[London: World of Darkness]

Mental Feats These systems cover tasks involving the three Mental Attributes (Perception, Intelligence and Wits), as well as tasks using the Virtues, Humanity and Willpower. Mental tests can provide you with information about things your character knows but you, the player, don't. Still, you should depend on your creativity when solving problems - not on die rolling.

Academic Knowledge

[Intelligence + Academics]: Not all conflicts are fought with guns or high technology. When you are trying to win the war for reality, a knowledge of history, philosophy and literature can also be vitally important. When confronted with an academic question, characters with one or more dots in Academics are assumed to know the basics of history and literature. They know who wrote Moby Dick, and when the Constitution was signed. For anything more complex, you must roll. Reasonably common knowledge has a difficulty of 3 or 4, while knowing the composer of an obscure 16th century folk -song or the major exploits of Sir Thomas Moore's eldest grandchild might have a difficulty of 8 or 9. A single success give the character basic knowledge of the question. Three or more successes provides both detailed knowledge of the subject and knowledge of a number of books or web sites that provide corroborating information. Note your character could perform an extended task by sifting through knowledge, ruminating on facts and reaching a conclusion through logic or insight.

Building Devices

[Intelligence + Technology]: Building a device from scratch is quite difficult, but it can also be highly rewarding. Players of characters who want to actually create a device from scratch much make a Intelligence + Technology roll. In almost all cases, this roll is performed as an extended task. If the device is one of which a design already exists, then merely duplicating it requires that the player make an appropriate roll to learn more about it. Highly complex and secret devices like military supercomputers or guided missiles usually require that the character obtain this data illegally. Simple devices like ultra-light planes, clocks, or radio receivers do not require this research since most competent inventors are assumed to already know how such devices function. Research of this sort is generally a separate task previous to the building of the actual device, of course. Actually constructing a device requires that the character have the proper tools and parts. While a truly brilliant inventor might be able to make an ultra-light plane out of coat hangers, duct tape and a lawn-mower engine, doing so is far from easy. In all cases, the character is assumed to actually build the device from scratch. Merely assembling a device from a kit which includes all of the necessary parts is much easier (the same difficulty as jury-rigging a device, except that the result is fully functional).

Device	Difficulty	# of Successes
Simple Mechanical or Electric device	4	2
Simple Electronic device (radio, tape player)	5	3
Complex mechanical or electric device (automobile, complex clockwork device)	6	5
Personal computers or other complex electronic devices	7	10
Very large, extremely complex device (mainframe computer, jet fighter)	8	20
Complex experimental prototypes (Unusual and Extraordinary Devices)	9	30

As with repairing or improving a device, it is also possible to jury-rig an invention. Once again, jury-rigging reduces the difficulty of the rolls by two and halves the number of successes required (round up). Jury-rigged devices will fail after a scene or two. In general, once such a device has failed, its remains are useless junk that cannot be salvaged easily for another purpose.

Creation

[Variable]: When trying to create something, a variety of rolls can be used, depending on just what it is the character wishes to create. Perception (to come up with a subject worthy of expression) + Expression or Crafts (to capture the feeling in an artistic medium) is a common roll. In all cases, the player must decide the general parameters of what she wants her character to create (a haiku about roses, a portrait of the prince, an epigram for the christening of a new Elysium site). The difficulty is variable, depending on the nature of the creation (it's easier to write a limerick than a villanelle). The number of successes governs the quality of the creation: With one success, the character creates a mediocre, uninspired but not terrible work, while with five successes the character creates a literary or artistic masterpiece. Some works (novels, large sculptures) might require extended success rolls. On a botch, the character creates the greatest work ever known (of course, everyone else who sees it immediately realizes what crap it actually is).

