Powers (FiD)
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Powers turn Blades in the Dark-style games into power fantasy.
Introducing Powers
Rather than the fantastical being rare and poorly understood, adding powers to your gives characters entirely new abilities they can use. Introducing these into a game changes the game world, making it more fantastical. Your game will change from the typical grim blades in the dark into something different and higher powered, though possibly just as grim. Powers consist of two elements—a playbook, and powers. Playbooks are frameworks for which powers you can use and how you use them. Powers describe what effects you can create.
Here follows links to power playbooks and powers, explained in the rules below.
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Power Playbooks
Playbooks are the frames for acquiring powers. The playbooks are the power traditions of your world, roles such as wizard, sorcerer, saint, mutant, or technomancer. Each playbook gives you access to certain powers, which are chosen in the same manner as special abilities. A power playbook can also have regular special abilities to choose from, but rarely as many as ordinary playbooks do. This is in addition to all the normal features of a playbook.
Finally, each power playbook gives you a trauma condition. This means you can't survive as much new trauma as characters who have not meddled with the powers. The actual trauma condition generally affects how you use powers, imposing conditions you must fulfil in order to use powers.
Multiple Power Playbooks You cannot pick special abilities from a power playbook unless you are using that playbook. It is possible to add a power playbook by selecting this as a special ability. If you already have a power playbook, you can gain multiple power playbooks this way, giving you a wider range of powers at the price of more trauma conditions and thus more restrictions on the use of all of your powers.
Powers
Powers are what actually gives you exceptional abilities. A power playbook doesn't give you any power abilities unless you select a power from that playbook's special abilities. Once you select a power, you gain abilities appropriate to the power. So if you select the electricity pool, you can shoot lightning, power electric engines, cause shortcuts, summon electric creatures, and so forth. In many cases, powers work as equipment does, empowering your normal actions. Some powers allow you to do what is normally impossible, these generally have more rules governing them
Stress Cost You use your normal actions to activate powers, but there is an associated cost in stress. The stress cost of each category of power abilities is given at the top of each column, but this cost is reduced by the result of the action roll. This works much like resistance rolls, but is handled as a part of the action roll. Each power ability has a stress cost, which is reduced by the result of the action roll. A critical success reduces the cost by 2 for each six rolled beyond the first. This is the same roll used to judge the effect of the action itself. Sometimes the use of a power does not need an action roll, but you still make one to find the stress cost. For example, using Survey and darkness to allow your friends to see in the dark is not exciting enough to require an action roll. In this case, ignore the result of the action roll, it always succeeds without consequences. For basic powers not used as a part of a significant action, just ignore the cost and action roll.
Avoid The Trap of Powers Just because a power allows something does not mean that you can't do it without that power. Attacks with weapons do not lose any effectiveness just because there are power that do the same. Items can be more effective than powers because once you select an item of equipment, you usually have it for the rest of the score. Attune allows the identification of supernatural creatures even without a power.
Powers are Inflexible Unlike normal actions, which are flexible, powers are specific. If you want to make a ranged attack using your power, that is done with Hunt action unless the particular power description says otherwise, you cannot fudge this with another action as you normally can.
Powers are Flexible The abilities described for each combination of power and action are typical examples that can be expanded upon. The drift of the ability is set, but the particulars can be changed. If a character wants to do something that seems appropriate to their power but no description fits, modify existing abilities to allow it as some kind of action.
Combining Powers If you know several powers, you can combine all of them with a single action, as long as this makes sense. So if you know both the fire and plant powers, you can dismiss, infiltrate, or infiltrate using both at once. It is also possible to combine powers with another power-user as a part of assisting them. Combination powers are often more effective but become more vulnerable to the banish effect of the attunement action. This often increased effect at the cost of position as controlling a combined power is harder. Negating any of the component powers of a combined power negates the entire power.
Power Duration There are no specific rules for the duration of powers. Most powers last for a single use of an action: you use the power, the effect happens, and then the power ends but the effects of the power remains. The typical example of this is attacks, you wield your fire blade for the duration of the fight, and then it dissipates. Powers that last usually last for an entire score, but this depends on the degree of success. A possible consequence of power use is that the power suddenly ends at an inappropriate moment.
Power Area The target of powers can be described in plural or singular, but powers use the normal effects of multiple targets, increasing position and/or reducing effect as appropriate. If the power explicitly says it has an area this does no apply.
