divine right DR: Rules

[The Story Guide]

THIS IS IMPORTANT, PAY ATTENTION HERE 
If you have anything in a thread that would raise the content from a PG13 movie rating put a trigger/content warning in a spoiler at the top. Some examples: detailed intense personal violence/torture, sexual assault, gore, self-harm, the discussion of any of the already mentioned things in more than passing.

Your ST is someone that has really bad triggers on child harm, specifically. Realistic violence in visual media, but that's not nearly as much of a problem in the written format. I'm not saying you can't tell those stories, but if I check over a thread and end up with panic attacks, I can end up avoiding the game or site for an unknown amount of time. Not good for the game. Or I could be fine. Mental health issues suck and are at times kinda random. If there's a spoiler warning, I can gauge my 'can deal with it meter' and either opt-out (probably tagging in Dawn or someone else to read the thread, summarize it for me, and suggest XP awards) or decide I'm up for it and read. And this allows others with trigger issues the same option as well. 

Tag the smut just because there are those that have no interest in reading it but are following along with your character. It's polite. 


Character Creation Basics
Each player is allowed to have up to three PCs. PCs may be Talents, Psions, Novas, or if you really really want for some reason, a baseline human. Superiors will likely be opened up for play as the game progresses, so rules have been provided. Players are allowed three PCs at max, divided up as Low, Mid, and HIgh characters. Because of the wide desparity between templates, I'm listing out the template bumps for each individual type. All characters begin with two dots in one of their two paths since we're not doing Society Paths to begin with. Also, there expanded or altered rules for the three supers types in posts below this one. Please look them over before building your PC as the rules changes may affect the build.

Baselines

• Low Baselines begin play with the base human template. +80 XP
• Mid Baselines begin play with the base human template. +150 XP
• High Baselines begin play with the base human template and two dots of Paths. +275 XP

Note: Baseline characters can, through the course of play, become any of the three template characters. If this is intended from the start, it might be better to just build on the rules of the intended template and hold the supernatural abilities of character in reserve for the right moment in the story. However, if you intend to just play a baseline and maybe have something happen later on, build the baseline off these rules. You may bank XP for future expansion of the character, but you may not spend more XP on the baseline's eruption than would be allowed by their Low/Mid/High designation as if they were a new character. 

Talents If you don't take a Society Path, the Talent gets two Gifts of their choice in the starting 4 instead of just one.

• Low Talents Steps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. +45 XP
• Mid Talents Steps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. Add a Facet and two Gifts. +105 XP 
• High Talents Steps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. Add two Path dots, three Facet dots, and five gifts. +190 XP 

Superiors

• Low Superiors Step 5: no extra dots in their non-Forte Attributes, only one extra Skill Trick, 3 Forte Powers, and 2 other Powers. Step 6 as normal. +25 XP
• Mid Superiors Step 5 & 6 as written in the book. +65 XP
• High Superiors Step 5 as the template in the book, add two Attribute dots, 2 more Skill Tricks, two Path dots, 5 more Forte Powers, and 5 more other Powers. Step 6 as normal. +125 XP

Psions

• Low Psions Steps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. +30 XP
• Mid Psions Steps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. Add two primary Modes dots and one Mode dot in each of your of your Favored Aptitudes. +75 XP.  Psi cannot exceed 4.
• High PsionsSteps 5 & 6 as the template listed in the book. Add two Path dots, five Primary Mode dots, three Mode dots in one Favored Aptitude and two in the other. Gain three dots of Psionic Edges. +155 XP. Psi may not exceed 5.

Novas:

• Low Novas Step 5 as in book, but no free Edge dot. Ignore Step 6. +75 XP Quantum rating may not exceed 3. 
• Mid Novas Step 5 as in book, but no free Edge dot. Ignore Step 6. +150 XP Quantum rating may not exceed 4.
• High Novas Step 5 as in book, but no free Edge dot. Ignore Step 6. Add two Path dots and two dots of Quantum. +250 XP Quantum rating may not exceed 5. 

