Chosen
In a Human-centric kingdom with enclaves of other demihumans, an idyllic life is about to change. Enemy Powers Gather within and without.
In The Land or Thelland as it is known. A place according to myth gifted to the humans long ago, and opened to the other people who arrived after. The demihuman enclaves (a number of Halfling Shires, Elven Glades, and Dwarf Forts) were formed from groups and waves of refugees as the lands surrounding became inhospitable centuries ago; whether wild and vicious, toxic, or simply barren varies by region. The Wildlands that surround Thelland today spawn Monsters, Mutants, and Barbarians in their depths. Rumor has it a Demonlord is rising far from civilization, and gathering monsters and feral tribes to his banner, but surely none of that would bother an peaceful rural village in the breadbasket of the kingdom such the PC's hometown?
Born in the quiet farming hamlet of Wickston, the PCs have all recently come of age at the villages yearly festival, and in an unprecedented clustering, all of them were found to be granted the 1%-chance-power to bend the world to their will.
The exact nature of their new found potential is still unknown, but suddenly Thelland has its eyes on Wickston.
Mechanically this game is a hybrid of pathfinder subsystems and homebrew nonsense.
Every other race has human racials on top of it's normal stats (+1 skillpoint per level, +1 feat, +2 to an ability score)
But Humans also each have a +2 to con and a Gift.
The gift varies dramatically often taking the form of class features from pc classes such as a limited number of spells or special martial styles, the sheer variety of gifts mingled with the few crafting gifts (which can enhance many folks in time and act as a force multiplier) make humans unpredictable.
Everyone recieves either their nonhuman racials or a gift at level 1 about the point where they turn of age.
Those that survive to level 6 and 18 gain a second and third gift (even the nonhumans).
Inworld this is random or the choice of the gods.
Mechanically, the PCs choose.
The only regular classes available are npc classes(Commoner, Warrior, Expert, Thug, [with exceedingly rare Noble and Adept]) and the Chosen One.
Most folks are Commoners with a profession focused "Skilled" Gift (+2 to to skills that become class skills and skillfocus in each). [about 60% of the populace] Next are Warriors, Experts, and Thugs [coming in at about 10% each]
Nobles make up 4% of the populace.
Adepts 3%
Magewrights 2%
and finally
Chosen Ones are the final 1%.
The Chosen One is a homebrew class mingling bits of Monk and The Power of the spheres subsystem. (basically a 'blank' pseudo-Martial class with the ability to evolve into whatever the pc makes of it.)
The big twist of this set up is that the Chosen One gains access to certain power sets, and those powersets are randomized
(both Inworld and Mechanically).
The Chosen One each gain Divination and one Equipment Sphere at level one. As well as a Skill Specialty Sphere(SSS)
At level two they gain a Casting Specialty Sphere(CSS) and a Martial Specialty Sphere(MSS).
There is no widely known way to gain spheres outside of these beyond rare sages and their disciples in hidden monestaries...
At level one as part of character creation (and as part of char gen and game application) Each player chooses from SSS, CSS, and MSS which will be their primary, their secondary, and their tertiary.
The GM (Me) then rolls.
Primary choice will generate 3 options, secondary choice will have 2 options, and tertiary will have 1 option.
Thus, one might be a persuasive shadowbending fencer,
another a healer specializing in alchemy and herbalism.
It can create some odd dispositions like A stealthy armored tank whose real hobby is summoning.
Or a fiery berserker with a knack for reinterpreting how the minutiae of a magic item is directed.
As a more indepth example....
So, if you want to focus on martial ability and want to make sure you get something you find useful, then you would assign the 3 to Martial.
Thus 3 Different spheres would be rolled, potentially getting;
1. ATHLETICS [with abilities focused around mobility],
2. GUARDIAN [with abilities focused around defense of self and others],
3. DUELIST [which focuses on agile 1V1 fighting].
You would then choose one of the three options as your Martial Specialty Sphere(MSS)...
Similarly you would then assign the 2 and the 1 to Casting and Skills to determine your Casting Specialty Sphere and Skill Specialty Sphere.
Potentially Getting
1. War [With the ability to summon totems on the field that juggle buffs, debuffs, and unit coherency]
2. Warp [With abilities tied to teleportation and extra dimensional spaces]
And
1. Herbalism [With Short and Long Term Consumable Buffs and Healing]
Resulting in a Chosen One who might choose;
Guardian, War, Herbalism; A mobile supporter granting defense, healing, and augmented combat.
OR Perhaps
A Duelist, Warp, Herbalism chosen who is a dangerously dexterous fighter popping in and out of existence to stab his foe AND having the tricks up his sleeve to heal himself or allies.
A key aspect of this game is learning to leverage the odd powers given.
The Chosen One is a little stronger than an average class to compensate for the lack of choice.
No fret about learning an entirely new system. I have it so the build up in power allows pcs to acclimatize to their specific powersets keeping things simple...
Game will begin sandbox as heroes grow into their abilities and developing based on PC choices towards one or more of multiple potential primary plots.
OH... and you'll probably want to look at the class you'll be playing...
The Chosen One
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