaster: activate this Lore if you can inspect an item without interruption for one turn or 10 minutes. For each Knack spent you can identify one magic item, scroll, spell or you can list all the spells within one spellbook (but in this last case they are not identified and still need to be fully deciphered). You can use this Lore instead to translate one scroll, map, inscription or something similar. If merely reading something would trigger a trap or curse, you must immediately pay a second Knack. If you fail to that you trigger the trap or curse (including symbols and runes).

 

Masters of Tongues: activate this Lore to know one extra language during the game. Explain how you learned (and incur any complications as set by the Referee, particularly for exotic and strange idioms). You can activate this Lore only twice per Wanderer level. If you have chosen a language (either during character creation or with this Lore) but never used it in the game, you can change it using this Lore.

 

Well-Traveled: you always keep your ears open to rumours and travellers’ tricks. This Lore has two options.

In the first version, activate this Lore to instantly remember one rumour regarding the adventure or the place where you are. It must be something at least a bit useful. For example: if exploring the Caves of Chaos, you might have heard about different humanoids and in which direction they roughly lie (nothing certain, this is a rumour).

The second version comes in if the Referee has no rumour to share or if the Wanderer intends to help the party recover. Activating this second version of the Lore requires a safe spot and it takes one hour during which your Wanderer shares what they know about the adventure with the party. If those conditions are met, the Wanderer spends 1 Knack and each party member (except the Wanderer) can regain 1 Hit Dice in hit points (this represents mechanically that they are better prepared for the dangers ahead).

This Lore can only be activated once per day, week, or adventure (Referee’s call).

 

Sings & Omens: you know how to read signs and auguries left by the gods, the Fates, or maybe Balance itself. When you awake in the morning, spend 1 Knack and roll 1d20, noting the number rolled. During that day, before rolling any d20, you can instead substitute the result with the d20 rolled in the morning. If you spend 2 Knacks, you can instead substitute the d20 rolled by an ally. If you spend 3 Knacks, you can substitute the result rolled by an enemy (but they can roll a saving throw against spells to negate this). You can only use this Lore once per day.

 

To Arms!: after the initiative is rolled but before the first round starts, activate this Lore to go first (or for one ally to go first). If the Referee uses group initiative, this Lore can only be used once per day.

 

Travel Bag: at any point, activate this Lore to explain how you were carrying one common mundane item all along. This must make sense within the adventure. It could anything normally found in the region that you are travelling to or from someone you had contact with. It must also be something that you can afford (the Referee can ask you to pay it “retroactively”). You cannot have stolen the item. Examples are a sword, a rope, a handcuff etc. Instead of one common item, you can change it to one consumable item for each Wanderer level. Examples could be rations, water, or maybe oil. So, a 2^nd level Wanderer who activates his Lore, could have bought 2 extra rations or torches.

 

Treasure-Hunter: you are a professional burglar (thieves are, after all, lower-class individuals). After combat, you can activate this Lore and declare that you are searching for any extra treasure hidden close to the encounter area. The Referee will roll a new Treasure Roll to see if anything comes up. This Lore can only be activated once per encounter (and, as usual, the Referee can decide to veto the result or to roll and don’t use the result if will make the game worse).

 

Useful Superstition: as your action during any combat encounter, you can propose a source of superstition that you heard about the creature(s) your party is currently facing. If approved, activate this Lore to instantly trigger a Morale Check in the creatures. If the Morale Check works, now your proposed superstition is part of the campaign (and the Referee is encouraged to modulate it, and create complications or consequences around it). Usually, the safest way to modulate this is to restrict it to the local region (i.e., the orcs of the Crooked Mountains are afraid of gooses). You can only activate this Lore once per encounter, day, week, or adventure (Referee’s call).

If the Referees allow it, you can spend 3 Knacks to trigger a Morale check in creatures theoretically immune to it. For example, you can explain that you carry a particular holy symbol of St. Cudgel that can trigger Morale checks in the undead. Of course, the complications here are higher. St. Cudgel might appear in a vision and demand you donate all treasure to the closest temple to keep his favour (and avoid a curse maybe).

 

Words of Peace: you acquired enough knowledge of pidgins and weird customs to know how to get another intelligent creature’s attention quickly, even if just for a moment. You can activate this Lore before the first round of combat (even if you lost initiative) to cry a word or do something before your party and an intelligent monster (or group of hostile creatures) come to blows against each other. This instantly sets the monsters’ reaction to Uncertain and might give your party a chance to parley. This is not magic and does not work if you are ambushed. Also, monsters will not act stupidly.

 

2nd LEVEL

 

A Curse or Two…: activate this Lore when a monster succeeds at a save. Explain some small curse that you know and how you cast it against the poor critter. The monster must reroll their save. You can only activate this Lore once per save.

 

A Love of Maps: you always carry a bundle of old and weird maps (and you love collecting more). This bundle weighs and fills as much space as a spellbook. If you lose it, you can accumulate a new bundle between adventures (paying whatever costs the Referee proposes). If you have access to your maps, consult your minutes for approximately one minute and activate this Lore to ask the Referee if the party is lost. If they are indeed lost, you can pay a second Knack to safely guide them back from where they came from (no chances of getting lost on the way back). For each day you are guiding your party back you must pay 1 Knack when you start marching.

 

Folklore: activate this Lore to create one curious piece of information about a group that your party is currently meeting or is about to meet. You must have some idea of who you are dealing with (goblins, humans, barbarians etc.). If your piece of information is helpful, there is a 4-in-6 chance it is true (“These goblins love beer! If we offer them ours, we might get a chance to parley.”) If it is risky then it is automatically (“These goblins love beer, but it can drive them into a berserker rage when they drink too much.”). If it is too good to be true (“Goblins believe only gods drink beer and they will serve us”) then don’t bother rolling (and that is a terrible use of this Lore). You can only use this Lore once per encounter and never more than once per day, week, or adventure (Referee’s call).

 

Follow my lead: if you succeed at a save or ability check, and you can set an example or encourage your allies, activate this Lore. If approved, choose another character to succeed at the same attempt. You can pay more Knacks to help other allies.

 

Friends in Weird Places: you can activate this Lore when facing an intelligent enemy but before the first round of combat starts. Explain how that one of the enemies is actually an acquaintance of your Wanderer. If approved, the Referee will add a complication. At the bare least, you owe some money to said enemy (or a particular item in the adventure that is hard to find). You can only use this Lore once per encounter and never more than once per day, week, or adventure (Referee’s call).

 

Hedge Magic: this lore has two versions.

In the first version, activate it when you fail a save against some supernatural effect. Explain how your Wanderer uses some secret, talisman, or folk magic to protect you from a spell. If approved, reroll your save. If you succeed, you don’t suffer any partial effect (no half damage in a fireball for example). Keep a list of each secret, talisman, or folk magic which worked. Each hedge magic should be a complex gesture, word, or unique talisman or item. It should be effective against one specific spell or monster (the level of detail is set by the Referee, some are happy with “any fire spell”, others will prefer “only against fireballs”).

