From: rjkirkpatric@ualr.edu (RJK) Date: 21 Dec 93 15:25:51 CST * * * - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- F A E - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Written by RJK, Robert Kirkpatrick Uses the Storyteller System by White Wolf. NEW TERMINOLOGY - --------------- Arts: Mystical, inbreed powers of the Fae. Used to influence the minds and feelings of the humans, in order to gain Flux energy. Butchers: Mages, especially those that actively seek out Fae Blood. Dark Road, the: When a Seelie Fae trapped on Gaia starts to feed off negative emotions in order to replenish his Flux. Eventually, becomes a full-fledged member of the Unseelie Court. Darklings: A Seelie on the Dark Road. Fae: Generic term for all who come from Arcadia. Also known as Faeries, Elves, Sidhe, etc. Fang: A Vampire. Folk: Allies and kin of the Fae. Flux: 1) Realm of the Wyld Triad, 2) Mystical Energy that defines what a Fae is, and is used to power Arts. Gateway: Portal found on Gaia that instantly transports Fae to Arcadia. Very rare and hard to find. Hazing: A state of being of total anarchy that Fae have been known to enter. High Lord: Powerful Fae who dwells and controls a great deal of property in Arcadia. Usually has Arts above 7. Mound: Area around a Gateway. To some, it can be known as a Caern or a Node. Phreak: Anyone who is addicted to the effects of Fae Blood. A PhreakFang is a vampire that enjoys Fae Blood. Polarity: The mystical union between a member of the Seelie Court and a member of the Unseelie Court. Scale, the: The Mystical Balance kept between the Seelie and the Unseelie. Any time that a Seelie is slain, an Unseelie dies as well, and vice versa. The only way that this is prevented is when one dies by Flux loss. Schism, the: The time that Arcadia was separated from Gaia. Seelie Court: Those Fae more concerned with positive feelings among humanity. Shapeshifter: A Werebeast of some sort. UnderLord: Powerful Fae who dwells on Gaia and controls some property there. Usually has Arts above 5. Unseelie Court: Also known as the Dark Fae. Those who are fascinated by the darker side of humanity, and bringing that dark side out. BREIF OVERVIEW OF FAE - --------------------- Designing a Fae Character - ------------------------- Before even figuring out the statistics of a Fae, a design must be thought up for them. A design is simply what type of Fae the character is. In this world, all Fae are essentially malleable creatures. There are races, but only mortals and mundanes and the uninitiated uses terms like elves, dwarves, etc. Fae do not even consider race as a question. The only thing that matters is if you are Dark Fae or not (Unseelie or Seelie). Race is simply something to point out similiar features between two people. Yes, there are a lot of tall, lanky, long-haired, pony-tailed, pointy-eared people, that as a whole can be considered "elves", but the Fae themselves don't view things this way. One of the so-called "elves" would immediately point out that they can't be of the same race, because so-and-so happens to have a fuzzy tail, or so-and-so has two opposable thumbs on each hand, etc. When thinking of a Fae character, think of their design. Design is everything about the character: from attitude, to bearing, to look. Is the character some warty, toad on two legs? Is he a tiny pixie? Is he a regal elf, or a tall, gigantic troll or giant? The Storyteller should then give the character some modifiers (positive or negative), based on the design. Not much should be given out, and what is given out should reasonably be balanced out. For instance, if the design is of a giant, the Storyteller could give an additional +2 Strength and +3 Stamina, but because of the character's size, all enemies hit with -3 on their difficulties, and the character is -2 on his Dexterity. The Storyteller is completely, one-hundred percent, in charge and has total and complete veto power over any design. A character can't and shouldn't go completely crazy with the design. Something simple is preferred. Only a few things are gained with the design. This is meant to be a way to have a unique type of a character, rather than trying to get tons of abilities for nothing. Some examples of design: Traditional Elf: +1 Dexterity, +1 Appearance, +1 Charisma, double cost of any modern abilities Traditional Dwarf: +3 Stamina, -1 Dexterity, -1 Charisma, short flaw Traditional Troll: Tall, Regenerate like Lupine except versus fire Traditional Pixie: -2 Strength, -2 Stamina, +2 Dexterity, +2 difficulty to be hit (except from area effect), Flight Hunchback: 0 App, +2 Resilience Big-Nosed Zwop: +2 Per (smell only), -1 App Red-Cap: Vampiric Blood Pool (10 pts), Short Flaw, Frenzy Remember, design is how the Fae appears to others, and with the Fae, it's almost essential to be as unique as possible. There should be enough rules in all of the current three White Wolf books to fill in any gaps you may have. Use whatever merits, stats, backgrounds, etc., to make this design standout. Also, remember, that this is the World of Darkness. There should be some sort of edge to the design, something that would make it fit into the game milieu. If the design is too silly, or strange for the game, the ST has complete and total right to veto it. Usually, I tend to prefer at least humanoid Fae. Seelie