Book:Trumps

The dazzling powers belonging to the hero of legend and the sinister abilities possessed by the villain of whispered rumors are represented in the Elysium game by Trumps. Trumps are extraordinary talents and properties that a character can attain either at character creation or as the game progresses.

Trumps can be purchased like Skills for a certain number of Expoints. Instead of a set number, each Trump lists its own cost. For example, the Trivia Whiz Trump costs one Expoint.

A character has no limit on the number of Trumps he or she can possess; the only limit is the number of Expoints earned during the game. Listed below are the Trumps available for purchase.

Physical Trumps

Physical Trumps are those that beef up character's body. Everything from heightened senses to poison or disease immunity.

Acute Sense

2

Your senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling are heightened. You gain a +1 bonus on Perception and Search checks when relying on your senses (i.e. you do not receive the bonus when making a Personality + Search check to gather information, etc).

Incompatible with: Anosmia, Hearing Impaired, Poor Vision, Deaf, and Blind

Ambidexterity

4

You can use either hand for many different tasks, including combat, with no penalties for using your nondominant hand, although you will still prefer one hand over the other for most tasks. If you have trained to use Dual Weapons, the weapons can be used interchangeably in either hand.

Incompatible with: Unarmed

Anchor

3

You are one tough son-of-a-gun to budge once you get planted. You receive a +4 bonus to Gymnastics and Might checks to resist attempts to move you or knock you prone. This includes the Slam and Trip combat tactics, as well as being moved while in a Grab. This doesn't necessarily mean your character is obese, maybe just dense or well balanced. Consider a career in wrestling.

Incompatible with: Featherweight and Lousy Balance

Attractive

2/4/6

You are remarkably easy on the eyes, kid. A two point version of this trump makes you Attractive. For four points, your features fall into all the right places and you are considered Beautiful. Six points ranks you as Stunning: you possess the face and body of a deity whose very countenance steals hearts and melts away anger — get used to being ogled. Your looks grant you a respective +1, +2, or +3 bonus on Leadership and Seduce checks based on your level of attractiveness.

Incompatible with: Unremarkable, Shady, and Unappealing. Those who are marked by a facial Battle Scar may not be more than Attractive, and anyone suffering from a Deformity may only be Beautiful or Stunning if the aberration is easily concealed. Also see restrictions on Old.

Bloodhound

4

Your sense of smell is much more highly developed than the average for your race. You notice odors that others are unaware of, and recognize smell differences between which no one else can differentiate. This means that you are even capable of tracking particularly aromatic creatures or objects over short distances by smell alone. It also means you'll notice immediately if your companions forget to bathe. You gain a +2 bonus to Search and Perception checks for which your keen sense of smell could prove helpful.

Incompatible with: Broken Sniffer

Chameleon

4

Patience and camouflage are your stock-in-trade. You have mastered the art of staying in one position, effectively motionless, for long periods of time and then creeping forward unnoticed. You gain a +2 bonus to Stealth and Disguise checks.

Incompatible with: Clumsy, Easily Distracted, Hyperactive, and Walking Target.

Chem Resistant

3

Chemical agents of any sort are severely reduced in efficiency when used upon you, but beware: this trump limits the effectiveness of beneficial drugs as well, from anesthetics to healing potions. Note that long-term drug abuse will result in a similar resistance to the specific drug in question, thus reinforcing the insidious cycle of addiction. When under the effects of a helpful or harmful chemical or alchemical substance you take one half (round down) the benefits, damage, or penalties normally incurred and the effective duration is halved.

Requires: A minimum Endurance of 5

Contortionist

2

You can wriggle and bend like no other. Whenever held or bound, no matter how securely, you can always re-roll a failed Thievery check made to escape from bonds (though if this second check fails, you’re out of luck).

Incompatible with: some Deformities, Lame, Obese, Ancient, and Prehistoric.

Ears of the Bat

4

You could hear a pin drop, couldn't you? In fact, your ears are so good that you perceive sounds one octave above and below the average range for your race. Your exceptional hearing assures you a +2 bonus on all Perception and Search checks which involve hearing.

Incompatible with: Hearing Impaired, and Deaf.

