[OSSR] Infernum

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[OSSR] Infernum

Post by Wiseman »

So I've talked about this game a few times here, describing how I like the setting but am often disappointed at the rules for it. So I've finally decided to go and do a review of the game (putting off my review of Book of Challenges for a while). Heck this even barely qualifies as an OSSR, so we'll call it that! It comes in three books, and we'll be starting with the first. Book of the Damned. I know nothing about who the people are in the credits, or the history of this book, so we'll just jump right in. Infernum uses the d20 system, with a few modifications. I actually really like the setting, and have been in the process of rewriting the rules I don't like for that exact reason.

In summary, Infernum is a game set in hell. The main focus is on the demons, though there are humans and fallen angels as well. There are 9 main factions of demons, all vying for control over the pit, each with a different flavor and style to them. By default, you play as demons, vying for power and control, rising through the ranks, and claiming territory. Though there are other ways of playing. Various mortal factions do things like free slaves, serve as mercenaries, or even wage war against hell itself.

Image
Sadly this was the best image of the cover I could find in a quick google search.

The cover is interesting, to say the least. It features some muscley human fighting a weird looking demon, while a smaller imp stands on a skull cheering for some reason. Also, a volcano erupts in the background. Not a terrible cover, but not great either.

Image
Also, my search revealed this alternate cover?

The book starts with some opening fiction. As opening fictions go, it's actually very good though rather long (11 pages!). The story does what an opening fiction should do, describing how the setting works in a way that's in character and interesting to the reader.
The main character is a new arrival in hell, and is taken in by a mysterious guide. Who introduces himself with "You have fallen sir, and cannot get up."

Image

Together, they journey through the first eight circles of hell, and a decent description is given of each.

Some choice lines.
He gestured at one particularly impressive barbican. ‘That belongs to Savar of the Sturrach. Charming fellow. He’s up here as a punishment for eating too many of his troops.’
‘I spent several decades being endlessly eaten by carnivorous blind children and have no desire to repeat the experience. We should hurry.’
Their tears flowed into a stone-lined channel at the base of the cutting, creating a serviceable canal. Boats moved upon this ghastly canal, boats made of human fingernails, twisted flesh, beetle carapace, congealed blood and less savoury things.
[The Iron Road] is iron in parts, where great metal viaducts arch over pits and holes. In other places, it is a wide road of stone quarried from the mountains. In the worst places, it is made of calcified souls.
A terrible embarrassment for the lords of the underworld, no? Still,’ he smirked, ‘demons have undergone worse indignities.’
‘Such as?’
‘Oh, being exiled from a House and having to turn mercenary. Being captured and thrown into a spawning pit. Trapped in a binding circle by some sorcerer and forced to serve him and so on. Attending a Glabretch vomit party.’
‘– and she ate their child in a fit of pique. Just because they don’t have to be hurled into a spawning pit doesn’t mean they shouldn’t –
‘– entrails. Again with the entrails. You have no imagination –’
I glanced behind me. One of the incubi – the male counterparts of the succubi – had transformed itself into the shape of a prepubescent boy, and in this form had quite seduced De Rais, who was leading the child off into the gardens. I could see De Rais’ shirt hanging open, and I could make out the details of the seal on his chest. It was familiar to me.
uhh...

Image
I tore him asunder a dozen times. I swallowed chunks of him. I spat acid into his eyes and ripped his brains from his skull. I murdered him over and over and it still wasn’t enough.
In the end it's revealed that the main character is actually the guides master, who's memories were erased. He kills his guide, and plots to take over hell.
Last edited by Wiseman on Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by Wiseman »

So were going to start with the chapter marked Introduction. Also, check out this pitch, at the beginning of the chapter.
Infernum wrote:You are in Hell
Everywhere around you, there is torment and
suffering. The demons, the rulers of Hell, torture
human souls to wring iliaster from them. This iliaster
is the very substance of the soul – without it, the soul
is reduced to nothingness. Without it, the demons
starve.
The hordes of the Infernum fight bitter wars over
these souls; the Nine Great Houses are delicately
balanced and even a little extra strength could be the
decisive factor that brings victory in the wars of Hell.
Above the Pit of the demons hang the Lethe Clouds,
which rob those who fall into Hell of their memories.
Souls rain down daily, tumbling into the Pit to be
hunted down and captured by hungry demons.
Sometimes, an angel falls like a shooting star, crashing
into Hell as punishment for some unknowable offense
in Heaven.
For an eternity, there has been nothing in the
Infernum except constant war and constant suffering.
Those in power grind those beneath them into the
burning dust, while those below plot and conspire to
overthrow their masters and take their place and all
bow before the might of the warring Houses. Now,
there is dissent and opposition even against their
might, as the Free Cities declare their independence
and threaten the hegemony of the Houses.
War is coming to Hell. Anyone, even a mortal, could
conquer the Pit and become a lord of Hell.
Conquer or suffer. These are the only choices in the
Infernum.
I'd play death metal, if I knew anything about it.

Anyways, beyond this is a glossary of terms. These aren't too difficult to learn, and most of them are pretty obvious. After this comes a section called the The Basics, which includes an example of play. I don't usually pay much attention to these scenes, but this one seems to encourage players to at times work against each other, which seems like a recipe for trouble at the table.
Dave: Daniel will fly up
and scout out the castle.
Alan: No you don’t! I’ll grab the angel
before he takes off.
Hroth (Alan): No, you fool! They’ll see you.
Daniel (Dave): Do not restrain me, demon. If you
want to see your quarry dead, you’ll let my fly.
Games Master (grinning as the characters turn
on each other): Are we rolling for initiative?
Sarah: I’ll, er, stand between them if I can.
Kyri (Sarah): Calm down, both of you. Going out
in the open is just stupid – even if it’s just Comach
in there, he’ll see us.
After the example follows the basic rules about stats and die rolls, which anyone with experience in d20 can skip. It then gives rules about generating ability scores, which is more of the same. Overall, this section doesn't have anything to interest non-newcomers.