Court or Unseelie Court - ------------------------------ To the outside world, there is very little difference between the Seelie and the Unseelie. They both tend to be Wyld, unrestrained creatures, with a tendency to mischief. The two Courts represent the extremes of the Fae. It can be said that the Seelie are the Weaver-influenced portions of the Wyld, while the Dark Fae (the Unseelie) are the Wyrm-influenced side of the Wyld. While both sides like to play pranks and have fun, both have different ways of going about it. In the farthest extreme of the Seelie, there are exact charts and diagrams and rules for letting out your Wyld side. There is only one good and proper way to play a prank. Taken at its worst, it could mean that one must always use a red flower when using a fake flower water squirter, or one must always use white whipped cream in a pie-in-the-face trick. A good many of the current Seelie pranks are used to make fun of these "traditions". Great Status can be doled out for rebeling against the status quo of comedy and merriment. Seelie pranks, however, tend to be mostly good-natured and all for a good laugh. The Unseelie pranks are another story. They tend to hurt, or destroy something. A laugh is not just gotten at someone else's expense, but also at their demise. Amputation, decapatation, burning, eye gouging are some of their most popular gags. A Dark Fae would have acid in his flower squirter, and iron spikes covered by whipped cream in his pie-in-the-face trick. The Seelie have a rule for their pranks: "It's only funny until someone loses an eye." The Unseelie have added on to that: "It's only funny until someone loses an eye, and then it's hilarious." The other main difference between the two is how they restore their inner Flux energies. Seelie tend to get it from merriment and showing others a good time. By bringing out good emotions and feelings (usually by destroying bad ones). Unseelie, however, get back Flux through abuse and despair. Pranks, gags, toys, etc., are the means to achieve these ends. Sort of like the Foci of the Mages. Not all life is spent in pranks and partying for the Fae. They are just as varied as any Vamp, Mage, or Garou in ambitions and desires. But the frivolous nature is inbreed in all of them. Some try to fight it, some revel in it. In fact, it is said that Arcadia is full of political dealings that would make a Vampire Primogen's head spin. Polarity and the Scale - ---------------------- All Fae are greatly affected by the Philosophy of the Scale. The Unseelie and the Seelie are all mystically united, a part of a balance in the Nature of the Wyld. The Seelie represent the good forces of the Wyld, the part that feeds and nurtures mankind, that brings joy and happiness. The Unseelie represent the violent aspects of the Wyld, the hungry storms, the deadly emotions. Both are needed, and as such, both affect the life of the Fae. As a result, all Fae have a Polarity with an opposing Fae. An Seelie will have a Polarity with an Unseelie Fae and vice versa. If the Seelie Fae is slain, the Unseelie Fae immediately dies, and vice versa. Most Fae do not know who their Polarity Fae is, and are thus afraid to straight out kill their enemies. Thus, the war between Fae is usually eternal. The only way to escape the Scale is to have a Fae die due to Flux loss. As a result of such a death, the Polarity Fae will feel no adverse effects, and can live without fear of sudden death. So far, this is the main plan of the Unseelie Court. They know that the Seelie need to refresh their Flux through the creation of positive emotions among Gaia's humanity. As a result of the Schism, Arcadia has lost a great deal of Flux energy to obtain. Many Arcadians travel to Gaia to restore their Flux. However, if the Unseelie can deny them that Flux, they seriously weaken their enemies. So the Unseelie is going through an all-out effort to destroy and degrade the source of Flux. Most of their energy is put to bringing despair upon humanity so that the Seelie can not refresh their Flux, and thus die. The Current State of Fae - ------------------------ These rules are designed for characters that have been divorced from Arcadia ever since the Schism. These are Fae still trapped in our world, trying to find a way back home. Most of the Mounds and Gateways have been taken over or destroyed by Garou or Mages, or are in the hands of the Unseelie. The characters must work to keep themselves alive, in a land of truly monstrous and dark emotions. These Fae are lost, and many turn to the Dark Road to keep themselves alive, because it's so much easier. Those that keep to their Seelie ways have a tough task ahead of them. The world is a cruel place, and they are responsible for trying to bring what little hope they can into it. All the while knowing that they may never see home again. The Unseelie don't mind the Schism as much as the Seelie. They are stuck on Gaia, where they can feed off as much misery as possible. Some would like to return, because they can get more powerful there. But for now, most are content. Chronicles can be based on trying to find Arcadia to fighting off the Unseelie. Naturally, the Fae, who are concerned with humanity's wellbeing (or lack of wellbeing, in the case of the Unseelie), will eventually come into contact with Vampires