Basic Rules

Basic Mechanics

• When a player wants their PC to attempt an action with a chance of failure (as decided by the GM), they must make an Action Roll. To determine success, players roll a dice pool based on either their attributes or characteristics, not both.

• A roll of 5 or 6 is considered a success with a 6 counting as two successes. Additional successes may grant bonuses or effects. The Game Master (GM) determines which attribute is associated with the action, and the task's difficulty determines the number of successes needed.

• An Easy task is 2 Successes, a medium task is 3-4 Successes, and a difficult task can be 5 or more Successes.
• Sometimes a player may score one or more successes but not enough to be considered a Total Success. This is called a partial success, or success with a penalty. In order to have a partial success they must have at least one success, if they have zero successes they cannot choose a partial success. The GM may decide what the potential consequence that will occur if the player goes ahead with the action, but they may opt to fail the task to avoid the consequence.

• Unless stated otherwise, if a calculation generates a non-whole number, round down to the nearest whole number. So 2.5 would become 2.

• Sometimes, a character's internal or external state imposes a penalty on an Action Roll. This Dice Penalty reduces the number of dice rolled in a dice pool. Dice Penalties can stack, and multiple penalties can accumulate from different sources.
• Additionally it is possible for a task to be eased or made more difficult which may make the Action Roll require one less or more Success.

Attributes and Characteristics

Attributes

Strength: Physical power and ability to lift heavy objects.
Dexterity: Physical coordination, agility, and balance.
Composure: Mental stability and ability to resist stress and fear.
Awareness: Perception, alertness, and observation skills.
Presence: Charisma, leadership, and ability to influence others.
Intelligence: Mental acuity, problem solving, and knowledge.

Characteristics

Fortitude: Represents a character's physical durability and resistance to harm. Formula: Tier + Size + Strength (defaults to Tier if value is less than one)
Speed: Determines a character's movement speed. Formula: Dexterity x 10 ft.
Size: Affects a character's physical presence and reach and affects Evasion and Fortitude. Ranges from -2 for a small child to 1 for large individuals, with 0 being the default for a human.
Evasion: Reflects a character's ability to avoid damage and harm. Formula: Tier + Dexterity - Size (defaults to Tier if value is less than one)
Initiative: Reflects a character's quickness and reaction time in combat. Formula: Awareness + Dexterity
Conviction: Indicates a character's belief in themselves and their Abilities. Formula: Tier + Presence + Composure
Willpower: Represents a character's ability to impose their desire on the world around them. This is the number of dice to roll when making a willpower Action. Formula: Tier + Domain Score + Composure
Soundness: Indicates a character's mental and emotional constitution. Formula: Tier + Intelligence + Composure
Gloriae: Indicates a character's pool of Gloriae Points. Formula: Conviction + Generation
Willpower Pool: Reflects the number of times that a character can call on their Willpower. Formula: Tier + Generation

Backgrounds

Each character has a Background representing their past, especially their life before becoming an Athanasian. Here are examples of backgrounds and a guide for creating custom backgrounds:

• Get a background feature such as special equipment or access to facilties
• You gain a Background Ability, that is limited use per session
• It gives a list of suggested Allies/Enemies or Contacts/Rivals
• Each Background grants an Attribute bonus
• Each Background gives 2 Specialities, that gives an additional die to rolls rleated to that speciality
• Provides 1 or more Weapon or Armor Profiencies
• Determines starting equipment and resources
• Provides a suggested Ally/Enemy or Contact/Rival

States

States are conditions or cicumstances that affect a character. States clarify these effects. States are divided into the following categories: Physical, Mental, Health, and Supernatural. Below are some common States but is not an exhaustive list:

