Aura Mechanics

While the other paste is concerned with Aura as a concept, this paste is entirely about mechanics and numbers.

Aura Concepts: https://pastebin.com/tAg5rY5A

Table of Contents
1. Quick Character Guide
2. Affinities
3. Primary Affinity
4. Secondary Affinity
5. Character Level and Temporary Aura Points
6. Trials and Breakpoints
7. Skills Overview
8. General Skills
9. Path Skills
10. Options Upon Raising Your CL
11. Path Skills and tags

***


Quick Character Guide

1. Choose Primary Affinity (Physical/Internal/Ethereal)
2. Choose Secondary Affinity (Dyn/Themel/Maso/Psi/Kamer/Amnis)
3. Determine Character Level with DM input
4. Record TBP pool
5. Determine what your Trials will involve
6. Purchase skills based on Level


***


Affinities

Techniques involving Aura are grouped into six Paths, which in turn are grouped into three Realms. Your Primary and Secondary Affinities determine what kind of abilities you can use, because you can only use techniques which fall into either your Primary or Secondary Affinity. Your Primary Affinity will be one of the three Realms: Physical, Internal or Ethereal. Your Secondary Affinity will be one of the six Paths of techniques: Dyn, Themel, Maso, Psi, Kamer or Amnis. These will be explained more in the following sections.


***


Primary Affinity

Your Primary Affinity is going to be either Physical, Internal or Ethereal. The Physical Realm consists of Dyn and Themel. The Internal Realm consists of Maso and Psi. The Ethereal Realm consists of Kamer and Amnis. By choosing one of the three Realms as your Primary Affinity, you gain the ability to use both of the Paths that it contains.

Before choosing your Primary Affinity, you should consult each Path's description in the latter half of this document. However, the names of the Realms are fairly self-explanatory. Techniques that fall within the Physical Realm involve the creation and manipulation of nonliving matter (Themel) and the non-magical forces of the world, such as heat, sound and gravity (Dyn). Techniques belonging to the Internal Realm involve the complexities of living matter and souls (Maso), as well as thoughts and emotions (Psi). The Ethereal Realm governs the intangible and magical, and its techniques focus on the power of seals (Kamer) and the world's untapped magical energy (Amnis).


***


Secondary Affinity

Your Secondary Affinity will be one of the six Paths of techniques. As described above, the six Paths are organized based on the kinds of effects they can produce.


Dyn-type techniques involve the manipulation of physical energy, such as light, heat, kinetic energy, chemical energy and so on. They can also modify an object's position in time and space. Dyn can be broadly understood as many kinds of movement.

Themel-type techniques govern the creation, destruction and manipulation of nonliving matter. At higher levels, they can even invent new kinds of matter, with properties that they define.

Maso-type techniques focus on life energy and the soul, for the two are inextricable. Techniques of this Path typically heal and enhance the abilities of the User and those around him, but can also be used for great harm.

Psi-type techniques engage with the mind and emotion, governing wisdom, intelligence, language, communication, dreams and memory.

Kamer-type techniques deal with sealing, countering and dispelling energies. It is often used for undoing curses, banishing spirits and defending the User and his allies from malevolent energy. Experienced users can even disable a foe's ability to use Aura.

Amnis-type techniques employ the User's Polysema to tap into the latent magical energy present in the world. This combination of Polysema and magic means that Amnis techniques are wild and unpredictable, ranging from elemental powers to poison clouds and magic armor. But, while the other Paths of techniques tend to result in lasting effects, most Amnis-type techniques do not persist for very long after they are done.


Your choice of Secondary Affinity is a choice between greater versatility or greater initial strength. If you choose a Path that lies outside your Realm as your Secondary Affinity (ie, choosing Amnis when your Primary Affinity was Physical), then you will gain the ability to use that Path along with the ones in your Realm. In the above example, that User will be able to use Amnis, Dyn and Themel. If you choose one of the Paths within your Realm as your Secondary Affinity (ie, choosing Maso when your Primary Affinity was Internal), you will gain a +1 to all Aura-based skills which belong to the Path that falls under both your Primary and Secondary Affinity. In that example, that User will be able to use Maso and Psi, with +1 to all Maso-based skills.


***


Character Level and Temporary Bonus Points

Your Character Level (CL) is a measure of your progress in learning the ways of Aura. By definition, Non-Users are at CL 0. You can only increase your CL by overcoming Trials once you have hit a Breakpoint. When you are designing your character, your DM will tell you what CL you and the other PCs will start at.

Your CL also determines the amount of Temporary Bonus Points (TBP) you have. TBP is a pool of temporary +1 bonuses that you can apply to all rolls that you make in a given round. Your maximum TBP is equal to your CL, so a character that is at CL 5 has 5 TBP, and so on. Using TBP counts as a free action. You can use up to 3 TBP per round.