The next chapter is Races of the Infernum. In this book there are 11 playable races. The 9 breeds of demon, mortals, and fallen angels. What annoys me, is that there are four more playable races in the next book which really should have been included here (Abhorei, Benandanti, Damned Souls, and Half-Demons (of whom especially should have been in this book, considering how many players would probably want to play one), which I'll talk about in the second book.

We start off with the description of the demons. The demons are described as the central race of the setting, with 9 (10 actually considering the Abhorei, but that's just me being irritated) different breeds. Demons do not eat food like mortals do, requiring iliaster, which is this settings phlebotinum or unobtanium (not sure which term is right). Iliaster essentially powers everything in this setting, from machines to mutations to magic.

Anyways, a demon consumes a point of iliaster per level per day, and has a base internal reserve equal to it's level plus 6. Should it fail to meet this, it enters dissolution, which is described later. Also, a demon isn't dying when reduced to negative hit points, but is instead breached, where it leaks out iliaster. Annoyingly, this isn't described here, but in a later section containing the generic rules to d20, making it easy to miss if you skip that section. Anyways, when breached, a demon leaks out an amount of iliaster equal to how far in the negatives it is (this can actually be drunk by adjacent creatures), and makes fortitude saves to attempt to reduce or close the breach. Should it run out of iliaster, it then looses con and cha, and once both of those are reduced to zero, it dies.

Also, by default demons have a base corruption score of 15 (no this hasn't been described yet) and won't be for some time). Also, this is weird, as elsewhere it describes demons as by default having a corruption of 20.

Iliaster is also used to activate a demons mutations. Oh and demons all have fire resistance 5.

We get to the basic description of mutations, which comes to one of the serious things I dislike about the rule set. Random mutations.

As demons level up, they receive mutations, which since their race is their class, are essentially their "class features". Their first mutation must be a breed or house exclusive mutation. Their second mutation is random. Their third mutation is chosen, which can be any mutation available to them. And this repeats throughout the levels. I really dislike this idea, randomly determining their class features, because this can completely fuck up a character concept. Mutations sometimes come with drawbacks (which I am not at all opposed to, provided players can choose all their mutations). Say you want to play a seductive succubus, and then suddenly develop a mutation that causes you to constantly sweat shit or grow disease filled zits over your body. Or you play a ranged attacker, who randomly gets a mutation that reduces their dex score. In my changes, all random and house/breed mutations were replaced by chosen mutations.

Also, it should be pointed out that this game goes up to level thirty. In a d20 game. This is of course ridiculous, and in my rewrites I reduced it to 20.
Image
When doing my rewrites, I wanted to make this game resemble disgaea at times but not in this way.

After this, it gives some character concepts, a demon trying to advance within it's house. A sorcerer finding forbidden lore, an explorer, a mercenary, revenge, ect.

Next we come to the section on Mortals. Living humans do in fact exist in hell, in various forms and areas. This can come about in various ways. Sometimes places in the mortal world are drawn into hell. Other times, mortals are born in hell as the descendants of these mortals. Others are sorcerers who willing enter hell to attain power and immortality.
Image

There are actually several groups of mortals, which I will go into later.

Mortals are kind of the odd ball out when it comes to statistics. Demons all have good BAB and their HD, Saves and Skills are determined by breed. Angels (described later) all have good BAB, the same skills and two good and one bad save. Mortals have different progressions to choose from. They can choose two good progressions, two average progressions and 1 poor progressions, involving feats, HP, Saves, Skills, and BAB

BAB progressions are obvious.
Good HP is d12, average is d8 and poor is d6
Good saves is 3 good saves, average is 2 and 1 poor, and poor is 1 good and 2 poor.
Good Skills are 8, average is 4 poor is 2
Good Feats is bonus feat every 2 levels starting at first, average is 3 levels starting at 2nd, poor is 4 levels starting at 3rd. (mortals also gain 2 feats by default at first level, and gain feats at 3rd level and every 3 levels normally).

Mortals can also generate iliaster for themselves. With a will save (DC5, and increasing by 5 each use until they rest 8 hours), they generate 1d6 iliaster. Though they don't have any reserve, so it fades 1 point a round.

Mortals don't have mutations by default (though they can gain them by becoming corrupt). They can spend iliaster to boost their own rolls, apply penalties to others roles, or alter fate itself (more later).

The last race listed here is Fallen Angels. The basic concept is that angels fall into hell rarely, and due to the Lethe clouds (clouds created by boiling the River Lethe that hang over hell, and all fallen angels and damned fall through) they have lost all but the barest scraps of memory. They don't even remember why they fell in the first place.

Angels are made purely of iliaster, and thus are often viewed as a meal by demons at first, until they prove themselves.

Stat wise they have +4 to two ability scores of their choice, and have a starting reserve of 2d20+40 points of iliaster. They can't restore this until they reach fifth level however. d10 hit dice and 4+int skills per level.

Additionally, angels get certain abilities as they level up. They can create barriers like magic circle against evil, boost their ac, make weapons flaming, exorcise easily, and fly between the planetary spheres (no idea what that means). I have my issues with angels, but they're described more in depth later so I'll talk about it there.

There's not that many mechanics so far to discuss sadly, though there are more. Next time, we'll get to talking about the breeds of demon!
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Re: [OSSR] Infernum

Post by Rawbeard »

Wiseman wrote:In the end it's revealed that the main character is actually the guides master, who's memories were erased. He kills his guide, and plots to take over hell.
This feels like the punchline to a joke you forgot to tell. if the story is supposed to show what characters do I would conclude "everyone plays fallen angels and wants to take over hell". is that what the players do in this game? I don't even know why this bothers me so much. :rofl:
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Post by Wiseman »

It's hinted at a few times, though I left most of those moments out.

