A PLAGUE DOCTOR Class for Old School Fantasy & Horror.

The modern archetype - Plague Doctor from Darkest Dungeon (II) - a self-medicating, grenade-tossing, trailblazing young woman and general badass.

Approximately early edition D&D-ish system agnostic; * means optional. 

Description: A sub-class of the Assassin and the Cleric, the Plague Doctor is a pioneer and practitioner of scientific medicine in a world with magical healing, the harbinger of a scientific and technological revolution that will never come.

They seek to oppose and dismantle the exclusionary racket of magical healing (see 1e DMG pp. 103-104) - to replace it with their own rational and enlightened exclusionary racket based on cutting edge science (leeches, miasmas, humoral theory, astrology, phrenology, haruspicy etc).

Despite their alien appearance and grisly reputation (the traditional regalia is believed to date back to the first Plague Doctors who tended to the dying and tallied the dead when epidemic outpaced cure disease), Plague Doctors are serious professionals attempting to fill a gap in the landscape of healing.

Sometimes known as Leeches, Tallymen, or whatever their mask most resembles. They prefer you address them as Doctor or Master.

XP, attack matrix, saving throws:  As Cleric.

Hit Dice: d6 (*or 2d4 at 1st level, d4 each level thereafter for monastic Plague Doctors).

Prime Requisites: Dexterity and Intelligence.

Armour: Anything they like but it will hamper them as it would a Thief.

Plague Doctors prefer the distinctive and traditional uniform of their profession (equal to Leather plus closed helm, gauntlets and protective boots). Here's some unflavoured mechanics:

• Mask: Advantage/bonus to save vs. airborne disease, stench, smoke, poison gas, foul air etc. and/or doubles minimum safe time in those conditions. Also protects the eyes as (game) logic dictates.
• Surprise, listening and perception-type checks penalised by c. 20% due to restriction of hearing and peripheral vision. Can't detect anything by scent.
• You need to replenish the supply of medicinal herbs/neutralising substances in the mask daily and/or after exposure (1 unit of common currency every time) or the mask loses its protective properties.
• Depending on the tech level of the setting, the mask can be connected to an air pump or tank.
• Robes: Pre-modern hazmat suit. Advantage/bonus to save vs. splash, touch and other contact effects and/or doubles minimum safe time in applicable conditions.
• Protective, not indestructible.

Weapons: Knife and grenade-like missiles.

*Syringes, clysters and reinforced bellows for administering gaseous and liquid cures; surgical instruments (such as the cleaver, dagger, hand axe, and notched heavy cutting blade); firearms (for dispersing miasmas and frightening disease spirits); mancatcher, staff, club, spear, blackjack, net, whip, blowgun (for subdual and crowd-control); close range bolt guns (air, string, spring or powder) for administering end of life care. Flame-throwers. Burning oil and flaming torches. Poison and venom. Chloroform-soaked rag.

*Magic: Plague Doctors affect a pose of 1e Unearthed Arcana Barbarian detestation of magic (though they hold Clerics in lower regard than Magic Users).

But in reality they're not averse if it gives them an advantage, as long as they can plausibly ad/or stealthily deploy it while maintaining their public professional stance.

*XP awards for destroying magic items as part of their mission; incorporation of Barbarian First Aid to the Plague Doctor special ability.

Alignment: Any Evil - sub-class of the Assassin; in opposition to the healing gods.

The older, satirical archetype - Dr. Beaky.

Special Abilities.

Autopsy: Spend 2-4 hours (-1 turn for each level over 3rd; minimum 2 hours) dissecting and otherwise examining a corpse, and you have a 60% + 2% per level of accurately determining time and cause of death.

Sometimes cause of death is obvious/commonplace and will not need a roll/take the usual time. The older the corpse, the less accurate the results.

*% penalties if the corpse is non-human, non-humanoid and/or magical. Though you might learn something anyway.

Diagnosis: INT check to determine the medical problem (and the methods of treatment): mundane wounds, disease, poison, diet, age, madness etc. Cumulative +1 at 3rd, 6th and 9th level. Situational bonus or auto-success for having appropriate medical treatise/specialist diagnostic tools at hand. 

Sometimes the problem is obvious/commonplace and will not need a roll. Sometimes the doctor will make something up.

Sometimes the diagnosis cannot be made without communication and cooperation from the patient.

*In a magical world, a medical doctor may also be able to diagnose whether the problem is magical in nature, if not the specifics.

*Disadvantage/penalty if the patient is non-human, non-humanoid and/or magical.

First Aid: Term of convenience - tweak to suit your setting if it breaks immersion. This is bandaging or sewing wounds, applying ointment, irrigating, applying tourniquets, cauterising etc.

In combat, heal d3 with a DEX check; after combat, heal d4 without a check; within an hour, heal d2 (no check). 

It's a round action in combat, up to an exploration turn afterwards. You might need to make a check out of combat if you are under some other kind of pressure (e.g. field hospital under fire; ongoing natural disaster; demonic incursion; exam conditions; your patient is the king).

Max. once per per person per day at 1st level; twice at 4th level; thrice at 8th level. Only new wounds from combat or accident, not hp farming during downtime. Not cumulative with giving aid to 0 hp/Casualty state characters, or special assistance laid out in (e.g.) individual monster rules.

You can treat poison/venom up to the end of the round after it was administered (or within half the onset time, if using those rules), and you and the victim must sit out the next d4 rounds (d3 @ 4th level, d2 @ 8th). At the end, roll a new save. Success is equivalent to slow poison (1 hour/level). Max. per person per day as for First Aid.

*Nausea, sickness, stun, bleeding, choking, disease, parasitic infestation etc. could be treatable by a Plague Doctor in combat.

*Depending on the background logic of the setting, things such as Ghoul paralysis and lycanthropic transmission might also be dealt with this way. 

Kate Sherron. If you're in an Altered State, they look like moths/mothmen.

Knife Specialist: Automatically proficient at 1st level; automatically specialised at 4th level.

From 3rd level, you cause a bleeding wound on a crit or scoring 4 over the target number. 

A pint is lost every d3 rounds unless the wound is treated. Every pint past the 1st, lose one-third hp and 2 CON.

