A class for FIRMAMENT.
Signatories sign parts of themselves over to the power of the Sun King in exchange for influence, security and leniency under his rule.
Even the Sun King cannot break the Law of Signature, and revoke his powers, so when one goes rogue, Exile is the only recourse.
These Signatories are from the Hundred Minor Charters. The Major Charters are the Charter of the Eye, which allows the Sun King to use your eyes permanently, and the Charter of the Hand, which turns you into a mindless vessel of his power. You cannot play a Chartered Hand or Chartered Eye.
THE SIGNATORY
+1 HRTS and +1 SKLL per Template
Starting Items: Fine Clothing, three pieces of Signatory Equipment, a light weapon of your choice, 3 Rations (1 slot), 200 golden coins.
Suggested Skills: 1) Finance 2) Gaslighting 3) Politics 4) History 5) Alchemy 6) Tactics
A - Charter, Energy, Debt
B - Willpower
C - Sun-Fortune
D - Heart of Gold
You have a personal coat of arms. You can ask the DM about your homeland’s heraldic habits.
Charter
Choose one of the Charters below - it will inform the Powers you gain, the Instinct you have, and the Role you once filled.
Each time you level up, choose one of the Powers of your Charter.
In general, activating a Power takes an action.
To prevent the need for literacy, each Charter provides powerful, accurate extra senses to their Signatory.
All Signatories take half damage from fire and are immune to any backlash from their own abilities.
You, as a Signatory, have something of a holy frisson to servants of the Sun King and the ordinary populace of the World Above. They will assume you are on official business, or at least assume you mean to uphold law and order, so long as they don’t figure out that you're a rogue.
Energy
You have [Templates + 1] points of Energy. You must spend a point of Energy to use a Charter Power.
If you are below maximum Energy upon witnessing the sunrise, you regain any missing points. Energy beyond your “maximum" can be acquired, and it is not lost until you expend it on a Charter Power, but Energy is only restored up to the level of the maximum by the sunrise.
If you amass 6 or more Energy, you glow like a torch.
If you amass 8 or more Energy, you read as a spirit to magic and actual spirits.
If you amass 10 or more Energy, you run the risk of Burning Out.
When you’re Injured when at 10 or More energy (or if you expend 6 or more Energy at once) roll 1d6. If you roll 1-2, you Burn Out, which causes you to explode. Most people die when they explode.
If you spend 3+ Energy per round for consecutive rounds, you have a cumulative 1-in-6 chance of Burning Out. I.e., spending 3+ Energy for 3 consecutive rounds, you have a 1-in-6 chance of Burning Out on the second, a 2-in-6 on the third..
Debt
You have a new stat, called Debt. It begins at 0.
At any time, you can incur 1 point of Debt in exchange for 1 point of Energy.
Gaining Debt to gain Energy doesn’t take an action, so it can be done instantly if Energy is needed immediately.
Each point of Debt you incur offers the Sun King one minute of total control of your body, at any time he wishes to take it.
This isn’t necessarily a problem, unless he randomly decides to check in, and sees you’re up to something important. Each minute of control the Sun King uses reduces Debt by 1.
Willpower
You may spend 1 Energy or gain 1 Debt to re-roll a failed Save. (More broadly, any roll which would impose a consequence on you, should you fail).
Sun-Fortune
When in direct sunlight, you can meditate for ten minutes to regain 1d6+[Level] Health.
Heart of Gold
You may choose, at the start of your turn, enter a heightened state of existence, glowing with golden power. Each round you use Heart of Gold, you take 2 damage, but you have +1 Action per Turn, glow like a lantern, take half-damage from all sources, and count as a spirit when it’s in your favour to do so.
CHARTERS
The Charter of the Hound
The Seekers of the Hound Charter were once explorers of the World Below, but are now turned to finding the rebellious and the outlawed. To be an exiled Seeker is to have received a taste of your own medicine.
Mark
You have the Sun King’s Mark (the dot inside the circle, as above) inside the iris of your left eye. It glows ominously in the dark, unless covered by a patch.
