Oligarch - I'm Gonna Pay You $100 to F Off
Aug 10, 2018 12:35:59 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on Aug 10, 2018 12:35:59 GMT -6
Everyone, without exception, has dreamed of having more than they do. This ever-present, often eternal desire creates a churning in the warp that deposits in places where material wealth is in abundance. A dragon's hoard, a bank vault, a sieve of gold in a mountain somewhere, it all qualifies. It one day meets a catalyst of some kind and turns the person closest to the center of the pile into wealth made manifest, though Oligarchs may also emerge from the pile fully formed without external intervention.
A newborn Oligarch immediately sets about cataloguing what they have and find a safe place for it assuming where they are now doesn't qualify. They then go after what everyone wants: more. There is much debate over the legal and ontological status of Oligarchs. Being born from the warp, they've been called daemons but they don't really have a cohesive ethos to match. Others compare them to dragons, endlessly acquiring and consuming but they clearly aren't dragons. If the wealth was collected by a bank or a dragon, do they still own the Oligarch's wealth?
How much of the Oligarch's original personality remains varies, though all of them become at least a little more materialistic. Not even as a bad thing, caring about logistics, scarcity, and practicality are well-regarded to all but the most unreasonable people.
Tell: As the Oligarch spends Credits, spectral coins and gems erupt from them in a fashion according to their gesture, fall to the ground, and fade away.
Static Powers
Avarice: The hero may spend Credits to improve Wealth rolls by +1k0 per Credit spent. You may have more than five dots in artifacts at character creation. When you fail an acquisition test to buy something, you can't make acquisition tests until you've acquired it one way or another or it is destroyed.
Embarrassment of Riches: When you suffer wealth strain, gain insanity points equal to half the result rolled. Anyone less wealthy than you has their disposition toward you lowered by 1 until you work to raise it or you aren't wealthier than them.
Prosperity's Abundance: The hero may use their Prosperity and/or Wealth to support an equal or lesser number of dots in followers or holdings on a per-case basis (if you have 2 prosperity, you may support as many instances of followers/holdings of 2 dots or less as you like). You may buy dots in wealth after character creation as though buying characteristic dots.
The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. Your wealth cannot be permanently reduced below your Prosperity +1. When you increase your Prosperity, increase your wealth by 1 to a maximum of 6.
Power Stat: Prosperity
An Oligarch's Prosperity is just that. Their power to simply have more wealth than others. As they grow in power, their body starts to gain the resemblance of a precious thing of some kind, usually gold. A low to mid-level Oligarch looks obviously rich, but a stronger one begins to look out of place; the super-duper rich have esoteric tastes that are a bit gauche. The absolute strongest look like anyone else. Actually rich people don't wear their money, equipment aside.
Resource Stat: Credits
The hero has a pool of Credits equal to their Wealth + Prosperity. The hero starts each session with a full pool of Credits.
Prosperity | Power Gained
$. Loose Change: At the beginning of each session, you gain a number of Wealth Pressure equal to three times your Prosperity. You may use these points to modify any wealth-based roll directly- spending one point improves the final total of the roll by 1. You may spend any number of these points per round, using all of them in a single roll if you wish. Whenever an opponent spends a Resource Point, a Pressure Point, a Hero Point, or you lose one or more Resolve, you recover a Wealth Pressure Point. If you would have more than three times your Prosperity in Wealth Pressure Points, the extra points are lost.
$$. Forever Sufficient: The hero may spend a Credit use their wealth in place of any characteristic when making a social skill roll (sometimes even animal ken!). This can cause wealth strain, treating the target's post-reaction mental defense as the acquisition TN.
$$$. The Rules of Acquisition: The hero may, once per session, make a wealth test to conjure any non-artifact item in their hands that lasts until the end of the scene. At Prosperity 5, the item is permanent.
$$$$. Ecstasy of Gold: When the hero stunts on a roll they did not spend Credits or Wealth Pressure on, they may forego gaining stunt dice and instead gain an equal amount of Credits up to their maximum. You may use Prosperity's Abundance to buy dots in Holdings.
$$$$$. Golden God's Hand: The hero is now at one with the concept of flashin' yo' cash. The hero may make an acquisition test to acquire artifacts, with a TN equal to 10 + 5*(artifact rating). This costs the hero 100xp per dot rating of the artifact to solidify.
Prosperous Plutonian Assets
Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist
It helps to be a genius, but we can't all be. You may buy the courtier's privilege feat as an optional feat in your current class and Embarrassment of Riches doesn't lower dispositions toward you.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur's skill is figuring people out and acting upon it. Make a Prosperity + Charisma test against the target's Mental Defense. If your test succeeds, you can detect more specific thoughts. If you get a number of raises equal to the target's Willpower, you can get the answer to a single question - assuming the target knows the answer. If he doesn't, or is misinformed, you'll just get the wrong answer he has.
Ferryman's Fingers
The disciples of the ferryman can all rob you blind, but they'd rather take what's yours right in front of you. You gain a rank in the Golden Riverside sword school, and may advance it as part of your class. Gain a static bonus to disarm and larceny rolls equal to your Prosperity.
Midas' Heir
A long-dead variety of Scion, or so we thought. Just couldn't let it die, could you? You may spend a Credit to give an item the properties of gold for the duration of the scene.
Throne Toss
You aren't just a mercenary. You're a soldier of fortune! You may spend a Credit to use Wealth in place of Weaponry, Brawl, or Ballistics for attacks and in place of Strength for damage rolls. This can cause wealth strain, treating the target's post-reaction static defense as the acquisition TN.
Oligarchs: The Rulers of Gold
Oligarchs In-Game
Oligarchs aren't a front-line fighter type. They have some fighting prowess in their assets, but not much. Their true power is in utility and socialization. Money talks, after all.
Playing an Oligarch
Oligarchs are kind of the adventurer's adventurer. They wish to grow their fortune and make their mark on the world. Plot hooks are simple and commonplace. Find a treasure, an artifact, uplift a broken community by giving it a new industry, start a colony project. Or, if they don't want to: find a nice place to retire.
An obvious character arc is the "money isn't everything" lesson. It's a good one, and probably still has mileage. But I'm sure if you're reading this you can think of something better.
Adapting Oligarchs
Oligarchs are rather specific, but I've thought of a couple different options. You could play them as a daemon of greed or a metal/stone elemental, breaking off pieces of their body to pay for things. You could play as a corporate executive or noble, or even a mortal who made a pact with a super-rich dragon sugar daddy.