Rising Legends - The Core Rules

Here's my umpteenth crack at a rulesbrew for me to use at home. I've designed it in a way that I think will make it easy for non-gamers to run, has clear depth, and remains out of the way for most people. BTW, I AM taking name suggestions.

Suke

Rising Legends is a game where you play as characters with nothing who try desperately to become something by putting their lives on the line.

To play, you need a d20 and a d6.

First, create your character. In order to do so, you follow three simple steps:

• Roll for 2 keywords that describe your character, or choose them.
• Write down your three attributes (Savvy, Athletics, and Weird), and assign each one of the following numbers: 12, 9, and 6.
• Choose your starting supplies.

The referee of the game runs the world and obstacles. They will also provide the lists of keywords and starting supplies. Future blogposts/supplements will provide pre-made worlds and sagas, complete with their own lists of keywords, starting supplies, obstacles, adventure locations, additional rules, and other useful materials for running a game.

The referee describes the game world, and the players describe what they want to do. If they are doing something dangerous or difficult, the referee may ask you to roll under one of your attributes with a d20. If you roll equal to or lower than your attribute, you succeed. If you roll 10 under your attribute, you succeed with style, and the referee describes a bonus you get in the situation.

Keywords are words or phrases that represent your character. If your keyword applies to a roll, you can roll 2d20 instead of one and take the better result. If both keywords apply, you still only roll 1d20. 

As a character goes on adventures, they will find gear, magic, and helpers that will aid them. These should be notated by a player who receives such a bonus. Additionally, when a character finishes an adventure, they gain fame.

Fame is a number that represents how well known the character is in the wider world. At every increment of 10, your character will find themselves rewarded with something special . This can range from someone wishing to apprentice under them, to potentially gaining ownership of beautiful palaces, or even training which increases your attributes. Additionally, after every adventure, your character gains a new keyword. This keyword will either come from the earliest list, or be tailor made to fit your character.

If your character successfully rises to 100 fame, they become a Legend. At this point, they somehow leave the world, perhaps in a tragic twist of fate, or by being whisked away by holy powers, or even retiring to become the ruler of the land for a time after. 

Karl Sisson

During an adventure, your characters will come face to face with obstacles. An obstacle comes in one of three categories: Monsters (anything that the party encounters, including mundane things like bandits or lions), Hazards (which range from deadly traps to dangerous poisons), and Weirdness (such as horrible curses or strange powers). Every obstacle has a number associated with it, the Obstacle's Danger, which ranges from 1 to 10. When the referee says that a player must make a roll forced by an obstacle, they add the obstacle's danger to their roll.

Occasionally, an obstacle will somehow harm a player. This damage, represented by a 1d6 + the obstacle's danger, is dealt to one of the player's attributes. For example, a bandit's serrated dagger will deal 1d6 + 1 damage to Athletics, while a warlock's wicked hex will deal 1d6 + 3 damage to your Weird. If a number falls to 0, the players character is taken out until the obstacle has been overcome, the party flees, or everyone loses. Damage to an attribute can be healed with medicine (or similar means), or through rest. Every day of rest restores 1 point of damage to an attribute. Some gear, magic, or specially made tools can reduce damage taken.

While taken out, your character cannot do anything and is effectively unconscious on the ground (or in the case of Weird being reduced to 0, is rendered immobile by some strangeness). Once the obstacle is no longer present, the player rolls 1d6 for their character and consults the following table for their character's fate.

1. Scarred! The character bears a distinctive scar from their encounter, but is otherwise fine.
2. Traumatized! The character has been traumatized by the obstacle. For the next 2 game sessions, the player adds 3 to any rolls they make.
3. Crippled! The character has been crippled in some way by the obstacle. The referee chooses a relevant attribute to be reduced by 3 permanently.
4. In debt! Your character should have died, but has made a deal with Death itself in order to live. The referee comes up with a condition (such as "You must pay respects to me through blood sacrifice at midnight every night!") If the condition is not fulfilled at any point during the rest of the character's life, they die.
5. Spiritless! The character has lost their spirit for adventure. They wander off, seeking a quiet place where they can retire.
6. Dead! The character succumbs to their wounds and dies.

When trying to overcome an obstacle, you must reduce its danger to 0. This can be done through a number of ways, such as subduing it, killing it, banishing it, disarming it, and so forth. To overcome the obstacle, the referee will ask how you do so, and then tell you which attribute to roll under. The amount you rolled under is how much the obstacle is reduced by. Always use popcorn initiative--or the person whose turn it is deciding who goes next--to decide turn order. After everyone has went, the last person to go now goes first.

Beware! Many obstacles cannot be reduced through conventional means; a dragon cannot be killed with simple sword strikes, no more than a spear will scare away a ghost. If your described plan doesn't work, the referee will tell you that you automatically fail and describe how. 

