The Stranger [Americanapunk, Base Class]

[Eldan]

The Stranger

When he entered the room, everyone was silent. We all knew nothing good was coming today, the way the wind had been howling, and from the mist that had been rising on Gallow's Hill. Finally, the sheriff spoke: "We don't want any trouble here, stranger...", he began, but the man just looked at him, with eyes that seemed to glow in the light of the petroleum lamps. The sheriff took a step back, going pale, and went quiet.

Vitality Die: d8

Class Skills
Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Urban Legends, Tall Tales, Myths), Perform, Sense Motive, Streetwise

Skill Points at 1st level
(6+ Int Modifier) x 4

Skill Points ant each additional level
6 + int modifier

Defences: +2 will, +1 Fortitude

Base Attack: 3/4

Talents


Burning Eyes

Basic: The stranger can use a swift action to demoralize opponents with the intimidate skill, instead of a standard action.
Improved: As a move action, the stranger can demoralize all opponents within 60 feet instead of just one. He can demoralize a single opponent for 1d6 rounds, instead of a single round.
Master: As a move action, the stranger can make an intimidate check against a single opponent to either make them panic for 1d6 rounds or immobilize them, making them unable to move. They can make a will save (DC 14+the stranger's charisma modifier) to resist.

Verminfriend

Basic: The stranger gains the help of a small animal or vermin, a Tiny monstrous spider (or any other small arthropod, but the statistics are the same), a Rat (or other small, furry mammal) or Raven (or another bird of ill repute, such as a crow).
The animal has an intelligence of 2 and can only understand simple commands, as mentioned in the handle animal skill, though it knows two tricks more than normal. As a standard action, the stranger can concentrate on his animal's location and feel where it is located, no matter the distance between them.
When the animal is killed, it reforms at the next midnight, in the stranger's hand.
Improved: The connection between stranger and animal deepens. The stranger can spend a full-round action to see through the eyes of the animal when it is within 60 feet of him, and he can give it telepathic commands as long as it is within 120 feet, as long as the animal can understand them.
Master: Once er pday, the stranger can call forth a swarm of animals to distract his foes. The swarm occupies a single 10 ft. square and acts at the stranger's initiative. It has the following abilities:

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Swarm abilties. Every creature in the swarm's space at the begining of it's turn automatically takes 1d6 damage and must make a fort save DC 12 or be nauseated for one round. The swarm has a land and climb speed of 15 ft. per turn. The stranger himself takes no damage when standing in the swarm. The swarm has 12 hit points and an AC of 14 (+2 natural, +2 dexterity).

Furthermore, the swarm has special abilities based on it's type:
Arthropod: an arthropod swarm has poisonous attacks, affecting any creatures taking damage from it: Injury, Fortitude DC 12, initial and secondary damage 1d3 Str. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Rats: A rat swarm can swim at a speed of 15 feet, and creatures damaged by it must make a fortitude save or be infected by filth fever: Fortitude DC 12, incubation period 1d3 days, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Birds: a bird swarm can fly at a speed of 30 feet and occupy a ten foot cube instead of a square. They give cover to any creature inside them, and block line of sight through the square.

Elusive Death
Basic: The Stranger has made dark pacts and promises in exchange for unnatural power, and whatever entity he made his pact with won't let him die easily before the deal is fulfilled. The stranger gains damage reduction 2/silver if his pact is with an entity of the range or city, or 2/iron if it is with an entity of the wild.
Improved: The stranger's wounds close almost as fast as he suffers them. His natural healing speed doubles, healing two wound points per day, and twice his level per hour in vitality points. Additionally, once per day, he can activate a fast healing power, which lasts for one minute and heals one vitality point per round. His damage reduction increases to 3/X.
Master: The stranger's damage reduction increases to 4/X. The stranger can no longer be killed by normal weapons. Instead, when reduced to 0 wound points, the stranger reforms at the next midnight with one wound point, half his maximum vitality points and his constitution permanently reduced by one point. The reformation can be prevented by burying the stranger on sacred ground (though exhuming him enables him once again to reform), by burning the body and scattering the ashes, or by dealing any amount of damage with a blessed, silver, or iron weapon to the body after it's been killed.


Ol'Scratch's Own Luck

Basic: The stranger sold his soul for luck in all his endeavors. He adds his charisma bonus (if he has one) as a bonus on all his reflex saves, and gains a bonus equal to his level on all gambling checks.
Improved: The stranger can reroll a single d20 roll every day, adding his charisma bonus on the reroll.
Master: ?


