Role Playing Games/Hyborian Nights/Worldbuilding/FPS

From Carcosan Games
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fame, Power and Sanity


Fame[edit | edit source]

Every day, some barbarian warrior or another roaming the wilderness slays a fearsome beast or cuts a band of slavers to pieces, a clever rogue pulls off a theft that leaves a whole city talking, or a mysterious sorcerer scatters a street gang with magic. Tales of great deeds, both dark and heroic, spread like wildfire through the marketplaces and winesinks of Thule—and when the same names turn up again and again in these tales, the owners of those names find that they are known by people they’ve never met in places they have never been.

A character’s Fame score measures the extent to which he or she is known by strangers, for good or for ill. A character with a low Fame is known only by his or her family and immediate neighbors. An average Fame score means that the character is known by most people in a neighborhood or good-sized tribe. A high Fame score (14 or 15) means that people in other communities or nearby cities are likely to have heard of the character, especially if they have a reason to be interested in the character’s trade or doings. Finally, the name of a character with an exceptional Fame score is known in all but the most isolated or backwards places. A beginning character with an unusually high Fame score probably has a well-known parent or family.

Fame is useful for opening doors and establishing credibility in the right area. A noble who needs a difficult rival removed might seek out a renowned assassin for the job; a jungle trader who discovers a strange artifact might bring it to the doorstep of a famous wizard. Unfortunately, fame means that a character can sometimes be recognized or found more easily than others.

Gaining and Losing Fame: Fame can’t be improved with normal ability score increases. Instead, Fame improves with specific events, as shown below:

  • The character is publicly acknowledged or condemned by authority figures for a heroic or villainous deed (+1 Fame, no more than three times in a character’s career).
  • The character gains followers (+1 Fame).
  • The character gains the ability to launch a raid (+1 Fame).
  • The character gains a bonus to interaction checks from his or her narrative (the 6th-level benefit in many cases) (+2 Fame).
  • The character gains a title (+2 Fame).
  • The first time a character calls a horde or raises an army (+4 Fame).

A character’s maximum Fame score is 20.

Time is the only thing that dims fame (after all, spectacular failure is just as noteworthy as success). Characters who end their adventuring careers or otherwise drop out of sight lose 1 Fame per year, to a maximum loss of 5 Fame from their highest total score.

Fame Checks: Typically, a Fame check arises in a social situation when a character attempts to make use of his or her reputation to gain a NPC’s help.

Examples include:

  • Gaining an audience with a busy ruler.
  • Recruiting a crew for a dangerous voyage.
  • Intimidating foes (you can use Fame as the base ability for Fame/Intimidation checks).
  • NPCs attempting to locate or learn something about a famous character can make a Fame/History, Fame/Investigation, or Fame/Persuasion check, using the target’s Fame score as the base ability.

Fame Saving Throws: A Fame save should be a rare event, but you can use a Fame save to see if a PC is recognized unexpectedly. In general, recognition in one’s normal setting is a DC 10 save, recognition in nearby settings is a DC 15 save, and recognition in a distant city or isolated area is a DC 20 save.

Power[edit | edit source]

Power measures a character’s authority, rank, influence, and social status. Characters with low Power are nobodies—they might be able to appeal to city authorities or tribal leaders through personal persuasion, but they can’t use their place in society to force others to take actions they desire. Characters with average Power scores are generally accorded the privileges any citizen in good standing might expect, but are still subject to the whims of the mighty. Characters with high Power scores can use their social rank or influence to direct significant civic resources to their own purposes, while characters with extremely high Power scores (18 or more) are great princes, important chiefs, or the powers behind the throne.

Gaining and Losing Power: Just like Fame, Power can’t be improved with normal ability score increases.

Instead, Power improves with specific events, as shown below. Characters can also “buy” Power by spending time and money to set up networks of hirelings, informants, or valuable contacts.

  • The character spends 1,000 gp and 10 days of free time buying influence (+1 Power, one time only).
  • The character gains a title or position of minor authority (+1 Power).
  • The character builds a stronghold or gains a position of moderate authority (+2 Power).
  • The character gains followers (+2 Power).
  • The character spends 5,000 gp and 30 days of free time buying influence (+2 Power, one time only).
  • The character gains the ability to call a horde or army, or gains a position of great authority (+3 Power).
  • The character spends 25,000 gp and 90 days of free time buying influence (+3 Power, one time only).

