Boons
Boons are a grab bag - small advantages that don’t fit under Skills (learned, practiced competence, see skills.md) or the not-yet-built Powers system (exceptional/supernatural capability). Boons:
- Have no levels or ranks, with sixteen named exceptions (Eidetic Memory, Feign Death, Innate Compass, Displaced Echoes, and Jack of all Trades, each bought as one of two tiers; Light Sleeper, Steadfast Presence, Iron Will, Oathbound, Always Connected, and Lie Detector, each bought as one of three; Natural Linguist, Trained by a Master, Extra Limbs, Features, and Familiar, each bought as one of all four; and Special Movement, which isn’t tiered at all but may instead be purchased multiple times, once per locomotion mode). A character either has a Boon or doesn’t - there’s no 1-10 scale, no dots, no tiers. (The resource-type entries that do scale - Wealth, Contacts, Fringe Benefit, etc. - live in resources.md.)
- Do not grant numerical bonuses to rolls. A Boon is usually a rule exception, an unlocked narrative option, or a standing fact about the character’s body or reputation - not a flat +N to some roll.
Boons have a mirror-image counterpart, Flaws - character-creation disadvantages built the same way (no levels, mostly non-numeric).
Points: every Boon costs a flat number of points from the Boons pool, in one of four tiers - Trivial (1), Lesser (3), Greater (5), Legendary (7).
Boon List
| Boon | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Alertness | 3 (Lesser) | Immune to being Surprised while conscious, unless under a mind-altering effect that would specifically allow it. |
| Alternate Identity | 5 (Greater) | A fully realized second identity - name, history, and papers that hold up under real scrutiny - keeping your real self insulated from what it does. |
| Always Connected | 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): your mobile/portable computing devices are always online under normal conditions - no dead zones, no dropped signal, no service gaps. Supernatural interference, deliberate technological jamming, or genuinely extreme circumstances (miles underground, fully off-grid) can still block it, GM’s call, but ordinary everyday conditions never do. Tier 2 (5, Greater): the same connection, but it’s not tied to any device - a cybernetic implant of your own, granting the same access even fully divested of every belonging and piece of gear you own. Tier 3 (7, Legendary): the same connection as Tier 2, but through some means beyond ordinary technology (a lingering enchantment, a telepathic relay, quantum entanglement, whatever fits the character) - unbreakable so long as you remain on this plane of existence, immune even to the exceptions Tier 1 allowed. |
| Ambidextrous | 1 (Trivial) | Ignore the Disadvantage normally imposed for performing a task with your off-hand. |
| Animal Rapport | 1 (Trivial) | Animals read you as safe and trustworthy on sight, calmer and friendlier around you than they’d otherwise be - no communication, just instinct. |
| Common Sense | 7 (Legendary) | The GM will give you a heads-up before you commit to an obviously terrible decision. |
| Compact Frame | 3 (Lesser) | Fit through spaces, gaps, and crowds an ordinary body couldn’t, and blend into a packed room without trying. |
| Concentration | 5 (Greater) | Immune to being Distracted, regardless of source (damage, Kotodama, Gifts, environmental hazards) - a Slow action always resolves as declared. |
| Danger Sense | 5 (Greater) | May ask the GM at any reasonable moment whether there’s danger nearby; the GM must give a truthful (if vague, gut-feeling-level) answer. Additionally, roll 2d10 for Initiative and keep the higher die (instead of the normal single 1d10), then add your Initiative sub-stat as usual. |
| Displaced Echoes | 3 or 5 | Bought as one of two tiers (the higher includes the lower’s benefit - no need to buy both). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): perfectly imitate any voice or sound you’ve heard - undetectable unless a listener has a specific reason to doubt it, in which case they may roll Insight + Difficulty (GM sets Difficulty by how good their reason for suspicion is) to see through it. Tier 2 (5, Greater): additionally, throw your voice to make it seem to originate from any point in your line of sight. |
| Double-Jointed | 3 (Lesser) | For Escapology rolls, treat your Skill Training Tier as one tier higher than your actual tier, with a minimum of Trained - even an Untrained or Novice character rolls Escapology as if Trained. Trained rolls as if Adept, Adept as if Expert, Expert as if Master. (Master stays Master.) |
