6-Room Dungeon 10: Desert Ruin

I have post with more weird inn rooms ready...

Vote and comment below for next...
Other recommendations or requests are welcome

6-room Eldritch Monolith Dungeon
or
Hell Freezes Over - continue my hell series & expand my glacier stuff
or
The Great Dragonspawn Pits - where dragons breed and get ready for the apocalypse

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1 Redbrick
2 Goblin Mine
3 Gothic Tomb
4 Magic Mansion
5 Glacial Chasm
6 Jungle Shrine
7 Underland Cavern
8 Auldwood Grove
9 Sunken City
10 Desert Ruin
11 Eldritch Monolith
12 Hell Gate

mapping your 6 room dungeon

Possibly useful
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2022/04/necropolis-of-yor.html

I recomend dont just do egytian desert stuff with this (but do that too) try ancient Mederteranean or Iraq or Hitites even India has desert regions.

Desert Ruin
In the south are remnants of ancient kingdoms now deserts. Pockets of the age of Exilon still survive in places, but mostly it is ruins. Locals often shun these places of their ancestors, and zealots will protect them. Others come to rob these places, and tomb-robbing families trace their lineage back to times when the ruins were built. Undead, elemental beings and strange desert spirits may control a complex as a home. Desert factions like bandits, cults or kingdoms might use as a base or to extract treasure.

d12 Desert Ruin Decor
1 Huge pillars carved as gods or beast-headed beings

2 Sarcophagi or burial nich, sealed or looted?

3 Ancient text on walls painted or carved

4 Relief wall art or mural of historic or mythical events

5 Ornate stone brazier or altar

6 Idols or statues of ancient gods or just huge stone heads

7 Sphynx, shedu or griffon statues in rows or built into corners or doorways 

8 Ornate archway gate with lions or other beast carvings 

9 Amphoras stacked, broken pottery in heaps or huge stone storage urns

10 Figurines of workers or soldiers, often with model buildings and dioramas of everyday life

11 Sand everywhere or broken masonry

12 Piles of desicated corpses from builders, thieves or drugged sacrifices 

d12 Desert Ruin Hazards
1 Vermin nests with bats, rats, bugs or snakes 

2 Scythe or pendulum trap triggered by the floor

3 Pits with ghouls or snakes or scorpions

4 Trapdoor-covered pits with spikes

5 Dart or spear launching traps with poison

6 Deadfall or spike traps

7 Cursed treasures

8 Hostile spirits in artworks

9 Diseased choking mummy dust

10 Poison gas released
11 Living statues or golem

12 Sleeping undead in sarcophagi

d12 Desert Ruin Encounters
1 Skeleton or zombie or spectral soldiers

2 Giant scorpions or scorpion-folk

3 Undead abhuman beast folk warriors

4 Swarm of undead severed hands or animated canopic jar organs

5 Tomb robbers, adventurers or cultists

6 Mummy seeking loot, or a nice sarcophagus or some bodily fluids

7 Bat or bird-winged flying snakes

8 Undead mummified sacred animals (lion, crocodile, hippo, bull)

9 Moaning spirit or wraith

10 Hungry ghouls

11 Cats, vultures or snakes, possibly undead
12 Sand elemental creatures

d12 Desert Ruin Static Encounters
1 Wingless griffons or crocodile-headed lions

2 Sphynx or lamia or shedu or chimaera

3 Sarcophagi with guardian mummies

4 Cultists having a ritual with a priest or wizard

5 Insectpoid beast folk with queen, guard and eggs

6 Undead lycanthrope in partial beast form with undead pets and beast folk minions

7 Giant hive with giant 

8 Centaurs or lion-centaur or scorion-centaur 

9 Beast-headed demons with magic weapons

10 Naga or coutl or hydra

11 Elemental genius spirit like a djinn or efreeti

12 Desert dragon

d12 Desert Ruin Entry
1 False tomb chamber with empty sarcophagi and dust, secret doors hide passages to the real complex. Bandits, undead or beast may rest here sometimes

2 Ancestral hall with carved pillars with names of ancestors and dynasties. A cult of tomb guardians camp here and kill robbers and looters or foreigners. The rest of the complex is hidden behind stone slabs

3 Hole dug by romb robbers into a deep complex, bypassing the long destroyed entrance. The robbers might be here or have been killed by tomb guardians

4 Shrine where people come to worship with idols and carvings of old gods. Secret doors go beyond 

5 Crumbling tomb long looted with scattered bones and mummy fragments. Ghouls, robbers, jackals or hyenas may dwell here. Stone slabs conceal the rest of the complex 

6 Someone was mining bricks in a pit and exposed an ancient chamber with secret doors. Some guardians may have killed them
7 Sand has moved overnight, exposing the entrance of an ancient buried complex, perhaps the top of a pyramid, temple or tomb. Inside, some desert monster might be exploring or a desert or monster faction. Passages hidden by wall carvings.

8 Great ornamental bronze doors, beyond is an ancient entry hall. There may be castleations or troops here to defend the door. Defenders might be undead with arrow slits and a cauldron of boiling oil. The chamber within has crates, amphora and military supplies

9 Enigma Door: a magical puzzle lock opens this door to an entry chamber. Another puzzle or teap must be solved and secret doors found to advance. Two living statues or golems may be here as guardians. Correct knowledge bypasses these perils
10 Vast stone structure has a broken opening with rubble where someone tried to dig in. Though a hole in the structure, there are more passages. Guards may protect the tomb or thieves might be digging in. Otherwise, something in the complex might have come out into the entrance

11 A mighty but worn statue of an ancient god or ruler, in the base is a chamber with a shrine. Passages below might be concealed. Hermits, undead, cults, beasts or graverobbers might be here

12 A cliff with huge relief carvings in several ancient languages and huge profile figures of gods and kings fighting enemies and building wonders. There are open caves in the base, perhaps used by beasts or hermits, but a magic-sealed stone door requires words or spells to reach an entry chamber. More spell-trapped or cursed doors access other areas. 

d12 Desert Ruin Subroom
1 Shelves with tablets or scrolls in urns, many ruined

2 Crypt with sarcophagi

3 Shelves of canopic jars

4 Stored luxury furniture of the ancients, some have harmless petty magic

5 Shrine with an idol and an incense burner

6 Chest of treasure, cursed or guarded by a spell

7 Rack of ancient weapons

8 Well with washbowl, polished metal mirror and cosmetics

9 Shelf of mummified pets or sacred beasts
10 Niche for spare undead guards

11 Spyhole into another room

12 Chamber to see and speak through a statue in another room

d12 Desert Ruin Main Room

1 Garden courtyard with attractive murals, gravel courtyards and sculptures of animals. Often a fountain, pond or artificial flowing stream (possibly magic) and some have magic lighting. If lit may have real plants or animals. May have automaton or undead gardeners or some magic creatures like a sphynx or shapeshifting djinn. Inhabitants could be hostile or welcome with luxurious feasts and turn water feature into wine. They might hang kebabs on skewers and roast chickens in the branches of sculpted trees. 

