The Supernatural

Some characters can harness powerful forces beyond mortal understanding. Your character may perform incredible feats of magic and technology. Harnessing this power comes with great risk and only to those willing to devote themselves wholeheartedly to its pursuit.

Each supernatural path has a slightly different way of invoking its power. In order to learn to use new powers, you must be trained in the appropriate skill (see Skills), and you may need a related Talent, from your profession or selected during a level-up.

Prayer

You have a deep connection to one of the gods or spirits of the First ones, or to the Radiant Eye of the Sovereign. You have spent years honoring the old covenants, whether through the study of sacred texts and paintings or the mastery of powerful songs. Through prayer and concentration, you can thin the barrier between the Middle and Upper World and bring forth supernatural aid.

Requirements

In order to invoke prayers, you must have the Initiate talent and be trained in Prayer. All prayers have a lengthy contemplation time, and some require additional materials.

Learning Prayers

You may learn new prayers by taking the Talents Initiate, Adept, and Master. You may also learn prayers by studying with monastic scholars, wizened hermits, or tribal elders. If you find such a teacher and they are willing to teach you, spend 3 days in study and roll Wits. On a success, you learn the new prayer. On a failure, you do not and must continue to study. On a critical success, increase your Prayer skill by 1. On a critical failure, this prayer is your antithesis and you may never learn it.

Invoking Prayers

Prayer takes at least 10 minutes of peaceful contemplation. Some prayers require specific materials (such as silver oil, tobacco, or incense).

After you have completed your contemplation, test your Prayer. If you have already invoked this prayer today, roll with disadvantage.

On a success, the prayer is invoked. On a critical success, the prayer is strengthened in some dimension. Roll on the power surge table.

Power Surge

1. Restores a Wound to the affected party.
2. Targets more people.
3. Lasts longer.
4. The effect is doubled.
5. The caster sheds light for the rest of the day.
6. You may invoke the prayer again today without suffering disadvantage.

On a failure, the prayer does not work and the materials are lost. On a critical failure, roll on the Spiritual Fatigue table.

Spiritual Fatigue

1. Cannot invoke prayers until you perform a night of fasting and atonement, leaving you exhausted.
2. Your connection to the Upper World fades. Lose 1 Prayer permanently.
3. You channel a terrifying aspect of your deity, unsettling those around you. Lose D3 Shine until you take a night's rest.
4. All creatures nearby are put into a deep slumber.
5. Your body cannot hold the spiritual energy you channeled. You suffer D3 Wounds.
6. Your twisted prayer brings forth a powerful spirit, angel, or demon, intent on your destruction.

Hastening Prayers

If you Draw Deep while invoking a prayer you may do one of the following:

• Reduce its contemplation time to 3 actions.
• Skip its required materials.

If you Draw Deep with disadvantage, you may do both.

Talents

Selecting the talents below represents a character's growth into their spirituality and connection with the Upper World.

Initiate

Requirements: Prayer 1

You gain two Petitions.

Adept

Requirements: Prayer 4, Initiate

You gain one Petition and one Intercession.

Chosen

Requirements: Prayer 6, Adept

You gain one Intercession and one Decree.

Prayers

Petitions

• Blessing
• Discern Truth
• Radiant Light
• Darkness

Intercessions

• Banish
• Darkness

Decrees

• Wrath of God

Astrology

The Upper Worlds speak to the Middle and Lower Worlds every minute of every day - through clouds, wind, sun, moon, and most importantly - stars. Those skilled at reading the stars can use them for more than navigation, they can find important answers to questions of past, present, and future, and insights into the nature of the different Worlds.

Talents

Those who master Astrology gain its supernatural benefits by selecting the talents below.

Expert Navigator

Requirements: Astrology 2

You gain the benefits of a critical success every time you succeed at a roll to navigate, learning all relevant information.

Dream-watcher

Requirements: Astrology 2

By watching over someone sleeping under the stars, you can tell whether they are under the influence of any form of magic with a successful Astrology test. If the magic originates from the Upper or Lower World, you know which, and get a clue to how it might be broken.

