Horror Rules

New Skill

Shroud (Cha)

Shroud represents your mastery of shadowcraft, allowing to twist and manipulate the darkness around you. As many horror abilities rely on ambient illumination, having a mastery of shadowcraft is one of the most foundational skills taught to young horrors. 

Shroud doesn't allow you to create darkness, but it allows you stretch and extend existing shadows, creating areas of gloom. 

In general terms, Spellcraft is used in checks specifically related to a horror's general mastery over their fear-based powers. All horrors start with 1 rank in Shroud.

Cloak (1 Action) 

You wrap yourself in your own shadow. You can make a Shroud check against your targets' Awareness defence. If you succeed, you are Concealed until the end of your turn. You can use this concealment to Hide from your targets.

Sculpt Shadows (1 Action)

You can mold and shape shadows in Close range, bending the darkness to your will. There must be shadows in the area for you to sculpt. You can increase or decrease the darkness in Close range by 1 step. This change reverts when you stop Concentrating on the darkness.

The DC for Sculpt shadows is as follows:

• Blinding Light: DC 25

• Bright Light: DC 20

• Light: DC 15

• Dim Light: DC 10

• Darkness: DC 15

You cannot use Sculpt Shadows on magical light or darkness.

Fear and House

All horrors incarnate a primordial fear. Over the centuries, these fears have become filtered through humanity's collective unconsciousness into certain archetypal forms.

When you create your horror, choose a fear that they are the incarnation of. This can be incredibly broad (claustrophobia, fear of loss, fear of the dark) or rather specific (fear of being betrayed by your friends, fear of being forgotten after you die). There is no restriction on what fear you incarnate, beyond common sense and GM discretion.

After you select a fear, choose a House to pledge allegiance to. The 30 Houses of the Horrors represent lenses through which humans process fear. If your fear is who you are, your House is how you share that with the world. Two horrors who incarnate similar fears, but are from two different houses will express their fear in different ways. For example, a horror of claustrophobia from the Forest of Fangs might choose to embody their fear by being the nimble predator, making their prey feel as if they were surrounded on all sides and unable to escape. Meanwhile, a horror of claustrophobia from the Nightmare Lantern might choose to embody their fear by hiding alternate routes and escapes, making their prey feel as if they were boxed in and stuck on a single, undesirable path.

In Secret Wars, there are 5 Houses you can choose from. If you wish to be aligned with one of the other 25 Houses, consult with your GM.

Monstrous Form

Horrors are primordial beasts, ripped straight from the darkest parts of humanity's collective unconsciousness. They are the thing that lurked just beyond the campfire, or outside the cave, eyes glinting in the darkness, waiting for a gap in our defences to slip through and make off with the weakest of us.

But horrors are more than just unthinking predators. They're people too, besouled creatures with free will and desires. These two forces exist in constant tension, and result in a horror's monstrous form.

Your horror has several forms. The first is their Veiled form, which is your character's human disguise they use to interact with the mundane world. There is also the Beast, the primordial monster that lurks at the heart of your horror, and is the source of your power. Both of these will be addressed later.

 Finally, there is your true form: the monster. This is the form you are most comfortable in, and is what you revert to if your shapeshifting is dispelled or your concentration is broken.

Building a Monster

Most horrors take their forms from the oldest sources of fear in the human psyche: other animals.

Pick one of the following types of animal to serve as the base for your monstrous form, and apply the appropriate modifiers:

• Common traits: Speed 1 Range, Size 3 (Small)

• Arachnid (Spider, scorpion, sun scorpion)

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Dex +1

  • Stealth +2

  • Speed: Climb 1/2 Range

  • Bonus Atavism: Toxic

• Bat

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Agi +1

  • Speed: Flight 1 Range

  • Bonus Sense: Hearing 1 Range

• Canine (Hound, fox, wolf)

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d8 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Str +1

  • Speed: 2 Range

  • Survival +2

  • Bouse Sense: Scent 1 Range

• Dragon

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Natural Weapon: Claw 1d4 slashing (unarmed, agile, finesse)

  • Str +1

  • Speed: Flight 1 Range

  • Bonus Atavism: Extra Limbs

• Feline (Leopard, lynx, panther)

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing (unarmed, finesse)

  • Natural Weapon: Claw 1d4 slashing (unarmed, agile, finesse)

  • Agi +1

  • Stealth +2

  • Speed: 2 Range

• Hyena

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d8 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Con +1

  • Speed: 2 Range

  • Intimidation +2

• Mustelid (Badger, wolverine, marten)

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d8 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Dex +1

