Titan Calling - Adversary

Where the Trickster accomplishes goals through deceit and becomes a cultural example through their failures, the Adversary antagonizes. Sometimes, an Adversary’s antagonism is a means to an end — nothing pleases an Adversary more than watching her enemies rail against the pressure of her opposition. She is the fire by which they are forged, the grain upon which they are refined. Sometimes this opposition comes in the form of deceit and betrayal and occasionally through physical violence, though most Adversaries prefer to use their words and their connections to teach valuable lessons. Whatever the Adversary does, she does for a reason. A good reason if you ask her, and the ends always justify the means.

Knacks

• Antagonistic Lessons: Whenever the results of your actions cause a target of your antagonism to fail, you may do one of the following:
  • Adjust their Attitude to whatever level you prefer.
  • Cause the target to instead succeed at an action you determine.
  • Instantly create a Fatebinding with the target



• Jeering Taunts: Once per scene, you may taunt and mock a target, either increasing your Defense against their attacks by your Adversary Calling for the duration on the Round, or penalizing the cost of all their stunts by your Adversary Calling for the duration of one action. You must choose which penalty to apply when you activate this Knack. You may not choose the same penalty twice in a row.



• Lingering Presence: After any scene in which you have made a successful Encourage Behavior roll, you may spend Momentum in the subsequent scene to reapply the same effects of your initial Encourage Behavior roll as though you had rolled the same number of successes. If the target has a negative Attitude towards you, this Knack is free.



• Spluttering Incoherence: When in a scene with a target who has a negative Attitude towards you, you may spend Momentum to prevent them from making any social action until you have acted again, driving them into a frothing, violent rage. You may only do this once per scene.



• Sweet and Sour: Make a Knack Skill roll. With any successes, you may curse a meal or drink consumed by your target with the poison of spite. This functions as the Poisoned condition but rather than inflict Injury, it inverts the Attitudes of other characters who interact with the poisoned target — transforming boon companions into bitter enemies and hated rivals into fair-weather friends. The Storyguide and player should work together to determine how this impacts the character as they progress through the story. This costs Momentum if you witness the character partaking of food or drink and is free if you successfully serve the refreshments to them yourself.



• Theft of Luck: While in the same scene as a target with a negative Attitude toward you, after seeing the result of any of their rolls, you may spend Momentum and take any number of their successes (before applying Enhancement and before purchasing Stunts) and add them as Enhancement to your next roll. If this causes the target to fail, get the spent Momentum back.



• All Those Lovely Enemies: You sniff out enmity. Pick one target in a scene; you know anyone who they have serious negative feelings for (an Attitude of at least –2 or worse), and anyone else present who has negative attitudes towards your target. If your target has an Attitude of 2 or higher towards you (negative or positive), this works automatically. If not, make a Knack Skill roll, with a Difficulty equal to their Tier.



• Can’t Kill the Rooster: Spend Momentum during combat to gain Enhancement to your Defense equal to the Attitude targets have towards you for the scene. (A general Hatred of Scions would not apply, but a specific hate of your character would, for example.)



• Familiar Wounds: When you make an attack against a target with a weapon owned by someone with at least a +2 Positive attitude towards the target, you may choose to change the damage type between Bashing, Lethal, and Aggravated freely, and you may give the weapon the Brutal or Piercing Tag. If you are the owner of a weapon you use with this Knack, the weapon is destroyed after a causing an Injury, Fate recoiling on it.



• Let’s Contain Multitudes: You may possess both positive and negative Attitudes towards an individual or organization and choose which applies for any given intrigue roll. You may choose to create corresponding Attitudes in a target when using the Shift Attitude roll, in which case a successful roll creates an additional Attitude rather than shifting their existing feelings. For example, if a character had an Attitude –2 of serious loathing towards you, you use Shift Attitude to create a matching Attitude +2 for being strangely compelling or too annoying to kill. If you do this, your target may not use their Attitude enhancement when trying to resist your Shift Attitude roll.



• Nothing Is Inevitable: When you spare the life of a defeated enemy who has a negative Attitude towards you, you gain the Condition “Force of Opposition.” This grants you +2 Enhancement to any rolls related to thwarting that enemy’s plans or aiding their other enemies, applied before you roll. You may resolve this Condition at any time to heal all damage conditions they or their allies have dealt to you. Otherwise, it resolves at the end of the story.



• Sudden but Inevitable: When you attack a target who has a positive Attitude towards you, whether physically in combat or socially in intrigue, you may add that Attitude’s rating as Enhancement. In many cases, this will result in the target removing that Attitude, and replacing it with a negative Attitude.



• True Friendship: During intrigue, you may treat positive Attitudes towards an individual as Enhancement for encouraging the belief “acting against my friend’s desires is in their best interest” or encouraging the behavior “I will oppose my friend’s desires as soon as I possibly can,” instead of your target gaining that Attitude as Enhancement to resist your roll.

