Happy Sunday before Halloween, folks!

We've been providing Spooktober freebies all month, but today we have a special bonus supplement just for our paying subscribers that you can use in any of the cypher games where ghosts, undead, demons, or alien otherworldly creatures threaten the setting—the Order of the Sentinels!

We previously detailed and released this order for 5e, but for the Cypher System, we've updated it with tier 1-6 abilities that characters can enjoy as they progress in the ranks of the sentinels. This also works as a sneak peek at how we will be presenting the guilds, syndicates, and other organizations that player characters can join going forward.

As usual, we're dying to know what you think about this organization and the organization abilities that it provides in the comments below or on our discord.

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess
Bluesky | Mastodon | Discord

Cypher Organizations: The Order of the Sentinels

“All for the cause.

All for the realm.

All against the darkness.”

- Order of the Sentinels creed

The Order of the Sentinels is an ancient and secret society dedicated to protecting mortals from the supernaturally evil threats that work to escape the confines of their planes and wreak havoc on the mortal realm. These brave guardians risk their own lives, sanities, and souls to ensure that nothing sinister crosses the veil between the planes and that those creatures that make it through are tracked down and destroyed.

The Darken Veil

The Darken Veil is the wall between Primus—the physical, mortal plane—and all planes and pocket planes dedicated to evil, insanity, and decay. It’s an extraordinary magical barrier said to have been built by the gods as an extra measure of protection upon the existing planar veil that creates the gulf between those living on Primus and the various planes around them. Crossing the veil between these dimensions is incredibly difficult, but piercing the Darken Veil is nearly impossible for the malevolent forces of the cosmos. Unfortunately, no force is entirely foolproof, and this layer of protection can be breached by mortals attempting to reach through from the mortal realm and contact the powerful dark beings that lie on the other side.

Those mortals who willingly peer through the Darken Veil do so at the risk of their sanity, lives, and spirits, but the exchange of power they may receive is too great for them to forego. Each time these individuals reach through the Darken Veil, whether just deep enough to pilfer a few of its secrets or to directly call upon an extraplanar being, they weaken the barrier and run the risk of something more powerful and dire than they could imagine slipping through.

Malefic Ripples

One of the primary tenets of the Order of the Sentinels is that every great tragedy, every terrible event created by the forces of evil or extraplanar malice, can be traced to a single facilitating moment. These moments of contact with the dark planes, or Malefic Ripples as they’re called by the Order, leave impressions on the Darken Veil that can be found by those trained to sense them. Sentinels spend their time investigating and tracking down the sources of these Malefic Ripples, seeking to eliminate any potentially world-altering schemes in their infancy before they can fully take root on Primus and invoke their inevitable tragedies. Budding necromancers touching the Necrotic Plane, gathering occultists tampering with dark artifacts, desperate witches turning to the void, or arrogant summoners reaching out for fiendish minions are all targets of the Order of the Sentinels’ justice.

Divisions of the Order

The Order of the Sentinels is a society of individuals who share a common goal and general mindset. Members are unpaid, although any wealth or treasure taken by the group is divided evenly among the chapter who found it, with the most wealthy members abstaining in favor of those less fortunate. Sentinels always provide for each other in whatever ways they can, whether it be a place to stay for the night, provisions for a mission to come, or using their political connections to facilitate an objective.

The Order of the Sentinels has four divisions spread throughout the realm who work together to keep watch on the world around them and maintain the secrecy of their order.

Sentries

Although this is the simplest position in the order, it’s also considered the most important. This division is filled with locals who hold humble positions within their communities. Sentries make up the largest numbers in the Order and are the primary source of information distribution among the members. They go about their daily lives as normal, and when they spot any signs of Malefic Ripples in the area, they immediately report this to their assigned contact and continue to watch and wait.

Endowers

This division is responsible for supplying the members of the Sentinels with what they need for the quests and missions that they carry out for the order. They are usually merchants, outfitters, and blacksmiths of varying types who can readily pass along access to their resources and goods to their fellow sentinels.

Seekers

This is the most dangerous division in the order. These are the warriors and field investigators who seek out the sources of Malefic Ripples that have been reported. Seekers are willing to do whatever must be done to stop those powers that would cause devastation to society, and that can often lead them down dangerous and illegal paths. Seekers must not only be careful of the dark forces they’re hunting but also of the local law enforcement and officials of the areas they’re in.

Torchbearers

Torchbearers are the leaders of the order and generally hold positions of power in their communities. Elders, politicians, and sages are typically found in this division, and it’s their responsibility to organize and coordinate their local chapter of the Order of the Sentinels. These are the people responsible for removing bureaucratic roadblocks hindering the order’s members, assigning missions, and clearing up any legal troubles that the seekers may cause or find themselves in.

Goals

The goals of the Order of the Sentinels have remained unchanged since its founding: seek out those who would pierce the Darken Veil and stop them before they can destroy the innocent mortal lives around them, hunt down any of the malicious, extraplanar creatures who have broken through and eliminate them, and never let the life of one individual outweigh the lives of all.

