Arcane Background 3
Most folks encounter the
supernatural and get eaten by it. A rare few have survived the ordeal and come
away from it with strange knowledge and sometimes powers beyond mortal ken.
There are four types of arcane backgrounds available in Deadlands:
hucksters, mad scientists, the blessed, and shamans. If you think
might want to play one of these character types, choose the one that interest
you most, then read the chapter that tells you all about your powers and
abilities. It’s best if you don’t read all the arcane background abilities.
Deadlands is very much a game of secrets and mysteries, and not knowing
how all the character types work makes the posse as mysterious as some of the
beings your hero is likely to encounter.
Hucksters seem to be gamblers and cardsharps. Many claim they
gamble with their lives as well by dabbling in the black arts. Rumors abound
that they have decoded mystic secrets concealed in Hoyles’ Book of Games and used them to unlock the secrets of tapping into
the Hunting Grounds.
Mad scientists build incredible devices of steam and steel,
machines which often defy the laws of conventional reality. As with hucksters,
there are those who claim the designs for their infernal devices come from dark
spirits babbling in their absent-minded ears.
Blessed characters are nuns, priests, or average folks who
have been blessed by a divine entity. When the blessed are behaving themselves, they can invoke miracles that help them
fight the evils of the Weird West.
Shamans are Indian holy men and women and the keepers of
tribal medicine. Their power comes from dealing with the demanding spirits of
nature. When these medicine men honor the spirits, they can accomplish amazing
feats that make doubtful white men tremble.
Enlightened
your hero has achieved the
spiritual discipline necessary to focus and control his chi energy. Enlightened characters may purchase any of the chi powers listed later in this chapter.
If you wish to be able to use these powers, your character must also buy at
least one level in the chi
aptitude. A hero must have the martial arts training edge to purchase this edge.
Anahuac It looks like Catholicism, it sounds like Catholicism, but this ain’t your padre’s
Catholicism. Mestizo characters with the faith: Anahuac Aptitude may take this
Edge to join the priesthood of the version of Catholicism practiced in the Spanish
Quarter and beyond. Ask your Marshal to let you read Chapter Three for more information.
Arcane Prodigy 3
This edge is only available to
hucksters. Well, actually, anyone can purchase it, but they’d just be wasting
Bounty Points. Learning a new hex is often a trial. An Arcane Prodigy learns
hexes in half the required time, and they make Easy (3) academia: occult rolls
to speed their studies. Developing new hexes is also a little easier for
someone with this edge. When using the quick trial-run method to create a new
hex (your Marshal has all the details on this), the target number for all trait
rolls made by an arcane prodigy is fair (5). The research time and other
requirements remain the same. The details for both learning and developing a
new hex can be found in the next chapter.
Belongin’s
1–5
If a cowboy’s gun is his best
friend, his horse is his mistress. These two commodities satisfy most folks,
but a few have something they consider equally valuable. This Edge covers all
the unusual equipment you might want for your character. You need to work out
the specific point cost of any given item with the Marshal, but the list below
should give you some good ideas.
Cost
Sample Belongin’s
1 $500 in cash; Some shares
in a profitable railroad, a fast horse, a fancy pistol, 12 silver bullets.
2 $1000 in cash; A boat, a work of art, a silver
dagger, an incredibly fast horse.
3 $5000 in cash; A pistol used by Jesse James, a
tomahawk blessed by a powerful Indian shaman, a Gatling
gun, a riverboat.
4
$20,000 in cash; A ship, a
saloon or other business, a relic of specific but limited power.
5 $50,000 in cash; A relic of power, a train, a pardon
for all deeds past and present in a certain region or state.
Big Ears 1
Some folks got “head handles”
as big as a donkey’s. Those who do can usually hear a soft-toed critter
creeping over stone at 100 yards. A character with the big ears Edge adds +2 to Cognition rolls
involving hearing things.
Blood Brother 2
You’ve spent time with Indians,
so much so that they consider you one of their own. Not every white man is
considered the Indians’ enemy. You’ve been adopted into a tribe, and that means
any tribe they deal with will recognize you as an ally as well. Of course, if
you run across your tribes’ mortal enemies…..
Born On Horseback 3 (Indian)
Riding a horse is as natural to
some Indians as walking on two feet-Maybe even more so. Your hero never suffers
the -2 penalty for attacking while mounted.
Brave 2
Most folks aren’t really
brave—they’re just too stupid to know better. Maybe you’re different, but it’s
doubtful. Characters with this Edge add +2 to their guts checks.
Brawny 3
Some folks think a fellow as
big as you is dumb as a post. They sometimes change their minds when you use
your muscles to let them know what it feels like to be a post. Your character
is big. Not obese, just big and chock full o’ muscles. He probably has a
nickname like Hoss or Tiny. Your character must have
at least a 2d8 Strength to take this Edge. If he does, you can add +1 to your
hombre’s Size. Your hero can’t be brawny and a big ’un, by the way.
