Obsidian Reign Characters
Character Creation
You are a normal human teenager with responsibilities who can transform into a magical panther with the power to protect humanity.
Normal Human
First create your base human character. Use the standard rules except at described below.
First select a character archetype that represents the kind of character you want to play.
With your archetype in mind, select attributes and skills.
- 4 attribute points
- 10 skill points, see below for setting specific skills.
- 2 minor hinderances
- 2 advancements
Finally, fill out your character with the powers from your sapphire bond and your titan form.
Skills
Obsidian Reign takes place in 1911, long before computers or other advanced technology. The Electronics and Hacking skills are unknown in this setting.
The only Arcane Background available is Focus, and is available to every PC.
Hinderances
Characters of Obsidian Reign have a sapphire bond that gives them many advantages, powers, and hinderances. To maintain balance players may select only 2 additional minor hindrances for their character. Many major hindrances can be represented as a minor hindrance by taking them as a Quirk.
You may not select any hindrance that would make it too difficult to cooperate with others.
Advancements
You may select any edges from the lists for common advancements, those for your archetype, and those listed here.
- Attractive (Vigor d6)
- Very Attractive
- Connections
- Rich
- Filthy Rich
Equipment
We won't be tracking currency; your equipment will depend on the social class of your family, as determined by your traits.
- Laborer (poverty)
- pocket money = $0.10
- Your family is employed by professionals and merchants to do hard labor: porters, miners, dock workers, servants, lumberjacks, factory workers, etc. You are the first of your family to attend secondary school. Your family lives in a boarding house and can barely afford food and school supplies, you wear worn, second hand clothes. When you are not in school you probably work in a factory or some other menial job to help support your family.
- Professional (default)
- pocket money = $1
- Your parents are skilled professionals of a craft or service in the employ of a local merchant and you live in a small house or a "flat" near where they work. Your family has sufficient income for food and clothing with enough for an occasional celebration but they don't own any property and have very few durable goods beyond their professional tools. In addition to school you may have an apprenticeship that requires most of your time.
- Merchant (rich)
- pocket money = $5
- Your family owns a factory, business, ships, or other property and make their living by managing that property. You live in a house and eat well with easy access to basic goods and clothing. You are far better off than most of the people in Eureka and have some time to for extra schooling, an apprenticeship, or other productive activities.
- Aristocrat (filthy rich)
- pocket money = $20
- Your family is one of the oldest landowners in the city with great wealth and responsibility to all citizens. You live in a mansion on an estate and the only one of your siblings to go to a public secondary school. Every aristocrat is expected to follow a strict code of ethics to be polite and gracious to all citizens. Your aristocratic family doesn't care what you do, as long as you don't disgrace the family name.
Titan Form
Next, create your titan form. Titans are large panthers with softly-glowing fur. The titan form is obviously a supernatural creature designed to fight other supernatural creatures. A titan is magical creature, it does not bleed or have internal organs.
All titan forms have the following traits
- +2 Toughness.
- Weakness to iron (-2 toughness/resistance).
- Natural Weapons: teeth (Str +d6) & claws (Str +d6)
- Animal Form: -4 with tools, mundane equipment
- Doesn't breath, eat, sleep, or age, and immune to mundane poison and disease.
- No extra damage from called shots; but can still be crippled.
- Cannot be healed with mundane methods.
And traits that affect both human and titan forms.
- Transformation: Focus roll and 1 turn to transform into a titan.
- Regeneration (heal 1 wound/day). Titan and human forms share the same wound levels.
- Secret Identity: If the bad guys knew you were a titan, your family would be in danger.
- Vow: You are sworn to protect human life, destroy evil, and encourage peace and cooperation. (This comes from your Sapphire bond, breaking this vow will break the bond.)
- +1 benny
Archetypes and Advancements
As you gain experience your titan form becomes stronger. Advancements can be use to:
- Gain one power/ability for your archetype or the common advancement table below.
- Gain one attribute increase, up to d10.
- Gain two skill increases to skills below the linked attribute.
- Gain one skill increase to a skill at or above the linked attribute.
Unless described below, all advancements are edges from the core book.
- Skill and attribute increases apply to both human and titan forms.
- Italic traits can only be used in titan form.
- Advancements with an asterisk* are unique to Obsidian Reign and are described below. Most of these can be upgraded at Veteran level.
- Advancements with a (+plus) have additional requirements listed in parentheses.
- All abilities that require a focus roll also cause you to glow softly, indicating an obvious use of supernatural power to anybody paying attention. The power description indicates if it requires a focus roll.
