Specialist LEVELS UP!

I had fun writing the Fighter level up bonuses and was requested to do one for thieves. Problem is LotFP doesn’t really have a thief class, they have the Specialist which is a build your own class kind of deal. With that in mind I made these Level Up bonuses a bit more generic(and fun) because of that.

-Whenever the Specialist levels up they roll a d12 and consult the table below-

1. Death Proof: Gain a Death Proof token, you may spend this token on the following: If an attack or effect would cause you to have 0 or less HP, you have 1 instead.
2. Slick as an Eel: You have learned of a plant that when eaten makes your sweat especially oily. You can now slip into spaces ½ your size with ease. Must be nude.
3. Devil's Luck: Once per day you may reroll a skill check you failed.
4. Tools of the Trade: You can macgyver a set of Specialist’s tools out of mundane objects, these tools last for 1 skill check then break. Takes 2 hours minus 1 turn per level to find and make the tools.
5. Concealed Item: Choose a minor weapon or small item. You can hide that weapon/item on your person and it will be undetectable during a search. No stealth check needed.
6. Persona: Add 1 to a mental stat(WIS,INT,CHA) of your choice, cannot exceed 18.
7. Harlequin: During downtime you have learned the Jester skill and begin with it at 1-in-6 modified by CHA(cannot fall below 1). A successful check allows you to entertain peeps with various parlor tricks and jokes, you might earn a little coin too…Also allows you gain a favorable reaction and rumors from any clowns you may encounter. Increase skill by 1 each time this is rolled.
8. Heightened Senses: Choose a sense: Sight, Touch, Smell, Sound, or taste. When making a check with that sense, roll twice take the favorable result. May choose a different sense when rolled again.
9. The Fabled Mcguffin: Name a treasure, could be a pirate’s booty, a magic item or a Saint’s relic, etc. You gain a solid lead to the whereabouts of said treasure. Adventure! If rolled again choose a new treasure or gain another insight to the last one. Your choice.
10. Hypnotism: You have learned how to trick people into doing what you want with subtle word play and gestures as per the Suggestion spell. Must roll a Successful Hypnotism Skill Check, starts at 1-in-6 modified by CHA(Cannot fall below 1). Victims get a Save vs Magic. Increase Hypnotism skill by 1 each time this is rolled.
11. Swashbuckler: Add your DEX & STR mods to melee attack rolls & damage.
12. You See Dead People: Literally. You can sense any undead in a 10ft area around you. Increase by 10 ft each time this is rolled. Careful if you can see them, they can see you...

If the character rolls something they already have and it doesn't have a rolled again option, they get number 1 instead.

Fighter LEVELS UP!

A little something-something for the Fighters when they survive long enough to level up.

Whenever a Fighter levels up they roll a d12. Consult the table below.

1. You gain 1d4 Hit Points.
2. While Parrying, any melee attack against you triggers an immediate melee riposte attack.
3. Increase critical range by 1, up to 3 times. (So a Nat 19-20 would be a critical)
4. You may add your STR/DEX mod to melee/missile damage rolls
5. You gain a Cleave attack, whenever you down a foe with a melee attack you may make another melee attack against an enemy within 10ft.
6. You gain a wicked battle cry. Once per combat you may incite an immediate morale check against humans.
7. Your unarmed attacks do 1d6 damage now. Increase die size each time this is rolled up to a d30.
8. You gain 25 bonus XP for each finishing blow you preform.
9. Add 1 to a physical ability score(STR, DEX, CON) of your choice. Scores cannot exceed 18.
10. Your criticals now do triple damage.
11. You are only surprised on a roll of 1.
12. Choose a favored weapon. You gain +1 to Hit and damage with that weapon. Increase by 1 for each time rolled.

If the character rolls something they already have and it doesn't have a rolled again option, they get number 1 instead.

