Pathfinder (•)
The first and most basic clause allows the changeling to divine the nature of the Hedge in a certain area. Pathfinder can find Hollows, trods, paths to and from Faerie and other details of the local Hedge, such as what sorts of goblin fruits grow there.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling must have plucked a Thorn from the local Hedge and shed a single drop of blood while doing so within the last day.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Contract yields wholly inaccurate information about the Hedge, suggesting paths where there are none, marking poisonous fruits as beneficial or otherwise utterly confounding otherwise useful information.
Failure: The changeling learns no useful information about the local Hedge.
Success: For each success on the roll, the changeling learns a single pertinent fact about the local Hedge. In most cases, this information is just that — a statement about whether something exists. It doesn’t necessarily point out where a Hollow or pathway might exist, just the fact of its presence. The distance in which such information-drawing is effective is the changeling’s line of sight. Therefore, this power may be curtailed by a mysterious fog in the Hedge or a smoke cast by the Hedge’s burning.
Exceptional Success: As with an ordinary success, but the achievement of the exceptional success yields information about the location of features known to be in the Hedge.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The changeling has never witnessed the local Hedge before, as with visiting a new freehold or otherwise fnding the “Hedge-scape” vastly different than what she may have expected. |
Forging the Dream (••)
The changeling invoking this clause becomes as the director, cinematographer and editor of a movie, only the media in which she works is the dreaming mind of her subject. The changeling may literally change her subject’s dreams to depict whatever the changeling wishes, from bucolic idylls to lewd romps to harrowing tribulations. She may plague her subject with vicious antagonists or rain a cascade of rose petals down: the details are fully under her control. The only limitation is that the changeling may never depict the subject’s death, though she may certainly imply it.
Crafting dreams in this manner is very much an art form among changelings. Some prefer to work with overt themes, while others use subtle symbolism and soft focus to create feelings more than literal episodes. Indeed, some changelings are so adept with dream-craft that they can provoke strong emotional responses from their sleeping subjects that they can glean Glamour from them.
The changeling must be able to see her subject in order to use this power. She needn’t be in the character’s actual presence, however, and some changelings use this power on subjects they view via video cameras or even from painted portraits or still photographs.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling must stand or sit beside her subject, touching her own temple and that of the dreamer.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt to manipulate the sleeper’s dreams fails and leaves the changeling discombobulated, unable to tell the real world from the dream he was attempting to shape. For the remainder of the scene, the changeling is unable to focus sufficiently to expend any Willpower. Further, the sleeper (eventually) wakes from sleep remembering a distinct image of the changeling, even if she has no idea what he might have been trying to do.
Failure: The Contract fails to function but otherwise involves no sign of attempted use.
Success: The character may edit the sleeper’s dreams and dictate their content, with the sole exception of depicting the sleeper’s death. Each use of this Contract works for a single, vivid dream, which the subject recalls distinctly upon waking. If one of the Fae is in the sleeper’s dream as well, the changeling must vie for control of the dream as usual (p. 198).
Exceptional Success: No additional effect.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The changeling isn’t in the immediate physical vicinity of the subject. |
| +1 |
The changeling knows the subject at least superficially, having exchanged words or introductions with him at least once. |
| +3 |
The changeling has a close, personal relationship with the dreamer. |
Phantasmal Bastion (•••)
This clause bolsters the changeling’s ability to participate in and withstand conflicts with other changelings in the dreamscape. Using this power conjures an elaborate suit or even edifice of “armor,” or conjures a fanciful weapon, both of which exist only in the dreamscape. Both weapon and armor appear as the changeling wishes, though depictions of seeming, kith and Court are extremely popular expressions.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Invoking this clause involves no roll, but the changeling must choose which type of fortification she wishes to invoke. If she chooses a defensive augmentation, she gains a number of phantom points of Willpower for the purposes of determining how much damage in the dreamscape she may suffer before falling to exhaustion. These phantom Willpower points are lost first during the oneiromachy. If she chooses an offensive augmentation, she may double her Wyrd for the purposes of seeing how effective her attacks in the dreamscape are. A changeling may invoke this power for both offensive and defensive augmentation, at a cost of one Glamour each, but she may not “stack” multiple offensive or defensive augmentations.
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling carries a token of favor, such as a garter belt or ring, given freely to her by a living enemy or one of his loved ones or family members.
Cobblethought (••••)
Using this clause allows the changeling to reach into his subject’s dreams and extract an item or image from them that then exists or plays out in the real world. The subject need not be asleep for the changeling to attempt this; he simply must have had a dream at some point in recent events, which allows the changeling a trove of such experiences and artifacts to draw from.
The exact nature and duration of the Contract’s ability to echo the dreamer’s thoughts depends on how successful the changeling is at invoking the power. In general, though, images and symbols will mostly as they did in the dream (as with a changeling who assumes the “costume” of an entity in the dream), while an item will appear by and large as it did in the sleeper’s thoughts. Determining which objects may be available from the subject’s dream is largely the Storyteller’s responsibility, though the Storyteller may choose to let the player take more creative control of the subject’s dreams, as long as such control isn’t abused.
Items pulled from dreams in this way have a hazy, imprecise sensory quality to them. A dream-sword, for example, would feel like soft metal and fade around its edges, but would cut nonetheless. Objects are treated as normal, unexceptional equipment despite their appearance. The guise of a terrifying night-fiend might shift subtly each time onlookers see it. A murky fog drawn from a dream might leave a runner feeling as if he were plodding through oatmeal, even though he was running as fast as he could.
Items drawn from dreams in this manner are made of dreamstuff, and thus don’t have to be reasonably carried by the changeling. That is, the changeling could conceivably draw out the fog mentioned above, a rainstorm from a dream, or even something bigger or heavier than a person, such as a life raft or a heavy wooden door. The limitation is a single object or idea, however — the changeling could not withdraw a full castle (made up of walls, hallways, doors, stairs and towers) or a functional car (with its own distinct parts and pieces).
One more limitation is that this Contract may not draw people or thinking entities from dreams. While a changeling would be able to draw the appearance of an individual from a character’s dream, this would manifest as a sort of “costume” that the changeling or another character would wear, and not the individual herself.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling must possess at least a single fiber of her subject’s bedclothes, whether a thread from her pillowcase or a full nightshirt.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling reaches into the dreamscape to grab the object of her intentions, but instead pulls back something else entirely, and probably hostile. If it’s an inanimate object, it’s wholly inappropriate to the changeling’s original intentions, and if it’s some conscious creature, it probably reacts with appreciable hostility at being removed from its lair.
Failure: The Contract fails to function but otherwise betrays no attempt on the changeling’s part to rife the character’s dreams.
Success: The changeling draws forth one concise image or object from the character’s dreams. The image or object remains in reality for a number of turns equal to the number of successes obtained on the roll.
Exceptional Success: As with a normal success, but the object remains permanently in reality. In addition, the changeling may, at any time, banish the dream-item back beyond the wall of dreams.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –2 |
The changeling attempts to draw something from a dream that has seems too fantastical to exist in the real world (a gemstone made from crystallized starlight, the feathers of Pegasus). |
| –2 |
The changeling attempts to draw forth a very specific idea, appearance or item, such as the exact likeness of a dream-tormentor, or the locket the dreamer had when she was five years old that held her parents’ photographs. |
Dreamsteps (•••••)
The changeling climbs into the dreams of a nearby sleeper, briefly appearing in her sleeping thoughts, and then emerges from the shared realm of dreams in the proximity of another sleeper. He traverses an actual distance by using the landscape of dreams as a proxy for physical travel. This travel takes place instantaneously, or at least at the speed of thought.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling must carry a physical object that he crafted himself on the journey, which he leaves behind in the dreams of both sleepers. Both sleepers will remember this object, and will feel an inexplicable link to the changeling if they meet him in their waking lives, as they subconsciously recall this item connected to him.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt to travel by dreamways goes horribly awry, with the changeling unable to extricate himself from the dreams at his leisure. Instead, the Storyteller should run a brief nightmare scene in which the dreamer and changeling are both tormented by dreams-turned-nightmares. After that, the changeling is forced out of the dreamscape in the proximity of a sleeper… somewhere.
Failure: The changeling is unable to enter the dreamscape and thus unable to use it as a shortcut in the physical world.
Success: The character enters the dreamscape and may use it to instantaneously traverse physical distances. The physical distance traveled is not greater than 10 miles per success obtained on the roll. The changeling emerges as close as possible to the physical place of his choosing: He emerges from the dreams of the sleeping individual closest to his ultimate destination.
Exceptional Success: As with a standard success (and the extra successes are their own benefit), but with the additional reward of being deposited exactly where he wishes to be. If any changelings understand exactly how this works, they aren’t telling, and those dream-travelers who enjoy the luxury of the exceptional success describe the phenomena as if the stuff of dreams itself carries them exactly where they want to be and then recedes like an unseen ether.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–3 The changeling is rushed or fleeing and thus doesn’t have time to gently part the veil of sleep (jeopardizing the slumber of the dreamer and the function
of the Contract therefore).
+1 The changeling personally knows the dreamer at the beginning point of the journey.
+1 The dreamer at the point of entry is having particularly noteworthy dreams (whether of a pleasant or terrifying variety).
The Striking Looks Merit provides the listed +1 to +2 (or +3 or +5 in Birdie's case) dice bonus to all Contracts of Vainglory.
