Ducks an OSR racial class and advanced race

Castles & Chimeras will take a look at Dungeons & Ducks the first feathered rpg (that had a lot of international translations, in Italy it had a rough history changing his name a lot of times  from the first translation "Antri ed Anatre", the second one "Pertugi e Paperi" up to the final one "Pericoli e Paperi".

Ducks are a small humanoid race that migrate between prime materials plane, they usually stay in one plane for thousand of years and then most of them go to find new lands. Ducks are very versatile and they adapt and prosper in many worlds.

Ducks are a very brave race, are very good at getting along with other races and they are able to live well in almost any place.

Ducks as a playable race are found in many games, they are very famous in Glorantha (also known as Durulz) and in the swedish Drakar och Demoner  which has been translated to english as Dragonbane.

Here we present an OSR racial class for most of the OSR games (Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy RPG, and so on).

DUCK

Prerequisite: DEX 9

Primary: COS

Hit Dice: 1d4

Max Level: 13th

Armors: any (but must be adapted to the small size), any shield

Weapons: any (for their small size)

Languages: Alignament, Ducktongue, Common, Draconic, Halfling*, Gnomic*

*ducks seem to have a knack for learning other small race languages 

Ducks are anthropomorphic beings covered in feathers with beaks, arms and hands and webbed feet, between 90 and 112 cm tall (88 + 2d12) but are very light for their height (30-40 kg). The plumage can have many colors but is often white or black. Ducks have four-color vision so apparently similar ducks have subtle differences in the color of their feathers that make them immediately different in the eyes of other ducks.

Combat

Ducks can use all armor and all weapons as long as they are suitable for their small size.

Hiding

Ducks are very skilled at hiding. This skill starts at 5 out of 12 at first level and improves by 1 every 3 levels (up to 9 out of 12 at 13th level)

Moving Silently (Stealth)

Ducks are very skilled at moving silently (also thanks to their feathers). This ability starts at 5 out of 12 at first level and increases by 1 every 2 levels up to a maximum of 11 out of 12 at 13th level)

Feather Fall

Ducks are very light, if not encumbered their falls are reduced by 30' and they receive half the damage for the rest of the fall. If the damage taken is greater than the remaining hp the ducks can make a saving throw vs. death if they pass it they remain with only 1 hp but unconscious for 1d6 turns.

Reading languages

Ducks in their migrations have known multiple writings. At first level they have a 7 out of 12 chance of understanding any non-magical text, this probability increases by 1 every 4 levels up to a maximum of 10 out of 12 at 13th level

Flock

If at least three ducks work together in combat they receive an offensive bonus of +2 to attack rolls and a defensive bonus of -2 to opponents' attacks, they can also decide who in the flock receives the damage (they cannot divide the damage at will but decide who in the flock will take the hit), they can do this only 2 times during a single combat, 3 times if there is at least a 7th level duck and 4 times if there is at least a 13th level duck.

Use of scrolls and magical items (use magic)

Ducks can try to use any scroll and magical items restricted to other classes, the operation is not without risks especially at the first levels. Use without problems starts from a probability of 3 out of 12 at first level and increases by 1 every 2 levels up to a maximum of 9 out of 12 at 13th level. A result of 12 means that the item or scroll does not function as it should and has dire (and often hilarious) consequences for the duck.

Duck Curiosity (Knowledge)

Ducks are very curious and gather knowledge and curiosities, they have a small chance of having some information about places, stories, magical items and monsters they encounter. This chance is equal to 1 in 12 at first level and increases by 1 every 4 levels up to a maximum of 4 in 12 at 13th level.

Advanced Options

In the advanced rules, Ducks are a race with the following characteristics

Duck

Prerequisites: minimum DEX 9

Ability Modifiers: +1 DEX, +1 CON

Languages: Alignment, Ducky, Common, Draconic, Halfling*, Gnomish*

Description and Powers: as above

Maximum Level per Class

Rogue: 13th

Fighter: 10th

Mage: 9th

Illusionist: 11th

This article is the english version of my italian article here: https://d20d12.blogspot.com/2021/05/paperi-una-razza-classe-vecchia-scuola.html

[CC BY-SA 4.0] [2024] [Fabio Milito Pagliara]

Cibo e Cuochi

 Questo mese per il vecchio carnevale blogghereccio questo mese parleremo di cibo, il cibo tanto importante nella nostra vita e in quella degli eroi di tanti romanzi fantasy e non, viene spesso trascurato o ridotto ad una semplice contabilità di razione. Insomma una zuppa un po' insipida.

