House Rules

About Changeling

The Changeling materials published by White Wolf has been screwed around with so much over the years (and was contradictory to start with), so I'm going to make some things very clear out of character. Some of this is known in-character, some only legends, some unknown.

Trinary Universe

The universe is divided more or less into three sections: the material world, which is the "ordinary" place where people live, the spiritual world, where the material world's spiritual components are reflected (corresponding roughly but not precisely to the Umbra of Werewolf), and the Dreaming, where the imaginations and passions of those in the world are reflected. The spiritual and material worlds are equally "real" and spring from the same essential source. The Dreaming, on the other hand, only appeared when consciousness did, and if (somehow) consciousness were to disappear from the material world, the Dreaming would disappear too.

World of Quirkiness

The game world doesn't suck. At least it doesn't suck any more than the real world does. (Note that some parts of the real world are pretty damn sucky.) However, the world seen by the Kithain is - always - quite weird. Thus the Flaw Weirdness Magnet does not exist in my version of Changeling. (Your life is more than weird enough when you are a Changeling.)

Prodigals like magi, werewolves, vampires and so on exist. A Prodigal is so-called because they have retained power from the days when the Dreaming and the world co-existed, and magic could be worked by all, but they don't understand what they're doing any more than the average person understands how the engine of their car or the CPU of their computer works. They can be very powerful despite their ignorance, though. Dealing with Prodigals is, to extend the metaphor, a little like coping with drunk drivers and AOL users calling the wrong tech support line. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes it's necessary, but it's rarely recommended if it can be avoided.

What are Changelings?

Changelings are a by-product of human consciousness and the connections between the Dreaming and the world. Humankind is fundamentally creative and creativity engenders sparks of Glamour that flow powerful and deep. Powerful bursts of Glamour, ages ago, melded with human flesh that was aligned to particular types of Glamour. These formed the kiths. Kiths are archetypical, (but not "of a type", see the description of the kiths below), and so new, minor kiths appear and disappear all the time. Some of these may not be suitable for player characters because they are not game-balanced. Usually "new" kiths are less powerful than the "old" kiths because the "old" kiths have been absorbing human imaginative power for centuries. Exceptions naturally exist, in cases where human imaginative power is turned suddenly and overwhelmingly in a particular direction.

Glamour and Banality

Glamour is creativity. Banality is ordinariness. Note - carefully - that these are not opposites. A small amount of Banality (remembering to eat at mealtimes and manage your money at least a little) can help produce a great deal of Glamour (writing the Great American Novel.) This is one reason why childlings, excellent manipulators of Glamour, remain essentially unable to care for themselves - they don't have enough Banality to do so. It's also why the most powerful Changelings tend to not pay very much attention to their mortal lives and typically are penniless and helpless in in most mortal situations. (Thus making the House Liam gift of a strong connection to the mortal world more meaningful.) High King David does not have a job, has a lousy credit rating, drives a crappy car and (in his mortal mien) is only wearing nice clothes if someone else has paid for them.

Glamour is human creativity, passion, sensation and belief. Hence there was no Shattering or Sundering, because the flow of Glamour across the ages has been more or less constant.

Actual literal dreams are an important subset of Glamour-producing activities. The "mystical" definition of sleeping dreams in this setting is the correct one: this is where the mind's imagination is loosed to great effect. (The "scientific" definition of dreams is explicative but not definitive in this setting.)

Banality measures how deeply immersed in the "world of the ordinary" a person is. This does include things like doing your taxes and standing in line at the DMV. However, it also includes things like stopping at red lights and putting a Band-Aid on cuts.

There is no such thing as "a Banal place" or "a Banal object". Glamorous objects do exist, if they are endowed with extraordinary creativity, passion, sensation and belief due to their use by people. See WW's description of dross.

