Divine Inspiration

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The rarest kind of Gifted, Inspired are usually (but not always) born with incredible powers, able to perform awe-inspiring miracles.

It’s unknown who or what grants these Inspired their power, but it’s widely believed to be some God, Creator, or other all-powerful being. What’s known for certain, is that these Miracles are profoundly affected by the Inspired individual’s convictions. Those who believe liars to be sinners will be able to smite liars. Those who believe them to be humble people trying to make their way in the world will be able to heal them.

Inspired Powers

The Denial

In addition to their repertoire of Miracles, any Inspired may use their Essence to neutralize the magic utilized by other Gifted. The Denial, as this power is called, consists of the Inspired projecting Essence to block the attempted Gifted power. If the inspired used up more Essence than the target did, the power fails. In the case of a Seer Power, each level of Strength is equivalent to 3 Essence.

Divine Sight

Their connection to the divine grants all Inspired the ability to glimpse at The Truth.

While the power is active, the Inspired can not only see invisible supernatural entities, but also the true nature of human beings. The Inspired can see if a human is virtuous or sinful, and can see a visible flare whenever they commit sin. This power is not without limitations, for it only shows the Inspired the truth according to their own convictions: if they believe something to be sin, they will see that sin. For example, if an Inspired believes that lying to protect one’s own life is a virtuous deed, they will not be able to discern the truthfulness of the confession of a man held at gunpoint, while an Inspire who believes that all lies are evil will easily recognize the lie. Anyone protected from scrying or mental intrusions will remain hidden to an Inspired using this power.

Activating this power costs 5 Essence, and it lasts for 10 minutes.

Miracles

Miracles are not learned skills - they are taught through mystical revelation. Sometimes an Inspired dreams about a new power they possess, sometimes they discover a miracle only when it manifests for the first time. Each Miracle may be purchased separately, at the cost of 7 Metaphysics points each.

Using Miracles

The Inspired use Miracles in a manner similar to Sorcery, by channeling Essence into the effects they desire. Unlike Sorcerers, however, the Inspired have no limits as to how much Essence they can use. The Inspired can use up their entire Essence pool in one Miracle, if it seems necessary.

Also unlike Sorcery, Miracles can not be used at the whim of the wielder. Only in extreme situations where human lives are at stake or when other dire circumstances arise may the Inspired use their power. An Inspired who attempts to call upon Strength of Ten to win a bar fight will almost certainly fail; even worse the blasphemy of trying to use the Miracle to solve such a mundane or selfish problem may cost the Inspired their power, perhaps even permanently.

 

List of Inspired Miracles

Binding

This is the power to restrain living beings. This power is often used to prevent monsters from attacking the innocent or fleeing from justice. This power only works against animals, spirits, elementals and fey, but never on humans (even Gifted humans).

This Miracle costs 2 Essence points per Strength and Willpower level the target possesses. The Inspired may not know how much Essence is necessary. If they do not have enough or attempt to use too little Essence, the Miracle fails and the Essence is lost. In addition to the Essence cost, the Inspired must win a Resisting test involving Simple Willpower rolls from both the Inspired and the target. If the Inspired wins, the target is bound in place for 1 turn per Success Level that the Inspired had above it.

Call / Calm Storm

The Inspired summons a rainstorm that can quench a drought, provide drinking water, or make people's lives miserable. Starting or stopping a light rain costs 10 Essence, while a full on storm costs 30 Essence.

Create / Befoul Food

This Miracle grants the Inspired the ability to create, purify, or spoil food and drink. For every 5 Essence spent, the Inspired may cleanse 2 liters of beverage or 2 kg of food, removing mould, rot, and nonmagical toxins. They may spend double the Essence to create a similar amount of food or drink. The food is usually plain and bland, yet provides enough nourishment to fill a person for a day, while the drink is usually water or simple wine, though may vary based on regional cuisine.

Alternatively, the Inspired can may curse a similar amount of food, either spoiling it instantly or causing it to turn to ashes in the mouth of whoever eats it.

Divine Beauty

An Inspired with this Miracle can call upon the divine to grant themselves unearthly beauty of body and soul. As long as this Miracle lasts, the character is counted as having +5 levels of Charisma, overriding any positive or negative levels they may normally have - the Miracle doesn’t care about their true form, it instead grants them the form of a perfect human.

This Miracle costs 10 Essence and lasts for 1 hour.

Elemental Dominion

This is a family of four Miracles, each one pertaining to a different element (water, earth, fire, and air). Each one may be granted as a separate Miracle, but they are similar enough to list under one heading.

An Inspired with this Miracle gains immense power over an element. As long as the Miracle lasts, the Inspired gets a +3 bonus on all Tests and Tasks targeting elementals whose type matches the Miracle’s - this affects social, combat, and even metaphysical actions. This bonus also applies to all attempts to manipulate the element directly, such as the Elemental Water Invocation or the Pyrokinesis Seer Power. Additionally, a character empowered by this Miracle takes half damage from its element, whether natural or supernatural in origin.
For example, a character using Elemental Dominion (Earth) would take half damage from rocks, metals (including bullets), or the fists of an earth elemental, while one using Elemental Dominion (Water) could survive twice as long underwater and take half damage from liquid attacks (like various acids).

