Spirits take to symbols to give themselves power and meaning. These symbols can be physical things, like a people, a city, a geographic feature, an object, or a natural disaster. The symbols can also be ideas, such as a business, a battle, a bloodline, or even things like mathematics or music.
Regardless of the symbol a spirit cleaves to, they become tied to it, and its health becomes its health. If a city is plagued by crime and violence, the spirit will grow sick. If a bloodline is wiped out, the spirit will fade unless a long-lost blood relative can be found to take up the lineage. And so spirits tend to protect that which they are bound to.
Shifters, as guardians of the spirit world, can form pacts and agreements with spirits. In return for the shifter protecting the spirit's interests, advancing the spirit's cause, or performing some service for the spirit, the spirit will agree to become totem for the shifter, imbuing the shifter with a fragment of their symbol's power which the shifter can draw upon thereafter.
Totems are developed by communing with spirits. While ideally, these communions involve spiritual journeys, sacrifices, and tasks done for the spirit, a shifter on the go might not have time to develop an appropriate relationship with a spirit. Instead, many a shifter relies on a single powerful spirit they have sworn service to--such as Luna the Wolf Mother, Mother Earth or Father Time--to intervene on their behalf.
Though shifters often speak of "learning" totems, that's not quite accurate. Totems aren't some knowledge that is unlocked. Nor are they a blessing that can be retracted. Instead, totems are spiritual infusions, as the spirit metaphysically carves some of their symbols into the spiritual flesh of the shifter. Often, this leaves the shifter marked with brands, scars, or tattoo-like markings upon their flesh and hide, regardless of their form. Once learned, a totem is part of the shifter, becoming an intrinsic part of the shifter.
Indeed, the only way for a spirit to end the abuse of power they granted to a shifter is with that shifter's death. A shifter seeking out the blessing of a spirit might find themselves hunting down the last shifter who made such a request.
It is up to the shifter's player and the GM to determine how they want to handle the process of learning totems, and whether this is a storytelling thread they would like to have woven into their game.
A facet is an element of a totem tied to five primal natures of the Shifter: Blood, Bone, Gnosis, Harony and Shadow.
Facets of Blood are wild, primal and instinctual, enhancing a Shifter's bestial nature as a hunter and guardian.
Facets of Bone are intellectual and academic, enhancing the Shifter's human nature as a problem-solver and tool-user.
Facets of Gnosis are tied into the world around the Shifter, the ebb and flow of magic, and allow a shifter to control the world around them.
Facets of Harmony are tied into the Shifter's supernatural nature, and are focused on balance and enhancing a shifter and their allies.
Facets of Shadow are tied into the Shifter's darkest aspects, and are focused on harming a shifter's foes.
A new totem costs 5 experiences to learn, as you must form a new pact with a spirit. When you learn a new totem, you learn all the minor facets of that totem.
Learning a major facet costs 3 experience to learn, and the Shifter must have at least 4 ranks in the related skill.
Learning an elder facet costs 3 experience to learn, and the Shifter must have both 8 ranks in the related skill, and already know the major facet tied to that skill (so, for example, to learn Sooth the Mind, the Elder Facet of Harmony tied to the Earth Mother, the Shifter must have both 8 ranks in Harmony and already know Grandmother's Touch, the Major Facet of Harmony)
Gaia, Pachamama, Mother Nature, Jord. Nearly every culture has a female embodiment of nature and the Earth, a great goddess from whence all life springs. Even the Atlanteans told legends of Makaia, the Serpent that Binds the Earth. The Earth Mother is the single-most powerful spirit, one of the five Pillars of Creation, and so is a common patron of shifters. The Earth Mother seeks balance and between the human and natural worlds, as well as between the magical and mundane worlds. She was one of the early supporters of the Veil Treaty, and even today, she sends some of her loyal spirits on quests to protect the divide between the worlds of mankind and magic.
Markings: Vines, flowers, waves, circles
Example Quests: Defend a certain natural feature from exploitation, deliver medicine or food to a remote community, protect a rare species from extinction, prevent a Veil breach, provide support to the Blackcloaks.
