May 30, 2023 6:53 pm
Demons & Virtues
Familiars: Familiars are small demon or virtues. Familiars are 1HD (1d8)
Summoning/Binding: (Requires 3+ pts in an Ethos)
At 1st level, the PC chooses a first summoning from Elementals Demons or Undead. He or she then chooses which specific type of entity he or she can summon. Later on, at 5th level, the PC can choose second summons and has a third choice at 9th level a fourth at 13th level and a fifth at 17th level.
Summoning requires a minimum INT 13, so you need to be sure you can summon the type of being in question before you choose. Summoner must roll a contested WIS save to bind.
Greater Summoning/Binding: (Requires 5+ in an Ethos)
Greater Demons/Virtues have 18 + 1d4 in their prime stat and use 1d12 as HD.
Demon/Virtue Types
Combat
[ +- ] Fighters (STR, DEX, CON 2d6+8/INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
These Demons of Combat are specialist fighters and gladly kill on demand. They may take whatever form the summoner wishes – the more repulsive or intimidating the better. They can be attacked, injured or killed. Injured Demons of Combat can only repair themselves if they have regenerate as a special ability. Otherwise they have to return to the netherworld to recover – in other words, when reduced to 0 HP they are automatically released.
They can be given weapons to fight with, if preferred. Unless they are using mundane weapons, Demons of Combat can harm monsters (like some undead) that can only be harmed by magical attacks.
They can be given weapons to fight with, if preferred. Unless they are using mundane weapons, Demons of Combat can harm monsters (like some undead) that can only be harmed by magical attacks.
[ +- ] Weapons (STR, DEX, CON 2d6+6/INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
Divide STR or DEX by 6 rounded down to determine bonus to hit/damage
Demons of Combat are often bound into the form of a weapon (Demon Weapon), which will have a pentagram and various runes inscribed into it. The demon in the weapon can increase the hitting power of the weapon. Other attributes can confer additional bonuses to the character wielding them per the table below.
All demon weapons are considered magical and only magical weapons may wound or penetrate Demon Armour or harm elementals otherwise unharmed by normal weapons.
A demon weapon's prime stat is determined by type of weapon it is bound into. If the demon can shapeshift, choose the higher stat as prime.
[ +- ] Defender (STR, DEX, CON 2d6+8/INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
Demons of Protection are much like Demons of Combat except that they will never voluntarily start a fight. Their duty is to guard and defend things (or beings) and they will strike only in self-defense, or when someone or something enters an area they are guarding. Even then, they give a warning first.
[ +- ] Armor (STR, DEX, CON 2d6+6/INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
Divide STR by 6 rounded down to determine bonus to AC
Demons of Protection are often bound into some form of armour or a shield (although they can also be bound into doors, chests, walls and so on). This armour is not limited by the bounds of ordinary armour but, at the summoner’s choice, may take any fantastic form he wishes and needn’t even look like armour. If the demon has 12 INT or greater, it may be made to change its form as the sorcerer commands.
Demons of Protection are often bound into some form of armour or a shield (although they can also be bound into doors, chests, walls and so on). This armour is not limited by the bounds of ordinary armour but, at the summoner’s choice, may take any fantastic form he wishes and needn’t even look like armour. If the demon has 12 INT or greater, it may be made to change its form as the sorcerer commands.
[ +- ] Sage (STR, DEX, CON, CHA 3d6/INT, WIS 1d8+12)
Demons of Knowledge will not fight under any circumstances. Their sole purpose is to impart information to the person that summoned them. Sometimes the knowledge they give is spurious, worthless, random or plain out of date. The chance of a demon knowing the answer to any given question depends on that demon’s INT check, which is made on D20 plus INT mod +1 per level (alternatively, the GM can assume the demon knows the answer and simply give the player the information requested). If the demon does know the answer it will happily give the information; if it doesn’t know and has not been bound, it will lie, in whatever fashion the GM believes will cause the most harm to the player-character. If the demon has been bound and doesn’t know the answer, it will attempt to find out; usually requiring 2-12 hours (roll 2D6). Demons of Knowledge are Sorcerous Spellcasters.
[ +- ] Mount (STR, DEX 2d6+8/CON, INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
Demons of Travel can be bound into physical form to enable travel across the land. This requires summoning a demon, investing it with a given shape, and then binding it into the form of that shape for permanent service. The speed that the demon will be able to achieve once bound into any given shape depends on the DEX rating of the demon. They will have a top speed of 5 times their DEX rating in miles per hour. They can travel non-stop for a number of days equal to their CON.
