A whole bunch of Banes and Boons

Rules Discussion House Rules
1

I have a whole bunch of Banes and Boons that I made.
My party’s been using them for a while. They went through a bunch of tweaking and they’ve been a lot of fun for my group to use and for the most part, balanced.
Well, some of these are new and haven’t been play tested thoroughly yet…
I thought I’d show 'em to see if anyone’s got ideas about my banes and boons.
Or at the very least, they’re things other people can use to their games now. Share the fun.

BANES LIST

Break
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 3/5/7
Attributes: Alteration, Energy, Entropy, Influence, Might, Persuasion, Presence, Logic
Attacks:
Might vs Guard
Energy vs Guard
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Persuasion vs Resolve
Presence vs Resolve
Description: Whether by fooling an opponent to drop their guard, or altering their atomical, structual composition, or breaking their defense through sheer force, studying their movement patterns, body composition, and fighting stance to determine a weakspot; you break through an opponent’s Guard.
Effect: An opponent’s Guard defense is reduced temporarily, their Guard defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 3 - Guard is reduced by 2
Power Level 5 - Guard is reduced by 4
Power Level 7 - Guard is reduced by 6
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action.
NOTES: none

Frailness
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 3/5/7
Attributes: Agility, Alteration, Entropy, Might
Attacks:
Agility vs Guard
Might vs Guard
Alteration vs Guard
Entropy vs Guard
Description: Through sheer physical power, or through extraordinary forces, you change a creature’s bodily composition that makes them more prone than usual.
Effect: An opponent’s Toughness defense is reduced temporarily, their Toughness defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 3 - Toughness is reduced by 2
Power Level 5 - Toughness is reduced by 4
Power Level 7 - Toughness is reduced by 6
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
NOTES: none

Folly
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 3/5/7
Attributes: Influence, Persuasion, Presence
Attacks:
Influence vs Resolve
Persuasion vs Resolve
Presence vs Resolve
Description: Through social prowess, or supernatural means, you speak your way into striking doubt into the heart of an opponent.
Effect: An opponent’s Resolve defense is reduced temporarily, their Resolve defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 3 - Resolve is reduced by 2
Power Level 5 - Resolve is reduced by 4
Power Level 7 - Resolve is reduced by 6
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
NOTES: none

Weaken
Duration: Resist (minor) Ends (fail x3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 3/6/8
Attributes: Agility, Alteration, Entropy, Influence
Attack:
Agility vs Guard
Might vs Toughness
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Description: By attacking a nerve or a chi point location, twisting a limb, breaking a bone, by altering body composition, or entropic energy, or influencing the mind to forget vital techniques, you cause a target to become less effective than they usually are at a particular field.
Effect: Choose a single attribute, the target suffers disadvantage on their action rolls with that attribute according to the power level of the bane.
PL 3 - Disadvantage 2
PL 6 - Disadvantage 4
PL 8 - Disadvantage 6
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
NOTES: Weaken is essentially just a different flavour of Demoralized. Somewhat more powerful, I just wanted to make a sort of bane version of Bolster.

Debuff
Duration: Resist Ends (fail x3 = 1 hour)
Power Level: 3/5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Entropy, Energy, Learning, Logic
Attack:
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Energy vs Toughness
Learning vs Toughness
Logic vs Toughness
Description:
Effect: The targets attribute scores are decreased, the amount at which and how low they can be decreased is determined by power level. The decrease in score can be allocated to multiple attributes, doing so means dividing the total score the power level can decrease among the chosen scores. This decrease can also affect a creature’s Hit Points, Guard, Toughness, and Resolve scores
PL 3 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 1
PL 5 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 2
PL 7 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 3, the bane can only reduce the target’s attribute scores by up to 2 of their original score.
PL 9 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 4, the bane can only reduce the target’s attribute scores by up to 3 of their original score.
NOTES: Hasn’t seen much use yet, in other words, not playtested thoroughly.
I looked at the Polymorph bane when making this bane. It works like Polymorph but strictly only used for reducing attribute scores only, no changing shapes and forms.

Vulnerability
Duration: Resist Ends (fail x3 = 1 hour)
Power Level: 3/5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Entropy, Influence
Attack:
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Description:
Effect: When the bane is inflicted, the invoker chooses one type of attack and the target gains vulnerability to that type. The types include precise, forceful, fire, cold, lightning, acid, influence, and entropy (other types may be approved by the GM). The effect of the vulnerability is determined by the power level of the bane (the following are not cumulative):
PL 3 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 2 against the chosen attack type.
PL 5 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 5 against the chosen attack type.
PL 7 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 8 against the chosen attack type.
PL 9 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 10 against the chosen attack type.
NOTES: It’s a bane version of Resistance. Instead of giving you increased defenses on an attack type, it makes you more vulnerable to an attack type.

