Guardian

Mortal Guardian Knacks gift you with the vast fortitude and sharp senses, to better protect those you have sworn to guard. Guardian Knacks are driven by the concepts of durability and protection.

Guardian Knacks revolve around choosing a specific person to protect. When choosing who is worth of your divine protection, bear in mind that — unless they’ve completely neglected to invest in any sort of combat abilities — your bandmates do not need you to be the wall between them and your enemies. They should, for the most part, be able to handle that themselves. This is not to say that the Storyguide should forbid you from using these abilities on your bandmates, especially when it would be cool or dramatic, but that the intent is that a Guardian Scion protects those who are weaker than herself

Many Gods and lesser Scions become associated with a territory, concept, class of people, or a place, acting as its defender, patron, or steward. Where the Legendary being has authority over her protectorate as a participant, a Scion who is king of a small nation, for example, the Leader Calling is more appropriate, but those who stand back from their charges and promote them, protect them, and act on their behalf are Guardians. A Guardian’s protectorate can be as specific or general as her Legend dictates; a patron goddess of a city is a Guardian, but so is a Scion known as the defender of children, or a Demigod who fights for anyone lost in darkness.

Knacks

• A Fortress: At the start of a combat scene, roll your Knack Skill with 1 Enhancement. Gain the following Stunts which you may spend the resulting successes on, each time ou successfully Defend (e.g. an attack targeting you does not hit).
  1. Get Out of Here (1s): A target you are protecting immediately makes the Disengage action.
  1. Second Wind (2s): Heal a Bruised Injury you have taken, including Injuries sustained by your Armor.
  1. My Turn (1s) Make one additional attack action against an opponent that attacked your charge this round.



• A Purpose: Dedicate yourself to an ideal of your choosing (fight for love and justice, defend the weak, save The World from invasion). When you take action to defend this ideal, gain +1 Enhancement to all applicable rolls and to any Stunts you may have gained from Knacks.



• A Sentinel: Choose a person or group of trivial targets to be your charge. When you guard your charge, you both gain +1 Defense so long as you stay in the same range band. You also gain +1 Enhancement to rolls to keep track of or defend your charge.



• A Talisman: Bless an object (usually belonging to someone you wish to protect, but not required) and make a Knack Skill roll. If any successes are achieved, it then grants the bearer 2 Enhancement to rolls made to defend or protect against a particular person, thing, or situation as defined at the time of blessing. If you are making a talisman for your charge, this happens automatically without needing to roll.



• A Vigil: When you stand guard over a person, place, or thing, you do not need to eat or sleep so long as your vigil persists. This benefit extends so long as the protected target remains within your sight. You may do other things — talk, interact, move around, etc. — but must devote most of your time to keeping your vigil. You may only keep vigil over one thing at a time.



• A Warning: You sense the presence of danger before it emerges. Spend Momentum and double the successes on any roll to detect ambushes or to discern whether a person means harm. If you are protecting your charge, you do not need to pay the cost.

Immortal Knacks

• By Your Side: Spend a point of Momentum to move to be next to someone you are protecting in an instant, regardless of the distance between you. You receive an innate warning whenever this Knack would come into play. If you are protecting your charge, you do not need to pay the cost.



• Eternal Guardian: When you protect a person, place, or thing that can be measured with Scale (standing guard at the entrance of your pantheon’s afterlife, keeping a watchful eye on a city all night), imbue a point of Legend, rather than spending, to invoke your legendary Title as a Feat of Scale.



• Living Pillar: When you protect someone else with your body, you are immune to environmental hazards: The flames of a burning building do not scorch you, a landslide does not crush you, water cannot drown you, and so on. As long as you keep your charge close (within arm’s reach), they benefit from the same immunity, but still need to eat, sleep, etc., so it’s best to leave a hazardous area as quickly as possible.



• They Cannot Be Touched: Spend a point of Momentum and designate one person to be immune to all source of damage until the end of the session. This only applies if the character is someone you have a Bond with, or is of a lower Tier. If a target does not need to be protected (such as your best friend, the Warrior-Calling Scion), this Knack does not apply.

Skills: Athletics, Close Combat, Empathy

Example Keywords: Defender, steward, shield, protector, patron, den mother, rescue, warden, shepherd, guide, shelter, aegis

Example Gods: Anpu, Bast, Heru, Aset, Set, Sobek, Djehuty, Agni, Durga, Ganesha, Indra, Varuna, Vishnu, Morèmi, Oya Iyansan, Yemoja-Oboto, Erlang, Guan Yu, Guanshiyin Pusa, Nezha, Nǚwā, Takemikazuchi, Bishamon, Kisshōten, Hotei, Aengus the Mac Óg, The Dagda, Ériu, Manannán, Ogma, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, Geezhigo-Quae, Winonah, Thor, Frigg, Hel, Baldr, Heimdall, Freyja
Fatebinding Roles: Canary, Martyr, Nemesis

Failure Deeds: Sacrifice your charge for your own ends, see the destruction of a place you hold dear, have to choose between two harms

Adoption Deeds: Stay behind and fight when you could run, eliminate a threat to a holy place, fight on behalf of someone not because of them, but what they represent.