[Types]
Spinners are striking individuals, and they possess a personality that allows them to spin tales, spin lies, or spin a version of the truth that makes others see things in a whole new way. If anyone is going to make a friend of an enemy, bluff a way into a high-security compound, or mislead a world-devouring planetovore, it's a spinner. Whether through leadership, influence, or behind-the-scenes manipulation, a spinner pushes things in the direction she wants them to go.
Some spinner abilities could be attained through practice by anyone with some talent, but a spinner has an underlying facility: everything a spinner accomplishes is quickened by her connection to the Strange. A spinner's abilities—called twists—can be used to adjust, distort, and exploit.
Spinners are entertainers, grifters, and leaders. Some are comedians of rare and delicious talent, able to galvanize their audiences with humor and truth. Others are leaders who truly inspire those beneath them with their integrity, stirring words, and loyalty.
Some are introverts who use their power to persuade while using computers, and they are renowned hackers (under an alias), seemingly able to break nearly any security procedure with enough time. And of course, some are clever con artists always a few steps ahead of marks whose dishonesty, irresponsibility, and greed make them easy victims.
Spinners who share their gifts with others are prized members of society, and they are well respected for what they know and can do. Sometimes, everything would fall apart if not for the connective social web a spinner can weave. On the other hand, spinners who use their persuasive abilities to benefit only themselves are distrusted at best and reviled at worst. After all, a spinner makes an ideal thief.
Spinners often serve as the glue that binds a group together, and if they are not elected to be the leader, they provide a valuable service by advising the group, especially when it comes to interacting with others. Many spinners can handle themselves in a fight (or at least get clear of one), which means that vectors in a group don't need to spend much time protecting spinners when weapons are drawn.
Most spinners have told everyone so many different stories about how they got their abilities that sometimes it's hard for even them to remember the truth. But each has a specific story.
A spinner may not know what the Strange is or understand its true nature, but every spinner is cognizant of having a connection to something unique. Spinners recognize cyphers and recursions as being elements of that specialness. Already masters of persuasion, spinners are drawn to cyphers or artifacts that expand their options in other areas. Thus, a spinner might want an enhanced piece of armor, a Strange weapon, and so on.
Experienced spinners continue to learn twists, including how to best convince others to do as they're told, but they can also choose to hone other skills to round out their abilities, especially in combat.
| Stat | Pool Starting Value |
|---|---|
| Might | 9 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Intellect | 10 |
You get 6 additional points to divide among your stat Pools however you wish.
Effort: Your Effort is 1.
Quickminded: You have an Intellect Edge of 1, a Might Edge of 0, and a Speed Edge of 1.
Cypher Use: You can bear two cyphers at a time.
You can use light and medium weapons without penalty. If you wield a heavy weapon, increase the difficulty of the attack by one step.
You are trained in deceiving, persuading, or intimidating (choose one).
You can participate in the process of traveling to another recursion. Each time you do, you can choose to initiate, hasten, or ease a translation. If you choose to hasten or ease the process, someone else in the group must initiate the translation.
As a spinner, you are most effective at hastening a translation. This advantage allows you to decrease the time it takes to translate to a recursion. In order to translate, you must know that the recursion you are translating to exists. The GM will decide if you have enough information to confirm its existence and determine what level of difficulty is needed to reach the destination. Action to initiate
You manipulate things, including anything and everything. Some twists are constant, ongoing effects, and others are one of your stat Pools. once unless its description says otherwise.
Your words twist the mind of a character within short range who is able to understand you, unlocking her more primitive instincts. As a result, she gains an asset on her Might-based attack rolls for one minute.
Action to initiate.
While talking, you grab and keep another creature’s attention, even if the creature can’t understand you. For as long as you do nothing but speak (you can't even move), the other creature takes no actions other than to defend itself, even over multiple rounds. If the creature is attacked, the effect ends.
Your words twist the mind of a target within immediate range who is able to understand you, erasing up to the last five minutes of its memory. The target forgets what it experienced during that time.