Cavalier 1/2
Boys learn to ride at an early
age in the rural South, and when The War came, those boys became the elite
troopers who fight alongside Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Mosby. Confederate cavalry units are justly feared by their
Federal opponents. Cavalrymen who hail from the industrial North have gained
proficiency since the start of The War, and are a force to be reckoned with,
but overall, Confederates remain superior horsemen. To reflect this cultural
advantage, this Edge only costs one point for heros hailing from the South. Yankees will have to
pony up two character points for the same benefit. Characters with the cavalier Edge suffer no penalty to shootin’ rolls while mounted, instead of the usual -2.
Chosen One 5 (LA)
The Powers That Be have decided
you’re their terrestrial agent. Lucky you. Your hero
may take an advance against future chip earnings. At any time, you may draw
random chips from the Fate Pot, for a total number of these “advance” chips up
to the character’s Grit. Any chips later rewarded by the Marshal must be spent
first to pay off this debt, and the hero must spend like-colored chips. For
example, a hero with 3 Grit decides to draw three additional chips in the
middle of an important fight. He draws a red and two whites. As soon as the
hero receives a red or white chip from the Marshal, it must go immediately into
paying back that debt. The hero is still limited to a total of 10 chips in his
personal pot. There may only be one chosen one in a posse. Should two
characters with this Edge appear in the same posse, the winner of a Fair (5)
Spirit contest gets to keep the Edge and the loser is out of luck until she
goes her own way. Anyone who goes bust when rolling
for the contest loses the Edge permanently. This can only be taken by a Lost
Angel.
Clown 3 (Indian)
Clowns, or heyoka are very spiritually powerful in many tribes. A
clown dresses warmly in the summer, wears nothing in the winter, laughs instead
of crying, yells instead of whispering, and so on.
Becoming a clown raises the character’s spirit die type by one step, but acting
like a clown is not the occasional thing. If the Chief ever feels the Indian is
not acting contrarily, he may require a Hard (7) faith roll. On a failure, the
hero loses the clown Edge until the character acts contrary again.
Conscience 1
Most everyone, except the
lowest two-legged snakes, has a little voice telling him right from wrong. Some
folks only hear a faint whisper, while others get the message loud and clear. A
hero with this Edge has a screaming voice of virtue. Whenever a character with
this Edge is about to commit an act that would force her to consult the Sinnin’ Table, the Marshal reminds her of her beliefs and
the consequences of the act. She’s free to take whatever course she wants, but
she gets a warning about the possible results. Only characters with at least 1
level of faith should
take this
Edge.
Converted 1
The native has grown up his
belief in pagan gods and has accepted the white God (or Yahweh or Allah or
another nonnative religion) into his heart. He can no longer learn rituals or
favors and cannot have a guardian spirit. Instead, he could now be blessed~which most natives can’t be. This character is
still a member of the tribe, although he suffers a -2 modifier on all social
Aptitude rolls when dealing with other tribe members. Whites who find out this
character is converted do not have any social penalties associated with him
being a ferner, and those who are intolerant toward
Injuns have their penalties reduced by half. A converted Indian may use the
protection miracle if he has one point in faith, like any white character.
Dinero
1–5
Money talks in the Weird West.
If you can’t take out the bounty hunter after you, a little “dinero” might hire someone who can. Wealthy individuals
start with additional funds and can sometimes wire “home” for money. A wealthy character
can come up with a lot more dinero given enough time,
collateral and a good excuse. Note that belongin’s gives a character a one-time cash infusion (or an item of
suitable value). Dinero means the character always has
access to some of the green stuff.
Cost Starting Funds Extra Funds
1
$250 $100
2
$500 $500
3
$1,000 $2,000
4
$2,000 $5,000
5
$5,000 $10,000
Don’t Get ‘Im
Riled! 2
People shouldn’t get your hero
mad. When they do, he fights like a cornered wildcat. Add Xd4 to your hero’s
hand-to-hand damage, where X is her highest wound penalty (not counting Edges
or abilities that ignore such penalties).
Eagle Eyes 1
Sharp-eyed folks can spot a fly
on a raisin cake at 20 paces. Others might just wonder what’s so chewy. You may
add +2 to any Cognition rolls made for your character to spot or notice
things at a distance.
