Kaloi Kagathoi: Preliminary Skill List
Kaloi Kagathoi Skills List
Creating your Kaloi:
At character generation your Kaloi will have 4 basic hits, a hit point regeneration rate of 1/10 minutes and 15 character points to spend. These points can be spent on any of the skills below, many of which require certain pre-req’s. Most skills will come in a simple 4-tiered system, tier 1 costing 1 pt, tier 2 costing 2 pts, etc. So to get to Tier 4 in any of those skills would cost 10 pts (quite a chunk of your total). Some, such as Regeneration or Godhood, cost more to represent the usefulness of said skill. There are no skills that preclude you from having any others, you could happily be a blood-hungry librarian with high research and combat skills, but players are encouraged to think about the skills that best fit their character concept and go from there.
Death: Kaloi cannot die, but do have a death count of ten minutes. If they are reduced to 0 hits this count begins and once it ends they return to consciousness on 1 hit.
Basic skills:
Hit points 1pt/hit point: You may purchase extra hit points at a cost of 1pt each. This may seem cheap, but as characters can purchase up to quad as a damage call at creation (not mention the bonuses certain weaponry could give them), you can lose them pretty quickly.
Loose in Time: This skill measures how shackled down to a particular time period your Kaloi is. Characters with no tiers in this skill are bound to the modern day, and can only effect the other time periods through the actions of their secondaries. Characters with Tier 1 can travel to one other time period (Arthurian, Elizabethan or Blitz), those with 2 can travel to 2, etc. Loose in Time is also an important pre-req for other skills. Your Kaloi can travel to other time periods in order to take part in linear quests/adventures where they will interact with mortals (NPC’s or PC secondaries) in order to achieve their nefarious or altruistic ends.
Note: The higher your Tier in this skill, the less affinity for any given time period will be, often leading Kaloi to be confused as to the slang, technology, and political situation of the time period they are in.
Tier 1: 1 pt
Tier 2: 2 pts
Tier 3: 3 pts
Tier 4: 6 pts
With Loose in Time tier 4 you are able to switch between timelines at will in uptime, and are able to take items with you. This can be used for anything from moving unseen, leaving messages for yourself or others in the past, or secreting a stash of awesome weaponry in some unseen corner of time for later use. When you have Tier 4, you will be issued with a coloured armband to represent the time period you are travelling in. (note, you must alert a ref whenever you travel through time periods in this way).
Roleplay effect: at Tier 4 your Kaloi is also Loose in Time to the extent that their movements and speech often seem jerky as they are never quite settled in any time period. This should be roleplayed through slowing down or suddenly speeding up your movements, repeating yourself or stuttering in conversation, and anything else you think would be fun to roleplay.
Combat skills:
Offensive Skills
Notes:
• Your Kaloi character need only purchase the skill once to be able to call the appropriate damage with any weapon of your choosing, or none at all. After all, the Kaloi have had generations to master different fighting styles and weapons, thus it is assumed that any weapon you choose to use is one your Kaloi will be proficient in.
• Every damage call has a basic “cooldown” period of 5 seconds. Kaloi draw their energies from the time stream, thus it takes them a little time to recharge for a new attack. Players should thus take advantage of feints, movement and footwork, witty banter etc. The idea is to beat your opponent strategically, placing as much emphasis on defence as offence.
Melee - with a Kaloi melee calls can be made either with bare hands (i.e. claw damage) or with a weapon in close combat, making physical contact with the target.
Single - 1 pt
Double (pre-req Single) - 2 pts
Triple (pre-req Double) - 3 pts
Quad (pre-req Triple) - 4 pts
(So to buy Quad you would need to spend 10 pts)
While it may seem odd that a starting character can begin with Quad and still have points left over, this is again to reflect that the Kaloi are powerful immortal beings, channelling energy from time itself to deal damage. Any other Kaloi will likely be just as powerful.
Ranged - for Kaloi ranged calls are made as standard as a ranged line of sight direct damage call. Simply make an appropriate gesture with an empty hand, clearly marking your target, and call your damage. While there is no maximum range, there is a minimum, if your target is within 3 meters of you then ranged calls will do no damage. Note 1: if you wish to make this call with an appropriate ranged weapon, the minimum range does not apply.