Only vs. approx. humanoid/human-sized targets with circulating blood.

You Backstab as a Thief of the same level.

*It might be cool to be able to use this on Vampires.

Languages: You are able to learn ancient/dead languages from 1st level.

If your INT is 15+, from 4th level you can learn the special languages of other alignments, druids, and thieves. 

In addition, if they exist in the setting, you can also learn the tongue of ghouls, the cant of grave robbers, the priestly languages of the cults of the dead and the undead.

This is to access obscure medical treatises and privately discuss treatment with reticent patients, so we are told.

Leechcraft (Bleeding): Remedial bloodletting, including application of leeches. It is recommended for a broad spectrum of disorders of the body, mind and soul.

Bleeding is rarely more than a few ounces at a time (max. damage = d3 non-lethal, d6 if you're prone to fainting). Otherwise, use rules for bleeding wounds.

It doesn't work.

Placebo Effect: Base 1% per level, plus your CHA modifier.

This is the chance an ineffective medicine or procedure has a beneficial material effect on the patient's condition.

*Further adjustments for renown of the remedy or the professional, expensive treatments, rare ingredients, how it's administered (e.g. placebo pills of different colour, placebo injections/enemas > pills, cutting you open, rummaging around and sewing you back up > injections), time spent, cultural factors, hypnotic suggestion etc.

Surgery: INT check, and the number rolled is the number of rounds/turns/hours of surgery, and the number of DEX checks you'll need to make. +1 bonus at 4th level; +2 at 8th.

If you roll a critical fail, you cause a bleeding wound and d6 appropriate Ability Score damage.

Every normal fail causes d3 lethal damage. Any surgery always cause min. d3 lethal damage.

If you succeed in all (or most, or enough) of your DEX checks, then the procedure was a success - but what does success look like in the pseudo-historical milieu of your choice?

As a starting point, think about what surgical procedures were carried out in the ancient to pre-modern period: trepanning (actually prehistoric), bone-setting, amputation (judicial and medical), circumcision, various degrees of castration, cataract removal, lancing and draining, abortion, cutting for the stone, a surprising amount of what we would now call reconstruction, aesthetic and remedial body-modification, prolonged torture.

Simple and commonplace procedures don't need multiple DEX checks, except if you want to roll for critical fails.

*Assistants, whether just an extra pair of hands or another trained professional, can improve chances of success and/or reduce the negative consequences.

*Transplants and grafts may be possible, if that works for the game/setting.

*This is also a Torture special ability - successful checks indicate the victim survives, not that they tell the truth.

The Vivisect - surgical possibility in a magical world. From The Talisman of Death. Art by Bob Harvey.

Thief Skills: You Pick Pockets, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Read Languages and Hear Noise as Thief of 2 levels lower (min. 1). You need to take your mask off to Hear Noise, unless using a stethoscope.

*You can never get one over on a Thief of the same (full/Plague Doctor) level as you, but you can an Assassin.

Treatment: Being cared for/treated by a Plague Doctor with at least basic kit/resources improves natural healing:

• +1 hp per day of normal activity (adventuring)
• +2 hp per day of light activity (downtime between adventures)
• +3 hp per day of complete rest (deliberately recuperating)
• +4 hp per day in an actual hospital (or equivalent)

In lieu of promoting natural healing, if the Plague Doctor makes an INT check, care/treatment allows a +2 to a save vs. disease or poison/venom, if allowed. +3 with access to decent medical supplies and conditions, +4 in an actual hospital (or equivalent).

Soft cap max. 6 patients per day (-1 hp for everyone for each patient over 6; penalty also applies to relevant supplies and ability checks).

*With assistants, decent medical supplies and ideal conditions you can offset some of the penalties for more than 6 patients.

*Concentrating on one patient at the expense of the others gives advantage/bonus for them, disadvantage/penalty for everyone else. If you only have one patient, you can't concentrate on them any more than you already are.

Actually Slough Throt, a skinless sorcerer from 2000AD's Slaine, but I think the character design illustrates another visual possibility, or one for a pseudo-historical time period significantly earlier than quasi-medieval/early modern. Art by Mike McMahon.

In Practice.

Research/Training.

You must perform dissections equal to your current/old level in order to progress to the next level.

If not, then:

• you do not gain a level (you do not lose the XP)
• all your ability checks, saves etc. for medical practice are at disadvantage/penalty
• lose specialisation bonus with knife; cannot inflict bleeding wounds
• no level bonus for autopsy (and roll at disadvantage/penalty)
• all treatment inc. First Aid only 50% effective

To regain these abilities, you need to do twice as many dissections as you failed to do.

Dissections must be of a intelligent humanoid cadaver and take 2-4 hours each (not including prep time; autopsy time saving for level doesn't count).

Autopsies carried out do not add to this total.

The Price of Knowledge.

In a magical setting, your explorations converge with those of the Necromancer, and intimacy with death elides with undeath. Meaning that you are vulnerable to arcane corruption.

*Ravenloft Powers Checks could also apply, or be used as an alternative corruption system.

10% chance at 3rd level, 30% at 4th. Otherwise, you get your first at 5th level, then one every level thereafter: roll d10. 

Everything advances a Stage on rerolls. Living Death trumps Cadaverous Appearance. Allergies will be to things that are hard to avoid in your professional practice, your darker nature, the façade of a normal life, adventuring.