Hold
Duration: Resist ends (Fail x3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 4/6/7
Attack Attributes: Agility, Influence, Movement, Protection
Attack:
Agility vs. Guard
Influence vs Resolve
Movement vs Toughness
Protection vs Toughness
Description: Prevent a creature from taking actions.
Effect: The target is unable to make any kind of actions and is forced to end their turn every round. The type of targets that can be affected is determined by Power Level
PL4 - Small sized creatures of minor intelligence
PL6 - Medium or smaller sized creatures of human or greater intelligence
PL7 - Any creature of any size or intelligence
Special: Because creatures afflicted by this bane is unable to take actions of any kind, at the end of their turn they can make a resist roll as a free action. A creature who has successfully resisted this bane is immune to all subsequent attempts by you to inflict this bane for 1 hour.
Upon successful resist of the bane, the target is allowed to make the number of actions they normally have access to this round.
NOTES: I wanted to make a bane that was similar to the Hold Person type spells of D&D.
The result is a somewhat weaker version of Incapacitate, but a somewhat stronger version of Immobile and Stunned. As if they were combined almost… Hasn’t been playtested yet.

BOONS LIST

Protection -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/6/8
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Energy, Prescience, Protection, Movement
Description: Whether by forming a magical barrier around them, or turning their skin into flexible metal, or perhaps give them divine insight, you increase a willing creature’s Guard.
Effect: A willing creature’s Guard defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Guard is increased by 2
Power Level 6 - Guard is increased by 4
Power Level 8 - Guard is increased by 6
NOTES: I want a better name for this boon. Protection is already the name of an attribute and people could easily get confused.
Also yeah, if you haven’t noticed, this and the following 2 boons are opposites of the 3 banes listed before, and also acts as a different version of Resistance.
I just wanted a different option of increasing defenses. These 3 boons are weaker than Resistance but this along with Resistance provide players different options.
From how I’ve seen, neither of these banes or boons make Resistance obsolete, or Resistance is good enough that these boons are worthless.

Harden -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/6/8
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Learning, Protection
Description: You increase an ally’s immunity systems, whether it be a specially designed drug, or a changing of ones anatomy, you make an ally tougher than usual
Effect: A willing creature’s Toughness defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Toughness is increased by 2
Power Level 6 - Toughness is increased by 4
Power Level 8 - Toughness is increased by 6
NOTES: None

Elucidate -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/6/8
Attributes: Influence, Presence, Prescience, Perception
Description: By calling out a bluff or through some intense pep talk, you increase an ally’s resolve.
Effect: A willing creature’s Resolve defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Resolve is increased by 2
Power Level 6 - Resolve is increased by 4
Power Level 8 - Resolve is increased by 6
NOTES: None

Enhancement -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/4/5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Energy, Learning, Logic, Movement
Description: Through divine blessing, creative use of the environment, manipulation of the senses, a powerful drug, or an arcane boosting spell. You temporarily grant your allies an extra boost in their abilities.
Effect: The target’s attribute scores are increased. The amount in which and how high they can increase is determined by power level. The target’s Hit Points, Guard, Toughness, and Resolve scores are affected by these changes
PL3 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 1 with a maximum of 5. This way of increasing attribute scores does not grant the target access to higher power level banes and boons, It only increases the dice they roll.
PL5 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 2 with a maximum of 7
PL7 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 3 with a maximum of 9. This boon can now grant the targets access to higher power level versions of banes and boons the target could already inflict except for this boon.
PL9 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 4 with a maximum of 10
Special: You can use this boon to increase more than one attribute, to do so you must spread and allocate the increase equal to the power level’s limit.
For example, at power level 5, you can increase a single attribute by 2, or increase 2 different attributes by 1.
NOTES: This is Shapeshift at the higher power levels, but without the shape changing.
It’s a boon version of Debuff, and a different flavor of Shapeshift I guess, just like Debuff.
This also hasn’t seen any playtesting yet.