Familiar 5
This edge is only available to
hucksters. A familiar is kind of a supernatural sidekick. Your character had
formed a magical bond with an animal no larger than a medium-sized dog-a
collie, perhaps. Favorite animals for this purpose include cats (black, of
course), crows, and dogs. This bond allows the animal to serve as a spy or
guard for your hero. It also can provide some minor assistance to her when
casting hexes. The animal gains an increase in intelligence, often to human
levels. In game turns, increase the animal’s smarts and knowledge traits to one
level below your hero’s, assuming they weren’t already. If they were, you’ve
got our sincerest apologies and advice to seek another profession. The animal’s
Coordinations in these traits are only, But its thought processes are now geared to human thinking,
so it can reason and learn Mental Aptitudes. It also gains an understanding of
all languages your hero can speak or read. Yes, you read that right-the
familiar can read, assuming it has eyes. Heroes can mentally communicate with
their familiars when they are within 10 yards. Outside this range, they only
sense general emotions: fear, happiness, and the like. Also, when within 10
yards of the familiar, your huckster gains a +1 to all hex-casting Aptitude
rolls. Because of the nature of the bond between the huckster and familiar, if
the animal is slain, the character suffers some of the experience as well. Your
hero must immediately make an incredible (11) vigor check, or be stunned until
she does so. Even after succeeding at the check, for the next 1d6 days she has
a -2 modifier to all trait and aptitude rolls. Death ain’t
pretty. Bonding a new familiar (after character creation) or replacing an old
one is a long, although not to difficult. In addition to the triple bounty
point cost, your huckster needs to spend a month in study and preparation. At
the end of the month, she needs only to make a fair (5) academia: occult roll. If
successful, she gains a familiar of your choice, provided it fits the normal
restrictions. Otherwise, she can try again every week until she does succeed.
Although the bond is close between your hero and animal, it still has a mind of
its own. A familiar is more of a companion than a bodyguard. If abused, the
familiar may very well say adios.
Fleet-Footed 1-5
There often comes a time when a
cowpoke needs to hightail it away from some angry varmint. If that’s the case,
remember the golden rule of skedaddling: you only
have to outrun one person. Unless there’s a lot of angry
varmints, of course. Then you better be fleet-footed enough to outrun the rest of your posse! For each
point in this Edge, your character’s base Pace is 1 more than his Nimbleness. A character with a Nimbleness of
d12, for example, and fleet-footed at level 3, would have a base Pace of 15.
Foot Cavalry 1-5
Confederates, such as the
legendary Stonewall Brigade, are renowned (atleast in
the South) for their ability to march long distances in short spans of time and
still whip double their number of Yankees when they reach their destination.
It’s no wonder their shoes wore out quickly, and Confederates spent most of the
early War in bare feet. For every point of foot cavalry, a
character adds +1 to all Vigor
rolls made to walk extra-long
distances. The roll to keep going after twenty miles, for example, is normally
made with a -2 penalty, but a character with 2 points of foot cavalry ignores the penalty entirely.
Forbearance 1-5
“Starving Confederate” was a
redundant term in the early part of The War, and hunger sometimes drove Southern
soldiers more than anything else. Legend has it Confederates once attacked a
Yankee regiment yelling, “Get ‘em boys! They got
cheese in their haversacks!” Even when food was available, it was usually
hardtack (crackers indistinguishable from bricks), saltpork
(heavy on the salt) or “sloosh” (corn meal mixed with
saltpork grease). A character with the forbearance Edge learned to accept deprivation as a companion. For every
point in this Edge, a character does not lose Wind for one day’s failure to eat
the required amount of food. (For example, a character with 3 points of forbearance can starve for 72 hours with no ill effects.) After that time,
they lose Wind normally This Edge does not prevent loss of Wind from
dehydration, so don’t throw away your canteen just yet. Also, Blessed who are trying to boost their faith rolls by use of the fastin’ Aptitude must forego the benefit of this Edge while doing so. As
far as the Almighty’s concerned, no pain means no
gain.
Friends in High Places 1–5
It’s not who you know—it’s who knows
you. Your character has friends who occasionally help him out. The value of the
friend(s) depends on how powerful they are and how often they show up. A Texas Ranger who shows up with the cavalry every other game or so
is worth 3 points, or 1 if he usually shows up alone. A newspaper editor
who bails your character out of jail most of the time might be worth 2. There
are many ways to use this Edge, so work out the details with your Marshal
before you determine the final point cost.
Fuero
3
Fuero is a
new edge for characters in the military or church. It represents their right to
be tried for crimes only in military or ecclesiastical court, respectively –
and, naturally enough, such courts are often more likely to rule in their favor
than some poor peon. Benito Juarez abolished this legal privilege; Emperor Maximillian, though not well – regarded by the church
because of his failure to restore its lands, at least restored the fueros.