1. Allergy: Stage 1: save vs. contact/exposure or -1 to all rolls for d4 turns per contact/turn of exposure; nausea (-2 all rolls) 1 day if consumed; Stage 2: auto-fail save vs. contact/exposure for -1 to all rolls for d6 turns per contact/round of exposure; sick as per Cave Locust spit if consumed. Stage 3: any contact/exposure and -3 to all rolls for d3 days; save or die if consumed.
2. Animal Aversion: Stages: -1, -3 then -6 Reaction Roll for animals and children; at Stage 3 any roll of doubles means carnivores attack, herbivores stampede.
3. Cadaverous Appearance: Roll d8 and count up the scale from Skeleton: that's the type of Pseudo-undead you're going to start resembling (min. 3 Stages).
4. Exposed to a Disease: Stage 1 is just a normal exposure (though most likely to be Mummy/Tomb Rot); Stage 2 is especially virulent/the previous exposure compromised your immune response - saving/recovery rolls at disadvantage/penalty; Stage 3 you'll always be a carrier - treat regularly to halt/reverse symptoms and prevent spread (*these might be two separate problems).
5. Living Death: Roll d8 and count up the scale from Zombie: that's the type of Undead you're going to start resembling (min. 3 Stages). Weaknesses, compulsions/diet/habits first, then immunities/resistances, then special abilities. You are Turned as a Special, but you are not fully undead until you die.
6. Morbidity: Stages: -1, -3 then -6 to Charisma, and cumulative +1 save vs. horror per Stage - so obsessed with wounds, disease, death, dying, surgery, questionable medical paradigms, and ethically-challenging thought experiments that you're not pleasant to be around.
7. Nocturnal/ Heliophobic: Stages -1, -3 then -6 as a Goblin/Orc vs. sunlight. In addition, at -3 you are also at disadvantage/penalty vs. light-based attacks; at -6, you gain dark-/infra-/night-vision, you auto-fail saves vs. light-based attacks and will be blinded until you recover for d4 hours in total darkness.
8. *Unholy Compulsion: Look up the Sacrifice table from the Necromancer class by Lew Pulsipher in White Dwarf issue 35 - this is your new (additional) dissection schedule. Same penalties for not doing these as Research/Training dissections, and you need to do twice as many to make up. Compulsive dissections do not count towards Research/Training. These are neither medically necessary nor possible to pass off as such.
9. Weakness/ Fatigue: +1 level of permanent Fatigue unless you take progressively more addictive, expensive and hard to source drugs.
10. Weakness/ Stat Damage: -1, -3 then -6 (d3) CON, DEX or STR, unless you take progressively more addictive, expensive and hard to source drugs.

If Unholy Compulsion as written is too strong a flavour, how about you pique the interest of the Order of the Gash, or the Practice (Book of Unremitting Horror/ Invasive Procedures for Fear Itself rpg) instead?

Another visual possibility. Art by Alberto Ponticelli.

What Was Left Out.

Masks: Different types and philosophies based on their masks/regalia.

Granbretan Beast Orders; various Egyptian deities (and Stargate); the Order of the Fly; Dream's Helm (from Sandman); Venetian/masquerade masks; the early masks/helmets of fire-fighters and diving suits; things that resemble bad taxidermy elephants, rabbits (floppy eared), ducks, foxes and koala bears; single and multiple tentacle-trunk-faces; ballooning throat pouches.

Hazmat Robes: straw raincoat-style, feathers, hair, hides (like Slough Throt), waxed cloth, oiled silk, monster skins, rubber.

Special Materials for Surgical Instruments: silver (anti-bacterial properties), obsidian (still used today), jade.

Specialists: the alchemists, the apothecaries, the alienists, the anatomists; warrior-surgeons and war criminals; actual assassins; medical martial artists; perfumiers.

Organisation: Practices, Colleges, Orders, Guilds. The infirmary; the hospital; the asylum; the sanatorium.

More in common with 1e AD&D Assassins and Monks gaining followers than a sensible community health recruitment policy.

How prestigious (as compared to folk and clerical healers)? Ancient establishment or recent disruptors?

Medicine: remedial and recreational (see the Apothecary and both Chiurgeons, below).

Apothecarial Arsenal: poison gas, Greek fire, smoke bombs, flash pellets, zombie powder, extreme hygiene flame throwers, a cheap alternative to holy water.

Anonymity/Secret Identity: That Plague Doctors rarely to never allow themselves to be seen unmasked or unrobed; that the regalia can take on the attributes of the wearer, that these can persist and be transmitted.

Commentary.

Someone's done Darkest Dungeon heroes for LotFP. The Plague Doctor is a Cleric with vial bombs and remove fear memorised. I think that's pretty good.

The Treatment special ability is mostly the Medicine NWP from 2e Masque of the Red Death. Because Medicine is better than Healing? (The Plague Doctors certainly think so)

Some of the other Plague Doctor homebrew out there: for B/X; 5e Darkest Dungeon conversions; for Ye Olde School Games (and Black Hack) - this one both minimalist and flavoured. 

The Apothecary and the Healer NPC classes from 2e's Sages & Specialists. The Apothecary is a minor Magic User with a laboratory for identifying and brewing potions, also a number of other interesting things (including stimulants and painkillers, as well as an aphrodisiac that makes you think your Charisma's raised and beauty cream that apparently underwrites their whole business). The Healer has a herb garden and can heal more people better by filling NWP slots with duplicates of Healing and Herbalism.

Andrew Wyatt's Chiurgeon class from the 2e Ravenloft Book of Secrets was a really useful foundation - thank you.

There's also a 3.5e prestige class (con)version (which I only just found while looking for the link to Wyatt's).

Both are more effective at what they do than my Plague Doctor, as they're more in the Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Moreau/Herbert West direction, whereas I'm leaning into the pseudo-historical - "the procedure was a success, but the patient died" - and extrapolation in an implied setting.

A Ghastly Affair has questionable medicines (including mercury for your syphilis) that would fit right in here. And drugs on the edge of medicine/magic which might also. And a bit of the Mad Scientist class.

Sub-class of the Cleric, because so is the Pulsipher Necromancer - a thematic ancestor.

Also ancestors, (barely) the dead alchemist from The Philosopher's Stone 1e AD&D scenario (White Dwarf #66) and (in outlook) the 1e AD&D Artificer class from White Dwarf #68.

Sub-class of the Assassin. It just seems appropriate - I originally wondered if I could use the 1e Assassination table for a medical procedure or something. 

(Table for payment by level of 1e Assassin vs. level of victim could be used to determine how much a Plague Doctor charges for how grand a patient)

Obligatory #BOSR reminder that the implied setting of D&D is an American one, right down to your expensive life-saving medical care being denied by an unassailable power.

Old School Thief Variant - Adventurer, Ranger, Rogue.

There comes a time in all our lives when we have to 'fix' the Old School Thief.

Considering they're part of the core text of D&D, they needed a lot of modding.

