Denizen
Examples: Anzû, cynocephalus, horse-head and ox face
Example Calling Keywords: Beast, [animal]-headed, ferocious, hermit, vigorous, wild
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Survival
Path Contacts: Couriers, call centers, delivery firms, veterinary dentists
PERSISTENT CONDITION: ANIMAL HEADED
You have the head of an animal. Your body appears human or mostly human, although it might be covered in fur, feathers, or scales that match your head. Dependingupon what sort of head you possess, your bite likely has the Lethal, Melee, and Natural tags. Also, because reading your facial expressions is considerably more difficult, you gain +1 Enhancement to all Subterfuge rolls to lie or conceal your thoughts and feelings. In addition, you have at least one sense that is superior to an ordinary human’s, like a hawk’s keen vision, a dog or snake’s excellent sense of smell, a cat’s night vision, etc. You gain +1 Enhancement for rolls where this sense is useful. However, you cannot pass as human, and because people cannot read your expressions, you have more difficulty in some social situations and increase the Difficulty of Leadership and Persuasion rolls by +1 with ordinary humans. This penalty does not apply to other Denizens or to anyone with divine blood.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Armored Skin
You may have dense fur, preternaturally hard feathers or scales, or perhaps ordinary-looking skin that is as tough as shoe leather. Even when you are naked, you are always considered to have the Armored (Soft) Tag. This benefit stacks with the increased difficulty of the inflict damage Stunt granted by any other armor you wear.
• Deadly Bite
Your bite automatically possesses both the Brutal and the Piercing Tags.
• Venomous
Your bite is poisonous and inflicts the Poisoned Condition on those you successfully bite. You normally need to have the head of a venomous animal, like a serpent, to possess this Knack.
CENTAUR
Example Calling Keywords: Endurance, far-roaming, herd, hooligan, reveler, sure-footed
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Survival
Path Contacts: Bacchanalians, brewers, farriers, large animal veterinarians, wedding planners
PERSISTENT CONDITION: HORSE BODY
Classic centaurs have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans: travel by car, narrow hallways, revolving doors, and so on. You cannot pass as human, which makes you memorable to any mortals whose paths you cross. Finally, you have Scale 1 speed when running on relatively level ground.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Iron Liver
You’re particularly inured to toxins, and especially to liquor. When inebriated, gain +2 Enhancement for all Stamina actions, but suffer a +2 Complication to all Composure actions. If not bought off, you must do something untoward, inadvisable, or otherwise likely to cause offense and future problems.
• Hooves of Steel
When you kick, treat your hooves (or relevant other extremities, if you’re not a traditional centaur) as having the Pushing and Reach tags (Scion: Origin, p. 122).
• Swift
You increase your speed Scale to 2 on relatively level ground. Motorcycle Centaurs who take this Knack may increase their speed Scale to 3 on roadways, but double damage from any crashes when they do so.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Mentor Figure
The spirit of Chiron lives within you. When teaching or mentoring others, forge a Bond. You may spend the successes from this Bond for the following effects:
- Ensure the student’s presence during a scene, even if otherwise impossible. If your student is a player character, they may also spend a success from this Bond to ensure your presence.
- Grant +2 Enhancement to any action the student undertakes.
- Negate a Complication the student suffers for a single turn.
•• The Parthian Shot
You have an advantage over mortal horse archers, as you’re both horse and archer. When using ranged weapons, you may take two reflexive Move actions per round, which need not be taken during your turn. You never suffer Complications to ranged attacks due to environmental conditions.
•• Sky Runner
Helios’ chariot crosses the sky in a day, and while you are no beast of burden (even for a god!), you can perform like feats. When you name a destination and run at your full speed, you suffer no fatigue and no penalty for your footing — indeed, you can cross any surface, including water or open air, if it stands between you and where you mean to be.
CENTAUR VARIANT: LAMIA
Example Calling Keywords: avenger, hunter, night, seducer, skulker, vampiric
Path Asset Skills: Close Combat, Subterfuge
Path Contacts: Herpetologists, night security, small animal breeders, tanning salons
PERSISTENT CONDITION: SNAKE BODY
You have the upper body of a human and the lower body of an enormous snake, which is typically at least three meters long, and is often longer. You have Scale speed 1 when swimming and gain +1 Enhancement for Athletics rolls involving climbing. Gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans: travel by
car, narrow hallways, revolving doors, and so on. You cannot pass as human.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Constrictor
You gain +2 Enhancement to use the establish grapple or knockdown stunts when in close combat, and you also gain +2 Enhancement to resist attempts to break you grapple.
• Paralyzing Gaze
You can spend Momentum to paralyze a single target by staring in their eyes. You must be within short range and able to see the target’s eyes. Trivial opponents cannot resist and remain paralyzed until you cease gazing at them. Anyone of your Tier or higher gains a Clash of Wills, with you rolling Persuasion + Presence, and they can roll once a round to break free of your control.
• Venomous
As the Animal-Headed Creatures Knack (p.33).
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Enduring Sight
Zeus’ gift, granted to cure a curse of insomnia, lets you painlessly and bloodlessly remove your eyes. Normally, this blinds you; however, if you spend a point of Momentum, you may continue to see through your eyes even while they’re disconnected. This lasts until the eye is reinserted, and prevents the eye from suffering any injuries or damage due to the environment it’s placed in.
•• Serpent Prophet
Your prophetic sense, common to all lamia, is finely honed and able to truly glimpse the future. Once per scene, you may ask the Storyguide one of the following questions:
- What secrets are hidden here?
- Who or what here poses the greatest threat to me?
- What can I do to achieve my wishes here?
•• Vitality Drain
While not all lamia indulge in vampiric practices, some do — and some refine it to an art. You may bite a restrained, unconscious, or willing target and draw forth their life essence. Each Injury Condition you inflict, one per turn, heals one of yours; if you’re uninjured, each Injury Condition instead adds +1 Enhancement to a pool with a maximum equal to your Legend, which you may spend on any action.
