Every character starts with 40 skill points, either 8 or 6 Order Abilities, and 8 Favored Abilities of their choosing. Each character must spend 15 of these points among Order or Favored Abilities; every Favored Ability must have one dot. Order Abilities do not have to have any dots in them at character creation.
Some Abilities have different names based on whether they better fit a mystic or technomantic paradigm. The Abilities themselves are essentially the same, they just have different methods for explaining things. Where one of these Abilities is asked for, the other version may be used instead. A character with one version of this Ability is capable of understanding the concepts of the other version, although some details (such as mathematical equations or precise formulas) may require difficult rolls to decipher.
Certain Abilities are merely names for a general class of related skills. These Abilities do not exist independently, but indicate how other skills are related to one other. These Abilities are Academics, Arts, Crafts, Engineering, Lore and Science. When a character takes one of these Abilities, he is selecting a specific skill such as Arts (Dancing) or Engineering (Civil). It is impossible to take a catch-all Ability such as Lore or Science. However, if a skill in a certain class Ability is required, other skills in that class may be attempted instead at +2 difficulty (such as using Crafts (Weaving) to handle a Crafts (Woodworking) roll). If these skills are closely related to the requested skill (such as Science (Biology) instead of Science (Genetics)), then the difficulty is only +1. When a character has multiple skills in a class Ability, use the highest rated one for such a roll.
Players may choose to take Specialties for their Abilities. A Specialty adds one die when the characters perform the appropriate tasks. There is no limit to how many times a character may take Specialties, but no more than three of the same Specialty may be taken (so that a character could have twelve different Specialties, but could not be a Marksman more than three times). Note that this means a normal human who is the absolute top of his field could have 13 dice for some actions. A Specialty in a class Ability applies to all skills in that Ability.
Class Abilities are marked with a *, some examples of specific skills are
given in their descriptions. The player is welcome to suggest more skills for
his character.
* Academics
Skills: Anthropology, History, Law, Mathematics, Politics, Psychology, etc.
Specialties: Best Schools, Excellent Teachers, Research, Unusual Subjects. Alchemy (Transformations)
Specialties: Exotics, Gasses, Liquids, Metals, Minerals, Nanoengineering, Philosopher’s
Stones. State Change. Animal Ken
Specialties: Families of Animals, Farm Animals, Feral Animals, Training, Tricks. * Arts
Skills: Acting, Composing Music, Dancing, Drawing, Painting, Performing Music,
Poetry, Writing, etc.
Specialties: Critique, Giants in Field, History, Improvisation, Subtext, Forgery,
Athletics
Specialties: Archery, Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Specific Sports, Throw, Tumbling. Awareness
Specialties: On Alert, Primal-Urge, Sharp Ears, Sharp Eyes, Spot Ambush, Track. Brawl
Specialties: Blind Fighting, Boxing, Combinations, Dirty Maneuvers, Multiple
Opponents, Wrestling. Business
Specialties: Bureaucracy, Corporate Structure, High Finance, Management, Networking,
Personal Finance, Stocks. Computer
Specialties: Applications, Antique Systems, Data Retrieval, Digital Web, Hacking,
Maintenance, Programming. Consequences (Predictive
Analysis)
Specialties: Avoiding Trouble, People, Political, Reactions, Seeking Trouble,
Tactical. Cosmology (Multidimensional
Theory)
Specialties: Denizens, Etiquette, High, Low, Middle, Weaver, Wyld, Wyrm. * Crafts
Skills: Automobiles, Construction, Weapons, Armor, Clothing, Primitive
Specialties: Artistic Sense, Making Do, Repairs, Working in Haste. Dodge
Specialties: Animal Attacks, Armed, Full Dodge, Melee Attacks, Natural Hazards,
Ranged Attacks, Unarmed. Drive
Specialties: Dangerous Stunts, Heavy Traffic, High Speed, Inclement Weather. Endurance
Specialties: Fasting, Holding Breath, Long-Distance Running, Sleep Loss. • Engineering
Skills: Biotech, Civil, Computers, Electronic, Mechanical, Telecommunications,
Vehicles.