Seelie and Unseelie

All Changelings are both Seelie and Unseelie, but one side is typically dominant over the other. Because Changelings' fae sides are sprung from creativity, their personalities reflect the dual stamp of creativity's nobility and verve as well as its danger and essential selfishness. These sides have come to be named, over the centuries, Seelie and Unseelie. Most Changelings (sidhe the exception) tend strongly towards one or another, although at times of crisis or under consistent exerted pressure, they may draw nearer to the other side. Sidhe tend to walk the line much more closely than any other. Although it isn't meaningless to say that a particular sidhe is Seelie or Unseelie, it means much less than it does to say it about a boggan or a troll. That's how you can have "great and terrible" kings.

Changelings and...er...Change

Changelings are old souls who love new things. Because Changelings (sidhe excepted) are old souls, born and reborn into mortal bodies, they have a tendency to old ways. However, because they adore newness, they sometimes throw themselves headlong into things without actually looking closely at them. Changelings (wilder and childlings especially) are not the best planners in the world.

All aspects of Changeling life are affected by this. Selecting one at random, Changeling politics, demonstrates one such impact. Concordia (which corresponds more or less to North America) is a kingdom, just as it is in the World of Darkness, but the resemblance ends there. It is not an exclusive monarchy. There's a High King, yes, but Ardry rules over an insane patchwork of duchies, sultanates, smaller kingdoms, anarchist states, communist enclaves, republics, direct democracies, wizard-ocracies, dictatorships, corsair states, bureaucracies, and pretty much anything your fecund mind can come up with. If you can think it up, there's a Changeling somewhere who will think it's a fantastic idea and will leap for it. Eventually it might collapse but there will always be another new idea around the corner.

Remember that the most active and vigorous Changelings are between the mortal ages of 16 and 19. Imagine a world constructed by 16-year-olds, many of whom don't like each other very much, and you'll have a good idea about the sorts of things Changelings often do politically.

The Sidhe

The sidhe never left. Because Glamour is human creativity and human creativity and expression has at the very least stayed more or less the same or increased across the ages, there was no Iron Age when the sidhe disappeared. However, sidhe do tend to be more refined (hidebound?) and traditional (stodgy?) because their leadership keeps them in freeholds and the Dreaming quite a bit, and thus their lifespans are greatly extended. Also, for some reason, sidhe souls reincarnate much more slowly than other kiths - perhaps not reincarnating at all, although opinion of sages is divided on the subject.

It is true that in 1969, the moon shot completed (accidentally) a spell that opened a floodgate of sidhe souls to Earth - these souls, if they had ever been on Earth before at all, had not been there in centuries, and they launched a war with fell magics and allies who had awaited this return against commoner nobles. This Accordance War was terribly bloody and ended only when the two sides were exhausted. High King David Ardry's masterful diplomacy was able to bring the two sides together, and re-established and revised the Escheat and the oaths that have - tentatively - held Changeling society together for the years following.

Skill Rolls

We'll be using the Adventure! version of the Storyteller system in which the target number for all rolls is 7, and difficulty is increased by adding to the number of successes necessary to achieve the result.

We will also be using the Adventure! multiple actions system and combat system.

Kith Changes

Because we are using the Adventure! system for skill rolls, with "difficulties" being additional successes at target number 7, the following changes to Kiths are made.

Boggan: Social Dynamics

The roll is a standard Perception + Subterfuge roll with added difficulty for complexity or size of a targetted group.

Boggan: Call of the Needy

The Willpower roll is at +1 normally, with additional difficulty if the person requesting is truly in deep need.

Nockers: Forge Chimera

Forging chimera is always an extended roll. Three successes are needed for simple items, with power and complexity increasing from there.

Nockers: Fix-It

The Seelie/Unseelie specialty division is eliminated. Seelie nockers receive a -1 difficulty for machines used "traditionally" (a car used to drive people places, for example). Unseelie nockers receive a -1 difficulty for machines used "non-traditionally" (a car used to run people over, for example.)

Pooka: Confidant

The roll has a +1 difficulty for each point of willpower the target has over 5. Extended rolls are allowed in some cases.

Pooka: Lies

The Willpower roll is normally at +1. If successful, the pooka must make another Willpower roll at difficulty +2 to tell the truth about something new, +3 after that, and so on.

