Numina Available After Character Creation

Numina Purchasable After Character Creation

Aggressive Meme

The character speaks to a person, and an idea takes root in the person's mind. Maybe the idea is a religious experience, or a scientific idea or a political idea. It can be anything from "the nun who lives in the boathouse has been abusing children, and the police aren't doing anything about it, so we'd better take it into our own hands" to "Muslims are terrorists" to "we're the people, and if we join together, we could have the power to topple this corrupt government" to something as frivolous as "cereal bars are really good to eat and you need to buy one." Whatever the idea is, it takes hold in the person's mind. The person's mind is changed. And then, when the person tells someone else, the idea takes hold in that person's mind. And so on. The idea spreads, until hundreds, perhaps thousands of people know. The player spends seven points of Essence and rolls Manipulation + Expression + Chi, which the subject contests with Willpower. If the roll succeeds, the idea takes hold over the person, and he feels the need to tell others. The idea spreads.

 

Animal Control

The ghost is able to exert its will over an animal, controlling it completely. Spend one Essence and roll Charisma + Animal Ken, subtracting the animal's Wits from the dice pool. Success means the character is able to command the animal to perform any task the Purified desires, to the limit of the animal's physical abilities. The character can control the animal for the duration of the scene if desired. A character may only control one animal at a time.

 

Awe

The character's presence paralyzes those who view it with holy (or unholy) terror. Spend three points of Essence and roll Manipulation + Expression + Chi. All those who can see the character contest the roll with Willpower + Supernatural Rating (Blood Potency, Etc...). Anyone who gains fewer successes than the character is unable to move or speak for one turn, either from awe (as, unwilling, they prostrate themselves before the angelic figure) or all-consuming fear (as their legs turn to jelly, their throats dry up and their backs turn to ice).

 

Babel

The character can make it impossible for its target to speak coherently. Spend one Essence and roll Manipulation + Expression + Chi - the target's Wits. Every success prevents the victim from speaking intelligibly for a minute. Try as she might, she simply spouts random syllables.

 

Banshee Wail

The ghost creates an earsplitting scream that deafens anyone nearby. Spend one point of Essence and roll Stamina + Intimidation + Chi. Anyone within 20 yards of the ghost must succeed on a Willpower roll. If the target rolls more successes, they are immune to the power for 24 hours. Characters that are effected by the wail also suffer a -3 penalty to any Perception checks that rely on hearing for the remainder of the scene.

 

Blight

The character can destroy a year's crop of food within a radius of a mile. Spend two Essence and roll Wits + Meditation + Chi. On a success, the crop fails, afflicted with a sudden, crippling blight that kills the plants overnight, leaving not a single grain or piece of fruit edible.

 

Clasp

This Numen allows the spirit to lock a target in a crushing embrace. The Numen functions like any brawling attack. The character may roll Wits + Athletics + Chi when grappling. (This takes the place of any Strength + Brawl rolls). If the character spends one point of Essence, the spirit's grappling attacks inflict lethal instead of bashing damage for the rest of the scene.

 

Consume the Physical

When the ghost consumes food, roll Stamina + Wits + Chi. Each success translates to one point of regained Essence. The ghost may only perform this once per day.

 

Destroy the Mind

This Numen assaults a person's mind with a cavalcade of nightmarish imagery, breaking down his sanity in the process. Such images are often personal and culled from a victim's own memory, although the user sometimes applies images from its own history or "memory" to decide such visions. Use of Dement is a contested action, with opposing rolls being made reflexively. Spend one Essence and roll Manipulation + Expression + Chi versus the victim's Intelligence + Supernatural Tolerance (Gnosis, Blood Potency, etc.). If the character rolls the most successes, the victim becomes unable to concentrate on any action due to being so shaken. The victim receives a dice penalty to all rolls, except resistance rolls, for 24 hours. The dice penalty is equal to the difference between the victim's resistance roll and the character's activation roll. If the target of the Numen rolls the more or an equal number of successes, the power has no effect on him, and is immune for 24 hours.


Desiccation
Desiccation allows a character to withdraw some or all of the fluid most closely associated with it from its opponent's body. The range is five yards per point of Chi. Roll Manipulation + Athletics + Chi; the number of successes determines the number of points of damage the target takes from loss of fluid. The damage is bashing. Due to a lack of real biology, vampires and the Created may contest the spirit's roll with Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, etc.); however, if the spirit wins the contest, the supernatural loses a point of Vitae or Pyros in addition to taking bashing damage.

