Mortal: Player Guide

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“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
- Clarke’s Third Law -
Contents (hide)
Psychic Vampires
- Hunting
- For keeping track of Ephemera, use the Vampire rules for Hunting, an example of which can be found here, replacing Vitae with Ephemera, and gaining Empowered (Psychic Vampirism) instead of Sated on an exceptional.
- Merits
- Psychic Vampires may purchase Herd and Feeding Grounds, which apply to Ephemera instead of Vitae.
Micro Templates
Addons for Existing Templates
Augmented Dexterity (**-****)
- Public/Private
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Protocol at equal level
- Effect
- At 2 dots this grants a +1 Dexterity boost, at 4 dots it grants a +2. This affects all derived traits. This can take your character above her normal Attribute limits.
- Deprived
- You use your Dexterity for calculating Defense.
Breath Stealer, Mass (* to *****)
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Psychic Vampirism ****, Breath Stealer ***
- Cost
- 1 willpower or more. See below
- Roll
- Intelligence + Occult + Psychic Vampirism - the victim’s Resolve Dots
At this level, the vampire has grown in such strength that in their most dire moments, they take top up on ephemera in one breath (or injure as many as appropriate). The vampire is limited to those within number of meters (or yards) equal to her willpower, as normal. The vampire must spend a willpower to activate this in addition to any other costs associated with Psychic Vampirism. requires a roll of Intelligence + Occult + Psychic Vampirism - the victims’ Resolve Dots (the highest resolve out of all potential victims).
With 1 dot, At this level the vampire can take the ephemera of two people at one time.
With 2 dots, At this level the vampire can take the breath of up to 3 people. ‘
With 3 dots’, At this level the vampire can take the breath of up to 4 people.
With 4 dots, At this level the vampire can take the breath of up to 5 people.
With 5 dots, At this level the vampire can take the breath of up to 6 people
Ghost in the Machine (** or ****)
- Public/Private
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Protocol at equal level
- Effect
- At 2 dots this grants a +1 Wits boost, at 4 dots it grants a +2. This affects all derived traits. This can take your character above her normal Attribute limits.
- Deprived
- You use your Wits for calculating Defense. If you have Ghost in the Machine and Augmented Dexterity, you can chose the higher of your Dex or Wits to determine defense.
Shapechanging: Mirror Swap (**)
- Public/Private
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Psychic Vampirism
- Effect
- Psychic Vampires can shapeshift into animals to hunt, Mirror Swap is more of an urban hunting form. By spending one Ephemera, Mirror Swap allows the psychic vampire to become a perfect replica of themselves if they were born the opposite sex. The shapeshift does not affect attributes as they stay the same, though will combine with other Psychic Vampire abilities to bolster the self (Nocturnal Supremacy, Burst of Speed, etc)
Universal Translator (***)
- Public/Private
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Lost Boy, Protocol ***
- Effect
- Through a comprehensive database of languages combined with an advanced translation algorithm, the Universal Translator Protocol allows its subject to understand and speak in any language known to man (effectively, it grants the benefits of Multilingual to all human languages). It does not enable the use of Spirit Speech, High Speech, or any other language that is of supernatural origin.
- Deprived
- You gain the benefit of Language instead of Multilingual, allowing you to read and write fluently in all languages.
Supernatural Merits
Biomimicry Options
The following can be chosen as options by those with Biomimicry.
The merit is still limited to 4 dots
- Aquatic Adaptation
- The Mimic gains the ability to breathe underwater, as well as slightly webbed toes and fingers that give a +1 to both Speed when swimming and Swim rolls.
- Raptors Sight
- The character’s eyes take on the sharpness of a bird of prey, removing up to 3 dice of penalties from perception rolls relying on sight.
- Pit Sensors
- The Mimic gains a form of thermographic sensing, like those of the Viper family of snakes, becoming capable of ‘seeing’ via heat alone.
- Run like a Gazelle
- Maybe the length of your arms and legs shift to allow you to run on all fours, or maybe your knees bow backwards like a gazelles, but you have adapted for speed and mighty leaps! When running on all fours, add +4 to her Speed and double all jump distances. Like most Biomimicry additions, these changes are always fairly visible and obvious.
- Threat Display
- The majority of animals have mastered some form of threat display, or mimic behavior to warn off would be predators. Maybe it’s a collar of flared skin, a flush of toxic coloring, an obscene snarl, what ever the manner, it makes you more intimidating to others. This provides +3 to visually based intimidation rolls, but is as obvious as any other adaptation.
- Vocal Adaptation
- A partial shift of the throat and vocal chords that creates a growling, hissing, or other feral quality towards it, granting 9-again on Intimidation and Animal Ken rolls relying on vocalizations or speech. This also allows primal languages that rely on a harsher vocabulary (like First Tongue) to be spoken more easily.
- Wall-Walking
- From the spider to the lizard, to the ant and many things in between, gravity isn’t the end all be all. Maybe it’s tiny hairs, or sticky pads, but you have a knack for denying gravity by climbing up seemingly flat walls, and even hanging from the ceiling.
Binding Command (**)
- Public/Private
- Public
- Prerequisites
- Evocation with the commanding add-on
- Effect
- This merit allows the caster to use Evocation’s ability to command an ephemeral being as an instant action, requiring a point of Willpower and the usual contested roll. It does not need to target an entity that was specifically summoned, but the caster must be able to perceive it in some way. Note that this only works on entities that the Evocation merit has been purchased for.