The Psionicist

Another new optional class for AD&D 1E.

The Psionicist

A psionicist is a person who dedicates their development to the powers of the mind. Not everyone has the psychic gift to the extent necessary to the operations of the psionicist class. A psionicist must have a constitution score of 9 or more in order to withstand the ascetic practices necessary to the development of psionic gifts. In addition, a psionicist must have a score of 16 or more in at least one of intelligence, wisdom, or charisma, and none of those scores may be less than 10. Due to the intensive and extended training necessary to develop psionic powers, roll 2d8 and add 24 to determine the psionicist’s starting age. An important characteristic for psionicists is called the “IWC”. This is the average of the character’s intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores, rounded to the nearest tenth of a point. A psionicist gains a bonus of +10% to earned experience if the IWC average is 16.0 or greater.

Table I: Experience Chart

Experience Points	Level	Hit Dice (d4)	Level Title
0-2,500	1	1	Beginner
2,501-5,000	2	2	Psychic
5,001-10,000	3	3	Medium
10,001-20,000	4	4	Adept
20,001-40,000	5	5	Guide
40,001-80,000	6	6	Sub-Warden
80,001-150,000	7	7	Warden
150,001-250,000	8	8	Trainer
250,001-500,000	9	9	Director
500,001-1,000,000	10	10	Sub-Master
1,000,001-1,500,000	11	11	Master
1,500,001-2,000,000	12	11+1	Grand Master
2,000,001-2,500,000	13	11+2	Grand Master (13th)
2,500,001-3,000,000	14	11+3	Grand Master (14th)
3,000,001-3,500,000	15	11+4	Grand Master (15th)
3,500,001-4,000,000	16	11+5	Grand Master (16th)
4,000,001-4,500,000	17	11+6	Grand Master (17th)
4,500,001-5,000,000	18	11+7	Grand Master (18th)
5,000,001-6,000,000	19	11+8	Grand Master (19th)
6,000,001+	20	11+9	Grand Master (20th)

Table II: Abilities

Level	Ability Multiplier	Modes		Disciplines
		Attack	Defense	Minor	Major	Grand
1	10	0	1	1	0	0
2	11	1	1	2	0	0
3	12	1	2	3	0	0
4	13	2	2	4	0	0
5	14	2	3	4	1	0
6	15	3	3	5	1	0
7	16	3	4	5	2	0
8	17	4	4	6	2	0
9	18	4	5	6	3	0
10	19	5	5	7	3	0
11	20	5	5	7	4	0
12	21	5	5	7	4	1*
13	21	5	5	8	4	1
14	21	5	5	8	5	1
15	21	5	5	8	5	2
16	21	5	5	9	5	2
17	21	5	5	9	6	2
18	21	5	5	10	6	2
19	21	5	5	10	7	2
20	21	5	5	10	7	3

*IWC average must be at least 16.0 in order to acquire any Grand Arts.

To determine the psionicist’s base Psionic Strength, multiply the IWC average by the Ability Multiplier from Table II. As usual, half of this is Attack Strength and half Defense Strength. For example, a psionicist with an intelligence of 12, a wisdom of 11, and a charisma of 16 has an IWC average of (39/3=) 13.0. At level 1, that psionicist would have (13.0×10=) 130 Psionic Strength Points, of which 65 would be Attack Strength and 65 Defense Strength.

The first Psionic Combat Mode that the psionicist will gain is always Mind Blank. After that, the player may choose Attack and Defense Modes freely as the psionicist gains in level, according to Table II’s schedule of Attack and Defense Modes. In addition, the player may freely choose Disciplines received according to the progression on Table II, and may choose from the expanded psionics Disciplines listed below as well. Note that the character may not choose any Grand Arts unless the character’s IWC average is at least 16.0, and does not gain any compensation if a Grand Art is called for at a particular level increase and the character cannot take such Arts. Disciplines begin at level 1 when acquired, and each increases by 1 level for each level the psionicist gains thereafter.

Expansions to Psionic Disciplines (after the cut)

More Musings On Preferences

Earlier, I discussed what I like and dislike about D&D and closely related games. I offered some possible solutions, largely drawing on Fantasy Wargaming, to the problems that I have with the game, which is almost by definition the designing of a fantasy heartbreaker. This time, I will consider one of the first divergent variants of D&D, RuneQuest (I am not considering Tunnels & Trolls in the main because I have almost zero experience with that game, it being one of the very few early adventure games that I have not played much at all).

