The magic of storms is the magic of Thunderbird and it is granted to all who serve him. These rules describe the various powers that are available and how they work.
Purchasing
All powers cost 2XP per dot, like a merit. They can only be purchased using special Essence XP, which is handed out after every story alongside regular XP.
| Dots | XP |
|---|---|
| ● | 2 |
| ●● | 6 |
| ●●● | 12 |
| ●●●● | 20 |
| ●●●●● | 30 |
Everyone who works for Thunderbird can ask him for help now and then. This help is fairly freeform, but limited. When asking for help, the player can either concentrate on the kind of help they would like, or leave the choice up to Thunderbird. Then, they spend one point of willpower to contact Thunderbird. There is usually some kind of roll required which varies based on the kind of help being rendered.
Action: Varies
Roll: Varies
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Your magic backfires and instead of helping, it gets in the way. Exactly what this means depends on the sort of help that was requested.
Failure: No help is forthcoming.
Success: Some magic comes to your aid. What it does may or may not have anything to do with what you asked for.
Exceptional Success: Thunderbird puts some extra juice into the magic you’re using. The effect may last longer, be more potent, or be upgraded some other way.
You’ve all been able to communicate with Wakinyan for a while, and now that link has grown. The group is able to communicate with each other – and Ken – silently, speaking over a mental phone line. This takes the same amount of time as vocalizing out loud and leaves you looking a bit weird to bystanders.
A wisp of electricity snakes from you to your victim and shocks them like a dry winter’s door handle. When used for anything besides a prank, this ability must be powered with an aspect. This power is available even without the Spirit Pact.
Prerequisite: None
Cost: None or 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Action
Roll: Dexterity + Brawl
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: You miss your target so badly that you shock yourself instead.
Failure: You miss your target and nothing happens.
Success: You touch, or almost touch, your target, delivering a tiny zap! of electricity.
Exceptional Success: You deliver enough of a shock to deal 1 point of Bashing damage.
As servants of Wakinyan, you are immune to most of the normal hazards of the weather. Although you still get wet, your phone and other electronics are not damaged; your clothes don’t grow mildew; and you won’t get hypothermia except from the worst blizzard.
All the player characters have this ability, including those outside of the Spirit Pact.
The Spirit Pact creates a more powerful bond with Thunderbird. It is necessary in order to access any magics beyond his little gifts. Making the pact means binding yourself more tightly to Thunderbird and bringing the existing bond inside yourself.
Once the pact is sworn, a character is able to harness a bit of their connection to Ken on their own, without asking for his help. To do this, the player invokes one of their aspects and describes the kind of effect they want. A roll might still be needed, but it’s less likely with this use of power. The magical effect is very limited in scope and power, but fairly flexible otherwise.
Upon taking the Spirit Pact, characters get the Imposing Presence power for free along with a suite of Passive Abilities
Whenever an aspect is invoked, it comes to the forefront of the character and should influence the roleplay decisions the player makes. It remains “in use” until the next scene by default. However, whenever the player spends Willpower, any in-use aspects are refreshed and become available to use again, even if it’s still the same scene. It’s generally fine to use aspects and a willpower at the same time. When doing so, the aspects are always used first, and the willpower used second.
These abilities are always in effect. They are granted for free to all characters who have sworn the Spirit Pact.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
You have learned to draw strength from your successes, allowing you to persevere despite all odds. Whenever you roll an exceptional success, you can choose to forego that result and instead regain 1 point of Willpower. If you do, your roll is reduced to a flat 4 successes.
This ability can be used to exceptional successes scored on all active rolls and some passive roles, like resisting a magical effect. Some rolls, like passive perception checks, are never eligible for Inner Light.
GM’s note: The details of this power are likely to change over time, especially which rolls are affected.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Ken can’t do much to heal damage, but he can speed it up a little for certain wounds. Lethal damage heals at a rate of one point per day, instead of one point per two days. The rate of healing for Bashing and Aggravated damage is unchanged.
In addition, Ken can change the appearance of scars, if asked. So far, he’s made some small scars look like they were created by lightning burning through wood.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
You’ve learned from Thunderbird that storms can be used to travel great distances. Now, you can use those storms yourself. Even when not on assignment, you are able to ride the storms to get to wherever you need to be.
Bright light arcs around your hand, lighting up the area nearby with the strength of a candle.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Scene, or dismiss at will
Leveraging your connection to Thunderbird, you convince a nearby air spirit to protect you for a time. Wind whirls around you, stirring up dust, nudging ranged attacks off target, and bumping you just enough to make you jump away from danger.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 2 Aspects
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 attack per success
Roll: Wits + Persuasion
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The spirit is affronted by your demands and actively tries to get in your way. Your own ranged attacks suffer a -2 penalty for the next two rounds as it shoves you around.
