Class: Deep Mage

The sea is strange, deep and mysterious, and so are the wizards who draw upon its powers. Sea sorcerers are aloof, yet respected members of many coastal towns. They talk to the fish, true, but they also sometimes convince the fish to jump into the fishermen's nets. All the stories about them sleeping with fish men are surely just slander.

But there are other things in the sea than fish. Older, more alien, more dangerous things. Things with tentacles and great powers. And of course there are wizards who can't resist meddling with such powers.

At first, those wizards seem only a little bit mad, obsessed with tentacles and spurting bodily fluids everywhere. Pretty normal for a wizard. But everywhere a deep mage goes, squid lords and cults of the Deep are not far behind. And no one is willing to wait until the corpses with empty heads start showing up...

Inspired by this.

More tentacles, more ink.

You are an Outlaw.

Perks & Flaws:

You can drink salt water or murky water normally. You also suffer no negative consequences from being wet.

You must prepare spells while submerged in water. Your spells will fail if you are dehydrated.

Cantrips:

1. You can write with your fingertip, producing ink as you write.
2. You may bend your joints at unnatural angles, as if there was no bone at all.
3. You may meditate, requiring no air while you do so.

Normally, you can hold your breath for Con turns underwater before you must start saving vs drowning. If you start meditating, those turns stop counting down until you take an action or otherwise break your meditation. A friendly water-breathing creature could easily carry you for hours while you meditate on the virtues of squids. Also useful when buried alive.

An accomplished deep witch.

Spell List:

1. Inkspray

R: 30'; T: cone; D: 1 hour

Everyone in cone is blinded for [sum] rounds (no Save), or until they spend a round wiping their eyes. Also coats the affected area in ink. The ink disappears as the duration expires.

With 2+ [dice], you may choose one of the following additional effects:

• the ink dimly glows with bioluminescence,
• the ink has any colour you wish,
• the ink is slick, as a grease spell.

2. Inkscreen

R: 30'; T: area; D: [sum] minutes

You must be in water to cast this spell properly. You create a haze of ink [dice] x 10' in diameter. Everything in the ink is obscured. Everyone in the ink is blinded (no Save) and if breathing water, must Save each round or loose their turn choking. Water currents dissipate the ink in a minute.

Outside of water, this spell simply coats the area in harmless ink.

3. Liquefy Ink

R: touch; T: book or scroll; D: [sum] hours

The contents of a book or a scroll are reduced to a liquid that may be carried around in a vial and drunk as a potion.

Drinking a mundane book will impart the contents of the work. During the next long rest, Save or forget the drunk book. With 3+ [dice], you retain the knowledge automatically.

Drinking a magic scroll or a spell book will cast the spell contained in the liquid, as if the drinker cast it with [dice] MD. For spell books, the spells inside will try to flee when liquefied and only one, at random, will be left to drink.

The potions will dry into uselessness as the duration expires.

4. Dazzling Display

R: 0; T: self; D: [sum] minutes

Your skin pulsates with chromatophoric patterns, changing colours and shedding light depending on how many [dice] are invested:

• 1 [die]: Simple patterns of slowly changing colours. No light produced,
• 2 [dice]: Complex patterns. Candle light produced,
• 3 [dice]: Quickly changing or pulsing colours. Torch light produced,
• 4 [dice]: You can also produce sunlight or octarine light if so desired.

This spell can be used to gain an advantage on Stealth, but the caster must be nude to take full benefit.

5. Tentacle Slash

R: 50'; T: creature; D: 0

You transform one of your hands into a long tentacle and lash against your foes. You deal [sum] + [dice] damage to the target, no Save.

6. Tentacle Swipe

R: 50'; T: creature or object; D: 0

You transform one of your hands into a long tentacle and lash against your foes. You may pull the target [dice] x 10' closer. With 2+ [dice], you may instead slide them in any direction you wish. Target creatures get a save if you try to move them into dangerous terrain.

7. Tentacle Swarm

R: 50'; T: area; D: [sum] rounds

A swarm of tentacles bursts from a solid surface 10' in diameter. Any creature inside or moving through the area must Save vs Dex or be tripped/grappled, at your option. The tentacles have 10' reach and Str of 10 + ([dice] x 2).

8. Tentacle Hand

R: self; T: one or both hands; D: [sum] minutes

Your hand falls off and transforms into a monstrous tentacle:

HD: [dice]
Atk: 1d10 + [dice]
Def: chain
Str: 16

You continue to control it, but if it dies, you don't have a hand anymore, so don't forget to re-attach it. Alternatively, you can have this affect both hands, but you’ll look quite foolish.

9. Mimicry

R: 30'; T: self; D: [sum] minutes

You mimic an inanimate object in range, changing form until you are indistinguishable from your model. You do not gain any special abilities of the mimicked object. You may also mimic a section of a wall to hide.

You retain your full senses while disguised, but must drop the disguise to take any action. You may drop, renew or change your disguise any number of times until the duration of the spell expires.

At 1 [die], the mimicked object must be of a size roughly comparable to you. With more [dice], the range of sizes expands.

10. Inkdive

R: 50'; T: pool of ink; D: [die] x 5 minutes

A continuous patch of ink becomes [sum]' deep. After the duration expires, any creatures inside the pool of ink are trapped in the ground.

11. Cephalomorphosis

R: 0; T: self; D: varies

You transform into a squid lord.

You look like a mind flayer and gain their brain-eating attack, but no psychic powers. You retain your stats and spellcasting abilities, plus can speak with squids, breathe water and gain infravision. Additionally, for every brain of an intelligent creature you devour, you restore one burned MD.

The spell duration is [sum] rounds at 1 [die], minutes at 2 [dice], hours at 3 [dice], or permanent until dismissed at 4 [dice].

While you may restore your MD indefinitely with this spell and a steady supply of intelligent brains, GMs should play up the ramifications of brain-eating. It is one thing to kill an enemy, it is something very different to crack their skull and slurp up their brain between their dying screams. There is a reason deep mages are outlawed.

12. Call Kraken

R: unlimited; T: kraken; D: special

You call upon the legendary kraken and beckon it to you. The kraken arrives in 24 - [sum] hours and stays as long as it wishes. You may impose [dice] simple requests upon the kraken.

Note that the kraken is not automatically friendly towards you nor is it necessarily hostile to your intended target. Requests such as "please don't eat me or my associates" are recommended.

Ïa ïa! The squid god cometh!

Mishaps:

1. Your MD only return on a 1-2 for 24 hours.
2. Take 1d6 damage as you cough up ink.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail. Squid-related mutations are preferable.
4. You constantly sweat ink, staining everything you touch and leaving a trail. Lasts 1d6 hours.
5. You are blinded for 1d6 rounds, weeping ink.
6. Speak only squiddish for 1d6 hours. Squids, octopi and mind flayers understand you, but no one else.

Dooms:

1. You transform into a harmless squid for 24 hours.
2. You must be constantly wet. If you ever dry off, Save vs unconsciousness. Water will revive you.
3. The word about your skill gets around. Your mind is a treasury of power, making your a great sacrifice for the squid god. Expect regular ambushes trying to abduct you and drag you to the nearest deep temple. First cultists or mercenaries, then squid lords (as mind flayers, but they get random spells from above instead of psychic powers).

The last doom can be avoided by becoming a high priest of a squid god cult.

They are already here!