War
The War purview is favored amongst both Generals and Soldiers. Boons in this purview touch upon surgical strike teams, guerrilla warfare, and grand epic-scale battles between nations.
War One
ANTICIPATION ●
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Type: Persistent
A warrior is constantly alert and aware that any situation could transform into one of violence, and always remains primed to react to a dangerous situation. When you roll Join Battle, you begin the fight 1 Tick earlier for every dot of War you possess (to a minimum of Tick 0). This cannot prevent you from being surprised, but ensures that you have little to no hesitation in battle.
SUCH BAUBLES ●
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Type: Persistent
A budding commander of men knows how important morale is to success upon the battlefield, and reducing the threat of mutiny. Once per game, you may bring your troops kegs of ale, mail from back home, loot from the battlefield, medals and awards, or otherwise give them something that might be inspiring. You gain a Morale point for doing this. You may reflexively spend a Morale point at any time. This grants your troops +4 dice on all rolls until the end of the scene (this does not stack with itself). Any number of troops may benefit from this bonus, as long as they were present at least once when you gave such baubles. Soldiers are willing to fight harder, march longer, and face their fears under your command.
War Two
DEMORALIZE ●●
Cost: 2 Legend per use
Dice Pool: War + Presence (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
Clever generals and powerful warriors know the importance of striking fear into the hearts of their enemies. Offering a terrifying howl or doing something else that is dramatic and possibly graphic, your foes find themselves shaken as their courage is stripped from them. Any enemies who come within 10 yards per (War Boon) suffer -2 success penalties on all actions that do not involve getting the hell away from you. This boon lasts for 10 minutes per activation, and the penalty increases to -4 successes at Demigod, and -8 successes at God.
FORMATION ●●
Cost: 2 Legend per use
Dice Pool: War + Command
Type: Miscellaneous
A commander knows how to organize her troops on the battlefield into formations that catch the attention of the powers of war and fate. Choose a single role when you activate this boon, and grant ten allies per success on your activation roll one of the benefits listed below. Someone may only be under the effects of one Formation at a time.
Peltast: This role embodies the light infantry and skirmishers who favor mobility and evasion to accomplish their goals. Allies gain your (War Boons) as a bonus to their movement speed (before any multipliers), and +4 Dodge DV until the end of the scene.
Phalanx: This role embodies the heavy infantry and shock troops who favor heavy weapons and armor to batter their enemies. Allies gain your (War Boons) as bonus dice to any mundane attacks that cause damage, and +4 Soak DV until the end of the scene.
READINESS ●●
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Type: Persistent (Lesser Aura)
The mere presence of such a capable and experienced warrior encourages the troops near you to remain alert and vigilant against danger. Allies around you gain +2 successes on Wits rolls as they respond to orders faster and think on their feet.
War Three
CHALLENGE ●●●
Cost: 1 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Presence (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
A great champion with this boon can single out an opponent, and draw their attention for an epic battle. When you activate this boon, you proudly declare who or what you intend to challenge and possibly throw in some rousing slander. During this duel any offensive actions both of you attempt must include the other combatant, or suffer a dice penalty equal to your (War Boons). A storyteller determines when a duel has officially ended, though this usually is because one side surrenders, retreats, or dies. Someone (including yourself) may only be under the effect of one Challenge at a time.
MINUTEMAN ●●●
Cost: 2 Legend and 1 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Command
Type: Miscellaneous
Training reinforcements is one of the most important elements in preparing for and maintaining any war, and this boon allows you to quickly teach a group of people to become dangerous fighters. After spending a few hours engaging in a compelling training montage with a group of soldiers or militia, you grant ten allies per success on your activation roll +1 permanent dot of Brawl, Marksmanship, Melee, and Thrown (up to the maximum you personally know). You may activate this boon multiple times to create some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known, but player characters only retain this martial prowess for one week before it fades.
WARRIOR IDEAL ●●●
Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Type: Persistent
A warrior with this boon has taken a step towards becoming an archetype of war. You may appear rippling with muscle and crazed as a berserker, or look as composed and deadly as a commando. You gain +2 successes to all Athletics and Fortitude rolls, and choose one combat ability (Brawl, Marksmanship, Melee, or Thrown) to gain the same bonus. You may buy this boon a second time to gain the same bonus to the other three combat abilities. At Legend 9 this bonus increases to +4 successes.
