Optional Rule: Narrative Applications
Class powers represent more than tactical attacks and combat spells. They embody your character’s training, martial mastery, supernatural abilities, and arcane understanding.
The Narrative Applications rules allow you to use your powers beyond combat to manipulate your surroundings, overcome obstacles, and accomplish extraordinary feats. A power’s source, keywords, and visual description determine the kinds of narrative effects you can produce.
POWER SOURCES
A power’s source describes the fundamental method through which you interact with the world. When you use a power for a narrative application, you make a check using one of the skills associated with that power source, unless the DM determines otherwise.
ARCANE
Black Mage, Summoner, Red Mage
You manipulate ambient magic, draw upon planar energies, and weave complex spell-formulas.
Associated Skills: Arcana
DIVINE
White Mage, Paladin
You channel holy or unholy authority, invoke ancient prayers, and manifest sacred rites.
Associated Skills: Religion
MARTIAL
Warrior, Dragoon, Samurai, Monk, Ninja
You rely on physical conditioning, tactical ingenuity, and extraordinary athleticism.
Associated Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, History
PRIMAL
Geomancer, Beastmaster, Blue Mage
You commune with nature spirits, command beasts, and shape the raw elements of the natural world.
Associated Skills: Nature, Dungeoneering
SHADOW
Dark Knight, Necromancer
You manipulate gloom, draw upon soul-energy, and distort physical space through shadow.
Associated Skills: Stealth, Arcana
KEYWORDS AND VISUAL DESCRIPTORS
To perform a narrative application, you must possess a power whose keywords or visual description are appropriate to the intended effect.
Keywords
A power’s keywords establish its fundamental properties and determine which forces or phenomena it can manipulate. Common keywords include Fire, Cold, Earth, Thunder, Zone, Charm, Illusion, and Beast.
A keyword grants permission to produce narrative effects associated with that property, even when the power’s combat application functions differently.
Example: A Paladin with a Divine Fire power can channel sacred heat to melt an iron lock, even if the power normally targets Will.
Example: A Dragoon with a Martial Weapon power can concentrate tremendous force into a thrust capable of shearing through the same lock.
Visual Descriptors
Some powers lack a specific keyword for the effect they produce. In these cases, the power’s descriptive text and visual manifestation determine its narrative applications.
A visual descriptor can establish an appropriate use even when the corresponding mechanical keyword is absent.
Example: A Geomancer possesses a power described as manifesting slashing vines. Although the power lacks the Plant keyword, the Geomancer can manifest those vines outside combat to snag a distant lever or create an anchor for climbing.
POWER FREQUENCY AND POTENCY
The frequency of a power determines the magnitude of the narrative effect it can produce. Using a power for a narrative application requires a standard action, unless the task requires an extended operation of up to 10 minutes.
When you use a power in this manner, you expend its use as normal. The power is unavailable again until it recharges according to its normal rules.
Power Frequency Narrative Potency Typical Applications
At-Will Minor Feats Lighting candles, warming food, or making minor supernatural alterations.
Encounter Significant Feats Breaking reinforced doors, melting locks, or sealing a gap temporarily.
Daily Exceptional Feats Flash-freezing ponds, shattering stone structures, or substantially altering terrain.
Area and Zone Modifiers
Powers possessing spatial keywords, such as Zone, Blast, or Burst can produce narrative effects at the upper limits of their potency.
Powers without spatial keywords generally produce more focused and localized effects.
ADVENTURE TIER AND SCALE
Your character’s adventure tier determines the maximum scale of the narrative applications you can produce.
HEROIC TIER (LEVELS 1–10)
Scale: A single object or an area of up to 5 × 5 squares (25 feet).
Impact: Localized supernatural feats, such as unlocking doors, clearing debris, or manipulating nearby terrain.
Example: A Geomancer expends a Heroic Daily Primal power with the Zone keyword. Roots and trees weave together to form a wooden bridge across a chasm.
PARAGON TIER (LEVELS 11–20)
Scale: Large structures, areas of up to 10 × 10 squares, or a small building.
Impact: Superhuman feats, such as breaching stone walls, flash-freezing entire rooms, or substantially reshaping a structure.
Example: A Black Mage expends a Paragon Encounter Thunder power to unleash a focused sonic wave, shattering every window in a single-story house.
EPIC TIER (LEVELS 21–30)
Scale: City-block-sized areas, massive structures, or localized weather phenomena.
Impact: Legendary feats, such as quelling severe storms, reshaping mountains, or dramatically altering the surrounding environment.
Example: A Samurai expends an Epic Daily Martial power with the Weapon and Blast keywords to perform a legendary Iaido strike. The resulting atmospheric shockwave parts a rushing tidal wave, protecting a coastal village.
EPIC MASTERY: AT-WILL POWERS
Beginning at 21st level, your mastery of fundamental techniques becomes absolute.
Any keyword or visual descriptor associated with one of your At-Will powers can produce Encounter-level narrative effects without expending a power use.
RESOLVING NARRATIVE APPLICATIONS
When you attempt to use a power for a narrative application, follow these steps.
- SELECT APPROPRIATE POWERS
Check which powers with a keyword or visual descriptor are appropriate to the intended task.
- DETERMINE POTENCY
Determine the potency of the power; At-Will, Encounter, or Daily according to the magnitude of the desired effect.
- DETERMINE THE DIFFICULTY
The DM determines whether the application succeeds automatically or requires a skill check.
– Automatic Success: Routine applications succeed automatically. Expending a Daily power to accomplish a Heroic tier feat should usually also result in success unless the difficulty would be very hard to impossible.
– Skill Check: When failure carries a meaningful risk or consequence, the DM sets an appropriate DC.
The DM can determine the DC either using a static DC by Difficulty for rather mundane or ordinary actions:
Difficulty DC
Easy 10
Moderate 15
Hard 20
Or the DM can use the table of level-based DCs for level-scaled objectives.
- EXPEND THE POWER
Upon resolving the application, expend the selected Encounter or Daily power. At-Will powers remain available unless another rule specifies otherwise.
NARRATIVE APPLICATIONS IN SKILL CHALLENGES
Powers can provide additional means of overcoming obstacles during a Skill Challenge. A character can expend an appropriate power to contribute supernatural or extraordinary capabilities beyond those normally represented by skill checks.
ENCOUNTER POWERS
When you expend an appropriate Encounter power during a Skill Challenge, choose one of the following benefits:
– Alternative Skill: Make a check using one of the key skills associated with your power source, even if that skill is not normally included in the Skill Challenge.
– Assist an Ally: Grant a +2 bonus to an ally’s next skill check.
– Lower Difficulty: Use an appropriate Encounter power together with its associated power-source skill to reduce the difficulty of an applicable skill check by one degree. The skill used must be a key skill associated with the power’s source.
Example: A character facing a Hard Arcana check can expend an appropriate Arcane Encounter power to make the check at Moderate difficulty instead.
DAILY POWERS
When you expend an appropriate Daily power, you automatically achieve one success in the Skill Challenge without making a check.
The power’s keyword or visual descriptor must directly apply to the obstacle being overcome. The DM determines whether the application is sufficiently relevant to grant this benefit.