Zorn: Base Classes

It's been a long time since I've worked on my Zorn setting, been a long year. Now that I'm back in the mood to write, I've decided to finally jot down some thoughts on what the base classes for the setting may be. 

For those unfamiliar, I've written Zorn to be a game with diagetic character choices. These options are always available, but many other classes may exist for those explorers who encounter the strange, the dangerous, the awesome, and the unknown. These are simply the mundane enough classes that anyone can freely take them.

Arcanist

Your whole life you've been fascinated by magic, the occult, and other unexplainable occurences. Everyone you've met before now has just laughed at you. Not here. In Zorn, even the most mundane is unexplainable and you're ready for it. 

Skill: Arcane
Each Template: Gain 1 Knowledge Skill

A: Careful Study, Obscure Knowledge
B: Trick Magic Item, Deconstruct Magic Item
C: Well-Studied
D: Magical Tinkerer

Careful Study: You've learned enough about the unexplainable to reasonably identify it when you come across it. You can discover the obvious effects of magic items, places, and monsters with ten minutes of safe observation, this may not discover hidden effects or curses unless they are particularly obvious. 

Obscure Knowledge: Once per session, you can declare a fact about a new and unidentified magical effect; it has a 25% chance of being at least somewhat true but is never catastrophically wrong. You do not know if it is true until proven otherwise.

Trick Magic Item: You can use any identified magic item, regardless of requirements. You still need to perform any required activities to activate the item, however. 

Deconstruct Magic Item: You've gained ties to researchers in the few safe settlements of Zorn, when you are in one, you may deconstruct unwanted magic items. Roll an Arcane skill check, success means the item is successfully deconstructed and researched, gain 150% of its gold value and write the item down somewhere you won't forget, failure means it only yields 50% of its regular gold value, do not write it down. You can only use this on magic items you have yet to successfully deconstruct before (the researchers are not interested in items they already have seen).

Well-studied: Your obscure knowledge chance goes up to 75%, you can now use careful study with 2 actions in combat instead of ten minutes of peaceful observation.

Magical Tinkerer: Your knowledge of the unexplainable is master level. Every magic item you successfully deconstruct, you can now attempt to reconstruct. Make an Arcane skill check and expend 100% of the gold value of the item while in a safe settlement and it will be remade. You can also attempt to tinker with the magic before reconstruction, each additional effect from the list below requires an additional 50% of the item's gold value and add +1 to the roll (making it more difficult).

• Remove a Curse affecting the magic.
• Add an additional charge to the magic.
• Remove a requirement to the magic.
• Add an additional effect of a similar power level to the magic.

Adventurer

Most of the poor souls who end up in Zorn have little experience in foreign wilderness. Fortunately, this does not apply to you, in fact, one could say that that is the entire reason you are here. Perhaps you are picking up a hefty salary as a wilderness guide, maybe you think you'll fare better than most and actually strike it rich, or maybe you just like exploring new lands. Either way, your skills are almost necessary to the adventurers traveling these lands

Skill: Survival
Each Template: +1 to Environmental Checks

A: Well-Traveled, I've Seen This Before
B: Knowledgeable Guide
C: Seen It All Before
D: Master Tracker

Well-Traveled: When performing overland travel checks, you can secretly view any common encounter tables that the party rolls on.

I've Seen This Before: When coming across any kind of tracks or animal markings, you can unerringly name what caused them.

Knowledgeable Guide: When rolling overland travel encounters, you can shift the roll up or down by a number up to your total templates in this class.

Seen It All Before: You can now unerringly identify any kind of manmade marks. In addition, you automatically identify any traps you could theoretically see, this effect does not disarm them or tell you about any effects you couldn't tell through visual inspection.

Master Tracker: Once per session you can now declare the result of the next encounter roll of any kind, even declaring results that would not normally be possible.

Criminal

Some people are here by choice. You are not one of them. In your old country, you broke enough laws, pissed off the wrong people, or were just plain in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a result, you were detained, stuck on a boat, and dropped in this godforsaken land. Even here, the skills of a criminal can be valuable.

