As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods.

They kill us for their sport.

— King Lear, Act 4, Scene 1

C ombat is a critical part of any heroic-scale game, covering

the elements of physical peril, violence and round-by-
round action. This is the realm of fistfights with frost giants,
unless stated otherwise. They represent activities that take
little to no time to perform. Actions such as looking around,
retrieving objects from a holster, moving no faster than a
fleeing animated statues while riding on motorcycles, and character’s maximum speed, or standing up from a prone po-
solving an arcane puzzle box that will dominate humanity with sition, are all considered reflexive actions and do not require
seconds to spare. The following systems support those events. a roll, but do count towards action limits for mixed actions.

INITIATIVE Simple actions cover anything that would occupy a

character’s full attention, such as stabbing an ice golem in
the heart.

T o reiterate from the Storypath chapter: At the start of a

combat encounter, roll initiative to determine who acts
first. Each player rolls for their individual characters and the
A mixed action is what characters use when doing two
things at once, such as climbing up a really big ice golem
Storyguide rolls for hers. Groups of Storyguide characters with while trying to stab it. Mixed actions use the lower of the
similar statistics may share an initiative roll. two involved pools, and split the successes between the two
actions.
A character’s initiative pool is equal to the character’s
best combat-related Skill + Cunning. This pool represents Example: Vera, playing Sigrun, is trying to keep her balance on
a character’s martial acumen and mental presence in the a soaring winged beast while also trying to stab it through the
fight. Tally the total number of successes for each character, heart. Her Dexterity + Athletics is 4 and her Close Combat +
and rank them from highest to lowest. Results generated Might is 6, so she must use the lower pool. She gets 2 successes.
by player characters become PC slots; results generated by The creature has a Defense of 2, so she must choose between
SGCs become SGC slots. This is the initiative roster. falling off the monster or missing the attack.
The players choose which of them gets to take the first
PC slot, then that player decides which of them takes the ATTACK
next slot, and so on. Similarly, the Storyguide determines
which order her characters act in. In the event of a tie be-
tween Storyguide and player, favor the player.
RESOLUTION
1 Declare your target (or targets) and choose your dice
ACTION PHASE pool. The target(s) declare the Defense action they
wish to take, and roll for a Defensive action if it’s
Once initiative is rolled, the round begins. When it is their first time in the turn being attacked.
a character’s turn to act, they can take either one simple or
one mixed action, though they may only attack once per 2 If your target is in range of your weapon, make an at-
turn. Reflexive actions can be taken at any time, even if it’s tack roll. Total your successes, adding Enhancements
not your character’s turn. to the total.
Reflexive actions are done automatically, and often do 3 Spend successes to overcome the target’s Defense, the
not require any kind of roll. Activating a Knack is reflexive attack is successful. Spend additional successes on Stunts.

DOWN AND DIRTY ACTION

Sometimes a fight or a scene needs to be summed up quickly. Maybe a Scion is pounding on a street-
level tough or a mall rent-a-cop. Maybe the altercation isn’t that critical to the story, or maybe people just
want to move things along against minor characters. When this happens, utilize Down and Dirty Action,
which allows an entire fight sequence to be resolved with a single roll. Storyguide characters cannot initiate
Down and Dirty Combat, nor can players initiate Down and Dirty Action against enemies of a higher Tier.
If multiple characters initiate this with separate intents (one takes out the punks outside the mall while the
other shakes down the security guard inside), each makes their own roll. If they work together, default to
teamwork rules.
To resolve Down and Dirty Combat, both parties make opposed rolls using their relevant combat Skills.
Any threshold successes in the opposed roll lead to the target being Taken Out, failing to escape, divulging
relevant information, etc. Ties favor the players.