War Four
BATTLE MAP ●●●●
Cost: 3 Legend per use
Dice Pool: War + Investigation (vs Conceal)
Type: Miscellaneous (Reveal)
A good commander of troops knows that scouts and military intelligence are worth just as much as the skilled warriors who fight the battle. Activating this boon allows you to create a map that gives detailed information about all potential ambushes, hidden traps, and units within two miles per (War Boon) you possess. This map continues to update with the latest information for one minute per success on your activation roll; friendly forces and enemy troops seem to move around the map on their own. This activation roll may be contested by supernatural effects that conceal information.
FURY OF WAR ●●●●
Cost: 3 Legend per use
Dice Pool: War + Empathy (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
There is a time and a place for negotiations, but a warrior with this boon knows that sometimes a good battle is the quickest way to sorting things out. Anyone who fails to resist within 10 yards per (War Boon) is immediately filled with anger and outrage, and does their best to start a verbal or physical fight with anyone they dislike until the end of the scene or until the Scion chooses to end this effect.
STANDARD BEARER ●●●●
Cost: 4 Legend per scene
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
Battles may be won through champions and single acts of heroism, but entire wars are won with passionate troops boasting high spirits. Choose a single item or person to serve as an important symbol of your armies motivation. As long as this symbol remains intact, allies within a 100 yard radius gain two phantom -0 Health Boxes and +6 successes to MDV. If the item or person should be graphically destroyed, then allies within a 100 yard radius lose those bonuses and suffer -6 successes to MDV until the end of the scene.
War Five
MORALE FAILURE ●●●●●
Cost: 3 Legend and 1 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Empathy (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
The desires of a general can only be met when her troops are willing to follow their orders, and that is not going to happen when they are terrified and starving in the cold rain. After spending a few hours engaging in skirmishes, using scare tactics, or sabotaging food and water, a master of guerilla tactics can cause entire armies to shudder and vanish back into the hills. This causes a number of enemies equal to 100 times your (War Boons) to break ranks and run away as quickly as possible. They will still fight back if your forces continue to attack them, but will otherwise flee until the end of the scene.
MORTAL STROKE ●●●●●
Cost: 5 Legend per use
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
Once a champion cuts herself and has spread her blood across a weapon, she imbues it with the terrible power of war and conquest. Some weapons will hunger to draw the blood of their foe, while others hum with the feeling that they serve a higher purpose. Activating this boon requires you to declare that the weapon shall be the downfall of someone or something (this might be everyone, a group of people, or even a specific person). This weapon becomes their bane, and causes aggravated damage on the next successful attack against the chosen target.
OUTMANEUVER ●●●●●
Cost: 3 Legend and 1 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Larceny OR Stealth (vs Reveal)
Type: Miscellaneous (Conceal)
The Scion has become adept at pulling off the kind of clever tricks that have become famous throughout the history of wars. You may arrange your allies or troops in a fashion which convinces enemy scouts of something that is not true. You might convince them that you have twice as many troops than you actually do, or that your army has moved west when it actually moved east, or that you intend to use a specific formation during battle. The storyteller determines how the enemy commander will react to this false information. This activation roll may be contested by supernatural effects that reveal information.
War Six
DRAGON-TEETH WARRIORS ●●●●● ●
Cost: 3 Legend per scene
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
A general without an army is a sad state of affairs indeed, but there are forces that are willing to answer the call of battle regardless. By planting the teeth of dragons in the dirt, spreading cherry blossom leaves, or blowing on the horn of a Valkyrie, you can call forth a regiment of mythical soldiers to serve you until the end of the scene. When you purchase this Boon you must choose a squad of soldiers appropriate to your Pantheon, or your individual myth, which you summon each time you use this boon. Your soldiers count as phantom dots of Retainer equal to your dots of War, and they do not count against the soft cap for birthrights.
PILLAGE ●●●●● ●
Cost: 4 Legend and 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
Managing a massive army requires tremendous lines of supply and materials to keep the engine of war moving. Often an army can find itself slowing to a crawl due to shortages or bureaucracy back home. When you activate this boon, you and your army can find seemingly infinite amounts of common materials in your immediate area for the rest of the scene. This can easily provide enough resources to build camps, fortifications, bridges, catapults and other wartime needs even in the most barren desert or an ocean voyage.
