ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

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yell0w_lantern
Far-Sighted Wanderer
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:49 am

ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by yell0w_lantern »

NOTE: this is a derivative work. It combines bits of RC D&D, AD&D, Hackmaster 4th Ed, and probably others I don't remember right now.
In DCC alignment has interesting implications and I wanted to reflect that in this class (pastiche as it is). Alignment determines the type of Mystic a character is and, therefore, the abilities that Mystic develops. Unfortunately, I ran out of ideas and motivation to finish this. It is my hope that people will take this framework and make something useful from it. I have name son a couple of abilities but no mechanics I didn't finish the restrictions either.



MYSTIC

Hit points: A mystic gains 1d4 hit points at each level

Weapon Training: A Mystic is trained in the use of the club, dagger, dart, flail, hand axe, longsword, short sword, sling, spear, and staff. Mystics do not wear armor or use shields.

Alignment: A mystic's alignment determines his path to enlightenment and connection to greater reality, although, all eschew material goods and wealth. Lawful mystics engage in communal living and seek personal physical mastery. Neutral mystics live apart from society, connecting with the forces of nature. Chaotic mystics seek social change and upheaval of established political structures.

Luck: At first level, a mystic's Luck modifier applies to one saving throw as determined by Alignment. Lawful mystics apply the modifier to Reflex Saving Throws, whereas Neutral mystics apply the modifier to Fortitude rolls, and Chaotic mystics apply their luck modifier to Will Saving Throws.

Action Dice: Action dice may be used for attacks or skill rolls.

Open Hand Damage: Mystics suffer no penalties from fighting without weapons and inflict normal damage with their strikes. Exceeding the number needed to hit by five or more stuns the opponent for 1d6 rounds.

Unarmored AC Bonus: When unencumbered by armor and free to move, a mystic adds this number to his Armor Class.

Thieving Skills: Mystics possess several thief skills as per thieves of equivalent level and alignment. These are Sneak silently, Hide in shadows, Climb sheer surfaces, Pick lock, Find trap, and Disable trap.

Awareness: Due to their connection to the greater reality, mystics are only surprised in combat on a 1 in 6.

Ageless: Although differing in method, a mystic of any alignment may eventually become so attuned to the greater reality that even the aging process is almost stopped. The mystic achieving agelessness never suffers penalties or infirmities from old age and never seems to change once this state is reached. For purposes of life span, the mystic essentially "ages" only one year for every three and will eventually leave his life behind choosing oneness with the greater reality over continued physical existence.


MYSTIC

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Level        Attack      Crit Die/Table     Action Dice     Open Hand Damage     Unarmored AC Bonus     Ref     Fort     Will
1             +0	        1d10/III	          1d20	            1d4	                 +1	          +0       +1      +1
2             +1	        1d12/III	          1d20	            1d5	                 +2	          +0       +1      +1
3             +2	        1d14/III	          1d20	            1d6	                 +3	          +1       +1	   +2
4             +2	        1d16/III	          1d20	            1d7	                 +3	          +1       +2	   +2
5             +3	        1d20/III	          1d20	            1d8	                 +4	          +1       +2	   +3
6             +4	        1d24/III	          1d20+1d14          1d10	                +5	          +2       +2	   +4
7             +5	        1d30/III	          1d20+1d16	       1d12	                +6	          +2       +3	   +4
8             +5	        1d30+2/III	        1d20+1d20	       1d14	                +6	          +2       +3	   +5
9             +6	        1d30+4/III	        1d20+1d20	       1d16	                +7	          +3       +3	   +5
10            +7	        1d30+6/III	        1d20+1d20	       1d20	                +8	          +3       +4	   +6
Mystic Titles

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Level                                                                  Title by Alignment
                                 LAW                                   CHAOS                                   NEUTRAL
1                                Initiate                              Instigator                              Eccentric
2                                Disciple                              Rabble-rouser                           Recluse
3                                Monk                                  Firebrand                               Anchorite
4                                Master                                Demagogue                               Eremite
5                                Grand Master                          Prophet                                 Hermit

