Captain (FiD)
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As a captain, you boldly take charge of situations, leading from the front and empowering your crew.
Captains can be found across all levels of society, from humble village elders to great nobles and monarchs.
You might be called a chieftain, elder, lieutenant, or warden in a smaller group, or hold grander titles such as commander, general, lady, or lord.
You might be called a chieftain, commander, constable, elder, general, lady, master, matriarch, mistress, officer, overseer, patriarch, princess, queen, ruler, sheikh, warden, or warlord.
While other social playbooks focus on specific strengths—Masterminds plan, Mountebanks persuade, and Bards charm—you balance a bit of each. Your true strength lies in inspiring and coordinating your crew, both on and between scores. This playbook works best with group agreement. Your abilities foster teamwork and cohesion, helping you lead through inspiration rather than forceful commands.
Touchstones: Kambei Shimada (Seven Samurai 1954), Jack Aubrey (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 2003), Jake Sully (Avatar (2009, Avatar: The Way of Water 2022) Hawkwood ("Flesh and Blood 1985).
Special Abilities
- Coordination: When you lead a group action, you suffer only 1 stress for every two crew who failed their rolls, rounding down, as long as they can all hear you. This does not mean you need to be shouting.
- Devil's Dare: When you or a crewmate who can hear you fails to gain full success on an action roll during a score, you can spend 2 stress to allow a re-roll with the same number of dice. The position of this second roll is always desperate.
- Focus: Three times per score you can assist a teammate who can hear you without paying stress. You can take this ability several times to gain three additional uses of free assistance each time.
- Liberty: When you and your crew roll 2d or more to indulge in vice, you may pick which dice result to use to reduce Stress. For example, if you rolled 3d and got 2, 3, and a 5 you could choose to reduce your Stress by either 2, 3, or 5.
- Morale: You and crew members that can hear you gain +1d when resisting Resolve consequences. You gain +1 stash at the end of each downtime phase.
- Stand Fast!: As long as any of your crew can hear you, you and those crew who can hear you gain +1d on all resistance rolls.
- Team Spirit: You may expend your Special Armor to allow yourself or a teammate to resist or to negate the entire stress cost of a group action. Teammates must be able to hear you to benefit.
- Together!: As long a cohort can hear you, they gain extra effect and 1 armor. They can retreat safely when you order them to.
Shrewd Friends
- ˄ ˅ Bram, a merchant.
- ˄ ˅ Finley, a judge.
- ˄ ˅ Quin, a taxman.
- ˄ ˅ Remy, a traveler.
- ˄ ˅ Sho, a barkeep.
Inventory
- ☐☐ Banner.
- ◯ Emerald Pen.
- ☐ Fine Dueling Weapon.
- ◯ Fine clothes [☐ if carried].
- ◯ Mount.
- ☐, ☐, ☐ Paper Bird.
- Banner ☐☐: A personal symbol of identity and allegiance, such as a flag, shield device, or distinctive attire. Extends abilities based on hearing to anyone who can see it. Playbook.
- Emerald Pen ◯: This pen is tipped with an emerald nib and requires no ink to write. It can draw green lines and text on any material, including in air, and you can make the text glow for a few minutes. On a surface it lasts much like normal ink, in the air it disappears when it stops glowing. More expensive versions use other gems and create text of other colors. Gadget.
- Fine Dueling Weapon ☐: A masterwork light weapon like a rapier, smallsword, or arming sword or an exotic dueling weapon such as a war fan. The fine quality improves the effect.
- Fine Clothes ◯: An outfit that increases your apparent living standard by +2. If you're carrying this item as a second outfit to change into, it is ☐.
- Mount ◯: A horse (or other appropriate mount) trained to carry you in battle.
- Paper Bird ☐: Write a message of fifty words or less on this sheet of magic paper, put on a seal, fold it into a paper bird, and speak a creature's name while recalling their image. The paper bird flies to the recipient in erratic flight that is hard to follow. Any disguise stops the bird finding its target. If the paper bird is soaked, damaged, immobilized, or hit by the rising sun before reaching its target, it turns into ash. Common, Consumable.
XP
- Every time you roll a desperate action, mark xp in that action's attribute.
At the end of each session, for each item below, mark 1 xp (in your playbook or an attribute) or 2 xp if that item occurred multiple times.
- You addressed a challenge using co-operation or charisma.
- You expressed your beliefs, drives, heritage, or background.
- You struggled with issues from your vice or traumas during the session.
Starting Actions
- Command 2
- Finesse 1
- 4 points by choice, no higher than 2 in any one.