Note 2: as this is a line of sight call, diving behind cover or behind someone else to avoid the damage/make them take it is totally valid, but must be made clear (through words if not actions) and if someone else is in the way they WILL take the damage instead (and may not be happy about it)
Single - 1 pt
Double (pre-req Single) - 2 pts
Triple (pre-req Double) - 3 pts
Quad (pre-req Triple) - 4 pts
Effects - 1pt
Effects are roleplaying effects to add to your damage calls. They cost one point each for a single use/day. You can buy an effect as many times as you like to be able to call it that many times a day (so if you spent 5 points on Deja’vu you can use it 5 times/day).
Note 1: effects do not need to cause damage, but must make contact with the target’s body if used as a melee call. Parry may still be used to negate the effect. Ranged effects can only be negated with Parry.
Note 2: You can call an effect without a damage call, but this still counts as your one attack/second.
Deja’vu - ‘haven’t we done this already?’ gives the target a powerful sense of confusion for 30 seconds and should roleplay their combat and negotiation skills being somewhat impaired.
Slow - ‘it feels like I’m moving through water!’ slows the target to half speed for 15 seconds
Stop - ‘It’s like I’m frozen still!’ paralyzes the target for 5 seconds.
Time drain XXX - ‘do you have the time?’ removes one use of any specified skill that has limited uses
Extra 1pt - an extra is simply a roleplaying effect you may add to your damage calls. Damage from a Kaloi is assumed to be made using their own energy, which is essentially invisible, merely a ripple in the air (that hits you and makes you feel as if you are being punched in the soul). If you want to have a flaming sword, or shoot bolts of lightning through the air, simply pay your point and precede your damage call with a descriptive e.g. “flaming single”, “lightning double”, “papercut quad” and the target will respond accordingly.
Note: this can also be used as an effect on objects or stretches of ground: so if you buy Fire as an Extra, you can call ‘flaming single XXX’ on a table or chair someone is hiding behind to set it on fire (flaming single ‘chair’), or call ‘ice single ground’ to make it slippery and hard to traverse.
Time slice (pre-req, Loose in Time) - by manipulating time a Kaloi can slice through his own timeline by a second or two, increasing the speed with which he can make attacks. Each time you purchase the skill your ‘cooldown’ period is reduced by a second.
Tier 1 (pre-req, Loose in Time 1): 1 pt
Tier 2 (pre-req, Loose in Time 2): 2 pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Loose in Time 3): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Loose in Time 4): 4pts
Defensive Skills
Armour - Armour for Kaloi is reductive. I.e. if you have armour 1 then you reduce the amount of damage anyone does to you by 1. No armour phys-rep is actually required for this skill, it represents a Kaloi’s natural defensive field, the way in which they bend time around their bodies into buffers that literally slow attacks against them to a stop. Armour, however, does not protect you from ‘Effects’ such as disarm or knockback, it stops the damage, but does not prevent contact being made.
Armour 1: 1 pt
Armour 2: 2 pts
Armour 3: 3pts
Armour 4: 4 pts
Parry : 1pt/use - Parry, as opposed to armour, is a skill that requires a call. When an attack that would do damage or cause an effect hits you, you may call ‘Parry’ with an appropriate defensive gesture to negate both the damage and the effect. Parry costs 1 pt per use per day, so if you spent 5pts on it you could call Parry 5 times per day. As you will only have a limited number of these it is not recommended you use it as your primary means of defence, but it can be a devastating way to turn around a duel.
Regeneration: All Kaloi regenerate 1hp/10 mins as standard, representing their energy regenerating with the passage of time (from which it ultimately stems), by spending points on Regeneration your Kaloi can drastically reduce the amount of time this takes.
Tier 1, 1/10mins: automatic.
Tier 2, 1/5 mins (pre-req, Loose in Time 1): 2 pts.
Tier 3, 1/ 2 mins (pre-req, Tier 2): 4 pts.
Tier 4, 1/min (pre-req, Tier 3): 8 pts.
Research and Business:
Kaloi have pretty much an eternity of time to fill, and there are only so many games of scrabble you can play before you memorise the entire dictionary; only so many duels you can have over minor social slights before you run out of imagined offences.
So many Kaloi fill their time searching libraries, 2nd hand book shops, antique stalls, museums and private collections for lost tomes, apocrypha and information of the Kaloi. After the Cataclysm that landed the Kaloi in this world, books, manuscripts and fragments from their old lives started to wash up on the waves of time into our world. These could end up anywhere and it could take an amateur years to find even a single tome. But these tomes and scraps can be pieced together to tell Kaloi of lost abilities, stories from their culture, and even their own history. They spend their lives seeking knowledge. And knowledge is power.