Gallows Humor 2
Georgians and Louisianans are
said to joke about even dire situations, which enables them to lead even
suicidal charges. They can stare the Grim Reaper himself in the face, just so
long as something strikes them as funny about him. Characters with this Edge
respond to fear and danger with grim witticisms about their opposition or their
own plight. When such heroes fail a guts check, they may immediately
attempt a second check using their ridicule
Aptitude, against the same TN. If they
fail, the
suffer the normal effects of the failed guts check. Because it’s no fun
keeping a joke to oneself, the ridiculing phrase must
be spoken aloud by both the player and the character, so being gagged or
otherwise speechless deprives a character the benefits of this Edge. In other
words, you have to actually make up and state a witticism about the situation.
No joke, no roll. The Marshal has final word on the effectiveness of the chosen
phrase. If the best the player can do is, “You, you…stupid monster! Look
how…stupid…that is!” or similar, the Marshal may penalize the roll, disallow
use of this Edge or both. Likewise, a player who comes up with a devastatingly
funny line (the kind that halts the game so everyone can regain their
composure) might receive a bonus to her roll. This might also apply to the rest
of the Posse’s guts rolls if they were able to overhear the hilarious
remark.
Gift of Gab 1
There are a lot of languages
spoken in the Weird West. It helps to understand a few. If some strange
German-speaking hermit asks you
and your posse to dinner, you’d best make sure he wants to feed you instead of eat
you. This Edge allows your character to pick up spoken languages very quickly. Given
a few minutes of conversation, he has an effective oral skill of 1 in any language.
Gone Native 3
Whites sometimes give up their
membership in white society and join a tribe. This can happen involuntarily (as
with children captured in Indian raids) or voluntarily (like when folks want to
learn more about Indian ways and give up white life by choice). If your hero
wasn’t born an Indian, you may select one tribe to which he now belongs. This
means the character can now have a guardian spirit and, if he has faith of at
least 1, and request favors that do not cost more than 1 appeasement point. He
may participate in his tribe’s group rituals and ceremonies. He can even become
a Shaman. The character must follow all the tribe’s ways. He cannot attack
another member of the tribe or its allies without due cause. All newly made
Indians are also loyal to their tribe. White characters gone native may not
take the tribeless Hindrance. Whites who have Gone
Native seem to have the best of both worlds. They can still move among white
society, and unless they’re wearing war paint or feathered bonnets, nobody
considers them anything other than back woodsy types. If it becomes known that
your hero has Gone Native, your character suffers a -2 (or more, at the Chief’s
discretion) penalty to all rolls to interact with those with intolerance “damn injuns”.
Guardian Spirit 1-5
An Indian may have scalped 100
warriors in combat, but without a Guardian Spirit she’ll never get far among
her people. In many tribes, a Guardian Spirit is an Indian’s most important
trait. Any native, either by birth or by having Gone Native, may put 1 point
into a Guardian Spirit. Buying larger Guardian Spirit requires a character also
buy the Arcane Background: Shaman edge. (Please reference chapter 4 in Ghost
Dancers for details on Guardian Spirits)
Iron Stomach 4
Never let ’em
see you sweat (or puke). After some time in Lost Angels, this hero’s seen just
about everything Hell can send at the living, and it’s
left him just a bit jaded. He can disregard any Scart
Table result of “weak in the knees” or less. This is for Lost Angels only.
Keen 3
Frontier veterans expect the
unexpected. Other folks are just jumpy. The thing they’ve got in common is that
they can both sense a mountain lion creeping up on them from 50 yards away. A keen hero notices little details, sounds, and movements that others
may ignore. She may add +2 to any Cognition, search, trackin’ or scrutinize rolls made under these circumstances. This covers raw
observation, so include rolls made to hear, smell, taste, or otherwise sense
whatever it is the hero is attempting to detect.
Kemosabe
1/2
Anyone who wanders into the
Sioux Nations or the Coyote Confederation better know how to say “howdy”
without making anyone angry. Likewise, an Apache who doesn’t know to spit in
the spittoon instead of on the floor probably won’t endear himself to the
barkeep. Kemosabe gives the character knowledge of a
culture and a few casual friends within it. The cost depends on how different
the culture is from the hero’s native ways. The cost is 2 if the contacts are
totally foreign, such as whites to Indians and vice-versa, or Chinese to most
any other Westerners. Kemosabe costs only 1 point if your
character knows the ways of a similar culture such as Protestants to Mormons or
Sioux to Comanche.
Law Man
A badge carries a lot of weight
in the Weird West. It also bears responsibility. The common folk depend on you
to fight off marauders, bandits, and stranger things. While this Edge grants
your character a great amount of authority, jurisdiction is always limited.
Marshals operate only within the limits of their town, Sheriffs patrol
counties, and US Marshals’ authority extends to their entire country. Most law
dogs should have an obligation or an oath as well.
Cost
Authority
1 Deputized for a specific but long-term purpose (like the
capture of Jesse James or
Geronimo). Agency operatives
typically have no official law enforcement
powers of
their own, but they are often given authority by the US Government in specific
regions or situations.