Jakub Rozalski

The Sphinx - Class, Race, Hireling, NPC, Enemy

The Sphinx is, along with the Angel and Medusa, my favorite fantasy creature. They are one of my principle OD&D races, featured heavily in COMMANDMENT, and are aesthetically one of my touchstones for Fantasy as a whole. So, have a blog dedicated to fleshing out the Sphinx in OD&D, 5E, and general fantasy games.

by Casimir Lee

The Universe, and, in fact, every universe is a spell in the process of being cast. This spell is sentient. This spell wishes to understand itself, its purpose, where it is going, where it came from. Thus life is born. Stardust makes complex compounds, the universe's magic is sheaved off to form a soul, and evolution begins. Across every universe, life of all kinds abounds. The Sphinx is but one of many, but one special nonetheless.

A riddle, personified. The Sphinx was born wholecloth from the divinity that is the universe, created from eons of watching life evolve and still not finding the answer to the Question of Questions. The Sphinx knows this. It is born wise, adult, knowing of many things and many languages. But the Sphinx is young in soul, lonely amidst the stars, the cosmos. It knows why it was born, but not why all was born, and it sets to work. The work: become wiser still, through any and all means, so that one day the Question of Questions can be answered.

This makes them great adventurers. They happen upon a strange land and seek to know all there is to know. If you're looking for treasure, or weapons, or secrets, and you happen upon a man or woman or them wing'd and gold-swathed, a man or woman or them who is a master of a thousand and one riddles, you'd be a fool not to ask them to ally with you. And, of course, the Sphinx will. You are but one of many vectors towards wisdom in the future. By knowing you, watching you, fighting with you, and even killing you, the Sphinx grows more.

Not all Sphinx are so kind. Some, especially those that are older, are cruel. They seek wisdom in violence, death, suffering, annihilation. Their kin do not judge them for this. There is wisdom to be found in all things. There in lies the biggest difference between you and they. You have morality guiding you forward. The Sphinx has a quest, eternal and known, and any means needed to complete it is thus Righteous. Some are chaotic. Some are lawful. Some choose to be good. Some choose to be evil. Some choose to be both, or neither. All, though, are Righteous, and they can be convinced no different.

Lius Lasahido

The form of the Sphinx is a bit different then what you're used to imagining. This is because they are creatures of two forms.

They are born as adults, in the shape of humans, for it is that shape that is most common throughout all universes for those seek answers. They are wing'd, to better traverse the world. Gold adorns them, for gold is the metal of greed, and they are greedy for wisdom in all of its forms. Their skin is of a color olive, or mahogany, or porcelain. Their eyes are hazel or green and star-flecked.

But wisdom is the domain of lions as well, who know much of the universe instinctively. Thus, the sphinx has the ability to take on this majestic, powerful form. The older they are, the larger their shape. They retain their wings, too. A Sphinx who no longer wishes to adventure will usually retain this shape, for reasons many.

Fur sapphire-rich or jet-deep. Manes wild as burning plains or regal as the king's crown. Eyes slitted, glowing in the dark, burning pieces of gold worth more than any coin. Claws and fangs sickle'd and sharp, blades enchanted by long learning years.

The Sphinx is not born, it is made. All are infertile. When a Sphinx is truly wise, it will have answered the riddle of how to create a child and will do so. Some will choose to parent, but most do not; after all, their child is an adult already, ready to fly into the world and have its own questions answered. Know that this means that it is rare that Sphinx congregate. There are no Sphinx towns or Sphinx cities. The only time they gather is in death, when their souls fly into the great beyond, ruminating at the Horizon together before going to explore some distant afterlife.

Know too that a Sphinx cannot die of old age, unless it wills away its immortality. Thus, many live for epochs, recording what they know on stone tablets or in omen and song.

Eduardo Francisco

All Sphinx will ask riddles. They ask these riddles not because they know the answer, but because they are trying to find an answer. However, it is common wisdom that creatures will not lend the Sphinx their minds for any suitable length of time. Most get frustrated and leave. This is why so many Sphinx will threaten death, or a curse, or offer a gift in exchange for having the riddle answered. Coercion is, of course, how wise beings barter--at least, that is what many Sphinx come to believe.

Here be a riddle generator. For every game you play a Sphinx, or run with a Sphinx in it, keep it on hand; most Sphinx greetings include a riddle of some sort. In exchange for wisdom gained, the Sphinx will likely aid whoever it is answering the riddle. This is one of the many ways Sphinx adventurers come to be.

SPHINX - OD&D

Sphinxes are magic-users, and can only progress to 8th level (Warlocks). Sphinxes can use no magical items other than scrolls and potions. Sphinxes may only arm themselves with bows and slings. They have a 1-5 chance of knowing the answers to any riddles, and their wisdom allows them to hire sages at 1/10th of the price (200gp per month). After progressing to 2nd level (Seer), sphinxes can begin to research cleric spells. They cast these spells with their normal magic-user spell slots. All sphinxes can assume a monstrous shape, wherein their body takes the form of a lion, giving them two attacks with their claws. In their normal shape, they have wings, allowing them to move 2" through flight. Sphinxes are also magically-resistant, and thus save against magical effects as if 4 levels higher. Finally, a sphinx can speak any language.

