The Icon

The Icon (承人) is one of the playbooks for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, an outline of a character archetype that can be customized in the game. The Icon is one of the ten playbooks featured in the Core Book,^[1] and is described as a chosen figure of an ancient tradition, except to carry forward the duties of their role regardless of what they want. Their balance principles are Role vs. Freedom.^[2]

Description

The Icon comes from an ancient tradition and inherits some serious standards to live up to. Play the Icon if you want to be torn between your heart and your duty.^[3]

Torn, fun-loving, anxious, dutiful. The Icon was raised to fulfill a particular duty and role in their society — an important role, an honored role, a role that so many others, from adults to children, envy. But the Icon is not sure they want the role. They were not given any real choice in the matter; it is their role according to destiny, tradition, prophecy, or some other impulse that guided the hands of their parents, mentors, or guardians.

The Icon's role is tied to some culture or tradition, either world-spanning or restricted to a city's limits. The Icon has had a massive import of their role impressed upon them from a young age; they have all of that responsibility foisted upon them, and where once they could be themselves and live their life; everyone expects them to be something else now.^[4]

• Starting stats: Creativity 0, Focus +1, Harmony +1, Passion -1
• Demeanor options: Naive, Playful, Needy, Sad, Haughty, Grave

Principles

The Icon is split between the two principles of their Role and their Freedom.

The Icon's Role principle represents their commitment to and belief in all the duties and meaning of their role. The higher their Role, the more they believe in those duties and the greater their adherence to that job. An Icon with a high Role integrates their sense of identity with the role; they begin to see the world through the eyes of someone fulfilling a duty first and foremost, long before they think of their own needs.

The Icon's Freedom principle represents their desire to be free to make their own choices, act as they want, and just have fun. It is the freedom other people enjoy — at least, those people who are not defined by such a rigid set of important responsibilities. An Icon with a high Freedom tries to avoid their role and its duties, often with significant consequences. They may try to foist their work off on other people or institutions, or just let the work go completely undone to pursue their own fun adventures.

The Icon tries to find a balance between these two principles by defining themselves and their role all at once. Their Moment of Balance reflects them not simply assuming the role as others have described it, but remaking the role on their own — exerting the freedom to choose the role and to define it their own way. They may end up rejecting the role as others conceive it, but they may also reinvent the role itself in ways that inspire others to commit to the idea of the role even further.^[4]

Characteristics

Moment of Balance

Others have laid a path for you that you cannot escape, but balance means you understand the limits of their vision. You make the role your own in this moment, charting a new path for yourself and your tradition.^[4]

Moves

• Use Their Momentum
• Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis The Third
• Concentration
• Otter Penguins, Unagi, and Hot Springs
• Yip Yip!^[5]

Growth question

Did you accomplish a feat worthy of your burden and tradition?

The Icon's growth question points them at building upon the foundation of their role in a similar way. What matters is if they did something worthy of their burden and tradition, whether or not it adhered to any of their prohibitions or responsibilities.^[5]

Characters

The known Icon playbook characters from Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game are:

• Chegu
• Fu Karaq
• He Xing
• Kyung
• Lana
• Xaipan

References