Skill: Thievery
Each Template: +1 Base Fortune

A: Always Prepared, The Heist
B: Opportunist
C: Scout
D: Lucky Hit

Always Prepared: In town, you may spend any amount of money to buy an Unlabeled Package. When the package is unwrapped, you declare what it contains, as long as the contents comprise the appropriate number of Inventory Slots, don’t cost more than you originally paid, and are available in town. You can put multiple items inside a large Unlabeled Package, including smaller Unlabeled Packages. You can have no more than two Unlabeled Packages at a time.

The Heist: Once per adventure or dungeon or campaign arc, you can gain a 10% bonus XP for any one valuable item you personally stole. It has to pass through your hands, or you have to be the one masterminding the theft. Unguarded or abandoned treasure does not count (unless there are traps). For example, a gem worth 1,000gp would give you 100 extra XP. If the bonus XP would cause you to gain a Level, you instead gain the exact amount needed to gain the level.

Opportunist: Whenever you get a situational bonus to an attack roll (surprise, elevation, etc) you deal an additional +1d6 damage.

Scout: You can spend one action to move twice.

Lucky Hit: Once per session, when rolling to recover from fatal wounds, you can declare that it was a "Lucky Hit", you are immediately cleared of your fatal wounds, but lose 1d4 to a random stat for each fatal wound cleared this way.

Priest

Those who explore Zorn require an iron will for the hardships that they face. You, however, have held tight to your faith and possess a will of steel for doing so. You provide faith for the broken, beaten, and downtrodden when they need it the most.

Skill: Religion

Each Template: -2 Bonus to Saves that rely on Sheer Willpower

A: Steel Will, Shield the Faithful

B: Invigorating Protection

C: Adamantine Will, Wrathful Mob OR Divine Protection
D: True Shepherd

Steel Will: Anytime you would roll against a fear, charm, or another mental effect, roll twice and take the better result.

Shield the Faithful: Each morning, elect a number of other people equal to the number of templates you have in this class. These people are protected by their faith in you and gain access to your Steel Will Feature.

Invigorating Protection: Spending an action to pray for your flock allows one of your faithful to regain a d6 of lost HP. You can do this a number of times each day equal to the number of templates you have in this class.

Adamantine Will: You are personally immune to the effects of fear, charm, and other mental effects.

Wrathful Mob: Your faithful gain +x to Damage and -x To Hit rolls, where x is equal to the number of templates you have in this class.

Divine Protection: Your faithful gain -x to Defense, where x is equal to the number of templates you have in this class.

True Shepherd: You can now truly push your body and your faithful to the very limits through will alone. You can continue using invigorating protection past its normal limits by making a Wisdom or Constitution check after the action but before it takes effect, this roll has a cumulative -2 penalty for each time it is used past the limit. In addition your Invigorating Protection provides an additional action on the target's next turn.

Chef

The food in Zorn is nothing like the mundane stock of home. Food gathered and hunted here is strange, mutated, unknown. Without proper preparation, it can do horrible things to a person, and with the best preparation, it can provide miracles. The creatures and plants of this world are so varied that food preparation is inconsistent at best, but with your training, you can help sway the tides of consumption.

Skill: Cooking
Each Template: +1 Food Die (d4)

A: Master of Preparation, Food Dice, Banquet Meal
B: Imbued Cooking, Risky Meal
C: Ingredients of Chaos
D: Master Chef

Food Dice: Gain a number of Food Dice equal to your templates in this class, they are d4s and used to fuel your chef powers. Dice that roll a 1-2 are preserved while dice that 3-4 are expended until you take a Good Long Lunch. 

Banquet Meal: You can spend 10 minutes creating a Banquet Meal by expending a number of Food Dice, this meal heals HP equal to the amount rolled for all allies close enough to partake, people can only benefit from this ability once per day. You must expend a number of rations or special ingredients equal to the number of dice used, special ingredients still trigger their effects.

Master of Preparation: You have gained an innate sense of the special properties of the ingredients you handle, expend a number of Food Dice before cooking an ingredient to learn a number of properties it has equal to the amount rolled, these properties include special preparation methods, side effects, or random table results related to the ingredient.

Imbued Cooking: When cooking a meal with a special ingredient, you can roll a number of Food Dice and Imbue the total rolled into the meal. Anyone eating the meal can use it to shift the result of any save or random table result up or down by an amount up to the total number imbued. This does not grant any innate knowledge of the table results itself.

