Evangelist (Hackmaster)

Evangelist
The evangelist serves a not-quite deity; some creature with vast power, but not quite enough to reach the status of one of the greater deities of Tellene. Some of these quasi-deities may be demons, others angels or ancient spirits that have passed from mere myth to veneration. Some of these powers are servants of the gods themselves; saints on the verge of apotheosis. As mere quasi-deities, these beings lack the ability to empower a cleric in the traditional sense. Known collectively as Patrons, they maintain enough power to grant some few individuals semi-clerical powers. These demi-clerics are known as Evangelists, though others may call them witches or warlocks, especially if they are evil or chaotic in nature.
    The ultimate goal of an Evangelist is to increase the worship of their Patron. Some use persuasion, but many perform great deeds in Their name, showing what their Patron is capable of achieving. The power of an Evangelist is limited compared to that of a cleric, but the relative weakness of their Patron, and the current fluidity of their Patron’s dogma, gives them comparatively more freedom. Powerful Evangelists can help shape the resulting church for decades, if not centuries, to come.

The Patron
    The identity of the Patron is central to the design of any given Evangelist; not only must their alignment be a close match, but dedication to Lakon the Leper, saint to the Halls of the Valiant, the Order of the Pike, and the Rotlord, is different than dedication to Sulat Ku'tak, saint of The Landlord. In designing an Evangelist, the GM should be involved, guiding the player to make choices appropriate to their Patron. Your demon lord patron is unlikely to be pleased with a plethora of healing spells!

Evangelist Magic
    At each level, the Evangelist chooses a single spell, clerical or mage, of any level up to their own, The level of a cleric spell is considered to be the first level it is available to any clerical class. Mage spells are always considered two levels higher (so a 1st level Evangelist may select any 1st level cleric spell, or any Apprentice-level Mage spell), even if they are available to a priest class (for example, the Cathedral of Light has the 5th level Mage spell “Entrancing Lightshow” available at 5th level; an Evangelist could not select this spell until 7th level). The Evangelist also gains bonus spells known based on their Wisdom. At 13 Wisdom, they gain one additional 1st level spell. Each additional point of Wisdom provides a bonus spell to one additional spell level; so a 14 Wisdom provides a bonus 2nd level spell (when the Evangelist reaches 2nd level, naturally), a 15 Wisdom a bonus 3rd level spell, on up to a 20 Wisdom providing a bonus 8th level spell. The Evangelist may choose to access these bonus spells earlier (a 20 Wisdom Evangelist might choose to have 9 spells known at level level 1), but once chosen, spells may not be changed; they will lose access to those higher level bonus spells. The patron (as played by the GM) may veto any choice the character may make, though the choice should fall to the Evangelist, rather than be dictated by the Game Master.
    Evangelists may change spells only rarely. When a new spell is selected upon gaining a level, the Evangelist may choose to replace a lower-level spell with a similar effect. For example, a newly 5th level evangelist who selects "Blessing" may choose to replace the 2nd level spell "Bless" with "Purify Food". The new spell should be of the same level as the old effect; the Evangelist cannot replace Bless, a 2nd level spell, with Divine Providence, a 5th level effect. Likewise, an Evangelist may replace a spell whenever they anoint a new follower of their deity; this replacement can be of any level up to the Evangelist's own. Note that this is a "new" follower; you cannot anoint the same person each time you wish to change spells.
    Evangelists do gain a few, necessary, bonus spells. At 1st level, they have Ceremony: Consecrate Divine Icon, which they may cast without a Divine Icon, if necessary (though this inflicts a 1 point wound). At fifth level, they gain Ceremony: Anoint, and at tenth level, they gain Ceremony: Investiture, allowing them to create additional Evangelists from Anointed followers. Evangelists may not select these spells any earlier.
Evangelists do not prepare spells as traditional clerics, nor utilize spell points like a mage. Rather, they accumulate “Favor Tokens” from their Patron, which are used to create magical effects. Each day, the Evangelist acquires one Favor Token, which may be saved from day to day, to a maximum of one per level, plus a number of additional tokens equal to the Starting Honor Modifier based on Charisma (with a minimum of one per level; an Evangelist with a low charisma will never have fewer maximum Favor tokens than their level). So, an Evangelist with a 14 Charisma will have a maximum of 3 Favor Tokens at level 1, and 6 Favor Tokens at level 4. As an Evangelist increases in level, they gain additional favor tokens per day; 2 per day at level 6, 3 per day at level 11, and 4 per day at level 16.
When an Evangelist wishes to cast a spell, of any level, they must expend a single Favor Token. The spell is cast as any cleric spell would be. Mage spells cast in this manner are always cast at their base level of ability; they cannot be enhanced with spell points, even if the Evangelist has a store of them.
    Clearly, this leads to Evangelists having immense abilities; a 20th level Evangelist may be able to cast twenty or more twentieth level spells in a day. However, the next day, they would be limited to a single spell, as they regain only a single Favor Token each day. Likewise, they have few spells to choose from; while a Cleric might prepare healing spells one day and information spells the next, and have a number of healing spells of several levels, an Evangelist who chooses many healing spells will have few other abilities.

