As promised, the beta version of Avatar: The Second Age is being released.
This 220-page PDF includes every rule, chapter, and lore reference necessary to run a full game, as well as a sneak peak at the adventure-in-progress, The Great Uniter: Episode I.
As this version is by no means a completely perfect version, many aspects are still missing, incomplete, or (sadly) imbalanced. Player and GM feedback will be key to fine-tuning and tweaking the rules in the coming months.
>What is Avatar: The Second Age? The Second Age is a free conversion for the Fantasy Flight Games tabletop roleplaying game Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (et al). Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) created a set of wonderful rules and a Narrative Dice System (NDS) that allows for Game Masters and players to create and live out dramatic and imaginative Star Wars stories — Avatar: The Second Age adapts that system to the setting of the universe from Nickelodeon’s Avatar series, complete with bending and a combat overhaul, among other key systems.
Wow that's cool. Thanks you for that, I loved Avatar.
Jackson Stewart
>Does this conversion require only Edge of the Empire? The conversion is essentially stand alone. I've synthesized elements from EotE, AoR, and F&D for a single, cohesive experience.
>Will nonbending characters be viable? Definitely! Fitting in with the theme of the show, nonbending characters should absolutely be viable and I've modeled many of them after archetypes seen in the show (using FFG as the template). The show itself clearly demonstrates that nonbenders frequently hold their own against benders.
Currently, there are six nonbender classes, each with three specializations. There is also a single Bender class, but it has four specializations (one for each element). These are the six overarching classes, but consider the list tentative to balance and future changes: - Soldier - Mercenary - Entertainer - Martial Artist - Mariner - Scholar
Logan Rodriguez
I also loved Avatar and after playing enough with FFGs narrative dice, it finally hit me that the system would be a perfect template for the Avatar universe.
>Why use FFGSWRPG as a base? The core mechanic for Star Wars is the narrative dice which relies on a success/fail mechanic. The narrative dice system lends itself very nicely to the Avatar universe due to the way the core mechanic tries to facilitate episodic, fast-paced adventures. When you perform an action, you either succeed or you don't; sometimes you fail, either due to the environment, lack of skill or other narrative circumstances which can be quantified in negative modifier dice. Sometimes, even though you fail your action, you may still gain some sort of advantage and sometimes you succeed but with unintended negative consequences.
The combat system needed the most work to really emulate the fluid and often ad-hoc nature of the fights in the Avatar world. So when it comes to bending, entrenched techniques (like the water whip) are outlined as though they were Force techniques (narrow, but deep skill trees). This means you start with a basic technique but each technique can be upgraded along a tree to enhance the ability in ways to make it more powerful, potent, or to boost the form's utility.
In the world of Avatar, bending has two purposes: combat and utility. Two skills represent this in he game. Specific bending forms are handled by a Bending combat skill whereas generic one-off moves, like sliding across an ice path or using earthbending to enhance your ability to climb a steep cliff, are handled by a Bending Arts skill to represent the utilitarian nature of bending.
By separating certain techniques into outlined abilities (Bending) and free-form maneuvers (Bending Arts), I've provided players with definitive mechanics for combat as well as the narrative flexibility for improvisation.
Brandon Jones
>Entertainer
Evan Moore
>So what's different from FFGSWRPG? Unlike many fantasy games, including FFGs tabletop games, The Second Age does not require that players choose a race, due to the source material only containing humans as a viable playable race. Character attributes are determined by players choosing a Background, which is comprised of a Location & Culture, as well as an Origin story. Each of these confers characteristics and attributes on a player character to provide variety in character creation. While a character’s Location represents where in the world they’re from; Culture to represent the nation in which they reside, their Origin represents a general summary of their lived experiences up until the events of the first game session.
Combat has also changed to reflect the fact-paced nature of combat in the Avatar universe. Apart from the introduction of bending, new mechanics have been added to include Counter maneuvers and actions, advanced grappling, and even defensive stances. Most importantly, the Martial Arts (formerly Brawl) skill has been expanded upon to create more variety and provide players with more flexibility in combat. Melee and ranged weapons each are split into two separate skills.