2 Luxury courtyard with murals, relief wall carvings, statues or Shedu or Sphynx or other Chimaera. Guards or a wandering encounter might be here or their could have beings from the artwork appear here. There will be some stone benches to and admire the artwork

3 Funeral barge room has a large open space displaying a spectacular funeral or temple barge with luxurious carvings and gold leaf decor. May be suspended in a pit or in pool with a walkway. May have treasure or artwork inside for the afterlife. Undead or spectral spirits may be crew or priests performing rites here 

4 Chariot room displays a wonderous gilded chariot with rack of javelins and a fine gilded bow and arrows. The room might have statues of soldiers (could be animated) or even mummy guards and crew. The horses may be a pile of bones but might reform or have spirit versions. A skeletal or spirit version of the chariot may arise here to defend the complex. Some have several chariots

5 Bathing hall with pools and fine silk curtains. Glistening brass platters and wine jugs and carpets decorate the room. Spirits or undead beings from a past harem might live here and other family members. They might have been interned in a structure and then returned here for the life they knew. Might also be bound planar beings in human form, trapped here 

6 Library hall with shelves of stone tablets and scroll cases. Relief writing and images will be carved in wall for religious study. Spirit, sphynx or genius may guard the room as librarians and repair damage. They may not let documents leave but will let you read or copy here

7 Drill hall, a large room with cobblestones and wall art of marching soldiers with plunder and prisoners. Undead soldiers often drill here

8 Mortuary shrine with sarcophagi, burial niches in walls and under the floor. A shrine with statues of ancient people praying to worship ancestors and the family of the complex. It may be possible to contact ancients. Art depicts the historic struggles of peoples and then the age of wonder they build

9 Museum Hall with scenes of cosmos and creatures aranged by ancient taxonomy. Pliths and racks display ancient weapons, uniforms, tablets, idols of exotic materials and giant amphora possibly magically sealed with grain and wine. Some of the statues here are magical golem guards

10 Mousoleum with hundreds of niches and many large sarcophagi of some ancient dynasty. Wall art depicts journeys to the underworld. Undead of various type guard the chamber and offended by theives or ghouls might use this as family room

11 Pit Chamber with a long room with murals and some statues. The floor has multiple pit traps, small ones randomly and several large trenches crossing the room and making crossings hard. May be concealed and repaired by spirits but some might be broken with a body inside. Spikes, water, animal swarms are common. Smaller ones are self sealing as you fall in and they might flood with water, sand or a swarm once your locked in. Often guardians might ignore these traps

12 Reliquary hall with chests on plinths and collections of canoptic jars, cremation urns, idols, carved border stones, pillar with laws or history incribed and other sacred objects. Likley cursed and guardian statues will protect

d12 Desert Ruin Feature Room

1 Throne room occupied by a mummy lord or lich and court of undead servants, pets and lovers. There will be piles of trasure here

2 Temple with huge statues of gods, carved text and wall art. An altar and sacred pool are on a plinth. Often protected by undead clergy or golems. Holy objects likley magical relics  

3 Royal crypt with a ornate gold sarcophogi in a larger stone coffin weiging tons. Will be four guardian statues, angels, elementals, mummies, griffons or other chimera protect the crypt. The coffin is also filled with gold items and the mummy will hold other relic items 

4 Hive chamber overgrown by colonial giant insects nest like termites, ants, wasps, bees, worms or mantises. Possibly could have insectoid beast abhumans. They will have hoarded valuables and possibly prisoners. Their might be some spirit being encouraging them like one of the swarm beast lords  

5 Treasure vault with huge doors requiring tons of strength and a huge bolt and lock. Magic wards and other guardians like golems or undead. Inside will be a fabulous treasure in piles with urns of coins

6 Pleasure tesseract a multidimensional space with esher like walkways and gravity polarised to local surfaces to you can walk up walls and onto ceilings. Statues and idols and flying guardians like demons, griffons, harpies or gargoyles guard the chamber. Different surfaces might have weird magic traps but also an impressive treasure or artwork. Artworks on walls may be entrances to subrooms or pocket dimensions where characters in the art live in a time loop. The room might be bigger than the tomb or following the walkways may loop you to other side of the same space like an old platform arcade game. Some art might be used to teleport vast distances into other desert deathtraps

7 Artefact vault where a great artifact is indide a huge cage requiring tons of muscle power to open. The object is a large relic possibly requiring four or more to carry. It will be guarded by spells and curses but and possibly mummies, sphynxes or demons

8 Arcane Engine a magical machine used by alchemists and wizards for some great purpose such as d4 1=put in an animal and human and a two beast abhumans come out (possibly make halfling size ones with settings) or traps elementals and kills them then used to restore spent spells 3=opens a portal to various locations 4=golem or undead maker. It is a threat to the world order but may require souls or gems or chanting cultists to work. It cant be moved and possibly gods dont like it or it accelerates global desertification. Creatures in dungeon might be made here 

9 Alchemy chamber with great vats, amphora of rare materials, workbenches and shelves. Some alchemical life like slimes or golems might guard or work here. Possibly, tomb inhabitants might come from vats and work benches here. Often stuffed animals and mummification supplies might be here with canoptic jars and mummified pets

10 Underworld gate here is a vast gate requiring tons of muscle to open. Beyond is a passage to the land of the dead. An avatar of an underworld gate is here to advise you or welcome you. It will explain the rules. It also keeps things in the underworld but the sealed doors work better. Often statues and spells guard the door also

11 Eldritch prison where some evil god or being is imprisoned in agony. They may be trapped in an object like a statue or sealed pit or chained in torment. May be tormented by lesser beings or snakes. Magical guards and spells will warn you away but the bound god offers absolute power, immortality and other fabulous prizes. Other evil beings like wizards or demons. The torture devices restraining the prisoner may be ornate and gold, perhaps in the form of a giant scorpion with claws and sting or several scorpions. 

12 The Arcane Pit with one or several great pit portals. Perhaps sacrifices were thrown in or beings summoned here. Some might have bars or stairs or individual locked doors. Used for planar travel or distance transport. Pits may fall into darkness or have an appearance suggesting a destination like flames, black tentacles, lake of slime with eyes  

An expert class for my retroclone?

Desert tomb next - i just had this a while

As our December holiday game has kept going and we are 1/3 way through a karma pool to build a base/nightclub/crime empire run ethically not for profit but keeps us looking wealthy to impress the world of spies, pimps, drug dealers and science villains we deal with. It's not for personal profit we promise. We have super ape accountant on the team to watch the books and make our crime untrackable just like real gov agents and black ops. We just had a moon adventure. Our GM Richard mixing Dr Who and Avengers TV shows of 60s - we met cybernautmen.

All this has given me more time to write rules. I had some ambitious class ideas which need lots of work so Im instead going for more combat and skill based classes as I think modern D&D has too many magic options compared to just skilled humans. So I wanted more classes without magic.

Im open to an alt name suggestions. This is still in the works.

Its based around a theif but not a theif. It is a bit less combat-oriented.
In part it is for NPCs and retired adventurers.

