A Guild Dogs Hack (Wanderer)

I read Lizard Man Diaries Guild Dog generator. It was good. Very good. I needed to use it, and I needed an excuse to use it. However, I had issues with it, not with the material, not with the quality, but with how exactly I would use it.

1.   It's Black Hack, and I run Lamentations. The two are very, very, similar, but there's some things I need to adjust, some things I need to add, and some things I need to change.
2. It's really weird. Maybe I'm in the wrong place, but I'm really not a fan of a lot of the more esoteric OSR content, and I'm admittedly an evangelist who wants to bring new players in. I'm trying to limit culture shock, working with familiar forms and shapes while maintaining a hint of arcane weirdness is my goal. I might be a bit too conservative with this, of course, but better safe than sorry. 

So, y'know, I set off to make my own Guild Dog equivalent.

The Wanderer is the closest you can get to a 'random adventurer' in Alterland. Typically sellswords, Marines, or scouts, they take dangerous jobs out of an obligation for whatever company sent them over to the frontier in the first place. Many are mutants from the more wretched parts of the sprawling cities, factory smoke and decaying magic twisting their forms, hoping the frontier holds a better life (and better air quality), others are half-breeds from races unwelcome in civilized society.

Wanderers are one of twelve subspecies of human, mutated and twisted.

1.  Human - Rolls 4d6, dropping the lowest dice for their stat block.
2.  Fae-Touched - Shorter in stature, big ears. Grass and dandelions periodically grow on them and wherever they step. They roll with advantage on Magic and Magic Device saves, and have a 2 in 6 Bushcraft score. Roll with disadvantage on all melee attacks.
3.  Scaled - Partially covered in bony scales. Base AC of leather, but any armor made for the PC costs 3x, in order to accommodate the plates.
4.  Rock-Gut - Tall, incredibly strong (5 in 6 Open Doors check), and rolls with advantage against poison. However, requires double the sleep, and twice the rations to avoid taking fatigue.
5.  Chaos-Born - There is a demon in the family's recent heritage. Knows one random level one mage spell, and rolls for an extra C1 characteristic. Must be disguised in most cities, and requires triple the upkeep (3 rations a day, 12 hours of sleep) if adventuring in a holy place.
6.  Law-Born - There is an angel in the family's recent heritage. Obnoxiously good looking, rolls 4d6 and drops one for Charisma, and knows one random level one cleric spell. Rolls with disadvantage on saves vs. magic device and magic.
7.  Horned - Has large, curled, horns growing from their head. As an unarmed attack, can headbutt an opponent for 1d6 damage, making them skip their next turn if maximum damage was rolled.
8.  Dryad Ancestry - Skin is green, hair blooms in the summer and turns brown and brittle in the winter. Has no need for food, but must see the sun for eight hours every three days, or else fall unconscious. Will only regain consciousness when able to rest in the sun for eight hours. Can regenerate lost limbs after 1d6 days of rest in the sun.
9.  Nightling -  Has large, dark eyes that give them perfect night vision.
10.  Vat-Grown- Grown in a vat, effectively a flesh golem. Uncomfortably perfect looking, like if an undetailed sketch of a person was brought to life. Rolls with disadvantage when rolling Charisma, due to being kinda creepy, but gets an additional C1 characteristic.
11.  Druid-Born -Born in the woods, among druids. Feral, animalistic, likely with long hair and spiraling, manic woad tattoos all over their body. Can claw enemies for 2d4 damage, unarmed.
12. Tuskmen - Northern barbarians who worship their great grandfather Oshregaal, who blessed them with odd mutations to go with their short, stubby, tusks. They roll once on the mutation table.

Wanderer stats are 3d6 straight down. Barring absolutely miserable stats (<-2 in modifiers total), you'll keep what you get. You can swap any two.

Wanderers can allocate a d4, d6, d8, and d10 to the following four stats. They can 'burn' all their dice down to a d4 to get something special in any one stat.

• Hit Dice
• Starting Equipment
• Skills
• Special Characteristics

Wanderers level up as such:

Level	Experience	Hit Points	Paralyze	Poison	Breath	Device	Magic
1	2500	1d(HD)	14	16	15	14	14
2	5000	1d(HD)	14	16	15	14	14
3	10000	1d(HD)	14	16	15	14	14
4	20000	1d(HD)	14	16	15	14	14
5	40000	1d(HD)	11	12	14	13	12
6	80000	1d(HD)	11	12	14	13	12
7	160000	1d(HD)	11	12	14	13	12
8	320000	1d(HD)	11	12	14	13	12
9	640000	1d(HD)	9	10	12	11	10
10	1280000	1d(HD)	9	10	12	11	10
11	2560000	2 per level	9	10	12	11	10
12	5120000	2 per level	9	10	12	11	10
13	5248000	2 per level	7	8	10	9	8
14	128000/level	2 per level	7	8	10	9	8
15	etc.	2 per level	7	8	10	9	8
16	etc.	2 per level	7	8	10	9	8
17	etc.	2 per level	5	6	8	7	6
18	etc.	2 per level	5	6	8	7	6
19	etc.	2 per level	5	6	8	7	6
20	etc.	2 per level	5	6	8	7	6

 Hit Dice

Whatever dice you allocate to the 'Hit Dice' stat becomes your hit dice. You can burn all your dice down to a d4 to get a d12 in hit dice. 

