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Supernatural Afflictions Skills

Supernatural Afflictions Skills

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Basic Wight (20xp)
Requires: Must be achieved in play.
Required for: Undead Power 1Undead Power 2;

When a PC becomes a Wight they get the basic Wight package (below), going into XP debt if necessary. They may then purchase up to two additional levels of Undead Power if they wish at a later point.

Instead of being raised as a Wight, the player may choose to have their character die. This is specifically an OC choice made by the player.

Minimum Phys-Rep:
Dark rings around eyes.

You are now undead of rank equal to your character level and respond to miracles and other effects on this basis. You respond to Rec Undead as a Wight.
You cannot be affected by alchemical healing.
You don’t need to breathe or eat.
Physical sensations such as pain and pleasure are much more muted than they were while alive.
You do not need to sleep, but most wights go into a daily extended trance-like state to conserve their spiritual energy.
You Ping to Mass Detect Scent Corpse. You may conceal your pale skin and dark eye-rings with Disguise I, but the corpse smell may only be concealed with Disguise II.
All your body locations are destroyed immediately upon their reaching zero hits (you have no bleed timer).
If you reach 0 hits on a critical location your body dematerialises, leaving all your IC valuables behind but taking your mundane clothing with it.
If you were not killed by SPIRIT damage you will reform at an appropriate location (chosen by the refs) at the next New Moon.
If you were killed by SPIRIT damage, you also leave a small pile of ash behind which counts as a critical location.
If you are a priest you may be cut off from your god as per spirit wracking depending on your deity’s relationship with the god whose miracle was used to create you and their opinion of undead in general. This is a ref decision made over downtime.

Undead Power 1 (15xp)
Requires: Basic Wight
Required for: Undead Power 2;

You gain a 1/day ability to cast one miracle of equal or lower than your character level that is in the domains of the god you were raised by. You choose this miracle when you take this power and it does not change afterwards.

Undead Power 2 (10xp)
Requires: Basic Wight; Undead Power 1; Character of level 6 or higher

You gain the ability to cast DEATH WARD targeting yourself once per day as a miracle with an eight word vocal calling on the powers of Oblivion.

Vampire (30xp)
Requires: Uptime Rite; Character must be Willing
Required for: Vampire LordVampiric FlightVampiric Mist Form;

Automatic gain; go into XP debt.

You can only become a vampire if you are dead and your spirit is still present.
When you die, all previous spiritual & alchemical effects end (e.g. Beguile, Elixir of Affection).
You must be turned in uptime by another vampire through it feeding you some of its blood in a deliberate attempt to turn you. If your spirit is unwilling to become a vampire then you remain dead and the rite fails. This choice cannot be affected through mind control or similar means.
You may not take this package as a starting character.

Certain species are incompatible with vampirism, such as Trolls and Elemental Elves, and will be unable to survive the rite to become a vampire. A ref must be in attendance to oversee the vampirism process. Once you have been turned into a vampire, you are immune to the Resurrection miracle and must call ‘No Effect’.

Phys-Rep Requirement: Red stripe across eyes. If you are playing a species which already has an eye-stripe physrep, you should have your stripe be half red and half the appropriate other colour. The way you divide this does not matter, but both colours should be distinct and present.

Physical

  • You are an undead of Rank 6 or your character level, whichever is higher. You respond to Rec Undead as a Vampire.
  • You Ping to Mass Detect Scent Corpse. You may hide your pale skin with Disguise I, but the corpse smell may only be concealed with Disguise II.
  • You feel intense discomfort in direct sunlight – it causes no mechanical damage, but you feel constant pain. You may not transform while in direct sunlight, and you may not be healed (though effects like Death Ward and Regeneration will work).
  • You do not need to eat or breathe, and do not feel pain from injuries. You do suffer from Vampiric Thirst (see below).
  • You gain the ability to transform into the forms of a rat, a bat, and a wolf (see below).

