These are some new contracts available to changelings in Port Bowen.
These contracts grant Shadow Court and its allies power over revelation and disguise, often in an eerie and disquieting way. As contracts of the Contrast Courts, they are affinity contracts for changelings of both the Shadow and Radiant Courts.
The character is able to focus on and complete their endeavors in spite of distractions.
Prerequisite: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Composure + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling are distracted by bright light or lighting effects.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: All distractions are amplified to unbearable levels. The changeling suffers a -2 penalty on all actions for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The changeling remain distracted.
Success: The changeling is able to put aside distractions and focus on the task at hand. They can ignore a number of penalties from distractions equal to their Shadow Mantle.
Exceptional Success: The changeling can ignore distractions from deep within their own mind in addition to mundane lights and noises. They receive a further +2 bonus to the task at hand from the razor edge of their concentration.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The changeling is trying to accomplish a complicated or difficult task |
| -1 | Someone is intentionally trying to distract the changeling |
| -1 per source | The changeling is suffering from multiple distractions at once |
The changeling befuddles another’s sense of truth, making it easier to lie to them with impunity.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Shadow) • or Mantle (Radiant) •• or Court Goodwill (Shadow) •••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Subterfuge + Shadow Mantle - Subject’s Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The subject has told a direct lie within the past week.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of affecting the subject, the contract fogs the changeling’s own perceptions. They suffer a -2 penalty on all Empathy and Investigation checks for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The subject is unaffected.
Success: The subject’s judgment is impaired for the rest of the scene. Any roll made to tell apart truth and lies suffers a -2 penalty.
Exceptional Success: The penalty increases to -4
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The subject is a politician, salesman, or other kind of person stereotyped as a liar |
| +1 | You have never before had a conversation with the subject |
| -1 | You’re a friend or common associate of the subject |
| -2 | The subject is a religious leader, teacher, doctor, or other kind of person stereotyped as honest or trustworthy |
The changeling with this clause is able to remain unnoticed as long as he takes care not to draw attention to himself.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Shadow) •• or Mantle (Radiant) ••• or Court Goodwill (Shadow) ••••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Composure + Socialize + Shadow Mantle - Group’s Highest Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is working as a maid, butler, waiter, or other servant.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: For the remainder of the scene, the changeling cannot help but draw attention to himself, often in the worst way possible. He suffers a -3 penalty to all Social rolls from constant faux pas and errant words.
Failure: The clause fails to activate.
Success: The changeling falls back into the shadowy corners of the mind, becoming part of the scenery. All persons in the same venue suffer a penalty equal to the successes rolled when activating the clause to all Wits-based perception checks involving the changeling. The venue is roughly defined as a reasonably connected structure or area.
Normally, the clause lasts for one scene. It will end prematurely, however, if the changeling calls attention to himself: jostling someone roughly, speaking out of turn, etc. Other actions may arouse suspicion, but don’t automatically end the clause’s effect. In this case, those nearby might notice what’s going on with a reflexive perception check, though it suffers the clause’s penalty. Initiating or participating in combat always ends this clause.
Exceptional Success: The illusion is more robust and can withstand more intense scrutiny. If you draw attention to yourself, the clause’s effects are only broken for the people who noticed the breach, leaving it active for everyone else.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The gathering is excessively formal |
| -1 | There is no official function occurring in the venue |
The changeling is able to perceive the shadowy web of meaning behind a speaker’s words, betraying their true intent.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Shadow) ••• or Mantle (Radiant) •••• or Court Goodwill (Shadow) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Investigation + Shadow Mantle vs. Subject’s Intelligence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling proclaims aloud one of his most tightly-held secrets.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: You drastically misinterpret the subject’s words and actions, giving them a +3 bonus on attempts to deceive you for the rest of the scene.
Failure: You gain no special insight into the subject’s words.
Success: As the subject talks, his words form ephemeral shadows which betray their real meaning and intent. All attempts made by the subject to deceive you (typically Subterfuge checks) suffer a penalty equal to your Shadow Mantle plus half the successes scored on activating the contract (round down). The subject rolls normally for everyone else.
This clause basically fills in missing context behind words that are said. It does not reveal extra facts, but can do things like pointing out which parts of a sentence are accurate. It can also tell you when pertinent information is being left out, but not what that information is.
Exceptional Success: The subject’s attempts to deceive others are also penalized. Appropriate skill checks suffer the same penalty as those made to deceive you. To non-changelings, the contract’s effect is more subtle, using flashes of insight and feelings of wrongness in place of literal shadows.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The subject has been caught lying or withholding pertinent information in the last week |
| +1 | The subject is speaking in an official capacity |
| -1 | The subject has a reputation for honesty |
By enacting this contract, the changeling makes a rival persona non grata.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Shadow) •••• or Mantle (Radiant) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Manipulation + Socialize + Shadow Mantle vs. Subject’s Presence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The subject has attacked your social standing in the current company.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Everyone knows what you tried to do and holds it against you. Your failure imposes a -2 to your social rolls for the scene. At the same time, other people are more lenient to the subject and are more likely to write off his missteps as part of your own plan, giving them extra leeway to act. The subject gains a +2 benefit to social rolls for the scene.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The subject becomes a social pariah. All of their social rolls are reduced to a chance die. Allies and friends of the subject are less adversarial and will generally just ignore them. Strangers and acquaintances, however, are actively hostile and may yell or attack the subject. This effect lasts for the scene.
