Leader Knacks
Mortal Leader Knacks grant you the power to hold sway over your followers and keep order in the midst of chaos. Leader Knacks are driven by the concepts of charisma and control. This section references characters that “follow” the Leader Scion. Followers are typically not bandmates, and are often trivial targets (though not necessarily). Use this as a metric for determining whether or not a character is a follower.
Leader Knacks which summon or conjure allies or Birthrights assume such entities are loyal to the character and the spirit of their requests. If the Knack use is callous or casual with their lives, this may change, but the Storyguide should always warn the player if their actions will cause this to happen.
Leader Knacks Master
Leader Heroic
• Call to Adventure
• Call to Adventure
No matter how skilled and daring, a Leader without followers is alone. This Knack allows you to call forth willing followers to assist you should you find yourself alone (here defined as without any Followers). At the start of a Scene, make a Knack Skill roll. These successes can be spent to purchase temporary dots of the Followers Birthright at 2 successes per dot. These Followers disperse at the end of the scene in which they were conjured. Players and Storyguides should work together to select Followers that make sense for the situation.
• Captain of Industry
• Captain of Industry
When you take charge of a group, roll Knack Skill. With two successes, you need only spend 2 Momentum to add an interval to a complex action. With five successes, you need only spend 1 Momentum.
• Cloak of Dread
• Cloak of Dread
You project an aura of menace that terrifies and intimidates anyone who would dare cross you. Spend Momentum and double your successes on any Knack Skill rolls to intimidate targets. Enemies of a lesser Tier and extras simply will not attack you.
• Good Listener
• Good Listener
When you make casual conversation with an SGC, that character will reveal information or an important detail that the Leader is looking for, if they know it. Before using this ability, tell the Storyguide what you’re seeking; if the SGC doesn’t know it, you immediately become aware that the character isn’t relevant to your quest. Even the most recalcitrant of characters eventually opens up and reveals a clue — this power requires no roll.
• Grand Entrance
• Grand Entrance
When you make a first impression, roll your Knack Skill. On a success, the target remembers you favorably, granting you +1 Enhancement to all Social rolls made towards them until the end of the session.
• Harsh Words
• Harsh Words
Your orders are more than just an impulse; they are a compunction with a threat of punishment if not followed. Give an order to a target and spend a Momentum. They suffer a Complication equal to your Leader Calling rating to do anything other than what you ordered. If they fail to buy it off, they take a damage
• Inspirational Aura
• Inspirational Aura
When you take charge of a group, roll Knack Skill. For every two successes rolled, reduce the Difficulty of all actions taken by the group you command by 1. You can inspire a number of people equal to her Leadership + Leader Calling, or can spend a point of Momentum to apply this to a much larger group, multiplying that number by 10 for each Momentum spent. The decrease in difficulty does not apply to you, though while you are inspiring others, you gain 2 Enhancement to apply to social rolls involving leadership, and any Stunts you may have gained from Knacks.
• Inspiring Ichor
• Inspiring Ichor
When leading troops in battle, you can inspire them to further heights through risking your own health. Any time you receive an Injury Condition, any followers within Medium Range receive Enhancement to their next action equal to the severity of the injury. Bruised provides 1 Enhancement, Injured 2 Enhancements, and Maimed 4. Being Taken Out provides no inspiration to your followers. Despite the name, the character need not actually visibly bleed.
• Lead by Example
• Lead by Example
Whenever you lead a group of Storyguide Characters in an activity, be it an actual hunt, a military exercise, an elaborate dance routine, or a marathon coding session, you inspire your subordinates to success. Make a Knack Skill roll with 1 Enhancement and spend successes on the following stunts. These successes may be spent throughout the task you are leading. Each stunt may be purchased multiple times.
Follow my lead! (2s): Any Follower who can view an action you undertake receives an Enhancement equal to half your successes to attempting the same action.