[ +- ] Gatekeeper (STR, DEX 2d6+8/CON, INT, WIS, CHA 3d6)
These beings exist solely to facilitate getting from one location to another, usually by the swiftest route possible. Demons of Travel can open gates through other planes, transport themselves and others by land, sea or air. They can also teleport straight from one place to another almost instantaneously. In their normal form Demons of Travel are invisible and immaterial, but they may be bound into physical objects or called forth into a particular shape by the summoner.
[ +- ] Concubine, Valet, Concierge (CHA 18+1d4/STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS 3d6)
Demons of Desire are granters of wishes. They will procure physical objects, act as all-purpose servants and serve as sex objects. They will never go farther or do more than they have to in order to fulfill a request. Such demons appear as highly attractive members of the opposite sex of the species of the summoner (unless the same sex is required).
Demons of Desire may be bound, though they do not take the form of the binding object and do not enter into it. Instead, they retain their original physical form while they are in the Crimson Lands. Whoever owns the binding object (usually a ring or some other small sigil) is the demon’s master and may command it. The demon will generally trail a few steps behind its master, but may be ordered to remain in one place and summoned to its master’s presence by expending a wish (at the cost of a permanent point of the demon’s CON).
Demons of Desire are shapeshifters if they have INT 14+ and they also have the ability to alter the shapes and forms of others. If your character wished to be a bear for some reason, a Demon of Desire could transform him into one at the cost of a permanent point of the demon’s CON.
Demons of Desire may provide their masters with mundane objects, such as a weapon, a piece of clothing, a horse and so on. The demon will only travel as far as it needs to get the thing – if this means taking the item from a nearby member of the party, that’s what the demon will do. So, the summoner needs to word his wish with care. Demons of Desire can bring magical objects such as Demon Armor or Demon Weapons, but this costs a point or more of the demon’s CON (GMs discretion how many, depending on the power of the demonic item).
A Demon of Desire may also be used to heal HP damage taken by its master, or anyone else the summoner chooses to heal. For each HP healed, the demon loses a CON point, permanently. Once a Demon of Desire is reduced to zero CON, it will disappear - returning to the pits of the netherworld it was summoned from.
[ +- ] Thrall (STR, DEX, CON same as host/WIS 2d6+8/INT, CHA 3d6)
Demons of Possession are non-corporeal and have no body of their own. Instead, they possess the body of whatever is sacrificed to them by entering and controlling it. In the case of human sacrifices, the demon will then have the same exact physical attributes as the sacrificial victim.
Whoever controls the demon’s binding object controls the demon and may order it to do whatever the body it wears is capable of doing. Demons of Possession may also change bodies on command. To take over the body of a free human or animal, the demon must have a higher WIS than its intended target.
Trying and failing to bind a Demon of Possession results in a possession attack against the summoner, who must make a Will save (-2 if the Demon has a higher WIS, +2 if the character’s is higher). If the attack succeeds, the character is possessed and no longer under the player’s control. There’s always a risk when dealing with such demons!
Demons of Possession have no real desire to remain on the earthly plane of existence. If their physical form is slain without a replacement ready, they will leave for their home. Possessed bodies not killed, but deserted by the demon, become mindless, soulless and zombie-like; they will soon die unless repossessed or given special care.
[ +- ] Torturer, Cenobite (DEX, CHA 2d6+8/STR, CON, INT, WIS 3d6)
When Demons of Pain appear in material form they resemble human-like beings that are undergoing some form of painful torture - for example, a pale man with iron nails driven through his head and face at regular intervals, or a woman with both legs and arms broken at weird angles with the bones showing where they’ve been broken, or a man flayed of the skin over several large areas of his body etc. These demons are twisted, sick, and malicious and they seek enjoyment through the torture of mortals. They feed upon pain and can regenerate by causing pain. They are vile sadists who will prolong a creature's death just for entertainment. These demons can be summoned only when the sacrificial victim is still alive and in great agony. The sacrifice must be an intelligent species.
Demons of Pain use weapons shaped from their own flesh and bones, so they are able to form blades from the bones in their arms, or spikes out of their skulls or chests and whips from the flesh of their arms and so on. These bone and skin extrusions take one round to form and cause 1d8 damage; it looks and sounds especially gruesome to anyone viewing it.