Also, the majority of the setting (factions, characters, npc's, motivations, locations, history, ect.) is actually described in the second book and there's just the necessary bare bones here.
Last edited by Wiseman on Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by Slade »

Wait, how much iliaster do demons start with? Is that next?
You mention humans can generate it with a check, but angels start with 2d20+40 points.
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Post by Wiseman »

At first level, Demons have a reserve of 7 (level+6) iliaster barring any feats to improve it and have an iliaster requirement of 1/level. Humans have no reserve by default (though can gain one through a few means) but by making a will save can generate 1d6 iliaster, which considering the lack of a reserve, they lose at a rate of 1 point per round.

Angels start at first level with a reserve of 2d20+40 iliaster, but can't replenish it until 5th level when they choose a path (more on that later).
Last edited by Wiseman on Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by Rawbeard »

do they get to suck dick if it runs out before that point? I know you say "later" but I don't know if I will remember later ;)
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Post by Aryxbez »

Definitely sounds like a cool idea for a campaign, makes me wonder why not simply use Disgaegame? Regardless I'd totally play in a game like this, and I do like the set-up of there being a tense balance, so that it can be disrupted by the PC's.

t what point do the PC's start to matter in regards to this sort of thing though? If it's like D&D, I imagine those level of politics might not even happen till mid-level or 10th level and onward.

In you rewrites, do you intend to use [Tome] Classes for this? Seems like they could be rather ideal for this, especially as the classes themselves be quite exotic.
Last edited by Aryxbez on Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by JonSetanta »

Seems like my kind of game. Prak's too. Why have I never found it in my LGS?
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Post by Wiseman »

It's actually pretty obscure, which is a shame. I only happened upon it myself by complete accident while searching for some mostly unrelated stuff.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by Wiseman »

Demon Breeds

There are 10 9 breeds of demon: Artificers, Beasts, Deceivers, Fiends, Hulks, Imps, Malcubi, Slavers, and Stalkers. Each was originally created in the past to serve a specific purpose, though they have branched out from there. Each breed of demon has a unique racial mutation chain.

The first of the Breeds is Artificer.
Image
Artificers are the engineers and inventors. The picture shows one covered in armor, and it's actually kinda vague on what they look like underneath, other than that they have more than 5 fingers on their hands.
Statwise they're small size, with +2 Int, -2 str, D6HD, Good Fort and Will, 6+int skills and +3 natural armor, a claw attack for 1d4 and a 20ft. move speed.
Their mutation chain involves becoming skilled with machines, and simultaneously gaining bonuses to natural armor. Eventually, they can remotely control machines, and even outright possess them.

Next we have Beasts:
Image
Beast are animal like demons. Their appearance varies, from kinda human-like with animal traits to furry-looking to a weird mishmash of animal parts (head of a lizard, arms of an insect, body of a gorilla, ect).

Their described as the scholars and master sorcerers of hell, which seems tenuous at best, since all they get is sorcery as a favored skill. No bonuses to their mental attributes.
Statwise, Beasts can choose from a variety of pacakges, all affecting their physical attributes (+2 to one stat, or +4 and -2 to another, each package coming with a claw or bite attack of varying damage dice). They have D8 hit die, their choice of 2 good saves, 4+int skill points, and +4 natural armor.

Again, despite being described as scholars and sorcerers, their mutation chain is also mostly physical. They gain scent, then a size increase, then they double their racial modifiers. It's fourth mutation finally allows them to reroll will saves, but at the cost of making them quadrupedal. The fifth mutation triples their racial modifiers.

After that, we have Deceivers:
Image
What a weird weapon..
Decievers are the politicians of the demons and generally hold positions of power and authority. Physically, they look almost perfectly human, save for a subtle tell that indicates them as a demon (cloven feet, slitted pupils, cold touch, ect). They're supposed to play to the corrupting, manipulating kind of demon. Of course, considering they lack a lot of physical power compared to other demons, they are constantly challenged by other breeds. Apparently they decided to deal with this by refusing to talk to or acknowledge anyone who's not another deceiver in negotiations.
Image
Probably like this.
Stat wise, they have a +2 bonus to cha, d8 hit dice, good will saves, +2 natural armor, 6+int skills, and no natural weapons. Their mutation chain gives them bonuses to diplomacy and sense motive, then allows them to possess people (which works on other demons). They gain a hypnotic gaze attack, can spit blasts of hellfire at people, and then force people they possess into covenants against their will.

Next, the Fiends:
Image
Fiends are the flying demons of hell, and hold high positions in militaries, also serving as messengers and heralds. Also, their mutation chain is decent, save for a really weird oversight.
They have +2 dex, -2 con, d10 hit dice, good reflex, +3 natural armor, 1d8 claw attack, and 4+int skills.
Notice something missing? If you guessed fly speed, you win a prize!*

The fiends fly speed is part of it's racial mutation path, meaning you have to take it at first level, no choice of taking house mutation unless you want to be a fiend that can't fly, despite that being what the breed is known for!

Beyond that, their mutations are fine, they get the ability to drop a bomb of hellfire, essentially function like living bomber planes, grow a size category, gains a hellfire breath weapon, and finally, can fly at 10 miles per round.

After that, Hulks:
Image
Nope.
Image
Closer...
Image
There we go.
Hulks are the front-line soldiers of the demons, and really aren't that good for much else. They were made to fight above all else. Their giant brutes and start at large size. They get +4 str, +4 con, -2 dex, -4 int, -2 wis. They have d12 hit die, good fort, +4 natural armor, a claw for 1d8 and a bite for 1d10 and 4+int skills.

Their mutation chain lets them Rage, grow a size category, gain more natural armor, grow another size category (to gargantuan) and have tireless rage.