Failure: The spirit isn’t very helpful. From malice or ineptness, it’s nudges don’t come in time to avoid anything. You suffer a -1 to your own ranged attacks for the next round and gain no benefits.
Success: For the next few minutes, your defense is applied against incoming ranged attacks. One ranged attack is affected for each success rolled. The wind also throws off your own aim: each ranged attack you make while the power is active suffers a -1 penalty.
Exceptional Success: Your are protected from a great many attacks.
This power lets you hide the signs of the Spirit Pact from other creatures.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: Composure + Subterfuge
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Your connection to Wakinyan is plain for everyone to see. Any supernatural being can tell who you serve, even if they normally cannot sense such things.
Failure: No effect.
Success: You hide your nature. To penetrate your disguise, other characters must be able to see spirits and then exceed your successes using a Wits + Occult roll.
Exceptional Success: No effect beyond the benefits of many successes.
A gust of air brakes your fall just before you hit something that would hurt.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Short
Roll: Dexterity + Athletics
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The gust blows you into something else, inflicting 2 points of Bashing damage in addition to the normal damage of your fall.
Failure: The burst of air comes too late and you suffer the usual damage from your fall.
Success: The gust slows you down enough to avoid damage entirely, no matter the height from which you fell.
Exceptional Success: The gust is strong enough not only to slow you down, but to push away small objects near your landing.
Invoking the image of the thunderbird, you float as you jump. This power must be activated as part of an Athletics test to jump, and doubles the distance and height you can travel. It also doubles the distance you can fall during your leap before risking injury.
Each success gives you:
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Action
Roll: None
Electricity arcs from the body of your bike into its wheels, and then into the ground. It burns away any water or other impediments to their grip and mystically enhances the bike’s connection to the spirit of the roadways.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: Resolve + Drive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Your bike clings too tightly to the roadway. You ignore 1 die of penalties from bad driving conditions, but are unable to do any jumps or otherwise leave the surface of the road.
Failure: You ignore 1 die of penalties from bad driving conditions.
Success: You can ignore up to 3 dice of penalties from bad driving conditions. This bonus only applies when riding a motorbike with an awakened, friendly spirit.
Exceptional Success: You can ignore up to 5 dice of penalties from bad driving conditions.
You wreathe yourself in lightning, gaining extra protection from attacks. Your head is covered in a bird-like headdress adorned with tall, electric feathers and a snapping, crackling cape flows down your back. The headdresses are further adorned with additional symbols of the person using the power, described below.
At two dots, you gain one point of armor against melee and ranged attacks. This protection is in addition to any worn armor, like a leather jacket or kevlar vest.
At four dots, the protective electricity lashes out at anyone who strikes you with a melee attack, dealing 1 point of Bashing damage.
Prerequisites: Spirit Pact, Imposing Presence
Cost: 1 Aspect + 1 Willpower
Action: Movement
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: None
You let a little bit of Thunderbird’s power shine through you, giving you an undeniable social presence. When used at the right time, this grants a +3 bonus to social rolls, especially Intimidate or Persuasion. In the wrong circumstances, this force can backfire and instead impose a -3 penalty.
This power manifests differently for every person. Choose how it looks when you first buy it: levitating a medallion, lightning flashing through your eyes, an unmistakable hint of thunder behind your voice. Once you choose, that’s how this power always works for you. No matter the manifestation, it only affects social rolls.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Round
Roll: None
Werewolves bathe everyone around them in maddening terror so that bystanders run away. By masquerading as a spirit, you are able to slip past Luna’s gaze, even avoiding the justified terror of a werewolf in death rage. Doing so, however, makes you susceptible to other kinds of magic that target spirits.
While this protection is active, your spine tingles with powerful bursts of electricity.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 2 Aspects
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Scene, or dismiss at will
Roll: None
By calling on your connection to Wakinyan, you can bolster yourself against supernatural abilities. Whenever such an ability can be resisted using a supernatural power stat (Wyrd, Primal Urge, Blood Potency, etc.), you can activate this ability to substitute your dots in Resilience for the listed power stat.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Reflexive
Duration: 1 Action
Roll: None
By pulling on your connection to Wakinyan, you can gain a measure of his sight. This power allows you to perceive the spirits that are part of everyday life, from the grumpy car spirit in an old truck to the mischievous wind spirit tangling everyone’s hair.
When active, this power is invisible to most people, but anything that can see spirits – including other users of this ability – can see a distinct halo of electricity around the user’s eyes.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene, or dismiss at will
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: You can perceive nothing but the spirit-truth of the world. Anything without an active spirit is invisible to you, and any sounds from non-spirit beings are drowned out.
Failure: The real world is shrouded and the spirits nearby overwhelm you. With a moment of concentration, you can still focus on the normal world for a round. Doing this in initiative takes a Movement action.
Success: You can perceive both the normal world and spirit world simultaneously. You can freely interact with creatures and entities from both places.
