Will
The one number behind every psychic power and every exile's nerve. Spending it, getting it back, and the Dirge that drains it.
One number
Will is an exile's resolve. It is the fuel for every psychic power, and it is the same number that a panic roll is made against. Enemies have no Will. They cast for free and never panic.
A recruit's base Will is rolled at 30-60 and moved by their age, profession and trait. Every mission starts with it full.
Effective Will
What counts in a fight is effective Will: the base, plus or minus everything acting on it right now.
- A bonded mate beside you: +10 while a close friend, lover or partner stands within 1 tile and on their feet.
- A rival in the squad: -5 while a rival or enemy is deployed with you and alive.
- Steadying neighbours: +10 from a mate beside you with Command 4 or more, and the same from an Idealist.
- Grief: -20 for the rest of the mission for every bonded mate who dies in it.
- The Dirge: see below.
- Spent Will: whatever you have paid for powers and not yet recovered.
A downed mate steadies nobody, but a downed rival still grates. Effective Will can go below zero.
Spending it
Every psychic power has a Will price. You need the whole price in effective Will to cast, and you pay it when you cast, whatever happens. A crown's tier never changes a price.
| Power | Discipline | Will |
|---|---|---|
| Hurl | Shaper | 20 |
| Raise Stone | Shaper | 20 |
| Mend | Mender | 10 |
| Unveil | Seer | 20 |
The evolved forms have their own prices, all on the disciplines pages. Field Dressing, the Spotter and Driving Force cost nothing.
The revive exception: a Mender short of Will can still revive a downed mate at touch. She pays what she has, never more than Mend's own price of 10.
Getting it back
At the start of each squad turn an exile gets back 10 of the Will they have spent, never more than they spent. Recovery never undoes the Dirge, grief or a rival's sting. Downed and panicked exiles recover too.
A bitter tonic from the workshop restores Will on the spot, the Dirge's bite first. A Mender's Steadying Mend gives the mate and the Mender +10 Will until her next turn.
The Dirge
The Brine Choir's song drains Will. Every hit from a Chorister's Dirge, or from an Antiphon's keening blade, takes 10 Will from the exile for the rest of the mission. The losses stack, but the Dirge alone never drags effective Will below 10. That floor is Mend's price and below every bigger power's, so a squad deep in the song can still Mend and little else. Spending can still take Will below the floor.
The Dirge stays until it is lifted. Any Mend clears it, and so do Wellspring, Far Mend, Rime Ward and Take the Wound. A Voice's Countersong stops the drain on mates near the Voice. The Choristers sing at whoever has the lowest Will, so the exile who has just cast is the one they find.