Proficiencies
    Evangelists begin with one free weapon proficiency of their choice, and may choose to be proficient in Light Armor. Proficiency in Medium Armor requires only 1 BP, Heavy 2 BP beyond that, and Shields requires 3 BP (so proficiency in all armor and shields will require 6 BP).

Weapon Specialization
    Evangelists may become specialized in any weapon for 8 BPs for each initial purchase of attack, speed, defense, and damage. They may choose Weapon Talents related to their one free weapon proficiency at half cost.

Skills
    Evangelists begin with a single purchase of Divine Lore, and may purchase additional mastery dice of Divine Lore at half price. They do not gain additional mastery of Divine Lore as they level, nor do they have a bonus to mastery of purchased rolls.
They begin with a single purchase of Oration, Persuasion, and Recruiting; additional purchases of Persuasion and Recruiting are only 2 BP. Purchases of Leadership are only 5 BP each. They also begin with a single purchase of Blacksmithing, Carpentry/Woodworking, or Craft, as necessary to create their Divine Icon. They must begin with at least Average mastery in this skill; if their free purchase is not enough to reach Average mastery, they must purchase additional mastery dice until they do.
    Additionally, Evangelists gain one free mastery die in Religion (their own religion), and +5 Mastery at each level. Additional mastery dice in Religion (any) cost only 1 BP, and purchases of their own religion gain +1 per additional religion with which they have Average or better Mastery (so, an Evangelist who has Average Mastery in 6 other religions would gain +6 on Mastery Dice in their own religion whenever they make a purchase). In many ways, Evangelists are writing the dogma of their new religion as they go; knowing the ways of other religions not only makes them more effective in converting those of other faiths, but also helps to define what worship of their deity will look like.

Divine Icons
    Like clerics, Evangelists begin with a Divine Icon, but they created this one themselves. As they often lack a formal church to provide additional divine icons at need, they must create their own, or the ones to be given to other adherents of their faith.

Alignment
    Evangelists must begin with, and maintain, an alignment within one step of their patron. However, if their alignment does not match their patron, they have a -2 penalty to Honor calculations for “Adherence to Class”, so an otherwise exemplary Evangelist will have only an 8 in their honor calculation, instead of 10, in that category, and thus gain 3, instead of 4 Honor. A fair Evangelist would lose 1 Honor after the calculation, rather gain 1.

