CairnHammer

Gritty Old-School British

Fantasy Role Playing Game
by Andrew Cavanagh

Free rpg resources at EpicEmpires.org

For use with the Cairn rpg available free at https://cairnrpg.com

Cairn Hammer recreates the feel of gritty old-school British fantasy roleplaying
games while keeping the simplicity and ease of play of the Cairn rpg.

Cairn Rules!
In CairnHammer you have three attributes:
Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), and Willpower
(WIL). When an outcome is uncertain you roll
under an attribute to determine the outcome. In
combat you roll for damage. The core rules are the
same as the Cairn rpg.

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 CairnHammer Rules Summary
Starting Attributes
Roll 1d6+6 for each of your three attributes:
Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Willpower (WIL)
When an outcome is uncertain you make a ‘save’ by rolling under an attribute on a 20
sided die to determine the outcome. Equal to or under is a success. Over is a failure.

Social Classes & Careers

You start with a Social Class (Courtshade, Journeyman, Lorekeeper, Peasant,
Scoundrel, or Sellsword) and a Career. You roll with advantage on any save that uses
skills, experience, or special abilities you could reasonably expect to have from your
career or social class.

HP Advancement (Optional)
Start with 1d6 Hit Protection (HP). After a session where your HP goes to 0 or less
you roll 1d8. If you roll over your maximum HP it goes up 1 (to a maximum of 8).

Combat
In combat you roll for damage and subtract the target’s armor. Impaired attacks roll
1d4. Enhanced attacks roll 1d12. Sellswords increase their damage die by one size in
combat (eg. d6 to d8). They increase a d12 to d12+1.

Spell Books, Holy Books & Hedgebones

There are three different core types of magic items in CairnHammer. Spell books,
holy books or symbols and hedgebones. Barber-Surgeons, Cultists, and Priests can
read holy books. Scholars, Scribes, and Sorcerers can read spell books, Peasants can
use hedgebones. Otherwise you must save vs WIL to use a specific magic item or get
guidance from someone who knows how.

Spell books, hedgebones, holy books and symbols all take up one slot of inventory
and add 1 fatigue to your inventory when you use them.

Inventory
Player characters have 10 item slots in their inventory. Each item takes up 1 slot.
Smaller items can be bundled together. Bulky items take 2 slots. Filling all ten item
slots reduces a PC to 0 HP.

Fate Dice (Optional)

Each session each player starts with one d6 ‘Fate die’. You can use a fate die to
subtract from any of your save rolls, to subtract from an opponent’s damage roll, or to
add to your own damage roll. The warden can award fate dice for good role playing.

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 Character Creation
1. Roll Your
HP, STR, DEX, & WIL
Roll 1d6 for your Hit Protection (HP)
Roll 1d6+6 for each of your three attributes:
Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Willpower (WIL)

2. Roll For Your

Career & Social Class
Roll 2 six sided dice (d6|6) using one die as the tens
die and one die as the singles die. This will give you
your character’s Career and Social class.

eg. You roll 44 ‘Hedge Witch’ which is your Career.

The title above that in bold is ‘Peasant’, your Social
Class.

Career d6|6
Courtshade Lorekeeper Scoundrel
11 Assassin 31 Barber-Surgeon 51 Charlatan
12 Coachman 32 Cultist 52 Grave Robber
13 Diplomat 33 Priest 53 Jailer
14 Merchant 34 Scholar 54 Outlaw
15 Servant 35 Scribe 55 Prowler
16 Spy 36 Sorcerer 56 Thief
Journeyman Peasant Sellsword
21 Ferryman 41 Bone Picker 61 Bodyguard
22 Hunter 42 Farmer 62 Bounty Hunter
23 Fisherman 43 Gong Farmer 63 Legbreaker
24 Messenger 44 Hedge Witch 64 Soldier
25 Sailor 45 Miner 65 Watchman
26 Smuggler 46 Rat Catcher 66 Witch Hunter

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 Social Class Descriptions
Courtshade: Assassin, Coachman, Diplomat, Merchant, Servant, Spy
Courtshades work in the courts of nobles and royalty. They know the correct protocol
for talking with nobility and royalty and have inside knowledge of nobles and the
royal courts.

Journeyman: Ferryman, Hunter, Fisherman, Messenger, Sailor, Smuggler

Journeymen are travellers surviving on the road and in the wilds. They can usually
find their way in the wilderness even without a map.

Lorekeeper: Barber-Surgeon, Cultist, Priest, Scholar, Scribe, Sorcerer

Lorekeepers have studied the written works in their field and usually have wide
knowledge. Barber-surgeons, Cultists and Priests are familiar with holy books.
Scholars, Scribes and Sorcerers are familiar with spell books.