 

Elemental Immunity

The character spends 1 essence to activate the power, and announces the type of element the character wishes to resist. When a victim is targeted by one of these attacks, add the character's Chi to its Resistance. The character's Chi is also automatically subtracted from environmental exposure as well. For example, a character with a Chi of 5 could sleep in a burning chemical plant with no ill effects.

 

Emotional Aura

This Numen broadcasts a general pulse of emotion over a wide area rather than focusing on one target. The character spends one Essence to activate the aura of emotion, which then lasts for a scene. Anyone within five yards of the spirit, or who later comes within five yards of the spirit, must make a Willpower + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.) roll contested by the spirit's Charisma + Manipulation + Chi. If the spirit wins, the subject suffers a -2 dice penalty to dice pools for the duration of the scene or until the spirit stops using this Numen, powerfully distracted by the broadcast emotion. If the subject wins, she is immune to this Numen for the next 24 hours.

 

End Disease

The character can use this Numen to remove all disease from a living being. Spend one point of Essence and roll Wits + Medicine + Chi. If the roll is successful, the character heals any disease the subject may have, no matter how trivial or serious, treatable or incurable. If the disease is of supernatural origin, such as the result of a supernatural being's machinations, the character must spend three Essence to cure the disease.

 

Ensnare

The spirit possesses an entangling attack, be it mystic webbing, gobbets of intestine, wire mesh, or glue-like spittle. To hit its target, the spirit makes a Dexterity + Athletics + Chi, the character may attempt to Dodge the attack. Subjects struck by the attack are automatically grappled. Each turn the victim may roll Strength + Athletics - the spirit's Chi to escape; otherwise she is immobilized. After a number of turns equal to the spirit's Chi then dissipates. This attack costs one point of Essence.

 

Fearstruck

This Numen allows a character to cause an opponent to become paralyzed by fear. The Purified spends a point of Essence and then rolls Charisma + Intimidation + Chi; the targeted opponent contests the roll with Willpower + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.). Success renders the victim unable to move or speak (or even scream) for one turn.

 

Festering Touch

The character must make physical contact with the item it wishes to affect with Festering Touch, spend two Essence and roll Manipulation + Stamina + Chi. Success causes metal to rust, clothes to become threadbare and wood to rot. If successes equal or exceed an item's structure, that item is destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable. In contact with skin, the target takes half the successes rounded down in lethal damage.

 

Firestarter

The character can create a number of small fires. The spirit spends one Essence and rolls Wits + Meditation + Chi. Each success causes a small fire to break out within the character's Chi in yards, the number of fires is limited to the Chi of the character. This Numen is dependent upon having fuel to feed the flames -- the spirit cannot cause nonflammable material to burn. The size and intensity of the fires generated is equal to the flames of a torch -- though the fires may grow or decrease in size and intensity naturally once started.

 

Freeze

The character can rob the heat from a radius equal to its Wits in yards. The Purified spends one Essence and rolls Manipulation + Meditation + Chi; this is contested by a reflexive Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.) roll. If the character scores more successes than its victims, they take that number as levels of bashing damage. Armor and insulating clothes can provide some protection for a limited period of time. Armor automatically blocks damage equal to its rating for a number of rounds equal to its rating.

 

Gauntlet Control

The spirit spends a point of Essence and rolls Manipulation + Meditation as an instant action, with each success enabling the spirit to raise or lower the local Gauntlet strength by one, to a maximum of five or a minimum of zero. Note that a Gauntlet reduced to zero automatically creates a Verge. In the event that a spirit's use of this Numen is contested (by another spirit with the same power, for example, or by a mage capable of influencing the Gauntlet), the party scoring fewer successes subtracts them from those of the party with more successes, and the Gauntlet strength adjusts by that many points in the winner's desired direction, to the maximum amount allowed by the power used by the winner.

 

Hallucinations

This Numen allows a character to create an illusion. The Purified spends a point of Essence and pictures the illusion the character wants to create in its mind. This may be a sight, sound, or even a person meant to interact with the target. The spirit makes a contested Manipulation + Expression + Chi versus the subject's Willpower + Supernatural Resistance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.) roll. For each success the character rolls in excess of the target, the illusion affects one of the subject's senses. The illusion is utterly compelling, but if the vision does something notably unusual the Storyteller may allow the target a Perception + Awareness vs. the net successes rolled to realize that his senses are lying to him.

