03 November 2026

Firearms

So this post ended being a lot longer than expected, probably did some over-explaining, probably should split it up and/or edit it down, but oh well . . .

My ultimate source for all things firearm related



I'm always interested in the development of new rules for rpgs to cover different genres and areas of focus to add variety to a game world. Hence my interest when OSE was originally formatted with a "Genre Rules" book as one of the books in the box set. The idea, as I understood it, was to have each genre rule book cover a new set of rules to expand play; the first genre book, was "Classic Fantasy" dealing with just the BX rules, and the 2nd was the "Advanced Fantasy" dealing with elements of AD&D, and theoretically there would be a genre book for modern settings, sci-fi settings, planar settings, etc. This publication plan never bore fruit because Necrotic Gnome decided to go a different publication route catering to fan demands, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. 

We did get a lot of third party OSE supplements that covered non-classic fantasy rules and genres though. For example for games set in the modern era, I have Modern Necessities and Operation B/X, and I am sure there are others out there I just haven't seen or bothered to buy. I do have some other games designed for the modern Modern era with D&D in mind, though not built especially for OSE, the newest Stargate RPG is built off the 5e SRD, Cities Without Number is built off the Stars Without Number engine and some consider it OSR though mechanically it is a bit further removed from classic D&D than a lot of OSR games. And then looking all the way back to 1986 the TSR module IM1 The Immortal Storm has some rules for firearms and dealing with a modern setting. 

So given all these resources, surely one of them presents rules that satisfy my need(really a want, as Fire-arms don't presently exist in my game world, or if they do they are are extremely rare and nigh unattainable for my players) for rules for Firearms? Not really, no. They all present some basic commonalities: a simplified categorization system to provide damage and ranges for a small number of firearm types(only the Immortal Storm module provides anything relating to weapon mastery), rules for burst fire, and automatic fire, and explosions. Some of those interpretations I like more than others, but for none of them am I satisfied with their whole system, either I don't like their damage ranges(too low or too high compared to conventional weapons), their distance ranges(not based on actual real-world numbers), or their automatic fire rules(burst and suppression) could use some improvement.

 And the biggest stickler for me has always been the lack of accounting for armor. Either there are no special rules for armor at all, or the rules say to ignore armor of a certain tech-level(pre-modern essentially) and treat modern armors(kevlar etc) as just having a regular AC value(meaning they are just as effective against conventional weapons as bullets). Really, the difference between pre-modern and modern armors, and between how armors can resist different ammo from early firearms to more modern firearms, isn't given much consideration at all, and when it is mentioned it is kinda glossed over. And I don't need something overly complicated that you need advanced mathematics to solve, I just want some rules that feel like they take into account how actual firearms (and armor) work, and gives the players a meaningful choice with clear advantages and disadvantages.

And so this brings me to the point of this post, my rules for Firearms. As you can guess from the above, I've been thinking about this for a long time, and it's only recently I have come up with rules that are satisfactory to me, if not perfect, an of course need some serious playtesting(though I don't know when Firearms will actually enter into my regular D&D game).

First, Firearms and Armor. I have actually been playtesting these rules for several months. Here I previously explained my rules for Target Specialization and why the AD&D Weapon vs Armor Adjustment table doesn't work. I have also found that in play my Target Specialization rules didn't actually enter play on a consistent basis, even though it was based on what is obvious and common sense. This happened for a couple of reasons: first, I relied on the players to take advantage of it, applying Disadvantage or Advantage when appropriate, that was probably my biggest mistake, most players don't care about or remember that sort of thing. Second, I didn't always remember to apply it myself, and when I did I didn't have it memorized or have chart with the appropriate Advantage or Disadvantage handy to look up quickly. So what I have been using for the last few months I developed specifically to account for how Firearms interact with armor, but it also applies to conventional weaponry, and has essentially replaced my Target Specialization rules. and while I don't think its perfect, and feel there might be a better implementation that does the same thing, I will say that these rules work and are easy to apply on a regular basis and also do the job that the weapons vs armor chart from AD&D was intended to do, account for how different weapons interact with different armors.

 NEW ARMOR CLASS RULES:

Weapons cause types of wounds: cuts, stabs, bruise, ballisitic(from firearms); armor can protect better against certain types of wounds based on construction type and material.

