Descendants

Descendants are the most powerful and flexible part of the T13 system. Their model is the same as the Annex (roughly), but unlike the Annex a Descendant is only made by a Character, not a part of a Character.

Descendants can be used to model all sorts of things, like the Character’s equipment. Whether that be huge physical things like a truck, a mansion or a space-ship or personal items like a sword, a shield, some armour, or a tricked-out Yamazai 6000 cyber-deck with hardware accelerated neural packing, or intangibles like a Hacker’s software, or a wizard’s spells. You can even model a Character’s training as a Descendant, it is possible to easily add Police, Military, Thieves’ Guild, Wizard’s School or Magickal Lodge training to a Character by simply building them a Descendant.

You can see ideas for Descendants by Facet here.What follows are the general rule for descendants, you can also find special rules for Locations and Pacts.

What do we need to know

This is how we write a Descendant:

There are more complicated forms, but they just extend this standard. You can see how we note everything fairly clearly, we keep the Reduced Boon as the average of the Dice and the number of cards drawn and played are noted as well as the RT and GRT (recorded for use in Ordeals). Umbrals and Handicaps bring down the Cost of building or buying a Descendant and you need to know what and how much this effects the Descendant.

Descendants can store 1 Wound per Annex – so all simple Descendants can only store 1 Wound. Always keep the highest wound when in doubt.

Storing Sway and Twists in Descendants

For the effects of storing Chi or Yarn in Descendants see Trophies, Monoliths and Artefacts.

For the effects of storing Twists in Descendants see ‘Dark Matter’

Types of Descendants

There are several different ways of splitting up Descendants by type. Firstly since Descendants are nothing more than a free-floating Annex (or collection of Annexes) with an additional Incarna Facet, they vary in scope exactly like Annexes do.

• The simplest Descendant is a free-floating Skill Annex. It may have Handicaps that reduces its cost, but at its most simple it is simply a Skill Annex with a Formation Facet. A good simple Descendant is that RPG stalwart
  A Longsword (I:T)1d8 (4) = {15} Draw/Play: [1/1] = Base Cost 15 Chi, RT 4, GRT 1
• Next is the Talent Descendant. More Complex than a Simple Skill a Talent may have Umbrals to reduce the cost and may have Nimbeds that increase it. A Talent Descendant may also have Skill Annexes “inside” it. It can have as many Skills as it’s Boon Reduced. You might build an Ornate Longsword this way, or more likely a Mage’s Spell book.
• Next you may have a Power Descendant that may have Talents and Skills beneath it. A Power may have as many Talents or Skills as its Boon Reduced (it is possible to have one of the Talents just provide Skills beneath it, or even all if you want to model something like a computer with loads of software, although such things are tricky to purchase in one go).
• Most Complex of all is the Super-Skill Descendant. Which can have, Boon Reduced Powers, Talents and Skills beneath them. As you can imagine the size and cost of a Super-Skill Descendant can be huge. Here is a fairly small but expensive example to look at.
  Magnificent Long sword (I:T){+12} 1d8(4){15} Draw/Play: [2*/4*] I:Nim: Focus: Relative Motion, if the User and Target are moving relative to each other add a Success Level, I: Nim: Expand: Causes motion in the Target (Inertia Nimbed Boon metres for small objects and Inertia Nimbed Boon Reduced for other Characters and larger objects).
  REWARD: Time, the target of the Annex (or the Defence that stops the Annex) is affected by an immediate GRT equal to the Inertia Nimbed Boon Double Reduced.
  TRICK: Momentum, any Spade with a face value lower or equal to Inertia Nimbed Boon Reduced may add directly to the Pips of the card it is attacking with. E.g. Play a Five of Spades (Flesh) as preparation and then a Jack of diamonds (Crippling) to create a Carnage wound (and a random second card).
  View alone Edit this post {+1+5} RT 4 GRT 3
  Parry (R:NR:T){+5} 1d6+1(4){4} Draw/Play: [1/2] Slow +2 RT{+1-2}, Always on {Passive 2 cards {+1+5} RT 6 GRT 1
  Jab (K:T){+2} 1d6(3){3} Draw/Play: [1/1]RT 3 GRT 0
  Slash (I:T){+2} 1d8(4){4} Draw/Play: [1/1] RT 4 GRT 0
  Hack (T:T){+2} 1d6(3){3} Draw/Play: [1/1] RT 3 GRT 0
  Base Cost: 105 Chi

