Strength Knacks

Holy Rampage:
Cost: 1 Legend Point per attack
The Scion is especially good at breaking inanimate objects. When he spends a Legend Point and applies his full might to breaking something – whether he’s punching it, kicking it or throwing his shoulder against it – the item’s Hardness is halved against the attack. This bonus applies only when the character attempts to break an inanimate object that is either free standing or under his control. If someone else has control of the object in question, the Scion must take it from him first.

Divine Rampage:
Prerequisite: Holy Rampage
Cost: 1 Legend Point per attack
When a Demigod with this Knack wants to break something, that thing is not long for this world. Like Holy Rampage, this Knack aids in the character’s attempt to destroy an inanimate object. If the target object is not under his control – such as a weapon or armor that someone else happens to be using – its Hardness and soak is considered to be halved when the Scion attempts to break it. If the target object is freestanding or under the Scion’s control, the object’s Hardness and soak is considered to be 0 against the Scion’s attack.

Armor Crusher:
Prerequisite: Holy Rampage
Cost: 5 Legend Points per scene
The raw power of the Scion’s attack now allows him to not only to break through obstacles and walls, but to slam right through armor. The Scion simply channels his legendary might, then uses brute force to shatter enemy defenses and tear through shields, armored plates and vests with ease. While this Knack is active, the Scion’s melee attacks all gain the Piercing quality.

Crushing Grip:
Cost: None
The Scion is a fearsome wrestler and grappler not to be trifled with. When he’s locked in a clinch and has taken control of it, the character can not only inflict the normal amount of damage, but that damage is now lethal as well. A character can still choose to hold an opponent without inflicting damage, or he can choose to break the hold. He can even soften his touch and inflict bashing damage instead. The damage the character can inflict when his temper gets riled, though, is tremendous and often quite messy.

One Inch Punch:
Prerequisite: Crushing Grip
Costs: 3 Legend Points per application
Extrapolated from learning to exert tremendous pressure from all manner of holds and contortions, the Scion develops the ability to put her massive strength to good use on a single, small point. With just a flick of a finger, a jab of an elbow or a headbutt, the Scion delivers the entire force of her Epic Strength. Although this doesn’t necessarily change the Scion’s unarmed combat style – she still needs to land a strike on an enemy – it’s quite intimidating when she can simply poke a building and cause an entire wall to crumble. Similarly, if the Scion is somehow restrained but able to move even a miniscule part of her body, she could (for instance) flick a tiny rock wither her toe with enough force to kill a man. While this does not increase the Scion’s damage output, it means that even when bound or restricted from moving in some way, the Scion can still bring all of her Epic Strength to bear in an attack. Perhaps she’s chained with bindings made from Gleipnir and can’t break them, but she can headbutt her assailant. Maybe she is buried in rock and can only move her little finger but can use that to send the boulder on the top of the heap flying. Her damage output and ability to lift are not impinged in any way when she’s forced to rely only on a single limb, a part of her body or a restricted range of motion.

Divine Wrath:
Prerequisite: Crushing Grip
Cost: 1 Legend Point per attack
A Scion with the Demigod range of Epic Strength already needs no weapons to inflict serious damage in combat, but a Scion with this Knack is even more fearsome. The prerequisite Knack enables him to inflict lethal damage during a clinch that he controls, and this Knack builds on that to awful effect. If the Scion spends a Legend Point during a clinch, he can make a single attack inflict aggravated damage instead of lethal. What’s more, his normal unarmed combat attacks now inflict lethal damage instead of bashing damage. Keep in mind that that lethal damage is now the standard damage he inflicts unarmed, regardless of whether he spends the Legend Point to make a single clinch’s damage aggravated. The Scion can pull his punches and inflict only bashing damage if he wants to, but doing so incurs the “Flat of the Blade” rule.