  • Acrobatics +2

  • Speed: Burrow 1/2 Range, Climb 1/2 Range

Raptor (Eagle, hawk or owl)

• • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing  (unarmed, finesse)

  • Natural Weapon: Claw 1d4 slashing (unarmed, agile, finesse)

  • Agi +1

  • Speed: Flight 2 Range

• Rodent (Rat, mouse, porcupine)

  • Natural Weapon: Bite 1d6 piercing (unarmed, finesse)

  • Dex +1

  • Survival +2

  • Speed: 1 Range, Swim 1/2 Range

  • Bonus sense: Scent 1 Range

Once you've chosen your base monster form, you can alter your form to fit your Fear and your House. You are, after all, a monster, not some mundane animal. Perhaps your form is covered in thorns and spines. Perhaps your flesh or hide is peeled away at certain points, revealing the bones beneath. Perhaps chains or vines weave their way through your flesh. Perhaps part of your body is composed of grinding gears and hissing pistons. Your base animal serves only as a chassis for your monstrous form to be built atop of. The following are ideas you can expand on, based on your House:

• Dark City: Your form melds living flesh with strange machines. Perhaps a portion of your body is replaced by clockwork or other obviously artificial parts. Most members of the Technocracy have a brass eye embedded somewhere on their form, whether replacing one of their own eyes, or located somewhere else on their forms, such as the small of their back, their chest, or the tip of their tail. While the horror might not be able to see out of this eye, Big Brother, the Bogeyman of their House, can, ensuring that he can always watch his followers.

• Forest of Fangs: You blend plant and animal matter into your form. Perhaps a limb is composed of bark and vine. Perhaps you have horns that are made of gnarled branches. Or perhaps vines wend their way through your body.

• Hateful Sun: Your form is golden and regal. A part of your form is lightly to be golden in hue. You might also bear runes that evoke power or rulership tattooed to your form. These runes glow with golden light when you invoke your powers.

• Nightmare Lantern: Your form is covered with dark fur or feathers, allowing you to blend into the night. Many members are bioluminescent, their eyes and mouths glowing eerily in the dark. Jack o'lanterns and pumpkins are additional sources of inspiration, evoking the Bogeyman of the house, Jack O'Lantern.

• Obsidian Sands: Your form draws upon ash and flame for inspiration, and may involve flame-like patterns of fur, feather or scale. A portion of your form may even be horribly burnt, even charred down to the blackened bone. You may also possess a softly flickering flame somewhere on your body, most typically within your ribcage or between your horns.

Once you have settled on how you want your monstrous for to appear, select two atavisms. Atavisms represent monstrous enhancements to your form that you draw from humanity's ancetral nightmares. These include acidic bites, bones of metal, the ability to breathe fire, a larger form, and so on. 

You can purchase additional atavisms for 3 Experience. 

Note: so long as a horror has a pair of limbs, they are dexterous and capable of fine manipulation, equal to a human, complete with an opposable thumb or an equivalent. A monster that can be stopped by a closed door isn't that intimidating. 

Horror Abilities

Healing and Injuries

You can't keep a good monster down.

So long as a horror is well-fed, they have an incredible ability to bounce back from injuries. 

A horror can spend 1 point of Terror to heal 1d4+Cha Vitality Points as a single action.

Wounds cannot be healed through Terror, and require medical attention, magic, or simple time to repair.

Horrors reduced to 0 wounds do not die unless the final blow was dealt with an anathama. Otherwise, a horror explodes into a burst of shadow, only to reform out of the nearby darkness in a number of days equal to 28-their ranks in Shadow. This regeneration can be accelerated through certain rituals. 

Nightmares

Reality is naturally a scary place. Horrors know how to nudge it in the right ways to make it truly terrifying. Nightmares represent a horror's ability to twist reality in supernatural ways, thwarting their prey and bolstering their allies.

Horrors start with one nightmare chosen from their house's nightmares, in addition to two basic Nightmares possessed by all horrors: Flicker and  Under the Bed. Additional nightmares can be purchased for 3 experience if they are from your house's fear, and 4 experience if the nightmare is from beyond your House.

All nightmares have a Terror cost.

Senses

Horrors are creatures of shadow, the limnal spaces between night and day, between the city and the wilds, between the safety of home and the dangers that lurk outside. 

All horrors have low-light vision. Depending on their monstrous form, they might possess other senses as well. 

In addition, horrors, when using the Seek action, can sense those around them who are are suffering from the Frightened condition as if they had blindscence. This allows a horror to detect even  creatures who are hiding or invisible, so long as they are frightened. 

