aWoD: Continued

[virgil]

I guess you end up in a pit if the ground starts trying to stab you

Do you add Potency to Resistance tests? Alot of the SoD level effects seem to be built on Stat+Skill resisted by just a Stat.

[Prak]

I was looking at the old Toreador clanbook yesterday, and found the Bliss and Soul Painting devotions. I wasn't sure Frenzy was being included, but now that I've seen it mentioned, Bliss does actually have a use. Soul Painting would be kind of a cool way to discern luminaries (in addition to it's traditional uses to discern ...nothing that's being included in AWoD... well, what do you think of those powers Frank? Probably not particularly in theme for AWoD.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Well, you're touching the ground beneath your feet, so it's just as safe as the clothes on your back.

Anyway, how would you like to be able to suppress Astral, Infernal, and Orphic sorceries?

-Username17

Ah. Alright, that clears things up pretty well.


By suppression, do you mean shielding yourself, shielding others and/or the environment around you, temporarily negating effects, or just permanently dispelling things? Or some combination of the above?

If you're talking about a passive aura around you where some types of magic just don't work, I could see reason to want it. Sorcery can do very nasty things to you, and it isn't the only power source around. Even better if you can turn it on or off at will. As a person in AWoD, I'd certainly appreciate some shielding from thaumaturgical shenanigans.

[Manxome]

Well, you're touching the ground beneath your feet, so it's just as safe as the clothes on your back.

Wait, so "objects that are literally on the person of someone" includes the surface you are standing on? I'm fairly certain I would never have guessed that as the intent; I was thinking more along the lines of "things you are grasping or that are physically attached to you (clothes, backpack, etc.)." Not stuff that you are merely "touching," and especially not stuff that you are "touching" indirectly through several layers of tools or clothes.

Does it also include the floor beneath the ladder you are standing on? How about the pillar supporting the floor? The roof above your head? Nearby walls?

At that point, it seems like you might as well just say that you get to choose exactly what things it affects.

[Prak]

Why not just say the power cannot harm the weilder unless he specifically decide for it to do so?

[Manxome]

Why not just say the power cannot harm the weilder unless he specifically decide for it to do so?

Because that, quite naturally, would be interpreted to mean that it doesn't directly cause his own body to decay, not that it cannot set into motion any chain of events that will eventually cause indirect harm to him. And thus people will think that it's not supposed to protect his clothes, let alone the roof over his head.

[Username17]

I was looking at the old Toreador clanbook yesterday, and found the Bliss and Soul Painting devotions. I wasn't sure Frenzy was being included, but now that I've seen it mentioned, Bliss does actually have a use. Soul Painting would be kind of a cool way to discern luminaries (in addition to it's traditional uses to discern ...nothing that's being included in AWoD... well, what do you think of those powers Frank? Probably not particularly in theme for AWoD.

Well, Bliss I could see. Sort of seems like it would have the same overall effect as the Light of Ennui though. And it's a lot less "dark" than the Light. Making people happy is less thematic than stringing them out like a heroin junky and making it impossible for them to care about things.

Soul Painting gets right into Enchanting, which is a kettle of fish that I need to open but which is full of traps. On the one hand, people definitely want to make evil paintings that steal souls and magic daggers that whisper about the weaknesses of people around them, and put storms into bottles to let them out later and so on and so forth. And they deserve to do that. But I don't want to get into a D&D mentality where people are expected to run around in a magic cloak with magic boots and a magic monocle and a magic cock ring.

-Username17

[Judging__Eagle]

and a magic monocle and a magic cock ring.

-Username17

For summoning your pet rooster, right?

Please tell me it's for a pet rooster.

[Username17]

New concept: everything that form shifts is labeled as a Protean power. If you know any disciplines that give you a Protean ability, and your form is changed by a Protean ability, you can spend a Complex Action and a Power Point to change back to your true form.

---

Animalism
“Be what you want to be until you don't any more.”

Animalism is the sorcerous path of dealing with and becoming an animal, hence the name. This attunement provides great benefits when dealing with animals. The character gains a +2 bonus on Animal Ken. This bonus increases to +4 with Advanced, and +6 with Elder Animalism. These bonuses are increased by 50% when dealing with creatures that the character can personally transform into with Beast Form (so for example a character with Beast Form (Bat) would gain a +3, +6, or +9 bonus on Animal Ken checks to train bats).