The Path to Conversion
    Convincing someone to become anointed to a deity, especially a new and unknown deity, is not a simple task. It requires the character (most often a Cleric or Evangelist of the deity in question; they will be called “clerics”, but could equally be motivated lay people or evangelists) to first gain the trust of the individual, bringing them to an understanding of the deity, and then convince them to become dedicated to the deity. This takes place as a series of Social Conflict encounters, and the process may take days, weeks, or months.
    The first step is improving the target’s reaction to the cleric; the reaction may be no less than “+3 to +7” as defined in the GMG on page 67, and higher will be better. If the cleric does not acquire at least this level of trust, then they may need to use Oration or Seduction to increase the reaction. Each Seduction or Oration check requires a week of work; either daily personal contact (for seduction), or haranguing the crowds (for Oration), and the cleric may only make one of each check per week; they can Orate at the crowds all day, and spend their evenings targeting a specific person. If both are attempted on the same target (i.e. someone who listens to the speeches and receives the personal attention) will use the better of the two, provided the other is not an abject failure (failure by more than 10%).
    The next step is to teach them the basic tenets of the faith. While convincing them to invest in the Religion skill for their church is ideal, this can instead be accomplished with a series of Diplomacy, Persuasion, or Salesmanship checks. These checks are Average if the alignment of the deity in question matches the target, difficult if they match at least one element of alignment (teaching a LG character about a LE religion, for example), and very difficult if they do not match at all. Rather than standard social conflict rules, each successful Persuasion check is followed by the target making a Current Affairs check; Average if the deity is well-known, Difficult if they are not (which is most often the case for Evangelists). The target must succeed on three Current Affairs checks to be considered sufficiently knowledgeable to consider anointing. Each Persuasion check requires a full day, though it may be interspersed with other activity (so you can convince your traveling companions around the fire, and fight beside them during the day, but no more than one such check may be made each day). If several people are being taught, then a separate check is made for, and by, each person.
    Lastly, there is the pitch: Recruiting. The Recruiting check is Very Difficult, which is part of what makes a high encounter reaction so valuable. Each Recruiting check (and, again, may be made simultaneously against a group of people) requires a day of work, and no more than one such check may be made per person per week. Failure on Recruiting means they are unwilling to be anointed at this time; success means that they may make a Mental saving throw to resist being recruited v. d20p+the cleric’s morale modifier from Charisma. The target may choose to forgo this saving throw.
    These checks are extremely difficult against people already anointed or invested to a deity. First of all, those anointed or invested may simply refuse to take part by making a Religion or Divine Lore check; average for the Invested, difficult for the Anointed. They know their faith and, unless they have some compelling reason to be unhappy with it, are disinclined to change their faith. Even if they are willing (or fail the check to refuse), the recruiting check to convince an anointed or invested person is resisted by the target using either Resist Persuasion, Religion (their own religion), or Divine Lore, as they wish. Lastly, the saving throw to resist being recruited receives a +2 bonus for the anointed, and a +5 bonus for the invested (on top of their other bonuses).

While I am generally an advocate of PCs being subject to social skills, I'd be extremely wary of using this without player permission, if the character in question is somehow empowered by their deity; no one wants to find that their Bright Eye has become a Merciful Fate because they didn't invest in Lore: Religion and the random number generator decides it.

Psychics for Rules Cyclopedia

I somewhat started working on a Rules Cyclopedia conversion of Dark Sun in my down time... nothing serious, just fiddling about with ideas to make the game when I can't concentrate on other projects. Obviously, one of the first things that need to be addressed when dealing with Dark Sun is "How does psionics work?" Which brings me to making a Psychic class for Rules Cyclopedia.

I don't think I've gushed before, on here, about Erin Smale's "Creating a More Perfect Class" system. I am beginning to think that my ideal is somewhere between class-based and skill-based; namely, that you build your class at 1st level, and then are in that class for the rest of the game. "Creating a More Perfect Class" lets you do that in Rules Cyclopedia. As I work on my Dark Sun conversion, I'm no doubt going to start building specific examples of different things ("Special Abilities" v. "Skills" is a tricky place to adjudicate), but for now, here we are. I really do encourage you to go look at Creating a More Perfect Class, though; even if you're not into RC D&D, it's some solid design that will inspire you. Erin's rules (obviously) didn't include a cost for being psychic; you can see my table for it here, along with my notes for Dark Sun classes in RC (still in development).

Anyway, back to Psychics. Psychics are, functionally, another kind of magic-user, using a type of power different than clerical and druidic magic, but also not Magic-User and elfin magic. For simplicity, I have chosen to have psychic powers be largely the same as spells, though their method of use is the tiring of the self, rather than expending pre-memorized spells. Psychics know only a handful of powers, but can, in theory, use them all day, if they get enough rest. However, each use of a power carries with it the risk that you will fail, injuring yourself. I have also included two General skills related to psychic powers... a Wild Talent skill, allowing someone to have some lesser psychic powers (or a psychic to expand their own), and a Meditation skill, to reduce a psychic's down time (and to allow people to rest during watch times).

