Firearms 2.0

If a rule is not explicitly replaced in this document, then it is assumed to remain as-is from the rules of normal Scion. This is playtest material; use at your own risk.

 

Bullets travel at such high velocities that dodging them is a feat in and of itself. “Dodging bullets” has come into use as something that is nearly impossible. Mundane Dexterity offers no DV benefit against a firearm; calculate a creature’s “firearm DV” as if its Dexterity were 0. Epic Dexterity and DV bonuses from relics, knacks, etc. function normally.

Burst firing makes it more likely that at least one bullet will connect with the target. These modes grant a temporary stunt bonus, +1 for short bursts and +2 for long bursts. These stunt bonuses do not grant Legend points, and still obey the normal cap of +3 for stunts. Firing multiple rounds also grants additional threshold successes: multiply the threshold successes by 1.5 for short bursts and 3 for long bursts.

A bullet carries a great deal of impact force, shearing away normal defenses. Firearms’ Piercing quality also applies to natural soak from Stamina, including Epic Stamina.

Specialty rounds are available for Scions and mortals alike to use:

AP rounds are specially hardened and sturdy to punch through the thickest armor, and they reduce the target’s soak by half, before applying Piercing, while halving their own threshold successes. (In the case of burst-fired AP rounds, apply both calculations before rounding.)

Hollow-point rounds are made to do extra damage to flesh, doubling threshold successes. These rounds tend to flatten out as soon as they hit something hard, making armor extra effective against them. Not only do they not have the Piercing quality, but all soak from armor (NOT Stamina/Epic Stamina) is doubled. (Buckshot rounds for shotguns are considered to be hollow-points. As with AP rounds, apply both hollow-point and burst-fire modifiers before rounding.)

Riposte

Epic Wits Knack

 

Your skill at turning defense into offense manifests with this knack. Upon successfully Parrying an attack, the Scion may spend 1L to gain a bonus to their next attack against that target equal to their Epic Wits dots, to a maximum of 3. Demigods may spend 1L more (2L total) to raise this ceiling to 7; Gods may spend a third Legend point to remove the cap all together.

 

You may Riposte an unlimited number of times per turn, but after your next action is concluded, the Riposte bonus is lost as the opportunity goes by.

Rodina Pantheon

WARNING: UNTESTED MATERIAL. SUBJECT TO ALTERATION, BALANCING, ADJUSTMENT, OR DELETION AT ANY TIME. USE WITH CAUTION & AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Times are harder for the gods of the Rodina Pantheon than ever before. In the wake of the Second World War, the Soviet Union found itself as a new world power, and Stalin’s purge of religious iconography did not simply strike Christianity. One by one, the old gods were simply forgotten as winter fell over the Overworld of the Rodina Pantheon. One by one, they were simply… gone. Figures from Russia’s history rose to fill the gaps, but to the old Slavic gods, things would never be the same.

But Mother Russia endures. Rodina Mat still lives and breathes, and she holds the old and new elements of the Pantheon together as Russia rises from the ashes of the collapse of communism. To the people, little changes. The government’s buildings are a different color, or the men have different badges. Russia endures. Now, the secrets of the Rodina are laid bare, for use in your Cycle.

Bandit Shooting

In the 1900s in China, highwaymen made use of a specialized, highly dangerous and inaccurate technique to clear groups of unarmored people. By using the muzzle sweep of their high-powered pistols, they fired off several rounds in rapid succession by turning their weapons sideways. Thanks to the efforts of a particularly reckless Scion, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, this technique is now available to the masses.

Bandit Shooting (Epic Dexterity Knack)

When the Scion is utilizing any pistol, he may attempt to use the muzzle jump to assist him with a sweeping attack. Doing so allows him to exploy a multiple attack against up to five targets, with the standard multiple attack penalty applied per target (-6 for three targets and so on). In addition, for each target beyond the third, the Scion’s Epic Dexterity is reduced by one for the purposes of making this attack. Taking such a reckless maneuver precludes aiming and is Speed 6, regardless of the speed of the pistol. Neither burst-fire nor autofire may be used with this Knack.

