Outside of the cities, the damage of the world is clearly visible in the lands between them.
Forests have large swaths of trees missing, mountains have huge chunks of collapsed peaks, or deep caves where the ground itself disappeared. Sections of the world have simply gone missing, massive chasms appearing in an otherwise flat plain.
Animals are still present, but much more cautious, hiding from almost any noise with no natural curiosity. Only the most skilled hunters are able to take game now, either through clever traps of extreme patience.
Roads still exist, most of them survived and are usable, but few people are able to survive between cities without bringing supplies with them. Foraging is next to impossible for the average inhabitant, so you don't travel without carefully planning enough supplies to last the journey.
There are those who work to survive, setting up small camps or cabins using natural geography for protection, but they are usually within travel distance to larger cities in order to have a method of supply. Small farming communities have popped up in places where the climate is appropriate, but the extreme areas of the world are essentially abandoned to the wild.
The threat of additional impact similar to the Shattering has left most people constrained to their cities or surrounding land. Explorers fear wandering into currently undiscovered dangers or threats, or worse, moving into an area of land that collapses into the void.
What is the city that shouldn't be able to survive given where it's placed, and how are it's inhabitants still going?
Place: Tick-Tock Station. A portal between worlds opened up, and a Wyrm poured out, breathing destruction and setting the entire Fungal Wetlands ablaze. Shockingly, of all things, the clockwork-themed amusement park in the middle of the swamp, and the people employed to tend to it survived. Sure enough, all of the enhancements the park built to maintain continuity (service tunnels under the park; hidden storage areas) made a shockingly effective doomsday shelter, and so many of the amusements/mascots/structures were automated, that they ran smoothly with no one touching them. So they're still there, reworking the amusement park one piece at a time into a pretty thriving manufacturing town.
Are there full countries left standing, or is the world reduced to small towns and enclaves?
drawing on several different points made so far...
Fact: Most people live in villages or enclaves that are small enough to self-support in straightforward ways, but small groupings of villages have established some small trade in ways that begin to look like larger coordination. The major exceptions are cities and nations held together by some substantial magical or divine--or other?--power, either in a single powerful individual or some established guild or academy that can provide logistical support. Xyrestia is an example of a nation held together in this way, but exactly whether the Glamour-King is the sole source of that power is unknown.
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0
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Place:The Evershift. Once a rocky canyon hollowed out by an ancient waterway that long since dried up (think the Grand Canyon) it has changed since the world fell. Or rather, it continues to change: canyon walls rise and fall, land-bridges appear and disappear, caves open and close. The rumor that there was a massive reactor built somewhere in the canyon has only spread since it started behaving this way, but of course no one's been able to find it.
Spark: the Evershift is growing. Slowly, but steadily, it spreads outwards in every direction.
Spark: What tech the cities have, outsiders don't have the ability to use. And what resources and food are needed to make the tech and sustain lifestyles in the cities, the cities can't harvest themselves.
Of course there is always:
Place: The Devil's Maw:
This mine site lay fallow for several months shortly after the event.
Until it grew restless.
It's unclear how it became operational again, but the automated trucks started churning out high quality ore again.
Scouts sent to check the mine have never returned.
Instead packages have periodically been sent out to their families, even after those families have moved on.
Deliveries of such packages and ore are accomplished from the loading dock, but moving any further inside the complex seems to deal you away for good.
The foolhardy and the desperate have since been constantly devoured by the mine.
And those others who dare approach are often seen leaving missives to their loved ones at the entrance.
The general populace has no idea why they're suddenly under siege by extra-dimensional beings and populated by Godbound.
There's no dominant theory as to what caused the apocalypse, but rather a thousand smaller theories.
The majority of the world is cautious and ambivalent towards the Godbound and otherworldly creatures.
The world is large, travel is not easy, and people don't go very far.
Most people live in villages or enclaves that are small enough to self-support in straightforward ways, but small groupings of villages have established some small trade in ways that begin to look like larger coordination.
Many massive cities, however, still stand, a shadow of their former excess, generally occupied by many smaller villages
The only full nations and states are those bound together by some external force, be it a warlord, Godbound, or other.
Outside the cities, there are endless wastes and natural calamities and hazards.
God-bound are not too rare, but are uncommon. Seen as a result of the breakdown of the world, they are to be distrusted, are as useful as their abilities, or are to be exalted depending on your locale.
Places:
The city of Ember and the Ever-Burning Inferno: A magical reactor explosion, that has... never... stopped... burning. A ball of magical arcane fury that simultaneously wiped out a city, and formed another city around itself, as people came to siphon its heat and arcane power, eventually becoming known as the city of Ember.
Anur-Azak: The city at the center of everything. A melting pot of refugees and immigrants, huddled together in the husk of a crumbling cityscape, building something new and better together.
The High Gardens: Beautiful, idyllic garden, haunted by otherworldly voices which grow louder as you approach.
The Walled Megacity of Zhuun: Formerly the trade capital of the world, now hollowed out home to warlords, bandits, and those that would rule by sheer force.
Tick-Tock Station: The remnants of a clockwork amusement park, in the wastes of a fungal forest, turned into a mechanical manufacturing town.