Specialties: Armor, Electricity, Faults, Hypertech, Jury-Rig, Weapons. Enigmas
Specialties: Ancient Mysteries, Intuition, Logic Problems, Solving Crimes, Riddles. Firearms
Specialties: Blind Fire, Cover Fire, Marksmanship, Multiple Shots, Pistols,
Rifles, Trick Shots, Vehicles. Form of Life
Specialties: Breeding, Health, Predicting Development, Shapechanging. Investigation
Specialties: Analysis, Concealed Objects, Deduction, Digital Web, Hidden in
Plain Sight, Interviews, Research, What is Missing. Larceny
Specialties: Electronic Infiltration, Guards, Palm Object, Parlor Tricks, Pick
Pockets, Security Procedures, Traps. Linguistics
The first dot of Linguistics gives two additional languages. The second gives
three more languages, the third gives four more, the fourth gives five more,
and the fifth gives six more languages. These dots are cumulative.
Total number of languages known per dot: Linguistics 1, 4 languages. Level 2,
7 languages. Level 3, 11 languages. Level 4, 16 languages. Level 5, 22 languages. * Lore
Skills: Angels, Ascension War, Bastet, Bygones, Demons, Garou, Gurhal, Heroes,
Monsters, Mystics, Spirits, Technomancers, Vampires, Villains, etc.
Specialties: Abilities, History, Scientific Rationales, Society, Threat Levels,
Up-to-Date. Martial Arts
Specialties: Acrobatics, Blind Fighting, Close Quarters, Combinations, Defensive
Maneuvers, Multiple Opponents, Offensive Maneuvers, Throws. Medicine
Such knowledge can be used to harm as well as heal. Characters may use Medicine
to take advantage of an opponent’s injury, to apply harmful drugs (or helpful
drugs in lethal doses) or to encourage a greater degree of illness in a subject
due to improper treatment.
Specialties: Emergency, First Aid, Holistic Medicine, Paranormals, Pharmacy,
Specialized Fields (Neurology, Oncology, etc)., Surgery. Melee
Specialties: Ax, Chain, Club, Improvised Weapon, Knife, Nunchaku, Staff, Sword. Might
Specialties: Breaking Things, Climb, Dead Lift, Holding, Leaping, Throwing. Mystic Assaults (Offensive
Techniques)
Specialties: Bete, Defending Against, Forensic Analysis, Mystic, Sphere (Entropy,
Forces, Life, etc), Technomantic, Vampires. Mystic Defenses (Defensive
Techniques)
Specialities: Linear Magic, Mystic, Penetrating, Sphere (Correspondance, Mind,
Prime, etc.), Spotting Wards, Technomantic. Nature of Time (Temporal
Mechanics)
Specialties: History, Localized Phenomena, Outcomes, Paradoxes, Potential Futures,
Slippage. Occult
Specialties: Ancient Texts, Predictions, Rumors, Supernatural Creatures, Truth. Pattern Understanding
(Underlying Structures)
This Ability helps the willworker explore the nature of Patterns, how they determine
the physical reality most can see, and what happens when a Pattern is changed.
It can be used to determine how a Pattern should be altered or how to return
one to an original form.
Specialties: Alterations, Common Factors, Differences, Predicting Changes. Pilot
Specialities: Air Fighters, Air Bombers, Helicopters, Space Fighters, Space
Cruisers, Submersibles. Rapport
Specialties: Discern Motivations, Discern Truth, Meditation, Emotional State,
Intent, Overcoming Pain. Probabilities (Chaos
Mathematics)
This Ability reflects your character’s grasp of the maze of chaos, and
how well she can comprehend it all. It helps discern what factors have gone
into a specific event, how best to make alterations to probability to get the
results you want, or what might happen if you fiddle with probability. Where
Probabilities focuses on chance and possibility, where the Consequences Ability
deals with about events in future or past that will have basic outcomes.