or Mages. As the Fae search for Gateways, they will obviously come into contact with the Garou. CHARACTER CREATION - ------------------ Main Rules - ---------- The first thing that a character must do is figure out their design, as per the rules above. The Design stage is intentionally left ambiguous, because I wanted the Fae to be ambiguous, to be a mystery and an enigma. As a whole, they shouldn't be all that easy to peg. Then, after the Design stage, one can start distributing points. For most of the Character Generation for the Fae, use the Vampire rules when it comes to cost, freebie point cost, experience point cost, and distribution of points. Fae have equivalents of all the Vampire traits (Humanity, Virtues, Disciplines), but with different names and effects (described below). They just cost the same. When it comes to abilities and backgrounds, a Fae character can choose from any of the three current Storyteller games that have come out (Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Mage: the Ascension, the Mummy supplement, the Hunters Hunted, and the Storyteller's Handbook are all referred to in these rules). This includes things like Awareness, Wyrm Lore, etc. In place of Retainers and Kinfolk, however, use the Background trait of Folk, which represents the amount of human allies the character has. Few Fae have any desire for Resources, but it is an option. The only Backgrounds the Fae can not have are Dream, Library, Fetish, Node, Avatar, Talisman, Pure Breed, or Herd (and any that the Storyteller deems doesn't make any sense). They can have Arcane, Past Lives, and Supernatural Contact, if they wish. If they want a magical item, they must have the Special Gift merit. If there is any doubt on the costs of a certain ability, always choose the highest cost. If you use any merits or flaws, try to convert it over to the Fae frame of mind as best as possible. The rules should be used as guidelines to creation, so tweak them whenever necessary. A Fae character is created just like any other character, with starting attributes of 7/5/3 and abilities of 13/9/5. They can buy any Knowledge, Talent, or Skill that is essentially non-modern in nature. Thus, things like Firearms, Heavy Weaponry, Drive, etc., can't be bought, except with Freebie points. Essentially, this is the same limitation that Lupus born Garou must have, so follow those rules or the discretion of the Storyteller. All Fae essentially have a limited form of Anachronism, and thus, can't get modern conveniences as easily right at the beginning of character generation. Fae characters automatically have 1 point in Casting. The other Hedge Magick skills (Duration, Extent, and Rituals) are also available to them. They need these skills in order to use their Arts. These are considered Primary, not Secondary Abilities. Experience to raise them is given in Hunters Hunted and the Storyteller's Handbook. Fae has Virtues, but not like a Vampire character, although the point costs are the same. As for Humanity, the Fae have something called Flux. The initial Flux score is determined by the character's current Mischief score. In order to raise Flux, it costs the same in Freebie points as it costs a Vampire to raise their Humanity. Flux are the points that the Fae used to manipulate Reality with their Arts. Like Willpower, there should be a temporary (squares) and permanent (dots) chart for this. Willpower is based on the total of Regality and Labor Virtues. Willpower functions the same as in all the other White Wolf games. Fae have their own equivalent of Discipline, so you can ignore those points from the Vampire books. Unseelie characters make points using the point system for Sabbat vampires (which gives less Background points and less Virtues). New Backgrounds - --------------- UNIQUENESS: The character has some unique traits about her. They get one unique trait for every point they have in this Background. Also, Uniqueness adds to their social scores when dealing with other Fae, since Uniqueness is a valued trait among all Fae. A unique trait is some sort of physical ability (or deformity) that the Fae has. It can be another arm, another eye, body fur, body warts, whatever. These traits do not have to be attractive, just different. Very little special abilities are given out with these traits. Having an extra arm gives an extra limb to work with, not extra attacks. Having a fangs will let you bite, but not necessarily for tons of damage. Again, the Storyteller is the final decision. WYLDLING: The Fae is more in tune with his Wyld nature, and can spend more Flux when Casting an Art. However, this means that a character loses Flux more rapidly, so be careful. Each point in this Background allows the Fae to spend one additional Flux point. FOLK: The number of humans who are aware of the character's existence, and will help them. New Merits - ---------- KNOWN POLARITY: The character knows who his opposite Fae is, and knows not to kill them. 3 point Merit. NO POLARITY: The character's Polarity Fae has already died from Flux loss, so there is no more danger. Of course, this could mean that others may not be reluctant to kill you as well. 7 point Merit. VIRTUES - ------- The three main virtues for a Fae character are Regality, Mischief, and Labor. A botch on this roll means the character immediately