GLOGifying Specialists

So before this article begins in earnest, I want to explain something. Firstly, I don't really use the GLOG, I just think it's interesting. But I've written about this before. Secondly, I'm not criticizing the GLOG for its cool flavor- far from it. Like many others, I was entranced by Arnold's series of Monastic Wizard blogposts; the many schools of magic. I can't speak for everyone, but I think a LOT of people enjoy the GLOG for its unique magic system.

But look at the other classes of the GLOG. They just don't have that same level of love and attention that the GLOG wizards do. Now that's not to say they're bad necessarily- but you have these Wizards with multiple spells, unique abilities per school, a unique taboo and Doom that is ripe with flavor, and other classes don't quite reach that level. Instead, each nonmagical class seems to be a collection of abilities and some skills, but nothing quite as inspiried as the GLOG's MU.

So let's GLOGify the specialist a bit.

The GLOG Specialist

The specialist is a term used for skillful characters whose abilities are neither directly tied to spellcasting, but also not to combat. That doesn't mean they can't fight, many of them are able combatants, and can take templates in fighting classes if they wished to bolster their strength; but the specialist is a unique role in a party.

Most specialists have skills which are related to dungeoneering and adventuring. Things like architecture, machinery, performance, cat burglary, poaching, and so on. These are what this Blogpost is talking about. Specialists also have abilities which are based on their class- things like the Ranger's tracking ability or the Thief's luck. Don't change these. These are the same as they were before as written up in the class description.

Every specialist now has a Creed and Knacks. At the bottom of your character sheet, write Doubt with a 0% next to it.

Honor among Thieves

Every specialist has a Creed. Your Creed is a reason for you to keep going, it is your guiding principle. Even if your class isn't thief, you probably have a collection of skills and the experience in using them in ways that aren't totally legal. Knowing how to pick locks and mix poison is always questionable, even in legal situations where you may be allowed to use them. There is a bit of moral ambiguity in the art of the specialist. As such, your Creed is what lets you go to sleep at night. It's the justification for all the weird blackmailing and throats slit you keep doing with your party- all thanks to your skills. Your Creed is also (eventually) will act as the power source for your more supernatural or mythic abilities- things not necessarily possible but aren't explained as magic either.

When you take any specialist A Template, you must make a Creed. Your Creed can be anything, but typically it's going to be something that acts as your moral guide, even in an amoral world. The thief steals, but only from the rich to the poor. The torturer puts splints under people's fingernails to get them to talk, but it's only because learning the truth is the most important thing. No player character gets to be a thief who just “wants money”. That's a one line justification that belongs on an NPC stat spread your players kill in a session. Thieves who just steal for money or because they are good at it are NPCs, not player characters.

Thief Knacks

No matter what type of specialist you are, or how common your skillset is, you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Knacks are like special talents or bonus situations related to your skills that only you know. These are things like putting chalk on your fingers so you can really grip the edge of a pressure plate, less then an inch jutting from the floor. Or sharpening the other end of your lockpick into a point, so you can use it to peel the rust off the older locks. Stuff like that.

You can declare a knack whenever you succeed OR fail a skill check, and only as long as you have a knack “slot” available. You can have a maximum number of Knacks equal to your number of Specialist Templates times two. The maximum number of knacks you can have in any one skill is equal to your number of Specialist Templates. This means that while you can put a lot of knacks into your main skill, you have the opportunity to branch out into other skills.

Knacks are special talents that let you essentially bypass a skill check. Say your character has Architecture and wants to roll to find a hidden wall in a long dead dwarven stronghold. They succeed. You declare your character now knows how dwarves like to hide their walls, and since dwarves aren't terrible creativity, pretty much all of them are hidden like that. Your DM allows it. Now, you can automatically find hidden walls and sliding passages in strongholds built by the dwarves, or those with strong dwarven influence.

Knacks can also be used as a last second thing on a failed skill check- this lets you avoid the penalties of the failed check. For example, if your character tries to disarm a flame trap and fails- you declare they find the air valve at the last second and plug it up with their sweat band and stop the fiery dragon sculpture from breathing on them. The DM allows it. However- using a knack like this locks you out of creating any new knacks from the rest of the session. You've had your special moment of drama, now you got to cool off and be in the background for a bit.

Finally; Knacks can also be used to expand a skill in a meaningful or fitting way in a situation where a regular Knack would be too broad of an application (and a new skill would be too narrow in scope). For example, your thief finds a dragon egg and really wants to hatch it. They have the Animal Handling skill, but raising eggs is a bit different. Your DM lets them add “Animal Handling / Dragon Rearing” to their character sheet. It's a bit too specific to be its own skill, but it would be a bit too powerful to just let them succeed every time they want to stop their baby dragon from burning their house down. In this situation, their knack has made the skill more broad in scope, but they still need to succeed on a roll to actually use it, since it's still hard to raise a dragon.