CENTAUR VARIANT: MOTORCYCLE CENTAUR
Example Calling Keywords: Courier, enforcer, outlaw, raucous, racer, roughneck
Path Asset Skills: Pilot, Technology
Path Contacts: Biker gangs, fences, mechanics, truck stops
PERSISTENT CONDITION: MOTORCYCLE BODY
You have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a motorcycle. Gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans: travel by car, revolving doors, and so on. You cannot pass as human, which makes you memorable to any mortals whose paths you cross. Finally, you have Scale 1 speed when running on relatively level ground, and Scale 2 speed on roads and other solid, artificially smooth surfaces. You can survive on either food or gasoline, but you’re happiest and most comfortable when you can ingest both. Motorcycle Centaurs may take appropriate Centaur Knacks.
CENTAUR VARIANT: NUCKELAVEE
Example Calling Keywords: Disaster, horror, nightmare, sickness, stalker, tempest
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Integrity
Path Contacts: Coastal workers, doctors, fishers, sailors
PERSISTENT CONDITION: NUCKELAVEE BODY
You superficially resemble a centaur — upper body of a human, lower body of a horse — but also have translucent skin and fins atop your hooves. Like centaurs, you gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans. You cannot pass as human, and your appearance makes you both monstrous and memorable to any mortals whose paths you cross. Unlike centaurs, you do not have increased speed on land, but you can breathe underwater, ignore underwater obstacles, and swim as fast as you can run — however, you cannot tolerate fresh water. Nuckelavee characters may choose Knacks belonging both to Centaurs and to Water Spirits.
CU SITH
Innate Ability: You can speak as well as any human and have all the typical advantages of a dog.
CU SITH KNACKS
• Breed Versatility
Cú Sith can choose any one of the following Knacks to represent their specific breed: any one Hunter Knack or Imperfect Disguise (white fur and red eyes; as the Drawback, but adds Enhancement 2 to rolls involving intimidation).
• Call the Pack
Once per session, you can summon the spirits of your packmates to you (if they are not physically present) and direct them against one enemy for a single attack. Treat them as a weapon with the Lethal, Loud, and Ranged tags, using your Close Combat + Presence for the attack roll.
• Terrifying Howl
Howling for more than one action has supernatural effects. On the second action you use to howl, the sound can be heard for a mile around you. On the third action, treat it as the Immobilize Antagonist Quality.
FAIR FOLK
Examples: Sidhe, djinn
Example Calling Keywords: Clever, hidden, keeper, mercurial, noble, strange
Path Asset Skills: Culture, Occult
Path Contacts: Academics, local weirdos, noble courts, socialites, occultists
PERSISTENT CONDITION: FAIR FOLK
You are highly resistant to all sources of damage that are caused by anything not made a particular substance. Regardless of whether the damage is caused by a punch, a wooden quarterstaff, a fire, poison, electricity, or even an explosion, you instantly recover from your most severe injury condition caused by any source that isn’t of that source at the end of combat or the scene, whichever comes first. You cannot be killed by this damage; if Taken Out, you return to consciousness at the end of combat or the scene. However, all damage from that source gains the Aggravated tag (Scion: Origin, p. 122) when used against you. In addition, you increase the Difficulty of all rolls to use weapons or tools made primarily of that source by +1, and also suffer a similar increase in the difficulty of all rolls when surrounded by it in a confined space. You gain Momentum when you are forced to do so. Some sources are fairly straightforward, such as weapons made of iron or silver. Some potential sources, such as sunlight or the color blue, will lean more into the additional Difficulty rules. While all banes associated with this Condition should be reasonably common, sources difficult to weaponize should present themselves more often than their more prosaic kin.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Impossible Beauty
You’re attractive even by the standards of the Fair Folk, which makes you inhumanly and stunningly beautiful by mere mortal standards. Injuries and other misfortune cannot make you look bad — a roll down a muddy hill will leave you artfully disheveled, like you spent an hour in front of a mirror perfecting the look. In action scenes, if you haven’t yet acted this turn, you can spend Momentum to stun a target, moving
your initiative slot to just before theirs.
• Overlook
Spend Momentum to become invisible. You instantly become visible if you do anything that attracts attention, like yelling or attacking someone, but are otherwise impossible to see, even if someone was looking right at you when you used this ability. This Knack doesn’t affect electronic media, like security cameras, but it does affect the people watching it until the Knack’s effects are negated.
• Perfect Charm
You have a preternatural way with words and are extremely good at getting people to do what you want. Treat a target’s Attitude as if it were two higher than it is for the purposes of influence actions. Once per session, perfectly read a character and learn exactly what they want from you or someone else present.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Binding Vow
You may bind others in a vow, which you need not be a party to. This vow weaves itself into Fate, acting as a kind of sub-Fatebinding, which punishes oathbreakers. Whenever a party to the vow violates it, they suffer a Complication equal to the Fair Folk’s Legend that lasts either for one scene or until bought off. This Complication causes endless small misfortunes to befall the target, which may prove dangerous in certain situations.
•• Here and Not
Distance is a meaningless thing to you. So long as the appropriate object or terrain is available to you (a hillock, a silver mirror, etc.), you may return to your native realm or travel to any other such location or object with a single scene of travel.
•• Wild Hunt
You are party to the Wild Hunt, and so may invoke it. Once per arc, name a target. Fae steeds and hunters arrive almost instantly — treat this as a temporary Heavy Followers Birthright, with the Group and Terrible (Speed) tags (Scion: Hero, p. 203). These riders aid you in tracking down the target, granting +2 Enhancement for any relevant actions. Once the target is apprehended, the riders either slay the target or drag them back to the Wild Hunt’s native realm (your choice). For the remainder of the arc, you may be called upon
by others in the Wild Hunt to aid them in hunting their quarries.
