Homebrew Changeling Merits

[Satchel]

Aren't those benefits identical?

A benefit that you can apply once per scene to your choice of Contract is not identical to a derived effect making that benefit always active for a specific Contract, no.

This is permanent? If so, I'd be against it.

It is functionally identical to all or half of the minimum consequences of forging a new Court without completing five significant challenges in line with its patron in as many chapters, as described in OA&T. Literally all of the drawbacks of Sincerest Flattery are derived from that chart, because that is the primary point of reference we have for changelings bringing their identity in line with that of another being in a way that affects the magic available to them.

Would it be anti-thematic if I used the following alternative?

It would be nonsensical, because that's not how either of those types of pledge work — a Sealing is a negligible price to pay for inverting the direction a Contract takes identity cues from, the consequences are one-time and highly open-ended, the patrons of courts specifically cannot be fae, and all of the things that oaths can be sworn with without special magical workarounds are fae.

I picked "change your Needle and/or Thread" because, as with forging a Court, it's less onerous a lasting change to make than immediately going to gaining another frailty.

[GibberingEloquence]

Satchel I just didn't know about all those precedents in the RAW, my bad. Your version seems far more RAW-compliant, and also more flavorful for sure. But I think I noticed an error:

you may replace the Attribute and Skill in its dice pool with a different Attribute and Skill suitable to the effect.

At two dots, you can also change the Attribute and Skill components of a rolled Contract's dice pool as described in Sincerest Flattery, defined when you take this Merit.

Aren't those benefits identical?

Also:

The first time this Merit is taken, you must change your Needle or Thread (or both, if taking the four-dot version) such that they are suitable to the chosen Regalia or courtly patron.

This is permanent? If so, I'd be against it. Would it be anti-thematic if I used the following alternative?

The first this Merit is taken, you must place a Major Sealing on yourself that is based on the Regalia. If this Major Sealing is broken, you suffer the effects of a Contract, though you do not need to know this Contract yourself, since it is a punishment levied by the Wyrd itself. If the Contract's effects are based on the amount of Successes, it scores automatic Successes equal to your Wyrd instead of having its own dice pool. If basing this Merit on a Courtly patron, you must swear a suitable Oath to them.

[Satchel]

Clause Interpreter (● To ●●●●●)

For each dot in this Merit, choose 2 Contracts you possess. You can change the dice pools and/or Loopholes of those Contracts, but this does not change the overall function of the Contracts. Once per Story, you can apply this Merit to different Contracts, or reapply it to the same Contracts in different ways. The new Loophole must make sense for the Contract, and be reflective of your Changeling's Seeming, Kith, Court, Entitlement, Needle and Thread, or any combination thereof. For example: Sword Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve practicing pacifism, and Crown Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve avoiding attention. The same principle applies for new dice pools.

While I'm all for using Merits to facilitate characters developing their powers in a personalized direction, this is far too cheap, especially given what Kith and Kin has to say about Loopholes.

Being able to treat someone else who you have a dramaturgical connection to as yourself for the purposes of Loopholes takes two three-dot Merits, four dots of Expression, and three dots of Subterfuge, and requires stuff that can be used for sympathetic magic; the Merit that gives concrete bonuses to Contracts further burns out the item's utility for this purpose after no more than three uses. "Opening surprising new Loopholes with unpredictable effects" is something that stories circulate about as an outcome of getting ahold of treasures belonging to the force the Contract draws upon.

This Merit works on any two Contracts you know for one Experience, lets you completely change the dicepool as well as the Loophole, lets you use it on other Contracts than those two, and doesn't even have a Wyrd prerequisite, to say nothing of the issue with making it as trivial a character advancement as the system charges for to bring a Contract's terms in line with the character's own identity when the way Loopholes work is by convincing the Wyrd that you're the entity whose power you're drawing on for magical purposes. I would absolutely not allow this Merit at my table as-written.

An alternative suggestion:

Sincerest Flattery (•• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Wyrd 3 (for Arcadian Contracts) or Mantle 3 (for Court Contracts), Manipulation 3
You have remade your mien in greater imitation of one of the force that gives you your Contracts, and in doing so have gained a limited ability to renegotiate the terms of their use closer to your own expression of those powers.

When taking this Merit, pick a Regalia or court patron whose Contracts you know at least one of. Once per scene, you may replace the Loophole of a Contract you know from that category with a thematically similar prop or action, or you may replace the Attribute and Skill in its dice pool with a different Attribute and Skill suitable to the effect. By spending a point of Willpower, you can benefit from both of these effects at once.

At two dots, this Merit can only affect Common Contracts in the chosen category. At four dots, it can also affect Royal Contracts from the same group.

This Merit can be taken multiple times.