 

Heal The Land

The character remove the blight on a land. Spend three points of Essence, and roll Manipulation + Meditation + Chi. If the roll is successful, the character removes the blight created by nature or magic. If created by magic, the character must roll more successes than the caster who created the blight.

 

Ill Wind

By spending 3 Essence and rolling Stamina + Manipulation + Chi, character breathes out a noxious fume which causes all within its area of effect double over wracked with pain (unless they resist with a reflexive Stamina + Supernatural Resistance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.)), taking bashing damage equal to the amount of successes rolled in the form of retching and vomiting.

 

Imitation

A character with this Numen can take on the semblance of a human the character has met. Spend one point of Essence and roll Manipulation + Subterfuge + Chi. Those who know the imitated person might see through the deception. Players of such characters make contested Wits + Empathy + Supernatural Resistance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.) rolls. The number of successes is compared to the roll for this Numen. If the character wins, the deception holds. If not, the viewer realizes that something is wrong with his acquaintance.

 

Immolate

The character's hands (or claws, or mouth, or tentacles or wings) can, in an instant, be wreathed in cold Transforming Fire, which sears flesh and boils blood. Spend three points of Essence. All of the Purified's Brawl attacks cause aggravated damage for the rest of the scene.

 

Implant Delusion

The character can make someone believe something that isn't true, or implant a false memory in a subject. Spend two Essence and roll Manipulation + Subterfuge + Chi, contested by the subject's Perception + Empathy + Supernatural Resistance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.). If the roll is successful, the subject believes whatever the character has just told him to believe. If this belief is something that can easily be proven false (for instance, "lead turns to gold when anointed with this oil"), demonstration of the delusion's untruth ends the Numen's effects.

 

Manipulate Element

The creature can move, morph, and shape the a single element in its area. The element should have a fairly narrow definition (soil, concrete, steel, stone, plastic, glass, wood, etc.) The character can roughly shape a surface area of about 100 square feet or a volume of roughly 40 cubic feet. The Manipulate Earth Numen, for example, is ideal for creating a quick foxhole, a crude wall, or small escape tunnel. The Numen cannot be used as a direct attack (use Blast). Elements unable to hold their shape (air, water) should not be chosen. The effects are permanent, though they are not magically held in shape. Using the example above, a tunnel may naturally collapse soon after it is formed. This Numen costs one point of Essence. The character chooses one element this power effects each time the power is taken. The power may be taken multiple times, each one effecting a different element.

 

Parthenogenesis

The character has the power to conceive a child with a human woman without any sexual contact ever having taken place. Spend a point of Essence, and roll Stamina + Manipulation + Chi. If the roll succeeds, the woman enters into normal pregnancy. The woman can be of any age, and does not have to be physically able to bear a child --- she can be too young or too old to bear a child, or be without the necessary generative organs (because of disease, for example). If the pregnancy is carried to term, the child who is born probably has some high expectations upon her. Perhaps the child grows up to have supernatural powers, but she doesn't need to. The weight of expectations can be enough to make the child of such a miraculous pregnancy remarkable in many ways.

 

Pillar Of Salt

The Purified can end a mortal's life at a stroke, transforming his flesh with a word into nothing but salt and dust. Spend five Essence and roll Manipulation + Meditation + Chi, contested by the subject's Stamina + Wits + Supernatural Resistance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.). On a success, the victim becomes a rough pillar of rock salt. A supernatural being remains this way for a number of hours equal to the character's Chi. A mortal remains this way indefinitely, although there may be supernatural means of returning him to life. The character can only use this Numen on a mortal if the mortal ignores a warning. A Purified doesn't have to say what the consequences of the warning are, but must inform the victim of something he must not do -- don't look back, don't open the red door, don't speak while in this room, don't touch the altar. Here, for once, ignorance is an excuse. If the person who broke the rules didn't know that there was an instruction, the character cannot use this Numen.

 

Pray For Rain

Rain comes, cool and refreshing, brought by the character. Spend three points of Essence and roll Wits + Manipulation + Chi. If the roll is successful, it begins to rain in an area of about a half-mile radius around the character, no matter how improbable that might be. The rain is at a comfortable temperature for humans, no matter how hot or cold the surrounding area.