Exceptional Success: The subject’s plight lasts until the next sunrise.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The subject is an unwelcome guest |
| +1 | The subject recently embarrassed themselves in a public way |
| +1 | The subject is generally disliked by the majority of people nearby |
| +1 | You are the host of a formal event which the subject is attending |
| -1 | The subject has three or more dots of Mantle in any court. |
| -1 | The target is a Spring courtier |
| -2 | Another person has publicly praised the subject in front of current company |
| -1/person | Every person near the subject who is bound to them by a pledge |
| -1/dot | Every dot of Status or Allies possessed by the subject imposes a cumulative,-1 penalty. The merits have to apply in some way to the current,gathering. The Contacts merit is too weak to affect this contract. |
These contracts invoke the power and subtleties of pride. They allow courtiers to manipulate pride (and humility) in themselves and in the people around them. Contracts of Fleeting Radiance are affinity contracts for both Radiant and Shadow courts.
The changeling learns something that the target is proud of, or embarrassed about. By default, this will be the pride or embarrassment most relevant to the subject at the time, so that if the target is currently feeling proud, the changeling will learn about the source of the pride, whereas if the target is feeling humble or self-conscious, the changeling learns about a source of embarrassment. However, if the changeling takes the appropriate penalty when activating the clause, she may specify whether to learn about a pride or a humiliation, or she may learn about a type of either that is not currently relevant to the subject’s state of mind.
Prerequisite: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Wits + Wyrd - Subject’s Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: Within the same scene, the changeling has knowingly revealed to the target something they are proud of or embarrassed about.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling projects one of her own prides or humiliations onto her subject. The next time she significantly interacts with that subject, she suffers a -3 penalty to checks involving Empathy, and loses the benefit of 10-again on all Social skill checks made against them.
Failure: The changeling learns nothing about her subject.
Success: The changeling learns about a source of pride or embarrassment in the subject’s life.
Exceptional Success: The changeling learns about both a source of pride and a source of embarrassment.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| — | The character discerns a pride or embarrassment currently in the forefront of the target’s mind. |
| -1 | The character chooses whether to learn about the target’s pride or embarrassment specifically, regardless of which feeling is currently most prominent for the target. |
| –1 | The character learns a pride or embarrassment not currently concerning the target. |
| –1 | The character learns a specific kind of pride or embarrassment (i.e., academic, interpersonal, body-related, etc.). |
| –2 | The character discovers a pride or embarrassment the target recognizes but generally keeps hidden. |
| –3 | The character finds a pride or embarrassment the target hides even from herself. |
The changeling shines a bright light on the flaws of an individual, throwing every misstep and mistake into sharp relief.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) • or Mantle (Shadow) • or Court Goodwill (Radiant) •••
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Presence + Investigation + Radiant Mantle - Target’s Resolve
Action: Instant
Catch: You heard the target brag within the last hour about some accomplishment.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The would-be target instead gains a supernatural awareness of the changeling’s own faults and flaws. For the remainder of the scene, the target gains a +2 bonus on all social rolls made against the changeling. If the changeling targeted themselves, this bonus is granted to the next person who interacts with them.
Failure: The target experiences no change.
Success: The target becomes acutely aware of the flaws in everything she does. Misplaced words during a conversation feel like hammer blows to the temple; the slightest imperfection in the stroke of a paintbrush stings like a knife deep in his flesh. In most circumstances, this knowledge is nothing more than painful and imposes a -2 penalty to skill rolls. This effects lasts for the scene.
When the character has time to work past the flaws they see, that painful knowledge can instead be a boon. When making an extended test, the target has the luxury of revisiting her mistakes. The duration between rolls is doubled, but instead of a penalty he gains a +2 bonus. Extended tests where perfection is not an object, like foot chases, are not affected by this clause.
Exceptional Success: The victim’s knowledge of his flaws intensifies. The penalty increases to -4 and the bonus to +4.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | Victim is a perfectionist |
| -1 | Victim has the Narcissism derangement |
Using compliments and encouragements, the changeling eggs someone into feeling unreasonable levels of pride, talking them into a feeling of greatness that prompts the target to attempt impressive feats with confidence. The Yes Man debases himself a little so another person can be their best. Some people are born great. This Clause’s targets have greatness thrust upon them.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) •• or Mantle (Shadow) •• or Court Goodwill (Radiant) ••••
Cost: 1 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Manipulation + Expression + Radiant Mantle (- victim’s Composure if resisted)
Action: Instant
Catch: The target has a specialty related to the activity the Yes Man is hyping.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s compliments come across as disingenuous, and the changeling has a -3 to social rolls involving the target for the rest of the scene.
Failure: The target is unaffected.
Success: The recipient gains a +3 bonus to skill rolls related to the activity the Yes Man is complimenting. While the recipient is not undertaking that activity, they instead gain the bonus to the most closely related skill.
In combat, the recipient must roll Resolve + Composure at the beginning of each turn to retain their confidence in the face of mortal danger. Failure ends the contract immediately. Out of combat, the bonus lasts for the rest of the scene.
Exceptional Success: The recipient feels like they can push through any amount of hardship thanks to the changeling’s words. They don’t need to roll to maintain their confidence during combat.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The target suffers from Megalomania |
| +1 | The target suffers from Narcissism |
| +1 | The target has the Vice of Pride |
| -1 | The target is a changeling in Shadow Court |
| -2 | The target very recently failed in the stated activity |
This clause is the nightmare of anyone who holds their social appearance in high regard. When used, it brings to life the universal embarrassment dream as fate conspires to pull down pants, trip the victim into mud puddles, and walk them into poles. Though the victim is never in danger for their life, they may wish they were dead.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) ••• or Mantle (Shadow) ••• or Court Goodwill (Radiant) •••••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Intimidation + Radiant Mantle vs. Composure + Socialize
Action: Instant
Catch: The victim is attempting to bully someone (including the changeling), or the changeling pulls the victim’s actual pants down.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling instead brings this nightmare into her own life, becoming the victim of her own ill wishes.
Failure: No effect.
