Grief / Spite / Wroth

Grief is an emotional attribute common to all Incarnates. It starts at rank B0 and then increases at character creation (or when you attain it in-game) by answering the following questions:

• Add 1 if the character has any Soldier (or equivalent) lifepaths, and an additional +1 if they were a Veteran, Captain, War Wizard, or Medic (or equivalents).
• Add 1 if the character was Born Noble (or equivalent).
• Add 1 if the character has ruled (or is ruling) over a number of people (i.e. barony, county, duchy, kingdom, or equivalents)
• Add 1 if the character has any Elder type lifepaths.
• Add 1 if the character’s personal backstory involves tragedy.
• Add 1 if the character’s ancestral history includes calamity or oppression.
• Add 1 for every point that the character’s Steel is above 5. (e.g. Steel 8 means +3 Grief)
• Add 1 if the character’s Perception exponent is 5 or more.
• Add 1 if the character is over 100 years old, or +2 if they are over 500 years old, or +3 if they are over 1000 years old.
• Subtract 1 if the character has any kind of Thinker, Hermit, or Philosopher type lifepaths.
• Subtract 1 if the character has lead a largely sheltered life, free from violence and pain, or if they were literally a cloistered monk / nun.
• Subtract 1 if the character has a bought a Relationship that isn’t forbidden or hateful (i.e. a genuine friend, family member, or lover).

The Powers of Grief

Spending a Deeds can add Grief rank to a test as open-ended dice, rather than doubling; but this also marks a challenging Grief test

Once per session, can use Grief as your ‘body of argument’ ability in Duel of Wits (i.e. add successes to Will). The roll is open-ended. Doing this always marks a difficult Grief test though.

Obvious Breath use causes a ‘Wonderment’ Steel test in mortals after witnessing for a number of exchanges equal to your Will: forcing either a ‘Stand and Drool’ or ‘Swoon’ reaction.

You can mitigate your Grief with time, using the same practise time as Will to remove tests, by secluding yourself from the world for a while. But this can only reduce you to zero tests at your current rank, it can’t reduce the exponent.

The Fall (Grief → Spite)

Whenever Grief advances, you can opt to shift it into Spite instead. This transforms the Grief attribute into Spite, halving the new value (rounded down) and then further increasing by answering the following questions (+1 Spite for each ‘yes’ answer):

• Has the character been betrayed by their friends?
• Is the character currently lovesick or broken-hearted?
• Has the character been abandoned by those they once held dear?
• Has the character ever been tortured or abused?
• If ‘yes’ to any of the above: Does the character still love or respect any of those who have wronged them?
• If ‘yes’ to any of the above: Does the character feel guilty or responsible in spite of their own innocence?
• (5 points can be spent to Grey-shift the attribute down)

Or while character burning, you can start with Spite instead, but calculate what your Grief would have been first and make a note of it.
Having Spite also makes your "Hero" Reputation infamous.

The Powers of Spite

Spending a Deeds can add Spite rank to a test as open-ended dice, rather than doubling; but this also marks a difficult Spite test

Once per session, can test Spite instead of any other appropriate ability in a moment of jealousy, paranoia, regret, discord, or aggression—without the intent to kill. The roll is open-ended but counts as a test based on the Ob as per the usual rules.

Obvious Breath use causes an ‘Intense Sorrow’ Steel test in mortals (BWC pg 427) after witnessing for a number of exchanges equal to your Will: forcing either an ‘Exact Revenge’ or ‘Weep Bitterly’ reaction.

You may spend Fate to tank a Will or Forte-based Tax test with Spite. There's no roll, simply mark the test at the appropriate obstacle.

Redemption (Spite → Grief)

Spite can turn back into Grief—using the original Grief value before it became Spite—via a trait vote if the rest of the group feels that your recent actions seem to belie any true resentment, or by overcoming an ordeal that sets you back on the right road.
You can flip-flop between Grief and Spite, but if you do this then always keep a track of which is active and what rank the inactive one was left at (i.e. don’t recalculate Spite every time you fall from grace).
The “Hero” reputation also stops being infamous.

Limit Break (Spite → Wroth)

Spite can turn into Wroth by making a challenging Spite test (i.e. Ob = current Spite exponent +1) at any dramatically appropriate time, advantages for this test may only come from Artha expenditure and Help from Wroth, Corruption, or similar dark powers.
Gaining Wroth is irrevocable. You cannot go back to Grief or Spite. The only way left to save your character is to hit Breath 10 before you hit Wroth 10, or to die trying.
Having Wroth also removes your “Hero” trait entirely.

