Flairs
Flairs are straightforward, single-serving abilities — they allow Antagonists to undertake a single action, after which they will have to fulfill a Cooldown condition in order to use it again. Most Flairs do not possess dice pools, and activating such Flairs does not require a roll. Rather, the Storyguide simply decides when it is appropriate for the Antagonist to do so. Many Flairs are tactical in nature, changing the circumstances of the battle in the Antagonists’ favor. The Storyguide should not use the names of these Flairs, however; rather, she should describe the action underlying the Flair in flavorful and narrative terminology. For example, if an Antagonist uses Selfless Shield, the Storyguide might say, “the Cyclops leans into the spray of gunfire, most of the bullets bouncing off his thick skin!” When Flairs do require a roll to activate, use the most appropriate pool from the Archetype. If an Antagonist has a Flair, it’s almost certainly going to be applicable to something in either the Primary or the Secondary Action list (unless the narrative identifies the Antagonist as being particularly bad at their little trick).
Cost: None
Duration: Varies
Subject: One character
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Immediate.
When the Antagonist makes eye contact with another character (which, if used in combat, requires a roll — successes must exceed the target’s Defense), she may functionally incapacitate that character. The actual effect may vary; the target may be paralyzed, terrified, helplessly enamored, etc. In any case, she is unable to break away from the Antagonist’s stare. However, the Antagonist cannot take mixed actions while using this Flair, and cannot Move without using a basic action — otherwise, she loses eye contact, and her target is freed. If the target is Blind, Dread Gaze is ineffective.
Cost: None
Duration: (filled Health boxes) turns
Subject: Self
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: The Antagonist takes damage
The Antagonist may enter a frenzied state, during which they feel no pain and are largely incapable of doing anything but attacking the nearest target. This adds a general +1 Enhancement to Close Combat rolls, which rises to +2 if the Antagonist has only a single Health box remaining.
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target; all targets within close range of that target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One round
The Antagonist makes a single attack roll, subtracting three dice. If successful, the attack is applied not only to the intended target, but to any other potential targets within close range of the intended target. The attack exhausts the weapon’s magazine, if it has one.
Cost: None
Duration: One round
Subject: All allies within close range
Range: Self
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The Antagonist personally lands a blow against a player character.
The Antagonist takes a full defense action. If any allied Antagonists within close range take damage from attacks during the Antagonist’s turn, that damage is removed. The defending Antagonist takes a single level of damage for every ally so defended.
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The Antagonist closes to close range with an opponent; or 3 turns
The Antagonist knocks the target back two range bands.
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Two turns
The Antagonist moves a player character at short or further range to close range. This can be a magical or mundane effect.
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: Self
Range: Long
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: The Antagonist retreats to long range from the original target; or 3 turns
The Antagonist moves instantly to close range with a player character within the Antagonist’s line of sight. This can either be a magical effect, a mechanical contrivance of some kind, or simply a burst of speed on the Antagonist’s part.
Cost: None; or 1 Tension
Duration: One scene
Subject: One illusion
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: End of scene; or the illusion is successfully dispelled
The Antagonist can create vivid, lifelike illusions that, to onlookers, seem quite real. Attempting to pierce an illusion requires an Integrity + Cunning roll, opposed by the Antagonist’s Illusion pool (or her Desperation Pool, if she does not have Illusion listed as Primary or Secondary). If the illusion created is of an additional Antagonist, roll the Initiative of the Antagonist using Illusions and add an SGC slot to the Initiative roster, creating an appropriate Antagonist to fill it — doing so costs 1 Tension. This Antagonist deals Illusory damage, which lasts either until the end of the scene or until the illusion that created it is dispelled, forcibly or otherwise. This damage can Take Out characters, though they will cease to be Taken Out if the illusion is dispelled early. Dispelling an illusion is always an Occult roll, but the Attribute required will vary depending on the method used.
Cost: None
Duration: 3 turns; or the target escapes
Subject: One target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The target is no longer immobilized.
