Acts of Power

By channelling the nature and understanding of their class into their actions, characters may perform actions which affect the space around them on a metaphysical level. This is known as an Act of Power. All characters have some number of Acts of Power they may perform per adventure, initially this is 0, and it may never exceed 2.

To perform an Act of Power, a player tells a GM what sort of effect they are trying to achieve (calling Time Freeze if necessary). This may be a mechanical effect, or something more prosaic. If it is appropriate for their class and the Act of Power level, it comes to pass. The scope of an Act of Power will tend to be somewhat less impressive when used as an emergency measure in combat than when used with plenty of preparation time towards a grander goal.

Acts of Power come in 3 levels, where one character may combine multiple uses of Acts of Power to achieve the higher levels:

1. Lesser - This level of Act of Power can mechanically provide an advantage which can turn the tide of battle, or make a lasting change to the location the character is currently in.
2. Greater - An Act of Power of this level will provide a significant mechanical boost to the user which makes victory in an encounter substantially more likely but not guaranteed, or can be used to make large scale lasting changes.
3. Epic - If used on something mechanical, it will typically provide enough of a buff to pretty much guarantee that the current encounter is won. Otherwise, it can produce world-changing effects.

Multiple characters may not combine their Acts of Power into one, though multiple Acts of Power may potentially be used sequentially to produce a combined effect.

A character may also sacrifice themself to pour their very self into performing an Act of Power, allowing the use of one beyond what they would otherwise be able to perform. Doing so comes at the cost of their own life, and it is not then possible to recover them in any way. Coupled with the limit of 2 Acts of Power above, this means it is only possible to achieve an Epic Act of Power through sacrificing oneself. Note that there is no such thing as a level 4 or higher Act of Power.

A character on their death count may sacrifice themselves to perform an encounter scope act of power though given the rushed nature of things can't do anything grand and far reaching whilst bleeding out. This will always come with a HEAL and the death will be deferred to the end of the encounter.

Example acts of power scopes will be included in classes at a later date