The Earth Mother isn't just the primordial incarnation of the bountiful Earth. She is also the Pillar of Hope, standing against Fate in defiance and proclaiming "Not Today."
Effect: If you are at negative wounds, you can spend 1 point of Anima as a reaction. Make a Shadow check with a DC of 15+your negative wounds. If you succeed, you can continue to act normally, unaffected by the Dying Condition, until the end of your next round. You may continue to make a check to Defy Death each round so long as you take your reaction to spend anima.
The Earth Mother is the metaphysical mother of all living things, and she seeks what's best for her children--even those who have gone astray. But one can only take that second chance if they are alive to seize it. And so the Earth Mother grants the facet of Mercy to those who serve her, allowing them to fight without the fear of felling their foes.
Effect: Spend 1 anima as a single action. For the rest of the scene, all damage you deal with your natural weapons is non-lethal. All non-lethal damage you deal is increased by 1/2 your ranks in Bone.
You can channel the Earth Mother's vital energies through your hands or claws, mending the wounds of any other living creature. This healing energy can only heal a living creature and has no effect on the undead, constructs, outsiders, supernatural creatures, nor the werewolf themselves.
Effect: Spend 1 anima as a single action to heal the target 1d8 vitality. Every 4 ranks of Harmony you possess increases the vitality healed by 1d8 (2d8 at 4 Harmony, 3d8 at 8 harmony, etc.)
By calling upon the Earth Mother's grace, you can ensure you can find what you need to survive, even in the most hostile of environments.
Effect: Spend 1 anima as part of a Survival check to scavenge for supplies. You add 1/2 your ranks in Gnosis to the check. Even in seasons and locations to find food--such as in Antarctica, the depths of the Sahara, or the Wastelands of Shadow, you can still find a few hardy plants clinging to life, as if planted there just for you.
Your scavenging can also turn up rare medical herbs, allowing you to make Medical Science check with a bonus equal to 1/4 your ranks in Survival for 1 day after you use Nature's Plenty.
Animals often see things that humans would overlook. Learning to speak with them gives the shifter access to knowledge and secrets known only to the beasts of the wilds.
Effect: Spend 1 anima as a single action. For the remainder of the Scene, you can use Charisma checks on animals as if they were sapient beings. This grants you no control over animals, as they are under no obligation to listen to you or to provide you with factual information. This just provides you with the foundations for communication.
You gain a +2 bonus on these Charisma checks if you're talking to an animal of the same species as your bestial form. You gain a -4 penalty on these checks if you deal with an animal your bestial form would prey upon. You gain a -8 penalty when trying to communicate with fish or insects, as they are so far removed from your human and animal selves that even getting them to understand what you're asking is a challenge.
At 8 ranks of Blood, while Speak with Beasts is active, you may add your Wisdom modifier to Charisma checks made to influence the attitudes of spirits.
With enough persuasion, the Earth Mother's mercy can be expanded to the disparate children of her siblings.
Effect: Your Mother's Touch can now affect supernatural creatures as well as yourself.
You drive the Earth Mother's vitality to the soil beneath you, causing plant life around you to grow at an astounding rate.
Effect: Spend 1 anima as a full-round action. You can increase the Size of a plant in Close range by up to 1/2 your ranks in Harmony. You can divide this growth among any number of plants in range, so long as each plant you affect grows by 1 size. You control the general shape into which the plant grows.
This can turn grass and brush into difficult terrain, grow a hedge to provide cover in a firefight, transform a tree into a living shelter, or transform a thorn-bush into a violent wall of thorns. You can only affect living plants with this facet. The effects of this growth are permanent, though plants can be trimmed or destroyed as normal.
You listen to the heartbeat of the land, and can clearly pick up arrhythmia caused by supernatural taint and corruption.
Effect: Spend 2 anima and take 10 minutes to make a Gnosis check (typical DC 15). If you succeed, you gain an indication of supernatural presence within 10 metres per rank of Gnosis, as well as the general type of the supernatural presence, but not the subtypes (for example, both fey and horrors would only register as supernal, demons and angels would both be astral, and mages and mediums would both be humans.)
You shed an aura of friendship and authority, indicating you are a favoured servant of the Earth Mother.