RuneQuest began, in part, as the Perrin Conventions for D&D combat (should that link go away, the Conventions are also available as part of All The World's Monsters Vol. 2 and as a .doc file here). This was a rules variant which provided a little less abstraction to combat, introducing ideas that would also be modified and incorporated into AD&D (segments, for instance, seem to develop from the "Melee Time" tracking system of the Perrin Conventions) as well as the rudiments of the RuneQuest combat system. RQ also attempted to alleviate the reliance on character classes, providing a new system, "skills", to allow one character to be mechanically differentiated from another. Skills in RQ were defined by their function and their skill level. Uniquely, RQ skills were rated by their percent chance of success (though in the first two editions, they might as well have been rated on a d20-scale, as all skill ratings were in 5% increments; as the basic game system has grown over time, some versions have indeed chosen to use d20s directly, such as Pendragon) rather than by an abstract level. RQ also introduced a magic system that was closely tied into the default game world presented in the rules, which allowed any character to learn some magic, but reserved the most powerful sorts of magic for characters who wanted to spend a lot of time and character resources on that pursuit. The combat system was further modified, as I said, to reduce the abstraction by introducing hit locations and limiting hit points severely, removing many of the functions of hit points in D&D to skills such as Parry and Dodge. Armor was changed so that it no longer provided an abstract protective value, but actually reduced the amount of damage that a successful, undefended strike would do to the character. Finally, the experience and improvement system for characters was tied to the use of skills in the adventure, so that a player would choose the direction of character advancement by the choices made in play, rather than by selecting a character class.

Those are some significant changes, but like D&D they are pretty straightforward and based in play at the table. Later games (GURPS, I am looking at you) would start more strictly with design, rather than being largely developed in play, and there are benefits and drawbacks to that approach. I will note that RQ does begin with such design considerations, but they seem to be developed from systems that were applied at the table and then refined.

Whatever, the point is that RQ offers a set of solutions to perceived problems in D&D, making it in many ways a fantasy heartbreaker in the classic mold. I like many of the solutions that RQ makes to D&D questions, but I dislike others. Skills, while a wonderful concept in theory, become, in practice, a bit unwieldy. They slow down character creation by forcing too many choices, extending the process of equipment buying (always the slowest part of character creation - which, by the way, is something that needs to be solved) to the character's abilities and, worse, doing so at a stage when the character should probably be just sketched out anyway. This may be less of a problem for generic NPCs, as their skills may be given default values based on the type of encounter, but that does require many more (or much longer) entries in the "monster book" portion of the game, as creatures vary by a lot more than just hit dice. I've already discussed other solutions to the problem of character abilities in my earlier discussion of D&D, so I'll leave that off now.

Combat, on the other hand… wow. What a revelation the RQ system was back when I first saw it. Even more because when I was younger I never really understood hit points and the abstractions of D&D-style combat. RQ's combat has the disadvantage over standard D&D style combat in that it is more involved and takes more time (what can be resolved in two rolls in D&D takes at least a full four in RQ, and there are more decisions for players to make which also add time). That said, I think that those tradeoffs are very much worth what they add to the game. Interestingly, the writers of Fantasy Wargaming seem to have looked at RQ at least in passing, as they apparently try to address the problem of multiplying dice rolls by combining the "to hit" and "hit location" rolls into one. Unfortunately, FW's method of calculating the column to use on their tables works against this. Speaking generally, I think that my ideal fantasy heartbreaker would draw its combat system from the Perrin Conventions and RQ to some degree or another.