Secondly, and perhaps just as importantly, the Descendants can be broken up by Incarna. This leads to a couple of Special Descendant Types

• Descendants that exist physically and can be carried or moved about, like swords (Trial Facet), shields and armour (Rook Facet) and sports cars (Craft or Zeal Facet), are usually referred to as Props.
• Descendants that are Incarna: Space (Yonder) are called Locations (and have their own special rules)
• Descendants that are Incarna:Group (Dominion) can be treated as Pacts
• Descendants that are Incarna: Time (Inertia) are called Events, see Chronoliths, Dark Moments and Never-Time.
• Non-physical Descendants, such as Training or Knowledges can be referred to as Memes. They can be forgotten with time (with the right Handicap)

Descendants Reaction Times

Reaction Times

RTs are calculated almost exactly like Annex RTs and the often just equal to the Boon Reduced (or the average of the roll). These can be modified by Umbrals and Nimbeds as well. Additionally your Referee may set minimum RTs for certain sized Props.

All RTs are guidelines however, your Referee may decide that everything that isn’t a character’s Annex should have greater RTs (perhaps adding these numbers or those from GRT), or then again may decide that he doesn’t fancy penalizing those giant Anime weapons.

Global Reaction Times

The GRT for a descendant is normally equal to the GRT for that type of Annex, but the physical size of a Descendant is also important. You cannot make a huge great axe as fast as a dagger no matter what you do, so the physical size also affects the GRT. This means it is often better to make your larger items more powerful…

GRT is also somewhat related to the RT of the Annex, the GRT of a Descendant must be at least equal to the highest RT that it has Double Reduced. So if you take additional RT and end up with an RT of 24 that means the Descendant must have a GRT of at least 2.

How GRT works for Descendants

For Descendants the GRT acts only on the Descendant it does not stop the Character from acting, but does stop them from using the Descendant again (not even Sub-Annexes may be accessed).

Buying Descendants

Characters can buy Descendants in a number of different ways. These reflect different ways of playing the game and modelling things like Millionaire Playboy Annexes and the like.

1. Pay the Cost. This is what happens when most of us walk into a shop and make a big purchase. We usually spend our Sway making purchases of TVs, cars, houses and that sort of stuff. Grunts (and Goblins) can generally only spend their Yin and Yang to make purchases, but everyone else can spend Chi as well. Most purchases are made instantly, but you might have a postal delay or a cooling off period before you receive your Descendant, that reduces the Cost (see below).
2. Summoning Roll. Okay, its called a Summoning roll because it was developed originally for Mages to call in Spirits and Elementals, but the mechanic applies to anything from a “Pickpocket” roll to a “Bags of Money” roll to throw cash at a shop. You simply have to roll double the cost and you’ve summoned, nicked or purchased the item. You can even use it to craft something if you want. Its worth noting that most Summoning Rolls happen instantly and then Costs may be doubled, if it takes a while to reach you in the post that may be reduced (see Costing a Descendant)
3. A Craft Ordeal. Again, while its called a Craft Ordeal, in actual fact any creation can be modelled this way (especially combat summoning or conjuration). The Craft Ordeal method usually requires a certain number of stages be completed successfully, often the Cost Reduced (or even Double Reduced although the Stakes get higher), but Refs can set this as they like. Cruel Refs can make you collect Pips equal to the Cost instead or if particularly evil as well. Craft Ordeals always have Craft Duration that reduces the Cost (see below)

Costing Descendants

or how much is that sword going to set my Character back?

Descendants are essentially a collection of Proficiencies and a Boon. Because of this it can be hard to work out costs immediately without some guidelines. Also it should be noted that Referees may wish to adjust costs to some other method in their own game for some reason.

Base Costs

The cheapest way that Descendants can be purchased is simply to use the standard cost for that type of Descendant. 

Using this method the simple sword noted above would have a cost of 2 Chi. 

However, that cost ignores the Boon of the Annex. A 1d6 (Boon 10) short sword would cost the exact same as a 4d6 (Boon 74) Lance. For this reason the Boon must also be purchased by the Character buying it.

