The Nothic’s Eye recently wrote up a Wizard and a Fighter GLOG classes for his Greek mythos setting (Eikonokosmos) that put all other versions of those classes to shame[1]: magic missile is a nymph that punch people in the face and the Fighter is fated to die, probably from poison, and have strong opinions on the topic of heroism (heroaka style). It’s so good that it already got other blogs that write up content for it, so I’m going to continue the trend, and add a thief-style character to those two in the same setting.
I’ve already wrote up some posts about the idea of Ideas as an active force in the game, not entirely under the player’s control (inspired by Disco Elysium). Something that jump up on the characters much like monsters do, and require the same treatment as magical curses, or blessings. I want a class that relate to Ideas the same way the Champion relate to the art of making corpses out of men, preferably following the General Thief Template. You know who treat ideas seriously in the semi-Greek mythological world?
Source: Wikimedia
The Philosopher
The second most respected of the Four Professions of the Mind (after Mathematicians) though some say, also the least practical.
Those people are wrong, for of all people, only the philosopher is the master of their own mind, and the one that Know themself Know the world.
or so the philosophers say.
+1 Inventory Slot (for Ideas and Skills only) and to Saves vs. mental and spiritual effects, per Template
Starting Items: School’s Robes. School’s symbol. School’s favorite metaphors. School’s Discourse.
Starting Skill: per School.
A – School, Cheat: Love of Wisdom
B – Practice: Ways of the World
C – Perfect: Rhetoric
D – Capstone: Ataraxia
A
Love of Wisdom – you can swap skills, spells and Ideas as if they were physical items. You need to talk with your trade partner over a meal for this to work, or engage them in your school traditional mode of Discourse. You can also teach others skills and Ideas you have (though Delta benefits of the Ideas fade in [Template] days, see below). Unwilling targets get a save.
School – every Philosopher have a School, though not all of them are particularly loyal to its teachings. You start with your School’s skill, core Idea, symbol, robes, favorite metaphors and mode of Discourse (see below).
B
Ways of the World – when you roll and fail, you may imminently gain a skill or an Idea relevant for the situation (at the GM discretion).
C
Rhetoric – as long as you keep talking and asking questions, non can interrupt you and anyone who didn’t heard you speak on the topic before must save to stop listening. Disbelieving anything you say is hard and takes at about d6 minutes.
D
Ataraxia – whenever you are disturbed by something that is not strictly physical, you can instead not be disturbed by it and hold it up inside a free mental inventory slot, free to trade or force it on others like any other mental item you hold.
The Schools
All schools Ideas have basic benefits and limitations they impose upon you, and Delta (Δ) benefits you can unlock. You can teach the idea with the Delta benefits, but they last only [Templates] days until they fade without your constant teachings. Nothing prevent you from collecting more then one School’s Idea.
Catfighters
So named because they traditionally live in the street, beg, and fight with cats for leftovers. Believe nothing, mock the impotent self-importance of polite society.
Skill: begging
Symbol: Defaced Coin
Robes: Tattered
Favorite Metaphor: humans as animals
Discourse: Pestering people in the street
(Touchstones: Academic Skeptics, Cynics)
The Idea of Lies
Nothing is certain, society is a sham
You are point blank immune to illusions, hallucinations and comfortable lies. If you ever own permanent property, lose this Idea.
Δ publicly mock a king and live to tell the tale – you are immune to social norms, and resistant to laws. That is, no one can quite stop you from doing anything that is not actually illegal, and even if there are relevant laws charges short of murder tend not to stick to you.
Lovelovers
Most philosophers shun earthly delights. Not the lovelovers! they actually like fun, sex, and good food. They also deny Fate, preferring a theory about the world being nothing but a random collection of atomic particles. On an unrelated note, Lovelovers occasionally suffer ironically appropriate disasters and misfortunes after public speeches. They are roughly divided to sub-schools of those who believe that the best life is that of the simple pleasures of not-being-hungry and nice conversation with friends, and those who think the best life require you to get absolutely fucked up. They hate each other.