3 Sheriff of a county. Because this edge is only appropriate for
a saga that takes place in a specific geographic area, it should only be bought
with the Marshal’s permission.
5 Federal Marshal or Texas Ranger. Your
law dog has jurisdiction within the borders of the
Level-Headed 5
Veteran gunmen claim speed and skill are vital, but they’re overrated compared to keeping
your cool, aiming at your target, and putting it down. A hothead who empties
his hogleg too fast soon finds himself taking root in
the local bone orchard. Immediately after drawing Action Cards in combat, a
character with this Edge can discard his lowest card and draw another. If the
character draws a black Joker on the first draw, he’s out of luck and can’t
draw again.
Light Sleeper 1
Sleep doesn’t always come easy
in Deadlands, but this isn’t always a bad thing. While it might
make you grouchy before your morning coffee, being a light sleeper can be handy
when some slimy critter tries to slither into your bedroll. A character with
the light sleeper Edge may add +2 to Cognition rolls made when he needs to wake up quickly.
Lost Angel 0 (LA)
The character is at home in
Lost Angels. This Edge enables other Edges and Hindrances that are only
available to Lost Angels. You can only take this with the Marshal’s okay.
Luck o’ the Irish 5
Some folks are just born lucky.
Rattle off a Gatling pistol at them and you just ruin
their new duds. Characters with luck o’ the Irish get to draw an extra chip at the beginning of each session. This
chip can be used normally except that it may not be converted into Bounty Points.
Martial Arts Training 3
Your character has trained for
years in the martial arts, under the tutelage of a sifu, or master. Her sifu may have been the
head of a renowned school of martial artists or just a wandering wise man that
most mistook for a saddletramp. He taught her the
secrets of fighting, both standard and mystical. He also taught her a spiritual
philosophy, which she can use to achieve harmony with nature, and also to spout
poetical-type proverbs that make her sound real wise and peaceful just before
she goes out to crack skulls. To better enable her to crack those skulls, she
deals additional damage when fighting hand to hand. She deals
Mechanically Inclined 1
Mechanical devices aren’t
common on the frontier, and neither are those who know how to fix them.
A character with this Edge adds
+2 to rolls involving fixing or understanding machinery, including tinkering and mad science.
Mestizo
0 (LA)
The hero is of “la Raza Mestizo,” the semiindigenous, Spanish-speaking people of the southern
Maze and
Nature’s Own 3
They say your mama was a bear
and you papa an oak tree. Sometimes it feels like they’re right – that’s how
comfortable you are in the woods. Some people relate to nature better than
others. For you, nature is like your home You only
really feel like your alive when you’re out in the wilderness, away from the
buildings and the roads. And when you are, it’s like the world welcomes you
back. Take +2 to any rolls involving moving through wilderness, such as running
through the forest, dodging branches, swimming a river, etc.
Nerves o’ Steel 1
Some of the Weird West’s heroes
are too darn stubborn to run even when their boots are full of “liquid fear.”
Most of their skeletons lie bleaching in the desert, but a few are still
fighting the horrors of the High Plains. Whenever the character fails a guts check and is forced to flee, the character can choose to stand
his ground instead. He still suffers any other penalties, however. A character
with nerves o’ steel isn’t necessarily brave. Sometimes he’s just more
afraid of being branded a yellow bellied coward than he is of death. Some folks
are funny that way.
Old Hand 3
This edge is only available to
huckster, and only those with an academia: occult Aptitude of 4 or greater. Old
hands are hucksters who have been around a while. They’ve put aside learning
new ways to blow things up for a while to investigate the true nature of the
Hunting Grounds and its dangerous denizens. With knowledge comes power. When
Old Hands draw cards to cast a hex, they can draw them one at a time and stop
whenever they choose. Say an old hand is entitled to a total of eight cards
through a combination of good skill roll and a relic he found in his last
adventure. He could draw each cards and stop whenever
he felt he had a good enough hand to archive the desired effect. If his first
two cards are aces and that’s all he wants, he doesn’t have to draw the next
six cards. This edge comes with experience and devotion to studying the power
behind hexes instead of just the hexes themselves, so most every huckster
should eventually devote some bounty points to buying it. The rules for buying
new edges are covered in the Quick & the Dead, but in short, it costs your
huckster 9 bounty points and three weeks worth of study after you’ve raised
your character’s academia: occult Aptitude to 4 or better (assuming it wasn’t
there already).
Paleface 1 (Indian)
This Indian is white as a rail
baron’s son on the outside, but all Indian inside. Unless he’s painted for war
or showing off his braids, whites can’t tell him apart from their own people.
