[Legends of the Modern Age (Scion)] [Legends of the Modern Age (Scion)] Domain of Leisure

I am a bit infamous for designing less-than-optimal characters. And then I play them into a hole that only their weakness can save them - and failing miserably. It's a heck of a lot of fun. Grisl might not be sub-optimal, but she is still far from well designed.


Not telling you how to run your character, but maybe spending a dozen extra points for spells isn't so bad, especially if you RP the difficulty you have learning them. Some things can be fun, like torturing your own characters.
 
Optimizing my build and playing my character are complementary actions, each entertaining in its own way. I don't optimize because I wouldn't otherwise have fun with my character, I optimize because I like it.


I know, intellectually, that torturing my own characters can be a fun and rewarding experience, but it's not my taste.
 
Esbilon said:
I mean, I'm seeing the base for a statue and a pedestal. That it would be the kind of thing that transports us to the Overworld, or indeed everywhere is not at all clear.
The reason we're progressing slowly is that our ST makes one paragraph of updates every week or two, not that we don't try interacting with it.
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This happened because I lost my notes for Vegas and the heat of the Australian summer is getting to me more than it should. It should shape up over the next few weeks. I also have to wait for every single person to post (or all but one). Makes it hard to move on sometimes.

Esbilon said:
That feeling when you look at the Boons you'd like for your character down the line and go: "Why the fuck didn't I favor Magic?"
Seriously. It's like the most useful Purview ever. Based on my notes, approximately 4 times as useful as the next one coming along.


@shepsquared At the risk of repeating myself, you mind if I retroactively switch Karima's favored Purview of Stars for Magic?


On a related note, do we get to pick new favored Purviews and Attributes when we advance to Demigod and God respectively? Or at some other point?
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I swear I answered this before. Sure, but this is a one-off.
 
shepsquared said:
I swear I answered this before. Sure, but this is a one-off.
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You let me exchange Darkness for Psychopomp earlier. Which I guess turns this into a no.


Also, in a pbp game, I believe it is customary to treat people who don't object as agreeing, in the interest of keeping things running.
 
Since I'm not very happy with the current selection of Stars Boons, I have some custom ones. Most are by people on the old WW boards, and two are my own rewritings of the Temporis Discipline from Vampire 20th.


Feedback, criticism or an idependent thread for custom stuff are all appreciated :)

Cynosure (Stars •) [DShomshak]


Dice Pool: None, or Perception + Science (see below)


Cost: None, or 1 Legend


The vault of the night sky inspired humanity to think of the World -- indeed, the entire universe -- as a place with a definite structure, spinning around a fixed celestial pole. This Boon enables a Scion to designate his current location as a personal Pole Star. This costs a Legend point. From then on, the Scion always knows the distance and direction to this center of his personal cosmos. Having a Cynosure does not mean the character cannot get lost, but at least he can find his way back to someplace familiar. The Cynosure lasts until the Scion travels to another world or ordains a new center for space. Even without dictating a Cynosure, a Scion with this Boon knows his general location within the World within one degree of latitude and longitude.


GPS reduces the importance of Cynosure (at least in the mortal World), but the Boon also enables a Scion to sense supernatural distortions of space. This application is reflexive and does not cost Legend. Examples of such distortions include Boons that open portals to other realms of existence, or a God creating a new terminal to an Axis Mundi.


In such cases, the player rolls the Scion's (Perception + Science), with bonus dice equal to the dot rating of the space-distorting Boon. (For other supernatural effects that warp space, use the Legend of the entity that causes the effect as the bonus. Ordaining a new access-point to an Axis Mundi has a flat +9 bonus: the minimum Legend for a God, since only Gods can perform this feat.) Each 100 yards distance from the effect raises the roll's difficulty by +1. Success means the Scion knows the direction and general distance (within 100 yards) of the space distortion.


A Demigod can re-purchase this Boon to raise the distance increment to one mile; and a God can buy the Boon a third time to raise the distance increment to 10 miles.


Cynosure is also a one-dot Boon for the Psychopomp Purview, as a variant form of Unerring Orientation.


Spaceworthy (Stars ••) [DShomshak]


Dice Pool: None


Cost: None


Mortals challenged the Gods when they fired rockets beyond the sky into outer space, but the Gods retain certain advantages in the field of space travel. A Spaceworthy Scion is immune to vacuum and hard radiation... at least as long as she carries her Birthright for the Stars Purview (modified for Demigods and Gods by the usual rules for when such characters must carry their Birthrights).


Such are the quirks of divinity, though, that this Boon does not actually provide a Scion with her own air supply: She can still drown, stifle if buried alive, or suffer smoke inhalation if she lacks protective Boons for such environments.


Recurring Contemplation (Stars ••) [Temporis]


Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult


Cost: 1 Legend


The Scion with this power may trap a target’s mind into reviewing a set of events over and over until interrupted. This power is extremely subtle and ill-suited to combat or other situations rich in sensory stimuli.