Supernal Creature

A horror is a supernal creature, hailing from one of the Earth's metaphysical mirrors. They are not native to the Mortal realm, and are composed primarily of aether--or dark matter--instead of the material of the living world. 

However, horrors derive their existence from humanity, and therefore suffer afflictions just like living creatures.

Horrors need to eat, breathe and sleep. A horror can force themselves to ignore these needs through sheer willpower for a few degrees longer than humans, because these needs are more psychological than physical, but a horror denied food will begin to starve, and a horror denied air will suffoicate. A horror can add their Spirit modifier to their Constitution modifier number of rounds they can hold their breath, and checks to avoid the effects of starvation and dehydration. 

Unlike a normal human, a horror only needs 4 hours of sleep a day to benefit from a full period of rest.

Likewise, horrors are vulnerable to the same poisons and diseases as humans.

In addition to their regular requirements, every day upon waking from their rest, a horror consumes 1d4 points of Terror. A horror who does not have sufficient terror instead takes the missing points as non-lethal damage. 

A horror is vulnerable to banishment and exorcism rituals. A horror who is banished or exorcized is shunted into the Twilight. However, this is especially ineffective on horrors given their innate ability to slip through gaps in reality.

Terror

Though a horror is a living being, their ties to the Pit and the forces of entropy mean their anima is naturally weak and fading. However, through mortal terror, a horror can re-energize their anima, and perform supernatural acts.

Terror represents a secondary resource, in addition to Anima. A horror has a Terror pool (TP) equal to the following equation:

TP=4+Spirit Modifier+Ranks in Shadow+Feat bonus

Terror can be spent to activate many of a horror's innate abilities. 

A horror can also convert Terror into Anima by taking a 1 action. For every point of Terror a horror spends during this action, they gain 1 point of anima. This transfer is not two-way, and horrors cannot use Anima to regain Terror.

Attacks that damage a horror's Anima do not affect a horror's Terror, as the two are separate. A horror takes Anima damage like any other living creature, and once reduced to 0 Anima, additional damage is dealt to a horror's Wounds instead. 

A horror does not regain anima by resting. However, resting does heal a horror's Wounds and Vitality damage like other living creatures.

Satiety

Beasts hunger. They don't just want to feed on the scraps of fear their horror might spare them. They want to feast on the screams of mortals, like the monsters they are. Many horrors focus on lessons, on only inflicting their haunts on humans who deserve the punishment the horror metes out. But the beast doesn't care about the lesson. All it knows is the feast.

A horror's Satiety is measured by its current Terror points versus the size of its Terror Pool. When a horror is at high Satiety, their Beast is restful, and not prone to lending their horror power. When a horror is at low satiety, their Beast is closer to the surface, making it easier to draw upon their powers but also making it more difficult to control.

• Zero Terror: The Beast is nothing but hunger, and will not rest until it feasts. The horror gains the Ravenous condition. 

• Below 50% Threshold: The Beast is hungry, and that makes the horror more dangerous. The horror gains the Hungry condition, and their nightmares are more effective.

• At or Above 50% Threshold. The Beast has enough fear to be satisfied, and isn't concerned about its survival. The horror gains the Sated condition, and functions as normal.

• At Full Terror: The Beast is content, and retreats into near-slumber. The horror finds it more difficult to activate their nightmares. The horror gains the Slumbering condition.

Veiling

A horror relies on the Veil to interact with the modern world of humanity. When on the Mortal Plane, a Horror can freely shapeshift between their Monstrous form, and a human form. This human form remains constant, and reflects the horror's own self-image of what they would look like if they were a human. Therefore, this form is of a similar age to the horror, and has numerous tells that link the two, most commonly hair colour, eyes, and markings. Because of these tells, anyone who is knowledgable about Veiling is easily able to draw a line between the horror's human and Monstrous form, even if they don't see the horror shapeshift.

Shifting between a horror's human form and monstrous form is a full-round action that requires concentration. This usually involves invoking a spiral of shadow to shroud a horror in one form, and then emerging from the shadow in their other form. 

Any clothing worn in a horror's human form merges with a horror when in their monstrous form. All talismans shift with the horror, and adjust to fit the new form. For example, a bracelet on a human might become a band around the horror's forelimb or wing.

All items of 1 Bulk and lower, up to a horror's carrying capacity, are stored in an extra-dimensional space within the horror's shadow, and can be accessed by taking a single action to reach into the darkness. Any items over a horror's carrying capacity simply cannot fit, and spill to the ground around them. 

A horror's atavisms only affect their monstrous form, and a horror loses their speed bonuses and natural weapons when in human form. However, a horror retains their other monstrous form bonuses, and can still use their Nightmares, regardless of their form.