Mask of Superiority (•)
The changeling convinces a single subject that she is his professional superior or someone of superior social status. This clause cannot compel anyone into obedience, only deceive him.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Intimidation – Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling pretends to be a socialite or similar celebrity whose fame comes from high standing or good looks alone.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The subject takes extra offense to the changeling’s obvious lies, perhaps viewing her as dangerously deluded.
Failure: The illusion fails. The subject sees the changeling as she is.
Success: The changeling can either convince the subject that she is a high-ranking person in the subject’s workplace, or simply that she is a celebrity, someone important and worthy of notice and respect. The changeling doesn’t control who the target sees, only the general “someone in his workplace” or “a celebrity.” If the subject is expecting someone important to come and talk with him, he assumes the changeling is this person. This Contract does not force any particular action on the subject, but most will behave deferentially. Along with this effect, every success rolled adds one bonus die to all Social rolls to impress, intimidate or command the target. This effect lasts for one scene or until someone else convinces the target that the changeling is not who she claims to be.
Exceptional Success: In addition to the above effects, the target is firmly convinced of the changeling’s importance and will argue with anyone who claims otherwise. In his certainty, the target gains +1 die to all rolls to convince others of the changeling’s importance.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 |
The changeling is dressed appropriately for the position she claims. |
| –1 |
The changeling is dressed inappropriately for the position she claims. |
Songs of Distant Arcadia (••)
Some Gentry keep slaves to provide them with more refined forms of entertainment. This clause allows changelings to become consummate performers, preternaturally skilled storytellers or inhumanly eloquent speakers.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is giving a performance in front of a wealthy and powerful audience.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character’s confidence in her ability is utterly misplaced. She receives a –2 dice penalty to all Expression or Persuasion rolls for the next scene, but believes she is giving an excellent performance.
Failure: The changeling gains no bonus to speeches or performances.
Success: The character gains a number of bonus dice equal to her Wyrd to all Expression and Persuasion rolls for the next scene.
Exceptional Success: The changeling delivers an inhumanly excellent performance, adding a number of automatic successes equal to her Wyrd to her next Expression and Persuasion roll, as well as adding the usual bonus dice to all other Expression and Persuasion rolls for the next scene.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 to +2 |
The changeling is wearing an unusually fine costume, or using especially well-made instruments or other accouterments. |
| –1 to –2 |
The changeling is dressed in an unassuming fashion without special props or accouterments. |
Splendor of the Envoy’s Protection (•••)
The Gentry sometimes send the finest on diplomatic missions where they must be both impressive and difficult to harm. The changeling temporarily abandons the Mask, revealing her fae mien to all mortals (and other beings) within sight. However, using this clause does not harm the changeling’s Clarity, because his appearance dazzles mortals with amazing glory rather than confusing or frightening them. Mortals can clearly see they are talking speaking to a creature of inhuman appearance, but this merely impresses them to the extent that mortal onlookers are incapable of attacking the character except in self-defense.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: This clause is invoked at a formal party containing at least a dozen people.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character appears clumsy and ill mannered, suffering a –2 dice penalty to all Presence or Manipulation rolls for the next scene.
Failure: The character’s appearance is unchanged.
Success: The character appears in her true form. Onlookers are awed, but not frightened. The character gains the equivalent of the four-dot version of the Striking Looks Merit. This bonus adds to any others, such as if the character already has the Striking Looks Merit. In addition, as long as the changeling does not brandish a weapon or attempt to harm anyone, ordinary humans cannot attack her. They can attempt to block her path, but they cannot actually harm her except by accident. Supernatural beings may attack the changeling by making a successful reflexive Resolve + Composure roll before each attack. This Contract lasts for one scene, unless the character attacks someone or aims a weapon at someone with threatening intent. Either action instantly ends the Contract’s effects, but the character can order others to attack without necessarily dispelling the effects.
During this time, cameras and other electronic devices will not show or record the character’s true form. Afterward, human onlookers still consider the changeling as striking and impressive, but either remember her appearance as a wondrous costume or forget that she looked at all inhuman. Supernatural onlookers remember the changeling’s true form, however. This clause affects everyone who sees the character during this scene, not merely those present when it was first invoked.
Exceptional Success: This effect lasts until the sun next rises or sets (whichever comes first).
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 to +2 |
The character is wearing exquisite and expensive clothing. |
| –1 to –2 |
The character is wearing shabby or cheaply made clothing. |
| –2 |
The character is wearing a visible weapon. |
Mantle of Terrible Beauty (••••)
The changeling appears in her fae mien to all onlookers in a fashion that makes her appear both frightening and terrible. Onlookers see the changeling as a great and terrible version of her normal seeming, but afterwards cannot remember the exact details of what she looked like, only that she filled them with utter terror. As a result, invoking this clause does not risk a changeling losing Clarity.
Cost: 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intimidate + Wyrd vs. the subject’s Composure + Wyrd
Action: Contested
Catch: The character is fighting a duel or some other combat that has been agreed upon in advance by both sides.
Range: 24 yards
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling looks harmless. All attackers gain confidence, giving them one additional die to all attacks on the changeling for the next scene. The changeling also cannot affect anyone within range until the sun next sets.
Failure: The clause fails to invoke.
Success: This clause affects everyone within three yards per dot of the changeling’s Wyrd. One contested roll may be made reflexively for a crowd of mortals based on the highest Composure present. Supernatural beings should each make their own resistance rolls. If the changeling rolls any successes, he fills the affected targets with a mixture of terror and awe. If he rolls more successes than a target, the person must flee the changeling’s presence in utter terror. Those who fail this contest but cannot flee are at a –2 dice penalty to all actions due to fear. They also cannot spend Willpower to gain three extra dice on any rolls, or +2 to any Resistance traits. (Willpower can be spent to activate capabilities or powers that require it, however.)
Anyone who rolls as many or more successes as the changeling need not flee, but the changeling awes and frightens them, causing a –2 dice penalty to all rolls to attack or attempt to harm the changeling. The changeling also gains +2 dice to all rolls to Intimidate everyone within range. The changeling’s awe-inspiring appearance persists until the changeling decides to resume her normal appearance or until the end of the scene, whichever comes first.
Record the number of successes rolled for the changeling when this clause is activated, and compare it to any rolled for newcomers to the power’s area of effect. This awe cannot be used selectively, and affects all characters near the changeling (save those bound to her by a motley pledge or who share her Court). This clause cannot be used more than once on any subject in a single scene.
Exceptional Success: All who roll fewer successes than the changeling must either flee or cower helplessly until the awe ceases. Those who roll as many or more successes are at a –2 dice penalty to all actions.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 to +2 |
The changeling’s clothing, accouterments or weapons are especially flamboyant and impressive. |
| –1 to –2 |
The changeling’s clothing, accouterments or weapons are bland, shoddy or ill kept. |
Words of Memories Never Lived (•••••)
The changeling gives a speech or performance, such as a song or play, which profoundly affects the minds of listeners within 50 yards of the changeling. Although the changeling can augment her voice with a microphone, videos or recordings do not contain the fae magic present in the actual in-person performance. Once the character succeeds in preparing the audience, she can begin weaving a speech or other performance that warps their memories and supercharges their emotions.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression vs. the subject’s Composure + Wyrd
Action: Extended and Contested (five successes; each roll represents one minute). If the changeling has not achieved the needed number of successes in a number of rolls equal to her Presence + Expression, the audience loses interest. One contested roll may be made reflexively for a crowd based on the highest Composure present. Supernatural targets may make their own resistance rolls.
Catch: The changeling is attempting to convince the audience of something that she believes to be factually correct.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The audience turns hostile. Those who are so inclined may turn to violence.
Failure: The performance is uninspired and has no effect on listeners.
Success: The character tells, sings or demonstrates an emotionally charged story. Listeners fall into a light dreamlike trance. The events of this story affect them deeply, and they remember the events being described either as having happened to them or as something they personally witnessed or heard from a trusted friend. The audience reacts to the described events as if to vivid reality, but will not likely take any action they would not normally perform under strong provo- cation. The changeling cannot control how the audience reacts to their new memories. The effects of this performance last until the sun next rises. A crowd verging on riot told a story about how the events angering them have a reasonable explanation will likely calm down and disperse. Similarly, the members of a peaceful community meeting could be moved to mob violence if told that a neighbor is secretly a serial killer plotting to kidnap and kill their children.
Exceptional Success: The performance so completely touches the audience’s hearts that they follow any simple and not obviously foolish or suicidal suggestion that the changeling makes about how to react to the story.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
| +1 to +2 | The changeling is wearing or using unusually fine costumes, instruments or other accoutrements. |
| +1 | The character has three or more dots in Presence. |
| +2 | The targets are an audience expecting and eager to see a speech or performance. |
| –1 to –2 | The changeling is dressed in an unassuming fashion and without special props or accoutrements. |
Warlock’s Gaze (•)
The character detects the presence of the supernatural; even those beings, objects and effects that are deliberately concealed.
Prerequisites: None
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult (vs. Composure + Wyrd, in the case of supernaturally concealed persons, effects, or things)
Action: Instant (and possibly Contested; resistance is reflexive)
Catch: The character physically makes contact with a non-allied supernatural being other than another changeling when activating this clause.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character falsely detects the presence of one or more supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena, as well as failing to detect any such presences that are truly in his vicinity.
