Foreground Growth for Cairn, part 2: Master Musicians and Celestial Scholars

These orders allow PCs to gain additional abilities and resources in a class-less and level-less system like Cairn. As a general rule, an order shares their secrets with a donation of 1000gp, or if they believe you align with their cause.

Foreground Growth for Cairn, part 1: Berserkers

These orders allow PCs to gain additional abilities and resources in a classless and levelless system like Cairn. As a general rule, an order shares their secrets with a donation of 1000gp, or if they believe you align with their cause.

Berserkers

Cause: unleash your warrior instinct

If they deem you a worthy friend of their tribe, the Berserkers can teach you how to access your primal Rage.

While Raging:

• Your melee attacks get +d8
• You have an Edge on your STR Saves: reduced failures, enhanced or automatic successes
• You shrug off Critical Damage

Your Rage lasts as long as you deal or take damage. When it ends, you are Deprived until you have a night of sleep. If you Rage while Deprived, you gain a Fatigue.

After you’ve learned Rage, you gain additional abilities depending on how many worthy opponents you bested in combat. Berserkers etch their skin to commemorate their fallen adversaries.

After 3 kills, learn Reckless

Gain +d8 to a melee attack, then roll another d8 and take the result as damage, but don't Save vs Critical Damage.

After 7 kills, learn Cleave

If your attack has one or more bonuses, instead of applying them you can make a Blast attack.

After 10 kills, go back to the tribe to choose a Totem Animal. In addition to the abilities granted by your Totem, you can speak with animals.

• Bear: reroll your STR on 3d6 and take the new result if higher, your inventory slots equal your STR score if it's higher than 10
• Eagle: you can see tiny details at a great distance and you can fly for a few seconds
• Wolf: you have an Edge when trying to avoid detection and your allies get +d8 when attacking the same target as you

Once you have your Totem, you become a tribe member and gain the right to challenge the chief in a duel. If you win, you become the chief of a Tribe of Berserkers (9 hp, 16 STR, 6 DEX, d8 axe, rage, reckless, detachment)

Monster Treasure for Cairn! V-W

There’s a 1in6 chance for each individual in an encountered group to carry a piece of treasure.

Unless indicated otherwise, each piece of treasure occupies one slot and is worth 100gp. Relics are invaluable.

Roll before the encounter happens, cause some of the treasure may be of use to the NPCs.

—

Vampire

Lair:

• Skeleton, headless, sitting lifeless against a wall

• Wooden coffin on the floor, closed by red laces. Contents:

• Skull: Upon opening the coffin, it will attempt to roll toward the rest of its body. If successful, the skeleton will come to un-life and face the thieves.

• Dirt

• Very small ruby (small, 700 gp)

• 200 gp

• A vial of blood, labeled "man-bat." Anyone contaminated with it turns into a hybrid being. They become blind but can use echolocation. Their size does not allow them to fly, but they can glide thanks to wing membranes. (small, 1 use)

• A desk against the west wall, painted with gold details (needs 2 people to transport, value 100 gp)

• In the right drawer: paper, inkwell, pen, and many depraved poems about flesh and blood (worth 50 gp to an unscrupulous editor)

• In the left drawer: Hypnotist's Pendulum, and notes on how to use it. If you can get the target to focus on the pendulum, and they fail a WIL Save, you will be able to hypnotize them. The hypnotized character will automatically perform a series of actions in response to a specific password, by whomever it is spoken. They will come back to their senses when they hear the password a second time, with no memory of what they did. Recharge: spend a whole night chanting the same word into the pendulum over and over.

• An upholstered chair, lined with red satin (bulky, value 30 gp).

• Leaning against the chair, a red silk dressing gown with golden embroideries (50 gp)

Veteran (d6)

1-2. Poleaxe (bulky, d10 damage, ignores armor but completely misses on a roll of 1-3, value 25 gp)

3-4. Bow and arrows (20 gp) and one broad-headed bolt (d6 damage, wound: automatic failure against the Critical Damage Save, value 1 gp)

5-6. Technique: Battle Experience. If at least 3 combatants are on each side of a fight, your attacks are enhanced. If someone defeats you during this kind of fight, they acquire this technique.

Whale

Stomach:

Spellbook: Manse. A sturdy, furnished cottage appears for 12 hours. You can permit and forbid entry to it at will.

Wraith

• Gravestone Chip. You and everyone you touch can teleport to the location of the gravestone. The chip stays wherever you teleported from though.
• Golden crown (100 gp)

Monster treasure for Cairn! R-T

There’s a 1in6 chance for each individual in an encountered group to carry a piece of treasure.

Unless indicated otherwise, each piece of treasure occupies one slot. Relics and other powerful items are invaluable.

Roll before the encounter happens, cause some of the treasure may be useful to the NPCs. 

