Magic

This purview is currently being playtested. We present it here in an unfinished state so that you can see what direction we have been going with the purview, or test it in your own games if you want to.Magic One

https://sites.google.com/site/scionoverhaul/purviews

FORTUNE ●Cost: NoneDice Pool: None

Type: Persistent

Scions don’t tend to be lucky. The children of the Pantheons make them the target for many things, including other Gods and Goddesses. Mortals think someone is paranoid if they think the world is out to get them. It’s a foolish Scion who doesn’t realise that the world might very literally be out to get them.

However, some take their luck where they can find it, and twist the lines of Fate to their will. Once per Session, when they fail a roll, a Scion with this Boon may activate it to gain three extra Automatic Successes to the original roll, which is then reevaluated to see if it is now successful with this bonus.

THE MOIRAI’S EYE ●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None or Magic + Occult

Type: Persistent

Fate’s wound threads can be limiting to many, but a little Hero can examine where these threads are most heavily wound. With this Boon, a Scion is able to notice the things that Fate has taken an interest in, effectively, being able to detect magic. Possessing this Boon allows a Scion to passively notice objects and places bound in Fate, such as being able to notice Relics as such, and notice which tree in a grove is sacred, but not to perceive when another being activates a Power.

When taking an active role in examining an object or location entwined heavily in Fate’s threads, a Scion with this Boon may roll Magic + Occult to learn one primary theme of the object or location or resonance per three Successes past the first. For example, the Head of Bran the Blessed would radiate with Guardian, while the Tower of London would carry notions of Regality, and Justice, among other things.

Magic Two

MISFORTUNE ●●

Cost: None or 2 Legend

Dice Pool: None (Magic + Occult if resisted through Pantheon Specific Purview Boons)

Type: Miscellaneous and Reflexive

Curses of folly and misfortune can be levied by a Scion who possesses this Boon. Scratching a curse onto a lead tablet, glaring at them with the evil eye, or speaking a verbal curse, the Scion gains control of the target’s luck.

After placing this Boon on a target, whenever the target succeeds at a roll, the user of this Boon may reflexively chose to pay two Legend to force the target to immediately reroll and use the lower of the two results.

GOLDEN FORTUNE ●●

Cost: 1 legend

Dice Pool: None

Type: Miscellaneous

Luck and chance are kings of the world, and what mortals beg and pray to heaven for often falls within their realm. Possibly the subject prayed for the most is wealth in the myriad of forms it may take Pantheon to Pantheon. An ancient Ulsterman may pray his cattle all birth triplets, or a medieval Japanese peasant may pray to the Seven Lucky Gods for coinage. With this Boon, a Scion gains a degree of influence in this area.

A Scion with this Boon may bless another being with impending fortunes, though they have no control over ‘what’ this fortunes may be past vague cultural perceptions. A mortal may find a Saxon horde in their farmland, or win the lottery they may win the lottery in the case of modern Scions. When a Deity blesses someone with this Boon however, it tends to represent wealth as that Pantheon’s culture perceived it. An Irish Deity may give abundant cattle, while a Kami will likely give a blessing that causes the mortal to come across vast wealth in the form of coinage. This effect is not instant however, and the target will come upon this fortune in the next month.

This Boon can be used on Legendary beings, but most do not need it. Vast wealth can simply be gained through a beautiful smile or cunning mind. Furthermore, as this Boon is not instantaneous, it is not particularly useful when Scions need to buy things. The spontaneous generation of modern wealth (such as Gold) is the realm of Earth, not luck and chance.

Magic Three

BONA FORTUNA ●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Persistent

As almost all Scions are unlucky, a Scion with this Boon breaks the mold. They are lucky, the golden child of chance and Fate. Just how this comes to be is left to each individual who takes this Boon. Maybe they are blessed by someone, maybe they ingested something, or anything of the like.

After taking this Boon, a Scion develops a Fate called “Good Luck” which may be channeled on any roll. It’s Rank is equal to half the Scion’s Magic Rank, and, while seemingly only positive, if a Scion fails a roll they channeled this Fate on, it counts as violating the Fate. Furthermore, once a Scene per Dot of Magic a Scion may automatically succeed when faced with a situation of pure chance, such as picking winning lottery numbers, or choosing which chalice to drink from when all but one is poisoned. This preternatural fortune may not be used to make long term prophetic guesses, or attacks, but allows success when faced with blind luck and chance.

TEA LEAVES ●●●

Cost: 2 legend and 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Magic + Occult.

Type: Miscellaneous.

By performing a ritual, as minor or major as the Scion wishes, that is either personally consistent, or culturally accurate for the Scion’s Pantheon, the Scion may peer into the Fates of another being either present, or that the Scion possesses a body part of, such as a hair, a tooth, or a drop of blood.

