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Table of Contents
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Character Focus
Focus is what makes your character unique. No two PCs in a group should have the same focus. Your focus gives you benefits when you create your character and each time you ascend to the next tier. It’s the verb of the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
When you choose a character focus, you get a special connection to one or more of your fellow PCs, a first-tier ability, and perhaps additional starting equipment. A few foci offer slight alterations of type special abilities (fighting moves for Glaives, tricks of the trade for Jacks, and esoteries for Nanos). Each focus also offers suggestions to the GM and the player for possible effects or consequences of really good or really bad die rolls. As you progress to a new tier, your focus grants you more abilities. Each tier’s benefit is usually labeled “action” or “enabler.” If an ability is labeled “action,” you must take an action to use it. If an ability is labeled “enabler,” it makes other actions better or gives some other benefit, but it’s not an action. An ability that allows you to blast foes with rays is an action. An ability that grants you additional damage when you make attacks is an enabler. You can use an enabler in the same turn as you perform another action.
Each tier’s benefits are independent of and cumulative with benefits from other tiers (unless indicated otherwise). So if your first tier ability grants you +1 to Armor and your fourth-tier ability also grants you +1 to Armor, when you reach fourth tier, you have a total of +2 to Armor.
More Focus Options
Origin of Special Powers
If you want an explanation for some of the more supernatural powers provided by your focus, roll d100 and check the following table, discarding results that don’t fit logic.| d100 | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 01–05 | Natural mutation |
| 06–09 | Unexpected viral reconstruction of your body |
| 10-15 | Mutation due to ancestral exposure to chemicals, radiation, or virus |
| 16-21 | Mutation due to experimental science performed on your ancestor(s) |
| 22-27 | An encounter with the iron wind (unexpected nanotech reconstruction of your body) |
| 28 | Abduction by extraterrestrial(s) who experimented or performed surgery on you |
| 29 | Abduction by rogue Aeon Priest(s) who experimented or performed surgery on you |
| 30 | Abduction by machine intelligence that experimented or performed surgery on you |
| 31 | Encounter with an ultraterrestrial entity that mysteriously changed you |
| 32-35 | Intentional or accidental fusion/implantation with mechanical devices in fingertips |
| 36-39 | Intentional or accidental fusion/implantation with mechanical devices in palms |
| 40-43 | Intentional or accidental fusion/implantation with mechanical device in head or eye |
| 44-47 | Intentional or accidental fusion/implantation with mechanical device in chest |
| 48-51 | Intentional or accidental immersion in or treatment with ancient chemicals or radiation |
| 52-56 | Hidden artifact(s) secreted on your person |
| 57-60 | Cloud of nanotech that follows and responds to you for reasons unknown |
| 61-64 | Implant or mutation that provides knowledge and power from the datasphere |
| 65–66 | Drugs |
| 67 | Training by extraterrestrial entities in strange and mysterious devotions |
| 68–69 | Training by secret order that has mastered mysteries passed down from the ancients |
| 70 | Training by machine intelligence that shared inhuman knowledge |
| 71–80 | Confluence: roll twice and combine results |
| 81–00 | Unknown (GM can secretly roll again and keep the result hidden) |
BEARS A HALO OF FIRE
You can create a sheath of flames around your body. You leave scorch marks wherever you go, and you can’t handle combustible objects without first dousing your inherent flames. Your special abilities (such as Nano esoteries) are tainted with flame. Fiery visuals accompany your powers, and in some cases, your predilection for flame actually reshapes your abilities to take on a fiery nature where none existed before. You probably wear red and yellow, or perhaps black. Although most of those who take up this mantle are Nanos, flame-wielding Glaives and Jacks are fearsome indeed.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. Through a quirk of fate, your fire cannot harm that character.
2. Pick one other PC. You burned this character by accident, and they still have a scar.
3. Pick one other PC. You’re always trying to impress them with your fire, but you’re not sure why.
4. Pick one other PC. When you’re near this character, sometimes your flames burn with weird patterns.
-MORE-
1. Pick one other PC. Through a quirk of fate, your fire cannot harm that character.
2. Pick one other PC. You recently discovered that if she stands near you when you use your Shroud of Flame ability, she too becomes covered in flames. This doesn’t harm her, and anyone who tries to touch her or strike her with a melee attack suffers 1 point of damage. She must remain within short range of you.
3. Pick one other PC. He had a devastating experience with fire in his past and must decide how to react to your constant use of flame around him.
4. Pick one other PC. For some reason, one of his limbs is especially vulnerable to your flames. Occasionally when you use Hurl Flame to harm a foe, his vulnerable body part bursts into flame. The flame doesn’t harm him or his equipment, but it can be an impediment during combat due to surprise.
Additional Equipment: You have an artifact—a device that sprays inanimate objects to make them fire-resistant. All your starting gear has already been treated unless you don’t want it to be.
Fire Powers: Your special abilities that would normally use force or other energy (such as electricity) instead use fire. For example, force blasts from Onslaught are blasts of flame, and Flash is a burst of fire. These alterations change nothing except the type of damage and the fact that it might start fires. As another example, Barrier produces a wall of roaring flames. In this case, the alteration changes the esotery so that the barrier is not solid but instead inflicts 1 point of damage to anything that touches it and 4 points of damage to anyone who passes through it. Even fighting moves such as No Need for Weapons might mean your hands and fists are surrounded by flames.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target or something near the target catches fire.
Major Effect Suggestions: An important item on the target’s person is destroyed.
Tier 1: Shroud of Flame (1 Intellect point). At your command, your entire body becomes shrouded in flames that last up to ten minutes. The fire doesn’t burn you, but it automatically inflicts 2 points of damage to anyone who tries to touch you or strike you with a melee attack. Flames from another source can still hurt you. While the shroud is active, you gain +2 points of Armor that protect only against damage from fire from another source. Enabler.
Tier 2: Hurl Flame (2 Intellect points). While your Shroud of Flame is active, you can reach into your halo and hurl a handful of fire at a target. This is a ranged attack with short range that deals 4 points of fire damage. Action.
Fiery Power. When you use the Onslaught force blast esotery or the Flash esotery, increase the damage by 1 point. If you don’t have either of those abilities, this ability has no effect. Fiery Power does not affect damage from the Onslaught mindslice. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Fiery Hand of Doom or Wings of Fire as your tier 3 ability.
Fiery Hand of Doom (3 Intellect points). While your Shroud of Flame is active, you can reach into your halo and produce a hand made of animate flame that is twice the size of a human’s hand. The hand acts as you direct, floating in the air. Directing the hand is an action. Without a command, the hand does nothing. It can move a long distance in a round, but it never moves farther away from you than long range. The hand can grab, move, and carry things, but anything it touches takes 1 point of damage per round from the heat. The hand can also attack. It’s a level 3 creature and deals 1 extra point of damage from fire when it attacks. Once created, the hand lasts for ten minutes. Action to create; action to direct.
Wings of Fire (4 Intellect points). While your Shroud of Flame is active, you can spread wings of fire and can levitate, moving at a rate of up to 20 feet (6 m) per round in any direction for one minute. You can also take one other nonmovement action on your turn. Action.
Tier 4: Flameblade (4 Intellect points). When you wish it, you extend your halo of fire to cover a weapon you wield in flame for one hour. The flame ends if you stop holding or carrying the weapon. While the flame lasts, the weapon inflicts 2 additional points of damage. Enabler.
Tier 5: Fire Tendrils (5 Intellect points). When you wish it, your halo sprouts three tendrils of flame that last for up to ten minutes. As an action, you can use the tendrils to attack, making a separate attack roll for each. Each tendril inflicts 4 points of damage. Otherwise, the attacks function as standard attacks. If you don’t use the tendrils to attack, they remain but do nothing. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Fire Servant or Inferno Trail as your tier 6 ability.
Fire Servant (6 Intellect points). You reach into your halo and produce an automaton of fire that is your general shape and size. It acts as you direct each round. Directing the servant is an action, and you can command it only when you are within long range of it. Without a command, the servant continues to follow your previous command. You can also give it a simple programmed action, such as “Wait here, and attack anyone who comes within short range until they’re dead.” The servant lasts for ten minutes, is a level 5 creature, and deals 1 extra point of damage from fire when it attacks. Action to create; action to direct.
Inferno Trail (6 Intellect points). For the next minute, you leave a trail of flame in your wake. The trail matches your path and lasts for up to a minute, creating a wall of flame about 6 feet (2 m) high that inflicts 5 points of damage to any creature that passes through it, potentially catching them on fire for an additional 1 point of damage each round (if they are flammable) until they spend a round putting out the fire. Action.
COMMANDS MENTAL POWERS
You have always had special abilities that others didn’t seem to share. Through practice and devotion, you have honed this unique talent so that you can harness the power of your mind to perform deeds. No one can tell that you have this ability just by looking at you, although you wear a crystal or jewel somewhere on your head to help focus your power. Either this focusing object was given to you by someone who recognized your ability, or you came upon it by accident and it triggered your abilities. Some people with mental powers—often called psychics or psionics by ordinary folks—are secretive and a little paranoid. Although Nanos frequently command mental powers, psionic characters of every other type are not uncommon.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. You have found that this character is particularly tuned into your mental powers. While you’re within short range of them, the two of you are always in telepathic contact, and they are never harmed by your Psychic Bursts.
2. Pick one other PC. For some reason, you can’t telepathically interact with them.
3. Pick one other PC. That character and you always enjoy the effect of your Telepathic ability even when you haven’t triggered it.
4. Pick one other PC. When they stand next to you and use their action to concentrate on helping you, your Telepathic ability extends to a very long range.
-MORE-
1. Pick one other PC. You have found that this character is particularly tuned into your mental powers. While you’re within short range of him, the two of you are always in telepathic contact, and he is never harmed by your Psychic Burst.
2. Pick one other PC. She is what you might call a “loud thinker,” and her thoughts sometimes come through to you when you are within short range, even when you’re not using your Mind Reading ability. You can’t seem to turn this off. Whether your tell her or not is up to you.
3. Pick one other PC. For some reason, he seems to act as an antenna for your mental powers. If the two of you are touching, your Telepathic and Mind Reading abilities sometimes extend to long range.
4. Pick one other PC. Your close mentor or teacher once used Mind Control on her and forced her to do something against her will. To this day, you haven’t talked about it, but you are both intensely aware of the connection.
Additional Equipment: You have a crystal or jewel artifact that, when worn against your forehead or temple, adds 1 point to your Intellect Pool. If you’re ever without the artifact, subtract 5 points from your Intellect Pool; the points are restored if you regain the item.
Mental Esoteries: When you apply Effort to the special abilities that control minds, like the Mind Control esotery, the Mind Reading esotery, or the Crowd Control trick of the trade, you get a free level of Effort on that task. Enabler.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The range or duration of the mental power is doubled.
Major Effect Suggestions: You can take another action on that same turn.
Tier 1: Telepathic (1+ Intellect points). You can speak telepathically with others who are within short range. Communication is two-way, but the other party must be willing and able to communicate. You don’t have to see the target, but you must know that it’s within range. You can have more than one active contact at once, but you must establish contact with each target individually. Each contact lasts up to ten minutes. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the duration rather than affect the difficulty, the contact lasts for 28 hours. Action to establish contact.
Tier 2: Mind Reading (2 Intellect points). You can read the surface thoughts of a creature within short range, even if the target doesn’t want you to. You must be able to see your target. Once you have established contact, you can read the target’s thoughts for up to one minute. If you also have the Mind Reading special ability from your type, you can use this ability at long range, and you don’t need to be able to see the target (but you do have to know that the target is within range). Action to initiate.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Psychic Burst or Psychic Suggestion as your tier 3 ability.
Psychic Burst (3+ Intellect points). You blast waves of mental force into the minds of up to three targets within short range (make an Intellect roll against each target). This burst inflicts 3 points of Intellect damage (and thus ignores Armor). For each 2 additional Intellect points you spend, you can make an Intellect attack roll against an additional target. Action.
Psychic Suggestion (4 Intellect points). You attempt to make the target take the action you indicate on its next turn. If the action you wish the target to take would cause direct harm to the target or its allies, your mental attack is hindered. Action.
Tier 4: Use Senses of Others (4 Intellect points). You can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste through the senses of anyone with whom you have telepathic contact. You can attempt to use this ability on a willing or unwilling target within long range; an unwilling target can try to resist. You don’t need to see the target, but you must know that it’s within range. Your shared senses last ten minutes. Action to establish.
Tier 5: Precognition (6 Intellect points). You dimly sense the future for the next ten minutes. This has the following effects until the duration expires: Your defense tasks gain an asset. You can predict the actions of those around you. You gain an asset to seeing through deceptions and attempts to betray you as well as avoiding traps and ambushes.You know what people are probably thinking and what they will say before they say it, which gives you an edge. You gain an asset to all interaction skills. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Mind Control or Telepathic Network as your tier 6 ability.