Con quest'articolo ci proponiamo di rendere il cibo dei nostri avventurieri un po' più vario e saporito con qualche piccola modifica ed una nuova classe.

Innanzitutto stabiliamo che un pasto caldo, o comunque preparato al momento, è molto meglio di qualsiasi razione o del cibo creato magicamente (salvo eccezioni particolari). Questo essere migliore naturalmente si traduce in effetti di gioco, infatti un "vero" pasto darà alcuni piccoli bonus ai personaggi.

Parliamo innanzitutto di quello che possono preparare più o meno tutti i personaggi:

Spuntino

Un panino con ingredienti freschi ed accuratamente scelti, il pane fresco riscaldato con una buona birra o altra bibita, delle fresche verdure appena tagliate, un te con rustici e dolciumi ecc ecc.

per preparare e consumare uno spuntino ci vuole circa 1h, ogni personaggio può preparare per se e per altre 2 persone.

Si possono consumare al massimo 2 spuntini al giorno (uno durante la mattina e uno durante il pomeriggio).

Ogni spuntino recupera 1HD punti ferita/2 oppure  permette di ricaricare un incantesimo di 1 livello.

Pasto (pranzo, cena o colazione)

Ingredienti freschi e preparati al momento, cottura attenta e spezie ben mischiate. 

Per preparare e consumare un pasto ci vogliono 2 ore (ogni personaggio può preparare per se e per altre 3 persone).

Si possono consumare al massimo 3 pasti al giorno.

Ogni pasto consente di recuperare 1HD punti ferita o di ricaricare 2 livelli di incantesimo

CUOCO

HD: 1D4

XP: come ladro

TS: come ladro

Attacchi: come ladro

Armi: coltelli e bastoni (padelle come mazza, forchette ecc)

Armatura: cuoio

Il cuoco può preparare i pasti sopra elencati nella metà del tempo per un numero di persone pari a 3 più il suo livello

il cuoco acquisisce i seguenti poteri

1' livello) identificare commestibilità (il cuoco sa se un cibo è commestibile e come renderlo commestibile) e potabilità

3' livello) cucina sopraffina, tutti gli effetti di spuntini e pasti sono raddoppiati

5' livello) cibo per l'anima, il cuoco sa preparare (+1h di tempo) un pasto che ritempra la mente (possibilità di recuperare sanità, diminuire depressione o sconforto o corruzione, possibilità di rifare tiro salvezza contro effetti mentali

7' livello) il cibo è la migliore medicina, il cuoco sa preparare (+2h di tempo) un pasto che è in grado di curare qualsiasi malattia

9' livello) Brigata, il cuoco può aprire un ristorante e attirerà degli apprendisti (2d6 cuochi di 1' livello ed 1d4 cuochi di 3 livello)

12' livello) BANCHETTO un cuoco nel suo ristorante con l'aiuto della sua brigata può preparare un banchetto (lungo pranzo di almeno 12 portate) il tempo di preparazione è di circa 12h mentre il tempo per consumarlo è di almeno 4h: chi partecipa al banchetto guarisce da tutte le malattie ed afflizioni magiche, ha +2 ai tiri salvezza per 1 settimana, +2hd HP temporanei per 1 settimana, ricarica tutti gli incantesimi

[CC BY-SA 4.0] [2021] [Fabio Milito Pagliara]

Dark Albion Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Appendix 3

The Dark Albion setting book is an excellent exercise in how to use the old rules in a historical setting, we have said something on the whole book in the Dark Albion Cult of Chaos and the Rose War reviews and we will come back to the two books in some future, and separate, post. Since a brief description as in the previous review is just not enough to transmit the exceptional value of the two books.