INITIATIVE/ATTACK RESOLUTION 115

 4 The target takes any Injuries based on the Inflict
Damage Stunt. DEFENSIVE STUNTS
Defend: Unlike most Stunts, Defend generates success-
5 The next player’s takes their turn.
es, which an opponent must overcome in order to inflict an

DEFENDING Injury. If this roll generates no successes, the base Difficulty

to hit a character is 1.
Dive to Cover (Difficulty 1): In response to a ranged
G etting hit really and truly sucks. Thankfully, you’ve got
options. attack, you move up to one range band away to reach cover
established in the Field. Cover utilized by this stunt absorbs
A character’s standard Defense is 1. A character can
Injuries as hard armor (p. XX).
defend to increase the Difficulty an attack must overcome to
successfully hit its target. In response to an attack, the player Roll Away (Difficulty equal to opponent’s Composure):
may reflexively roll the highest of her Resistance Attributes Move away from the attacker one range band.
without any Skills. Apply the successes on this roll to generate
Defensive Stunts. Defensive Stunts persist until the end of
the round. Penalties to Defense from sources such as Injury
ATTACKING
Conditions can never bring the character’s Defense below 1.
A character may want to spend her action in the round
I n order to put the hurt on someone, you must be able to
reach them. You can attack within the range of your weapon,
as described by its tags.
to take a Full Defense. To do this, roll double the character’s
Defense pool. Each success increases the Difficulty required to When you have selected a valid target, you make an
inflict Injury (effectively providing soft armor — see below), Attack roll. The dice pool for melee attacks is Close Combat
or may be split among other Defensive Stunts (including any + Might, while Athletics and Firearms cover thrown
Defensive Stunts granted by Knacks or other powers). This is weapons, archery, and guns, respectively, and use different
a simple action, and may not be part of a mixed action. Attributes depending on the range of the target.
If you roll enough successes to exceed their Defense, your
attack succeeds. After succeeding, you may spend additional
successes to apply Stunts which range from dealing damage to
ANTAGONISTS AND more cinematic effects, such as tripping or disarming your op-
VARIABLE STUNTS ponent. Knacks and Boons may also grant additional Stunts.

Most Antagonists (see Chapter Six) just have CLOSE COMBAT ATTACK
a “Defense” statistic. We’ve broken down the You strike your opponent at close range, either with a
granular stuff that goes into what Difficulty you weapon or without.
need to beat for these actions, but for nearly every
Combat action rolled against an Antagonist, Range: Close
just beat their Defense and you’re golden.
Antagonists often have high Defenses; failing to Skill: Close Combat
hit them in combat generates Momentum, which Hit: Overcome the target’s Defense
allows you to boost dice pools, which allows you
to beat their Defense. Failing that, you should rely STUNTS
on teamwork and Stunts (and not just combat Inflict Damage (0s + opponent’s Armor): Deal an Injury
Stunts — remember, you can and should apply Condition to your target.
an Enhancement Stunt to a different Skill and
Attribute combination) to carry the day. Similarly, Blinding (1s): The target takes an increased Difficulty of
Antagonists don’t per se suffer from Injury 1 on all Shoot and Thrown attacks on their next action.
Conditions, but they should have Complications
penalties applied to them as necessary. Break Up Grapple (1 success): When targeting a char-
For Stunts with variable success costs versus an acter who is part of a grapple (that you are not in) you
opponent’s trait, assume that the successes are may use this stunt to break up their grapple.
equal to one-half of the opponent’s relevant pool, Critical (4s): Deal an additional Injury Condition to
rounding up for Attributes and rounding down for your target.
Skills. For example, tripping a huge but ungainly
Villain would target their Desperation Pool (5); Disarm (2s): You use your weapon as leverage, pulling
rounding up, that means the Trip Stunt is 3 successes or twisting your opponent’s weapon or item out of their
once you’ve beaten their Defense. If you’re trying hand. You may spend an additional success to knock
to knock the sword out of the grasp of a fast, but the item into the “short” range increment.
obviously unskilled, shadow ninja, you’d again
target their Desperation Pool (5) but round down, Establish Grapple (Variable successes): You force your
for 2 successes. opponent into a grapple. Both you and they can only
make grappling physical actions until someone breaks

116 CHAPTER FOUR: COMBAT

 GRAPPLED
You’re held fast in a powerful grip.
Effects: You cannot move from the spot. Your grappler may drag or throw you with an opposed Might
+ Athletics roll, and automatically wins ties.
Resolution: Unless you are released, you must escape the grapple with an opposed Close Combat or
Athletics + Dexterity or Might roll. Success also allows you to reverse the grapple.

