Bull Pig Shuffle
You've spent some time outmaneuvering foes and can benefit from it in many combat situations.
Level 1: Gain base AC 13 or +1 AC if wearing better than that, as if from a small shield, while one of your hands is empty. Charging attackers do not get the +2 to hit you normally granted by charging.
Level 2: Once per scene you may attempt to goad a hostile enemy into charging you. Some enemies may be easier or harder to influence based on their typical combat roles. If they fail a saving throw they will charge you at their next opportunity. If they miss the attack against you they fall prone at your option.
Giantslayer
You are adept at slaying foes larger and more dangerous than yourself.
Level 1: Gain any combat skill. If you stay in a grapple for 3 turns you can end the grapple as an Instant action to knock your enemy prone.
Level 2: You are never penalized for grappling larger foes if you are able to grab them at all. Once per scene, when an enemy at least twice your size would drop you to 0 hit points instead you are left with 1.
Healing Enthusiast
You love that healing feeling more than most. Nothing feels quite like it and you have started to crave it.
Level 1: When you benefit from healing you are granted +2 to your next attack roll or +1 to your next Charisma-based skill check made in the Scene. Whenever you receive healing add your level to the amount of hit points you regain.
Level 2: Once per day you may ignore a point of System Strain you would receive from being healed. You are never considered Frail.
Personal Fortress
You've strengthened your bodily aptitude to the point where you can forcefully purge ailments.
Level 1: You gain Exert as a bonus skill. When you root yourself to a spot and exert focus over your physical well-being you gain another chance to throw off bodily ailments. On your turn you give up a Move Action and may not move from your spot in exchange for rolling a save to purge the effects of a lingering injury, poison, disease, or other health-affecting malady. If you succeed your save the effect you targeted ends.
Level 2: You gain a +2 to Physical saves triggered by Personal Fortress and succeeding also heals you for 2d6.
Power Gambit
You're a gambler through and through. Your dedication to the game sometimes produces extraordinary results.
Level 1: Once per day you can use Power Gambit before playing a game of chance. If you win the game, choose one effect: Restore 2d6 hit points, remove 1 System Strain, or regain one point of committed effort. If you lose the game, take 1 System Strain. You can't use this focus if you are already at your maximum System Strain.
Level 2: An audience can get caught up in the hype, too. When you benefit from Power Gambit you may apply the same benefit to a number of nearby allies equal to your level.
Precise Charge
Fools rush in, they say. You are calculated in your recklessness.
Level 1: Gain any combat skill as a bonus skill. When you charge you may forgo your +2 to hit to remove the -2 to AC.
Level 2: When you charge it no longer needs to be in a straight line.
Scion of Light
Through some quirk of magic or whim of fate you carry a strong inner light.
Level 1: Whenever you spend effort for the day (from any pool) you brightly illuminate a 30ft radius around you for the rest of the scene. This light follows you and this ability cannot be suppressed. Once per day you may activate this light without spending effort as a Main action.
Level 2: Your light signals power, it demands respect and can cower your lessers. When within your inner light creatures with less Hit Dice than you are more easily influenced, give you +1 to Charisma-based skill checks against them. Once per day you may flare your active light causing all 1 HD or less creatures to within to flee.
Shadow Master
Darkness is your friend, shadows are your cloak.
Level 1: You gain Sneak as a bonus skill. You can do extraordinary things with darkness. You can command shadows to conceal small areas, snuff candle flames, and briefly manifest in a soft physical form.
Level 2:You move swiftly under the cover of darkness. When obscured by a noteworthy lack of light you can make Fighting Withdrawals as an On Turn action. Furthermore, once per scene you can teleport between two connected areas of shadow, up to 40ft. Each use of this ability after the first on a given day adds 1 System Strain to the user.
Small Stature
You are smaller than others of your origin, making you lightweight and nimble or more compact and sturdy.
Level 1: Increase your Dexterity or Constitution modifier by +1, to a maximum of +2, but decrease the modifier of the other by -1. When you take damage from an enemy's attack you can Make a Fighting Withdrawal as an instant action. When anyone attempts to shove you, you are automatically hit and always fail your checks to resist. You are too small to effectively use two-handed melee weapons or large bows.