Imps next!:
Image
Imps are what you'd expect, tiny flying demons. They fall into the same problem as fiends, in that they need to actually take their racial mutation to be able to fly.
They are small size by default, and have -2 str, -2 con, +4 dex, +2 int, +2 wis, -2 cha (although with where it's positioned, and how the imps are described as manipulating demons more powerful than them, I reasonable think this is a typo and that imps have +2 cha). +2 natural armor, d6 hit die, good reflex and will, claw 1d4, 4+int skills.
THe imp mutation chain as aforementioned, grants flying at first link, then the ability to shrink down to diminutive, using a Suggestion like ability, being able to shrink down to fine size, and finally being able to shrink down and physically possess someone by flying into their head and playing their brain like a controller.

Malcubi:
Image
Malcubi is the umbrella term for incubi and succubi. They act how one might think, being manipulators like decievers but more focused on sex and seduction.
They gain +2 cha, -2 wis, d8 HD, +2 natural armor, good reflex and will saves, claw for 1d6, and 4+int skills.
Their mutation chain first gives them a bonus to the seduction skill as well as diplomacy and groveling (yes there's a groveling skill, more on that later). They are also by default capable of creating half-demon children (other breeds are by default genderless even if they look like they're not. They need to take a mutation in order to have a sexual gender). The second link gives them a fly speed (since it's not the first mutation and they're not specifically known for this, it's fine). After that it involves dream manipulation. The third mutation allows it to look into and alter dreams, and then teleport to dreaming people that it's met before, and finally totally consume the thoughts and desires of a creature, making them unable to think of anything else but the malcubus (they take a -4 penalty on all skills, and a -10 to resist the malcubus' influence).

Slavers:
Image
The torturers of hell, who oversee the damned souls. Appearance wise, their fat and tall, and grow bigger as they mutate.
Stat Wise, +2 Str, -2 Int, d8 hit die, good fort, +3 natural armor, claw 1d6, and 4+int skills
Their mutation grants them the ability to soulshape (taking souls and transforming them into objects, or altering their bodies, or making magic gear with them). Next is a size increase, then the ability to use a command like ability, another size increase, and finally the ability to create fear in damned souls.

The last of these is the Stalker:
Image
Stalkers are hunters and wilderness demons. Their original purpose was to track down damned souls, and bring them back to be tortured. Physically, they look like jackals, with backwards legs and too many joints.
Stat wise: +2 Con, -2 Cha, d8 hit die, good fort and reflex, +3 natural armor, bite 1d6 and claw 1d4, 4+int skills per level. Their mutation chain grants them first scent, then a +10 bonust to speed. Then they can send nightmares to the target their tracking, ensuring they get no rest, then if they taste their blood (or ichor or plasm) they can see and hear what the target sees and hears, and finally get the ability to double their speed and gain an extra attack for 3 iliaster.

Next up: Houses and other demon factions!

*Offer not valid in the Sol system.
Last edited by Wiseman on Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by hogarth »

The stuff about vomit parties and boats made out of fingernails sounds pretty silly to me, but YMMV.
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Post by Wiseman »

Thankfully that sort of stuff isn't really given more focus than what's needed to establish the tone and setting flavor.
Last edited by Wiseman on Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by hogarth »

Wiseman wrote:Thankfully that sort of stuff isn't really given more focus than what's needed to establish the tone and setting flavor.
It just sounds like the setting is "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace".

"Something was pouring from his mouth. He examined his sleeve. Blood? Blood. Crimson copper smelling blood. His blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.... and bits of sick."
Last edited by hogarth on Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Wiseman »

I'm kinda just picking out parts that stand out to me. Most of the gross stuff is limited to houses Glabretch and Oblurott who's nicknames are respectively "The Putrid" and "The Gross".

Take this gem from the second book about the Oblurott.
The banquet there
never ceases, not even for an instant. Diners leave
or collapse or burst, but the eating never stops. The
tables there are so vast and covered with food that
some human dishes have even conceived and given
birth to the next course while waiting to be eaten.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by JonSetanta »

I love it.

Ever had a chance to read "Barlowe's Inferno"? It's a bit pricey now but I snagged a copy 15 years ago.
Fits right in with this. All of this.
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Post by Wiseman »

The Houses

This section describes the 9 Houses, plus Free Cities and Mercenaries. Like the section on demon breeds before, it leaves out one major faction, which is actually pretty bizarre going back and looking at it. The missing faction is the Church of the Morningstar, which unlike the Abhorei demons is a major force in the infernum (abhorei live outside the Infernum).

Anyways, the descriptions of the houses is rather basic here, it's given a much more in depth treatment in the second book Book of the Tormentor. What we mainly get here is the favored skills, starting gear, bonus feat, and house mutations. Also, each entry starts with a quote, and has a picture of the houses emblem and some sample members of the house.

Starting us off is the first house, Astyanath:
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Astyanath wrote: ‘I did not expect to meet an angel here.’
‘Astyanath have always been accepting of the fallen.
They welcome my kind here.’
‘But do the Cruel Ones not cause the most pain and
suffering of all the Houses? What liking have they
for angels?’
‘We suffer the most of all, and they are connoisseurs of
pain. This is a gilded cage for their entertainments.’
As you can guess, Astyanath's hat is torture and pain. They have the strongest iliaster production because of this, as well as refined forms like Agony and Sorrow (more later in the iliaster section). Culturally, the Astyanath are fairly arrogant, and good at politics. They have a small but skilled military, and also the fewest holdings of any house. They are also strongly allied with House Riethii.
Starting Astyanath get (1d4+1)x5 crowns (currency of hell) a bottle of Agony, a simple weapon of their choice, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (stinger or flayer) as a bonus feat. (More on the weapons in the equipment section).