When this Boon is activated, the Scion chooses one target within his line of sight and sends them into a light trance that makes them relive their most recent experiences. A target with a Legend rating equal to or higher than the Scion's may resist with a roll of (Willpower + Integrity + Legend).


The recurring events must be relatively benign, insofar as nothing noteworthy happens or nothing happens that would demand the victim’s immediate action. For example, the Scion could entrance a sentry and walk past unobserved, but not if the sentry spotted him before invoking the power.


The fugue lasts for one minute per success.


Cosmic Perspective (Stars •••) [DShomshak]


Dice Pool: Manipulation + Science


Cost: 1 Willpower


(AKA "Total Perspective Vortex," for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans.)


Contemplating the stars can inspire feelings of serenity or utter insignificance. The Scion spends a miscellaneous action speaking with his target, reminding her of her place in the universe. The Scion's player rolls (Manipulation + Science) to activate the power.


Cosmic Perspective fails if used against targets whose Legend exceeds that of the user. If the user and target have equal Legend, the activation roll is contested against the target's (Willpower + Integrity + Legend).


Used positively, Cosmic Perspective flenses the target of merely human hopes and fears, desires and hatreds. For the rest of the scene, the Scion becomes immune to emotional manipulation, whether natural or accomplished by Knacks or Boons. On the other hand, such cosmic serenity renders the character unable to spend Willpower for automatic successes or to channel Virtues. She cannot care enough to do so.


Used negatively, Cosmic Perspective crushes the target with her insignificance. For the rest of the scene, the target must spend a Willpower point to take any action challenging enough to require a dice roll. The target snaps out of her funk of cosmic futility after spending Willpower points equal in number to her own Intelligence rating.


A Scion with Cosmic Perspective can also try to undo the Boon's effects on another character, restoring that person to a normal state of mind. This has exactly the same rules for what targets the Scion can affect, and the same rules. The Scion could also try to switch a target's state of mind to the opposing Cosmic Perspective, but in this case the roll for the Scion's player suffers a +2 difficulty penalty, and the Scion is never considered to have a Legend surpassing that of his target.


Wonderment (Stars ••••) [Pashupatastra]


Dice Pool: Appearance + Presence


Cost: 1 Legend + 1 Willpower


Since the beginning of time, mankind has gazed with wonderment upon the star-filled heavens. By using this Boon, the Scion can inspire the same wonderment in those who look upon her. When she activates this Boon, the Scion surrounds himself with thousansd of twinkling motes, which emit light equivalent to starlight. What's more is that all beings who can see the Scion become fascinated and unable to take actions except for guard actions for their next action as they can do nothing but stare at the Scion and pay attention to their own defense (beings with a Legend rating higher than the Scion can resist this effect by making a (Willpower + Integrity + Legend) roll). If the Scion takes a move action, fascinated beings will follow at the same speed, but will not move themselves into an obviously dangerous situation. The Scion may maintain the aura for another round by spending 1 Legend point and taking a miscellaneous or move action. The motes immediately vanish if the Scion moves faster than a normal move action, takes a point of damage (of any type), uses another Boon or Knack or makes an attack. Creatures who cannot see cannot be affected by this power.


Crystal Sphere (Stars •••••) [Pashupatastra]


Dice Pool: None


Cost: 3 Legend + 1 Willpower


Taking a moment to realize her own orientation within the crystal spheres that dictate the path of the stars, the Scion gains several benefits. First, she can see the stars no matter where and when she is. Whether it's high noon or she's ten stories underground, she can gaze upwards and intuit the position of every star. In addition, while the Boon is in effect, she always knows precisely where she is in space (even telling her whether she is in the World, Underworld, Overworld or Terra Incognita) and exactly what time it is. The stars also give her a glimpse of the knowledge they hold granting to gain a bonus to her DV, resistance rolls and her Awareness, Stealth, Academics, Medicine, Occult and Science rolls equal to the number of Stars Boons she possesses [the highest rating of any Stars Boon she possesses would probably be more balanced, Esbilon]. The effects of this Boon last until the end of the Scene.


Turn of Ages (Stars ••••• ••) [Temporis]


Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult


Cost: 5 Legend + 2 Willpower


Time is cyclical, what has happened before will happen again, and the future is merely a reflection of the past. By realizing this and drawing on this Boon, a Scion may control the physical age of an object or person.


It is a trivial matter to accelerate time in a compressed rush, aging a target decades or even centuries in the blink of an eye. It is far more difficult to absorb and unweave entropy, lessening time’s hold. This power does not reverse history in any way; it merely reverses or accelerates the effects of time in terms of wear and tear. Moreover, a target cannot regress to an earlier or incomplete state of being. For inanimate objects, this is the point at which they were assembled. For living beings, it is either adult maturity or the time of birth (or its equivalent).


