Post by The Overseer on Aug 11, 2020 1:44:28 GMT
WHAT IS A UNIVERSAL ABILITY?
Universal abilities are skills or traits derived from your character's backstory and their ever evolving personality. They can be gained through hardships, dumb mistakes, dumb luck, outside influence, or through sheer effort by your character. Anything learned outside of your class or race is considered a Universal ability, and will not be affected by any race or class changes.
Universals can have a wide variety of effects, from simple stat boosts to active abilities or strange cryptic marks upon your soul. Most universals can not be removed from your character by any means, however, there may be situations where your character is rendered unable to use a specific universal. For example, if you have a universal that allows you to breathe fire but find yourself without a respiratory system somehow, You haven't necessarily lost your ability- you've just lost the requirements needed to perform it.
STARTING UNIVERSALS
When you first make your character, you will be tasked with creating two universal abilities for them based on their personality and back story. You may select anything that fits your character within reason.
TYPES OF UNIVERSAL ABILITIES
Due to the wide scope of things that can count as a universal ability, the classification system for them is rather broad to accommodate. The five types are:
Roll boosts- A universal ability detailing a proficiency or personality trait that would grant your character an edge in certain situations. For example, if your character has a history of dodging the cops, they could possess a universal that grants +5 to their rolls when running from authority. Fuck the police, eat the rich.
Stat boosts- A universal ability similar in nature to the one above in that it derives from the character's backstory, but instead of providing a bonus to specific situations, they provide a direct boost to the stats those situations could have applied to. This bonus can either be a +2 to one specific stat,or +1 to two specific stats. For example, someone with the universal ability "Nerd" could either have a +2 to intelligence, or a +1 to intelligence and a +1 to perspicacity..
Passive abilities- These are universals that are constantly present in the background once you obtain them, and can't be switched on or off at will. Universals that fall under this category can be incredibly varied, and may not always be clear at first. A few examples include:
-Ki Control: Through extensive training and years of hard work, you have mastered the basics of ki control, granting you access to this source of energy in order to attempt its many applications.
-Haunted: You feel the presence of a powerful entity, stalking, watching. It's unnerving.
-Arachnophobia: The spiders, they're coming! When faced with a situation involving these eight legged freaks, roll perspicacity to see if you can handle the ick.
Active abilities- These are universals that require direct activation to work, usually in the form of an attack or enchantment of some kind. Again, as they are broad, a few examples are:
-Mana blast: By concentrating a portion of your energy into the palm of your hand and launching it forwards, you may shoot a ball of wildly reactive mana towards the target, exploding viciously on impact. Once per encounter. Based on int.
-Agitator: By being an absolute little fuckwit, you have gained the ability to inflict a sapient enemy with the "pissed off" status by performing a rude gesture towards them. Pissed off enemies gain +15 to attacking rolls, but can no longer distinguish between friend or foe. Once per day. Based on luck.
-Statistical tracking: It takes a big brain moment to piece all the clues together and find the right path. Once per day you may roll int for a tracking roll instead of persp.
Boons- These universal abilities are unique in that they can only be granted to you by other entities. A boon is a universal that represents a higher power's fondness for you, usually earned through completing tasks for them and earning their favor by exceeding expectations. Some boons may grant stat bonuses, others may grant special abilities, but the nature of the boon itself will depend on the entity it originates from. Think of it as a gift from a higher being for helping them out.
IMPROVING UNIVERSALS
While every other kind of skill is able to grow through the mastery system, universal abilities have their own system of growth, broken down into two parts.
Gained universals- Universals you gain (with the exception of boons) will each come with requirements of their own in order to improve them. These requirements could be as simple as performing the same action to a set degree of success or higher a specific amount of times, or it could be something more nuanced and situational such as requiring a specific emotional response from your character in a certain type of setting. Not all requirements will be given as direct instructions- If it's a universal where the path to improvement is obvious, such as improving your ability to cook, then it will be stated clearly- But improving your universal for bonuses to persuasion rolls might require something a bit more niche, and a hint towards this will be given alongside the universal itself when you first get it. consecutive improvements for the same universal will of course require more and more difficult accomplishments, but this helps to show that you truly earned your status.
Boons- These can only ever be improved by the being that granted it to you in the first place. The more you work with them and earn their favor, the more "gifts" they're going to be willing to give you over time. If you get the boon of magical warm hugs from Barney the dinosaur, only to kill that instance of him in a future session, then you're not going to be improving that boon ever again.