Research - Research in downtime represents your prowess in searching for ‘Apocrypha’, i.e. documents with information about the Kaloi Kagathoi and their culture. The higher the skill, the more you will be able to find, the more detailed they will be, and the more sense you will be able to make of them. The more resources you invest when you purchase the skill, the greater your collection upon purchasing the skill will be. In uptime it gives you the ability to better appraise and understand ‘Apocrypha’ that is on sale, and also at higher levels gives you the ability to sense nearby ‘Apocrypha’, homing in on the resonance to their own Kaloi essence.
Research:
Tier 1: 1 pt, plus min. 100 resources
Tier 2 (pre-req, Tier 1): 2pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Tier 2): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Tier 3): 4 pts
Many don’t care about their history. They focus on the now, on the world they’re in, and throw themselves into business. Kaloi have often used their almost limitless time and resources built up over centuries to build business corporations that span the globe. It is rumoured that such famous figures as Bill Gates and Donald Trump are in fact Kaloi who have abandoned their place in the Kaloi community to influence the mortal world through business. Many aren’t so obvious and simply maintain silent partnerships in various businesses, or play the stock market and clean up on long-term, high yield investments. Some, not caring about the consequences of prison or death, have engaged in illegal business interests, some Kaloi are rumoured to have struck big in organised crime in America during prohibition. They spend their time accruing money. And money is power.
Business - If you take Tiers in Business then, unsurprisingly, you have a business. What business you own is entirely up to you, governed only by your imagination (and ref approval). You can invest in an illegal business if you wish, and the potential gains will be higher, but there are also interesting and potentially hazardous in-game consequences. Your business’s size is determined by the number of Tiers you have taken and the amount of resources you invest in it when you take the skill. In downtime taking tiers in Business gives you the ability to make resources, the more you invest and the higher your Tier, the higher your return is likely to be. In uptime this gives you the use of business contacts and associates who will be able to provide you with valuable information on uptime events, as well as the ability to pay said associates to accomplish tasks for you.
Tier 1: 1 pt, plus min. 100 resources
Tier 2 (pre-req, Tier 1): 2pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Tier 2): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Tier 3): 4 pts
Notes on Research and Business downtimes: as with all downtimes we prize creativity. The more interesting and unique the way you wish to go about your business/research, the more likely they are to yield results and provide us with ideas for cool things that happen in uptime and downtime as a result. Essentially the more you put in, the more you get out. Go nuts.
Stealth
Kaloi place a great deal of importance on stealth and cunning. Being able to defeat your opponent without them realising they were yet in combat with you is considered one of the highest accomplishments a Kaloi can … accomplish. For this reason the Kaloi have developed a series of techniques that compliment their sneakiness.
Eavesdrop - 3pts
You can bend time and space sufficiently to be able to manipulate the sound waves in another location, replicating them in your own.
This skill gives you the ability to eavesdrop on a conversation. Simply let a ref know on whom you wish to eavesdrop and they will stand in the room with their phone on speakphone and call you allowing you to hear what is happening on the room.
Clairvoyance (pre-req Eavesdrop) - 5 pts
You can bend not just the sound waves, but the rays of light themselves, replaying them before you later at your own convenience.
As with eavesdrop, but the ref will record the goings-on as a video and play it back to you immediately after.
Invisibility (pre-req Clairvoyance) - 7 pts
You can bend the light to the extent that it bends around you, rendering you invisible to the eye for a short time.
Allows your character to turn invisible for 2 minutes per day, holding one hand in the air to signify your character is unseen.
Paralyze - 3 pts
You are able to briefly freeze another person in time when they are not expecting it and cannot stabilise their own time field.
By calling paralyze on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) you can freeze said target in time for 30 seconds. They cannot take damage during this time.
Stasis - 5 pts
You are able to subtly manipulate the time field of another person, placing a tiny buffer of slow time around them, putting them slightly out of sync with the world around them, their attacks will miss their target by milliseconds and their abilities will misfire as they misjudged the timing.
By calling stasis on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) said target will be unable to use any calls for an hour. They will be unaware of this until they attempt to use a call.
Backstab - 7 pts
You can slow the time around a key point of the unsuspecting, sliding a knife gently and imperceptibly into their back, or slowly strangling them to death in a fraction of a second.
By calling backstab on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) you can drop said target to 0 hits points immediately. This will immediately place any mortal character on their death count.
Healing
All Kaloi healing abilities make use of time manipulation, things such as splints, bandages, plasters, even antiseptics and disinfectants are mostly alien to them.
