Creating a Typical Follower[]
You can recruit followers as you encounter them in your journeys. But you can also create a character sheet for a follower from your town you just happen to be able to recruit.
You start by coming up with a concept for the character and figure out what development fits it best. Warriors, guards, and police usually come from the military development. Assassins, thieves, scouts, spies, and the like usually come from the underworld development. Artists, speakers, diplomats, bureaucrats, leaders, women of negotiable affection, and writers usually are part of the culture development. Laborers, merchants, traders, craftsmen, bartenders, and anyone who provides goods or services comes under the economy section. Finally, researchers, scholars, healers, academics, and magic users are under the education development.
You can recruit the follower by paying them resources equal to their level. And their level when you purchase them can't be any higher than the rating of the development from which they come. The resources would be something the follower would be interested in, usually treasure.
Followers get a number of gifts equal to their level.
Creating a Champion[]
A key part of your interactions within the world will be your champion. Champions are stronger than any mortal and have a number of abilities. Champions are legendary. Imagine the deeds done by Gilgamesh, Hercules, Son Goku, and demigods of any mythology. Your champion will likely go on to do many deeds such as these.
Like all of your followers, your champion rolls its skill plus your archon's aspect to perform any actions. So if your archon isn't very skilled in stealth a thief/assassin as a champion would not be particularly effective. Your champion should be the greatest follower of your archon, and so he will strive to carry out that archon's ideals, maybe with a few slight variations. In fact, all of your archon's followers will agree more or less with that archon's ideals, because that's why they're followers.
When building a champion, think big. She won't be a mercenary, she'll be the leader of an army. He won't be a merchant, he'll be the king of merchants, owning a merchant fleet and a guild. She won't be a petty crook, she'll be one of the greatest thieves and assassins that ever lived. Oh, the champion might not start out that way. But champions will become the heroes or villains of their time, their abilities far beyond what mortals are capable of. So if your plan is to accomplish small deeds on a very local scale, think bigger.
You'll want to come up with 3 deeds your character has done in the past. Maybe defeating a monster, winning a war, losing a war, spending a year at the top of a mountain in complete silence meditating on the virtue of power, or something else entirely. You'll also want to give your champion a goal, something material they strive to accomplish. You can work this out with your GM or come up with it on your own, but characters without a driving passion are boring.
Your champion gets 40 points to divide among skills, listed here. The rating of a skill determines how many points it costs. A champion of any race may raise its skills up to 5, or 6 if it is human. Other races get a different special ability as befits their nature. So a champion can spend 3 skill points to get melee at 3, or 5 to get it at 5, or only 2 to get it to 2. Consult the list of skills for more information.
Champions have a level equal to one tenth their total amount of skill points, rounded up, meaning they start at level 4. This level affects a few things, but for champions it allows them a number of gifts equal to their level.
Champion Benefits[]
Champions start with up to the archon's lore aspect in spells, which they must invest at least 1 skill point in each. Spells are bought up just like skills.
Furthermore, champions are given superhuman powers as a benefit of the archon they serve. These bonuses are based on the archon's aspects, and raising those aspects will raise the associated benefit to that champion.
Combat: The champion gets one point of extra health for each point of combat rating the archon possesses. Any time the champion takes damage, a point of health is expended. The champion cannot be injured until health is exhausted.
Stealth: The champion gets one point of shadow for each point of stealth rating the archon possesses. Champions can expend a point of shadow to stay concealed while performing actions stealthily that would normally be easily noticeable.
Charisma: The champion gets one point of attitude buffer for each point of charisma rating the archon possesses.
Labor: The champion may carry one additional tool for each point of labor rating the archon possesses. This only affects important tools; a champion may carry many more items that give no mechanical bonus.
Lore: The champion gets one point of vim for each point of lore rating the archon possesses. A champion may expend a point of vim to cast a spell he or she has already cast. Alternatively, a champion may use an additional enchanted item, but while that item is held in the champion's possession vim is permanently reduced by 1. So a champion with 5 vim who has 3 vim powering enchanted items only has 2 vim left over for spells.
Differences between a Champion and a Normal Follower[]
Champions are followers, but unlike other followers, champions get some special features.
Champions only die temporarily. If they die in the course of a session and are not revived, they may not perform any work actions at the beginning of the next session, but then they are returned to life. Whether they escaped from the underworld, were never really dead, or were brought back by an archon, they return to continue their deeds.
Champions get two standard actions in combat, and two work actions at the beginning of each session; followers get only one. When doing work actions, they must perform two different work actions.
Champions cannot gain experience from leadership the way other followers can, nor may any archon have more than one champion at a given time.
Champions have access to any resources given to the archon, by default.
Creating a Faction[]
Factions are groups of individuals with similar skills and interests who band together. These can be squads of soldiers, groups of laborers, servitors, angry mobs, packs of wolves, monsters under your control, or any other group you want to create.
Factions have a level, but that level is always 1. List 10 skills on their sheet, without a rating. This represents the fact that the average member of the faction has that skill at rating 1. Some have it at rating 2, some don't have it, but it averages out. When acting as a whole, the faction rolls its rating for any skill the faction possesses.
The number of members in a faction corresponds to its rating.
| Members | Rating |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 25 | 3 |
| 100 | 4 |
| 600 | 5 |
| 3,000 | 6 |
| 15,000 | 7 |
This is an approximation; pick a rating close to the rating of the number of members, varied up or down based on the average skill and competence of members.
Factions require upkeep to organize them as well. In most ways, factions work the same as a follower; a rating 3 faction with a skill in melee is as effective in attacking as a follower with 3 points in melee. There is one difference: when a faction is attacked it gets the difference in size between it and the attacking faction as a defensive bonus, with a minimum of 0. So if a rating 2 faction attacks a rating 5 faction, the defending faction gets a +3 bonus to defend. If hit, the faction rating goes down by one until it has time to reconstitute itself (usually a year). This represents approximately 2/5 of the members being killed and another 2/5 retreating or being incapacitated.
Needless to say, when the faction is reduced to rating 0, no one is left in it.
Factions only get 1 gift regardless of rating, as well as their racial trait if composed mostly of the same race. The main way you get get a homogenous group like that is if the majority of your followers are of that race.
Servitors[]
Servitors are the minions of an archon. Normally you will have none in play, but from time to time you may conjure them as need be. God has His angels, Hera her harpies, and others their minions. You may see fit to have servitors to act as your hands, or just to add some wonder to the world.
Stat out servitors as a faction with 10 skills. Given their supernatural origins they usually have monster as their template, rather than any of the other races. Servitors are summoned to the area with a miracle or spell.
Creature[]
A creature is a large, powerful beast that is a match for any champion. Like Hades' Cerberus or Aphrodite's Medusa, a creature is something that can do wondrous or terrible things.
If you have a creature, stat it out as if it were a champion. It grows at the same rate your champion does. Creatures are summoned via miracle or magic, and they show up for a round and then disappear, off on their own tasks.