grab bag of symboitical armour mechanics

Print PDF I had all this mechanics in mind and I was going to have each type of mechanic for each one but all of them seemed to fit and each seemed to suggest taking it another way so I just decided to put this out as a pick and mix post of problems , limitations and etcs of having things growing on you.


PROBLEMS WITH THE THING GROWING ON YOU:


skim healings it wants a cut: 1 point of every die of healing or amount of healing goes to the symbiote

it has cravings: when ever a die of healing rolls a 4, all of that die goes to symboite

it gets paid first: 1 point per level of healing need to go the symboite before you start getting the benefits

Eat more: either by leeching nutrients from you directly or by via a mouth of its own your food bills are going up. Specifically through one of the following options

 twice as much : if you keep track of that sort of thing. Tick off 2 rations every time you eat, and pay twice as much for meals. Because you are eating for two! awww!

twice as often :
your stomach isn't any bigger but you sure burn through food fast. You need 6 meals a day and a day counts as two days for starving damage.

Fussier:
you need top quality ingredients or fresh food or obscure meats or whatever. You can never be (nutritional) satisfied with the cheap option and must always choice the expensive option. Eating random things that are obscure and food has 50/50 chance of satisfying you. ( Say, goblin steaks. only roll when first tried)
Eating random things that are not really considered food exactly has a 1 in 6 chance of satisfying you . (again roll only the first time it is tried. Gives no additional resistance to poison or disease but does allow you digest the formally indigestible)

Usurper: it wants to make some of the decisions. This can be just a triggered compulsion or a continual campaign to get some more say/ completely takeover.

Shareholder takeover: this is the one I had mentioned for fungal armour. It works with the symboite having some healing or hitpoints it can offer you. Keep a running total of how much hitpoints you have got of the symboite in this. That is your percentage chance the symboite will usurp at end of session. A harsh option is the loss of character permanently or temporarily or a forced quest for the symboites weird goals. Another option is the additional of a Compulsion , or a Goal  or anything else below

Compulsions:  when the opportunity arises you must save or do this thing. If you fail 3 saves you always do this.

• Lick Corpses
• Deny its existence
• avoid populated areas
• evangelically discuss the benefits of the symboite
• Piss in food , secretly

• Immerse yourself in water
• spit in the mouths of unattended children

Scooby Doo:
YOu now have a morale  score like a monster. This acts as a normal morale score, failing it means the symboite has taken over and is protecting its investment with dire cowardice.

YOu NEED ME :
it's now hooked up to your vitals. Killing the symboite results in 1d4 major organs failing.



Goals/Plans for you: The symboite has dreams you know? This might manifest as a geas if prolonged too long or you are usurped (as above)

Corpse Harvest: when you die , it will immediately convert your body to a fruiting body or as fuel for another stage of its life.

Travel: It needs to go to a particular far away location

Infection: It wants access to a water supply that provides water to atleast 2000 intelligent beings

Cult: It wants a social organization of some kind to be growing more of its kind and preparing hosts

Hushing: It wants the knowledge of its kind's existence to be destroyed

Disinformation Campaign: it wants all kinds of wild rumours spread until no-one is sure exactly what is true about it


 Exp options:

• Bonus exp in any session that advance towards  the goals of the symboite
• Penalty exp in any session in which you don't

It ain't heavy:
You may assign exp to it like a henchmen to increase its power.

Allergys:
if exposed to these its powers are suppressed and/or you and it take damage. This might be a good thing if you want to dislodge it.

• Salt
• Vinegar
• Alcohol 
• Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius
• Temperatures below freezing
•  Direct Sunlight

The Wonderful World of Symboitic Armour, Coral

Print PDF part 2 in a series. Also go back and look at the first one  because some sweet art got done for it.

CORAL


Advantages:


It's solid , repairs very slowly but easily accepts grafts of coral.  Can be used to replace or internally buttress bone, sharp edges shred attempts to entangle or grapple
Possible enhancements: Poison stings

Anemones (either small and protect against vermin swarms or large and attack independently)

Astral feedings allow you to replace a cast spell if someone casts the same one near by. Spell will have reduced effect (-2 on any dice roll, +2 on saves)

Crabhammer : one limb is a big hammery fist mass. Shards break off into flesh of those struck causing pain and muscle spasms.