Failure: The character either rolls no successes or fails to exceed the successes accrued by a character concealed by or concealing a supernatural effect, and does not detect any supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena. He is aware that the clause was not successfully enacted.
Success: The character scores successes in excess of those accrued by a character concealed by or concealing any supernatural effect, if any, and detects any non-concealed supernatural creatures, objects, and/or phenomena within a number of yards equal to his Wyrd. (Note that the character may succeed against some subjects and fail against others, depending upon how many successes are scored by each character in the contested roll. The character using this clause, however, rolls only once and compares his total successes against all other nearby individuals using supernatural powers of occlusion.)
Exceptional Success: No additional result, beyond the possibility of penetrating especially strong methods of supernatural occlusion.
Thorn-Whisper (••)
This clause allows the changeling to speak with hedge beasts and hobgoblins.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) • or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression
Action: Instant
Catch: A hedge beast/hobgoblin in the area wants to communicate, either with the character specifically or with anyone who will listen.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character’s presumption angers any nearby hedge beasts/hobgoblins, who will do what they can to inconvenience, harass, or even harm her.
Failure: The character is unable to communicate with or otherwise perceive the presence of any hedge beasts/hobgoblins in the vicinity.
Success: For the remainder of the scene the character can hear and be heard by any hedge beasts/hobgoblins in her presence.
Exceptional Success: As a normal success, but the ability to hear and be heard by hedge beasts/hobgoblins lasts for the entire night, should the character wish it.
Word-Smith’s Wisdom (•••)
This clause helps Autumn uphold its place as the court of magic. By using it, a changeling may discover the inner workings of a pledge, whether it has been in place for years or is being crafted that very moment. Every element of a pledge can be revealed by canny or powerful courtiers, from type to boon to task. Such knowledge makes it easy to marionette those bound to the target pledge, enticing or punishing them as needed.
The clause is also useful during hostile pledge negotiations. Calling on the lore and mysteries of the court, the changeling has an easier time avoiding his rival’s nefarious clauses, and inserting his own.
To activate the contract, the changeling must know that the pledge exists and the general purpose of that pledge, and must be able to clearly perceive one person bound to it. If he is involved in the pledge, the cost is reduced to 1 Glamour.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) •• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••
Cost: 3 Glamour (or 1 Glamour)
Dice Pool: Int + Occult + Mantle vs. Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: You are helping someone who is trying to uphold the intent of their bargain.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling gains incorrect information.
Failure: No information is gained.
Success: Each success gained grants the changeling information about the pledge as it relates to the person he is perceiving. The contract’s magic uses the wording which best conveys the intent of each component, but does not guarantee understanding. Higher successes also yield everything that could be gotten with fewer successes.
| Successes | Knowledge Gained |
|---|---|
| 1 | Type (Vow, Corporal (Nemesis Emblem), True Name Unsullied, etc.) |
| 2 | Duration and time remaining in years, months, and days. Further accuracy is not possible. |
| 3 | Boons |
| 4 | Sanctions. Pishogue sanctions also reveal the contract involved, but not the number of successes stored. |
When the pledge in question is still being created, bonus dice are awarded instead of information. The changeling gains bonus dice equal to half the successes rolled (round up) on any opposed tests involving the creation of the pledge. Squabbles over wording are easier for him to win, and subtle trapped clauses are easier to insert.
Exceptional Success: The subject’s Tasks become known to the changeling. Like the other components, this clause uses the wording which best conveys the intent of each task, but does not guarantee understanding.
When the pledge is still being created, treat as a Success, but add two extra bonus dice.
Arcadian Commandment (••••)
The character gains the power to speak with the authority of a True Fae to a hobgoblin or other such minion of the Gentry, even those normally incapable of understanding speech.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Autumn) ••• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour and 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd vs. Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant and Contested
Catch: The character knowingly comes unarmed and unarmored into the presence of the creature to be commanded.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character automatically earns the enmity of whatever creature she is attempting to command. It immediately reacts in a manner appropriate to its nature.
Failure: The character either accrues either no successes or fewer successes than the creature she is trying to command, and cannot exert any influence over it.
Success: The character scores more successes than the creature she is attempting to command. For the remainder of the scene, she may compel the being to any course of action that doesn’t directly endanger its wellbeing, or that of the Gentry that created it and/or acts as its direct master, if applicable. If the changeling sends the creature out of her direct presence to perform a task, it will do so to the best of its ability, subject to the parameters outlined above, until an hour is up, whereupon the creature will immediately break off from the task. The creature is aware that it has been supernaturally compelled and may pursue revenge or other action against the character, if such is in its nature.
Exceptional Success: As above, save that the creature may be dispatched on a task taking up to a full day and night, and will believe its actions to have been of its own choosing, unless the character’s influence is subsequently pointed out to it.
Creeping Dread (•)
This clause causes those affected to become less resistant to fear or intimidation. The target or targets initially feels a mild shudder of fear and then becomes considerably more susceptible to any event that could make them afraid or intimidated, including anything that might trigger a Phobia derangement.
Cost: 1 Glamour or 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd – Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is using this clause to frighten intruders into her dwelling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The target or targets gain +1 die to resist fear and are immune to this clause for the next scene.
Failure: The Contract fails and has no effect on the target or targets.
Success: The target or targets feel mild fear and experience a penalty equal to the changeling’s Wyrd to all Resolve or Composure rolls to resist fear or intimidation. If the changeling spends one point of Glamour, this clause affects one target the changeling can see clearly. If the changeling spends two points of Glamour and one point of Willpower, the clause affects everyone within three yards per dot of Willpower the changeling possesses. In both cases, this effect lasts for one scene.
Exceptional Success: The penalty to rolls to resist fear is equal to the changeling’s Wyrd +2.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 |
The surroundings are dark and spooky. |
| +2 |
The target or targets are already somewhat afraid. |
| –1 |
The targets are vigilant and expecting trouble. |
| –1 |
The surroundings are brightly lit and not conducive to fear. |
Lunatic's Knowing Glance (•)
The changeling can instantly tell if anyone she is looking at suffers from a derangement. She also gains some insight into the precise nature of any derangements she sees.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is dressed as a medical professional and behaves as such a person.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: For the next full scene, the character receives utterly random and false information about who does or does not possess which derangements.
Failure: The clause fails, and character gains no information about the mental health of people she observes.
Success: By spending one point of Glamour, the character instantly knows the nature of any and all derangements suffered by anyone she can see clearly. She can tell a paranoid from a schizophrenic at a glance and can also easily see if someone is completely sane. She can also tell details about the particular type of madness the person has, such as what someone with a phobia is afraid of, what behavior an obsessive compulsive is driven to perform and what a multiple personality’s different personalities are roughly like. This ability lasts for the next full scene. Each success on this roll also provides the character with one die for any attempt to help someone she observes to overcome his derangement. Alternatively, the character can use these dice as a bonus to any attempt to trigger a particularly severe episode of the target’s madness.
Exceptional Success: The character is also able to have some sense of what event triggered the person’s derangement.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –2 |
The changeling is observing people through a window or live video link. |
| +1 |
The changeling talks to the people she is observing. |
Maddening Eye (••)
By staring intently at someone who already possesses one or more derangements, the changeling can cause those derangements to grow temporarily worse.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd – Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is currently suffering from at least one derangement.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character suffers a random minor derangement for one scene.
Failure: The clause fails, and the character cannot cause the target’s derangements to worsen.
Success: If the roll succeeds and the target already possesses at least one derangement, then the target is affected by this clause. Targets with mild derangements always gain the severe version of this derangement. For example, a character who suffers from Fixation temporarily has Obsessive Compulsion, just as a target who suffers from Vocalization temporarily suffers from Schizophrenia. Targets who already suffer from severe derangements gain one additional severe derangement, chosen by the Storyteller. Worsened and new derangements affect the target only for the next full scene; after this time, they swiftly fade, and the target returns to normal. This contact automatically fails if it is used upon a character without any derangements. The changeling must stare intently at a target to use this clause. In addition to reacting strongly to having a new severe derangement, many targets react to the changeling’s stare, and some of the most outspokenly disturbed may claim the changeling did something to them. One of the most powerful features of this clause is that after the changeling has successfully used it on one target, for the remainder of the scene, she can use this clause on other targets without needing to spend additional Glamour. The changeling pays the Glamour cost of this clause when the clause is first used. Then, for the remainder of the scene, the character can use this ability on additional targets merely by staring intently at the target and making another roll. If the character fails at any of these rolls, she cannot attempt to use this clause on that target without spending more Glamour, but she can attempt to use the clause on other targets without spending additional points of Glamour.
Exceptional Success: The increased or additional derangement that the target suffers lasts until the sun next rises or sets, whichever comes first. Also, if the target already suffers from a severe derangement, the character can choose which new severe derangement the target gains.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –2 |
The target actively attempts to avoid the changeling’s gaze |
| +1 |
The changeling touches the target while gazing at him. |
Touch of Bedlam (•••)
With even the lightest of touches, the changeling can cause a target to temporarily suffer from a single severe derangement of the changeling’s choice.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd vs. Composure + Wyrd
Action: Instant and contested
Catch: The subject has broken an oath to the changeling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling accidentally suffers the effects of the clause herself.
Failure: The Contract fails, and the target is unaffected.