Risky Meal: When cooking a special ingredient, expend a Food Die to have the consumer roll on any special tables twice, taking both results. Any saves made as a result of this meal are at disadvantage.

Ingredients of Chaos: Any special ingredient can be converted into an Ingredient of Chaos, eating a meal cooked with this item will trigger a roll on the DMs choice of random effect, mutation, or spell table. raw ingredients of chaos can be inspected with Master of Preparation before cooking.

Master Chef: You've finally learned enough to innately control your meals to a fine degree. You can render any special ingredient into one entirely safe for consumption, losing any possible special benefits in addition to downsides. Your Risky Meals now generate a number of rolls on their random tables equal to the number rolled instead of just one additional roll. 

Hunter

The wilderness here may be dangerous, but the worst parts are often the unusual beasts lying within. That's where you come in; you have the skills and expertise to take down these monsters. Traps, preparation, and ambushes are your trade, and it can help take down even the fiercest beasts.

Skill: Instinct
Each Template: +1 Trap Die (d6)

A: Trap Dice, Skilled Ambush, +1 Effect, +1 Trigger
B: Quick Trapper, +1 Effect, +1 Trigger
C: Perfect Ambusher, Safe Trapper +1 Effect, +1 Trigger
D: Master Hunter, +1 Effect, +1 Trigger

Trap Dice: You have a number of Trap Dice equal to your number of templates in this class, they are d6s and used to create traps. With 10 minutes of time, you can create a trap using a trigger, an effect, and a number of Trap Dice. The number of trap dice determines the [EFFECTDIE] where the number rolled is [EFFECTSUM] of the trap, do not roll these dice until the trap is triggered. If these traps are not spotted before being triggered, they automatically happen without a save, noticing them grants a save to the triggerer. Used Trap Dice are always expended until you Rest. Always effectively describe how your trap works, at least roughly, as this is how you and others will disarm or trigger the trap.

Skilled Ambush: If you are unnoticed at the start of combat, your first attack automatically hits and does an additional d6 of damage.

Quick Trapper: Your traps can now be placed with two actions in combat instead of ten minutes. When placed this way they are automatically noticed by anyone in the traps line of sight at the time of placement.

Perfect Ambusher: You can extend the benefits of your Skilled Ambush feature to the rest of the party, in addition you can never be surprised yourself.

Safe Trapper: You may provide an additional trigger condition that will automatically disarm the trap.

Master Hunter: You have reached the pinnacle of hunting. Your traps never require saves. Your Trap Dice are all d8s, and if they are unnoticed, they have either double [EFFECT] or return the expended Trap Dice on trigger (choose on trigger).

Trap Triggers (Pick 1 Each Time You Level Up):

1. Noise
2. Movement
3. Light
4. Humidity
5. Magic
6. Heat

Trap Effects (Pick 1 Each Time You Level Up):

1. Melee Damage: Does [EFFECTSUM] Amounts of Damage to the Triggerer
2. Ranged Damage: All targets in a cone of [EFFECTSUM]x2 feet take [EFFECTDIE]x2 Damage
3. Area Damage: Does [EFFECTDIE]x2 Amounts of Damage in an area of up to [EFFECTSUM] feet around the trigger, can be freely shaped.
4. Forced Movement: Forces triggerer to be slammed in a direction of the trappers choice [EFFECTSUM] feet away. Remaining feet are taken as fall damage when stopped.
5. Crippling: Forces target to make a dismemberment roll with a penalty equal to [EFFECTDIE]. Cannot generate fatal wounds, always requires a save.
6. Strong Grip: Prevents triggerer from moving for [EFFECTDIE] turns, or until they make a strength or dexterity check with a penalty equal to [EFFECTSUM]
7. Spellcasting: Casts a scroll when triggered, can be imbued with an MD to prevent scroll destruction if a mage is available.
8. Noise: Makes a noise, audible up to [EFFECTSUM]x10 feet away, can be intentionally quieter.

Soldier

As if Zorn itself wasn't dangerous enough, the people who come here are generally unstable, disloyal, and ready to kill. You're ready for these people, or maybe you've just convinced yourself that you are. You've been trained for head-on combat, and you're ready for anything from a feral Ashhound to hostile soldiers.