In the second version, you can activate this Lore when an ally fails a save. You must select one of your hedge magics that previously worked. Explain how, during the party’s last rest, you shared or “cast” one hedge magic from your list in that one ally. This must make sense. So, if one hedge magic was a talisman, that ally would have that talisman in their person when they rolled the save. If it is a secret magic word, then you must be close enough to say such a word and protect them. The result is the same, the chosen ally can reroll the save. If they succeed, they don’t suffer any ill effects.

The number of hedge magic “spells” you can keep is set by the Referee to avoid abuses. A good benchmark is one hedge magic “spell” by Wanderer level. Another option is to charge a price for each hedge magic, using scroll prices as a reference. Discuss this with the Wanderer player before they decide to acquire this Lore.

 

Inspiring Fellowship: if you can rest with an ally for at least one hour, maybe cooking something for them, singing, or just saying something about your travels, you can activate this Lore. The chosen ally recovers one spell or daily limited ability. For characters without limited abilities, such as Fighters and Thieves, you grant them 2 Advantages (they can roll any die twice and pick the best result, they must declare the use of the Advantage before rolling). Each ally can only benefit from this Lore once per day.

 

Sidekick: explain to the table how, between adventures (or after the last visit to town) you attracted a loyal retainer. This must be possible within the narrative. If approved, activate this Lore to immediately gain the service of one loyal retainer. Mechanically, this retainer’s power is equivalent to a normal human (level 0), but you can raise its level by paying one extra Knack (the limit is one level lower than your Wanderer or 0). As long as keep the spent Knacks “locked” on the retainer, they don’t need to make Loyalty checks. However, if you abuse your retainer, the Referee can increase the cost of this Lore by one Knack or more until your “reputation” improves. You can have as many level 0 retainers as you want but only one retainer level 1+. Retainers acquired through this Lore (i.e. sidekicks) don’t count against your maximum number of “normal” retainers.

 

Wanderer’s Luck: activate this Lore to turn one attack against you into a failure or to reroll an ability or skill check. You can also activate this Lore to reroll one saving throw against a non-supernatural threat (such as a trap).

 

Watchful Guide: this Lore has two different versions.

In the first version, you can activate this Lore to avoid the effects of one ambush (you are not surprised). You can pay extra Knack to affect additional allies.

In the second version, you can activate this Lore after the Referee rolls a random encounter. This last version costs 2 Knacks. If approved, the Referee will tell the party what creature was rolled on the random encounter (before that creature even shows up). With that information, the Wanderer (and the table) can decide to ask the Referee to reroll the random table. They won’t know the second result. This must be explained in the narrative. For example, the Referee rolls a random encounter. The Wanderer player activates this version and asks what creature was rolled. The Referee answers only the type of creatures (“troll” for instance). After some discussions, the table decides that they have enough oil to face trolls. Narratively, the Wanderer player could describe how their character found marks of troll claws in the stone marking this area is troll territory. If the table decided that they want the Referee to reroll, then they could use the same idea. However, in the second scenario, the Wanderer finds the troll marks and informs their allies, there trolls in those trails, follow them through these woods instead.

Each version of this Lore can only be activated once per day.

 

3rd LEVEL

 

Bane: this Lore has two versions.

In the first version, you use your next action to provide tactical advice that helps all allies that can hear you against one type of foe they are currently facing them. This is typically something like “their armour is weak at the back of their legs!”. For the rest of the encounter, all armed and unarmed attacks that can exploit that advice have Advantage on damage rolls (roll damage twice and pick the better). This costs 2 Knacks.

The second version affects just the next spell cast by an ally. The damage caused by that particular casting of the spell is rolled with Advantage. This costs 1 Knack.

 

Fly you fools!: activate this Lore and use your next action to rally your friends and help them escape danger. By spending 1 Knack, all your allies can use their next action (and only their next action) to withdraw from melee. If they do so, they don’t trigger free attacks from adversaries that they were engaged with. By spending 2 Knacks, you also gain the same benefit.

 

Magician: you acquired a bit of true spellcraft during your adventure by watching and learning from your friends. Activate this Lore to cast any 1^st level spell that another ally has cast on that same day (you must follow all the other normal rules for spellcasting). Instead of that, you can activate this Lore to cast one identified scroll (for example, one you identified with the Loremaster Lore).

 

Riddles and Secrets: you collect mysteries and secrets. Choose one item, place, or person and use one action to activate this Lore. You can ask one “yes” or “no” question to the Referee regarding the target. If you want to be completely sure about the Referee’s answer, you must spend 3 Knacks. Otherwise, spend just 1 Knack but there is a 2-in-6 that the answer is not completely true (the Referee should roll the d6 in secret). You can use this Lore once per target.

 

What Doesn’t Kill Me…: keep a list of all special attacks, poison, diseases and similar things that your Wanderer survived during the game. The next time you are affected by that specific thing, explain how you built some sort of immunity, resistance, or the capacity to shrug off most of the hazard. If approved, lose 1 permanent Knack. You are now immune to that attack. If that is not realistic, you suffer just your Wanderer level in damage from it (or just 1 point of damage, as decided by the Referee). You can build this sort of resistance to a number of effects equal to your Wanderer level.

Survival and Flexible (Optional): If this makes sense, between level-ups, you can lose immunity to one effect in other to “open” a slot to a new one during the game (you regain the lost Knack in this case).

 

4th LEVEL

 

Never Lose Hope...: if another character is killed (i.e. brought to 0 hit points) but his body is still somewhat intact and you can be safely reached and checked after the encounter, then there is a chance they might still be alive. If the Wanderer is the one to reach and check the body, activate this Lore. The chosen ally then rolls a saving throw against death. If they succeed, they have miraculously survived but are deeply wounded. They have just 1 hit point, move at half the normal rate, cannot carry heavy items, and cannot attack, cast spells, or use other class abilities for the next 24 hours. The Referee is welcome to give them some permanent scar and to reduce one Ability Score, such as Constitution, by 1. Lucky is fickle… no character can benefit from this Lore more than once.

 

Polymath: this Lore works a bit differently and was created with the idea of customizing (not optimizing) your Wanderer to make it more unique. When you first acquire it, you permanently lose one Knack, and select one class feature (from another class) or special ability. If the Referee allows it, that is now a permanent feature of your Wanderer. The use of this Lore should vary to better fit the style of each table (and campaign) but here are some general guidelines. Class features that could be selected are the cleric’s Turn Undead, the Fighter’s training with armour and shields, and the Thief’s Back-stab. If taken from another class (or maybe a monster) it must follow the same limitations, unless the Referee has another idea. If you want more versatile features (like Thief skills) or powerful abilities (such as spellcasting), then the Referee is welcome to create their approach or use any of the following:

Thief skills – the Wanderer can either choose to have two skills as a Thief of the same level or all Thief skills, but they are fixed at 1^st level

Arcane spellcasting – you have the same caster level as a Magic-User but can memorize only one spell per day from your grimoire, or you could work as a Magic-User with half your Wanderer when you select this but levelling up won’t change that

Divine spellcasting – the Referee could let the Wanderer have the same spellcasting powers as a cleric of half their Wanderer levels, except that the Wanderer can’t change their selection of memorized spells (maybe they can, but only when levelling up or by fulfilling a quest for a temple)

The above options try to give the Wanderer access to other features without “stealing the spotlight” from other classes. Instead of a class feature, Wanderers can also propose new special abilities (maybe from other OSR games), including new ones. Maybe the ability to talk with animals, smell treasure, shape change into one type of animal etc. (a good source of special abilities are the pregenerated characters from the OSR zine KNOCK!).

