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Planar Character Options
Judging the cosmos is not for someone lacking in hubris or at least confidence in their ability to reason and come to a firm conclusion. Those who choose to put the universe on trial must be capable of making grand, sweeping judgments against individuals and institutions. A cosmic judge may decide that a given person, group, or government needs judgment. And if they find the subject wanting, they can help provide the remedy. Those who take up this task usually serve gods and cosmic beings of similar sentiment; for examples, see the Cosmic Judge Deities box.
Cosmic judges believe that regardless of how well individuals follow the letter of the law in their area or world, laws are not always fair or just. In fact, laws may sometimes lead to harmful behavior. It is the action and repercussions that a cosmic judge must evaluate.
Ultimately, cosmic judges and their divine benefactors act and intercede in an attempt to prevent the multiverse from falling out of balance. Because if the multiverse ever does become asymmetric across enough strands of reality, a cosmic reordering would likely wipe away many worlds and planes to restore the balance. Effectively, it would be a grand apocalypse, and most cosmic judges seek to avoid that.
By studying a tiny item collected from a nearby area (such as a pebble or leaf ), you forge a tenuous connection to the cosmic balance. For the next hour, a task of your choice is eased, including an attack or defense. When you've done so three times, or an hour elapses, the effect ends.
Using Maintain the Balance creates a butterfly effect at odds with what the cosmos and fate expected. This influence ripples forward and backward in spacetime. Those ripples empower your ability to maintain the balance.
Action to initiate.
When a creature within immediate range hits you with an attack, you immediately attack them with a psychic backlash. An affected target takes 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) as they are mentally overwhelmed with concepts of the cosmic balance and your importance in maintaining it. However, an affected target also learns your name and your general goals.
Ability Choice: Choose either Clarity of Judgment or Divine Radiance as your tier 3 ability.
You boldly declare yourself as someone responsible for judging the cosmos, naming any deity or higher power you work with (if any). Make an Intellect-based attack against any number of targets within short range. Affected creatures are so impressed by your role that they won't attack you for a couple of rounds (unless they are attacked by you or an ally before then). In addition, any attempts you make to persuade, deceive, or intimidate them are eased. However, an affected target is free to decide on their own how they will react when this effect on them ends. Once affected by this ability, a creature is immune to its effect for one day.
Your prayer calls divine radiance from the heavens to punish an unworthy target within long range, inflicting a moderate wound (4 points). If the target is a demon, spirit, or something similar, it also stands in unwilling awe of the divine energy coursing through it and is unable to act on its next turn. Once exposed to this blessing, the target can't be awed by this attack again for several hours.
A radiant beam of light shines down at a point you can see within short range, illuminating everything around that spot in an immediate radius for an instant. Make an Intellect-based attack on up to three creatures in that area who you judge to be breaking the balance of the multiverse, inflicting 4 points of damage from divine power on a hit, or 1 point if your attack roll fails.
If you apply a level of Effort when you use this ability, choose one target from among your original targets that you hit that you especially want to keep from further unbalancing the cosmos; that target is paralyzed for one minute. Each round, the paralyzed target can attempt to end the effect early, which you can prevent by succeeding on an Intellect defense roll.
The mysteries of the cosmos are readily apparent to you, guiding you toward perfection. You can take an additional action in a round in which you have already acted, as long as you use an ability granted by the Judges the Cosmos focus.
Ability Choice: Choose either Cosmic Judge or Divine Symbol as your tier 6 ability.
You take on a shining, dual-headed seeming as part of another action, instantly becoming the avatar of a "cosmic judge" for one minute. During this period, you gain the following benefits.
¥ You are affected as with the Hover ability if you wish. ¥ Make an Intellect-based attack on creatures you choose within short range when you use Cosmic Judge, or anytime a creature comes within short range of you while the duration lasts. Affected creatures cannot lie until the ability ends. Alternately, instead of them being unable to lie, you know when affected creatures are lying and the degree to which they are shading the truth until the ability ends. ¥ If you determine that a creature is lying, any attack you make against them for the duration of this ability inflicts an additional 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) from psychic backlash. Enabler.
You invoke divine power by scribing a glowing symbol in the air with your fingers. Writhing pillars of divine radiance spear up to five targets within long range. A successful attack on a target inflicts a moderate wound (5 points). If you apply Effort to increase the damage, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); targets take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll.
GM Intrusions: Sometimes judgments are wrong. Actions taken to balance the cosmos can have unforeseen consequences.
The multiverse—in the form of a GM intrusion—may decide, for any reason, that one of your targets is not unbalancing the cosmos. If this occurs, that target is unaffected by this ability, and you are treated as the target instead, facing the damage and the follow-on effects.