Description: Thief, adventurer, ranger, rogue, ruffian, swashbuckler, scoundrel, hero.

Whatever they call you, your traditional ancestors are still Cugel and the Grey Mouser. But roll high STR/ CON and you're also Conan or Fafhrd without having to multiclass or otherwise bend/break the rules.

You might want this kind of Thief to specify if they're more inclined to the rural, the urban or the dungeon environment, and tweak their abilities accordingly.

XP, Saving Throws, & Attacks: All as Thief.

Hit Dice: Depending on the base system, you start with 2d4 or 2d6 hit points, but gain only 1d4 or 1d6 per level as normal thereafter.

Prime Requisite: Dexterity.

Armour: Any, but as Thief only when you want to do Thief stuff.

Weapons: Any, but you prefer the lighter/smaller hand weapons for special ability reasons.

Alignment Restrictions: None, unless that's important for in your setting/system.

Special Abilities.

Thief Skills: Everything a Thief can normally do, but agree which of either Hear Noise probabilities or boosted percentiles you use before play begins.

If you have a CHA, INT or WIS bonus (highest applies), you can start casting from scrolls that many levels earlier but chances of failure do not change until your levels catch up.

Snipe: You can Backstab using a missile weapon if this is not already allowed.

Dual Wield: When fighting with two weapons, you get +1 to Hit or AC. This also applies to unarmed strikes. You cannot Dual Wield while performing a Backstab.

Choose which bonus to use at the beginning of each combat round, before you roll any dice. 

If you hit, use the higher rolled damage or choose which weapon inflicted the wound (for magic and poisoned weapons, for example)

If you have 18 STR, you can wield a max. d8 and d6 weapon simultaneously; STR 15, 16 or 17, a max. d8 and d4 or d6 and d6; all other STR scores, the max. is d6 and d4.

(This presumes you don't already have Dual Wielding going on anyway)

Cleave: If Fighters get extra attacks vs. <1HD opponents, so do you but only when Dual Wielding.

Surprise: If you are alone or with no more than three other Thieves in leather or no armour, your first surprise attacks count as Backstabs.

Old School Druid Class (wip) - Atheist/BOSR/Folk Horror/Pagan/Psychedelic/Witch

This Druid is the Dionysus to this Cleric’s Apollo, and this Druid from Basic Red is a significant recent ancestor/inspiration - I was never that keen on the medieval environmentalist take.

The BECMI (or B/X) Cleric class is the template, including spell-casting not being available until 2nd level.

The Wicker Man (1973)

Description: The Druid class is defined against the Cleric, being the pagans, shamans and witches observing the Old Ways, in defiance of the True Faith and the Universal Church. Druids are not the Clerics of another religion, though some are part of priestly traditions.

The Old Ways are a sprawling array of belief systems, without any overarching harmony or hierarchy, though they tend towards a strong relationship with the elemental, natural and supernatural worlds - whether through appeasement, domination or veneration. 

A Druid does not necessarily identify as a Druid - it's a metagame term of convenience. Not all Druids know they are Druids, some will reject the label, and define themselves within their own milieu.

Within the class, there will be those who do not make full use of the special abilities - if you don't know you can Call the Wild and the Weird, you won't try; if you only get naked and high for fun, you might not notice you can Pass Without Trace.

XP, Saving Throws, Attacks & Hit Dice: all as Cleric. 

Prime Requisite: equal chance (roll d6) of any, with usual benefits/penalties – but you do this after you’ve rolled your Ability Scores and chosen Druid as your class. 

Your Prime Requisite will reflect in how your special abilities manifest, the way you carry yourself, your choice of equipment, and the nature of any uncanny forces that take an interest in you.

If you are in an Altered State, you can count a negative Prime Requisite adjustment as positive when using Druidic special abilities.

I don't know who they are or what they're doing, but they look the part, don't they?
Britannia (2018 onwards)

Armour: Any, but you can’t use your Druid special abilities while wearing iron or steel armour, or armour you didn’t make yourself or strip from a defeated foe.

A naked Druid in an Altered State counts as carrying a shield if wielding a staff weapon, and can also use their Prime Requisite modifier as an AC bonus and for saves vs. fire, frost, poison and lightning.

Kill List (2011)

Weapons: Any, but you can’t use your Druid special abilities while armed with iron or steel weapons that have not been wetted with blood in the last minute. Must be at least a dagger-cut's worth. 

Staff weapon includes anything with a long wooden haft, so spears, pole arms, flails and battle axes could all be allowed (negotiable). 

There is no reason a Druid couldn't use a firearm, though some will scorn them through affectation or strong belief.

Alignment Restrictions: None - all that True Neutral stuff was propaganda.

Special Abilities.

Richard O'Brien as Gulnar, 'pagan sorcerer'.
Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986).

Altered States: Druids spend a lot of time in Altered States, and not just because it activates or enhances their special abilities - some take them very seriously as sacred rites, others just like to get messy.

If you are in an Altered State, you count a negative Prime Requisite adjustment as positive. Because of this, some Druids will have an incentive to degrade their Prime Requisite, and this is often easier to do than to raise it.

In addition, in an Altered State you can apply your Charisma or Prime Requisite adjustment to Reaction Rolls, whichever is favourable.

I've covered Altered States a bit here, if you don't already have systems in place or want a few ideas.

A simple alternative for the mechanical effects of Altered States would be to roll Dexterity, Initiative and Intelligence at disadvantage (except when it directly relates to using a Druid special ability) or to apply an Initiative penalty like the Mystic class from AD&D 2e Masque of the Red Death. 

The undead, the faerie folk, demons and elementals are probably always in an Altered State by mortal standards. Conjured/summoned monsters, the mentally ill (your group may need to discuss whether this is appropriate), and/or those under a spell can also be considered to be in an Altered State.

Linda Hayden as Angel Blake.
Blood on Satan's Claw/The Satan Skin (1970).

Authority/Influence (Glamour): Analogous to the Cleric special ability, but you can only use it on individuals or those in an Altered State - Druids do not have the awesome centuried might of the Church behind them, but they do possess a mysterious, tangible authority or an oddly compelling manner. It's not far removed from mesmerism, but this is not mind control - they might lose their inhibitions, but they won't lose their will.

