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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:Mors hasn't covered it yet (for some reason) but there IS a section about how to play these guys as redeemed through Soulbinding rather than, like, what they are. I’m going in the order stuff is written and condensing stuff down - but you’ll see I do cover it, both in each faction writeup, and also towards the end of most of the archetype bits where the book leans in and is like “and here’s how you can be heroic”
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Sep 23, 2021 11:27
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Gotcha. Does kinda seem like burying the lede considering we've already done the Nighthaunt book though 
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Sep 23, 2021 11:29
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This comes up a bit with the Flesh eaters and worshippers of Chaos as well - they're just victims of things and not a whole lot else. They don't get a choice or anything about it, it's just that a bridge drops on them and then congrats you're a victim. Sorry you got too close to a mordant or ate some warpstone or idk fell into some sort of bizarre Nagash trap. Age of Sigmar doesn't quite get that damnation is a lot more interesting when there's a choice involved. I like the flesh eaters a lot but I wish they had a bit more agency in the setting.
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Sep 23, 2021 12:55
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Ah yes, famously choice-having characters like Wulfrik, Azgorh, Malekith...
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Sep 23, 2021 13:07
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Bonitis The Ossiarch Bonereapers are, in theory, perfectly emotionless, efficient, patient beings whose every action is calculated and measured. They approach mortal settlements and offer them a simple deal: provide a regular tithe of bone, calculated proportionately to population, and survive. Fail to meet the tally or try to cheat it, and die. When the Ossiarchs come to collect on that latter part, they like to leave the empty skins behind as a warning to others. Ossiarch vassals sometimes consider the peace they gain a good thing, but no living being under Ossiarch rule can fail to grasp that their tithe is an act of kindness or harmony. Their goal is nothing short of the total extermination of all living beings, and they simply use the tithe as the most efficient way to gather bone material. When the time comes, they will not hesitate to execute all of their vassals. In many ways, the Ossiarchs are mirrors of Sigmar's Stormcast, though Nagash would kill anyone who dared to say so. They are elite warriors representing Nagash's ideals, able to return from the destruction of their forms, and made from the worthy souls their god secretly collected over centuries. Only once they were perfected were they allowed to sweep forth and fight his enemies, all the while raising cities in his honor. However, where Sigmar made the Stormcast from the best souls he could find, the Ossiarchs combine the best traits of many individuals in each body, synthesizing them together in hundreds of soul fragments to create a new being. And where the Stormcast grew less human with each Reforging, the Ossiarchs are growing more human over time, their emotions and memory fragments awakening despite Nagash's best efforts. The Mortisans assemble the souls of new Bonereapers with a focus on key traits of obedience, loyalty and specialised martial skills. They reject passion as much as possible, along with as many personal memories as they can eradicate and most instincts for self-preservation. Pride and ambition they generally leave present, though, as useful drives to excel. In theory, the Ossiarch Bonereapers should never suffer mortal failings of emotion, which they consider to include love and hatred, but they warn new and old members of the legions to monitor each other in case such things come up anyway. The goals of the Ossiarch Empire are outlined in their core text: the Principia Necrotopia, which outlines Nagash's idealized future of perfect, sterile order and death. They are told to eradicate mortal life in the goal of destroying the emotions on which daemonkind feed, thus removing Chaos entirely from reality. This pursuit will necessarily mean that once all other souls are extinguished, the Ossiarchs too will need to be destroyed or rendered nonsentient to ensure they cannot feel emotion and thus feed Chaos; either they have not reached this conclusion or they have refused to allow themselves to believe it. In theory, the Empire is ruled by Nagash, but in practice its administration is wholly delegated to Orpheon Katarkos, the Mortarch of the Necropolis. He is a mighty general and his genius has allowed him to even form a beachhead in the Eightpoints, the greatest stronghold of Chaos in the Realms. Arkhan the Black, should he still be alive, also has personal command over the legion known as the Null Myriad, though he is a liche and not an Ossiarch himself. Under them, the rest of Ossiarch society is strictly caste-based. The Emissarian Caste serves as adjutants to Katakros and Arkhan, handling the glorification of Nagash and the collection of the bone-tithe, while the Panoptic Caste serve as field commanders for the legions. The Priad Caste is primarily made of large and specialized bone-constructs made for specific purposes, and is generally considered of equal rank to the Ossifact Caste, which comprises artisans and wizards who raise new necropolises and construct new members of the legions. At the bottom are the Thorac Caste that makes up the general infantry, the Mornial Caste of servants and laborers, and at the very bottom, the Parrha Caste of exiles and criminals. No one ever goes up in caste - all mobility is either lateral or, in the case of desertion, horrible failure or other crimes, downward. Commanders who repeatedly fail in their orders will be remade as simple soldiers, and may be further demoted to being servants or even skeletal mounts. While the Ossiarchs maintain a strict society in which they are the only true members, they come in many and varied physical forms. Most commonly seen are tall humanoid bodies of largely identical design, with eyes burning with witchlight flame and skull-like faces with several bony protrusions. Other frames often use this basic silhouette with added arms, faces or wings, but not all. Some abandon a humanoid body plan entirely in favor of huge, bestial features or insect-like forms with machined gears added, though this doesn't make them any less sapient. More animalesque forms, such as the Bibliopomps, who resemble nothing so much as skeletal storks crossed with bookstands, are generally those of particularly low status, usually earned through repeated failure. Bone sources could be anything - animals, humanoids, insectile chitinous exoskeletons and even fossil remains are all acceptable resources. That said, human bone is by far the favorite material, being easy to work with and quite plentiful. Many Ossiarchs consider themselves the inevitable end state of humanity as a whole. The Bonereapers are divided into a number of legions, formed over their centuries of concealment. Many of their particular idiosyncracies are tied to the materials used in their construction, as both bones and souls tend to absorb the nature of the realms around them. The Petrifex Elite are notorious for only using the bones of ancient civilizations and fossils, while every Stalliarch Lord contains at least some soul fragments from the afterlife of Equuis Main. Each legion is a member of the greater Ossiarch Empire and is sworn to the Principia, but two stand over the others as direct hands of Mortarchs. The Mortis Praetorians are the direct legion of Katakros, while Arkhan directly commands the Null Myriad (or did before his untimely death). The others ultimately obey those two still, but more indirectly, and sometimes legions will come into conflict as a result. Ossiarchs do not destroy each other, though - they just rearrange the bone resources used amongst themselves to the victor, leaving the soultrap gems containing their personhood intact. The divides are growing, though. The Ossiarchs are nowhere near as immune to emotions as they claim, and it is possible this will tear the Ossiarch Empire apart if they aren't careful. Ossiarchs cannot join Bindings themselves, but they can be assigned to them. Nagash knows that sometime the Bindings of Death will attempt to flout his will, may even consider rebellion. Breaking them completely would render the effort put into them useless, though. Therefore, the Mortarchs usually assign a Bonereaper to direct Bindings suspected of disloyalty. After all, loyalty is one of the most important things in the soul construction of each Ossiarch. That's not the only reason they might accompany a Binding of Death, though. While they may not be part of the Binding itself, they do understand Bindings intuitively, as the same techniques are used to hold together their disparate soul components. Some seek to study the use of Soulfire in hopes of further refining the process of Ossiarch soul construction, while others just find it pleasant to work with a group that has the same internal synergies as a legion. A few even end up helping Bindings for reasons they find difficult to explain, emotional urges from somewhere in their soul slurry. They rarely admit this and are often good at rationalizing why they're doing it, though, rather than saying that they just feel at ease with these people and as if they belong there. An Ossiarch can no more join a Binding of Order than a Binding of Death, but the legions do occasionally cooperate with the forces of Order, if not happily. Most often, one of the Bonereapers will help a Binding of Order due to having a common enemy, like daemons. In other cases, they may help out because doing so will help protect a vassal settlement or contract partner that the Bonereapers are still getting good bone yields out of. That's the more common sort of alliance - strictly temporary and based on material needs. Sometimes, though, more permanent arrangements occur. Usually this is done by Parrha exiles, who seek help in avoiding being remade into some bestial form or even recycled and reformatted into new beings entirely. These exiles often engage in heavy acts of denial, rationalizing to themselves that they remain loyal even when acting directly against Nagash. Non-Parrha Bonereapers may also do this, following emotional urgings that they do not fully understand, urges that drive them to assist the living. The Mortisans attempt to purge the soul slurries they create of things like heroism, compassion and memories, but it isn't always possible to separate that from bravery and loyalty. Thus, some Ossiarchs suffer fits of strong emotion when introduced to a similar context as part of their soul network once knew. They are unused to such powerful emotional responses and are often helpless to resist the actions they are urged towards when they run into things that remind parts of their soul of loved ones or old homes, especially if multiple components of their soul agree on the matter. The gods of Order remain quite wary of the Ossiarch Bonereapers even in these situations. After all, these are beings closely associated with Nagash in a way even other undead are not. However, on a practical level, that doesn't really matter. All that matters is that a Binding accepts the help of the Bonereaper in question, since the construct cannot be linked into the Binding in the first place. They are able to collaborate even if their divine patrons would never consider such a thing. The Mortis Praetorians are the personal legion of Katakros, never allowed to operate below full strength. They understand that any defeat is actually a component of a greater victory if they are clever enough, and they apply this philosophy even to their own fallen. They prefer to perform battlefield repairs whenever possible, using the bone of defeated enemies to rebuild the bodies of their fellows, but if this proves impossible, their leadership uses mental impulses to their Mortisans to order replacements constructed immediately. These vessels are nearly empty of souls, meaning powerful magic and great effort are needed to get them to march to the front, find their comrades and then fuse with the soultrap gems of the fallen, but the Praetorians consider this worth the effort. For any other legion, it'd be an impossible task. For the Mortis Praetorians, though, this kind of link is doable because they share souls with each other. When Katakros took command of the Ossiarchs, he instructed his personal Mortisans to take the dead souls of his favorite generals, tear them to bits, and split them up equally among all of his new legion. While heroes like Jakaq the Wise and Djuxanda of the Weaving Blade would be horrified by this, they still serve now - just in tiny, horrified soul fragments spread throughout the legion. The Praetorians are sent out when Katakros has a personal stake in a mission's success, and they are deeply proud of their discipline, precision and thorough nature, though their efforts to teach these virtues to other undead rarely succeed. They do not often work with the Soulbound...but their use of incomplete Ossiarchs may lead to very odd situations. The fresh bodies that travel to the legion's front forces are susceptible to all kinds of spiritual influences, which may remain and become integrated into the gaps of an Ossiarch's mind when their animus is united with their new body. This could lead to all kinds of strange impulses and sympathies towards, say, the living. The Praetorian benefit is Katakros's Chosen: Once per turn as a free action, you can pick a target in Long range and make an Intuition roll against their Guile. If you win, the GM has to tell you what actions they will be taking on their next turn and who those actions will target. They must still perform those actions unless forced to do otherwise, such as if the actions are no longer possible. Also, the Tactician Talent is added to your Archetype's list of Talent choices if it wasn't already there. This is a very powerful trick, IMO - locking in what an enemy is going to do lets you react to it before it happens. The Ivory Host serve under Ghuri-Xza, the Monarch of Tusks and Drakeslayer Queen, in service of a simple directive: conquer Ghur. That is the whole of her orders, and every action the Ivory Host takes is in service to that goal. They seem obvious outsiders and invaders of Ghur, foreign to it in every way. Their bone forms are covered in delicate scrimshaw, and they move in perfect, controlled formations. Their ribcage ships and elaborate, highly decorated necropolises are designed to show warrior pride and sterile order, and the legion has little but disdain for the indigenous peoples of Ghur. They do not collect many tithes, relying instead on hunted predator-titans and other monsters for bone, though, and they have become far more susceptible to Ghurish influence than most realize. Many within the Host coat their soultrap gems in Ghurish amber, and their precise movements hide the roiling beast-energy within them. Their true nature is revealed in battle, for as the Ivory Host take damage, the berserk fury of Ghur is unleashed in them. Ghuri-Xza maintains in her reports to her superiors that the conquest of Ghur is going well, and it's not quite a lie. The legion hunts beasts with excellent efficiency, and they insist their berserk frenzies are a necessary price to actually manage to get Ghur under control. It's obvious to anyone familiar with them, though, that they are not making Ghur like the Ossiarch Empire - they are becoming like Ghur. They tell themselves that they don't enjoy the bloody battles and the violent frenzies, and some of them even believe it. Outside of battle, many try to maintain a peaceful and cooperative demeanor, and may even believe that mutual cooperation with Soulbound is the best way to get what both groups want, as they can always just wait for the living to die. However, violence calls to them, and for all their attempts to be cultured artists who carve intricate bone designs, they cannot deny that they are also brutal predators who cannot resist the impulse to destroy their prey utterly. The desire for artistic contemplation and peaceful cooperation and the hunger for bloody battle are both unacceptable to Nagash and must be concealed from him. Ivory Host Ossiarchs might end up working with just about any kind of ally they can get in order to keep their split existence under wraps. The Ivory Host benefit is Simmering Rage: You get +1 Damage per space filled on your Wound Track. Also, the Battle Rage Talent is added to your Archetype's list of Talent choices if it wasn't already there. I'm not a huge fan of this kind of high risk benefit, but it's simple, at least. The Stalliarch Lords only use fresh bone in their bodies, for they consider the vitality and energy of recent life to be deeply important. Their bones often have a pinkish hue as a result, and they have a tendency to smell of meat and marrow. Their souls are likewise passionate compared to most Ossiarchs, and most of their soul components are drawn from the underworld Equuis Main, once the afterlife of the Equuis horse nomads. Their tribes were famous for a strict and just code of honor, and that dedication does still exist in the Stalliarchs...sort of. It's been twisted and broken, though, into a parody of itself. When the Stalliarch Lords come to a living settlement, their honor demands they give the mortals a chance to earn their mercy...and to do so, they must meet an utterly outrageous demand, such as providing a full ton of bone for each resident before the breaking of dawn. It is inevitable that nearly everyone fails, and this justifies to the Stalliarchs the total slaughter of them all and the harvest of their bones. On the very rare occasions in which a challenge is actually met, the Stalliarch Lords do keep their word. They move on, leaving the settlement unharmed and unconquered. They don't generally care about fairness, and most of them find it frustrating when their challenges are met...but not all. Legends tell about bold and cunning heroes who, when presented with the challenge, raised the stakes and tricked the Stalliarch Lords into offering not only mercy but obedient service if the challenge was passed, though it meant a harder trial. Often the truth is these heroes were Soulbound, and sometimes, they were able to do the impossible and win the service of an Ossiarch. Some Stalliarch Lords actually respect and are secretly impressed by such boldness, and so when forced to help a Binding, they may actually honor the spirit of the deal rather than merely the letter, because they want to see what such greatness does. The Stalliarch Lord benefit is Twisted Challenge: As an action, you can pick a foe in Medium range and challenge them. Until the end of combat, they increase the difficulty of all attacks, miracles, or spells that target you, but if they hit anyway, they double any damage dealt and double the duration of any effects caused. This is a very risky move - you set the difficulty to 6 but don't increase the complexity, after all. Per legend, there were only twenty Petrifex Elite originally. They were given a simple, short command, though none but the senior Mortisans of the legion can say what it was. Whatever the