Characteristics which govern skill use are now known as attributes and they have been tweaked to fit in with the setting of Avatar. While FFG’s system contains Brawn, Agility, Cunning, Intellect, Willpower, and Presence; The Second Age uses a similar setup: Body, Agility, Intellect, Guile, Charisma, and Chi. The most important distinction is the inclusion of ‘Chi’ as a governing attribute with its own skills unique to the Avatar universe.
Animal companions had such a huge presence in the show and it would be a disservice not to include mechanics for such a quintessential Avatar feature. Mechanics from the Animal Bond talent from Force and Destiny have been borrowed as well as expanded upon. Additional rules for pets can be found in Chapter IX: Game Master.
Hudson Scott
So I actually screwed up. The class is actually "Entrepreneur" and the Entertainer is one specialization which also includes: - the Diplomat - the Merchant
Here's a sneak peak at the Entertainer's class tree
Isaac Stewart
>Why "The Second Age"? As you can see by the title, Avatar: The Second Age, the rules are written in the context of a Korra timeline. There are a number of reasons I went down this route, chief among them that my friends and I all want to play during this timeline, which is why I started the conversion in the first place.
The pre-packaged adventure will take place immediately after Season 3 of Korra - after the assassination of the Earth Queen and after Korra received mercury poisoning and goes on a 3-year hiatus. With the Avatar on hiatus, it gives the characters an opportunity to explore the world with little-to-no interference by a God-tier NPC.
Additionally, new and unique air bender characters make sense canonically and with Tenzin reorganizing the 'Air Nations' into nomads once again, air bender characters have a lot of inherent plot hooks.
Finally, it gives me, as narrator and GM, a chance to explore some cool concepts for a story that I feel Korra missed out on: - more Equalists and politics - more unique uses of old bending techniques - more canon to support the possibility of players becoming lightning, metal, or plantbenders
Plus, it means I get to bring pic related back to life.
That being said, I've tried to write the mechanics to be flexible enough that any GM or player interested in exploring a timeline before Korra and Aang can absolutely do so. All you have to do is cut out the fluff you don't like (such as Satomobiles or electric gloves).
The main mechanics will work no matter what timeline you're going to be in, I've even included the entire Avatar world timeline in the fluff chapter.
Elijah Wood
>How the heck is bending supposed to work? It's not the Force! FFG doesn't seem like a good system to use as a base. Pragmatically, I chose it because I felt the system works for a game that will be heavily-driven by a narrative. A narrative dice system suits Avatar best, in my humble opinion.
I also believe that FFG had the right idea in outlining certain Force abilities with their own technique skill trees. I think this approach works beautifully for an Avatar setting because it gives player characters the ability to focus their experience on whatever abilities they prefer.
For starters, Force dice have been abandoned entirely. In order to enhance or use certain bending techniques, Bender characters will have to voluntarily suffer strain. As they gain experience, they can unlock Class talents that: - provide additional strain - mitigate the strain spent OR - they can upgrade the bending Forms to require less strain to use.
I dropped the Force dice because it's incredibly stupid that the technique would only work if a secondary type of dice permits it. Bending "Forms" - unlike Force powers - simply require a Bending skill check, the difficulty of which is determined by the form and any other circumstances the GM feels is relevant.
Pic related; an example form (Earth Armor).
Logan Scott
Are there any help or plans to include help in running an avatar game? By that i mean how to capture the feeling of adventure and companionship, exploration and so on that the shows had?
Because i feel like it would be a shame to just use Avatar as a coat of paint to play DnD or star wars, something along those lines.
Oliver Gutierrez
There are definitely some rules and fluff sprinkled throughout the rulebook, but since I haven't had the opportunity to playtest with an IRL group, pop-out suggestions, scenarios, and general atmospheric tips are sparse.
They'll definitely get added as time goes on and if you're reading through the book and you spot a good place for a tip or general advice in running Avatar, don't hesitate to post your thoughts here, or reach out at the official tumblr: avatar-the-second-age.tumblr.com
Xavier Williams
I'll be around most of the day, so I'm here to answer any questions, address any concerns or brainstorm ideas with you guys.
