Unofficial Omnivok

[terse forum]

Matt read some fiction for the Omnivok in a stream, but said it probably wouldn't be an official ancestry option anytime soon. I was inspired by the concept, so I wrote a set of unofficial ancestry traits for my own use.

the fiction he shared

[mossy sparrow]

So, funny story - I was thinking about the Omnivok just the other day, and had the thought: "What if it wasn't just an ancestry, but a wholly unique class?" Or rather, Ancestry, Career, Class - all rolled into one. You are the omnivok - no reason you can't be your own class.

Something I'm debating perhaps working on in the future - but feel free to jump on it first if it strikes you.

Otherwise - stats aside - looks pretty cool. I especially like the (reset your ancestry traits); that feels like a great way to get the omni without giving it too many points up front

[terse forum]

I mean, if I were running and my player was down with the complexity, I'd probably let them change out their class when they reset their traits as well. Like why not?

I'm not sure what the fantasy of an Omnivok class would really be? I guess the first thing that comes to mind for me is a cinematic heroic fantasy version of Inspector Gadget, but there's no reason you couldn't just reflavor another class for that

[terse forum]

Thanks, I liked the idea that the real power of the Omnivok at this point is the vast experience you have stored deep in your memory banks, but it takes a whole day of dredging up memories to bring any of that to the fore.

And I love how much potential there is for subtle tragedy in that. Part of me wants to find new names for some of the purchased traits so they can all end in question marks. Because there will always be so much of your life that is lost to you now, both the memories you can't access and the people you have long since outlived

My favorite is definitely "Is This What It Felt Like?" because while I didn't want to hint at it too heavily, one motivation for an Omnivok character might be to try to mimic what the Steel Dwarves accomplished so long ago

[mossy sparrow]

Is this what it felt like is definitely a good name. More of that please.

[arctic crow]

Reading through the ancestry trait titles led me down a path emotional oof. Very well done.

[sturdy apex]

This is so cool, the names are very evocative

Valiar Might seems a little strong, especially with the other two signatures also being strong and no negative traits

[terse forum]

Oh yeah I don't consider this ancestry balanced against the others. Mostly because this is an untested first draft but also, I'm ok with the Omnivok being a little OP, at least when I'm directing it at my own table.

In general, I'm also a big fan of character options that come with some deeper emotion baked in

For the Omnivok, I think the mechanics need to make you stare at the loneliness and loss and grief and desolation that comes with being the last of an artificial generation. Otherwise it just doesn't succeed thematically.

[mighty sky]

I like the flavor a lot but mechanically I don't think the traits are very compelling? 4/5 of the purchased traits are just "You get another X". These are all effectively communicating the same thing about the omnivok. I would love to see more detailed, specific traits, balance aside.

[mighty sky]

Like I love this as a premise, but the mechanics aren't doing that for me, only the names. The names are great, though.

[terse forum]

Yeah I think there is definitely room for more specific traits, these are all kind of generic. I don't want to lean too hard on the robotic themes and end up with the Inspector Gadget ancestry.

I'm wondering if all the purchased traits should be variable the way they are now, or whether some new traits could work without offering a choice, being omnivok-specific abilities and not aspects of your previous lives

[mighty sky]

If you want feedback, I think you need exactly one trait that hits the "previous lives" vibe, and one trait that hits the "reconfiguration" vibe, and the rest should be different. As it stands, being able to change everything on a respite means there are no actual choices to be made here — all omnivok characters would have access to all skills, all signatures from their class from all classes never mind that's hugely better, all 1-point ancestry traits, and all perks, as well as two extra sort-of-skills. It's obviously crazy strong but it also just tells me nothing about the character.

Syndrome syndrome, if you will — if all omnivoks are 100% reconfigurable and adaptable, then none of them are unique.

[terse forum]

I think we may be seeing the appeal of this ancestry from different angles. Obviously if you're the player you can interpret the lore and run your character however you want.

To me, the Omnivok is interesting because of the way it plays with identity, memory, and what it means to be an artificial person. I don't think there's any unique mechanical ability (i.e. humans sensing magic, polders becoming shadows, hakkan seeing their death) that would make it more interesting to me, because you don't play the Omnivok for what they can do, you play the Omnivok for what they are.

From the way I'm interpreting the fiction, I think it would be a mistake for there to be ancestry traits that tell you anything about the character as an individual, in the way that other ancestries do (i.e. the way a Devil character might be more physically powerful with wings and beast legs, or more personally imposing with glowing eyes and impressive horns). Because the Omnivok isn't an individual, they've lived ten million lives and they are ALL those people. The "real" version of them is whoever and whatever they are in the present moment.

If you are the Omnivok, you are both unique as the last of your kind, and also you are only one of countless personalities adopted to survive. The fiction implies you might have been a hero at one point before, but not always.

To that end, I think that Is This What It Felt Like and Artificial Inheritance are important. They ask you to consider the perspective of your makers, and to consider what it means to not have an "ancestry" in the conventional sense. The other abilities allow you to consider how your past personas may have tackled challenges differently (with different abilities and skills) but I agree they aren't very mechanically compelling as being different flavors of "pick another X"

(sorry for the wall of text. I wrote this ancestry because the fiction inspired a lot of thoughts)

[arctic crow]

It doesn't need to be different from others of its kind, if the core fantasy is that you're the last of your kind. The idea is that there are no more other Omnivok, so it's more about 'how are you different from other characters' than distinguishing your Omnivok from others. I'm not 100% sold on the 'change your class on a respite' thing myself, and part of why is this lack of definition. especially if the character has never been a hero before.

[terse forum]

Also, the steel dwarves didn't know the omnivok were going to be sentient until after they'd been made, and they're described as general purpose. I think it's entirely possible that they were all physically identical (at least at first) and any differentiation came only after they started living as people. Changing their appearance, forming different opinions etc. Like a bunch of identical siblings.

For other ancestries, the purchased traits are a way to distinguish one person from another while keeping some things in common. For the omnivok, you never had anything to really set you apart, and your purchased traits are merely a way of distinguishing this version of yourself from the previous one.