After more than two weeks of traveling I’m here at my parent’s in Milan. I have a mind-numbing cold that makes me really really stupid and useless, and my back has been in flaring pain for a week. Work on Santicore has slowed down a lot (because sleeping all day makes my existence way less awful) and I won’t manage to ship it by tomorrow. BUT I will try to release the parts that are done-ish.
Anyway, here’s a partial list of powers that might or might not be related to… well, I can’t say. But they might be related to Mysteries & Mystagogues, the third book of Chthonic Codex, due in early 2014. These powers are learnt separately and through strange rituals, and the character does not necessarily know beforehand the name and effects of the power.
Wizard Eyes: the character can see what others can’t. Spirits, auras, negativity, fear, love, and sometimes even other people’s problems. While this is incredibly useful, it’s also incredibly distracting: apply a +1/-1 modifier to all attempts to surprise the subject.
Polypogenesys: the character spawns a squid. The squid lives inside the subject and, as long as it’s inside, they can communicate telepathically. It can be commanded to leave and fight for the host. The squid is literally spawned by the host and will die if not allowed back in the host through any orifice at least once a day (a freaky process to watch, but totally harmless). If the squid dies a new squid spawns in two months.
Daemonic Flim-Flam: the character can entice a spirit or daemon do do their bidding, but at a price, namely returning the favour in the future. An good trick used to avoid returning the favour is to ask for help wearing a beard or a hat. Spirits are easily deceived by such silly tricks, and nobody knows why: they literally can’t understand that the bearded person that asked them a favour a moment ago is the same bearded person right in front of them. But as soon as the disguise is gone, the spirit will soon reach the character to whisk then away and often return them – but only after a while – completely deprived of mana and covered in bruises. (1d6 hits left)
The Theurge who Stares at Goats: the character can intensely stare at a goat to stop their heart. After a full round of staring, the goat must save or die.
Skyclad: while the character is under the sky and completely naked, except for headgear and jewellery, the sky will be their aegis. The character can’t be paralyzed, petrified or held and is protected by claws and weapons (Protection: Light. AC 5[14]).
Hieratic Alignment: the character is now widely known within an in-group and treated as if it was one of them. The character also enjoys their friendship and camaraderie. Such groups could be something like “Bocklins”, “Necromancers” and “Horned Kataracts”. The in-group expects the same behaviour from the character, of course.
Caduceus: the character can bind a snake to a staff to form a caduceus, a staff with healing powers. The snake can save to avoid being bound. While bound the caster can spend 1 mana point to transfer the snake’s preternatural healing and regeneration to a touched ally, healing 1d6 damage. This can be done once per day per level of the snake. The snake can also be cast off the staff at an opponent; after the ensuing fight the snake considers itself excused and will slither away. Binding a recently excused snake is considered a terrible faux-pas.
Naiad-friend: the character is really, really close to a naiad. Like, really close. The character can get the help of the river-spirit by stepping in any flowing body of water somehow connected to the sea and calling for her name. The naiad will arrive after some time, an interval reduced to under a minute (1d6 rounds) if called in her own body of water. Naiads are known to show up at the last minute to save their friends from drowning and other horrible water-related deaths. The naiad will always expect some kind of nice gift or quality time from the character, or will start to stalk and annoy them to no end.
Star-lover: the character’s night dreams are periodically visited by a starchild. If the character is left to sleep the whole night they will wake up extremely tired and debilitated (1d6 temporary damage) but they will enjoy the favour of the star until their next sleep. Determine a specific bonus from the Star Scrying table, which is applied to the character
The Sphenoid Procedure: the character can spend one turn sensing the direction of the closest magic item. While doing so they will profusely bleed from the nose, taking 1 temporary damage.
Shroud of Nox: while fully coated with pitch or black ink the character can reroll a failed save once a day.
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