For first level, roll hit dice, if the result is lower than the following numbers, starting HP is that number instead.

d4:3

d6:4

d8:5

d10:6

d12:7

Starting Equipment

All wanderers start with d12 usage die of rations, d8 usage die of torches, backpack, tinderbox, and bedroll.

Burning all your dice down to a d4 allows you to skip the tables and purchase 400sp worth of equipment. Roll starting equipment using the dice you allocated to it.

Melee Weapon Table:

1 - Choice of Whip, Cestus, Garrote, Mancatcher

2 - Choice of Minor Weapon, Staff

3 - Choice of Rapier, Small Weapon
4 - Choice of Medium Weapon, Spear
5 - Choice of Great Weapon, Lance
6 - Player choice with 25sp budget
7 - As 6, 50sp budget
8-9 - As 6, 100sp budget
10 - Reroll. Weapon is enchanted with one of four spells.

1 - Vorpal: On a natural 20 to-hit, the weapon kills its target instantly, breaks, and deals damage equal to the target's HD rolled (Roll 3d8 for a 3HD monster, for example) to the wielder.
2 - Burning: The weapon, once per day, can be activated to make it glow brightly as if it was fresh out of the forge. It can burn things (including the wielder's hand!) if in contact with them for more than a turn.
3 - Thirsting: Once per day, the weapon can be activated to deal maximum damage to its target on a successful hit (8 if its damage die is d8, etc.).
4 - Alkahest: Once activated, the reagents inside the weapon mix and react, forming a (briefly) universal solvent that will dissolve three cubic yards of anything if left alone. If swung while reacting and decomposing, the weapon will deal act as if it always crits if it hits. However, due to the instability of the weapon at this stage, it will be unusable after the first swing.

Missile Weapon Table:
1 - None
2-4 - Shortbow, 50 arrows, Quiver
4-5 - Light Crossbow, 50 bolts, Quiver

6 - Longbow, 50 arrows, Quiver
7 - Sling, 50 shots
8 - Flintlock Musket, 50 shots, Powder Horn
9 - Flintlock Arquebus, 50 shots, Powder Horn
10 - Flintlock Pistol, 50 shots, Powder Horn

Armor Table:

1 - Unarmored (AC 12)
2-4 Leather (AC 14)
5-7 Leather w/ Shield (AC 15, Ranged AC 16)
8 - Chainmail (AC 16)
9 - Chainmail w/ Shield (AC 17, Ranged AC 18)
10 - Plate (AC 18)

Miscellaneous:
1-3: d20 usage die lantern fuel, lantern
4-6: 50' hempen rope, grappling hook, pickaxe
7-8: crowbar, specialist's tools, four empty bottles
9-10: local map, regular tent, wooden pole, riding horse

Spare cash:

1 - None
2-3 - 10sp
4-5 - 20sp
6 - 30sp
7 - 40sp
8- 50sp
9 - 60sp
10 - 100sp

 Skills

This determines how many extra skill points you get to allocate to the 'skills' section of the character sheet. Burning all your dice allows you to roll a d10 on the table, and get 2 skill points every time you level up.                                                                        

1-3: 1
4-6: 2
7-8: 3
9-10: 4

 Special Characteristics 

This determines how many special characteristics the Wanderer receives. Burning all your dice allows you to pick your characteristics manually, instead of randomly. 

1: C1: 1.

2: C1: 1, C2:1.

3: C1: 1, C2: 1, C3: 1.

4: C1: 1, C2: 1 C4:1.   

5 - 6: C1: 2, C2: 2, C3: 1.

7: C1: 2, C2: 2, C3: 2.

8: C1: 2, C2: 2, C3: 1, C4: 1.

9-10: C1: 2, C2: 2, C3: 2, C4: 1.

Category 1 Characteristics:

1.  Sunder - PC can break the shield they're using after taking damage in order to automatically block up 1d12 damage.
2.  Faceless - Completely unremarkable. If anything would cause something to
3.  Born Survivor - Once per session, if the PC would drop to zero or less HP, they instead stay at 1.
4.  Double-Jointed - Rolls with advantage when attempting to escape any sort of restraint, tight space, or any form of incarceration.
5.  Acrobat - +3 Climbing skill.
   