Success: The changeling can induce a severe derangement of her choice into a single target. The changeling cannot determine the details of the derangement, such as the trigger for hysteria, only the general type of derangement. Also, the changeling cannot induce extreme derangements such as Schizophrenia, Multiple personality or Fugue. In addition, the changeling must touch the target to use this clause. This derangement lasts for only one full scene, after which the target immediately returns to normal.
Exceptional Success: The changeling induces an extreme derangement such as Schizophrenia, Multiple Personality or Fugue in the target. The changeling can also precisely determine the nature of the target’s derangement, such as the particular triggers for Hysteria or the nature of the other personality or personalities for Multiple Personality.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The changeling only casually brushes against the target when using this clause. |
| +1 |
The changeling addresses the target by his full name. |
The Madness of Crowds (••••)
The changeling can induce temporary mass Hysteria, causing everyone around her to temporarily suffer from the same mild derangement.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is playing music, reciting poetry, telling stories or otherwise performing for an audience that consists of most of the people around her.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The clause fails, and the people in the crowd all develop a sense that there is something suspicious and possibly even dangerous about the changeling.
Failure: The clause fails, and the people surrounding the changeling are unaffected.
Success: Everyone else within range suffers from a single mild derangement for the remainder of the scene. This clause affects everyone within 50 yards of the changeling. The changeling is not affected, and can also choose to keep anyone in physical contact with her when she uses the clause from being affected. Characters who move away from the changeling during this scene or who come within 50 yards of the changeling during the scene are not affected; the clause affects only characters who were within 50 yards of the changeling when she first used this clause.
The changeling selects which derangement she wishes to inflict upon people. For derangements such as Phobias, she can also choose what triggers the targets are afraid of or fixated on. For example, the changeling doesn’t just inflict everyone within range with a Phobia, she inflicts everyone with a fear of blood. If anyone affected by this clause already suffers from this derangement, that person instead gains the related severe derangement. For example, if the changeling affected everyone with a Phobia of snakes and there was someone present who already had a Phobia of snakes, that target temporarily gains the Hysteria derangement triggered by snakes.
At the end, all derangements produced by this clause fade away, leaving the affected individuals to attempt to rationalize the reason for their actions.
Exceptional Success: If the character wishes, she can inflict the related severe derangement upon the crowd.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 The crowd is passive and well controlled (for example, the audience at a lecture).
+1 The crowd is already loud and emotional (for example, the audience at a rock concert).
Lurking Insanity (•••••)
The character can look intently at a target and cause him to develop a latent form of insanity that manifests only when a specific even or type of event occurs.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Subterfuge
Action: Instant
Catch: The target has betrayed a close blood relative such as a child, parent, aunt or first cousin.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling suffers from a derangement that is triggered at some particularly inopportune time and that lasts for one scene.
Failure: The clause fails, and the target remains sane.
Success: The changeling can cause the target to develop a single form of insanity of her choice, including either a mild or a severe derangement. This derangement is triggered by a specific pre-determined event, such as the target seeing a certain person or being in fear of her life. The changeling can even induce extreme derangements such as Schizophrenia, Multiple Personality or Fugue. Also, until this event occurs, the target remains as sane as always. The insanity begins as soon as the triggering event occurs and lasts for the next full scene, after which the target returns to normal.
The trigger can be anything from a general event, such as riding in a car to more specific triggers such as seeing a particular person or hearing a certain phrase, or the trigger can even be triggered at a specific time and date. In addition to being able to determine the type and severity of the derangement, the changeling can also determine the precise nature of the insanity, including the exact nature of the fear involved in the Phobia or Hysteria and the precise nature of the character’s additional personalities in Multiple Personality. If not triggered within 28 days (one lunar month), the clause ends without affecting the target. Also, the changeling must be looking into the target’s eyes to use this clause.
Exceptional Success: The insanity manifests a number of times equal to the changeling’s Wyrd. In each of these cases, the trigger remains the same, but instead of merely occurring once and vanishing forever, the insanity recurs the next several times the target is exposed to the same trigger. The target appears perfectly sane in between these episodes, and this Contract ceases to affect the target after 28 days.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 The target does not know the changeling’s name.
+1 The target is highly emotional when the changeling uses this Contract.
Fickle Fate (•)
It’s easier to curse than to bless. The individual affected by Fickle Fate seems to perform poorly in whatever task he sets himself to. It’s almost unheard of to invoke Fickle Fate for oneself — who wants to fail at what he attempts?
Cost: 1 Glamour
Effect: The subject of Fickle Fate makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant action, whatever it is, at a –2 dice penalty. Actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, not things that occur automatically or reflexively. For example, jumping from a moving car or performing an oratory before the duke would be an actively attempted action, while seeing if wounds force a character into unconsciousness or reflexively resisting some supernatural power would not be.
Action: Instant
Ban: The character invoking Fickle Fate may not use it to affect the same subject more than once an hour. If he does, the Fickle Fate visits him on his next attempted action instead of his intended victim.
Favored Fate (••)
As with Fickle Fate, this clause alters the flow of fortune when a subject attempts an action. Favored Fate, though, makes for more appealing results: songs sound a little better, bullets find their mark and the acid-tongued critic thinks of just the right thing to say at the very moment he needs to say it. Favored Fate is a more lofty clause than Fickle Fate (that is, it’s classified as a higher dot rating) because it’s harder to create than destroy, and the results of this power are typically more positive.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Effect: The beneficiary of Favored Fate makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant action at a +4 dice bonus. Again, actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, as described above.
Action: Instant
Ban: If Favored Fate is used to augment the same specific type of action — shooting at an enemy, climbing a balcony, chasing prey — before the sun has risen or set since the last attempt it affected, the powers that be frown on the abuse of their attentions. Each time this occurs, one action, decided upon by the Storyteller for dramatic effect, automatically fails, with no dice roll involved. This is just a standard failure and will not yield a dramatic failure result, so it’s best used on actions that would normally not depend upon a chance die.
Beneficent Fate (•••)
By altering the attentions of fortune, the changeling guarantees success on his subject’s next endeavor.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Effect: The subject of the Beneficent Fate makes no roll for his next actively attempted instant action. As always, actively attempted actions are defined as actions the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, as described above. The character automatically achieves a single success on the attempt, as if she had made whatever roll was necessary and factored in all the modifiers before casting the dice. Obviously, Beneficent Fate may not help much in a contested action, as the one success it provides can be readily outstripped by the character’s opponent. Attacks also inflict only one point of damage; a called shot to the head grazes the temple rather than inflicting an instant kill, for instance.
Action: Instant
Ban: A subject may benefit from the favors of Beneficent Fate only once per day. If the Contract is invoked on a single character more than once in a single day, the subject’s next actively attempted instant action is instead resolved with a chance die, regardless of what dice pool or modifiers actually apply to the roll.
Fortuna’s Cornucopia (••••)
This clause provides a curious, open-ended blend of luck and the competence of the individual favored by it. It’s often said that you get out of your efforts what you put into them, and nowhere is this more true than under the benediction of Fortuna’s Cornucopia.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Effect: The beneficiary of Fortuna’s Cornucopia makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant under the benefit of the 8 again rule. Actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, as described above. The 8 again rule is described on p. 134 of the World of Darkness Rulebook.
Action: Instant
Ban: If Fortuna’s Cornucopia is visited upon an individual more than once in a single day, the Contract fails to grace the subject in its standard manner. If this blessing is invoked more frequently for the character, one action, decided upon by the Storyteller for dramatic effect, automatically results in a dramatic failure, with no dice roll involved. The fates treat these as general dramatic failures, not to be automatically construed as catastrophic failures or fatal failures. For example, a character may accidentally reveal his identity when he’s trying to masquerade as someone else (as opposed to simply failing to convince his mark that he’s another person).
One of the deepest truths about the Fairest is that they are at least somewhat removed from the realities of the physical world. The sense of superiority many feel sometimes extends to the mundane details of life and the rules that govern the physical world. This Contract, alternately said to be struck with tools such as scissors, axes or scythes, allows a character to draw upon and enhance this separation in ways that allows her to circumvent many of these limitations.
Tread Lightly (•)
The changeling can partially remove herself from gravity’s influence. She cannot fly or even jump further than normal, but she takes only bashing damage from falling, regardless of the distance. In addition, she can walk or run over any solid surface even if it would not normally support her weight, such as tissue paper or thin panes of glass. She can also walk across mud, dry sand or any other surface without getting her feet even damp.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character is wearing fancy and delicate footwear that would be ruined if she did not use this clause.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling trips and falls, landing prone. She must take one full turn to regain her feet.
Failure: The clause has no effect on the changeling’s movements.
Success: The changeling can move across any solid surface as if she weighed no more than a few ounces. She leaves no tracks, can run across snow without breaking through the surface and also takes only bashing damage from falls. Anyone attempting to track the character suffers a –2 penalty, due to the light impressions her footfalls make. The character can also climb up surfaces too fragile to support her normal weight, but cannot run, jump or climb any better or faster than normal. The effects of this clause last for the scene.
Exceptional Success: The character can jump twice as far and climb twice as fast as normal for the duration of this scene.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The character is running or jumping. |
| +1 |
The character moves at a normal walking pace. |
Evasion of Shackles (••)
The character can automatically slip out of any handcuffs, straightjacket or other restraints.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Larceny
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling has been unjustly imprisoned for some crime or offense she did not actually commit.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Knots grow tighter, locks jam and other attempts to remove the restraints suffer a –2 penalty.