When speaking with an intelligent creature who can understand you and isn't hostile, you convince that creature to take one reasonable action on the next round. A reasonable action must be agreed upon by the GM; it should not put the creature or its allies in obvious danger or be wildly out of character.
You can perform small but seemingly impossible tricks. For example, you can make a small object in your hands disappear and moveinto a desired spot within reach (like your pocket). You can make someone believe that he has something in his possession that he does not have (or vice versa). You can switch similar objects right in front of someone's eyes.
While you maintain this twist through ongoing inspiring oration, your allies within short range modify the difficulty of one of the following task types (your choice) by one step to their benefit: defense tasks, attack tasks, or tasks related to any skill that you are trained or specialized in.
You convince all intelligent creatures who can see, hear, and understand you that you are someone or something other than who you actually are. You don't impersonate a specific individual known to the victim. Instead, you convince the victim that you are someone they do not know belonging to a certain category of people. “We're from the government.” “I'm just a simple farmer from the next town over.” “Your commander sent me.” A disguise isn't necessary, but a good disguise will almost certainly be an asset to the roll involved. If you attempt to convince more than one creature, the Intellect cost increases by 1 point per additional victim.
Fooled creatures remain so for up to an hour, unless your actions or other circumstances reveal your true identity earlier.
Spin Identity might be the most valuable spinner ability, but subtlety is still required when using it. A spinner who takes an action contrary to who she’s pretending to be can cause the charade to shatter immediately.
You attempt to convince one intelligent target within short range that can understand you that you are its worst nightmare. If you are successful, the target becomes panicked. For as long as you do nothing but speak (you can't even move), the target is paralyzed with fear, runs away, or takes some other action appropriate to the circumstances. The target must be level 3 or less. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty of the roll, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to terrorize a level 5 target (two levels above the normal limit), you must apply two levels of Effort.
You observe or study a creature or object. Then, the next time you interact with that creature or object, the difficulty of the related task is reduced by one step.
Second-tier spinners have the following abilities:
Skills:You are trained in one task of your choosing (other than attacks or defense). If you choose a task you're already trained in, you become specialized in that task. You can't choose a task you're already specialized in.
When you use Reach Beyond, you can access training in a skill provided by a focus you have in another recursion. You must have used the skill in its proper recursion at least once before. You can use the skill once. To use it again, you must use Reach Beyond again.
Choose one of the following twists (or twists from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier twists with a different twist from the same lower tier.
After hearing a language spoken for a few minutes, you can speak it and make yourself understood. If you continue to use the language to interact with native speakers, your skills improve rapidly, to the point where you might be mistaken for a native speaker after just a few hours of speaking the new language.
You can make a weak rope last longer, coax more speed from a motorcycle, improve the clarity of a camera, jury-rig a light to be brighter, speed up an Internet connection, and so on. You increase an object's level by 2 for one minute, or treat the object as an asset that reduces an associated task's difficulty by two steps for one minute (your choice).
Action to initiate.
You slip your restraints, squeeze through the bars, break the grip of a creature holding you, pull free from sucking quicksand, or otherwise get loose from that which is holding you in place.
After your action on your turn, you move up to a short distance or get behind or beneath cover within immediate range.
Your words enhance the normal regenerative ability of a character within short range who is able to understand you, so that when he makes a recovery roll, he must spend only half the normal amount of time required to do so (minimum one action).
Within a round or two of successfully using Enthrall, Fast Talk, or a similar, higher-tier twist on a target within short range, the difficulty of the first attack you make on that target is decreased by two steps. Once you use Unexpected Betrayal on a target, the difficulty for you to use your spinner twists or attempt simple persuasion on that same target is permanently increased by two steps.
This twist provides an asset to any tasks involving manual dexterity, such as pickpocketing, lockpicking, games involving agility, and so on. Each use lasts up to a minute; multiple uses replace the previous use.
Action to initiate.
This is a well-aimed, penetrating ranged attack. You make an attack and inflict 1 additional point of damage.
