Contractors

Contractors are those who have made a contract with a Spirit. The Spirit receives some strange benefit and imparts a known or unknown cost, and in exchange the contractor receives great power. The form of this power is associated with the Spirit’s form or provided abilities. Sometimes they are in line with their goals.

By their very nature, contracts are widely varied and hard to understand, much like the Spirits they belong to, but they are still human and as such have a few guiding rules.

General Rules

  1. A contract may require the Contractor to do something as mundane as smoking a cigarette to use their power, or as severe as taking a life. Either way, a contract’s price is always represented by at least one additional Major Hindrance.
  2. A Contractor’s powers and abilities will all follow similar trappings associated with the contract granted. For example, a contractor who shapes metal cannot suddenly create wind blades with which to fight. A contractor who uses psychic powers cannot suddenly control the movement of plants.
  3. A Contractor’s powers are limited by the nature of their contract, and the power of their abilities limits them. For example, a Contractor who manipulates destructive wildfire couldn’t modify Blast with the Selective Power Modifier.
  4. A Contractor cannot directly disobey the terms of their contract without the contract being broken (see: Swindled). Doing so changes their powers in dramatic, self-destructive ways.
  5. Contractors are not always friendly with their Spirit and do not always have the same interests as their Spirit.
  6. Spirits exploit the weakest points of their Contractors, and most Contractors are acting in the Spirit’s interest, knowingly or unknowingly.
  7. A Contractor can never beat their contract and can never beat their Spirit. The Contractor is not in control. No matter what they think.
  8. No Spirit can be captured in rules, and never trust their Contractors have to follow the above rules either.

Reminder

Powers are not exclusive to Contractors. Powers are abilities in Savage Worlds. While anyone with magic powers is a Contractor, you are still open to play a variety of Power-Driven characters.

For example, you may wish to play a non-magic chronic gambler who throws playing cards as weapons; you could still take an Arcane Background and the Bolt power to represent this as this action, with power points representing the playing cards available. You might also wish to play a monk with the ability to stun others with a punch (Stun with Limitation of Touch). Remember, you may be creative!