Firearms: cause ballistic damage. Rifled firearms give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac), gunpowder firearms(as opposed to black powder) give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac), armor piercing rounds give +1 to hit(up to unarmored ac) but cause half damage. Other firearm rules refer to Modern Necessities(ok I need to replace this line as I've just developed my own version of rules)

I use the terms cut/stab/bruise instead of the classic terms of slash/pierce/blunt from modern D&D for a couple reasons. I just dont like the modern d&d terms, thats the real reason. But also I want these to be able to used as action verbs and result in atype of wound as in the pc has a cut or a stab or a bruise. And that terminology can go along with my called shot/hit location rules. so a player can say something diegetically and it make sense in game terms. e.g. "my fighter, Arthur, cuts the goblin's arm with his long sword." using the long sword(assuming basic proficiency) tells us it is d8+1 damage, attacking the arm gives -2 to hit(based on my hit location rules) and a cut will tell us what armor class we need to hit(based on the armor on the goblin's arm). and how much damage dealt will tell us whether it is alight cut, serious cut, or critical cut. So all the player has to do is say something that d&d players already do when they "get into character" per se, and the DM adjudicates the game based on their action. this doesn't mean the player cant know the rules or won't be benefited by that knowledge, just that the gameplay can happen within a diegetic framework and it will matter at meta-game level. 

And the whole reason I developed this set of multi-AC rules is for the firearms; firearms cause a special type of damage, having their own AC value, and it only makes sense to extrapolate that to the conventional weapon damage for cut/slash, stab/pierce, bruise/blunt. And thus firearms, or ballistic damage/wounds can bypass pre-modern armor while being affected by modern armor, and modern armor won't necessarily be as good against conventional weapons. 

So for the 3 classic armor types padded textile(which I use instead of leather, historical reasons), chain/mail, and plate(I extrapolated these values from the Palladium book The Compendium of Weapons, Armour, and Castles and I also have values for other types of armor, this is just an example baseline) here are the AC values for each wound type: 

Armor Type

Bruise

Cut

Stab

Ballistic  

Padded Textile

6

5

7

9

Chain

6

2

5

9

Plate

4

2

3

8



FIREARM RULES

Aim = +2 To Hit if spend 1 round aiming. 
 
Sights(for weapons with scopes, there could be scopes that give better bonuses) = +2 To Hit, must take 1 Turn and six To Hit rolls to adjust to new Range
 
Explosive(for grenades, etc) = Hit AC 5 is a direct hit; anyone in area of effect Save vs. Breath for half damage. Hit AC 9 is a near miss; gain +4 to Saves.
 
Rapid Fire(RF)(for semi-automatic weapons and revolvers) = missile weapon may make multiple attacks (at one or more targets) up to the number indicated. May not move during round.
 
Burst Fire(for sub-machine guns) = fire 3 rounds from a missile weapon at Target Range only giving DIS To Hit. Roll STR check, on success 2nd bullet hits, if roll 1 3rd bullet hits, on failure lose initiative for 1 round. Roll damage for extra bullets as normal.
 
Full Auto(for machine guns) = fire missiles equal to Rate of Fire(RoF) every round. Burst Fire on round 1 to acquire the target area. Each later round, all creatures in a 20' cone out to half Target Range must Save vs. Breath or  be hit by a number of  missiles equal to 1/10 RoF, half damage on success, and stay prone until fire ceases.

There you have it, rules for fire arms for Classic D&D. Of course, ast stated above, they need some playtesting, but I think they should do well. If you are familiar with Modern Necessities and Operation B/X you will see their DNA in these rules, but  with my own take for my preferences. The actual stats for specific weapons I have yet to work up, I will probably take the Weapon mastery stats from The Immortal Storm as a basis and maybe use it to expand the stats to a more complex array of firearms from the other books, and I will double reference stats for Ranges and Rate of Fire stats in The Armory Volume 1 pictured at the top for accuracy. The design part is done, just need to find an excuse to playtest now . . . 