Spiritual

  • You can call Spirit Single by touch. This call may not be increased or reduced by any means (e.g. Berserk, Cause Disease, the Feebleness skill, etc.), but may be channelled through a Crafted or better quality weapon if you also have Martial Spirit II.
  • With a five word vocal calling on your power as a vampire, you can cast ‘Greater Dominate Undead’ without expending any spirit. This functions exactly as the Dominate Undead Necromancy miracle, except that it will work if an undead is already under the effects of Dominate Undead. Only one person may have control of an undead at one time.
  • If you are devoted to anyone but Vivamort, you become spirit-wracked and cannot atone. Your spirit becomes aligned to the Sword Pantheon. If you are already a Vivamortian priest, you cannot be spirit-wracked. If you think you have broken a Vivamortian stricture as a vampire, tell a ref.
  • You are completely under the control of your Sire, the vampire who created you. This is a mind control effect: you are spiritually forced to obey any commands they give you. If created through geomancy, you are under the control of Vivamort. This effect cannot be blocked by Mental Shield.

Health and Survival

  • You gain the ability to create a Vampiric Coffin (see below).
  • You cannot be affected by alchemical healing.
  • All your body locations are destroyed immediately upon reaching zero hits (you have no bleed timer).
  • If a critical location is reduced to 0 hits, your body immediately disappears, leaving your IC valuables behind and taking your mundane clothing with it. If a critical location was reduced to 0 hits by Spirit damage, you permanently die. If you were not killed with Spirit damage, you reform in your coffin (see below) over the course of 2 weeks. Any limbs which were destroyed when you were killed return on full hits when you reform. If you are Staked while reforming at your coffin, you die permanently. You can be Staked with any safe melee weapon physrep and appropriate roleplay.

Special: Vampiric Coffins
Every vampire has a coffin, which they return to periodically in order to rest. A coffin need not be a literal coffin, and some vampires employ luxurious beds or simple chairs for the same purpose. In practice, any item or demarcated area sufficiently large to allow a vampire to lie or sit upon it may function as a vampiric coffin. A vampire may select a new coffin by performing an appropriate five-minute rite to sanctify the new coffin, involving calling on their vampiric power. This also works if a vampiric coffin has been destroyed. The coffins are not spiritual themselves, and may be destroyed through mundane means.
When a vampire’s body is destroyed, its spirit returns to the coffin in order to reform over a period of a few weeks. This is the source of a vampire’s immortality. If a vampire does not have a coffin when it dies, or if it is significantly over a day’s travel away from its coffin, its spirit cannot reform, and will be sent on to Vivamort.
While a vampire is reforming, it may take no actions and is not aware of the world around it. This provides the perfect time to permanently kill such a creature. Driving a stake or similar object into the partially-formed vampire’s chest disrupts the spiritual reformation process and permanently kills the vampire.
When you become a vampire, you must choose a location for your coffin. The refs must be aware of this location, and it must be approximately within a day’s travel of the vampire’s location. If, for some reason, a vampire becomes further than a day’s travel away from their coffin, or if their coffin is destroyed, they will feel compelled to create a new coffin as soon as possible. It is not possible to have more than one coffin at once – creating a new coffin automatically supersedes any old ones.
As a minor downtime action, a vampire may rest in their coffin. This restores any limbs lost by the vampire to full hits.

Special: Transformation
All vampires have the ability to turn into the holy animals of Vivamort: the rat; the bat; and the wolf. It takes five seconds to transform into or out of animal form. While in direct sunlight, you may not transform – you are stuck in whatever form you were in when you entered the sunlight. When re-forming from an animal form, any locations which were destroyed when you transformed remain destroyed when you reform. Your transformed forms respond to Spirit Sight, Rec Undead, Recognise Nature of Creature, Dismiss Undead, and similar calls as you would while in vampiric form. You may transform into or out of animal forms while you are being Dismissed, but remain rooted in place.
While transformed, you may not speak or use any skills which require vocals, the ability to speak, or manual dexterity (and you are not affected by Feebleness or Frailty). Any IC valuable items you were carrying or wearing are dropped unless the transformed form could also carry them, e.g. amulets, holy symbols, etc. Your mundane clothes transform along with you.
If you are reduced to 0 hits in your transformed form, you die, disappear, and attempt to reform in exactly the same way as a non-transformed vampire would under the circumstances.
Any hits lost and not healed in a transformed form remain lost until the vampire transforms back into their vampire form, at which point they are refreshed. You may only transform into a particular form once per 5 minutes.
Phys-Rep Standards and Combat:
For Rat and Bat forms, the Vampire player should provide a suitable phys-rep for the animal and use the “Hand in Air” signal while controlling the phys-rep. The phys-rep should be treated as non-combatant, and players wishing to initiate melee combat with a Rat- or Bat-form vampire should approach the player controlling it and declare “OC: I am attacking you”, and may then call their damage, e.g. “Double”. This does not allow players to target vampire-bats flying higher than the attacker can reach. If using ranged attacks, players should call them as normal against the vampire.
In the case of a Wolf-form vampire, the player should call TIME FREEZE upon transforming, and should don an appropriate costume (e.g. a wolf mask) before calling TIME IN. The Wolf form is then treated as having the same combat status as the vampire’s player.
Rat: In Rat form, you have 2 global hits and 2 DAC. You may not call damage (though may still drink blood from unresisting targets). In Rat form you always count as using Hide & Sneak, and do not need to “throw the horns” to do so.
Bat: In Bat form, you have 2 global hits and 2 DAC. You may not call damage (though may still drink blood from unresisting targets). You may fly as per the Fly (self) spell, though this has no duration, may not be Dispelled, and does not count as a magical effect.
Wolf: In Wolf form, you have 10 global hits. You can do Spirit Single by ambidexed claws/18” weapons, and may use your default melee damage if this is higher.