Powers Gated by Dice Power effects can be gated by the number of dice rolled for an action. This means that pushing, assists, and devils' bargain enhances the effect of your powers. No dice, no power. One die gives access to free abilities. two dice gives access to item abilities, three dice gives access to stress abilities, four dice allows access to all powers.
Optional Rule: Powers Gated by Tier If powers seem to powerful for low-tier adventures, you can tier-lock powers. At tier zero, you can only use free powers. At tiers 1-2 you can only use free and item powers. At tier 3-4 you can use free, item, and stress powers abilities. At tier 5, you can use all powers. This makes powers almost useless at tier zero and weak until tier 3. Long-term projects allows use of powers as if you were two tiers higher. Make sure to limit exceptional equipment like bombs and grenades in a similar manner.
Availability and Genre Different power and action combinations fit in different genres, as do power playbooks. The easiest way to manage this is to modify or remove the power playbooks and powers that don't fit. But you can also remove the abilities linked to certain actions.
- Removing attune removes summoning and anti-power abilities, making the setting decidedly less mystical.
- Removing command and sway powers make powers more physical and less subtle.
- Removing consort makes a creature's form more definite, making the setting less confusing.
- Removing finesse, hunt, skirmish, and wreck removes exceptional attacks, making the setting much less flashy.
- Removing prowl limits how people move, also making the setting less flashy.
- Removing study and survey removes information powers, making the setting more mundane.
It is also possible to limit sub-categories of power playbooks, making certain components secret and something that has to be earned. You can also lock certain action/power combinations behind an additional cost, such as requiring a separate ability to use Survey power if you dislike scrying.
Typical Powers and How to Use Them
This is the pattern that most powers follow. You can refer to this when interpreting how powers should work. TLDR, this list is too long to read it all every time, its here to look up in to resolve specific situations. It is good to have skimmed it at least once.
Attune
Harness the power of Attune to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena from other planes of existence.
Perceive: You can detect creatures and power use tied to your power. This is usually done to spot a disguised summoned creature, but can also detect supernatural creatures behind walls or otherwise hidden, as well as traces of their passing and use of powers. Naturally, this gets more difficult as the creature is more heavily obscured. This reduces effect. The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you cannot try again.
Dismiss: You can force a creature based on this power that is native to another plane of existence to return to that plane, or to end the operation of an ability of the power you use.
Dismissing a creature is hard, and might require the creature to be weakened, either by previous attempts to dismiss it, or by other attacks, interactions, or by being set up. The consequences of this depends entirely on what happens around you when you do it. If a powerful creature resists being dispelled, its obviously dangerous. Having helpers and bodyguards reduces the consequences, and sometimes a creature wants to be dismissed and the consequence might be that it loses control of itself, or that other creatures appear to intervene.
Dispelling is usually easier, but not always. Most powers only dispel effects of their own power. Read this generously. As an example, the fire power can dispel any fire power, but also powers that affect flames and heat sources, as well as powers that affect fire creatures. It can be used as a defense against others' use of power, or it can be used to break the continuing effects of powers. When dramatically appropriate that a power is hard to dispel, often because it is the crux of the situation, this will simply not work, but will instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.
Summon: You can call a creature from a place of your power. This is generally an unwilling servant. It will obey one command from you and this can be extended. Learning who to summon may require study or be a score in itself.
Summoning can bring you allies to fight, but more commonly you summon a spirit to do some specific task related to your power. Summons can use most power effects and maintain power effects you have created. They can also give advice and information related to their power. In general, you can summon generic creatures one tier lower than yourself without having to do a flashback. Such a creature is similar to a gang member.
To summon a particular creature, similar to a cohort, you need its unique identity, often called true name in the mystical power traditions. For a technomancer this would be a blueprint or block of data. Learning about the right creature to summon is a task in its own right, often requiring a flashback or downtime activity to use Command, Consort, Study, or Sway to gain information. This also counts as a set-up action for your summoning.
It might be worth the extra effort to summon a creature of higher tier, but this is also much more demanding.
Spirits generally come in three types, elementals, spirits, and creatures with powers.
Elementals only exist for powers that have a direct physical manifestation, like the four classic elements of air, earth, fire, and water, but also the other forms that have a physical manifestation, electricity, ice, metal, and plant. An elemental is a simple creature totally dominated by its power. Most elementals have animal intelligence, and often take the shape of animals as well, tough animated chunks of matter and humanoid forms are also common.
Spirits are similar to elementals in that they are made out of the stuff of their power, but the powers that create spirits are less material. This makes spirits ephemeral, less physically oriented, and usually more intelligent than elementals. They can use sophisticated power effects and usually have an agenda of their own. Darkness, death, Flux, Illusion, Order, and Space can summon spirits.
