Walking the Path

As part of their descent into the occult underworld, I wanted to take one of the PCs down the path to becoming a Hoodoo witch doctor. A close encounter with some Zombies opened their eyes to the invisible world and earned them a new Trait: Hoodoo (2). Increasing that Trait rating would require meeting three in-character milestones…

• The first time they used sympathetic magic successfully (thus facing the reality of it), the Trait increased to 3.

• The first time they used it to defeat an enemy who also wielded sympathetic magic (thus proving their mastery of the art), the Trait increased to 4.

• Reaching Hoodoo (5) would require taking on a leadership role within the occult underground. My player wasn’t quite ready for that, so she stayed comfortably at Hoodoo (4).

The same method can be applied to any Trait. Just map out a set of three events that characterize the steps towards becoming a recognized expert/champion/whatever and award a 1-point increase each time one occurs. It emulates the Hero’s Journey perfectly, and without any point-balancing or other mechanical overhead.