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Diamond-Polished Subsystems: Aristeia and Accrual
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Every hero ought to have some sort of crowning moment, even if that moment is their last. It can feel strange and anticlimactic when a character has a lot of emotional gravitas in a specific situation only for the dice to turn against them and deliver an average (if not weak) performance in a crucial moment. Aristeia (AHR-iss-TAY-uh, which literally translates to “excellence” and is commonly used to denote a character’s moment of crowning achievement in a story) is a system designed to give characters some extra punch in a crucial moment, although its use comes at a cost such that it should only be used in the most dire of situations.
Entering Aristeia
Aristeia is a state that a character with at least one Aristeia feat can enter for one minute as a free action on their turn, and it grants various benefits depending on the level of Aristeia achieved. A character can never activate Aristeia against their will. Entering Aristeia requires an expenditure of hero points or the gain of Accrual Points equal to the level of Aristeia entered. A character may split this cost between the two resources (for example, a character may gain 2 Accrual Points and spend 2 hero points to enter Aristeia level 4). A character cannot use temporary hero points such as those gained through spells, class features, or items to enter Aristeia. A character may enter Aristeia even when they cannot otherwise take actions.
For every Aristeia feat a character possesses, they can name a specific activation which they can use to enter Aristeia. Activations can take the form of either an Internal or an External Stimulus. At GM discretion, a character may change an Activation using the same period of training that it would take to retrain a feat. A player wishing to use Aristeia should speak with their GM to determine which Activations are appropriate for a campaign.
- Internal Stimulus: An internal stimulus is tied to one of the character’s Major Motivations (see pages 10-11 from Spheres of Guile for detail on Motivations). When a situation is closely tied to the chosen Major Motivation, the character may invoke their own motivation to gain the ability to enter Aristeia by spending hero points or gaining Accrual Points. If not using the Motivation mechanics, a character may designate a specific personal goal, value, or ambition as their Internal Stimulus, with the character being able to enter Aristeia when the designated concept is challenged or advanced. The GM is the final arbiter of whether a situation qualifies a character to enter Aristeia, as well as what goals, values, or ambitions are appropriate triggers for entering Aristeia.
- External Stimulus: An external stimulus is a specific environment which is outside the character’s control. Examples of an external stimulus may be “when the stars are in the same alignment as they were the night I developed my powers” or “when I am in the ruins of the city I promised to defend”. The GM is the final arbiter of what external stimulus is appropriate for a character to select.
Aristeia Effects
Detailed below are the effects of different levels of Aristeia.
Table: Aristeia Effects| Aristeia Level/Cost | Aristeia Bonus | Minimum Roll | Special Abilities | Backlash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +2 | 2 | - | 1 ability burn |
| 2 | +4 | 5 | Condition negation (1) | 4 ability burn |
| 3 | +6 | 8 | Unstoppable (movement) | 7 ability burn |
| 4 | +8 | 11 | Bonus Action (1 move or swift action), Condition Negation (2) | 10 ability burn |
| 5 | +10 | 14 | Bonus Action (1 round), Unstoppable (attacks) | Destruction |
Aristeia Level/Cost
In order to begin Aristeia of a certain level, a character must have at least that many Aristeia feats and must spend that many hero points. If a character does not possess the requisite number of hero points, they cannot use Aristeia of that level. A character cannot enter a level of Aristeia greater than half their character level.
Minimum Roll
While a character is in a state of Aristeia, the immense power they wield ensures a certain minimum degree of success in all of their actions. Whenever a character in Aristeia rolls a result on a d20 which would be below the minimum roll, they are instead treated as having rolled the minimum roll.
Special Abilities
At higher levels of Aristeia, a character gains special abilities from their Aristeia. These special abilities are extraordinary in nature and function as follows.
- Condition Negation: At Aristeia level 2, a character gains the ability to ignore a condition affecting them so long as they remain in Aristeia. The duration of the condition is expended as normal, it simply has no effect. The negated condition may be changed by the character in Aristeia as a free action once per round. At level 4, they can negate two conditions. The conditions capable of being negated are as follows: battered, blinded, confused, cowering, dazed, dazzled, deafened, disabled, dying (though they still suffer hit point damage each round), energy drained, exhausted, fascinated, fatigued, frightened, helpless, nauseated, panicked, paralyzed, petrified, shaken, sickened, staggered, stunned, or unconscious. This ability can also be used to negate magic effects which would directly affect the character (such as curses or charms) as well. Additional effects may be negated by this ability at GM discretion.