Psychic Character Class
(Using the Creating a More  Perfect Class from Erin Smale https://breeyark.org/building-a-more-perfect-class/)

Prime Requisite: Charisma
d4 HD 100
Magic-User Saves 150
Magic-User Attack 100
Restricted Armor 100 (Leather armor, shields, no helmets unless magic or psychic)
Restricted weapons 0 (one-handed melee, staff, sling, crossbow)
Weapon mastery: 0 Non-fighter
Skills: 150 Awareness, Blankout, Mind Blank (as mystic)
Psionics: 1000 On level
XP: 1600 (3rd level at 3200, 4th at 6400, 5th at 12,800, usw)

Like most classes, 9th level and higher psychics can either be traveling or settled. Settled psychics may be independent, forming a domain, and carry the title Master or Sensei. Alternatively, they may choose to serve as a court seer, similar to a magist, or they may create a school inside someone else's domain; this usually does not require express permission.
Traveling psychics require no additional rules; independent, they do not have the organizations that clerics or thieves do, command the social space that a paladin, knight, or avenger might, nor do they have the drive to create dungeons that afflicts magic-users.
All settled psychics attract 1d6 followers of the psychic or mystic class, of levels 1-3. If the psychic forms a domain, they also attract 5d6 "monks"; these are 0-level humans who wish to study from the Master, even if they do not have the ability to become psychics or mystics themselves. No more monks will be attracted than the psychic's Charisma score; an unlucky psychic may receive very few. The followers and monks of a psychic do not need to be paid beyond upkeep and equipage.

Using Psychic powers:

At level 1, a psychic knows 2 psychic powers. Each subsequent level, they learn 1 more psychic power. They may learn 2nd level powers starting at 4th, 3rd level at 6th, 4th at 8th, 5th at 10th, 6th at 12th, and 7th at 17th (same progression as a cleric's spell levels, but with something available at level 1, since it's all they get.)

Psychic Powers are enacted with a Charisma check, minus the level of the power; as a slightly more complex alternative, you may subtract twice the level of the power, plus the highest level of powers you can use; this allows psychics to always get better at their lower level abilities, without disturbing the use of their highest level abilities. Using this second method, a 4th level psychic would use their 2nd level power at Charisma (-4)+(+2), just as a 4th level psychic using the first method would. But their 1st level powers would be at Charisma (-2)+(2), or a simple Charisma check. If capable of using 7th level powers, 1st level powers are enacted at Charisma + 5; -2 for 1st level powers, +7 for being a powerful psychic.

On a success, the power is enacted, and the psychic takes non-lethal damage equal to the power's level (qv. non-lethal damage in RC, p. 267; damage is halved in 2d6 turns, gone in 2d6 more). If the power fails, they still take damage, but 1 point is lethal damage (so a fail on a 1st level power is just 1 lethal damage; a fail on a 7th level power is 6 nonlethal, 1 lethal). If they roll a 20, they must make a saving throw v. spell or ALL damage is lethal. Success on the saving throw means that one point of lethal damage is taken, and the rest is non-lethal (as with standard failures).

Common Powers:

These powers are organized according to their level as psychic powers; the number in parenthesis is the level of the spell they emulate. As a general rule, most spells can be rendered as psychic powers, but psychics are best at abilities which gather information or affect the mind. Thus, something like Charm Person is a 1st level power; mental modifications are relatively easy. Magic Missile (which a psychic would envision as telekinetic bolts) is a 2nd level power; affecting physical things is much harder. In most cases, powers designed to affect the physical world or physical bodies will be one level higher than they would be for a cleric or magic-user. Powers which affect only the mind, or gather information, will be of the same level.

1st
Analyze (1)
Charm Person (1)
Detect Danger (1)
Detect Evil (1)
Detect Magic (1)
Locate (1)
Predict Weather (1)
Read Languages (1)
Remove Fear (1)
Sleep (1)

2nd
Floating Disk (1)
Hold Portal (1)
Magic Missile (1)
Shield (1)
Detect Invisible (2)
ESP (2)
Hold Person (2)
Know Alignment (2)
Locate Object (2)
Phantasmal Force (2)
Snake Charm (2)
Speak with Animal (2)

3rd
Levitate (2)
Clairvoyance (3)
Hold Animal (3)
Locate Object (3)
Speak with Dead (3)

4th
Cure Blindness (3)
Cure Disease (3)
Charm Monster (4)
Speak with Plants (4)
Wizard Eye (4)

