Balor - The Watchers

[lanugo1984]

Balor - The Watchers  

“I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again.” -Sylvia Plath  

The Great Wheel is a place steeped in the blood of dead gods. The Syrne, who uplifted countless races. The dragons, their greatest weapons, able to unleash devastation across the cosmos. Billions of souls lost to the furnace of war. Blessed with long life, the Eldar witnessed more of this carnage than any other race. It is no wonder that they turned to hedonism, and in their hubris spawned the chaos god Slaanesh. More god-blood spilled. The death of the Eldar war god Khaine created the vampires. The deaths of others created the Balor.

The Eye holds great power. Some say they are the windows to the soul, the gateway of power through which one witnesses reality, and is witnessed in return. None know this to be true better than the Balor, who draw their power from the ancient souls of deceased gods. When the gods of old were vanquished, many of their bodies, or parts of their bodies, were retrieved by their faithful. Even in modern times, the Council of Wyrms seeks the pieces of ancient Tiamat's corpse. These faithful, some in acts of worship, others in misbegotten attempts to return their fallen godess to life, took on their gods' parts, attaching them through medicine or magic, all for disastrous results. Many mages were completely destroyed, their bodies and souls incapable of bonding with that of the gods. However, those who attempted to utilize the eyes found it considerably easier, and learned to hide their power from others. These were the first Balor. The descendants (and they are many) of these original few are spread throughout the great wheel, born with great power, but also the capability to contain it.

Though the power of the Eye is hereditary, it does not manifest in every child, and may not manifest for several generations. However, many Balor live as part of familial clans, training their powers with an older relative until they are old enough to strike out on their own, but always with a home to return to. Each clan has different ideas of how to use their powers. Some are insular, hiding themselves from the world. Others seek out battle, working as professional assassin families or mercenary teams.

Balor are suited to many tasks, depending on the nature of their specific Eye. However, they usually lean towards a combat role, whether social or physical.

Tell:
As Balor spend tears, their Wadjet emanates a growing, palpable aura of power, putting strain on their mortal eye. At 1 tear spent, the Balor's mortal eye begins to water. At higher tell levels, their mortal eye becomes bloodshot. Finally, at max tell, their mortal eye turns completely black.


Abilities:
Wadjet: Choose one of the character's eyes. It gains a Wadjet. Each Balor draws power from a deceased ancient god, its soul echoed in one of their eyes to form a wadjet, which manifests as an odd-looking pupil/iris. These eyes all have different names, passed down through the generations. Should the Balor's Wadjet ever be destroyed, they lose all of their exaltation abilities until it is replaced, either cybernetically or via some form of healing. The new eye takes on the appearance of their Wadjet.

Geass: The eye of a deceiver god, which gives power over the minds of others. The Balor gains +1 charisma, and may spend 1 tear to have anyone their gaze is fixed on take a check to their next Willpower Saving Throw. This stacks, but the effect ends when the scene ends or the Balor switches the target of their gaze.

Vecna: The eye of a death god, ringed with rot. Ironic, he could save others from death, but not himself. The Balor gains +1 composure, and may spend 1 tear to see how many hit points or resolve anyone their gaze is fixed on has remaining, as well as their true name.

Judgement: The eye of a god of judgement. You're gonna have a bad time. The Balor gains +1 Wisdom, and may spend 1 tear to cause anyone their gaze is fixed on to make a TN 15+(5*Vision) Willpower+Arcana saving throw, or be unable to make actions with the attack keyword (or social attacks) for one round.

Sharingan: The eye of a seer god, whose visions revealed their own demise. The Balor gains +1 Dexterity. They may spend 1 tear to gain an additional reaction until their next turn, and a free raise to tests that the target of your gaze performed on their last turn (if they performed a ranged attack, a raise to ranged attacks, etc)

Jagan: The eye of a god of entropy, whose gaze turned all to dust. The Balor gains +1 intelligence, and gains a rank in the Nihilikinesis spell school/may advance it as though it were part of his class track. At Vision 5, the Balor learns the Necromancy spell Blackfire and may cast it using Nihilikinesis+Intelligence. Your Nihilikinesis spells and Blackfire must target someone your gaze is fixed on.

