Quick Non-Specialist Skill System for LotFP

Everyone once in a while my brain picks at a sci-fi LotFP hack that can be expressed in 3 pages or less to be at the start of an adventure I need to write. The biggest thing with radically changing the technological level of a setting is skills, as far as I can tell. How to do work out whether the PC knows/can do/is successful at a technological thing that isn't remotely covered by the existing rules?

I'm sure this has been hashed out at length and better elsewhere; I've been out of the game, so to speak, for a bit now.

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Skills
Option A: rip your favorite skill system that you feel comfortable enough with for a PCs death to result from a failed check in the right situation.

Option B: use the below correlation with Ability Scores, and have the PC roll under.

Option C: use the below correlation with Ability Scores, divided by 3 round down, and roll that or less on a d6 as per Specialist Skills. Optional: divide level by 3 and modify in PCs favor.

STR: Should be obvious

CON: Stamina or health related activities

DEX: Should be obvious (speed, fine motor skills, acrobatics)

INT: Things that require smarts that the character could have learned about before

WIS: Things that require smarts that the character couldn't have learned about before but coudl be figured out/intuited

CHA: Should be obvious / convincing people of stuff

So: opening a security door with a digital wall panel made by the PCs home race? INT (unless the PC is from a vastly different culture, maybe)

The same but on the ship of an alien species or vastly different culture? Wis, maybe at a penalty.

When INT and WIS fail...

Would love thoughts/opinions/links to other people getting at the same things. My goal is something a GM and players could feel comfortable with without a lot of time or reading.

Octopus Correction & PC Creation (Panfalia)

I am running a game this Sunday. A very silly game. You might still die, though!

A correction to the XP chart for non-Magical-Animal Octopus PCs as detailed in this post (and linked below).

I have also updated the post where they were originally detailed.

So, to create a new Panfalia PC from scratch:

1. Roll 3d6 seven times. Assign in order if you're old school and like to work with what you get, or rearrange as desired. I like to swap one and take the rest in order. (If you already wrote the ability scores down in a different order than the below, just roll with the order of them that comes natural to you.)

STRength
DEXterity
CONstitution
INTelligence
WISdom
CHArisma
multiply the seventh roll by 10 to get starting Gold Pieces/GP.

2. Choose or roll your Species.
Species of Panfalia - choose or roll a d8
1, 8. Human
2. Tiefling
3. Octopus
4. Octorok
5. Vat Spawn
6. Magical Animal
7. Dark Elf *

3. Choose or roll your Class
Available Classes - choose or roll a d12
01. Yon Squire
02. Ranger (Use LotFP Halfling abilities, XP, Saves, etc but you're not a Halfling just "outdoorsy")
03. Battle Princess / Murder Princess
04. Rune Knight
05. Blue Mage
06. Dream Hunter Shaman
07. Goblin Enchantress
08. Alice / Alistair / Alix
09. Void Knight (recently orphans have been disappearing and later returning...changed...if played straight these guys will be comically off tone for the setting)
10. Demonaist
11. Dragoon
12. Bastard
OK, OK, if you want to be a regular ol LotFP Fighter or Specialist I'm not gonna stop you.

"All this was on the list in the PHB, I swear!"

4. Write all the stuff on your character sheet from the above relevant links in a way that you can easily refer to it during play, or have the relevant PDFs/websites open in tabs. Questions about how stuff works are more than welcome, but if you think you're gonna ask me a bunch of things already answered in the source, please start over and pick simpler options.
Good? Great. Now remember the GP you rolled in Step 1? Spend it.
You can purchase items from the equipment list of any official Basic D&D or AD&D Player's Handbook, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, or use +Ramanan S 's Random Equipment Generator ** and refresh til it makes sense for your character.

* When I write this up, Dark Elf above will become a link and this note will disappear. For now, give your PC LotFP Elf abilities and use the Tiefling chart to find out how much extra XP you need for each level. Dark Elves in Panfalia were regular elves that died by violence, but decided death is boring and had the impertinence to just keep walking around doing stuff. They have at least one obvious wound, and their life before death is like a dream they've mostly forgotten. Regular Elves in Panfalia are too unpredictable to be considered for PCs. They do not have enough focus or goals or reliability to function as adventurers, but death changes the personality.