Diving
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: Major Action
Power Level: 3/4/6/7
Attributes: Alteration, Movement
Description: The target gains the ability to traverse the waters without hindrance. Either by magically imbuing their body with fins, or attaching propellers to their limbs.
Effect:
PL3 - The target gains a swim speed of 15’. This does not grant them the ability to breathe underwater if they were already unable to.
PL4 - The target gains a swim speed of 30’
PL6 - in addition to a swim speed, the target gains the ability to breathe underwater if they previously possessed no capabilities to do so.
PL7 - The target gains a swim speed of 60’
NOTES: Theres a boon that grants characters the ability to fly, but there isn’t any for providing swimming speed! What!? So I made this.
I looked at the Flight boon when making this and judged accordingly.
Unlike flying, swimming is a lot less overpowered and is more situational so I thought it made sense that it requires lower Power Levels to get access to them. But what do you think?

Accelerate
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: Major Action
Power Level: 3/5/6
Attributes: Movement
Description: You enhance a creatures already existing movement capabilities further. By creating a gust of wind for them to follow, implanting modding devices to their legs, or magically enhancing their stamina.
Effect: Choose a mode of movement the target already has access to - Ground, Air, or Naval.
The target’s speed using that mode of movement is increased as determined by power level.
PL3 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 15’
PL5 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 30’
PL6 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 45’
NOTES: A minor variation and flavour of the Haste Boon. Haven’t playtested, just thought this made sense and was balanced as is. It doesn’t grant extra major actions or move actions. It literally just makes someone move faster at a specific type of movement that they already have access to. So I think the boon is justified the way it is but I could be horribly wrong…

Reactionary
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: Major Action
Power Level: 5/7/9
Attributes: Movement, Protection
Description: Perform more interrupt actions in 1 turn
Effect:
PL5 - The target can take one extra interrupt action this round, however the second interrupt action suffers disadvantage 2.
PL7 - The target can take two extra interrupt actions this round, however the second interrupt action suffers disadvantage 2 and the third interrupt action suffers disadvantage 4.
PL9 - The target can take two extra interrupt actions this round, however the third interrupt action suffers disadvantage 2.
NOTES: A minor variation and flavour of the Haste Boon. Haven’t playtested, just thought this made sense and was balanced as is.
This boon lets someone make more interrupt actions, with subsequent interrupt actions suffering disadvantage. I looked at the various defensive feats and haste when making this boon and this was how I thought I could make it balanced and fun.

Sharp Shot
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3
Attributes: Logic, Perception, Prescience
Description: By taking a deep breathe and steadying themselves, taking a moment to properly calculate trajectories, or by using their psychic powers to determine the proper way to fire. The creature has an enhanced aim and can attack at longer distances.
Effect: The target has enhanced precision and better aim. Your range is doubled for all ranged attacks.
NOTES: I just turned longshot into a boon!
I just wrote this on a whim, not sure how balanced it actually is.

FINAL NOTE:
Most of these I made because I thought they were cool ideas. But…
So the reason why I made most of these was because I wanted to give players a reason to invest their attribute points on things other than certain attributes that see way more play than others.
Apart from Will, my players ignore Learning, Logic, and Perception a lot and always make stupid characters.
And when choosing among the Extraordinary attributes, my players almost always exclusively choose Alteration, and/or Entropy as they are the most versatile.

3 Likes
2

I’ll be honest, many of these sound too strong for my ears.

The ones that reduce Defense mostly and Vulnerability especially. These sort of Banes aren’t included in the rules on purpose because of the way that the probability curves work, in short even a small reduction in Defense practically guarantees Exceptional Successes, and with multiple players Attacking it can cut combat times in half.
There are of course effects like Sickened, Knockdown, Blinded and Invisibility, which reduce Defenses (mostly Guard) by 1 to 4. However, those usually have some situational counter and are kept low on purpose.

Polymorph is a notable outlier, however it’s the only powerful Bane Alteration has (like Nullify and Protection) and its effects are kept firmly in the GM’s hands.

Weaken seems too strong for the simple reason that it’s just a double-strength Demoralized except against opponents that have more than one primary Attribute, and even there it effectively removes one of those.

Debuff can ruin opponents that rely on certain PL of effects and synergizes much too violently with Demoralized. I can see where the idea comes from, but Demoralized already has that kind of effect. And again, Polymorph is a single-Attribute Bane for Alteration which the GM has much say over and it can only affect certain Attributes.

Hold, honestly, seems to me like how Incapacitated should be in the first place in my opinion, meaning no Finishing Blows but otherwise the same. The distinction based on size and intellect I’m not sure about, it could work.

The Defense raising Boons raise some of my eyebrows, but aren’t immediately alarming against some of the other effects here. Though I’d make it one Boon which can only apply to one Defense at any time and maybe rethink the numbers.

