Thief and Ranger, or Specialist?

I did a short series of posts about why adding new classes is not necessary, culminating in adding a new class because I felt that one was necessary. I'm here to contradict myself once more. I guess that makes this part four of that series.

In the second part I zoomed in on a few standout classes, one of which being the Ranger. I alluded to the idea that the Ranger is to the Wilderness as the Thief is to the Dungeon. I stand by this and have come to wonder if the two really do need to be separate classes at all.

If the Ranger is just a different version of the same class as Thief, then I want to avoid the same pitfalls of binary choices that I criticize in the aforementioned series of posts. This won't be an on/off switch where you choose either Thief or Ranger, this will be a more malleable class. In keeping with this, the skills included aren't just for these two archetypes, but for other skill-based character types too.

Some of you will be familiar with the My Thief, My Way! mechanics from the Crawl! 6 fanzine. You'll recognize this as an expanded and modified version of that concept. If not, you should get the Crawl! zines. They're good, all of them.

This post also contains some refined versions of skills from my Ranger, which should perhaps replace the original clunkier versions. Specifically, Called Shot and Set Snare have been streamlined. All of my inclusions are explained at the bottom of the post - if you have questions about why I've done things a certain way, check that section.

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SPECIALIST

Instead of being a standard Thief, a player may instead choose to be a Specialist. At 1st level, a Specialist chooses from the list of Specialist Skills, selecting:

• 4 skills as Primary skills
• 4 skills as Major skills
• 3 skills as Minor skills
• 2 skills as Misc skills

All remaining Specialist Skills are foregone and considered untrained (d10 with no bonus).

Specialists still get the Thief's Luck and Wits ability, but do not have access to Thieves' Cant unless they choose at least 10 of the original Thief skills.

The chosen skills increase in ability as the Specialist levels up. Note that non-magic skills gain a bonus to the roll, while magic skills increase in die size with level - this is to represent the difficulty in learning magical skills, their obscure nature, and the usual restriction of those abilities to Wizards only. This keeps compatibility with Dice Chain Competence.

Standard skill progression:

Level:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+11	+12	+13	+14	+15
Major	+1	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+10	+11	+12	+13
Minor	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9
Misc	+0	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8

Magic skill progression:

Level:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20	d20	d20	d24
Major	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20	d20	d20
Minor	d10	d10	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20
Misc	d10	d10	d10	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20

Specialist Skill List

Backstab: As DCC RPG p. 34

Sneak silently: As DCC RPG p. 35

Hide in shadows: As DCC RPG p. 35

Pick pocket: As DCC RPG p. 35

Climb sheer surfaces: As DCC RPG p. 35

Pick lock: As DCC RPG p. 35

Find trap: As DCC RPG p. 36

Disable trap: As DCC RPG p. 36

Forge document: As DCC RPG p. 36

Disguise self: As DCC RPG p. 36

Read languages: As DCC RPG p. 36

Handle poison: As DCC RPG p. 36

Cast spell from scroll (Magic skill): As DCC RPG p. 36

Called shot (+AGI): Select a desired result from Crit Table II (Thieves) and attack as if the opponent's AC were that many points higher, e.g. achieving result 5 against an AC of 12 requires an attack roll of 17 and any less is a miss.

Navigate (+INT): Applies when travelling to avoid getting lost, or when using the stars to cross seas and deserts. Crossing plains is DC 5, forests or mountains DC 10, swamps and thick jungles DC 15. Travel along a path or road is trivial. Using the stars to find your heading is DC 10 on a clear night, DC 15 on a cloudy night with visible moon, and DC 20 on a cloudy night without visible moon. These DCs are for navigation checks approximately once per day of travel.

Hunt +AGI: Finding and catching a particular insect or tiny animal is DC 5. Hunting small prey to feed one for a day is DC 10. Hunting game to feed the party for a day is DC 15 (up to reasonable party sizes). This takes the better part of a day but can be done while travelling.

Gather +INT: Foraging food to feed one for a day is DC 5. Finding medicinal herbs is DC 10. Finding a rare magical ingredient is DC 20. This takes the better part of a day but can be done while travelling.

Natural medicine +INT: As Cleric's Lay on Hands with adjacent alignments. Requires at least a turn and medical supplies. Healing always requires ingredients previously gathered. Requirements for various ailments are different, as follows:

• Poison: 1 die, medicinal herb
• Paralysis: 2 dice, medicinal herb
• Disease: 2 dice, medicinal herb
• Blindness or deafness: 3 dice, rare magical ingredient
• Organ damage: 3 dice, rare magical ingredient, 1 day's rest
• Broken limbs: 4 dice, rare magical ingredient, a splint, 1 day's rest

Survive +INT: Predicting weather changes is DC 5. Constructing shelter (including instructing the party to assist) with readily available materials is DC 5 to protect from sun, DC 10 to protect from rain and DC 15 to protect from cold. Increase the DC by 10 if materials are not readily available. Finding water in the desert is DC 20.

Track +INT: Following recent tracks is DC 5. Tracking a stealthy creature is DC 15. Following intentionally obscured tracks is DC 20.

Cover tracks +AGI: Covering or brushing over footprints in the ground is generally DC 10. Crossing a river drops the DC by 5, light vegetation increases the DC by 5 and thick vegetation increases the DC by 20. The tracker must make successful a check to follow you, though the DC depends on your success (see Track).

Set snare +INT: Setting a snare requires some basic materials (the Judge should let the player describe how they want to do it). The result of the skill check sets the DC of the save required to avoid the snare. A fumble means the character snares themselves.

Convince +PER/+INT: Reason with a person to get them to work with you, form a partnership, or change their plans, or do something for you. DCs vary greatly depending on personality and relationships, but as a general rule it is easy to convince someone to do something that is genuinely in their best interest and very hard to convince someone to do something that is not. Personality or Intelligence applies depending on whether the argument is logical or emotional in nature.

Sway emotion +PER: Manipulate someone's emotions. Intensifying an existing emotion (e.g. egging on an enraged foe) is generally DC 10, deintensifying an emotion is generally DC 15 (e.g. calming the same enraged foe enough for them to consider talking), and wild swings (from friendly to furious or vice versa) are DC 20 or higher.

Hold attention +PER: Make yourself the most obvious thing in the room. A successful check, usually DC 15, means all eyes are on you and your allies are free to act unnoticed (or at least unresisted). Large crowds can be captivated as easily as small groups or individuals. The only limitation to crowd size is that whatever you are doing to get attention must be visible or audible to the entire group.

Inspire +PER: Morale checks, and also attempts to shake an ally out of debilitating effects such as a magical fear or charm (DC depends on the spell's save DC).

Know lore +INT: Local knowledge is trivial and shouldn't be rolled for. Recalling information about religion, history, current events, or legends is anywhere from a DC 10 for neighboring towns and villages, to DC 20 for distant lands. Information generally only accessible by speaking to sages and wizards could be DC 30+.

Communicate +INT: Convey information to someone without using language, usually by performing gestures or using symbols. The DC depends on the abstrusity of your method of communication.