Failure: The clause has no affect on the changeling’s bonds.
Success: The character is instantly freed of all restraints such as handcuffs, straightjackets or shackles. This clause can open locked doors only if the character is in a small compartment, such as a steamer trunk or trunk of a car, that significantly restricts her ability to move her body.
Exceptional Success: In addition to removing all restraints on the character, the door of any room the character is locked into automatically unlocks.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The character has previously struggled against these bonds. |
| +1 |
Since she was bound, the character has remained calm and not attempted to struggle or free herself by force or dexterity. |
Breaching Barriers (•••)
The changeling can walk through any closed or locked door or window that he could fit through if it were open.
Cost: 1 or 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character has been deliberately imprisoned by another changeling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The clause fails, and the portal lets out a loud bang or thump as if character had tried to batter it down and failed.
Failure: The changeling does not succeed in walking through the closed portal.
Success: The changeling walks through the portal as if it weren’t there. The door or window doesn’t open, but the changeling simply moves instantly and effortlessly from one side of it to the other without disturbing it or setting off any alarms. This clause also leaves no marks or traces on the door.
Exceptional Success: If the changeling wishes, she can spend an additional point of Glamour and take along one other individual, as long as she holds this person’s hand while walking through the door or window. The changeling cannot take along more than one person in this fashion.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The changeling has no idea what is on the other side of the barrier. |
| +1 |
The changeling can clearly see what is on the other side of the barrier. |
Elegant Protection (••••)
Attacks swerve to avoid the changeling. While using this clause, the changeling always looks elegant and poised when using her Defense or even while dodging.
Cost:2 Glamour
Dice Pool:Dexterity + Wyrd
Action:Instant
Catch:The changeling is unarmed and not attempting to attack anyone. If the clause is invoked while using this catch, the clause will instantly end its effects and burn away three of the changeling’s Glamour if she attacks anyone while it is active.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character suffers a –1 penalty to her Defense for the remainder of the scene as all weapons swerve toward her.
Failure: The clause has no effect on the character’s Defense.
Success:The clause adds the changeling’s Wyrd to her Defense. The changeling does not lose this bonus even if she is restrained, immobilized or unconscious, since attacks naturally swerve to avoid her body. This bonus applies to all attacks, including firearms attacks and attacks made when the changeling cannot normally use her Defense. In such cases, this bonus serves as the Changeling’s only Defense. Otherwise, it is cumulative with the changeling’s normal Defense and is also added to the doubled Defense characters gain by dodging. In addition, even when dodging, the changeling always appears to be moving in an elegant and carefree and manner, and can use her Defense or dodge without spilling the cocktail she is holding or wrinkling her gown. This bonus to Defense lasts for two turns per success.
[+2 speed? Special friend bonus?]
Exceptional Success:The Defense bonus lasts for the scene.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –3 |
The changeling is wearing armor. |
| –1 | The changeling is ill dressed. |
| +1 |
The changeling is especially well dressed. |
Phantom Glory (•••••)
The changeling temporarily becomes completely intangible. In this state, she is immune to all physical attacks and can pass through all physical barriers.
Cost: 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Persuasion
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling carries no weapons and wears no armor. If the changeling picks up or dons either while using this catch, the clause instantly ends.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling becomes slightly less solid than usual, temporarily reducing her Stamina by one for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: This clause has no effect on the changeling.
Success: Becoming intangible requires one turn, during which the changeling can do nothing else. However, doing so does not cause her to lose her Defense. Becoming tangible again is a reflexive action.
While intangible, the character cannot be affected by any physical attack. She is effectively in a state of Twilight, like a ghost, and can attack or be attacked by ghosts or other immaterial entities as if they were both solid. Everything the changeling wears and carries also becomes intangible, but the changeling cannot make anyone else intangible, even if the changeling picks the person up and carries him (at that point, the other person would fall through her arms). While intangible, the changeling can freely walk or stick her head through walls, drawers and all other objects. She cannot walk on air, though she can walk on still water as if it were solid ground; moving water may require a Dexterity + Athletics check to successfully navigate. She might also be able to leap partly through a ceiling and pull herself up to the next floor.
If the character becomes tangible while part of her is embedded in solid or liquid matter, she takes three points of aggravated damage and is expelled to the nearest open space.
Exceptional Success: The changeling can pick up small objects (anything small enough to fit into her closed hand) while remaining intangible. The object becomes intangible once her hand closes around it. This may allow her to retrieve small objects from locked boxes.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 The changeling is intent on attacking someone.
+1 The changeling is being pursued and is not attempting to fight back.
Bite of the Wooden Fang (•)
The most basic expression of the changeling’s power to mimic the terrible maze through which they first fled their captors, Bite of the Wooden Fang demands the user tithe a fraction of his power to a blunt weapon made of wood, vine, or other plant matter. The weapon must inflict bashing damage for this Contract to take effect. An enemy struck by a weapon empowered by this Contract is slashed and bitten by dozens of thorns that rise invisibly from the weapon at the instant of contact.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Wyrd
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The changeling uses a whip made of plant materials, such as a hemp rope or even a thick vine.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The thorns bite back, causing the character to drop her weapon. Her instant action for the turn is lost.
Failure: The weapon does not grant any additional bonus.
Success: Invisible thorns appear along the length of the weapon, granting the weapon a bonus on the character’s next attack equal to the number of successes rolled. This bonus stacks with the weapon’s usual bonus.
Exceptional Success: As per success, and the weapon’s damage is converted to lethal.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +3 |
Contract is used as part of a formal Hedge duel |
| +1 |
Contract is used in the Hedge (does not stack with Hedge duel bonus) |
| –2 |
Contract is used against a changeling benefiting from Armor of the Elements’ Fury |
Leechweed (••)
This clause empowers an area of hedge growth or brambles, causing it to drain Glamour from those bitten by its thorns. Though this Contract is used almost solely in the material world, it can be used in the Hedge. When used in the Hedge, this clause manipulates only growth created by way of the other clauses of this Contract; it cannot alter the Hedge walls in any way. The use of Leechweed in the Hedge can be profoundly dangerous.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult
Action: Instant
Catch: The Contract is used against someone in service to the character’s Keeper or against the Keeper itself.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The brambles cling to the changeling, draining her of one point of her own Glamour in addition to any other effects determined by the type of bramble. Rolling a dramatic failure on this clause in the Hedge causes
the Hedge wall to open up and swallow the changeling. The changeling loses one point of Glamour and is considered off the path (p. 220, Changeling: The Lost). She is separated from her companions and must navigate her way out of the Hedge in the usual manner.
Failure: The clause fails to take power. If used in the Hedge, a failure on this clause counts as a dramatic failure.
Success: When used on preexisting (natural) brambles or thorns, this power causes all thorns within Wyrd yards to drain a point of Glamour from anyone pricked by them. This enchantment remains for the scene’s duration, but can only drain a point of Glamour from any given changeling per turn and can only leech a maximum number of points of Glamour from a given changeling equal to the user’s successes on the activation roll. A character can avoid being pricked by the thorns by moving at Speed 2 or less. Glamour taken this way does not transfer to the user, instead remaining within the plant. Rumor has it that such plants occasionally grow goblin fruit, and changelings have been known to use this clause (before sacrificing their own Glamour to the plants) in an attempt to cultivate such succulent treats without the dangers of entering the Hedge. There have been, to date, no reliable tales of success in this endeavor.
When used to enchant thorns created by another clause of this Contract, the enchantment spreads to the whole of the brambles and remains until the other clause ends. The details of the leeching power remain the same, save that the Glamour taken will be used to fuel the continuation of the effect. Empowered thorns may store an amount of Glamour for use in this manner equal to the character’s Wyrd, and the thorns cannot choose not to spend the Glamour.
This power has no effect on creatures without a Glamour pool or changelings whose Glamour pool has been reduced to 0.
Exceptional Success: Additional successes are their own reward.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 |
Contract is used on thorns summoned forth by another clause of this Contract |
| +1 |
Contract is used in the Hedge |
| –2 |
Contract is used on thorns summoned forth by another changeling or fae creature |
Briarpath (•••)
Often times a changeling must evade pursuit from a stronger, faster adversary. This clause helps a character do just that. Long, vicious thorns erupt from the enchanted surface, slowing pursuers and making vertical surfaces almost impossible to climb.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character litters a handful of Hedge thorns behind her.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The enchantment hounds the character rather than her adversary, painfully lacerating her hands and forearms. She suffers a –1 penalty to all rolls requiring the use of her hands for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The Contract fails to take effect.
Success: The changeling leaves a trail behind her of thorns and brambles that impede her enemies. The trail has a width equal to the changeling’s Wyrd in yards and grows in her wake (across any surface, vertical or horizontal) for a number of turns equal to the successes she rolled. A character that moves through the area suffers the following hindrances: her Speed is reduced by one for each success garnered by the changeling, and she suffers a penalty equal to the number of successes rolled by the changeling on all Athletics rolls (such as those to run, jump, and climb) made while in the area of effect. The trail fades at the end of the scene.
