Reliance
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Baron's Uncanny Gateway
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Reliance: Motivation and Strain as a Source of Power

The mechanics for motivation and strain have heretofore been strictly negative, punishing those who use the system with unique vulnerabilities or painful conditions. This paints a picture of conviction and tests of it as something negative, as if the drives of your character are an impediment to their success. Reliance is a system which works to reward players for acting on their motivations while also introducing risk for particularly harrowing challenges.

Assigning Reliance

Whenever you rest for at least 8 hours, you gain a number of Reliance Points equal to your current Strain Score. You may assign these Reliance Points to your Major and Minor Motivations in any way you wish, and these Reliance Points may be spent in a variety of ways that involve rolling Reliance Dice. Spent Reliance Points are lost, as are any unspent Reliance Points when you rest for at least 8 hours.

Reliance Dice

Whenever an ability refers to Reliance Dice, the type of die rolled is based on the kind of motivation the spent Reliance Points were assigned to. For Minor Motivations, the Reliance Die is 1d4. For Major Motivations, the Reliance Die is 1d8.

Using Reliance Points

When you attempt a skill check or attack roll to accomplish a goal tied to one of your motivations, you may invoke that motivation, spending three Reliance Points assigned to that motivation and adding that motivation’s Reliance Die to the roll. You may invoke your motivation after seeing the d20 result but before knowing if the roll was a success or failure. Once you have invoked a Motivation in this way, you cannot invoke the same motivation again for 1 minute. Certain feats marked as (Reliance) feats grant you additional ways to use your Reliance Points. You can only invoke one of your motivations for any purpose once per round.

Taking Strain Damage

Whenever you suffer strain damage, you lose a number of unspent Reliance Points equal to the strain damage suffered. You choose the motivations from which these Reliance Points are lost.

Alternate Severances

When using the Reliance system, some GMs may wish not to utilize the traditional severances for worry of them derailing the game or becoming too unfun to play with. In those cases, it is suggested that the following severances be the only ones used.

Strained Motivation, Minor

Type lesser severance; Save Will DC 18; Onset 1d4 days

Effect
You gain a unique Minor Motivation called a Strained Motivation, with the GM coming up with an appropriate Motivation or rolling on Table: Strained Motivations to determine the Motivation (alternatively, one of your existing Minor Motivations may become a Strained Motivation). You may assign Reliance Points to a Strained Motivation as if it were a normal Motivation, but another character or the GM may also invoke a character’s Strained Motivation when the character’s action would defy that motivation to give them a -1d4 penalty on a single d20 roll once per minute. A character invoking their own Strained Motivation can prevent another character invoking that same motivation for the next minute. An opponent invoking a Strained Motivation must apply a Strained Motivation’s penalty before the die roll is made

Dormancy Effect: You gain the Strained Motivation and cannot get rid of it, although it is not considered a Strained Motivation.

Strained Motivation, Major

Type greater severance; Save Will DC 24; Onset 1d4 days

Effect
This functions as Minor Strained Motivation, save that the Strained Motivation is a Major Motivation rather than a Minor Motivation. When a GM invokes a Major Strained Motivation, the penalty is -1d8 rather than -1d4.

Dormancy Effect: You gain the Strained Motivation and cannot get rid of it, although the penalty is -1d4 rather than -1d8.

Table: Strained Motivations

D20 result Motivation
1 Fear of the dark
2 Driven to take dangerous risks
3 Uncomfortable being seen
4 Fear of a specific creature or person
5 Determined to keep something or someone safe
6 Fear of blood/gore
7 Contempt for comfort and leisure
8 Fear of cramped spaces
9 Fear of isolation
10 Hunger for violence
11 Fear of a specific type of magic
12 Uncomfortable in large crowds
13 Fear of death
14 Fear of helplessness
15 Driven to find an answer to a specific question
16 Obsessed with vengeance against somebody
17 Struggles to trust your allies
18 Obliged to placate some malevolent entity
19 Driven to destroy all knowledge of something
20 Obsessed with amassing personal power

Reliance Feats

The feats below marked as (Reliance) feats utilize Reliance Points

Desperate Dedication (Reliance)

Benefits: Whenever you roll a Reliance Die while invoking a Strained Motivation, you may reroll any Reliance Die result of a 1 or 2.

Special: If you possess the Unsettling Casting drawback, you may select this feat as a drawback feat

Desperate Vitality (Reliance)

Benefits: Whenever you use a spell, sphere ability, or class feature such as channel energy to heal a creature, you may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points to add your Reliance Die to the amount healed for a single creature.

Determined Channeling (Channeling) (Reliance)

Prerequisites: Channel Energy class feature

Benefits: You may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points in place of spending a use of Channel Energy

Determined Investigator (Reliance)

Prerequisites: Inspiration class feature

Benefits: You may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points in place of spending a use of Inspiration.

Incredible Conviction (Reliance)

Benefits: Whenever you roll your Reliance Die for a Major Motivation, use a d12 rather than a d8.

Keep Holding Out (Reliance)

Benefits: You may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points to add your Reliance Die to a saving throw.

Make Them Fall (Reliance)

Benefits: Whenever you add your Reliance Die to an attack roll, add the result to the damage roll.

Motivated Momentum (Reliance)

Prerequisites: War Sphere

Benefits: Allies within 30 feet of you may spend Reliance Points as if they were momentum points.

Not Giving Up Yet (Reliance)

Benefits: As a free action, you may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points to gain temporary hit points equal to your Reliance Die. These temporary hit points last for 1 round.

Passion-Driven Magic (Reliance)

Benefits: You may invoke a motivation and spend three Reliance Points to add your Reliance Die to a caster level check to bypass spell resistance. If you have 0 spell points remaining, you may invoke a motivation and spend 6 Reliance Points to gain temporary spell points equal to your Reliance Die result. These temporary spell points last for 1 round.

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