FAIR FOLK VARIANT: HIDDEN FOLK
Examples: Brownies, elves, hulder, mazikeen
PERSISTENT CONDITION: HIDDEN FOLK
You are inherently difficult to notice. Ordinary people increase the Difficulty of all rolls to remember or describe you by +2, and you gain +1 Enhancement to all Subterfuge rolls to avoid being noticed or to seem unremarkable and easily overlooked. However, you also cannot lie. You can refuse to tell the truth, lie by omission, or imply a falsehood, but you can never speak or write an outright lie — you simply cannot force yourself to speak or write anything you know to be false. Hidden Folks may purchase appropriate Fair Folk Knacks.
FAIR FOLK VARIANT: LITTLE FOLK
Example: Dwarf, nuno, sprite, spriggan
PERSISTENT CONDITION: LITTLE FOLK
You are exceedingly small. Your build may vary, but you are no more than four feet tall, and may be as short as two feet tall. Regardless of your actual stature, the Difficulty of all rolls to move or use any object, weapon, or tool that ordinary people must use two hands increases by +1, and you must use both hands to manipulate objects that most people can use with one. Because of your size, cities and other places built by and for humans are not built for you. You gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans, but you also gain +1 Enhancement on all Subterfuge rolls involving hiding or avoiding been noticed. Little Folk may purchase appropriate Fair Folk Knacks.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Minute Passage
Spend Momentum to pass through any barrier, like a door or window that has an opening large enough to see light through or feel a breeze through. Cracks underneath doors and old-style keyholes are examples of this sort of opening, as are any sort of bars on windows.
• Shrink
Spend Momentum to become even smaller, anywhere from one foot to a few inches tall. You are far too small to use most tools and weapons made for ordinary people, but you are also small enough that someone normal sized who attempts to strike you in combat increases the Difficulty of their roll by +1. In addition, gain +2 Enhancement on Subterfuge rolls involving hiding or avoiding notice.
GIANT
Examples: Daitya, giant, ogre, troll
Example Calling Keywords: Brute, Cunning, gigantic, mighty, monstrous, wild
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Integrity
Path Contacts: Construction and demolition firms, geologists, park rangers
PERSISTENT CONDITION: GIANT
You are exceptionally large — you are at least nine feet tall and may be as much as 12 feet tall. Your size is Scale 1, allowing you to lift objects with ease that an ordinary human could barely move at all. However, cities and other places built by and for humans are not built for you. You gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Inhuman Strength
In addition to being exceptionally large, when you exert yourself you can become even more powerful. Spend Momentum to treat your Size scale as 1 point higher than normal for purposes of lifting, carrying, or throwing objects. This increased strength lasts for a single action that takes no more than a minute or two, and only applies to wielding weapons to do damage if you use a weapon of appropriate Size scale, like
using a telephone poll as a club or throwing a car at someone.
• Perspective Tricks
Spend Momentum to either enlarge yourself even further or to “shrink” yourself down to Scale size 0. Anything you are wearing or holding changes with you — this does not include other characters. When you grow, you reach Size Scale 2, standing between 15 and 20 feet tall, and can easily damage objects (or even floors) that aren’t solidly built just by standing on them. Stay enlarged until the end of the scene. You may only grow once per session. When you shrink, you’re still very large, but within the normal human range — typically no more than six and a half feet tall. While you aren’t comfortable in an economy airline seat or the back seat of a compact car, you fit. Stay shrunken until the end of the scene.
• Thunder Strike
Spend one Momentum and strike the ground with a club or other large weapon or even your foot. Everyone standing on the ground within Short range must make an Athletics + Dexterity roll or fall down due to the shockwave you generate. Anyone within Close range increases the Difficulty of this roll by +2.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Gigas Form (Prerequisite: Perspective Tricks)
When you purchase this Knack, permanently increase your Size
Scale to 2. If you use Perspective Tricks, you can grow to Size Scale 3 or shrink to Size Scale 1.
•• Immutable
You are incredibly difficult to harm. Gain Soft Armor 1. Once per session, when you would take
damage, don’t — instead, grant a consolation success to the attacker’s roll to purchase other, non-damage stunts.
•• Quake Step
Where you walk, the World shakes; where you stomp, buildings sometimes tumble. Spend Momentum to create an Earthquake Field Condition, extending over an area roughly equal to your Size Scale. Everyone in the Field must succeed at a reflexive Athletics roll each turn or be knocked prone. If you are using the Collateral Pool, add a die each turn.
KITSUNE
PERSISTENT CONDITION: FOX’S TAIL
From that point on, every shape that the kitsune takes has a fox tail. It can be hidden under loose-fitting clothes or disguised as decoration when the kitsune is in an inanimate form, but it is always present.
Effect: You’ve got a fox’s tail. It’s fluffy.
Momentum: Every time your tail causes you trouble or reveals your supernatural nature, add another point of Momentum to the pool.
KITSUNE KNACKS
• Do You Feel Lucky?
When you threaten someone with a harmless object, you gain a +1 Enhancement on your attempts to intimidate him. If the object is one that is realistically dangerous, like an unloaded gun or a dud explosive, the Enhancement is +2 instead. If your attempt to intimidate fails for any reason, you cannot bluff the same target again in the same way.
• Dress for Success
When you disguise yourself as a type of person by wearing appropriate clothes, others will
not question your authority in that role. Whether your disguise is a legitimate uniform or something you bought at a Halloween supply store, it’s equally convincing while you wear it, but cheap or minimal costumes require you to spend a point of Momentum to be plausible.
• Kindness of Strangers
When trying to convince someone to provide for your basic needs, like paying for food or giving you somewhere to live, reduce the Difficulty of the action by 1. The Storyguide decides what form this largesse takes, depending on the situation and circumstances of your request.
• Mortal Mask
You can change from fox to human and back without effort. You only have one human form at this point, and revert to your natural animal shape if you are Taken Out, sleeping, or rendered unconscious for any reason. Unlike shapes you adopt through other Knacks, this one does not reveal any sign of your true nature and does not have a tail.
