Deathless and Nameless (Mummy: the Curse Quest)

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Hmm, I'm skeptical of wealth and power with the build made... and I'm not so sure about the option that's, like, "Intelligence and Manipulation and magical stuff." Not completely sure there.
 
Lisafication said:
Okay so, with respect to mechanics, while I could be convinced for any of the guilds there is a specific Decree I want to push for - Usheb. This is for a specific reason — its defining pillar is Ren. Why? Well, give me a moment.

Mummy is a very strange work, in that you get weaker over time, rather than stronger (not skills and stuff, but your 'power' stat). This means that if you want to throw around anything big in terms of Utterances (especially ones that roll Sekhem), which are... essentially Mummy's Charm equivalents? You need to start, at character creation with the prerequisites. And let me present to you... Secrets Ripped From Skies, my single favourite Utterance in Mummy as a narrative tool and set piece:

Secrets Ripped From Skies
Prerequisites: Tier 1: Ba • (Subtle); Tier 2: Sheut ••• (Curse); Tier 3: Ren •••••

Tier 1: The mummy unleashes this Utterance while gazing up at the sky. Doing so reveals his location relative to all known geographical referents, using whatever system of measure comes most naturally to him. The accuracy of this intuition roughly matches the information provided by global positioning satellites. For example, he may realize he is 20 miles southwest of Mount Sinai or two blocks north of the Chinese restaurant he had lunch at yesterday. Use of this Utterance automatically allows a mummy to retrace his steps through a maze back to known entrances.

Tier 2: The mummy speaks a word of power that reverberates back across space and time to the beginning of the universe, reshaping its genesis. The passing eons ensure that matter is spun and coalesces in accordance with auspicious wrath, culminating in a blazing meteorite
falling upon an intended target. The mummy can only choose a known target he can perceive within one mile, and that target must be exposed to the open sky (i.e., objects inside buildings can't be targeted, though the building itself is fair game).
Roll the Arisen's Sheut + Occult + Sekhem as a ranged attack; successes inflict lethal damage (aggravated to inanimate objects and structures). Range penalties do not apply; targets are either within range or not. Cover is calculated from above, rather than the barriers separating
the mummy and target. The meteor also creates a bonfire with Bunsen burner intensity inside a two-yard radius around the impact crater, though the flame only persists for the turn the meteor lands unless it sets combustible materials ablaze (e.g., wood, people, etc.). Characters who might be within the initial blast of fire and who are capable of applying their Defense can sometimes escape the worst of the blaze by leaping away; their players roll Dexterity + Athletics and subtract successes from the levels of damage applied. Victims hit by the meteor itself cannot jump away from the resulting flames.

Tier 3: The Arisen gazes upon the night sky and listens to the murmurs of the firmament, scrutinizing the cosmic mysteries inscribed upon the patterns of constellations.

Roll Memory + Ren, applying a –5 penalty if the sky is more than half covered by clouds and/or too much light pollution drowns out the stars (as in most major cities and suburbs). Success allows the mummy to glean one important truth from Fate, a clue that directly helps solve
his most pressing dilemma in the current story. The clue is shrouded in metaphor and cryptic symbolism, but not so much that it isn't actually useful.

If a mummy unleashes the second tier in the same scene he attempted to read the future in the stars (successfully or not), he calls down an Epic meteor shower rather than a single meteorite. The shower ravages everything within a mile of the mummy for a number of turns equal to his
Sekhem rating. The Arisen must choose whether to rain destruction in accordance with chance or Fate. In the former case, every possible target in range has a 10% chance of being targeted by a meteor each turn that the skies burn (i.e., roughly 10% of the land is utterly devastated before taking into account the secondary destruction wrought by fires). If Fate guides the shower, meteors fall upon as many or as few targets as it decrees. The meteor strikes use their normal full dice pool, though these reflexive attacks do not require further effort on the mummy's part. The mummy who unleashed the shower is never within its radius, though allies have no protection beyond trying to huddle in close to him.

For people who don't want to read, the tl;dr is that if you have the prerequisites for all three tiers (the third being the most important) you can have Horrifying Metaphorical Prophecy Visions on demand and call down meteors to strike your foes. Downside? You need to start with 5 Ren, which means it's gotta be your Decree.
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Okay, calling down a meteor shower is pretty cool, but high dots in Ka can let us do things like put a ghost into a corpse to make a revenant with some humanity, or summon a sandstorm, or summoning a plague of insects. At least if this wiki I'm reading is accurate. So I am advocating for

[x] Yeshua
-[x] Master(Male gender)

[x] plan undying leadership
-[X] Nesrem.
-[x] Su-Menent.
-[x] Blazing Zeal
 
[X]Plan Eternal Legacy(To surpass Ozymadias)
-[X] Nesrem.
-[X] Sesha-Hebsu.
-[X] Master of the Written Word
The Scribes of Irem command letters and ink as a general might command his soldiers.

The focus of my idea here is that of the Lawmaker, someone that imposes their will through word and wit, weaving it in a society's very fabric and ideas, and if challenged or broken it is capable of enforcing punishment on the transgressors.

[X] Helel
-[X] Mistress
 
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[x] Yeshua
-[x] Master(Male gender)

[x] plan undying leadership
-[X] Nesrem.
-[x] Su-Menent.
-[x] Blazing Zeal
 
I have just reread a fragment from the "book of mummies" concerning Maa-Kap, and came to the conclusion that Usheb is really better suited for them.
Although Kheru improves our specialties. But Maa-Kap is primarily a guild of friends of the overseers. They always remain in the shadows, glorifying and helping someone and at the same time watching everyone. They will not engage in open combat, if there is such an opportunity, they will rather incite someone else against the enemy. Even their branded amulets reflect this, they are mostly invisible and at the same time utilitarian, designed for imperceptible and subtle influences.
And that's why it seems to me that Usheb complements our supersocial mummy better, making her smarter than Kheru, which will make her more powerful and strong, leaving intelligence and manipulation overboard.
 
