Finding a companion can be as straightforward as receiving a gift or stumbling over a soaked, starving kitten in an alleyway. It can also be as complex as a journey into a Terra Incognita to find the last living phoenix, or into an Underworld to fetch the ghost of a heroic beast long dead. It should always be an event. Make it happen “on screen” where it becomes part of the group’s history, not just an addition to a character sheet.
Since a player’s paying for the Birthright, they shouldn’t fail to find their companion. They might experience hardship or pay a high (pre-agreed, out-of-character) price, but they should succeed. It’s Fate.
Creatures are able to operate as their own independent entities, operation their own. The Scion can control their companion at any point, however they should make an effort to roleplay the companion with its own agency and eccentricities.
During a turn-based action scene, the Creature normally cannot act on it’s own initiative, instead it waits for an order from it’s Scion friend to tell it what to do. This takes the form of the following Stunt.
Command (2 hits, Variable)
If you have a Creature, BOON COMPANION or some other NPC in the scene who can carry out a helpful action, you can use this stunt to grant them a turn. You may spend additional hits to grant them enhancement on their roll up to +3 enhancement.
It is possible your companion may choose not to take an active role in combat. If this is the case, and it is helping the Scion carry out actions, they can provide a Teamwork Enhancement bonus equal to the applicable die pool of the creature divided by 5 (rounded up).
Creatures +
The Creature Birthright assigns a creature a dice pool based on the Scion’s rank in the Birthright, but animal companions have their own strengths and weaknesses and it’s easy to have the dice reflect that. A songbird or a domestic cat isn’t as fierce as a bull or a tiger, but it’s a lot more discreet. Choose one main role for the creature and adjust its dice pools accordingly.
A companion with a role also has Primary, Secondary, and Desperation Pools. Their Primary Pools are slightly better than the default for their Birthright value; their Desperation Pools are slightly worse.
| BIRTHRIGHT DOTS | PRIMARY POOL | SECONDARY POOL | DESPERATION POOL |
| • | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| •• | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| ••• | 11 | 9 | 7 |
| •••• | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| ••••• | 16 | 15 | 14 |
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OTHER STATS
Companions have Health and Defense equel to their Birthright Value. Their Tier is equal to yours.
TRAITS
As described in Scion: Hero (pp. 201-202), a player can tailor the Creature Birthright by reducing all dice pools by two and taking a Knack or Flair, either from the Antagonist lists in the core Scion rulebooks or those listed here. The Hunter, Trickster, and Warrior Callings provide plenty of appropriate Knacks for companions. Immortal Knacks are not generally available for Creature Birthright
WEAPONS
Normally, a creature is only able to attack with its Claws or Teeth, but these are able to be supplemented by Flairs or Knacks. By default, this weapon has the Knockdown and Slashing tags, however other combinations are possible given the creatures unique traits.
CLAWS & TEETH - Slashing Knockdown
FIRE BREATH - Flaming Shockwave
POISON QUILLS - Poison Arcing
TRAMPLING HOOVES - Knockdown Pushing
Additional weapons can be gained via Qualities. Each of these new weapons is either Melee or Ranged (granting +1 Enhancement and 1 Injury) and 2 additional tags. Some creatures can be equipped with normal weapons, in these cases, follow the normal rules for equipment.
FLAIRS
Additional flairs can be found in the Storyguide section. If an ability would normally require tension, it can instead be used for free, but only once per scene.
HIT AND RUN
WARNING CRY
SHADOW STEP
Public Wiki/Reference/NPC Stat Blocks/Qualities/SEEING RED
COMPANION CALL
MAGICAL ASSISTANT
QUALITIES
FLIGHT QUALITY
TOUGH HIDE
ARMORED SHELL
HEARTY
BURROWER
ETHEREAL
VULNERABIILITY
LARGE
FAST
HARDENED
WEAKNESS
KNACKS
WIDE-EYED INNOCENCE
Unearthly Appetite
Creature as a Fatebinding
In Addition to their use as a Birthright, this Birthright also functions as a Fatebinding that can be Compelled or resolved. This does not count towards your maximum of simultaneous Fatebindings.
Compel
Gain one Legend, your Creature becomes lost to you, at least for a time. You gain a Failure Deed to reunite with your companion. If no effort is made to reunite with your companion by the end of the Arc, you decrease your dots in this birthright by one. If this would reduce the strength to zero, Resolve this fatebinding.
Resolve
The player and the Storyguide choose one of the following options when resolving this fatebinding:
- Your Companion returns to its home, leaving your Scion to carry on with their own journey alone, although perhaps you are both better for having taken the journey together.
- Your Compnaion becomes a mundane animal, losing any mystical powers it may have had.
- Your Companion becomes lost to you forever, remove all dots from this Birthright, and gain a Failure Deed. Your dots in this Birthright are returned to you after the end of the current arc. You can invest these in a new Birthright.
Tier 3 Creatures
All Creature birthrights belonging to Demigod characters gain the following traits:
Divine Fortitude
A Demigod’s creature imposes a Complication (with a penalty of suffering a counterattack) equal to the creature’s dot rating to all rolls to attack it or impose supernatural effects on it.
Supernal Skill
A Demigod’s creature only sacrifices one die from its rating-based dice pool to add a Knack or Flair instead of two.
Purview
Demigod’s Creature may sacrifice 2 dice to gain access to a Purview.
Perks of Power
A Demigod’s Creature gains Bonus Dots worth of abilities equal to the birthright’s rating divided by two (rounded up). Each bonus dot grants one knack, quality, flair or weapon.
LEGENDARY CREATURES
Calling All Creatures
The creature counts as an additional Calling keyword for purposes of invoking it to increase Scale on an action not covered by one of his Legendary Titles, on actions that rely on the creature’s aid. If the creature dies, count its death as a Failure Deed (Scion: Hero, p. 191) for the Calling with which it was most closely associated.
Legendary Power
Each of your Creatures dice pools increase by 2. Your creature scores a success whenever they roll a 7.
Further Perks of Power
Instead of Bonus Dots as listed above, you gain 1 Bonus Dot worth of ability for each dot in this birthright
Inherited
If a Demigod comes into possession of a creature that was Legendary for a past bearer of the Mantle he’s inherited, he automatically gains a Fatebinding for it with a Strength equal to the number of previous wielders for whom it was Legendary. This doesn’t count against his maximum number of simultaneous Fatebindings
For Better or Worse
A Legendary creature no longer has the luxury of simply loping away if the Demigod mistreats or abandons it. However, if he does so, the Storyguide may declare that the creature has taken on a new, negative Fatebinding Condition, such as NEMESIS or TRAITOR, and it loses its Legendary benefits. If that Condition resolves in a way that leads the Scion to reconcile with the creature, it regains its Legendary status. If not, you lose the creature entirely (and may invest the dots into another Birthright, as usual)