HEROES  ⟩  CALLINGS

Messenger

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  • Requires: Will ✦    
  • Start with:  5 Life, +1 Stamina, ✪ Call Wind     

Messengers wield the magic of the Rephaim by “calling” its fluid motion to their command. This ability gives Messengers tremendous power over the wind itself. Messengers can glide through the air and blast foes with powerful gales. Depending on their lore, Messengers can also control flame, lightning and thunder, and even the Rephaim directly.

The Wind Die

You gain a special action die, the Wind Die. You’ll use your Wind Die for your core ability, ✪ Call Wind. Many other Messenger abilities and spells use the Wind Die. No matter the form of magic, wind carries the message. 

The size of your Wind Die is based on your Will, plus one other attribute of your choice. Choose the secondary attribute and calculate how many sides your Wind Die has:

Will + Secondary Attribute + 4 (rounded down)

Based on your choice of secondary attribute, you might summon the wind by bellowing with the raw force of your mighty lungs (Strength); by stirring the air in a flowing dance (Agility), or by whispering clever and precise incantations (Intellect). You can’t choose Will as your secondary attribute. 

Note your Wind Die on your character sheet separately from your four main action dice, even if it’s built from the same set of components. 

Ask the Guide:

Starting Ability

✪ Call Wind

✦ Will  Take -1 stamina and roll Wind to call the windcurrents of the Skysea to your command. You must come up with the phrase your character bellows to call the wind, which swirls around you in a vortex. You gain wind equal to your roll + your Will. If you hold a shield, subtract 3 from the result (the shield blocks the wind’s flow). The swirling vortex protects you, but it’s not subtle. While you have at least 1 wind: 
  • All melee and ranged projectile attacks against you suffer brace disadvantage.
  • You can’t Hide, and you can’t hear what nearby characters say unless they shout. 
Losing wind. The wind dissipates steadily by the second. At the start of each subsequent turn, you lose 1 wind.Spells. You know three spells as part of this ability: ༄Gale Strike, ༄Ride Wind, and ༄Windwave. You can cast one of these spells—or any other Messenger spell you've learned—immediately after you Call Wind as a free action. 

༄ Ride Wind   |   WIND  1+

The wind propels you. As an action, you leap 1 height into the air.If you Ride Wind up to high ground, you can take a free, nonmagical action after you land. If the high ground is higher than 1 height, you can leap up partway and then take a free climb action. Or you can Ride Wind to leap high above an enemy—and then make a free jump attack. You can also cast this spell as a reaction if you’re about to suffer falling damage (including if your jump attack misses). Cast this way, a cushion of wind protects you from all falling damage, but you don’t rise 1 height. Whether you cast this spell as an action or as a reaction, you must expend more wind if you’re larger or wear heavy armor. The wind cost increases by 1 if: 
  • Your Strength is 3 or higher
  • You have 2 points or more of body armor (including a Shinarian’s natural armor, but not helmets)  

༄ Gale Strike   |   WIND  1

As you cast this spell, make a melee or ranged attack. A blast of wind follows the attack’s motion. If your attack doesn’t miss, make a free Shove brace roll with wind advantage. 

༄ Windwave   |   WIND  2

Make a Shove brace roll with wind advantage against all characters in one direction. The windwave surges a number of spans equal to your Will before dissipating. Characters behind cover aren’t affected.

Messenger Ways

All Messengers practice what is known as the Way of Wind. But depending on your lore, you can learn another set of abilities based on another Way. 

There are three other Ways: Flame, Storm, and Names. You can learn a Way's starting ability with XP, but you must have at least one of the Way's listed lore types.

Way of Flame

Way of Storm

Way of Names

Abilities to Learn 

.5xp new ability  |  10xp with attribute increase

✪ Wind's Grace

✦✧ Agility  As long as you don’t wear heavy armor or hold a shield, you have wind advantage on Maneuver rolls while you Call Wind. 

✪ Wind's Vigilance

✦✦✧ Agility  If you’re attacked, you can take -2 awareness to Call Wind as a free action that interrupts the attack. However, you can’t cast a spell after Calling Wind this way, and you don’t add your Will to your roll.

✪ Wind's Fury

✦✧ Strength  This ability greatly empowers the ༄Gale Strike spell. When you cast ༄Gale Strike as a melee attack: 
  • Your attack can’t be countered.
  • You make the free Shove roll even if the attack misses.
The Shove also targets any characters adjacent to the foe you attack.

✪ Wind's Constitution

✦✦✧ Strength  Gain +2 max Life. 

✪ Call Greater Wind

✦✧ Will  Gain +1 max Stamina and add 1 to the calculation for your Wind die. Additionally, after you cast the Windwave spell, the local wind continues to flow steadily in the direction you cast the spell for about an hour. This residual wind isn't strong enough to be harmful, but it can propel balloons or skyremes quickly across the Skysea—or prevent enemy aircraft from easily approaching your location

✪ Heart of the Skysea

✦✦✧ Will  Gain +1 max Life. When you reduce your maximum Stamina during a rest, you regain a number of Life points equal to your Will.

✪ Breath of Life

✦✦✧ Will  You learn two spells: ༄Healing Wind and ༄Steal Breath.

༄ Healing Wind   |   WIND  4

Roll Wind to heal yourself or an adjacent ally. ✦ 5+ The character recovers +1 life⬖ 1–4 The character can recover +1 life if they choose to suffer an injury penalty corresponding to your result; otherwise, no effect.

༄ Steal Breath   |   WIND  4

Roll Brace to redirect the flow of air from your foe’s lungs. You can take -1 guard to gain wind advantage on this roll.✦ 7+: You gain 1 stamina (up to your maximum) and inflict -1 stamina and -1 guard on your foe.⬖ 4–6: The foe can take -1 stamina to resist your magic.ⓧ 1–3: No effect.If the foe’s stamina is 0, they suffer -2 life instead of -1 stamina on a success, but you don’t gain stamina.

✪ Become Wind

✦✦✦✧ Will  Requires ✪ Call Greater Wind. While you Call Wind, you can float.

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