Instinct
You have an incredible sense of smell, and literally never forget a face - both your sense of smell and face-memory pierce magical concealment of these things.
Charter Powers:
Hound’s Run - You move with all the swiftness of the wind for a minute, and can make two attacks per turn. You can extend the effect of this Power without needing to take an action, but it still expends Energy.
Seek and Find - One creature you choose leaves behind glowing footprints visible to you and all other Signatories, for ten minutes per Energy spent. There is no save or range limitation.
Piercing Stare - You can force someone making eye contact with your marked eye to flee, or to root on the spot, if they have the same or less HD than you. These effects last for up to a minute, or until they take damage. You can extend the effect of this Power for an extra minute without needing to take an action, but it still expends Energy.
Dog’s Dog - You are accompanied by a faithful hound with glowing golden eyes and a sharp bite. Another hound appears for each Signatory Template you have, up to a maximum of four. You can expend an Energy to have the dogs teleport somewhere you can see. Your dogs attack as a pack, making one attack (1d8 Damage), but with a +1 bonus to attack and damage per Dog.
The Charter of the Hammer
Artisans of the Charter of the Hammer are empowered to build wondrous machines and items of significance for the Sun King’s servants.
Mark
Back of your Left Hand.
Instinct
With a minute of inspection, smelling and tasting an object, you can determine its rough purpose, and what it’s made of.
Charter Powers
Automaton - You arrange at least 5 slots worth of materials into a roughly humanoid shape, and spend an Energy. The items are animated as a 1HD creature, perfectly loyal to you. The Automaton persists for a day, or until it is destroyed. You can expend an Energy each morning to maintain an active Automaton.
You can give it extra HD by incurring a commensurate amount of Debt and/or spending a commensurate amount of Energy, up to a maximum of 6HD.
Automata made of parts deliberately and carefully crafted to work well as a humanoid figure have +1HD, which can take it up to 7HD.
Wondrous Device - With a magical substance, you can create a magic item with a negotiated effect (usually tangentially related to the substance). It is active for a day, although you can spend an Energy each day to maintain it. A Wondrous Device takes a slot. Wondrous Devices that you don’t maintain don’t vanish or collapse, they simply become inert, and can later be reactivated with an Energy.
Merge - Expend an Energy to phase an item of 3 slots or smaller into your body, for storage. Expend an Energy to retrieve a Merged item. You can Merge up to 8 slots of items. If you die, all Merged objects eject from your body.
Heat Flash - By the touch of your hands, you summon great amounts of heat, melding metal and searing flesh. This instantly heats metal for shaping, boils water, etc. Creatures that would take damage from great heat take a d6 of damage per Energy spent. Creatures which move quickly can roll SNEK or INIT to take half damage.
The Charter of Stone
The Builders of the Stone Charter raise walls, buildings and whole cities according to the refined urban designs of King and Chantry.
Mark
Right Shoulder.
Instinct
You can weigh objects and measure distances perfectly by sight.
Charter Powers
Well-Built - For 10 minutes per Energy spent, you have superhuman strength (i.e, 30 STR/+7 MOVE). This is, of course, even more effective with a lever or a pulley.
Like a Wall - You can reduce incoming damage by a number of d6s equal to the Energy you spend. This includes falling damage, fire, bullets, etc.
What Is to Hand - Expend an Energy to shape a rock of up to three slots in size into an equally sized hand-tool of a kind of light, ceramic-like material. These tools are fairly sturdy. You can also twist rocks into slots of strange, cold, fireproof cloth, a bit like asbestos.
Hold Fast - Expend an Energy to stick fast an object of three slots in size or smaller to another object, creating a kind of ceramic “mortar” between them. This mortar lasts for 10 minutes per Energy spent, or is permanent if both stuck objects happen to be made of earthen material. Either way, once the mortar’s time is up, it collapses into fine sand. You can always choose to end a Hold Fast early.
The Charter of the Gut
The Alchemists of the Gut Charter are best known for making fertiliser and gunpowder, but stranger things can be achieved by alchemy.