Special: Vampiric Thirst
As a vampire, you are empowered directly by Vivamort’s spirits through your blood. To sustain this connection and their power, you must feed on the blood of living sentient beings.
You gain a Vampiric Thirst for blood: you must drink 3 hits’ worth of fresh blood directly from a living being with a spirit each week. To do this, you must roleplay biting an unresisting living target. The bite does a Spirit Single every 10 seconds, i.e. 3 hits requires 30 seconds’ worth of biting. When you drink blood, the target does one degree less damage with weapons for five minutes. This effect does not stack with itself.
If you fail to drink the required amount of blood, you do one degree less damage with weapons at the next event. This effect lasts until you drink a week’s worth of blood.
If you fail to drink the required amount of blood for 2 consecutive weeks, you also lose one hit per location, and may not transform into animal forms or turn into mist. These effects last until you drink a week’s worth of blood.
If you fail to drink the required amount of blood for 3 consecutive weeks, you begin to crave blood. If you do not drink a week’s worth of blood within half an hour of the event starting, you begin attacking everything and feeding until you have drunk a week’s worth of blood or until 10 minutes are up. In the latter case, you immediately permanently die, and cannot reform at your coffin.
You may drink this blood in downtime, in which case it will usually take a minor action.

Vampire Lord (20xp) [Root Skill]
Requires: Vampire; Character of Level 6 or higher
Required for: Vampiric FlightVampiric Mist Form;

  • You gain the ability to call Spirit damage by melee weapon.
  • You gain Beguile at will by ten seconds’ eye contact with the target.
  • You gain the ability to create (and control) other vampires by feeding your blood to the recently-dead. Vivamort will only accept the use of this ability if the person was worthy of being a vampire and the action was not rash. If the target is unwilling to be turned into a vampire, then they die during the rite. The soul must still be present in order to create a vampire. A ref should be present during this rite. If you do this, whether the target accepts becoming a vampire or not, you do one degree less damage by melee weapon until you next drink 3 hits’ worth of blood, just as if you had not drunk the required amount of blood for a week.
  • If you became spirit-wracked when you became a vampire, you lose your original Devotion and gain Devotion: Vivamort. You must reallocate XP from your previous miracle domains in order to buy Vivamortian miracles as per a standard Vivamortian priest.
  • Your Vampiric Thirst increases to require 2 pints of blood (6 hits’ worth or 2 peasants, 1 if drained to death).

Vampiric Flight (20xp) [Root Skill]
Requires: Vampire; Vampire Lord

  • By giving in to your baser vampiric urges, you gain the power of flight and a closer connection to the holy animals of Vivamort. You may Fly as per the Fly (self) spell, though this has no duration, may not be Dispelled, and does not count as a magical effect. You may not do this in direct sunlight.
  • You gain the ability to Speak Wolf, Speak Bat, and Speak Rat, both in the relevant transformed forms and in your vampiric form.
  • Your Vampiric Thirst increases to 3 pints of blood (9 hits or 3 peasants, 2 if drained to death).

