-Funeral Stone
It costs (Xd6+4)*10 GP (X being the HD of the dead person) to commission the carving, painting and placing of the stone, half as much if the carving and painting is done by a PC with the necessary knowledge and skill. Preparation and placing takes 2d4+2 days.
A runestone is usually inscribed with a brief epitaph, such as "Tumi Beinirson, a brave man, was slain here by the she-vultures - Geva bint Adalu wrote this", and decorated with painted carvings depicting scenes from the dead one's life, along with their birth sign.
Finally, the stone is hallowed, usually by a priest, by sprinkling it with blood, wine, ale, honey, or similar.
All hirelings present during the ceremony will get a +1 bonus to morale test until the next death.
If a priest performs the required ritual, the stone is perpetually aligned to the constellation inscribed into it.
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| Deer Stones, Siberia |
The work costs (Xd10+2*X)*100 GP (X being the HD of the commissioner), takes 2d6+4 days, can only be done once every X months, and can be done only once per level.
The megalith is inscribed with a fitting description of the deeds of the person who commissioned it, such as "In these lands, Geva bint Adalu, faithful servant of the almighty Lawgiver, defeated and banished the undead hordes, restoring His heavenly order". No two stones can describe the same deed, and each successive runestone must describe a more impressive deed.
Upon completion, the commissioner will be awarded the cost of the runestone in XP, and get +1 to rolls when interacting with locals for X months.
-Founding stone
When a new settlement is founded, a spot, usually at the center of it, is reserved for a large standing stone. The settlement is only truly considered a permanent one when a ceremonial menhir is raised. Until then, the settlement is seen as little more than a glorified camping site, especially by foreigners, and as such can be abandoned without much worry should the situation become dire. But once the stone is raised, the settlement becomes a recognized, autonomous and self-sufficient bulwark of civilization and order that will be defended by its inhabitants and allies until the very last. Abandoning a founding stone to an enemy is considered a great dishonor.
Such a stone costs 10'000 gp for every 100 inhabitants of the settlement, rounded up. Creation and placing takes 2d10+6 weeks, and can obviously be done only once.
Every member of the settlement is expected to contribute to the costs, either by investing money, materials, or time and work into it.
The standing stone is inscribed with the story of the founding of the settlement, as well as with the names of notable contributors, and illustrated with important events. The finished menhir is placed in the designated spot and a great feast is held.
From this moment onward, inhabitants of the settlement will get a +1 bonus to morale and attack rolls when defending the settlement.
Forsaking a runestone to the enemy is a great shame. Those who abandon their settlement to the enemy without defending it get a permanent -1 malus to all to-hit and saving throws. More so, someone who has abandoned a founding runestone once can never again gain the bonus of such a stone. The only way to reverse this is by being involved in the reconquest of the settlement.
A powerful (domain level) cleric or magic-user may build a stone circle. The cost of a stone circle is 10 times that of a personal runestone, and takes Xd12 months to build (X being the HD of the cleric/magic-user).
A stone circle is build according to astronomical and/or theological measurements, and inscribed with magical runes, sacred prayers, astrological charts, and constellations.
Within the circle and in the immediate vicinity, all bearers of star signs receive the appropriate bonus, the reach of spells is tripled, the time needed to prepare spells is halved, and magical research is improved by 10%. No undead nor demonic creatures can be summoned/created inside of the stone circle, and undead/demons entering the circle receive 1d10 points of damage every round.
I really enjoyed this post! Do you envision these runestones showing up frequently in the world the characters engage with, or are they more of a PC specific thing? (I ask more in the context of funeral and personal stones, as it seems like founding stones might be implied in your setting?) Do you play the stones as strictly mundane, or would you consider pairing any supernatural elements with them?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words!
DeleteIn my game the stones show up occasionally, and it's really easy to generate them randomly when needed, though they are mostly intended to give the PC bonuses/EXP and allow them to influence the surroundings. Personal runestones and founding stones are more mundane (they are seen as a matter of personal/communal prestige), while the funeral stones and circles are more magical/supernatural, as the constellations give a bonus to the matching birth sign.
Obviously this is just how I do it in my game. I tried to make this article kinda system-agnostic, and it's really a no-brainer to adapt it to totem poles, wooden tikis, bronze statues, obelisks or such.
Similar to your Funeral Stone section, I wrote some rules for crafting your own gravesite during downtime.
ReplyDeletehttps://lapidaryossuary.blogspot.com/2020/07/crafting-your-own-gravesite-during.html
This is definitely something I'd use in a Middle Ages/Renaissance era game. Thanks for sharing!
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