OSR: Buffing the Rogue: Tricks of the Trade

Ideas borrowed from here, here and here.  

by BillCreative

If you are a Rogue, you start with one of the 'Tricks of the Trade' at level 1.  You can roll randomly or select one.  For each 2 Rogue levels after this, you can pick another or roll again on the table.  If you roll a result again, you gain a deeper knowledge of the subject.  You gain another Trick at 3rd, 5th, 7th level and 9th level.   

Tricks of the Trade:

1d8
1- Poison Pro.  You know all about poisons, where to find them, how to handle them, how to buy and sell them, who will purchase them, which ones are illegal, etc.  You also know which creatures are poisonous and how to extract poison from dangerous creatures.  You start with 1d6 doses of a random poison.  Roll on the Random Potion table to see what you get.          
2- Trap Master.  You know about traps and how to make them.  Given basic materials, such as ropes, wire, heavy objects to act as weights, you can quickly construct traps, assuming you have the time and materials to do so.  Roll 1d3 times on the Random Trap table to see what you know how to build.    
3- Sneaky Stabber.  When you attack someone who was unprepared or not expecting, you do double damage if you are using a Quick Weapon.  Additionally, if you attack someone who you could conceivably kill in a single attack from stealth, the Referee may allow you to replace the damage roll with a save vs death.  
4- Mad Bomber.  You know the secrets of fire.  If given access to an Alchemist's lab, various chemicals or a well-stocked city, you can create explosives or incendiary devices sure to leave your enemies in pieces.  Roll 1d3 times on the Dangerous Devices table to see what you know how to build.     
5- Knife Shark.  You are really good at throwing knives.  When you hit someone with a thrown Quick Weapon such as throwing knife, shuriken, or something similar, you can immediately make another attack with a thrown Quick Weapon.  If you kill someone with a thrown Quick Weapon, regardless of if this is your first or second attack, you may automatically make another thrown Quick Weapon attack.    

6- Archery Expert.  When you make an attack with a bow or crossbow, you can immediately take a free action to move, dodge or disengage from the current situation.
7- Roguish Diplomacy.  When confronted with a foe, you can try to distract an enemy.  The tactic can be anything, from throwing sand in their eyes to juggling.  The enemy may be granted a check to resist against whatever ability score you are using to try and distract them.  Alternatively, if something is distracting enough, the enemy may simply be automatically distracted (Referee's Discretion).  If the enemy is distracted, you or an ally of your choice may immediately act against them as a free action.  
8- Goon Squad.  You start with a free henchmen.  This henchman has his (or her) own agenda and is not necessarily your friend.  Roll on the Random Henchmen table below to see who you get.

Random Poisons:

1d6
1- Widow's Kiss (Injected).  A poison collected from thousands of black widow spiders.  Causes 3d4 damage, 1d4 per round, until a creature passes a CON save or all damage is dealt.  Much feared, but not nearly as dangerous as people think.      
2- Rattler's Bite (Injected).  Taken from the Rattler Serpent, this poison is dangerous, but if treated, rarely results in fatalities.  This poison does 1d6 DEX damage per hour.  If reduced to 0 DEX, a creature must save or die.  Creatures subtract the amount of DEX damage they have taken from any roll to do an action requiring skill or precision.        
3- Dancing Spiral Venom (Injected).  This poison is the collected venom from the bite of the Dancing Spiral Spider.  Does 1 CON damage per minute or until a creature passes three CON saves.  Can make 1 CON save every 1d4 minutes.  If reduced to 0 CON, a creature dies.    
4- Fire Coral Dust (Absorbed through skin).  Created by powdering certain dangerous corals, an incredible unpleasant job done only by slaves.  If this dust is touched, any creature exposed to it will feel burning pain and must make a Morale check or immediately take action to try and get this horrible dust off himself.     
5- Fiddleback's Fang (Injected).  Taken from the fiddleback spider, this venom rots the flesh of anyone exposed to it.  Fiddleback Venom does 1d3 STR damage per minute, reducing any damage dealt by the amount of STR damage taken.  If reduced to 0 STR, the exposed creature dies.  Anyone exposed to this will also feel extreme pain and must make a Morale check or immediately flee and seek an antidote.       
6- Lullaby Sand (Eaten/Absorbed through skin).  Fine, golden dust, derived from the wings of a particularly gentle butterfly, purified and collected by children and fools.  When poured onto someone, the creature will immediately become sleepy and must save or fall asleep.  Eating it forces disadvantage on the save.  Creatures who know they are in a dangerous situation automatically pass their saves.    

Random Traps:

1d8
1- Tiger Pit.  Dig a pit that is too big to climb out of.  If you're feeling really nasty, cut sticks into sharp points and drive them into the ground at the bottom of the pit.  Then cover the top of the trap with a layer of woven grass or branches and cover it with ground cover.  Any creature that steps on it will fall into the pit and be stuck.  The creature will also likely impale itself on the spikes.    
2- Springpole Snare.  Take a young tree that is springy and tie it back, then rig the rope to a tripwire or trigger.  Tie a knife or a sharp object to the end of the tree.  When triggered, the young tree will snap back and drive the sharp object into whatever tripped the trap.  
3- Twitch-Up Snare.  Tie a rope to the branches of a tall tree and tie a loop, then leave it on the ground.  When a creature steps on it, it will jerk tight and yank them up, leaving them hanging in the air.    
4- Crusher Trap.  A trap that leaves a piece of bait under something heavy, such as some cut logs or a heavy rock.  When the bait is grabbed or messed with, whatever holding back the heavy weight is removed, causing them to fall down and flatten the creature who took the bait.    
5- Bow Trap.  A bow, pulled back with an arrow nocked, is tied to a tripwire.  When the tripwire is triggered, the bow fires.    
6- Swinging Mace Trap.  Create a large, heavy ball, occasionally with large spikes poking out of it.  Attach it to a tripwire.  When triggered, the giant ball will swing down and inflict terrible injuries on anyone foolish enough to get in the way.    
7- Snake Trap.  Create a box that will spring open when triggered.  Put a venomous (and easily irritable) animal in there.  When the trap is triggered, hopefully the venomous animal will fall onto and bite the creature who opened the box.     
8- Guillotine Wire Trap.  Take a strong piece of cord or wire and tie it across a path between two immovable objects.  When enemies come, pull it tight so it rests at about neck level.  If a creature hits the wire going fast enough, it will do damage to the throat and stop them cold.  Best if wire is used, because it is much thinner and harder to see.  Also, better if used at night.         

Dangerous Devices:

1d6
1- Grenado.  Your classic homemade explosives.  You failed to become an Artificer, but you remember this one.  Does 3d6 damage in a 30' radius, save for half.     
2- Firebomb.  One step up from a Molotov cocktail.  Does 2d6 damage, save for half.  On a failed save, a creature is also set on fire and takes 1d6 fire damage per round until they can get the burning fuel off himself.  Leaves a pool of burning liquid behind and sets flammable objects on fire.        
3- God's Palm.  An explosive, modified to do less damage, intended to stun or disrupt.  Does 2d6 damage, save for half.  On a failed save, a creature is also stunned for 1 minute or until he can pass a save on his turn.  Stunned creatures can take an action or move, but not both.      
4- Gasbomb.  An explosive that floods a 30' cube with some sort of gas.  You know how to manufacture 1d4 [1= Tear Gas- no damage, but gives disadvantage on any check or save made to do anything complex, extremely painful; 2= Mustard Gas, 2d6 acid damage per round spent in the cloud; 3= Laughing gas- creatures must save or burst into gales of laughter.  Talking and spell-casting is impossible unless you don't need to talk to cast and anything precise is done at -2 as you're shaking from the laughter; 4= Euphoria Gas- creatures must save or fall into a languid state.  They feel great.  Creatures that fail their save will need to succeed on a save to do anything but laze around in the smoke.  Creatures who passed their initial save must save each round they are within the cloud.] 
5- Coldsnap.  Like a firebomb, except the exact opposite.  Does 2d6 cold damage, save for half.  Creatures that fail their save are also frozen in place and need to succeed on a STR check to break out of the ice.  If thrown into water, creates a piece of ice 8' long and 5' wide.  
6- Slayer.  As per a normal Grenado, but designed to maim and kill.  Does 3d6 damage, save for half.  Creatures that fail their saves also suffer from bleed and take 1d4 damage a round until they take an action to treat their wound, either with magic or a medicine check.    

Random Henchmen:

1d6
1- Babysitter/Bodyguard.  He'll protect you, but his primary job is to keep an eye on you.  This is because you 1d4 [1= Owe the local crime boss/loan shark an enormous sum; 2= You aren't trusted, having betrayed some former allies (but not your bodyguard's boss); 3= He's evaluating you.  If you pass, you can join the Boss' crew; 4= The Boss has a parallel objective to whatever you're doing.  Your protector is here to make sure the boss' interested are looked after.] 

2- A sexy femme fatale.  She's beautiful, dangerous and untrustworthy.  She definitely has a hidden agenda.  Secretly, she 1d6 [1= Has a heart of gold; 2= Actually loves you; 3= Feels nothing for you; 4= Is planning to betray you; 5= Working for you is part of an elaborate scheme that has a 50% of blowing up in her face; 6= Is being black-mailed/strong-armed/manipulated into doing this at the behest of another party.]

3- Former partner.  You used to work together until 1d6 [1= Your methods disgusted him, so he left; 2= His methods disgusted you, so you left; 3= He cheated you; 4= He abandoned you when you needed him most; 5= He took the fall for you.  There is a chance he is plotting his revenge or maybe he's just bitter; 6= You had different priorities, so you parted ways amicably.]  

4- Estranged family member.  This person is a 1d3 [1= Younger brother or cousin who idolized the criminal lifestyle.  "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."; 2= Older man who initiated you into the criminal underworld such as a father, uncle, older brother, etc; 3= A wife, you got into this racket because you married her, but you and her are separated because of 1d4 (1= Money, you argued over it; 2= Her loyalty to her family over you; 3= Your father-in-law never liked you; 4= She got involved in her own business and disappeared one day without a word)].   

5- Old Hand.  An old rogue who can't get out of the game.  He's an addict, chasing the high of getting away with it.  Not as fast or strong as he used to be, but he has a wealth of knowledge about everything criminal.  Back in the day he was a famous 1d6 [1= Thief; 2= Robber; 3= Pirate; 4= Safe-cracker; 5= Smuggler; 6= Warlock or an unsanctioned Magus practicing magic illegally.  May know black magic or have a contract with a Demon.] 

