Mind Schticks (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Astrology Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

If you know the astrological signs an enemy, you can focus, but that focus is only good if people whose astrological sign you know are among those affected by your Limit break. . Knowing the birth place and location lets you calculate someone’s astrological sign, and you can use divination power or research to find it out. It rewards research and preparation.

This is a schtick version of the Astrology method.

Blunder About

Limit Break

The GM moves you up to a double move towards the most story-relevant hidden feature, secret door, trap, hidden clue, ambush or other surprise (good or bad). If there are no such features about, the GM might even invent one.

Conditional Methods

Inherent

Select one or more Method compatible with your Tradition when you learn this power. Also select one condition, such as "In combat", "at night" or another kind of condition that you cannot control directly. The selected methods only apply under the chosen condition. They have no effect, good or bad, when the condition does not apply.

Contagion Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

You can focus at any time, but when focusing this way, you can only use your Limit Breaks on those you have you have a personal object or former body part from; others are unaffected. Any such items you have against the target are consumed in use. Your friends can donate such items to you beforehand. Securing an object to use for contagion is a Basic Action in combat and takes about 5 minutes out of combat assuming the material is freely available; otherwise it will require some kind of stunt.

Explosive Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

You can focus at will using this method, but only once per scene. Doing so invoking a power explosion. This does no harm, but is loud, flashy, and usually causes you to float in the air. It changes your appearance, at the very ruffling your outfit and leaving you slightly crispy. Depending on the campaign and your role, it might even leave you stark naked. You can usually get yourself in order between scenes, but with short scenes you might not have the opportunity. While disheveled, people will consider you rude and vulgar.

This is a schtick version of the Power Explosion method.

Familiar

Trigger Action (Focus)

You have a magical ally, a Henchman who follows you around and helps your magical abilities when called upon, but which can also be a hindrance. Construct a pet as a Henchman Rabble using your maximum allowed skill as it's highest skill.

There is a magical link between the two of you. When you and the Familiar is touching, you can expend one of its Fortune points and use this ability to Focus or to gain a bonus die on on one of your own actions (just as if you had spent a Fortune point yourself. Note that as a Henchman , your Familiar has a fixed number of Fortune points.

You are in telepathic contact with your Familiar as long as you remain within a kilometer of each other, and the link still transmits basic empathic messages, even at longer range. Any damage inflicted on your familiar also affects you. When your familiar is sitting on you, it is generally immune to attacks - it can be the victim of stunts directed at you but cannot be attacked by itself.

In general your Familiar will not provide any physical services beyond riding on your shoulder and providing power; it wont use its skills and abilities to hep you without being compensated, and is often a pest criticizing your behavior, giving unwanted advice and generally a pain is the ass. If you want a Familiar that actually helps physically, you have to get the Pet schtick as well - which also makes the familiar a lot more competent as it becomes an Extra.

Faith Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

When you are in the presence of others who share your faith who ethically support your actions, you can focus. It generally takes about ten people to achieve this, but if you are acting directly in the interests of your faith even a single person will do.

This is a schtick version of the Faith method.

Form Mastery

Limit Break

Select one Form when you take this schtick; you must know at least one form to take it. This form remains constant throughout the life of your character, but you can take this schtick several times to get mastery of several different forms.

When you use Form Mastery, select one power of the relevant form. For the remainder of the scene, you can use this power as if you knew it.

Genius

Inherent

You are a mental giant among your kin and have an aura of wisdom and power about you. Your Mind can be up to two points higher than the normal racial maximum.

Jack of All Trades

Inherent

You have a great talent for improvising things you do not really know. You have a skill value of 10 in all untrained skills but still cannot learn skill schticks or powers based on untrained skills.

Mastermind

Limit Break

You are a true mastermind, always one step ahead of the opposition. You make secret master plans that insure your success. You are able to bring hidden resources into play at any appropriate time. This is more common amongst villains than among heroes.

At any point during a scenario, you can reveal yet another well-placed resource. This can be followers, equipment, a secret weapons cache, a hidden vehicle; the only limitations are that you must have access to the resource and be able to motivate it as a part of your secret master plan. If this involves some action you secretly took earlier in the scenario, based on information you did not yet have at that point, so much the better. - this is where Masterminds really shine. For example, it is completely reasonable for you to have placed a tracer on the villains car in scene 1, even tough you did not know he was the villain until scene 3, and then use this tracer in scene 5 to find his whereabouts.

A master plan will never solve a plot, but it allows you to have the resources and preparations you need to set up interesting scenes and tackle difficult challenges. The main use is to avoid lengthy pauses when you have to stock up on information, gear, and resources.

