You think you have gotten one step ahead of him. Oops you are wrong, he’s two steps ahead. Think sharper next time, buddy!

Attributes: The Strategist is the crazed mastermind behind it all, the council of shadowy figures who hatch devious plots, the tacticans behind the generals or the chess player facing Deep Blue. Those are men who put thought, lots of it, behind each decision. Every step is weighted, given due thought and consideration, and is shrouded with moves and counter-moves.

A Strategist is forever obessessed with planning and directing of plans. He takes a certain fervent joy to it, and delights in outsmarting his opponents. His plans may be cryptic to the ears of others, his rationals sometimes illogical, but it all works out in the end.

Taboos: The Strategist himself must always do things in a clever manner – whatever manner it is, it must involve some planning, or if not, some stroke of ingenuity. He cannot take a gun and just shoot someone – no, that’s too bloody boring. If he fires at a gas tank, causing that tank to explode, and in the process of wiping out his enemies – then that’s clever.

GM shall give the Strategist some leeway about this taboo, applying it on matters of life and death. A Strategist does not need to have a devious masterplan for buying grocery, but it will be certainity out of character if the Strategist didn’t at least plan his shopping trip. For mundane tasks, the Strategist just has to say to “I planning for my holiday”, instead of listing everything down in mind-numbing details. Save that for the big stuff.

Special: Strategists enjoy out-smarting fellow Strategists. Pure enjoyment aside, a Strategist who outsmarts another Strategist gets a +1% to his Avatar: The Strategist. GMs shall restrict this bonus to one per encounter or session. However, this only happens if the difference in the Avatar skill differs by 10 or less. There’s no point outsmarting someone who is lesser than you.

Incidentally, this means one way to ascend is to outsmart the current Avatar of the Strategist in a contest of wits.

Masks:: The chessboard, map, daily organiser, Sun Tzu’s Art of War

Suspected Avatars in History: War stories abound with brilliant tacticans and advisors. Examples would be Zhuge Liang (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), Napoleon (French Revolution) and Rommel (World War II)

Many has suspected Donald Trump to be an avatar of the Strategist too. Business and the stock market has became a battlefield for many competiting Strategists.

Likewise, many chessmasters (if not all) are suspected to be Strategists. Notice the strange static enegry that fills a chess tournament? Now you know why.

Channels:
1% – 50%: “It is as I have predicted”. The Strategist must spent at least six hours collecting information on the subject of this roll. Once this prerequisite is met, the Strategist can predict what the subject will do, and on a successful Avatar skill roll the Strategist’s prediction will be true. This can only be used once per day.

Also, the six hours study requirement can be waived if the Strategist knows the subject intimately — if he can make a General Knowledge skill at a -30% shift, or if he has the skill pertaining to the subject.

The subject does not need to be a human being. It could be an organisation, the weather, a party which is being celebrated and etc.

If GM wishes to increase the powers of the Strategist, have the Strategist reduces his Avatar skill by 10% afterwards, for each use of this skill. It will recover at a rate of 5% per day.

51% – 70%: “Appear at the east, strike from the west. If you wish to fight, pretend not willing to.” The Strategist is a master of misdirection and deceit. He can flip-flop any rolls related to deception, such as sucker punches made in combat, Notice rolls to detect forgery and of course, all Lie rolls which he makes.

71% – 90%: “I have thought this through”. Once per day, on a successful roll of the Avatar roll, the Strategist can ask the GM what will happen next. The Strategist can tag a condition to his question. The question must be specific, related to one subject only, and the GM is only obiliged to answer truthfully for a short time frame. Asking, “Will the guards find the gun I am hiding” is all right, but asking, “So what’s the president doing for the rest of the day” is probably not. Once the GM has spoken, whatever he says will happen. But be reminded, this only applies for a short time frame. Just because the GM says the guard won’t find your gun doesn’t mean that he won’t find it on the next hour.

91%+: “Foiled again!” The Strategist gains a superhuman knack of forseeing troubles. Once per day, on a successful roll of the Avatar skill, the Strategist gains a “flashback scene” where he arranges for something to happen. The boon of this channel allows the Strategist to be where he wants to be, within reasons. For example, the terrorist reveals where the bomb is, and on a successful roll, the Strategist is at the location of the bomb in a flashback scene.

The Strategist must specify how far back in time he wants the flashback scene, and who is with him. Once said, the GM will narrate the flashback scene and resolve it. Once resolved, they will return to the current flow of scenes.