THE RANDOM CREATIONS
When the Tower is is under certain conditions, it will choose to instead bottle itself up from external influences and, instead, will continuously generate randomized creatures and characters.
It will do this multiple times (with each 100 babies sacrificed to it) throughout a month, spitting out these creatures who instinctively flee the Towerlands to integrate themselves within the world, normally as adventurers or scholars. Though the Tower itself gives them neither direction or missions, it does retain a psychic link to them, providing information gleaned about the planet to them as needed.
Otherwise these misbegotten souls are usually left alone and to their own devices. Not all escape the shantytown, but those who do sometimes return in attempting to discover more about themselves.
An even smaller number of them never make it out again, whether becoming one of the humanoids or falling prey to them.
Every 1000 of such randomized creatures birthed from the Tower will result in a special kind, dependant on the whims of the Tower itself. These whims change every 100 special type birthed, and will almost always switch to the next special type in line.
Those who are born of these special types have an uncontrollable need to fight one another should they come across one another, but may sometimes develop strong bonds with each other instead.
Should they face each other down for a fight, they will almost always be placed in Berserk status for the first round of combat, ignoring any other target save for the other type they’re focusing on.
If they are able to speak, they can only chant one thing: “Let the blood of the stone never pale upon bone.”
SUPERHERO PHENOMENON
At this stage, the Tower creates a randomized adventurer with access to up to 1d4 special powers. These powers can be extra/strengthened abilities or feats, special attacks, or simply extra abilities they can use in or out of combat.
Feel free to create characters based on your favored d20 Superhero splatbook at this point.
CLONE PHENOMENON
At this point, the Tower creates a randomized adventurer based on a historical NPC. This NPC can be either chosen from any in the world’s history or even a previously killed/dead PC.
If so they are now a NPC under the direct control of the GM.
If the Clone (who thinks they are completely the original) discovers either the PC they’re connected to, the PC’s party, or any records of the Black Tower itself, then it will have to make a will save in order to keep living with their sanity intact. From this point on the Clone may attempt to learn more about the Tower or the people it’s connected to, either to their detriment or their aid.
RANDOMIZED PHENOMENON
Every 10,000th special type birthed by the Tower will be a completely randomized creature or adventurer, combining random abilities from every special type into one body.
Sometimes the resultant creature just dies from the weirdness of it all.
Sometimes this begets a god, or even stronger.
ALT PHENOMENON
The most combative of the special types, the Alts are those who bear a supernatural-psychic-spiritual creature formed of their will. All Alts are considered supernatural constructs, as are their Owners.
Alts differ in shapes, sizes, and appearance but mostly follow these generalized rules
Alt Users are required to have the following abilities, cost paid upon character creation:
Servant 2 [Alt’s Name] - see Alt character sheet. Has a single servant created from 30 character points. See GM notes for further details. Connected to the Unknown Superhuman Power (Alt) ability.
Unknown Superhuman Power (Alt) 1 - has an ethereal Servant that can be summoned as a free action. This summoning is considered a Supernatural ability, and a Spell-Like Ability at the same time. The Alt is ethereal and can emerge from any point of the user’s body, sharing the user’s same point in space. The Alt can affect the physical realm without becoming completely physical. Both creatures are lifelinked - if an attack hits the user, it affects the Alt, and vice versa.