By using this Boon, the Scion rolls their Magic + Occult, and the number of Successes determines the result they gain. The Scion may learn the Fates of the target if they gain at least one Success for each Dot of Fate the target possesses. Additionally, they may become aware of any curse-like effects, or Prophecies directly pertaining to the target if they gain at least an equal number of Successes as the initial Power had in placing the effect.

This Boon may be resisted by the unwilling by rolling Magic + Mystery + Prophecy against the activation role, using their highest Ranked of the three Purviews as the source of Automatic Successes. If they gain more Successes in defence, the Boon fails.

DEUS EX MACHINA ●●●

Cost: 3 Legend and 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: 1d10

Type: Miscellaneous

Deus Ex Machina, once how many Greek plays would end, with the seemingly impossible problem the plot has lead to being solved by sudden Divine Intervention, played by an actor suspended from a stage crane, is, in modernity, a sign of poor writing in most cases. Fate exceptionally doesn’t appreciate it, as it will often ruin the fun and drama Fate revels in, but through this Boon, the Scion may snip threads, and weave them, normally in a frantic state, to solve their immediate problem.

How the problem is solved is through the immediate intervention by a Deity, or Titan if the Scion is unlucky, who ‘just so happened’ to be watching, present, or passing by, and exactly how this is done is up to the personality of the individual Deity. (Hera, for example, would solve a problem differently from The Dagda)

Using this power, while it will legitimately solve the problem at hand entirely, causes two effects. Firstly, politically, the Scion (or Scions) who the Deity just saved now owe them somehow. The Scion(s) may chose to ignore this favor owed to the Deity, though that would likely be a poor idea and would provoke a likely exceptionally bad reaction from the Deity. Secondly, this power immediately draws the baleful gaze of Fate. At some point in the following Story, Fate will see to it that something exceptionally horrible happens to the Scion who used this Boon in recompense for them ruining their story.

Magic Four

FATE SMILES ●●●●

Cost: 1 Legend and 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: None

Type: Miscellaneous

A blessing for a favored friend, a twist in one’s own threads, and many other tricks from the Pantheon’s many faces of Fate.

By performing a short blessing of any sort, be it verbal, symbolic, or whatever the user finds appropriate, be it personally thematic, or culturally thematic, the Scion may bless another being, or themselves, with preternaturally good luck. Any being affected by this Boon may use their Legendary Reroll for no cost for the remainder of the Scene, effectively allowing them to make every roll twice, and choosing the higher of the two.

THE BAND ●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Persistent and Reflexive

e Heroes are often surrounded by their fellows. The Argonauts of the Theoi, the Hero Twins of the Atua, the Finna of the Tuatha, Gilgamesh and Enkidu of the Anunna, among the most famed. Through ritual, and great focus on the part of the user of this Boon, the Fates of a group may be wrought together. Rituals of blood, or oath, or kinship, whatever is culturally appropriate for the user of this Boon, they forge their group as a defined entity in the eyes of Fate.

While seemingly of little effect, this Binding inexorably links Scions together, in one way or another, according to the varying faces of Fate. No matter the flavor, a Band of Scions bound together with this Boon find themselves linked together, coincidence plotting to keep them together. Additionally, the original user of this Boon may activate it to give the Band a power determined by the user’s Pantheon, according to the chart below.

RIGHTS OF HEAVEN ●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Persistent

A keen observer will notice that magicians, the world over, use very different tools to ply their trade. Leaden tablets carved with curses, rhyming words driving rats out of grain stores, and more. A Demigod with this Power can take up the tools of their Pantheon, each giving a slightly different effect, invoking the reality of their Pantheon in regards to this specific tool.

Magic Five

SPIDER SENSE ●●●●●

Cost: None.

Dice Pool: None and Magic + Awareness or Investigation.

Type: Miscellaneous and Reflexive.

Just like a Spider sitting on its web, feeling every vibration sent through the thin gossamer, a Scion with this Boon can sense the various, subtle changes as other beings interact with Fate.

A Scion with this Boon may use it in two different ways. Firstly, a Scion may activate this Boon in a Scene to gain awareness of all uses of Magic, Mystery, Prophecy, Wyrd, and Other relevant PsPs within the Scene as they are used.

Secondly, a Scion may place a specific being, or object under their observation with this Boon, up to a maximum of half their Magic Rank. Whenever someone uses Mystery to discern information about the person, or object, or when a Boon from Magic or Prophecy is levied against them, the Scion is immediately aware. Additionally, if they may overcome the roll used on their observed object or person, they may learn a vague description of what the question, or effect of the Boon was.