Peasant: Bone Picker, Farmer, Gong Farmer, Hedge Witch, Miner, Rat Catcher
Peasants are laborers and perform tasks no one else is willing to do. They have inside
knowledge of the people, beasts, and hazards of every region they’ve worked in.
Peasants can usually understand the symbols on hedgebones well enough to use them
but may be terrified to try it.
It takes a peasant 2 days without rations to be deprived from hunger.

Scoundrel: Charlatan, Grave Robber, Jailer, Outlaw, Prowler, Thief

Scoundrels have connections with other criminals and knowledge of the criminal
underworld. They know the law and how to bribe a watchman or a magistrate, if they
can be bribed. Scoundrels are often masters of stealth and deception.

Sellsword: Bodyguard, Bounty Hunter, Legbreaker, Soldier, Watchman,

Witch Hunter
Sellswords are trained fighters and heavies. They often have other sellswords they’ve
met or fought with who are spread throughout the empire. They know how to wound
or kill and can identify a quality weapon, its value, and know how to wield it. They
increase their die size by 1 when using a weapon in combat (eg. d6 becomes d8).

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 Your Career & Social Class
Lets You Roll With Advantage
In CairnHammer you roll with advantage on any
save that uses skills, experience, or special abilities
you could reasonably expect to have from your
career or social class.

To roll with advantage you roll 2 twenty sided dice and take the best roll.

Your career and social class give you an idea of the kinds of things your character
would be good at. They might let you succeed automatically with an action or roll
your attribute save with advantage if the outcome is in doubt.

Players can describe how their career should help them do something. It’s Warden’s
discretion on what qualifies and whether a save is required for an action.

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 Careers
The next pages describe the different careers, the types of things characters in those
careers might be good at, and some starting equipment. With agreement the warden
and players may choose to tweak some of the starting equipment. They may also
agree on a different weakness for a player character.

Assassin
Silent and deadly, the assassin moves through shadows like a whisper of death.
Trained in poisons, blades, and deception, they strike without warning and vanish
before the blood of their victim has a chance to cool. Their services are bought and
sold by nobles, criminals, and conspirators alike, where trust is a luxury none can
afford.

Carries: A hidden razor-sharp dagger, a small vial of deadly poison, concealed in a

hollowed leather ring, and a dark hooded cloak woven to blend into the shadows.
Weakness: 1-Morbid, 2-Callous, 3-Detached, 4-Perfectionist

Barber-Surgeon
Half healer, half butcher, the barber-surgeon wields razor and saw with equal skill,
patching wounds or setting bones as the coin demands. Their practice teeters between
medicine and grim necessity, with bleeding and leeches the standby tools of the trade.

Carries: a stained leather case filled with a rust-speckled scalpel, a pair of shears for
cutting hair, filthy used bandages, a bone-handled saw, a jar of leeches, and an iron
that can be heated to red hot in fire to cauterize wounds.
Weakness: 1-Unhygenic, 2-Sloppy, 3-Inhumane, 4-Easily distracted

Bodyguard
Hardened by street fights and tavern brawls, the bodyguard stands between danger
and their employer, selling their loyalty to the highest bidder. They sleep lightly,
drink little, and trust no one, for in this world, betrayal is as common as rain.

Carries: a dented steel buckler, a short and wickedly sharp stabbing sword, a worn
leather charm against knives.
Weakness: 1-Tactless, 2-Gullible, 3-Overbearing, 4-Heavy-handed

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 Bone Picker
Dressed in rags and stinking of decay, the bone picker scours battlefields and plague
pits, prying gold teeth from corpses and selling bones for fertilizer or alchemy.
They’ve long since lost the luxury of disgust.

Carries: a hooked iron pry bar, a sack of assorted bones, a waxed cloth mask to ward
off the stench.
Weakness: 1-Sickly, 2-Twitchy, 3-Shameless, 4-Money-grubbing

Bounty Hunter
Scarred and relentless, the bounty hunter has seen every back alley, rat-run, and
outlaw haunt in the cities and the wilds. For coin, they will track a quarry to the ends
of the earth, dead or alive, but mostly dead.

Carries: a coil of rough hemp rope, a sheaf of crumpled wanted posters, a heavy
crossbow with half a dozen black-fletched bolts (d8 damage, bulky).
Weakness: 1-Obsessive, 2-Grudgeful, 3-Remorseless, 4-Suspicious

Charlatan
With a silver tongue and a pack of worthless tonics, the charlatan lives off lies and the
gullibility of desperate folk. They drift from town to town, staying only long enough
to profit before the mob catches on.

Carries: a case of colored glass bottles filled with foul-smelling “medicine,” a set of
fake guild papers, a silver-plated ring that turns the finger green.
Weakness: 1-Chatterbox, 2-Gold-hungry, 3-Ostentatious, 4-Compulsive liar

Coachman
Through rain, mud, or deadly outlaws, the coachman keeps the wheels turning. They
know the roads in the city and the wilds, the weather, and which inns water the ale.
More than one travelling noble owes their life to a coachman’s quick thinking and
quicker whip.