Mind Control (6+ Intellect points). You control the actions of another creature you touch. This effect lasts for one minute. The target must be level 2 or lower. Once you have established control, you maintain mental contact with the target and sense what it senses. You can allow it to act freely or override its control on a case-bycase basis. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target or increase the duration by one minute. Thus, to control the mind of a level 5 target (three levels above the normal limit) or control a target for four minutes (three levels above the normal duration), you must apply three levels of Effort. If you also have the Mind Control special ability from your type, the normal level limit is 3 rather than 2. When the effect ends, the creature doesn’t remember being controlled or anything it did while under your command. Action to initiate.
Telepathic Network (0+ Intellect points). When you wish it, you can contact up to ten creatures known to you, no matter where they are. All targets must be willing and able to communicate. You automatically succeed at establishing a telepathic network; no roll is required. All creatures in the network are linked and can communicate telepathically with one another. They can also “overhear” anything said in the network, if they wish. Activating this ability doesn’t require an action and doesn’t cost Intellect points; to you, it’s as easy as speaking out loud. The network lasts until you choose to end it. If you spend 5 Intellect points, you can contact twenty creatures at once, and for every 1 Intellect point you spend above that, you can add ten more creatures to the network. These larger networks last for ten minutes. Creating a network of twenty or more creatures does require an action to establish contact. Enabler.
CONTROLS BEASTS
To say that you have a way with animals and nonhuman creatures doesn’t begin to cover it. Your mastery and communication with beasts is positively uncanny. They come to you fearlessly, and it’s not uncommon for birds to alight on your shoulder or for small animals to climb up your arms or legs. You probably wear tough clothing and have a disheveled or grizzled appearance that suggests a rugged, outdoor life. Perhaps you even smell like an animal. Any type of character is likely to have this focus.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That character seems to disturb your creatures in a way that you can’t explain. You know that you must keep your animals away from them if possible, or you might lose control.
2. Pick one other PC. The creature that you’re bonded with seems to have a special bond with this other person as well. You must decide whether it brings up feelings of jealousy or camaraderie within you and whether to thwart the connection or help it blossom.
3. Pick one other PC. Recently, they accidentally (or perhaps intentionally) put your beast companion in a position of danger. Your companion is now nervous around them, and you are struggling with your own emotional response to the incident.
4. Pick one other PC. They dislike beasts of all kinds, seeing them as little more than food or prey. You hope that exposing them to your beast companion will change their mind. It’s up to that player how their character responds to the experience.
Additional Equipment: You have three days’ worth of food for your beast companion, plus a harness, collar, or similar accoutrement.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The duration of calmness or control is doubled.
Major Effect Suggestions: The duration of calmness or control extends to 28 hours.
Tier 1: Beast Companion. A level 2 creature of your size or smaller accompanies you and follows your instructions. You and the GM must work out the details of your creature, and you’ll probably make rolls for it in combat or when it takes actions. The beast companion acts on your turn. As a level 2 creature, it has a target number of 6 and 6 health and it inflicts 2 points of damage. Its movement is based on its creature type (avian, swimmer, and so on). If your beast companion dies, you can hunt in the wild for 1d6 days to find a new companion. Enabler.
Tier 2: Soothe the Savage (2 Intellect points). You calm a nonhuman beast within 30 feet (9 m). You must speak to it (although it doesn’t need to understand your words), and it must see you. It remains calm for one minute or for as long as you focus all your attention on it. The GM has final say over what counts as a nonhuman beast, but unless some kind of deception is at work, you should know whether you can affect a creature before you attempt to use this ability on it. Aliens, extradimensional entities, very intelligent creatures, and automatons never count. Action.
Communication (2 Intellect points). You can convey a basic concept to a creature that normally can’t speak or understand speech. The creature can also give you a very basic answer to a simple question. Action.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Mount or Stronger Together as your tier 3 ability.
Mount. A level 3 creature serves you as a mount and follows your instructions. While you’re mounted on it, the creature can move and you can attack on your turn, which provides an asset to your attack. You and the GM must work out the details of the creature, and you’ll probably make rolls for it when it takes noncombat actions. The mount acts on your turn. If your mount dies, you can hunt in the wild for 3d6 days to find a new one. Enabler.
Stronger Together. When you and your beast are within immediate distance of each other, you inflict 2 additional points of damage when you attack and both of you gain an asset to defense actions. Enabler.
Tier 4: Beast Eyes (3 Intellect points). You can sense through your beast companion’s senses if it is within 1 mile (1.5 km) of you. This effect lasts up to ten minutes. Action to establish.
Improved Companion. Your beast companion increases to level 4. As a level 4 creature, it has a target number of 12 and 12 health, and it inflicts 4 points of damage (though in most cases, instead of attacking, it provides an asset to your attacks). Enabler.
Tier 5: Beast Call (5 Intellect points). You summon a horde of small animals or a single level 4 beast to help you temporarily. These creatures do your bidding for as long as you focus your attention, but you must use your action each turn to direct them. Creatures are native to the area and arrive under their own power, so if you’re in an unreachable place, this ability won’t work. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either As If One Creature or Control the Savage as your tier 6 ability. Whichever one you choose, you also get Improved Companion.
As If One Creature. When you and your beast are within immediate distance of each other, you can share damage inflicted on either of you. For instance, if one of you is struck by a weapon for 4 points of damage, divide the damage between the two of you as you see fit. Only the Armor and resistances of the target initially damaged come into play. So if you have 2 Armor and are struck by a force blast for 4 points of damage, your beast can take the 2 points of damage you would suffer, but their Armor does not come into play, nor does their immunity to force blasts, if any. Enabler.
Control the Savage (6 Intellect points). You can control a calm nonhuman beast within 30 feet (9 m). You control it for as long as you focus all your attention on it, using your turn each round. The GM has final say over what counts as a nonhuman beast, but unless some kind of deception is at work, you should know whether you can affect a creature before you attempt to use this ability on it. Aliens, extradimensional entities, very intelligent creatures, and automatons never count. Action.
Improved Companion. Your beast companion increases to level 5. As a level 5 creature, it has a target number of 15 and 15 health, and it inflicts 5 points of damage. Enabler.
CONTROLS GRAVITY
Gravity must have been quite a concern for the people of prior epochs because there are many paths within the numenera to control it. Through a quirk of fate, some unique device(s), or supreme devotion (or a combination of all three), you have learned to tap into the power of gravity. With one foot planted in the distant past, you are a mysterious individual. Most likely, you are also older, having spent much of your life honing your odd, ancient talents. You might prefer billowy garments that display your mastery of gravity’s pull and conceal your identity and intentions. No one type of character is more likely to control gravity than another, but the power is rare.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. In the recent past, while using your gravitational powers, you accidentally sent that character hurtling into the air or plummeting toward the ground. Either way, they barely survived. It is up to the player of that character to decide whether they resent, fear, or forgive you.
2. Pick one other PC whose focus intertwines with yours. This odd connection affects them in some way. For example, if the character uses a bow, your ability to manipulate gravity sometimes extends the range of their arrows. If they are good at jumping, they seem less bound by the laws of gravity, and jump farther.
3. Pick one other PC. They are deathly afraid of heights. Through your ability to control gravity, you would like to teach them how to be more comfortable with their feet off the ground. They must decide whether or not to take you up on your offer.
4. Pick one other PC. They are skeptical of your ability to control gravity and think it’s just one big illusion. They might even attempt to discredit you or discover the “secret” behind your so-called skills.
Additional Equipment: You have a pen-sized oddity that tells the weight of whatever you point it at (within short range). The weight is displayed on a small glass plate in runes that only you can decipher.
Gravity Ability: You can choose to learn Weighty instead of one of the abilities granted by your type:
Weighty (1 Intellect point): You briefly increase the weight of a target within short range enough to stop them in their tracks, preventing the target from moving and hindering any attempted tasks on their next turn. Action.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The duration of the effect is doubled.
Major Effect Suggestions: An important item on the target’s person is destroyed.
Tier 1: Hover (1 Intellect point). You float slowly into the air. As your action, you can concentrate to remain motionless in the air, or float up to a short distance, but no more; otherwise, you drift with the wind or with any momentum you have gained. This effect lasts for up to ten minutes. If you also have the Hover ability granted by your type, you can hover for twenty minutes and move your normal speed. Action to initiate.
Tier 2: Lessening Gravity’s Pull. By manipulating gravity’s pull on yourself, you gain +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Define Down or Gravity Cleave as your tier 3 ability.
Define Down (4 Intellect points). The natural gravity within an area a short distance across that you are within immediate range of changes directions so that it flows in the direction you determine (up, up and to the south, west, and so on) for a few seconds, then snaps back. Affected targets could be tossed up to 20 feet (6 m) and take a few points of damage. Action.
Gravity Cleave (3 Intellect points). You can harm a target within short range by rapidly increasing gravity’s pull on one portion of the target and decreasing it on another, inflicting 6 points of damage. Action.
Tier 4: Field of Gravity (4 Intellect points). When you wish it, a field of manipulated gravity around you pulls incoming ranged projectile attacks to the ground. You are immune to such attacks until your turn in the next round. You must be aware of an attack to foil it. This ability does not work on energy attacks. Enabler.
Tier 5: Flight (4+ Intellect points). You can float and fly through the air for one hour. For each level of Effort applied, you can affect one additional creature of your size or smaller. You must touch the creature to bestow the power of flight. You direct the other creature’s movement, and while flying, it must remain within sight of you or fall. In terms of overland movement, a flying creature moves about 20 miles (32 km) per hour and is not affected by terrain. Action to initiate.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Improved Gravity Cleave or Weight of the World as your tier 6 ability.
Improved Gravity Cleave (9 Intellect points). You can harm a group of targets within long range by rapidly increasing gravity’s pull on one portion of each target and decreasing it on another, inflicting 6 points of damage. The targets must be within immediate range of each other. Action.
Weight of the World (6+ Intellect points). You can increase a target’s weight dramatically. The target is pulled to the ground and can’t move physically under its own power for one minute. The target must be within short range. For each level of Effort applied, you can affect one additional creature. Action.
CRAFTS ILLUSIONS
You use the numenera to create holographic images that appear real. You are, in effect, an artist—a crafter of light and sound. Holographic images can never inflict direct harm or exert real force, but they can fool creatures, changing opinions and even behaviors if you craft them cleverly. You likely dress with flair and color. The appearance of things is important to you, both their beauty and their ugliness. You are a visual performer who can entertain, terrify, or fool everyone you encounter. A Nano is the most likely character to be an illusionist, but Jacks find illusions to be helpful as well. The rare Glaive illusionist can find ways to use tricks in battle.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character is never fooled by your illusions and is never affected by the trickery of your special abilities. You can choose whether or not you know this fact.
2. Pick one other PC. They have a special angle on your illusions and can sometimes point out potential places of weakness.
3. Pick two other PCs who are willing to be trained as your assistants. When you use your Minor Illusion ability, if both of these characters are in immediate range, they can assist you, working together to ease your action.
4. Pick one other PC. That character’s face is so intriguing to you in a way you don’t understand that your minor illusions sometimes look like them, even when you don’t intend them to.
Additional Equipment: You have an oddity that appears to be a piece of clear glass in a synth frame. By manipulating hidden switches on the frame, you can make random moving images appear on the glass. The images are usually strange and sometimes incomprehensible.
Psychedelic Abilities: Your special abilities take on flamboyant visual and auditory qualities of your choosing. This alteration changes nothing other than the appearance of the effects. For example, your attack esoteries might look like monsters made of energy that assail your foes. Your Stasis esotery might look like a tentacled beast that holds the victim in place. Your Teleportation esotery might seem like a hole in space opens up and swallows you. Your Skill With Defense fighting move might look like ghostly echoes mimicking your actions or ephemeral arms blocking attacks against you.
Minor Effect Suggestions: Your illusion has a special quality to it—perhaps an observer sees an image of something from their past.
Major Effect Suggestions: The illusion lasts for one hour, or if it already lasts that long, it lasts for 28 hours.
Tier 1: Minor Illusion (1 Intellect point). You create a single image of a creature or object within immediate range. The image must fit within a 10-foot (3 m) cube. The image can move (for example, you could make the illusion of a person walk or attack), but it can’t leave the area defined by the cube. The illusion includes sound but not smell. It lasts for ten minutes, but if you want to change the original illusion significantly—such as making a creature appear to be wounded—you must concentrate on it again (though doing so doesn’t cost additional Intellect points). If you move beyond immediate range of the cube, the illusion vanishes. Action to create; action to modify.
Tier 2: Disguise (2+ Intellect points). You appear to be someone or something else, roughly of your size and shape, for up to one hour. Once created, the disguise requires no concentration. For each additional Intellect point you spend, you can disguise one other creature. All disguised creatures must stay within sight of you or lose their disguise. Action to create.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Cast Illusion or Major Illusion as your tier 3 ability.
Cast Illusion. You can increase the range at which you create and maintain your immediate-range illusions to anywhere within short range that you can perceive. Enabler.
Major Illusion (3 Intellect points). You create a complex scene of images within immediate range. The entire scene must fit within a 100-foot (30 m) cube. The images can move, but they can’t leave the area defined by the cube. The illusion includes sound and smell. It lasts for ten minutes and changes as you direct (no concentration is needed). If you move beyond immediate range of the cube, the illusion vanishes. Action to create.