** Random Equipment Generator based on tables created by +Brendan S

Magical Animals of West Panfalia (DIY DnDish Race)

Panfalia is full of many of the "normal" animals we know here on Earth. Many of them talk, but otherwise are as an Earthling would expect. Sometimes in Panfalia, however, they get magical powers from silly stuff like magical radiation fields or tree sap or some junk. These seem to gain a fairly standard set of magical abilities, and often go adventuring. While their powers are helpful, they are also sometimes weird to be around.

STRETCHY

Magical Animals can stretch their limbs all crazy n stuff. Just lookit that chart down below! And like, a 3rd level Raccoon could stretch both his feet like 7.5 feet each, or like one foot 10 feet and one arm five feet, or whatever! Above and beyond how long an arm is already!

They can even stretch further than that, but it's pretty dangerous. For every 5 feet (cumulative among all limbs) they stretch beyond what's in the chart, they take one higher die of damage, starting at 1d4. Like if that third level Raccoon stretched his arm 20 feet, or 5 feet more than his safety zone, he'd take 1d4 damage. Another 5 feet, 1d6 damage! and so on, up to d20 damage for stretching 30 extra feet. But each die is rolled, too, so 30 feet would actually do 1d4+1d6+1d8+1d10+1d12+1d20 damage to the poor kid! Silly Raccoon.

GROWING

These crazy critters can grow and shrink, too! Size categories are given at the levels they are gained on the chart as compared to regular animals. The character's Strength score is affected - shrinking a size is -2 and growing a size is +2. Them's the breaks!

FALLING SLOWLY

They can stretch out to catch the wind and fall slower than usual, preventing falling damage at certain heights. They gotta choose this one OR limb stretching, though, doing both is like stretching extra, hurtful. They can also keep pals outa trouble, although the distance is reduced by 5 feet for every pal they have along. Hey lookit the table below! Yeah I called it Feather Fall, like the spell you should look at if this ability confuses you!

AC

Take a seat, I'm about to tell you some hard truths about life. Clothes? Armor? Jewelry? That stuff won't grow, shrink, or stretch with you! Bummer! Most animals don't wear them at all. 

Luckily, magical animals, being all mushy, can resist some damage on their own. They like hats. Hats seem to be easier to keep on.

SLEEPING

Magical Animals must sleep 10 hours of every 24 to benefit from ANY KIND of healing. They don't have to do it all at once, though. They can even sleep while other folks carry them around! How helpful.

by SilverFox5213 on  DeviantArt

NATURAL ATTACKS

Start at 1d4. It goes up a die for every size category you grow. Grow grow grow! Then shrinks again as you shrink. Getting smaller than your normal size gets you a whopping -1 to damage per size category. You don't ever do negative damage though, that's silly!

Some Species and Classes of Panfalia (DnDish DIY Race and Class)

The madness continues. Note that the base system is Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but I am altering things to separate Race and Class. I'm call Race "Species" and adding an XP tax, essentially.

Species of Panfalia

Tiefling

The offspring of a human and...anything else, pretty much. They are commonly the angsty "straight man" to the humor and optimism of the average Panfalian. Occasionally a Tiefling will end up just as jovial and earnest as the rest.

XP Requirements: 

Level Gained		XP Needed Above Class Norm
2		1000
3		1500
4		2000
5		3000
6		4000
7		5500
8		7000
9		10000
9	+	none; advance as class

Special:
•Roll 1d4 times on the Tiefling Appearance Chart

•Roll 5 times on the Tiefling Ability Table or 1d4 times on the Chaos Attributes Chart. Let me know if you have trouble interpreting your result as something LotFPish.

•Any Ability result on either table can be discarded for a roll on the Tiefling Special Side Effects Table.

•You may not choose your result at any time; if you play a Tiefling, you must leave your initial abilities to chance.

(click to make it bigger.)

Octopoid

Octopus - inspired by +Michael Curtis 's blog entry here.

You are an Octopus. You can breathe both air and water. You probably live on land, even in a town, but probably have relatives that still live in the water - either at the base of the fearsome Sea Mount, or in the Ocean of Incompletion. Your head rises about 4' off the ground, and if you stretched out rrreeeeaaaalllllyyyyy far, your tentacles would be about 10' in diameter.

While there are Octopi of many types, the Octopi of Panfalia are generally known for their dry wit and luxurious taste. They will often adventure to gain fabulous riches, then blow it all on lavish furnishings and a lush (but tasteful) party. They are afraid of mustaches, however.