A Watchful Eye: The character's Wadjet eye functions as a best quality cybernetic eye, granting the heightened senses (sight) and Raven's Eye feats, +2k0 to resist effects that would negatively impact your sight, and Darksight. Gain a free specialty (Eye of God) in Scrutiny and Perception. So long as you have at least your Wadjet eye remaining, you take no penalties for missing eyes.

Window to the Soul: Even more so than a mortal, the Balor's eyes are windows into the core of their being. If they gaze into the abyss, it gazes back. While your gaze is fixed on a target, you take a static penalty on all willpower and alignment tests for each tear in your resource pool.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Balor tend to hide the nature of their powers as a manner of course. As long as your Wadjet eye is covered, either by long hair, an eye patch, or some other contrivance, you are effectively mortal to all outside inspection, and cannot use any of your powers that require sight or spend resource points. If you begin combat with your eye covered, you may uncover it as a free action.

Power Stat: Vision
As Balor become more powerful, the symbols within their pupils grow ever more complex, and those looking into them can see visions of ancient battles between gods.

Resource Stat: Tears
A Balor has maximum Tears equal to their Vision+Perception. The Balor regains 1 Tear at the end of each round their Wadjet eye is covered. They may also, as a free action, take 1 wound to the head (X damage) that cannot be reduced to regain 1 tear.

Vision	Ability
*	The Evil Eye: You may fix your gaze on any single creature you can see as a free action. If the target of your gaze is killed, leaves line of sight, or becomes jaded, you may switch your gaze to any other valid target as a free action. Your gaze is unnerving and inescapable. The target of your gaze takes a check on opposed tests, dodge, parry, and refute tests made against you.
**	Watch and Learn: Every time the target of your evil eye ability attacks you and fails, you get a stacking +1k0 to attack rolls and opposed tests against them, to a maximum of your Vision in bonus dice. The effect ends when the scene ends or your gaze shifts targets.
***	Split Focus: You can focus on two targets at the same time with your evil eye, so long as they are both in your field of vision. You may target both of them with abilities that target the subject of your gaze, but have to spend resource points for both.
****	See the Pattern: You may cast the spell Luck as a reaction using Vision+Wisdom in place of a normal focus power test. You may cast it as a free action by spending 1 tear.
*****	All Seeing Eyes of God: Your Wadjet eye can see through any illusions automatically, perceive spirits/the Umbra, see invisible creatures, and any creature you fix your gaze on becomes affected as if by Arcane mark. Creatures affected this way count as having your gaze fixed on them. You may have creatures affected this way equal to your Vision. The marks vanish after 1 scene or 1 session, whichever is shorter.

Wadjet Assets

Three Great Dojutsu:

The original Wadjets, created long before the Eldar gods’ deaths, are far rarer and more powerful. Select one of the following instead of a normal Wadjet:

Balor: The OG God of Giants whose eye made the first Balor. +1 Constitution. The Balor may spend a tear to project a searing beam of death from their Wadjet at anyone within 50m as a ranged attack, dealing 3k3 damage with a pen of X and the incendiary and beam properties, where X is their Vision. You regain 1 tear each time you kill an enemy of at least half your level (rounded up).

Kurta: When in the throes of cold fury, your eyes gleam scarlet, and your power multiplies. Instead of having one Wadjet, all of your eyes count as Wadjet. They appear normal, counting as being covered unless you spend a tear as a half action to become infuriated. While infuriated, gain +1 to all characteristics until the end of the scene or combat, whichever comes first. Whenever you defeat an enemy without killing them, gain 1 tear.

Rinnegan: The Balor of the Rinnegan are said to possess the powers of creation and destruction in equal measure. +1 Willpower. You may spend a tear to push a focus power test without causing psychic phenomena, and you may cast Energy Grasp using your Vision + Willpower instead of the normal test. Regain 1 tear whenever another anyone within line of sight suffers psychic phenomena.

Double Vision: You are descended from two clans. Choose a second Wadjet option, gain the effects of the second option except the characteristic increase. Creatures with one eye have both Wadjets appear in the same eye. Other creatures must choose one other eye to become their second Wadjet.

Millennium Eye: Your eye is actually an artifact, passed down through your clan’s history to those with the power to wield it. Gain a free rank in the divination spell school, and you may advance it as though it was part of your class track. In addition, your Wadjet eye gains the benefits of being an artifact bionic eye, and can be removed/implanted in you with no test as a half action. If your eye is removed, it counts as being covered.