Their house mutation chain causes them to grow spikes from their body, allows them to still act when at negative hit points, gain a +4 bonus to torture checks (with the hilariously awful drawback of being stunned for 1d4 rounds when critted unless you make a save equal to damage dealt), gain bonuses to attack and will when damaged, and finally cause a foe to suffer pain when touched, stunning them each time they fail a will save.

House Carthenay:
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Carthenay wrote:‘The profi t margin on trade in metals is eight percent.
On weapons, fi fteen percent. On drugs, twenty-nine
percent. On war, thirty-three percent. On souls, forty
percent. What does this tell you?’
‘That we should trade in souls.’
‘No. That all trade is an expression of control, and
that control brings power.’
Again, obvious, house Carthenay's hat is greed. They're the wealthiest house, and hold immense sway over the economy. They have a massive treasure horde, called the Vaults of Mammon (not really described again until the Book of the Tormentor). Their army is mostly composed of mercenaries, though their own fortresses are heavily fortified.
The Carthenay high ups are described as being rather dull in their greed (like scrooge).
They're allied with Sturrach, though it's not as strong an alliance as Astyanath/Riethii.
Carthenay demons get (1d4+1)x5 crowns to start with, and can borrow up to 100 more, but must pay that back at a 33% interest within 6 months. Their bonus feat is Iron Will. Their house mutation chain's first link really doesn't seem to do much. It gives the demon a photographic memory at the cost of 1 iliaster to activate, though it gives no real mechanics for this. The second mutation is called Shit Gold, and lets them produce 1d4 horns from any orifice. The next is called Rationed Blood, which is difficult to describe, so I'll just post it here.
III – Rationed Blood: When
injured, the demon can essentially
negotiate a repayment scheme with
its foe. Instead of taking the full
damage from an attack, the demon
spends five iliaster. It then takes half
the original damage that round. In the
subsequent rounds, the demon takes a
fraction of the remaining damage each round.
The fraction is determined by how long the
demon wishes be repaying the wound for; if
the demon wishes to pay over 20 rounds, it
takes 1/20th of the remaining damage each
round. Once the wound is repaid, the demon must
pay interest on the injury. It takes a further amount
of damage equal to the number of
rounds it repaid the injury over.
Example: A demon is struck for 50
points of damage. Not wanting to
take all this damage at once, it uses
its Rationed Blood ability. It spends
fi ve iliaster to only take half the
damage this round, and repay the
remaining damage over further
rounds. If it chose to pay over fi ve
rounds, then it would take 25 damage
in the round it was fi rst injured (half
the original damage) and one-fi fth of
the remaining damage over the next fi ve
rounds (fi ve points per round). It then
has to pay the interest, which is equal to
the number of rounds of repayment. In
this case, the repayment was over fi ve
rounds, so in the sixth round the demon
takes another fi ve points of damage.
If the demon chose to repay the damage
over 12 rounds, it would take two points of damage
every round for the next 12 rounds, then another
13 points of interest damage in the 13th round.
Their fourth mutation lets them turn stuff into gold, and their fifth mutation lets them forcibly make a covenant with opposed will saves.

House Glabretch:
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The fruit in the orchards of Glabretch
are living humans. They hang from
the trees. Branches and twigs
penetrate and perforate every orifi ce
and organ, carrying life-sustaining
sap into the human body. Each human
is infected with a different cocktail of
diseases, which causes them to rot and
bloat even as they hang on the branches.
Sometimes, grotesquely, they ripen.
With a description like that, it's no wonder Glabretch is kinda the odd ball out. They're the demons that invented disease, and when they fight, it's through biological warfare. All of the other houses hate them, but also fear them due to how dangerous their diseases are.
Starting gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and a simple weapon. Their bonus feat is toughness. Their mutation chain focuses on durability. The glabretch gains DR2/fire (wha-?), light fortification, self healing, greater fortification, and then lastly by spending 1 iliaster it can gain DR/Holy equal to it's corruption score.

House Haimon:
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[quote="Haimon]]In the heart of every Haimon fortress, there is a bell
made of a single huge skull dipped in bronze. It tolls
sometimes, in the night, but makes no sound.
This is the ninety-third secret of Haimon. The elders
of the House listen solemnly to the tolling of the bell,
but never reveal what it whispers to them.[/quote]
House Haimon are necromancers. They have the most damned souls out of any house, but they use most of them for as laborers or soldiers, not torture. They can animate a corpse by transferring a damned soul into it, creating an animated dead (not explained until the second book). They tend not to interact much with the other houses, though they occasionally send their armies to temporary allies.
Starting gear is (1d4+2)x5 crowns, and their bonus feat is skill focus.
Their mutation chain makes them resistance to influencing, then soulshaping, then the animate dead ability, then a +4 bonus to sorcery, then their final mutation lets them become undead. They no longer require iliaster, but also can't gain any more mutations (other than noble mutations as it's explained in the second book).

House Lictat:
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‘Who is Lictat?’
‘The founder of our House, of course, just as Riethii
made the Riethii or Sturrach made the sons of
Sturrach.’
‘The only demon to bear the name Lictat was slain
two hundred years before House Lictat dragged itself
up from the gutter. Why do you honour it so?’
‘Perhaps a new House must make a heritage for itself
from scratch.’
‘That is a lie.’
‘So it is. Lictat himself would have approved.’
House Lictat is a recently formed house, made from a group of lesser houses banding together. There was a previous house that used to occupy their place, though it collapsed centures ago (House Jelac, described more in the second book). When they declared themselves a great house, the other houses were about to wipe them out when they were interrupted by the rebellion of Dis (more in the Free Cities section). The leaders of house Lictat are ambigious, even to it's own members.
Starting gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and they may take any feat as a bonus feat.
Lictat doesn't have a house mutation chain.

