Somebody has to hold the torch. Somebody gets to decide what everyone sees.
In a literal dungeon crawl, controlling light is controlling information. The Torchbearer looks like a porter and plays like intelligence services — vision radius, reveal timing, and denial of the dark.
Design Pillars
- The purest ‘looks useless, brings something special’ pitch on the roster
- Plugs directly into the reveal-layered design (secret Pressures and Twists)
- Comedy: proud of a job nobody else wanted
First-Pass Kit (draft — numbers unvalidated)
- Signature — Bearer’s Light (passive aura): your torch is bigger than a torch. Allies in your light cannot be ambushed, and enemies entering it lose Hidden. You decide what everyone sees.
- Douse (free, once per encounter): darkness on demand — until you relight, allies gain a Boon to become or stay Hidden. The Footpad will buy you a drink.
- Flare (action, once per run): burn the reserve. The room reveals itself entire — every feature, no search checks, no time spent — and every adjacent enemy takes a stack of Burn.
- Passive — Keeper of the Hours: you always know the coarse state of the Clock one grade finer than the rest of the party. The light burns; you watch it burn.