Tier 4: Illusory Selves (4 Intellect points). You create four holographic duplicates of yourself within short range. The duplicates last for one minute. You mentally direct their actions, and the duplicates aren’t mirror images—each one can do different things. If struck violently, they either disappear permanently or freeze motionless (your choice). Action to create.
Tier 5: Terrifying Image (6 Intellect points). You use a bit of subtle telepathy to learn which images would appear terrifying to creatures that you choose within long range. Those images appear within that area and menace the appropriate creatures. Make an Intellect attack roll against each creature you want to affect. Success means the creature flees in terror for one minute, pursued by its nightmares. Failure means the creature ignores the images, which do not hamper it in any way. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Grandiose Illusion or Permanent Illusion as your tier 6 ability.
Grandiose Illusion (8 Intellect points). You create a fantastically complex scene of images that fit within a 1-mile (1.5 km) cube that you are also within. You must be able to see the images when you create them. The images can move in the cube and act in accordance with your desires. They can also act logically (such as reacting appropriately to fire or attacks) when you aren’t directly observing them. The illusion includes sound and smell. For example, armies can clash in battle, with air support from machines or flying creatures, on and above terrain of your creation. The illusion lasts for one hour (or longer, if you concentrate on it after that time). Action.
Permanent Illusion (9 Intellect points). An illusion (or portion of an illusion) that you create that fits within a 10-foot (3 m) cube becomes permanent. You can permanently end the illusion as an action, but others must expend exceptional ingenuity to prevent the illusion from regenerating even if it has apparently been dispersed. Enabler.
EMPLOYS MAGNETISM
Electromagnetism is a fundamental force in the universe, and it is yours to command. You are a master of metal. You probably wear a lot of metal, perhaps as part of your clothing or armor, as part of your accessories (such as jewelry or piercings), embedded into your body surgically, or in some combination of these options. No one type of character is more likely than any other to employ magnetism, although Glaives who wield weapons and wear armor will find it an interesting complement to their powers.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. Whenever you use your powers, the metallic items on that character’s body shudder, rattle, clink, and shake if they are within short range.
2. Pick one other PC. You worked together in the past, and the job ended badly.
3. Pick two other PCs. While practicing your Diamagnetism ability, you once accidentally sent them careening into each other. You’ve never been able to repeat it. Whether you tell them that you’ve been trying to replicate the strange effect is up to you.
4. Pick one other PC who has metallic elements in their body. You’re afraid to use your magnetism abilities near them because you once had a bad experience involving Move Metal and a (probably former) friend’s mechanical eyes.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The duration of the effect is doubled.
Major Effect Suggestions: An important item on the target’s person is destroyed.
Tier 1: Move Metal (1 Intellect point). You can exert force on metal objects within short range for one round. Once activated, your power has an effective Might Pool of 10, a Might Edge of 1, and an Effort of 2 (approximately equal to the strength of a fit, capable, adult human), and you can use it to move metal objects, push against metal objects, and so on. For example, in your round, you could lift and pull a light metal object anywhere within range to yourself or move a heavy object (like a piece of furniture) about 10 feet (3 m). This power lacks the fine control to wield a weapon or move objects with much speed, so in most situations, it’s not a means of attack. You can’t use this ability on your own body. The power lasts for one hour or until its Might Pool is depleted, whichever comes first. Action.
Tier 2: Repel Metal. By manipulating magnetism, you are trained in Speed defense tasks against any incoming attack that uses metal. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Destroy Metal or Guide Bolt as your tier 3 ability.
Destroy Metal (3 Intellect points). You instantly tear, rip, or burst a metal object that is within sight, within short range, and no bigger than half your size. Attempt an Intellect task to destroy the object; the task is eased by three steps compared to breaking it with brute strength. Action.
Guide Bolt (4+ Intellect points). When you make an attack with a metallic bolt or metaltipped arrow on a target within short range, you can improve the attack’s aim and velocity, which grants an asset to the attack and inflicts an additional 2 points of damage. If you apply a level of Effort, you grant the same benefits to a ranged attack made by an ally within immediate range. In any case, you can use this ability only once per round. Enabler.
Tier 4: Magnetic Field (4 Intellect points). When you wish it, a field of magnetism around you pulls incoming, ranged, metallic projectile attacks (such as arrows, bullets, a thrown metal knife, and so on) to the ground. You are immune to such attacks for one round. You must be aware of an attack to foil it. Enabler.
Tier 5: Command Metal (5 Intellect points). You reshape a metallic item as you desire. The item must be within sight and within short range, and its mass can be no greater than your own. You can affect multiple items at once as long as their combined mass falls within these limits. You can fuse multiple items together. You can use this power to destroy a metal object (as the Destroy Metal ability), or you can craft it into another desired shape (crudely, unless you have the proper crafting skills). You can then move the new object anywhere within range. For example, you could take a few metal shields, fuse them together, and use the resulting shape to block a doorway. You can use this ability to make an attack—causing a foe’s armor to constrict, rendering a metal item into shards that you fling across the battlefield, and so on—against one target within short range. Regardless of the form of the attack, it is an Intellect action that deals 7 points of damage. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Diamagnetism or Iron Punch as your tier 6 ability.
Diamagnetism. You magnetize any nonmetallic object within short range so that it can be affected by your other powers. Thus, with Move Metal, you can move any object. With Repel Metal, you are trained in all Speed defense tasks, regardless of whether the incoming attack uses metal. And so on. Enabler.
Iron Punch (5+ Intellect points). You pick up a heavy object within short range and hurl it at someone within short range, an Intellect action that deals 6 points of damage to the target and to the hurled object. For each additional level of Effort applied, you can pick up a slightly larger object, allowing you to affect one additional target within short range as long as it is next to the prior target. Action.
ENTERTAINS
You are an entertainer: a singer, dancer, poet, storyteller, or something similar. You perform for the benefit of others. Naturally charismatic and talented, you have also studied to master your art. You know all the old poems, songs, jokes, and stories, and you’re skilled at creating new ones, too. You probably wear flamboyant or at least fashionable clothes and use cosmetics, tattoos, or hair stylings for dramatic effect. The role of the entertainer fits the Jack best, though Glaives and Nanos sometimes entertain as well.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character is your worst critic. Your abilities to help or inspire others don’t function for them.
2. Pick one other PC. They seem to really enjoy your attempts to entertain, and this brings out the performer in you. It’s up to that character whether their appreciation is real or they’re just being polite.
3. Pick one other PC. They are so inspired and put at ease by your stories or other forms of entertainment that when you use Levity, they gain +2 to their recovery rolls (instead of +1).
4. Pick one other PC. This person knows the secret to one of your favorite forms of entertainment. You worry constantly that they will steal it or reveal it.
Additional Equipment: You start with a musical instrument or other tools needed to perform.
Minor Effect Suggestions: You enchant the target, who remains enchanted as long as you focus all your attention on keeping them that way.
Major Effect Suggestions: The target is forever favorably disposed toward you.
Tier 1: Levity. Through wit, charm, humor, and grace, you are trained in all social interactions other than those involving coercion or intimidation. During rests, you put friends and comrades at ease so much that they gain +1 to their recovery rolls. Enabler.
Tier 2: Inspiration. Through stories, songs, art, or other forms of entertainment, you inspire your friends. After spending 28 hours with you, once per day each of your friends can ease a task. This benefit is ongoing whileyou remain in the friend’s company. It ends if you leave, but it resumes if you return to the friend’s company within 28 hours. If you leave the friend’s company for more than 28 hours, you must spend another 28 hours together to reactivate the benefit. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Knowledge or Multitalented as your tier 3 ability.
Knowledge. Your stories and songs contain truth. You are trained in two areas of knowledge of your choice. Enabler.
Multitalented. Being well versed in how to entertain others is reflected in your growing capabilities. You gain 6 new points to divide among your stat Pools however you wish. Enabler.
Tier 4: Calm (3 Intellect points). Through jokes, song, or other art, you prevent a living foe from attacking anyone or anything for one round. Action.
Tier 5: Able Assistance. When you help someone with a task and they apply a level of Effort, they get a free level of Effort on that task. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Master Entertainer or Vindictive Performance as your tier 6 ability.
Master Entertainer. Your Inspiration ability works more effectively, easing your friends’ tasks by two steps rather than one step. Enabler.
Vindictive Performance (5 Intellect points). When you tell a joke, perform a song or poem, draw a picture, relate an anecdote, or otherwise provide entertainment, you can select one individual from the audience who is able to understand you. During your performance, you heap indirect but biting derision on this target. If you succeed, the target doesn’t realize that they’ve become the victim of your performance until you wrap up the entertainment at a moment you choose in a way that strikes home. The target suffers 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) and loses their next turn. One or more actions to initiate.
EXISTS PARTIALLY OUT OF PHASE
You have the ability to change your phase state. In fact, you’re always slightly out of phase, giving you a ghostly translucence. With concentration, you can pass your hand through a solid object, allow a solid object to pass harmlessly through you, or literally walk through walls. However, moving in and out of different phase states requires extreme force of will and can be mentally taxing. The explanation for your strange power lies within some aspect of the numenera. Perhaps the ability emerged through the use of (or exposure to) lingering transdimensional technology or as the result of an encounter with a creature not native to this world or dimension. Perhaps one of your ancestors first developed the power and passed it down through generations. You might do whatever you can to play up your translucent appearance by wearing diaphanous, billowy clothing, or, depending on your personality, you might do just the opposite. Jacks enjoy the infiltration possibilities of changing their phase state, and Nanos appreciate the defensive capabilities. Glaives can use the offensive and defensive aspects but might find them a bit hindering as well.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. You have known that character for a while, and they helped you gain control of your phase states.
2. Pick one other PC. Sometime in this character’s past, they had a devastating experience with going out of phase. Whether they choose to tell you about it is up to them.
3. Pick one other PC. You once accidentally moved your hand right through them. It was an unnerving experience for you both.
4. Pick two other PCs. They both really want to go out of phase and have been pestering you about it. But you’re not convinced they even know what that phrase means.
Minor Effect Suggestions: While out of phase, you also have an asset to your Speed defense tasks.
Major Effect Suggestions: While out of phase, you are also invisible.
Tier 1: Walk Through Walls (2 Intellect points). You can slowly pass through physical barriers at a rate of 1 inch (2.5 cm) per round (minimum of one round to pass through any barrier). You can’t act (other than moving) or perceive anything until you pass entirely through the barrier. You can’t pass through energy barriers. Action.
Tier 2: Defensive Phasing (2 Intellect points). You can change your phase so that some attacks pass through you harmlessly. For the next ten minutes, you gain an asset to your Speed defense tasks, but during this time you lose any benefit from armor you wear. Action to initiate.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Phased Attack or Phase Door as your tier 3 ability.
Phased Attack (3 Intellect points). The attack you make on this turn ignores your foe’s armor. The ability works for whatever kind of attack you use (melee, ranged, energy, and so on). Enabler.
Phase Door (4 Intellect points). You can phase into a solid object’s surface and then phase out of any other solid object within long range of the first, even if the two objects are not connected. There must not be any intervening barriers between the two objects, and you must be aware of or able to see the destination object. Action.
Tier 4: Ghost (4 Intellect points). For the next ten minutes, you gain an asset to sneaking tasks. During this time, you can move through solid barriers (but not energy barriers) at a rate of 1 foot (30 cm) per round, and you can perceive while phased within a barrier or object, which allows you to peek through walls. Action to initiate.
Tier 5: Untouchable (6 Intellect points). You change your phase state for the next minute so that you can’t affect or be affected by normal matter or energy. Only mental attacks and special transdimensional energies, devices, or abilities can affect you, but likewise you can’t attack, touch, or otherwise affect anything. Action to initiate.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Enhanced Phased Attack or Phase Foe as your tier 6 ability.
Enhanced Phased Attack (5 Intellect points). This ability works like the third-tier Phased Attack ability except that your attack also disrupts the foe’s vitals, dealing an additional 5 points of damage. Enabler.
Phase Foe (6+ Intellect points). You gather disrupting energy in your fingertip and touch a creature. If the target is an NPC or a creature of level 3 or lower, it becomes phased as if it had used your Ghost ability. However, unless it can figure out how to control its movement while being phased, which most creatures have no experience with, it begins to sink through solid matter. If it can’t control itself or end the effect, it might be gone for good because when it becomes solid again after ten minutes, it’s probably deep in the earth. For each additional level of Effort you apply, you can attempt to affect a target of one level higher. Action.
EXPLORES DARK PLACES
You explore the foreboding ruins and mysterious locales of the ancient eras, trained in such activities by those who have gone before you. You’re the archetypical treasure hunter, scavenger, and finder of lost things. You spend so much of your time in the dark that you slowly adapt to it, almost becoming a creature of the gloom yourself. Even in civilized areas, you prefer to keep to the shadows. Most likely, you wear dark clothing to help you blend into the blackness. On the other hand, you might wear sensible garments and gear because you have serious and dangerous business to attend to in the dark. Jacks are suited to exploring dark places; those who do so are called shadowjacks. Glaives who follow this path are known as shadow warriors, and Nanos are called shadowcasters.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character was your companion on previous expeditions, and the two of you work so well together that you both gain an asset to any die rolls to collaborate on the same task, fight the same foe, and so on.