Time’s a Great Healer - 3 pts
By standing over a downed character, the Kaloi may double the speed of their death count. For a Kaloi this will hasten their ability to regain consciousness, for anyone else it will hasten their death. Physical contact must be maintained for the skill to continue working. This skill may be purchased multiple times, each purchase will add another multiplier to the speed (so buying it twice makes the death count go 3 times faster, three times makes it go 4 times faster etc).
Time’s On Your Side (pre-req: Time’s a Great Healer) - 5pts
This allows a Kaloi to speed up the healing process so fast that the target will regenerate one hit every 20 seconds (each additional purchase of this skill will reduce this time by half rounding down, so 20, 10, 5, 2, 1)
Save Point (pre-req: Time’s On Your Side) - 7pts
Restores a living recipient who has been in combat in the five minutes to the state they were in before combat started, this includes all memories. This requires one minutes of continuous roleplay.
Crafting
Kaloi craft items by enshrining a skill into an item. It can be any item so long as it is vaguely appropriate for its use (combat skills make the most sense being enshrined into weapons for example). A crafter can enshrine any skill so long as the character to whom the skill belongs is willing or unresisting. The catch is that once the skill is enshrined in an item, the character to whom it belongs cannot use it until the item is used up. For any permanent skill this item will last for a full day from the time it is first used, for charged skill (for example Parry, Breach or any Effect) it will last until the last charge is used up. A crafter can put as many points of skills into an item as he has points in Crafting.
For example: The Skilled Artisan puts 10 points into Crafting. He meets The Skilled Warrior, who has Tier 4 of melee (costing a total 10 points, enabling him to call up to ‘quad’). He is thus able to put all 10 points of Melee Tier 4 into a sword which he names the ‘Vorpal Longsword + 4’, which allows any character using it to call ‘single’, ‘double’, ‘triple’ and ‘quad’ for a day. The Skilled Warrior will no longer be able to call any melee calls until the sword is used.
Example 2: The Skilled Warrior goes to the cheaper Mediocre Artisan instead. The Mediocre Artisan put 4 points into Crafting. He puts the 4 points necessary for Tier 4 Melee into a sword, but this only allows the sword’s user to call ‘quad’ and nothing else. He calls it the Sword Of Surprising Bluntness.
Any item that has a tiered skill enshrined in it, when used by someone with some of those skills already, stacks with the skills he already has.
For Example: ‘The Vorpal Longsword + 4’ is given to The ‘It’s My First Day’ Warrior who has Tier 1 Melee. He can thus call all the way up to ‘pent’, dealing five points of damage, he is also able to call all the damage calls in between.
Example 2: He is given The Sword of Surprising Bluntness, and is able to call either ‘single’ or ‘pent’, but nothing in between.
Example 3: He swings his sword at The Brick Wall, who has Armour of Tier 4. He calls ‘pent’ and The Brick Wall’s armour absorbs all but one single point of damage, which he takes.
Example 4: The Mysterious Benefactor has given The Brick Wall a set of armour with Armour Tier 1 enshrined in it. When ‘It’s My First Day’ Warrior calls ‘pent’, no damage is taken as his Armour has been boosted to Tier 5.
Godhood
It is known for Kaloi to take on powers and appearances that in many cases seem to resemble those traditionally enjoyed by gods. Gods among the Kaloi always have worshipers in one time or another, and this will often mean extra demands are placed upon them by their followers. Gods are of varying different strengths and abilities, and this system of Godhood works much like Kaloi naming, a minor deity having a longer name, a powerful one having a shorter name or in the case of truly monstrously powerful gods, no name at all.
Note 1: Your name thusly decides of what you are the god and will partly define the abilities you gain from it.
Note 2: If you wish to play a god your secondary characters must all be worshipers of said God, and you must decide on one time period in which your god is worshipped and who by.
Note 3: The ref team will decide what abilities your godhood grants you from your backstory and name.
Very Minor Deity: 5 pts
You are worshipped by a few people scattered around, maybe a village at most and only for a few years. I.e. One of the Small Gods in ‘Small Gods’ (Pratchett), a nymph or minor demi-god (Greek myths) or St Christina the Amazing (Catholicism)
Minor Deity: 10 pts
You are worshipped by a town or so, maybe even two! But this worship won’t have gone on for more than a hundred years or so I.e. Anoia (Pratchett), a demi-god (in Greek myths) or St Christopher (Catholicism)
Medium Deity: 15 pts
Your worshippers span more than one time, possibly there is a town or even city who have worshipped you for generations. I.e. One of the apostles (Catholicism), Offler (Pratchett) or Bacchus (Greek myths)
Creating your Kaloi:
At character generation your Kaloi will have 4 basic hits, a hit point regeneration rate of 1/10 minutes and 15 character points to spend. These points can be spent on any of the skills below, many of which require certain pre-req’s. Most skills will come in a simple 4-tiered system, tier 1 costing 1 pt, tier 2 costing 2 pts, etc. So to get to Tier 4 in any of those skills would cost 10 pts (quite a chunk of your total). Some, such as Regeneration or Godhood, cost more to represent the usefulness of said skill. There are no skills that preclude you from having any others, you could happily be a blood-hungry librarian with high research and combat skills, but players are encouraged to think about the skills that best fit their character concept and go from there.
