Falco's nWod Homebrew

[falco1029]

Forbidden Lore is a really, really cool mechanic. Until Promethean 2E comes out, this is probably how I'll model mortal Alchemists. Another thing I thought of reading through this, is that the whole vibe of the writeup is deeply Lovecraftian, and fits within Mummy's wheelhouse to perfection. I don't know if you have the Mummy books or not, but this would fit quite nicely for the cultists of the Arisen. Exposure to a Mummy wears down your sanity in a very Lovecraftian way. Makes sense to me their cultists might pick up Utterances and/or Affinities by exposure.

I'm glad you like it! The thing there is that it's a 2nd edition upgrade of a 1st edition system from Mirrors. Mummy's still 1st edition, so it still fits easily with the 1st edition rules for it, so if you have Mirrors I'd suggest using that. If you're using mummy in a 2nd edition game, I unfortunately don't know enough to help you, past saying the system should work pretty much the same way, I dont think mummies had any special considerations to take into account.

[Deionscribe]

Small question regarding your Gift of the Void Beyond, are you planning on revisiting it and converting it into 2E mechanics for Shadow Gifts? I'm curious, since I'm tempted to weave it into my stuff as another way for a werewolf to become one of the Weeping Wolves (written by NeoTiamat).

[falco1029]

Small question regarding your Gift of the Void Beyond, are you planning on revisiting it and converting it into 2E mechanics for Shadow Gifts? I'm curious, since I'm tempted to weave it into my stuff as another way for a werewolf to become one of the Weeping Wolves (written by NeoTiamat).

I was actually considering that, one of my thoughts being "Does anyone even care about that bit of homebrew enough to convert it?"

So, that being said, I'll see about doing so in the next few days, if I have a chance, since it seems like there is indeed interest!

Will likely need to revisit some of the mechanics, given the difference in how Harmony works and what it represents, for instance, as well as the balance of gifts in general. And Paradox, for that matter.

[falco1029]

Here's my first draft of the aforementioned update, which I'll add to the first post: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

I decided to focus more on forsaking (no pun intended) your Renown rather than relying on broken Harmony.

[Ephsy]

What is the point of penalizing the gift use with their renown if you're going to give it a bonus? Pick a side.

Anomaly's blacklash is generally poor considering someone could have a spontaneous volcanic eruption in the middle of the scene. It virtually trumps every environmental tilt-causing gift.

Release needs an actual blacklash, probably on top of that caveat.

Make Havok's blacklash count failures as dramatic and count as exceptional with three successes.

Aside for those editorial notes, not bad.

[falco1029]

I'm not sure what you mean on that first part? None of the gifts give any bonus to renown.

You're probably right about anomaly. I've changed it to limit the tilt's size, too, and added an extra bit of the backlash. Still, the main balancing factor is how obvious it is, and that it innately ties the effect to your character, so it can't be hidden (Thus likely causing you trouble if it's done in the city or other populated areas).

You're probably right about release too, but I've kept it fairly minor.

I feel if 1-2 successes still work as successes, it's less of a backlash and becomes almost beneficial, as it's far more likely that any power being activated will have enough dice to make at least a basic success more likely. Thus why I made them also count as dramatic failures, to make it a bit of an 'all or nothing' drawback.

[Deionscribe]

Here's my first draft of the aforementioned update, which I'll add to the first post: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

I decided to focus more on forsaking (no pun intended) your Renown rather than relying on broken Harmony.

Damn. I am liking this version of the Gift of the Void.
XD

It's a pretty interesting direction you took with the Renown. The more you have of it, the more difficult it is to successfully invoke any of the Facets.

I wanted to add something, though. Almost all the existing Gifts in Werewolf 2E that I've seen (including the Gift of Cities in the link below) have Facets which grow more effective the more dots you have in a specific type of Renown. Perhaps you can apply that here? Only with [6 - Renown]?

http://theonyxpath.com/the-giver-of-gifts-2-werewolf-the-forsaken/

Let me give an example for a possible revision with the Anomaly Facet...

"The Uratha creates an Environmental Tilt of her choice on the surrounding area (to a limit of about a 100 foot radius multiplied by [6 - Cunning])."

Would that work? Or perhaps it might be too powerful to incorporate Renown (or lack of it) more into the mechanics?

On a related note, this is probably a very good reason for an Uratha - Forsaken or Pure - to invest in a rite which flays off his Renown (perhaps applying a Sanctity Rule for the EXP you had spent on it in the first place).

[Deionscribe]

What is the point of penalizing the gift use with their renown if you're going to give it a bonus? Pick a side.

I kind of think that having a flat +5 dice that's offset by the Renown makes sense. It would certainly give you a reason to flay off your Renown (if that rite from the Pure supplement is converted), and it also opens up hooks where conventional packs could encounter Ghost Wolves who shun the Oath in favor of honoring those 'alien' Void spirits that grant such a dangerous Gift.

