by Damon Sutton
Each horseman begins to give the up and coming evil-doers minor supernatural kudos in order to keep them on the wrong path. These are low-level bad guys who have some promise. The gifts are minor at first, and will grow or fade as the invested's promise waxes or wanes.
Walking the Path of the Servitor
As time goes on, the investments can be given or removed at any moment, quite frequently without the knowledge of the invested. But as time goes on, the horsemen want the ante to be upped. The invested will find themselves feeling urged to commit more and more daring acts of evil, each greater in scale to the last. Eventually, they are drawn to the Final Act.
The final act is the point of no return. The Horseman has been giving the invested individual power, and it is now time for the brainer to take the final test. If it is passed, she becomes a full servitor. If failed, the Horseman uses that power to twist and distort the victim . To twist them into a monster in the hopes that it will be a more effective servant than servitor. On this act, the Horseman can make dramatic, supernatural aids in order to allow it to come to fruition (these are frequently acts of legendary destruction).
This is an excellent time for PC's to enter the picture to try to stop the act. Just when they think all they're doing is saving a particularly kind town, they find there is a LOT more on the line).
We Stopped Him, That Means He's Dead...Right?
Wrong. If failed, the Horseman cashes in his chips, and twists the invested into a monster of that role - a Corrupted. These beasts are the brutal toss-aways; in agony and angry, they roam and destroy. These are simple embodiments of the concepts of War, Famine, Pestilence, or Death.
Part I - War
War favors thugs, bullies, and the bloodthirsty.
Beginning Investments
1) A white fate chip to add +2 to any damage roll
2) A white chip +2 to strength checks
3) A white fate chip for 4 points of light armor for a round
4) Chips spent to recover wind recover double normal wind
5) A white chip adds +2 to overawe checks
Middle Investments
1) A white chip allows re-rolling of damage rolls
2) A Red chip gives 2 points of armor until the end of the round
3) Chips spent to negate wounds negate one additional wound per chip
4) A blue chip allows the person to regenerate one wound
5) +2 to scrounging checks for ammunition and weapons
6) A blue chip finds the invested has just one more round in a supposedly empty gun (or a knife hidden in just the right place, or similar freak of chance)
The Final Acts for War
War will guide his invested to into acts of destruction and brutality. Sacking a particularly large settlement, or causing a division that will lead to years of warfare. Leading a group of savage soldiers to a gigantic arms cache, causing a rift that leads a large settlement (like Junkyard) into a civil War, these are the true tests of a servitor of War.
Abilities Granted Upon the Final Act
These are the effects of War's direct influence upon chance and power in order to make the final act occur... smoothly. These are powerful, and often very blatant. Keep in mind, once the act is finished, successfully or not, these abilities go away. If the invested was successful, they become a full servitor, with the invulnerability and abilities thereof. If not, they become a Corrupted.
War Abilities
1) Fate chips regenerate wounds in addition to negating them. They do not, however, bring the invested
back from the dead. These guys seem to be able to suck bullets and keep going for that nuclear detonation switch.
2) White chips regenerate all lost wind
3) Guns never run out of ammunition
4) The invested's voice booms, and shakes with an eerie growl, +4 to persuasion checks to convince people to fight.
5) A blue chip provided 3 points of armor, for two rounds
6) +6 to skill checks involving strength, aiming, and stun checks
7) On a red chip, a blade can pop out of the invested's arm and sever a bond or cut through a barrier. This requires a guts check (7) to avoid being stunned. The invested seems oblivious to this. The blade retracts once the cut is made.
Sample Effects of a Corrupted War Abilities
1) All previous invested abilities are LOST
2) +3 die types to strength and deftness
3) -2 die types to knowledge and smarts
4) The corrupted can take seven wounds to every location
5) AV= 4
6) A monsterous "spikey" look as blades (str+2d8) and gun barrels
(4d6 damage, Range increment =10) protrude bloodily and painfully from the corrupted's body.
7) -6 to any mien checks, except Overawe (which gets a +4)
Part II - Famine
Famine's invested are those who strive to take from others or to gain from other's deprivation. While the Famine servitor is a rare thing indeed, there are entire flocks of Road Gangers who have her lessor investments. Robbers, thieves and the few who have hoarded large amounts of food and technology to deny it to others also fall into this category.
Beginning Investments
1) Spend a white fate chip to add +2 to any survival roll.
2) Spend a white chip to add +2 to sneak rolls.
3) Spend a white fate chip to add +2 to scavenging rolls.
4) Chips spent to recover wind recover double normal wind.
Middle Investments
1) Spend a white chip to add +2 to resist ingested toxins.
2) Spend a red chip to add +4 to thieving or stealing related checks.
3) The invested can eat and drink double the normal amount.
4) Spend a white chip to add +2 to overawe checks for the purposes of robbery or theft.
5) -2 on scrounging attempts when the scrounging does not involve taking from another
6) When confronted with the item that is desired, a blue chip will add +2 to all checks needed to obtain it as their greed consumes them and obsession takes over. This effect lasts for one hour. This only applies if the item (be it food, guns, medical supplies) is to be taken from another.
