Alternate Dragon-Blooded - Daemon-Spawn

[Amanojyaku]

Everyone knows that Daemons love to screw with mortals. That's just common knowledge. What isn't so common is when they screw with mortals, spreading daemonic seed across the Materium. Its often the first child of this unholy matrimony that inherit the wicked powers of the Warp, but the child can easily pass on his daemonic blood without triggering an Exaltation. Like how Dragon-Blooded can arise randomly out of a tangled family tree, Daemon-Spawn can rise within a bloodline after generations of dormancy.

Daemon-Spawn tend to have less than ideal relationships with their families. They can be cast out of their home planets as witches and heretics, often driven to the patron god of whatever abomination sired them upon becoming Exalted. A particularly impatient Daemon will attempt to hasten the process, with results about as successful as you'd expect them to be. The implication is that the forces of Chaos are the only source of Daemon-Spawn, but it seems that even the Blessed Pantheon are not above the temptation of the flesh. Grey Council Daemon-Spawn are the rarest, but by no means impossible.

Upon becoming aware of their origins, each Daemon-Spawn faces an inner struggle and a major decision: Follow the path of your ancestors, or carve your own way through the Wheel?

Replace the following:

Draconic Aura with Daemonic Pressure

Blood Quickening with Piece of the Warp

Dragon Mind with Daemon Mind (cosmetic)

Dragon Wings with Daemon Wings (cosmetic)

Dragon Heart with Daemon Heart

Dragon Skin with Daemon Hide (cosmetic)

Maximum Dragoning with Juggernaut Drive

Daemonic Pressure: A Daemon-Spawn's Tell is the shadow of its sire, a pall and a chill in the air that makes others uneasy and sends mortals screaming for the hills. When a Daemon-Spawn's Tell is at the 2-3 point level, everything within a number of meters equal to the Daemon-Spawn's Aspect must make a test against Fear (1) every minute. At the 4-5 point level, this test must be made at the beginning of every round instead. At 6+, the Fear rating increases to 3.

Piece of the Warp: Each Daemon-Spawn has a deep tie to a certain daemonic aspect, be it speed, power, magic, or infinite potential. Choose one of the following pieces when building your character (unless otherwise specified, the effects for spending Breath may be used only once per round):

• Bishop: The Daemon-Spawn's claws are treated as Implements for the purpose of all feats or class abilities. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Wisdom. By spending a point of Breath, they may increase the TN of the next spell targeting themselves or one of their allies within 5m before their next turn by their Aspect.
• Knight: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Balanced. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Dexterity and +2 Speed. By spending a point of Breath, their next attack gains Pen equal to the Daemon-Spawn's Aspect. If they don't make an attack before the end of their next turn, the benefit is lost.
• Pawn: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Volatile. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Willpower. By spending a point of Breath, they may take an Opportunity Attack action against any creature they're engaged in melee with if that creature takes an action with the Movement tag, as if that action also has the Provokes tag.
• Queen: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Tearing. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Charisma. By spending a point of Breath, the next attack made by themselves or an ally within 5m gains a bonus to damage equal to their Aspect. If no such attack is made before the end of their next turn, the bonus is lost.
• Rook: The Daemon-Spawn's claws deal +1k0 damage. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Constitution. By spending a point of Breath, they gain +1 Resilience until their next turn.

Daemon Heart: If the Daemon-Spawn would be affected by Psychic Phenomena, they can spend Breath to treat the effect applied to them as if the d100 roll had a penalty equal to 10 times the Breath spent.

Juggernaut Drive: Once per session, the Daemon-Spawn may use the spell Iron Body, automatically passing the Focus Power test.

SPOILER: Click to show

Reincarnation
Much like Vampires, it's possible for certain Daemon-Spawn to create more of their kind by turning mortals, and thankfully not in the same way they themselves were created. And, like Vampires, there are restrictions to this.

• Only sentient creatures can be Reincarnated. Animals cannot become Daemon-Spawn.
• Exalts cannot be Reincarnated. This includes Paragons.
• In order for a Reincarnation to be forced, the patron must have a strong connection to the Warp, and the reincarnating mortal must be in a weakened state. Dying, comatose, or otherwise hard-done-by mortals have an easier time accepting the Piece of the Warp provided by their patron.
• Pregnant females cannot be Reincarnated; too many souls in one body repels the Piece of the Warp being placed inside it.
• Reincarnation requires significant expenditure of energy, siphoning off a portion of one's daemonic essence into another. The patron, who must have the Balance Breaker asset, permanently loses a point of Aspect in order to force the new Daemon-Spawn to reincarnate. Daemon-Spawn of Aspect 1 lack the energy to force their Piece of the Warp into the new body, and may end up just pissing off the mortal depending on how careless they were with their promises.
• The Reincarnated mortal becomes a Daemon-Spawn at Aspect 1, and if they're able to take an exaltation asset at this point they may not take Balance Breaker. The patron gains them as an Ally. As it is nigh on impossible to Reincarnate an unwilling mortal, it is very rare for a Reincarnated Daemon-Spawn to break with their patron, and even if they do, they are more likely gained as an additional Contact than as an enemy.