Fast Healer

6

Your body repairs damage at a much faster rate than others, perhaps due to metabolism, some supernatural effect, or a close connection with the planet. In game terms, you heal twice as many Health Points in the same amount of time as others. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that arm to grow back, though.

Incompatible with: Slow Healer, fabricated creatures, undead creatures

Featherweight

3

You are considerably lighter and more compact than you appear, and your weight is evenly distributed. You find climbing easy and gain a +2 bonus to Grip checks for climbing. Additionally, the Might DL to hoist, carry, or toss you is −2.

Incompatible with: Anchor, Dead Weight, Massive, and Obese (you might be lighter than you look, but you're still hefty!)

Feline Balance

2

You are as graceful as a cat. You gain a +2 bonus to Gymnastics checks. Whenever you fall and take no damage, you land on your feet (and don't gain the prone condition).

Incompatible with: Clumsy, Lame, and Lousy Balance.

Requires: A minimum Agility of 6

Hale

2

Your immune system is working overtime. This means that you are highly resistant to even the most powerful diseases. You receive a +4 bonus to Vitality for resisting any type of illness or infectious disease. Your body, however, regards any intrusion as a direct assault, and will violently reject any form of transplant, transfusion, symbiote, or implant, whether supernatural or technological in nature.

Incompatible with: Sickly

Requires: A minimum Endurance of 5

Hawk Eyes

4

You could pick out a polar bear on an ice flow in the midst of a snowstorm at a hundred yards. You gain a +2 bonus to all Perception and Search checks which rely on vision, and you suffer only half the distance penalties with ranged weapons.

Incompatible with: Poor Vision, and Blind

Iron Grip

4

You are gifted with a bone-crushing grip. You gain a +4 bonus to Grip checks, both in and out of combat. You never drop a weapon or item, even on a Critical Failure. Your handshake will impress those who respect strength and cow those who fear it.

Incompatible with: Frail, Scrawny, and Unarmed

Requires: A minimum Muscle of 6

Massive

4

You are just plain huge — you're one Size higher than the norm for your species. For example, an adult human (normally Size 0) is now Size 1, over 7 feet tall and more than 300 pounds. You're easier to hit, but your hits are way harder (puny runts and their tiny weapons!) There are disadvantages to being gigantic: difficulty fitting into clothing and armor (costs twice normal amount) and being targeted by bellicose drunks and would-be tough guys everywhere you go, to name a few.

The Massive trump is often found in the company of Little Piggy, Walking Target, and Brawler.

Incompatible with: Featherweight, Scrawny, Unremarkable, and Vertically Challenged

Poison Immunity

4

Through natural or supernatural means, you are completely immune to poisons of any kind, even magic spells that bestow similar effects. In game terms, you automatically pass Vitality checks made to resist poison. Perhaps you can chalk it up to the years of a small amount of arsenic in your morning coffee, or maybe someone up there just likes you. It should be noted that immunity does not grant awareness. For instance, if you drink a goblet of poisoned wine, you would have no idea there was a vile toxin within unless the poison tastes remarkably different than the substance in which it’s placed. Also, immunity to poison does not grant any protection against concoctions like the Chem Resistant trump does.

Requires: A minimum Endurance of 5

Shadow Warrior

4

You move through the shadows like a soft breath of air, and know how to strike from the darkness to deadly effect. You gain a +2 bonus to Stealth and Dash checks. They'll never know what slit 'em.

Incompatible with: Clumsy, Lame, and Walking Target

Siren Song

2

Your voice is melodic and very sensual. You gain a +2 bonus to rolls involving Seduction (when talking is involved), Negotiation, OR Performance (pick one).

Incompatible with: Deaf and Mute

Speedy Reflexes

4

Your brain is wired to your body a little better than most. When you spot trouble coming, you're quick to either draw your weapon or get the hell out of the way. You receive a +2 bonus to Reaction and Dodge checks.

Incompatible with: Clumsy

Requires: A minimum Agility of 4

Tempered

1

Like good steel put through searing flame, you have become more durable by surviving past wounds. For every point you spend, you may add one Health Point to your maximum.