Enhancement I am definitely no fan of. Some effects are gated by PL on purpose, and with this being a Boon it’s eligible for Boon Focus and Boon Access which sounds much too dangerous for my tastes. Not to mention the way that Attribute dice enhancements stack with Advantage, which also overpowers this Boon by quite a bit.

I think you may have forgotten that every character already has a swim speed of half their usual speed with Diving. Sustenance is exactly for breathing under water. I’m unsure why this would need to be a distinct Boon, but it’s not alarming either.

Accelerate’s PLs are too low, I think. I can see why you’d separate it from Haste, but it poses that problem that those two Boons would stack. Now I’m not averse to theory-crafting supersonic characters, but I think that particular aspect needs revisiting.

I see where Reactionary comes from, but there’s a reason Haste doesn’t allow its extra Actions to be used to Defend. The Disadvantage penalites seem lax.

I’m unusure as to why Sharp Shot would be necessary when Longshot just costs 1 Feat Point. It’s missing the clause about choosing the specific type of Attack, though I like how it can be Invoked by Logic and Perception.

As for how your players spend Attribute Points, that’s a bit unfortunate. Though just having low Logic/Learning doesn’t make a character stupid, Attributes are better thought of as control and the ability to apply your aptitude in often heated situations. In calm moments a low Logic character might still be excellent at planning, or the low Learning character might know a bunch of near useless factoids that never seem to fit the moment.

Personally I’m not a fan of choosing Attributes based on their access to Banes and Boons over arriving at them based on character concept, but even then just the sheer numbers don’t mean versatility exactly. For example Phantasm, in the right (wrong if you’re the GM) hands can probably single-handedly out-versatile any Attribute just with creativity. Prescience can carry entire parties.

I don’t mean to just brush aside any of your ideas, even if it may seem that way. But many of these seem far too powerful in practice and have already been discussed in the past or are redundant in some way. I hope you can take it as constructive criticism.

2 Likes
3

No offense was taken of course, and the whole reason I posted these banes and boons here was so that people like you would criticize them.

Now then, I’ll begin the phase of (debate…?) or something (I forgot the word for it…!)
I reply in no particular order and the whole response is kind of a mess, sorry!

Yeah, Incapacitate is really powerful in the right situations (which is a lot of situations)
Like I said, I looked at Hold Person and Hold Monster from D&D 5e when making this bane. The distinguishing of creatures by size part was a result of me using D&D 5e as reference.
I think I wanted Hold to work like Charm or Dominated where theres multiple levels and you can only inflict a certain level depending on how strong the target is and your PL.
But that was the best I could come up with.

Enhancement and Debuff when I made them, my mindset was to make a much less (versatile?) version of Shapeshift (Enhancement) and Debuff (Polymorph).
Both of these bane/boon alter a character’s stats. Until Power Level 7, Shapeshift cannot be used to enhance extraordinary stats, in fact they mostly just enhance physical stats. Polymorph also changes a character’s attributes but they do require higher power levels which now that I think about it makes sense and makes me feel dumb since all I did was copy paste Enhancement when creating Debuff. Debuff should require higher PL’s to inflict… And again, like Shapeshift, they only alter physical stats (as rules as written anyway)
I don’t really think that these set of bane/boon are that powerful (although maybe in need of PL adjustment)
Players can’t really use Debuff to the max potential unless they know specifically what attributes an opponent has and uses.
Enhancement can enhance stats, but if a player character has already encountered say… A creature with a 9 in some attribute (a lich with entropy 9 maybe?), and they can invoke Shapeshift at PL 7, they both achieve the same result.
But maybe I should still just unallow the banes to be in PL 5 or lower, no level 1 character should have access to these probably… Or maybe just never use them!
Altering attributes and in addition, the changes affecting secondary statistics like defenses and HP as a result IS actually pretty powerful. (A predictable result for things that were written pretty much on a whim and without a lot of thought)

I was aware of the powers the defense reducing banes could have, I’ve spent enough time in the community to know that reducing defenses is a very powerful thing one can do.
I’m well versed in Statistics & Probability and I have plenty of experience in RPG’s to know about these things.
My solution when I wrote these banes? They’re a minor action to resist…

It was a sort of (faustian bargain???) when I proposed these banes and boons to my party

By agreeing to using these homebrew banes/boons, you agree that even the NPC’s will be able to use them against you.