Mark
Solar Plexus.
Instinct
You can learn the recipe for a given chemical product by eating an example of it. You can identify reagents, chemicals, and the like by smell.
Charter Power:
Internal Still - You can eat all the necessary ingredients for a chemical product which you know the recipe for, and produce it from your Mark (in glowing light) or mouth (by spitting it up). Following a recipe takes about an hour and requires ingredients. You can also use this Power to:
Improvise - You consume a sample (any slightly novel or magical substance, often found in laboratories or extracted from dead monsters) and speedily brew a crude potion or poison which…
Sun Process - Induces sample-related harm to the imbiber.
Star Process - Causes a sample-related shift in the imbiber’s perceptions.
Moon Process - Manifests a sample-related transformation in the imbiber.
Void Process - Removes something sample-related from the imbiber.
World Process - Fortifies the imbiber against sample-related harm.
The results of Internal Still or Improvise can be immediately consumed by you, or extracted from your Mark or mouth, your choice. You better have a bottle handy, or a blade to coat.
You only gain one Charter Power, but it’s exceedingly versatile.
The Charter of the Shield
The Protectors of the Shield Charter are an order of bodyguards and personal protectors, established to preserve those who are useful to His Majesty..
Mark
Left Hip.
Instinct
You can, with five minutes of focus and physical contact, designate a single creature as your ward.
You know your ward’s current HP, maximum HP, their AC, and if they are affected by magic not originating from them. If your ward is within 100ft, you know their exact location.
Charter Powers:
Shield Body - If your Ward would suffer damage and you are within 15ft of them, expend an Energy and take all of the damage in their place. Damage taken via this ability cannot reduce you below 1HP, no matter how much you take.
Antiblast - Instantly, in response to an explosion, conflagration, fireball, or similar, you can trigger this Power. You absorb and contain the explosion, causing it to only affect you, and reducing the damage you take by 1d8 per Energy Spent.
Alarm - Expending an Energy, conjure an invisible 20ft diameter sphere at a point of your choosing you can see. You are immediately informed any time a creature passes through the sphere, and get a rough idea of who or what they are. Alarms can be responded to consciously while asleep. You may choose whether or not to wake up while not interrupting your sleep in any way. You may conjure an Alarm at your ward’s current position at any time.
Adaptation - You may expend Energy to gain 3DR against a specific type of damage for ten minutes - for example, ballistic, fire, cold, lightning, etc. You can expend multiple Energy on the same type of damage to “stack” the DR. The activation of this Power is not outwardly noticeable. This cannot be done in response to taking damage, only in advance of it.
The Charter of the Path
The Couriers of the Path Charter are designed to bear messages and packages for other Signatories, the nobility, and army staff, in place of obviously forbidden letter-writing. This, naturally, gives the Path Charter the position of a cabinet-noir who screens all messages passed through their system.
Mark
Left Ankle.
Instinct
You always know the direction of the centre of the world, and of your next assigned task - of course, since you’ve gone rogue, your last assigned task is, well, the last one you’ll ever have. But it might be useful as a point of reference.
You also have a perfect memory of up to 500 words at one time, used in your old job to store messages.
Charter Powers:
Courier’s Run - You move with all the swiftness of the wind for a minute, and have perfect balance during this time. You can extend the effect of this Power without needing to take an action, but it still expends Energy.
Merge - Expend an Energy to phase an item of 3 slots or smaller into your body, for storage. Expend an Energy to retrieve a Merged item. You can Merge up to 8 slots of items. If you die, all Merged objects eject from your body.
Phase - For ten minutes, you can physically pass through other living creatures without impediment. You can extend the effect of this Power without needing to take an action, but it still expends Energy.
Scout - Stand still for a minute, and focus. You receive a sort of mental report on the terrain within a a 100ft radius of you per Energy spent. Water-features, topography, unstable floors, structures, covered pits, tunnels and cellars up to 30ft underground and other “stationary” information about your surroundings are revealed to you. This doesn’t tell you where creatures currently are, but it does tell you where they could well be.