DISRUPT THE WEAVE ●●●●●

Cost: 5 Legend and 2 Willpower

Dice Pool: Magic + Stealth

Type: Miscellaneous

Throwing runes, gorging one’s self on a bull’s warm heart, observing the flight of birds, or consuming hallucinogenic substances can be anathema to the cunning, who wish to keep things secreted away from the rest of the world.

With this Boon, a Scion may obfuscate something from uses of the Mystery Purview. Either an object, a specific event, entity, or action. All uses of Mystery to learn about these things must overcome the initial activation roll of this Boon to function, based on the initial Mystery roll achieved in the story. If they fail to overcome, their Successes are refunded, and only learn that whatever they asked is being hidden from them.

It should be noted that, while this can roadblock uses of Mystery, a particularly stubborn Mystery user could potentially keep following a rabbit hole of questions, such as by asking, “Why is, whoever is hiding this from me, doing so?”. If unable to overcome the initial Successes of this Boon, they may never learn the initial answer, but are free to question the fact that someone is actively attempting to hide something.

Magic Six

THE STORY’S RULES ●●●●● ●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Miscellaneous

All things are true, for a given value of true. This is one of the more complicated things Scions who wield the power of Fate must come to learn. The world below your feet is Geb, Gaia, made from the body of Ymir, Tiamat, and Cipactli, even though these contradict each other. When in areas of specific Pantheon’s influence, the degree to which of these is true tends to shift to varying degrees. However, with this Boon, a Scion may cause their Pantheon’s perception of reality to overcome the others, for the Scene.

The effects of this Boon are detailed in the chart below, but a Storyteller should not limit the effect to just that. Small things here and there might alter, such as head wounds being far more potentially lethal with the Irish, compared to the far diminished lethality of such wounds to the Netjer, to NPCs.

COINCIDENCE ●●●●● ●

Cost: 5 Legend

Dice Pool: None

Type: Miscellaneous

Any Scion who has reached the heights of their power as a Demigod of the Pantheons has long since learned the all mighty power of Coincidence that rules the lives of the Divine. If you have eloped with a Goddess in secret, it is almost unlikely that their spouse won’t happen to pass by in sheer coincidence. When a random name is drawn from a hat to select human sacrifices, one could win good money by betting it will be a Scion. A magician, one who understands the functioning of the world, and the twists and turns of Fate, can twist this nature of the world to their benefit.

By activating this Boon, and performing a suitable ritual for their Pantheon, the Scion may write one Coincidence into Fate. They may say that Apollo just happens to be watching a certain stream at a pivotal moment, that there will be a car accident in front of the Smithsonian at a specific time on a specific day, or that Hermes will need to deliver a letter to a specific individual at a specific moment.

This Boon may never write in anything greater than a Coincidence, the strict definition of such left to the Storyteller. A good guideline however is that this Boon may never directly cause something, only indirectly, and may only dictate a single action or event. For example, the Boon could be used to say that “Hera will be in the Throne Room at X time.”, but not, “Hera will witness Zeus cheating on her” as that would be invoking two events (Hera being present, Zeus cheating).

Additionally, a Scion may only have one active Coincidence at a time.

Magic Seven

COUNTLESS TRICKS ●●●●● ●●

Cost: None.

Dice Pool: None.

Type: Reflexive.

On the cusp of their Apotheosis, a Scion skilled in Magic may learn new twists and bends to some of their earliest Powers. Developing new capacities in these early Powers as listed below.

The Moirai’s Eye: A Scion with this Boon may now also be capable of making accurate judgements in how powerful something illuminated by Fate’s threads is. In regards to Birthrights, they may learn how many Dots are invested in it. Other Fate-laden things, such as locations, should be judged on a similar 1 - 10 Power scale for simplicity.

Misfortune: The Scion now need not pay any Legend past the initial casting value, forcing rerolls freely on a target subjected to the curse of ill luck.

Deus Ex Machina: By spending a Legendary Deed on the initial activation, the user may choose which number of the Chart the Storyteller draws their salvation from, rather than leaving it random.

Fate Smiles: A being benefiting from this Boon may roll twice freely, but may now pay one Legend to roll a third time, using the highest of their results.

DOOMED ●●●●● ●●

Cost: Magic + Occult

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Luck smiles, and flows from generous and benevolent Deities. Blessings and kindnesses. Though, also too does terrible curses, misfortunes, and meticulous sabotages from the same Deities, spiteful and infuriated at another being for one reason or another.

A Scion with this Boon may levy a great curse, almost as potent as those the greatest Deities wield. If they can overcome their target’s Fate Resistance (Magic + Mystery + Prophecy, using the highest Ranked’s Automatic Successes), the target will suffer greatly for a great period of time.