07 September 2026

Weather Generation Redux


After playtesting my Weather generator  for the last few years I figure its time for an update. There have been a few tweaks to numbers I've made over the years. The biggest change I made which I haven't shared yet is a table for precipitation change once precipitation does start. I've also been working on making it into a html/JavaScript program that can be run straight in the browser, I made an excel generator awhile ago, but I've found it to be inadequate. As I've been building the new program I've introduced some new complexities I would never bother with if I was actually rolling at the table, but I'd like to explain what those changes are and how you could do it at the table, if you are okay with rolling dice until the end of time :)

So in the program I am building(link to a github page below) the basic process is going to look like this:

  1. Roll for Daily Wind values
    1.  At the beginning of each day Roll Wind Strength(2d6 lookup chart, including modifiers from previous day's wind value and local wind strength modifier - weak or strong, etc)
    2. At the beginning of each day Roll Wind Direction(2d6 lookup chart with local wind direction as average - 6-8 roll, including modifiers from previous wind direction, and if modifier causes roll to to go above 12 or below 2, then wrap the value around in a circle-13 becomes 2, 14 becomes 3, 15 becomes 4, etc)
  2. At the beginning of each day Roll for Daily Temperature(2d6 lookup chart by climate and month, including modifiers from previous day's temperature and current daily wind strength) 
  3. Roll for Cloud Cover
    1. Roll Cloud cover(2d6 lookup chart by climate and month, including modifiers from previous Cloud Cover state)
      1. If Cloud Cover is fog, roll for fog type(1d4 lookup table)
    2. Roll time until next state change check for cloud cover(12d6 turns), if precipitation has not changed cloud cover, then roll for cloud cover again at the end of this period.
  4. Roll for precipitation
    1. Roll time of state change check for Precipitation(6d4 turns, starting from end of last Precipitation event or when clear or fog changes to some form of cloud cover); If Cloud Cover is Clear or Fog do not roll for Precipitation
    2. Roll to Determine if Precipitation happens and what type(2d6 lookup chart, including modifiers from Cloud Cover
      1. Apply any applicable modifiers from the Precipitation table to the Wind Speed Roll, and update the current wind speed.
      2. If the current wind speed changes the Temperature modifier, update the current temperature roll, and update current temperature if needed
      3. Roll for State of Precipitation(Rain, Hail, Ice Pellets, Mix of Rain and Ice Pellets, Freezing Rain, or Snow) using the updated temperature(1d20 lookup chart based on each temperature type)
      4. Roll for chance of Thunderstorm(1d100 roll based on Precipitation), if a thunderstorm results, it lasts for the duration of the precipitation event
    3. Roll for Duration of current Precipitation type(6d4 turns if no precipitation is rolled, 1 turn for sprinkles, 1d3 turns for showers, 3d4 turns for a downpour, 6d4 turns for a drizzle)
    4. At end of current Precipitation duration, Roll for Precipitation transition(1d6 lookup table based on current precipitation)
      1. modify current cloud cover(any result of + or - 1 degree simply means to increase degree of cloud cover so partly cloudy becomes cloudy becomes overcast, or vice versa, but it still has to stay within one of the cloudy ranges and cant become clear of foggy unless the transition chart explicitly says so)
      2. modify current wind speed if new precipitation value calls for it
      3. modify current temperature if wind speed was adjusted.
    5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the precipitation transition table calls for an end to the precipitation event, then proceed to step 1, and roll for current cloud cover duration(as it is at end of precipitation event) from step 3.2
  5. Repeat the Process for each day, rolling wind and temp for each day taking the previous days rolls to modify current rolls, and rolling cloud cover and precipitation on a duration by state change basis.
Wind Strength Lookup Table:

Wind Direction Lookup Table:

Cfa Climate Temperature Lookup Table:

BWh Climate Temperature Lookup Table:

Cfa Climate Cloud Cover Lookup Table:

BWh Climate Cloud Cover Lookup Table:

Fog Type Lookup Table:

Precipitation Event Lookup Table:

Precipitation State Lookup Table:

Thunderstorm Lookup Table:
*If Precipitation State is 'Hail' assume Thunderstorm and do not roll on the below table.

Precipitation Transition Lookup Tables:




The app allows you to set several parameters: climate type(currently only Cfa and BWh are available), base wind strength modification(weaker or stronger than standard), dominant wind direction, the current month, the state of weather of the previous day(temp, cloud cover, wind strength, wind direction) which can all be randomized, and how many days to generate weather for. I have the Generator posted as a tab at the top of the blog menu, but if you want to look at the code I've also uploaded it to a Github page.