Alts, themselves, are required to have the following abilities, cost paid upon character creation:
Magic 1 - 4 cp
(GM note: this is an SLA - summonable by user, can be in the same spot as user, can be insubstantial unless affecting physical objects)
Unknown Superhuman Power - 1 cp
(Is linked to user, grants access to user’s abilities and feats if Alt does not have them as a constant effect. GM NOTE: THIS WILL NEVER ALLOW STACKING OF ABILITIES AND FEATS! Has access and grants access to special attacks, feats, abilities, senses, and memories but halves current EP upon activating)
The Alt must bear the following Defects, giving them points back upon character creation:
Marked 3 - 3 cp
(No matter how normal the Alt looks, they will almost always seem strange to any outside the User, even if they look completely human. Also the “Scream of the World” marks them out to anyone with advanced sights of any kind, magical/psi/ki/faith)
Blind Fury 2 - 2 cp
(Should the user be knocked out or killed, the Alt will lash out in a blind, berserker fury against all in range for 1d6 minutes before fading out. Should the User have been killed, the Alt will immediately die after the 1d6 minutes are up. Should the User be brought back somehow before this, the Alt will regain their senses and be usable as normal.)
No Style - 3 cp
When assigning Style Points, they are instead assigned to the user of this Alt.
Unnatural Leveling - 3 cp
Alts gain no experience directly, and can only be upgraded through points spent by the user. Users can spend 5 Style Points/Character Points in order to gain a new level in an established jorb. NOTE: the Alt is always -1 ECL of the User. Both User and Alt can be at level 1 simultaneously at the start.
When building an Alt, they gain +1 Path specialty every four levels, start from level 1 (so level 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, and a final one at level 20). Unless they’re a Hybrid, they canNOT choose from different Path specialties.
Combat Alts cannot pick the same two Path specialties unless otherwise noted.
On GM discretion, the Alt can continue to acquire Path specialties even beyond level 20. It’s suggested that they pay Style Points for this (25-50 SP) and gain the chance to do so every five to ten levels.
When building an Alt, one must be aware of these particular Paths:
COMBAT
Combat Alts are the most straightforward of all Alts. Al Combat Alts are at least somewhat humanoid in shape, with at least one limb dedicated to punching and grappling. All Combat Alts can only move 2 meters from the User. Encompassing a mixture of Offense, Defense, or Support, they have access to the following list of powers:
Burst Punching - allows the Alt to deal unarmed damage up to 1d6 times in a single action. All Combat Alts gain this ability at level 1.
Maximum Defense - during total defense, Alt gains Cover (User) and AC is increased by half. This does not stack with other feats or abilities.
Healing Hands - Up to [Alt’s Con Modifier] times per day the Alt may heal any target for 1d10+ECL HP.
Resistance - each level of Resistance grants a specific form of +1 DmR for the Alt. This can be applied to Physical Damage, Magical Damage, Psionic Damage, Supernatural Damage, or Elemental (declared Element) Damage. Each level of Resistance (up to 3) grants +1 DmR. This can stack with all other forms of DmR bonuses.
Reach - grants the Alt the ability to attack further than usual while wielding melee weapons/unarmed. They can now threaten and attack targets up to 10 feet away.
Ability Increase - increases the Alt’s specific Ability score by +1.
Ability Mod Increase - increases the Alt’s specific Ability Mod score by +3.
Armored - grants +3 to AC. This is a supernatural effect.
Charged Strike - allows the Alt to “charge” a single attack by “X,” where X is # of standard actions sacrificed. Charging does not provoke AoO, and the act of charging cannot be countered or negated.
Charged Special - allows the Alt to “charge” a special attack by “X,” where X is # of standard actions sacrificed. Charging does not provoke AoO, and the act of charging cannot be countered or negated.
Burst Special - allows the Alt to utilize two Special Attacks as a single action. Target will still have to block/react to each one individually.
Weapon Slayer - allows the Alt to gain access to the User’s weapon bonuses.
Devourer - allows the Alt to attempt to devour a killed creature. Devoured creatures grant the Alt bonuses (+HP and +EP from the Devoured, as well as the Ability Mod score of one chosen Ability) and allows the Alt to utilize one special technique, attack, or spell from the devoured.
Synthesis - allows the Alt to, once per day, combine two melee weapons into a special enchanted weapon based on either Spellcraft or Craft (Weapon) skills. The synthesized weapon has the combined stats of the original items used, and is now considered an enchanted weapon. If the Synthesis attempt fails, the Alt cannot try again for 48 hours and the base items are destroyed.