Level 2: You are able to swarm easily and can catch enemies off guard. When participating in a Swarm Attack you count as two participants. You've learned to use oversized weapons. You can now use two-handed weapons and bows though suffer a -1 penalty to hit with them.
Wanderer
You're well traveled and travel well.
Level 1: You gain Know as a bonus skill when you take this focus, as well as an additional 10ft of move speed, and learn another language.
Level 2: You gain +2 to Know checks related to the geography or people of lands you've spent at least a month traveling. Increase your maximum encumbrance by 2.
Small, but fierce, they are loyal, playful, and not to be underestimated.
The small, forest-dwelling Alluri are reminiscnent of our world's red pandas. They don't often make contact with the world at large, but when they do they may attach themselves to a group of people or a location they find interesting. They're generally peaceful but can be fiercely protective of their chosen attachment. What they lack in size is made up for in personality and energy.
Alluri are typically two to three feet tall and lightweight – being only around 30 to 45 pounds. They have fuzzy red fur, little pointed noses, and large wonder-filled eyes.
An encounter with one is unlikely to be violent but you would be a fool to consider yourself safe from tricks, misdirection, or embarassing pranks. They know well how to use their charming appearance to get what they want.
They are skilled survivalists and adept climbers, making their homes deep in the woods among and above the trees. Different subspecies have developed their own methods of survival. Some can cloak themselves when standing still, others have tough stone-like skin under their fur.
The Alluri's homes are guarded by mystical illusions that take place as a natural phenomenon when many of them gather together. Wanderers may find themselves lost in Alluri lands until the magic of the location judges their temperment. Those quick to anger and frustration will find themselves feeling taunted by the woods and led further astray. Ones who take it in stride and calmly try to find their way may end up meeting with the Alluri.
In the early years after their discovery the Alluri were treated as little different than beasts to be hunted for their pelts or pets to be kept in gilded cages. It wasn't until scholars pushed for the study and classification of them that it was learned they were capable of learning speech like the more common origins.
Still, they are rare to encounter and often suffer from that exotic treatment. They've learned to be wary of other folk and are much more savvy to the dangers they face than their carefree nature lets on.
ALLURI FOCI
Origin Focus: Alluri - Level 1
You are small, cunning, and an adept climber. You are of the Alluri people.
You gain Convince or Survive as a bonus skill and can climb walls at your regular Move Speed as long as the surface isn't perfectly smooth and you are not carrying more than your encumbrance. Choose whether your Dexterity or Charisma modifier increases by 1, this benefit can not make your modifier exceed +2.
You are too small to effectively use two-handed melee weapons or large bows.
When you take this focus decide if you are a Clawed Redtail, Stonecoated, or Willow Walker.
Origin Focus: Alluri - Level 2 (Clawed Redtail)
Of slighter build than other Alluri you make up for your size in ferocious tenacity and whirling claws.
You have a natural weapon, your Redtail Claws, that function as a retractable Stiletto that cannot be disarmed.
Once per encounter, when you take damage from an opponent in melee range you can make an attack against them with your Redtail Claws as an Instant action.
Origin Focus: Alluri - Level 2 (Stonecoated)
You carry with you a legacy of stone, having rocky skin and an immobilizing stare.
You have an innate Armor Class of 13. The benefits of this Focus don’t stack with armor, though Dexterity or shield modifiers apply.
Once per day, as a Main action you can evoke a petrifying glare. Meet the gaze of one creature who must succeed a Physical save or turn partially to stone having their movement speed reduced to 0 for the scene. Each round at the end of their turn they can attempt another save to free themselves from the effect.
Origin Focus: Alluri - Level 2 (Willow Walker)
Mysterious even by Alluri standards you have mastered the art of being unseen.
While you are in woodlands, high grass, or equivalent obscuring terrain you are effectively invisible as long as you move no faster than half your speed. You can also use the spell Phantasmal Mimesis once per day as if a 1st level caster.
