2nd-Level Features¶
As a 2nd-level troubadour, you gain the following features.
Appeal to the Muses¶
You can give a rousing speech, invoke your inspirations, or lift your fellows' spirits, appealing to the muses to heighten a battle's drama. However, irony is eager to hand your fortune to the villain to achieve the same end.
Before you roll to gain drama at the start of your turn, you can make your appeal (no action required). If you do, your roll gains the following additional effects:
- If the roll is a 1, you gain 1 additional drama. The Director gains 1d3 Malice (see Draw Steel: Monsters).
- If the roll is a 2, you gain 1 Heroic Resource, which you can keep or give to an ally within the distance of your active performance. The Director gains 1 Malice.
- If the roll is a 3, you gain 2 of a Heroic Resource, which you can distribute among yourself and any allies within the distance of your active performance.
Invocation¶
You have a specific manner that helps define your presence on the battlefield. Choose one of the following features.
Allow Me to Introduce Tonight's Players¶
Whenever you take the first turn in a combat encounter, you can use a main action to introduce yourself and your allies to your opponents. Each ally can shift up to their speed, and ability rolls made against them have a double bane until the end of the combat round. Additionally, any surprised enemy is no longer surprised.
Formal Introductions¶
As a respite activity, you can scribe a notice of your arrival (such as a calling card or a formal letter) addressed to an enemy. You can deliver the notice to the target personally if you are in the same general area, send it by courier, or leave it in a covert location for the target to find. You can have only one notice active at a time.
The Director determines when the target receives your notice. When the target receives the notice, they become alarmed and take desperate measures to stop you. The Director gains 1 additional Malice per combat round during encounters involving the target. The heroes start each such encounter with 2 additional hero tokens (Chapter 1: The Basics). These hero tokens disappear at the end of the encounter.
My Reputation Precedes Me¶
You can invoke your reputation at the start of a social interaction with one or more NPCs who haven't met you before, automatically creating a bond with one of those NPCs from that group as if using your Scene Partner feature (above). This bond counts against the limit on active bonds from your Scene Partner feature. While the bond is active, all heroes present treat their Renown as 2 higher than usual for the purpose of entering into a negotiation with the bonded NPC.
The Director can award the heroes 1 hero token to make you infamous among the group of creatures instead, and preventing you from forming this bond. Until you take action to improve your reputation, all heroes present take a bane on tests made to interact with creatures in the group using skills from the interpersonal skill group. You can still use your Scene Partner feature to find allies within the group.
Perk¶
You gain one interpersonal, lore, or supernatural perk of your choice. See Chapter 7: Perks.
2nd-Level Class Act Ability¶
Your troubadour class act grants your choice of one of two heroic abilities.
2nd-Level Auteur Ability¶
Choose one of the following abilities.
Guest Star (5 Drama)¶
We offered them a percentage of the gross. So they're working for free!
| Magic, Ranged | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 Ranged 10 | 🎯 Special |
Effect: A guest star appears to help you during the encounter: either a bystander within distance uplifted by your magic, or a mysterious new hero who appears in an unoccupied space within distance. This guest star is controlled by you, has their own turn, and shares your characteristics. Their Stamina maximum is half yours. They have no abilities other than your melee and ranged free strikes. At the end of the encounter, or when the guest star is reduced to 0 Stamina, they retreat or revert to a bystander. The same bystander can't be uplifted this way more than once during an encounter.
Twist at the End (5 Drama)¶
You didn't see that coming, did you?!
| Magic, Ranged | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 Ranged 10 | 🎯 One dead enemy |
Effect: A target who is not a leader or solo creature comes back to life with half their Stamina and becomes an ally under the Director's control. The players can work with the Director to determine when the target takes their turn each combat round. At the end of the encounter, the target turns to dust and is blown away.
2nd-Level Duelist Ability¶
Choose one of the following abilities.
Classic Chandelier Stunt (5 Drama)¶
Audiences love this bit.
| Melee, Strike, Weapon | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 Melee 1 | 🎯 Self and one willing ally |
Effect: Each target can shift up to 5 squares, including vertically, but must end this movement adjacent to the other target and on solid ground. Each target can then make a melee free strike that deals extra damage equal to twice their highest characteristic score.
En Garde! (5 Drama)¶
Wait, it's... Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Thrust! Ha!
| Melee, Strike, Weapon | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 Melee 1 | 🎯 One creature |
Power Roll + Agility:
- ≤11: 7 + A damage
- 12-16: 11 + A damage
- 17+: 16 + A damage
Effect: The target can make a melee free strike against you. If they do, you can make a melee free strike against the target.
2nd-Level Virtuoso Ability¶
Choose one of the following abilities.
Encore (5 Drama)¶
Again! Again!
| Magic, Strike | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 Special | 🎯 Special |
Effect: You use an ability that you have observed being used this combat round. The ability must have the Strike keyword, cost 5 or fewer of a Heroic Resource, and cost no Malice. When you make the strike, you use your Presence score for any power rolls, and any damage you deal is sonic damage.
Tough Crowd (5 Drama)¶
Your fans don't seem to like the opening act...
| Area, Magic, Ranged | Main action |
|---|---|
| 📏 3 cube within 10 | 🎯 Special |
Effect: The area is haunted by a swirling horde of phantoms until the end of the encounter. Allies can enter any square of the area without spending movement. At the end of each of your turns, you can make one power roll that targets each enemy in the area.
Power Roll + Presence:
- ≤11: 5 corruption damage; M < WEAK, pull 1 toward the center of the area
- 12-16: 9 corruption damage; M < AVERAGE, pull 2 toward the center of the area
- 17+: 12 corruption damage; M < STRONG, pull 3 toward the center of the area