� Beastspeech
Forming the basis for the Beast Aptitude, Beastspeech is the ability to communicate with and understand animals. However, this is not a guaranteed ability; to be able to commune with the animal, the Nephilim must succeed on an Intelligence + Animal Ken roll (difficulty 7 for common animals, 8 for uncommon animals, and 9 for mythical creatures). The number of successes indicates how clearly the character can understand the particular animal. Note that a successful Beastspeech roll does not mean that the character can then proceed to order the animal around. Effects last until the end of the scene, and even if the Nephilim later encounters the same type of animal again, she must roll again.
�� Summon
Summon is similar to the Attraction power, Call of the Wild. However, it is much more specific, as the character with Summon may call upon a specific type of animal. All that is required is that the Nephilim has previously been successful in using Beastspeech with an animal of that kind. She must then roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7 for common animals, 8 for uncommon animals, and 9 for mythical creatures). The more successes gained, the more animals are Summoned, and the faster they get there. Note that some animals may take longer than others, due to movement rate, distance and ease of travel. Some animals may also refuse to enter certain areas, regardless of how many successes are rolled. Once Summoned, a successful Beastspeech roll must be made, should the Nephilim wish to speak with the animals.
��� Possession
Having mastered the basics of animal behaviour, the Nephilim may now attempt to place her own consciousness within a given animal, thus, in effect, �possessing� it. The character must first lock her gaze with that of the animal, and then spend 1 Vita and roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7, or 8 in the case of highly intelligent creatures). The number of successes determines how thoroughly the character overrides the animal�s spirit; fewer than three successes means the character must spend Willpower points to take any actions that directly violate the instincts of the animal in question. While the Nephilim is possessing the animal, her body remains lifeless, where she left it. Should anything irreversibly detrimental happen to her body, the character must spend 3 permanent Willpower points to totally take over the animal�s body, and eradicate its own spirit totally, or else the character�s mind will return to her own body instantly, whereupon she will immediately die. While possessing a creature, the Nephilim may not use any Aptitudes, not even mental ones. If the animal is killed, the character�s mind immediately returns to her own body.
���� Quirk
A safer way to gain some of the benefits of Possession is Quirk, in which the character may temporarily take on a mental characteristic or physical feature of a given animal, such as the hunting instinct of a wolf, or the sharp talons of an eagle. The character must have previously been successful with Beastspeech with an animal of the type in question. She must then spend 1 Vita, and roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). Effects last for 24 hours, or less if the Nephilim so desires. Should the character Botch on the roll, however, the effects are permanent. Characters should be wary with some uses of Quirk; suddenly growing the horns of a bull or the snarl of a lion could make some people very uneasy. Quirks are always relative to the Nephilim�s size, so if a character grew the wings of a blackbird, they would appear proportionately correct.
����� The Beast Within
The next natural step from both Possession and Quirk is to literally become the animal or creature in question. The character must have previously been successful with Beastspeech with an animal of the type in question. She must then spend 2 Vita, and roll Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). Effects last for up to 30 minutes per success, or less if the Nephilim so desires. Should the character Botch on the roll, however, the effects are permanent. While she is transformed in this way, she begins to be affected by the experience, so much so that she may continue to think and feel like the beast she has become even after returning to normal. This effect continues until the character spends a total of seven Willpower points, no more than one a day, to resist and finally overcome the animal nature. This should be roleplayed, although to a lessening degree as Willpower is spent.
����� � Spiderlegs
Spiderlegs allows the Nephilim to walk on walls and ceilings as though they were flat ground. Spiderlegs costs 1 Vita and requires a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 5); just one success is needed. The character may then walk on walls, ceilings and other non-horizontal surfaces with ease for the rest of the scene. Note however that if the surfaces are hazardous themselves this power does not offer any help with this; for example, a character walking up a glacier will still find it difficult to stop from slipping � and if she does slip, gravity will still drop her back to the bottom�
����� �� Multiple Shifts
An advancement on Quirk, Multiple Shifts allows a character to take on a number of different unrelated Quirks in the same turn; for example, a character might grow the claws of a tiger, the wings of a bat, the beak of a pelican and the snarl of a wolf. Each different Quirk costs 1 Vita, therefore the maximum number of Multiple Shifts is 5 per turn. After spending the power, the character must roll Stamina + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). The number of successes indicate how long the characteristics may last. Botching the roll makes all of the Quirks permanent.
1 One turn
2 One hour
3 One day
4 One week
5 One month
6+ One year
����� ��� Animal Network
Accessing an Animal Network can prove to be the most useful power any Aptitude can offer, for doing so can get the Nephilim information on almost anything, using the animals in her Network her own spies. Gaining initial access to an Animal Network requires that the character meet and speak with an animal, spend 1 Vita and roll Charisma + Animal Ken (difficulty 7, or 5 if the character has the Merit: Beast Affinity for the relevant animal). Just one success is required. The character will now have access to the knowledge and eyes of any animal of the type that the power was used on. However, she will need to make a Beastspeech roll each time she wishes to learn any information from a member of her Animal Network; in this case each success grants her one piece of information that she requests. Botching this roll severs the affinity with the Animal Network; she will now need to create a new one. Note that the character may not have an Animal Network with mythical creatures.
����� ���� Awaken the Old Ones
This power is a more advanced version of Summon, in that it can be used to summon any mythical creature with relative ease; the creature summoned will then be very amiable to the Nephilim, serving her and giving her information, so long as the character does not mistreat or otherwise anger the creature. Awaken the Old Ones costs 3 Vita and requires a Charisma + Animal Ken roll (difficulty 7); the number of successes scored indicates exactly how amiable the creature is to the character. The creature summoned will serve the Nephilim for up to the next 24 hours before leaving. However, if the character mistreats the creature, the amicability is lost, and the creature will turn on the dead Nephilim walking.
����� ����� Mythic Transformation
The Apparitions powers Mythic Creature and Make Real, when combined, makes the character using them transform into a mythical creature, but she retains her original profile. Mythic Transformation will transform the character�s form into that of any mythical creature, such as a dragon or a griffon, giving her all the Attributes, Abilities, Aptitudes and other powers of that creature, in addition to any she might have. Mythic Transformation costs 5 Vita and requires a Stamina + Animal Ken roll (difficulty 7). Just one success is required. The transformation will last for up to the end of the scene, but Botching the roll renders the transformation permanent.