its rider. But it just looked at you with eyes that you can only describe as sorrowful — or human — and shook its head, carrying the woman in blue away.
• One of the Pack (Story Advancement): Dogs
and potentially wolves love the character, and won’t hurt him even if trained to do so. The character can calm an attacking animal with a soothing noise and gesture, ren- dering it sleepy and docile. Plot Hook: The wolves are laughing at you. They should be romping, playing with you. You might get a nip — it’s happened before — but there shouldn’t be this undercurrent of aggression. And something else, you realize, as the beasts glance at each other. It’s like a joke you’re just not getting.
• Whisperer (Story Advancement): The character
might be a horse whisperer, a dog whisperer, or even a bee-singer. Whatever the specific species, she never worries that the animal will harm her. Animals of the given type approach her deferentially. Actions made to tame, heal, or diagnose the given type of animals always succeed, and the character can make a strong guess as to any traumatic events that might have befallen the beast (this is less appropriate for animals like bees, of course, though it might be possible to gauge what happened to a hive). Plot Hook: The cat isn’t a cat. It looks like one, yes, but you’ve never in your life met a cat that looked at you that way. And why is it staring at the cut on your hand like that? Has someone been feeding it blood?
Empathy
• Body Language (Story Advancement): The
character can tell when someone is hurting, needs help, or is spoiling for a fight. This makes her a natural in such professions as police officer, social worker, con artist, or vigilante. In addition to knowing if a person has an immediate need or desire, the character is also hard to surprise. Add the character’s Empathy to her Initiative modifier, as long as she has one turn to observe her ag- gressor before hostilities break out. Plot Hook: He just pulled a knife! He was calm one minute. No hint of violence — it was like someone flipped a switch.
• Emotional Attack (Combat or Extra Talent):
The character knows how to attack a target on an emo- tional level. This doesn’t inflict physical damage, but it certainly dampens a target’s resolve. This Trick can have one of two effects. As a Combat Trick, it allows the player to roll Presence + Empathy — the target’s Composure. If the roll succeeds, the target loses a point of Willpower as the character strikes a nerve. As an Extra Talent Trick, it allows the player to add the character’s Empathy to any other Social roll (this can help with seduction, interrogation, fast-talk, etc.). Plot Hook: You expect her to burst into tears. You expect her to fold up like the shrinking violet she always acted. And
now you’re bleeding from the shoulder and she’s beating through the door with a hatchet — how the Hell did you screw this up so badly?
• Hot Button (Extra Talent or Combat): Insults
don’t actually hurt worse than physical blows, but one can certainly complement the other. The character knows how to deliver a barbed insult at exactly the right time to suck the wind out of someone’s sails. Add the character’s Empathy rating to an offensive roll, whether an attack in combat, a roll meant to intimidate, or a roll meant to make a fool of the target. Plot Hook: Your best insults aren’t making any difference. This guy should be rising to the bait. You know you’ve hit him where it hurts. But every time you catch his eye, there’s no hint of anger now, just a promise of anger later. Perhaps you should hush up.
• Microexpression Reader (Story Advancement):
The character can read a target’s emotional state flaw- lessly by watching his facial expressions and gestures. Of course, simply knowing that a target feels sad when the topic of dogs is raised doesn’t give the character any context for why this is the case, but it can certainly inform a line of questioning. Plot Hook: You know that Mr. Gold is a hard case — most agents are (though has he ever said which agency he’s with?). But the guy doesn’t have facial expressions, even the little unconscious ones. And it’s creeping you right out.
• Sympatico (Penalty): The character is hard to
hit, not because he’s necessarily dexterous or quick, but because he’s sympathetic. All else being equal, aggressors with some kind of Morality trait attack the character last, and until the character acts aggressively, the player can apply the character’s Empathy rating to Defense. Again, this only works against enemies who might feel some remorse about attacking; wild dogs really don’t care. Plot
Hook: He came out of the building with a length of rebar,
covered in blood, and started swinging. You tried to talk him down, but now you’re running. Limping, anyway. And he’s gaining, and he still hasn’t made a sound.
Expression
• Attack Reputation (Penalty): Satire is a powerful
force. The character lampoons a target (an individual or a group), and for a number of weeks equal to the character’s Expression rating afterwards, the target suf- fers a penalty to all Social rolls equal to the character’s Expression rating. This assumes that enough people see the roast, of course, but “enough” is relative. A character might skewer the town blowhard at the local bar — only about 20 people see it, but that’s enough for word to get around in the right circles. In order for the Trick to affect a large corporation, the character might have to get a viral video going on the Internet. Plot Hook: Last night, you gave the greatest roast of your life. They’ll be calling the mayor out for what he is — a racist and a fool — for
the rest of his life. But this morning, you wake up to find the angry messages on your machine. Who was on the receiving end last night?