Feel free to bump the thread with campaign and adventures; here are a few of my favorite from past threads:
A bunch of wanderers, vagabonds, and criminals find themselves entrusted to carry an ornate lockbox across the continent to Omashu under the direction of two masked men who broke them out of jail in exchange. Their path takes them right through the fire nation colonies, and they have been warned that the lockbox is wanted by other parties. >the object in the box is a prototype form of the breech-loading mechanism from 17th century firearms
The Historical department of Ba Sing Se has started hiring travelers and adventurers to find artifacts and scrolls regarding ancient bending societies. They are currently funding an expedition to the fire nation isles to research the Sun Warriors and their culture.
A massive, traveling collective of benders of all kinds are stealing away flying bison, badger moles, dragons, and other "bender" animals, and non-benders, and trapping them together in a mad experiment to see if they can force non-benders into learning bending.
Noah Barnes
Haven't gotten to fully read it yet, but thanks for making this.
Dominic Wright
Thanks for wanting it! Feels validating, lol
Even if you haven't read the whole thing, I'd love to hear some feedback when you feel comfortable giving some
Josiah Kelly
>Bender characters will have to voluntarily suffer strain Hmmmm
Ayden Richardson
>During Korra's three-years hiatus Does that mean that being the Avatar won't be an available player option? I'm much more inclined toward playing in my alternative non-canon timeline and let one of my PCs be the Avatar.
Nathan Peterson
Please, please put a black on white pdf in the Dropbox. I don’t give a shit about your background template and it makes things harder to read.
Aiden Collins
this is pretty damn cool my dude, replying to keep this thread alive, I'll have a read when I'm back
Jaxon Edwards
How was that map made Where did you get all the info for it?
Easton Watson
>let one of my PCs be the Avatar. You sure are fucking stupid >lets have one of the players be more powerful and important than everyone else Surely nothing will go wrong.
David Lee
Ideally yes, the Avatar would be an NPC. Having a PC avatar in any party would be unmanageable, but you are welcome to try it out and let me know how it works.
Sure! I'll work on getting a black and white PDF uploaded ASAP.
Sadly I don't know, I found this map online in my vast search for world maps.
Daniel Johnson
What do you plan to do once Gensys comes out? Do you think it'll be easy to update the game to it?
Logan Morgan
My God, I can already tell how much love went into this. Def gonna look this over.
Grayson Miller
My hope is that it will be easy to update the game to incorporate anything Genesys might introduce. Though I am assuming "generic NDS" really will pretty much be based on Star Wars.
I feel like I went the right route with the Avatar adaptations and am confident I won't have to change too much, if at all (watch me eat my words lol).
Lots of love, passion, and very little testing ahah
Noah Fisher
What's the difference between a Soldier and a Mercenary beyond the latter being a non-state sponsored fighting man? I'd even go so far as say that four of your classes (Soldier, Mercenary, Martial Artist, and Marine) are just themes of Fighting Men.
Austin Walker
>>lets have one of the players be more powerful and important than everyone else >Surely nothing will go wrong. >Having a PC avatar in any party would be unmanageable
I don't agree. In the show, the parties are composed of non-benders, benders and the avatar, and while the avatar's role is central in the story, the other are viable and valuable members, able to kick all kinds of ass, with only a few moments in a few epidodes that are "Avatar only". In RPGs it is totally possible to have PC not alla on the same status, Ars Magica (were some players play mages and other their servants), Rogue Trader (were one player is the eponymous Trader and the other, his Crew) or any game including various degrees of nobility or military command. It may not work for competitive groups, but that goes against the spirit of the show imho.
I think making it possible for a PC to be the Avatar would be a nice addition, even as an optionnal rules. All I'm asking for is a bit of balancing making the 4-element build both viable but not to op.
I haven't had the time to look into the system yet, but my first idea would be to limit the Avatar to the basic bending for each element (no lava-, plant-, lightning- or metal-bending), and for the rest, just putting points in the various bending skill trees, giving them fewer points for non-bending skills for exemple.
Eli Garcia
The only difference is that Mercenaries include Bounty Hunter, Ranger, and Assassin which rely a little more on Agility and Cunning (and built around ranged weapons) whereas the Soldier relies on Body and is based around armor and melee weapons.
The Martial Artist is intended to have Body/Agi balanced, unarmed classes; (Chi Blocker, Fighter, and Monk).
