Mummy : The Arisen

[Xornik]

Mummy - The Arisen

A Mummy is an ancient being from millennia past who has arisen due to an infusion of life energy from an eons old ritual known as the Rite of Return. They are cursed to forever undergo the cycle of life and death and have been brought back countless times over the centuries. Though some might not see this as a curse, the true nature of their eternal resurrection and the method of how it occurs can quickly sway others minds. Upon resurrection, most arisen are little more than a desiccated shambling corpse, with no idea of who they are or why they were resurrected. They wield terrible powers at whomever is unlucky enough to incur their wrath.

If the Ritual is performed incorrectly, a mummy may be stuck in this state until they are slain or expend all of their energy and return to slumber. Encounters with these monstrosities are told around campfires and are embedded in the subconscious of mortals as what mummies are.
However this is far from the case, if the ritual is performed correctly, the mummy will soon begin to recover their memories and learn the purpose behind their latest resurrection, their magical shroud known as the Sahu will mask their nature from mortals and they can begin to undertake their latest journey across the Great Wheel.

Although mummies originate from the oldest races of the galaxy, going back to the times of the Syrne, C'tan, Eldarin and Modrontyr, any race is capable of becoming the vessel of a Mummy's eternal essence. This happens when the mummies original body is completely destroyed, leaving their essence unchained from a physical form until the Rite of Return is performed upon a new Mortal host for the mummy. Occasionally, mummies will seek out new mortal hosts for their long lost or destroyed kin, seeking to bring back a loved one or a close friend into a suitable host so they can undertake a journey together. Typically however, a mummy will occupy their original mummified body, though their Sahu will take the form of whomever they remember being the most and this is the race that the mummy will appear to be.

The life force energy which powers the mummy and is imbued into them during the Rite of Return is known as Sekhem. Sekhem is eons old and flows through the materium of the Great Wheel unnoticed by nearly all, especially those who are more concerned with the more abundant warp magics that run rampant. It is rumored that the old gods, the C'tan were beings of Sekhem themselves, but it is known that they were the first who wielded it and taught its secrets to mortal races, who in turn created the Rite of Return. By infusing the selected arisen with a large amount of Sekhem, the cultists were able to achieve immortality through the cycle of life and death. However as Sekhem must continue to flow through the wheel, no resurrection can be maintained forever.

Though having the most Sekhem at the point of resurrection, mummies do not have access to all of their abilities, these abilities are unlocked with memories that they reclaim from their past, often found as they complete their journey. A mummy nearing the end of their descent is a dangerous foe indeed, they may not have as much Sekhem left, however the abilities at their command are fearsome. Some mummies seek to complete their purpose as fast as possible, to end the torment of unlife and return to slumber once more, whereas other wish to end the cycle and seek out Apotheosis - a rumored process where they can forsake the cycle and live forever in defiance of their makers, potentially risking mortality and never again having a driving purpose.

Abilities

Arisen - Though undead by some definitions, the arisen prefer the term deathless as they are empowered by Sekhem, the life energy of the Great Wheel through the Rite of Return. In addition to gaining the Undead trait, the arisen are forever cursed to undergo the circle of life and death. Once per week or session (whichever is longer), you must expend an amount of Sekhem equal to your Memory to remain active. If you do not have enough Sekhem for this upkeep when it is due, your body becomes a shambling desiccated husk, temporarily reducing all of your physical characteristics to 0 until you are able to pay the upkeep. If at any time you would die, instead you fall into a state of desiccated torpor for a number of Months equal to your Memory. For each month you remain in torpor, your Memory decreases by one. You may be awoken at any point by spending an amount of Sekhem equal to your Memory or if somebody performs The Rite of Return. Even if the Mummy's body is completely destroyed, their very being carries on and the rite can still be performed to bring them back, instead infusing their essence into that of another mortal. If this happens, they take on the racial template of the new host body and lose access to any racial powers, bonuses and feats they had before.