Skill: cooking
Symbol: a board game
Robes: comfortable
Favorite Metaphor: sensations, plant life, atoms and void
Discourse: talking over a game, in a party or while gardening
(Touchstones: Cyrenaic, Epicureans)
The Idea of Actually Having Fun
Pleasure is the only Good
You have advantage to carousing rolls, saves vs. poison, and conversing with people who are drank\high. If you turn down a pleasure that cost you nothing, lose this Idea.
Δ survive a lightning strike, a debate with a god or drinking contest with a giant: you can actually cheat Fate. This tend to piss Fate off and generally ill-advised, but if you try to work around someone’s Fate, it might work. Expect some visits from desperate and important people.
Cloudgazers
Some Philosophers noticed that the world kind of sucks. Reflecting deeply, they concluded it’s because people don’t do enough philosophy, and that the earthly good things are but pale reflections of the true glory of the ONE and the GOOD. called Cloudgazers for their tendency to contemplate abstract concepts.
Skill: mathematics
Symbol: shadow puppet theater
Robes: regal
Favorite Metaphor: light, sight and numbers
Discourse: grand speeches
(Touchstones: Platonists, Pythagoreans)
The Idea of One
The Good, the Truth and the Beautiful are ONE and the same
You can always see if someone is absolutely sure of what they say, seeing the reflection of TRUTH in their eyes. You can never lose an earnest debate about aesthetics or the law. If you argue for a philosophical position you don’t believe in or tell a lie, lose this Idea.
Δ prove a theorem and get the spirits of math or infinity to acknowledge it’s eternity: if you fuss over, measure and calculate the pure and divine property of a physical thing for about an hour, you can store it inside one of your mental inventory slots.
Vivisectors
So called for their tendency to break everything apart to see what makes things tick. They believe everything have some plain or secret cause that needs to be discovered and cataloged, and spend lots of their time watching and researching animals and plants. Tend to be a doctors, though not always good ones.
Skill: medicine
Symbol: walking stick
Robes: sturdy
Favorite Metaphor: biological, shoemakers
Discourse: demonstrations
(Touchstones: Peripatetics[Aristotelians], Heiraclitus)
The Idea of Order
Everything in the world have a purpose we can comprehend
If you open up and poke around in a body or a mechanism, ask a question of it’s function or origin and get straight answer. You also always know the purpose of things you know the proper name of (as is written in the Vivisectors’ archives).
Δ Name 5 new species of animals and\or plants (yet-unknown divine beasts count twice) : you can extract the essence of one magical or mundane attribute from the body of anything alive with about an hour undisturbed poking. Also work on things that just died. Essences are not necessarily good for you.
Glaciers
Known for being unbelievably chill about everything, the glaciers believe that everything is predetermined by a benevolent being of pure ice that drive every happenstance in the universe with it’s supreme chillness. Virtue, they explain, is the only thing as chill as the supreme ice, and so it’s the one and only good in life. They are considered good teacher of character and valid trusty lieutenants, being much less likely to convince your son to abandon his high station and live in the streets then the other philosophers.
Skill: pedagogy
Symbol: shield
Robes: unmarred
Favorite Metaphor: stones, weather, natural disasters
Discourse: advice
The Idea of Ice
Everything is for the best, and shall end in holy ice
You always know when you are under a spell or mental compulsion, and may always do nothing instead of obeying any effect that try to control you. If you lose your shit or curse the gods, lose this Idea.
Δ surrender your will to your Fate, such as by accepting a suicidal mission – you can channel the divine cold as a 3d6 ranged weapon. If you fight Fate, lose this delta benefit.
Philosopher’s GLOGlike Perk – “ Teacher\Guru” – Perk: you start with one of your Teacher’s Ideas and one of their skills. Once, you may use the Delta powers of the Idea even if you didn’t earn it.
[1] – Well, comparing to other attempts at full write-ups with lots of background and some mechanical depth. If we’re talking about minimalist approaches, the best fighter is the one from Owlbear Stew and the best Wizard is the no-wizard-class-just-snort-some-wizard-teeth-already of SAWN-OFF.
portals and pegasi 