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Attributes

Attributes are divided into three categories: Mental, Physical, and Social. Each category is then subdivided into three attributes: Power, Finesse, and Resistance.

Mental Attributes

Intelligence (Power)
The raw power of the mind. Cognitive capacity. The inherent capability to digest, comprehend, and remember information — and to learn more. Intelligence is a direct measure of how smart your character is. She may be dull-minded or have narrow-vision. She may be book-smart, or she may simply be able to grasp concepts, interpret situations and solve problems quickly.

Memorization
At ST discretion, an Intelligence + Composure draw may be made to see if a character is capable of committing something specific to memory or recalling precise information at a future date, such as a name or facial feature, license plate number, etc.

Wits (Finesse)
The ability to think on one’s feet, under pressure or duress, without letting them see you sweat. Wits also encompasses an eye for detail, the ability to absorb what’s going on in the environment, and to react to events. It might mean recognizing that the temperature in a room slowly drops, that a landscape painting incorporates a disguised human face, or that a trap is about to be sprung.

Perception
Wits + Composure (At ST discretion, a more relevant skill can replace Composure)
If a character is actively looking for something in a situation, this test may be made to see if the detail or object is found. In addition, an ST may call for this draw if there is something hidden in the scene which players might potentially find.

Reacting to Surprises
Wits + Composure (At ST discretion, there may be additional external penalties applied to this draw)
A success indicates that the surprised characters may act as normal in combat, while a Failure means that the surprised characters may not act in the first round of combat.

Resolve (Resistance)
The focus and determination to see your character’s will done. The capacity to stay on target, ignore distractions and to resist coercion or browbeating. Resolve is your character’s mental fortitude. Their personal conviction. Their clarity of vision or spirit. Your character may be easily distracted, unable to concentrate, resolute, or single-minded. Resolve is used to resist many forms of supernatural compulsion.

Resisting Coercion
Resolve + Composure or Resolve + Stamina
This is typically to resist someone else’s Wits-, Intelligence-, Presence-, or Manipulation-based challenge. At ST discretion, players may receive a bonus or penalty to this test based on roleplaying and the circumstances of the scene.

Physical Attributes

Strength (Power)
Physical might. Sheer bodily power. The capacity to lift objects, move items, hit things and people, and do damage. Strength is a measure of muscle. Your character could be a 98-pound weakling; they could carry a spare tire; they could be lean and cut or bulky and brawny. Strength is used in hand-to-hand combat.

Dexterity (Finesse)
Quickness. Response time. A delicate touch. Dexterity indicates how quickly and with how much finesse your character responds to his physical world. While high Wits helps your character spot trouble, high Dexterity helps him react to it. Dexterity also helps with hand-eye coordination, be it to fire an accurate shot, to juggle objects, or to perform delicate jobs such as handle explosives.

Stamina (Resistance)
Sturdiness. Steadfastness. Sheer physical resolve. Stamina is a measure of how tough your character is. It indicates how far she can push her body, and how much physical abuse she can endure.

Social Attributes

Presence (Power)
Bearing. Stature. Charisma. Presence suggests the power of your character’s very identity. Physical attractiveness is only part of the trait. Your character may be jaw-droppingly gorgeous, average-Joe, or downright ugly, but her Presence means much more. It reflects her sheer command over the attention of others. It’s her capacity to impose her will by being assertive, socially aggressive, or by forthright and compelling force of personality.

Manipulation (Finesse)
Charm. Persuasiveness. The capacity to play upon the desires, hopes, and needs of others to influence them. Manipulation reflects your character’s finesse in social situations. How well he can appeal to, gain the favor of, and generally coerce others. Manipulation is applied to win smiles, to put people at ease, and to gain favors. Where Presence deals in social force, Manipulation focuses on social subtlety.

Composure (Resistance)
Poise. Dignity. The capacity to remain calm and appear—and actually be—unfazed in social and threatening situations, usually harrowing ones. Your character might lose his temper at the slightest perceived insult, collapse emotionally under a mere pretense, weather a storm of verbal (or literal) slings and arrows, or have the nerve to look unspeakable horror in the eye. Composure is used to resist many forms of supernatural emotional control.

Meditation
Composure+Wits
As an extended action, a character may attempt to meditate. Each draw represents roughly 30 minutes of in-game time, and sufficiently long meditations will require time spent in the out-of-character room or appropriate roleplaying, at ST discretion.

Stability

Stability measures how well a character has coped with the traumatic and supernatural events of her life. It measures how far you can bend before breaking and it shows how much you have already been broken. Stability is measured from 1 to 7, with the average character in this game having a Stability of 4 or 5. Someone who is completely sure of their place in life and feels that they can withstand anything that might change their mundane view of the world would be Stability 7. Someone who is Stability 1, however, is at home amidst the unnatural and has trouble relating to the mundane. Stability Modifiers

Your character’s stability score grants them a pair of modifiers that illustrate how they view the world. These modifiers affect your character’s Perception draws surrounding the unnatural and the mundane. At Stability 4, both of these modifiers are zero, as the character is very balanced in their outlook. For every point their Stability increases over 4, they receive a +1 modifier to mundane Perception and -1 modifier to unnatural Perception—up to a maximum of +3 and -3 at Stability 7. When their stability goes below 4, both the modifiers now change in the opposite direction, with a -1 modifier to mundane Perception and +1 modifier to unnatural Perception. This caps off at -3 and +3 at Stability 1.

Losing Stability

A character can lose Stability when she experiences a Breaking Point. A Breaking Point occurs when a character has done or seen something strange and is no longer able to rationalize or mentally cope with it.

For example, the following might trigger a Breaking Point:

• The character performs an action that either violates his personal moral code or that is considered unacceptable in society.
• The character witnesses something traumatic, terrifying, or that rattles his understanding of the world.
• The character is the victim of a supernatural attack, whether physical, emotional, or mental.

Note that a Breaking Point is not necessarily something that the character considers morally wrong. A character might kill someone in a clear-cut, unambiguous case of self-defense, but the experience is probably still a Breaking Point, even if the player (and the character!) feels the act was entirely justified. Killing another human being for the first time drastically alters your character’s point of view, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. Actions take a toll on the psyche, regardless of whether the actions were moral or not.

Breaking Points are somewhat subjective. A homicide detective with 30 years of experience in seeing dead bodies and hearing confessions of killers has a somewhat higher tolerance for human depravity than the town’s sheltered librarian. Whether your character has experienced a Breaking Point is up to the Storytellers, so notify us via email if your character has possibly experienced a Breaking Point during game with no Storyteller present.

Gaining Stability

Characters can also experience Integrity Points during times in their life when everything seems to be going right for them and the world finally starts to settle down. An Integrity Point occurs when a character does something to reaffirm that the world is mundane and has predictable order.

For example, the following might trigger an Integrity Point:

• The character performs an action that either upholds his personal moral code or that is considered exemplary in society.
• The character experiences a moment of pure kindness and acceptance.
• The character spends a year without interacting with the supernatural in any way.

Note that an Integrity Point is not necessarily something that the character considers “good.” For example, a character might get a chance to align their place in the world and talk through their experiences, but they might have only reached this point because they were imprisoned.

Integrity Points are somewhat subjective. A woods woman who has gone without significant human interaction for many years will get much more out of a short and polite conversation than the person she is talking to. Whether your character has experienced an Integrity Point is up to the Storytellers, so notify us via email if your character has possibly experienced an Integrity Point during game with no Storyteller present.