Player Options
Most SF2e classes work exactly as written. This document covers the Forge-specific options.
Mystic Connections
The Mystic has custom elemental connections tied to the Way.
These connections replace the standard Mystic connections with element-specific options tied to the Way.
When a Mystic takes an elemental connection, they enter a Covenant with that element:
- Follow the element's Tenets (see #Element Tenets)
- Accept the element's Price (see #Element Prices)
- Breaking the covenant has narrative consequences
Light Connection
You channel the element of truth—revelation that saves and revelation that burns. Light protects, judges, and exposes. You follow Athena's legacy.
Tradition: Divine
Connection Skill: Religion
Connection Spells: cantrip: light; 1st: sanctuary; 2nd: see the unseen; 3rd: holy light; 4th: divine wrath; 5th: breath of life; 6th: truesight; 7th: sunburst; 8th: moment of renewal; 9th: foresight
Epiphany Spells: ???
Harmony: ???
Perfect Harmony: ???
Metal Connection
You channel the element of creation and structure—the bridge built and the system imposed. Logic serves; logic also constrains. You follow Prime's legacy.
Tradition: Arcane
Connection Skill: Crafting
Connection Spells: cantrip: shield; 1st: mending; 2nd: inject nanobots; 3rd: haste; 4th: creation; 5th: control machine; 6th: wall of force; 7th: wall of steel; 8th: gravity field; 9th: implosion
Epiphany Spells: initial: tech intuition; advanced: commune with tech; greater: ???
Harmony: ???
Perfect Harmony: ???
Life Connection
You channel the element of growth—healing and hunger, renewal and decay. Natural cycles include predation. You follow Physis's work. You weave vitality and void energy into spells that heal allies and harm enemies.
Tradition: Divine
Connection Skill: Medicine
Connection Spells: cantrip: stabilize; 1st: heal; 2nd: false vitality; 3rd: entropy strike; 4th: genetic regeneration; 5th: breath of life; 6th: vampiric exsanguination; 7th: execute; 8th: moment of renewal; 9th: massacre
Epiphany Spells: initial: infusion; advanced: vitality nova; greater: vital rebirth
Harmony: When you Transfer Vitality, attempt to counteract one affliction affecting the target, or attempt to counteract one effect imposing one of the following conditions: blinded, clumsy, dazzled, deafened, enfeebled, sickened.
Perfect Harmony: Add doomed, drained, paralyzed, and stunned to the list of conditions you can counteract with your Harmony. If you didn't counteract the effect but would have if its counteract rank were 2 lower, instead suppress it until the beginning of your next turn.
Water Connection
You channel the element of time—change, adaptation, and the slow erosion of all things. What flows around obstacles may leave them behind. You follow Undina's time-touched nature.
Tradition: Occult
Connection Skill: Occultism
Connection Spells: cantrip: guidance; 1st: sure strike; 2nd: augury; 3rd: haste; 4th: read omens; 5th: chrono push; 6th: scrying; 7th: retrocognition; 8th: disappearance; 9th: foresight
Epiphany Spells: initial: temporal fount; advanced: echo of possibility; greater: time drain
Harmony: When you Transfer Vitality, the target receives a flash of temporal insight and can immediately attempt to Recall Knowledge as a reaction. This doesn't trigger any special abilities, reactions, or free actions that trigger when a creature uses Recall Knowledge. (They glimpse possible futures.)
Perfect Harmony: You create an extradimensional sanctuary—a moment frozen in time—that functions as planar palace. Creating a door to this demiplane takes 1 minute. The sanctuary keeps the same layout each time you access it, adjustable during daily preparations. Each phantasmal minion in your sanctuary functions as an akashic assistant.
Shadow Connection
You channel the element of endings and transition. Umbra was consumed, but Shadow persists—and so do you. Every shadow is a portal to what lies beyond, and you sculpt that realm's substance into dreadful and wondrous shapes.