The Antagonist is able to immobilize a character without grappling. (This is a physical immobilization, rather than the immobilization of Dread Gaze, above.) Any character so Immobilized must succeed on a Athletics + Might roll to make use of any action requiring movement, with a difficulty equal to the Antagonist’s successes.
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: One target
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: End of scene; or the Antagonist is exorcised.
The Antagonist is capable of taking over another person’s mind, effectively wearing their body like a glove. If the Antagonist’s body vanishes or they must physically enter the target to use this power, they must be exorcised by an appropriate ritual. If the Antagonist’s body remains, add a temporary Vulnerability (True Body), representing its defenselessness as the Antagonist controls another. Non-trivial characters may make a Clash of Wills against the Antagonist.
Cost: None
Duration: Indefinite
Subject: Self Range: Self Action: Simple Cooldown: The Antagonist returns to her true form.
The character is able to transform into the shape of a certain animal, chosen by the Storyguide when this Flair is assigned. The transformation is perfect and undetectable through any means save magic. The Antagonist’s pools do not change when this Flair is used. However, if her form has a certain method of travel, such as flying or swimming while breathing underwater, she may use those. Additionally, she has access to whatever natural weapons her new form may have, including teeth, claws, and even venom. Animals larger than humans add a single Health box; smaller animals subtract one.
Cost: 1 Tension
Duration: Varies
Subject: Varies
Range: Varies
Action: Varies
Cooldown: One scene
Prerequisite: Villain or higher Archetype
Choose a Purview (see Scion: Hero). The Antagonist may channel that Purview to create marvels, at a cost of 1 Tension.
Cost: None; or 1 Tension
Duration: Variable; see description
Subject: Self
Range: Self
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Variable; see description
The Antagonist is able to imitate another being’s face. Choose the means and requirements by which they do so when this Flair is assigned, which may be as simple as being able to see the target and as demanding as needing to consume the target’s heart or liver first. The transformation may last for only a scene or it may be a permanent theft of form. For all intents and purposes, the Antagonist becomes the character she is copying. While she retains her own dice pools, Qualities, and Flairs, she cannot be identified as an impostor through ordinary means. An Empathy roll, contested by the Antagonist with an appropriate Pool, is required for close acquaintances to realize something is wrong, but anything deeper will require Occult knowledge.
If Thousand Faces is used to target a player character, it costs 1 Tension.
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: Summoned Mooks
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: 5 rounds; or the summoned Mooks are all defeated.
Prerequisites: Villain or higher Archetype
The Antagonist summons a number of Mook Archetype Antagonists equal to the number of player characters to aid them in combat.
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: All allies
Range: Medium
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: End of scene
The Antagonist’s presence lends strength to her allies. When invoked, all allied characters within near range temporarily remove one Injury Complication, or if they do not currently have one, gain a blanket +1 Enhancement to all actions. The Injury Complications return and the Enhancement fades when the Flair ends, when allies subject to it move out of range of the Antagonist, or when the Antagonist with this Flair is Taken Out. As Antagonists do not use Injury Complications, Antagonists affected by this Flair gain +1 Health, or +1 Enhancement if undamaged.
Duration: Instant
Subject: Allies previously Taken Out
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Antagonist numbers are reduced to half or less of what they were when this Flair was used previously.
The Antagonist clears the rightmost Health Box of an ally within close range. This can bring characters back into a fight they were Taken Out of.
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: All Allied Antagonists
Range: Short
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: End of scene
Prerequisites: Professional or higher Archetype
The Antagonist shares one of her Qualities (chosen when this Flair is assigned) with other Antagonists within near range for the duration of the scene. If she is Taken Out, the effects of this Flair fade.
Cost: None
Duration: Five minutes
Subject: One character
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One scene; or the target successfully resists the Antagonist’s influence
The Antagonist’s charms become preternaturally potent for a brief instant — long enough to convince another character of just about anything. The effective Scale of whatever she is asking for is considered to be two lower than it actually is. The other character will realize relatively quickly that they’ve been had, but it’s more than long enough for the Antagonist to make her getaway.