Effect: You may ad your Intelligence modifier to Charisma checks when attempting to influence the attitudes of spirits. This ability is always active.
You have learnt not just to heal the obvious wounds that plague a soul, but also mental and spiritual injuries.
Effect: Spend 1 anima over 3 actions. You embrace an ally, and flood them with positive energy. You heal damage as Grandmother's Touch (1d8 vitality per 4 ranks in Harmony), but you can also choose one additional effect from the following:
Heal 1 Wound for every 8 ranks in Harmony you possess
Restore 1 Anima for every 4 ranks in Harmony you possess
Remove 1 Application of a condition that is affecting your target. This can even effect something like a mage's Tapped Out (allowing them to channel an additional spell before becoming Tapped Out again.) You cannot remove conditions with an indifferent duration (such as Dying or a horror's Satiety conditions).
A target affected by Ease the Mind becomes immune to this facet until they take a long rest. You cannot use Ease the Mind on yourself.
Cronos. Saturn. Ouroboros. Zeitgeist. Father Time is the spirit of the orderly transition of time, the sidereal cycle of seasons and the stars. The loyal husband of Mother Earth, bound to her in an eternal dance of the ages. Shifters who form a pact with Father Time are historians and truth-seekers, wanting to delve into the mists of the past for knowledge lost in the modern era.
Markings: Spirals, clocks, hourglasses, stars
Example Quests: Recover a relic from a ruin, uncover a conspiracy, resolve a temporal paradox, prevent meddling in the time-stream.
Time directs not just the rise and fall of the sun and the cycle of the moon, but also the great procession of the stars. You are never lost so long as you can see the sky.
Benefit: You always instinctively know which way is north. You add your Blood ranks to all Street Smart and Survival checks to Sense Direction.
You accelerate the flow of time within an object, exaggerating its natural flaws.
Benefit: You can spend 1 Anima as a single action to make a Shadow Check against a DC equal to the Hardness of an object. The object must have a Bulk equal to or less than your ranks in Shadow.
After you use Erode, the object becomes immune to additional uses of Erode for the next 24 hours, as time becomes somewhat sticky around it. Certain objects, particularly artifacts and items warded against the ravages of time, are always immune to Erode.
You have learnt to skip through time, letting the tides of fate pull and push you to the right moment.
Effect: When you roll for initiative, you may choose one of three options:
Roll Initiative normally
Take 10 on Initiative, treating your role as if you rolled a 10
Spend 1 Anima to become Unstuck in Time. Make a DC 11 Flat Check. If you succeed, your Initiative roll is treated as if you rolled a 19; if you fail your Initiative role is treated as if you rolled a 2.
One of the simplest facets of Father Time's power, you twist space and time around you, shortening distances and allowing you to travel great strides in a single step.
Effect: Spend 1 Anima as a reaction to double your movement Speed until the start of your next turn.
You are able to sort through your memories and recapture a singular memory in perfect clarity.
Effect: You can spend 1 Anima as a single action to make a Bone check to recall a memory or important memories, instead of an Intelligence, Wisdom or Science check.
You can hear echoes of events long past, sensing the reverberations that pass down into the present. By handling an object or placing your hand on a structure or tree, you can sense echoes in the target's spiritual aura.
Effect: Spend 1 Anima as a single action to make a Blood Check. The DC of this check is usually 15, but it may be modified by the GM, based on your familiarity with the territory you're in, the objects whose history you're examining, and the overall importance of the historical events to the timestream.
If you succeed, you receive a vision of the most significant thing to happen to the object or in the area around a building or tree. Death is usually the most significant spiritual event, though other events of emotional or supernatural import may also register, such as an act of extreme violence or the casting of a powerful spell.
Echoes rarely last more than a few years, depending on the power of the emotion or magic that created the echo.
This facet can only be used once on a particular object or location; once you've analyzed the echoes once, listening to them again won't bring additional clarity.
You cast your spiritual sight into the future and catch a glimpse of impending successes and failures.
Effect: Spend 1 Anima as a single action to see glimpses of potential futures. Until the end of your next turn, you may gain Fortune on a single roll.
You catch a glimpse of history laid out before you like a tapestry and are able to capture scraps of insight.