Obscuring Clouds

Bio-luminescence

 Disadvantages: heavy, requires periodically migration to nutrient rich streams or winds to filter feed. Will take you for walks at night if deprived.
Who can hook a girl up? 
mermaids, eldritch underwater types, wise and cunning crabs and crayfish, sentient reefs of coral and its druid guardians

Specific Kinds:

Cold Fire Crown:
People intruding on the reefs of the Drowning Druids will be forced to work out their sentence with one of these driving their body. It's a spired crown of coral that fuses to the skull. It glows and flickers blue and causes weird aftertrail effects (Treat as Displacement ). The thing about these druids is they have been known to deliberate lure ships on the reefs so they can claim fresh labour to enhance their reefs.
Each druid has a different reef and they compete by laying down fresh material for the coral to grow on.
The mind control effects of the Cold Fire Crown require the presence of the druid or the reef , so if found further afield it is benign. For now.


Red Ruin:
Thick sharp scab like bands in rings around the body. Thick around the knuckles , elbows and knees. Adds 1d8 poison/abrasive cutting damage to any grapple or unarmed strike. For going drink for 2 days triggers a survival mechanism in the coral, it drains and stores all your blood, keeping you preserved in a dessicated state. Being submerged in water will rehydrate you to life with no last effects, except for weird colonial organism dream hangovers.
Red Ruin has been used to store and smuggle troops into strategic locations


Architect of Bone:
This coral must be planted underneath the skin directly on to the bone. Once there it will spread , reinforcing all bone structure (+1 hitpoint per level) and repairing any breaks in a couple of rounds. If you are attacked without a weapon it will form a large spike out of your wrist, for use as a sword. This inflicts 1d8 damage on you however.
In addition , everytime it repairs damage , it is making the bone thicker than before, with the distinct possibility of turning the host into a immobile hulk. Each time it repairs a bone or you are reduced to zero hitpoints, deduct 2 points of dexterity or strength (players choice) Reducing either stat to zero means you are now sessile. 

The Wonderful World Of Symbotic Armour, Fungus

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Cédric Plante drew this amazing pictures for this post!

and a follow up here


Lack of home gaming and disorganization in playing anything regularly like online , plus the bizarre swellings of on-going projects have left me feeling pretty hesitate to just pour stuff on here like I have being doing.

But in the interest of maintaining the current inertia , I asked on g+ for some ideas for a blog post.

The one I choose was  Tom Middlemurk's Jeremy Duncan's one for more species of symbiotic armours. This might be a series, because I have more notes.

FUNGUS:
okay I have already done this one, but I still like it and you should go and look at it again, because I'm referring to it below

Advantages: Self Repairing, protection from physical attacks, hitpoint "loans"

Possible enhancements: Spore Weapons (poison, percussive, choking), regeneration, breathing filters, autopilot in the case of extreme mental/physical distress or subjugation

Disadvantages: risk of being usurped , might be a strain that has a "take control of nervous system and make body climb as high as possible before rupturing it with spore delivering stalks" cycle of life. Or a stage of life that involves being eaten by something, and will effect your behaviour to make that happen.

Who can hook a girl up? Myconids, Fungal Cultists, Fungus elementals, wind blown infections, previous owners  now deceased, worryingly evangelical current owners sharing starter kits (in the style of  Kombucha teas)

Specific Strains:
The Destroying Angel:
Spores on the wind make contact physical and psychic with the dying and vengeful.
Destroying Angel will bond with the willing and give regeneration , weird slabby mushroom plate, and make them count as a fungus for mind effecting effects.

In exchange after the mission is complete it will ask to go to somewhere high where it can convert  the bearer into a large fruiting structure and disperse its spores.

The Candle-Snuff :
Sometimes found in the wild. Appear as over-lapping  black and grey circles on the hosts skin with fine translucent hairs . Anti-photosynthesizes converting both the darkness and the psychic energy in the straining to perceive something in the darkness into fuel/food for both it and the host. Feeding too long on one patch of darkness will convert it to another type of darkness
 
The Amethyst Deceiver:
Carefully grown by myconists of slippery characters. Purple, fuzzy matts. Could be mistaken for woolen vests. Interlacing spiracles of keratin mean it counts as leather. The real power of this is a constant release of hallucinogens  that mean the host is remembered differently by everyone they met and everytime they meet.

The Glutinous Gomphidius :
The host will look like a michelin man. Extra 10 hitpoints. Need to eat 4 times as much.

I am wearing Fungus , results may vary

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Some armour "tags" for non conventional armours

Not Really Magically Armour Tags:

Climbing Aid: Has hooks, spurs , claws or helpful rope hoops to aid in climbing

 Non-ferrous metal: This armour is made from metals that are not ferrous so if the g.m tries it on with magnets or electrical attacks that ignore metal a.c you can be like nuh-uh non ferrous metal. Examples Um some kind of bullshit fantasy titanium or something.