Specialties: Explaining the Chaos, Influencing Factors, Luck, Quantum Events. Presence
Specialties: Bad-Ass, Clear Vision, First Among Equals, In Crisis, Leadership,
Quiet Competence, Threats. Psyche
Specialties: Brainwashing, Holistic Therapy, Hypnosis, Memories, Motives, Phobias,
Psychoanalysis, What Will He Do? Resistance
Specialties: Ignore Pain, Resist Disease, Resist Drugs, Resist Interrogation. Rituals
Specialties: Disparate Paradigms, Guiding Voice, Improvisation, Learning New
Things, Religious, Scientific Methods, With Style. * Science
Skills: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Genetics, Physics, etc..
Specialties: Combining Disciplines, Experimentation, Explaining the Unexplainable,
State of the Art, Theoretical Work. Shape of Space (Hypertopography)
Beyond understanding also comes the knowledge of how to alter space. This can
cover the apparent compression of distance at high speeds as well as the mysteries
of wormholes or dilation of a physical dimension. It can help your character
to know when space has been manipulated in a certain area, or what happens when
locations are folded onto one another.
Specialties: Distances, Long-Term Effects, Large Distortions, Natural Phenomena,
Relative Size, Stabilize. Shaping Power (Energy
Manipulation)
Specialties: Electricity, Exotic, Fire, Gamma Rays, Light, Low-Frequency, Plasma,
Potential Uses, Power Sources, X-Rays. Socialize
Specialties: Conversationalist, Diplomacy, Disguise, Etiquette, Hiding Intent,
Lying, Smoothing Things Over, Undercurrents. Stealth
Specialties: Ambush, Camouflage, Covering Tracks, Hiding in Shadows, Sneak,
Trail. Streetwise
Specialties: Black Market, Customs, Fence, Gangs, Information, Knowing Names,
Scrounge, Street Trade. Survival
Specialties: Desert, Extraterrestrial, Forests, Hunting, Jungle, Mountains,
Navigation, Shelter, Space, Track, Urban. Weaving Quintessence
(Quantum Mechanics)
Specialties: Directing Flows, Ley Lines, Quantum Effects, Ramifications, Theory.
This reflects your schooling in a given area of knowledge, such as history,
law or philosophy. This Ability rates your character’s degree of understanding
of the topic. This can be taken several times for different general subjects,
but can be used in a more general sense to reflect overall education.
Understanding of the physical processes of changing one substance to another,
or to change its state, for example turning a solid into a gas. This deals not
only with mystical transformations, but those of natural processes. It gives
insight into catalyzing agents, what things can become, and what will be needed
to make these changes. It also deals with molecular structures and how moving
just a few atoms can change the nature of the molecule.
This is the knack of dealing with animals, especially when they are hurt, frightened,
or uncertain of you. With it, a person knows how to gain an animal’s trust,
and to help train them.
This rates the level of your talent and training in the visual or creative arts,
from drawing to writing to sculpture. This Ability imparts knowledge of the
culture and society of a particular art form. In specific form, this helps guide
the overall quality of your work.
A measure of fitness, this Ability concentrates on skills requiring balance,
coordination and good reflexes. Athletics training can cover skills in various
sports activities, tumbling, or being able to maneuver in strange environments.
This Ability indicates how much your character notices about her surroundings.
It’s a measure of knowing what’s there to be seen or felt, covering
input from all senses physical and otherwise. Awareness is useful for picking
out a face in a crowd, anticipating surprises, picking up scents, or focusing
on different levels of reality.
This skill covers styles of unarmed combat which rely on power rather than speed
or precision. Professional boxing, street fighting and wrestling are all examples
of this kind of combat. Brawling combat almost always is based on the Strength
Attribute. Brawlers may gain access to special combat techniques.
The world of business requires understanding of many factors, from negotiating
bureaucratic organizations to managing personal finances to keeping a company
afloat. This Ability indicates an understanding of the workings of business
matters. A person skilled in Business tends to know a people with influence
and probably has a fair bit of money.
Most people in the world have at least a passing grasp of computers. However,
this Ability shows real expertise. A trained computer operator can access all
kinds of data, tweak the functionality of his machine, streamline Web searches
and probably has some understanding of programming. Hackers and application
users alike make extensive use of this skill.
