Trickster Knacks
At the Mortal level, Trickster Knacks help you lie, cheat, and steal. Trickster Knacks are driven by the concepts of deception and larceny.
Some Tricker Knacks reference the Debt Due condition. Debt Due: If unresolved, the true owner of the possessions or a similar reckoning appears at the end of the scene
Trickster Knacks Master
Trickster Heroic
• All Stories are True
• All Stories are True
With this Knack, you lie with such skill and grace that even Fate believes you, if only for a little while. Make a Knack Skill roll, adding Enhancements equal to half your Legend, and take an action to lie a new truth into being. You may spend successes on the following stunts:
- My Friends: Add 1 dot to Followers for every 2 successes My Talent: Add 1 dot to a Skill for every 2 successes, or temporarily move a dot to another Skill for 1 success
- My Treasures: Lie a mundane item into existence, spending 2 successes for every 1 Enhancement
- My Lover: Spend 2 successes to add 1 Success to a Temporary Bond.
Any benefits gained from this Knack fade away at the end of the Scene.• Blather and Skite
• Blather and Skite
When you spout nonsense at your target, they must spend a moment trying to figure out what the heck you just said — buying you or someone else more time to accomplish any kind of underhanded task: sneaking into a place, slipping past a posted sentry, lying your way through security, and so on. This works automatically on any character of same or lower Tier, but requires a Knack Skill roll to work on someone of higher Tier. For each success rolled, you buy five minutes of in-game time or one turn of combat (whichever is more immediately applicable) before enemies realize you’ve infiltrated and go on high alert. If you use this on one of your bandmates, you only succeed with the consent of the other character’s player.
• Face in the Crowd
• Face in the Crowd
You blend seamlessly into a crowd. So long as there are more people present than twice your Legend rating, you blend in automatically, and all mundane efforts to spot you fail. Supernatural means of tracking and perception require a Clash of Wills.
• I Meant to Do That
• I Meant to Do That
When you fail at an action, you may select additional consolations based on how you failed:
- Confusingly. Observers have no idea what you were trying to do, barring supernatural ability and defeating you in a Clash of Wills.
- Instructively. An ally who attempts the same action gains your Legend in Enhancement to the roll that applies before they roll.
- Spectacularly. Characters without an Attitude toward you create a Positive 1-point attitude toward you of “They’re Harmless,” and increase any Positive Atmosphere in the scene.
• In Sheep’s Clothing
• In Sheep’s Clothing
When you disguise yourself, you do without needing to roll. You have the option to change your hair, skin, and eye color, apparent gender, and height within a few inches, but cannot assume the exact appearance of someone else. The disguise cannot be seen through, though your mannerisms and turn of phrase may give you away. At Storyguide discretion, Knack Skill rolls may be required to blend in.
• Just the Thing
• Just the Thing
When you have need of any mundane thing whatsoever, you may choose to have it on your person or immediately available. Every time you do this in a session, your next action gains the Complication “Debt Due” with a rating of the number of times you’ve used it.
Debt Due: If unresolved, the true owner of the possessions or a similar reckoning appears at the end of the scene.• Light Fingered
• Light Fingered
When you steal an object or pickpocket someone, you do so without needing to roll, so long as the object is something you can conceal in your hands. If you use this ability to lift something from a member of your band, you must do so with the consent of that character’s player. You cannot steal an item that is currently in use. Stealing a weapon from an enemy would first require the Disarm or Seize stunt.
• Number, Letter, and Special Character
• Number, Letter, and Special Character
To attempt to keep a Trickster out of a secure system is folly. When trying to gain access to any secured computer network, gain +1 Enhancement before you roll
• Redirect
• Redirect
Spend a Momentum. You convert one enemy’s current attitude to anger from whatever it was before. At the same time, select a new target to become the object of that anger, causing your enemy to attack the new target in a rage
• Rumor Miller
• Rumor Miller
Your lies catch on like wildfire, and you need only make the smallest post on social media to get a wild rumor circulating. Make a Knack Skill roll — any successes delivers the rumor about the target to those who should hear it — his boss, his husband, his best friends, etc.
• Smoke and Mirrors
• Smoke and Mirrors
Once per scene, when you would be Taken Out, you instead spend Momentum, negate the damage that would have taken you out and move one range band away from your attacker — but leave behind a brief afterimage of your outline, which crumbles into dust seconds later.