A Dark and Stormy Night

Basic: At will, the Stranger can create a fog bank surrounding him in a 20 feet. radius that moves along with him. The fog obscures all sight beyond 10 feet in the fog, providing concealment.A moderate or stronger wind disperses the mist in one round, and it can only be recreated a minute later.
Improved: Once per day, the stranger can control the winds, changing their direction by concentrating for a minute, or changing their strength as a standard action, increasing it by one step on the Wind strength table, up to a maximum strength of severe. The wind will stay at it's new strength and direction for at least ten minutes.
Master: The stranger's fog now prevents all sight in the fog bank, limtiting vision to five feet and providing full concealment. The stranger can increase wind strength three times per day, by two steps at a time, up to a maximum strength of Windstorm, though he has to wait for the wind to die down to it's original strength before increasing it's strength again.


Blackwater Taint

Basic: Once per day, the stranger can touch a stagant body of water no more than ten cubic feet per level in volume, thereby spoiling it. The water turns bad and smells foul, and anyone drinking from it must make a fortitude save, DC 10+class level+the stranger's charisma bonus, or be sickened for 24 hours.
Improved: The stranger can use this talent twice per day. In addition to being sickened, the target is also infected with a disease called the Blackwater Taint, in which the victim's bodily fluids, such as salive and blood, turn pitch black and they suffer from violent fever. The disease has an incubation time of 1d3 days and deals 1d4 constitution damage per day.
Master: The stranger can use this ability three times per day. Additionally, he can not only affect water, but also other fluids, such as alcohol. He can even affect enemies directly, by making a touch attack against them and turning their blood, thereby infecting them with the disease.

Dreamwalker:

Basic: Once per day, the stranger can haunt the dreams of others, giving them terrible visions and nightmares. To use this ability, the stranger has to meditate quietly for ten minutes. The victim must make a will save, DC10+stranger's class level+his charisma score, or, the next time they sleep, be haunted by nightmares. These nightmares leave the victim fatigued upon waking up, until they next get a full night's rest. The stranger can choose any word or object which will feature prominently in the victim's dreams.
Improved: The Stranger can choose to fully enter the victim's dream as a shadowy figure if he himself is asleep or meditating at the same time as the victim. He can hold a full conversation with the victim, no matter where it is, though the victim does not recognize him.
Master: When sending nightmares to a victim, the stranger can choose to make his target exhausted. Furthermore, he can implant a hypnotic suggestion into the target's mind. If the target fails it's will save, it must seek out the place or try and get a hold of the object mentioned by the stranger.

Soul Eater

Basic: By touching a victim, the stranger can try and damage its soul. He gains a touch attack, usable at will, which deals 1d4 points of charisma damage, with a will save DC10+the stranger's class level+his charisma modifier to resist.
Improved: The stranger can use the victim's soul to heal himself. Per two ability points stolen from a victim this way, he can heal a single point of ability damage he suffered himself, or restore 1d8 points of vitality damage.
Master: By draining a victim's charisma score to 0, the stranger can completely drain its soul. The victim becomes the soulless subtype. Meanwhile, the stranger can use this soul to fully heal himself, instantly restoring 1d4 wounds he has suffered. He can choose to also bind a number of souls up to his charisma modifier to himself. Whenever he would suffer a wound, the stranger can choose to instead sacrifice one of those souls. If the target has it's soul restored, by a priest or otherwise, the stranger loses it from it's pool.

[gkathellar]

d6 Hit Dice? Seems like it could be a little higher if one of his things is uncanny resilience.

After looking at this and the vagrant I'm thinking we might want to do a d10/4+Int skills, d8/6+Int skills, d6/8+Int skills kind of model? Most classes would be in the middle category, basically just the wilderness man and gunman would be in the first, and basically just the rascal and doctor would be in the last.

Aware you have an objections to static defenses, but assuming you have no problem with using the general scaling model for them, you can drop the save progressions. The stranger probably has +2 will, +1 reflex, or something of the like.

Moonshine On is still on your table.

Talents look great, very flavorful, and they manage to provide solid mechanical representations of said flavor. One comment vaguely related to Elusive Death:

Maybe we should stop saying "cold iron" and just say "iron?" Because cold iron isn't a real thing, and since not as many people are going to be swinging swords in this setting, steel and iron weapons are actually going to be more unusual. (Maybe that's why a lot of lumberjacks prefer axes - a solid steel blade does far more than lead shot to some of the things you find in the wild.)

[Eldan]

As far as I understood, cold iron in D&D was supposed to be forged cold, without heating it. No idea if that's even remotely feasible.

Anyway, yeah, let's drop the cold.