Rat, giant

Lair:

• 600 gp
• Something from the gnome treasure table
• Broken drum (1 gp)
• A chewed-on book about rodents, illegible (1 gp)
• A chewed leather coat (1 gp)

Rhagodessa

Lair:

• Rhagodessa web: extremely fine but sturdy, can be sold as decoration (100 gp)
• A flea-infested waggy-tailed friend who was about to become dinner
• Diamond of excellent quality (30k gp)

Roc

Nest: Roc Egg, bejeweled (6 slots. 1.5k gp)

Rock Baboon

Whipping around some Devil’s Tongue, a kind of plant: the stem is safe but the leaves cause horrible blisters when touched. DEX save or one of your hand slots is taken by Blisters. STR Save at the end of each subsequent day to heal.

Salamander, Flame

Lair:

• 200 gp
• Three gold ingots (10 gp each, 1 slot for all three) 
• Big Lens (bulky): given time, it can redirect and focus the sun rays and burn something at a distance

Salamander, Frost

Lair:

• Two ice sculptures each representing a jumping reindeer (2 people needed to transport each one, 500 gp each one, slowly melt in the sun)
• In a trapped iron chest (trap: when touched, the chest freezes, leaving your hand stuck. If unstuck abruptly, the hand is Injured and unable to hold objects. The injury takes the hand slot and needs downtime to heal):
• Warhammer (2d8, bulky, wound: opponent is pushed away if their STR is lower than yours)
• Fur-trimmed pouch (25 gp). Inside, a small sapphire (small, 300 gp) 
• Snow leopard fur coat (100 gp)

Shadow

Corpse: 

• Leather belt (5 gp).
• Fur-trimmed gloves (25 gp)
• Lantern (8 gp)
• Inside a leather backpack (10 gp):
• A fork with some arcane inscriptions. Can turn anything into edible food, but doesn’t improve the taste
• Bottle of vin santo (fills d10 cups, value 2d10 gp)
• Jar with coffee grounds (1 slot, d10 uses, restores 1 WIL, value d10 gp)
• Lantern oil (2 gp)

Spectre

A corpse holding a sack containing:

• 100 gp
• Potion labeled with a horseshoe picture (small): it’s a Centaur potion! Your lower half turns into that of a horse for a few hours. You have a fast sprint, can carry 15 slots’ worth of objects with saddlebags (a rider and their worn equipment take 9 slots), and can trample for d8 damage. 1in6 chances the potion’s gone bad and your upper half turns instead.

Sphinx

Lair:

• A small self-rowing solar ship that can sail on sand dunes but sinks in the water. Powered by the sun, it only works in the daytime, and holds up to 8 people. Frescos in the lair show its miraculous properties in action.
• Inside, an empty golden sarcophagus (6 slots, 1k gp)

Sprite (d4)

1. Cure Potion: heal d6 STR or cure some other ailment (Injury, Blisters, etc.) but not Curses.
2. Scroll: Quicksand. A small designated area nearby turns into quicksand. A character walking or standing on it gets stuck and has 3 rounds to attempt something before sinking completely. If lower floors are present, they fall through the ceiling taking d12 damage.
3. Sprite Dance. An irritating dance that focuses all the attention on the performer (CHA save in risky situations). Can be taught in about a week.
4. Prank: booby-trapped box. When opened shoots a glittery pink dust that sticks. Takes a week to get it off.

Thoul

Lair:

• Five sacks of gold coins (500 gp)
• Wooden statue of a woman smiling creepily, surrounded by crying kids. The Maggot Mother will telepathically offer the first person to touch her idol to “take care of her babies”. If you accept, one of your hand slots is infested with a swarm of Greedy Grubs (see below).

Greedy Grubs:

• Every morning there’s a 2in6 chance the population grows and occupies a new slot in your inventory.
• You can then move a slot of grubs in your inventory, except the ones in your arm, to a target you touch, an object of any material or a creature (DEX Save to avoid).
• They cause d8 STR damage as they devour the target from the inside and burst out as Glutto Gnats.

Trader (d4, reroll until the same result comes up twice)

1. Snout, a dog that smells lies - starts barking whenever one is told (6 hp, 5 STR, 16 CHA, d4 bite)
2. Relic: Mask of Many Faces. Allows you to change features at will. Recharge: stage a public play while wearing the mask.
3. Three smoke bombs (blinds for 1 round)
4. Bounty: if captured alive, fetches 100gp

Troglodyte

Lair:

• Something from the gnome treasure table
• High Priest's tunic, with serpentine buttons (100 gp)
• Silver thurible (100 gp)

Troll: large sack switch 200 gp and small amethyst (small, 50 gp)

Tyrannosaurus Rex:

Lair, encased in permanent ice:

• Rock armor: bulky, armor 1, you look like a boulder if you curl into a ball
• Bolas: DEX save to avoid getting caught.
• Pouch with Oracle Bones. When asked a question and cast, arrange into a shape related to the answer. Can’t predict the future. Recharge: bathe in starlight.