Carries: a horse whip (d6), a pouch of road toll tokens, a flask of strong, burning
spirits.
Weakness: 1-Jaded, 2-Omen-fearing, 3-Drink-prone, 4-Horse-obsessed

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 Cultist
Eyes glazed with fevered devotion, the cultist moves through the streets as a living
sermon of forbidden faith. They spread whispers of ruin beneath prayers, calling
shadows to gather and strange gods to rise.

Carries: a twisted iron symbol bound with human hair, a vial of black ichor for
sacrificial rites, a stained cloth hood meant to hide their true face.
Weakness: 1-Delusional, 2-Preachy, 3-Condemning, 4-Fanatical

Diplomat
Smooth-voiced and sharp-eyed, the diplomat trades in favors and veiled threats. Their
coin is influence, their weapon a whispered word, and their enemies often vanish
mysteriously without a drop of blood spilled.

Carries: a signet ring for sealing documents, a ledger of debts and favors, a silver-
inlaid dagger for “emergencies.”
Weakness: 1-Conceited, 2-Patronizing, 3-Conniving, 4-Indulgent

Farmer
Weathered and bent from years in the field, the farmer’s life is dirt, toil, and taxes.
They know the seasons like scripture, and they’ve buried more kin than they care to
count when famine, war, or plague comes calling.

Carries: a rust-pitted pitchfork, a pouch of seed corn, a lucky wooden carving worn
smooth from years of handling.
Weakness: 1-Irritable, 2-Stubborn, 3-Uncultured, 4-Blunt

Ferryman
Standing at the river’s edge with pole in hand, the ferryman knows the currents, the
tolls, and the bodies hidden in the reeds. They’ll take you across for a price, and keep
whatever secrets you’d rather leave on the far bank.

Carries: a long ashwood pole for steering that doubles as a weapon (d6), a small
locked coffer for coin tolls, a lantern hooded to hide its light from prying eyes.
Weakness: 1-Distrustful, 2-Overcautious, 3-Claustrophobic, 4-Sarcastic

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 Fisherman
The fisherman rises before dawn, rowing into mist and silence. Their nets bring up
fish, eels… and sometimes stranger things. They have the patience of the tide and the
haunted eyes of one who’s pulled up half rotted remains from beneath the water.

Carries: a tar-stained fishing net, a bone-handled gutting knife, a flask of salted

spirits to ward off the chill.
Weakness: 1-Superstitious, 2-Pessimist, 3-Loud, 4-Restless

Gong Farmer
Ankle-deep in the shite of the city, the gong farmer toils unseen, hauling night soil
from privies to the midden heaps beyond city walls. They are shunned in daylight, yet
their labor keeps disease at bay, most of the time.

Carries: a long-handled muck rake (d6 damage), a pair of patched leather gloves
slick with grime, a bottle of vinegar to soak a rag tied over the nose.
Weakness: 1-Putrid, 2-Clingy, 3-Clumsy, 4-Oversensitive

Grave Robber
By the light of a hooded lantern, the grave robber digs in hallowed ground, breaking
open coffins for whatever coin, jewelry, or trinkets the dead left behind. The town
curses their name, but coin spends the same, no matter how it’s earned.

Carries: a short-handled spade (d6), a crowbar blackened with earth (d6), a pouch of
stolen teeth, a hooded lantern with oil.
Weakness: 1-Fears authority, 2-Gullible, 3-Cowardly, 4-Greedy

Hedge Witch/Wizard
Shunned by priests, and hunted by the empire, the hedge witch plies their craft hidden
in the hedgerows and woodlands, wielding a dangerous mix of hedge magic and
witchcraft. Peasants fear hedge witches but seek them out when illness will not leave
them or they believe they are hexed.

Carries: a bundle of dried herbs tied with red twine, a wax-sealed jar of salve, a
pouch of bones heavy with magic (one set of hedgebones).
Weakness: 1-Paranoid, 2-Unhinged, 3-Easily distracted, 4-Vengeful

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 Hunter
A master of the trail, the hunter reads broken twigs and shallow prints like a map.
Patient and sharp-eyed, they move silently through the undergrowth, bow in hand and
quarry in sight.

Carries: a yew hunting bow and a quiver with a dozen arrows, a bone-handled
skinning knife, a hooded cloak of mottled green and brown for camouflage.
Weakness: 1-Crowdphobic, 2-Crude, 3-Tunnel-visioned, 4-Overbearing

Jailer
Years of locking doors and listening to lies have made them immune to pleading
voices. Their eyes are as cold as the stone they watch over.