Cryptography

[Intelligence + Linguistics or Computer]: Today there are two methods of deciphering codes: by hand and by computer. Written texts can be deciphered in either fashion, but in order to use a computer, you must enter the text first. Computer records that are kept in code can also be decoded in either fashion. However, typical computer encryption and passwords are handled using the Hacking rules. Depending on the preferred method, decoding is accomplished using an Intelligence + Linguistics or an Intelligence + Computer roll. Typically, the difficulty of these rolls lies between 8 and 10. Using a Trinary, mainframe or supercomputer lowers the difficulty of computer translation by one or two, while working with a complex mathematical cipher with nothing more than a pencil and a ream of paper may push the difficulty even higher. Cryptography is an extended task, with each roll cracking more of the code. Any botch rolled during this process is not obvious until the end, when nonsense results.
The primary advantage of using a computer is that it speeds up cryptography greatly. When breaking a code by hand, days, weeks or months of game time may pass between when the player makes rolls out of game. Using a computer generally reduces the game time between rolls to minutes, hours or days. The use of a particularly powerful computer reduces this time even more. Extremely complex computer codes can, of course, fight against this advantage. Codes based on schemes like large prime-number encryption may still require weeks or months of mainframe time to solve, and such complex computer codes are practically unsolvable by hand.
Intuition and puzzlework can play an important role in cryptography. You may use Wits + Enigmas to try to get a handle on a simple code; every two successes on such a supporting roll reduces the decryption difficulty of the subsequent task by one (to a maximum of three). Failure means that your character wastes time mulling the code over pointlessly, while a botch causes the first attempt at decoding to fail automatically (as your character approaches the code from the wrong conceptual direction). For some codes, intuition is really the only way to work � certain mathematical ciphers are non-reversible, and such codes can really only be guessed at.
Cryptography is also used in creating codes. Building a cipher is an extended task, and the code-maker can accumulate as many successes as desired. The total number of successes scored then indicates the number of successes required to break the code. Botching such an extended codecreation roll means that the character inserts an improper coding or screws up his notes, thus losing all the work accumulated. Creating a code is usually difficulty 5 � fairly easy.

Destroying Devices

[Perception + Technology]: For every device that a mad scientist invents, there's a hero or villain who needs to destroy it. Whether the character is trying to disable a speeding car or destroy a dangerous robot, having a high Technology rating allows the character to find the weak points of any complex device and target them effectively. All such rolls involve Perception + Technology. While normally performed as a single quick roll, finding a device's weak points can also be performed as an extended task, if the character has 10 minutes or more to examine the device in question carefully. Success in this roll allows the character to find a critical location on the device. Any attack on this location that penetrates the device's armor will disable or destroy the device. To find such a weak point, the character must take at least one full turn to examine or observe the device.

Device	Difficulty
Simple mechanical or electric device	8
Simple electronic device (radio, tape player)	7
Complex mechanical or electric device (automobile, complex clockwork device)	6
Personal computers or other complex electronic devices	5
Very large, extremely complex device (mainframe computer, jet fighter)	4
Complex experimental prototypes (unusual and extraordinary devices)	3
Add +1 or even +2 to this number if the device is built to be extremely sturdy.

Degree of Damage	# of Successes
Minor damage that impairs the device severely until simple repairs are made	1
Minor damage that stops the device completely until minor repairs are made	3
Device is rendered non-funct ional until one or more critical parts are replaced	5
Device is destroyed and may explode (only if the device can explode)	8

Detecting the Supernatural

[Perception + Awareness]: Detecting nearby Nodes, vampires or shapeshifters is somewhat more difficult, and detecting hunters, faeries and especially ghosts is quite difficult (minimum difficulty of 8). In all cases, a single success reveals the presence of something odd nearby, while multiple successes might provide further information. If your character has enough time, you can make an extended Awareness roll. A failure on an Awareness roll means that no particular information is gained, while a botch may cause a character to become firmly convinced that a perfectly mundane target is terribly dangerous or odd, or vice versa.

Foraging

[Intelligence + Survival]: While unprepared modern urbanites can have severe problems if caught out in the wilderness without proper equipment, someone who knows what she's doing can normally find food, water and adequate shelter. A normal Intelligence + Survival roll allows a character to find any of the above, in quantities adequate for one person, within an hour or two. Additional successes are required for each additional untrained person the character aids. If necessary, this roll can be made an extended task, but doing so will leave the character little time for other endeavors. Especially rich landscapes or bountiful seasons like summer or late spring reduce the difficulty of this roll. Difficult environments like deserts or the arctic, and poor weather can raise the difficulty of such tests significantly. Survival in a verdant temperate forest in the late spring might have a difficulty of only 4, while a similar roll in the heart of the Sahara desert would have a difficulty of at least 9. Botching this roll indicates that the character falls, eats something poisonous or otherwise suffers from exposure or the harshness of the wilderness, typically taking some amount of damage (determined by the Storyteller).