• Encoded Message (Story Advancement):
Through symbolism, cleverly disguised lettering, and knowledge of his audience, the character can embed a message within a written or artistic work. Whether it’s a hidden message in a song or an apparently boring essay that comes to life when one reads between the lines, the character can communicate a very specific set of instructions or facts without giving away his true intent. Interpreting the message correctly, of course, is up to the viewer (and this should involve an Intelligence + Wits roll). Plot Hook: Your songs are giving people nightmares. It’s not the lyrics — while they contain mes- sages, they’re very positive and uplifting spiritual ones. So what message does the music contain?
• Fire Up the Crowd (Story Advancement): Given
a few moments to speak, sing, or perform to a crowd, the character can saturate an audience with whatever emotion he wishes. He can make people march with him straight to City Hall, or he can put them into deep, near- suicidal depression. Whatever the emotion, it dissipates a few minutes after the crowd disperses, but while the group is together, they’re capable of impressive (and potentially lethal) feats. Plot Hook: You lead your angry mob to the home of the corporate pig that’s been sucking this town dry. And he walks out to meet them, sniffs the air, inhales deep like he’s taking a bong hit, and then shudders like he just got off. And looking around, you realize that your mob just doesn’t give a shit anymore.
• Instruction (Story Advancement): Those who
can’t do, teach? What a load of horseshit. You can do and teach, and your students benefit. You can grant another character the benefit of one of your Specialties for one story, if you spend one hour of game time teaching her. If the player of that character wishes to purchase the Specialty, she spends two experience points, rather than the usual three. If the student does not have any dots of the Skill in question, the Trick has its usual effect, but the unskilled penalty still applies. For instance, a character teaches the Medicine Specialty: First Aid to a character with no dots in Medicine. The –3 penalty for unskilled use of Medicine still applies, but if the First Aid Specialty comes into play, the character adds a die (for a net of –2).
Plot Hook: You’ve become quite knowledgeable about
fairy tales over the years. The old tales, about changeling children and so on. But today, when you try to give your standard lesson on the subject, you find you can’t make a sound. You can talk about other things normally, but when you try to teach, nothing comes out.
• Mood Music (Extra Talent): The right choice
of music can make all the difference when setting up a situation. Provided the character can choose (or play)
his musical selections, the player can add the character’s Expression ratings to all Social rolls made during that scene. Plot Hook: You time all of your best pickup lines to the music. You lead her out onto the dance floor, and if you dance to that song, you know you’ll be able to take her to bed. But then that big guy just stares at you, and shakes his finger, and suddenly the music sounds all distorted. No one else seems to notice, but you can’t dance if you can’t hear the rhythm, right.
Intimidation
• Crazy Rant (Story Advancement): The character
launches into a rant against the government, his ex-wife, the bastards on the Internet, the aliens that control his thoughts, or whatever strikes his fancy. People back away — they recognize a powderkeg when they see one. The character also appreciates the fine line between “threatening posture” and “actual threat,” which means he’s unlikely to be arrested for ranting in public. This Trick is useful as a distraction, or for clearing people out of a store or subway platform quickly. Plot Hook: Everyone’s gone except for those two. They look kind of alike — you’d say mother and son, but they look the same age. They aren’t scared in the least, and they keep watching, hanging on every word. And you’re running out of material.
• Don’t Mess With Me (Penalty): The character
looks dangerous enough that attackers think twice. Add the character’s Intimidation to the character’s Defense. This bonus is lost for the scene if the character fails an attack roll or suffers more than three points of damage.
Plot Hook: You glare at the kid and his buddies, thinking
to send them scampering away into the city. But they just look at each other and whisper something. Must be in Spanish, though, because you swear it sounds like, “Let’s eat him.”
• Fast Break (Time Saver): Maybe it’s because the
character is brutal, or maybe he can get under people’s skin (literally or figuratively) so easily, but either way, interrogations tend to end quickly when he’s involved. The player can roll once every 15 minutes, rather than once an hour (see p. 81 of the World of Darkness
Rulebook). Plot Hook: You’re hurting this guy. He’s
bleeding, bruising, in pain. But he’s also forgetting what you’re doing as soon as you do it! Every few minutes he looks up and asks what he’s doing here and why you’re hurting him.
• Induce Derangement (Combat): Hold a guy down
and shove a spider in his mouth, and it’s a sure bet he’ll be a little arachnophobic afterwards. The character can bring on phobias and fixations, with the usual effects (see p. 97 of the World of Darkness Rulebook). This requires an extended Presence + Intimidation roll, with a target number equal to the subject’s Resolve + Composure (one