Rolen von Keng said:
Forgot the condition for this one.
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There is no self-generated Condition for Kheru/Ab Decree mummies, unlike the other decrees. Instead their deal is that they take Emotion Conditions from others, things like Awestruck, Swooning, Charmed, Inspired, Steadfast, or Berserk to name a few.
 
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If a name associated with a deity or similar entity wins, it will be fun to take a thematic flaw. And consider yourself a real deity.
"The Divine Mask (heavy): The mummy believes that, like the Pharaoh of great antiquity, she represents the bau – the earthly incarnation of the deity. The rebel completely rejects the idea of his mortal origin and assigns a secondary role to the Judges, preferring to believe that in fact he embodies a piece of Ra, Ezit, Sutekh, Ptah or another deity. He believes that he should only pretend to be a servant of Judges, but in most cases he comes up with a rational justification for the need to keep his true origin secret. However, if the Rebel fails a roll based on Self-Control (with the exception of Initiative), or if he succumbs to a mystical force that uses Self-control to resist, the character loses the opportunity to keep his delusions to himself and begins to behave as if he really embodies the earthly aspect of the great deity. Members of certain cults do not consider such a quality a deviation, since they already consider the Immortal to be a living god. In such conditions, it can be especially difficult for the Rebel to overcome his delusions and regain his true picture of the world. "
This will also give some game mechanics features
"The Rebel's Sahu is a magical construct, only partly based on his true appearance and largely dependent on the mummy's idea of itself. It is not surprising that when a Rebel is confronted with manifestations of mental abnormalities, his physical shell is often subjected to terrible disfigurement. If the Rebel considers himself a god, streaks of golden glow begin to flash over his skin."
 
Fghubyygvb said:
If a name associated with a deity or similar entity wins, it will be fun to take a thematic flaw. And consider yourself a real deity.
"The Divine Mask (heavy): The mummy believes that, like the Pharaoh of great antiquity, she represents the bau – the earthly incarnation of the deity. The rebel completely rejects the idea of his mortal origin and assigns a secondary role to the Judges, preferring to believe that in fact he embodies a piece of Ra, Ezit, Sutekh, Ptah or another deity. He believes that he should only pretend to be a servant of Judges, but in most cases he comes up with a rational justification for the need to keep his true origin secret. However, if the Rebel fails a roll based on Self-Control (with the exception of Initiative), or if he succumbs to a mystical force that uses Self-control to resist, the character loses the opportunity to keep his delusions to himself and begins to behave as if he really embodies the earthly aspect of the great deity. Members of certain cults do not consider such a quality a deviation, since they already consider the Immortal to be a living god. In such conditions, it can be especially difficult for the Rebel to overcome his delusions and regain his true picture of the world. "
This will also give some game mechanics features
"The Rebel's Sahu is a magical construct, only partly based on his true appearance and largely dependent on the mummy's idea of itself. It is not surprising that when a Rebel is confronted with manifestations of mental abnormalities, his physical shell is often subjected to terrible disfigurement. If the Rebel considers himself a god, streaks of golden glow begin to flash over his skin."
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I believe that might be from Old World of Darkness Mummy, and we are not using Flaws from those editions. The stuff we're primarily using is the newest edition for New World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness, 2e Mummy: the Cursed.
 
Mummy Powers
  • Informational
    • Lisafication said:
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    So, for informational purposes - and because I don't think so many people have picked up Mummy 2e in general - I'm gonna go into the powers that the Arisen get access to, so y'all know what you're getting into a bit.

    Broadly speaking, mummies have three categories of powers, not counting the fact they can use Relics with their curses mitigated or ignored entirely. Most of those powers are activated by spending Pillar points - a mummy's fuel stat, which is divided into five tracks of maximum five, each corresponding to one of her Pillars (ab, ba, ka, ren, sheut). You'll have nine dots spread amongst the Pillars at character creation.

    Affinities
    You've already seen some Affinities in the thread, and these powers are probably best compared to Charms from Exalted. These are essentially mystic alignments of your soul; radiant diagrams formed from the Sekhem within your body. Even as your power falls over time, these generally don't become weaker.

    Affinities generally comprise some combination of passive benefits and active powers which can either be used at will, or require a point of Willpower to activate. The reason they use Willpower instead of Pillar points is that spending Pillars usually reveals your true form as an eldritch mummy - not the kind of thing you want to do in the middle of a fancy party, usually. As a result, Affinities are generally the closest mummies get to 'subtle' powers, though they're hardly weak.

    Affinities themselves have four broad types, which I've outlined already, but I'll restate here for posterity.
    • Decree Affinities, which you only get one of and are (shockingly) associated with your Decree.
    • Guild Affinities, which you can only gain if you're a part of the relevant Guild, but which you can have multiple of (though only one of for the moment).
    • Soul Affinities, which are usually associated with one of the five Pillars, and which you can have multiple of (you'll have two by the end of character creation.
    • Bane Affinities, which are nasty horrible corrupted powers mainly used by Shuankhsen, though Arisen can also get them through a process more like infection than anything else.
    Guild and Decree Affinities are fairly straightforward. You get your Decree Affinity if you have that Decree, and if you're part of a Guild you can learn that Guild's Affinities. Soul Affinities are instead associated with the Pillars (mostly), and have effects which scale based on your permanent rating in that Pillar. You usually have to have at least one dot in a Pillar to take an associated Soul Affinity.

    By the end of character creation you'll have your Decree Affinity, a Guild Affinity, one Soul Affinity associated with your Defining Pillar, and one Soul Affinity freely chosen (from a list the QMs will provide based on the character, because I'm not posting every single Affinity here).

    Bestial Majesty (Ab)
    Natural animals see the mummy as a master and they do not attack her under any circumstances. Nor do they pay heed to her presence unless she invites them to do so. The same is true of any of her cultists in her immediate presence.

    She adds her Ab rating to her Animal Ken rolls, and she may spend a point of Willpower to give an animal a short, single-sentence command which it understands and attempts to carry out to the best of its ability. Failure results in the animal suffering the Berserk Condition for the remainder of the scene.

