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Transformation artwork

Adapt to survive; this is a fundamental rule of the universe. Each new sunrise brings with it the chaos of infinite possibilities: your closest friend could betray you; nations could rise or fall; a new discovery could revolutionize our understanding of the universe. You could either futilely cling to the old ways as the future renders you obsolete, or you can adapt, evolve, and transform yourself to thrive in this new world. Shifters embrace the chaos of change. When they gaze into tomorrow, they imagine the countless possibilities of what they could become: king, assassin, lover, hero, villain -- everything and anything. These shifters understand that chaos flows both ways. The future has the power to change us, but we also have the power to change the future. Are you strong enough to change the world?

Examples of Transformation characters include:

Transformation

Clone

(Transformation | Combat)

Effects
  • You can create a clone of yourself that's a separate character you control. Collaborate on how this trait works
  • Descriptions
  • splitting in half
  • popping into existence next to yourself
  • growing a clone in a tube
  • self-replicating
  • Examples
    How it Works
  • you have to grow your clones in a lab
  • they're treacherous
  • the process gives you a condition
  • Doppelganger

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • Write your personal XP total on your character sheet. When you kill a creature, you can have the GM give you their character sheet. You become identical to them in every way and use their character sheet. Transfer your gear, personal XP, and this trait to the new character sheet. If your new character sheet has more XP than your personal XP, gain a condition that you can't remove until you change character sheets. You an return to your original sheet at any point, but you forever lose the stolen character sheet
  • Descriptions
  • stealing their whole identity
  • changing your form
  • absorbing their essence
  • changing skin
  • Evolve

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • When you retrain, you can lose a stat, trait, or upgrade to refund all of the XP you spent to purchase it. Spend that XP however you like
  • Descriptions
  • adapting to the environment
  • growing from your experiences
  • incorporating foreign dna
  • Mimic

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • When you see a creature use a trait, you can gain that trait (max 1) as a temporary trait for several hours
  • Descriptions
  • copying whatever they do
  • assimilating their dna
  • reactively adapting
  • evolving
  • changing your soul
  • Morph Item

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • You can replace 1 item trait on an object you're touching with a different trait
  • Descriptions
  • adapting to your weapon
  • bending the wood and metal
  • transforming it into an entirely new item
  • Polymorph

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • You can change a willing or defeated creature into a different creature. They refund all of their XP, which slowly returns over a few days or weeks. They can spend it however they want to suit their new form
  • Descriptions
  • hexing them with dark magic
  • reshaping skin and bones
  • mutating them
  • reweaving their souls
  • Regenerate

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • You heal about twice as fast as normal. Also, you heal things that are otherwise unhealable
  • Descriptions
  • wounds spontaneously closing
  • regrowing an arm
  • stitching your flesh together
  • magically healing
  • Examples
    Unhealable Things
  • amputated hand
  • lost eye
  • missing teeth
  • burn scars
  • tumorous growths
  • paralysis
  • Shapeshift

    (Transformation | Combat)

    Effects
  • Create a second character sheet that always has the same XP as your main character. You can shift forms, changing character sheets in the process. Keep your conditions, marked boxes, and gear. Collaborate on how this trait works
  • Descriptions
  • twisting and reshaping your skin
  • rapidly evolving
  • switching places with your shadow
  • Examples
    How it Works
  • you can't control when you transform
  • your alternate form is bloodthirsty
  • shifting drains you
  • Alter Size

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • You can change your size for a few hours. Collaborate on how much you can change your size
  • Descriptions
  • warping space around you
  • accelerating your metabolism
  • harnessing your titan blood
  • Chameleon Skin

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • If you're perfectly motionless, you're invisible
  • Descriptions
  • surrounding yourself in an illusion
  • changing your skin color
  • becoming transparent
  • Chaos Theory