Every time you level up, you can decide to sacrifice another Knack to gain a second benefit from this Lore. For example, you can get the Elf class feature of using armour and casting arcane spells.

 

Sagely Knowledge: activate this Lore to add ONE detail or declaration to a local element of the campaign. The target can be one creature, location, local creature variant, or even local magic variant. It cannot retcon or contradict any previous fact of the game. If approved, the Referee will secretly roll a d6. There is a 4-in-6 chance that there is an added complication that you haven’t considered. If explicitly powerful, there is an unavoidable cost. This Lore should be used to enrich the game and generate new opportunities for the party to solve problems. If the Wanderer proposes a new detail with cool and interesting complications, the Referee can just use them.
Here are some examples:

“Music can soothe the rage of a lycanthrope” – suggested so a bard could play the flute and thus allow the party to befriend a werewolf. It is a cool detail, so the Referee rolls a normal 4-in-6 complication chance. If rolled, the complication is that the detail works but only if the music is played under a New Moon.

“This lake is sacred and can be used to cure energy drain once per year but you will own a favour to the lake’s nymph” – a powerful declaration but with a reasonable limitation and cost, so the Referee just approved the cost and decided that the character so healed must bring seven different magic items to the nymph as a cost.

“Red Forest sandalwood feeds on magic and my shield is made of that wood so I have a bonus on my saving throws against magic” – too powerful and without cost. The Referee does not even border to roll for complication and automatically inflicts a cost. They decide that the character can decide to destroy the shield to succeed in a saving throw versus spells but that the sandalwood taint the character’s aura for 7 days after using the shield, so they must also roll a saving throw even versus beneficial magic (such as healing). Obs.: the Referee could just have vetoed the Lore activation, but they decided to give a chance.

When this Lore is activated, the Wanderer must spend and “lock” one Knack. The Knack remains locked until one of these situations occurs (as defined by the Referee BEFORE the Wanderer spends the Knack): the Wanderer’s level up, the current adventure is concluded, or the current “campaign arc” is concluded.

 

Spare an Enemy: you must activate this Lore during the first round of combat and target one specific monster. If approved, you and your party are now fighting to subdue the target. This activation is cancelled if any party member uses a lethal attack – such as a disintegrate or a deadly poison (Referee’s call). If the party defeat the target, the Referee must then roll a new Monster Reaction check. Any result of 6+ places the monster under the Wanderer’s retinue as a special monster retainer. Loyalty rules apply as normal. The spent Knack remains “locked” while the monster is a retainer. The Wanderer can only keep one monster retainer.

 

5th LEVEL

 

Esoterica (Optional): the Wanderer has travelled far and wide and accumulated enough forbidden and unearthed arcana to metaphysically cheat reality. They can activate this Lore to break or change ONE rule of the game during one round or turn (whichever makes more sense). This change can incorporate a rule or power from ANOTHER RPG. The Wanderer must provide some weird explanation and cost for this astonishing event. Here the best premise is to follow the Rule of Cool. Each table will have its parameters for that. For example: a Wanderer tells the table that during their battle with a dragon, he found a scroll with a forbidden Word of Power from a long-dead god of magic. As soon as they read that scroll, that Word was burned into their mind (and the scroll vanished). He proposes that he chants the Word, freeing it from their mind. For the turn, no spellcaster needs to memorize spells. The cost is that the Wanderer will lose their voice, becoming mute. The Referee approves. Another example: the Wanderer found in the last loot three holy golden apples that were planted in the Seven Heavens ages ago. Whoever eats them gains supernal vitality. The idea is that the chosen targets can spend their Hit Dices in short rests between, as in D&D 5E. The Referee approves with the cost that the Wanderer is now considered to have committed a divine sin. No beneficial divine magic will affect them until they atone.

When this Lore is activated, the Wanderer must spend and “lock” 2 Knacks. The Knacks remains locked until one of these situations occurs (as defined by the Referee BEFORE the Wanderer spends the Knacks): the Wanderer’s level up, the current adventure is concluded, or the current “campaign arc” is

Too Weird For My Table: this Lore REALLY pushes it and should be embraced only by tables that love its metagame aspects (and FLAILSNAILS games in general).

Not FLAILSNAILS Enough: if this makes narrative sense, the Knacks are spent permanently and the new rule is now a permanent part of the game. If the new rule would benefit both PCs and NPCs, the Referee can reduce its cost to 1 permanent Knack.

 

Foresight: if the Wanderer can use their action and pay 3 Knacks to activate this Lore as a reaction to any consequence suffered by another party member. First, explain to the Referee how your Wanderer foresaw that particular chain of events and thus interrupted the chosen’s ally action (usually by screaming or somehow getting their attention). For example, the party’s fighter charges the beholder and is disintegrated. The Wanderer PC explains that they read about beholders during the party’s stop at the last city’s library. The Referee approves. As a result, the chosen action never happened and all its effects and spent resources are returned (lost hit points are returned, spells that were cast are still memorized… and dead characters are still alive). In the above example, the fighter’s charge against the beholder is interrupted and the fighter PC must choose a different action. If it makes sense, the other chain of events should still occur. For example, the beholder should still try to disintegrate the fighter PC. However, now that the fighter PC knows this, maybe they run for cover, resulting in the beholder giving up his attempt or disintegrating the cover itself. This Lore can be activated once per encounter.

 

Words of Awakening: the Wanderer collected enough arcane lore to awaken temporary magic properties in otherwise mundane objects. The Wanderer activates this Lore using their action and proposes some cost for it: it could drain part of their vitality, the use of exotic magical components (the Wanderer retroactively paid for them), some favour to a god/demon/wizard, etc. If approved, the Referee rolls on a magic item table of their choice (such as the ones from the OSE OSR). For example: a Wanderer picks up the fighter’s sword and sprinkles diamond dust that he bought in the last city, invoking words of power that he learned from a dwarf blacksmith they saved in the last adventure. They propose a cost of 500 gp. The Referee approves and rolls in the OSE’s Magic Weapons table, getting a 54 (“Mace +1”). The Referee decides that the sword is magically transformed into a dwarven Warhammer +1, an echo of the legendary Dwarven Forge-Hammer of Duzlin (the Referee just made that up). This remains in effect for one encounter, although the Wanderer can pay another Knack to extend the effect. If the chosen magic item is a one-use effect, there is no option to extend the effect.

