In Nowhere Land, reality bends. Potentials are supernatural powers—gifts from domains, blessings crystallized, or abilities awakened through exposure to Willpower. They're not spells or magic in the traditional sense. They're possibilities made real.
Potentials Overview
Potentials are extraordinary abilities that transcend mortal limits. Unlike skills (learned expertise) or career Boons (natural talents), Potentials warp reality, defy physics, or channel domain essence.
What Potentials Do
- Bend Reality: Teleport, phase through walls, manipulate elements, commune with domain entities
- Enhance Abilities: Superhuman strength, perfect memory, predictive insights
- Access Domain Powers: Channel a domain's Willpower to create effects aligned with its nature
- Cost Reverie: All Potentials require spending Reverie—your connection to dreams and possibilities
Acquiring Potentials
Potentials aren't learned like skills. They're awakened through exposure to domains, pacts, trauma, or enlightenment.
Through Blessing Accumulation
When you accumulate 3 Blessings from a single domain (or achieve a Paradigm Shift at 5 Blessings), you may awaken a Potential tied to that domain's Willpower.
Example: After gaining 3 Blessings in The Verdant Tangle (jungle domain), you awaken Verdant Step—the ability to teleport between plants.
Through Pacts with Entities
Genii, domain spirits, or The Count may grant Potentials in exchange for service, debt, or sacrifice. These Potentials come with strings attached.
Example: A Genie grants you Firestorm in exchange for a year of service. If you betray the pact, the Potential turns Tainted.
Through Trauma or Enlightenment
Surviving near-death, witnessing paradoxes, or achieving spiritual breakthroughs can awaken latent Potentials. Test Anima (TN 20) during such moments. On success, awaken a Universal Potential.
Example: You watch a domain die, collapsing into The Null. Test Anima TN 20—success! You awaken Null Walk, able to enter The Null safely.
Through Study or Ritual
Characters with Arcane Resonance +7 or higher can attempt to learn Potentials through research, meditation, or ritual. Requires 1 month of study + test Arcane Resonance (TN 20). On success, awaken a Universal Potential of Trickster's choice.
Using Potentials
Activating a Potential requires spending Reverie and, often, making a check.
Activation Rules
Action: Using a Potential takes 1 action (unless specified otherwise)
Cost: Spend Reverie as listed (typically 1-3)
Check: Some Potentials require a test (usually Arcane Resonance or a relevant skill). TN depends on the effect's power.
Failure: If check fails, Reverie is still spent—but the effect doesn't occur (or misfires at Trickster's discretion).
Limits: You can use each Potential once per scene unless specified. Some are once per session or once per arc.
🌀 Drift & Potential Costs
Your Drift level modifies how Potentials work. As you become more connected to Nowhere Land, Potentials become more powerful but Imagination/Reverie costs increase.
Drift Cost Modifiers:
| Drift | Effect on Potentials |
|---|---|
| 0-2 | Base cost (no modifier) |
| 3-4 | +1 to all Reverie costs |
| 5-6 | +2 to all Reverie costs; Domain Potentials cost -1 (min 1) |
| 7-8 | +3 to all costs; add Drift to all Potential checks |
| 9-10 | Potentials become instinctual (no cost, less control) |
Polarity Cost Modifiers:
Your Polarity (chosen at character creation) also affects costs:
- • Metsu (Destruction): Offensive Potentials -1 cost, Defensive +1 cost
- • Ketsu (Binding): Control/Defense Potentials -1 cost, Offensive +1 cost
- • Balanced: No modifiers
Domain Potentials
Domain Potentials are tied to specific domains. They reflect that domain's Willpower, ecosystem, and nature. You can only use them while inside that domain or within 1 mile of its portals.
Verdant Step
Domain: The Verdant Tangle (Jungle) | Cost: 1 Reverie
You teleport from one plant (tree, bush, vine) to another within 60 ft. Both must be Large-sized or bigger.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance (TN 8). Success: instant teleport. Failure: appear 10 ft off-target (random direction).