    Chariot of Judgment (Ba)
    The Arisen touches a transport vehicle — whether a literal chariot or a modern design such a motorbike, car, yacht, helicopter, or the like — and spends a point of Willpower to designate it as her chosen steed. This binds the vehicle to her, empowering it until it is destroyed or she chooses a new vehicle. The vehicle gains the following traits:
    • The vehicle only operates at the will of the Arisen, although she may choose to have someone else pilot it for her. It is completely unresponsive to would-be thieves or hijackers. The Arisen may choose to exempt the vehicles from the effects of any of her Utterances; she may pilot a helicopter through a screaming hurricane she conjured up without any difficulty at all.
    • The vehicle adds the Arisen's Ba to its Durability and to its dice pools to maneuver or pilot. Guided by Fate, the vehicle may move at full Speed through any area where there is physically space for it to pass without any risk of collisions that the pilot does not wish; the Arisen's transport weaves among hurtling mortal traffic without danger.
    • The vehicle adds the Arisen's Ba to the amount of damage it deals when ramming or striking, and reduces the amount of damage the vehicle itself takes from such acts by the same.
    • The vehicle does not normally degrade, rust, or otherwise require maintenance or fuel, and heals lost Structure at a rate of one point per hour. The Arisen may spend a point of Willpower to summon the vehicle to her current location; it collapses into scrap at its current location, and reassembles itself out of the environment in the Arisen's presence over the course of a turn.
    Dominating Might (Ka)
    The Arisen adds her Ka to her Initiative, to the armor piercing rating of her melee attacks, and to her Strength for the purposes of lifting, moving, or damaging objects; when damaging objects, she also ignores up to her Ka in Durability.

    When the mummy strikes a target with a melee attack, she may spend a point of Willpower to inflict the Knocked Down Tilt on them.

    Godsight (Ren)
    The Arisen's blessed sight adds her Ren rating to her Occult rolls, and immediately reveals to her the Sekhem rating of any Arisen, Endless, or Judge avatar in sight.

    By spending a Willpower point, the Arisen gains the ability to perceive supernatural beings and effects for the remainder of the scene, and adds her Ren rating to Clash of Wills dice pools to penetrate supernatural obfuscation, concealment, illusion, or misdirection.

    Opener of the Way (Sheut)
    The Arisen adds her Sheut rating to Larceny and Survival rolls, and her actions never causes mundane traps or alarms to trigger unless she so desires.

    She may spend a Willpower point to cause any door, lock, or barrier she touches to unlock and open. If necessary, mechanical or electric parts activate to allow this action, even if they lack power. She may also use this power to open supernatural gateways into other realms of existence, such as a door to the Underworld. However, this Affinity does not give the mummy the ability to sense such otherworldly portals by itself, and attempting to bypass a barrier, door or lock which has been supernaturally sealed or locked requires a Clash of Wills.

    Utterances
    Utterances are when stuff gets really spicy. These are probably best described as grand spells, usually being at least a bit Biblical, and represent a mummy's most spectacular powers. These are spoken with the soul, not the tongue, so you can unleash an Utterance even if your mouth is filled with molten copper, or in the void of space - both quite possible for a mummy.

    Each Utterance has three tiers, which are either numbered 1/2/4 or 1/3/5, usually based on the power of the Utterance in general. You can't use a given Tier of an Utterance if your Sekhem has fallen to lower than the tier's number (e.g. Secrets Ripped from Skies is 1/3/5, so if you're at Sekhem 4 you can't use the highest Tier). They also have a few unique keywords, which can be associated with a given Tier:
    • Curse: If a Tier has this keyword, you can unleash it for free as retribution against someone (or someones) who killed you.
    • Epic: Usually one of the grander Tiers, an epic unleashing makes it impossible to disguise your undead nature for the scene, and saturates the area with Sekhem, making it easy to sense.
    • Potency: Characters other than mummies subtract Potency from their Supernatural Tolerance when resisting a power; e.g. if you used a Potency 2 Tier on a werewolf with Primal Urge 3, it'd only get 1 die from Primal Urge to help it resist.
    • Subtle: Spending Pillar points to unleash a Subtle Tier doesn't cause your mummy-form to be revealed. This does not mean that the Utterance itself is unnoticeable.
    In terms of cost, unleashing a Tier of an Utterance requires that you pay one Pillar point of any kind and, if unleashing the second or third Tier, one Pillar point corresponding to the Pillar of that Tier. For instance, to call down a meteorite using Secrets Ripped From Skies, you'd spend a point of Sheut and a point from any Pillar. Obviously, this means you need at least one dot in a corresponding Pillar to use the relevant Tier.

    One change from 1e mummy, though, is that although each Tier is associated with a Pillar, you don't need the Pillar at the Tier's rating to use that Tier. Instead, you just get to use the whole core Utterance, and if you have the appropriate Pillar at the right level, you get bonuses or sometimes extra ways you can use the Utterance. To take Secrets Ripped From Skies as an example:

    Secrets Ripped From Skies
    Tier 1: Ba • (Subtle); Tier 2: Sheut ••• (Curse); Tier 3: Ren •••••
    Tier 1 (Subtle)
    Gazing up at the night sky (defined as from dusk until dawn), the mummy's whisper reveals the space relative to himself using whatever means of reference he prefers — be it the distance from the nearest landmark in cubits and palms, or relating a position near a café the mummy supped at three nights ago. Until dawn, while under the open night sky, the mummy gains perfect awareness of his immediate surroundings, and cannot be surprised or ambushed.