Exceptional Success: As per success, save that characters moving through the trail find their Speed reduced to 1 and all Athletics dice pools reduced to a chance roll.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
| +1 | Contract is used in the Hedge |
| –1 | Contract is used in an urban area |
| –3 | Contract is used in a locale entirely inappropriate for the growth of brambles, such as inside a well-kept science laboratory. |
Shield of Thorns (••••)
The changeling learns to summon forth brambles from even the driest of earth, creating an almost impenetrable defensive barrier that lashes at any enemy who comes near. While this Contract is occasionally used in the Hedge, a changeling does so at her own risk.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling cuts open her own flesh (inflicting 1 lethal damage in the process) and pours her blood across the area to be shielded.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: In most situations, a dramatic failure on this roll results in the user being struck by her own briars, suffering an immediate attack that inflicts a dice pool equal to her Wyrd in bashing damage. If this Contract was used in the Hedge, however, the damage is lethal and the changeling loses a point of Glamour per Health Level lost.
Failure: The Contract fails to take effect, and the ground remains unbroken. If the Contract was used in the Hedge, however, a failure counts as a Dramatic Failure.
Success: The earth splits, sprouting dozens of tangled brambles about the changeling in a circle with a radius equal to her Wyrd. Any character that moves more than two yards in a single turn within the tangled area suffers an immediate attack with a dice pool equal to the changeling’s Wyrd. The attack inflicts lethal damage and ignores Defense (Armor still applies), but the brambles can only attack any given character once per turn. The briars die and rot to dust after a number of turns equal to the character’s success on the activation roll, though the character may choose to spend a point of Glamour for the briars to remain for an additional period of equal length (and may continue to do so until she runs out of Glamour or chooses to end the effect). The field of briars does not move with the character, and she may leave it behind to attempt to make an escape.
Exceptional Success: Additional successes are their own reward.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+3 Contract is used in a rural area or forest
+1 Contract is used in the Hedge
–1 Contract is used in an urban area
–5 Contract is used in an area unsuited to plant growth
Vision of Strife (•)
The changeling looks at someone and gains a vision of the most traumatic and emotionally charged event that the target has experienced.
Cost:1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd+Empathy
Action: Instant
Catch:The target is currently speaking about her past.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character has a vision of an event that never happened to the target.
Failure:The clause fails, and the character has no vision.
Success: The character has a brief vision of the most traumatic and intense negative or harmful event that happened to the target. In all cases, this event is something that filled the target with fear and is likely to be one of the most memorable events in his life. When looking at most changelings, the character usually sees their abduction by the True Fae, and for mortals, typical events include perpetrating or being the victim of violent crime or experiencing some event such as a severe car accident or natural disaster. This vision lasts for only a few seconds, but provides the changeling with a general understanding of the nature of the event the target experienced, as well as a few vivid sensory images of this event. The changeling must look at the target to use this clause.
Exceptional Success: The changeling also gains a general understanding of one additional major traumatic event that occurred to the target.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 |
The changeling cannot see the target clearly or only catches a brief glimpse of the target. |
| +1 |
The changeling touches the target. |
Glimpse of Fortune’s Favor (••)
The changeling examines the outcome of an action she is about to perform. She glimpses her own future and determines the outcome of the action she is about to perform. She can then use this knowledge to improve her chances of success.
Cost: 2 Glamour, 3 Glamour if cast reflexively
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is playing a game of skill.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character’s glimpse of the future is incorrect, and she suffers a penalty of –2 to the action this clause is being used to assist.
Failure: The clause fails, and the character learns nothing about the future.
Success: Succeeding at this clause allows the player to roll twice for a single instant action that the changeling performs in the following turn, taking the better of the two results. If the changeling spends two points of Glamour, she can use this clause reflexively, applying it to any instant action taken during the same turn that this clause is performed.
Exceptional Success: The character’s knowledge of the future is exceptionally clear and she can apply the 8 again quality to both rolls.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 The changeling has already used this clause at least once during the last scene.
+1 The changeling can glimpse herself in a mirror or other reflective surface when using the Contract.
The Honest Eye (•)
Winning against a skilled opponent can be difficult; overcoming a cheater can prove impossible. This clause helps a changeling level the playing field by unmasking cheating competitors. It can be used to identify a cheater in any formalized competition with a time limit and specified rules, including board games, card games, sports and even formal debates. Unfair advantages (such as those granted by kith blessings) do not count as cheating unless they break the rules of the competition.
Note that no use of the Contracts of the Board counts as cheating for the purposes of this power.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd vs. subject’s Composure + Wyrd
Action: Reflexive and Contested
Catch: The changeling has caught the subject cheating (at any game) in the past without the use of this Contract.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling believes her opponent is playing honestly, whether or not she is.
Failure: The changeling can’t tell whether or not her opponent is cheating.
Success: If the changeling rolls more successes than the subject, she knows whether or not he is cheating.
Exceptional Success: Not only does the changeling know whether or not the subject is cheating, she also knows how.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 Subject is a known cheater
–1 Changeling is a known cheater
–3 Changeling is cheating or has cheated during the same game in which she uses this power
Knowing the Competition (••)
Sitting across the board from someone, an infamous master among the Lost used to claim, is the only way to truly know them. Chances are, he was speaking of this clause. Use of this power allows a changeling to distill through Glamour her experiences playing a game with another individual into a brief flash of insight into the individual’s methods, granting her a distinct edge. Note that the game the characters shared must be played to completion.
Cost:1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling uses this clause during a rematch of the initial competition.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling grossly misjudges her opponent. Her next roll against the individual is automatically a chance roll.
Failure: The power fails to have any effect.
Success: The changeling experiences a brief and sudden moment of insight into how the subject’s mind works. She gains a +4 bonus to her next dice pool rolled against the subject, no matter what the pool is. (So yes, this power allows a character to throw a more accurate punch against a person after having played a game of gin with him.) The character must play another game with the subject before using this Contract on him again.
Exceptional Success: As per success, save the character may use the Contract again without having to play another game with the subject.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 Game played was directly applicable to the current circumstances (i.e. when in war against a general the character played chess against or in a fight
with an Ogre the character once arm-wrestled)
–2 The subject cheated during the game without the character’s knowledge
The Living Game (•••)
At times of war, the Lost are sometimes confused to find their leaders playing games by themselves. If they wait long enough, they may well be shocked to see the game play back.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult
Action: Instant
Catch: The character uses a game appropriate to the situation at hand. For example, using chess in a competition between two groups of roughly similar size and strength (such as a football game), blackjack in a situation where several groups are combating a single enemy or poker in a situation where multiple groups have taken to fighting every changeling for himself.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure:The character learns inaccurate information about the battle or game.
Failure: The power fails to take effect.
Success: The movement s of t he character’s phantasmal opponent’s pieces or the composition of its cards represents the developments in a different conflict (of the character’s choosing). Through this clause he gains a detailed account of the combat or competition that allows him to react to developments on the field without the need for reports. (This is especially useful when combined with the Game Master’s Table, below.)
The information granted by a game is limited to tactical information. While the changeling knows that the loss of a chess piece means that an individual or unit is no longer relevant to the battle, he does not know whether or not that person was captured, injured, or killed.
Exceptional Success: The character’s phantasmal partner performs actions before they occur on the battlefield, granting the character a +3 bonus on all rolls for determining tactics to use in the real conflict that the game represents.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+3 Commander of the enemy faction or team is also using this Contract and using the same game to represent the conflict
+1 Character has played the game against the leader of the enemy group
–2 Character has never personally met the leader of the enemy group
–5 Character is playing a game with which she is unfamiliar
Riddle-Kith (•)
This clause has its roots in purely fae intrigues, allowing changelings to interact with one another without being recognized. It works with the fundamental nature of changeling physiology to allow a changeling to seem as if she hails from some kith or seeming other than her own. Riddle-Kith works exclusively on the general features of a mien, meaning that it creates only the impression that the individual is of a cer-tain seeming. In other words, it won’t allow the changeling to selectively alter her features, nor will it permit the changeling to emulate a specific changeling, but it will give a clear impression of belonging to an entirely different seeming or kith. The new appearance is notably different from the old. For instance, a storm-attuned Elemental resembling a Japanese goblin who chooses to look like an Ogre wouldn’t look like an oni of similar coloration, but is much more likely to look European or otherwise significantly unlike himself. This Contract doesn’t affect the Mask.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling must have dined with a member of the selected kith within the past week.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling loses all control of her attempted illusion, instead appearing simply as something utterly unnatural. She may acquire a hodge-podge of beastly features, or her skin may mottle or spall off. The ultimate effect is that the changeling simply looks horrendous for the duration of the scene instead of looking as if she belongs to a distinct seeming, imposing a –1 die penalty to all Presence dice pools (except those related to Intimidation) during that time.
Failure: The Contract changes nothing about the changeling’s appearance.
Success: The changeling takes on the features of a seeming or kith of her choice, though what features, exactly, the Contract bestows are up to the Storyteller. This power lasts until the next sunrise or sunset, whichever comes first, though the changeling may choose to end the Contract before that if she wishes.
Exceptional Success: As with a standard success, though the changeling may choose the exact array of features this Contract grants her, so long as they’re congruous with the seeming she chose.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–2 The character has never seen a member of the seeming in question in person, and instead relies on descriptions or legends of the seeming.
Skinmask (••)
The changeling alters her flesh to appear as another individual. This change affects only a single limb or other aspect of the character, so only her hands or her face or her back can be made to resemble that of another person. This clause is often used to enhance disguises, though it is sometimes used to emulate unique birthmarks, signature tattoos, etc. It affects both Mask and fae mien.