(Storytellers, use common sense with the word “pistol” here. An M79 “grenade pistol” is not a weapon that is sensible to bandit shoot with.)

Hathor

The personification of feminine love and motherhood, the cow goddess of Egypt is often forgotten behind her more dynamic kin. Like the cows that she embodies, Hathor is patient and easygoing, and pays little mind to events around her. Even the rise of the Titans has done little to draw Hathor’s attention, and for good reason; her attention is focused on ensuring the world’s fertility, just as cows nourish the land with their excrement even as they feed on grasses.

Scions of Hathor are equally laid-back. Why worry so much about that Titanspawn right in front of you? The world is bigger than the immediate, after all. Hathor’s children are many, but the Bearer of the Sun’s Disc only spends her energies visiting a dear few, the cream of the crop. Her discerning eye and stern hand ensures that those Scions of hers that do receive a Visitation understand how to prioritize and see beyond the simple picture before them to find a larger view of the world. If only there were more of her Scions about…

Purviews: Epic Stamina, Epic Charisma, Animal (Cow), Earth, Fertility, Heku, Sky, Sun

Favored Abilities: Art, Awareness, Empathy, Fortitude, Medicine, Survival

Rivals: Bast; Demeter, Erzulie, Amaterasu, Frigg

Touch of the Valkyrie

Touch of the Valkyrie (Death 4)

Dice Pool: None

Cost: 1 Legend

When the Scion encounters a dying mortal (or even one who has died within the past five minutes) whose fatal injuries were the result of an act of great heroism, fortitude or loyalty for one’s allies, she can send the dead hero’s soul to their pantheon’s afterlife (if there are multiples, an appropriate positive afterlife). Doing so costs the Scion one Legend, and the Storyteller assigns the hero’s soul five dots of Virtue points appropriate for his dying act and the pantheon of the Scion. Alternately, if the Scion finds a living mortal who she believes is worthy to join the ranks of the honored dead, she can spend a point of Legend to mark him for induction. Thereafter, when that mortal dies, his soul will automatically ascend to his pantheon’s afterlife (positive, as before), provided that he dies in an appropriate manner, even if the Scion is not present at the time.

Savoir-Faire

Liberté (Savoir-Faire 1)

Dice Pool: Willpower + Integrity + Legend

Cost: 1 Legend or 1 Willpower

The basis of a free republic is the freedom of the people to decide for themselves. This boon enforces that freedom for the Francais Scion. Whenever the Scion is affected by a mind-altering effect or his free decision-making is otherwise violated, he may spend 1 Legend to reflexively roll Willpower + Integrity + Legend to resist the effect; if he can accrue more successes than the original roll, the effect is broken. If the original effect did not require a roll, as is the case with most knacks, the power is considered to have as many successes as the casting Scion has dots in the appropriate Epic attribute. Alternately, if the Scion has reason to believe that someone -else- is affected by a mind-altering effect or otherwise compromised, the Scion may spend 1 Willpower and touch the victim to roll Willpower + Integrity + Legend on their behalf; if the target is not affected by any mind-altering effects, the Scion spends his Willpower point for no effect. If the target of this boon is under multiple mind-affecting effects, the single resistance roll is checked against all of them.

Comprehensive Knack Tier List

Hero level:

Strength: Crushing Grip, Hurl to the Horizon, Holy Bound, Holy Rampage, Uplifting Might, Hang On, Titanium Tools

Dexterity: Cat’s Grace, Lightning Sprinter, Monkey Climber, Trick Shooter, Untouchable Opponent, Microscopic Precision, Omnidexterity, Bandit Shooting

Stamina: Damage Conversion, Holy Fortitude, Inner Furnace, Self-Healing, Solipsistic Well-Being, Raise Your Glass, Whale’s Breath, Raging Bull, Under Pressure

Charisma: Benefit of the Doubt, Blessing of Importance, Charmer, Inspirational Figure, Never Say Die

Manipulation: Blurt It Out, Gods’ Honest, Overt Order, Stench of Guilt, Takes One To Know One, Not the Face

Appearance: Center of Attention, Come Hither, Dreadful Mien, Lasting Impression, Serpent’s Gaze, Game Face, Visage Great and Terrible