2. Pick two other PCs. You think you once saw them through a keyhole doing something illegal. You can choose whether or not to share that information. The characters can choose whether it was really them (it could have been neither, one, or both), and they may or may not share that information in return.
3. Pick one other PC. This person always seems to hear you, no matter how stealthy you try to be.
4. Pick one other PC. This character is so loud in everything they do that you feel obligated to try to help them learn to move more quietly through the world. Whether or not they’re interested is up to them.
Additional Equipment: You start with an explorer’s pack. If you already have one, you can instead take 50 extra feet (15 m) of rope, rations for two more days, and two minor glowglobes.
Darkness Powers: Your special abilities (such as Nano esoteries) make almost no sound, and whatever visual displays they produce are dark and shadowy. These alterations change nothing other than the appearance of the effects. A Flash esotery is a silent burst of shadows, a Barrier esotery is a mass of shadowy wisps, and so on.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is also dazed for one round, during which time all of its tasks are hindered.
Major Effect Suggestions: The target is also stunned and loses its next turn.
Tier 1: Superb Explorer. You are trained in searching, listening, climbing, balancing, and jumping tasks. Enabler.
Tier 2: Superb Infiltrator. You are trained in lockpicking and tinkering with devices in an effort to make them work, or at least work for you. Enabler.
Eyes Adjusted. You can see in extremely dim light as though it were bright light. You can see in total darkness as if it were extremely dim. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Nightstrike or Slippery Customer as your tier 3 ability.
Nightstrike. When you attack a foe in dim light or darkness, you get a free level of Effort on the attack. Enabler.
Slippery Customer. When you apply Effort to tasks involving escaping from bonds, fitting in tight spaces, and other contortionist tasks, you get a free level of Effort on the task. Thanks to your experience, you are also trained in Speed defense tasks while wearing light armor or no armor. Enabler.
Tier 4: Resilient. In your explorations of dark places, you’ve been exposed to all sorts of terrible things and are developing a general resistance. You gain +1 to Armor and are trained in Might defense tasks. Enabler.
Tier 5: Dark Explorer. You ignore penalties for any action (including fighting) in extremely dim light or in cramped spaces. Combined with your Eyes Adjusted ability, you can act without penalty even in total darkness. You are trained in sneaking tasks while in dim or no light. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Blinding Attack or Embraced by Darkness as your tier 6 ability.
Blinding Attack (3 Speed points). If you have a source of light, you can use it to make a melee attack against a target. If successful, the attack deals no damage, but the target is blinded for one minute. Action.
Embraced by Darkness (6 Intellect points). For the next hour, you take on some characteristics of a shadow thanks to a fundamental adaptation of your flesh or a device you’ve kept secret. Your appearance is a dark silhouette. When you apply a level of Effort to sneaking tasks, you get a free level of Effort on the task. During this time, you can move through the air at a rate of a short distance per round, and you can move through solid barriers (even those that are sealed to prevent the passage of light or shadow), but not energy barriers, at a rate of 1 foot (30 cm) per round. You can perceive while passing through a barrier or object, which allows you to peek through walls. As a shadow, you can’t affect or be affected by normal matter. Likewise, you can’t attack, touch, or otherwise affect anything. However, attacks and effects that rely on light can affect you, and sudden bursts of light can potentially make you lose your next turn. Action to initiate.
FIGHTS WITH PANACHE
You know that style is at least as important as substance. Defeating foes is secondary to looking good while doing it. Some might call you a swashbuckler or daredevil. You leap through the air, make a flourish with your weapon, and attack, usually with a clever, biting show of wit. Your enemies hate you, but your allies adore you. Just watching you fight is entertaining. You very likely wear no armor, instead preferring stylish clothing—perhaps even a hat with a feather. Jacks and Glaives make the best swashbucklers, and they are the most common types of characters to fight with panache.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. You’re always trying to impress this character with your skill, wit, appearance, or bravado. Perhaps they are a rival, perhaps you need their respect, or perhaps you’re romantically interested in them.
2. Pick one other PC. This character seems to anticipate your next move almost before you even begin it. When they collaborate with you on the same task or fight the same foe, you gain an asset on the task.
3. Pick one other PC. You fear that the character is jealous of your abilities and worry that it might lead to problems.
4. Pick one other PC. This character is so enamored of your swashbuckling, entertaining ways during combat that they sometimes forget to take their own action.
Additional Equipment: You begin with a set of extremely stylish clothes and a jeweled weapon.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is so dazzled by your style that it is dazed for one round, during which time all of its tasks are hindered.
Major Effect Suggestions: Make an additional attack with your weapon on your turn.
Tier 1: Attack Flourish. With your attack, you add stylish moves, entertaining quips, or a certain “something” that entertains or impresses others. One creature you choose within short range who can see you gains an asset to its next task if taken within a round or two. Enabler.
Tier 2: Quick Block. If you use a light or medium weapon, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Acrobatic Attack or Flamboyant Boast as your tier 3 ability. Acrobatic Attack (1+ Speed points). You leap into the attack, twisting or flipping through the air. If you roll a natural 17 or 18, you can choose to have a minor effect rather than deal extra damage. If you apply Effort to the attack, you get a free level of Effort on the task. You can’t use this ability if your Speed is reduced from wearing armor. Enabler.
Flamboyant Boast (1 Intellect point). You boastfully describe an act that you will accomplish, and then as part of the same action, you attempt it. If an average person would find the action difficult (or impossible) and you succeed on it, creatures who witnessed it who are not your allies are potentially dazed on their next turn, and all tasks they attempt are hindered. The GM will help you determine whether your boast is something that would impress onlookers so significantly. If you attempt the task you boast about but fail to accomplish it, all your attempts to affect or attack onlookers who saw you are hindered for about ten minutes. Enabler.
Tier 4: Mobile Fighter (3 Speed points). As part of your attack, you can leap on or over obstacles, swing from ropes, run along narrow surfaces, or otherwise move around the battlefield at your normal speed as if such tasks were routine (difficulty 0). You can’t use this ability if your Speed is reduced from wearing armor. Enabler.
Tier 5: Block for Another. If you use a light or medium weapon, you can block attacks made against an ally near you. Choose one creature within immediate range. You provide an asset to that creature’s Speed defense tasks. You can’t use Quick Block while using Block for Another. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Agile Wit or Return to Sender as your tier 6 ability.
Agile Wit. When attempting a Speed task, you instead can roll (and spend points) as if it were an Intellect action. If you apply Effort to this task, you can spend points from your Intellect Pool instead of your Speed Pool (in which case you also use your Intellect Edge instead of your Speed Edge). Enabler.
Return to Sender (3 Speed points). If you succeed at a Speed defense task against a melee attack, you can make an immediate melee attack against your foe. You can use this ability only once per round. Enabler.
FOCUSES MIND OVER MATTER
Telekinesis. Psychokinesis. Mind over matter. The power has many names, but in the end, it all boils down to one thing—the molecules that make up all matter are yours to command. You likely call yourself a telekinetic or just a TK. Many telekinetics prefer to wear tight clothing without much accoutrement, so there is little that another TK could grab hold of psychically. On the other hand, you have the power to create very minor telekinetic effects at will, so your hair might always be in motion, you could have a few tiny objects floating around you, or you might wear a long cape that’s always billowing. Jacks are the most likely characters to be telekinetics, but Glaives find that the abilities add to their combat prowess, and Nanos, of course, appreciate the additional power.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character can cause your telekinetic powers to act oddly. Every once in a while, if the character stands directly next to you, your powers are canceled, but at other times, they seem improved when used near the PC.
2. Pick one other PC. This person thinks that your powers are completely hypothetical.
3. Pick one other PC. You once joked that you could read their mind. Whether they found that exciting or utterly terrifying is up to them.
4. Pick one other PC. You feel strangely protective of that character and plan to do your best to keep them from harm.
Mental Powers: Your special abilities that would normally use force or other energy instead use psychokinetic force. For example, a Flash or an Onslaught force blast is a psychokinetic blast from your mind. This alteration changes nothing except that you don’t need a free hand to perform those abilities. In addition, you can choose to learn Impetus instead of one of the abilities granted by your type. Enabler.
Impetus (2 Intellect points): A loose object within short range that you could carry in one hand is drawn to your free hand. If the object is stuck or held by another creature, you must succeed on a Might roll to rip it free, or the object remains where it was. Action.
Minor Effect Suggestions: An object moves faster or more efficiently.
Major Effect Suggestions: You can move or affect twice as much as normal.
Tier 1: Deflect Attacks (1 Intellect point). Using your mind, you protect yourself from incoming attacks. For the next ten minutes, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Action to initiate.
Tier 2: Telekinesis (2 Intellect points). You can exert force on objects within short range. Once activated, your power has an effective Might Pool of 10, a Might Edge of 1, and an Effort of 2 (approximately equal to the strength of a fit, capable, adult human), and you can use it to move objects, push against objects, and so on. For example, you could lift and pull a light object anywhere within range to yourself or move a heavy object (like a piece of furniture) about 10 feet (3 m). This power lacks the fine control to wield a weapon or move objects with much speed, so in most situations, it’s not a means of attack. You can’t use this ability on your own body. The power lasts for one hour or until its Might Pool is depleted, whichever comes first. Action.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Cloak of Opportunity or Enhance Strength as your tier 3 ability.
Cloak of Opportunity (5 Intellect points). You set small objects from the environment (rocks, broken cyphers, clumps of drit, and so on) swirling about you for up to ten minutes, which grants you +2 Armor. Action to initiate.
Enhance Strength (3 Intellect points). For the next ten minutes, you gain an asset on tasks that depend on brute force, such as moving a heavy object, smashing down a door, or hitting someone with a melee weapon. Action to initiate.
Tier 4: Apportation (4 Intellect points). You call a physical object to you. You can choose any piece of normal equipment on the standard equipment list, or (no more than once per day) you can allow the GM to determine the object randomly. If you call a random object, it has a 10 percent chance of being a cypher or artifact, a 10 percent chance of being an oddity, a 40 percent chance of being a piece of standard equipment, and a 40 percent chance of being a bit of worthless junk. You can’t use this ability to take an item held by another creature. Action.
Tier 5: Psychokinetic Attack (5 Intellect points). You can use this attack in one of two ways. The first is to pick up a heavy object and hurl it at someone within short range. This attack is an Intellect action, and if successful, it deals 6 points of damage to the target and to the hurled object (which could be another foe, although that would require two rolls—one roll to grab the first foe and another roll to hit the second foe with the first). The second way is to unleash a shattering burst of power that works only against an inanimate object no larger than half your size. Make an Intellect roll to instantly destroy the object; the task is eased by three steps compared to breaking it with brute strength. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Improved Apportation or Reshape Matter as your tier 6 ability.
Improved Apportation (6 Intellect points). You call a creature of up to level 3, which appears next to you. You can choose a creature that you’ve previously encountered, or (no more than once per day) you can allow the GM to determine the creature randomly. If you call a random creature, it has a 10 percent chance of being a creature of up to level 5. The creature has no memory of anything before being called by you, though it can speak and has the general knowledge a creature of its type should possess. The creature is receptive to communication and helping you (unless shown that it should do otherwise). Action.
Reshape Matter (6 Intellect points). Your mastery of telekinesis is so great that you can reshape objects on a molecular level. You can affect a single object no larger than you, and the object must be visible and close enough for you to touch. You can use this ability to damage the object (as if using Psychokinetic Attack, except the task is eased by four steps instead of three), or you can attempt a crafting task to reshape the object into another form. Reshaping an object usually has a difficulty equal to 1 plus the level of the finished object.
FUSES FLESH AND STEEL
At some point in your past, some of your organic parts were replaced with artificial components. (Alternatively, you belong to a secret species of biomechanical hybrids.) These artificial components might be subdermal, or they might resemble more overt metal or synth plating on your skin. They can also take the form of threadlike tendrils of circuitry winding across your flesh. Whatever their appearance, these components give you special abilities. As you advance, you can add to, modify, or discover new functions for them. Unfortunately, your artificial body also has special requirements when it takes damage. You might wear a cloak with a hood or something similar to hide your artificial parts from those who would persecute you. Because your components are tricky to repair, as time goes on, it might become more difficult to conceal your true nature, with exposed circuitry, metal plates, and more in a state of partial disassembly. Anyone might be a cybernetic organism.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character knows your true nature, even if no one else does. If your components are not particularly hidden, they know a different secret of yours, such as a preprogrammed word that will shut you down for ten minutes.
2. Pick one other PC. Being close to this person sometimes makes your mechanical parts vibrate slightly. You can decide whether this sensation is unnerving or pleasant.
3. Pick one other PC. You’re pretty sure that this character is just here to mine you for parts. They choose whether or not this is true.
4. Pick one other PC who also has mechanical parts. The two of you have bonded over conversations about this element you share, and you feel a special connection.
Additional Equipment: You have a bag of light tools and a variety of parts to repair yourself.
