by ConnorJames | Jan 29, 2015 | Foci
You can commune with the spirits around you, seeking their help and guidance, perhaps even entering the spirit realm to achieve your own ends. Players with this focus can see and communicate with any spirits in the immediate vicinity. (Though spirits may choose to ignore them). Tier 1: Commune (2 Intellect points). Summon any spirit and seek their guidance. Tier 2: Spirit Lance (1 Might point, 1 Intellect point per round used). Create a light weapon composed of spirit energy. Tier 3: Summon Spirit Guide (3 Intellect points). Summon a Spirit Guide, who may: Fight for you. (Level 2 Spectral creature). Guide you. or otherwise help in some capacity. Tier 4: Astral Project (4 Intellect points). Project your Spirit to another place, each action you attempt to take costs 2 Might points and 2 Intellect Points. Tier 5: Astral Project 2. Reduces cost of actions taken to 1 Might point and 1 Intellect point. Tier 6: Spirit Corridor (3 Might, 5 Intellect points). Open a gateway to the Spirit World that allows you to pass from one location to another undetected by those in the mortal realms. (Cost covers entry and exit for up to five...
by ConnorJames | Jan 27, 2015 | Foci
You die horribly, it’s what you do, but hey, for you death isn’t the end, it’s just a waypoint on the way to your next death, which is probably about five minutes away…. Player will automatically regenerate a moment later with full equipment, recovering anything they may have lost. Tier one: Regeneration. Player will regenerate upon death. Tier two: Regeneration+: Player will regenerate, with the weapon they were last using having regained a full clip (If projectile based) and any used Cyphers have a fifty percent chance of recharging, if a player discards one of these items in favour of another item the new item will be the one they Regenerate with. (Does not work with explosives.) Tier three: Take ‘Em Withya! (2 less Speed Points upon Regeneration): You die horribly? So does the other guy. Tier four: The Final Countdown: Instead of instantly regenerating you may choose to become a Phantom (Someone who is locked just out of full corporeality) for 3 rounds, you will not be able to interact, nor will you be able to take damage, passing through doors and walls is a possibility, but only at GM discretion. Tier five: Reaper’s Apprentice “My best friend’s name is Grim” (3 less Might Points upon Regenerate): Upon expiry, your body explodes into a cloud of noxious gas dealing 2 damage per round for six rounds or until dissipation. Tier six: Perhaps some other time?: You don’t die…yet, rather the wound which would have just killed you doesn’t, instead your horrible death is halted for two...
by ConnorJames | Jan 26, 2015 | Foci
*Only available within the recursion known as The Stage. Allows you to, at will, become the centre of attention, what you do next and how it goes is up to you. If you are not taking a central role you may Upstage and take attention from the central characters, but this will result in an immediate Plot Twist (GM Intrusion). There are no tier specific abilities or skills, this focus exists solely to help players engage and coerce The Audience into rewarding the players or vilifying the bad guys, thus helping them control the flow of events. Available actions granted by this focus: Upstage: Take control of, and immediately establish a new situation, GM gets to react however they wish. Empathically Touch Audience: Get them to empathize with you and feel what you feel. Break the 4th wall: Speak to audience, perhaps influencing their perceptions of events as you give an inner...
by ConnorJames | Jan 26, 2015 | Foci
You not only pretend to be someone else, you become someone else for a short time. Sometimes against your will (At GM’s Discretion.) Spinners who take this focus need not take checks when using character for deceptive purposes, however they will need to make a difficulty 5 check once every three rounds or lose control to the character for five rounds or more, depending on how many levels below 5 they failed by. Tier one abilities: Channel Character (3 Intellect Points): Allows player to create a false identity and then present themselves as such for 15 rounds, all others will fully believe them to be this character, players may disguise themselves and their voice but are limited by physical conditions. Tier two abilities: Reduce difficulty of control checks to level 4, reduce point cost to 2, Now lasts 20 rounds. Tier three abilities: Impose Character (3 Intellect Points): Enshroud another player in a false identity, control check covers other player as well. Tier four abilities: Impose Additional Character (2 Intellect Points per additional player enshrouded) Tier five abilities: Reduce cost of Impose Additional Character to 1 Tier six abilities: Become Character (6 Int points): Indefinitely hold the character, gain access to a special Character Skill or Ability, and your physical appearance alters to match that of character, height, weight, hair colour, , and clothing all change to match character, control checks no longer...
by Michael Baumann | Jan 25, 2015 | Foci
They laughed at you at university! Tread not down this path, they said. You pry into matters that are the purview of Lord God Almighty! The study of Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus has been a waste of time they said. Not so. These great philosophers were geniuses, unconstrained by the limits of modern science. You are not so foolish as to ignore the learned sages of the past. Rather, you will build upon their work, couple it with modern sciences such as electricity and discover how to infuse life into an inanimate body! This is the archetypical mad scientist. Victor Frankenstein is the main inspiration for this focus, but other mad scientists of fiction such as Griffin, Moreau and Jekyll flavor it as well. This is a powerful focus, but any GM worth his essential salts can come up with some great GM intrusions for characters that take it. Tier 1: Educated. You are trained in alchemy and medicine. Enabler. Homunculus. You have created a tiny artificial man (treat as level 1, level 3 for alchemy and medicine). While fully animate and quite intelligent, it lacks a soul. It respects your commands and is capable of assisting you in the laboratory, giving you an asset for any task. It is a rather cruel creature and delights in causing others pain and confusion, so you must keep a close watch on it. Enabler. Tier 2: Black Stone Alchemy. You may create the following potions. Ingredients for each cost £ 2D6x10. It takes half a day to create one dose. Two doses count as carrying an anoetic cypher. Action to...
by Michael Baumann | Jan 2, 2015 | Foci
“Stand and deliver! Your money or your life!” How many times have these phrases passed your lips? Not nearly enough. The gentry continue to enclose the land, forcing peasants into the city to be preyed upon by merchants. Agents of the crown raise taxes and send their swaggering soldiers about to deprive good men of the few rights of liberty they have left. You are a knight of the road – highwayman to those with a less poetic frame of mind. Like a modern day Robin Hood, you steal from the rich and give to the poor, taking just enough for yourself to keep whisky in the jar. Tier 1: Undaunted Robber. You are practiced with pistols, and trained in Stealth and Riding. Enabler. Know the Back Roads. You are familiar with all the roads, tracks and shortcuts in the county. Travel time takes you 20% less to get anywhere. Enabler. Tier 2: Both Barrels (3 Speed points). If you have two ready pistols or a double-barreled pistol you may fire both barrels at your opponent. Make a single attack roll. If you hit, you inflict damage with both weapons plus 2 additional points of damage, and because you made a single attack, the target’s Armor is subtracted only once. Action. Tier 3: Sense Ambush. You are never treated as surprised by an attack. Enabler. Quick Load. It takes you one less action to reload a firearm. Enabler. Tier 4: Ambusher. If an opponent you attack has not acted on the first round of combat, the difficulty of your attack is modified one step to your benefit. Enabler....