Code: Select all

                                                           Mystic Abilities by Alignment
Level	LAW (path of the Grand Master)	    CHAOS (Path of the Prophet)	                        NEUTRAL (Path of the Hermit)
1	    Thief Skills, Awareness	           Thief Skills, Awareness	                            Thief Skills, Awareness
2	    Cat fall, Perfect Balance	         Mind Mask	                                          Lay on Hands
3	    Deflect Missiles	                  Mind Block	                                         Fasting
4	    Feign Death	                       Tongues	                                            Speak with Plants and Animals
5	    Healing Meditation	                Curse	                                              Immune to Disease 
6	    Pass Without Trace	                Freedom	                                            Immune to Poison
7	    Water Run	                         Demoralize host	                                    Eschew sleep
8	    Flame Walk	                        Quest	                                              Breath control
9	    Death Touch	                       Plague                                                Resistance
10	   Ageless	                           Ageless	                                            Ageless

Path of the Grand Master:
Cat Fall: The mystic may fall 20 feet without damage. This distance increases by another 20 feet at levels 4, 6, 8 and 10.
Perfect Balance: A lawful mystic of second level and higher never loses his balance and can maintain full speed on slippery, narrow, and unstable surfaces.
Deflect Missiles: On a successful reflex save, the mystic can deflect or dodge non-magical missiles which would otherwise hit him. He must either be free to move or have at least one hand free. Large missiles may need to be dodged, GM's discretion.
Feign Death: This ability allows the monk to halt all his bodily functions for one hour per level. The player must specify a length of time or environmental cue that ends the trance. The character appears dead and is undetectable my supernormal means while in this state.
Healing Meditation: Upon attaining fifth level, the lawful mystic can recover 1d6 hit points +1 per level simply by entering special trance which lasts 30 minutes. The benefits of the meditation can only be enjoyed once per day, however.
Pass Without Trace: As masters of stealth, monks eventually learn the art of leaving no trail for others to follow. His tread is so light that there are no footprints, pressure plates do not spring, and he can even travel over unstable surfaces like sand and snow.
Water Run: While moving at a jog or faster, the mystic can travel on the surface of water and other benign liquids.
Flame Walk: This ability imparts heat immunity as long as the lawful mystic continues to move at walking pace or greater. Combined with water run, the mystic could even tread lava, although it would not impart protection against poisonous gases that may be present.
Death Touch: Once per week, the lawful mystic of 9th level or higher, may force any living creature he touches to roll a Fortitude save or die sometime in the next 2 weeks as determined by the mystic.

Path of the Prophet:
Mind Mask: The mystic is undetectable by magical or psychic means such as ESP. In addition, he is ignored by undead.
Mind Block: This ability renders a mystic impervious to all direct supernatural mental influence including quests, supernatural sleep, Word of Command, and so on.
Tongues: A mystic with this ability may speak and understand the verbal language of any sentient creature. This does not include scent, telepathic, or physical modes of expression like sign language nor does it grant the ability to understand secret codes such as Thieves' Cant.
Curse: This power allows the mystic to inflict misfortune upon another person through the intervention of Chaos. A curse may be continual or only triggered under certain circumstances. Continual curses are more obvious but of lesser direct severity. Triggered curses leave no outward sign and only become apparent under the right conditions. A curse may be lifted by performing a specific act related to the offense which led to the curse.
A curse is not to be uttered lightly and too many curses can result in misfortune for the mystic; use the disapproval rules for casting clerical magic.
Freedom: The mystic becomes immune to all spells or supernatural effects that directly act on the mystic such Haste, Slow and Paralysis. Magically locked door or slippery surface would still cause the mystic problems.
Demoralize Host: Action dice are decreased by one step and fumble dice are increased by one step.
Quest:
Plague: This power subjects a nation, kingdom, or geographically coherent ethnic group to a supernatural punishment that is not immediately or assuredly fatal.

Path of the Hermit:
Lay on Hands: Neutral mystics can use the Lay on Hand ability as per neutral clerics of one level lower. Obviously, there are fewer restrictions as a mystic is not associated with a deity though they can still accrue disapproval. However, Disapproval signifies losing connection with greater reality as well as an injury being beyond the mystic's skill.
Fasting: A mystic with this ability can deprive himself of food and water for one week without ill effects. Each additional week of fasting requires a successful Fortitude save or he must immediately eat and drink as normal for at least one day before retrying the ability.
Speak with Plants and Animals: This ability allows the mystic to communicate with both flora and fauna according to the complexity and ability of the subject. Obviously, organisms lacking a particular sense organ are unlikely to have information pertaining to that area. Generally, information garnered from a plant will be more rudimentary than that obtained from an animal, such as a dog or monkey.
Immune to Disease: The mystic is no longer subject to diseases of any sort.
Immune to Poison: A mystic with this ability is immune to all poisons.
Eschew sleep: The mystic no longer requires any sleep and may operate without penalties from lack thereof.
Breath Control: This ability allows the mystic to essentially stop breathing for one hour without penalty. Each additional hour requires a successful Fortitude save or the mystic begins breathing again as normal and he cannot invoke the ability again for another hour.
Resistance: The mystic only suffers half-damage (rounded down to a minimum of one) from spells and breath weapons that cause direct damage or one quarter damage on a successful save.

