GLOG Classes: Elf Warrior & Elf Wanderer

I don't post much. I forgot I even had a blog.

I've been playing in a GLOG game for a bit over a year now. We've been running Stonehell using Skerple's Many Rats on Sticks, with only a bit of homebrew. I couldn't resist writing my own class though, and worked with my DM to get something that would fit both the original rules and their setting.

I noticed Elf Wizards as a class, and thought it needed a couple companions. The obvious choices were a fighter and a ranger/warden, thus the Elf Warrior and Elf Wanderer.

After playing the Warrior for a while, I can say this class is badass but not overpowered. That said, I would maybe change up some things about him. I am not sold on the cleave template. It should maybe be something movement based, to compliment the hit and run style of this fighter. (Actually, I did end up swapping it out for Leaf on the Wind after posting.)

The Wanderer has not yet been played, and maybe Stonehell isn't the best place for them, but I would love to try them out on a hex crawl at some point. Their abilities are meant to reflect sage-like, nature stuff. Both classes have abilities reminiscent of Chainmail style elves. Bibliographies at the bottom.

I also started a table for "elvish origin" but we didn't use it and I ended up forgetting about it. I would love ideas to finish this table off, with both boons and banes.
They started out for the setting of our game, with "Elves" being the salve race created by the true alien elves, who have long since disappeared. Elves mostly come from the Glass Coast, a shattered land that was decimated by magic long ago, and now is full of scavengers and antiquated lords vying for power.
But I'm open to anything really.

Legend of Zelda

Elf Warrior

Per Template: +2 Save vs Curses
Starting Equipment: Leather armour, blood-red or shimmering silver cloak, longsword or bow and 40 arrows

A) First Blood, Expertise
B) Arrow Splitter, Catlike Stride
C) Leaf on the Wind
D) Steel Gaze, Elven Mail

First Blood (A) If you strike an enemy before they strike you, do 1d6 bonus damage. This only works against an enemy one time.

Expertise (A) Whenever you roll your level of templates on an attack, you can attempt a Combat Maneuver against the recipient, as a free action. You must narrate how it works. IE: Pinning their arm to a door with an arrow, as a grapple or disarm from distance; a quick stomp to their instep, as a trip.

Arrow Splitter (B) You can try to parry incoming projectiles by rolling a melee attack better than their ranged, destroying the projectile in the process. If a projectile naturally misses you, you may deflect it in a direction of your choosing. If you use this to make an attack, do so with a -4 penalty.

Catike Stride (B) You move like a jungle cat. Where a person could move slowly and silently, you can move silently at a normal pace; where a person could leap with a movement check, you can leap without one; where a person could climb with equipment, you can climb with fingers and toes.

Leaf on the Wind (C) As long as you end your movement on solid ground, you can move over things that wouldn’t normally support your weight: tree branches, clotheslines, spear tips, the surface of the water, etc. You can wall run, but are not able to stop this movement on a wall.

Steel Gaze (D) Your gaze projects an intimidating aura of calm. Nameless mooks (anyone of 2HD or less, that the DM hasn't bothered to name) and dumb animals will avoid fucking with you if at all possible, and anyone who looks you in the eye is instantly convinced of your ability as a warrior.

Elven Mail (D) Armour takes up 1 less Inventory Slot, and has 2 less penalty to Movement and Stealth.

Iris Compiet for Wizards of the Coast

Elf Wanderer

Per Template: +1 Stealth
Every Two Templates: +2 Movement
Starting Equipment: Walking stick, skinning knife, grey-green waterproof cloak, sturdy boots, waybread
Starting Skill: Wilderness

A) Elven Scavenging, Star Eyed
B) Walk Unseen 
C) Animal Whisperer, Old Bones
D) Voices Forgotten, Ambusher

Elven Scavenging (A) Choose two of the following adjectives: Forested, frigid, windswept, arid, damp, craggy, coastal, spooky, barren, populated, abandoned
When in an area described by that adjective, you can light a fire, follow tracks, construct any survival tools that could be made out of natural materials, find simple shelter or find anything else you might reasonably hope for - healing herbs, a walking stick, a quiet fishing hole, etc. The rarer the object of your search, the longer it takes to find. 
Every template gained, add another adjective.