I think Weaken can be fixed by just making it Disadvantage 2, 3, and 4 rather than 2, 4, 6.
The other Banes I dunno. Reduce the penalty to defenses and increase PL requirements?
PL 5/8 PL 5 - reduce defense by 1, PL 8 - reduce defense by 2. But if you did that, what’s the point of inflicting them anyways?
Sickened decreases all defenses by 1, no great counter against that. It is power level 5 and comes with the bonus of granting disadvantage 1.
Enemies with high defenses aren’t gonna suddenly get their defenses lowered by successful applications of the bane (cuz you probably won’t even be able to inflict them in the first place!)

When I made Vulnerability, Weaken, Folly, Break, and Frailness, I just wanted bane versions of Resistance and Bolster that did the opposite effect because I thought that would be neat.

Instructions unclear, if I understand correctly, I should make it so that the boons Protection, Harden and Elucidate and probably Resistance by addition is not allowed to stack with each other?
A character with Resistance can sustain Resistance but not Protection and Resistance if they have both sustained at them or something like that? And not just sustain, one of the boons is immediately removed so that their defense augmentations do not stack.
Essentially a character isn’t allowed to have Protection, Harden, and Elucidate on them all at the same time, or even just 2 of them at the same time?
Also, by rethink the numbers, what do you propose?
Unlike resistance, the highest power level does not grant immunity, and while general increase to a single defense is more powerful than an increase to all defenses against an attack type. I thought I remedied this by reducing the increase. Unless I math real bad and I’m wrong?

Not every campaign has characters that are humanoid and can swim.
Those require a roll of Might or Fortitude anyhows. (most of the time)
And if they do already have a swim speed, then the boon increases that. That’s how I ruled the Flight boon too anyhow.
I know Sustenance can already let characters breathe underwater, I just thought it made sense that Dive could let you breathe underwater at higher PL’s as a bonus without needing to have both Sustenance and Dive sustained.

… Yah I got no retort against that one. Like I said, these boons were made to give my players reason to use other attributes. Movement is one of those attributes with the least amount of banes/boons they can access (the worst being Fortitude), and pretty much the only logical Movement boons/banes you can make are ones that affect… Well… Movement!

I’m interested in hearing why that is the case with Haste. I have my own reasoning as to why but is there an actual reason you can’t apart from the reason in my head?

Why use a precious feat point to increase range when you can roll for a chance to increase range instead? *chuckles
Yeah I agree, this is a desperate attempt for me to make someone put 6 points into Logic or Perception.
It’s not missing a clause about choosing a specific type of attack. I did that on purpose, it increases your range on all ranged attacks. Just like the boon’s description says, a person casting this is wasting a turn to aim properly before attacking. Or you know, using their turn to tell someone to aim better next time.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my absurd collection of homebrew Banes and Boons. I think its fair for one with most likely more than my 6 months of experience playing TTRPG’s to criticize my stuff and tell me what is most definitely overpowered and underpowered.
While balance in it of itself is worthless in a game without fun, exploiting broken mechanics gets old and un-fun real fast.
I wanna keep making absurd and crazy homebrews with this system now that I’m back and were playing the system again.
The real fun with Open Legend is with how Open it is. Making homebrew and seeing homebrew content is just totes’ o’ fun.

ty

4

That is not so, as Shapeshift is limited by your Alteration score. The very first sentence of the Boon is

The target transforms into a creature whose highest attribute is less than or equal to your Alteration score.

Yes, because affecting Extraordinary Attributes in that way seriously messes with access to Banes and Boons a character/opponent may rely on, more so than Physical Attributes. Plus they are both restricted to Alteration, especially with Polymorph that’s because Alteration isn’t a usual Attack Attribute with few Banes and so can’t make much use of reduced Defenses on its own.

Where did you get that idea from? Movement has access to Haste and Teleport, arguably two of the most powerful Boons there are. Resistance and Flight are great too, and the creative uses for Telekinesis are many.

Most simply said, it’s too versatile, and versatility is arguably very very powerful in OL. Even as it is Haste is actually a bit too good.
But as for Defend Actions specifically, there is only one option to get any, and that is Sentinel for 3 Feat Points. That’s because Defend Actions are a powerful thing, especially with Battlefield Retribution. Even with there being more options to gain additional Attack Actions it’s hard to get past a capable Defender build, adding more Defend Actions past what’s possible with Sentinel would make it nigh impossible.

With most of these, the real problem is context. On their own, they often seem ok, but the trouble is that in OL, almost everything stacks. Acceleration would stack with Haste; Protection, Harden and Eludicate would stack with Resistance and plain old Armor; Enhancement and Advantage from any source would boost each other while Advantage on its own has decreasing returns the more you stack it.
Extraordinary and Martial Focus have the item dependency downside in return for just essentially the PL3 version of Enhancement because of that potent stacking, and those cost 3 Feat Points.