Common Advancements
These advancements are applicable to every archetype.
| Novice | Seasoned | Veteran |
|---|---|---|
| Brave | Combat Reflexes | Mundane Magic* |
| Brawny | Counterattack | |
| Luck | Were Form* | |
| Brawler | Hardy* | |
| Hard to Kill | Sense Evil* | |
| Nerves of Steel | ||
| Thief (+Poverty) | ||
| Streetwise | ||
| Strong Will | ||
| Champion | ||
| Danger Sense | ||
| Healer |
Average-Joe
The special thing about an average-joe is that they aren't all that different from everybody else. They go to school, hang out with friends, and all the other typical teenager things. These are some of the best titans because they can adapt to changing situations. They may not be as powerful as others, but they can succeed at anything.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Alertness | Block |
| Elan | Mirror Image* |
| Quick | Pounce* |
| Extraction | |
| Steady Hands | |
| Jack-of-all-trades | |
| Scavenger |
Class-clown
Class-clowns enjoy bringing other people joy. Sometimes they are silly, sometimes ironic or depressive but always with the goal of making whatever situation they are in more enjoyable for the people around them. As a titan the class-clown supports their team and plays pranks on the enemy.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Charismatic | Frenzy |
| Feint | Killer Instinct |
| Bolster | Rabble Rouser |
| Humiliate | Sabotage* |
| Provoke | Jinx* |
| Retort | |
| Work the Room |
Creepy-kid
The creepy-kid is into tarot cards, astrology, and other weird occult stuff. They seem to know things that other kids find spooky and scary. They often have few, if any, friends but they don't care because they Know Things.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Arcane Resistance | No Mercy |
| Elan | After Image* |
| Scholar, Occult | Shroud* |
| Object Reading* | Kurgleblitz* |
Heart-throb
Every school class has that one boy or girl more popular and charming than the rest. This heart-throb is friendly and diplomatic, able to lead others to success. They are charismatic leaders, inspiring and encouraging allies to victory.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Charismatic | Alter Destiny* |
| Bolster | Purrfect Calm* |
| Common Bond | |
| Reliable | |
| Retort | |
| Work the Room |
Lone-wolf
Mavericks, freaks, punks, and misfits who feel like they don't fit in with the rest of the class. They have thick skin, a strong personality, and a pursuit that most of their class would consider too strange. The lone-wolf excels at creative tactics, flanking and surprising the enemy, and getting out of danger before others see it coming.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Fleet-Footed | Dodge |
| Quick | Level Headed |
| Calculating | Killer Instinct |
| Feint | Schrodinger Cat* |
| Specialization* | Mystic Mist* |
Meat-head
A meat-head is a sports jock with a well trained body and strong sense of teamwork. Meat-heads work best in a group to be stronger and better than they would be alone. They bring power to the team, shield their friends from danger, and bringing the beat-down to the enemy.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Brute | Block |
| Extraction | Bruiser |
| Iron Jaw | Testudo* |
| Common Bond | Scrimmage* |
| Provoke | |
| Reliable |
Smarty-pants
The smarty-pants loves to learn; they read the encyclopedia for fun, study historical events, and can tell you how Ohm's law explains light bulbs. Smarty-pants tend to be less powerful titans, but they more than make up for it with their deep understanding of the world.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Alertness | Retcon* |
| Calculating | Genius* |
| Investigator | |
| Jack-of-all-trades | |
| Mr. Fixit |
Tree-hugger
Teenagers often find themselves searching for meaning and purpose. Some find their purpose in the plants and animals outside the city. Tree-huggers have a connection to nature and animals. They are excellent hunters and survivalists.
| Novice | Seasoned |
|---|---|
| Berserk | Frenzy |
| Fleet-Footed | Bruiser |
| Free Runner | Animal Whisperer* |
| Steady Hands | Cats Eyes* |
| Woodsman | |
| Beast Master | |
| Beast Bond |
Power Descriptions
All abilities that are noted with "(Focus)" require a focus roll and cause you to glow softly, indicating an obvious use of supernatural power to anybody paying attention.
Powers can only be used while in titan form, unless otherwise specified in the description.
Powers can be upgraded by spending another advancement on them.
- After Image (Focus)
- You can create an illusionary duplicate of a stationary object. When you move a small object you can take an illusion of the object or leave an illusion behind in place of the object. The illusion is solid but fragile and otherwise indistinguishable from the original. The illusion shatters if damaged or used as a tool or weapon.
- Upgrade: You can create illusions as large as a house or ship, creating them from memory. You must have seen and studied the object within the last few months to create a convincing illusion of it.
- Alter Destiny (Focus)
- One person you can see gains +2 to all actions until the end of their next turn.
- Upgrade: You boost everybody within a small blast radius of the target, friend and foe, and the bonus increases to +4.
- Animal Whisperer (Focus)
- You can communicate with animals. Animals do not speak human language but they can communicate in sensory and emotional impressions. Most animals will be friendly and willing to communicate.
- Upgrade: (Focus) You can motivate nearby animals to behave in a specific way such as fleeing, stampeding, fighting, etc. You can motivate a number of mundane animals with a total size up to a horse (size 2) within a medium blast area.
- Cats Eyes
- You can see in the dark and hear a mouse sneeze. This does not give a bonus to Notice but it offsets all environmental penalties to sight and hearing by 2 points.
- Upgrade: (Focus) The bonus also applies to your other senses and, with a Focus roll, you can see detail far away and hear faint sounds giving +2 to notice rolls.