The Final Acts for Famine
Famine wants to keep people alive, and starving for everything. As such, acts which will cause large amounts of deprivation over long periods of time are Famine's favorite. While War would want Junkyard to erupt into civil war, Famine would be happy with the poisoning of the groundwater there. Preferably the slow poisoning of the water and the subsequent suffering that would result as water supplies begin to dwindle. Releasing rust mites into one of the few remaining large hospitals would work too, as the doctors attempt to keep people alive despite the resulting shortage of equipment, and syringes to give the medicine.
Abilities Granted Upon the Final Act
These are the effects of Famine's direct influence upon chance and power in order to make the final act occur... smoothly. These are powerful, and often very blatant. Keep in mind, once the act is finished, successfully or not, these abilities go away. If the invested was successful, they become a full servitor, with the invulnerability and abilities thereof. If not, they become a Corrupted.
Famine Abilities
1) Fate chips regenerate wounds in addition to negating them. They do not however, bring the invested back from the dead. These guys seem to be able to suck bullets and keep going for that nuclear detonation switch.
2) White chips regenerate all lost wind.
3) The invested begins to pulsate with greed, with the following effects: +1 action card per round and Nimbleness increases die type.
4) The invested's shadow begins to envelop him/her, giving a cloak o' evil at -4.
5) A blue chip can be spent to gain an additional action per round. This can be done at any time. and the action occurs at the next possible action card.
6) +6 to skill checks involving nimbleness, aiming, and stun checks.
7) The invested's hands begin to elongate into claws doing strength +1d4 damage. His eyes begin to glow yellow. He seems oblivious to this but a TN 7 guts check is required in order to face him.
Sample Effects of a Corrupted Famine Abilities
1) All previous invested abilities are LOST.
2) +3 die types to nimbleness, +2 action cards per round.
3) -2 die types to knowledge and smarts.
4) The corrupted can take seven wounds to every location.
5) Cloak o Evil, -4
6) The being begins to shrivel and hunger for whatever they had desired most. They will scour the wastes seeking it, and inevitably using up their current supply and seeking to kill to get more. They will begin to take on the characteristics of the things they seek. If food, they will grow
sallow, skinny, and become like a super-faminite. But more possibilities if they were hoarders or seekers of some other resource, like Oil (black ooze begins to seep from them, their eyes cry oily tears and their limbs become black tentacles) or medical supplies (Their body sprouts syringes, scalpels, bandages cover their eyes, which are punctured by sprouting needles. They strangely can see, but all they do is scream, and consume drugs, bandages, and the like)
7) -6 to any mien checks, except Overawe (which gets a +4).
Part III - Pestilence
Of the four horsemen, Pestilence is the most subtle. The mere spreading of radiation and disease is one thing, but that is so... unimaginative. And the being who developed HIV is nothing if not imaginative. And so, not merely the spreaders of physical disease are under Pestilence's review, but the spreaders of mental and social disease as well. Cult leaders, religious fanatics, and the misguided who seek to spread their word to make over others in their own image receive the attentions of Pestilence. He already has his hand in the Doomsayers (see Children 'o the Atom) and the majority of fanatical cultists all over the Wasted West have his investments.
Beginning investments
1) Spend a white chip to add +2 to any endurance roll.
2) Spend a white chip to add +2 to any persuasion rolls.
3) Spend a white chip for 4 points of light armor for 1 round.
4) Chips spent to recover wind recover double normal wind
Middle investments
1) Spend a red chip to allow the invested to make a spirit check vs. an opponent's endurance. If the spirit check wins, the victim gains the Ailin': Minor hindrance for a day (it just seems that the enemies of these guys get sick more often than others). This can be done on one victim per day, and the same person can not be infected in this manner twice.
2) The invested is immune to illness, and has 4 points of light armor.
3) The invested gains a +4 bonus on checks when it comes to radiation (these guys always seems to hide in the worst places).
4) Spend a blue chip to regenerate one wound.
5) The invested gains a +2 bonus to scrounging checks for medical supplies.
6) When suffering an event that leads to a mutation, the invested draws 3 cards and chooses what he or she determines to be the best.
The Final Acts for Pestilence
Not only would the large-scale infection of people count for this, but grandiose acts of evil resulting from cultish faith would also count. Maybe the 100th sacrifice of the virgin (hah! like there are many virgins in the Wasted West) to the Radiation God at the bottom of the crater pushes this invested over the edge. Or perhaps the releasing of a particularly great menace over the West.
Abilities Granted Upon the Final Act
These are the effects of Pestilence's direct influence upon chance and power in order to make the final act occur... smoothly. These are powerful, and often very blatant. Keep in mind, once the act is finished, successfully or not, these abilities go away. If the invested was successful, they become a full servitor, with the invulnerability and abilities thereof. If not, they become a Corrupted.
Pestilence Abilities
1) Fate chips regenerate wounds in addition to negating them. They do not however, bring the invested back from the dead. These guys seem to be able to suck bullets and keep going for that nuclear detonation switch.