    Ba: With a Ba Pillar rating of 1 or higher, the mummy also glimpses recent events in the heavens, relating to spiritual mettle displayed in the past of the location and scene around the character. The player asks the Storyteller a number of questions equal to the mummy's Ba. Answers should include imagery conjured in starlit phantoms visible to the mummy. This tier only offers immediate scenes of violence or spiritual fortitude. The mummy receives the answers as a flash of insight and spatial memory. Sample Questions
    • Who in the area received an exceptional success?
    • Who in the area spent Willpower?
    • Who fulfilled their Virtue or Vice here?
    The mummy learns the circumstances of each question (i.e. the exceptional success in the scene was on a Persuasion roll by a prominent local gangster negotiating a new criminal deal at gunpoint), but may only inquire about events taking place under the open sky within the last lunar month. Multiple answers to a single question, such as spending Willpower, yield a composite rendition of memory derived from the scene most relevant to the current story that occurred in the prior month.

    Tier 2 (Curse)
    The mummy's words of power echo throughout her entire existence, from the end of all things to the beginning of the cosmos. Sekhem stretches across time, not space — the primal energy of creation, ineffably linked with the earliest epochs. As eons pass, the mummy's word continues to resound, ensuring matter and energy coalesce into an iron-hard expression of the Arisen's power, falling ever toward the Earth. The mummy need only look to the skies to sight the heralding blaze of her auspicious wrath.

    The mummy chooses one known target she can perceive within a mile, exposed to the open sky. A blazing meteorite slams into the target in a ball of fire. Everyone in the targeted area must succeed on a roll of Dexterity + Athletics – the Arisen's Sheut or suffer the Knocked Down Tilt. The interiors of buildings struck gain the Collapsing Ceiling Environmental Tilt for the scene; structures of a Size equal to or less than the Arisen's Sheut × 10 likely collapse by the end of the scene. The scene of the impact area gains the Inferno Environmental Tilt, becoming an inferno-sized fire at Bunsen burner intensity.

    Sheut: With a Sheut Pillar rating of 3 or higher, the mummy may fully shatter the meteorite within the upper atmosphere. Having persisted for millions of years in space, the meteorite's ghost remains quite powerful. The Twilight meteorite causes the same devastation and fire as its physical counterpart, but only to Amkhata and to ephemeral entities in Twilight.

    Tier 3
    Secrets eternal, kept by starlit sentinels, yield to the mummy's queries as Fate allows cosmic mysteries to unfold from ancient constellations. The mummy's player may ask questions of the Storyteller, relating to any topic within Fate's purview.

    The player asks one question per dot of Ren about the past, present, or future of the current story. Events relating to the Underworld, the Shadow, or realms other than the material or Twilight are not valid queries; nor are questions relating to the Judges, Anpu, the Shan'iatu, the Deceived, or other cosmological mysteries of mummies. The Storyteller's answer should be communicated in metaphor and cryptic symbolism, flashes of starlight insight gleaned from constellations wrought by Fate. This Utterance offers answers to virtually any question the mummy may ask, moving her significantly towards her goals or providing a solution to her most pressing dilemma in the current story. It cannot answer questions about the Arisen's history or Memory, except where this would provide illuminating clarity to a particular aspect of the mummy's current problems — in which case it likely provides a maddeningly incomplete picture.

    Ren: With a Ren Pillar rating of 5, the mummy also gains the Informed Condition about an unspecified topic with each unleashing. The Arisen may resolve the Condition in a flash of insight at any future point in the story as though they had thoroughly researched the topic.

    If the mummy unleashes the second tier in the same scene he attempted to read the future in the stars, he may call down an Epic meteorite shower rather than a single meteorite. The sky darkens, illuminated only by the molten flames of thousands of fireballs crashing down from the heavens. The shower ravages everything within a radius of Sekhem miles around the mummy for a number of turns equal to his Sekhem rating. The meteorites fall upon as many or as few targets as Fate decrees. While they avoid the fiery destruction and the Inferno Tilt does not affect the mummy or her Inheritors, other allies have no such protection unless they remain close by. Each potential target rolls a chance die each turn, a meteorite striking their location with a dramatic failure.

    Blessed is the God-King
    Tier 1: Ren • (Subtle); Tier 2: Ab ••• (Subtle); Tier 3: Defining ••••• (Epic)
    Tier 1 (Subtle)
    To the Arisen, Fate is both master and slave. Surrendering to and demanding from the twisted paths of Fate, the mummy draws forth a potent blessing. Invoking the Utterance grants the Arisen the rote quality on a single dice pool based on Attributes or Skills of the player's choosing. However, the player may choose to apply the rote quality after she rolls the dice and sees the result of that initial roll. This tier of the Utterance cannot be unleashed more than once per scene, but once unleashed the blessing remains until it is used or the end of the story, whichever comes first.

    Ren:     With a Ren Pillar rating at 1 or higher, the Arisen can unleash this Utterance up to twice per scene.

    Tier 2 (Subtle)
    As the vessel of Fate, the Arisen is a conduit for its blessings and bestows them upon the righteous and the worthy. The mummy may unleash this tier to impart good fortune upon a mortal who can see her. Whenever that character would spend Willpower to enhance a dice pool, it becomes a Blessed Action. This blessing remains until the end of the story. If the mortal is one of the mummy's cultists, the dice pool also gains the 8-again trait, and achieves an exceptional success on three successes instead of five.

    Ab: With an Ab Pillar rating of 3 or higher, the Arisen may choose to bestow the blessing on every mortal character who can see her, although if she does so, each blessed character only benefits from the effects on the first dice pool they spend Willpower to enhance.

    Tier 3 (Epic)
    By unleashing this Utterance, the Arisen draws on the power of her Judge to unleash true divine power through her form, becoming an avatar of Judge and gods for the remainder of the scene. This transformation empowers the Arisen with the following benefits:
    • The Arisen physically transforms, increasing her Size and all of her Attributes by 2, which may raise them above 5. Either her head transforms into the animal associated with her decree, or her body metamorphoses into a representation of her Judge.
    • She is treated as having Sekhem 10 for the purposes of reinforcing Attributes with Pillars and inflicting Sybaris on witnesses of her divine form.
    • She may manifest a divine weapon, such as a khopesh or flail, as a reflexive action. The weapon has no Initiative penalty, a damage rating of 3L, and the 8-again quality.
    • Taking a hostile act against the Arisen requires a character to first spend a Willpower point. After paying this price once, they are freely able to act against the mummy for the remainder of the scene.
    • The Arisen may choose to immediately end the Utterance upon suffering damage from any source, reducing the amount of damage suffered to one point. This does not alter the severity of that point of damage; lethal damage remains lethal, etc.
    The Arisen may also extend this empowerment to all Inheritors that are present in the scene and who are invested with her defining Pillar. They undergo a lesser form of the transformation, increasing their Size and all Attributes by 1, manifesting a divine weapon, and gaining the damage resistance of an Arisen. The Arisen may choose one of her Soul Affinities linked to her defining Pillar, allowing the Inheritors to benefit from it as if they possessed it while transformed.

