Deviant: the Renegades on DTRPG/STV

[Second Chances]

Rebel against your creator! Deviant is now out for everyone!

Discuss

[Isator Levi]

I'm due for buying a whole bunch of additional Chronicles core books, so I'm very glad that this can be there to round out the list. I am interested to know more about Deviant, because it's a side to things that I think can be very compelling in this setting.

Possibly drawn to it a bit more after seeing a certain character with related motifs in recent episodes of The Owl House.

[Sconce]

Been looking forward to seeing the opportunity for more people to look at this, the mechanics and flavor are great. Enough flexibility that you can use the systems to easily recreate just about any sort of classic monster via the use Variations, Scars, and Forms too; in addition to opening up the idea of various members of the Web of Pain setting out to create soldiers in the image of, say... vampires or werewolves, for example, it also makes incidental or intentional interaction with Horror-type critters easy using just the one book, which is always fun.

[No One of Consequence]

Is there a rundown/cheat-sheet about the various groups/factions/characters types/etc. anywhere? I've found a few on one of the Wikis, but nothing more than the most basic of descriptions.

[Satchel]

Is there a rundown/cheat-sheet about the various groups/factions/characters types/etc. anywhere? I've found a few on one of the Wikis, but nothing more than the most basic of descriptions.

There aren't really consistent groups and factions in Deviant unless you count the distinction between Renegades and Devoted or the wider edifice of the Web of Pain (which is pretty much just "there's a bunch of conspiracies in the world who make deviants and they tend to keep an eye on each other at the bare minimum").

Conspiracies can bend the rules of the game here and there by virtue of being magic-adjacent groups in the setting, but they're antagonists mostly made up of Baselines and the deviants they handle, because Remade psychology does not lend itself to stable groups even without most Renegades being on the run.

Splats are instead broken down by Origin (your characters' takes on who's responsible for their becoming transformed and why) and Clade (the conspiracies' favored classification for how your characters' powers manifest).

Origins affect one dot of a character's starting Loyalty and Conviction ratings, as well as whether you start with a little extra power in a subtle or overt Variation. They run as follows:

Autourgics (a.k.a. The Elect) became deviants because they wanted the effects of transformation — they got superpowers because they sought superpowers, not because a meteor hit their backyard or somebody strapped them into a weird machine or it was the only way to pay for Dad's hospital bills. They start with an extra Loyalty Touchstone and a free dot in an Overt Variation.

Epimorphs (a.k.a. The Volunteers) became deviants as a means to an end — maybe it was for money, maybe it was an outside chance at curing a terminal illness, maybe it just came with the promise of lifelong job security, but the superpowers were a nice bonus rather than the end goal. They start with an extra Loyalty Touchstone and a free dot in a Subtle Variation.

Exomorphs (a.k.a. The Unwilling) became deviants because someone made them deviants — maybe there was an invasive surgery they didn't sign up for, maybe the new drug hitting the streets was more than just heroin cut with baby formula, maybe they just got more than the standard tetanus booster ten years ago, but the point is that they didn't ask for this. They start with an extra Conviction Touchstone and a free dot in an Overt Variation.

Genotypals (a.k.a. The Born) became deviants because of some quirk or circumstance in their birth or genetics — whether that's a hereditary curse, being a specific type of test-tube baby, being the child of a deviant, or just being born in the wrong time and place, their transformation laid dormant until something triggered it or the time was right. They start with an extra Conviction Touchstone and a free dot in a Subtle Variation.

Pathologicals (a.k.a. The Accidents) became deviants because of… nobody — their transformation wasn't the result of direct efforts by a Progenitor (as far as they know, at least) and they probably won't start their newfound existence with a conspiracy after them, but supernatural abilities have a way of drawing unsavory attention. They start with their player's choice of any of the other Origins' starting benefits, but also begin play with enough Instability marked to worsen one of their Scars.

Clades are, to borrow a term, the idiom of your character's powers — how their Variations are explained and expressed. Variations from outside of your Clade's list and the Universal list are limited in terms of how much Magnitude you can develop in them before you have to develop other powers (at least half your Variation dots need to come from Universal Variations or the Variations of your Clade). In addition, your Clade gives you two of the three Adaptations that every Deviant has (the third being a universal boost to resisting mundane or supernatural persuasion to act against the drives of your Loyalty and Conviction). They run as follows:

Cephalists (a.k.a. The Psychics) are deviants whose powers come from their minds breaking in response to the trauma of their Divergence, whether that means reading thoughts, stealing bodies, diving into the past, or throwing cars around with their minds. They can increase the power of their Variations for a time by spending Willpower, and spend Willpower when using their powers more frequently than advisable.

Chimerics (a.k.a. The Hybrids) are deviants whose powers come from their being combined with some form of other life, whether that means a plant, a bird, an ogre, a telepathic dolphin, another human, or a bizarre mishmash of all of the above. They can drastically reduce the intensity of their Scars for a time by spending Willpower, and take damage when using their powers more frequently than advisable.

Coactives (a.k.a. The Infused) are deviants whose powers come from being combined with some form of intangible force or energy, whether that means electricity, a ghost, a dimensional rift, a fragment of time itself, or a piece of a god. They can increase the power of their Variations for a time by taking damage, and spend Willpower when using their powers more frequently than advisable.

Invasives (a.k.a. The Cyborgs) are deviants whose powers come from being combined with some form of nonliving matter, whether that means a robotic arm, a magical artifact, a mummified dragon heart, a series of alchemical substances, or good old-fashioned nanomachines. They can restore their bodies by temporarily shutting down some of their Variations, and take damage when using their powers more frequently than advisable.

Mutants (a.k.a. The Grotesques) are deviants whose powers come from their bodies trying to adapt to the pressures of their Divergence, whether that means growing extra limbs and organs, breathing fire, turning their blood into acid, or becoming able to consume and digest freshly-cured concrete. They can temporarily exchange their Variations for anything from the Universal list at a lower level of power, and suffer Instability when using their powers more frequently than advisable.

[No One of Consequence]

Cool, thanks. It looks like there's a lot of fun potential ideas to play around with there.

[Satchel]

Some minor observations now that I've had a chance to crack open the book and compare things a bit:

Consume now works differently from Focus in more than just which resource you're spending, which is neat.

That pesky hole in the interaction between Indelible Mark and Involuntary Stimulus has been patched.

There's a nifty new Deviation that's been added to Preparation that fills a solid niche and makes that Scar even more customizable.