Magic and religion in RuneQuest was similarly a revelation. It is one of a very few magic systems that I feel approaches the feel of what real-world people think that they are doing with magic and spirituality, to some extent. By giving most people access to minor magical abilities (increasing the damage their weapon does by a point or two, improving other characteristics by a point or two, minor healing, and the like), giving the option for more expansive magical abilities to specialists (a lightning strike or a burning ray of light from the heavens! breathing underwater! flight! and so forth), and tying access to these magical abilities to the religious sects to which the character can belong (which provide guidelines for behavior through emulation of the sect's ideals - a far better choice than the abstract "alignments" of D&D), RQ solves several D&D problems nicely. That said, there are other solutions to the magic and religion questions that I am interested in - again, I point to Fantasy Wargaming, which gives some excellent solutions to the matter of polytheistic religion that are not well covered by RQ's method, and which may be better than RQ at handling monotheistic religion as well. The other major magic/religion system that I want to consider (and will do so in more detail in due course) is the one currently called, clumsily, "Path/Book Magic" for GURPS 4E, which was previously called "Spirit Magic" in GURPS 3E and was introduced in C.J. Carella's GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War. Finally, I've been researching the claims of medieval and renaissance magicians to see what sort of abilities would be best to include in a fantasy game (not specifically for this project, but the information is definitely of value here). There's a surprisingly wide variety of effects to consider, many of which are valuable for an adventure game.

So, to summarize, there's a lot to love about RuneQuest, but the breadth and ubiquity of the skill list is too fiddly for a really robust game of the sort that I might find to be ideal. I'd previously suggested a middle ground that might work better, which retains levels for players who are not interested in messing with skills, and skill specialties for those who are.

Goth of the Week - Independence Day Edition

The ever-awesome Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim (the best band you've probably forgotten or never heard of*).

Happy Independence Day to those of you from the US!


*OK, that's probably an exaggeration. Still, I have a lot of love for this band, and most people seem to not really know of them.

The New Edition Of D&D: First Impressions

Had to edit to change to this picture,
which I like better.

Like pretty much the rest of the gaming world, I downloaded the free pdf laying out the basic rules of the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It's surprisingly large, clocking in at 110 pages with no art. Unfortunately, there are no layers, so the stupid background color is stuck to the thing if you want to try and print it out. Still, did I mention that it's free?

The game includes some things that I have come to expect from WotC editions, such as a single experience point chart that applies to all classes, a boosting of hit points over the original editions, a fixed-score option for character creation, and so on. It also has the things that I was told to expect by the playtesters, such as the advantage/disadvantage mechanic (which, I have to say, is a pretty good idea).

I haven't read it deeply yet, just skimmed it, but there are a couple of things I noticed. First, experience points are extremely reduced. 300 xp to reach 2nd level? Less than a half-million for 20th? I don't know yet how I feel about that. Stat bonuses are expanded, so that bonuses start kicking in at 12 (and 9, for the maluses), leading up to a +/-4 at the extremes. There is a slight benefit to taking the rolls for characteristics, as the average of the selection system comes out slightly lower than 4d6s3 (which is now the official way of rolling up characters). However, taking the fixed hit point increases at each level is better than taking the dice, as the average for each die is rounded up (6 for a d10, 5 for a d8, and 4 for a d6). Speaking of hit dice, Thieves (or Rogues, whatever) get d8 hit dice, and Magic-Users (or whatever they call them) get d6. Again, not sure how I feel about that.

The neatest color rule, in my opinion, is the "arcane focus". This is a minor item, like a wand, a crystal ball, or a staff, which a Magic-User can use in place of most material components (and the focus doesn't disappear when used in this way). Therefore, when casting spells, the M-U can either pick up a ball of bat guano or else wave around a magic wand in order to cast Fireball. Material components that have a listed cost ("a 5000gp flawless emerald" or whatever) cannot be replaced by this item. I don't know that I'd import the idea, but I do like it. Gives the game a bit of a "Harry Potter" feel.

(Is this the first time I've made two posts in one day? Probably not, but it doesn't happen often here.)

Obscure Games: Supergame

After nearly a year away, I am returning to the Obscure Games series of reviews with a very odd entry.

In 1980, Jay and Aimee Hartlove published the first edition of their superhero game, Supergame, and followed it up in 1982 with a revised and expanded edition. I only have the second edition, so that is what I will comment on here.

Supergame is based on the idea that a superhero game should be able to handle nearly any character from any genre. In the introduction, they talk about a party of player-characters consisting of an alien from outer space, an African witch-doctor, a knight in shining armor, and a gunslinger from the Old West. To this end, they introduced a point-buy system (which, I believe, was the second to see print, the first being found in Superhero: 2044). Characters in the game are assigned 250 points to divide between characteristics, skills, powers, and so forth.

