Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets

Dark Pacts & Ancient Secrets introduces six new classes that are compatible with the 13th Age Roleplaying Game: the monstrous Abomination, the destiny-shaping Fateweaver, the mind-bending Psion, the berserking Savage, the dashing Swordmage and the dark-souled Warlock.

The Abomination

Characters that turn into a monster are a staple in gothic novels, superhero comics and fighting games, but in fantasy RPGs they’ve never quite made it from the monster handbook to the player manual. This class allowed me to showcase everything that is great about the 13th Age Roleplaying Game, the class features, talents, and flexible attacks. Each abomination is literally a One Unique thing, whether it’s a living torch, a walking plant thing, or a lightning-charged brawler from the jungle.

The Fateweaver

In a tabletop RPG, your character can try anything, but they are always slave to the luck of the dice. What if you could break that wall and manipulate the dice directly? What if your spells didn’t just affect the game world, but the narrative? With the fateweaver, you stay two steps ahead, always in control, moving your allies like pawns on a chessboard. At epic levels, you can rewrite the story as it unfolds. You can see the future, mend the past and even discover a version of yourself that never was.

The Psion

Ask any old-school gamer, and they will tell you that they either love or hate psionics. It’s always been that other, different magic system that is rooted in science fiction and cyberpunk as much as fantasy. The version presented in this book tries to stay close to the roots, with the six classic disciplines and a power point system. It’s a complex class that offers a wide variety of ways to build your character, with 12 talents and over 80 powers. The flexibility also translates into play, with the ability to augment each power as you manifest it.

The Savage

You love RPGs because you can blow off steam and smash things? With the savage, you get angrier and smash harder. You have some additional tricks like rushing head first into battle and shouting at people and shaking off wounds. The core message is: You carry a big sword. You attack, and when you hit, you roll damage. Then you attack again and when you hit, you roll more damage. Then you level up, and you roll more dice and bigger dice.

The Swordmage

Swing a sword with one hand, fling spells with the other. The class in this book is a dedicated defender, combining a high armor class with a sigil power that punishes enemies for ignoring you and attacking your squishier allies. Your spells add fire and lightning to your melee attacks, or block incoming strikes. As a frontline fighter, the swordmage is not quite as tough as the fighter or the paladin, but you’ll have many tricks up your sleeve that more than make up for it. Also, you have a flaming sword.

The Warlock

Warlocks gain their power through a pact with a powerful entity, represented in this game through the icons. Your spells come in three flavors: curses that weaken your enemies, blasts that melt their faces, and hexes that protect you. It’s a tremendous power that never runs out, but it comes with the risk that one day, your pact lord will come to collect the debt. As the old saying goes: the wizard memorizes the textbook, the sorcerer naps in class but still aces the test, and the warlock pays off the teacher.

Plus over 100 magic items for the new classes, snazzy character sheets, and talents for the core classes to access the spells and powers in this book.