Basic Disciplines

• Beast Form The character can transform into an animal by spending a power point and taking a complex action. The type of animal transformed into is chosen when the ability is learned. When Beast Form is gained as a fixed ability from a character's supernatural type, the form of the beast is often predefined (for example, a Nezumi becomes a rat). This ability can be learned multiple times, and each time the character can choose one more new form than the time before (two new forms with the second learning, for a total of 3). No beast form can be much larger than a human, or smaller than a mouse. Some animals are stronger or more agile than a human, but the total bonus to these attributes never exceeds +2. Many animals are much weaker than a human. For example: a Rat Form always has a strength reduced to 1 regardless of the original character's Strength score, and gains a +2 bonus to Agility. This ability is a Protean power.
• Feral Whispers The character can speak to and understand the speech of beasts. This is invaluable in training and information gathering. But remember that animals do no gain any special understanding of their environment even though they are able to convey their thoughts to the character. Honestly, dogs speak kind of like the dogs from Up! and rats and cats are no better. Most non-mammalian beasts are downright disappointing conversationalists (with exceptions made for some wicked smart non-mammals like crows and octopuses).

Advanced Disciplines

• The Beckoning The character emits some suitably animalistic noise and calls all creatures of a specific type to their location. The character can only choose a type of animal, and the power reaches out to 100 meters per point of Potency. Using The Beckoning requires a Power Point and a Complex Action. The number of beasts that come is dependent upon how many of the type of creature that are within the area, and the urgency with which they come and the degree of control the character has over their actions upon their arrival is based on the number of hits achieved on a Strength + Survival or Charisma + Empathy test. When dealing with large or predatory animals, the range of The Beckoning increases to 500 meters per potency. When calling large predatory animals, the range extends to 5 kilometers per point of potency.
• Transformation The character can transform a victim into a beast. This is a humiliating ordeal, and as the target doubtless has little familiarity with their new form is generally quite awkward and difficult for the victim (over and above being transformed into a frog or pig). The character makes a Strength + Empathy or Willpower + Survival test against the target's Intuition. The victim becomes a beast of the character's choice until the next sunrise or sunset. Net hits increase the time frame of a victim's transformation. This ability is a Protean power. A character can't be transformed into an animal much larger than their original size, but they can be transformed into something much smaller.

Elder Disciplines

• Songs in the Dark The character can create horrible monsters out of ordinary animals. By spending a power point, any mundane beast can be invested with enough astral power as to be transformed into a monster. The investment takes an hour and the transformation itself takes a day. The character makes a Charisma + Survival or Willpower + Medicine test. Making a Behemoth is hard (Threshold 3), while making a Kaiju is crazy extreme (Threshold 5). The Giant Animal is created under the character's loose control. A character can control a number of such animals equal to their Willpower.
• Soul Investment The character can place a portion of their soul into another being, and subsequently take the target's body over when their body goes unconscious or dies. The character must touch the target for a Complex Action, spend a power point, and make an opposed Willpower + Empathy or Strength + Survival test against the target's Willpower. A character can have portions of their soul hidden in a number of creatures equal to their Intuition, and they must choose only one of their victims to hop to when the time comes. While controlling a body, use the Strength and Agility of the host, but all other attributes and all skills of the character. The character does not lose control of a host by sleeping, but they do automatically hop again (losing their soul investment in that victim) if they are actually knocked unconscious. The character never loses their effective Soul Investment in their original body, but if they are ever forced to hop and there are no living bodies with remaining Soul Investment, the character dies.

[violence in the media]

Would it be better if Feral Whispers had some sort of dice mechanic to support whether or not a character could get useable information out of an animal? Maybe structure it like a Q&A session with difficulty based on the type of animal questioned? That would allow you to avoid the wild swings in effectiveness that occur when people try to figure out what a weasel knows and how effectively it can communicate those things.

[Quantumboost]

So would Shadow Body be Protean, since it turns you into a living shadow? Or is it not due to primarily being a change in composition?