The Devil's Maw: An abandoned mine that... woke up one day, consuming workers who entered, but sending periodic packages to their loved ones.
Faces:
Old Trick: Everyone knows Old Trick. Somehow. A dealer in secrets, a broker of ideas long forgotten and forbidden, seemingly everywhere at once. When you to find them, they're there, and they have just what you need, if you're willing to pay.
Dorothea: She's the de-facto governor of one of the villages in Anur-Azak. She fled her farm when the monsters came and killed her husband and children and has come to impromptu leadership of the collective through gentle kindness towards those around her tied to cold calculation of how best to survive. She cares deeply about her citizens but constantly has in mind the big picture of what has to be done to survive.
Kane: The current warlord of Zhuun. Kane rose to the top of the city quickly through a campaign of brutal domination of anyone in his way. A large, muscular man, Kane became known for violence from first entering the city walls. It didn't take long for him to find the favor of the previous warlord, and when that warlord showed a moment of weakness, Kane ended him and became the new warlord, as were the standing rules for the city. Might equals right in Zhuun.
The Glamour-King of Xyrestia: A poet, a performer, a scholar-king, and a philosopher, he talks a big game, his words doing the work so his lightning powers don't have to. And yet, no matter how much he talks, his words never seem to translate to aid for the people down below.
Sparks:
People in the cities need the resources of the people outside, and people outside need the technology of the people inside. But finding a way to safely exchange them is a challenge.
The Evershift is expanding, slowly but surely.
There is in the sky a Fractal Dragon, breathing destruction on the ground below.
How are we feeling, gang? Did I miss anything? And do we feel ready to roll up some characters?
I agree, I am also ready to move onto character creation. I did have one more place in me that I've been working over in my mind.
Place: Zhyrest, Capital City of Xyrestia
Zhyrest has a range of conveniences few other places can boast, streetlights and public transport among them. The population is growing, slowly, and that means construction, as Zhyrest is in fact not grounded in the ruins of one of the Old Cities.
Spark: The people seem very happy as well, even though necessities such as food and medicine are not any more accessible or cheaper than anywhere else. Part of this happiness might be the way that those who are discontented with the Glamour-King's rule seem to disappear...
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Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
Excellent, I'm extremely excited to get going, so let's start crafting some characters. I'm sure some bits of the world, locations and people, will come up in character creation as well, and I agree, I think this is a good level of world detail without over-detailing things.
For character creation, you're all pretty much free to sketch out level 1 Godbound heroes in the book, exactly as the book describes. Feel free to throw out ideas, pitch concepts, make suggestions, or roll up a fully fleshed character.
You're assumed to be friends, or at least allies—you'll be working together as a group. We'll map out those bonds once we know our characters.
Excellent, I'm extremely excited to get going, so let's start crafting some characters. I'm sure some bits of the world, locations and people, will come up in character creation as well, and I agree, I think this is a good level of world detail without over-detailing things.
For character creation, you're all pretty much free to sketch out level 1 Godbound heroes in the book, exactly as the book describes. Feel free to throw out ideas, pitch concepts, make suggestions, or roll up a fully fleshed character.
You're assumed to be friends, or at least allies—you'll be working together as a group. We'll map out those bonds once we know our characters.
I look forward to meeting your adventurers.
How are we doing stats? Can we roll them, or do you want us to use the 16, 14, 13, 13, 10, 8 distribution?
I'm currently thinking about an intellectual melee fighter, in the line of a sword-saint or kensai. It would be Sword, then two of something like Artifice, Knowledge, Time, and Luck. There's several different ways of flavoring that character based on which combination it is, all of which currently sound cool to me. Do other people have central ideas? I'm pretty flexible; I have other character ideas too and just wanna make sure we're not overlapping too much.
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Yeah, I was thinking Earth, Passion, Time with the Empty Way low theurgy for time monk.
Take the durability in Earth, and the D10 unarmed melee from the Theurgy and you basically become an avatar of the Theurgy.
I keep going back to Health as one of my three. My character still needs to be fleshed out but the basis is going to be someone who intends on healing the world with their new powers.
Looking more, I think I'm between a pair of choices:
Health, Death, Endurance
Health, Bow, Endurance
I think I'm leaning towards the first one, and really leaning into the idea of a godbound who has control over life (via diseases, healing, etc...) and is out to correct what he views as injustices towards that life. That also leaves some room for him to grow into the more neutral death role and have moments where he can decide someone still being alive is the actual injustice (more than just a "kill you with my sword" way).
Looking more, I think I'm between a pair of choices:
Health, Death, Endurance
Health, Bow, Endurance
I think I'm leaning towards the first one, and really leaning into the idea of a godbound who has control over life (via diseases, healing, etc...) and is out to correct what he views as injustices towards that life. That also leaves some room for him to grow into the more neutral death role and have moments where he can decide someone still being alive is the actual injustice (more than just a "kill you with my sword" way).
I have no idea whether you want feedback, but I certainly find the Death build more interesting, and I like the character development you outline here.
I think I have mostly settled on Sword, Luck, Artifice, with a low-Wis aggressive freedom fighter as the build, looking to topple tyrants.
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@Dex Dynamo Just to be sure, the "change your stat to X" part of a word happens after score assignment right? As in, I could toss an 8 in the stat that gets bumped up and that's legal?