enters a state known as the Hazing, and a Virtue and a Flux point is permanently lost. As with Vampire Virtues, 5 successes must be obtained to completely overcome the urge to act Wyld. Regality - -------- Regality is how controlled, how dignified, and how elegant the character is. It is rolled whenever the character is put in a situation when he must maintain a respectable front, or behave properly. Fae on a whole are very unpredictable people. They tend to like to frolic and enjoy themselves, or in the case of the Unseelie, go about, laughing maniacally and gnashing their teeth. If a Fae fails his Regality Roll, he must run around and let his true Wyld self out. People will not necessarily think he's a Fae, but they will know that he's up to no good. The difficulty of the roll is always based on the severity and strictness of a gathering: 3 for a rock-n-roll concert, 5 for a church picnic, 7 for a formal dinner party or opera, 9 for a Tremere meeting. Note, that Regality does not take the place of Social roll. Social rolls are made, after, the Regality roll is made. Just because a Regality roll is made does not mean that the Fae has the Social skills to survive such a gathering. Mischief - -------- Mischief is how well the Fae can get away with a prank or gag or an insult. Whenever a Fae is threatened by someone or something that had been the brunt of a recent joke, the Fae has a chance to escape for just a moment. The method of escape varies, but usually it is some grand coincindence that gets the Fae off the hook momentarily. The difficulty is based on the seriousness of the threat. The more serious, the less the difficulty. 3 when someone is trying to kill the Fae, 5 when someone is trying to severely injure the Fae, 7 when someone is trying to mildly hurt the Fae, 9 when someone wants to play a counter prank. If the roll is successful (5 culminated successes necessary), the Fae could either have blinked out of existence for a second, teleported across the room, a chandelier fell and blocked the attacker's charge, someone else stepped in the way, etc. The Fae has no control over whatever happens. Labor - ----- Labor is how well a Fae can concentrate on a certain task. Fae, on a whole, tend to have rather flighty personalities. If something intrigues them, they tend to pursue it, even if they were suppose to be doing something else. The difficulty is based on the severity and boredom of the task. The harder and the more routine the work, the more likely the Fae wonders off to something else. A success means the Fae sticks to the job at hand. Failure means that something else caught the Fae's eye. It doesn't matter if it's a t.v. program, a baby in a stroller (just waiting to be tricked), a priest walking by (perfect for a prank), birds to play with, etc. They will forget the job at hand. 8 is for really hard, really strenous, really long, really boring work. Working in a coal mine all day is perfect example of this. 6 is standard. 4 is for being involved in a rather long combat. 3 is for waiting a while at a busstop. Those with low Labor scores have been known to walk away from fights, to leave a stakeout at a villian's house, etc. The Fae has to keep rolling each turn that the stimulus to leave remains. Once 5 successes has been achieved, the Fae can safely ignore the diversion. When thinking about distributing points in Virtues, think about your character Fae design. Most elves tend to have high Regality and Mischief, while very low Labor. Dwarves or gnomes tend to have high Labor but low in all the other Virtues. At least, that's how they are stereotypically portrayed. FLUX - ---- Flux Blood - ---------- Flux is the amount of Wyld energy and magick that makes up the Fae. All Fae have a great deal of this energy flowing through their blood and their body. If for some reason, the Fae's blood is every drank, the drinker suffers several adverse effects. The effects are based on the current Flux score. 1 = Minor Headaches (-1 on any roll needing a Mental attribute) 2 = Intense Nausea (-1 to all rolls) 3 = Complete Drunkeness (-2 to all rolls) 4 = Mild Hallucinations (additional -2 unless Per+Alertness vs 6) 5 = Strong Hallucinations (additional -2 unless Per+Alertness vs 8) 6 = Total Hallucination (-3 to all rolls) 7 = Minor Transformation (Eyes turn buglike, or Ears grow long, etc.) 8 = Major Transformation (Significant bodypart transforms) 9 = Severe Transformation (Most of the body transforms) 10= Complete Transformation (Become something else -- a toad, etc.) The effects last for 1 hour per blood point drank. The downside to this is that Fae blood is considered Tass by Mages. The Tass rating (the amount of Quintessence provided) is equal to the permanent Flux score. Each point of blood provides this amount of Tass, and the Fae have 10 points of blood in their system. Thus, someone with a Flux of 5 has 50 points of Tass in their system. The Fae make enemies with most Mages very quickly. Flux and the Arts - ----------------- Flux is also used to power the Fae's Arts. Spending Flux works the same way that a Mage spends Quintessence. It is used to lower the difficulty of a roll when using one of the Arts. A Fae can only spend one point of Flux, unless he has the Wyldling Background Trait. For those Fae who are exiled for long periods of time from Arcadia, they lose a Flux point each month. After they reach zero Flux, they lose a health level each week until they die. Refreshing Flux - --------------- There are only three ways that a Fae can replenish Flux energy. 