Effect: Spend 2 Anima as an action that takes 1 minute to complete, and make a Harmony check. The DC of this check is usually 15, but it may be modified by the GM, based on your familiarity with the territory you're in, the subjects whose history you're examining, and the overall importance of upcoming events to the timestream.
If you succeed, you gain insight from the tapestry of fate, and you learn about a single event, threat, or important circumstance within 10 kilometres of you. The information gained relates to your near future, though anything beyond the next 24 hours is vague and undefined.
Topics you can choose to examine (along with potential answers) include:
Threats (the police chief is planning a rad on your safehouse, the old factory is unstable and will soon collapse, a new vampire prince is making a move on your city)
The supernatural (something is preying on human residents in the area, the borders between the mortal world and the spirit world are growing thin, a powerful ritual was conducted here years ago)
Conflict (A riot is brewing, there is a pattern to the murders you are investigating, the big corporation is under financial attack)
Weather (A storm is coming, the blazing heat will last for a week or more, the fog is not of natural origin)
If you choose a topic which has no immediate bearing on you, you receive no answers, but you may choose to scry another topic instead.
With a critical success, you can examine two topics instead.
You have learnt to hop back in your personal timeline to try again.
Effect: After failing a skill check, you can spend 1 Anima as a reaction to hop back and try the check again, taking your knowledge of your previous failure with you. You can reroll the check, adding a +2 supernatural bonus as you apply the knowledge from your previous attempt. You must use the new result, even if it's worse than your first roll.
You draw upon the power of Father Time to cause a creature to become caught in eddies and doldrums in the flow of time.
Benefit: Spend 2 Anima as a single action to make a Harmony check against the Willpower defence of one target within Close range.
After you use the Curse of Chronos on a creature, the creature becomes immune to additional applications of the curse for the next 24 hours, as time becomes somewhat sticky around it.
Mother Wolf. Artemis. Yin. Chang'e. The Huntress. Luna is the spirit of the Moon, the guardian of the night, and the ur-huntress. She is the sister of Mother Earth, as mercurial and wild as Gaia is staid and resolute. Shifters who form a pact with Luna are hunters and warriors who seek to further embrace their wild natures. Werewolves have a particular tie to Luna.
Markings: Crescent moons, wolf paws or claws, arrows
Example Quests: Defeat an enemy of Shifterkind, hunt down a particularly fearsome monster, protect a wild space from those who would exploit it, just go on an adventure and see the world.
Luna's silver light cuts through the distractions that can cloud a hunter's mind. By focusing on Luna's cold clarity, the shifter can burn away the fog of war and keep their mind in the game.
Benefit: Spend 1 Anima when you're asked to roll for Initiative to add your ranks in Harmony to your Initiative check.
A shifter is not simply a person who can transform into an animal; they are a person with the soul of a beast. Wild Tongue allows a shifter to draw on their bestial soul, putting them in touch with their more primal side, and allowing them to communicate with the animal kin of their bestial half.
While this Facet offers no control over mundane animals, it allows the shifter to communicate with them, regardless of the form the shifter is in.
Benefit: The shifter can always communicate with animals who share a species with their wild form (wolves for werewolves, rats for nezumi, jaguars for nagual, etc.), regardless of the form they're in. In addition, they add their Wisdom modifier to all Charisma checks made involving such animals.
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Sharks have an uncanny ability to follow a trail of blood through water, picking up even the slightest trace of a wounded creature. A shifter with this Facet can replicate that feet, detecting even the slightest tinge of blood on the wind, even when others would not notice it, and follow it even through the complex scents of the modern city.
Benefit: By spending 1 Anima as a full-round action, the shifter's scent expands to a range of one kilometre for the remainder of the scene, but only for the purposes of detecting blood that has been spilled recently. The shifter is able to discern blood spilled within the past 1 hour per their ranks of Harmony. They can pick out the unqiue scents of each individual's blood, and track an individual who has bleed without penalty. A shifter can determine if the blood is from a natural creature like a human or animal, or supernatural (such as vampire vitae, horror ichor, or fey glamour). However, a shifter's scent is not keen enough to determine anything more specific about a creature just through the scent of their blood alone.
