[Minor Template] No More Sleep

[amechra]

The Sleepless

No one's ever died from a lack of sleep, you know.

You remember sleep. It was nice, back in those days - you'd get your 8 hours a night, and you'd feel nice and refreshed in the morning. Nowadays... you sometimes go weeks without sleep, stealing the rest from people around you. Because sleep is a precious commodity, and you've burned through your supply. Lucky you.

---

The Sleepless possess the following traits:

Eternal Insomniac
You suffer from the Insomnia condition, as your dreams and mind are lost through the cracks - if you manage to resolve this condition somehow, you regain it the next time you wake up. More importantly, your curse overwhelms any mundane attempts to help you sleep, and any supernatural sleep aids suffer a penalty equal to the amount of Sand you currently possess.

A Heart Of Sand
As one of the Sleepless, you possess a pool of Sand - a metaphysical representation of your need for (and inability to obtain) sleep. Unlike most other pools, you do not have a definite limit on how much Sand you can hold - instead, each grain reduces either your Resolve or Composure by 1 dot, whichever is higher. Spending Sand returns lost dots of Resolve or Composure immediately - however, you do not immediately gain any Willpower as your Willpower dots increase. If your Resolve or Composure would drop to 0, you resolve the Insomnia condition and immediately fall asleep until all of your Sand is lost.
You gain one grain of Sand whenever you fail a roll called for by your Insomnia.

Stealing Sleep
Whenever another character within the same scene as you spends Willpower, you feel it as a slight change in the tenor of your persistent, exhausted ache. Mechanically, you possess a version of the Unseen Senses merit that allows you to sense people spending Willpower. If you pinpoint the character who spent Willpower, you may spend a grain of Sand to pass some of that ache to them - if you do so, the point of Willpower they spent has no effect, and they cannot spend any additional Willpower this turn.

Merciful Sandman
Whenever you do manage to regain Willpower from rest, you may spend a grain of Sand to regain an additional point of Willpower. If you somehow manage to sleep for more than 8 hours, you regain one Willpower for every full eight hours you've slept, and you may spend a point of Sand for each Willpower you would gain.

The Sleepless start with the above traits, 10 merit dots, and two grains of Sand.

[amechra]

Dream Logic (••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: The world sometimes has a tough time getting to you through your sleep-deprived mind. Whenever you fail a Breaking Point roll, you may choose to gain a grain of Sand to succeed as if you had rolled a single Success.

Enter Sandman (•••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: You can be a bit more... proactive when using your ability to steal sleep. Your psuedo-Unseen Sense extends to apply to people gaining Willpower as well - if you pinpoint someone gaining Willpower, you may spend a grain of Sand to make one point of that Willpower disappear into the aether. If that Willpower would have been gained through rest, they take the Insomnia condition as well - their sleep was annihilated, as it were.

Hand of Morpheus (••)
Prerequisite: Sleepless
Effects: You may substitute skin-to-skin contact for pinpointing another character for the purposes of stealing sleep from them (or any other effect that triggers off of pinpointing them). Alternatively, you may chose to gain one grain of Sand to have a sleeping character you're in skin-to-skin contact with stay asleep for the rest of the scene - anything less than Lethal damage won't be able to wake them up.

Sand in the Ears (•)
Prerequisite: Sleepless
Effects: You are really good at zoning out at just the right time. You may add your current grains of Sand to your Resolve or Composure for the purposes of determining how many Doors another character needs to open when using Social Maneuvering on you.
Drawback: You don't get those extra Doors on against any Social Maneuvering attempts that involve helping you to sleep in any way. It's one hefty bargaining chip.

Voice of the Sleeper (•• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: Your voice is soothing - it's like a lullaby took sleeping pills. You may attempt to convince any character that's capable of sleep to fall asleep through Social Maneuvering. If you do so, treat their First Impression as Perfect, and you may offer them the Insomnia condition instead of falling asleep. If you have at least four dots, you may interrupt other Social Maneuvering attempts aimed at such characters - as long as you are within ear shot, you may reflexively spend a grain of Sand to prevent a Door from opening by speaking a few soporific words.
Special: Neither effect works on the Sleepless, for obvious reasons.

...

Man, it's been a while since I've made one of these. Stealing Sleep is... a bit more impressive than it looks.

Someone spends Willpower to boost an attack against you? You cancel it.
Someone spends Willpower to use a supernatural merit? You cancel it.
Someone has Beaten Down and tries to attack you? You cancel the Willpower they spent, and they can't.

It's once per Scene by default, but that's what one of the merits I'm planning is for. It'll be harsh, is what I'm saying.

[Vent0]

Hmm. Might they be able to outright send someone to sleep (giving them Sand)? Shape dreams?

How might this affect Integrity?

[amechra]

Those are the kinds of things that the merits will do.

And Integrity? Your Resolve and Composure are going to be really low, so you'll fail Breaking Point rolls quite often.

[Master Aquatosic]

So, starting with ten dots of merits on top of the initial 7?

[Walksforever]

interesting idea

[amechra]

So, starting with ten dots of merits on top of the initial 7?

