Birthrights

The gifts of the Gods are many and varied. When the Visitation occurs, many Gods grant their children
Birthrights, powerful tokens of their esteem that become tied to the Scion’s Legend.

Birthrights for Heroes come in four forms: Creatures,
Followers, Guides, and Relics. Demigods and Gods have access to more rarefed Birthrights in the form of mythic associations and personal Terra Incognita.

## **Creatures**

Several of the most prominent Gods and pantheons in all of myth have been aided by Legendary creatures. With the Creature Birthright, the Scion has been given an extension of their pantheon’s inﬂuence over this creature type or they may have developed their own unique afinity. The creature can be mundane in nature, such as Odin’s ravens or one of Bast’s many cats she calls her children, but others may call upon mythological creatures like basilisks, dream-eating baku, or even a dragon they can mount into battle.
Whether the creature possesses human-level intelligence or not should be a discussion between the player and Storyguide, depending on how much this choice will impact the story. Legends tell of many mythic beasts having said intelligence, like a sphinx or a dragon, while others not so much, such as Odin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Some creatures even skirt the line, like unicorns who have intelligence in some myths and don’t in others.

If the creature is too intelligent, however, it may fall better under the Followers Birthright instead.
The connection between Scion and creature is a mythic one, making them companions. The creature is assumed to be loyal to the Scion for most purposes; their Fates are tied together, after all. Creatures will fight to the
death for their Scion, though not if they don’t also feel the Scion would do the same for them. Creatures aren’t any more prone to suicidal missions than anyone else, and their lives (or deaths) should reﬂect a caliber of heroism similar to the character. Communication with the creature is not assumed unless the Scion has a Purview or Knack that allows for such. Creatures assumed to be trained in number of tricks or commands equal to their Creature dots, thus reﬂecting a stronger connection with higher number of dots, though fully intelligent creatures can be negotiated with normally.
Players should remember that their creature becomes another character in the story. Charging a cadre of titanspawn with a ﬂaming sword is one thing, but if the Scion’s also mounted upon a nightmare steed blazing a trail of broken dreams behind them, that’s going to be quite the signature Deed. Enemies and allies can target the creature with any number of divine eﬀects, and the creature seldom enjoys any resistance.

### **Building The Creature**

Creatures are built very easily depending on the number of Birthright points allocated to the specific creature. Each dot will determine the size and rarity of the creature, its dice pool and how many abilities it can have. The general rule is the bigger and rarer the creature, the more dots needed.

Also creatures have a dice pool equal to (their rating x 3) and for each power/special ability they have cost two of their dice. Their base defense and health is equal to dots.

**Example:** A wolf would be around **2** dots, giving it a dice pool of 6. If the wolf is given a special ability or power, its dice pool is reduced by 2, resulting in a dice pool of 4. The same wolf would also have a defense and health of 2

Crows, rats, vultures, insects, snake, etc
 2
Tiger, crocodiles, wolves, birds of prey, serpopard, nature spirits
 3
Hellhound, Golem, Nightmare steed, Pegasus
 4
Manticore, Chinese guardian lion, anka
 5

### **Creature Template**

**Base Primary Pool**: Equal to the Creatures (Dots x 3) – (Qualities x2)
**Base Secondary Pool:** Equal to (Primary pool – 2)
**Desperation Pool**: Equal to (Primary Pool – 4)
**Base Health**: Equal to Dots
**Base Defense**: Equal to Dots
**Base Initiative**: Equal to the Character’s Secondary Pool

**Example: Wolf**
**Base Primary Pool**: **6** ( - 2 for each Quality/Power/Super Ability)
**Base Secondary Pool: 4**
**Desperation Pool**: **2
Base Health**: 2
**Base Defense**: 2
**Base Initiative**: 4

## **Followers**

Hercules and Aeolus. Fionn mac Cumhail and the Fianna. Xuanzang and his compatriots, Pigsy and the Sand Monk. Heroes often fnd themselves with loyal companions, bands of warriors, and students drawn to their glory. Though they are not the protagonists of the tale, their roles are no less ordained by Fate, and though they rarely strike the fatal blow against the monster, their assistance often paves the Hero’s way to victory.