As the Lover Knack of the same name (see p. 110). When you are engaged in a fight, as long as you do not make attacks, enemies will not target you directly with their attacks. Additionally, gain +1 Enhancement to disengage and withdrawal rolls. You must also have a partner or Followers present for this effect to apply.
• Set the Stage
When you use props to prepare a space and occupy it, you can convince others that it has the function you claim it does. Putting a microscope on a table makes it a laboratory. A bookshelf turns it into a lawyer’s or professor’s office. The pretense only lasts while you are in the place you’ve created: Anyone entering it when you are not there quickly recognizes the truth. Tongue of the Fox: You can speak to any canine, and they will answer you in their language. Most animals can reason in the manner of a young child, they just don’t care for much beyond sniffing things and eating unguarded hens.
• Under the Table
When you spend a scene indulging in a vice with someone, you steal some of their vitality. For the next scene, they have +1 Difficulty on tasks involving one Arena of your choice and you gain +1 Enhancement in the same Arena. You can only use this Knack on another player’s character with that player’s consent.
MAGICAL ANIMALS WHO REALLY SHOULDN’T BE
Example Calling Keywords: bandit, defiant, enlightened(?), hungry, rebel
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Subterfuge
Path Contacts: exhausted monk, former owner, park ranger
PERSISTENT CONDITION: INHUMAN PERSON OF INTEREST
The supernatural power that transformed you allows you to make your way in the mortal World: Despite your animal form, you can walk on two feet, interact with technology, and generally function without issue in the human world! However, you’re still a cat, pig, snake, or other animal. You can do anything your animal form could reasonably do (a bird can fly, a pig can easily devour a field of turnips), but this occasionally draws unwanted attention or ire from society, and your native form and vices can be used against you with intentional effort.
Characters attempting to use your animal traits against you gain +2 Enhancement to the roll, whether physical (such as a bonus to toss a rooster out a window due to their small size and hollow bones) or mental (such as attempting to entice a pig with food). You gain Momentum whenever this is done to your determent, or your animal nature causes you material trouble in society.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Rebel and Revolutionary
Take a Heroic Adversary or Trickster Knack.
• Standing Tall
Your form has shifted more toward that of a human, while you still possess animal features. You gain +2 Enhancement to any attempts to disguise yourself as a human, and +2 Enhancement when you take actions directly benefitting from your animal features.
• Transformation Tricks
You may transform inanimate objects into useful equipment or other inanimate objects. This takes an action and may affect any mundane object you can hold. Equipment created this way grants +1 Enhancement for appropriate uses (such as turning a shoe into a pot for a Survival roll related to cooking), or it may be more easily held and hidden (such as turning a cooler full of fish into a matchbook). Characters who suspect an item may be transformed may take an unrolled action if they have the item firmly in their possession to simply shake, stretch, or poke the item back to its original form.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Defy Heaven
Take an Immortal Adversary or Trickster Knack
•• Animal Officer
You’re reformed, or at least do a good impression of it. You have a theoretical rank and office in the Heavenly Bureaucracy, and you can call upon its resources and members even in the most unlikely of situations. Spend Momentum to benefit from an appropriate one dot Creature, Follower, or Guide Birthright for a Scene.
RAKSHASA
Example Calling Keywords: ambition, activist, businessperson, sage, warrior
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Occult
Path Contacts: inhuman rights supporter, regular rival, supernatural business contact,
PERSISTENT CONDITION: FANGED HUNGER
You’re not quite an obligate carnivore, but you’re an obviously inhuman creature who naturally craves raw meat and warm blood. Going without them for more than a meal or two may make you irritable, frustrated, and prone to hasty action. Gain Momentum when hunger driven behavior causes you material disadvantage or when indulging in raw meat an inopportune time causes serious social issues.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Everyday Devil
Gain a Heroic Monster Knack (p. 93).
• Everyday Illusion
You have cultivated an illusionary human form to navigate the world with. Your disguise is impervious to mundane scrutiny and detection by anyone with less Legend than you have; those with equal or more much succeed at Clash of Wills roll to successfully pierce it. While so concealed, you gain +2 Enhancement for any action to convince others that you are human, mundane, or harmless. You can turn your cultivated disguise on or off reflexively. If you wish to abandon your old disguise and assume a new one, you may after a session of cultivating the new form.
• Everyday Might
You can push your form past human limits. Spend Momentum to gain +1 Scale for size and force for a Scene.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Supreme Devil
Gain an Immortal Monster Knack (p. 94).
•• Supreme Might
You cannot help but be mighty. You have +1 Scale for Size and force.
SATYR
PERSISTENT CONDITION: HOOVES
Your character has hooves and may have digitigrade legs.
Effect: You’ve got hooves. Clip-clop.
Momentum: Every time your hooves causes you trouble or reveal your supernatural nature, add another point of Momentum to the pool
SATYR KNACKS
• Baser Instincts
As the Lover Knack, Lover’s Intuition (p. 110), except that you learn what the target craves or covets instead of loves. When touching another character, which may be as brief as a handshake, you gain an understanding of your target’s desires. Ask one question from the following list for free. You may roll your Knack Skill and spend one success per additional question.
• Who or what does the character covet or crave?
• Who fuels this addiction, or who can satiate it?
• Who else close to the character feels the need or effects of this addiction?
This may be used on your bandmates with consent from the player.
• Blind Luck
As the Sage Knack, Master of The World (p. 111), except that you may only use it when you are hindered by a Complication (not including Hooves). While inside a Field, you may define up to three points of Enhancements or Complications (or a combination of each) that are readily apparent to your perceptions (which may be enhanced by other abilities) but not obvious to other observers. They must conform to the Features of the Field, however — it makes sense for a shotgun to be behind the bar, but not a rocket launcher. The hardwood floors of a burning building could be expected to be weak, but the flames can’t be cold. Only three total Enhancements or Complications can be applied to a Field at a time, regardless of how many Scions possess this ability.