Mariner was my attempt at extrapolating on the sea-heavy transportation and military of the world and to give players of Star Wars a 'Pilot' analogue; instead of spaceships, we have marine vessels (and those who are better than others at navigating them) - Sailor - Pirate - Commander
Ultimately what I did was find definitive examples of 'class' archetypes in the show and try to incorporate them wherever possible.The class names and groupings are, admittedly, a little arbitrary for the sake of having 18 non-bender specializations, being grouped by 3s into six generic archetypes.
More pics of Avatar maps
Tyler Long
If you wanted a Pilot analogue, why not just have mech pilots or expand more on pi-plane pilots?
Leo Hall
Black and White version has been uploaded to the Dropbox.
Alexander Myers
I wanted a Pilot analogue, but at sea.
Eventually, since airships and biplanes are included in core rulebook, I'll introduce an actual Pilot specialization.
Connor Anderson
I love maps
Robert Turner
Quick, someone explain this system to me! Is it any good?
Or explain Avatar in general to me!
Luke Carter
what stops a metalbender from studying waterbending enough to master the liquid metalbending studying firebending to master magmabending studying airbending to master sandbending and then scamming nerds by pretending hes the avatar?
Landon Powell
Absolutely nothing. In the series Iroh did exactly that when he discovered the technique for redirecting lightning, he cribbed from Waterbenders techniques about the ebb and flow of water. Sandbending actually is an Earthbending technique, it is more akin to an obscure style of kung-fu than anything else.
Aaron Reed
There's this fanfic I won't link because a lot of people hate it that has Zuko bending hot water, hot sand and hot air. I would actually let my players do this, especially since fire is so conceptually underpowered compared to the other three (earth lets you build shit; water lets you... build shit and swim, I guess; air lets you fly).
Michael Cruz
>No lightning Ruined 0/10 reported saged and told mom about it.
Jokes aside, i skimmed through a few pages and it looks interesting enough, might give it a shot. Really like how the bending system works too.
Landon Clark
Absolutely nothing and the rules are flexible enough, I think, that a GM and the players could definitely stretch the mechanics and make up skills for specific circumstances, like those you just described.
I only didn't include these types of examples by default because they weren't outright displayed in the show. But the canon heavily implies this kind of thing happens (more frequently than we see). Good example here Metalbending is the only specialty included by default since the prepacked adventure includes a nemesis metalbender character.
I just started working on Lightning and the others (plant and bloodbending, sandbending, etc).
Any feedback on the bending system is welcome. Since they're just like skill trees in that you have to spend XP to unlock deeper upgrades and abilities, the idea was to give a mechanical incentive (vis-a-vis XP) to play deep, rather than wide, when speccing a bender.
When I say wide, I mean players who cross-class to gain skill bonuses. Instead of spending their XP to spec into other classes, they're developing their favorite or preferred bending form.
But its all tentative. Maybe this doesn't work well for a lot of players who get mad about having to grind a little to max up several trees.
Combat wise, I've done some test rounds with myself, but its just not the same as it is live with players. So I hope the Counter abilities, improved stances, and grappling mechanics all help make it feel more fluid.
Brandon Gray
that sounds retarded, I think fires lightning makes it instantly strong especially since it helps power machines
I think itd be cool if firebenders could magmabend or make it a hereditary thing where if your parents were fire/earth benders then you could magma bend
regardless: fires got lightning and the ability to power machinery waters got healing, ice, and bloodbending earths got metal, magma, and sand and airs got the flight and a better connection with spirits
seems pretty balanced to me, especially since all those techniques besides metal, lightning, and ice are rare as fuck
Brayden Nguyen
I think magmabending already was a thing though, at least with particularly powerful firebenders and avatars.
James Martin
>or make it a hereditary thing where if your parents were fire/earth benders then you could magma bend please don't
magma is just another state of earth, not fire+earth>especially since all those techniques besides metal, lightning Metal and lightning are still pretty rare overall, just not in comparison with ATLA.
Hunter Walker
Wait i fucked up it actually was a specialization of earthbending.
Evan Butler
Fire also has general heat as well. You see Iroh heat his tea with firebending without actually making a flame and Firelord Sozin was pulling heat out of lava and blowing it out to cool lava flows.
Joseph Scott
Some firebenders can also combustion bend. Like the guy from korra who had the third eye tattoo.