6- A weirdo.  He is 1d6 [1= A junkie, only after his next fix; 2= A secret serial killer; 3= A half-ghoul; 4= A yandere-esque stalker- he or she is obsessed with you.  His feelings may be romantic, but he may just idolize you and want to do anything to earn your affections or "help" you; 5= A social outcast, someone who doesn't fit in around here, someone belonging to a different race, class, religion than the norm; 6= As "5", but is actually a shapeshifter pretending to be an outcast so people don't investigate too closely.]

by Vablo

OSR: Asuras: The Jealous Gods

                by YunaXD

Number Appearing: 1

Alignment: Any Evil

Languages: All languages currently or ever spoken by mortals

Treasure: Supplies for their cults, stolen goods for the same and Heavenly Treasures (see below)

Gods are immortal and unchanging, enduring from age to age.  To mortals, they are as distant and immoveable as the stars in the Sky.  And this perspective is mostly correct.  

Gods and Change:

While all but the most fanatical believer will acknowledge that Gods can die and some will even countenance that the Gods can get old, but almost none will countenance that Gods will erode.  Yet despite all appearances, this is true.  Over time, a God will be changed by both the events of the world, their own experiences and the prayers of their own worshipers.  

This is why Gods will sometimes develop Aspects- these are sub-personalities within a God that have grown larger and larger over time as more worship is directed towards it.  In time, these Aspects can take over a God and the Aspect can devour the original personality, leaving the God with a new personality in the place of the old one.  Some might even question if the God is even the same creature as it was after the Aspect devoured it.   

This is not a fate most Gods wish to share, so they worked together and developed a solution.  They created the elixir of everlasting life.  Most believers might have rightly asked, "Why do the Gods consume food that grants immortality?  Are they not eternal?"  The most common explanation for this is that God food simply does that to mortals, while it affects Gods differently.  

Again, this explanation is mostly correct.  When mortals consume a form of the elixir of eternal life, whether it is embodied as a nectar, a food, a potion or a fruit, it will grant them immortality.  But when an already immortal being drinks it, it instead strengthens them and fixes them in place, halting any dramatic changes to their minds and spirits.  This enables Gods to endure from Age to Age without ending up as radically different creatures at the end of each.  

But what happens when a God is denied this elixir?

Long ago, after Marzan slew the Dragon-Goddess Tiamat and installed his father Anuman on the throne of Heaven, a number of Gods swore to serve him and the laws engraved upon the Rock of Eternity, as these were believed to come from the Creator of the Universe.  These became the Law Gods.  

Other Gods, who refused to bow to any sort of Law, or those who believed Tiamat the creator of the world, refused to swear such an oath and became the Chaos Gods, who terrorize the world to this day, fighting the Law Gods and amongst each other for control of the world.

But this neat split oversimplifies far too much.  Within both sides of this cosmic conflict were various ideologies, camps and schools of thought.  Among the Law Gods, there was a group that called itself the Az-Uran, a name that meant "Seeker of Truth".  This group clashed with the rest of the Law Gods over the matter of the mortals.  The Law Gods wanted to resurrect the dead mortals and create new races, while the Az-Uran did not want to recreate the mortals.  

Some favored eventually recreating them, once the changes to the world became apparent, while others argued that the mortals had already failed and lost their right to continue existing.  This disagreement led to a feud which escalated until it boiled over into open conflict, as the Law Gods decided to ignore the Az-Uran and move forward with their plans.  

The Az-Uran fought, but they lost.  In their defeat, they were denied access to the elixir of immortality and banished from Heaven.  For this crime, they vowed eternal vengeance.  Since that day, they have waged war against the Law Gods, seeking their ultimate ruin.

New Asuras:

Asuras, being immortal beings, still remember the rage they felt at being banished from Heaven at the beginning of the Second Age as keenly as if it happened yesterday.  To those original enemies of the Gods of Law, their hatred is sharp as a razor and twice as keen.  This is why for an incredible length of time, the Asuras were unwilling to let anyone join their fratricidal campaign to destroy the Gods of Law, for they felt that none had suffered as they, nor felt the same as they did.  

As the Age passed them by though, they began to take losses, either from death in combat, from corrosion or disillusionment with the cause.  Without the elixir of eternal life, Asuras are as prone to changing as mortals and so in some cases, even their perfect memories and immortal souls were not enough to sustain eons of hatred. 

For this reason, the Asuras have, as of more recently, begun to allow those who wish to join their banners.  As such, besides the older Asuras you can find their ranks being restocked by rogue demigods, ambitious mortals seeking true divinity or the shattered remains of dead Gods.  However, no matter how powerful or impressive these new Asuras are, the older ones will always treat them as "new members" because they've been doing this for longer than their new allies had worshipers.

           by IgnusDei

Asura

DT X (see below)

SHP X (equal to DT)

Atk Y (see below)

Mor 15

Saves (7+SHP)

Divine Vision: All Asuras have permanent Sight Beyond Sight.  They can see through illusions, see invisible things and see the true nature of all things they look at.

Damage Threshold [X]: All Asuras have a Damage Threshold.  They only take damage from a source if the amount of damage equals or exceeds their Damage Threshold.  If a source of damage cannot equal or exceed the Threshold, instead ignore it, as if it did no damage.  To determine the Asura's Damage Threshold, consult the table labeled "What is their Damage Threshold?" below.

Immortal: Asuras are immortal.  They ignore instant-kill effects and automatically pass any Save vs Death.  Unless you meet their Specific Death condition, see the table labeled "How can he be killed?" below, an Asura that is reduced to zero SHP will return to life in 20-X weeks, where X is their Damage Threshold.  

Magic Resistance: Asuras naturally resist the powers of magic.  Asuras have Magic Resistance equal to X-in-10, or X%.  If targeted with a magical effect, roll 1d10.  If the Asura rolls equal to or under the number of his Resistance, the magical effect passes over him without harming him and instead targets the nearest available target.     

Tactics: 

- Do not take your foes seriously until they do real damage

- Crush the most annoying ones first

- Do not flee unless faced with worthy opposition (such as a God or similarly powerful being)

by LJMorgue

To customize an Asura, roll on the tables below:

What is this Asura?

1d8

1-4: An Original.  This Asura was one who originally split away from the Gods of Law.  He has a much larger cult and is much better established when it comes to resources.  When rolling on the Asuran Cult table, roll twice and take the better result.    

5: A Rebellious Child.  This Asura has a godly parent who may take revenge against his murderers.  If he could be redeemed, however and returned to the side of Law, then the rewards for such a boon would be unimaginable.  

6: A mortal who tried to ascend to godhood but failed.  This Asura is a mistake of his own making, a horrific experiment gone wrong.  He has 1d3 overlapping Specific Death Conditions.  For each that is fulfilled, he has a 30% of dying permanently.  If this chance does not occur, he will return to life as per 'Immortal'.  If all of his Specific Death Conditions are fulfilled then he automatically dies.

7: The rejected sub-aspect of a God.  This Asura can "almost" perfectly imitate the God that he budded off from.  Only either a true believer or someone who has deeply studied that Deity's sacred nature would be able to tell that this "God" before you is a fraud.    

8: The remnants of a Dead God.  This was once a God, now it's something less, a pale shadow of it's former glory.  This Asura does not take any extra damage from anti-divine weaponry, nor is he affected by things designed to weaken Gods or divine beings.   

What does the Asura actually look like?

1d4

1- A statuesque and beautiful humanoid who resembles one of the mortal races.  Glowing and resplendent, beautiful and shining with glory.  Any injuries it has linger on as scars that mar it's perfection and make you want to weep.  

2- A grotesque and bizarre monstrosity, looks more like something you should stab or run away from than worship.  Roll here or use your favorite grotesque monster generator.  

3- A mix of humanity and 1d3 [1= Animal; 2= Mechanical/Robotic; 3= Alien (ie Aberration/From Beyond)]-like features.

4- Like something off a heavy metal album cover.  A chain-smoking skeleton wearing fine robes, a werewolf wearing molten metal chains who plays the flute, A gorilla wearing a suit with octopus tentacles instead of legs, etc.          

How powerful is he?

1d4

1- Strong, for a mortal.  This Asura has Damage Threshold [8] and as many Super Hit Points.  He has an Atk modifier of +4 and makes two 1d8+4 Attacks.  He has 50% Magic Resistance.  

2- Weak, for a God.  This Asura has Damage Threshold [9] and as many Super Hit Points.  He has an Atk modifier of +5 and makes two 1d8+5 Attacks.  He has 60% Magic Resistance.

3- Powerful, for a Deity.  This Asura has Damage Threshold [10] and as many Super Hit Points.  He has an Atk modifier of +6 and makes two 1d8+6 Attacks.  He has 70% Magic Resistance.

4- Terrifying, for the Hosts of Heaven.  This Asura has Damage Threshold [11] and as many Super Hit Points.  He has an Atk modifier of +6 and makes three 1d8+6 Attacks.  He has 80% Magic Resistance.  

What does he (primarily) use to reap his vengeance?

1d4

1- A melee weapon.  The Asura uses a 1d4 [1= Sword made of black glass that swallows the light when drawn.  It can slice through almost anything like a razor through paper; 2= A spear of gold, with a shining tip made of pure light.  The spear obliterates magical protections and can pierce any magical wards; 3= A trident, made of tarnished metal and encrusted with barnacles.  It can charm sea-life and force them to obey the wielder; 4= A hammer that crackles with lightning.  When it strikes the ground, it causes earthquakes.  When raised into the air, it calls down lightning.]  

2- A ranged weapon.  The Asura uses 1d4 [1= A bow that fires golden arrows that freeze people in time if they fail a save; 2= A sling that hurls tiny stars.  When the stars strike a target, they explode into fireballs; 3= A brace of javelins, each with a tip made of a different gemstone.  Each does a different type of elemental damage- ruby does fire damage, topaz does acid, amethyst does lightning, sapphire does cold, etc; 4= A octet of chakram made of bright silver.  If a creature is struck by one of these, he must save or have a limb severed by it's impossibly sharp edge.] 

3- He prefers to use his divine powers, he carries no proper weapon.  Besides his Domain powers (see below), he can also fire blasts of energy that do 1d8 damage and force a save that is related to the Asura's domain.  For example, a Fire Asura will shoot burning blasts that set you on fire unless you pass a save while a Nature Asura causes any wild beast struck by the blast to save or be charmed to the Asura and compelled to obey it.  

4- He rips his enemies apart with his bare hands (or claws, teeth, spines, etc).  He also has the ability to 1d4 [1= If it strikes a creature, to force that creature to save.  On a failed STR save, that creature is sent flying 1d6*10'; 2= Can parry damage from a successful attack, reducing it by his damage dice, he can do this 1d3 times a round; 3= He can break bones and disable limbs on a hit if a creature fails a CON save, this disables that limb until it is healed; 4= If he strikes a magic-user or a Fighter who uses Chi, he can strike their pressure points and force them to save.  On a failed save, their mana networks are short-circuited and they cannot use their abilities until they pass another save.]      