Fortune-Telling

[Perception + Awareness]: Any character with the Awareness sk ill may employ some means of divination like Tarot cards, a pendulum or even a crystal ball. Doing so typically takes a short time, depending on the medium. At the conclusion, roll Perception + Awareness. Fortune-telling applies only to specific questions about single events, such as a character wondering if one of her companions is secretly a traitor, or which gift a dear friend would appreciate most. All questions asked must have relatively simple answers. The answers provided by fortune-telling usually consist of yes, no or maybe, and they merely indicate whether the event in question is likely or unlikely. The difficulty of all fortune-telling rolls are at least 8, with difficult and complex questions raising the difficulty to 9 or 10. One usually needs at least three successes to obtain a meaningful response. Additional successes provide slightly more information. A failure provides no information, while a botch provides an incorrect answer. Additional questions can be asked to clarify an answer, but each additional question raises the difficulty of this roll by one. Divination never provides definitive or detailed answers, but it proves useful when a character has no other means of finding an answer. Furthermore, while divination always requires props and a minimum of several turns of effort.

Hacking

[Intelligence/Wits + Computer]: Anyone with computer skills can perform most ordinary, legitimate computer applications. However, breaking into other people's computers is usually quite difficult. The accompanying chart details the time and difficulty levels for hacking various systems. All hacking rolls use Intelligence (for long-term hacking) or Wits (for fast response) + Computer. A failure on this roll indicates that the hacker cannot gain access to the system, while a botch means that the hacking has been detected � which often means that a system operator on the other end will trace the hacker's location immediately. Success means that the hacker actually penetrated the system. The number of successes that you obtain on a hacking roll is the total number of dice you can use while working on the system. Even if a hacker has a Intelligence + Computer total of 9 dice, if he only rolls two successes he can only use two of these dice while inside the system. Hacking rolls can be made extended tasks, but doing so increases the risk since the hacker is working with the system for longer time.
Note that it's possible to try to "upgrade access" once the hacker is inside the system, by putting additional successes toward the access limit. However, this action suffers a difficulty penalty of one each time you roll to upgrade access. If you didn't find the backdoors and passwords right off, it takes progressively more work to think of better ones, after all.
Once inside the system, you must make further rolls to alter programs or to locate the exact file desired. Finding a file containing information on a specific subject is normally difficulty 6. If the hacker knows all or part of the actual name and location of this file, the difficulty reduces substantially, by up to a maximum of three. Multiple successes reveal multiple files on the same subject (if multiple files exist), or pinpoint the file exactly. Sorting though a computer for a correlation between various disparate bits of data or other complex and demanding tasks increases the difficulty. Actually altering programs on the fly is tough; the hacker must find the proper data, dive into it and (hopefully with the proper editing programs) figure it out and manipulate it. Aside from uploading or downloading information, a hacker's options are limited unless he wants to try runtime data alteration, which generally requires yet another separate extended success roll. Truly complex maneuvers are best left to magic. Again, a botch on any of these rolls reveals the presence of a hacker to the system operator. If a hacker is discovered, all hacking rolls become resisted rolls between the hacker and the system operator (which can be a good thing if the sysop is incompetent...). If the system operator ever accumulates five successes in this resisted test, the hacker is ejected and the sysop may make another roll to find any backdoors the hacker left. The difficulty and number of successes required varies according to the hacker's precautions and skills. If the hacker wins by five or more successes, she is fully inside the system (even if she was not inside before), and she may obtain additional data before the sysop can attempt to eject her again. Such rolls suffer from the usual limit of the hacker's initial success, though, due to limits on access. Sysops in the secure systems used by large corporations or the government look for hackers regularly. Once every 4 to 12 hours, (depending on the security level of the system) a sweep may occur. The Storyteller rolls the sysop's Intelligence + Computer, and checks successes against a difficulty of the hacker's Intelligence + Computer. In some highly secure systems used by the military, the intelligence community or the Technocracy, system operators look for hackers continually, and sweeps occur as often as once an hour. Once a hacker has been detected, the sysop may either attempt to eject him, or wait to see what he does. It's also possible for a sysop to send a trace program or a nasty virus after the hacker. Although doing so is usually illegal, it's certainly a possible threat to hackers in very secure or secret systems. In this case, the sysop is essentially "hacking the hacker," but he doesn't need to roll to gain access (the hacker's already inside the sysop's system, after all). In fact, he could very well fire a program bomb right down the line into an unsuspecting hacker's core. Thankfully, such programs can only wipe information or reprogram the computer, or very rarely cause the computer to do something that physically damages itself.