You receive no adjustment to the subject's save for your level. However, if your audience is in an Altered State - or you are using this ability to cause/reverse an Altered State in an individual - you can apply your Prime Requisite adjustment.

Three successes in a row on an individual can be used to lessen/remove emotional/mental effects of spell-level equal or lower than that the Druid could cast (in a similar fashion to the Cleric's Casting Out ability.

If both parties are in an Altered State, they do not have to be able to understand each other - the comprehension is not total, but extends to animals and monsters.

Otherwise, the same restrictions apply for the Druid as for the Cleric.

Herne the Hunter - elemental spirit or bloke in a stag's head?
Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986).

Call of the Wild and the Weird: You spend exploding d6 rounds/turns performing a sacred ritual, making loud and varied animal noises, or closing your eyes, spreading your arms and reaching out with your mind. 

You can't do anything else while you're Calling, except for slow movement, cautious or guided. You can Call during combat, but you can't fight while you're doing it.

At the end of this time (it includes narrative/nominal travel time for whatever comes to you), roll 2d6 - you can use your Prime Requisite modifier to either buy down the time or boost the roll. You can keep on trying until you give up or something comes.

On a 9 or better, normal and/or giant animals answer - roll on an appropriate random encounter table. On an 11 or better, your Call attracts supernatural (or otherwise powerful and/or unusual) denizens of the area - random roll or GM choice. Success always Fatigues you.

Spending exploding d6 turns performing the Call improves your respective target numbers to 7 and 9.

If you are in an Altered State, their Reaction is Neutral on arrival.

To try to summon something specific (a wolf or wolves is general; the pack leader/ alpha female/ Ragged General One-Eye is specific) that you know/think dwells hereabouts, your roll is 3d6D1 disadvantage.

You can’t call anything from another plane or from outer space unless you are in a Place of Power associated with it, and there may be specific additional requirements.

Penny Dreadful (2014-2016).

Invisibility to Mortals (Glamour): You must be nude, in an Altered State, in non-magical, non-daylight illumination, and cannot activate this ability if you are under direct observation by anyone who would be affected by it.

You are invisible (actually, automatically camouflaged against your surroundings) to characters of 0 to 2nd level, even if you attack. You are invisible to 3rd level characters, but will become visible to them if you attack them or they manage to hit you. Characters of 4th level and above are unaffected.

Gained at 3rd level, and requires a round of concentration to activate.

Pass Without Trace (Glamour): This is basically the AD&D Druid ability '...to pass through overgrown areas (undergrowth of tangled thorns, briar patches, etc.) without leaving a discernible trail and at normal movement rate.'

However, you get it at 1st level, and you must be nude, in an Altered State, at night. Probably works with dust, sand, snow etc. Those trying to track you might believe you have taken flight as the only explanation.

Recognise Mystery (Second Sight): Similar to the Cleric’s ability to Recognise Evil, but for subtle signs of Old Ways practice, the presence of spirits, places of power, and omens both natural and bizarre. Recognise Evil is more 'know thy enemy'; Recognise Mystery is 'friend or foe?'.

You’re much better at this when you’re in an Altered State, and you can also use your Prime Requisite adjustment to boost the effectiveness of divination (spells or magic items), if such a thing makes sense in context.

Things that might constitute Mysteries: spell-casters, some staple D&D non-human character kindred (duergar, gnomes, elves, half-elves, tieflings, aasimar, genasi), sexuality, gender, kink, secrets, dreams, lies, codes, cant, heredity, pre-scientific science, those under a spell, time travellers, undead, demons, shape-changers, illusions, faerie folk, aliens & alien technology, ancient super-science that seems to be magic, allegorical history/anthropology, arcane and divine language.

Druids also see better in the dark than others, especially in an Altered State. We're not talking full-on dark- or infra-vision here, but definitely at a significant advantage over other human characters.

Spell Casting: You can cast spells from 2nd level onward, using Cleric spell progression. You have automatic access to 1st and 2nd level Druid spells (or Cleric and reversed Cleric spells, if your game doesn't have Druidic magic).

Spells of higher level must absolutely come from (3rd, 4th, 5th) 'supernatural servants of the cleric’s deity' and (6th, 7th) 'direct communication from the deity itself', and should be something of an adventure in itself (1e AD&D DMG).

To cast Magic User spells from scrolls, use Recognise Mystery in an Altered State. I leave it ambiguous whether or not you can do this from 1st level.

You can also learn Magic User spells. Until you reach 9th level, these can only be from a higher level Druid or Magic User (or a monster). Each one blocks out a spell-slot for good – you can only use it for that spell. You are allowed to change or delete a spell when you gain a level. 

What Was Left Out.

The Druid class is meant to encapsulate pagans, witches, mediums, shamans and cultists (groovy and/or Satanic) - it's intended to include the type of character that isn't already a Magic User, but lies outside what is acceptable for the True Faith and Universal Church: elementalists, animists, werewolves (bloodthirsty and/or environmentalist), warlocks, berserkers, dhampirs, emergent psychics (check for psionics or wild talents each level, or when they hit 0 hp and survive), poltergeist girls, firestarters, uptight suburban Satanists, sibyls, practitioners of ceremonial, chaos and/or sex magick, unkillable slashers, seventh offspring of seventh offspring, chosen ones, dryads and hamadryads (if they're not monsters), mystic assassins, changelings, teenagers too deep into The Game of Dungeon or The Game of Vampire, planeswalkers, fairy and witch doctors, uncanny monks, tricksters, occultists, psychonauts (serious and recreational), death metal bards, kings of the wood, defenders of the forest groves, those possessed by devils, even flagellants, heretics and mystics of the True Faith.

There's a lot more I wanted to pack in - some of which can be inferred from the Basic Red Druid - but it was roaming all over the place, so I had to try and tighten things up. 

Anyway, I might revisit in future to cover: Trading Humanity for Power (think Ravenloft and The Blood on Satan's Claw, but not irredeemably evil), Spirit Possession/ Projection (this is where the wildshape special ability goes in my version), Sex and Blood Magick (drawing on the Basic Red Druid), Ceremony/Ritual spell-casting, Cause Mystery (messing with people when you and they are in Altered States).