Sahu - An Arisen's true body is comprised of the desiccated preserved husk that was originally mummified millennia ago. After their resurrection and subsequent awakening, an arisen will begin to regenerate a magical body around their corpse that they will possess known as the Sahu. This body is based upon the remnants of the mummies memories, but memories are unreliable. Often, the mummy takes the ideal shape of his dreams or sometimes mistakes a figure from his past as himself and takes that form for the duration of his return. The construct of the Sahu masks the Arisen's true nature from most mortals but within the Sahu, Mummies original mummified bodies are wrapped in linen and covered with embalming liquids and thus are highly flammable. The Magic of the Sahu grants Aura equal the Mummy's Memory, but whenever they lose hit points from E-type damage they lose an additional hit point.

Cult classic - During their many lives and deaths, mummies have a tendency to touch the lives of mortals and leave lasting impressions in history. Cults will often form around legends or stories of the mummy passed down through the generations and will often be the ones to figure out the Rite of Return and resurrect the mummy once more. You begin play with 5 additional background dots to spread only between followers, contacts and allies; representing those who aided in your Resurrection or are part of your cult.

Wrath of the Sands - Mummies are Sekhem imbued creatures of sand, earth and dust and are able to summon and bend such substances to their will. Once per scene they can blast their enemies with any earth, sand or dust in the vicinity. If there are no substances in the area that can be used, the Mummy must spend a Sekhem to summon them. This attack works as a Ranged weapon (20m; 3k3 I; Pen 6; Cone(3), Orgone Array). Damage taken from this attack counts as a Magical weapon. Additional uses per scene of this power are gained at Memory 3 and 5.

Tell
Despite the fact that the Sahu isn’t a projection, but a real bodily form, it doesn't maintain its cohesion at all times. Most of the time, it displays the mummy’s overall remembrance of itself, though sometimes he forgets life signs he never paid much attention to before — he doesn’t blink, or his heart forgets to race with exertion. Sometimes an arisen may attempt to hide these flaws by hiding their face, or covering parts of their bodies in new bandages. At certain times, such as the early moments after arising or when using their Sekhem based abiltiies, glimpses of the Arisen’s corpse-form shows through, offering the appearance of the traditional “shambling mummy.” Whenever an Arisen calls upon the greatest magics at its disposal, its ancient power surges, revealing its essential nature to those nearby. For other mummies, and those capable of perceiving magical patterns, this actually results in a glorious secondary seeming, superimposed over the first. In these moments, the Arisen’s majesty and age are on full and terrible display. For mortals, spending prolonged periods of time in the company of a Mummy has the side effect of filling the user with a subtle feeling of unease, anxiety and dread as they become increasingly aware of the nature of their mortality and the circle of life.

Power Stat: Memory
Memories are precious things which people often do not value until they lose them. Upon resurrection, a mummy has very few memories about their selves and their past lives. The memories they do have are often jumbled and incoherent. As the mummy continues their journey through their latest resurrection, they begin to regain memories and slowly piece together who they were and who they are now. These memories unlock forgotten abilities, though the arisen must always be wary that using these abilities take them one step closer to returning to their slumber as they are powered by use their very life force: Sekhem.

Resource Stat: Sekhem
Sekhem is the mystical life force of the Great Wheel. The C'tan were the first to actively harness the flow of Sekhem, sharing their secrets with their cults and followers who used it to empower their magics, their relics and eventually create the Rite of Return. Some say the C'tan were made of Sekhem themselves, though with the C'tan all but forgotten and their followers in hibernation, only the resurrected arisen are able to store and concentrate Sekhem to fuel their powers. But their time is limited, as they grow in power and regain their memories they also expend their Sekhem at an increasing rate. An Arisen has a maximum Sekhem equal to 5 + (4*Memory). As a part of an hour long ritual which can be performed outside of combat, a mummy can recover (Memory)k1 Sekhem by absorbing the life force of a willing sacrifice, usually one of their cult followers.

