Favor & Boons

Building relationships with gods unlocks supernatural abilities called boons, which are powers beyond mortal capability. Favor represents the strength of your bond with a specific god, and each god values different behaviors and devotions.

Each god-relationship is tracked with a 6-segment favor clock. You fill segments through roleplay, and when the clock overflows, the relationship deepens.

Favor Levels

Gods recognize three levels of relationship depth:

To advance from one level to the next, fill your favor clock completely (all 6 segments). The next time the DM would award a favor clock segment, your favor level increases by 1 and the clock resets to empty for the next level. The overflow segment is not carried over.

Earning Favor

The DM awards favor clock segments when you take significant actions that demonstrate genuine devotion to a god, advance their interests, or embody their values. This is entirely through roleplay with no mechanical formula.

Each god values different behaviors. Ares respects bold combat and decisive action. Athena rewards strategic thinking and wisdom. Aphrodite favors acts of beauty and trendsetting. Hephaestus appreciates craftsmanship and creative problem-solving.

Small, consistent acts of devotion earn segments over time. Grand gestures of sacrifice or service might fill multiple segments at once. The key is that devotion must feel genuine within the fiction; going through motions without narrative weight shouldn't earn favor.

Losing Favor

Favor represents a living relationship, and gods notice when mortals stray from their values. Losing favor is a narrative tool the DM can use to reflect consequences of betraying a god's trust or acting against their interests.

Losing favor clock segments is the standard consequence. The DM might warn: "If you side with Ares' faction here, anyone with Athena favor will lose 2 clock segments." This creates meaningful tension between divine loyalties without being catastrophic.

Losing a full favor level is rare and reserved for serious betrayals: publicly denouncing a god, desecrating their sacred sites, or directly undermining their core interests. This is one of the harshest consequences available and should be used sparingly.

When you lose a favor level, any boons requiring that level become inaccessible until you restore the relationship. The talents aren't forgotten; they're dormant, waiting for the bond to be rebuilt.

A god's displeasure is a story hook, not just a penalty. Losing favor should create interesting narrative pressure: how does your character reconcile their actions with a god's expectations? Do they seek redemption, or accept the rift?

Boons are powerful talents with a favor level prerequisite. A boon listed as "Ares (3)" requires you to maintain at least favor level 3 with Ares to learn and use it.

Some boons scale with favor level. A boon that reads "Deal hard hits equal to your Favor with Ares" becomes more powerful as your relationship deepens; favor level 1 deals 1 hard hit, level 3 deals 3.

Unlike domain or weapon talents, boons represent an ongoing divine relationship. If your favor drops below a boon's prerequisite level, you lose access to that boon until favor is restored.

Acquiring Boons

Boon talents can be gained through two paths:

• Character creation: Choosing the Divine Path grants 1 favor level with a god and one of their boon talents.
• Talent breakthroughs: During play, you may spend a talent breakthrough on a boon talent if you meet its favor level prerequisite. Building favor happens through roleplay and the Deepen Divine Bond cutscene during intermissions (see Intermissions).

Boon Reference

Full boon lists organized by god are maintained as separate reference documents:

• Boon Talents by God

Each god's boon list includes the favor requirements and descriptions for all available divine abilities.