 

Rapture

With this Numen, the character can tap into the pleasure centers of a willing creature's mind and soul, granting the creature's ecstatic visions, immense pleasure and a sense of communion with the otherworld. For one turn, the victim is completely incapacitated -- perhaps babbling in the Spirit Tongue, dancing, or even growling. For a number of hours after this effect (8 - Stamina), the victim feels charged and sure of her devotion to the spirit's cause, receiving +2 dice on any roll when acting in accord with her ravisher's desires. All other dice pools are at -2. Unfortunately, such intimate contact with an alien mind can cause damage to the target's psyche. If the target fails a Wits + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, Gnosis) roll, she gains a temporary derangement for a number of days equal to the character's Chi, or until she is no longer under the effect of this Numen, whichever is longer. The derangements that result are almost always ones that further bind the victim to spirit's desires (fixations, compulsions, and so on.) Furthermore, victims begin to build up a tolerance to the Numen, dropping the duration of the effect (halving the time for each rapture experienced in the same month). Each exposure to this Numen lowers the resistance to any of the character's other powers, a cumulative -1, maximum -5; these penalties fade at a rate of one per day. This Numen costs two points of Essence and may only be used if the character is touching the target.

 

Rising Of The Light

The character can create light that is equivalent in every way to sunlight rise over an area the size of a city block. Spend 10 Essence and roll Charisma + Wits + Chi. On a success, the area is bathed in daylight. Creatures adversely affected by sunlight suffer effects as if the sun really had risen. This lasts for a scene.

 

Sleep Eater

This insidious Numen allows a character to rob hours of sleep of its victims. Spend one point of Essence and roll Manipulation + Wits + Chi - the target's Stamina + Supernatural Tolerance (Blood Potency, Gnosis, etc.). Each success represents an hour's worth of sleep lost. These can only be recovered through normal sleep. After the characte eats six hours of the target's sleep, the target begins suffering the effects of fatigue as if he had not slept in 24 hours. Each six successes beyond this means the target loses another day's sleep, and he suffers a cumulative -1 die penalty to all dice pools and must make Stamina + Wits rolls or fall asleep. A person may only lose a number of days worth of sleep equal to the lowest of his Stamina or Wits before passing out.

 

Summon Swarm

Wastes of Civilization is accompanied by a swarm of rats, mice, cockroaches, lice and other pests and vermin (in both the physical and spiritual realm). These creatures swarm around their master, granting +3 to the dodge or parry of the target. If the character is not defending, the threshold to hit the character is increased by 3. While the swarm doesn't attack outright, once per turn the swarm may target an individual in an attempt to hamper her efforts. Roll four dice, and successes translate to minuses to any action performed by the target for that turn. Attacking the swarm directly may cause it to dissipate for a turn (thus removing the defense bonus or hampering penalty) but will do no damage or remove them from the fight.

 

Swarm Form

This Numen allows a character to break up its body into thousands of tiny parts -- it might appear as a mass of whirling razor blades, a flock of starlings, school of piranha, or a swarm of beetles. Treat the character's strength as 1 for feats of Strength. The character's speed is halved, but it may gain flight or be able to squeeze through small openings in this form. The character becomes immune to most melee and missile attacks, such as baseball bats and Uzis. Only weapons such as torches, flamethrowers, or area effect attacks cause the creature damage in this form. The character damages other creatures by enveloping them. A creature caught within the swarm at the beginning of its turn takes damage automatically. Damage is determined by the intensity of the swarm. The swarm begins with a radius in yards equal to the size of the character and does one bashing damage. Each time the radius halves (a standard action), the damage increases by one. Full-body armor provides half protection, less than full body affords no protection as the small creatures find their mark. This Numen costs two points of Essence and lasts for a scene. Swarm creatures can choose to do lethal damage, by sacrificing their constituent parts. All creatures caught within a swarm suffer -2 to all checks.

 

Teiresian Metamorphosis

A character with this Numen can change the gender of a living being (including a mage, but not a Promethean, vampire or werewolf). Spend 10 Essence and roll Wits + Medicine + Chi. If the mortal wishes to resist, his player can roll Stamina + Charisma. If the character succeeds, the mortal changes sex, becoming as if he or she had been born belonging to the other gender. A character could use this Numen to "heal" a transsexual, supplying those generative organs and making the changes that surgery could not fully perform. A character can also use this Numen to join two humans together in one hermaphrodite being, a true rebis, wholly male and wholly female. In this case, roll once. Either individual or both get the option of contesting the character's roll. If either gets more successes than the Purified, the Numen fails to work. The character might be the granting of a dearly held wish, a punishment or some strange means of altering history.