Complications
Every character faces complications based on their backstory, personality, or the campaign setting.
Perhaps its an addiction? Bad attitude? Bad reputation? Allergy? Phobia? Vow or oath? Secrets? A motivation you always want to maintain, an addiction you have, a special rule, code of honor, oath, or vow you need to keep, etc. Sensitive to their reputation? Is it a compulsive motivation that drives you above other things? A secret you must keep at all costs? A reputation you must maintain? A strict code of honor you must never break?
COMPLICATION RATING
Complications have a rating of 1-10 in which it endangers or inconveniences the character and the frequency that it comes up in the campaign (as determined by the GM).
All of them start with rating of 1 which adjusts based on these factors.
Frequency: Common (+3), Uncommon (+1), Rare (+0).
Inconvenience: Minor (+0), Moderate (+2), Major (+4).
Major complications effectively cause a character to become completely helpless or unable to act whenever the complication is triggered or deal overwhelming amounts of damage. It also risks their life as they can barely defend themselves, if at all.
List at least one limitation of each type listed below and work with your GM. Your character's limitations should be appropriately themed to the setting and team and appropriately scaled in degree and magnitude compared to other players' limitations.
If you want to lose a limitation, it typically requires you to burn XP to do so (10 for minor, 30 for moderate, 100 for major).
IMPEDIMENTS
An impediment is a type of physical weakness or disability a character may have such as being blind, deaf, sickly, missing an eye, missing an arm, vulnerable to silver weapons, burned by common sunlight or holy water, and so forth.
MOTIVATIONS
A motivation is something that you are compelled to do. It can be anything from a code of honor, a drug addiction, a religious tradition, or even be something you attempt to protect such as a family heirloom you always carry with you, a person you love who travels with you, a reputation you seek to maintain, or even a secret you wish to keep hidden.
Every player character begins with at least one motivation, though a GM may allow more.
CONFLICT
Any time your motivation is triggered, you're either trying to actively accomplish something or avoid something else from happening. Either way, when your motivation is activated, you gain an aspiration to fulfill it.
| Examples: |
| Orcs have captured your loved one and are going to sell them into slavery. You must save them from that horrid fate before they shipped off somewhere you'll never be able to find them again. Your father's sword has been stolen by thieves. You must investigate the robbery through the city's underbelly and retrieve what was taken from you. A rival has discovered your dark secret and is threatening to expose you to the public. You must find a way to discredit them, silence them, or win them over to your side. |
- Critical Success: As a success but +2 surges/XP.
- Success: +1 surge and +1 XP per pivotal event and +1d6 XP at the end of that gaming session.
- Failure: -1 surge per pivotal event. If you have no surges to lose, you either lose the motivation and suffer a random negative condition at stage 1 until the end of the next session or lose 1 XP instead. If you lose the motivation, your secret is exposed, your loved one perishes or turns against you, your reputation is ruined, you lose your heirloom, etc.
- Critical Failure: As a failure but -2 surges/XP and the negative condition is stage 1d4.
Critical failure/success is determined by the GM. For example, if you were trying to rescue a friend and you did help them but they were ultimately still sold into slavery for months before you were able to rescue them, that might be considered a failure. If they died horribly before you were able to save them or so emotionally scarred by trauma that they were radically changed and no longer had any loyalty to you, that would also be a critical failure. A success would be rescuing them within days while a critical success would be rescuing them long before they endured any of the more severe hardships of slavery such as torture, starvation, etc.