The Powers of Wroth

Spending Deeds can add Spite to tests as open-ended dice, rather than doubling; but this also marks a difficult Wroth test

Once per session, can use Wroth instead of any other appropriate ability to commit sinful acts in the fullness of your fury (i.e. murder, destruction, loathing, corruption, or cowardice). The roll is open-ended but counts as a test based on the Ob as per the usual rules.

Obvious Breath use causes a ‘Fear’ Steel test in mortals after witnessing for a number of exchanges equal to your Will: forcing either a ‘Run Screaming’ or ‘Fall Prone and Beg for Mercy’ reaction.

You may spend Fate to Help any ability test that has the intent to kill with your Wroth attribute. This marks a test in Wroth as per the normal Help rules.

You may also learn and open skills rooted in Wroth (i.e. Hatred).

Advancing Grief

Passive Grief tests are the same as on BWG pp 153-154 with practically no changes, except the removal of any references to elves.

Advancing Spite

Passive Spite tests are the same as on BWC pg 428 with some additions:

Ob 1

Being lied to. Betraying an Instinct. Being interrupted at work. Feeling paranoid or insecure about relatively innocuous things.

Ob 2

Being robbed. Going against a Belief or otherwise acting contrary. Suffering incompetence. Reflecting on the bitter reminder of your immortal life.

Ob 3

Being accused of a crime you didn’t commit. Being maliciously attacked and wounded. Navigating bureaucracy.

Ob 4

Being personally betrayed. Having your home destroyed or ruined. Feeling jealous over nothing. Losing a finger or an eye.

Ob 5

Betraying a friend, family member, or lover for a petty reason. Fighting a bloody battle. Being captured by your enemies. Losing a limb or an organ.

Ob 6

Being imprisoned for a crime you didn’t commit. Fighting a bloody battle and losing. Being mortally wounded but having the will to live

Ob 7

Being forced to flee your homeland by incursions of interlopers, idiots, or foreign powers. Plotting to murder someone.

Ob 8

Being tortured. Being betrayed by your family. Having to side with an enemy just to get a damned thing done. Having to kill your friend whose mind has failed to see the truth.

Ob 9

Betraying a friend, family member, or lover for a “good reason”. Watching a friend succumb to Grief or Wroth. Attempting a great endeavour and failing. Giving up.

Ob 10

Betraying a friend, family, kith and kin, gods or men alike—precipitating their eventual doom—because they failed to see matters your way. Realising that your spite has bred nothing but hatred and division among your allies or your people—and knowing that this path will mean the end for you—but walking it anyway.

Advancing Wroth (WIP)

Passive Wroth tests are somewhat similar to those for Hatred on BWG pg 240 with some (currently unfinished) changes:

Ob 1

Witnessing a murder. Lying. Cheating. Stealing. Beating up someone weaker than you.

Ob 2

Being whipped. Being robbed. Being convinced of something antithetical to what you had previously made up your mind about.

Ob 3

Killing someone in battle. Seeing a friend killed in battle.

Ob 4

Cold-blooded Murder. Being tortured. Surviving starvation conditions. Being poisoned.

Ob 5

Betrayal of any sort. Losing an important fight. Nearly dying of thirst.

Ob 6

Murdering a family member. Losing a battle.

Ob 7

Losing a precious heirloom.

Ob 8

Suffering a mortal wound and surviving. Getting magically dominated or possessed (and knowing it).

Ob 9

Constructing a great plan and utterly failing to execute it, or having to watch it get easily dismantled by your adversaries. Being excluded from salvation. Attempting to overcome your hatred and failing.

Ob 10

Giving in to your hatred and letting it consume your every action. Realising that there is no hope for you, and in fact, there never was.

Like Hatred (pg 240), routine tests always count for Wroth!

At exponent 10?

• At Grief 10 you now either isolate yourself completely (forever attempting to mitigate the grief) until you waste away, or you succumb to Spite (opening it at exponent 5).
• At Spite 10 you either turn it into Wroth, opens at the same rank as your Grief was before it became Spite, or commit suicide.
• At Wroth 10 you descend into an endless rage of madness and depravity. You become unplayable and unredeemable, but you don’t necessarily die. The GM takes control of your character as a new antagonist.

(N.b. if you hit Spite 10 after also first reaching Grief 10 then you also automatically hit Wroth 10 and just snap completely!)