Wail: A Listless and Destructive Vessel

Blades in the Dark Fan Creations
1

Hello. I made a scoundrel type as a game design exercise. It’s also up for download on itch if you want some nice formatting and flavour text.

Wail - A listless and destructive vessel.

1 in Attune
2 in Wreck

Special Abilities:

Oathsworn:
If you make a promise to a ghost to help fulfill its desires, it cannot terrify or harm you. If you break your promise, the ghost will know immediately and seek unwavering vengeance. Yet, upon keeping your promise the ghost is honour bound to bestow you a gift.

Anchor:
You can Wreck the supernatural and the ghost field as if they were physical. Your crew get +1d when standing near you in the midst of chaos and ruin.

Bridge:
You can Attune to bring the living and the dead closer for a time. Messages are more easily passed, blows more easily exchanged. During these times, take +1d when dealing with ghosts.

Soul Chain:
If you Skirmish with someone who has done you wrong you can always send your emotions out to the local ghosts and let them chase the causer of your collective pain.

Disconnected:
During downtime, if you indulge your vice with someone who isn’t dead you can gather info about the living world with +1d.

Leviathan:
You can Consort with Leviathans. You can feel their pain and loneliness. Once you’ve consorted with one, take +1d to destroy all that is implicated in its suffering.

Empty Shell:
You can push yourself to let in a ghost and work in tandem with it, letting your selfhoods clash and negotiate while you are one. Take +1d to sway any ghost you are fused with.

Ethereal:
You may expend your special armor to resist a physical consequence, or to push yourself when acting on a ghost’s behalf.

Living Friends:

a fortune teller
a postal worker
a blacksmith
a gravekeeper
a doctor

Items:

Fine possessed heirloom
Fine spirit cards
Cursed Mementos
Ghost puppet
Shovel
Rot

Gather Information:

What is dangerous or volatile here?
What is disrupting the ghost field?
What is unfinished or stirring here?
What are they missing?
How can I destroy [X]?
What do they intend to do?
What’s really going on here?

Experience:

You addressed a challenge with dramatics or vengeful force.

Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks for reading.

7 Likes
2

I went ahead and posted in the discord server so others can see and also provide feedback. Looks amazing!

1 Like
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I like the concept a lot, but I think it lacks balance compared to other stock playbooks. Almost all abilities are +1d for example so that creates a lot of situations where the player might be getting multiple stacked +1d in addition to the normal sources: push, assist, etc.

Needs tuning before I’d allow it at my table, but its a cool concept!

3 Likes
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This is cool! Love the concept.

I agree that it might have a few too many +1d abilities. It would be cool to see some fictional-maneuver abilities, in the style of the Lurk’s Ghost Veil and Devil’s Footsteps.

3 Likes
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Alright, some proposed changes:

Anchor:
Your crew get +1d to resistance rolls with Resolve instead of just +1d to literally everything.

Bridge:
No longer gives +1d. Instead, during times the living and dead are closer, you recover 1 stress when you consort with ghosts. (Could also just go for “During these times, you can consort with ghosts”?)

Soul Chain:
Requires you to push yourself to get the effect.

Disconnected:
Is cut, since I think this the most boring one?

Not sure whether to change Leviathan to specifically wreck or leave it as destroy.

New one:

Phantom:
When you push yourself, choose one of the following additional benefits: allow a nearby ghost to guide your actions and infuse them with supernatural power – manifest an echo of the ghost field.

Thank you for the response!

2 Likes