How does the Asura get around without being seen?

1d6

1- He can fly, unlike many of his "brother" Asuras.  He can also levitate in the air if he wishes.  

2- 1/Day, he can open a portal to anywhere he has been or can see.  He can also open extra-planar portals, but these require rituals and preparation.

3- The Asura has some sort of flying vehicle, such as a stolen chariot of the Gods.  

4- The Asura has access to a series of magical gates that litter the world.  Constructed by an unknown ancient race, these portals allow a user to teleport between any two gates, provided they have the power and knowledge of how to do so.  

5- The Asura knows how to access a parallel dimension linked to our own where spatial travel is vastly faster.  By popping into this other dimension, walking for an hour and then poking your head out, you will find you've crossed an entire nation.  

6- The Asura is just absurdly good at being sneaky.  Everywhere he went, he walked, ran or climbed.

by WendiBones

What is his Domain?

1d20

1- Fire.  The Asura is immune to fire damage.  He can command flames freely as per a Free-Form Wizard, getting +4 to any attempt to control and manipulate flames.  He can absorb sources of heat to heal himself as an action.  When he does this, he heals for a number of SHP equal to each 2d6 point of fire damage.  He can also replace one or both of his melee attacks with a 3d6 fire blast, save for half.  This fireball requires him to wait 1d4 rounds before he uses it again.     

2- Healing.  The Asura can, as an action, heal a creature for up to 3d6 HP.  He can also remove Horrible Wounds by an equivalent amount.  This healing does not damage the injured creature's CON.  It can also heal itself for 2 SHP as an action.

3- Romantic Love/Sex.  The Asura can, upon seeing a creature, attempt to Charm that creature.  That creature must save.  On a failed save, the creature is Charmed to the Asura and will treat it as a holy figure.  Charmed creatures will not generally do anything against their own moral codes, but they will be much more suggestible to the creature who has Charmed them.  Additionally, they must succeed on a save to take any action to harm the Asura or do anything that might hinder him or hurt his feelings.   

4- Fertility.  The Asura can, upon seeing a creature, for a creature to save.  On a failed save, the Asura causes flesh-eating parasites to spawn inside that creature, causing the creature to take 1d6 damage per round.  This lasts until the parasites are expunged or destroyed.  Magical cures for poison will destroy them, as will spells designed to remove poisons.  Any source of spiritual damage the creature takes will also affect the parasites, which will definitely kill them (as anything strong enough to hurt a Medium creature will definitely kill a creature as small as they.  1/Day, the Asura can also spawn 1d4 clones of themselves that have stats equal to 1/4 the Asura.          

5- The Sea.  The Asura can breathe underwater and control water freely as per a Free-Form Wizard, getting +4 to any attempt to control water.  He can also 1/Day conjure an enormous body of water that floods the local area.  The amount of water he summons will be enough to flood the local area, so if you're in a dungeon, he floods the current level, if you're in a village he floods that, if you're in a valley, expect a major rise in the water level.  

6- The Sky.  The Asura can fly and hover in the air.  He can replace one or both of his attacks with lightning bolts, each doing 3d6 damage, save for half.  His lightning bolts take 1d4 rounds to recharge.  1/Day, he can also control the weather in the area.    

7- Harvest.  Upon seeing a plant, the Asura can animate it and force it to obey him.  The Asura can control up to X HD worth of plants, where X is his SHP.  Small plants like grasses act as swarms, bushes and small trees have 1d3 HD, while fruit trees use the Treant statblock.  Note that this Asura can only influence cultivated plants, not wild ones.  The Asura can also force any plant he touches to Save vs Death.      

8- Death.  Upon seeing a creature, the Asura can force you to save.  On a failed save, that creature dies.  This ability only works once per day per creature.  If you pass your first save, you cannot have your life reaped by the Asura.  The Asura can also capture and devour the souls of the slain, so that they cannot be resurrected or experience the afterlife.     

9- Wine.  The Asura can transform any liquid it touches into wine.  It can also create around itself an aura of drunkenness.  Any creature within 50' of the Asura must save each round or take 1 point of drunkenness.    

10- War.  The Asura can bless creatures with superhuman skill with weapons or incredible toughness, making them superior warriors.  He can bless one creature with a bonus to their Atk equal to +X, where X is the Asura's SHP.  The Asura can also divide this bonus among multiple creatures, as long as each creature has at least a +1.  The Asura can also bless a creature with a Damage Threshold of up to 1/2*Y, where Y is the Asura's Damage Threshold.  This bonus can only apply to one creature.   

11- Travelers.  The Asura cannot be slowed by difficult terrain.  As a free action on his turn, the Asura can also pass through physical objects as if he was immaterial.  While immaterial, he takes damage from sunlight as per a Ghost.  

12- Thieves.  The Asura can replace one of his melee attacks with an attempt to steal an object from a creature.  An object must be on a creature's person somewhere or within easy access of that creature for the Asura to steal it.  Creatures may get a save if the item the Asura is attempting to steal is in someway protected- for example, a save is permitted if the Asura wants to steal the ring off your finger.  If the Asura is instead trying to steal the treasure map in the bottom of your backpack, that might succeed automatically.  The Asura can also steal a part of your body or your spirit, but these always permit a save.  For example, the Asura could try to steal your heart in a literal way, or steal your courage, which would give you a penalty on saves vs fear.  

13- Merchants.  The Asura can trade conditions, such as being blinded, poisoned, HP and other physical traits as if they were physical commodities, but only with the consent of both parties.  The Asura can, as an action, transfer a condition from itself to another or vice versa.  The Asura can also transfer HP and ability score points as well, again requiring consent.  The Asura will keep some cultists nearby to exchange terrible conditions with, in exchange for the promises of future rewards.  

14- Fortune/Luck.  The Asura can steal your good fortune.  By touching you, the Asura can cause you to gain a -1 penalty to all rolls for the rest of the day.  This penalty stacks for each time the Asura touches you.  This gives the Asura a Luck Token.  For each Luck Token the Asura has, he can reroll a d20, though he can reroll each d20 only once.  When a Luck Token is spent, it is gone and the Asura must steal more luck.        

15- Prophecy and Divination.  The Asura can only be detected via divination if he wishes to, or if someone more powerful than him is attempting to scry for him.  He can also send false visions to anyone looking into the future or anyone trying to scry near him.  You see what he wishes you to see.     

16- Magic.  The Asura can empower a spell-caster, enabling them to reroll any spellcasting rolls in his presence.  The Asura can, upon seeing a spell-caster, also force them to save.  On a failed save, every time the spell-caster attempts to cast, he must succeed on a save or his spell automatically fails.  

17- Knowledge.  The Asura can know almost anything.  Upon seeing a creature, the Asura can force that creature to save.  On a failed save, the Asura can reach into his mind and copy his knowledge, so the Asura knows everything that creatures does.  On a successful save, the Asura only learns one random fact about the creature, the importance of which is determined by a d20 roll.  On a roll of "19", the Asura learns you are an exiled Prince, while on a roll of "4" the Asura learns you love pepper on your eggs.  The Asura also has a X-in-10% chance of knowing something important about a random subject, where X is half his SHP.    

18- Law and Justice.  At the beginning of a battle, the Asura can make a decree and state the punishment for that.  For example, "Anyone who casts a spell will be harmed by their own magic".  This law then applies to all creatures involved in the battle, including the Asura.  The Asura can repeal this decree at any point.  If the Asura wishes to issue a new decree, he must repeal his old decree first.    

19- The Wilds/Nature.  When it sees a creature, the Asura can force that creature to save.  On a failed save, that creature takes 1d6 COG damage per round where it can see or hear the Asura.  if this COG damage reduces a creature to 0 COG, he loses all reason and acts like a feral beast.  All feral beasts and wild creatures must successfully save to harm the Asura.  

20- Slavery.  The Asura can, upon seeing a creature, force that creature to save.  On a failed save, the creature is Charmed and must obey the Asura's orders.  This state persists until the Asura releases the Charmed creature, the Asura dies or the creature passes a save on his turn.  If the creature fails 3 saves against the Asura, that creature must obey the Asura for the rest of the day.   

        by GENZOMAN

How can he be killed?

1d4

1- The Asura can only be slain by a specific type of person.  To kill the Asura, a person must be 1d6 [1= A hero; 2= A king; 3= A kinslayer; 4= Chosen by the Gods; 5= A man who has accumulated a great hoard of riches; 6= A man who has died and returned to life.]

2- The Asura can only be killed at certain times.  The Asuran can only be killed 1d4 [1= During a certain time of year; 2= Under a certain celestial event such as a solar eclipse; 3= On certain days of the year; 4= On certain years, such as only on a leap year or years that end in a number divisible by "3".]  

3- The Asura can only be killed by a certain type of weapon.  The weapon must be 1d4 [1= Made of a certain type of material such as mistletoe; 2= Created by a certain type of person such as a Giant or Demon; 3= A weapon from a certain location, such as one from the land the Asura originally ruled; 4= A weapon that was used to do something specific, such as a sword that killed a king or a spear that was used by a hero.]     

4- The Asura can only be killed by a specific type of creature.  The Asura can only be killed by 1d10 [1= A Wizard; 2= A Dragon; 3= A Vampire; 4= An Intelligent Undead; 5= A Construct; 6= A Ghost; 7= A Goblin; 8= An Evil Humanoid (such as an Orc); 9= An intelligent beast; 10= One of the Fair Folk.] 

How does the Asura feel about mortals?

1d4

1- It utterly despises them.  Mortals are disgusting creatures that, if the Asura could, would be exterminated.  The Asura regards them all with obvious contempt.    

2- It doesn't particularly like them.  Mortals are little insects- small, annoying and always underfoot.  The Asura doesn't like them, but it won't go out of it's way to harm them unless they stand in the way.    

3- It thinks of mortals as tools, sacrifices, a resource to be exploited.  It doesn't hold any fondness toward them, nor does it dislike them.  It values the useful ones and discards the incompetent ones.      

4- It actually like them.  Mortals are endlessly enjoyable to the Asura, who likes to manipulate them as a hobby.  It might even regard a few of them with actual affection, though being the target of the Asura's affections can be as hazardous as being it's enemy.    

How intelligent is the Asura?

1d4

1- Dumb, for a God.  The Asura is only about as smart as the average man.  He is likely quite insecure about this.  Much of the thinking and planning is likely handled by his Cult, with him getting all the credit.  That won't make him feel any better though.  

2- Smart, for a Man.  The Asura is about as smart as an intelligent man.  

3- Intelligent, for a Genius.  The Asura is very smart, equal to the most intelligent mortals.  

