GLoG Class: the Godchild

    (Note: this is an expansion on notes by our beloved Deus. The formatting, idea, and much of the text is theirs. Other ideas were contributed to them by the likes of Vayra, Xenophon of Athens, purplecthulhu, and rtx.)

    ONCE upon a time, there lived a man who had a son—a lazy, stupid boy who would never do anything he was told... 

    ONCE upon a time, there lived a King and Queen whose children had all died, until only one little daughter remained...

    ONCE upon a time, there was a peasant whose wife died, leaving him with two children— twins— a boy and a girl...

    ONCE upon a time, at the town of Senna on the banks of the Zambesi, was born a child. He was not like other children, for over his shoulder he carried a big sack, and in his hand an iron hammer. He could also speak like a grown man, but he was usually very silent...

    ONCE upon a time, what happened did happen, and if it had not happened this story would never have been told...

Class: Godchild

    You are a normal person in every way, Your godparent, however, is something weird. After being turned out of your home (or orphaned) you have taken to the road.
    A godchild can use light armor and shields and never fumbles while using bows, slings, clubs, hatchets, knives, named swords or anything you took off the body of a dead giant.

    Your godparent will offer you the best advantages they can, though beyond that you will have to manage as best you can.

Kens (d3): 1. Shepherding 2. War 3. Ingratiating yourself to authority. 

Starting Items: sturdy traveling clothes, three days of food in a sack, a hatchet, and one Thing to Remember Your Parents by.

• A: Godparent
• B+: go find a real job

Godparent
    Your parents, desperately poor, selected a godparent who seemed to offer you the most potential for advancement. Roll on the following table to determine your godparent, and then roll on their subtable at every level:

1. The Moon
   Beautiful, friend to nightingales. Her gifts recharge at dusk.
   
   1. Summon a +1 shield of perfectly reflective silver to hand with a word.
   2. Learn the language of the songbirds; they will be your everlasting friends.
   3. Conjure a glowing silver javelin dealing 3d6 damage and pinning its target to the ground.
   4. Sing with the voice of an angel (creatures of your choice must Save vs Charm).

   

   Benedick Bana

2. The Sun
   Handsome, friend to eagles. His gifts recharge at dawn
   
   1. Clap your hands and glow with six seconds of sunlight.
      
   2. A great raptor delivers a gold-buff-coat. Anyone who wears it is recognized as an honorary deva in the war against Evil. Tell one person you are here to vindicate them and they'll believe you (no save.)
      
   3. Once, borrow your godfather's chariot to transport yourself, your twenty closest friends, and a caravan of supplies to any point on Earth. You won't get a second chance until you do the Sun a major favor.
   4. Call out to your godfather and small fires will fall down onto any place you request, for up to an hour.
   
   
3. The Rain
   Tired, and the oldest of any on this list. Its powers are constant. In normal climates, it has a 1-in-4 chance of raining in a hex that contains you, +1 for each template past the first.
   
   1. Simple cap. Wearing it backwards summons a terrible storm.
   2. Water always runs towards whatever you're looking for.
   3. Water seals and numbs your wounds. Also, your gear works perfectly in the damp.
   4. A small vial of replenishing water. Tastes like honey and petrichor, and heals 1 HP, but not more than once per set of injuries.

   

   宋 跃然

4. The Ocean
   Flashing eyes, sudden rages. She has an uneven soul. Her powers are inconstant, recharging on a 2-in-6 chance every time you sleep.
   
   1. +1 Orichalcum trident. Discharge its power to double the weight of a foe's armor and weapons upon a failed hit.
   2. Call an allied creature from the deep that will burst in 1d6 hours due to pressure: (1d4) 1. whale, 2. anglerfish, 3. giant man-o-war, 4. giant squid.
   3. Shout a message into any body of water and the next time your intended recipient is by water, they will hear you and be able to dictate a reply.
   4. Algae-coated chest containing 750 doubloons and jewelry worth 250 gold. This is booty freshly freed from one of the many bloody wars fought under the waves. (Does not provide XP in systems where that would be a concern.)
   
   
5. The Winter
   He laughs but his sense of humor is cruel. Each gift is imparted with a cold touch.
   1. You freeze solid, and no longer require heat or water. Touching you is painful (+1 damage for unarmed attacks), and bodies of water freeze before you can sink into them.
   2. By scowling at a tomb or building, you chill its halls. After an hour of staring, it becomes unbearably cold inside without precautions.
   3. Box of matchsticks. People and surroundings are distorted by the match-light, made to resemble something comforting to the viewer. Once you run out of matches, your godfather will replace the box— he's got like a hundred.
   4. Your heart is cold and cruel. Make an Offhand Remark to someone to cause them to despise you and 1d4-1 other people of your choice. Lasts until your next Offhand Remark.
   
   
6. The Devil
   Very busy these days. Each gift comes with a case of cigars as lagniappe. Beware! Lost gifts are never replaced.
   1. Velvet coin-purse. Contains an endless amount of red-gold coins. If anyone learns where they came from, every coin will turn to ash and the bag will melt to nothingness.
   2. Your godfather takes time out of his schedule to teach you how to summon hellfire with a whistle, (1d6 damage, spreads quickly,) but only if you promise never to extinguish a fire again. He'll hold you to it.
   3. A soul. They must obey your commands six days a week but can only briefly turn corporeal. They are one of the victims of a previous deal with the devil, innocent and plucky.
   4. Fraying burlap sack, just big enough to fit a squirming adult inside. Anything within cannot escape.

   

   Jakub Ruzalski
   

7. A Witch
   Just a local one.
   1. Your godmother has taught you a curse. When you glare at someone with the evil eye they get -1 to everything, forever. It doesn't stack. She didn't teach you how to break it.
      
