Hard To Kill: You are tougher than normal. Roll 1d6+2 per level for hit points instead of 1d6. This applies retroactively if taken at a later level. You can reroll failed saves against artillery, explosions, or other massive damage. The first time each day you are reduced to 0 hit points, you instead survive with 1 hit point, though this ability cannot save you from instantly-lethal trauma such as being blown up, beheaded, crushed, or the like.
I’ve gone back and forth on this one. Cleary the default Edge that just gives you extra hit points needs a little boost, so I threw on a couple extra riders. The other option is to add in the benefits from Impervious Defense. ID is a rather notorious focus, and one I don’t include here because armor in general is not a priority. If I did include ID though, it’d be an Edge, maybe combined with the hit point bonus.
Killing Blow: You are deadlier than most. Gain any combat skill as a bonus skill. When you inflict hit point damage from any source, the damage is increased by half your character level, rounded up.
This is unchanged. It does damage, I didn’t want to overcomplicate it. Killing Blow is essentially the only direct damage boost, so if you want to be lethal, you have to consider it.
Lucky Devil: You are unnaturally lucky. Your Luck save is reduced by 1. You have a +2 bonus on any rolls involving games of chance or gambling. Once per day as an Instant action, you can test your luck when something bad happens to you directly. Roll a d6. On a 1, the event is unaffected. On a 2-5, you somehow avert the consequences by blind chance. On a 6, it’s actually beneficial to you in some way, such as affecting an enemy or giving a bonus. You can do this twice at level 4 and three times at level 8.
Like Ghost, this is mostly unchanged except I give it a few extra uses as you level. The real has been the name. I don’t actually remember changing it to Lucky Devil, it’s been Lady Luck, Lady Fortune, and Lucky. I can’t remember why I settled on Lucky Devil, it might get changed again in the future.
Mad Tinkerer: You have an innate sense on how to make things work better. Gain Create as a bonus skill. Gain a +1 to your Intelligence modifier (max +2). You start out with up to $2000 worth of new science devices (pg 69) that do not malfunction for you. Any ghost rock needed must be bought separately. With a day of tinkering, you can change the devices that benefit from this bonuses, but the total value benefiting cannot exceed $2000.
This one has gone through several revisions. The idea is similar to Wired from Cities Without Number, which lets you start with a buttload of powerful cyber. This allows for less, but the malfunction prevention is a good bonus I think. I had to do the steampunk-style devices before I could finish this up; $2000 lets you start out with a flamethrower, should one desire.
As an example of how valuable going through everything has been, I realized Mad Tinkerer originally gave a Craft bonus. I went back and forth on how new science devices would work, before essentially siloing them behind a Create skill. So that makes much more sense for this than Craft, which works on more mundane items.
Masterful Expertise: You are reliable in a pinch. Once per scene as an Instant action, reroll a failed non-combat skill check. Once per day, you can lend your expertise to an ally you are with who fails a non-combat skill check, allowing them a reroll.
Like the other Expert class abilities, Masterful Expertise kind of lacks as a standalone ability. One of my ideas to improve Experts in Worlds Without Number is to let ME be used on another character. This is as good a spot as any to try it out.
Magical Censor: Magic has a limited effect on you. You gain both levels of the Nullifier focus. In addition, magical effects are half as effective against you. This includes both positive and negative effects, and includes damage, healing, duration, penalties, and bonuses. Once per day you can dispel a magical effect you can touch as per the Dispel spell. You can do this twice per day at level 5, and three times per day at level 10.
Similar to other anti-magic abilities, particularly the mageslayer from WWN. I’m not sure how much value it really has, but I can see a few character concepts that use it. It’s another that might be too powerful in a limited situation and not useful otherwise, so it’s something to keep an eye on.
On Target: You are more reliable than most in combat. You gain a bonus combat Focus. Your base attack bonus is equal to your level, instead of half your level rounded down.
XWN Warrior’s really are a well designed class. One complaint about the games that use Edges is you can’t make a Warrior from WWN or even SWN exactly. While that’s intentional, I try to alleviate that a little by changing a bonus skill pick to a bonus focus pick.
Organization Asset: You join one of the organizations from page 63. You gain that organization as a bonus skill. You can improve that skill normally, and use it for any social checks involving members of that organization. You also gain a monthly income, Contacts, and other benefits depending on the organization and skill rank, as detailed on page 63.
This was the last Edge I settled on. The description is probably too vague, but it’s how I decided to handle “classes” that didn’t need a whole write up. In Deadlands, this is the Rangers and the Agency. I’ll detail how I handle those later. I went back and forth whether they should be an Edge or a focus or separate Class Edges or what, and finally settled for this.
Veteran’s Luck: You are a master of combat. Once per scene as an Instant action, you can trigger this ability to gain one of the following effects: offensively to turn a missed attack from you into a hit, or defensively to turn an attack that hits you into a miss. It can be used offensively when firing a crew-served weapon. It cannot be used defensively against damage that allows a saving throw or damage done to a mount or vehicle they are riding.
I said before that Veteran’s Luck is, I think, pretty much the perfect Edge. In every XWN game I’ve run, someone always is a Warrior and gets a ton of milage out of this. No real changes here.
White Hat: You are a natural leader and inspiration. Gain Lead as a bonus skill. Gain a +1 your Charisma modifier (max +2). NPC followers gain a +1 to their Morale score. People will generally believe what you say unless you have given them reason not to. Once per day as an Instant action, you can inspire those around you, giving all allies who can see and hear you a +2 bonus to their next roll during that scene. You cannot choose the Black Hat or Grey Hat Edges.
The last of the “hate” Edges, this one for the good guys. It’s essentially a leadership ability found in some of the other games. The active ability is kind of basic, and I’m open to changing it if I think of something more interesting.
One thing I realized talking about all these is I added uses to some abilities, but to the ones I created I left at only once per day. I’m going to switch most of those to 2x at level 4 and 3x at level 8, for consistency if nothing else.