Another aspect is that you need to consider Boons as very reliable. Without any investment, they succeed at maximum power at about 50% of the time, but with 3 Feat Points a character will have it active in almost every encounter. A Level 1 character that consistently Rolls with Attribute 7 dice is much too powerful and so is a semi-permanent Guard increase of 4 by Level 3.

1 Like
5

A quick addendum to the banes changing attributes discussion:

The main problem with the design is that you essentially need temporarily a new character sheet, as anything is subject to change from that effect: Crucial banes and boons - gone. Hit Points - reduced. Defences - lowered. Feats - no one knows ( no one asked the question of what happens to feats once you don’t have the prerequisites anymore). Such an effect is somewhat manageable on a boon, as the player and the GM can prepare separate forms together beforehand, but on a bane, it’s just a hassle that might last for a round or the whole combat.

So, overall it’s just a bad design choice, no matter if on a homebrew bane or on Polymorph. Sometimes it’s just better to learn from other’s mistakes instead of repeating them.

1 Like
6

Whoops! This is both a typo, and me misremembering things on my behalf!
But the fact still is that Enhancement is still very OP.

I am aware of that. But my players certainly aren’t. All they see is that Movement doesn’t grant access to as many Banes and Boons as compared to… Say Entropy.
And one of my players really REALLY hate the fact that the extra actions produced by Haste grants disadvantage. (Better an extra action than just 1 action, ya fool!!!)

Also, yep. Just as I thought as to why Haste doesn’t grant extra interrupt actions.
Builds like those can essentially equate to a character who just literally can’t die.
Had a player who had a character with beefed out defenses,with sentinel and battlefield retribution and they said that character sucked because they didn’t have as many banes and boons as they used to. (huh???)

I dunno why I’m so obsessed into making my players go for other attributes and other forms of versatility and builds.
If they’re having fun playing characters that can access dozens of banes and boons but only ever use like 1 or 2 of them, then it should be fine.
They’re having fun…

I’m making another reply, the reply is gonna change certain banes and boons listed here using the feedback that was provided.
See y’all in like… 1 hour or so.

7

Break
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 5/7
Attributes: Alteration, Energy, Entropy, Influence, Might, Persuasion, Presence, Logic
Attacks:
Might vs Guard
Energy vs Guard
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Persuasion vs Resolve
Presence vs Resolve
Description: Whether by fooling an opponent to drop their guard, or altering their atomical, structual composition, or breaking their defense through sheer force, or studying their structure and combat stance, you break through an opponent’s Guard.
Effect: An opponent’s Guard defense is reduced temporarily, their Guard defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 5 - Guard is reduced by 2
Power Level 7 - Guard is reduced by 4
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action.
This bane does not stack with other effects that reduce guard, if this bane is the effect that reduces guard the most, then the modifier for the defense of this bane is used instead.
If the target is already afflicted with Frailness, Folly, or Vulnerability before affliction from this bane, those banes are immediately removed in exchange for this bane.

Frailness
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 5/7
Attributes: Agility, Alteration, Entropy, Might
Attacks:
Agility vs Guard
Might vs Guard
Alteration vs Guard
Entropy vs Guard
Description: Through sheer physical power, or through extraordinary forces, you change a creature’s bodily composition that makes them more prone than usual.
Effect: An opponent’s Toughness defense is reduced temporarily, their Toughness defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 5 - Toughness is reduced by 2
Power Level 7 - Toughness is reduced by 4
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
This bane does not stack with other effects that reduce toughness, if this bane is the effect that reduces toughness the most, then the modifier for the defense of this bane is used instead.
If the target is already afflicted with Break, Folly, or Vulnerability before affliction from this bane, those banes are immediately removed in exchange for this bane.

Folly
Duration: Resist (minor) ends (fail * 3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 5/7
Attributes: Influence, Persuasion, Presence
Attacks:
Influence vs Resolve
Persuasion vs Resolve
Presence vs Resolve
Description: Through social prowess, or supernatural means, you speak your way into striking doubt into the heart of an opponent.
Effect: An opponent’s Resolve defense is reduced temporarily, their Resolve defense is reduced based on Power Level
Power Level 5 - Resolve is reduced by 2
Power Level 7 - Resolve is reduced by 4
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
This bane does not stack with other effects that reduce resolve, if this bane is the effect that reduces resolve the most, then the modifier for the defense of this bane is used instead.
If the target is already afflicted with Frailness, Break, or Vulnerability before affliction from this bane, those banes are immediately removed in exchange for this bane.