The characteristics are pretty straightforward, consisting of Strength, Dexterity, Physical (basic hit points), Agony (hit points for nonlethal attacks), Intelligence, Ego, Psychic Power, and Charisma. Various tables and formulas are used to determine the number of physical and mental actions allowed to the character in a combat turn, ground movement rate, leaping distance, hand to hand damage potential, healing rates, and so forth. Different powers cost varying numbers of points (“Breathe water as well as air” costs 10 points, “See in all directions at once” costs 20). So far, so good, but nothing groundbreaking until we remember that this was in 1980/1982, the first edition coming out a year before Champions hit the shelves.

Armor is divided into four different categories, covering blunt trauma, other physical attacks, energy attacks, and “exposure” (heat, cold, and so on). Armor costs half as much as an equivalent attack (the attack costs 1 point per point of damage, while armor costs 5 points for 10 points of protection). After that, shields and other equipment are dealt with.

Combat includes several different systems. The first, for hand to hand combat, requires a calculator, since the chance of hitting is the attacker’s value divided by the sum of the attacker’s and defender’s values, expressed as a percentage to roll on d100. There are various modifiers that apply to each party’s total value, making it necessary to recalculate the chance nearly every round of combat. There is, fortunately, a chart that covers the main range of values (0 to 100 in 5-point increments), so it can be just looked up most of the time. Worse than that, though, is the fact that, when a hit is scored, the exact amount of damage done is figured by taking the damage potential and multiplying by a percentage determined by the roll of d100.

Fire combat, naturally, uses an entirely different system. First, the player and Referee total up the modifiers, then the shooter rolls first 1d6, modifying it by the modifiers, and then a second d6. If the second d6 comes up greater than the modified value of the first d6, it is a hit. Fire combat doesn’t use the d100 method of determining damage, either. Instead, a hit location is rolled, which determines whether the injury is Heavy, Medium, or Light. These represent the full amount, two-thirds, or one-third of the missile weapon’s damage potential.

There are additional, and different, systems for determining the success of conical attacks, magical attacks, and mental attacks. Further, there is a system for “Charisma attacks”, which are basically attempts at persuasion.

Supergame is a beautifully incoherent game, with some strange design choices that I can’t say I understand at all. Still, I like its quirky nature, even if I will probably never run it (I ran it once when I was younger, but that game was a bust in part because I really didn’t know what I wanted from it, and in part because I was in a power-gaming phase, which is no good for a Referee). As far as I know, there were two supplements released for it (Reactor, which I own, and Heroes of Poseidonis, which I do not; I'd like to get the latter, but no way would I pay the $100+ that people online are asking for it, even if I had the money to spare), and one issue of Different Worlds magazine included an article in which Jay and Aimee Hartlove provided stats for a number of comic book characters. As far as I know, that is all the support the game ever received.

Things I Know About The Middle Sea World - Part 4

The map of the Middle Sea world
continues to grow. At the bottom
of this post, there is a copy of a
map of the campaign starting area.

In the lands of the sorcerer-kings, it is illegal for any magician not specially licensed (and monitored) by the sorcerer-kings to know spells of 3rd level or above. There are special police called "Inquisitors" who look for evidence of such knowledge and capture or kill such violators of the public trust. Regardless of their actual abilities, elves are generally regarded with distrust due to their association with magic. Matters may be treated differently in particular city-states, but this is the general situation.

Continual Light spells are not actually of permanent duration in the Middle Sea world, but instead last for 10 hours per level of the caster.

The Davrai nomadic people of the grasslands beyond the mountains herd horses and cattle. Their warriors spend most of their lives on horseback, or in the case of their elite Bullrider warrior society on bull-back or even aurochs-back. The majority of their people walk, including the minotaurs (which they call "davramanai") who live and work among them. Polytheists with an interest in many local spirits, they especially revere the great Sky Bull, who leads the world-herd, and his holy heifers, the Bright Cows of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth.

In the northern parts of the grasslands, where winters grow bitter cold, live the centaur herds. There are eight tribes of centaurs, which call themselves Uighiz, Kaijit, Tagatai, Kamrat, Burkit, Dakka, Hartak, Kiyut, and Mughur. They herd sheep, which along with grass is their primary food source, and some cattle. They wear long woolen tunics and fur-trimmed hats. They organize themselves into patrilineal clans called "obok", which include as members the servants and slaves of the blood family that leads the obok. There is a web of vassalage which leads up through the noyat "princes" (singular noyan), who lead the obok, to the great Khan himself, lord of the plains. For shelter, they set up large wool-felt tents called yurts.