Sealing Patch: Your eye-covering is more than just for decoration. While your eye is covered, you don’t suffer the negative effects from insanity and degenerations and suppress the effects of gained mutations. Removing the patch immediately returns your body to its horrific, mutated, insane form. To cover your eye, you must make a Willpower test = (10+5*Vision)

Silver Eyes: You are descended from a clan of monster hunters, whose gaze is anathema to all monsters. You may spend 1 tear to count as having both the Esoteric Armory and Improved Esoteric Armory feats for creatures fixed in your gaze for as long as they remain fixed in your gaze or until the end of combat, whichever comes first.

[Amanojyaku]

Mar 10, 2020 14:54:36 GMT -6 lanugo1984 said:

Jagan: The eye of a god of entropy, whose gaze turned all to dust. The Balor gains +1 intelligence, and gains a rank in the Nihilikinesis spell school/may advance it as though it were part of his class track. At Vision 5, the Balor learns the Necromancy spell Blackfire and may cast it using Nihilikinesis+Intelligence. Your Nihilikinesis spells and Blackfire must target someone your gaze is fixed on.

Nihilikinesis is homebrew. Pothole a link.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Balor's tend to hide the nature of their powers as a manner of course. As long as your Wadjet eye is covered, either by long hair, an eye patch, or some other contrivance, you are effectively mortal to all outside inspection, and cannot use any of your powers that require sight or spend resource points. If you begin combat with your eye covered, you may uncover it as a free action.

This is a possessive, not a plural. Decide whether plural is Balor or Balors and fix accordingly.

Balor: The OG God of Giants who’s eye made the first Balor. +1 Constitution. The Balor may spend a tear to project a searing beam of death from their Wadjet at anyone within 50m as a ranged attack, dealing 3k3 damage with a pen of X and the incendiary and beam properties, where X is their Vision. You regain 1 tear each time you kill an enemy of at least half your level (rounded up).

whose

Double Vision: You are descended from two clans. Choose a second Wadjet option, gain the effects of the second option except the characteristic increase. Your other eye gains the appearance and abilities (Cyclops gain a second pupil which takes on the appearance of the second eye).

Cyclopes are homebrew. Pothole a link... or better still, get rid of the unnecessary parenthetical. There are very few situations where you actually need to single something out like this, and this isn't one of them.

Homunculus: You are an artificial Balor, a weapon created by some strange science or magic. Gain a free rank in any gun kata. You may advance that kata as though it was part of your class track. You may spend 1 tear to ignore penalties for long or extreme range for 1 round.

I fail to see the connection between "artificial Balor" and gun kata. Admittedly probably just me, but annoying nonetheless.

There's also a crapload of unnecessary formatting in here, which I suspect is the result of touching the preview tab.

[konate]

Mar 10, 2020 15:15:46 GMT -6 Amanojyaku said:

Double Vision: You are descended from two clans. Choose a second Wadjet option, gain the effects of the second option except the characteristic increase. Your other eye gains the appearance and abilities (Cyclops gain a second pupil which takes on the appearance of the second eye).

Cyclopes are homebrew. Pothole a link... or better still, get rid of the unnecessary parenthetical. There are very few situations where you actually need to single something out like this, and this isn't one of them.

To fix Double Vision here, I would recommend wording such as "creatures with one eye instead have both wadjets occupy the same eye. Creatures with more than two eyes must choose which of their additional eyes gains the wadjet." or something like that.

[Amanojyaku]

"Creatures with one eye" are either homebrew or have an empty socket for one to occupy by default.

"Creatures with more than two eyes" are homebrew and only one actually defaults to this situation, with its own rules for dealing with the extra.

Either way, the situation does not need to be called out.

[Amanojyaku]

Okay, so, been reading this for ideas lately, so have some more input on some of these...

Mar 10, 2020 14:54:36 GMT -6 lanugo1984 said:

Geass: The eye of a deceiver god, which gives power over the minds of others. The Balor gains +1 charisma, and may spend 1 tear to have anyone their gaze is fixed on take a check to their next Willpower Saving Throw. This stacks, but the effect ends when the scene ends or the Balor switches the target of their gaze.

Deception falls under Fellowship in this game, not Charisma. Not a terribly huge deal; the killer here is being able to slam your victim with extra checks on a saving throw. Note that a saving throw is an opposed test; this goes in addition to The Evil Eye down below. And saving throws (at least by LN) default to Arcana + WIL.