Minor Effect Suggestions: Your servos learn from your successful actions. You gain an asset to similar actions involving the same task (such as making attacks against the same foe or operating the same device).
Major Effect Suggestions: You discharge a small pulse of power into your foe. Make an immediate attack against that foe (using the same stat as the action that caused the major effect). If the attack succeeds, it deals 4 points of electrical damage.
Tier 1: Enhanced Body. You gain +1 to Armor, +3 to your Might Pool, and +3 to your Speed Pool. Enabler.
Special Healing. Traditional healing skills, medicines, and techniques work only half as well for you. Each time you start at full health, the first 5 points of damage you take can never be healed in these ways or recovered normally. Instead, you must use repairing skills and abilities to restore those points. For example, if you start with a full Might Pool of 10 and take 8 points of damage, you can use recovery rolls to restore 3 points, but the remaining 5 points must be restored with repair tasks.
Tier 2: Interface. By directly plugging into a device, you can identify and learn to operate it as though the task were 1 level lower. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Sensing Package or Weaponization as your tier 3 ability.
Sensing Package. You can see in dim light and darkness as if it were bright light, and you can see up to a short distance through fog, smoke, and other obscuring phenomena. In addition, if you apply a level of Effort to perception or searching tasks, you get a free level of Effort on that task. Enabler.
Weaponization. One light or medium melee weapon of your choice is built into your body, and you are trained in using it. The weapon is concealed until you wish to use it. Enabler.
Tier 4: Fusion. You can fuse your cyphers and artifacts with your body. These fused devices function as if they were 1 level higher. Enabler.
Tier 5: Deep Reserves. Once each day, you can transfer up to 5 points between your Pools in any combination, at a rate of 1 point per round. For example, you could transfer 3 points of Might to Speed and 2 points of Intellect to Speed, which would take a total of five rounds. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Power Surge or Ultra Enhancement as your tier 6 ability.
Power Surge. In addition to your normal recovery rolls each day, you can—at any time between ten-hour rests—recover 1d6 + 6 points to your Intellect Pool. Action.
Ultra Enhancement. You gain +1 to Armor and +5 to each of your three stat Pools. Enabler.
HOWLS AT THE MOON
Sometimes the numenera is a double-edged sword. You are cursed and blessed to be able to transform into a powerful creature, drawing additional mass from a transdimensional source. You and the GM should work out the exact nature of the creature, including its appearance, but it’s a wild beast of rage and blood—at least until you learn to control it. Creatures like you are often called “lycanthropes.” Style and appearance are probably low on your list of concerns. Your clothes might be ragged because your transformation is hard on them (or they’re cheap because you know they’ll be destroyed the next time you transform). Anyone can be a lycanthrope. A Glaive likely benefits the most from the transformation.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That character is able to soothe you when you’re in beast form. You’ll never attack them while transformed, and if they spend three consecutive turns using their action to calm you down, you can revert to your normal form without having to make a roll.
2. Pick one other PC. You believe that this character intends to convince you to join an entertainment venue (or capture you for the same). They choose whether or not this is true.
3. Pick two other PCs. They know that it’s beneficial for you to kill and eat a creature while you’re in beast form, and they often work together to make sure that happens.
4. Pick one other PC. Since this character saw you in beast form, they have been terrified of you. You are determined to show them that you’re not as dangerous as they believe.
Additional Equipment: You have an accurate chronometer artifact that always lets you know when the next transformation is coming.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is so intimidated by your bestial attack that it is dazed for one round, hindering its tasks.
Major Effect Suggestions: Your attack conveys a small bit of your lycanthropy. If your foe survives, one month later, the target transforms into an uncontrolled beast. The GM decides what happens from there.
Tier 1: Beast Form. On five consecutive nights each month, you change into a monstrous beast for up to one hour each night. In this new form, you gain +8 to your Might Pool, +1 to your Might Edge, +2 to your Speed Pool, and +1 to your Speed Edge. While in beast form, you can’t spend Intellect points for any reason other than to try to change to your normal form before the one-hour duration is over (a difficulty 2 task). In addition, you attack any and every living creature within short range. After you revert to your normal form, you take a –1 penalty to all rolls for one hour. If you did not kill and eat at least one substantial creature while in beast form, the penalty increases to –2 and affects all your rolls for the next 28 hours. Action to change back.
Tier 2: Controlled Change. You can try to change into your beast form on any night you wish (a difficulty 3 Intellect task). Any transformations you make using this power are in addition to the five nights per month that you change involuntarily. Action to change.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Bigger or Greater Beast Form as your tier 3 ability.
Bigger. Your beast form grows bigger than before, during which time you achieve a height of 12 feet (4 m). Being so large, your beast form gains the following additional bonuses: +1 to Armor, +5 to your Might Pool, and you are trained in using your fists as heavy weapons (if you weren’t already). However, your Speed defense tasks are hindered. While bigger, you also gain an asset to tasks that are easier for a larger creature to perform, like climbing, intimidating, wading rivers, and so on. Enabler.
Greater Beast Form. Your beast form gains the following additional bonuses: +1 to your Might Edge, +2 to your Speed Pool, and +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler.
Tier 4: Greater Controlled Change. It’s easier to change into and out of your beast form. Transforming either way is now a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Enabler.
Tier 5: Enhanced Beast Form. Your beast form gains the following additional bonuses: +3 to your Might Pool, +2 to your Speed Pool, and +2 to Armor. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Lethal or Perfect Control as your tier 6 ability.
Lethal. When you attack in your beast form, you inflict +5 points of damage. Enabler.
Perfect Control. You no longer need to make a roll to change into your beast form or your normal form. You can change back and forth as your action. When you return to your normal form, you no longer take a penalty to your rolls. Enabler.
HUNTS
You are a tracker. Perhaps you hunt animals or more deadly creatures. Perhaps you go after people as a bounty hunter, law enforcer, or killer for hire. Whatever form your hunting takes, you are trained in stalking your quarry and bringing it down. You are a dangerous individual. If you hunt animals or creatures, you might carry the trophies of past kills, such as teeth or skins. If you’re a bounty hunter, you probably wear whatever your quarry would find most intimidating so it feels as though it has no chance of getting away from you. Most hunters are Glaives, but Jacks and Nanos bring unique skills to the chase.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That person once saw you show surprising mercy toward your prey, and now you hope they keep it quiet—it might harm your reputation.
2. Pick one other PC. You accidentally caught them in one of your traps, and they had to get free.
3. Pick one other PC. Back in your bounty hunter days (which may or may not be over), you were hired to track down someone who was close to this character.
4. Pick one other PC. You’ve noticed that it’s almost impossible to track this character, but you’re determined to figure out a way.
Additional Equipment: You wear boots that muffle your footsteps, giving you an asset on any roll made involving sneaky movement.
Minor Effect Suggestions: You can attempt an intimidating task to cause your foe to immediately surrender.
Major Effect Suggestions: Your foe pauses, terrified by your prowess, and takes no action on their turn.
Tier 1: Tracker. You are trained in following and identifying tracks. Enabler.
Stalker. You gain an asset to all types of movement tasks (including climbing, swimming, jumping, and balancing). Enabler.
Tier 2: Sneak. You ease stealth and initiative tasks. Enabler.
Quarry (2 Intellect points). Choose a quarry (a single individual creature that you can see). You are trained in all tasks involving following, understanding, interacting with, or fighting that creature. You can have only one quarry at a time. Action to initiate.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Horde Fighting or Sprint and Grab as your tier 3 ability.
Horde Fighting. When two or more foes attack you at once in melee, you can use them against each other. You are trained in either Speed defense rolls or attack rolls (your choice) against them. Enabler.
Sprint and Grab (2 Speed points). You can run a short distance and make a melee attack to grab a foe of your size or smaller. A successful attack means you grab the foe and bring it to a halt if it was moving (this can be treated as a tackle, if appropriate). Action.
Tier 4: Surprise Attack. If attacking from a hidden vantage, with surprise, or before your opponent has acted, you get a free level of Effort on the attack. On a successful hit, you inflict 2 additional points of damage. Enabler.
Tier 5: Hunter’s Drive (5 Intellect points). Through force of will, when you wish it, you grant yourself greater prowess in the hunt for ten minutes. During this time, you gain an asset to all tasks involving your quarry, including attacks. Your quarry is the creature you selected with your second-tier ability. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Master Combatant or Multiple Quarry as your tier 6 ability.
Master Combatant. Choose one type of attack in which you are already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are specialized in attacks using that type of weapon. Enabler.
Multiple Quarry (6 Intellect points). This ability functions like the second-tier Quarry ability except that you can select up to three creatures as quarry. You must be able to see all three creatures when you initiate this ability. Your Hunter’s Drive ability applies to all three creatures. Action to initiate.
LIVES IN THE WILDERNESS
You dwell in the wilds. You probably have done so most, if not all, of your life, coming to understand the mysteries of nature, weather, and survival. The ways of flora and fauna are your ways.
Your rough, rugged clothing shows little concern for style. Most of the time, covering yourself in natural smells to keep your scent from arousing suspicion in the wilderness is more important than bathing to keep yourself presentable to other humans. Glaives and Jacks are the most likely characters to live in the wilderness, perhaps working as guides, hunters, trappers, scouts, or trackers. A Nano who does so might be seen as a nature priest or wild wizard.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC who isn’t from the wilderness. You can’t help but feel a little contempt for that character and their “civilized” ways, which show disdain for all things natural and (to your mind) true.
2. Pick one other PC. This character is one of the few people that you are completely comfortable around, and you are often surprised at how easily you let down your guard near them.
3. Pick one other PC. This character once saved you from an uncomfortable social situation, and you still feel grateful.
4. Pick one other PC. This person seems to understand civilization in the same way that you understand the wilderness. You could choose to help each other or despise each other for this different way of seeing the world.
Additional Equipment: You have a directional compass.
Minor Effect Suggestions: A foe that is a natural creature flees rather than continue to fight you.
Major Effect Suggestions: A foe that is a natural creature becomes warily passive.
Tier 1: Wilderness Life. You are trained in two of the following: climbing, swimming, navigation, or identifying plants and creatures. Enabler.
Wild Hardiness. You gain 3 points to your Might Pool. Enabler.
Tier 2: Living off the Land. Given an hour or so, you can always find edible food and potable water in the wilderness. You can even find enough for a small group of people, if need be. Further, since you’re so hardy and have gained resistance over time, you are trained in resisting the effects of natural poisons (such as those from plants or living creatures). You’re also immune to natural diseases. Enabler.
Wilderness Explorer. While taking any action (including fighting) in the wild, you ignore any penalties due to natural causes such as tall grass, thick brush, rugged terrain, weather, and so on. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Animal Senses and Sensibilities or Wilderness Encouragement as your tier 3 ability.
Animal Senses and Sensibilities. You are trained in listening and spotting things. In addition, most of the time, the GM should alert you if you’re about to walk into an ambush or a trap that is lower than level 5. Enabler.
Wilderness Encouragement (3 Intellect points). While in the wilderness, or when talking about your time in the wilderness, your stirring words of encouragement grant a target within short range that can understand you 1d6 points to one Pool. You can’t use this ability on the same creature again until they’ve made a recovery roll. Action.
Tier 4: Wilderness Awareness (4 Intellect points). Your connection to the natural world extends to a degree that some would call supernatural. While in the wilderness, you can extend your senses up to a mile in any direction and ask the GM a very simple, general question about that area, such as “Where is the margr camp?” or “Is my friend Deithan still alive?” If the answer you seek is not in the area, you receive no information. Action.
Tier 5: The Wild Is on Your Side (5 Intellect points). While you’re in the wilderness, foes within short range are tripped by rocks, tangled in vines, bitten by insects, and distracted or confused by small animals, which hinders all their tasks for ten minutes. Action to initiate.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either One With the Wild or Wild Camouflage as your tier 6 ability.
One With the Wild (6 Intellect points). For the next hour, natural animals and plants within long range will not knowingly harm you or those you designate. In addition, your Might Edge, Speed Edge, and Intellect Edge increase by 1, and if you make any recovery rolls during this period, you recover twice as many points. Action to initiate.
Wild Camouflage (4 Intellect points). By drawing your clothing about you just so and using various tricks and your deep knowledge of your surroundings, you become invisible in the wilderness for ten minutes. While you are invisible, this asset eases your stealth and Speed defense tasks by two steps. This effect ends if you do something to reveal your presence or position—attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining invisibility effect by taking an action to focus on hiding your position. Action to initiate or reinitiate.
MASTERS DEFENSE
Protecting yourself is obviously important in dangerous situations, and you are particularly good at it. Cautious and prudent, you learn techniques to defend against all kinds of attacks, both physical and mental. The winner is often the last person standing, and you’ve done all you can to ensure that person will be you. You carry a shield and probably wear the best armor you can find. Glaives make excellent defensive masters, but Jacks and Nanos also find at least some of these skills of great value. Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character protected you from harm recently, and you feel indebted to them for saving your life.
2. Pick one other PC. This person thinks you are an incredibly selfish person, perhaps based on their belief that you always save yourself first.