The Charter of the Needle
The Chirurgeons of the Needle Charter are surgeons and medics without compare. They have replaced all previous traditions and institutions of medicine - at least in Royal society.
Mark
Palm of Left Hand.
Instinct
You can discern injuries, pains and aches with a few seconds of examination - you can effectively tell how much HP, and how many HD a creature has.
Charter Powers:
Numbing Touch - Render a limb or other body part numb and nonfunctional with a touch, unwilling creatures may save. Using Numbing Touch on the back of an unaware person’s neck puts them immediately to sleep, if they fail a save.
Stitch Up - Heal a creature you are touching for 1d6HP per Energy Spent. You can also expend an Energy to reattach recently severed body-parts (if used within seconds of the event, this can even reverse decapitations). You can also use this power to graft additional body parts onto yourself or other creatures. Grafted body parts remain functional for a day, then fall off and begin to decay unless maintained by the application of a point of Energy.
Purify - Target creature affected by a disease or a curse gets another save against its effects for each Energy spent. Alternately, sterilise up to 3 slots of objects per Energy spent, or remove curses from the same.
Cosmesis - You may alter the physical appearance of yourself or a creature you are touching for an hour per Energy spent. You can only alter people’s appearance within the bounds of humanity. You may add Energy to an active Cosmesis to maintain it.
The Charter of the Reliquary
The Finders of the Reliquary Charter are based exclusively in the Heptarchy of Magnos. They range out from the seven great cities of Magnos to seek across the World for witchery, trickery, magic and the like. Then, they contain it, and bring it back to Magnos for study by the Heptarchs.
Mark
Nape of the Neck.
Instinct
Within 100ft, you can “hear” active Inscriptions, taste the workings of spirits, and feel active Heraldry as a chill. When other Signatories use their Powers, they glow brightly to your sight.
Charter Powers:
Skepticism - Witchery will not affect you while about your business. When an Inscription, a Deed, or an invoked Spirit affects you personally, you may reduce the [sum] by 1d6 and [dice] by 1 per Energy spent.
Sealing Reliquary - Targeting an immobile item for a minute, manifest a heavy encasing “box” of ceramic, metal and glass around the item, which self seals in a shimmer of smoke and heat. This can target items up to a slot big per Energy spent. Encased items take up twice as many slots as they otherwise would. Sealed items with magical properties cannot self-activate or be activated by anyone except another Finder. Any Finder can expend an Energy to open a reliquary, causing the plates to hiss apart and pop off, rapidly vanishing into a golden shimmer. Otherwise, the effort and time required to crack into a reliquary is disproportionate and immense.
Grip - Expend an Energy - you can seize an object, person, lever, etc. as if your dominant hand was up to 50ft from its actual position. You get a round of grip / manipulation, but must expend additional Energy for additional rounds of such. You can also “pull” the grip, causing unsecured objects you could pick up in one hand to be pulled back into your dominant hand. Reliquaries built around 1-slot items can be Gripped and pulled.
Nondetection - For a day per Energy expended, you are invisible to magical sight, the eyes of spirits, scrying, magical alarms and sensors, Signatorial alarms and sensors, and will not appear in astrological auspices, fortune-tellings or predictions of the future.
The Charter of the Furnace
The Founders of the Furnace Charter work with metal. They are tasked with mass-production and metal-casting, as opposed to the Artisans’ detailed work and individual craft.
Mark
Right Forearm.
Instinct
You can instantly discern an object’s exact temperature by sight, and can identify metals and the composition of alloys if they are known to your Charter (all metals easily found Above, and apparently a good few found only Below).
Charter Powers:
Shape Metal - A piece of metal you can see is reshaped according to your whims across the course of 1 round per slot of size. You can affect 3 slots of metal at once per Energy spent.
Mass Produce - Per Energy spent, instantly manufacture 3 slots of iron equipment, necessaries or gear. Their appearance is presaged by a faint golden shimmering. Mass Produced equipment is painfully hot for the first round after being summoned, to the tune of 1d4 fire damage. Mass Produced equipment can appear in any configuration within 10ft of you - so, for example, you could manufacture manacles directly onto someone’s wrists, though they could roll SNEK to try and avoid this.
