Godbound

Godbound is like a combination of old-school D&D's mechanics with Exalted's conceit of newly-awakened demigods unleashed on a world that's falling apart.

It's by sandbox campaign writer Kevin Crawford, creator of Stars Without Number. Hope you like random tables!

Unlike many old-school games, Godbound powers are often very narrativist in comparison to its peers, which typically feature very explicit rules. This can allow for more creative use of divine powers than is common in this type of RPG.

Characters

All Godbound characters have similar basic abilities reflecting their divine potential.

• Cannot benefit from stat-boosting or consumable magic items, or be Hastened or Slowed. Such magic is too petty for an incipient divinity.
• Fray dice: damage done to 1 minor enemy/round. Let's you shred mooks in an epic manner
• +1 Natural Armor bonus
• Divine Rage: 1/level up, can enter a furious state if brought to Zero HP. Delays incapacitation, but will kill you unless you receive healing before the rage ends.
• As an old-school game, explicit rules for chargen only go up to level 10

Magic

Three types:

• Low magic spells
• Theurgic invocations
• Divine gifts & miracles

All Godbound have divine gifts, but those with a magical background may know Low Magic, & Godbound possessing the Word of Sorcery may know Theurgic Invocations.

Limits of Low Magic

• Spells can’t affect anything outside the sorcerer’s presence, at most out to the maximum range of their line of sight.
• Spell effects don’t last longer than the next sunrise, though their consequences can linger. Speeding a natural process such as healing produces a lasting cure, and subtle blessings or curses might last as long as a week.
• Spells can’t create permanent matter. Summoned objects disappear at sunrise, and conjured food and drink provides only temporary satiation.

Limits of Theurgy

• Takes time to learn each Invocation.
• Spontaneous Casting requires Effort.
• Instant casting requires blood sacrifice - your own HP or someone else's.

Limits of Divine Gifts & Miracles

• Requires commitment of Effort, a limited resource all Godbound (& their major adversaries) possess.

Words & Gifts

• 6 points @ character creation, +1 point/level
• 1 point Lesser Gift, 2 points Greater Gift or another Word's Lesser Gift, 3 points new Word or another Word's Greater Gift
• All Words come with a granted power, often an ability score boost
• Words often overlap thematicaly with Cleric Domains (no surprise there)
• Defensive Gifts win against Offensive Gifts

Bad Guys

So what things can you use all these kewl powers on?

• Other Godbound
• Mortal Heroes
• Angels - want to get back at humanity for wrecking the world
• Eldritch Theurges - powerful mages
• Made Gods - construct predecessors of the Godbound
• Parasite Gods - Accidental recipients of divine energy gone wild
• Misbegotten: Experiments or Unfortunates
• Relicts:
  • Timeworn - survivors of lost realms
  • Automatons/Brazen Legion
  • Lusae - mutated survivors
• Shapeshifters - the Many-Skinned
• Spirits:
  • Elementals - natural forces
  • Eidolons - familial or locational
  • Animas - artificial
• Summoned Entities
• Uncreated - horrific outsiders from outside the universe
• Undead:
  • Lesser (unintelligent, Zombies, skellies, etc)
  • Greater (intelligent, Liches, Vampires, etc)

Premium Content

Like with some of their other games, Sine Nomine released a free version to the public. The premium version has:

• Mortal player character creation, whether as desperate dirt farmers-turned-adventurers or as budding mortal heroes who dare the perils of this dark world. Can your PCs survive and prosper in a world blighted by the past?
• Cybernetics and clockwork prostheses, for those GMs that want to add in a high-tech or clockpunk-flavored note to their worlds.
• Divine Supremacy and Paradises, citadels and divine strongholds to shelter the souls of the Godbound's faithful.
• Godwalkers, titanic engines of ruin built by the Former Empires to face divine foes. Salvage them from forgotten ruins or build your own with the creation system here.
• The Martial Strifes, divine martial arts that channel the natural conflicts of the mundane world into fearsome feats of destructive prowess.
• And not least, Themed Godbound that allow you to customize and flavor the demi-deities of your campaign to fit your own ideas about how they should work- with five worked examples to show you how to create superhuman Exemplars, shapeshifting Proteans, fate-thwarting Undestined, elemental Scions, and patchwork Arrayed.