After interacting with another creature who can hear and understand you for at least one minute, you can use a twist to attempt to temporarily impart an ideal to the target that you can't otherwise convince it of. An ideal is different than a specific suggestion or command; an ideal is an overarching value such as, “all life is sacred,” “my political party is the best,” “children should be seen, not heard,” and so on. An ideal influences a creature's behavior but doesn't control it. The imparted ideal lasts for as long as befits the situation, but usually at least a few hours. The implanted ideal is jeopardized if someone friendly to the creature spends a minute or more bringing the target back to its senses.
Third-tier spinners have the following abilities:
Expert Cypher Use: You can bear three cyphers at a time.
Skill: You are trained in one task of your choosing (other than attacks or defense). If you choose a task you're already trained in, you become specialized in that task. You can't choose a task you're already specialized in.
Choose one of the following twists (or twists from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier twists with a different twist from a tier lower than third.
Your words imbue the spirit of a character within immediate range who is able to understand you, accelerating her so that she gains an asset on initiative tasks and Speed defense rolls for 10 minutes. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to affect more targets, with each level of Effort affecting one additional target. You must speak to additional targets to accelerate them, one target per round.
Action per target to initiate.
A spinner with Discerning Mind has practiced swaying the minds of others so much that she's gained a measure of protection against others attempting the same on her. You have +3 to Armor against damaging attacks and damaging effects that arget your mind and Intellect. The difficulty of defense rolls you make against attacks that attempt to confuse, persuade, frighten, or otherwise influence you is decreased by one step.
If you roll a natural 1 on a d20, you can choose to reroll the die. If you reroll, you avoid a GM Intrusion-unless you roll a second 1-and might even succeed on your task. Once you use this twist, it is not available again until after you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
When you Blend In, creatures still see you, but they attach no importance to your presence for about a minute. While blending in, you are specialized in stealth and Speed defense tasks. This effect ends if you do something to reveal your presence or position—attacking, performing a twist, moving a large object, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining period of effect by taking an action to focus on seeming innocuous and as if you belong.
Action to initiate or reinitiate.
You convince an intelligent creature that can understand you and isn't hostile of something that is wildly and obviously untrue.
You can read the surface thoughts of a creature within short range, even if the subject doesn't want you to. You must be able to see the target. Once you have established contact, you can read the target's thoughts for up to one minute. If you or the target moves out of range, the connection is broken.
Action to initiate.
When speaking with a group of intelligent creatures that can understand you and aren't hostile, you convince them to take one reasonable action on the next round. A reasonable action must be agreed upon by the GM; it should not put the creature or its allies in obvious danger or be wildly out of character. Action
If a weapon has the ability to fire rapid shots without reloading (usually called a rapid-fire weapon, such as the automatic pistol), you can spray multiple shots around your target to increase the chance of hitting. This move uses 1d6+1 rounds of ammo (or all the ammo in the weapon, if it has less than the number rolled). The difficulty of the attack roll is decreased by one step. If the attack is successful, it deals 1 less point of damage than normal.
This twist provides an asset to any tasks attempting to deceive, persuade, or intimidate. Each use lasts up to a minute; a new use (to switch tasks) replaces the previous use.
Action to initiate.
Fourth-tier spinners have the following abilities:
Skills: You are trained in one task of your choosing (other than attacks or defense). If you choose a task you're already trained in, you become specialized in that task. You can't choose a task you're already specialized in.
Choose one of the following twists (or twists from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier twists with a different twist from a tier lower than fourth.
You can sense when and how creatures attacking you will make their attacks. The difficulty of Speed defense rolls are reduced by one step for one minute.
You touch and talk to the (mostly complete) corpse of a level 1 or 2 creature, using words infused with quickened energy of the Strange, and the creature stirs back to life for one minute. This is a difficulty 2 Intellect roll. Body Memory works on a given corpse only once. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to rouse a level 5 target (three levels above the normal limit), you must apply three levels of Effort.
Instead of rolling a d20, you can choose to automatically succeed on a task you're trained in. The task must be difficulty 4 or lower, and it can't be an attack roll or a defense roll. A character can't apply Effort to any task he accomplishes using the Expert twist.