Success: At the storyteller’s discretion, any roll during the scene which is important to the character’s self-image, but not necessarily to their goals, becomes a chance die. This ordinarily should not affect plot-relevant rolls, but instead target inconsequential rolls for skills in which the victim ordinarily excels. At the GMs discretion, additional rolls might be required for otherwise unexciting activities, like walking down a wet street.
Actions in combat are rarely, if ever, affected. However, immediately prior to entering the fight (or immediately afterward) the target might trip and fall on their face. Rolls made using Willpower are never affected.
Exceptional Success: The victim’s bad luck further affects their social graces, imposing a -1 penalty to all social rolls for the scene.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The target is putting on airs to show off |
| -1 | The target is already a klutz |
By using this clause, a radiant courtier quickly dominates all discussion and almost always gets her way. People near her feel the courtier’s approval like a blissful drug, and those who realize she’s using this power may take pains to avoid her. Either way, the courtier is the center of attention and faces few obstacles to getting what she wants.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) •••• or Mantle (Shadow) ••••
Cost: 3 glamour and 1 willpower
Roll: Presence + Persuasion + Mantle vs. Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character has more dots of Mantle (for any court) than other changelings nearby.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s pride undermines her ability to influence anyone. For the remainder of the scene, she suffers a -5 penalty on all social rolls.
Failure: The changeling fails to rally anyone to her direction.
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 Resolve present. Supernatural beings should each make their own resistance rolls. If the changeling rolls any successes, she becomes the emotional focus of every affected target. If she rolls more successes than a target, the person’s self-worth becomes bound to the changeling’s approval. Her pride brightens them, and her disapproval shames them. Most people will go along with whatever she suggests, and those who would normally resist a particular order suffer a penalty equal to the changeling’s Wyrd when contesting her commands.
Anyone who rolls as many or more successes as the changeling is not forced to be a sycophant and can ignore her requests without any difficulty. However, they still cannot deny her awe-inspiring presence. When trying to oppose her designs, they suffer a -2 penalty.
The changeling’s force of personality persists until she decides to resume her normal demeanor or until the end of the scene. 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. This clause cannot be used more than once on any subject in a single scene.
This clause is not mind control and affected targets won’t do completely outrageous things without further persuasion or long-standing conditioning.
Exceptional Success: The targets must exceed the changeling’s successes, not just tie them, to avoid the effects of this clause.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | A majority of the targets already look up to the changeling |
| -2 | The changeling is disliked by the majority of targets |
The courtiers of Spring are often the social glue of a freehold. They are the ones who raise their friends’ spirits in times of woe, and encourage their allies to great feats. The Contracts of Flowering Spring give them power over morale and teamwork.
Reduce up to the changeling’s Wyrd in penalties from retrying a specific action this scene.
Prerequisites: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The target was forced to perform their current task.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The target is sapped of strength and suffers a -3 penalty on all rolls related to the task at hand for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The target gains no benefit.
Success: Like Sisyphus, the recipient of this contract’s boon may toil endlessly in pursuit of their goals. For the rest of the scene, the target can retry a single task without penalty a number of times equal to the changeling’s Wyrd. After that, further consecutive attempts suffer the usual cumulative -1 penalty.
Exceptional Success: Spring’s magic extends into everything the target does. For the rest of the scene, they do not suffer any penalties from re-trying tasks, no matter what those tasks are.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | There is plenty of time to keep trying |
| -1 | Already failed this action once in the scene |
| -2 | Under pressure to finish quickly |
| -3 | Already failed this action multiple times in the scene |
Bestow a temporary bonus right after a meaningful setback or failure. A comrade dying in combat, failing a task set by a monarch, etc. would qualify.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) • or Court Goodwill (Spring) •••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Persuasion + Mantle (Spring)
Action: Instant
Catch: The circumstances of the setback or failure involve the death of someone important to the subjects.
Ban: This clause can only be attempted once for any circumstance. Attempting to use it again automatically results in a Dramatic Failure.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s own failure hangs heavy in her mind. The subjects see through her false hope and their despondency flows back through the contract and into the changeling. For the next scene, the changeling suffers a penalty from this clause equal to the bonus her targets would normally receive. The targets are unaffected, if morose.
Failure: The changeling’s words do not help.
Success: The changeling bolsters her subjects’ spirits, giving them the will to carry on. For the rest of the scene, they gain one bonus die to all tasks for each -1 penalty imposed on the activation roll. This clause can target as many nearby people as the changeling can see, as long as they all directly suffered the setback or had a hand in the failed endeavor.
Exceptional Success: The subjects find it easier to carry on as the contract adds one to their Composure. This also increases their Initiative and affords one temporary point of Willpower that they may spend during the scene.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| -1 | Badly demoralized by the setback or failure, regardless of severity |
| -1 | Minor setback or failure |
| -2 | Moderate setback or failure |
| -3 | Major setback or failure |
| -4 | Extreme setback or failure |
The courtiers of Spring can bring relief from many pains, even those with no physical symptoms.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) •• or Court Goodwill (Spring) ••••
Cost: 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Manipulation + Empathy + Mantle (Spring)
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling ties a blooming flower to the subject’s clothing or body. The flower wilts over the course of the scene, its progressing rot ticking down the minutes until the derangement takes hold again.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of relief, the changeling brings relentless suffering to their subject. The targeted derangement is upgraded for the scene. If there is no more severe version of the derangement, its normal effects are amplified instead.
Failure: The subject’s mind is unaffected and they continue to suffer from the derangement.
Success: The targeted derangement subsides for the rest of the scene, allowing the changeling’s subject to think and act without distraction. However, it returns with a vengeance at the beginning of the next scene. At that time, the subject suffers a -4 to all actions until the derangement wears off naturally.
