Chapter 9 — Boons & Banes
Boons and Banes are short descriptive tags that represent specific edges and vulnerabilities your character has accumulated — things too narrow to be skills but too real to ignore at the table. They are the most flexible way the fiction of who your character is reaches the dice.
Index§
Boons§
A Boon is a short tag describing something your character is especially good at, knowledgeable about, or suited for. When a Boon is relevant to a roll, you may gain Advantage on that roll by spending 1 Momentum — half the 2 Momentum a characteristic charges for Advantage. Because Advantage never stacks, a Boon that overlaps a characteristic you already have at Advantage still earns its keep: you activate the Advantage through the Boon and pay 1 instead of 2. See Chapter 7.
Cost: 5 XP per Boon, purchasable during character creation or between sessions.
Boons are freeform — you write what fits. A few examples:
- Drone Nerd — spend 1 Momentum for Advantage on rolls involving drones
- Raised on Wanderstar — spend 1 Momentum for Advantage when navigating underground environments
- Former Seeder Grunt — spend 1 Momentum for Advantage on tests involving Seeder military culture or organization
- Keen Reader of People — spend 1 Momentum for Advantage when sizing someone up for the first time
The GM has final say on whether a Boon applies to a given roll. A well-written Boon is specific enough to feel meaningful but broad enough to come up in play.
Banes§
A Bane works exactly like a Boon, but in reverse: when it is relevant to a roll, you suffer Disadvantage instead.
Cost: None. A Bane is a drawback, not a purchase — you never spend XP to take one. Your first two Banes, taken at character creation, each grant +5 XP up front (see Starting Banes below). Banes beyond those two — added at creation or between sessions — grant no up-front XP, but every Bane earns its keep in play:
At the end of each session, you gain 1 XP for each Bane that was invoked during that session. Banes that never came up pay nothing — but Banes that shape your play consistently pay for themselves.
Removing a Bane: A Bane can be bought off for 10 XP, between sessions, when the fiction supports it — a wound finally heals, a debt is cleared, a fear is faced down. The GM has final say on whether a Bane can be retired and what it takes in the story. Removing a starting Bane is allowed but a net loss: it granted 5 XP up front and costs 10 to clear.
A few examples:
- Bad with Authority — Disadvantage when deferring to or negotiating with figures of institutional power
- Afraid of Open Sky — Disadvantage on rolls made in exposed outdoor environments
- Conspicuous — Disadvantage on rolls to avoid notice in a crowd
Starting Banes§
When first creating a character, you may add up to two Banes and earn 5 XP each for doing so. This XP goes directly into your starting pool. Taking starting Banes is voluntary — it is a way to lean into a character concept while offsetting some of the XP cost of early purchases. The full creation procedure is in Part III.
Because that 5 XP is paid up front and unconditionally — unlike a later Bane, which pays only on the sessions it is actually invoked — a starting Bane must clear the same bar the GM holds a Boon to: specific enough to matter, broad enough to come up in play. The GM should turn down a flaw chosen to be harmless — a fear of something the campaign will never feature, a debt to someone a thousand light-years away — since it earns its keep by biting, not by sitting on the sheet.
Boons, Banes, and Advantage/Disadvantage§
Boons and Banes interact with the standard Advantage/Disadvantage rules. If a Boon and a Bane both apply to the same roll — or if a Boon applies but the relevant characteristic is Disadvantage — they cancel out and the roll is made normally; no Momentum is spent or gained. See Chapter 6 for the full cancellation rule, and Chapter 7 for the resource that powers Advantage.
