Evoke The Ancient
Clay
Whisper
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
This Charm allows a ghost’s whispered
voice to be heard in the portion of the living world that corresponds to his
location in the Underworld. The ghost must literally whisper as he uses this
ability — if he speaks at normal volume, those near him in the lands of the
dead hear him normally, but those in the living world do not. The ghost’s whispers
can be heard clearly within one yard of his location. A successful Perception +
Awareness roll must be made for those within 10 yards to hear the whispers, and
an additional success must be achieved for every 10 yards distance for anyone
further away.
Marsh Light
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Whisper
Marsh Light allows a ghost to create a
light or a small group of lights in the living world in the spot corresponding to
her current location in the Underworld. The light or lights must form simple
shapes and can only move with the ghost.
The lights often pique the curiosity of
the living. Players of living creatures who see the lights and aren’t actively
engaged in something they consider to be important (combat, critical craftwork,
healing a friend, etc.) must make a successful Conviction roll for their
characters, or they spend a turn considering the lights. Living creatures or
spirits with an Essence higher than the ghost’s are immune to this effect.
Sweet Winsome Light
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One minute per success
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Marsh Light
Sweet Winsome Light creates a beautiful
bobbing light that attracts all who see it. Ghosts use this Arcanos to lure
their prey — or their enemies — to their doom. The light dances in the wind,
eternally just five or ten yards out of reach, and it appears to be a
traveler’s torch or a glowing talisman. The Sweet Winsome Light can be created
within 20 yards of the ghost’s current location or (for an additional mote of
Essence) at the spot in Creation corresponding to the ghost’s current location
in the Underworld.
To create the light, the ghost’s player
rolls Charisma + Occult, and it lasts for one minute per success. The light
attracts all who see it. Animals that notice it automatically move toward it
(though they don’t charge with all their will — their handlers or riders may
resist the Arcanos with standard Ride feats if they can keep their own heads
about them). Living beings (even Exalted) resist the Sweet Winsome Light with a
Conviction roll. For each turn that the light is visible, the target’s player must
get at least one success on the Conviction roll, or the target moves toward it
at his best possible speed. A spent point of Willpower negates the effect of
the Sweet Winsome Light for a full minute.
Tinker’s Body
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Marsh Light
A ghost using Tinker’s Body can assemble a
patchwork body for himself in the living world out of nearby scraps, trash and
trinkets. The ghost remains intangible but is able to motivate the collection
of objects and feel through the Tinker’s Body as though it was his own flesh and
blood — at least to some extent. The ghost cannot speak through the Tinker’s
Body, though he can clap, stomp and make similar gross-motor sorts of sounds.
The ghost loses two dice from all Social dice pools while “wearing” the
Tinker’s Body — a penalty that may be reduced if the ghost’s player succeeds in
an appropriate Craft roll for his character to fabricate a suitably expressive face.
The ghost’s Mental Attributes are unchanged in the Tinker’s Body, while his
Physical Attributes depend on the composition of the body.
The Tinker’s Body gets one dot in each of
the three Physical Attributes, and the ghost gets an additional four dots to be
split between the Physical Attributes based on the objects out of which he
constructs the Tinker’s Body — a Tinker’s Body made of twine and straw may have
a Dexterity of ••••• and Strength and Stamina of • each, while one made of
loose brick and stone may have a Dexterity of • and Strength and Stamina of •••
each. The Tinker’s Body is only a shell; it has four health levels
(-0/-1/-2/-4). Wound penalties represent bits of the body being knocked off or otherwise
destroyed, rather than pain and shock.
Sleeper’s Caul
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Marsh Light
Sleeper’s Caul enables a ghost to make a
static solid body in the land of the living. This body is not truly the ghost’s
own body; it is a shell, and even if it is destroyed, the ghost remains
unharmed. The Sleeper’s Caul has a Strength and Dexterity of 0; it cannot move.
Its Stamina is equal to the ghost’s Stamina. The Sleeper’s Caul can hear, speak
and see (even blink and move its eyes). The ghost has a sense of touch, even if
it cannot move, so it does feel pain.
The Sleeper’s Caul has three health levels
(no wound penalties apply, since the body can never perform actions).
Embody
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 2
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Sleeper’s Caul
Embody allows a ghost who is disembodied
in the material world to create himself a temporary body out of Essence. This
body takes the ghost’s likeness (which may not be exactly the same as his
appearance in life!). The meat-body that the ghost pulls together with Embody
is not a fully functional body by comparison to the ghost’s normal abilities in
the Underworld, a shadowland or during Calibration. The ghost has its normal
Intelligence, Wits and Social Attributes while in this temporary body, but as
an improvised bag of flesh, its other Attributes are all reduced by two dots
(to minimum of •). The meat-body has four health levels (-0/-1/-2/-4), and the
ghost really does feel the pain of any wounds it takes — and it is obviously
not well suited for combat.
Manifest The Dark
Steed
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Embody
This Arcanos allows a ghost to bring a
single ghost animal into a manifest form when he manifests. He must be touching
the animal to do so. The animal retains all of its Attributes, Abilities, soak
and health levels. Other animals of its species will recognize it to be strange
and shy away from it. The ghost animal returns to incorporeal ghost form at the
end of the scene — or sooner than that, if the ghost using this Arcanos ends
his manifestation before the end of the scene.