An Octopi's Stealth skill increases naturally as they age - this is reflective of their natural camouflage, getting better at mimicking their surroundings. Likewise, their ability to use the suction cups on their tentacles to climb. As they get martial experience and their balance improves, Octopi learn to balance on fewer tentacles and use more for activities like attacking. This does not allow those of spell-casting classes to cast more than 1 spell in a round, however.
Octopi have malleable bodies, allowing them to fit through small spaces. The lack of an internal skeleton makes them less structurally sound of course, and they may only carry half of what a human of similar ability scores could. Also, all armor must be especially made for the Octopus, and costs 10x the usual amount.
Note the addition XP required to reach each level above that required by the Octopus's class.


Octorok - Pretty much copying Rey's version here.

This species of Octopoid left the water long ago, and have developed some odd adaptations! They only have four tentacles, and their bodies occasionally produce an internal rock - which they can eject with great velocity! These rocks have a range of 40', and firing one takes the Octorok's entire round. Add any bonuses that would normally apply to projectile weapons.

An Octorok may attack with a bare tentacle for 1d4 damage. Octoroks can re-roll a miss in melee combat if a second tentacle holds a weapon or is free. They must balance on at least two tentacles at all times.

An Octorok can leap 10' high from standing, and leap twice their normal move if they haven't fired a rock this round.

Octoroks may carry normal shields, but can only wear specially made armor that costs 10x the usual amount. 

They have something of a rivalry with Octopi, but it is more of a bickering, one-upsmanship relationship than outright fighting. 

Vat Spawn

Pretty much as written here by Jeremy Duncan (who drew the picture above) or in Secret Santicore 2011 (I know they are slightly different). They require the same additional XP to reach each level as Tieflings do.

XP Requirements: 

Level Gained		XP Needed Above Class Norm
2		1000
3		1500
4		2000
5		3000
6		4000
7		5500
8		7000
9		10000
9	+	none; advance as class

To be written in the future: Magical Animals (think Jake from Adventure Time, but he's like level 10).

Classes of Panfalia

The long peace of the Beast-King has led to a proliferation of information and a complicated network of apprenticeships across Species boundaries. Any species above (plus Humans and Magical Animals) may be any Class.

Yon Squire

Fighter, Specialist as LotFP. No Magic Users or Clerics.

Ranger as LotFP Halfling, but as a class.

Battle Princess, Murder Princess - As written by +Reynaldo Madriñan here.

Rune Knight - As written by +Ramanan S here.

Blue Mage - As written by +Courtney Campbell here.

Shaman - Two types:

Dream Hunter as written by +Patrick Stuart here. I can feel him cringing at "Dream Hunter".

Goblin Enchantress by +Benjamin Baugh and +Cédric Plante here.

EDIT: can't forget Alices as written by +Zak Smith and featured in A Red And Pleasant Land. Panfalia has those, too.

Yon Squires and Humans of Panfalia (DIY DnD Race and Class)

I occasionally have the urge to run a game of whimsical fantasy, where I can riff and imagine and create without trying to square everything up or be limited by something that came before. Something like a deadly Adventure Time!, something a little like Swamp Thing and good anime mixed with Turbo Kid (the movie).

Anyway, whether any of that reflects what's coming out, I got inspired the other day and wrote a little thing, and am hoping I can recapture that lighting on the day (a week later) that I actually have time to run it. 

The Eternal Beast-King of Panfalia is once more out of ImmorTea. The people call for your help! His last Moly Knight of Panfalia has grown too old to travel up the Sea-Mount of Panticore to retrieve the sacred tea leaves from the highest peak. The younglings are not yet old enough or trained enough to become Moly Knights and face the terrors of the Sea-Mount. Will you, sinistersous traveler, brave the Sea-Mount and bring back the leaves, so the Beast-King can stay young another>mumblemumble< years?
Since future Moly Knights must earn their own Objects of Deeds and Wealth, the Objects of Deeds and Wealth of past Moly Knights are offered as a reward. The history of the Moly Knights is long and storied in Panfalia, and the citizenry are in awe of the offered treasure, but too afraid of the terrors of the Sea-Mount to brave the task. I mean, the Sunglasses of Susan and the Flip-Ups of Dwane Wayne are on offer! The Armor of the Turbo Kid! Scaldalous!
They are also afraid of a future without their Beast-King, who has kept his Kingdom peaceful and prosperous for centuries. The Panfalia Blabbler, that horrible gossip-rag run by notorious flumph Gydrion Gantz, speculates that political dissidents may arise were the Beast-King to visibly age.