House Oblurott:
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Oblurott wrote:‘Why eat food like a mortal, when all
the demon form requires is iliaster?’
‘You think like a Haimon, my lad!
Consider the Great Chain of Being;
the little plants and lichens thrive
on the light from the Morningstar;
the lesser spawn and the mortals
feed on them, the bigger spawn eat
them, and we eat the bigger spawn!
In doing so, we consume all that
brings strength and health.’
‘I see no health or special strength here. I
think you should reconsider your policies.’
‘Shut up, food. I’m tired of talking to you.’
Oblurott's whole shtick is gluttony and sloth. They're the only demons that regularly consume food, and actually have large scale farms to grow such food. They're all fat, and grow fatter and fatter (this is only partially due to their mutations). Despite this, they're actually rather direct when they desire something, if only so they can get back to the table quicker.
Starting Gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns, and the bonus feat is weapon focus (bite).
Their mutation chain makes the demon fat giving them DR5/slashing, they gain +4 to fort saves, and then an ability that takes advantage of the progression of time. They cause a touched target to experience a day of growth, causing a demon to lose a days iliaster requirement, and a mortal to suffer starvation and dehydration. Their next ability projects an aura that causes anyone around them to suffer a penalty to attack and skills unless they're actively eating, and finally cause a target to be so consumed by hunger that they can do nothing but eat, attacking others if no food is available.

House Riethii:
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(NSFW)
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Riethii wrote:On the Seventh Circle, there stands
a place called House of Joy where the
most beautiful of the young Riethii are
sent. There, they are taught two things.
Firstly, how to reduce any being, even
the most innocent or strong-willed, into a quivering
thing of insatiable lust. And secondly,
how to suppress their own pleasure or
joy in any act. In that House, the elders
of the Riethii forge their weapons for the
next age of the war.
As you could guess, Riethii is all about lust. They're known as the seducers and are obsessed with pleasure. Their elders are actually highly jaded, having tried every form of pleasure they could think of. In addition to all this, they have a strong spy and intelligence network, and the perform a lot of manipulation and blackmail.
Starting Gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and the Related Knowledge feat (which I think is a new feat for this game).
Their mutation chain of course makes the demons more seductive and attractive. The first link gives them a +4 bonus to seduction, the second lets them breath out a pink mist that reduces concentration and will saves. Next they get immunity to fatigue and exhaustion, then drain strength or iliaster from a target and add it to themselves. Finally they cause anyone who has sex with them to commit a SR20 sin.

House Sturrach:
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Sturrach wrote:‘What will the Sturrach do when there is no more Hell
to conquer?’
‘We shall storm Heaven and slaughter angels by the
flock.’
‘And then?’
‘Grind the mortal world beneath our heel.’
‘And then?’
‘Find new worlds to invade.’
‘War without end, then?’
‘War without end. That is the plan.’
With an intro like that, it's clear Sturrach is wrath. They have the strongest military, and once almost conquered hell (a combination of the death of their founder and his heir, an alliance of other houses, and infighting among their leadership put a halt to that). Though still strong nowadays, other houses are highly wary of them, and they're strapped for money, iliaster, and other resources.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns and 3 simple or martial weapons. Bonus feat is martial weapon proficiency (which actually confuses things about who's proficient in what).
Their mutation chain grants them horns, giving them +2 natural armor, the ability to enter a combat trance (but can't do anything other than attack, not even move apparently). Then it can heal 1d4 hp whenever it deals damage, enter a war form where they gain additional mutations, and finally get spend iliaster for a 1/1 bonus to Warcraft checks.

House Zethu:
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Zethu wrote:The fires of Moloch burn ceaselessly. Day and night,
the machines grind on. Once, production capacity
was limited by the weaknesses of fatigued flesh. Now
they replace tired limbs with steam appendages and
exhausted minds with spells and cogs. The lights
never go out and the machines never stop.
House Zethu's hat is science and sorcery. They have the most advanced technology and magic of the houses and a (formely) strong industrial base. Many of the inventions and devices in the Infernum were created by the Zethu, and they're responsible for reintroducing sorcery to both hell and the mortal world. They were one of the strongest houses, due to their control of the industrial city of Dis, before it rebelled and became a free city. Now they've a lost a lot of holdings and power, and are desperate to regain it.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns, and 3 simple or martial weapons. Bonus feat is Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Shattergun).

Unaligned Demons:
‘What’s it? What’s it?’
‘It’s like a dead’un in visage, my sweet, but ‘sall pink
and bleedin’.’
‘I know whatsit. It’s alive.’
‘Really? How do we stops it, then?’
‘Ye just poke it. It leaks a bit more, then it falls over.’
Demons not directly affiliated with any major faction.
Start with 1d4x5 crowns and 2d6 bottled iliaster.

Mercenaries:
‘So, three crowns per demon per day; officers and
specialists get another five each and a 50 crown
bonus per head when you break the Haimon legion.
We have a bargain?’ scowled the Carthenay. Its
distaste at spending such a sum was clear.
‘You’ve got all that on you,’ asked the mercenary
demon. ‘Cos we’ve been burned before, and my
troops are half-dissolute and rowdy.’
‘You doubt the Carthenay coffers,’ scoffed the broker.
‘Look upon this and wonder,’ it crowed, and threw
open a chest. A pile of coins glittered in the russet
light of the Morningstar.
‘Right, lads! Take the coin and its head – we’ll blame
it on the Haimon and wait until the Carthenay are
desperate ‘fore we offer our services again.’
Mercenaries can be hired all over hell, though there's large city called Golgotha on the fifth circle where they gather. The city is actually ruled by an angel called Uriel.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns, any weapon, and 2d6 bottled iliaster.