Multiple Classes in my BX based game
In my game, you can change your class several times, then flip between them for level-ups as you please or whichever you used the most. If you start non-human with a species-based class, you can adopt any of the main classes. You can have an extra class per point of INT bonus. I don't recommend it for the magical classes much - even one level in something else makes you possibly a spell level behind a one-class character. I think non-magic classes its less of a problem. A "human" could change their species by taking a species class, but you can only have one species class. My giant class makes lots of changes when they hit 8 feet tall. One level in dwarf and then 4 as a specialist fighter might be pretty good. This expert class will be a common one to split classes with, and many retired adventurers might adopt this. Crossing race as class with class switching and no special species LV cap gets rid of lots of objections i get to BX class as species.

Expert
A class of skilled professionals. Often are storekeepers or traders or inventors or alchemists. In a technological setting, they would include technicians, pilots, medics and scientists. Most start as apprentices or students, then become journeymen or tutors before becoming masters or grandmasters in a trade guild, workshop or school for their profession. The specialists of this class have different skill benefits

3x arms skills - (eg blades, crossbow) +1/3 lv
6x arts skills - (eg Merchant: evaluate, bluff, bargain, streetwise, search) +1/lv
3x languages +1/lv
+1 to hit per 3Lv and d6 HD
light or medium armour any weapon up to d8

Enhanced Craft
+4 on a starting specialist skill at L1

Get a tier Craft bonus effect:
Lv1-4 x2 or x1/2 or +2
Lv 5-8 x3 or x1/3 or +3
Lv 9-12 x4 or x1/4 or +4
Lv 13-16 x5 or x1/5 or +5
Lv 17-20 x6 or x1/6 or +6

Your multipliers can be used generally on your specialist skill roll to
-reduce material cost 
-reduce task time or make duplicate effects in the same time
-various benefits based on specialisations
-When the multiplier rises to x4 can split it up into two lots of x2 instead
-When the multiplier rises to x6 can split it up into two lots of x3 or three lots of x2 instead
-Every new extra multiplier, you get an extra +4 on a different skill within your specialisation
-In some cases, expressed as a + number as a modifier or for uses

Crafter
-Any craft skills for making goods with your hands, including repair
-Multiplier fixes more HP, AC or other damage on repairs
-Make more goods or faster
-Gain a multiplier as a + on item hp
-A multiplier can be used to increase the value of an item made in a good market
-Followers are students and shop guards or doormen

Healer
-Any healing skills, usually First Aid or Herbalist or Surgery
-Multiplier can increase HP healing or perform it faster
-Make more herbal potions, enhance the effects or store longer 
-Followers include students and stronger orderlies

Pilot/Driver
-Any vehichle skill (boat, ship, chariot, aircraft, shuttle, car, airship, bike)
-Each multiplier can be used for an extra 45-degree turn per round, acceleration, deceleration, jumps or other feats
-If steering and firing forwards with a built-in weapon or ramming, use the multiplier as a +1 to hit. Armed crew also get this plus for forward fire or melee range
-Followers include crew like gunners, engineers, crafters for repairs, guards

Merchant
-Any merchant skill: evaluate, bluff, bargain, streetwise, search
-multiply the monthly profits (after costs) of your business by clever bookkeeping and weasly finance tricks or reduce your taxes and tariffs
-multiplier increases odds of finding uncommon or rare items and magic items
-Followers are assistants, shopkeepers, crafters, guards or doormen

Gunner (archaic muzzle-loaded weapons, could do a crossbow version)
-Black Powder (half load time and no fumbles with black powder), Firecraft, Gunsmith, Quickdraw (handgun), Quickload (-1round load time), Alertness
-Multiplier as a + reduces loading time on normally slow weapons
-Multiplier as a + to hit on Handgun, Longarm, Gunnery, Artillery
-Multiplier as extra shots if the weapon permits or multiple loaded barrels
-Several pistols work well, quick to reload
-Followers might be gunnery crew, gunsmiths, powder makers or musketeers

Alchemist
-Any alchemy skill
-Decrease the speed or cost, or increase the amount you make
-Multiplier as a + to hit on thrown potions, grenades, incendiaries or bottled liquid attacks
-Multiplier is a + on the number of recipe slots you can remember
-Followers are students and shop guards or doormen

Athlete
-Any athletic skill, groom, intimidate, any saving throw
-Multiplier is the number of bonus athletic actions you can make 
-Multiplier is a + on saving throws and Mov rate
-Followers are students, masseuses, servants, drivers, bodyguards or doormen

Investigator
-Any sensory or social skill 
-Multiplier lets you use more skill tasks at the same time, read the room and people faster
-Multiplier as a + on Initiative
-Followers include students, assistants, a bailiff or bodyguard, a specialist in a skill

Scholar
-Any lore skill, Scribe, Caligraphy
-The multiplier lets you study, research, read faster or write more
-Multiplier as a + on all lore skills you have
-Followers include students, assistants, scribes, servants, guards

Enhanced Followers
-Employees, assistants, crew or guards expand your business and status
-Will employ others for specific jobs or even stay home while the crew go on an adventure
-Gain one zero-level follower each level from 1st to 2nd Lv
-Gain a d4x zero-level or one 1st Lv follower each level from 3rd+ (5th Lv+ for other classes)
-Include pets (guard dog or pack animal), an apprentice d4hp with arts background, or a d6hp guard with an arms background

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This needs work

But lots of npcs would take it and i can see players taking one level 
this might be more appealing at high level when you do more domain than dungeons
or a level to buff your main class abilities
-wizard to increase research speeds
-thief might do it to boost lock skills 
-dwarf might use to improve crafting or mining skills
-the gun and xbow possibility might be slightly abused for the + to hit - its not so bad
-possibly if i finish my alchemy rules might mesh with this system
-ive considered some other abilities for each subtype or make some new specialist skills they could employ  or have lists like my alchemy skills - abilities like: sharpening +1 damage until first blow on edged weapons (maybe stack to +2 or +3 higher level) 

The gun and xbow thing makes them kinda dangerous as guards, but also weaker than fighters in most cases in the long run.

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The followers worked ok in playtest - here is what i did with one over 4 levels
This gang with light crossbows would launch impressive volleys

1st Lv - d6hd thug with porter and club skill
2nd lv - d6 crossbow guy 
3rd Lv - 1st lv crossbow guy, other guys go up to 1st lv
4th Lv - 1st lv crossbow buys, others up to 2nd lv

even a 4th lv merchant might like a bunch of goons like this as guards
so a passive main character running armed goons might work well
they could go in the dungeon while main character runs the camp

d100 Odd Inn Rooms

Found review of my page said im too weird and silly

whats shound be next in my weird, silly posts?

6 room dungeon, desert tomb
or 
d100 haunted rooms

tell me in comments

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Another boring nght in a strange inn.
Well not anymore!

Maybe you arrive late and only a haunted room is left...