Power Stat: Memory
Dots	Ability	Description
●◌◌◌◌	Curse of the Mummy	The Arisen can spend X Sekhem to curse X targets within 50m, afflicting them with -1 to resilience, and -10 to metal defense and static defense. You regain a point of Sekhem and heal one hit point each time a cursed target takes at least one wound or loses a point of resolve. The curse can be removed by the spell Heal, the target dying or the Mummy falling into slumber.
●●◌◌◌	Archaic Power	A Mummy can go up to six dots in any of their Power Characteristics. When spending resources to gain rolled dice for a test with these characteristics, gain +1k1 instead of +1k0.
●●●◌◌	Enthrall	The Arisen can cast Suggestion as the spell, using Memory + Charisma instead of the normal magic focus test and ignoring the Language Dependent and Mind-Affecting Keywords. You can spend Sekhem while casting this spell to gain a free raise for each Sekhem spent.
●●●●◌	Dust Beneath Feet	The mummy fully embraces his power over earth and sand, gaining the ability to move and exist as a creature of sand or dust. This allows them to hide within objects, traverse through the cracks in walls and floors and essentially turn into a small billowing sandstorm. By occupying this simple natural state, the Sahu slowly heals their wounds. By spending a point of Sekhem he gains the Phasing, Flyer and Regeneration(1) traits, which he can maintain for a number of rounds equal to his Memory. At the end of which he must return to his physical form.
●●●●●	Ancient Apotheosis	The amount of Sekhem you can spend per round is doubled. Hit Points healed from Curse of the Mummy, Dust Beneath Feat's regeneration, and via spending spending Sekhem are doubled. You no longer need expend Sekhem to maintain your deathless state each session.

Mummy Decree Assets
Dots	Ability
Ab, Decree of Heart	The Lion-Headed are passionate and acquire large cults of personality through persuasion and charm.
Ba, Decree of Spirit	The Falcon-Headed command minions to do their bidding and attack their enemies.
Ka, Decree of Essence	The Bull-Headed are relentless and can perform fearsome abilities upon touching their foes.
Ren, Decree of Name	The Serpent-Headed Whisperers seek out the underlying truths of the Great Wheel, holding onto the secrets they discover forever.
Sheut, Decree of Shadow	The Jackal-Headed Ferrymen are wise and occult magicians, with a hatred of deception.

Ab, Decree of Heart
The Lion-headed declare their emotions and feelings as what defines them, living in the moment and relying upon their instincts. These mummies often have the largest cults thanks to to their charisma and personality, convincing and converting new followers with ease. You gain kept dice equal to your memory to all social rolls involving Persuasion and Charm.

Ba, Decree of Spirit
The Falcon-headed define themselves by the loyalty and actions of themselves and those under their control. By harnessing their inner spirit and manipulating the spirits of lesser beings the Arisen gains an small subservient minion often a bird or a swarm of insects. They gain the feat Animal Companion. They may spend X Sekhem to boost the number of creatures, threat and damage rating of your minion squad by X for a scene.

Ka, Decree of Essence
The Bull-headed are relentless in their pursuits and are not afraid to enter the midst of the fray to achieve their goals. Once per scene after the arisen has used a melee attack using weaponry or brawl has hit a target, the mummy can spend a Sekhem to make the target roll upon the Touch of the Mummy table in addition to dealing damage normally. The target can make a Constitution test with a TN equal to 10 + (5 times the Mummy's Memory) to avoid rolling on the table.

SPOILER: Click to show

Touch of the Mummy
Result	Description
1-2	The targets hands are tied by magical bandage wrappings making them Restrained for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
3-4	The floor beneath them rises up and solidifies around the targets feet causing the target to become Immobilized for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
5-6	The Mummy channels his internal rot and decay into the target, afflicting them with a supernatural disease.
7-8	The Mummy blights the targets senses, causing them to become Blinded and Deafened for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
9	The Mummy drains energy from the victim, recovering a point of Sekhem and giving the target a level of Fatigue.
10+	For a moment, the victim comprehends the true horror of the eternal cycle of life and death. The target must roll on the Shock Table.

Ren, Decree of Name
The Serpent-headed whisperers deal in secrets and partake in an endless quest for the acquisition of knowledge and all truths of the Wheel. Once they have acquired knowledge or a truth, it becomes concrete to them, this often results in a paradoxical behavior of constant questioning followed shortly by a rigid certainty.
Gain two specialties upon reaching 4 dots in any mental skills.

Sheut, Decree of Shadow
The Jackal-headed define themselves by their service. Either to the C'tan, their leaders or their followers. They are dark and occult with a greater grasp of magics including the dark arts that other arisen dare not dabble in. They hold a strong disdain for deception and will use their magics of the mind to seek out liars and bend them to their will.
Arisen gain a free rank in one of the Necromancy, Divination or Enchantment magic schools and may improve this school as if it was part of their current class progression.