Creatures with powers resemble normal creatures, most having a biological body, metabolism, and functioning as ordinary living creatures but also some exceptional abilities related to their power. A fire dragon is impossibly large, flies, and breathes fire. An air turtle hovers and can grow to massive size, to the point where a city can be built on top of them. And so on. Not all creatures with powers are summonable or dismissible, many are native to this world and have no special vulnerability to Attune power effects.
Depending on your degree of effect the creature is willing to do different things. Limited effect allows you to ask questions of an intelligent creature or demand a short period of physical labor from a simple creature. The creature will not fight for you. If forced into a fight due to circumstances, it will resent it afterwards.
Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to the type of creature. A devil will do evil, a fire elemental will burn stuff, and so on. This includes dangerous tasks such as combat.
Great effect allows actions outside the creature's comfort zone, but not things it directly opposes. A devil will do most things except those associated with Light, a fire elemental will heat your forge or steam engine. Lengthy service also requires great effect, like summoning the creature to guard a treasure for as long as it can.
Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature can make the position controlled, with consequences like half-heated efforts, demanding not to be summoned again until some time or event has passed, or just general sulkiness.
The position is usually risky. The creature is being forced to serve and might lash out. Typical consequences are that the creature strikes out at you once, breaks things around you, demands concessions from you, overly literal interpretations of your commands, or that the creature deliberately does its tasks poorly.
Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos. If you are a priest of light and summon a demon, or if the summon is three or more tiers above you the position will be desperate. Consequences include the spirit demanding you sell your soul, become its agent in the world, that you come to its home plane to serve it there for a time (usually three scores), that you defeat the creature in a duel or similar dramatic story events.
Gate: You can create a portal that allows travel to and from the plane of your power for a limited time.
This is rarely useful, but can be under exceptional circumstances. Each power is linked to a different world where that power is dominant. This can be an entire world, but more commonly it is a region in a spirit world or hyperdimensional plane shared by several powers, each having its own region. Gating can allow access to creatures too powerful to summon, so you instead ask for an audience. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.
There are also things that are possible to do on these planes that are not allowed in the regular world, most effects are reduced one step in difficulty, from advanced to basic, master to advanced, and apex to master. This opens the possibility of new super-apex powers that have to be negotiated. Such effects rarely reach outside the plane where you perform them, but if they affect creatures on that plane, the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.
Using a gate is usually played out as a score, which means there is an engagement roll. Depending on how quickly the matter is resolved, the game master may require a separate game to return home again. Once you have established a route to a certain place or audience with a certain creature, you can usually do so again from a controlled position. However if you do this in a scene that is dangerous, such as asking for help against an enemy too powerful for you to defeat, the position is usually much worse.
Command
Command creatures based on your power with communication and authority. Position and effect is determined normally, depending ion the situation and your relation to listeners. If you know several powers and use a Command power but don't know what type of creature you are facing, it works as long as you have the appropriate power. You need not select a specific type of creature to affect.
Communicate: You can make creatures understand you, but you do not understand them. This is useful because it allows you to intimidate creatures of your power and to command foreign or alien subordinates. Combined with the basic power of Sway allows two-way communication.
Translate: You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power. This allows full conversation with creatures of the power, but it is still a Command ability, it is less subtle than the Sway equivalent.
Authority: You can give commands to creatures based on your power, as if you were their superior. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts.
This includes the basic ability, so creatures of the relevant type will understand your orders. It is very helpful to have a grasp of the social order of your targets, as this allows you to avoid conflicting with their established loyalties. Ordering city guards to return to barracks and ignore a disturbance is much harder (lower effect) than to tell them to scatter the disturbance and move on, because their task is to protect the city.
Enslave: You can permanently bind creatures to service. Unless affected by other powers, they will stay in one location and act according to your instructions, like very loyal and literal-minded goons.
Obviously a broken ability, and one that will have a low effect unless you are already in a position of power
Consort
Utilize the power of Consort to change forms and manipulate objects imbued with your power.
Mask: You can change your clothes and accessories by imbuing them with your power. This can mask your identity or create fabulous outfits.
Shapechange: You assume the form of another creature that manifests your power. Add 1d to one action and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute except if you just raised one of them.
Transform: You can shapechange a willing or helpless creature into a form imbued by your power. This can be a curse, it can be broken but it is not easy. You can easily break the effect.