In this article we will concentrate on a small part of the book, Appendix 3 which weigh 21 pages on 275 pages of contents. 

And this 21 page are very interesting, classes that perfectly fit into Dark Albion and rules tuning for using the Fantastic Heroes & Witchery retro-rpg in the Dark Albion setting.

So let's get back to Appendix 3 of Dark Albion, it's divided in 7 subsection:

• Character Races
• Character Classes
• More character Classes
• Albion as a Low-Magic Campaign Setting
• A Simple Cosmology
• New Spells
• Summoning Magic

Character Races

Since in the Dark Albion setting we have only human, this is quite a short paragraph, but longer than what you could expect. We are introduced to three "non human" that look very human: the Changeling, the Cursed One and the Fey Touched. The three of them are reskinned races from the FH&W rule book.

Character Classes

In this chapter we have new classes for the Fantastic Heroes & Witchery (see next paragraph) that are lovingly tailored to the Dark Albion setting, they are:

• The Cleric (of the Unconquered Sun): this are a fighting friar with skill in armor and combat plus the prayers as presented in the FH&W book (you can call upon specific powers rolling a dice, each time you call upon a specific power the difficulty to beat rise by one starting by 0; also turn undead is a prayer; the dice goes from 1d6 at 1st level to 3d12 at 13th)
• The Cymric Bard: an almost classical bard, spontaneous casting (as sorcerer of 3.x edition) of nature and illusion spells, countersong, inspire allies and legend lore.
• The Demonurgist: a bad news character class, more apt for NPC or for an evil bent campaign. Quite interesting
• The Hedge Witch: A nice presentation of the witch, a mix between druid and magic user. Not an evil class, but surely a class that will have some problems in the Dark Albion setting.
• The Magister: a twist on magic user coming from Cambridge or Oxford, must choose between white or gray magic at the start but than can try to learn black magic with great risk and slowly loosing his previous spells. Furthermore the Magister is a master of rituals and from 9th level can memorize spell in higher level slot to apply meta-magic effect to them.
• The Noble Knight: master swordsman in shiny armor. In a setting where being part of the aristocracy is an huge advantage the Noble Knight know how to make their status part of the equation.
• The Warrior: master of the fight, are further detailed in 3 "sub-classes" with specific class skill and special abilities: Bandit, Gallowglach and Knight-Errant.
• The Yeoman: master of the Bow, they are higher up than peasant and dedicate themselves to mastering the bow gaining the ability (at 11th level) of doing impossible shots.

More Classes

Here we have almost a full page discussing which classes from the FH&W book can be used and how much they would feel out of place in the Dark Albion setting, this is necessary because the FH&W rule set has lots and lots of classes, if you consider just the main rulebook you have: 

14 Traditional Fantasy - Core Classes (fighter, thief and so on; p. 27-39)
10 Traditional Fantasy - Racial Classes (your elf eldritch archer, halfling scout etc.; p.40-49)

7 Weird Tales - Alternate Classes (psychic, rifleman or wild brute; p. 51-58)

6 NPC Classes (Fighting-man, clergyman etc.; p.129-131)

4 religious variant classes of previous core classes (p.147-149)

30 religious variant classes based on type of deity (p. 149-153)

3 Champions classes (agents of law/chaos and neutrality - the classic clerics and druid; p. 157-159)

6 Additional Classes (in appendix 12; p.394-402)

to all this classes you can add the ones you find in the free downloads section of the Heroes and Witchery site where you can find also a compiled list of all classes (except the ones in Dark Albion).

So it's easily understandable why it's needed a page just to discuss which class can be adapted to the setting and which would prove more alien to it.

Albion as Low-magic

Two short paragraph for two options, the first option introduce spell failure (that goes from 0% of failure for spell cast at night to 10% of failure (per level of the spell) for Necromancy (and others) spell cast inside a temple of the Unconquered Sun; the second option suggest using the optional "Danger of preparing spells" mechanic from the FH&W book.

Albion's Cosmology

Almost a full page on the planar aspects of Dark Albion, a fun read that present 4 plane (underworld, celestial realm, ethereal and astral).

