THE IMBRUED

A while back, I wrote up a new class for The Nightmares Underneath that was heavily inspired by the Abomination class from Darkest Dungeon. It was actually a conversion of a class that I initially wrote up for use with For Coin and Blood (a neat Swords and Wizardry derivative that I recommend checking out).

The original For Coin and Blood write-up of the class, along with another class and some house rules, can be found here if you are particularly curious.

The idea behind the class is that it can transform between two states--one a defensive mode, with high AC but less HP and combat power, and the other an aggressive mode, with more combat power but more vulnerability. In many ways, it is really just an alternative take on a barbarian/berserker style class.

I recently cleaned it up, incorporating some feedback from others--including Johnstone--for inclusion in The Long Bright Dark. The revisions to the rules are fairly minor but I have re-conceptualised it as a daemon-host. The full class is presented below:

Imbrued Due to the time that it spent lost in Tartarus, the walls between real-space and the space-between are weakened in many places across Gaea. Most daemons cannot manage more than a liminal manifestation, but there are a small few with the potency to slip into this world and take command of the will of man or beast. Fewer in number still are those victims with the force of will, religious conviction or canny bargaining ability to seize back control of their bodies, and bind the power of the daemon within themselves. Terrifying to behold, but physically and spiritually potent, the so-called Imbrued can make a powerful companion. Hit Die: 1d4 Primary Attributes: Ferocity and Willpower

Restrictions: You may use any weapons and armour, but if you manifest your daemon-form while wearing armour (other than a shield), the armour is destroyed. When you are in your daemon-form, you may only speak in the language of daemons, but most people won’t talk to you anyway. You come from the Daemon-Touched background. Skills: Imbrued come from many walks of life, and may have a variety of skills. Work with your GM to determine one or two areas of skill from your old life. In addition, the daemon bound to you will have certain knowledge, and will manifest certain physical changes. Work with your GM to determine an area of knowledge known to your daemon, and two or so physical changes that take place when you manifest your daemon-form. When you use one of your skills in a risky manner (you must be in your daemon-form to take advantage of its physical manifestations) you must roll equal to or lower than one of your attribute scores on a d20 to successfully perform the task. The GM will tell you which attribute score to use. Special abilities:

• In order to control your daemon, you are covered in tattoos, amulets or ritual scars, when you are in your normal form and are not wearing armour (other than a shield) you have psychic armour (1d4), treat your armour rating as 15, and may abjure daemons and spirits as a Faithful.
• At any time, you may relinquish some control to your daemon and manifest your daemon-form (it is up to you to describe what the transformation looks like), or return to human form.
• You automatically revert to your normal form if you fall asleep or unconscious.
• When you manifest your daemon-form, you lose all psychic armour, re-roll your disposition with a 1d8 Hit Dice and all of your allies that are present must roll equal to or lower than their willpower or lose disposition equal to your twice your level.
• When you are in your daemon-form, you attack as a fighter and your Hit Dice becomes 1d8, but when you attack with anything other than the natural weapons of your daemon-form your Hit Dice is treated as 1d4 for dealing damage.
• When you return to your normal form, if your disposition is higher than it was before you transformed it reverts to the old disposition, and you may re-roll your psychic armour.

The original version for The Nightmares Underneath is below, if you are interested.

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