Heart: the City Beneath

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But, it was not a miracle the bloated King could perform, so Sucks-Down-Teeth went beyond him, past Grist and into the Heart. They’re a way to keep our minds and hearts fed and alive when we can’t craft the stories of our lives.

Ancestry has no mechanical bearing, but offers characterisation ideas and asks how you got into the Heart. In fact, our campaign went for longer than it probably should have simply because I wanted to fit more landmarks into it. Inflicting stress on a delve is how you make progress through the ever-changing terrain of the Heart, so delve equipment includes anything that helps you get from Point A to Point B, without ending up at Point Z. After their brush with death, they are looking to up their chances to achieve godhood on the grail road. The High Elves (Aelfir) who rule the city foolishly tried to tap into the Heart as a power source, accidentally unleashing its power.The bodies of Heretics who ascend to become Angels of the Moon Beneath petrify into bone-crystal statues after their initial rampage. Minor beats involve taking risky or dramatic actions; taking major fallout for example, getting into trouble with the authorities or having things named after you. Note that Zenith Abilities generally result in the death/retirement of the character so picking a Zenith beat is a signal to the GM to say "I think my character's arc is approaching a logical end".

Priests and healers, they follow a syncretic religion which worships all three faces of the moon in a way that would likely now be unrecognisable in the Spire. There's two Zenith beats, either lead a Haven to prosperity, or reach Tier 4 of the Heart (more on that when we get to delving, but that's entering the Heart itself). Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.Sara has been writing since 2017, contributing news, features and more to outlets including Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Variety, The Guardian, BBC and Tabletop Gaming magazine. Other abilities give them keener hunting instincts, natural weaponry or the ability to command simple animals. In addition to this, the GM might hand out unique or single-purpose gear that won't directly inflict stress. Characters in Heart have four elements that tie directly into the core mechanics - Skills, Domains, Knacks and Stress tracks. Plus there's huge story potential in many of the fallout effects, and some Minor Fallout explicitly leads to specific Major and Critical Fallout.

After reading Strata, I did not believe any character class could top the absolute perfection that is the Inksmith. Scary Stinging Swarm: Deep Apiarists are always accompanied by (and, to some extent, inhabited by) bees.Instead of a rogue you get Deadwalker, stalked by their own death, and Incarnadine, a priest of the god of debt. Of course, it would be one thing if the Zenith Abilities were the only way a character could die, but it retains its predecessor game’s Fallout mechanic, whereby you accumulate a pool for each type of damage and then roll when it hits a certain, character-determined threshold, and the result of that roll determines the exact nature of the particular problem.

At one point, the entire party in our game was suffering so much it became comical, with multiple broken limbs, ragged nerves, blinded eyes, weird growths, etc. Fulcrum' reverses that, with the current Hound's name and identity now absorbed by the badge, replacing the original badge-holder (and perhaps resurfacing one day via 'Everlasting Stand').

Not wanting a life of farming root vegetables in the same villlage he was born in and would likely die in, Greyson signed up with the mercenary recruiter that travelling through looking for recruits. A final note is that there is no armour in Heart - the most you can get is a single piece of equipment with the Block tag, which gives +1 Blood protection - it's assumed all characters have protective gear anyway, and armour is baked into the class abilities. which would go in the Hype Machine, ask specific questions with strong prompts, just like a normal thread does. Oath of Community lets you reduce the effects of Blood fallout and stress, both for yourself and your allies.