New Spells

Two new spells related to the underworld

Summoning Magic

Here are presented two incantation (rituals as presented in the FH&W book) related to demons: Call Infernal Myrmydon and Infuse Demonic Talisman.

Conclusions: a very fun and useful appendix for a great (really great) setting book. A nice addition to the plethora of classes and option that are the signature of the FH&W system.

Seelie Knight a Swords & Wizardry racial class for the 2016 S&W Appreciation Day

This is my contribution to the 2016 Swords & Wizardry appreciation day, the entry for the 2013 appreciation day is here: Swords & Wizardry short review and new class.

In this article we propose an elven "racial class" adding a new class to the choice of character class for the S&W game and introducing the concept of racial classes in S&W. Racial classes can explore dungeons side by side with all the other classes present in the S&W rules as convincingly demonstrated by the excellent Fantastic Heroes & Witchery simulacrum.

Racial class add one or more distinctive class that are representative of the ideals of a certain race, the race in question have no level limits in its racial class while other races usually cannot progress in this class, half-races are the exception. For example Half-Elves can progress in elven racial classes but have level limits, human and other races will have stricter level limits. It's not possible to multi-class in racial classes.

The Seelie Knight

The Seelie Knight is a champion of the Seelie court, trained in combat (he fights as a Fighter) in poetry and gifted with glamorous magic. They fight for flowers and blood wreaking confusion in the battle with their magic.

Prime Attribute: Charisma 13+ (the character gains a +5% experience bonus if their Prime Attribute is 13 or higher.)
Hit Dice: 1d6/level (a Seelie Knight gains just 1 hp/level after 9th.)
Armor/Shield Permitted: Seelie Knight are able to use armor up to chain mail or any shield effectively.
Weapons Permitted: Seelie Knight are able to use any weapon effectively
Race: Only elves and half-elves (max 12th level, 13th with 18 charisma) may become Seelie Knights.

Table: Seelie Knigh advancement

XP	Faerie Spells 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th	Level	Hit Dice	Saving Throw
0	-/-/-/-/-	1	1d6	15
3'000	1/-/-/-/-	2	2d6	14
6'000	2/-/-/-/-	3	3d6	13
12'000	3/-/-/-/-	4	4d6	12
24'000	3/1/-/-/-	5	5d6	11
48'000	3/2/-/-/-	6	6d6	10
96'000	3/3/-/-/-	7	7d6	9
200'000	3/3/1/-/-	8	8d6	8
330'000	3/3/2/-/-	9	9d6	7
460'000	3/3/3/-/-	10	9d6+1	6
590'000	3/3/3/1/-	11	9d6+2	5
720'000	3/3/3/2/-	12	9d6+3	4
850'000	3/3/3/3/-	13	9d6+4	4
980'000	3/3/3/3/1	14	9d6+5	4
1'110'000	3/3/3/3/2	15	9d6+6	4
1'110'000	3/3/3/3/3	16	9d6+7	4
1'110'000	4/4/3/3/3	17	9d6+8	4
1'110'000	4/4/4/4/3	18	9d6+9	4
1'110'000	4/4/4/4/4	19	9d6+10	4
1'110'000	5/5/4/4/4	20	9d6+11	4
1'110'000	5/5/5/5/4	21	9d6+12	4
+130'000 per level	same progression	+1	+1/Level	4

Requirements and Limitations

Seelie Knight owe alliance to a Seelie Lord and the Seelie Queen, direct order from their lord cannot be ignored

Class Abilities

Weapon Training

Seelie Knights at 3rd level gain +1 to hit and damage with swords and spears

Spell Casting

Seelie Knights cast “faerie” spells from a specific list, with numbers as per Table: Seelie Kinght Advancement. Each day, the Seelie Knight can cast a number of spell from the standard list as shown in the table he needs not to prepare the spell and as long as has use he can cast the same spell over and over. 

Saving Throw Bonuses

Seelie Knights gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against being paralyzed and illusion.

Establish Seelie Stronghold

At 9th level, a Seelie Baron (9th level title) may establish a stronghold and attract 1d4 3rd level Seelie Knights and 2d6 1st level Seelie Knights who will swear fealty to the character as loyal retainers.

