BW PDF - Midnight Campaign

Last, there is the matter of perspective. Great powershave different priorities and values than lesser ones.For a farmer, town politics are very important to theirdaily life, while for a king, the workings of a single townare of minor importance when compared to the motionsof armies and nations. Similarly, the priorities of greatpowers shift with such power, until the strongest ofcreatures are almost entirely disconnected from theworkings of the world and the concerns of mortals.For all of these reasons, conflict almost always takes placewithin an individual’s own power level, or close to it.Players are not expected to triumph directly over forcesfar above their own capabilities, and should always haveboth risk and success in their direct challenges.The interplay of the world should always providethis sense of balance, in order to give the game abetter structure and story.SCALES OF POWERTIER Category Description Examples1 Minor Beings of relative insignificance, even to mortals. Rats, insects, other small animals.2 Animus Beings of minor intelligence and physical might. Animals and small monsters ,from dogs up to tigers and bears.3 Sub-Human Races of loosely organized and semi-intelligent creatures. Sprites and Pixies, minorly intelligent monsters, like the reptilian Kettal.4 Mortal Civilized, Sentient People. Humanity.Mortals make up the majority of the world’s nations and peoples, humanpeasants, kings, politicians, merchants, farmers, guards and soldiers.5 Superhuman6 Immortal7 Ascendant8 ColossalBeings similar to human nature, but who are more gifted anddangerous, through physical, mental, or arcane power. These arethe individuals who often stand at the best position to influencethe world around them, with enough power to change the course ofevents, but not enough to distance themselves from mortality.Beings who are similar to human nature, but who are distanced frommortality by significant longevity. They often have capabilities wellbeyond the grasp of mortal contact and understanding.Being’s whose immortal nature has grown so old and powerful thatthey go beyond even the immortal status of their peers, and thus astep removed from the events and machinations of the mortal world.They are largely untouchable by mortal and even most superhumanand immortal meansLargely on par with the Ascendant beings, Colossal creatures refer tomonstrous beasts whose size and strength are to mortal humanswhat ours are to ants and gnats. The Colossal beings of the world cantopple mountains and change the face of the world with little effort,through size and strength alone. No amount of strength or skill incombat or mortal magic can realistically lay these creatures low.Includes humans who are gifted well beyond the norm, very talentedspell-casters, as well as the animal races, curses such as shapeshifters,sentient undead, and divine and demonic talents. Also includes those ofthe immortal races who are very young and inexperienced, who sometimestravel with weaker species. This includes the majority of adventurers,and the foes and monsters they routinely fight in their encounters.Includes mature immortals, such as the Divine and Demonic races,the Fae, and very old Sentient undead and Magi. This also includes thegreater monstrous races in age, strength and intelligence, such as dragons,sphinx, and others.The Demon Lords, the Archangels of the Aeonic, the Fae Nobility,The Esseldein Leaders, and arcane monsters. Also includes the livingstars in the sky.Includes the leviathans of the deep, the demonic Deep Star, the Ygrasi GiantTortoises, the greater dragons, and the Great Rocs of the Liandari mountains.9AscendantImmortusBeings whose magic and might has begun to transcend thelimits of life and existence. Largely unkillable and untouchable,these individuals are not yet fully removed from the influence ofthe world, but they are often severely limited in how they can act bythe competing powers of others. A mortal attacking an AscendantImmortus is something akin to spitting in a volcano.The Caligan, the Chaosborn Demons, the strongest of the Stars in the Sky,and a rare few Ascendants who have developed their talents beyond eventhose limits.10ColossalImmortusIncludes creatures both colossal, immortal, and intelligent.Beings whose might can shift continents and whose awareness allowsthem to see time and space laid out before them like a work of art.Beings of this power scale are not just rare, but fully separate from theworkings of the world. Largely untouchable, their eternal nature meansthat their influence tends to be on the scale of millennia rather thandays or hours. They are as much a force of nature as a being.The Colossal Elders, the Sleeping Powers in the world, the traveling Suns andMoons of the high reaches of sky.-- DeityBeings beyond this point are the stuff of fate and faith, and do notovertly act in the workings of the world. These are the subject ofreligion and belief, never of direct presence.–160