@Dex Dynamo Just to be sure, the "change your stat to X" part of a word happens after score assignment right? As in, I could toss an 8 in the stat that gets bumped up and that's legal?
Yeah, the reason not to do that is that while usually the bump goes up to 16, if it's already 16 it'll get bumped up to an 18. Not to say you should do that, but there is some kind of decision to make there instead of just obviously putting the 8 there.
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History:
Zane was born in the free-lands, a section of the world where those who were used to living off the land, or just generally didn't want to converge to large cities for safety. Zane's father was a hunter, and so he was trained in that skill from a young age. He was by no means an expert, but he was manageable enough to contribute to bringing food to the table. Their village was small and tight-knit, each family helped the others, and often the food on another families table was slain by Zane's hand. The families traded based on their skills, and generally they were able to survive in their little bubble.
As the world has quickly proven, there is no happiness that lasts forever. The first sign of something wrong began when a new family joined them in the village, and within a month, started showing signs of sickness. They were quickly sequestered away in their home, but it wasn't long before other villagers started exhibiting the same signs. Day by day, more villagers were struck with sickness, and every day the effects were worse as the sickness spread through their bodies.
Zane spent most of his time hunting, both to get out of the village as well as being the one few healthy people remaining. He knew that it was only a matter of time until he caught it as well, but refused to abandon his family and his village. Any hope he had disappeared when his parents also got sick. Most of the village has died off by now, and he knew that his family was next. Still, he did what he could, chores and food gathering for those remaining, burials for those not. His father died quickly, the disease taking him in the night. His mother's decline was worse, however, and as she suffered greatly. As she passed, the grief he experienced exposed his soul to a touch of divinity and it ignited that spark within him.
The last one left in the village, Zane sat by his mother's body for three days before he realized something was wrong. He hadn't eaten or drank anything in that time, yet he didn't feel the need to do so and didn't feel any weakness from the same. Unsure of his new state, he buried his family, and left the now empty village behind to wander the wilderness. It was months later when he came upon another village stricken by the same sickness that he started to fully understand what he had become. He recognized the disease and something within him was able to both understand that it was created, as well as summon the power to cure those afflicted by it.
Leaving the astounded villagers behind, Zane wasn't ready to acknowledge his newfound status. Instead, he was driven by a singular purpose. This disease wasn't natural, it had been crafted, and he needed to find out where it had come from and stop it and whoever created it.
Description:
Tall and lanky, Zane was on the cusp of of adulthood when he became Godbound. His slim frame matches his youthful appearance. Green eyes, blonde hair, and tanned skin from being outdoors consistently, his transformation has brought an unnatural maturity that doesn't match his young features. Often underestimated, he has learned to play the role expected of him in common society, struggling with the fact that he can't easily enter into important conversations due to how he looks, and fighting the frustration of being treated like a child still.
Zane pursues a singular passion of removing diseases. Other aspects of humanity and justice fall secondary when it comes to chasing down diseases especially those that are unnatural (godbound or human created). Zane strives to live within the realm of morality that society considers standard, that is to say he wants to follow rules, but also fights back against things that a person would consider unfair. Above all else, though, Zane will seek out disease and plague in an attempt to heal it. Aided by his divine gift, he is able to tirelessly pursue that which he feels needs his attention.
Character Sheet
Stats:
Str - 13
Dex - 16
Con - 18
Wis - 14
Int - 13
Cha - 10
Facts:
origin: Villager from one of the free-lands, areas where no major city holds specific influence
past career: Hunter
relationship: strives to heal, particularly affected by what he deems as "unfair" deaths
Words:
Death - Heroes with the Death Word may command undead in their presence as an action, ordering up to one Mob of any size. Greater undead get a Spirit saving throw to resist, and cannot be commanded to self-destruct. As an On Turn action, they also know the details of what, where, and how anything died or is dying within 100 feet of them.
Endurance - Heroes of Endurance need not eat, sleep, drink, or breathe, and may set their Constitution score to 16, or 18 if it’s already 16 or higher.
Health - Heroes with the Health Word have an invincible defense against diseases and poisons, and can diagnose them instantly. They may set their Constitution to 16, or to 18 if it’s already 16 or higher.
Divine Gifts:
Lifegiver (Health/Major/Constant) - Allies in your presence automatically stabilize at zero hit dice or hit points provided their bodies aren’t torn to pieces. As an action, Commit Effort for the day to revive an ordinary mortal creature from death if they’ve been dead less than a day and some part of their corpse remains intact. Godbound and other mighty entities cannot be revived.
Ender of Plagues (Health/Minor/Action) - Commit Effort for the scene. Cure all diseases and poisonings within sight. If the Effort is expended for the day, the range of the cure extends to a half-mile around the hero, penetrates walls and other barriers, and you become immediately aware of any disease-inducing curses or sources of pestilence within that area.
Flesh Made True (Health/Minor/Action) - You are able to cure a target's maimings, blindings, poisons, mutilations, and birth defects by sight once per round. This does not heal hit point damage, but it can restore lost limbs and crippled functionality
Withholding The Mercy (Death/Minor/Constant) - Those reduced to zero hit dice or hit points within 200 feet of you automatically stabilize or die as your wish. If you desire it, willing living creatures at zero HD or hit points around you may continue to act for as many rounds as you have levels before they unavoidably fall dead.