It's certainly fitting for what I know of the name, but ow. Especially having experienced taking a check on every roll myself, this might go a bit beyond "power move" into "and fuck you, by the way" territory.

Vecna: The eye of a death god, ringed with rot. Ironic, he could save others from death, but not himself. The Balor gains +1 composure, and may spend 1 tear to see how many hit points or resolve anyone their gaze is fixed on has remaining, as well as their true name.

This one is... well, frankly it seems almost useless. More Resolve and MD, yay. What can we do with their name? What use is knowing how many HP or Resolve they have left? Shinigami eyes aside, it feels like a dummy choice. Or a purely RP one. One of those.

Maybe someone better at munchkinry could educate me on the uses of an Appraisal power? But in the meantime, I can only suggest adding resource points and Hero Points to the list of what it can reveal, maybe adding that it reveals more at higher Vision. And that's without trying to rewrite it entirely.

Judgement: The eye of a god of judgement. You're gonna have a bad time. The Balor gains +1 Wisdom, and may spend 1 tear to cause anyone their gaze is fixed on to make a TN 15+(5*Vision) Willpower+Arcana saving throw, or be unable to make actions with the attack keyword (or social attacks) for one round.

Hello, hard control. This is absolutely evil with the Double Vision feat. TN doesn't need to be that high; most exalt powers that do this hit at 10+(function power stat). I'm almost certain it should be labeled a fear effect, too. Bad time, indeed.

Aside: I have no intention of ever playing that game. It's absolutely hilarious watching LPers get dunked on, but I have no desire to experience it myself.

Sharingan: The eye of a seer god, whose visions revealed their own demise. The Balor gains +1 Dexterity. They may spend 1 tear to gain an additional reaction until their next turn, and a free raise to tests that the target of your gaze performed on their last turn (if they performed a ranged attack, a raise to ranged attacks, etc)

Phrasing on this one is weird. Any exalt can pop resource to get an extra reaction at any time... should this maybe read as "when they spend a Tear to gain an additional Reaction, they also gain a free raise to tests that..." ? Other than that, very solid here, no other complaints.

Jagan: The eye of a god of entropy, whose gaze turned all to dust. The Balor gains +1 intelligence, and gains a rank in the Nihilikinesis spell school/may advance it as though it were part of his class track. At Vision 5, the Balor learns the Necromancy spell Blackfire and may cast it using Nihilikinesis+Intelligence. Your Nihilikinesis spells and Blackfire must target someone your gaze is fixed on.

I'm sure I mentioned at some point that tutoring a spell school is powerful. Even with the nastiness that is G+J this is a very solid contender for your fancy eye just because it doesn't just give you a rank in a spell school but adds it to your progression so you can buy more at any time. Yes, even with that limitation of targeting only who you're looking at; all that does is limit you to the offensive spells.

Blackfire, by the way, is also a homebrew spell, and should be potholed accordingly.

Resource Stat: Tears
A Balor has maximum Tears equal to their Vision+Perception. The Balor regains 1 Tear at the end of each round their Wadjet eye is covered. They may also, as a free action, take 1 wound to the head (X damage) that cannot be reduced to regain 1 tear.

Skill dots come cheap, so skill-based resources can be raised a bit faster than you might think. Not an issue (and like the Kishin's Forbidden Lore, it's flavorful), just something to keep in mind. By the same token, Wisdom is also appropriate, in case a change might be needed.

Three Great Dojutsu:
The original Wadjets, created long before the Eldar gods’ deaths, are far rarer and more powerful. Select one of the following instead of a normal Wadjet:
Balor: The OG God of Giants whose eye made the first Balor. +1 Constitution. The Balor may spend a tear to project a searing beam of death from their Wadjet at anyone within 50m as a ranged attack, dealing 3k3 damage with a pen of X and the incendiary and beam properties, where X is their Vision. You regain 1 tear each time you kill an enemy of at least half your level (rounded up).

So, first, even though I've highlighted this asset the existence of Double Vision down below has to be mentioned, since it colors my criteria: Each one of these eyes needs to be worth two of the basic set. More specifically, they'll have to be worth not having G+J.

First off, CON's not a very strong characteristic; it doesn't affect many skills, basically only serves for HP and fatigue.