Demons of Pain are also able to shape the bones of their victims from a range of 30’. They need merely to point at their target and make hand gestures - bones will break or force their way through the target’s skin; this is excruciatingly painful. The victim takes 1d6 damage immediately (no save) and must make a CON save or be forced to collapse to the floor, writhing in agony as their bones are cracking and becoming misshapen. Even if the save succeeds, the victim is in such pain that his or her attacks are at -1 to hit. A second consecutive round of this causes a further 1d8 damage and requires another CON save, this time at -1. One of the victim’s limbs or ribs becomes broken and useless. This continues in this way round by round unless the demon stops or is distracted. A Demon of Protection of a higher level than the Demon of Pain can negate this attack completely. An equal level Demon of Protection can still give the PC a CON save to resist the initial damage and negate the -1 to the later saves. A lower level Demon of Protection can provide a one-off CON save at the start at the cost of its own existence.
Demons of Pain increase in power whilst there is someone in agony in their vicinity (up to 30’). Each round spent near someone who is suffering great pain (just being wounded isn’t sufficient) they can regenerate 1HP if they are themselves injured. After 2 rounds, the demon will also gain 1 HD. After 3 rounds they add 1 to their AC. After 4 rounds they gain a demon special ability. After 5 rounds, they gain another HD and after the 6th and final round they gain +1 level. These adjustments last an hour before the demon reverts to its original status.
Like Demons of Desire, Demons of Pain may be bound but they do not take the form of the binding object and do not enter into it. Instead, they retain their original physical form. Whoever owns the binding object (usually a torture device like thumbscrews or a scalpel) is the demon’s master and may command it. The demon will generally trail a few steps behind its master but can be ordered to remain in a place to be summoned at the cost of a point of the demon’s CON.
Special Abilities (up to 1/stat bonus of highest mental stat)
[ +- ] Acid
The demon's skin exudes acid that does 1d6 dmg every round to whatever it touches or touches it. This continue to do damage for three rounds after last contact is made, unless washed off or neutralized.
[ +- ] Blink
The demon may blink itself a maximum of 50 feet once on any given combat turn.
[ +- ] Clairvoyance
(As the 3rd level Clairvoyance Spell) The demon create an invisible sensor within range in a location familiar to it or its binder or in an obvious location that is unfamiliar (such as behind a door, around a corner, or in a grove of trees). The sensor remains in place for the duration, and it can't be attacked or otherwise interacted with.
[ +- ] Cold
The demon can create a sudden blast of cold that does 1d8 dmg/attack.
[ +- ] Electricity
The demon can create a spark of electricity that does 1d6 dmg/attack.
[ +- ] Fear
The demon inspires manic in all beings within 30 feet. Save against a contested WIS save. Affected can only whimper, whine, and cover until the demon moves beyond 60 feet or 1 minute in combat has elapsed.
[ +- ] Fire
The demon can create a mote of flame that does 1d6 dmg/attack.
[ +- ] Invisibility
The demon and anything it is holding is able to become invisible. A demon in weapon and armor may only make the weapon or armor itself invisible.
[ +- ] Paralysis
The demon may cause the paralyzed condition by a successful melee unarmed attack. The paralysis lasts a number of combat rounds equal to the demon's WIS score, unless the victim makes a save on subsequent rounds.
[ +- ] Psychometry
The demon can see the past of a particular person, place, or object with which is in contact or can see.
[ +- ] Regeneration
The demon can heal wounds to itself at a rate of 1 HP/round.
[ +- ] Scrying (Knowledge Only)
(As the 5th level Scrying Spell) You can see and hear a particular creature you choose that is on the same plane of existence as you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, which is modified by how well you know the target and the sort of physical connection you have to it. If a target knows you're casting this spell, it can fail the saving throw voluntarily if it wants to be observed
[ +- ] Shapeshifter
The demon may change appearance and form. This may include to a specific form and is limited to one size category smaller or larger than its original form.
[ +- ] Sorcery (counts as 2)
The demon is able to cast spells as a sorcerer. (Roll 1d6: 1-3 1st level only, 4-5 1st and 2nd level, 6 1st-3rd level)
[ +- ] Telekinesis
The demon can move objects up to their WIS score in weight, at a range of 60 feet, and can throw these objects with force 1d6 dmg. It may lift heavier objects, but at a cost of a CON point for each incident.
[ +- ] Telepathy
The demon can read the thoughts of its binder and communicate telepathically up to distance of 1 mile. They may attempt to read the surface thoughts or communicate with someone else by a contested WIS save roll.
[ +- ] Wish Granting (Desire Only: Automatically)
Demons of Desire may grant a binder's wishes. They may procure mundane objects or creatures. They may also produce magical objects and demons at a cost of a CON point for each. The binder will still need to confront these new demons and potentially whoever or whatever is wielding them when they appear.
