Surge Destiny Fate Tilt Luck and Stress

SURGE

Heroes are sometimes called upon to perform feats beyond even their amazing abilities, known as a Surge. Players can use Surge to improve a hero’s abilities in exchange for the hero suffering some fatigue. The benefits of using Surge are not limited by power level due to their extraordinary nature.

USING SURGE

Players can have their heroes use a Surge simply by declaring they are doing so. Using a Surge is a Reaction and can be performed at any time, but is limited to once per turn. A hero using a Surge gains one of the following benefits:

ADDITIONAL ACTION
Gain an additional standard action during your turn, which can be exchanged for a move, quick, or free action, as usual.

ALTERNATE EFFECT
Temporarily gain and use an Alternate Effect. The Alternate Effect lasts until the end of the Encounter.

BOOST
Increase one of your hero’s Traits by +1 rank until the end of the hero’s next turn.

BURST
Negate Disadvantages or opponents Advantages until the end of the Hero’s next turn.

EDGE
Temporarily gain a Rank of an Edge until the end of the Encounter.

COUNTER
You can attempt to Counter an Effect used against you as part of this Reaction, or instead use an Avert or Deflect effect.

RESISTANCE
Gain an immediate additional check against an ongoing effect. If you’re compelled or controlled, the fatigue from Surge doesn’t affect you until you’re free of the effect; this is so you can’t resist yourself to exhaustion as a way of avoiding being controlled!

RETRY
Certain effects or checks require a Surge to retry after a certain degree of failure. The Surge merely permits another attempt to use the effect; it grants no other benefits.

COST OF SURGE

At the start of the turn immediately after using a Surge, the hero becomes fatigued. A fatigued hero who uses a Surge becomes exhausted and an exhausted hero who uses a Surge is incapacitated. If you spend Destiny before the start of the turn following the Surge to remove the fatigue (preemptive Recover), the hero suffers no adverse effects. In essence, spending Destiny lets you use a Surge without suffering fatigue. A hero who has immunity to Fatigue effects still suffers Fatigue from using a Surge.

DESTINY

Whether it’s luck, talent, or sheer determination, heroes have something setting them apart from everyone else, allowing them to perform amazing feats under the most difficult circumstances. In this game that “something” is Destiny. Spending Destiny can make the difference between success and failure in the game.

Destiny allow players to “edit” the plot of the adventure and the rules of the game to a degree. They give heroes the ability to do the amazing things heroes do in the stories, but with certain limits, and they encourage players to make the sort of choices heroes do in the stories, in order to get more Destiny.

There are two types of Destiny. Positive die called Triumph, and negative die called Tragedy. Players start each game session with 1 Triumph and 1 Tragedy. In addition each player and the Game Master roll 1 Triumph and 1 Tragedy, these die form the Destiny Pool.

During the adventure the Heroes will get opportunities to earn more Destiny from this Destiny Pool. When a player earns Destiny, Triumph or Tragedy, from the Destiny pool they gain the benefit of using Destiny at the value shown immediately, and then gets to keep the die to use later, handing them over to the Gamemaster when they spend them. The Game Master keeps any Tragedy to be used against the players later, before discarding them.

Any unspent Destiny carry over to the next session, however held Destiny counts as Stress until used. Since Destiny are a finite resource, players need to manage them carefully, spending them at the most opportune times and taking chances to earn them through complications or heroic or villainous actions. Playing it “safe” tends to eliminate chances of getting more Destiny while taking risks, facing complications, and, in general, acting like a hero, or even a villain, offers rewards that help them out later on.

USING DESTINY

Unless otherwise noted, spending Destiny is a free action, taking no time, and you can spend as much Destiny as you have, at any time. You can spend Destiny for any of the following:

COUP
You can spend Destiny to increase the Degree of success on a successful check, determined by the number rolled on the die used (half the number, rounded up, for determining Degrees of Success.

EDIT SCENE
You can spend Destiny to “edit” a scene to benefit your hero, influence how the GM spends Treasure Points, or grant him ranks of Advantage by adding or changing certain details. How much players are allowed to “edit” circumstances is determined by the number rolled on the die used (half the number, rounded up, for determining ranks of Advantage), but generally edit scene should not be allowed to change any event that has already occurred or any detail already explained in game. The GM may also veto uses of editing that ruin the adventure or make things too easy on the players.

IMPROVE ROLL
You can spend Destiny to gain a bonus equal to the number rolled on a failed check or to boost a successful check (Though you might want to use the Coup use instead). You cannot spend Destiny on die rolls made by the GM or other players without the Luck Control effect (see Powers).

INSPIRATION
You can spend Destiny to get sudden inspiration in the form of a hint, clue, or bit of help from the GM. How much help the players get from inspiration is determined by the number rolled on the die, but how it manifests is determined by the GM.

RECOVER
You can spend Destiny to immediately use the Recover action without taking an action, but it does still add Stress. Among other things, this option allows you to use a Surge (previously) without suffering any fatigue. If unconscious, or unable to take free actions for some other reason, you can still spend Destiny to attempt to use the Recover action, but must roll a 6 on the die. If you roll 5 or less the die is wasted and discarded. If Dying and you roll a 1, it counts as a failed death save.

