Hey all! So I kinda backed myself into a position that I don’t entirely know how to handle. My crew decided to take on a Religious mission. Said mission’s reward as rolled in the table was an exceptional asset. I decided that it would be a relic, a bow used by a Panyar chosen made from a Zemyati Chosen’s heartwood tree. Trouble is, I now need to decide what said bow does.
Anyway, this has led to me looking at other relics and, as a result, at Weave. I was just curious, how have you guys incorporated these into your campaigns? What have people done with the capacity to weave moonlight and purify?
My understanding is that Weave requires a connection with a deity. I believe the Lunar Crown gives you that connection, unlocking the ability to buy Weave pips. Thematically, I think you get to do revealing and purifying stuff. So, spend a Weave, declare an intention along those vectors, and voila, it probably works!
In terms of degree of impact, remove 2 corruption, 2 ticks on a detection or cleansing clock, deal with a standard challenge that requires detection or cleansing.
Weave dots are available if you spend the XP for them, no need to “unlock” them – the only thing that is required is that the GM and player work out how exactly Weave manifests for that character.
When it comes to relics, there is no need to have Weave dots already: so while the Lunar Crown, for example, allows you to weave moonlight, if you have no dots in Weave, you can still use it, per usual you just roll 2d and take the lowest, no crits. You know, if you’re foolish or desperate enough to put the crown on your head…
“Unlock” might have been a strong term, thanks for the clarification! What I meant was only that the Lunar Crown provides a sufficient fictional justification for a character to pursue this Specialist skill. You are absolutely right that there are other ways to do this.
Mechanically Weave is a Specialist skill, so it’s not generally rolled like Skirmish, instead uses are expended for effect like Doctor or Anchor. AFAIK, you can’t use it at all without pips.
That said, the rules are pretty clear you shouldn’t need Weave to use an artifact, so you can probably do something with the Lunar Crown without Weave, you just can’t Weave without Weave. “Again, if you’re not prepared to make your own playbook, you may want to avoid weave altogether. It is not required for using artifacts, experiencing the divine, or dealing with mystic effects (though it may make any of these
things easier). Its presence here is for completeness in describing the world.” BoB p. 304.
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Right, good catch. Specialist skills aren’t rolled. Clearly I wasn’t thinking enough!
My understanding is that most relics don’t grant weave or require weave, they just. . . do things. So the bow has whatever powers it has. Maybe it gives you super-strength to draw it back with incredible force, maybe it imbues some supernatural effect into the arrows. Maybe holding it and concentrating reveals some kind of information about your surroundings. . . you can sense animals or speak someone’s name and smell them out if they’re within a few miles.
Using relics from gods that have been broken tends to inflict corruption. Relics of unbroken gods seem like they often inflict harm or stress on mortal wielders.