When this power is used aggressively, the Scion must touch her target activate this power and concentrate for a turn. A target with a Legend rating equal to or higher than the Scion's may resist with a roll of (Willpower + Integrity + Legend). The difficulty of the activation roll is 1 and the Scion may add a number of decades to its physical age up to her successes. The Storyteller remains the final arbiter


of time’s effect on an object, but living beings aged past their natural lifespan quickly perish


Removing the effects of time requires greater effort, and the Scion may only remove one year per success.


As noted, objects cannot return to an earlier or incomplete state. A silver coin may lose its tarnish and seem newly minted, but it will not revert to an unformed block of metal. Likewise, while an adult may revert to the cusp of his adulthood or a child to a newborn, neither could regress to a prenatal state. Also, this power only accounts for damage and wear due to time. A child amputee reverted to a baby will not regenerate her missing arm, nor will a broken sword become anything but finely crafted shards.


In either application, this power does not change a subject’s mental or mystical properties. Sentient beings retain all memories and any derangements. A Scion regressed to the point of Visitation remains a Scion, not a mortal — and the regressed Scion still remembers all Boons, Knacks and Epic Attributes.


Shooting Star (Stars ••••• ••) [DShomshak]


Dice Pool: Perception + Marksmanship


Cost: 5 Legend


Ancient peoples knew about meteorites. That's why the Sumerians called iron "star-stone." This Boon enables a Scion to call iron from the sky: a shooting star that lands as a massive meteor impact.


The Scion's player rolls (Perception + Marksmanship) to target the attack. As a weapon, the meteorite is Speed 6, Accuracy +0, Damage +15L, Range 100, Clip 1, and carries the Blast Radius (B) tag (see Scion Companion, p. 267). The Shooting Star always attacks more or less from directly above: This weapon cannot be used if more than a foot of solid material shields the Scion from the sky.


Anyone directly hit by the Shooting Star receives the full damage of the attack, including (threshold successes +1) dice from the attack roll. For a 10 foot radius around that point, the damage is reduced by 5L, with no added damage for attack roll successes; each 10 feet beyond that reduces the damage by another 5L. The Shooting Star itself can be dodged but not parried; the blast radius damage can be neither dodged nor parried. However, the DV bonus for cover or being prone apply to the victim's relevant soak instead. The attack also must come from above the target.


Note: This Boon follows the RAW for Blast Radius given in Scion Companion, even though Scion measures tactical movement and distances in yards, not feet. The closest correct distance would be, of course, three yards for each 5L reduction in damage.


Event Horizon (Stars ••••• •••••) [DShomshak]


Dice Pool: Willpower + Science + Legend


Cost: 10 Legend per mile of diameter


The ancients saw a fundamental separation between the heavens and the Earth; modern science speculates about black holes, domain walls and other impenetrable divisions of space. In a five-minute dramatic action that demands total concentration (DV 0), the God decrees such a discontinuity of space: She moves an area of space centered on herself into its own pocket universe. Each 10 motes spent on the Boon extends the diameter of the Event Horizon by 1 mile.


From the inside, the pocket universe appears to be bounded by a transparent but impenetrable crystal sphere. From the outside, the territory simply vanishes. People walk through the boundary at one point, and instantly emerge at the opposite edge.


No mundane force can break the Event Horizon. The severance from surrounding space also cuts all passages to Touchstone realms, the Underworld and Terrae Incognita. Only 10-dot Boons, Avatar powers, or an existing Axis Mundi connection, can enable entities to enter or leave the pocket universe. So for instance, an ash tree that was already linked to Yggdrasil as an Axis Mundi connection to Asgard would still function; but an Aesir could not create a new Axis Mundi connection to an ash tree caught within an Event Horizon.


The Event Horizon lasts one day per success on the activation roll. A Scion may not extend this duration, though once the pocket universe rejoins its source World, she could use the Boon again.
 
So, any new xp for us for this part of the game to spend before the fight breaks out?
 
I don't like Recurring Contemplation and can't quite figure out the high level boons yet, but the rest seem fine.


Xp is coming when the chapter ends and the deal with the labyrinth will be revealed in the next post
 
shepsquared said:
I don't like Recurring Contemplation and can't quite figure out the high level boons yet, but the rest seem fine.
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Don't like it at all, or have some specific objections?
 
shepsquared said:
Doesn't quite seem to fit the theme of the normal boons and is almost the same as the hitchhikers reference
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I wouldn't agree that it does almost the same. It makes someone experience a time loop, effectively disabling them. The other is used in conversation.


It fits within Stars purview of Time, but perhaps not particularly well.
 
We were told that Legend will be raised by ST fiat, so you don't need to worry about that. I think I'll go with Tidal Interference for my next purchase.
 
Hmmm... I already spent some XP so I need to decide what those 7 I currently have will be best used. I will need 8 when we do get some legend bump, so I need to plan for that. So challenging a decision. Maybe a new spell or two, something that will really fate bind me with Kendra.
 
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