I also removed the table as, honestly, it's not necessary.

[gkathellar]

You can probably add a +1 to another defense. Saga's model seems to be either +2/+1 (for most classes) or +1/+1/+1 (which they only actually use for the Jedi, curiously).

As far as I understood, cold iron in D&D was supposed to be forged cold, without heating it. No idea if that's even remotely feasible.

/rant

It's not. Metal can't be forged at low temperatures, especially not iron. "Forging iron at low temperatures" is essentially equivalent to saying that you can bend steel bars if you warm them up with your hands. The reason we call it the "iron age" is because it took a really long time to get forges that could produce the kind of heat necessary to shape iron.

That's the whole reason iron hurts faeries in mythology - it symbolizes a constant, powerful substance and the fire of man's early industry. Essentially, iron tools radiate civilization and order in a way that harms wild, chaotic creatures like faeries. Nor was steel really excluded from this understanding of iron until much later - steel is just iron that's been tempered and strengthened with small amounts of other materials.

"Cold iron" is etymologically identical to "cold steel," in the sense that "he held a blade of cold steel."

[Eldan]

I guessed it was silly. Anyway...

Are iron or steel bullets feasible?

[gkathellar]

According to wikipedia, yes, but they're more expensive to produce because of the high temperatures and workload involved, and less effective as conventional firearms because of their lighter weight and lower mass.

Which actually suits special material purposes perfectly. Hooray reality!

[cheezewizz2000]

I guessed it was silly. Anyway...

Are iron or steel bullets feasible?

I think the reason lead is used is because it is heavier and thus has more stopping power. Iron can be very brittle as well, and the explosive force might shatter a little iron bullet. I may just be talking out of my proctological end, though. If we were to model iron or steel bullets, I'd reduce the damage they do, say -2 to damage. That's still better then regular bullets against someone with DR4/iron.

[Eldan]

Woo.

So, how about:

Silver/Iron Bullets: Double base cost, and have the dice size reduced by one ( i.e. revolvers deal 2d4 instead of 2d6).

[gkathellar]

That seems fine. Silver forges at lower temperatures than even lead, so that would make up for any practical difference between the price of silver and iron.

[Amiel]

A quite nice idea, with many flavourful abilities. I like.


Re the dark pacts; would such require the Stranger to possess certain alignment prerequisites to formulate such an agreement, or can any alignment with an agreeableness to advancement in power implore such dark entities to grant him such?

[Eldan]

I'm quite sure we kicked out alignment pretty early in the project, actually.

[cheezewizz2000]

Woo.

So, how about:

Silver/Iron Bullets: Double base cost, and have the dice size reduced by one ( i.e. revolvers deal 2d4 instead of 2d6).

Yeah, seems fine. Just ran a couple of numbers. Reducing the dice size is at best, just as good and on average better than regular bullets against DR4, and at best slightly worse and on average as good against DR2.

Numbers in spoilers

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Damage for DR4/Damage for DR2
2d6 reg.
Max Damage to stranger: 8/10
Average Damage to Stranger: 3/5

2d4 iron
Max Damage to stranger: 8
Average Damage to stranger: 5

2d8 regular
Max Damage to stranger: 12/14
Average Damage to stranger: 5/7

2d6 iron
Max Damage: 12
Average Damage: 7

[Amiel]

I'm quite sure we kicked out alignment pretty early in the project, actually.

Oh, what happens if a deal is fulfilled? Will the Stranger be dragged into Perdition (or other underworld)?

[gkathellar]

DM's call? That or he keeps his powers anyway like Ghost Rider.

High-level characters are going to actually play dice with a pseudo-devil figure while shooting the breeze with Coyote and exchanging bullets with human-shaped tendrils of an eldritch abomination in this setting. Fulfilling your pact is just another plot hook.

[Eldan]

Yup. I'd leave it to the fluff. Perhaps have a mysterious figure in a nice suit enter the scene from time to time to make comments about time running out, but not much more. Otherwise, you get the Risen Martyr problem: "At level X, you die".

[cheezewizz2000]

Well, Ol'Scratch calling in a favour from time to time would be ok if the story called for it (or the DM needed a plot hook). There should perhaps be some suggestions for mechanical chains to bind the player with.

Removing of abilities is too much of a rail-road (yes, I know I used it in the Vagrant. I don't like it, and will come up with a better one once I can shake this "Paladin of the rails" rut that I'm stuck in).

Just applying a penalty is boring.