27 April 2026

The Crusader

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Behold, the Crusader!

This is my version of the Paladin, its a bit of an admixture of the 1e AD&D Paladin and Companion Set Paladin. The reason I am calling them Crusaders and not Paladins, because the Paladins were pseudo-historical/legendary figures, whereas the dnd paladin is really just a generic fighter dedicated to a cause or church, and not really like the historical legendary figures (basically the same reason I am against the usage of druid and bard as dnd classes).























So onto the abilities, most of the names for the abilities I just took from either 3rd edition or 5th just for flavor.

Divine Grace is just taken straight from AD&D with no changes, and Divine Sense is also from the Companion set

Lay on Hands I had to modify a bit to fit with my wound system(another post there). I kept the 2hp number, but instead of that piling up to a total hp per day to be spread as the paladin sees fit, its 2 hp able to be applied to each individual wound. so the crusader kinda becomes a sort of combat medic. This is especially useful as clerical spells(miracles) are rituals that take a minimum of 10 minutes in my games. and I just rolled the cure disease ability into a more advanced form of lay on hands, though maybe i should make that switch at 12th level.

Turn undead I used the companion set version of 1/3 level, I think that fits better than the AD&D version. I also transferred the above average wisdom requirement that applied to spells in the companion set.

Relating to the above, I didn't include the ability for the crusader to cast spells even though both AD&D(at 9th level) and the Companion Set(equivalent to 1/3 cleric level) have some degree of spellcasting for the paladin. I feel like with lay on hands and cure disease and divine sense and aura of courage, these are all spell like abilities, and the reason for the crusader(paladin) to have these above and beyond what a cleric could do is to make up for their lack of ability to cast spells. These special abilities replicate spells, and to have both is basically "double-dipping" in abilities; if a crusader/paladin can cast cure light wounds, why would they have lay on hands? if they can cast cure disease, why have  class ability that allows them to do that? if they can cast remove fear why have it be a constant class ability? etc. etc. Essentially a Crusader can do all these things that mimic clerical spells/miracles precisely because they cannot perform the spells. In the fiction of the world it can be justified by saying the church has not ordained them with the authority to perform its rituals, yet through their dedication and faith are blessed by their patron. Whatever the justification, the result in gameplay is the same: a fighter who mimics some clerical abilities while staying within the fighting-man niche.

Divine Health, ie immunity to disease, I decided to bump up to name level(9th), partly because I felt enough abilities had been assigned to the 4th level tier, and partly because I felt complete immunity to disease was a fairly OP and made for a good capstone ability.

Aura of Courage with immunity to fear comes from 3e and 5e, and was bumped to level 9 for the same reasons as stated above for Divine Health. and then the full constant Protection From Evil effect from 1e seemed also a bit OP, so i bumped it to a more advance version of this ability, still not sure about the Level 24 point though, maybe 12 or 20 or something.

Smite Evil, totally stole from 3e, definitely preferred this version over the one in 5e. Only change I made was to make it apply to all evil creatures all the time, but cant be used against anyone else; this is less helpful than you might think if you been following along and remember my definition of Evil. This ability still allows the Crusader to have a significant advantage when facing such creatures though, so I feel it fits well.

And the Holy Charger. Essentially unchanged from 1e, just reworked small details. the whole only summon once every 10 years I replace with having to actually train the horse from a colt and form a bond(could take 2 to 5 years, I think, have to look up horse maturity). keep the basic stats, and applies to the type of horse the the Crusader is training to be his warhorse: Rouncey, Courser, or Destrier(my rules regarding horses is another post...). And the Lancer Fighting style I already developed takes care of special bonuses for horseback riding.

So that's the Crusader. I have plans for the Avenger next, and maybe the Warlord(a ruler and/or conqueror of a Domain). The Avenger from the Companion Set is basically just a paladin dedicated to an evil church with the same abilities, well I find that a bit boring, if I wanted to do that, it would just be the Crusader Class with different fluff. I've already got ideas to make it interesting, a devil dog instead of holy charger, fearful presence instead of aura of courage, sowing enmity/chaos instead of lay on hands (I think just a direct cause wounds is a bit too plain and not that useful if they have a weapon), I'm also going to take a look at JB's Comes Chaos supplement, and maybe incorporate corruption as part of the Avenger. I'll see what I can come up with . . .