Physical

Burning - Item or peson is on fire and takes ongoing Fire damage until state is ended.
Fatigued - 1 Dice penalty to all Action rolls. Can accumulate levels of Fatigue, and dice penalty remains until all levels are gone.
Blinded - Cannot see, all Awareness rolls on sight fail. Enemies Evasion rolls are doubled.
Flat-Footed - Caught off guard and Evasion score is halved and Dexterity based tasks require 1 additional success.
Prone - On the ground. Considered Flat-Footed against Melee attacks. Speed is halved but gain bonus from cover. Getting up from Prone imposes Flat-Footed penalty to melee attacks until beginning of next turn.
Stunned - The character is only able to make one action on their turn, and their movement is halved.
Resistant - Certain kind of damage it will only take half of the total damage dealt. This can stack with armor.
Vulnerable - Takes additional damage equal to half of the specfic damage type (Minimum 1).
Weakened - Strength halved temporarily . This affects Fortitude, but it does not lower the character's hit points.
Slowed - Dexterity halved temporarily. Affected Speed, Evasion, Iniative and number of actions taken in a turn.

Health

Bloodied - When character is not at 100% health. Certain effects and Abilities can affect characters that are bloodied.
Wounded - When a character is at 50% health or below. All Actions have a -1 dice penalty.
Gravely Wounded - at 0 HP and at death's door. Can only take 1 Action per turn and make Fortitude roll at end of turn. If they fail 3 Fortitude rolls before 3 Successes the character dies. IF the character takes additional damage equal to their Foritude score or more the character automatically dies.

Mental

Frightened - Frightened character must make a Conviction Roll to get closer to the source of fear. All Action Rolls and Attacks are made at a -1 Dice Penalty while they scan see or under the influence of the object of their fear.
Focused - When a character is focused on an Ability or magical effect. They can only focus on one Ability or effect that requires to be Focused. If the character takes damage or is Distracted they must make a Fortitude Action Roll to maintain their Focused state.
Distracted - When a character is Distracted they are unable to concentrate on effects or Abilities that require them to be Focused, so these effects will fail if attempt or the effect will stop if one is currently Focused on such an ability. They also have a -1 dice penalty to their Awareness based rolls.

Supernatural

Illusory - An Effect or Ability that generates a creature or object as an illusion.
Charmed - The character that is under an Effect or Ability will see the source of the Charmed state as Friendly or a close confidant. They will not violate any personal boundaries that they would not for close friends or families.

Combat

Combat and physical altercations are not the central aspects of God Complex, but sometimes violence is inevitable. In situations where combat occurs, the following are basic mechanics and rules associated with combat.

Initiative

GM calls for an Initiative Roll, rolling a number of dice equal to their Initiative score. If the players rolls more successes (collectively) than the enemies they go first, if not the NPCs act first. It goes back and forth between PCs and NPCs. Players can decide the order they go in. The GM decides the order the NPCs act in. A PC/NPC can attempt to interupt another character as long as they have an available action, by winning an Iniative contest. If the character is successful, they can act before the other character.

Making an Attack

A character may make an attack using the raw Attribute associated with some form of combat. Strength is traditionally used for Brawling and Heavy Weapons, Dexterity for Melee, and Composure for Ranged attacks. If using a weapon add its bonus to the dice pool used in the attack. So a character that has 3 in Dexterity and using a Baseball Bat that is +2, rolls a total of five dice.

Doing Damage

If a character rolls enough Successes to meet the Evasion score of the target, the character hits. The target is dealt a minimum of 1 point of potential damage and this increases by each success above the opponent's Fortitude or if a feature or weapon specifies that damage is calculated in a different way. After calculating how much potential damage is dealt, make sure to apply any Damage Reduction or Resistances the target has before the actual damage is calculated. It is possible with Damage Reduction that the minimum of 1 damage might be nullified.

Time

During combat, time becomes compressed much more so than during regular social and exploration. After Initiative is called and determined, each character acts within their Turn. After each character has finished their Turn, the Round ends and a new Round begins. At the top of the Round all Actions are refreshed and any unused Actions are lost. A Round of combat lasts 10 seconds, so for a lengthy combat it may last a minute or more.