Universal abilities are skills or traits derived from your character's backstory and their ever evolving personality. They can be gained through hardships, dumb mistakes, dumb luck, outside influence, or through sheer effort by your character. Anything learned outside of your class or race is considered a Universal ability, and will not be affected by any race or class changes.
Universals can have a wide variety of effects, from simple stat boosts to active abilities or strange cryptic marks upon your soul. Most universals can not be removed from your character by any means, however, there may be situations where your character is rendered unable to use a specific universal. For example, if you have a universal that allows you to breathe fire but find yourself without a respiratory system somehow, You haven't necessarily lost your ability- you've just lost the requirements needed to perform it.
STARTING UNIVERSALS
When you first make your character, you will be tasked with creating two universal abilities for them based on their personality and back story. You may select anything that fits your character within reason.
TYPES OF UNIVERSAL ABILITIES
Due to the wide scope of things that can count as a universal ability, the classification system for them is rather broad to accommodate. The five types are:
Roll boosts- A universal ability detailing a proficiency or personality trait that would grant your character an edge in certain situations. For example, if your character has a history of dodging the cops, they could possess a universal that grants +5 to their rolls when running from authority. Fuck the police, eat the rich.
Stat boosts- A universal ability similar in nature to the one above in that it derives from the character's backstory, but instead of providing a bonus to specific situations, they provide a direct boost to the stats those situations could have applied to. This bonus can either be a +2 to one specific stat,or +1 to two specific stats. For example, someone with the universal ability "Nerd" could either have a +2 to intelligence, or a +1 to intelligence and a +1 to perspicacity..
Passive abilities- These are universals that are constantly present in the background once you obtain them, and can't be switched on or off at will. Universals that fall under this category can be incredibly varied, and may not always be clear at first. A few examples include:
-Ki Control: Through extensive training and years of hard work, you have mastered the basics of ki control, granting you access to this source of energy in order to attempt its many applications.
-Haunted: You feel the presence of a powerful entity, stalking, watching. It's unnerving.
-Arachnophobia: The spiders, they're coming! When faced with a situation involving these eight legged freaks, roll perspicacity to see if you can handle the ick.
Active abilities- These are universals that require direct activation to work, usually in the form of an attack or enchantment of some kind. Again, as they are broad, a few examples are:
-Mana blast: By concentrating a portion of your energy into the palm of your hand and launching it forwards, you may shoot a ball of wildly reactive mana towards the target, exploding viciously on impact. Once per encounter. Based on int.
-Agitator: By being an absolute little fuckwit, you have gained the ability to inflict a sapient enemy with the "pissed off" status by performing a rude gesture towards them. Pissed off enemies gain +15 to attacking rolls, but can no longer distinguish between friend or foe. Once per day. Based on luck.
-Statistical tracking: It takes a big brain moment to piece all the clues together and find the right path. Once per day you may roll int for a tracking roll instead of persp.
Boons- These universal abilities are unique in that they can only be granted to you by other entities. A boon is a universal that represents a higher power's fondness for you, usually earned through completing tasks for them and earning their favor by exceeding expectations. Some boons may grant stat bonuses, others may grant special abilities, but the nature of the boon itself will depend on the entity it originates from. Think of it as a gift from a higher being for helping them out.
IMPROVING UNIVERSALS
While every other kind of skill is able to grow through the mastery system, universal abilities have their own system of growth, broken down into two parts.
Gained universals- Universals you gain (with the exception of boons) will each come with requirements of their own in order to improve them. These requirements could be as simple as performing the same action to a set degree of success or higher a specific amount of times, or it could be something more nuanced and situational such as requiring a specific emotional response from your character in a certain type of setting. Not all requirements will be given as direct instructions- If it's a universal where the path to improvement is obvious, such as improving your ability to cook, then it will be stated clearly- But improving your universal for bonuses to persuasion rolls might require something a bit more niche, and a hint towards this will be given alongside the universal itself when you first get it. consecutive improvements for the same universal will of course require more and more difficult accomplishments, but this helps to show that you truly earned your status.
Boons- These can only ever be improved by the being that granted it to you in the first place. The more you work with them and earn their favor, the more "gifts" they're going to be willing to give you over time. If you get the boon of magical warm hugs from Barney the dinosaur, only to kill that instance of him in a future session, then you're not going to be improving that boon ever again.