Iconic D&D party, but as Mythras, Part 2

    In my last post, I started the process of making an "iconic" party for Mythras, similar to the ones available in D&D and Pathfinder. In this post, I will finish the process for each of the characters, and give you some rationale on why I went the way I did. I've broken down the points at each stage to make it clear which ones I felt were important.

    A note to Mythras players - D&D characters tend to be much more focused than Mythras characters, and I've opted towards this mindset for the sake of communicating familiarity. I've also opted to deviate from the pregenerated Kara, Anathaym, and Mju as presented in Sariniya's Curse. Your Mythras May Vary and all :)

Kara

In many ways, Kara is the easiest of the characters. She has a cult already in the book (Myceras, p210) and doesn't need a lot of equipment. In this, we lean into the story that Myceras is the god of the herd.

Characteristics

STR 8 CON 10 SIZ 12 DEX 13 INT 13 POW 15 CHA 14

Culture - Conceal 5, Deceit 10, Drive 5, Influence 15, Insight 15, Locale 5, Willpower 10, Courtesy 10, Lore (Herding) 15, Musicianship 10.

Career - Dance 10, Deceit 10, Influence 10, Insight 10, Locale 5, Willpower 10, Devotion (Myceras) 15, Exhort 15, Folk Magic 15

Bonus - Devotion (Myceras) 15, Exhort 15, Folk Magic 15, Endurance 15, Evade 15, Willpower 10, First Aid 15, Perception 15, Sing 10, Lore (Herding) 15, Influence 10

Cult Assumptions

    I defined the advancement requirements for the non-military portion of the order a bit different. This is implied in the text for the cult, but I formalized it into requiring initiates to have 50% in devotion, exhort, Lore (Herding), Insight, Influence. In particular, Lore (Herding) is used to tend to the Sacred Herd of Myceras, and a task that many initiates take on as part of their training. 

    In addition to the folk magic spells Bladesharp, Coordination, and Might which can be taught to lay members, I've given Kara Light (in Myceras' role as a bringer of truth), Vigor (to emulates the endurance of the bull), and Beastcall (Cattle).

    For theism spells, I've chosen the 3 initiate level spells from Myceras - Berserk, Sacred Band, and Shield. Those of you who play a lot of D&D will note a lack of healing spells. Don't discount Sacred Band as an alternative. Mythras also has a slightly different gameplay cycle, and returns to town are fairly expected to recharge your devotional pools. Once Kara becomes an Acolyte and can Consecrate, she will have more freedom to move about.

Equipment

Kara doesn't really use weapons, as Myceras requires initiates to stop martial pursuits. However, she does have a fine suit of AP 3 armor provided to her by the cult. This is a nod to suits of armor generally coming in the starting equipment of new characters in d20 games. In Mythras you would roll on the table, and likely get a partial set. Otherwise, give her standard Mythras equipment.

Anathaym 

A starting member of the Scarlet Spears, Anathaym is pretty simple. The one true complexity here is that she needs some definition in a Brotherhood. We define the first 2 levels here, with an eye towards Anathaym's role in the party and in the world.

Characteristics

STR 15 CON 14 SIZ 12 DEX 13 INT 12 POW 10 CHA 8

Culture - Conceal 10, Deceit 10, Drive 10, Influence 5, Insight 10, Locale 5, Willpower 10. Lore (Geography) 5, Courtesy 10, Streetwise 10. Combat Style (Citizen Legionary - spear, shield, shortsword, sling; Formation Fighting) 15

Career - Athletics 15, Brawn 15, Endurance 15, Evade 10, Unarmed 5; Combat Style (Citizen Legionary) 15, Lore (Military History) 5, Lore (Strategy and Tactics) 15, Survival 5

Bonus - Lore (S&T) 15, Brawn 15, Athletics 15, Evade 15, Endurance 15, Combat Style 15, Lore (Military History) 10, Lore (geography) 5, Willpower 10, Unarmed 10, Insight 10, Folk Magic (bonus skill) 15 (Bladesharp, Coordination)

Cult Assumptions

    There is no definition of the Scarlet Spears. What we will say is that Associates (the equivalent of lay people) are the citizen militia, and are taught the Citizen Legionary combat style. They drill a couple of times a month and work together as a unit and are provided with a shield, spear, and sling. Exceptional Members, or those who dedicate themselves to the defense of the city, are invited become Apprentices.

    Anathaym is one of these Apprentices. As with all of Apprentices of the Scarlet Spears, she receives a full set of AP 4 armor and a shortsword showing her station. She additionally receives training in the Shield Wall trait (Added to her style) as well as the custom trait Shield Rush

Shield Rush - when using your shield to Bash, step up the damage die for the purposes of determining Knockback.

Additional advancement provides additional benefits, of course.

    Anathaym is also a lay person in the cult of Myceras, where her sister is an initiate. She's learned the folk magic spells of Bladesharp, Coordination, and Might

Equipment

As noted above, a good chunk of Anathaym's equipment comes from her membership in the Scarlet Spears. Otherwise, give her standard Mythras equipment.