4- Brilliant, for all Time.  The Asura is so far beyond you in terms of intelligence, engaging in a battle of wits against it would be like challenging a dog to a riddle contest.    

How sane is the Asura?

1d6

1- Completely Mad.  The Asura is completely insane.  It has suffered badly from erosion and now has such a radically different perspective that it is borderline incoherent.  The Asuran Cult spends most of their time trying to contain and steer their master.  

2- A little crazy.  The Asura is only sort-of crazy.  The Asura can act rationally, but it has one overriding belief that it believes unquestionably.  For example, the Asura may be perfectly normal until you bring up the Sun, at which point the Asura will tell you, earnestly and completely, that the Sun is a giant eye that watches everyone on Earth.  That is why it will never go outside during the day.  Any evidence against this point will be reasoned away.  It is a self-reinforcing logical cycle.      

3- Schizophrenic.  The Asura hears voices that tell it to do things.  It also occasionally suffers from hallucinations.   

4- Multiple Personalities.  The Asura has 1d6 (exploding) personalities.  Each one has different goals, ideas and perspectives.  Depending on which personality is in control at the time, that will change the Asura's behavior, plans and actions.   

5- Eccentric.  The Asura has a few silly beliefs, such as a diet of yogurt and meat will stop mortals from aging or that all spiderwebs are actually connected to each other, but it is mostly functional.  The Asura may also engage in strange behaviors, such as burying itself alive on a regular basis or drinking only cold tea.    

6- Mostly sane.  The Asura seems sane and for the most part, is. 

by marcosabel

Asura Cults:

As pseudo-divine beings, Asuras crave worship just as the Gods do.  As such, all Asuras will seek to establish cults around themselves.  Besides functioning as a potential source of sacrifices and/or helpless creatures to torment or manipulate for their own amusement, an Asuran Cult also functions as a ready-made source of servants and resources for the Asura to advance their schemes.  

Asuras rely primarily on their cults for help because while they share common cause with other Asuras, that does not necessarily mean they like or even trust one another.  In point of fact, part of the reason why the Old Guard of the Asura have started accepting newer members to their brotherhood is because far too many of them have perished in infighting and the intercine wars of the Asura themselves.  

An Asura's Cult will generally be modeled after their specific character and their Domain.  For example, an Asura of Love will found a pleasure cult where the cultists while away their hours in-between schemes inventing new perversions, while an Asura of War would found a warrior brotherhood dedicated to training, killing and violence.  

Regardless of which form it takes, all Asuran cults are secret, unless the Cult is so powerful that it has been able to displace the previous power-structure in the area.  This is because like the master they serve, the Asuran Cults are evil and either twist the people who join them into villains or attract/recruit people who will already agree with the Cult's wicked designs.  

To generate an Asuran Cult, roll on the tables below:

How large is the Asuran Cult?

1d4

1- Tiny.  The Asuran Cult is small, commanding only the resources of a single extended family, village or tribe.        

2- Modest.  The Asuran Cult is humble, commanding the resources of a small town.    

3- Large.  The Asuran Cult is composed of many members, with multiple secret meeting places, hidden cells and the resources of a large town at it's disposal. 

4- Very large.  The Asuran Cult is huge, possessing a huge number of members and commanding the resources of a small city.  

Why do the cultists serve the Asura?

1d4

1- Religious Devotion.  The Cultists believe that the Asura is a God and they aren't entirely wrong.  They serve it with great devotion and zeal.  

2- Fear.  The Cultists fear that if they do not appease the Asura, it would destroy them.  They are almost certainly correct.

3- Promises of Rewards. The Cultists have been promised something that only the Asura can provide.  Perhaps they are in need of rain to break the drought, or someone to protect them from the predations of their violent neighbors.  

4- Shared Cause.  The Cultists agree with the Asura on some point of religion or ideology.  For example, they may be Servants of Chaos who want to throw down the Law God who rules the City, or they might be Minions of the Dark Powers who want an excuse to take their revenge upon society and the Gods.  

What is the Cult primarily composed of?

1d6

1- The poor and lowly.  The cultists aren't very skilled beyond farming, but they know every inch of the local area and are extremely good at pretending to be innocent and not knowing what you're talking about.  Evil cult?  Surely nothing like that could happen in our sleepy little town.        

2- Warriors.  The cult is a warrior brotherhood or martial lodge, granting the Asura a large supply of skilled fighters.    

3- Scholars.  The cult has access to all sorts of forbidden lore, secrets and knowledge.  The Asura has access to chemists armed with explosives and dangerous chemicals, artificers with their contraptions and alchemists with their magical brews. 

4- Merchants.  This is an extremely well-funded cult with access to vast financial resources.  Their preferred method is not to fight, but to bribe.  They have tentacles everywhere- after all, everyone needs money.  

5- Nobles.  The cult's members have the privileges of rank and the protection of the law.  When poor people do something weird, it's suspicious.  When the high and mighty do it, it's eccentric.  

6- Criminals.  They already break man's laws, so why not the laws of God?  This cult is intimately tied to organized crime, assassin brotherhoods and other extra-legal groups, granting it access to all sorts of skilled people, from lock-pickers and safe-crackers to poisoners and smugglers.    

What other servants does the Asura have?

1d6

1- Their Spawn.  Are you still a Demigod if one of your parents isn't technically a God?  These creatures may not be divine, but they are extremely powerful.  

2- Fleshcrafted Monsters.  The products of divine power, magic and sculpted flesh, these horrors vary in strength, intelligence and usefulness.  Maybe the Asura creates monsters to aid his cultists in battle, or maybe he creates beings that only exist to suffer and feel pain for a laugh.  

3- Chaotic Humanoids/Savages.  The Asura is also served by 1dX [1= Gralei; 2= Goblins; 3= Garrols; 4= Kobolds; 5= Quaggoths; 6= Pale Ones.] 

4- Lesser Demons.  Lesser Spirits of wickedness, they spy, tempt and manipulate on the Asura's behalf.  

5- A Dragon.  The Dragon only serves because the Asura and it have an arrangement.  Perhaps the Dragon collects rare gems and the Asura has promised them a famous one stored in a highly secure Temple in exchange for the Dragon's services.      

6- The Undead.  Bound by magic to serve, these damned souls seethe in silence at the Asura's tyranny.  

Who is their second-in-command? 

1d12

1- A powerful Wizard or a Lich.  If a Wizard, the Asura has promised them immortality.  If a Lich, the Asura protects their phylactery.  Additionally, if their second is a Lich, the Asura may be holding their phylactery hostage, to ensure the Lich's obedience.    
2- A Vampire Elder.  
3- A Hag or a Coven of Hags.  A Coven of Hags is often less dangerous than one, as they will be too busy scheming against each other to try and plot against you, hopefully.  
4- A Genie.  There is a chance that the Genie is being compelled to serve via magic.    
5- A Jianghsi.  This only applies if the Jiangshi chose to become such, so it could continue to seek immortality.    
6- A Lamia.  Some speculate that the Lamia were created to mock the Naga, the bitter rivals and enemies of the Asura.    
7- A Giant.  The Giant is a 1d4 [1= Hill Giant; 2= Frost Giant; 3= Iron Giant; 4= Cloud Giant].  The Fire Giants refuse to serve anything divine, even the sputtering half-gods that most Asura resemble.    
8- A Demon.  The Demon either serves because it and the Asura have a contract or a shared goal.  There is still probably a contract even in the latter case, as the Asura isn't stupid enough to go without one.    
9- An Elder Ghoul.  He's ancient, he's ugly, he's fat and jolly and he's never been better fed.  If the Asura has any affection at all for mortals, it likes the Ghoul because he's just such a cheery guy.

10- A Royal Mummy.  Like the Asura, the Mummy is obsessed with what was, never to be again.

11- A Beholder.  Beholders are attracted to those obsessed with perfection and monumental goals and if anyone qualifies, it is the Asura.    
12- A Mind-Flayer.  For some reason, the Asura's servants are all extremely obedient and seem incapable of disloyalty or betrayal.  I wonder why that is...

by ErikVonLehmann

Treasures of the Asura:

Asura disdain most possessions, as they are immortal, so such things do not concern them in the same way mortals do.  They, do however, greatly value any relics that can be plundered from Heaven, stolen from the Gods or recovered from where they were lost.  They seek these Heavenly Treasures above all.  

Treasures of the Asuran Cult:

1d4

1- Sacks of money, meant to fund the Cult's mortal operations.  

2- Luxury goods such as tea, fine wines, silks, meant as a gift to the Asura.

3- Pieces of art, made to glorify the Asura and aid in worship such as statues, idols, paintings, ceremonial braziers and bowls.

4- Stock-piled supplies for siege or other operation such as large quantities of food and potable water, stacks of uniforms, bales of arrows or lockers full of weapons.

Heavenly Treasures:

This one was...

1d4

1- Created by the Asura.

2- Stolen from a God.

3- Lost in the fall of the Asuras at the beginning of the Second Age.         

4- Recovered from a battlefield long forgotten.

This Heavenly Treasure is...

1d12

1- Needle of Shamunak.  A dagger made of purest night, the blade is absolutely black.  1/Day, any creature touched by this weapon must save or die.  This effect is so powerful it also bypasses any sort of immortality.  This knife is death incarnate.

2- Drum of Heki-Teki.  A massive drum made from the skin of the first cow, with a frame of ivory and wood from a acacia tree.  When struck, any creature who hears it must save or be compelled to dance.  Dancing creatures can still take actions, but any actions that require concentration are made with disadvantage.  Additionally, any creature who attempts to take any action against the drummer must successfully save to take such an action.  

3- Wand of Papaleshi.  A golden wand the length of a man's arm, this wand can fire blasts of unquenchable fire.  Those who perish in these flames are consumed utterly, their souls devoured and utterly destroyed.  The flames can only be extinguished at the wielder's command.  

4- Axe of Drumo.  An axe of stone and ice, this axe allows the wielder to pass over any sort of terrain without suffering any sort of harm or trouble.  Thorns on plants will bend away from the wielder, mountains will open up a gorge to allow the wielder passage, water will support the wielder's weight, etc.  

5- The Noose of Yagamotri.  A flying rope of unbreakable cord, this rope will fly and wrap itself around a target of the user's choice.  It will then inflict terrible agonies upon the target and fill his mind with visions of suffering, causing immense pain and distress.  However, it will never do permanent damage, nor kill the target, even if the target would prefer to die.

6- The Discus of Agregom.  A stone disc embossed with thousands of names, this disc can be thrown as a weapon.  When a target is selected and the discus thrown, it will unerringly seek that target until it is stopped or the target is dead.  It can change directions mid-flight, dodge around projectiles and has the ability to resist magic.