Actions

The number of possible Actions a character can take during a Round of combat equals the Dexterity score of the character. Taking multiple attacks or using Abilties during a turn can impose penalties. The number of Actions that a character may take without penalty equals their Tier Level, taking action beyond this imposes a 1 additional success penalty per Action beyond. So a Tier 2 character can take two Actions during the Round, but since they have a Dexterity score of 4, they could take two more actions but at a penalty. The 3rd Action is made at a 1 Success Penalty, and the 4th Action is made at a 2 Success Penalty. If a character wants to take an Action later than during the course of their turn, they must spend an Action to do so. There is no separation reaction Action

Movement

If a character wants to move they must take the Move Action, allowing the character to move up to their speed. Wearing armor or if the character is under the effect of some Ability or State can impact their movement speed. It is possible to take multiple Move Actions in a Round of combat.

Range

There are multiple ranges regarding combat. Melee, Close, Mid, Far, and Distant. Melee is within range of a Melee weapon usually 5 ft, but Polearms and weapons with Reach this would be 10 ft. Close is within 30 ft, Mid is 30-60 ft, Far would be 60 to 120 ft, and Distant would be 120 to 200 ft.

Called Shots

A character may make an attack against a specific part of a target such as a limb or a head. This is possible but increases the difficulty. The character makes an attack against the target, while declaring a called shot. Targeting the torso requires no additional calculation, a limb adds 1 additional Evasion to the target, and a head/throat/specific organ adds 2 additional Evasion. As an example Julie has her character Phoebe in a physical conflict with a vampire fledgling, and is wielding a stake. Phoebe intends on staking the vampire, who has an Evasion of 3, and since Phoebe is targeting the heart it boosts the vampire’s Evasion to 5. Julie rolls 4 successes so the attack is a miss. If a body part is hit during an attack and sustains damage equal to the target’s Fortitude that body part is disabled during the course of the combat. A disabled arm is unable to effectively hold a weapon and perform certain actions, a disabled leg makes the character move as if it were under the Encumbered state. A head shot is treated as if the damage were doubled before any Damage Reduction.

Damage Reduction

Armor and certain character features may provide a form of Damage Reduction. After potential damage is determined, calculate the actual damage by applying Damage Reduction. Unless otherwise specified, Damage Reduction from different sources can stack, so a Vampire can apply its Supernatural Fortitude while wearing a Kevlar Vest to reduce damage from bullets, but a police officer cannot wear two Kevlar Vests over each other to double the Damage Reduction from the vests.

Fatigue and Exhaustion

Combat is an exhausting experience, in both and physical and mental sense. Most combat is resolved within a minute or so of game time. Occasionally combat situations go beyond this time. After 3 Rounds, all character involved must make a Fortitude roll or take a point of Fatigue. if wearing no armor or Light Armor this occurs every 3 Rounds, every 2 Rounds if wearing Medium, and every Round wearing Heavy Armor.

Incapacitation/Gravely Wounded

When a character reaches 0 Health in their Health Pool they are Gravely Wounded and automatically take one level of Fatigue. While in this State, they are able to only take 1 action per Round. It requires 3 successful Fortitude rolls in order to shake off this State. If the character takes any damage while in this state it removes one success. Any failed Fortitude rolls imposes one level of Fatigue.

Death

A character that is Gravely Wounded is but a step from death. If the character takes additional damage beyond 0 HP and gets to a negative HP level beyond the Fortitude level of the character, they are dead. If the character accumulates more Fatigue than their Fortitude score, they die. If the character’s wounds are not treated and they remain at 0 HP for over 1 minute, they take a point of damage for every 1 minute. If they receive enough damage equivalent to their Fortitude score the character perishes.

Knocking Out a Target

If using Brawling or a Bashing attack, it is possible to knock out an opponent instead of killing them. This requires a successful attack using a Called Shot against the head (remember attacks to the head deal double damage). If the target sustains damage equal to their Fortitude score then the target must make a Fortitude roll. If they fail they are knocked out and assume the Unconscious state, and if they succeed they are Stunned for a Round. For a Chokeout/Take down type of scenario it requires a Strength check equal to the character's Fortitude. It requires a number of rounds equal to the Tier of the Character + 1, to successfully choke out a character. VARIANT Contested STR roll a number of rounds equal to Fortitude score. If successful, the target falls Unconcious.