Limit: Once per scene
Firestorm
Domain: The Ashen Wastes (Desert/Fire) | Cost: 2 Reverie
Summon a whirlwind of flame in a 20 ft radius. All creatures inside take 3 Wounds (no roll—automatic damage). You are immune.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance (TN 12). Success: full effect. Failure: 1 Wound instead, and you take 1 Wound from backlash.
Limit: Once per session
Frozen Time
Domain: The Frozen Expanse (Tundra/Ice) | Cost: 3 Reverie
Freeze one creature in place for 1 minute. They cannot move, act, or perceive time passing. You can move them (they're solid ice).
Check: Contested Arcane Resonance vs target's Anima. Win: they're frozen. Lose: they resist, and you waste 1 Reverie (refund 2).
Limit: Once per session
Shadow Walk
Domain: The Umbral Depths (Shadow/Darkness) | Cost: 1 Reverie
Step into shadows and become incorporeal for 1 minute. You can pass through solid objects (except light sources) and are invisible in darkness. You cannot attack or be attacked.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance (TN 8). Success: full duration. Failure: 1 round only.
Limit: Once per scene
Domain Communion
Domain: Any (Universal Domain Potential) | Cost: 2 Reverie
Speak directly to the domain's Willpower. Ask one yes/no question or request guidance. The domain answers truthfully—but not necessarily helpfully.
Check: Test Domain Weaving (TN = domain's Willpower × 4). Success: clear answer. Failure: cryptic or misleading answer.
Limit: Once per domain per session
Blessing Surge
Domain: Any | Cost: 2 Reverie
Amplify one of your Blessings by +2 levels for one scene. If you have "Verdant Growth" at +2, it becomes +4 temporarily.
Check: No check required—automatic success.
Limit: Once per scene
Universal Potentials
Universal Potentials work anywhere—real world, Nowhere Land, inside any domain. They're rarer and often tied to personal enlightenment or The Count's gifts.
Traveler's Leap
Cost: 1 Reverie
Teleport up to 30 ft to a location you can see. Works anywhere, anytime.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance (TN 8). Success: perfect teleport. Failure: off-target by 10 ft (random direction, possibly into walls—take 1 Wound).
Limit: Twice per scene
Null Walk
Cost: 2 Reverie
Enter The Null intentionally and navigate it safely for 1 hour. You can traverse between domains using The Null as a shortcut (bypassing portals).
Check: Test Anima (TN 12). Success: safe navigation. Failure: 1 Fracture from exposure.
Limit: Once per session
Resonance Sight
Cost: 1 Reverie
For 10 minutes, you see the "threads" of reality: Blessings, Curses, exaltations, portals, and domain boundaries glow with colored auras. You can identify them on sight.
Check: No check—automatic success.
Limit: Twice per session
Mind Palace
Cost: 1 Reverie
Perfectly recall any memory you've experienced or information you've learned. Alternatively, share a memory with another person by touching them (they see/feel/hear it as you did).
Check: No check for recall. Sharing requires consent (or contested Anima if forced).
Limit: Unlimited (but costs Reverie each use)
Thread Severance
Cost: 3 Reverie
Sever a supernatural connection: break attunement to an exaltation, end a Blessing or Curse (yours or an ally's), or close a portal for 24 hours.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance (TN = effect's power level × 4). Success: severed. Failure: partial effect (reduce level by 1) or backlash (1 Fracture).
Limit: Once per session
Paradox Anchor
Cost: 2 Reverie
Stabilize reality in a 30 ft radius for 1 hour. Domain shifts, reality tears, and involuntary teleportation are suppressed. Portals cannot form in this area.
Check: No check—automatic success. However, high-Willpower domains (4-5) may resist (contested Arcane Resonance vs domain's Willpower × 4).
Limit: Once per session
Tainted Potentials
Tainted Potentials are corrupted powers—gifts from malevolent entities, results of overuse, or abilities gained through terrible sacrifice. They're more powerful but come with severe drawbacks.