Skill: Mercenary
Each Template: -1 Attack Bonus

A: Survival Instinct, Impress
B: Notches, Quick Arm
C: Aimed Attack, +1 Attack Per Action
D: Reckless Maneuver

Survival Instinct: Once per day you can reduce incoming damage by 1d12 points. If you also choose to sunder your shield, you can reduce the damage by 12 points instead of 1d12. In addition, you can tell at a glance whether someone is obviously dangerous.

Impress: Whenever you win a fight against challenging foes, people who don't like you make a new reaction roll with a +4 bonus. This even works on people you just defeated in combat, unless you caused them undeserved or disproportionate harm. Hirelings get a +2 to Morale, or a new Save vs Fear.

Notches: : Each time you attain a total of 10, 20, 30, and 50 kills with a weapon type (such as 10 kills with a dagger), you unlock a new ability for that weapon, chosen from the list below. Keep track of your kills and special abilities on the back of your character sheet.

1. +1 Damage
2. Expanded Critical Range (+1)
3. Special ability (negotiated with GM, one per weapon)

Quick Arm: You can reload, draw, or stow your weapons freely without spending any actions.

Aimed Attack: You can take a +4 penalty on an attack in order to trigger a dismemberment roll on an enemy if it hits, this attack cannot generate fatal wounds unless it reduces the enemy to below 0 HP as normal.

Reckless Maneuver: Once per day when you take the attack action, you can attack twice as much at a +2 penalty.

GLOG Class: Spellblade

 Someone in a private discord server I frequent decided to make a hexblade class focused on elementally charging weapons. I've decided to write my own take on it.

Most wizards pray or study or practice other ways of mental fortitude. Not you. You gave in, you took the easy way out, you took your power by force. You forged a link with a being of some higher power, a demon, a devil, a foul spirit of pure malice, or some other agent of deathly hunger. 

Instead of following their lessons or staying on their good side you, once again, took the easy way out. You waited one night until your patron looked away, and you took their power. You inherited not only their powers but their very bloodlust.

Spellblade Wizard

Perk: Your weapons are your spellbook, innately inscribe and cast spells from them. 

Drawback: All metal armor and shields, interferes with your spellcasting. You are unable to cast while wearing or carrying any.

Mishaps:
1. MD only return to your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours
2. Take 1d6 damage
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then make a save. Permanent if you fail.
4. Spells inscribed on your weapons are randomly shuffled among themselves, they are indiscernible from each other for the rest of the day.
5. All extremities become unwieldy and sharp for 1d10 rounds
6. Agony for 1d6 rounds

Dooms:
1. All weapons located on your character right now begin to fuse into your body. All absorbed weapons are always available but you are also in constant agony. Make a con check or fly into a violent frenzy when damage is taken, leave the frenzy only after killing.
2. All weapons and armor located on your character right now begin to fuse into your body, the absorbed armor and clothing is now your permanent garb, you cannot wear any other. Make a con check for frenzy every night.
3. Everything within 15 feet of you is absorbed into your body. You are a being of incomprehensible violence. You are the avatar of blood and the creator of pain. Kill e̸͜͠v̵̬͑ȅ̶̲r̵̦̐y̸̨͗ṱ̷̍h̸̬͒ǐ̴͜n̴̗͒g̵̟̏ or die trying. If you have completed your Absolute Zone, it moves with you now.

You can avoid this doom by defeating the masters of three separate weapons in a duel on their terms, and convincing all of their disciples to cast a ritual that will tie your mental state to this realm.

Alternatively, you must meditate for 100 years without moving (includes breathing) in order to master your inner demons, if you attempt this and give in after one week but before 100 years, Zone of the Absolute is automatically cast.

Cantrips:
1. Weapons with your spells inscribed within them count as part of you for casting spells that require touch.
2. Weapons inscribed with at least one spell count as magical for the purposes of damage resistance.
3. Spend 1 MD to make an attack with a weapon that has one of your spells infused in it, this can be done once per turn and does not require an action.

Spells:
1. Force of Personality
For [SUM} minutes, your presence is as pronounced or as diminished as you would like. Does not prevent mundane detection, nor does it change your actual appearance or other's opinions of you. When cast with 4 [DICE], the previous restriction is lifted and you can declare the exact nature of your presence in one word. HIDDEN, POWERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, and NORMAL are popular options.