Centaur warriors organize themselves into decimal units. The arban ("ten") consists of ten centaur warriors, obviously, the jegun ("hundred") is ten arban (100 centaurs), the mingan ("thousand") ten jegun (1000 centaurs), and the tuman ("ten thousand" or "horde") consists of ten mingan (10,000 centaur warriors). The commander of an arban is called a beki arban ("leader of ten"), of a jegun is called a beki jegun, of a mingan is known as a noyan mingan ("prince of a thousand"), and of a great tuman is called simply a noyan ("prince", as noted above, and drawn exclusively from that stratum of society). The Khan has a special tuman called the keshik, which acts as an elite force and bodyguard of the khan. Each of the eight tribes, additionally, has a tuman, so that there are about nine tumans of warriors among the centaurs, two of which are under the direct control of the Khan. Their primary weapons are the short composite bow and the scimitar, and about 25% of a force will additionally carry small shields (for AC4) and medium lances. Only about 5% of the force are armed with firearms (usually calivers) instead of bows, and none of those carry shields.

I think that there are some rare, expensive airships, but I am not yet sure if they are lighter than air because of helium or because of magic. I'm leaning toward the latter, with propulsion via either turncrank-driven aerial screws or aerial sail arrangements.

The city-states of the sorcerer-kings are known as the Seven Cities. The largest is Hexspire, with a population of nearly 50,000. The second largest is Payn, around 40,000 people strong, which is the location of the original sorcerer-king and gives the people their name of Paynim. The smallest of the Seven Cities is Morda, a city of approximately 8500 citizens, which is ruled by a magic-user who specializes in necromancy. He has created a large workforce of zombies to aid his citizens, and plans to one day become a lich so that he can continue to provide for his people. In addition to the Seven Cities, there are more than sixty smaller towns ruled by lesser sorcerers. The rulers of the cities are all at least 14th level magic-users (the greatest being the archmage who rules in Payn), while the lords in charge of the towns range from 10th to 14th level.

The only population center that can be called a city in the Wild Coast is Libertana, with a population of around 9500 people. In addition, there are seven smaller towns, ranging from Port Tigwa (pop. 6500) to the smallest, Jomaca, with a population of around 1100 citizens. All of these towns and Libertana are scattered along the seacoast. There are around 675 villages in addition, many housing fishing communities (who frequently provide a haven for pirates in hiding) along the coast, but the majority are in the interior of the peninsula.

There are three faerie courts, two near the Kurai and one said to lie in the frozen wastes of the far northern reaches of the world. The two courts nearby are the Seelie and Unseelie (which are words that mean "peaceful" and "unpeaceful" respectively), while the one in the north is simply known as the Northern Elves. The three elven Kings are all said to be generous to those they favor, but merciless to those who transgress their laws. The Seelie King is Oberion. The Unseelie King is Finvarra. The King of the Northern Elves is Niklaas, often called Old Nick. Each has a Queen (Titania, Oona, and Marta, respectively) and a Knight who acts as a second-in-command.

The campaign starting area, from the pirate city of
Libertana on an island in the northwestern corner to the
sorcerer-king city-state of Marja in the east. The players will
start in Hexspire, just 15 miles or so away from
Stonehell Dungeon.

The Timelord

Why not an anime image for them? Found this
by searching for "chronos" on Google Image
Search. Anime haters can bite me.

Another class designed for AD&D 1st edition or compatible games.

The Timelord

A timelord character is a member of an elite order found among a particular human nation. The inhabitants of that nation have lost any magical and psionic abilities (though not the ability to connect with the gods or perform illusion-type magic) in the Middle Sea world.

Selection for membership in the Order of Timelords occurs by a competition undertaken by interested 15 year old youths of that nation. In the selection process, all youths of intelligence less than 15 are weeded out. Due to the high prerequisite, timelords do not gain bonuses to experience points. Upon selection, the youths begin an intensive program of training, diet, and exercise designed to unlock the hidden chronal powers found only among humans of that nation.

