Wizard Hand (a spell for Dungeon Crawl Classics)

One of my wife's favorite spells to use back in our D&D 5th Edition game was "Mage Hand." Her arcane trickster used it to great effect, swiping things from a range, causing distractions, or handling hazardous materials (like a chunk of burning star). 

When we were recently playing Dungeon Crawl Classics, she was disappointed to discover that a comparable spell doesn't exist in that game. "Invisible Servant" does serves some of the same purpose, but doesn't quite fill the gap.

So I wrote up "Wizard Hand" for DCC. It creates a floating magical hand controllable by the caster. The higher your spellcasting roll, the stronger the hand is and the more control the caster has. With high rolls, you can even use the hand to attack with weapons or use touch spells. 

You can red the spell below or download it from Google Docs.

Read and Enjoy!

Wizard Hand

Level: 1 Range: 30’ Duration: 1 turn per caster level  Casting Time: 1 Action Save: None

General: The caster summons a disembodied hand made of pure magical force. The caster can direct this magical hand using their own actions to guide it, allowing it to act as an extension of their own body at a range. 

Manifestation: Roll 1d6. The hand appears as: (1) an exact copy of the caster’s hand, (2) a skeletal hand, (3) a glowing yellow energy construct, (4) a scaly red demon hand, (5) a mailed gauntlet, (6) A white, three-fingered glove. 

Corruption: Roll 1d5: (1) The caster’s hand turns transparent, like glass. (2) The caster’s hand withers and turns skeletal. (3) The caster’s hand glows in the dark. (4) The caster’s wrist grows 2d6 inches longer. (5) Minor corruption.

Misfire: Roll 1d4: (1) The hand makes a very rude gesture at the most high-status person in range. (2) The hand undoes the caster’s belt, allowing their pants to drop to the ground. (3) The hand pokes the caster in the eyes, blinding them for 1d4 rounds. (4) The hand smacks the caster in the face, inflicting 1d4 damage. 1: Lost, failure, and worse! Roll 1d6 modified by Luck: (0 or less) corruption + misfire + patron taint, (1-2) corruption, (3) patron taint (or corruption if no patron), (4+) misfire

2-11: Lost. Failure. 

12-13: The caster summons a magical hand that can clumsily shove stationary objects with up to 5 lbs. of force. 

14-17: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 5lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. It is not quick enough to handle weapons or make attacks. 

18-19: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 10lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. It is not quick enough to handle weapons or make attacks. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire. 

20-23: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 15 lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. The hand is deft enough to use one-handed weapons, and the caster can use it to make melee attacks with their own attack bonus and may add their INT modifier to attack and damage. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire. 

24-27: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 20lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. The hand is deft enough to use one-handed weapons, and the caster can use it to make melee attacks with their own attack bonus and may add their INT modifier to attack and damage. The caster may also use the hand to deliver touch-ranged spells. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire.

28-29: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 30lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. The hand is deft enough to use one-handed weapons, and the caster can use it to make melee attacks with their own attack bonus and may add their INT modifier to attack and damage. Without a weapon, the hand can still inflict 1d4 damage (modified by INT). The caster may also use the hand to deliver touch-ranged spells. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire.

30-31: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 50lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. The hand is deft enough to use one-handed weapons, and the caster can use it to make melee attacks with their own attack bonus and may add their INT modifier to attack and damage. Without a weapon, the hand can still inflict 1d6 damage (modified by INT). The caster may also use the hand to deliver touch-ranged spells. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire.

32+: The caster summons a magical hand that can lift up to 100lbs and is dexterous as the caster’s own hand. The hand is strong and deft enough to use even two-handed weapons, and the caster can use it to make melee attacks with their own attack bonus and may add their INT modifier to attack and damage. Without a weapon, the hand can still inflict 1d8 damage (modified by INT). The caster may also use the hand to deliver touch-ranged spells. Additionally, the caster may choose to make the hand invisible if they desire.

Snail Wrangler [Troika! Background]

Snail Wrangler

Snails. They’re everywhere, man. God’s perfect creations. But someone needs to wrangle them, and that someone is you. It’s your job to round up the feral snails that would surely disrupt productive business if left to roam wild. You’re always on the watch for threats to your mollusky flock, and your trusty fusil is always near at hand to drive off the squirrels, turkeys, and snail rustlers that would prey upon your charges. 

Possessions

• Fusil
• Belt with 3 fusion cores
• Snail crook (treat as staff)
• Shelljack (light armor)
• Loyal riding snail (moderate beast, armor 2, with proper bags can carry twice as much as a mule)
• 1d6 snails, fist-sized or smaller, of below-average intelligence

Advanced Skills

• 3 Riding
• 2 Healing
• 2 Awareness
• 2 Fusil Fighting 
• 2 Staff fighting
• 4 Language: Snailish
• 4 Secret Signs: Snails

Special

You are immune to all snail-borne diseases such as snail pox, the slimy fever, and meningitis.

Klausritter for Troika!

Klausritter

You are a Knight of the North, a defender of children and protector of the innocent. You bring joy and warmth to the world during the darkest nights of the winter.

Possessions

• Red fur clothing (as modest armor)
• Longsword
• Loyal reindeer mount (modest beast)
• Large sack full of 4d6 toys

Advanced Skills

• 3 Prodigious Strength
• 4 Toymaking
• 2 Sword Fighting
• 1 Animal Husbandry
• 1 Riding
• 1 Spell: Open
• 2 Spell: Peace
• 1 Spell: Sleep

Special
Children’s toys do not encumber you at all, no matter how many you carry. You cannot reliably retrieve them during combat.

