[FOCI]
Expanded Worlds
Part of you shudders to the beat of the savage heart. Monsters that would happily feast on the intestines of still-living prey bow in your presence. They recognize something of you in them. That essence—which could stem from your heritage, a magical curse, an artifact you carry, or divine right-gives you the ability to command horrors both mundane and supernatural. When you reach your full potential, you might one day be crowned as the sovereign of all monsters.
What defines a monster, precisely? Does my ability work on tigers, dogs, or just on manticores and vampires? The easiest definition is this: a monster is anything that would attack and kill a human to feed on it. For example, your power might not work on domesticated dogs, but it would work on a pack of wild dogs, and it certainly would apply to vampires!
A leash.
The monster's slash causes the foe to bleed, increasing the difficulty of all tasks the foe takes next round by one step.
A monster you control takes an immediate extra action of your choice.
You can verbally control a creature within short range for one minute, commanding it to do simple tasks on your behalf. It must be a level 2 or lower creature, whose primary motivation is hungers for flesh.
Alternatively, you can force up to three such creatures within range to take no actions for as long as you focus all your attention on them. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the affected creature. Thus, to affect a level 4 creature (two levels above the normal limit), you must apply two levels of Effort.
Action to initiate.
You are trained in the lore of monstrous creatures—recognizing them, knowing their weaknesses, and knowing their habits and behaviors.
If you've successfully used Control Monster on a target of up to level 3, you can attempt to capture it. Doing so is a difficulty 3 Intellect task. A “captured” creature becomes tame in your presence and will accompany you and follow your instructions. At tier 2, you can only have one captured creature at a time. However, the difficulty for using your Control Monster on the creature you have captured is decreased by one step.
You'll make rolls for your captured monster when it takes actions. In combat, you can use your action to direct the creature's attack, providing an asset if you're next to it, or vice versa.
You know how to get more out of the monsters under your command. When helping your monster in combat, you can use your action to direct the creature's attack (or other ability) and reduce the difficulty of the monster's actions by a total of two steps. (This replaces the asset described under Capture Monster.)
When using Capture Monster, you can attempt to capture a creature of up to level 4. Doing so is a difficulty 4 Intellect task. With your GM's permission, you could instead increase the level of a lower level creature you've previously captured to level 4.
You can have two captured monsters accompany you at any one time instead of just one.
You are specialized in the lore of monstrous creatures. If you are already specialized, you instead gain +1 to any roll related to using this skill.
When using Capture Monster, you can attempt to capture a creature of up to level 5. Doing so is a difficulty 5 Intellect task. With your GM's permission, you could instead increase the level of a lower level creature you've previously captured to level 5.
GM Intrusions: A captured monster snaps at or bites an ally when it's startled. An ally accidentally targets a captured monster. Two captured monsters begin to fight.