Disfiguring Attack:
Prerequisite: Divine Wrath
Cost: 5 Legend Points
Woe be unto any foe who lacks Epic Stamina yet faces a character who has this Knack. If a character has Disfiguring Attack, he can already inflict lethal damage unarmed and inflict aggravated damage in a clinch, thanks to its prerequisite. If he uses this Knack, he can inflict aggravated damage with an unarmed attack. Doing so costs 5 Legend Points per attack and removes the character’s Epic Strength bonus successes from the damage calculation. Regardless, a character without a significant aggravated soak from Epic Stamina or some other supernatural source is in for a world of divine hurt. Should a foe survive an attack from a character using this Knack, any wounds he takes are sure to leave wicked scars that last forever.

Titanium Tools:
Cost: None
While Relics may be made of stern stuff, the usual off-the-shelf “authentic katana” tends to fold like the cheap steel that it is when it connects with something under the force of Epic Strength. With this Knack, any tool or item that the Scion picks up benefits from the same bends and loopholes in the laws of physics that allow Epic Strength to defy both leverage and structural integrity. The Scion could use a wooden board to clobber a thug, or he could ram a flimsy iron fireplace poker right through a wall of concrete with the full force of his Epic Strength. In either case, the tool would remain reasonably intact (albeit with some cosmetic wear). Such guarantees are particularly handy when using an object of questionable strength to beat a titanspawn to death without destroying the item in question (such as a snow globe intended as a present).
Note that Titanium Tools doesn’t improve the Hardness or rigidity of an item. A cheap katana can still be snapped in half by an angry titanspawn that decides to target the blade. A limp spaghetti noodle is no better a weapon with this Knack then without. Titanium Tools simply allows the Scion to use objects that might be feasible as weapons under normal circumstances and subject them to the extraordinary effects of his Epic Strength without breaking them, for as long as he wields the object.

Holy Bound:
Cost: None
Only characters whose Boons include the Sky Purview have more freedom to flaunt the laws of physics. Simply having Epic Strength enables a Scion to perform prodigious leaps that leave mortals standing slack-jawed with wonder. For example, if a Scion has Strength 5, Athletics 3, and Epic Strength 3, she can jump 12 yards straight up or 24 yards forward. This Knack, however, doubles a Scion’s vertical and horizontal jumping distances. With it, the aforementioned character could leap and amazing 24 yards straight up (from ground to a seventh-story balcony) or 48 yards forward in a single bound.

Divine Bound:
Prerequisite: Holy Bound
Cost: 10 Legend Points
A character with this Knack cannot necessarily fly, but the difference between using this Knack and flying is a subtlety that is easily lost on mortal onlookers. For the cost of 10 Legend Points, this Knack converts the distance increment a character can jump from yards to hundreds of yards. That is, the character can leap the distance of one football field straight up for every dot of Strength + Athletics she has plus the bonus number granted by her Epic Strength. She can jump twice that length horizontally. At Strength 12, Athletics 5 and Epic Strength 10 (plus accounting for this Knacks prerequisite), the character can leap a little bit more than 7 miles straight up – which is about one and a half miles higher than the peak of Mount Everest – or more than 14 miles horizontally.
Used in combat, this Knack makes jumping something more than a Speed 5 miscellaneous action. When a character takes a leap that can potentially carry her for miles, that action is typically narrated rather than played out tick by tick. If no one can fly after her, leap after her, or run fast enough to keep up with her, the character effectively leaves combat. In “flight” the character retains her full DVs and attack dice pools.
This Knack also makes jumping more dangerous than it normally is. Normally, a character can always safely fall from the maximum height to which she can normally jump. This Knack, however, overrides that safety standard by extending a person’s jumping height to preposterous extremes. If a character who uses this Knack to leap aeronautically is successfully attack in flight and that attack inflicts enough damage to cause knockdown or knockback, the character’s prodigious leap turns into an uncontrolled fall. The player gets one chance per dot of Epic Strength to succeed on a Dexterity + Athletics roll. If she does succeed, the character retains her aerial poise and lands, if not gracefully, at least safely. If the roll fails, the character suffers damage relevant to falling from a great height.

