Perils of the Path - Post your homebrew!

[Kirby Jerusalem]

I’m creating this thread as a sort of companion thread to the Creative Thaumaturgy and Homebrew Mage Merits threads, a place where we can post our homebrew Conditions, Tilts, Mysteries, monsters and antagonists to share and to get feedback, as well as to workshop ideas you’re not sure how to represent mechanically. I think there’s an editing window, so I can’t promise I’ll be able to collate finished bits in this post, but hopefully soon we’ll see a wiki that we can post stuff on and link to! This is a place for creativity, not heated arguments. Be excellent to each other.

What dark mysteries and dangers lurk in your Fallen World?

[Kirby Jerusalem]

Let’s kick this thread off with some Conditions!
When I first got the core book I really liked that there was a sidebar alluding to the idea that mages often used Conditions as magical trials that they work through in order to gain insight and power, but I personally feel like the current paradigm of most Conditions doesn’t fit that all that well. Take Shaken for example: it’s an excellent idea for a Mastigos to burden their charge with extreme supernatural fear, but Shaken resolves by -giving into- that fear, which doesn’t fit at all. So I’ve been working on some Conditions that I feel better match the fiction, and I hope to see some of yours as well!

Like the core, I assume it takes 2-3 dots of an Arcana to bestow these Conditions, although I’ve built these assuming that you can create Conditions that rely on prerequisites that are bestowed via mundane methods or other magic, sometimes above the 2-3 dot level.

SUFFER AND BE STRONGER - MAGICALLY INDUCED TRIALS

AFFLICTED
Your character suffers from some sort of curse or malady inflicted through magic to try and test you. Your ST chooses a trait or defines a situation that this affliction affects; while the character is under the effects of this condition, he receives a -2 to the trait chosen or relevant to that situation.
Resolution: The character succeeds on a roll suffering from this penalty.
Beat: n/a

(Notes: More of a template for creating your own specific Conditions rather than a Condition in itself, Afflicted illustrates the general point: create Conditions that are negative, but reward you for suffering through it rather than relenting. Feel free to tinker with the template as you see fit - the following Conditions aren’t beholden to it, and neither are you!)

Merciful mages sometimes build in easy ways out of the Condition in case of emergency; unless doing so incurs a significant, dramatic cost, resolving a Condition this way doesn’t get you a beat.)

PLAGUED
Your character is wracked with sickness and infirmity; when inflicted, this Condition is paired to a disease the character is suffering from that can be recovered from normally.
Resolution: You throw off the disease as normal (see p.223). A character who fills his or her second-to-last health box with Lethal damage resolves this Condition and the disease paired with it is instantly cured; resolving the Condition this way doesn’t give you a Beat.
Beat: n/a

(Notes: While technically a net positive on a character’s life - the Condition doesn’t make the character’s life -harder- and indeed gives a character a lifeline they might not otherwise have - a mage who has the ability to give this condition also has the ability to cure it outright and has opted to instead let the subject suffer through it. Master Thrysus often inflict this Condition in a combined spell with Contagion, tailoring their apprentices’ suffering.)

OVERWHELMED
Your character suffers a magically induced emotional breakdown or vision quest. You suffer the Insensate Tilt until this Condition resolves.
Resolution: The character works through the breakdown or struggles through the vision quest with an extended Resolve+Composure action requiring successes equal to (spell’s Potency x 4) with each roll taking half an hour. You may also spend a WP to end this Condition early, but doing so doesn’t earn a Beat.
Beat:n/a

(Notes: The mage who bestows this Condition may also tie it to a Condition that the subject has that the mage is aware of; if the subject succeeds in resolving this Condition via the Extended Action, the Condition it is tied to is also resolved (without giving an extra beat).

If used to depict a vision quest - usually induced by drugs or a Hallucination spell - the subject goes through a short, surreal scene before each roll. the ST character (or the player who cast the spell, if not the ST) may come up with a moral for the visions; if the quest is tied to another Condition as above, then that also determines what the scenes depict. If the quest is tied to neither, then the ST determines what exactly the character sees; mages sometimes do this when stuck and in need of insight, and Seers look for signs of their master’s will in their waking dreams.)