Acrobatics +AGI: Jump gaps, balance, or swing. The bonus is also applied whenever a saving throw is used to prevent falling or to jump over/duck under a hazard. It also allows for performative flips or tumbles that other adventurers might be untrained in. Crossing difficult or hazardous terrain unhindered is DC 15, and crossing a line of enemies by passing over/under them without provoking an attack of opportunity is DC 20.

Alchemy (Magic skill): As Make Potion, DCC RPG p. 223 with Caster Level equal to your Specialist level. Spellburn is not possible as a non-Wizard.

Artificing (Magic skill): as Sword Magic, DCC RPG p. 229 with Caster Level equal to your Specialist level. Spellburn is not possible as a non-Wizard.

Example Skillsets

Boss (Lawful Thief):

Primary: Hide in shadows, Climb sheer surfaces, Find trap, Disable trap

Major: Backstab, Sneak silently, Pick pocket, Pick lock

Minor: Disguise self, Handle poison, Cast spell from scroll

Misc: Forge document, Read languages

Swindler (Neutral Thief):

Primary: Sneak silently, Pick pocket, Climb sheer surfaces, Forge document

Major: Hide in shadows, Pick lock, Find trap, Disable trap

Minor: Backstab, Read languages, Cast spell from scroll*

Misc: Disguise self, Handle poison

*This puts the Swindler at a slight disadvantage compared to the base game's Neutral Thief. This discrepancy is the reason My Thief, My Way! did away with including the cast from scroll skill entirely. The player is better off choosing to use the original Neutral Thief chart.

Assassin (Chaotic Thief):

Primary: Backstab, Sneak silently, Disguise self, Handle poison

Major: Hide in shadows, Climb sheer surfaces, Pick lock, Find trap

Minor: Pick pocket, Disable tap, Cast spell from scroll

Misc: Forge document, Read languages

Ranger:

Primary: Called shot, Navigate, Hunt, Gather

Major: Sneak silently, Survive, Track, Climb sheer surfaces

Minor: Set snare, Natural medicine, Hide in shadows

Misc: Cover tracks, Handle poison

Bard:

Primary: Hold attention, Inspire, Know lore, Read languages

Major: Convince, Sway emotion, Communicate, Cast spell from scroll

Minor: Disguise self, Acrobatics, Navigate

Misc: Pick Pocket, Sneak silently

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Skill Inclusions Explained

The Thief skills need no explanation.

The Ranger skills come from my Ranger class, with this version applying bonuses the way the Thief does instead of applying a flat bonus across all skills. It also removes favoured wilderness and favoured enemies because in the end, I don't think those are good for the table. They absolutely support the character fantasy, but it has this weird effect of locking the Ranger's effectiveness into places they've already been and making them useless in new and unexpected places - and shouldn't a campaign always be taking us to new and unexpected places?

The revised Called Shot is more elegant and uses existing tables instead of needing to invent a bunch of new ones.

The revised Set Snare removes the "setting your own DC" mechanic and simply succeeds on any roll better than a natural 1, but with variable effectiveness.

Bard skills come from this reddit post which seems to have crossover with Breaker Press's Balladeer, though I haven't actually read the Balladeer. They're tweaked to my liking. Everything in your game should be tweaked to your liking.

Acrobatics comes from BECMI's Mystic.

Alchemy and Artificing are there to allow for Alchemist and Artificer characters - I like those archetypes and creating magical items being accessible to certain specialized non-wizards goes some way toward explaining how potions and magic swords end up in the world. I was this close to just making any magical spell a potentially useable magic skill. What stopped me wasn't the fact it'd be overpowered (I don't think it would, actually) but the risk of diluting the Wizard's or Cleric's identity.

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More skills could definitely be added as you wish, to create more Specialist archetypes. Care should be taken that adding skills does not detract from other classes, and it should be remembered that any class can attempt these activities - Specialists simply get training and bonuses. Consider the difficulty of performing these tasks with a flat d10.

6 months in

Six months ago to the day, I posted my first article and 19 Sided Die was born. It was a post originally written for reddit, almost on a whim, about something I thought was mechanically interesting that I still don't know if I'll ever actually use.

It's interesting to look back on that and see how my style has changed even in half a year. It's developed faster in this time than ever before. Probably because I've never spent so much time writing all this RPG stuff that bounces around my brain down in (what's intended to be) a coherent form. My gaming preferences have shifted, my writing style has developed, and I'm currently playing more RPGs than I have at any point in my life.

When I set out, I had a vague goal of posting every week for an indeterminate time. Once a month passed and I'd accrued about 1,000 page views, I thought it would be neat if I could keep that going for 6 months.

I hit the 6,000 mark just before 5 months.

It's not about the numbers - if it were, that's a wholly unimpressive amount in this age of the internet. All I've done is write regularly and post on one subreddit regularly. I've dabbled in posting elsewhere - it nets more readers, which is nice, but I'm trying to engage with people rather than just catch as many eyes as possible.

What really feels good is that I decided to start doing a regularly scheduled thing and I did.

I've enjoyed the discourse on my comments sections (moreso on reddit than directly here, only because that's the larger platform) and I even seem to have a few regular readers. That's awesome. I've landed on a few blogrolls and noticed a few links coming in from other blogs.

I love that some of my ideas have resonated with others, and the ideas that don't stick have been met with constructive feedback.

I don't really know how to wrap this post up, but I know I don't intend to wrap up 19 Sided Die any time soon.

Vancian Freeform Magic for DCC

Ars Magica is the heavy hitter when it comes to freeform magic in TTRPGs. It's a noun-verb system where you combine one of 5 verbs with one of 8 nouns. This is arguably 40 spells, but while it's generally obvious what "create water" does, it's less clear what "transform body" does and you have a lot of freedom to work within those bounds. Thanks to this openness, the potential effects are essentially endless.

Here is a system by Cyborgs and Sorcerers which takes a similar freeform style and makes it into something Vancian. Essentially, you collect living spells in the form of nouns and verbs, and upon casting you lose the noun and verb you used. It has a much broader variety of nouns and verbs, which makes sense for a Vancian game system. In Ars Magica these are each their own skill, but if you're collecting them like Pokémon as you level up you want variety and specific words rather than a few categories and generalisations. We can take it further - we don't just want "animal", we want "goose".

What I'm beginning to wonder, however, is whether we need to use a noun and a verb at all. We could just do single word spells if we wanted.

You can just Verb the Noun

Say you have the magic Word "fire". The spell encompasses all that fire is - it can be a noun (a flame), a verb (to burn) or an adjective (fiery/on fire). The important thing is that casting a spell has an effect which is, in essence, "fire" in nature. What you couldn't do is "fire" a gun. Because spells aren't in English, homonyms don't translate. Being able to conjure fire doesn't mean you can summon my mixtape.

From here, a way to adjudicate the power of an effect is all you need. If you're familiar enough with DCC's spells, you can come up with numbers as necessary to keep spell power roughly in line with what's already listed at the same spell check result. If you aren't, a reference chart might be handy - maybe I'll make one later. Trust yourself a little on this though - if you're adjudicating Mighty Deed effects, you can adjudicate spell results too.