Supernatural Magnetism

I've been watching Jojo part 5 religiously since it came out and I’ve been fascinated with the idea that stand users attract other stand users. If you don't watch/read Jojo, all you need to know is it's weird as shit and stand-users are pretty much just magic-users that only know one spell. I wanted to take that attraction and use it in my games.

Supernatural Magnetism

I’ve been testing it with two methods:

The first is by increasing the random encounter chance when a magic-user is in the party.
Normally I check for random encounters on the road once for the day and once at night with a base 1-in-6 chance of something happening.
However, when a magic-user is in the party the base chance increases to 2-in-6. Multiple M-Us don’t increase it anymore than one would. For dungeons I use the same numbers.

The second is by increasing the chance that a random NPC is a magic-user. 

For example in OSR2 one of the NPCs stole a page from a wizard's spellbook but is not a caster himself. Because my PCs have a magic-user I rolled my trusty d6 and BAM! he's a Magic-User now. A lot LotFP modules have small chances of normal people actually being Magic-Users, in those cases I would up the percentage or just flat out make them M-Us. Obviously not every NPC is gonna be some hidden witch but if it seems like a possibility, roll that die! This might be a bit unfair to the non-spellcasting characters but eh, if they don't want weird shit happening to them they should be a farmer or something, or ditch the M-U.

Conclusion

So far I've been pretty happy with the results. Stuff happens more often and I get to suffocate the players with strange happenings. I might fiddle with the numbers some more but I'll update this post if I do. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

Honestly I think I just want to see a wizard duel in game.

Sobek's Children//Werecrocs

Lycanthropy-Werecrocodile

One of the greatest blessings bestowed by the god Sobek is the ability to change into a human-crocodile hybrid, a werecrocodile. This strain of lycanthropy is only found in Egypt due to the transformation’s dependence on the Nile river. An unusual strain since the ability is not passed by the usual vector, a bite, but is passdowned hereditarily. Scribes believe this restriction may be connected to Sobek’s association with fertility, others say it was done to prevent enemies from contracting the strain. Werecrocodiles do not undergo their first transformation until after puberty is reached and only during Akhet, the Season of Inundation when the nile floods, which happens from June to September. As per my generic lycanthropy rules I’ll be using LotFP’s RAW disease rules as a base for this strain of lycanthropy.

• Incubation- The incubation time is from birth to the first Akhet after puberty.
• Infection- During Akhet, the Season of Inundation.
• Interval- Whenever human blood is detected. A Save vs. Magic may be made to resist the transformation with a +4 due to Sobek's Blessing.
• Effect- Transform into a werecrocodile(see below). Takes 2 minutes and is excruciatingly painful. Reverting back to human takes a round.

This strain was created to be a combat boon for Sobek's most devout followers and thus is dependent on detecting human blood to transform. Unlike the werewolf, werecrocs are fully in control of themselves until a kill is made, only then does the lure to devour take hold. 

Werecrocodile Stats

Armor 16, Move 120’(Swim speed 160'), 5 Hit Dice, 30hp, 1x Bite 1d12 damage 1x Tail Slap 1d6 damage, Morale 10. Whenever a kill is made a Save vs. Magic must be made to resist wasting a round devouring the corpse. Double damage from Silver Weapons(triggers a immediate morale check when hit, will flee on a fail)

Appearance & Traits

When transformed werecrocs stand over 6 feet tall and have a huge snout and rows of jagged teeth as well as an equally deadly serrated tail. Werecrocs have an excellent sense of smell, especially when it comes to blood. Those infected are able to differentiate the blood types and can even tell which pool or spray belongs to which victim. Any wounds received from non-silver, non-magic weapons while transformed heal at a rate of 1hp per hour.

The Cure

There is no known cure for this strain of Lycanthropy, mostly due to the small number of recorded infected.