Doubt
Finally, with your skill comes doubt. Where as Fighters may struggle against foes beyond their muscle and Wizards must deal with their own madness and intellectual battles; the only real struggle for the thief comes from within. Your Doubt eats away at you if you let it.

You gain +10% to +30% doubt if you violate your Creed; the degree of infraction indicating how much doubt you accumulate. If you consider yourself a noble thief who steals only from the corrupt and decadent, but yet you begin bribing officials to look the other way with your crimes, you will start to feel like a hypocrite. Small amounts of doubt eat away at you. You also gain +1-5% doubt whenever you fail a skill roll in a stressful situation or when it really matters. If the lock on the ancient vault door you've been camped under for two whole days is just too tough for you to open, it's no big deal. It's clearly just too complex for you. But if you really need to disarm a trap and it ends up killing your lantern boy, well then that's your failure. You feel the sting of that one inside you, like you just aren't good enough. Maybe you had it once, but in your age you're losing it. How many old pickpockets do you see? Exactly.

The higher your doubt climbs, the more it interferes. Once per session, the DM may declare that the thief must make a Doubt check whenever attempting to use a skill OR a class ability related to their specialist class. They then roll a percentile roll out of 100. If they roll under their doubt, they hesitate, freeze up, and fail the roll or ability. No additional doubt is accumulated, but the damage was already done.

In many ways, Doubt is similar to the Doom of a Wizard, but instead of being bombastic and magical, it is slow and insidious. It is also possible to remove doubt. If you manage to steal or accomplish a great task related to your skills- like climbing the tallest mountain in the setting for a Climbing specialist or steal the King's Jewels, you gain a surge of optimism that reduces your doubt by -1d6x5%. So a roll of 2 means you drop your Doubt by a whole 10%. However, these situations are meant to be rare, and you can only get the benefit of this doubt reduction roll by doing an even greater feat next time. Breaking a dead language so its ancient lost spellbooks and tomes can be read is a great achievement- but once you've done that, decoding some cypher or learning old elvish just doesn't cut it anymore. Eventually, Doubt will lead to a character's death or retirement- and all those special tricks of the trade die with you.

Optional Rule: If the DM deciding when to kick in doubt is a bit too storygames or too antagonistic for your table, consider instead having doubt trigger on an on/off condition based on your specialist's creed. For example, if you're creed is about getting treasure, then your doubt is constant for the first part of a dungeon run- UNTIL you acquire at least 200 gp worth of treasure in a dungeon. Once that gold is in your hand, you start to get your motivation back until you return to town and have to start over. Another example is "As long as nobody gets hurt", in which case you have no doubt unless somebody in the party dies or is maimed; in which case doubt plagues you until you can return home and unwind.

PoE Skill Gems in OSR

Path of Exile has been absorbing a little bit of my time, not as much as I should probably be dedicating to it I'm afraid. It's hard for me to get super 'into' games now. I often end up thinking about tabletop roleplaying games in conjunction with them, and this is why I thought of skill gems.

Stats and Gems

If you wanted to be a purist, you could boil down D&D's stats into just 3; Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Similar to what Into the Odd has done. Or if you wanted to be a really cool guy, you could keep all of D&D's stats and make up new kinds of gems for the extra stats, which might be even color.

Strength gems are red, Dexterity gems are green, and Intelligence gems are blue. If you add in the other stats, make Constitution gems orange, Wisdom purple, and Charisma yellow. You can change the colors around if you prefer, doesn't really matter.

You can only use a number of gems equal to the relevant stat's modifier +1. So if you have +2 Strength modifier, +0 Dexterity modifier, and -1 Intelligence modifier; you can equip 3 Strength Gems, 1 Dexterity gem, and no Intelligence gems. You also have to socket it into an item to make use of it.

Support gems also count as the above and towards the limit of gems you can use, but support gems can support any type of gem as long as its equipped in the same item your other gems are.

Mana

Using any gem costs 1 mana point. Your maximum mana is equal to your level + Wisdom modifier. Every support gem attached to a normal gem increases its mana cost by +1 per use.

Strength Gems – 1d12

[1] Heavy Strike- Add 1d6 to the damage of the attack. If any die rolls maximum you can knock the enemy back by 5ft or stun for one round.

[2] Cleave- Attack up to 3 targets in a cone in front of you.

[3] Shield Charge- Hold out your shield and move at double speed for one round, knocking enemies aside. You can also aim at a target and slam them, dealing 1d8 damage to that enemy.

[4] Vitality- All allies within 15 ft. of you restore 1 point of health each round, as long as they are attacking something.

[5] Static Strike- Every time you hit an enemy, you gain one static counter. When you choose, you release all counters on you and deal 1 lightning damage to all enemies next to you per static counter.