Redcap: Dark Appetite

Base damage for a redcap bite is still Strength +2. Severing the limb of a target in combat requires six successes on a Dex + Brawl roll, rolled after the biting attack - this does not count as a multiple action. Unless the target has already been successfully grappled (by anyone), this cannot be done with an extended roll.

Redcap: Bully Browbeat

The supernatural intimidation is in addition to the mortal intimidation - after rolling a successful Intimidation check, the redcap engages in an opposed roll with the target. If successful, the supernatural level of Intimidation kicks in. (In game terms, it basically doubles the successes of the earlier Intimidation roll. That is, a really Willful redcap with a Charisma + Intimidation pool of 3 can still be really scary.)

Satyr: Gift of Pan

The Willpower roll to resist the Gift is a standard Willpower roll.

Satyr: Physical Prowess

The satyr's increased speed exists all the time. Supernatural feats of speed may be prevented by the presence of too many Banal mortals or may invoke the Mists.

Sidhe: Awe and Beauty

When a sidhe is impassioned, they receive a -2 on all difficulty of social rolls. Those wishing to attack an angry sidhe head-on must succeed in a Willpower roll of standard difficulty. The sidhe receives the benefits of their supernatural Attractiveness all the time, although Attractiveness scores over 5 may invoke the Mists.

Sluagh: Sharpened Senses

Sluagh receive a -1 to all difficulties for Perception rolls (or one free success, depending on how you look at it.) They also receive a free pip in Perception, even if this raises the score over 5. This bonus does apply to Kenning. Sluagh may be stunned by sudden bright lights or loud noises - this may be avoided with a Willpower roll of appropriate difficulty.

Troll: Titan's Power

This birthright benefits the troll all the time. Feats of supernatural strength may invoke the Mists.

Troll: Bond of Duty

The Willpower roll to avoid uncontrollable rage at being betrayed is at +1 difficulty.

Glamourous Magic

Download Jason's TXT cheat sheet for the Arts.

Glamour is wild. It does not operate according to rules. Calling upon it for magical effects is always a gamble. Although there are capable Changeling "wizards", to imagine them calling magical effects out of the air all the time is a mistake. They are not Mages or Vampires or Werewolves, able to use their occult gifts at their will with only the power of the effect really in doubt. The Arts are, like all arts, sometimes a dud, and sometimes astonishingly powerful.

There are certain guidelines, though. Here is the procedure.