1) By getting Tass from a Wyld region on Gaia (for example, a Caern in the forest), in which case they get 1 Flux for every 2 points of Tass harvested, 2) by traveling -- somehow -- to Arcadia or the Flux Realm, or 3) by affecting people with the proper emotion or feeling. In the case of the latter, the feeling is based on the type of Fae the character is -- whether Seelie or Unseelie. Seelie get points from positive feelings induced, whether it's courage, happiness, love, etc. As long as they can move people in a positive way, they will get points for it. For the Unseelie, it's just the exact opposite. They must get people to feel and react negatively. The exact number of points depends on who they affect and how great the reaction. 1 Point of Flux if the people are agreeable to the new state of feeling or emotion that the Fae tries to put them in. Such as those who go to a comedy club to laugh, or to nymphomaniacs who want sex. The people are open to that particular emotion. This explains why many Fae are entertainers of a sort, whether it's a comedian, or a juggler, or an acrobat -- it easily entertains and doesn't require the Arts to change the emotions crudely. 2 Points of Flux if the people are only mildly interested. These people are agreeable to the new emotion, but are more interested in something else. For instance, a guy who goes to a comedy bar to pick up women. He's interested more in the women, then the comedian, but doesn't mind laughing. 3 Points of Flux if the person greatly dislikes the new emotion or feeling. Again, the comedy club example: a woman who has just been divorced is there. She is definitely not interested in laughing (or maybe she is, but we'll assume the divorce was hard for her). If the Fae comedian can make her laugh, he gets 3 points of Flux. 4 Points of Flux if the person is hostile to the new emotion. Mr. Angry Young Man thinks that laughter in such a dark world is ridiculous and that comedy clubs are a suburban nightmare. If he laughs and enjoys himself, it's worth 4 Flux. 5 Points of Flux if the person will hurt you for arousing that emotion or feeling. The bruiser in the corner is the Fae's biggest and meanest critic. If he doesn't like a show, he breaks legs. But the guy doesn't like comedies. So he usually ends up breaking a lot of comedians' legs. But if the Fae makes him enjoy himself, you get 5 points of Flux. That doesn't necessarily keep him from hurting the Fae, however. These are purely subjective levels, and the Storyteller is encouraged to give as much or as little as he feels is warranted. However, if the Fae uses one of the Arts to affect the emotions, he gets 1 less Flux for each level of Arts being used. The Arts are considered a crude way of changing emotions and feelings, and are not permanent enough in the people's minds to give out much Flux energies (if any). It should be understood that gaining Flux from manipulating feelings is not just on an emotional level. What Seelie try to do is bring in a sense of good feeling, of well-being, of security. The Unseelie try to do the opposite. ARTS - ---- Initial Arts - ------------ The Arts are the Magick that the Fae can naturally manipulate. At character creation, a Fae picks his main speciality Art. This is raised by paying current level x 3 in experience points. All others are raised by paying current level x 5 in experience points. At character creation, Seelie Fae get 3 points to distribute among Arts. Unseelie get 4. No Fae can have above a 3 in any of the Arts when they first start off. Each point of Art costs 5 freebie points to raise. No Fae can ever get above 5 points in an Art until he has somehow visited the Flux Realm. No Fae can get above 7 points until they have visited the Arcadia Gateway. No Fae can get above 9 until they have visited Arcadia itself. Using Arts - ---------- Whenever a Fae uses his Art, he must roll his Casting level. The difficulty is the level of the Art + 4. Flux can be spent to lower the difficulty. Duration is rolled to increase the time of the effect, and Extend increases the time. At higher levels of the Arts, Flux must be spent in order to make it work. Look in the various books about Hedge Magick (Hunters Hunted or Storyteller's Guide) to see the effects of these Duration and Extend Rolls. Unlike these books, the Intelligence, Perception, and Wits scores is not ever figured into the roll. Each roll (whether Casting, Duration, or Extend) takes one full turn to accomplish. Art Effects can never be culminative. The higher success is always considered. No reroll can be made by the Fae if he has an Art already on effect on the same subject. The Fae can only roll once the Duration has ended. Appropriate abilities can help the Fae with any of these Arts. These skills allow the Fae to add Dice to his Casting, Duration, and Extend Rolls. Duration is required for all the Arts to see how long such effects will last. At the end of the Duration, more Casting and Duration rolls need to be made. The only exception to this rule is if something does damage. Only a Casting roll needs to be made then. Arts can be