Callings
༄ 𐤊𐤟𐤁𐤋 𐤟 𐤔𐤕𐤅 𐤟 𐤔𐤌𐤌 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤌 𐤟 𐤔𐤌𐤕 ༄
Champion ༄ Wanderer ༄ Mastermind ༄ Messenger ༄ Sorcerer ༄ Arbiter
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A Shinarian awakens to his calling as a Messenger.
Illustration by Sansiia
Who do you wish to be?
Your calling is who you are and aspire to be—a career, a way of life, a solemn duty, or an all-consuming interest. Each calling grants a powerful starting ability or pair of abilities, summarized here and detailed in the following pages. Your calling’s starting abilities are likely the most powerful and expressive in your hero’s arsenal, so use them well! The six callings are detailed in the following pages. They’re listed in order from simplest to most complex to play: Champion, Wanderer, Mastermind, Messenger, Sorcerer, Arbiter. Who do you wish to be?
Calling Options
Calling Options
Key attributes: Spirit, Strength
Mighty warriors and masters of melee combat, Champions can strike a ✪Mighty Blow or shrug off foes’ blows as if they were ✪Only a Scratch!Key attributes: Awareness, Grace
Wary travelers who are adept at absorbing lore from other cultures, Wanderers avoid danger like a ✪Leaf on the Wind and can tell stories of how ✪I Know This Place.Key attribute: Awareness
Clever strategists and quick learners, Masterminds hold ✪Stratagems in their minds, waiting to spring them on adversaries when the time is right.Key attributes: Spirit, Strength
Mystics or prophets magically attuned to the Skysea’s weather and the flow of the Rephaim, Messengers can ✪Call Wind to their command.Key attributes: Spirit, Awareness
Savants of the High Magic that powers Mazrian civilization, Sorcerers ✪Gather Fate or ✪Gather Light and wield the physical forces of gravity or electromagnetism.Key attributes: Spirit, Awareness
Adepts of the so-called Deep Magic that once pervaded the lost kingdom of Shinar, Arbiters can ✪Soulgaze and lay bare other characters’ ideals and intentions.Calling Details
After choosing your calling:Calling Details
- Note your calling’s starting ✪ability or abilities. (Sorcerers and Arbiters have multiple options for starting abilities.)
- Note the calling’s key attributes that power their abilities.
For example, the Champion’s starting abilities—Mighty Blow and Only a Scratch—use the strength and spirit attributes. So if you play a Champion, you may want to prioritize one or both of these attributes in Step 6 of Hero Creation when you finalize your stats. You don’t have to, though. Finally, your calling—along with your origin—determines what kinds of lore are available to you in Step 4.
Calling Inspirations
Calling Inspirations
The six callings fall into two categories: mundane (Champion, Wanderer, Mastermind) and magical (Messenger, Sorcerer, Arbiter). If you’re having trouble choosing or conceptualizing a calling, consider these inspirations.
Champions are inspired by the warriors of the historical Bronze Age. They are mortal fighters—not demigods like Hercules or Gilgamesh—of great skill and determination. The one-on-one battle between Achilles and Hector in the 2004 movie Troy is a great depiction of this archetype.
Wanderers serve as a flexible calling that encourages customization. Key to their concept is their stories. This isn’t quite Bard-magic from Dungeons & Dragons, but rather a chance for the hero-player to share the reigns of the adventure with the Guide (to the heroes’ advantage).
Masterminds are inspired by clever heroes like Odysseus or the famous Phoenician general Hannibal, though they don’t have to be good fighters. Their Stratagems are inspired by the “flashback” gameplay from Blades in the Dark, which was in turn inspired by countless heist movies and TV shows.
Messengers are mystics who control the wind and weather, and can learn to control other elements like fire and storms, as well as the magic of names. The elemental magic in Avatar: The Last Airbender is their biggest inspiration, while the name-magic is inspired by Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea.
Sorcerers wield the fundamental forces of gravity and light. Think of the tactile, physics-based gameplay in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The light magic spell Blue Spear is meant to look and function exactly like the Guardian lasers from Breath of the Wild. More bizarre Sorcerer magic is influenced by the quantum many-worlds ideas in Neal Stephenson’s Anathem.
Arbiters can literally see souls—an idea taken from the “Dust” in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Arbiter magic plays off of the game’s eight ideals, and (unlike Pullman’s benign mulefa creatures who can see consciousness), there’s a dark pull to it—a risk of corruption if you take the magic too far.
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