Laughing Leviathan

College of Hymns Bards who follow the College of Divinity usually head the choirs of their universities and churches, or take up the power of hymnals to help inspire their fellow man down a path of righteousness. Mysteries of Faith When you join the College of Divinity at 3rd level, your healing spells and abilities are infused with divine power. Whenever you would roll a 1 or a 2 for a spell or ability to restore hit points, you reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. Hymn of Soothing Also at 3rd level, your bardic inspiration begins to soothe the soul. Whenever you or a friendly creature uses your bardic inspiration die, they gain temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the die + your Charisma modifier. Psalm of Renewal Beginning at 6th level, whenever you use your Song of Rest feature, you can end either one disease or one condition afflicting you or a single friendly creature who can hear your performance. Conviction of ...

Path of the Warboss The half-orc that chooses the Path of the Warboss is the strongest, and the meanest of his tribe. More than just an exceedingly powerful warrior fueled by a thirst for battle, the Warboss exudes control over the battlefield through sheer might. A Warboss will usually rise to power in his tribe through sheer brute force. Once in position as the leader of a tribe, he holds dominion over all he surveys, and will use a heavy hand against anyone who says or thinks different. Restriction: Half-Orcs Only Only half-orcs can follow the Path of the Warboss. The warboss is a rare title among a unique few orc clans. Your DM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign. Biggest and Baddest Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, your rage surges through your muscles causing you to grow to an immensely terrifying sight. While you are raging, you begin to grow in size and gain the following benefits: Double in all dimensions, and weight ...

Making Your Orc You start at Level 0 Stats -  Roll 3d6 for each. Bonus equals lowest die. Ability Defense equals Bonus+10 Strong :  Brute strength. Used for Attacking. Add to Attack roll with melee weapons.    Sharp :  Skills and cunning. Used for Sneaking and Skills. Add to Attack roll with ranged weapons. Ego :  The right attitude. Used for Talking and Dark Magic. You have 5 HP.  Your Defense equals 10. (Enemies have to roll 10 or higher to hit you) Roll 6d6. Assign dice from left to right. Body Face Tusks Mountainous Intimidating Like two daggers Chiseled from Granite Horrifying Juts forward then up Short and Pudgy Disgusting Oversized Wider than you are Tall Forgettable Undersized Skin's falling off Lopsided Tattoo'd Skin's too tight Cartoonish Capped Hair Markings Attitude Bald None Heated Buzzed Tribe Tattoos Angry Rows Burns Blood...

The Spirit of Primal Fury Some barbarians are able to be so overcome with rage, that connection to magic beyond the physical world is made. This is the way of the Primalist. Through raw emotion and rage, these barbarians are able to call forth powerful magic to aid them and bolster their abilities in battle.   These barbarians learn very few spells, but are able to cast them at full power. Spellcasting When you reach 3rd level, you can channel your emotions to cast spells. See chapter 10 for general rules of spellcasting. Cantrips You know two cantrips of your choice from the druid spell list. When you reach 10th level, you learn an additional cantrip of your choice. Spell Slots The Path of the Primalist table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows that the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. To cast one of your barbarian spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. Spells Know...

Deer Bust Pyramid   by Fenn Schroder Second installment random monsters made by me taking the robust random monster generator from the rpg Maze Rats , roll some up, and stat them for Knave . Monstrosity ensues. Check out the first batch o' beasties here .  Fungctopus  HD 2, AD12, M 6,  smash  1d6 Sentient fungus that usually sport eight-stalks covered in hardened spikes with a variety of muted colors. Above-ground, they look like a cluster of tentacles a few feet a part, but they are all connected to a central body just a foot under the dirt.  Sporespike Shower  - An explosive expulsion of sporespikes shower the area within a medium range, dealing 1d6+1 damage. Creatures hit must succeed a Constitution save, or grow 1d3 fungtopi from the wound 1d6 days later.  WormWood Butterfly HD 3, AD14, M 8, claws  1d3 Clawed, glowing, swarming butterflies that are both poisonous and highly hallucinogenic. Decaying Bite  - La...

War Drums by Sidharth Chaturvedi You are an Orc. A raging death-machine of bone and blood. Nothing matters to you more than the thrill of battle, and the honor you bring to The Warband.  Make Your Orc Level 0. You are a Grunt. You have no name. Stats - Roll 3d6 for each. Bonus equals lowest die. Defense equals Bonus+10 Strong : Brute strength. Used for Fighting and Forcing. Add to Attack roll with melee weapons.    Sharp : Skills and cunning. Used for Sneaking and Thinking. Add to Attack roll with ranged weapons. Ego : The right attitude. Used for Talking and Dark Magic. You have 5 HP.  Roll For Your Weapon on the Junk Weapon Table. Advancement  - To advance to level 1, you have to get your first kill. Beyond that, you require 1000 xp per level. Warband XP is shared and tracked by razing buildings or settlements, and stolen wealth. 50 XP for low-risk accomplishments like villages, 100 XP for moderate-risk accomplishments li...