Star Eyed (A) You treat starlight as sunlight. If you can see the stars, you can see as well as you can during the day. You can also see for miles and miles, much further than a mere mortal.
You can use your knowledge of the stars to chart your exact place in the world, and track paths, destinations, and distances. You are never lost, as long as you can see the stars.

Walk Unseen (B) If you draw up the hood of your cloak, you can move without being spotted. Choose [templates] of the following that are true. Whichever ones you don't choose aren't true.

• You won't be seen
• You won't be heard
• You won't leave tracks, scent, or trail
• You can move at a full pace
• You can do it with your weapons out and ready
• Your comrades can still see and hear you

Animal Whisperer (C) You generally know how to soothe animals, guide them, and frighten them. You can tell what an animal wants by examining it for a few moments, and what it very much doesn't want by studying it for a few moments more. You are talented at picking out the tracks, markings, and remains of animals, and can always tell when you've entered one's territory. 
You can also talk with certain animals. Animals don't speak like humans, they're less grammatical and structured, but you can understand them nonetheless. Roll 2d6 and describe how the two relate:

1. Cats (and a few other felines)
2. Crows (and most other corvids)
3. Horses (and most other equines)
4. Moths (and a few other lepidopterans)
5. Mice (and a few other rodents)
6. Snakes (and no other reptiles)

Old Bones (C) Once per day, if you rub shoulders and stamp your feet while ruefully gazing at the sky, you can ask the GM what the weather will be for the next [templates] days; the GM will answer you truthfully.
Alternatively, you can ask when the next occurrence of a given weather pattern (rain, fog, snow, a cloudless hot day, etc.) will occur; if it is within [template] weeks, the GM will answer you truthfully.

Voices Forgotten (D) You can talk to non-animal things as if they were animals. The secret language of things is even stranger and less human than the words of animals, but you can still understand their voices. Roll 2d6 and describe how the two relate:

1. Stones (and most other minerals)
2. Trees (and a few other plants)
3. Rivers (and most other flowing bodies of water)
4. Wind (and a few other weather patterns)
5. Roads (and most other established pathways)
6. Fire (and no other chemical processes)

Ambusher (D) If you attack a foe from an advantageous situation (while concealed, from high ground, etc) you deal an additional 1d6 damage.

Warrior Bibliography
http://whosemeasure.blogspot.com/2020/01/osr-how-to-design-glog-fighters.html
https://hglog.tumblr.com/post/631264133166268416/random-card-posts-green-mana-and-elves-so-since
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_iEoOablT0aZ2bVhizqDWgUS9z1QuKE7/view
https://as-they-must.blogspot.com/2022/04/they-do-not-know-how-to-do-right-glog.html
https://madqueenscourt.blogspot.com/2021/03/grass-grows-birds-fly-sun-shines-and.html
https://as-they-must.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-could-i-of-all-people-fall-silent.html
https://riseupcomus.blogspot.com/2019/02/glog-monk-traditions-and-techniques.html

Wanderer Bibliography
https://caput-caprae.blogspot.com/2020/12/glog-class-ranger.html
https://xenophonsramblings.blogspot.com/2021/06/glog-ranger.html
http://riseupcomus.blogspot.com/2020/05/classic-fantasy-races-for-glog.html
https://xenophonsramblings.blogspot.com/2020/06/glog-scout-and-wanderer.html
https://as-they-must.blogspot.com/2022/04/they-do-not-know-how-to-do-right-glog.html

GLOG Class: Military Veteran

I have a bunch of semi-finished classes sitting in a document. They all belong in a single setting, and work together in some way. So far I have posted two Combatants and one Reprobate. Since I've got the urge to group them in threes, I might as well post the other combatant.

The setting, such as it were, formed quite organically in my head, pulling from here and there. I thought, if one class is a orcish military deserter then what's the other side of that conflict? A soldier of some kind. Perhaps a rifleman. Turnip28 was starting on the rise. There is a rulebook out now, if you are unawares. 
Basically, it is a wargame for strange Napoleonesque/armoured soldiers in delightfully grimy kitbashes, covered in roots and vegetables. Well that added the aesthetic inspiration.