• Cup of Wisdom
You drink heavily to obtain knowledge. When you try to solve a complex problem, take the Drunk Condition for the rest of the scene to gain a +1 Enhancement on your rolls to solve it.
• Fruit of Passion
Choose a form of art as your driving passion. For the rest of the session, add an extra Success on rolls involving the creation of that art. After producing a work that you deem satisfactory, you can switch to another art form.
• Give Me Another
It’s easy to convince others to keep doing something that they enjoy. Roll Subterfuge + Manipulation to make a target repeat their current willing activity for another iteration. Spend a point of Momentum if doing so would put the target at risk of harm.
• Party Animal
While you pursue a passion, you can stave off the need for food, drink, or sleep for a number of days equal to your Resilience without suffering any negative effects. At the end of that period, or when you have satisfied your need, you fall into an undisturbable slumber for an equal amount of time.
• Revels
While you take part in any performance, celebration, or friendly gathering, the Scale of social actions for everyone involved is reduced by 1. You must remain present and participate actively for this ability to work.
• Wild at Heart
When you intimidate someone with your ferocity, spend Momentum to double the number of successes on the Knack Skill roll.
MODIFIED SATYR PATH: DEER WOMAN
Connections: domestic violence shelter, free clinic, public defender’s office
Asset Skills: Close Combat, Empathy
Knacks: Trample (Custom Knack), Quick Study (Judge Knack), Laws of the Land (Custom Knack), Imperfect Disguise (deer hooves adds +2 Enhancement to kick attacks)
• Trample
Your unarmed attacks against a prone opponent gain the Shockwave tag.
• Laws of the Land
When you enter a new location, you instinctively know the appropriate cultural values and what actions would violate them. If applicable, you gain a +1 Enhancement on rolls related to those values.
You sweep your eyes over a crime scene and collects clue almost immediately. Halve the time you would need to perform an investigation. Quarter it if you are also casing.
• Imperfect Disguise
You have deer hooves, giving you +2 Enhancement to kick attacks.
MODIFIED SATYR PATH: HULDER
Connections: land surveyor, construction worker, quiet café owner
Skills: Athletics, Empathy
Knacks: Forgettable (Liminal Knack), Go Around (Custom Knack), My Home is a Fortress (Custom Knack)
• Go Around
You can declare a street intersection, a natural formation, or a structure up to the size of a house as your domain for one scene. Beings below your Tier will avoid it instinctively, and you have +1 Defense against all others while you remain within its bounds.
• My Home is a Fortress
If you choose to make a house your home, it will constantly repair itself from any damage it sustains and strengthen its walls beyond normal. Treat as if you possessed the Structural Integrity (Creator) Knack, but only applicable to that structure. You can only have one home at a time.
SPHINX
Example Calling Keywords: guardian, sentinel, searcher, librarian, patient, unshakeable
Path Asset Skills: Academics, Survival
Path Contacts: antiquarian, community organizer, mobility assistant
PERSISTENT CONDITION: IN TRIPARTITE IMAGE
Your face and mind are that of a human; your body, the mighty trunk of a lion, bull, or other great animal, pulled aloft by divinely crafted wings. While your might is unquestionable, the modern World is not made for your convenience, and the lack of ready thumbs is often a problem. Gain Momentum when your lack of hands or impressive size causes you or your Band problems, or when your inhuman nature elicits a hostile response. You are Scale 1 for purpose of unarmed combat and natural speed.
HEROIC KNACKS
• A Face Without Hatred or Mercy
All attempts to ascertain your secrets, hidden motives, or other information you actively conceal suffers two additional Difficulty, as do attempts to sneak into a building or other structure you guard.
• Strangler of Kings
Your kind has gone for the throat and snapped the spines of their foes since before humanity had words for what you are. When you are in control of a Grapple, your grappled enemies do not benefit from Light Armor, and you may apply the pin or takedown Stunts for 0s every time you succeed at the Inflict Damage.
• Skybound
You have cultivated abilities of flight so fine as to challenge the Mediterranean-crossing ancestors of old. When you use your natural flight in Chase scenes, whenever you successfully gain a lap, you immediately gain another lap. In other Action Scenes, you may move an additional range band when making the Move or Disengage action.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Behold the Plain Without Shelter
Your reach is long and your grip firm. Characters of lower tier automatically fail Disengage actions against you and Chase attempts to escape. Other characters suffer your legend in Complication: Hunted. For each point of the Complication targets fail to overcome, you gain +1 Enhancement for all rolls related to hunting or grappling them for the rest of the scene.
•• Behold the Icon of Stone
Time is not a weapon that may be wielded against you. You can stay perfectly attentive and alert indefinitely, and you require no sleep or sustenance as long as you remain stationary. Nonmagical attempts to surprise or ambush you always fail, and magical attempts must succeed in a Clash of Wills against you.
•• Behold the Sandstorm and Weep
Ancient size and might have begun to return to you. You gain +1 Scale for all purposes, explicitly stacking with In Tripartite Image. However, you are now large enough that many human buildings are difficult to fit into, and impossible to enter if you want to avoid discomfort or property damage; gain Momentum when this causes you a serious problem.
SPHINX VARIANT: LAMASSU
Example Calling Keywords: abjurer, councilor, exorcist, law, protector, wise
Path Asset Skills: Culture, Integrity
Path Contacts: lawyer, judge, politician
PERSISTENT CONDITION: FORM OF SHINING SERVICE
Your face is that of a human; your body, the mighty trunk of a bull, a strangely ambulatory leviathan, or some other great animal; divine wings adorn your back. The modern World is not made for your convenience, and the lack of ready thumbs is often a problem, but somehow, this never causes issues for your involvement in civic or legal matters. Gain Momentum when your lack of hands or size causes you or your Band problems, or when your inhuman nature elicits a hostile response; problems will somehow never occur. You are Scale 1 for purpose of unarmed combat and gain +2 Enhancement for all interactions with members of government, the justice system, or related services.