Heat Flash - By the touch of your hands, you summon great amounts of heat, melding metal and searing flesh. This instantly heats metal for shaping, boils water, etc. Creatures that would take damage from great heat take a d6 of damage per Energy spent. Creatures which move quickly can roll SNEK or INIT to take half damage.
Replicate Metal - Per Energy spent, you may summon a slot of metal. You may only summon metal if you have at least a small piece of a given target metal. The created metal is briefly molten, but cools quickly, so it is best to summon it into a waiting mold. Your Charter Powers are set up so that you can only replicate gold and silver with explicit royal writ, lest the Kingdom’s economy explode. You can “prepare” a Replicate Metal if you also know Mass Produce, creating no metal, but causing the resultant equipment from Mass Produce to be made of the relevant metal.
The Charter of the Voice
The Speakers of the Voice Charter work primarily for the Solar Chantry, the Sun King’s church-office of propaganda, narrative and information.
Mark
Between your clavicles.
Instinct
You can read a crowd with incredible accuracy, and know a person’s opinion of you automatically.
Charter Powers:
Compelling Voice - Expend and Energy and speak an order. Listening humans must save, or act to obey the order for the next minute. Obviously self-destructive or reprehensible orders allow another save at the end of each round. You can specifically exempt listeners, but otherwise, the voice affects everyone that can hear you. Some nearly-human creatures may be affected, but with a bonus to their save.
Regal Bearing - Any intelligent creature must save or be unable to attack you. You can expend an Energy to extend this to unintelligent creatures when they try to attack you.
Sending - Speak aloud a message of up to ten words. A creature of your choice whom you have met hears the message as if you were standing next to them.
Zone of Privacy - You create a spherical area up to 10ft in diameter per Energy spent. Sounds that originate inside the Zone cannot be heard outside it. It lasts until ten minutes after you personally leave the Zone.
The Charter of the Spider
The Investigators of the Spider Charter are, like the Signatories of the Voice Charter, most closely associated with the Chantry. Their function, however, is not to be a speaking voice - but to serve as prying eyes. Rogue Investigators are rare, but a source of persistent anxiety for the Chantry.
Mark
Right Hip.
Instinct
When someone deliberately lies to you, you immediately know.
You can remember up to an hour of conversation perfectly, including what was happening in your surroundings during that time.
Charter Powers:
Disguise - For 10 minutes per Energy spent, you appear to be someone else. This can only function within the rough bounds of humanity, but is not technically an illusion - more of a temporary reshaping of your body and apparel.
Locquacity - Expend an Energy. A person you are conversing with (or interrogating) loses their ability to remain silent, impelled to answer questions, respond to taunts, follow conversational threads, and so on. Most people will not notice this happening. Only those who are aware of the possibility and aware that you are a Signatory can save to resist.
King’s Ear - Create a very faintly visible shimmering sensor at a target point. It exists for an hour per Energy spent. You can hear through it as if it were your own ear.
Reference - If the Spider Charter has a lumine record of a person, you may expend an Energy upon seeing them to learn their name, place of origin, any previous crimes they have committed that the Chantry knows about, and any notes made on them by other Investigators. If they have no lumine record, you may expend an extra Energy to begin one. You may expend an Energy to add relevant information or notes, mentally, to the lumine record of a person you can see. The use of Reference is never externally noticeable, even to Signatories whose Instincts would otherwise make it so.
–
Of course, there’s a Hundred other Minor Charters (or more), and this list is definitely not exhaustive.
Signatory Equipment
You might end up with equipment appropriate to the Charter you signed, or not at all. Maybe you traded for it, maybe you did a particularly strange job? Either way, a Seeker can find use for a brick hod, and a Builder can find use for a snare.
Spyglass, specifically insulated to prevent the negative effects of accidentally looking into the Moon or Sun.
150ft of Silk Rope, sturdy and red. 1 slot.