Body of Iron Will (Endurance/Minor/Constant) - Your natural armor class is 3. You are impervious to any natural environmental damage, such as that caused by extreme heat, cold, pressure, radiation, or vacuum. Such forces used as a weapon or hazard against you function normally. Armor or shields don't benefit this base AC.
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I'm thinking Alacrity, Deception, and Sun. I specifically like the contrast between Deception and Sun. Hiding in plain sight/your eyes deceive you/don't trust your senses as metaphor. I also had a reverse-Icarus in mind with Alacrity and the Sun. I don't know if it's a myth future generations will tell or an actual part of the character's background: in a moment of hopelessness they ran towards the sun by hopping from star to star across the night sky until they passed below the horizon, but instead of burning them up the Sun spoke to them and they fell, changed, back to the ground.
Or something like that. I'll get the build figured out tonight hopefully.
I've been putting this off and hoping to catch other people's flavour before posting.
The character I had in mind was a wandering monk type, and I'm not sure whether he'd fit like a superhero/saiyan/powerful brings clash sort of vibe.
He's more a classic mystic, and that might not be high tempo enough.
I was picturing god battles as high power, yes, but not in the flashy super hero way instead I was thinking more of a band of adventurer types who is also able to exert high levels of power.
Maybe individuals do that in a flashy way, but I honestly didn’t expect to have my guy be flashy. I was envisioning a more reserved figure who follows the others but isn’t one to lead.
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I wouldn't worry about a tempo clash regardless. It's pretty common in storytelling and shouldn't be an issue here. As long as the "faster" paced characters aren't constantly stepping on your toes and overwriting your choices, but that's something that we should be capable of avoiding.
And yeah, I don't really picture superheroes. I'm picturing more of a Greek mythology style where the characters do extraordinary things, but in a very grounded and human way.
It's fine if our guys aren't flashy.
I was just worried that my guy wouldn't be flashy when everyone else's was :P
If it helps, I'm thinking my guy isn't super flashy: he just always has whatever he needs (Artifice), things happen the way he wants them to (Luck), and he hits stuff really, really hard (Sword).
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Jason's early childhood was happy; he lived on his family's farm a few days' travel from substantial settlements, and he and his family grew their own food and raised their own livestock enough to be mostly independent. Only rarely would they need to go into town, to perhaps replace an important tool or pick up some raw materials unavailable in their area. Unfortunately, that kind of prosperity in this world attracts attention: when Jason was fourteen, raiders attacked to take what they had made, and while fighting was not a skill that had been overlooked in his informal education, numbers took their toll and he was the only one to escape.
He spent the next decade traveling from town to town, or sometimes city to city, earning a small living doing whatever his hosts needed, whether it was guard work or building or working the fields. His ascension came when during an unusually-extended stay at a small village on the outskirts of the territory claimed by the remnants of an old city, the soldiers of that old city came to extort "taxes" from the inhabitants. Jason was in the field when they came, and by the time he heard and rushed back, half of the buildings were afire and the survivors had been herded into the village green. The comparison to his family's farm struck him with the force of divinity, and moments later the last of the invaders fled Jason's revealed power. Afterward, it had somehow occurred that despite earlier appearances, the fires had claimed no lives, and of those beaten, none of them had taken serious injuries. Jason spent less than the afternoon rebuilding the town as well as it had ever been, but he knew now that places like this were not yet for him to stay. Jason now roams without any need for the money of those he helps, but with the urgency of his quest burning in his eyes.
Jason Urrson is a tall, slimly-built and darkly-tanned man with sky-blue eyes and a ready smile, apparently in his mid-twenties. He carries a simple shoulderbag and a two-handed sword on his back and he wears light leather armor. All of his equipment is simple and very well-made. He was never the smartest, but he always had a sense of what needed to be done and how to do it, and his ascension has only emphasized those traits. He is no planner; he relies on his extremely broad skillset and his intuition to let him deal with any difficulties he may encounter.
Stat block:
Str: 13
Dex: 16
Con: 10
Wis: 13
Int: 8
Cha: 14
Hard: 14
Evasi: 13
Spir: 14
HP: 8
Combat: two-handed sword. +2 to hit, d10+1 damage, 11 damage when Shattering Hand is active
Fray die: d8, maximized when Shattering Hand is active
AC: 15 (light armor with +2 dex)
Facts:
origin: independent farmer
past career: roaming hands-for-hire
relationship: hates raiders and oppressive authority
Words:
Artifice
Heroes with the Artifice Word can create any non-magical object a normal man can carry as a round’s action, using whatever materials are to hand. While the ensuing creation may look odd, and any "foodstuffs" are inedible, it functions and lasts as well as a normal object of its type and usual substance. The hero’s crafting efforts for a day count as 100 laborers per character level when an estimate is needed.
Luck
Heroes gifted in the Luck Word may roll 1d20 once a day. At any time during that day, they may replace their own or someone else’s 1d20 roll with the one in reserve. They can only replace a roll once per day.