Seer

Requirements: Astrology 4

The movements of the Great Constellations reflect the happenings in all Three Worlds. After spending a night's rest under a clear sky, you may ask the GM one "Yes or No" question about the current state of the world.

The GM will make an Astrology test for you in secret with the following modifiers:

• Advantage if you possess an item of focus relating to the question - such as a tuft of fur from a beast you are tracking, a reed from a house in the village you wish an answer about, or a memento from a loved one.
• Disadvantage if the question relates to the Upper or Lower World.

On a success, the GM answers accurately. On a failure, the GM does not answer. On a critical failure, the GM answers falsely. On a critical success, the GM gives additional detail in the answer.

Prophet

Requirements: Astrology 6

You read the future in the stars when you take a night's rest under a clear sky. Make an Astrology test. On a success, you create a portent of things to come. Roll a D20 and note it's result, then make a vague prediction of the future. To make the portent come to pass, you may replace the result of your D20 roll in circumstances that align with your prediction.

On a critical success, you may choose the number of your portent. On a critical failure, the GM gets the portent instead!

Portents should be open-ended - you do not need to define the exact rolls ahead of time.

You may only have one portent at a time.

Example Portents

• By a hair's breadth, one of us will escape a mortal blow - Grant a low roll to Dodge, or a high one to an enemy attack.
• When all hope is lost, heart will prevail - Make a failing Spirit roll against fear succeed.
• A distraction will come at the most unlikely time - Make an enemy spellcaster fail their test to cast a spell.

Conjuring

Sites of power litter the landscape of Kuyama. At midnight, in dark and hidden places, under the watchful eyes of the owls, during a thunderstorm, the Lower World presses close. Skin tingles, hairs twitch. Those learned in the forbidden arts or with deep connections to the power beneath can draw upon it when the worlds overlap to perform great and terrifying magics.

Conjuration requires altering one's mind into a dream-like state, often assisted exhausting fasts, alchemical vapors, or mind-altering plants, as well as appropriate ritual materials - paints, salts, bitter herbs, and tallow.

Requirements

In order to perform a conjuration, you must be trained in the Conjuration skill and know the ritual you are attempting to cast.

Learning Conjurations

You may learn Border Conjurations by selecting them with the Binder talent. To conjure power from deeper within the Lower World requires personal attunement - it cannot be taught, it must be individually discovered.

Whenever you critically succeed or fail at a Conjuration test, your mind becomes attuned. The next night's rest, the Lower World speaks to you in a vision. You or the GM select a conjuration that you meet the skill requirements for. You must complete it's Quest. Once completed, you learn the ritual.

In addition, certain places and beings of great power can attune rituals, triggering a Quest regardless of skill level.

Performing Conjurations

Magic is impossible. And yet...

To perform a conjuration, you must perform a ritual that takes three actions and pass an impossible Conjuration test. Modify the test by your closeness to the Lower World, reducing its difficulty by 1 step for each factor listed below.

• You Draw Deep during the ritual.
• You make a sacrifice of a powerful object during the ritual.
• You have altered your consciousness with fasting and sweating, alchemical catalysts, or mind-altering substances.
• You take 1 hour to perform the ritual.
• You are in a site of power or are experiencing a powerful event (an eclipse, midnight during a new moon, watched by a flock of owls).

If you succeed or critically succeed, the conjuration occurs as you expect. If you fail, nothing happens. If you critically fail, you tear the veil between the Middle and Lower World and must roll on the Torn Veil table.

Torn Veil

1. Shrieking birds claw at you, dealing D10 damage and blinding you until your next night's rest.
2. Slime-dripping rats spew from your mouth, gnawing everyone near you for D8 damage.
3. You are possessed by a feral spirit. You gain D10 additional HP but must attack someone nearby with your hands until they are depleted.
4. Something deep and horrible tugs on your soul. You lose D6 Spirit until you spend a night purifying yourself, which leaves you exhausted.
5. You burst into flames, taking D3 Wounds. D3 of your items are incinerated.
6. You are dragged into the Lower World, where you will remain. Start a new character.

Talents

The talent below represents the first step on a path towards mastery of the powers of conjuration, a journey which takes at least a lifetime.