Rolling a Random Boon or Bane (D66)§
When you want a Boon or a Bane but don't have one in mind — building a character on the clock, taking a starting Bane for the XP, or buying a Boon between sessions — roll D66 (one die for tens, one for units) and read the column you need. The two columns are independent lists: a roll gives you one Boon and one Bane to consider; take whichever you came for. Reroll or pick a neighbor if a result doesn't fit your character, and always reword the tag to match your fiction — the entries below are prompts, not fixed wording. The GM has final say on scope, exactly as with a written tag.
| D66 | Boon | Bane |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Drone Nerd — anything that flies, crawls, or watches on your behalf | Bad with Authority — deferring to or bargaining with institutional power |
| 12 | Tunnel-Sense — finding your way through underground works | Afraid of Open Sky — acting in exposed outdoor environments |
| 13 | Cold-Weathered — enduring cold, dark, and exposure | Conspicuous — going unnoticed in a crowd |
| 14 | Quick Hands — fast draws, sleight, and deft fingers | Slow to Trust — warming to a new contact or offer |
| 15 | Reads the Room — sizing up a space and its moods | Old Wound — sustained strenuous exertion |
| 16 | Gearhead — repairing and jury-rigging machinery | Hot Temper — keeping cool when provoked |
| 21 | Void-Steady — moving and working in zero-g | Soft-Hearted — doing the cold, ruthless thing |
| 22 | Silver Tongue — talking a tense moment down | Honest to a Fault — bluffing or selling a lie |
| 23 | Field Medic's Eye — triage and quick patching | Tone-Deaf — reading what people actually feel |
| 24 | Hard to Rattle — holding nerve under fear | Tight Spaces — composure in cramped, closing-in places |
| 25 | Light Sleeper — never quite caught off guard at rest | Shaky Hands — delicate, precise fine-motor work |
| 26 | Born Trader — haggling and reading a deal | Notorious — the wrong people remember your face |
| 31 | Crack Shot — ranged marksmanship | In Debt — someone holds leverage over you |
| 32 | Crowd-Wise — blending into and moving through crowds | Tech-Shy — modern computers and unfamiliar gear |
| 33 | Old Voyage Lore — Wanderstar history and the crossing | Seasick in Void — functioning in zero-g |
| 34 | Animal Kinship — rapport with beasts and Companion stock | Squeamish — blood, wounds, and the messy work of medicine |
| 35 | Iron Stomach — eating, drinking, and surviving anything | Heavy Sleeper — caught flat-footed when resting |
| 36 | Lockbreaker — bypassing locks and security | Loud — keeping quiet when stealth matters |
| 41 | Dead Reckoning — navigating without instruments | Stubborn — changing a plan or taking an order |
| 42 | Patient Stalker — tracking, ambush, and the long wait | Frail — endurance, illness, and exposure |
| 43 | Improviser — making do with junk and scraps | Superstitious — holding steady when omens turn bad |
| 44 | Honeyed Lie — deception and misdirection | Glass Jaw — staying composed once genuinely rattled |
| 45 | Strong Back — lifting, hauling, and brute work | Reckless — showing restraint or caution |
| 46 | Camera Eye — recalling detail you've seen once | Outsider Accent — passing as a local |
| 51 | Steady Pilot — flying or driving under pressure | Bad Knees — running, climbing, and hard footwork |
| 52 | Frontier Cook — feeding and heartening a crew | Easily Distracted — sustained focus and vigilance |
| 53 | Code-Slinger — computers, networks, and intrusion | Gullible — seeing through a con |
| 54 | Cool Under Fire — composure in a firefight | Haunted — Mental tests when the quiet sets in |
| 55 | Streetwise — the underworld and who to ask | Greedy — resisting a bribe or an easy score |
| 56 | Sure-Footed — climbing, balance, and bad ground | Clumsy — handling fragile or finicky things |
| 61 | Diplomat's Calm — de-escalating a standoff | Bad with Faces — placing people you've met |
| 62 | Scrounger — finding supplies where there are none | Sickly — fighting off disease and infection |
| 63 | Echo-Reader — sensing the shape of a dark space | Proud — asking for help or backing down |
| 64 | Quartermaster's Memory — logistics and inventory | Forgetful — recalling names, dates, and detail |
| 65 | Persuasive Performer — swaying a crowd with a show | Stage Fright — performing or speaking in public |
| 66 | Trouble's Friend — rapport with rough and dangerous folk | Marked — a powerful faction wants something from you |