Drawback: The first time this Merit is taken, you must change your Needle or Thread (or both, if taking the four-dot version) such that they are suitable to the chosen Regalia or courtly patron. Each time you take this merit after the first, you gain an additional frailty (minor for the two-dot version, major for the four-dot version).

Personal Understanding (• or ••)
Prerequisites: Sincerest Flattery, Resolve 3
You have managed to parlay the flexibility granted by your patron into a more lasting twist on one of its Contracts through hard negotiation and dedicated effort.

When taking this Merit, pick a Contract to which you can apply the benefits of Sincerest Flattery. At one dot, you can permanently add a second Loophole to that Contract subject to the limits described in Sincerest Flattery, defined when you take this Merit. At two dots, you can also change the Attribute and Skill components of a rolled Contract's dice pool as described in Sincerest Flattery, defined when you take this Merit.

You can redefine the Contract's additional Loophole, its alternate dice pool, or both by spending a point of Willpower and taking a point of Clarity damage (mild for a Common Contract, severe for a Royal Contract) at the end of a scene in which you negotiate with your patron over the context of your relationship.

This Merit can be taken multiple times.

[Demigod Beast]

Clause Interpreter (● To ●●●●●)

For each dot in this Merit, choose 2 Contracts you possess. You can change the dice pools and/or Loopholes of those Contracts, but this does not change the overall function of the Contracts. Once per Story, you can apply this Merit to different Contracts, or reapply it to the same Contracts in different ways. The new Loophole must make sense for the Contract, and be reflective of your Changeling's Seeming, Kith, Court, Entitlement, Needle and Thread, or any combination thereof. For example: Sword Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve practicing pacifism, and Crown Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve avoiding attention. The same principle applies for new dice pools.

Me likey! Me likey a lot!

[GibberingEloquence]

Clause Interpreter (● To ●●●●●)

For each dot in this Merit, choose 2 Contracts you possess. You can change the dice pools and/or Loopholes of those Contracts, but this does not change the overall function of the Contracts. Once per Story, you can apply this Merit to different Contracts, or reapply it to the same Contracts in different ways. The new Loophole must make sense for the Contract, and be reflective of your Changeling's Seeming, Kith, Court, Entitlement, Needle and Thread, or any combination thereof. For example: Sword Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve practicing pacifism, and Crown Regalia Contracts generally do not work with Loopholes that involve avoiding attention. The same principle applies for new dice pools.

[Horodrigo]

Witch's Brew (o to ooooo)
Effect: This Merit allows a changeling to brew her Contracts into a potion or powder for later use, either by the character or by another (even a mortal). The number of dots purchased in this Merit reflects the highest level of Contract she may brew (i.e. a character possessing Witch’s Brew •• may brew Contracts of level •• or lower).

In order to make this brew, a changeling must know the Contract she wishes to brew. He then needs to gather the ingredients with which she will make her brew. Popular tales say that brews are made from such ingredients as eye of newt or bat’s wings. Indeed, the ingredients for a given Contract must be symbolically tied to its nature. The addition of Oddments and Goblin Fruit make the brew much easier to create, however, due to their unique properties. This can be reflected with dice bonuses, and the fact that a particular Goblin Fruit can be used to fuel the enchantment of specific Contracts (see below).

When all of the ingredients have been gathered, the character must combine them with an extended action. The number of successes that must be accumulated is based on the rating of the Contract, as well as the addition of Seeming tricks. A changeling may choose to add his Seeming's clause in a Contract for free. Furthermore, he need not spend every minute of each day slaving over the cauldron, but must be nearby to keep tabs on it: if a character leaves a brew unattended for (6 - Contract dots) hours, it becomes useless.

Once the brew is complete, the changeling must activate the clause so the brew can absorb the effect. In addition to the normal activation cost, he must spend an additional point of Glamour to enchant the brew. Catches may not be used to reduce the activation cost, though an appropriate Goblin Fruit may be used to pay the enchantment. Afterwards, the changeling rolls the dice pool to activate the Contract. A result of failure or dramatic failure affects the changeling normally, and the brew remains inert. The changeling may try to enchant the brew again (at the same Glamour cost) but must be successful within six hours of the brew’s creation, or else it dries away to nothing.

If the Contract has been activated successfully, it binds itself to the brew, creating a potion (note the number of successes made on the activation roll- this may be important later). The potion may be drunk, bottled, or dried into a powder (a process that takes an additional hour but requires no roll). Physically, the resulting potion (or powder) is reminiscent of the brewer’s seeming and kith.

The brew remains potent for one lunar month and shines with Glamour to those creatures that can sense such things. If the changeling spends a Willpower point during the enchanting, he can extend its duration to a full season. The target of the clause is the potion’s imbiber or whatever the powder is sprinkled upon.