This Miracle costs 15 Essence to activate and lasts for 10 minutes.

Exorcism

This is the power to banish spirits from places and people. Exorcisms often take a long time, and are a risky undertaking.

To begin an Exorcism the Inspired must expend 5 Essence and beat the spirit in a Simple Willpower Test. If successful, the spirit’s true nature is revealed.

Then, a series of Simple Willpower Tests follows, each taking 5 minutes, and costing 5 Essence. For each test, note how many Success Levels the Inspired got over the spirit, and sum them up over all the tests. Once the Inspired gets 10 Success Levels over the spirit, the spirit is Exorcised. If the spirit wins a test, it doesn’t add or subtract any Success Levels, but all the following tests suffer a cumulative -1 penalty.
During the process, the spirit is rarely docile. While it can’t touch or directly harm the inspired, it may attempt to torment, intimidate, or otherwise drive them off. The Inspired may have to succeed on a Willpower Test (with the difficulty decided by the Director) in order to see if they can continue the Exorcism without losing their temper or composure. Once the Exorcism is successful, the being is removed from the body. It may linger nearby where it can be attacked, or it may flee.

Holy Fire

This Miracle smites the sinful. This usually manifests as a blast of pitch black flames, a bolt of golden lightning striking from the heavens, or any other appropriately dramatic manifestation.

This power costs 20 Essence and inflicts damage equal to 8 times the Willpower of the Inspired. No roll is required on behalf of the Inspired, and mundane armour offers no protection against this effect, though magical protection will work. A target may only attempt to dodge this if they know where the attack originates from, and may then attempt a Difficult Dexterity Test with a penalty equal to one half of the Inspired character's Willpower (rounded up).

This power is not taken lightly, and may only be used in the most dire circumstances. Additionally, if there is a question about the morality of the subject, the smite might not deal full damage, or it might even leave the target entirely unscathed.

Natural Protection

An Inspired with this Miracle can call upon the divine to protect themselves for a brief moment. When activating this Miracle, the Inspired must spend 10 Essence and choose a natural hazard such as lava, lightning, or drowning (but not fists, claws, or fireballs). The Inspired then becomes completely immune to the chosen hazard for 1 minute.

Sanctuary

An Inspired with this Miracle can declare an area to be a holy sanctuary within which no blow shall be delivered and no blood may be spilt. While within this area, combat and aggressive actions are nearly impossible - words can be heated and emotions high, but unless they succeed on a Difficult Willpower Test with a penalty equal to half the Inspired individual’s Willpower (rounded up), they cannot act on their anger.

This Miracle costs 15 Essence to activate, lasts for 1 hour, and affects an area with a radius of 5 meters per Willpower level.

Some areas that are heavily dominated by spirits or tainted beings might be too powerfully charged with Essence or emotions that this Miracle may not be used.

Strength of Ten

This ability allows the Inspired to call up a great strength, temporarily transforming them into a nearly unstoppable force of vengeance. The Inspired becomes inured to pain and fatigue, gains inhuman levels of strength, and can fight until killed. Summoning this power should only be considered when facing truly overwhelming odds, and attempting to invoke it when there are other viable options is considered blasphemous.

This Miracle costs 15 Essence lasts until the threat is gone or the Inspired succeeds in martyring themselves. While it lasts, the Inspired gets +5 to Strength (which also grants them 20 Life Points), and becomes immune to shock and pain until the battle is over. This means the character can keep fighting even when reduced to 0 Life Points or below, though they must still pass Survival Tests to avoid dying.

Sword of the Heavens

The truly devout are never without means of defence. This Miracle allows the inspired to create a sword made of celestial fire. The sword may be either one- or two-handed, though it always deals to 3x Strength damage. This damage ignores armor, and can even harm creatures normally immune to fire (or resisting it using the Elemental Fire Invocation or the Pyrokinesis Seer power), though protections against magic or Essence-based effects work normally against this effect.
Creating the sword takes 10 Essence, and the sword lasts for 1 minute per Willpower Level, or until the Inspired falls unconscious or lets go of its hilt.

Like Holy Fire, these flames do not harm the virtuous, though unlike Holy Fire, this Miracle tends to be used far more lightly, to a degree where some Inspired choose to forgo normal weapons in favor of using this Miracle.

Touch of Healing

Many Inspired are granted the ability to cure wounds, diseases, and disabilities. Normally, this Miracle may only be used on those true of faith, but circumstances may arise where aiding the impure can still advance the righteous cause.

Life Points can be healed at a rate of 2 Life Points per Eessnce Spent. Mild diseases cost 5 Essence, moderate ones 10, serious diseases cost 20, and terminal diseases cost 30 Essence.

The Touch of Healing may only be used under extraordinary circumstances, and only on the truly virtuous. The Inspired may elect to make an exception for non-believers who are nonetheless fighting the good fight.

Visions

Through this Miracle, the Inspired occasionally receives visions of events from the past and future. These visions are usually blurry, ambiguous, and oftentimes symbolic, rather than literal. One can never tell quite when a vision will come or what will be revealed, but when given, it will no doubt be of use to the Inspired. Unlike most other Miracles, an Inspired cannot choose to activate this Miracle, tough occasionally prayers for guidance will be reciprocated with a vision.