Context

If you've been following my blog you'll know I'm planning on running a LotFP game set in 17th century Egypt. One of the bullet points I wanted was for the players to act as one of the many factions running around gathering treasure and macguffins. My players decided on playing as a forgotten cult of Sobek worshipers that are werecrocodiles. Yup.

I've never actually run a "monster" game so I'm interested to see how they handle a little power at the start of the campaign. The goal I gave them is to find a way to revive their dead god Sobek to reign over Egypt like the good old days. Should be pretty interesting. I'll probably come back here and update this strain after I've seen it in action.

Death Masks

"L'Inconnue de la Seine"

Death Masks

have been been used to preserve a person's likeness from the time of the pharaohs to relatively recently when photography became prevalent. However a hidden family of morticians in Egypt known as the Coin Eaters(the process is very expensive) have passed down an ancient ritual to imbue death masks with the deceased's personality and memories. This allows one to continue existing on the material plane using a surrogate body after death.

Ritual of Transference

The following components are required to begin the ritual:

• The deceased's head(with/without body) which is cleaned, sutured, and painted to the look alive to the best of the mortician's ability*. This done to ease the transference of the deceased's persona and to shape the mold of the face with wax. Requires a successful Cosmetology Skill roll to complete. A failed roll means the process must be redone from scratch wasting 1d10 x 10sp worth of materials. The client of course foots the bill.
• Offerings of precious metals equal to 1000sp x the character's level that is smelted down to construct the mask. The stronger the personality the more expensive the mask to house it. Requires a Successful Mask Making Skill roll to complete. A failure means the mask must be melted down and recast again, costing the family 1d10 x 25sp worth of materials. The client of courses foots the bill.
• A whole corpse to wear the mask. The family will provide the body for an additional charge of 100sp or will work with whatever the client provides. When the ritual is completed and the mask worn, the corpse takes the physical appearance of the character the mask was made for.

*Mortician Skills- Usually the family requires a substantial donation to allow one of their more experience members to forge the mask. In lieu of coin, the family may also ask for an errand(of varying difficulty) to be completed at their behest. 

1. Novice Mortician- 250sp, 3-in-6 Cosmetology Skill, 3-in-6 Mask Making Skill
2. Experienced Mortician-  500sp 4-in-6 Cosmetology Skill, 4-in-6 Mask Making Skill
3. Expert Mortician-  1000sp 5-in-6 Cosmetology Skill, 5-in-6 Mask Making Skill
4. Master Mortician- 2000sp 6-in-6 Cosmetology Skill, 6-in-6 Mask Making Skill

Once the mask has been forged(and the fees paid) the Ritual of Transference may commence. The family allows the clients to view the forging of the mask but the actual magic is done behind closed doors. Its a family secret after all. In my game the process involves a certain piece of music...and takes three days to complete.

Once completed the mask holds the deceased's Class Level/XP, Mental Stats(INT,WIS,CHA), personality, and memories. The body procured earlier provides the Physical Stats(STR,CON,DEX) and holds any gained XP. As long as the mask stays intact(the mask has 50hp), the character only needs a new body upon death to continue. Though they begin with the stats they had when the mask was constructed and any new xp or levels are lost. I'll let you decided if they get to keep memories or not.

Moon Baby//Lycanthropy

For my upcoming Egypt campaign one of my players expressed his desire to play as a werespider. Yes, a werespider. I was perplexed and hesitant at first but after thinking about it, why not? Lifespans in lamentations tend to be quickly and brutally extinguished. So, in order to fulfill this wish I had to do some research into Lycanthropy and how I would implement it into my game. I asked around the official LotFP Facebook page, the OSR discord and did some googling and got a lot of good feedback. I did struggle because I wanted to the curse to be powerful but with powerful consequences. Also I didn’t want it to be overly complex. Thankfully I was inspired by listening to one of Fantastic Dimension’s Rogue to Riches sessions and how he used the LotFP disease rules in his game. *Update* 08/31/19 Thanks to some great random encounter rolls 2 of my players are werewolves now. I had to tweak some things here after some testing.

