It feels wrong to throw away the joker even if none of our games include it. Could be useful, in its own way.
Like John Carter, Dorothy Gale, or Queequeg you come from another land, another planet, another universe, another time, another something. Now you're here and you've got to make the best of it, but sometimes being an outsider isn't all bad. Unlike most other archetypes, being an Outsider is most appropriate for new characters rather than being something you can pick up at any time, but if you can come up with a plausible reason for suddenly being a stranger in a strange land then by all means go for it.
| Outsider | You're not from around here. | |
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| caret-right | Acclimation | Easily recover from what you've suffered before. |
| caret-right | Audacity | Get away with outrageous behavior. |
| caret-right | Goodwill | Invoke the laws of hospitality. |
| caret-right | Make Do | Swap resource applications. |
| caret-right | Unorthodox | Use unknown knacks. |
| Social | plus-circleStrange Looks: Everyone who sees you knows you're different from them, maybe different from everybody they've ever known. Because you're relatively unique this tends to provoke curiosity rather than xenophobia, however. You can choose to catch the attention of any creature you want, even if you're in a large crowd. What they do with that attention will likely depend on the exact nature of their motivations and your appearance, but you can always get it. plus-circleE.T. In Drag: You can semi-hide your unusual appearance if you do not wish to draw too much unusual attention. You are only remarkably different when you choose to be. |
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| Social | plus-circleStrange Tongue: Out of necessity, you learned whatever the local common tongue is very quickly after your arrival but you also know a strange, foreign language from your distant home. You are (probably) the only creature in the entire campaign world that knows this language, unless you choose to teach it to others. With your constant, direct tutelage your home language is considered Common (and thus can be learned by a student for 5 Dosh, or 1 Dosh if your student knows the Polyglot ability from the Scholar archetype). Anybody else attempting to learn the language, even from one of your students, treats it as an Exotic language instead (impossible to learn for anybody except those who have the Polyglot ability). minus-circleCannot Be Temped: If you use an Outsider keystone to temporarily gain this archetype, you do not gain this benefit. |
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| Utility | plus-circleStrange Lore: You brought something with you from your distant home, some form of unusual tool or knowledge that was perfectly ordinary where you come from but potentially very strange in your new surroundings. Name any archetype in the game (with referee approval), including those that are not unlocked for use in your campaign world and even (or maybe especially) archetypes that will never otherwise be unlocked for use in your campaign world. You can always take levels in the selected archetype without a keystone. For example, you could be a Gunslinger in a bog-standard fantasy knights-and-castles world, a Necromancer on a space station, or something similarly out of place. minus-circleCannot Be Temped: If you use an Outsider keystone to temporarily gain this archetype, you do not gain this benefit. |
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| Protection | plus-circleOnce Bitten, Twice Shy: Your entire existence is often centered around adapting to new circumstances, and you've gotten quite good at it. Every time during a session that you successfully throw off any condition, add it to a list. For the remainder of that session, you may throw off any condition on your list with a trigger die roll of 5+ instead of 9+. plus-circleThe Deathgrip Rule: If one of the conditions on your list is “Grabbed” and you get grabbed by a Wrestler with the Deathgrip ability, you can recover on a 9+ instead of an 11+. Same for if one of the conditions on your list is “Poisoned” and you get poisoned by a Poisoner with the Euphoria ability. minus-circlePenalties Apply: If you throw off a condition with Acclimation with a trigger die result that carries a negative consequence of that condition (such as Choking, which removes 1 Energy on any trigger die result of 8 or less) then you still suffer from that consequence. You just also remove the condition immediately after suffering it. minus-circleAdversity Only: You cannot add conditions to your list if you got them from an ally or under other controlled circumstances for the express purpose of adding them to your list. Only conditions inflicted by enemies in the heat of battle count. minus-circleLimits: No matter how many times you throw off a given condition, it can only be added to your list once. Your list is discarded at the end of each session and must be started anew during the next one. |
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| Social | plus-circleGaijin Smash: Nobody expects you to know all the social rules and etiquette, and you can use that as leverage. So long as you aren't being outwardly aggressive in any way, nobody will be upset at you or attempt any serious punishment if you break a convention or two (like looking the Queen in the eyes, wiping your mouth with the tablecloth, walking into somebody else's home, jumping a turnstile without paying, or whatever else). At worst, you will be escorted out and asked in monosyllabic, clearly enunciated words not to return. | |
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| Social | plus-circleFraternity: You are recognized as a kindred spirit by any other people you meet that can be classified as some form of wanderer or outsider: hobos, nomads, carnies, refugees, or similar. Any creature with at least one level in the Outsider archetype also qualifies, no matter where they came from. Such people will automatically have an attitude towards you of Welcoming and offer you hospitality freely. minus-circleGuesthood: If you behave poorly, all your initial goodwill goes away. Respect is a two-way street, even for you. |
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| caret-right | Alternative | plus-circleSacred Hospitality: You can choose for any creature to welcome you as a guest, not just your fellow outsiders. You can even use this to force an (honorable) enemy to put you up for the night and talk with you instead of trying to run you through. minus-circleMojo: Invoking the laws of hospitality on a non-outsider costs 1 Mojo. |
| Utility | plus-circleThe Three Seashells: You're not entirely sure how you're supposed to be using the things that now surround you, which leads you to the occasional moment of adaptational brilliance. By taking a procedure of time to tinker, you can turn 1 point of any resource (Provisions, Supplies, Mojo) into 1 point of any other resource. | |
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| caret-right | Alternative | plus-circleFast Spin: You can spend resources in place of each other immediately instead of having to take a procedure to turn one kind into another. minus-circleDouble Cost: You must spend two of any given resource in place of a single point of any other resource. For example, if you need Mojo you could spend two Provisions, two Supplies, or one of each instead. |
| Utility | plus-circleAlien Context: Sometimes your outsider status is actually helpful to you, since it lets you see problems with a completely different paradigm than that of the locals. Even when you're as clueless as everybody else, however, you've gotten by on pure chutzpah enough that you don't need to understand what's happening in order to figure out how to fix it. During an operation challenge you can choose to use any knack in the game, even ones that you don't have access to or even know. minus-circleExpanded Lockout: If your trigger die roll to use a knack with Unorthodox fails, you lock out your ability to continue using Unorthodox during the current challenge instead of locking out the knack you were using. minus-circleMojo: Using any knack that you wouldn't normally be able to use costs 1 Mojo each time, even if the attempt fails. |
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