Associated Spells

Rite of Return
Necromancy 3
Test: Necromancy + Intelligence
Target Number: 10+(5*Memory of the target)
Action: Full Action
Keywords: Focus, Somatic, Verbal, Material
Duration: One Hour per Memory of the Mummy
Once the spell has been cast, for it to succeed roll an additional XkX where X is the number of sacrifices present with a TN equal to (5*Memory of target).
All Sekhem Sacrifices then perish, regardless of if the outcome of this test.
If both tests pass successfully the Mummy is resurrected.
Material: Willing Sapient Sekhem Sacrifices. The Corpse of the Mummy OR Specified sacrificial new host body.
Focus: Ornate Scepter


Lore which may/may not be used for exaltation origins.

SPOILER: Click to show

Millennia ago, before the Draconic Ascendancy and even before the Syrne Empire the Great Wheel was a much quieter place. Civilizations were few and far between with races keeping to themselves and lacking in technological advancement. Only the C'tan; vast powerful entities of pure energy knew of the nature of the wheel and were worshiped as gods by civilizations that discovered their existence. Most of the C'tan rarely interacted with what they saw as lesser beings, that was until they met the long forgotten civilization known as the Modrontyr. A small elemental-like race focused so intently on order and furthering itself they had developed significantly in their short time of existence despite their terribly short lifespans and frail bodies and desolate sand covered world.

The C'tan kept an interest in them and watching over this plane for a time, but the race also took an interest in the being of energy that had entered their sphere, studying it and attempted communication. Though it is unknown if the C'tan instructed the Modrontyr or if they discovered the nature of the beings powers themselves, but eventually they discovered Sekhem, the very life energy of the Great Wheel itself. Suddenly the frail Modrontyr were able to empower themselves and their civilization, rapidly expanding and unifying. Using raw Sekhem energies to power their machines, infusing technological relics with enchantments and developing a ritual which would allow them to defeat death itself and defy their naturally short lifespans: The Rite of Return. They exerted their order upon all worlds within their spheres unified worlds within the Crystal Sphere of Mechanus and loyally followed the instructions of the C'tan.

Unfortunately for the Modrontyr, the C'tan were otherwise occupied during this time, the War in Heaven had broken out and another race known as the Syrne had emerged, building an empire across the spheres and wielding powerful magics derived from the warp itself. During the war the C'tan attempted to create an army Modrontyr as soldiers in order to fight the uplifted eldarin, though their frail forms were easily ripped apart by the powerful warp magics of the Syrne and combat finesse of the Eldarin. Other C'tan sought to create new allies, planting seeds of Sekhem based Cults among various races around the wheel, even including the Eldarin hoping that the exposure to the C'Tan's Sekhem would have a similar result of loyalty that it had upon the Modrontyr.

Seemingly losing the war, the C'Tan took the Modrontyr and bonded them within geometrical armored shells of metal infused by Sekhem. This seemingly living metal was named Necrodermis, and the resultant creatures which bore little similarity to the original race were renamed Modrons. Despite being stripped of their Sekhem based magics, the Modrons proved effective as foot-soldiers, and were programmed to purge the great wheel of all other life in Great Marches.

It is unknown how the war in heaven ended or what happened to the C'tan. Some say the Syrne discovered the nature of Sekhem and the C'tan and attempted to use their own powers against them, annihilating themselves and the C'tan in the process. Others say they discovered the Rite of Return and modified it so they could return and millennia into the future. Some even say the Modrons turned on their former masters, annihilating the C'tan as revenge for their transformation. What is known however, that some of the cults seeded by the C'tan survived among the spheres, with their members operating in secrecy, creating new arisen to conquer death and resurrecting long forgotten mummies buried deep within discovered tomb worlds.
There have even been rumors of technological based civilization of a new blue skinned race appearing in the wheel with a striking similarity to the early days of the Modrontyr civilization...

[Xornik]

Mummy without fluff

Abilities

Arisen
Gain the Undead trait. Once per week or session (whichever is longer), you must expend an amount of Sekhem equal to your Memory to remain active.
If you do not have enough Sekhem for this upkeep when it is due, your body becomes a shambling desiccated husk, temporarily reducing all of your physical characteristics to 0 until you are able to pay the upkeep. If at any time you would die, instead you fall into a state of desiccated torpor for a number of Months equal to your Memory. For each month you remain in torpor, your Memory decreases by one. You may be awoken at any point by spending an amount of Sekhem equal to your Memory or if somebody performs The Rite of Return.