Every roll a target makes while under the effect of this Boon must roll twice, choosing the lowest result. Legendary Rerolls used while under this effect only partly function, allowing another roll, but no matter the result of it, must be taken, not normally abiding by the “use if higher” rule.

Additionally, a Scion may chose to ‘detonate’ the effect of this Boon, causing the full flow of misfortune to come crashing to a head in a single Scene. The target of this Curse must roll three times, and take the lowest result on all rolls, and may not use Legendary Rerolls.

Beneficial effects, such as Fate Smiles, which give rerolls may only affect a target of this Boon if they may overcome the Successes gained on the initial activation roll of this Boon.

Magic Eight

DIVINE LUCK ●●●●● ●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Mortals are lucky when they find a fifty dollar bill in a winter jacket’s pocket, or floating in the breeze as they walk to work. Gods and Goddesses are lucky when they duck under colossal burning blades, and just happen to know the answer to riddles inscribed on the bindings of Prometheus, hinting to the Lost Titan’s whereabouts.

Deities of Luck all have a touch of this truly aberrant luck, gaining an ever present bonus that they may firstly never Botch any roll, no matter what, and additionally, may count results of 10 as 3 Successes rather than 2 Successes. Need Math to figure out how powerful this is.

BIRTH’S BLESSING ●●●●● ●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Three hags looming over the cradle of a newborn, Sidhe Lords watching a child be born, Gods, and Goddesses passing a Scion breathing their first breath all may, if the fancy strikes them, give the child well wishes. These well wishes, however, tend to be substantially more beneficial than a nice card sent by relatives.

A Deity with this Boon may chose to bless an infant with a powerful, beneficial Fate out of kindness, though, one can be sure some Deity will work out a way to use it in spite. The child gains a 1 - 5 Dot Relic Fate, giving any effect a normal Relic may give, even if they are mortal. This Relic may be improved through the normal means of improving Birthrights.

Magic Nine

THE TRUE WORLD ●●●●● ●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: Magic + Occult

Type: Reflexive

For a given value of true, all of the realities of the Pantheons are true. The value of true tends to wax and wane with the different different areas of influence. For example, the Overworld of one Pantheon will have their reality true, above all others.

A Deity skilled in influencing Fate, however, can mark specific parts of Earth, only about the size of a city, as holding their Pantheon’s reality over all others. This causes two permanent effects to come into effect in this area. The Story’s Rules and Tools of Heaven for their Pantheon becomes permanently active in the area, and additionally, the specific Pantheon’s reality overwhelming all others.

To remove this effect, or replace it with another Pantheon’s version of The True World, the initial activation role of this Boon must be overcome.

SHUTTLE THIEF ●●●●● ●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Fate’s hand is, most of the time, an eternal and almost unshakable force. The Pantheons are tangled in their own stories, weighed down by them like manacles, their actions almost predetermined, unless they wish to raise the ire of Fate itself.

However, some of the greatest Magicians and Sorcerers of the Pantheon may change these, though a truly difficult task. By activating this Boon, the user of this Boon may shuffle the values of a target’s Fates, but never capable of outright creating, or destroying an existing Fate of their target.

If a target is unwilling to have their Fates altered, they may resist with their standard Fate Resist (Magic + Prophecy + Mystery using the Automatic successes of their highest ranked).

Additionally, a Magician may never change their own Fates.

Magic Ten

DIVINE MOVE ●●●●● ●●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Luck conspires in the favor of some. Finding their soul mates, catching a baseball sent flying into the stands. For Gods and Goddesses who can wield this power, they can make Fate conspire in their favor, to a truly monumental degree.

When faced with a situation where the user, or the user’s side in a conflict, event, or anything else they could feasibly ‘lose’, is losing, they may chose to activate this Boon to bend Luck and Chance to their will. Upon using this Boon, they may snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the most outrageous of changes and twists of fortune occurring to see that the tables are turned, and the Deity, or the Deity’s side, is now standing at the precipice of Victory over others.

Any being who possesses this Boon additionally instantly knows if this Boon has been used to sway events they are participating in, and has the option to reflexively use this Power to instantly swing the scales of Fate back to their original position. In turn, the original user of this Boon may again contest this, activating the power once again, until one side or the other gives up.

Or one side manages to track down and murder the Deity who is influencing events against them.

CURSE ●●●●● ●●●●●

Cost: None

Dice Pool: None

Type: Reflexive

Major Attack - Curse (State a desired curse, wide range of effect for Mortal - Demigod targets, narrower for God. No magic-ing people into animals, but just stated effects that will eventually come to pass)

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