Inception -  Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment Dawkins aside, the idea of memetic viruses have been effectively used in movies like Inception, or in the second season of FX's television series Legion. In the tabletop rpg space, and the catalyst for this post, there's a great example of a viral-idea in Emmy Allen's Gardens of Ynn ( DTRPG ), where within the garden there lurks The Idea of Thorns , ever threatening to infect adventurers and make its way into our world. I can't help but feel that I've somehow fallen victim to this idea of a mentally-transmitted disease, or shake the feeling that it's more than coincidence that I've run across this idea a number of times in the past week alone. Maybe that's just natural paranoia, but I always feel like it's more fun to attribute it to something far more sinister. This way, at least, we can find a way to gamify and inflict that horror on unsuspecting tabletop gamers. 1d10 Memetic Vir...

An aromatic mix of finely ground tables featuring magically-adjacent items for all flavors of D&D, Knave, or your favorite OSR blend. All of these take up 1 Inventory Slot unless otherwise specified. You can find more fun items here . Books (one use per day) 1.  Book of Cranes . Tear out a sheet and make a Wisdom save. On a success, after 10 minutes you make an animated crane that fits in the palm of your hand and obeys your command. On a 1, the book loses its magic. 2.  Everscroll . It can roll out up to 1d6 pages of blank paper. 3.  Invisible Ink . Ink that can only be seen with red light. 4.  Magic Quill . Name someone and write a message on paper, parchment, or an otherwise dry surface. Only they can read it. 5.  Sheet of Immovable Parchment. Becomes magically fixed in place upon reading the words written on it out loud. Can hold up to 100 lbs. Reading it out loud returns it to normal. The parchment loses its magic if damaged in any w...

Man of Miracles by Lee Rosenblatt There is a raw, formless source of magic that mortals both arcane and divine can both access. Ok, I'll bite. The Weave helps protect the world from the dangers of unrefined magic. Sure . It's ever-present, flowing freely throughout the Planes and their worlds, touching every corner of existence. Cool . It's static and stale and everyone who casts the same spells regardless of time and day and year and location but end up with the same results and spell effects. Nah, I don't buy it.  Picture an ocean as it flows endlessly into the horizon, forever blue. Sometimes it has an overwhelming tranquility, and other times it crashes with a pure and unbridled sense of violence. But if it flows, it also ebbs. Just as the tide rises and falls, and the seasons come and go. As a fundamental feature that ties together and connects all the continents, so too does the Weave as it acts as a cornerstone of all Planes of Existence.   Tha...

This is part 4 of my series where I explore magic in Dungeons & Dragons 5e that manages to be everything but magical. You can read the other posts here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 .  This might be my preachiest, nitpickiest, crotchetiest post in this series. It's also probably the last one in this series, so strap in. As I type this up I'm reminded of a quote from a wise and fictional warlord, "Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence." This is more or less applicable here, too, except we scratch out the word water, and we replace it with another equally important and massively essential factor in survival: shelter .  Immortan Joe by Christopher Flork That's right, I am now picking on those pesky magic spells that provide shelter and safety with no repercussions to millions of adventuring parties around the world. Specifically, the spells  Rope Trick,  Leomund's Tiny Hut, and Morden...

Although these tables were written with for  Knave , they are pretty much OSR compatible. Well, probably compatible with your preferred rules system too. It's not that deep. I just really love the idea of character specialization being done through their equipment and limited inventory space as opposed to special abilities gained upon levelling. I haven't played many role playing games that adopt that kind of advancement, but the one's I have (like Knave ) have been particularly fun.  More General Gear 1. Abacus 2. Bag of Flour ( 2 slots) 3. Ball Bearings 4. Basket 5. Bell 6. Block of Clay 7. Canteen 8. Catnip 9. Chest (2 slots) 10. Empty Pouches (3) 11. Flask 12. Flint & Steel 13. Handkerchief 14. Hourglass 15. Jar of Wax 16. Parchment / Paper (10) 17. Pitons 18. Set of Fancy Clothes 19. Set of Plain Clothes 20. Sledge hammer Martial Equipment 1. Knuckledusters . Brass or iron. Worn on hands 2. ...

This is part 3 of my series where I explore magic in Dungeons & Dragons 5e that manages to be everything but magical. You can read the first and second posts  here  and  here . Today's entry is going to be focused on, in my opinion, the most egregious of the bunch: Counterspell. Although this specific post, well this whole series, really, was more or less inspired by  this Martin O post  over at  Goodberry Monthly , I've had a bone to pick with the Counterspell spell for quite some time now, at least in the way it's presented in 5e.  The Problem What's always bothered me about Counterspell is that it's the most direct form of no-fun, flat-out DENIAL in 5e. An oft repeated DM tip and a staple of improv performance is the idea of "Yes and...", wherein whatever comes up you refrain from saying "No" or denying someone else's input. Instead you find a way to take their input, and either improve upon it, keep it going, or change its...

Where I take the amazingly robust random monster generator from the rpg Maze Rats, roll up some keywords, and stat them for Knave. Monstrosity ensues. Throne Moth  HD 6, AD16, M 6,  bite  2d6 Six-winged behemoths that grow to the size of a small elephant. They can be found on the underside of the floating isles, and only fly near the ground during feeding season. They are so named due to the hardened cocoon they leave behind after its transformation that often bears a striking resemblance to a large and ornate chair or throne. Aggressive Camouflage  - When threatened, it extends its massive wings and rhythmically pulses and twitches in an effort to imitate the infamous six-eyed Vaz-Demon. Beacon Newts  HD 1, AD11, M 9,  bite  1d4-2 Salamanders that come in a variety of vibrant oranges and reds and grow to the size of an ordinary housecat. Harmless, for the most part, they sometimes dig up nega-crystals in search for food along the Malar...