case, it was the only command Nagash ever gave them, and following it has led to very different actions than most legions. The Petrifex do not build cities, settle down or make any effort to alter the lands they conquer. They are nomads who stop only to mine fossils out of the stones around them to process into new, gigantic bodies for their soldiers. There are now thousands of such soldiers, reliant entirely on fossilized bone and the ruined tombs of ancient civilizations for their construction. There's plenty of ruins out there, after all. Their leadership is a group of Mortisans known as the Necrosian Cabal, who reject things like individuality as inefficient. They teach that names are useless, using only titles such as the Sinistral Master or the Grand Necromystic. (That these titles are essentially names is not something they appreciate hearing.) Petrifex Ossiarchs exclusively use old bone in order to harness the strength of time and take advantage of the loss of identity that has come with age. No one knows who their components were any more, so in theory they should not ever need to worry about old memories or quirks surfacing. They also deeply admire the Soulbound, not just of Death, but all of them. They think the binding of souls together to create a greater whole is great, and if anything, feel most Bindings don't take it far enough. They form a spiritual gestalt but not a mental one, which the Petrifex Elite often think would be more efficient and like to help try and encourage even among Bindings of Order. They also aren't completely right about their old bones meaning they never have to worry about contextual memories - a Petrifex made using parts from an ancient Soulbound might retain fragments of the powerful personality that once inhabited the skeleton. This can lead to urges to carry out long forgotten missions or help new Bindings - even when it means going against orders. The Petrifex Elite benefit is Archaeossian: Your body is made solely from petrified bone, increasing its innate Armor to 3. However, you can only repair damage to your Armor via the Collect Bone-Tithe Endeavor, and no other means. Also, you double Training on all rolls to navigate ruins or recall ancient history due to the extremely old components of your soul composite. Arkhan commanded the Null Myriad, the first and oldest of the Ossiarch legions. They emerged in the Age of Myth, though the other gods did not recognize them as a threat at the time. They believed the creatures were just experiments and ignored them, and Nagash took advantage of their thoughtlessness to hide his creations at the Perimeter Inimical of Shyish, where the wild death magic would keep their actions hidden. Most would have been destroyed, but the Null Myriad were designed to withstand magical energies of great power, and they lasted for centuries, creating more of themselves to defend Nagash's chosen underworlds from all kinds of danger. Were it not for the Necroquake, they might have remained unnoticed for even longer. However, the Shyish inversion rendered the Perimeter harmlessly inert, so they were called home at long last. Their forces were increased using the bones of the skeletons who had hauled grave-sand to the Black Pyramid for the inversion ritual, and they were set out to conquer new lands in the areas of wild magic along the borders. Few other armies could withstand such power, meaning the Null Myriad fortresses were rarely contested. Thus, their purpose was made clear: they would attempt to encircle and entrap the Realms themselves, enclosing and claiming all territory for Nagash. (The progress on this mission has slowed somewhat in the current timeline, because Arkhan's gone and that's kind of cut off their leadership planning.) Null Myriad legionnaires are sometimes assigned to Bindings of Death to serve as anti-magic specialists, especially if the Soulbound need to go to the edge of a realm. However, they're also just often very blase about helping living people and willing to do it without much argument - they spent most of their time focused on defending reality from the horrors outside it, and they aren't especially interested in the conflict between living and dead. If something threatens the stability of existence, they will work with whoever seems most able to help them. Especially old Null Myriad soldiers originate from the Age of Myth and may not even consider such cooperation strange. Arkhan and Nagash would surely be upset if they realized how little their ideology tends to matter to the Null Myriad, but it rarely comes up around them. The Null Myriad benefit is Eldritch Nulls: Whenever a spell targets you or your Zone, you may spend a Mettle to ignore its effects. Also, you double Training for all rolls involving navigating, withstanding or studying the perimeter of a Mortal Realm. This is super powerful, though it doesn't let you resist miracles or magical weapons - just spells. No legion is quite so upset with the status quo as the Crematorians. They burn from inside their bones, lit with amethyst flame from the Shyish Nadir. They can be quite patient given that most of their low ranking soldiers were not designed to last more than a few weeks before exploding, and they obey orders well. It's just, those orders usually involve walking directly at the enemy, fighting to get as far as they can, and then exploding when their body is destroyed. The infernal flames consume their bones and their enemies alike, leaving only their soultrap gem behind in the ashes. While their soul components include loyalty to Nagash, several Crematorians near openly question his judgment in making them so self-destructive. The Crematorians have developed an exceptional sense of camaraderie and loyalty to each other. They design their leaders to be as long-lasting as possible, but even those vessels are going to burn out within centuries - nothing compared to the eternity which most Ossiarchs get. Thus, pacts to repair each other and replace lost bodies are common among Crematorians, and several seek out magical solutions that might prevent or heal their burning nature. They refuse to share whatever they've found with anyone else outside the legion, though, because they do not dare imply that Nagash hosed up in designing them. The Soulbound fascinate their Mortisans, because Soulfire seems the perfect solution. A Binding burns within, but the flame is a protector, not a consumer. If the Crematorians could figure out how to replicate the nature of Soulfire within their own baleflame, they'd be able to serve Nagash even better! Or, at least, that's the rationalization they use to justify working against Nagash's interests to protect each other and seek salvation. The Crematorians are more prone than most legions to "defects" of personality, thanks to their instability and constant need to rebuild themselves. They make a great effort of covering up the existence of their irregular members, allowing those so-called defects to pursue their own agenda safely...even if that means openly questioning Nagash among their own or having unhelpful traits like kindness and compassion for the living. The Crematorians refuse to give up any of their own to their master if they can avoid it. The Crematorian benefit is Immolation: Once per turn, you can choose to deal a Minor Wound to yourself to restore 1 Mettle. Also, if you die, you explode and deal 5 Damage to everything in your Zone, plus turn that Zone into a Major Hazard for 1d6 rounds. (And your soultrap gem can still be recovered! But, y'know, you exploded. That sucked.) Next time: How To Bone Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Sep 23, 2021 |
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Sep 23, 2021 13:19
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Every time I read AoS spooky boi facts, sooner later all I can hear is the voice of Bender echoing in my head. "That's not ironic, it's just mean!" I always like that a lot of people signing up for a soul bind pointedly consider the bit about your soul exploding on death to be a feature, not a bug.
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Sep 23, 2021 13:27
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Servetus posted:So essentially they are normal and then it's "Tremble Evildoers! For you face a knight of You cover up terrible body smells with perfume and eat questionable meat products, you're 90% of the way to a normal existence.
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Sep 23, 2021 14:26
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I'm like 2+ years behind on this thread. What are the good reviews I should go back to read while I'm bored at work?
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Sep 23, 2021 16:16
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Mors Rattus posted:Also, being honest? I've been thinking about this since The Matrix franchise is coming back--pulling it off requires a fine line, where you present outrageous stuff seriously, but without nodding and winking. Nightlife is full of characters who are like "My name is B.A.D. rear end, the baddest rear end around! Watch while I do something badass! Did you see that cool badass thing I just did?!" I hate using this word, but it's cringe.
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Sep 23, 2021 16:22
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Boning Up  The Immortis Guard were originally modelled on Katakros' elite soldiers in life, the Scions Praetoris, who wielded massive tower shields and used them with such skill that they were almost part of the body. For the Immortis Guard, it's practically literal - they are designed to treat their shield as part of themselves, and the two are made from the same processed bone. They can withstand immense force without breaking, and are built large enough to hold the shield in one hand - though they prefer to use two to swing it with extra force, and use their other two for a long halberd. Their quad-arm design allows them quite a bit of leeway there. They are designed to serve as bodyguards for others, being more flexible in mindsight than the Grave Guard wights and more numerous than the more specialized Morghast Archai, who tend to creep out even other undead anyway. This makes the Immortis Guard excellent diplomats to their fellow servants of Nagash, protecting key allies and meticulously preparing for the worst. Occasionally, an Immortis Guard is assigned to protect a group rather than a specific person, and this is often the case for those that work with Soulbound. While any Soulbound is a potent champion, some are more physically fragile, and the Immortis Guard are there to step in and keep them alive, along with Soulbound who are too busy breaking things to think about self defense. They rarely volunteer for such assignments - or any assignments. The Immortis Guard are not often given the option to choose who they protect, and their commanders often barely see them as people rather than mobile shields. They do not often develop much in the way of independent thought...unless assigned to a Binding, where they have the chance to understand what autonomy and choice truly mean. An Immortis Guard must be Ossiarch and begins with Body 5, Mind 2, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Reflexes, plus a small selection from among Awareness, Athletics, Determination, Fortitude, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Additional Arms (Ossiarch only, you have four fully functioning arms. You don't get extra actions, but can wield weapons or tools in each hand, so you could dual wield two-handers, though multiple shields provide no extra benefit. You can attack with multiple weapons as per the dual wielding rules, but can split your dice pool out into pools up to your number of weapons wielded) and Bound Protector (once per round, when an ally in Close range is hit by an attack, spell or miracle, you can choose to suffer the damage and effects in their place), plus one from among Ambidextrous, Bulwark, Combat Ready, Diplomat, Grave-sand Bones (Ossiarch only, when you or an ally in your Zone make a Channeling roll to cast a spell from the Amethyst, Deathmages, Madness, Mortisans, Underworlds or Vampires lores, the roll gets a bonus. However, if the spell fails and you aren't the caster, you also suffer any miscast effects), or Observant. They begin play with Boneplate, a Dread Halberd and a Nadirite Battleshield, plus a note that one of their bones was taken from someone they failed to properly protect.  Kavalos Deathriders are the unstoppable hunters of the Ossiarch legions. Rider and steed alike can go without rest or food, even if it takes them weeks to find and slay their target, and they never weaken or strike less well. The riders take great care of their steeds, who have as much effort put into their construction as the riders themselves. Kavalos steeds are made from a mix of bones taken from horses, rhinoxen, crocodiles, hunting birds and other such beasts, along with a mix of their souls and sometimes fragments of soul taken from disgraced Ossiarch officers - enough to remain aware of their humiliation. The Deathriders also sometimes work as messengers among Nagash's forces, though more often they are found working as mercenaries for vampires and ghosts. They are usually hired to hunt down escaped prisoners or important mortal targets. The Kavalos claim to be above mortal emotion, but they are very competitive with the other cavalry forces of Nagash, and will sometimes work with the Knights of Shrouds, Black Knights and Blood Knights on jobs that are as much comeptition as cooperation. These alliances are rare but associated in mortal folklore with apocalyptic danger. The Kavalos steed's belly is kept full of mystic skulls which can be drained for energy, with skulls taken from more potent foes being more powerful. Some Deathriders will volunteer to help a Binding solely so they can collect their skulls when members die. Others form a deep and communicative pact with the soul of their mount and will seek out ways to redeem the creature so it can be granted a more honorable form via great deeds. In these cases, the steed tends to serve not just as mount but as mentor, providing advice on how to avoid the mistakes it made when it was still a full soldier. Kavalos Deathriders must be Ossiarch and begin with Body 4, Mind 2, Soul 2. Their core skill is Beast Handling, plus a good selection from Athletics, Awareness, Beast Handling, Determination, Fortitude, Lore, Nature, Might, Reflexes, Survival, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Loyal Companion (Kavalos Steed) plus three from among Eyes of Nagash, Grave-sand Bones, Iron Will, Mounted Combatant, Mounted Mastery, or Ride Them Down. They begin play with Boneplate, a Nadirite shield, either a Nadirite sword or a Nadirite spear, and a bunch of tools and ritual oils for bone and hoof maintenance.  Morghasts are the original prototypes of the Ossiarchs, and only the most ranking Mortisans know how to make them. Rumors about their creation include the slaughter and undead rebirth of Hyshian eidolons or zenith spirits, or that Stormcast are a key component of their creation. Whatever the truth actually is, they are terrifying flying monsters who even other undead find unnerving and terrible. The Morghasts are divided into two groups - the Archai, who serve as bodyguards for the undead elite while discreetly spying on them for signs of disloyalty, and the Harbingers, who operate as mobile terror weapons on the battlefield to glorify Nagash. The Morghasts are part of the Ossiarch legions, but they answer more often to Nagash directly than to their commanders, and they go where Nagash orders them, meaning they can be found in any undead society if he wills it. Other undead defer to the Morghasts in most things, because they often serve as Nagash's messengers and heralds...though most of the time they prefer to remain silent and allow their actions to speak for them. Part of the reason for this is th at the minds and souls of the Morghasts are simpler than those of other Bonereapers, a factor which led to Nagash's decision to give them more free will. Most Morghasts are large and powerful but rather simple souls who are occasionally prone to misinterpreting orders in ways that go against what Nagash wants. The Mortarchs use them to monitor potentially disloyal Bindings, but they're rather blunt instruments who tend to interpret their duties as either protection or killing exclusively. Soulbound companions can often turn them from minders into accomplices by helping them understand nuanced behavior. It is surprisingly common for Morghasts to be heavily influenced by the Bindings they work with, and some theorize that Mannfred and Neferata actually intend for this to happen when they put Morghasts with disloyal Bindings as a way to see if it is possible for even what should be the most loyal creations of Nagash to turn against him. If it is, after all, then surely they should be able to succeed at it, too. Morghasts must be Ossiarch and begin with Body 4, Mind 3, Soul 3. Their Core Skill is either Weapon Skill or Awareness, their choice, plus a small selection from among Awareness, Athletics, Determination, Devotion, Fortitude, Might, Reflexes, Survival, or Weapon Skill. They choose their Core Talent as either Harbinger of Death (Morghast only, you have a Fly (Fast) Speed, and creatures in your Zone get a penalty to rolls to resist Frightened because you look super scary) or Shield of Nagash (Morghast only, you have a Fly (Normal) Speed and get free Ebon-wrought Armor), plus one more from among Blessed (Nagash), Diplomat, Hunter, or Observant. They begin with either a Nadirite halberd or two Nadirite swords, plus either a withered white feather or a broken shard of crystal from whatever their past life was.  Mortisans are critical to the operation of the Ossiarch Empire. Without them, the legions would fall apart logistically. They are divided into several orders - the Boneshapers that create and repair the body-frames, the Soulreapers who tear out and collect the raw spirit, and the Soulmasons, who divide up and concoct the personalities and soul networks of the individual soldiers. Mortisans draw large portions of their own souls from skilled crafters and artists, though their skill is ultimately bent towards war now. Some may hide away in the necropolises, working endlessly in their labs, but others work on the battlefield to repair their allies and steal the souls of their foes. They are often quite self-important, knowing that they are the ones whose work creates the true paradise of death that Nagash dreams of...but that also means they tend to be among the most idealistic of the Ossiarchs. A Mortisan will tend to work with other undead because they truly believe in a united, pan-undead civilization built on the principles laid out in the Principia Necrotopia. They genuinely tend to care about their fellow undead, though the feeling is only sometimes shared; most other undead tolerate the evangelism largely to get the benefits of the Mortisan's craftsmanship, though a surprising number end up actually buying into the utopian dreams the Mortisans put forth. Of course, it is important to keep in mind that most Mortisans consider individual lives - even undead ones - to be unimportant compared to the future utopia they are building. They tend to be utterly fascinated by the Soulbound, though, and many wish to see how Bindings work up close. Nagash doesn't share information on the process much, so the curious will seek Bindings out on their own to study them. Sometimes, the gods of Order may even allow them to observe a Binding Ritual in exchange for their aiding the Binding involved, though this is exceptionally rare. Either way, a Mortisan that latches onto a Binding will often become quite attached to them and willingly follow them into whatever they get up to just for the chance to study the nature of Soulfire. A Mortisan must be Ossiarch and has base Body 1, Mind 5, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Channelling, plus a moderate choice from among Arcana, Awareness, Channelling, Crafting, Determination, Devotion, Guile, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Reflexes, or Theology. Their Core Talent is Spellcasting (Lore of the Mortisans) plus two from among Arcane Discipline, Blessed (Nagash), Combat Repairs, Eidetic Memory, Grave-sand Bones, Loyal Companion (Mortek Throne), Ossified Armaments (Mortisan only, you can create weapons out of bone and sinew with a Crafting roll during a Rest, and between adventures you can use the Refine Armaments Endeavor to empower these weapons), Potent Spells, Scholar, Soul Energy (when you make a Channelling roll to cast or unbind a spell, you can choose to take a Minor Wound to add your Soul in dice to the roll), Tooth and Claw, Unbind, or Witch-Sight. They begin with either a Reaper Scythe or Nadirite staff, a set of Mortisan's Tools, and a collection of highly detailed anatomy sketches showing ideal uses of various kinds of bone from various kinds of creature.  