Which Supernatural Style Comes Next?

[StSword]

Then don't do it. I neither made a demand or an order, and last time I checked you aren't chained up in a pit in my basement, that would be quite surprising really since I don't have a basement.

I was just putting the thought out there, since adamant hand in first edition was 10 martial arts about working with the various arcana, for example, the concept has room for expansion.

[amechra]

Then don't do it. I neither made a demand or an order, and last time I checked you aren't chained up in a pit in my basement, that would be quite surprising really since I don't have a basement.

That just raises more questions! Like... where am I?

I'd kinda like to go home, Mr. Man-In-Ski-Mask.

[amechra]

Having gotten out of the basement...

Veteran Exorcist [Supernatural; Style • - •••]
Prerequisites: Hardened Exorcist, Indomitable, Esoteric Armory ••
Know Your Enemy (•): You've researched the stuff that goes bump in the night enough that you can pick out proper references in your sleep. Subtract your dots in Veteran Exorcist from the number of Successes you need to research an Ephemeral Being, to a minimum of one success. If you have access to an applicable Library, double this benefit.
Know Your Thoughts (••): You have practice determining where your thoughts end and imposed ones start. Add your dots in Veteran Exorcist to your Resolve for the purposes of any roll made to contest a Manifestation or a Condition created through a Manifestation, as well as to the number of times you must be Possessed before an Ephemeral Being may Claim you.
Know Your Limits (•••): One of the most valuable things experience has taught you is how to recover from failure. Once per scene when you suffer a Dramatic Failure on a roll to abjure, bind, or ward against an Ephemeral Entity, you immediately gain successes equal to your dots in Veteran Exorcist towards researching that entity's Ban and Bane.

[Deionscribe]

Nice build-up on Hardened Exorcist.

You mind if we use this for Age of Azar stuff?

[amechra]

If I didn't want people to use it, I wouldn't have posted it! Just credit etc, etc.

I am going to make a quick tweak - it just hit me that Hardened Exorcist also works for experienced spirit summoners if you let the Research bonus apply to any roll to research Ephemeral Beings.

[amechra]

Also...

Two Steps Ahead [Supernatural; Style • - •••••]
Prerequisites: Mind of a Madman, Eye For The Strange
The Red String Web (•): You may treat the involvement of anyone you are tracking with Mind of a Madman in a crime scene as supernatural for the purposes of Eye For The Strange. On an Exceptional Success, the ST should reveal some detail of the culprit's world-view rather than a piece of folklore.
Cold Hard Hunches (••): It's hard to hide from someone who knows you inside out. Reduce any total penalties you suffer when investigating and tracking the culprit due to the Alternate Identity or Anonymous merits, or any similar penalties, by your dots in Two Steps Ahead.
A Bit Too Similar (•••): You find yourself slipping into a similar mindset to the culprit. You gain one of their personal Breaking Points while in their mindset, and gain a basic run-down of why it is a Breaking Point. In addition, you are aware of whenever you would fulfil the culprit's Vice.
Key Under The Doormat (••••): You know what their passwords are, where they store the keys, and when they bought the milk; oh, and they're out of toilet paper. Whenever you encounter a password or lock set up by or belonging to the culprit, you may spend one Willpower as an Instant action to bypass it with minimum fuss.
Utterly Predictable (•••••): When you know how someone thinks, it becomes incredibly hard for them to pin you down. You apply your Defense against surprise attacks and firearms attacks made by the culprit, and ignore any bonuses they would get from aiming at you.

-------------------

It could have been crazier - the original name was PreCrime Division, and involved finding culprits for crimes that hadn't happened yet.

[Deionscribe]

It could have been crazier - the original name was PreCrime Division, and involved finding culprits for crimes that hadn't happened yet.

Someone's a Minority Report fan.

Still, I can see that concept being folded into a Precognition Merit, if ever.

[amechra]

Someone's a Minority Report fan.

Still, I can see that concept being folded into a Precognition Merit, if ever.

Philip K. Dick in general. And yeah, it would be more of a precognition thing.

[GibberingEloquence]

If I didn't want people to use it, I wouldn't have posted it! Just credit etc, etc.

I am going to make a quick tweak - it just hit me that Hardened Exorcist also works for experienced spirit summoners if you let the Research bonus apply to any roll to research Ephemeral Beings.

That could be very useful. To starve and exorcise spirit A, you summon spirit B, which has a purview that clashes with that of A. If the exorcist is smart, spirit B will have weaknesses that are more easily exploited than those of A, so there won't be an endless cycle of solutions turning into problems.

I loved all the Styles in this thread!

[Satchel]

That could be very useful. To starve and exorcise spirit A, you summon spirit B, which has a purview that clashes with that of A. If the exorcist is smart, spirit B will have weaknesses that are more easily exploited than those of A, so there won't be an endless cycle of solutions turning into problems.

There's a line that came up in a Let's Play during an incidental conversation about X-Men which I think nicely sums up one of the most commonly available semipalatable solutions to major supernatural problems in the Chronicles of Darkness:

"That's one of my favorite fictional concepts, like, 'We have solved the problem — in a way that has caused us a new problem that is not as bad, but will never go away ever.'"

[amechra]

So. I was going to post some Styles, wasn't I?

Antenna Mind [Style; • - •••••]
Prerequisites: Technopathy ••, Intelligence •••
Delete (•): You may choose to make your Technopathy destructive - whenever you use Technopathy, you may choose to assign an additional success to a parameter. If you do, any information you learn regarding that parameter can no longer be uncovered through mundane means - logs are wiped, signals become untraceable, and media is garbled.
Drawback: Unfortunately, using your Technopathy this way is even more stressful on the poor technology you are accessing - treat it as an additional usage for the purposes of shorting out devices or garbling the signal.
Move (••): Your memories are just media - as a result, you can store them. Whenever you successfully recall details of one of your memories, you may reflexively spend one Willpower to store it in a piece of storage medium that's within range of your Technopathy.
Edit (•••): You can use your brain as a full editing suite - whenever you use Delete on a piece of information, you may instead replace the obscured information with a falsified version of your own design. Any attempts to determine that the replaced information is fake suffers your dots in Antenna Mind as a penalty.
Broadcast (••••): You are a walking, talking hotspot, with your spine acting as an organic antenna. You may use Technopathy on any device within a number of yards equal to your Intelligence + Occult - in addition, you may selectively broadcast your thoughts to electronics within this range, mixing in fragments of sounds and visuals from your subconscious to create a coherent "program".
Effortless (•••••): Concentrating to filter out the signals is no longer necessary - the signals picked up by your technopathy are no more distracting than the conversation at a quiet cocktail party. Technopathy and Move no longer require you to spend Willpower - they are as natural to you as breathing.

Regent of Beasts [Style; • - •••]
Prerequisites: Animal Possession ••, Incite Ecosystem •
Crown of Claws (•): You may add your dots in Regent of Beasts to your dice pools for Animal Possession and Incite Ecosystem. If you score an Exceptional Success on rolls to use those supernatural merits, you may have their effects last until the next sunrise rather than a single scene.
A Snarled Command (••): You may perform Social Maneuvering with animals, using Animal Ken as the most appropriate skill. More importantly, you have a Perfect impression with any animal under the effects of Incite Ecosystem - at least, for the purposes of immediate, purely physical orders.
The Queen Surveys Her Court (•••): You gain the Bonded condition - rather than applying to a single animal, it applies to any creature you have aggravated with Incite Ecosystem. Additionally, you may reflexively spend one Willpower while possessing an animal to mentally "leap" to another applicable animal that you can see.