Impecunic - Poor Mans Exalt
May 6, 2023 19:13:36 GMT -6
Post by insertnamehere on May 6, 2023 19:13:36 GMT -6
In all corners of the Wheel, there are the have's and the have not's. Those that made it and those that didn't. Winners and losers.
Unfortunately, in all examples given, the Impecunic is the latter in all of them. While many exalts can control the forces of nature, bend the will of others, or shift between dimensions, the Impecunic drew the short straw and is the embodiment of poverty. As one can imagine, the power of being unable to hold a job, maintain a balanced checkbook, or own anything even remotely well made isnt exactly highly respected.
The most common way for an Impecunic to manifest is to simply be born one. Generations of poverty, hopelessness, and grim acceptance of their situation coalesce into a single being. These unfortunates are often abandoned or worse as their very presence can make the already difficult lives of the parents even worse. The other way Impecunics come into being is when one of the truly wealthy suffer such a catastrophic fall from their ivory tower that the shock will turn them into one. So that crazy homeless person claiming to once be a big shot might not actually be as delusional as you'd might think.
Static Powers
Street Living
Life on the streets ain't easy. You're liable to get shanked, your things stolen, or shanked AND your things stolen. Worse still is that nobody seems to care. Gain the Light Sleeper, Paranoid, and Unremarkable feats.
King in Rags
An Impecunic doesn't just embody poverty, they attract it and that includes people as the poor and destitute are often ignored by society which means they only have themselves to look out for them. Gain a dot in Backing per rank in Destitution which cannot be supplemented by background dots. Backing gained by this power is its own separate thing representing your connection with the poor, homeless, and uncared-for. You can use Backing provided by King in Rags in lieu of Wealth for acquisition tests, applying any bonuses or penalties that affect acquisition rolls as normal, but you can only acquire items of Poor or Standard quality. When you acquire an item that would cause wealth strain, you will be required to offer an item of equal rarity in exchange. If you cannot or will not exchange something, then you instead borrow the item for 1d10 days minus 1 for every 5 the items rarity exceeds your Destitution x 5 (minimum of 1 day). Failure to return an item results in your Destitution for King in Rags counting as 1 less until the item is returned or replaced, with multiple instances stacking. Lastly, the Impecunic can roll Destitution + (Charisma or Fellowship) to gather information and find help much like Minor Contacts of the Contacts Background.
Insolvent
No matter what you do to save for a rainy day something always seems to happen to make sure you stay near penniless. Hacked bank account, suffered an injury without insurance, or some other financially ruining inconvenience. The cost for acquiring dots in Holdings and Inheritance is doubled and Wealth dots cannot be acquired in anyway.
Penia's Curse
Money isn't the only thing an Impecunic repels but the very concept of wealth itself. Exquisite fashion becomes torn and patchwork. High tech weapons look like something made in a backyard shack. Mastercraft armor is beat-up, rusted, and held together by scrap metal. Every item you wear, attach to your body, or hold in your hand becomes Poor quality in form and function, if not already, and anything made of artifact materials turn into Mephidross, so long as it remain on your person. Once an object is no longer in contact with the Impecunic it returns to normal, though a bit dirty.
Power Stat: Destitution
Impecunic's are the physical manifestations of nothing. Not nonexistence but the state of having nothing. The higher the Destitution of an Impecunic the more he can manipulate the very concept of poverty, hopefully to his advantage.
Resource Stat: Poverty: You have a Poverty pool equal to triple your Destitution. You regain your full Poverty pool every time you sleep in an area under less than ideal circumstances (a rundown building, exposed to the elements, etc.)
Tell: As a Impecunic spends Poverty his appearance becomes more disheveled and dirty. At higher levels appearing noticeably thin as if he's not eating enough and coins (or equivalent) of low denominations will randomly fall out of his pockets.
* Pathetic Desperation: You can spend 1 Poverty to add your Destitution in rolled dice to a Larceny and Stealth tests or any Social skill test that involves you begging.
** Beggars Can Be Choosers: You can spend 1 Poverty to ignore the penalties provided by Poor quality and the changes done to equipment by the Penia's Curse power to yourself for one Scene. Alternatively, you can spend 2 Poverty to inflict the effects of Penia's Curse to another within 5m which lasts your Destitution in rounds.
*** Down On Your Luck: You regain Poverty at your expense. Whenever you suffer at least 1 wound, 1 point of fatigue, fail an acquisition test, or fail a test to resist an effect you regain 1 Poverty, which can stack. (e.g. An Impecunic that fails to resist a disease that makes him suffer 1 Fatigue would regain 2 Poverty).
**** Under Emperor: You are always aware and knowledgeable of the underbelly of any large populated area you are in, its usual going on's, and how to travel within it. This includes but not limited to; back alley shortcuts, vagrant settlements, black-market services, or abandoned places to lie low in. This does not make you automatically knowledgeable of any potential dangers those area's may have.
***** Life of Squalor: Ignore penalties from weather conditions, are comfortable even in very hot or cold weather (up to the boiling and freezing point of water), immune to non-weaponized toxic/diseased environments, and are unaffected by the penalties provided by fatigue though it can still make you fall unconscious.
Assets
Collector
Collectors are those that gather the dead and turn them in for a finders fee. Rumors abound that the bodies they sell aren't always quite so dead when they lay their hands on them. Gain one rank in Executioner's Calling sword school and you may purchase ranks in it as if it appeared in your class progression. Gain a +2k0 to any tests involved in determining on whether a corpse is actually dead or not (or at least not animated).
Littlest Hobo
Even when you are down and out nothing breaks the loyalty of an animal companion, who's always there to keep your spirits up in these trying times. That and people are more likely to feel bad for a homeless animal than they are a homeless bum so its best to keep them around for pan handling. Gain the Obtain Familiar feat. Social rolls gain a static bonus equal to your Destitution so long as it involves your familiar and the Pathetic Desperation power can be used on Animal Ken tests
Riches to Rags
Well its more riches to living pay-check by pay-check but it certainly feels like rags compared to what you're use to. The Penia's Curse power reduces item quality by 1 step instead of directly to Poor quality, artifact materials no longer transforms into Mephidross but are still treated as Poor quality, and King in Rags can now acquire items above Standard quality.
Smelly Bum
You stink. BAD. So bad that even nurglites keep their distance from you. When the Impecunic's tell is at the 2-3 point level, everything within a number of meters equal to the Impecunic's Destitution must roll a Constitution test (TN 15) per minute or be Stunned for one round as they retch at the offensive odor. At the 4-5 point level, the test comes at the beginning of every round instead. At 6+, the TN for the Constitution test increases to 20. While the Impecunic is immune to these effects, as well as the Toxic property, this does make it difficult to interact with anything with a functioning nose. This is partly a supernatural effect, meaning no matter how much you bathe the stench persists. Gain a -2k1 penalty to all social rolls against targets that can smell you.
War Vet
Thats the nice thing about weapons and armor, they never betray you. So you gotta treat them with a little respect. Inheritance no longer costs double, so long as the items acquired are weapons and armor. Select a single set of armor or a weapon, barring grenades, gained at start (starting package, backgrounds, etc.). You count as proficient in the chosen gear and any proficiency feats that cover it are treated as optional. However, you begin with 10 Insanity Points from the horrors you witnessed during the war.
