Tabletop Devil Saga

Shin Megami Tensei - Tabletop Devil Saga is a game run by Paorou. It uses the World of Darkness : God Machine Chronicles as its basis.

Overview
Manila has returned to the age of the gods. It has become the pearl of the old world. Countless people have been discorporated, turned into essence, which will then be used to create the new world. Demons have appeared, breaking out of the weakened barriers and making their own claim on this chaotic new world.

However, certain people of the old world have survived...

This page is for the general rules. Certain sections will gain their own pages as they grow.
 * Pearl of the Old World
 * Services in the Pearl
 * Factions of the Pearl
 * Dread Powers of Tabletop Devil Saga
 * Demonic Ally Compendium
 * Pintados Skill Tree
 * Persona Arcana List
 * Kingdom of Joshland

New System : Support
Players not currently using their character can be used to perform a support role. These support functions only work in combat. Each character can only perform one support action per battle. If some plot reason does not allow them to support their team mates, the function will not be available


 * Josh - Sniper fire. Josh will take aim and fire at a single target using his current equipped weapon and bullet/s. the longer he is kept aiming, the stronger the shot which gives a dice pool as follows:
 * Immediately: 7+weapon, 1 turn: 9+weapon, 2 turns: 11+weapon, 3 turns: 13+weapon,
 * Current weapon equipped: Air rifle: +1


 * Dennis - Once a battle, Dennis can send over an item from Joshland using his brownie subjects. The size/rarity of the item determines how fast the item arrives.


 * Peter - Once a battle, Peter can be used to steal an item while the enemy is distracted, or he can cause combat conditions on their enemies, such as fearful or distracted (from the party).


 * Paolo - Once a battle, Paolo can use his Persona to cast a healing spell or clear ailments once a battle.


 * Nic - Once a battle, Nic can use his comp to scan the enemy and inform his friends of an enemy's weaknesses.
 * Note: Bosses and more powerful demons/people may take more then 1 turn to scan


 * Mike - Once per battle, Mike can use his shield to protect a single individual (requester or target specified) for one full round, or until he is knocked out.


 * Marlon - Having Marlon as support increases the rate at which demons attack the party. The rate at which essence and items are dropped also increases.

New System : Demons
Demons are the inhabitants of the pearl of the Old World. They operate similarly to spirits for generic grunts, but certain social and powerful demons have stats similar to human characters. However, that similarity ends there, as demon characters have abilities called dread powers, and can pool the energy of existence called 'essence' to power their actions. However, demons do not 'learn' and 'grow' in the same way humans do - essence is literally everything to them - this serves as their meat and drink and their experience.

Some humans in this new world have ingested the essence in an attempt to be as strong, if not stronger than the demons. However, the human body is not as compatible with the energy as the spiritual make-up of a demon's. They cannot pool essence, but they can use their willpower to channel it. Some humans can even learn dread powers, such as Persona users.

Demons can also directly purchase dots for stats like Health, Willpower, Speed, Initiative and Defense, whereas humans need to upgrade skills or attributes to influence them. They all cost 2 experiences to increase, and they have no real limit, just the monstrous amounts of essence needed to cover them.

New Advantage: Essence
The 'building blocks' of the old world used as sustenance by demons and collected to empower the 'chosen ones' to create the new world. Essence is scattered whenever humans or demons die.

Essence can be used to:

 * Convert into beats. Essence is purified soul stuff, containing memories, skills and lives. This is power in its rawest form, and translates into a quick way of 'leveling up'. Demons can only gain beats in this way. Marlon still gains beats as normal due to being half-human.
 * For demons, restore health. One box of bashing can be cleared for 1 essence, one box of lethal for 2 and one box of aggra for 3. In combat, this is a miscellaneous action.
 * For demons with willpower, a point can be restored for one essence. In combat, this takes a miscellaneous action.
 * Power their dread powers. Certain Dread powers (notably SPELLS) can only be powered using Essence. Persona-users and Summoners can use their willpower to channel essence to bypass this rule.

