d100 – Swansong Abilities

During the earliest days of this Hobby a Referee named Mark Swanson devised a few Random Tables that would become known as “Swanson Abilities” or “Swanson Powers.” Rolling on these granted a Character an interesting minor feature or flaw that would set them apart from otherwise remarkably similar starting Characters of a given Class.

Some time ago, I set about devising my own Random Tables for this (and you can see some of the results in tables like my Fighter Features for Variegated Veterans) but I couldn’t shake my amusement with a silly bit of wordplay that came to mind. I began musing about a table of “Swansong Abilities” using that metaphorical phrase invoked to represent that terminal gesture or surprising effort just before Death or Retirement. These would be benefits or boons that take place exactly once, upon a Character’s often Untimely Demise, perhaps better if they were not known in advance, but instead diced right at that final, fatal moment.

The results of this somewhat somber wool gathering are contained in the Table below. We tend to see many tables devoted to grisly Deaths and gruesome Dismemberment, so I felt it necessary to provide a bit of balance to those. What if that Character's passing could turn the tide or grant gifts to the rest of the Party to make mortality more memorable in other ways?

d100 - So You’ve Been Brought Back From The Dead...

Certain magnificent Magics and marvelous Miracles make it possible to return a dead Character to Play in these games. In some games, this process is pretty perfunctory: Simply locate your Local Lama and acquire a casting of Raise Dead within the Time Limit. Then after a mandatory two-week recuperation period (during which the Character is hardly in a state for Adventure: with only a solitary Hit Point, half movement, no carrying capacity, they cannot attack, and are unable to use Spells or other Class Abilities) the revivified is right as rain.

Later, when the Players gain access to these Spells through their own Resources, it tends to further emphasize that this Death is merely a speed bump, a temporary set-back with a well-earned vacation perhaps, but the Character will be back in no time.

I have always thought it might be more interesting if the process left a little mark here and there on those who underwent something so significant, so here is a table of one hundred potentially interesting concomitants for that process. These might work a little like Curses (and this could even work alongside that dreaded Energy Drain as well, q.v. my Rumored Cures for more on this) and have their own Durations or Required Deeds to overcome, or they could become a permanent part of the Character in a way (some more of that lovely “Foreground Growth.”) I think in creative hands, a few of these could even be spun into Boons with the right application or in certain situations. I tend to prefer that sort of “Drawback” after all.