Sword
Heroes with the Sword Word treat all their weapon or unarmed attacks as magical, cannot be disarmed, and can summon any melee weapon they’ve ever used immediately to hand as an Instant action.
Gifts:
Lesser:
Ten Thousand Tools: Your natural gifts of creation are augmented. Instead of requiring a full round to create a portable mundane object, you may do so as an On Turn action, as part of whatever action you take. This object may be a permanent creation or allowed to disappear afterwards at your discretion.Your daily labor on projects is worth 1,000 laborers per level. This gift is of no use to a Godbound who has not bound this Word.
Transmuter: Commit Effort for the scene and turn one 10 x 10 x 10 foot cube of material per hero level from one physical substance into another. Items being used or held by a creature cannot be changed. If the effect is used to somehow harm targets, they take a 1d6 damage die for every two character levels of the hero, rounded up. If the substance being created is rare or precious, Effort must be committed for the day. Extremely rare and magical substances cannot be created this way, though mountains of gold can be fabricated. See the Wealth Word for limits on the use of this newfound treasure, as it is all too easy to inflate a region’s mundane economy into chaos.
Greater:
By Chance: Commit Effort for the scene. The player dictates an event in their presence that isn’t utterly improbable, and it happens. Damage to foes is limited to a 1d12 die for a focused calamity on a single target or a 1d6 damage die apiece for troubles that affect a group. This power affects only physical objects and events, and not minds or emotions.
Shattering Hand: Commit Effort. Your melee damage rolls and Fray dice are always the maximum possible. You can destroy barriers as thick as five feet of stonework in front of you in one round’s action, smashing them with a blow or as part of your movement action. Magical substances may resist this power.
Effort: 2
Influence: 2
Wealth: 0
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Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
Something I was thinking of as I read Invictus's history and writing my own.
There isn't an "age" section of character creation, but I'm assuming that the characters would all have different ages at which they might have become a Godbound?
Do Godbound age once they are given aspects of divinity? Trying to understand if I'm writing a character that effectively locks themselves into an age or if they'll just age slowly over time.
Something I was thinking of as I read Invictus's history and writing my own.
There isn't an "age" section of character creation, but I'm assuming that the characters would all have different ages at which they might have become a Godbound?
Do Godbound age once they are given aspects of divinity? Trying to understand if I'm writing a character that effectively locks themselves into an age or if they'll just age slowly over time.
I don't have a good answer, so I'm willing to say it's whatever the group wants, or possibly even both on a case-by-case basis, depending.
My vote is case-by-case meaning each Godbound controls it differently. Thinking, it becomes a choice that each person can decide if aging still happens, it doesn't happen at all, or something in between (like, the individual can turn aging on and off).
You don't de-age, but ages can vary and stop or not stop by godbound preference?
I mean, I figure as Godbound mature (level up) their appearance would tend to change to reflect that. I would definitely think whether that change in appearance reflects a change in age would be a case-by-case kinda thing, though I'd expect even if they apparently age, it wouldn't actually affect them physically the way it would mortals. I'm thinking the way Zeus is traditionally shown: all white beard and hair, but physically powerful nonetheless, or the way Ariel's father is portrayed out of Disney's "The Little Mermaid".
EDIT: for example, I imagine Jason's outward obvious age would change very little over time, though maybe in a few decades a close inspection would reveal some small crows-feet around the eyes, or whatever. My thought was like Aragorn, I guess.
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+1
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
I don't think we definitively answered how long it's been since the world was broken, so maybe we don't really know how Godbound age? We know they don't age like humans, but have no definitive answer as to whether they're effectively immortal, only very long-lived, or whether it varies from person-to-person.
I'm good with "your age is locked in where you became a Godbound" as a baseline just so we can have Godbound that look older and more wizened without immediately going "fuck they're using some kind of illusion to deceive us."
I'm honestly ok with just locking in the age to start and we can figure it out later. For my guy (Zane, actually named him now) he'll just be pretty young looking to start out
Posts
Outside of the cities, the damage of the world is clearly visible in the lands between them.
Forests have large swaths of trees missing, mountains have huge chunks of collapsed peaks, or deep caves where the ground itself disappeared. Sections of the world have simply gone missing, massive chasms appearing in an otherwise flat plain.
Animals are still present, but much more cautious, hiding from almost any noise with no natural curiosity. Only the most skilled hunters are able to take game now, either through clever traps of extreme patience.
Roads still exist, most of them survived and are usable, but few people are able to survive between cities without bringing supplies with them. Foraging is next to impossible for the average inhabitant, so you don't travel without carefully planning enough supplies to last the journey.
There are those who work to survive, setting up small camps or cabins using natural geography for protection, but they are usually within travel distance to larger cities in order to have a method of supply. Small farming communities have popped up in places where the climate is appropriate, but the extreme areas of the world are essentially abandoned to the wild.
The threat of additional impact similar to the Shattering has left most people constrained to their cities or surrounding land. Explorers fear wandering into currently undiscovered dangers or threats, or worse, moving into an area of land that collapses into the void.
What is the city that shouldn't be able to survive given where it's placed, and how are it's inhabitants still going?