Buoyant: It floats! Possibly too well. Examples coconut husk (see links at end of post, I suspect though that would sink), reeds, packed with kapok or some other plant fibre, bamboo, mushroom caps

Noisy: Ceremonial bells and clappers and chimes. Makes a lot of noise. Might be terrifying to a particular kind of spirits. Also lets animals know you coming a mile off so you are less likely to startle a bear or a snake or something.

examples: ring mail with little charms and bells attached, a internalized bag pipe system (also Buoyant!), layers of extraneous loose plating like scales, rings similar to those attached to a Buddhists monks staff (for warning away animals and to alert people within ear shot that there was a monk nearby for all your monk needs)

Custom: It's made just for you, so it penalizes other people wearing it , and when ever the g.m tries to be "that would be uncomfortable in armour" you have a reasonable amount of wiggle room to go "nah I'm sleeping in my armour anyway"

example: expert craft work, a clone of your own skin grown harvested and tanned, luke warm wax that is poured over you and hardens but remains soft at the joints, it's assembled by ants or homunculus on you.

Insulated: It counts as cold weather clothing. Examples untreated seal or walrus hide like just roped to your body, thick furs, sacks of hot ash (sending up blinding clouds when penetrated ), penguins, congealed fat coated cloth

Intimidating: it makes you look big and scary. Morale check for dumb things.

examples; big ass horns adorned with burning pitch , skull masks, ludicrous spikes, helmets that disguise and/or amplify your voice, mummy bandages or other monster disguises

Subtle: it's not that noticeable and can be worn under clothing or gives the appearance of clothing

Examples: fine chainmail, stylish black leather, reinforced great coat , dress reinforced with steel banding

Don't Touch Me: It is spiked , anointed in caustic paste, sharpened , barbed ,hooked , foul tasting or smelling or otherwise trouble .  Grappling or eating you cause pain or at the very least discomfort

Examples: barbs , hooks , etc, obsidian scales, covered in chili oil, thorns/insect stings attached with tar or sap, toad skin armour, hedgehog skin armour

Magical Armour Tags:

Ablative : this armour is designed to break away absorbing damage, either with a fixed pool of damage reduction (absorbs 2 points of damage until it has absorbed 12 points) or a "Shield must be Splintered" system. (you may sacrifice the armour to reduce damage from a blow to a single point)

Examples: A potion that makes you bleed  from skin , and then hardens into a thick scab crust, layers material frozen on you,  stitched together vermin , semi-real illusions or alternate reality armours

Possible non-magical examples pumice stone , quilted paper , cloth 

ehh. It not so bad ?

Share holder Parasite : This armour has a store of hit points that you can replace your own with when wounded. The percentage of hit points you have replaced as compared to your own however is its chance of making you do what it whats you to do. Once hit points have been replaced they are replaced for good. 

 Examples
Ground up Golem: this armour has an interior space filled with sand. Heavy but very good at absorbing force. The sand leaks out and replaces your spilled blood until you are replaced with maddened elemental spirit. 

Fungus: Starts inserting itself in your organs and blood supply . At some stage will want to convert your whole body to a fruiting body and get you to climb stuff and release spores.
Ancestral armour: empowered by cantankerous committee of ancestor spirits. Possible unaware, possibly just uncaring that the current wearer of the armour is not their descendant. Because they are going shove your soul straight out of your body, you good for nothing gadabout!

Workaday Parasite: the magic properties of this armour are powered by your life force. It skims the first 3 hit points of any healing you receive but this armour cannot be disenchanted like a standard magic armour.

examples: Transparent glass , inserts needles into you and fills itself with your blood

A tangled mat of leeches, armour hide that grows into you and has to be cut lose to be removed (troll skin)

Space Warping: Using magic principle as those involved in creation of portable holes, bag of holding and carpets of entrapment, missiles pentrate this armour but fail to ever reach the flesh on the other side , mere fabric millimeters away.
It has a limit to how much it can absorb though. At which point it releases all the missles outward from the wearer in a fearsome torrent of pointy shit.
Variant 1: as above but each missile is not stored but redirected and released 1d10 rounds/minutes/hours later
Variant 2: the interior distance of the fabric is greatly stretched but the missle will still make it through, but a hour later. Wearer is advised to not be wearing it then. Or turn it inside out before hand.

Anointed: armour is not ignored by ghostly hand touch attacks or stuff that just has to touch "you" but not your skin exactly, for the magic to work.

Examples: woven witch hair, mosaics , inscriptions , mummy bandages, calligraphy (on the armour or attached paper) , ghosts or protective spirits incorparated into the armour, talismans in the form of teeth , bone, skin or gems.