22 April 2026

The Fighter WIP

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I've been lax on posting my work on this blog, mostly focused on running my weekly game. At this point I rarely make new rules, just mostly rewriting and formatting. One change I have made is to make the choice of a specialization to follow occur earlier at 4th level instead of name level. It doesn't make a huge difference because in practical terms the pattern I'm following is give out one ability specific to the specialization at 4th(such as use spell scrolls for thieves) and everything else at name or higher. The reasons for doing this are varied, but it boils down to giving players choice. Back during the 5e playtest, D&D Next, one of the things I always liked about the rules presented was the whole idea of waiting to choose a subclass until 3rd level, now the published rules were less consistent on when this happened for specific classes, but the idea of starting with something basic and then building complexity as you level was always appealing to me. We already have this to some degree in Classic D&D with the proto-prestige classes of the Companion Set, and so for a while I was happy to leave it at that for a while. In building more of these specialist classes for my players, I've found a solution is to let the classes specialize earlier  to keeping them from branching out too far to the point where they need to to be their own class altogether before they are tied down to a single archetype. This way I can keep the low level classes relatively few in number and broad in scope, mid and high tier characters can be more specialized. I'm making the break at level 4 because that point is already built into Classic D&D with the Basic and Expert Sets, so we can have have Basic classes that go from level 1-3, and Expert classes that go from level 4-36. 

So with that, I've kinda been focusing on rewriting the Basic classes to fit this new model. My plan is to have a small booklet for each class(the fighter book, the cleric book, the rogue book, etc) presenting the Basic Class and all the Expert Classes available at level 4. I've just finished redoing the basic fighter, and the first fighter expert class, The Hero. The Hero is your default weapon master fighter (I was going to use the name Man-At-Arms until just this last week I remembered the level title for a 4th level fighter is Hero and liked it better as the example of the standard fighter progression), next I need to do the crusader(the paladin), the avenger, the ranger , the berserker, and I have a few other ideas. but meanwhile here is what I got so far:




For info on the ability requisites read this post.  For weapon specialization and weapon mastery, I will have to make a separate post, but essentially I took the To Hit bonuses from weapon mastery and and separated them it into a separate ability called weapon specialization(somewhat inspired by AD&D). All classes get weapon specialization at different levels, and only fighters have access to weapon mastery. Its a topic for another time. 

 The special abilities of the Hero are pretty much all taken from the Fighter Combat Options in the Companion set with a few tweaks. 

Cleave is a combination of the Smash ability and the ability of the fighter in OD&D to make multiple attacks against mooks, I've found this to be a good balance in play without giving out completely unlimited attacks. 

Defend is just a renaming of Parry, and I turned into a deflect ability instead of an AC bonus for the same reason I made that exact same change to the weapon mastery charts; basically I want AC to be mostly an aspect of armor, and if the weapon is doing the defending I want the gameplay to reflect that. 

Disarm is pretty much unchanged



Multiple Attacks is also pretty much unchanged. For a while I was having multiple attacks by both PCs and monsters only apply to separate targets, if you had 2 attacks you couldn't attack the same person twice. I was doing this to represent the abstractedness of combat in dnd, but it really ended up being a complication that wasn't worth it in gameplay, so I've gone back to the old method in the last few months.

Fighting Styles is something I came up with to give more options in weapon mastery, for those that might want to not just specialize in a single weapon. I first floated the idea in May of 2023. And its seen some playtesting in my game(not every style though) but I've been a bit unsure of if I wanted to make it available to every PC or just fighters. With this redesign of the Fighter I am satisfied with making it exclusive to the Hero Expert Class, though I may give certain styles as a bonus ability to other Expert Classes(like Swashbuckler rogue class will have Dirty Fighting). Fighting Styles allows different flavors of fighter without having to create a whole new subclass/Expert Class. Want to play a mounted warrior? Play a Hero with the Lancer Fighting Style, no need to make a million Horse related Feats or non-sensical magical overpowered abilities(looking at you, Cavalier). I'm still thinking of adding a Marksman fighting style for archers(though I do like the idea of the Hero being more melee focused, maybe leave the archery to the Ranger), and am still open for other options if they occur to me, but think I've covered good variety

And as a teaser, this is the description I've written for the Crusader: "A Fighter may join a Crusading Order out of piety, or as a way to atone for a past life of sin. No matter the reason for their devotion, a Crusader acts as the earthly power that spreads the message of The Church."




