Saturday 15 September 2018

The Sixty Quirks of Witches and their Ilk

I have written about witches; they gain these things as a reward for doing awful witch things more often, like spell rituals and cavorting with elves and stealing secrets from the dead and all that other shit. This is the working draft I've been using in play-testing. So far so good.

Roll a D6 (for the column) and a D10 (for the row). I will paste these and then go to a party.

ONE (1)
1 Speak with Animals (yes/no, D6 questions)
2 Spoil/wilt plants with a touch
3 Grow/flower plants with a touch
4 Appears as very old to children, elves, and sporadically (1 in 12, for just a moment) to strangers
5 Appears as very young to children, elves, and sporadically (1 in 12, for just a moment) to strangers
6 Has worms, beetles, roaches, tentacles, mice or spiders living amongst hair/attire
7 Symbols of loyalty (brangs, rings, flags, etc.) fall off, fade or distort in presence
8 Domestic dogs bark fearfully/angrily at the witch
9 Cause warts/boils on children for D12 days
10 Can smell magic - it smells like rust and forests or  contempt and rain or blood and swamp or sweat and misery


TWO (2)
1 Has a constant odour of rust and forests or  contempt and rain or blood and swamp or sweat and misery
2 Has eyes of different colours
3 Large, hidden witch/birthmark of moon, lightning, wilted hound, lump/growth, raven, spider, etc.
4 Small obvious (face, hand etc.) witch/birthmark of moon, lightning, wilted hound, lump/growth, raven, spider, etc.
5 Spoils domestic milk and eggs in presence
6 Very young domestic animals quickly sicken and die in presence
7 Very old domestic animals become pregnant/gravid in presence
8 candles/flames flicker in presence
9 candles/flames change hue in presence
10 bugs/worms/something appear in nearby meals (~ 1 in 12)


THREE (3)
1 The air is uncommonly cold around the witch
2 With a touch, can imbue (or remove) a sense (or their voice) into one animal/familiar. Creature must be no larger than a fox, and will remain/skulk nearby the witch if dismissed. If the familiar is killed while so imbued, the witch loses thing forever.
3 Eyes sporadically (~ 1 in 12 conversations) take on cat, lizard, or goat traits. Witch can blink them away once aware they are showing.
4 Unnaturally agile, bendy, and long. Cat or fox-like. This is unsettlingly obvious during surprised or athletic movement.
5 Cultivated gardens slowly develop brambles, vines, and become overgrown (effects noticeable in D12 hours; impenetrably overgrown in D12 days).
6 Cannot be deliberately burned
7 Cannot be deliberately drowned
8 Has unnatural intuition for healing mundane wounds, illnesses (not plagues), with uncommon/unusual natural components
9 Weighs the same as a duck
10 Accidentally seductive - 1 in 12 people fall in love, complete with jealousy, adoration, possessiveness, sacrifice, etc.


FOUR (4)
1 Straw-like hair
2 Unusually warty
3 Tongue like a Magpie, Serpent, forked, etc.
4 Spellcasting is: Impossible if > 1 month without naked sexual/sensual engagement with another; Difficult if between 1 and 4 weeks without sex/etc.; Normal if sex/etc. within a week; Easier during sex/etc.
5 Gangly & gaunt
6 Can impregnate/be-impregnated-by anything alive
7 Made of wood
8 Allergic to sweet foods
9 Is burned by salt
10 Long pointed nose



FIVE (5)
1 Has a minor 'gravitational' pull on objects made of one of the following: (1) silver; (2)magic; (3)natural ingredients; (4)iron; (5)blood; (6)everything
2 Can only eat one of: sandwiches; plants; flesh (innocent flesh can nourish for a moon); Gruel/stew; Vermin/weeds; Cakes
3 Unnaturally talented at crafting potions of various effects (love, poison, healing, sadness, courage, allergies, sleep, levitation, mutation, in/fertility, etc… witchy things.)
4 Extra long fingers.
5 Fingertips like needles/pins
6 Followed, observed, and reported on by a black cat, raven, fox, pheasant, badger, or goose ( or some other animal no larger than a fox)
7 Has the reflection of a black cat, raven, fox, pheasant, badger, or goose ( or some other animal no larger than a fox)
8 Is very beautiful. Is very, very, maliciously envious of anyone more beautiful. (~ 1 in 100 people)
9 Sickly green flesh, or grey dead skin. Slight scent of decay
10 Cannot sleep in the same room/place twice. (Moving caravans are Ok.)


SIX (6)
1 Grows feathers, quills, fur or scales instead of body hair, and randomly elsewhere.
2 Area around where the witch sleeps has magical disguise of being pristine and beautiful
3 Area around where the witch sleeps has magical disguise of being awful and wretched
4 Cycles through quarterly cycle of prepubescence, adulthood, postpubescence, for one moon each.
5 Cannot be submerged.
6 Grows wart somewhere on body when lied to (not necessarily aware of them)
7 Touch smoulders flammable items (unless wearing gloves)
8 Touch is freezing (unless wearing gloves)
9 Gets shorter as they get older; does not suffer other ill effects of old age or die of 'natural causes'
10 Cackles instead of laughter


Ok I think that's all of them.


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