197 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
197 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
.\" vim: filetype=groff nu relativenumber
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.1C
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.H1
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The Anointed of
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Abyssal Slaughter
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.sp 0.2cm
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.PP
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.ft NI
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Thence came the dread pirate
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.I Stinkebarter ,
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who had been making the shipping
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lanes in this part of the world unsafe for close to a century. Like ravenous
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beasts these monsters threw themselves at their victims. They stank of the sea,
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their skins were full of scales, and their beards were mottled with seaweed and
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barnacles. They stared lifelessly from big bulging fish eyes as they cut down
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anyone in their path and threw their bodies to the sharks. That was the way of
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the pirates that had laired in those islands for generations. Some said they
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were the cursed of the sea.
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.ft
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.ad r
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\[em] from the anonymous (and justifiably forgotten) novel Scourge of the Sea
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Beasts
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.sp -.4cm
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.ad b
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.2C
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.PP
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In the depths there are things sleeping for untold aeons. Occasionally one of
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them reaches up from the darkest reaches and touches the existence of the light
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dwellers. They call it the curse of the Sea God, the Bane of the Depths, or the
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Aquatic Disease. Most air-breathing sailors are unaware the aquatic races are
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afflicted with it as well. It is rare, but on the surface it affects mostly
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fishermen and pirates, seldom others. It causes them to change. The first sign
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is lethargy except when in water. They start growing gills, their skin hardens,
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and their fingers elongate. And with times they start looking more and more...
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fishy. Soon they only can be roused by aggression, often fighting in wild
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frenzies, biting and gurgling inhuman chants. As of today nobody knows how to
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cure this condition. No cleric has succeeded in removing this curse, no
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physician seems competent to cure this malady. Some people will live with it
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until the end of their unnaturally long life, but many will perish before, or
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just go into the water, never to reappear.
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.PP
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There is a reason for this condition and for it's incurability: that is, it's
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not a disease, and it's not a curse. It is a blessing. Even more, it’s victim
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are anointed into a holy office. A blessing though by an eldritch aquatic deity
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that no human knows, and which even the aquatic people might only whisper about
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in half-forgotten stories. The god of abyssal slaughter (the actual name is
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forgotten and was unpronounceable anyway) was first venerated by a
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now-forgotten race of Coelacanthi-men, and it was a god of blood, murder, and
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combat. None of their old temples remain even under the sea, but in some of the
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places they once stood, at the right time, with the right sacrifices (we are of
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course talking about blood and gore), the deity will bestow their greatest gift
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on those that bring them: the gift of their form. No-one is aware of this fact,
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as it is mostly pirates and raiders that just happen to massacre enough victims
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in exactly the right spot that are bestowed this honor, with the occasional
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whaler or fisherman caught in between. Most of them see it as a curse by the
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gods of the sea. And of course they are only half-wrong.
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.PP
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.B Mechanically:
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if intelligent beings are killed and given to the sea in one of
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the holy places of the Coelacanth god, they are counted as sacrifices. The ways
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of the god are unknownable, but in general about 1000 unintelligent beings, 100
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intelligent ones, or 10 Anointed of the Coelacanth god will be enough to grant
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the Blessing of Form. It does not matter if they are killed in the water or
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outside, as long as their fresh blood and meat ends as a feast for the ocean
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dwellers.
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.H2
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The Anointed NPC class
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.PP
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Those anointed and given the blessing take the Anointed class instead of their
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original class. They keep their hit dice, saving throws, and attack bonus, and
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all other class features, until the Anointed class gives them a better value.
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.PP
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XP for Anointed can only be gained for killing and/or technically also for
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performing quests. Quests will come by the blubbering of the god in the
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character’s dreams and consist mostly of acts of carnage. (like a Quest spell).
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.PP
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The status can not be cured by Cure Disease spells or Remove curse spells (as
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it is neither), but performing actions that are anathema to the Coelocanth god
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might revoke the Anointed status. The mind of the deep god is difficult to
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measure though, so nobody is quite sure what is anathema or not. Selling your
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soul to a demon or other being is a surefire way though, so there's that. The
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blessing of form also grants the character an unnaturally long life-span,
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however useful that is. Most afflicted disappear after a few years, some hold
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on for a few hundred years, but ultimately most disappear into the waves.