Who Joins

The Order of the Sentinels welcomes people from all walks of life into their ranks, although they specifically seek out and recruit those who have been the victims of the supernatural tragedies and traumas they seek to prevent. After months of investigation and observation, a potential recruit will be approached by a standing member of the order and invited to join their fight against the forces of darkness in any way they can. The members of the Order of the Sentinels are bakers, farmers, warriors, midwives, scholars, and politicians, but above all else, they are enemies of what lies beyond the Darken Veil.

You will thrive in the Order of the Sentinels if:

• You do not trust extraplanar forces or those who use them.
• You would lay down your life to protect the realm.
• You are willing to provide whatever you can in service of the cause.

Sentinel Player Characters

Player characters who wish to join the Order of the Sentinels can do so as long as they meet the specified requirements below and their GM is amiable to the idea. A PC is considered an official member of this guild when they spend the necessary 4 XP to buy the tier 1 ability offered by this organization and the PC and GM have created a story-appropriate point of entry.

Selecting an ability offered by an organization is a special option and counts as purchasing one of the four stages necessary to advance to the next tier.

Requirements

In order to join the Order of the Sentinels a character must be trained in a knowledge relating to the planes, the occult, mysticism, or any of their related spheres.

Organization Abilities

Tier 1: Lantern Bearer. You have been given a specially crafted lantern, a sentinel’s light, that allows you access to channel power and abilities previously unknown to you. Unless otherwise noted, all abilities this organization provides require you to be holding your lantern. If your lantern is lost or destroyed, you must receive a new sentinel’s light from the Order before you may resume using your organization abilities.

• Trace the Ripples (1 Intellect point). You can sense the presence of Malefic Ripples within long range of you for one hour. When you are within short range of the detected ripple, you can determine whether the Malefic Ripple in question is the result of someone on the material realm reaching out to another plane or something from another plane tearing its way through. You can also ascertain which plane is connected to the associated ripple. Action to initiate.
• Light’s Protection (3+ intellect points). You surround yourself and everything in immediate range in your lantern’s protective glow, creating a shield of light against undead, demonic, or other supernatural extraplanar creatures. Against the aforementioned creatures, your light acts as a level 3 barrier that moves with you and lasts for ten minutes. Each level of Effort you apply strengthens your light by one level. For example, applying two levels of Effort creates a level 4 barrier. Action.

Tier 2: Driving Light (3 Intellect points). You raise your lantern’s light toward the undead, demonic, or other supernatural extraplanar creatures within short range of you and attempt to drive them away. Make an Intellect attack roll against each creature you want to affect. Success means the creature cannot attack and flees for one minute. Failure means the creature ignores your attempt at turning it and continues its actions normally. Action.

Tier 3: Illuminate (4 Intellect points). For the next one hour, when the light from your lantern falls upon invisible creatures, incorporeal creatures, creatures only partially on this plane, hidden doors, secret passages, unseen traps, or other such concealed areas, they are revealed to you. Additionally, during this time casting your light on sigils, runes, or text written in a language you do not normally understand will allow you to discern their meaning.  Action to initiate.

Tier 4: Punishing Light. When you use Light’s Protection or Driving Light, the light from your lantern inflicts 3 damage (ignores Armor) to all undead, demonic, or other supernatural extraplanar creatures that fall within it. This damage applies even if the aforementioned creatures overcome your barrier or you fail to turn them. Enabler.

Tier 5: Warding Glow (5+ Intellect points). If you spend one hour basking in the light from your lantern, it endows you with the following protections for the next eight hours:

• You gain a +2 to Armor
• You are trained in Might and Intellect defense. If you are already trained in either, you become specialized.
• Your body acts as the appropriate weakness of any undead, demonic, or other supernatural extraplanar creatures that you come into physical contact with, triggering any associated damage or effects as applicable. For example, touching you may feel like touching hallowed ground, being doused in holy water, struck by silver or cold iron, etc.

In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to protect more targets; each level of Effort used in this way affects one additional target. Any additional targets must also spend one hour sitting in the light with you for the above protections to apply. Action to initiate.

Tier 6: Binding Wick (7 Intellect points). You raise your lantern toward an undead, demonic, or other supernatural extraplanar creature within short range of you and make an Intellect attack roll. On a success, they are trapped in its ray of light and pulled into your lantern. The captured creature remains in your lantern, powerless and unable to act, until you perform a one hour ritual to banish it permanently from the mortal plane. You may only have one creature trapped within the dimension of your lantern at any given time. While a creature is trapped within your lantern you may use any of your other associated abilities as normal. If your lantern is destroyed before you perform the banishing ritual, the creature trapped within is freed. Action.

Order of the Sentinels GM Intrusions: A vengeful supernatural being is waiting for its chance to strike. The character’s light falls on something too powerful for them to control. Local law enforcement doesn’t care about the character’s mission and tracks them down.

Sentinel’s Light: To the uninitiated, a sentinel’s light looks like a well-made and unnecessarily ornate adventuring lantern, but this item is the most important tool in the Order’s arsenal. Ritually crafted from a variety of materials known to rebuke and irritate extraplanar creatures, a sentinel’s light acts as the focus for all members of the order to channel their abilities.

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