[FOCI]
High Noon at Midnight
The saloon is an old friend, whether or not you visit the same one twice. Whatever the name on the sign out front, the pungent smells of whiskey, cigars, and sawdust lift your spirits like nothing else. ’Cept for actual spirits, of course. When that first shot hits your throat and sets a warm blaze in your belly, you can’t keep a smile from your lips. This here’s your home away from home, and inside are your friends, both old and those soon to be made. Though not everyone’s happy to see you—troublemakers soon learn that in a scrap, you only hit harder with each shot of whiskey you pour down your throat.
You carry a sturdy, leak-proof metallic whiskey flask.
You don’t have to use an action to activate your next Jovial Presence ability.
You remember something a stranger in a saloon once said, and you can ask the GM one question about what you’re looking at.
You observe or study a creature, object, or location for at least one round. The next time you interact with it (possibly in the following round), a related task (such as persuading the creature, attacking it, or defending from its attack) is eased. If you’re in a saloon, the task is eased by two steps.
You pick up stuff listening to folks gab in the bar. You are trained in one area of knowledge of your choice.
You inflict 2 additional points of damage with unarmed attacks, or 3 points when you are one or more steps down the intoxication track.
Your defense rolls against fear are eased. They are eased by two steps when you are one or more steps down the intoxication track.
Ability Choice: Choose either Iron Stomach or Skill With Attacks as your tier 3 ability.
The more you imbibe, the greater your tolerance grows (at least, so far. . . ). You gain +5 to your Might Pool.
Choose one type of attack in which you are not already trained, such as unarmed attacks (though you could also select weapon options like light bashing, light bladed, and so on). You are trained in that kind of attack. You can select this ability multiple times. Each time you select it, you must choose a different type of attack.
You make a melee attack that inflicts no damage. Instead, if the attack hits, make a second Might-based roll. If successful, a foe of level 3 or lower is knocked unconscious for one minute. For each level of Effort used, you can affect one higher level of foe, or you can extend the duration for an additional minute. If you use a whiskey bottle to make the attack, your attack is eased. If you have a similar sort of knockout ability from another source (such as your type), the attack is eased by an additional step.
You are trained in two areas of knowledge of your choice, or specialized in one area of knowledge of your choice.
Ability Choice: Choose either Inspiration in a Glass or Lethal Damage as your tier 6 ability.
You meditate, perhaps over a drink, perhaps on a fond memory you made in a saloon or similar enjoyable location. You gain a level 6 subtle cypher of the general variety that you want (though the GM chooses the specifics) and can use it next round. If you are already at your cypher limit when you use this ability, choose which cypher you replace with the new one. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the cypher’s level; each level of Effort used in this way increases the level by 1.
Choose one of your existing attacks that deals damage (depending on your type and focus, this might be a specific weapon, your unarmed attacks, or maybe a bottle of whiskey). When you hit with that attack, you inflict an additional 5 points of damage.
GM intrusions: The saloon runs out of whiskey. A barfight breaks out. Someone looking to settle a score calls you out.