free. The person who initiates the grapple is “in con- the number of successes your opponent spent estab-
trol.” (see Grappled above). lishing the grapple.
Feint (Variable successes): For every success spent on Critical Hit (4s): Deal an additional Injury Condition to
Feint, you generate Enhancement on your or an ally’s your target.
next attack against the opponent you’re attacking.
You must designate the ally gaining the enhancement Gain Control (Variable): You maneuver yourself to be
bonus when you make this attack. in control of a grapple. The cost of this Stunt is equal to
the number of successes your opponent spent estab-
Knockdown/Trip (1s): Knock your opponent prone lishing the grapple. This Stunt can only be purchased
where they stand. when you are not in control.
Seize (2s): You take an object held by (but not strapped Pin (2s): Deny opponent their Defense against all other
or attached to) your opponent. You must be strong attacks. Must be in control to initiate.
enough to hold the object without effort, and you must
have a free hand. Position (per success; Difficulty equal to Opponent’s
Dodge): You generate an Enhancement bonus that ap-
Shove (Variable successes): For every 1 success you plies on your next grappling attack against the target
spend after beating the Difficulty, you may push your equal to the number of successes spent on this Stunt.
opponent back a number of meters equal to your Might.
Takedown (1s): You render both yourself and your
Sunder (3 successes): You use your weapon to damage opponent prone. You maintain the grapple. You may
your opponent’s gear (weapon, armor or otherwise), also employ Inflict Damage or Throw in conjunction
making it useless for the rest of the scene. with this, representing a body slam or sacrifice throw.
Must be in control to use.
GRAPPLE Throw (Variable successes): You hurl your opponent a
You wrestle with your opponent. As part of a close combat number of meters equal to your Might in any direction
attack, you can choose to place both yourself and your opponent you desire. Each success spent after the first increases
in a grapple (see above). While grappling, you are normally limit- the distance of the throw by a meter. Throwing counts
ed to grappling Stunts in physical combat unless you Break Free as breaking free, thus ending the grapple. You must be
before using some other maneuver. The person who initiates the in control to throw.
grapple starts with control of the grapple. The grapple action is
only taken when you are already in a grapple. To initiate a grapple,
you must use a close combat attack. While in a grapple you can
RANGED ATTACK
Using a ranged weapon, you fire a projectile at your
only use weapons with the “grapple” tag. While in a grapple and
target.
not in control of it, you cannot use the Withdraw Defense action.
Range: Close Range: Determined by weapon

Skill: Agility (Might) Skill: Firearms

Hit: Overcome the opponent’s Defense Hit: Overcome the target’s Defense

STUNTS STUNTS
Inflict Damage (0s): Deal an Injury Condition to your Inflict Damage (0s): Deal an Injury Condition to your
target. target.

Break Free (1s): You break out of the grapple. If you Critical Hit (4s): Deal an additional Injury Condition to
are in control, this requires no successes. If you are not your target.
in control, this requires you to spend success equal to