Lycanthropy-Werewolf Strain

The curse of Lycanthropy acts much as a disease would so we’ll be using LotFP’s Rules & Magic disease rules as the base for the curse. The curse is transferred through bodily fluids, most commonly saliva via bite. On page.35 in the Rules & Magic book you’ll see diseases are broken up into four stages: incubation, infection, interval, and effect. We’ll use these to fill in what actually happens when your infected by Lycanthropy.
Note: I’ll be using the traditional werewolf as the example for this strain of Lycanthropy, in future posts I’ll be going over some other strains, the werespider and werecroc.

• Incubation- The incubation time is from first infected to the time of the next full moon and every full moon after.
• Infection- Every night that hosts a full Moon.
• Interval- From the Moon's Peak to Dawn.
• Effect- Transform into a werewolf.(see below). Takes 2 minutes and is excruciatingly painful. Reverting back to human at dawn takes a round.

So in other words once infected to the time of the next full moon(incubation) and every full moon after(infection) the infected transforms into a Werewolf(effect) from the full moon's peak to dawn(interval).

Werewolf Stats

Armor 16, Move 180’, 5 Hit Dice, 28hp, 2x Claw 1d8 damage, 1x Bite 1d6 damage, Morale 10. Those injured by a Werewolf that survive must make a Save versus Magic or become infected with Lycanthropy. Double damage from Silver Weapons(triggers a immediate morale check when hit, will flee on a fail)

Retaining Control

The real reason anyone would even want to play a Lycanthrope, the possibility of harnessing the curse. So, how do you do it? Certain packs have devised religious rituals to soothe their bestial side. Others have had tamed the beast through sheer will and an overpowering persona, though these individuals are a rare breed, 18 Charisma maybe? Check out the Lunar Lullaby below for an example of how to tame the curse.

The Lunar Lullaby

Music is a gateway to the soul and some would say the key to one's humanity. One pack in southern France devised a way to keep control of themselves during their transformation by playing a secret piece of music written and known only to them. Learning this piece and having it played during your transformation grants a a Save vs. Magic with a +4 to during the transformation phase of the curse. Success means your are fully in control of your character while transformed.

Lingering Consequences

The biggest would be a TPK after the referee gains control of the werewolf. If you've seen An American Werewolf in London after the protagonist killed his best friend he was haunted by him, which is a great idea for a lingering consequence. Here are some side effects for those afflicted with Lycanthropy.

•  Aversion to Silver, touching silver with bare skin causes the afflicted to lose 1d100 experience points.
• Aversion to non-meaty meals: Food without meat tastes bland and terrible not matter how well made it is. It takes twice the amount of food/rations to satisfy a werewolf if it has no meat.
• Add a +1 Modifier to Strength & Constitution. Does not increase the ability score, just the modifier.
• Death Friend: If the afflicted kills a Player Character that character may haunt the afflicted a number of times per week equal to twice their Charisma Score Modifier, Minimum 1. The "Death Friend's" spirit may never rest until the werewolf that killed them is dead.
• NPCs killed can haunt the afflicted but they tend to crowd together to judge from a distance.

The Cure

A Remove Curse spell during the incubation phase will cure the infected. However once the first transformation has occurred the only way to remove the curse is a lengthy quest(at referee's discretion).

Nábrók (Corpse Trousers)/Necropants

I was listening to the newest Last Podcast on the Left episode about Icelandic Sorcery and was inspired to make a magic item from one of the occult objects they talked about, Necropants.

-Nábrók (Corpse Trousers)/Necropants.
Allows the wearer to reach into their Necropants(the scrotum pocket) and pull a silver coin from it once a day. 1-in-6 chance to pull a gold coin. Works as long as the original widow's coin isn't removed.