3. Pick one other PC. You once fought on opposite sides of a combat.
4. Pick one other PC. This character seems to be a jinx for you. Whenever they are next to you, your Speed defense tasks are hindered.
Additional Equipment: You have a shield.
Minor Effect Suggestions: You gain an asset to Speed defense rolls for one round.
Major Effect Suggestions: If an attack would hit you next round, it harmlessly strikes your shield instead if you choose.
Tier 1: Shield Master. When you use a shield, in addition to the asset it gives you (easing Speed defense tasks), you can act as if you are trained in Speed defense tasks. However, in any round in which you use this benefit, your attacks are hindered. Enabler.
Tier 2: Sturdy. You are trained in Might defense tasks. Enabler.
Armor Expert. When you wear any armor, the Speed cost for wearing it is reduced by 1. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Dodge and Resist or Dodge and Respond as your tier 3 ability.
Dodge and Resist (3 Speed points). You can reroll any of your Might, Speed, or Intellect defense rolls and take the better of the two results. Enabler.
Dodge and Respond (3 Might points). If a melee attack misses you, you can immediately make a melee attack in return, but no more than once per turn. Enabler.
Tier 4: Tower of Will. You are trained in Intellect defense tasks and gain +3 points to your Intellect Pool. Enabler.
Armor Master. You reduce the Speed cost of any armor you wear to 0 (if it isn’t already 0). Enabler.
Tier 5: Nothing but Defend. If you do nothing on your turn but defend, you are specialized in all defense tasks for one round. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Defense Master or Wear It Well as your tier 6 ability. Defense Master. Every time you succeed at a Speed defense task, you can make an immediate attack against your foe. (This ability replaces Dodge and Respond, if you took that; you can exchange that ability for Dodge and Resist.) Your attack must be the same type (melee weapon, ranged weapon, or unarmed) as the attack you defend against. If you don’t have an appropriate type of weapon ready, you can’t use this ability. Enabler.
Wear It Well. When you wear armor of any kind, you gain an additional +1 to Armor. Enabler.
MASTERS WEAPONRY
You have worked long and hard with one particular type of weapon: bows, swords, axes, daggers, whips, or whatever you choose. Thus, you are an archer, a swordsman, an axe master, a mistress of knives, or whatever is appropriate to your chosen weapon. A master of the rapier is different than a master of the warhammer, and an archer is different than a whip wielder. You might wear a symbol—a badge, a pin, a tattoo, an amulet, certain colors, or the like—that indicates the school in which you trained, the style of fighting you have mastered, or the name of your mentor. Your weapon is almost certainly your finest possession. Not only is it well cared for and of high quality, but you probably keep it in a beautiful scabbard, harness, belt, case, or something similar. Many Glaives are weapon masters, but sometimes a Jack might choose this path, particularly with lighter weapons.
Connection: Choose one of the following
1. Pick one other PC. That character shows potential in the use of your weapon. You would like to train them, but you’re not necessarily qualified to teach (that’s up to you), and they might not be interested (that’s up to them).
2. Pick one other PC. If that person is within immediate range when you’re in a fight, sometimes they grant you an asset, and sometimes they hinder you (50% chance either way, determined per fight).
3. Pick one other PC. You once saved this person’s life, and they feel indebted to you. You wish they didn’t; it’s all just part of the job.
4. Pick one other PC. This person recently mocked your combat stance. How you deal with this (if at all) is up to you.
-MORE-
1. Pick one other PC. That character shows potential in the use of your weapon. You would like to train her, but you’re not necessarily qualified to teach (that’s up to you), and she might not be interested (that’s up to her).
2. Pick one other PC. If she is within immediate range when you’re in a fight, sometimes she helps, and sometimes she accidentally hinders (50% chance either way, determined per fight). When she helps, you gain +1 to all attack rolls. When she hinders, you suffer a –1 penalty to attack rolls.
3. Pick one other PC. You once saved his life, and he clearly feels indebted to you. You wish he didn’t; it’s all just part of the job.
4. Pick one other PC. This person recently mocked your combat stance. How you deal with this (if at all) is up to you.
Additional Equipment: You have a high quality weapon of your choosing.
Weaponry Powers: If you have “supernatural” special abilities (such as some esoteries), these look like your chosen weapon. So the force blast of the Onslaught esotery appears to be a large weapon made of force, and the Flash esotery produces a flurry of weaponry. These alterations change nothing other than the appearance of the effects. As another example, Barrier becomes a wall of swirling blades of energy. This alteration changes the esotery such that it is not a solid barrier but rather inflicts 1 point of damage to anyone who touches it and 4 points of damage to anyone who passes through it.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is so dazzled by your expertise that it is dazed for one round, hindering all of its tasks.
Major Effect Suggestions: Make an immediate additional attack with the weapon as part of your turn.
Tier 1: Weapon Master. You gain a +1 bonus to damage with your chosen weapon. Enabler.
Weapon Crafter. You are trained in crafting tasks associated with your chosen weapon. For instance, if your weapon is a bow, you are trained in tasks related to crafting bows and fletching arrows; if your weapon is a sword, you are trained in tasks for forging swords and sharpening blades; and so on. Enabler.
Tier 2: Weapon Defense. While your chosen weapon is in your hand(s), you are trained in Speed defense rolls. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Disarming Strike or Rapid Attack as your tier 3 ability.
Disarming Strike (3 Speed points). Your attack inflicts 1 point less damage and disarms your foe so that their weapon is now 10 feet (3 m) away on the ground. (If your chosen weapon is a whip, you can instead deposit the disarmed weapon into your hands; if your chosen weapon is a bow or other ranged weapon that fires physical rounds, you can instead “nail” the disarmed weapon to a nearby object or structure. Choosing to do either of these hinders your attack.) Action.
Rapid Attack (3 Speed points). Once per round, you can make an additional attack with your chosen weapon. Enabler.
Tier 4: Never Fumble. If you roll a natural 1 when attacking with your chosen weapon, you can ignore or countermand the GM intrusion for that roll. You can never be disarmed of your chosen weapon, nor will you ever drop it accidentally. Enabler.
Tier 5: Extreme Mastery (6 Might or 6 Speed points). When using your chosen weapon, you can reroll any attack roll you wish and take the better of the two results. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose Damage Dealer, Death Dealer, or Master Combatant as your tier 6 ability.
Damage Dealer. You gain a +3 bonus to damage with your chosen weapon. This bonus adds to the one from the Weapon Master ability, giving you a total bonus of +4. Enabler.
Death Dealer (5 Might points). If you strike a foe of level 3 or less with your chosen weapon, you kill the target instantly. Action.
Master Combatant. Choose one type of attack in which you are already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are specialized in attacks using that type of weapon. Enabler.
MURDERS
The murderous assassin is a master of dealing death. No one is better at sneaking into a location, eliminating a target, and slipping out again. Obviously, a professional killer is not likely to have a lot of friends. You probably wear dark colors—black, charcoal grey, or midnight blue—to help blend into the shadows. But since you’re also a master of disguise, in truth you could look like anyone.
Any character could be an assassin. Jacks are the most likely choice, but Nanos with their esoteries or Glaives with their combat abilities would make efficient killers as well.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That character knows your real identity, profession, and background. To all others, the truth about you is a closely guarded secret.
2. Pick one other PC. You were recently approached by someone who wanted to hire you to take that character out. You haven’t yet decided whether to take the job or warn them that their life is in danger.
3. Pick two other PCs. One night after perhaps too much celebrating, you loudly claimed responsibility for a murder you didn’t commit. These two characters were the only ones who heard. Whether they believe you or not is up to them.
4. Pick one other PC. That character is the one who got you started down the path of taking lives, whether they know it or not.
Additional Equipment: You start with a disguise kit and three doses of a level 2 blade poison that inflicts 5 points of damage.
Minor Effect Suggestions: No one but the foe notices that you make the attack.
Major Effect Suggestions: If you have poison amid your belongings, you were able to apply it just before the strike, adding the poison’s effects to the normal attack damage.
Tier 1: Surprise Attack. If attacking from a hidden vantage, with surprise, or before an opponent has acted, you gain an asset to your attack. On a successful hit with this surprise attack, you inflict 2 additional points of damage. Enabler.
Natural Assassin. You are trained in stealth and disguise tasks. Enabler.
Tier 2: Quick Death (2 Speed points). You know how to kill quickly. When you hit with a melee or ranged attack, you deal 4 additional points of damage. You can’t make this attack in two consecutive rounds. Action.
Infiltrator. You are trained in interactions involving lies or trickery. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Awareness or Poison Crafter as your tier 3 ability.
Awareness (3 Intellect points). You become hyperaware of your surroundings in order to better locate your next victim. For ten minutes, you are aware of all living things within long range (including their general position), and by concentrating (another action), you can attempt to learn the general health and power level of any one of them. Action.
Poison Crafter. You are trained in crafting, sensing, identifying, and resisting poisons. Your poison crafting has given you some immunity to poisons; you have +5 Armor that applies specifically to poison damage. Enabler.
Tier 4: Better Surprise Attack. If attacking from a hidden vantage, with surprise, or before an opponent has acted, your attack is eased by two steps instead of one. On a successful hit with this surprise attack, you inflict 2 additional points of damage (for a total of 4 additional points of damage). Enabler.
Tier 5: Slayer (5 Speed points). With a swift and sudden attack, you strike a foe in a vital spot. If the target is level 3 or lower, it is killed outright. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Escape Plan or Murderer as your tier 6 ability.
Escape Plan. When you kill a foe, you can attempt a sneaking action to immediately hide from anyone around, assuming that a suitable hiding place is nearby. Enabler.
Murderer (8+ Speed points). With a swift and sudden attack, you strike a foe in a vital spot. If the target is level 4 or lower, it is killed outright. For each additional level of Effort you apply, you can increase the level of the target by 1. Action.
RAGES
The berserker is a feared fighter who cannot be stopped. You put yourself into a howling battle frenzy that can make you a terror on the battlefield. You might hail from a less civilized society, perhaps even a tribal one. You likely wear little or no armor so as not to restrict your speed or maneuverability. Your clothing is probably simple and utilitarian. Glaives make the best berserkers. Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Choose one other PC. You feel strangely protective toward that character and don’t want to see them come to harm.
2. Pick one other PC. That character knows a secret about your past that is tied to your Frenzy ability.
3. Pick one other PC. The first time you went into a frenzy was in an attempt to save their loved one from an attack. You failed, partly because of your inexperience.
4. Choose one other PC. That character is terrified by your rage and sometimes can’t help but flee at inopportune times.
Minor Effect Suggestions: When fighting multiple foes, you knock one into another, putting both off balance and hindering them for one round.
Major Effect Suggestions: Your foe is terrified of your rage and uses its next two actions to flee.
Tier 1: Frenzy (1 Intellect point). When you wish, while in combat, you can enter a state of frenzy. While in this state, you can’t use Intellect points, but you gain +1 to your Might Edge and your Speed Edge. This effect lasts as long as you wish, but it ends if no combat is taking place within range of your senses. Enabler.
Tier 2: Hardy. You gain +5 to your Might Pool. These additional points can be used only to absorb damage. You can’t spend them to apply Effort to rolls. Enabler.
Mobile Fighter. You are trained in climbing and jumping tasks. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Ignore the Pain or Power Strike as your tier 3 ability. Whichever one you choose, you also gain Unarmored Fighter.
Ignore the Pain. Your rage makes minor wounds seem insignificant. While you are in a state of frenzy, gain +1 to your Armor. Enabler.
Power Strike (3+ Might points). If you successfully attack a target, you knock it prone in addition to inflicting damage. The target must be your size or smaller. You can knock down a target larger than you if you apply a level of Effort to do so (rather than to ease the attack). Enabler.
Unarmored Fighter. While unarmored, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Enabler.
Tier 4: Greater Frenzy (4 Intellect points). When you wish, while in combat, you can enter a state of frenzy. While in this state, you can’t use Intellect points, but you gain +2 to your Might Edge and your Speed Edge. This effect lasts as long as you wish, but it ends if no combat is taking place within range of your senses. You can use this ability or your first-tier Frenzy ability, but you can’t use both at the same time. Enabler.
Tier 5: Attack and Attack Again. Rather than granting additional damage or a minor or major effect, a natural 17 or higher on your attack roll allows you the option of immediately making another attack. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Not Dead Yet or Tough and Fast as your tier 6 ability.
Not Dead Yet. When you would normally die, you instead fall unconscious for one round and then awaken. You immediately gain 1d6 +6 points to restore your stat Pools and are treated as if debilitated (which for you is like being impaired, thanks to your Ignore the Pain ability) until you rest for ten hours. If you die again before you make your ten-hour recovery roll, you are truly dead. Enabler.
Tough and Fast. You gain +6 to your Might Pool and your Speed Pool. Enabler.
RIDES THE LIGHTNING
The ancients harnessed electricity in strange and wonderful ways. Through practice and inherent ability (or the subtle use of hidden or implanted devices), you control the same energy. Not only can you create and discharge electrical power, but you can eventually learn to use it to transport yourself. You probably wear tight-fitting clothing that allows you to move quickly. Your garments might be blue and black, perhaps with a lightning-bolt motif.