Vampiric Mist Form (20xp) [Root Skill]
Requires: Vampire; Vampire Lord

  • You gain the ability to turn yourself and all your worn and carried items into mist once per 24 hours. You may not do this in direct sunlight. While in mist form, you are immune to all physical damage (you should respond “NO EFFECT” to all physical damage). The mist form may not be separated. You may not talk, use any skills, or do anything other than move around and transform into animal or vampiric form. If Dismissed in mist form, or if you enter direct sunlight, you are forced to transform back into a corporeal, non-mist form.

Werewolf Power I (30xp)
Requires: Was reduced to 0 hits on a core location by a werewolf’s bite or claw attacks. Gain this stat-package at the next Full Moon. Automatic gain (go into XP debt).
Required for: Werewolf Power IIWerewolf Power IIIPack DynamicsWerewolf Control;

A werewolf has two basic forms: Base Form, and Wolf form. In Base Form they are almost undetectable, as they do not possess any skills beyond a normal character of that species: the only way to detect a Werewolf in this form is to touch them with a silver item, at which point the flesh will burn but cause no lasting damage.
Characters bitten by a werewolf but who have not yet gained the Werewolf package respond “Lycanthropy” to attempts to recognise the disease, and call “No Effect” to the Cure Disease miracle (though any other non-werewolf diseases will be removed by the miracle as normal). Characters who have already turned into a werewolf do not respond to attempts to recognise diseases: the overt signs of the disease have sunk in and the deeper changes are internal.
A Werewolf will turn into Enraged Wolf form in the light of the Full Moon, and transform back to Base Form at dawn.

Minimum Physrep for Wolf form: either ambidexed claws or ambidexed 18” weapons, and appropriate cotsuming, e.g.: fur clothing; appropriate facepaint; a wolf mask.
If transforming in uptime you should call TIME FREEZE in order to put on your physreps.

Base Form:

  • When touched by Silver you become uncomfortable and the skin burns, though you take no damage.
  • May call Spirit Single by bite. (As per brawling skill, must call – Fang to [Location]: Spirit Single from distance of 6” from target)
  • Dogs and wolves cower away from you.
  • You may infect other characters with lycanthropy by reducing them to 0 hits on a core location by bite damage.

Wolf Form:

  • +1 hit/loc. These hits are lost before base form hits.
  • +2 DAC.
  • Can become Enraged. (See Enraged condition for details.)
  • Regenerates 1 hit to every location every ten minutes and are immune to bleeding damage; cannot regenerate fire, spirit, or silver damage without normal healing. You may not regenerate damage which cannot be otherwise prevented e.g. that caused by casting above level. Venom damage may not be regenerated but will not kill a werewolf in wolf form. A location is not permanently crippled when reduced to -3 hits, except by damage which cannot be regenerated. If a critical location is reduced to -3 by such damage, the Werewolf dies. If a limb is reduced to -3 by such damage, it will not regenerate in uptime, but will regrow while the Werewolf rests between events. If a werewolf permanently loses a limb in either Base or Wolf form, the limb stays lost in both forms. Limbs lost before the character gained the Werewolf package stay lost (unless a Regeneration miracle or similar effect is used, at which point the limb will regenerate as normal).
  • May not use skills that require vocals, the ability to speak, or manual dexterity (e.g. Spells, Miracles, Alchemy, First Aid, etc.).
  • Wolf Form grants the ability to ambidex SPIRIT SINGLES by 18” weapon/claw and bite. This overrides any other skills that make changes to the base weapon damage of a character, such as Melee, Streetfighter, the Feebleness skill, etc.. Miracles such as Weakness or Cause Disease, and potions such as Ghastly Purgative, will still lower the damage call as normal if used on a Werewolf. (I.E. SINGLE becomes NOTHING) Werewolves in Wolf form may not use any weapons or shields other than their claws. They may not suppress the Spiritual part of the call (and thus may not call SUBDUAL damage while in Wolf form).
  • May transform into Wolf Form one week before the Full Moon. May only transform into Wolf Form once per hour. May transform back into Base Form at will, so long as not Enraged.
  • Take an extra degree of damage from silver.
  • Dogs and wolves cower away from you.
  • Gain Mass Detect Scent Wolf.
  • PING to Mass Detect Scent Wolf and respond “Ping! Werewolf” to Recognise Nature of Creature.
  • Can talk to Dogs, Wolves, and other Werewolves as per the Speak with Animals Spell at any time in Wolf Form.
  • You cannot speak, but can still understand any languages you know. May communicate normally to the caster if targeted with the Talk to Sentient miracle.
  • You may infect other characters with lycanthropy by reducing them to 0 hits on a core location using your claws or bite damage.

