Keepsakes and Baubles in Really Wild West (for Starfinder)

The Really Wild West intentionally doesn’t have as broad a range of consumables that are easily available to PCs. Unless someone takes the Mad Genius or Wonder Worker genre feats, most consumables beyond dynamite are available only as treasure. That reduces a PC’s ability to dip into a pool of resources when the going gets rough, and that can make life more difficult than the setting intends.

That’s where keepsakes and baubles come in.

In a world where magic is real, spiritualists can read minds, and Martians literally invaded from another world, when your grandmother tells you to keep hold of the holy symbol she had the day she outran a werewolf, or you narrowly avoid death right after finding a lucky penny on the sidewalk, or you discover feeling the weight of your book of proverbs from Ubar in your coat pocket keeps your calm, you take those things seriously.

Is it magic? Positive theosophic vibrations? Divine blessing? A boost to morale? Who knows, but you are holding on to your keepsakes just in case.

RWW Keepsakes

(art by Poltavska)

A keepsake gives a character a new way to spend Resolve Points. Unless it says otherwise, a keepsake’s use is triggered by a specific event, it never requires an action, it can only be done if the keepsake is on your person, it requires you expend 1 Resolve Point, and once you use a keepsake you cannot use any keepsake again until you spend a RP to regain Stamina Points following a 10-minute rest. Many keepsakes require conditions that may not be obvious to a player. If you attempt to use a keepsake when its conditions have not been met, you do not expend the Resolve Point (or loose the bauble, see below)

A bauble is works like a keepsake (including the limitation on how often you can use keepsakes), but using it does not require a Resolve Point. However, once used, a bauble breaks.

Several keepsakes allow you to make a “boosted reroll.” This is a reroll where if the d20 result on the second roll is 1-10, you add ten to the final value. You always take the second result of a boosted reroll.

Every PC starts with one keepsake of their choice. You can pick up other keepsakes and baubles as the campaign progresses, as they are fairly common and may be treasure, payment or loot.

There also exist relics, which work like keepsakes but are much more powerful. relics are generally the focus of entire adventures, and sought by numerous powerful groups.

These are the categories of keepsakes a PC may begin with, each with a few examples (though a PC may select another form). Other types may also exist.

RWW Scarab Coin

Emblem of Knowledge: [Book of Scientific Learning, medal of an appropriate saint, Science Agent badge, compass] Gain a boosted reroll on any failed skill check to recall knowledge.

Holy Symbol: [Symbol of any religion or faith] Gain a boosted reroll on any failed saving throw against an effect with the evil descriptor, or magic effect from a creature with the evil descriptor.

Icon of Health: -[Serpent medallion, Rod of Asclepius, red crescent, bottle of tonic] Gain a boosted reroll on a failed Fortitude save.

Icon of Rationality: [Book of Aristotle, scarab, class ring, mantra] Gain a boosted reroll on a failed Will save.

Icon of Safety: -[Eye of Horus, appropriate saint’s medal, the Yellow Sign, Seal of Solomon] Gain a boosted reroll on a failed Reflex save.

Lucky Charm: [4-leaf clover, lucky penny, rabbits foot, deck of cards, dice] Gain a boosted reroll on any attack, save, or skill check when you rolled a natural 1.

Icon of Grace: [Swam medallion, jaguar medallion, blue ribbon, bone pistol grips] Gain a boosted reroll on a failed Reflex save.

Patreon
Not only is Really Wild West growing again, it’s starting to get its own art! Obviously that takes money, so if you want to see more of it, you can throw a couple of dollars a month into my Patreon!

About Owen K.C. Stephens

Owen K.C. Stephens Owen Kirker Clifford Stephens is a full-time ttRPG Writer, designer, developer, publisher, and consultant. He's the publisher for Rogue Genius Games, and has served as the Starfinder Design Lead for Paizo Publishing, the Freeport and Pathfinder RPG developer for Green Ronin, a developer for Rite Publishing, and the Editor-in-Chief for Evil Genius Games. Owen has written game material for numerous other companies, including Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games and Upper Deck. He also consults, freelances, and in the off season, sleeps. He has a Pateon which supports his online work. You can find it at https://www.patreon.com/OwenKCStephens

Posted on May 6, 2020, in Microsetting, Starfinder Development and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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