Secretions: the armour secretes a fluid or oil. This might make it silent, slippery , fire resistant , highly flammable , insulated (cold or electricity) or just gross.

Examples: decorative spouter gargoyle heads as  pauldron , drowned perpetually wet haunted armour, polyps oozing away merrily , algae clots , symbiotic ooze or giant protozoon . Xenophyophore ? or an oversized Foraminifera?

Hive: insects live in the armour, either through specialized compartments or incorporating the hive in the armour. They may be capable of repairing the armour or just sting and bite the shit out of your enemies. This could be non magical if you were somehow secreting the pheromones that would make the hive believe you to be their queen,

examples: ants, bees , wasps. Little naked versions of you. Flies in a semi rotting organic armour. Fur with charmed fleas that infest and bedevil your foes 

Sustaining : the armour is capable of giving you food , water or air.

examples: symbiotic algae, plant or fungus which converts sunlight , or your own detritus into substances. Still suits from dune. Biotech. Bonded Air elemental. 

Weaponized: has built in or concealed weapons, or weapon potential. Maybe melee or missile, only suitable as a back up or actually formidable enough to rely on.
Examples include coconut husk weave with trimmings of animate rope with sharks teeth as for a chain saw like effect  or extend as a whip like radula .
Judge Dread/Death (skeletal) eagle pauldron that can be commanded to strike as a heavy crossbow. Quills .
 Hatchet head helm. Nematocysts (possibly ranged), seed pods or acidic spore blasts. Concealed chains or spine with snapping skull. Animal skull gauntlets . Sashimono that converts to a spear or stave.



coconut husk armour from the Kiribati http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/weapons/index.php/tour-by-region/oceania/oceania/arms-and-armour-oceania-222/ 
(notably often using a dried puffer fish as a helm)
also the stuff about their martial art schools http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Kiribati

Post Apoc Armour and a chameleon

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Seth S that's a chameleon prize for you, for everyone else here's some post-apoc armour stuff that I had kicking around for a now dismantled project. Anyway so you have your armour categories which do what ever armour does in your setting. You need a minimum of  X pieces of armour to qualify for that category.

Armour categories Light 2 pieces
                             Medium 4 pieces must include chest armour
                             Heavy 6 pieces must include chest armour and  either a helmet or greaves and gauntlets
                             Very Heavy : Must have 2  relics/high magic/ power armour etc

Items with a + beside them count as 2 pieces. Items with a - break if an attack roll rolls exactly what it needs to hit  you. Do I need to say that you can only effectively wear one piece of each type?

Helmets

milk crate -
bike helmet  -
motorbike helmet +
fencing helmet
Colander-
Pot -
Big soup pot with eye holes
Hockey mask
Pitchers mask
Kendo Mask +
Army Helmet (metal) +
Pith Helmet
Safety Hat
Welding Mask -
Riot Helmet +
Mascot head -
LArge animal skull -

CHEST:
Leather jacket (fashionable. At some point anyway)
Motorcycle leather jacket +
Boiled leather Cuirass   +
Phone books taped together to make vest +
Bullet Proof vest +
Chain links (from bed)
actually Chain mail +
Downhill Mountain bike chest guard +
Horse riding vest
Football armour
Pot lids tied to chest and back +
Sides of shopping trolley attached to front and back+
Woven inner tubes +

Breast guard
Backs of office chairs taped together

LEGS
Mud guard from motor cycle
Shinguard (hockey or soccer) -
Motor cycle boots
Riding Boots
Steel capped boots
Safety shoes (steel capped)
Gumboots (steel capped)
groin guard (sports)
Metal cod piece
Bike chain kilt
Plate skirt
Street sign loincloth/tabard
Knee pads (sports) -
Knee pads, doll heads
Soft-toys packed with sand taped to legs -
Section of tire

HANDS , ARMS
magazines taped to forearms -
Spiked Leather greaves
Motor cycle long gloves
MMA gloves
Skateboard wrist protectors
Padded bikechain wrapped around forearms
P.V.C pipe
Drain Hosing-
Elbow pads (sports) -
Elbow pads (doll faces)
Plate Gauntlet +
Chain gloves (butchers)
Thick leather gloves
gardening gloves -
Greeves made from shopping trolley
Section of tire (car or motorcycle)

SHOULDER
Poltroon pauldron/gardbrace (antique)
Poltroon    pauldron/gardbrace(from riot armour)
Goat/Horse/Cow Skull
Metal eagle
Football shoulder pads
Motorcycle tire, section
Mudguard
Teddy Bear packet with sand or polyfill
Small shopping basket
Milk Crate
Cooking Pot