Dungeon Fantasy Lenses

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These +50 point lenses are in the vein of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level. Some occupations also merit a few extra notes, which seemed to fit here as well as anywhere.

If you're combining wizardly caster templates, see the bottom for rules that, though admittedly complicated, keep the point costs much more fair.

Beastmaster

Advantages: Animal Empathy [5]; Beast Mastery 1 [15]; and Call of the Wild [1].

Skills: Animal Handling (any) (A) IQ-1 [1]; Disguise (Animals) (A) IQ-1 [1]; Mimicry (Animal Sounds or Bird Calls) (H) IQ-2 [1]; and Veterinary (H) IQ-1 [1].

Special Abilities: 25 points on improved Beast Mastery, Beastmaster abilities, and/or Beastmaster spells.

Demonologist

Attributes: +1 IQ [20].

Secondary Characteristics: -1 Will [-5]; -1 Per [-5].

Advantages: Demonic Attunement 2 [16]; Spirit Empathy (Specialized, Demons, -50%) [5].

Skills: Hidden Lore (Demons) (A) IQ [2]; Occultism (A) IQ-1 [1]; Psychology (Demons) (H) IQ-2 [1].

Special Abilities: 15 points on Demonological abilities, spells, and further Demonic Attunement.

Notes: Anyone with IQ 14+ may leave IQ, Will, and Per alone and spend 25 points on Demonological abilities, etc. Wizards do that, also take Demonological Talent 2 [10] instead of Demonic Attunement, and spend a total of 31 points on Demonological abilities, etc.

Elemental (Generalist)

Attributes: +1 IQ [20].

Secondary Characteristics: -1 Will [-5]; -1 Per [-5].

Advantages: Elemental Attunement 2 (All Elements) [20]; Spirit Empathy (Specialized, Elementals, -50%) [5].

Skills: Hazardous Materials (Magical) (A) IQ-1 [1]; Hidden Lore (Elementals) (A) IQ-1 [1]; Occultism (A) IQ-1 [1].

Special Abilities: 12 points on Elemental abilities, spells, and further Elemental Attunement.

Notes: Anyone with IQ 14+ may leave IQ, Will, and Per alone and spend 22 points on Elemental abilities, etc. Wizards do that, also take Elemental Talent 2 [10] instead of Elemental Attunement, and spend a total of 32 points on Elemental abilities, etc.

Elemental (Specialist)

Attributes: +1 IQ [20].

Secondary Characteristics: -1 Will [-5]; -1 Per [-5].

Advantages: Elemental Attunement 2 (One Element) [16]; Spirit Empathy (Accessibility, One Element Only, -20%; Specialized, Elementals, -50%) [3].

Skills: Hazardous Materials (Magical) (A) IQ-1 [1]; Hidden Lore (Elementals) (A) IQ [2]; Occultism (A) IQ-1 [1].

Special Abilities: 17 points on Elemental abilities, spells, and further Elemental Attunement.

Notes: Anyone with IQ 14+ may leave IQ, Will, and Per alone and spend 27 points on Elemental abilities, etc. Wizards do that, also take Elemental Talent 2 [10] instead of Elemental Attunement, and spend a total of 33 points on Elemental abilities, etc.

Innkeeper

This is adapted from the version in DFD: Swashbucklers, but it's important to realize that the IQ +1 is not a universal change; in this case it was necessary because swashbucklers aren't very bright! Instead, what we're going for is making the existing template as generally capable as possible. Your choice of attribute options should reflect what you most need -- if IQ or HT are low, buff whichever is lowest, and if both are decent, buff Luck.

Special: Choose one of the following 15-point packages.
1. IQ +1 [20] and either Will or Perception -1 [-5].
2. HT +1 [10] and either Will or Perception +1 [5].
3. Luck [15], or improve existing Luck to Extraordinary Luck [30] for 15 points.

Advantages: Wild Talent 1 [20]. • Two of Alcohol Tolerance [1], Honest Face [1], Improvised Weapons (Kitchenware) [1], No Hangover [1], or Penetrating Voice [1].

Skills: Spend a total of 13 points as follows. First, add or improve the following skills so you have at least 2 points in each: Carousing (HT/E), Merchant (IQ/A), Professional Skill (Bartender) (IQ/A), and Streetwise (IQ/A). Then spend leftover points to raise those skills further, to acquire unchosen perks from above, or to add or improve any skill from the innkeeper template.

Necromancer

Attributes: +1 IQ [20].

Secondary Characteristics: -1 Will [-5]; -1 Per [-5].

Advantages: Deathliness 2 [16]; Night Vision 5 [5]; Spirit Empathy (Specialized, Ghosts, -50%) [5].