Instead of - it's the standard "this is a template" package.


I should have the first merit up soon - I just got in from work, 11-1/2 hours after I left my room. It's been a long day, and I need to do laundry.

[Master Aquatosic]

Instead of - it's the standard "this is a template" package.


I should have the first merit up soon - I just got in from work, 11-1/2 hours after I left my room. It's been a long day, and I need to do laundry.

SO THAT'S THE REASON FOR THE MISMATCH! it's a template thing!

[amechra]

One of the merits is in the second post.

I also decided to be cute and made it so you have grains of Sand rather than points.

[Vent0]

Are you accepting suggestions/submissions, or is this all personal?

[amechra]

Are you accepting suggestions/submissions, or is this all personal?

I'd accept some submissions (that makes it sound all formal) - I decided to do this during a very stressful time in my life, and I appreciate all the help I can get.

[Vent0]

Sand Bagged (•••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: You've learned how to be... generous with your Sand, giving grains to those "in need". Your pseudo-Unseen Sense now extends to those currently affected by the Insomnia Condition. Additionally, you can spend a grain of Sand to give them the Fatigue Condition.
[Comments: Add some physical sleep related crippling to the Sleepless's bag of sand tricks. More ways to inflict Insomnia would help, and yes, Sleepless can detect and shaft each other by implication with it.]

Morphean Curse (••••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: All work and no sleep makes something something. Now, whenever you spend grains of Sand and inflict a Condition or Tilt, you can spend a point of Willpower to give the target another Mental Condition, such as Distracted, Confused, or Shaken.
[Comments: Because sleep deprivation is bad for mental health, m'kay? Though flexible and potentially powerful, the Willpower cost limits it more than usual due to the Sleepless's sub-standard reserves. After thinking about it, there's no reason the "curse" couldn't be a boon instead, by giving the subject a beneficial Mental Condition, like Inspired, Steadfast, or Informed.]

Bring Me A Dream (••••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless, Enter Sandman
Effects: When spending Sand to prevent someone from gaining Willpower through sleep, you can also use a combination of Aura Reading and Psychometry (though about the person's dreams, rather than an object's history).
[Comments: Or maybe this could instead incarnate/create a Goetic from the target's stolen dreams?]

What Dreams May Come (•••••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless, Occult 3
Effects: When you are finally rendered unconscious (be it through sleep, damage, or a supernatural power), you can detach your mind as if it were a Goetia - using your highest rating in Power, Finesse, and Resistance Attributes, and with Sand treated as if it were Essence. While in this dream form, you exist in Twilight, and can enter the Astral by merely spending a Willpower point. Should your dream form lose all Corpus or Discorporate, you return immediately to your body, whatever condition it is in, and gain the Soul Shocked Condition.
Drawback: You body lies in whatever condition you left it, comatose, and you do not regain Willpower through sleep while detached.
[Comments: Scout the area when you nap. Travel to new Astral vistas. Linger on past death as some kind of dream-ghost. Just remember Essence Bleed will drain your Sand, and you aren't recovering Willpower while your mind/self is going on walkabout.

I probably need to spell out the exact effects for translating the Sleepless into a Goetia, though...]

Too Tired To Care (•••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: Many, many, sleepless nights have left you are too tired to care about much beyond your immediate goals and wanting sweet, sweet slumber. When affected by powers that would influence your mind or emotions (such as the Nightmare Discipline, Mind Arcana, or some Demon Embeds or Exploits), you treat your current grains of Sand as Supernatural Tolerance.
[Comments: Gives the Sleepless some resistance, based of the nice double-edged sword that is their Sand supply.]

One Eye Open (•••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless, Occult 1
Effects: You've learn to, well, not sleep, obviously, but always keep at least one eye open. Your third eye. You can see into Mind/Goetic attuned Twilight at all times, and can use Omen Sensitivity by spending a grain of Sand.
[Comments: I don't actually know where I wanted to go with the whole extra-sensory perception. I just want to check a Metallica reference off the list.]

Broken Dreams (•••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: It's a precious thing, a dream. All the more devastating when it is crushed. Whenever you use Stealing Sleep to negate spent Willpower, you can spend a point of Willpower yourself and roll Presence + Intimidation vs Resolve + Composure. If you succeed, the subject gains the Beaten Down Tilt.
[Comments: Why not give them the opportunity to crush an opponent's will as well? Would combo nicely once Stealing Sleep can be used more than once per scene.]

---

I don't know if any of these are headed in the wrong direction, but here are just some sleepless and dream related ideas I had.

[amechra]

Enter Sandman is already a Metallica reference - same song, even.

As for the merits...

Sandbagged is nice, though I'm unsure about the Fatigued part - there's too much overlap with the Insomnia condition mechanically. I'd actually roll Broken Dreams into it - replace the Fatigue with rendering them too tired to continue fighting you (through Broken Down).

Morphean Curse is also good, though "mental condition" isn't really a defined thing. I would actually have it give them a custom Condition that calls for a Breaking Point when they gain Willpower through rest - just pool the two rolls together if they're already an insomniac, and tie it up in a neat little bow.