[Menace]

Some things I'm thinking of using in my next chronicle. So mysteries:

Anna

Anna was always the perfect kid, good student, never selfish, always helpfull, wise beyond her age. As an adult not much has change, she runs a succesfull buisness, is well respected, does a lot of charity work, and the sharpness of her mind would bring most people to shame. Anna just doesn't seem limited by the flaws that other people suffer from. In fact she isn't. It's the others who are stuck with the problem.

It is unknown whether she was born with the condition or is it because she rejects her negative side so hard (Anna is a perfectionist, well partly, she accepts that people make mistakes but doesn't let HERSELF make them) but Vice don't stick with her. They don't dissapear either. When Anna is asleep she generates Goetia that resemble whatever Vice she has at the moment ridding herself of that Vice. After that she begins to adopt a new vice which's nature depends of how Anna feals about herself, what she experiences and most importantly which part of herself she rejects. If for she recieved a lot compliments during the day, she might feel guilty about feeling good about it so she would generate a goetia of Pride, Self-satisfaction or maybe Guilt.

For some of those in the know Anna is a hurt beeing that needs help but others think of her as a kind of messiah. So far Anna doesn't know about her condition but would she accept help with solving it (being Perfect is not easy to let go) ? Or maybe someone might find a use for the goetia she creates ? Up to you to find out...

NOTE: this was inspired by an anime, cookies for anyone who guesses the title

[Kirby Jerusalem]

Interesting!

Off the top of my head, if you want to make things a bit more sinister than just producing the Goetia, you could have the Goetia go out while she's sleeping and siphon off Willpower from people around her and bringing it back to her, unwittingly making her a bit of a psychic vampire. This could also be another reason why she's regarded as perfect - she just doesn't get as tired or as mentally drained as normal people.

You might also want to have her soul be reminiscent of the Mad under Death knowing spells. Just a little spooky touch.

[Caladriu]

I've been wondering how to add some mechanical weight to a setting element in my chronicle, something like a living Obsession. What I'm doing is seeding a certain symbol, let's call it the Unblinking Eye, in the background throughout the game. So the PCs will deal with some strange Sleeper whom I describe as having "eyes that never blink," or they find a book in some mage's library with a sigil of a wide-open eye, or they see a private detective agency called Unblinking Eye Investigations, etc. The more they get curious and start investigating and asking around, the more they uncover, and the more complicated and confusing the "conspiracy" becomes. They might get a brick through their window with a "STAY AWAY" note, unmarked cars following them on the street and disappearing around a corner, even violent encounters with armed cultists.

What's really happening is that there's a sort of cosmic phenomenon, not even a sentient entity, but a thing which is empowered by Obsession and curiosity, and through serendipity creates things which all match a theme (not unlike a mage's Nimbus on all their spells) to draw the investigation onward, even though the investigation doesn't actually lead anywhere because there is no real understanding to be had, only the chase itself. Sort of like the entity from the Fallen World Chronicle Anthology story "Crimson Lips" that gets stronger when mages investigate it. This isn't an entity with game traits that they can damage and slay though, "defeating" it will involve realizing that they're being led on a cosmic wild goose chase and abandoning the investigation.

Here's the homebrew part. The way I want to mechanically represent this Unblinking Eye is on the player side. I want to have something happen when a PC makes the Unblinking Eye their Obsession, something that suggests why this thing is both tantalizing and dangerous. How does this look? What else can I add or change to make the effects interesting? Maybe I could have it step up to a more serious version if they keep the Obsession for a full story.

The Living Obsession
If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

The Living Obsession takes the form of a simple image or idea, similar to a Mage's Signature Nimbus, something iconic that could appear in many different ways. The title of a book, an overheard phrase, a ship docked in the harbor. When a mage makes this thing their Obsession, the following effects kick in:

• Every time the mage earns an Arcane Beat by satisfying the Living Obsession, they also regain 1 Willpower.
• The first time in a scene that the mage Scrutinizes a Mystery, the Storyteller rolls their Wisdom. On a failure, the mage "uncovers" a false piece of Deep Information indicating that the subject of the Living Obsession is related to the Mystery in some way. On an exceptional success, the mage realizes that their Obsession is causing them to act strangely.
• The Living Obsession cannot be replaced with a new Obsession in the usual way. It may only be removed by means of an Unmaking Prime spell which clears the Obsession slot, or a similar Prime 5 spell such as Forge Purpose.