In order to create a pair of Necropants a Magic-User must first complete the following ancient ritual:

• Make a true male friend.(Why male? We need that scrotum pocket!)
• Ask said friend to let you skin them from the waist down upon their natural death.
• If yes, proceed. If no, make a new friend.
• Wait until friend is buried, then dig him up and skin him. Make a relevant skill check to not damage it or hire a flesh tailor.
• Once you have the skinned flesh of your friend, steal a coin from a poor widow.
• Place stolen coin in scrotum along with a runic symbol.
• Put Necropants on and bathe in goats milk under the moon.
• Profit???

Congrats your now the proud owner of a pair of Necropants! Taking them off requires a Remove Curse spell.

These'll make a great addition to the magic items for sale at the Ghoul Market. Or make your insane Magic-User NPCs wear them. Anyways let me know what you think!

Familiar Binding, Redux

Samuel's arms fell limp as he slumped to his knees before the gruesome scene before him. Her body lay contorted and strewn across the hay smothered floor in sea of red. The girl's once sky blue eyes stared dulled and vacantly towards one of the shadow soaked corners of the room. From the darkness appeared two hellish points of lights, crimson in color, followed a fiendish voice that croaked from the dark. "The pact is complete young Samuel, thine sibling's soul for the unnatural knowledge thy so desired." "Take thine hand and dab her cooling essence unto the book." A few somber moments passed before the boy sheepishly rose with inky black tome in hand. He took just enough steps before collapsing beside his sister's ruined form. The boy caressed her cheek careful of the torn parts then closed her eyes. After he soaked his hand in the thickened pool around him and pawed into his grimoire the hurried whispers of his familiar.

I was feeling lazy so I decided to steal an old post from my dead blog and update it here. I was pleasantly surprised to find the above scene, I dont even remember writing it.
Anyways the spell to summon a familiar has been done so many times already but I wanted to add my own take to it. I wrote this last year but here it is cleaned up & updated.

The following is a 1st level spell for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

-Familiar Binding-

Throughout history witches & warlocks have taken beastial familiars as aids to their spellcraft. This spell allows the magic-user to bind a otherworldly entity into a contract, bestowing gifts of knowledge and power in exchange for sacrifices. The process takes 8 hours of constant chanting and spell weaving and must not be interrupted by outside forces. The spell must be cast at night.

The entity requires a vessel to house it while it lingers on this plane. The caster must provide the corpse of one of the following:

1. Hare
2. Monkey
3. Crow
4. Lizard
5. Snake
6. Rat
7. Cat
8. Goat
9. Toad
10. Dog
11. Owl
12. Tarantula

or...

1. A child.
2. A Beautiful person.
3. A Hideous person.
4. A Party Member.

The following may be offered during the casting to increase the chance of success:

• Burning of 500sp worth of incense. +1 to Save.
• Ritual Sacrifice of a sapient innocent. +1 to Save per HD of sacrifice(s).
• Burning of elaborate candles wrought from human fat. +1 to save.

After the end of the casting make a Save vs Magic.

• If successful, continue to the bargaining portion of the spell.
• If failed, the spell must be performed again from the beginning with fresh components.

The Bargain & Contract

Once contact has been established, the bargaining process begins. The player rolls randomly to determine the familiar's demands but may choose a boon.

The Familiar demands...

1. Blood fed from your breast, 1d3 hp's worth per week.
2. Ritual Sacrifice of a Virgin, 1 HD's worth per week. 
3. No hair to be on your body, you must groom daily.
4. One of your limbs which it devours once the bargain is complete.
5. You only consume live insects for sustenance.
6. Wealth, to be burned in ritual sacrifice. 50% of all treasure/income gained each week.
7. Pain, you must inflict X points of damage to a human being each week. X equals your hit points.
8. Your offspring(all of them, forever), if none your fertility, if none your genitals. Roll again if you possess none of these things.
9. You worship it. You must dedicate an entire day(12 hours) to worship once a week.
10. You always lie or tell the truth, flip a coin each day to determine.
11. You consume the blood of a whore, 1 cup per day. (Diseases may apply.)
12. You are always intoxicated. See Drunk rules in Rules & Magic book.