• Subliminal Messages
• Subliminal Messages
You can communicate with any number of specifically intended people through body language and insinuation, preventing any unintended party from understanding your actual meaning. Mortals can’t de- termine your meaning at all, and those with supernatural intuition still suffer a level 3 Complication; if not bought off, they get only a partial meaning, missing some important detail.
• Takes One to Know One
• Takes One to Know One
When you are the target of a scam or a lie, you recognize that a deception is taking place. You do not know what the truth is, but you instinctively understand that you are in the company of liars and cheaters. Whether or not you call out the cheat on his dishonest actions is up to you.
• Wasn’t Me
• Wasn’t Me
When you do something with legal or social consequences, you delay the consequence by transferring blame to someone else of the same or lower Tier. This delay lasts until the end of the session by default, but may be delayed further by making a Knack Skill roll, and spending 1 success per scene of delay. To push blame onto a member of your band, you must do so with the consent of that character’s player. Once the delay ends, anyone of higher Tier than you who had been duped by this Knack realizes they’ve been tricked, and will likely seek revenge.
• Who’s at the Door
• Who’s at the Door
Once per session you distract a target by introducing another character to the scene. It could be a knock at the door, an old friend spotted across the room, a titanspawn bursting through the wall, etc. Whatever the distraction, it gives you enough time to accomplish a discreet task — e.g. a brief private conversation, a peek at the target’s computer files — or leave the scene unnoticed. If the Storyguide decides the task requires a complex action, make a Knack Skill roll with each success buying you more time.
Trickster Immortal
•• Ain’t I a Stinker
•• Ain’t I a Stinker
When you lie to a Storyguide character, convincing them to do something they otherwise never would, Imbue for Scale, which applies to their action once per scene. This does not stack with any other supernatural sources of Scale.
•• Always In the Way
•• Always In the Way
You are just where the opposition would rather you not be, whether by intent or happenstance. When you take the complicate action (Scion: Origin, p. 118), create an additional “You’re here too?!” Complication at the same value. Your target applies any unresolved value as difficulty to their next action. When using divine opposition with this Calling in Divine Rule, gain an additional point of effect.
KARTTIKEYA
FIELD MARSHAL OF THE GODS
Aliases: Murugan, Skanda, Tamill Kadavull, Subrahmanya, Kataragama Deviyo
Callings: Leader, Sage, Warrior, Shepherd
Purviews: Epic Strength, Epic Dexterity, Epic Stamina, Beauty, Stars, War•• Better Things to Do Anyway
•• Better Things to Do Anyway
Sometimes, you seemed destined for failure, but useful things come of whatever foolishness you mire yourself in. Once per procedural action, you may voluntarily fail a roll to have it count as a Milestone for a different Procedural action.
•• Come Listen Here
•• Come Listen Here
Your stories carry beyond the range of your voice, driving people to great deeds even if you’d rather they didn’t. Imbue Legend to consecrate a story you tell; those listeners who try to follow its moral, promise of glory, or other suggestive theme to do what would normally be impossible benefit from additional Scale. This may create a Realm Condition that reduces the cost for Chaos, Deception, or Fortune Divine Rule actionstaken through it by 1.
•• Devil at the Crossroads (Loa-Specific)
•• Devil at the Crossroads (Loa-Specific)
To survive, sometimes even the divine must adapt. When worship of your Panthe on is forbidden, maybe it’s time to look like a different one. When this Knack is activated, you appear to all senses (including “Scent the Divine”) as a different Pantheon than your own. You can even mimic the Omen of a specific Legendary figure, chosen when you purchase this Knack. Further, once per session you may Imbue, rather than Spend Legend, to mimic their Pantheon Specific Purview with a Marvel. Scions with this knack may even find their Mantle growing to look like the figure they are emulating. Players and Storyguides are encouraged to make this happen (see “The Myth Engine,” p. 37), as Fate puts them on another’s path, and the character chooses between creating their own Legend or syncretizing into someone else’s.
•• Disguised to Fate
•• Disguised to Fate
(Prerequisite: Any two of the previous three “Disguised to” Knacks) Once per session, if you are disguised as a specific figure, you may call upon their Legendary Title as if it were your own. The figure in question does not immediately become aware of this, but will likely hear about the great Deeds they don’t remember taking part in.
•• Disguised to Onlookers
•• Disguised to Onlookers
Beings of a Lower Tier cannot see through your disguises, and you may choose whether your Omen presents itself. If you choose not to show it, it will return to witnesses’ memories (or appear in their dreams) after your trickery has unfolded.