2) White chips regenerate all lost wind.
3) -10 points of light armor on all locations.
4) The invested seems possessed of supernatural focus (um...rather IS possessed of supernatural focus) +2 on all skill checks.
5) A blue chip provides 3 durability levels to any apparatus used in the act (be it car, bomb, gun, syringe, book, whatever - no destroying the tome of unholy knowledge...it's not THAT easy). A supernatural manifestation of this is best. Perhaps the wheel becomes replaced by a ghostly insect leg, or the computer bleeds, scabs over, and continues functioning.
6) +6 to skill checks involving endurance and stun checks.
7) On a red chip, the invested inexplicably expels a plume of noxious gas or gout of flame. The gas is an endurance check TN 11 or the victim is sunned, the flame is a shootin' check at increment of 10 and damage of 3d6. There may be a moment when both the invested and the party are shocked by this.
Sample Effects of a Corrupted Pestilence Abilities
1) All previous invested abilities are LOST.
2) +3 die types to endurance. And the Corrupted gains puss filled boils...lots and lots of puss filled boils.
3) -2 die types to knowledge and smarts.
4) The corrupted can take seven wounds to every location.
5) The corrupted gains light armor of 12.
6) Infection touch - the victim of the attack must make a endurance check of TN 9 or slowly become a plague zombie within the next 2 weeks. It's like leprosy, except add an urge to eat human flesh.
7) -6 to any mien checks, except Overawe (which gets a +4).
8) Cacophonous howl - the corrupted can focus a howl of sound to shake and bewilder opponents. The TN against this a spirit check of TN 7 or the victim is stunned. This is usually followed by #6 and a very unfortunate time for the victim. If the corrupted can be hunted down and killed, the infection ends.
Part IV - Death
Death favors quality over quantity. Whereas War, Famine, and Pestilence have invested in large gangs of evildoers and they let the proverbial cream kill.. er... rise it's way to the top, Death is more careful. He chooses preferably unwitting people who have convinced themselves that the unethical deeds they are doing are good. He slowly invests, tweaking and prodding the individual. His favorites are the people who, in order to meet their presumably good goals, sacrifice their principles and cut moral corners. Then he slowly takes them from the path of misguided soul to servant of total darkness.
Beginning Investments
1) Spend a white chip to add +2 to any stun check.
2) Spend a white chip to add +2 to any overawe check.
3) Spend a white chip to add +2 to any medicine or biology roll.
4) Chips spent to recover wind recover double normal wind.
5) -2 to any check that involves saving a life.
6) +2 to any skill check involved in taking a life.
Middle Investments
1) Spending a red chip maximizes any damage roll (no aces allowed, so 4D6 would become 24 points of damage).
2) Spending a red chip gives 6 points of light armor until the end of the round.
3) Chips spent to negate wounds negate one additional wound per chip.
4) Spending a red chip grants an additional wound level to every area for 1 hour (treat the invested as one size larger in terms of taking damage).
5) +2 to survival and scrounging checks.
6) Spending a blue chip gives the invested some vital piece of knowledge about a living thing. This can be used to do a single attack for double damage, to intimidate (+4 overawe) or other life or death use.
The Final Acts for Death
Death likes metaphor. His final acts are small, yet crucial acts of evil that completely turn the person from misguided "do- gooder" to Servant of Death. Brad Modeen killing that Templar to forward his agenda fits the bill. The Sheriff having that final untoward execution in the name of "keeping order" would qualify. The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse did it by killing the first innocent in his quest for the child.
Death Abilities
1) Fate chips regenerate wounds in addition to negating them. They do not, however, bring the invested back from the dead. These guys seem to be able to suck bullets and keep going for that nuclear detonation switch.
2) Spending a white chip grants a +4 bonus to a quickness check.
3) The invested in effect always has "a card up their sleeve" for the purpose of dodging.
4) The invested has a +4 bonus vs. all debilitating or paralyzing attacks (that's right...you gotta kill these guys...stunning them or entangling them don't cut it).
5) +4 on all skill checks.
7) Spending a red chip grants the invested a fatal wound: he goes down, and is dead. Then, two rounds later, he can pop up and attempt "the act". If he succeeds. he's a servitor as of that moment (and the posse is in a heap o' trouble). This can be done ONCE. After all that effort, the party deserves to have him dead once and for all...don't tell THEM that, though.
Sample Effects of a Corrupted Death Abilities
1) All previous invested abilities are LOST.
2) +3 die types to quick and deftness.
3) -2 die types to knowledge and smarts.
4) The corrupted can take seven wounds to every location.
5) Cloak 'o Evil, -6 to hit.
6) The infusion of supernatural energies make the corrupted attuned to the power of Death. When killed, these corrupted will get back up 1d4 days later, with their endurance die type taken down a step. Once the endurance reached zero, they're down for good.
7) Death touch - when a victim is hit by the corrupted in HTH combat, he takes an additional 3d6 damage This pierces any and all normal armor. Only supernatural armor provides protection.
8) +6 sneak and hide.