7- The Earring of Priom-Shakesh.  A jade and glass earring that grants the user the ability to change their form into any shape they can imagine.

8- The Armor of Jakarani.  Made from overlapping layers of metal and unbreakable glass, this armor grants the user immunity to one type of damage per day.

9- The Vase of Pisca.  A beautiful piece of porcelain, thin as paper but harder than steel, this vase can produce healing waters.  These waters restore health and youth to those drink from them, while washing away disease and poison.  

10- The Stones of Eshini.  A necklace containing an enormous diamond set on a golden disk ringed by different colored gemstones, this necklace allows one to control time.  At the wearer's command, the wearer can travel back up to the last or the next dawn.  The wearer is protected from paradox while wearing this necklace, but any changes he makes might have drastic consequences.    

11- The Three Spears of Chava.  A series of three spears- one that can be used to designate allies or creatures you don't wish to harm.  The second spear can be used to designate enemies or those you wish to harm.  The third spear when it strikes a target, will erupt and unleash a massive storm of wind, water, ice and lightning which will buffet and potentially destroy all marked enemies, but leave all those marked as allies unharmed.  

12- Crown of Hakri.  If a creature swears to serve the wearer of the crown, should they die, the wearer can resurrect them and restore them to life.  The wearer of the crown may also destroy any creature who has sworn allegiance to him as an action, slaying them immediately.

by batu123

Plot Hooks:

1d10

1- The Goddess of Healing has been kidnapped from her Temple!  No one knows who did it, but fingers are being pointed and the local pantheons are gathering for war.  Find the Goddess and rescue her before the Gods go to war and devastate the local area.  God-War means natural disasters, curses and genocide as the rival God will not just wipe out their rival, but kill their people too.

2- The party is hired to help stop a group of evil-doers who are seeking to locate the lost pieces of a sacred key that opens a treasure vault of the Law Gods.  Concealed within it are potent and terrible weapons too dangerous to be used.  If these evil-doers get their hands on them, the whole world could be endangered.  

3- A drought has struck the land.  The Court Wizard and the Priests agree, this drought is not divine judgement, but the interference of evil.  Find a way to restore the rains before the people perish of famine.

4- Unnatural weather has begun afflicting the land- raining blood, clouds that spell out people's secrets, shooting stars that sing as they zip overhead.  They are getting worse and more dangerous.  Find who is responsible and stop them before the power of Law is broken and Chaos swallows up the whole country.            

5- A vast curse has been placed over the land, preventing the birth of female children.  As the years go by, this is causing a dramatic population collapse and numerous social problems.  Find a solution before these various issues rip the whole region apart.    

6- A famous prophecy has been fulfilled.  The long awaited savior, promised by the Gods, has come to set his people free and usher in a new golden age.  The only problem?  This man is not from Heaven, nor did the Gods send him.  Find a way to expose and defeat this false savior, before he wins over the people and upends his whole civilization.

7- Something has gone wrong with the process of death.  People either don't die at all, or their souls are not collected.  The previously dead are returning as ghosts while Necromancers have an absolute field day.  The river Styx has flooded it's banks and the dead walk the Earth.  Find a way to stop this, before more people get hurt.

8- A new religion appears that is doing all sorts of good works.  It heals the sick, grants sight to the blind and makes the deaf hear.  The only problem is that after people are healed or fed by the food the priests conjure up, they seem different.  Slower, more passive, more willing to accept.  Less willing to resist.  The Priests are concerned and want you to investigate this new religion and make sure it's all legitimate.  Surely it's not what they think it is.  

9- A new star appears in the sky, a rival to the sun.  This dramatically raises the temperature and causes magic to begin operating in wild, erratic ways.  Anyone relying on magi-tech is going to have a very bad time.  Additionally, every prophet and seer is proclaiming doom and the end of days.  Avert this apocalypse before the world is scorched or swallowed by raging tides of magic.

10- For some reason, the sun has grown dark and cold.  It still gives light, but it is weak and pale.  It also no longer harms the Undead or creatures threatened by sunlight.  Necromancers, Vampires and the Undead become much more dangerous as a result.  Find a way to restore light to the world or suffer the consequences of a world of the dead.

by Vladimir Matuykhin

OSR: 1d12 Magical Staves

The Magus known as Kalzana was brilliant, even as a child.  At the age of eight, he quickly grasped the basics of spell-craft and was soon recognized as a child prodigy.  By the age of 12 he had mastered his first discipline and moved on to major Arcana.  By the time he was sixteen, he was as skilled as Magi twice his age.  At the age of 20, he was even granted an honorary professorship at the College of High Art in Droma, an unprecedented honor for one as young as he.  When he went on to act as an invaluable helper and commander in the Orchid War, even greater honors were heaped upon his shoulders by the Kingdom of Edar and the Brotherhood of the Wise-Gifted.  

Yet all was not as rosy as it appeared.  Kalzana had grown frustrated with the stubbornness of his elders and their refusal to investigate topics he felt worthy of study.  He felt the Brotherhood had become more interested in politics than pushing the boundaries of High Art.  On top of that, he felt them arrogant, denouncing any unconventional study as "frivolous", when they did not outright outlaw it.  His proposal to expand magical research into previous restricted fields of study were dismissed out of hand, returned unread.  As such, when Kalzana was refused the rank of Master Magus on the grounds he was too young, he vowed vengeance against the Wise Teachers and stormed into the night.

by godofwar

Timothy Bartimaeus and Burning Star
1d6+Atk

A thoroughly unimaginative and utterly uninteresting looking fellow, Timothy Bartimaeus more resembled a bank manager or a small-minded bureaucrat than one of the Wise Teachers, a group that composed the 12 most powerful Magi in all of Edar.  Yet looks were often deceiving, for Bartimaeus was an incredibly talented Evoker, with a strong affinity for fire.  It was said he could evaporate a bathtub full of water with a breath and walk through an inferno without so much as getting ash on his clothes.

Bartimaeus wielded the staff Burning Star- a weapon of his own making.  Unlike it's drab master, Burning Star was made of sanded birch, pale in color and topped with a large chunk of obsidian, the volcanic glass attached to the wood through a network of wires made of red and white gold.

Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Burning Star grants +2 to any roll made to use Fire Magic.
- As an action, the user may direct a blast of fire at a target, doing 1d8 fire damage on a hit.
- 1/Day, the user may make himself immune to fire and fire damage for 10 minutes. 

- 1/Day, the user may transform himself and all of his equipment into a column of flames with the ability to fly.  The user will remain as a column of flames for 10 minutes or until he wishes to transform back.  While a column of flames, the user cannot be harmed by anything that could not harm a large fire, but cannot do anything that a fire could not (such as touch someone without burning them).

Bartimaeus was the first to be killed, as Kalzana thought him an easy mark.  However, for all his genius, Kalzana underestimated the Teacher of Flame.  Bartimaeus managed to catch him off guard and nearly killed him after obliterating the younger Magus' defenses.  Unfortunately for us all, when Bartimaeus attempted to strike the rebellious student with Twin Star Cleansing Flame Spiral, Kalzana managed to deceive him with an illusion, causing Bartimaeus to burn the area where he thought Kalzana was.  When he saw the student die, he let his guard down, allowing Kalzana to penetrate his formidable wards and slay him with a conjured blast of pressurized water and hardened ice.       

When Bartimaeus fell, Burning Star fell from his hands and was swallowed by the Earth, ever the ally of fire.  It is said that the staff is looking for someone like Bartimaeus to take it up once more, but so far it has yet to find anyone like him.   

Shin Hawthorn and Golden Carp's Glimmer
1d6+Atk

Shin Harley was a bit of an outcast, his half-breed status and unmarried mother leading many to believe he would never amount of anything in life.  Yet where others might have grown to resent their absent father or the society they grew up in, Shin vowed to make something of himself and provide for his mother.  As a young man he worked hard, doing whatever he could.  When he discovered he could manipulate water, he used it to vastly improve the efficiency of his mother's laundry business.  

This crude use of barely-shaped mana led his Mother to send him to study High Art.  Though many turned him away for his lack of talent, his lack of a proper bloodline or his half-breed status, Shin's Mother refused to surrender.  Finally, in an act of brazen courage, she wrote a letter to the President of the College of High Art in Droma, Alexius Sixstars.  

A lesser man might have ignored the letter, after all, Sixstars received hundreds of such letters monthly, each asking for a special exception for their son or daughter or cousin or brother, but Sixstars was intrigued by the fanciful tale.  So he invited Shin and his Mother to the College.  And while Sixstars found Shin to be only moderately talented, he decided to take the boy on and allow him to attend the following year as a twelve-year Initiate, to see if he had what it took to stand against gifted children who had been taught how to work mana since they could talk.  And to everyone's surprise, Shin was a fearsome and capable student, growing into a monster of a Magus.  

The finest expression of his Art was Golden Carp's Glimmer, a staff of carved driftwood, sanded with sharkskin and covered painstakingly in the magically-conductive scales of the golden carp.  

Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Golden Carp's Glimmer grants +2 to any roll made to use Water Magic.
- As an action, the user may fire a blast of water at a target, doing 1d6 damage and forcing that creature to save or be knocked prone.  
- While holding Golden Carp's Glimmer, the user may walk on water as if it was spongy ground.  
- 3/Day, when targeted by a spell, the user may attempt to ground the spell and drain it of mana, funneling it away from himself.  This forces the user and the caster of the spell to engage in a contest of will.  If the user of Golden Carp's Glimmer wins, the spell simply does not affect him, as if it was never cast.  If the caster of the spell wins, any damage done by the spell is reduced by the damage roll of the user of Golden Carp's Glimmer.  If the spell would instead produce a harmful but non-damaging effect, that effect is halved.

A personal friend and student of Alexius Sixstars, Shin was sent to investigate the death of Timothy Bartimaeus, his fellow Teacher.  As he did so, he stumbled into Kalzana's trap!  Kalzana ambushed him and attacked him with a flurry of killing spells, but Shin was able to parry them with little effort, his great skill in Water Magic giving him insight in how to redirect the flow rather then fight the current.  Kalzana had to resort to cruder methods, using Earth Magic, the enemy of Water, in the hopes of neutralizing Shin's advantages.  

This did work, until Shin launched a furious counter-attack and put an end to that attack.  Kalzana was put on the backfoot, but he was not overcome.  Shin attacked again and again, but Kalzana refused to fall, no matter how much power Shin threw at him.  When his last attack broke against the student's wards, Shin realized his mistake.  His defenses were superb, but his offensive abilities weren't nearly as developed.  As such, he burned through too much of his stamina and overextended himself.  When Kalzana attacked again, even Golden Carp's Glimmer could not protect him.