Daemon-Spawn Bloodline Assets

Balance Breaker
There is infinite variety within the Warp, and within that infinite variety comes the potential for bugs in the system, so to speak. Some daemonic sires can pass on not only the touch of the Warp, but fragments of their own essence. You may have had the extremely good fortune of being sired in this way. You may choose one of the following in place of your normal Piece of the Warp choices:

• King: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Composure and +3 Resolve. By spending a point of Breath, they may ignore an enemy's attempts at defending itself from their attacks until the end of the current turn (includes anything that requires spending Reactions or resources, but not passive effects such as Armor or Aura that is already active). The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Volatile.
• Champion: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Strength and may choose a Gun Kata or Sword School; they may always advance the chosen school as if it was part of their class. By spending a point of Breath, they gain Aura equal to their Aspect until their next turn. The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Brütal.
• Wizard: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Intelligence, and may choose a Magic School; they may always advance that Magic School as if it was part of their class. By spending a point of Breath, they may adjust the results of a number of rolled dice on a magic test equal to their Aspect by 1 each in the same direction, or the result of a single die by an amount equal to their Aspect; do this before checking to see if the spell has caused Psychic Phenomena. The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Orgone Array and are treated as implements for the purpose of all feats or class abilities.
• Dragon: Choose one Blood Quickening from the Dragon-Blooded exaltation. You gain its benefits in addition to your Piece of the Warp, and may choose which characteristic bonus to gain.

Blood of the Damned
The Daemon-Spawn's claws deal +1k1 damage, and the damage type is changed to E. After reaching Aspect 3, advancing their Tell to the 4-5 point level grants their claws Flexible and treats them as magic weapons.

Blood of the Fallen
The scions of the Grey Council are inveterate cheaters, using whatever momentary distraction presents itself to regain their edge. They may regain 2 Breath after a successful stunt of 2 or more dice. This asset cannot be used in consecutive rounds.

Blood of the Holy
The Daemon-Spawn may use the Healing Surge action as a free action once per round, and may cast the spell Armoring Aura, using Aspect + Willpower instead of the normal magic test.

Mutation Piece
You have the bloodline of not just one, but two daemon pieces flowing through your veins. Choose an additional Piece of the Warp (Bishop, Knight, Pawn, Queen, or Rook). You gain the benefits of that Piece of the Warp, with the exception of that Piece of the Warp's characteristic bonus.

Revised Core

SPOILER: Click to show

Replace the following:

Draconic Aura with Daemonic Pressure

Blood Quickening with Piece of the Warp

Dragon Mind with Daemon Mind (cosmetic)

Dragon Wings with Daemon Wings (cosmetic)

Dragon Heart with Daemon Heart

Dragon Skin with Daemon Hide (cosmetic)

Maximum Dragoning with Juggernaut Drive

Daemonic Pressure: A Daemon-Spawn's Tell is the shadow of its sire, a pall and a chill in the air that makes others uneasy and sends mortals screaming for the hills. When a Daemon-Spawn's Tell is at the 2-3 point level, everything within a number of meters equal to the Daemon-Spawn's Aspect must make a test against Fear (1) every minute. At the 4-5 point level, this test must be made at the beginning of every round instead. At 6+, the Fear rating increases to 3.