In exchange...

1. You are able to use your familiar as a magical conduit, you may cast an additional spell per day without penalties, of any level.
2. You get the Devil's luck, you may reroll any of your dice rolls, once per day and take the better result. Twice per day at 6th level & after.
3. The familiar has denied your death, you resurrect 13 hours after you died in a nearby cemetery/graveyard. Roll on a Dismemberment chart and add that deformity to your body. You will only be resurrected a number of times equal to your Charisma score.
4. Your left hand turns to gold. Anything you touch with this hand turns to gold.
5. Your iris turns blood red when this ability is used, you instantly learn any spell you see cast. Save vs magic for each time you use this ability more than once a day. Failure means you go blind in one eye then the other if failed again.
6. The familiar grants you the tongue of babel allowing you to be understood in any language.
7. Your blood has healing properties for others. 1 HP worth of blood heals 1d2+1 hit points.
8. Your familiar has stolen a angel's voice, you may cast the cleric spell Command once per day. Twice at 6th level & after.
9. Your familiar revels in combat, you gain the Fighter's Attack Bonus and progression.
10. You may cast Dispel Magic as the Cleric spell, once per day. Has no effect on the Familiar and it'll mock you relentlessly if tried.
11. You gain supernatural beauty,  +1 to CHA mod. You may cast Charm Person once per day without expending a spell slot.
12. The familiar whispers demonic knowledge to you in your sleep. You gain 2 Skill points and have a 1-in-30 chance to gain a skill point each night.

Additionally having a familiar reduces all costs and time associated with spell research. This represents the familiar's knowledge as it aids your research.

-Final Notes-

• The Familiar is its own entity, not a slave to be commanded at will, it has its own goals and ambitions and should be played as such by the Referee.
• If the magic-user does not perform his/her's sacrifices, the Familiar will redact it's boon & bestow a curse it it's place. Only a great tribute please the familiar.
• If the Familiar is not given its sacrifices after a week it will drag its master to hell, killing them in the process.
• The familiar has HD equal to the caster's level and is immune to non-magic attacks. Should the familiar die it will reappear 3 days later in the same form it was summoned in.
• Breaching the contract with the familiar is a quest in of itself.
• Should the Caster be killed their familiar will explode into a summon spell equal to twice the caster's level and automatically be out of control. 

Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow for a new post every week! Sometimes 2 posts!

Pishtaco, Fat Eater

I remember watching a episode of Supernatural where a pair of fat eating monsters open a very successful weight loss clinic. Only after one of the monsters starts greedily taking too much fat and killing people do they draw the ire of hunters. I really liked that idea and after doing some research it turns out the monsters, called a Pishtaco, is a local legend from the Andes region in South America. If you want the history & lore check out the wiki here. I'm going to be taking the skeleton of the monster and changing it to better suit what I want it to do.

Here’s the stats real quick:

Pishtaco/Fat Eater
Armor 16, Move 60′, 5 Hit Dice, 22hp, Big Nasty Knife 1d8 then Fat Suck, Morale 9. Fat Suck, the victim makes a Save vs Paralyzation, a failure means they're pinned. At the start of each round a pinned character takes 1d6 Constitution damage and the Fat Eater gains that much hp back as a animated intestine erupts from the Pishtaco's stomach and sucks the fat from the knife wound. At the end of the round the pinned character may make another save to escape.

The Pishtaco looks like a morbidly obese person(usually caucasian) dressed in the local fancy attire. It travels in a carriage with a entourage of followers that wants the “healthy” look the Pishtaco has. The Pishtaco travels town to town offering its services to those who can pay.