How about having a little demon pop up every morning to cast a de-buff on the stranger? Something like a 24 hour "bestow curse" hitting charisma. It's something the stranger can shrug off if he needs to, and with a little planning and forethought he can mash the little guy in the head and send him back to Ol'Scratch before he can get the curse off. It'd be a low Vitality demon like an imp with a bonus to initiative to ensure he gets the first round and a 1/day bestow curse. Charisma-based DC, and a nice high charisma to make him and his curses irresistable (or close to it). Plane shift 2/day (self only), and REALLY weak attacks so if he gets trapped in the same room as the stranger, he's got no chance to defend himself against the beatdown that is about to come his way.

The imp can have a suit and briefcase and the first time we see him, he meets the stranger face-to-face as a "representative of Mr S."

"Listen; our boss, Mr S, is gettin' pretty dissasisfied with the woik that you's doin', so I've been assigned as you's designated supervisor. Mr S has got a quota of souls that you's needs to collect and you's gots one weeks to fill it. If you don'ts, then I've been told to start applying stricter measures. We've invested a great deal in you's, so don'ts go makin us regrets it."

[Eldan]

I'd rather make it fluff penalties. Ever read the Binding Section in Tome of magic? Those are some nifty ideas. But instead of affecting the Stranger's personality, they start to affect his environment:


Dogs go crazy and cats flee when he approaches.
Candle flames burn blue.
Plants he touches begin to wither and die the next day.
The wind smells foul.
Comets are seen in the sky.
Carrion Crows and Vultures gather in the trees.
The howling of ghostly wolves is heard at night.
The moon takes on red colour.

[gkathellar]

I like it. It actually means that a "good" Stranger who isn't really interested in the power they made their pact with is more likely to stay on the move, trailing bad signs behind them, while a "bad" stranger could settle more easily.

[cheezewizz2000]

The idea of "Disquiet" from Promethian: The Created would seem to fit as well. So, people around the stranger start to react badly to him, perhaps he and the people around him are plagued by bad dreams and for some reason he just seems to irritate people. "I don't know what it is, but that man just really gets my goat."

[gkathellar]

Disquiet makes it impossible to play with a part of non-Prometheans, though.

I would say stick to weird thematic events and avoid any kind of system for this thing - that way you can just ignore it altogether if you prefer. A stranger's pact or association with a specific entity can be important, but it should never be necessary for it to be.

[Science Officer]

I was going to post this in the main thread, but it fits better here.

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In any discrete speakeasy, any late night jazz club, he is there. In forgotten alleyways and deserted street corners, he is there too. Especially when it's raining.
He's been known to make appearances at hospitals, cemeteries, and bridges. Anywhere the lost and the desperate find themselves. He is there.

He always knows your name, he's always pleased to meet you. He politely introduces himself, speaking in a warm, deep voice, "Hello. Good to see you, friend. The name's Lou."
Despite the glad-handing, he means business. And he's dressed to kill.

Suit like any wealthy gentleman, though it fits him better than most, and I wouldn't recommend looking to deeply into the patterns on his tie. His fedora covers his slick black hair, puilled down over his eyes. No, that isn't quite right, it casts a shadow over his eyes is all. If you ever catch a glance at them, they'll look red to you. But that's just a trick of the light.
Indoors, a cloud of smoke hangs around him, whether he's smoking a cigarette or not, though he usually is. Outdoors, in the rain, the water seems to rise off of him in a steam.

Since he's so polite and obviously know you from someplace, and since you didn't have anyone else to talk to, anyways, you soon enter into conversation.
Maybe you talk about sports, the weather, or current affairs, he always has an interesting... perspective on things.

The conversation inevitably drifts towards your present predicament. And here he something more to ffer than politesse and opinions. You see, Lou is prepared to offer you a deal, a bargain, almost a gift, really.

You see, it is within his power to offer you some thing that, it seems to you, is just the thing to get you out of the fix you're in, to fulfill your wildest dreams, to complete your duty, or right the wrongs done against you. Whatever it is that you need.

And what does he want for it?
Nothing. Nothing, really. No money or any material good. No promise or oath does he seek to extract. You needn't fear that you'll owe him any favours or work in return. And you don't need to pay right away, only leave it to him after your death, no interest. You see, Mr. Cypher, Lou Cypher, is interested in one thing and one thing only. Your immortal soul.