The Muses are the collective spirits of art and literature. They embody song, dance, poetry, storytelling, acting, comedy, architecture, sculpture, and more. The Muses have lit the fire of inspiration in the heart of artists and creatives down the millennia, from local songsmiths to legendary playwrights. Though usually associated with historians and creatives, occasionally the Muses will agree to grant their powers to warrior-poets and those who seek to record history from the front lines.
Markings: Writing or musical notation, ink-like splotches, masks
Example Quests: Provide protection or counselling to an artist, retrieve a particular artifact from a secured location so it may be shared with the world, defend a place of natural beauty and inspiration, record a momentous event and turn it into a song, painting or story that will passed through generations.
By taking a quick look over a target, you gain a general sense of what to say to get a target talking, and maybe even push them in the right direction.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima and take 3 actions to analyze a target. You gain Fortune on all Charisma-based checks to influence the target's attitude for the rest of the scene.
You have a preternatural gift with saying the right words to encourage an ally. A stirring speech, a well-placed compliment, even recalling someone's preferred name or title can make all the difference in the world when you're trying to inspire your allies to achieve their goals.
Benefit: You add your Wisdom bonus to all Leadership checks.
You draw temporary knowledge from the spirit world, giving you basic proficiency where you otherwise have none. This spark of brilliance is fleeting, and affords you no long-term knowledge.
Benefit: Spend 1 Anima as a reaction to add a +2 supernatural bonus to your next roll made with a skill you have 0 ranks in. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 ranks in Bones you possess.
Inspiration can drive others to incredible heights. For an artist, this can lead to wonderous works of art. For a warrior, the results are far more brutal. You unleash a deafening war howl to light the spark of war in the hearts of your allies.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action to unleash a mighty howl or roar. You, and all allies within 1 range, treat their weapons as 1 step larger for the purposes of calculating damage. This is a supernatural bonus. This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to your ranks in Blood.
Humanity has hundreds of languages. And each of those languages has a chorus of spirits that incarnate dialects, accents, stories, folktales, and grammatical rules. You call on those spirits, allowing you to gain a rudimentary understanding of spoken tongues, allowing you to communicate with any human you are speaking with, whether it is face-to-face or through an electronic medium.
Benefit: By spending 1 anima as a reaction, you gain 2 ranks in a Language being spoken by a target for the rest of the scene. This only works on living human languages, and not dead languages (such as Atlantean or Shambhallan), nor supernatural languages (such as Draconic, Shadowtongue, Enochian, or the languages of the Outer Gods).
By infusing a roar or howl with stories of past glories, you give your allies hope even in the darkest of hours. You channel the power of the muses to stir hearts and drive your packmates to greatness.
Benefit: By spending 1 Anima as a single Action, your allies may each recover 1d4+Wis Anima. Your allies cannot increase their Anima beyond their maximum. You are unaffected by this rallying cry.
Once an ally receives this facet, they become immune to Rallying Cry until they next take a long rest.
Since time immemorial, a storyteller regailing others with their tales has been granted certain indulgances. In olden days, a wandering bard was rewarded with cold pint and a place to rest their head. In more modern days, performers recieve monitary compensation. This gift allows you to weave a supernatural request into your performance, and compel others to agree.
Benefit: When you are making an Entertainment check with a duration of at least 1 Minute, you can spend 1 anima to weave a supernaturally enhanced request into the story. Compare the result of your Entertainment check to the Composure defence of your audience.
Critical Success As success, but the target gains a +2 supernatural bonus to all checks to fulfill your assigned task.Success You may make a single suggestion towards one listener. This suggestion must fit within the bounds of the performance being made, must not put the target in direct harm, and must be completed within the current scene. The target attempts to complete this suggestion as best as possible, without even being fully aware of what they're doing.Failure The target ignores the suggestionCritical Failure The target sees the story for the manipulation it is. The target moves 1 step more hostile towards you.Tales of the past, myths, folktales, and legends all have important lessons embedded within them, lessons that can be applicable to many tasks, even in in the modern day. It doesn't matter if the story is factually true, so long as it's symbolic meaning is true enough for others to draw inspiration from.