These numbers actually equalize out the XP gains from various templates so all the options are running at the same XP level. Clearly not the same Tiers, but let's see how this plays out. If necessary, adjustments will be made and post will go up on if or how to change already existent characters. 

Advancement - XP Costs

Universal			Talents			Superiors
Path	15		Gift	5		Forte Superior Power	4
Attribute	10		Path Gift	4		Other Superior Power	3
Skill	5		Facet	10
Skill Trick	3		Psions			Novas
Specialty	3		Psi Trait	10		Mega-Attribute	10
Edge	3		Psi Trait 6+	20		Mega-Edge	5
Path Edge	2		Primary Mode	5		Power Tag	10
Enhanced Edge	10		Primary Mode 6+	10		Quantum Edge	5
Fav. Approach Change	15		Favored Mode	7		Quantum Tech	10
			Favored Mode 6	15		Quantum Trait	15
			Standard Mode	10		Quantum Trait 6+	30
			Inferior Mode	15		Quantum Power	10

Character Submission
Send The Story Guide account your character submission as DR Character Submission: [PC Name]. Once your character is approved, create a thread with DR Character: [PC's Name] as the thread title. Post up the character sheet and the log for there character there. You can put background there, but there will also be a thread specifically for public knowledge profiles of characters. Please put your character's mechanics in your character account signature for easy access when writing. 

Buyer's Remorse
Our characters can surprise us, and the mechanics of a new game can end up not doing what we thought they would when we built the character. For these reasons, for the first three months of play with a character, I'm giving players pretty large leeway to change their character's mechanics or alter their backstory. This still needs to be run through with me in case it snarls up stuff already in play, but most of the time it should be little more than a 'hey, I wanna switch this around' and 'Okay! Update your sheet/backstory.' Also, don't forget the rules for tweaking the character. I'll allow tweaks once between plot threads and for the showing off using the tweaks to be done either in the plot thread or in non-plot threads. 

XP Gains
There will be a standard monthly 2 XP award for all characters that have been posted with. XP will also be awarded for completed free-range threads and an award for participants at the end of plot threads.

Code of Conduct
This is meant to be fun. Try to make sure everyone is actually enjoying it or try to work around personalities you find you clash with. If that's not possible because of some situation out of your control, contact me and I'll arbitrate. My arbitration is the final word on the matter. I don't want to ban people from the game, but if a pattern of disruptive behavior emerges I do reserve the right to do so. Hopefully this will be the only time it ever comes up.

Feel free to suggest other rules or ask questions here. I'll edit this post to keep the Rules up to date and easy to find.

 

General Rules Expansion

Society Path Edges
Path Edges with prereq's of setting specific organizations might be available depending on the background of your PC. Talk with me about how to acquire them if you're interested.

Skill Specialties and Tricks
You get one free Skill Trick at character creation that you can place wherever you want. When a skill hits 3, you get one free Specialty and one free Skill Trick. At dots four and five you may purchase an additional Specialty and Skill Trick.

Appearance
There is no more Appearance stat in the game, which is good in general but can creation some disconnects. Here's my quick-and-dirty rules as a guideline for appearance: add your regular socials together and divide by three, round up. This is your effective Appearance rating. If you have Striking, that effectively raises the phantom appearance by 1, and can flavor the look as ugly or attractive or just noticeable.

Mega-App 1 is like another 5 dots of Appearance. MApp 2 is like +15, MApp 3 is +35, MApp 4 is +75, and MApp 5 is like +135 dots of more Appearance. Appearance 5, btw, is a Perfect 10 on the appearance scale. Those with App 5 and Striking have a "more perfect than perfect" appeal as they're sitting on a 12 out of a scale of 10 - and that used to be as beautiful as people could get. If you want your (or another) character's rating on that 1-10 scale, just double the number of dots of Appearance. 

I know this won't matter to many people, but it's a useful rule of thumb for who gets stared at first when people walk in the room. Or who gets remembered first if someone's making a report. Examples in spoiler.