If the clause is resisted, the target rolls against the number of successes that were made by the brewer during the Contract’s activation. If a Contract instead subtracts an Attribute from its dice pool, the target reduces the number of successes made by his Resisted Trait.

Dice Pool: Dexterity + Crafts + Wyrd
Action: Extended (5 successes per dot of the Contract brewed, plus 5 per Seeming clause; each roll represents 1 hour of brewing)

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: A bad ingredient or other problem has made the brew unsuitable for enchantment. The changeling must start again, with fresh ingredients.

Failure: The changeling accumulates no successes, and takes the Stumbled Condition.

Success: Successes are accumulated. Once the target number has been reached, the brew is ready for enchantment.

Exceptional Success: The changeling not only make excellent progress in making the brew, but he also makes it either increasingly more potent, or quicker to complete. Any successes above 5 in a roll can be subtracted from the target number made to brew the potion, or added as a dice bonus to invoking the desired Contract. Alternatively, he may half the time between rolls.

Necroing this really quick to adapt and alter it to 2nd Edition, because this merit is really good.

Witch's Brew (oo or oooo)
Effect: This Merit allows a changeling to brew her Contracts into a potion or powder for later use, either by the character or by another (even a mortal). The 2-dots allows the brewing of Common contracts and the 4-dots allow all Contracts to be made into a potion o powder.

In order to make this, a changeling must know the Contract she wishes to brew. He then needs to make an extended action. The number of successes that must be accumulated is based on the type of the Contract, as well as the addition of Seeming tricks. A changeling may choose to add his Seeming's clause in a Contract for free. Furthermore, he need not spend every minute of each day slaving over the cauldron, he can keep a number of brews potent equals to half his Wyrd rounded up, any new brews made in excess spoil the oldest one not yet used.

Catches may not be used to reduce the activation cost, though an appropriate Goblin Fruit may be used to pay the enchantment. Afterwards, the changeling rolls the dice pool to activate the Contract. A result of failure or dramatic failure affects the changeling normally, and the brew remains inert. The changeling may try to enchant the brew again (at the same Glamour cost) but must be successful within six hours of the brew’s creation, or else it dries away to nothing.

If the Contract has been activated successfully, it binds itself to the brew, creating a potion (note the number of successes made on the activation roll- this may be important later). The potion may be drunk, bottled, or dried into a powder (a process that requires no roll). Physically, the resulting potion (or powder) is reminiscent of the brewer’s seeming and kith.

The brew remains potent for one lunar month and shines with Glamour to those creatures that can sense such things. If the changeling spends a Willpower point during the enchanting, he can extend its duration to a full season. The target of the clause is the potion’s imbiber or whatever/whoever the powder is sprinkled upon.

If the clause is resisted, the target rolls against the number of successes that were made by the brewer during the Contract’s activation. If a Contract instead subtracts an Attribute from its dice pool, the target reduces the number of successes made by his Resisted Trait.

Activation Cost: Normal for the contract + 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Crafts + Wyrd
Action: Extended (3 successes for a Common contract or 7 for a Royal one, plus 3 per Seeming clause; each roll represents 1 hour of brewing)

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: A bad ingredient or other problem has made the brew unsuitable for enchantment. The changeling must start again and takes the Distracted Condition.

Failure: The changeling accumulates no successes.

Success: Successes are accumulated. Once the target number has been reached, the brew is ready for enchantment.

Exceptional Success: The changeling not only make excellent progress in making the brew, but he also makes it either increasingly more potent, or quicker to complete. Any successes above 5 in a roll can be subtracted from the target number made to brew the potion, or added as a dice bonus to invoking the desired Contract. Alternatively, he may half the time between rolls.

[Demigod Beast]

That is fair, but those Merit versions are in SORE need of an update. Can you give me some time to do so?

Sure! Take all the time you need! Right now I'm socially distancing, so my offline gaming group hasn't done anything for s while.

[GibberingEloquence]

I prefer it as a pair of Merits, to be honest. Makes it more widely applicable, than it being a Contract. As a Contract it's tied to a Regalia, but I like the idea of it being equally available to ALL changelings.

That is fair, but those Merit versions are in SORE need of an update. Can you give me some time to do so?

[Demigod Beast]

Demigod Beast I just realized the Sharpshooter Merit is outdated. Please replace it with this version.

I prefer it as a pair of Merits, to be honest. Makes it more widely applicable, than it being a Contract. As a Contract it's tied to a Regalia, but I like the idea of it being equally available to ALL changelings.

[GibberingEloquence]

Demigod Beast I just realized the Sharpshooter Merit is outdated. Please replace it with this version.

[GibberingEloquence]

Might I use this in my games? It has so much potential and can be described in so many different ways...

Go ahead! I post homebrew exactly so that others can use it.

[Demigod Beast]

Here is a simplified version of a Merit I came up with long ago, inspired by Lethal Mien. Feedback is appreciated.