Binder

Requirements: Conjuration 1

Select one Border Conjuration that you can perform. Mastering it will lead you to deeper mysteries. You may select this talent multiple times.

Conjurations

Border Conjurations

Malady
Lesser Summoning
Shape Elements
True speech
Plantcraft

Deep Conjurations

Banish
Weather Work
Curse
Great Summoning
Windwalking

Abyssal Conjurations

Ancient Summoning
Earth Shape
Soul Master
Woodsong
Unravel

Shape-changing

Beast-folk. Skin-wearer. Changeling. Some powerful Kuyamans possess the rare and terrifying ability to alter their flesh, reshaping themselves to resemble birds, beasts, fish, and even other people. Whether through ancient curse, an ancestral bond with animal spirits, or volatile alchemical serums, shape-changing is a heavy gift. Some who use its powers with benevolence are honored, but many are treated with fear and revulsion - how can you trust a creature who's face can change on a whim?

Changing Form

Anything beyond the most minor cosmetic alterations requires one of the talents below. To assume a shape different from your own, you must have a token from the target - a tuft of hair, strip of skin, a feather, or a vial of blood.

Changing your form takes a minute and requires a successful Shape-changing test. Roll with disadvantage if you have not taken a rest since the last time you attempted to change your shape.

Returning to your original form also takes a minute. If you are brought Near Death, you return to your original form.

You may Draw Deep to reduce the time spent changing forms to 1 action.

If you succeed your test, your form changes. If you critically succeed, you may roll or choose one of the following benefits:

• You gain an additional aspect of your target animal (see Animal Aspect).
• You do not roll with disadvantage if you change your shape again before resting.
• You heal 1 Wound or D6 HP.

If you fail, you do not change your form (but still roll with disadvantage if you try again before resting). If you critically fail, roll on the Identity Crisis table.

Identity Crisis

You may not return to your original form or do any further shape changing until you take a night's rest, leaving you exhausted. In addition, roll on the table below.

1. You become stuck in your current form.
2. You assume a new form at random from the forms you have available.
3. You are overcome with fury, desiring nothing more than to inflict your curse onto others. If provoked, test Wits or lash out violently until you have tasted blood.
4. Your transformation is horrific to look upon. Lose D6 Shine until you recover.
5. Your transformation is weak and withered. Lose D6 Grit until you recover.
6. Your mind is transformed along with your body - you think and act as an animal until you recover.

Talents

Shapechangers take on new aspects and forms by selecting the talents below.

Animal Aspect

Requirements: Shape-changing 1

You can imbue qualities of an animal that you possess a token from. Select one of the following benefits. It lasts until you change your form again.

• Claws or fangs (D8 damage)
• Thick hide (2 armor)
• Gills (grants underwater breathing)
• Feathers (glide from heights, suffering no damage)
• Fur or scales (resistant to disease, cold, or poison)
• Hooves (+5 to speed)
• Venomous bite (D4 damage, mild poison)
• Horns (advantage on Draw Deep for topple, smash, sweep Attack Styles)

Critter Shape

Requirements: Shape-changing 2

You can turn into a creature no larger than a housecat that you possess a token from, such as a rat, skunk, crow, otter, or rattlesnake. Your mind is your own, but your stats become those of the creature you have chosen. Your equipment melds with your new form and is inert.

Facechanger

Requirements: Shape-changing 4

You can turn into another person as long as you possess a token of theirs. Your voice does not change but otherwise you are identical. Your clothing and equipment does not change.

Powerful Shape

Requirements: Shape-changing 4

You can turn into a powerful creature that you possess a token from, such as a bear, wolf, mountain lion, coyote, eagle, or shark. Your mind is your own, but your stats become those of the creature you have chosen. Your equipment melds with your new form and is inert.

Monstrous Shape

Requirements: Shape-changing 6

You can turn into a monster that you possess a token from. Your shape-changing skill must be at least twice the monster's Threat. Your mind is your own, but your stats become those of the creature you have chosen. Your equipment melds with your new form and is inert.

Alchemy

Scientific progress takes many forms in Kuyama - improvements in food processing and weapon designs, new ways to build boats, ships, and houses, and advancements in medicine. Some few learned scientists, madcap inventors, and experimental doctors take their scientific knowledge to a new level, combining rare and powerful materials to make potent potions, powders, and oils with a variety of unpredictable effects.

