Question: I was wondering, in regards to the purview avatars, how would a god look when using one of them? Do they suffer any physical changes?
Hell, yes, they suffer physical changes!
Purview Avatars are the big ones: they are the final end of the road, the Ultimate Cosmic Powers of the gods over their chosen areas of influence, the things that set apart a god who dabbles in rain and wind occasionally from the Storm as personified by Zeus or Thor. When a goddess uses an Avatar, she's not just using a power that lets her win at whatever she's doing, but rather taking on the mantle of ultimate divine power and utter personification of the part of the universe to which she now belongs.
When you use a purview Avatar, you are the one in charge of the scene - not the Storyteller, who as Fate normally runs the show, but you, who has turned yourself into such a colossal and nigh-uncontrollable force that your powers within that sphere are limitless and can be used in any way you see fit. That includes what you look like; you can appear as literally anything you want to while you are using your purview Avatar, and nobody's going to say boo about it. Blow The Green and appear as a massive tree in motion, as a being whose every hair is a plant that roots into the world, as a god who pours sweet nectar and honey and wine from every pore. Pop The Sentinel and appear as a towering armored defender, as an invisible forcefield that prevents all attacks, as an impenetrable mountainside that surrounds the people you protect. Pop The Trickster and appear as literally anything in the universe you want, with no penalties and no mechanics. You are becoming the living embodiment of the idea that your purview represents. You get to look the part.
Obviously, you can't take on your Avatar by appearing as something totally inappropriate; if you try to become The Devourer and turn yourself into a cascading waterfall, we're going to tell you no because that's stupid, and you're supposed to be embodying the exact opposite element right now, you jerk (also, why? there are way cheaper ways to shapeshift, my friend!). But if you turn into a cascading waterfall of molten fiery lava, hell yes, do whatever you want. Avatars are not meant to be used as easy shapeshifting powers, and for the cost in Legend, Fatebonds and exhaustion they're definitely not worth it to be used that way. But they do show you literally becoming your purview, and whatever you think that should look like is the way to go.
As usual, just a friendly reminder that we haven't yet rewritten the Avatars and Ultimates system, so there may be more codified rules for this in the future (or not. I don't have Prophecy). But for now, the limit is almost literally your imagination.
Would the Poseidon boss fight in God of War III be an example of an Avatar form?
ReplyDeleteI definitely love the visual there, especially the water-horses (so Poseidon!). Of course, he'd be able to do a lot more in Avatar form than just punch at someone, but visually I think it's a good match. :)
Deletebehold the glory, a mile high figure in golden armor with the sun for a head, holding a lance of sun fire on one hand and a corona shield in the other. His healing rays restore his allies as they burn his enemies to ash. He spreads his light to the four corners of the earth.
ReplyDeleteEpic!
DeleteBehold the Beast, uncontested Lord of all Animals. Mercurial, it's gaze promising a succesfull hunt. All fauna kneels before it, for running is futile. Feline graze, the bloodthirst of the shark, the strength of the bear; All those it encompasses. By land, in the air, in the sea, in the ground and in the canopies: nowehere is safe if this predator chooses you as prey.
ReplyDeleteAwesome for a predatory animal, but remember that there are lots of kinds of animals and not everybody's Beast is going to be a meat-eater. Someone like Hathor, for example, would probably have a very different Beast expression.
DeleteYeah, I know. This was kinda the idea how one day my predatory (started out with Jaguar, but will get Protean understanding) God will one day look when he pops the beast. Or at least a good description how it should... feel? If that makes sense? Poseidon and Hathor will look different then Tezca when they pop the Beast. *shrug*
DeleteLook different, definitely, but also feel different. Protean Understanding or not, they're aligned with animals that should appear badass in other ways.
DeleteSo... something like: "The hide of the Beast is thicker than mountains, its feet shaking the earth like thunder. All the World is its grazing ground, every living thing its children, all that are born and die in the circle of life remembered as individual cells of its body. The Beast is in every forest and beneath every sea, its wingspan blotting out the sun, its breath the sound of a rumbling stampede. Every secret of nature lurks in the depths of its unfathomable eyes, and every creature pays homage as it passes."
Or, you know, like that, it's early and I'm not very poetic yet. I love yours, too, though! Just pointing out that every Avatar is different based on the person doing it and what they're about, and that herbivorous animal gods get the short end in the original Beast writeup. :)
Behold the beast (cow). Her hide is as thick as the mountains, her udder blots out the sun. She devours entire forests yet will eat no flesh. Her lowing shakes the sky's and from her udders flow rivers of milk. Her immovable bulk can block a titans path and a small strip of her hide can feed the whole of the world.
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
DeleteI figure that your rewrite will address the Avatars in the RAW, but will it also address the avatars for the fan-created purviews written since Scion's creation? What i'm basically asking is if this rewrite will tackle the rules for individual avatars or if this is a sort of "Grand Unified Theory of Purviews" sort of rewrite.
ReplyDeleteHmm. While I don't think we were planning on writing an Avatar "template", hopefully if we do several of them, that'll give a pretty good idea of the kind of model we're using. Guidelines rather than specifically addressing Avatars we don't use. :)
DeleteDo plan to make each aspect of the avatars a different set of mechanics (i.e. give the Flood separate rules for Destruction vs. Inspiration., different mechanics for rocks vs. soil in the Earth Purview) or will the avatars be more based on the regular purview rules?
DeleteNot sure yet. It's going to be a very big project, and we want the Avatars to retain that feel of the player becoming the Storyteller for short periods of time, so we don't want to bog things down with to many concrete mechanics.
Delete