The feature so modeled must be a real feature that exists on a known subject, and it must come from a human (or at least partially human) source.
Changelings can use this Contract multiple times to reproduce multiple features, but the cost must be paid each time and the roll must be made each time, as well.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling appropriates an object belonging to the individual whose features she plans to reproduce.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Contract fails grotesquely, disfiguring the changeling instead of mirroring the model. This may result in a distortion on the face, a withered limb or a horrendous discoloration of the skin. For the remainder of the scene, the character suffers a –1 die penalty to any Presence-based dice pools (except those involving Intimidation) when the disfigurement is visible.
Failure: The changeling fails to emulate the desired feature.
Success: The changeling emulates the feature in question so that it passes inspection by those who would best know the modeled subject. This power lasts for the duration of the scene, though the changeling may choose to end the Contract before that if she wishes.
Exceptional Success: The changeling has so mastered this particular expression of the other character’s physical aspect that she doesn’t have to roll to re-attain this particular feature if he invokes this Contract at a later time. He must still pay the cost as normal, though.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–2 The character has never actually seen the feature in question, as with, “Well, she has a birthmark the color and shape of a wine stain just above her bellybutton.”
Last Breath Isaac (•)
The character brings a plant to its ripest point of the year, ready for harvest. Changelings often use this clause to gather food when necessary, but some also find it a way to gather more baneful fruits such as mistletoe berries.
Prerequisites: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The plant or tree is unclaimed, or the changeling has permission to harvest from it (to any degree).
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The plant withers a little and will bear no harvest for the next year and a day.
Failure: The character fails to make the plant bear fruit.
Success: Over the next minute, the plant bears a ripe harvest. A pumpkin plant grows a few plump pumpkins, an apple branch grows heavy with juicy apples and so on. This Contract can only affect parts of the plant around which the character can put her hand. She can affect the branch of an apple tree by putting her hand around it (and the entire branch from that point out is affected), but not the whole tree. Likewise, she could only target some branches of a blueberry bush unless she could circle her hand around its very base.
Exceptional Success: The entire plant is affected, even when the character could only target a portion.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 Within a month (either way) of the plant’s natural harvest season
–1 The month opposite the plant’s natural harvest season
Withering Glare (••)
The character can wither any plant to any degree with a simple glance. Her gaze will also sicken animals that cross her glare.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) • or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Presence + Science + Mantle (Autumn)
Action: Instant
Catch: The plant bears the changeling’s name (or common moniker) on it somewhere, carved into the bark or written on a tag.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character fails to harm the target and suffers one point of bashing damage.
Failure: The character fails to affect the target.
Success:The character makes the plant progress toward Winter or toward death as she desires, but she cannot make the plant grow more Spring-like or healthier. She may make the plant instantly shed its leaves or retract into a bulb as though it were the deepest Winter, or make it shed its needles, leaves or petals and completely dry up into a state of near-death. Plants forced into the Winter season remain alive and prove it with the advent of true Spring, but only the most skilled gardener could bring a plant back from near-death.
If this clause is used against an animal, including a human being or even a supernatural entity, this clause inflicts one point of bashing damage for every success. Armor does not protect against the glare, though Defense still applies.
Exceptional Success: The character can completely kill a plant. She may also choose to make the plant act as though it were Winter for a full year and a day, recovering only when Spring comes after that time.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 Plant is not overly robust or well cared for.
–1 Plant is remarkably robust and well cared for.
Brother to the Ague (•••)
The life of the world wanes with the advent of Autumn. This clause inflicts the same fate on a changeling’s enemy.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) •• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) ••••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Medicine + Mantle (Autumn) – subject’s Stamina
Action: Instant
Catch: The character can name two diseases that the subject has suffered (or is suffering) and one that the subject fears.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Rather than enervating an opponent, the character loses energy herself. She suffers a –1 die penalty to all dice pools as if she had stayed awake for 30 hours straight and suffers one point of bashing damage as if she had been deprived of water for several days. (See the World of Darkness Rulebook, pp. 175–176 and pp. 179–180, for more information on water and sleep deprivation.)
Failure: The character fails to weary the subject.
Success: The subject takes one point of bashing damage per success, as from dehydration. In addition, he suffers a –1 die fatigue penalty to all dice pools for every two points of the character’s Wyrd (rounded up). The subject actually becomes tired, so his fatigue penalties only disappear after sleep. The subject does not actually become severely dehydrated, so his bashing wounds heal naturally.
Exceptional Success: The subject actually does become dehydrated, so points of bashing damage inflicted through this Contract do not heal until the subject has rehydrated.
Riding the Falling Leaves (••••)
The changeling becomes a temporary avatar of Autumn, transforming into a colorful spray of dry Autumn leaves. This ability is typically invoked to move inconspicuously or evade harm.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Autumn) ••• or Court Goodwill (Autumn) •••••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Survival + Mantle (Autumn)
Action: Instant
Catch: The character catches a naturally falling leaf at the moment of the clause’s activation.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s innards temporarily transform into leaves, but not the entirety of her body. She takes two points of bashing damage from the shock.
Failure: The transformation does not take place.
Success: The changeling’s body transforms into a spray of dry Autumn leaves. Despite the fragmented physicality of this form, the changeling is still a single entity, and the leaves are highly resistant to being separated or scattered. These leaves are also resistant to damage, though the changeling can still be injured in this form. While in this form, she receives an additional six Defense; this does not apply to attacks that could conceivably damage a great many falling leaves at once, such as fire or being sucked into a large fan. The character may fly in this form at –3 Speed, gaining altitude on unseen thermals. She may also pass through openings too small to admit her ordinary form. However, while riding the leaf-form, the character cannot manipulate physical objects or cause any damage.
Exceptional Success: The character’s Defense bonus rises to eight, and she may fly at her full Speed.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 Spring
+1 Winter or Autumn
A faerie with the Contracts of Song can use music and its madness to help their friends and harm their foes.
Hidden Message (•)
Listeners always hear something in the music that speaks to them, personally. Usually it’s a sense of emotion, but some claim to find secret meanings in their favorite songs – usually cruel ones. This clause lets a changeling weave a subtle message into her own words that can only be heard by a certain few.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Subterfuge + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling sticks a bright feather somewhere visible on a costume, instrument, prop, or similar item that she uses for the performance. The changeling’s own mien does not count.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s performance sends the wrong message. The targets understand a secret meaning, but it misleads them to the changeling’s detriment.
Failure: The changeling fails to convey her message.
Success: The changeling hides a message in a poem, song, or rambling speech that can only be clearly heard by the recipients she picks out. When her performance is done, these people understand her secret message without a roll. Anyone else who is listening must succeed on an Intelligence + Investigation check to pick out the changeling’s hidden words, subtracting one die for every success the changeling scored. The recipients must stay for the entire performance. If they leave early, they’re sure to miss something vital and lose (or even misinterpret) the message.
A performance that contains such a secret message can be recorded like any other. Listeners who heard the message before will continue to understand that message if they hear a recording: the message is now a part of that performance. People who were not selected as recipients must roll as usual. The message and its recipients cannot be changed.
Exceptional Success: Everyone who strains to hear the hidden message, but fails, nevertheless hears something. The changeling cannot dictate the contents of this second message, but it usually aligns with her goals or desires.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The message is hidden during the composition of the piece |
| –2 | The message is particularly complex or confusing |
Chorus (••)
Like singers in a choir, the changeling’s allies act together with perfect timing. The changeling targets any number of people who are assisting in one teamwork test and synchronizes their efforts.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling provides a loud, steady beat for the duration of the teamwork action.
Ban: The changeling cannot use this clause when they are leading a teamwork test.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling coordinates everything perfectly – for some different task. Everyone participating in the teamwork test suffers a –4 penalty to their efforts.
Failure: The assistants are unaffected.
Success: Every assistant, including the changeling herself, gains a bonus on their roll in the teamwork test equal to the successes rolled by the changeling.
Exceptional Success: Extra successes are their own reward.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| –1 | Each assistant beyond 2 |
| +1 | The changeling has at least 3 dots in the skill most closely related to the teamwork test |
| +1 | The changeling has a skill specialty that would apply to the teamwork test |
Piper’s Lure (•••)
A changeling with this clause can draw people in, and lead them like so many ducklings – or rats.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: At least one person within the contract’s range, or one of their family members, owes you a debt they have refused to pay.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The people nearby are repulsed. They leave whatever area the changeling is in, and work to stay away.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: As the changeling begins to perform, everyone within 10 yards per dot of the changeling’s Wyrd nearby moves toward them, using whatever means are easily available. The victims are not required to make any special effort, so other than a change in direction, they act normally (conversations continue, they obey traffic signals, etc.). As they draw near, they may meander and get distracted, too.
When the clause is activated, everyone within range gets a chance to avoid the clause’s effect by rolling their Resolve + Wyrd. Non-changeling supernatural creatures use the appropriate power stat in place of Wyrd. Anyone who gains at least as many successes as the changeling is not affected by their lure. Anyone who leaves and re-enters the changeling’s proximity may roll again, and anyone who ends up nearby enough to be affected rolls immediately.
Affected victims approach until they are able to see and hear the changeling. If the changeling moves, they will try to keep up. In a city, this usually means they’re within a few yards. In the countryside, the effect could end with the victims as far as a football field away. Anyone who cannot find the changeling will keep looking for them until the clause ends, often with a growing sense of frustration.