During any strenuous situation (a battle, sneaking through hostile territory, running an obstacle course, etc) you will regain 1 TBP every 5 turns. Outside of these situations, you will regain TBP at the discrestion of the DM, but will usually regain all of them after a reasonably long period of recovery after a battle, such as over a meal, a period of travel or through sleeping.

***************************************************************************************************
Currently, all members of the PirateQuest party are at CL 3, and thus have a maximum TBP pool of 3.
***************************************************************************************************

***


Trials and Breakpoints

Trials and Breakpoints are important mechanics to consider, because they will determine how and when you increase your CL. A Breakpoint is a point when your character's prowess in Aura will no longer increase through simple training or experience. To progress any further, your character will have to overcome a Trial that relates to how they use their Aura. When a character hits a Breakpoint, they experience a sense of malaise and discontentment, as well as a feeling of stagnation. Breakpoints can take many forms. Artist's block is a very common Breakpoint for those who use their Aura for art. For fighters, it might be a complete loss of motivation to train or get stronger. For more academic types, it can manifest as blanking out on a test or suddenly becoming overwhelmed and stressed out in the middle of a research project. It can be dangerous to remain at a Breakpoint for too long, as if you do not overcome it, you may stunt or even lose your ability to use Aura.

That is where Trials come in. To overcome a Breakpoint, you must complete a Trial, which is a challenge that relates to your Aura and forces you to surpass your current limits. The difficulty of a Trial is always proportional to the CL of the User, and the content of a Trial almost always relates to the way in which the User employs their Aura. Alternatively, you can also choose to tie your Trials to your character's personal story. In that case, their Trials would relate more to significant events in their development, important points established in their backstory and to things which have a great emotional weight for them. When designing your character, be sure to get a good idea of how they use their Aura, as well as what Breakpoints might mean to them. In addition, it's important to tell your DM what you would like for your character's Trials to be.


***


Skills Overview

Because each User's Aura is unique to them, so too are the abilities that each User will develop. Skills that you can perform with Aura are divided into General Skills and Path Skills. Any User can learn any General Skill, but you can only learn a Path Skill if it belongs to a Path covered by either your Primary or Secondary Affinity. Note that there are no predefined Path Skills in this document. Instead, players will get to create their own custom Path Skills, as long as the Skill falls within the limits of the corresponding Path, and the limits imposed by the DM. Generally, you will be able to choose a new Skill each time you advance a CL. You can also learn another PC's Path Skill, with the player's OOC permission. But, since this is your opportunity to get creative, it's more recommended that you stick to making Skills which are unique to your PC.

Note that some skills will require you to be at a certain level before you can take them.


***


General Skills

General Skills involve the use of Aura itself and interaction with Aura Fields, rather than the User's Polysema. You do not start with any of these Skills, but every time you level up, you can choose to take one.

Bind: In many ways, an Aura Field holds its host together. With this skill, you use some of your Aura as an adhesive, creating a strong bond that can hold any kind of material together. Adhesive created by Bind will last until broken or removed by you or another User. Generally, adhesives created by Bind are Instant DC 6 to break for Users, and non-Instant DC 7 for non-Users. This can be used in a variety of ways, such as making it harder for enemies to disarm you, or tripping a foe by binding his shoes to the ground.

Convey: Instant; You project your general mood and intent through your Aura, communicating them to the target. As long as the target is sentient, it will understand you, even if it is non-sapient or does not speak the same language as you. You can use this skill to try to deceive your target (ie, communicating a friendly intent when in reality you plan to attack them). But, if you do, the DC rises by 2. Aura is highly representative of its User, which makes deceit more difficult. Any roll you get to general, non-skill persuasion applies to this skill.

Enchant: You infuse your Aura into an object, creating an Aura Tool. On success, mark the result of the roll. When used, the Tool casts whatever Skill you infused it with, using that roll. Once it is used, the enchantment breaks, but in most cases, the object that you used will remain intact. If it has a passive effect, it lasts for 1 turn. Using an Aura Tool is an Automatic Instant action. For most Users, the enchanting process requires 30 minutes of uninterrupted use to work. As such, it cannot be used in combat unless the User is a highly-skilled Enchanter. You can only carry 2 Aura Tools at once. Any Aura Tools that you find on your adventure count against this limit.

Examine: Instant; You study an Aura Field, similar to the Smith skill, Appraise. If used on an object, you will be able to see its Aura, as well as any Enchantments placed on it. If used on a living being, you will be able to gauge the strength of their Aura and one of their abilities on a crit. If used on an Environmental Aura Field, the DC will be 8. But, you will sense if any Aura-based traps or Users are nearby. If you have the skill Appraise, this skill gains +1.