A few people don't have low level FLAILSNAILS characters and want to make new characters for this, so I'm going to start toying with another thing I keep poking at - something like D&D Basic or LotFP with Pendragon and separate race and class. I'm using LotFP as a base, with skills rolled on a d6 and so on.

O busk, O busk, my maries all,
O busk and make ye fine ;
And we will on to yon shore-side,
Invite yon squire to dine. 

'Will ye come up to my castle
Wi me and take your dine ?
And ye shall eat the gude white bread,
And drink the claret wine.' 

'I thank you for your bread, lady,
I thank you for your wine ;
I thank you for your kind offer,
But now I have not time.'

-The Kitchie-Boy, Child Ballad number 252; Roud number 252

YON SQUIRES OF PANFALIA

Two types of youth become Yon Squires: those who wish to become Moly Knights and those who have not yet settled upon what they wish to do and want to assist in all walks of life until they decide. Generally they are earnestly helpful and deferential, or cleverly sarcastic yet hardworking.

HD: One die smaller than Fighters in the current system, or 1d6

XP Advancement, Saves: as Fighters

Skill Points: +1 every level, including the first

Armor useable: Medium

Weapons useable: all

Special:

•+1 to all rolls made to assist another PC who is making the primary roll to perform a task 

("One of you can roll a Strength Check to try to open the door, and another can roll to help them." If the Squire is in the helping role in this scenario, the Squire gets +1 to their roll and adds an additional +1 to the primary character's roll if successful).

•Upon gaining a level with a party member who they have played with in every session since the last level, the Squire can choose to gain one of that party member's class abilities as if first level. 

(A Squire who adventured with a Magic-User may gain the ability to cast and know 1 1st level spell once a day. A Squire who adventured with a Specialist may choose to gain an extra Skill point, and so on.) Even if the other party member is using race-as-class, the Squire may learn one of their first level abilities.

•(Optional) Parties that contain a Squire get 10% above the awarded XP for the session.

•At 4th Level, a Squire may choose to permanently change to any other Class, and apply all of their gained XP to that class, immediately changing to the appropriate level. The Squire loses all Class Abilities gained as a Squire. If they have adventured with a PC of another race who is using race-as-class rules, the Squire may even assume that race as their new class, although the Squire does not actually change race. They are assumed to have spent downtime training with the other character (or relevant NPCs) in their abilities. Note the Squire must have spent in-game time with a PC or NPC of the appropriate class (or race), and cannot switch to one that has not been mentioned in their adventures thus far.

•Squires may use the above ability to become a Moly Knight at 4th level. This is the only way to have a Moly Knight PC.

•Upon gaining 5th level, the Squire has lost the ability to change to another class, but may still later become a Moly Knight if their Glory is positive.

Humans of Panfalia

The centuries-long peace under the Beast-King's rule has caused Panfalia to become a center of trade for lands all across the world. It is a true melting pot of species and cultures. Humans are common, although by no means dominant (The Beast-King is not human). The human visitors and citizens come from a wide variety of cultures, ways of life, dress, and skin variations.

XP Requirements: as Class +100 per level (+100 extra to gain 2nd level, +200 extra to gain 3rd, etc)

Skill Points: 1 extra at first level

Special:
•The first time a Human gains Glory points (or goes into the negative), their Glory moves 1 extra point. (If a Human gains glory, they gain 1 more point; if they get negative Glory, they get one extra negative point). This only happens the first time.

•May use Skill Points at first level to instead increase an Ability Score.

•May roll Intelligence to learn basic communication (1 or 2 word "sentences") in a language they encounter this session; if successful, lasts the rest of the session.

•Reaction Rolls of non-evil creatures are modified by 1 in the Human's favor.


(note: decided to change "race" as referred to in RPGs to "species" for this setting after I wrote the above entry. I changed it in one or two places but have pretty much left the entry as originally written.)