This makes the Cost of a 1d6 {10} (K:T) {+2} short sword = 12 Chi RT 3 GRT 0 where as the 4d6 {74} (K:T) {+2} Lance = 76 Chi RT 14 GRT 0 whic is a much more expensive proposition. 

Handicaps

Some Descendants have a Handicap to reflect things like being unweildy, fragile, heavy, having to be plugged in, etc. Normally these Handicaps are Nuisance Handicaps at best but the ferocity of the Handicap is based on the users Facets. The Handicaps behave slightly differently on Descendants than on Characters as noted here.

*Infectious Handicaps try to spread to others. This occurs when the Handicap Triggers. The Handicap will act like a Psychology test, trying to infect others by drawing a Mortal wound or higher. Normally only a single card is used (Facet test), but multiple Social Handicaps stack their infections.

So to bring the cost of the Lance down by 10, we might add a “Huge” x 10/3/1 Requirements Handicap. It requires 1 proficiency (“Spears”, “Pointy weapons”, “Two-handed weapons” for example), and for some users might require 3 hours practice a week or even a Gossamer/Trial Facet or “Jousting” Annex (or similar) of Boon 10+. Failure to meet these requirements will automatically trigger the “Huge” Handicap (giving all the normal -10/discard a card of at least 3 Pips and +3 RT) every time the Lance is used.

Talent Descendants

Talents (and Powers etc) differ from Skills in that they include Umbrals and Nimbeds. Umbrals and Nimbeds both add an additional Proficiency to the Annex (which must be paid for with a +1 cost each). Nimbeds Boons are then added and Umbrals subtracted. There must be one Umbral for every two Nimbeds in all Descendants (except Super-Skill). Talents are limited in the number of Umbral and Nimbeds as if the Descendant was the Character’s own Talent (Number of Handicaps Reduced)

Example Talent Descendant: A Long sword (I:BI:T){+5} 1d8(4){15} B: Umb: Sp: Slow +3 RT{+1-10}, I: Nim: Relative Motion +1 Success Level {+1+13} = 25 Chi RT: 7 GRT 1

The Talent Longsword could be further reduced in cost by adding a Handicap, but 25 Chi as a Base seems reasonable.

Sub-Annexes

It is possible that you might want to add an extra Skill to a Talent Descendant. A Descendant may have as many Sub-Annexes as the Master Annex Boon Reduced. So the Talent Long sword we looked at could have up to 4 Sub-Annexes.

For example you might add a Parry Skill to that Long sword (giving the Descendant an ability to defend as though the Skill were Armour).

We add this Skill by modifying the original sword to add the “Sub-Annex”. To do that we have to cost the Sub-Annex. Sub-Annex Boons are reduced, including Umbral and Nimbed Boons.

Parry (R:T){+2} 1d6+1(4){4} =6 Chi RT:4 GRT:0

So the Talent Long sword could look like this

Long sword (I:BI:T){+5} 1d8(4){+15} B:U:Sp: Slow +3 RT{+1-10}, I: Nim: Relative Motion +1 Success Level {+1+13} = RT:7 GRT 1
Parry (R:T){+2} 1d6+1(4){4} = RT:4 GRT:0
Base Cost= 31 Chi

Restricting Sub-Annexes

To avoid a situation where a Sub-Annex is overpowered compared to it’s Master Annex there is a hard limit built into the system. No Sub-Annex may have a cost greater than the Maximum Roll of it’s Master Boon Die. The Talent Long sword may have no Skill Sub-Annex with a cost greater than 8. That means the Maximum Boon of any Sub-Annex would be Boon 25.

Power and Super-Skill Descendants

Power Descendants and Super-Skill Descendants are just larger more expensive versions of the Talent Descendant. Power Descendants may have Talent and Skill Sub-Annexes. Again the limit to the number of Sub-Annexes is the Master Annex Boon reduced. 

Power Descendants are also limited by their creator’s ability in the number of Umbrals and Nimbeds exactly like a Character Annex. So if a character has five Handicaps  then their Power Descendant may have 2 Umbrals and 3 Nimbeds.  

