Changeling House Rules

This serves as a compiled list of active rules for Changeling the Lost, and Changeling players venturing into other threads. These rules are a product of conversations between the STs and moderators, and a consideration of player suggestions.

These rules are a work in progress as we continually try to ensure that the game is fun for everyone, and play between different Splats is facilitated.

General

• The Site Rules supersede Changeling-specific rules.
• Character Creation: Please see Character Creation for Changeling. It is also suggested to use the Gentry's Workshop, or at least look through it before submitting a character.
• Willpower: Recovery rules
• Posting: If a character goes 30 days without a post or without a public living room post by the player indicating a delay in posting time, the character will be marked Inactive.
• Inactivity: Inactive characters may be reactivated if their players wrote them out of the threads they were in by themselves. If an ST has to remove your character from active scenes, then he or she will be considered Abandoned and you will probably not get the character back.
• Backgrounds: We have some established backgrounds for other cities. If your character is going to be from one of them please check the following for what is established as cannon: Houston

Signatures

When your character enters a thread, please include your Seeming, Kith and Mantle effect, if you have one. Everyone should include these traits in their signature, along with a high Presence rating and any Merits that might be noticeable, such as Court Goodwill, Fame, Giant, or Striking Looks. In addition, I will need you to post what Contracts and Pledges you have active, and you should also keep a running tally of injuries and spent Glamour or Willpower.

It is required that you keep all active pledges (including the Freehold Oath) in either your signature or your minisheet. If you have an active pledge and it is not found in either of these places, you forfeit the benefit of this pledge.

Glamour

All Glamour expenditures in Scenes should be noted with Power Icons.

Average Glamour Pool: Characters start each scene with a base amount of Glamour equal to their Clarity. They add an additional point of Glamour to their pool for each dot in the Harvest merit they possess. Characters can also regain Glamour during scenes by doing one of the following:

Harvest

They can attempt to Harvest during a scene. Sources of Glamour include emotions, dreams, and Hedge bounty. Each requires the appropriate Harvesting roll, gaining one point of Glamour per success. Keep in mind that while Changelings may not Harvest from one another, they may still Harvest from other supernaturals. However, results vary and are certainly not without their own inherent risks.

Clarity

Obvious displays of Magic in Front of witnesses is NOT a Clarity 6 Breaking Point if the witnesses possess a template AND the Changeling knows this. It is just as damaging to the Changeling's hold on reality if he thinks the witness is mortal and he/she is not.

Developing a Derangement for ANY length of time whatsoever calls for a Clarity 3 Breaking Point. This does not apply to any derangement gained through failed degeneration rolls.

REMEMBER! Not all Breaking Points are caused by the changeling. The actions of OTHERS can erode YOUR sanity. Beware.

Kiths

The following Kiths have Changeling House Rules: Coyote, Di-cang, Gameplayer, Lurker, Manikin, Mirrorskin, Shadowsoul, Weisse Frau

Skills

The following Skills have Changeling House Rules: Occult Skill

Contracts

Clarification: While RAW does not explicitly indicate whether certain Contracts require Line of Sight or for the user to be in sensory range of the target, here in the Edge of Darkness, we require that a character using a Contract on someone must have Line of Sight of their target in order to successfully use a Contract on them.

The following Contracts have Changeling House Rules: Dream Contracts, Fleeting Autumn, Punishing Summer, Sorrow-Frozen Heart, Spellbound Autumn, Verdant Spring

Merits

• House Ruled Merits: Archive, Court Goodwill, Coyote, Di-cang, Dream Contracts, Faerie Favor, Fetish, Fleeting Autumn, Gameplayer, Goblin Merchant, Goblin Merits, Hedge Beast Companion, Hedge Bounty, Hedge Duelist, Hedgespun, Lurker, Manikin, Mantle, Market Stall, Mentor, Mirrorskin, Mourning Cant, Pledge, Pledgesmith, Punishing Summer, Retainer, Second-Hand Skills, Shadowsoul, Siren Song, Slave, Socially Small, Sorrow-Frozen Heart, Spellbound Autumn, Sword and Shield, Verdant Spring, Weisse Frau, Wholesale Wares
• Custom Changeling Merits: Cacophony Whisperer, Dead Zone Merit, Distinctive Voice, Hedge Bounty, Hedgespun, Hooligan, Sites, Stabilize, War Fan

Pledges

Mechanics

The Lost possess the ability to forge various supernatural agreements, even if they do not understand the actual forces at work behind them. The power to bind oneself to another with these strands of Fate is a function of one's Wyrd. In practice, a character will spend a point of Willpower and verbally state the terms of the pledge IC. Once it is accepted by the other party, the player should copy their post in the Current Pledges thread of the Freehold subforum along with a mention tag for the relevant ST. The Wyrd(with the assistance of the ST) will determine the actual mechanics behind the pledge, which will be added to the player's post. Players should feel free to request specific values from the ST for their pledges and are encouraged to take advantage of commonly known pledges such as those those found in CtL(185-190) and RoS(43-44). However, please keep in mind that pledges should be used to make connections and keep a story moving forward, not to simply give a character "freebies". Good storytelling when making use of pledges will definitely be taken into account when the ST... I mean, the Wyrd is determining results.

Note: When two or more changelings are bound together by a Pledge, they are aware of the connection and can always sense if the agreement is being honored or betrayed. Therefore, all changelings who have sworn the Freehold Oath will feel the strands of Fate that bind them to each other and will consequently notice if and when that bond is absent.

Pledges can only be made between PCs and NPCs.

Ensorcellment

Ensorcellment only works on mortals. This specifically excludes any member of another venue with a supernatural template.