As far as dispelling goes, the best I've thought of is that we could have that as a part of some discipline's advanced power - particularly ones relating to destruction, loss, or decay (so Lure of Destruction, Trail of Tears, and possibly an addon to Descent of Entropy or... possibly Progress of Glass or Names of the Blasphemies). It could also be part/all of a Devotion, but that would lose granularity between the various types, and I don't think we want that. A roshambo interaction between the various worlds' magic is a huge no.

[Gelare]

Out of curiosity, does someone intend to compile these rules into a PDF or something? I think the answer is yes, but I forget who.

[Quantumboost]

Out of curiosity, does someone intend to compile these rules into a PDF or something? I think the answer is yes, but I forget who.

Even if nobody else is, I have all the content in LaTeX format typeset and up-to-date. It's based on the source for the Tome PDF, I can post the files if anyone wants it.

[Sma]

I was about to offer, but it seems that's not necessary anymore.

[Username17]

Out of curiosity, does someone intend to compile these rules into a PDF or something? I think the answer is yes, but I forget who.

Even if nobody else is, I have all the content in LaTeX format typeset and up-to-date. It's based on the source for the Tome PDF, I can post the files if anyone wants it.

Sweet. The master document is in board code and is currently ~35k words. Having it compiled into a pdf at the end by someone who can do that would be pretty nice. Thanks.

So would Shadow Body be Protean, since it turns you into a living shadow?

Yeah. Also Form of Mist and Giant Size. And probably even Blood of Acid. Why not?

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And yeah, if someone wants to write up a few paragraphs on Carthian political organization or one of the cults, that's totally cool. There are a number of groups like The Glass Walkers and The Hollow Ones that are pretty much in there because they have a cool name and fit in a niche. But which frankly I personally am not tempted to play and would prefer someone more inspired by them to do an initial writeup. I mean, obviously it would get edited in and have some shoutouts to other groups pasted in to avoid the oWoD Rasputin effect, but definitely don't think I need to do the primary writing on everything.

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On Frenzy: clearly as a Lycanthrope you have a dominant passion of Rage. You go into Rage Frenzies periodically, which cause you to beat the shit out of things and accidentally kill family members like you were Larry Talbot. As a Vampire, you have a dominant passion of Hunger which causes you to attack people when you run low on power points.

What other dominant passions should there be? Fear is of course obvious and old school WoD classic; but it's not at all clear to me who should get Master Passion Fear. I can definitely see a place for (especially Androids) getting all obsessive and destructive with Master Passion Love. And I can see a lot of Aladdin and Nightwish reference potential in saddling Witches with Master Passion Greed. Although Imhotep is a Khaibit and he is quite classically run on Master Passion Love.

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I rather intend to build off the Light of Ennui with Persuasive Argument rules. Instead of discussing something that you have a background in, you can attempt a persuasive argument: Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, Babble, Appeal to Strength, or Style Argument. These are less effective on people who actually have background in what you're talking about and may well wear off over time.

-Username17

[Manxome]

Soul Investment The character can place a portion of their soul into another being, and subsequently take the target's body over when their body goes unconscious or dies.

Another ambiguous description. This functions very differently depending on whether it lets you use someone's body while that person is asleep or whether it lets you forcibly take over an aware victim but only if something happens to your original body.

[Grek]

Should be changed to "the investing character's current body"

[erik]

What other dominant passions should there be? Fear is of course obvious and old school WoD classic; but it's not at all clear to me who should get Master Passion Fear.

Perhaps the transhumans would have fear be their dominant passion?

People who occasionally get so worn down and freaked out by the world they have been plunged into and what they have become that when they run out of power points they need to take a time out and rebuild their courage. It works mostly for the Children of Aether, but could possibly be stretched to encompass all the transhumans.

[Username17]

Dupe.

[Username17]

How's this look?

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Losing Control: Frenzy and Despondency
“Rar!”

Character's in the World of Darkness are often the carriers of some pretty hefty psychological baggage. Burdened by curses and sustained by dark magic, most supernaturals have a pretty tenuous grip on their sanity and even their composure. The beast lurks rather shallowly beneath the surface, and when a supernatural creature transforms into their war form, it does not even do that.

When subject to strong stimuli, a supernatural character my completely fly off the handle and start doing crazy crap. Players are encouraged to roleplay their loss of control to the hilt. While often as not being fairly useless or even detrimental to their own life goals, the erratic and extreme actions of such a character are quite spotlight hogging. Such rampages can make or break a story, and Frenzy tests should be made sparingly.