Otherwise the omnipresent Zouave, the Artillerist, the Veteran, and other bits were mixed into the stew.
What came out was not all the way finished, but fit with the concept. I imagine this army comes from a city on the edge of the weird and wild wastes, a bastion to hold back the odd, though their city itself would be an oddity, under an indigo sky and secretly run by a cabal of magic cats.
Or some nonsense like that. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Max FitzGerald Art

Military Veteran

For every template of this class gain +1 Inventory slot. For every even template gain +1 ATK.
Starting gear: Rifle & powderhorn, sabre or mace, uniform (as leather), worn helmet or fancy headwear, telescope, vacuum flask

A) Nonplussed, Rifleman’s Creed
B) Drinking Buddies, War Hardened
C) Sleep With One Eye Open, Five Shots Or Six 
D) Impossible Shot, Defensive Positioning

Nonplussed (A) You have +2 save vs Fear. If you succeed, allies who can see or hear you have +2 bonus to their save. If you fail, but have a loaded gun, you may take a single shot before initiating the effects.

Rifleman’s Creed (A) There are many like it, but this one is mine. You can dismantle, clean, repair, and reassemble your rifle while blindfolded. You can reload in half the time, and on the move. If your weapon misfires, it only fails to fire and can be fired normally next round.

Drinking Buddies (B) Veterans or mercenaries, you know them well. You can call upon them for a small favour, like dinner and a place to sleep for the night, or an audience with the local baron. You may ask them for a larger favour, but they’ll ask a favour of you in return. It’s possible that you already owe them a favour. There's at least 1 Drinking Buddy in any tavern, and more in larger settlements.
Additionally, any flask you have always seems to have a slug for a buddy, even if it is your last.

War Hardened (B) You can smell a human corpse from two hundred feet. If you stay perfectly still for a full minute, you can hear the difference between a dark room which is silent and a dark room in which someone is not making a sound.

Sleep With One Eye Open (C) You sleep comfortably in full armour, in any weather, without a bedroll, and with your rifle loaded and at the ready. You cannot be surprised during sleep. If you are attacked during sleep you automatically act in the first round, before any enemies.

Five Shots or Six (C) You have a 1-in-6 chance to have one last round in the chamber after firing all shots.

Impossible Shot (D) Once per combat, you can make an impossible shot with your rifle. The shot can strike a target around a corner, cut a falling coin in half, or ricochet half a dozen times before parting the hair on a hostage's head. The shot automatically hits. Roll for damage normally.

Defensive Positioning (D) When using cover, you gain double the defensive bonus. When not in cover, and under fire, you may use a reaction to attempt to roll towards any cover within 10 feet. Roll a dodge save, taking half damage on success, but double damage on a failure.

GLOG Class: Nomadic Swordsman

When I took the standard fantasy game rage mechanic and applied to the Fanged Deserter, it felt good. That particular mechanic always felt like more of a berserker thing than a barbarian thing.
I'm talking Conan, Sonja, Fafrhd, He-Man, Golden Axe, etc... Sword and Sorcery. 
I picture muscle bound hard bods, with limited clothing. Natural leaders. Usually they oppose evil wizards. Happily, those things are also available. So what else is a barbarian to me?

Well, a highly competent fighter who goes from place to place, solving a problem, and moving on. A constant outsider who does not set down roots. They are adept with many weapons, but mostly use a sword. Madmartigan fits this bill. Also wandering ronin from various movies. This is something I think I could work with. 

The techniques were inspired by various other blogs seen.

Yojimbo (1961)

Nomadic Swordsman

For every odd template of this class gain +1 ATK. For every even template of this class gain +1 critical range.
Starting gear: Loincloth and cloak or kimono, fur hat or straw hat, wine skin, sword of choice

1. Blades Of Grass, Outsider, +1 Technique

2. Quickness Of A Panther; Strength Of A Grizzly,  +1 Technique

3. Show No Pain, +1 Technique

4. Standoff, Riddle of Steel, +1 Technique

Blades of Grass (A) You can hear the grass move, and sense the motion of things around you. You cannot be ambushed by anything that can make noise. 50% chance to act in surprise round; 100% on template C.