Piece of the Warp: Each Daemon-Spawn has a deep tie to a certain daemonic aspect, be it speed, power, magic, or infinite potential. Choose one of the following pieces when building your character (unless otherwise specified, the effects for spending Breath may be used only once per round):

• Bishop: The Daemon-Spawn's claws are treated as Implements for the purpose of all feats or class abilities. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Wisdom, and may raise this characteristic to 6. By spending a point of Breath, they may increase the TN of the next spell targeting themselves or one of their allies within 5m before their next turn by their Aspect.
• Knight: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Balanced. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Dexterity and +2 Speed, and may raise Dexterity to 6. By spending a point of Breath, their attacks gain Pen equal to the Daemon-Spawn's Aspect until the end of the scene.
• Pawn: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Volatile. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Willpower, and may raise this characteristic to 6. By spending a point of Breath, for the rest of the scene they may take an Opportunity Attack action against any creature they're engaged in melee with if that creature takes an action with the Movement tag, as if that action also has the Provokes tag.
• Queen: The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain Tearing. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Charisma, and may raise this characteristic to 6. By spending a point of Breath, all attacks made by themselves or an ally within 5m gain a bonus to damage equal to their Aspect for the rest of the scene.
• Rook: The Daemon-Spawn's claws deal +1k0 damage. The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Constitution, and may raise this characteristic to 6. By spending a point of Breath, they gain +1 Resilience for the rest of the scene.

Daemon Heart: If the Daemon-Spawn would be affected by Psychic Phenomena, they can spend Breath to treat the effect applied to them as if the d100 roll had a penalty equal to 10 times the Breath spent.

Juggernaut Drive: The Daemon-Spawn can armor himself with hardened Warp-fire as a half action, gaining Armor Plating (12) on all body locations, +3 Strength and +1 Resilience until the end of the scene. The first use of this power during a session is free, but each time afterward costs 4 Breath.

Daemon-Spawn Bloodline Assets

Balance Breaker
There is infinite variety within the Warp, and within that infinite variety comes the potential for bugs in the system, so to speak. Some daemonic sires can pass on not only the touch of the Warp, but fragments of their own essence. You may have had the extremely good fortune of being sired in this way. You may choose one of the following in place of your normal Piece of the Warp choices:

• King: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Composure and +3 Resolve, and may raise Composure to 6. By spending a point of Breath, they may ignore an enemy's attempts at defending itself from their attacks until the end of the current turn (includes anything that requires spending Reactions or resources, but not passive effects such as Armor or Aura that is already active). The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain the Tearing and Volatile properties.
• Champion: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Strength, can raise this Characteristic to 6, and may choose a Gun Kata or Sword School; they may always advance the chosen school as if it was part of their class. By spending a point of Breath, they gain Aura equal to their Aspect for the rest of the scene. The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain the Brütal property.
• Wizard: The Daemon-Spawn gains +1 Intelligence, can raise this Characteristic to 6, and may choose a Magic School; they may always advance that Magic School as if it was part of their class. By spending a point of Breath, they may adjust the results of a number of rolled dice on a magic test equal to their Aspect by 1 each in the same direction, or the result of a single die by an amount equal to their Aspect; do this before checking to see if the spell has caused Psychic Phenomena. The Daemon-Spawn's claws gain the Force and Orgone Array properties, and are treated as implements for the purpose of all feats or class abilities.
• Dragon: Choose one Blood Quickening from the Dragon-Blooded exaltation. You gain its benefits in addition to your Piece of the Warp, and may choose which characteristic bonus to gain.

Blood of the Damned
The Daemon-Spawn's claws deal +1k1 damage, and the damage type is changed to E. After reaching Aspect 3, advancing their Tell to the 4-5 point level grants their claws Flexible.

Blood of the Fallen
The scions of the Grey Council are inveterate cheaters, using whatever momentary distraction presents itself to regain their edge. They may regain 2 Breath after a successful stunt of 2 or more dice. This asset cannot be used in consecutive rounds.

Blood of the Holy
The Daemon-Spawn may spend Breath to recover Hit Points in combat as a free action, and may cast the spell Armoring Aura, using Aspect + Willpower instead of the normal magic test.

Mutation Piece
You have the bloodline of not just one, but two daemon pieces flowing through your veins. Choose an additional Piece of the Warp (Bishop, Knight, Pawn, Queen, or Rook). You gain the benefits of that Piece of the Warp, with the exception of that Piece of the Warp's characteristic bonus.

[Amanojyaku]

Edits in. Now caught up to the revised versions.

[Amanojyaku]

Yet more edits. Daemon Heart is now back to providing a buffer against Phenomena and Perils, this time in the form of swimming with the tide when they happen. Yes, that particular penalty looks familiar, doesn't it?

Balance Breaker (Wizard) has also been revised for clarity of intent: The phrasing is indeed equal to, not "up to." If you are at Aspect 3, the first option applies to three dice on the magic test or you must use the single-die option. In addition, those three dice all have to be adjusted the same way. You can't ding a 10 down to 9 and bump two 8s to also be 9s; if one goes down, they all go down.

Also, potholed a homebrew weapon property.