10 April 2026

What is the OSR

Posted this first on substack because my wife has been active there, trying to support her(she is @sarahsoloadventures, and I am @wagalade). 

What is the OSR? The perennial question asked alike by navel-gazing grognards and perplexed youngsters in our gaming hobby. And by my wife @Sarah Blount. So in an effort to confuse her even further I'm giving a small (if you saw my full list of bookmarks you'd agree this is a small number too) collection of posts others have made about the OSR, both lambasting it, praising it, trying to explain it, and even going over the long(where has the time gone?) history of this niche subset of our niche hobby:

https://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2014/10/osr-defined.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-hell-old-school-renaissance-come.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2014/09/once-againthe-deal-with-old-school.html

https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2025/10/what-is-point-of-osr.html

https://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-desktop-my-final-stance-on-osr.html

https://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2019/06/02/the-osr-has-no-gatekeepers/

https://web.archive.org/web/20201109033331/https://hexed.press/2018/01/25/o-s-r/

https://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-osr-as-d-stuckists.html

https://pitsperilous.blogspot.com/2020/03/nostalgia-ok-osr-boomer.html

https://harbingergames.blogspot.com/2016/06/what-i-remember-rant-about-old-school.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-i.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-ii.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-iii.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-iv.html

https://osrsimulacrum.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-historical-look-at-osr-part-v.html


09 March 2026

Brightnight Academy

 My wife, Sarah, has been publishing some solo RPGs lately. You can find her work on itch and DriveThruRPG. She has been commissioning cover art for her books, and her next project, Brightnight Academy, she is also commissioning interior art. Brightnight Academy is a school for training Revenants, who are basically like scouts or rangers that protect the civilization in a kinda points of light setting. The Academy gives both magic and martial training, and is kinda inspired by a mix of Harry Potter, Monster High, and Ironsworn. So because the entire game takes place at the school and and is about taking classes, and doing activities at the school, and building social circles, Sarah wanted a map to go in her book, and well since that's what I do for a living, here is the map of Brightnight Academy for the soon to be published RPG(she's just waiting on the cover)



05 December 2025

The Prophet: An Advanced Cleric Class

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One of my new players is bringing in his 12th level Cleric PC from another game, and I gave him the option of picking one of my advanced classes(basically a prestige class for Classic D&D, another example is the Hermit) for his PC; he chose prophet which just so happens to be one the classes I hadn't fleshed out, so I had to come up with some rules. Usually I like to see what others have done and just adjust it to fit as an advance class instead of starting at level 1 (such as a fighter going for the advanced class of ranger of paladin), but I couldn't really find anything I liked that anyone had done. There were a couple of Seer or other type of diviner classes in dragon magazine, and there was also some priest of the gods of prophecy in the complete priest handbook for 2e. But it was all pretty vague and unsatisfactory to me, so I had to start pretty much from scratch. I did take some broad brushstroke ideas from those, but had to come up with the actual mechanics myself. I debated adding a divination spell list, like the hermit has the old druid spell list, but most of the AD&D divination spells are pretty poorly written in my opinion and not actually very useful, so I didn't include those either. Now granted what I came up with need to be playtested and all, but I hope it will work like I want.

Prophet

A Prophet is Cleric blessed(or cursed) with a vision of The Creator, or a Saint, and may often receive  direct communication with the Divine. Many prophets found a new cult or religious order and may often be ostracized by the mainstream church.

Requirements

·         Name Level(8th) Cleric

·         13 CHA

·         Must learn commune as first 5th level miracle at level 8

Restrictions

·         For every family member or friendly contact known before reaching level 8/becoming a Prophet, roll 1d6. Unless a 1 is rolled the Prophet becomes estranged with these people (shunned, unwelcome, etc).