Weaken
Duration: Resist (minor) Ends (fail x3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 4/6/8
Attributes: Agility, Might, Alteration, Entropy, Influence
Attack:
Agility vs Guard
Might vs Toughness
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Description: By attacking a nerve or a chi point location, twisting a limb, breaking a bone, by altering body composition, or entropic energy, or influencing the mind to forget vital techniques, you cause a target to become less effective than they usually are at a particular field.
Effect: Choose a single attribute, the target suffers disadvantage on their action rolls with that attribute according to the power level of the bane.
PL 4 - Disadvantage 2
PL 6 - Disadvantage 3
PL 8 - Disadvantage 4
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action
This bane does not stack with disadvantage penalties incurred via Demoralized and/or provoked.

Debuff
Duration: Resist (minor) Ends (fail x3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Entropy, Influence
Attack:
Alteration vs Guard
Entropy vs Toughness
Influence vs Resolve
Description: Using extraordinary magical de-enhancement magics, using psychic energy to limit certain aspects of a foe’s capabilities, you lower a foe’s attribute scores
Effect: The targets attribute scores are decreased, the amount at which and how low they can be decreased is determined by power level. The decrease in score can be allocated to multiple attributes, doing so means dividing the total score the power level can decrease among the chosen scores. This decrease can also affect a creature’s Hit Points, Guard, Toughness, and Resolve scores (if applicable) though it does not affect the banes and boons the target has access to.
PL 5 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 1
PL 7 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 2
PL 9 - Decrease the target’s attribute scores by 3
Special: Resisting this bane is a minor action.
A creature who has successfully resisted this bane becomes immune to all subsequent attempts by you to inflict it for the next 24 hours.

Vulnerability
Duration: Resist Ends (fail x3 = 1 hour)
Power Level: 5/7/9
Attributes: Logic, Learning, Perception, Alteration, Entropy, Prescience
Attack:
Logic vs Resolve
Learning vs Resolve
Alteration vs Toughness
Entropy vs Toughness
Prescience vs Resolve
Description: By studying the way their opponents move, recalling facts about the nature of their foes, channelling entropic energy into an opponent, or using a device that can turn an opponents heavy metal armor into rusted junk. You make your opponent more vulnerable to specific types of attacks, or destroy their resistance to an element.
Effect: When the bane is inflicted, the invoker chooses one type of attack and the target gains vulnerability to that type. The types include precise, forceful, fire, cold, lightning, acid, influence, and entropy (other types may be approved by the GM). The effect of the vulnerability is determined by the power level of the bane (the following are not cumulative):
PL 5 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 2 against the chosen attack type.
PL 7 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 3 against the chosen attack type.
PL 9 - The target’s defense scores are decreased by 4 against the chosen attack type.
Special: This bane does not stack with other effects that reduce defenses, if this bane is the effect that reduces their defenses the most, then the modifier for the defense of this bane is used instead.
If the target is already afflicted with Break, Frailness, or Folly before affliction from this bane, those banes are immediately removed in exchange for this bane.

Hold
Duration: Resist ends (Fail x3 = 1 minute)
Power Level: 4/6/8
Attack Attributes: Agility, Influence, Movement, Protection
Attack:
Agility vs. Guard
Influence vs Resolve
Movement vs Toughness
Protection vs Toughness
Description: Prevent a creature from taking actions.
Effect: The target is unable to make any kind of actions and is forced to end their turn every round. The difficulty of resisting this bane is determined by power level
PL4 - Another creature can spend a minor action on the afflicted target to make a resist action with advantage as a free action. If the afflicted target suffers damage, the bane immediately ends.
PL6 - If the afflicted target suffers damage, the afflicted target can make a resist action with advantage as a free action.
PL8 - Only the afflicted creature can help itself from being freed from the bane.
Special: Because creatures afflicted by this bane is unable to take actions of any kind, at the end of their turn they can make a resist roll as a free action. A creature who has successfully resisted this bane is immune to all subsequent attempts by you to inflict this bane for 1 hour.
Upon successful resist of the bane, the target is allowed to make the number of actions they normally have access to this round.

All the banes were drastically changed, rewritten and nerfed as you can see…
Minor resist actions for all the statistic reducing banes!
Hold was a pretty well recieved bane (I think)
But I think it felt awkward. Now Hold can affect any creatures, the PL simply determines the difficulty in resisting now. I think this new version of Hold is better than the one I previously pitched.