DEFENDING/ATTACKING 117
 Disarm (Successes equal to opponent’s Combat Skill): as part of their mixed action on their turn. This can be used to
You fire your projectile at the weapon or their hand, defend another character, defend an object, or stop a character
forcing them to drop it. You may spend an addition- from operating machinery. As long as the Storyguide thinks
al success to knock the item into the “near” range it is possible for the character to stop another character from
increment. performing the action (For instance, it is very difficult to
stop a person from opening their eyes in combat time) it is
Emptying the Clip (0s): When using a weapon with the possible to complicate the action. Complicate action inflicts
automatic tag, the attacker can choose to empty the a Complication (Blocked) on any character attempting to
clip. Emptying the clip adds a +1 Enhancement bonus perform the stated action equal to the number of successes
to the attack in addition to the automatic tag’s usual spent on Complicate Action. If a character chooses not to buy
benefits. After this action, your weapon is out of ammo off this Complication, then they automatically fail to perform
and will need to be reloaded before you can fire the the stated action.
weapon again
Skill Used: Varies based on the action declared, usually
Knock Down (successes equal to opponents Stamina): Athletics or Close Combat.
You spend successes to knock your opponent prone.
Pin (Variable): Pin applies a Complication of 2 on the
THROWING
character’s next attack. If they choose not to buy off this To throw a person or an object into someone else, you must
Complication, then they receive one automatic Injury first be able to lift it, requiring an Athletics + Might roll, or to
Condition relevant to the damage type of the weapon. put a wiggling, living target into a grapple (p. XX). Once lifted,
A character can spend additional successes on this the object or person can be thrown as if it had the tags Thrown,
Stunt to increase the Complication. Pushing. It is Storyguide discretion whether or not a thrown ob-
ject is Lethal or Bashing, or if it might inflict the Stun tag as well.
THROWN ATTACK If throwing a living person, the damage dealt to the target is also
dealt to the person being thrown. In the event of throwing a car,
You hurl a weapon, such as a hatchet or a javelin, with
or a pillar from a temple to Zeus, this is then a Feat of Scale and
your raw physical strength.
the thrown object also gains the Shockwave tag.
Range: Short
Skill: Athletics
MODIFIERS TO ATTACK/
Hit: Overcome the target’s Defense
DEFENSE ACTIONS
GOING PRONE
STUNTS
Hitting the dirt is a good option when someone is
Inflict Damage (0s): Deal an Injury Condition to your shooting at you but is significantly less good when someone
target. is trying to kick you in the head. A prone target takes a −1
Blind (2s): The target takes an increased Difficulty of 1 penalty to their Defense against characters in clash range
on all Shoot and Thrown attacks. with them, and a +2 bonus to their Defense against attacks
at any other range.
Critical Hit (4s): Deal an additional Injury Condition to
your target. ON THE GROUND/STANDING UP
When prone, it is normally a simple thing to get up
Disarm (Variable successes equal to opponent’s (reflexive action). However, if you are prone with an enemy
Combat Skill): You hurl your missile at their weapon in clash range then standing up gets more difficult. If there
hand, forcing them to drop it. You may spend an addi- is an opponent in clash range with a prone character, then
tional success to knock the item into the “near” range the prone character must stand up as part of a mixed action.
increment. Standing up is an Athletics roll with a Complication of 1.
Line Drive (Variable successes equal to opponents If the player fails to buy off the Complication, his character
Might): You spend successes to knock your opponent takes an Injury Condition as his opponents punishes his
prone where they stand. attempt to stand.
AMBUSH
OTHER Sometimes, the best way to win is before your opponent

COMBAT ACTIONS even knows there is a fight. When attempting to surprise

someone, the ambushers roll Agility + Dexterity vs. the
opponent’s Integrity + Cunning to represent sneaking up
COMPLICATE ACTION on them. Players can also make a case for different dice pools
if the situation calls for it, such as Empathy + Cunning to
T he complicate action is an umbrella term for a variety of
actions that involve blocking or stopping another person
from performing a task. The character must declare this action
distract an opponent, or to convince them that the ambush-
er is harmless before the attack.