Will they offer a discount?
Will someone warn you?

d10 Quick Odd Inn Room Types

1 Red Herring (dead end, false lead or is it?)

2 Disturbance (unpleasant pests making stay bad)
3 Crime (criminals pre on guests)
4 Mystery (unusual lead to some problem)

5 Lost Baggage (maybe someone thinks you stole it?)

6 Strange find (weird item found)

7 Creepy decor (tasteless or sinister art)

8 Strange Dreams (unusual nightmares)

9 Cursed (some evil taints room)
10 Haunted (spirit of past guest who died here)

d100 Odd Inn Rooms 
1 Strange creaking noises
2 Rattling sounds
3 Empty secret panel

4 Local book of untrue local wild claims by paranoid loon

5 Old local map with long-gone locations

6 Book with local family trees

7 Book of local religion and some scrawled notes inside

8 Strange ornate key

9 Graffiti with a warning or threat

10 Old map of empty dungeon

11 Squeaking rodents in roof
13 Scratching noises in walls

14 Dead dried mass of rats with fused tails in a crack in the wall 
15 Drunk at the window, trying to get in, singing or ranting
16 Fighting and screaming cats outside

17 Rodents explore the room in the dark or maybe a giant rat
18 Fleas, bedbugs, mosquitoes or ticks
19 Drunken wealthy guest barges into the wrong room

20 Loud coughing, vomiting or snoring

21 Pickpocket or bag snatcher
22 Find the coded criminal not hidden

23 Hear screaming or fighting next room

24 The thief tries to enter and rob the room silently
25 Attractive youth offer company for money
26 Cult kidnappers

27 Bandit agent reports that the party look wealthy to the gang

28 Someone drugs food or drink to rob later
29 Pervert thinks a guest is their one special object of desire

30 Shifty man seeks someone to do a crime

31 Note under door warns of a local cult
32 Wanted poster for an adventurer gone bad who might have left it here

33 Find a locket with an image of a beautiful youth, turns out they were murdered years ago

34 Mysterious seed pod in a drawer

35 Secret admirer leaves you a gift of delicious cake, an ivory comb or other trinket

36 Someone slips not under your door by mistake

37 Mysterious stench wafts from under the floorboards

38 Map of a suspected location of a goblin market

39 Find a piece of a magic medalion but only one part of three
40 Raven caws at the window with a letter
41 Ring or pendant with initials
42 Boots of a missing adventurer under the bed

43 Inquisitor's lost letter

44 Crude erotic print or pamphlet

45 Purse of coins and a note
46 Adventurers map

47 Heretical or treasonous pamphlet

48 Bags with theatrical costume or assassin uniform

49 Wizards hat with nametag

50 Legal deed to haunted house or ruined manor

51 Strange crystal orb gives the wielder odd dreams
52 Treasure map left by monsters in the local dungeon
53 Box with blackened skull covered in runes
54 Local treasure map to a dungeon or ruin or cave
55 Cultist robes in the wardrobe or hidden panel
56 Cult unholy symbol and map
57 Mummified heart pierced with thorns in a secret panel
58 Cursed item in secret panel
59 Soul contract promising gifts of hell, just sign in blood
60 Witch book in a secret nook 

61 Print of a sinking ship and drowning people and horses being eaten by sharks
62 Painting of a smiling man with fire or crime behind him
63 Painting of a village with a dolmen no longer in sight

64 Weird folk art woven wall hanging of a strange symbol
65 Carved wooden scene of a hero fighting a monster with a recognisable location
66 Brass buckles collection framed with occult and folk magic symbols

67 Painting of execution by hanging, beheading or burning

68 Idol of grinning satyr with huge erection

69 Painting of mermaids eating stranded sailors on rocks in a storm

70 Ornate tapestry depicting a man seduced by witches and devils

72 Witch familiar taunts and follows you in dreams

73 Dream you are hunted by a mysterious, fearsome, unstoppable beast

74 Dream of a ruin nearby full of gold loot

75 Dream of a youthful lover with no belly button, feel exhausted in the morning

76 Dream of a strange prehistoric frog god and a cave in a swamp

77 Nightmare about villagers burning you alive in a whicker man

78 Dream you were a giant tree growing while a beaver gnawed you

79 Dream of animals following you, then see or hear them while awake

80 Dream a laughing devil offers you your heart's desire

81 Toss and turn all night, save or height changes

82 Hair and fingernails grow d4 inches

83 Wake up choking with imp sitting on your chest, it turns invisible and flees

84 Hear howling wolves and growling outside the window

85 Small faerie or house troll looks through baggage for gold or booze

86 Spirit in the room judges guests by an alignment standard; it will beat those not measuring up with sticks

87 Spirit leaves dripping ectoplasm on the room and on your belongings

88 Spirit falls in love with the guest and visits their dreams, inviting them to live inside an artwork or tree with them forever. It will scream and sob if rejected and become a horrific stalker

89 Find a corked bottle with petty stalker inside, if released, haunts a victim wth notes and in dreams
90 On full moon bed or a mirror acts as a portal, drawing in guests in or releasing a spirit or creature

91 Feeling someone in the room in the dark, but nothing is there
92 Scratching in walls, then an abusive, threatening voice
93 Moans and screams faintly heard  through a vent
94 Ghostly giggling, did you see a clown crawling creepily for a moment?
95 Shadow drains a few attribute points while asleep, leaving you feeling weak

96 Headless moaning spirit makes sleep hard

97 Weeping woman spirit keeps you awake

98 Creepy old spirit tugs at bedclothes and gropes sleepers
99 Poltergeist will throw a tantrum if offended by an intruder in the room

100 Spirit appears and claims to have been wronged and begs for help

Allies, Followers, Contacts & Patrons 2

Gaming more has been pretty good. I will do a review post soon. As ran 3x 5th ed games this week so ive been rereading and deeper reading piles of books i got mostly as wer available in a shop here or was onsale. Ive run 2 adventures from Dragons delve and indeed its a good book of lo prep drop in adventures with a variety of tones. I have lots of 5th ed adapted megadungeons and are unlikely to fit in any foreseeable future. I have some other 5th ed big campaigns, and i think they would need a year commitment at least. Short stuff is better for me to use with no mega plots or saving the multiverse stuff. I might try my 6 room dungeons soon.

The little campaign area Hawksmoor Island domain, has worked fine. Theros is still lots of fun after a year and players finally met the giant demigod Geryon on the way home. Geryon thinks they intend to be his minions and will rule humans for him. Players know the gods are jerks now and fibbers - finding out more about the old gods. Ran one game for kids who had just seen the movie, and a boy wanted to be like the bald lady Theyan villain.

Allies, Followers, Contacts & Patrons 1

This old post from last year had another attempt at making followers for beginning characters or rather Allies, because I want follower slots to include factions and pets.

d12 Wild & Rural Folk Starting Allies
1 Pet - Goat HDd6 goat, an alert pack pal with good climbing skills
2 Pet - Dog d3 1=HDd6 War dog 2=Herd dog 3=Hunting dog 
3 Follower - Old servant who prepares food, bed and comforts
4 Follower - Angry wasteland orphan with an exotic missile weapon like a chakra
5 Follower - Wild hunter of the woods, barely able to speak common
6 Follower - Barbarian youth with a big club
7 Contact - Clan with a farm or herds on the frontier or outside the city
8 Contact - Frontier warlord household you served in as a youth
9 Contact - Lodge of hunters considers you one of them for your past aid
10 Contact - Band who swore an oath to defeat an enemy together
11 Patron - Druidic teacher who taught you as a youth
d4 1=Part of secret lodge 2=Leads a temple 3=Leads famous school 4=Knows secret lore
12 Patron - Keep secrets of a non-human population and deal with humans for them
d6 1=Halflings 2=Dwarf or gnomes 3=Elves 4=Beast folk 5=goblinoids 6=orcs

In the spirit of Pendragon roll once a game year for your followers - the main ones are most important. Id roll several d12 colour-coded for the tables below.