The Followers Birthright reﬂects the forces Scions have arrayed behind them, whether inherited from their
pantheon or forged by their own wit and skill. In either case, the Followers can come from almost any background
that fits with the Scion’s concept: zombies, hoplites, amazon warriors, or even faerie knights. Followers are assumed to be loyal to the Scion, either because a greater deity has commanded their service or because the Scion has earned obeisance own loyalty and leadership. Followers are often, but not always sentient beings; if their loyalty
is mistreated, they might eventually wise up and abandon the malevolent Scion.

Followers can take many forms, from a remarkably loyal manservant to an entourage of ﬂunkies. They can be mortal, but they’re more often creatures of Legend, or at least touched by Fate. A Hero’s Labrador retriever probably isn’t a Follower, unless it’s a Cu Sith in disguise. A high-school quarterback Scion of Ullr might have his teammates as Followers, but it’s likely that at least a few are Alfar in disguise. Whatever their nature, Followers are Storyguide
characters, but they don’t make rolls or act on their own. Instead, they grant their Hero additional options, and
function as a sort of living equipment.

### **Creating Followers**

First, describe your Follower in a short phrase. This works a lot like a Path, in that it gives your followers the ability to do things that fit with their description: A ﬂock of ravens can ﬂy, peck, and croak ominously, a shieldmaiden can fight by your side, and so on. Followers can use equipment if it makes sense for their description, and start with whatever fits their nature. (e.g. berserkers have swords, axes, and probably armor, Alfar club kids have ﬂash clothes and designer drugs, etc.)

Followers start with one of the following archetypes, which determines what Arena they can act in:
• **Heavy**: Physical
• **Entourage**: Social
• **Consultant**: Mental
In addition, Followers have one tag per dot. Followers can take one Bruised and one Maimed Injury Condition
before being Taken Out. Their Defense is equal to half their dot rating rounded up.

### **Follower Tags**

Much like tags on weapons or armor, Follower tags describe the important elements that distinguish one Follower from another. Some have specifc mechanical effects, while others serve as cues for the Storyguide to create Complications and Consolations.

If a tag says it requires another tag, the Follower must have the requisite tag. If a tag says it replaces another tag, you still have to buy the requisite tag, but the new one supersedes it.

### **Using Followers**

When you command a Follower to do something, the dice pool is one of your Attributes + the higher of the Follower’s rating or your Leadership. Commanding your followers is a Simple action, but you can take a mixed action to act yourself while commanding them. Followers don’t get a spot in the initiative roster and don’t act independently — they always act on your turn, and their action always takes up your turn. If you’re Taken Out, your followers can keep acting on your turn, but their dice pool becomes your Attribute + their rating.

If you’re present in the scene and you or your Followers suﬀer an Injury Condition, you can decide whether the Condition aﬀects you or your Follower.

Followers that are Taken Out typically return to form at the beginning of the next session. If being Taken Out means they’re permanently removed from play, you can reassign any dots in Followers to other Birthrights (including new Followers, if you want).

## **Guides**

The Gods are by necessity distant parental figures, watching their Scions’ deeds and struggles from the
Overworld except when circumstances demand an Incarnation’s intervention. Even then, such circumstances are usually too dire to include a few hours of quality time and advice over beers. Scions rely on other mentors in the day-to-day quest to fnd their destinies and learn a few tricks their parents never knew.

Guides can be Godly Incarnations, usually when another God has a particular fascination or liking for
the character, or when Fate has insisted she play the role. They can be Legendary creatures like kitsune and
dwarves, Titans and titanspawn, or arcane fgures like oracles and witches. They can be other Scions with more
or specialized experience, willing to play the part of older sibling for a time. Guides are usually characters, but they
can be even stranger things: spirits of the dead, disembodied souls, sapient relics, the touch of prophetic dreams or
visions, or even half-remembered hints and legacies left by the fngerprints of past lives.

The dot value of a guide is an indicator of its overall usefulness to the character, though that doesn’t necessarily translate into raw power. A guide with a low rating could be a mortal prophet, or it could be a potent imprisoned Titan who just can’t — or won’t — get much help to the Scion very often.

### **Benefits**

A guide is both a character and a resource. The Storyguide may or may not give a guide real character
traits, depending on whether he expects it to play a more active role in the story. Either way, a guide functions similarly to the way a Path does, granting an array of related benefts as the result of the Scion having earned or inherited its help. The player can invoke a guide like a Path, and can push its benefts to even greater limits in exchange for a Condition that makes the guide unavailable until it’s resolved.