Sahu
Gain aura equal the Mummy's Memory, but whenever they lose hit points from E-type damage they lose an additional hit point.

Cult classic
You begin play with 5 additional background dots to spread only between followers, contacts and allies; representing those who aided in your Resurrection or are part of your cult.

Wrath of the Sands
Once per scene they can blast their enemies with any earth, sand or dust in the vicinity. If there are no substances in the area that can be used, the Mummy must spend a Sekhem to summon them. This attack works as a Ranged weapon (20m; 3k3 I; Pen 6; Cone(3), Orgone Array). Damage taken from this attack counts as a Magical weapon. Additional uses per scene of this power are gained at Memory 3 and 5.

Tell
When spending resource points, glimpses of the Arisen’s corpse-form shows through, offering the appearance of the traditional “shambling mummy.” Whenever an Arisen calls upon the greatest magics at its disposal, its ancient power surges, revealing its essential nature to those nearby. In these moments, the Arisen’s majesty and age are on full and terrible display. For mortals, spending prolonged periods of time in the company of a Mummy has the side effect of filling the user with a subtle feeling of unease, anxiety and dread as they become increasingly aware of the nature of their mortality.

Power Stat: Memory
Upon resurrection, a mummy has very few memories about their selves and their past lives, as they grow in power they begin to regain memories and slowly piece together who they were and who they are now.

Resource Stat: Sekhem
An Arisen has a maximum Sekhem equal to 5 + (4*Memory)
As a part of an hour long ritual which can be performed outside of combat, a mummy can recover Xk1 Sekhem by absorbing the life force of a willing sacrifice, usually one of their cult followers. Where X is their current Memory.

Power Stat: Memory
Dots	Ability	Description
●◌◌◌◌	Curse of the Mummy	Spend X Sekhem to curse X targets within 50m, afflicting them with -1 to resilience, and -10 to metal defense and static defense. You regain a point of Sekhem and heal one hit point each time a cursed target takes at least one wound or loses a point of resolve. The curse can be removed by the spell Heal, the target dying or the Mummy falling into slumber.
●●◌◌◌	Archaic Power	A Mummy can go up to six dots in any of their Power Characteristics. When spending resources to gain rolled dice for a test with these characteristics, gain +1k1 instead of +1k0.
●●●◌◌	Enthrall	You can cast Suggestion as the spell, using Memory + Charisma instead of the normal Focus test and may ignoring the 'Language Dependent' and 'Mind-Affecting' keywords. You can spend Sekhem while casting this spell to gain a free raise for each Sekhem spent.
●●●●◌	Dust Beneath Feet	Spend a point of Sekhem to gains the Phasing, Flyer and Regeneration(1) traits for a number of rounds up to his Memory.
●●●●●	Ancient Apotheosis	The amount of Sekhem you can spend per round is doubled. Hit-points healed from Curse of the Mummy, Dust Beneath Feat's regeneration, and via spending spending Sekhem are doubled. You no longer need expend Sekhem to maintain your deathless state each session.

Mummy Decree Assets

Ab, Decree of Heart
You gain kept dice equal to your memory to all social rolls involving Persuasion and Charm.

Ba, Decree of Spirit
Gain the feat Animal Companion. They may spend X Sekhem to boost the number of creatures, threat and damage rating of your minion squad by X for a scene.

Ka, Decree of Essence
After the arisen has used a melee attack using weaponry or brawl has hit a target, the mummy can spend a Sekhem to make the target roll upon the Touch of the Mummy table in addition to dealing damage normally. The target can make a Constitution test with a TN equal to 10 + (5 times the Mummy's Memory) to avoid rolling on the table.

SPOILER: Click to show

Touch of the Mummy
Result	Description
1-2	The targets hands are tied by magical bandage wrappings making them Restrained for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
3-4	The floor beneath them rises up and solidifies around the targets feet causing the target to become Immobilized for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
5-6	The Mummy channels his internal rot and decay into the target, afflicting them with a supernatural disease.
7-8	The Mummy blights the targets senses, causing them to become Blinded and Deafened for a number of round equal to the Mummy's Memory.
9	The Mummy drains energy from the victim, recovering a point of Sekhem and giving the target a level of Fatigue.
10+	For a moment, the victim comprehends the true horror of the eternal cycle of life and death. The target must roll on the Shock Table.