Flanking

If a character is attacking a target and the character's ally is opposite of them, it reduces the target's Evasion by 1. This can stack as more allies surround a target but regardless of how many allies surround an enemy the target's Evasion cannot go below 1.

Cover

There are different kinds of cover that can protect a character. Unlike shields and armor, Cover is used to increase Evasion instead of allowing Damage Reduction. The Size of Cover places a large factor in the protection offered.

• 1 Size smaller than the character can acts as Partial Cover and provides 1 additional level of Evasion
• Size of the character or up to 2 Sizes above the character acts as Cover and grants +2 to Evasion.
• Anything above 2 Sizes larger would in most cases act as Total Cover, which means they cannot be readily targetted by attack and effect that requires sight.
• Crouching characters can take advanatadge of Cover that is 1 Size smaller that is 1 Size smaller than normal
• Prone characters they can take advanadge of Cover that is 2 Sizes smaller than
• Objects acting as Cover that are larger than the character provide additional Evasion for each Size above the character.
• Certain Abilities, effects, or weapons certain abilities and effects can bypass armor or cover, so they don't always guarantee protection. Size in this context only relates to the area of cover provided, so for example, the height of a tall tree doesn't factor into the Size as does the width and the area which is protecting the character.

Damage Types

• Physical damage from non-supernatural sources, and sometimes even supernatural, are treated as Mundane. This is important to be aware of as certain targets have no effect or limited effect if the damage is mundane.
• Most spirits have great resistances to mundane damage as well as creatures like vampires and werewolves.
• Unless an Ability or Effect is stated to be Supernatural Damage it is considered Mundane. Some examples are Fire Bolt and Shocking Grasp. Though created by supernatural means the fire and electricity are considered regular or mundane in nature and do not pass certain supernatural resistances.
• All Supernatural damage types are considered Supernatural for purposes of calculating damage.

Physical Damage

Cutting: Damage from sharp objects like blades.
Piercing: Damage from pointed objects like arrows or spears.
Bashing: Damage from blunt objects like clubs or hammers.

Elemental Damage

Fire: Damage from flames or heat.
Electrical: Damage from electricity or lightning.
Cold: Damage from freezing temperatures.
Acidic: Damage from corrosive substances.

Other Damage Types

Poison: Damage from toxic substances.
Radiant: Damage from light or radioactive energy.
Necrotic: Damage that damages and rots living tissue.
Concussive: Damage caused by intense force or pressure, typically resulting in knock-back and/or daze effects. A character that falls or thrown more than 5 feet and hits a solid surface or object like a wall must make a Fortitude roll to see if they take any damage from the impact. The first 5 feet deals 1 Concussive damage and an additional 1 point of Concussive damage per 10 ft (after 5 ft). If the character falls enough that it brings it to zero health they enter the Dying state. If they drop to a negative amount of health equal to their Fortitude they are Dead upon impact.

Athanasian Mechanics

Powersets

Each character starts with a single Powerset, such as Invisibility, Fire, or Super Strength. New Abilities are unlocked at each Tier Level.

• During character creation, each character chooses one initial Ability.
• Additional Abilities can be purchased at a rate of Tier x 2 Advancement Points (AP for example, a Tier 2 Ability would cost 4 AP.
• When advancing from one Tier to the next, characters gain one Ability from the new Tier for free. Thus, when a character advances from Tier 1 to Tier 2, they receive one Tier 2 Ability as part of that transition.
• When a PC uses an Ability it automatically succeeds unless it is a contested roll. The player must make a Conviction roll to see if the ability costs Gloriae to use, and it requires 2 Successes for a Tier 1. It requires an additonal Success for each Tier above Tier 1, so 3 Successes, 4 Successes for a Tier 3 Ability, and and 5 Successes for a Tier 4 Ability. Each additional success beyond the amount required allows the the PC to do additonal things with the Ability as outlined in the Additional Successes section of that Ability. A character can spend 1 Gloriae for an additional success to empower their Abiltiy.