Mju

Mju requires a bit of work, but he still isn't too bad. In this, we've decided to expand upon the school of Impenetrable Silence, making him a mystic. His Nomadic background is history. I envision his people as wandering tinkerers, not welcome in many places, and having to learn to get by by keeping their heads down. Their wagon-camps are often places well outside of town. For those who show kindness to them, they receive like in return. Those who treat them unkindly are not likely to know what is about to befall them.

Characteristics

STR 14 CON 13 SIZ 8 DEX 15 INT 10 POW 12 CHA 12 Culture - Endurance 10, First Aid 5, Locale 5, Perception 15, Stealth 15, Athletics 10, Drive 5. Navigate 5, Survival 5, Track 10. Combat style (Wagon-rider: Dagger, Staff, Shortbow, Shortsword, Skirmisher) 10 Career - Athletics 5, Endurance 5, Evade 15, Insight 5, Perception 15, Willpower 10; Sleight 15, Meditation 15, Mysticism 15 Bonus - Combat Style (cultural) 15, Conceal 10, Deceit 15, Evade 15, Lockpicking 15, stealth 15, mysticism 15, meditation 15, sleight 15, Willpower 10

Cult Assumptions

The major alteration I made here is that I allowed Sleight to be a career skill for a Mystic. As it is a cultural school, I felt it not overly stretching it to allow him access. Mju gains access to the Student level talents of Augment Perception, Augment Stealth, Invoke Adhesion, and Invoke Dark Sight. His cult has also allowed him to add the trait of Assassination to his Wagon-rider style.

Equipment

Mju needs very little, having been provided a suit of AP2 armor by his cult and a few weapons. Otherwise, as standard Mythras equipment.

Kratos

Kratos requires the most work, because we are essentially inventing everything whole cloth - story, cult, and so on. We've defined a new Cult who has a role to oversee the herd. This is specifically outside of the direct worship of Myceras, but has unique abilities to counter the influence of his serpent demon adversary. I didn't specifically put in a Geas here, but putting in that sort of thing really can add a lot of flavor. D&D's "wizards can't wear armor" would be a fantastic sort of geas, but with Mythras, we can make them quite different. One note in here - I didn't give Kratos as much Invocation as I could have, in part to reflect the story as told before. He's a bit new, but he got to retain his shaping knowledge. You can also see that his history is reflected in his language and lore. This should make him an excellent defender against the dark spawn of Yethis.

Characteristics

STR 10 CON 13 SIZ 12 DEX 12 INT 15 POW 14 CHA 8

• Culture - Conceal 5, Deceit 15, Drive 5, Influence 5, Insight 5, Locale 5, Willpower 15, Courtesy 10, Language (any) 15, Lore (Yethis-spawn) 15, Combat style (cultural) 5

• Career - Deceit 10, Influence 10, Insight 10, Perception 10, Willpower 10, Folk Magic 15, Invocation (Shepherd of Myceras) 15, Shaping 15

• Bonus - Endurance 10, Evade 10, Influence 10, Insight 10, Perception 10, Stealth 15, Willpower 10, Courtesy 15, Invocation 5, Shaping 15, Folk Magic 15, Language (Servants of Yethis) 15, Lore (Yethis-Spawn) 10

Cult Assumptions

    As the Shepherds are a little different from a Medical order, we'll alter the skill list a bit. I give it 3 professional skills (2 of which are casting) and 2 standard skills - Lore (Yethis-spawn), willpower, invocation, shaping, perception.

    And while Myceras removed his knowledge of Yethis's dark sorcery, he still retains his knowledge of darker folk magics. Not as corrupting by any means, and should allow him to take a more active, aggressive role in stamping out evils. He gains Witchsight, Knock, Disruption, Darkness, Phantasm, and Repair.

    For sorcery, the runes highlighted on the floor of the temple teach him the spells Regenerate, Repulse (Serpents), and Palsy. Of note, I (as GM) decide that palsy also removes pain from the affected limb, which makes it useful in easing the suffering of those with traumatic injuries.

Equipment

Kratos gets standard equipment for a Freeman. While he could wear armor (unlike a D&D wizard), he chooses to leave his chest and back bare, displaying the mark of his station.

Iconic D&D party, but as Mythras, Part 1

When converting characters from another system, it can be useful to see some examples to help to see examples. In this case, we are going to try and make an “iconic” D&D party - a fighter, a rogue, a magic user, and a cleric - but using (almost) only the Mythras core rule book. Of course, they are going to look a little different, but I've made an effort to bring in some touchpoints that should look familiar.

Baseline assumptions

Characteristics

We know that the characteristics can’t be exactly the same, as Mythras has 7 characteristics and D&D has 6 ability scores. So, we are going to take the standard array in 5e (15/14/13/12/10/8), get an average, and make a standard array for human Mythras characters. This gives us an array of 15/14/13/12/12/10/8. This also abides by the Mythras rule of SIZ and INT cannot be less than 8.