Outsider (A) It's obvious to everyone who sees you that you are not from around here. You can always find someone to explain what's happening, find people looking for disposable assistance, and find people interested in foreign cultures.

Quickness of a Panther; Strength of a Grizzly (B) Add CON and DEX to your defence, when not wearing armour.

Show No Pain (C) Once per day per Nomad template, you can negate all incoming damage from an attack, noting the damage you would have taken. At the end of combat, suffer that much damage or save for half.

Standoff (D) Once per encounter, you may challenge a single character to a standoff. If accepted, they undertake an opposed attack roll. The loser is killed outright.

Techniques:

1) Cull the Herd When you kill a target or deal max damage, you can make another attack (if your movement provides), as many times as Nomad templates you have.

2) Reckless Abandon Gain advantage on your next attack, but allow the enemy to attack you in retaliation.

3) One Thousand Strikes An attack’s damage may be split among all adjacent creatures, as long as your attack passes said creature’s defences.

4) Perfect Parry Whenever you parry with your weapon, the damage you would take is reflected back at the attacker. Additionally, you may make a free attack against them, with disadvantage.

5) Perfect Disarm Once per fight, you may disarm an opponent with no save, after which you may make a save to catch the item in your free hand.

6) Arrow Splitter You can try to parry incoming projectiles by destroying them. If a projectile misses you, you may deflect it in a direction of your choosing. If you use this to make an attack, do so at -4.

7) Feint Superiority Once per round, only on an attack, a fumble was a feint. You make another attack immediately.

8) Flowing Strike Whenever you hit, you may try another attack against the same target, with a downgraded damage die. You may do this repeatedly until you cannot downgrade further. (ie d8>d6>d4)

9) Terrifying Murder Whenever you kill a target, you do so in a gruesome manner. Opponents who are within fifteen feet make a morale check, with a -2 penalty, otherwise they take 1d4 emotional damage. (Or they could just flee in terror, whatever)

10) Blade that was Broken You may sunder a weapon. This reduces all incoming damage from one attack, but breaks the weapon.

GLOG Classes: Fanged Deserter & Gutterborn Scum

I like Mörk Borg. It's quite popular, so I'm not alone in this.
Gorgeous rule book. Difficult to read at first, but drips in atmosphere. Rules are deceptively simple, which I love.

Looking at Borg classes, I was inspired to try putting some into GLOG.
Obviously we all do this with our own prejudices. 

The first one that stuck out to me is the first class presented, the Fanged Deserter.
To me, this seems intended as the orc of the game. Now, personally, I do not like DnD orcs. I do not like most orc depictions. They tend to fall under "noble savage" or "dumb murderer" tropes, and I don't care for either of those.

Personally, I like orcs as presented in Lord of the Rings, especially the '70s cartoon versions. To me, orcs are wretched creatures, tortured and twisted into what amounts to genetically bred soldiers. I love their song in the Hobbit cartoon, going, "We don't want to go to war today! But the lord of the lash says nay nay nay!"
They didn't ask for this. They don't want it. Going to war fucking sucks, but what can they do?
All of this struck as what the Fanged Deserter is about, be it Orcs or Hobgoblins or Gnolls or Troglodytes. Any sub-human creature who lives in a culture of conscription and has a bunch of nasty teeth and possibly eats man-flesh.

As I started the conversion of the class to GLOG compatible, I found I didn't love a bunch of the abilities presented in the Borg book. I looked at the original GLOG's rules for Fighters and Barbarians.
Then I found Caput Caprae's Scavver and it started to click for me. A lot of these were great, especially Iron Rations, though I soon realized that this class actually worked even better for the next Borg class, Gutterborn Scum. Filling the Scavver out with a few things from Borg was easy.