So, when someone uses "fire" to damage someone, just look up Fireball, and... wait, no, Flaming Hands, maybe? One is a level 3 spell and the other is level 1, so their power levels are very different.

Fireball art from DCC RPG p. 216

Multi Word Casting

"Fire" is a level 1 spell because it uses 1 magic Word. It is adjudicated with effects similar in power to a level 1 spell. Flaming Hands, Magic Missile, hell, just rip the numbers from Chill Touch if the player wants to use it to enchant a weapon with flame. This is fairly simple for damaging spells, and any Word should be able to be used as a combat spell if the player finds a logical way to do so; casting "chair" on someone will cause an unseen force to smash a wooden chair over their back, WWE style.

If you want effects at the level of Fireball or another level 3 spell, you're going to have to use 3 Words to do so. This makes the spell more specific, and more specific spells should be more powerful. As Slight Adjustments put it, "Charm Goose should be more powerful than Charm Animal." (Note: this is also why casters might want specific Words rather than general ones - reward your players for figuring out a use for a stupid Word like "appointment") So to get the classic Fireball in all its glory, a caster might need to use the Words "fire", "throw" and "sphere". It's easier to fail this spell because it's treated as a 3rd level spell, and on a casting result of 11 or lower they lose all Words used in the spell.

10th level Wizards can only cast up to 5th-level spells. No Wizard other than Sezrekan has cast a spell using 6 Words, though the limit is theoretically nonexistent.

Other Effects

So that's hurting people covered, but the actual freeform stuff could be anything! How am I supposed to judge literally everything?

Similar to damaging spells, any spell used to incapacitate can take numbers from Sleep or Paralysis. These are some of the most straightforward ones, but there are spells throughout the book that give examples of moving objects, summoning creatures, detection and scrying, controlling others, healing (Lay on Hands is basically a spell), different forms of movement, raising and lowering ability scores, crafting magic items... I'm sure you can find a rough power level to compare to any effect your player comes up with.

Will it always be balanced? It'll be close enough. On balance: "The DCC RPG has no such rules beyond the generalities of hit dice and dungeon levels." - p. 384. Generalities are the realm within which we are working, here.

Obtaining, Keeping, and Researching Words

The number of spells known is the number of Words a character can keep in their mind at any given time. Wizards keep a Grimoire - Words can be transferred from the Grimoire to the mind through memorization, and when a Word is lost by a failed cast it returns to the Grimoire it was memorized from.

A Wizard can take one day to attract and capture a random Word in their mind, as long as their Grimoire does not reach the limit of words than they can keep memorized. If it does, their mind will not attract new Words. If the Wizard wishes to obtain a specific Word - and it can be any Word - it will be necessary to Quest For It (Judge's discretion).

It then takes the rest of the week to copy the new Word from the mind into the Grimoire. This is a complex art and it's where the real "research" is.

Having multiple Grimoires doesn't circumvent the natural limits - simply having those Words in a Grimoire binds them to the Wizard, even if they aren't currently memorized. Another Wizard's stolen Grimoire is still bound to that Wizard (even beyond death) so the most effective method to increase one's library is often theft.

Alternate Methods

There's some interesting potential here for other caster types. A Sorcerer might have a Word in their blood, which never leaves them even through casting failure, at the cost of one extra slot. A Magician might replace their lost Words with random ones each day - a steady supply without research, but one they need to improvise with.

If this system is used with Clerics too, deities might have a list of Words relevant to their domain which they grant to Clerics.

Invoke Patron

Instead of Patron Bond and Invoke Patron, a Patron has their own magic Word. This is something like a true name - it holds the essence of an individual identity - but it does not grant power over the Patron like a true name would. Instead, the first casting of a spell using the Word "Bobugbubilz" would act as casting Patron Bond (Bobugbubilz) and subsequent uses would act as casting Invoke Patron (Bobugbubilz). Note: this doesn't preclude the caster from using the Word to bond another person to the patron; since the system is freeform, one Word can be used for both of these effects.

Invocation of Patrons can be combined with other magic, allowing the Patron and Wizard to cast a combined spell together.

As with Invoke Patron, spellburn is mandatory to use a Patron's Word. When a Patron's Word is lost due to a failed cast, the Patron will return it to the Wizard the next day - provided the Wizard is holding up their end of the deal. Patron taint also applies.

Misfire and Corruption

When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word is relevant to misfire or corruption (where applicable).

Misfire: roll 1d3 (1) the spell takes effect, but it is a hindrance rather than a help (2) the spell takes effect as if the magic Word was its opposite, e.g. you cast "ice" instead of "fire" (3) generic misfire table

Corruption: Other than the corruption tables, the corruption should be relevant to the Word. Roll 1d6, +1d per additional Word (1-2) permanent purely cosmetic transformation (3-4) transformation causing minor hindrance or annoyance (5) minor corruption (6) major corruption (7) transformation with penalty to use of limb or a sense (8-10) greater corruption

Mercurial Magic

Each Word has its own Mercurial Magic. When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word's Mercurial Magic takes effect for the casting.

Runic Magic

The runic alphabets are made up of symbols that are able to attract Words into the symbol itself and instruct the Word for the casting of the spell. Differences in script account for why one language's Ward and another's function in different ways, though the consistency of runic magic makes it a useful tool. Any magical rune known to the caster can be inscribed using a Word like "writing". Combining "writing" with another word can inscribe runes the caster does not know, which is in itself a useful tool for learning new runes. Unless specified (perhaps requiring another Word), the rune will be in an unknown language.

Scrolls

The effect of a scroll is pre-determined when the scroll is created - a scroll intended to throw a fireball will always throw a fireball. The spell check result, however, is not necessarily predetermined, so all power levels (including failure and worse) are possible.

Example Word List

The noun and verb lists in the Cyborgs and Sorcerers post are very good, but just for completeness here's another you could use. It's very easy to make your own. I made this by skimming through the DCC spell list, in no particular order, and playing word-association until I hit 100. I recommend trying it yourself and populating your world with magic Words you find interesting or thematically fitting. I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to come up with a lot of useable words of your own - you're more likely to want to trim your list down than to not have enough.

1. Animal
2. Beast
3. Horse
4. Goose
5. Light
6. Sound
7. Dark
8. Dazzle
9. Flash
10. Charm
11. Friend
12. Mind
13. Person
14. Human
15. Demihuman
16. Cold
17. Touch
18. Death
19. Smoke
20. Gas
21. Poison
22. Cloud
23. Mist
24. Color
25. Bright
26. Read
27. Write
28. Understand
29. Language
30. Detect
31. Perceive
32. See
33. Hear
34. Feather
35. Weight
36. Fall
37. Familiar
38. Bond
39. Fire
40. Ice
41. Lightning
42. Water
43. Earth
44. Air
45. Force
46. Motion
47. Mend
48. Break
49. Flight
50. Levitate
51. Rope
52. Bind
53. Climb
54. Sleep
55. Paralyze
56. Immobile
57. Stone
58. Ward
59. Door
60. Portal
61. Teleport
62. Evil
63. Good
64. Law
65. Chaos
66. Neutrality
67. Extrasensory
68. Telepathy
69. Resist
70. Invisible
71. Memory
72. Open
73. Shut
74. Find
75. Search
76. Monster
77. Summon
78. Porcupine
79. Ghost
80. Phantom
81. Illusion
82. Weak
83. Strength
84. Agility
85. Stamina
86. Intelligence
87. Personality
88. Luck
89. Plane
90. Demon
91. Dragon
92. Transform
93. Replicate
94. Food
95. Speed
96. Fungus
97. Missile
98. Mirror
99. Sphere
100. Large

Charger

A creature inspired by the Monster Extractor I.