If the subject is suffering from multiple derangements, the changeling must pick which one to subdue. The contract can be activated multiple times to deal with the others, as needed. Changeling frailties are not affected by this clause, no matter how much they may resemble derangements.
When the derangement returns, it can be postponed once more using this contract. However, this takes a terrible toll on the sufferer’s mind. When it returns for the second time, it is upgraded to a more severe derangement: Minor becomes Major, and Major derangements become Severe. If there is no more severe version of the derangement, its normal effects are amplified instead. At this point, it is beyond the reach of changeling magic.
Exceptional Success: All of the subject’s derangements are subdued until the next sunrise. If the changeling wishes them to return before then, they may end the contract’s effect with a Movement action.
Suggested Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| -1 | Each active derangement the victim suffers other than the one targeted |
| -2 | The changeling uses Subdue Madness on themselves |
| -3 | Subduing a Major derangement |
| -5 | Subduing a Severe derangement |
A thousand little mistakes can add up to one tremendous failure, and a changeling with this clause can make sure of it. Once used, their victim grows unsteady and despondent as everything they try falls apart. Since this clause affects the victim’s morale, magic that protects against emotional manipulation – such as Inexorable Pursuer (Oath and Punishment •••) – can help ward off its effects.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) ••• or Court Goodwill (Spring) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Intimidation + Mantle (Spring) vs. Composure + Empathy
Action: Instant
Catch: The victim publicly denounced or demeaned the changeling within the last day.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling curses their own actions and loses the 10-again benefit on all rolls for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The victim suffers no ill effects.
Success: Every mistake the victim makes weighs down their hands until abject failure is their only option. Each time the victim fails any skill-based roll, they suffer a cumulative -1 penalty on all actions for the rest of the scene. The only small mercy is that dramatic failures do not impose any additional effects.
Exceptional Success: The changeling’s victim immediately suffers a -1 penalty for the rest of the scene, as though they had already failed a skill roll.
The most powerful Spring courtiers can spur their allies on in the most desperate of times.
Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) ••••
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Resolve + Mantle (Spring)
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is certain that they or their subject will die without an immediate act of heroism.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s touch drains away a point of willpower instead of bestowing it. If the subject has no willpower left, they instead suffer 1 point of Lethal damage.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: With a touch, the changeling gifts a single point of temporary Willpower to their target as the Willpower they spend to activate this contract flows through their finger. The recipient can use it for whatever they need: boosting a resistance stat, benefiting a skill test, activating their own contract, etc. The temporary Willpower point lasts for one minute per dot of the changeling’s Wyrd. If it is not used by then, it is lost.
The Willpower cost can never be avoided when activating this contract, even when the catch is fulfilled.
Exceptional Success: The changeling immediately gains a point of willpower, replenishing the point they gifted away.
These contracts are in a very rough state right now, but their rules text is at least usable. None of the wording is final and is guaranteed to change in the future.
These contracts give the Gentry power over all things quiet and still. Darklings can use them to quell a raging mind, quiet a rude voice, and of course to make no noise at all.
The noise of the world fades away as the changeling focuses their hearing on a certain few sounds.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Investigation + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is fleeing from active pursuit
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s focus becomes scattered and prone to distraction. Their Initiative is reduced by -3 for the scene.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The character’s surroundings are drowned out, leaving just a handful of crystal-clear sounds. Each success allows the character to pick one sound that they wish to hear: footsteps, shouting, one conversation at a party, etc. As the magic takes effect, those sounds are drawn to the forefront at the expense of everything else.
The changeling can ignore environmental penalties that make the chosen sounds harder to hear. In return, any sounds they didn’t choose suffer an additional -5 penalty on top of any existing environmental penalties. This is not limited to perception-like tests, either. For example, identifying the model of a firearm by the sound of its report is much harder if the changeling did not choose “gunshots” as a focused sound. The only environment modifier not affected is distance: this clause does not magnify sounds, it only dampens unwanted ones.
Each chosen sound must be fairly narrow. When stealing from a house, for example, the changeling cannot pick “the owner coming home” because it encompasses different types of sounds. Instead, they could choose “locks” and “footsteps”. If the changeling is trying to focus on a conversation, they can only hear a number of participants equal to their Composure + 1. Any participants left over are muted as background noise.
The changeling can end the contract’s effect any time. Otherwise, it lasts for the rest of the scene.
Exceptional Success: The character is hyper-alert and their muscles twitch with eagerness. Besides the normal benefits of five or more successes, their Initiative is increased by +2 for as long as the contract lasts.
With a glance, the changeling’s victim falls mute. Loud shouts or yells are hoarse and quiet, and normal speech becomes nothing but a whisper.
The changeling can only activate this contract against someone who is less than 5 yards away.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Larceny + Wyrd - subject’s Stamina
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling can see or hear a house cat as they activate the contract.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s tongue swells in their mouth. Intelligible speech is nearly impossible for the scene, though they have no trouble being heard.
Failure: The subject’s speech is unaffected.
Success: The subject’s voice becomes very soft. Even nearby, it’s hard to notice that they’re talking. Anyone within 5 yards suffers a -3 penalty to hear the victim speak, yell, or make other vocalizations. Those further away cannot hear the subject at all. Only speech is quieted by this contract. Any other sounds the victim makes are as loud as normal.
Once active, the contract remains in force for the rest of the scene unless the changeling takes pity on their victim and ends the effect early.
Exceptional Success: When the changeling’s victim tries to speak, nothing comes out. They cannot be heard at all, even by someone standing right next to them.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The subject just interrupted the changeling during a conversation |
| -1/dot | The subject has one or more dots of Fame |
| -3 | The subject is addressing a large audience |
Some changelings learned this curse under the tutelage of Arcadian torturers who used it to keep too-bright vassals in line. Others found it on their own in a scrambling attempt to bring relief to a mad friend. Its power subdues the heights of brilliance, quieting Intellect and the great madness that comes with it.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Presence + Wyrd vs. Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling has won a game of strategy against the subject in the last week.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling suffers from the curse of this clause, but does not gain its boon.
