Friday, January 25, 2019

OGL Modern: The Weaponized Smirk

A feat, for the d20 System, presented under the Open Game License. Copyright Steve Miller 2019.

WEAPONIZED SMIRK [General, Social]
Your smile can drive stupid people crazy.
   Prerequisite: Charisma 12, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 13
   Benefit: On any round your character has initiative, instead of attacking, you may roll a Charisma abiility check with the character's Charisma and Wisdom bonuses both added to the result.
Hostile characters must roll Will saves with a target number equal to your total modified Charisma check, or become completely flustered with anger over the "disrespect" shown by the seemingly unimpressed target of their hostility. They suffer a -2 penalty to all skill checks, attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws for the remainder of the encounter.
   Special: Weaponized Smirk can be triggered against characters who are hostile toward the smirker even if they aren't present for the initial encounter but are merely shown a picture of the smirking character. Such characters must roll a Will save against the original modified Charisma check with a +4 bonus or suffer the penalties described above for 2d20 hours.
Whenever a character who failed the first Will save against Weaponized Smirk sees a picture of the smirking character, or is otherwise reminded of the encounter or exposure, another Will save must be rolled with a +6 bonus. If the saving throw fails, the character suffers the penalties described above.
Once a successful Will save has been made against the smirk., the hostile character is immune to future smirking, and he or she recognizes that it was stupid to react to it in the first place.





Monday, December 31, 2018

New d20 System feat: Fortune Telling

What will the new year bring? Well, with this new d20 System feat, your character might know. (This is an initial draft idea that will probably see some revision and expansion. But the text in this post is still presented under the Open Game License, and it may be reproduced in accordance with it.

FORTUNE TELLING [Supernatural]
Most believe you are a charlatan--and, frankly, maybe you do have a little touch of that in you--but your ability to see the future is quite real. It may not always be reliable, and your visions may not always be clear, but you do more good than harm.
   Prerequisite: Wisdom 12, Charisma 12, Foresight feat
   Benefit: By spending 2d6 minutes less a number of minutes equal to his or her Wisdom bonus, and studying some focus device, the character may use one of several benefits gained by this feat, up to three times per day. The focus device can be a deck of tarot cards, a crystal ball, grounds or leaves at the bottom of a cup, chicken bones, or any other item associated with fortune telling or seeing the future.
   The abilities derived from this feat are as follows. Each requires a Wisdom check to use successfully; the GM may choose to make the roll on the player's behalf in secret or may allow the player to roll it him- or herself. If the Wisdom check is successful, the GM must provide as truthful answers as possible, but a failed roll can either provide completely false information or no result at all. ("Your destiny is cloudy... many powerful forces are arrayed against you.")
   Weal or Woe: Reveal if a course of action will be mostly beneficial or mostly harmful for the person considering it; this is a "yes" or "no" question. (DC8)
   Locate Object or Person: See the current location of an object or person, as well as having a sense of how dangerous it might be to remove it from that location. The vision provides clues as to where the place is, although further research or use of fortune-telling abilities may be needed to determine what they mean and how they can lead characters to the location. (DC12)
   Sense Destiny: See a vision of a location and/or a person that will have a major impact on the person being considered during the fortune-telling. If it's a location, there are clues present as to where it might be. If it's a person, the vision is clear enough that he or she can be described in detail, and there will be a unique object seen that is associated with him or her. (DC12 minimum... the higher above the target number the roll, the clearer the vision.)

What are the tea leaves revealing to her via the Fortune Telling feat?

Monday, December 24, 2018

Christmas is Here: What Ruins It for the Heroes?

A little Christmas-y content for your enjoyment!
Even heroes celebrate Christmas, but they rarely get to have the quiet parties they hope for--something or someoone dangerous always pops up to ruin it for them. Which is why their Christmas adventures feature themes like this:



Here's a table to randomly generate the threat that ruins the heroes' Christmas. You may not have time to run it this year (unless you actually know what the Twelve Days of Christmas are), but maybe next year. Or maybe for "Christmas in July"!


WHAT RUINS THE HEROES' CHRISTMAS? (Roll 1d12)
  1. An old foe they thought long gone returns for revenge.
  2. An old foe they tought long dead returns at the head of an army of zombies.
  3. An old foe begs for their help to stop an even worse evil.
  4. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions and fire elementals escape onto the Prime Material Plane.
  5. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions and reanimates the Christmas meal as a feiry, murderous beast-zombie.
  6. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions and causes everyone gathering for the Christmas dinner (and the entire house they're in) to be transported to Hell.
  7. Santa has been kidnapped by vengeful Martians, and it's up to the heroes to save him and Christmas!
  8. Santa's Daughter, Sugarplum, has been kidnapped by her crazed ex-boyfriend and Santa has come to the heroes for help.
  9. Cultists have summoned Narlahohohotep--the Caroler Out of Space--at Nakatomi Plaza.
 10. Santa's Reindeer have been stolen.
 11. A serial killer is on the loose!
 12. Roll two more times on the table, ignoring and rerolling duplicate results and additional results of 12. Both things converge to ruin the heroes' Christmas!


And while the heroes may feel like they're Two Steps from Hell, it's Christmas! So everything will hopefully turn out right in the end!





By Boris Vallejo