Benefit: You can weave supernatural knowledge into your stories. Take 1 minute and spend 1 anima telling a tale pertinent to the current situation or challenge facing your allies. One ally you're talking to gains a +2 bonus to all rolls made with a skill of your choice for the remainder of the scene. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 ranks in Harmony you possess.
Once an ally receives this facet, they become immune to This Story is True until they next take a long rest.
A good storyteller should be able to weave both dreams and nightmares, and make them manifest. By tapping into this gift, you share your nightmares with a foe.
Benefit: To use this Facet, a shifter must have some connection to their target, such as being able to see them, knowing their full name, or be in possession of an item that recently belonged to them.
You can weave horrible stories to frighten your foes and curse them with nightmares. You may take 1 minute to weave a horrible story in their own mind overand then whispers it to the winds to hunt down their target. The shifter makes a Harmony check against their target's Resolve Defence.
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A soul-singer is able to weave a beautiful song, drawing power from the essence of music itself to wash away trauma and nightmares and heal a wounded soul.
Benefit: By spending 1 Anima, you can infuse your a song with potent supernatural magics to heal a single target. By spending 30 minutes singing to the target, you may grant one willing ally new checks to end all ongoing conditions affecting them, including curses, diseases and poisons. The target gains a +2 bonus on these checks. The target must remain in Close Range and be able to hear your song to benefit from this; though the target need not understand the song or even be conscious to gain the benefit.
After a target is affected by this Facet, they become immune to its effects for the next day.
The Father of Fear, the End of Every Story, Entropy. The Earth Mother's younger brother is probably best known for being the ancestor of horrors and the source of their terrific powers. However, the Ur-Nightmare is not adverse to accepting shifters into his service, especially those shifters who revel in the monster part of the legends.
Markings: Horrible scars, eyes, chains, darkest blacks
Example Quests: Teach an upstart mortal a lesson, haunt a town and teach them to fear the night, lend aid to a horror, destroy a demonic cult and scatter their ashes to the winds.
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Though most shifters can assume forms with superior senses to humans, becoming a wolf, fox or bear in an urban centre or other human-dominated setting is often less advantageous.
Benefit: A shifter with this facet gains darkvision out to 2 range in all their forms, allowing them to see in the dark as if it were as bright as light.
A careful shifter knows discretion can be the better part of valour. With this facet, a shifter becomes incredibly unremarkable, shrouded in shadows and easy to ignore.
Benefit: You can spend 1 anima to gain a +2 bonus to Stealth checks for the scene. This bonus only applies if you are standing in dim illumination or lower. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 ranks in Harmony you possess.
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The darkness hides many things. Countless monsters lurk in the shadows of modern society, and humans subconsciously know the darkness conceals many dangers. This facet enhances the primal human fear of the dark, and sets them on edge. While this doesn't result in visual changes, subconsciously, people know things are wrong. The shifter brings to mind the gleaming eyes just beyond the fire's light, and the chill howl in the dark of the night.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action to release a wave of psychic terror. Make a Harmony check against the Resolve of all creatures in Close range.
In the depths of Shadow, distance is relative. You attune yourself to a nearby shadow, allowing you to hear and smell as if you were lurking within its depths. This Facet is especially useful in urban settings, where at night most souls are surrounded by shadows of buildings and streetlights.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action to attune yourself to an area of Dim light within 1 Range. You can treat that shadow as a point of origin when calculating the range of your Hearing and Scent senses, as if you were standing in the shadow yourself. You can maintain this facet until the end of your next round; once per round you may extend its duration by 1 additional round by taking a Concentration action.
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The darkness cloaks many dangers. Threats can lunge from the shadows at any time, from any angle. Horrors, those incarnations of mortal fears, have long leant on this ability, flicking through the dark to appear behind their prey. Though this flickering is slower than a shifter's feral forms' speed, slipping through shadows does allow the shifter to move without being seen, strike from odd angles, and reach places that their prey thinks are safe.
Benefit: If you are standing in a location of dim illumination or lower, you can spend 1 Anima as a signle action to flicker to another patch of dim illumination within Close range. This Movement is instantaneous, as you vanish into the shadows at your starting location and appear at your destination. This movement only provokes an attack of opportunity at your destination, and only if your target is aware of you.