Ashes of Angels, Final Wrap-Up

We ran our final session of Ashes of Angels a couple of months ago. While not the longest campaign I’ve run, 12-plus sessions is a pretty healthy run for me these days. The campaign started as a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game and transitioned to Dungeon Crawl Classics near the end. The conversion was pretty easy and injected enough interest back into the campaign to keep it running for a few more months.

Everyone enjoyed the campaign, but what ultimately ended it was my desire to move onto new games, settings, and genres. Specifically, after a couple years of bleak horror games, I’ve grown weary of nihilistic “the world sucks and you suck too” campaigns. My players, I could tell, were starting to grow bored with the constant character attrition. They want a chance to grow attached to the PCs for a while. I grok that.

Our last session revolved around resolving “Intrigue at the Court of Chaos.”  I’m not going to go over the whole thing because that module is mostly just a series of riddles and puzzles. It’s very good and very weird, but to recap all the events would be boring and spoilerish to the module.

Some highlights, though:

• The PCs all readily agreed to work for the various Chaos Lords that approached them in their dreams. Belinda the Serpentblood, of course, tried to charm the agent of Law.
• Madeline the Gravedigger apparently knows how to speak Enochian and was able to decipher the angelic script on the Bull of Law’s horns, sparing the PCs a fight.
• The party did a good job of figuring the puzzles, although the rainbow liquids and cradle of clay puzzles proved to be harder than expected.
• Liberal use of flaming oil and black-powder bombs made short work of the party’s Lawful clones.
• The race back to the Chaos Rose while running away from the Crystal Guardians devolved into a slapstick farce as the PCs kept stealing the Yolkless Egg back and forth from each other mid-comnat.
• Garritt the warrior burned all his Luck and was bodily taken to Heaven by the Crystal Guardians where Jack Chick’s Giant Glowing Faceless God personally cast him into Hell.
• Back in the Court of Chaos, the fight over the Egg continued until someone fumbled a roll and dropped the Egg, breaking it open and causing the entire Court to collapse. The surviving PCs managed to step thru a rip in space-time back to Berlin.

Afterwards, we as a group decided to step away from the campaign and try some new things. We played three sessions of Mothership that went very, very well. Many of my players had never tried a percentile-bases system before and they loved how easy it was to pick up. Mothership’s a helluva game.

Ultimately, though, we decided as a group that our next game should be something totally different in tone and setting. So instead of semi-historical horror-fantasy we’re shifting to optimistic space opera—Star Wars! I’m pretty excited about it, and my players are all stoked about their competent and (semi)heroic new characters.

Wizard Slime for Troika!

Wizard Slime

Slimes are cute but semi-dangerous monsters that resemble brightly colored dollops of gelatin with googly eyes, about the size of a footstool. Most slimes spend their lives randomly attacking neophyte adventurers only to be slaughtered by the same. But ever since you slurped up that dead wizard, you’ve become a bit smarter than your slimy brethren. You know there’s more out there that wandering the forest, waiting to be beaten to death by some kid with a wooden sword. You’ve made your way to Troika, ready to find your fortune under the Humpbacked Sky.

Possessions

• Jaunty little wizard hat
• People Potion (turns you into a human for 1d6 hours)

Advanced Skills

• 2 Sneak
• 1 Pseudopod fighting (damage as small beast)
• 3 Alchemy
• 2 Spell: Jolt
• 1 Spell: Helping Hands
• 2 Spell: Random
• 1 Spell: Random

Special
Your gel-like body prevents you from wearing armor, but you can still use weapons as normal or slam enemies with extruded pseudopods. You can’t wear a backpack, but you can safely stow gear inside your body, retrieving it like any solid character would from their own pack. Your malleable form allows you to squeeze through any gap or space of an inch or more. Your gear doesn’t squish with you, so you may need to drop some items to fit through some spaces. 

Dandy Highwayman (Troika! Background)

Dandy Highwayman

Qua qua, da diddly, qua qua, da diddly

Clothes. More than just a way to keep you warm and dry, they’re an extension of your soul, your personality, your inner self. Fashion is ever-changing, and what’s flash and new last week is dull and gauche now. You’re obsessed with clothes and the fickle whims of fashion, so much so that you’ve turned to thievery to fund your obsession. But no brutish thug, you. You’re a dandy highway man with swagger and poise. It’s important to look good while you rob from the rich and give to your closet. 

You’ve exhausted the sartorial possibilities of your homeworld (or maybe there’s too much heat from the constabulary). Now you’ve come to Troika to see what the Humpback Sky has to offer in the ways of fashion. 

Possessions

• 2 very Fancy pistolets
• Belt with six plasmic cores
• Flashy clothes, including mask and cloak (+2 to Swagger)
• Face paint
• Mount (horse, ostrich, strider bug, or some similar large beast)

Skills

• 3 Swagger
• 2 Riding
• 2 Pistolet Fighting
• 2 Sneak
• 3 Fashion Sense

Special

Every month, you must spend fully half your income on flashy new clothes. If you do, you gain +2 on all Swagger rolls. If you don’t, you receive -2 on all Luck rolls until you update your wardrobe. 

Last 48 Hours for "Leopard Women of Venus" Kickstarter!

Unrestrained self promotion!

As of this writing, Leopard Women of Venus of Venus has less than 48 hours left in its Kickstarter campaign. It's been a wild ride!

We've hit our first stretch goal, and we'll be able to hire Stefan Poag to do art for the book. That's super exciting!

I'm very much hoping that we'll reach the $4000 dollar mark, so we can bring my friend Anne Hunter (DIY & Dragons) onto the team. Our plan is to have her write a new supernatural patron for book--some kind of powerful super computer connected to the Caverns and the Science Robots. Anne talks at length about her ideas on her last blog post: "I Shall Destroy All Civilized Stretch Goals." A mixture of Futurama and Star Trek? Yes please!

The LWoV Kickstarter runs through November 20.
CHECK IT OUT!