- Unstoppable: At Aristeia level 3, a character becomes immensely difficult to impede or restrain. So long as they are in Aristeia, the character’s movement speeds are doubled and they benefit from a constant supernatural effect identical to the freedom (word) from the Fate sphere. The character ignores any form of difficult terrain. At Aristeia level 5, the character’s attacks ignore all forms of damage reduction and hardness.
- Bonus Actions: At Aristeia level 4, a character can take an additional move or swift action on their initiative count each round. At Aristeia level 5, a character can take an additional round’s worth of actions on their initiative count each round. These can be divided however the character wishes (such as two full-round actions and two swift actions, two standard actions, two move actions, and two swift actions, or a full-round action, a standard action, a move action, and two swift actions, two one-round actions, or one two-round action).
Backlash
Although Aristeia is immensely powerful, it comes at a great cost. When Aristeia ends after one minute, a character in Aristeia takes ability burn to all of their ability scores based on the level of Aristeia they left (1 for level 1, 4 for level 2, 7 for level 3, 10 for level 4). When a character leaves Aristeia level 5, they are completely obliterated rather than just suffering ability burn. Their body and spirit are completely destroyed, and nothing short of a wish or miracle effect can restore the character.
A character cannot use Aristeia if the ability burn from its backlash would cause them to take ability burn in excess of one of their ability scores. In addition, a character must be at least 10th level and be able to use Aristeia level 4 in order to use Aristeia level 5.
Note: Ability Burn
Ability burn functions similarly to ability score damage, but may not be removed by any means other than 8 hours of resting, which removes all burn. Ability burn is not actually ability score damage. Immunity or the ability to ignore or reduce ability score damage does not apply to ability burn.
Optional Rule: Integrated Aristeia
Although the Aristeia system is powerful, some GMs may wish to integrate it as a natural progression of characters rather than as a series of optional feats. This works particularly well for high-powered games.
Under these rules, characters may designate one Activation for every three character levels they possess and may gain Accrual Points or spend hero points to activate Aristeia even if they do not have any Aristeia feats. Characters may select Aristeia feats normally to gain additional Activation conditions.
Optional Rule: Superheroic Aristeia
Those wishing to push the powers of the Aristeia system to even greater heights may wish to implement any of the following changes to increase the power of the system even further. However, implementing one or more of the following mechanics may increase the strength of Aristeia above or beyond incredibly potent subsystems such as Mythic Power. As a result, the following improvements should be implemented at great GM discretion.
- Aristeia Bonus: While a character is in a state of Aristeia, they gain an untyped bonus on all d20 rolls and damage rolls known as the Aristeia bonus equal to twice their level of Aristeia. A character can only apply the die roll bonus once per total of dice (for example, a character can only apply the bonus to one die roll used for an attack roll or one die roll used for a damage roll).
- Expanded Condition Negation: When using Condition Negation, a character may negate one condition for every level of Aristeia they are in or any number of conditions while in Aristeia level 5.
- Negative Level Backlash: When Aristeia ends after one minute, a character in Aristeia gains a number of permanent negative levels equal to twice the level of Aristeia the character entered rather than taking ability burn. These negative levels ignore any immunities that a creature might have to negative levels and abilities which would automatically remove negative levels after a certain period of time. These permanent negative levels cannot be healed by any means, but wear off at a rate of one per day. When a character leaves Aristeia level 5, they are completely obliterated rather than just suffering negative levels. Their body and spirit are completely destroyed, and nothing short of a wish or miracle effect can restore the character. A character cannot use Aristeia if the negative levels from its backlash would cause their negative levels to exceed their character level. In addition, a character must be at least 10th level and be able to use Aristeia level 4 in order to use Aristeia level 5.
- No Backlash: The character does not suffer any negative levels or ability burn from using levels of Aristeia below level 5.
Aristeia Feats
Click the link above to see Aristeia feats.