I've also left out Druid hierarchies and organisations - partly because there isn't an equivalent to the Universal Church for the Old Ways - but I do like the AD&D feature of Druids challenging each other to claim the higher levels, which logically leads to rival covens vying for power while they attempt to defenestrate their own leaders/teachers.

The Hierophant Druid - I know it from 2e AD&D, but I understand it pre-dates that - also didn't make it, though I think there's room if it could be toned down for lower levels.

Commentary.

This is specifically a fictional, pop-culture class - my sources that aren't films, TV or comics (Slaine and Summer Magic from 2000AD) are the (politely) debatable anthropology/history of Margaret Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe and James Frazer's The Golden Bough, and the religio-magickal traditions of (amongst others) Aleister Crowley, Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. 

Some of the Old Ways are not that old at all.

At some point during this process, I looked back on the AD&D Druid with fresh eyes and realised that it's always been a pretty solid Witch class (in the same way as the 2e AD&D Bard is actually a pretty solid Cleric/Priest) - it's just that the medieval environmentalist got in the way.

The original concept was a lot bloodier and sexier, but in the end I cleaved closer to the BOSR Cleric seen in a mirror in a dim room. In much the same way as the Cleric, this class is meant to look villainous from the other side of the hedge - spell-casting as a core special ability for one, rather than an option for the other, is meant to raise the narrative and mechanical stakes between them.

I don't think Clerics and Druids should be able to multi-class with each other, but the idea that the one might abandon all to convert to the other seems narratively interesting.

Old School Cleric Class - Atheist/BOSR/Folk Horror Variant

Bishop Odo on the Bayeux Tapestry.
Look at him, not shedding blood as he lays about him with a big stick.

Description: You already know what a Cleric is; this is my variation on a BOSR theme. The starting point for this Cleric would be the Canterbury Tales, rather than the Song of Roland - it pre-supposes a less heroic, less magical setting.

A Cleric either belongs to the hierarchy of the Universal Church or is a devotee of the True Faith - the two are not mutually exclusive. 

This class assumes that the Church, Faith and God are significant background features of the setting - I'm starting from a medieval/early modern Eurocentric perspective.

XP, Saving Throws, Attacks & Hit Dice: all as Cleric.

Prime Requisite: equal chance (roll d6) of Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom, and usual benefits/penalties - but you do this after you've rolled your Ability Scores and chosen Cleric as your class.

Whether you truly believe in the Church and in God or not is immaterial to being a Cleric - it's whether or not God believes in you.

Armour: Any.

Weapons: You are forbidden to shed blood Any.

Alignment Restrictions: None, but whatever you do is always Lawful Good.

Peter Cushing as Gustav Weil in Twins of Evil (1971).
Just as much a Cleric as Abraham Van Helsing.

Special Abilities.

Authority/Influence (Preaching): As long as you can be understood by your audience, you can attempt to sway them by the power of your words, the force of your personality, your training in rhetoric, the promise of salvation, the threat of damnation: they must save vs. paralysis (take an average for a group) at -1 for every 3 levels you have, or move one step up or down the Reaction Roll table in your favour. 

You can't normally attempt this during combat - too noisy, no-one's listening, they've already made up their mind. 

Those who are already hostile to the Cleric make their save with advantage, or any adjustments deemed appropriate to the subject and situation. Depending on your setting and play-style, some audiences may never be susceptible to the Cleric's words. You can't use this on other PCs, and to use it on their followers could be taken as an insult or attack.

You can use this three times in a row on the same audience. If it's three successes, you might gain a convert/follower; three failures, and they might run you out of town (or worse).

Be creative with your interpretation of this ability - it's not just about making people better disposed towards you.

Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General (1968).
Absolute arsehole.

Recognise Evil: A Cleric will be able to recognise the gross and subtle works of Evil, either through arduous study, by unshakeable belief, or from luxuriating in corruption. 

However, unlike a spell or Paladin's detect evil, this is a narrative rather than mechanical ability - sometimes the Cleric just needs to point and say "That's Evil" for that thing to be so. 

For example, Brother Cadfael will diagnose a mere mundane pimple and troubled minds, while Matthew Hopkins will diagnose the teat with which ye suckle that which come by shroud of night.

Clerics do not, as a group or as individuals, mutually agree on the things that are Evil - sometimes with campaign-upsetting consequences. As a rule, their definitions of Evil usually include elves, spells, Magic Users, and significant differing cultural/religious/social beliefs.

Edward Woodward as Sergeant Howie in The Wickerman (1973).
He knows Evil when he sees it.

Warding (Turn Undead/Supernatural): Present a holy symbol, trace a circle of power, scatter holy water, swing a smoking censer, chant prayers of exorcism - you can do this against any supernatural entity, not just Undead.

Roll 2d6, and on a 7 or better, the entity will not approach closer than 10' and cannot attack the Cleric or anyone within 6' of them, for d6 turns (during which you must maintain the ward). Do it three times in a row, and they must depart (min. 6 hours). Fail three times in a row and you can't ward again that day.

If the entity has a score of 9 + (HD x0.5) greater than the Cleric's Prime Requisite, the 2d6 roll is made as 3d6D1 to the Cleric's disadvantage.

You can't do anything else while you're warding, except slow movement, cautious or guided - and you can be interrupted by unaffected creatures. You can ward in combat, but you can't fight while you're doing it.

You can also create a static protective circle/pentacle of warding, which is effective for a full hour without maintenance, at the end of which it must be recharged. This, however, reeks of sorcery and demonism as it can keep things in as well as out.

Summoned monsters are susceptible to warding, even if they are normally otherwise mundane. It is uncertain if warding would function on other planes. 

Some staple D&D non-human character kindred might be affected by warding, depending on the setting: elves, half-elves, tieflings, aasimar, genasi, possibly dragonborn.

Patrick Wymark as The Judge in Blood on Satan's Claw (1971).
He knows to bring a magic sword and hirelings when facing a demonic cult.