resisted by a Willpower Roll vs a difficulty of the number of total dice being rolled (for instance, for DreamWarp, the difficulty would be Casting + Dreaming). Each success negates one success of the Fae. The Various Arts - ---------------- DREAMWARP: DreamWarp allows the Fae to manipulate Dreams. The Fae himself does not have to be asleep while using this. Dreaming is the only appropriate Ability for this Art. * Allows the Fae to sense whether the Dream is good or bad, and whether it's influenced by some other force. ** Allows the Fae to see and experience the dream as if it were hers. Must be there while the dream is occuring or within range of Extend roll. *** Can alter the dream by adding elements to it. Like an object, or a minor persona. **** Can change major elements in the dream, like setting or place, or personas (that are not some sentient being, or controlled by some other sentient being). ***** Can physically enter dream. Can't kill or injure, but if the Fae destroys another invading dreamer, that dreamer cannot reenter the dream. ****** Can triple distance of Extend roll or triple time of Duration roll. ******* Can physically injure or kill dreamer or any other invading beings (like yourself), but only while in Dream. ******** Can bring any voluntary subjects into the Dream. These subjects do not have the power to kill or permanently injure, but can deter hostile threats. ********* Can make the Dream a permanent reality that can be entered at the Fae's leisure, as long as the Extend rolls are kept up. The Dream remains at the emotional level and setting of when this DreamRealm was created. The original maker of the Dream no longer is necessary to maintain the world. ********** Can "eat" Dreams and convert it to Flux. If over ten points is taken, destroys the capacity of the dreamer to ever Dream again. Without Dreams, the victim can't gain Willpower and loses one permanent one per month. After "eating" Dream, can create a new Dream to take it's place. Only 10 points of Flux can be taken from any single person ever. ELEMENTAL FORGER: With Elemental Forger, the Fae can manipulate any one of the four basic elements of air, earth, fire, and water. Various skills are used with Elemental Forger: Metallurgy, Jeweler, etc. Use whatever skill is most appropriate for what the character is trying to do. * Can sense elements nearby, such as water underground, or diamonds hidden in a wall, etc. ** Can analyze any substance for what it is. Can also see through elements. *** Can make one copy of a substance, such as an iron dagger, or a gold coin. One roll per object to change, unless using Extend. Duration to see how long copy lasts. **** Can manipulate any element, such as making rocks roll or making fire spew forth a burst of flame or making water envelop somebody. Damage is 1 per success on Casting Roll, but is soakable. ***** Can extract elements from other objects, such as water or carbon from a life form, or dissolved gold from the sea. Damage is 1 per success on Casting Roll, is soakable, but aggravated. ****** Can bring sentient life to small objects made out of base elements. Will obey commands. ******* Can bring sentient life to large objects (such as boulders or lakes or bonfires). Will obey commands. ******** Can create permanent copies of objects or elements. No Duration Roll necessary. ********* Can summon Elementals. Use rules in Werewolf Books. ********** Can become an Elemental. FLESHSONG: FleshSong allows the Fae to manipulate the body, as well as the five senses. Body Alteration is the Ability associated with it. * Can get a sense of a person's physical well-being. ** Can create emotional responses through physical sensations. This causes the person to be stunned for a turn. Some examples are causing a sudden orgasm, causing vomiting, loosening the bladder, etc. *** Can give the person a physical sensation, whether good or bad. If good, it can negate wound effects of +1 per 3 successes on Casting. If bad (burning skin), it creates a wound effect of -1 per 3 successes. However, these wound levels are not real. This can not kill an individual, although it can alter his sensations so that he is easier to kill. **** Can heal self and others. One point per success. If wound is aggravated, healing is not permanent and can only be healed during state of Duration. During that time, real medical attention must be given to heal. ***** Can create concrete illusions, but these illusions don't react well to outside stimulus. So if one is punched, there is a chance someone will see through their hand pass through it. ****** Can manipulate the flesh of the subject, causing damage. Each success causes a point of soakable damage. ******* Can transform into a similiar look. A humanoid creature can transformed (or be transformed) into another huma- noid creature. ******** Can manipulate bone. Each success causes a point of soakable, aggravated damage. ********* Can create a full-bodied, fully alert illusion using the subjects senses. Illusion will react in every way. ********** Can transform (or be transformed) into any other living thing, gaining the natural abilites thereof. HEARTDANCER: HeartDancer gives the Fae the ability to manipulate emotions. The Ability of Empathy covers this Art. * Can sense emotional states. ** Can heighten emotions. In game