    Defining Pillar: The Arisen gains an additional benefit from this tier if her defining Pillar rating is five.
    • If the Arisen's defining Pillar is Ab, she treats her impression for social maneuvers as Perfect.
    • If the Arisen's defining Pillar is Ba, she treats her Initiative score as one higher than the highest Initiative rolled for any character in the scene, and may apply her Defense against attacks that would usually deny it.
    • If the Arisen's defining Pillar is Ka, she regenerates a single point of lethal or bashing damage from her health track each round.
    • If the Arisen's defining Pillar is Ren, she reduces the cost of a single Utterance each round by one Pillar point.
    • If the Arisen's defining Pillar is Sheut, any character injured by her divine weapon also suffers the grave Sick Tilt, and she gains partial concealment against all attacks.
    Water of Life and Death
    Tier 1: Ren •; Tier 2: Sheut •• (Curse); Tier 3: Ba ••••

    Tier 1
    The Arisen speaks the power of water, strong enough to carve stone and tear down mountains with the passage of time. As she has foretold, a fissure cracks the ground at her feet and a new spring pours forth a rejuvenating cascade of clean water. This Utterance creates a spring from the ground, whether a natural or artificial surface.

    As well as quenching thirst, any living character drinking or bathing in the spring's water during the scene in which it appears benefits from its rejuvenating properties. Such a character regenerates one point of bashing damage per turn and one point of lethal damage per fifteen minutes while in contact with the water, although the healing waters cannot repair damage in a character's final three health boxes.

    The spring's initial fountains impose the Flooded Environmental Tilt if in a confined space, afterward settling down to a steady flow after a scene. The new well's flow remains strong for several years, unless the Arisen chooses to stop it early, providing enough water to sustain a small village or create an oasis.

    If outside, the Arisen may alternatively unleash the Utterance as a gentle rain upon the scene, with the same healing effects on those caught in it.

    Ren: With a Ren Pillar at 1 or higher, the Arisen may instead unleash this tier to give herself mastery of water. For the remainder of the scene, she is unaffected by the Flooded, Powerful Current, and Heavy Rain Environmental Tilts and by crushing pressure from deep water. She can walk on water or other liquids and even climb a waterfall. She can swim at twice her Speed, and suffers no penalties while acting underwater. She may extend these effects to any of her Inheritors present in the scene, who also gain the ability to breathe water for the duration (something that doesn't trouble the Arisen).

    Tier 2 (Curse)
    The Arisen spits a crimson curse upon the waters around her, souring the currents and turning fluid to blood. All bodies of fresh or saline water within up to two miles of the Arisen's location, including water brought into the area, transform into human blood and gain the Dark Waters Tilt for the remainder of the story or until the Arisen lifts the curse. Most living creatures — humans in particular — find the stagnating, clotting gore supernaturally repulsive and sickening, inflicting the moderate Sick Tilt (see p. 368) on any such creature in the waters' presence that does not subsist on blood normally. When the curse ends, the blood returns to its original watery state with no lingering effects.

    Sheut: With a Sheut Pillar rating of 2 or higher, the Arisen may choose specific areas or bodies of water to be unaffected by the curse, and can cause any water within the area to turn to blood only when touched by a human who has transgressed against the Arisen's Judge or the local code of laws.

    Crocodiles guarded the moats of Irem, but away from the Nile, the Dead and the Lifeless take their place.

    Effect: Amkhata and ghosts touching this water gain the Materialized Condition.

    Causing the Tilt: Triggering a Peril within a tomb, Water of Life and Death.

    Ending the Tilt: The tilt generally lasts one scene.

    Tier 3
    The mummy commands the water itself to bow before her glory, taking control of tides or opening a path before her. She may inflict the Powerful Current Environmental Tilt on any bodies of water present in the scene, controlling the tides with enough strength to push a tanker vessel against a shore, inflicting both the Collapsing Ceiling and Flooded Tilts on the interiors of any ships in the area and likely sinking them by the end of the scene. Alternatively, she may cause a body of water to open a corridor before her up to a mile deep and wide and up to ten miles in length. The Arisen can use this power to create a trench through a lake, or a passage of air along the sea bed with a watery 'ceiling' overhead. She may also use it to move the displaced water out entirely and inflict the Flooded Tilt on another part of the scene. If used to create a channel, she may choose for it to close behind her if she moves through it, or to remain open in her wake. If left open, the channel persists for up to a day after the Utterance's unleashing, afterward crashing closed once more.

    Ba: With a Ba Pillar rating of 4 or higher, the Arisen may choose to 'part' all water out of an area without needing to target a specific body of water. Instead, the targeted corridor dehydrates as all moisture seeks to escape it, becoming arid and dry. This applies a level 3 extreme environment to the affected area.

    You'll finish character creation with the Utterance Dreams of Dead Gods, and two others chosen from a list the QMs will provide, based on your character.

    Core Powers
    Finally, we come to the powers you get just by being a mummy. Mummies have quite an array of core powers they all have access to, so let's get into them.