Death: Kaloi cannot die, but do have a death count of ten minutes. If they are reduced to 0 hits this count begins and once it ends they return to consciousness on 1 hit.
Basic skills:
Hit points 1pt/hit point: You may purchase extra hit points at a cost of 1pt each. This may seem cheap, but as characters can purchase up to quad as a damage call at creation (not mention the bonuses certain weaponry could give them), you can lose them pretty quickly.
Loose in Time: This skill measures how shackled down to a particular time period your Kaloi is. Characters with no tiers in this skill are bound to the modern day, and can only effect the other time periods through the actions of their secondaries. Characters with Tier 1 can travel to one other time period (Arthurian, Elizabethan or Blitz), those with 2 can travel to 2, etc. Loose in Time is also an important pre-req for other skills. Your Kaloi can travel to other time periods in order to take part in linear quests/adventures where they will interact with mortals (NPC’s or PC secondaries) in order to achieve their nefarious or altruistic ends.
Note: The higher your Tier in this skill, the less affinity for any given time period will be, often leading Kaloi to be confused as to the slang, technology, and political situation of the time period they are in.
Tier 1: 1 pt
Tier 2: 2 pts
Tier 3: 3 pts
Tier 4: 6 pts
With Loose in Time tier 4 you are able to switch between timelines at will in uptime, and are able to take items with you. This can be used for anything from moving unseen, leaving messages for yourself or others in the past, or secreting a stash of awesome weaponry in some unseen corner of time for later use. When you have Tier 4, you will be issued with a coloured armband to represent the time period you are travelling in. (note, you must alert a ref whenever you travel through time periods in this way).
Roleplay effect: at Tier 4 your Kaloi is also Loose in Time to the extent that their movements and speech often seem jerky as they are never quite settled in any time period. This should be roleplayed through slowing down or suddenly speeding up your movements, repeating yourself or stuttering in conversation, and anything else you think would be fun to roleplay.
Combat skills:
Offensive Skills
Notes:
• Your Kaloi character need only purchase the skill once to be able to call the appropriate damage with any weapon of your choosing, or none at all. After all, the Kaloi have had generations to master different fighting styles and weapons, thus it is assumed that any weapon you choose to use is one your Kaloi will be proficient in.
• Every damage call has a basic “cooldown” period of 5 seconds. Kaloi draw their energies from the time stream, thus it takes them a little time to recharge for a new attack. Players should thus take advantage of feints, movement and footwork, witty banter etc. The idea is to beat your opponent strategically, placing as much emphasis on defence as offence.
Melee - with a Kaloi melee calls can be made either with bare hands (i.e. claw damage) or with a weapon in close combat, making physical contact with the target.
Single - 1 pt
Double (pre-req Single) - 2 pts
Triple (pre-req Double) - 3 pts
Quad (pre-req Triple) - 4 pts
(So to buy Quad you would need to spend 10 pts)
While it may seem odd that a starting character can begin with Quad and still have points left over, this is again to reflect that the Kaloi are powerful immortal beings, channelling energy from time itself to deal damage. Any other Kaloi will likely be just as powerful.
Ranged - for Kaloi ranged calls are made as standard as a ranged line of sight direct damage call. Simply make an appropriate gesture with an empty hand, clearly marking your target, and call your damage. While there is no maximum range, there is a minimum, if your target is within 3 meters of you then ranged calls will do no damage. Note 1: if you wish to make this call with an appropriate ranged weapon, the minimum range does not apply.
Note 2: as this is a line of sight call, diving behind cover or behind someone else to avoid the damage/make them take it is totally valid, but must be made clear (through words if not actions) and if someone else is in the way they WILL take the damage instead (and may not be happy about it)
Single - 1 pt
Double (pre-req Single) - 2 pts
Triple (pre-req Double) - 3 pts
Quad (pre-req Triple) - 4 pts
Effects - 1pt
Effects are roleplaying effects to add to your damage calls. They cost one point each for a single use/day. You can buy an effect as many times as you like to be able to call it that many times a day (so if you spent 5 points on Deja’vu you can use it 5 times/day).