The Charger is a large, shaggy-furred black goat. Its great horns are known to contain a powerful energy. They are mischievous and tend to live in large herds. Chargers are farmed not only for their meat, milk, and furs, but their horns are also believed to have medicinal properties. This is largely false - their horns have uses, though this is well beyond the ken of your average goat farmer.

AI generated, I am not an artist.

Initiative: +0;
Attack: ram +1 melee (1d6);
AC: 20; HD: 2d8+2 (12 HP);
Movement: 30', Action Dice: 1d20;
Special: quantum, recharge, electrodes;
Alignment: Chaotic;

Saves: Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0;

Quantum: Can seemingly teleport when nobody is looking (as can all goats, they just choose not to).

Recharge: Electrical damage to the Charger is nullified and instead charges its Electrodes ability.

Electrodes: Its horns channel electricity, which violently discharges if the Charger can connect both its horns with a conductor. They seem to get enjoyment out of this, and will mischievously headbutt the sword at a traveler's hip simply for the sake of setting off a loud bang. This knocks the target prone, knocks the weapon to the ground (5' away), deals 1d6 electrical damage, and if the damage roll is a 6, lights the target's clothing on fire (if applicable). They must use an action smothering the fire or disrobing, else they begin taking fire damage the next Round.

The Charger can do this once, then must spend a few minutes rubbing its hooves on the ground to build up static charge (as one can with shoes on a carpet) before it can discharge again. If the Charger has charged horns and lands a critical hit, it will always have this effect, directly shocking the person if they aren't carrying anything conductive. If they aren't charged, they roll on the critical table as usual.

Chargers are not particularly aggressive if unprovoked, and indeed do not usually intend to seriously harm their victim. It is rare that anyone is killed by their shock, though it is still inadvisable to carry a sword or wear armor near a herd. If there are multiple targets with conductive items, Chargers will choose the toughest-looking one to harass (prioritize high-HP PC's). If someone drops their sword due to a Charger's jolt, the rest of the herd might work together to keep it away from its owner, launching it up to 30' at a time using their discharge.

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Encounter suggestions:

• A herd of Chargers on a farm, where the players can't simply kill the livestock without getting into trouble. Getting their sword back is kind of a puzzle, but more of a prank than a dangerous encounter. I'm sure your players will love being outsmarted by a bunch of goats.
• As a familiar to an electromancer, who can recharge it.
• Being used as a warbeast by some goblins. It will take the Warrior out of action at the start of battle.
• Ne'er-do-wells making them fight each other with metal collars attached to see which one can shock the other first. Very cruel, will probably make the players start a fight to protect the animals.

Immortal Spheres of Power

Lately I've been fascinated by BECMI's Immortals rules. Not necessarily all the number-crunchy and crazy dimensional stuff that's in the Immortals set, but even what's in the Master set (and made it into the Rules Cyclopedia). It seems to be intended to serve as a capstone to progression, which makes it kind of fitting that it's so absurdly high level that I can find very little evidence anyone actually played it.

Immortals as depicted in the Rules Cyclopedia.

It's almost like an official release of game mechanics for the cosmic-level world building that many of us Game Masters do in our spare time, but which never actually hits the table for the players. While reading, I found myself thinking about the fundamental forces of my own world and the beings that embody them. I like to do this kind of world building simply for its own sake (it's fun!), and in doing so it feels like I'm giving my world a sense of consistency. If I know how it all works, in theory I'll make more consistent rulings and improvise better.

"Avoid an overly structured approach to the planes. Further, to the extent that there is structure, avoid giving the characters (and players) too much knowledge of that structure." - DCC RPG, p. 309

Oops. Perhaps I have foregone the first part already, because I just can't stop myself from thinking about how the world fits together and what keeps it turning. The second part, however, about player knowledge, is relevant here. Playing as Immortals in BECMI necessitates that the players come to know a whole bunch of stuff about how the higher powers of the cosmos work on a fundamental level.

I could just use those ideas and not fully explain it at the table, right? Play it out in the background as part of my prep, but keep it a mystery for the players. Maybe Patrons or Deities are something like an Immortal. Maybe they aren't - Immortals could just be one piece of the puzzle while leaving Gods unexplained. Perhaps Immortals are just a subset of godlike beings that a mortal can become, and when the players have a run-in with one it's as alien and incomprehensible as everything else I throw at them.

The players only learn the parts their characters learn, which is to say, not much.

All of this is more related to the setting than to anything mechanical. I don't think mechanics for this are particularly necessary. As mentioned before, few people seem to have ever played through to Immortality as intended. Furthermore, the way Paths are prescribed clashes a little with DCC's open-ended "Quest For It" philosophy. I think the Path to Immortality is better served by figuring out what to do next if and when my players ever reach 10th level. If I ever run it, it'll be personal to the character(s).

After achieving immortality and gaining crazy dimensional powers, they'll either have to retire from play like in Master/RC, or we'll basically be playing a whole new cosmic superheroes game that isn't DCC any more. Instead, their reward can be becoming a Patron/Deity for future PCs.

What I can do now, however, is look at how such a concept fits into my world. How the Spheres of Power (essentially the factions/classes of Immortals) tie in with the established fundamental forces of the universe - Law, Chaos, and Neutrality - and which domains are associated with them. I can tie groups of concepts together underneath these umbrellas to create a set of loosely related trichotomies analogous to Alignments. Then, I can create beings who serve these Spheres which used to be mortals and resemble Gods. Interaction between these domains and groups of concepts is another inspiration I can use to generate characters, events, and themes in my world.

∗ ∗ ∗

Spheres of Power

Those of you familiar with the Immortals rules (all two of you) might have raised an eyebrow when I said "trichotomies". There are five Spheres, not three, so why would things be in sets of three? The Spheres are are Matter, Time, Energy, Thought and Entropy.

I'm going to cut the last two. Matter, Time, and Energy are all cosmic concepts that inarguably physically exist, and the trio encompasses everything in the cosmos. Thought and Entropy are more complex phenomena that arise from the other three. They have a place in this model, but not as their own Sphere of Power. Furthermore, Entropy being the odd one out which players couldn't enter sort of made it feel like it exists to be the "bad guy" for the playable Spheres to fight rather than naturally fitting into the model. I guess from a gameplay perspective that made sense - a disparate party of Immortal PCs would always be able to unite against Entropy - but it's a bit too Good vs Evil for my liking.