Immortal Knacks

• At Your Side, In Your Way: Whenever someone you have a negative Attitude towards is in mortal peril, or someone you have a positive Attitude towards is about to succeed at a major goal, you know that it’s occurring — though not the details of the event. You may spend Momentum to appear in their scene, as long as you are both in the same World or within five days travel in the same Otherworld. Note: This may apply to other players’ characters (especially if they’re about to achieve a Deed) with that player’s permission.



• Contra Mundum: Opposing the World is easy, because the World always opposes itself. Pick an individual, organization, or thing. Your actions to rally characters or items against that target increase their Scale for leadership purposes by your Tier or your target’s Attitude towards you, whichever is higher. You may spend Momentum to change your target for Contra Mundum once a session.



• Enemies Forever: Pick a target who has at an Attitude of –2 or worse towards you. Neither you nor your target can die unless the other does the killing, or you are both somehow killed simultaneously. This Knack can target only a single target at a time, which you may change once per session.



• Evil Appearing: When you initiate combat or intrigue with an unsuspecting target, all characters of a lower Tier must either abandon them, refuse to intervene, or suffer +2 Difficulty on all their rolls in the Scene. If the target has a positive Attitude towards you, they suffer the Complication “Collateral Betrayal” at a rating of their Attitude for the scene. It turns lower Tier characters against them until bought off. If the target has a negative Attitude towards you, they suffer the Complication “Blinded by Anger” at a rating of their Attitude for the Scene. It reduces their Defense in Combat or resistance pool in intrigue for the next roll by the remaining rating if not fully bought off.



• From Hell’s Heart: The distance your combat or intrigue actions can affect a target increases based on their Attitude towards you. At Attitude 2, your combat actions can target them up to long range in combat and your intrigue actions can affect them at any distance they could normally perceive you from, without penalty. At Attitude 3, you can target them from anywhere within extreme range. At Attitude 4, anywhere on the same continent. At Attitude 5, anywhere in the World, or anywhere within five days travel in an Otherworld. They may attempt a counterattack or social action at the same range after you make an attack, however, and after you have successfully attacked or influenced a target at this range, you can’t use this power again against the same target for the rest of the session. Nothing Is Forbidden: Against targets with an Attitude of 2 or higher towards you, you gain access to the following stunts in combat:
  Blood Like Wine (variable): Immediately resolve this as an Influence action with the number of successes spent on it against the target.
  And the following stunt in intrigue:
  Tears Like Honey (variable): Immediately resolve this as an Inflict Damage stunt with the number of successes spent on it against the target.
  Bystanders must successfully Clash of Wills against you to understand the nature of what transpired in either case.



• Opposition Without Limit: When you command, rally, or intrigue enormous forces to oppose another character, imbue, rather than spend, a point of Legend to invoke your Legendary Title as a Feat of Scale


Satisfaction or the Knife: Once per session, when you demand something from someone with an Attitude of 2 or higher towards you, they must choose to either admit your righteousness or your might. If they admit your righteousness, you gain +1 Scale for purposes of convincing them in intrigue for the rest of the session; if they admit your might, you gain that Scale instead for purposes of combat against them. You may not attempt to influence which they choose with intrigue or supernatural suasion.


• Opposition Without Limit: When you command, rally, or intrigue enormous forces to oppose another character, imbue, rather than spend, a point of Legend to invoke your Legendary Title as a Feat of Scale



• Pawns for My Desire: When socially interacting with a target who has a negative attitude toward you, you may spend Momentum during any Encourage Behavior roll and have it succeed as though you achieved exactly the number of successes required.



• Spitting Curses: You gain the ability to layer curse upon curse on a target, until they have no choice but to do as you ask. Choose one of the curses below at the time this Knack is purchased. This Knack can be purchased a number of times equal to your Adversary Calling, choosing a different curse each time. While this is your active Knack, you gain access to any two curses you know, and the following stunt:
  • Sling Curses (2s): Apply this stunt to any Encourage Belief or Behavior roll or any attack action. The target must be within Close range. When you purchase this stunt, apply one of your curses to the target.
  
  
  • Incompetence Curse: This curse condition imposes an increased Difficulty to the target’s actions equal to your Adversary Calling. This persists until the curse causes the target to fail a roll. If the target botches, gain Momentum.
  
  
  • Curse of Ill Fortune: Impose this curse condition which applies a Complication to all of your target’s actions with a rating equal to your Adversary rating which lasts until the target cannot buy it off. Failing to buy off the Complication results in an ill fortune of your choice.
  
  
  • Curse of My Presence: This curse condition increases the Difficulty of all of your target’s rolls by 1. You may choose to end the condition and appear in the same scene as the target. Your sudden appearance also causes the target to automatically fail their next roll, regardless of the result on the dice.

Skills: Culture, Persuasion, Subterfuge

Example Keywords: subversive, devil’s advocate, cunning, liar, adversity, opposition, betrayal, rivalry

Fatebinding Roles: Jinx, Nemesis, Traitor



Failure Deeds: Be talked out of a great test or betrayal, allow the unworthy to rise unchallenged, avoid confrontation in favor of compromise, kill someone without telling them why you struck them down

Adoption Deeds: Ruin someone’s life for the better, aggravate a friend into a change of heart