mechanics, this could give a -1 or +1 on difficulties for Virtue rolls (such as Courage for Vampires) or Willpower rolls for every 3 successes of Casting. In storytelling terms, can create greater bonds of friendship or love or cause more hatred, etc. *** Can sense false emotional states, such as created by Blood Bound, or created by Fae. Can also sense any emotions that have been repressed (like the Beast, or psychological scarring). **** Can unleash repressed emotions. Causes Frenzy in Garou and Vamps. Can dreg up old emotions to the surface for the victim to deal with. This usually puts the victim out of control for the Duration. However, the repressed emotions are no longer repressed and the victim must deal with them somehow. ***** Can insert a new emotional state. Victim must feel this emotion for the Duration. ****** Destroy emotion. Can prevent a specific emotion from being felt for the Duration. Beast not affected, although can get rid of one aspect of it (like fear). ******* Can bless or curse an area with an emotion. Beings must feel a certain way when entering. ******** Destroy or create bonds, either making complete enemies or making complete friendships, etc. ********* Can turn a person into a basketcase, either making them devoid of any emotions or releasing it all at once. Nothing else is thought or felt during the Duration. Can also instantly cure psychological problems, or remove the Beast (for Duration). ********** Immune to any influence on thought or behavior. Emotional strong and secure. SHUFFLE: Shuffle is the Fae's innate ability to bend the laws of time and space. Science or Occult Ability goes along with this. * Absolute time sense. Knows how long any action or reaction will take. ** Absolute directional sense. Can't be lost. *** Slight precognitive ability. Can ask the Storyteller one Yes or No question about the future per success on Casting roll. Questions can be saved until later for as long as Duration. **** Can gain an extra action for every 3 successes on Casting Roll. These actions also increase speed. ***** Can teleport for short distances, based on Extend Roll. Must know the area that is being teleported to, or at least be able to see it. Can teleport once per success on Casting Roll. Can hold teleportation for as long as Duration. ****** Can predict actions of others. One person per success on Casting Roll. For as long as Duration Roll. ******* Can slow others down. Every 3 successes on Casting Roll keeps target from acting for 1 turn. The Duration is based on the target's time reference and not the Fae's. ******** Can teleport long distances, to anyplace known to the Fae. Each success on the extend roll is 1 mile. ********* Can teleport others. Willpower roll to resist. One person per success. Again, area must be known. Extend roll figures out range. ********** Can freeze time for Duration and in the range of Extend Roll. Refreshing Flux With Arts - ------------------------- Flux can rarely be refreshed with direct intervention of the Arts. The Arts are a tool to get people to react and change their state of minds. If the state of mind is forcibly changed, less Flux can be taken (-1 per effect level of the Arts). Arts is a crude way of creating new emotional states, whether positive or negative. It must be understood that Arts is nothing more than a crowbar to open up a box, not the box itself. To explain, here are some examples: 1. DreamWarp can be used to make a child have better dreams. Better dreams mean a happier child, right? However, the child is not actually a happier child. His dreams have been manipulated to make him happier. In order to get a great amount of Flux, the Fae has to make the child himself have the power to have happier dreams. The Fae can explore the child's dreamworld and find out why the child is having so many nightmares. Perhaps, the child has been abused. The Fae, with discovery of this knowledge, gets the child to confront this abuse and overcome it. Maybe in a symbolic dreambattle between the child and his abuser. The child wins, and as a result, the Seelie Fae reaps lots of Flux. If the Seelie Fae merely killed the symbol of abuse himself, the child hasn't really accomplished anything. Thus, very little Flux, if any. 2. HeartDancer allows an Unseelie to manipulate emotions. The Dark Fae could create fear to make the person paranoid of everyone else. If that person's paranoia reached the point where the person decided he had to kill somebody, then the Dark Fae gets a lot of Flux. He doesn't get Flux for causing fear, he gets Flux for using fear to get the victim to kill somebody. The Fae created fear. The person himself caused the killing as a result of it. If the Dark Fae had simply implanted a murderous rage in the victim, he wouldn't have gotten as much Flux. 3. A Seelie also has HeartDancer, but this guy is a comedian. He likes to make people laugh and enjoy themselves. If he used HeartDancer to *make* people laugh and enjoy themselves, then he would get very little Flux. However, if through the use of his high Charisma and stage charm, he could get a lot of Flux. Also, he could use his HeartDancer to make that heckler in the corner forget about his current hostility towards a waitress. By getting rid of that emotion, he has opened the heckler up to his comedy routine. 