Casting Out (Exorcism): Casting Out can be done in a single round, but is often accompanied by a short prayer/ritual, and will restore an individual possessed by a spirit or demon. It is also effective against certain conditions, such as fear, hopelessness and confusion. 

Casting Out will temporarily relieve the distress and symptoms of mental illness, but cannot cure it unless possessing spirits of disease & madness are canon in your setting - even then, it may require an Exorcism (see below).

Roll 2d6, and on a 9 or better you have cast out the evil spirit or affliction. 

Use the same formula as for warding if you feel the condition or spirit is particularly powerful or deep-rooted, or allow success only on a 12.

Casting Out always fatigues a Cleric if successful. Only one attempt at Casting Out can be made per incidence.

If you fail to Cast Out on your first attempt, you may then attempt an Exorcism. This is mechanically the same as Casting Out, but takes exploding d6 hours (check for success or failure at the end of this time).

During this time, the subject must be restrained/ the site must be secured. The Cleric will keep up the ritual while still being able to issue instructions, receive news, eat & drink etc., and can even suffer damage - you can make a single weapon attack in retaliation per hour of the ritual, if appropriate, but must otherwise rely on others for support and defence.

Exorcism causes ongoing fatigue because of the mental and physical strain it puts on the Cleric. You can keep on making attempts at Exorcism until you are successful or give up.

Jane Wiedlin as Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).
Her Prime Requisite is also her highest Ability Score, but she eventually rolls three 6s.

Deliverance (Divine Intervention): Essentially a wish. Your miracle may not be approved by the Church and can leave you open to suspicion of sorcery. 

Roll 3d6. On triple 1, God (or good fortune) answers your prayer. 

As soon as you are able, you must make an incredibly big deal of thanking God. Just a big cash donation is not going to cut it this time (though it doesn't hurt, as the Church still claims to be intermediary and interpreter), it's got to be a dangerous adventure, or a costly and complicated undertaking - crusades, founding religious houses, world-crossing pilgrimages, giving up all your lands and retainers to the Church in perpetuity.

On triple 6, God is extremely upset or you have attracted the attention of Great Unholy Powers.

It doesn't necessarily follow that you don't get what you asked for, but the consequences and the reparations are significantly more disruptive - up to and including the death or enforced retirement of the PC.

If your Prime Requisite is also your highest Ability Score you can reroll Deliverance if you wish, either to avoid upsetting God or as an extra shot at redemption.

Use it at your peril and no more than once a month. You never get any better at calling for Deliverance.

Further Elaboration.

Benefit of Clergy.

This was originally going to be a core special ability, but I decided Clerics were not necessarily members of the Church hierarchy. Historically, however, there were times when you could claim Benefit of Clergy by proving yourself literate and reading from the Bible, or even just by reciting certain parts you'd committed to memory - anyone could chance it.

Simply put, Benefit of Clergy means you don't have to submit to secular courts and justice when you commit or are accused of a crime. It's not quite a Get-Out-of-Jail card, because other factors may intervene - politics, relative social standing of perpetrator and victim, lawlessness, mob justice, the foulness of the deed.

The Church rarely hands down sentences of death (it's forbidden to shed blood, remember) - though there is the risk of being stripped of office and handed over to be tried as a layperson - but you may be excommunicated, banished, stripped of office, stripped of treasure, ordered to a monastery, ordered to do penance etc. In a fantasy setting, the Church may be able to deactivate your special abilities, or lay a curse, quest or geas on you.

Clerics Aren't That Special.

If you read the Priest living in Maelstrom, you will discover, in the section on holding evil spirits at bay, that anyone can do this - Priests are just better at it, represented in terms of them suffering less loss of Will (holding at bay is automatic, but has a cost).

By this logic, anyone could try Warding. However, I would suggest a higher target number, and/or require a non-Cleric to roll 3d6D1.

Even if a Cleric doesn't believe in the supernatural, they may still have received some kind of instruction in rituals or examples of Warding etc. - they know it's part of their perceived armoury. 

Casting Out and Exorcism should probably be restricted to Clerics only - as they either require a much greater belief in one's ability or reference an organised canon of ritual, but Deliverance might be available to anyone in the right circumstances.

With this in mind, it is possible to have Clerics who don't know that some of their abilities actually work - which maybe offers a character development arc.

Clerical Spell-Casting.

The BOSR Cleric doesn't get normally spells, because there might not be a God to grant them.

However, the 1st ed. AD&D DMG (p. 38) notes that 1st and 2nd level Cleric spells are not granted by  external agency but by 'education, training and experience', so there's no particular reason that the BOSR Cleric shouldn't be able to cast a few.

But only from 2nd level onwards, as tradition requires - and to hold back the magical industrial revolution.

If you want to be even more generous, a Cleric may cast spells per week as if they had bonus spells for high Wisdom, as per Wisdom Table II.: Adjustments for Clerics (1st ed. AD&D PH, p.11) but based on their Prime Requisite. 

Note that the 3rd and 4th level spells are granted by 'supernatural servants of the cleric's deity', and this should be a more-or-less direct exchange with otherworldly beings. This could definitely be interpreted as a demonic pact or devil worship, even if you believe/claim it's all the lovely saints in heaven. 

Clerics also have the some of the best access to books of instruction in dark magic, and should be allowed to dual-class as Magic Users. They should keep it secret, though.

Holy Relics for Cleric Spell-Casting and Turning Undead.

Let BOSR Clerics use holy relics to cast spells and Turn Undead as a RAW Cleric.

All holy relics allow BOSR Clerics to Turn Undead as a RAW Cleric of the same level. The Cleric must be touching the relic to do so.

If your setting doesn't normally give BOSR Clerics spell-casting, possession of a holy relic does: 1st and 2nd as a Cleric of your level, plus daily bonus spells for high Prime Requisite/ Wisdom. Some relics may be imbued with specific additional spells, which the Cleric may cast if of sufficient level. Spells can only be cast when in physical possession of the relic.

If you do give Clerics basic access to spells in your setting, a holy relic allows them to advance as a RAW spell-casting Cleric. Spell memorisation must be done in the presence of the relic, but it need not be on the Cleric's person. 

Only one Cleric can benefit from a relic at a time - it cannot be passed round.