HEROIC KNACKS
• The Pillar at the Entrance
Attempts to injure people under your care or protection within your range band suffer 2 Complication: Warded. For every point of Warded not resolved on an attack or other potentially harmful action, the difficulty of Inflict Damage and Critical stunts for that action increase by one. Characters in a zone indicating a building or other structure you have sworn to protect may also benefit from your protection.
• Tireless Justice
Take a Guardian or Judge Heroic Knack.
• Unblinking Eyes
During Information Gathering play, you automatically benefit from the extra clue Stunt if it would reveal a crime or deliberate deception has taken place. Other attempts to deliberate deceive you in person suffer two additional Difficulty.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Eternal Justice
Take a Guardian or Judge Immortal Knack.
•• Behold the Icon of Stone
As Sphinx Knack.
•• Bearing the Weight of Nations
When you protect the safety and well-being of characters of a lower Tier than you in your presence or in an edifice you guard, they may ignore the first injury, other Condition, or Intrigue roll that would affect them in a scene. Characters of your tier or higher benefit from +2 Enhancement to opposed rolls or +2 Defense as applicable, instead.
SPHINX VARIANT: KOMAINU, SHISA, SHISHI
Example Calling Keywords: bodyguard, champion, friendly, vigilant, watchdog
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Integrity
Path Contacts: architect, monk, sculptor
PERSISTENT CONDITION: STEADFAST BODY OF STONE
You have a dense and compact body, the might of a great beast condensed into the size of a large dog. However, you have the weight to match, and occasionally crack floor tiles, break stairs, and cause damage to mortal interiors despite your best efforts. Gain Momentum when your lack of hands or unusual density causes you or your band problems. You have Scale 1 for purposes of unarmed combat, durability, and toughness.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Behold the Icon of Stone
You may take this as a Heroic Knack.
• Loyal Guardian
You may take a Heroic Guardian Knack.
• Still a Partner
Whenever you make a Bond with another character, you contribute an extra point to it. Whenever you benefit from a Bond, you gain +1 Enhancement to the affected roll.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Endlessly Loyal Guardian
You may take an Immortal Guardian Knack.
•• Still a Lion
Your natural weapons gain your Legend as Enhancement, and they gain one of the following tags on each attack: Brutal, Grappling, Piercing, or Shockwave (Close).
•• Voice of Warning
You let out a terrifying roar or bark that stuns your enemies. Spend Momentum to make a Knack skill roll as a shockwave (medium) effect; enemies that fail an opposed Integrity (or applicable antagonist action pool roll) lose their next action.
THERIANTHROPE
There is an animal inside you that wants to get out. Maybe it’s always been there, maybe it came to you as a curse, or maybe you chose it, but now it’s a part of you that you can’t ignore. When your Legend begins, you cannot yet fully manifest your bestial side, but take on predatory qualities that make you a fierce and unpredictable hunter. Later, you will discover how to take on your animal form completely.
THERIANTHROPE KNACKS
• Bloody-Minded
You gain an additional Injured slot. If your Stamina is 5, you also gain an additional Maimed slot. This bonus is cumulative with the Bruised slots from having Stamina 3+.
• Feral Grace
You gain +1 Enhancement to all Athletics rolls that do not involve using tools or weapons.
• Howl
When you display your bestial side to intimidate another person, you gain a +1 Enhancement.
• Keen-Eyed Predator
As the Hunter Knack of the same name (p. 108).
• Predator’s Bond
As the Kitsune Knack, Tongue of the Fox (p. 164), except that you can only use it on predatory animals (which may be of any genus or species).
You automatically know when you are in the presence of someone with a Bruised or greater injury and the level of her injury. You have +1 Enhancement to follow the trail of that person until she either washes away the scent or covers it with something stronger.
• Unleash the Beast
When you fight unarmed, spend Momentum to add the Lethal tag to your attacks for the
remainder of combat.
• Wary Beasts
Unless compelled by supernatural means, ordinary animals will not approach or harm you. An observer can make an Occult skill roll with Difficulty 2 to recognize your true nature if he sees animals react.
UNDERFOLK
Examples: Dwarf, gnome, goblin, knocker, troll
Example Calling Keywords: Artisan, craft, delver, earth, shadow, wise
Path Asset Skills: Science, Technology
Path Contacts: Geologists, metallurgists, miners, safety inspectors
PERSISTENT CONDITION: UNDERFOLK
You are at home underground. You can see in the dark, and you have a natural sense of direction, including how far above or underground you are. In addition, you can sense the existence of hidden chambers by carefully exploring a wall. However, you are uncomfortable outdoors, and find sunlight to be somewhat blinding.
You increase the Difficulty of all rolls involving sight or using ranged weapons by +1 in bright sunlight. You also gain Momentum when bright lights or large open spaces hinder you.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Digger
Without tools, you can dig through earth, stone, and even worked versions of both, like concrete and brick, as rapidly as several strong people with high quality tools. If you have access to a good pick and shovel, you can dig as rapidly as a backhoe. You instinctively know how to dig safely, so your excavations will not cave in unless there’s an earthquake or some powerful entity uses some form of magic to collapse your chambers and tunnels.
• Crafter’s Touch
Without tools, you’re able to craft as well as a mortal crafter could with the finest tools available. With tools, you create crafts without peer, granting +2 Enhancement to their use or to any rolls made while offering such crafts as a gift or bribe.
• Unflagging
You’re able to work tirelessly, getting more done in less time. Add Intervals equal to your Legend to any complex actions involving physical labor you participate in.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Crafter’s Guile
(Prerequisite: Crafter’s Touch): You are able to craft objects one Tier higher than you normally could. You still must put in the requisite labor and have the appropriate materials.