| Eidetic Memory | 5 or 7 | Bought as one of two tiers (the higher includes the lower’s benefit - no need to buy both). Tier 1 (5, Greater): perfect recall of anything you’ve actually experienced and attended to - things you saw, read, or heard. Tier 2 (7, Legendary): perfect recall of literally anything you’ve ever perceived, attended to or not - a page glimpsed once, background chatter, something in peripheral vision. |
| Enchanting Voice | 5 (Greater) | Anyone who hears you speak has their initial reaction/disposition nudged a step more favorably. Additionally, choose one voice-dependent Skill (Charm, Deception, Performance, Persuasion, Public Speaking, or Seduction) at creation: treat your Skill Training Tier as one tier higher than your actual tier for that Skill, with a minimum of Trained (same shape as Double-Jointed’s Escapology bump). |
| Encyclopedic Knowledge | 3 (Lesser) | When you want to know something relevant about a topic - history, science, esoteric trivia, nearly anything - roll Air + Difficulty directly (GM sets Difficulty by how obscure the fact is; no Skill or Training Tier involved). Success - the GM tells you the relevant fact, though you can’t say where or how you learned it. Failure - nothing surfaces. |
| Extra Limbs | 1, 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of four tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). You have more limbs than an ordinary person - extra arms, tentacles, or something else the body has simply grown in, each one just as functional as your original set. Tier 1 (1, Trivial): one extra limb, usable for simple parallel tasks (hold, brace, steady something) alongside whatever you’re already doing. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): two extra limbs - you can hold or ready an additional item at all times (a second weapon, a shield, a tool), always available without needing to draw it. Tier 3 (5, Greater): three extra limbs - they can actively assist a task you’re already attempting, granting Advantage on any roll where an extra hand or two would help (Escapology, forcing/breaking something, climbing). Tier 4 (7, Legendary): four or more extra limbs, full independent use - perform up to two simple parallel tasks per round instead of one, and gain Advantage on any physical task benefiting from more hands, including grappling or restraining an opponent. |
| Eye for the Strange | 5 (Greater) | When something supernatural is happening around you, roll Moira + Difficulty directly (GM sets Difficulty by how subtle/hidden it is; no Skill or Training Tier involved). Success - the GM tells you something supernatural is present and gives you a relevant detail. Failure - you still feel something resonating in the threads of fate, leaving you uneasy with no concrete information. |
| Familiar | 1, 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of four tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). You have a dedicated companion of your own: a bound spirit, an animated servant, a talking object, an unusually capable person, whatever fits the concept. Not necessarily magical, not necessarily built by you, just yours. Tier 1 (1, Trivial): a capable helper with a real specialty, Trained in one relevant Skill of your choice, reliably useful for everyday tasks fitting its nature. Mostly narrative utility, not built for danger. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): its competence deepens - Expert in its specialty Skill, plus Trained in two more Skills fitting its nature. Can act on your behalf, unsupervised, for simple tasks. Tier 3 (5, Greater): it becomes a genuine asset in a crisis, not just a convenience - Master in its specialty Skill, and capable of holding its own if things turn dangerous (a butler who’s also a bodyguard, luggage that can flatten an attacker, a spirit with real teeth), GM’s call on the exact shape, fitting its nature. Tier 4 (7, Legendary): it’s a legend in its own right, recognized (or feared) independent of you. Effectively unkillable in any permanent sense - destroyed, it eventually finds its way back to you, rebuilt, reformed, or returned, one way or another. |
| Features | 1, 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of four tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Small, genuine biological quirks set you apart from an ordinary person - a functional tail with real balance and grip, gills that actually work, a natural pouch, thick fur, or coloration nobody could mistake for human. Cosmetic on their own, but each one does something real. Tier 1 (1, Trivial): choose 1 minor feature (functional tail, gills, fur, pouch, distinct coloration, or similar) - each grants a small, fitting benefit: a tail aids balance, gills allow underwater breathing, fur grants minor cold resistance, a pouch holds a few small items hands-free, distinct coloration/camouflage blends into a matching environment. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): choose a 2nd feature. Tier 3 (5, Greater): choose a 3rd feature. Tier 4 (7, Legendary): choose a 4th feature. |