Spoiler

Kyria: P3 + M3 + C2 = 8/3 = 3 + Striking = 4. MP1 + MM 1 + MC 1 = 3/3 = 1 Mega Appearance, which is 5 dots of Appearance. 4 + 5 = Appearance 9. 
Ein: 3 + 2 + 4 = 9/3 = 3. Appearance 3.
Evo: 3 + 2 + 2 = 7/3 = 3. Appearance 3.
Emily: 2 + 2 + 3 = 7/3 = 3 + Striking = 4. MC 1 = 1/3 (round up) = 1 = +5. 4 + 5 = App 9.
Karrie: 4 + 4 + 3 = 11/3 = 4 + Striking = 5. MP1 + MM 1 + MC 1 = 3/3 = 1 = +5. 5 +5 = App 10.
Ryan: 2 + 2 + 3 = 7/3 = 3 + Striking = 4. MC 1 = 1/3 (round up) = 1 = +5. 4 + 5 = App 9.
Eva: 5 + 4 + 3 = 12/3 = 4 + Striking = 5. MP3 + MM3 + MC 1 = 7/3 = 3 = + 35. 5 + 35 = App 40.
Deezy: 3 + 1 + 1 = 5/3 = 2. Appearance 2.
Renata: 2 + 2 + 2 = 6/3 = 2. Appearance 2. 

 

[The Story Guide]

Psionics Rules Expansion

Primary, Favored, Neutral, and Inferior Aptitudes
There are different rules for Psions in this game. A psion has a Primary Aptitude, two Favored Aptitudes, two Inferior Aptitudes, and rest are neutral.

Primary Aptitude: Confers extra inherent power. May be bought up to 7 dots. Costs 5 XP per dot from 1-5 and 10 XP per dot at 6 & 7.
Favored Aptitudes: Maybe bought up to Highest Primary Mode - 2. Costs 7 XP per dot. 
Neutral Aptitudes: May be bought up to HPM - 4 and costs 10 XP per dot.
Inferior Aptitudes: May only buy 1 dot for 15 XP. 

This effectively caps Favored Aptitudes at 5 and neutral ones at 3, but only after your character has invested well in at least one of the Primary Modes. Psionic dysfunction is still a thing, and applies within each Aptitude. To get the effects of combining multiple Aptitudes, you still need multiple psions and each only counts for providing their Primary Aptitude.

With the opening up of psionic Aptitudes to more than just Primary and Auxiliary, I wanted to add a bit more spice to the inherent powers while also holding something in reserve for people's Primary Aptitudes. So, here we go and we'll see from play if this is overpowered, otherwise highly unbalanced, or just fine. The power listed under Primary Aptitude Power is only gained if the Aptitude is your character's Primary. The Mode Powers are gained when you take a dot in said mode. Please feel free to offer suggestions or alternatives, this is a new system and I sorta tried to be all over in the mechanics with stuff so we can see what's super-effective and what's fluff at best. 

Biokinesis

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Biosense
2. Adaptation (Bruiser: Add a Bruised injury level.)
3. Transmogrify (Form Mastery)
4. Psychomorphing (Gain two dots of Physical Edges that you can move around in play once per scene.)

Clairsentience

1. Primary Aptitude Power: That Creepy Feeling: From the combination of noetic sensitivity and the development of the various Clairsentient Mode’s, a natural clear intuitively feels noetic connections to those observing her. Whether organic or mechanic in nature, when someone’s watching a clear in real time, the clear can feel it.
2. Psychometry (The Sight)
3. Psycholocation (Extended Attunement)
4. Psychocognition (One with the Force: the character gains one “surprise round” in each combat that reflects her regularly reading just a few seconds into the future.) 

Electrokinesis

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Burst
2. Electromanipulation (E.T. is Me: The character can focus the EM energies from his body to make some part of his flesh glow. The light is not a coherent laser and is no more powerful than torchlight, but you don’t need to remember batteries or lug about bundles of wood to make it through the dungeon.)
3. Photokinesis (Sense Spectrum)
4. Technokinesis (Check the Plug: The Electrokinetic can spend a point of psi to power a machine as if it were plugged into the appropriate power source. As machines and their power consumption vary wildly, it is left to the SG how long one Psi point lasts. A rule of thumb might be powering a laptop to type in a word program for ten minutes, or powering a hefty computer running multiple programs and using an internet connection for Techno Mode dots rounds per Psi point.)

