The Power of the Spirits (a d20 System feat and talent tree)

Here's a feat and a talent tree that you can use to add some spellcasting and mysticism to a d20 Modern campaign without adding full-blown spellcasting classes. (It's designed to model Lady Satan as she appears after she gained her mystical powers, as seen the forthcoming NUELOW Games book Lady Satan 1944.)

The rest of this post is presented under the Open Game License. Copyright 2015 Steve Miller.

SPIRITUALIST FEAT
You hear voices. You're not crazy... it's the Spirits revealing secrets to you.
   Requirement: Cha 14, Wis 14
   Benefit: Take a full round action to make a Concentration check (DC8). If successful, add 1/2 of the result as a bonus to your next Bluff, Gather Information, Intimidation, Research, Search, or Spot skill check. (The spirits are assisting you with whispers at the back of your mind.)
   Special: This feat is a prerequisite for talents from the Spirit Channeler talent tree.

SPIRIT CHANNELER TALENT TREE
You can call upon nature spirits, spirits of the dead, and other incorporeal beings for advice and assistance. Some of the assistance comes at a cost.
   In the mechanics of the game, this means you can cast spells at will. The traits that give you the ability to cast spells replace any material components of the spell, and negates any armor penalty. Other aspects and restrictions remain the same. Your character level is used in place of caster level when required.
   Elemental Attunement: When this talent is chosen, specify an Elemental school of magic (air, earth, fire, or water). You may cast a number of 0- or 1st-level spells equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are added to any amount of spells you can cast from class benefits, feats. or other traits. You may select this talent up to four times, with a different elemental school specified.
   Prerequisite: Spiritualist feat
   The View from Beyond: You may cast a number of 0- 1st-, or 2nd-level spells from the Divination school equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are added to any amount of spells you can cast from class benefits, feats. or other traits.
   Prerequisite: Spiritualist feat
   The Power of Life and Death: When this talent is chosen, specify either the Healing or Necromancy schools of magic. You may cast a number of 0- or 1st-level spells equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are added to any amount of spells you can cast from class benefits, feats. or other traits. You may select this twice, with a different elemental school specified each time.
   Prerequisite: Spiritualist feat.
   Summon Spirit: Take a full round action to make a Concentration skill check (DC12). If successful, you summon forth a poltergeist that will do your bidding for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom and Charisma bonuses combined.
   The poltergeist manifests next to you. Commands are issued mentally, and there is theoretically no limit to the range of which they can be issued to the spirit. Once the time is up, the poltergeist returns from whence it came unless you have taken no action other than commanding it. In this case, you may continue to command it, but the creature receives a Will save at the beginning of every other round (against the Concentration result that originally brought it forth). Once the spirit is free, there is a 50% chance it attacks you in anger over having been forced to stay. Otherwise, it departs. You can also command it to return to the spirit realm at any point before it breaks loose of your control.
   Prerequisite: One trait from the Spirit Channeler talent tree
   The Price of Power: You may cast a number of spells of any level equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are added to any amount of spells you can cast from class benefits, feats, or other traits. Every time you cast a spell gained from this train, you lose a number of XP equal to 100 times the spell level. This is the price the spirits exact for their assistance.
   When using this talent, you can't lose more XP than the absolute minimum of your current level. You cannot use this trait if the XP cost would cause you to lose a level.
   Prerequisite: One trait from the Spirit Channeler talent tree.


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Return to Egypt with NUELOW Games!

NUELOW Games has just released its third Egyptian-themed comics/rpg hybrid book. Titled Terrors of Egypt, it has tales that span the ages from the Old Kingdoms through modern day. Vengeful mummies, strange curses, and unknowable mysteries... this one has it all!