System	Hours	Difficulty
Palmtop	1	5
Laptop or PC	2	6
Mini or small network	3	7
Mainframe or large network	4	8
Supercomputer	5	9
Trinary Computer	+/-2	+/-1
Security Software	+1/-3	+1/-3
Sloppy Filing	+1/-3	+1/-3
Cracking Software	-1/-3	-1/-3
Social Engineering	-1/-3	-1/-3
Backdoor	-4	-2

Improving Devices

[Intelligence + Technology]: Everyone wants a car that can go faster or a computer with more processing power. If you don't have the contacts or the money to pay someone else to soup up your gear, then you'll need to do it yourself! Minor or temporary improvements are often relatively easy. However, making any significant, permanent improvement to a device requires significant work, especially if the device is already well made.

Inventing

[Intelligence + Science]: Creating completely new devices is a very complex task. Before you can even attempt an inventing roll, you must first devise a concept for a device and make an Intelligence + Science roll to reflect your character's development and refinement of the theory. Remember that no amount of success will allow the character to violate known physical laws without the use of magic! Perpetual motion machines, teleportation booths and antigravity fliers are simply impossible to invent using mundane means. However, creating the fastest computer ever made, or making a car controlled by the driver's thought patterns, are merely extraordinarily difficult, not impossible.

Type of Device	Difficulty
Cheap and poorly made	5
Average commercial quality	6
Expensive and well-made	7
Best commercial quality	8
Custom-made	9
Cutting-edge prototype (unusual and extraordinary devices)	10

Degree of Improvement	# of Successes
Minor (up to 20%) improvements in speed or other easily modified characteristics	5
Major (50-100%) improvements in some easily modified characteristics	10
Adding new capabilities to the device	20

Invention	Difficulty	# of Successes
A moderately improved version of an existing cutting-edge device	8	5
A significantly improved version of an existing cutting-edge device	9	10
A device based on completely new and revolutionary principles like the first laser or transistor	10	20

Science rolls for inventing things are always extended tasks, and without magical aid, many inventions require weeks, months or even years between rolls as the inventor researches her new ideas. Also, once the theoretical work of inventing is done, the device must actually be built. As always, mages with a penchant for inventing rarely stick to purely mundane means when performing this research. Once you've succeeded in an invention task, you can use Building Devices or Creation (listed previously) for some guidelines on actually putting it together. Remember that the character must also get the parts from somewhere. If your device requires a supply of enriched plutonium, for example, you've got a whole set of stories cut out for you.

Investigation

[Perception + Investigation]: Any search for clues, evidence or hidden contraband involves Investigation. The Storyteller may add to the difficulty of investigations involving obscure clues or particularly well-concealed objects. One success reveals basic details, while multiple successes provide detailed information and may even allow deductions based on physical evidence. On a botch, obvious clues are missed or even destroyed accidentally.

Repair

[Dexterity/Perception + Crafts/Technology]: Depending on the precise specialty, the Crafts Skill allows for repairs of everything from pottery to automobile engines. Before repairing a device that's on the fritz, your character mustnidentify its problems (accomplished as a standard research roll; see below). The Storyteller then sets the difficulty of the repair roll, if any. This difficulty depends on the problems' severity, whether the proper tools or any replacement parts are on hand, and if adverse conditions exist. An inspired research roll may offset these factors somewhat. A simple tire change is difficulty 4, while rebuilding an entire engine might be difficulty 9. Basic repairs take at least a few turns to complete. More complex repairs are extended actions that last 10 minutes for each success needed. On a botch, your character may simply waste time and a new part, or may make the problem worse.