Planescape & 13th Age

With the new version of the setting released for D&D 5E, people are already discussing how to best play in Sigil in our times. Obviously, the answer is the way that you find most fun. When I thought on the subject, I felt that 13th Age would be the perfect system (for me at least) to run a Planescape game today. Let me explain my reasons. However, before that, a quick summary and ruminations…

The original AD&D 2nd Planescape setting came out in the same year that I started playing RPGs (actually I started playing one year earlier – 1993 – but I remember Planescape as the “new cool thing”). I was deeply impacted by the original boxed set and the supplements: the art, the flavour, the weirdness. I never read anything like that, particularly in D&D. That said, D&D 5E today is filled with exotic ancestries, places, and a whimsical factor that was completely absent from previous editions – except Planescape. So, in a sense, Planescape paved the way for this surreal/whimsical/exotic vibe that today is basically the “normal” version of the game (particularly among new players, who aren’t as indoctrinated as we grognards from the “good old days”).

Planescape (the “original” edition let’s say) is about “philosophers with clubs”; it is about living in the afterlife (and being extremely blasé about it); it is about seeing Alignments and the entire thing of Good x Evil just as different soccer teams (meanwhile asking nonchalantly “What is in for me, berk?”); it is about weird and wonderful rules of reality that have something to do with rings and the number 3; it is about the Chant, the obvious way that “cool” sods talk among themselves. In other words: it was strange, fantastic, and dream- (or fever-) like, and it was all coloured by the amazing art of DiTerlizzi. It is kind of a (very) specific Zeitgeist… if you weren’t a D&D player in the 90s it is hard to explain with words (for me at least)…

…ANYWAY! Moving on…

Planescape taught me that you could play D&D pursuing more interesting goals than just levelling up and magic items. It taught me that Belief mattered and that the planes, the gods, and everything else didn’t count so much. And if you had the (amazing) luck of playing Planescape: Torment, then you know how metaphysical and personal questions are the soul of a good Planescape game (“What can change our nature?”… it is a shame that computer games such as Torment and Baldur’s Gate taught me more about roleplay than official D&D books).

Planescape is also filled with unique and counterintuitive characters (Torment has those by the bucketload): moral demons, mythomaniac angels, people that are literally forgotten letters of ancient alphabets, misers that want to buy their way out of Hell (because they can visit it and know how shitty it is), characters with angelic/demonic blood (when that was rare and cool), broken robots of Law etc. It was a wonderful and unique mismatch that gave the impression that every character was bizarrely unique and that your belief counted more than your ancestry or class…

…and that is why I think 13th Age is perfect for a (new) Planescape game!

First: Ancestries (I know they are called Races in 13th Age 1st Edition)

We got our Tielfings and Aasimars in the game and I am very happy with 13th Age's simple but iconic take on ancestries (and the future 2nd Edition looks even better on that). What about other “traditional” races from the gold old Planescape AD&D line? Well, here is my quick and dirty version:

Bariaur: males have +2 to Strength or Constitution. They have the Racial Power Headbutt, which allows you to use your horns in a charge against any nearby or far away enemy. You deal 1d8 points of damage per level. If you want, you can deal 1d10 points of damage per level, but you are Dazed after that (save 11+). Female Bariaur have +2 to Intelligence or Wisdom. They have the Racial Power Cunning, which allows them to reroll one Initiative roll or to force one enemy to reroll a magic attack (the GM has the final word on what is “magic”).

Githzerai: these guys have +2 to Dexterity or Intelligence. They have the Racial Power Passionate Stoicism. Githzerai are creatures of burning passions, particularly when it comes to revenge (against Gythyanki and Illithids), but they are also beings of extreme self-control and mental discipline as they carved their home in Limbo. Passionate Stoicism is my clumsy attempt to simulate that. Once per day, a Githzerai can substitute any inflicted Condition with Weakened. This simulates either that they are using their intense emotions or iron self-control to ignore hardship.

If you must have some form of Magic Resistance…

Magic Resistance (Racial Githzerai Adventurer Feat)

Once per day, you gain Resist Magic 18+ (the GM/table decides if something is “magic”) for a battle. Your resistance also applies to any healing spell applied over you and the GM is welcome to roleplay all of your magic items as if all of them hate you. The GM should also choose a random chakra that you are using: the magic connected to that chakra is placed in a coma by your magic resistance until a Full Heal-Up (or an Icon Roll spend, or something like that).

Champion Tier: You can use this Racial Feat once per battle, but you lose 2 chakras.

Rogue Modrons: +2 to Intelligence or Constitution. You can use the Never Say Die Racial Power from the Forgeborn/Dwarf-Forged from the 13th Age Core Rulebook. If you want something more Modron-like, try this power.

Creature of Order (Racial Rogue Modron Power)

You are a creature of patterns and react poorly to surprises or change. You roll Initiative once at every Full Heal-Up and keep that number until your next Full Heal-Up. You can always choose to roll a 2d10 instead of a 1d20, but once you roll a 1d20 you become so erratic that you can only opt to roll 2d10 after a Quick Rest.

Finally, you can choose to buy the Preset Programmed Action Feat if you want some more Modron classic stuff.

Preset Programmed Action (Racial Modron Adventure Feat)

You can program yourself to act on a preset action, thus compensating your usual predictability. This action must be something that could be done with a Standard Action and that could be phrased as “If A do B to C, I will D to E”. Examples are “If an enemy (A) attack (B) me (C), I will attack (D) him (E)”, or “If an ally (A) is dropped (B) by an enemy (C), I will help (D) him (E)”. The GM/table has the final word. If a situation occurs where the Preset Programmed Action is triggered you can, once per day, use an interrupt action to enact it. Because this is something programmed into you before the current situation, you cannot use the Escalation Die for this action.

Planars and Primes

If you want to give some mechanical juice to the distinction between Primes and Planars, try this:

Primes: Primes are normal 13th Age characters (if there is such a thing). They begin with the free background Clueless +2. They can use this to simulate any knowledge from their home and also to go by on the planes if they are willing to accept a “success with a cost”. In other words, Primes start with a free background that lets them do stuff in the Planes if they are fine with that happening with some complications. For example, a Rogue Prime Half-Elf is invited to a dinner… by Baatezu in a special tavern in Sigil that specialises in attending the culinary tastes of the Nine Hells! The PC suspects that the food is poisonous to mortals but none of his backgrounds can help them. He can use Clueless +2 to find out if the food is poisonous. If he succeeds, what happens is that one of the Baatezu stops from eating poisonous food. However, the same Baatezu now claims that the half-elf has “soul debt” with him and demands that he use the poison to kill someone in 7 days or his soul is forfeit (“As you can read in the plaque above our table, which sets the socialization contract requirements for all those who wish to partake of this fine delicacy. It is a usual contract in the Nine Hells, but you primes are often so clueless about common sense…”).