The Pishtaco Services

• The Pishtaco can transfer fat from one person to another. When the Pishtaco steals the fat from humans it can't digest it completely and it forms a kind of ambergris in the gut. Once enough fat is gathered it can extracted via vomiting or opening up its stomach upon death. The ambergris can be mixed with water or alcohol(masks the horrid taste) to make a high caloric cocktail. Consuming one pound of Pishtaco ambergris adds 25 lbs of weight once digested and adds 1 Point of Constitution to a maximum of 18. 
• Consuming too much ambergris at once usually leads to heart attack. Save Vs Poison or die for each pound consumed more than twice a day. Note:Make sure to add encumbrance to characters who become overweight.
• Additionally the ambergris has an odd curative effect. If made into a poultice and spread onto a wound it will heal faster and not scar. In game terms a PC heals at twice the usual rate. 
• Candles made with Pishtaco Ambergris last twice as long.

1 lb of Pishtaco Amergriss is worth 500sp to the right people or can be bought from the Pishtaco for a service or some fat, just a bit.

A Key to One's Heart

A Key to One’s Heart
Magic-User Level 1
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch

Casting this spell requires a favored item of the targets' such as an old toy or family heirloom that is consumed during the casting.
Once cast this spell conjure's an ethereal key in the likeness of the consumed item that allows one to unlock the target’s subconscious. The key remains on the material plane until dispelled, the caster dies, or the target dies. The key is used to "edit" a unlocked mind with one or more of the following effects:

1. View any memories the target possess when asked a question.
2. Remove one memory.
3. Fabricate a false memory and force the target to believe it as true.
4. Make a suggestion the target must comply with.

The suggestion can be as simple as changing the target’s favorite food to as complicated as making them believe a once loved family member greatly wronged them(if the suggestion is done well). Any memories viewed are done so by looking into the target’s eyes. If the target has no eyes viewing memories is not possible. The key holder may make multiple edits but doing so allows the victim to make a Save vs. Magic for each extra edit to break the lock, permanently closing their mind to this spell.

This spell was made for the Henry Clarke project posted by Cavegirl's Game Stuff and is CC BY 4.0

Morale Cheatsheet

Dearest Reader,
I'm afraid I've committed a terrible sacrilege. I've never used Morale. I know, it's a travesty I aim to reconcile when running my next LotFP campaign. In the past I hand waved when I wanted my NPCs to fight or flight and it always felt cheap. After reading Jeff Rients' writings in Broodmother Skyfortress regarding morale I feel obligated to try it. Using morale should help my NPCs feel more alive instead of just fighting till the end like the mindless robots I tend to do out of habit/laziness(yes, I suck). Im really looking forward to when some hired retainers turn on the PCs when they cheap out on their pay or even better run from a crucial fight.

Being the lazy fat man I am, I didnt want to keep constantly flipping to the moral chart in the book so I made this quick info page. I'm gonna print it out and keep it in front of me while running my game then I'll have no excuses to not use the moral rules.

Download

Death and Cannibalism

I read a post on the OSR subreddit about death in old school games and it got me thinking. How do I want to treat death in my next LotFP campaign? My last one had surprisingly(disappointingly) few deaths. When it did happen I allowed new characters to start at half the level of their old one. That seems super boring to me now. Someone in the post linked to Tenfootpolemic's blog post about character funerals and letting surviving characters buy the deceased’s XP. I like that alot but I want another option, something weirder.

Death & Cannibalism
Many cultures held(some still do) the belief that eating the flesh of your enemies would bestow special powers like bellowing courage or spiritual knowledge. In our age of easily accessible information we know that the only thing you'll get from eating human flesh is Kuru, a ailment similar to mad cow disease. However in our campaign world maybe the lore held some modicum of truth. You see player characters(PCs) are different, they have something the NPCs of the world don't. I always called it Fate or Essence(Vacant Ritual Assembly #1), but whatever you call it the PCs have it and it makes eating them special.