Block and Tackle. Lets you lift great weights, and works even better with a team. Takes up two slots. Comes with 30ft. of hempen rope, which fits in the same two slots.
Hat of Distinction. Feathers and precious metal. While wearing this, people assume you’re someone of note. Specific form of hat left to player discretion.
Duelling Pistol. A light flintlock. Usually comes in pairs, but you lost the other one.
Bugle. Irritating little nonsense trumpet.
Snares. A set of three. Can be set up to hoist the unwary into the air by their ankles.
Brick Hod. Holds 5 slots, but only when held in two hands. You could also use this as a scoop or to boost people up ledges.
Sledgehammer, can be used as a heavy weapon, but it's rather unwieldy, with a -1 to hit. Perhaps best applied to the driving of stakes and the breaking of rocks.
Ten Foot Pole, useful for all sorts of things - can be used as a rather over-long reach weapon, in a pinch. Three slots.
Artglass Rapier - A beautiful medium fencing sword, made of a translucent, etched material similar to glass. Said to be able to wound a spirit once, before breaking. Only made and given out in the Capital, and almost only to Signatories.
Painkillers. For 3 hours, you feel absolutely no pain. 6 doses to a slot, short, chalky sticks wrapped in brown paper.
Coruscating Flare, the recipe for which is only taught to Alchemists working within the Sun King’s sight in Irgavio Sol. When lit, the flare burns for 1d6+6 rounds with a painful white-black light that blinds spirits and destroys illusions.
Book of Fables. A series of woodblock printed images and simple symbols, depicting short, moralistic stories. Almost like a crude, wordless comic book. The first is The Ass and the Lapdog, which is about the importance of knowing one’s place.
Wind-Rifle. A medium gun which fires 6 shots as quickly as you can pull the trigger, in total silence, via the power of compressed air. However, it then must be pumped for about an hour to build up enough pressure to fire again. The pumping kit takes up an extra slot.
Medal of Prominence, for excellence in service of your Charter. Will get you warm smiles from some people, and deep frowns from others (i.e., +2 or -2 to Reaction Rolls). Takes up no slots.
Hand Sprayer, consisting of a storage bottle and a hand-operated pump. Mists out whatever you put in the bottle.
Sleeping Draught. 1 Dose provides an unsettled mind with a good night’s rest. People ingesting more than 1 Dose at once must roll HRTS or suffer drowsiness, confusion, or outright unwilling sleep. More intense effects occur with higher dosages. 6 glass ampoules to a slot, each containing a Dose.
Puregold Tincture, a tiny vial containing what looks like shimmering liquid gold. Horrible poison for ordinary people, but if a Signatory drinks it, they gain +3 Energy. Takes up no slots.
A Curio!
Fulminate Gold Bomb, a yellowed metal cylinder with a coiled fuse. You can set the fuse from 1 to 10 rounds. When it detonates, it deals 5d6 damage to everything nearby, save for half, losing 1d6 damage for every 20 feet of distance from the bomb. Everything that takes the 5d6 damage is also plated in a millimetre of solid gold.
Everstar Lantern, a magical lantern which is always lit, and glows a strange blue. They say that mythical creatures love and covet the cold wyrdlight of this lantern. Or, perhaps, that they hate it. The man who sold you the lantern was unclear.
RING IN CHANGES, an medium epee of electrum and tempered light. Its wielder can transform into a harmless white dove for as long as they like, and take their inventory along, too, so long as they consume 10g of spices beforehand.
Strange Seed, faintly geometric but undeniably alive. Warm, and sits comfortably in the hand. Takes up ⅓ of a slot. I wonder what will grow from it?
Sacred Steel Padlock, and attendant sacred steel key. Completely indestructible. Shame the chain you attach it to isn’t. A very rare resource.
Perihelion Rocket, a tall red cylinder marked in esoteric languages and astronomical symbols. Flies to the apex of the sky, brushing the Firmament, and explodes in a painful black-white light. This blinds all spirits in Creation for a minute. Causes an immediate response from all four Spirit-Kins. The rocket itself is worth 12000g to the right buyer.
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