•• The Nose Knows
Your sense of smell is particularly acute. Apart from providing +2 Enhancement on any Survival rolls to track a quarry and allowing you to track by scent alone, you can also inerrantly sniff out metals, metal-bearing ores, and precious stones, even through obstructions that would otherwise block scent (such as the stone walls of a mineshaft). You are able to clearly distinguish anything by scent, even if they look identical or even if they’re composed of extremely similar materials.
•• Gremlin Syndrome
The workings of craft, mortal or otherwise, are utterly transparent to you. When looking at a machine or piece of infrastructure, you may ask the Storyguide the most efficient way to break it — they’ll answer truthfully. Once per arc, you may declare that a complex machine is on the verge of breakdown and describe precisely how it will fail. This prediction will come true within the scene.
WATER SPIRIT
Examples: Nixie, Rusalka, Vodanyo
Example Calling Keywords: Current, deep, flowing, quick, tide, wave
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Empathy
Path Contacts: Dockworkers, fishers, lifeguards, marine biologists, sailors
PERSISTENT CONDITION: WATER SPIRIT
While water spirits from different parts of the World look different, all are roughly humanoid. Some look perfectly human except for a persistent dampness in their touch or on the clothes, while others may be covered in fish scales, or have features from various aquatic animals like frogs or turtles. Regardless of their appearance, all of them can breathe water as easily as they can breathe air, ignore underwater obstacles, and swim as fast as they can run. However, all water spirits are also tied to water. At least once a day, a water spirit must immerse herself in a sufficient amount of relatively clean and pure water and remain in it for at least half an hour. A very large bathtub (think the big claw-footed kind) or hot-tub-sized body of water will do, but most ordinary tubs are too small. Failing to do so results in the Drowning in Air Condition.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Breathe With Me
While underwater, you may provide air to up to your Legend in other characters who cannot breathe water. Doing so is always a valid opportunity to form or reinforce a Bond
• False Face
While underwater, you have absolute control over how you appear to those above the surface. You may use this as a disguise (a dolphin, for example), but you may also use this to mimic a particular person who you have seen before. In both cases, this imposes a Complication equal to your successes on a Knack Skill roll. If not bought off, observers who succeed will know that something uncanny or strange is happening, but they’ll still believe that you’re whatever you appear to be.
• Swift
You increase your Scale speed by 1 when swimming. You can breach the surface in acrobatic displays — treat this as a vertical jump from a solid surface and apply Scale. Underwater, gain access to the following stunt, which may be purchased on Athletics rolls:
Slipstream (variable): By swimming past a target at high speed, you catch them in your slipstream and drag them with you, forcing them to move along with you for the turn. To resist, they must succeed on an Athletics roll, difficulty equal to successes spent.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Ride the Flow
You are one with the water, and so have learned to travel through it in novel ways. Spend 1 Momentum to immediately travel from one body of water to another body of water that you could not otherwise reach, so long as they’re connected in some way. For example, you could swim from one sink to another in the same build- ing, or up the channels of a dam. You may also use Ride the Flow to instantly relocate yourself in the same body of water, up to medium range.
•• Undertow
When you are in or close to the water, your grip becomes stronger. Add Enhancement equal to the Size Scale of the body of water in question — a stream you could wade across grants Scale 1, while the Pacific Ocean would grant Scale 5. The water in question need not be natural.
•• Whisper From the Deep
Your hearing is inhumanly sharp. You never suffer penalties due to darkness (though you can’t do tasks that require vision, such as identifying wires by color, through hearing). You can focus on conversations up to long range; underwater, you can pinpoint sounds at extreme range. You can also transmit sounds underwater, up to long range, even making them audible above the surface.
WINGED
Examples: Anzû, harpy, peri, tengu
Example Calling Keywords: Aloof, messenger, peregrine, sky, unfettered, wind
Path Asset Skills: Athletics, Survival
Path Contacts: Extreme athletes, mountaineers, pilots, wilderness enthusiasts
PERSISTENT CONDITION: WINGED
You appear basically humanoid, except that you have a pair of wings, which may emerge from your back, take the place of your arms, or express themselves in some other way. These wings can have any appearance – batlike, bird-like, or even moth, butterfly, or dragonfly wings.
You can fold your wings so that you can walk through doors, but you have difficulty with cramped spaces because the wings still take up space when folded. You gain Momentum when hindered by environments made for humans. You will also need to cut holes or otherwise alter your shirts can jackets to accommodate your wings. You cannot fit them under an overcoat or suit jacket. You can conceal your wings with a poncho or a cloak, but you look like you have a small backpack or some other object on your back. You must have space to fully spread and flap your wings in order to fly, but when you fly you move at Scale 1 speed. If you have almost enough space to spread your wings, you can partially spread them to slow your fall, but cannot fly.
HEROIC KNACKS
• Grasping Sky
Gain Scale 1 for the purposes of lifting objects (or people!) into the air.
• Razor Pinions
Your feathers have a razor-sharp edge, granting them the Brutal, Messy, and Worn tags (Scion: Origin, p. 122).
• Swift
You increase your Scale speed to 2 while flying. You can only travel at this speed when moving in a straight line, not when attempting to maneuver, and can only use it in combat when either charging or attempting to flee from a battle. You can purchase this Knack twice, allowing you to have a Scale speed of 3.
IMMORTAL KNACKS
•• Lover’s Cloak
Love conquers all, even shape. Once per session, when a character you have romantic feelings toward is present, you may assume a mortal shape for the duration of the scene. If you forge a romantic Bond with that character, you may retain your human shape indefinitely. If the Bond is fully expended, Lover’s Cloak immediately fails. If the character is mortal and knows you’re a Denizen, Lover’s Cloak won’t work with them.
