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GAMEMASTERING

MISCELLANEOUS THINGS

CURSES

Curses are usually vulnerability to some attack type (not physical, except a small sub-class!), stupidity or some more non-instant curse, like allergies or something like 'your first born son will be a total imbecile', 'your hair will fall down and you'll become bald', 'windows will break near you', 'you can never have a baby', 'your eyes will become yellow', 'you will womit frogs when lying' or 'your breath will be foul smelling'.
Even normal vulnerability curses must be phrased appropriately, like 'you will become sick and cannot endure diseases' (vulnerability to disease) etc. If the target has innate immunity or resistance, the curse will lessen them by one until vulnerability is caused; it does not affect attributes granted by items or enchantments.

Curses in worn items usually prevent removal of the item. In addition, cursed fragile items tend to break, weapons to become dull or magical items to have unpredictable results.

DEATH

When a creature dies, his spirit starts to wander the area near the dying place. At the time of the dying and during each following sunrise (or equivalent), roll a final death roll for creature, adding +2 dice for each day. If the roll succeeds, the Death itself arrives and takes the spirit away, and the creature cannot be resurrected nor reincarnated anymore. Please note that some creatures cause permanent death regardless of any rebirth counters.

Final death: a creature cannot be held away from Death's domain infinitely. Each time the creature dies and during each sunrise, roll a d20 for each rebirth counter on creature, adding 2 dice for each day spent dead. If any of the dice come up as '1', the Death arrives and the creature cannot be resurrected anymore. Otherwise, the spirit stays for a while. Note that characters may be able to negotiate the Death to keep away once, but that's an absolute limit!

DESTINY REROLLS

High level characters have destiny to do some great deeds. To reflect this, they are given destiny rerolls from levels, see characters. When a character fails a save or a roll that would result in death, a destiny reroll can be used by the GM to reroll that roll. This can be done only once per roll, and if the new roll fails, too, the character dies anyway.
However, if the character is bought back to life, the remaining destiny rerolls are still available. And they can be used to fool the Death...

WISHES

Players may gain wishes from some items, and they should be handled very carefully.
a) too greedy wish gives less than reasonable one.
b) badly worded wish may give unpredictable results.

Roll a die for any other than very reasonable wish, and more greedy wish will 'fail' more easily and give something much reduced in value.

Quite reasonable wishes are:

Almost any magical item, or a few one-use magic items.

Any multiattribute (not the same twice)

1 health level or magic point

Any permanent resistance, except physical.

Teleportation with a small group to any place.

Any spell effect.

SPECIAL RULES

Special rules for Abyss and Arifacts are available in extra document. Some very rare and big monsters are available in Lords document. Neither should be read by players in any case.

POLYMORPH

NEW RANDOM FORM

New form is quite probably very similar to that original, and HD or level will stay quite same. When polymorphing, there is always danger of permanent polymorph into a bit different original creature. Roll a d6, consulting this table:

NEW CHOSEN FORM
When a polymorph is tried to chosen creature type, the change of success depends mainly on how close the target form is from the original. If the desired form is very different and especially of much higher level or HD, the shapeshift will transform creature into something smaller or simply modify him or her as with result 1 in table above.

TRANSFORMATION

During transformation, no items appear or disappear. If the creature had any torso armor, it will probably break if creature transforms into something larger. Gauntlets and boots are quite probably only pushed out of too large extremes, but bracers may break, too.
If creature had some hard metal armor without any joints to break, the transformation may become quite a mess, and at least painful.

Unless the polymorph is permanent into a stupid creaturew, the subject retains all mental attributes, skill, saves and innate resistances if bought with experience or from deities. Resistances from the race are lost.
Health level maximum is average of the creature and that of the new form, and current health levels are proportional to that. As with permanent pomymorph, only physical powers are usable, innate powers need training and learning, and are always different when again shapeshifted. Armor, combat levels and attacks equal to a new form.

Example: A level 20 character with 14 health levels maximum and currently having 10 left shapeshifts into an adult dragon. He is treated exactly like an adult dragon, but with 22 HD and currently at 15, and having previous mental attributes, skills and magic levels. However, casting spells is a different thing. The character can fly with wings, and quite easily can learn how to use breath weapon.

When the creature returns to original form, health levels are calculated proportionally as before.