Although Nanos seem most suited to wielding lightning, Jacks can make good use of the varied lightning abilities.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character has been your friend for a long time, and you have learned to bring them along when you ride the lightning. If the character is standing right next to you, you can take them with you when you use the Bolt Rider or Electrical Flight powers. (Normally, neither ability allows you to transport other creatures.)
2. Pick two other PCs. You know about an important connection between them that even they don’t know about.
3. Pick one other PC. This character has interesting ideas about electricity and how it can be harnessed. If you are trained with machines, after you talk to this character for an hour, you gain an asset on any task involving identifying, crafting, or repairing a machine that uses electricity.
4. Pick one other PC. This person has the worst luck with electrical devices of anyone you’ve ever met. You want to help them, but you aren’t sure how or even whether they will be open to your assistance.
Additional Equipment: You have a bag of miscellaneous batteries and power cells. Whenever you find a new device that operates on batteries or cells (GM’s discretion), there is a 75 percent chance that the bag contains one that will power the device if it depletes.
Electrical Abilities: If you have abilities that would normally use force or other energy, they instead use electricity. For example, a Flash or an Onslaught force blast is a blast of lightning. This alteration changes nothing other than the type of damage and the fact that it might start fires.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is dazed by electricity for one round, hindering all of its tasks. Electricity can also shut down an automaton for one round.
Major Effect Suggestions: Devices filled with electrical power explode. You can target and destroy an artifact that a foe is holding or wearing.
Tier 1: Shock (1 Intellect point). Your hands crackle with electricity, and the next time you touch a creature, you inflict 3 points of damage. Alternatively, if you wield a weapon, for ten minutes it crackles with electricity and inflicts 1 additional point of damage per attack. Action for touch; enabler for weapon.
Charge (1+ Intellect points). You can charge an artifact or other device (except a cypher) so that it can be used once. The cost is 1 Intellect point plus 1 point per level of the device. Action.
Tier 2: Bolt Rider (4 Intellect points). You can move a long distance from one location to another almost instantaneously, carried by a bolt of lightning. You must be able to see the new location, and there must be no intervening barriers. Action.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Drain Charge or Electric Armor as your tier 3 ability. Whichever you choose, you also gain Lightning Swift.
Drain Charge. You can drain the power from an artifact or device, allowing you to regain 1 Intellect point per level drained. You regain points at the rate of 1 point per round and must give your full concentration to the process each round. The GM determines whether the device is fully drained (likely true of most handheld or smaller devices) or retains some power (likely true of large machines). Action to initiate; action each round to drain.
Electric Armor (4 Intellect points). When you wish it, electricity crackles across your body for ten minutes, granting you +1 to Armor. While electrified, you have an additional +2 to Armor versus electrical damage specifically, and you inflict 2 points of damage on any creature that touches you or attacks you with a melee weapon that conducts electricity. Enabler.
Lightning Swift. You gain +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler.
Tier 4: Bolts of Power (5+ Intellect points). You blast a fan of lightning out to short range in an arc that is approximately 50 feet (15 m) wide at the end. This discharge inflicts 4 points of damage. If you apply Effort to increase the damage rather than to ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); however, targets in the area take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll. Action.
Tier 5: Electrical Flight (5 Intellect points). You exude an aura of crackling electricity that lets you fly a long distance each round for ten minutes. You can’t carry other creatures with you. Action to activate.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Flash Across the Miles or Wall of Lightning as your tier 6 ability.
Flash Across the Miles (6+ Intellect points). You can move to an open location on the earth that you’re familiar with almost instantaneously, transformed into a bolt of lightning. If you apply a level of Effort, you can attempt to penetrate covered locations that you’re aware of as long as a route exists from the open air to the area you want to reach that electricity can easily follow. Action.
Wall of Lightning (6 Intellect points). You create a barrier of crackling electricity up to 2,500 square feet (230 sq. m) in size, shaped as you wish. The wall is a level 7 barrier. Anyone within immediate distance of the wall automatically takes 10 points of damage. The wall lasts for one hour. Action to create.
SPEAKS WITH A SILVER TONGUE
You are poetry incarnate. The words flow from your tongue like liquid metal. Your voice is golden and captivating. With enough time and focus, you can convince almost anyone to do almost anything for you, with you, or in spite of you. Words—words are what matter. You believe they have power. There’s a chance you don’t care much about your appearance, as long as you can say what you want to say.Some might call you the “face” because when your friends or allies need to put forth their best face, they send you. You’re a charmer. The word “charisma” was coined for people like you—there’s just something about you that people seem to like. Since words are important to you, you may have covered your skin with tattooed words or have written things on your outfit. You might play an instrument, write books, or compose songs in your spare time. Jacks, with their ability to take a related flex skill each day, make excellent speakers, but Nanos and Glaives might choose this route to inspire their companions.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That character seems overly affected by your words. You’ve accidentally made them cry or laugh just by talking to them.
2. Pick one other PC. That character believes that you speak falsely and is never affected by your words.
3. Pick one other PC. You’d like to get to know them better, but don’t want to use your skills to do so.
4. Pick one other PC. That character would like to learn your storytelling techniques, and you’re trying to decide whether to teach them.
Additional Equipment: You have a book in which you keep notes of your favorite words, inspirational stories, and speech anecdotes.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The next time you attempt to influence, persuade, or deceive the same foe, the task is eased.
Major Effect Suggestions: You speak with extra conviction, increasing the effect, duration, or range of your action.
Tier 1: Poetic License. You are trained in all social interactions, including persuasion, deception, and intimidation. You also know two languages other than the Truth. Enabler.
Tier 2: A Smile and a Word. When you use Effort on any action involving interactions—even those having to do with calming animals or communicating with someone or something whose language you do not speak—you gain a free level of Effort on the task. Action.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Verbal Misdirection or Play to the Crowd as your tier 3 ability.
Verbal Misdirection (2+ Intellect points). With fast talk and bewildering words, you can confuse and distract anyone that you’re speaking with, giving you an asset on social interactions with that person for ten minutes. For each level of Effort you use with this ability, you can affect an additional creature. Enabler.
Play to the Crowd (3 Intellect points). You give a speech that is both rousing and terrifying. Those within short range who can hear and understand you have their next action either eased (an asset) or hindered—you choose, and it can be different for each individual.
Tier 4: Castigate (4 Intellect points). You intimidate any opponent within long range who understands speech (even if it is not your language) so much that they lose their next action and all the rest of their actions are hindered for one minute. Action.
Tier 5: Stay the Course (5 Intellect points). When your companions are flagging, you can help inspire them with a well-timed word or two. Any ally (except you) within immediate range can make a recovery roll that is not an action and does not count toward their daily limit. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Entrancing Speech or Command as your tier 6 ability.
Entrancing Speech (6 Intellect points). Everyone within long range who can hear and understand you takes no action for as long as you do not move and use your action to speak soothing and calming words. If an affected creature is attacked during this time, they break out of the trance immediately. Action to initiate.
Command (7 Intellect points). A target within short range obeys any command you give as long as they can hear and understand you. Further, as long as you continue to do nothing but issue commands (taking no other action), you can give that same target a new command. This effect ends when you stop issuing commands or they are out of short range. Action to initiate.
TALKS TO MACHINES
Since you were young, you had an affinity for machines. It seemed almost like you were speaking to them. You were. You have the ability to use your organic brain like an intelligent machine, interfacing “wirelessly” with any electronic device. You can control and influence them in ways that others can’t. Intelligent machines are your friends and companions. You have also learned to repair machines of all kinds because the better they work, the better off you are as well. You likely wear a tool belt full of various implements, and machine oils stain your clothes and fingertips. All types of characters can spend their time talking to machines, although this practice is best suited to Nanos.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. That character seems to have a terrible relationship with machines—or at least the machines that you communicate with. If that person is next to a machine that you interact with in a friendly manner, that machine is treated in all ways as being 1 level lower than normal (unless doing so benefits you or them, in which case the level does not change).
2. Pick one other PC. That person seems especially leery of you, though this could just be your perception.
3. Pick one other PC. That character has a small machine among their equipment but won’t tell you any details about it or let you see it.
4. Pick one other PC. You know that this character knows an incriminating or embarrassing secret about you, and you hope that they do not reveal it.
Additional Equipment: A bag of small tools.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The duration of influence or control is doubled.
Major Effect Suggestions: The duration of influence or control becomes 28 hours.
Tier 1: Machine Affinity. You are trained in tasks involving electrical machines. Enabler.
Distant Activation (1 Intellect point). You can activate or deactivate any machine you can see within short range, even if normally you would have to touch or manually operate the device. To use this ability, you must understand the function of the machine, it must be your size or smaller, and it can’t be connected to another intelligence (or be intelligent itself). Action.
Tier 2: Coaxing Power (2 Intellect points). You boost the power or function of a machine so that it operates at 1 level higher than normal for one hour. Action to initiate.
Charm Machine (2 Intellect points). You convince an unintelligent machine to “like” you. A machine that likes you is 50 percent less likely to function if said function would cause you harm. Thus, if a foe attempts to detonate a bomb near you controlled by a detonator that likes you, there is a 50 percent chance that it won’t explode. Action to initiate.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Command Machine or Intelligent Interface as your tier 3 ability.
Command Machine (4 Intellect points). If you’ve charmed an unintelligent machine or have spoken telepathically with an intelligent machine, you can attempt to command it to take one action within its capabilities on its next turn. (If you command an intelligent machine with this power, it likely becomes hostile to you afterward.) Action.
Intelligent Interface (3 Intellect points). You can speak telepathically with any intelligent machine within long range. Further, you are trained in all interactions with intelligent machines. Such machines and automatons that normally would never communicate with a human might talk to you. Enabler.
Tier 4: Machine Companion. You create a level 3 animate, intelligent machine that accompanies you and acts as you direct. As a level 3 machine companion, it has a target number of 9 and 9 health, and it inflicts 3 points of damage. If it’s destroyed, it takes you one month to create a new one. Enabler.
Automaton Fighter. When fighting an automaton or intelligent machine, you are trained in attacks and defense. Enabler.
Tier 5: Information Gathering (5 Intellect points). You speak telepathically with any or all machines within 1 mile (1.5 km). You can ask one basic question about themselves or anything happening near them and receive a simple answer. For example, while in an area with many machines, you could ask “Where is the ravage bear?” and if the creature is within a mile of you, one or more machines will probably provide the answer. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Improved Machine Companion or Control Machine as your tier 6 ability.
Improved Machine Companion. Your machine companion improves, becoming a level 5 creature with the ability either to fly a long distance each round (and carry you) for up to ten minutes at a time, or to carry an extra cypher for you that doesn’t count against your cypher limit. Enabler.
Control Machine (6 Intellect points). You can attempt to control the functions of any machine, intelligent or otherwise, within short range for ten minutes. Action.
WEARS A SHEEN OF ICE
Through your studies, you have learned to focus your natural talents to command the powers of ice and cold. People might refer to you as an ice mage. Sometimes ice mages are thought to come into conflict with those known as fire mages, but this is a fallacy believed by ordinary folks more than anything based in truth. You likely wear white or blue garments that are heavier than they need to be—unless you live in a cold region or wintry clime, in which case you probably wear less clothing than other people do because the cold doesn’t bother you. Most ice mages are Nanos, but a Glaive armored in ice, perhaps wielding an ice sword, would be quite impressive.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. Due to a quirk of the numenera, if that character is standing next to you when you use your Ice Armor ability, they are also protected by a sheen of ice. (They do not get the added protection of your Resilient Ice Armor ability.)
2. Pick one other PC. For a reason unknown to you, their very presence seems to heat the air around you, making it more difficult to command the powers of ice and cold. If they are within immediate range, their presence occasionally hinders your attempts to hit a target with a focus ability.
3. Pick one other PC. That person is especially susceptible to the cold that radiates from you. How they handle that vulnerability is up to them.
4. Pick one other PC. The two of you have a long history and almost always disagree about the best way to handle situations.
Additional Equipment: You have a bladed weapon made of stronglass that looks like ice.
Ice Abilities: If you possess abilities that would normally use force or other energy, they instead use cold and ice. For example, a force blast is a ray of frost. This alteration changes nothing other than the type of damage. As another example, Barrier creates a wall of ice. This alteration changes nothing except the wall’s appearance and the fact that it takes 2 additional points of damage from fire.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The surface around the target becomes slick and difficult to stand on.
Major Effect Suggestions: The target is covered in ice that slows its movement and hinders its tasks for one minute.
Tier 1: Ice Armor (1 Intellect point). When you wish it, your body is covered in a sheen of ice for ten minutes that gives you +1 to Armor. While the sheen is active, you feel no discomfort from normal cold temperatures and have an additional +2 to Armor versus cold damage specifically. Enabler.
Tier 2: Frost Touch (1 Intellect point). Your hands become so cold that the next time you touch a creature, you inflict 3 points of damage. Alternatively, you can use this ability on a weapon, and for ten minutes, it inflicts 1 additional point of damage from the cold. Action for touch; enabler for weapon.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Freezing Touch or Ice Creation as your tier 3 ability.