STUNT
You can spend Destiny to immediately add a Stunt to a successful Attack.

EARNING DESTINY

In stories, heroes often confront the villain(s) and deal with various setbacks. Perhaps the villain defeats or outwits them in the first couple of meetings. Maybe one or more of the heroes have to overcome a personal problem. The villain may have a secret the heroes need to discover, and so forth. By the end of the story, the heroes have overcome these challenges and they’re ready to take on the villain. This game reflects this kind of story structure through the awarding of Destiny. The heroes gain additional Destiny from the Destiny Pool as an adventure progresses. When the going gets tough, the heroes get tougher, because they get Destiny to help them overcome future challenges. Heroes get Destiny from complications, acts of heroism or villainy, and roleplaying. See Complications, for details.

FATE

In the world of heroes not every victory or defeat is as complete as they may seem. In this game that uncertainty is achieved thru Fate. Fate can make a failure open up a later opportunity, or a success lead to unforeseen difficulties.

Fate allow players to “edit” the plot of the adventure and the rules of the game to a degree just like Destiny. The primary difference between the two is how long they last, how they are earned, and who can spend them.

There are two types of Fate. Positive stones called Triumph, and negative stones called Tragedy, just like Destiny. Unlike Destiny, the game does not start with a Fate Pool, nor are they earned through heroic or villainous deeds. Fate is instead earned purely through luck, and the Fate Pool only lasts for that encounter.

During an encounter, Fate is earned based on the results of any Advantage and Disadvantage die. Whenever the above dice are rolled add the actual result of all Advantage die together. If the total is 5 or higher gain Triumph stones per degree above 5. Next add the actual result of all Disadvantage die together. If the total is 5 or higher gain Tragedy stones per degree above 5. Reverse the results for forces opposing the heroes, switching Triumph for Tragedy.

A Hero can use any number of Triumph stones, either as they are earned or from the Fate Pool at any time just as if it were Destiny, with the number of stones used representing the number rolled. However, once Triumph has been used in a Turn, no more Triumph can be earned until the next turn.

Forces opposing the Heroes can use any number of Tragedy stones, either as they are earned or from the Fate Pool at any time just as if it were Destiny, with the number of stones used representing the number rolled. However, once Tragedy has been used in a Turn, no more Tragedy can be earned until the next turn.

Any unspent Fate does not carry over after the Encounter. Instead the DM sees which pool of Fate stones is higher, the Triumph or the Tragedy pool. If the Triumph pool is larger, then the encounter could lead to some other beneficial result for the Heroes. However, if the Tragedy pool is higher, then the encounter will have some sort of beneficial result for the forces opposing the Heroes instead.

TILT

Sometimes life just doesn’t go as expected, and things go sideways. In this game, that’s called the Tilt. Whenever the last die in the Destiny pool’s is awarded the Tilt is triggered. Each player, and the GM, roll all the Destiny die currently in their possession subtracting the Tragedy from the Triumph. Whoever has the highest Triumph will have something relatively positive happen to them, while whoever has the lowest Tragedy will have something negative happen to them.

The player’s and GM then get to vote for an outcome on one of the Tilt tables using the results from the previous roll, first picking a category for both the highest Triumph and lowest Tragedy, then an Element from each of the selected categories. Each player gets one vote per each category and element from the numbers showing on his die so long as he has die remaining. Only Triumph can be used to make selections on the Soft Tilt table, while both can be used on the Hard Tilt table. Whatever selections have the most votes are the winners. The Tilt is sort of like a more chaotic Complication or Hubris, and represents the everyday chaos present in the world opposing the forces of Fate and Destiny.

LUCK

Sometimes a Hero misses, or he’s just really lucky or unlucky at a particular task. In this game that is represented by certain Edges or Powers that instruct a player to roll a Fortune or Misfortune die. The Fortune die is an additional d20 you will roll for a check (though sometimes after). If the result of this die is 10 or lower, you add 10 to the result though, using the result of whichever die is higher. The Misfortune die is also an additional d20 you will roll for a check (though sometimes after). If the result of this die is 11 or higher though, you subtract 10 to the result instead, using the result of whichever die is lower. It is possible to have roll both in addition to a normal d20. In these instances use which ever of the three rolls falls in the middle. However, you can only roll the Fortune or Misfortune die once per check.

STRESS

Even heroes have their limits, known as Stress. Stress represents the limits a hero can go through before their body and spirit starts to give out. Any time a hero is healed or uses the Recover action, they add Stress (Supernatural healers can choose to add the Stress to themselves instead though). Once a hero has gained 10 Stress stones, they can no longer benefit from healing or the Recover action, but can still heal naturally with rest. Also, any Destiny die held by the player counts towards their Stress limit.

Heroes can remove a number of Stress stones after a Long Rest equal to their tier level per hour of rest. This recovery time can vary if Wounded, Shaken, Bloodied, or Broken.

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