118 CHAPTER FOUR: COMBAT

 If a group is trying to surprise another group, pool the When a character is at short range, he’s outside of the
successes on both sides and divide them by the number of immediate reach of an opponent wielding a hand-to-hand
people on each side (round down). weapon, but close enough that the opponent could reach
The target’s roll becomes the Difficulty for the ambush- him with a quick dash.
er. After the ambusher overcomes the Difficulty, she may A character at medium range is a fair distance away
spend any remaining successes on the following effect: from an opponent, the favored range of throwing weapons or
Surprise (Variable): Impose a Complication on the handguns. A character at long range is very far away from his
Initiative roll for the opposing team by one for each success opponent, probably in a different Field. Combat at this range
spent. If anyone on the opposing team cannot buy off the can only occur through powerful rifles or bows, and thus is a
Complication on their initiative roll, then they do not get an great range for snipers.
action on the first turn of combat. Finally, extreme range is one where opponents are dis-
tant specks. Communication at or beyond this range is gen-
RANGE MODIFIERS erally impossible without magic or equipment (a cell phone
will do), as is combat without the aid of extremely powerful
Scion combat is a dynamic affair where heroes duel rifle scopes. All range bands beyond long range are consid-
while racing across rooftops, leap from top to top of speeding ered extreme range, though a character might potentially be
cars on rain-slick streets, or rampage up and down the stairs several extreme range bands away from another character
and throughout the opulent halls of penthouses. Taking cov- across several contiguous Fields or one extremely large one.
er from snipers, advancing on fleeing foes, and riding down When you can make an attack at all, and you usually can’t,
terrified enemies atop speeding motorcycles are all possible you’re doing it through the power of raw mathematics.
in the Storypath system.
Ranged weapons change their Attributes depending on
The Storypath system uses an abstract positioning system what range you’re at:
to represent the general distance between combatants. Keeping
Close: Might — at this range you are fighting for con-
track of exact distances isn’t as important as looking at the
trol over your ranged weapon, though if you can bring it to
general spatial relationship. There are several ranges that two
bear, you may still harm your opponent.
characters can potentially occupy in relation to one another:
Short: Might or Dexterity
When a character is at close range, he is in an oppo-
nent’s face, close enough to easily attack with a hand-to- Medium: Dexterity or Cunning
hand weapon such as a knife or his fists. Long: Cunning

OTHER COMBAT ACTIONS/RESOLVING DAMAGE 119

 RANGE TABLE
ESTIMATED COMBAT
RANGE DESCRIPTION DISTANCE ATTRIBUTE WEAPONS
Close In range to trade 0 to 2 meters Might Unarmed combat,
blows with blunt melee weapons, pistol
objects and blades,
or grapple and strike
unarmed.
Short Close-quarter battle Out of reach — 3 to Dexterity Thrown, pistol, rifle,
distance for reflexive 30 meters bow
shooting and thrown
weapons.
Medium Range to aim and 31 to 100 meters Cunning Thrown, pistol, rifle,
shoot with a firearm bow
or bow. Maximum
modern pistol range.
Long Range to plan and Over 100 meters to Discipline Rifle, some bows, light
execute long-range maximum effective artillery
sniping and special range (standard is
weapon attacks (com- 1000 meters)
pensating for wind,
etc.).
Extreme Range of heavy By weapon (typically Intellect or dice pool Missiles, naval rail-
military weapons — 1000+ meters to of guidance system guns, heavy artillery
must compensate for weapon maximum
curvature of the Earth, — 10,000 meters or
speed of light delays. more)
Out of Range Beyond maximum Beyond maximum N/A N/A
weapon range. weapon range.

Extreme: Intellect
Firing Out of Range: Sometimes you need to shoot an
opponent who is just too far away. For each range band be-
RESOLVING DAMAGE
yond the maximum range of the weapon, add +2 Difficulty
to the roll.
C haracters gain special Conditions when injured, called
Injury Conditions.
There are four general categories, corresponding to

SURPRISE ATTACKS increasing levels of Complication severity: Bruised (−1),

Injured (−2), and Maimed (−4). Beyond that, you’re
Taken Out. Except for Taken Out, characters don’t often get
W hen you want to get the drop on an enemy and maximize
the element of surprise, you must set up an ambush.
Against a single target, roll Subterfuge + Dexterity or Intellect
Injured or Maimed, they get Broken Arm or Crushed Skull.
Be descriptive when applying these Conditions — weapons
vs. a difficulty half the target’s Composure (rounded down). can only apply Injury Conditions that would be narratively
Ties favor the player character. Against a group, roll against logical. If an Injury Condition wouldn’t affect your character
the highest rating among the group of enemies. Bandmates (say, they’re trying to shoot someone while suffering from a
generally should not be surprise attacking each other, but in broken leg) the Condition effect or Momentum generation
the event of intra-band strife, the roll is the same, with ties simply doesn’t apply.
favoring the defender. Injuries needn’t represent actual wounds; at the
On a success, the ambushing character or characters Storyguide’s discretion, they can be “Fated Injuries,” which
have a full round to act against their opponents before ini- are curses, injuries held in abeyance, or close calls that throw
tiative is rolled as normal and the enemies join the fight. off the character and keep them off balance. Having a char-
Stealth cannot be reestablished in a fight without the aid of acter dodge a hail of bullets only to catch the fateful one that
Knacks or Boons. Takes them Out is perfectly in-genre.
Calculating Injury Conditions: Anyone can take the
Bruised or Maimed Condition levels (or the equivalents
thereof caused by weapons). With a Stamina rating of 1, they