To control Frenzy a character makes a Willpower test plus an appropriate skill. What skills can be used to add to that test vary depending upon the Passion. For example, a character subject to Fear Frenzy may attempt to control it with a Willpower + Combat, a Willpower + Tactics, or a Willpower + Sabotage test. When a character has already entered frenzy they will eventually calm down. The trigger for potentially calming down is usually related to the trigger that set them off in the first place (for example, a character in hunger frenzy would have a chance to come out of it when they sated the hunger, tough of course if they failed to end it at that point they'd just continue to fruitlessly feed), but a character can attempt to end a frenzy at any time by spending an Edge. The test to end a frenzy uses the same dicepool as the test to prevent one in the first place. The threshold to keep one's self from flipping out is based on the severity of the stimulus, and the threshold to end it once it has begun is the same. All frenzies eventually end, and if a character is provided multiple opportunities to end a frenzy each subsequent attempt is made against a threshold one lower. Characters with a higher Potency are more emotionally unstable and less human, and their thresholds for avoiding/ending a frenzy are increased by half their Potency (rounded down).

Staying around people is emotionally destabilizing for supernatural creatures. There are a lot of stimuli to deal with and there are a lot of disappointments and frustrations. Every month that a supernatural creature attempts to live within mortal society, they should make a frenzy test. The threshold for the first month is 1, but it increases by 1 each additional month. A supernatural character who stays long in society will hulk out eventually. The only ways around this are to run off and meditate or periodically freak out under hopefully controlled circumstances.

Each supernatural type has a most common Master Passion (Despair for Transhumans, Fear for Leviathans, Greed for Witches, Hunger for Vampires, Love for Prometheans, and Rage for Lycanthropes). But individual characters are by definition individuals, and may choose any Master Passion as befits their character's story and idiom. Some non-playable types can have multiple Master Passions or none at all. Still others have special rules governing their use of passions. The Soulless are in a constant state of rage frenzy that never ends; Akuma are subject to frenzies of rage, hunger, and fear; while the Pods have no passions at all (Master or otherwise).

Frenzy is not completely useless. Whilst in Frenzy, a character's Strength and Willpower are increased by 1. Although they are usually not of much use socially even so.

Master Passion Despair
“Shinj [ʃɪndʒ]

1. -Verb (used without object)
2. to absolutely flip out in existential uncertainty and despair to the point of being unable to accomplish life goals.”

A character with a Master Passion of Despair is prone to fits of despondency that render them unpredictable, both destructive and self destructive. Characters subject despair frenzy may withdraw for long periods of time and show signs that a mortal would diagnose as clinical depression. But while actually in a despair frenzy the character's actions are often terrifying to behold. Alternately comatose and prone to massive destruction, a despairing character withdraws from or pushes away the entire world. Their own work may be destroyed, as might anything nearby. A despairing rampage is born out of a combination of fear and frustration, and usually tends more to the “simplicity” of mass destruction.

Triggers for a despair frenzy usually take the form of setbacks of some form or another. Triggers to end a despair frenzy are either things that would cheer them up, or the galvanizing action of seeing something that mattered to them destroyed during their frenzy (often as not by their frenzy). Key skills are Survival, Persuasion, and Operations. Master Passion Despair is the usual drive of Transhumans.

[MartinHarper]

Passion Jealousy might create more conflict and plot than Passion Greed, though they're similar. I'd like to see Passion Hatred/Bigotry in there somewhere too.

Every month that a supernatural creature attempts to live within mortal society, they should make a frenzy test. The threshold for the first month is 1, but it increases by 1 each additional month.

When a creature freaks out, does that reset the threshold to 1 for the next month?
How long does a creature need to spend apart from society to reset the threshold to 1?
Is the difficulty the same for living in a city vs living in a village?

[Judging__Eagle]

The Frenzies sound like a great idea.

I was wondering how you were going to make the characters tragic. This makes for a perfect way to do this.

I wonder what specific things Leviathans can fear; and what the effects are (cowering, and running in terror sound like likely results). Although, the Troglodyte character that I created earlier will probably have Hunger as their frenzy.

[erik]

Aren't Leviathans edible immortality granting gingerbread men?

I could see some fear or paranoia from knowing that. Imagine Highlander/immortals if anyone could become an immortal by chopping off their head. Scary!