The clause’s effect continues for as long as the changeling keeps singing, reciting, or otherwise performing, up to one scene.
Exceptional Success: The changeling may exclude any number of people of their choice from the contract’s effect.
Concert (••••)
Battlefields can be likened to cruel, morbid symphonies. This clause allows the changeling to orchestrate a few moments of that chaos.
Cost: 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Composure + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling tears in half a ticket stub or play bill from a high-profile, professional performance: a Broadway production, Superbowl game, world legend rockstar concert, championship bout, etc. as they activate the clause.
Ban: This clause cannot be used more than once in a single scene by the same character.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling and their allies do not benefit from Defense during this round.
Failure: Initiative order is unchanged.
Success: For just a few moments, everyone’s actions happen in a carefully chosen rhythm. The changeling dictates the initiative for every character participating in the scene, and then they all act in that order. Once everyone has gone, normal initiative resumes with the character immediately following the changeling.
While the special order is in effect, characters cannot further alter the order of initiative. All attempts to do so automatically fail.
Characters who enter combat during that round are not affected by this clause and roll their own initiative normally. Using this clause is an attack in the eyes of other contracts. It can be activated any time initiative is being used, whether in combat or not.
Exceptional Success: Such a sudden change to the flow of combat can be surprising, to say the least. In addition to the clause’s normal effects, the targets must roll their Wits + Composure to avoid losing Defense, as from a surprise attack. The changeling may choose who is affected.
Banshee’s Wail (•••••)
With an unearthly scream of wrath and malice, the changeling ensures their victim’s demise. The changeling’s target knows that they have been marked, as does anyone else the changeling desires (whether or not the changeling knows their identities). Using this clause is an attack in the eyes of other contracts.
Banshee’s Wail and Concert cannot be used simultaneously by the same character.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Presence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling’s victim will be attacked within the next scene by someone else whose schemes are unknown to the changeling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Everyone within earshot knows who you are, where you are, what you tried to do, and to whom. Worse, you’re stunned and lose your next action.
Failure: The changeling’s scream may startle people, but nothing else happens.
Success: The changeling’s victim finds their defense, armor, initiative, and speed reduced by 1 for every success the changeling scored. These penalties last for one round.
Exceptional Success: In addition to massive penalties, all attacks against the changeling’s victim made during that round benefit from 9-again. Attacks that already have this benefit are upgraded to 8-again.
Tongues of Birds and Words of Wolves (•)
The changeling can communicate with the general type of animal represented in the Contract. This communication is partially empathic, but the changeling must either whisper to the animal in her own language or attempt to imitate whatever sounds the animal uses to express itself. Most animals make some sort of noise while responding, but they need not do so. Animals tied to the changeling by kith or this Contract instinctively feel a kinship with the changeling and readily communicate unless immediate circumstances, such as an obvious threat, intervene. Simpler, less intelligent animals communicate with less complexity. Mammals and birds are relatively easy to speak with. However, reptiles, invertebrates and most fish can provide only very simple information, such as whether or not any humans recently came near or the general location of fresh water.
Cost:1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Animal Ken
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling gives the animal a new name.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character angers or scares the animal he tries to approach and cannot use this clause for one full scene.
Failure: No communication occurs.
Success: The changeling can speak to all animals of the specified type for the next scene.
Exceptional Success: The animal feels affection and loyalty toward the character. The animal is actively helpful and volunteers information unasked if it considers that information important (so far as its intelligence allows).
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 The character imitates the animal’s sounds and body language.
–1 The animal is frightened or hurt.
Beast’s Keen Senses (••)
The changeling gains the senses of a specific type of animal, selected when the changeling learns this clause. This clause enhances the changeling’s natural senses, and may well grant him entirely new senses such as a viper’s infrared pits or a bat’s echolocation.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling sees or touches an animal of the type being imitated.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character’s senses become slightly muddied and confused. The character experiences a –1 die penalty to all Perception rolls for the next scene.
Failure: The Contract fails, and the character’s senses are unaffected.
Success: The character gains a +2 dice bonus to all Wits rolls relating to perception for the next full scene. In addition, he gains the chosen animal’s most notable sensory ability — a wolf or dog’s sense of smell, including the ability to identify people and track by scent, an owl or cat’s night vision and so on. If the character’s particular animal has no significant exceptional sense (such as a goat or monkey) , he instead gains a +4 dice bonus to all Wits rolls relating to perception. These bonuses last for the next full scene.
Exceptional Success: The character gains an additional +1 die to all Perception rolls for the scene.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 The changeling is touching an animal of the correct type.
+1 The changeling is wearing a mask or other large image (such as a painting on the back of a jacket of an animal of the correct type).
–1 The environment is one that the animal would find uncomfortable and unnatural, such as a jungle animal in winter snow.
Pipes of the Beastcaller (•••)
The changeling can command the animal specified in the Contract. The character can call any single animal of this type that she can see or hear, causing the animal to come rapidly to her aid, and then instruct the animal on what she wants it to do. Particularly small animals may be called in groups. The changeling can call and command up to a dozen tiny animals, such as rats, mice or small bats, if she can see or hear them all. Changelings can also call an entire hive of insects such as bees or wasps. The animal (or animals) obeys to the best of its ability, but its nature and intelligence might cause the animal to interpret its orders in unusual ways. The animal attempts to carry out commands for the next full day, after which it ceases to obey the character. The animal will not cooperate with anything obviously self-destructive, such as standing still in front of an oncoming car. Large groups of small animals such as rats or bees act as one and cannot be split up to perform different tasks.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Animal Ken
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling asks the animal to guard or watch the changeling’s dwelling.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The animal either attacks the character or completely misunderstands the instructions and does the exact opposite of what he commands it to do.
Failure: The character cannot communicate with or command the animal.
Success: The animal can both understand the character’s wishes and obeys the character’s orders to the best of its abilities.
Exceptional Success: The character retains an empathic bond with the animal, allowing him to roughly sense its location and emotional and physical condition. For the next full day, the character can spend one point of Glamour to communicate for one scene with the animal at any distance.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 The changeling offers the animal appropriate foodstuffs.
–1 The animal is frightened or injured.
Tread of the Swift Hooves (••••)
The character gains the Contracted animal’s mode of locomotion. This clause allows characters emulating unusually swift animals to run faster, characters emulating aquatic animals to swim better and faster and characters moving like flying animals to jump and glide inhumanly well. If the animal is noted for being able to move exceptionally well in several different ways, such as a type of monkey that excels at both climbing and jumping, the character must choose which type of movement he wishes to gain when he learns this clause and must learn a new version to gain the other ability.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character is touching an animal of the correct type.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Contract fails. The character suffers a –1 die penalty to Speed for the scene.
Failure: The Contract fails, and the character is unaffected.
Success: The character gains the movement capabilities of the animal. Swift runners such as horses or dogs allow the changeling to double her Speed. Aquatic animals allow the changeling to swim as rapidly and as easily as she can walk or run and hold her breath 10 times as long (including any modifiers from the Strong Lungs Merit). Flying, gliding or jumping animals allow the changeling to quadruple her jumping distance and fall any distance without harm. Climbing animals such as monkeys allow the changeling to gain +5 to all climbing rolls and climb at five times normal speed. This enhanced movement lasts for one full scene.
Exceptional Success: The character’s enhanced movement lasts until the sun next sets or rises, whichever comes first.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 The changeling wears a mask of the animal or a large garment made from its skin.
–1 The clause is invoked someplace the animal is never naturally found.
Diviner's Madness (••)
The changeling gains an accurate image of the past or the future of some person or place. Afterwards, she temporarily goes somewhat mad. All madness lasts for one day. At the end of this time, the changeling also forgets the contents of the divination.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: Divining the past or the future of someone the changeling is in love with.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling gains one of the severe derangements listed below for one day.
Failure: The changeling experiences no visions or madness.
Success: The changeling can have a vision of the past or the future. She first declares a target, a person, place or object that she has visited, met or touched at least once. She can make herself the target. If she views the past, she can examine the target’s past with flawless clarity, seeing anything that has occurred. Each success allows the changeling to view up to one turn of time in that place in real time, beginning with the moment declared when the Contract was performed. Alternately, the character can ask a simple question about the target’s future and gain a general answer. Examples of proper questions include: “What time will Joseph Klein arrive home tonight” or “Will the North Park Strangler kill someone tonight?” (given a brief prior encounter with the Strangler). Improper questions get incoherent answers. Each success grants the changeling an answer to one question about the target’s future. Additional successes allow follow-up questions, allowing the changeling to get more specific details, such as asking if Joseph Klein will stop on his way home tonight or the exact time or location of the Strangler’s next murder.
Performing this divination also causes temporary madness. If the changeling rolls three or fewer successes, she gains one of the following severe derangements: Megalomania, Multiple Personality, Paranoia or Schizophrenia. With four or more successes, she gains one of the following mild derangements: Narcissism, Irrationality, Suspicion or Vocalization. Regardless of successes rolled, this madness lasts for one full day.
Exceptional Success: Beyond the advantages gained by rolling multiple successes, no special bonus is gained.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier |
Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 |
The subject of the divination is present. |
| –1 |
The changeling knows the target moderately well (such as a co-worker), or has visited him regularly. |
| –2 |
The changeling has encountered the person, place or object several times. |
| –4 |
The changeling has only encountered the target once. |