Birth The Warrior
Form
Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Five minutes per success
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Embody
Birth the Warrior Form allows the ghost to
use his Essence and Willpower to create a body that is prepared for combat —
the ghost also creates temporary armor and weapons that manifest in the living
world. The player should roll Valor + Occult to create the body, and for each success,
the Warrior Form lasts for five minutes. This body takes the ghost’s likeness
and has his full Attributes. The Warrior Form also has the ghost’s full health
levels. Additionally, the ghost may fabricate any single nonmagical weapon and
single nonmagical set of armor, each of whose Resources cost is less than or
equal to his Essence. For instance, if the ghost’s Essence is 3, he may create
a great sword and a chain hauberk, but not plate-and-chain. The ghost may
dissolve the Warrior Form at any time before the end of the Charm’s rolled
duration, in which case, the Warrior Form is considered to have ended. When the
Charm ends, the armor and weapon created by it dissolve along with the Warrior
Form.
Birth The Perfected
Master
Cost: 20 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Five minutes per success
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 2
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Embody
Ghosts exist outside of the formal
strictures of Creation. The body that a ghost creates for himself does not have
to match the characteristics of his dead flesh, if he knows Birth the Perfected
Master. Birth the Perfected Master creates a meat-body like Embody, except that
it has the ghost’s full Ability scores. The flesh that Birth the Perfected
Master creates reflects the ghost’s idealized self-image. The ghost may split
six dots among the following Attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and
Appearance.
This body is created stark naked, and it
lasts for five minutes for each success that the player achieves on a Valor +
Occult roll.
Unending Rebirth
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One turn per success
Type: Simple
Minimum Valor: 4
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite
Charms: Birth the Warrior
Form, Birth the Perfected Master
The ghost experiences his first birth in
Creation, and his second birth comes when he enters the Underworld as one of
the Restless Dead. This Arcanos allows the ghost to flicker back and forth
between living and ghostly forms.
Use of this Charm does not permit a
ghost to take on a flesh form — in order to do that, he must use Materialize, Weighted
With the Anchor of Flesh or one of the other Arcanoi in this tree. However, once
manifest in a physical form, Unending Rebirth allows him to switch from
immaterial to physical and back.
The ghost can only activate this Charm
once he is manifested, and it requires a Wits + Occult roll. If that roll succeeds,
he may change back and forth from manifest to immaterial as he wishes until the
duration of Unending Rebirth (or his manifestation Charm) expires. Each switch from
flesh to ghost or back requires 1 mote of Essence and is a simple action. A
“switch” of this nature does not terminate a manifestation Arcanos.
For Example: The long-dead Master Cotep,
manifest to visit his namesake in a village in the South, finds himself surrounded
by angry villagers. He is already manifest in Creation. Cotep spends 8 motes
and 1 Willpower (and his player rolls Wits + Occult) to activate Unending
Rebirth, and he becomes immaterial. He runs through the wall of his namesake’s
hut and past his foes. The next turn, he spends another mote to rematerialize
and fight on his own terms. A few turns later, things are going badly, so he spends
another mote to dematerialize and run for safety.
Conjure The Defeated
Vessel
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One hour per success
Type: Simple
Minimum
Conviction: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Pole the Black
Depths, Tinker’s Body
Conjure the Defeated Vessel allows a ghost
to bring a single ship, regardless of size, from the Underworld into Creation.
Ordinarily, a ship crossing into Creation from a shadowland becomes intangible,
just as ghosts do. Conjure the Defeated Vessel is used once the ship has
entered the physical realm, and it makes the boat fully physical. The ghost’s
player must roll Intelligence + Sail, and the boat remains fully physical for
one hour per success. The ghost may spend additional Essence and his player
reroll the Charm’s duration at any time — the duration of Conjure the Defeated
Vessel is measured from that point onward and uses the new roll (in other
words, if the Arcanos still has three hours duration left to it and the ghost
spends 5 motes of Essence and his player rerolls, getting four successes, the
boat will stay physical for another four hours, not seven). Essence spent
activating this Charm is committed until the effect’s duration expires, so
ghosts will be drained of Essence if they attempt to maintain it overlong.
The ship’s Traits are all just as they
would be in the Underworld (in other words, the same as any other boat of the
same type and materials in Creation). It is considered to be intact (despite
any appearances to the contrary) and has all its health levels (unless it
suffers from unrepaired damage from the Underworld, in which case, it retains
that damage). Once so manifested, the boat remains physical until its pilot or
the ghost using this Arcanos becomes incorporeal again. The boat is blasted to
ash and dust by direct sunlight (though if it stays in caves, travels only when
it’s overcast or is shrouded by fog, it can survive until the Charm’s duration
expires).
Sunken Admiral Technique
Cost: 8 motes per boat, 2 Willpower
Duration: One hour per success
Type: Simple
Minimum
Conviction: 4
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite
Charms: Conjure the Defeated
Vessel
While Conjure the Defeated Vessel enables
a boat’s pilot to make that single vessel manifest in Creation, Sunken Admiral
Technique lets a lone ghost pull every boat within sight into Creation — within
the limitations of his Essence. The ghost’s player rolls Manipulation + Sail,
and the ghost spends his Essence. For every success, the fleet can remain in
Creation for one hour. As with Conjure the Defeated Vessel, each boat retains
its full Traits in Creation. Its weapons work normally, and its hull is
considered to be whole even if it has massive ancient rents in its side.
Unconscious Speech
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: One turn
Type: Simple
Minimum
Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
This simple art allows an incorporeal
ghost in the material world to sneak words out through the mouth of a living
person. The ghost must “touch” the target and spends a mote of Essence, and his
player rolls the ghost’s Dexterity + Expression. If he succeeds, the target
involuntarily says what the ghost intended him to say — one word for every
success achieved. The target does not immediately realize that she is speaking
at all, but she can figure it out by her player succeeding at an Intelligence +
Occult roll after someone around the character points out that she said words she
doesn’t remember speaking. A conscious target who is aware that a ghost is
manipulating her can resist such manipulation for the scene by spending a
Willpower. If the target wishes to allow the ghost to speak through her, the
ghost must spend 1 mote of Essence per sentence but no roll needs to be made.