5th
Commune (5)
Contact Outer Plane (5)
Feeblemind (5)
Hold Monster (5)
Truesight (5)

6th
Telekinesis (5)
Geas (6)
Speak with Monsters (6)
Mass Charm (7)
Mind Barrier (7)

7th
Charm Plant (7)
Lore (7)
Restore (7)
Survival (7)

Psychic Items:

Psychics can make (imbue) their own items. The formula for success is the same as for a wizard or cleric, using the psychic's Charisma instead of Intelligence or Wisdom. Psychics, however, spend much less gold than wizards or clerics. The cost of the item to be imbued is twice that of the normal item. The psychic should figure the time as if they were a wizard or cleric creating a similar item; however, instead of thousands of gold, the psychic must spend three times the usual amount of time. Psychics can imbue Weapons and Miscellaneous Magical Items. They cannot imbue scrolls, potions, or armor.

Psychics have an additional type of magical item, the power stone. A power stone contains a single power, and the psychic may use this power as if they knew it, so long as they hold the stone; some will mount the stone on a ring, in an amulet, or in a diadem. This is enchanted as a permanent miscellaneous magical item. To use a power stone, the psychic must be taught by one who knows how to use it, or use the Analyze power to learn such. Any power contained in a power stone the psychic can use may be learned as if it were a common power. However, if the stone is used to learn a power outside of normal level acquisition of powers, it will be rendered inert. Power stones are of no use to the psychic who created them, and so are very rare. They sometimes spontaneously develop in psychic items, however.

Psychic Research

Psychics can research their own powers. This takes the form of meditation. They do not need research for common powers acquired at level up; the research for these is an aspect of the psychic's own growth. The DM has the discretion to designate other powers as "common" and so not requiring research to acquire at level up. Any power contained in a power stone the character is able to use is considered a common power. All psychics have the ability to research a new power to be learned during level advancement; failure in that research still allows the character to choose a common power.

Only psychics of 9th level or more may learn powers outside of level advancement (exception: Wild Talent general skill). The power may be no higher than one-fourth their level, rounded down (so a 9th level psychic may learn 1st and 2nd level powers; they may learn 3rd level powers at 12th, 4th at 16th, etc.). Any number of powers may be so acquired by a psychic with sufficient time.

As with wizards and clerics, common powers are more easily learned than new powers. Common powers have a chance to be acquire of ([Cha +Lvl] x 2)-(3 X power level); new powers have a chance of ([Cha +Lvl] x 2)-(5 X power level). Most spells can serve as a template for a psychic power, but a spell not previously mentioned is a new power, unless determined otherwise by the DM. As a general rule, spells that alter the mind or retrieve information will be the same level as they would be for clerics or wizards; spells that cause an actual physical change will be one level higher. A pyrokinetic psychic may wish a power similar to fireball, but it would be 4th level for them.

Psychic research, as with psychic item imbuement, requires no gold (save personal upkeep), but three times the time as magical research. Unlike magical research, there is no bonus for previous failed attempts.

General Skills

Wild Talent: A person may have a wild psychic talent, selected as a general skill. This is a common, 1st level, power that they can choose to use. However, using a wild talent is dangerous; instead of non-lethal damage, every attempt at using a wild talent, successful or not, inflicts 1 point of lethal damage. The Wild Talent general skill may be taken as often as the player wishes; at levels beyond the 1st, the Wild talent may be a new power, provided the Wild Talent has access to a power stone they know how to use, or a teacher willing to train them. In no case will a power granted by Wild Talent exceed 1st level.

Psychic characters may also use Wild Talent to expand their repertoire of 1st level powers. A Psychic's wild talents function under their usual rules for powers, inflicting non-lethal damage on a successful use.

Meditation: A Wisdom-based general skill often taken by psychics, Meditation allows a character to remain effectively awake while gaining the benefits of sleep; they must remain in a single place, and may meditate in lieu of sleep no more twelve hours a week. Psychics may also use meditation to reduce the time it takes to recover from the use of psychic powers; for each turn the psychic spends successful meditating, reduce the time for non-lethal damage to disappear by 1d4 turns. Note that a failure of the skill roll, or a roll of a 1 on the 1d4, indicates no extra progress; they meditated for a turn, and the time involved was reduced by that one turn. A psychic may use meditation to reduce recovery time as often as they wish.