Sleepless
Aug 11, 2018 10:58:26 GMT -6
Post by Marr965 on Aug 11, 2018 10:58:26 GMT -6
Sleep. Essential for the biological races, and occasionally indulged in by sapient machines and the undead. However, there are those for whom sleep is weakness, and exhaustion is strength.
The Sleepless are those who have remained awake for so long that their minds have twisted. Their fatigue becomes their strength, and their sleepless minds grant them the ability to manifest powers beyond the normal. However, this comes at a cost. They constantly feel slightly groggy, and falling asleep saps their supernatural power.
Power Stat - Insomnia
As one of the Sleepless increases their Insomnia, their madness begins to invade their everyday activity. They gain an intangible aura of fatigue and insanity, which strengthens as their Insomnia deepens.
Resource Stat - Fatigue
Sleepless Focus Assets
Flashback
The Sleepless are those who have remained awake for so long that their minds have twisted. Their fatigue becomes their strength, and their sleepless minds grant them the ability to manifest powers beyond the normal. However, this comes at a cost. They constantly feel slightly groggy, and falling asleep saps their supernatural power.
Static Powers
Exhaustion Talent
As you find yourself tiring, you nevertheless find yourself breezing through things more and more easily. Add a static bonus to your tests equal to your Fatigue.
Discipline
Where others need sleep, sleeplessness gives you strength. You don't need to sleep, but if you do fall unconscious, you lose all powers granted by your Exaltation, except this one. These may be regained by failing to sleep. One day not slept regains all your static powers, while additional days not slept regain your Insomnia powers after a number of days equal to the number of days spent without sleep minus one. (So three days spent sleepless regains you Scars and Fight/Flight Response, but not Cast a Shadow.)
Pain
Your fatigue gives you strength, but screwing up hurts you. Literally. Whenever you lose an opposed test, you take 1 wound.
Madness Talent
Your sleeplessness affects your mind, and that in turn affects the things you can do. You begin play with 5 Insanity and one rank in a Sword School, Magic School or Gun Kata. Add your Insanity divided by 5 as a static bonus to Focus Power tests when casting a spell from that School, or to your attack roll for any Special Attack or Trick Shot if that attack uses a benefit or restriction from the chosen School or Kata. In addition, you may advance that School or Kata as though it appeared in all classes.
Power Stat - Insomnia
As one of the Sleepless increases their Insomnia, their madness begins to invade their everyday activity. They gain an intangible aura of fatigue and insanity, which strengthens as their Insomnia deepens.
Resource Stat - Fatigue
Unlike most Exalts, the Sleepless use their exhaustion as their source of power. As they use Fatigue, those around them feel the crushing weight of the exhaustion that they feel all the time. You remove a point of Fatigue every hour, and resting for an hour removes an additional point of Fatigue. You may have an amount of Fatigue equal to your Constitution plus your Willpower plus your Insomnia before falling unconscious. Anything that otherwise causes you to gain Resource points will cause to lose Fatigue, and vice versa.
Insomnia | Power Gained |
⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | Scars Whenever you complete a class, you gain a Scar. Each Scar may be used once only in the same way as a Hero Point, but may not be burnt in the same way as a Hero Point. |
⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | Fight/Flight Response Whenever you fail a Fear test, choose Fight or Flight. If you choose Fight, you immediately Frenzy, as the feat, except that you must move towards or attack the cause of your fear. If you choose Flight, instead you must make at least a half move away from the source of your fear every round until it's out of sight or dead/destroyed, but you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for doing so, irrespective of any abilities to the contrary. This power replaces the normal effects of failing Fear tests except those related to gaining Insanity. |
⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ | Cast a Shadow By using a Fatigue, give any target a static penalty on a test they make equal to your Insomnia. |
⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪ | Shed Light You may spend a Hero Point to lose five Fatigue and gain a free raise on all tests you make until the end of the scene. You may not use a Scar to Shed Light. |
⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫ | Nightmare Once per session, you may become a Nightmare for 5 rounds or untill the end of the scene. While you are a Nightmare, treat your Fatigue as 20 and your Insanity as 100 or as your current Insanity plus 50, whichever is higher, and gain the Daemonic and Stuff of Nightmares traits as well as Fear (3). In addition, you don't fall unconscious for having more Fatigue than your maximum and aren't removed from play for having more than 100 Insanity while you are a Nightmare. Furthermore, when you become a Nightmare, you immediately Frenzy, as per the feat. If you have Berserk Mode, In the Zone, Spellfury or Tirade, you instead enter the relevant state. If you have more than one of these feats, including Frenzy, you may choose which state you enter. Finally, when you become a Nightmare, heal up to half your lost Hit Points and up to 2 Critical Damage. |
Sleepless Focus Assets
Flashback
You focus on the things you've done, learning from your past mistakes and getting better all the time. Whenever you fail a test or lose an opposed test, you get a free raise on the next test you make using that skill or characteristic.
Trajectory
You focus on the now, learning from the journey you're undertaking and getting better all the time. Whenever you gain Fatigue, you get a free raise on your next test.
Resolution
You focus on your goal, learning from the obstacles you can see ahead and getting better all the time. Once per session, you may designate a goal. Whenever you take a test related to that goal (SM discretion), you get a free raise on that test.
Revelation
You focus on your inner self, learning from your own psyche and getting better all the time. Choose a category of Characteristic (Mental, Physical, Social, Power, Finesse, Durability). Whenever you take a test based upon a Characteristic from that category, you get a free raise on that test.
Important Note: The Sleepless invert the normal loss and gain of Resource Points. If they would gain Resource Points, they lose Fatigue, and vice versa. This includes when they are "spending" Resource Points to activate effects, hence why I used "use" when referring to Fatigue in the context of this Exaltation.
Sleepless Physical Features: Sleepless are, by and large, much like the ordinary members of their race. They may well appear uncommonly tired, however.
Sleepless Tells: The tells of the Sleepless are generally obvious: Flickers of their own personal insanities and sleepless hallucinations begin to manifest, at first appearing as maybe a flicker of red in the corner of the eye or a flash of white. As the Sleepless exhaust themselves more, however, these manifestations become more obvious: still-wet bloody footprints being left behind or an uncommonly wide smile, perhaps. One of the Sleepless at the peak of his powers might appear to be garbed in freshly-flayed skin rather than leather, or might be a nightmare figure of smiling mouths, all far wider that would fit on the Sleepless' face.
Becoming Sleepless: Becoming Sleepless is a task few are up to. It requires not merely operating on little sleep, but actively eschewing it. Often, those who are merely sleepless succumb to their fatigue and fall unconscious only a few days into their tired vigil. Those who are truly Sleepless were sometimes kept awake by some external force, but on other occasions had some internal issue, such as intense pain or night terrors, that rendered them unable (or unwilling) to sleep. For these people, the power of exhaustion and madness is a bittersweet reward for their suffering.