Planars: Planars can sense nearby gates and see their boundaries if within sight. This should be a big advantage for any Planescape game. They also can speak the Chant and don’t make a mess of themselves (as most Primes do). Planars however have a few disadvantages in that most magic from the Material Plane made to affect devils, angels, spirits etc. also have an impact on them. There are two basic ways to use this. If you are in a hurry, just do this: every time a Planar goes to the Material Plane (unless summoned) or crosses a gate they must pay 1 Recovery. Simple. The second option is my favourite but a bit complex: do a Montage! Basically, once per Full-Heal Up the GM should create a Montage to make the life of Planars “interesting”. The most classic example here is to say that the Planars are suddenly summoned to the Material Plane by some wizard and must deal with it to return. This Montage should use the rules from the Book of the Underworld (i.e., it must involve some skill check and inflict some cost, usually some resource, damage, use of a power, or use of a Recovery). If the table has a mix of Planars and Primes, let the Prime PCs create the problem (and perhaps a complication) for the Planar PCs to solve. If you have only one Planar PC, then just use the first option. Ignore all this if it is too much!

Second: Unique Things!

This is where we hit the sweet spot for 13th Age. Planescape characters have an idiosyncratic nature and that is their unique thing! Do you want to be the aforementioned “living forgotten letter of an ancient alphabet”? A rogue petitioner seeking to escape the Lower Planes masquerading as a Wizard? An ex-Proxy who survived the death of his Power? The last dream of an entire ancestry? That is your Unique Thing! 13th Age practically invites you to create your own unique take on “Planescapian” flavour.

Third: Backgrounds!

This is where you can build upon your Unique Thing/Race/PC Concept. For example, if you are a Rogue Modron, you can have the skill “Supernal Instantaneous Mathematical Calculations”, allowing you, for example, to instantly determine the amount of anything you can see, such as the number of coins in a chest or the number of devils in a Blood War battle (and you can of course argue with the GM that the skill is equally useful to “count” stuff such as “Evil”, “Good”, “Bloodlust”, “Hunger” etc.). Damn, you can use your faction to create some cool backgrounds too, such as “I act before I think” (yup, that is a Transcendent Order skill, I love those dudes).

Fourth: Icon Relationship.

Did I say Icons? Forget it. I mean “Faction Relationship”. Take 13th Age’s Icons and replace them with Planescape factions (from the original box and AD&D 2nd sourcebooks or use the new 5E ones). Select for example a 1 positive relationship with the Mercykillers (i.e., your faction), a 1 ambiguous one with the Harmonium (perhaps from your ex) and 1 enemy with the Dustmen (who let one of your ex-cons return as a wraith?)

Remember that you can go way beyond Factions here and allow PC to have relationships with Powers, Planes (or just a place), or any NPC that you like… (except the Lady of Pain… people with “relationships” with her tend to disappear).

Fifth: Belief.

Belief or the power of belief to change reality is a cornerstone of Planescape. I am aware that the Planewalker’s Handbook tried to gamify that into a rule (in a way that I still find very nice). However, instead of that, I suggest using Belief as a reward mechanic: when a player manages to change someone’s Belief or to concentrate enough Belief to incite change in the world (for example, convincing most of the population of a portal town for example), they should be rewarded: let them regain Recoveries, maybe a Full Heal-Up, or better yet, regain Faction Relationship dice (that you can roll right away!), or to change one encounter to a Montage!

If you prefer instead the original Planewalker’s Handbook system, then just create a Belief for each PC (one per Tier seems enough) and track their Belief Points. PCs can use 1 Belief Point to succeed at a Skill Check, gain a significant Clue from the GM, or regain 1 Faction Relationship Roll.

Optional rule: Binding Belief

Instead of changing someone’s Belief your PC can accept the burden of another’s Belief and hold on to it for the next 4 encounters (or until the next Full Heal-Up or when the GM say it is enough). After that, you gain some reward (preferably one use Faction Relationship Dice from the faction/group that you helped). The price paid is that, for those 4 encounters, you suffer a “negative Background”. For example, if accept the Belief that “Thought is a barrier to the true nature of the Multiverse -2” (a typical slogan for the Transcendent Order), means that you suffer a -2 penalty to any check where the GM thinks (ha!) that you have to use your rationality first (such as persuading an NPC, searching for a clue, using your erudite knowledge etc.). Depending on the Belief the negative background might have a stepper penalty (or it might impact some aspect of your PCs, such as your chakras).

OK, so I hope that by now we have reached a point where you (at least) agree that 13th Age is a good fit for Planescape. What else can we do? Well, I am glad you asked. Let’s try to create rules for Planescape's flavorful “truths” about the Multiverse:

The Rule-of-Three: everything important in Planescape tends to come/happen in threes. So, if you want to gamify this “rule” it could be something that the table (all the players, by consensus) could invoke ONCE per game session or day. Did they find one or two potions, or maybe two helpful NPCs, or even two paths ahead through Mount Celestia? Then the table can invoke the Rule-of-Three to create/suggest/negotiate new options. Depending on your GM style, you can settle this with a Montage, Skill Challenge, etc. A more “tactical” table can invoke this rule to ask for a Full Heal-Up after 3 (instead of 4) encounters. In this case, I would advise granting ONE player the benefit of a Full Heal-Up (not the entire table), as I feel this can lead to interesting choices. Instead of letting them use the Rule-of-Three for “free” every game session/day, you can instead determine that after invoked by the PCs, the next use of the Rule-of-Three belongs to the GM (yeah, 3 elite-level bosses! Time for the party to escape!).

Unity of Rings: Things in Planescape tend to follow a “ring-like” or circular logic. What comes around, goes around. OK, this one is harder. Here are my ideas so far…

First version: Use this for outlier results and “whiff’ factors. In other words, if a player rolls a fumble in any check (or rolls their Faction Relationship dice and doesn’t get anything), I would suggest they can spend 1 Recovery to request a “karmic counterbalance”. In other words, they gain an extra chance later to change the same kind of test. If the fumble was an attack roll, they have an extra d20 that they can use later; if it was a skill check, the same idea; if it is a Faction Relationship roll it costs 2 Recoveries and they can try to roll a new die at any point in the adventure.

Second version: like the first, when a player fails a check or doesn’t gain anything relevant/interesting, they can invoke the Unity of Rings to “invert” the result. Here, the effect is stronger. A fumble (a 1) becomes a critical hit (a 20). A 1 in a Faction Relationship die becomes a 6. However, after that, the Unity of Rings goes to the GM who can use it with his monsters. If using this version, the Unity of Rings can be summoned once per adventure or per game session.

Third version (after all, we must follow the Rule-of-Three too): This is a failing forward TURBO version! Once every encounter, when you fail any check (or Icon Relationship Roll), you can ask for a Ring Check. Only one PC per encounter gets this. A Ring Check works like an Icon Relationship roll: roll a d6 and it kicks in if you get a 5-6. If you get a 5-6, you have the right to execute a small Montage with a cost. In other words, you propose an advantage from the GM (a new way forward, a consumable magic item, access to an NPC, recovery roll for a power etc. in exchange for 1+ Recovery Die, a temporary negative Background, perhaps some damage etc.).