Golden Carp's Glimmer was found half-broken next to the body of Shin Hawthorn.  It was returned to his students, who vowed to repair it and use it to destroy Kalzana, to avenge the crimes he had committed against their Teacher.           

Ida Indigo and Strongbone
1d6+Atk

Ida Indigo was a small, cheerful woman with a youthful face and relentless cheer.  She was often seen walking barefoot through the wilderness or in the wild places at the edge of the cities.  She hated the cities and only visited them when absolutely required of her as the Teacher of Stone.  She was known for her down-to-earth perspective, her gentle encouragement and her motherly kindness.  She was adored and revered by all who encountered her, which led to her being called The Rose of Edar.

Yet despite her gentle demeanor, Indigo possessed a powerful affinity for Earth Magic and applied herself thoroughly to it's study.  She exceled both in more suitable uses, such as helping farmers find the most fertile soil and in dramatic displays, such as when she sealed the two-mile wide Goldsnow Pass by herself, erecting a wall of stone that was only defeated when she had to rest after protecting it from magical and physical attack for ten hours.

Through all of these, Strongbone was her great companion.  Carved of a strange red rock, Strongbone is much lighter than carved stone should be, yet Indigo was able to twirl it like a length of wood.  Strongbone is unadorned in any other way, but it seems to be almost unbreakable, as it has never been damaged, even superficially in all the years since Indigo carved it.  It is not even known how she shaped the stone.  

Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Strongbone grants +2 to any roll made to use Earth Magic.
- As an action, the user may levitate and move any stone that is smaller than a man and manipulate it as an action, moving it as he sees fit.  
- 3/Day, the user may reshape a piece of stone into any shape he desires, as long as that stone is no larger than a horse.  If the user targets a stone that is too large, a chunk of stone equal to the mass of a horse will be removed from it.  

Indigo was special among the Teachers, as Kalzana seemed to actually care about her.  So when he was confronted with the fact that he had sworn to kill her, he shied away.  Instead, he tricked her and caused her to make herself a target of her own spell, petrifying her.  He then confused the spell, making it such a tangled web that it was impossible(?) to unbind it.  To make sure she was not rescued, he then hid her statue.  It was not discovered until almost a century later when a group of village youths looking for a quiet place to kiss found an amazingly detailed statue of a middle-aged woman hidden in a cave.  

Strongbone was found by her statue and remains near it when not being used.  It is believed the staff holds the secret of freeing the ancient Maga from her imprisonment, but no one has managed to unbind the spell yet and conventional remedies for petrification have proven insufficient.

                                                                           by JasonTN

Finn Cloud Sterling and Silkbreeze
1d6+Atk

An honorable and proud member of House Sterling, Finn Cloud was a descendant of one of the ancient Mage Bloodlines that helped to found Edar all those centuries ago.  His Clan had a near monopoly on Air and Wind Magic at the time and though they have weakened over time, they were still a proud house when Finn Cloud lived.  His true affinities and talents are not known, as he began training early as all scions of the ancient blood do and by the time he joined the College as an Initiate, he was already a paragon of his family's ancient traditions and methodology.

He could have graduated on the strength of his name alone, but Finn Cloud proved to be both a capable Air Magus and a talented Battle-Mage, winning a dozen duels before he graduated at eighteen, two years early.  He continued to excel into adulthood, winning glory for his House in the Orchid Wars and as an enforcer for the Wise Teachers as an Augurist, where he as responsible for the arrest of many renegades and black magi.  When he was welcomed into the Teachers as the Teacher of Wind, it had been a foregone conclusion for years.  

Finn Cloud's favored tool through all those years was not a weapon of his own making, but a staff wielded by one of his ancestors.  Named Silkbreeze, it was made of translucent glass and filled with holes that could be used to play music by channeling air through them in the proper patterns.

Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Silkbreeze grants +2 to any roll made to use Wind Magic.  
- As an action, the user may strike a target with a blast of wind that does 1d6 damage and forces that creature to save or be shoved 10' backwards.
- While holding this staff, the user takes no fall damage.  
- 3/Day, as an action, the user can launch themselves up to 100' vertically into the air or up to 50' horizontally.

Finn Cloud was the Teacher of Wind, but he kept his position as Chief Augurist, so he was the first to investigate the killings of the other Teachers.  However, when Sixstars meddled in his investigation he stopped reporting to the other Teachers or his own staff, in the hopes of catching the killer himself.  Ever hungry for glory, he was alarmed and excited when he received a note from the murderer challenging him to an honorable Wizard Duel.  Finn Cloud accepted, with the intention of trouncing the killer and bringing him back, alive or dead.  When he found out it was Kalzana, he was shocked, but not entirely surprised.  To this day, no one knows how Kalzana, ordinarily so adverse to direct confrontation, defeated him.  To this day, House Sterling insists that Kalzana must have cheated.  

Silkbreeze was returned to House Sterling after it was discovered next to the body of Finn Cloud, the greatest Magus their house had produced in decades.  

Charlotte "Charlie" Darkmoon and Kalamantha's Needle
1d6+Atk

Draven Darkmoon, though he paled in comparison to Kalzana, was an outlaw Mage who wreaked havoc on Edar with many years, sacking whole cities, plundering strongholds and defeating everyone sent against him.  He was not the strongest, nor was he the most talented, but he had an uncanny knack for escaping danger and slipping out of any sort of trap that he was faced with.  The Teachers suspected that perhaps there was a mole among them, but investigations turned up nothing.  This process could have gone for decades, but the novice Battle-Mage Alexius Tristar believed he knew of Darkmoon's location and wanted to go in pursuit of him.  The Teachers were ordinarily hesitant to grant such a request, but decided that he could do no more damage than their failures had, so Alexius was permitted to go on his wild goose chase.  

Alexius arrived at the location and found the hidden stronghold his source had told him about, but instead of Darkmoon, he found a pair of young girls being cared for by a cadre of mind-controlled servants.  When he spoke to the girls, the younger one asked if he was a friend of her Daddy.  When Alexius talked to her, she told him about the game she and her Daddy played.  She showed him a number of dolls, each corresponding to one of the Teachers, the King and his Marshals.  There was even one of Darkmoon.  

The little girl explained how Daddy would ask her questions and she would show him on the rug, which was patterned to look like the land of Edar, where each person was going to be and what would happen if they met up.  Alexius sensed magical potential in the girl, but wasn't sure if his hunch was true.  So he asked her if she knew he was coming.  She replied that she had seen it many times, but since Daddy had never asked her about it, she had never told.  And that was the story of how Alexius Tristar discovered the most powerful Diviner since Kalamantha the Far-Sighted.

Charlie Darkmoon was adopted after the war and trained from a young age to harness her incredible abilities.  Her letters to the King became common place and soon no decree would be issued without her advice.  She grew famous and influential, but never allowed it to go to her head, remaining humble and generous, never allowing her father's long shadow or the envy others felt towards her status to embitter her.  This, along with telling the fortunes of any who came to her remote mountain cottage endeared her greatly to the common people, who regarded her as a national treasure.  

Kalamantha's Needle was the work of many long months for Charlie, a long shaft carefully sheathed in silver and topped with a metal ring from which hang smaller rings of gold, copper and tin.  She even incorporated the bones of the famous Seer into the staff, lending it frightful power even before spells had been worked into the metal.  

Abilities: 
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Kalamantha's Needle grants +3 to any roll made to use Divination Magic.       
- 3/Day, when a creature attempts a roll, the user can grant that creature advantage.  That creature may roll two d20s and take the higher result.  
- 3/Day, when the user attempts a roll, the user can roll three d20s and use the best result.  Alternatively, if it is a task that could be solved through enough tries (such as inputting a numerical code, picking a lock, guessing a password, if the user has 10 minutes, he automatically succeeds, no roll needed.

Charlie Darkmoon was targeted after Finn Cloud Sterling, Chief Augurist and the Teacher of Wind was found dead.  Somehow, Kalzana had managed to shield himself from her divinations until then, but when her eye fell on him then, he was unable to hide for long.  So knowing how great a threat she could pose, he attempted to kill her.  However, she proved as slippery as her father, evading ambushes and dodging assassins before they even got close to her.  

She outlived many of the other Teachers and was one of the last ones killed.  Some say this was because it was easier for Kalzana to target the other Teachers, while others argue it was because Kalzana was angered by her defying him and wanted to hurt her by killing her friends and taunting her with the knowledge that though she could see their deaths, she could not prevent them.  

When she finally died, Kalamantha's Needle disappeared and reappeared next to the person who needed it most.  It remains with a user until they have no more need of it or are strong enough to stand on their own, then it disappears.     

Francine Shimmerdrop and Panopticon
1d6+Atk

Francine Shimmerdrop was a plain looking woman with auburn hair, a few freckles and a nice personality.  She resembled a bored housewife to a rich merchant more interested in his ledgers than her, making her the ultimate case study in that it is what is on the inside that counts.  From a young age, Shimmerdrop proved herself to be especially gifted in Mind Magic, able to read first the intentions, then eventually thoughts of anyone she wished to.  This allowed her to rapidly rise through the ranks through both her unique talent and her ability to see any threat or ambush coming.  

She was extremely useful during the Orchid Wars, using her rare talents to extract information from captured prisoners of war and influence the minds of the enemy commanders into making small errors that inevitably led to defeat.  Soon the enemy was so paranoid that they nearly destroyed themselves, first hunting for imaginary spies, then by not trusting their very thoughts.  Shimmerdrop became a figure of terror, a spectre of doom so horrifying that even the rumors of her at a particular battlefield could throw the enemy into disarray.  

Yet for all her glory, Shimmerdrop was never particularly well liked by her comrades.  Mind Mages are almost always distrusted for obvious reasons and given her talent, Shimmerdrop was always held at arm's length by those around her.  She had few friends and became more isolated even as her prestige grew.  When she was granted the position of Teacher, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, for the Teachers had little contact with most ordinary people, devoting all their time to defending the nation of Edar or engaged in esoteric research that keeps them isolated.  

While they would not have said so aloud, they were glad they didn't have to interact with her on a regular basis.  Some of the other Teachers even seemed to agree, keeping Shimmerdrop busy with reforming the government by tracking down corruption, learning the truth about various crimes and continuing her work during the Orchid Wars by interrogating war-criminals.  

Shimmerdrop created her primary weapon, Panopticon, as an act of defiance towards all those who rejected her.  It was an ugly thing, made of crushed glass of different colors melded together and smoothed down into a length of eye-bleeding color and asymmetry.  It was topped with a small sculpture of an iron head, the face twisted into an expression of horror while the skull peeled open to reveal an exposed brain.  It was nauseating and terrible to look at, so Shimmerdrop kept it concealed most of the time.  When she took it out, it was known to chill all but the most hardened of monsters.