120 CHAPTER FOUR: COMBAT

can take Injured (create a small box for the level). For every INJURED DAMAGE
additional 2 above (round up), the character can take one EXAMPLES EFFECT TYPE
additional Bruised Condition. Scale can add directly to this,
creating one additional Bruised Condition per Scale level. Minor Increases Difficulty of Bashing
Concussion all Mental actions and
Example: At 3 they have Taken Out, Maimed, Injured, and Firearms actions
two Bruised. At 5, they have Taken Out, Maimed, Injured, and
Broken Leg Halves movement Bashing,
three Bruised. At 11, it’d be six Bruised, and so on.
speed, and increases Lethal
Any time the character takes damage, he must take the Difficulty of all
an Injury Condition. His player chooses to take a Bruised, Agility actions
Injured, or Maimed Condition, if available. If none are Cracked −2 Defense Bashing,
available, he is Taken Out. Ribs Lethal
If the attack is from a weapon with the Aggravated tag,
the Condition becomes Persistent. Against mortal charac-
ters, lethal damage is Persistent. The four-point Critical Hit
MAIMED
You have suffered an incredibly serious, and potentially
Stunt allows you to inflict an additional Condition.
permanent, wound.
BRUISED Effect: None, beyond filling the damage level.
You’re beaten up a bit. Momentum: The Injury gets in your way later in the
Effect: None, beyond filling the damage level. scene, adding +4 Difficulty to an action.
Momentum: The injury gets in your way later in the Resolution: Healing magic, or wait two weeks.
scene, adding +1 Difficulty to an action.
MAIMED DAMAGE
Resolution: Various Calling or other healing magic; EXAMPLES EFFECT TYPE
otherwise, wait two days. Shattered Increase Difficulty of Bashing,
Knee/Shoulder all actions involving Lethal
BRUISED DAMAGE the shattered limb
EXAMPLES EFFECT TYPE
Internal Increase Difficulty Bashing,
Bruised Ribs −1 Defense Bashing Bleeding of all attacks and Lethal
Black Eye Increases Difficulty of Bashing movement
Firearms actions Acid Burns Increase Difficulty Lethal,
Sprained Increases Difficulty of Bashing of all Physical and Aggravated
Ankle all actions any time the Social actions
character moves
TAKEN OUT
INJURED You have been hurt enough to take you out of a fight.
You have been solidly hit, and are suffering from a seri- You might be dying, trapped under serious amounts of rub-
ous but still heroic wound. ble, or simply knocked out cold or too bruised to move. You
Effect: None, beyond filling the damage level. might be able to talk, but can’t make any serious efforts at
convincing someone of something.
Momentum: The Injury gets in your way later in the
scene, adding +2 Difficulty to an action. Effect: You may not take any more actions during the
scene in which you’ve taken this Condition. Any successful
Resolution: Healing magic, or wait two weeks. hit in a later scene has the same effect until you resolve this
Condition. Add three Momentum to the pool when you first

I GIVE UP
When a character faces an extreme amount of Injury Conditions or a particularly tough foe, or if they just
feel like it, the player can opt to concede. In this case, the character is voluntarily Taken Out without going
through Bruised, Injured, etc. first. The character takes no further damage, and adds three Momentum to
the pool as normal. Losing a fight should be resolved in the same way as a Condition, leading to a new
angle in a story. There are also multiple options for withdrawing from a fight; if the battle appears to be
one-sided, the Storyguide should gently remind players of these options.