Note 1: effects do not need to cause damage, but must make contact with the target’s body if used as a melee call. Parry may still be used to negate the effect. Ranged effects can only be negated with Parry.
Note 2: You can call an effect without a damage call, but this still counts as your one attack/second.
Deja’vu - ‘haven’t we done this already?’ gives the target a powerful sense of confusion for 30 seconds and should roleplay their combat and negotiation skills being somewhat impaired.
Slow - ‘it feels like I’m moving through water!’ slows the target to half speed for 15 seconds
Stop - ‘It’s like I’m frozen still!’ paralyzes the target for 5 seconds.
Time drain XXX - ‘do you have the time?’ removes one use of any specified skill that has limited uses
Extra 1pt - an extra is simply a roleplaying effect you may add to your damage calls. Damage from a Kaloi is assumed to be made using their own energy, which is essentially invisible, merely a ripple in the air (that hits you and makes you feel as if you are being punched in the soul). If you want to have a flaming sword, or shoot bolts of lightning through the air, simply pay your point and precede your damage call with a descriptive e.g. “flaming single”, “lightning double”, “papercut quad” and the target will respond accordingly.
Note: this can also be used as an effect on objects or stretches of ground: so if you buy Fire as an Extra, you can call ‘flaming single XXX’ on a table or chair someone is hiding behind to set it on fire (flaming single ‘chair’), or call ‘ice single ground’ to make it slippery and hard to traverse.
Time slice (pre-req, Loose in Time) - by manipulating time a Kaloi can slice through his own timeline by a second or two, increasing the speed with which he can make attacks. Each time you purchase the skill your ‘cooldown’ period is reduced by a second.
Tier 1 (pre-req, Loose in Time 1): 1 pt
Tier 2 (pre-req, Loose in Time 2): 2 pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Loose in Time 3): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Loose in Time 4): 4pts
Defensive Skills
Armour - Armour for Kaloi is reductive. I.e. if you have armour 1 then you reduce the amount of damage anyone does to you by 1. No armour phys-rep is actually required for this skill, it represents a Kaloi’s natural defensive field, the way in which they bend time around their bodies into buffers that literally slow attacks against them to a stop. Armour, however, does not protect you from ‘Effects’ such as disarm or knockback, it stops the damage, but does not prevent contact being made.
Armour 1: 1 pt
Armour 2: 2 pts
Armour 3: 3pts
Armour 4: 4 pts
Parry : 1pt/use - Parry, as opposed to armour, is a skill that requires a call. When an attack that would do damage or cause an effect hits you, you may call ‘Parry’ with an appropriate defensive gesture to negate both the damage and the effect. Parry costs 1 pt per use per day, so if you spent 5pts on it you could call Parry 5 times per day. As you will only have a limited number of these it is not recommended you use it as your primary means of defence, but it can be a devastating way to turn around a duel.
Regeneration: All Kaloi regenerate 1hp/10 mins as standard, representing their energy regenerating with the passage of time (from which it ultimately stems), by spending points on Regeneration your Kaloi can drastically reduce the amount of time this takes.
Tier 1, 1/10mins: automatic.
Tier 2, 1/5 mins (pre-req, Loose in Time 1): 2 pts.
Tier 3, 1/ 2 mins (pre-req, Tier 2): 4 pts.
Tier 4, 1/min (pre-req, Tier 3): 8 pts.
Research and Business:
Kaloi have pretty much an eternity of time to fill, and there are only so many games of scrabble you can play before you memorise the entire dictionary; only so many duels you can have over minor social slights before you run out of imagined offences.
So many Kaloi fill their time searching libraries, 2nd hand book shops, antique stalls, museums and private collections for lost tomes, apocrypha and information of the Kaloi. After the Cataclysm that landed the Kaloi in this world, books, manuscripts and fragments from their old lives started to wash up on the waves of time into our world. These could end up anywhere and it could take an amateur years to find even a single tome. But these tomes and scraps can be pieced together to tell Kaloi of lost abilities, stories from their culture, and even their own history. They spend their lives seeking knowledge. And knowledge is power.