Some of my follower rules
-Followers can be gained in mid levels based on your class or with slots from your CHA bonus with people you meet in play, or roll one of the starting tables from part one with your slots at 1st level. Generally, classes add followers at Lv 5 when characters are considered a master
-Your followers lag at least 2 levels below you, and they dont have followers (I had a party of halflings with lots of followers, machine gun their way through dungeons with rocks). 
-If a follower comes on an adventure and takes a risk, they can gain a level. If your followers go on an adventure of their own on some mission, they can gain a level
-Otherwise, if your lazy followers stay at home managing your business and basically doing a job dont normally improve, but whenever you go up a level, you can nominate one such auxiliary follower to gain a level
-If your followers leave, they can go up a level and have their own followers.

d12 Auxiliary Follower Activity While You're Away
1 Working on learning a new skill or language
2 Working hard to be the no. 1 follower
3 Upgraded workplace to improve profitability
4 Made a good deal with a faction
5 Recruited a talented hireling
6 Taken to the dressing for a better social class
7 Come up with a cunning plan to aid or hinder a faction

8 Upgraded comforts and luxury of buildings or property

9 Got married and started a family

10 Repulsed attack from criminals

11 Repulsed attack from monsters (Lv up if possible)

12 Obtained a magic item on an adventure (Lv up if possible)

d12 Pet Drama

1 Your pet likes to steal food
2 Your pet craps or pisses on people's stuff
3 Chews on stuff

4 Nips people if startled

5 Wears items or property

6 Flatulence

7 Hates children or one species

8 In the mood for love

9 Distressed if it leaves your side

10 Growls at strangers

11 Disliked a stranger who wants to get away from the pet (?)

12 Considers you its mate or child, or that it's your precious baby

d12 Follower Drama

1 Follower unwell or injured by accident or enemy

2 Follower is in love and moping about

3 Followers are bickering or have started a feud

4 Follower has legal problems (paternity claim, drunken disorderly)

5 Follower has a complicated side hustle

6 Follower has offended a cult

7 Follower is missing! Perhaps lost or kidnapped

8 Follower picked up a curse

9 Follower has developed bad habits or vice versa

10 Follower melancholic and taking foolish risks

11 Followers, family or friends need some help

12 Follower causing property damage with carelessness

d12 Contact Drama

1 Problems with criminals

2 Fighting rival faction

3 Political rivalry

4 Internal disputes

5 Traitor or spy among us

6 One of us was killed

7 Missing valuables need recovery

8 Important feast invitation

9 Deliver this message on your way

10 Meet an old comrade

11 Need money for a worthy purpose

12 News from HQ

d12 Patron Drama

1 Patron sends a letter full of grievances about other people

2 Sends a warning about enemies

3 Discover a plot about your patron by accident

4 Patron sends a letter with an offer of marriage or business for some faction alliance

5 Sends you 100gp or similar value supplies or a letter for prepaid accommodation on the road

6 Can you collect something in your area?

7 Ask you to attend a meeting

8 Ask you to look after someone or escort them

9 Send a treasure map near where you are now

10 Send useful information about the adventure

11 Offer support for a quest

12 Send you d3 potions

6-Room Dungeon 9: Sunken City

1 Redbrick
2 Goblin Mine
3 Gothic Tomb
4 Magic Mansion
5 Glacial Chasm
6 Jungle Shrine
7 Underland Cavern
8 Auldwood Grove
9 Sunken City
10 Desert Ruin
11 Eldritch Monolith
12 Hell Gate

Very timeless as my Hawksmire Island D&D5 game is doing well. Have 3-4 players and hoping to get more regulars. I might stick up a big map in shop and mark on where players go.

Will have to get my old salty seaman book of mrine tables. A reminder each of these mini 6-room dungeon types is a super simple version of my larger dungeon dozen series since 2012 and on my links page (ive not updated in a while) - i have so much data i cant manage it all - 36000 images of mine online too and some music. 

Sunken CIty
Long ago, fish folk walked on land and made an empire. They built cities and monuments and taught humans many secrets of civilisation. Over time, they left their human vassals and hybrids in charge. They failed and a revolt drove the fish cult back to the sea and wild isolated waters. Some tyrant hybrids held on for a time but then the People of Exilon arose and built their own cities and took control of the former fish folk ruins. Fish folk ruins might be found in deserts or jungles with possibly mad fish folk in wells or isolated cisterns. Many are on coasts or even encrusted in coral reefs, semi-submerged. Some areas and levels will be flooded, and passages may be designed to air spaces for slaves. Tides may affect access to these sites. Fish folk have kept slaves and trap prisoners in air cells to labour. They may give them a special weed that allows humans to breathe briefly to work in the water. They might surgically modify them into aquatic abhumans who cannot return to the surface with arcane surgery. Sometimes other marine creatures or even pirates or undead sailors might occupy. Some reef ruins might even become islands where people could live. Unknowingly, on the pinnacle of some reef-encrusted, semi-ruined city. Are they truly abandoned? More are cursed by monsters or used by marine cults. The barbarian clan fish people may occupy a ruin with their pets. Advanced fish folk with gold and magic may be manipulating local politics or making bybrids. Hybrids might live among people until their unholy heritage is revealed. Not all fish folk are evil or the same kind of evil. Humans cannot fathom the mysteries if the undersea kingdoms. Some sea magic is in fact, a form of a marine version of faerie land. If you have breath water you need to swim everywhere but ith free action you can walk around like its land. Aquatic farieland has sea alves walking while mermaids and fish swim about them. Many faerie beings can choose if the swim or use free action. Free action users can talk more clearly, too. Their are courts of the undersea peoples and faerie lords who rule marine kingdoms. Some rulers are also dragons. Undersea spirit folk of kelp, sea grass and fish are common citzens. They can shift from fish to humanoid or any combination. 