When attacking or making saves, timelords use the thief tables. Weapon proficiencies and nonproficiency penalties are also as thieves, but timelords may select from any weapon as fighters may. Because it interferes with their chronal powers, timelords do not wear metal armor or use metal shields (weapons do not interfere with those powers because of their size and shape, though the DM should feel free to disallow any weapons that create a wide mass of metal over a portion of the timelord's body, such as sword-gloves, cestuses, or the like). Timelords may use any magic item usable by all classes, plus any item which affects time, such as a staff of withering or a phylactery of long years. A timelord will start play at an age of 18 plus 1d4 years. Timelords start play with 3d6x10 gold pieces.

In addition to hit points and other normal benefits, at each new level a timelord gains chronal energy, which is what allows them to use their powers. At each level, a timelord gains a number of chronal energy points equal to the new level. Thus, a timelord has 1 chronal energy at level 1, 3 at level 2, 6 at level 3, and so on. This is summarized on the experience point chart:

Experience Points	Level	Hit Dice (d6)	Level Title	Chronal Energy
0-2,000	1	1	Initiate	1
2,001-4,000	2	2	Soldier	3
4,001-8,000	3	3	Chief	6
8,001-16,000	4	4	Commander	10
16,001-32,000	5	5	Warden	15
32,001-50,000	6	6	Magister	21
50,001-100,000	7	7	Philosopher	28
100,001-250,000	8	8	Chronos	36
250,001-400,000	9	9	Timelord	45
400,001-550,000	10	10	Timelord (10th level)	55
550,001-700,000	11	10+1	Timelord (11th level)	66

300,000 experience points per level for each additional level beyond the 11th. Timelords gain 1 hit point per level after the 10th.

As timelords gain in levels, they gain new abilities. Each ability is usable upon reaching the level equal to the ability’s level, and costs a number of chronal energy points equal to the level of the ability. Chronal energy recovers at a rate of a number of points per 12 hours equal to the timelord’s level, but can only regenerate chronal energy when not using any of the time powers. If the target of a timelord’s powers is unwilling, they are allowed a saving throw vs. wands to avoid the effects. The manipulations of time are not magical effects, and so are not affected by anti-magical measures, though the bonus to saves of, e.g., a ring of protection or similar protective item or ability does apply.

The chronal powers are as follows:

Level One

Hasten Individual – Range 6” (may affect self), duration 1d20+10 melee rounds. Recipient, who must be of size S or M, moves 50% faster, gaining three attacks per two rounds if a better ability is not already possessed. This effect does not age the recipient.

Slow Individual – Range 6”, duration three turns. One creature of size S or M may be affected. Target moves at half speed and attacks only every other melee round.

Move Self Forward In Time – The timelord disappears, then reappears some number of rounds later in the same place. The timelord may use other powers while in transit through time, change weapons, or other reasonably quick actions, but must reappear in the same place. Whatever the timelord is carrying, even another person, travels along. When the power is activated, the timelord specifies how many rounds forward to move, with a maximum of two rounds per level of the timelord.

Move Object Forward In Time – Range 6”, maximum duration 1 turn per level of the timelord. A non-living object not in very close contact with a living being (for example, a person’s armor may not be affected, though an object they are carrying might – if the object could be easily dropped, it might be affected) moves forward in time. Note that magic items are treated as “living” for this purpose. There is a maximum volume of one cubic foot per level of the timelord.

See Past Of A Place – The timelord can see the events occurring at some point in the past, as if the events were occurring. The timelord will be able to see anything as if present in the location at the time, and must move around to change viewpoints. The timelord may see events that occurred as much as five days per level ago, and may view up to 12 hours per level per use. The timelord may choose to accelerate the events viewed up to 24 times normal speed (so that 12 hours pass by in a half-hour of viewing time), but the DM may rule that some details pass by too quickly to notice when accelerated. If the viewed time catches up to actual time, the vision ends immediately.

See Past Of A Person – Similar to See Past Of A Place, the timelord may witness events that occurred to a person in the past. This requires touching the person for the entire duration of the vision, but the person need not be alive at the time.

Suspend Animation – This allows timelords to suspend their life functions as the psionic discipline of the same name, up to a week per experience level.

Level Three

Hasten Group – This is similar to the Hasten Individual ability, but may affect up to 2-16 creatures of size S or M within 1” of the timelord.

Speed Individual – Range 6” (may affect the timelord), duration 1d20+10 melee rounds. Recipient of size S or M may move 100% faster, including the gain of two attacks per round if that ability is not already possessed. When the duration expires, the recipient is exhausted for an equal length of time, but is not aged.