Gavin Harris
I dunno, judging by how its thought I dont think metalbending is that rare
and the bunch of dudes who just toss out lightning in the city to power shit leads me to believe its also not as rare
at least azulas blue fire wasnt fiddled with, seems like korra really went full JUST with everything else
Dylan Evans
damn now it feels like air is the weakest I mean only one advanced technique in flight and nothing else seems kinda eh
Daniel Bailey
This is a very good set of examples, and the both relate back to Iroh's focus on firebending being in the breath, not the might.
Hunter Wilson
Could you remove the four element symbols behind be text?
Last request, this is already much easier to read.
Matthew Ortiz
That'll take some more time, but keep checking the dropbox. It'll basically be just a rulebook "lite" edition.
Liam Johnson
Last bump for the night
Jordan Davis
For whats its worth they also get astral projektion. It should be for everyone but lok made it specificly air.
Noah Wright
>and the bunch of dudes who just toss out lightning in the city to power shit leads me to believe its also not as rare People REEEE over canonical implications of how widespead lightning bending has become, but it's really much ado about nothing.
There are only a few lightning bending powered plants and it's rare enough and/or in demand enough to get payed fairly well.
In LoK, there's literally 6 people who lightning bend ever. 4 of them only show up in a single scene. One is Lightning Bolt Zolt, who only shows up for one or two episodes. The other one is Mako, one of the main characters.
>I dont think metalbending is that rare Metalbending being more common makes more sense. Toph opened up a school for it.
There's a fair amount of metalbenders in Zaofu and Republic City, but there's just not that many overall when you consider the Earth Kingdom is the largest nation and the only metalbenders come from 2 cities tops.
>at least azulas blue fire wasnt fiddled with But that was like the most special snowflake thing in the series.
There was literally nothing different about it aside from it being blue
>but blue fire is hotter Not in the show. The artbook literally says Azula got blue fire just to make her stand out more.
The only thing really holding air back is that 99% of airbenders were pacifist monks.
The most technologically advanced nation had to launch a surprise attack on a day when they were supercharged by a once in a lifetime event in order to wipe out the smallest nation made up entirely of pacifists. And the Fire Nation still took a ton casualties.
You also have to keep in mind
>air is invisible >only a handful of people alive know how to fight against airbenders >you can't be deprived of air unlike other elements
Jonathan Wood
Aw hell yes, you're back!
Sebastian Ross
>I dunno, judging by how its thought I dont think metalbending is that rare
The whole metalbending thing was less because people lacked the ability and more no one even figured they could do it. I mean, wasn't that the whole point of Guru Patik's speech about separation in S2?
Of course, LoK kinda threw that in the dumpster along with most of the cooler spirituality stuff from the original series. It really is the Star Wars Prequels of western animation.
Gabriel Lopez
...
Easton Jackson
Rumors of my absence have been greatly exaggerated ;)
This guy gets it.
Everyone also seems to forget that this game is entirely customizable. If you don't want all of your PCs and NPCs lobbing lightning around, you can just GM an explanation for why no one knows it.
Likewise for metalbending or any other specialty. I merely tried to create rule templates for what is seen in the canon - where players go from there is entirely up to them.
Eli Wood
I liked this part of the comic because it focuses on a place in the Earth Kingdom where the three benders are living and working together.
Landon Robinson
Could you use this system to run a full metal alchemist game?
Mason Gray
That's...a really good question. I think with some tinkering it could definitely work since the FMA setting really does lend itself to these types of games.
The narrative dice system works best, IMO, for settings that are episodic and story-driven and I think FMA fits the bill perfectly.
Jordan Baker
I'd love to discuss any reluctance you have about this mechanic.
I know in Star Wars, strain (and wound) thresholds are already kind of sparse. I've introduced a few ways to pad the numbers a bit; especially for the Bender class which gets boosts to maximum strain thresholds, as well as talents which help curtail the number of strain spent when performing a technique.
In addition, when you first unlock a form its going to cost you strain to perform. However, as you gain XP and invest that XP into your preferred forms, your "training and aptitude" for that ability allows you to upgrade it to require less strain.
I felt that this was preferable to an entirely new mana/energy threshold for players to keep track of. Bender PCs won't *have* to upgrade their forms, or suffer strain to boost its capabilities...but the option for them to do so will always be there.
Here's the template for Water Whip!