•• Mesmerizing Song
Your song has mystical qualities that draw others in and, if you so desire, entrance them. When you perform, either with your voice or with an instrument, you may make a Knack Skill roll; successes on this roll become a Complication applied to everyone who can hear the music, which if not bought off causes them to lose interest in anything besides listening enrapt. Higher Tier beings may make a Clash of Wills to
resist the effect entirely.
•• Pathfinder
Winged peoples are often messengers of the gods, and if not the gods, then of others who dwell in strange realms, for birds know no borders. You automatically recognize any passages to other realms, such as gates or Axes Mundi, including any requirements necessary to make use of them. Your ability to travel throughout the World’s realms does not protect you from the consequences of doing so — a god who wishes not to be bothered will find it much more convenient to smite you up close than personal than he otherwise would.
WOLF-WARRIOR
WOLF-WARRIOR KNACKS
• Favored Weapon
As the Warrior Knack Master of Weapons, except that you may only add one tag. At the beginning of the session, choose one of your weapons to be your favored weapon. When you use your favored weapon, add a single additional tag point. This does not have to fit the weapon’s existing profile: A sword can be made to strike at far range, for example (but good luck running over to pick it up). Spend Momentum to switch the benefit to another weapon. Negative cost tags cannot be purchased with this Knack.
• Helping Hands Make Idle Work
When you look for help among people who support your cause, you can always find someone willing to offer it. Their aid is humble and limited, but can include providing shelter, sharing supplies, gathering information, or providing a distraction for your actions. Where applicable, treat this help as a +1 Enhancement.
• I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
When you formulate a plan for a complex action that furthers your cause and involves your allies, roll the appropriate Knack skill. Your number of successes on that roll become a pool of Enhancement bonuses for anyone taking part in the plan to draw from when playing their part in it.
• Inspiring Act
When you demonstrate how to perform a task by doing it yourself, you can give an ally a +1 Enhancement to do the same action.
• One of the Crowd
When you hide in a group of people, anyone trying to locate you must roll at +1 Difficulty
to identify you through any means (direct observation, record searches, divinations, etc.).
• Rallying Presence
When you lead a group in combat, spend Momentum to give every member of the group an additional Bruised damage slot for the duration of the battle. The bonus does not apply to you, and goes away if you are Taken Out or otherwise defeated.
• Still Kicking
Once per scene, when you would normally be Taken Out by damage, you may spend Momentum
to ignore all effects of the attack that did so, including suffering an Injury Condition.
• Strength in Numbers
When using Teamwork (see p.65), you increase the maximum number of successes you can add from 3 to 5 and can have multiple people rolling to assist you. To get the benefit of more than 3 uccesses, you must have a number of helpers at least equal to the number of successes rolled.
MODIFIED WOLF-WARRIOR: CLASSICAL AMAZON
Connections: Amazon warband, defeated enemies, close kin
Skills: Athletics, Close Combat
Knacks: Armorbound (Warrior knack), Favored Weapon (spear or bow only; Warrior knack), Shield Wall (Custom knack)
When you wear no armor, you are considered to have the Armored (Soft) Tag. This benefit stacks with the increased difficulty of the inflict damage Stunt granted by any other armor you wear when you fight lesser foes (minor characters, or anyone a Tier lower than you).
At the beginning of the session, choose one of your weapons to be your favored weapon. When you use your favored weapon, add a number of additional Tag points to it up to your Warrior Calling. These do not have to fit the weapon’s existing profile: A sword can be made to strike at Far range, for example. Spend Momentum to switch the benefit to another weapon. Negative cost Tags cannot be purchased with this Knack.
• Shield Wall
Against opponents in front of you and within your line of sight, your allies in the same range
band as you gain +1 Hard Armor.
MODIFIED WOLF-WARRIOR: DAHOMEY AMAZON
Connections: ruler, battalion, ex-husband
Skills: Firearms, Survival
Knacks: Apex Predator (Hunter knack), Favored Weapon (rifle only; Warrior knack), Spray n’ Pray (Antagonist knack)
When a target of lower Tier who you have been pursuing attacks you or otherwise attempts to hunt you in return, increase the difficulty of all Stunts they apply against you by 1. If this target is your quarry, increase it by an additional +1.
At the beginning of the session, choose one of your weapons to be your favored weapon. When you use your favored weapon, add a number of additional Tag points to it up to your Warrior Calling. These do not have to fit the weapon’s existing profile: A sword can be made to strike at Far range, for example. Spend Momentum to switch the benefit to another weapon. Negative cost Tags cannot be purchased with this Knack.
• Spray n’ Pray
The Antagonist makes a single attack roll, subtracting three dice. If successful, the attack is applied not only to the intended target, but to any other potential targets within close range of the intended target. The attack exhausts the weapon’s magazine, if it has one.
MODIFIED WOLF-WARRIOR: SHIELDMAIDEN
Skills: Close Combat, Leadership, or Pilot
Knacks: Favored Weapon (sword only; Warrior Knack), Their Fort Standing (Guardian Knack), Berserk (Custom Knack)
• Berserk
When you take an Injury Condition, you fly into a rage. For the duration of combat, you gain +1 Enhancement to all attacks and ignore any and all Injury Complications, but you cannot distinguish friend from foe.
At the beginning of the session, choose one of your weapons to be your favored weapon. When you use your favored weapon, add a number of additional Tag points to it up to your Warrior Calling. These do not have to fit the weapon’s existing profile: A sword can be made to strike at Far range, for example. Spend Momentum to switch the benefit to another weapon. Negative cost Tags cannot be purchased with this Knack.
• A Fortress
At the start of a combat scene, roll your Knack Skill with 1 Enhancement. Gain the following Stunts which you may spend the resulting successes on, each time you successfully Defend (e.g. an attack targeting you does not hit).
- Get Out of Here (1s): A target you are protecting immediately makes the Disengage action.
- Second Wind (2s): Heal a −1 Injury you have taken, including Injuries sustained by your Armor.
- My Turn (1s) Make one additional attack action against an opponent that attacked your charge this round.