Victory together(1s): Any Follower may gain the 9-again rule for their next action to complete the task.• Lighthouse of Society
• Lighthouse of Society
In a tense, heated, or chaotic situation, you stand as a beacon of certain leadership. Your presence is a bulwark against fear and panic. As long as a crowd has not been frightened directly by magical means, you can get a group of people to act calm and do as you ask (such as evacuating a danerous area) in an orderly fashion without needing to roll. A supernatural situation requires a Clash of Wills. For example, if an enemy Scion of Eris sows panic into a crowd of mortals so they’ll bolt and trample each other, a roll would be made against her. If Poseidon creates a tidal wave that happens to scare people because natural disasters are terrifying, a roll would not be made against him.
• Muster
• Muster
Spend Momentum to instantly call aid to your side. A Professional or group of Minions (Scion: Origin p. 143) with appropriate skills for the tasks at hand arrive for the duration of the scene. Such characers either come from your existing allies and allegiances or from the call of Fate. In the case of combat, treat the Minion group as a 4 health Swarm (Scion: Hero p. 288).
• Noble Bearing
• Noble Bearing
Unless you try and hide your true nature, characters who meet you will always understand you to be an important person and figure of leadership. Trivial characters will grant you deference and assume you have rightful authority automatically, while others gain a 2-point Attitude toward you of their choice: “Respect” if positive and “Defiance” if negative. You know which they choose.
• Perfect Poise
• Perfect Poise
You cannot be shaken by panic or fear unless it is from another supernatural source — in which case, you gain 2 Enhancement to resist it (such as making Clash of Wills rolls) that applies before you roll. You also gain 1 Enhancement to all Social rolls involving grace, poise, or composure, and to keep a “poker face.” This also applies before you roll.
• Pied Piper
• Pied Piper
Your art is captivating, and while you continue to perform, speak, or otherwise engage an audience, they’ll follow you as long as it’s relatively safe to do so. You can spend 1 Momentum to lead them into danger, but other Legendary characters can resist with a Clash of Wills, pitting their Knack Skill + Calling Rating against your Knack Skill + Calling Rating.
• They’re With Me
• They’re With Me
Your entourage is a part of your Legend, and they accompany you regardless. When you possess this Knack, characters of your Tier or lower cannot prevent your companions from accompanying you, regardless of rules or decorum. This Knack can protect up to one individual per dot in Legend or Leader Calling, whichever is higher. Unlike many Leader Knacks, this ability is explicitly able to be extended to Bandmates.
Leader Immortal
•• “To Me!”
•• “To Me!”
You can get a crowd of people to heed your call at a moment’s notice. Once per session, you may make a Knack Skill roll to call forth a group to aid you in the following scene. This group acts as your Followers, as per the Birthright, with a ranking equal to your successes (to a maximum five dots, with relevant tags of your choice). The group disbands after the scene ends.
•• Abiding Presence
•• Abiding Presence
You imbue those who follow you with your ethos and passion, and they follow your design even when you are absent or otherwise unable to lead. Your followers and anyone who attempts to act on your behalf in good faith always knows what you’d want done in that situation, and you may act remotely through them for Procedural actions, using your die pools and powers even if you aren’t there. You pay any relevant cost for powers or abilities used.
•• Amid the Intrigues (K’uh Specific)
•• Amid the Intrigues (K’uh Specific)
Both those K’uh engaged in internal machinations and those who consider themselves above it possess a keen awareness of the shifting alliances and loyalties of their kin. You are always aware when a character in a scene has a positive or negative Attitude towards you, and you gain that Attitude’s value to any Stunts to create Enhancement, Complication, or Difficulty for them. Imbue Legend when leading or opposing a character with at least 3 Attitude towards you on a massive Scale, such as leading an army to aid them or burying them beneath a mountain
•• Be the Example
•• Be the Example
You lead by showing others how it’s done. Once per scene, when you are taking action with the specific purpose of inspiring others or setting an example, you may Imbue for Scale. The Scale applies to the action itself, though extra successes can be spent on Stunts to rally those who follow you. This could mean taking the first swing against an army of rakshasas, or refusing to give in to temptation when the sirens are calling your name.