[Kirby Jerusalem]

More Conditions! Taking a cue from Agenda Conditions from Demon this time, although I've tweaked the formula a bit. These optional Conditions reinforce the role of Orders and incentivizes a lot of behavior that fits each of them. Let me know what you think! I especially need help coming up with something for the Mysterium that's both fairly easy to do and something that is very much the paragon of Order ethos!

INITIATION CONDITIONS
You can only have these conditions in your main Order.

Once per chapter, you can resolve this Condition to gain a +3 bonus to a skill roll involving one of your Rote Skills. You regain your Initiation Condition at the beginning of the next chapter.

Adamantine Arrow Conditioning
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You ask for or grant a favor to an Ordermate not in your cabal.
• You uphold or enforce a sworn oath.
• You instigate conflict that could have been reasonably avoided.

Guardians of the Veil Tradecraft
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You ask for or grant a favor to an Ordermate not in your cabal.
• You provide counsel on how to deal with magical danger or a danger to magic.
• You take drastic action to keep something significant secret.

Mysterium Tutelage
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You ask for or grant a favor to an Ordermate not in your cabal.
• [Placeholder]
• You capture and preserve some magical danger at significant cost.

Silver Ladder Refinement
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You ask for or grant a favor to an Ordermate not in your cabal.
• You uphold, or submit to, the Lex Magica.
• You make a significant sacrifice or take drastic actions to further your goals.

Free Council Instruction
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You ask for or grant a favor to an Ordermate not in your cabal.
• You destroy a significant threat to the assembly.
• You stand up to authority you refuse to recognize.

Seer Indoctrination
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You undercut the plans of your superiors or abuse your lessers.
• You obey the will of the Exarchs or their servants higher up in the hierarchy than you.
• You indulge in grand displays of wealth, luxury or power.

If your character is a member of a larger Nameless Order (described on p.80), you can create your own Initiation Condition starting at Mystery Cult Inition 3. Resolving it gives you a bonus to the Rote Skills you get as your merit’s benefit, and once per chapter you can gain a beat for asking or granting a favor to someone in your Nameless Order who isn’t in your cabal. Work out a couple more triggers for Beats with your ST and you’re good to go!

HERESY CONDITIONS

These conditions are tied to a listed Initiation Condition; it’s possible to temporarily have only a Heresy Condition if you’ve resolved your Initiation Condition this chapter, but you can’t be heretical without an orthodoxy to deviate from!

You may resolve a Heresy Condition just like you would your Initiation Condition for the same benefit, but unlike your Initiation Condition, you can only do so after you’ve gained a Beat from the Condition.

Lion (Silver Ladder Refinement)
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You use magic, intimidation or blackmail to bend someone to your will.
• You disregard the needs of others in favor of your own gain.
• You enforce your interpretation of the Lex Magica when it’s unclear.

Vidanti (Adamantine Arrow Conditioning)
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You give advice to less experienced mages.
• You push for a nonviolent solution to a significant problem.
• You rely on the name and reputation stripped from you.

NEFANDI CONDITIONS

These Conditions work just like Initiation Conditions, except they aren’t tied to an Order’s rote skills. Unless otherwise stated, you can resolve the Condition for a +3 bonus to an Intimidation, Occult or Subterfuge skill rolls. You may only have one Nefandi Condition at a time.
Scelestus
Source: You may take the Scelestus Condition when you invite Paradox into your spell (see p.239)
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You consort with creatures of the Abyss or their worshippers
• You invite Paradox into your spell
• You seek out and find a source of Abyssal lore or magic.

Reaper
Source: You may take the Reaper Condition when you imprison or damage a soul or sever a soul from its host.
Once per chapter, gain a beat when:

• You use a soul to fuel dark magic or other heinous supernatural abilities like Legacy Attainments, etc.
• You trade souls for favors or objects of power, or vice versa.