[6] Molten Shell- Increases your AC by 2 for up to 3 rounds. If anyone hits you while the shield is up, there is a 50% chance that it will burst on them, dealing 1d6 fire damage.

[7] Reckoning- If an enemy attacks you and the damage is blocked by your shield's AC, you perform a blast against them that deals 1d4 damage.

[8] Vigilant Strike- Cast immediately after hitting an enemy. You take -1 damage from all attacks and spells for 3 rounds.

[9] Infernal Blow- Add +1d4 fire damage to the attack, if you kill an enemy with your total attack damage this round, they explode and deal 1d4 damage to all adjacent enemies.

[10] Leap Slam- Jump up to 30ft in any direction. You can make a free attack against an enemy you are landing upon.

[11] Purity of Fire- Grants +2 to all breath weapon saves and +2 fire resistance to yourself and all allies within your eyesight.

[12] Decoy Totem- Creates a totem that enemies must make a save or must attack before other party members. The totem has your AC but can only 2d6 HP.

Dexterity Gems – 1d12

[1] Animate Weapon- Allows any weapon you currently own to fight by your side. The weapon makes normal, unmodified attack rolls. After getting hit by an attack or making 3 of its own attacks, it falls to the ground now mundane.

[2] Poacher's Mark- Curses a group of enemies under the same banner or of the same type you are fighting to have -2 AC. If you or an ally kills one of them, they restore +1 HP and the effect ends.

[3] Spectral Throw- Ghostly projection of your weapon flies forward, making an attack roll against each and will deal normal damage on each if it hits. Enemies can also spend their turn avoiding it, but it rebounds and can hit enemies a second time.

[4] Barrage- Stand still and fire off arrows at an incredible rate, letting you attack 3 times with a ranged weapon in one round. You cannot turn more then 90 degrees while firing.

[5] Reave- After hitting an enemy in melee, you can attack another enemy as long as they are adjacent to the first enemy. Every time you chain attacks like this, it costs +1 mana point growing as each enemy is hit. So 1 mana for the first chain, 2 more for the second, 3 more for the next enemy, etc.

[6] Puncture- Enemy begins to bleed dealing 1d4 damage a round until they make a save. No effect on enemies without blood or equivalent.

[7] Temporal Chains- All enemies within a radius of 25ft you dictate move half as far, have half the number of attacks, and have half initiative scores. If they have curses or debuffs on them, they last one additional turn.

[8] Viper Strike- On your next attack enemy must save vs poison or take 1d8 poison damage.

[9] Grace- Aura that grants +1 AC to you and all your friends within shouting distance.

[10] Mirror Arrow- Creates a duplicate of yourself wherever you shoot your bow, and both of you may make attacks for one round.

[11] Ethereal Knives- Fan of knives that deal 1d4 damage to all enemies in a 15ft cone from you.

[12] Lightning Arrow- Arrows that deals additional 1d4 lightning damage. If you are outside, 50% chance to call actual lightning bolt on hit that deals 1d10 damage instead. If in a storm, 100% chance.

Intelligence Gems – 1d12

[1] Flameblast- Charge up flaming energy on a single 10ft spot. Each round you charge it costs 1 more mana and deals Xd6, where X is equal to the rounds charged. The spot cannot be changed once you begin casting this spell.

[2] Freezing Pulse- Deals 1d6 damage to all enemies within a straight line of you, and on a roll of 6 their feet are rooted to the ground with ice, making them unable to move for a round.

[3] Herald of Lightning- Add +1 lightning damage to all attacks and spells cast to all allies within 10ft. If an enemy is killed by dealing at least 15 damage to them in a single attack, they explode outwards with static bolts that deal 1d4 damage to all enemies within 10 feet of the first enemy.

[4] Righteous Fire- You and all enemies within melee range take 1d4 fire damage per turn. While this effect goes on, you get to add 1d4 bonus fire damage to all spells you cast.

[5] Enfeeble- Curses all enemies that you can see at the moment you cast the spell. The first damage dice they roll for any attack, skill, or spell is treated as a 1 before modifiers and bonus die are added.

[6] Assassin's Mark- Curse a single enemy to be marked for death. The next time you or an ally attack them, add your sneak attack bonus to the attack and damage rolls.

[7] Essence Drain- Fires a projectile that drains the victim of 1d4 levels or HD, recovering them at 1 per round after being struck. They can make a save to avoid.

[8] Lightning Tendrils- Make an attack roll with advantage against all enemies in a cone in front of you. Each enemy struck takes 1d8 lightning damage.

[9] Power Siphon- Fires a bolt that deals 1d4 damage to an enemy. If you kill an enemy with this, you deal +1 damage with all spells for the rest of this combat.

[10] Summon Skeleton- Creates a weak skeleton minion that lasts for 3 rounds. Any Turn Undead, Stun, or Curse effect ability used on it destroys it instantly.

