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d20: The Sexcraft Witch

She’s really just a d20 version of the Priestess of Talia from Enemy Gods and Houses of the Blooded, but reading through

[info]dungeon_grrrl

‘s journal made me think of it.

She probably needs a whole lot of tweaking and, more than likely, she doesn’t interract with the d20 system in the kind of way I’d like. I’d need some experts to help me with that. (Yes, if you qualify, please provide feedback.)

Here she is. A Prestige Class.

Almost every noble has visited the Temple of Talia. Those who deny it are liars. Despite what clerics of the other faiths may say, the Temple of the Sacred Harlot is not just a brothel. The priestesses are more than just prostitutes. They are educated women, sophisticated and cunning. Serving as advisors and companions to kings, their order has prospered.

But it was not always so. Years ago, the Temples of Talia faced near extinction when the fanatical followers of V’nesh sought to bring down the order. The Temple’s political ties were strained to breaking. A holy war. A moral war. Temples to Talia were pulled down brick-by-brick, her priestesses hung or burned at the stake. Finally, the High Priestess herself–the Priestess of the White Rose–appeared before the great and mighty King Stafford. He listened to the masked woman’s plea with an implacable glare. Then, in the middle of his court, she performed the ultimate heresy… she removed her mask and begged the King for assistance. The King’s stoic eye was said to cast a single tear.

In two month’s time, every Temple of V’nesh was nothing but rubble and ruin.

Since then, the Temples of Talia have prospered, but the priestesses still find enemies wherever they go. To the uneducated people, they are still just witches who sell their bodies for money and political power. “Sexcraft witch,” is the common slang, but only ever spoken in whispers. It is said a witch can beguile a man with a touch, make him betray his most trusted friend with a kiss and kill a man with a harsh glance. 

And in her bedchamber? She can steal his soul.

_____

Hit Die Type: d4
To qualify to become an sexcraft witch, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Alignment: Any nonlawful.

Skills: Bluff 7 ranks, Craft (Sex) 7 ranks, Diplomacy 7 ranks, Escape Artist 7 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks.

Spells: Ability to cast at least one divine spell of 3rd level or higher.

Special: Sneak attack +2d6.

The sexcraft witch’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Use Magic Device (Int), and Use Rope (Dex).

Level    BAB    Fort    Ref    Will   Special                             Spells per Day
1            +0        +0    +2    +2        Seduction, Sexcraft,       +1 per level of existing class
                                                         Enchantment Bonus   
2            +1        +0    +3    +3        Sneak Attack +d6            +1 per level of existing class
3            +1        +1    +3    +3        Caress of the Red Rose    +1 per level of existing class
4            +2        +1    +4    +4        Sneak Attack +d6            +1 per level of existing class
5            +2        +1    +4    +4        The Cruel Kiss                +1 per level of existing class
6            +3        +2    +5    +5        Sneak Attack +d6            +1 per level of existing class
7            +3        +2    +5    +5        Dance of the Sacred Harlot    +1 per level of existing class
8            +4        +2    +6    +6        Sneak Attack +d6           +1 per level of existing class
9            +4        +3    +6    +6        The Black Kiss                +1 per level of existing class
10            +5      +3    +7    +7        Sneak Attack +d6            +1 per level of existing class

Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the sexcraft witch prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sexcraft witches gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Enchantment: The sexcraft witch adds her own Will Save to the difficulty class of any enchantment spells that require the target make a Will Save.

Sneak Attack: This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. The extra damage dealt increases by +1d6 every other level (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th). If a sexcraft witch gets a sneak attack bonus from another source the bonuses on damage stack. In addition, the sexcraft witch may make a sneak attack during sexual encounters as if she had her target by surprise.

Spells per Day: When a new sexcraft witch level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an sexcraft witch, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Seduction: The alluring power of a witch is almost too great for any man (or woman) to withstand. After any dialogue with a target, she may make a Bluff or Diplomacy check against TN 15. If successful, the target must make a Will Save against the witch’s Seduction roll. If the target fails, he is charmed and will be so until sunrise the following morning.

