Valinard's Tower

These activities present ways to directly improve your character in some way. The original rules for Martial Training provided an alternative to the Feats and options of modern D&D – instead of locking them away behind levels, experience and complex prerequisites, the kind of abilities normally covered by feats are things you can simply spend time studying – if you can find a master to teach you.

Now this overlaps with the Fighter Techniques system a bit, but techniques are primarily a way for fighters to spend their bonus reactions, while martial backgrounds provide smaller or more situational benefits that don’t consume reactions.

And if the system allows you to master feats of arms, why not have it also cover proficiency in carpentry or theology? And what better way to establish that your character is good at something than to have had them spend substantial amounts of time studying it?

Since The Black Hack already included proficiencies as Backgrounds, that’s what I categorised all of these abilities as.

I love the idea of a spiritual journey as a downtime. It’s a staple of fiction and film, and having a lever for the player to pull to make it happen opens up so many possibilities for the game. Mechanically it provides for some more esoteric feats and abilities, and makes a little bit of magic available to all classes.

I’ve included Splendid Items here on the basis that signature equipment is often part of how a character is expressed.

Action: Martial & Skill Training

Training allows a PC to gain a new Background.

• A martial skill providing a special move in combat.
• A skill such as painting.
• A new language.
• Deep knowledge of a particular subject.

The PC should first find a master or the skill in question and convince them to train him, then the DM should prepare a clock, usually with 1-5 ticks. For skills with varying levels of mastery, 1, 3 and 5 could represent basic, expert, and master competence.

The PC should spend a downtime and roll with no attribute modifier.

• Good: Advance one step, and treat the next – as =.

• Mixed: Advance one step.

• Poor: Don’t advance.

Action: Spiritual Journey

A journey of the spirit may consist of meditation, fasting, vision quests, counselling, studying holy texts and relics, and can accomplish a number of goals such as:

• Obtaining a minor special ability.
• Understanding the nature of a place or power.
• Binding a daemon.
• Soothing a troubled soul.
• Renewing a broken vow (in particular, Cleric Bonds.)

The DM creates a clock based on the power of the outcome sought:

1: A one-off or highly situational ability. (Bonus to poison saves for the expedition to the Serpent Tomb.)

3: A small benefit or minor goal. (Restore the mojo of a disillusioned master.)

5: A permanent benefit or moderate goal. (Turn an evil magical sword good.)

Spend a downtime action modified by WIS.

• Good: Advance the tracker, next attempt is a =.

• Mixed: Advance the tracker.

• Poor: Don’t advance the tracker, and resolve an obstacle before trying again: Make an offering, learn a lesson, perform a ritual etc.

Action: Commission/Create Splendid Item

Spend a downtime to find a master craftsman (or attain a 5-step mastery of a crafting skill yourself) and convince them to take the job. They may give you a quest. Spend 1000cn or 100 times the price of the normal item, whichever is higher.

• Good: Item will be finished at the end of the next downtime.

• Mixed: Item will be finished at the end of the downtime after next.

• Poor: Item will be finished after three downtimes.

Making the item yourself requires that you spend those downtimes crafting, but cuts the cost in half.

Armour takes twice as long. A single piece is produced; an entire suit of Splendid armour would consist of 2-6 pieces. Splendid armour can have some sort of minor beneficial effect, count as one step lighter (for all purposes other than the requirement to have no more than two pieces of each type), or have a +1 AC bonus, but only plus from once piece of each type. So a suit of plate (AC 15, six pieces) with three Splendid pieces would be AC 18.

Weapons can provide a cd12 chaser die to hit, or +1 to damage, extend the range of a ranged weapon by a step, or provide +1 to initiative for attacks using the weapon.

Wands & Rods can be used in place of a free hand to cast spells with, and provide the usual splendid item bonus until they awake – -1 to saving throws, or +1 to spell damage, etc., but can be awakened and then recharged via a ritual researched by a Wizard (via Research Information or a Spiritual Journey, whichever seems appropriate), usually involving risk, inconvenience or privation, such as submerging a Wand of Fireballs in lava and retrieving it, leaving a Rod of Cancellation 1 mile away from any magic item, creature, or wizard for a week, or feeding a Staff of Healing with your own CON.

Spellbooks are splendid books, each holding six spells – two of level 1, 3 and 5, or two of level 7, 9 and 11. A wizard can spend one DT to fill a spellbook with any spells for which he possesses a formula, existing spellbook or scroll. Empty chapters can be filled later.

Other Items provide a small situational bonus – splendid boots might improve travel rolls slightly.

Awakening Splendid Items

Weapons & Misc Items

Splendid items which experience epic or tragic events may become magical or cursed. Curses are inflicted at the whim of the DM. For an item to awaken, a PC must invest it with an Experience gained while carrying the item. The Experience is checked off as though used for levelling.

If it has pluses the item will usually awaken to +1, though +2 or +3 are possible if the event is particularly dramatic.

To advanced to further bonuses more Experiences must be added, and they must be in some way compatible with – and perhaps greater than – the first. Research or Spiritual Training may be used to reveal potential experiences to advance an item, which can then be sought out.

Armour

An armour piece that awakens gains a magical +1 with a chaser die instead of its splendid bonus; these pluses can combine to provide a magical bonus of up to +5 and a corresponding d4 chaser die.

Under this system only heavy armour can exceed +4, and light armour is capped at +2. Alternatively, simply rule that armour pieces become magical in the same way weapons do, and through the investment of further experiences can reach +5, and only the die from the highest plus in the suit applies – though other magical armour pieces can contribute other effects.

Wands & Rods

Once awakened through the investment of an experience, receive ud10 charges and may be recharged with a ritual usually involving risk, inconvenience or privation, such as submerging a Wand of Fireballs in lava and retrieving it, leaving a Rod of Cancellation at least one mile away from any magic item, creature, or wizard for a week, or feeding a Staff of Healing with your own CON.

Optionally, ud8 charges for rods and ud12 for staves.