Death Prophecy, mechanically

[dc444 (nullsettings)]

That seems like Gorgiastic territory, even for followers of the Path of Strife.

[Tellus]

Yes. But with a slight change of motivation, it could also be a sort of bodhisattva-like character.
Sacrificing yourself for the sake of others feels very apt to me. Choosing to remain behind (in Time/Hell) to guide others towards their own 'escape'? Isn't that a good deed?

[The_Fixer]

@ezzelino

A character with death prophecy won't die unless fulfilling the prophecy.
Mechanically, how do you play it out?

For example, suppose such a character receives a killing wound (via weapon, spell, fall etc.). Does that leave the character incapacitated? Does the unfortunate circumstance never happen (the weapon misses, the stamina roll against the PeCo spell succeeds, the character somehow manages to avoid the fall? Does the troupe (or the player) get to narrate what happens?

I think this is a weak virtue.

Not per se, but because a lot of SGs, myself included, tend to avoid killing important PCs, giving everyone a lesser version of that Virtue.

So IMO, it should have a power boost.

Now, I never had to adjudicate it, and it may be tricky, due to situations.
I see roughly to ways to play it out, and I'd decide with the player when the virtue is chosen:

1. The character dies, but slowly regenerates until being incapacitated. Think wolverine in slow-mo
2. Reality manipulation: In battle, you friendly grog just happens to deflect that deadly blow, and pushes you aside. Jump into a volcano, its spirit protects you, sensing that you have a destiny ahead. Burnt to death and about to be decapitated by your ennemy? An earthquake separates you, and you fall into the pit. Think, again, how big bad survive in comics and stories

[Zaleramancer]

I think for the mechanics, I'd probably consider if they're a Player or a NPC. With NPCs it matters far less when it's applicable, and I would just rule in favor of them being incapacitated or dramatically removed from the scene when severely injured. They fall into a river and are swept away, etc.

For players, I would just ask them how they view the Death Prophecy manifesting, the same way I would ask them how they view their Skinchanger virtue working in the narrative. I'm far more interested in making sure they get what they spent a major virtue on than anything else, since balance is a lie.

If they want to rapidly recover from injuries, save the one destined to kill them; or if they want a series of lucky breaks that keep them from being seriously injured, well- I'm happy to oblige.

Personally, I feel like a some people on this forum treat something like Death Prophecy as a personal challenge when ST-ing and will attempt to subvert or punish players for taking it whenever they can. I prefer to avoid that.

[silveroak]

I think part of it is the name- death prophecy as written means a lot about the situation in which you will not be killed, but in modern parlance it is also trading the hundreds of bullets addressed "to whom it may concern" for the one bullet with your name on it.