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • You can do something mundane to being a chain of events (max 1). Every 30 minutes or so (real-time), the next player to the left rolls to determine how the chain of events escalates. Good Tales make the chain better; Bad Tales make the chain worse. At any point, you can make a final roll to end the chain of events
  • Descriptions
  • manipulating events
  • embracing the random chaos of the universe
  • relying on pure luck
  • Examples
    Begin the Chain
  • pet a dog
  • give a beggar a gold coin
  • drop a nail
  • fire an arrow randomly into the distance
  • End the Chain
  • help arrives
  • something explodes
  • someone dies
  • a building collapses
  • a war starts
  • Clay Body

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • Your body can be malleable like clay or rubber
  • Descriptions
  • stretching your muscles
  • popping your bones out of joint
  • becoming like clay or water
  • bending
  • Examples
    Things You Can Do
  • squeeze through a keyhole
  • reach a distant item
  • pull your hands out of manacles
  • Perfect Replica

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • You can spend materials to create a perfect duplicate of an item
  • Descriptions
  • casting a flawless illusion
  • crafting something with pure artistry
  • creating a magic replica
  • Examples
    Materials
  • whatever the original item was made of
  • wood
  • steel
  • textiles
  • earth and stone
  • magic dust
  • Shape Flesh

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • You can transform into an object or back to your original form. While you're an object, you retain your senses and you can't act except to use this trait
  • Descriptions
  • morphing
  • changing your skin
  • warping reality
  • transferring your soul to a physical vessel
  • Transmute

    (Transformation | Exploration)

    Effects
  • You can change an object's properties, or change an object into a similar object
  • Descriptions
  • morphing
  • changing physics
  • warping reality
  • rearranging molecules
  • transmuting elements
  • Examples
    Properties
  • hardness
  • transparency
  • weight
  • density
  • color
  • smell
  • texture
  • size
  • conductivity
  • buoyancy
  • Similar Objects
  • sand into stone
  • coal into oil
  • wood into paper
  • ore into ingots
  • seawater into fresh water
  • A Thousand Masks

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • You can change your appearance to another similarly sized creature. Collaborate on how this trait works
  • Descriptions
  • putting on a perfect disguise
  • changing bodies
  • morphing your phase
  • creating an illusion
  • Examples
    How it Works
  • you must have touched them before
  • you leave a telltale flaw
  • you can't sustain it for long
  • Change of Heart

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • You can reverse part of a creature's personality for several hours
  • Descriptions
  • warping their mind
  • inverting brain waves
  • reversing the polarity
  • changing their alignment
  • Examples
    Reverses
  • trust into mistrust
  • hate into love
  • curiosity into disinterest,lawfulness into lawlessness
  • Cosmic Trade

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • You can permanently trade parts of yourself with a willing creature
  • Descriptions
  • switching parts of your souls
  • swapping body parts
  • changing bodies
  • reshaping realities
  • Examples
    Trade
  • faces
  • bodies
  • stats
  • traits
  • personalities
  • minds
  • destinies
  • traits
  • conditions
  • beauty for brains
  • Gestalt

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • You can fuse with other willing creatures and become a single entity with all of your combined strengths and weaknesses. Collaborate on what this entails. This ends when any participant wants out
  • Descriptions
  • fusing with gem magic
  • absorbing their bodies
  • initiating morphing time
  • forming the head
  • Examples
    Entails
  • takes less damage
  • gain access to all traits
  • grow in size
  • use the highest stats from each person
  • It Was Me All Along!