[11] Elemental Weakness- Curses a group of foes fighting under the same banner or of the same type to take 3 more damage against an element you specify when you cast this spell. Lasts 4 rounds.

[12] Discipline- Your allies and yourself all ignore the first point of damage you take each round.

Skill Checks

The spontaneous, off the cuff style of DMing and the 'rulings not rules' philosophy was one of the things that really sold me on the OSR and related games in the broader RPG hobby. I love the freedom and lack of irritating “game mastery” mechanics, and needing to consult a table. Playing in a game of a more rules heavy system where every time you try to climb a rope or talk to an NPC in a basic conversation you have to roll some stupid fucking climbing or small-talk skill because it's there in the rulebook.

With this being said, Rogues are in a unique place in the OSR game world. My game features only 3 base classes; Fighters, Rogues, and Magicians. If Fighters are good at fighting, Magicians are good at doing magic, then Rogues should be good at the other part of this equation; Rogues are the answer to the final cog of the dungeon-crawling gameplay wheel.

Something that opened my eyes about tabletop games and how you can just make it work was the idea of nearly arbitrary roll under skill checks, there doesn't need to be a skill on a character sheet; the DM just gives a number and you try to roll under it to succeed. That's it. That's all there is to a skill check. This was just so interesting to me I started to think of how the class that's all about skill, the Rogue, could fit.

Specialization & Backgrounds

An issue I see with the skill check system is all about the specialization of characters and types of skills. Under a more universal skill check system like this, one Rogue character who grew up in the circus and worked as a juggler and acrobat for years and another Rogue character who picked pockets and broke into houses in a city as a youth would both have the exact same bonuses, based on their level, to acrobatic tumbling or picking locks and pockets.

Your first instinct might be to give background tables or elements in character creation. I wouldn't, for the same reason I let any Fighter be equally capable of getting their bonus to hit and damage and bonus attacks with all weapons if they be a pikeman from a disbanded brigade or a wandering samurai. It's the same reason any Wizard can cast any spell, even if they have some theme like Conjurer or Pyromancer. Specialization hurts characters more then it helps them.

In fact, making characters not have explicit specializations like this actually leads to more interesting roleplay opportunities. Say your Wolf Rogue, who lived his whole life as a bandit, started to play a slow song on a harp to keep a hibernating she-bear from waking up and mauling him and his looter friends to death. This becomes an immensely interesting roleplay opportunity- how did the Wolf know how to do that? It's a great moment, and much more appropriate to a ROLE PLAYING game then pulling out a DC table and stating that you get a +4 due to your background: Musician.

Challenge Rating

While letting the DM create the chance needed on the spot based on the difficulty of what the player is trying to accomplish, having a more ordered structure would help if these skill checks are part of the core gameplay. It is important that they are part of the core gameplay, or else you're essentially denying a Rogue player part of their characters unique toolset. It should be mentioned that any class can attempt skill checks, and you may even give out bonuses based on attributes, tools, or past character experience; it's just that Rogues get a bonus.

But what actually constitutes as a skill? What are you allowed to roll for? I would go for a metric that doesn't involve most combat skills or spellcasting, as well as avoiding knowledge or language based skills. Social interactions should be covered by Reaction Checks unless its involving a debate or trickery.

Eligible examples for skill checks; Acrobatics, tinkering with devices, navigating social situations, playing music or performing, sleight of hand and more. Conveniently, these are all things the Rogue archetype is known to do already.

There's also the nature of 'what is possible' which could start a lot of arguments when trying to figure what a character could try to accomplish using this system. Personally, I would tie the amount of 'realism' I am limiting the player character by to their level. Low level characters are more mundane where as high level ones can do obviously supernatural feats.

Just arbitrate a large negative malus from the roll under target number of the skill check. For actions that seem supernatural, this can be a negative number meaning nobody even has a chance of pulling it off. That is unless they're a high level Rogue with a high skill check bonus, letting them bring it into the realm of possibility.

Skill Check Rules

When you declare or are prompted to perform an action that requires coordination, skill, and luck above the regular ability of your character you will make a Skill Check. The DM will either openly state or secretly set a target number.

Roll d20 equal or under target number + bonuses.

Challenge Rating Guidelines

Challenge	Target	Examples
Fair	10 <	Unlocking a standard door. Climbing over a low wall while chased.
Difficult	8 to 6	Winning a dart throwing contest. Disguise yourself without suspicion.
Extreme	5 to 3	Cut coinpurse, replace with bag of stones. Tightrope walking.
Monumental	2 to 0	Scale a sheer, slick surface. Split a fired arrow with a second one.
Supernatural	-2 to -6	Lullaby that makes a beast fall asleep. Move in absolute silence.
Mythic	-8 etc.	Serenade a storm to calmness. Escaping the afterlife. Running on water.