Sharpshooter Mien (ooo)

Prerequisite: Wyrd 3

Effect: The changeling develops a long range attack based on their Seeming and Kith. The dice pool is Dexterity + Athletics / Firearms / Occult - Defense, depending on how the attack manifests. This costs 1 Glamour, deals +0L and its range bands are Wyrd x 10 / Wyrd x 20 / Wyrd x 40 yards. Each additional point of Glamour increases the damage bonus by one, up to a maximum of Wyrd/2 round up. You may spend 1 Willpower point to ignore the target's Defense, which does not add +3 to the roll. This does not work If the target has an ability that lets them apply Defense against ranged attacks. You may spend turns aiming to increase your dice pool, and apply Merits such as Firefight, Marksmanship and Thrown Weapons. This is considered supernatural damage.

Sharpshooter Mien (Advanced, ooooo)

Prerequisite: Sharpshooter Mien, Wyrd 5

Effect: Each additional point of Glamour also grants one point of Armor Piercing, which works against supernatural Armor. The range bands are doubled. Lastly, the attack now inflicts a Tilt if the damage exceeds the target's Stamina. The Tilt must be chosen upon purchasing this Merit, and must based on the changeling's Seeming and Kith. Should the Tilt have minor and major versions, use the former. During combat, the Tilt lasts for a number of turns equal to Successes, and outside combat it lasts for hours. You may choose to not cause damage and only inflict the Tilt (additional expenditure of Glamour still grants extra Successes). The Tilt can only be applied once per scene.

Might I use this in my games? It has so much potential and can be described in so many different ways...

[GibberingEloquence]

Don Quixote (•••)
Prerequisites: Wyrd 2+, Composure •••, Subterfuge •• or Occult ••, Alternate Identity •••
The Changeling has adopted a false persona which, through repeated and significant use, has been touched by the Wyrd in such a way as to make it real in a narrative sense. But like all things of fae nature, it is capricious and mercurial. You can change the Loophole of any and all Contracts into something which symbolically fits your alter-ego, which must be a fairy tale archetype and significantly different from your baseline identity.

Drawback: The Wyrd makes you play up whatever role you have chosen, even against your self-image and better judgment. You act as if suffering from the Delusional Condition, which makes you believe you really are a knight in shining armor despite being a knee-breaker for the mafia, for instance. Ignoring this requires a point of Willpower as usual, which manifests as you making rationalizations for the cognitive dissonance this sort of self-deception inflicts. This happens whenever you adopt your alter-ego, and you may only return to your baseline identity by rolling Wits + Composure - Wyrd as an Instant Action. Using this Merit may cause a Breaking Point for Clarity at ST's discretion.

[GibberingEloquence]

Here is a simplified version of a Merit I came up with long ago, inspired by Lethal Mien. Feedback is appreciated.

Sharpshooter Mien (ooo)

Prerequisite: Wyrd 3

Effect: The changeling develops a long range attack based on their Seeming and Kith. The dice pool is Dexterity + Athletics / Firearms / Occult - Defense, depending on how the attack manifests. This costs 1 Glamour, deals +0L and its range bands are Wyrd x 10 / Wyrd x 20 / Wyrd x 40 yards. Each additional point of Glamour increases the damage bonus by one, up to a maximum of Wyrd/2 round up. You may spend 1 Willpower point to ignore the target's Defense, which does not add +3 to the roll. This does not work If the target has an ability that lets them apply Defense against ranged attacks. You may spend turns aiming to increase your dice pool, and apply Merits such as Firefight, Marksmanship and Thrown Weapons. This is considered supernatural damage.

Sharpshooter Mien (Advanced, ooooo)

Prerequisite: Sharpshooter Mien, Wyrd 5

Effect: Each additional point of Glamour also grants one point of Armor Piercing, which works against supernatural Armor. The range bands are doubled. Lastly, the attack now inflicts a Tilt if the damage exceeds the target's Stamina. The Tilt must be chosen upon purchasing this Merit, and must based on the changeling's Seeming and Kith. Should the Tilt have minor and major versions, use the former. During combat, the Tilt lasts for a number of turns equal to Successes, and outside combat it lasts for hours. You may choose to not cause damage and only inflict the Tilt (additional expenditure of Glamour still grants extra Successes). The Tilt can only be applied once per scene.

[Satchel]

Ah. Noted on the Easy Access enhancement. I must have missed it. As for the Wards enhancement, I thought the Clash of Wills (and the forcing of entry) were tied to Wyrd? And even then, Wards only add dice to the Clash.

Your first five dots in Hollow apply as a penalty to attempts to track you or find out about you like Anonymity dots do while you're inside. By a similar token, the Hidden Entry perk specifically boosts both of the things that Wards does.