So our Spheres of Power are Matter, Time, and Energy. They each fight for dominance, but no one Sphere can be destroyed without bringing the whole system down. This fits neatly with my views on Alignment.

Matter	Time	Energy
Purpose
The Sphere of Matter brings form to the multiverse. Without matter, there is nothing.	The Sphere of Time brings change to the multiverse. Without time, nothing moves.	The Sphere of Energy brings action to the multiverse. Without energy, nothing happens.
Conflict
Matter opposes Time by resisting change and motion.	Time opposes Energy by causing it to spread and decay.	Energy opposes Matter by destroying it or altering its form.
Alignment & Tendency*
Matter is aligned with Law, working toward order and structure. It has a tendency toward syntropy as it organizes the multiverse.	Time is aligned with Neutrality, creating cycles and prolonging existence. It has a tendency toward negentropy, bringing order through controlled disorder.	Energy is aligned with Chaos, bringing greater activity and conflict. It has a tendency toward entropy, bringing the world toward a disorganized state.
Eventual Doom
If left unchecked, the forces of Matter would bring the multiverse to a perfectly ordered and structured stasis with no variance. While Energy exists, this stasis can be disrupted.	If left unchecked, the forces of Time would leave the multiverse caught in an eternal cycle of repeating conflict. One could argue that, by the continued existence of the other Spheres, Time is winning and this Doom is the eternal state of the multiverse.	If left unchecked, the forces of Energy would bend all that exists to its will before destroying it. Ironically, its entropic nature would eventually empower Matter by creating uniformity.
Elemental Affinity**
Matter has an affinity for the low-energy element of ice and is associated with solid form, rigid and unbreaking.	Time has an affinity for the differential energy of lightning and is associated with liquid form, both of which flow along a determined path.	Energy has an affinity for the high-energy element of fire and is associated with gaseous form, diffusing and moving quickly and unrestrained.
Constituents of Life
Matter provides form so that life may have a body.	Time allows for the mind to organise information and give thought.	Energy is the pure material that comprises the soul.
Favored Class*
The Sphere of Matter favors the Warrior class and views Fortitude as a virtue.	The Sphere of Time favors the Thief class and respects those with the Reflex to act immediately.	The Sphere of Energy favors the Wizard class and wants to bend the world to its Will.
Civilization
Matter prefers a fair and just society.	All empires fall. Time favors nature over civilization.	Energy not only prefers but empowers tyranny.

* all Alignments and Classes are represented in each Sphere, but one is clearly dominant in each
** the three elements of fire, ice and lightning are a separate category than the four elements of air, water, earth and fire

∗ ∗ ∗

Any one of the emboldened words above can be represented as a faction within the world, or the domain of a Deity or Patron of the relevant Alignment. Any column functions as a list of associated symbology, and any three horizontally grouped words could make for an interesting three-point conflict or cycle. You can also take one word randomly from any two columns and have a reason for why those two things might be in conflict (tensions between the Patron-Saint of Differential Energies and the Lord of Gas? That's a starting point for the Neon Wars).

Below are abbreviated lists for reference.

∗ ∗ ∗

Trichotomies abbreviated:

• Matter/Time/Energy
• Form/Change/Action
• Resistance/Decay/Alteration
• Law/Neutrality/Chaos
• Syntropy/Negentropy/Entropy
• Stasis/Repetition/Destruction
• Low-energy/Differential energy/High-energy
• Ice/Lightning/Fire
• Solid/Liquid/Gaseous
• Rigid/Flow/Diffusing
• Unbreaking/Determined path/Unrestrained
• Body/Mind/Soul
• Warrior/Thief/Mage
• Fortitude/Reflex/Willpower
• Justice/Nature/Tyranny

Associations abbreviated:

Matter: form, resistance, Law, syntropy, stasis, low-energy, ice, solid, rigid, unbreaking, the body, warriors, fortitude, justice

Time: change, decay, Neutrality, negentropy, repetition, differential energy, lightning, liquid, flow, determined path, the mind, thieves, reflex, nature

Energy: action, alteration, Chaos, entropy, destruction, high-energy, fire, gaseous, diffusing, unrestrained, the soul, Mages, willpower, tyranny

Note: "change" and "alteration" sound like the same thing, but think about the different between the unguided changing of the natural world and the forcing of change upon it by another agent. "Changing" versus "being altered". Altering Matter is how Energy opposes it.

Beastfolk Concept

There are plenty of animal-human hybrid beast races out there - Minotaurs, Lizardmen, Kenku, Satyrs and Mole-men are all available for DCC. There's probably a ton more I haven't seen. The Big RPG has a whole bunch of them and so do many CRPGs.

About a decade ago I was super into Dwarf Fortress, and something that has stuck with me from that game is its approach to animal people (and werecreatures, too). I think what made it stand out was an early encounter with a rhesus macaque man in adventurer mode. It's just so oddly specific. From then on, whenever I see a setting with beastfolk in it, I can't help but wonder why there are Tabaxi but there aren't any anteaterfolk or gerenuk-men.

Of course, it's just as valid to ask why the real world has ape-men and no other playable races - but in a fantasy world with animal-human hybrids, I like the idea that it isn't restricted to cats, lizards, some specific birds, and whichever other few animals have been chosen for the setting. That is a lot of different classes, so I've always wanted some sort of framework for creating beastfolk of all types.

This class is an attempt at this. I'm not entirely happy with it, so let's call it a concept or a work-in-progress.  It's also totally untested.

Design Points

• Able to apply any animal species to the class, from dog men to cuttlefish men to centipede men, allowing for some weird races without having to create hyper-specific exceptions.
• Modular design to create varied abilities based on animal species. This will be prioritized over balance, and because "pick and choose" style character creation feels out of place in DCC the character will get all relevant abilities at the risk of being overloaded. Nature isn't balanced and I don't want to just turn this into a point-buy system.
• In order to not become "pick and choose" it helps to be clear and objective which animals get which abilities. All animals that can fly in real life get the flight ability, for instance.
• Limited to humanoid characters - centaurs and mermaids are outside the scope of this and a "worm man" is still going to need to have arms and "walk" upright. They can be wormy arms though.

∗ ∗ ∗

BEASTFOLK

You are an animalistic humanoid, part of only a small population of your kind, hailing from what humans would consider a savage tribal group. You are intelligent as a human or demihuman, though you're often not treated as such. There are few of your people among civilization for this very reason, and sometimes your kind are even enslaved or otherwise mistreated. Much like the animal with whom you are kin, life is often more about survival than anything else.

AI generated, I am not an artist.

Beastfolk origins are as varied as the animal kingdom itself. Some have occurred through natural evolution, some are fae, while some were human families cursed that their descendants would take on animal form. Or worse - animals cursed with humanity! Even two of the same animal-kin may be of different origins. Some frogfolk are polymorphed princes, while some are just civilized swampdwellers.