Random flooding? Roll d12-2 then multiply by 10 for a final % for water in a chamber. Low amounts might just bee pools or a low channel tide water flows through. Fush folk might have carved specific chanels to use like clocks and warn the tide is coming or going. 

d12 Sunken City Decor
1 Sand

2 Kelp and seaweed

3 Schools of fish, squid or crabs

4 Shells, shellfish or barnacles

5 Shipwreck and fishing junk

6 Driftwood or barrels

7 Coral or sea anemones

8 Dark holes and crevices

9 Rockpools of tiny creatures

10 Dead fish or bones

11 Sea chest

12 Skeletons, possibly encrusted in barnacles

d12 Sunken City Hazards
1 Stinging coral, anemones or jellyfish

2 Poison sea snakes or spiny fish

3 Entangling kelp

4 Giany clams

5 Hungry sharks or deadly fish

6 Trapped chest

7 Cursed scroll

8 Gold baited snapping or scythe trap

9 Drugged water 

10 Cloud of ink

11 Deadfalls of rubble

12 Tentacles

d12 Sunken City Encounters
1 Sharks or giant crabs

2 Swarm of fish, squid, jellyfish, or sea birds

3 Giany starfish or sealug

4 Giant sea snake or eel

5 Marine zombies or skeletons, former sailors or pirates or cultists 

6 Fish folk patrol

7 Wereshark or seawolf

8 Dolphins, possibly friendly or wicked cultists

9 Giant lobster or prehistoric marine scorpion

10 Sea troll or ogre

11 Sea elves or spirit folk

12 Marine abhuman best folk

d12 Sunken City Static Encounters
1 Shoggoth or slumbering crinoid old one

2 Water elemental and party of wizards or cultists, possibly marine people

3 Fish priest with minions and cultists

4 Wereshark or selkies

5 Spirit folk lord with minions

6 Merfolk clan, possibly horrible deep sea ones or pretty man-eating ones

7 Spectre with undead pirate crew

8 Plesiosaur or nest of huge pterasaurs

9 Kelpie or shambling seaweed horror

10 Sea serpent or sea dragon

11 Giant squid or octopus

12 Sea hag or nymph with minions

d12 Sunken City Entry
1 Cliff cave may be flooded high tide. May be used by smugglers, wreckers or pirates or some marine faction or monster will be in the enterance. All kinds of flotsam and jetam will be scattered here and possibly stolen goods. Passages go deeper under waterline or under higher ground under the land

2 Coastal ruin may be semi flooded or overlooking sea. May be a human castle or tower but could be more ancient of the fishfolk and overgrown in marine flora. These locations are good bases for facions or monster lairs and passages into the rock may be dungeons or fish folk temples. You could imply the human builders were secretly hybrids or fish cultists

3 Reef cave on a section of reef possibly reachad on foot low tide. Their could be a dry chambers used by marine monsters human slaves that has air when entry sealed by water. A entry chamber might have pools or be partly flooded and swimming might be required to reach passages. There may be ruins and the cave might be natural or passages overgrown in coral, barnacles and plants

4 Sinkhole or a rocky coastline drops into a semi flooded cave system in the deep. Some marine species or monster may lurk in the entry chamber at the bottom of the shaft. Other deeper chambers may be more or less flooded

5 Shipwreck on a rocky outcrop sways to the rythm of the sea. A possible salvage target but risky. Inside the wreck creatures may lurk and other hazards of the wreckage. Normal ship deckplans will be moot as spaces filled with shateered wood, cargo crates and rocks where rooms might be. The wreck mignt be on top of a marine cave system or sea ruins. Giant octopi and clams love such locations and undead sailors are likley

6 Sargassum of giant seaweed with treetrunk like stalks rises from the water and can be climbed like walkways. Their are parts of shiprecks, fishing boats and nets caught up in the trunks. A vegetal arch leads into a chamber of kelp possibly woven or grown ito a structure. Some creature or faction will be here protecting passages beyond

7 Beach Wrack a vast mountain of seaweed on a coast with a gaping wet hole into the mound squirming with tiny sea creatures. A central chamber will have some giant creature lair or some marine faction camp. Driftwood, flotsam and jetsam will be scattered inside the entry 

8 Seaside Manor usually a worn old noble house with an impressive view, now run down and dilapidated. May have some bandits, a hermit tor some animals like vermin swarms in the house but the cellar has passages into ancient mystertious sea caves. Some faction or a monster might limit entry 

9 Lighthouse ruin wich might be semi intact with some life, even a bird colony. In the basement enterance where fuel was stored their are older stone tunnels into the rock. Factions might use the tower remnants like smugglers. A sperate marine faction in the cellar chamber leads on to an older complex and sea caves

10 Dead behemoth, some titanic seabeast has died and washed up on the beach (wonder what caused those huge bite marks. Giant vermin crawl over it and burrow into its flesh leaving a gaping enterance. The dungeon might be inside the beast with stomachs or other cavity chambers or the vermin might have burrowed into an ancient complex 

11 Sand castle an fabulous giant sand castle on a beach. Some giant crabs made it from some ancient memory of their seige fighting ancestors. Creatures like giant sea beasts or sea faerie beings will defend the inner courtyard using the gatehouse. Other passages might be within sand or it may incorporate a older ruined complex. Crab folk or other creatures might battle to control this complex. It might wash away in a few days

12 Burrow mound in sand dig by some giant creature. It may have burrowed the complex or just opened a long forgotten complex. The creature may be in the chamber and remains of its meals or offspring might be in the entry chamber

d12 Sunken City Subroom
1 Cell with barnacle-covered bars, chains and bones

2 Treasure vault with bars or locked metal door, coins might be coroded and fused into lumps

3 Sealed lmetal locker or stone slab door with racks of ancient coroded weapons inside

4 Holes and crevices with small dangerous animals like eels

5 Mass of seaweed, good place to hide stuff or someone

6 Collection of flotsom and jetsam, possibly a barrel or chest

7 Idol of a fish god with altar and offerings

8 Cursed fish folk gold (curses theif and can be tracked by cult)

9 Lungfish folk wizard in slimy hibernation pod

10 Mass of eggs or baby crittersm, possibly a swarm

11 Secret passage or crawlspace

12 Blocked rubble once a larger room or passage

d12 Sunken City Main Room

1 Sargassum room with giant kelp, a good place to hide, make an ambush or may have dangerous seaweed. Will have some natural light or magic light. Something may be overgrown by plants like parts of a shipwreck or stone coffers. May be a lair or creatures 

2 Grave room with broken coffins, bones or ancient sarcophogi. May attract marine undead like sea ghouls or undead ship crew or ancient undead fish folk

3 Temple Chamber with ancient fish cults worshiped with idols of fish folk and their gods. Niches for shrines and releif carvings of fish gods gover the walls.

4 Split level cave with deep floor and ceiling with crude rock and shipwreck debris walkways at various levels. The lowest is partly flooded. A prefect place for an faction ambush or residence for some hermit or weirdo with a bed and stove. A creature in the pool with tentacles sure would be inconveniant

5 Pool cave with natural pool or a squre carved one with steps. A creature or passages out might be submerged

6 Garbage room filled with sea debris of shipwrecks and fishermen. Driftwood, nets, floats, seaweed, rowboats, a ship prow, anchors and the usual flotsam and jetsam crap from the sea. Dead sea creatures may lay about and some creatures come here to loot or find food. A passage could be under garbage 

7 Machine room of rusted pipes and metal walls. May be making noise and doing something. Built by some ancient magical civilisation or some villain as a hiding place. A cult migt be trying to understand the machine or some ancient guardians could protect and maintain it. Some may be rust proof polished steel or seametal but rust and decay looks nice too. Their may be metal hatches and air tight doors in here

8 Ancient sea cave grottow with pools but also prehistoric or prehuman cave art and calcium 

9 Treasure room with piles of coins, chests and other treasures looking fabulous and tempting. Either it is bait for a trap possibly an illusion or the property of a dangerous monster or planar being. It might be bargained with if you dont upset it or touch its loot