   2. You get a pair of golden scissors, styled after bird wings. If you snip the scissors while looking at someone, they get nasty cuts.
   3. You get a small whistle. If you blow it, then your Godmother's familiar will creep out of the nearest dark corner, to answer one question or give one piece of advice in her voice. She won't like it if you do this too much...
   4. In a terrifying dream, you are shown the route to a bacchic castle in the borders of Imagination and Hell. You and those you guide can slip between this place and the waking world, but it is dangerous to spend more than a few hours here and you can only return to where you started.
   
   
8. Death
   No one ever asked him to be a godfather before.
   1. Glass goblet. When you look at a dying person through the goblet, you can see Death at their head (meaning that they are doomed) or at their feet (meaning they will live). Mechanically, roll to stabilize them immediately with a +2 bonus. Succeed or fail, their fate is set.
   2. Death shows up, buzzed and bumbling, and asks you to name anyone who is currently dead. He will gift you the skull of this historical figure, who will answer any questions you have on your journeys.
   3. As long as you are underground, you can speak with the deceased.
   4. Gilded misericorde. Anyone stabbed with it dies, but only while it is still in them. After it is removed, any damage dealt since it was inserted is undone.

   

   "The Frogs", Broadway 2004
   

9. King of Lions
   Proud and warlike. His gifts recharge when you have a meat-based meal.
   1. Skin of a lion who sought to depose your godfather. Negates the first five slashes and cuts it receives before needing to be recharged.
   2. Day spent hunting with your uncle the king. Return with a belly full of meat, a chin dripping with blood, and invisibility while in undergrowth, as long as you move no faster than a crawl.
   3. Charm foes you've bested in physical challenge. Lasts until they see you in an embarrassing situation.
   4. Necklace with witch teeth, claimed from your godfather's foe. When you receive a permanent injury or dismemberment, turns it into merely an impressive scar. Works once before needing to be recharged.
   
   
10. Queen of Bees
    Warlike and proud. Her gifts recharge when you have a plant- or sugar-based meal.
    1. Command a group of unnamed folk with irresistible presumption. "Unnamed" means anyone the GM has not named by the time you command them. 
    2. Retainer, a squire named Allan(druzzizm). He was once a bee knight, now made human to serve you. Loyal, but has no understanding of the humanoid world. Quixotic. Stats as a warrior of your Godchild level.
    3. Orb of wax, 2", that contains a bee princess. She can create a discrete hive in the course of an hour and relay you information on what happens in the area. A new princess enters the wax orb when your gifts recharge.
    4. Claim dominion over a small area (about three large rooms, or an acre of undeveloped land.) Mortals and beasts will recognize the area as yours until you next use this ability.
    
    
11. Father of the Forest
    The oldest, tallest tree. Gifts are constant, never flashy.
    1. Hard, sticky mark on the back of your hand. Entitles you to travel unmolested by animals, or by creatures who fear your godfather. As persuasive as a permission slip.
    2. Yew branch, offered by one of your godfather's closest friends. Its sharpened point ignores manufactured armor. Its reassuring bend eases long hikes.
    3. Walk with the unbothered air of a hermit. Your journeys never seem to take any longer than would be predicted, no matter the misfortunes you encounter.
    4. Detritivores become your best friend, as they are to any tree. They have learned some of your language, can devour an organic item in ten minutes, and know where all the bodies are buried. It's a good bet they're around at any given time.
    
    
12. Bored Fairy
    This seemed like an interesting diversion for a century or two — how long do humans live, exactly?
    1. A tin of three old biscuits. If someone accepts one offered as a gift, they will grant your their most prized possession.
    2. Call out to your godmother, and she'll turn an animal you've been taking care of for at least a day into a humanoid, (deeply confusing it.)
    3. One of many shards from an ancient mirror. When looking through it, you see past any illusions, including friendship and honor.
    4. A lead on an desirable bachelor(ette) and a scheme to win their hand. If you are already in a relationship, the gift is instead an infant, with the ability to see the true nature of things.

    

    Marc Simonetti
    

13. Old Dragon
    Godchildren are, perhaps, another form of treasure. After you grow to self-sufficiency, its love must be bought. More smoke than fire
    1. 1d4+1 goldbugs, friendly to you and all who share your blood. "To guard your hoard."
    2. A cadet branch of its cult, including 1d6 champions, 2d6 priests, and 4d10 followers. Deluded, vain, more trouble than they're worth, but will follow orders as long as they think your godparent will punish them otherwise.
    3. Exquisite pheasant-tail headdress that twitches in the presence of magic. If you sleep on a magic item while wearing the headdress, learn the item's primary function.
    4. SMALL UNAPPEALING THING, the gaudy sword of an old "dragonslayer." Cuts holes through fire big enough to lead a cart through.

Things to Remember Your Parents By

1. Belt made from ten feet of old rope
2. Cameo, your father's wedding gift
3. Ashes of your stillborn elder sister
4. Collection of old devotionals
5. Book of fairy tales with the best pages torn out
6. Scabbard for the lost family sword
7. Deed to grandpa's old farm, precise location unknown
8. Scar on your arm where the wolves nicked you
9. Comb with oxidated silver embellishments
10. Tea pot, perfectly preserved
11. Old family motto that people in power all seem to know
12. Memories of a lullaby
13. Set of rules, as bizarrely specific as they are applicable to your current situation
14. Old red key. Each truly important lock it is tried in has a 1-in-3 chance of being its mate
15. Journal, half-filled with ciphered text
16. Head of a parent's spear, haftless
17. Origami bird
18. Flimsy wand. You haven't figured out how to use it
19. Sling and ten bits of rubble for slingstones
20. Scrollcase, locked, and a key you are pathologically unable to insert into the lock.