Special: Enraged Werewolves

  • A werewolf will become Enraged during the Full Moon unless they have Werewolf Control.
  • While Enraged, the werewolf gains +1 degree of Spirit damage by bite/claw.
  • Enraged does not stack with the Berserk Miracle. If Berserk is cast, you do not gain an additional +1 degree of damage, but you will now attack other Werewolves should any be nearby.
  • They are compelled to attack the nearest living target.
  • An Enraged Werewolf will not attack another Wolf Form Werewolf unless they are attacked first. Should call MASS-DETECT SCENT WOLF upon becoming Enraged.
  • It remains conscious and its limbs remain functional respectively until the location is reduced to -2.
  • Take an extra degree of damage from Silver weapons.
  • If it has become Enraged due to the Full Moon, the werewolf remains Enraged until dawn.

Interactions with other rules:
An undead may not become a Werewolf. A dead werewolf may be raised as an undead but loses the Werewolf condition as it is replaced with the Undead condition. (XP is refunded in the case of Sentient Undead.)
A species that cannot become a Priest also cannot become a werewolf due to insufficient spiritual power (i.e. Trolls; Elemental Elves).

Werewolf Control (20xp)
Requires: Werewolf Power I; Character does not have Werewolf Power III

By calling on an appropriate deity or natural phenomenon, or undertaking a great quest, it is possible for a Werewolf to gain control over their Wolf form. In addition to the XP cost, this skill comes with a set of ‘strictures’ which must be upheld in order to retain control; breaking these strictures will cause the Werewolf to instantly become an Enraged Wolf for 5 minutes and lose the benefits of Werewolf Control until the end of the next full moon.
Werewolf Control allows the Werewolf to shape-shift at will once per hour and no longer suffer the effects of Enrage. If a character has Werewolf Control they may not take Werewolf Power III or Pack Dynamics. Vice versa, if a character has taken Werewolf Power III, they may not take Werewolf Control.
This skill requires a relevant adventure or significant uptime action approved by the refs to learn.

Werewolf Power II (30xp)
Requires: Werewolf Power I
Required for: Werewolf Power IIIPack Dynamics;

  • Gain an extra +1 hit/loc in Wolf Form. These hits are lost before base form hits.
  • May call SPIRIT with their normal damage call in Wolf Form call by ambidex 18” Weapon/Claw and Bite.
  • Regeneration becomes 1 hit per location every 5 minutes in Wolf Form.
  • May shape-shift at will into Wolf form once per hour; still becomes an Enraged Wolf in the light of the Full Moon. (see Werewolf Power I).
  • May only transform into Wolf Form once per hour. May transform back into Base Form at will, so long as not Enraged.

Werewolf Power III (30xp)
Requires: Werewolf Power II; Character does not have Werewolf Control
Required for: Pack Dynamics;

  • Gain an extra +1 hit/loc and +1 DAC in Wolf form. These hits are lost before base form hits.
  • Gain +1 degree of Spirit damage in Wolf Form by ambidex 18” Weapon/Claw and Bite.
  • Regeneration becomes 1 hit per location every 30 seconds.
  • Base form gains Regeneration 1 hit to every location every 5 minutes.
  • Take an additional degree of damage from Silver in Base Form.
  • Enraged for 5 minutes if hit by Silver Damage when in Wolf form.
  • May talk to Wolves & Dogs as per the Speak with Animals spell at will in any form.
  • Gain Track VII and Mass Detect Scent Blood in Wolf Form.

Pack Dynamics (5xp)
Requires: Werewolf Power III

By spending a week around another character in downtime you learn to recognise their scent and consider that character as part of your ‘pack’. You will never attack a member of your pack due to the Enraged condition. You may have pack members equal to your Pack Dynamics Skill Level.

This skill may be bought in ascending levels [to level IV].

If a character has Werewolf Control, they may not take Werewolf Power III or Pack Dynamics. Vice versa, if a character has taken Werewolf Power III, they may not take Werewolf Control.