- Divination (Focus)
- By handling and concentrating on an object you can detect impressions from the recent past of that object. You can detect the motivations of somebody who recently used the object, how long the object has been in its current state, if the object was used for violence or stealth, etc. This information comes as sensory information: visions, smells, emotions, etc. from the perspective of the object.
- Genius
- Free reroll on all Smarts linked skills. You do not need to be in Titan form to use this power.
- Upgrade: You may use your Focus die for untrained knowledge skills. You probably know everything about everything. People hate that.
- Hardy
- A second shaken result doesn't cause a wound; the attacker must get a raise on the damage roll to cause a wound even if you are already shaken.
- Jinx (Focus)
- You are squirmy like a kitten. If the target fails an attack against you; including area attacks, tests, etc.; they funmble badly, making them Vulnerable until the beginning of their next turn.
- Upgrade: The effect extends to attacks against allies within a small blast radius of you.
- Kugelblitz (Focus)
- Your titan shoots lasers from its eyes. This is a ranged attack with a range of 10/20/40. It does 2d6 damage to mundane creatures and 2d6+3 damage to supernaturally evil creatures in a line from you to the target.
- Upgrade: The attack does 3d6 damage (+3 to evil) and can be a cone shaped area.
- Mirror Image (Focus)
- You create an illusionary duplicate of yourself that does exactly the same thing you do. When attacking you get a gang-up bonus of +1 and a parry bonus of +1.
- Upgrade: You can control your illusion to act without you, it can not cause damage but it can interact with objects and make tests against an opponent.
- Mundane Magic
- Choose a power in this list. You can now use the basic form of that power without the glowing light that reveals the magical nature of that power. You can take this advancement multiple times, choosing a different power each time.
- Mystic Mist (Focus)
- A dense mist seeps out of the ground and covers the area (medium blast template). The fog is thick and obscures everything more than a few feet away. Any attempt to target something in the fog is at -2.
- Upgrade: The mist is especially dense to evil creatures and can be in a large area. All evil creatures attempting to target something that isn't adjacent to them are at -4.
- Pounce (Focus)
- You can leap 2" up and 4" forward. If you make a wild attack at the end of your leap it does an extra +1d6 damage.
- Upgrade: You can leap 4" up and 8" forward.
- Purrfect Calm (Focus)
- Speak encouraging words and send glowing power into another creature to heal and rejuvenate it. Heal a wound or condition for each success or raise. You must touch the individual and it must be done less than 24 hours after the wound was inflicted. This only works once per injury and can not restore lost limbs or organs.
- Upgrade: The wound can be up to a week old and always heals an extra wound level if it is less than a day old.
- Retcon (Focus)
- One person you can see gets -2 to all actions until the end of their next turn.
- Upgrade: When you interrupt somebody to use this skill the penalty increases to -4.
- Sabatage(Focus)
- Touch a machine or mechanical system to cause it to fail subtly. The failure isn't obvious until the machine is used, then it will fail and won't function until repaired. If the machine is already working it malfunctions immediately.
- Upgrade: When the object fails it will fail catastrophically, breaking apart into chunks and components. The focus roll is at -1 per size above 0 (human). If anybody is operating the machine when it malfunctions they become Vulnerable.
- Scrimmage (Focus)
- When you make a wild attack after moving you can push/throw your opponent toward the large end of a cone template. Everybody within the cone is distracted and must make a Strength roll or be knocked down.
- Upgrade: You can push/throw somebody with a regular attack and without moving.
- Schrodinger Cat (Focus)
- You disappear in a flash of light and puff of smoke and reappear up to Pace hexes away. You must be able to walk/run/climb to the new location but you do not travel through that distance.
- Upgrade: You can reappear anywhere you can see within 12".
- Sense Evil (Focus)
- When you close your eyes and concentrate you can detect supernatural evil nearby. You can detect the direction and strength of the of evil but not its source, unless it is less than a few meters away. This does not detect mundane evil intentions, only evil supernatural creatures.
- Shroud (Focus)
- You glow briefly then blend into the background, becoming nearly invisible. You can move your full 3" without becoming visible. Any attack or action that changes the world around you dispels the illusion.
- Upgrade: You can move your full pace and running die.
- Specialization
- You are an expect at a specific activity. You get +2 when performing that activity, regardless of the trait roll used. Examples: Football, Archery, Chess, Steam Engines, Geology, Runescript, etc. This is the skill that sets you apart from other students.
- Testudo (Focus)
- Assume an aggressive stance and stare down your foes. You glow with a hard light that turns attacks. As long as you don't break your stance, by moving more than 1", all damage done to you is reduced by 4 points.
- Upgrade: The protection extends to all allies adjacent to you.
- Were Form (Focus)
- Your titan is able to assume the form of a humanoid cat with arms. You still have paws instead of hands and feet but you can now use tools and mundane equipment with a -2 penalty instead of -4. You can transform into either animal or were form.
- Upgrade: Your titan has hands and feet and can use Smarts based skills in were form without penalty. Your claws can extend out of your hands but are usually fully retracted.