The Glamour Invested into the Ensorcelled is taken out of the Changeling's maximum Glamour. So if someone at Wyrd 1 subjects someone to Ensorcellment, their new maximum Glamour is 9.

PLEASE note that offering Ensorcellment to a mortal without permission will most probably be deemed a Freehold Oath violation. Mortal characters that go blab about Changeling stuff are going to bring down the wrath of all the changelings that don't really want any vampires hunting them or mages that want to use them as guides to Arcadia. Working Forbiddances against sharing the secret into the Pledge is an extremely good idea even for those not bound to the Freehold Oath.

Adroitness

Changelings may increase the boon of Lesser Adroitness to share this +1 bonus with rolls involving a second skill at the Medial level and even a third skill with Greater Adroitness. This benefit does not stack with itself, so no skill may ever gain more than a maximum +1 bonus from any cumulative or multiple boons of adroitness from any and all pledges.

Blessings

Any merit that is wholly mundane can be granted, except Social Merits such as Allies, Contacts, Resources, and Status. With ST approval, one of these restricted Merits may be gained by a pledge for the duration of one specific scene, however this would be an unusual exception.

New Boon: Pishogue

Some changelings prefer to provide assistance with their own power. Such pledgesmiths use the pishogue boon, allowing them to weave the powers of their Contracts into the pledge. Such powers lie dormant within those in the pledge, like the Sword in the Stone, waiting to be drawn forth in a time of need. The Contract is activated as the pledge is sealed, requiring a minimum expenditure of one point of Glamour. As long as the pledge remains unbroken, the boon may be invoked only once, and at that time, the Contract's benefit envelops the subject. Only Contracts which affect a target may be woven into this boon and that target is always the oathsworn.

• Lesser: A lesser pishogue is a one- to two-dot Contract. These are minor charms and enhancements, granting the changeling a helping hand. (–1).

• Medial: A medial pishogue involves the activation of a three- or four-dot Contract. Alternately, weaving two activations of a lesser pishogue into one sanction is considered a medial pishogue; the two activations must be paid for separately, at a minimum of one point of Glamour apiece. (–2).

• Greater: A greater pishogue bestows wondrous powers upon the oathtaker, typically that of a five-dot Contract. Alternately, weaving multiple activations of lesser pishogues into one whole may result in a greater pishogue: three lesser pishogues, a lesser and a medial pishogue or two medial pishogues are the equivalent of a greater pishogue. (–3).

Note: Changelings fond of granting the Boon of a Pishogue often include an equally powerful Pishogue as a Sanction to punish any oathbreakers.

Entitlements

You may take an Entitlement upon character creation if it is fitting to the back story and suits the character from the Core Changeling book. However, if one is not taken then, we ask that you wait at least 6 months of play to becoming situated with your character. With this, you may write two glimpses (one per month), or show us how it has come to play in scenes with your character. You do not need a plot run by an ST to gain an entitlement, but it should make sense with your character.

(Example: Mack The Knife is always asking for money when someone asks for a favor in nearly every scene. He would qualify for The Guild of Goldspinners.)

The following Entitlements have been House-Ruled:

Dream Shaping

All Changelings are able to manipulate dreams in one of three ways. They may create a completely original dream by using the second clause of the Contracts of Dream, Forging the Dream. For access to a wider variety of more nuanced forms of dream shaping, a sleeping Changeling may enter a dream and use his understanding of the dreaming mind to manipulate it with Oneiromancy. In extreme situations, a knowledgable Changeling may even use the tangled paths of the Skein to travel from dream to dream.

Forging the Dream

Contract of Dream •• : “The character may edit the sleeper’s dreams and dictate their content, with the sole exception of depicting the sleeper’s death.”^[1] This Contract allows a Changeling to insert a dream into the psyche of a sleeper and then watch as it unfolds in the subject's mind. The number of successes rolled to invoke this clause determines the Intensity of the dream, and the Changeling may even attempt to Harvest Glamour from the dreamer's emotional response to it. Although this clause allows Changelings to craft dreams with the same effects as those that have been Dreamscaped, the contents are wholly dictated by the Changelings creating them, making it impossible to use Dream Riding techniques. In addition, the Contract ends as soon as the Changeling stops manipulating the events of the dream, severing the connection to the dreamer's psyche. Changelings are not asleep during the use of this Contract, and may choose to end it at any time as an instant action. However, if they are distracted or disturbed by anything outside of the dream, they must succeed on a reflexive Resolve + Composure roll to avoid ending it prematurely. Changelings must use Oneiromachy to gain control of the dream if they are not the only ones attempting to manipulate it(including the subject, if they are using this clause on a lucid dreamer, such as another Changeling).

Oneiromancy

Dream manipulation through oneiromancy will follow the rules as written of the Changeling The Lost Sourcebook^[2]. The only exception is that recipients of Sleep Teaching do not gain an experience point if the Oneiromancer rolls an exceptional success for the Intensity of the dream. However, Sleep Teaching Glimpses will still earn the author extra experience at XP Report time.

The Skein

Traveling the Skein requires one of three techniques as described in Dancers in the Dusk^[3]: casting an Oneiroscope, dreamscaping the first gate, or hiring an Incubus guide. Casting an Oneiroscope requires an Oneiroscopy Occult skill specialty and if successful lets you determine when a suitable first gate can be found in the subject's dreams that will eventually lead to the desired destination dream. A suitable gate can also be Dreamscaped, however this action always causes the dreamer to experience a nightmare afterwards. Finally, an Incubus can be hired at the Goblin Market, allowing a Changeling to swiftly reach the destination dream without the need for any rolls. Regardless of which method is chosen, Skeinwalking is always a significant dream journey and should not be attempted lightly.