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- SRD Reference: Building Stunts
- Rules Reference: pg 87 (Fate Core Systems Book)
About Stunts
A stunt is a special trait your character has that changes the way a skill works for you. Stunts indicate some special, privileged way a character uses a skill that is unique to whoever has that stunt, which is a pretty common trope in a lot of settings—special or elite training, exceptional talents, the mark of destiny, genetic alteration, innate coolness, and a myriad of other reasons all explain why some people get more out of their skills than others do.
Unlike skills, which are about the sort of things anyone can do in your campaign, stunts are about individual characters. Having stunts allows you to differentiate your character from other characters that have the same skills.
Stunts may:
- add a bonus to an action
- add a new action to a skill
- create a rules exception
- … and so much more
Add a Bonus to an Action:
- Arcane Expert – Gain a +2 bonus to create an advantage using Lore, whenever the situation has specifically to do with the supernatural or occult.
- Lead in the Air – You really like emptying magazines. Any time you’re using a fully automatic weapon and you succeed at a Shoot attack, you automatically create a Fair (+2) opposition against movement in that zone until your next turn, because of all the lead in the air.
(Normally, you’d need to take a separate action to set up this kind of interference, but with the stunt, it’s free.) - Child of the Court – Gain a +2 bonus to any attempt to overcome obstacles with Rapport when you’re at an aristocratic function, such as a royal ball.
Add a New Action to a Skill:
- Backstab – You can use Stealth to make physical attacks, provided your target isn’t already aware of your presence.
- The Fight in the Dog. – You can use Provoke to enter the kinds of contests that you’d normally need Physique for, whenever your ability to psych your opponent out with the force of your presence alone would be a factor.
- You’re Never Safe – You can use Burglary to make mental attacks and create advantages against a target, by staging a heist in such a way as to shatter their confidence in their security.
Create a rules exception:
- Ritualist – Use Lore in place of another skill during a challenge, allowing you to use Lore twice in the same challenge.
- Hogtie – When you use Crafts to create a Hogtied (or similar) advantage on someone, you can always actively oppose any overcome rolls to escape the hogtie (also using Crafts), even if you’re not there. (Normally, if you weren’t there, the escaping character would roll against passive opposition, making it a lot easier to escape.)
- Riposte – If you succeed with style on a Fight defense, you can choose to inflict a 2-shift hit rather than take a boost.
… and so much more (pg 94):
- Stunt Families
- Stacking
- Branching