Also known as irregular cranial or skull configurations, AHD normally manifests as significant physical diversion from standard metahuman structure and appearance. These can be in nearly any form of such, often fitting in with features that are found among other species of the world. The difference in these appearances is they are principally cosmetic for the purposes of game mechanics.
These individuals have had their cranial/aural properties adjusted to appear like those of common avians, including pronounced narrow jaw lines (but not into full beaks), widened or enlarged optical cavities, and similar traits.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: -
This is a very common trait, with an assortment of canine and feline variations. It provides pronounced jawlines, slight changes to teeth (not enough to use them as weapons), and even shifts in the position of the ears.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: -
This quality provides a dramatic change in appearance, a kraken-like skull including a nacre-like substance instead of bone and soft epidermis, with tiny tentacles that cover the shoulders and upper thoracic region.
Bonus: 6 Karma
Game Effect: Skull and upper torso are softer, which imposes a –2 Dice Pool Modifier when resisting damage in this region.
Individuals have widened upper aural helices, often with some adjustment to the position of ears. They also display vestigial horns (rhino), proboscis (elephantine), or widened jaws with distally placed teeth (hippo). Appearances are often leathery along the cranial and upper torso.
Bonus: 5 Karma
Game Effect: -
The qualities in this category involve direct, physiological, detrimental changes to the individual. All these qualities make it easier to recollect or identify the individual in Memory tests and Matrix searches, granting a +2 Dice Pool Modifier for those tests
The individual body lacks the symmetry of other beings, but on a mild level, usually involving the shape of the face and skull, irregular ears, offset ocular cavities, or nasal prominence.
Bonus: 5 Karma
Game Effect: These often negatively influence sensory sensitivity, incurring a –1 Dice Pool Modifier for tests that involve the affected sense.
This quality covers significant malformation and misalignment of the skeleton or major muscle groups.
Bonus: 15 Karma
Game Effect: This quality directly impacts all physical activities, incurring a –2 Dice Pool Modifier.
Possessing wide and flat feet with no discernible arch or exposed heel.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: Individuals with this quality are hindered in Athletics tests relating to climbing, dodging, gymnastics, and sprinting; using Edge in relation to these actions costs 1 more than usual.
All footwear must be custom-made, increasing cost by 25%.
Instead of two eyes, you simply have one larger one - most oftenly found at the center of the face.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: The single eye can make hand-eye coordination tests difficult, meaning individuals with this trait cannot gain Edge on actions involving the Athletics test related to objects moving through the air, including throwing weapons tests, avoiding ranged weapon attacks, and attempting to catch anything.
The replacement of the Cyclopean Eye with a cybereye negates this
The individual has a third eye positioned in the middle of their forehead. The eye is the exact same as the base eye the species possesses in all ways.
Bonus: 5 Karma
Game Effect: Even when the eye is closed, an onlooker can still determine its presence with a Perception + Intuition (2) test.
Incompatible with Cyclopean Eye.
The user’s eyes reflect any light directed at them, as often seen with cats, rats, and some reptiles.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: This makes spotting the individual in at dark or nighttime conditions easier, so any observers get a +1 Dice Pool Modifier on Perception tests.
These qualities are anomalous, often with no clear reason as to why they take place. Some of these have a significant effect upon the local manasphere the individual currently inhabits.
Bonus: 10 Karma
Game Effect: Gain the effects of the Astral Beacon Negative Quality.
Individuals with this quality have expressed metagenes that catalyze and even feed on their darker emotions and negative feelings, disturbing the ambient mana in their vicinity.
Bonus: 8 Karma (non-Awakened), 15 (Awakened)
Game Effect: The character stands in the middle of a mobile low mana ebb aspected toward the specific individual. They receives a –1 Dice Pool Modifier on any test where Magic is part of the dice pool - including defenses.
The radius of this ebb in meters is equal to the (Essence + 1) of the individual. The ebb will expand over time, if the individual spends at least 10 hours per day in a single location, at a rate of +2 meters per week, with a maximum of +10 meters.
For non-Awakened characters, this quality has a bonus of 8 Karma.
For Awakened individuals, this quality has a bonus of 15 Karma, and the radius is equal to their (Magic) attribute in meters.
Something about the character’s presence or smell threatens animals and paranormal critters.
Bonus: 6 Karma
Game Effect: Any such creatures within five meters of the individual react with fear and hostility; apply a –2 Dice Pool Modifier to attempts to control, soothe, or pacify them.
If drawn into combat, a critter will go out of its way to attack this character first.
The individual generates light from various parts of their bodies, often with more than 60% of the body and hair doing so. The light is too weak to see in normal light; it is only visible in partial light and full darkness.
Bonus: 5 Karma
Game Effect: The level of light produced negates up to two hits from any physical illusion that is attempting to obscure them, including Improved Invisibility.
In low light conditions or total darkness, the individual can be attacked normally by others, regardless of their vision capabilities.
On the good side, the light being emitted is enough to allow others with low light vision to see normally in spaces within five meters of the character.