Skills: Expert Skill (Thanatology) (H) IQ-1 [2]; Hidden Lore (Undead) (A) IQ-1 [1]; and Occultism (A) IQ-1 [1].

Special Abilities: 10 points on Deathly abilities, spells, and further Deathliness.

Notes: Anyone with IQ 14+ may leave IQ, Will, and Per alone and spend 20 points on Deathly abilities, etc. Wizards do that, also take Deathly Talent 2 [10] instead of Deathliness, and spend a total of 26 points on Deathly abilities, etc.

Shaman

Advantages: Autotrance [1]; Channeling [10]; Medium [10]; Power Investiture 1 (Shamanic) [10]; and Spirit Empathy [10].

Disadvantages: -10 points chosen from the shaman's first list (as the moral code for Power Investiture and Shamanic Gift).

Skills: Exorcism (H) Will-1 [2] and Hidden Lore (Spirits) (A) IQ [2].

Special Abilities: 15 points on Shamanic Allies, spells, and abilities.

Notes: With GM permission, a cleric-shaman or druid-shaman can omit the additional disadvantage, take Power Investiture (Shamanic) as an alternative ability to his existing Power Investiture (for [2] instead of [10]), and spend a total of 13 points on Shamanic abilities, etc. This represents both aspects falling under the same spiritual umbrella, rather than being two distinct traditions.

Sorcerer (Guidelines and Limits)

Antoni Ten Monros' Pyramid 3/82: Magical Creations introduced the sorcerer to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. It's a great article and well written template, but with the benefit of a few years' hindsight, I have some suggested changes to help maintain game balance. Please note that this is not errata, as nothing in the article is a mistake; think of this post more as clarifications and suggested house rules. In particular, this is how sorcery works in our DF games.

Rituals and FP Cost

Alternative Rituals (Sorcery, p. 7) are in effect. Optionally, the GM may allow the additional rituals from "Super-Sorcery!" (Pyramid 3/105: Cinematic Magic) on a case-by-case basis; note that this is a permanent change to how your character works magic.

However, experience has shown that it can be unbalancing for sorcerers to invoke alternative rituals to cast repeated spells with no FP cost in a fight. Because of that, the following rule is in effect: Every sorcerous spell with no FP cost takes the longer of normal casting time or (1d+1)/2 seconds to cast (round up). Roll for this when beginning to cast; if you don't like the result, you can abort, wasting your action this turn. In most noncombat situations, you can simply ignore this limitation.

Damage Limits

Instead of limiting dice of damage by Sorcery Talent, your limit is 1 + (Sorcerous Empowerment level)/2. Round down. (Exception: If your Sorcery is Limited in any way, round up; this makes focused blasters more viable.) A spell can do up to 1d+1 damage per level and still respect this limit; past that, the GM will need to adjust the limit proportionately.

• If your Sorcerous Empowerment is Limited.

Secret Teleportation Spell

This can't be learned as a normal sorcery spell and should cost the full 100 points. (This might qualify as errata; I need to discuss it with Kromm.)

PK's "Costs Fatigue" House Rule

Per my house rules, Costs Fatigue should be -10%/level instead of -5%. Therefore, the version bundled into the Sorcery power modifier needs to be weakened slightly. As such, all indefinite spells cost 1 FP every 10 minutes instead of every minute.

Wrestler

Attributes: +1 ST [10].

Advantages: Enhanced Parry 1 (Unarmed) [5]; Lifting ST 3 [9]; Damage Resistance 1 (Tough Skin, -40%) [3]; and Wrestling Master [10]

Skills: Brawling (E) DX [1]; Immovable Stance (H) DX-1 [2]; Push (H) DX-1 [2]; and Wrestling (A) DX+2 [8].

Notes: If you're already strong, you only need to buy enough ST and Lifting ST to get your effective ST to 18. If you already have 3+ levels of DR (Tough Skin) from a professional template -- not your race -- don't buy any further "wrestler" DR, from this lens or later on (your maximum from this profession is 3). If you already have any of the skills here, use the given points to raise them if possible. Any points left over after following these instructions should go toward further Lifting ST (up to 6) and Wrestling (no limit); if 1-3 points remain, use them to raise the other skills and/or to add Parry Missile Weapons.

The wrestler deserves some unique power-ups, but for now this template has access to Bear Hug, Bone Breaker, and Extra Option (Beefcake Protection) (all from Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians) and Rolling Throw (from Pyramid 61).