Free Cities:
‘Citizen Michelle Gaimon of the free dead, your city
needs you. You are to report to the Dis District Seven
Sacrifi ce Facility tomorrow morning at dawn for
some 20 hours of service. Your selfl ess devotion to
freedom is noted and appreciated by Dis City Council.
Should you refuse this duty, you shall be condemned
to Dis District Seven Sacrifi ce Facility for some 40
hours of service and your housing privileges shall be
revoked.’
Several cities in hell have recently rebelled, deposing the nobility and even the bonds of Covenants (mystical pacts between demons that ensure loyalty and obedience, and which the entirety of hellish society is based upon). By spending the better part of a year and a day in a free city, a demon's covenants are broken.
Everyone is equal in the city, even the damned (and are then forced to be tortured anyways "for the good of the city". Dissenters are executed and "citizens" are expected to proudly proclaim their loyalty to the cause. Basically, it's the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror.
Starting gear is 1d3x5 crowns and a simple weapon.

That's it for demon factions (except bizarrely the Church). Next up: mortals and angels!
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by Wiseman »

I completely forgot to mention, but the first book in the set is free.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/215 ... amned?it=1
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by JonSetanta »

Wiseman wrote:I completely forgot to mention, but the first book in the set is free.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/215 ... amned?it=1
That's.... fairly important.
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Post by Wiseman »

Mortals
Image
At times...

Mortals are basically the perennial underdogs of the setting. Setting wise, they're not equal to demons, unless they're sorcerers, however, they have several abilites that make them valuable to demons. Firstly is their immunity to several things demons have to worry about, like summoning and warding spells, as well as an uncorrputed mortal not being bound by covenants. This is of course stymied by the fact that there isn't much in the way of edible food or drinkable water in most of hell (demons only require iliaster) making the survival of a human difficult.

The book lists a few possible origins and factions for mortals. There's slaves and escaped slaves, who just get 2d6 crowns worth of scavenged gear and who pretty much get a crap deal. Oblurott eat them, Riethii keep them as sex slaves, Zethu and Glabretch use them for experiments.

Some serve as mercenaries or serve demon factions in which case they have the same starting package as those.

Next come Early Tribes, groups of living mortals in hell. There are various tribes, though not all of them are described in depth. I'm convinced that each of these groups is a reference to something, though I only get one of them.
Sons of Bor: Conan style barbarians living in the first circle (sharing it with the branded). Strongest of the tribes, and they even serve as mercenaries to demons from time to time. They're gone into more detail in the book of the tormentor.
Branded: Another early tribe, primarily composed of escaped slaves, and work to free more slaves. If your playing a mortal "good guy" character, they'll probably come from here. Get more detail in other books.
Tribe of Emnas: Some guys who took over a fort from a demon on the second. There's actually very little about them, and are fairly inconsequential (the demon they took the fort from doesn't even care and has become more successful without it anyways).
The Ironfont: Also sadly little information about these guys despite how cool they sound. They live in the fourth circle in caves through which the river phlegethon (burning iron) flows through and forge weapons with it. Which they sneak to other tribes. These guys are the one's who pique the most interest, but they're only vaguely mentioned in like one other place, which is a shame. I'd have to do most of the development work myself.
I'm convinced that some of these are references to stuff I don't know about.

Knights of the Harrowing
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They're crusaders who actually deliberately plunged their mountain fortress into hell in order to take the fight to the demons. If you're "good guy" human isn't from the Branded, he's probably from this group. Their goal is to eliminate the demons of hell, and are militarily strong, though it depends on the lack of unity among demonkind.

Newcomers
Sometimes, portals to hell open up on earth and people get sucked into them. The strange thing is that hell currently connects to multiple eras at once, anywhere from the 17th century all the way to the 22nd.

Faustians
Image
Probably what they spend their free time doing.
The term for sorcerers. Most of them come from Earth, but can enter hell through various means and do so in order to gain more power. As stated before, they have the same rights as demons by virtue of being able to summon and bind demons (more on sorcery later). There are different organizations of sorcerers though they're only named here. Descriptions are in the book of the Tormentor.

Controlling Fate
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The main reason mortals have more than a snowballs chance. For some unexplained reason (to paraphrase the book) mortals can alter fate in hell. This is a suite of abilities that they can use by spending iliaster. They can give penalties to the rolls of others at a rate of -3 per iliaster spent. They can boost their own rolls by the same amount, or increase the damage of their attacks by +2 per iliaster spent, or automatically stabilize when dying. The main draw of this is influencing events.

How this works is that the mortal spends any number of iliaster points and states a goal to be accomplished. Whenever events could move towards accomplishing that goal, a d20 is rolled and if it's lower than the iliaster in the pool, events play out in the mortals favor.

As fate mechanics go, it's a pretty good one in my opinion, in that it's more active and actually integrated into the setting, which I like.

Angels
Image
Fallen angels are of course the third main playable race. Like the mortals, the bulk of their abilities are described, as well as their origins.

As it turns out, fallen angels do not remember much anything about their former lives, not even why they fell. (There's something about glowing hands tearing at their wings, and shafts lined with knives mentioned, which I am convinced is another reference, but my google fu tells me nothing).

Once an angel reaches 5th level, they get to choose path, which allows them to start generating iliaster on their own. This is based on corruption level with 5- being Divine Will, 6-14 being Mortal and 16+ being Dark ineritor (no idea what happens if your corruption is at 15.

First path is the Divine will which where you try to act like you were before you fell, choosing a purpose and upholding it. All angel paths are somewhat samey, but his one has almost no real variance whatsoever. Your choice of purpose has no real mechanical bearing on what you beyond how easy it is to uphold and upholding it is what lets you generate more iliaster. You could probably pick something like flowers and then just plant a flower several times a day, or pick something you were going to do anyways like killing demons, and notice no difference. Or pick something crazy like war or sailing and have to do a ton of more work to get the same goal.

