Clarity represents the right and strength of all thinking
beings to trust their own perceptions and own their own past. A changeling’s
Clarity is her bulwark against the illusions of the True Fae or other
supernatural forces, as well as the mundane world trying to tell her that her
supernatural experiences are delusions.
What it is
Clarity grounds the changeling in her own experiences,
helping her distinguish what is real, and what is a lie the True Fae or the
mundane world are getting away with. When her Clarity is strong, she can trust
that even the most improbable magical elements she sees are real, they affect
her even if no one else can see them, and she understands her relationship to
them. As her Clarity lowers, she doubts the validity of her own perception of
these things, and either the Others or the mundane world begin to dictate her
reality. She can no longer tell if she is simply seeing things when the Thorns
reach out and scratch her, or if she is really in the Hedge. Weak Clarity is a
dangerous prospect for many changelings, as they lose perspective and can slip
into a dreamlike state if they have nothing grounding them against the lies of
two worlds.
What it
isn’t
Clarity should not be regarded as a synonym for sanity, and
Clarity is certainly not an objective ability to discern ‘Reality’ from
‘Fantasy’. In a world glutted with “Fake News”, statistical manipulation,
propaganda and “Common Sense” Clarity is about the validation of a changelings
experiences and a resilience of the self to stand firmly between two worlds.
Fae creatures use deception and delusion to convince people to doubt their own
memories, perceptions, feelings, and relationships. The Gentry want you to
question yourself to make it easier for them to control you. They want to
rewrite your personal history to match the roles they want you to play. On the
other side of the coin is the mundane human world that wants you to believe
fairies and magic aren’t real, and that anything you see that doesn’t fit into
that box is false, a hallucination or a mistake. They want you to believe that
you are false — that the wondrous and terrifying life you lead is a lie, and
you’re not who you think you are. A Changeling who maintains their Clarity can
see through these falsehoods; they see the dangers and pitfalls and, more
importantly, can best protect themselves and their friends from the monsters in
the night.
The Clarity Track
The biggest change from 1st edition to 2nd edition in terms
of clarity is that Clarity is no longer a trait. Clarity is now a separate
health track, showing the health and wellbeing of the Changeling as they
navigate C.21st Britain.
A Changeling has a Clarity score equal to their Wits + Composure. This means that a
Changeling Cannot spend experiences to raise their clarity but can become more
resilient to the ravages of Clarity damage by increasing either their Wits or
their Composure scores. In Dreams The Changeling’s Clarity contributes to her
Dream forms Health track, and physical attacks to her Dream form can imperil
her Clarity.
Clarity Damage
& Breaking Points
Breaking points are events in the changeling's life and
actions she takes that shake her confidence in her perceptions. Anytime she
experiences a breaking point, she suffers an attack on her Clarity. The player
rolls a number of dice based on the breaking point's severity (see below).
Other powers and events may attack the character's Clarity without constituting
a breaking point, such as suffering physical damage to her dream form.
Two factors determine a breaking point's dice pool: its
baseline severity, and its attack modifiers. Generally, the more distanced the
changeling is from the event or the more she asserts her independence, the less
purchase the breaking point has on her. The more personal the event is, or the
more she succumbs to the will of others, the more likely it is to hit home.
**Important
ST Note: Breaking point checks must happen as soon as they trigger and cannot
wait for scene end. It is important to keep the Clarity track up to date
because of conditions/potential KO or Character death**
Breaking Point
examples:
One Die
Told your experiences are unreal by someone who seems
convincing, but whom you don’t know.
Changing someone else via the Dream Infiltrator
Condition
Spending your last Glamour
Going a full day without Human or Changeling Contact
Breaking a Mundane Promise
Meeting your Fetch for the first time
Two dice
Told your experiences are unreal by a figure who’s
authority you believe in.
Changing someone else via the Dream Intruder Condition
Eating nothing but Goblin Fruit for a whole day
Having someone break a mundane promise to you
Having someone break a mundane promise for you
Discover that someone lied to you about something
minor
Actively searching out memories of your durance
Being confronted by your ‘Trigger’*
Taking psychotropic drugs
Gaining a non-Clarity condition that confuses the
senses or badly jars you, such as Lost or Spooked
Having someone else tamper with your dreams
Going a week without Human or Changeling contact
Three Dice
Told your experiences are unreal by someone you trust
Being the victim of a non-Fae supernatural power that
confuses the senses, makes you question your surroundings or perceptions, or
re-enacts something your Keeper did to you.