Ren, Decree of Name
At each level of Memory, you gain an Artifact with a rating equal to (Memory-1). These artifacts are chosen by the SM.

Sheut, Decree of Shadow
You gain a free rank in one of the Necromancy, Divination or Enchantment magic schools and may improve this school as if it was part of their current class progression.


Rite of Return
Necromancy 3
Test: Necromancy + Intelligence
Target Number: 10+(5*Memory of the target)
Action: Full Action
Keywords: Focus, Somatic, Verbal, Material
Duration: One Hour per Memory of the Mummy
Once the spell has been cast, for it to succeed roll an additional XkX where X is the number of sacrifices present with a TN equal to (5*Memory of target).
All Sekhem Sacrifices then perish, regardless of if the outcome of this test.
If both tests pass successfully the Mummy is resurrected.
Material: Willing Sapient Sekhem Sacrifices. The Corpse of the Mummy OR Specified sacrificial new host body.
Focus: Ornate Scepter

[GuardianTempest]

Jaegus the fluff is stifling, and the way you format paragraphs is a nightmare. If you're going to put a line break, put two of them instead, otherwise the wall of text looks really haphazard. Or you could cut it and condense it into a single paragraph.

Just one or two sentences from the fluff is enough, the rest can be omitted. Here's an attempted rewrite of Sahu.

An Arisen's true body is the desiccated-yet-preserved husk that was originally mummified millennia ago. After their resurrection and subsequent awakening, an Arisen will regenerate a magical body around their corpse which they possess known as the Sahu. This body is based upon the unreliable remnants of the mummies memories, like the ideal shape of their dreams or a figure from the past mistaken as their true form. The Sahu masks the Arisen's true nature from most mortals but the mummified body inside is highly flammable due to being covered in linen and embalming fluids. The Sahu grants Aura equal the Mummy's Memory, but whenever they lose hit points from E-type damage they lose an additional hit point.

[Xornik]

My apologies for my formatting. In hindsight, I totally agree that I went way overboard with Fluff for Mummy. One day I'll go back and make it more concise, moving the Fluff into "Book Exalt Fluff" style headings instead. The Fluffless post was to provide a solution in the meantime until motivation to trim the fluff hits.

[GuardianTempest]

I could do it for you, but unfortunately there's enough on my plate as it is.

[GuardianTempest]

It's been more than a year and it's about time I do something, at least as a little unrust.
I have taken the liberty of adjusting some of your paragraphs, namely on how you did your linebreaks.
Having a single line break (like this) that makes the reading a little jarring.
So instead I've either removed it and placed the sentence back in the paragraph formation or added another to a proper paragraph break.
Your tables, although they display neatly, is quite a mess in code.
It's probably the vile work of the preview tab.
More changes to come in the future, namely the trimming of fluff. You might want to save up a copy before I begin the great purge.

[DatsVatSheSaid]

Yeah, the weird vertical layout of text in the tables hurts my eyes to read.

[A nony mouse]

Man, this one really leans into the whole "my followers are constantly dying and being consumed that I might live" thing, doesn't it? Of course, that's not the *real* way you handle this issue. The real way you handle it is that you find a bunch of people who won't be missed, capture them, curse them, and have your cult alternate between torturing them and healing them up. If you have some way of letting them know that you're in a fight, they can even feed you resources (and HP) mid-combat.

Also, Kobolds are again Best Race - at first level, they can soak that horrible little life tax straight to the HP with Power in the Blood, and once they have their torture engine going, they can torture the cursed for HP and Sekhem, use Power in the Blood to turn that HP into more Sekhem, and use the Sekhem to cast healing spells on the tortured captives, coming out ahead overall. At Memory 4, you can use Power in the Blood to keep Dust Beneath Feet up permanently - the first two rounds will get you back the HP that you spent, and the next two will either heal your HP or let you spend a point of Sekhem doing something else.