The Path Condition for invoking a guide more than once is Paying Tribute. The Scion may also call upon his guide for a deus ex machina once per arc. Only one deus ex machina may be in eﬀect at a time. Whether by literal divine intervention, occult ritual, the fulfllment of a dire prophecy, or some other method within the guide’s power, the Scion gains the following for the rest of the scene:

He acts in all ways as though he were one Tier higher than he is, and may use one boon he doesn’t know in a Purview to which he has access. In exchange, at the end of the scene, he gains the Tempted Fate Condition.

Guides have the following default benefits:

* **Asset Skills** **and Stunt** - An Asset Skill is a skill the guide has that grants them a special stunt ability to help modify rolls. After assigning which skill you want to add to the guide, you and the DM come up with a stunt that the guide can perform to give you an effect so long as it has a connection to the skill. Any rolls required for the stunt uses the Assest Skills that were assigned. **1-dot** guides get 1 skill while **2-dot** guides get 2 skills.
* **General Benefit and Invocation -**  Guides can grant access to equipment, locations, allies, contacts, and
narrative editing the same way Paths do, using the same guidelines for what requires invocation and
what doesn’t. Narrative editing usually takes the form of the guide showing up or pulling strings to help the Scion out

For every dot above 2, a guide can grant one of the following benefits:

* **Purviews -** You can gain access to a Purview you do not have by giving the Purview to your Guide. So long as you still have your guide's favor, you can learn/use boons and marvels of that Purview. However, you can never learn a Pantheon Purview thru this method
* **Callings -** You can learn Knacks from your guide's calling

## **Relics**

Second only to the names of great Heroes in the eyes of Legend are the names of their Relics, the tools of
their divinity. Entire arcs can hinge on the search — or war — for a single piece of the Gods’ panoply. The name
Excalibur excites as much fervor as the name of the Scion who wielded it, and Relics from that famous sword to the
Golden Fleece to the Stone of Fál have been used to claim worldly power as well as divine. A Relic can represent a
Scion’s inheritance, but it can also set her apart. It’s an obvious visible symbol of her growing Legend, one the World
learns to associate inextricably with her. More practically, it grants her access to powers beyond those she earns from her parent pantheon. Thus, Relics are how a Scion forges her own unique identity as a ﬂedgling God, mixing and matching power and theme to craft her personal divinity.

### **Anatomy of a Relic**

This is what makes up a relic. Be advised that a Relic can be an ancient artifact like an amulet, a classical or mythic item such as Mjolnir, or even a more modern, new creation such as a gun or tablet

* **Rating -** How powerful is the relic, determined by how many points are assigned to the Relic.
* **Deed** - Upon acquiring the relic, associate a deed with it, usually however you got it. Get +1 Social enhancement when interacting with someone who knows about that deed
* **Purview -** Any purview(s) that the relic grants the Scion
* **Motif** - Short phrase that determines the scope of the marvels and powers that the Scion can perform using the Relic. Example: Mjolnir has motif of "The Flash and Fury of a Thunderstorm" so it can be used for flashy and forceful Sky marvels, but cannot be used to call up a gentle breeze or cause the sun to shine.
* **Enhancement -** Any bonuses the relic grants
* **Knacks** - Any unique knacks the Relic provides
* **Flaws -** Flaws added to a Relic in exchange for more rating dots

### **Designing a Relic**

* **Enhancement** - Add a situational +1 Enhancement for **1 dot;** Add a general +1 Enhancement for **2 dots.** Can stack - Caps at +3 for general/+4 for situational
* **Purviews and Motifs** - Can add a Purview to your relic. Costs 2 rating dots for 1 Purview, or 1 rating dot and a Flaw for 1 Purview. Cannot have more than 3 Purviews. Must add a Motif if a Relic gains a Purview
* **Weapon and Armor** - Start with the standard tags for a mundane weapon or armor. For each rating point added, add one additional tag. You can also remove a negative tag, like Loud, by adding rating dots equal to the negative tag's point value.
* **Other Effect** - Add custom Knacks or effects outside the norm. This is one where you'd discuss with the GM what you want your relic to do and they'll let you know Point Cost
* **Flaw** - Adding a Flaw to a Relic decreases its dot rating based on the Flaw so that it can exceed the five dots' worth of effects and tags