The Mantle

The Gloriae inherent in all Athanasians radiates a Mantle or aura that other Immortals can sense. Referred to anciently as the watchman’s alarm or sentry bells, because it communicated warnings or relief in the mind of the Athanasian. Since it is easier to sense a older more powerful Immortal from a distance, it has often become a self-preservation tool, giving an Athanasian the chance to escape before becoming a prey to a more dangerous predator.
This sensing of other Immortals serves multiple purposes, both for community and survival. It is the awareness of other nearby Athanasians that helps them to come together to form groups and pantheons. It helps ensure group cohesion and survival. It is also used by Immortals hunting and those being hunted. Athanasians who are afraid of being Culled by an opposing Immortal will flee when they sense the other’s aura. Those doing the hunting use the sense to determine if their target is near. Silver impacts this sense as it dampens the Gloriae projected, and some Immortals will wear or be near silver to avoid being detected by other Athnasians.
This generally acts passively and gives a general sense only revealing if another Immortal is in range and how many. The Athansian isn’t aware of who, how far, and what direction the other Immortals in range are. It is possible to extend one's awareness to pick out specific details. This more active sensing requires an Awareness roll in which the Game Master detemrines the difficulty. The older/more potent an Athanasian is the easier it is to sense their presence, silver can hinder to effectiveness of detecting the Mantle of other Athanasians, and how familar the other Athanasian is all impact the difficulty of the check. Every Athanasian projects a Mantle that is 1 mile x their Generation level. It is possible to glean information such as direction, distance, identification of the Athanasian, what Generation they are, and what Powers they possess.

Culling

This is the term for the slaying of an Athanasian, most typically by another Immortal, but in rare cases a mortal can cull an Immortal. This practice was commonplace in antiquity where Immortals slew one another with little regard. The absence of any surviving Athanasians from the Babyloinian and Persian eras is because of the widespread Culling that occurred. Forbidden by the Grand Assembly except as punishment for the most serious of crimes, Culling is now considered a rare occurance. Outside of the restrictions surrounding it, it is a dangerous practice that has the potential of being lethal to the Athanasian that performs the culling. Once a Culling begins it cannot be stopped, either the person who slew the other Immortal gains some of the power of the fallen Immortal, is killed in the process, or has their immortality and powers stripped away only to have it replaced by the slain Immortal.
Besides receiving Powers and Gloriae to the victor Athanasian, there have been the occasional side-effect from the Culling. Knowledge and memories of the slain Immortal become transferred in the process. It has been stated that the process has the potential to influence the personality of the slayer. Very powerful Immortals with strong wills in a way seem to have continued in a fashion due to this process. It has changed previously noble Athaniasians into cruel evil beings uncharacteristic of their previous disposition, but at least one case of the opposite being true has occurred, an evil Immortal being shown the light because of a Culling.

Generation

Athanasians tend to be born in cycles where a number of Immortals come into being around the same time. There is some variations but it tends to be a period of four hundred years. The reason behind this cycle and why this length of time is unknown. Since Athanasians live for so long they tend to not measure things in terms of years but focus more on these cycles which they refer to as Generations. A new Athanasian is in their first Generation and is denoted by Generation 1. Ancient Immortals that would have lived in the Ancient Greek era might be a Generation 10 character. Outside of living long enough to survive to the next cycle, the only other way to increase their Generation level is to Cull another Athanasian.
The beginning of a new generation, is usually the most tense time in Athanasian society. New Immortals seek to establish themselves, and older Athanasian seek to hold onto their position and maintain the status quo they have comfortably maintained. As Athanasians age their power becomes more potent and they can exert more influence on their world, which is in part represented by their Mantle.