Beastfolk personality and society tends to retain prominent traits of the animals they came from, and it is advised that both Judges and players take this into consideration when designing and roleplaying their worlds and characters. Catfolk are likely to be solitary wanderers, while antfolk tend to form colonies under a queen. Egg-layers will have different norms to mammals, as will those with large litters instead of singletons. All beastfolk (excepting perhaps dogfolk) express themselves differently to humans and thus misunderstandings of mannerisms and body language are common.

Animal-kin: You are kinfolk of a species of animal. Your appearance is similar to that of your kinfolk and your class abilities are primarily determined by the species you are derived from. I recommend randomly selecting an animal from a very long list, though your Judge may have limitations or allowances for choosing your own. Daniel J Bishop's Cyclopedia of Common Animals is hard to beat, though there are other free resources readily available and a table of plenty of examples at the end of this post.

Hit Dice: Beastfolk have a base Hit Die of d10 but read on, as other abilities modify this.

Movement: Your human-like form gives you a human-like 30' of movement speed unless you are small (see "Size" below). Furthermore, certain species have access to the following unusual movement types:

• Flight: Winged beastfolk have a fly speed equal to their movement speed, but a -2d penalty to their Hit Dice due to their lighter morphology.
• Swimming: Beastfolk that are amphibious or at least partially aquatic (frogs and axolotls, but also hippos and seabirds) have 45' swim speed and only take 1d3 Stamina damage per round from drowning (down from 1d6).
• Climbing: Beastfolk with the ability to grip surfaces such as insectoid or gecko men can Climb sheer surface as a Neutral Thief, and even ceilings with +5 to the DC. Penalty of -1d to Hit Dice.
• Burrowing: Burrowing beastfolk (such as rabbit, mole, or worm men) have a burrowing speed of 5', but digging for more than a couple of minutes is exhausting such that sustained digging over long distances isn't any more efficient than for humans with proper equipment*. Burrowing beastfolk know how to safely dig structures that won't easily collapse. Covering the open tunnel behind them so they can't simply be followed takes a Round.

*In practice, this means that beastfolk can burrow 5' during a combat Round but can't simply dig 300' in an exploration Turn.

Alignment: Nature tends toward a Neutral alignment, which is certainly most common among beastfolk. Herbivores and social animals are slightly more likely to be Lawful,  while carnivores and solitary animals are slightly more likely to be Chaotic.

Weapon Training: Beastfolk are trained in the following weapons: blowgun, club, dagger, dart, handaxe, javelin, polearm, shortbow, shortsword, sling, spear, staff.

Size: Creatures that are small as a frog, mouse or sparrow (or smaller) produce beastfolk that are 2-4' tall like a Halfling, with a 20' base movement speed. Creatures that are great like a polar bear, elephant, or even a horse produce beastfolk that are 6-8' tall, with a +1d adjustment to Hit Dice.

Fightin' Dirty: A beastfolk can use any of these attacks that are applicable to his species. Beastfolk can use one of these attacks and their weapon in the same turn as if they were two-weapon-fighting with an Agility of 18 if using a one-handed weapon, or Agility of 16 if using a two-handed weapon. Rolling a 16 counts as a critical and automatic hit only for the Fightin' Dirty attack; weapon attacks follow the standard critical rules.

• Bite: 1d6
• Claw: 1d8
• Gore/Ram: 2d4, this is free if charging greater than movement distance (can dash and gore)
• Projectile: Ranged (10'/20'/30'), as venom if toxic (spitting cobra), 1d4 if acidic or explosive (bombardier beetle, pistol shrimp), or forces a morale check if simply repulsive (camel, skunk). Costs 1 Stamina.
• Venom: As most relevant of these poisons from Appendix P: asp, black widow, jellyfish, scorpion, wasp. Costs 1 Stamina.
• Vice Grip: Grapple using mandibles, claws, or by constricting. 1d3 damage.

Infravision: All beastfolk can see up to 30' in the dark.

Camouflage: Beastfolk with camouflage patterns or the ability to color change can hide as if using Hide in shadows as a Neutral Thief. Instead of requiring darkness to hide in, they must be in the right environment. Alligator men hide in murky water while chameleon men can hide almost anywhere as long as they don't move. 

Extra Appendages: Species with extra limbs such as ants have an extra pair of arms. Animals with tentacles still have one pair of arms, but tentacles in addition to arms. This allows more items to be held or extra weapons to be drawn but does not allow extra attacks per Round. Only one shield contributes to AC.

Carapace: Species with a shell or exoskeleton have +1 to their AC, even while wearing armor.

Spiny: Creatures with spines such as porcupines have +1 to AC and deal 1d3 damage to melee attackers who fail a DC10 Ref save*. However, they are often unable to wear armor and even correctly fitted armor nullifies the effect.

*as permanent Nythuul's Porcupine Coat with a casting result of 16-19, per DCC RPG p. 186

Languages: You can speak Common and the language of your kin. As an optional rule (though this will introduce roleplaying difficulties) beastfolk with an Intelligence of 5 or less only know their animal language.

Luck: Beastfolk add their Luck modifier to their Fightin' Dirty attack roll.

Table BF-1: Herbivores

Level	Attack	Crit	Act Dice	Ref	Fort	Will
1	+1	1d6/II	1d20	+1	+1	+1
2	+1	1d8/II	1d20	+1	+1	+1
3	+2	1d8/II	1d20	+2	+1	+1
4	+2	1d10/II	1d20	+2	+2	+2
5	+3	1d10/II	1d20	+3	+2	+2
6	+3	1d12/II	1d20+1d14	+4	+2	+2
7	+4	1d12/II	1d20+1d16	+4	+3	+3
8	+4	1d14/II	1d20+1d20	+5	+3	+3
9	+5	1d14/II	1d20+1d20	+5	+3	+3
10	+5	1d16/II	1d20+1d20	+6	+4	+4

Table BF-2: Omnivores

Level	Attack	Crit	Act Dice	Ref	Fort	Will
1	+0	1d8/III	1d20	+1	+1	+1
2	+1	1d8/III	1d20	+1	+1	+1
3	+2	1d10/III	1d20	+1	+2	+1
4	+2	1d10/III	1d20	+2	+2	+2
5	+3	1d12/III	1d20	+2	+3	+2
6	+4	1d12/III	1d20+1d14	+2	+4	+2
7	+5	1d14/III	1d20+1d16	+3	+4	+3
8	+5	1d14/III	1d20+1d20	+3	+5	+3
9	+6	1d16/III	1d20+1d20	+3	+5	+3
10	+7	1d16/III	1d20+1d20	+4	+6	+4

Table BF-3: Carnivores

Level	Attack	Crit	Act Dice	Ref	Fort	Will
1	+1	1d8/III	1d20	+1	+1	+1
2	+2	1d10/III	1d20	+1	+1	+1
3	+2	1d12/III	1d20	+1	+1	+2
4	+3	1d14/III	1d20	+2	+2	+2
5	+4	1d14/IV	1d20	+2	+2	+3
6	+5	1d16/IV	1d20+1d14	+2	+2	+4
7	+5	1d20/IV	1d20+1d16	+3	+3	+4
8	+6	1d20/V	1d20+1d20	+3	+3	+5
9	+7	1d24/V	1d20+1d20	+3	+3	+5
10	+8	1d30/V	1d20+1d20	+4	+4	+6