Cost: None
Duration: One interrogation
Subject: Interrogating character or characters
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One scene; or players intentionally reveal information to the Antagonist
Prerequisite: Villain or higher Archetype
The interrogation is a familiar scene — one person trying to get information out of the other. Sometimes, however, the subject of the interrogation is the one in control, leading the questioner on to reveal more than they meant to. Antagonists with this Flair, when interrogated or otherwise directly investigated, learn more from the player characters than they do from the Antagonist. The Storyguide may ask a single question on the Antagonists’ behalf, and the players must answer truthfully — whatever their answer is becomes known to the Antagonist.
Cost: 1 Tension
Duration: One investigation
Subject: Investigating characters
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: One story
Prerequisites: Villain or higher Archetype
The Antagonist may activate Red Herring in response to an Investigation into her. Every interval of the investigation after Red Herring is invoked suffers a cumulative +1 Complication —eventually rendering the roll all but impossible, as leads dry up and evidence leads nowhere. When players realize they’ve followed the wrong chain of evidence, the investigating character may make an Intellect roll using a suitable Skill to learn where the investigation went off the rails. In doing so, she learns something valuable about her opposition, and Red Herring’s effects are removed.
ATTACK
DREAD GAZE
Cost: None
Duration: Varies
Subject: One character
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Immediate.
When the Antagonist makes eye contact with another character (which, if used in combat, requires a roll — successes must exceed the target’s Defense), she may functionally incapacitate that character. The actual effect may vary; the target may be paralyzed, terrified, helplessly enamored, etc. In any case, she is unable to break away from the Antagonist’s stare. However, the Antagonist cannot take mixed actions while using this Flair, and cannot Move without using a basic action — otherwise, she loses eye contact, and her target is freed. If the target is Blind, Dread Gaze is ineffective.
SEEING RED
Cost: None
Duration: (filled Health boxes) turns
Subject: Self
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: The Antagonist takes damage
The Antagonist may enter a frenzied state, during which they feel no pain and are largely incapable of doing anything but attacking the nearest target. This adds a general +1 Enhancement to Close Combat rolls, which rises to +2 if the Antagonist has only a single Health box remaining.
SPRAY N’ PRAY
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target; all targets within close range of that target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One round
The Antagonist makes a single attack roll, subtracting three dice. If successful, the attack is applied not only to the intended target, but to any other potential targets within close range of the intended target. The attack exhausts the weapon’s magazine, if it has one.
DEFENSE
SELFLESS SHIELD
Cost: None
Duration: One round
Subject: All allies within close range
Range: Self
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The Antagonist personally lands a blow against a player character.
The Antagonist takes a full defense action. If any allied Antagonists within close range take damage from attacks during the Antagonist’s turn, that damage is removed. The defending Antagonist takes a single level of damage for every ally so defended.
UTILITY
MAKING SPACE
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The Antagonist closes to close range with an opponent; or 3 turns
The Antagonist knocks the target back two range bands.
LONG ARM
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: One target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Two turns
The Antagonist moves a player character at short or further range to close range. This can be a magical or mundane effect.
HERE I COME
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: Self
Range: Long
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: The Antagonist retreats to long range from the original target; or 3 turns
The Antagonist moves instantly to close range with a player character within the Antagonist’s line of sight. This can either be a magical effect, a mechanical contrivance of some kind, or simply a burst of speed on the Antagonist’s part.