Why does the Sphinx retire at 8th level? The Sphinx, by then, having learned much of this world, feels its soul pushing it to learn through other ways. 8 levels worth of adventure grounds the Sphinx; it then goes on to serve as a sage for some courtly figure, or some great rising power. In this position it will serve for a few centuries before returning to the adventurer's life, likely vastly more powerful, and more so in the form of a traveling deity then a wandering mercenary-for-hire.

I suggest using the COMMANDMENT spells for the Sphinx.

Magic: the Gathering

SPHINX - 5E

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score by 1.

Age. Sphinx are born fully mature, and have no natural age limit. 

Alignment. Sphinx tend towards neutrality in all ways. Adventuring Sphinx tend to be good, but more than a few turn evil as well.

Size. Sphinx in their humanoid form stand between 5 to 6 feet tall. Your size is medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You also have a flying speed of 15 feet.

Languages. You know a number of languages equal to your Intelligence + your Wisdom modifiers (minimum 1).

Born Wise. You have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma checks that you are proficient in. 

Regalshape. As an action, you can transform into a CR 1 lion. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution ability scores are replaced with that of a lion's. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores remain the same. You have a human face while in this form, and can speak and cast spells with verbal components. Once you've used this feature, you cannot use it to transform back into your humanoid form until you finish a short or long rest.

SPHINX - HIRELING

A Sphinx can be hired for a cost of 4,000 GP per month. Sphinx hirelings are of 8th level. They will teach magic-users and clerics spells they know, lend their spells as aid to those that hire them, and provide wisdom, guidance, or information. The Sphinx will not leave the castle or palace alongside whoever hires it, and is unlikely to ever leave during their employer's lifetime. Yearly, the Sphinx will ask a riddle of its employer. If the riddle is not answered within 1 month's time, the Sphinx will end its contract and seek another employer.

Nekro

USING THE SPHINX AS A CREATURE

Most Fantasy games have statistics for a Sphinx. I suggest the following feature to be added mechanically.

Riddle Curse/Gift. When the Sphinx meets a creature for the first time, it will ask if it would like to answer a riddle. If the creature fails to answer the riddle before it leaves the presence of the Sphinx, it shall be CURSED. This curse cannot be lifted save through a powerful exorcism, answering the riddle, or death. But, if the riddle is answered before one leaves the presence of the Sphinx, they earn a gift. Roll 1d6 below to see what this gift is.

1. A piece of lapis lazuli, inscribed with a riddles. Acts as a spell scroll of one 6th level COMMANDMENT spell.
2. A map that must be translated in order to find the treasure of which it leads to.
3. Its services, for a year and a day.
4. A curse to be placed on the head of one creature of the riddler's choice.
5. The answer to a single question. If the Sphinx does not know the answer, another question may be asked until it does.
6. To be sent back in time, reverted to the age of your childhood, and allowed to live your life again but with the knowledge of now.

Treat a party as players as one person, thus giving them only one gift as a whole.

Most Sphinx serve as a roleplaying/social encounter, as well as a puzzle. A Sphinx used in combat should be one that seeks violence as a means to wisdom. This is a wide umbrella. Perhaps the Sphinx is looking to hunt all humans down, as it believes that wisdom is found in a world without them. Or, maybe, the Sphinx seeks to rend and tear armor of all sorts, and will believe itself truly wise after it has damaged every piece of armor to ever be forged. These esoteric reasoning's give the Sphinx an esoteric vibe; it is a strange creature, clearly inhuman, and while not all together horrible, it is something mystifying, horrifying, and awe-inspiring to those that encounter it.

Having the Sphinx wield powerful magic, be surrounded by enchanted items, and dwelling in places of power is key to this. For Sphinx lairs, roll 1d6 or make your own:

1. The funeral-palace of a long-dead hero or god-king.
2. The throne-room of a demon-queen.
3. A place where magic is so thick in the atmosphere that it changes the weather.
4. Underneath the boughs of a sacred tree, one where some messianic figure once rested.
5. In the center of an ancient battlefield, where great forces were risen and vanquished.
6. A place where an afterlife borders the realms of the living.

When the Sphinx is met, it will ask a riddle. If the players decline to answer, roll 1d6 to see how the Sphinx responds.

1. A curse upon all who do not answer.
2. Unspoken and immediate hyper-violence.
3. Offering a gift of some sort.
4. Stating that it will kill someone the PCs love dearly if not answered.
5. A sudden onslaught of monsters is released from a hidden space.
6. A spell, powerful and horrid, is cast upon the PCs.

Roll on treasure tables of your choice, as if you were rolling for a dragon horde. This is the treasure that fills a Sphinx's lair, gifted to it by rulers from a thousand worlds, all of whom have sought the Sphinx's wisdom.

Sentient creatures surround a Sphinx. Dragons will come to trade riddle-answers for treasure, monks will come to study in its shadow, magic-users to learn spells and clerics prayers, adventurers seeking new vistas or long-lost ruins, monarchs and rulers and tyrants wishing to become better rulers, oracles in training to learn the secrets of the future, and, most rarely of all, another Sphinx, coming to trade pslams for just a short time. Thus, an entire dungeon or adventure site manifests around the Sphinx.

Hekkil