Bring Me A Dream needs to be fleshed out - a list of specific dream-themed questions would help it mesh with the theme.

What Dreams May Come doesn't feel mechanically in-theme to me, though it is pretty cool. It also makes it way too easy to clear out your Sand - part of the idea is that you're going to be crashing for days after hitting your limit.

Too Tired To Care is right in line with the theme, though. One of the merits I'm tweaking right now is similar, but applies to Social Manuevering instead.

One Eye Open is neat, but spending Sand on stuff is roughly the equivalent of gaining other fuel stats.

=---=

So, a few notes:

• Generally, gaining Sand is a little bit worse than spending Willpower, while spending Sand is a little bit worse than gaining Willpower.

• On the relationship of Sleepless with sleep - I see it as a bit more self-focused. Sleepless merits that modify the benefits of sleeping should be primarily based around inaction, or messing with/fortifying their own dreams, rather than Astral Travel. Let the poor guys rest.

• Their "waking" powers are based around the distorted mental state you get when tired, and contagious sleepiness. They tend to be subtly nasty, like so:

A Dream Deferred (••)
Prerequisites: Sleepless
Effects: Your Unseen Senses now extend to characters fulfilling an Aspiration. If you pinpoint them, you may spend a grain of Sand to prevent them from gaining the normal reward for fulfilling that Aspiration - if it was a short-term Aspiration, this also causes the direct benefits to dissolve into dreamstuff as well - it was all an idle daydream.

Because why let people feel good about their accomplishments?

[Vent0]

Enter Sandman is already a Metallica reference - same song, even.

I know. I meant checking it off a list for me making a Metallica reference.

Sandbagged is nice, though I'm unsure about the Fatigued part - there's too much overlap with the Insomnia condition mechanically. I'd actually roll Broken Dreams into it - replace the Fatigue with rendering them too tired to continue fighting you (through Broken Down).

Well, mechanically, Insomnia just makes sleeping (and regaining Willpower) hard. Fatigue (from the same post) has actual dice penalties involved. And the Beaten Down Tilt is restricted mostly to combat. They all have their niche, I think.

Morphean Curse is also good, though "mental condition" isn't really a defined thing. I would actually have it give them a custom Condition that calls for a Breaking Point when they gain Willpower through rest - just pool the two rolls together if they're already an insomniac, and tie it up in a neat little bow.

Yeah, it is a bit vague. I wanted to leverage the whole "sleep deprivation madness and/or hallucinations" without locking it down or having to write another Condition (or Tilt) out. I guess just making up a static Condition would simplify things, though.

Bring Me A Dream needs to be fleshed out - a list of specific dream-themed questions would help it mesh with the theme.

It's basically a target and activation restricted version of the two other merits - the same rules and questions you can ask apply. I'll try to write out a few examples, though, later.

What Dreams May Come doesn't feel mechanically in-theme to me, though it is pretty cool. It also makes it way too easy to clear out your Sand - part of the idea is that you're going to be crashing for days after hitting your limit.

Yeah, for this, I was mining anything Sleep or Dream related I could find. The idea of Astral Projection seemed nice. I saw draining away your Sand as a mixed effect, though - it set an upper timer, and you can't spend them to get the Willpower back through Merciful Sandman. And Sleepless can't even trigger it easily, since they can't sleep normally and getting beaten unconscious has its own downsides.

Point noted about it not being in theme, though.

Too Tired To Care is right in line with the theme, though. One of the merits I'm tweaking right now is similar, but applies to Social Manuevering instead.

Great.

One Eye Open is neat, but spending Sand on stuff is roughly the equivalent of gaining other fuel stats.

Would gaining Sand, or spending Willpower instead, make more sense?

So, a few notes:

• Generally, gaining Sand is a little bit worse than spending Willpower, while spending Sand is a little bit worse than gaining Willpower.

• On the relationship of Sleepless with sleep - I see it as a bit more self-focused. Sleepless merits that modify the benefits of sleeping should be primarily based around inaction, or messing with/fortifying their own dreams, rather than Astral Travel. Let the poor guys rest.

• Their "waking" powers are based around the distorted mental state you get when tired, and contagious sleepiness. They tend to be subtly nasty, like so:

So, some added recovery options when sleeping would make sense? As would abilities that induced things like blurred vision, irrationality, or outright insta-slumber?

[amechra]

Alright, I've added 4 new Merits to the post. Now they can sleep-vampire people through physical contact, can convince people to fall asleep, and can dismiss Breaking Point rolls by getting a little more tired.

As for your questions, Vent0 (sorry that I'm not going over everything in detail, but I'm not sure I have anything extra to say there):

Insomnia actually inflicts a -2 penalty on all rolls for the next day whenever you fail the roll. Essentially, I'd rather they weren't capable of inflicting -2 ~ -4 penalties to everything on a whim.

And yeah, extra recovery stuff while sleeping is pretty appropriate. I'd shy away from insta-slumber, but blurred vision and irrationality are perfectly cromulent as well.