W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

RATKIN• Metis: These creatures are deformed, sterile, and asource of shame to their parents. The nest’s elders exposemetis to the Birthing Plague soon after their birth. Almost allmetis die from this illness. Rodens Ratkin raise the survivorsin their nests, but consider metis wererats to be inherentlylesser creatures — though still better than Homid Ratkin.The most daring eventually leave their nest and join a pack.Initial Gnosis: 3Starting Gifts: Cloak of Shadows, Rat Mother’sTouch, Sense Wyrm• Rodens: Born and raised by rats, rodens Ratkinare the most numerous and the most well respected ofthe Breeds. Their understanding of human society andtechnology is often quite limited, but they are expertsat survival and they understand life in the tunnels andnests exceedingly well.Initial Gnosis: 5Starting Gifts: Absolute Balance, Leap of the KangarooRat, SurvivalAspectsInstead of auspices determined by time or location oftheir birth, the particular hallucinations and visions anindividual faces during the Birthing Plague determinestheir aspect. An Aspect provides two Strengths and aWeakness as well as determining the character’s initial Rageand starting Gifts. Most Ratkin have one of four aspects.• Tunnel Runner: The Runners are messengers,scouts, and spies. They know many secret methods oftraveling from city to city. Tunnel Runners also havethe most contact with Bone Gnawers and Nosferatuvampires and may strike up pacts of friendship witheither (although usually not both).Tunnel Runners have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:Culturally Gifted: A Tunnel Runner can spend afew hours creating a persona that helps him blend intohis cultural surroundings. He reduces the difficulty of allManipulation or Subterfuge rolls related to maintainingthis identity by two. The Tunnel Runner must createa new persona when he travels to a new city or town.Wanderlust Visions: When a Tunnel Runner is lost,the Rat Totem often grants a vision of a useful destination.Traveling Light: Tunnel Runners below Rank Threecannot take points in the Resources Background. RankThree Runners cannot have more than two points inthat Background.Initial Rage: 1Starting Gifts: Danger Sense, Silent Running• Shadow Seer: The Seers are the Ratkin shamans.They preserve spirit lore and communicate with thevarious spirits of the urban environment. They keep theknowledge of most rites alive, including the Rite of Summoning,the Rite of Binding, and the Rite of the Fetish.Shadow Seers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:Spirits Speak to Me: All Shadow Seers begin playwith the Theurge Gift: Spirit Speech.Spirit Sight: By spending one Gnosis in the physicalworld, a Seer can see into the local Penumbra. TheSeer must concentrate, but can maintain this vision fora scene. Her eyes turn white while she uses this ability,and she becomes temporarily blind in the physical world.Disconnection: When a Shadow Seers botches a Rage,Gnosis, or Willpower roll, the spirit world becomes moreimportant and real than the physical world. For the nextscene, a minor dispute between two spirits would interest theSeer more than the physical people and objects around him.Initial Rage: 2Starting Gifts: Rat Mother’s Touch, Sense Weaver• Knife Skulker: These subtle and deadly wereratsare skilled in negotiation, execution, and assassination.They excel at stealth and subterfuge, knowing how tokill unseen, and also how to lead a pack against largerand stronger enemies.Knife Skulkers have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:Contracts and Contacts: Skulkers begin play withthree free points of Contacts, usually in the form of“extralegal” informants. These Contacts can includeother Changing Breeds. Skulkers must remain loyal totheir Contacts or face reprisals by their fellow Skulkers.Sense of Justice: A Skulker regains one Rage whenevershe witnesses an act of injustice performed by otherChanging Breeds or humans.Assassin’s Code: A Knife-Skulker cannot allowhimself to be seen killing someone he is attempting toassassinate. He cannot confront his enemy face-to-faceor strike while hidden by a Cloak of Shadows. Failuremeans a loss of Cunning Renown.Initial Rage: 3Starting Gifts: Sticky Paws, Truth of Gaia• Warrior (“Blade Slaves”): Warriors, also calledBlade Slaves, protect the rest of their kind and are wellversed in both personal combat and asymmetric warfare.They excel at hunting and fighting underground.Warriors know the Rite of the Pain-Dagger and do notaccept anyone into their ranks until they have craftedtheir own such dagger.Blade Slaves have the following Strengths and Weaknesses:Pain Dagger: All Blade Slaves begin knowing theRite of the Pain Dagger, a version of the Rite of the Fetishthat can only create a Pain Dagger. They also start withone dot of the Fetish Background (as they own a PainDagger), but may put extra dots into the Background toincrease their Pain Dagger’s power.183