| Feign Death | 3 or 5 | Bought as one of two tiers (the higher includes the lower’s benefit - no need to buy both). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): convincingly fool onlookers - and a casual medical check - into believing you’re dead or unconscious, on your own choice. Tier 2 (5, Greater): dead to all means of detection, including rigorous or technological examination - full voluntary control over your own vital signs and biofeedback, deep enough to fool sophisticated medical equipment. |
| Higher Purpose | 7 (Legendary) | Once per major story arc, you cannot be permanently killed or written out of the story by anything short of a dramatically appropriate death - you’re meant for something greater, and the universe isn’t done with you yet. |
| Innate Compass | 1 or 3 | Bought as one of two tiers (the higher includes the lower’s benefit - no need to buy both). Tier 1 (1, Trivial): always know true north and roughly what time it is, no matter where you are. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): additionally, for any place you’ve been before, you always know the direction and rough distance to it. |
| Iron Grip | 3 (Lesser) | Immune to being disarmed against your will - a weapon or item stays in your hand until you choose to let go. |
| Iron Stomach | 1 (Trivial) | Eat or drink almost anything without illness. |
| Iron Will | 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): immune to being read via Insight - an attempt to read your emotions, tells, or intentions through Insight automatically fails. Tier 2 (5, Greater): additionally, Advantage to resist any other attempt to read you (including future supernatural effects), and unlocks Assert Your Will as a Fate Trigger - spend 1 Fate Token to flatly negate an attempt to intimidate or dominate you, no roll. Tier 3 (7, Legendary): additionally, full passive immunity to domination, possession, mind control, and any attempt to read you whatsoever - no roll, no cost, automatic. You can still be deceived, but never puppeted or read. |
| Jack of all Trades | 5 or 7 | Bought as one of two tiers (the higher includes the lower’s benefit - no need to buy both). Tier 1 (5, Greater): your baseline in every Skill is Trained, including ones you’ve never trained in or even heard named before - but your ceiling in any Skill is capped at Trained, permanently, even if you spend points to raise it further. Any of your 15-point Skills Pool left unspent because of that cap is simply unspent - it doesn’t convert into points for Attributes, Resources, or anything else. Tier 2 (7, Legendary): the Tier 1 cap is lifted - Skills you specifically invest in can still climb past Trained toward Adept, Expert, or Master as normal. |
| Lie Detector | 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): for Insight rolls made specifically to catch someone in a lie, treat your Skill Training Tier as one tier higher than your actual tier, with a minimum of Trained (same shape as Double-Jointed’s Escapology bump). Tier 2 (5, Greater): additionally, gain Advantage on that same Insight roll, stacking with the Tier 1 bump - even a careful evasion or partial truth doesn’t slip past easily. Tier 3 (7, Legendary): additionally, a direct, deliberate lie told straight to your face registers automatically, no roll needed - though you still won’t know the truth, only that you weren’t told it. |
| Light Sleeper | 1, 3, or 5 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes the lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (1, Trivial): wake instantly at the slightest disturbance. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): additionally, you’re never automatically Surprised while asleep - roll Perception even while asleep to notice a threat, same as if you were awake. Tier 3 (5, Greater): additionally, waking from a disturbance doesn’t cost you your position in the round - you act on your normal Initiative immediately rather than losing the first exchange getting your bearings. |
| Lightning Calculator | 1 (Trivial) | Instant, effortless mental processing of complex calculations - arithmetic, odds and statistics, trajectories, logistics, or any other math-driven estimate - done in your head, accurately, that would normally take pen, paper, or a calculator. |