Carries: a brass whistle on a frayed leather cord, a short cudgel with a worn grip
(d6), a sharp dagger hidden in a boot (d6).
Weakness: 1-Corrupt, 2-Untrusting, 3-Sadistic, 4-Regimented

Legbreaker
A thug and enforcer for a gang the legbreaker collects debts mostly with intimidation,
but never mind if their job turns violent. They make sure their employer’s “messages”
are delivered in bone-deep fashion.

Carries: a length of weighted chain (d6), brass knuckles wrapped in leather (d6), a
black wool scarf to hide their face in dark alleys.
Weakness: 1-Short-fused, 2-Impatient, 3-Literal, 4-Oblivious

Merchant
Eyes sharp for profit, the merchant trades and sells goods to wealthy nobles and
royalty. They know the price of every spice, gem, and favor in the city. Their wealth
rests not just on goods, but on knowing who wants what and how much they’ll bleed
for it.

Carries: a velvet coin bag with an embroidered crest (contains 1d4x10gp), sealed
letter of introduction from a noble patron granting access to court, a silver inlaid cane
with a hidden blade (d6).
Weakness: 1-Covetous, 2-Self-important, 3-Opinionated, 4-Wasteful

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 Messenger
Fleet-footed and tireless, the messenger cuts across roads, rivers, and forests alike,
carrying letters, orders, and secrets. A trusted courier is rarer than gold and many
have succumbed to bribes before finding the end of a noose or a swift blade of
vengeance in a back alley.

Carries: a leather satchel for sealed letters, an oilcloth map creased and annotated
with shortcuts, danger zones, and safe inns, a short stabbing knife for the road (d6).
Weakness: 1-Impatient, 2-Jittery, 3-Childish, 4-Insecure

Miner
Breathing dust and darkness, the miner spends their days far below the earth,
chipping at stone and timbering tunnels against collapse. They can smell a cave-in
before it comes, and the dark is no stranger to them.

Carries: a heavy iron pick (d8), a soot-blackened lantern, a cloth mask to keep the
choking dust out of lungs.
Weakness: 1-Coughing fits, 2-Bitter, 3-Ghost-fearing, 4-Belligerent

Outlaw
Marked by the noose in spirit if not yet in flesh, the outlaw lives beyond the law’s
reach, raiding coaches, caravans, and villages. The road is their home, fear their
shield, and violence their constant companion.

Carries: a rust-flecked crossbow with half a dozen bolts, a stolen coin pouch with
mismatched currency (1d10gp), a patched, mostly black leather hood.
Weakness: 1-Rash, 2-Ruthless, 3-Brawler, 4-Hotheaded

Priest
Voice like a funeral bell, the priest’s sermons cut deeper than any blade. They speak
of redemption, but their eyes weigh every soul and find most wanting.

Carries: an old holy symbol, a leather-bound book of scripture stained with candle
wax (a holy book), a small reliquary containing a saint’s finger bone, a tarnished
silver bell to banish evil spirits, a small hammer for driving nails into coffins or
heretics alike (d6).
Weakness: 1-Self righteous, 2-Judgemental, 3-Narrow minded, 4-Stubborn

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 Prowler
A shadow among shadows, the prowler is a burglar of the night, slipping through
alleys, warehouses, and windows, leaving little trace but the absence of what once
was there. They are patient, quiet, and always watching for their chance to steal.

Carries: a slim-bladed dagger for close work (d6), a coil of blackened rope with a
grappling hook, a pouch of wax for silencing squeaky hinges.
Weakness: 1-Skittish, 2-Avaricious, 3-Suspicious, 4-Skulking

Rat Catcher
In the sewers and cellars, the rat catcher wages a filthy, endless war against four
legged vermin. Their small, half-starved terriers are worth more to them than most
people.

Carries: a sturdy rat club with the stains to prove it (d6), a sack writhing with live
catches, a trained dog with patchy fur and a fierce bite.
Weakness: 1-Stinks, 2-Overtalkative, 3-Disgusting, 4-Rough
Dog: 3 HP, 3 STR, 16 DEX, 13 WIL, bite (d4)

Sailor
Scarred by storms and sun, with calloused hands the sailor’s world is the deck
beneath their feet and the wind in the rigging. Their eyes scan the horizon where
danger may lurk beneath calm waves, and superstition fills their hearts.
Carries: a salt-stiffened coil of rope, a short boarding axe (d8), a brass compass with
a cracked lid.
Weakness: 1-Superstitious, 2-Drunkard, 3-Braggart, 4-Ill-tempered

Scholar
Surrounded by tomes and scrolls, the scholar’s life is ink-stained hands and candlelit
nights. Knowledge is dangerous, and too many scholars end their days at the stake.

Carries: a satchel of brittle parchment scrolls, a pair of cracked-lens spectacles, a

slim sharp letter opener (d6).
Weakness: 1-Patronizing, 2-Glutton, 3-Snobbish, 4-Pompous

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 Scribe
The scribe records the wills, contracts, and confessions of others, sometimes for
history, sometimes for coin, and sometimes to destroy them. In a place where ink
lasts longer than life, their work holds weight.