Developed from a shared dream, they are armored, community-driven, and share a love of the arts.
The origin of the Chel began with a dream. One shared from something slumbering. It drew together various turtles, terrapins, and tortoises and instilled them with a purpose. The Chelonian Dream isn't well understood by outsiders but it is akin to a vision of a greater future. It inspires the Chel to create and perform art in all its forms, to produce works of beauty, and enrich the lives of those around themselves.
Shaped like humanoid turtles, it's hard to mistake a Chel for anything else. They have their armored chest and back, hairless reptillian heads, and a profound beak. Typically they stand from four to five feet tall, having a hunched posture, and weight between two hundred and four hundred pounds - accounting for their massive shell and the muscle required to haul it around. A Tornier would tend to be lighter and smaller, while a Serpentina is more physically imposing.
They naturally share their dreams when sleeping in the proximity of others. Because of this, the Chel have a complex societal system of rotating sleep schedules that does its best to allow for them to spend time both awake and asleep with every one in the community. A roaming Chel may miss this structure, find it freeing, or have more nuanced thoughts.
Any Chel may decide to roam during their life, though not all of them do. They know new experiences are needed to change and grow. This journey could last any number of years, some choosing never to return home. Most will bring new ideas and inspiration back to their home to share. An individual's return from wandering is always greatly celebrated.
The Chel reproduce infrequently but in clutches of around a dozen. They will often live to up to 250 years before succumbing to old age but some have been know to live four times as long.
Nutritionally, their diet usually consists of moss, mushrooms, bugs, and fish. They like to let it all soak in local water before serving the dish as a cold soup. Juicy berries and fruits are used as rare treats and desserts.
CHEL FOCI
Origin Focus: Chel – Level 1
You are a Chel. Armored, water-adapted, and a dreamer.
You gain Craft or Perform as a bonus skill. When you take the Total Defense action you gain an additional +2 bonus to your Armor Class until your next turn. You can hold your breath for 12 hours before starting to Suffocate. You can swim at your regular Move Speed. You have an innate Armor Class of 13. The benefits of this Focus don’t stack with armor, though Dexterity or shield modifiers apply.
When you take this focus decide if you are a Serpentina, Tornier, or Seawise Chel.
Origin Focus: Chel - Level 2 (Seawise)
The wise and venerable Seawise are the longest lived and can routinely tap into the Chelonian Dream for guidance and proficiency.
Increase one of your Mental Attribute modifiers by 1 to a maximum of +2. You have a +1 to any skill check made related to navigation, avoiding getting lost, or orienting yourself.
Origin Focus: Chel - Level 2 (Serpentina)
You have inherited the powerful jaws of a snapper and can use them to shatter shields or similar objects.
Your unarmed attacks can be used for the Shatter a Shield action. You may use Punch instead of Stab for the opposed roll to Shatter a Shield. Once per Scene your may attempt to Shatter a Shield as a Move action.
Origin Focus: Chel - Level 2 (Tornier)
Your uniquely segmented shell is lighter than those of other Chel allowing you more mobility and easier escapes.
Increase your Dexterity modifier by 1 to a maximum of +2. Fighting Withdrawal is treated as an On Turn action for you and can be performed freely.
Argonian
At home in water and on land, the Argonians of Black Marsh are well-suited to the treacherous swamps of their homeland, with natural immunities protecting them from disease and poison.
Level 1: You are water-adapted and can breathe water. You swim at your normal Move rate. When you recover Hit Points you regain an additional 2 Hit Points. You are immune to the effects of diseases and gain a +2 bonus to Physical and Luck saving throws against poison.
Breton
Passionate and eccentric, poetic and flamboyant, intelligent and willful, the Bretons feel an inborn, instinctive bond with the mercurial forces of magic and the supernatural. Many great sorcerers have come out of their home province of High Rock.
Level 1: You gain Heal as a bonus skill. You gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws against magical effects. As an On Turn action, you can feel the presence or use of magic within twenty feet of you, though you can't discern details about it or the specific source. If you have one or more Effort pools choose one of them to increase by 1.