Second, yeah that's kinduva good ranged weapon. Flat 50m, 3k3 (what I assume is) E with Incendiary, Pen equal to Vision? Nice. Kinda ruined by needing a Tear for it, even with the refund on a kill. It doesn't benefit from range bonuses/penalties, implied to be single shot only so it can't be used for Suppressive Fire or Full Auto, and by RAW it isn't part of a proficiency group.

Ruling: As is, I'd rather have G+J. Knock off the Tear cost per shot and we'll talk.

Kurta: When in the throes of cold fury, your eyes gleam scarlet, and your power multiplies. Instead of having one Wadjet, all of your eyes count as Wadjet. They appear normal, counting as being covered unless you spend a tear as a half action to become infuriated. While infuriated, gain +1 to all characteristics until the end of the scene or combat, whichever comes first. Whenever you defeat an enemy without killing them, gain 1 tear.

This is strange. Immediate thought is that the fury state should be treated as entering a Frenzy (for appropriate wording, see Lapin Angelique, here) so that you can get around needing a terrible feat for some classes.

Aside from that, it actually feels worse than not taking an exaltation asset at all, because you're not getting a characteristic bonus like all the others do. And your Tear refund might be a little bit hard to accomplish without a way to actually avoid killing your victims. Maybe sublimating crit damage to fatigue somehow?

Ruling: Yep, G+J is better.

Rinnegan: The Balor of the Rinnegan are said to possess the powers of creation and destruction in equal measure. +1 Willpower. You may spend a tear to push a focus power test without causing psychic phenomena, and you may cast Energy Grasp using your Vision + Willpower instead of the normal test. Regain 1 tear whenever another anyone within line of sight suffers psychic phenomena.

...do mine eyes deceive me? Are you actually giving me the ability to completely negate the downsides inherent to making my chances of success more likely? This might actually be the one that competes with G+J! ...the fact that other people (who may not tend to lack the caution in generating Warp Phenomena as I do) have to suffer phenomena to refund my Tears might be problematic tho. Maybe that should be cause phenomena?

Ruling: Literally this or G+J. Spending a Tear to get extra Focus Power dice while also not causing phenomena is pretty huge.

Double Vision:You are descended from two clans. Choose a second Wadjet option, gain the effects of the second option except the characteristic increase. Creatures with one eye have both Wadjets appear in the same eye. Other creatures must choose one other eye to become their second Wadjet.

Already mentioned, this sort of asset makes Dragonblood-likes a bit difficult to sort out. Geass + Judgment is murder. That combination stands head and shoulders above any of the other basic ones, and eclipses two of the Three Great Dojutsu, and the other three exaltation assets may as well not exist. The obvious solution is to crack the nerf bat across their leg-benders, but ideally we can raise the other options up to this level, yeah?

Millennium Eye: Your eye is actually an artifact, passed down through your clan’s history to those with the power to wield it. Gain a free rank in the divination spell school, and you may advance it as though it was part of your class track. In addition, your Wadjet eye gains the benefits of being an artifact bionic eye, and can be removed/implanted in you with no test as a half action. If your eye is removed, it counts as being covered.

Okay, so, first of all, I do not like the idea that someone can just grab you and rip out your exaltation with no test. Even if I couldn't have G+J as an alternative I still wouldn't touch this asset on power of that alone. That's the biggest no from me.

Second, that's another spell school tutored. Jagan Balors can have two of them now. And it's Divination, one of the stronger ones... you've already given them Luck out of their power stat. One of these should probably change, but I'm not sure which.

And third, bionic eyes don't benefit from being artifacts.

Sealing Patch: Your eye-covering is more than just for decoration. While your eye is covered, you don’t suffer the negative effects from insanity and degenerations and suppress the effects of gained mutations. Removing the patch immediately returns your body to its horrific, mutated, insane form. To cover your eye, you must make a Willpower test = (10+5*Vision)

This is interesting, should probably come with one of the things it suppresses (gotta encourage you to actually use it), and mutations are a homebrew deal and should be potholed.

Silver Eyes:You are descended from a clan of monster hunters, whose gaze is anathema to all monsters. You may spend 1 tear to count as having both theEsoteric Armory and Improved Esoteric Armory feats for creatures fixed in your gaze for as long as they remain fixed in your gaze or until the end of combat, whichever comes first.

...I got nothing. This one's pretty much only weak by comparison.