Wild Hunt: You can transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
Finesse
Exercise finesse with your power, manipulating and attacking with precision.
Ride: If there is a mount or vehicle of the appropriate power, you can ride it as if it was domesticated and you have the keys. You can move and breathe in conditions manifesting your power without damage or hindrance.
Fine Local Control: You can use the power as a fine and potent close-range attack, similar in effect to a fine potent dueling sword or pistol, or you can give your friends the Ride ability for the duration of a score.
Manipulate: You can do fine manipulation of the power, allowing you to do small and exact manipulations at range. This allows you to open doors, trigger or hinder mechanisms, or perform other minor manipulations, as long as the target is appropriate to your power.
Surge: Your power manifests like a storm of blades, suppressing the effect of multiple opponents and acting as a fine potent weapon. You can choose to affect multiple targets.
Hunt
Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power of Hunt.
Track: You can track and pursue based on your power, even if the target does not leave any mundane trail or clues. You can hide in areas where your power is manifest in the environment.
Fine Ranged Attack: You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.
Area attack: You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent grenade. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area very effectively, but there is a risk of collateral damage.
Barrage: You call down the equivalent of a fine potent artillery barrage, attacking everything and everyone in a wide area. Depending on your power, this can raze buildings and create rubble. Usually enough to provide cover for any escape.
Prowl
Sneak, move, and teleport with the stealth and agility granted by Prowl.
Reconnaissance: You can hide in environments linked to your power. This allows you to hide in impossible places as long as the environment manifests your power. You gain advantage when sneaking on creatures linked to your power.
Maneuver: You can move on and through environments composed of your environment. This allows you to climb on air, swim unhindered, walk through walls of the appropriate material and so on, depending on your exact power.
Travel: You can bring allies along when you use Reconnaissance and Maneuver.
Transport: You and allies can teleport from one location where your power is present to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to enter or escape just about any situation or location.
Skirmish
Engage in close combat and create chaos with the power of Skirmish.
Skirmish Attack: You can use the power as a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.
Fine Skirmish Attack: Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.
Obstruction: Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevent the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.
Flurry: Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
Study
Study and analyze objects and creatures imbued with your power to gain insight and knowledge.
Analyze: You can identify objects and creatures that manifest your power and see the use of the abilities of your power.
Research: You know the powers and abilities of something you analyze.
Hindsight: You can read the past events of something you analyze. This includes previous owners and how the object has been moved around as well as significant scenes.
Omniscience: You research everything in a wide area. This is easy to do where you are, more difficult at range. You can then use hindsight on some of these targets.
Survey
Survey and perceive manifestations of your power to gain valuable information and insight.
Detect: You can sense manifestations of your power at a distance and understand their general nature. This works even when you can't see the target, but both range and information suffer.
Sensor: Choose an object manifesting your power that you have detected; you can perceive as if you were at that spot. You cannot use your Survey action for anything else when doing so.
Scry: Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest suitable object, which is often close enough to perceive the target.
Omnipresence: You perceive from all objects manifesting your power at once over a wide area. As long as you concentrate you retain this perception and can report what you see to others.
Sway
Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate creatures imbued with your power to achieve your goals.
Communicate: You can communicate with creatures linked to your power even if normally couldn't, allowing you to use the sway action normally on them.
Translate: You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power.
Mesmerize: You can post suggestions in the mind of a creature manifesting your power, which will be triggered under conditions you specify. Common suggestions are to steal something, attack someone, or ignore some event. This is a subtle power, but easier to spot once triggered.
Inculcate: You change the personality and motivations of creatures that manifest your power. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remembers their past but regards it as unimportant compared to their new motivations.
Tinker
Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with your power to suit your needs.
Handle: You can handle materials that manifest your power as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.
Shape: You can shape materials that manifest your power as if they were of clay, and they will retain their new shape for some time even if they would normally not, such as water, sand, or smoke.
Create: You can create objects manifesting your power out of nothing or transform an object from one material to another as long as you know the power required for both the starting and final form. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items appropriate to the power(s) used.
Fabricate: This is similar to create, above, but you mass-produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
Wreck
Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects imbued with your power with devastating force.
Jimmy: You can jimmy objects manifesting your power much like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.
Smash: Similar to jimmy. When smashing objects from your power, such as metallic objects for the metal power, you to affect hard objects as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.
Disintegrate: Similar to smash, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.
Obliterate: Similar to smash, but over a large area. This can level a city block, empty a canal system of water, raze a city wall, and similar massive destruction.