Your words inflict a destructive psychosis in the mind of a target within long range that can understand you, dealing 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) per round. The psychosis can be dispersed if a target spends an action calming and centering itself (and doing nothing else).
Action to initiate.
If you spend one action creating a misdirection or diversion, in the next round you can take advantage of your opponent's lowered defenses. Make a melee attack roll against that opponent. The difficulty of the roll is decreased by one step. If your attack is successful, it inflicts 4 additional points of damage.
When performing a task that would normally require spending points from your Intellect Pool, you can spend points from your Speed Pool instead.
You examine an area and learn precise, useful details about the past (if any exist). You can ask the GM up to four questions about the immediate area, but each requires its own roll.
You suggest an action to another creature within immediate range. If the action doesn't seem completely at odds with the creature's nature, the creature follows your suggestion. The creature must be a level 2 or lower. The effect of your suggestion lasts for up to a minute. Instead of applying a level of Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply it to increase the maximum level of the target you can affect by 1. When you use this twist, you immediately learn the creature's level (if you didn't already know it). If its level is higher than 2, you can immediately apply levels of Effort to increase the maximum level allowed (up to that creature's level). When the effects of the twist end, the creature remembers following the suggestion, but believes that it chose to do so willingly.
Action to initiate.
Fifth-tier spinners have the following abilities:
Adept Cypher Use: You can bear four cyphers at a time.
Skills: You are trained in one task of your choosing (other than attacks or defense). If you choose a task you're already trained in, you become specialized in that task. You can't choose a task you're already specialized in.
Choose one of the following twists (or twists from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier twists with a different twist from a tier lower than fifth.
If a weapon has the ability to fire rapid shots without reloading (usually called a rapid-fire weapon, such as the automatic pistol), you can fire your weapon at up to three targets (all next to one another) as a single action. Make a separate attack roll against each target. The difficulty of each attack is increased by one step.
Choose a discrete type of energy that you have experience with (such as heat, sonic, electricity, and so on). You must be familiar with the type of energy; for example, if you have no experience with a certain kind of extradimensional energy, you can't protect against it. You gain +10 to Armor against damage from that type of energy for ten minutes. Alternatively, you gain +1 to Armor against damage from that energy for one day. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty, you can apply Effort to protect more targets, with each level of Effort affecting up to two additional targets. You must touch additional targets to protect them.
Action to initiate.
With your approval, characters within immediate range can gain inspiration from your presence as an action; the difficulty of one action taken in the following round by an affected character is reduced by one step. This inspiration costs the character 2 Intellect points. Once this twist is used, others can't gain inspiration from you again until after you make a recovery roll.
Your touch invests an object no larger than yourself with an invisible, psychic short-range aura of doom, fear, and doubt for one day. Creatures of a particular kind that you specify (humans, dragons, kray, and so on) feel an urge to move at least a short distance away from the object. If a creature does not move away, the difficulty of all tasks, attacks, and defenses it attempts while within the aura is increased by one step. The duration of the aura is extended by one day per level of Effort applied. The aura is temporarily blocked while the object is covered or contained.
Action to initiate.
Your words encourage a target you touch who can understand you. The difficulty of the next action taken by the target is decreased by three steps.
You quickly create an object using what would seem to be entirely inappropriate materials. You can make a bomb out of a tin can and some household cleaners, a lockpick out of aluminum foil, or a sword out of broken furniture. The level of the item determines the difficulty of the task, but the appropriateness of the materials modifies it as well. Generally, the object can be no larger than something you can hold in one hand, and it functions once (or in the case of a weapon or similar item, is essentially useful for one encounter). If you spend at least ten minutes on the task, you can make up to a level 5 item. You can't change the nature of the materials involved. You can't take iron rods and make a pile of gold coins or a wicker basket, for example.
Choose one type of attack in which you are not already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are trained in attacks using that type of weapon.
