In Last Odyssey, the player characters are able to wield the power of magic. Run-of-the-mill abilities are powered by Mana, but the most potent form of magic is instead powered by Anima, which is a form of magic that manipulates fate which only player characters and Antagonists can wield. In order to summon their eidolon and to use certain abilities, characters must spend Anima. Anima finds its expression through the actions of the PCs and their eidolons, and in the existence of Villains and Monsters. Anima is not good or bad, but simply powerful. There is no way to destroy Anima without also destroying consciousness itself.
Player characters are agents of change, and when they pursue change they will also accrue the power of Anima. Earning Anima is what allows players to advance their tier, overcome skill challenges, and save themselves from True Death. In Last Odyssey, earning Anima isn’t just something that happens. Rather, players earn Anima in return for putting things that are important to them at risk. There are five scenarios which a character can initiate to earn Anima:
Players are always allowed to count Aspirations and Relationships as things that are important to their character for the sake of earning Anima. If something is important to their character but is not a listed Aspiration or Relationship, then whether they can earn Anima by putting it at risk or by putting something at risk for the sake of it is a matter of GM fiat. Here are some possibilities for what counts as important to a character:
Each player character is empowered with magic whose root is the Anima accumulated inside of their souls. In game terms, this means that they can earn Anima by acting out scenes and spend Anima to gain mechanical advantages. All player characters can have a maximum of 10 Anima at a time. Once they accumulate this much, they must spend some in order to earn any more.
Players can spend Anima in or out of combat in any of the following ways:
In Last Odyssey, when a player would earn an Anima, they and the other people at the gaming table act out a Scene. A Scene is a dramatic cutscene that somehow either directly or indirectly contextualizes their decision and its results. During a Scene, the player earning the Anima will be the scene’s main protagonist, and the other players will serve as the main supporting cast, taking on the roles of supporting characters or parts of the Scene itself, such as the lighting, the camera, or the music. The GM is the one to fill any extra parts if needed. A Scene ends once sufficient justification for the central character to give up what they are sacrificing is established, at which point every player in the supporting cast will earn a single Anima, and the main character of the scene will earn 1-3 Anima per the rules in the Earning Anima section.
Each player may initiate a Scene once per game session, although they can participate in as many Scenes as they like in supporting roles. Scenes can be as abstract or concrete as player characters want, ranging from childhood flashbacks to confessions of love to arguments with God or with a pantheon of gods, but they always begin with a character deliberating on whether to risk something valuable to them, whether that be a Relationship, a beloved object, an occupation, a title, or even their sense of themselves, and end with the character choosing to put that thing at risk. Once the scene is over, the GM rolls a 1d10. If the result is a 5 or below, the thing that the player risked is permanently changed, while if they roll above a 5 the thing that the player risked may remain as it was if this is what they desire. How exactly what the player was putting at risk permanently changes depends on what was being risked in the first place. For example, if the player character is risking their honor as a warrior, then the result of the 1d10 determines whether or not their honor is tarnished. The notable exception to this is if the player character’s life was at risk, in which case they will experience True Death. In this case, players may spend 3 Anima they had prior to the Anima they would earn from risking their life in order to save their character, but not the Anima their character would have earned from risking their life during the Scene.