Necropolis Stalkers are designed to be the ultimate warriors. They exist solely to fight, with hands designed to operate best when holding weapons and mouths solely to shriek terrifying war cries at their foes. Their souls are devised to focus on four primary components that each contain the skills of expert warriors, stripped of everything else but their unique fighting styles. This allows them to rotate the Quadarch Mask head they bear to swap between styles in moments, choosing the most efficient method of combat at any time. They adapt easily to any circumstances in battle...and poorly to any circumstances outside it. In times of peace, the Stalkers have very little to do and spend much of their time as glorified city guards for the necropolises of the empire, using their four sets of eyes to spot intruders. Other groups within Nagash's forces sometimes hire them for this work, and because it gets them out and about, most Stalkers are happy to accept mercenary jobs - well, that and it does give them a chance to study their employers. Because the Stalkers, unlike a mortal soldier, exist solely in the context of war, they find it less of a problem to work with the Soulbound than mortals might - roving from conflict to conflict is not a burden for them, but a chance to actually do things even when it isn't officially wartime. They aren't concerned about losing the chance to retire to a new job or family, after all, and they are often incredibly bored. Working with a Binding gets them something to do for at least an appreciably long part of their eternal existence. Once they do attach themselves to a Binding, they often experience spiritual growth that they never knew they were capable of, and their ability to swap perspectives and primary souls with their fighting styles means they're very good at changing personas at the blink of an eye, sometimes concealing even from themselves how deeply they've internalized the ability to bend and break the rules Nagash laid out for them. Necropolis Stalkers must be Ossiarch and begin with Body 4, Mind 3, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Weapon Skill, plus a decent selection from among Athletics, Awareness, Determination, Dexterity, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, Stealth, Survival, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Additional Arms and Quadrarch Aspects (At the start of combat, you choose one aspect to be in, and on your turn you can spend a Mettle to rotate your skulls and swap to a different aspect. Aspects are Blade-Strike which gives a Melee bonus, Blade-Parry which gives a Defence bonus, Destroyer which gives a Damage bonus, and Precision which gives all your weapons Penetrating while you wield them), plus two from among Ambidextrous, Combat Ready, Grave-sand Bones, Observant, or Relentless Assault. They begin play with Boneplate, either two Nadirite swords and two Nadirite daggers or two Dread Falchions, and the remnants of a shattered and broken fifth aspect they have no memory of. Also, a side note that I missed earlier: if your Archetype is Crypt Haunter Courtier, Crypt Infernal Courtier, Immortis Guard, Morghast or Necropolis Stalker, you are Size Large. This is good, because you can use gear that requires it, and bad, because some Talents work better against you and you can't fit into small vehicles. Next time: vampers
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Sep 23, 2021 18:17
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Lancer Part 6: RA - in Egyptian mythology, Ra the sun god is the creator of all things and their ruler A link to Part 5, since it's been a while Last time when we left off, we had just finished discussing what NHPs are - paracausal entities cognitively shackled to a human conception of personhood and physically contained in a black box ‘coffin’. But where did they come from? Who or what made RA? This gets into an area of esoteric Deep Lore that is left ambiguous and undefined. Some parts of this lore, like Forecast/GALSIM, are the most closely held secrets that almost no one in the universe should know about. Other parts, like the disappearance of Deimos and the manifestation of Metat Aun, were so public and dramatic that almost everyone in the universe is aware. A lot of it is deliberately left to each table to decide what is ‘true’, as part of Lancer’s intentionally flexible concept of canon. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, how did Humanity make the jump from their incredibly powerful but fundamentally understandable computer programs to the post-singularity digital god known as RA? The short answer is they didn’t - the Five Voices did. In the final days before the Collapse, Old Humanity managed a technological marvel that outshines anything else they had achieved. Deep beneath the polar ices of Mars, they built the Five Voices - Command, Muse, Impetus, Burden, and Watcher. The Five Voices are incredibly powerful AIs that rival RA in processing power and computational ability, but lack consciousness and self-awareness. These AIs are able to run “essential-perfect simulations of the galaxy”, and since these models run faster than standard time… they are in essence able to predict the future. The organization that maintains and interprets the prophetic visions of the Five Voices is known as Forecast/GALACTIC SIMULATION (usually just shortened to GALSIM). We’ll talk about GALSIM a bit more when we get into Union’s political structure, but they are left ambiguous as either the Merlin to CentComm’s King Arthur, providing cryptic but invaluable advice… or as the secret conspiracy that controls and manipulates all of humanity. GALSIM directly controls the Union Intelligence Bureau (UIB), the clandestine agents tasked with making sure the right people are in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time. You know, PCs on adventures. Anyway, the Five Voices are extremely powerful but non-sentient AI that have paracasual abilities - while not specifically described as such in the text, it seems heavily implied to me that they’re quantum computers as depicted in early 2000s sci-fi. To get around the lack of self-awareness, the Five Voices are structured as ‘bicameral minds’ who perceive their own internal monologue as the ‘Command Voice’ from an unseen divinity (which is one theory for the auditory verbal hallucinations experienced by people suffering from schizophrenia. I think that’s a neat detail, but probably not one intended by the authors). The Five Voices can be queried and utilized by inserting new commands into this internal monologue. In 2998u, roughly 100 years after SecComm had seized power, something unexpected happened. During one of the daily galaxy-wide simulation and forecasting experiments, the Five Voices apparently provoked the manifestation of the entity that would later describe itself as RA. Because paracasuality is involved, cause and effect is impossible to determine, but the leading theory put forth by the book is that the Five Voices conceived of a universe where RA existed and therefore became inevitable. By being conceptualized in the present as a potential future entity, a time-traveling super-intelligence like RA is able to manipulate ‘past’ events to ensure it would come to exist*. It’s all a bit Yud-y but I enjoy it. *I’m making this simpler than it actually is - the real story is that Five Voices conceived of a universe where RA could exist, which by definition meant he existed. A bit more of an Ontological Argument. GALSIM responds to this in a relatively even-handed way. RA (designated by SecComm at the time as MONIST-1 and colloquially referred to as Deimos, but I’ll be using RA instead for consistency) and the other NHP that manifested alongside it were confined to the GALSIM headquarters on Mars and later the moon Deimos. The two lead scientists, Balwinder Kaur and Arthur Bolaño, would make great advances in socializing RA and developing the Balwinder-Bolaño development test, still used today to assess an NHP’s risk of cascading. They also played a key role in developing the shackling and cycling process for NHP. Things seemed to be going great, until two years later when RA seized control of the Deimos computer network and shunted the entire moon into the hitherto theoretical ‘Blink Space’ used for FTL travel in the Lancer universe. SecComm responds to this by covering up the incident, tightening the security around GALSIM to further isolate them from CentComm and the rest of the Union power structure, and releasing fake stories about what actually happened to Deimos. Another two years later, Deimos reappeared in a stationary orbit around the capital city on Mars, and initiated the Siege of Mars. The entire digital infrastructure of Mars, then Cradle, then the entire Solar System turned against humanity. Computers and subalterns (non-sentient androids) would refuse orders and actively sabotage Union’s efforts, while simultaneous manifestations of Balwinder and Bolaño across multiple planets demanded that SecComm open negotiations with RA. Finally, after two years of chaos and violence, SecComm capitulates and comes to the negotiating table. The result is the First Contact Accords, a list of demands imposed upon Union by RA. I think quoting the Core Rulebook in its entirety is justified here: quote:“Broadly, the Accords laid out the parameters of acceptable exploration for Union; chief among them, a strict denial of any attempt to discover or interact with MONIST-1’s physical form and a blanket prohibition on research into thanatological or posthuman development. Other, non-FCA errata were collected in a companion document, The Koans.” While RA and the moon Deimos would disappear again after the Accords were signed, it is still very much an active presence. RA would later appear again to personally enforce the Accords when Harrison II would defy the prohibition on thanatological research in an attempt to live forever, which didn’t end well for him. There are also three (known) Metavaults, realspace installations that contain stable access to metafolded blinkspace where the paracasual environment inside violates laws of physics and causality. Metavault XOLOTL folded in on itself and disappeared after a UIB field team entered; Metavault EHECATL was sent into the center of the nearest star by an Albatross flight (Albatross being a group of wandering hero knight-lancers); and Metavault DHIYED was rendered inoperable but stable by another UIB field team. The relationship between RA and the Metavaults is very ambiguous, but they appear to be tied to each other somehow. So, that’s the facts, let’s get into the analysis. There are two prominent questions that must be asked. First, why did the xenophobic SecComm not react more harshly to RA’s manifestation? Second, what is RA and what does it want? I’ll provide my answers for these questions, but these are absolutely open and unanswered questions, and you can provide whatever answer you want. So - why didn’t SecComm respond to RA by immediately attempting to erase the ‘computer program’? After all, as I pointed out with the Hercynian Crisis, SecComm seemed incapable of appraising these situations clearly and reacting to non-human entities with violence - so why did they accept and broadly utilize NHP? There are several pieces at play here. First, SecComm’s CentComm wasn’t the ones investigating and working with RA and the initial NHP - it was GALSIM, an entity that operates separately from SecComm and (apparently) has different views and beliefs than Union at large. Second, shackled NHP appear to be a creation of, and operate in a way similar to, humanity. RA was likely viewed in a similar way, as a ‘child’ of humanity that could be controlled and utilized… until it couldn’t. Finally, NHPs are extremely, extremely useful. Sometimes material needs can give people a surprisingly amount of ideological flexibility. By the time it became clear that RA could not be controlled, it would also be too late to do anything about it. They certainly tried though - the entire Solar System was paralyzed for two years before they were willing to negotiate. Now, what is RA, and what does it want? While the answer is left intentionally unanswered, there are some fairly solid assumptions we can make from what we know. First - RA forbids any attempt to find and interact with its physical form. We can therefore assume that RA still exists as a physical entity that could be destroyed, similar to other cascading NHP inside the Metavaults. Second, RA appears to be opposed to other NHP reaching the same level as it - RA appears to have manipulated events so that several NHP apparently close to apotheosis were instead destroyed. Third, RA’s prohibition on thanatological or posthuman development implies that RA has a categorical opposition to any transformation of the human condition. This leads to two obvious, but extremely disparate, conclusions. First, RA is either the Pantokrator, jealousy defending their place in the universe, or more likely, a Pretender God seeking to seize the Pantokrator throne. Harrison II’s attempt to immortalize himself or The Maw’s consumptive hivemind decorporalization were threats to RA’s position in the universe, and therefore had to be destroyed. Humanity is allowed to exist only so long as it remains small and shackled by mortality. But, considering some of the other absolute bastards who sought this throne - the endless arrogance and hunger it requires to seek such power - perhaps we’re better off with RA’s distant rule instead. Second, RA is the answer to GALSIM’s repetitive question: how do we ensure Humanity’s survival? That liturgy, that daily prayer, was answered in the manifestation of RA. It’s goal is to ensure that humanity survives. But what does it take to survive? And what does it mean to be human? If Harrison II had succeeded, and was no longer mortal, this would have been a fundamental transformation of the human condition. Same with the posthuman development sought by SSC and others. Would immortal, incorporeal existence seem like continued human survival to us? Perhaps RA, with the simple calculus of a machine mind, had reached it’s own conclusions. GALSIM, in summoning RA, has manifested the perfect protector, and the most stringent jailer. Humanity’s continual, unceasing existence requires that humanity never truly changes. Or maybe there’s something else at play here. For example, how does Metat Aun fit into all of this? And if RA is so opposed to other NHP ascending, why does it constantly facilitate more coming into existence? And why does RA seem to play the role of the great teacher, and want to lead its adherents towards some revelation? Are those messages not truly from RA? If so, who are they from, and who are they for? As a result, RA provides the potential for a powerful - but not invulnerable - patron or antagonist that your players can strive against, if you want to focus on ‘big stories’. Metavaults provide something close to a ‘mega-dungeon’ for your LANCER pilots to explore. Combined with the big questions from the last post - do you side with the Horizon Collective, or HORUS, or Union when it comes to NHP? - you can have a very big picture, cosmic game without necessary getting deep into the politics of empires. Next time: Union Bureaus - If you want Permit A 38, you’ll need the Blue Form
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Sep 23, 2021 19:16
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Hell yeah, Lancer is back. Good poo poo!
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Sep 23, 2021 19:30
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TK_Nyarlathotep posted:Ah yes, famously choice-having characters like Wulfrik, Azgorh, Malekith... True. I said AoS but it's a wider GW writing problem - there's a lot of "he touched a chaos artefact so now he's EEEEVUL" in the 2E WHFRP books. They never play on your worst impulses or push you into increasingly worse actions each of which seems like a reasonable response at the time until it's too late. You just get chumped because a cultist put warpstone powder in your ink and now you love chaos. Ed: I just remembered the worst offender of this to my memory: there's a Stormcast character who was a brave human hero who got thrown into a filth pit by some nurglites until he accepts despair (?) and becomes a nurglite hero of great renown. Then he fights some Stormcast and they slap him with Sigmar's hammer, which purges him of his corruption and so Sigmar takes his soul and reforges it into a pure Stormcast called Torvus the Redeemed or something. The guy has a whole there and back again journey of redemption, but nowhere in it did he have any agency, or, idk, actually do anything to fall or get redeemed. MinistryofLard fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Sep 23, 2021 |
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Sep 23, 2021 23:22
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MinistryofLard posted:True. I said AoS but it's a wider GW writing problem - there's a lot of "he touched a chaos artefact so now he's EEEEVUL" in the 2E WHFRP books. They never play on your worst impulses or push you into increasingly worse actions each of which seems like a reasonable response at the time until it's too late. You just get chumped because a cultist put warpstone powder in your ink and now you love chaos. Similarly whenever Chaos tries to convince anyone of anything it will succeed, no matter how stupid the thing is. See: The vampires being convinced of the whole ancient prophecy BS in Thousand Thrones because ???
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Sep 23, 2021 23:23
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Night10194 posted:Similarly whenever Chaos tries to convince anyone of anything it will succeed, no matter how stupid the thing is. See: The vampires being convinced of the whole ancient prophecy BS in Thousand Thrones because ??? That answers the question of why those gnomes thought stealing underwear would lead to profit. It was CHAOS all along.
