Post by Annabelle Devonshire on May 21, 2020 1:31:20 GMT -5
1 .) Thralls are created by determining their Faith potential, which is a measure of how much Faith a demon can use to reconfigure their souls when entering into a Pact. This is also a reflection of the strength of the character’s devotion to a particular belief, be it religious or otherwise. This potential varies from individual to individual, and it is often hard to quantify. (How do you put a value to an intangible quality?)
As a rule of thumb you can use this following graph to consider how much the character is willing to risk or sacrifice for the sake of her beliefs;
- 0 Faith potential: The character would never consider risking her comfort or her possessions for the sake of an idea or belief. These people exist, but they are rare. Such spiritually dead, deeply sceptical mortals cannot enter into a pact with a demon.
- 1 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept trivial discomforts (such as getting up early to go to church once a week or taking time out from work to go vote). She would donate wealth or possessions she has in excess (e.g., she would donate old cans from the back of her pantry for a food drive or give a dollar she found on the street to the Salvation Army) for the sake of her beliefs. These people are spiritually weak, with no religious beliefs and little ability to believe in the demon’s power. Such mortals make poor thralls, but may have other abilities that compensate.
- 2 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept small discomforts (such as attending midnight peace vigils or going to political rallies). She would donate small amounts of her personal wealth (e.g., monthly contributions to United Way or regular tithes to the church) for the sake of her beliefs. Most humans have this Faith potential.
- 3 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept significant discomfort (such as travelling across country to join a peace protest or allowing herself to be arrested at a sit-in). She would donate a significant portion of her personal wealth (e.g., any personal possessions she doesn’t absolutely need; any amount of money in excess of her basic needs) for the sake of her beliefs. Someone such as a devout priest with strong religious beliefs (no matter how twisted) would have this potential.
- 4 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept profound discomfort (e.g., imprisonment and torture) or sacrifice virtually all of her possessions for the sake of her beliefs. This is the province of the fanatically religious, such as a fundamentalist preacher or Buddhist monk.
- 5 Faith potential: The character is ready and willing to die for what she believes in. She is willing to give anything she possesses to the cause, even if it means a risk to her health and well being. Only a handful of people possess the determination, belief and devotion necessary for a potential of 5 - this is the hallmark of the pope, Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama.</li>
Once you have determined the would-be Thrall’s Faith potential, you may begin the process of tailoring a Pact between them and their demonic master.
The Thrall’s Faith potential is converted into a number of dots which can be used by the demon to empower the Thrall with gifts and enhancements, with the rest being given as offered Faith to the Fallen (which the demon receives at dawn, every day, until the Pact is broken).
It is up to the individual handler(s) to determine the particulars of the deal, what gifts and/or enhancements (if any) the Thrall receives, and how much Faith the Fallen receives each day.
For example; a Pact between a demon and a Thrall with a Faith potential of 3 could be done by having the demon convert all three of the Thrall’s Faith potential points into gifts and/or enhancements, leaving no offered Faith to the demon… on the other hand, the Pact could be made to offer all three of the Thrall’s Faith potential points to the Fallen… or anything in between.
The demon can empower their Thralls with the following gifts;
- Healing Injuries or Illness
Chronic injuries or impairments can be healed at the cost of one point of Faith potential per illness or impairment. For example, a paraplegic war veteran who also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder could be made whole again by using two points of the mortal’s Faith potential - one point for the spinal injury and one point for the mental illness. As well as physical injuries, other types of damage - even emotional illness - can also be healed in this fashion. Heart defects, spinal injuries, cancer, Alzheimer’s - virtually any crippling physical or mental impairment can be healed in this fashion. Alternatively, the demon can bestow his resistance to illness and aging by using one point of the thrall’s Faith potential. If the pact between demon and mortal is broken, any injuries or other impairments healed in this fashion immediately return.
- Increased Attributes
Additional Attribute dots may be purchased at the rate of two dots per point of Faith potential and allocated as per the terms of the thrall’s Faustian pact. No Attribute may be raised higher than 5.
