Battles with Bone

Published October 31, 2016 by


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Description

They call you demon… omen… blight.

And perhaps they are right. Was it the gods that cursed you to be this way? A freak storm?  Some relic or artifact?

Nonetheless you are feared. You have the ability to manipulate your own skeleton. Your nervous system, sense of touch – all of it –  was miraculously stripped bare so you can perform such feats without hesitation. The bones saved your life numerous times but damned it countless more.

Whether you are forming a shield from your forearm, or sprouting razor sharp claws from the knuckles, you are versatile in any fight. Time was your ally, and it taught you to control your abilities and hone them into an art that strikes fear in your foes.

Often times you will find yourself nearly naked by the end of a skirmish. You likely wear clothes that are baggy, sleeveless and cheap. While Glaives will become strong adversaries in offence and defense, Jacks could utilize the array of abilities to surprise and counter foes.

Details

GM Intrusion: GM Intrusion: When striking with your bones, it shatters and shards fly at your allies. Dealing damage that ignores armour.

Connection:
  1. Choose one PC. They have seen the horrors you have committed and are disgusted with you.
  2. Choose a PC. For unknown reasons your bones retract and are unable to expel when that PC is touching you.
Additional Equipment:

Additional equipment: You have three times the amount of clothing a normal adventurer has. It isn’t anything special, but it’s not bad to come prepared for the eventual fabric slaughter.

Additional Notes: This foci works very well with a large combination of physical mutations, just try to balance it out accordingly!

Minor Effect Suggestions:
Minor effect suggestions: The bones you use are intricate in design, filled with numerous slits and holes. When moving for an attack they create noise that distract the enemy.
Major Effect Suggestions:
Major effect suggestions: Parts of the bones you use for weapons, seem to form irregular hooks and latches that when striking an enemy disarm him.
Tier 1:

Biological Prison: Your sense of feeling is dead. A diagnosis of your own body takes much longer than for a normal person. Your first recovery roll is ten minutes as opposed to an action. Your skeletal system however seems to be as dense as steel, making you more resilient. Add 2 to armour and you are now trained in Might defense. Furthermore, you are passively specialized in concealing weaponry that you fashion from your body and your bones act as medium weapons. Finally, armour or protective clothing cannot be worn for the sake of inefficiency. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Glass Cannon (2 Might Points): You focus your strength into your appendage, creating a spire of bone that is hollowed out. If your normal strike fails, it shatters against the foe/weapon/ground and sends shards of sharp bone hurling towards everyone in immediate distance in front of you. It deals 2 Might damage that ignores armor. Effect lasts until failure. Can be spent on both limbs for double the Might.

Internal Art: You are now trained in using your bones as medium weapons. Enabler.

Tier 3:

Enhanced Endoskeleton: You start to take notice of your anatomy and how to maximize protection using the plates of bone under your skin. +1 to Armor. Enabler.

Bone Bullet (3 Might Points): You fire a heavy projectile of sharpened bone out of your palm at a velocity using your own strength and internal pressure. It deals 4 damage (two of which ignore armor) and goes up to short range. If foe is your size or smaller, and the attack is a success, they are knocked prone. Action.

Tier 4:

Viewing Pleasure: Creatures and NPCs under level 3 see the gore and twisted visuals that come with your abilities and are horrified. Every task they make against you is one step harder. Enabler.

Tail Bone (4 Might Points):  Elongating your spine, you create an extra appendage from bone and cartilage. Your new tail acts as an asset to climbing, grabbing, lifting and balancing due to its prehensile qualities.  It also is thick and jagged enough to be a obstacle in an enemy’s way. Opponents striking in melee range from anywhere but the front have a step against them in difficulty. You can use bone bullets from this appendage.  Action. 

Tier 5:

Cellular Reconstruction: If you are in combat and become impaired, your body enters a state of hyper-regeneration. The combination of adrenaline and your unique skeleton instantly revitalize you and put you back into the fight with 5 Might points. This may only happen once a day. Enabler.

Death in White and Red: Pushed to the extremes day after day, your body is always an unexpected weapon that you have coordinated. You are now specialized in using your bones as medium weapons. Enabler.

Tier 6:

Bone Bunker (6 Might Points): With intense focus, you rip open your body and create a sphere of bone that overlaps your entire form. It melds with you, granting you echolocation instead of sight. While you cannot move in this form, you may use your attacks freely for no cost at all, since bone can still sprout from the outer layer. Add +10 armour to your character while in this form. This effect lasts a minute. Action.

2 thoughts on “Battles with Bone

  1. tygertyger says:

    Interesting… it definitely brings the weird. A few notes:

    Tier 1: Biological Prison — rather than +3 to the Might pool why not training in Might defense? It seems to me that such a heavily defensive focus should offer that.

    Tier 3: Bone Bullet — this seems a tad overpowered to me. Specifically, that the projectile is long ranged _and_ has a knock prone effect; short range seems more reasonable if you keep the knockdown .

    Tier 6: Bone Bunker — “Projectiles and attacks that are not energy-based deal no damage” — this is way overpowered, even considering that the character gives up the ability to move. A bonus to armor, and possibly the ability to extend that armor to cover others, would be more balanced IMO.

    1. Liam Day says:

      Thank you so much for the immediate feedback! I will take this with a lot of consideration and make some changes. I might wait just a tad to get some more voices before making the exact changes (since I haven’t actually field tested this in a campaign yet)
      but I appreciate you giving it a read and finding it intriguing none the less!

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