∗ ∗ ∗

Example Animal-kin

d50	Kin Species	Hit Die	Size	Walking	Flying	Swimming	Climbing	Burrowing	Fightin' Dirty Attacks	Camouflage	+Appendages	Carapace	Spiny
1	Alligator	d12	L	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite, Vice Grip	Yes	No	Yes	No
2	Ant	d10	S	20'	No	No	No	Yes	Bite, Venom (scorpion), Vice Grip	No	Yes	Yes	No
3	Anteater	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
4	Axolotl	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
5	Bear	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
6	Bombardier Beetle	d6	S	20'	Yes	No	Yes	No	Bite, Projectile (explosive)	No	Yes	Yes	No
7	Camel	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Projectile (repulsive)	No	No	No	No
8	Capybara	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
9	Cat	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
10	Centipede	d8	M	30'	No	No	Yes	No	Bite, Venom (scorpion)	No	Yes	Yes	No
11	Chameleon	d8	S	20'	No	No	Yes	No	Bite	Yes	No	No	No
12	Cod	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
13	Cow (Minotaur)	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Gore	No	No	No	No
14	Crab	d10	S	20'	No	Yes	No	Yes	Bite, Vice Grip	No	Yes	Yes	No
15	Crow	d7	M	30'	Yes	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
16	Cuttlefish	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite	Yes	Yes	No	No
17	Dog	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
18	Elephant	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Gore	No	No	No	No
19	Frog	d8	S	20'	No	Yes	Yes	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
20	Gecko	d8	S	20'	No	No	Yes	No	Bite	Yes	No	No	No
21	Gerenuk	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Gore (males)	No	No	No	No
22	Goat	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Gore	No	No	No	No
23	Hawk	d7	M	30'	Yes	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
24	Hippo	d12	L	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite	Yes	No	No	No
25	Horse	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
d50	Kin Species	Hit Die	Size	Walking	Flying	Swimming	Climbing	Burrowing	Fightin' Dirty Attacks	Camouflage	+Appendages	Carapace	Spiny
26	Jellyfish	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite, Venom (jellyfish)	No	Yes	No	No
27	Lion	d12	L	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
28	Lizard	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
29	Mantis	d6	S	20'	Yes	No	Yes	No	Bite, Vice Grip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
30	Mole	d10	S	20'	No	No	No	Yes	Bite	No	No	No	No
31	Mouse	d10	S	20'	No	No	No	Yes	Bite	No	No	No	No
32	Octopus	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Venom (jellyfish)	No	Yes	No	No
33	Pelican	d7	M	30'	Yes	Yes	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
34	Pistol Shrimp	d10	S	20'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite, Projectile (explosive)	No	Yes	Yes	No
35	Platypus	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	Yes	Bite, Venom (wasp)	No	No	No	No
36	Porcupine	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	Yes
37	Python	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Vice Grip	No	No	No	No
38	Rabbit	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	Yes	Bite	No	No	No	No
39	Raccoon	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Claw	No	No	No	No
40	Rhesus Macaque	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
41	Scorpion	d10	S	20'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Venom (scorpion)	No	Yes	Yes	No
42	Skunk	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Projectile (repulsive)	No	No	No	No
43	Snake	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Venom (asp), Vice Grip	No	No	No	No
44	Sparrow	d7	S	20'	Yes	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
45	Spider	d8	S	20'	No	No	Yes	No	Bite, Venom (black widow)	No	Yes	Yes	No
46	Spitting Cobra	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite, Projectile (Venom (asp))	No	No	No	No
47	Squirrel	d10	M	30'	No	No	No	No	Bite	No	No	No	No
48	Turtle	d10	M	30'	No	Yes	No	No	Bite	No	No	Yes	No
49	Wasp	d6	S	20'	Yes	No	Yes	No	Bite, Venom (wasp)	No	Yes	Yes	No
50	Worm	d10	S	20'	No	No	No	Yes	None	No	No	No	No

Splitting Race and Occupation

d10	Race
1-7	Human
8	Dwarf
9	Elf
10	Halfling

Well, that was easy. See you next week!

∗ ∗ ∗

Of course there's more to it than that. While DCC's default Occupation table provides a great spread of peasants and bundles race in neatly, sometimes it becomes necessary to separate the two. Using default tables, obviously any homebrewed or additional races will not be accounted for, and any alternative Occupation tables (such as the one I made for prisoners) need to choose between bundling the default demihuman races (thus limiting the setting) in or not providing for race at all (thus not allowing all the standard possibilities without some other system).

Using the table at the top of the article, you can determine race with the same probabilities as in the core rules. You can then roll on the Occupation table and ignore the race entirely - it isn't actually a problem if you get human haberdashers, halfling falconers, or dwarven gongfarmers. This is a quick and dirty solution, but if you want to give each race its own unique flavour it becomes necessary to provide an Occupation table for each race. I've seen a lot of homebrew races come with these tables anyway, and for ones that don't you really only need a table of 6, 8 or 10 results.

Why would you need to do this? Mostly so that you can fit custom races in and make them playable in a funnel using the same random generation method you would for a standard setting. I personally like the way races are distributed at random in DCC, giving a mostly human population and making the dwarves and elves feel more special. If the Judge wants to include a new race, it's a little at odds with the rest of the game for players to simply choose to be this one rare, unique race.

Here's an example of a table with custom races.

d%	Race
1-75	Human
75-79	Dwarf
80-84	Elf
85-89	Halfling
90-94	Gnome
95	Minotaur
96	Kenku
97	Lizardman
98	Bearfolk
99	Android
100	Dragon

I'm not quite happy with that, though. I'd probably condense the list into subgroups, both to make it compact and also to easily be able to edit the available races while maintaining proportionate amounts of demihuman and weirder races. Here we have a neat 75% humans, 19% demihumans, 4% beastfolk and 2% exotic, and this will remain true no matter how many weird races I slot into the exotic category. It's unusual for any one of those to show up in an adventuring party, let alone multiple. The intent is to make the funnels where these appear memorable.

d%	Race
1-75	Human
76-94	Demihuman, d4: (1) Dwarf, (2) Elf, (3) Halfling, (4) Gnome
95-98	Beastfolk, d4: (1) Minotaur, (2) Kenku, (3) Lizardman, (4) Bearfolk
99-100	Exotic, d3: (1) Android, (2) Dragon, (3) Ooze

The Ooze wouldn't neatly fit on the previous table because it would make exotic races more common if it took up a whole other percentage point - a demonstration of how unusual races can easily be slotted in without disrupting the population.

For any cases where it matters, you can slot in a race-specific custom Occupation table. It might not matter if you have a bearfolk turnip farmer, but a dragon turnip farmer is going to turn some heads.