Some may think he was a white baby stolen by a war party, but he’s all native
born. In any case, the Indians in the hero’s tribe accept the hero as one of
them. Other Indian tribes may not feel the same way, Unless
your hero has Renown among their people or Friends In High Places in other
tribes. If the hero trys to pass as white, he needs
to speak English and have a dose of Preformin’:
acting or Kemosabe to maintain the illusion. Some
fresh duds from the trading post might help too. If the character’s identity is
somehow revealed, whites react in one of two ways: They think the character is
a white who has Gone Native, or they’re angry at the deception.
Patron Saint 1–3 (LA)
Purty
1
They say an ugly fellow can
stop a bullet with his face. A good-looking one might not get shot at in the
first place. A purty character may add +2 to most persuasion rolls or other situations where her good looks might come into
play.
Quick Thinker 2
Maybe your hero has been
trained to avoid situations in which he might be surprised or maybe he just
doesn’t seize up under pressure like most. Either way, there’s a tiny part of
him that always expects an ambush. When making Cognition rolls to see if your
hero has been surprised, he never faces a Target Number higher than 5. Even if
he fails that roll, he still gets 1 Action card during the round in which he
was supposedly surprised. He is never surprised past the first round; don’t
even bother rolling to recover. Anyone may buy this edge.
Rank 1-5
Soldiers are found all over the
frontier. Most women like a man in uniform, and a little rank demands a certain
amount of authority. The downside is that soldiers are the first people the
locals come running to when something strange happens. Individuals who belong
to a military outfit spend most of their time in the service of their country
and so aren’t normally part of a Deadlands posse.
If a
posse tends
to stay in one place, however, the local troops might frequently be part of
their group. If the Marshal allows it, a character can buy military rank as an
Edge. All of them have a 5 point obligation to
their local post. This is already built into the cost of the rank (hence the low cost), so don’t take points for it
again. Military types who gain promotions don’t have to pay additional points
for the Edge—it’s just a reward for good play. Similarly, a character busted to
a lower rank doesn’t get any points back for his demotion.
Cost Rank
1 Enlisted Man: Private or Corporal.
2 Enlisted Officer: Sergeant (commands a cavalry troop of 50, or an infantry company of 100).
3 Young Officer: Lieutenant or Captain (commands 1 troop or company).
4 High-Ranking Officer: Major or Colonel (commands a regiment of 8 troops or
companies).
5 Commander: General (commands an entire force, usually no more
than a brigade, typically 2-4 regiments out West. Higher ranking generals
should never be player characters).
Rebel Yell 2
The banshee-like, blood-curdling Rebel Yell has terrified
Yankees and emboldened Confederates from
Religious Rank
Military organizations have a
strict rank structure designating authority. Certain religions have a similar
hierarchy, although the members of the church aren’t nearly as duty-bound to
follow the instructions of their superiors as a soldier is. A character with
this Edge has some authority within the organization of his religion. Much like
military rank, religious rank covers both authority and duty. The higher the
hero’s place in his organization, the more likely he has duties to the church
as well. However, these responsibilities aren’t usually as severe as those of
military personnel. It isn’t necessary to have arcane background: blessed to
select this Edge, but a character must have the Aptitude professional: theology
with a level equal to or greater than his religious rank. Characters with
religious rank gain a bonus to their Mien-based rolls equal to the value of the
Edge when dealing with members of their own religion. They are also able to
call on the resources of their church from time to time, to help them in their
battles. Obviously, higher-ranking leaders have greater influence and larger
resources to draw from. But remember, the resources of a church, no matter how
large, are quite different from the resources of an army or similar
organization! Most ordained ministers have religious rank 1— but not all
religions have well-defined hierarchies, so this Edge isn’t appropriate to
every blessed. If your hero follows one of these other religions, consider
choosing renown instead. Consult with your Marshal if you’re not sure which
Edge is more appropriate.
Cost Rank
1 Priest, elder, or other leader with responsibility for a single
congregation.
2 Bishop, high priest, or similar leader with responsibility for
a single large or several smaller churches.
4 Archbishop, lama, or other leader with authority over a large
group of churches.
Renown
A reputation’s a funny thing.
The bigger it gets, the more most folks stay out of
your way. But the fellows who don’t get out of the way are most likely gunning
for you. Recognizing a famous person by looks is a Fair (5) task for most—a
Foolproof (3) task for those in the character’s field, town, etc.
Cost
Reputation
1 Well-known among a small group (town, US Marshals, sportsmen).
3 Well-known among a large group of people (county, minor
celebrity).
5 Known everywhere (major celebrity, war hero).
Righteous 3
Roll +1 die type higher on the sinnin’ table when sinnin’ in the
name of God—when kicking evil’s ass, in other words. Not sure what “evil”
entails? That’s good! The Marshal should let you know when the hero’s
righteousness is in effect. If you’re already at a d12 die type, add +2 to the
final roll. This Edge can only be taken by heroes with the blessed Edge.