Alternative Spellbooks: Litter of Kittens

What can I say, +Jensen Toperzer inspired me asking about the special features of dungeon kittens, one of my comments was "They are the Lich's spellbook, each one is a spell", and my brain meats kept going. Aside from these kittens, I have some pretty simple-to-run versions of stuff from Al-Quadim and a setting I ran like 2 sessions of last year. Anyway, if I get enough of these down I'll make a PDF with lots of tables to roll on. We'll see.
These are phrased as if talking to players/PCs, but can totally be used for NPCs as well. "Kitten" below could be any animal smaller than a dog, really.
--

Every time you learn a spell, a kitten is born from thin air∆. That kitten is both a kitten, a real goddamn kitten that will eat and poop and meow, but it is also your knowledge of and ability to cast that spell. To memorize that spell for the day, you have to spend at least a few minutes with that kitten, petting and playing. In a pinch, two-way scrying will work (IE even if physically apart, if you have some way for the kitten to see you and you to see it, time can be spent in this way). If you can't spend time with that kitten, you can't re-memorize that spell.

If the kitten dies, you don't know whatever spell is associated with it any more.
The kitten has no other abilities beyond that of a kitten. They get 1 HP for every level you have.

All the references to kitten above could be a puppy, mouse, snake, frog, etc - whatever animal is cool with your DM.

Other Magic-Users can try to steal each other's animal-spells. If a Magic-User comes into physical contact with another Magic-User's spell kitten (or whatever), they can ply it with petting, treats, play, etc to try and bond. The "stealing" Mage makes a Charisma roll with their current level as bonus and the level of the kitten's current "owner" as a penalty. (CHA + your level - their level). If this roll is successful, the "stealing" Mage then chooses: the kitten is either bonded to both (both Mages know the spell and can play with the kitten to memorize it) or the kitten is now "owned" and bonded with the "stealing" mage, and the original mage can no longer cast that spell*.

Animal-spells cannot be "stolen" in combat or any other stressful situation. They must be completely comfortable to bond with a new person. They can be stolen in the mundane, physical sense, of course.

This would not work in every game, and would require a bit of management and commitment. Fun though.

Perhaps Rogue-types might be able to "read" spell-kittens like a one-use scroll?

A Magic-User can try to determine what spell an animal bonded to someone else stores by concentrating on observing it for one round. During that round, the Magic-User makes an Intelligence check, modified by the difference in level between them and the animal's "owner". If successful, they know what spell that animal "stores".

Make sense?

∆ or perhaps you only learn spells by stealing other Magic-User's animals, and new ones are only made via magical research with all the time and cost that entails.
*EDIT: I'd probably give the kitten's original "owner" some kinda roll to fight this, maybe.

 EDIT EDIT: Spike posted some great stuff in the comments below, check it out! 

The Void Knight (NPC/PC Class)

So there are these weird sisters, two are medusae and one is a void demon, and some PCs made nice with them a long time ago because while they cannot leave their room, they can open door to anywhere if you ask them nice and pay their price.
So they asked some PCs for some orphans to raise. And the PCs needed a door to save a hundred other orphans, so they agreed. And the Sisters can send the orphans they kept to offer a home and vocation to other orphans, and so these things should start showing up in the FLAILSNAIL-o-verse as both PCs and NPCs, friend and foe.

Ask your DM before starting a character with this class. Respect it if they say no. A character starts as this class, they cannot switch to it.
I figure these would be encountered more often as NPCs, especially in any game involving planar creatures, reality rifts, etc.

VOID KNIGHT

You were raised in an extradimensional space by three weird sisters, and taught the ways of the Void.  You stared into the spiral void that was Mother's head until you saw truth there. 

You are the left hand of nothingness, the meaning imposed on empty space by an uncomprehending mind, and the hollow center of that meaning. You are the fear in every heart that it all means nothing.

You are the quiet, confident look that happens after it has been accepted - that all means nothing, and thus we are free.

Belief in Nothing: Anyone attempting to know or detect your alignment through means magical or otherwise must save VS Paralysis (at a penalty equal to your level) or be paralyzed with madness for a number of rounds equal to your level, as their feeble mind attempts to understand your allegiance to nothingness.

The Void of Memory: At level 2, you may cause a number of creatures equal to your level that you can currently see to forget about the existence of an object you can see. The affected creatures Save VS Spell; if they succeed, the effect lasts your level in rounds. If they fail the save, the effect is permanent. If they object is magical and the save is failed, the affected creatures may attempt another save after a number of rounds equal to your level. 

