Harrowed, the Accidental Arcane Background

I guess I'll start with addressing the point brought up in 'Badass Normal or Arcane Asskicker' (hooray, a response!). I think that the point brought up is valid but it isn't always universally applicable. The first thing to note is this, Deadlands tends to have a very high rate of turnover and there isn't much saying what happens if a new character is made, in fact the default seems to be that you start over at the base again. In games where the Marshal is a bit kinder and/or where character turnover isn't quite as fast arcane backgrounds can end up becoming far more potent, if only because after you reach a certain level of oomph as a normal it can become quite prohibitively expensive whereas the one with the Arcane Background gets to keep buying powers at 5 points a pop. This might be an area where the system breaks down a bit, but I think that in general the argument I made still stands.

I think that maybe I should bring up the Arcane Background that isn't exactly, the Harrowed. The Harrowed is a bit of an odd duck in that you don't choose it, it really does choose you, or at least it is thrust upon you. A Harrowed is a formerly living person who died, they were someone who had done enough ass kicking in life that a demon of the reckoning decided that said person would be excellent for making mischief with. They enter the person as they die, re-binding the soul to the body and then the fun starts. If you have the time the idea is to run a dream sequence, the player stumbles through their literal worst nightmare. The nightmare is a see-saw game where they and the demon in their head vie for dominion points, the values at the end are used to provide bonuses to the dominion roll (IE who's in charge). The demon might be subtle or overt but they are always hateful, always evil, and if your character is any kind of hero they will not be happy about this. Now the question that might come up is why the hero doesn't just try to end it again, after all the idea of living again is somewhat tainted by the fear of an evil being using your body to cause pain and suffering. Not to mention the obvious concerns of the suffering one is likely to endure at the hands of those wronged by the demon in your head or the risk to people you're close to. The reason is simple, and the demon will often point these out in desperation, since now if you die it faces total oblivion so self preservation is on its end.

The harrowed has some basic advantages, they ignore 3 levels of wound modifiers due to their relative inability to feel pain which is pretty handy by itself. In addition you can heal nearly any injury so long as a limb isn't blown off and you recover quicker than a normal person. Not to mention, only a headshot can take you out now, a bullet to the heart might slow the harrowed down, destroy it and they'll be stunned until they get some meat to eat but it won't keep them down forever. That alone isn't it however, the harrowed also has access to powers, some they begin with and others they can use bounty points to purchase.

These powers run the gamut, some grant further increased healing and recovery even to the poiint of regrowing limbs that were lost (though only those that were lost post mortem, if you have no arm pre mortem you still have no arm). The ability to see in the darkness, being able to call on the fire and winds to strike down enemies, control over the insects that creep over the earth. There was also the old fashioned boost to stats, letting those that chose that go beyond the normal limits of mere mortals granting them some fairly potent physical and mental prowess. There were even powers that granted extra actions or souped up existing arcane backgrounds (hucksters got extra cards for example) as well as stuff that could let you shrug off magic, walk on walls, walk through walls...there were a lot of powers. Most of them tended towards the creepy angle but that made some sense, after all you were a walking dead man animated by a pissed off demon so your powers probably weren't going to look all sweetness and light.

That alone isn't even everything, the harrowed also have the ability to 'count coup.' This has to do with the fact that the Harrowed is now a supernatural being, at least in part. In Weird West the Harrowed is the only one that can count coup, in wasted west everyone can so this one is being mentioned separately. Counting coup works like this, there are some supernatural beings that are so potent that in death they leave a bit of themselves behind, maybe it's a last curse on the earth or maybe it's just that they had so much power you get to lay claim to some of it in their death. Whatever the case you can count coup and absorb some of their essence. Now a group of harrowed has to squabble over abilities, rolling opposed spirit rolls to lay claim to the essence of the being, the winner getting it and the losers not. These powers can be minor or major, they can give small bonuses or they can grant entirely new powers and abilities. While this does depend heavily on what is faced it is arguably one of the more interesting capabilties that a harrowed has.

Becoming a Harrowed though is tricky, it isn't just a matter of dying, if that were all then whole groups of players would have their characters in suicide pacts. The truth is that first of all the character has to die and the head must be intact in death, no gray matter, no harrowed. The next step is that the player draws cards from a shuffled deck (jokers included), they get 1 card base then one extra card for each point of grit earned, grit is capped at 5 for guts checks at least but some Marshals let it keep accumulating for the sake of becoming harrowed. If the player draws a black or red joker a manitou thought they were worth using and decided to make themselves at home. There are other things that can be done and used as well, the dead mans boots net 3 more cards, there is a huckster hex that grants a greater chance of returning but also gives the demon more a chance to stay in charge after the trainsformation, shamans with ghost medicine get an extra card for every ghost medicine favor they have, and even the blessed have a gift which can allow them a better chance to return harrowed.

The harrowed is fairly potent, but there are downsides that the player and group have to deal with. A basic one is distrust, if they discover what their comrade has become they now have to wonder what or who is looking at them from behind those literally dead eyes. There is also the problem that the demon has the ability to randomly try to grab for the reigns and can royally fuck up the group if it grabs at the right time. When the player is in control the demon sees and remembers everything done, when the demon is in control the player has no bloody clue what went on which only makes for more fun. There is also the meta fact that the marshal gets an extra chip that they can use to keep various villains alive or give them better rolls, or just to use to try to help the demon grab the reigns and screw the posse over.

The big advantage the harrowed faces is that most of their powers are fairly cheap considering what they do, a new power costs 10 bounty points and then advancing it costs double the level of the power. With some of these powers you quite get your moneys worth. The other thing to recognize is that this can offer quite a bit to any character, a gunslinger can suddenly become so fast that they can't be beaten on the draw by any mortal. Or perhaps a treasured weapon suddenly becomes infused with arcane power making it stronger, far more potent and maybe adding some abilities to it that didn't exist before. A huckster can suddenly do far more with their hexes, a mad scientist can gain far greater inspiration for creating their devices, in short there are a fair number of interesting options available here for anyone.