This Ability gives the character a way of discerning the most likely outcomes
of situations based on observed facts. While the means of arriving at these
conclusions can be as varied as reading tea leaves or charting behavioral graphs,
the end result is the same. Given a set of circumstances, the character can
determine how things should come together. Even more, it gives an instinct for
what may happen if conditions are altered in some way, and grasp of how the
outcome can be swayed. This skill is very useful in predicting how one’s
actions will alter future events, or what past events have gone into bringing
about a current situation.
The Umbra holds many secrets. The unwary can easily lose their way or their
lives, never knowing which set of rules they have broken or the dangers of the
next Realm. This Ability reflects not only a knowledge of the structure of the
Umbra and its Realms, but how to shape the environment to some degree.
This allows a character to create things with his hands and hard work. Anything
that doesn’t require advanced machines to build can fall under the aegis
of this skill. Most crafters focus on specific tasks, but this Ability can reflect
a basic knowledge of how the work should be done.
This measures the character’s ability to evade harm. Characters skilled
in Dodge are also generally agile and can avoid environmental hazards such as
falling ruins as well as incoming attacks.
Most people are familiar with the basics of driving. This Ability gives you
a detailed understanding of a vehicle’s operation, including performing
tricky manuevers, driving at high speeds and engaging in hot pursuit. Drive
is used to steer all forms of commercial land vehicles, from cars to motorcycles
to trucks.
This talent describes the capability to endure long-term exposure to severe
conditions or heavy exertions. This Ability differs from Resistance in that
Endurance sustains a character for long periods of time. This can apply to surviving
the noon sun in a desert or running a marathon.
Engineering rates your comprehension of how to put together machines and structures.
The character not only understands how computers, vehicles, robots and other
machines are built and operated, but knows the principles that keep bridges
from falling and how to design a dam. You can repair, modify and construct devices
from your field.
Logic problems, intuitive leaps, puzzles and mysteries are all the province
of Enigmas. Characters with this Ability know how to link bits of information
and hunches into a coherent whole. This allows you to solve conundrums of all
kinds, from metaphysical to the material world. Enigmas is equally useful to
help create scientific hypotheses about phenomena as well as to solve a murder.
This Ability covers the operation of ranged weapons and their basic maintenance.
Almost any kind of gun can be used with this skill, from personal sidearms to
heavy smartguns to vehicle weapons. The character not only knows how to aim
properly, but how to take care of the weapon.
Scientists discuss genetic structures and phylogeny and other such cold distant
things. But the true mystic knows that life is more warm, more immediate than
this. This skill reflects how well the mystic grasps the principles of lifeforce,
how it flows into morphogenic patterns, and what it necessary to alter this
force. This skill can be used to help guarantee healthy livestock or to find
ways to change a person’s form.
This is the skill of searching for clues and information, whether at a crime
scene or in the Digital Web. With Investigation, the character knows the ways
to ferret out data, either from speaking to witnesses or working search engines
or knowing how to use a card catalog at the library.
This is the measure of the character’s knowledge of the technical aspects
of crime. It gauges the character’s mastery of intrusion, sleight-of-hand,
gambling, pickpocketing, con games and other necessary skills for survival outside
the law. In modern society, skill with Larceny also means studying security
systems and ways around them, as well as how to use little tools to help improve
the odds of getting away clean.
The world is smaller than it once was. Most people alive have some familiarity
with one of the major languages, English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish or Hindi.
However, there is a staggering number of other languages out there. Thanks to
the Digital Web and the nature of today’s society, almost everyone alive
is now bilingual, and every PC starts with two languages. Linguistics represents
further study in the world’s languages. Dialects can generally be understood
if you speak the basic language. When encountering a new language, you may roll
Linguistics to try to gain a basic translation.
This Ability represents how much your character knows of the world behind what
she can see or touch. Academics represents study of the mundane world, Lore
is study in the rest of the universe. Lore can represent knowledge of the history
of the Traditions and Conventions, the rules by which vampires exist, the stories
of the Bete, or the entities existing in pandimensional spaces. While characters
normally have specific realms of study, the supernatural world is often intertwined,
and so it’s possible to glean information into strange creatures with a
general Lore roll.
