Elements

Seeming Contract

Changeling The Lost Sourcebook p.138
Elemental
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These Contracts allow changelings to control the elements. Contracts of Elements are purchased separately, each Contract attuning itself to one particular element. For example, a character assigning all his beginning five dots in Contracts could purchase Elements •• (Water) and Elements ••• (Ice), or Elements • (Fire), Elements •• (Earth) and Elements •• (Metal). Purchasing more dots of any given Contract of Elements does not increase the others. However, the Elemental seeming’s affinity applies to all Contracts of Elements, allowing them to purchase multiple Contracts of Elements at reduced cost. In addition, learning new versions of already known clauses is half the cost (round down) of learning a new Contract. For example, a character with Elements ••• (Fire) and Elements •• (Smoke) could purchase the third dot of Smoke at half cost, as he already knows Control Elements (Fire). However, a character with Darkness •••• and Elements ••• (Mist) would not pay half cost for the fourth dot in Elements, as Darkness doesn’t provide the specific Calling the Element clause.

The range of possible elements includes the traditional Western elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, the five Chinese elements, and less traditional options such as smoke, electricity, glass or shadow. The only limit is that the element must have some direct physical manifestation, and must be a base material rather than a particular form of object. For example, electronic data is not a possible element and cannot be affected by any elemental Contract. Ceramics may be a possibility (such as for a clay-affinity Manikin), but “pottery” would not.

Contract Levels

• Cloak of the Elements

This clause protects the Elemental from the natural manifestations of any single element. The changeling becomes comfortable in weather associated with this element and is protected against damage by its more extreme manifestations. A character protected from fire has no trouble walking through Death Valley at noon in Summer, someone protected from water remains warm and dry during the worst thunderstorm, someone protected from wood can walk through thorny underbrush unharmed and at a normal walking pace and so on.

• Cost: 2 Glamour
• Dice Pool: None
• Action: Instant

Catch: The changeling bears some symbolic representation of the element in question, such as a souvenir T-shirt depicting a mountain for earth or a small mirror for glass.

•• Armor of the Elements’ Fury

The character clothes himself in a frenzied and damaging manifestation of his chosen element, providing limited armor and damaging anyone who touches him. This Contract sheathes the character in fire, unnaturally cold ice, razor-sharp metal spikes, a crackling aura of electricity or something similarly dangerous. The character can control the extent of this manifestation, limiting it to her hands so she can attack others, start fires or cool drinks by touch, or she can completely cover herself with the element. This element does not harm the character or anything she is wearing.

• Cost: 2 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Dexterity + Wyrd

Suggested Modifiers

+1 A large amount of the element is present when the Contract is invoked. For ubiquitous elements such as air, the element must be particularly vigorous, for example, a gale wind.

–1 None of the element is present when the Contract is invoked.

• Action: Instant

Catch: The changeling touches the element when he invokes the clause. For ubiquitous elements such as air, the element must be fairly vigorous, that is, a strong breeze or the wind from a large fan.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The element briefly harms the character, causing dice of lethal damage equal to the half the character’s Wyrd, which can be reduced by armor.
• Failure: The character fails to call upon the element.
• Success: The character surrounds herself with a damaging manifestation of the element. The character does half of her Wyrd (round up) lethal damage by touch, and anyone or any object that strikes her suffers this same damage. The changeling cannot combine this attack with a punch or any other conventional brawling or melee attack. Instead, the character must use the element to attack the target. The dice pool for this attack is Dexterity + Brawling + half of the character’s Wyrd. This elemental sheath also provides the character with one point of armor useful against all attacks, including attacks by the summoned element. The character can cause the element to cover only a small portion of the character, such as one hand and forearm or her head, but attempting to reduce its size further causes the element to vanish and ends the Contract. Otherwise, the element surrounds the character for the next scene.
• Exceptional Success: The character can maintain this effect until the sun next rises or sets (whichever comes first) and can summon or dismiss the element during this time without ending the Contract.

••• Control Elements

The changeling takes control of the element attuned to the Contract, causing the element to move and act in a directed fashion. A breeze blows in a specific direction, electricity in power lines turns on, off or surges to blow circuit breakers and wooden or metal chairs lurch slowly across floors.

• Cost: 3 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd

Suggested Modifiers

+1 Large amounts of the element are present.

–1 Little of the element is present.