Mentor

Inherent

You have mentor or employer that sees you as a trusted agent. The mentor is a constant source of information, employment opportunities, and often useless advice. It will provide information, payment, and act as a teacher, patron, and exemplar.

The GM is encouraged to use the mentor as an adventure hook, and might tailor benefits and rewards to the mentor’s outlook on you. You can also turn to the mentor for help and advice, but a mentor will not accept being used and will avoid becoming directly involved in the action. The mentor is a powerful figure, which might or might not mean that he is a high-power character. A rich merchant, influential queen, or behind-the-scenes monster can function as a mentor just as well as the classic warrior lord or sage. The exact details of your mentor are up to the DM and unknown to you. A mentor might have a secret agenda and use you as a pawn in it, but is rarely hostile to your ideals.

Naming Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

Whenever you know someone's individual True Name, you can focus, but that focus is only good if people whose true names you know are among those affected by your Limit break. You can learn the true names of your friends with their cooperation, becoming able to focus power on them but also giving you a potentially devastating weapon against them.

This is a schtick version of the Naming method.

Power Word Focus

Basic Action (Focus)

You can focus by shouting aloud the name of the power you are about to use. You must say what Limit Break you intend to use. You can only use this specific limit break this round. Out of combat, using Power Words to focus takes five minutes of escalating chanting and thunderous power effects, making it obvious to everyone nearby what is about to happen.

This is a schtick version of the Power Words method.

Rebound

Trigger Action

There is no end to your endurance. You have some personal source of power, some action or circumstance that restores you to full vigor. This can be things like making love to a new lover, making a blood sacrifice, succeeding with a heroic rescue, speaking out against evil, taking a drinking binge and so on. It must require roleplaying, and be a challenge to achieve or have some negative consequence.

When you successfully activate rebound, you recover all lost Hits and Fortune Points, just as if t was a new play session. All lingering harmful effects that are not Curses end.

Restraint Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

You can focus when physically restrained. This involves at least three of the following. .

• Bound arms prevent physical attacks and most physical manipulation.
• Bound legs prevent movement as a part of normal basic actions. On a full move action, you can take a normal move instead of a full move, crawling or rolling over the ground.
• Blindfolding restricts your awareness, giving you only a rough estimate of objects and creatures in a diameter equal to your [[Mind (Action)|Mind; you are insensitive to things beyond this range.
• Gagging, which prevents mundane speech. Make sure to enforce this strictly.
• Leashing, being tied to another person or fixed location by a short leash which prevents movement beyond one or two meters.

Note that it is possible, even encouraged, to use powers to overcome these handicaps, and that the restraint never imposes any penalties on your use of your powers and you do not suffer Impairment as outlined under Action and Style.

This is a schtick version of the Restraint method.

Pet

Inherent

You have an extraordinary pet, a loyal Henchman who follows you around and helps you to the best of its abilities.

Construct a pet as a Henchman Extra using your maximum allowed skill as it's highest skill. Pets are not Folk but have some other creature type, most commonly it is an Animal.

You can take this schtick several times to have several pets, but generally only one of them accompanies you at a time. Often, the GM will say that the situation is not appropriate for your pet; that it will not or can not follow you into complex, confusing, and dangerous situations, and you must take such limitations in good cheer. The pet is very good at support tasks and can intelligently do errands, deliver messages, guard prisoners, vehicles, or the back door and do other tasks that frees you up to adventure more effectively.

If you want a magical pet, look at the Familiar schtick.

Selective Methods

Limit Break

You can turn any one Method off or on with this schtick. When turned off, it has no effect on you. You can only have one method turned off at a time.

Self Focus

Trigger Action (Focus)

You can focus anytime, but you can only use this with Limit Breaks that affect yourself only.

Signature Power

Inherent

Select one power you know. This power has become so familiar to you that it has no Origin and is never affected by Power Loss. You can use it just as if was an ordinary schtick, but it still has a Form and can be targeted by effects that are limited to its specific form.

Super Genius

Inherent

You can freely exceed the normal Mind limit based on your race. This schtick is considered a Power even tough it lacks a Form. To take it, you have to have a Tradition, and if the Methods of your tradition or a Power Loss Limitation makes you lose your powers, your attribute is reduced to the normal maximum value until your powers return. Note that this is mainly a problem for Folk - other creatures do not have ability maximums.

Talent

Inherent

Some people are very good at folding paper kites or riding canoes over waterfalls, without having a high rating in the governing skill of Create or Ride.

You have a specific and narrow talent, something that would ordinarily be based on a skill or ability you are not less skilled in. When performing in your specialty field, you use your highest Action Value for the task, regardless of your value in the skill normally used. Natural talents must be fairly specific; flying is too broad, but parachuting or hang gliding qualifies.