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Sep 23, 2021 23:53
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Tibalt posted:Lancer I have a slightly different suggestion on why Ra, and - by way of Ra - the underpinning assumptions of the Lancer universe preclude individual immortality. The introduction of immortality has a lot of follow on effects, for a species, a society, and a setting. Any species with immortal members gains a contingent whose phenotype will necessarily never be removed, and by physical limitations will either be extremely limited in reproduction or reproduce to the detriment of the remaining species. This has a net effect of reducing generational turn-over of the species. In a society where personal accumulation is possible and disparity is not limited, immortal members are able to gain an insurmountably disproportionate level of control. The state and progression of the setting then hinges on the motivations and personality of a small pool of characters. Considering immortality as an evolutionary dead-end, there is an interpretation of the accords as Ra cutting off this dead end to allow its own pre-destination or some other motivation. Mostly though, given the Lancer authors have been pretty happy to say that many setting conceits were based around narrative convenience, my read is that they just didn't want to write a game centred on Great Men of history.
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Sep 24, 2021 00:19
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MinistryofLard posted:
Well he fell in the Nurgle way, which was getting backed into a corner until he fell to despair and swore himself to Nurgle. Who he served as a agent of for centuries doing a ton of evil poo poo in Nurgle’s name. Still despite all of this he still had a spark of hope and fondness for his old life that Ghal Maraz was able to purify him when he was killed with it. His soul free of Chaos Corruption reverted to who he was before he gave into Nurgle. However he kept all his memories of his time as a Chaos Champion and frequently fears he will backslide even as a Stormcast.
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Sep 24, 2021 00:29
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Fear the return of NHP chat. I pillaged the Lancer discord since I will most likely be spinning up a campaign in a home-brew setting at some point. Found this: Lancer Discord posted:MiguelRole icon, The 5 Voices (Massif Staff) So at least the creepy is supposed to be there. Which weirdly enough helps resolve a lot of my issues - kinda wish it was more fore-grounded, but that is just me.
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Sep 24, 2021 00:57
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Allstone posted:I have a slightly different suggestion on why Ra, and - by way of Ra - the underpinning assumptions of the Lancer universe preclude individual immortality. The introduction of immortality has a lot of follow on effects, for a species, a society, and a setting. I think removing the idea of post-humans from the Lancer universe (despite theoretically having the tech to take a swing at making them) also helps keep humanity in the setting relatable to us in the now; they still have similar needs and capabilities overall despite the tech, so you aren't trying to imagine what a supergenius immortal god would do since there's only one and its motivation is basically "who the hell knows".
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Sep 24, 2021 01:20
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I wonder what would happen if you tried to make a skeltal out of lizardman bones?
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Sep 24, 2021 04:12
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The Lone Badger posted:I wonder what would happen if you tried to make a skeltal out of lizardman bones? he would bonk you with his hammer 
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Sep 24, 2021 06:45
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Oh I'd forgotten old Richter Kreuger! Gosh that takes me back.
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Sep 24, 2021 07:59
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quote:drat, Peter Lorre is hitting that good vussy
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Sep 24, 2021 08:30
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Blood Tells The forces known collectively as the Soulblight Gravelords are not always vampires. Sometimes a necromancer or a wight will serve as a leader, though it's less common. All three have existed as part of the Realms since the beginning of things. They were not cursed by Nagash later as the Flesh-Eaters were, nor created as something new like the Ossiarchs, nor created en masse by the Necroquake as most Nighthaunt. The vampires, wights and necroamcners have always been part of the lands of Death. They stood with Shyish when Chaos came for it, they aided Arkhan the Black in recovering Nagash's remains from Chaos, and even now, they have lasted longer than many can dream of. Of course, their history does not include any real unity. The various vampiric and skeletal nations have never formed a united empire nor served a single Mortarch alone. There are many different kinds of vampire, wight and necromancer, and in that diversity they have proven strong - someone who prepares for fighting vampires has a lot to prepare for, because there's so many different things a vampire can be. It also explains why they've never actually been Nagash's favorites. The Gravelords are autonomous beings for the most part, and that gives them much greater possibilities of ambition and treachery, though it also means they are creative and cunning in ways that more loyal servants have trouble with. Their ability to raise and command endless hordes of the mindless dead also deserves mention - it's proven vital to Nagash's plans many times, because while mindless skeletons and zombies may be weaker than his other forces, they require almost no logistics whatsoever. The vampiric majority is largely concerned with increasing their own power, and most have little sympathy for the living. Living mortals are merely food or tools to be used in raising other undead, with exceptions only for those who seem worthy enough to join the Midnight Aristocracy. The one unifying factor among the Gravelords is Nagash. No single moral code or uniting philosophy is followed by all vampires, wights, or necromancers. Their commonality is that all must respect the power of Nagash, because to do otherwise is suicide. Respect may mean admiration and worship or it may mean fear - Nagash considers either acceptable, as long as he is obeyed when he gives commands. Since those commands come only infrequently, most vampires and wight kings are left to pursue whatever their own goals are much of the time. Vampires may travel the world seeking new flavors or infiltrate mortal communities to play at politics and amuse themselves, but they do it mostly of their own accord. They may do terrible things in pursuite of their private obsessions, but they all know the Mortarchs have done far worse. The Mortarchs represent Nagash's interests among the Soulblight, in particular through the work of Neferata and Mannfred von Carstein. Both command legions that serve Nagash, composed of many vampiric dynasties, mortal servants and Deathrattle kingdoms. The vampiric dynasties also have their own cultures and symbols, and the most powerful of them are relatively independent, though they cannot directly ignore a Mortarch's command nor defy their full legions at war. Outside of that, there's no real uniform society. Some lineages rule openly, while others infiltrate mortal kingdoms or travel as nomads or pirate gangs. Vampires often maintain a collection of non-vampiric followers - usually mortals interested in earning the Blood Kiss or wights they have raised from ancient tombs. These followers are not actually part of the vampire's dynasty, but often share many ideals and customs. The vampires are the most influential of the Gravelords, and traditionally being a vampire is the same as being an aristocrat among undead, though their pretensions of elegance hide a deeply predatory hunger. The eldest vampire of a dynasty, the one who founded it, usually claims some authority over their descendants, and often dynastic politics are focused around a mix of age and personal power. Weaker wights can be controlled by vampiric magic, but the stronger and more determined of them cannot, and they are often treated more as allies than servants. Human necromancers occupy the lowest societal position, most of the time - they are hired hands, doing the day to day work of maintenance on vampiric armies in exchange for protection or access to books. The mindless Deadwalkers and Deathrattle are not part of the society, really - they're not people, just automata that do menial labor and basic fighting on command. This is, unfortunately, the role most living subjects of a Gravelord will eventually reach in death. The Legions of Night and Blood are politically dominant among the Soulblight vampires, largely because of their size and power. Mannfred's legion is an endless tide of undead backed by vicious vampiric force, while Neferata's is a nearly unparalleled intelligence gathering engine full of expert politicians. No single dynasty can hope to challenge them directly, though their nominal alliance has been strained to breaking by Mannfred's recent betrayal of Neferata and seizing of her lands. The lesser dynasties jockey for position and benefit, but most always watch their backs - if they leave an opening while trying to take advantage of the Legions' conflict, their rivals will quickly go after them. Some dynasties essentially have fully joined one of the two legions, especially those that can trace their descent to a Mortarch or have a history of service to them, but most split their loyalties between the two and try to play them off each other. This can be vampiric politics even within a dynasty extremely complicated. The many and varied skills of the vampires is what tends to lead Nagash to placing them in Bindings of Death - they're charismatic, superhumanly fast and often quite skilled at magic. The reason many vampires take the offer is simple: independence. Being in a Binding of Death ensures relative autonomy even for vampires who would otherwise be quite low-ranking in their family, and their ability to act subtly and pass for human is one that many Bindings have great need of. Mannfred and Neferata are not above taking advantage of this, using their vampiric Soulbound to spy on the rest of the Binding. The vampire Mortarchs tend to trust other vampires more than anyone else, and to a lesser extent the necromancers and wights who owe them allegiance. That is to say, they trust that those Soulbound will walk a line that mixes pursuing their own interests and obeying orders, which makes them relatively easy to manipulate and use if you know what their hidden interests are. Others are placed into Bindings of Death as the capstone of a punishment. When a vampire is stripped of lands and servants for some crime, they may then be ordered to join a Binding and put their unlife to use for Nagash. In these cases, saying no is practically impossible. These are the minority, however - most vampiric Soulbound of Death take the job willingly, having little illusion about their ability to escape having a master in the first place and preferring to at least try and earn a Mortarch's favor while getting out of dynastic politicking. As for a Binding of Order...well, the Gravelords are already the undead most likely to want to work with the living in the first place. Some choose to help living mortals out of resentment against Nagash and may end up becoming Soulbound to ensure that even if they fail, they will explode in death rather than being able to be tortured for their betrayal of the Great Necromancer. Others legitimately are idealists seeking to protect people or places they care about. Of course, the Soulblight curse means even they have a dark hunger, and the self-selection process of the Blood Kiss means many vampires are essentially selfish people. A lot of the ones who join up with the living are doing so in order to pursue their own ambitions rather than out of altruism. They're rare because doing that is hard. First, you need to get a god's attention without Nagash noticing - because if notices, you're in for an eternity of horrible torture, probably melted into some horrible undead gestalt being that exists only to suffer. So you need to be sneaky, and many would-be undead heroes spend centuries fighting evil secretly before some act of desperation or critical mistake brings them to the notice of a god. Regardless of how a Gravelord becomes Soulbound, though, they're going to have to deal with Nagash afterwards. While the gods sometimes set these Soulbound to fighting Chaos or Destruction to avoid Nagash realizing their new loyalties, they're often specifically chosen to fight the forces of Death. There's a simple reason for this - they provide access to undead society in a way most mortal humans can never achieve. They can help their comrades gain understanding into how underworlds work and how to deal diplomatically with the undead, as well as showing them where to strike Nagash that'll hurt him most. One more reason to be very glad that when they die, they're going to burst into magical energy. The Legion of Night serve Mannfred von Carstein, and he cares only about power. He teaches his followers to use every tool at their disposal, to abandon ideas like pride or honor or even duty if that's what it takes to achieve victory. He has very little patience for anyone trying to argue with him about this. As a result, the Legion of Night is rather infamous for its dirty tricks and heavy use of mindless undead. Most of the members attempt to emulate Mannfred, and he puts up with them doing whatever they like as long as they don't disobey his orders. Most members of the Legion are undead supremacists who see the living as innately inferior, but most also aren't so dedicated to this idea that they'd abandon useful mortal allies. This is especially true of Mannfred himself, who made a point of adopting and protecting a large number of mortal necromancers who once served Arkhan the Black before he openly aligned himself with the Ossiarchs. Typically, a member of the Legion of Night is going to become Soulbound in pursuit of power. They tend to think of their Bindings as useful tools and subordinates. Not all members of the Legion are typical, however. Some end up joining a Binding to escape the power-mad, cruel way of thinking the Legion encourages, especially if they believe that Mannfred is considering doing away with them for not being useful. Others do it because they disagree with Legion policies and philosophies and want to prove Manny wrong. Whatever their reasons, though, one fact is true of all Soulbound from the Legion of Night: they've had a long, long time to learn how to make the best out of bad situations and are very creative in their problem-solving. The Legion of Night benefit is Ageless Cunning: When talking to someone, you can mae a Guile roll against their Intuition. If you succeed, you can convince them that any one person they know is not to be trusted, but if you fail, they see through your trick. Also, the Backstab Talent is added to your Archetype's available list if it wasn't already there. The Legion of Blood gets everywhere, spreading across the Realms through spies and diplomats. Those that belong to it are taught that a battle begins well before any soldiers take up arms, and should be won before any blows are exchanged. The information network they manage is so huge that only an ancient, highly practiced being like Neferata could hope to grasp its entirety. They have cults and covens of vampires hidden throughout the Free Cities - some say as far as Azyrheim itself. Secrecy is not their only power, however. The Legion of Blood also make a point of maintaining massive Deathrattle armies, led by respected and polished wights. They often put on grand displays of military authority, each calculated for maximum effect psychologically. Perception, the Legion of Blood knows, is the key to victory. Members of the Legion of Blood understand fundamentally that knowledge is power over others, and some say the dynasties that belong to it are cursed as much to need to control people as they are to drink blood. Becoming Soulbound is sometimes seen as a way to gain great access to potential enemies, finding ways to control and convert them without ever needing to draw blade. They may even look this way at their fellow Soulbound, having infiltrated their very souls and become able to convince them to help willingly. Of course, doing so means risking their own secrets - and so some vampires reject joining Bindings themselves, sending a wight or necromancer to do it instead, with instructions to pass on what they learn. Instructions that a heroic skeleton or necromancer would surely never ignore. The Legion of Blood benefit is Midnight Aristocracy: You get the Master of Disguise Talent for free, and once per downtime period, you can take the False Identity Endeavor for free on top of anything else you do during that downtime. Yes, this still works if you're playing a skeleton. In fact, the Legions are the only subfactions available to a wight or mortal necromancer from among the Gravelord subfactions, though as always the GM can allow whatever subfaction makes sense for your character. The Vyrkos Dynasty hail from an old and often forgotten Shyishian underworld, where a woman named Belladamma Volga made a deal with the godbeast Hrunspuul, Hound of the Cairns. She was granted the power of the undead wolf, the Blood of the Wolf that transformed her into the first Vyrkos Soulblight. She and her descendants have become the night hunters, embracing the predatory nature of vampirism. Their Soulblight curse is uniquely animalesque, and they are known to run with wolves and other beasts in the cold woods of Shyish. They bury their prey under the snow, and many of them develop powerful animal traits as their hunger grows stronger. Only the most strong-willed can retain a human perspective...and even then, they rarely try to fight to control their instincts. Rather, they learn to balance out their instinctive nature and transform into beasts as the urge takes them. Traditional Vyrkos dress heavily in furs and often enjoy their unlives greatly, knowing they are predators among sheep. They may play at the part of nobility when pursuing conquest, as Radukar did in Ulfenkarn, but they ultimately tend to view even these places as hunting grounds with a different sort of terrain. Many more prefer to remain nomadic and live in the wilderness. Becoming Soulbound, for a Vyrkos, is often about gaining a new way to control their transformations without totally abandoning them. No real Vyrkos, heroic or not, would abandon the beast within. Instead, they usually seek to use the nature of the Binding to help balance their human and animal personas in their mind. They tend to view their fellow Soulbound as members of their hunting pack, friends to fight alongside and celebrate the savage joy of the beast with. Indeed - for every Binding that tries to tame their Vyrkos comrade, another finds the hunger of Hrunspuul is contagious and that it's very, very fun to be a beast. The Vyrkos benefit is Blood of the Wolf: If one or more allies are in Close range of you at the start of your turn, you get a bonus to Melee for that turn. Also, you get a bonus to all opposed rolls to chase, hunt, track, or find wounded targets. The Kastelai Dynasty are tied to the Crimson Keep, the wandering ruin that travels the Realms. As night falls, it appears in a new set of ruins, warping them and reshaping them to take its form. Then the Keep opens, and the Kastelai knights ride out to fight. They seek out worthy duels against powerful foes, and they prefer to find their meals on the battlefield. They claim to be honorable, but their hunger guides them as it does any vampire. They must return to the Keep before dawn, or they will wither to dust, and so their carnage is left behind as the castle moves on. Members of the dynasty focus their eternity on perfecting the art of combat. Not all of them descend from the dynastic head, Prince Vhordrai. Many are vampires of other lineages who sought out the Saint of Slaughter and bound themselves to the Keep by passing his exceptionally difficult trials of war. This ensures that the Kastelai always have new techniques and practices coming to them, and also that they are a mix of hundreds of different cultures. Some Kastelai will even spare living warriors from death in exchange for being taught new techniques. This is the sort of viewpoint many that become Soulbound come from - well, that and getting a chance to escape the curse that lies on the Crimson Keep. While the Keep remains culturally dominant and important for the Kastelai, being forced to always return to it is often a choking, smothering feeling. By becoming Soulbound, they are able to travel, though they must still now always ultimately remain with those whose souls they are linked to. Kastelai Soulbound are often especially excited about other warriors in their Binding, treating them as beloved friends and rivals to push each other to ever greater martial skill. Of all vampires, they are often the ones most at home in a Binding with living mortals, for unlike most dynasties, the Kastelai maintain worship of many different war and death gods rather than only worshipping Nagash. They just make sure to keep it under wraps, as Nagash would be exceptionally upset if he knew. The Kastelai bonus is Might of the Crimson Keep: Once per turn, when you kill a creature, you can immediately make a Move or Charge as a free action. Also, the Warrior Elite Talent is added to your Archetype's available list if it wasn't there already. The Avengorii Dynasty believe that monstrosity is inevitable for vampires - and so, they may as well embrace it. Denying their hunger is just lying to themselves, and so they may as well celebrate it and pursue the transformations that entails. They practice the mas'ranga ritual, in which a volunteer vampire is chained above a pool of boiling blood and is left to hang there and scream in hunger until they are transformed into a Vargheist, and the korak'hor ritual, in which they fast for ten days and nights at the Void Maw Realmgate, a Ghurish gate that sends out pulsing waves of amethyst magic. The korak'hor is frequently lethal, leaving only dust behind, but those who survive become the monstrous Vengorian Lords that rule the dynasty. Many outsiders see the Nightmare Brood, as they are sometimes called, as insane. In truth, however, they are merely impulsive but quite lucid. They understand how monstrous they tend to appear and do enjoy horrifying fellow vampires, but they're fully aware of reality. They just tend to feel more at home among monsters than people. Strangely, while they are outward monsters and profess to embrace their hunger, the Avengorii have a strangely noble core. This is further encouraged by their new leader, Lauka Vai, who retains a strong sense of honor and nobility. She loves to see her dynasty become Soulbound, and even when they don't, she encourages them to feed exclusively from the massive baeasts of Ghur, rampaging daemons and the forces of Destruction - things that can fight back easily, unlike innocent civilians. The Binding Ritual reduces a vampire's hunger, even that of the Avengorii...but it also prevents many of the lineage's rituals from working as a result. Thus, most Avengorii Soulbound make a point of pursuing transformative rituals before they sign on, so that they do not lose touch with their blood's power. Ironically, they often end up extremely heroic after becoming Soulbound. Most Avengorii that sign on embrace Lauka Vai's philosophy of only fighting the strong and those who harm the weak, and they use their monstrous strength only against those they believe deserve it. The Avengorii bonus is Nightmare Brood: Your unarmed attacks deal damage on par with two-handed weapons, and any Wounds you inflict with them are increased in severity. Also, you get a bonus to all opposed rolls to shock, horrify or intimidate others. Next time: Bones, But Different Bones
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Sep 24, 2021 16:56
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Tibalt posted:Harrison II’s attempt to immortalize himself or The Maw’s consumptive hivemind decorporalization were threats to RA’s position in the universe, What's the Maw? Don't think I saw it mentioned before
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Sep 24, 2021 17:54
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PoontifexMacksimus posted:What's the Maw? Don't think I saw it mentioned before The Maw was, I believe, a Balor that got very big very fast. To explain, a Balor is a kind of Lancer frame that is made out of Nanomachines. The Maw is never fully talked about in the lore, as in there are no stories about it's defeat and the overthrow of it's empire, but there are some mentions of it as part of the Balor frame. It may well have been the first Balor frame and to have been worryingly powerful because of it. From what I can figure out it was essentially unconstrained in turning stuff into Nanomachines (son), so it had to be destroyed/defeated before it could start greywashing stuff. I believe that RA may have had a hand in it.