    First, there are powers derived from their undead nature:
    • Mummies are flatly immune to possession, though they can be mind-controlled or similar.
    • Mummies have complete control over their physiology and may activate or deactivate any number of biological functions (breathing, digestion etc) as a reflexive action.
    • Mummies cannot bleed to death, be knocked unconscious, and suffer bashing damage from firearms, blades, and melee weaponry. However, in addition to basic sources of aggravated damage, mummies suffer aggravated damage from fire and attacks made with Vessels in the form of weaponry.
    • Mummies quickly heal from wounds and can use Sekhem to heal even faster. They naturally heal injuries at the following rate:
      • 1 point of bashing damage per turn.
      • 1 point of lethal damage every half hour.
      • 1 point of aggravated damage every three days.
    • Once per scene per Pillar, a mummy may spend a point from any Pillar to force their body to heal - this is called 'Sealing the Flesh'. The mummy heals 3 points of bashing and 1 point of lethal damage per turn, for a number of turns equal to the Pillar's rating. The mummy cannot die until the effect ends, even if the effect is unable to heal her wounds.
    • Once per turn, a mummy may sacrifice a dot of Sekhem to either restore all Willpower, or fully heal all damage.
    • If a mummy dies with a Sekhem rating higher than 0 and has either an intact sahu, an available canopic jar, or an Invested cultist, then she enters a Death Cycle, becoming Disembodied and wandering Twilight as she seeks Anpu, the guide of the dead, to reach the living world again. When the cycle resolves, she revives fully healed after a period of time determined by her Memory, generally having sacrificed Sekhem to do so.
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    Then there are the powers derived more from a mummy's nature as a channel for divine power:
    • Once per scene, a mummy may spend 1 Pillar point to raise a single physical Attribute (i.e. Strength, Dexterity or Stamina) by a number determined by their current Sekhem. This bonus lasts for the scene:
      • Sekhem 10-8: 4 dots
      • Sekhem 7-3: 3 dots.
      • Sekhem 4-2: 2 dots.
      • Sekhem 1: 1 dot.
    • Once per scene, a mummy may spend any number of points from her Defining Pillar to raise both her Favoured Attributes (e.g. Presence and Strength for Kheru) for the scene on a one-to-one basis.
    • Mummies have access to a mystical sense attuned to Sekhem and Relics in particular, which they call kepher. This isn't exactly a sense like our senses, but a combination of mystic resonance and fated conjunctions which draw the Arisen to relics like moths to flame. The higher your Sekhem, the easier it is to track kepher, and Vestiges and Vessels of the mummy's own Guild are easier still.
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    And finally, the two main Rites available to all mummies:
    The Rite of Investment
    With this rite, a mummy may touch a mortal cultist and grant him a number of Pillar points according to his rank in her cult, making him an 'Inheritor'. These points may be reclaimed at any distance, but provide an array of benefits to both the mummy and the target.
    • All Inheritors benefit from the mummy's Decree Affinity.
    • Inheritors who practice ritual sorcery can spend invested Pillar points to enhance that magic.
    • A Sadikh whose master has Invested him can manifest Soul Affinities that their master knows, though they must purchase them with Experience.
    • Immortals Invested with Pillar points may cast the first Tiers of Utterances the mummy knows using those Invested points.
    A mummy may have no more than 100 Invested Pillar points at any given time.

    The Rite of the Engraved Heart
    With this Rite, a mummy and a trusted companion exchange something of true value - perhaps a secret name, perhaps a permanent self-alteration - before the mummy cuts open the target's chest and inscribes their true, eternal name upon the heart, spending a dot of Willpower. This triggers an immediate Descent roll, but the target's chest magically heals, leaving only a scar symbolizing their new state.

    The result of this is a Sadikh, an immortal of sorts bound to the mummy. They obey a similar cycle of life and death to the mummy, rising from henet when she does, but return to death some time later, allowing them to make arrangements after their master is gone. Upon falling to slumber, the Sadikh dreams of a false life, an uneventful mundane existence that maintains their ease in whatever era they awaken. A Sadikh is subject to the following effects:
    • They do not age, and share a telempathic bond with the mummy, allowing each to broadcast their location and immediate feelings to the other. By spending a Willpower point, the Arisen can prevent their Sadikh from overtly countermanding any of his master's efforts or wishes, with discreet actions against the mummy at a −2 dice modifier.
    • Sadikh suffer damage as mummies do, but recover from wounds like mortals unless another trait modifies this rate.
    • If a Sadikh's health track is filled with Lethal damage, they fall into repose and wake when the mummy next does. If their body is destroyed or their health track is filled with Aggravated damage they are killed; they do not leave behind a ghost, and their body becomes a Vestige.

      If this vestige is drained, the Sadikh is gone for good. If it is returned to Duat, the Sadikh joins their master for one final journey. If the mummy wishes to resurrect a fallen Sadikh, they must spend a permanent Willpower dot, which causes the Sadikh to form again from Sekhem. The reformed Sadikh bears scars from the wounds that killed him, but no damage to his Health.
    • Sadikh possess a Sekhem rating equal to half of their master's current total, rounded up, for the purposes of resisting supernatural powers. This resistance is rendered inert against the Sadikh's Arisen master.
    • Sadikh are immune to Sybaris.
    • Once per scene, a Sadikh may use any one of his master's Affinities, or one of his master's Utterances, providing he has seen the Utterance used. The Arisen pays the Pillar and Willpower costs for use of these powers, though any dice pools except for Pillar ratings are made up from the Sadikh's Traits. Pillar ratings are derived from the mummy's character sheet.
    • Once per story, when a mummy attempts to recall a point in history during which their Sadikh was present, the mummy can call on the Sadikh's true name and gain +2 dice to their remembering. This benefit also applies if the mummy is at a Breaking Point and at risk of losing Memory, conveying the +2 dice to their Memory roll.
    Finally, if a Sadikh's master has 5 points in a Pillar, the Sadikh gains special effects.
    • Devoted Heart: A Sadikh whose master has a Pillar rating of Ab 5 gains +2 dice to resist or overpower a character attempting to sway the immortal servant from his master. The Sadikh may give his master any Willpower he recovers from fulfilling his Virtue or Vice, instead of gaining the benefit himself.
    • Loyal Soul: A Sadikh whose master has a Pillar rating of Ba 5 incurs no penalties when blinded or in darkness. The Sadikh conveys a +2 modifier to his master's initiative rolls when they're together, as the immortal servant acts as the mummy's eyes and ears.
    • Perfected Body: A Sadikh whose master has a Pillar rating of Ka 5 may exchange up to 4 bashing wounds or 2 lethal wounds to or from his master, with permission from the mummy, as a Reflexive action. The Sadikh cannot accept further wounds if he has any aggravated wounds. This power is effective no matter the distance but the two must occupy the same space in time.
    • Reverent Name: A Sadikh whose master has a Pillar rating of Ren 5 shares a true telepathic bond with his master and can mentally communicate in whole sentences with the mummy after speaking the Arisen's name. The Sadikh cannot communicate in this way if he has suffered any aggravated wounds. This power is effective no matter the distance but the two must occupy the same space in time. •
    • Shadowed Hand: A Sadikh whose master has a Pillar rating of Sheut 5 gains +2 dice on all Stealth and Larceny rolls, and for the cost of one Willpower point can magically shift the appearance of his face as a Reflexive action. This shift cannot imitate another person, but makes the Sadikh appear distinctly different from before. The shift remains in place until the Sadikh wills it to end. Multiple facial shifts prevent reversion to anything but the most recent facial appearance.
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  • Informational
    • As a further note to the above powers that @QafianSage has described, he's asked me to inform you about the Utterance that all Mummies have:


    Dreams of Dead Gods​
    Article:
    Tier 1: Ba • (Curse); Tier 2: Ka •• (Curse, Potency 2); Tier 3: Ab •••• (Subtle)

    Tier 1
    The timeless power of the Judges of Death slumbers within the Arisen, awaiting only the taste of sweet Sekhem to awaken. With this Utterance, the mummy awakens that same divinity in others. The mummy doesn't choose who is affected by this power. They need only define a specific task they need completed and unleash the Utterance; Fate chooses the afflicted. If the task as defined is impossible to complete, the mummy is refunded the cost.

    Afflicted dreamers suffer the Dead Dreamer Condition. Each time they slumber, they are plagued by nightmares of Duat and the horrifying futures awaiting them: scorpions scrabbling at their souls, loved ones embracing others and forgetting them, crying out in agony as their futures are torn asunder in smoke and shadow. These visions haunt them even during waking hours, pushing them to fulfill the task set before them or perish in torment. The duration lasts until every dreamer resolves the Condition. If unleashed during a death cycle or in henet, the mummy pays the cost immediately upon arising. When unleashed as a death curse, the mummy bestows the task directly upon their killer.

    Ba: With a Ba Pillar rating of 1 or higher, those afflicted by the mummy with the Dead Dreamer Condition gain two additional Blessed Actions per chapter.

    Dead Dreamer (Persistent)
    Your character is preoccupied with horrifying and prophetic dreams of dust and death, rendering them unable to focus on new situations. These dreams guide you toward a specific task, unveiling aspects of your future. Thrice per chapter, you may declare a single mundane roll to be a Blessed Action. However, all actions not spent pursuing the task become Blighted Actions.

    Each time you take the Blessed Action offered by these dreams, you may ask the Storyteller one question about the future, which must be answered truthfully.

    Possible Sources: Dreams of Dead Gods, Unease Sybaris.

    Resolution: The character succeeds or definitively fails at Fate's commandment, or becomes unable to fulfill it and thus an invalid target for this Condition. A subject can suffer this Condition from multiple mummies; pity the poor, mad dreamer.

    Beat: The character fails to fulfill another obligation due to pursuing her prophetic dream.

    Tier 2
    Terror pervades the dreams of death, but romance does as well. The mummy unleashes this Utterance upon any character, mundane or supernatural, they have interacted with in the past week, filling the target's slumber with images of the mummy cloaked in dread or splendor.

    Dice Roll: Manipulation + Ka + Sekhem vs. Resolve + Sekhem or Supernatural Tolerance.
    Action: Instant.
    Duration: Until the Condition triggers or the end of the story.

    Roll Results
    Success: The mummy may inflict the Charmed or Frightened Condition upon the target, triggered when they next behold the mummy's visage, be it a static or electronic image or in the divine flesh. If using social maneuvering, this removes one Door.
    Exceptional Success: The mummy's power leaves a lasting impression on the target, removing one additional Door on social maneuvering.

    Failure: The dreams of the target remain undisturbed.
    Dramatic Failure: The mummy becomes obsessed with the target and gains the Obsession Condition.

    Ka: With a Ka Pillar rating of 2 or higher, as soon as the target resolves the Charmed or Frightened Conditions, they receive the Swooned or Shaken Conditions respectively.

    Charmed (Persistent)
    You've been charmed by a mummy's supernatural force of personality. You don't want to believe that anything he says is a lie, and you can't read his true intentions. The mummy's Manipulation rolls against you gain the rote quality, and any Wits + Empathy or Subterfuge rolls you make to detect his lies or uncover his true motives suffer a penalty equal to one-half his Sekhem, rounded up. Using supernatural means to detect his lies become a Clash of Wills.

    You want to do things for the mummy to make him happy. If he asks, you'll do favors for him like he was one of your best friends — giving him a place to crash, lending him your car keys, or revealing secrets that you really shouldn't. You don't feel tricked or ripped off unless you resolve the Condition. It expires normally (without resolving) after one hour per dot of the mummy's Sekhem.

    Possible Sources: Certain Utterances.
    Resolution: The mummy attempts to seriously harm you or someone close to you, you make a significant financial or physical sacrifice for him.
    Beat: You divulge a secret or perform a favor for the mummy.

    Frightened Condition
    Something's scared you to the point where you lose rational thought. Maybe you've just looked down at a hundred-story drop, or seen a tarantula the size of your fist crawling up your leg. Whatever the case, you need to leave right now. Your only priority is getting the fuck away from the thing that's frightened you — to hell with your stuff, your friends, and your allies. If someone tries to stop you from escaping, you fight your way past them. You can't approach the source of your fear or act against it — and if the only way out involves going near the source of your fear, you collapse on the ground in terror.

