Frequently
Asked Questions
Q) How do Spectres work now?
A) For Orpheus, spectres will use
the rules presented in Orpheus. Other venues are free to use whichever
rules for spectres they prefer. Spectres are a widely varied bunch, so
their theme and feel isn't going to be hurt any by being unpredictable.
The Orpheus team will happily help other venues with spectre-related
issues, of course.
Q) And what about Wraiths?
A) Almost all the Wraiths that
existed in the Shadowlands have fallen to either the Maelstrom, the
Spectres, or were blasted across the shroud. It's highly unlikely that
Orpheus agents will encounter any of them.
End Game does mention that there may be secret Wraith enclaves that have
managed to survive. Other venues are free to use old-style Wraiths or
new-style spooks for their ghostly needs. The Orpheus team will, of
course, happily help other venues with issues related to the restless
dead.
Q) Can I become a Spectre?
A) Once you hit Spite 10, you're
a Spectre and an NPC. So while you can become one, you can't play one.
Q) But I can just come back as an
Orphan Grinder, right?
A) No. Orphan Grinders are not
being accepted as PCs at this time, and should they become available in
the future they won't be used as a 'get out of jail free' card for
people who let their Spite get the better of them. We feel doing so
would cheapen the consequences of player actions.
Q) Can my mortal or supernatural
work for the Orpheus Group, Terrel & Squib or Next World Inc.?
A) No. Only mortals created using
the Orpheus Creation Rules will be employed by the Orpheus Group, and no
player-characters will be employed by their rivals.
Q) How do mediums work with
Orpheus ?
A) Mediums are treated as
psychics (see p.290 of Orpheus ) except they use Merits, Flaws and
Numina to perceive and interact with ghosts, not Horrors. Mediums may
also perceive the souls of projectors when they are out of body. The
Merit Medium is used as per the description in Vampire: the Masquerade
Revised. Sensing ghosts and projected skimmers is accomplished with a
Perception + Intuition roll at difficulty 8. A success allows you to
know a ghost is in the area, but not where, and it does not allow you to
see ghosts. Mortals may take the Flaw Addiction and specify pigment as
their addiction. While actively using pigment, they can see and hear
ghosts and projected skimmers, but cannot otherwise affect them unless
the ghost or projected skimmer is manifested. The effects of and rules
for street projecting are outlined on p. 244 of the Orpheus core book.
However, they will only ever be able to see or hear ghosts or projected
skimmers, and will never be able to project or use Horrors.
Q) Can I take Merits and Flaws
from Vampire/Mage/Werewolf/Changeling/Demon/Hunter/Wraith/Mediums/Mummy?
A) No. You may only take Merits
and Flaws from Crusade of Ashes .
Q) If my mortal dies, can I
become a ghost or a spirit?
A) Only if it has been created
using the Orpheus Creation Rules.
Q) Can I change Laments?
A) Yes, within limits, as
outlined on page 127 of the Orpheus Core Rules.
Q) What about hue?
A) Sorry, afraid not.
Q) How do I keep track of my
Spite?
A) We're on the honor system
here. If you gain Spite points or a Spite rating, keep track of it
yourself until you find an Orpheus ST , when you should let them know to
update your sheet (and perhaps your Stains).
Q) Can a projector see and hear
ghosts while in-body?
A) Yes. Dead Eyes allows in-body
projectors to "perceive the living and the dead with equal clarity,"
(p.82, Orpheus ) and it's always active and works when you're in flesh.
You can see and hear PLEs, Spectres, and projected entities in the
Skinlands (including Vampires using Auspex 5, Sorcerers using Astral
Projection, etc) at all times, except when the aforementioned are
inhabiting an object or skinriding someone else, or they're using a
special Stain, like Chameleon Skin. Projectors in-body cannot see beyond
the Stormwall. You can only touch and interact with them as per the
manifestation and projecting rules in Orpheus .
Q) How do Health Levels work for
projected skimmers?