Silver

Athanasians have a vulnerability to silver, which weakens their abilities, prevents accelerated healing and reduces the Mantles radiated by their Gloriae. There are four levels of silver impact: A trivial amount of silver would be like wearing a thin silver chain. A minor amount of Silver would be silver coated manacles or a small amount of ingested colloidal silver (10ml or syringe worth). A Major level of silver would be a silver breastplate, being wrapped in silver plated chains, silver lining in a room, or 1 oz of colloidal silver. An extreme amount of silver would be a be a silver reinforced room, a silver coffin, being wrapped in chains of pure silver, ingesting 8 oz of colloidal silver.
A trivial amount of silver makes a task 1 step harder, a minor amount makes it 2 steps harder, a major source of silver makes it 3 steps harder, and an extreme amount of silver makes it 4 steps harder. It weakens the impact of the power by that amount.

Domain

In addition to gaining a Powerset, each Athanasian has a Domain they are responsible for. This has ties to legend and myths of old. Anubis had domain over Death and Aphrodite over Romantic Love and Beauty. Neither of these Domains tell us anything about the Powersets or Abilities they have. There might be a strong tie, like Poseidon might have the Powerset of Water and his Domain is Water or the Sea. Domains are the source that Athnasians go to in order to restore their power. It is engaging with a character’s Domain that they are able to perform a Reverie. Domains also have to be maintained or cultivated. There should be threats to the PC’s Domains that need to be addressed. Domain has a way of adding narrative tension and advance pacing in a Mythos if the characters must take short breaks to recharge in their Domains or cultivate them in some way. How a character interacts with their Domain determines the character’s Domain Score. This is a scale of 3 to -3. It is up to the Game master to determine how well the PC has treated the Domain in the area they are in. As character grow in power, the influence they have on their Domain increases.

Reverie

Reverie is the method in which Athanasians recharge their Gloriae. These must interact with their Domain in some meaningful way. For an Athanasian whose Domain is Beauty that might be spending a day or weekend on a big shopping spree and makeover, or an Immortal with the Knowledge Domain might have to attend an academic workshop or a weekend symposium. It should cost resources, time, money, or effort in some way. There are classifications of Reverie which are: Short Reverie, Standard Reverie,and Full Reverie. Each contributes to the regeneration of the Gloriae pool, but only a Full Reverie can completely restore this pool to its maximum amount, as Mild and Standard Reverie restore the pool up to the difference between Full and the Tier level of the character. There may be things that may adjust this but generally a Short Reverie lasts a number of hours, a Standard Reverie takes 8-12 hours, and a Full Reverie is usually over 24 hours and may require a couple of days.

Healing

Athanasians heal at a much more accelerated rate than regular mortals do. Mundane healing of mortals classified at Tier 0 occurs at a rate of 1 HP per week (Tier 1+ mortals can sometimes recover 1 HP per day), where Athanasians can heal HP equal to their Generation + Tier per 24 Hours. Heavy activity, damage from silver, fatigue, or other factors may interfere with this process. A trivial amount of silver stops 1 point of healing per day, Minor silver stops 2 points of healing, Major stops 3, and an Overwhelming amount of silver stops healing altogether. The Reverie process can also heal an Athanasian, and they can opt to not recharge their Gloriae and choose to heal injury instead. The rules for restoring Gloriae would apply to healing and restoring HP. A Short Reverie restores HP equal to Tier level, a Standard Reverie restores half of HP, and a Full Reverie restores HP to full.

Hubris

All humans have flaws, and Athanasians are no different. With the power they possess comes weaknesses they struggle with. As part of character creation a Hubris, which is a specialized flaw that the character possesses. There will be opportunities for a Game master to put temptation or involve a Hubris in a character.

Humanity

The struggle that Athanasians must wrestle with is the balance between their humanity and their immortal natures. When one does not age, and sees the world pass by them, it can create an detached perspective. That and they have powers that mortals do not possess. It can be difficult to hold on to their humanity. This can ultimately devolve into developing a full-blown God Complex. For Athanasians that maintain their Humanity allows them to resist the compulsions and Hubris that plague them. A character’s Humanity Score is used when resists Hubris and other forms of temptations. The Humanity Score is a scale between 3 and -3. The number indicates the dice added or subtracted when attempting to resist their Hubris. When a character's Humanity score reaches -3, they are at risk of being consumed by their God Complex.