Center of All: this one rule I don’t feel the need to gamify. Instead, I would encourage the GM to ask each player what their character believes is the “Center of the Multiverse”. This would provide a lot of thought (and hopefully game material) for the GM to work it 😊

Augury - The Book of Ebon Tides (D&D 5E)

This review is based on the PDF of Kobold Press’ Book of Ebon Tides. Although tailored specifically for their Midgard setting, it offers an interesting plethora of characters for the Shadow Realm, which is a demiplane that is made of equal parts of Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales, eastern European legends, D&D famous’ Demiplane of Shadow, and the Feywild (but as if seen through a delightful darker glass). The Shadow Realm was discovered by the goddess of moon and magic Hecate who, after fashioning it more to her liking, populated it with goblins, shadow fey (the Scáthesidhe) and their servants, besides bearfolk, human night worshippers, and other races.

After that brief history, the book details the eerie and mutable nature of the Shadow Realm. This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the plane. Unlike the Material Plane, the only things that are eternal in the Shadow Realm are, well, shadows. Everything else is affected by the so-called ebon tides, which produce slow and dream-like but constant changes: rocks, trees, and other physical landmarks, even entire forests and mountains, inexorably change their location and even aspect. The natives discovered ways to bind or hold certain places together through unique magic and materials, such as wood taken from the holy wood of Hecate. These isles of stability are connected through the equally magical Shadow Roads. The book provides a table with suggested manifestations of the ebon tides to increase the setting’s weirdness. The Book of Ebon Tides also provides further details on holydays, weather, gods, fey etiquette, and customs.

We next get to “Umbral People and Heroes”. Here we get new races: bearfolk (the shadow bearfolk subrace), darakhul (the Midgardian High Ghoul, with new templates for bearfolk and shadow goblin), the famous shadow fey, the luminous lunar elves, the rare sable elves, the cunning and provocative shadow goblins, and umbral humans (with the subraces changeling and gifted). We also get stats to play with the fey-like quicksteps, the squirrelfolk ratatosks (with the subraces ekorre and tradvakt), erinas (spiritfarer), shades (Stygian), ravenfolk (sublime), satarre (unbound), and gnomes (wyrd). In terms of Midgardian lore, the sable elves are probably the most interesting one, presenting a decadent and weakened branch of the ancient elves that once shaped worlds like Midgard itself. Mechanically speaking the most interesting entry is the Gifted Umbral Humans, which represent mortals who made some pact with the fey in exchange of power or a perk. The ratatosks are a bizarre mixture of themes (squirrels, celestials, Yggdrasil… you name it) that are not only remarkably original but offer some very fun options as a race (specially the tiny ekorre). Finally, it is worth mentioning that all the races receive the most recent D&D 5E mechanical treatment, with flexible options for ability scores for example.

The Book of Ebon Tides also offers plenty of new options in terms of subclasses. We have the Circle of Shadows (druid), the College of Shadows (bard), the community-based Keeper Domain and the mandatory Shadow Domain (both for cleric), the original (and unexpected) Light Weaver Origin (sorcerer), the poison-obsessed Mother of Sorrows (warlock), the Shadow Arcane Tradition (wizard), the smoke/mist-based Shadow Gnawer (barbarian), the Umbral Binder (rogue), and, finally, the charismatic Way of the Prophet (monk). Seeing in darkness or similar forms of darkvision are, obviously, ubiquitous here. And yes, I did miss a new Fighter archetype.

The next part of the book is about magic. First we get rules on how illusion spells (with the shadow and illumination keyword) are empowered in the Shadow Realm. There is even some advice on how to describe the malleable nature of that plane through some spells. I wished that the book devoted more attention to that last bit, as I feel it is what makes the Shadow Realm so unique and different from other planes, Shadowfell, or Feywild. After that we get into the meat of the chapter: new spells! I am more mindful of flavorful then merely tactical spells and the Book of Ebon Tides did not fail me. There are plenty of awesome magic here, such as the 1^st level Blade of Blood and Bone (you can create and store a magical dagger made of your bones and blood) and the grotesque 7^th level Charnel Banquet (a disgusting but invigorating repast). There are a lot more of those: Child of Light and Darkness, Conjure the Ferryman, Conjure Giant, Deep Roots of the Moon, Doom of Poor Fortune… originally, I ended listing basically 90% of the new spells here. Usually, I can’t bother even reading magic chapters in most book as they are so bland, but the Book of Ebon Tides is simply otherworldly (no pun intended) when it comes to magic. I would buy the PDF for this chapter alone.

‘The Nature of Shadow’ feels like a continuation of the book’s introduction, further detailing the weirdness of the fey plane. How to get in (and out) of the Shadow Realm, its beasts, features, hazards, traveling, and my favorite one: Shadow Corruption. The Book of Ebon Tides builds its planar corruption mechanic upon the chassis of one of D&D 5E’s most neglected (but potential) rules: Exhaustion. So, here we get a 6 levels chart of progressive Shadow Corruption that gives not only disadvantages but also a few perks, such as (surprise!) darkvision. It is a simple but flavorful way to build a new mechanic and I quite like it. The chapter also details a few specific locations.

The next bit of the Book of Ebon Tides is all about intrigue: we get more details on the fey courts and their servitors. These courts are like locations and are more detailed than the previous chapter. Some are little more than a giant manor, while others are basically cities. Among those there is, of course, the one ruled by my favorite Midgard NPC/villain: the Court of the Moonlit King. This is one of the biggest chapters of the book and there is a lot to process here, all pure campaign setting. There are even details on fallen courts. In ‘Realms Beyond the Courts’, we get further places to explore, such as Fandeval, the City of Goblins, and Merrymead, the City of Revels. Again, there is a lot to use here.

Next, we reach the deities of the Shadow Realm, each one with a full description, including some good DM advice, such as Midgard’s wonderful approach to gods and goddess trough masks, which lend a lot of mystique back to religion (something that I sorely miss from most D&D books). ‘Monsters and NPCs’ comes next with 25 new entries, including stats for a lot of ready-made NPCs such as bearfolk, elves, goblins, among others.

The Book of Ebon Tides, like any other D&D sourcebook, has its own chapter of magic items. Like spells, these are usually things that I usually pass by, but the magic paraphernalia lovers are for a treat with some 80 new items among weapons, armors, artifacts, and wondrous items. I often feel that good magic items are more about telegraphing to the reader the unique flavor of the setting than just “kool powerzs” (although I also like nice powers), and the Book of Ebon Tides sets a good example. We have the Book itself as an in-world wondrous item. Remember that bit about the Shadow Realm being flux and malleable? Well, the Book of Ebon Tides is how you funk with that. Other examples of flavorful or just outright awesome magic items are the various memory philters, the illusion seeds, Hecate’s Lantern, and my all-time havoc-unleashing favorite: the collapsing mountain (yeah, your read that right).