| Natural Linguist | 1, 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of four tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (1, Trivial): when first hearing an unfamiliar language, you can often piece together rough meaning and grammar patterns from listening alone (GM’s call how much you catch). Tier 2 (3, Lesser): learn a new human language to fluency after a single day of real exposure or study. Tier 3 (5, Greater): learn a new human language to fluency after mere minutes of interaction. Tier 4 (7, Legendary): learn any language, including non-human or otherwise exotic communication systems - the time required scales with how alien it is (a terrestrial animal’s calls might take a day; a species that communicates via color-shifting skin patches might take weeks). |
| Never Winded | 3 (Lesser) | Hold your breath far longer than an ordinary person, and shrug off exhaustion from cold, heat, or thin air that would slow anyone else. |
| Oathbound | 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). A promise made to you is never as easy to walk away from as an ordinary promise. It sticks in the mind, hard to shake, and something in the exchange takes on real, felt weight. Tier 1 (3, Lesser): anyone who breaks a promise made to you suffers Disadvantage on their next roll afterward, shaken by having done it. Tier 2 (5, Greater): a significant oath sworn to you genuinely resists being broken - in the moment someone tries, the GM may call for a Atropos + Difficulty roll from them to go through with it anyway; failure means they can’t bring themselves to act against it for the rest of the scene. Tier 3 (7, Legendary): an oath sworn to you is, for all practical purposes, unbreakable - any attempt to act against it automatically fails, no roll needed. |
| Quick Study | 1 (Trivial) | Pick up new information or a demonstrated technique unusually fast - GM’s call on how much time it actually saves. |
| Restful Trance | 3 (Lesser) | A Full Night’s Rest only requires 3 hours of actual sleep to grant its full benefit. A Short Rest only requires 15 minutes instead of the normal hour, though the normal one-per-Full-Night’s-Rest cap still applies. |
| Special Movement | 3 (Lesser), may be purchased multiple times | Choose a specific, narrow locomotion trick that shouldn’t work but does: Water-Walking (cross any liquid surface as easily as solid ground), Wall-Crawling (climb any surface, including ceilings, as easily and securely as flat ground), Tunneling (dig through earth, sand, or similarly soft material at your normal Movement Rate), or Untrackable (leave no scent, footprint, or trail; mundane tracking, and most supernatural tracking, simply fails to find a path). May be bought more than once; each purchase must choose a different mode. |
| Speed Reading | 1 (Trivial) | Read or skim at exceptional speed. |
| Steadfast Presence | 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of three tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Tier 1 (3, Lesser): immune to fear - any attempt to frighten or intimidate you automatically fails. Tier 2 (5, Greater): additionally, allies within your Movement Rate are inspired by your presence, gaining Advantage on any roll made to resist fear or intimidation. Tier 3 (7, Legendary): additionally, allies within that same range share your full immunity to fear - any attempt to frighten or intimidate them automatically fails too. |
| Trained by a Master | 1, 3, 5, or 7 | Bought as one of four tiers (each includes every lower tier’s benefit - no need to buy more than one). Each tier named below grants one additional Skill you can name (up to 4 total) and one additional use per session (up to 4 total). At the moment of failure, freely choose which named Skill the use applies to - uses aren’t locked to a specific Skill in advance, and can all be spent on a single Skill in the same session if you want. Tier 1 (1, Trivial): 1 named Skill, 1 use per session. Tier 2 (3, Lesser): 2 named Skills, 2 uses per session. Tier 3 (5, Greater): 3 named Skills, 3 uses per session. Tier 4 (7, Legendary): 4 named Skills, 4 uses per session. A spent use treats a failure on the chosen Skill as a success instead. |
| Unshakeable Alibi | 3 (Lesser) | Always have a plausible, verifiable-sounding cover story ready on short notice - GM’s call on how far it holds up under real scrutiny. |
| Unstoppable | 7 (Legendary) | Being reduced to 0 Health Levels doesn’t render you unconscious - you keep going into negative Health Levels, down to the same −(Health sub-stat) death threshold everyone eventually hits, instead of blacking out at 0. While in that negative range: (1) you’re extremely hurt but conscious - you can talk, move, and act at rest with no restriction; (2) any exertion - combat, strenuous effort, or moving quickly - costs 1 Ki per instance. |
| Weathered | 3 (Lesser) | Shrug off extreme heat, cold, and harsh weather that would meaningfully slow or endanger an ordinary person. |