Sexcraft: At first level, the sexcraft witch gains this dangerous ability. Any individual she beds must make a Will Save against the witch’s Craft (Sex) as Seduction above. If the witch is successful, the target is considered under a special kind of compulsion. The compulsion cannot be broken under normal means. The subject will follow commands as per usual, but the effect will not break until he sleeps with another character with the Craft (Sex) skill. The second character must roll equal to or higher than the original roll to break the compulsion. No other magical or mundane cures will break it unless the witch breaks it herself by making an improper command.

Caress of the Red Rose: At 3rd level, the sexcraft witch gains the ability to heal with her touch. The Caress of the Red Rose requires a willing touch from her target. She must make a Craft (Sex) roll at difficulty 15. If successful, she may bestow any or all of the following effects: heal serious wounds, aid, and restoration, lesser. She may only perform this effect once per night for one target.

The Cruel Kiss: At 5th level, the sexcraft witch gains the ability to turn pleasure into pain. The Cruel Kiss requires a touch attack. If successful, she may cause energy drain, forcing the target to lose one level. If she maintains the grip, she may continue to cause energy drain. The Cruel Kiss does not break the compulsion caused by the sexcraft ability. The target is so enraptured by the witch’s skills, he cannot break free.

Dance of the Sacred Harlot: At 7th level, the sexcraft witch gains the ability to give benefit to more than one target. She may bestow the same benefits from the caress of the red rose to a number of targets equal to half her level, rounded down.

The Black Kiss: This most deadly affect is reserved only for those who have truly offended the witch. To use this effect, the target must have harmed her (caused hit point loss) or the priestess must have slept with the target. By blooding her lips, pointing at the target and uttering his name, the target must immediately make a Fort Save against a death effect. The DC is the 10 + the sexcraft witch’s level + Will Save. Even if he survives, he immediately suffers the effects of a harm spell, regardless of his save. The Black Kiss may only be used once per day.

 
(PS: Open Content Identifier: Anything that offends you is Open Content.)

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End of Romance

It has been a long time coming, but I believe I’ve lost my affection for fantastic literature. Beaten within an inch of its life by mediocrity, it lies bleeding in the ditch, and no medicine nor healing potion can save it.

William Gibson once lamented that he (and Bruce Sterling) were the only men still writing science fiction. (This was before the arrival of Stephenson, I think.) Everyone else was just writing fantasy. Sometimes, I feel that nobody is writing fantasy anymore; they’re just writing junk juvenalia.

This may come from the fact that my bookshelf contains less fantasy and more non-fiction these days. The book currently grabbing my attention is Christopher Hitchens’ Letters to a Young Contrarian. Having just finished god is not Great (capitlization intentional), I feel something in Hitchens’ writing that I’ve missed in fantasy for many years. A sense of kinship.

Alan Moore said the purpose of Art is to remind ourselves that we are not alone. Not alone in our fears, not alone in our hopes, not alone in our desires. Someone else out there feels as we do. Thinks as we do. Hopes as we do. In Moore’s work, I feel this. Feel him reach through the page with his fingers–heavily adorned with symbol and metaphor–and touch my cheek. “I know,” he says. “I know.”

I feel that in Hitchens’ wriitng. I feel it in Chuck Palahniuk’s writing, in Alice Hoffman’s writing, in Richard Dawkins’ wiritng. I don’t feel that in fantasy anymore.

I felt it when I read Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books. I felt it when I read Sandman. I felt it when I read Tanith Lee’s Silver Metal Lover… which brings me to a tangent.

When I was younger, I was infatuated with the works of H.P. Lovecraft. I was enchanted. Lovecraft represented everything I loved about fantasy. I read fantasy because I loved the idea of building a world. An authentic history, authentic culture, authentic world. Making people believe in something that didn’t exist. Maybe it wasn’t even that. Maybe it was just showing off how clever I was that I could come up with ideas that nobody else had come up with. A kind of intellectual masturbation. It wasn’t until [info]noltain introduced me to that book I began to move beyond my juvenile infatuation with Lovecraft. That’s something I’ve never said “Thank you,” for.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

It was when we started working on Legend of the Five Rings that Matt Wilson and I started talking about a storyline that would mean something. A story that would reach through the cards and touch the players. Something that would say, “You are not alone.”