Khafra.
Art by Cesar Lopez

The main attraction of the book is "The Mummy Khafre". It's the tale of one of the many "horror-mood" characters that Alan Hewetson created for Skywald's magazines in the mid-1970s... and her story has now been collected in one place for the first time ever. I'm sure you'll agree, after reading this story that Khafre is a worthy addition to our line-up of female characters... and that she may even give the Sorceress of Zoom or the Queen of Evil a run for their money when it comes to nastiness.

You can click here to see previews or to get your own copy of Terrors of Egypt (which features art by Cesar Lopez, Ricardo Villamonte, Xavier Villanova, and Norman Nodel). It also has a fun add-on to d20 System character creation that lets you determine a character's sign under the Egyptian zodiac.

One tidbit that I briefly considered for the book, but ultimately rejected, were rules that let you randomly determine a character's exact birth date. So they don't go completely to waste, I'm posting them here (modified so the don't rely on the material in Terrors of Egypt, as the original version did).

Everything in this post from this point forward if released under the Open Game License.

Random Character Birthday Generator

Copyright ©2015 Steve Miller

   Step One: Determine month of birth by rolling 1d12. The result is the month in which the character was born.
   Step Two: Roll 1d6. Record the result.
   Step Three: If the d6 roll was 1-2, roll 1d12 to determine the birth date; 3-4, roll 2d12-1 to determine the birth date; 5-6 roll 3d12-2 to determine the birth date. If a result of 3d12-2 puts you outside the number of days in the month, the birthday is on the last day of the month.

Available Now!

d20 System Feat: Chosen

When writing fiction or designing and developing roleplaying game, oftentimes what seems like a great idea at the start is replaced by something far better. Such is the case with the feat presented below. It was part of an early approach I took to adapting the story of Lady Satan 1974 to the d20 System, but I ultimately axed it because much better ideas presented themselves as the project evolved. If you find this feat interesting or useful, you should check out the book by clicking here!

The following is released under the Open Game License. Copyright 2015 Steve Miller. It is fully compatible with the d20 System magic rules from Feats of Mysticism and Magic and other NUELOW Games OGL d20 System releases.

Art by Pablo Marcos. From Lady Satan 1974,

CHOSEN
You have a special relationship with a powerful supernatural creature—an angel, demon, or perhaps even a god.
    Benefit: Once per week, you may call upon your supernatural patron to grant you a chance to change fate. You may re-roll a single d20 roll. You must accept the second result.
    You gain a +4 bonus to skill checks relating to rites and rituations involved with your patron, and any summoning and ward spells you cast function as if cast at one level higher than your caster level.
    Special: If the character is killed, he or she may make a final Will save (DC18). If successful, the character continues to exist as a disembodied spirit on the mortal plane instead of moving onto the afterlife, with the full blessing of his or her patron. The character gains the Disembodied template, if in use. If not, the character exists formless near the location of his or her demise until a suitable living vessel comes along. The character may attempt to possess the being. The target receives a Will save (DC12+your character level) to resist. If the target is injured or somehow emotionally vulnerable or frightened, the Will save is DC8+your character level.

On November 30, it's Black Monday at NUELOW Games...

... because we can't keep the whole Black Friday/Cyber Monday thing straight, we decided to merge the Friday and Monday sales into one. We also wanted an excuse to post this picture someone took at a Japanese department store.

Nothing can describe NUELOW's Black Monday sale better than that!

All our rpg/comics hybrid books, OGL d20 System supplements, fiction collections, and stock art collections are on sale for 20% for JUST ONE DAY! So, if you have any money left over after this weekend of shopping for deals, maybe you can throw some our way? Our comics collections and fiction anthologies are cool... and our d20 System supplements are oddball.

The sale runs at RPGNow, DriveThruComics, DriveThruFiction, and DriveThruRPG from 7am November 30 to 7am December 1 (Pacific Time).

Wildfire strikes at NUELOW Games

The latest comics/rpg hybrid product has been released, and it stars one of the greatest superheroines to ever be forgotten by comics readers--Wildfire.

Cover for NUELOW's Wildfire. Art by Jim Mooney.