The Book of Ebon Tides closes with three Appendixes. The first one has tables describing lesser magic items. These are pure gold and I love when authors take some time to create these trinkets, as they always are a lot more flavorful to a setting than endless lists of new magic swords or staves. There is also tables on fey pranks and tricks, court fashion, pets and mounts, food, cantrips, omens, secrets, lore and weird servants. The result is that these tables (and the awesome art) manage to pack more flavor than a lot of chapters put together. More importantly, they are useful to any fey-themed campaign.

The second Appendix has encounter tables, while the third Appendix has a list of monsters separated by terrain (very good) and CR (not very useful in 5E). We also get some battlemaps for generic locations, such as a fey court, roads, and dark woods.

Before I forget, the Book of Ebon Tides (to my surprise, given the flux nature of the place), also has a beautiful two pages color map of the Shadow Realm (of the type that you would love to have printed and hanged on your wall).

The Book of Ebon Tides is a refreshing surprise in terms of 5E sourcebooks as it manages to be not only an original reading (in crunch and flavor) but it is useful both for players and gamemasters. The Shadow Realm’s planar nature makes it easy to attach it any world or campaign. For old Midgard fans, it is a must, providing perhaps a first full picture of the world, especially for those like me that love to play around Zobeck and the original locations of the campaign setting (where the shadow fey have a strong presence).

Augury - Tome of Heroes (D&D 5E)

Tome of Heroes is latest 5E product crowdfunded by Kobold Press. I have fond memories of the Zobeck Gazetteer and the amazing Midgard Campaign Setting (Wow! Almost 10 years!) and the Tome of Heroes is in many ways may door coming back to that setting. However, while it does have iconic elements from Midgard, it is not necessarily a setting sourcebook. Quite the contrary, we are talking here about a massive expansion for D&D 5E regarding new options for players: 316 pages of content, spread though seven chapters of a beautiful illustrated book.

The first chapter is all about new races and subraces. We have the centauroid Alseid, the almost mandatory Catfolk (Malkin and Pantheran), the definitely obligatory Drow (Delver, Fever-Bit and Purified), the hedgehog-folk Erina, Minotaurs (Bhain Kwai and Boghaid), and the Mushrromfolk (Acid Cap, Favored, and Morel). There are also new subraces for the classics: Dwarves (Fireforge and Spindrift), Elves (Dunewalker and Frostfell), Gnomes (Shoal and Wyrd) and much love for Halflings (5 subraces: Courtfolk, Hinterfolk, Rivefolk, Urban and Winterfolk!). Finally, there is the weird: the cthulhian Satarre (basically you play what sounds like an Elder Race from the Void) and the Shade (which are kind of materialized ghosts who seemed, only at first, to be alive… but they can be also echoes or memories left after someone’s death… as I said: weird).

All of above comes with interesting bits of lore from Midgard that can enrich any setting. Now, there are a lot of refreshing approaches to traditional concepts too. For example: the crazed (or not so crazed) Derro seems to be lots of fun to play, with plenty of insanity, mutations, and psychic awareness for everyone’s taste. However, for me, the real gems are the Darakhul and the Gearforged. Darakhul are the high ghouls of Midgard, but they work perfectly also as Lovecraftian ghouls or just as your basic undead race. Both Darakhul and the Gearforged come with subrace-like templates, which allow you to build, for example, a Darakhul who was a dragonborn before becoming undead, or a gearforged whose body is built like a kobold. The Darakhul’s Imperfect Undeath and the Gearforged’s Living Construct traits are the friendliest approach that I have seen so far to those concepts in 5E.

Chapter 2 is about classes. The Barbarian gets the lion-based Path of the Booming Magnificence, the infernal-themed Path of Hellfire, the fey- (and teleport-) based Path of the Mistwood, the self-explanatory Path of the Dragon, the skald-like Path of the Herald (your friends can rage with you!), the premonitory Path of the Inner Eye, and the plant-based Path of Thorns. Bards get new Colleges: Echoes (yup, you get echolocation), Investigation (perfect for Pathfinder fans of that class), Shadows (weird mix of bard and ninja I guess), Sincerity (the most original one, with a troupe-style mechanic), Tactics (almost a warlord!), and Cat (definitely a ninja). The new cleric domains are Black Powder (my favorite!), Hunt (totally Ranger-like), Mercy (the most original one, dealing both with healing and death), Portal (probably the most fun to play, specially for players that love using teleport through the battlefield), Serpent (you’re a yuan-ti/serpentman), Shadow (magic ninja!), Vermin and Wind. New Druid Circles are Ash (Phoenix-based and very flavorful), Bees (very weird and specific), Crystals (for character optimization’s afficionados), Sand (if you are a fan of the 90s’ The Mummy this one is for you), Green (spirit animal companion), Shapeless (ooze-lovers) and Wind. Fighters get two new Fighting Style Options (Gunfighting and Buccaneer), and 6 new Archetypes: Gun Mastery (for your usual gun fu), Chaplain (a healer), Legionary (fighting with pals), Pugilist (a much-needed non-monk unarmed combatant), the awesome Timeblade (my favorite, for anime and time travel fans), and the Tunnel Watcher. Monks get 7 new Monastic Traditions: Way of the Concordant Motion (for monks that like to empower their allies with ki), Way of the Dragon, Way of the Humble Elephant (seems like the Dwarven Defender prestige class from the old 3^rd Edition days, but it is a monk), the potent Way of the Still Waters, the Way of the Tipsy Monkey (for Jackie Chan fans like me), the bow-based Way of the Unerring Arrow, and the Way of the Wildcat (this one, plus the new Pantheran subrace, and you have basically a Thundercat). Paladins gain the Gunfighting Fighting Style plus 6 new Oaths. Both the Oath of Justice and the Oath of Safeguarding offer interesting tactical powers to control the battlefield, the first one focusing on the enemies, the later one on your allies. Oath of the Elements is self-explanatory, while Oath of the Guardian is another set of powers all about boosting allies. Oath of the Hearth is like a “Paladin of the Frozen North” archetype and Oath of the Plaguetouched is an undead-bane Paladin, but one with an amazingly flavorful description. Rangers can choose between Beast Trainer, Grove Warden, Gunslinger (an interesting choice as this is usually a Fighter Archetype), Haunted Warden (you get a spirit instead of an animal companion), Snake Speaker (another serpentman archetype), Spear of the Weald (limited to Alseids), and Wasteland Striders (Cthulhu Rangers!). Rogues can become Cat Burglars, Dawn Blades (radiant blasters divine thieves?), Sappers (by far my favorite… bombs and demolitions! What its not to like?), Smugglers (good at hiding stuff and using a bit of magic), Soulspy (another divine rogue), and finally the also spellcasting Underfoot (another archetype limited to one race: the Erina). Sorcerers bring a plethora of new Metamagic Options (17!) plus 5 new Origins: Black Powder (the already classic Gun Mage trope), Cold-Blooded (more serpentfolk!), Resonant Body (a sound themed sorcerer), Rifthopper (portal sorcerer), Spore, Wastelander (Cthulhu/ooze sorcerer). The Sorcerer Origins are all very flavourful and well detailed. My favorite class, Warlock, gains new 20 new Invocations. I consider Invocations to be the source of many of my favorite builds of Warlock, as they allow you to play a really unconventional characters in terms of most D&D/d20 games. While most Tome of Heroes’ Invocations are not that much “outside of the box” they do allow you some cool tricks (Convulsions of the World lets you create small focused earthquakes for example) and also a new concept (what I call the ”Forest Warlock” or “Druid Warlock”). New Patrons include Ancient Dragons and Animal Lords (both classical elements of D&D), as well as the Hunter in Darkness (“Predator Warlock” I guess), Old Wood (which fits nicely with the new Invocations), Primordial (the most original for me, where you serve non-Cthulhian chthonic entities or mystery deities), and Wyrdweaver (basically your pact is with chaos itself). Closing the chapter we have new Arcane Traditions: the Cantrip Adept (a very interesting and unusual concept, but that I would love to try at my table), Courser Mage (a weird spellcaster that uses bows and focus on surveillance and stealth), Familiar Master (boosting your familiar), Gravebinding (practically a white necromancer), School of Black Powder (more gun magery!), the School of Liminality (another weird theme that deals with chances and space), and the Spellsmith (a specialist in manipulating the energy behind spells, using it to gain an extra boost). Wizards are by far the place where the Tome of Heroes really went outside of the box for ideas.