- Increased Abilities
Up to five dots of Abilities may be purchased at the cost of a single point of Faith potential. This expenditure may be used to increase existing Abilities or gain new ones as mandated by the thrall’s Faustian pact.
Increased Abilities are represented as an intuitive grasp of the concepts and theories involved in the relevant body of knowledge. A thrall with an increased Medicine Ability doesn’t suddenly gain extra knowledge she didn’t have before. Instead she has a deeper insight into the concepts and methods involved that improves her capabilities in turn.
- Innate Powers
A demon can bestow a limited version of one or more of her innate powers upon a mortal, at the cost of one point of Faith potential per innate power. The Thrall activates each innate power through willpower to use for the duration of a single scene. Also, please note the following changes or restrictions;
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Resisting damage while in apocalyptic form:
Thralls do not have an apocalyptic form, but they can still possess a costly version of this power that requires willpower to activate for a single scene.
Supernatural Awareness:
Thralls use their total Faith potential to determine the range of this enhancement.
Invocations:
A Thrall cannot be invoked by name as a demon can, regardless of how the demon enhances him.
- Apocalyptic Enhancements
Demons can bestow a limited version of one or more of their apocalyptic form enhancements upon a mortal, at the cost of one enhancement per point of Faith potential. Each enhancement can be activated by the Thrall for the duration of a single scene through force of will. If the demon wishes to bestow a high-Torment enhancement on a mortal (such as the Kishar form’s Spikes or Ichor) the Thrall gains a mandatory (and usually appropriate) Derangement.
- Evocations
A demon can bestow a limited version of one or more of her evocations upon a mortal, at a cost in Faith potential equal to the level of the evocation. Therefore, Mould Earth (Lore of the Earth •••) would cost three points of a thrall’s Faith potential. The thrall uses willpower to perform the evocation. The thrall is allowed to perform the high-Torment version of any evocation she knows, but as with the Apocalyptic Enhancements, the character gains a mandatory (and usually appropriate) Derangement.
2 .) Fallen cannot grant Thralls any Lores or Apocalyptic Form powers they themselves do not possess
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© Copyright White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
As a rule of thumb you can use this following graph to consider how much the character is willing to risk or sacrifice for the sake of her beliefs;
- 0 Faith potential: The character would never consider risking her comfort or her possessions for the sake of an idea or belief. These people exist, but they are rare. Such spiritually dead, deeply sceptical mortals cannot enter into a pact with a demon.
- 1 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept trivial discomforts (such as getting up early to go to church once a week or taking time out from work to go vote). She would donate wealth or possessions she has in excess (e.g., she would donate old cans from the back of her pantry for a food drive or give a dollar she found on the street to the Salvation Army) for the sake of her beliefs. These people are spiritually weak, with no religious beliefs and little ability to believe in the demon’s power. Such mortals make poor thralls, but may have other abilities that compensate.
- 2 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept small discomforts (such as attending midnight peace vigils or going to political rallies). She would donate small amounts of her personal wealth (e.g., monthly contributions to United Way or regular tithes to the church) for the sake of her beliefs. Most humans have this Faith potential.
- 3 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept significant discomfort (such as travelling across country to join a peace protest or allowing herself to be arrested at a sit-in). She would donate a significant portion of her personal wealth (e.g., any personal possessions she doesn’t absolutely need; any amount of money in excess of her basic needs) for the sake of her beliefs. Someone such as a devout priest with strong religious beliefs (no matter how twisted) would have this potential.
- 4 Faith potential: The character would be willing to accept profound discomfort (e.g., imprisonment and torture) or sacrifice virtually all of her possessions for the sake of her beliefs. This is the province of the fanatically religious, such as a fundamentalist preacher or Buddhist monk.