ILLUSIONS
Cost: None; or 1 Tension
Duration: One scene
Subject: One illusion
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: End of scene; or the illusion is successfully dispelled
The Antagonist can create vivid, lifelike illusions that, to onlookers, seem quite real. Attempting to pierce an illusion requires an Integrity + Cunning roll, opposed by the Antagonist’s Illusion pool (or her Desperation Pool, if she does not have Illusion listed as Primary or Secondary). If the illusion created is of an additional Antagonist, roll the Initiative of the Antagonist using Illusions and add an SGC slot to the Initiative roster, creating an appropriate Antagonist to fill it — doing so costs 1 Tension. This Antagonist deals Illusory damage, which lasts either until the end of the scene or until the illusion that created it is dispelled, forcibly or otherwise. This damage can Take Out characters, though they will cease to be Taken Out if the illusion is dispelled early. Dispelling an illusion is always an Occult roll, but the Attribute required will vary depending on the method used.
IMMOBILIZE
Cost: None
Duration: 3 turns; or the target escapes
Subject: One target
Range: Medium
Action: Simple
Cooldown: The target is no longer immobilized.
The Antagonist is able to immobilize a character without grappling. (This is a physical immobilization, rather than the immobilization of Dread Gaze, above.) Any character so Immobilized must succeed on a Athletics + Might roll to make use of any action requiring movement, with a difficulty equal to the Antagonist’s successes.
POSSESSION
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: One target
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: End of scene; or the Antagonist is exorcised.
The Antagonist is capable of taking over another person’s mind, effectively wearing their body like a glove. If the Antagonist’s body vanishes or they must physically enter the target to use this power, they must be exorcised by an appropriate ritual. If the Antagonist’s body remains, add a temporary Vulnerability (True Body), representing its defenselessness as the Antagonist controls another. Non-trivial characters may make a Clash of Wills against the Antagonist.
SHAPESHIFTER
Cost: None
Duration: Indefinite
Subject: Self Range: Self Action: Simple Cooldown: The Antagonist returns to her true form.
The character is able to transform into the shape of a certain animal, chosen by the Storyguide when this Flair is assigned. The transformation is perfect and undetectable through any means save magic. The Antagonist’s pools do not change when this Flair is used. However, if her form has a certain method of travel, such as flying or swimming while breathing underwater, she may use those. Additionally, she has access to whatever natural weapons her new form may have, including teeth, claws, and even venom. Animals larger than humans add a single Health box; smaller animals subtract one.
SORCERY
Cost: 1 Tension
Duration: Varies
Subject: Varies
Range: Varies
Action: Varies
Cooldown: One scene
Prerequisite: Villain or higher Archetype
Choose a Purview (see Scion: Hero). The Antagonist may channel that Purview to create marvels, at a cost of 1 Tension.
THOUSAND FACES
Cost: None; or 1 Tension
Duration: Variable; see description
Subject: Self
Range: Self
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Variable; see description
The Antagonist is able to imitate another being’s face. Choose the means and requirements by which they do so when this Flair is assigned, which may be as simple as being able to see the target and as demanding as needing to consume the target’s heart or liver first. The transformation may last for only a scene or it may be a permanent theft of form. For all intents and purposes, the Antagonist becomes the character she is copying. While she retains her own dice pools, Qualities, and Flairs, she cannot be identified as an impostor through ordinary means. An Empathy roll, contested by the Antagonist with an appropriate Pool, is required for close acquaintances to realize something is wrong, but anything deeper will require Occult knowledge.
If Thousand Faces is used to target a player character, it costs 1 Tension.
SUPPORT
I HAVE FRIENDS
Cost: None
Duration: Instant
Subject: Summoned Mooks
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: 5 rounds; or the summoned Mooks are all defeated.
Prerequisites: Villain or higher Archetype
The Antagonist summons a number of Mook Archetype Antagonists equal to the number of player characters to aid them in combat.
INSPIRATION
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: All allies
Range: Medium
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: End of scene
The Antagonist’s presence lends strength to her allies. When invoked, all allied characters within near range temporarily remove one Injury Complication, or if they do not currently have one, gain a blanket +1 Enhancement to all actions. The Injury Complications return and the Enhancement fades when the Flair ends, when allies subject to it move out of range of the Antagonist, or when the Antagonist with this Flair is Taken Out. As Antagonists do not use Injury Complications, Antagonists affected by this Flair gain +1 Health, or +1 Enhancement if undamaged.