Exceptional Success: You can perceive both the normal world and spirit world with exceptional clarity and are able to knit what you see into one holistic experience. While this power is active, all perception-like tests gain a +2 bonus.
This ability lets you speak the language of the spirits for a short time. It translates meaning instead of literal words, replacing what you say with quiet rumbles of thunder. Any spirit who hears you using this power will have no doubt that you work for Wakinyan.
Without this power, conversing with spirits is unreliable. Some speak English, but many do not, and some might take offense if you don’t speak their language.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: None
Your hands crackle with pulsing electricity as you go for a truly knockout punch.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Action
Roll: Dexterity + Brawl
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: You miss badly.
Failure: You miss.
Success: Each success deals one point of Bashing damage. In addition, every point of damage done by this ability imposes a -1 penalty on the target’s Stamina checks to stay conscious when their damage track is full. These penalties are the same as those inflicted by ranged and melee stunners: they degrade by 1 for every round in which the target takes no damage from a stunning weapon.
Also similar to stunners, damage from this power does not roll over into Lethal damage when it exceeds the target’s remaining damage track. However, this ability is able to deal full damage against a target whose track is already full.
You can use Sudden Jolt while in a grapple by wielding your fists as though they were weapons. Instead of rolling Dexterity + Brawl, use the standard roll for a Grappling Overpower Maneuver: Strength + Brawl - enemy Strength.
Exceptional Success: You deal a great amount of damage.
You call to your bike and its spirit drives over to you. The bike can only travel a short distance, no more than fifty yards or so.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: Up to two rounds
Roll: None
The group pools its strength and grants some measure of Thunderbird’s protection to a nearby person who has not sworn the Spirit Pact. Every time the warded person is struck by a successful brawl or weaponry attack, a potent jolt of lightning courses through them and into their assailant. This bolt blows the fist or weapon away, dealing 1 point of Bashing to the warded person instead of the rolled damage, and inflicting 3 points of Bashing to the attacker while knocking them back a foot or two.
Thunder Ward need only be purchased by one person, but it must be activated by everyone in the Spirit Pact in order to function. Each additional person who purchases Thunder Ward adds another round to the its duration.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 or more rounds
As storms fly ceaselessly overhead, you run without pause over land. For the rest of the scene, you automatically succeed on all Stamina rolls to avoid exhaustion.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: None
This ability lets you channel some of Wakinyan’s immense power to hurl lightning at a nearby target. Treat this as a special ranged attack that ignores the target’s defense and mundane armor.
The lightning tries to ground itself to the earth, making it difficult to aim very far. Its short range is 30 yards, giving it a medium range of 60 and a long range of 120 yards.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 2 Aspects and 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Action
Roll: Presence + Intimidate
Roll Details
Dramatic Failure: The lightning you summon bucks your control and sears your body, dealing 4 Bashing to you.
Failure: Your lightning misses the target, arcing harmlessly into the sky, a nearby object, or grounding itself to the earth.
Success: You deal one point of Bashing damage to your target for each success you get.
Exceptional Success: In addition to dealing tremendous amounts of damage, one point of that damage is upgraded to Lethal.
You ask a small wind spirit to carry a message to someone else. The message must be simple and the recipient has to be within 30 miles or so. The spirit who carries the message may or may not be able to speak english, but it will repeat the sounds you make verbatim. The message is one-way, so you won’t get a response unless the recipient has some way of contacting you on their own.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect
Action: Instant
Duration: Varies
Roll: Intelligence + Expression
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Your message is delivered to the wrong person.
Failure: The spirit struggles to find your message’s recipient. It eventually reaches them, but only after a few hours.
Success: A nearby air spirit carries your message to the person you choose, as long as the message is short and the recipient is not too far away. The spirit learns from you how to identify the recipient of your message, aided by Wakinyan’s magic. The more you know about where the person is, the faster the spirit will deliver your message. If you know very little, the message might not get through at all.
Exceptional Success: The spirit delivers your message very quickly.
You extend your senses through the sleeping spirit of the air around you, letting you feel the shapes of everything it encompasses.
At two dots, the impressions you get are enough to notice bigger objects, but not particularly detailed.
At four dots, your impressions are much more detailed and can lead your attention to things you may have otherwise overlooked.
Prerequisite: Spirit Pact
Cost: 1 Aspect and 1 Willpower
Action: Instant
Duration: 1 Scene
Roll: Wits + Science
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The wind scorns you, imposing a -2 to all perception checks for the scene.
Failure: You get only faint impressions from the air. You gain no bonus to your senses, but you can still ignore the Fighting Blind rules and fight in the dark at a -5 penalty.
Success: You gain a +2 bonus to Perception checks, and can ignore the Fighting Blind rules and fight in the dark at a -4 penalty. At four dots, the +2 bonus also applies to Investigation checks.
Exceptional Success: The bonus to Perception (and Investigation) checks increases to +3.