    Supernatural creatures prone to loss of control must roll to avoid doing so. This Condition lasts until the end of the scene; suppressing its effects for a turn costs a point of Willpower.

    Resolution: The character escapes from the source of his fear.
    Swooned
    Your character is attracted to someone and is vulnerable where they are concerned. He may have the proverbial "butterflies in his stomach" or just be constantly aware of the object of his affection. A character may have multiple instances of this Condition, reflecting affection for multiple characters.

    He suffers a −2 to any rolls that would adversely affect the specified character, who also gains +2 on any Social rolls against him. If the specified character is attempting Social Maneuvering on the Swooned character, the impression level is considered one higher (maximum of perfect; see p. 191).

    Example Skills: Persuasion, Subterfuge
    Resolution: Your character does something for his love interest that puts him in danger, or he opts to fail a roll to resist a Social action by the specified character.

    Shaken
    Something has severely frightened your character. Any time your character is taking an action where that fear might hinder her, you may opt to fail the roll and resolve this Condition.

    Example Skills: Brawl, Firearms, Intimidation, Weaponry
    Resolution: The character gives into her fear and fails a roll as described above.

    Tier 3
    Speaking words of love, of hate, and of majesty, the mummy unleashing this Tier may completely command the emotions of any who behold her, bending them in service to herself. All within the sight of her eyes and the sound of her voice are affected. Even the protection of soundproof walls or averted eyes is not enough; their souls resonate with her majesty.

    The player chooses one of three effects for the Arisen's overwhelming aura of dread majesty, affecting all mortal characters beholding her as follows, though she may choose to exempt her cultists:

    Ruin: Victims gain the Broken Condition.
    Love: Victims gain the Swooned Condition toward the Arisen.
    Grandeur: Victims gain the Awestruck Condition toward the Arisen.

    Ab: With an Ab Pillar rating of 4 or higher, the aura lingers for the entire scene and affects anyone beholding the Arisen throughout that time, rather than only affecting those beholding the Arisen in the moment the Utterance is unleashed.

    Broken (Persistent)
    Whatever your character did or saw, something inside him snapped. He can barely muster up the will to do his job anymore, and anything more emotionally intense than a raised voice makes him flinch and back down. Apply a −2 to all Social rolls and rolls involving Resolve, and a −5 to all use of the Intimidation Skill.

    Possible Sources: Dramatic Failure on a Breaking Point, some supernatural powers.

    Resolution: Regain a dot of Integrity, lose another dot of Integrity, or achieve an exceptional success on a breaking point; for mummies, regain a dot of Memory or lose another dot of Memory.

    Beat: Your character backs down from a confrontation or you fail a roll due to this Condition.

    Swooned - See above

    Awestruck (Persistent)
    Your character sees before her a glorious and terrifying figure, and something in her brain kicks her to kneel and grovel. She suffers a –2 penalty to attack rolls against the source of the Condition. She also suffers a –3 penalty to contested rolls against social actions from the source of the Condition, and a –3 penalty to her Composure and Resolve against actions and powers that the source of the Condition uses on her.

    Possible Sources: Compulsion from supernatural powers.

    Resolution: The source of the Condition leaves your character's presence.

    Beat: Your character takes an action that serves the demands of the Condition's source.


    The usecases for this Utterance are numerous, and we've already seen one in our second update "Anamnesis": Ms. May-Wells has been experiencing Dead Dreams for several decades now. It is for Cult maintenance, Cult creation, buffing characters in a scattershot manner to complete a given task (Imagine using this with the intent to buff your cultists, and also happening to put a blessing on a character on the opposing side who is less loyal than the rest), and generally screwing with people's dreams and emotions.

    You are not obligated to build for Dreams of Dead Gods I should make clear, as you will make a choice to take two other Utterances before we get out of Character Creation and depending on your choices they may have different Pillar requirements.
     
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    [X] Helel
    -[X] Mistress
    [X] Plan: I Beheld, As Lightning
    -[X] Usheb
    -[X] Maa-Kep
    --[X] Affable Aid
     
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    BungieONI said:
    I believe that might be from Old World of Darkness Mummy, and we are not using Flaws from those editions. The stuff we're primarily using is the newest edition for New World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness, 2e Mummy: the Cursed.
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    This flaw is taken from the book of mummies of the new world of darkness of the first edition.
     
    I'll be honest I kinda assumed we were using 1e. @QafianSage are we so system bound as to have to deal with (in my opinion) 2e's completely insane obsession with putting Tilts fucking everywhere instead of, say, just rolling damage? (SRfS is a good example, if you get hit by a goddamn falling star you should not be rolling to avoid getting knocked down, you should be rolling to not die.)

    (I have a lot of other problems with 2e, but that's the relevant one)
     
    Lisafication said:
    I'll be honest I kinda assumed we were using 1e. @QafianSage are we so system bound as to have to deal with (in my opinion) 2e's completely insane obsession with putting Tilts fucking everywhere instead of, say, just rolling damage? (SRfS is a good example, if you get hit by a goddamn falling star you should not be rolling to avoid getting knocked down, you should be rolling to not die.)

    (I have a lot of other problems with 2e, but that's the relevant one)
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    Honestly, things will probably be altered a bit - what's happening there is mostly just demonstrating the kinds of things power can do. It's just that for the moment it's easier than re-writing everything on the fly, while trying to keep a relatively fast pace of updating.
     
    Lisafication said:
    I'll be honest I kinda assumed we were using 1e. @QafianSage are we so system bound as to have to deal with (in my opinion) 2e's completely insane obsession with putting Tilts fucking everywhere instead of, say, just rolling damage? (SRfS is a good example, if you get hit by a goddamn falling star you should not be rolling to avoid getting knocked down, you should be rolling to not die.)

    (I have a lot of other problems with 2e, but that's the relevant one)
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    Tbh the Inferno tilt is really nasty, it is likely to knock out and kill anyone lingering around without firefighter equipment.
     
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