The Void Contains All Things: Reality is nothingness, all is the same, time, space, and being are illusions. You can manipulate reality to bring one specific item to you at any time. You can also cause this object to fade from reality at any time. If the object is destroyed by another, however, it is gone. The item must be smaller than your level in cubic feet.
The item is selected and placed into the Void in a special ritual performed by the Void Knight. Once selected, the item can only be changed by performing the ritual again. The Ritual consumes precious metals equal to your level x 1000 GP.

Pain, Health, Death, and Breath, These Too Are Meaningless:  The Void Knight can hurt, heal, curse, or destroy by touch. A number of times per day and a number of points per day equal to the Void Knight's level, she can damage or heal a creature or object. If the damage is enough to destroy the object or kill the creature, it simply disappears, a patch of darkness in it's shape left permanently in place. Instead of the above effects, the Void Knight can cause a creature to have a penalty to all saving throws equal to the Void Knight's level, for a number of rounds equal to the Void Knight's level. Again, the Void Knight must be touching the target to cause any of these effects.

Void Knights may use any weapons or armor. Heavy armor encumbers them as one armor type lighter.
While wearing light or no armor, they may Pick Pockets, Hide in Shadows and Move Silently as a Thief of their level.
When a Void Knight dies, they simply disappear, leaving a patch of darkness behind.

Gelatinous Cube (PC Class for D&Dish games)

I'm sure this has been done before. When I'm inspired I gotta jump on it, however irrelevant to my ongoing projects. I have a few race/classes to write up this and next week that have potential cosmological implications for your game, should you allow them. Players, ask the DM before playing one of these in their game and be cool if the DM says NO.
The way I thread the needle between old school race-as-class and my love of weird combinations is that I allow PCs to be like, "my character is going to try Thief stuff for a while and pay that NPC in the town we're in to train him" or something like that and thereby take a level in Thief instead of putting that XP toward second (or whatever) level in their current race or class.
Anyway. This is the first entry in what will be at least two very different blog posts with perhaps similar themes. Let's call it Victories and Voids: A D&D Game About Nothing.

Gelatinous Cube

Expelled From the Holy Gelatinous Oneness
You were once part of the One Gelatin, a large gelatinous mass taking up an entire plane. You have been cursed, nay, double-cursed, with independence and consciousness. You have found yourself in this place, different from it's oozes, slimes, and cubes. Success for you is consuming things, gaining mass and girth, in the hopes that you will one day be freed of your curses and return to the Gelatinous Oneness. Perhaps you are the holy spawn, and your purpose is to become the Gelatinous Twoness, consumer of this plane?

Having been cursed with consciousness, unlike the other slimes, oozes and cubes of this place, who are only cursed with individuality, you have found some kinship with other outcasts of conscious races. You have decided to travel with them, for a while, and not eat them immediately. They seem to attract new and interesting things to consume and make part of yourself.

Gelatinous Cube

HD: 1d10

AC: as unarmored, improves by 1 per level until level 4.

Saves/XP Advancement/Fighting Progression: As Dwarf

Size: 3 feet on a side. You gain a foot every level between 2nd and 7th.

Weapons and Armor: Unable to use armor. May use weapons or items for 1 round per day per level with a -2 to hit. After that you have either consumed them, absorbed them, or expelled them onto the floor.

Special:
•+1 to surprise other creatures, improves by 1 every other level
•Digest anything less dense than glass (IE wood and other organic materials) quickly
•Ability to absorb material that you cannot digest (metal, glass, gems) and store them within your body for several weeks. They are visible to observers, quite clearly if recently used.
•Natural melee attack doing 2d4 points of Damage (your digestive process)
•If you touch a creature's skin, that creature must save versus Paralysis or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds, increasing duration by 1d4 every other level until 9th. Creatures that pass their save cannot be paralyzed the same day by you. Every subsequent creature you paralyze after the first in a combat gets a cumulative +1 bonus to their saving throw. Your natural attack automatically hits paralyzed creatures.
•You have a save VS any Cold attack, even if one is not normally allowed. If you fail the save, you move at half speed and only do 1d4 points of damage for the duration of the Cold effect or 1d6 rounds if the Cold effect has no duration.
•You are immune to fear, hold, paralysis, polymorph, and sleep based attacks.
•Roll or choose your communication method:
1. verbally by routing air through yourself
2. visually forming letters on a side of yourself
3. Pheromones, through smell
4. telepathy

Go forth and devour!