No hirelings or followers until 5th level
Poverty
No magic items
osu4fan
Ill-Fated Peasant
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:19 am

Re: ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by osu4fan »

I like it BUT what does the quest ability do?
yell0w_lantern
Far-Sighted Wanderer
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:49 am

Re: ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by yell0w_lantern »

I was struggling with that when I lost steam.

The basic idea was the mystic could send a person on a difficult but achievable and dangerous but not immediately fatal errand. I hadn't settled on mechanics (mystic rolls attempt and victim rolls save, mystic rolls attempt and no save, or mystic just proclaims and victim rolls a save).
Tortog
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Re: ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by Tortog »

Nice work! Hit points seem a little light for something that will probably be expected to do a fair bit of fighting. :D

FWIW: I've been working on a class like this one recently, but mine is a sub-set of the warrior class and focuses more on the Martial arts and chi magic so maybe that is coloring my perspective a bit. :mrgreen:

Here's an idea that occurred to me:
Maybe the quest ability is analogous to a type of 'Plane Walking' ability allowing the mystic to walk from one world to the next? I might even consider giving this power to all three paths, but with the idea that they can each access a different Plane related to alignment. However, what those Planes are and what powers/knowledge they impart to the mystic are anyone's guess. :wink:
yell0w_lantern
Far-Sighted Wanderer
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:49 am

Re: ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by yell0w_lantern »

Tortog wrote:Nice work! Hit points seem a little light for something that will probably be expected to do a fair bit of fighting. :D

FWIW: I've been working on a class like this one recently, but mine is a sub-set of the warrior class and focuses more on the Martial arts and chi magic so maybe that is coloring my perspective a bit. :mrgreen:

Here's an idea that occurred to me:
Maybe the quest ability is analogous to a type of 'Plane Walking' ability allowing the mystic to walk from one world to the next? I might even consider giving this power to all three paths, but with the idea that they can each access a different Plane related to alignment. However, what those Planes are and what powers/knowledge they impart to the mystic are anyone's guess. :wink:
On the low Hit Die, I was sticking with the traditional "glass cannon" formulation used in the 1E Monk. Considering the abilities, especially the ones that overlap with Thief and Cleric, I could see going to d6s but probably not any higher than that.

The idea about the quest ability is okay but I don't think I would use it since it doesn't fit the archetype I was trying to emulate.
Monk - pop culture shaolin monk
Hermit - inspired by Malory's Death of Arthur; providing aid and advice to traveling knights, able to provide medical care, etc.
Prophet - inspired mostly by prophets of the Jewish Bible with some vague flavor of oracles and seers from Greek antiquity
Tortog
Mighty-Thewed Reaver
Posts: 343
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:44 pm

Re: ANOTHER Mystic Class - unfinished

Post by Tortog »

yell0w_lantern wrote:
On the low Hit Die, I was sticking with the traditional "glass cannon" formulation used in the 1E Monk. Considering the abilities, especially the ones that overlap with Thief and Cleric, I could see going to d6s but probably not any higher than that.
Ah, I see. With that as the design criteria it makes sense to cap HD at no more than 1d8. FWIW (and I have no data, just a gut feeling) but I don't think the glass cannon approach will work well in the DCC environments... DCCRPG is so amazingly brutal at times, I suspect that glass cannon designs will not last long enough to be entertaining for the player.
The idea about the quest ability is okay but I don't think I would use it since it doesn't fit the archetype I was trying to emulate.
Monk - pop culture shaolin monk
Hermit - inspired by Malory's Death of Arthur; providing aid and advice to traveling knights, able to provide medical care, etc.
Prophet - inspired mostly by prophets of the Jewish Bible with some vague flavor of oracles and seers from Greek antiquity
I'm not arguing for or against anything, and I can't speak to the ideals of the prophets of the jewish bible, but the others you have listed here have long standing traditions of being able to send their minds and bodies to other realms. It's where they win the knowledge that they bring back to share with the rest of us mere mortals. :D
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