Carries: a portable inkwell and quill set, a wax seal stamp, a quill knife for
sharpening pens (d6).
Weakness: 1-Pedantic, 2-Fussy, 3-Indecisive, 4-Fearful

Servant
Moving quietly through halls and kitchens, the servant hears every whispered plot
and sees every hidden sin. They know the household’s secrets better than its master,
and sometimes sell them to the right ears.

Carries: a polished serving tray that doubles as a shield, a small sewing kit for
mending clothes or wounds, a spare fire poker taken from the hearth (d6).
Weakness: 1-Anxious, 2-Vindictive, 3-Nosy, 4-Gossips

Smuggler
Skirting docks, borders, and patrols, the smuggler ferries contraband through the
cracks of the law. Their greatest skill is knowing who to bribe, who to avoid, and
where to hide the goods.

Carries: a hidden satchel lined with oilcloth to keep documents or goods dry and
concealed, fake merchant’s papers to bluff through checkpoints and customs, a razor
sharp concealed dagger (d6).
Weakness: 1-Bad gambler, 2-Easily tempted, 3-Reckless, 4-Forgetful

Soldier
Hardened by battlefields and blood, the soldier fights for coin or cause, but mostly for
coin. They’ve marched through mud and blood, seen comrades fall, and lived to tell
the tale, but not without scars to prove it.

Carries: a battered breastplate with old dents (2 armor bulky), a standard-issue spear
(d8) or halberd (d10 bulky), a whetstone for keeping weapons sharp, a backpack.
Weakness: 1-Resentful, 2-Bitter, 3-Haunted, 4-Unforgiving

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 Sorcerer
Haunted by voices from beyond the veil, sorcerers wield their power with grim
determination, aware that each spell may exact a terrible price.

Carries: a bone dagger inscribed with runes of warding (d6), a leather-bound

grimoire chained shut (a spell book), a pouch of shimmering dust said to enhance
spells.
Weakness: 1-Unhinged, 2-Overconfident, 3-Tormented, 4-Absentminded

Spy
A master of masks and lies, the spy moves through noble society slipping into places
unseen and emerging with truths worth killing for. They serve lords, nobles, kings,
cults, or coin, sometimes all at once.

Carries: a folded set of false identity papers, a concealed dagger in a boot sheath
(d6), a disguise kit including powders, wig, and makeup for changing appearance.
Weakness: 1-Manipulative, 2-Cynical, 3-Vengeful, 4-Coldhearted

Thief
A master of picking pockets and picking locks, the thief lives by taking what others
don’t guard carefully enough. They thrive in alleyways and on rooftops, where a
single leap or slip decides fortune or death.
Carries: a set of lockpicks hidden in a leather strap, a small pouch of caltrops to slow
pursuers, dark hooded cloak for blending into shadows or crowds.
Weakness: 1-Greedy, 2-Distrustful, 3-Cowardly, 4-Paranoid

Watchman
Patrolling streets by lantern light, the watchman is both the city’s protector and its
blunt instrument. They know every troublemaker by sight—and every tavern by
smell.
Carries: a long wooden truncheon, a dented lantern, a whistle for raising the alarm.
Weakness: 1-Cynical, 2-Inflexible, 3-Rule-bound, 4-Gruff

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 Witch Hunter
Feared and reviled by most, the witch hunter scours the land for heretics, hedge
witches and wizards, some cultists, and anyone their employer has a distaste for.
They burn evil from the root, though their zeal often catches the innocent in the blaze.

Carries: a silver long sword (d10 bulky), an iron stake for driving through the heart
of witches and undead (d6), a leather satchel for warrants and writs of authority, a
flask of blessed oil for the pyre.
Weakness: 1-Zealous, 2-Judgemental, 3-Impatient, 4-Brutal

Make Your Own Career

With the Warden having the final say you can make
any career for your game:
1. Choose which Social Class the career falls in.
2. Describe what people in the career do.
3. Make a list of starting equipment.
4. Choose a weakness.

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 Magic
Spell Books, Holy Books, & Hedgebones
In CairnHammer there are three different Most peasants (bone pickers, farmers,
types of magic items that take up the gong farmers, hedge witches, miners,
space normally occupied by spell books and rat catchers) can recognize
in Cairn. They all deliver magic in a hedgebones and the meaning of the
similar way to spell books in the Cairn carvings from the fairy tales they were
rpg and all take up one inventory slot told as children and from their terrifying
and add 1 fatigue to your character’s trips to their local hedge witch when
inventory when used: they were sick.