Mark: Ranged; You leave behind some of your Aura on a given object or being. This mark lasts until removed, and can only be removed by another User. A marked target is very easy (DC-2) for any User to track, as only Users can sense Aura. This skill can also be used to write messages out of Aura as well. Automatic if used on an object, or if the target allows you to use this on them.

Share: Ranged; Automatic; You give some of your Aura to another User, which quickly becomes part of their Aura Field. This skill transfers some of your current TBP to another character. You can transfer up to 3 TBP. This skill cannot raise another character's TBP above their normal maximum. This skill can also be used to repair disrupted Aura Fields, even on objects and EAFs.

Touch: You connect your Aura to the Aura Field of another being or object. This enables you to manipulate the target as if you were holding it in a telekinetic grip. However, if the target is so heavy or immobile, such that you could not manipulate it normally (ie, a heavy boulder, a building, the ground), you will not be able to move it. But even so, there are many applications of this skill (ie, climbing a completely smooth wall by connecting your Aura to it and climbing up via the Aura connection). If the target is a solid object, the DC is 6. If the target is a liquid, the DC is 7. If the target is a gas, the DC is 8. If the target is a living being and does not want you to connect your Aura to it, it will make an Instant resistance roll, and if it beats your roll, the skill will fail (if its roll is equal to yours, both roll again). If you have Telekinesis or Strong, you gain +1 to this skill (+2 if you somehow have both).


***


Path Skills

When creating / learning a Path Skill, there are a few rules to follow:

1. The effect must be possible within the confines of the Path the skill belongs to.
2. You must clear all aspects of the skill with the DM before it can be approved.
3. You cannot make a Path Skill which has the same effect as a General Skill that you do not possess. However, you can make a Path Skill which modifies or expands on the effect produced by a General Skill that you do possess. If you do this, you will still be able to use the "default" version of the General Skill. At the time of the modified skill's creation, any bonuses that apply to the default version of the General Skill will apply to the modified version. But, bonuses that specifically apply to the modified version will NOT retroactively apply to the default version. Conversely, any bonuses that apply to the default version will NOT retroactively apply to the modified version, if they are received AFTER the modified version is made.
4. In the event that you choose to learn another PC's skill, you must at least be the same CL that the other character was when they learned it (ie, if you are CL 5, you cannot learn a skill that another character learned at CL 9). However, you can learn an earlier version of their Skill if your CL is greater than or equal to the CL they were at when they designed the earlier version (ie, the aforementioned CL 5 User can learn an earlier version of the CL 9 User's skill if the CL 9 User made that version when they were CL 5 or lower).
5. You cannot design a skill while a session is in progress. If you want to learn a skill in the middle of a session, it must be finalized and approved before that session, and you must tell the DM in advance.
6. The DM has final say in everything, and can add conditions and limits to the skill as deemed appropriate before approval.

Generally, the latter half of Rule 6 will not be invoked unless the skill seems especially strong but still follows the other rules. However, do not get discouraged if you cannot get the skill that you want, exactly as you want it, right out of the gate. As described below, instead of creating a new skill every time you level up, you can instead choose to improve a skill that you've already made, such as by increasing its applications or removing some limits. In other words, players will be able to choose whether they want a wide variety of weaker skills, a handful of medium-powered skills or one or two very powerful skills (or, of course, anything in between). No approach is necessarily better than the others, as all will have their advantages and drawbacks.


***


Options Upon Raising Your CL

When you overcome a Trial, surpass your Breakpoint and increase your CL, you will be able to take one of the following options:

1. Gain +1 to a current Aura-based skill
2. Gain a new General Skill
3. Design a new Path Skill*
4. Improve a current Path Skill

*This new Skill should be about as powerful as a 1-point FEMTO class skill. Send your initial idea to the DM for feedback and guidelines.


***


Path Skills and tags

As a rule, the more easily that a Path skill is accessed, the less powerful that it is going to be. In other words, whether your skill is Passive, Instant Automatic, Automatic, Instant or Normal directly affects how strong you are allowed to make it.

In this context, strength refers to what effects your skill is able to produce in relation to how much effort you have to devote to make it work. A Normal Skill (one that you have to roll to activate) can be thought of as being at 100% strength. This is because your character has to put a lot of effort into activating it. If you wanted to make an Instant skill, it would be around 85% strength. An Automatic skill would be at 70%, because it can be done so readily that your character doesn't have to exert themselves much. An Instant Automatic skill would be at 60%, because it's so easily activated that your character can still do another thing that round. This leaves Passive skills as the weakest, at 50% strength, since they're so effortless to activate that the character doesn't even have to think about it.

tl;dr: A skill that you must roll gets to do more than a skill you don't have to roll.

Passive---Instant Automatic---Automatic---Instant---Normal
Weaker<-------------------------------------------->Stronger