Tradition: Divine
Connection Skill: Stealth
Connection Spells: cantrip: figment; 1st: grim tendrils; 2nd: invisibility; 3rd: slow; 4th: flicker; 5th: shadow blast; 6th: mislead; 7th: eclipse burst; 8th: disappearance; 9th: phantasmagoria
Epiphany Spells: initial: shadow snap; advanced: cloying shadows; greater: shadow prison
Harmony: When you Transfer Vitality, the target's shadow darkens and swells, reducing bright light within a 10-foot emanation to dim light. This is magical darkness and can counteract non-magical light sources. The target becomes concealed while in this dim light and can use the concealed condition to Hide. This lasts until the end of your next turn.
Perfect Harmony: You gain the Umbral Stride action. When you Transfer Vitality, the target can use this action once before the end of their next turn.
Air Connection
You channel the element of freedom—words that liberate and words that wound, movement without constraint. Zephyrus was consumed, but Air persists—carrying voices across the void.
Tradition: Divine
Connection Skill: Diplomacy
Connection Spells: cantrip: message; 1st: bless; 2nd: dispel magic; 3rd: electrotether; 4th: unfettered movement; 5th: sending; 6th: repulsion; 7th: interplanar teleport; 8th: void vessel; 9th: wails of the damned
Epiphany Spells: initial: liberating words; advanced: echoing voice; greater: final word
Harmony: When you Transfer Vitality, you can extend the duration of any active epiphany from the Air connection by 1 round.
Perfect Harmony: The first time each round you Transfer Vitality, the target who regained Hit Points can Stride as a free action. This has the traversal trait. (The wind carries them.)
Fire Connection (Rekindled Flame)
You channel the scarred element of protection. The Warden fell to fear; you will not. You bear the marks and the burden.
Tradition: Primal
Connection Skill: Intimidation
Connection Spells: cantrip: ignition; 1st: breathe fire; 2nd: resist energy; 3rd: fireball; 4th: fire shield; 5th: elemental form; 6th: field of life; 7th: sunburst; 8th: moment of renewal; 9th: falling stars
Epiphany Spells: initial: elemental weapon (fire only); advanced: elemental barrier (fire only); greater: elemental nova (fire only)
Harmony: When you Transfer Vitality, the target's next Strike deals fire damage instead of its typical damage type, until the end of their next turn.
Perfect Harmony: You gain resistance to fire and cold equal to half your level. Whenever you heal a bonded ally with Transfer Vitality, the target gains these resistances until the beginning of your next turn.
Other Classes
Most SF2e classes work exactly as written. Brief setting notes:
Witchwarper (Retheme Only)
The Witchwarper works exactly as written mechanically. In the Forge, their abilities are explained as controlled timeline bleed—you reach into collapsed timelines and pull fragments of what-could-have-been into the present. No mechanical changes; use the standard SF2e Witchwarper.
Solarian (Flavor Tie)
The Solarian has optional thematic connections to Athena, the ancient being of Light who sacrificed herself to stabilize reality. Some Solarians view themselves as "Athena's Inheritors." This is purely optional flavor—ignore it if it doesn't interest you. No mechanical changes.
Everyone Else
Envoy, Operative, Soldier, Mechanic, Technomancer — Work exactly as written. No changes needed.
Element Tenets
Each element has a code that covenant holders follow:
| Element | Tenets |
|---|---|
| Light | Speak truth. Expose corruption. Defend those who cannot defend themselves. |
| Metal | Create and repair. Honor logic and evidence. Recognize synthetic life as life. |
| Life | Avoid needless destruction. Foster growth. Respect natural cycles. |
| Water | Accept change. Flow around obstacles. Honor the passage of time. |
| Shadow | Keep secrets entrusted to you. Ease endings. Do not fear death. |
| Air | Speak freely. Aid those seeking freedom. Never imprison unjustly. |
| Fire | Protect without consuming. Fear is the enemy. Accept that some things cannot be saved. |
Element Prices
Each element demands something from its practitioners:
| Element | Price |
|---|---|
| Light | You cannot speak lies. Silence is permitted; deception is not. |
| Metal | You must maintain at least one ongoing creation project. |
| Life | You cannot kill except in defense of life. |
| Water | You age slowly, but your memories blur. Old experiences fade faster. |
| Shadow | Your lifespan is shortened. Each decade of practice costs a year. |
| Air | You cannot allow unjust imprisonment without attempting to help. |
| Fire | Visible marks: ember eyes, ash-gray hair, elevated temperature. Social suspicion follows. |