Those of you who play Mythras will see that this is a pretty high point value - 84. Since we are emulating D&D, a high fantasy game, this shouldn’t be too far off. It won’t allow for any more than a d2 damage modifier, nor the highest end of hit points. Neither does the standard array in D&D, so this seems like a good starting point.

Characters

Any culture is available, but since we are doing an Iconic set, and trying to match a D&D set of Iconics, we are going to assume the characters are some of the ones presented in the Mythras core rule book and in the adventure Sariniya’s Curse. We have on our roster

• Anathaym, our trusty fighter. A Civilized Warrior if ever there was one. For her, we are going to have to invent a bit of a brotherhood, and make her an lay person in the cult of Myceras for a little folk magic.

• Kara, Civilized priest (initiate level) of Myceras. In later adventures she’s presented as a full priestess, but we will assume she is still new for this. We'll end up using most of the Cult of Myceras in the cult section for her, with some small tweaks to get some of the flavor we'd like.

• Mju, a nomad mystic. He is described as such in Suriniya's Curse (he has meditation and mysticism). We're going to use the School of Impenetrable Silence, a framework for a cult found on p211. He gets a small tweak to his Mysticism school teaching Sleight.

But there is no wizard. So what do we do? Well, everyone loves a redemption arc.

After being captured by Anathaym, Kara, and Mju, Kratos was dragged before the council of Meeros and sentenced to death. Anathaym made an impassioned plea, and with the help of her sister and the example she had set with Mju, clemency was granted - he would be allowed the choice of Rebirth. It was not without risk. The Rebirth ritual asked for had not been performed in a thousand years. The High Priestess of Myceras, Ludovica, warned them, but their minds were set.

Kratos was taken to the temple and stripped naked before the statue of Myceras that had so recently come to life. Initiates danced around home, chanting for him to return to the herd, to give up the serpent that had corrupted him, sponging his haggard form with milk from the Sacred Aurochs the temple kept. Ludovica read aloud, her voice reverberating through the halls, from an ancient scroll so old it could be smelt at 20 paces. A crowd of the faithful gathered, joining the initiates in their chant, braying and grunting and stomping and dropping to all fours in ecstatic fervor for the Bull God.

Ludovica raised her arms wide and everything fell silent. The initiates dropped to the floor, the sweat from their bodies mingling with the milk running from Kratos’ body. She cried, “who will take this calf as their own? Who will nurture it and feed it from their Udder? Who will bear the burden of the stray and teach it our ways?” The crowd grunted and clamored and mingled, waiting to see who would step forth.

“I will!” cried Kara. “I will succor this lost calf and give unto it my Milk! I will teach it the way so that it may love the earth and roam free again!” With this, she took a curious waterskin, larger than a human’s head with multiple spouts coming from it, and brought it forth to the naked Kratos.

“You must drink, my calf, or you will die. You must suckle to live!”

Looking at her warily and wearily, Kratos reached for the skin and drank. When it touched his lips it burned, but when he swallowed, he fell in pain, screaming. High Priestess Ludovica began chanting furiously and the initiates resumed dancing frenetically. Kara stepped back and joined the chant, over and over proclaiming “This is my calf! This is my calf! It has suckled from my Udder! You cannot have him!” A battle against the serpent demon-god that had poisoned him.

The milk on Kratos’s writhing body began to shine white, but also something inside him, tracing his veins, began to glow a sickly green and throb. The milk bubbled as if boiling and expanded around him, eventually encompassing him completely so none could see all of his form, only a hand or a foot pressing against a thick membrane, a milky caul.

Kara finally screamed, a scream like a woman in childbirth, and dropped to the floor in exhaustion and pain. In unison, the initiates dropped as well and raised their hands, all kneeling around the caul in a near perfect circle. Into the imperfection stepped Ludovica, her hands grasping at the caul. As she tore it, befouled milk gushed forth from it, spilling across the tiles. And where the milk touched, a rune appeared, each one being traced by a rivulet.

A gasp rushed across the crowd and a single word could be heard in the murmur of amazement. “Shepard!” “A shepard!”. On Kratos’ form, blazoned across his back, the head and horns of a bull extend from shoulder to shoulder. 

An old woman, hunched over and using a cane, comes forward and grasps at Kratos, cradling him. He looks up at her, bewilderment in his eyes, “Mother?”

“All is forgiven, my son,” she responds. “The bull on your shoulders will help you carry the heavy burden you now must bear.”

Here we have given Kratos a new way, and introduced a Myceras-blessed form of sorcery. Over the course of the story, Kratos gains redemption. His knowledge of the dark sorceries he learned are purged from him, but leave him with white sorceries. His bull-scar is evidence of something more - perhaps a geas, perhaps something else, that helps to keep him on the straight and narrow. With this, we now have Kratos as a Civilized Sorcerer. We will give him a modified version of the Medical Order framework, presented on p212. Notably, he will have some different skills, as befitting his role as a Watcher of the Herd, and give him Repulse (Serpents) as an alternative to Repulse (Vermin). It keeps with his theme and ties it to the mythology of Myceras a bit.

In the next post, I'll show the build out of these characters.