Da Rules
Whenever another Fated(Player Character) dies you may consume that character’s flesh to gain special properties. Roll 3d6 and note them separately. If the first roll was a 1(2-in-6 for Magic-Users) consult the tables below:

Seeing a Fated die triggers a horrible, graphic vision of you eating this person's…(2nd d6 result)

1. Brain
2. Heart
3. Genitals
4. Skin
5. Eyes
6. Liver (with fava beans and a nice chianti)

And your certain it will bestow…(3rd d6 result.)

1. +1 Skill Point.
2. +1 Hit Point.
3. +1 to Charisma.
4. +1 to Saves.
5. +1 to AB.
6. Euphoria(as a one time Bless Spell)

If the PC wants to act on this intrusive thought and eat the dead character let them. There will be terrible consequences.

Some Notes: 

• The cannibal vision only procs rarely. I don't want everyone eating each other all the time. Just on occasion. Feel free to mess with the numbers or even proc the vision when you want!
• Put a Magic book about Ritualistic Cannibalism somewhere in the world. Reading it let's the player's learn about the benefits without needing the vision.
• If the needed flesh is missing then your out of luck. No cannibalism perks for you.
• Each Fated’s flesh only produces the effect once. So no passing or spitting of the corpse for everyone to take a nibble.
• Eating hirelings or retainers does nothing. Only Leveled Characters(Fated) give up the goods.
• Said Flesh must be fresh(still warm), no saving for later.
• Obviously eating human flesh in front of any retainers or hirelings incites an immediate loyalty check.

Eating Magic-users as a Magic-User
Those who weave the strands of chaos have a different flavor than their non-spellcasting companions. A Magic-User who eats the [tasty] brain of another magic-user may decipher that person's spellbook as if it were their own. No need for those pesky Read Magic/Comprehend Languages spells now.

The Consequences
I'm all about Consequences. I usually let my players do whatever they want but they know every action as a reaction. Eating the flesh of your dead companion is pretty messed up yo.

The Laughing Disease(Kuru)
Those who partake of human flesh risk infection of Kuru, a nasty disease that leaves holes in the victim's brain like swiss cheese. Each time a character or NPC digests human flesh have them make a Save vs Paralyzation. A failure means they contract Kuru and begin at Stage 1 with each additional failure moving them to the next stage. IRL the disease takes years to manifest but this a game and that's boring. So inflicted characters start getting symptoms 1d4 weeks after failing their save. If no further flesh is eaten the disease progresses naturally and slowly. Stage 1 progresses to Stage 2 after 3d4 weeks and to Stage 3 after 2d4 weeks.

-Stage 1-
Infected begins to show signs of Kuru. Muscle spasms, difficulty speaking.
-1 to Initiative rolls, -1 to physical saves, Save vs. Paralyzation for Spellcasters to attempt to cast spells.

-Stage 2-
IRL people become unable to walk without support but we want our cannibals to suffer a bit more. We'll focus more on the uncontrollable Laughter the infected experiences at this stage.

Infected must make a Save Vs. Paralyzation whenever attempting to make a skill check(or anything REALLY important). A failure means they are overcome with heaving, tear-filled laugher that leaves them incapacitated for 1 turn. Also triggers Wandering Monster Checks & Loyalty checks.

-Stage 3-

Once the infected reaches this stage they are now terminal. They must make a Save Vs. Paralyzation each night slept. After 3 failures they expire in their sleep with their eyes open and mouth agape.

If infected died in the new world(Colonial America) due to Kuru theres a 1-in-6 chance their spirit becomes a Wendigo, or if in Europe a 1-in-6 chance their corpse becomes a Ghoul.

Cannibalism & Carcosa

Now that I think about it this would make a great mechanic for Carcosa. Instead of a low chance of seeing the cannibal vision, I would just make it a culture thing. Everyone knows eating people is good! and I would also get rid of Kuru, residents of Carcosa would have been bred to eat themselves!