[cheezewizz2000]

I'm a Soul Man
Basic: The stranger gains a unique symbol somewhere on his torso. He may harvest the souls from recently (within 5 minutes) dead corpses. In doing so, the Stranger recovers one wound point. The soul-less corpse is left with the unique mark burned into its body in the same place as the Stranger's mark.
Intermediate: The stranger's attacks now drain a portion of his victim's soul. A stranger's melee attacks cause 1d4 charisma drain, DC 10+1/2 stranger level + charisma bonus will save negates. For each successful drain the stranger regains 1d4 vitality points. Upon a successful drain, the Stranger's mark becomes visible on the victim's body. Recovering the lost charisma removes this mark. A soul cannot be fully stolen until the victim is dead.
Master: The Stranger can choose to store the souls of his victims. He requires a sealable glass container and can use the stored souls to recover 1 lost wound point or 2d4 vitality points, Stranger's choice.

Souls
Souls are a valuable commodity for Ol'Scratch and Mr. Cypher and they will often trade in souls the same way a merchant trades in currency. The taking of souls is a horrific thing to do as it prevents the soul from ever achieving rest, however its consumption sends the soul on to wherever it is meant to go, or to Ol'Scratch or Mr. Cypher, depending on the nature of the entity consuming the soul. Strangers will default to sending souls they consume themselves onto whoever grants them their power.

Edit:

Soul Brother
Prerequisite: I'm a Soul Man, Basic.
Basic: The Stranger can use the souls of the dead to heal the wound points of others. This works like the basic level of "I'm a Soul Man", however the Stranger can use the soul to heal a single wound point of a willing ally. The Stranger must be touching the corpse and his ally.
Intermediate: The number of wound points healed through the use of a soul increases to two. The stranger may chose where he sends the soul.
Master: The stranger can decide whether to heal ability damage/drain or wound points when using a soul. In both cases, 2 points of damage are healed.

[Eldan]

There's one problem with this: there will most likely be no good way to regain ability drain in this system, especially not to mental ability scores.

[cheezewizz2000]

There's one problem with this: there will most likely be no good way to regain ability drain in this system, especially not to mental ability scores.

Edited the post above. Just added one. I'm pretty sure there will be some folk remedies as well.

Posed a question on healing ability scores on the main thread

[Thugorp]

You might want to add a table as it would make this much more understandable. Also, as far as I can tell(and I admit I MUST read this over when I have more time) there is no way to tell at which levels the stranger gets things. Also, you may want to explain the wound and vitality point thing(or post a link to where it is explained) as it is not part of standard D&D.
You could do the same with the new skills as well.(it isn't hard they are on the second page of the farmpunk thread I believe.)

[Ziegander]

I don't know what system this is designed for (Star Wars SAGA?), but the concept and fluff are so dang cool that I'm going to design a 3.5 base class around it.

[cheezewizz2000]

You might want to add a table as it would make this much more understandable. Also, as far as I can tell(and I admit I MUST read this over when I have more time) there is no way to tell at which levels the stranger gets things. Also, you may want to explain the wound and vitality point thing(or post a link to where it is explained) as it is not part of standard D&D.
You could do the same with the new skills as well.(it isn't hard they are on the second page of the farmpunk thread I believe.)

Tables aren't being used as every class gains Talents at the same rate: 1/level, improvement every 2 levels.

Vitality and wound points are a varient from Unearthed Arcana and can be found here, though we are using a slight varient in that weapons deal a set number of wound points on a critical hit. I assume that they also deal vitality points as otherwise scoring a critical would be an inconvenience to the attacker.

[Eldan]

I don't know what system this is designed for (Star Wars SAGA?), but the concept and fluff are so dang cool that I'm going to design a 3.5 base class around it.

It's basically similar to SAGA, yes, but a little bit more low-key than most d20 systems, I'd guess. Perhaps closer to d20 modern, even, in the basics.

Anyway, in 3.5 you'd probably get closest by making two or three new Warlock invocations, the rest is already mostly covered there.

[Mordokai]

I quite like what I'm seeing here. A class full of fluff. But I'm not quite sure what his role would be? This is for d20M, yes? Because it certainly doesn't fill in with any DnD stereotype I've seen.

[cheezewizz2000]

I quite like what I'm seeing here. A class full of fluff. But I'm not quite sure what his role would be? This is for d20M, yes? Because it certainly doesn't fill in with any DnD stereotype I've seen.

Judging by the talents that are coming about, I'd say he fits the idea of a stealthy assassin with a supernatural edge. He can bring down a mist, terrify people into not getting in his way and then kill with impunity.

The nice thing about this system that we're building up here is you have a lot of customisation over what your "role" is. If my talents get approved, the stranger can have a bit of self/party healing along with his stealthy/terrifying abilities. Perhaps this means that no-one shines at anything, but it *should* mean that no one is useless in any given situation.

Hmm, perhaps all characters should start with 3 talents at level 1 just to give level 1 characters a few more options than "I demoralise him"