·         When 10% of a settlements populace have become disciples the leaders of the settlement may drive out the prophet. Roll 1d100, compare to Prophets Level + CHA score, if roll higher then banished from region, if lower, tolerated. If roll 100 the mob will rise up and try to kill the prophet. This check must be made again when 50% of the populace become disciples. If the check fails, a conflict(civil war) ignites among the disciples and the nonbelievers, if the check succeeds the settlement peacefully transitions to follow the ways of the Prophet. When banished from a settlement, the distance the prophet is banished depends on the size of the settlement, if the prophet ever returns near the settlement in this distance they risk being mobbed. The banishment distance is as follows: Thorp, small village, or hamlet = 1 league/3miles(1 hour walk), large village or small town = 2 leagues/6 miles, large town or small city =12 miles, large city = 24 miles, metropolis = 72 miles

Special abilities

·         The Vision – Upon reaching Name Level the Cleric receives a vision of the Creator or one of his messengers(an angel or a saint). The message of the vision is left up to the DM and player to decide; it may be just a manifestation of the creator, ie a message of his ‘realness’; or it could be a message to reinforce a teaching which the church already espouses; or it could be a message that the church(or some other organization) has gone astray and needs to be corrected; or it could be to spread the knowledge of and teaching of a particular saint.

·         Disciples – When traveling to new places, may spend downtime preaching Vision which can lead to followers of the vision called disciples. The potential number of disciples gained depends on the Prophet’s level and the size of the population settlement. At the end of each week of downtime, the Prophet must make a CHA check to see if any disciples are gained, a failure means no disciples. These Disciples generally do not follow the prophet from place to place, but continue to live their normal lives with a new fervor of belief in the Prophet. The Prophet may gain devoted followers through the normal methods of leveling up.

Settlement

8-14th Level Prophet

15-25th level

26-36th level

Thorp

0-1(1d2-1)

1

1-2(1d2)

Small Village/Hamlet

1

1-2(1d2)

1-6(1d6)

Large Village

1-5(1d5)

1-10(1d10)

5-30(5d6)

Small Town

1-10(1d10)

2-20(2d10)

5-50(5d10)

Large Town/Small City

5-50(1d10x5)

10-100(1d10x10)

25-250(1d10x25)

Large City

10-120(1d12x10)

25-250(1d10x25)

50-600(5d12x10)

Metropolis

25-500(1d20x25)

50-1000(1d20x50)

500-5000(5d10x100)

Prophesy Prophets retain the ability they gained as a Cleric to turn undead, but do not advance any further on the Turn Undead chart. Instead they may coerce superstitious crowds to do their bidding through a dramatic impromptu prophesying. This uses the same chart as Turn Undead; They advance along this chart by HD and their Prophet level (Count an 8th level Prophet as 1st level on the chart, 9th level as 2nd, and so on; a 11th level Prophet is treated as 3rd level and so needs a roll of 7 to coerce people of 3HD). In this chart replace any 'T' with a 'E' for Enthrall, and 'D'  with ‘I’ for Influence. Apply the Prophets’ CHA bonus to this roll and to the roll for how many HD are affected.

    • An Enthralled audience must give the prophet their undivided attention for a full Combat round, the Prophet may maintain their attention each round if he continues to make a prophecy check each round, gaining the attention of a larger audience each round (roll 2d6 for how many HD affected each round). The Prophet must make the check for the person with the highest HD in the audience. If the Prophesying fails, there’s is a 50% chance they will be ignored, and a 50% chance they will be jeered at and attacked by a mob if they do not leave voluntarily.
    • For a prophet to exert Influence over a crowd they must be able to understand the language he is prophesying in (not strictly necessary for Enthrall) and the individuals in the crowd may save against Enchantment to avoid the Prophets’ Influence. If the result is a ‘D+’ then there is no saving throw allowed. A crowd Influenced by a prophet must obey a command he issues, this must be fairly straightforward command with a single actionable step. This command cannot lead to self-harm in any way. And if the command is not completed in a number of hours equal to the level of the Prophet plus their charisma then the Influence of the Prophet no longer affects the individuals.

·         Interpreting Visions, Dreams, Signs and Portents Prophets often have dreams or visions from their patron. These visions and signs are often incomprehensible at first and take a great deal of meditation and divine guidance to interpret. Each day a Prophet may enter into a trance lasting 1d6 hour. During this trance one piece of desired information may be discovered. Such as time (past/present/future), location, person, etc. The success of a trance is a % roll, they must get under their WIS score + Level to gain any intelligible information.