AWW: Being Human
Sep. 6th, 2013 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinHumans are not the Bland Everyfolk of the wilder world, they're the people that managed to become the most numerous and widespread inhabitants of a magical world despite being so aggressively non-magical that the average Human registers as a thaumatological void. That's actually part of their success... no one is better at overcoming magic or fighting wizards and other magical beings without magic of their own than Humans are.
Of course, even in a magical world most dangers don't come from spells, but Humans are tenacious, well-organized, and physiologically and psychologically surprisingly resilient.
* * *
HUMAN (Folk Quality)
Basic Abilities
[A] Human Heritage: You can take Human Folk Details as background details. Negative points of Magic don't count against the maximum amount of negative points you can take during character creation, and negative Magic does not subtract from Spell Checks using other attributes. If you have a negative Magic score, treat it as a positive bonus to any attempt you make to resist or throw off magic with another valid attribute. If your Magic score is not positive, you can roll twice for any such check.
[B] Human Tenacity: Increase your Maximum Fight Points by 2. Count your positive Toughness and Willpower as 50% higher the first time you add each of them to your Maximum Fight Points. Do not round off the result, but ignore any half point left over. It's just there in case you increase your Toughness or Willpower again and get another half point. If you are substituting another attribute for Toughness or Willpower, do not apply this increase to that attribute.
Standard Abilities
Just Flesh Wounds: Once per adventure at the start of a fight scene, halve your Wound Points for the purpose of figuring Maximum Fight Points. Add an additional use of this ability at level 3 and 5. From level 4, when you expend your final use of this of this ability in an adventure, you ignore all Wound Points.
Para Bellum: On the first round of a fight scene, add your level to your Perception and defense against surprise attacks, to your Stealth Check for any surprise attacks, and to the results of any attack you make. Also increase your walking speed and running speed by 1d for the first round.
Stand Together: When you and one ally close to you are attacking the same target during a round, you can both add a +1 bonus to your attack rolls against that target. Alternately, you and one ally close to you can both gain a +1 bonus to all Defense Checks against a single opponent during a round. You must decide how to apply this ability during the tactical phase, and a given character can only benefit from one person's use of this ability per round.
OPTION: Weak Wizardry When you make a Spell Check using an attribute other than Magic, add half your level to the check, but you can't make Spell Checks with Magic.
Advanced Abilities
Level 2 Null Magic: Add half your level to any check to resist Magic. By concentrating (a focused action), you can inflict a penalty to Magic Checks equal to your bonus from this ability either on one specific person within half your level distance, or all people. Only one such penalty can apply to a given person at a time; use the highest one. You can also add your level to the absolute value of your Magic (i.e., treat the number as positive even if it's negative) to counterspell or negate magic.
Level 4 Ego Shield: Subtract one die from the effect points of any mental attack made against you and add +1 to all your resistance defenses. This bonus increases by +1 at levels 5 and 6.
Level 6 Utter Conviction: You only lose one Fight Point for every two points of damage you take. If any damage is already being halved due to Physical Damage Resistance or some form of invulnerability, do not reduce that damage further.
* * *
Everything having to do with magic here is an example of the Lake Wobegon School of Game Design. Instead of saying "Humans make lousy wizards, -2 to Magic", they simply have an inducement to put negative points into Magic.
The "Weak Wizardry" option is somewhat misleadingly named, as few characters get a scaling bonus to Spell Checks that stacks with element bonuses. It's actually potentially quite powerful, especially if you manage to level up both your Human CQ and whatever CQ is letting you make Spell Checks.
It's meant to reflect the fact that Humans, being weak wizards, seek other paths to magic. A Human Illusionist who uses Deception but is limited to illusions or a Human Pyromancer who uses Fury but can't do anything but fire magic or a Human Scholar who uses Mind but can only cast from a grimoire both have an edge through this option. Because it's not limited to a single attribute, you could even make a character who is something like a Human Elementalist/Scholar... they'd be able to cast elemental spells on the fly using Willpower and use Mind for any spell that a full wizard could conceivaly cast, given enough time and their grimoire.
There's no rule that says you can't make a Human with a maxed out starting Magic of 6, and this character doesn't have to pay more attribute points or whatever for playing against type. Human wizards should be incredibly rare and will often be signs of some otherworldly heritage, but that statement is broadly true of all wizards.
The non-magical abilities are all based on the discussion that was going around about how terrifying humanity might seem to sapient species that aren't hyperevolved apex predators who practice endurance hunting. When we compare ourselves to imaginary Klingons and superpowered mutants and ogres and dwarves, we think of ourselves as being fragile beings of clay/sacks of meat, but if we use reality as our benchmark instead of imaginary incarnations of strength and endurance, we're pretty much the Klingons.
