Post by Tami on Feb 13, 2015 15:56:51 GMT -5
Aspects
Instead of auspices determined by time or location of their birth, the particular hallucinations and visions an individual faces during the Birthing Plague determines their aspect. An Aspect provides two Strengths and a Weakness as well as determining the character’s initial Rage and starting Gifts. Most Ratkin have one of four aspects.
• Tunnel Runner: The Runners are messengers, scouts, and spies. They know many secret methods of traveling from city to city. Tunnel Runners also have the most contact with Bone Gnawers and Nosferatu vampires and may strike up pacts of friendship with either (although usually not both).Tunnel Runners have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Culturally Gifted: A Tunnel Runner can spend a few hours creating a persona that helps him blend into his cultural surroundings. He reduces the difficulty of all Manipulation or Subterfuge rolls related to maintaining this identity by two. The Tunnel Runner must create a new persona when he travels to a new city or town.
Wanderlust Visions: When a Tunnel Runner is lost, the Rat Totem often grants a vision of a useful destination.
Traveling Light: Tunnel Runners below Rank Three cannot take points in the Resources Background. Rank Three Runners cannot have more than two points in that Background.
Initial Rage: 1
Starting Gifts: Danger Sense, Silent Running
• Shadow Seer: The Seers are the Ratkin shamans. They preserve spirit lore and communicate with the various spirits of the urban environment. They keep the knowledge of most rites alive, including the Rite of Summoning, the Rite of Binding, and the Rite of the Fetish. Shadow Seers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Spirits Speak to Me: All Shadow Seers begin play with the Theurge Gift: Spirit Speech.
Spirit Sight: By spending one Gnosis in the physical world, a Seer can see into the local Penumbra. The Seer must concentrate, but can maintain this vision for a scene. Her eyes turn white while she uses this ability, and she becomes temporarily blind in the physical world.
Disconnection: When a Shadow Seers botches a Rage, Gnosis, or Willpower roll, the spirit world becomes more important and real than the physical world. For the next scene, a minor dispute between two spirits would interest the Seer more than the physical people and objects around him.
Initial Rage: 2
Starting Gifts: Rat Mother’s Touch, Sense Weaver
• Knife Skulker: These subtle and deadly wererats are skilled in negotiation, execution, and assassination. They excel at stealth and subterfuge, knowing how to kill unseen, and also how to lead a pack against larger and stronger enemies. Knife Skulkers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Contracts and Contacts: Skulkers begin play with three free points of Contacts, usually in the form of “extralegal” informants. These Contacts can include other Changing Breeds. Skulkers must remain loyal to their Contacts or face reprisals by their fellow Skulkers.
Sense of Justice: A Skulker regains one Rage whenever she witnesses an act of injustice performed by other Changing Breeds or humans.
Assassin’s Code: A Knife-Skulker cannot allow himself to be seen killing someone he is attempting to assassinate. He cannot confront his enemy face-to-face or strike while hidden by a Cloak of Shadows. Failure means a loss of Cunning Renown.
Initial Rage: 3
Starting Gifts: Sticky Paws, Truth of Gaia
• Warrior (“Blade Slaves”): Warriors, also called Blade Slaves, protect the rest of their kind and are well versed in both personal combat and asymmetric warfare. They excel at hunting and fighting underground. Warriors know the Rite of the Pain-Dagger and do not accept anyone into their ranks until they have crafted their own such dagger. Blade Slaves have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Pain Dagger: All Blade Slaves begin knowing the Rite of the Pain Dagger, a version of the Rite of the Fetish that can only create a Pain Dagger. They also start with one dot of the Fetish Background (as they own a Pain Dagger), but may put extra dots into the Background to increase their Pain Dagger’s power
Tough: All Blade Slaves have an extra Bruised health level.
Blood Lust: Blade Slaves are more susceptible to Rage than other Ratkin. Their difficulty for Rage rolls is always 5, regardless of the phase of the moon, the direction of the wind, the color of the sky, or any other factor.