For normal humans and persona users, a point of essence absorbed (via touch) automatically becomes a beat. In the 'pearl of the old world', removing a humans' soul removes all his essence, killing him/her.

For demons and demi-fiends like Marlon, Essence points can be pooled. They can be used to restore willpower or be converted directly into experience. This is their only way of gaining experience, however. This 'pool' means they can be siphoned by enemies knowledgeable in the arts. However, they do not possess the soul weakness of normal humans as they are 'soulless'. Demons can operate on an empty store of essence, as long as their CORPUS still has a health box empty.

Essence can be given to allies instead. However, in the case of one hit kills or other special cases, essence will automatically go to certain people.

Pools of essence can be used to summon greater demons, They must be left to pool and not be absorbed. Doing this is difficult as most normal humans inadvertently absorb them and demons hunger for it.

Certain humans are 'summoners' who can use their own essence to summon demons, they use their willpower stat like everyone else.

Essence Potency
All Demons and Persona Users/Summoners have Essence Potency. It is a marker for how supernaturally strong the creature is. For demons, it determines how much Essence points they can hold at a time. Persona users and summoners, being human, do not get to pool essence like demons, but they use Essence Potency for their own set of dread powers. Essence Potency also adds to the dice pool of any Dread Power Activation rolls, such as spells and techniques.

Ranking up Essence Potency costs 8 XP.

Effect by Rank:

 * 1) Demons can hold up to 10 essence points and possess up to 10 dread powers. Add +1 to dread power rolls. Can summon demons of Essence Potency 1
 * 2) Demons can hold up to 20 essence points and possess up to 12 dread powers. Add +2 to dread power rolls. Can summon demons of Essence Potency 2.
 * 3) Demons can hold up to 30 essence points and possess up to 14 dread powers. Add +3 to dread power rolls. Can summon demons of Essence Potency 3. Human characters gain a passive dread power to augment one of their attributes.
 * 4) Demons can hold up to 40 essence points and possess up to 16 dread powers.. Add +4 to dread power rolls. Can summon demons of Essence Potency 4.
 * 5) Demons can hold up to 50 essence points and possess up to 20 dread powers. Add +5 to dread power rolls. Can summon demons of Essence Potency 5. Human characters gain a passive dread power to augment another attribute.

New Advantage: Elemental Attribute
Returning to the age of the gods has revived the 'forgotten truths' of the world. Demons have an elemental template which determines their weaknesses and strengths. Persona users also have an elemental template due to the nature of their personas. Normal humans do not have elemental templates unless they have certain conditions, or wear certain armors.

Certain abilities and attacks also possess the elemental attribute. Using Elf-shot, or the elemental spells usually entail using a single element against the enemy. How well the attack does depends on the elemental orientation of the enemy.

LIST OF ELEMENTS:

 * Fire - Burning, fireballs, etc. Represented by the spell Agi.
 * Ice - Freezing, ice shards, etc. represented by spell Bufu.
 * Water - Water splash, drowning, etc. Represented by spell Aqua.
 * Earth - Rocks falling, earthquakes, etc. Represented by spell Magna.
 * Elec - lightning, shock, etc. Represented by the spell Zio.
 * Wind - Sharp winds, buffeting, air. Represented by the spell Garu.
 * Light - Holy damage, expel spells, PRAYER spells. Represented by Hama, Dia, Tarukaja, etc.
 * Dark - Darkness, death, AILMENT, etc. Represented by Mudo, Tentarafoo, Poisma, etc.
 * Phys - Physical damage. Punches, kicks, mundane bullets.
 * Almighty - A special element not included in a demon/persona user's element table. No character can naturally resist this element, short of certain protective spells.

