Flame Winds

This spell, ripped from the Ultima V computer game, seemed like such a good fit for the Druid class. Ultima's magic system was a cool blend of alchemy and mysticysm. You had to procure spell components (called 'reagents') and actually take the time to mix the reagents into spell formulae before you could cast the spells. Since all of the book keeping was done by the game, it worked beautifully and made the setting almost unique for the way it handled it's magic. Another tidbit about how Ultima is influencing my Onn.

Flame Winds
Spell Level: Druid, 5th Level
Range: 150 ft
Duration: Immediate

Flame Winds causes the air in a 15 ft x 15 ft cube to burst into flames, burning any victims within for 5d10 points of fire damage (Toughness saving throw for half damage allowed). At 10th level and every 3 levels afterwards, the area of the cube increases by 5 ft. Unlike a fireball, Flame Winds can only burn the air in the available area, so it will not expand beyond its defined area if there is not sufficient room.

Headless

The manual for Ultima IV had a beastairy in it that was illustrated. One of my favorite opponents was a creature called a Headless. The picture was of a hairy, fuzzy creature in a loincloth and wielding a spear. It didn't look dangerous at all (except for the spear) and they were like Kobolds for Britannia I guess cause they were dirt cheap XPs and always seemed to be near max numbers for encounters. Another way Ultima has affected Onn I guess.

Headless (S)
Armor Class:	6[13]
Hit Dice:	1d4 hp
Attacks:	bite (1d4) or weapon (1d6-1)
Saving Throw:	18
Morale:	5
Magic Resistance:	Nil
Special:	Blindsense
Move:	90ft(30ft)
Challenge Level/XP:	A / 5

Headless are small (3 ft tall) humanoids with a fanged mouth set in the center of their torso, but with no head or visible sight organs. Their squat bodies are covered in short fur and they wear primitive furs for clothing and can wield primitively constructed weapons (spears, daggers, slings, clubs, etc). They sense their surroundings through air movement and can ‘see’ invisible and hiding creatures as plainly as visible ones.

For a conversion into Swords & Wizardry, divide first number of the base movement rate by 10, so Headless would have a S&W movement of 9.

How Ultima Affected Onn

Ever since the days of my Commodore 64 and Ultima IV I've been drawn in by the Virtues and seen a real-world philsophy as how they can be applied. Originally based on the Hindu belief of the 16 Paths of Perfection, the Eight Virtues of the Avatar have seen light in every one of my games in one form or another over the years. I did specifically run an Ultima-based campaign that lasted almost 3 years and saw the group explore Britannia, Serpant Isle, Pagan and have a hand in the Guardian's defeat (I did not allow them to take part in the central story of the Avatar, keeping that as background material, but did allow them to occasionally meet the Avatar as he was doing his Quest).

As I was working on class conversions for the World of Onn, I decided I wanted a less-restrictive class to take the place of the Paladin. I still wanted to have a 'holy warrior' type class but something that would be more a martial representative of faith rather than just 'do-gooder fighter'. What I settled on was a Templar-type that could follow any non-evil Deity (I don't really use alignments anyway, but included it as a guideline). It needed a Code to go by though, otherwise it was just a militant cleric. One night I was reading some Ultima material and it hit me: the Code of Virtues would make a good Code for my Divine Champion.

Thus the Champion’s Code was born. All Divine Champions must follow a rigid Code that governs their daily lives. Codes generally consist of the following:


(Honesty) Always act honestly and responsibly;
(Compassion) Show compassion to those in need;
(Valor) Be valorous in combat;
(Justice) Respect the ruling authority and laws of the land when they are applied fairly;
(Sacrifice) Give alms to those in need, live your life in service to the church;
(Honor) Always act in an honorable manner, show respect to allies and enemies no matter the situation;
(Spirituality) Hold fast to your faith and know you will be provided for;
(Humility) Lead by example; seek not glory for glory’s sake, but in the name of your faith.

Ths far it has been a wonderful tool for use in play for the players that are Divine Champions, far better than using the D&D alignments and Paladin's rigid code. It gives the player some leeway for 'grey area' descisions and allows the Referee to mind his entire game rather than constantly keep watch on the player to make sure some stuffy alignment is being followed.

Ultima makes its way into Onn in other ways as well, the Empire of Ankh-tor is named from the Avatar's symbol of enlightenment, the Ankh. Onn has 2 moons like Old Sosaria (from Ultima III) and Britannia (Ultimas IV+) and the goddess of the Moons, Tides and Travel is named Felicitar (for Britannia's 2 moons, Felucca and Trammel).