GLOG Class: Stochastic Templar
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Stochastic Templars are the knights of controlled chaos, reveling in channeled randomness with their signature power, THE HAND OF FATE. This unorthodox magic is widely recognized but difficult to classify, as its practitioners can only call on its powers during times of duress. In all other circumstances however, the Templars are known as skilled gamblers.
Starting Equipment: You start with a one-handed melee weapon, a shield, leather armor, a bag of jumbled polyhedral dice, and two decks of playing cards.
Starting Skill: You have the Gambler skill and one of the following (1d6):
- Statistics
- Deception
- Head Maths
- Religion
- Bartending
- Law
For every template of Stochastic Templar you have, get +1 save.
A: Hand of Fate, +1 Attack, +3 Hand Size
B: Jack, Mulligan, +1 Hand Size
C: Queen, Looting or Thinning or Sculpting, +1 Hand Size
D: King, Jackpot or Force or +1 Play and Hand Size, +1 Hand Size
Hand of Fate
Note: Playing the Stochastic Templar requires a standard 54-card deck.
At the beginning of any encounter in which you roll initiative, you draw up to your hand size in cards from the shuffled deck. At Template A, you must remove all Kings, Queens, and Jacks before shuffling. As you gain templates, you no longer have to remove them. At the end of each turn in initiative, discard all unplayed cards and draw back up to your full hand size. When your deck is emptied, shuffle all discarded cards back into the deck and continue drawing. Your deck always resets after each rest, and you may choose to reset it after lunch as well. Cards in your hand may be played according to Table: Play Effects, and you may make one play on each of your turns.
Rules
- Aces are High or Low, whichever is better
- Jokers are Wild, and can be any value and suite. They also allow plays to ignore antimagic.
- Durations are until the start of your next turn unless stated otherwise or reasonably instantaneous.
Table: Play Effects
Rank effects are given in Table: Rank Effects.
| Play | Means | Action | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Any one card with a rank | On-hit, parry | Substitute the play's rank for a damage or parry roll you make (up to the maximum value possible for the die) |
| Pair | Two cards with the same rank | As rank | Activate the play's pair rank effect |
| Two Pairs | Two pairs | As rank | Activate the pair rank effect of one of the pairs twice |
| Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same rank | As rank | Activate the play's triple rank effect |
| Straight | Five cards with sequential ranks | As rank | Activate any triple rank effect in the straight |
| Flush | Five cards with the same suite | Free | Automatically hit an enemy you can see with a weapon on your person, heal an ally you can see for 1d6+[level], or succeed on a skill or luck test |
| Full House | A pair and a three of a kind | As rank | Activate the play's triple-rank effect twice |
| Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same rank | As rank | Activate the play's quad rank effect |
| Straight Flush | Five cards of the same suite and sequential ranks | Free | Get a least wish roughly equivalent to one of the following: Deal double damage to an enemy you can see with a weapon on your person (automatically hitting), heal an ally you can see for 4d6+[level], or wildly succeed on a skill or luck test. Using Jokers Wild makes this a Flush instead |
| Royal Flush | A 10, J, Q, K, and A, all in the same suite | Free | Get a minor wish roughly equivalent to one of the following: Deal quadruple damage to an enemy you can see with a weapon on your person (automatically hitting), fully heal an ally you can see, or wildly succeed on all skill or luck tests in the next minute. Using Jokers Wild makes this a Straight Flush instead |
| Blackjack | Any number of cards with a total rank of 21 | On-hit, parry | Substitute a damage or parry die with an exploding d20+1 |
| Seven Ate Nine | A 7, 8, and 9, regardless of suite | Free | +1 hand size for the rest of the encounter, maximum of double size |
| Poker Face | A J, Q, and K | Free | For the rest of the encounter, you may discard any number of cards and redraw the same amount once per turn before you play |
Table: Rank Effects
| Rank | Action | Play | Play Pair | Play Triple | Play Quad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ace | Free | High | Flight at full speed | Flight at 3x speed | Flight at 10x speed, feather fall |
| 2 | Parry | High | Parry 1d6 | Parry 1d12 | Parry all damage |
| 3 | Move | High | Roll once on Item Roulette | Roll twice on Item Roulette, choose one | Roll three times on Item Roulette, get all three |
| 4 | On-Hit | High | Attack chains (same attack roll) to one additional target within 30’, deals minimum damage | Attack chains (same attack roll) to one additional target within 30’, deals normal damage | Attack chains (same attack roll) to up to three additional targets within 30’, deals normal damage |
| 5 | Parry | High | One visible ally gets a free reroll on a roll, choosing the better result | You and one visible ally get a free reroll on a roll, choosing the better result | You and any number of visible allies each get a free reroll on a roll, choosing the better result |