Place: Tick-Tock Station. A portal between worlds opened up, and a Wyrm poured out, breathing destruction and setting the entire Fungal Wetlands ablaze. Shockingly, of all things, the clockwork-themed amusement park in the middle of the swamp, and the people employed to tend to it survived. Sure enough, all of the enhancements the park built to maintain continuity (service tunnels under the park; hidden storage areas) made a shockingly effective doomsday shelter, and so many of the amusements/mascots/structures were automated, that they ran smoothly with no one touching them. So they're still there, reworking the amusement park one piece at a time into a pretty thriving manufacturing town.
drawing on several different points made so far...
Fact: Most people live in villages or enclaves that are small enough to self-support in straightforward ways, but small groupings of villages have established some small trade in ways that begin to look like larger coordination. The major exceptions are cities and nations held together by some substantial magical or divine--or other?--power, either in a single powerful individual or some established guild or academy that can provide logistical support. Xyrestia is an example of a nation held together in this way, but exactly whether the Glamour-King is the sole source of that power is unknown.
Spark: the Evershift is growing. Slowly, but steadily, it spreads outwards in every direction.
Of course there is always:
Place: The Devil's Maw:
This mine site lay fallow for several months shortly after the event.
Until it grew restless.
It's unclear how it became operational again, but the automated trucks started churning out high quality ore again.
Scouts sent to check the mine have never returned.
Instead packages have periodically been sent out to their families, even after those families have moved on.
Deliveries of such packages and ore are accomplished from the loading dock, but moving any further inside the complex seems to deal you away for good.
The foolhardy and the desperate have since been constantly devoured by the mine.
And those others who dare approach are often seen leaving missives to their loved ones at the entrance.
Facts
Places:
Faces:
Sparks:
How are we feeling, gang? Did I miss anything? And do we feel ready to roll up some characters?
I say we roll some characters.
Place: Zhyrest, Capital City of Xyrestia
Zhyrest has a range of conveniences few other places can boast, streetlights and public transport among them. The population is growing, slowly, and that means construction, as Zhyrest is in fact not grounded in the ruins of one of the Old Cities.
Spark: The people seem very happy as well, even though necessities such as food and medicine are not any more accessible or cheaper than anywhere else. Part of this happiness might be the way that those who are discontented with the Glamour-King's rule seem to disappear...
For character creation, you're all pretty much free to sketch out level 1 Godbound heroes in the book, exactly as the book describes. Feel free to throw out ideas, pitch concepts, make suggestions, or roll up a fully fleshed character.
You're assumed to be friends, or at least allies—you'll be working together as a group. We'll map out those bonds once we know our characters.
I look forward to meeting your adventurers.
How are we doing stats? Can we roll them, or do you want us to use the 16, 14, 13, 13, 10, 8 distribution?
I'm currently thinking about an intellectual melee fighter, in the line of a sword-saint or kensai. It would be Sword, then two of something like Artifice, Knowledge, Time, and Luck. There's several different ways of flavoring that character based on which combination it is, all of which currently sound cool to me. Do other people have central ideas? I'm pretty flexible; I have other character ideas too and just wanna make sure we're not overlapping too much.
Take the durability in Earth, and the D10 unarmed melee from the Theurgy and you basically become an avatar of the Theurgy.
Uncertain if that's cool enough though.
Health, Death, Endurance
Health, Bow, Endurance
I think I'm leaning towards the first one, and really leaning into the idea of a godbound who has control over life (via diseases, healing, etc...) and is out to correct what he views as injustices towards that life. That also leaves some room for him to grow into the more neutral death role and have moments where he can decide someone still being alive is the actual injustice (more than just a "kill you with my sword" way).
I have no idea whether you want feedback, but I certainly find the Death build more interesting, and I like the character development you outline here.
I think I have mostly settled on Sword, Luck, Artifice, with a low-Wis aggressive freedom fighter as the build, looking to topple tyrants.
Yeah, the reason not to do that is that while usually the bump goes up to 16, if it's already 16 it'll get bumped up to an 18. Not to say you should do that, but there is some kind of decision to make there instead of just obviously putting the 8 there.
You can just post character stuff in here, and if we need to move them to a Google sheet or something we can.
History:
Zane was born in the free-lands, a section of the world where those who were used to living off the land, or just generally didn't want to converge to large cities for safety. Zane's father was a hunter, and so he was trained in that skill from a young age. He was by no means an expert, but he was manageable enough to contribute to bringing food to the table. Their village was small and tight-knit, each family helped the others, and often the food on another families table was slain by Zane's hand. The families traded based on their skills, and generally they were able to survive in their little bubble.
As the world has quickly proven, there is no happiness that lasts forever. The first sign of something wrong began when a new family joined them in the village, and within a month, started showing signs of sickness. They were quickly sequestered away in their home, but it wasn't long before other villagers started exhibiting the same signs. Day by day, more villagers were struck with sickness, and every day the effects were worse as the sickness spread through their bodies.
Zane spent most of his time hunting, both to get out of the village as well as being the one few healthy people remaining. He knew that it was only a matter of time until he caught it as well, but refused to abandon his family and his village. Any hope he had disappeared when his parents also got sick. Most of the village has died off by now, and he knew that his family was next. Still, he did what he could, chores and food gathering for those remaining, burials for those not. His father died quickly, the disease taking him in the night. His mother's decline was worse, however, and as she suffered greatly. As she passed, the grief he experienced exposed his soul to a touch of divinity and it ignited that spark within him.