Basically... "spend an hour and consume the soul of a follower" is sufficiently high-cost that the first thing to do when building a mummy is make sure that you never have to use that power. It's not a recharge mechanic. It's a failure state. Given that it's a failure state that requires that you still have minions loyal enough that they're willing to die for you and have their souls be consumed, that's a bit weird. It doesn't even make sense. Like, don't consume their soul. A follower is a renewable resource. Just curse them, and let them go off and indulge in some recreational self-harm for a while. It doesn't even take that long. Sure, it means that they lose a resilience and their static defenses tank, but it's better than death-by-soul-consumption, right?

[Lestat]

Currently mummies get the Phasing trait when they use their PS4 ability, but I wonder if this was meant to be incorporeal (as if Phasing) instead since Phasing needs a half action to become incorporeal from it.

[ScrapyardDragon]

If heal can purge the curse shouldn't the absolution feat also be able to?

[insertnamehere]

Posting this because there have been discussions about Curse of the Mummy off the forum regarding how stupidly powerful it is. The whole "lasting basically forever unless someone knows a specific 4th level spell" was also a hot button topic. This version of the curse is apparently from an earlier draft of mummy;

* Curse of the Mummy - The Arisen can spend X Sekhem to inflict a powerful curse upon a non-allied target within 50m, afflicting them with -Xk0 on all rolls. Only one target can be cursed at a time, and a curse is only removed when the target dies or a new target is cursed. A Mummy regains a point of Sekhem for each test failed by the target within X Checks of the TN.

Personal thoughts on curse

SPOILER: Click to show

Though this version is a lot less stupid, it still suffers from the fact that mummy is one of those "no resource = you're dead" exalts and banking on your opponents to be inept and/or unlucky is a lot less reliable to replenish resource than just bashing their teeth in while they're cursed.

Heres my Frankenstein's monster version that I think has the best of both worlds along with some tweaks;

* Curse of the Mummy - The Arisen can spend Sekhem to curse targets within 50m, afflicting them with either -1 to resilience, -5 to metal defense, or -5 static defense per Sekhem spent for the remainder of the scene. Multiple targets can be cursed at the same time, divvying Sekhem among the number of targets you want cursed. Cursing an already cursed target replaces the old curse with the new one. You regain a point of Sekhem and heal one hit point each time a cursed target takes at least one wound or loses a point of resolve. The curse can be removed by the target dying, the Mummy falling into slumber, or a spell/power that heals Hit Points which removes a point of curse for every hit point that would have been healed.

[GuardianTempest]

I argue that is harsher since "all rolls" also applies to stuff like damage rolls, and for characteristic tests it's even harder. Sure the earlier version only curses one target at a time but it can combo with stuff like Tranq.

also Xornik's perennially afk

[insertnamehere]

Jan 18, 2024 18:29:37 GMT -6 GuardianTempest said:

I argue that is harsher since "all rolls" also applies to stuff like damage rolls, and for characteristic tests it's even harder. Sure the earlier version only curses one target at a time but it can combo with stuff like Tranq.

also Xornik's perennially afk

Sure, if you want to get pedantic about it. That being said you do have a point that it could make characteristics rolls down right impossible but its tied to how much resource you spend, which is determined by your PS, and no longer acts as a level 1 nuke. I mainly posted it to act as an archive/alternate since there have been many critiques about current curse. If I had my way curse would function more in line with the hypothetical one I posted earlier.

[GuardianTempest]

Jan 18, 2024 21:53:18 GMT -6 insertnamehere said:

Sure, if you want to get pedantic about it.

The core rulebook wouldn't use "all rolls" as the fatigue penalty if it only affects tests and not everything else. An exhausted person's gun still hits as hard as if he was fine. Now that I'm typing this out, All-Thumbs also uses the phrase "all rolls"...and so does Unluck. That is terrifying.

That being said you do have a point that it could make characteristics rolls down right impossible but its tied to how much resource you spend, which is determined by your PS, and no longer acts as a level 1 nuke. I mainly posted it to act as an archive/alternate since there have been many critiques about current curse. If I had my way curse would function more in line with the hypothetical one I posted earlier.

I agree with the rationale but- oh -5 to the defenses, yes I was thinking the same. The nuking thing wouldn't be so bad if it also didn't last so long. The quickest hotfix would be to make the curse last until the scene or just a day, or even just a limited amount of rounds/minutes.