Wizardly Talents, In Depth

Dungeon Fantasy features several wizardly casters. The bard, demonologist, elementalist, necromancer, and wizard all have different strengths and weaknesses, but their spells are identical: same requirements, countermeasures, effects, etc. So their spellcasting Talents are based on Magery, though for everyone except the wizard, this must also include the effects of a 5 points/level power Talent (as per GURPS Powers). But this isn't as simple as "limited Magery + a 5-point Talent," because that isn't always fair. After all, Powers explicitly states that unmodified Magery can be a power Talent on its own, although limited Magery cannot (if only to avoid someone hacking it down to 2 points/level and getting Talent on the cheap). However, this leads to a weird imbalance where Magery with a -20% limitation [8 points/level] + a now-necessary power Talent [5 points/level] would cost 30% more than unrestricted Magery.

Obviously, if an "everything magical" Talent would be 10 points/level, a more limited version should not cost more than that! So the fairest way to handle this for non-wizards is to treat the first 5 points of Magery as inviolate, ignoring all limitations, to reflect the fact that it acts as their power Talent. We then apply all remaining limitations to the remaining 5 points and sum the two. For example, a necromancer has Magery with the equivalent of One College Only (-40%), but this is actually "Magery as a power Talent" [5/level] plus "remaining Magery (One College, -40%)" [3/level], for a total of 8 points/level. The breakdowns in detail:

Bard: Talent [5/level] + remainder (Either Musical or Song, -20%; Two Colleges, -30%) [3/level] = 8 points/level. The DFRPG version covers four colleges (+20%) and then adds a flat +1 point/level to expand the Talent to also raise mundane musical skills (which is a bargain, true, but one justified by the extreme overlap). Note that the bard should be able to cast spells via singing or playing an instrument, not just singing -- otherwise, Bardic Talent would be overpriced.

Demonologist, Elemental Specialist, Necromancer: Talent [5/level] + remainder (One College, -40%) [3/level] = 8 points/level.

Elemental Generalist: Talent [5/level] + remainder (Four Colleges, -10%) [5/level] = 10 points/level.

Wizard: Magery [10/level]. Wizards don't have an associated power, but this is easily balanced by their access to more spells than any other template. As such, their spellcasting requires both "halves" of Magery when combining with other lenses (see below).

Yes, for simplicity, all of these Talents round up before applying levels. Feel free to change Bardic Talent to "7.5 points/level" and Elemental Influence (All Elements) to "9.5 points/level" if you want, but I'm not going to. However, while these detailed breakdowns provide an interesting peek under the hood, they're most important for the following.

Wizardly Caster-Caster Lenses

When a wizardly caster adds another wizardly caster lens, his spellcasting ability broadens but (unless adding the wizard lens) he also adds a brand new power to his arsenal. If we're willing to get complex, it's possible to represent this more fairly with the following guidelines:

1. Wizards, including anyone adding a wizard lens, need unmodified Magery to cast spells. Therefore, wizards adding a lens need only add the power Talent for their new lens -- and others adding a wizard lens should their existing spellcasting Talent (as many levels as the budget will allow) to equal levels of unmodified Magery and their own (5 points/level) power Talent. (This keeps things fair, by ensuring that "I have access to over a dozen colleges" remains more expensive than "I have access to five colleges.")

(Exception: Bards adding the wizard lens do apply "Either Musical or Song (-20%)" to Magery, which we'll just have to make an exception to the rule from Powers. Yes, this makes bard-wizards more expensive; feel free to use "Song (-40%)" instead to bring the cost back down to Bardic Magery's 11 points/level. Note that, if using the DFRPG rules, Bard-Song Talent is actually 6 points/level.)

2. If the wizard template or lens is not involved in any way, the delver now has two power Talents but not two Magery remainders -- instead, his Magery remainder is merely broadening somewhat -- so it's fairest to recalculate the value of the new spellcasting Talent by figuring out how much access to both powers and colleges would cost, and then pricing the new spellcasting Talent to account for this increase.

For example, a necromancer adding the demonologist lens now needs two power Talents and access to two colleges:

Necrodemonomancer: Necromantic Talent [5/level] + Demonological Talent [5/level] + Magery remainder (Two Colleges, -30%) [4/level] = 14 points/level.

Since the difference (from Deathliness) is 6 points/level, that's what his Demonic Attunement should cost. (Though if he ever raises the two to equal levels, it would be more fair to immediately "balance" them at 7 points/level each.) Now let's say he later decides to add the bard lens:

Singing Necrodemonomancer: Necromantic Talent [5/level] + Demonological Talent [5/level] + Bard-Song Talent [5/level*] + Magery remainder (Four Colleges, -10%) [5/level] = 20 points/level.

Again, the difference is 6 points/level, so that's what Bardic Talent costs him. This doesn't change if he's "rebalanced" as suggested above, but since three-way equal pricing isn't possible here, our jack-of-all-trades pays this 6 points/level only so long as Bardic Talent is his lowest spellcasting Talent.

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