ELEMENTAL STATUS
These are the status effects linked to each element. Note that these primarily affect only the 'reciever' of the elemental attack. (IN THE CASE OF BOTH ATTACKER AND TARGET HAVING THE SAME REPELS = The second repel roll resolves like the target has a none in the element, unless the character has an elemental status DREAD POWER other than repel.)
 * None - The character adds no modifier to the roll and no special rules.
 * Weak - The character is weak against the element. If the attack can be resisted, he automatically loses any ties. If the attack deals damage, it doubles its auto damage bonus.
 * Resist - The character resists the element. If the attack can be resisted, he automatically wins ties. If the attack deals damage, it halves its auto damage bonus rounded down.
 * Null - The attack is automatically resisted. In the case of a phys attack mixed with an element, the character simply applies a -3 penalty to the attacker, unless he also nulls physical, then the attack is automatically resisted.
 * Repel - The attack is instead rolled as if it were affecting the user and on success will affect the user instead. In the case of a phys attack mixed with an element, this roll has a -3 penalty. If he also repels physical, then the attack is is repelled as normal.
 * Absorb - The attack instead heals the target for the amount of successes. In the case of a phys attack mixed with the element, the roll has a -3 penalty. If he/she also absorbs physical, then the attack is absorbed as normal.
 * Dodge - The resisting player may re-roll any resistance roll against the attack. If the attack simply has a penalty equal to the resistance stat, it is penalized by twice the defense.

With the exception of dodge, only use the highest ranked status when resolving an attack. (Resist overrides Weak, Null overrides Resist and Weak, Repel overrides Null and below, Absorb overrides everything) Dodge can be used in conjunction with other elemental status that shares its element to resolve a resist roll. If the attack fails to gain a success in this manner, the absorb and repel effects do nothing.

Example:"Marlon - Kadiliman Pintados""Elemental Attributes""Weak : Light""Null: Dark"

New Advantage : DREAD POWERS
Dread powers represent the unified abilities of the demons, gods, spirits and angels, etc. that exist in the pearl of the old world. They are typically bought like merits (1 exp), but usually need some kind of attribute/condition/artifact to effectively learn. Spells are a miscellaneous action and take up the entire turn.

Characters can only possess a number of Dread Powers limited by their Essence Potency (above). If they learn new Dread Powers above this limit, they should remove one of their older dread powers first. Only Persona users and Demons can naturally learn dread powers.

Actual list at Dread Powers of Tabletop Devil Saga

New System : Persona
The new world has changed people in more ways than one. One such phenomenon is the existence of the Persona. At a glance they seem like demons, but more closely bonded to their users than even the most loyal familiars of a powerful Summoner. Whatever the rumors say, the consensus of those in the know is that Persona are the manifestation of their user's true selves.

The persona-users are a rare phenomenon even in this new world of demons and strange truths.

Pros
Upon awakening Persona, the users gain access to dread powers inherent in their persona's nature. Unlike Demons, they still cannot pool Essence and convert it to Beats as with all other humans. Instead they use Willpower for the purpose of activating all Dread Powers.

They also gain elemental status reflecting their Persona's own. Persona also possess their own stats that in turn empower the user to achieve superhuman feats. These stats can be increased by spending 4 experiences to increase them by one point.
 * Strength - Adds bonus automatic damage to both physical and magical attacks done by the user and his/her persona
 * Skill - Adds bonus dice to any non-magical attack or technique done by the user or the persona
 * Magic - Adds bonus dice to any dread power spell activation roll done by the user or the persona
 * Defense - Adds bonus dice to resist rolls, or a bonus to the defense of the user (defense counted as armor)

With some concentration, Persona may be called out, then used to remotely perform actions for the user. This basically gives Persona Users an extra 'body' they can use to move around and do things with.

Cons
Persona users are unable to make contracts with demons or summon them as soon as they awaken their true selves. The Hermes network app simply loses the function to store them. Any summoner marks possessed fade away. Any attempts to summon with a summoning circle fails.

It is notable that Persona users encountered so far never made contracts with any demons in the first place. It is unknown what would happen if a Persona user once owned a demon-fused weapon or had demons in his app prior to his awakening.

In addition, most persona users are stuck with one persona, as it is a manifestation of their one and only 'true self'. Also, any damage done to the persona affects them and vice versa. This means that if the persona has any elemental weakness, the human user is stuck with that same weakness.