Also called Bug Eyes or Oni Eyes, this quality makes the eyes seem pronounced and bulbous. The ocular sockets have a shallower development. Irises are either blood red, pumpkin orange, or neon yellow.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: These eyes are more vulnerable to irritation - increase modifiers for smoke, ash, or other airborne substances by 1.
Mood hair changes colors according to the individual’s emotional state.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: This quality allows anyone to make a Judge Intentions test with a +2 Dice Pool Modifier.
Mood Hair is incompatible with any hair modification and the Feathers and Scales qualities.
The skin of the individual becomes an unusual tone, often resulting in vibrant colors and patterns.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: The features make the individual stand out more than normal, adding a +1 Dice Pool Modifier for Matrix Searches made against them.
Not compatible with other skin augmentations.
The connection between the individual and their home location grows stronger in time, becoming something near-mystical in nature. The health of the individual becomes tied to their territory, waxing and waning as the area grows or declines in social and environmental health.
Bonus: 10 Karma
Game Effect: Grants the Home Ground Positive Quality benefits.
In addition to those benefits, the individual’s biomechanics reflect the nature of their home territory: when the neighborhood is healthy, the character feels better, able to shrug off mild depression with ease or face personal fears more directly (+1 Dice Pool Modifier for resisting Manipulation and Illusion spells that attempt to impart these feelings) and even recovering faster (+1 Dice Pool Modifier for all healing and recovery tests, including those involving magic).
When the neighborhood is sickly, rundown, or becoming blighted, the individual finds it more difficult to be optimistic, falling prey to their inner demons, becoming slower to recover from mental fatigue and stress (–2 Dice Pool Modifier to all natural and augmented recovery tests and when resisting Illusion or Manipulation spells that prey on these same emotions).
More insidiously, the individual finds themselves increasingly resistant to leaving their area, requiring a Composure (3) test to venture beyond their comfort zone.
Remaining away from their home for any length of time requires daily Composure tests, with the threshold increasing by +1 for every week away, with failure meaning they will become irritated and emotionally uncertain, registering as a –2 Dice Pool Modifier on any test involving Willpower.
Changes in the neighborhood’s social environments, such as disruptive gang activity or a home burning down, result in psychosomatic responses and mood swings; the degree of those is left up to the GM.
This quality introduces unusual colors, textures, or patterns to an individual’s hair. They may even be entirely covered in a soft, downy fur like the nocturna or hanuman.
Bonus: 2 Karma
Game Effect: Incompatible with other natural or artificial hair modifications.
Different than Throwbacks (see below), Defects are those genetic expressions that are inherently wrong for the individual.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: Grants the effects of the Impaired (Attribute) Negative Quality.
Neotenous individuals retain the physical traits of a child or adolescent, halting their development. Several issues are connected to this condition.
Bonus: 10 Karma
Game Effect: The individual’s Physical Condition monitor is at 6 + (half Body, rounded down). Their physical attribute maximums are reduced by 1.
They suffer a –1 Dice Pool Modifier to Social tests where (apparent) age is a factor. If they lack a SIN, they cannot prove their age where it may be necessary.
Prices for all worn gear, including armor, are increased by 10% to account for the custom tailoring needed.
A Poor Healer is an individual whose biological form simply refuses to heal or recuperate at normal speeds.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: All recovery times, including from Fatigue, are doubled. Magical healing can occur, but treat the individual as if their Essence attribute is two points lower than it is, to a minimum of zero.
All Healing spells incur +1 Drain Value on the caster.
Progeria syndrome is an extremely rare condition in which some aspects of aging are greatly accelerated, thus reducing life expectancy. Though some lifespans have increased due to advances in genetic engineering and biotech, the individual has fewer years to live than others. The only known solution to stopping the syndrome is to become Infected by HMHVV. Progeria affects appearance and is known to create an “ancient child” due to their smaller stature, childlike features, and wrinkled skin.
Bonus: 10 Karma
Game Effect: Because of their body’s development problems, they suffer a –2 Dice Pool Modifier to all tests involving one of the four physical attributes, which also reduces their initiative.
Overactive scent glands produce an overwhelming odor that is difficult to remove from clothes or mask by non-magical means.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: The scent remains on objects for as long as 24 hours, and makes the individual easier to track. Outdoors (Tracking) tests gain a +1 Dice Pool Modifier and +1 Edge within the first hour of the character’s passing.
Individuals who have social interactions with the scent-imbued individual have a +2 Dice Pool Modifier for all Memory and Influence (Instruction) tests to describe them.
Individuals have shorter arms due to skeletal dysplasia from their other metatypical species.
Bonus: 10 Karma
Game Effect: In Close Combat, the loss of reach incurs a –1 Dice Pool Modifier to all Close Combat attacks, including when wielding weapons.
The problem further incurs a –1 Dice Pool Modifier to all Athletics, Firearms, Outdoors, and Stealth tests involving the use of arms.
