Ragnarok Development Diary - The Stone Children of Jord!

To demonstrate how Ragnarok: The Great Winter RPG would handle the Stone Children, my recent Runequest Thursday Post, I converted them from the Runequest d100 based system to the system I built for R:GW. I also created an Athelantan Warrior Archetype.

To demonstrate how Ragnarok: The Great Winter RPG would handle the Stone Children, my recent Runequest Thursday Post, I converted them from the Runequest d100 based system to the system I built for R:GW. I also created an Athelantan Warrior Archetype.

Archetypes are something we use in Ragnarok to showcase some of the, well, archetypal character types in the setting. It can hardly be a viking-themed game without Berserkers, Skalds, Runecasters, and Vikings. So we came up with archetypes for these and 17 other Archetypes. Each archetype does much of the work of character creation for you, making roughly 75% of the choices and leaving you to fill in the rest to make the character your own. It guides character creation for those who want that, is completely voluntary (so you are welcome to build a character completely to your wishes if you know what you want) and it helps people get playing faster. It is also a handy resource for Sagamasters who need to build NPCs. They just decide what level of power an NPC is, choose an Archetype that works, then customize it, bringing it up or down in power to meet the requirements of the job at hand. 

Anyway, here are the Athelanta for Ragnarok: The Great Winter: 

Athelanta - The Stone Children

You are one of the Athelanta, called by those few skalds who know of you, the Stone Children. Native to Vanaheim, they escorted the Vanir from their to Midgard when Frey, Freya, Njord and the other Vanir hostages were exchanged at the conclusion of the Aesir-Vanir War. Centuries later, at the direction of Jord, Earth Mother,  the primordial goddess of the Earth of Midgard, a mumber of Athelanta were interred in the earth and have slumbered for ages there, awaiting her call to defend it.

The pain of the Earth Mother has awakened the Athelanta. Each feels an instinctive need to shield the earth from corruption. But after sleeping for so long, the Athelanta are few. Perhaps there are others, who did not hear the cries of Jord.

Athelanta are humanoid in form, solidly built men and women, with sandy or grey complexions. Some have hair that is often metallic in color, others are hairless. Eyes are various shades of gray or brown. Many Athelanta can pass into the earth when they are wounded or when they wish, and there rest for hours, or centuries. The current risen Athelanta are among those who slept away the time between the Aesir-Vanir War and the present, but they are diminished from their long rest, and some have forgotten a great deal during their interment.

When in human form, you must eat and drink to sustain yourself. If you do not, you will pass into the earth for sustenance, and may have difficulty awakening. In this way, many stone children have passed centuries unaware of the world around them.

Stone Child Abilities:

• Child of Earth: Stone Children do not breathe, and are unaffected by inhaled gasses, etc.
• Darksight: Stone Children can see in even absolute darkness up to 30 feet.
• Earth Sense: You can, with a Minor Action and a Stonesinging Skill success (TN: 12), detect voids, pits, tunnels or other openings in the earth or stone around you, up Range: Near.  If there are earth-aspected spirits or elementals within that area, you also will know of them. You may also detect any wrongness in the area’s earth at the same time. You may Exert Discpline to extend the Range.
• Resilience: Your stony body possesses remarkable Resilience. You gain Armor Points to all locations equal to your Fate. If you wish, as a Major Action, you may exhaust a Fate Point to increase your Armor in all locations by your Stonesinging Discipline (making your Armor equal to 10+Might+Fate+Disciple). Your Resilience remains at this amount until your reclaim your Fate Point. Stone Children may wear armor instead of enhancing their Resilience, but few choose to do so. See “Stonesinging” for details on your Discipline.

Stonesinging:

Stonesinging is a skill and a magical tradition of the Athelanta, in which one communes with the earth, occasionally shaping it to one’s will. Stonesinging produces a resonant humming that changes in pitch (hence the name of the skill) and is audible to those around you – the greater your Stonesinging skill attempt (i.e. The TN you equal), the louder the sound. Stonesinging is as natural to you as breathing is to men, but you are aware that there are drawbacks to so vocal a tradition.

To Stonesing, you must succeed at a skill check.

New Talent:

Stonesinging: (Tradition Discipline: Fate): Stone Children practice the art of Stonesinging and cannot learn other magical traditions. You must take Stonesinging as a Talent to gain Incantations. Athelanta who do not have Stonesinging, still possess Earth Sense and have Resilience, but have no Incantations. If you do not have the Skill: Stonesinging, you Incant unskilled. Those with the Stonesinging Talent begin play with one Incantation, but may choose Spellcraft to gain further Incantations.

Permissions:

Stone Children have Permission: Earthswimming, Skarphedinn

Options: Bergblood

If you don’t like the idea of Jord having hidden away a cadre of her children to fight against the forces of destruction during the Ragnarok, you can allow Stone Giantblood characters to gain Stonesinging and the other abilities. This can either replace Earth Sorcery, or be opposed to it is some fundamental metaphysical way.

INCANTATIONS:

AWAKEN EARTH – Variable

Range: Close               Duration: Maintained

 You imbue within a portion of earth or stone a certain amount of your will, effectively creating a small earth elemental.

Discipline: You may Exert your Discipline to manipulate the range and duration.

Interlude: If you Exert your Discipline for this spell during an Interlude, your Elemental remains until you reclaim your Fate Point. 