Spell Lists ("Known spells")

Level Number	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1	Charm Person	Detect Invisibility	Clairaudience	Charm Monster	Create Food
2	Cure Light Wounds	Hold Person	Clairvoyance	Cure Serious Wounds	Feeblemind
3	Detect Magic	Invisibility	Cure Disease	Neutralize Poison	Finger of Death
4	Light	Mirror Image	Dispel Magic	Hallucinatory Terrain	Hold Monster
5	Purify Food and Drink	Phantasmal Force	Locate Object	Massmorph	Quest
6	Shield	Snake Charm	Suggestion	Polymorph Other	Telekinesis
7	Sleep	Speak With Animals	Remove Curse	Polymorph Self	Wizard Eye

Martial Elf Ranger of the 1st Forest an ACKS Wednesday post

This is a class developed using the Martial Elf race for the Adventurer Conqueror King System RPG (or ACKS rpg in brief) using (at the best of my ability) the rules for building classes presented in the ACKS Player's Companion.

The Ranger of the 1st Forest is the first class I present for the Martial Elves, some of this classes will have "of the 1st" in the name since they are inspired by some classes of AD&D 1st edition.

The Ranger of the 1st Forest is built trying to mimic the 1st edition Ranger.

Prime requisite: str, dex
Requirements: wis 9, int 9
Hit dice: d6* (+1 at 1st level)
Maximum Level: 12

XP	Title	Level	Hit Dice
0	Runner	1	2d6
2'650	Strider	2	3d6
5'300	Scout	3	4d6
10'600	Courser	4	5d6
21'200	Tracker	5	6d6
42'400	Guide	6	7d6
80'000	Pathfinder	7	8d6
160'000	Ranger	8	9d6
320'000	Ranger Knight	9	10d6
500'000	Ranger Lord	10	10d6+2*
680'000	Ranger Lord	11	10d6+4*
860'000	Ranger Lord	12	10d6+6*

*Constitution bonus no longer apply

Level	Divine Spell 1st/2nd/3rd	Arcane Spell 1st/2nd	Additional melee Damage bonus vs Beastman & Giants
1	-	-	0
2	-	-	+1
3	-	-	+1
4	-	-	+2
5	-	-	+2
6	-	-	+3
7	1/0/0	-	+3
8	2/0/0	-	+4
9	2/1/0	1/0	+4
10	2/2/0	2/0	+5
11	2/2/1	2/1	+5
12	2/2/2	2/2	+6

Ranger Divine Spell repertoire (5 spell per level):
1st level: Cure light wounds, Locate Animal or Plant, Predict Weather, Pass w/out trace, Resist Cold
2nd level: Charm Animal, Delay Poison, Resist Fire, Snake Charm, Speak w/animals
3rd level: Call lightning, Cure disease, Eyes of the eagle, Growth of Animals, Water Breathing

Ranger Arcane Spell Repertoire: like a mage and needs a spell book (must find a teacher to learn spells or to change them), rarely a ranger will change his arcane repertoire

Ranger Skill list: as Elven Ranger in ACKS Player's Companion

A Martial Elf Ranger of the 1st forest can build an Elven fastness

In ACKS terms it is built as follow:

(1625) Martial Elf 3 +
(0625) Mage 1 (delayed availability Level-8)* +
(0250) Cleric 1 (delayed availability Level-6)**

*max 2nd level spells
** max 3rd level spell, +1 3rd level spell

as a five point class The Ranger of the 1st Forest has a level limit of 12

trade off
Unrestricted armor to Broad (+1 power) +150 XP
no turning undead (+1 power)
* & ** (+1 power)

total cost 2500+150=2650

powers:
+tracking (like elven ranger)
+bonus melee damage vs beastman and giants: ranger adds +1 to damage at 2nd level, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th (for +6 that is cumulative to the +5 from fighting 2)
+bonus hd at 1st level (so he goes from 2d6 at 1st to 10d6 at 9th level + 2hp additional levels)

Designer's note
I eyeballed the value of some non standard trade-off but I think that I come close to ACKS standards.
Obviously any suggestion is welcome.