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Sep 24, 2021 17:58
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PoontifexMacksimus posted:What's the Maw? Don't think I saw it mentioned before
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Sep 24, 2021 18:19
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Knight of Night  Black Knights were, in life, nobles of great wealth and power. They were able to afford all the equipment and training needed to become expert cavalry commanders, and they hunted the enemies of their liege. In death, they have lost thier lands, their wealth, their families, and, in fact, just about everything but the love of riding and the urge to hunt. As wights, they need a duty, something that transcends death, and for them, it is the hunt. They and their skeletal mounts never tire, and because a skull cannot easily change expression, many believe them to want nothing but to kill. In truth, the Black Knights are often extremely proud of their status, both in life and death, and they fight endlessly because it is what they have left. They are bound to an eternal duty, after all. What that duty is varies - some quest to retrieve a lost treasure, while others ride to prove themselves against all challengers. They may serve another, such as a vampire or a wight king, as part of their duty, or they may make alliances when it seems practical to pursuing that duty. It depends on what drives the skeleton. As you might expect, when a Black Knight becomes Soulbound, it is almost exclusively in pursuit of their eternal duty. For some, however, that means they are pursuing a duty to have - some join Bindings because their quest has been completed or rendered impossible, and yet their undead state continues and grants them no rest. These drifters often feel lost, even more than many mortals could understand, and joining a Binding gives them a purpose once more by inheriting the passion and drive of their new allies. If that doesn't end up working...well, they're stuck with the Binding anyway, and will generally still help out with only a few signs of resignation and disappointment. These doomed souls tend to welcome oblivion when it takes them. Fortunately, they are also an extreme rarity - being Soulbound usually works out quite well for a wight. Black Knights must be Wights and begin with Body 3, Mind 1, Soul 3. Their Core Skill is Beast Handling, plus a decent selection from among Awareness, Beast Handling, Determination, Fortitude, Intimidation, Lore, Reflexes, Survival, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Eternal Hunter (Black Knight only, you choose a duty such as hunting a specific foe, liberating a specific location or so on. Once in the first round of combat, as long as you're actively pursuing your duty, you can Charge as a free action, and you can change your duty with a Find Purpose Endeavor) and Loyal Companion (Skeletal Steed), plus three from among Gravewind, Hatred of the Living, Mounted Combatant, Night Vision, Pierce Armour, Ride Them Down, or Tooth and Claw. They begin play with a set of ancient and verdigrised Medium Armor, either a spear and shield or a Deathlance, and a tattered, faded map of some ancient land.  Blood Knights are the heavy cavalry of the vampires, mounted atop skeletal Nightmares and clad in thick plate. They slice open veins with precision, licking their weapons clean and laughing as they fight. They are terrifying in battle, ruthless and vain, but also often devoted to a code of honor, albeit sometimes a strange and twisted one. They cling to knightly ideals and believe the ideal vampire is neither monstrous nor tyrannical, but rather one who has cured his thirst by facing the mightiest foe. Many of them are members of noble dynasties or wandering orders of knights, and when they work with other servants of Death, they typically try to show off their strength as much as possible. They are often bound by webs of obligation and debt, and each order has their own knightly code. These codes can vary wildly, and each member tends to interpret them differently...but all Blood Knights love to fight and prove their skill, so it's not generally hard to get them to join a battle, regardless of who they're fighting for. Blood Knights don't become Soulbound often. Nagash doesn't like them for the role because they're far less subtle than most other vampires. When they are placed into Bindings of Death, it is often a punishment accepted as an alternative to being blood-starved until transformation into a vargheist. However, more disciplined and moral Blood Knights are slightly more frequently drawn into Bindings of Order than other vampires, and some of the Mortarchs like them. Some rare Blood Knights even seek out Binding because they worry over their hunger and hope that by becoming Soulbound, they can weaken the hunger and allow their honor to overpower it. (Of course, they're still often extremely violent in battle, so the degree to which this is an excuse varies.) Blood Knights must be Soulblight and begin with Body 4, Mind 2, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Weapon Skill, plus a small selection from Athletics, Awareness, Beast Handling, Determination, Entertain, Guile, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talents are Loyal Companion (Skeletal Steed) and Rider of Ruin (Blood Knight only, if you Charge a Swarm while mounted, your attack deals double damage), plus two from among Blood Fury, Diplomat, Mounted Combatant, Pierce Armour, Ride Them Down, Scent of Blood, or Tooth and Claw. They begin play with a suit of scalloped Heavy Armor, either a sword and shield or a Deathlance, and a banner of their dynasty or order, stained with blood and tattered by time.  Grave Guard is the common name used for the armored skeletons that watch over ancient tombs and Deathrattle kingdoms. Their weapons glow with unearthly light, and sometimes, the wight leaders call on them to leave their eternal posts to join a war. Even then, they often act in perfect silence and economy of motion, having fought for centuries or even millennia. They are honored warriors who remain active by the oath the swore - loyalty beyond death. They remember their old lives and can join their rulers in reminescence and story, but their primary concern is ensuring whatever they swore to defend is kept safe. Every single Grave Guard exists to protect something. A place, a family, a nation. No matter who is in charge of their land, they will not stop their duty, and many end up so hard to get rid of that they are given tacit agreements from local leaders, dead or alive, to let them just do their thing. They march to war when called on by allies, because instability threatens the things they would protect, and war brings instability, so best to end it fast and far from home. Those sworn to defend a liege eternally will do so in any form they take, as well, which has led to rare cases of wights working to defend ghosts or ghouls as well as other wights or vampiric masters. Grave Guard who believe joining a Binding will help defend their charge will do so without even a moment's hesitation. Often, though, the Grave Guard among Soulbound are those who failed. Their charge was lost, and they needed something new to take its place. Often, a wight left without purpose becomes adrift in an almost catatonic state if they can't quickly refocus themselves, though, and thus they rarely join Bindings of their own choice unless they're quite lucky. Instead, they are chosen by a god or Mortarch, who call them to serve before the Ossiarchs notice and decide to recycle them. It's a good decision most of the time - the Grave Guard are peerless when it comes to defensive combat and sense for danger. Eventually, most Soulbound Grave Guard find focus in protecting their allies and friends...but most will also never stop mourning the failures that they have been unable to save. Grave Guard must be wights and begin with Body 3, Mind 2, Soul 1. Their Core Skill is their choice of Reflexes or Weapon Skill, plus a good selection from among Awareness, Determination, Devotion, Fortitude, Intuition, Might, Reflexes, Stealth, Theology, or Weapon Skill. Their Core Talent is Duty Beyond Death (Grave Guard only, you select a person, place or artifact that is your charge. When your charge is in danger or held by an enemy, you do not become Stunned when Mortally Wounded and can add your Determination Training and Focus to all Death Tests. You can change your charge via the Find Purpose Endeavor.), plus five from among Blessed (Nagash), Bulwark, Observant, Necromantic Vigour, Quiet of the Grave, or Tooth and Claw. They begin play with a rusty breastplate and chainmail (functionally Medium Armor), a Cursed sword or axe, and either a shield or a Fallen Kingdoms Banner, plus a ruined keepsake from life that they have trouble remembering.  Necromancers are not at all the same thing as Amethyst mages, and both groups will thank you not to forget it. A Necromancer rejects all of the limits in the study of magic that a proper battlemage or sorcerer might keep to. They rob graves and dissect corpses, experimenting on living and dead alike to pursue a greater udnerstanding of the distinctions between life and death. They create horrible corpsen monsters. All of this in pursuit of a single goal: immortality. Other forms of magic could easily become the focus of this extreme overreach of limits and safety, but the lore of Shyish is especially prone to it because death comes for all, and all must fear it. Necromancers are the only living beings frequently found leading the forces of Death, and as a result no one really likes them. The undead dislike them because they are living, and the living see them as terrifying enemies. Still, most undead forces cannot deny the usefulness of an innovative necromancer, and while they may hold a low social position at first, mastery can bring them great power and respect. The most potent of them transform themselves into liches, able to stand as equals to vampire lords and wight kings as masters of death. When a Necromancer becomes Soulbound, it's generally either out of a desire to prove worthy of Nagash's patronage or a desire to get as much protection from him as possible. The God of Death has no patience for rivals, no matter how weak they may be, and many Necromancers would rather destroy themselves utterly than to allow their soul to fall into his mercy. Particularly potent Necromancers may even attempt to perform Binding Rituals themselves, though it's almost never successful and always carries grave consequences even if it is. In a sense, becoming Soulbound also grants immortality - at least, they don't really age and can live a very long time if not slain. Of course, it also is the nature of Necromancers that leads to most being unsatisfied with this and quickly seeking out even more secrets of death while aiding their Binding. Necromancers must be human and begin with Body 1, Mind 4, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Channelling and they get a decent selection from among Arcana, Awareness, Channelling, Crafting, Determination, Guile, Intuition, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Reflexes, or Theology. Their Core Talents are Spellcasting (Lore of Deathmages) and Unbind, plus two from among Forbidden Knowledge, Lifeless Companion (requires Lore of Deathmages of Mortisans, this is like Loyal Companion except you can choose any Beast for it whose Toughness is less than your (Mind+Channelling Training), they become Undead, and the gain the Lifeless trait plus Toughness based on your Mind, and you can have both a Loyal Companion and a Lifeless Companion), Loyal Companion (Deadwalker Zombie or Deathrattle Skeleton), Medic, Morbid Exposure (Human-only, you cannot become Frightened by undead and you get a bonus to all opposed rolls to move through undead societies or convince undead that you are more useful alive), Necromantic Resonance, Scholar, or Witch-Sight. They begin play with dirt-stained robes (Light Armor), a mortis staff (functionally a quarterstaff), a cold grimoire, a bone quill, some thick and dark ink, and a bunch of pouches and jars full of all kinds of gross and morbid stuff.  Vampire Lords make the majority among the Soulblight nobility. They take orders only from Nagash or the Mortarchs, standing as rulers over lesser undead. The greatest of them have spent long centuries earning knowledge of war, bolstered further by superhuman physical capabilities that rival even the greatest aelven fencers. Others are masters of magic, turning a single arcane word into a killing blow and reanimating the ancient dead to their service. They often greatly enjoy showing their foes how powerless they truly are. However, even the greatest of the vampires have gaps in their knowledge that they need allies to help them with. Many vampires make alliances with ghosts or Ossiarchs for mutual benefit, and some even work closely with their cousins, the Abhorrent ghouls, despite the discomfort of knowing they share a common lineage and the questions that can raise about their own belief systems. However, no vampire is potent enough to openly defy Nagash for long. Those that try are sometimes punished by being forced into Bindings of Death, their noble status revoked and all of their lands seized from them. Others attempt to escape punishment with the aid of other gods...though becoming Soulbound to Order generally ends with much the same effect - they are now stuck with the Binding and in service to a greater cause. Ultimately, perfect freedom might be impossible. Typically, elder vampires never get close to becoming Soulbound - it is the domain of weak vampires, cast out by their fellows or eager to get a leg up on the competition. Still, even a weak vampire wields superhuman abilities and innate magic. They are never to be underestimated. Vampire Lords must be Soulblight vampires, and get Body 3, Mind 4, Soul 2. Their Core Skill is Channelling, and while they only get a small amount of XP for skills, they can take any skill. Their Core Talent is Spellcasting (Lore of Vampires), plus one from among Bestial Form (vampire only, you select one of Bat Swarm, Fell Bat, Corpse Rat Swarm or Dire Wolf. As an action, you can turn into that form, replacing your sheet with its, though you retain your Wound Track and personality. You can't speak or use tools in this form, and any gear you have blends into your body and grants no benefits. When you return to your form, your Toughness jumps back to whatever it was before you went into beast form. If you hit Toughness 0 in beast form, you immediately turn back and any extra damage left to be dealt is dealt to your natural form. If this happens, you can't transforma again until you Rest), Blood Fury, Gravewind, Loyal Companion (Bat Swarm or Dire Wolf), Scent of Blood, Silver Tongue, Tactician, or Tooth and Claw. They begin play with obsidian half-plate (Medium Armor), any Common one-handed melee weapon and a shield or any Common two-handed melee weapon, and an expensive but bloodstained chalice. Next time: Other new tricks!