I was imagining transhumans when they ran out of power getting freaked out by the mess they might find themselves in and then having to go hide somewhere and screw their courage back up, possibly via liquid courage, I dunno. Mr. Jeckyl stops being huge and awesome and all of the sudden Dr. Hyde is scared shitless. Despair doesn't really seem quite as fitting for that one case, but perhaps each luminary types could pick from a selection of relevant passions rather than having just one... er, "choice."

[Judging__Eagle]

Well... there are Master Passions.

So, I'm guessing that there are Lower, or Base, Passions as well.

Yes, Leviathans are fueled by fear of..... cars/fire/loud noises/your mum/dogs/trains/etc.. However, the character in question is one that gained his Troglodytism due to cannibalism of dead people after a plane crash.

Now, he hungers for delicious morsels. For all you know he's got a person in the basement that he's been feeding off of for days, or weeks; and then healing back to health. Maybe they have a little agreement with some local vampires that feed on the prisoner's blood; and then erase the victim's memories after they get returned to society.

Actually, that sounds exactly like what my Trog will do.

Also, are there ways to re-set the Frenzy counter aside from Frenzying?

Like, say, not having to see your fears? Being Sedated, or working .... actually, Rage Frenzy is not too bad to deal with, if you know that it happens at a set time. 'Random' Rage Frenzy is more of a problem.

Hunger Frenzy is offset with regular feeding.

Greed Frenzy is offset by ....feeding your greed.

actually, I'm thinking that with the exception of Fear and Despair, nearly all of the Frenzies can be something that is avoided by "feeding" them, sometimes quite literally.

Despair is offset by a success. The greater the Success, the longer you offeset your next potential frenzy?

Fear is offset by either avoidance or consolation. It's a lot easier to cope with your arachnophobia if the big bag wolf is ripping the giant spider apart; and the invulnerable vampire has wrapped their wings around you, and are cooing soothing lullabies to you.

Rage is offset by.... fighting or physical effort. Seriously. The Get of Fenris and the Vampire get into a "Gentleman's" duel, Baseball Bats only, until one of the two is dropped. The Vampire fights to lose.

The Lycanthrope gets the rage out of his system; and the Vampire can probably survive the fight.

Greed is offset by polishing your shinies, or getting new shinies.

Love is offset by being with the one you love. This one is pretty easy to understand. You hang out with them, or whatever. You feel better about everything, you don't go crazy.

Like I said earlier, Hunger is based on when you last fed. Vampires have it worse than others.

Personally, Troglodytes should have a weakness where non-human meat does to them the same thing that daylight does to Vampires, and Silver does to Werewolves. Making Troglodytes horrible cannibals, or optionally vegetarians (cribbing from "Ravenous", and cranking it to 11; in the movie, the character says "Oh, I could never eat an other animal" i.e. he only eats the same animals as himself. lawlz).

====

On Fitting,

Despair can fit Mr.Hyde as well. He's dumber, or w/e as Mr. Hyde, or people don't like him as much, or girls are scared of him, or the girl he's after is scared of him.

Bang, he fails, despair sets in.

Maybe the despair is because they can't reverse the situation. Or, they can't regain their lost life?

[Quantumboost]

Judging by this:

Each supernatural type has a most common Master Passion (Despair for Transhumans, Fear for Leviathans, Greed for Witches, Hunger for Vampires, Love for Prometheans, and Rage for Lycanthropes). But individual characters are by definition individuals, and may choose any Master Passion as befits their character's story and idiom.

There being a "one case" where the typical Master Passion isn't right is already accounted for. So *most* leviathan - meaing the majority of the NPC leviathans - are ruled by Fear, but this particular troglodyte is ruled by Hunger rather than Fear. It's like saying "orcs are usually barbarians" - a population descriptor and a good default to fall back on.

Maybe the despair is because they can't reverse the situation. Or, they can't regain their lost life?

That sounds like the idea. Witches and many Leviathans chose what they are, most of the rest of the Leviathans come from Leviathan bloodlines, and at their core, Vampires/Prometheans/Werewolves know that they're physically just not human. The Transhumans are the results of individual, specific, and involuntary events - and are just close enough to "still human" to despair about what they've become.

In the majority of cases, anyway.