User:Flag On The Moon/Yulefather

This is a fan work, not a feature incorporated into any actual variant.

A holiday vestige. For Binders, Yulefather is treated as a Spirit of the Near Void and occupies a common slot. He can also be bound into the Pen of the Void.

Yulefather's seal is found engraved on the floor in the Advent calendar and can be learned by any player that enters that area.

Binding Ritual

Yulefather's seal must contain (1) a pair of boots and (2) a carrot, a milky potion, or a lembas wafer (i.e. a cookie). In addition, you must be barefoot while addressing Yulefather. If the ritual is successful, Yulefather will take the food or potion and leave an orange, a candy bar, or a small pile of gold.

• If you are wearing boots: "You think there is a pebble in your boot."
• If the seal is missing either of the required items: "You have a vision of a smiling child placing <treat> beside a pair of shoes." For <treat>, substitute "a carrot", "a glass of milk", or "an elven wafer".

Although the easiest way to fulfill the binding conditions is to take off the boots you are wearing and drop them on the seal, the boots used for the ritual do not have to be a pair that you have previously worn or even picked up.

You begin to hear a howling winter wind. A vision of snowflakes swirls before you.
A tall figure approaches through the blizzard, white-bearded and clad in trailing robe.
With piercing eyes overshadowed by shaggy snow-fringed brows, he contemplates you in silence.
Nodding at last in evident satisfaction, he touches you on the shoulder.
A comforting warmth suddenly pervades your entire body.

Taboo

You must not commit any act that incurs a penalty to your alignment record. This includes penalties unique to a single role, e.g. Archeologists robbing graves.

Mark

While Yulefather is bound, your body heat causes you to leave steaming footprints, something that priests and shopkeepers may notice at close range. The heat will also melt ice tiles that you step on. To conceal this effect, levitate or fly so your feet do not touch the ground. The mark is only visible when you move, so it should be possible to open a shop door just long enough to (P)ay the shopkeeper without them noticing, but it is better to avoid touching the ground.

If Yulefather is bound and your feet are touching the ground, enlightenment will show the following message:

Steam rises from your footprints.

If your feet are not touching the ground:

Your feet feel hot.

Immunity

Yulefather grants permanent food appraisal.

Skill

None.

Pen of the Void

While Yulefather is bound into the Pen of the Void, monsters killed with the Pen have an extra 1% chance of leaving a "present", in addition to their inventory and death drops.

Before the quest, this present will be a randomly selected food item; after the quest, it may be a random item selected according to the rules for natural item generation on the current level.

Active Powers

• Up the Chimney: You ascend to the level above you, as if by a cursed potion of gain level. If there is at least one trapdoor or hole on the destination level, you will be placed on one; otherwise, you will arrive on a random tile as if by level teleportation. Tame creatures will not accompany you, even if leashed. Beware: Attempting this with the Amulet in your inventory will only cause you to hit your head on the ceiling.
• Krampus: Summons a peaceful (not tame) & to "punish" a monster selected by the player. The type of fiend is determined by your alignment and experience level; if you are lawful or chaotic you will get a coaligned fiend of a difficulty level in proportion to your experience level, while if you are neutral or gnostic, one will be selected either from the lawful or chaotic lists. The fiend will disappear when its target is destroyed, pacified, or tamed, or after 30 game turns, whichever happens first.

Passive Powers

• Naughty or Nice: Farlook indicates a monster's alignment.
• He Sees You When You're Sleeping: Farlook indicates the state of consciousness (awake, sleeping, meditating) of monsters, including those seen through telepathy.
• Down the Chimney: If you use ">" to descend through holes or trapdoors, you do not take falling damage.
• Jolly Old Elf: You benefit from any bonuses associated with using elven racial equipment as an elf, in addition to any bonuses associated with your own race.

Origin

A mishmash of holiday traditions from various cultures:

• "Yulefather" is an anglicization of an epithet of Odin.
• The use of boots and food items in the ritual refers to customs in which treats such as cookies and milk are left for a gift giver, fodder for the gift giver's pack animal(s) is left in shoes, and/or stockings are used as receptacles for gifts.
• Gold as a gift refers to a legend in which St. Nicholas left gold coins to provide unmarried young women with dowries; nowadays the gold is replaced with an orange (formerly a rare imported treat for northern Europeans) and/or chocolate.
• Krampus is an apparently demonic figure in some Germanic cultures who appears sometimes as a companion of St. Nicholas, but has attained some popularity as a holiday character in his own right.
• The motif of steaming footprints is a reference to the carol "Good King Wenceslas."
• Most other references (awareness of state of consciousness, passage through chimneys, affinity for elves) are to poems and songs about Santa Claus.

Other ideas

• Upon completion of the binding ritual, Yulefather may leave a non-artifact gift that is especially desirable to your role: a scroll of identify for an Archaeologist, a lockpick for a Rogue, well-enchanted ammo for a Ranger, a scroll of magic mapping for a Tourist, an uncommon spellbook for a Wizard, etc. On the first binding, the gift may be a decently enchanted weapon or piece of equipment. Weapons may be chosen based on the player's role or most advanced skill.
• Yulefather increases your carrying capacity OR improves the weight reduction factor of bags of holding.
• Instead of granting proficiency with any specific skill, Yulefather may allow you to use any weapon at the next highest skill level, up to Expert, regardless of your normal limitations. Thus if you are wielding a weapon for which you have Skilled proficiency, you will be able to use it as if you had Expert. If you are wielding a weapon with a restricted skill, your skill level will be treated as Basic. This proficiency bonus applies to whatever weapon you wield while Yulefather is bound.