10 Eldritch cavern with prehuman monoliths and unatural eerie lights. Alien glyphs glow softly. Cults and fish folk wizards might be here seeking lore or how to activate this magic place. A planar being or eldritch horror might live here. Perhaps an imprisoned horror is in a stone capped pit

11 Chamber steeped in ancient intact frescos and colums. Its an illusion of the past. May be spirits or a ghost or some supernatural deciever. Perhaps it is some echo of the past. A magician could be preparing an ambush with illusionary cover. Perhaps guardian beings come out from the wall art or carved collumns  

12 A Beautiful grotto pool with crystals and mist The pool has magic powers or might be a portal to another fish dungeon or the plane of elemental water. Possibly a guardian like a naga or nymph might be here or an elemental

d12 Sunken City Feature Room
1 Temple where once the fish gods were worshipped. With a huge vault held by statues of fish gods. The walls are 

2 Throne Room where ancient fish folk bullied their air breathing slaves with spectacles and tyranical judgements. Has spectacular carvings of the fish religion. May be magical guardians or some degenerate offspring lurking here or a hybrid cult with their treasure

3 Vault of Ancestors chamber with niches or sarcophagi. The inhabitants may instead of being dead (or undead) may be ancient evil fish folk convinced they still rule the surface world.They might revive if intruders break a seal or some cult or faction will protect them 

4 Egg Chamber where some monster has a nest and many eggs. It may protect them or its remains might be here. Other creatures may be here hiding among them or harvesting them as food or pets. Perhaps mother awakens from hiding or comes back at an awkward moment 

5 Arena where gladiators once battled. May be a monster lair, have undead gladiators or could be operational run by criminals, a cult or fish folk 

6 Secret Crime Cave a gigantic cave with a hidden enterance and a whole ship inside. Their are shacks with hammocks and workshops with equiptment. The occupants may be smugglers, wreckers, pirates or undead remnants. Other monsters or factions may have taken over with charms or replaced occupants

7 Inside stomach of some sea monster, their are several wrecked ships inside where some faction dwells. Perhaps their is a mouth or sphinceter door to get in. All kinds of treasure or lost beings might be trapped inside or willingly gather here where no sane person would enter

8 Elemental portal or node leaking power into our world. May have a planar guardian water elemental or may have a cult pr faction here to use the magic for themselves. Dead adventurers of the past and some strange sea magic items might be here

9 Sea Kingdom Outpost where one of the undersa factions operates a base. Will have some baricades and possibly an escape tunnel. Will be mostly soldiers and led by priest or a wizard. WIll have supplies and a payroll chest or some recovered treasure

10 Great Kelp Chamber with thick giant kelp trunks and a raised platform up high above a weed choked pool. Some creature will live on the platform or once did and will have a nest or furnashings. Maybe the pool has a monster or dangerous plants, slime or vermin swarms 

11 Trident Chamber a holy chamber where a sea god keeps a magic trident. It will be trapped in rock or lava or behind a magic barrier. Magical guardians or treasure hunters of some faction might be here (or several arive via a seperate entry), maybe several and you can have a 3 or 4 way fight. Their is often a statue of the god and undersea ancient script of the fish cult and elemental water

12 Behemoth Pit where some huge beast is trapped in a pit or is sleeping here from ancient times. Someone has built a shrine here and suspended walkways over the beast with a platform to hurl victims from. A cult may be here or some magical explorers. The monster might be divine and bound by fragile magic. A greedy looter may try and remove the silver wards around the chamber. Perhaps a treasure is inside the creature 

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d12 Top Fish Cults

1 Dagon god of hybridisation, domination. He is a jerk who encourages evil to humans

2 Cthulhu god of alien wizardry and dreams asleep beneathe the sea on a city of darkness

3 Shoggoth cult who handle amorphous horrors with music. May grow them in vats or families use same ones for thousands of years. Use them for construction or war or as transport

4 Lampgulp a inscrutible anglerfish goddess of light, darkness, true love and hunger. Her cult marry males to her and they fuse into her flesh forever as her thousands of husbands

5 Sea Singers - lure humans into their arms with magic songs to enslave, eat or experiment on

6 Typhon - father of volcanoes, destruction and monsters, wants to get revenge on the human gods and destroy their creations and breed monsters

7 Fish Mother - goddess or spawning, healing and growing food who is mostly benevolant and even humans like her

8 Moon God/Godess - who controls the night sky, tides and protects night travellers and sleeping fish. Weakens the strong and strengthens the weak

9 The Outer Darkness - worship alien gods from beyond who need mortal help to invade and devour the universe. They are hungry for souls let them in!  

10 Spirit Cults - various powerful spirits of bodies of water, undersea mountains, reefs and islands. Has links to spirit folk citizens of a under sea faerie civiliasation. Spirit fish folk can live as fish or humans or hybrids and live along side a variety of inteliegent sea creatures

11 Sea Dragon Cult - Tiamat & Apsu the primal dragons, Apsu was slain by Enki and tiamat waged war on human kind. The cult care for marine dragons and make sure their are plenty of monsters to menace coastal peoples. Other dragons are divine rulers of the oceans or seas with faerie spirit folk and inteligent marine creatures

12 The Lord of the Sea - Enki/Neptune/Possieden are some human names but to fish folk he will be a fish man rulling a court of his family always embroiled in drama. Some prefer his wife as no1 

Spell recovery old and new + cantrip chat

Flipping through the ad&d DMG in a moment of private gary worship I found a long forgotten table on pg40. Recovery of spells did not require 8 hours or rest and/or 8 hours of study. 

All spellcasters require rest time but the amount is based on the level of the spells you want to be able to relearn.

Spells Lv 1-2 requires 4 hours rest
Spells Lv 3-4 requires 6 hours rest
Spells Lv 5-6 requires 8 hours rest
Spells Lv 7-8 requires 10 hours rest
Spells Lv 9 requires 12 hours rest

Ten you reqire 15 minutes of time per level of spell you want to recover
so if i want 3 first level spells and 2 second level spells back so it takes 4 hours rest then 15min x3 and 30min x2. So 5 hours and 30 minutes. But if oops i want a third lv spell too then i need 6 hours rest and two & a half hours to recover spells.

We used 8 hours plus 15/min per spell in AD&D for some reason as kids. 

I think this has some good benefits. It's fiddly but has some benefits.
-It makes high-level spells more valuable resources and slows those wishes per day a bit.
-you could renew your low-level spells with less effort
-it makes downtime harder and more costly time-wise
-Sometimes you could get extra castings a day of low-level spells fairly quickly
-it will make players burn low-level spells more
-makes low-level spells cheaper and high-level ones cost more in a healing swaetshop for clerics

I have cantrip slots, so I am amending the above table to include cantrips.
-not infinite 5th ed ones, and not better than using a dagger
-beginner zero-level casters used to start with one cantrip, and when you could do 4 you would swap them for a 1st lv spell and you were a 1st level caster with your one spell (maybe more if a preist). You used to be able to swap a 1st lv spell for 4 cantrips. Some retro clones have zero level spell column just like other spells which is my preference. There were tables with -2 level and -1 level before zero level for spell casters and cavaliers.

