Totems

Power is all around you...

Totems are a complex magical art. What they are is hard to define but Totems are most often used by two groups. The Tablin and Shamans. For the tablin, a totem represents your animal nature and while a totem allows a tablin to tap into that nature and do extraordinary things, it takes shamanic training to use it magically. The shamans use totems to call forth spirits that share that totem and can call totemic spirits at will without binding. they can also give themselves the qualities of their totems as well. A tablin can double the effects of a totemic item that happens to share their totem.

What is a totem?

A totem is an idea given form, but that doesn't make it a spirit or thoughtform. It's somewhere in between, a concept involving some kind of entity (an animal, an object, a fundamental force, a concept) that is universally acknowledged as important, usually for its symbolism.

Anything can be a totem, but that doesn't mean the totem can grant power. A totem must be regarded as powerful before one seeks to use that power. This doesn't mean that one must acknowledge the power of a totem in order to use the power. It means that a totem cannot give power until it has power. Those who use totems do not go out and give power to the totem so they can do the same in return. Totems are given power by the collective unconscious of all those living and dead. It must have this power before one could use it, and no matter how much one believes or wishes it, a totem has no power without it.

How Are Totems Made?

Totems cannot be created through any artificial means, or at least technically can't. Someone who can live a long enough period of time could fuel the collective unconscious as the years go by, slowly but surely creating the totems power. This is an inefficient thing to do as totems are not as powerful as many give them credit for. A totem can only manifest its power on the metaphysical playing but requires an individual on the physical to harness it.
Harnessing a totem is what allows the totem to give the user power, but power is relative to how you use it. Totems are usually harnessed in the form of trinkets or clothing, particularly among the Tablin of Estoya, to harness their totems through their masks. A necklace with a wooden carving of a bear or the skull of a crumb that hangs from a string around your wrist can all be effectively used to harness a totems power.

Totems function similarly to thought forms and spirits but they lack conscious thought and in most cases lack Instinct as well. They simply exist with no true purpose to them, ideas that are much more than just ideas. Most see totems as icons that represent an element of nature but this is not entirely true, but the most common and powerful totems usually are. They come in the form of an animal or some species of flora. They can manifest as a strange living Flame or water that refuses to conform to its container.

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Totemic Power

Powers granted by totems do not require any form of Arcane knowledge. Anyone who possesses the incredibly simple ability to metaphysically attune themselves to an object can use them just like any other item of power. However, totems acquire something a little extra. To use a totem, the user must have a deep connection to the totem itself. They must find something that resonates within themselves that also connects to the total.
Perhaps the wisdom of an owl inspires a young scholar who finds he can suddenly see in the dark. A young thief may stumble across a batch of crow feathers from which he makes a cloak. He may reflect on the very nature of the crow, which is often depicted as a wise, playful, and intellectual trickster, granting the young thief the ability to charm his way out of any encounter with the weak minded.

What powers a totem bestows can vary but it is always singular. It does not matter how many items of power someone has that is connected to a single totem. Once you connect with the totem and are given the power, that is the only power you can get from that totem.

Totemic Shamans

Shamans are always on the lookout for totems and often make their own totems as well during their spiritual journeys. Some shamans, however, choose a safer path. They focus on totems and only bind totemic spirits often using totemic items to anchor them. These shamans are usually found among the tablin. While this shaman rarely takes spiritual journeys to metaphysical planes, they are able to do the same things spiritual shamans do and are rarely sought out by the void.

Totemic Items vs Totemic magic

With that being said a totem can mean two things. A totem is a single concept, usually an animal, that one has a deep connection with. This connection alone does not grant power and in order to have that power, one needs shamanic training. On the other hand, you have the second form of the totem. Totems can be items that reflect the totemic concept. These items are often enchanted bestowing unique qualities to those who wield them.

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Using totems in the game

Totems are generally going to be items found in the wild that anyone who possesses the totemic knowledge trait can attune to. Attunement grants a single boon based on the collective unconscious elements of the totem. Given the fact that pretty much anything can be a totem from an animal to a weapon, it is difficult to list out what every totem can grant. For this reason, you will find the table below is remarkably vague. This section will be on how to use that table and what can make the task a little easier.
It pays to converse with the player in question as to what it is they think the totem may represent. Folklore is quite similar in Expedition Demeter when compared to the real world. Symbols for many things are the same. It's important to remember that the totem does not represent a high-concept like a domain does and for that reason, something that would be a domain cannot be a totem.

What can totems do mechanically:

• Totems can grant modifiers to any stat on the character sheet except for damage, unless the attuned totem is a specific weapon, such as a knife or fist weapon called/named crow's beak, or bear claw. Ratings can only go up by 1 unless the Attunement critically succeeds in which case it will go up by 2.

• Totems can grant abilities that will possess a name and manifestation that evokes the totem. Crow's beak or inability called peck could both be a totemic power that can deal damage there was a manifestation of an ethereal crow's head that surrounds the user's fist as they punch an enemy. These abilities can either add to the damage of the initial attack, which would be a sustained power, do damage on its own and the counts as the initial attack instead of being a simple punch, an active ability, or it can be considered a passive ability that allows any attack the chance to proc a status effect such as bleed in this example. If this is the case then a critical success of Attunement can healed two of the above effects.

• Totems can also give the ability to commune, summon or befriend animals of that totem, granting access to Animal Companions and conjuration abilities. These animals must be the exact same totem. I told him of a crow does not give you the ability to communicate or summon any kind of bird, unless the power itelf is rolled on a more broad concept such as feathers, for example. There is no direct limit to how many can be summoned nor is there a limit to how many can be befriended and used as Animal Companions but this is at the GM's discretion and if one summing or obtains more than four, then it is considered a swarm and not individual entities. See swarm rules in the antagonist cookbook.

• Some totems may not give any obvious benefits initially. Some totems offer more religious applications. These totems can grant the user favor and other bonuses when dealing with metaphysical entities that are in some way connected to an aspect of the totem. A bear totem of this kind could make certain metaphysical entities favor the user such as a god of strength or a spirit of the wilds. These totems can also earn favor from organizations that are connected to these entities or connected to the concepts of the totem. A cult of the aforementioned God of strength is an obvious example but so is a Knightly order that places a high value on strength.

Table of totemic powers (D4)	X	Y
1	Modify stat: add plus 1(2 is critically attuned) to a single relevant stat associated with Y	Aspect or concept of totem: (bear strength +1 to body or body CR)
2	Social Boon: gain favor and social modifiers toward those who value Y	Totemic animal: the form of the totem itself ( bear, crow, dragon, ink quill)
3	Totemic Power: gain a power	Totemic physical features: a physical feature of the totem. (affinity with those with feathers, the ability to write and copy handwriting perfectly.)
4	Totemic affinity: gain affinity with those of the same totem	Totemic Element: (fur pelt: +1 composure when resisting cold), dragon's fire: +1 defense if weapons are on fire)