Freezing Touch (4 Intellect points). Your hands become so cold that, in addition to inflicting damage as described under Frost Touch, your touch freezes solid a living target of your size or smaller, rendering it immobile for one round. Action.
Ice Creation (4+ Intellect points). You create a solid object of ice that is your size or smaller. The object is crude and can have no moving parts, so you can make a sword, a shield, a short ladder, and so on. Your ice objects are as strong as iron, but if you’re not in constant contact with them, they function for only 1d6 + 6 rounds before breaking or melting. For example, you can make and wield an ice sword, but if you give it to another PC, the sword won’t last as long for that character. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to create objects larger than you. For each level of Effort used in this way, you can create an object up to twice again as large as you. Action.
Tier 4: Resilient Ice Armor. The sheen of ice you generate using your Ice Armor ability gives you an additional +1 to Armor. Enabler.
Tier 5: Cold Burst (5+ Intellect points). You emit a burst of cold in all directions, up to short range. All within the burst take 5 points of damage. If you apply Effort to increase the damage rather than to ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); however, targets in the area take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Ice Storm or Winter Gauntlets as your tier 6 ability.
Ice Storm. You attempt an additional Intellect task as part of your Cold Burst attack, and if successful, you blind foes for up to one minute with a layer of freezing ice. All tasks of blinded creatures are hindered by two steps. Enabler.
Winter Gauntlets. When you use Frost Touch, you inflict a total of 5 points of damage if you touch a creature, or +2 points of damage if you infuse a weapon. In addition, damaged targets are frozen in place (if standing on a solid surface) and can’t move from their location until they use an action to break free. The target can still attack and defend. Action for touch; enabler for weapon.
WIELDS POWER WITH PRECISION
Not only are you blessed with a great command of the numenera, but you are also trained to exploit esoteries in ways that elevate you above other Nanos. Some people believe that those who perform esoteries are born with the ability, but you know that skill and intelligence play important roles. The ancients created the numenera through knowledge, discovery, and intellect, and to use it properly, you must follow the same path. You probably wear spectacles and dapper outfits, carrying extra books, notebooks, and pens so you can continually focus on your studies and experiments. Nanos usually receive this instruction and focus, but some Jacks do as well. Glaives never do.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. You’ve placed an immutable, one-time ward that renders them immune to the esoteries you perform unless they want to be affected.
2. Pick one other PC. Due to some quirk of the numenera, you can occasionally (and accidentally) share your powers with them, which gives them an asset on any task they attempt using their esoteries.
3. Pick one other PC. That character doesn’t seem to trust or like you, but you feel compelled to win them over.
4. Pick one other PC. You’ve noticed that they have a book in their possession that you’d very much like to study, but you’re unsure how to ask them about it.
Additional Equipment: You have an additional book about the numenera.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The special ability overwhelms and dazzles the target for one round, hindering it.
Major Effect Suggestions: The special ability terrifies the target, who uses its next two turns to flee.
Tier 1: Genius. Your Intellect Pool increases by 5 points. Enabler.
Tier 2: Training and Precision. You are trained in all esoteries. As a result, you ease any task involved in the use of an esotery. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Enhanced Esoteries or Versatile Mind as your tier 3 ability. Enhanced Esoteries. Your esoteries that have durations last twice as long. Your esoteries that have short ranges reach to long range instead. Your esoteries that inflict damage deal 1 additional point of damage. Enabler.
Versatile Mind. When you make a Speed defense roll, you can use your Intellect in place of your Speed. Enabler.
Tier 4: Greater Repertoire. You can learn one additional esotery of fourth tier or lower. Enabler.
Tier 5: Greater Training. You are specialized in all esoteries. As a result, you ease any task involved in the use of an esotery by two steps. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Enhanced Esoteries or Supra-Genius as your tier 6 ability.
Enhanced Esoteries. If you chose Enhanced Esoteries as your tier 3 option, your esoteries that have durations last three times as long. Your esoteries that have short ranges reach to very long range instead. Your esoteries that inflict damage deal 2 additional points of damage. If you didn’t take Enhanced Esoteries at tier 3, you gain the advantages noted there now. Enabler.
Supra-Genius. Your Intellect Pool increases by 5, and your Intellect Edge increases by 1. Enabler.
WIELDS TWO WEAPONS AT ONCE
You bear steel with both hands, ready to take on any foe. You fight with two weapons in melee, sometimes called dual wielding. A fearsome warrior, quick and strong, you believe that the best defense is a strong offense. You probably sheathe one weapon on each side or both crossed behind your back. They are likely your most prized possessions, and you might have names for them. Many Glaives and Jacks train to fight with two weapons at once. Very rarely would other characters spend the time required to learn such a purely physical art, but it’s possible.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. You have trained with this character so much that if the two of you stand back to back in a fight, you both gain an asset to Speed defense tasks.
2. Pick one other PC. This character always seems to inadvertently foil your actions, or at least make them more difficult. If they are within immediate range, actions related to this focus are hindered.
3. Pick one other PC. You recently had a weapon go missing, and you’re becoming convinced that they took it. Whether or not they did is up to them.
4. Pick one other PC. You used to dislike them immensely, but as you get to know this person, you’re growing more fond of them against your better judgment.
Additional Equipment: You start with an additional light melee weapon.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is intimidated and flees as its next action.
Major Effect Suggestions: You can make an immediate additional attack with one of your weapons.
Tier 1: Dual Light Wield. You can use two light weapons at the same time, making two separate attacks on your turn as a single action. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply on one action, but because you make separate attacks, your opponent’s Armor applies to both. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to both attacks, unless it’s specifically tied to one of the weapons. Enabler.
Tier 2: Double Strike (3 Might points). When you wield two weapons, you can choose to make one attack roll against a foe. 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: Ability Choice. Choose either Dual Medium Wield or Precise Cut as your tier 3 ability.
Dual Medium Wield. You can use two light weapons or medium weapons at the same time (or one light weapon and one medium weapon), making two separate attacks on your turn as a single action. This ability otherwise works like the Dual Light Wield ability. Enabler.
Precise Cut. You inflict +1 damage with light weapons. Enabler.
Tier 4: Dual Defense. When you wield two weapons, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Enabler.
Tier 5: Dual Distraction (1+ Speed points). When you wield two weapons, your opponent’s next attack is hindered, and if you apply Effort to your next attack against that same foe, you get a free level of Effort on the task. Enabler.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Disarming Attack or Whirling Dervish as your tier 6 ability.
Disarming Attack (5 Speed points). You attempt a Speed task to disarm a foe as part of your melee attack. If you succeed, your attack inflicts 3 additional points of damage and the target’s weapon is knocked from their grip, landing up to 20 feet (6 m) away. If you fail, you still attempt your normal attack, but you don’t inflict the extra damage or disarm the opponent if you hit. Action.
Whirling Dervish. When you wield two weapons, you can attack up to six times in one round as a single action, but you must make each attack against a different foe. Make a separate attack roll for each attack. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply on one action, but because you make separate attacks, Armor applies to each of them. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to all attacks (positively or negatively), unless it’s specifically tied to one of the weapons, in which case it applies to only half of the attacks. Enabler.
WORKS THE BACK ALLEYS
The thief, the burglar, the pickpocket: these are the dangerous individuals who haunt the back alleys of every community. You are a thief in a city or town, making your livelihood at the expense of the wealthy. Your talents, however, prepare you for all kinds of pursuits, even when you’re not crouching in an alley or climbing into a window.
Usually, you dress to blend in with the crowd. When you’re on a mission, black, form-fitting clothing allows you to swim in the shadows. Most thieves are Jacks, but Nanos make interesting burglars as well. A Glaive thief likely adds a little more physicality to their crimes.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. The character knew you beforehand and convinced you to leave your life of crime for other pursuits—at least temporarily.
2. Pick one other PC. A while back, you attempted to “borrow” something from this person, but they caught you in the process. You managed to convince them that it was a simple misunderstanding, but they may not entirely trust you.
3. Pick one other PC. You never seem to be able to hide so that this person can’t see you.
4. Pick one other PC. This character knows your real identity (if it’s a secret) or that you work secretly as a thief (if it’s a secret) and has kept the knowledge safe so far. It’s up to them whether they continue to do so.
Additional Equipment: You start with a bag of light tools.
Minor Effect Suggestions: You can immediately attempt to hide after this action.
Major Effect Suggestions: You can immediately take a second action during this turn.
Tier 1: Thief. You are trained in sneaking, pickpocketing, and lockpicking tasks. Enabler.
Tier 2: Underworld Contacts. You know many people in a variety of communities who engage in illegal activities. These people are not necessarily your friends and might not be trustworthy, but they recognize you as a peer. You and the GM should work out the details of your underworld contacts. Enabler.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Pull a Fast One or Guild Training as your tier 3 ability.
Pull a Fast One (3 Intellect points). When you’re running a con, picking a pocket, fooling or tricking a dupe, sneaking something by a guard, and so on, you gain an asset on the task. Enabler.
Guild Training. Your type abilities that have durations last twice as long. Your type abilities that have short ranges reach to long range instead. Your type abilities that inflict damage deal 1 additional point of damage. Enabler.
Tier 4: Master Thief. You are trained in climbing, escaping from bonds, slipping through narrow places, and other contortionist moves. Enabler.
Tier 5: Dirty Fighter (2 Speed points). You distract, blind, annoy, hamper, or otherwise interfere with a foe, hindering their attacks and defenses for one minute. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Alley Rat or All-Out Con as your tier 6 ability.
Alley Rat (6 Intellect points). While in a city, you find or create a significant shortcut, secret entrance, or emergency escape route where it looked like none existed. Doing so requires that you succeed on an Intellect action whose difficulty is set by the GM based on the situation. You and the GM should work out the details. Action.
All-Out Con (7 Intellect points). You put everything into it. You add three free levels of Effort to the next task you attempt. You can’t use this ability again until after you’ve taken a ten-hour recovery action. Action.
WORKS MIRACLES
You manipulate matter and time to help others and are beloved by everyone you encounter. Some people consider you a representative of the gods or a power from beyond this world. Perhaps they’re right—transdimensional experiments in the prior worlds might be what created the energies that you now wield. You probably wear simple clothes—nothing too flashy or stylish. There’s no need to call more attention to yourself. A Glaive who can heal himself is an interesting and dangerous proposition.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
1. Pick one other PC. This character quietly suspects that you’re a messiah or supernatural being.
2. Pick one other PC. This person knows a secret of yours, and you desperately hope that they do not tell anyone. You can choose whether or not you’re aware of their suspicion.
3. Pick one other PC. This character believes that you cured someone close to them of a deadly disease, and they are grateful. You aren’t sure whether you actually helped or if that person wasn’t as sick as was thought.
4. Pick one other PC. You secretly believe that this person might be a hypochondriac, and you’re never sure whether they actually need your help.
Minor Effect Suggestions: The target is healed for 1 additional point.
Major Effect Suggestions: The target is healed for 2 additional points.
Tier 1: Healing Touch (1 Intellect point). With a touch, you restore 1d6 points to one stat Pool of any creature. This ability is a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Each time you attempt to heal the same creature, the task difficulty increases by one step. The difficulty returns to 2 after that creature rests for ten hours. Action.
Tier 2: Alleviate (3 Intellect points). You attempt to cancel or cure one malady (such as disease or poison) in one creature. Action.
Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Font of Healing or Miraculous Health as your tier 3 ability.
Font of Healing. With your approval, other creatures can touch you and regain 1d6 points to either their Might Pool or their Speed Pool. This healing costs them 2 Intellect points. A single creature can benefit from this ability only once each day. Enabler.
Miraculous Health. When you would descend a step on the damage track, you can attempt a Might task to resist, with a difficulty equal to the level of the foe or effect that harmed you. If successful, you don’t descend the step and you regain 1 point in any Pool that is bereft of points. You can’t use this ability again until after your next ten-hour rest. Enabler.
Tier 4: Inspiration (4 Intellect points). Through mental inspiration and the manipulation of time, one creature you choose within short range is granted an additional, immediate action, which it can take out of turn. Action.
Tier 5: Undo (5 Intellect points). You turn back time a few seconds, effectively undoing a single creature’s most recent action. That creature can then immediately repeat the same action or try something different. Action.
Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Greater Healing Touch or Restore Life as your tier 6 ability.
Greater Healing Touch (4 Intellect points). You touch a creature and restore its Might Pool, Speed Pool, and Intellect Pool to their maximum values, as if it were fully rested. A single creature can benefit from this ability only once each day. Action.
Restore Life (9+ Intellect points). You can attempt to restore life to a dead creature of up to level 3, as long as the corpse is no more than a day old and is mostly intact. You can also attempt to restore life to a corpse that is much older but is especially well preserved. The difficulty of the Intellect task is equal to the level of the creature you’re attempting to restore to life. For each additional level of Effort applied, you can attempt to restore the life of a creature whose level is 1 higher. When first restored to life, a creature is dazed for at least a day, and all tasks they attempt are hindered. Action; one minute to initiate.