1. Spell Books Nobility and courtshades mostly seek out

The same as in the Cairn rpg, spell books sorcerers and priests for magic and will
are created by sorcerers. only seek out a cultist or hedge witch if
they’re truly desperate.
2. Holy Books or Holy Symbols
Priests and cultists make holy books and Scoundrels will try to use anything they
holy symbols. can steal.

3. Hedgebones Journeymen might use anything magic

Hedge magic, often derided as dark or be terrified of it based on their own
‘peasants magic’ uses rune-marked personal superstitions or superstitions
bones and other constructs called passed from their kin.
‘hedgebones’. Hedge witches and hedge
wizards make hedgebones. Most sellswords hate magic and hedge
witches, with some exceptions.
Using Magic
Scholars, scribes and sorcerers can If your social class does not allow you to
automatically read and identify spell automatically recognize or read a
books. particular type of magic item you must
make a WIL save the first time you see it
Barber-surgeons, cultists and priests can to understand how to use it.
automatically read and identify holy
books. If you fail you can’t try again until
you’ve sought out guidance from
All lorekeepers are wary of peasants someone who can recognize or read the
magic and priests especially see hedge item. Once you’ve received that help you
magic as dark and dangerous. can use that magic item and teach
someone else to do the same.

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 Who Can Use Magic?
Courtshades: WIL save or seek guidance
Journeymen: WIL save or seek guidance
Scoundrels: WIL save or seek guidance
Sellswords: WIL save or seek guidance
Peasants: can usually use hedgebones
WIL save or seek guidance for other types
Lorekeepers:
Barber-Surgeons, Cultists, Priests can read holy books
Scholars, Scribes, Sorcerers can read spell books
WIL save or seek guidance for other types

Hedgebones Holy Symbols

To cast hedge magic the hedgebones Holy symbols are usually held up in
must be held with at least one hand and defiance or triumph with one hand or
the spell spoken out loud. When you two as the spell is cast with a religious or
begin to cast hedge magic your eyes roll cultish fervour. With all magic items,
back in your head and powerful, even if they’re small, they’re heavy with
dangerous magic whips around you. magic, taking up one inventory slot.

Hedgebones Examples Holy Symbol Examples

1. Dried frog skeletons tied in a bundle 1. Cracked silver bell etched with
with human hair writing
2. Bird skulls on a necklace made of 2. Huge key carved from bone, prayers
twisted crow feathers carved in it
3. Dried eyeballs threaded on a 3. Skull with red gems for eyes, prayers
blackthorn vine necklace carved deep into the bone
4. Skeletal claw of a large beast stained 4. Corpse mask, the inside covered with
with sticky blood writing in blood
5. Snake’s spine and skeletal head worn 5. Severed dried hand tattooed with
coiled around the arm strange prayers
6. Large hook carved from shark bone 6. Preserved tongue pierced with bronze
tied to braided wolf hair pins, inked with writing
7. Shriveled tongue that twitches 7. Human jawbone with sigils inked
whenever someone speaks close to it along each tooth
8. Burnt ashwood rod embedded with 8. Clay tablet with words written in
hissing snake head and dripping fangs bloody fingerprints
9. Dried bat wings sewn into a pouch 9. Finger bone dipped in tar, writing
holding a black, pulsing heart scratched into the hardened surface
10. Crushed hornet nest bound with 10. Iron cross etched with prayers that
nightshade vines glow bright red when the spell is cast

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 Hedgebones
1. Beast Form: You and your 11. Ghost Walk: For one hour you leave
possessions transform into a mundane no tracks where you walk.
animal found in your region like a black
cat, raven, or a wolf. 12. Raise Spirit: The spirit of a nearby
corpse manifests and will answer 1
2. Black Fog: A dense black cloud of question.
fog spreads out from you.
13. Speak with Animals: You can speak
3. Blight: You turn water brackish, a with one animal like a cat or a crow for
field of crops to rotting husks, or blight one minute.
an animal so its milk is soured.
14. Stun: Touch your target and they
4. Boils: The target must save vs WIL or must save vs WIL or be stunned for 1d3
painful boils will cover their body. By rounds.
speaking it backwards this spell can also
be used to remove boils. 15. Summon Swarm: Summon a swarm
of bats, rats, or spiders. They are mostly
5. Command: A target obeys a single harmless but being battered by them is
three-word command that does not cause distracting and terrifying.
it harm.
16. Swarm: You become a swarm of
6. Cursed Luck: Touch your target or crows, rats, or piranhas. You can only be
make a crude doll using some of their harmed by blast attacks.
hair then cast this spell to curse them
with bad luck. They must save vs WIL or 17. Tangling Vines: Vines burst from the
for the next 24 hours all their saves are at ground and entangle any creature in a
disadvantage and their attacks are 10ft radius of your target.
impaired.
18. Toad’s Tongue: The target must save
7. Cure Wounds: Restore 1d4 STR to a vs WIL or be unable to speak.
creature you can touch. Can only be used
once a day on the same creature. 19. Witch’s Grave: A pit 4ft wide and
10ft deep opens in the ground. You can
8. Duck’s Back: In the heaviest rain, then fill it back in with dirt.
you, your party and your belongings stay
totally dry. 20. Witch’s Wind: Creates a gust of
wind strong enough to blow out candles,
9. Earthquake: The ground shakes lanterns, and to blow leaves and papers
violently. Structures may collapse. through the air. For 2 Fatigue the gust is
strong enough that people must save vs
10. Evil eye: Your evil glare is terrifying. DEX or be blown off their feet.
Target must save vs WIL or flee in terror.