Failure: The subject’s mind is not affected.
Success: Thick fog clouds impair the subject’s mind. At the same time, they are relieved of whatever madnesses they may suffer. Until the scene ends, checks involving a mental attribute or skill (except Perception checks) suffer a penalty equal to half the changeling’s Wyrd (rounded up), but all rolls to avoid triggering an existing derangement automatically succeed. Frailties are not affected.
Exceptional Success: The changeling may choose to invoke just one of the contract’s effects: the curse or the boon. Of course, they can pick both as usual.
If inflicted, the curse is also strengthened: the subject now suffers an additional -1 to all affected rolls.
In the deep dark of Arcadia, even the smallest sound can get you killed. This clause bestows the virtue of perfect silence upon its user.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Dexterity + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling breaks a baby rattle while activating this contract
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling is cursed with unending noise. Their body and possessions find ways to make sound with even the slightest motion. Attempts to remain unnoticed that rely on quietness are reduced to a chance die.
Failure: Sounds from the changeling and their possessions are not dampened.
Success: The changeling makes no noise for the scene, and neither do their clothes or possessions. They can still talk, but only in a ghastly whisper.
Certain loud tools (guns, gongs, airhorns, etc.) can only be dampened by this contract, and remain somewhat audible. The remaining noises are soft enough to impose a -3 penalty on perception tests to notice them, and cannot be heard at all from farther than 100 yards away. This magic stacks with and improves the effect from a gun’s suppressor.
The contract only extends to sounds that the changeling directly makes. Breaking a window with a hammer, for example, is only partially suppressed. The initial smash is silent, but the tinkle of falling shards can still be heard. Other creatures are never silenced by this contract. The second clause, Silence the Tongue must be used instead.
Exceptional Success: Even indirect sounds made by the changeling are now silenced. A heavy box dropped down the stairs lands without a thud, and the tinkling glass from a broken window makes less noise than a feather.
The most powerful of the midnight fae do not bother to kill. That’s best left to hunters and dogs. Their victims instead find the world turned against them, alone in a crowd of former friends. Lovers are eternally preoccupied, family is always busy, and no one comes when they call for help.
Cost: 2 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Subterfuge + Wyrd vs. Presence + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling has possession of some token of affection given to the subject by their lover.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling finds themselves temporarily barred from some organization they have joined. The bowling club won’t let them in, BJs refuses their purchases, or in extreme cases an entire fae Court will refuse to honor their standing.
Failure: The subject is not affected.
Success: The subject of this contract finds themselves surrounded by indifference for the scene. Everyone who would otherwise care about their plight turns away, their apathy enforced by magic. Close allies, friends, lovers, family, they all have better things to do. Informal debts and favors are ignored. Only magically-enforced obligations (like the Tasks of a Pledge) are respected, and then only with minimal effort. The subject’s enemies, on the other hand, are as attentive as ever.
Selfish interests are all that matter to the victim’s friends, no matter how desperately the victim pleads. They can usually force others to at least acknowledge them by being very annoying. Such antagonistic actions work as normal, but all other social actions are reduced to a chance die.
People bound to the subject by the Alliance task of a pledge are a little easier to work with. Instead of a chance die, the subject’s social rolls are reduced to a number of dice based on the most powerful Alliance they have with the other person:
| Alliance | Dice |
|---|---|
| Lesser | 1 |
| Medial | 2 |
| Greater | 3 |
The easiest to work with are people who are currently under some magical effect that protects against indifference. Since this contract works by manipulating emotions, it can be countered by Inexorable Pursuer (Oath and Punishment •••) or other similar effects. The subject’s rolls are not unaffected when interacting with these people.
To use this power, the changeling must be able to clearly perceive their target. If they wish, the changeling can end this clause prematurely.
Exceptional Success: The subject’s isolation lasts until it is burned away by the sunrise.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| -1 | The subject has at least three dots of Status in any organization |
| -1/dot | The subject has one or more dots of Fame |
A faerie with the Contracts of Song can use music and its madness to help their friends and harm their foes.
Contracts of Song are considered affinity Contracts for all changelings.
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 when they activated the contract. 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 |
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 participants are unaffected.
Success: Every participant, including the changeling herself, gains a bonus on their roll in the teamwork test equal to the successes rolled by the changeling. This bonus persists through even a long teamwork test, provided that those involved work continuously without a break and without leaving. Tests that require multiple different skill rolls also require multiple activations: the contract ends once the roll changes.
If two changelings use this clause at the same time for the same action, their differing ideas of the “right” beat cause confusion. The effective bonus becomes the difference between the successes scored by each changeling, as their musics fight for control. If three or more changelings all use this clause simultaneously, the mental cacophony renders it useless.
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 |
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.
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.
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.
This clause is where the contract gets its name, as the user pulls one of their own limbs off. The user chooses a part of their arm or leg, or an eye, ear, or nose, and activates the contract. The real part is absorbed into the body and a perfect duplicate comes off.
The stump on the body looks like a long-healed wound or amputation while the contract is active and the duplicate appears to be real flesh and blood. Its stump is also cleanly severed. Close inspection of the fake reveals it to be a good prosthetic, Halloween prop, or something similar. A changeling using Warlock’s Gaze (Spellbound Autumn 1) can detect the forgery if they score more successes on that contract than the changeling who detached the limb. A keen observer might also note the changeling’s slightly bloated look, as their body adjusts to the newly absorbed limb.
