Specializations

At levels 1, 5, 11, and 17, you choose specializations! At level 19, you may choose any one specialization from the levels 5, 11, or 17 lists that you have not previously chosen.

Level 1 Specs

  • All-Rounder: You begin play with either 4 additional skill points, or a second strife specibus of choice. You are also probably more well-adjusted than some of these other choices.
  • Phantom: You begin play as a ghost!
    • You hover instead of walking (you ignore physical difficult terrain), know the Augur affinity from Whispers, and have night vision.
    • Once per round, you can become Intangible as listed in conditions (or turn tangible again) as a reaction.
    • You are a ghost and no longer require food, drink, air, or sleep. However, you may fall into a dreamlike trance that is functionally sleeping for the purposes of resting and dreamself access, though you only need 6 hours of this to count as a long rest.
    • Your initiative rolls have disadvantage, but your Hit Die rolls/averages/max have +1.
    • Your spectral nature makes you more sensitive to psychic phenomena; whenever this sensitivity would come into play, you add one Flaws or Stakes die to the check, as appropriate.
  • Synthetic: You begin play as a robot!
    • You have a natural +1 defense bonus. This is a bonus to AC and resists.
    • Whenever Medicine would be used on or against you, Engineering must be used instead.
    • You are a robot and no longer require food, drink, or air. You still require sleep, in order to recharge your batteries and access your dreamself as normal.
    • You cannot be psionically healed, nor do medicine, drugs, or other biological/chemical means have any effect on you.
  • Lucid Dreamer: You begin play having already awakened on your dream moon before the events of the session. You have a fair understanding of the histories and social norms followed by carapacians, consorts, and other common inhabitants of the Incipisphere. You have one Stakes die to any non-strife checks made when dealing with them.
    • Talk with your SM about the specifics, like what moon they’re on, how long they’ve been awake, how being awake has changed them, and so on.
  • Heirloom: You begin play with a special item!
    • You start with an equippable item of choice that carries a scaling effect that persists through alchemy.
    • Developer’s Note (2020-04-06): Being one of the more versatile specs, Heirlooms are more prone to imbalance due to the many moving parts. As of this note’s writing, consult with your SM before taking this spec.
  • Companion: You begin play with a small friend!
    • Your companion is a Tiny creature that shares your speed, your defenses plus six, and half your hit points. When reduced to 0 hit points, they are knocked out and return fully healed after a short rest.
    • It moves during your turn, and can take one action of its own during your turn:
      • Make an attack (using your stats, melee 5 ft. or ranged 30 ft. of choice) against AC for Pd1+1 damage.
      • Use the Aim, Avert, or Assail actions, but it cannot use them on itself.

Level 5 Specs

  • Celerity: When rolling for initiative at the start of a strife, if you are not surprised, you have advantage and +5 to the roll.
  • Weapon Proficiency: Pick a strife specibus. You are now proficient with this strife specibus and immediately learn all its basic abilitechs. If you were already proficient with this, you instead learn one of its special abilitechs. Either way, you can then learn another special abilitech from this specibus whenever you learn a Step.
  • Path to Power: Pick a psionic power. You immediately learn one subpower in this power. You then learn subpowers in this power as though you were a psion.
  • Accordance: Pick a strife specibus and psionic power that you know. You may wield them simultaneously with the same hands.
  • Charger: When you make lunge attacks, you gain +2 die sizes to any damage rolls. When you move by any means besides a move action or regain movement speed, add +5 ft. to the distance.
  • Focus: If you haven’t moved yet this turn, you can forfeit all movement (by any means) this turn to gain +2 to hit and crit range on your attack rolls.
  • Slayer’s Style: You gain the Fighting Style milestone as described in Pillars and Paths, picking one of its choices. You can pick one you already know, gaining its benefits a second time.
  • Opportunism: You gain the Opportunist milestone as described in Pillars and Paths. If you already have this, your Opportunist attacks additionally inflict Cripple (10, 1 round) on the target.
  • Reckless Stance: While in the Reckless Stance, as a free action you give advantage to all attack rolls from or against you, for 1 round.

Level 11 Specs

  • Resilience: Choose one resistance. You become proficient with this resistance, adding your Proficiency bonus to it. You cannot choose a resistance in which you are already proficient.
  • Inviolable: Once per strife, when you take one or more conditions from a damaging attack, you shrug them off, nullifying all conditions taken from that attack.
  • Prism: When rolling hit dice, other than to determine your new maximum HP total, you add your PCM in addition to your Constitution modifier.
  • Upbeat: Whenever you heal (other than by resting) or gain any form of ablative hit points (such as temp HP), you take +1 die size to the amount gained.
  • Meditation: Once per short rest, as a major action, make a skill check with your psionic casting skill or Endurance. You then gain the roll as temporary hit points. This temp HP stacks with itself from other sources. Alternately, you may do this as part of a non-damaging major action.
  • Nimble: You gain permanent Aegis (STR or DEX).

Level 17 Specs

  • Cutting Edge: Your critical hits deal +25% damage.
  • Impervious: Once per strife, reduce damage taken from an attack by 50%.
  • Masterful: You gain +1 to attack rolls, skill checks, and AC/resistances.
  • Shrouded: Once per strife, as part of rolling for initiative or as a free action on your turn, you go Invisible for 1 round or until you use a major action.
  • Second Strike: Once per strife, when you make a damaging attack with advantage, you can make a second copy of that attack as part of the same action, but neither attack may roll at advantage.
<== XP/Boondollars Table
Path Overview ==>