ON YOUR FEET[
br] Cost: NoneDuration: Instant
Subject: Allies previously Taken Out
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: Antagonist numbers are reduced to half or less of what they were when this Flair was used previously.
The Antagonist clears the rightmost Health Box of an ally within close range. This can bring characters back into a fight they were Taken Out of.
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE
Cost: None
Duration: One scene
Subject: All Allied Antagonists
Range: Short
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: End of scene
Prerequisites: Professional or higher Archetype
The Antagonist shares one of her Qualities (chosen when this Flair is assigned) with other Antagonists within near range for the duration of the scene. If she is Taken Out, the effects of this Flair fade.
SOCIAL
HYPNOTIC CHARM
Cost: None
Duration: Five minutes
Subject: One character
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One scene; or the target successfully resists the Antagonist’s influence
The Antagonist’s charms become preternaturally potent for a brief instant — long enough to convince another character of just about anything. The effective Scale of whatever she is asking for is considered to be two lower than it actually is. The other character will realize relatively quickly that they’ve been had, but it’s more than long enough for the Antagonist to make her getaway.
LIKE A SIEVE
Cost: None
Duration: One interrogation
Subject: Interrogating character or characters
Range: Short
Action: Simple
Cooldown: One scene; or players intentionally reveal information to the Antagonist
Prerequisite: Villain or higher Archetype
The interrogation is a familiar scene — one person trying to get information out of the other. Sometimes, however, the subject of the interrogation is the one in control, leading the questioner on to reveal more than they meant to. Antagonists with this Flair, when interrogated or otherwise directly investigated, learn more from the player characters than they do from the Antagonist. The Storyguide may ask a single question on the Antagonists’ behalf, and the players must answer truthfully — whatever their answer is becomes known to the Antagonist.
RED HERRING
Cost: 1 Tension
Duration: One investigation
Subject: Investigating characters
Range: Self
Action: Reflexive
Cooldown: One story
Prerequisites: Villain or higher Archetype
The Antagonist may activate Red Herring in response to an Investigation into her. Every interval of the investigation after Red Herring is invoked suffers a cumulative +1 Complication —eventually rendering the roll all but impossible, as leads dry up and evidence leads nowhere. When players realize they’ve followed the wrong chain of evidence, the investigating character may make an Intellect roll using a suitable Skill to learn where the investigation went off the rails. In doing so, she learns something valuable about her opposition, and Red Herring’s effects are removed.
SORCERY WITHOUT HEROISM
If you don’t have a copy of Scion: Hero, it’s necessary to explain what a Purview is: an elemental aspect of The World embodied by a God. Darkness, Order, Fire — these are all Purviews. For the purposes of this power, consider a marvel to be a free-form, scenechanging effect. Typically, sorcerers use cultural magics and rituals to beg, borrow, or steal divine power (whether directly from a God, stealing it from a relic or artifact, or draining it from a mystical site) to power their spells. Most Gods take serious offense to this, regarding sorcerers warily — stories abound of divinities or lesser Scions having their Legend ripped away to fuel the immortality and magic of a potent sorcerer.Possible Purviews for a sorcerer to specialize in include Artistry (all forms of art), Beasts, Beauty (including supernatural appearances), Chaos, Darkness, Death, Deception, Earth, Fertility (including crop growth andreproduction), Fire, Forge, Fortune (including minor blessings and limited prophecy), Health, Journeys, Moon (including mood and tidal effects), Order (including domination), Passion, Prosperity, Sky (including weather), Stars (including other prophecy), Sun, War, Water, Wild, Epic Dexterity, Epic Stamina, and Epic Strength. Most sorcerers can utilize extremely versatile effects within this framework: granting superhuman Scale and strength to willing followers, setting fire to a skyscraper with the right scrolls smuggled on every floor, blessing an entire rural community with healthy births… or condemning every family to sickly misery for a generation.
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