I definitely appreciate any and all feedback. Please understand that although I modeled these after the Force talent skill trees, pretty much every bending form was created from scratch based on my notes and observations of the show. Everything is tentative and subject to play testing and balance changes.
Matthew Sullivan
Let me know when you get a chance to read! Even if only a single chapter.
Most feedback I'm looking for will be for the Bending chapter and rules, as well as the new classes.
Here's another bending form. This time from the Firebender class; whereas a majority of bending forms have a ranged combat component, Fire Strikes in particular is meant to be used in conjunction with Martial Arts.
Grayson Hall
The system is a narrative dice system.
The core mechanic of the system is a skill check that is made with several dice. The character's attributes and skill add positive dice to the pool, whereas the difficulty is set by a number of negative dice added. Circumstances may add more dice.
If the player rolls more successes than failures, the action is a success. However, the dice show other symbols in addition to success/failure. Other symbols may provide side effects or trigger a critical success of failure.
Compared to more straightforward tests, this mechanic offers a wider range of outcomes. It also offers a tool to explain the outcome of the text. For example, if only the character's attribute dice contributed to the success, the story may become that the character's training was not of much use for the specific task.
It's entirely flexible and permits both GM and PC interpretation and input into why a skill check should or should not pass. It's collaborative in that sense. You might roll a skill check, fail miserably but have tons of advantage regardless. So you throw your boomerang at the target and it misses by a longshot, but maybe the boomerang hit a boiler in the background and caused the room to fill up with steam and obscure visibility.
Avatar is a wuxia-style series where certain people are born with the ability to 'bend' (kinesis) one of the four elements to their will. Pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, aerokinesis, terrakinesis... they do this through martial arts, but really skilled benders have been known to do it simply by willing it to existing. The world's got a lot of fluff to explore, and I loved the cartoon growing up, so I made this conversion.
Canonically, I think they mention in the show that only about 1 in 100 earthbenders can metalbend.
What we know: - Earth Kingdom is the most populous continent, comprising *most* of the population in the Avatar world - Majority of citizens *are not* benders at all - Only a fraction (1%) of those who can bend, can bend metal
So despite seeing Zaofu, an entire city by and for metalbenders, metalbending is still quite rare.
Jackson Rivera
I'm actually really excited/proud of the way that the water/ice bending is being handled within the game.
'Phase Shift' is a two-tier talent that waterbenders can unlock. >First tier allows them to, as a Maneuver, target water under their control and switch between water and ice phases
>Second tier allows them to perform this as an Incidental rather than a maneuver
This givens waterbenders a lot of flexibility in combat; do they take an extra maneuver to make their form more potent? Or do they seize an opportunity to slip some ice under their opponents feet to knock them off balance?
Chase Lee
How valid would fire nation ultranationalists be as an antagonist faction? Is there enough for them to gain traction in the era of Republic City?
Jeremiah Allen
It's displayed more like a mental block for those who can't metal bend. It's bolin whos says the 1 in 100 figure, but Suyin pretty much tells him to just try harder and believe in himself.
Either way metalbending isn't that rare in LoK since we have atleast one police comprised entirely of metalbenders (until mako), a city based on metalbending and later an army of people using metal as their emblem. Now personally i don't have a problem with widespread metalbending as it really just is a perception thing, once you know how it works you just work hard at it and it should work.
Lightning is a lot worse, becoming a menial labour job and implied to run powerplants in RC. It kinda ruins the awesomeness of a power when you see it being used by a random group of people as a job, which Mako got off the street btw. So it isn't even that well respected of a job it seems. And for it paying well, that is in makos opinion and he was pretty much homeless before getting that job.
Cameron Diaz
That sounds pretty cool actually
Do you have any plans for potential spiritbending, and if so would it be water only or available to all bending types?
Nathaniel Ramirez
Very valid. The New Ozai Society formed immediately after Avatar Aang dethroned 'Phoenix King' Ozai. They wanted to put Ozai back on the throne, but the sentiment stemmed from the sincerely-held belief that the Fire Nation was right in its colonial expansion.
Likewise, Fire Nation colonials exhibit a mixed response when told that some of their colonies were being turned back over to the Earth Kingdom, while other colonies were to be included in the formation of the United Republic of Nations.