Of course, even in a magical world most dangers don't come from spells, but Humans are tenacious, well-organized, and physiologically and psychologically surprisingly resilient.
HUMAN (Folk Quality)
Basic Abilities
[A] Human Heritage: You can take Human Folk Details as background details. Negative points of Magic don't count against the maximum amount of negative points you can take during character creation, and negative Magic does not subtract from Spell Checks using other attributes. If you have a negative Magic score, treat it as a positive bonus to any attempt you make to resist or throw off magic with another valid attribute. If your Magic score is not positive, you can roll twice for any such check.
[B] Human Tenacity: Increase your Maximum Fight Points by 2. Count your positive Toughness and Willpower as 50% higher the first time you add each of them to your Maximum Fight Points. Do not round off the result, but ignore any half point left over. It's just there in case you increase your Toughness or Willpower again and get another half point. If you are substituting another attribute for Toughness or Willpower, do not apply this increase to that attribute.
Standard Abilities
Just Flesh Wounds: Once per adventure at the start of a fight scene, halve your Wound Points for the purpose of figuring Maximum Fight Points. Add an additional use of this ability at level 3 and 5. From level 4, when you expend your final use of this of this ability in an adventure, you ignore all Wound Points.
Para Bellum: On the first round of a fight scene, add your level to your Perception and defense against surprise attacks, to your Stealth Check for any surprise attacks, and to the results of any attack you make. Also increase your walking speed and running speed by 1d for the first round.
Stand Together: When you and one ally close to you are attacking the same target during a round, you can both add a +1 bonus to your attack rolls against that target. Alternately, you and one ally close to you can both gain a +1 bonus to all Defense Checks against a single opponent during a round. You must decide how to apply this ability during the tactical phase, and a given character can only benefit from one person's use of this ability per round.
OPTION: Weak Wizardry When you make a Spell Check using an attribute other than Magic, add half your level to the check, but you can't make Spell Checks with Magic.
Advanced Abilities
Level 2 Null Magic: Add half your level to any check to resist Magic. By concentrating (a focused action), you can inflict a penalty to Magic Checks equal to your bonus from this ability either on one specific person within half your level distance, or all people. Only one such penalty can apply to a given person at a time; use the highest one. You can also add your level to the absolute value of your Magic (i.e., treat the number as positive even if it's negative) to counterspell or negate magic.
Level 4 Ego Shield: Subtract one die from the effect points of any mental attack made against you and add +1 to all your resistance defenses. This bonus increases by +1 at levels 5 and 6.
Level 6 Utter Conviction: You only lose one Fight Point for every two points of damage you take. If any damage is already being halved due to Physical Damage Resistance or some form of invulnerability, do not reduce that damage further.
Everything having to do with magic here is an example of the Lake Wobegon School of Game Design. Instead of saying "Humans make lousy wizards, -2 to Magic", they simply have an inducement to put negative points into Magic.
The "Weak Wizardry" option is somewhat misleadingly named, as few characters get a scaling bonus to Spell Checks that stacks with element bonuses. It's actually potentially quite powerful, especially if you manage to level up both your Human CQ and whatever CQ is letting you make Spell Checks.
It's meant to reflect the fact that Humans, being weak wizards, seek other paths to magic. A Human Illusionist who uses Deception but is limited to illusions or a Human Pyromancer who uses Fury but can't do anything but fire magic or a Human Scholar who uses Mind but can only cast from a grimoire both have an edge through this option. Because it's not limited to a single attribute, you could even make a character who is something like a Human Elementalist/Scholar... they'd be able to cast elemental spells on the fly using Willpower and use Mind for any spell that a full wizard could conceivaly cast, given enough time and their grimoire.
There's no rule that says you can't make a Human with a maxed out starting Magic of 6, and this character doesn't have to pay more attribute points or whatever for playing against type. Human wizards should be incredibly rare and will often be signs of some otherworldly heritage, but that statement is broadly true of all wizards.
The non-magical abilities are all based on the discussion that was going around about how terrifying humanity might seem to sapient species that aren't hyperevolved apex predators who practice endurance hunting. When we compare ourselves to imaginary Klingons and superpowered mutants and ogres and dwarves, we think of ourselves as being fragile beings of clay/sacks of meat, but if we use reality as our benchmark instead of imaginary incarnations of strength and endurance, we're pretty much the Klingons.