In the Resistance Toolbox, roles and domains are critical pieces of putting your game together.
A character's role reflects how they are developed, and unlocks Advances for them. Characters can get Advances from outside their role, but they're more expensive and, with the three-act structure of Hwaet, will be limited in availability; it's something that adds flavor, not power, to a character.
Each character in Hwaet is defined by their Advances and three things: a power source, a rival, and their wyrd. Each of these gives a character a domain, but is also explained narratively.
Each role determines a character's starting Resistances and their starting Advances. After the start of the game, characters may gain any Advance, but the ones outside their Role's list are harder to gain (except for general advances), requiring a greater Advance: medium in place of low or high in place of medium, with high Advances unavailable outside your Role.
The exile belongs to no land; not the comfortable lands of average humanity, the liminal boundaries of the human psyche, nor the unknowable beyond.
As an exile, they never have had a chance of belonging, but their separation is holy, granting them insights and opportunities others cannot see.
Exiles are attuned to their unnatural wyrd, and can control destiny itself, possessing wyrd powers that fold and unfold being.
An exile's wyrd is a place where they can belong; it may not exist, and may not be possible.
The royal is prepared for greatness in their cradle, and is a leader of lesser mortals. Their responsibility is great, because they must bear the burden.
The royal has fewer wyrd based abilities than most other roles, but makes up for it with an impressive persona and social standing.
Royals can manipulate other people, but many of their powerful abilities rely on becoming masters of the universe, specialists in their domain.
A royal's wyrd is the society they will establish.
Creators of life, mothers bring things from the chaos of the universe and set them on the path to meaning. They do not restrict themselves to the abstract thought and
The mother also draws on deep bonds.
A mother's wyrd is the child or children they can create, or have already created.
The mystic has a unique connection to their wyrd. Able to see the world in different ways due to their connection to it, they may lack the power to change the future, but they possess the means to change it.
A mystic's wyrd is a prophecy, specific or vague, potentially with an unknown meaning, that they seek to bring about or avert.
The trickster is mercurial and draws from their quick wit. The one constant of the trickster is that they are inscrutable.
Drawing on their wyrd, they are able to change themselves and tell lies to save their skin.
A trickster chooses other's wyrds instead of their own. They do not gain a Domain from it for themselves, but may "borrow" a domain or knack from another character. Stress or Fallout suffered by the Trickster belongs to them alone, and impacts this ability instead of the wyrd itself.
Warriors are fighters, and can face off against the monsters that lurk in the dark.
The warrior specializes in force, both in combat and in their way of dealing with the world. They enter into conflict to resolve it, destroying anything that stands in their way.
A warrior's wyrd is an enemy to be vanquished.
There are seven domains: Mind, Body, Spirit, Divine, Profane, Secular, and Primordial. If a character gains a domain more than once, they choose a knack related to that domain. A knack is a description of some action conceivably related to their domain; when they do something like they roll with mastery.
Mind: Cunning and intellect.
Example knacks include always coming up with a way to trick someone (think Odysseus and Polyphemus) or seeing through lies.
Body: Physical strength.
Example knacks include resisting any poison, or lifting immense weights.
Spirit: Willpower and charisma.
Example knacks include winning over a crowd, or charming wild beasts.
Divine: Holiness and order, following a faith (religious or otherwise).
Example knacks include hunting threats to the order, or winning new converts.
Profane: Giving into the world, violating conventions.
Example knacks include getting out of blame, or overthrowing the current order.
Secular: Worldly knowledge and experience.
Example knacks include creating and using tools or navigating tense social orders.
Primordial: Bestial and instinctive actions; the unknown.
Example knacks include giving into emotion or confronting deep fears.
Cassandra's character, Sal, is a Mystic who looks into the future. She has a Divine source of power (her tarot cards), a Profane rival (a demon who haunts her dreams), and a Spirit wyrd (a vision of a sunrise that wipes the demon away). Since none of those overlap, she doesn't pick any knacks.
I think I've said that I love the Resistance Toolbox before, but I truly love it for what it offers and I want to sort of play with it in ways that may or may not break it. Spire and the Resistance Toolbox take a very narrative approach to gaming, and a lot of what I'm doing here is to try and push it a little nudge further in that direction.