[falco1029]

I'll take a look at it tomorrow to see about adding some scaling, I hadn't even considered that when I was converting them. Definitely doable since I have some things that are success based that could be anti-renown based instead.

And oh, yeah, if Ephsy meant it was pointless to give a +5 to the gift activation, the point of that is to create 'anti-renown' as a bonus, still giving you an effective '3 trait' dice pool. So really, you can think of it as (5 - Renown) in parentheses as its own trait, rather than adding 5 and then subtracting renown, if it helps visualize what it's meant to do.

[falco1029]

There we go, I added a few scaling bits to it, tweaking some of the other mechanics to match, let me know what you think. I wasn't able to think of anything for Release, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

[Deionscribe]

There we go, I added a few scaling bits to it, tweaking some of the other mechanics to match, let me know what you think. I wasn't able to think of anything for Release, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Well, I'm liking a lot of the revisions. Though a few things seem to be muddled up, now.

For Anomaly, you could probably rephrase the bit on damage rating and/or penalty so that it's easier to understand? I can't really make heads or tails on how to interpret the description.

The Uratha creates an Environmental Tilt of her choice on the surrounding area (to a limit of about a 100 foot radius), with a rating, damage, or penalty equal to (5 - Cunning), if appropriate (capped at the normal limit the tilt has, if any, and a minimum of 1).

Perhaps, you can retain this as being based on successes. And instead, make the area of effect be what's determined by the werewolf's (lack of) Cunning Renown, Something like "To a limit of a 50-foot radius multiplied by (5 - Cunning), with a minimum of 25 feet at Cunning 5".

For Release, maybe in addition to flinging the Condition or Tilt at your opponent, perhaps you can have its duration multiplied by "[5 - Honor]"?

[falco1029]

Well not all environmental tilts have a radius, but I can see that working out. Not on my PC at the moment but I'll see about tweaking that later.

As for release, the problem there is a lot of conditions/tilts have no set duration, so it'd just be a sort of awkward addon that only helps in edge cases.

[falco1029]

Alright, tweaked it.

On another note, the idea for the following merit came to mind while watching Grimm:

Secondhand Sixth Sense (**)
Prerequisite: Occult 2+, Empathy 2+
Effect: While you can't sense it directly yourself, you've got a knack for noticing the slight look of surprise, the goosebumps out of nowhere, or the wide eyed look connected to the realization made by someone with a sense for the supernatural (even if they don't realize what it is themselves). Whenever someone you can see's Unseen Sense, a similar 'sixth sense' (such as Peripheral Mage Sight), or a power capable of otherwise revealing supernatural effects or creatures, is used to positively notice the supernatural, you may roll Wits + Empathy to notice the small telltale signs of realization, confusion, or disturbance that so often accompany it. This may be contested by Composure + Subterfuge for the individual if they would try to conceal their reaction.
On a success, you realize that individual has such a sense or power, and has indeed noticed something supernatural. An exceptional success likely allows you to figure out what triggered it if the target knows, whereas a dramatic failure likely means you're all the more certain of the mundane nature of the situation.
Suggested Modifiers: The ability is Unseen Sense and the Spooked condition is applied because of it (+2), you know the target has the capability (+2, stacks), the ability is reflexive and entirely unexpected (+1), the ability was actively used (-2), the ability was used by someone experienced with it (-1, stacks).



Balance Notes: I originally had it at 1 dot, to be less than Unseen Sense, but then realized that this applies to ANY sort of unseen sense or other supernatural insight, so it's probably a bit better than 1 dot, even if it relies on others. However, I can't see it being more than 2 because 3 is Aura Reading which seems strictly better, especially with the prerequisites added in, and the need for someone who has the appropriate capabilities.

[Deionscribe]

I originally had it at 1 dot, to be less than Unseen Sense, but then realized that this applies to ANY sort of unseen sense or other supernatural insight, so it's probably a bit better than 1 dot, even if it relies on others. However, I can't see it being more than 2 because 3 is Aura Reading which seems strictly better, especially with the prerequisites added in, and the need for someone who has the appropriate capabilities.

This is especially handy for mundane humans who spend quite a lot of time with supernatural beings, or just other human beings who happen to have supernatural powers.

[Horodrigo]

I liked very much the homebrews presented here, specially the Mystery of the Fallen.
I'm using it on my chronicle as a Mystery that my Dragon is developing, but I made some changes to it.

On the 4th level, instead of the Rote quality, the bonus is equal this Coil lvl.
And my Dragon isn't a mage, he's a megalomaniac Ventrue who has found a some others supernatural beings and now is studying and testing some properties of their bloods.

The objective he has in mind is making the Kindred the Lords of other creatures, understanding and surpassing their capabilities.

Can you give me some advices on how i can make a level 5 Coil for this, based on the previous levels?