Even in Korra we see a lot of distrust and tension between communities. There's a lot of animosity toward firebenders, and you as a GM could easily wedge a narrative into your game where some firebenders feel unfairly disadvantaged such that they join up, or create, a nationalist faction.
Tyler Sanders
There are plans for Spiritbending to make an appearance, especially for waterbenders since this is canonically a waterbending technique.
Theoretically, the ability may exist for other benders but since we never *see* it, I'm reluctant to add it for the other elements.
Although ...anything is possible honestly.
Brayden Russell
I was just asking because as you said it is presented as a waterbender only thing. But it would be almost unthinkable that the other nations wouldn't have some bending tradition to deal with spirit problems. It would be weird to have to rely on waterbenders/the avatar in spirit situations.
Christopher Rivera
I agree with your skepticism and desu I would likely create a Spiritbending analogue for each element because why the hell not?
There's enough supporting canon that its not outside of the realm of possibility. Remember the Fire Sages in Korra and how they could use firebending to read Korra's energy/aura?
It's not too much of a stretch to suggest they could spiritbend via fire.
Pic semi related; Toph's seismic sense allowed her to detect 'impurities' of earth in the metal. Maybe earth-spiritbending would work by sensing similar material impurities in the bespirited entity?
And for airbenders... well they can already Astral Project (which seems like a form of spiritbending in and of itself).
Thomas Price
From the wiki: >Spiritbending is a variation of the healing technique which allows the user to instill a balance or an imbalance within spirits. It was invented by Unalaq,[9] who successfully taught it to Korra.[10] To perform the technique, a waterbender encircles the spirit with a thin stream of water, which begins to glow when the technique is taking effect. When used to change a spirit's negative energy into positive energy, the water, followed by the spirit, will begin to glow a golden light, at which point the spirit dissipates or assumes a pacified form. When the technique is used to change positive energy into negative energy, the water and spirit emanate a purple light. When used against humans, this variation has the potential to destroy their souls.
So yeah, our speculation appears to be valid. Theoretically the same type of chi channeling which is seen by all elements (mentioned in my last post) could be used to "instill a balance or imbalance within spirits."
A GM could really just handwave a reason why their PC or NPC gains this ability. Maybe your earthbender / firebender /airbender invented it like Unalaq invented it for waterbending.
Lucas James
Seems very strange to me that this wasn't invented until Korras time. What where people doing in the past against angry spirits, wait for the avatar to randomly come by?
Brayden Howard
>what where people doing in the past against angry spirits, wait for the avatar to randomly come by?
It's implied that this is 100% what they were doing. Since the portals between the Spirit and Material worlds were disconnected for 10,000 years, and since its implied throughout ATLA and LOK that the spirits were leaving the material plane to live in the spirit world, its likely that most people on the planet never interacted with spirits throughout their lives.
Landon Wood
In Atla everyone seem to revere spirits, like the Heibai and Painted Lady, but even then they would need some kind of spiritual person to communicate with spirits if needed, and while they say the Avatar is the bridge between worlds, they also mention that Iroh went to the spirit world so some people being able to work on behalf of the avatar wouldn't be out of the question regarding spirits.
In fact spirits seems to be highly regarded beings in Atla and are very likely to play a huge part in their spiritual traditions, so while an individual might not directly meet a spirit most people probably interacted with them to some extent.
The portals thing only comes up in Korra and frankly don't make a lot of sense. like how to spirits cross the barrier if the portals are closed? Why are there spirits in the material world if they were send back to the spirit world? Why can humans cross the barrier? etc.
Kayden Davis
>some people being able to work on behalf of the avatar wouldn't be out of the question regarding spirits. Agreed completely, although it is/was likely a very rare occurrence.
I imagine the lay people wouldn't even *care* if it were the Avatar. As long as the person could be an effective spirit medium, they just want their spirit issues resolved.
>spirit portals I imagine not ALL spirits left the material plane and some chose to stay behind.
I also imagine that being able to cross the barrier might depend on a spirit's own capabilities. Weaker spirits being unable to cross without the portal.
It's all spirit voodoo at a certain point, but GMs will have a lot of flexibility if they want to introduce spirits into the game.
Nolan Nelson
Bumping with some other cool spirit art.
