Beast Bind Trinity: On Egos, Bonds, Love, and Sin

Pre Play

Characters begin each session (the Pre Play phase) with three Bonds (two from their Lifepath, and one with another PC) and one Ego. In addition, the GM may give each PC a fourth Bond in the scenario handout. You may only have a total of 7 Bonds and Egos combined at any given time. During After Play, any Bonds or Egos you gained this session are cleared away, returning you to three Bonds and one Ego again. The contents of your "3+1" may be changed at this point as character development demands.

This doesn't mean that your bonds are gone from a roleplay perspective, mind you. They've simply been sorted out and filed away with the end of the incident. If an NPC you held a Bond with appears again in a later session, you'll likely forge one again.

What's the difference?

Sometimes, you might end up with cases like [Bond: Girlfriend (Love)] and [Ego: Love for my girlfriend] that look the same at first glance. However, there are important differences between a Bond and an Ego. In the above example, the Ego is not truly directed at the object of your affection, but instead at an ideal 'girlfriend' image that originated in your own head. Love as an Ego does not consider if you that love is reciprocated or wanted. Hatred as an Ego has nothing to do with the subjects truth or intentions, it's nurtured and takes root entirely within yourself.

Similarly, [Ego: Hatred for my rival] and [Bond: Rival (Hatred)] may both sound like an Ego, but there's a difference. The latter still acknowledges your rival as an individual, and you've likely grown to hate them through a number of incidents and experiences. In the former case, whether your rival has a change of heart, admits defeat, or even dies, your fundamental feelings for them won't change.

In other words, if it's a Bond, the nuances of your feelings towards the subject may change depending on the situation, but not so much for an Ego. When a Bond becomes an Ego, that feeling has hardened within you and become semi-permanent.

Of course, the possibility always remains of Love turning an Ego back into a Bond...

Acquiring Bonds

You may add a new Bond to your record sheet at any time that the GM allows. The subject may be a person, a region, or even a concept, as long as it's appropriate to your roleplay.

Converting to Egos

There are three situations in which a Bond may become an Ego. The first is loss of Humanity. When your Humanity drops to 40, 20, or 0 (the points where a mutation manifests), you must choose one Bond and convert it to an Ego.

The second is GM ruling: If the GM decides it's impossible for you to maintain your current relationship with a Bond... for example, if a friend witnesses your monster transformation and rejects you... they may declare that Bond has become an Ego.

The third is the players own decision. You may convert a Bond to an Ego at any time you feel is appropriate, as long as the GM approves.

As a rule, Egos are not acquired on their own. If you wish to acquire an Ego from nothing, treat it as acquiring a Bond and then immediately voluntarily converting it. If you REALLY want to, you may skip the Bond stage and simply add an Ego to your record sheet, but this means missing out on Love.

Acquiring Love and Sin

You automatically acquire one point of Love for each Bond you have. This Love remains even if the Bond becomes an Ego before it's used.

Sin isn't as easy. At the end of a scene, you may declare to the GM that you roleplayed one of your Egos. If the GM agrees, you acquire one point of Sin. You may only acquire one point of Sin per scene, and you may only acquire Sin from the same Ego once per session. As an exception, during the Climax Phase, you may roleplay an Ego and immediately acquire up to 1 point of Sin without waiting for the scene end.

What can I do with Love?

Enter Release State: You may declare this at any time, even during Transient Death. You immediately recover (Body + 10) FP, are cured of all status ailments, and may not be subjected to status ailments again for the duration that you're Released. In addition, for all 2D6 rolls you make as a Major Action, roll 3D6 and discard the lowest result instead. However, you cannot recover your FP by any means while Released, and if you are reduced to 0 FP, you suffer True Death. A Release state lasts until the end of the scene. You cannot Release again when already in this state.

Use Sin on Others: You may use a Love point and a Sin point together to apply one of the following Sin affects to an ally other than yourself: Boost Result, Enhance Damage, Revive, Avoid True Death, and Recover.

Restore Bond: You may revert an Ego (other than a Lifepath Ego) back into a Bond. When using this on someone other than yourself, the target character must consent. If they do not consent, the Love point is not used.

Use Arts: Some powerful Arts require you to spend Love rather than Humanity to use them.

What can I do with Sin?

Boost Result: You may declare this after making a dice check. Add +3D6 to the result.

Enhance Damage: You may declare this before making a damage roll. Add +5D6 to the damage roll and treat the targets Armor and Guard scores as 0.

Ignore Target Shift: You may declare this before making a damage roll. Ignore the effects of all Arts and items such as Parrying that would shift the damage dealt to another character or item.

Revive: Use immediately after suffering Transient Death. You may immediately return to battle with (Blessing + 10) FP.

Avoid True Death: Use immediately after suffering True Death. You avoid dying permanently and suffer Transient Death instead. You may only use this Sin effect once per scenario.

Recover: You may declare this at any time. Clear away all status ailments and negative effects from Arts and items, and recover (Blessing + 10) FP. As an exception, you may restore your own FP this way even in a Released State.

On Humanity

You begin each new session with your Initial Humanity. No minimum exists for humanity: it continues to be tracked into negative numbers. It can drop in one of four ways.

Appearing: Each time you appear in a scene, you lose 1D6 Humanity. Halfbreeds are drawn to the Abyss merely by existing.

Arts: When you use an Art, in most cases you must spend a portion of your Humanity.

Items: Some items reduce your Initial Humanity when acquired. If you acquire such an item during a session, your current Humanity drops as well.

Fall Checks: When your Ego has been strongly stimulated, you've come face to face with a powerful Dominator, or otherwise are more conscious of the Abyss than normal, the GM may call for a Fall Check. Roll 2d6 + (number of bonds) against a difficulty set by the GM (usually 10). Simply by rolling a Fall Check, you lose 2D6 Humanity. If you fail, you additionally suffer the Berserk status ailment.

As your Humanity drops, your Bonds become Egos and your Mutations begin to manifest. As a rule of thumb, at 40 Humanity you won't be found out as a halfbreed as long as you're careful. At 20 Humanity, other beasts are likely to see through your disguise, and even if you disguise yourself other humans will feel something unnatural about you. At 0 Humanity, your nature becomes obvious for anyone to see.

However, the closer you get to the Abyss, the more explosively you're able to draw power from it. Each time a mutation manifests, your critical threshold is reduced by 1.

When the Climax Phase ends, your will to remain a halfbreed allows you to attempt to recover some of your lost Humanity. Roll (number of Bonds)D6, or (number of Bonds x 2)D6 if you accomplished your Spiritual Anchor for this scenario. If you still have 0 Humanity or less after this, you may declare to the GM that you wish to make an additional recovery roll. This second roll is always (number of Bonds x 2)D6. However, you earn 0 experience from your Humanity score if you make an additional recovery roll.

If you don't make an additional roll, or you still have 0 Humanity or less even after making one, your PC falls to the Abyss and becomes an NPC controlled by the GM. Whether they simply cut their Bonds and leave their human lives behind, become a Horror, or even ascend as a Dominator is up to you and the GM.