Sixth-tier spinners have the following abilities:
Skills: You are trained in one task of your choosing (other than attacks or defense). If you choose a task you're already trained in, you become specialized in that task. You can't choose a task you're already specialized in.
Choose one of the following twists (or twists from a lower tier) to add to your repertoire. In addition, you can replace one of your lower-tier twists with a different twist from a tier lower than sixth.
As long as you spend your action each round giving orders or advice, the difficulty of attack and defense actions by your allies within short range is decreased by one step.
Your words reverberate destructively in the brain of an intelligent level 1 target within short range that can understand you. They destroy tissue, memories, and personality, thus triggering a vegetative state. Instead of applying Effort to decrease the difficulty of the attack, you can apply Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to shatter the mind of a level 5 target (four levels above the normal limit), you must apply four levels of Effort.
The vegetative state created by Shatter Mind can be healed in recursions that employ advanced Magic or Weird Science, or by a condition remover cypher that cures psychosis.
If you fail on a task (including an attack roll or a defense roll), you can change the die result to a natural 20. This still might not be enough to allow you to succeed if the difficulty remains higher than 6. Once you use this twist, it is not available again until after you make a ten-hour recovery roll. Luck is not the chaotic ocean of random chance most people believe it to be, at least not for someone with Spinner's Luck. That said, Spinner's Luck doesn't work if a spinner rolls a natural 1 for an attempted task, unless she also has and uses the third-tier spinner twist Wrest From Chance.
Choose one type of attack, 43even one in which you are already trained: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. You are trained in attacks using that type of weapon. If you're already trained in that type of attack, you become specialized in that type of attack.
You can see in complete darkness up to 50 feet (15 m) as if it were dim light. You recognize holograms, disguises, optical illusions, sound mimicry, and other such tricks (for all senses) for what they are.
You utter a word so powerful that to fully empower it, you sacrifice a level 6 or higher cypher in your possession. You issue your Word of Command to one creature within long range that you can see. It does not have to hear you to be affected. Targets native to Earth are affected if you succeed on an Intellect attack to persuade. Targets native to a recursion or the Strange (including planetovores) are automatically affected. Affected targets must obey the command for several hours before they're free to act as they wish. Targets that are attacked while under the effect of your command can defend themselves. Typical commands include “Retreat,” “Calm,” “Come,” and “Stay.” The GM decides how the target acts once a command is given.
Roll a d20 or choose from the following list to determine a specific fact about your background that provides a connection to the rest of the world. These connections mostly assume your character begins on Earth. Adapt them if you hail from a recursion, or create your own fact.
Torah wants to play a spinner. She is drawn to the idea of persuading people over to her way of thinking. She puts 3 of her additional points in her Intellect Pool (raising it to 13), 2 points in her Speed Pool (raising it to 11), and 1 point in her Might Pool (raising it to 10). A beginning spinner has an Intellect Edge of 1 and a Speed Edge of 1, and as a first-tier character, her Effort is 1.
Torah gains the Translation twist automatically. For her other two first-tier twists, she takes Fast Talk and Enthrall. She's a good speaker and quick-witted. She chooses to be trained in persuasion.
Her character can bear two cyphers. The GM decides that one item is a temporary tattoo that gives Torah a +1 bonus to her Intellect Edge for one hour, and the other is oil for her knife that, when applied, treats the next attack as if she rolled a 20.
Torah still needs to choose her descriptor and focus. For her descriptor, she picks Clever to complement the hacker idea, so she adds 2 to her Intellect Pool, raising it to 15. The Clever descriptor also means she is trained in lies and trickery (which works for a hacker), defense rolls against mental effects, and identifying or assessing things. Unfortunately, she doesn't excel at reading, studying, or remembering details. She apparently would rather act in the moment than plan ahead.
For her focus, she decides on Works the System. At first tier, she can Hack the Impossible, which seems to complete the hacker idea.
She starts with a laptop computer, a smartphone, and a weapon of her choice. Torah chooses a knife. The knife is a light weapon, so she decreases the difficulty of attack rolls with it, but it inflicts only 2 points of damage.
Torah is a Clever Spinner who Works the System.