Hurl To The Horizon:
Cost: None
Baseballs, manhole covers, beer kegs and other thrown objects become tiny specks in the distance when the Scion throws them. Having this Knack doubles the distance she can throw something as a feat of strength. It also doubles the Range of a normal thrown item after calculating the standard increase in Range granted for having Epic Strength. This Knack doesn’t make the character any better able to see or hit a target, however. Nor does it impart extra damage to an attack committed with a thrown weapon.

Mighty Heave:
Prerequisite: Hurl To The Horizon
Cost: 1 Legend Point
This Knack automatically triples the distance a Demigod Scion can throw a heavy object as a feat of strength. That tripling comes not only after the modification based on the character’s Epic Strength but also after the doubling provided by the prerequisite Knack. (In effect, it multiplies his feat-of-strength throwing distance by six.) Using this Knack costs a Legend Point.
Mighty Heave does not affect the distance a Scion can throw a normal-sized object, but it does intensify the damage such an object can cause. Thrown weapons or other thrown items that would normally cause bashing damage (a coconut, for example) inflict lethal damage and take on the Piercing quality instead when the Scion uses Mighty Heave. Items that would normally cause lethal damage still cause only lethal damage, but they ignore armor when the Scion uses Mighty Heave.

Hurl To The Moon:
Prerequisite: Mighty Heave
Cost: 2 Legend Points
A character with Epic Strength can throw normal-sized objects (such as baseballs or darts) ridiculously far. He can also lift incredibly heavy objects. He can even throw those heavy objects, but he can’t throw them very far. A God with the utmost in Strength and Athletics and 10 dots of Epic Strength can throw something he can lift with Epic Strength 9 only about 400 yards away. If the object is big enough – if it’s a nuclear submarine, for instance, with a bay full of missiles that are about to explode – 400 yards isn’t very far at all.
With this Knack, however, a character can hurl an object that he can lift and throw as a feat of Strength as far as he can throw a dart without penalties deriving from Range. The sort of Epic feats this Knack allow work best as narrative effects in combat, as the logistics of hurling such projectiles as fire stations, the Washington Monument or Jörmungandr at one’s enemies can get somewhat more math-intensive that is strictly ideal.
Hurl To The Moon does not affect the distance a character can throw a normal-sized object, but it does intensify the damage such an object can cause. Such damage is considered aggravated, and the projectile takes on the Piercing quality if it does not already have it. Each attack thus enhanced costs the God 2 Legend Points, however.

Uplifting Might:
Cost: 1 Legend Point
The Scion can lift and hold tremendous loads that would stagger even other Scions with Epic Strength. After checking the character’s lift capacity on the “Feats of Strength” table then adjusting that capacity based on the character’s Epic Strength, this Knack (and the expenditure of 1 Legend Point) doubles that lift capacity. This Knack doesn’t affect a character’s ability to break or throw an object.

Knockback Attack:
Cost: 1 Willpower Point
The Scion is able to perform an attack that inflicts no damage whatsoever but sends his enemies flying back. On a successful attack, the Scion can choose for the attack to inflict damage and knockback normally, or he can choose for the attack to inflict no harm but to impose one yard of knockback per threshold success above the defender’s DV instead. (Doing so cost 1 Willpower Point.) Hardness can still cancel out this effect if it is greater than the attack’s raw damage.

Knockback Wave:
Prerequisite: Knockback Attack
Cost: 5 Legend Points
The God with this Knack claps her hands, slams a foe to the ground, bellows a war cry or performs some other similar action, and the player spends 5 Legend Points. When she does so, everyone within a number of yards of the God equal to the God’s Legend is potentially hurled backward. The God’s player rolls Strength, receiving bonus successes from her Epic Strength, and every person with the radius of effect compares his DV to the result. Anyone whose DV doesn’t measure up is knocked back one yard per threshold success.