The last one left in the village, Zane sat by his mother's body for three days before he realized something was wrong. He hadn't eaten or drank anything in that time, yet he didn't feel the need to do so and didn't feel any weakness from the same. Unsure of his new state, he buried his family, and left the now empty village behind to wander the wilderness. It was months later when he came upon another village stricken by the same sickness that he started to fully understand what he had become. He recognized the disease and something within him was able to both understand that it was created, as well as summon the power to cure those afflicted by it.
Leaving the astounded villagers behind, Zane wasn't ready to acknowledge his newfound status. Instead, he was driven by a singular purpose. This disease wasn't natural, it had been crafted, and he needed to find out where it had come from and stop it and whoever created it.
Description:
Tall and lanky, Zane was on the cusp of of adulthood when he became Godbound. His slim frame matches his youthful appearance. Green eyes, blonde hair, and tanned skin from being outdoors consistently, his transformation has brought an unnatural maturity that doesn't match his young features. Often underestimated, he has learned to play the role expected of him in common society, struggling with the fact that he can't easily enter into important conversations due to how he looks, and fighting the frustration of being treated like a child still.
Zane pursues a singular passion of removing diseases. Other aspects of humanity and justice fall secondary when it comes to chasing down diseases especially those that are unnatural (godbound or human created). Zane strives to live within the realm of morality that society considers standard, that is to say he wants to follow rules, but also fights back against things that a person would consider unfair. Above all else, though, Zane will seek out disease and plague in an attempt to heal it. Aided by his divine gift, he is able to tirelessly pursue that which he feels needs his attention.
Character Sheet
Str - 13
Dex - 16
Con - 18
Wis - 14
Int - 13
Cha - 10
Saves
Hard: 12
Evasi: 13
Spir: 14
HP: 11
Combat:
Bow - +3 to hit, 1d8+2 damage
Fray die: d8
AC: 19 (Body of Iron will gift, no armor worn)
Facts:
origin: Villager from one of the free-lands, areas where no major city holds specific influence
past career: Hunter
relationship: strives to heal, particularly affected by what he deems as "unfair" deaths
Words:
Death - Heroes with the Death Word may command undead in their presence as an action, ordering up to one Mob of any size. Greater undead get a Spirit saving throw to resist, and cannot be commanded to self-destruct. As an On Turn action, they also know the details of what, where, and how anything died or is dying within 100 feet of them.
Endurance - Heroes of Endurance need not eat, sleep, drink, or breathe, and may set their Constitution score to 16, or 18 if it’s already 16 or higher.
Health - Heroes with the Health Word have an invincible defense against diseases and poisons, and can diagnose them instantly. They may set their Constitution to 16, or to 18 if it’s already 16 or higher.
Divine Gifts:
Ender of Plagues (Health/Minor/Action) - Commit Effort for the scene. Cure all diseases and poisonings within sight. If the Effort is expended for the day, the range of the cure extends to a half-mile around the hero, penetrates walls and other barriers, and you become immediately aware of any disease-inducing curses or sources of pestilence within that area.
Flesh Made True (Health/Minor/Action) - You are able to cure a target's maimings, blindings, poisons, mutilations, and birth defects by sight once per round. This does not heal hit point damage, but it can restore lost limbs and crippled functionality
Withholding The Mercy (Death/Minor/Constant) - Those reduced to zero hit dice or hit points within 200 feet of you automatically stabilize or die as your wish. If you desire it, willing living creatures at zero HD or hit points around you may continue to act for as many rounds as you have levels before they unavoidably fall dead.
Body of Iron Will (Endurance/Minor/Constant) - Your natural armor class is 3. You are impervious to any natural environmental damage, such as that caused by extreme heat, cold, pressure, radiation, or vacuum. Such forces used as a weapon or hazard against you function normally. Armor or shields don't benefit this base AC.
Resources
Effort - 2
Influence - 2
Dominion - 0
Wealth - 0
Or something like that. I'll get the build figured out tonight hopefully.
The character I had in mind was a wandering monk type, and I'm not sure whether he'd fit like a superhero/saiyan/powerful brings clash sort of vibe.
He's more a classic mystic, and that might not be high tempo enough.
I was picturing god battles as high power, yes, but not in the flashy super hero way instead I was thinking more of a band of adventurer types who is also able to exert high levels of power.
Maybe individuals do that in a flashy way, but I honestly didn’t expect to have my guy be flashy. I was envisioning a more reserved figure who follows the others but isn’t one to lead.
I was just worried that my guy wouldn't be flashy when everyone else's was :P
And yeah, I don't really picture superheroes. I'm picturing more of a Greek mythology style where the characters do extraordinary things, but in a very grounded and human way.
If it helps, I'm thinking my guy isn't super flashy: he just always has whatever he needs (Artifice), things happen the way he wants them to (Luck), and he hits stuff really, really hard (Sword).