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • If nobody knows where you are, you can reveal that an unimportant NPC was secretly you all along
  • Descriptions
  • pulling back your hood
  • taking off your mask
  • morphing to your true form
  • staging a grand reveal
  • Takes One to Know One

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • While you are impersonating someone, the GM must answer all of your questions about your role's mannerisms, habits, and knowledge if the answers would help your perform that role. Explain how you know this information
  • Descriptions
  • copying body language perfectly
  • creating a flawless disguise
  • studying your mark
  • acting
  • The Curse

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • Collaborate on how you curse others. When you curse someone, refund half of their XP. Change their aesthetics and spend their XP however you like to make them more like you. Their disposition toward you significantly improves
  • Descriptions
  • infecting their bloodstream
  • hexing them with magic
  • leaving a mark on their skin
  • cursing them
  • Examples
    Spread By
  • draining their blood
  • biting them
  • giving them a parasite
  • performing a tribal ritual
  • Transform Into
  • vampire
  • werewolf
  • zombie
  • ghost
  • horrific old one
  • assimilated insectoid
  • dron
  • Transcendent Voice

    (Transformation | Interaction)

    Effects
  • You can perfectly replicate any sound you've heard before, including volume
  • Descriptions
  • perfectly mimicking a sound
  • recording a sound in your mind
  • transforming your vocal chords

  • © 2023-2023

    studioKeywi

    Distances

    Touch

    Physical contact and adjacent spaces

    Near

    Several steps, or 3 spaces

    Close

    A room, or 5 spaces

    Far

    A building, or 10 spaces

    Very Far

    Several buildings, or 20+ spaces

    Keywords

    Bolster

    Players can spend their bolsters to increase a related roll. The GM can spend bolsters to make a PC decrease a related roll. Unspent bolsters eventually expire.

    Refer to Chapter 2 of the rules for more about increasing/decreasing rolls

    Collaborate

    Traits that tell you to collaborate are intentionally vague and ambiguous. Work with the GM to create a balanced and thematically appropriate effect. Collaborations should be an ongoing process. For example, you may discover that an effect is too strong or weak after a few sessions, so you and the GM should rebalance the effect

    Condition

    A condition is anything that temporarily affects your capabilities or status.

    Refer to Chapter 3 of the rules for more about conditions

    Defense

    Defenses make you more resilient during Challenges. Defenses grant one or more boxes, which function the same as Challenge Number boxes. However, defenses have unique requirements that allow you to mark them only in specific situations

    Minion

    A minion is a creature that serves another creature through a contract.

    Refer to Chapter 7 of the rules for more about minions

    Shrine

    A shrine is a divine conduit that allows a specific deity or set of deities to affect the mortal world.

    Refer to the Faith theme of the rules for more about shrines

    Temporary Item Trait

    A temporary item trait is any item trait that you did not spend XP to acquire. Temporary item traits come from a variety of source: magic items, potions, spells, etc. They're free and don't affect the XP cost of buying other item traits. You can't upgrade temporary item traits

    Temporary Trait

    A temporary trait is any that you did not spend XP to acquire. Temporary traits come from a variety of source: magic items, potions, spells, etc. They're free and don't affect the XP cost of buying other traits. You can't upgrade temporary traits

    Worldbuild

    Worldbuilding a collaborative process wherin the players and the GM work together to create something about the game world. One person is in charge of the worldbuilding event, and the other players support that player.

    Refer to Chapter 6 of the rules for more about world building

    Zone

    A zone is an area of effect. If a trait affects a zone, collaborate on logically fitting zones that you can create with that trait, and write them into your trait. Example zones:
    Blast: An explosion that affects one space and adjacent spaces. Blast attacks can be melee or ranged.
    Cone: A 90° cone that extends out to a Close distance. Cone attacks are considered to be melee.
    Line: This is a line of spaces that extends out to a Far distance. Line attacks are considered to be ranged.

    About

    Tavern Tales Toolkit 0.0.1-alpha-5

    Based on the Kickstarter 1.0.1 version of Tavern Tales with minor modifications

    Modifications

    • Metamagic has been renamed Augment and moved from Arcane traits into General traits
    Tavern Tales, the Tavern Tales logo, and any other associated artwork were orginally © 2014-2017 by Dabney Bailey, and has since been released under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license

    Links

    Tavern Tales KS 1.0.1 on Fandom Tavern Tales Discord