Work-in-progress for a Compendium Class. Thoughts?

Work-in-progress for a Compendium Class. Thoughts?

Work-in-progress for a Compendium Class. Thoughts? 

The Promethean 

When you steal something from a god, you qualify for the Lightning Thief move. 

Lightning Thief

Whatever you stole from the Gods is your artefact, be it Ao’s Lightning, Grexivor’s Forge Hammer, or Hypalia’s Blessed Girdle, or something else. 

When you try to solve a problem or overcome a challenge by using your stolen holy artefact in an inventive way, roll +CHA. On a 10+ you do it, no problem. On a 7-9, chose one of the following.

• Your power over artifacts is dulled, take -1 ongoing on this move until you Make Camp

• Your meddling draws unwanted attention 

• The artefact’s powers are temporarily spent. It may still have some innate power, but you cannot bend it to your will until you Make Camp

Once you’ve taken Lightning Thief, the following moves count as class moves for you. 

Holy Hoarder

You can use your Lightning Thief move on any artifact you received through generosity or larceny, not just the first one you stole. 

Beyond Devious 

Your attempts at duplicity, stealth, larceny and other deviousness will work against even magic or godly influence that would otherwise be inescapable – you can hide from the gaze of a god, lie through a truth spell, even steal an object bound to its owner. They might not always work, but you can always at least try.  

Eternal Torment

When you would take your Last Breath due to a grievous wound, instead you will automatically recover after a day of crippling, incapacitating agony, and roll +CON. On a 10+, take a debility of your choice. On a 7-9 take two debilities of the GM’s choice. 

12 thoughts on “Work-in-progress for a Compendium Class. Thoughts?”

  2. Your entry move should totally be called Thief of Fire rather than Lightning Thief.

    Eternal Torment is basically a way to bypass death consequence-free as long as you have three days or a healing potion. It should probably be:

    When you would take your Last Breath due to a grievous wound, you can instead choose to fully recover after a day of crippling agony. If you do so, roll +Con. On a 10+, take a debility of your choice. On a 7-9, take a debility of the GM’s choice. Either way, this debility can only be healed through extraordinary means.

    Or something like that, anyway.

    For Holy Hoarder, it’s not entirely sure what counts as an artefact, and the term probably needs a mechanical definition somewhere. Do you mean any magical items? Any artefact regardless of its origin? Or only divine artefacts like the one you stole? If the latter, the move should just read “on any divine artefact” rather than just “on any artefact.”

    Beyond Devious is awesome.

  3. Alex Norris  I rather like your version of Eternal Torment. I think I’ll use it, if that’s okay? 

    I still can’t decide about Holy Hoarder. I’m tempted to make it anything magical and stolen – but not things acquired legitimately. 

  4. Oh, and the first move is called Lightning Thief as a reference to the novel of the same name. A compendium class should have as diverse a body of references as possible!

  5. Of course! I didn’t post feedback for you to stare at, that’s what it’s there for. 🙂

    I think making Holy Hoarder work for anything magical as long as it’s been stolen would be way more flavourful and way more awesome. Definitely the way to go.

  6. maybe… “any magical object gained directly or indirectly through dishonest methods” – that way you can use something that was given to you as payment or thanks for lying, cheating, and stealing your way through a quest. 

  7. “Any magical item originally owned by someone more powerful than you, who would be displeased if they learned the method by which you obtained it.”

  8. Jarrah James: yeah, I like that. Not as fond of Ben’s idea, I don’t really see the need to limit it to someone who’s more powerful than you.

  10. Ben Wray true… but if you can steal and use Mjolnir, the local Wizard’s staff of Summon Roast Chicken should be relatively easy to manipulate. I’ll give it some thought.

    In the meantime, another potential move – to make a character literally larger than life:

    Titanic Ego, Titanic Frame

    You can use your Charisma score instead of your Constitution to determine your hit points, and your CHA instead of your STR to determine your load. 

  11. Actually, on reflection, I think Ben is totally right about the restriction being needed. Your powers over magical stuff are down to stealing a magical item from the gods themselves, so it would make sense for them to only extend to items you’re stolen from those more powerful than you.

    Titanic Ego is not only a straight stat replacement, but two straight stat replacements in one move! That’s really bad, since it just gets around the way that stats have different uses, and it has no real fictional effect (it’s purely mechanical).

Comments are closed.