BURIAL – 3 POW

Range: Near       Duration: Instant

This ability was in ancient times used as part of a funerary rite among mortals – in which a Stone Child would be called to lay the dead to rest by allowing their bodies to sink into the earth and return to the cycle of life. It can also be used to drive an enemy into earth, gravel, sand or similar, but not solid stone, for a time as well. You must succeed at a Mental contest, although the target may elect to Evade instead if it prefers. If you succeed, or the target fails to Evade, it is forced beneath the earth. It may then attempt to free itself by climbing out – each round making a single Might Check at a TN equal to your Mental contest result. If the Might check succeeds, the target has climbed out of its burial place. Otherwise it remains trapped and must make a Health Check (TN:12+2 per turn Buried) or suffer a Hit to its General Health in suffocation damage.

                  You can extend the duration of this spell. 

CONJURE WEAPON – Variable

Range: Self            Duration: Sustained

You manifest a melee weapon of elemental stone. The weapon manifests in your hand(s) and does base damage equal to the number of Ranks you have in Conjure Weapon + Might. At Rank 1, this is wielded like and has the Reach of a single-handed axe or club of your choice, and requires that skill to use.  including adding your Damage Bonus if you have one).

At Magnitude 2, you can choose to manifest a one-handed or  a two-handed weapon, with all the attributes of an axe or club of that size, but doing +2 Magical Damage (Earth). If you lose contact with the weapon (as under Magnitude 1), the weapon disperses but may be recalled by you spending a Major Action to do so, without any expenditure of POWer for the duration of the effect.

Each Rank of Conjure weapon beyond rank 2 imbues your weapon with +1 Magical Damage (Earth). Your usage of the weapon you conjure is based on your skill with that weapon. You can Exert your Discipline to increase the range to Touch – thereby granting a weapon to another for as long as you sustain the incantation. You can also Exert your Discipline to add +1 Magical Damage (Earth) per rank devoted to this purpose to the weapon until you reclaim the Fate Point.

CREVASSE - Variable

Range: Close     Duration: Maintained

You rend earth and stone to create a crevasse in the ground over the course of a melee round. Any creature in the affected area can elect to move to one or the other side of it in time to avoid falling in. Your crevasse is 1 square wide, 2 squares deep, and 3 squares long at Magnitude 1. Each further Magnitude doubles the size of the crevasse, though you need not use the full extent possible.

You can manipulate the range up to 2 Increments, and the duration as you choose.

INTERMENT - Variable

Range: Self                            Duration: Maintained

You sink into the earth or stone at your current location, and enter a healing trance state. You are semiconscious but aware (you may use Earth Sense to perceive around you), and cannot act during this time without ending the trance. You may end the trance at any time, rising from the earth as a Major Action.

You are undetectable and all but impossible to affect by normal means while interred, though magical senses and any ability that can detect or affect earth, spirits, etc; will do so.

During Interment, you recover 1 Hit per Magnitude. If you are Interred for a full interlude you regain 1 Wound and 1 Fate Point when you emerge from Interment, unless the interlude was of sufficient duration that the Sagamaster allows you greater recovery.

You may take with you into Interment up to your normal Encumbrance limit of material, none of which may be alive. You may Exert your Discipline to extend the duration of interment to Sustained, which allows you to stay within the earth for longer periods, but it does not necessarily increase the amount of healing available. During an Interlude, if your duration is Sustained, you may remained Interred for the duration of the Interlude (which could, potentially last centuries), or until you reclaim your Fate Point.

HINDER – Variable

Range Near                 Duration: Maintained

You invigorate the earth in an area, causing the stones and rubble to tremble and roll, making it difficult terrain to cross. Every round within the area, subjects must make a Evade (TN: Your Spellsinging Success) or have their movement reduced by 3 per Magnitude. At Magnitude 1, you cover up to a five yard radius area. Each Magnitude thereafter can double the radius or increase the penalty to Movement by 3 (To a minimum Move of 1).

                  You can Exert Discipline to extend the Range to Far or the Duration to Sustained.

HURL SHARD

Range: Near                Duration: Instant
You can project shard of stone against a target, rolling your Stonesinging Challenge against Defense to hit, using your Fate+2 as Damage, modified as noted below. Earth: Damage +2, survivor must succeed at Physical or be hurled back a number of squares equal to your Discipline and fall prone.

Discipline: Increase the Damage by 1 per Rank. Devote 1 rank of Discipline to increase the range to Far.

ROCK WALL

Range: Near    Duration – Maintained

You summon a seemingly natural stone wall out of the ground. It appears as you choose within range, and possessed up to three 5 foot cubes of stone or earth. The wall has 15 Armor and 3 Hits per cube if any attempt is made to destroy it. Wall may also be used to create a bridge or other such structure, if the Stonesinger can make a skill check.

Discipline: You may exert Discipline to add any combination of: Double the number of wall cubes. 1 Hit per Rank to each cube of the wall. You may devote a rank to increase the Duration to sustained.

Interlude: If the Duration is Sustained, the Wall remains until destroyed or you reclaim the Fate Point.  

SURE STEP – 2 POW

Range: Self            Duration: Maintained

You are neither slowed nor affected by poor terrain resulting from rubble, soft sand, quicksand, or other “earth” related issues. If you are crossing a narrow ledge or causeway, so long as it is of stone, you automatically succeed on any required skill checks. Trees, buildings, hills, and other terrain affect you normally.

You can exert Discipline to increases the range, granting Sure Step to others, and to increase the duration to Sustained.