Shield -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Energy, Prescience, Protection, Movement
Description: Whether by forming a magical barrier around them, or turning their skin into flexible metal, or perhaps give them divine insight, you increase a willing creature’s Guard.
Effect: A willing creature’s Guard defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Guard is increased by 2
Power Level 5 - Guard is increased by 4
Power Level 7 - Guard is increased by 6
Power Level 9 - Guard is increased by 8
Special: If the target of this boon is already in the effect of Harden, Elucidate, or Resistance, they must remove those boons in exchange for this boon.

Harden -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Learning, Protection
Description: You increase an ally’s immunity systems, whether it be a specially designed drug, or a changing of ones anatomy, you make an ally tougher than usual
Effect: A willing creature’s Toughness defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Toughness is increased by 2
Power Level 5 - Toughness is increased by 4
Power Level 7 - Toughness is increased by 6
Power Level 9 - Toughness is increased by 8
Special: If the target of this boon is already in the effect of Shield, Harden, or Resistance, they must remove those boons in exchange for this boon.

Elucidate -
Duration: Sustain Persists
Invocation Time: 1 Major Action
Power Level: 3/5/7/9
Attributes: Influence, Presence, Prescience, Perception
Description: By calling out a bluff or through some intense pep talk, you increase an ally’s resolve.
Effect: A willing creature’s Resolve defense is increased for as long as the boon is sustained. The Increase depends on Power Level.
Power Level 3 - Resolve is increased by 2
Power Level 5 - Resolve is increased by 4
Power Level 7 - Resolve is increased by 6
Power Level 9 - Resolve is increased by 8
Special: If the target of this boon is already in the effect of Shield, Harden, or Resistance, they must remove those boons in exchange for this boon.

Enhancement -
Duration: Sustain Persists (Special)
Invocation Time: 1 Focus Action
Power Level: 5/7/9
Attributes: Alteration, Creation, Energy, Learning, Logic, Movement
Description: Through divine blessing, creative use of the environment, manipulation of the senses, a powerful drug, or an arcane boosting spell. You temporarily grant your allies an extra boost in their abilities.
Effect: The target’s attribute scores are increased. The amount in which and how high they can increase is determined by power level. The target’s Hit Points, Guard, Toughness, and Resolve scores are affected by these changes. This boon can increase more than one attribute, to do so you must spread and allocate the increase equal to the power level’s limit.
For example, at power level 7, you can increase a single attribute by 2, or increase 2 different attributes by 1.
PL5 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 1 with a maximum of 5. This way of increasing attribute scores does not grant the target access to higher power level banes and boons, It only increases the dice they roll.
PL7 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 2 with a maximum of 6
PL9 - Increase the target’s attribute scores by 3 with a maximum of 8. This boon can now grant the targets access to higher power level versions of banes and boons the target could already access with this boon being the exception.
Special: This boon can only be sustained for 3 rounds, after 3 rounds, the boon is immediately removed

Accellerate
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: Major Action
Power Level: 5/7/9
Attributes: Movement
Description: You enhance a creatures already existing movement capabilities further. By creating a gust of wind for them to follow, implanting modding devices to their legs, or magically enhancing their stamina.
Effect: Choose a mode of movement the target already has access to - Ground, Air, or Naval.
The target’s speed using that mode of movement is increased as determined by power level.
PL5 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 15’
PL7 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 30’
PL9 - The target’s speed in the chosen mode of movement is increased by 60’

Reactionary
Duration: Sustain persists
Invocation Time: Major Action
Power Level: 5/8
Attributes: Movement, Protection
Description: Perform more interrupt actions in 1 turn
Effect:
PL5 - The target can take one extra interrupt action this round, however the second interrupt action suffers disadvantage 3. These interrupt actions can only be used to make defend actions against damaging attacks that target Guard
PL8 - The target can take two extra interrupt actions this round, however the second interrupt action suffers disadvantage 3 and the third interrupt action suffers disadvantage 6. These interrupt actions can only be used to make defend actions against damaging attacks that target Guard

Just like with the banes, these things receive the good 'ol nerfing.
I made the invocation time for Enhancement be a focus action, meaning a character has to forego all their other boons to inflict this. And it con only last a maximum of 18 seconds.

Reactionary is now only applicable at higher power levels and get more disadvantage. Not to mention they are limited to only using these actions against a very specific type of attack.

How do they look now?
I think Enhancement and Debuff are still just too powerful no matter how you nerf them…