Turning back to Fanged Deserter I found more inspiration in The Oblidisideryptch's Soldier. Then found a clever way to implement Wizard's Teeth, thanks to Greyson Yandt's Dental Manvscript, and others found here or there that I cannot recall at this time. I felt more set. It might not be 100%, might be a little overpowered, but I think I accomplished my design goals.

The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)

Fanged Deserter

For every odd template of this class gain +1 ATK. For every even template of this class gain +1 damage.
Deserters have disadvantage in social situations.
Starting gear: Rusty foreign blade, metal helmet, black armour (as leather or chain), choice of: shield, spear, dagger

A) Gnashing Of Teeth, Iron Rations, Flashbacks
B) Rusty Blade, Forced March
C) Meat’s Back On The Menu, Wizard Teeth
D) Filthy Rusty Blade, Where There's A Whip

Gnashing of Teeth (A) You can attack with teeth, doing d6 Damage. 2-in-6 chance the enemy gets a free attack.

Iron Rations (A) You can eat almost anything, and it counts as a meal. Alcohol, ditch-water, rats, feces, etc. You have a 4-in-6 to find a meal anywhere. You have advantage on saves against eating bad food: indigestion, food poisoning (but not poisoned food), food- and water-borne disease, the runs, etc.

Flashbacks (A) You have flashbacks of the horror of battle. You gain +1 attack and damage, and do not suffer the effects of pain until the flashback is over. All actions must be taken towards defeating your enemies, and you cannot perform other actions until they are defeated or driven off. If fear is cast on you the only effect is the caster is now your primary target.
If an ally has injured you, you see them as an enemy. 3-in-6 chance you see all allies as enemies. 
At the start of a turn, you may try to calm yourself, unless under the effects of fear. If you succeed you can do no more on your turn. If you fail, you take your turn as normal.

Rusty Blade (B) Your rusty blade is rife with disease. Enemies of your level HD have a 1-in-6 chance of getting sepsis, causing them to be sickened and die within the day. They can take no more actions other than excreting from both ends. Enemies of higher HD instead become poisoned.
If your blade is destroyed, you can always find a new blade, somewhere in the mire or muck.
Filthy Rusty Blade (D) Your blade has become filthy with use. Chance is now 3-in-6

Forced March (B) You ignore 1 exhaustion per Deserter template. You can stand 2 nights watches without incurring exhaustion.
Additionally, when not in combat your party may travel normal speed over rough terrain.

Meat’s Back On The Menu (C) You can make an appropriate amount of meals out of any slain enemy, provided they did not die of disease, poison, or are naturally poisonous. Anyone consuming these meals gains an extra 1d4 HP.
Additionally, you roll with advantage on any healing done via eating meat.

Wizard Teeth (C) You have collected a pouch of wizard teeth. You may implant one into your mouth at any time, and reap the rewards. You may use the following teeth:

Wisdom Teeth Within the next half hour you find an item thought lost by you or another party member.

Intelligence Teeth You declare something to be true. You have a 50% chance of being correct, but you don't find out right away; the GM will roll when it matters. You might only be partially correct, but you will never be catastrophically wrong.

Strength Teeth For one round you act with 22 Strength.

Dexterity Teeth +1 to critical range for 10 rounds.

Constitution Teeth Either You have 4 rounds instead of 3 to remove all your fatal wounds Or Reduce incoming damage by 1d4 for ten rounds.

Charisma Teeth For half an hour, you are glamoured. Instead of disadvantage, gain advantage to social situations.

You may use these a number of times as you have Deserter templates, but you can only benefit from each tooth once a day. When extracting teeth from your mouth, pass a save or lose 1d3 HP. 

Where There's a Whip (D) Any damage you take during a round of flashback can then be added to your next attack that round.