Unremarkable

4

There's absolutely nothing about you that catches the eye. Unless you dress or act to attract attention, you can disappear into a crowd without even trying, and people tend to forget you as soon as you leave their sight. Even your friends and relatives are hard-pressed to provide more than the most general details of your physical description. While it sounds boring, being the epitome of average offers definite benefits in dangerous times. It is nearly impossible to track or identify you based solely upon your appearance, and you gain a +2 bonus to Stealth, Thievery, and Disguise rolls while in a crowd (at least 15 people). Finally, foes will tend to underestimate you in battle, and in any situation where someone is choosing a target at random to attack, you'll be last picked. Note that these bonuses may be negated by your race or ethnicity — the blandest-looking evengar will still stand out in a human village.

Incompatible with: Attractive, Aura of Decay, any prominent Battle Scar, or Deformity, Blind, Girl/Guy Magnet, Lame, Massive, Mistaken Identity, Obese, Shady, Stage Presence, Unappealing, Unarmed, Vertically Challenged, or Walking Target. Compatible with Missing Hand/Arm or Poor Vision (for a missing eye) only if a reasonably real-looking prosthetic conceals the absent appendage/organ.

Requires: A maximum Presence of 5

Workhorse

3

You can bring all of the groceries inside in a single trip. You receive a +2 bonus on Might checks for pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, or throwing heavy objects. Additionally, when carrying a willing creature, you don't gain the hampered condition.

Incompatible with: Sluggard and Scrawny

Requires: A minimum Endurance of 5

Mental Trumps

Mental Trumps deal with souping up character's mind. Trumps numbered here include everything from improved memory and knowledge to specific skill bonuses.

City Slicker

6

You are the Tarzan of the urban jungle, and it is only in the hustle and bustle of a crowd that you do your best work. In any heavily populated environment you perform the following skills at a +2 bonus: Thievery, Stealth, and Disguise. Great for criminal types.

Incompatible with: Mountain Man

Daredevil

3

You are thrilled by the prospect of risky and challenging tasks. You gain a +4 bonus for any skill check where failure would result in your immediate and inexorable death (jumping a chasm, charging single-handedly into countless enemies, taunting a foe surely beyond your ability to fight, running through a burning building, jumping in front of a stampede, etc). Note that Daredevils have little respect for danger to their own persons (see Foolhardy) but can be deterred from their courses if the danger applies to others. Go between them? Are you crazy?!

Incompatible with: Coward, and Combat Shy

Requires: A minimum Courage of 6

Driven

4

You are deeply, almost inhumanly determined to succeed at all costs. You may re-roll one failed roll each session and then only to directly further the end(s) to which you are driven — this represents an incredibly steadfast reserve of physical and mental ability, exerted only in dire circumstances.

However, as a driven character, any circumstance where your goals are in jeopardy is dire, and you must do all you can to thwart such circumstances — you may never hold back. You are willing (though not necessarily eager) to sacrifice everything, including comrades, friends, and loved ones, to assure victory. Note that the this character may or may not be willing to sacrifice himself, depending on his individual goals — although sometimes, a sacrifice is not of the flesh, but of the soul… if you believe in the soul. Many Driven characters do not, nor do they believe in chance — you make your own luck, they would say.

While appropriate for a villain, this trump was designed with a hero in mind — a tragic hero. As such it requires a serious and skilled role-player, and the GM must be judicious about allowing its use.

Driven works very well in conjunction with Fearless, Callous, Vengeful, Beyond Good and Evil, Called, Chaos Knight, or Fallen.

Incompatible with: Perspective, Peacemaker, Pacifist, Soft Hearted, Sluggard, Coward, and any Attack Restriction

Fearless

2

It might be said that your spine has a little extra stiffness. You gain a +2 bonus to Guts.

Incompatible with: Combat Shy, Coward, Flighty, and any Phobia

Jack of All Trades

6

Even as a child you were bright, and you've always picked up all kinds of vocations with ease. For any skill in which you have no ranks, you can add a +1 bonus to any checks with it.

Jack of all Trades is sometimes found in the company of Master of None.

Requires: A minimum Intellect of 5

Knack

3/skill

You have a gift for a certain skill — you're a natural, baby! You can buy 1 skill rank with 1 Expoint instead of the normal 2. You may have a Knack for up to three skills, no more. You cannot have a Knack in a school of spellcasting or a weapon skill.

