South House Games

Specialist Path

Specialist (Unaligned):

"Specialist" is a polite term used by polite people. Specialists are individuals brought in to do a job. Payment usually includes three line items: the job, forgetting that there ever was a job, and disappearing. They live on the edges of society, maintaining just enough of a connection to be contacted for work, but not enough to be found by any competent authority. Most are loners constantly on the move, but a few have managed to live double lives or hide in plain sight amongst the common folk of the world.

Starting Equipment:

Bounty Hunter (Earth Focus)

Bounty hunting is not illegal in Conduit City territory. However, it is illegal to post a bounty except by order of the Census Office or City Watch, which they never officially do. The Ergon treat them as poachers and shoot on sight. So most "bounty hunters" masquerade as other professions, relying on connections and relationships to get leads. It is dangerous work, since if they get stiffed there is no recourse beyond what they can mete out themselves. Delivering on a bounty can be more dangerous than the chase and capture, depending on the powers involved.

Starting Skills: Choice of Armor or Unarmored Proficiency, Weapon Proficiency (Choice), Weapon Proficiency (Choice), Survival (Choice), Bloodhound.

Starting Equipment: Gambeson or Buff Coat, Weapon, Weapon.

Capture Alive: Bounty Hunter may spend 2 EP before making any Grapple check to add their Earth modifier twice.

Path Skill II:

Path Skill III:

Assassin (Air Focus)

A true assassin is a professional. Killing someone is not as difficult as people think, but doing it in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place while slipping quietly away requires planning and experience. Assassins are hired to send a message. This is usually not to the victim, who may not even know they received it, but to all those watching; be it a rival, a city, or a nation.

Starting Skills: Unarmored Focus, Weapon Proficiency (One-Handed Weapon), Hide In Shadows, Disguise.

Starting Equipment: Gambeson or Buff Coat, Weapon of Choice, Weapon of Choice.

Backstab: An Assassin may spend 2 EP to perform a Backstab attack against an enemy who is unaware of the Assassin. This attack may be made with melee or ranged weapons. If a Backstab attack hits, it bypasses the DR and ER of the target. A Backstab only occurs on the first attack made against the target regardless of the number of attacks per round the Assassin has. Each time Backstab is listed on the Path Advancement Table, add another damage die to successful Backstab attacks. For example, Backstab II with a short sword does 3d3 damage instead of 2d3, and so on. If the weapon is imbued, Backstab II does 3d4 damage, and so on. If a Backstab attack is a critical hit, keep the number of damage dice based on the Backstab level, but change the damage die to a d6.

Shadow Strike: Target an enemy that does not have line of sight to the Assassin and make a Air check. If the Assassin can move to within weapon range of the target while staying out of line of sight or in shadow, they may make an attack against the target. The target then rolls a saving throw (adding their dominant element modifier) with a DC equal to the Assassin's Air check from earlier. If the Assassin's total is higher, they may make a Backstab attack against the target. Any skill from the Mobility Mastery skill tree may be used as a Special Action during Shadow Strike and before the Backstab attack.

Execute: Backstab attacks are made with ADV. If a Backstab attack is made while in shadow, add the Air modifier to damage.

One with the Shadows: While in shadow, attacks made against the Assassin have DISADV and Attacks of Opportunity cannot be made against them.

Apothecary (Water Focus)

There are apothecaries and then there are Apothecaries. The vast majority of those who go by this name are local purveyors of simple remedies. However, there is another class of Apothecary who specializes in more potent brews. These individuals understand the element properties of their ingredients on a deeper level and are able to brew potions of immense power and usefulness. A myriad of plants and natural substances can be used to enhance or debilitate the human body and its elements.

Apothecaries do not deal with the elements directly as Shapers do, but are sensitive to the element nature of the ingredients and combine them with the same care that Shapers do when manifesting manipulations. Common plants, when distilled correctly, may be used in potions to alleviate the mild symptoms of various illnesses or perk up guards on night watch, but the truly potent ones require special attention. The processes to prepare them draw out the element properties directly and hence require storage in special containers laced with a small amount of tralaticon. These potions do not last long when exposed to open air, sunlight, inclement weather, or, in the case of poisoned weapons, the clash of battle. There are techniques to delay this loss of potency, but most potions must be used soon after removal from proper storage.

Potions come in three types: solids, liquids, and vapors. Liquids and vapors may be made into grenades or other spray delivery systems, solids and liquids may be applied to weapons and other items. In the beginning, Apothecaries may make potions that correspond to their Dominant Element modifier only. Earth is solid, Air is vapor, and Water is liquid.

Potion crafting takes place during Rest or other long stretches of downtime. On the Status Effects page there are Potion Prerequisites for each status effect. This number denotes the Element modifier requirement and the EP cost to add that effect to a potion. Therefore, to make a potion, the Apothecary must have high enough Element modifiers for each ingredient and the sum of all the ingredients cannot exceed their EP. An Apothecary may make a single or multiple potions in this way during a Rest, but the total cost of all ingredients cannot exceed their EP.

Starting Skills: Lore (Biome), Lore (Element Science), Lore (Herb), Lore (Medicine), Tools (Apothecary's Lab).

Starting Equipment: 5 containers for starting potion type, Apothecary's Field Lab.

Humoral Diagnosis: An Apothecary is able to deduce the element imbalance inherent in diseases, infections, poisons, and even psychological maladies. A successful Lore (Medicine) check not only reveals the probable illness, but also the element cocktail required to bring the body back into balance and fight off the contagion.

The DC for Lore (Medicine) checks to identify a condition is the EP cost of crafting an equivalent condition. The Humoral Diagnosis is automatically done at the same time (and the same roll) and is a Hard check against the same DC. A failed check cannot be retried unless there is a change in the condition or new pertinent information is acquired in some way.

Grenades: Vapor or liquid potions put into throwable delivery vehicles must be retrieved after being thrown and are time consuming to repair. After use, it costs 3 EP during a Rest to reset them for reuse. If they are lost, materials must be obtained from a town or city and a full day's work (8 hours) each to craft. Grenades weigh 1 lb each, have a range of 20/60, and are thrown at a target location affecting a 20 ft radius area. Missing with a grenade may cause havoc. A natural 1 is always the grenade exploding in the Apothecary's hand. See table below for other effects.

Additional Potion Type: Apothecary learns another potion type and gains a carrying capacity of 3 for this new type.

Distilled Potency: Reduce the total EP cost of each potion made by 1 to a minimum of 1.

Path Skill III: