Metaphor

Metaphor System Skills, Combat techniques, Superpowers and more can be created and used through the use of Metaphors. Metaphors allow players to define what their character is capable of by using a modular system of modifiers and unique effects. Metaphors are made of multiple layers: Base, Ability and Sub-Ability. Metaphors can be created or improved by either Experience Points, Narrative-Progression, or through Metaphor Manuals, depending on the game scenario and Game-Master's rules. For a list of pre-made Metaphor examples, check out Recommended Metaphors. Anatomy of a Metaphor Metaphors are made up of four main components, The Type, Scope, Ability and Sub-Ability. Type The Metaphor Types help define and categorise similar Metaphors together. The following types include: ♦ Combat Combat Metaphors generally give bonuses, effects and proficiencies to attacks used by a character. While certain stats like damage and range are usually determined by the Weapon or Powers of the character Combat Metaphors usually grant a ToHit Bonus to increase the odds of the appropriate attack succeeding. Users must succeed on a Tohit check against their target's Evasion/Deflection to determine if an attack hits them or not. For more information about Combat mechanics, see Combat. ♦ Skill Skill Metaphors can allow a wide range of actions and outcomes based on a field of interest or talent. To constrain the Metaphor, the Scope that defines what circumstances and actions it can be used. Skill Metaphors grant a Skill Bonus to help improve the odds of succeeding a Skill Check, if the user succeeds on the check, they will likely receive the desired outcome granted by their Metaphor. ♦ Active Active Metaphors go by many names including Concentration, Tension, Channelling, Toggles...etc, but commonly they are powers the user can activate to create persistent effects that affects the user and/or any valid targets around them so long as it is maintained by the user. To limit the number of Toggle effects are active at once, a Status Magnitude is applied against the user's Body or Mind value. It is possible to lower the amount of Toggle Magnitude generated by an Active Metaphor, however as a rule, this magnitude can't be lower than 2. ♦ Passive Passive Metaphors are similar to Active Metaphors, however they are automatically activated and do not install a Status magnitude, instead, the creation and improvements to a Passive Metaphor lowers the user's Maximum Metapoints (MP) by an amount appropriate to its effectiveness. Passive Metaphors often can't be deactivated and thus can't be suppressed by normal means. ♦ Power Power Metaphors often have a detailed Scope containing stat-blocks necessary for them to function alone. The benefit of such a Metaphor type is that the Ability and Sub-Abilities connected are used to improve the various stats the Power grants and to add new effects that weren't present previously. Power Metaphors sometimes have a cost per use and are usually activated as an action, Power Metaphors can have effects that last a duration instead of indefinitely (or by maintaining it) upon activation. Scope The Scope is the primary description of the Metaphor, it describes the intent, limits and/or and functions of the Metaphor, as well as any stats necessary for it to make sense mechanically (especially if it's an activated power or ability). Some Metaphor types are simpler than others, Skill and Combat Metaphors focus on being able to improve Skill/ToHit checks and their outcomes vary more. Everything that is important to know about a Metaphor is stored within its Scope. When a Metaphor is listed on a character's sheet, a brief description can be written in the Ability field along with its bonus. A Detective character wants to create the Investigation Skill so they can do their job. They describe the Investigation skill to be 'Gain a bonus to checks involving the discovery of clues, secrets and contradictions behind mysteries, conspiracies to uncover the truth, just like a Detective'. This creates a brief but concise scope of the limits of the Investigation skill and any situation that meets the scope can use the Metaphor in checks. Sometimes providing context such as 'Like a X' can help fill in some gaps in understanding the spirit of a Metaphor's scope. A spellcaster wants to create a spell for themselves, a Cantrip called Magic Bolt. As this is a type of Power Metaphor, stats about Magic Bolt need to be specified such as Damage, Range, Targeting (ToHit? Core Value? Autohit?), Cost (Always at least One action, but others may apply too) and so on. After all the important information is filled out, then it's understood that whenever 'Magic Bolt' is used, these will be the effects. Scope in this context is all the mechanics needed to use it in game. Ability A Metaphor's Ability is an extension of its Scope, and where the Metaphor's primary Bonus resides, normally applying a modifier to improve the chance of success or its effects. Generally whenever conditions of the Scope are valid on a check or circumstance, the Ability bonus will apply to the specified stat. A Metaphor starts with a value of +1 and increments by 1 each time it is improved with