Slow Monster – Similar to Slow Individual, but may affect a creature of any size.

Slow Group – Similar to Slow Individual, but may affect 2-12 creatures of size S or M within 6” of the timelord.

Move Own Group Forward In Time – Up to one creature of size S or M within 1” of the timelord moves forward in time, up to two rounds per level of the timelord. Only willing creatures may so travel.

See Possible Future Of A Place – The timelord may see a possible future that will occur in the place they occupy, as if present at that time. The maximum distance into the future is a number of days equal to the timelord’s level minus two, and the maximum duration is one-twelfth of that distance (or two hours per day ahead that could be seen). The vision may be accelerated as with See Past Of A Place. The DM will describe the most likely scene, but events could easily change it. The future is very much in flux for timelords.

Age Non-Living Matter – Any matter or substance which is not currently alive may be aged through the application of this power. The timelord must be within 1” of the item to be affected. Material of up to 10 lbs per level of the timelord may be aged by up to 10 years per level of the timelord. This will ruin most food, cloth items, and so on, and even metal will be corroded somewhat.

Move Enemy Forward In Time – Range 1”. The timelord may transport a single enemy target up to one round per level of the timelord forward in time. The target reappears at the appointed time completely unaware that any time has passed.

Level Five

Speed Group – This ability is similar to Speed Individual, but the timelord may move affect up to 2-16 beings of size S or M within 1”.

Slow Group Of Monsters – This is similar to Slow Monster, but a group of targets up to 2-12 of any size may be affected.

Move Enemy Group Forward In Time – An ability that is similar to Move Enemy Forward In Time, but a number of targets up to the timelord’s level may be affected. All targets must be within 1” of the target point, which must be within 1” of the timelord. Thus, targets up to 2” from the timelord may potentially be affected. Note that all of the targets are allowed saving throws.

See Possible Future Of A Person – This ability is similar to See Possible Future Of A Place, but the timelord must touch the person (who must be alive), and can see up to the timelord’s level minus four days into the future for a duration of two hours times the timelord’s level minus four.

Age Non-Human Living Matter – Range 1”. The timelord can age any creature which is not vulnerable to the Charm Person spell, by a maximum of 2½ years per level of the timelord. The target will be aged physcially but not mentally by this power.

Level Seven

Move Spell Forward In Time – Range 1”. The timelord may move a spell with a physical manifestation (such as a Wall or a Fireball) forward in time. Fast-acting spells like Fireball or Magic Missile must be spells that the timelord has seen before. The spell gets a saving throw as though it were a magic-user of the level of the spell’s caster. The maximum interval that the spell may be sent forward is equal to the timelord’s level divided by the level of the spell (rounded down).

Partial Time Stop – This acts as the ninth level magic-user spell Time Stop, but only one creature is affected and that creature is allowed a saving throw.

Age Humanoid – Range 1”. This is similar to Age Non-Human Living Matter, but may affect any living creature.

Alter Past – Range 2”. The timelord is able to attempt to alter some action which occurred in the immediately preceding round. This usually allows the re-roll of one roll, such as a saving throw, attack roll, damage die, or the like. When a foe might be affected negatively by this power, the foe is allowed a saving throw.

Temporal Stasis – Range 1”. This has the same effect as the ninth level magic-user spell of the same name.

Level Eight

Time Stop – This is similar to the ninth level magic-user spell of the same name, but a saving throw is allowed for targets in the affected area.

Superage – Range 1”. By aging the target at a tremendously accelerated rate, this ability has the same effect as a Disintegrate spell. However, the effect can be reversed by another timelord using the reversed form of this same ability.

Level Ten

Time Stop Group – This has the effect of the magic-user spell Time Stop, but the timelord may select what targets are to be affected. The ability may affect up to one target per level of the timelord, and all affected creatures must be within a range of 1”. Affected targets are allowed a saving throw.

Reversible Powers – The four aging powers, Age Non-Living Matter, Age Non-Human Living Matter, Age Humanoid, and Superage, have reversed forms which allow a timelord to undo aging done by a timelord (only). The reversed abilities cannot reverse natural aging or aging caused by a ghost or a staff of withering, for example.

(Based on the NPC class in Dragon #65 by Lew Pulsipher, with some changes to make it more compatible with the Middle Sea world, along with some general editing and minor ability changes and clarifications.)