Manhunter

2

You have special training in tracking down beings of a certain race — you know their appearances, tendencies, and patterns, as well as where they can commonly be found. You receive a +2 bonus to Lore pertaining to your chosen race, and a +2 bonus to all rolls involved in tracking down a specific member of that race (commonly Search). Good for lawmen, bounty hunters, and assassins. This Trump may be taken for each of the different sentient races (but not for animal species).

Mechanic

2

You are technologically apt and can wrangle all manner of complex clockwork contraptions (say that three times fast). You gain a +2 bonus to Machinery checks.

Incompatible with: Technophobe

Mountain Man

6

You are well-versed in the ways of the wilderness. You gain a +2 bonus to Grip, Stamina, and Animal Control while outside of civilization. Long matted beard and smelly animal pelts optional.

Incompatible with: City Slicker and Sluggard

Perspective

2

Even under the most distressing circumstances, you maintain the long view — "things can always get worse," you often find yourself saying. Cynical and sour people will hate your unflagging imperturbability, but others will be heartened by your perennially calm and cool demeanor. Due to this remarkable grounding, you gain a +2 bonus to Virtue checks. Often possessed by: gurus, cannabis enthusiasts, surfers, and congenital idiots.

Incompatible with: Angel on Your Shoulder, Berserker, Beyond Good and Evil, Called, Chaos Knight, Devil on Your Shoulder, Driven, Fallen, Indomitable, Short Fuse, and Vengeful.

Photographic Memory

3

You remember everything perfectly and can conjure up vivid details from past events. You automatically pass any Lore check made to remember your own experiences. This allows you to recall specific details that you, as a player, have forgotten, but that your character would remember.

A person may have both a Photographic Memory and a Terrible Memory — the result of a disorganized mind. Some details stick out, and for no good reason, but others fade away.

Amnesiacs are even more fun: you can remember nothing up to a certain point, but have excellent recall for everything subsequent to that time.

Incompatible with: Easily Distracted

Problem Solver

1

You are a sleuth, a riddle master, or just a deductive thinker. You gain a +2 bonus to checks involving Search, Focus, Lore, Spot, or Disable to fix or solve a problem.

Scholar

4

Your formal education is far superior to others’, but at the cost of real-world experience. Because of the interplay of your chosen subjects, you gain a +2 bonus on all checks involving lores.

Restriction: A beginning character cannot be created with both the Scholar trump and any Combat trump, but a Scholar may subsequently learn Combat trumps through normal experience. Most who seek knowledge so avidly, however, will be reluctant to pursue the way of the blade, and may even be Peacemakers or Pacifists.

Incompatible with: Uneducated

Requires: A minimum Intellect of 5 and ranks in at least three lores

Sixth Sense

4

You have very short-range latent psychic ability. Your hackles prickle whenever an unknown or threatening presence lurks nearby, warning you of possible danger. As a result, it's extremely difficult to ambush you. You gain a +2 bonus to Clairvoyance and Perception checks.

Goes very well with Speedy Reflexes. Excess use of your danger sense might turn you a little Twitchy.

Incompatible with: Stupefied

Strategist

4

The pawns are set and the game is on. Inside your cunning mind, dozens of complex maneuvers and agendas swim freely. Well-meaning Strategists use their mental prowess to the benefit of the group, granting them an out for any possible situation. Sinister Strategists might have hidden agendas that would bring about the overthrow of their superiors. Formulate a plan, and write down the steps involved. Submit your hidden strategies to your GM, or discuss them openly with your allies. If given time to plan ahead and any necessary tools/resources, you gain a +2 bonus on any given task on your list. If events arise outside of your plan, you do not receive the bonus on those tasks.

Works well with Obsessive-compulsive disorder, and makes a challenging but funny combination with Easily Distracted.

Incompatible with: Hyperactive

Temporal Adept

1

You have an innate comprehension of time and its flow. You always know what time it is and receive a +2 bonus to Discern for checks involving estimation of time. You are also highly efficient — for the performance of any (non-physical) skill that takes more than a few minutes, cut the total time it takes in half.