That was my goal. To tell a story that wasn’t just about katana and ninjas and “gamer kewl.” A story that said something about courage, about honor, and about sacrifice. About human beings who were thrown into a circumstance they didn’t fully understand. About the fall of pride and the healing power of compassion. I fought for ideas and events others didn’t want because the choices compromised the character’s kewl. (Sorry for using that twice in one paragraph.)

Many people involved were swept up in the notion that their favorite character must always make the right decision. Mary Sue popping her pretty little head into the equation. My favorite character can’t stumble, can’t stutter, can’t make any mistakes. And this is what I find in fantasy literature. A whole genre dedicated to Mary Sue.

There’s a few hundred words about this in Houses of the Blooded: words on tragedy. That your character is doomed to fail. You have a weakness as a mechanic. And every Aspect has a tag and a compel. Every ven hero is a deeply flawed character. It is impossible to make a Mary Sue in HotB. You just have too much working against you. As much as Shara looks like she’s got it all together, nothing could be further from the truth: as readers will discover soon enough when The Great and Tragic Life of Shara Yvarai is finally translated and published.

It isn’t a story of accomplishment or heroics or “the perfect woman.” It’s a story about pride and arrogance and the kind of blindness those things bring. And about the fall. It’s about desire and hope and how fragile we really are. About Revenge and the price it demands. A price we think we are willing to pay.

I like the line from Amadeus: “Characters so noble, they crap marble.” That’s what reading fantasy is like for me these days. Characters so two dimensional, they can slide through the plot without ever touching it. Like watching the Star Wars sequels: pretty, flashing lights to distract me from the fact that nothing’s really happening.

Give me a fantasy novel that isn’t about how cool the characters are. Give me a story about pain. About decisions. About consequences. Something that isn’t in love with its own language. Something that doesn’t feel compelled to convince me how well-mapped the world is every other paragraph. 

Something that bleeds. Something that suffers. Something about people.

Something that reaches through the page and touches my cheek, softly whispering, “You are not alone.”

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Catholics Lose, Unaffiliated Win

WASHINGTON — More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, according to a new survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The report shows, for example, that every religion is losing and gaining members, but that the Roman Catholic Church “has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes.” The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. More than 16 percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth largest “religious group.” 

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I Was Right…

When it first came out, I reported that I enjoyed I am Legend except for the change in the climax. I suspected the producers changed the ending to give it a more hopeful feel, thus betraying the entire point of the book.

Regarding the future DVD release of I Am Legend…

The movie will be released on DVD in two editions: a one-disc release, including the movie with four animated comics (“Death As a Gift”, “Isolation”, “Sacrificing the Few for the Many”, and “Shelter”), and other DVD-ROM features; a two-disc special edition that will include all these extras, plus an alternative theatrical version of the movie with a new controversial ending. 

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HotB: Sidebar: Who is the Protagonist?

 

I recently came across an observation about the roles of protagonist and antagonist in a story. The concept that the protagonist of a story is the one who changes and the antagonist is the instrument of that change. For example, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, we know that Huck is the protagonist, but it could be argued that Jim is the antagonist. Jim challenges Huck’s assumptions in the world, instigating a vital change in his character.

Likewise, in the film The Shawshank Redemption, one can argue that Red (the character played by Morgan Freeman) is the protagonist—he is the narrator of the story and the viewpoint character—while Andy Dufresne (the character played by Tim Robbins) is the antagonist. Andy is the instigator in the transformation in Red’s character. Red begins the story without hope. A broken man. By the end, his transformation could not have occurred without Andy.

Likewise, in Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago serves as the antagonist—this time a deadly one—but his hatred for the Moor is not what defines him as such. Instead, it is the fact that he does not change but inspires change in Othello himself that defines Iago as the antagonist.

Like most observations about literature, I do not mean to say this is an absolute truth in every story—it most certainly is not—but it helped me refine the roles of my own antagonists in stories. I hope it helps you do the same.