Sand 1–5
Sand, grit. You’d think the heroes of the Weird West never take baths.
Well, most don’t, but that’s not the kind of sand we’re talking about. We’re
talking about the kind of hombre who keeps fighting even when his boots are
full of his own blood. The kind of cowgirl who can punch the Grim Reaper in the
face and then ask him to dance—who could drive los diablos themselves from Texas to Kansas. In short, a hero
with sand has fire in his eyes and spit in his belly. Every
level of sand allows the hero to add +1 to any stun and recovery
checks he must make during combat.
Seen the Elephant 1-5
Soldiers are exposed to carnage
inconceivable to civilians. They retain memories of it long after the battles
are over, but as compensation, they no longer scare easily. For every point a
character has in seen the elephant, they add +1 to all guts checks so long as the potential source of fear is not of a
visibly abnormal nature. For example, a survivor of
mere sight
of a corpse, no matter how badly shot up it may be. However, if a corpse gets
up and moves around, all prior bets are off and the normal benefits of this
Edge become null and void. Similarly, the rumble of cannon fire is like
crickets chirping at night to a soldier who’s seen the elephant, but if that rumble turns out to be from a hungry Mojave
rattler, that soldier is left with his normal TN for the guts check. This benefits of this Edge are
cumulative with the brave Edge, which boosts guts checks regardless of what
provokes them.
Sense o’ direction 1
You can usually tell which
direction is north—or south if you’re a Reb. To determine direction, make a Fair (5) Cognition roll. With a Hard (9) Smarts roll, your character also knows what time it is.
Sidekick 5
The dime novels paint the Weird
West as being populated with lone-wolf gunslingers wandering around with
nothing but their horses and six shooters for company. If you buy that, you
probably think the cavalry will come to your rescue when you need them, too. In
the Weird West, no man stands alone when a passel of prairie ticks are on the
rampage. Not when he can push his best buddy out in front of him, at least.
There’s strength in numbers. Just try to make sure they add up in your favor
instead of against you. Lots of western heroes have allies, best friends, guy
or gal pals, and sidekicks. If your character gains a close companion during the
course of the campaign, you don’t need to use these
rules—that’s just one of the rewards of role playing. If you want your
character to start with a genuine sidekick, however,
you need to buy this Edge. The first thing you should do is write out a brief
description of the companion and his relationship with your hero. How did they
meet? What incredible adventure forged such a strong and lasting friendship?
What does either of them to make the other really mad? Once you’ve come up with
the back story, the Marshal should generate the character’s game statistics
based on your description. A sidekick should
never be more powerful than your character. Otherwise your hombre would be his sidekick. If your hombre’s sidekick isn’t around half the
time, drop the cost by 1. If he only comes around when your hero calls for
him—and that takes some time—then he has friends in high places instead. Sidekicks
are more or less always in your
hair. Before you imagine you’ve picked up a living shield for your hero, let’s
get something straight: sidekicks
are strictly under the control
of the Marshal. Neither you nor your character control their every thought or
action. Although they are very loyal, they probably won’t throw themselves in
front of bullets for you, even if you ask real nice. Comprende, amigo? To reflect
the relationship with your ally, both the sidekick and
the character are loyal to one another. Don’t take any additional points for
being loyal (and don’t count them against your 10 point
Hindrance limit either). The Hindrance is free to both characters. No whining:
it’s the price of having another pair of hands to help out in a pinch. One last thing. Take real good care of your hero’s
companion. The world of Deadlands
is a creepy place, and old
friends make nasty enemies if left for dead. Imagine having an enemy that knows
your every weakness and how to cause you the most grief humanly possible. Now
imagine having that enemy come back from the grave with a vendetta because you
sent him into certain death. It’s best to watch your sidekicks back just as vigilantly
as he watches yours.
Soft-Footed 2
Any burglar would kill to have
your skill at walking. It isn’t that you’re particularly small or light, you
just know how to walk lightly. You barely leave footprints, make very little
sound when you walk and can move across ice and snow without sinking into or
cracking them. Take a +2 bonus to nimbleness rolls when crossing ice or snow,
and +1 to all sneak rolls made on these surfaces as well. This edge is not avalible to Brawny characters.
Stone-Faced 3
Indians are really good at
being inscrutable. Some have learned how to beat the best white poker players
at their own game. All social skills directed against this character, overawe,
persuasion, and scrutinize are made at one die type lower than normal.
Strong Digestion 1
You’re heard of people who
can’t eat certain things or get sick just smellin’
them cookin’. That just seems silly to you, though.
