Knucklebone Casting

I've got this big stack of post drafts that I wrote and then left sitting for a long time. This post is an attempt to start clearing some of them out, inspired by Ramanan "just blog whatever man nbd" Sivaranjan and the encouragement of K over at noise sans signal.

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Benton Molina has a whole blog full of evocative fantasy writing over at Incunabuli but today I'm going to talk about his post on knucklebones and adapt for two games I've been playing. You should definitely go read the original post (and the rest of the blog, it's fantastic!) but the basic concept is that wizards cast spells through the use of special replacement fingerbones. Each knucklebone is created for a specific purpose and requires rare materials, careful runic inscription, and a skilled hand to implant them. They also might be passed down in families or buried with their owner (and thus very powerful temptations for grave robbers).

Different knucklebones then become interesting treasures that prompt follow-on questing to find someone to surgically install them, or the creation of a specific knucklebone could be a player-driven quest in and of itself. They are also a dangerous thing to possess, making you a target for assassination (or at least amputation).

Beyond the inherent danger of procuring and possessing knucklebones, what is the cost to a PC for having such power at their fingertips? In all cases the creation of a new knucklebone should require special materials, exotic engraving processes, and a skilled surgeon.

I'm on the fence about if I'd make them roll for the actual surgery. Probably just impose a monetary and time cost. Up to you and the specific creation methods used if you think the engraving methods would require a magic practitioner rather than just a skilled craftsperson.

Down below are specific proposals for both how to use these in Troika and Knave.

These are ancient animal knucklebones but close enough.

Troika

For every knucklebone implanted permanently reduce maximum Stamina by 1. When casting that spell in the future reduce its Stamina cost by 1, to a minimum of 1. If you do not have the relevant Skill gain it at Rank 1.

Intent: A permanent Stamina investment reduces your overall survivability but gives you more opportunities to cast that spell in a day. Also gives you a way to learn forbidden or lost arts that you cannot train.

Knave

For every knucklebone implanted permanently reduce CON by 1, reducing your corresponding inventory slots and healing bonus. If your CON is 1 you cannot implant any more knucklebones. Treat the knucklebone as a spell book of the relevant spell, usable once per day but taking up no inventory slots.

Intent: Again reducing the ability to bounce back from danger and overall inventory flexibility in trade for a spell that is much harder to take away. Represents the strain that knucklebone implantation has on the body. Can be circumvented by a committed player by continuing to add to CON at level up.

Inspiration Tables

Edit: At some point after I picked this post back up to finish it Benton reactivated Incunabula. Yay! And lo, he made a truly wonderful d100 table of knucklebones. Beat me to the punch! Go read all those for some bespoke knucklebones or use the lists below for inspiration.

Knucklebone Materials

1. Star metal
2. Metal forged in lava
3. Metal forged in dragon fire
4. Wood from the first tree
5. Wood from the world tree
6. Thousand year old ice
7. Living coral
8. Living wood
9. Fossilized wood
10. Dinosaur bone
11. Lich bone
12. Frozen gelatinous cube
13. Rare thing ground up and gelatinized with gelatinous cube juice
14. Teeth from a living relative
15. Wood from a hundred kinds of trees pressed together
16. Nightmare hoof
17. Owlbear toof
18. Dragon tooth
19. Lightning glass
20. Hippopotamus tusk
21. Metal from a monarch's crown
22. Knucklebones from a medusa's victim
23. Heart of a ghost
24. Weapon used to kill a monarch
25. Pauper's last penny
26. Funeral pyre wood
27. Faerie stag antler
28. Corpse-eye coins
29. Wood from a hundred year old shipwreck
30. Cornerstone of a holy temple
31. Bone of a god
32. Minotaur horn
33. Narwhal tusk
34. A complete set of baby teeth, ground up and reformed into a single knucklebone
35. Moon rock
36. Cockatrice coxcomb turned to stone
37. Gemstone appropriate to the spell (diamond, ruby, etc)
38. Giant's inner ear bones
39. Ambergris
40. Mithril forged in complete darkness
41. Amber with a mosquito inside
42. Clockwork
43. Roc talon
44. Single black pearl
45. Polar bear's toenail (ice cold)
46. Metal that's never felt sunlight
47. Purest copper
48. Wax
49. Chunk of a throne
50. Wooden stake that's killed a vampire

Inscription / Processing Methods

1. Burned with focused sunlight on top of a mountain
2. Tapped with a needle used to tattoo someone's whole body
3. Chisel made of star metal forged under a new moon
4. Beholder eye beam
5. Vampire fang
6. Gelatinous cube acid
7. Etched by tiny living grey ooze
8. Narwhal tusk needle
9. Unicorn horn
10. The lockpicks of a master thief, melted down
11. Devoured by grave scarabs
12. Melted by the stomach acid of a giant starfish
13. Water dripped for a hundred years
14. Water jet
15. Lightning strike to melt an overlaid pattern into the knucklebone
16. Casting the desired spell a hundred times into the bone
17. Bound in angel hair
18. Graven with diamonds
19. Carved in a dream
20. Compacted by the pressure of the deepest sea