Abilities:
- In the hands of a spell-caster, Panopticon grants +2 to any roll made to use Mind Magic.  
- As an action, the user may fire a bolt of psychic energy at a target, doing 1d8 psychic damage, save for half.  
- 3/Day, as an action, the user may learn one secret or deep memory from a target within 10'.  For example, if the user wanted to know why the serial killer only killed blonde women, he could learn the reason why.  Or if he wanted to break into a lich's mind to learn how to turn off the magical doomsday bomb, then he could learn how to do so.  The target of this ability is always aware that their mind has been plundered for secrets.  

Francine Shimmerdrop was killed by Kalzana in a wizard duel near the village of Twinbrook.  Many people saw their clash and could distinctly recall the moment when Shimmerdrop was overcome and fell.  Yet upon closer examinations, the memories of several of the townsfolk was found to have been meddled with and there was little duel of a Wizard Duel at the sight it was said to have occurred.  Given the power of the two Magi clashing there, there should have been auras and traces of their spells that lingered for weeks, if not longer.  Yet there was nowhere near enough to indicate a proper duel.  Some theorized that this was because Kalzana took Shimmerdrop by surprise and ambushed her before she could fight back properly.  This was not the only theory of what happened at Twinbrook, but it was the most socially acceptable one.  

After the death of Shimmerdrop, Kalzana recovered Panopticon and gifted it to a powerful Demoness who accompanied him for the rest of his campaign.  This creature was named Dreamweaver and it had the ability to read and control minds, which it utilized with the effectiveness of a High Maga, using it's power to create an army of brain-washed slaves to assist Kalzana is his attempt to displace the Wise Teachers and take total control over Edar.   

      by ArtDeepMind

Glinda Goldilocks and Silvershine

1d6+Atk

Glinda Goldilocks was a joyful, laughing girl who loved nothing more than being admired and adored.  While she was never the prettiest or wittiest, she discovered a talent all her own- she could turn the most worthless materials into treasures.  With this ability, she quickly became fabulously wealthy.  Most students of the University of High Art scrape by, living on meagre stipends from either their sponsors or from the Master they happen to be working under at the time as part of an apprenticeship.  Glinda, meanwhile, wore silks she spun out of straw, ate delicacies made from garbage and lived in a mansion purchased from a wealthy merchant.  She became known for throwing lavish dinner parties and being the number one debutante around town.  Everyone wanted to know her and she reveled in the attention. 

As she grew older, she proved herself to be an agile business-woman as well.  While other Magi consider the business of the market beneath them, Glinda proved a ferocious negotiator with a knack for predicting market trends.  She was also extremely creative and willing to get her hands dirty.  When she started a business to collect people's garbage and clean up the streets, for a small fee, most thought this little more than a gimmick to win some cheap goodwill with the people.  By the time people realized that she was collecting the garbage and transmuting it into re-sellable products, she was already raking in gold hand-over-fist.  By the time she reached middle age, she was comfortably among the ten wealthiest people in the whole land and had interests in wool, tobacco, coffee, wine, gold, iron and all sorts of other goods.

And while many griped her elevation to the Teacher of Gold (she insisted) had as much to do with the generous loans she offered to the University and the King as it did her skill with High Art, she silenced them through the crafting of her signature staff, Silvershine.  Worked from a single piece of pure silver, it was woven into a beautiful and elegant design by moonlight.  The shaft is ribbed for easy handling and a solid grip, while the top is crowned with a petrified chrysalis and a pair of silvery butterfly wings that emerge from the sides.  

Abilities:

- In the hands of a spell-caster, Silvershine grants +3 to any roll made to use Transmutation Magic.

- As an action, the user may freely transmute one of the 10 Essences into another one of the 10 Essences (see below).

- 3/Day, the user may transmute a willing creature into a living statue composed of a material the user can touch.  This transformation lasts for 10 minutes or until the user decides to end it.  For example, the user could transmute themselves into a living iron statue if he was holding an iron ingot.  

When Kalzana ambushed Glinda at a party, he thought he had her.  This fat old woman was no match for him.  Only when the guests were shuttled to safety did he realize his error when she turned the entire ballroom into glass.  Only some truly inspired abjuration saved him from being turned into a statue.  His second great surprise came when she turned herself into an iron statue and punched him through a (non-glass) wall.  From that point, Kalzana ran as Glinda smashed her antique furniture and ploughed through walls in an attempted to seize and crush him.  

When she wasn't doing that, she was transforming her possessions or sections of air into acid or fire or broken glass and hurling it all at him.  Kalzana proved himself a master of defensive magicks that day, as any lesser mage would have been reduced to a red smear on her wallpaper, if he hadn't been turned to stone or smoke by one of her spells before that.  

Still, it wasn't enough.  Glinda finally managed to get her hands on him.  She was about to pulverize his head when he spat one desperate spell and froze her in place.  He couldn't turn her back, so he turned her advantage into a weakness.  A human being is hard to control, being a complicated mix of different substances.  Metal, on the other hand, is much easier to control, especially when you know how to use lightning magic.  After freezing her tongue she couldn't cast, it was a simple matter to finish her off.

Kalzana would have taken Silvershine, had he rightly feared stealing from the Teacher of Gold.  Glinda was absolutely infamous for placing magical booby-traps on all of her arcane treasures and he had no doubt that her most fearsome weapon would be protected by the most devious hexes she could concoct.  So he simply abandoned it amidst the ruins of her manse, confident that no one alive would be able to use the weapon against him.  And in this way, Kalzana once against underestimated Glinda Goldilocks.      

<Sidebar>

The Ten Essences of Alchemy are as follows:

1d10

1- Air.

2- Water.

3- Smoke.

4- Fire.

5- Wood.

6- Blood.

7- Oil.

8- Metal.

9- Stone.

10- Flesh.

</Sidebar>

Lord Hazim al-Hurabi and Ourubian

1d6+Atk

Hazim al-Hurabi was a foreigner who came to Edar many years ago.  Initially he was a guest of the royal court, as he was a Prince who had fled from his nation as a child when violent revolution overtook his homeland.  When he became an adult, he made several attempts to stir up political support for invading his homeland and restoring the monarchy, but the people of Edar had little interest and after marrying into the Edarian royal family, Hurabi changed his focus from politics to magic.  He was a skilled Magus and had been for many years, so when he was granted a teaching position at the University it came as little surprise.  What most did not realize is how he would revolutionize the practice of Biologic Magic.  

Unlike the Edarian method, which did not really deal with Biologic Magic, either considering it part of Evocation or Transmutation, depending on the function, Hurabi came from a theory that divided High Art not by what was done via magic, but what it affected.  For him, all Biologic Magic, or Fleshcraft, was one and the same.  Things Edarian Mages considered different, such as shapeshifting, transmuting flesh, controlling animals and plants were all part of the same category for him.  

The combination of these two schools enabled him to make great advancements, become the most capable shapeshifter that Edar had seen in decades.  Watching a man effortlessly transform into an exact copy of another man, then a bird, then a tiger and back was a sight that was both disturbing and utterly astounding.  It was this, along with his advances in healing magic theory that propelled him to the status of Teacher.

When he became the Teacher of Flesh, Hurabi created an instrument that would enable him to take his magic to new heights.  To do this, he created Ourubian, a staff made of crushed wasp exoskeletons, butterfly chrysalis, snakeskin, urchin and crustacean shells, octopus tentacles and frogs.  Ourubian came to resemble a length of white opalescent material that, whenever it is touched by a new user, changes color and alters it's length and the shape of it's top.  Sometimes it is a plain staff, other times it sprouts a blade or pick or shepherd's crook, it all depends on the user.

Abilities:

- In the hands of a spell-caster, Ourubian grants +2 to any roll made to use Flesh Magic.

- 3/Day, the user may take the form of any creature he has tasted the blood or flesh of.  Use the Wild Shape rules to determine what effects this causes to the user's body.  When a transformation takes place, only skin-tight clothing and anything else pressed tightly to the body can be accommodated.  All other possessions are left on the ground or fall off once the transformation occurs.  This is why shapeshifters usually strip or walk wearing nothing but long, easily removable robes.  

- Ourubian will also transform, attaching itself on the body of the user's new form.  If the user becomes a tiger, it might become a ribbon attached to the tiger's tail or a collar around his throat.

al-Hurabi was a threat that Kalzana delayed in attacking, for he was Edarian and did not consider Fleshcraft that impressive a discipline.  So he ignored the Teacher of Flesh until when he attacked a fortress with the intent of taking some of Edar's nobility hostage, he was ambushed by a Dragon.  When he attempted to strike down the creature with anti-Dragon spells, the Dragon changed into an eagle which sliced his face, then into a poisonous snake that tried to bite him.  Kalzana had failed to consider that the fortress he was besieging held Hurabi's wife.  This led to a clash as Hurabi changed forms rapidly, become human occasionally to sling spells.  Kalzana was able to injure him, but as a Master of Fleshcraft, Hurabi could repair almost any damage done to him.  So Kalzana tricked him by shrinking himself and attempting to hide.  

When Hurabi took the bait and pursued him in the form of a snake, Kalzana bound him, trapping him in the form of a serpent and sealing his mind, so that his higher reasoning was shut down and he was left with only his own instincts and that of a venomous snake.  From there, Kalzana effortlessly managed to capture Hurabi.  Rather than kill him though, he kept Hurabi as a pet, holding him in a glass enclosure and feeding him live mice and humans shrunk down to the same size.  He was quoted as saying "al-Hurabi is still there, inside his mind, unable to escape, forced to watch as his body moves and acts on it's own."  This always made him laugh.          

Ourubian was confiscated by Kalzana and kept as a trophy, a testament to his defeat of the Teacher of Flesh.  After his defeat, it was lost, stolen during the chaos as his force splintered into a dozen competing factions and war-bands.  

Cecilia Darkmoon and Heartpiercer

1d6+Atk

After she was nearly killed the first time, Charlie Darkmoon went to shelter with her sister, Cecilia Darkmoon, who had also achieved the rank of Teacher.  She was the Teacher of Ways, known for her mastery of Conjuration Magic.  Unlike her sister, Cecilia was beautiful and vivacious, arrogant and domineering, with a flair for the dramatic.  She held court in the capital of Droma and was known to mingle with the most important people in the Kingdom.  She was famous for her power, her beauty and the trail of broken hearts she left in her wake.  Yet Cecilia had one particular weakness- she was awful at divination.  While her sister was known as the Teacher of Seers, Princess of Fate and the Author of Futures, Cecilia couldn't divine whether the sun would rise tomorrow.