Requirements

To create alchemical concoctions, you must be trained in the Science skill, know the recipe for the effects you are attempting to achieve, and have access to alchemical tools. Each concoction takes one bundle of alchemical reagents.

Learning Recipes

Alchemical recipes can be learned from teachers or purchased from the few marketplaces large enough to stock such things. It takes the appropriate talent, a day of study and ((10/50/250 coin)) to attempt to learn a new recipe. At the end of the day, test Science. On a success, you learn the recipe. On a failure, you do not learn the recipe and lose the materials. On a critical failure, your research is so catastrophic that you must find a new teacher - this one won't work for you.

They can also be discovered through experimentation. During recovery, each day you may test Science. On a critical success, you make a breakthrough and may learn a recipe of the highest tier you currently know. Roll with advantage if you had observed one or more side effects during the preceding week.

Creating Concoctions

It takes one hour to create an alchemical concoction and consumes a bundle of alchemical reagents. In general, the resulting potion, oil, or powder is potent for a week before its volatility erodes.

When you create a concoction, select the effects you wish to include. Effects cost alchemy points as follows: trifling - 1, minor - 2, major - 4.

You have alchemy points equal to your Science skill. If you have the prime reagent for an effect, its cost is halved and the effect is improved.

Note the effects as you add the concoction to your character sheet.

When the concoction is used or consumed, test your Science skill. Roll with advantage if you have created this exact formula before. On a critical success, the concoction has no side effect. On a success, the concoction works, but has a side effect equal to the lowest effect included. On a failure, the concoction does not work, and has a side effect equal to the highest effect included. On a critical failure, the concoction has a catastrophic side effect.

Side Effects

Trifling side-effects

1. It makes you itchy.
2. You have bad breath.
3. Unrestrained flatulence.
4. You get very cold.
5. You can't stop crying.
6. There's a loud ringing in your ears.

Minor side-effects

1. You vomit uncontrollably, suffering D3 damage and losing an action if you are in combat.
2. Your pupils dilate, making bright light painful. Suffer disadvantage to Wits tests while in sunlight for 10 minutes.
3. You get terrible tremors. Suffer disadvantage to Quick and Grit tests for 10 minutes.
4. You're burning up. You're exhausted unless you take off your armor.
5. You feel so stiff you can hardly move. Your speed is 2 for the next minute.
6. Your hands cramp. You drop everything that you're holding.

Major side-effects

1. Blood leaks from your eyes and nose. Take D12 damage.
2. Tiny mushrooms start growing from your skin. You're exhausted until they're cleared off (takes 10 minutes).
3. Your hair grows wildly, making it impossible to see or hear until it is all cut off (takes 10 minutes).
4. You collapse, unconscious. It takes 1 minute to roust you.
5. You see evil spirits everywhere. Each round for one minute test Grit. On a failure, you huddle in place, too scared to move.
6. You spew green fluid and enter a berzerk rage. Gain D6 Grit for the next minute, but you must do nothing but smash everything in sight for the duration.

Catastrophic side-effects

1. A third arm sprouts from your side. You lose D6 Shine permanently, but gain an additional at-hand item.
2. Sores open all over your body and weep purple fluid. You lose 1 Grit per day until you spend a day in recovery.
3. You grow hulking and cruel, gaining D4 Grit at the expense of D3 Wits and D3 Shine.
4. Gills open up along your neck. You can breathe underwater, but become exhausted if you are away from water for more than an hour.
5. Your eyes cloud over. You go blind, but develop an incredible sense of smell.
6. You explode in a ball of bloody flames, dying and dealing 2D10 damage to everyone around you.

Talents

Alchemical Dabbler

Requirements: Science 1

You can learn recipes for trifling and minor effects. Learn one of each.

Trained Alchemist

Requirements: Science 4

You can learn recipes for major effects. Learn a minor and a major effect.

Master Alchemist

Requirements: Science 6

Pick a minor and major effect. You may add them to concoctions as though you have included their prime reagent, even if you do not have it.

Effects

Trivial

Minor

Major

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