2. Weapon as Self
Touch a weapon while casting this spell to infuse it with magical power. Pick one effect from the list below:

• Blood Infusion: Increase range by [SUM] for next attack
• Flesh Infusion: Increase damage by [SUM] for next attack
• Bone Infusion: Increase defense by [DICE] until next hostile action
• Soul Infusion: Increase speed by [DICE] until next defensive action

3. Mirrored Weapon
Touch a weapon and create [DICE] mundane copies of it for [SUM] rounds, copy magical effects if you halve the number of copies, remove the duration if you halve the number of copies, round down for these effects. Ammunition copies at a rate of 5x[DICE] instead. Recasting this spell removes any copies created by prior castings.

4. Control Link
Touch a weapon to mentally control it for [DICE] rounds. it floats near you and acts independently according to your will. It attacks with an ability modifier of 0 and an attack bonus equal to yours. It has a speed of 5. When cast with 2 [DICE], you can focus and see through the blade as if you were scrying on it.

5. Unwavering Edge
Focuses your mind and sharpens your blade. Allows you to create supernatural cuts of extraordinary lengths with one strike. The table below indicates how long of a cut this spell can create. This spell ignores the normal range of a weapon, as long as one part of the cut is within mundane striking distance. Must use a melee weapon.

• Light Materials (Fabric, Paper, etc): [SUM] feet
• Medium Materials (Wood, Glass, etc): Half [SUM] feet
• Heavy Materials (Brick, Metal, etc): Quarter [SUM] feet

6. Bolt
Launch one mundane item you can touch up to [SUM] feet in any direction. Can be a gentle toss or a hard throw, the remaining [SUM] is dealt as damage and the item is destroyed during the latter option.

7. Weapon Translocation
Pick [DICE] weapons that you are aware of their precise locations, any of their locations can be freely swapped with you or themselves. Preparing this spell means you can always innately sense the location of weapons inscribed with your spells within 50 feet of you, even through obstacles.

8. Sunder Weapon
Destroy target weapon you can touch, it optionally explodes in a hail of [SUM] damage within 10 feet. You can cast this as a reaction to being attacked.

9. Weapon Transmutation
For as long as you invest 2 MD in this spell, one weapon you are touching gains a special ability, much like the notches effect of a fighter. This spell can be instantly deactivated but the used MD only return after resting.

10. Curse of Bloodlust
Create a 10x[DICE] radius cloud of thick bloody mist centered around you for [DICE] rounds. Anyone in this mist deals [DICE]x extra damage with weapon attacks, must attack every turn. This mist is supernaturally thick and confusing, anyone making an attack into the mist must roll randomly for the target as nothing more than vague silhouettes can be discerned.

Emblem Spells
11. Cursed Duel
Force one target to fly into a mindless rage and attack you. They become more powerful according to DM fiat. Defeating them adds one random spell (typically related to their nature), to your spellbook. Requires casting with 4 MD, and a target of equal level to you

12. Zone of The Absolute
Meditate for one week without moving. Survival means that the area [SUM] radius around you is perfectly attuned to your core. When within this area, you do not need to eat, breathe, sleep, or roll for any kind of check. You can freely change and shape the landscape within this area but it may never leave its original boundaries. You may only ever cast this spell once and only with 4 MD. This spell automatically triggers all remaining dooms.

Masochistic Statistician Class, Aka The Mathochist

 It's late, I don't know what I'm writing. Here it is.

    Mathochist

Mathochist - Gain +1 HP per level.

Starting Equipment: Black stone tablet, Knife, Fetish for pain. 

A| Mathematize Wounds A| Calculated Collector

B| Boiling Blood 

C| Mathematize Entrails

D|Major Prophecy 

Mathematize Wounds - The Fibonacci sequence is everywhere and you've learned to utilize it. You not only welcome pain, but you also use it to your advantage. Whenever you take damage, write the damage value down, filling a table with entries. Roll d6 at any time to clear the table.

    If you hit an entry, you get the following effects based on the total number of unique entries:

1-2: you get to affect a skill roll to any value in the future 

3-4: you get to affect a damage roll to any value in the future 

5-6: you get to affect a d20 roll to any value in the future 

7-10: you get to affect a magic die roll to any value in the future 

11+: you get to affect any roll of any sort, to any value, in the future. 