Wyatt Nguyen
what would be a good way to write the leader of such a group without treading on characters that have already been done? And without treading on the obvious Hitler allegory
Easton Thompson
A Trump allegory
Jonathan Young
Could you imagine what could have been?
I have drafted some rules for a pro-bending style match within the game, but they really need to be tested.
Connor Robinson
Weren't they kickstarting a board game for this or something?
Juan Jenkins
Yeah and i think they made the goal and much more.
Adam Ortiz
I actually have this kind of NPC on my back burner in case my players decide they want to explore this aspect of the universe.
You could easily have a group of disgruntled, disparate fire nation colonials led by an industrial worker in one of the myriad former colonies. So industrial worker, let's just call him Lee, has amassed a growing following because he believes new technologies are making skilled benders (like himself) obsolete for certain industrial practices (see )
You could play off the "took our jobs!" stuff and go from there. He's riling up the firebenders in nearby towns and calling for his followers to 'seize the means of production' - but for fire nation citizens.
"Ba Sing Se for the earth kingdom, Fire Nation for everyone?" (have him espouse the opinion that the colonies and United Republic are "rightfully" fire nation territory since he, and his followers, were all born there - that's their home).
Nathan Butler
Yes and its partly what I am modeling my rules after:
Anyone else have questions, comments, or concerns?
the original title was going to be "Avatar: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game" which was way too long.
So I shortened to to "Avatar: The Tabletop RPG" which was still too many letters as an abbreviation
I went with "Avatar: The Tabletop Game".... but it was still so boring and generic.
Finally, I got the idea for "Avatar: The Second Age" when rewatching Legend of Korra and one of the characters (Tenzin, I think) referred to the time before Korra loses her connection to her past lives as "the first age of the Avatar". Naturally, beginning with Korra, this would constitute the 'second age' of the Avatar.
Jacob Young
Eh, would have been cooler if it was more like a conventional sport
Nicholas Roberts
How so do you mean? Like boxing, or like what we see when Aang shows them airball? Or when the metalbending brothers lob that metal disc at each other?
Adrian Cox
>Like boxing, or like what we see when Aang shows them airball This, maybe something like waterbenders playing hockey, maybe with a puck made of ice
William Cooper
>which Mako got off the street btw He learned it from Lightning Bolt Zolt, a noted mob boss known for his skills with lightning.
Wyatt Flores
I don't see why we couldn't make such a thing exist :)
Dylan Nguyen
Could blood bending lead to necromancy?
Owen Ward
Depends on how old the body is. Maybe they'd be able to manipulate a fresh body with enough blood still in it'd veins? But I'm sure that you'd get in big trouble for even trying something like that
William Taylor
Could be a concept for a villain.
Owen Sanders
As a GM I'd probably allow it under very specific circumstances.
Waterbender would definitely need to know the bloodbending form; depending on the narrative and their ability, they'd likely need a full moon to even *do* it, let alone to obtain the environmental boost dice to the skill check.
I'd consider it to be *at least* a Daunting check, if not Formidable, in terms of difficulty. If the body was fresh, I'd maybe add 1 setback dice. The older the body, the more setback die I'd throw into the pool.
This is all on top of the 2 difficulty die default inherent to a bending check.
Thanks for the idea, user!
William Wright
I can't imagine it'd be a very useful ability to have aside from intimidation, and as a show of superior skills. How hard would a bloodbended corpse hit?
Gavin Adams
It'd eliminate need to confront people face to face, if the bending can be done from a reasonable distance. Or used as a potential mass murder tool.
Aiden Evans
>Or used as a potential mass murder tool. Bloodbending is already great for mass murder, no need to wait for people to die
Alexander Turner
But user... zombie spooky time. C'mon.
Wyatt Ross
A waterbender attempts in vain to perform bloodbending on the corpse of their freshly-deceased lover, only to have their failure drive them into madness, until they finally try to perfect this world's version of necromancy
>Depends on how old the body is. Maybe they'd be able to manipulate a fresh body with enough blood still in it'd veins? But I'm sure that you'd get in big trouble for even trying something like that
Maybe their success can only occur on a full moon and they start spooking the figurative neighbors and the party finds out when they hear reports about a town en-rapt in stories about loved ones returning from beyond.
Carter Rodriguez
Then again, this might be too gruesome, even for Avatar.