Select Art and Realm. Arts, in general, are "verbs", and Realms, in general, are "nouns". Without the appropriate Art and Realm, you can't do the effect.
Make up a Bunk. Bunks, as the name implies, are nonsense actions taken to fuel the necessary randomness to cause the Dreaming to make an Art function. Bunks have a number associated with them from 1-5. Simple Bunks are quick and just a little strange: singing a song at the top of your lungs, dancing a quick jig, dealing four poker hands to three players, and so on. Complicated Bunks can last hours and be utterly bizarre: painting a portrait of the subject, stealing 50 cyan Crayolas, and so on. Here are some Bunk guidelines:
- Bunks which can be performed in one combat round never exceed 1 in strength.
- Bunks should be appropriate to the character, the kith, the target, the tenor of the relationship between them, and the tone of the world around them. A sluagh librarian's Bunks might have to do with ink, paper, books, dust and cobwebs - a satyr trucker's Bunks might have to do with country music, tires, keys, baseball caps, maps, and women's phone numbers. If you need assistance, let me know and we'll brainstorm some!
- Bunks decrease in power the more often they are used, typically by 1 per use.
- Bunks increase in power the more they feed off other successfully-cast Arts, typically by 1 per casting. Note that this includes hostile Arts. This means that wizard's duels tend to start small, and, if there isn't a clear winner quickly, they get crazy, as simpler and simpler Bunks produce more and more powerful results.
- A quick guide to Bunks.
The difficulty of a successful use of the Art is set by the Banality of the target or the Banality of the caster or the level of the Art, whichever is highest. The base difficulty is that number - 1 - the level of the Bunk.
The difficulty is decreased by 1 if the caster is using his Affinity.
EXAMPLE: Albert Sidney Johnston Sidney, pooka troublemaker, wants to convince a tree to tell him if his quarry passed this way in the woods. That's Primal 1 (Willow Whisper) and Nature 2 (Verdant Forest). The tree has no Banality - Sidney, being a Wilder and having been around a while, has a Banality of 4. In order to talk to the tree, Sidney scampers around it, poking it in the side and singing a couple of lines of, "O What A Beautiful Morning!" This is a simple Bunk of level 1. So: 4 (Sidney's Banality) - 1 (Bunk rating) - 1 = Difficulty +2. Since Albert's a pooka and he's using the Nature Realm, he gets a free -1 difficulty for a total of Difficulty +1. This means he must get 2 successes on his Stamina + Primal roll in order for the Art to be cast successfully. (Extra successes add to the effect of the Art as per the book.)
Spend Appropriate Glamour. All cantrips cast on anything without a Glamour score (mortals, mundane inanimate objects) cost 1 Glamour. Cantrips cast on a Changeling cost 1 Glamour unless they voluntarily use some of their own (i.e. if you are trying to do something beneficial to them, or if they believe you are.) Cantrips cast on chimerical targets do not cost any Glamour. Additional Glamour may be spent to decrease the difficulty of a casting up to 5 points. You may dispense with Bunks if you spend one Glamour point. (You also forego the Bunk bonus as described above.)
Modifier Realms: Scene and Time. To use any number of secondary Realms in a casting, one extra Glamour must be spent. Secondary Realms allow you to affect a combination of targets. Example: A roomful of random mortals (Scene 1, Actor 4), My best friend Joe-Bob when he wakes up tomorrow morning: (Time 3, Actor 1). No matter how many secondary realms you add on, the additional cost is only 1 Glamour. Example: a cantrip that blessed everyone in the room, tomorrow morning, some of them mortal strangers and some of them commoners would be Scene 1, Actor 4, Fae 1, Time 3, costs one extra Glamour.
Nightmare Dice. Nightmare dice are part of the casting pool of any cantrip. They have no effect on cantrip casting - directly. Nightmare dice come from gaining Banality. More on that in other sections.
The number of dice rolled on an Art is the caster's rating in the Art plus the caster's Attribute associated with the Art. As with all other rolls, the target number is 7. (As mentioned in the Example above, Albert would be rolling his Stamina + Primal pool.)
Resisting Arts with Banality: A Changeling that is aware of the Arts' use can choose to use their mortal natures to resist the Arts. They gain a temporary point of Banality for every success they wish to take away from the Art in this fashion. Changelings are the only ones that can do this (chimera don't have mortal sides, and ordinary mortals can't push their ordinariness around even when enchanted.)

The Dragon's Ire

Basically, the Dragon's Ire is the remembrance of the long wars of the Golden Age brought to life in modern Changelings. It is ordinarily not discovered by those with low Remembrances except in times of great stress in combat, although those that know of it can teach it to other Changelings. When possessed by the Dragon's Ire, the Changeling becomes a fluid, focused, terrible and beautiful killing machine. The system is as follows:

Spend a Glamour point.
Roll your Glamour. For every point of Banality you have over 4, add one to the difficulty.
If successful, count the number of additional successes over 1. These are called your "Ire dice". These can be spent on any combat-related roll except Arts every round for an entire scene. Your "Ire dice" cannot be higher than your Remembrance + 1.
Botching an invocation of the Dragon's Ire gives the GM the right to take away up to three dice per round from any combat related rolls for the rest of the scene.

Adventure! Combat Rules

Initiative: Roll 1d10 and add it to your Dexterity and Wits. Highest result goes first.
Multiple Actions: Count the number of actions you wish to take. You deduct that number of dice from your first die pool, then that number plus one from the second, and so on.
Bashing and Lethal Damage: Bashing damage is done by hand to hand combat and some melee weapons like saps or simple clubs. It is not very serious, and can be marked by a single slash ("/") on the damage list of the character sheet. It is soakable with Stamina. Lethal damage is done by melee weapons, firearms, car crashes and so on. It is not normally soakable. You can mark it with a "X" on the damage list. Unlike in Adventure!, lethal damage replaces bashing damage, and does not "push it higher".

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