If you hit an "empty entry", nothing happens.

Calculated Collector - You enjoy finding things and sticking them in your mouth, you also can calculate the immense probabilities of whether you'll need it later. Once per session, you can pull out a mundane item just small enough to fit in your mouth and say "I foresaw that we would need this".

Boiling Blood - When you are hit and the damage is not a damage value already on your table, you can cause your spattering blood to burn with divine energy dealing as much damage as filled entries on your d6 table to everyone within melee range that you deem an enemy. This clears the table. You can also inflict a negligible wound on yourself (1 point of damage) to trigger this on your turn. 

Mathematize Entrails: Your understanding of the Fibonacci sequence and your own entrails has improved. Whilst not locked in combat, present a one-sentence statement on what might happen within the next week. The Game Master will give you a percentile probability of how likely it is to occur. The GM will also tell you one action you can take that will raise or lower its probability substantially. (Your discretion as to whether you'd like lower or higher). You can use this ability once per week.

Major Prophecy - state a true but pacifist thing that will happen. It must take months and you must work towards it, but it will happen if plausible. You can only have one such prophecy effective at a time. Cannot be used to "predict" victories in the field of violence.

Designer Note 1: This may have been built out of suggestions to revise my Blood Oracle, but I wanted to playtest the original at least a little bit before I scrap/revise the whole thing. Thanks to Jojiro and Baal for the help

Designer Note 2: I just reread all the flavor text I wrote. Why did I write this? This is awful.

Blood Oracle Class

    Diviners and Oracles are weird. 

    Cryptic glimpses of the future. Unknowing of whether the future is set in stone or not. Even just triggering their powers is usually an ordeal in most situations. This Oracle is no different.

    In Ancient Greece, oracles practicing haruspicy were to inspect the entrails of sacrificed animals, they typically used livers from killed sheep and poultry. Blood Oracles sacrifice and inspect themselves.

Blood Oracle

Templates (Each template grants a +1 Max HP, can go above the normal max of 20 using these)

A:+1 OD, Oracle Dice, Foretelling Wound

B:+1 OD, Betrayal of Life Force, Minor Prophecy

C:+1 OD, Fountain of Sacrifice

D:+1 OD, Bloody Wraith, Major Prophecy

Oracle Dice

    Blood oracles have a number of D6 Oracle Dice (OD) based on their level. They can spend these on their class abilities as listed, taking the rolled number in damage and then immediately triggering the ability. This damage can trigger rolls on the death and dismemberment table (at least until the character gains Bloody Wraith). These dice are expended for the day after being used once.

Foretelling Wounds

    Expend one Oracle Die, then roll a D20 and record the number somewhere. You can replace a d20 roll by any willing creature within your sight (Including yourself) with this number once. If this number is not used by the end of the day, it is lost.

Betrayal of Lifeforce

    Your Foretelling Wounds rolls can now be used on enemies within your sight.

Minor Prophecy

    Expend one Oracle Die when you need an item that you could have theoretically gained in the past and held onto until now. You had a minor vision in the past that you would need this item and stored it in your bag retroactively. If you did not have specific access to this item, then you can pay its cost to purchase it (assuming that that is reasonably possible in the recent past)

Fountain of Sacrifice

    Foretelling Wounds no longer depletes Oracle Dice. You still take the rolled damage every time you use it, but your Oracle Dice can be reused afterward.

Bloody Wraith

    Foretelling wounds that reduce you to negative HP do not trigger rolls on the death and dismemberment table or injuries, this negative HP is still added to Death and Dismemberment Rolls for the purposes of other injuries incurred.

Major Prophecy

    Expend four Oracle Dice. Name a (somewhat) reasonable thing that could happen to you within the next six months. Assuming it is (somewhat) reasonable, and you actively work towards it, it will happen within the next six months (In-game). You can only have one of these prophecies active. How reasonable it is, is decided by DM fiat.

Blood Oracles in Zorn

    Blood Oracles are typically found in some of the less directly violent Blood Cults of Zorn. As with all magic, it was originally practiced by the Natives of Zorn (something I really need to write a further article on). Increased contact with them and the diminishing sanity of those who stay on Zorn caused a great many to pick up on occult practices such as this.