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I ran a nail into my hand,
The wound was hard to heal;
So bitter was the pain to stand
I thought how it would feel,
To have spikes thrust through hands and feet,
Impaled by hammer beat.
- Robert William Service
The wound was hard to heal;
So bitter was the pain to stand
I thought how it would feel,
To have spikes thrust through hands and feet,
Impaled by hammer beat.
- Robert William Service
The Spike Men
Nails are old things - spikes driven to fasten one thing to another, primitive wedges used to bring together rather than drive apart. Similarly, their power is just as simple and visceral - so many powers require lengthy rituals, fancy words and propitiations of spirits and monsters.
None of that here.
Simply wash yourself in sawdust and rust, rinsing yourself with a lave of turpentine. Then let the Hammer Man drive the cast-iron nail into you - tear it out, and use the hole as a mould for hot iron. Let your blood quench it, and behold the glory.
What Do The Nails Give Me?
The nails nail you to yourself - as long as a single nail is embedded in your body, you do not suffer Aggravated damage from massive physical trauma. Moreover, the pain overpowers any other that you might encounter - while you suffer a permanent -1 Wound Penalty, you take no penalties from other mundane sources of pain, and may extend this protection to Supernatural sources of pain for a Scene by spending one Willpower.
Keeping The Body Together
As long as you are nailed to yourself, you suffer no Wound Penalties from Bashing or Lethal damage - and any Wound Penalties you might have due to Aggravated damage overlap with the permanent penalty from the nails. You need not roll to stay conscious when your Health Levels are filled with Bashing, and suffer no ongoing damage once your Health Levels are filled with Lethal damage. Most impressively, you no longer naturally heal Aggravated damage - instead, you automatically downgrade any Aggravated damage you have suffered to Lethal at the end of any scene where you have not been killed outright.
Stripping Out The Nails
Of course, nails can be stripped out of you. This normally requires an Exceptional Success on a Strength + Craft roll, though a normal Success will suffice if you are immobilized and the workman has an hour to work. Similarly, stripping a nail can always be chosen instead of two Moves when grappling - however, this requires that they have two Moves to spare within a single turn.
Whenever a nail is stripped from you, you immediately suffer a level of Aggravated damage and the Spiritual Leak condition. In addition, you suffer any additional effects that the specific nail placement specifies. You may cure these side effects by replacing the nail - either by placing the old nail back in the hole and healing a single level of Bashing damage, or by pouring a new batch of hot iron into the gaping hole. Otherwise, they last until major surgery or Supernatural methods are applied to their removal - Tilts ignore their normal Resolution for these purposes.
The Ears
Placement: Placing a nail in an ear renders it entirely immune to the Deafened tilt. In addition, each ear with a nail through it increases the number of Doors needed for a Social Maneuvering attempt against you by one.
Removal: Removing a nail from an ear inflicts the Deafened tilt on it.
The Eyes
Placement: Placing a nail through an eye renders it entirely immune to the Blinded tilt. In addition, each eye with a nail through it grants you an additional Success on any successful Investigation roll.
Removal: Removing a nail from an eye inflicts the Blinded tilt on it.
The Feet
Placement: Placing a nail through a foot renders that leg entirely immune to the Leg Wrack tilt. In addition, each foot with a nail through it grants you an additional Success on any successful roll made to balance, and having a nail through each foot renders you immune to the Knocked Down tilt as well.
Removal: Removing a nail from a foot inflicts the Leg Wrack tilt on that leg. If nails are removed from both feat, you also suffer the Knocked Down tilt.
The Hands
Placement: Placing a nail through a hand renders that arm immune to the Arm Wrack tilt. In addition, each hand with a nail through it grants you an additional Success on any successful Brawl roll, and having a nail through each hand allows you to deal Lethal damage with Brawl attacks.
Removal: Removing a nail from a hand inflicts the Arm Wrack tilt on that arm.
The Liver
Placement: Placing a nail through the liver renders you immune to the Drugged and Insensate tilts. You also entirely ignore the effects of alcohol.
Removal: Removing a nail from the liver inflicts the Drugged (Moderate) and Insensate tilts on you.
The Lungs
Placement: Driving a nail into a lung renders you immune to the Winded tilt. If you have nails driven into both lungs, you are also immune to the Suffocating tilt.
Removal: Removing a nail from a single lung inflicts the Winded tilt on you. Removing nails from both lungs inflicts the Suffocating (Moderate) tilt on you.
The Nape
Placement: Driving a nail into the nape of the neck renders you immune to the Beaten Down and Insane tilts.
Removal: Removing a nail from your nape inflicts the Insane tilt on you. In addition, you gain the Beaten Down tilt normally even when your opposition Goes For Blood.
The Solar Plexus
Placement: Driving a nail into your solar plexus renders you immune to the Bleeding (p. 10) tilt, as well as Soul Loss.
Removal: Removing a nail from your solar plexus inflicts the Bleeding tilt on you, increasing your permanent Wound Penalty as normal. In addition, you immediately suffer the Soulless Condition.
The Tongue
Placement: Placing a nail through your tongue renders you immune to the Mute condition. In addition, you may drive a second nail into your tongue - each nail grants you an additional Success on any successful roll to open Doors or apply Hard Leverage.
Removal: Removing a nail from your tongue inflicts the Mute condition on you. If both nails are removed, you also lose the ability to read and write.
Spiritual Leak [Persistent]
The holes where your nails should be lets you leak out into the outside world. You no longer downgrade Aggravated damage to Lethal at the end of each Scene, suffer ongoing damage once your Health Levels are filled with Lethal, and must roll to stay conscious when your Health Levels are filled with Bashing.
Causing this Condition: Have a nail stripped from your body.
Resolution: Replace any nails that have been stripped from you.
Beat: Fail a roll to stay conscious. Suffer damage due to having your Health Levels filled with Lethal damage.
Hammer Man (Supernatural; •••)
Prerequisites: Mortal only
Effects: Whenever you make a roll that benefits from a hammer's equipment or weapon bonus, you achieve an Exceptional Success with three successes rather than five. In addition, you may choose to deal no damage when driving a nail into a human body, even if the nail would normally kill or paralyze the recipient.
The Nail Stigmata (••)
Prerequisite: Mortal only
Effects: You gain the Placement benefits of a single nail (as specified above). As long as you possess at least one instance of this merit, you gain the benefits and drawbacks of having nails driven into you or stripped out of you.
Special: If you lose this merit while the associated nail is still in your body, you suffer one level of Aggravated damage and an appropriate tilt (or death, depending on where the nail is placed). This merit may be taken multiple times; each time, select a different body part to drive a nail into.
Starting As A Spike Man
If a character starts as a Spike Man, they begin with 10 merit dots and two instances of The Nail Stigmata.
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