Shock Wave:
Cost: 1 Legend Point
The Scion is so strong that he can direct his incredible power through the ground or floor to affect enemies at range. Doing so takes two separate forms. First, the character can stomp or strike the ground with his fists or a weapon, which sends a shock wave outward from him along the ground across an area with a radius equal to his Epic Strength in yards. Striking the ground thus to send out the shock wave requires a Strength roll, which receives the benefit of his Epic Strength. Potential victims – friend and foe alike – compare their Dodge DV to the results of this roll. If their DV overcomes the Scion’s successes, they manage to jump and let the shock wave pass beneath them. If their DV isn’t high enough, they immediately suffer knockdown as well as an amount of bashing damage equal to however many of the Scion’s successes their DV couldn’t cancel out. (If his allies know the Scion is about to use this Knack – if his using it is part of a coordinated assault, for instance – they can jump out of the way preemptively without having to rely on their DVs.) This attack inflicts no damage on the floor or the ground the Scion strikes. All the energy is expended into the shock wave.
The second form this power takes is more selective and deliberate. As with the first form, the Scion strikes the ground and sends a shock wave along the surface out to a distance equal to his Epic Strength in yards. This time, though, his player makes a standard Dexterity-based attack roll and targets a single opponent. If that opponent’s Dodge DV isn’t high enough to get him out of the way of the attack, the Scion’s player then makes a Strength roll, modified by his Epic Strength but not modified by his extra successes on the attack roll. The damage this attack inflicts is bashing, but it has one other effect that renders the victim almost helpless for a moment afterward. Any successes on the Strength roll that exceed the victim’s soak not only inflict damage but also hurl the victim straight up in the air (one yard per unsoaked success). The victim’s rise and fall takes six ticks, during which his DVs are considered to be halved. He can make ranged attacks at a -5 penalty, but he can’t move or jump or do much of anything until he lands again. In fact, if the Scion’s attack sends him high enough in the air, the victim might take damage from crashing back down from so great a height.
Using either form requires the expenditure of a Legend Point.

Making It Look Easy:
Cost: None
When a character performs a feat or strength, doing so takes every bit of effort the character can muster. He doesn’t just lift a blue whale by the tail and hammer throw it back into the ocean between bites of scone. He grunts and strains and struggles until he gets enough momentum behind the whale for it to leave the ground, and when he lefts it go, it’s with a resounding shout of strain and a near collapse of relief as it sails out over the water.
The name of this Knack, however, speaks for itself. Any action the character can perform as a feat of strength, he can perform as if it’s no effort at all. He can lift the heaviest weights with one hand whole using his other hand to cover a yawn. He can throw a spear into orbit with a flick of his finger. He can scoop the beached whale up in one hand and send it skipping like a stone out into the deep water where it can move freely (if dizzily) once again. Since such feats of strength are so easy the character can execute multiple actions while performing feats of strength.

Hang On:
Cost: 1 Legend Point
This Knack allows the Scion to plant her feet, tighten her muscles or otherwise commit to performing a feat of strength for an extended period of time. By spending a Legend Point to activate the Knack, the Scion can extend this feat for a maximum number of days equal to her Legend rating. As long as she continues this specific feat of strength, she ignores hunger, thirst, exhaustion and other factors that might otherwise interrupt her. Without this Knack, a Scion cannot possibly continue a feat of strength longer than a single scene.
A Scion can use this Knack to hold up any weight she can lift or keep a creature that’s fastened to a rope or line from getting away. By tightening her neck muscles, she could even hang by her neck without suffocating. The Scion must stay virtually immobile, however. A Scion could keep a mine from caving in, hang from a noose for days or drag a chained beast slowly toward her, but she could not run, jump or perform most combat actions. A Scion is still limited by her normal and Epic Strength ratings, though she can perform feats at the top of her capabilities for days using this Knack. If she lacks Epic Stamina Knacks such as Holy Fortitude, though, she will probably collapse in helpless exhaustion the moment she finally ends the feat of strength.