It’s called iron stomach, by some. You just call it a hardy a
appetite. Whatever the reason, you can eat almost anything with out worrying
about it being poisonous or undercooked. That doesn’t mean it tastes good, but
at least it keeps you going. Ignore any penalties for undercooked food, and any ill effects from plants unless they are deadly
poisons.
Strong
Stomach 1
The character has a cast iron stomach
when it comes to gore. Maybe she’s an ex-surgeon or has just seen one too many
murder victims, but whatever the case, it just doesn’t have that strong of an
effect on her anymore. Whenever she fails a guts
check
because of blood, dead bodies (not undead ones,
though), she can ignore any result that causes her to lose Wind or run away.
She still suffers any other penalties, if applicable.
“The Stare” 1
There’s something in your stare
that makes others nervous. When your eye starts twitching,
someone’s about to get carried to Boot Hill. Clint Eastwood has it, and
so does your gunslinger. A character with “the stare” may
add +2 to his overawe attacks as long as the intended victim is close
enough to look into his steely gaze (usually less than 30 feet).
Thick-Skinned 3
Whether he’s tough-as-nails or
just plain dumb, a cowboy who can handle a little pain is a hombre who’s hard
to beat. Tinhorns cry over a splinter. Thick-skinned gunslingers blaze away with both guns even when they’re up to
their gun belts in their own blood. Thick-skinned characters reduce their wound
penalty by 1. A character with a serious wound would normally have a wound
penalty of –3. A thick skinned hombre’s modifier would only be -2. See Chapter Four
for more details on wound penalties.
Tough as Nails 1–5
Some folks keel over in a stiff
wind, but you chew razor blades for breakfast. A real hero’s got to persevere
no matter how hard things get. Every level of tough as nails adds +2 to your character’s Wind. She can tough out losing blood
and getting banged around when others are curling up like babies with thumbs in
their mouths.
Two-Fisted 3
A rare few are just as good
with their left hand as they are their right. These folks make deadly gunfighters
and better cheats. A two-fisted character ignores the –4 penalty for using his off
hand. If he’s firing two guns or fighting with two hand-weapons, he’ll still
have to deal with the –2 penalty for using a second weapon, however. You’ll
learn all about that in Chapter Four. Trust us. A really skilled two-fisted gunman with a couple of double-action Peacemakers is one tough
hombre.
Two-Gun Kid 3/5
A gun in each hand is your
trademark. When they speak, folks listen—and die. Characters must have the two-fisted Edge to buy this Edge. Two-fisted eliminates
the –4 penalty for using an off hand. Two-gun kid
eliminates the –2 penalty for using a gun in each hand. For 3 points, it
reduces the penalty to –1. For 5 points, it eliminates the penalty entirely.
Alternately, a character with this Edge may fight with a knife in each hand or
throw a knife with each hand at once.
Unscented 3
When you were a kid, a blind
dog walked right into you – didn’t know you were there. It’s always been like
that. It isn’t just animals like you, necessarily. They just seem to accept you
being there. Dogs never bark at you, horses never whinny – and that one time
you ran across a bear, it walked right past you without even snuffling. Take a
+2 on animal handilin’ rolls, and ignore any animal
guards when trying to sneak around.
Veteran o’ the Weird West 0
You can tell by the stare. Or
the way her hand slowly eases down toward her six-gun when there’s trouble.
Some folks have seen what humanity was not meant to know and lived to tell the
tale. Your character has been around a while. She’s experienced the Weird West
and said “howdy” to a few of its less than- friendly
denizens with her six guns blazing. You get an extra 15 points with which to
buy Edges or Aptitudes or even improve your hero’s Traits (at the usual cost).
Most veterans have encountered the supernatural and should have an
academia: occult of at least 1. Characters without this skill may or
may not have encountered the forces of darkness, but their mettle has been
forged in more mundane but no less amazing adventures. Extra points sound
great, huh? They are, but the hero’s past experience doesn’t come without a
steep price. You need to write a brief story of your
character’s past. The Marshal is going to use that to assign your hero a
few haunting reminders of his past. Give him a good background so that whatever
he comes up with fits your hero and makes him a more interesting character. The
price might be as simple as a new Hindrance gained from your character’s past
encounters, such as an enemy
or a terrible scar. More often,
the price is much higher. Your hero might have lost a limb, be stalked by a
nefarious creature, or find himself drawn into a struggle against evil far
older than he ever have imagined.
“The Voice” 1
A gunslinger with a gravely
voice is much more threatening when he calls out some scoundrel from Back East
than some tinhorn with a voice like a mouse. You can choose what kind of voice your character has. A soothing voice adds +2 to persuasion
rolls made in calm, seductive,
or otherwise peaceful situations. A threatening voice adds +2 to overawe
rolls. A grating voice adds +2
to ridicule rolls. You can buy multiple voices for
your hero. Each one costs 1 point.