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(mechanically their lifespan increases to
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.I "natural lifespan"
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\[mu]
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.I "level of Anointed" ).
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.LP
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\X'pdf: pdfpic img/EvilWhale.pdf -C 4.3c 0 6.3c
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.1C
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.TS
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center;
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llllcissss
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licicilililililili
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lrccccccc.
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Saving Throws
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Level XP HD THAC0 D W P B S
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1 0 1d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15
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2 2,000 2d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15
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3 4,000 3d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15
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4 8,000 4d6 19 [0] 11 12 14 16 15
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5 16,000 5d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12
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6 30,000 6d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12
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7 60,000 7d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12
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8 120,000 8d6 17 [+2] 9 10 12 14 12
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.TE
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.LP
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Every level roll 1 ability of Coelacanth form, also following changes
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.IP "Level 1:"
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ability to breathe underwater
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.IP "Level 3:"
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cannot enter dry land anymore (100 paces past the shore)
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.IP "Level 4:"
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needs to spend half of time breathing water
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.IP "Level 8:"
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cannot breathe air anymore, unavoidable urge to travel to Coelacanth god
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.2C
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.PP
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Every level past the first a character has to make a saving roll against
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Spells or be drawn to the next holy site of the Coelacanth god. If not yet
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they will become an NPC and spend the rest of their time in the vicinity
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"guarding" the non-existent site. Most of the rare Anointed are just living
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there as hermits, only going out for hunting, some of the larger sites have
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small villages or the equivalent to monasteries of these blood-thirsty
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hermits, others might be more enterprising \[em] raiding the surrounding
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settlements and trade routes as pirates.
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.PP
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At level 8 they are drawn to the depths where the Coelacanth god dwells. This
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is an ancient, near-ruined city of the elder adherents of the god, and there
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they are matched against other Anointed ones until they either die a
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sacrifice, or gain the right to challenge the god himself. What happens if
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they kill the god is not quite clear. It might be this already has happened.
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.sp 0
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\X'pdf: pdfpic img/Junk.pdf -C 6.3c 0 6.3c
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.ad l
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.KS
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.H2
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Traits of Form (1d8)
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.IP 1. 3
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Silvery Scales AC +1
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.IP 2. 3
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Bulbous Eyes Cha -1, darksight if underwater
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.IP 3. 3
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Pointy Teeth Bite 1d6 damage
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.IP 4. 3
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Extra Fins - Double Swim Speed (when undressed)
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.IP 5. 3
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Webbed hands Swimming speed like land movement
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.IP 6. 3
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Unhinged Jaw
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.IP 7. 3
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Aquatic Predator Smell Cha -1 (except for cats)
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.IP 8. 3
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Hollow Spine: +1 attack if in water
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.KE
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.KS
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.H2
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Quests of the Abyssal Slaughter God (1d10)
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.IP 1. 3
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Destroy shrine of other religion
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.IP 2. 3
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Destroy heretics of the Slaughter God
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.IP 3. 3
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Slaughter criminals
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.IP 4. 3
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Slaughter innocents
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.IP 5. 3
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Feast on raw meat
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.IP 6. 3
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Slaughter land dwellers
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.IP 7. 3
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Slaughter sea dwellers
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.IP 8. 3
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Slaughter air dwellers
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.IP 9. 3
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Challenge other Anointed
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.IP 10. 5
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Challenge higher level Anointed
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.KE
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.ad b
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.LP
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.ne 999
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\X'pdf: pdfpic img/FuneralShip.pdf -C 6.3c 0 6.3c
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.sp 10c
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.PP
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Note: I recently have come to reevaluate NPC classes as a useful concept. My
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main idea is to see them as the equivalent for specific monsters, but in
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social settings. The idea of the Anointed is similar to the presentation of
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Werewolf and Vampire classes in various places (e.g. Imagine magazine #28),
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but in this case trying to emulate the picture of damned sailors cursed to
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sail the seas, crossed with some good old Lovecraftian transformation into
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fish people.
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.Au Kyonshi
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