- 5 Faith potential: The character is ready and willing to die for what she believes in. She is willing to give anything she possesses to the cause, even if it means a risk to her health and well being. Only a handful of people possess the determination, belief and devotion necessary for a potential of 5 - this is the hallmark of the pope, Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama.</li>
Once you have determined the would-be Thrall’s Faith potential, you may begin the process of tailoring a Pact between them and their demonic master.
The Thrall’s Faith potential is converted into a number of dots which can be used by the demon to empower the Thrall with gifts and enhancements, with the rest being given as offered Faith to the Fallen (which the demon receives at dawn, every day, until the Pact is broken).
It is up to the individual handler(s) to determine the particulars of the deal, what gifts and/or enhancements (if any) the Thrall receives, and how much Faith the Fallen receives each day.
For example; a Pact between a demon and a Thrall with a Faith potential of 3 could be done by having the demon convert all three of the Thrall’s Faith potential points into gifts and/or enhancements, leaving no offered Faith to the demon… on the other hand, the Pact could be made to offer all three of the Thrall’s Faith potential points to the Fallen… or anything in between.
The demon can empower their Thralls with the following gifts;
- Healing Injuries or Illness
Chronic injuries or impairments can be healed at the cost of one point of Faith potential per illness or impairment. For example, a paraplegic war veteran who also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder could be made whole again by using two points of the mortal’s Faith potential - one point for the spinal injury and one point for the mental illness. As well as physical injuries, other types of damage - even emotional illness - can also be healed in this fashion. Heart defects, spinal injuries, cancer, Alzheimer’s - virtually any crippling physical or mental impairment can be healed in this fashion. Alternatively, the demon can bestow his resistance to illness and aging by using one point of the thrall’s Faith potential. If the pact between demon and mortal is broken, any injuries or other impairments healed in this fashion immediately return.
- Increased Attributes
Additional Attribute dots may be purchased at the rate of two dots per point of Faith potential and allocated as per the terms of the thrall’s Faustian pact. No Attribute may be raised higher than 5.
- Increased Abilities
Up to five dots of Abilities may be purchased at the cost of a single point of Faith potential. This expenditure may be used to increase existing Abilities or gain new ones as mandated by the thrall’s Faustian pact.
Increased Abilities are represented as an intuitive grasp of the concepts and theories involved in the relevant body of knowledge. A thrall with an increased Medicine Ability doesn’t suddenly gain extra knowledge she didn’t have before. Instead she has a deeper insight into the concepts and methods involved that improves her capabilities in turn.
- Innate Powers
A demon can bestow a limited version of one or more of her innate powers upon a mortal, at the cost of one point of Faith potential per innate power. The Thrall activates each innate power through willpower to use for the duration of a single scene. Also, please note the following changes or restrictions;
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Resisting damage while in apocalyptic form:
Thralls do not have an apocalyptic form, but they can still possess a costly version of this power that requires willpower to activate for a single scene.
Supernatural Awareness:
Thralls use their total Faith potential to determine the range of this enhancement.
Invocations:
A Thrall cannot be invoked by name as a demon can, regardless of how the demon enhances him.
- Apocalyptic Enhancements
Demons can bestow a limited version of one or more of their apocalyptic form enhancements upon a mortal, at the cost of one enhancement per point of Faith potential. Each enhancement can be activated by the Thrall for the duration of a single scene through force of will. If the demon wishes to bestow a high-Torment enhancement on a mortal (such as the Kishar form’s Spikes or Ichor) the Thrall gains a mandatory (and usually appropriate) Derangement.
- Evocations
A demon can bestow a limited version of one or more of her evocations upon a mortal, at a cost in Faith potential equal to the level of the evocation. Therefore, Mould Earth (Lore of the Earth •••) would cost three points of a thrall’s Faith potential. The thrall uses willpower to perform the evocation. The thrall is allowed to perform the high-Torment version of any evocation she knows, but as with the Apocalyptic Enhancements, the character gains a mandatory (and usually appropriate) Derangement.
2 .) Fallen cannot grant Thralls any Lores or Apocalyptic Form powers they themselves do not possess
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© Copyright White Wolf Publishing, Inc.