Going two weeks without Human or Changeling contact
Killing someone else’s Fetch
Reaching Wyrd 3
Having someone break a formal oath or pledge to you
Having someone break a formal oath or pledge for you
Having a mortal shun or disparage you
Losing a Touchstone
Four Dice
Presented with “Evidence” that your Experiences are
unreal
Accidently Killing a Human
Breaking Formal oaths or pledges
Changing someone else via the Dream Assailant
Condition
Discovering someone lied to you about something
important
Death of a Family member or close friend
Killing a Changeling
Killing your Fetch
Going a month without Human or Changeling contact
Kidnapping or keeping someone captive
Re-enacting or reliving a memory from your durance
Reaching Wyrd 6
Five Dice
Subjected to “deprogramming” or other extended or
tormented efforts to persuade you your experiences are unreal
Premeditated killing of a Human
Going a year or more without Human or Changeling
contact
Torturing someone
Using Glamour to force someone to change their
behaviour
Brainwashing someone via extended Dream manipulation
Spending time in Arcadia
Prolonged or intimate contact with the True Fae
Killing your Touchstone
Reaping Glamour
Breaking
Point Modifiers:
Strongly associated with the Changeling’s durance or
results in a surrender to a True Fae +3
The Changeling is forced to act against their will +3
The Changeling has a strong emotional investment in
the Breaking Point +2
The Breaking Point relates to a close friend or family
member +2
The Changeling is mundanely coerced into acting +1
The Changeling is emotionally invested in the incident
+1
The Changeling was not personally present -1
The Breaking point relates to the Changeling’s Needle
or Thread -1
The Changeling spent Willpower on the action -1
The Changeling has no emotional investment in the
action -1
The Breaking Point was purely accidental/ caused by
happenstance -2
The Breaking point only affects a complete stranger -2
The Breaking Point results in a rejection or triumph
over the True Fae -3
Roll
Results
Dramatic
Failure: The changeling takes no Clarity damage and regains one
Willpower point.
Failure: The
changeling is a bit shaken, but takes no Clarity damage.
Success: Roll the
changeling’s Wyrd rating as a dice pool to determine how much mild Clarity
damage she takes. Extra successes on a Clarity attack roll don’t add to its
damage. If this results in damage to any of the changeling’s three rightmost
Clarity boxes, she gains a Clarity Condition (see below).
Exceptional
Success: As success, except the Clarity damage the changeling takes
is severe instead. If this results in damage to any of her three rightmost
Clarity boxes, she gains a Persistent Clarity Condition (see below).
Clarity attacks erode a changeling's ability to perceive her
surroundings with confidence and truth. When she suffers a successful Clarity
attack, she risks taking damage to her Clarity. Roll a number of dice equal to
her Wyrd to inflict damage. Even if she undergoes a breaking point, she may not
lose Clarity.
If a Changeling suffers any more mild damage after her
Clarity track is filled with Clarity damage of any kind she immediately fall
unconscious, lost in her own dreams, and take the Comatose Condition and cannot
take any more Clarity damage until she heals at least one point. If she takes
severe damage after her track is damaged, she not only takes the Comatose
condition but risks death. If the Comatose condition becomes Persistent she can
only resolve it with the help of her friends, as noted in the conditions text.
A Changeling can regain her Clarity by spending time with her
Touchstones, and by resolving the damage conditions (Below). Each scene she
spends meaningfully interacting with one of her Touchstones heals one level of
severe Clarity damage, or all levels of mild Clarity damage (but doesn’t
resolve any conditions by default). If the Changeling does not have any
Touchstones attached then she cannot heal Clarity damage this way.
Clarity Conditions
When a changeling receives clarity damage in one of their
three right most health boxes they take a clarity condition (if the damage is
severe then the condition becomes Persistent). She gains one condition for any
amount of mild or severe damage taken in these boxes.
Whenever a character resolves a Clarity Condition, she heals
one point of Clarity damage. When she resolves a Persistent Condition she heals
two instead.
The Following conditions can result from Clarity damage:
• Broken
(Persistent)
• Comatose
• Confused
• Delusional
(Persistent)
• Dissociation
• Distracted
• Fugue
(Persistent)
• Numb
(persistent)
• Shaken
• Sleepwalking
(Persistent)
• Spooked
• Withdrawn
Changing
Perceptions
A Changeling’s perceptions are directly related to her
current Clarity. At high levels of Clarity, she has a better grasp of her
surroundings. When her Clarity is undamaged, she gains a +2 bonus to perception
rolls. As her Clarity decreases she loses track of reality. At Clarity 3 and
below she falls prey to hallucinations is she experiences a dramatic failure on
a perception roll. In addition, The Changeling suffers a cumulative 1 die
penalty to perception rolls for every two points she is below Clarity 5: thus
-1 at Clarity 3-4, -2 at Clarity 1-2. This is true even if the Changelings
maximum Clarity is lower than 5.
Example:
Ami’s Maximum clarity is 4, and she hasn’t taken and Clarity damage. She gains
the +2 perception bonus for a Clean Clarity track and a -1 for being Clarity 4
for a +1 to all perception checks.
Kenning
Changelings with a firm grasp on their Clarity are so good at
telling the difference between the magic and the mundane that they have an
easier time spotting the tell-tale signs of supernatural phenomena. This
ability the Lost refer to as Kenning. A Player whose Clarity currently suffers
Clarity damage in less than half their Clarity boxes may make a kenning roll by
spending a point of willpower. The Storyteller rolls the characters current
Clarity in secret to detect the presence of supernatural phenomena in the area.
Dramatic
Failure: The Changeling misreads the situation in a disastrous way.
She may mistake a dangerous spell for a beneficial one or see a mundane person
as a Huntsman.
Failure: The
Character is unable to gain a clear picture one way or the other.
Success: Each
success reveals one supernatural phenomena (creature/item or supernatural
effect). This cannot detect anything that would require a Clash of Wills for
being actively concealed through magic. The Changeling cannot determine what
kind of supernatural phenomenon she has detected, only that it is one. If there
is no supernatural phenomena present, the Changeling may recover the willpower
she spent.
Exceptional
Success: As with success, except that the Changeling knows what kind
of supernatural effect she is observing. E.g. The Changeling can tell that the
power is a Vampire discipline but not which one. She could tell the difference
between a Mages spell and a Fae contract, but not the particular effects of
either.
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