War Seven
LONE HERO ●●●●● ●●
Cost: 6 Legend per use
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
The ritual of the Champion carries great power in the eyes of Fate, either in the mortal world, the courts of the overworld, or any other realm. Any side that wishes to participate may choose a willing champion to compete in their name and claim victory for their dispute. The competition must demonstrate some great athletic or martial prowess, such as defeating each other in combat or navigating a dangerous obstacle course. If both sides honor the results of this challenge, this boon does nothing.
If anyone attempts to subvert the decision of fate, such as having a battle anyway after their champion falls, or judges someone guilty and punishes them after a champion claims victory in a trial by combat, they cannot regain Willpower by any means for the remainder of the story. Should the end of a story be close enough that this would not be particularly relevant, this malus continues until the end of the next story.
THIRTY-SIX STRATAGEMS ●●●●● ●●
Cost: 5 Legend per use
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous
Civilizations have been refining warfare down to an artform for millennia, and the key to winning any battle is knowing the correct strategy to apply to the current situation. Scions who have almost become a force of warfare themselves can make a decision about which tactic should be used, and the powers of fate conspire to ensure that tactic was the correct one to use. The effects of that tactic become especially brutal. This boon must be activated as part of a multiple action with certain war boons, and enhances those boons in the following ways:
Such Baubles: As an exception to the normal rules, this version of the boon can be activated reflexively when you spend a morale point. All inspired troops gain +4 successes on all rolls until the end of the scene (this does not stack with itself).
Formation: You grant 100 allies per success on your activation roll the benefits of both formations simultaneously until the end of the scene.
Challenge: There is no resistance to the challenge when augmented by this boon, and winning the duel completely refreshes your willpower.
Fury of War: The effects of this boon last one week per dot of War you possess, creating lasting conflict and motivation for seemingly endless warfare.
War Eight
RED HORSE / WHITE HORSE ●●●●● ●●●
Cost: 8 Legend and 2 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous (Body)
She may consider herself a warrior without peer, or a leader without equal, but a goddess of War can go one step further; she may assume a great or terrible mantle to become an archetype in the eyes of war and fate. Activating this boon allows the goddess to choose to become the paragon of either The Warrior or The General until the end of the scene. Someone may only gain the benefits of one Body type boon at a time.
Warrior: The Deity gains +6 successes to any rolls involving Presence or Physical Attributes as long as she carries out her role: she must personally bring death and devastation to her enemies without mercy. She becomes such an engine of destruction that she deals double damage against inanimate objects, shattering weapons and breaking down doors without even pausing her rampage.
General: The Deity gains +6 successes to any rolls involving Command or Mental Attributes as long as she carries out her role: she must gather intelligence about the enemy, make cunning battle plans, or command her troops from the back lines. She becomes so adept at logistics that she may instantly share messages and battle plans with anyone under her command regardless of the distance.
RUSE DE GUERRE ●●●●● ●●●
Cost: 8 Legend per scene
Dice Pool: War + Larceny OR Stealth (vs Reveal)
Type: Miscellaneous (Conceal)
Camouflage, decoys, mock operations, and misdirection are the bread and butter of the greatest and most legendary victories in the history of warfare. It doesn’t matter if you execute a classic gambit straight out of the textbooks, or create your own completely unexpected ruse. As long as you continue to pay the cost every scene, your entire army cannot be noticed as a threat by mundane or supernatural means.
You should describe what kind of misdirection you are using (false flags, wearing enemy uniforms, etc), and the storyteller determines the outcome based on the challenges you face. Enemy scouts are simply unable to find any trace of your passing, border guards never notice your troops moving through checkpoints a few at a time, and well fortified cities do not check the Trojan Horse to see if anyone is hiding within. The benefits of this boon end the moment your troops make a dramatic attack (silencing a few extras does not count). The activation roll may be contested by supernatural effects that reveal information.
War Nine
FIELDS OF MARS ●●●●● ●●●●
Cost: 20 Legend and 4 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Art (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
Combat and conflict radiate from your divine presence as naturally as a mortal might breathe, and those around you are more than inspired to take up arms against their foes. You may shape this resonance into the world around you to create your own personal paradise (or purgatory) upon which endless battle rages. This creates a realm of constant warfare that stretches 10 miles for every (War Boon) you possess.