This fighting Ability covers hand-to-hand styles such as aikido, capoeira, judo,
karate, kung fu, tae kwon do, muay thai and more. Martial Arts focuses more
on speed and precision than raw power, but it as dangerous as any form of Brawl.
Trained martial artists can gain access to a wide array of special combat techniques.
This Ability details how well your character knows the workings of the human
body, as well as how to repair it in case of injury. Medicine also includes
an understanding of drugs and their use, along with the diagnosis and treatment
of diseases and injuries.
A broad term for understanding the proper use of hand-to-hand armed combat and
the proper care of weapons. Melee weapons can range from knives to staves to
handy chairs or lengths of chain. Experts with melee weapons can use special
combat techniques to make themselves even more deadly.
This Ability encompasses physical fitness and feats of focused muscle power.
It rates lifting, climbing, jumping and how far something can be thrown. While
such tasks are all based in brute strength, Might helps your character better
direct his physical power to maximum effect.
There are as many ways to use magic to harm someone as there are willworkers.
However, every form of mystic attack has certain common factors. This Ability
represents how well your character understands the offensive uses of magic.
It can be used to understand how certain damage was cause, the potential results
of certain attacks, the weaknesses of various assaults, and what kinds of assaults
are common to what supernatural beings.
One of the most common uses of magic is to protect oneself or others. This Ability
covers these uses, from which mystic wards best repel certain beings to how
to set up a proper dispersion field to reduce the effectiveness of willworking.
It helps your character to identify the nature of protective magics, the strengths
and weaknesses of defenses, and how to circumvent or bolster these protections.
It also is used when performing countermagic.
The character learns the structure of time, how one moment becomes the next,
and how to think of time as just another direction. This Ability conveys understanding
of temporal phenomena, how actions may affect the course of time, and how to
resolve temporal paradoxes. While it is a very young science, it is also one
of the oldest forms of mystic exploration.
The occult encompasses both trendy New Age ideas as well as dark and sinister
curses and "black magic." It involves knowledge of the Sleeper view
of mystical forces, including voodoo, shamanism, folk magics, the Tarot and
other related beliefs. While it is easy for willworkers to dismiss these ideas,
the Sleepers have a large impact on the shape of reality, and so it is helpful
to understand their superstitions lest the bogeymen peek out from the closet.
The one thing all willworkers, mystic or technomantic, can do is view the basic
nature of reality, down to the Patterns that shape the world. It is one thing
to see at the primal universe, but it is another thing entirely to know just
what you are looking at and what it means. While all willworkers have instinctive
understandings of Patterns, that does not convey knowledge of how the Patterns
do what they do and why reality responds to them the way it does.
This Ability imparts skill in piloting airborne, submersible or spacefaring
vehicles. Pilot covers not only control, but complicated maneuvering and combat
techniques. Handling a craft in an atmosphere is different than vacuum, or under
water, but all involve similar basic functions.
This Ability is used to sense and understand the feelings of others. Rapport
is not supernatural; it uses your character’s own understanding of emotions,
people and the inner world to get an accurate reading of what others, or himself,
are feeling. This is used not only to understand emotions but to find inner
peace, or to help others find it themselves. This Ability allows one to meditate.
The universe is fraught with potential events, some of which come to pass and
others that never do. For every moment there is a nearly infinite number of
probabilities, each one leading to more possible events which will lead to more
probabilities, and so on into eternity. Even glimpsing this seeming chaos can
be more than most minds can handle. It is even more difficult to see the truth
that there is an order and structure under it all. How much more difficult,
then, to understand what can happen if someone starts changing possibilities
and shifting potentials?
This is the Ability to lead and intimidate through force of personality. Arts
deals with oratory and Socialize covers subtle manipulations, but Presence determines
effective, long-term leadership or short-term attempts to impress or coerce.
