FrivYeti/EnliKismet
Contents
ESSENCE
The world is constructed from Essence flows. With extensive training and practice, a character may gradually learn to perceive and shape these flows, enabling her to gain ever-growing mastery over Essence. Most people settle for having only instinctual understanding of their essence, never taking the time and effort required to expand on its capabilities.
Three groups in Creation do take this time. The first are Martial Artists. While the Student Forms can be taught to any with the patience to learn, advancing in the martial arts requires extensive spiritual dedication and training - reflected by ever-increasing Essence scores. To become a true master of a Martial Art, one must also truly master their own Essence. The second group are thaumaturges. Mystics gain great benefit from Essence, and must also increase their spiritual might to use the greatest arts of thaumaturgy. Finally, the mysterious Avatars, servants of the gods, draw their power from Essence. As their magic increases, they often increase their Essence to match.
Functionally, Essence works in much the same way as it does in Exalted Second Edition; characters may spend it on Principles, Protocols, or Charms. Because of this, only these three groups generally spend much time raising their Essence.
As a character's Essence raises, it fortifies their bodies and souls. Because of this, a character's aging rate is slowed so that they only age one year every (Essence / 2, rounding up) years. Every time Essence increases, the character's aging continues to slow, although characters do not regain lost years.
Essence Pools
A character's strength and balance of spirit determines her temporary Essence pools. A character's Essence pools may be spent to improve her focus, or to power her martial arts, bestowings, or thaumaturgical rituals.
All characters have an Essence pool equal to (Permanent Essence x5) + (Willpower x2) + (Sum of Virtues).
Characters recover Essence as time passes. For every hour spent resting, meditating, or similarly relaxing, a character regains 5 motes of Essence. For every hour spent active, they recover only 1 mote. Characters also regain Essence from successful stunts, as in Exalted Second Edition.
Spending Essence
The primary use of Essence is to power effects. However, any character may use her Essence to improve her actions, focusing her understanding of the world into improved actions.
Whenever characters make a roll involving an Ability, or use a static rating dervied from that ability, they may spend a number of motes equal to the lower of the Ability rating or their (Permanent Essence -1). Every mote spent adds one die to a roll or one point to a static rating (in the case of static ratings that are halved, such as DVs, apply the bonus BEFORE halving.) This Focus Effect is noticeable to anyone, manifesting as perfect reflexes, sudden insights, and perfectly chosen words. It clearly marks the user as a user of Essence.
KISMET
Most of the population of the world are slaves to Destiny. No matter what happens, they are dragged along its flows, unable to meaningfully change their lives or alter the future that is in store for them. Events conspire, and the world pushes onwards regardless of what the insects have to say. However, this is not true for everyone. Some people take action to change their world, and in doing so develop the power of heroism - Kismet. These people can alter fate, changing destiny through their actions and desires.
Kismet is not a force that is understood the way that Essence is. Beyond a vague recognition that some people are important to the Loom of Fate, one's rating in Kismet and the powers that associate with it can easily go unnoticed. Heroes can be easily confused with other people, unless they take action. Mechanically, most characters who are important to the story should have a Kismet score, reflecting their drive and importance.
Kismet Pool
A character's Permanent Kismet helps to determine her Kismet pool, along with her strength of virtue. A character's Kismet Pool can be spent to alter destiny, changing events to suit her. This expenditure is controlled by the player, not the character, and reflects the way in which events tend to support a user of Kismet.
A character's Temporary Kismet pool is equal to (Permanent Kismet x2) + (Highest Virtue).
At the end of each game session, characters recover a single point of temporary Kismet. In addition, at the end of a story, characters recover all temporary Kismet. In addition, when characters perform a successful 2-die or 3-die stunt, they may choose to regain a point of Kismet. This is instead of the mote or Willpower recovery options.
Spending Kismet
Kismet can be spent at any time, in order to change the way that events occur. No character may spend more than double their Permanent Kismet in points in a given scene on fate alterations (note that this does not apply to spending Kismet to power certain Knacks). The following changes can be made:
1 Kismet Point: Trivial Effect. The character may spend the Kismet to have something occur that makes life a bit more convienient - perhaps an old friend happens to have moved into the town she is visiting and will give her a place to stay, or the bartender serves his best food in an effort to impress. This will not have an actual effect on rolls, but will make life easier on the character.
2 Kismet Points: Extension. The character spends the Kismet to modify something minor that has already occured. Instead of finding a bow and one arrow, the character finds a full quiver. The guard the character is trying to sneak past happens to be fairly friendly. This expenditure can provide a minor benefit or obviate the need for a minor roll.
3 Kismet Points: Minor Effect. This effect can reduce external penalties due to situation by 1, covering all rolls for a small time period. For example, perhaps a character happened to have passed through town before; many townsfolk know him and their usual suspicion of outsiders does not apply. Alternately, perhaps the character 'remembered' to bring along certain thaumaturgical supplies to make treating this particular poison much easier.
4 Kismet Points: Moderate Effect. This functions as above, but removes all external penalties. The character happens to be carrying a perfect snakebite venom. The character actually grew up in this town, and is well-liked by the populace. The character trained as a youth with double-bladed sais.
5 Kismet Points: Major Effect. This generally completely bypasses the need for a relatively important roll. The guard that the characters have to slip past is a member of the rebellion against the king. Someone left the door at the base of the tower unlocked by mistake.
+2 Kismet Points: The character may spend two extra Kismet on any of the above rolls for the modifications to occur after the event occurs. For a moment, it looks like the character has failed, but events turn out to be favouring her after all! The extra must be spent immediately after results are known.
ESSENCE AND KISMET BONUSES
The powers of Essence and Kismet work to keep characters alive, either through reinforcing themselves or through the vagaries of chance. Either way, as their Traits rise, they gain new benefits. When consulting the following table, use the character's Power Trait.
(Trait) 1: Characters resist poison and disease as Exalts do.
(Trait) 2: Characters heal at twice the rate that mortals do.
(Trait) 3: Characters gain lethal soak equal to half their Stamina.
(Trait) 4: Characters now heal as Exalts do.
(Trait) 5: Characters now soak lethal damage with their full Stamina, as well as soaking aggrvated damage with half Stamina (round down).
(Trait) 6: Characters may now raise their Attributes and Favoured Abilities to 6.
In addition, characters add their Power Trait to their base pool when calculating Dodge DVs.