The character can dismiss the effects of this clause at will. The real limb grows back over a few seconds and the fake crumbles into dried leaves, dust, ashes, and other dead bits. This clause cannot be used to remove the character’s own head.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The limb is detached purely for a joke or prank.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The body part is not absorbed, and becomes limp and useless for the scene. This may affect some of the character’s abilities. No duplicate is created.
Failure: The changeling fails to create a duplicate.
Success: The selected body part withers and is replaced by a near-perfect duplicate. The duplicate lasts for one scene, or until the changeling chooses to end the clause’s effects.
Exceptional Success: The fake body part is completely indistinguishable from the real one and lingers until the next sunrise or sunset.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The changeling actually wears a prosthetic |
| +1 | The changeling is using this clause to escape a hold or trap |
Life is not simply switched off when a limb or other body part is separated from the whole. A changeling with this clause knows how to use that ebbing life to find the rest of the previous owner.
This contract is like tugging on an invisible rope. The changeling feels pulled toward their target, and their target gets pulled toward them.
The target must be alive and in the same realm as the changeling. If they are dead, the contract gives no response no matter how many successes the changeling gains on its activation. If they are in a different realm, the clause leads the changeling in many confusing directions at once, as it struggles to cross the hedge’s barrier.
Cost: 1 Glamour or 2 Glamour and 1 Willpower
Roll: Investigation + Wyrd vs. Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling floats the body or body part in water, letting it point the way.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling is led astray and into danger. Instead of being drawn toward the target, they are drawn toward a busy intersection, gang dispute, or other dangerous situation.
Failure: The changeling fails to grasp the connection between limb and person, and the contract does nothing.
Success: The changeling is drawn toward the target, and the target is drawn toward the changeling, for one scene. Sometimes this causes strange accidents and coincidences to ensure the two get closer. Other times, the changeling simply proceeds toward their target. If this clause is used to find the owner of a missing limb, they can oppose it as they choose based on how they feel about the limb in question. The target likely finds themselves thinking about the missing limb, but there’s no other indication that a contract is in use. Any travel done by the remote target of this clause is fairly limited: falling off of shelves, rolling down a street, or strolling aimlessly in a general direction.
To activate this clause, the changeling must have a piece of their target. Something as small as a single finger bone will work, but hair and discarded nails will not. They must also bring this piece with them as they travel toward the target. Easy enough for a severed hand, but this clause can work in reverse as well. If the person is unable (or unwilling) to go with them, the changeling has to find some way to bring them along.
A more difficult use of this clause tugs on the connection between a changeling and its fetch. This requires the user to spend 1 Willpower and an additional point of Glamour. The fetch almost always opposes the clause’s activation roll.
Exceptional Success: The changeling’s finesse is such that they can choose how much they are drawn toward the target, and how much the target finds its way to them. The changeling can decide to do all the travel themselves, or go so far as yanking the target to the them so that they need not take a single step.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The limb was severed in the last week |
| +1 | The target wants to find this missing limb |
| -1 | The target doesn’t want this limb found |
| -1 | The limb was severed at least a season ago |
| -1 | The limb is at least partially artificial |
| -2 | The limb is a False Limb from the first clause of this contract |
| -2 | The character is trying to locate a Fetch |
| -3 | The limb is a custom prosthetic, molded to the target’s body |
| -4 | The target has utterly disowned this limb and does not feel it is a part of himself |
This clause allows a changeling to perform restorative surgery on even the worst injuries. With some effort and glamour, severed limbs are reattached and the person made whole again. Even a good prosthetic can be made a permanent part of its owner, though a lingering wrongness remains.
With glamour and an effort of will, the changeling reconnects the body part to its owner. For this to work, the person subjected to this clause must still be alive and the limb must at least bend in some of the right places. Better prosthetics and more complete limbs are easier to attach. Once the part is attached, the subject’s control of the limb returns and they can use it naturally. Touch, sight, and other senses also return to the limb, allowing the subject to perceive their surroundings as before the injury.
Though flesh and blood limbs can be attached with this clause, nothing more than minor cosmetic damage is healed. If the limb hasn’t started to break down – generally within four hours of being severed – Eternal Spring 3 can be used to repair it after it’s reattached. Older limbs which have died completely cannot be healed this way. If it will be a while before this clause is used, a freshly severed limb can be preserved with an Intelligence + Medicine roll (see below). A dramatic failure on this roll damages the limb enough that Eternal Spring 3 can no longer fix it.
This power takes a toll on the person receiving the graft. Even if the limb is from their own body, they must roll for a Clarity 7 breaking point. Humans must resist gaining a derangement. If the limb is a prosthetic or came from someone else, the new owner suffers a feeling of wrongness. Their dreams don’t always feature the new limb, and sometimes it seems to twitch or move on its own when they aren’t looking. In this case, changelings must roll for a Clarity 6 breaking point, and humans have a -1 penalty on their roll to resist a new derangement.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower
Roll: Medicine + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The patient owes the character some favor or service which cannot be completed without attaching this limb.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The body part is crudely grafted onto the patient and cannot be controlled by its new owner. Until it is removed again, it hampers any task where the patient attempts to use it, imposing a -2 penalty to the roll. A successful Dex+Medicine check allows someone to remove the limb without causing further harm to the patient. More crude attempts will deal at least one point of Lethal damage.
Failure: The seam fails to close and the body part remains unattached.
Success: The body part is reattached. The limb is part of the person’s body now. Any further damage to it is treated as damage to the person and can be healed normally. It will be concealed by the Mask unless it was already pristine (or close to it). Limbs attached to a non-changeling will gain their own Mask.