You can only Shadow Step to a location you within range that you can see and that you would be normally able to reach by walking within Close range. For example, you can Shadow Step to the back seat of a car pursuing you within Close Range, as, in theory, you could walk that distance. But you cannot Shadow Step across a chasm unless the distance to the bottom, across, and back up is less than Close Range.
You can spend 1 additional point of Anima to increase the range of your Shadow Step by 1.
You summon the darkness of the eclipse, casting an area into shadows.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action to reduce the ambient illumination by 1 step within a close-range burst around you until the end of the scene. This metaphysical darkness also clouds senses other than vision, inflicting a -2 supernatural penalty on all Awareness checks made in the area.
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With this gift, a shifter becomes the pinnacle of the ambush predator. Your claws cleave light itself, leaving wispy trails of darkness behind them, and the shadows swirl around you, pulling you into the dark. You can strike from hiding without betraying your position.
Benefit: When you attack while Hidden or Unnoticed by the Target, you may spend 1 anima to make a Harmony check against the target's Resolve Defence.
Lord of Walls and Moats. The Metropol. The Sprawl. Urbis is the over-spirit of cities, and master of the urban jungle. He is found in the patterns of transit maps, the rituals of commuters, and the legends of city rivalries. His veins are throughfares, his eyes the shining windows of downtown skyscrapers. All other city-spirits pay him heed, and Urbis' power spreads into urban centres throughout the globe, making him a potent totem for shifters who find themselves hunting the urban wilds.
Markings: Geometric patterns that resemble a street map, claws or fangs replaced by concrete or iron
Example Quests: Protect a certain city from supernatural threats, end the career of a politician harming a city, help out the homeless in a city
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This Facet allows shifters to easy scale concrete canyons and navigate the tangled paths of back alleys and side streets that make up the urban landscape.
Benefit: When you make an Acrobatics or Athletics check to navigate around an urban environment, you may spend 1 Anima to add your Wisdom modifier as a bonus to those checks.
With a gesture, you can disable a single specific technological device, such as a cell phone, computer, or engine, by sending the machine-spirit within to sleep.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action to target a single mechanical or electronic device within Close range. For a device to be targetted, it must be manufactured through industrial processes, must have at least 3 separate, moving parts, and be smaller than the shifter's current Size when they use this Facet. A gun is valid, but a syringe is not; a car is too large to be affected, but a motorbike might not be if you are in War Form. The DC for an unattended object is 15; an object held in another creature's possession uses that creature's Willpower Defence if it is higher. You must have Line of Sight to the object; you cannot deactivate a pacemaker in a target's chest, or an engine inside a car, for example.
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The spirits of tools recognize humans as their masters, and shifters are part-human. By manifesting this Facet, a shifter gains resistance to modern weapons.
Benefit: Spend 1 anima as a single action. You gain a Resistance to Physical Damage (ballistic, bludgeoning, slashing and piercing) equal to your ranks in Harmony for 1 Minute. This resistance only applies to damage inflicted by a complex weapon, such as firearms, a chainsaw, or a grenade. This doesn't apply to archaic weapons, such as swords, knives, arrows or natural weapons; nor to supernatural attacks or effects. Silver weapons also ignore this resistance and deal damage normally.
Humans rely on artificial light for innumerable tasks. Take away their mastery over illumination, and humanity is cast back centuries, and buildings become dark mazes. Through this Facet, you extinguish all electrical lights in an area.
Benefit: Spend 1 Anima as a single action to target a single building of Size 40 or smaller within 10 Range. You can also target a portion of a larger building, such as 2 floors of an office building or half of a grocery store. Make a DC 20 Harmony check. If you succeed, all artificial light in the area is extinguished, including electric lamps, battery-powered flashlights, streetlights, or the flashlight function of a smartphone. This Face doesn't just turn off the lights, it prevents all artificial light in the area from working at all. Even emergency lights fail to function. This effect lasts one scene or until you choose to end the effects as a single action.
Supernatural illumination is unaffected by this Facet.
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