Stacked - allows the Alt to “stack” their Skills, Abilities, Feats or other scores with their User. Must be declared upon acquisition, can only affect one Skill, Ability, Feat or other score that the User has access to (on their profile).
Healing Ward - upon successfully defending, allows the Alt to heal themselves or the User by half of the damage that WOULD have been dealt at the cost of an equal amount of EP.
Pleasant Breath - allows the Alt to take up a full round action. The User’s party now gains 5 Regen, 5 Refresh, and 1 DmR until end of combat. Can only be used once per combat. Users must be within 10 foot range of the Alt upon activation.
Cloned - connected to a special attack or special defense, allows the Alt to create ki-based clones of the special attack or defense once successfully activated. Can be utilized once per combat, can count towards Dualspelling if the attack or defense is magic-based.
Rancor (Declared Race/Monster Type) - the Alt and User have an incredible affinity towards harming a particular humanoid race/monster type. Gain +ECL to To Hit rolls when targeting the declared particular humanoid race/monster type. The reasons for such hatred MUST be approved of by GM and fit the User’s backstory.
Duel Stage - whenever a 1v1 situation occurs due to ability, skill, feat, spell, or attack of any sort than the Alt gains +User’s ECL towards To Hit and Damage rolls.
Evolved - allows a previously unimproved Path Specialty to be "evolved" to a stronger form. This works unless otherwise specified by the GM. Allows for doubled effects from any other Path Specialty the Alt and User qualify for while halving the costs where applicable.
(Player Created Specialty) - allows for completely custom, character-created specialties so long as they have the GM permission.
WEIRD
The Weird Alts are the…well, not to sound redundant, but the strangest of the Alts. Featuring powers that are hard to trigger or incredibly niche but with fantastic results, Weird Alts are not to be underestimated.
At the same time they might be a bit useless outside of their specialty.
Weird Alts must always be based around the focus and obsessions of the User, and must be tempered by the GM.
NOTE: Weird Alts are almost always built around “If/Then” and are situational. For every “If” condition granted, the “Then” result will always be more powerful and effective. Conditional modifiers to the If can decrease or increase the strength of the results.
EXAMPLE: If outside of combat, and while actively not in the area (up to fifty feet away), and while User is hidden using a Stealth ability or skill, then the Landmine Alt will explode upon being stepped on (up to fifty feet), dealing 5d20 damage while ignoring AC. Successful Reflex save halves damage. Should the target take any damage from the Landmine Alt, target is frozen in place and gives up one memory to the User.
Possible conditions:
If the User has died
If outside of combat
If User is not in the area (up to # of feet/miles)
If User is actively using a skill/ability/feat/special attack/power
If User is inactively using a skill/ability/feat/special attack/power
Possible results:
Then Target is immobilized, stunned, or otherwise suffers a debilitating effect
Then Target swaps souls with User
Then User drains Target’s (HP, EP, memories, soul, whateverhaveyou)
Then Target is stoned
Then User is stoned
Then Target takes damage
Then Target absorbs User’s/Alt’s combined damage
Then Target is healed for User’s/Alt’s combined damage
Then Target’s party is teleported to a random location
Then Target is time-locked for 24 hours to a specific location
Then User can fire a nail from their finger at the target
Then Target’s God ignores them for 24 hours
Remember, when building a Weird Alt, the GM has final say-so. While a Weird Alt may gain new powers with each Path Specialty, they can instead choose to simply improve, empower, and evolve their original abilities instead.
HYBRID
A Hybrid Alt combines any two features from Weird, Combat, or other templates. They allow the GM and Player to build Alts with features from not only the Alt System but other systems as well, including standard Familiars.
NOTE: if left completely random, this may give you a Familiar x Familiar Hybrid Alt.
All Hybrid Alts are considered Chimera.