This might be a place where troops under your banner can live and train, or somewhere desperate battle happens every single day. Anyone who enters your realm must resist your successes on the activation roll or be compelled to engage in honorable combat or berserker frenzy (decided at the time of activation) for the rest of the day. Armies within your realm cannot actually die in combat. Allies and enemies alike may be defeated and left for the crows to feast upon, but they awaken back in their camps alive and healthy at the beginning of each new day. This boon lasts until you activate it again.
JUS IN BELLO ●●●●● ●●●●
Cost: 14 Legend and 2 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Politics (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
“Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy's flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone.”
You have become one of the greatest embodiments of warfare ever imagined by both mankind and far stranger creatures. Your every decision about how war should be fought ripples outward and influences the hearts and minds of others, temporarily moving the current of endless conflict to suit your desires. Once per game you may activate this boon and proudly declare a rule or limitation that must be followed for an entire month. This may be a humanitarian law or an egotistical boast, but it must have something to do with warfare or wartime conduct. You could declare that war must be fought without guns, that every battle must be decided by two champions, or that every battle must be decided by counting coup instead of killing each other. Anyone within 10 miles for every (War Boon) you possess must obey this fundamental change in the nature of warfare unless they resist your activation roll. If you break your own rules, you immediately lose all willpower until the end of the story.
War Ten
SPEAR HURLER ●●●●● ●●●●●
Cost: 5 Legend or 20 Legend per scene (See below)
Dice Pool: War + Command
Type: Miscellaneous
Early humanity believed that the gods held sway over victory in war, and they would make sacrifices to earn this blessed favor from the gods. As one of the greatest manifestations of this concept, you may decide the fate of thousands or millions. Activating this boon requires you to choose one of the options below, then proudly declare which side shall be victorious! Your military desires become manifest in the endless tapestry of great battles.
Lesser Armies (5 Legend): Activating this version may be done from any distance as long as you know the battle is happening, such as hearing prayers asking for victory. You choose a champion to carry your blessing, and they understand that they must launch their weapon into the air or slam it into the earth where this battle is going to be fought. Armies between Legend 1 and Legend 6 are routed with ease and losses are minimal. Your decision is absolutely final unless another being uses this power and gains more successes on the activation roll than you.
Great Armies (20 Legend): Activating this version must be done in person, and the overwhelming currents of Legend make the outcome far harder to manipulate. You must launch your weapon into the air or slam it into the earth where this battle is going to be fought. Any enemies that are Legend 7 and above must spend 1 Willpower for every minute they remain in battle, or automatically fail any actions that do not involve running the hell away from combat for the rest of the scene. Your decision is absolutely final unless another being uses this power and gains more successes on the activation roll than you, or they manage to defeat your army before they completely run out of willpower.
SRENG’S BLOW ●●●●● ●●●●●
Cost: 30 Legend and 4 Willpower per use
Dice Pool: War + Politics (vs MDV)
Type: Miscellaneous
One of the worst things War brought to the ancient world was maiming. A herder who went to war for his Polis and lost a leg could no longer tend his flock, and a King who rode to battle with his Tuath lost an arm and was no longer fit to rule. Activating this boon requires you to be close enough to your opponent that he could attack you back. Once you launch this attack there is no avoiding it -- you manifest the concept of maiming in its most brutal and humiliating form, and deliver that upon your foe with a single terrible blow.
Nothing but an Ultimate can prevent you from hacking off the hand, arm, foot, or leg of your opponent. You cause your victim to immediately lose one point of Permanent Legend, and anyone who fails to resist the activation roll loses faith in the target’s ability to lead them in battle. This maiming and loss of faith remain until the permanent legend is regained the old fashioned way.
Ultimate War
CONQUEST
Cost: 30 Legend per scene
Dice Pool: None
Type: Miscellaneous (Body)
A god who has become one with the power of war becomes part of the greater tapestry of warfare, gaining awareness of every major conflict in their plane of existence and deciding the outcome of every battle unless opposed by someone else who embodies conquest. She may cause entire armies to descend into frothing berserkers, act with perfect coordination, or channel herself into one of the participants in the battle to become their champion. You may tell a glorious story about how the battle plays out, though Fate always loves tragedy and demands its due.