The Church jealously and zealously keeps its relics close, and will not let just any Cleric stroll in and borrow one. Buying a relic is technically possible, but will be an enormous sum in treasure and obligation. The loan of a relic will often come with a hefty cost, and be accompanied by guardians with a responsibility to protect the relic, and to retrieve it rather than rescue you should your quest fail.

Commentary.

The religious context of the Cleric was explicitly disavowed in Mentzer Basic:

In D&D games, as in real life, people have ethical and theological beliefs.This game does not deal with those beliefs. All characters are assumed to have them, and they do not affect the game. They can be assumed, just as eating, resting, and other activities are assumed, and should not become part of the game.

This, I think, was a disservice, but makes some sense if/when you know that the archetype was Van Helsing from the Hammer films, rather than historical/legendary European figures (eg. Odo, Turpin, Joan of Arc).

Dragonwarriors, while there was no Cleric class (the nearest equivalents would be the Mystic, who might be a pagan, or a Knight with a holy relic), made it clear that religion was as much a part of Legend as it was of medieval Europe. And I also liked the disconnect, in that pagan gods and sorcery had a clear, objective reality, but the True Faith was as real or not real as IRL - holy relics notwithstanding.

The Cleric class, RAW, didn't feel like it had the space for the Clerics I was imagining - there wasn't the room for Joan of Arc and Matthew Hopkins and Brother Cadfael and Urbain Grandier and Hildegard von Bingen. 

My Cleric is based heavily on the Priest living from Maelstrom - apart from Benefit of Clergy (which is from my A-level Medieval History), all the special abilities come from that source. Based in 16th Century England, the milieu was closer to what I mistook for the implied world of D&D. I also drew on the 2e AD&D supplement A Mighty Fortress, which covers the same time period.

I call it the BOSR Cleric because I think British Old School attitudes to religion ranged from mildly agnostic to virulently atheist, with a streak of environmental/apocalyptic paganism running all the way through. And there's the old joke about not needing to believe in God to be part of the Church of England.

There's also a wide streak of bigotry running through the source material for the BOSR Cleric (see all of the above, plus Ken Russell's The Devils, and The Name of the Rose, book or film), but you don't have to play a cruel, misogynist hypocrite to have fun, do you? Despite the Gothic possibilities, not every Cleric has to be a monster.

Post-Script: Bard as Cleric.

The 2nd edition AD&D Bard only needs a light treatment to be reskinned as a Cleric variant: influence reactions (preach), inspire allies (bless/preach), countersong (vs. rival prayers and chants), literacy, history, identify magic items.

Even the Magic User spells and Thief skills can be justified as forbidden learning and general sneakiness.

Rangers are Bugbears and/or Halflings

Here are two different Rangers for Old School D&D adjacent games [edit: three, there's two Bugbear Rangers]. They owe a debt to two posts, both from B/X Blackrazor. The first I've already linked to in my recent post on halflings. The second, I just read yesterday and it helped condense some Ranger-based thoughts brought on by finding out about the pioneer sergeant/assault pioneers (beards, axes, clearing the way ahead).

None of these gets any spell-casting ability; that's on you if that's what you need.

[edit: Sorry they're not actually Halflings or Bugbears, either; that's also on you if that's what you need]

Old School Ranger as Halfling.

Halflings are stealthy, swift and hardy, so are Rangers.

• Use the Halfling class, but call it a Ranger. That's it. 
• AC bonus vs. larger-than-human covers AD&D 1e/2e bonuses vs. 'giant-class'/favoured enemy.
• Missile and Initiative bonuses are Ranger appropriate.
• Outdoor stealth is a no-brainer.
• Armour choices map to AD&D 1e.
• Weapon restrictions would fit with the environment of crowded trees and tangled undergrowth.

Further Elaboration (untested).

• Use Cleric or Thief saves instead, to offset the following.
• Give 2d6D1 hp at 1st level.
• Track as find secret doors/traps (or INT/WIS check).
• No XP bonus for high Ability Scores.

Old School Ranger as Bugbear.

(The B/X Blackrazor post explains what I mean better than me re-hashing it)

A bit more difficult, as there isn't a core class that can be directly reskinned.

Dwarf Hack (untested).

• Use the Dwarf class as the base, but regular Fighter saves.
• Feature swap: instead of infravision, they get the Bugbear's ability to surprise 1-3 on d6.
• Feature swap: instead of languages, they get 2d8D1 hp at 1st level.
• Feature swap: instead of detection, they can track 1-2 on d6.
• Same reasons for their weapon restrictions as Old School Ranger as Halfling.

Orcs of Thar Bugbear Hack (untested).

• Use the Bugbear class as the base.
• Do not apply Ability Score adjustments at chargen.
• Do not use negative XP levels (Youngster, Teenager).
• No infravision.
• Surprise 1-3 on d6.
• Start with 3d8+1 hp; no additional hp at 3rd & 7th level.
• Tracks as find secret doors/traps (or INT/WIS check).
• No XP bonus for high Ability Scores.

Commentary.

Rural folk hero, incognito king, brutal forester, unsociable monster hunter, practical bandit, hippy with a bow...

The Ranger is one of my all-time favourite* D&D classes (more accurately 1e/2e AD&D), and one that was conspicuously missing from the archetypes presented to me in my earliest game materials (the version in MERP didn't inspire much, but that was for me a wider problem with the setting and system).

1e Ranger was interesting; 2e was more like how I thought a Ranger should/would be (dual-wielding seemed right, though I wasn't aware of the influence of Drizzt Do'Urden on this). The modified Ranger of 1e Lankhmar setting, attaching to Fafhrd and assorted berserkers, and lacking alignment constraints, was a stepping stone between the two. 

My conception of the ranger was influenced more by reading the statblocks in White Dwarf, the brief description in What Is Dungeons & Dragons?, and hot-pants-and-face-like-a-crumpled-apple Aragorn of Ralph Bakshi's LOTR (first voice crush was likely John Hurt, though could just as easily be from Watership Down), than it was by what was intended in 1e AD&D. 

This conception has been updated since I came off ttrpg hiatus.

* My favourite is multi-class Fighter/Druid.