A character’s maximum Power score is 20. Characters lose Power if they lose positions, titles, or strongholds that granted increases of Power.

Power Checks: Ability checks against Power are useful for testing whether a character can get something done purely through the weight of his or her title and the reach of his or her family or organization.

Examples include:

  • Directing local authorities to guard a location (or leave it unguarded).
  • Arranging the release of a prisoner.
  • Getting a royal councilor to propose a favorable law.
  • Banishing a rival or malefactor from one’s tribe.
  • Getting a distant tribe to search their lands for a fugitive.
  • Using your position to gain someone’s cooperation (you can use Power as the base ability for Power/Intimidation or Power/Persuasion checks).

Power Saving Throws: Like Fame saving throws, Power saves are rare. Most uses of Power are applications of skill and training, not the sort of in-the-moment test a saving throw represents. You might call for a Power save when circumstances do not allow a character to prepare for the test—for example, when the character suddenly needs to defy an arrest order or resist a NPC’s use of Power.

Sanity[edit | edit source]

You may decide to track Sanity as a score instead of using the Madness rules described in Chapter 4 of the Primeval Thule Campaign Setting. This approach models sanity as a resource that is gradually eroded by repeated exposures to unnatural threats, a slippery slope that grows steeper as a character nears the breaking point. Experienced adventurers build up a formidable reserve of inner strength against madness, but even warriors with nerves of steel can be briefly overwhelmed by a sudden shock.

Gaining and Losing Sanity: Characters naturally improve Sanity over time; adventurers are made of stern stuff, and a lifetime of daring escapes and victories over savage foes helps to prepare them for the day when they meet something horribly abnormal. Sanity cannot be improved with normal ability score increases, and like other scores, maxes out at 20. Unlike other scores, Sanity can sometimes dip below 1; characters at 0 Sanity are insane. Sanity is gained or lost for the following:

  • Gain a level or go one year without being exposed to a Sanity save (gain 1d2–1 Sanity).
  • Fail a Sanity save (–1, –1d4, or –1d6 Sanity for the first, second, or third failed Sanity save in the same day).
  • A restoration spell of 2nd level or higher restores 1 Sanity lost within the last day.
  • A restoration spell of 5th level or higher restores 2d4 lost Sanity (but cannot increase Sanity above the character’s previous maximum).

Sanity Checks: Characters rarely make ability checks against their Sanity scores. The Sanity score is purely a measure of resistance to madness.

Sanity Saving Throws: Characters who encounter profound shocks to their sense of what is right and normal in the world may be required to make a Sanity save. Situations calling for a Sanity save include:

  • Encountering an aberration, undead, or extraterrene creature for the first time (DC 8).
  • Seeing an ally defeated by an aberration, undead, or extraterrene creature (DC 8).
  • Being charmed by an aberration, undead, or extraterrene creature (DC 8).
  • Witnessing alien or unwholesome magic (DC 5 + spell level).
  • Exposure to an alien environment (DC 10).
  • Hearing or seeing a Great Old One at a distance (DC 10).
  • Exposure to a profoundly abnormal alien environment (DC 15).
  • Encountering a Great Old One (DC 15, double Sanity loss on failure)

Failed Sanity Save: When a character fails a Sanity save, he or she loses 1 Sanity and gains a temporary madness effect (see the Madness effects below). The temporary madness lasts 1d10 minutes, but the character can attempt a new Sanity save (DC 10) to recover at the end of each of his or her turns. (Failing saves to recover from madness does not cost additional Sanity.) If a character is exposed to multiple shocks in the same day, the effects of additional failures worsen; a character who fails a second Sanity save in the same day loses 1d4 Sanity, and a third (or subsequent) failed save costs 1d6 Sanity. When a character fails a Sanity save and is reduced to 0 Sanity or less, he or she gains a persistent madness effect. At the beginning of each day, the character can attempt a new Sanity save (DC 10) to regain 1 Sanity and end the persistent effect. If the character fails three Sanity saves to recover from persistent madness, the duration extends to one month, after which he or she attempts a new save once per month to end the effect.