FIRST AID/RANGE MODIFIERS 121

acquire Taken Out, and for every time a definite lack of your an additional time for each Scale rank they have above
presence in the fight harms your companions. their opponent. Storyguides, be sparing when hitting an PC
Resolution: The Injury that caused you to be Taken and use the extra successes as much as possible — the blow
Out, while no longer incapacitating, gets in your way in a should hurt, but it’s more dramatic to break some ribs and
later scene, adding +3 Difficulty to an action. send the character flying a few range bands over and into
an inconveniently-placed car than put the antagonist’s fist
If a character is Taken Out, they can no longer actively through the PC’s torso.
participate in the fight. This doesn’t mean that they’ve been
killed outright, and the workings of Fate mean that PCs When facing opponents (including objects such as vehi-
will never be killed by enemies of a lower Tier. It’s up to the cles) of a greater Scale, a character can only deal damage to
Storyguide to judge the tone of the campaign and determine a target no greater than two Scale above her. For example: a
whether or not a character has been permanently slain. satyr (Scale 0, human-sized) with a sword can slice her way
through an armored car (Scale 2), but cannot slash a sky-

FIRST AID scraper (Scale 4) in half. In the case where there is a Close
between individuals of differing Scale, the entity with two or
more Scale above the other dictates the results of the conflict.
A fter combat, characters can give and receive first aid. This
allows a character to downgrade an Injury Condition
to one of a lower level. Make a Reason + Medicine roll at a
DAMAGE AND SCALE
Difficulty based on the severity of the Injury; a character can When facing opponents (including objects such as ve-
only remove one Condition this way per session, through a hicles) of a greater Scale, a character can only deal damage
scene of picking glass out of bloodied arms, wrapping bandages to a target no greater than two Scale above her. For example:
around burned limbs, etc. A Scion (Scale 0, human-sized) with a sword can slice her
way through an armored car (Scale 3), but cannot slash a
An Injury Condition can only be downgraded once, and
skyscraper (Scale 5) in half without the aid of a Knack or
only if the character has empty Injury Condition boxes of
Boon.
a lower level available. The Bruised condition is removed
when downgraded. Knacks and Boons may allow first aid to
be applied more readily, more often, or simply heal the level. WEAPONS
DIFFICULTY AND ARMOR
• Bruised: Two
• Injured: Three H arming other characters and protecting yourself from
harm are often best done with the right tools.

• Maimed: Five WEAPON TAGS

• Taken Out: One success per other Condition the To distinguish one weapon from another, Scion uses a
target has on them series of tags which indicate the special properties a weapon
has. Use these tags to design your own unique gear befitting
SCALE your story. A weapon may have up to three total points of
tags. There’s no point cost for damage type, but weapons

M ost combatants are similar in power and ability, but when

the sides are uneven, Scale comes into play. For the most
part, Scale works the same for combat as it does in the other
may only have one type. This section includes a few stock
examples to get you started.

parts of the game. Scale Enhancement bonuses are additional • Aggravated (2): This weapon deals grievous magical
successes on a character’s roll, including for Defense. If the damage, such as a blade made of raw fire or lightning,
character is an Antagonist and they would have some form of or the revealed face of a God. Aggravated Injury
defensive Scale, add half the dramatic bonus to her Defense. Conditions are things like Burned Off Completely
and Melted Flesh and can only be healed by magical
Example: Sigrun picks a fight with Hogzilla, a nemean boar abilities. This is meant expressly for magical and su-
and a powerful titanspawn. Sigrun and Hogzilla have similar pernatural sources of injury.
stats (remarkably enough) but Hogzilla gains an Enhancement
bonus of 2 successes to most Physical actions and +1 to its • Arcing (1): This weapon can be fired in an arc,
Defense, due to its superior Scale rating. However, if Sigrun allowing shots to better maneuver around cover.
gets into a fight with Boyd, a fellow Scion, then Sigrun will When using this weapon against a target in cover,
gain 2 additional successes to all actions, since she is a superior downgrade its rating by 1: Light cover is ignored, and
type of combatant. heavy cover becomes light.

Damage and Scale: In addition to the Enhancement • Automatic (2): This weapon is designed to fire in
bonus, characters of a higher Scale rating can use their im- bursts. It may be used to make a burst fire attack,
pressive power to deal additional damage. A character with which adds +1 Enhancement to applying the Critical
a higher Scale rating may purchase the Inflict Damage Stunt Hit stunt. This tag may not be added to any weapon

122 CHAPTER FOUR: COMBAT