Elementals
Summoning
Elemental summoning is not an instantaneous activity and certain preparations are required beforehand. First the summoner needs to have the coinciding element to hand – so, for example, he needs at least a bowl of water to summon an undine (water elemental). Chanting, rhythmic swaying and hand gestures are also necessary. This is best done unarmoured and unhampered by heavy weapons or gear. This swaying and chanting requires uninterrupted concentration for a period of anywhere between 3-18 minutes (roll 3D6).
At the end of the period the player makes the appropriate summoning roll, based on the character’s level and applying all applicable modifiers. Failure means the sorcerer has to start all over (or give up).
Once summoned, the elemental will carry out the first command given to it by its summoner. After carrying out its orders as best it can (assuming they are within its powers), it is free again and will go away to the elemental plane where it came from. However, the sorcerer can attempt bind the elemental rather than have it carry out a task.
Binding Elementals
The elemental must be bound into an item or an object. To bind an elemental requires the sorcerer to overcome the elemental in a battle of wills. Binding requires the character to make a WIS save, whereupon the elemental is bound and must obey its master from then on. It will carry out a task as commanded and then return to its object once the task has been completed. It may be called upon up to four times in a day. If called a fifth time it will break free completely and return to its plane. If the WIS save is unsuccessful, the elemental simply returns to its elemental domain.
Elemental Powers
Elementals are immune to sleep and charm spells and aren’t affected by illusions. Only earth elementals can be affected by normal weapons – the other elementals can only be harmed by some magical attacks and magical (demon) weapons.
Air (Sylphs)
Sylphs cannot be seen. A single sylph has very limited power; it can accomplish as much as a puff of wind.
Sylphs have the following abilities:
1) Can fly at 4-24 (4D6) miles per hour
2) Invisible to the naked eye
3) Produce 1D6 miles per hour worth of breeze for 1D6 minutes
4) Move light objects of 1lb or less for 1D6 minutes
5) Blow individual arrows off course
6) Carry spoken messages from their master to another individual up to a mile away
7) Produce enough air to last one person 1D6 minutes, but this will slay the sylph
8) Destroy a fire elemental (salamander), but this will slay the sylph
9) Players may invent other appropriate minor powers, at the GMs discretion
10) Multiple sylphs working together may multiply the effects of one power by the number in the group
Earth (Gnomes)
Gnomes are slow, rocky beings who can merge with the earth. When on top of the ground they take the form of a crudely hewn man. They are only capable of simple tasks.
They have the following abilities:
1) They always attack last in the round with their doubled fists causing D10 +2 damage
2) Merge with and pass through all natural barriers and walls made of stone or earth.
3) Tremendously strong; a single gnome may lift as much as 2000 pounds
4) Any weapon striking their stony bodies has a 10% chance to break.
5) Can tell if gold, silver, or any other desired metal is within 100 yds. They can also lead people to mineral deposits or metallic objects
6) Neutralize (destroy) a water elemental (undine) at the cost of its own existence
7) Players may invent other appropriate minor powers, at the GMs discretion
8) Many gnomes in proximity remain a collection of individuals. They cannot merge their powers as all the other elementals can.
Water (Undines)
Undines are normally invisible within a body of water. If summoned forth on land, they usually take the form of a beautiful blue-green woman about a foot (30 cm) tall, whose skin is damp to the touch.
They have the following abilities:
1) Move at will through water at a speed of 3-18 (3D6) miles per hour
2) Transport a single person through water for 1D6 hours and protect the person from drowning
3) Materialize up to one gallon of water at any time or place.
4) Neutralize (destroy) one earth elemental (gnome) at the cost of its own existence
5) Neutralize (destroy) one fire elemental (salamander) at the cost of its own existence
6) Cause metal weapons to rust almost instantaneously, halving the damage for that weapon, at the cost of its existence
7) It may enter the respiratory system of a target and do drowning damage to the target for 1D6 melee rounds
8) Players may invent other appropriate minor powers, at the GMs discretion
9) Multiple undines working together may multiply the effects of one power by the number in the group
Fire (Salamanders)
Salamanders are chaotic shapeshifters, usually appearing as simple flames but sometimes in other forms – like that of a human or animal though always enshrouded in fire. They are the hardest elemental to contain and must be bound to a stone or metallic object or they cause the binding object to be consumed in flame.
They have the following abilities.