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 Holy Books or Holy Symbols: Divine
1. Blessing: Target’s attacks are 12. God’s Hand: A giant, floating hand
enhanced and non-Blast attacks are impairs all attacks against you from a
impaired against them until after they single opponent until you are safe from
next take damage. danger.

2. Blind: Target within eyesight must 13. Lightning Bolt: d10 Damage to
make a WIL save or be blinded. anyone in a straight line from the caster.

3. Cleanse: Rotten or poisoned food 14. Part Water: Raise, lower or part
becomes edible. nearby water.

4. Cure Disease: A single illness or 15. Sculpt: Your hands sculpt stone,
disease dissipates at your touch. rock, or minerals into any form you
please.
5. Cure Poison: Someone who has been
poisoned or envenomed is cured at your 16. Thunder: Deafening clap of thunder
touch. Stuns anyone in 30ft who fails a WIL
save.
6. Cure Wounds: Restore 1d4 STR to a
creature you can touch. Can only be used 17. Turn to Stone: Target must save vs
once a day on the same creature. WIL or be turned to stone. A success
reverses the spell’s power. The caster
7. Dispel Curse: A person or object you must pass a WIL save or the holy book is
touch is freed from a curse, hex, or destroyed.
nefarious spell.
18. Voice of God: Your voice becomes
8. Fear of God: All enemies within 30ft incredibly loud and seems to come from
of you see visions of themselves dying the heavens.
horribly.
19. Weather: You control the weather
9. Flaming Wall: You summon a within 1 mile of you for one hour.
flaming wall up to 15ft wide. Anyone
passing through suffers 1d6 STR loss. 20. Wind of God: You summon a
powerful wind that deflects arrows,
10. Friend: Target becomes a friend smaller creatures, and blows away
until you are out of eyesight. noxious gases.

11. God’s Favor: You call down the

favor of your god. Roll a d6 to increase
or decrease any dice roll.

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 Holy Books or Holy Symbols: Death Cult
1. Coffin Door: Touch any flat vertical 11. Maggots: A writhing mass of
surface to create a creaking door that maggots pours from the target’s mouth
opens into a cramped coffin-sized space and nose.
for one person.
12. Name in Bone: Carve the target’s
2. Coffin Nails: Sharp rusty coffin nails name into the bone of a dead human. The
shoot from the holy book at enemies in target hears the muffled cries of the dead
front of you. d6 blast damage. whenever they are alone.

3. Death Grip: Your hands become 13. Pallbearer’s Strength: You can
terrifyingly cold and strong for one carry burdens up to the weight of a
minute. Target must save vs WIL or you human in a wooden coffin for an hour,
can hold someone immovably still. but must do it solemnly or the magic is
broken.
4. Death Mask: Peel and wear a
corpse’s face. You look exactly like them 14. Plague: Target is infected with
until the mask rots. plague losing 1d3 STR a day until cured.

5. Death Knell: All your enemies within 15. Rotting Touch: Food, plants, or
20ft hear a death bell toll and must save wood wither and crumble at your touch.
vs. WIL or lose 1d4 STR.
16. Scythe: Death’s black scythe appears
6. Ghostly Shadow: Your body and in your hands for one hour and does d10
carried objects change to ghostly damage ignoring armor. Two handed but
shadow. You can move through small does not add to your inventory.
holes. Only blast and magic attacks can
harm you. 17. Silence of the Tomb: Silence a
room, cave or corridor sized space. No
7. Grave-Mask: Your face appears as sound enters or leaves for one hour.
the deceased loved one of whoever looks
at you. 18. Skeletal Hand: Summon a bony
hand to fetch small objects, tap people
8. Grave Soil: Target within sight sinks from behind or strangle them (1d4
waist-deep into spectral grave soil. damage).

9. Infection: Target’s HP and wounds 19. Tether: Binds two creatures. Grief or
won’t heal until the infection is cured. harm to one does the same to the other.

10. Life Drain: You drain 1d10HP from 20. Widow’s Wail: Target save vs WIL
a target you touch and restore the same or weeps uncontrollably for an hour.
of your own HP or STR.

