Ideals & Regard

← Anatomy of an Action ✧ Space & Positions →

Your ideals drive your hero to succeed when their actions would otherwise fail. They also interact with how other characters regard your hero.

Invoking Ideals

If an action roll result is not to your liking, you can push yourself by invoking your ideals, potentially turning failure into a success. With the proper invocation, you may be able to succeed on an action that would be impossible with your action dice. The eight ideals are briefly defined here:

The Invocation

Your invocation must be tied to a particular action. You should wait to invoke until after you roll, since the invocation would be wasted on a success. To invoke an ideal:

Take -1 spirit and tell the Guide what your character says or does in the situation in the name of your ideal(s).
The Guide awards you an ideal die. The size of the die ranges from a d6 to a d20, based on how fitting and dramatic your invocation is.
Roll the die alongside your normal action die, and use the higher result for the action.

You can only invoke your ideals once per action. If you still fail—too bad!

Embody Your Ideals

This is your chance to roleplay and show how your hero embodies their deepest values. But you have to sell it to the Guide! Here’s how a Guide might award ideal dice to a hero attacking various foes in the name of Justice: d6: A hapless commoner. “Sorry buddy, you’re in the way.” d8: A big monster. “Um, I attack the monster … for great justice?”d10: A greedy mercenary. “You line your pockets by preying on the weak—prepare to pay back what you owe!” d12: An imperial panjandrum. “For years you’ve oppressed this island, enslaving its people, grinding them to dust. Mine is the sword of justice that shall mark the end of your reign in blood.”d20: A six-fingered man. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”A d8 ideal die should be the baseline. Only the most ignoble or ridiculous invocations should get a d6 ideal die—for example, invoking Truth when you Deceive someone, or Glory when you Rush to flee a battle. Likewise, only the most climactic invocations should win the mighty d20.

Keep it moving. Don’t chew the scenery for too long with your invocation; keep it to a sentence or two. Likewise, when the Guide determines the size of your ideal die, accept their snap judgment call and roll with it!

Regard

Regard defines your social relationship with other characters. There are three “notches” on the regard scale: friendly, wary, and hostile.Your actions can change a character’s regard, as determined by the Guide. When you Deceive a character and fail, the character will probably lose regard for you. Aiding a character in a way that aligns with their ideals might make them think more highly of you.

Friendly

Friendly characters are trusting and hospitable. If you’ve taken a risk or made a sacrifice to help a character or community, they’re probably friendly.

Wary

Wary characters are skeptical and guarded. Most people in the troubled Skysea are wary by default. Persuading a wary character has a –2 penalty, unless you invoke an ideal they share.

Hostile

Hostile characters regard you as their enemy and may try to waylay, capture, or kill you. Hungry monsters, people who believe their civilization is at war with yours, and characters you’ve fought—or are currently fighting— are probably hostile. Persuading a hostile character is normally impossible, unless you invoke an ideal they share, in which case you can Persuade them with a –2 penalty.

← Anatomy of an Action ✧ Space & Positions →

Google Sites

Report abuse