Meister - When All You Need is a Hammer
Aug 24, 2018 20:32:22 GMT -6
Post by Amanojyaku on Aug 24, 2018 20:32:22 GMT -6
The Wheel has many approaches to the martial arts, though most would rather just have proficiency with a wide variety of weapons just so that they can use whatever comes to hand. Most soldiers are trained well in the use of a combination of a single melee weapon and a single firearm. There are your hyper-specialists, who gladly spend the time that might otherwise be spent learning to use a new killing stick to scrape every last bit of potential out of their weapon of choice.
And then, there's this berk.
A Meister is to a specialist as that specialist is to a common street thug... if the kensei has mastered the sword by swinging it ten thousand times, then the Meister has done so ten thousand times that, and may have performed questionable acts in the name of learning it more thoroughly besides. The soul of a Meister and her weapon are one in every sense, with the Meister capable of using her blade as an extension of her will no matter where it is, and utterly incapable of dividing her attention to learn the proper use of other weapons as a result.
Tell: As a Meister spends Technique, her weapon shines with an unearthly light, and her visage can be seen reflected in its surface at all angles.
Powers
Soulbound Weapon: In addition to your normal starting gear, begin play with a Best-quality version of any weapon (except a grenade or missile) that would normally be of up to Uncommon rarity plus one step per dot of Inheritance spent on this feature. This weapon is treated as an artifact, and has a single hearthstone slot. Additionally, you gain a free specialty (your Soulbound Weapon) in Ballistics, Brawl, or Weaponry.
Curse of Anubis: You are proficient with your Soulbound Weapon (including Melee Attachments, Trigger, and other properties that give it a different profile) and can never become proficient with any other weapon, including weapons of the same type. Treat Weapon Proficiency as an optional feat if it appears in your class progression. You cannot benefit from a bionic heart, or any artifact versions.
Blade Arts: Choose a Sword School or Gun Kata. You gain a free rank in the chosen school, and you can advance it as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You also gain a free specialty (your Soulbound Weapon) in its associated skill. When making a special attack, you can always designate the weapon to use in the attack as your Soulbound Weapon. An ally wielding your Soulbound Weapon can use your special attacks or trick shots as if they knew them, and you can use the Aid Another action on them regardless of distance as long as they hold your Soulbound Weapon.
Weapon Supremacy: Your attacks using your Soulbound Weapon deal +XkY damage, where X is your Affinity and Y is half your Affinity, rounded up. You cannot take Weapon Specialization or Improved Weapon Specialization, and treat these two feats, Weapon Focus, and Improved Weapon Focus as optional feats if they appear in your class progression.
Power Stat: Affinity: A Meister's Affinity is her bond with her weapon. As her Affinity gets stronger, her weapon begins to resonate with her, giving impressions of her presence if it's nearby, while the Meister herself always seems to be armed, regardless of the distance between them.
Resource Stat: Technique: Your maximum Technique is equal to your Affinity + your Level. You start every session with a full Technique pool and regain one Technique at the start of combat, when you Ready your Soulbound Weapon, or whenever you use a special attack or trick shot.
*UMN Storage: You can Ready your Soulbound Weapon as a free action, from any distance, teleporting it to your hand as the spell Call Item would. When you put your Soulbound Weapon away, it disappears as if stored in a Bag of Holding.
**Technician: Whenever you stunt on an attack roll using your Soulbound Weapon, you gain a free raise on the attack roll and on any skill rolls for special attacks or trick shots.
***Hyperaffinity: Once per turn, if you would add a +Xk0 bonus to a roll, you can spend a Technique to replace X with your Affinity.
****Ace of Swords: Choose a magical material. Your Soulbound Weapon gains the properties of that magical material in addition to its existing bonuses.
*****Blessing of Anubis: At this level of power, dying causes your soul to flee into your Soulbound Weapon instead of to the Raven Queen's grasp. Unless no one's around to pick your weapon up (and you can burn a Hero Point to make that happen anyway), some poor soul inevitably grasps the weapon's hilt within a month, allowing you to overlay its personality and effectively come back to life; you gain the new body's race, size, and racial power, but retain your own characteristics, skills, feats, and abilities.
Meister Armament Assets
Ceremonial Weapon
Gain +3 Resolve and a free raise on social attacks while openly carrying your Soulbound Weapon, and your Soulbound Weapon can be used as an implement and focus for any spell with the Social keyword.
Elemental Weapon
Choose one of Aerokinesis, Fulmination, Geokinesis, Hydromancy, Kheimotheurgy, Nihilikinesis, Photokinesis, Pyrokinesis, or Umbratheurgy. You gain one free rank of the chosen magical school, and can advance that school as though it were part of your class progression. You can use your Soulbound Weapon as the origin point and implement when casting a spell of the chosen school.
Legacy Weapon
Your Soulbound Weapon isn't just a part of you; it's a memento, something to remind you of a person, place, or event, and holding it anchors you. You gain +2 to all Alignment tests and a free raise on all Fear tests while you're wielding your Soulbound Weapon.
Paired Weapon
Your Soulbound Weapon has a reflection of its own, bound to you and to it in the same manner. You have a second Soulbound Weapon, which must be the same base weapon as the first. You can Ready both of them with the same action, but Readying either of them only grants 1 Technique. When you gain the Ace of Swords power, you can choose a different material for each of your Soulbound Weapons.
Super Weapon
You can apply up to two weapon mods to your Soulbound Weapon, with a combined maximum cost of +3.