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 Spell Books
1. Beautify/Uglify: The target becomes 11. Forget: Save vs WIL or all past
extremely beautiful or extremely ugly memory of the caster is wiped from the
for one hour (caster’s choice). target’s mind. The target can still see the
caster in the present.
2. Burn object: Sets one small object
within sight on fire. 12. Glowing Path: Anywhere the target
walks their footprints glow green for the
3. Chains: Save vs WIL or chains and next 24 hours.
shackles bind one creature. This spell
also works on non physical monsters. 13. Iron Teeth: The caster’s teeth turn to
jagged iron for 1 hour. They can bite
4. Choking Smoke: Smoke fills the through wood, even bone (d10 damage).
lungs of your target and billows out of
their nose and mouth. Target loses 1 STR 14. Lead Weight: Anything the target is
a round while you keep the spell active. wearing or holding made of metal
becomes heavy as lead, tripling its
5. Cloak Actions: Caster can perform weight.
actions while appearing to do something
completely different of their choice. 15. Ragpicker’s Thrall: Ragged cloth
twists together into a shambling man
6. Crown of Wire: A crown made of sized servant who follows simple orders.
jagged wire wraps around the head of the
target causing excruciating pain. 1HP 16. Rust: Rusts one metal object within
damage/round until it’s cut off. sight of the caster. It will crumble if
used.
7. Drop: The target must save vs WIL or
drop whatever they’re holding. 17. Soot Blindness: A target’s eyes fill
with black soot blinding them until their
8. Fireball: A ball of fire shoots from the eyes are washed clean.
caster exploding on the first target it hits
(d8 blast damage ignores armor). 18. Shattered Hourglass: Time slows,
arrows stop in midair etc. and target acts
9. Firewalker: The caster and anyone for an extra round while the world stops.
who holds the caster’s hand or the hand
of someone holding the caster’s hand is 19. Stolen Voice: Traps target’s voice in
immune to fire damage. a glass jar conjured by the caster.

10. Flaming Sword: A two handed 20. Wall of Fire: A wall of fire the caster
sword with a flaming blade appears in can form in any shape. 1d6 damage for
the caster’s hand (d10 damage, ignores any creature that passes through it.
armor).

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 Advancement
All the advancement rules are optional and modular so you can take any you want
and leave the rest.

Training In Other Careers Training In Careers

If the narrative supports it and the Not In Your Social Class
warden allows it, you can train in any You can also train in careers not in your
other career in your Social Class. social class, but the first career in a new
social class takes longer:
The tools, ingredients etc. for each new 5 fails to get a +1 bonus
career take up at least one inventory slot. 5 more fails you get a +2 bonus.
You start a new career with no bonus to 5 more fails you get a +3 bonus.
actions directly related to that career. 5 more fails you get advantage on your
actions related to that career.
You put a mark next to your career when
you: After that, any more new careers in the
Roleplay your character doing the types same social class are the same as if you
of things that would match that career were in that social class, requiring 3 fails
and put yourself in significant danger or for each bonus level.
at a disadvantage

You make a save with an action directly Increasing Hit Protection

related to your career and fail.
During play when your HP goes to 0 or
less you put a mark next it. Once your
After you have 3 fails you get a +1
HP are fully restored, roll 1d8 at the end
bonus to your chance of success on
of the session. If you roll over your
actions related to that new career and the
maximum HP it goes up 1 (to a
marks reset to zero.
maximum of 8).
After 3 more fails you get a +2 bonus.
After 3 more fails you get a +3 bonus.
If you fail you can roll at the end of the
After 3 more fails you get advantage on
next session your HP is full restored.
your actions related to that career.
Once you succeed and your HP goes up,
the mark resets to zero.
Character Creation The warden can make this more difficult
Hard Mode by increasing the marks required to roll
During character creation start with your up to two or three. Or they can make it
character at +1 or +2 bonus for their easier by automatically going up 1 HP at
career and social class then advance the the end of every session your HP goes to
same way as for a new career. 0 or less.

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 Other Rules
Fate Dice (Optional)
Each session each player starts with one d6 ‘Fate die’. You can use a fate die to
subtract from any of your save rolls, to subtract from an opponent’s damage roll, or to
add to your own damage roll.

You can’t save up your fate die for the next session. You have to use it in the session
or it’s lost. At the start of the next session you start with one fate die again.

During a session the warden may award a fate die to a player who roleplays their
character’s weakness or career in a way that puts them in danger or at a serious
disadvantage in some way. All fate dice expire at the end of the session so use them
when you can.

Dice Chain for Sellswords

Sellswords get to increase their damage dice by 1. So they go from a d4 to a d6, d6 to
a d8, or a d8 to a d10, or a d10 to a d12.When they use a weapon that gives them d12
damage or they have an enhanced attack they roll d12+1.

The dice chain:

d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d12+1

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