Demigod of Independence and Freedom
Jason's early childhood was happy; he lived on his family's farm a few days' travel from substantial settlements, and he and his family grew their own food and raised their own livestock enough to be mostly independent. Only rarely would they need to go into town, to perhaps replace an important tool or pick up some raw materials unavailable in their area. Unfortunately, that kind of prosperity in this world attracts attention: when Jason was fourteen, raiders attacked to take what they had made, and while fighting was not a skill that had been overlooked in his informal education, numbers took their toll and he was the only one to escape.
He spent the next decade traveling from town to town, or sometimes city to city, earning a small living doing whatever his hosts needed, whether it was guard work or building or working the fields. His ascension came when during an unusually-extended stay at a small village on the outskirts of the territory claimed by the remnants of an old city, the soldiers of that old city came to extort "taxes" from the inhabitants. Jason was in the field when they came, and by the time he heard and rushed back, half of the buildings were afire and the survivors had been herded into the village green. The comparison to his family's farm struck him with the force of divinity, and moments later the last of the invaders fled Jason's revealed power. Afterward, it had somehow occurred that despite earlier appearances, the fires had claimed no lives, and of those beaten, none of them had taken serious injuries. Jason spent less than the afternoon rebuilding the town as well as it had ever been, but he knew now that places like this were not yet for him to stay. Jason now roams without any need for the money of those he helps, but with the urgency of his quest burning in his eyes.
Jason Urrson is a tall, slimly-built and darkly-tanned man with sky-blue eyes and a ready smile, apparently in his mid-twenties. He carries a simple shoulderbag and a two-handed sword on his back and he wears light leather armor. All of his equipment is simple and very well-made. He was never the smartest, but he always had a sense of what needed to be done and how to do it, and his ascension has only emphasized those traits. He is no planner; he relies on his extremely broad skillset and his intuition to let him deal with any difficulties he may encounter.
Stat block:
Dex: 16
Con: 10
Wis: 13
Int: 8
Cha: 14
Hard: 14
Evasi: 13
Spir: 14
HP: 8
Combat: two-handed sword. +2 to hit, d10+1 damage, 11 damage when Shattering Hand is active
Fray die: d8, maximized when Shattering Hand is active
AC: 15 (light armor with +2 dex)
Facts:
origin: independent farmer
past career: roaming hands-for-hire
relationship: hates raiders and oppressive authority
Words:
Artifice
Heroes with the Artifice Word can create any non-magical object a normal man can carry as a round’s action, using whatever materials are to hand. While the ensuing creation may look odd, and any "foodstuffs" are inedible, it functions and lasts as well as a normal object of its type and usual substance. The hero’s crafting efforts for a day count as 100 laborers per character level when an estimate is needed.
Luck
Heroes gifted in the Luck Word may roll 1d20 once a day. At any time during that day, they may replace their own or someone else’s 1d20 roll with the one in reserve. They can only replace a roll once per day.
Sword
Heroes with the Sword Word treat all their weapon or unarmed attacks as magical, cannot be disarmed, and can summon any melee weapon they’ve ever used immediately to hand as an Instant action.
Gifts:
Lesser:
Ten Thousand Tools: Your natural gifts of creation are augmented. Instead of requiring a full round to create a portable mundane object, you may do so as an On Turn action, as part of whatever action you take. This object may be a permanent creation or allowed to disappear afterwards at your discretion.Your daily labor on projects is worth 1,000 laborers per level. This gift is of no use to a Godbound who has not bound this Word.
Transmuter: Commit Effort for the scene and turn one 10 x 10 x 10 foot cube of material per hero level from one physical substance into another. Items being used or held by a creature cannot be changed. If the effect is used to somehow harm targets, they take a 1d6 damage die for every two character levels of the hero, rounded up. If the substance being created is rare or precious, Effort must be committed for the day. Extremely rare and magical substances cannot be created this way, though mountains of gold can be fabricated. See the Wealth Word for limits on the use of this newfound treasure, as it is all too easy to inflate a region’s mundane economy into chaos.
Greater:
By Chance: Commit Effort for the scene. The player dictates an event in their presence that isn’t utterly improbable, and it happens. Damage to foes is limited to a 1d12 die for a focused calamity on a single target or a 1d6 damage die apiece for troubles that affect a group. This power affects only physical objects and events, and not minds or emotions.
Shattering Hand: Commit Effort. Your melee damage rolls and Fray dice are always the maximum possible. You can destroy barriers as thick as five feet of stonework in front of you in one round’s action, smashing them with a blow or as part of your movement action. Magical substances may resist this power.
Effort: 2
Influence: 2
Wealth: 0
There isn't an "age" section of character creation, but I'm assuming that the characters would all have different ages at which they might have become a Godbound?
Do Godbound age once they are given aspects of divinity? Trying to understand if I'm writing a character that effectively locks themselves into an age or if they'll just age slowly over time.
I don't have a good answer, so I'm willing to say it's whatever the group wants, or possibly even both on a case-by-case basis, depending.
You don't de-age, but ages can vary and stop or not stop by godbound preference?
EDIT: for example, I imagine Jason's outward obvious age would change very little over time, though maybe in a few decades a close inspection would reveal some small crows-feet around the eyes, or whatever. My thought was like Aragorn, I guess.
I'm good with "your age is locked in where you became a Godbound" as a baseline just so we can have Godbound that look older and more wizened without immediately going "fuck they're using some kind of illusion to deceive us."