Agon: Heroic Traits Grab Bag

[iago]

Okay, so, 10 Heroic Traits does not a sufficiently large grab-bag make, for me.  The ones provided on page 21 are *awesome*, but not in large enough quantities.

So, I'm going to break them down, make a few deductions, and propose a "Grab Bag" of things which you can select to build your own Heroic Trait.  I fully believe that John intends this to be possible by implication, but I wanna make it explicit.

So, on that basis, let me observe the following rules on how this list is arrived at:

• +2 bonuses to skills only happen for Arete, Craft, and Sport abilities. 
• Battle abilities do not get +2 bonuses, but instead enjoy more restricted bonuses, through range, damage, and positioning.

Make two selections from the grab bag.  You can't double dip, so you can't take the same item from the list twice.  That said, some combinations may stack in certain situations, such as Fleet-Footed netting someone a total of +4 to their positioning outside.

Ability Boosts

+2 to Insight rolls
+2 to Grace rolls
+2 to Might rolls
+2 to Spirit rolls
+2 to Heal rolls
+2 to Lore rolls
+2 to Music rolls
+2 to Orate rolls
+2 to Athletics rolls
+2 to Cunning rolls
+2 to Hunt rolls
+2 to Wrestle rolls

Range Increases

+1 Range for melee weapons (Sword = 1,2; Spear = 2,3)
+1 Range for missile weapons (Bow = 5-7; Javelin = 2-5)

Damage Increases

+1 damage to beasts
+1 damage to humans
+1 damage to monsters

Positioning Bonuses

+2 to positioning roll when fighting beasts
+2 to positioning roll when fighting monsters
+2 to positioning roll when fighting humans
+2 to positioning roll when fighting inside
+2 to positioning roll when fighting outside
+2 to positioning roll in bright conditions
+2 to positioning roll in dim conditions
+2 to positioning roll in dark conditions

I believe there may be other combinations, but these are the ones I could most safely derive from the ten examples offered. I would also consider combining the 'when...' or 'in...' clauses under Positioning Bonuses together with, say, the Range Increases in order to give a +2 range increase under unusual circumstances, for example, but that may be a stretch. Damage is sufficiently potent that I don't forsee it ever offering +2, though I will suppose that there are other groupings one could use besides beasts/humans/monsters. John'll have to comment on that part.

Anyway, using the above grab bag, I can now easily do:

Honey-Voiced
+2 to Music rolls
+2 to Orate rolls

Shadows' Friend
+2 to Cunning rolls
+2 to positioning in dark conditions

Strong-Hearted
+2 to Spirit rolls
+2 to Might rolls

And with a small stretch on positioning logic...

Of Clever Words
+2 Insight
+2 to positioning roll in any non-physical, non-combat battle

(Of Clever Words ends up being the Fleet Footed of talky battles, which I think is pretty badass.)

[John Harper]

Awesome. No one needs my stamp of approval, but I'm giving it anyway, with a huge friggin' red stamp.

Story Dancer
+2 to Lore rolls
+2 to Grace rolls

[Darren Hill]

Outstanding!
I had planned to work up a few extra Heroic Traits, but this makes that so much easier. Actually it makes the idea redundant - the players can make their own.

[Jason Morningstar]

This is super good and makes doing up other cultures easier.

[iago]

I had planned to work up a few extra Heroic Traits, but this makes that so much easier. Actually it makes the idea redundant - the players can make their own.

The credit, in part, goes to Perfect.  I haven't read all of that game, but when I grabbed it at GenCon, and got a demo, one of the things that stood out to me was that it had a nice, concise "construction kit" for building special abilities appropriate to that game.  And the patterns evident in Agon were sufficiently recognizable that I figured it was worthwhile (and, even, important) to do the same.

[Darren Hill]

One thing has just occurred to me:
Being able to choose +2 Athletics makes all those positioning bonuses pretty redundant.
I'd recommend this: "If you take Athletics, you must combine it with one of the +2 positioning options."

[iago]

One thing has just occurred to me:
Being able to choose +2 Athletics makes all those positioning bonuses pretty redundant.
I'd recommend this: "If you take Athletics, you must combine it with one of the +2 positioning options."

I dunno about that.  I think it's reversed.  It's more, if you don't take Athletics whenever you take a +2 positioning option, you aren't optimizing your situation for a +4. :)

[Shreyas Sampat]

This thing is great. Thanks!

[rafial]

I copied this over to the Wiki, with full credit to Fred, because it's just too awesome not to be there!

http://random.average-bear.com/Agon/HeroicTraitConstructionKit