How Potentials Become Tainted
- Overuse: Using the same Potential 3+ times in one session without rest
- Pact Betrayal: Breaking a pact with the entity that granted it
- Corruption: Accumulating 5+ Fractures while possessing a Potential
- Cursed Awakening: Gaining a Potential through dark ritual, sacrifice, or consuming forbidden knowledge
Bloodfire (Tainted)
Cost: 1 Wound + 1 Reverie
Ignite your blood. Your attacks deal +2 Wounds (fire damage) for 1 minute. You glow with crimson flame—cannot hide, enemies prioritize you.
Check: No check—automatic. But at end of duration, test Forma (TN 12) or take 2 Wounds from internal burning.
Taint: Each use permanently scars your skin with burn marks. At 10 uses, you're unrecognizable—Disposition -2 with strangers.
Limit: Unlimited (dangerous!)
Soulrend (Tainted)
Cost: 1 Fracture + 2 Reverie
Touch a creature and tear their soul. Deal 5 Wounds (ignores armor). They must test Anima (TN 16) or gain 2 Fractures. You gain 1 Fracture automatically.
Check: Contested Arcane Resonance vs target's Anima. Win: full effect. Lose: you take 3 Wounds instead.
Taint: Your eyes turn black (no whites). NPCs with Insight can sense you've used soul magic—Disposition -3. You hear whispers of your victims.
Limit: Once per session (thank the gods)
Flesh Weaving (Tainted)
Cost: 2 Reverie
Reshape your body: grow claws (+2 damage), wings (fly 30 ft), gills (breathe underwater), or extra limbs (+1 action per turn). Lasts 10 minutes.
Check: Test Forma (TN 12). Success: full control. Failure: mutation is painful (take 1 Wound) or uncontrolled (Trickster chooses form).
Taint: Each use has 10% chance (roll 1d10, on 1) of mutation becoming permanent. You're slowly becoming monstrous.
Limit: Twice per session
Corruption & Overuse
Using Potentials too frequently or recklessly can lead to corruption—your body and mind warping from channeling too much Willpower.
Corruption Rules
Each time you use a Potential 3+ times in one session, test Anima (TN 12 + number of uses beyond 2). Failure: gain 1 Fracture.
Example: You've used Traveler's Leap 5 times today. Test Anima TN 15 (12 + 3). Failure: 1 Fracture from reality warping your mind.
At 5 Fractures, test Anima (TN 16) or one of your Potentials becomes Tainted (Trickster chooses which).
At 10 Fractures, you're Lost—consumed by Nowhere Land, transformed into an NPC or monster (character retired).
Legendary Potentials
Legendary Potentials are campaign-defining powers—artifacts of The Count, gifts from dying Genii, or abilities awakened at the climax of arcs. They're once-per-arc or once-per-campaign and reshape reality.
Reality Rewrite
Cost: All Reverie + 1 permanent Fracture
Rewrite one event that occurred in the current session. Undo a death, reverse a choice, change the outcome of a roll. The timeline shifts—everyone remembers both versions.
Check: No check—automatic. But The Count notices. Gain -2 Ledger debt.
Limit: Once per campaign
Domain Birth
Cost: 5 Reverie + 1 month of ritual
Create a new domain from scratch. Define its Willpower (max 3), ecosystem, 3-5 exaltations, and Blessings/Curses. It's yours—you're its first Genie.
Check: Test Arcane Resonance + Domain Weaving (TN 20). Success: domain stabilizes. Failure: unstable domain (collapsing, hostile, or Tainted).
Limit: Once per arc (if ever)
Ascension
Cost: Sacrifice your mortality
Become a Genie—immortal, bound to a domain, wielding its full Willpower. You gain all Domain Potentials from that domain. But you can never leave. You're part of Nowhere Land forever.
Check: Contested Arcane Resonance vs domain's Willpower × 4. Win: you ascend. Lose: consumed by the domain (death).
Limit: Character retirement (campaign end)
See Also
- Skills - Arcane Resonance and Domain Weaving for using Potentials
- Character Creation - Reverie, Fractures, and starting Potentials
- Domains & Portals - How domain Willpower interacts with Potentials
- The Count's Ledger - Gaining Potentials through pacts
- Advanced Mechanics - Designing custom Potentials