Research - Research in downtime represents your prowess in searching for ‘Apocrypha’, i.e. documents with information about the Kaloi Kagathoi and their culture. The higher the skill, the more you will be able to find, the more detailed they will be, and the more sense you will be able to make of them. The more resources you invest when you purchase the skill, the greater your collection upon purchasing the skill will be. In uptime it gives you the ability to better appraise and understand ‘Apocrypha’ that is on sale, and also at higher levels gives you the ability to sense nearby ‘Apocrypha’, homing in on the resonance to their own Kaloi essence.
Research:
Tier 1: 1 pt, plus min. 100 resources
Tier 2 (pre-req, Tier 1): 2pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Tier 2): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Tier 3): 4 pts
Many don’t care about their history. They focus on the now, on the world they’re in, and throw themselves into business. Kaloi have often used their almost limitless time and resources built up over centuries to build business corporations that span the globe. It is rumoured that such famous figures as Bill Gates and Donald Trump are in fact Kaloi who have abandoned their place in the Kaloi community to influence the mortal world through business. Many aren’t so obvious and simply maintain silent partnerships in various businesses, or play the stock market and clean up on long-term, high yield investments. Some, not caring about the consequences of prison or death, have engaged in illegal business interests, some Kaloi are rumoured to have struck big in organised crime in America during prohibition. They spend their time accruing money. And money is power.
Business - If you take Tiers in Business then, unsurprisingly, you have a business. What business you own is entirely up to you, governed only by your imagination (and ref approval). You can invest in an illegal business if you wish, and the potential gains will be higher, but there are also interesting and potentially hazardous in-game consequences. Your business’s size is determined by the number of Tiers you have taken and the amount of resources you invest in it when you take the skill. In downtime taking tiers in Business gives you the ability to make resources, the more you invest and the higher your Tier, the higher your return is likely to be. In uptime this gives you the use of business contacts and associates who will be able to provide you with valuable information on uptime events, as well as the ability to pay said associates to accomplish tasks for you.
Tier 1: 1 pt, plus min. 100 resources
Tier 2 (pre-req, Tier 1): 2pts
Tier 3 (pre-req, Tier 2): 3 pts
Tier 4 (pre-req, Tier 3): 4 pts
Notes on Research and Business downtimes: as with all downtimes we prize creativity. The more interesting and unique the way you wish to go about your business/research, the more likely they are to yield results and provide us with ideas for cool things that happen in uptime and downtime as a result. Essentially the more you put in, the more you get out. Go nuts.
Stealth
Kaloi place a great deal of importance on stealth and cunning. Being able to defeat your opponent without them realising they were yet in combat with you is considered one of the highest accomplishments a Kaloi can … accomplish. For this reason the Kaloi have developed a series of techniques that compliment their sneakiness.
Eavesdrop - 3pts
You can bend time and space sufficiently to be able to manipulate the sound waves in another location, replicating them in your own.
This skill gives you the ability to eavesdrop on a conversation. Simply let a ref know on whom you wish to eavesdrop and they will stand in the room with their phone on speakphone and call you allowing you to hear what is happening on the room.
Clairvoyance (pre-req Eavesdrop) - 5 pts
You can bend not just the sound waves, but the rays of light themselves, replaying them before you later at your own convenience.
As with eavesdrop, but the ref will record the goings-on as a video and play it back to you immediately after.
Invisibility (pre-req Clairvoyance) - 7 pts
You can bend the light to the extent that it bends around you, rendering you invisible to the eye for a short time.
Allows your character to turn invisible for 2 minutes per day, holding one hand in the air to signify your character is unseen.
Paralyze - 3 pts
You are able to briefly freeze another person in time when they are not expecting it and cannot stabilise their own time field.
By calling paralyze on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) you can freeze said target in time for 30 seconds. They cannot take damage during this time.
Stasis - 5 pts
You are able to subtly manipulate the time field of another person, placing a tiny buffer of slow time around them, putting them slightly out of sync with the world around them, their attacks will miss their target by milliseconds and their abilities will misfire as they misjudged the timing.
By calling stasis on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) said target will be unable to use any calls for an hour. They will be unaware of this until they attempt to use a call.
Backstab - 7 pts
You can slow the time around a key point of the unsuspecting, sliding a knife gently and imperceptibly into their back, or slowly strangling them to death in a fraction of a second.
By calling backstab on an unsuspecting target (i.e. target must be unaware of your presence or entirely trusting of your character) you can drop said target to 0 hits points immediately. This will immediately place any mortal character on their death count.
Healing
All Kaloi healing abilities make use of time manipulation, things such as splints, bandages, plasters, even antiseptics and disinfectants are mostly alien to them.