Few knew this about her, for why would Cecilia be jealous of her sister?  Where Charlie was average and plain, Cecilia was raven-haired and elegant.  Where Charlie lived in a cottage, she lived in a manse, when she wasn't being invited to the palaces of the great and mighty.  Where Charlie was only good at divination, Cecilia was killed not just in Conjuration but also in Word and Earth magic.  Yet Cecilia was genuinely insecure mostly because she had always suspected that people never liked her as much as her plain little sister.  This meant that despite being older than her, Cecilia was the immature one who not-so-secretly resented her sister and wanted nothing to do with her most of the time.  She both secretly admired and was horribly envious of her sister.

Cecilia made many staves, most of them attempts to try and create a tool to help her divine and surpass her sister.  All of these failed or were only middling in their power.  Her greatest achievement was the last stave she ever made, an instrument of vengeance that she poured all her hatred for herself and her sister into.  It was a length of curdled, malformed metal, oozing filth and sorrow and wrath, so much that it made those who saw it uncomfortable by it's mere presence.  She name it Heartpiercer, for that is how it made her feel.

Abilities:

- In the hands of a spell-caster, Heartpiercer grants +2 to any roll made to use Conjuration Magic.

- 3/Day, as an action, the user can open a portal to the Void between the Stars.  This forms a vacuum that sucks in everything nearby.  Creatures that fall in pass away into an airless, lightless, lifeless void that goes on for basically forever (think interstellar space distances).  This portal lasts for 1 minute or until the user closes it as an action.  

- 3/Day, as an action, the user can teleport anywhere within visual range as an action.

While she was willing to shelter Charlie, Cecilia still didn't like her.  In fact, she was in one of her wrathful moods when she received a letter from Kalzana.  It is not known what the letter said, but it was thought that it contained everything that Cecilia hated about her sister, condensed into a single sentence.  Some insist that it carried a potent enchantment, but the more cynical doubt that magic would have been needed.  

Charlie could see all threats coming towards her, but all diviners have blind-spots.  For Charlie, it was her sister.  She knew Cecilia didn't like her, but she never imagined the depth her sister had sunk in her hatred.  She was looking for a reason, so when Kalzana gave her one, she murdered Charlie.  When Kalzana came, she knelt at his feet and swore allegiance to him and he accepted.

Heartpiercer remained Cecilia Darkmoon's weapon of choice until the death of Kalzana, after which his coalition splintered.  Cecilia attempted to take control of his host as his heir apparent, but the Dreamweaver challenged her and their magical duel, though it was inconclusive, led to Heartpiercer being shattered.  Cecilia, in her rage, took her own faction and left the field, leaving the rest of Kalzana's lieutenants to squabble over command and splinter their leader's forces behind her.  After the battle, Magi from the University of High Art attempted to reconstruct the staff and succeeded, though Heartpiercer was said to never be as strong as it had in the hands of Lady Darkmoon.  

       by ManthosLappas

Alexius Sixstars and Star-Crowned Sovereign

1d6+Atk

Alexius Sixstars was born for greatness.  The child of two powerful Magi with an older brother who was also exceptionally skilled, Alexius quickly demonstrated his natural talent.  At a young age he was shown to have three prime affinities, something almost mythical is this degraded age.  He flew through the ranks, devouring every resource placed before him.  He was considered a prodigy, a genius, a once in a lifetime miracle child.  He ascended the ranks quickly and served as both royal advisor on magic to the King, President of the University and finally as First of the Wise, the highest-ranking of the Teachers.  Known in his early days as Tristar for his three affinities he changed his name to Sixstars when he became the Teacher of Seals.  

Alexius referred to his signature staff as his "masterpiece" and even his harshest critics found it hard to dispute.  Created from the bones of an ancient demon, thrice-purified and bound with potent, nigh-unbreakable enchantments, Star-Crowned Sovereign was the ideal weapon through which he could effortlessly dispatch all but the most dangerous of foes.  

Abilities:

- In the hands of a spell-caster, Star-Crowned Sovereign grants +3 to any roll made to use Abjuration Magic.  

- 3/Day, the user can grant a willing creature immunity against any type of elemental damage.  This immunity lasts for 1 hour or until dispelled by the user as a free action.  

- 3/Day, the user can create a warded space around himself that extends up to 100' around himself or covers the entire room he is in.  These wards can either make it harder to cast one particular type of magic or make it harder for all creatures who do not know the Ward's layout to use any form of magic.  Either way, this increases the difficulty of any roll made to cast a particular type of magic or any magic at all by +1 to +3.

Alexius Sixstars waited for Kalzana Thrice-Cursed on the Plain of Testing, a plateau that overlooked the city of Droma, capital of Edar.  In the valley below, Kalzana's army gathered to lay siege to the City, but here it was just them and their bodyguards.  Sixstars and Kalzana had long been enemies, but this was the first time Alexius acknowledged the younger Magus as being worthy of facing him.  Alexius attempted to convince Kalzana to abandon his war, but Kalzana insisted that he would not be denied his vengeance, nor his position as the strongest in the world.  So Alexius readied himself.  

The Wizard Duel that followed was the stuff of legends.  The sky split and the earth quaked.  Stars fell from heaven and lesser men were driven insane by the powers unleashed there.  A hundred volumes could not describe the masterful spell-work that tore craters into the Earth or reduced that area to a hex-riddled wasteland, even to this day.  What is important to remember is that for all of his power, for all his glory, Sixstars made one fatal mistake: he had thought himself the most talented Wizard in the world.  Twenty years ago, that might have been true.  He did not ever think someone could come along who was stronger than him.  So while he was still superbly powerful, he had gotten soft after twenty years of feasts, awards and lavish parties thrown in his honor.  Kalzana, who might have been his equal two decades prior, was more than a match for him then.

After his death, Star-Crowned Sovereign remained by the Archmagus' corpse, refusing to fall or bend to any other.  It is still there, to this day.  Occasionally, foolish Magi will attempt to cross the Plain to snatch it, but they inevitably end up falling to one of the hexes, spells or enchantments left behind after the duel, still lurking to snatch the unwary.  For reasons of safety, the Teachers have forbade any to attempt to claim the staff without their authorization.  

Andronicus Hexial and Soulspinner

1d6+Atk  

Adronicus Hexial was a hold-over from a previous era, the last of the elder Teachers who were gradually replaced by Alexius and his allies.  He was known as the old fossil, a living museum exhibit who kept his post as Teacher and professor at the university mostly out of seniority and for the sake of tradition.  Even though he still lived, Adronicus had been largely forgotten.  Perhaps he had been great when he was younger but approaching what surely must be the end of his life, what more could he do?

So when Kalzana began to protest against the state of magic in Edar, Adronicus was the one who cautioned against him, arguing he should be placated and given some position of honor.  The other Teachers ignored him.  When Kalzana began to act against them, he argued they should pool their resources and attack, but no one thought this upstart, talented as he was, could truly oppose them.  Even as the Teachers began to die, Alexius still refused to heed his warnings.  And so Ancient Adronicus was the last man standing.  

Andronicus had long created his staff from melted Slake-moth chitin, fused with Dream-Demon Essence and carved with runes stolen from the soul-stealing Hags hailing from another plane, Soulspinner was a length of lacquered blue wood, topped with a carved moth that cradled a large, clear crystal that cast rainbows across the walls.  The other Teachers considered it gaudy, but Andronicus always smirked and pretended not to hear.

Abilities:

- In the hands of a spell-caster, Soulspinner grants +3 to any roll made to use Illusion Magic.      

- 3/Day, the user can, if they have an active illusion, can anchor it to the staff.  The staff will maintain the illusion as it was cast for up to 1 hour or until the user dispels the illusion.  The staff can support up to three active illusions.              

- 3/Day, the user may allow a creature to interact with an illusion if it was real.  Illusory food will fill him up, an illusory bridge will feel solid under his feet, an illusory wolf will cause him pain and do damage to him as phantom fangs tear at the creature's flesh.  

Andronicus was targeted last by Kalzana, who by now was flush with glory and stolen power.  By slaying the Teachers, he had proved his superiority and by raiding their vaults he had been able to make himself far more powerful than he had ever dreamed.  So when he came to destroy Andronicus, he did not fear the old man.  If anything, he felt sorry for him.  Andronicus did not intend to go down easy though.  He attacked the younger Magus and their battle destroyed half a wing of the University.  Kalzana was younger and stronger, but Adronicus was far more experienced, with a deep knowledge of the University's wards.  He was able to distract and trick Kalzana, sending him on a wild-goose chase for much of the fight.  

Unfortunately, this did not work for long.  Kalzana was an illusionist too, who had even studied much of Andronicus' work, so he was quickly able to realize that he been tricked.  So he pursued and found that the elder Mage had somehow made it all the way back to his headquarters.  When Kalzana made it back to his pavilion, his own servants attacked him, believing him to be an imposter.  He tore the illusions deceiving them apart and killed a few for their insolence, then sent them all away so he could pursue his enemy without distraction.  And there, hidden in his private spaces, he found Andronicus.  He pounced on the elder and was about to kill him when Andronicus revealed a second staff.  With a flash, he transformed himself into a statue of clay.  

Kalzana was outraged!  Andronicus had stolen Silvershine from his dead compatriot!  Still, he had beaten Glinda Goldilocks, so he could put down this old man.  Andronicus wasn't done yet however, using the aid of the staff to unbind the transmutation spell that kept Hazim al-Hurabi as a snake.  The Teacher of Flesh transformed back into a man and this broke the seal placed over his mind, freeing him to think once more.  Kalzana moved to speak, but al-Hurabi used Fleshcraft to seize control of his tongue and prevent him from vocalizing properly.  This slurred the death spell he was casting and when it rebounded, Kalzana destroyed himself.

In the days and weeks that followed, Kalzana's coalition broke apart into dozens of smaller groups that attempted to consolidate gains or menaced the countryside as raiders for years after.  Andronicus and al-Hurabi worked with the civil authorities to rebuild the damage done by Kalzana's War, as it was later known, as well as to rebuild and reform the Laws of Magic in Edar so hopefully nothing like this ever happened again.  Andronicus served as First of the Wise and helped to raise up a new group of Teachers to try and replace those who had died, but his age caught up with him.  

He retired to joyful cheers and anguished moans, spending the rest of his life in solitude, working on his research.  He died two years later, his heart finally giving out.  He was mourned as the greatest Wizard of the Age and a memorial was constructed to immortalize him in Droma.  In the University, the destroyed wing was rebuilt and renamed after him.  At his funeral, al-Hurabi, his successor as First of the Wise, described him as "A man unappreciated in his own time, who gave everything to save a tomorrow he would never see."  He then added, "He was a great Magus, a scholar without peer and a Teacher of Wisdom.  Most of all though, he was a father to manyand a friend to all, especially me, a stranger.  Goodbye, old friend.  I'll miss you."          

by in-the-mind-of-ai