What a character’s Presence stems from varies; he could inspire respect
or fear, could appear wise or volatile, or just seem to know what he’s
doing. Presence can be used to frighten others, bolster their hopes, or to snap
orders that will be followed.
Where Rapport deals with understanding emotions, Psyche is about knowing someone’s
mind. This Ability reflects how well you can understand someone’s inner
logic, comprehend the factors that go into his personality, and how to manipulate
another’s thinking. Psyche can be used to delve into hidden secrets or
help someone come to terms with painful memories. It can give someone insight
into what another person might do in a given situation as well as show what
forms of persuasion would have the best effect.
This allows your character to temporarily combat the effects of physical pain,
chemicals, disease, or shock. Resistance can be used to shake off dice pool
penalties from combat wounds, resist interrogation, or to buy a few seconds
to reach an antidote.
Knowing the proper rituals is an important part of any willworkers’ life,
whether it’s a mystic’s chanting by a fire or a technomancer’s
calibration of his equipment. Rituals reflects how adept your character is at
following established rites according to his beliefs, or even to create new
rites to fulfill specific purposes. This is used to explain the nature of a
ritual to those who do not understand, to direct others along the steps, or
to identify a ritual performed by others. Almost any willworker who values working
with others of his kind learns the basics of this Ability.
Beyond an understanding of scientific theory, this Ability measures how well
your character can put such knowledge to practical use. Depending on one’s
specific skills, this can be used to investigate advanced concepts or to cobble
together a pipe bomb out of household chemicals. An important thing to remember
about the process of science is that at his root, a scientist is always questioning
things. Hidebound authoritarians who insist that a given theory should not be
tested or reexamined are not true scientists.
This Ability measures your character’s knowledge of the structure of space,
the meaning of distances, the underpinnings of place and position. It encompasses
many theories of spatial structures, from superstrings to giant rubber sheets
to infinite balloons to riding on the back of giant turtles or being nothing
more than shadows on a hyperdimensional wall.
As one willworker was known for saying, "Be careful riding the lightning,
or the lightning will ride you." Energy in all its forms is versatile,
powerful and potentially dangerous. From knowing how electricity behaves to
understanding the problem of sculpting plasma, this Ability reflects how well
your character can deal with raw energy. Shaping Power can help you to know
how best to protect yourself from energy discharges, how to best direct these
to maximum effect, or how to control energy through any means from willworking
to machinery. It provides a solid theoretical grounding about how each form
of energy should behave in certain circumstances and can be used to identify
the properties of new forms of power.
This is the ability to sense and understand people’s reactions to social
stimuli, to maneuver in social situations and to engage in politics, social
climbing and other sorts of subterfuge. Socialize covers blackmail, disguise
and similar political tricks, but it is just as useful in making friends or
acting diplomatically in tense situations.
This covers the capability to avoid notice, move quietly, trail someone and
generally evade detection. Stealth does not make your character invisible, but
it does help you know how to pass without a trace or to sneak up on people.
Stealth rolls are often resisted by another character’s Awareness rolls.
This Ability rates a character’s knowledge of, and skill in interacting
with, society’s underbelly. This art involves knowing what is needed, who
has it and the ways that it can be acquired. Streetwise helps your character
fit into an unfamiliar city or country, giving her an understanding of attitudes
and customs common in the underworld. It can also help your character to fade
into the backdrop of a city, or simply find out where to hide.
This Ability is extremely useful to explorers and biologists. It enables your
character to subsist in dangerous environments. He knows how to set traps, forage
for food and water, build fires, avoid environmental hazards or identify real
threats from apparent ones. Survival once applied only to wilderness settings,
but now can be used in urban ruins, space, or other worlds.
There is nothing more basic to the universe than what willworkers call the Prime,
the unvarnished levels of Quintessence from whence all things come. Willworkers
are the only beings on Earth who can observe or shape this level of reality,
but that does not mean they always know what they are doing. This Ability reflects
your character’s study of Quintessence, what it is, what it does, and how
to weave it in new ways. This conveys understanding of how the primal power
flows from place to place, how it becomes Patterns or can be harvested from
the same, and happens when changes are made to local Quintessential weaves.