Initial Rage: 5
Starting Gifts: Resist Pain, Slicing Teeth
Instead of auspices determined by time or location of their birth, the particular hallucinations and visions an individual faces during the Birthing Plague determines their aspect. An Aspect provides two Strengths and a Weakness as well as determining the character’s initial Rage and starting Gifts. Most Ratkin have one of four aspects.
• Tunnel Runner: The Runners are messengers, scouts, and spies. They know many secret methods of traveling from city to city. Tunnel Runners also have the most contact with Bone Gnawers and Nosferatu vampires and may strike up pacts of friendship with either (although usually not both).Tunnel Runners have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Culturally Gifted: A Tunnel Runner can spend a few hours creating a persona that helps him blend into his cultural surroundings. He reduces the difficulty of all Manipulation or Subterfuge rolls related to maintaining this identity by two. The Tunnel Runner must create a new persona when he travels to a new city or town.
Wanderlust Visions: When a Tunnel Runner is lost, the Rat Totem often grants a vision of a useful destination.
Traveling Light: Tunnel Runners below Rank Three cannot take points in the Resources Background. Rank Three Runners cannot have more than two points in that Background.
Initial Rage: 1
Starting Gifts: Danger Sense, Silent Running
• Shadow Seer: The Seers are the Ratkin shamans. They preserve spirit lore and communicate with the various spirits of the urban environment. They keep the knowledge of most rites alive, including the Rite of Summoning, the Rite of Binding, and the Rite of the Fetish. Shadow Seers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Spirits Speak to Me: All Shadow Seers begin play with the Theurge Gift: Spirit Speech.
Spirit Sight: By spending one Gnosis in the physical world, a Seer can see into the local Penumbra. The Seer must concentrate, but can maintain this vision for a scene. Her eyes turn white while she uses this ability, and she becomes temporarily blind in the physical world.
Disconnection: When a Shadow Seers botches a Rage, Gnosis, or Willpower roll, the spirit world becomes more important and real than the physical world. For the next scene, a minor dispute between two spirits would interest the Seer more than the physical people and objects around him.
Initial Rage: 2
Starting Gifts: Rat Mother’s Touch, Sense Weaver
• Knife Skulker: These subtle and deadly wererats are skilled in negotiation, execution, and assassination. They excel at stealth and subterfuge, knowing how to kill unseen, and also how to lead a pack against larger and stronger enemies. Knife Skulkers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Contracts and Contacts: Skulkers begin play with three free points of Contacts, usually in the form of “extralegal” informants. These Contacts can include other Changing Breeds. Skulkers must remain loyal to their Contacts or face reprisals by their fellow Skulkers.
Sense of Justice: A Skulker regains one Rage whenever she witnesses an act of injustice performed by other Changing Breeds or humans.
Assassin’s Code: A Knife-Skulker cannot allow himself to be seen killing someone he is attempting to assassinate. He cannot confront his enemy face-to-face or strike while hidden by a Cloak of Shadows. Failure means a loss of Cunning Renown.
Initial Rage: 3
Starting Gifts: Sticky Paws, Truth of Gaia
• Warrior (“Blade Slaves”): Warriors, also called Blade Slaves, protect the rest of their kind and are well versed in both personal combat and asymmetric warfare. They excel at hunting and fighting underground. Warriors know the Rite of the Pain-Dagger and do not accept anyone into their ranks until they have crafted their own such dagger. Blade Slaves have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:
Pain Dagger: All Blade Slaves begin knowing the Rite of the Pain Dagger, a version of the Rite of the Fetish that can only create a Pain Dagger. They also start with one dot of the Fetish Background (as they own a Pain Dagger), but may put extra dots into the Background to increase their Pain Dagger’s power
Tough: All Blade Slaves have an extra Bruised health level.
Blood Lust: Blade Slaves are more susceptible to Rage than other Ratkin. Their difficulty for Rage rolls is always 5, regardless of the phase of the moon, the direction of the wind, the color of the sky, or any other factor.
Initial Rage: 5
Starting Gifts: Resist Pain, Slicing Teeth