Exceptional Success: The attached limb blends with the patient’s body. There is no visible seam, even in the Mien, and the limb is harder to remove in the future. Hacking it off requires an extra point of damage, and efforts to surgically remove it suffer a -2 penalty.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The character is attaching the patient’s own limb |
| +1 | The limb was cleanly severed |
| 0 | The limb has abrasions or other cosmetic damage |
| -1 | The limb has some cuts or other light damage |
| -2 | The limb has some deep wounds or other moderate damage |
| -3 | The limb has broken bones or is otherwise badly damaged |
| -4 | The limb is mangled or is otherwise nearly destroyed |
Prosthetic Modifiers
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| -3 | The character is attaching a prosthetic |
| +4 | The prosthetic was pulled from the patient’s own dreams using Dream 4 |
| +2 | The prosthetic was pulled from someone else’s dreams using Dream 4 |
| +1 to +5 | Quality of a mundane prosthetic |
| +1 | The recipient has used this prosthetic for at least three months |
The character takes measures to preserve an organ or other body part. Anything from putting a lost tooth in milk to packing a forearm in ice and chemicals.
Roll: Intelligence + Medicine
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt at preservation goes awry and damages the limb, making it potentially useless for its intended purpose.
Failure: The character fails to preserve the limb. Without intervention, it will rot as normal.
Success: The limb is preserved, for now. Each success extends by two hours the time it takes for the limb to rot.
Exceptional Success: The preservation is done so well that the next roll made to preserve this body part does not suffer the usual -1 penalty.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| Varies | Medical equipment made for preserving body parts |
| +1 | Ready supply of ice or other cold material |
| -1 | Area is not sanitary |
| -1/roll | Each previous preservation roll attempted |
| -2 | Body part is already diseased |
The character creates a new false limb which can restore at least some functionality to an amputee.
Basic prosthetics require 5 successes. The more complex the prosthetic, the higher the target.
Roll: Intelligence + Crafts
Action: Extended (interval 30 minutes, target varies)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Something goes terribly wrong and all progress is lost.
Failure: The character makes no progress.
Success: The character makes progress toward creating the prosthetic.
Exceptional Success: The character makes great progress.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +3 | The character has a mold of the recipient where the prosthetic will be attached |
| +2 | Good measurements of the recipient where the prosthetic will be attached |
| -1 | The character has not personally seen the recipient |
This unsettling clause allows a changeling to mimic the Craft Fetch-Beast echo used by some Fetches. It is rightly feared by many and those who learn it keep their success private, lest they find themselves hunted by the courts.
The changeling first needs enough raw material to create their servitor’s body. The material can be nearly anything except iron. They then spend at least a day – and a copious amount of glamour – shaping the material into something resembling the servitor’s natural body. Once the body is complete, they must sacrifice a live animal of the servitor’s type (a breaking point for Clarity 5).
A servitor created with this clause must be patterned after a species from the mortal world. It generally behaves like a typical member of its species and has all of the same stats. It eats and sleeps as normal, but shows no interest in other animals of the same kind. It will also display a frightening intelligence from time to time. It obeys commands from its creator without question or hesitation, no matter how those commands are communicated, and cannot be affected by any supernatural powers which normally work on animals.
The servitors created by this clause retain a single point of the glamour used in their creation. Each living servitor reduces their master’s maximum held glamour by 1. The changeling master can choose to reclaim this glamour whenever they want using an Instant action. The servitor instantly decomposes into the materials it was made from and the point of glamour returns to the changeling.
Cost: 1 Glamour per point of the servitor’s Health
Roll: Dexterity + Crafts
Action: Extended (interval 1 day, target is servitor’s health)
Catch: The changeling sacrifices a beloved pet to create their servitor.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Instead of creating a servitor, the changeling creates a fiend. The creature is immediately finished and the changeling’s glamour pool is not reduced. The creature is not under the changeling’s control, and will do everything it can to first escape the changeling’s grasp, and then wreak havoc.
Failure: The changeling makes no progress.
Success: The changeling makes progress toward creating the servitor.
Exceptional Success: Besides making great progress, some part of the servitor is improved. It gains a single specialty in a skill of the changeling’s choice. Only one specialty may be gained in this manner.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The changeling knows at least the first clause of the Contracts of Fang and Talon for the servitor’s species |
| -1 | The materials used for the servitor’s body are unrelated to its species’ habitat |
Choosing who lives and who dies is, to some, the ultimate kind of control over Fate. Such control is especially tempting to those who have lost friends and lovers in the past, whether to the whims of Arcadia or to the cruel realities of the human world. Returning from death is practically unheard of outside of Arcadia, and imitating that deathless beauty violates the natural order of life that most changelings rely upon for their sanity. Using this clause is a Clarity 3 breaking point.
A changeling with this clause can bring a person back from the brink of death, but only if they can reach them immediately. No amount of power will bring back a dead friend after even a handful of seconds. If the person does come back, they are somehow different than before. The exact changes vary, but something feels off about them to friends and family. Perhaps something of their inner self has been lost, like a Fetch. Or, it may be that the soul which was grabbed back isn’t truly theirs, or that the magic of the contract created something entirely new to stuff into their body. The fear of some Unknown in the guise of a friend prevents most changelings from approaching this clause, but much more monsterous acts have seemed good in the teeth of winter’s sorrow.
Unlike other contracts, the Glamour for this clause cannot be payed out over multiple rounds. If the changeling can’t manage the entire cost at once, they can’t invoke the clause.
Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Glamour per round after death + 1 Willpower dot
Roll: Occult + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling personally killed the person they are attempting to bring back to life. The victim cannot have died more than 20 seconds ago (approx. 7 rounds). The Willpower dot must still be payed.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The underworld seeps into the changeling even as their magic fails them. They must resist gaining a new Minor derangement.
Failure: The person remains dead.
Success: The changeling reaches through the veil and tears the dead man’s soul back from the gates of the underworld. The target’s last health box is downgraded to Lethal damage and they are considered stabilized, but they must immediately make a check against gaining a new Severe derangement.