• Action: Instant

Catch: The area is completely dominated by the element — air on top of a narrow bridge, water on a lake or ocean, fire in the middle of a forest fire, electricity at a substation or generator and so on.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The element reacts in a wild, unpredictable and dangerous fashion for the next scene.
• Failure: The character fails to control the element.
• Success: The changeling successfully controls the element. The changeling must be within Willpower x 2 yards of the edge of the area of the element he wishes to control. The character can shape any solid, gaseous or intangible element such as water, mist or fire into any simple form, making solid walls of water or hiding half a room in deep mist. However, she cannot create a vacuum in a room that is not airtight or perform similarly impossible acts. The changeling can also cause non-solid elements to move at a Speed of up to 20. When the changeling is manipulating solid elements such as wood, stone or metal, inflexible objects can only lurch or hop along at a speed of one yard per turn. The changeling can also control the operation of any mechanical (but not electric or electronic) device made primarily of her element. Objects that roll, or have joints, wheels or articulated legs can move as fast as a human with Strength and Dexterity both equal to half of the changeling’s Wyrd (round up). Flexible objects such as rope or wire can slither like a snake at a similar speed and can also trip or entangle anyone nearby. The material has an effective Strength equal to the number of successes rolled for purposes of tearing itself free of any containers or moorings; it is much easier to control a loose sheet of metal grating than to have metal reinforcements tear themselves free from concrete. Controlling electricity allows the changeling to control the operation of any electrical or electronic device that has access to a power source, even when turned off. This control including turning lights or alarm systems on or off and opening electronic locks, but not any sort of complex control. The changeling cannot increase the amount or power of the element present, but can direct it to move in unusual ways. He can cause a fire to burn or leap in a particular direction, create a breeze that blows only in part of a room or cause electric current to turn off a device or even arc out from a socket and shock someone standing nearby. Elements such as fire and electricity can do damage, but only as much as the amount present can normally do. However, the changeling can direct the element to attack anyone within range. The changeling controls the element for a scene.

1 success = 20 lb. Milk jug / 5-sq. yard area

2 successes = 50 lb. Gas tank / 10-sq. yard area

3 successes = 200 lb. Bathtub / 15-sq. yard area

4 successes = 500 lb. Average Jacuzzi / 20-sq. yard area

5+ successes = 2,000 lb. Large hot tub / 30-sq. yard area

• Exceptional Success: No additional Bonuses.

•••• Calling the Element

The changeling calls the associated element from a distant location. The changeling must either know the location or see the source of the element he is calling and the element must physically move toward the character in as natural manner as possible — fire leaps, water splashes from a basin or falls as rain from the sky, wind blows, rock erupts from the ground…. If physical barriers prevent the element from reaching the character, it gets as close as it can, such as rain falling on the house that a changeling was in when he called water from the clouds. Once the element is present, the changeling must then use the Control Element clause if he wishes to also control the element.

• Cost: 4 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd

Suggested Modifiers

+1 The changeling calls the element with verbal entreaties and large, obvious gestures.

–1 The changeling uses neither words nor gestures to call the element.

• Action: Instant

Catch: The changeling is calling the element solely to awe and impress viewers, perhaps as part of a performance.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The element moves in an erratic, perhaps dangerous, direction.
• Failure: The changeling fails to call the element.
• Success: The character successfully calls the element. The changeling can affect the same amount of the element he could control with the Control Element clause. The element comes toward the character or to any location within Wyrd x 10 yards of the changeling that the changeling designates. The changeling can cause fires to spread and leap in his direction, winds of speeds up to Wyrd x 10 miles per hour, to blow or cause electricity to arc from a junction box, or even down from the sky, if a lightning storm is occurring. Solid objects such as trees or lampposts that are attached to the ground or to some other object cannot break free, but can bend in the character’s direction. Unattached objects bounce or roll slowly toward the character. A changeling who controls metal could cause a vehicle made primarily of metal to roll toward them. Also, the changeling can cause stone or running water to erupt from the ground. The changeling controls the summoned element for one full scene.
• Exceptional Success: No additional advantage.

••••• Become the Primal Foundation

The changeling literally becomes a living manifestation of the Contract’s associated element. The transformation takes only one turn. The character’s clothing and small objects close to his skin, such as phones or wallets, blend into this elemental form.

• Cost: 4 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd

Suggested Modifiers

+1 The changeling is in the presence of large amounts of the element.

–1 Little or none of the element is present.

• Action: Instant

Catch: The character must sit and contemplate a large amount of the specific element for at least half an hour immediately before transforming.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The changeling partially transforms into the element for a turn, suffers lethal damage equal to half of his Wyrd points, then reverts to his normal form.
• Failure: The changeling fails to change her form.
• Success: The changeling becomes a living embodiment of the element — a sentient breeze, an animate puddle or a living current in a river, a living, self-mobile fire, a small tree or a living, animate statue made of wood, stone, metal or glass.

The character retains all Mental and Social Attributes and Skills. If she transforms into a solid element, for example, a statue of stone, this form has all of her physical attributes and Health, but she adds half of her Wyrd (round up) to her Strength and gains armor equal to half of her Wyrd. This increased Strength does not increase the character’s Speed. Characters who transform into air, water, fire or other formless elements have no physical characteristics but triple the character’s normal Speed. Elemental forms capable of damage either do lethal damage equal to half of the changeling’s Wyrd (round up) or bashing damage equal to the changeling’s Wyrd, depending upon the nature of the element. Fire always does lethal damage, while water and electricity always do bashing damage. To attack in elemental form, the character makes a normal attack roll using either Brawl or Weaponry (the character’s choice). Taking non-solid form makes the changeling largely immune from harm. If this element form is destroyed or seriously damaged (like a fire being extinguished), the changeling automatically reverts to his normal form. Due to the shock, the changeling also loses two points of Willpower and cannot use this clause for one full day. Otherwise, the clause lasts for one scene, at which point the character must once again assume his normal form. The character can voluntarily resume his normal form, but doing so ends the Contract.

• Exceptional Success: The character can remain in elemental form until the sun next rises or sets (whichever comes first), unless forced out of this form by damage to it. He can also end the effects at will.