Super-Skill Descendants are exactly similar (although more expensive because they don’t generally have any Umbrals). Here’s an Example:

Magnificent Longsword (I:T){+12}: 1d8(4){15}, I: Nim: Expand: causes motion 10/3 metres {+1+10}, I: Nim: Focus: Relative Motion, +1 Success Level{+1+10}, I: Nim: Reward: Time: Target GRT +2 {+1+10}, I: Nim: Trick: Momentum, any Spade with Pips<6 may add directly to the Pips of the card it is attacking with{+1+10}. T:N:F: Competition, any time you can match an Ordeal card played against you in Pips you may Draw and Play an additional card {+1+5}, T:N:E: Any time the Annex Wounds a Target (or their Descendants) immediately pull and play an additional Card {+1+5}, T:N:R: Peace of mind, (Gain 5 Chi if the Annex succeeds){+1+5}, T:N:T: Spades Flush, anytime the Annex plays more than one Spade all Spades are one Level higher.{+1+5} RT 4GRT 3
Parry (R:BR:T){+5} 1d6+1(4){4} B:U:Sp:Slow +2 RT{+1-2},R:N:E:Passive 2 cards {+1+2} RT 6 GRT 1
Jab (K:T){+2} 1d6(3){3} RT 3 GRT 0
Slash (I:T){+2} 1d8(4){4} RT 4 GRT 0
Hack (T:T){+2} 1d6(3){3} RT 3 GRT 0
Base Cost=12+15+1+10+1+10+1+10+1+10+1+5+1+5+1+5+1+5+5+4+1-2+1+2+2+3+2+4+2+3=122 Chi

Modifying the Base Cost

Okay so you’ve calculated the Base Cost and are thinking “Great! I can build that Cybernetic Tyrannosaurus with lasers in its fricking eyes!” Well hold on there Tex, the Ref might have a little something to say about that…

Depending upon how common the Descendant is and how often a craftsman has made one of these items, the Ref will modify the Base Cost. Also if you are trying to buy a beat up old war surplus Cyber-Saurus-LFE then that’s going to be a lot cheaper than if most people are still smashing rocks together to make Axes.

So in a true medieval world a Skill Descendant Long sword is Uncommon (most people don’t own one) and has a Base Cost of 12 Chi so that’s a modified cost of 12×2 = 24 Chi per sword. This is the cost for purchasing a  sword from a weapon smith, however if you are a member of the City-guard then a sword is provided by the Council for a cost of 12 Chi. In an armoury you might even find rusty old swords for 4 Chi or just Old ones for 8.

This applies on the individual summoning and creation rolls as well. A Blacksmith who has never seen a sword has a modified cost of 59 (59 is the value of Boon 12). If he had seen one before the cost would be 12×3= 36 Chi. If he’s seen one being made (like most apprentices) the cost would be the (standard) 24. After he’s made that first one the Cost drops to 12, after bashing out a few more he is knocking them out for 8 Chi. After learning how to streamline production and with years of practice he could produce a new (Skill) long sword for only 4 Chi. The same would apply for a wizard summoning a sword into existence. To develop the spell and do it the first time is Difficulty 118, but eventually the wizard can knock them out for Diff 8.

Creation Time

The way the system works creating or purchasing a Descendant takes a certain amount of time. Look up the Chi cost of the Descendant and this will tell you the normal Creation Time.

So making a Long sword with a base cost of 12 takes the Smith or Wizard 8-24 hours (about a day) of work to complete. Going and purchasing a Sword instantly will actually cost twice that in Chi (as you must spend time to decrease the Creation Time or wait the one day cooling off period). Simply add the Chi cost for how much you wish to reduce the Creation Time to the Cost you are paying. Paying +11 Chi would reduce the waiting time to a single action.

Taking Your Time

Whenever you are creating, summoning or purchasing a Descendant you may elect to take extra time. First you need to know the normal Creation Time (for the long sword it’s a day). Then you may reduce the cost by taking extra time. So if the Smith decides to take two days instead of one then he will reduce the cost by 12 Chi. However taking your time can never reduce the cost to less than the minimum for that Descendant type (taking his time can never reduce the cost for the Talent Long sword below 5 Chi).