4. Another Unseelie tries to get Flux out of fear. He could just create fear in people but that wouldn't be good enough. The fear must come out naturally. So the Unseelie starts to kill off people in a certain neighborhood, dumping bodies in open areas. People start getting afraid, start to think they are next. This feeds the Dark Fae with lots of Flux. Or the Fae could use his HeartDancer tricks to create a serial killer out of somebody. This in itself wouldn't give any Flux. However, the resultant fear and paranoia that this will create in the neighborhood that the serial killer hunts will give the Fae a nice batch of Flux. Arts are mostly used to get rid of barriers that hinder the flow of positive or negative emotions. Arts could be used to force those feelings out but that is, again, a very crude way of doing it. It must come out naturally, so that it has some actual weight. A Fae doesn't need an Art to get Flux. An accomplished actor could get Flux simply from entertaining people. In short, Arts are a way to lead the horses to water, not the way to get them to drink. The use of Arts must be subtle, or else, it has no permanent effect on humanity. HEALTH AND INJURY - ----------------- Immortality - ----------- All Fae are essentially immortal until they are either slain or they die of Flux loss. As long as the damage is not aggravated, a Fae can survive as many blows as possible. However, if an aggravated attack brings them below Incapa- citated, they are slain. Regeneration - ------------ Fae regenerate at a rate of 1 health point of non-aggravated damage per hour. Aggravated damage is healed at a rate of 1 per day. Aggravated Damage - ----------------- Any iron weapons cause unsoakable, aggravated damage to a Fae. Consider it the same flaw as silver for Garou. All other aggravated damage (fire, claws of supernatural creatures, some Magick) can be soaked. THE DARK ROAD - ------------- Any time a Seelie decides to take Flux from negative emotions, they are taking their first step down the Dark Road. A Seelie can create negative emotions just as easily as an Unseelie, and they can gain the Flux from it as well. But for each point of Flux taken, the Seelie must make a Regality Roll versus a difficulty of 8. If they fail, they gain a Derangement and lose a point of Regality. If they botch, they go into a Hazing, gain a Derangement, lose a permanent point of Flux, Willpower, and Regality. A Seelie who has a large amount of derangements, and can't control his feeding of negative energy, is known as a Darkling. The Unseelie never experience the Dark Road. They can't feed off of positive energy. However, they can gain derangements, and are in fact more prone to it. Whenever an Unseelie botches any Art Roll (either Casting, Duration, or Extend), any Willpower, any Virtue, or any Mental Attribute Roll, they gain a derangement. Thus is their nature. HAZING - ------ Hazing is a state of madness that Seelie and Unseelie can go through. During this time, they expend as much Flux energy as they can, causing as much trouble (pranks, etc) as they can. They do not try to feed off Flux. No one is safe from their madness -- they will try to do pranks on friend and foe. Not until they run out of Flux, do they come out of Hazing. They will die due to Flux loss, if they don't try to gain back any Flux. Hazing is a dangerous event, full of unbelieveable consequences. The Fae will not worry about self-preser- vation, or about bonds of loyalty. Just causing trouble is all that they are good for. HOLES IN DESIGN - --------------- There are obviously lots of holes in this design. There is a lot of philosophy and ideas that go unexplained. I did this for three reasons: 1) I haven't got the time, 2) I don't want this to become to obsolete or wrong when "Changeling" finally does come out, and 3) I wanted the Fae to be more mysterious, and to let people fill in the gaps as they chose. The Fae presented here are meant to be a malleable force, something that can fit in anybody's campaign. Only the most experienced in the White Wolf systems need apply. Certainly, it'll take a lot of work, but that's part of the fun. CHARACTER CONCEPTS - ------------------ Psychiatrist - ------------ Seelie: A Fae who works at a Dream research center, that tries to use her DreamWarp to cure people of their nightmares. Unseelie: A Dark Fae that tries to get his patients to act out their most perverse fantasies. Comedian - -------- Seelie: An entertainer, who enjoys the rush of making people laugh. Unseelie: A hard-edge comic, who installs prejudice and hatred in his audience. Like a vicious, Dark Fae, Diceman. Bum - --- Seelie: A street bum that tries to get reform for the homeless, and to get them to try to rise above their station. Unseelie: A street urchin who tries to convince all of the other homeless that the only way out of the ghetto is through selling drugs and violence. Troll - ----- Seelie: Everyone considers you ugly, but you have a heart of gold. You try to help people secretly. You live in the sewers. Unseelie: You are mean and ugly. You smash things. You hurt things. You like to kill two people at a time, because when you kill one, you like to feed off the Flux that will develop from the fear in their partner. Then you kill their partner. ------------------------------------- RJK * Robert Kirkpatrick *