 

Mörk Borg core rule book

Gutterborn Scum

For every template of this class gain +1 Stealth.
Starting gear: Lockpicks, ragged clothing, a found weapon such as a broken bottle or firstfull of nails (as dagger)

A) Practical Looting, Nicked It
B) Excretal Stealth, This Is A Knife
C) Nobody’s Nobody, Survive By Not Being There
D) Extremely Practical, Human Canary, Death Dodger

Practical Looting (A) When looting a humanoid, roll twice and take both results. If somebody else has searched the body, you may still roll once. If you would receive money, gems, or other "direct" valuables, they can instead be something you can immediately wear on your person. You have 3 extra inventory slots for high priced items.
Examples include: Brooches, cufflinks, jewellery, pocket watches, gold teeth, glass eyes, rabbit’s feet, nic-nacs, etc.
Extremely Practical (D) You can now loot non-humanoids in this same manner. Gain 3 extra inventory slots for high priced items.

Nicked It (A) For any small item left unattended in the open, you have a 3-in-6 chance to steal it without being (immediately) noticed. If searched, you have a 1-in-6 chance to successfully conceal it about your person. If you elect to not nick an item in the moment, you later have a 1-in-6 chance to retroactively declare you did.
All three of these increase by 1-in-6 per Scum template you have.
If you nick something belonging to a party member, they or any other party member can make a Strength or Charisma check to bully you into giving it up.

Excretal Stealth (B) When hiding in muck, filth, debris, etc, roll with advantage.
(Alternatively, those searching for you roll with disadvantage.)

This is a Knife (B) Any weapon or object you're wielding can deal an additional 1d4 damage. This causes the item to be permanently lost or destroyed.

Nobody’s Nobody (C) You can pass yourself off as a lowest-level member of any organization you are somewhat familiar with. You can present, fake, or excuse the proper documentation, pass-phrases, uniforms, and other necessary info and gear to do so, enough to pass basic inspection. Any greater level of scrutiny will almost certainly detect you, but ordinary observers won't.
If an authority figure ever examines the party to determine who is most important (to hit with a horrible spell, say, or to assign blame), it's never you.

Survive by not Being There (C) When initiative is rolled, you always go first, but only if you use your first turn's movement and action to run, hide, avoid danger, cower, or otherwise get yourself out of harm's way.

Human Canary (D) When you save vs. physical danger (spinning saw blades and petrification count, but charm and fear don't), you gain a bonus to your save equal to the number of your comrades that are physically between you and the source of the danger.
If you are forcibly volunteered to be the first one to go into danger, you gain a bonus to your save equal to the number of your comrades that didn't go first. Those bastards.

Death Dodger (D) On death, if there is the slightest possibility that you survived, there is a 50% chance that you did. If successful, after 10 rounds you pop back up with d4 HP and an unlikely explanation of your escape.

Simple House Rules in the current game.

It was either this or "Temple of the Elephant" and this was a little more badass.

Like many before me, I use house rules when I DM.
They are clunky. They are odd. They might be missing pieces. They are continuously edited.

There are three 4-6 page documents. This is all I can get my players to read, and even then they breeze through so it's mostly for me to keep track.

Basic Rules. Character Creation. Equipment Guide.

These rules originated as a strange hybrid of 4th Edition Dungeons + Dragons, and various skirmish game rules I had been browsing at the time. I liked the feel of half board game / half roleplay.
(Later I would check out HeroQuest.)
But slowly OSR stuff started to creep in. Dungeon Crawl Classics was the biggest influence. Luck becoming a mechanic, though it's not often used. I used DCC as a template when we played in a virtual tabletop over pandemic.

After finding a bunch of things I like, I then decided to trim the fat.

There are no character classes. Characters are differentiated by heritage. Standard fantasy elves/dwarves/hobbits are there, but my own favourite pet race, changelings.

Also, stats became JUST the modifiers, since that was all we ever used.

It's been decent, it's been fun for our table. The rules mutate as things get learned, and they change as the table plays further. My players can be opinionated, so I always have a round table discussion before setting some off the fly ruling in stone.

Recently, I've been looking harder at GLOG. Sure, some things slipped in before, but I had not tried to fully understand it. There are some interesting things in there, and I like the way it's encouraged to make it your own.
To that, I started looking at classes again, and coming up with some. This means, of course, that now I have to go ahead and write my own GLOG rules, even though plopping a new ruleset down would confuse my players. It's a good mental exercise though, and maybe I will get to play a game with it some day.

To wit, I will post some classes herein.