Non-binary Neutral Cleric Lay On Hands

As a Cleric in DCC, your Lay on Hands effectiveness is dictated in large part by your Alignment vs the Alignment of the recipient. It's one of the few times Alignment is mechanically relevant, and I'm a fan of it. I'm also a big fan of the many-faceted Neutral Alignment, which for the most part misses out on this mechanic. Nobody is opposed to Neutral, meaning Neutral Clerics are at least moderately effective at healing literally anyone. Not only that, but Disapproval does not occur when healing any Alignment, which is the most mechanically significant part of a Cleric's relationship with their God.

This also means that Neutral Cleric is objectively the best choice - objectively better character options being something I've mentioned I am not a fan of before. You can heal anyone and there are only two possible match-ups, the results of which amount to "good" or "great". The "bad" possibility is just gone.

Neutral Clerics still have the ability to Turn Unholy, so there must be beings out there that are opposed to your God. This should be true for any God that stands for literally anything - hell, even if they don't. The truest of Neutral characters will still have enemies.

"What makes a man turn Neutral?"

I'm not really breaking any ground here, but I would suggest that Neutral Clerics still have to treat characters as Opposed Alignment if they are someone their God would consider sinful, or that person's actions are antithetical to their God's goals. A druidic Cleric of nature can, by the book, Turn Unholy against demons; that alone makes a lot of Wizards troublesome to deal with even if the Wizard is Lawful or Neutral. Would your God who turns demons want you to aid someone who bargains with a demon prince?

It's essentially the same philosophy espoused on p. 108 of the core book, where the author suggests discouraging Clerics from attempting to heal spellburn damage.

A Cleric might find their God sending an omen of disapproval after healing a passing traveler with a wound they refuse to talk about. This could be the hint that leads to the discovery that the man was in fact a werecreature, recently out of a run-in with a therianthrope hunter.

Your Cleric and Wizard could find themselves at odds once the Wizard starts delving into necromancy - while there may have been no qualms with the Patron, undeath is too great a sin for your God to simply ignore.

If your Turn Unholy includes animals or monstrous creatures as the rules suggest, this might stretch so far as to include animal-folk or races considered "monstrous" like orcs.

Just try to play up the relationship with their God and the required devotion to their goals. After all, without them a Cleric is nothing, and I think the Cleric-deity dynamic is what makes an interesting Cleric. Disapproval as a mechanic is a strong motivator and a great story engine while not actually being overly punishing most of the time.

Aussie Monsters: The Bunyip

A version of the bunyip for D&D has existed since the Fiend Folio was published in 1981. This is not that bunyip. If you want that bunyip, Daniel J Bishop did a fantastic job of converting it for DCC.

Instead, I went seeking inspiration in fairytales of old and early accounts of bunyips.

As depicted in Andrew Lang's (problematically-titled) The Brown Fairy Book (1904).

In Australian Folklore

Accounts vary wildly, and it seems that the only thing people can agree on is that it's some kind of water-dwelling monster and it'll get you if you're not careful. It's commonly described as seal-like, but it has also been described as like a great starfish, an immense platypus, and many now believe it may have been a diprotodon (prehistoric giant wombats - we have fossils of these!).

I personally believe that the deep, growling mating call of the koala helped inspire these stories of swamp monsters. Go listen to it and tell me that doesn't sound like a lurking beast!

One account I found particularly interesting was this description from an article published in 1845:

The Bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and of an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill, at the extremity of which is a transverse projection on each side, with serrated edges like the bone of the stingray. Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength.

Along with the account of this particular bunyip having killed a woman and the man claiming his scars were from a bunyip, this one kind of sounds like a cassowary... Well, until you count the number of legs, I guess. And indeed, some believe that "bunyip" may have been an ancient word for the cassowary bird, infamous for its powerful kicks and aggressive nature.

We may never know what a bunyip looks like, though every Australian has heard of them. Many of us have even seen Bertha down by the Murray River, but as it happens, she might actually be a mulyewonk.

The mulyewonk might also be a kind of bunyip, but the origins of both are murky as the waters they lurk.

The bunyip from the tale in The Brown Fairy Book sets a curse upon a tribe after their hunters catch its cub while fishing and refuse to return it. The "mother bear" trope is something I previously hadn't ever ascribed to the bunyip, so I found it quite interesting to see here. I decided to lean into that. Everything contained within the stat blocks below is inspired by this particular tale.

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Bunyip

The bunyip is a swamp-dwelling beast resembling a gigantic hairy seal with a wide bill. It walks upon four stout legs but rarely leaves the water, where it is fastest and can hide easily. They are most often found solitary, potentially with 1-3 cubs, but in rare cases have been known to travel in mating pairs. Its cubs are the size of a large dog and can grow as large as a hippopotamus. They are of low intelligence but are able to curse those who threaten their young.

They are ambush predators and wait in the shallows for unsuspecting mammals to come close. They do not usually attack humans, though male bunyips they have been known to target those carrying valuable treasures. It is unclear why they want these treasures, though collected hoards can be found in the underwater den of the mother bunyip.

Bunyip, adult

Initiative: +4
Attack: bite +6 melee (2d6) or kick +4 melee (1d6, knocks prone)
AC: 17; HD: 5d8 (22 HP);
Movement: 20', swim 90'; Action Dice: 2d20;
Special: curse of the bunyip, camouflage, inedible
Alignment: Neutral;
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +6;

Curse of the Bunyip: A mother bunyip can issue a curse as an attack action, and will only do so toward those she believes have threatened or harmed her offspring. The target receives a DC 16 Will save to resist the curse. The curse is detailed below.

Camouflage: All bunyips receive +10 to attempts to hide in water or mud.

Inedible: Their meat is too tough to physically eat, and too foul to even try.

Bunyip, cub

Initiative: +0

Attack: bite +0 melee (1d6)

AC: 13; HD: 2d8 (10 HP);

Movement: 20', swim 60'; Action Dice: 1d20;

Special: easily lured, mama bunyip, camouflage, inedible

Alignment: Neutral;

Saves: Fort +4, Ref -1, Will -1;

Easily lured: The bunyip cub is naive and can easily be attracted with a piece of meat. It will not suspect danger. A successful strength contest against a STR of 16 (+2) can reel it in with a fishing line.

Mama bunyip: The cub never strays far from its mother. When encountering a cub, a fully grown bunyip is always nearby and ready to protect her offspring. The cub will, where possible, try to simply hide behind its mother.

Camouflage: All bunyips receive +10 to attempts to hide in water or mud.

Inedible: Their meat is too tough to physically eat, and too foul to even try.

Curse of the Bunyip

The curse of the bunyip is invoked by the harrowing wails of a mother who fears for her child.

This curse carries a -2 Luck penalty and causes black feathers to sprout all over the target's body over the course of a few hours. Their new strange appearance is off-putting to anyone they interact with - either express this through roleplay or apply a -1d penalty if social checks are used. Someone afflicted by this curse finds muddy water seeping up from the soil around them, enough to wet the ground or form small puddles if they stand in a ditch. The water is clearly not safe to drink and prevents getting a good night's sleep while camping.

The curse can be remedied by reuniting a mother and child, or by removing the most beautiful treasure from the bunyip's submerged lair.

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The bunyip and inland seal archive of Australia | ABC Pool