[2E] Understanding Purviews

[wyrdhamster]

Topic to help understand Purviews. And sister topic, about understanding Callings.

So my first questions...

1. What Purview would be prophetic powers, like Apollo's Delphic Oracle?
I need one for priestess/sorceress in my game...

[Aristarkos]

At the moment I can think of four venues:

1) The Fortune Purview
Since you are experienced with Mage the Awakening I would say that the Fortune Purview is very similar to the Fate Arcanum. Pertaining to your question, especially the Divination Boon (page 252-253) is used to divine the future for a character. The text isn't specifically saying that you can't use it on yourself so I don't see why not. Oh, and it also gets stronger as the character increases in Legend.

2) The Overworld Knowledge Knack
This is a Sage Knack that lets you ask questions about the current situation and get informative answers from the Storyteller. It can probably be trapped as a form of short-term instant divination. One of my players had it and used it to great effect to unravel many obstacles I put in their path!

3) The Wyrd Purview
This requires you to belong to the Aesir, but it has tools for the character to divine the future.

4) Marvels, Marvels, Marvels
More or less any and all Purviews can be used for divination purposes by using the Marvels mechanic.
Some examples:
Darkness = your captive isn't keen on sharing information? Snatch it directly from her dreams. With Storyteller permission you could even possibly enter some kind of Astral space using this Purview.
Death = find out the probable cause that someone will die one day, or understand how a dead person died.
Fire = get an image of what was on the document that was burned down, or how the house that has burned down looked, or to get an understanding of what is the most efficient way to burn something down.

[wyrdhamster]

1) The Fortune Purview
Since you are experienced with Mage the Awakening I would say that the Fortune Purview is very similar to the Fate Arcanum. Pertaining to your question, especially the Divination Boon (page 252-253) is used to divine the future for a character. The text isn't specifically saying that you can't use it on yourself so I don't see why not. Oh, and it also gets stronger as the character increases in Legend.

So it's very strange Apollo, marked as God Of Music, Prophecy, And Healing - do not have Fortune in his Purviews in Scion Hero. Oh, well, I will fix this in my games then.

Side question, related to Knacks answer - Can Sorcerer have Heroic Knacks? So this priestess of Apollo could use Overworld Knowledge Knack...

[TheStray7]

Prophets seem to be handled mostly with Callings and Knacks rather than Purviews (see the Prophet and Cassandra Supernatrual Paths at the end of Hero, as well as the Sage calling). You don't need to be a Scion at all to access those.

If we're talking Purviews, most "ask question, get answer" style Boons are functions of Pantheon Specific Purviews or Purview Specializations. The Prophecy specialization of Fortune (mentioned as one of the example Purview Specializations in Mysteries of the World) specifically name-checks The Oracle of Delphi. Fortune itself has several Boons dealing with divination, and you can easily use it of Marvels that are flavored as predictions. Prosperity is also a likely candidate for Marvels to bless endeavors.

But the bulk of powers that relate to useful divinations are pantheon-specific, such as Eyes of Knowledge from Yoga, Dream Quest from Dodaem, Cast The Runes from Wyrd, and Tongue Of The Bard from Gaesa.