A) All non-aggravated damage a
skimmer takes while projected is converted to bashing damage and applied
to their body, not their gauze, with the soak rules detailed on p.228 of
Orpheus.
Q) How does aggravated damage
affect Orpheus characters?
A) Aggravated damage cannot be
soaked by Stamina (though soak dice obtained through Juggernaut, armor,
or other powers acts normally), and removes 3 Vitality per unsoaked
level.
Q) Do ghosts and projected agents
suffer from wound penalties?
A) Normally, they do not.
However, as soon as they manifest they are subject to dice pool
penalties as described on p.83 of Orpheus . These penalties stack on top
of the penalties incurred for partial manifestations.
Q) Do Wisps suffer dice pool
penalties from partial manifestations?
A) Yes. All Shades suffer from
dice pool penalties for partial manifestations. At 0 Vitality,
manifestations can only affect the material world as described for each
Shade in Orpheus . At 1 Vitality, manifestations are at half your dice
pool (round down) with a minimum of one die. At 2 Vitality, you have a
full dice pool while interacting with the material world and your
Horrors may affect the material world (unless a Horror specifically
states otherwise, such as Storm-Wending).
Q) When can I use Destiny or
Reincarnate, and how often?
A) Destiny and Reincarnate may be
used once per real world week. They may only be used when a Storyteller
is able to witness the roll. In addition, any characters that have
Destiny must have their Destiny specified on their character sheet, and
may only re-roll as per the Background if the roll pertains directly to
the Destiny.
Q) How often do I regain Vitality
from my Anchor?
A) Vitality is regained from your
Anchor l every 24 real world hours. It may be used only when the
character is in the physical presence of the Anchor. Anchor cannot take
your Vitality over your maximum Vitality rating.
Q) Can I use Puppetry to posses a
supernatural?
A) Yes and no. As per the
description of Puppetry in the Orpheus core book, you may only posses
living, mortal characters. This excludes Vampires and anything else that
is dead or undead. Werewolves and other Fera are immune as well, though
Kinfolk are not. Demons are immune as long as they have a point of
Temporary Faith in their pools; they risk getting kicked out of their
host body if a ghost tries to possess them while they're vulnerable.
Q) Orpheus states explicitly that
a character's starting Vitality is set at the end of the character
creation process. However, if I spend experience points later on to
raise my permanent Vitality score, is the new, higher permanent Vitality
my new 'starting Vitality'? Or is my starting Vitality always going to
be where it started from, no matter how high I raise it?
A) The new, higher Vitality
rating is your new 'starting' or baseline Vitality.
Q) In that vein: if my Spite
Rating goes two higher than my Starting Vitality, then all my
character's Stains are manifested. If I was to buy up my Starting
Vitality with experience, thus decreasing the distance between my Spite
Rating and Starting Vitality, then do the Stains submerge once more, or
do they remain visible?
A) They submerge and vanish
because your new Vitality Rating is now offsetting the Spite
differential. If you gain another Spite rating, however, they return
full bloom.
Q) What Backgrounds are
unavailable to Ghosts? There's some confusion in Chapter Three, as it
says one thing in one place and another thing in another place.
A) Ghosts cannot take Health
Insurance or Personal Trainer - final answer. Detective License slipped
through as a mistake, but frankly, a ghost that can manifest should
still be able to use his detective license to snoop around as long as
someone carries his credentials when he ghosts. He has to get the
license before dying, however. Health Insurance is unavailable because
of... well, death! Trying to fake an injury as a manifest ghost isn't
going to work because you can't really pass a doctor's exam.
Q) Is it be possible to use the
Forebode Horror while NOT Projecting?
A) Not the way the rule is
written, but frankly, it's good Storytelling to let a Banshee's Forebode
Horror "leak" into her living life. Most psychics have little control
over what they see or experience, so it's perfectly reasonable that the
player controls the Horror when her character is a spook, but the
Storyteller controls the moments Forebode might leak into the course of
one's living life.
Q) Can Hues call up their Stains
by spending Vitality no matter what their Spite Rating is, or do they
have to wait until it gets to 4, just like everyone else?
