Chapter Two Sample, part 1 - Advanced Symbiote (Patreon)

Advanced Forms

The Clades Companion introduced Forms that permitted customization by increasing or decreasing the character’s starting Merit dots. Advanced Forms apply that principle to the Forms that appear in Deviant: The Renegades. All assume these are selected during character creation. With Storyteller permission, a character can later spend Experiences to purchase or improve a Form’s benefits or to “buy off” some of a Form’s disadvantages at a cost equal to net change in the number of Merit dots.

An effect that shows “2 dots”, for example, costs 2 of the character’s starting Merit dots (or 2 Experiences, if purchased during play), while one that shows “–4 dots” offsets the Form’s Merit dot cost by up to 4 (or 4 Experiences).

The net cost of a Form cannot be less than 0 Merit dots.

Adaptations cannot be used to reset per-chapter effects of Forms.

Symbiote

Modify the Systems paragraph in Deviant as follows:

By default, this Form is flavor (doesn’t grant a bonus or penalty to Scar Finesse or Scar Resistance rolls), the additional Aspirations have no mechanical effects other than generating Beats when the Deviant furthers or fulfills them, and the Remade automatically knows the entity’s Aspirations (or any other optional motives it may possess).

The player may invoke the Symbiote’s bonus effect once per chapter, and the Storyteller may invoke the Symbiote’s penalty effect once per chapter, regardless of the number of effects the Form includes. Typically, the entity’s desires are alien or simply very different from the Deviant’s but are not radically opposed to them nor in close harmony with them.

Any bonus granted by this Form is based on whether it furthers a long-term Aspiration (+/–1), resolves a short-term Aspiration (+/–3), or resolves a long-term Aspiration (+/–5).

Unless the Form is for flavor only, you must choose at least one of the following:

Clash of Wills (–2 to 2 dots): The entity can grant a bonus (2 dots) or impose a penalty (–2 dots) to Clash of Wills rolls that are related to its Aspirations. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.

Contested Resistance Rolls (–2 to 2 dots): The entity can grant a bonus (2 dots) or impose a penalty (–2 dots) to contested Resistance rolls that are related to its Aspirations. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.

Rebel Limb (–2 to –10 dots): The entity exercises full control over a portion of the Broken’s body chosen when this Form is selected. In addition to the narrative effects of this control, it can impose the Missing Limb Scar with a Magnitude equal to half the Merit dot cost offset by this effect whenever the Deviant attempts to take an action that would suffer a penalty due to this Form. This lasts several minutes or (6 – highest Scar Resistance) turns in action scenes if the penalty was –1. If the penalty was –3, it lasts until the end of the scene. If the penalty was –5, it lasts until the end of the chapter. The Scar imposed by this effect cannot entangle a Variation.

Rebel Senses (–2 to –10 dots): The entity exercises full control over some of the Remade’s sense organs chosen when this Form is selected. It can impose the Sensory Deprivation Scar with a Magnitude equal to half the Merit dot cost offset by this effect whenever the Deviant attempts to take an action that would suffer a penalty due to this Form. This lasts several minutes or (6 – highest Scar Resistance) turns in action scenes if the penalty was –1. If the penalty was –3, it lasts until the end of the scene. If the penalty was –5, it lasts until the end of the chapter. The Scar imposed by this effect cannot entangle a Variation.

Rebel Variation (–2 to –14 dots): The entity exercises full control over one or more of the Broken’s Variations, chosen when this Form is selected. This functions as the Involuntary Stimulus Scar, triggered by circumstances where the Variation can either allow the entity to get something it wants or prevent it from experiencing something it doesn’t want. The Magnitude of this Scar is equal to half the Merit dot cost offset by this effect. The Deviant’s Scar Resistance roll to retain or regain control is equal to her highest Scar Resistance +1, with a penalty based on what the entity hopes to gain (or avoid losing). The Broken cannot activate another Variation on the same turn that the entity activated a Variation. The following optional effects further offset the cost of this Form:

•            The entity can activate any of the Remade’s Variations but only one at a time (–1 dot), or it can activate as many as it wishes but only one new one per turn (–2 dots).

•            Each turn, the entity may direct a Directed Variation it activated (–2 dots). This option is only available if at least one of the Variations the entity can activate is Directed.

The Scar imposed by this effect cannot entangle a Variation.

Satisfaction (2 dots): Whenever the entity would receive a +3 or higher bonus from the Form but it is not one that requires a roll or the Deviant chooses not to use the bonus but still succeeds on the roll (although this still counts against the Form’s per-chapter limit), the Deviant regains a point of Willpower. The same action cannot benefit from both the Reward and Satisfaction effects.

Scar Finesse (–2 to 2 dots): The entity can grant a bonus (2 dots) or impose a penalty (–2 dots) to Scar Finesse rolls that are related to its Aspirations. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.

Scar Resistance (–2 to 2 dots): The entity can grant a bonus (2 dots) or impose a penalty (–2 dots) to Scar Resistance rolls that are related to its Aspirations. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.

