Thursday, 2 January 2025

Quick Notes on PC Morale/Magic

PC Morale


(thanks bamzolino for pointing out that this is an assumption in the Barony classes that is not sufficiently unpacked!)

Separate from hireling and enemy morale, which works as normal. 

In the Dungeon, you gain 1 fear every time a hit does 3 or more HP damage. In the Underground, this goes up to d2. In Chaos, d3. If you are crit, these numbers are 2, d2+2, d3+3 instead. 

If your fear damage ever equals your WIS, you must save WIS or CHAR, with a penalty equal to any fear damage over your WIS. If you fail, your morale breaks and you run, or drop your weapons, or scream, or cower. At minimum you lose your turn and then heal d6 fear. 

If this brings you back under your WIS you can act again as normal on your next turn. If it doesn't, the same thing happens next turn, until your fear is brought below your WIS. 

If you decide to save WIS and you pass, you heal d6 fear damage without your morale breaking. You can consume a dose of sedatives to automatically succeed on this save. 

If you decide to save CHAR and you pass, you don't heal the fear damage but you no longer need to check fear (and no longer take fear damage) for [CHAR-10] hours. You can consume a dose of stimulants to automatically succeed on this save. 

Resting heals d6 fear. Getting a good night's sleep heals 2d6. 

There are no systemic permanent insanities - that's what curses (and specific stuff on the monster's stat block) are for. 




Magic 


(thanks to practically the whole of Phlox's discord for chiming in on this last night lol)

What if all magic was expressed in terms of the limited wish

The form of magic is always a wish, with various conditions attached. Wish, but it's limited to what someone with a knife can do in 10 seconds. You can definitely do d6 slashing damage to someone - what else can you do?

Wish, but it's limited to what a gifted poet can do in a month and you have to express it in exactly three words. A gifted poet can demolish a house in a month DEMOLISH THAT HOUSE. They could maybe make someone seem foolish to the public DISGRACE THAT MAGISTRATE, or maybe sow seeds of love between two people MAKE THEM DEVOTED

Wish, but you will be buried alive for the duration of the effects (someone digging you up will cause the effects to revert as though they never were).

Wishes, which are really just spells, because all spells rewrite reality in accordance with the will, are given as favours by entities who like you. Entities have human-like minds and they are not lawyers - they will usually try their best to action abstract and weird requests, but will not lose sleep if the results are not what you want. They tried, in good faith.

There are obviously malicious and cruel entities who will grant your wishes in obviously malicious or cruel ways. There are benevolent entities who will warn you before granting a wish that will have gnarly consequences. 

You could even have entities who aren't that bright, like fairies giving you lots of candy when you ask for riches. Or your beloved and dopey entity hound-thing wishing you up a pile of the very finest bone marrow. 

Most entities won't give a favour like this every day - this is true magic (which is to say, language), and not to be treated lightly. Generally I imagine that an entity will require tribute of some kind before 'recharging' this ability, or they simply dole them out once every moon-month or whatever.

Entities will have other abilities that seem magical to us, but to them are simple facts of their weird incorporeal biology. Things like psychic attacks, mind reading, true seeing, possession, mental domination via the gaze, over-tuned and shared senses, empathy sharing, etc. 

Souls are not affected by magic: they can't be duplicated or compelled. Only angels can reanimate dead bodies. Only demons can truly speak with the dead. 




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