•• Disguised to The Overworld
•• Disguised to The Overworld
While the preceding Knack disguises your biological makeup down to your DNA, this one affects how you appear to magic itself. Once per session, if you disguise yourself as a Denizen of the World, you may access one of their Knacks for the scene, though you also take any banes or Conditions inherent to that race.
•• Disguised to the World
•• Disguised to the World
Beyond simple illusion, your disguises alter reality itself. Once per session, you may completely change your face, sex, race, even species down to a biological level. You may temporarily shift your dots in physical attributes as you like. You also gain their other biological properties; such as a certain Norse Trickster disguised as a horse becoming impregnated by one. However, you are limited to mundane, biological differences.
•• Doppelganger
•• Doppelganger
Make a Knack Skill roll and with any successes, make an exact copy of yourself. The copy has all your Attributes and Skills, Knacks and Boons, and is controlled by you. This doppelganger may be sent to perform any social or investigative task independently of you, though you are aware of the outcome (and the player is free to roleplay her character in two places at once). It cannot benefit from teamwork actions and dissipates into dust if attacked. Otherwise, the copy lasts for a number of days equal to your Trickster Calling.
•• Emperor of Fools
•• Emperor of Fools
When you have need of a Birthright, you may choose to have it on your person or immediately available, the relevant sentient creatures convinced that they really should be helping you. Every time you do this in a Session, your next action gains the Complication “Debt Due” (p. XX) with a cumulative rating of the number of Birthright dots you’ve borrowed. If unresolved, you cannot use this Knack for the rest of the session.
•• Escape Artist
•• ESCAPE ARTIST
Standard prisons or manacles cannot contain you, and you may Imbue for Scale to get out of any confinement: a supermax prison, a labyrinth, the confines of an Underworld.
•• Exposed
•• Exposed
Spend a Momentum and tell a damaging lie about someone of the same or lower Tier. Everyone who hears you utter the lie believes it to be true, even if there is evidence proving elsewise. Attempts to exonerate your target provoke a Clash of Wills.
•• Fortune’s Wheel
•• Fortune’s Wheel
Once per scene, you may voluntarily botch a roll before or after you roll it. Select any or all:
- Opposing character who see your failure suffer your Trickster rating in additional Difficulty to all their rolls.
- Heal any -0 injuries you have.
- Friendly characters gain your Legend in Enhancement for their next roll.
- If you chose to Botch before you rolled: Regain Legend.
•• Gift Horse (Theoi-Specific)
•• Gift Horse (Theoi-Specific)
A shirt poisoned in centaur blood. Flammable golden robes. A jar filled with all the horrors and pains of humanity. Once per session, you may use a Marvel at no cost to menace someone who has accepted a gift from you.
•• One Man’s Trash
•• One Man’s Trash
Spend Momentum and make an ordinary piece of junk seem extremely rare and valuable. This item will sell or trade as if it had real value. Anyone of lower Tier buys this deception instantly, squabbling over themselves for who will get to buy this unique thing. Targets of the same Tier or higher must make an Empathy roll to see through this lie, but face +Legend Difficulty to convince anyone else that it is not just trash.
•• Surprise!
•• Surprise!
Voluntarily be Taken Out (for all intents and purposes, you appear to be dead or unconscious) and come back later, unharmed, at any point in time during the session to make a surprise attack or otherwise set up an ambush with +4 Enhancement, which applies before you roll. If someone has seen you pull this trick before, they resist the ambush as normal (you do not gain the bonus) and instead gain +4 Enhancement on combat rolls against you for the first round if they succeed. If it would better suit you, you may return dramatically in the middle of a social scene instead, adding the same Enhancement to the next most appropriate Social roll.
•• Thief of Form
•• Thief of Form
You may steal the shape of a trivial or helpless character. Choose either or both:
- They’re transformed into a harmless animal, plant, or animate object for the rest of the session.
- You assume their form, which requires a successful Clash of Wills to see through, for the rest of the scene.
•• Universal Good for Nothing
•• Universal Good for Nothing
You count “foolish nonsense” or “unrelated unproductive activity” as a Milestones for Procedural actions.
•• Woven from Lies
•• Woven from Lies
When you spin a story or craft an elaborate deception on an epic Scale (spreading a vicious rumor across the world via social media, convincing a whole society of people that you’re someone you’re not), imbue a point of Legend, rather than spending, to invoke your Legendary Title as a Feat of Scale.
Link to original