A) Yes, they can use Stains,
regardless of their Spite Rating. They are already touched by Spite
through their pigment addiction, so they don't have to wait until
hitting a Spite Rating of 4.
Q) I can't seem to find solid
rules as for how long Manifesting lasts. Is everything scene based?
A) Pretty much. Because Vitality
is both your health (as a spook) and your ability to manifest and use
Horrors, it gets drained fairly quickly. So, manifest and many powers
use scene-based durations to prolong their effectiveness.
Q) I couldn't find out how much
damage is inflicted on living victims of a Banshee. It isn't listed in
the description of the Horror's system, but there is a line implying it
was supposed to be in there.
A) Here's what you folks need to
know starting with the paragraph in which it's included:
"If a character spends two or more Vitality points, then she may use
this Horror to physically wound one or more people directly in front of
her, and within ten yards of her. If attacking a group of people, she
may not distinguish between them; everyone in the group risks taking
damage since they are all within range of her scream of fury. Victims
may roll Stamina to soak damage, with an appropriate soak roll being
(difficulty number of Vitality expended + 3). Failing this, the targets
suffer lethal damage equal to the number of successes scored by the
character."
Q) It's stated several times that
a skimmer's body could be taken over by a Spectre while he's 'out', but
if that happens then what happens to the Skimmer's spirit? Does it
immediately become a ghost, or just trapped outside its body until
either the body is killed or the Spectre is somehow forced out? Can the
Skimmer try and take his body back in some way?
A) If a Spectre takes over your
body, your status as Skimmer doesn't change. You just need to find a way
of pulling the Spectre from your meat before he does lasting damage or
does, in fact, get you killed.
Q) So is it only skimmers that
can be possessed or are sleepers at risk too?
A) That's trickier. The body is
"dead" until the cradle starts reversing the process for reanimation.
Once the reanimation sequence begins, the Spectre likely has a short
window of opportunity to jump in once the heart starts again. Usually,
by that time, the sleeper's spirit is back and will likely fight the
Spectre off. One on one, the character is likelier to win, unless facing
a Reaper.
Q) How would someone get Spite
points if they have zero? It seems that by default your character starts
with a given Spite rating but no Spite points, and also if you hit ten
you roll back to zero after upping your Rating.
A) As far as Spite is concerned,
tapping Spite isn't the only way of raising it. If you pursue a
malicious act or ignore someone in distress, the Storyteller has the
option of hitting you with Spite points or even a rating.
Q) How do you get more Spite by
tapping it?
A) Every time you tap Spite, you
have to roll as many dice as points tapped. (Or one die in the case of
tapping rating.) The difficulty is 7, and for each success, you manage
to avoid gaining a new Spite point/rating.
Q) What are Stains, and how do
they work?
A) Stains are negative
qualifiers: things you hate or dislike about yourself, but taken to the
extreme. You choose three at character creation, and can choose an
additional two for freebies.
Stains don't manifest on you until you will them to appear - embracing a
negative aspect of yourself to gain an advantage ("Okay, so I'm an angry
guy... but I'm going to draw on that anger to beat the shit out you!")
Your three Stains automatically appear when your Spite exceeds your
Vitality by +2. You also gain new Stains for the difference in Spite and
Vitality, thus manifesting at least five different Stains. These stay
until your Spite is lowered. By that point, you're damn near a Spectre
anyway.
And, it also indicates why Spite is so dangerous. You often don't know
how close someone is to the edge until it's almost too late (great for
their characters hiding their condition or those supporting characters
about to dive hard).
Q) Juggernaut is unclear in its
use when giving bonuses to Stamina. The success chart says that it adds
to your armor rating. But the bullet-pointed description (p112) says
that it "acts like one dot of armor, canceling one health level of
damage against the character." So which is it?
A) It's supposed to be one die of
damage soaked. |
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Mortal
|| Mage
|| Vampire
|| Werewolf
|| Changeling
|| Demon
|| Orpheus