Spells Lv 0 require 2 hours rest
Spells Lv 1-2 require 4 hours rest
Spells Lv 3-4 require 6 hours rest
Spells Lv 5-6 require 8 hours rest
Spells Lv 7-8 require 10 hours rest
Spells Lv 9 require 12 hours rest

So I'm tempted to use one ten-minute turn per spell level as this is a basic standard D&D time unit in old games so fitting in with this and maths is easier (total levels add a zero on end in minutes or six slots is one hour.

I might add a column on the castable spells table with time to fully recover all slots and cost of components one.

Im really tempted to let maybe cantrips to require one minute or zero time outside rest. I dont like infinite cantrips so good why would you ever use a weapon? My pissweak cantrips can be handy and players have done some weird things to enhance cantrips but making them more usable but not as good as 5th ed usable. If I run a zero lv wizard school game, this will be more fun. Also good for my Goat Quest games of animal cult investigations, where open gate was a popular spell. As I have lots of weird magic skills for players to mess with I had a character for 5 skill slots could cast a extra cantrip each round, got +3 damage on a single cantrip and could convert a 1st lv spell into 4 cantrips so he did a extra d3+3 damage every round plus another spell or do it twice. It sounds gross but was a big investment.

I will run this by the players. An amended spell progression table with time and component cost will help. Material components may end up as disposable vs fancy foci that are cheaper, but losing them is time-consuming to recover items.

components:
Arcane - minerals, magic critter parts vs wand or staff or dagger foci
Divine - holy water, holy oil, wafers, wine  vs holy symbol, shield or weapon foci
Nature - herbs and animal parts vs sickle or staff or live snake foci 
Mentalist - drugs or crystals vs jewellery or a staff foci

I had a 5th-ed cleric drop all weapons at 3rd lv and my dm noticed at 9th lv when I couldn't be bothered with opportunity attacks because I didn't want to touch dirty monsters, but i did keep a shield. Those weapons were better in the hands of poor people. Maybe if i had a magic weapon, I would have used it.

Do I need an Assassin Class in my Retroclone?

EMO homebrew rules class revisions again for later this year

As I've slipped in a few more ad&d type classes, ive pushed my druids and priests to be weaker at fighting an better and magic. Ive made a templar and rover class to be closer to fighters paladins rangers in part dont want all holy men being entirely fighting guys. Im also making more martial classes as a reaction to how bad this has become on modern fantasy games so over the years in D&D games thieves have gone from magic user level pissweak to being a martial class. I can get my 5th ed 1st lv thef now to do 3 knife attacks with 3 or 4 x the HP of a bx theief. I was kind of heading this way myself but of late I thought another skill based class and thinking about what abilities do i want an assassin to have vs my rogue.  

My rogues are the skill maxing class and get the most slots to cover their skills, make stat rolls so 50%+ all skills minimum. They learn a skill every level. They have backstab +4 hit x2 dice damage which increases higher up. Finish an incapacitated target per lv per round. Any tarket reduced to 0 with a blunt weapon can be a KO instead of left dying. They also get a extra luck point per level per day which lets them take wild skill risks. Rogues make better kidnappers with ko abilities. Id rather they could fight ok like all the swashbuckling rascals in books not cowering weaklings like wizards with a d4 hp days.

Ive considered alt rogues types that apply the +4 extra damage multipliers could instead be applied to other skill in new ways. Some more useful in a SF setting or for NPCs:
Healer - bonus on hp from healing skills or do surgery faster
Pilot/Driver - operate one vehichle like boat, spaceship, aircraft, car, motorbike, chariot - multiplier can be used for extra turns or speed
Crafter - bonus on repair and craft skill of choice and multiplier can be used things faster, cheaper or quality
Merchant - multiply the monthly profits of your business by clever bookkeeping and weasly capitalist finance tricks

Assassin Ideas Obviously, anyone could do assassinations, but few have the spirit and secret training to infiltrate churches, nobles, cults, criminals or even wizards. Assassins are agents of cults, nobles, guilds, clans, secret societies or criminals and have strict rules on who they kill and how and when. You might say you are a spy as it sounds better than an assassin. This class will be effective spies also in a way break and enter theives would find harder.

I've considered abilities to make them not quite like thieves.
Better at fighting skills, not as many skills as rogue.
Skills will define specialisation, but likely will have
3x arms skills - (eg blades, swords, shortbow) +1/2 lv
4x arts skills - (eg disguise, sneak, sleight, bluff) +1/2 lv
4x languages +1/lv
+1 to hit per 2Lv and d8 HD (my fighters get +1/Lv)
light or medium armour any weapon up to d8
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Enhanced Disguise
A disguise includes a specific uniform, class dress or national costume. All assassins wear a masked or hooded costume used on secret missions, rituals or raids but not casually in public. This is the assassin's true identity. Most maintain several identities, like the one they spend their time in public, living with normal people. Other identities are adopted as required. Some learn skills to enhance these disguises with skills and spells, but Assassins have abilities that enhance their ability to infiltrate.

Variable skill slot 
Pick one arms, art or language skill which you can change with a day of study. This chosen skill works in a specific disguise or identity with clothes and tools appropriate to the skill or a professional user of the skill. Could use to get heavy armour to fake an armoured knight or a craft skill to complete a disguise.
-maybe get 2 slots at 10th, 3 at 20th

Hide alignment
Resist skills that others could learn your alignment while in disguise. For one hour per level per day, you can also ward yourself from Detect alignment with a Will saving throw. At 10th lv you get a save vs other alignment targeting spells if you normally would not get one. At 20th level, you save to resist scrying, divination or detection magic also.

Assassination
+1 to hit and damage per level vs surprised, ambushed, blinded or otherwise unaware targets. Target must not be able to see the assassin or be aware of them with other senses. Being unable to hear or being distracted by sound helps. Sneak and Hide from behind is the most successful combination of conditions. Easier to initiate in combat than with backstab
-maybe also target saves vs instant kill if target is half or less of your level -maybe starts with humanoid and advances through animals to living to supernatural creatures
-kill an incapacitated, unconscious, or sleeping target per level each round (my rogues do this, but can KO them instead with a blunt attack and KO targets brought to 0hp instead of them bleeding)
-The assassination damage and hit mod is conditional, but better than the fighter's chance to hit. work well with multiple attacks

Specialists would include versions of cult killers, ninjas, the original assassin order or could be specialist poisoners, snipers, and bombers, based on skill choices

Maybe my ranger paladin assassin clones will get extra att at 10th and 20th . Maybe the assassin needs damage dice bumps, too 1pt>d2>d3>d4>d6>d8>d10>d12>2d8>2d10>+d10 but not using this is cool too. Combining with a fighter, monk or thief might work well. Hopefully, this is familiar yet different in concept and weirder I will finalise with some players and have to weigh up vs other skill and martial characters

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I did playlists and dropped into my new class lists I ended up making my adept (monk) assassin and warrior the top 3 fighting classes, with rover (ranger-druids) rogue and templar (cleric-paladins) are the next tier of martials, with other abilities I have warrior class with the most combat skills and + to hit progression -adepts are martial artists - monks - wandering duelists - members of fighting schools -assassins are secret society masked killers & spies who strike enemies when they least expect it

Ill do my non humans once these done