Further Reducing Costs

You can reduce the Base Cost by sacrificing other Descendants e.g. A mage who takes a Knife (Base Cost 8) could magically create a sword (Base Cost 12) from it. The Base cost of the Knife is reduced and taken from that Knife’s Base Cost (8-3 =5) which is then used to reduce the Base cost of the Sword (12-5=7). However the Mage has never made a sword before and (is trying to do it instantly) so the Modified Cost is 26 (value of 7). This would also allow a Blacksmith to decrease the difficulty. If the Blacksmith wanted to create Common Knives from a Longsword this would look like this: (12-4=8). The knife has a Base cost of 8 so making one knife from even an old battered Sword is free.

Summoning/Creating multiple targets.

There are two methods of calculating the cost of creating multiple descendants.

1. Craft Method. Each sword costs the same time and effort to make. This increases the diff by +3 per additional target. Creating 20 swords is +60 to the difficulty (+30 Chi). This is generally the method during designing or researching a new Descendant. The time required to complete the job is simply multiplied by the number to be produced, since a simple sword takes a day 20 swords should take 20 days.

2. Factory Method. By division of labour, separation of tasks and similar tricks (magical duplication, etc) you can use the Sway Table number of Targets cost instead.

   No. of Targets	Chi
   1	+1
   <5	+2
   <14	+5
   <52	+8
   <100	+12
   <500	+16
   <1,000	+21
   <2,000	+26
   <4,000	+32
   <7,000	+38
   <10,000	+45
   <25,000	+51
   <100,000	+59
   <300,000	+66
   <500,000	+74
   <1,000,000	+83
   <2,000,000	+92
   <5,000,000	+101
   <50,000,000	+111
   <100,000,000	+121
   <1,000,000,000	+131
   <5,000,000,000	+142
   <20,000,000,000	+153
   <100,000,000,000	+165
   <1,000,000,000,000	+177
   <1,000,000,000,000,000	+190
   1,000,000,000,000,000+	+203
   Almost all	+216
   All bar one	+230
   All	+244
   All and all their alternates	+259
   Everything	+11932

   This method can only be performed by groups of craftsman or a craftsman who is very well practised in creating the Descendant. Creating 20 swords would only add +8 to the Cost (and you could actually create up to 51 swords for the same cost). This is the usual way of reducing costs for guilds, shops and so on (assuming your PCs wanted to run a shop). This also affects the time taken similarly, so making 51 swords via the factory method would take the weapons-smiths Guild 10+8 = 18 Chi = up to 7 days

Creation / Summoning Ordeals for Refs

When using an Ordeal for creation we move from a dice-roll to card play for the creation. Summoning can be done with a roll at anytime (even in another Ordeal), or can be treated as a Summoning Ordeal.

Difficulties with cards are calculated from the Modified Cost. During the Ordeal the Character must accumulate Pips to beat a difficulty equal to the Modified Cost (including any Chi modifying the Creation Time). The number of Stages is calculated from the Base Cost. Depending on the processes and complexity The Ref may use choose the Base Cost, Base Cost x2 Reduced, Base Cost Reduced or even Base Cost Double Reduced.

Creation Ordeals are usually Low or Medium Stakes, although it may be possible to Craft a weapon during a battle, it would have to be a simple one or have easily assembled components. Low stakes are usually essential for Prototype development, but that might rise to Medium or even High Stakes during a war or similar crisis. So a Character may be able to assemble/find a machine gun in a modern military armoury, with a Phase or two of searching and building, but they’d never build one from scratch during a desert conflict, but might be able to fill a sock full of sand to make a cheap flail, with a card or two.

Summoning Ordeals may be any Stakes, depending on exactly what is being summoned. It is not unusual for Mages (whether actually magical or just ridiculously well tooled up gadget heroes) to pull out all sorts of Descendants. Magical darts, flaming longswords, or bat-shaped shuriken, can all be summoned in combat by just meeting the modified cost in Pips. Generally during Summoning Ordeals the Summoning Stages may be ignored, but if they are required then feel free to include Stages such as drawing protective circles, assembling firewalls, sterilizing equipment, tidying the room, opening the third eye, brainstorming, prepping the patient, coding, invoking the spirits, and closing the gate/wounds, as appropriate.

Some sample Descendants.