Perception: Perfect Pitch, Predatory Focus, Refined Palate, Subliminal Warning, Unfailing Recognition, Real McCoy, Scent the Divine, Fool Me Once…

Intelligence: Fast Learner, Know-It-All, Math Genius, Perfect Memory, Teaching Prodigy, Fight With Your Head, Axiom, Tactical Planning

Wits: Instant Investigator, Meditative Focus, Opening Gambit, Rabbit Reflexes, Social Chameleon, Adaptive Fighting, Don’t Read the Manual

Demigod: All Hero, plus:

Strength: Divine Rampage, Divine Wrath, Knockback Attack, Shockwave, Mighty Heave, Armor Crusher, One Inch Punch

Dexterity: Divine Balance, Escape Artist, Ricochet Symphony, Spider Climber, Whirlwind Shield, Shot to the Heart, Fast as Thought

Stamina: Body Armor, Devourer, Divine Fortitude, Regeneration, Skin-Shedding

Charisma: BFF, Crowd Control, Pied Piper, Preach On, Unimpeachable Reference, Instant Seminar, Paragon of Virtue

Manipulation: Advantageous Circumstances, Hard Sell, Instant Hypnosis, Knowing Glance, Rumor Mill, Deprogramming, Return to Sender

Appearance: Blinding Visage, Compelling Presence, My Eyes Are Up Here, Perfect Actor, Do Not Want, Meet Me Backstage

Perception: Broad Spectrum Reception, Environmental Awareness, Spatial Attunement, Supernal Hunter, Telescopic Senses, In Your Dreams

Intelligence: Cipher, Language Mastery, Multitasking, Star Pupil, Wireless Interface

Wits: Cobra Reflexes, Eternal Vigilance, Instant Assessment, Monkey in the Middle, Perfect Impostor, Between the Ticks

“Adds Legend to X” relics

One of the options in the relic table in Secrets of the World is “Adds Legend to Attribute + Ability rolls”, “Adds Legend to Ability rolls”, and “Adds Legend to Attribute rolls”. I am going to disallow the first as empty twinkery since less than half of the Abilities will be used with more than one attribute anyway, and for the other two bonuses to kick on, the Scion must spend 1 Legend point for every 3 dots of Legend that they have, rounded up. In combat, this takes 1 tick and the attack or action must come immediately after that tick. This precludes aiming, as you’re considered to not be actively aiming but focusing and letting Fate aim for you. Taking the Aim action and then spending a tick to add Legend will waste the bonus from Aiming. This is a house rule, so don’t look for it in the book.

Missing Armor Types

Chainmail: +2B/+2L, 1 Fatigue. (Note that Jesse’s Algiz Mail was erroneously given stats of +2B/+3L and has been adjusted.)

Field plate mail uses the Lamellar template.

Full Plate: +6B/+3L, -2 Mobility, 2 Fatigue.

Double-God Visitation master list

These are the Gods who are specifically noted as having relationships in the Scion manuals, either through marriage or enough of a tryst to produce another God of the pantheon. Any combinations not on this list are invalid for play, sorry.

Zeus + Hera, Hades + Persephone, Odin + Frigg, Thor + Sif, Damballa + Erzulie, Ogoun + Erzulie, Agwe + Erzulie, Badarus + Amnis, Kuros + Demosia, Skaft + Heshon, The Dagda + The Morrigan, The Dagda + Danu, Chang’e + Houyi, Brahma + Sarasvati, Shiva + Parvati, Vishnu + Lakshmi.

To generate associated powers for a double-God visitation, choose half of one God’s powers and half of the other’s. Anything that both gods share MUST be chosen; split the burden as evenly as possible (so if God A and God B share Psychopomp, Fire, and Guardian, God A could contribute Psychopomp and Guardian and God B could contribute Fire, but God B could not contribute all three). Remember that beings of Legend always round in ways that are most favorable to them, so a God with 5 powers and a God with 7 will spawn a child with 7 powers, 3 from the first parent and 4 from the second. The pantheon Purview for the gods’ pantheon is added automatically; do NOT count it when determining what half of the total is! It need not be assigned to a particular God. The same applies to favored Abilities, but since all Gods have six, there’s no rounding involved.