| 6 | On-Hit | High | Struck target is entangled as if by a ghost touch net (-2 attack/defense) | Struck target is entangled as if by a ghost touch web (-4 attack/defense) | Struck target is entangled and immobilized as if by anchored ghost touch adamantine chains (-6 attack/defense) |
| 7 | On-Hit | High | You heal 1d6+1 hit points | You or an ally within 30’ heals 2d6+[templates] hit points | You and an ally within 30’ heal 4d6+[templates] hit points |
| 8 | Free | High | Target enemy coughs up HDd6 sp on death | Target enemy coughs up 2xHDd6 gp on death | All enemies in this encounter vomit up (HD^2)d6 gp on death |
| 9 | Action | High | Summon a 1 HD loyal homunculus for 2d6 rounds | Summon a 2 HD loyal amalgam for 2d6 rounds | Summon a 2+[templates] HD loyal chimera for 2d6 rounds |
| 10 | Move | High | Increase your Hand Size by 1 for the rest of the encounter | Increase your Hand Size by 3 for the rest of the encounter | Increase your Hand Size by 3 for the rest of the encounter and get +1 play next turn |
| Jack | Action | High | Deal 1d6 fire damage in a 20’ radius within 200’, dexterity save for half | Deal 2d6 fire damage in a 20’ radius within 200’, dexterity save for half | Deal 4d6 fire damage in a 20’ radius within 200’, dexterity save for half. Choose one: it deals [templates] additional damage or allies automatically save |
| Queen | Free | High | Turn invisible (hostile action negates) | Turn invisible | Turn invisible for one minute |
| King | Move | High | Strength and Constitution 18 or +3, whichever is better. King II can be held for a future round before your next rest or lunch | Strength and Constitution 18 or +3, whichever is better. Weapon dice up two steps. King III can be held for a future round before your next rest or lunch | Strength and Constitution 18 or +3, whichever is better. Weapon dice up two steps. Immune to Fear and Compulsion. Lasts a minute, leaves behind a one-round version of King IV that can be used until your next rest or lunch |
| Joker | Free | +2 Hand Size next turn | Roll on the Magic Roulette table | n/a | n/a |
Mulligan
The first time you draw a hand each encounter, you may discard it and redraw a full hand.
Looting
After drawing your hand, look at the top 2 cards of your deck. You may immediately discard both of them.
Thinning
Whenever you would draw from an empty deck, you may remove a rank from your deck for the rest of the day before shuffling. Whenever you receive magical healing, you must save or return a removed rank to your discard pile.
Sculpting
You may choose not to discard up to 2 unplayed cards in your hand at the end of your turn. You still only draw up to your maximum hand size.
Jackpot
Once per encounter you may declare a Jackpot, doubling the benefit of any play that is not a High or single Pair. Jackpot is free on 8’s rank effect.
Force
After drawing, you may discard a card and look at the top 4 cards of your deck. Put 1 into your hand shuffle the others back into your deck. (Force precedes Looting if relevant)
Other Tables
Table: Item Roulette (1d6)
- A third-slot of cow dung. A mundane weapon or slot of mundane ammunition if your play was Quads.
- A slot of (3) torches.
- A slot (30') of hemp rope.
- A third-slot of rations (1).
- A two-slot 11' pole.
- A third-slot 1d6+1 minor healing potion.
Table: Joker Roulette (1d6)
- A third-slot of gold manure usable as paint or fertilizer (30gp).
- Immediate random encounter but the encounter is a huge fan of yours and won't want to fight you.
- A random item in your inventory becomes enchanted. It is one of the following (1d3): significant, permanent, or relevant.
- Remove all ticks from a random stat and put one in each other stat.
- Learn a spell of your choice for the day and gain [templates] MD for the same duration. You have no mishaps or banes.
- Polymorph into a random monster, excluding <1 HD creatures and regular animals.
Summon Statistics
Loyal Homunculus
A gribbly, naked, half-melted little fellow with puppy-dog eyes.
HD: 1+1 (6 HP)
Wants: to serve the master like a prototype Igor.
Armor: as leather
Move: normal
Morale: 12
Damage: 1d6 or as weapon. He's proficient with any mundane weapon but refuses to wield magic weapons - he considers himself unworthy.
Loyal Amalgam
A tall and muscled flesh golem with a haughty expression.
HD: 2+1 (12 HP)
Wants: to serve father/mother like an obedient child. Until its time is up, at which point there is a 3-in-6 chance that it was just about to betray you but missed its chance.
Armor: as chain
Move: normal
Morale: 12
Damage: 1d8+1 or as weapon+1. It's proficient with any weapon.
Loyal Chimera
A hulking beast that fuses the nastiest and strongest creatures in the animal kingdom into one ogre-sized humanoid with the mien of a poet.
HD: 2+[templates]+1 HD (6 x HD HP)
Wants: to serve its creator with passion and noblesse.
Armor: as plate
Move: as bear
Morale: 12
Damage: 1d12+3 or as weapon+3 plus a special attack. It's proficient with any mundane weapon and treats human-sized weapons as one step lighter.
The special attack is usually something like fire-breathing, a serpent-headed tail, or hypnotic eyes. GM decides.