"Save Game Spots" for old school D&Dish Games

Slo-shift Spot-Clone Quantum Rings

Occasionally in one's wanderings, one will come upon these glowing rings upon the ground; usually, however, they have already been discovered. The knowledge of their location and that location itself are often well guarded.
Marked by the unnatural evenness of the old technology, these glowing rings cause a tingling and feeling of unease.
To activate them, a living being must step inside. If a cluster of them is found, they will not activate until all rings present are filled, one living being to each. At that point a bright flash will encompass all.
If any who were in a ring when activated were to later die, a perfect reproduction of that person when inside the ring will then step forth from it, no matter how much time has passed. Should their companions be far away, this could be very dangerous indeed.
The reproduction has no memory of what has occurred since being in the ring, and the ring must be re-activated for the effect to happen again.
These reproductions are imperfect, however...

-From the "Chronicles of Kalak-Nur", by Scion Naz

When all rings found (1d6) are occupied, make a copy of the character sheet of any characters inside one. If multiple characters crowd in, the ring will affect a random one. Characters can "Take turns" - a single ring can store multiple templates.

That copy of the character sheet is preserved until the character dies. Then, the copy is a character sheet for a new instance of that character, who steps out of the ring exactly as they were when effected - except for the below.

Subtract one from the result on this table for each character the ring is currently storing.

1d12

-2. roll three times

-1. roll twice

0.  subtract 1d10 HP, permanently (if this would put the character below 0, the new clone is unconscious for 1 hour then has 1 HP; make a random encounter roll for the hour)

1. cannot hit with melee attacks, permanent

2. if spellcaster, cannot cast spells; if not, cannot hit with ranged attacks; effect is permanent

3. -1d6 to a randomly selected ability score

4. no change

5. no change

6. is now a humanoid version of a randomly selected animal

7. is now a child

8. is a random other race that the DM allows PCs to be

9. reroll HP from scratch

10. reroll randomly selected ability score from scratch

11. -1 to all rolls in sunlight/moonlight

12. -1 to all rolls outside of sunlight/moonlight

Optionally, the DM may allow the player to forego rolling on this table by having the clone emerge with no equipment or clothing of any kind.

Kyrlan 2.0

I'm running an in-person game tomorrow for the first time in a while. If you're in the SF Bay area and interested, message me over email or G+

In-game, it's going to be (mumble mumble) thousand years after the last one. The characters wake up on stone slabs in a strange underground lab. There are some smashed orbs on the ground obviously fallen from an intricate clockwork-and-tube mechanism that extends well into the walls. There are two creatures running around the room panicking, pulling levers and turning cranks. It's hard to know what kind of creatures they are - or were - as so much of their flesh has been replaced by copper gears and wooden mechanisms.

I'll be using a Moldvay Basic / LotFP hack. The starting options are:

Human - can be a Fighter, Specialist, or Magic-User.

Faerie - born to humans for reasons unknown. They look like beautiful humans with insectile wings, and some have antennae and strange eyes. They are considered dangerous and unlucky, and are often abandoned or drowned as children. They gather in "Faerie's Row" in large settlements, but Kingslaw forbids gatherings of more than 2 faeries on a public road. +1 CHA, stats as the Cleric Class (including spells).

Fairy by MikeAzevedo on DeviantArt

Tiefling - born to humans who, or whose ancestors have, consorted with Demons. They look like humans with horns, their eyes are one solid color, their tongues forked, and they have devil-like tails. Some have stunted bat wings (-1 DEX, -1 AC, no falling damage, +2 jumps). Stats as Elf (including spells; there are no Elves in this setting.)

Iron-Gin - a union of mechanics and magic often found in old ruins. They "wake" a basic form of brass or copper and wood, and can improve themselves with proper materials at a forge. Stats as Dwarf (Dwarves extinct in setting.)

Bakei - diminutive humanoid animals, often of cat or dog species. Can speak human languages, if raised near humans. Considered amusing and harmless. Stats as Halfling. (no halflings in setting).

What's outside the dungeon? I'll figure that out when they get there.