Time’s a Great Healer - 3 pts
By standing over a downed character, the Kaloi may double the speed of their death count. For a Kaloi this will hasten their ability to regain consciousness, for anyone else it will hasten their death. Physical contact must be maintained for the skill to continue working. This skill may be purchased multiple times, each purchase will add another multiplier to the speed (so buying it twice makes the death count go 3 times faster, three times makes it go 4 times faster etc).
Time’s On Your Side (pre-req: Time’s a Great Healer) - 5pts
This allows a Kaloi to speed up the healing process so fast that the target will regenerate one hit every 20 seconds (each additional purchase of this skill will reduce this time by half rounding down, so 20, 10, 5, 2, 1)
Save Point (pre-req: Time’s On Your Side) - 7pts
Restores a living recipient who has been in combat in the five minutes to the state they were in before combat started, this includes all memories. This requires one minutes of continuous roleplay.
Crafting
Kaloi craft items by enshrining a skill into an item. It can be any item so long as it is vaguely appropriate for its use (combat skills make the most sense being enshrined into weapons for example). A crafter can enshrine any skill so long as the character to whom the skill belongs is willing or unresisting. The catch is that once the skill is enshrined in an item, the character to whom it belongs cannot use it until the item is used up. For any permanent skill this item will last for a full day from the time it is first used, for charged skill (for example Parry, Breach or any Effect) it will last until the last charge is used up. A crafter can put as many points of skills into an item as he has points in Crafting.
For example: The Skilled Artisan puts 10 points into Crafting. He meets The Skilled Warrior, who has Tier 4 of melee (costing a total 10 points, enabling him to call up to ‘quad’). He is thus able to put all 10 points of Melee Tier 4 into a sword which he names the ‘Vorpal Longsword + 4’, which allows any character using it to call ‘single’, ‘double’, ‘triple’ and ‘quad’ for a day. The Skilled Warrior will no longer be able to call any melee calls until the sword is used.
Example 2: The Skilled Warrior goes to the cheaper Mediocre Artisan instead. The Mediocre Artisan put 4 points into Crafting. He puts the 4 points necessary for Tier 4 Melee into a sword, but this only allows the sword’s user to call ‘quad’ and nothing else. He calls it the Sword Of Surprising Bluntness.
Any item that has a tiered skill enshrined in it, when used by someone with some of those skills already, stacks with the skills he already has.
For Example: ‘The Vorpal Longsword + 4’ is given to The ‘It’s My First Day’ Warrior who has Tier 1 Melee. He can thus call all the way up to ‘pent’, dealing five points of damage, he is also able to call all the damage calls in between.
Example 2: He is given The Sword of Surprising Bluntness, and is able to call either ‘single’ or ‘pent’, but nothing in between.
Example 3: He swings his sword at The Brick Wall, who has Armour of Tier 4. He calls ‘pent’ and The Brick Wall’s armour absorbs all but one single point of damage, which he takes.
Example 4: The Mysterious Benefactor has given The Brick Wall a set of armour with Armour Tier 1 enshrined in it. When ‘It’s My First Day’ Warrior calls ‘pent’, no damage is taken as his Armour has been boosted to Tier 5.
Godhood
It is known for Kaloi to take on powers and appearances that in many cases seem to resemble those traditionally enjoyed by gods. Gods among the Kaloi always have worshipers in one time or another, and this will often mean extra demands are placed upon them by their followers. Gods are of varying different strengths and abilities, and this system of Godhood works much like Kaloi naming, a minor deity having a longer name, a powerful one having a shorter name or in the case of truly monstrously powerful gods, no name at all.
Note 1: Your name thusly decides of what you are the god and will partly define the abilities you gain from it.
Note 2: If you wish to play a god your secondary characters must all be worshipers of said God, and you must decide on one time period in which your god is worshipped and who by.
Note 3: The ref team will decide what abilities your godhood grants you from your backstory and name.
Very Minor Deity: 5 pts
You are worshipped by a few people scattered around, maybe a village at most and only for a few years. I.e. One of the Small Gods in ‘Small Gods’ (Pratchett), a nymph or minor demi-god (Greek myths) or St Christina the Amazing (Catholicism)
Minor Deity: 10 pts
You are worshipped by a town or so, maybe even two! But this worship won’t have gone on for more than a hundred years or so I.e. Anoia (Pratchett), a demi-god (in Greek myths) or St Christopher (Catholicism)
Medium Deity: 15 pts
Your worshippers span more than one time, possibly there is a town or even city who have worshipped you for generations. I.e. One of the apostles (Catholicism), Offler (Pratchett) or Bacchus (Greek myths)