Wildfire is secretly Carol Vance. As a young child, she laughed in the face of the mighty Lord of Fire, even as he was burning everything around her. As a reward for her courage, he made her a Mistress of Flame--a status that gave her protection from fire and a range of powers related to manipulating and harnessing fire. In her late teens, she began using her powers to fight crime and injustice.

Wildfire from NUELOW Games contains five tales of Carol's exploits, written and drawn the team who created her--Robert Turner & Jim Mooney. Turner was a pulp fiction writer, and Mooney spent fifty years drawing comics starring characters like Wildfire... including Supergirl. In addition to the comics, the Wildfire book contains an OGL d20 System character template and a pair of feats designed to let you create characters like Wildfire with the version of the d20 System you currently enjoy playing. You can click here to see previews of Wildfire, or to download your own copy from RPGNow. (It is also available at DriveThruComics and DriveThruRPG.)

As always, if you have feedback or suggestions regarding our releases, don't hesitate to get in touch. We don't know what we're doing right or wrong unless you tell us!

Music of the Sorceress

There aren't many of the characters featured in NUELOW Games releases that have music that is officially written for them. There may even be only one who has so moved a composer... so it's only fitting that character should the deadliest femme fatale to ever travel the multivese--the Sorceress of Zoom!

In May of 2015, the Esperanza Ensemble performed the world premiere of Justin E.A. Busch's "The Sorceress of Zoom, Op. 98." Here it is:




The Sorceress of Zoom has starred in two books from NUELOW Games. A third one, which will reveal her never-before-told origin story, will be released in 2016.

You can read sample pages from the existing books at the Shades of Gray blog by clicking here. You can see more previews, or get your own copies at the links below.

See Previews or Buy at DriveThruComics

See Previews or Buy at DriveThruComics.

The superpower for unlucky sad sacks

The text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2015 Steve Miller.

Art by Kerry Callen

Between the Legion of Substitute Heroes and the Great Lake Avengers, even mainstream comic book universes have their superpowered failures and comic relief. This little expansion to NUELOW Games' superpower system is for heroes who make the most out of their flubs. In fact, failing IS their superpower.




THE POWER OF EMBARRASSMENT [Minor Power Feat]
Your failures make you stronger!
   Benefit: Whenever you fail a skill check tied to the Charisma attribute, you gain a +2 bonus to a future skill check or attack action that is not Charisma-based. The bonus must be used before the end of the encounter during which the initially failed skill check took place.

HUMILIATED TALENT TREE
You must have at least one Minor Power Feat to qualify for any of the talents from this tree.
  Clumsy: Whenever you fail a Dexterity-based die roll (including ranged attacks) or a Reflex save, you gain a temporary +4 bonus to Charisma. This benefit lasts for the duration of the encounter during which the original failed roll took place.
  Slow on the Uptake: Whenever you fail a Wisdom-based die roll or a Willpower saving throw, you gain a temporary +4 bonus to your Intelligence. This benefit lasts for the duration or the encounter during which the failed roll took place.
   That Which Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger: Whenever you fail a Constitution-based skill check, or a Fortitude save, you gain a temporary +4 bonus to your Strength. This benefit lasts for the duration of the encounter
  Focus On the Negative: Choose one other talent from this tree that you've already selected. The temporary bonus lasts for a number of hours equal to your Will save bonus. You may choose this talent up to three times, each time applying it to a different talent from this tree.
  Destined to Fail: Once per session, when you fail a skill check to a horrendous degree (more than 8 below the target number), you may invoke this trait. At the speed of thought, the realization as to how actions you took earlier set you up for this failure flash into your mind. If you describe the event that preceded this disaster, and if the GM things it's plausible or amusing, you may immediately re-try the action. (You make the re-try on the same initiative that you already acted on.)
  Prerequisite: The Power of Embarrassment minor power feat

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If you found this amusing or useful, please consider getting some of our many OGL d20 System releases that are available here.