The abilites you get through leveling are to tell where the closest threat to your purpose is (there's demons that need killing over there...), gain iliaster for protecting your extra times per day (kill more demons for more profit), gain a bonus to a skill related to your purpose (I can spot demons over there!), give a bonus to attack or checks for an ally doing something related to your purpose (buff them to kill more demons), and even come back to life when killed if someone believes in your purpose, the more who believe, the faster you come back (even demons want to kill other demons, come back to life in an hour!)

Path of the Mortal
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Book of the Damned wrote:‘I’ve got something to tell you?’
‘What?’
‘I’m not from Cleveland.’
‘What?’
‘I once dwelt in the third mansion of Heaven, and looked upon the face of the Most High. I flew with the choirs of seraphim and cherubim in eternal adulation of the Divine.’
‘What?’
The angel becomes more like a mortal. They first gain the ability to transform into a mortal, and can generate iliaster like a mortal 1/day, increasing as they advance.

They later gain mortal needs like eating and sleeping (which they didn't need to do before), though this does give them +2 to bluff, diplomacy, and sense motive when dealing with mortals.

After that the next main ability is to spiritually masquerade as a mortal, basically becoming immune to summoning, bindings and wards, being treated as mortal for all effects. Later they can generate iliaster in angel form, and then count as mortal or angel, whichever is more beneficial at the time.

Dark Inheritor
The last angel path for evil angels. They gain mutations like demons and can drink iliaster like demons. That's it really.

Angelic Factions:
These factions are basically meaningless and bullshit. Two of them are basically non factions and just classifications (unaligned and renegades). The Choir of the Lamentations is a secret organization of fallen angels who seek redemption. However they're described as not doing anything, just staying in their hidden clubhouse and praying. They're not mentioned again after this.

The last is the Heirs of the Fallen, which is in the books terms "a gentleman's club for fallen angels". They're desribed as sponsoring new fallen angels to gain power. They have influence in all the houses, and can draw upon aid from all of them. That makes them interesting. However, like the Ironfont, they're only given a single token mention after this.

And that's it!

Thoughts
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Demons are incredibly customizable, with a variety of houses that all give different abilites (save Lictat), and breeds that also do the same thing. Mortals are less so, but you can still choose their progressions and have a lot of feats (albeit most are the D&D Core feats) to chose from. Angels are almost exactly the same. The path of divine will and path of the mortal make those on them come out very samey. The dark inheritor gets mutations, but at the expense of real defining features. Overall, I would have preferred more versatility in angels, like perhaps getting a special ability or two related to your choice of purpose.

Next up, skills and feats and rules oh my!
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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RadiantPhoenix wrote:
TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
hyzmarca wrote:Well, Mario Mario comes from a blue collar background. He was a carpenter first, working at a construction site. Then a plumber. Then a demolitionist. Also, I'm not sure how strict Mushroom Kingdom's medical licensing requirements are. I don't think his MD is valid in New York.
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Post by hogarth »

I downloaded the book and skimmed through it. One thing I didn't realise from reading this review is just how much iliaster various abilities cost. For instance, there are a lot of powers that do 1d6 damage per point of iliaster spent. But it's not clear to me at all how much iliaster the PCs are expected to gather in one day (although I assume that it's kind of a dick move if the GM isn't giving the PCs the opportunity to get enough to avoid starving to death).

Does this or any other book go into guidelines with respect to iliaster and/or treasure distribution?
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Post by Chamomile »

The more I read about this game, the more it seems like one of those things where I'd love everything about it except the actual rules.
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Post by Wiseman »

I downloaded the book and skimmed through it. One thing I didn't realise from reading this review is just how much iliaster various abilities cost. For instance, there are a lot of powers that do 1d6 damage per point of iliaster spent. But it's not clear to me at all how much iliaster the PCs are expected to gather in one day (although I assume that it's kind of a dick move if the GM isn't giving the PCs the opportunity to get enough to avoid starving to death).

Does this or any other book go into guidelines with respect to iliaster and/or treasure distribution?
No unfortunately, there's no real iliaster or wealth by level distrubution rules (magic items are limited to weapons and armor and don't even have costs listed). For what it's worth, the PC's are seemingly expected to rise up the ranks of demon society, attaining noble titles and being granted domains, which gives them a large flow of iliaster (to the point where it's easy to get access to arbitrarily large amounts of iliaster).
The more I read about this game, the more it seems like one of those things where I'd love everything about it except the actual rules.
I've been saying that constantly. The setting is great, but it's marred by unfortunately bad rules. Hence why all my games have involved extensive house rules.

Most of the setting is described in the second book, which I'll get to eventually.
Last edited by Wiseman on Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Keys to the Contract: A crossover between Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Kingdom Hearts.
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TheFlatline wrote:Legolas/Robin Hood are myths that have completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a bow".
The D&D wizard is a work of fiction that has a completely unrealistic expectation of "uses a book".
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hogarth
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Post by hogarth »

I've been going through the book and wow, are there a lot of typos and missing/poorly defined rules.
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hogarth
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Post by hogarth »

Having looked through the book, it seems like the path to real ultimate power is:

Step 1: Play a fallen angel with 10 corruption. Pick the feat Extra Skill (Sorcery) because why wouldn't you want to cast spells?

Step 2: Raise your corruption to 11. Four cold-blooded murders should suffice, which in D&D-land is a slow Tuesday afternoon.

Step 3: Get a buddy to cast the spell Fruits of Corruption on you 10 times and pick 10 of your favourite mutations. In particular, you should max out the Chain of Wrath so that you can fill up your iliaster pool when you kill people. Dangerous Beauty might be a useful investment, too.

Step 4: Now you're a level 1 PC who can fly around throwing 50d6 energy blasts or you can give yourself a +100 bonus to Diplomacy checks.

Maybe I'm missing something, though.
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