1) Ignite any flammable object
2) Produce a burst of flame doing 1D6 damage to anything along the path of the flame for up to 30’ distance. The salamander may only do this three times in a day; doing it on a fourth occasion destroys the salamander
3) Inhabit any metallic weapon or object and cause it to flame for 1D6 melee rounds. Flaming weapons do an additional point of fire damage and on a hit can ignite flammable objects such as clothing or wooden shields
4) Neutralize (destroy) one air elemental (sylph) upon contact at the cost of its own existence
5) Produce light in darkness without actually burning anything.
6) Melt soft metals such as gold, raw iron, copper, or lead. They merely heat up harder metals and alloys, such as bronze, steel, tempered iron, etc.
7) The flame damage of a salamander counts as a magical attack when used against any form of demon or elemental
8) Inhabit and control any free-burning flames, such as controlling how fast the fuel is consumed and what direction it moves in when there is little or no wind. A flame is defined as one discrete mass of burning substance not to exceed a diameter of 6’ from side to side
9) Detect hidden living beings by their heat and give its master a rough idea of the direction and distance. This will not work through more than one foot of stone or similarly dense material
10) Players may invent other appropriate minor powers, at the GMs discretion
11) Fire Elementals may merge together to produce a gigantic fire elemental whose power equals the product of all the individual elementals. For example, three elementals acting as one in a flaming weapon would deliver 3 extra damage and have a chance of igniting any flammable object they contact. However, if shooting flame, elementals may be combined either to increase the amount of damage or to increase the range or the width of the flame.
Undead
A Price to Pay
The more the sorcerer delves into the necromantic arts, the greater the toll on his mind, body and soul. When he takes the undead summoning ability (and if he takes it again), the sorcerer immediately receives one of the following consequences.
Choose or Roll 1d12
1. Hair turns grey immediately. Turns white after a month. Falls out after another month.
2. Becomes creepy and unsettling. Animals and children shy away.
3. Becomes nocturnal; finding it difficult to sleep at night and needing to sleep during the day – disliking the sunlight.
4. Skin becomes wrinkly, blotchy and slightly translucent.
5. Becomes obsessed with graves and graveyards.
6. Teeth start yellowing and fingers and nails grow long and claw-like.
7. Becomes addicted to drinking blood.
8. Starts to become gaunt, face becomes white and skull-like.
9. Gains +1 to saves to avoid death but wounds take twice as long to heal as normal.
10. Becomes paranoid; believes everyone is out to get him and doesn’t trust anyone.
11. Physical Debilitation (-1 to STR, CON or DEX)
12. Mental Debilitation (-1 to INT, WIS or CHA)
Summoning
Undead summoning (necromancy), like any other type of summoning, is best done when fully prepared. Undead can only be brought back at the actual grave site where the body is buried, or at the location of their death. Old battlefields are a great source of bodies for such summoning. Preparations at minimum require uninterrupted concentration for a period of anywhere between 1-6 minutes (roll 1D6) if the person is recently dead or up to 6-36 (6D6) minutes if the person is long dead.
The number of undead summoned depends on the level of the summoner and the type of undead being summoned. Skeletons are the weakest of the undead and also the most numerous. The summoner, therefore, can summon more of them in one go than say vampires, which are rare and harder to locate. A sorcerer can, of course, summon just one of any type of undead if he prefers. Once summoned, the undead will carry out the first command given to it/them by the summoner. After carrying out their orders as best they can (assuming they are within their powers), they will crumble to dust. The sorcerer can simply ask questions, to which the undead will respond to the best of its ability. However, the sorcerer can bind the undead rather than have it or them carry out a task or ask questions.
Binding Undead
Corporeal undead can only be bound to a site (often a graveyard or similar) or to service. In the latter case they follow their master as ordered and act as servants/bodyguards. Non-corporeal undead can be bound to a location or can be bound into items; the item must be something that has some significance to the undead person whilst they were alive – an item they owned whilst alive, the item that killed them (this might not go down too well with the undead!) or similar. To successfully bind the undead requires a battle of wills by the sorcerer making a WIS save.
A weapon will have one of the special offensive abilities of the undead that is bound into it. So, a sword with a bound Banshee will either be able to do a death shriek once per day, or the act of drawing the blade will cause fear in the character’s opponents or the touch of the blade will cause necrotic damage.
Armour bound with non-corporeal undead will have one of the undead’s defensive powers. So, Banshee Armour would confer either the undead’s DC, an immunity to sleep, charm and fear or a resistance to magic, or make the wearer immune to all weapons other than magic weapons.