Skill Rolls (–8 to 8 dots): By default, the Deviant chooses three Skills when purchasing this Form. The entity can grant a bonus (2 dots) or impose a penalty (–2 dots) to rolls with those Skills that are related to its Aspirations. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots. Double the Merit dot cost (or offset) to +/–4 Merit dots if it instead affects all Skills of a single category (Mental, Physical, or Social) or up to six Skills. Triple the Merit dot cost (or offset) to +/–6 Merit dots if it instead affects all Skills of a single category or up to 12 Skills (regardless of category). Quadruple the Merit dot cost (or offset) to +/–8 Merit dots if it instead affects all Skills.

Stability (–2 to –6 dots): The Deviant may choose to ignore the penalty caused by this Form but suffers Instability, instead — minor Instability if the penalty was –1, medium Instability if –3, and major Instability if –5 (–2 dots). If the Deviant always ignores the penalty but suffers Instability instead — or if whether she suffers a penalty or Instability is determined at random (the probability determined when this Form is selected), this effect is instead –4 dots. If the Storyteller decides whether a penalty converts to Instability, this effect is instead –6 dots.

The following effects require at least one of the effects above but are optional:

Active (–4 to 4 dots): The Form may manifest its effects more often, although the Storyteller and circumstances dictate when it happens. Choose one:

•            The Form may manifest a bonus and a penalty up to once per scene (0 dots).

•            The Form may manifest bonuses up to once per scene, but it may manifest a penalty only once per chapter (4 dots).

•            The Form may manifest penalties up to once per scene, but it may manifest a bonus only once per chapter (–4 dots).

Bargain (–2 to –4 dots): The Deviant has limited influence over when the entity grants its bonus, as long as her actions further its goals in a way that would allow it to do so and the Form hasn’t been used up for the current chapter (or scene, if the Broken also has Active). Choose one:

•            This requires a successful reflexive Manipulation + Persuasion roll (–2 dots).

•            This is automatic but requires several minutes of negotiation or (6 – highest Resistance Attribute) turns in action scenes (–2 dots).

•            This requires both a successful roll and time spent in negotiation (–4 dots).

Communication (–4 or 0 dots): By default, the Deviant knows the desires of the entity and can silently bargain with it. Some Symbiotes have no such awareness (–4 dots), leaving the Remade in the dark as to their entity’s desires. Others contain entities that communicate through speech audible to anyone near enough to hear (0 dots).

Compatibility (–2 or 2 dots): The entity’s goals are largely compatible with the Broken’s (2 dots), or they are radically different from and often incompatible with them (–2 dots).

Punishment (2 dots): If the Remade’s action would suffer a penalty from the Form, he may choose for it not to do so. He instead suffers the Symbiote Punishment Condition (p. XX). The Deviant may not call upon this effect if he already has that Condition.

Reward (2 or 4 dots): If the Deviant’s action would receive a bonus from the Form but it is not one that requires a roll (2 dots) or if he chooses not to use the bonus but still succeeds on the roll (4 dots), he gains the Symbiote Reward Condition with a bonus equal to the bonus he would have received on the triggering action (although this still counts against the Form’s per-chapter limit). The same action cannot benefit from both the Reward and Satisfaction effects.

Touchstones (–1 to –6 dots): The entity has its own Touchstones and exercises control over whom it chooses to forge these connections to, whether they are Conviction or Loyalty, and when and if it will sever or reverse these connections. The entity can take one of these actions per chapter, and this is separate from the Deviant’s once-per-chapter limit on altering Touchstones.

Choose one:

•            The entity shares the Deviant’s Touchstone slots, reducing the number of Touchstones she can designate, affirm, and maintain by one per –1 starting Merit dots, but this cannot eliminate the Touchstone granted by the Remade’s Origin. The entity’s Touchstones count towards the Broken’s Conviction and Touchstone ratings, the Deviant can lose them by Faltering, and they count as the Remade’s Touchstones for the purpose of suffering Instability and regaining Willpower.

•            The entity has its own Touchstone slots separate from the Remade’s — one per –1 starting Merit dots, to a maximum of six. These cannot be made Wavering. However, whenever the Deviant’s action or inaction would count as Faltering against one of the entity’s Touchstones, any required roll suffers a penalty based on the type of Instability it would generate — a –1 penalty for minor Instability, –3 for medium Instability, and –5 for major Instability. If the offending action or inaction is not rolled, the penalty instead applies to the next roll the Broken makes that does not actively further one of the entity’s Touchstones. On the other hand, whenever the Deviant’s action furthers one of the entity’s Touchstones, it may impart a bonus based on the type of Instability the action would heal — a +1 for minor Instability, +3 for medium Instability, or +5 for major Instability.

Vice (–2 to 2 dots): The entity also has a Vice. The player may suggest a likely Vice, but its exact details are up to the Storyteller. The entity can grant a +1 bonus (2 dots) or impose a –1 penalty (–2 dots) to relevant rolls that indulge (or prevent it from indulging) its Vice. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.

Virtue (–2 to 2 dots): The entity also has a Virtue. The player may suggest a likely Virtue, but its exact details are up to the Storyteller. The entity can grant a +3 bonus (2 dots) or impose a –3 penalty (–2 dots) to relevant rolls that fulfill (or run directly contrary to) its Virtue. If the entity can do both, this effect costs 0 dots.