Also note that a character may be a spawn of two Gods WITHOUT being a double-God Visitation if so desired. The Scion will have the full suite of the God who executes the Visitation.

Willpower and You: It’s Now or Never

Just by way of a reminder, don’t forget about your Willpower! When the chips are down, banking on your force of will can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Spending a Willpower point allows you to do one of the following:

-Add an automatic success to most rolls. If you try to use Willpower on a roll that you can’t, I’ll let you know and you’ll retain the Willpower. Rolls that you cannot spend Willpower on are rare, but any roll involving Willpower itself, as well as damage rolls, cannot receive a bonus success from Willpower.

-Resist the tug of a Virtue. The Willpower is spent instead of rolling, and effectively forces a Virtue failure. (Remember, successes on Virtue rolls make you act in accordance to the Virtue.)

-Add extra dice to an action if that action upholds or espouses a Virtue. For example, if Jesse were to valiantly face down a snarling cthonian one-to-one, he could spend a Willpower to gain two extra dice from his Courage. At low levels of Virtues, this is noticeably worse than adding a bonus success. At four- and five-dot Virtues, it’s noticeably better.

If a character is reduced to 0 temporary Willpower, he is in bad shape, clinging to his Virtues for support. Without temporary Willpower, Virtue rolls for Virtues rated 3 and up automatically succeed, and Scions find it impossible to resist the call of their strong passions. Depending on the situation, this can be trivial or devastating.

Outer pantheon data

Great Cthulhu

-The original Outer titan, Great Cthulhu is the embodiment of corruption and decadence. Great Cthulhu is NOT evil in the traditional sense; his goal is to draw reality under his sway, but he does not do it for dreams of world domination. It is simply his calling.

Great Cthulhu’s Scions are not appropriate for play as player characters.

Some clarifications: Divine Radiance and Fire Immunity and weapon speed

Quick notes: Divine Radiance’s intense mode is not sufficient to deal immediate damage, but like any source of heat, holding it to someone for long enough will start to do some damage. At maximum intensity, Divine Radiance will start to deal aggravated damage after five minutes, starting at 1 agg per minute and doubling every five minutes. Since five minutes equals 300 ticks, this is never relevant in a combat situation, but it matters for torture, welding, cutting through reinforced boxes, and so on. This damage comes from pure heat, so Fire Immunity does prevent it. Fire Immunity will have limited or no effect on damage sources from Sun boons that are not solely based on heat (Sun 5, Burn, describes the damage as if it was caused by a sunburn, which has a radiation component and does not solely derive from heat, for example). This is a clarification of the previous ruling and marries my intent with the rulebook’s notes regarding Divine Radiance; if any combat lasts long enough for anyone to hold a Divine Radiance to something’s flesh for 300 ticks, the target is immobile and could have been coup de graced fifteen times over.

 

ADDENDUM: Due to a misinterpretation of the rule on altering weapon speed, I’m revoking the change to make it cost double to modify a weapon’s Speed. Instead, Speed has a hard floor of 4 (3 if the weapon started at 4). So if you want to drop a Speed 6 weapon to Speed 3, well…you can’t! But taking it down to Speed 4 for 2 dots is permissible. Anyone who would like a relic weapon altered (since no one has used one yet) can contact me. Jesse Custer’s Staghorn sword has been adjusted to reallocate the point that went into Speed.

Balancing the Scales

(Magic 4)

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Academics

Cost: 3 Legend

The Scion smoothes out peaks and valleys in the flow of Fate, normalizing the results of the target’s next action. He rolls Intelligence + Academics, ignoring any bonus successes from Epic Intelligence, and if he succeeds, instead of rolling a dice pool for the target’s next action, divide his dice pool in half to determine how many successes are earned. For every 2 threshold successes, the Scion may choose to add a success to that total, but he cannot subtract from it, and Epic Attribute successes are unaffected.

An unwilling target of equal or greater Legend than the casting Scion may resist this effect by rolling Willpower and scoring more successes than the activation roll. This spell may not be cast more than once per scene, as Fate does not take a kind view to protracted meddling with chance.