Chapter 3 is for Background and Feats. The new Backgrounds are Court Servant (you play Alfred), Desert Runner, Destined, Diplomat, Forest Dweller, Former Adventurer, Freebooter, Gamekeeper, Innkeeper, Mercenary Company Scion, Mercenary Recruit, Monstrous Adoptee, Mysterious Origins, Northern Minstrel, Occultist, Parfurmier, Scoundrel, Sentry, and Trophy Hunter. To my surprise I am old fashioned when it comes to Backgrounds and I really love when their Features are purely narrative (no game mechanics). Kobold Press usually don’t do that. Nevertheless, they managed to create interesting Features, such the one for Court Servant (you are the perfect valet and thus hard to notice). On the other hand, Parfumier is an awesome Background that completely missed the opportunity to create a cool Feature (just give her a super nose for smells or olfactory memory, for example). Mechanic-less Features that I really liked were Destined (you’re a Chosen One), Forest Dweller (you can find safe havens in woods), and Monstrous Adoptee (you were raised by monsters and know their locations as well as how to interact socially with them). Destined and Former Adventurer are not only wonderfully original but also classical themes that I am surprised to never have thought of them as Backgrounds. Mysterious Origins is a nice way for a player to tell the Dungeon Master to create a backstory for her character (something which happens quite a lot at my tables).

Still on Chapter 3 we have 15 new feats. This part of Tome of Heroes has something for everyone. From traditional stuff like Diehard, Forest Denizen, and Giant Foe, to amazingly flavorful things like Floriographer (a new secret language, like Druidic) and Part of Pack (you can talk with wolves and summon a pack). Two of the new feats, Draconic Rune Casting and Hedgecraft, are linked with new magic systems detailed later.

Chapter 4 is about adventuring gear, where (obviously) firearms have their own section. Besides new armor, weapons, poisons, tools, and trinkets, we also have new special materials (cold iron, peachwood, soulbound steel, wave-washed steel, and windforged steel). This is possible the most setting-heavy chapter, bringing a lot of unique elements of Midgard, such as the elven memory spheres and the ghoul saliva paste. There is an entire section on clockworks, as well as new vehicles and war animals.

Chapter 5 is what sets Tome of Heroes as a true expansion of D&D. Here we have a lot of new rules for the game. In Downtime, there are options for Court Reputation, Crafting a Masterpiece, Creating Preserves, Creature Care, Criminal Enterprise, Foraging, Magic Plant Gardening, Managing a Trading Company, and Manor Ownership and Operation. All those activities came with subsystems, most through victory points and complications. While all those activities can be handwaved by most Dungeon Masters using the Core Books, Tome of Heroes provides concrete rules for those that prefer a more robust approach. Bear in mind, some activities can get quite complex and become minigames – and yes, I’m talking about Managing a Trading Company and Manor Ownership and Operation, which consume most of the chapter (Who does not love tables and a spreadsheet?).

The next bit of Chapter 5 is a new rule: Group Themes. This idea is something that I discovered in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3^rd Edition and since them I want to use in every game that I run (another awesome use of that rule is in King of Dungeons). Basically, a group theme is an adventuring party template. Tome of Heroes has Imprisoned, Haunted, Homeward Bound, and Wardens. Each entry comes with a basic description, game hooks, and group benefits (small mechanical bonus). The entire idea is really good, easy to use, and can help many tables to keep a better focus at their goals. The chapter also has guidelines to create your won Group Themes.

Chapter 5 closes with Weapon Options, a series of weapon-based actions that any proficient character can use. Examples are Assail (to distract and force him on the defensive), Disarm, Leash (better rules for whips), Pinning Shot, among others. These maneuvers are, more importantly, a good set of guidelines for Dungeon Masters and players who would like to further differentiate weapons. However, considering the Action Economy of D&D 5E and how most parties are obsessed only in dealing damage, many of the described maneuvers might seem suboptimal without a proper narrative contest (for example, creating a combat where disarming or restraining a foe might be more important than just wounding him).

Chapter 6 is about magic, a strong suite from Kobold Press if you have been following their Deep Magic line. First, we get two new magic subsystems, accessible through feats. The Draconic Rune Casting allows you to create runes by spending spell slots. Once created those runes can be active to change parameters of other spells. For example, the Dubito rune allows you to to double the duration of one spell, while Frigus allows you to change the original damage to cold damage (it works on 3 spells before fully expended). The next subsystem is Hedge Magic, with deals with the magical properties of plants. It is basically a magic herbalism system that require components rated by their rarity. It is the most flavorful system in Tome of Heroes but one that does require bookkeeping (and possibly maintaining a magic garden in some instances). After that the chapter closes with a plethora of new spells (35 pages of it to be more exact).

Chapter 7 has new magic items. Some are a munchkin’s dream, like the Axe of Many Strikes (hit your friends, store the damage, then unleash in on your foes!) or the Javelin of Teleportation (strike and teleport the target to any place within 60 feet… but at least it has a save). Other are very flavorful, such as the Cloak of Tentacles, the Momentblade, the Pouch of Runestones, and the Potion of Infinite Possibilities. This is one of the best chapters and has a cool magic item for everyone’s tastes.

In many ways the Tome of Heroes feels like Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Chapter 2 of Volo’s Guide to Monsters, plus Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but on steroids! It has a bit of everything that I expected from an official D&D expansion and it is a great source for many campaigns to come. For Midgard fans it is almost obligatory as it brings home to 5E many of the themes and options that were alluded even by the first version of the setting, 10 years ago! (I am talking about stuff that grounds in the social aspects of the setting, such as Court Reputation system.)