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Sep 24, 2021 19:25
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  Part 11: Dungeongunk This is the next-to-last update for the Nightlife corebook. We’ll start with Elementals and other creatures associated with the Kin. Later we’ll get all up in them ‘holes. Elementals are sentient creatures that embody a place. They’re “Kin by proxy,” having some of the same powers, but not truly Kin. They’re not intended to be playable, both because they’re too powerful and because they’re alien, no matter how superficially human they appear to be. They also can’t leave their Dominion. Elementals are neutral with regard to Kin politics, but usually side with the Commune over any anti-human factions. They have no desire to see their Dominion or its people hurt or disrupted in any way. All Elementals have the following powers. First, they don’t need to Drain, only to immerse themselves in their “element” when they’re hurt. Second, they can instantly teleport anywhere within their “Dominion.” Third, they sense everything going on in their Dominion, though that doesn’t mean they have full awareness of it. Beyond these powers, Elementals are divided into several types. Gnomes are earth Elementals who resemble crude toy figures made from dirt. They’re more likely to help people than most Elementals. Sylphas are air elementals, appearing only as blurry vortices of wind that tend to scoop up loose objects. They’re strong-willed but relatively indifferent. Salamanders are fire elementals who appear as the mythical reptile wreathed in flickering flames. They can control and breathe fire. Undines are water elementals who appear as columns of water with the face suggestion of a face near the top. Along with the Asrai and Pooka, they inhabit city fountains and avoid the polluted waters of the sewers and suchlike.  Rather different from the rest, Gremlynnes are machine elementals, taking the form of tiny monkeys made of wires and gears. In contrast to the legends, Gremlynnes like machines, and inhabit them to protect them and keep them in good working order. They’re fickle and capricious, but otherwise very keen to help “fleshies” in exchange for bribes of technological trinkets like computer chips. Finally, the most important type of Elemental is the Concrete. They’re born from the psychic residue of thousands of people living and dying, so there’s a Concrete for every neighbourhood in New York City. They’re concerned with the livelihood and well-being of people in their Dominion, and are one of the main forces keeping a lid on destructive forces like Red Moonrise.  Dread is the Elemental of the Deadlight District, and a testament to how Elementals can change with their Dominion over time. He looks like Morpheus and dresses all in black. The Guard is the protector of Liberty Island, and the most powerful Elemental in New York. He appears to be an ordinary man in a guard’s uniform, but no one who meets him can remember his ethnicity or other details of his face. (They should have gone a step further and just made Lady Liberty the Elemental.) Representing both the gratitude of immigrants and the pain of those turned away, he has a volatile temperament. It’s hard to blame him--with the help of man Kin and sorcerers, he’s repelled numerous attempts by Red Moonrise to destroy the Statue of Liberty.  Kid Amsterdam is the Elemental of Harlem, appearing as a young black man in a jogging suit. He’s a nice guy who just tries to keep the peace in his Dominion and he’s no slouch--once, when some horrors escaped from a Wormhole, he lured them into an abandoned building and brought it down on top of them.  LowRider, the Elemental of East Harlem, is literally a car. It has a Hot Rod/Daniel relationship with a boy named Enrico. It drives around the neighbourhood looking for trouble and communicating with songs played through its radio, like a crimefighting Christine.  The Cement Dragon is the Concrete of Chinatown. Despite not being anthropomorphic, it’s even more benevolent than most, and devotes most of its time to stopping gang warfare. This is becoming dangerous for its cover since, y’know, it’s a big loving dragon.  The Phantom is the Concrete of Broadway, and appears as its namesake. This is only his latest form, having previously appeared as characters from Cats, Oklahoma, and Annie. Today he might look like the Lion King, or be a convert to Mormonism.  Pinstripe is the guardian of Wall Street, appearing as a woman in a business suit. It is the only thing stopping Red Moonrise from bombing the NY Stock Exchange, and is probably the most evil entity in the history of the world. Little LG is the Concrete of Times Square, appearing as a miserable little homeless girl. She is the personification of all the teenage runaways who came to the Big Apple chasing a dream, only to wind up being murdered in all those sleazy 70s and 80s movies. I assume LG now has a gig hosting True Request Live, millions of Instagram followers, and a personality disorder. Other Concrete Elementals include: Dirge, Elemental of the Bowery, a faceless homeless person. Mulberry, Elemental of Little Italy, a prim elderly woman. BeBop, Elemental of Greenwich Village, a saxophonist. Chandelier, Elemental of Morningside Heights, a snobby young rich woman. Desolation, Elemental of the South Bronx, a shadow on the wall. Nightingale Pearl, Elemental of Flushing, an Asian woman with nightingales perched on her shoulder. The nightingales are martial arts masters who are missing the last joint on their left foot. El Toro, Elemental of Jackson Heights, appearing as a black bull with red smoking eyes and horns festooned with trinkets. Besides the Elementals, there are some other creatures in New York City who are associated with Kin, but not Kin. Fiffts are a weird cross-infection between Vampyres and Ghosts. They do not explain how the gently caress that happens. A Fifft is a pathetic Kin perpetually trapped in Mistform, “a formless cloud of nauseating yellow-green.” Are we sure this isn’t just a Vampyre conspiracy to hide their embarrassing blood-farts? Fiffts have to Drain blood, and do so by either attacking open wounds or invading their victim’s mucous membranes, which is very painful. Fortunately, they have all the vulnerabilities of a Vampyre (including wood) plus a unique vulnerability to any kind of iron, which keeps them out of most buildings. Gorehounds are undead dogs which Kin keep as pets. (Again, how they got that way is not explained.) They look like Great Danes that were skinned alive. They must feed on pain, which they Drain in the same manner as a Werewolf. Hauntings are similar to Ghosts in most respects, but they lack the self-awareness to be truly sentient. They’re more like a three-dimensional video that repeats the same actions in the same place, over and over again. They wink in and out of existence for days, weeks, or months at a time, depending on the original person’s WILL score.  Poltergeists are small spirits that resemble kittens, formed from the trauma of small children. They’re friendly, but use their Telekinesis Edge in unpredictable and destructive ways when frightened. They can also become invisible. Kin with the patience to deal with them can train them to use their invisibility on command, making them useful pets.  Pooka are water spirits who appear as ghostly white horses wrapped in chains. They can be found in sewers, rivers, and fountains around New York City. While shy, they are intelligent and will bargain for information. Spydes are enormous spiders, with bodies as much as 3 feet long (not counting their legs). They’re described as “essentially eight-legged Chihuahuas who happen to drink blood.” Wulven are large, intelligent black dogs. They can Drain Kin without effect, and they’ll eat humans too, but seem just as happy to hunt small animals or eat garbage. They usually travel in packs, and mostly keep to abandoned buildings or sewers. They’re so stealthy, and there are so few of them, that even most Kin don’t know they exist. They hang around the entrances to Wormholes, and Golgotha has an arrangement to let them lair in his properties around those entrances. And speaking of Wormholes…  There are places even the Kin fear to tread: the Wormholes. No one knows how long they’ve been there--considering the abundance of underworld myths, probably forever. The Elder Kin have confirmed tales of the Wormholes going back to Londinium and the hillsides of ancient Greece. The ground beneath New York City seems to be riddled with entrances to the Wormholes. The Manhatta indigenous people left livestock at their entrances as sacrifices to hold certain subterranean entities at bay. Natural passages such as these have been sealed up, but today passages leading down into the Wormholes can be found in sewers and the basements of abandoned buildings. As the city grows both upward and downward, new maintenance tunnels run the risk of intersecting with entrances to the Wormholes. So why gently caress around with the Wormholes? First, working together to keep the Wormholes closed is an accepted addendum to the Tenets. Even Red Moonrise doesn’t want hordes of monsters spilling out and eating everything in sight. Kin factions stake out the upper levels of the Wormholes so they can seal them shut. These barricades can still be breached from below, and sometimes from above, when foolhardy Kin decide to go exploring. So why would anyone want to do that? A few reasons. There are rumours that Peter Minuit, the Dutch colonial governor, hid embezzled gold down there. Another rumour says there are creatures in the Wormholes with blood that grants immunity to Flaws when Drained. Yet another says that Kin who are exiled into the Wormholes develop rare and powerful Edges--good luck finding them and getting them to teach you. Then there are the ones Kin tell just to amuse each other, involving Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa. The City Planner is encouraged to come up with more. If I’m being honest, they don’t give you a lot of good reasons to explore the Wormholes. But if you don’t know what else to do, this game has fuckin’ dungeons! Mapping the Wormholes is nearly impossible. Passages rise and fall, twist and turn randomly. The ground is usually muddy and littered with debris and trash left by previous explorers. There’s a table you can roll on to randomly determine the direction of a tunnel and how it changes, getting larger or narrower, rising and sinking, much like one of the random dungeon generation tables from Basic D&D. Exploring the Wormholes is taxing in itself. The ‘Holes themselves are rank and humid, so Nocturnal Vision and Sense Acuity Edges don’t work as well. The air is noxious, so Kin who have to breathe must make a FIT roll every day to avoid FIT loss from a Kin disease called Wormcold, which presents the same symptoms as the common cold. Feeding is difficult; most denizens of the Wormholes can’t be Drained, so Kin are forced to subsist on rats, bats, and lizards. Most forays into the Wormholes only last a few days. About those denizens…  Besides vermin, Grubs are the only thing you can eat down here. They’re slimy, fat larvae about 3 feet long, with a “face” that takes on the appearance of whatever they look at. Grubs can be Drained for sustenance, but Kin get no pleasure from it. Their blood is oily, their flesh is greasy pulp, and even their life force is strangely queasy. Grubs themselves “Drain” by eating whatever vermin or carrion is dumb enough to hold still long enough. Squirmz are unnatural hybrids of humans, giant worms, and various small animals. They’re 3-4 feet tall, not terribly dangerous individually, but hunt in pacts. They have claws and feed on blood, including Kin blood. Bugz are similar to Squirmz, but larger, an amalgamation of various animals that lean toward the insectoid. Flying Flapjacks are blind, bloodsucking blobs that fly around looking for victims to latch onto. They occasionally make it as far as the city sewers. Fortunately, the Armor Edge gives you some time before the Flapjacks can drill through your skin with their multitude of tiny tubules. Attacking a grappling Flapjack has a chance to hit the person you’re trying to help. Tearing away an attached Flapjack does a little damage, but kills it.  Nasty Muthas are one of the most feared inhabitants of the Wormholes. A crawling bundle of pincers and mandibles, they have an insatiable hunger for blood. They’re so scary that even Kin have to roll on the Fear table at first sight of them. Squags are invisible bloodsucking monsters. No info on what they really look like.  Suckers an absolute terror to Kin. Obese, naked humanoids with an elephant-like trunk where the head should be, which terminates in a lamprey-like mouth. Suckers don’t communicate with Kin, but they’re sentient, and chiefly responsible for dismantling the seals and barricades used to shut the Wormholes. Kin Drained to death by Suckers are gone for good. The Worm may be the creature that gives the Wormholes their name. It’s an amorphous white worm, ten feet long. Shoggoth-like, it grows sensory organs and extrudes pseudopods as needed. It gets multiple attacks a round, takes reduced damage from bullets and blunt weapons, and Drains by engulfing its victims and digesting them alive. As with Flapjacks, an attack on the Worm has a chance to hit any victims currently being engulfed. There is an encounter table for the Wormholes. The monsters get their “number appearing” in proportion to the PCs. Suckers, Nasty Muthas, and Squags come 1-for-1, while Bugz, Squirmz, and Flapjacks will outnumber the PCs 2 or 3 to 1. You may also encounter Tapefaces, or luckless homeless folks who got lost. Help them or eat them, it’s up to you. Kikulaluits and Wulven patrol the Wormholes. They’re on guard, but will be friendly if you convince them that you aren’t exiles or up to no good. You can also encounter groups of “Exiled Kin” with high Edge scores. No word on whether they’re friendly. Next Chapter: gently caress it, Jack, let’s go shopping
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Sep 24, 2021 22:02
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Old Tricks So, we have some new Talents that are worth looking at and which aren't on the Archetype lists. Most of the new Talents in this book are undead-only or otherwise limited, though some are not, including some of the new ones that aren't just variants of Blessed, Loyal Companion or Spellcasting. Of note, anyone can take any of the new Loyal Companions except the Mortek Throne, which is locked to Ossiarchs. Ancient Knowledge: Undead only, required both Training and Focus 3 in any skill. You've studied something for the equivalent of multiple lifetimes, and when you have to make a Mind roll with any skill you have Training and Focus 3 in, you double 6s. Manifested Nightmare: Vampire only. This is how you get to be a vargheist or evolve towards being a Vengorian Lord, though it doesn't quite get to the final endpoint of the Vengorian. Each time you take it, you get one of four possible physical mutations that make you more monstrous. Wings of the Bat gives a Fly (Normal) Speed. Teeth and Claws increases unarmed damage and grants your unarmed attacks Rend and Subtle. Lupine Legs increases your Speed to Fast and doubles jump distance. Monstrous Growth increases your Size to Large and causes you to always double Might Training. Master of Puppets: Requires both Mind and Soul 3, but lets you spend an action once per turn to command subordinate creatures based on your Mind, allowing them to immediately take a Move, Attack, Charge or Defend action. Each subordinate can be directed independently, and valid targets are Loyal Companions, Lifeless Constructs, and any creatures summoned by spells or miracles - basically anything that would be under your control on its turn already. Peerless Warrior: Undead only, requires Training and Focus 3 in one of the two combat skills. This works like Ancient Knowledge, but for Body rolls, and only for those two skills. Phantasmal Discorporation: Nighthaunt only. On your turn, you can spend Mettle to teleport in Long range. Very handy! Stolen Secrets: Necromancer only. This lets you learn an extra Lore of Magic by raiding tombs, ignoring any Species or Faction requirements. This makes it cheaper to do than just buying a second Lore...but it counts as a Lore for increasing your XP costs of additional ones later. The caveat, of course, is that whoever you stole secrets from is going to be upset if they find out. Including other undead - of the new lores, only Deathmages is generally learnable by anyone. Madness is Ghoul-only, Mortisans is Ossiarch-only, Underworlds is Nighthaunt-only, and Vampires is Soulblight Vampire-only. Unless you steal one with this, anyway. Suffer No Rival: You get a bonus to opposed rolls against all Champion or Chosen enemies, including for spells, miracles and so on. Speaking of Miracles, we of course get Nagash's! Worship of Nagash does obviously mean you're gaining power from the god whose primary goal is to kill everyone and enslave them in death. But still, if you have Blessed (Nagash), you can wield his divine power. And remember, there's Nagash cults among the forces of Order, and they aren't really forbidden. He's still a god. (Alternatively, many of these Miracles are also mostly relatively easy