The Veil only affects the Mortal Realm, and not the other planes of existence. Therefore, a horror cannot use Veiling when not on the mortal realm, and they immediately shift into their monstrous form when passing through a planar gate.

A horror subjected to a polymorph spell, or another forceful transformation effect, cannot use Veiling to shift between their forms until that spell or ability is dispelled or fades.

The Beast

The beast is the primordial aspect of a horror, the monster of legend they were meant to be, tapped into humanity's collective unconsciousness and drawing form and powers from our deepest fears and phobias. It is the inner self, some would argue the true self, yearning to break free and spread chaos and terror. Most horrors disagree with this interpretation, seeing the beast instead as merely their own personal demon, a weakness they have yet to conquer and bend to their will. It is a daily struggle to ignore it, to not give in to the temptations and become the monster they know dwells within.

The beast isn't some alien entity or even alternate personality--it's more of a reflection of the horror through a broken mirror, a version of themselves without the humanity, where they have fully embraced the monster that dwells within them. A horror will always have their beast with them--it's as fundamental to the horror as the ego, superego, and id are to humans. It constantly tempts them into committing monstrous acts, ratting the bars of its mental cage because it is hungry and it needs to feed. 

When a Beast breaks free of its cage, it becomes Unleashed.

Gaining Unleashed

The most common way a horror gains unleashed is if a horror is starving. Every time a horror drops to 0 Terror, they must make a Resolve check. The DC for this check is equal to 10+their Shadow ranks+environmental modifiers. There are numerous modifiers that can be applied, but here are some: 

• +2 for every additional point of Terror you could not spend

• +2: You spent Terror over the past minute on a power, you are being Intimidated by another creature, or you are in bright light

• +2 for every rank of Rattling the Cage you have.

• +4: unleashing the beast might help you fulfill your Vice; you are suffering from a Wound, you are hungry (below half your Terror pool)

• +6: you are in a scene filled with fear and terror, such as on a battlefield or a natural disaster, you are starving (at 0 terror)

• +8: a mortal dies near you

• -2: There is no "worthy prey" in the immediate area, the only people around the horror are their friends and allies, or you are in a calm situation

• -4: You are at full Terror

These represent only some conditions that may affect a check to resist Unchained.

The outcomes of this check are as follows:

• Critical Success: You resist your Beast entirely.

• Success: You resist your Beast, but it's agitated. Your gain the Rattling the Cage condition until you rest.

• Failure: Your beast breaks is bonds and becomes Unleashed.

New Condition: Rattling the Cage

Your beast has become agitated and is actively fighting you for control. The DC to resist becoming Unleashed increases by +2 for every application of Rattling the Cage you have. 

Rattling the Cage can be applied in many stressful situations and usually lastS until you can next take rest (short or long) and centre yourself. 

However, applications of Rattling the Cage caused by consuming the dying terror of a human can take days or weeks to resolve. Such applications decrease at a rate of 1 per chapter.

The Beast Unleashed

When your beast is unleashed, it drops your Veiling entirely, and assumes your Monstrous Form. 

When Unchained, you ignore any penalties due to Fatigue, Exhaustion or Wounds. You also ignore any attempt to influence, intimidate, or change your course of action. You gain a +4 bonus to your Resolve and Composure defences, and you gain Fortune against any magical attempts to influence your emotions.

When in control, your beast does whatever it can to inflict the most fear and violence around it. The beast is not suicidal or foolish, but it is violent, amoral, and, most of all, hungry. Your beast will usually try to attack the closest prey, attempting to cripple them on send them fleeing away. Ultimately, the beast usually wishes to kill a mortal and feast on their dying feat, at which point the Beast is sated and the horror is left staring down at the blood on their claws.

Haunting

Horrors need human fear to survive. They thirst for it like a man in a desert thirsts for water. If a horror ever stops being afraid, they will collapse into shadow and be drawn down into the endless darkness of the Pit. And so they must continually replenish their fear, to keep it sharp, to remind them of the sensations of terror all over again. They feast on the frights and scares of mortals, turning panicked screams and bursts of adrenaline into what they need to prevent their dread of oblivion from wearing dull.

When a horror is in Close range of a human or other besouled being (supernal creature, shapeshifter, cryptid, etc.), they can take 3 actions to attempt a Shadow check against their target's Resolve defence. If the horror succeeds, they absorb the metaphysical essence of the terror, regaining a number of Terror points. 

A horror cannot drain terror from creatures who are not Frightened, nor can they drain terror creatures such as animals or outsiders.