Device	Difficulty
Simple mechanical or electric device	4
Simple electronic device (radio, tape player	5
Complex mechanical or electric device (automobile, complex clockwork device)	6
Personal computers or other complex electronic devices	7
Very large, extremely complex device (mainframe computer, jet fighter)	8
Complex experimental prototypes (unusual and extraordinary devices)	9

Job	# of Successes
Minor damage (loose wire, flat tire)	1
Technical glitch	2
Electronic malfunctions	5
Moderate damage	5
Upgrades, installing replacement parts	10
Complete overhauls or rebuilds	20

Research

[Intelligence + Academics/Computer/Occult/Science/Research]: Research is performed when searching computer databases for historical facts, when looking for obscure references in ancient documents, or when trying to learn the true name of a Methuselah. In all cases, the number of successes achieved determines the amount of information discovered; one success gives you at least basic information, while extra successes provide more details. The Storyteller may assign a high difficulty for particularly obscure data. On a botch, your character may not find anything at all or may uncover completely erroneous information.

Surveillance

[Perception + Alertness, Perception + Technology or Dexterity + Stealth]: Watching or listening in on others can yield all sorts of useful information. However, the key is to do so in a discreet manner. Today there are two primary methods of performing such surveillance: either using your own eyes and ears, or using some form of surveillance technology like laser microphones, hidden cameras or the ever-popular bugs. Observing someone covertly through direct observation requires that a player make a Perception + Alertness roll. The difficulty and number of successes depends both on how far away the target is, and what sort of information the character is looking or listening for. Reading a newspaper headline across a room or listening in on a conversation might require a difficulty of 5, while overhearing a whispered conversation at the next table or noticing the details of a badge someone flashes from across a room could have a difficulty of 9. The number of successes scored determines exactly how much information the character receives. One success gives basic, vague information, three successes usually gives all the information the character was looking for, and more than three successes reveals additional useful information that the character didn't expect. Direct electronic surveillance using shotgun microphones or similar devices is handled in a manner similar to direct observation. The appropriate roll is Perception + Technology. The degree of information revealed by various numbers of successes is the same. However, the difficulty of the roll is determined by the particulars of the situation. Using a shotgun microphone or a laser microphone to listen to a clearly visible conversation in a nearby office building might only have a difficulty of 5. However, placing a bug in a large room so that it will pick up the conversation of people who will later wander around that room might have a difficulty as high as 9. Actually placing a bug on a person allows the character to pick up the location of the target and what the target is saying easily. However, it is best to avoid being noticed while placing a bug! Placing a bug in a discreet location requires a Dexterity + Stealth roll. This roll is a resisted roll against the target's Perception + Alertness if the target is not sufficiently distracted. The difficulty of placing a bug depends on your ingenuity. Walking up and patting the target's back normally has a difficulty of 5 and slipping it into a pocket would have a difficulty of 7. Placing adhesive on a bug and having the target walk on it would have a difficulty of 3, assuming that you can get the target to walk in the right place. Targets involved in loud arguments or other serious distractions would roll at a difficulty of 9. Targets who are a performing normal activities (like sitting and eating dinner) roll at a difficulty of 7, and targets who are suspicious and wary roll at a difficulty of 5. Success allows the character to place a bug without notice, failure alerts the target immediately that the character is attempting to do something odd, and a botch allows the target to see the bug itself clearly. If this roll succeeds, every success achieved also subtracts one success from any further Perception + Alertness rolls to notice the bug. Normally, the target's player does not make such rolls unless he has some reason to suspect that a bug has been placed. Note that electronic bug-detection devices can usually find normal bugs without any special rolls, as long as the operator knows what to look for.

Tracking

[Perception + Survival]: Unlike shadowing, tracking requires you to follow physical evidence to find a target. Discovering footprints, broken twigs, blood trails or other physical signs leads the tracker right to the subject. Following such a trail is a standard action; multiple successes provide extra information (subject's rate of speed, estimated weight, number of people followed). The quarry can cover her tracks through a successful Wits + Survival roll. Each success on this roll adds one to the difficulty of tracking her. Abnormal weather, poor tracking conditions (city streets, Elysium) and a shortage of time also adds to cracking difficulty. On a botch, your character not only loses the trail, but also destroys the physical signs of passage.