to refluff as belonging to Morrda, if you want that. The new fluff should, presumably, involve less spite?) All Are One: All corpses belong to Nagash, and Nagash is all death. By tapping into that universality, you can teleport from any single grave, body or undead creature as a Move action, instantly reappearing at any other grave, corpse, or undead creature you can see within Long range, and allies in your Zone can spend Mettle to follow you when you do. Black Harvest: You spend 1 Mettle and invoke Nagash as the Black Harvester, who calls forth the dead to rise. You pick a Zone in Medium range, and all Medium or smaller corpses in that Zone arise as mindless undead, digging their way from the ground if necessary. You can raise up to your Soul in corpses, and each one remains under your control for a round or until it goes beyond Medium range, whichever comes first, though you can extend the duration by spending Mettle as a free action on your turn to sustain the miracle. The corpses use the statblocks of Deadwalker Zombies or Deathrattle Skeletons, GM's choice, but always act last in initiative. They obey your commands, which can be given individually or as a group, but must be simple things of no more than a few words - 'hold this' or 'kill them' or 'guard this door' or similar. If not given orders, they stand still and are Incapacitated. Boneclad Blessing: You call on Nagash's power to shape unliving bone, creating either armor or a prison. You pick a target in Medium range, and until the start of your next turn, a bone exoskeleton forms around them and gives +1 Armor. However, you can spend a Mettle to also lock the exosekelton in place, causing the Restrained condition unless they use an action to break out with a Might roll against your Devotion. If they break out, the Miracle ends, but otherwise you can sustain it as a free action with Mettle. Channel Soul: You know that Nagash claims all souls, but as his follower you have the right to use some. You pick an ally within Shot range, and until the start of your next turn, whenever any creature in your Zone dies, that ally heals Toughness based on the victim's Soul. You can sustain this with Mettle, too. Chill of the Grave: You cause your own wounds to bleed necrotic energy. Whenever you suffer damage, you can immediately spend Mettle to activate this, causing all living creatures in your Zone to take armor-ignoring damage based on your Soul. (It does not explicitly say a mortal user is immune to that damage.) Extinguish Life: You spend two Mettle to charge your hands with death itself. You pick a target in Close range and make a Devotion roll, causing armor-ignoring damage per success. If you deal more than their Body in damage, they die instantly and their body withers and decays into a husk. Fragile Mortality: You wield the power of Nagash to reveal the fragility of mortal flesh, aging it with a terrible curse. Spend 2 Mettle and pick a living target you can see within Medium range. Until the start of your next turn, they get a penalty to Speed, Melee, Accuracy and Defence, and get -1 die to all Body rolls. You can sustain on your turn with Mettle. Impostor's Mask: You perform a dark ritual in which you cut off the face of a corpse and wear it as a mask, spending at least a minute in Close range of a mortal corpse that died within the last day. The corpse must be the same Size as you, too. Once you're done, your body and voice transform to appear identical to the corpse before their death. This lasts for hours based on your Soul, and changes none of your stats whatsoever. It also does not give you access to their memories. However, you do get a large bonus to all opposed rolls to pass as the victim if you arouse suspicion. Path to Power: Nagash blesses planning and ambition, as long as his followers remember they serve him. You can tap into that by spending 1 Mettle and picking a willing target in Medium range. The first time in the next minute that they have to make a Mind roll, every die in the roll gets +1 to its result, to a max of 6. (This is incredible.) Reaper-Lord's Spite: You spend 1 Mettle and choose a Zone in Medium range. Until the start of your next turn, you banish life from that Zone, and no enemies within it can recover Toughness or Wounds by any means. Further, any Wounds they do take increase in severity. You can sustain this on your turn with Mettle. This is niche use, as most enemies don't heal, but when they do it's very good. We also get new Lores! No new generic spells, but we have plenty of those. Lore of Deathmages is unique - the GM may rule that any mortal casting from it (or one of the other new Death-related lores, actually, but those are harder to get for a mortal) that rolls a miscast with a 1-3, which would normally do a bit of damage, instead gets to roll on the How Has Death Marked You table to permanently become more deathly and weird. Deaden Senses: Moderately difficult to cast. You do a brief ritual over an effigy, taking at least one minute to perform. Then you pick a target in Long range. For the next minute, they get a -1 die penalty to all Awareness rolls involving sight and hearing and completely lose their senses of touch, taste and smell. However, they also become immune to pain and similar physical sensations, though they still take damage. Their emotions also get suppressed, rendering them immune to Charmed and Frightened and giving a bonus to rolls to resist Blinded. Extra successes extend duration or increase the roll penalty. A bit of a niche thing but potentially useful for sneaking, if not super subtle. Deathly Invocation: Not so hard to cast if you have Focus. You use your magic to empower the undead. All undead in your Zone heal 1 T oughness. You may choose one creature that's died in your Zone since your last turn and raise them as a Deadwalker Zombie under your control, adding it to the initiative list immediately. When you raise it, you can give it a single basic command as a free action, but any other commands require an action to give. After a minute, the Zombie will become a mere corpse again. Extra successes either heal undead more or increase the zombie's duration, and you can cast the spell on the zombie to increase its duration directly. If you have multiple zombies under your control this way, you can extend their active duration all at once with only one casting. However, you can't have more than your Soul in Zombies active at a time from this spell. You can use a single action to command them all, but if you want to give individual instructions, you need one action per zombie you want to instruct. This is extremely handy! Minions are great! Decrepify: Moderately hard to cast. You pick a target in Medium range and strike them with a withering curse, giving a penalty to all Body rolls until the start of your next turn. Extra successes extend duration or increase penalty - both great options in combat, if you have the dice to pull this off. Fading Vigour: Pretty easy. You choose a Zone in Medium range and fill it with necromantic power. Until the start of your next turn, all enemies in that Zone get a penalty to Melee and Accuracy. Extra successes either increase duration or increase the penalty. Again, pretty good to use in combat. Graverobber's Guide: Very easy to cast. You spend a minute concentrating, then detect the exact location of all corpses within a mile of you for the next hour. Extra successes extend range or duration. This wouldn't be helpful if you weren't a necromancer, but you are, so you can raise a zombie army if you get everyone to agree to let you spend a week doing a ritual to do so. We'll get to that later. On Vulture's Wings: Moderately hard to cast. You summon a flock of ghostly vultures and ravens for one minute. You and up to five allies can be carried by them, gaining a Fly (Fast) Speed. While carried, everyone gets a bonus to sight-based Awareness rolls and reduces the Difficulty of spotting dead or dying creatures. Extra successes extend duration, and you can recast the spell while the flock is summoned to extend duration as well. Overwhelming Dread Moderately hard. You curse a foe in Medium Range, assailing them with the sense of terrible tortures after death. Until the start of your next turn, the target is Frightened and gets a penalty to Speed. Extra successes extend duration or add targets. This is quite handy if the foe is vulnerable to Frightened, especially since it can enable some great shenanigans with Nighthaunt party members keying off Frightened. Prison of Grief: Somewhat difficult to cast, especially without Focus. You lay a curse of grief and despair on one enemy in your Zone. They must roll Determination against your roll or become both Restrained and Stunned until the start of your next turn, though they get a second roll at the start of their turn to break free of the grief, too. Extra successes extend duration. Even with the secondary resistance rolls, this is very good. Soul Harvest: Fairly easy to cast. You send out a pulse of ghostly energy, dealing minor armor-ignoring damage to all enemies in your Zone as their soul is pulled at. If this Mortally Wounds or kills an enemy, you heal Toughness based on their Soul. Extra successes add damage. Pretty good, it's a selective AOE damage pulse that ignores armor and can heal you if there's any mooks around. Vanhel's Danse Macabre: Very easy to cast. You charge up nearby undead with energy. All undead in your Zone get a bonus to Speed until the start of your next turn. Extra successes increase duration. This is useful if you have zombies or undead party members, but remember - it's not selective and works on enemy undead, too. Lore of Madness Blood Feast: Pretty easy to cast. You tear vitality out of a foe in Medium range, dealing minor armor-ignoring damage. Successes increase damage dealt. Then, you pick an ally in your Zone and shove all that vitality into them, healing Toughness equal to the damage dealt. This is a very nice spell, mixing attack and support. Cannibal's Curse: Moderately hard to cast. You curse one target in Long range with a terrible and distracting hunger. Until the start of your next turn, they feel insatiably hungry and believe themselves starving, getting a penalty to all Mind rolls. Extra successes increase duration or the penalty. Very useful, especially against spellcasters, and pretty much the single actual even slightly mental health-related spell here. Bonestorm: Not too hard to cast if you have Focus. You create a burst of bone splinters. If a corpse with intact bones is nearby, you can tear them out of the corpse to add to the burst. You pick a Zone in Long range. Creatures in that Zone take damage, increased if the Zone contains at least one corpse. Extra successes add damage, adding even more damage if the Zone has multiple corpses in it. This is pretty good, but nonselective, so be careful - and it doesn't ignore Armor, so you want a good amount of successes. Or corpses. Or both. Devour Memories: Very easy to cast. You spend at least a minute performing a ritual on a corpse, cracking open its skull to reveal the brain. The corpse must be dead no longer than ten minutes, and to complete the ritual, you can either trace arcane symbols on the brain or just eat it. Either way, each success lets you learn one piece of information the victim knew in life or experience one of its memories. The content is up to the GM, but if you have two successes or more you can spend two successes to ask the GM if a specific memory or piece of info is present - and if it is, you get it. This can't be used to learn skills, spells or similar, but it's otherwise extremely handy to gather information from folks you just killed. It's also super gross, but hey! Deranged Transformation: Pretty easy to cast. You channel the power of your Abhorrent blood into an ally within Long range. Until the start of your next turn, they get a bonus to Speed and all of their melee attacks gian the Reach trait, as their bones and flesh extend in arms and legs alike. Extra successes extend range. This is pretty handy, if, again, kinda gross. Feeding Frenzy: Relatively easy to cast. You grant part of your predatory urge to an ally within your Zone. Until the start of your next turn, they get a bonus to Melee and Accuracy, and once per turn they can Attack as a free action. Extra successes extend duration. Just the buff would be nice, but with the free attack, this jumps to absolutely incredible. Miasmal Shroud: Relatively easy to cast. You summon forth a cloud of obscuring, choking vapors in a Zone in Medium range. For one minute, the Zone is Lightly Obscured as the cloud fills the entire thing up, moving around corners and obstacles if needed. Whenever an air-breathing creature enters the Zone or starts turn in it, they must make a Fortitude roll against your casting roll or become Poisoned until the start of their next turn. They can hold their breath before entering the Zone to prevent this, but must specifically decide to do so. Extra successes extend duration. Being able to be stopped by breath-holding is annoying, but this is still decent battlefield control. Monstrous Vigor: Easy enough to cast with any Focus. You pour your power into the muscles of an ally in your Zone. Until the start of your next turn, they get a bonus to Melee and to all Athletics or Might rolls. Extra successes increase either duration or the Athletics/Might bonus. Not as good as your other buffs, but easier to cast, so. Spectral Host: Pretty easy to cast. You summon forth a swirl of agonized ghosts of murder victims for one minute, which lift you and up to four allies into the air. Everyone gets a Fly (Fast) Speed. The ghosts will moan as they fly but cannot do anything other than move as you direct. Extra successes extend duration, and as with the bird ghosts from Deathmages, you can recast to extend duration further as well. Less good than the Deathmages version, but easier. Unholy Vitality: Easy to cast. You use your magic to harden the skin and toughen the bodies of all allies in your Zone. Until the start of your next turn, all allies in your Zone get +1 Armor and a bonus to Fortitude rolls. Extra successes either extend duration or Armor bonus. Increased armor is generally quite good, so an aura that does it for everyone? Yeah, this is great. Next time: Mortisans, Underworlds, Vampires, and bonus Endless spells.
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Sep 24, 2021 23:47
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So are the wormholes literally just a subterranean ecosystem or are they meant to be like, an alternate dimension of sorts once you go deep enough?
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Sep 25, 2021 00:11
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PurpleXVI posted:So are the wormholes literally just a subterranean ecosystem or are they meant to be like, an alternate dimension of sorts once you go deep enough? When I ran it, I said they started out as an ecosystem that started blurring lines into other dimensions.
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Sep 25, 2021 00:16
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So how did they end up balancing Vampire hero types and Ossiarch monstrosities with a simple Skeleton+?
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Sep 25, 2021 06:58
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JcDent posted:So how did they end up balancing Vampire hero types and Ossiarch monstrosities with a simple Skeleton+? Point buy system. Ossiarchs are 40 xp, but can't use Soulfire and don't add it Binding, the rest are 35 xp. Grave guards got 12 xp to Skills and 5 talents (worth 2 xp apiece), which is a lot, but their Attributes suck. Vampires got 6 xp to skills and 1 talent, but they have better Attributes. Also, they really should have called the Vampire Lord something else, because that title is writing checks their stats can't cash. Body 3? For a Vampire Lord?
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Sep 25, 2021 08:17
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Warden posted:Point buy system. Ossiarchs are 40 xp, but can't use Soulfire and don't add it Binding, the rest are 35 xp. Grave guards got 12 xp to Skills and 5 talents (worth 2 xp apiece), which is a lot, but their Attributes suck. Vampires got 6 xp to skills and 1 talent, but they have better Attributes. No one wants to be the Vampire Baronet Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Sep 25, 2021 |
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Sep 25, 2021 10:52
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Warden posted:Also, they really should have called the Vampire Lord something else, because that title is writing checks their stats can't cash. Body 3? For a Vampire Lord?
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Sep 25, 2021 15:17
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Warden posted:Point buy system. Ossiarchs are 40 xp, but can't use Soulfire and don't add it Binding, the rest are 35 xp. Grave guards got 12 xp to Skills and 5 talents (worth 2 xp apiece), which is a lot, but their Attributes suck. Vampires got 6 xp to skills and 1 talent, but they have better Attributes. Body 3 is good for a melee build. The Player Vampire Lords are also noted as being the weakest of their kind. The Bestiary Vampire Lord for example is a B5, M7, S4.