Dying Fear

A horror who slays a human with their own claws can consume their victim's dying terror. This fully restores a horror's Terror Pool, and grants them and additional 8 temporary Terror Points that last for a number of hours equal to the horror's Shadow skill.

However, dying fear is addictive. A horror who consumes the dying fear of a human often finds themselves hungering for that final, empowering burst of terror. Every time you consume a victim's dying fear, your Beast makes a Shadow check against your Resolve defence. If your beast succeeds, you gain 1 rank of the Rattling the Cage condition, bringing your Beast closer to the surface. You can reduce these ranks of Rattling the Cage by 1 at the end of every Chapter.

It is for this reason that the Parliament of Shadows forbids their members from killing except in self-defence. "A corpse cannot feel fear" the saying goes, and the Parliament would prefer loyal horrors remain above their baser addictions. 

Downtime Haunting

In a mixed-origin party, taking time away from the adventure to focus on a horror's haunting can be a distraction from the overall story. So a horror can elect to instead use some of their downtime, or resting time, to haunt some prey.

A Feeding check takes 1 hour. A horror makes a Shadow check to track down a propper prey. The DC for this check is usually 10, but may be adjusted based on the circumstances (a town wracked by paranoia might have a DC of 5, while a placid rural region might have a DC of 15). The result is as follows:

• Critical Success: You have an exceptionally satisfying night of haunting. You regain 2d6+Spr Terror.

• Success: Your haunting goes as intended. You gain 1d6+Spr Terror.

• Failure: You feed, but your Beast is unsatisfied. You gain no Terror, but you lose no terror when you next awake.

• Critical Failure:  Your haunting is oddly unfulfilling. Your Beast rejects all the fear you try to feed it, and you waste 1 point of Terror in your attempts. If this reduces you to 0 Terror, make a Resolve check to resist having your Beast unchained.

Weaknesses

Anathamas 

In nearly every human culture, there are things that individuals believe will keep away the things that go bump in the night. This might be a certain flower, or a holy icon. In modern society, these are usually nightlights and stuffed animals. 

It's no so much the object that has power, but people's belief in the object. What functions as an anathema in the hands of one individual might not function in the hands of another. One cannot simply pick up a random item at hand and declare it to be an anathema. It has to be an item with a story behind it, usually passed down from a parent or guardian to a child.

A horror exposed by an anathema takes Wound damage as the anathema tears at the Horor's essence. For objects, this usually involves striking the horror with the anathema, such as throwing salt on them or hitting them with a stuffed animal. For environmental anathemas, a Horror must make a Willpower save with a DC of 20+their ranks in Shadow to avoid taking the wound damage at the start of every round they remain in the area. 

A horror struck by an object anathema cannot use their nightmares until the end of their next round. A horror in the area of an environmental anathema cannot utilize their nightmares for 1 round after leaving the area. 

Most anathemas deal 1d4 wound damage per strike for something that can be wielded as a weapon, or per round for an environmental anathema.

Blinding Light

Horrors are creatures of shadows, not darkness. Light might bother a horror, but it doesn't dramatically affect them. After all, the sun is the source of most shadows on Earth. 

However, artificial illumination is often created with the express purpose of driving back shadows, and that includes horrors. A horror exposed to bright illumination from a source such as a flood light or a powerful flashlight takes 1d8 points of vitality damage and gain 1 application of Enfeebled every turn they remain in the area of blinding illumination, and they cannot use their nightmares.

Orichalcum

Horrors are uniquely Vulnerable to the sun-metal of ancient Atlantis. 

Sated Conditions

Hungry

Your Beast is gnawing at its cage, constantly urging you to give in and feed it. You feel on edge, and your Beast is more than happy to lend you its power.

Increase the power of your nightmares, per their description. 

When you consume terror while Hungry, double the amount of anima you gain.

Ravenous

You have run out of terror and are beyond starvation. Your beast is a pit of rage and hunger, lashing out at its mental cage. It is hard for you to focus on anything other than haunting.

You cannot spend Anima on powers other than in the pursuit of Terror. 

Every day that passes while you are Ravenous deals 1 point of wound damage that cannot be healed until you recover 1 point of terror.

You cannot use your nightmares while ravenous.

When you feed while Ravenous, you double the amount of Terror you gain, but your feeding deals 1d4 psychic damage to your targets per point of Terror you drain.

Sated

Your Beast is satisfied, for now. It wants more terror, but it doesn't need more terror. It's still there, testing your mental defences, but it's not actively trying to escape.

There are no mechanical impacts for being Sated.

Slumbering

You are at full Terror, and your Beast has become lethargic as a result. 

While slumbering, you cannot spend any Terror without first making a DC 20 Shadow check to wake up your Beast.