6. Mutated - Roll on the mutation table!
7.  Resourceful - Usage die only degrade on a 1.
8.  Underhanded - Once per combat, on a successful hit, the PC can perform a well-timed, effective strike that would get one kicked out of a fencing duel, dealing one damage dice down and making the opponent skip their next turn.
9.  Mending - Can take 1d4 hours (with Specialist's Tools at hand) to repair any one damaged object that isn't made from metal.
10.  Clever - +3 Tinkering skill.
11.  Good Reflexes - Rolls with advantage on initiative.
12.  Omniglot - +2 Languages skill.

Category 2 Characteristics:

1.  Turn - Once per day, can cause (player's choice of species or type of monster) to either flee or be banished. Basically Turn Undead with a different type of monster, uses the same table.
2.  Fearless - Rolls with advantage for Paralyze saves.
3.  Hedge Magic (Produce Flame) - Once per day, the PC may produce a small ball of flame that can be held in their hand. It can be used to ignite things, but it will not
4.  Executioner - On a natural 20, if the creature is of a lower level than the PC, it is instantly killed.
5.  Third Eye - Once per day, the PC can determine the alignment of an object or a person by closely examining it/them.
6.  Crack Shot - Once per combat, the PC does not need to spend an action to Aim.
7.  Obsessive - For every non-obvious piece of information learned through investigation the PC knows about a target ('he has a tent', 'he rides a horse', etc. don't count), they get a +1 bonus to-hit against the target.
8.  Hedge Magic (Ghost Walk) - Once per day, the PC can split their soul from their body.
9.  Ambidextrous - Once per combat, can actually attack with two weapons in hand.
10.  Hatred - PC gets a +2 to-hit against (player's choice of species or type of monster).
11.  Herbalism - Can spend a long rest creating 1d6 healing poultices. Roll Bushcraft to see if the necessary herbs are found. Healing herbs can be purchased for 30sp in Rural areas or 40sp in City area. Poultices, when applied, can stabilize lethal wounds (bringing the character to 0 HP if in the negatives), or heal 1d4 damage.
12.  Thief - +4 Stealth skill.

Category 3 Characteristics:

1.  Brutal - All damage dice explode.
2.  Warcry - Once per combat, the PC can shout with great force, absolutely terrifying targets in a 10' cone and forcing them to flee (making them roll against paralyze).
3.  Poisoner - Can spend a long rest creating 1d4 vials of poison. Roll Bushcraft to see if the necessary materials are found. Materials for poison can be purchased for 80sp in Rural areas or 40sp in City area. Specific materials may be found, taking a -2 to Bushcraft or for 100sp each in city areas. Poisons can be administered through sharp objects, slipping them into food, drank as a potion, etc.
4.  Backstab - Starts with a point in Sneak Attack.
   
5.  Follower of Crom- PC may wield a two-handed weapon with one hand, without issue.
6.  Magic Darts - Once per day, the PC can deal damage equal to their level to target creature they can see.
   
7.  Straw Dogs - Once per day, the PC can create a dog-shaped golem out of Blessed clay and straw, 25sp of material used for each HP it gets. The PC can give it simple orders that it will follow to the best of its ability, to the spirit of the command rather than what is literally said. At 4HP, it is the same weight and size as a man. 
8.  Collector - Collecting ten ears of a certain type of enemy will give you +1 to hit against that enemy, to a maximum of +3.
9.  Purify - Once per day, the PC can purify up to two gallons of water or any other liquid, removing any impurities or poisons.
10.  Precise - The PC crits on a 18, 19, or 20.
    
11.  Predator - The PC gets a +2 to hit in complete darkness (anything that would require darkvision to see clearly in).
12. Auld Tongue - The PC can roll Languages in order to see if they understand the language of a non-sentient creature. Additionally, they start off understanding one language of any given type of animal (Birds, Canines, Beholders, etc. 'Mammalians', 'Vertebrates' doesn't count).

Category 4 Characteristics:

1.  Arcane Magic
2.  Divine Magic
3.  Praecantatio (Old Magic)
4.  The Auld Thing (Druid Magic)
5.  Alchemy
6.  Fortimancy (Muscle Wizardry)

Mutation Table (More to be added later.):

1. Extra arm. Too weak to swing, but can carry another shield.
2. Third eye, which can see the true form of Familiars, and anything using magic to hide its true form.
3. Dead nerves. The DM does not tell you how much damage you take, but you roll one dice up from the hit dice you picked (a d6 hit dice becomes a d8, etc.).
4.  Strong immune system: Roll with advantage on poisons, but all healing only heals you for 1 point each.
5. Tentacle Arm. Roll with advantage on all grappling checks.  
6. An extra mouth, located somewhere on your body. Once per month, it can recite what it sees as if it had Clairvoyance.