experience points or some other method. An Ability Bonus usually only applies to a single aspect, such as ToHit, Skill, Damage, Magnitude...etc. But multiple bonuses could apply if allowed by the Game-master. Abilities usually have fixed values instead of dice bonuses like Sub-Abilities tend to, but this again can be allowed with Game-master consent. The Investigation Skill simply grants a Skill bonus equal to its value whenever the scope of the Investigation skill is valid. A brief description of the Investigation skill can be written into the character sheet for context. Magic Bolt's Ability can enhance one primary aspect of the power that improves as the Metaphor does. A couple of good options include ToHit to make it more successful at hitting targets, or Damage if it has reliable enough targeting and want to get more damage in. Magnitude is also another good option if the purpose of Magic Bolt is to inflict some kind of effect as well as damage. Sub-Ability & Features A Metaphor's Sub-Ability are branches of the Metaphor that add more customization and bonuses to an existing Metaphor. They can either grant more numerical bonuses to more specific scenarios under a Metaphor's scope or they can grant new functions or effects that didn't exist before. For Sub-Abilities to stack with Ability bonuses, the condition to receive the Sub-Ability bonus must be conditionally more specific than the Metaphor itself. A Fantasy Fighter has a Metaphor for Melee Weapons, giving them a ToHit bonus to attacking with any melee weapon and similarly functioning equipment. They can have any Sub-Abilities to add more ToHit but they must be for specific types of Melee Weapons, such as Swords, Clubs, Spears...etc. A Fantasy Wizard has a Metaphor for Arcane Wizardry, which gives them a Skill bonus to casting spells and recalling Arcane knowledge. But for them to have Sub-Abilities that give more Skill bonus, they would have to be of specific spell schools such as Evocation, Transmutation or Illusion. A player character can use Experience points to acquire more Sub-Abilities/Features to their Metaphor, but they may only have a number of Sub-Abilities up to to their Ability value, and each Sub-Ability can't have a bonus higher than their Ability value. The Investigation skill can acquire new Sub-Abilities like Interrogation to gain a bonus to using the Investigation skill to talk to and get information from suspects and witnesses. Or acquire a Static Feature Lead Finder to be able to be able to notice a single out-of-place detail of a scene upon entering it. Multiple Sub-abilities and Features can be added so long as they follow the Sub-ability limit rules. Magic Bolt's Sub-Abilities can simply boil down to adding bonuses to existing stats from it's Scope. More damage on hit, extra bolts per action, the ability to bypass Evasion and only need to roll against Deflection, extra magnitude for existing or new effects on hit. Plenty of options. Bonuses & Features Ability and Sub-Abilities generally require a Bonus or Modifier component in order for them to be of any effect mechanically. But there are rules to how such bonuses are acquired through resources such as experience points. Fixed Value It costs the normal experience cost to create and improve Ability and Sub-Abilities that increase point for point (+1, +2, +3) The Investigation Ability grants a +1 bonus to Skill checks. It will cost 1 experience to create, 2 experience to make it a +2, and 3 for a +3, and so on. Dice Bonus It costs double the experience to make a bonus into a Meta-die (d4, d6(2), d8(3)...etc). Improving Magic Bolt to deal additional Magic damage with a dice costs 2 XP to make a d4 Sub-Ability. It will then cost 4 XP to improve it to d6(2) and then 6 XP to make it a d8(3). Static Feature Static Features don't have a value as such because its effects are special and don't (or can't) scale like other bonuses. The Experience cost is therefore determined by its power/effectiveness, or by the Game-Master. Static features can evolve into more powerful Features for a higher XP cost, and will then overwrite the old Feature. Although, a character can't acquire a Static feature for a Metaphor if its XP cost is more than double the Metaphor's Ability value. A character with a Passive Metaphor Invulnerability +3 to gain Damage Reduction to all damage types wants to acquire a Static Feature Fire Resistance, which would half the amount of Fire damage taken and status magnitudes related to it. The Game-Master determines this to be worth 5 XP to acquire. Another Feature called 'Fire Immunity' exists, which would allow the Metaphor to instead reduce Fire damage and magnitude to 0. But because this Feature is determined to cost 15XP to obtain, the user must improve their Fire Reduction Metaphor to at least +8 before they are capable of handling it. Also, Fire Immunity must come after Fire Resistance, as Fire Resistance is a prerequisite. Action-Sequence It costs double the amount of experience points to create and improve Action-Sequences of 2 actions. And it may cost up to four times as much to create an Action-Sequence of 3 actions in one. Specialization Metaphor Specializations are a side-effect of the