Exceptional Success: As a Success, but the person only has to check against gaining a new Minor derangement.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The deceased was pledgebound to protect the changeling |
Buddhists have long observed many kinds of pride in individuals. These contracts tap into those manifestations of pride, using them both to improve and to denegrate another.
Contracts of the Royal Self are affinity contracts for both Radiant and Shadow courts.
Everyone knows what they’re good at and takes pride in that knowledge, though some hide it deep within themselves. The changeling with this clause can see the pride in a nearby person and learn about their strengths.
Prerequisite: None
Cost: 1 Glamour
Roll: Wits + Wyrd - Subject’s Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The subject is currently using a skill for which the changeling has a specialization.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling comes away with a false impression of her subject’s abilities. The next time she significantly interacts with that subject, she suffers a -1 penalty on all Social skill checks made against them.
Failure: The changeling learns nothing about her subject.
Success: The changeling learns the name of the skill in which her subject has the most dots. If there are multiple skills with that high rating, the one learned is random. Successive uses of this contract can reveal those other tied skills.
This clause does not reveal Adroitness bonuses from pledges, so it is less reliable when used on changelings.
Exceptional Success: The changeling gains some extra insight into her subject and benefits from a +1 bonus on the next Manipulation roll she makes against them.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The changeling spends time helping the subject in some endeavor |
| -2 | The subject suffers from narcissism |
Radiant Courtiers are often excellent teachers in their field, and this clause is one reason. It grants the changeling an unwavering, critical eye and lets her catch her pupil’s mistakes almost before they happen.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) • or Mantle (Shadow) • or Court Goodwill (Radiant) •••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Composure + Expression + Radiant Mantle
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling is providing instruction to fulfill a pledge.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s judgment is clouded. They suffer a -3 penalty on any roll for teaching others, or to Investigation if she is not teaching.
Failure: The changeling experiences no effect.
Success: The mistakes and irregularities of the world and of her pupils stand out vividly to the changeling. She receives a +2 bonus to any roll used for teaching others as she can easily see the flaws in their work. She also gains this bonus to to Investigation. The bonus lasts for the scene.
Exceptional Success: The bonus increases to +4.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +1 | The changeling is teaching in a well-appointed space |
| -1 | The changeling is teaching with an Improvised area and equipment |
| -1 | The changeling is not giving instruction |
The changeling suffuses their victim with so much pride that even their faults feel advantageous. The victim is socially ostracized, but draws some perverse strength from being an outcast.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) •• or Mantle (Shadow) •• or Court Goodwill (Radiant) ••••
Cost: 2 Glamour
Roll: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Radiant Mantle - victim’s Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The victim recently succeeded at an important task.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s own pride turns back upon her, imposing a -4 penalty to all Social rolls for the scene.
Failure: The victim is unaffected.
Success: The victim is exceedingly proud of everything they do in the remainder of the scene, flaunting and preening for all to see. They claim everything as a great success, regardless of whether it is an accomplishment or a failure. This behavior alienates everyone around them, and they suffer a penalty to all Social rolls equal to half the successes the changeling rolled on activating the contract, rounded up.
This alienation turns the victim’s efforts inward, and while it gives them the chance to accomplish great things, those successes are almost guaranteed to be lost in the cacophony of their own bragging. While Unfounded Pride is active, the threshold for an exceptional success is reduced to 4 successes for any roll the victim makes that involves a skill specialty.
Exceptional Success: Within the next 24 hours, the changeling can summon another prideful episode in her victim for free.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The victim suffers from Megalomania |
| +1 | The victim suffers from Narcissism |
| +1 | The victim has the Vice of Pride |
| -1 | The victim is a changeling in Shadow Court |
Radiant courtiers know better than most that great skill in one area does not make you an expert anywhere else, but sometimes it’s enough to let you fake it. This clause allows a courtier to exploit her expertise in order to appear competent at other tasks.
The changeling must describe the action they wish to replace and what skill they want to use instead. The replacement skill has to make at least some sense to the other players and to the storyteller. The activation roll for the contract then becomes that action’s original roll. Activation does not benefit from tools or circumstances, as those are applied to the new skill roll.
The Great Pretend is of limited use for extended tests, since each activation only benefits a single roll. It cannot be used to replace the rolls needed to activate other contracts, nor can it be used on rolls which do not involve a skill.
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) ••• or Mantle (Shadow) ••• or Court Goodwill (Radiant) •••••
Cost: 3 Glamour
Roll: Varies (Action’s original roll)
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The changeling uses this contract to save face.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The desired action is not affected and the changeling suffers a -3 penalty for the rest of the scene to the skill they tried to use in its stead.
Failure: No effect.
Success: The changeling is able to substitute a different skill for the designated action. Any tools which would grant a bonus to the original roll instead give that benefit to the new skill, and any Adroitness bonuses or other bonus dice tied to the new skill apply as well.
Exceptional Success: The changeling’s fakery is so good that she gains a +1 bonus to the action’s original skill for the rest of the scene.
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|---|
| +2 | The changeling has zero dots in the original skill |
| -1 | The changeling has 3 or more dots in the original skill |
theme could be the pride of thinking “me” and “myself” while focusing on what makes one an individual: Form, feeling, perception, mental constructions, and consciousnesses
Make target reviled. “Pride goes before the fall”
Reckless action in pursuit of pride.
Near immunity to emotional attacks, complete certainty in oneself
Prerequisite: Mantle (Radiant) •••• or Mantle (Shadow) ••••
Cost:
Roll: Manipulation + Socialize + Mantle (Radiant or Shadow) vs. Y
Action:
Catch:
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure:
Failure:
Success:
Exceptional Success:
Suggested Modifiers:
| Modifier | Situation |
|---|