Dunmer
The dark-skinned, red-eyed Dark Elves combine powerful intellect with strong and agile physiques, producing superior warriors and sorcerers. On the battlefield, Dark Elves are noted for their skilled and balanced integration of swordsmen, marksmen, and war wizards. In character, they are grim, distrusting, and disdainful of other races.
Level 1: You gain a +2 bonus to Physical and Evasion saving throws against magical or mundane fire effects. At dusk each day choose one of the three benefits to receive for the next 24 hours: You may add your Stab skill level to a melee weapon's damage roll or Shock damage, assuming it has any to begin with. You may use a bow even when an enemy is within melee range. You can cast spells while your hands are full, though not bound.
Altmer
Deft, intelligent, and strong-willed, High Elves are often gifted in the arcane arts, and High Elves boast that their sublime physical natures make them far more resistant to disease than the "lesser races."
Level 1: You gain Magic as a bonus skill. As an On Turn action, you can feel the presence or use of magic within twenty feet of you, though you can't discern details about it or the specific source. If you have one or more Effort pools choose one of them to increase by 1.
Imperial
Though physically less imposing than the other races, Imperials are shrewd diplomats and traders, and these traits, along with their remarkable skill and training as light infantry, have enabled them to subdue all the other nations and races, and to have erected the monument to peace and prosperity that comprises the Glorious Empire.
Level 1: You gain Lead or Convince as a bonus skill. Once per session, reroll a social check made by you or an ally within ten feet and take the result of your choosing.
Khajiit
The Khajiit of Elsweyr can vary in appearance from nearly Elven to the cathay-raht "jaguar men" to the great Senche-Tiger. The most common breed, the suthay-raht, is intelligent, quick, and agile. Khajiit of all breeds have a weakness for sweets, especially the drug known as skooma. Many Khajiit disdain weapons in favor of their natural claws. They make excellent thieves due to their natural agility and unmatched acrobatics ability.
Level 1: You gain Connect or Sneak as a bonus skill. Your unarmed attacks are treated as Claw Blades that cannot be disarmed. Once per scene, as an Instant Action, when an enemy rolls a Morale check you may apply a -1 penalty to their result as you glare or flash your claws in an intimidating manner.
Alternatively, your GM may allow you to replace the intimidation effect with night vision that allows you to see clear as day in dim light but not complete darkness. Some GMs prefer to not include night vision.
Nord
The citizens of Skyrim are aggressive and fearless in war, industrious and enterprising in trade and exploration. Strong, stubborn, and hardy, Nords are famous for their resistance to cold, even magical frost.
Level 1: You gain Exert or Stab as a bonus skill. You gain 2 extra hit points when you take this Focus. You are immune to the effects of extremely cold environments and gain a +2 bonus to Physical and Evasion saving throws against magical or mundane cold effects.
Orismer
The people of the Wrothgarian and Dragontail Mountains, Orcish armorers are prized for their craftsmanship. Orc troops in heavy armor are among the finest in the Empire, and are fearsome when using their berserker rage.
Level 1: You gain Stab or Craft as a bonus skill. You may craft masterwork armor. Once per session, as a Main Action, apply your Shock damage to all foes within melee range, assuming they're susceptible to your Shock.
Redguard
The most naturally talented warriors in Tamriel. In addition to their cultural affinities for many weapon and armor styles, they also have a hardy constitution and a natural resistance to disease and poison.
Level 1: You gain Exert or Stab as a bonus skill. Any Medium or Heavy armor you equip has it's Encumbrance reduced by 1, to a minimum of 1. You gain a +2 bonus to Physical saving throws against disease and poison.
Bosmer
Wood Elves are nimble and quick, making them good scouts and thieves, and there are no finer archers in all of Tamriel. Their ability to command simple creatures is well-known.
Level 1: You gain Shoot or Sneak as a bonus skill. Once per session, as a Main Action, you may pacify a number of Normal Animals whose total Hit Die do not exceed your level. This results in them warily allowing passage and not attacking until provoked or the scene passes. You gain a +2 bonus to Physical saving throws against disease and poison.