We have gotten halfway through the Sigil Bestiary with our 50th entry posted last time. So now seems like the perfect time to introduce something extra that will come along with the Bestiary once it gets published: a new character archetype with rules and mechanics specifically to interact with the Bestiary.
So let’s have a look at the master of the bestiary: the Soul Eater.
The Soul Eaters
The Sapphire Sages are an ancient and secret order that are known by many names across the realms. However, there is one name that they cannot escape, which follows them wherever they go: Soul Eaters. This pejorative name is spoken in hushed tones when they are not around, because the Blue Wizards are feared wherever they go.
In a secret ceremony known only by them, the masters of the Order imbue new initiates with the unnatural ability to devour the essence of other things. As the old saying goes: “You are what you eat.” The Cerulean Sorcerers take this quite literally. By devouring other creatures’ essences, they take these creatures’ mystical talents and abilities for themselves. An Azure Mage may breathe fire like a dragon, or shoot spines like a manticore, or turn others to stone like a gorgon.
With the good comes the bad, and the Cobalt Conjurers also takes on many of their victims’ weaknesses. In the end, no two Lapis Warlocks are the same. Each one has his own collection of devoured essences that makes him who and what he is.
This alone is not enough to cause the fear and distrust shown to them. That culprit is the method by which the Ultramarine Enchanters acquire their essences.
No two people who have seen a Indigo Thaumaturge devouring a creature has told the same tale, but all have been scarred by the sight. Some say the Teal Hexer unhinges his jaw to swallow the creature whole. Others say a giant maw opens on the Aqua Magician’s stomach to consume flesh. Yet others speak of tentacles with teeth coming out of the Turquoise Magus to cut up the creature and then suck him up. A thousand and one tales that everyone wish they could forget.
Men who devour monsters only to become monsters is enough to make anyone anxious, but the Periwinkle Witches are consumate monster hunters, so when a village or town is in need of a monster to slay, they keep their mouths shut and invite a Celeste Mystic in.
Playing a Soul Eater
To play as a Soul Eater, you need to get the Devour Perk, which gives you two things: a Devour Level and the Devour Action.
Your Devour Level starts off at the same level as your Constitution Skill, but from here on out they are separate. You can also increase your Devour Level by spending EXP on it in a session where you used it, just like a Skill.
The Devour Action is the main ability of a Soul Eater. When you want to steal someone’s essence, you can use the Devour Action when you are within Close Range of them. This is a simple opposed Skill Check between your Devour Level and your target’s Will/Mental Skill. Treat this like a combat Check, where if you succeed you deal damage to the target (always to the Head Hit Location). If the target dies because of the Devour Action, then you steal their essence. Also, a Devoured enemy “disappears”, including everything that was on them and what they were wearing.
But it is not just that simple. For each Wound the target has (Physical or Mental) on any Hit Location, you gain a positive modifier to your roll equal to the Wound’s severity (Minor: 5, Significant: 10, Grievous: 20, Destroyed: 40). However, for every Wound you have, you will gain a negative modifier to the roll (same values as above).
But if you do happen to kill a target with a Devour Action, you can choose any one of their Perks to add to your character. This happens instantly during the session, and you don’t have to worry about prerequisites or anything like that. You Devour an enemy, their Perk is yours. Every entry in the bestiary has a Perk associated with it, which means you could get up to 100 Perks by being a Soul Eater.
However, if the result of the roll you made for the Devour Action that killed the target (before taking off the target’s opposed roll) is greater than your Luck Skill Level, you must also take the target’s Quirk.
Throughout the bestiary entries, whenever a Skill is mentioned in the Perks and Quirks, both the truncated bestiary “group Skill” is used (eg: Mental Skill) along with the traditional character Skill (eg: Logic Skill). When a Soul Eater uses a bestiary Perk, they naturally use the character Skill.
The Devour Action can also be used on characters (PCs or NPCs) who may have multiple Perks and Quirks. When this happens, the player gets to choose which Perk he takes, but the GM chooses the Quirk.