Generalist/Specialist dynamic that Metaphors provide. The difference between being good at all weapons or mastering specific ones, or Knowledge in all subjects versus a focus on one. Metaphors or Sub-Abilities that focus on specific subjects or applications over general ones gain increased priority. Even if it comes in the form of Sub-Ability bonuses, having a specialization in a Metaphor can help in subtle ways beyond merely gaining extra numbers. Specializations can occasionally allow character to make checks where generalists couldn't. A specialist in a specific subject may be able to remember something obscure that a generalist might not (or would have to roll a more difficult check to try). A specialization in a Combat or Power may enable a character to perform an action that may be extremely difficult, but because they have trained in this specific scenario, they can do so without hindrance. The timid Dragonborn Cleric in a fight against an adult Red-Dragon has the Knowledge Metaphor skill, with a Sub-Ability in Dragon Lore. It is because of this Dragon Lore, the Dragonborn is able to make a check to recall an important information about Red-Dragons that can be of use in battle. Others could try the same check, but it would be harder because they do not have a specialization in Dragons. A Swashbuckling Rogue Pirate wielding a Cutlass is dueling some scallywag aboard a ship. They have a Combat Metaphor in Melee Weapons, but they have a Sub-Ability in Dueling, describing Dueling as a means to deflect and disarm foes while wielding sword-like weapons. When the Rogue makes an attempt to disarm their foe with a flourish, they have a better chance at doing so due to their specialization. Action-Sequence An Action Sequence is a special Sub-Ability that can be used in encounters/combat scenes to combine multiple Actions together to conserve Action Points. At base, it combines two distinct actions the user can perform and creates a new action that functions the same as using each in order, however it costs only one Action-Point instead of two. Action-Sequences cost double the XP for an Action-Sequence of two Actions. (2XP, 4XP, 6XP...etc), and triple the XP for three actions (4XP, 8XP, 12XP...etc). Any Sequence containing 4 or more actions should instead be designed to be its own Metaphor as a Power. A Firearm Combat Metaphor with the actions Unload, Reload, Aim and Fire could have an Action-Sequence that combines two of them together, such as ‘Unload’ and ‘Reload’ becoming Quick Reload. Quick Reload performs the same actions as Unload and Reload but only costs one action point. An Action-Sequence can only be used a number of times equal to its Sub-Ability score per interval defined by the Metaphor, so Quick Reload +1 allows a character to use it once per round, whereas Quick Reload +2 will let them use it twice per round and so on. Other increments of usage include Per Encounter, Per Short/Long Rest and so on. A particularly powerful Action-Sequence Flurry of Blows chains three Attack actions into one Action-Point. As a precaution against the sequence being overused, the Game-Master decides the interval for this Action-Sequence be Per Encounter, meaning the number of uses limits how many times it can be used in a single battle, rather than per round. Dice Bonus Dice Bonuses can be used in Sub-Abilities so long as the value can be randomized without issues. Variables such as Damage/Healing and Magnitude work, while bonuses that raise maximum HP or Core Values would not. Sub-Abilities with Dice Bonuses use Meta Dice and thus have a higher result floor compared to normal dice, this also prevents them from being able to explode. Dice Bonuses cost twice as much experience to create and improve compared to fixed values. Refer to Meta Dice for a breakdown of values. Multiplier Bonus Multiplier bonuses can take the form of Enhancable or Static Sub-Abilities. Enhancable Multiplier Bonus have two parts, the Metaphor Bonus and the Base bonus. The Metaphor Bonus will be the value of the Sub-Ability whereas the Base value is a number that will be multiplied to create the actual modifier. A Sub-Ability that gives a movement speed bonus in feet to something would likely follow a Base value of 5, considering grid maps are often in increments of 5 foot squares. Creation of the Sub-Ability will start as +5ft movement speed then increase in 5ft increment as the Metaphor bonus increases. When a Multiplier is a Static Feature, it's often because the multiplier is affecting a powerful statistic and so more limitations are needed to keep things balanced. Just as how Static Features can follow an evolution chain, multipliers can increase by paying the appropriate experience to overwrite the old multiplier with a higher one, to the maximum allowed by the Game-Master. As part of a character's Sneak-Attack Metaphor, they gain a Static Feature that allows them to deal maximum damage for their attack then multiply damage by 2 whenever they fulfil the conditions of Sneak Attack. The Feature can evolve into a version that instead allows a x3 and a x4 multiplier respectively, but their Metaphor isn't high enough to again x3 and they need it in order to progress to x4.