Throwbacks (Atavistic Traits) are effects when SURGE appears to trigger recessive traits in an individual, causing alterations that impede or regress the person’s ability to function normally. Some of these are cosmetic in nature but can bring social challenges. Others of these bring about expressions that can be harmful. All these qualities make it easier to recollect or identify the individual in Memory tests and Matrix searches, granting a +2 Dice Pool Modifier on related tests.
The individual’s blood runs cold, like that of many reptiles and fish. Their body temperatures are commonly the same as the ambient temperature around them, negating any advantage from thermographic vision. In temperatures below ten degrees Celsius (fifty degrees Fahrenheit), the individual becomes sluggish and loses the ability to regulate their body temperature properly.
Bonus: 5 Karma
Game Effect: Below ten degrees celsius, they are treated as having the Fatigued I status. At temperatures below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), they become lethargic and are treated as having Fatigue III.
At temperatures below twenty degrees below zero Celsius (minus four Farenheit), the individual becomes Stilled, entering a state of hibernation. Individuals with this quality suffer a –2 Dice Pool Modifier on rolls to resist cold-based attacks.
All hair on the individual’s body and scalp is replaced with feathers, like those of a chicken or other similarly sized bird. These feathers may be fine and downy (and partially water resistant, like a duck’s) or fluffy and vibrant, but they do not provide any real value or benefit.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: Incompatible with Unusual Hair or Scales.
It’s one thing to be bald, another to be hairless. This individual no longer has any hair or hair follicles anywhere on their body (though skin pores do exist). This affects the entire dermal biome and overall appearance. Sweating is more difficult, and social engagements with metahumans can be awkward.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: First social encounters with metahumans are done with a –1 Dice Pool Modifier.
The individual also shows up more easily on thermographic vision and thermal sensors, giving +1 Dice Reroll for Perception tests to see them.
The individual possesses insectoid features, such as compound eyes, chitinous skin, even vestigial wings. These features are cosmetic only; they do not provide any benefits beyond those of a good Halloween costume. Compound eyes do not alter vision significantly, chitin provides no extra defense, and wings don’t bestow flight, or even gliding. The character resembles a hybrid form insect spirit, so they are treated with suspicion or hostility in most social circles.
Bonus: 6 Karma
Game Effect: The user cannot gain or spend Edge in social situations.
Some people may react with hatred and rage, having to make a Composure (4) test to resist attacking the individual (verbally or physically).
These modifiers do not apply when encountering any bug spirits or attempting to infiltrate a hive or nest.
The individual has scaly skin, like that of a lizard, snake, or fish, which covers at least sixty percent of their body, including the most evident areas with the highest use (hands, face, etc). Normal ongoing renewal of the epidermis can be itchy and irritating, which is obvious to onlookers.
Bonus: 6 Karma
Game Effect: Once per month, the individual will literally shed their entire skin, which is a distracting time (it takes twenty-four hours) during which they suffer a –2 Dice Pool Modifier to all actions.
The scales appear in a variety of colors and patterns, making them especially memorable to others, though the patterns do not serve any beneficial purpose.
Because of this dramatic visual impression of scales, all Matrix searches and visual Perception tests targeting the individual are made at +2 Dice Pool Modifier.
This quality is incompatible with other dermal qualities and dermal augmentations.
The individual grows a normal or stumpy tail from the base of their spine. It may be scaly, like a lizard; hairy, like a dog or cat; or hairless, like a rat. The tail may betray the mood of the individual when they are experiencing particularly strong emotions such as happiness, depression, or fear.
Bonus: 4 Karma
Game Effect: Stifling this outward expression requires a Charisma + Willpower (2) test.
This quality is incompatible with Functional Tail (all) and all bioware tail modifications.
Cybernetic replacements can overcome these drawbacks, but only when the quality is also bought off with Karma.
This final category of negative metagenic qualities are conditions directly associated with the neurological system of the individual that manifest in psychological and parasympathetic manners.
The character has a short fuse. They lack self-control and are prone to fits of mindless, nearly primal rage. They have no control over these fits once they happen, and they are just as likely to strike out violently against friends or innocent bystanders as they are at foes and enemies.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: When the character takes three or more boxes of Physical or Stun damage, they must make a Composure test or fly into this rage.
While so enraged, they increase all their physical attributes by +1 (not beyond their racial maximums) and reduce all their mental attributes by –1 (to a minimum of 1).
These fits of rage last for (1D6 + total current wound modifier) combat rounds. If the individual possesses an adrenaline pump, it activates automatically.
The individual suffers intermittent pain along their nerves, occurring most often in the head and face. This pain is intensely distracting when it occurs, and it usually strikes when the individual is at complete rest.
Bonus: 6 Karma
Game Effect: Because of this, all natural recovery tests are made with a –2 Dice Pool Modifier.
An altered circadian rhythm makes the individual active during the night and asleep during the day.
Bonus: 8 Karma
Game Effect: If forced to be active outside their normal hours, they suffer the Confused (2) status (p. 51, SR6).
If active in full daylight, all mental attributes are reduced by –1 point