•• Corporate Restructuring
•• Corporate Restructuring
Boardrooms are battlefields. Spend 1 Momentum to convince a corporation, organization, or cult to fire a member of their leadership and replace them with another member of the leadership team of your choosing. The Scale of the organization you can affect equals your Leader dots plus the number of successes on a Knack Skill roll. If the leader in question is supernatural, they contest Legend + Resolve vs. your Legend + Manipulation
•• Fearless Presence
•• Fearless Presence
As long as they can see you, your followers of lesser Tier are fearless and do not panic or flee. They will walk into the Underworld or plunge into a Titanic monster’s mouth or face down a wrathful storm brewed up by a petulant god so long as you lead them.
•• Grand Enterprise
•• Grand Enterprise
You may always count the “aid of willing followers and loyal allies” as a Milestone for Procedural actions.
•• Halls of Power
•• Halls of Power
Whether fortress war-room, distinguished dining table, or intimate back room, where you speak, your words echo. Imbue Legend to consecrate a board room, a private study, a public square, or another place you lead from. Those spurring their followers to great deeds within its bounds benefit from additional leadership Scale. This may create a Realm Condition that reduces the cost for Passion, Sky, or War Divine Rule actions taken through it by 1.
•• Largess
•• Largess
Once per session, make a Knack roll when giving gifts or supplies to others. On a success, you can provide any mundane material goods or services that are locally possible, no matter how unlikely. Additional successes may be spent one-for-one to provide otherwise impossible mundane goods (a war horse on a sailing ship; a main battle tank in a grocery store), or temporary Birthright dots, lasting until the end of the session.
•• Living Will
•• Living Will
Even if you should fall, your followers fight on. If you are Taken Out in a fight, you may continue to roll to lead your followers, with all of your normal knacks and enhancements to do so, until they too are Taken Out.
•• Loyal Ranks
•• Loyal Ranks
Spend Momentum and make a Knack roll to call upon great aid. Over the course of no longer than a scene, Followers arrive in force. Treat the assembled host as a Foe (Scion: Hero p. 286) with the Swarm quality and base 4 health; spend successes from your roll to add additional health, or Heroic-tier qualities (Scion: Origin p. 146).
•• Masterful Efficiency
•• Masterful Efficiency
When you lead people in a task, make a Knack Skill roll. They increase in Scale by 1 for every success achieved, up to half your Legend rating, for one action (which may be part of an extended task, though not combat). A team of five people can build a skyscraper, or a small band of warriors can hold a chokepoint against an entire army, etc. You may spend Momentum for the task to increase Scale one for one above the number of successes achieved, again to a maximum of half your Legend rating.
•• Not Today, Friends
•• Not Today, Friends
When you command others or stir the hearts of many on a huge Scale (commanding an entire army, calling a whole city to your aid), imbue a point of Legend, rather than spending, to invoke your Legendary Title as a Feat of Scale.
•• Power Grab
•• Power Grab
Your rise to power will be legendary. Once per scene, Imbue for Scale when attempting to usurp someone’s leadership role. This can be through direct force, charisma, or even assassination.
•• Raise an Army
•• Raise an Army
Your command sways people to follow you, even those who barely know you. Spend a Momentum to raise an army of trivial targets which come to your call and fight by your side. No matter where you are, people will come to fight for you, and if you are in a place without people, creatures of the Mythos come in their stead.
•• Signature Crew
•• Signature Crew
At the beginning of the session, choose a group of Birthright Followers to be your favored compatriots. These followers gain an additional Follower tag for each dot of the Leader Calling you have. This affects the Followers capabilities, but doesn’t change the actual makeup of the group. For instance, your three kitsune back- up singers can control a crowd as if they had the Mob tag, without actually increasing in number.
•• The Voice Through the Storm
•• The Voice Through the Storm
When following your orders, your Followers may ignore up to your Leader rating in points of increased Difficulty or Complication. Spend momentum to apply this to your band or other worthy allies who are following your instruction for a scene.
•• Unmistakable Dynamism
•• Unmistakable Dynamism
Even your fiercest enemies cannot discount you as a figure of authority and importance. Beings of lesser Tier can’t help but treat you with respect, no matter their nature. Those of equal or greater Tier must choose to treat with you as an honored presence, even your enemies, and suffer from +2 Difficulty for any actions opposing or targeting you in a scene until they acknowledge your august presence formally (which takes an action in combat). When using divine opposition with this Calling in Divine Rule, gain an additional point of effect
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