Psychokinesis

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Distant Touch
2. Thermokinesis (Thermometer: The psychokinetic is always aware of the precise temperature of their environment or whatever they’re touching. It would take time to learn how to perfectly translate it to the Celsius, Farenheit, or Kelvin table, but once they knew the feeling of each degree on those tables they could do so flawlessly.)
3. Telekinesis (Nudge)
4. Perikinesis (Teflon: The psychokinetic can exert a miniscule amount of Psi to slough off dirt, make-up and other small irritants from his skin or clothes - essentially, he can “bathe” himself and “wash” his clothing with a small psionic effort. Often psychokinetics do this subconsciously, giving them a continuously immaculate look even in the midst of battle or directly after.)

Quantakinesis

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Subquantum Sense
2. Energetics (Gimme: The quantakinetic may absorb the energy in the area to grant himself one Psi point. He may only do this once per scene and the effect is highly noticeable as the area drops in temperature, brightness, and otherwise diminishes all forms of energy in the area at the moment of transfer.)
3. Fundamentals (Psi Cloak)
4. Transmutation (Trademark: The quantakinetic can invest a small amount of Psi onto an object to mark an object as theirs. They may only have one such object marked at a time, but it counts as always having a psionic connection to the character and can be tracked anywhere. This doesn’t provide him insight into the object as Meloecular Scanning would, it’s simply a marked object now noetically tied to the quantakinetic.)

Telepathy

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Mindscan
2. Rapport (Demur: Understanding the emotions of others and how to manipulate them gives the telepath insight into his own psyche. Any attempts to emotionally manipulate him suffers a -1 Complication, as they are both aware of and have greater control of their emotional state.)
3. Mindshare (Mindspeak)
4. Psychbending (Gain the Detached Psionic Edge)

Teleportation

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Spatial Sense
2. Translocation (Home Base: You have one intimately well-known location you can always teleport to. This location can change, but only after time and effort on the teleporter’s side. Home Base needs to be, well, home territory for them.)
3. Transmassion (Spatial Integrity)
4. Transportal (Pickpoket: The teleportal may make small portals, no larger than the palm of a hand at most, to stick fingers through or just have small objects fall into. Only Small sized objects or smaller may move through, the portal ends must be in Close range of each other, and the Pickpocket portal only stays open for one round. Pickpocket costs no Psi to activate, but each use allows those near-by to make a Wits+Composure roll to notice the Pickpocket.)

Vitakinesis

1. Primary Aptitude Power: Kirlian Eye
2. Iatrosis (Calm and Centered: Due to the nature of Iatrosis healing, the vitakinetic always has one Enhancement to resist mental or physical battering.)
3. Augendis (Knit)
4. Algesis (A vitakinetic focused on harming can see the weak spots in a living organism. They gain one Enhancement when attacking a person or creature they have touched before for non-psionic attacks.)

[The Story Guide]

Nova Rules Expansion

I went through the Kickstarter Manuscript, pulled out all the mechanics I could find and formatted/actually made tables. I also revamped how many of the Mega-Edges work and are discussed. Some powers were also altered, expanded, or created from Mega-Edges that shouldn't have been tied to a Mega-Attribute. I'll be auditing people's character sheets and giving the new XP total. Most people should have XP refunded and if there is any XP debt, it just can sit until enough XP is accrued to cover it. Look for my PMs. 

The document is linked to this post. Lemme know in Discord or through PM if you can't download it.

Divine Right Aberrant 2e.gdoc

[The Story Guide]

Talent Rules Expansion

Inspiration
So, in this game there is a pretty small pool of Inspiration and most Gifts cost per use. What I'm going to try first is giving Talents two equal pools: one for powering Gifts and the other for Dramatic Editing. We'll see how that works and adjust again if needed.