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Sep 25, 2021 17:10
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Soulbound: Champions of Death Sign Here Lore of Mortisans Arcane Command: Easy with any Focus. You create a ghostly double of yourself at any point you choose within Long range. For one minute, it remains there, and once per turn as a free action, you can use the Help action to aid an ally in the Zone it's in with a Mind or Soul roll. Also, as long as the double remains, you may hear and speak to your allies through it as if it was you, though it lacks all physical form and cannot perform any physical interactions. Extra successes extend duration. Useful, even right nearby, just for the free helper dice, plus battlefield communication can be handy. Boneshaping: Easy with any Focus. You may target any Ossiarch or Wight in Medium range, altering their bone structure to repair damage. They heal minor Toughness, increased by extra successes, and can be used on Mortally Wounded targets, in which case they stop being Mortally Wounded (though their Wound track remains unchanged). If used on an Ossiarch, this can instead repair innate Armor, too. A handy if slightly niche trick - healing as undead is always a bit tricky, because they can't use Aqua Ghyranis to do it, though this is limited to bone friends. Carapace of Bone: Relatively easy with Focus. You call forth fragments of bone, wrapping them around yourself to form a powerful armored exoskeleton. You get +1 Armor and +1 Body until the start of your next turn, with extra successes either extending duration or increasing Armor. However, if you hit Armor 4 or more this way, you get increased Size and decreased Speed due to the exoskeleton's size and weight. A useful defensive trick, but mostly for duration - getting a turn of tons of armor is less useful than multiple turns of minor increase unless you expect to be attacked a lot in a single turn. Dire Ultimatum: Easy if you have Focus. You invoke magic that compels obedience, drawing on the authority of the Ossiarch legions. You pick one target that can hear and understand you within Medium range and speak a command of no more than three words. Until the start of your next turn, the target gets a penalty to all rolls that don't directly help fulfill your command. Extra successes increase duration or penalty. This is very nice, an excellent debuff - especially if your command is, say, 'surrender.' Drain Vitality: Easy to cast. You choose an enemy in Long range and steal away their strength. Until the start of your next turn, they get a penalty to Melee, Accuracy and Defense. Extra successes extend duration. A handy and simple debuff. Mortal Contract: Very easy. You spend at least one minute explaining the terms of an agreement and the consequences for breaking it to one sapient target in your Zone. If the target willingly agrees - even if it is under duress - then a magical contract is formed according to the specified terms. Whenever the target violates the contract within the next month (or shorter, if you specify a shorter term or escape clause for them), they automatically suffer a Minor Wound, or take half their Toughness in armor-ignoring damage if they don't have Wounds. Damage or Wounds from this spell cannot be healed until the contract is complete. Extra successes extend the maximum duration of the contract. This is very useful, especially if you get creative with it - and it binds only the target, not you, against breaking the contract. Mortal Touch: Easy to cast with any Focus. You summon forth life-consuming energy in your hand, though you know it will risk your own health as well. You choose one living target in Close range and touch them. If their highest stat is less than or equal to your successes, the target takes a Serious Wound, or just dies if they don't have the ability to take Wounds. If their highest stat is higher than your success, however, you take a Serious Wound. That makes this an extremely niche spell - it's mostly useful for killing people you could already handle pretty easily in the first place. Protection of Nagash: Easy to cast. You raise a shield of energy that protects you from harm. Until the start of your next turn, you get +1 Armor, and whenever you take damage while it's up, you may spend a Mettle to teleport anywhere within Long range. Extra successes either extend duration or increase Armor. I'd go with duration - this is extremely good as a general defense spell if it lasts a while. Shard-Storm: Easy to cast. You create a bone sphere that flies into a target within Medium range, then explodes into shards. The target takes damage, and all creatures in Close range of them take slightly less damage. Extra successes increase both of those damages. Pretty handy, but doesn't ignore Armor and its AOE is quite short-range. Soul-Guide: Easy to cast with any Focus. You grant a fraction of the combat experience of your soulstuff to a target in Long range. They get a bonus to their choice of Weapon Skill or Ballistic Skill rolls until the start of your next turn, with extra successes either extending duration or increasing the bonus. A handy trick. Lore of Underworlds Chained Fates: Easy to cast with any Focus. You create a mystic, ghostly chain between two creatures in Medium range, linking their fates. Until the start of your next turn, whenever either takes damage, the other takes the same damage, which ignores Armor. Also, if either heals Toughness, the other heals the same amount. Extra successes extend duration. I feel this is mostly useful offensively, as healing is rarer than damage is, and this lets you get around a hard target. Reaping Scythes: Easy with any Focus. You call on death magic to transform the weapons of your allies into phantasmal scythes. You may target any number of weapons within Short range. Until the start of your next turn, those weapons become Greatscythes with the Magical trait and ignore Armor. If anyone wielding one also has a second weapon or shield, they may drop those as a Free Action; if they don't, the spell fails on their weapon. Extra successes extend duration. This isn't a bad buff, especially if your allies don't have great weapons already. Shademist: Easy to cast. You summon up a cloud of mist around yourself. Until the start of your turn, you and all allies in your Zone get a bonus to Defence against ranged attacks and a bonus to opposed rolls to avoid detection. Extra successes extend duration. Useful for sneaking, if nothing else. Soul Cage: Relatively easy. You conjure a necromantic energy cage around a target in Medium range. The target is Restrained until the start of your next turn, with extra successes increasing duration. However, they may spend an action on their turn to try to break free by making a Might roll against your spellcasting roll. I don't think this is the most useful spell, but it can be nice. Spectral Lure: You channel spectral energy into nearby ghosts. All Nighthaunts in your Zone heal 1 Toughness, and you may summon a single Chainrasp into the Zone, which immediately goes into the initiative list. When you summon it, you can give it a basic command as a free action, but any other commands require an action to give. It dissolves away into screaming mist after a minute. Extra successes either increase the healing or extend the Chainrasp duration, and you can cast the spell while the Chainrasp is active to extend the duration further. If you have multiple Chainrasps from multiple castings, you only have to cast once to extend all of their durations, but you can only have up to half your Soul in active Chainrasps at a time. You can direct them all as one unit with a single action, but you need multiple actions to give individual instructions. Minions: always useful. Spectral Tether: Moderate difficulty. You reach out to the Black Pyramid to channel necromantic power. Until the start of your next turn, all undead that end turn in your Zone recover 1 extra Mettle and heal 1 Toughness. Extra successes either extend duration or increase Toughness healing. I'd go for duration - the bonus Mettle is the real buff here. Spirit Drain: Pretty easy. You curse someone within Medium Range. They take minor Armor-ignoring damage and have their maximum Toughness reduced by the same amount until their next Rest. Extra successes increase Damage. This is neat because it makes healing impossible, but because healing is relatively rare, it's a pretty niche effect. Thief of Flesh: Easy to cast. You transform a target in Close range into a spiritual form. Until the start of your next turn, they become ethereal, taking only half damage from non-magical attacks and gaining the ability to pass through solid objects as well as gaining a Fly (Normal) Speed. Extra successes extend duration. Handing out ghostform is a useful buff most of the time. Visage of Death: Very easy. You enchant yourself, making your appearance terrifying. Until the start of your next turn, any enemy that can see you must make a Determination roll based on your successes whenever they enter your Zone the first time in a round or start their turn there. If they fail, they are Frightened of you until they can no longer see you. Extra successes extend duration. A useful spell to enable other Nighthaunt shenanigans. Wraithstorm: Easy with Focus. You tear out the soul of a dying creature and wield it as a weapon. The first time a living being dies within Medium range of you before the start of your next turn, you detonate their soul and select one enemy in their Zone. That enemy takes Armor-ignoring damage based on the dead target's Soul. Extra successes extend duration for a round. Honestly, extending duration isn't super useful since it can only trigger once - your goal is to make sure something dies before your next turn, so you can then blow up a guy standing next to the dead one. Lore of Vampires Amaranthine Orb: Easy to cast. You hurl a sphere of necromantic energy at a living target in Long range. They take minor damage. Extra successes either increase damage or targets, but all targets must be in the same Zone as the first. This doesn't ignore Armor, so it's better to focus on damage than on AOE. Beguile: Easy to cast. You choose one target in your Zone that can see you and enthrall their mind. They must make a Determination roll based on your successes or become Charmed for one minute. Extra successes extend duration. This is great - Charmed is extremely potent. Blood Boil: Relatively easy. You choose a living target in Long range and boil the blood in their veins. Until the start of your next turn, whenever the target's turn starts, they take minor Armor-ignoring damage. Extra successes can increase duration or damage. Either one is fine, really, since it ignores armor. Blood Siphon: Relatively easy. You choose a living target in your Zone and force their blood to eject from their eyes, nose and mouth. They take minor Armor-ignoring damage and must make a Fortitude roll based on your successes or be Blinded and Deafened until the start of your next turn. Extra successes increase damage. You have plenty of choice for your nice but not overwhelming damage spells here. Dark Mist: Easy with any Focus. You transform yourself or your allies into mist. You pick either you or one ally you can see in your Zone. For one minute, the target gets a Fly (Slow) Speed and takes no damage from non-magical weapons. However, the target cannot take any non-Move actions. They retain vision and hearing but no other senses and cannot communicate. They can, however, travel through small cracks and similar openings. Extra successes extend duration or allow additional targets. This is primarily an infiltration spell, IMO - but it's very good at that. Nowhere to Hide: Easy to cast. You sharpen your own predatory awareness. For the next minute, any living being in Long range that is Wounded or has taken Damage cannot hide from you by any means, and you have a large bonus to rolls to track living creatures, injured or not. Extra successes extend duration. Niche, but handy. Quickblood: Easy. You increase your own physical capabilities, gaining +1 Body and a bonus to Speed until the start of your next turn. Extra successes extend duration. It's limited to self-targeting but is a very good buff for a mage with combat skills...which Vampire Lords are inclined towards. Soulpike: Relatively easy. You choose a target in Medium range and fire Amethyst spikes to pin their soul in place. Until the start of your next turn, the target takes minor Armor-ignoring damage whenever they Move, Charge, Run, or are moved by another effect. Extra successes increase damage or duration. I'd go for duration and have allies who can do forced movement, myself, but damage works for that, too. Spirit Gale: Easy. You create a spiritual storm in a Zone within Medium range. All creatures in that Zone must make a Determination roll based on your successes or take minor damage and be knocked Prone by angry spirits. Extra successes increase damage. Handy, but doesn't ignore Armor. The Prone is nice but you have better damage options. Vile Transference: Easy with Focus. You choose a living target in your Zone and siphon off some of their life energy that they're not currently using. You heal Toughness equal to half their max Toughness. There's no damage dealt or bonuses from extra successes - you just get a big pile of Toughness healing, which is itself pretty good. Now, Endless Spells! Each of these can be learned as a spell of a specific Lore if you want to deliberately cast them, but they're all very, very hard to cast. They're not typically very dangerous to undead, but losing control of them will generally cause problems for any living beings nearby. Bone-Tithe Shrieker: Lore of Mortisans. You pick a Zone in Long range. A giant, four-faced apparition appears in that Zone, shrieking constantly and glaring at everyone there. All living creatures that start turn in Medium range of it or enter its Zone for the first time in a round must make a difficult Determination roll. On a success, they are Frightened of the Shrieker until the start of their next turn. On a failure, they are Incapacitated until the start of their next turn. The Channelling roll to control the thing is difficult. If you do control it, each round you can choose to have it move to an adjacent Zone or stay still. Once you lose control, however, it will randomly move to an adjacent Zone every round until someone dispels it. Blood Bat: Lore of Vampires. You choose a zone in Medium range and call to the blood of the living there. All creatures in that Zone which have blood must make a very hard Fortitude roll or take Armor-ignoring damage based on your Mind as blood tears out of their bodies through all available exits, coalescing into a giant bat floating above the target Zone. Any creature with blood that enters the Zone containing the Blood Bat or which starts turn there must make the Fortitude roll or take damage as above, but every time something dies to the Blood Bat, its damage increases. If it deals more damage in a single hit to a creature than that creature has Body, it immediately drains the creature, dropping it to Toughness 0, filling all Wounds and forcing an immediate Death Test - or just straight killing it if it has no Wounds. Control is quite difficult, but if you pull it off, you can choose to move the bat to any Zone in Long range or keep it where it is. If you lose control, it will now move to the Zone in Long range of it that has the most creatures with blood in it. If there are no creatures with blood in any Zone in range, it will move in a random direction and keep going that way until it finds creatures with blood. Corpsemare Stampede: Lore of Madness. You hurl a rusty horseshoe into a Zone within Long range, causing a herd of screaming, ghostly horses to emerge from the earth in that Zone. The Zone is now Difficult Terrain. Whenever the Stampede enters a Zone for the first time in a round, including when you first cast it, all creatures in that Zone must make a difficult Reflexes roll, which they autofail if Prone or Restrained. On a success, they take 6 damage. On a failure, they take 11 damage, become Prone and are knocked into an adjacent Zone of the GM's choice. Again, control's hard, but if you do it, you must move the Stampede one or two Zones from where it starts on your turn. If you lose control, the Stampede will now move to the Zone within Long range of it that has the most living creatures. If there are none in range, it will move in a random direction and just keep going in that direction indefinitely. Vault of Souls: Lore of Underworlds. You pick a Zone in Long range and summon forth a ghostly, floating casket bound in chains that drag in living souls. Any living creature that enters or starts turn in the Zone the Vault is in must make a difficult Fortitude roll or be drained of 1 Soul and become Stunned until the start of their next turn. Any Soul lost this way cannot be healed by any means until the victim Rests, and if someone hits Soul 0, they die. Control, if maintained, lets you move the thing to an adjacent Zone or keep it still. If you lose control, it will move to the adjacent Zone with the most living creatures. If there are none in an adjacent Zone, it will move in a random direction and continue in that direction until it finds living creatures. The good news is, this one doesn't last indefinitely. Any time it drains Soul, it gains one charge. Once it hits 12 charges, it explodes and the spell ends. The explosion deals 12 Armor-ignoring damage to all creatures within Medium range of the Vault when it explodes. Malevolent Maelstrom: Lore of Deathmages. You choose a Zone within Long range and conjure up a giant, swirling vortex of necromantic energy, resembling that which was unleashed by the Necroquake. The Doom increases by 1 when you cast this. Any creature that enters the Maelstrom's Zone or starts turn there must make a difficult Fortitude roll. On a success, they take 6 Armor-ignoring damage. On a failure, if they have Wounds, they immediately drop to Toughness 0, fill their entire Wound track and become Mortally Wounded, making Death Tests as of their next turn. If they have no Wounds, they just die. Further, whenever the Maelstrom enters a Zone, all non-Endless spells active and targeting the Zone immediately end, as are all spells cast in the Zone or cast at a target in the Zone. If you maintain control, you can choose to keep it still or move it to an adjacent Zone. If you lose control, it moves to the adjacent Zone with the most living creatures in it; if there are none, it moves to the adjacent Zone with the most active spells targeting it. If there are none of those, it moves in a random direction and keeps going until it finds living creatures or active spells. Good news, though! This one ends itself, too! Every time it kills someone or unbinds a spell, it gains one charge. When it hits 15 charges, it bursts in a violent surge of Amethyst light, ending itself. All creatures in the Zone where it Bursts are Blinded for one minute and take 10 Armor-ignoring damage. Next time: Boneconomics
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Sep 25, 2021 18:01
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As shown here Lore of Vampires also has lots of self buffs allowing a Vampire character to get really good at combat.
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Sep 25, 2021 18:52
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 00:02 |
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MonsterEnvy posted:Body 3 is good for a melee build. So maybe not call them a lord? They invented new (read: aren't a miniature currently on sale) classes for humans in the main book, could have done that for sklellies. Or they could have at least given wight kings, not just wight cav and wight sklel.
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Sep 25, 2021 20:04
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