060: BACKGROUNDS
Backgrounds represent a part of your past that carries with you today. All characters get 5 points to put into backgrounds and may purchase more with Freebie points. The only way to gain further backgrounds are earn them in game. They cannot be bought with experience.
You have friends who can help you out when you are in need. Allies are not at your disposal, but they will do what they can to keep you out of trouble, and will even go out of their way to help if it is not dangerous for them to do so. Allies have some useful abilities, influence and contacts that can benefit you.
Allies are trustworthy friends who will not betray your interests. An Ally may also ask a favor of you at some point (you are supposed to be friends, after all), and you should do what you can for them or risk losing the Ally’s help next time you need it.
● One ally, of moderate influence and power.
●● Two allies, both of moderate power.
●●● Three allies, one of them quite influential.
●●●● Four allies, one of them very influential.
●●●●● Five allies, one of them extremely influential.
You possess an arcane item, a physical object into which a has been bound a spirit. The spirits power can be drawn from the item and used by those who possess them, for a price. Such things are valuable, and others may covet them. ● You possess one Level One item.
●● You possess one Level Two fetish or two Level One items.
●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of three items.
●●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of four items.
●●●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of five items.
Your character knows certain people in useful places to whom she can turn to for information and assistance. The contacts background defines how influential these people are and how helpful. Major contacts are friends on whom your character can rely to provide her with accurate information in their fields. When creating your character, you should describe her contacts as completely as possible, with profession and area of influence. This trait also gives your character several minor contacts. When your character wants to contact a minor contact, roll a Dice Pool equal to the number of dots you have in contacts (base difficulty 7). For each success, she can be in contact with one of her minor contacts. At that point, she can attempt to bribe or charm the contact into giving her what she needs. Listed below is the number of major contacts your character gets for each dot.
● Basic: You have one major contact.
●● Minor: You have two major contacts.
●●● Useful: You have three major contacts.
●●●● Significant: You have four major contacts.
●●●●● Incredible: You have five major contacts.
● Basic: Your mentor knows little of import.
●● Minor: Your mentor has some noteworthy pieces of information to share.
●●● Useful: Your mentor has significant secrets to share.
●●●● Significant: Your mentor has extraordinary knowledge to pass along.
●●●●● Incredible: If your mentor does not know, no one does.
Your character has one or more enchanted people or retainers in his sway. This retinue answers to your character and is under his control, either through enchantment or by some more mundane method of control. They will tend to be loyal to him, although some may betray him if they are ill-treated. Members of a character's retinue are fallible. They will be defined by your storyteller with you input. Retinue are meant to be characters in and of themselves. They should not be abused.
● Basic: You have one member in your retinue.
●● Minor: You have two members.
●●● Useful: Four members.
●●●● Significant: Six members.
●●●●● Incredible: Ten members.
● Minor: You have a semi-intelligent companion with language capabilities and its own personality (15 points). Example: A small jeweled dragon with a smoking problem, a giant teddy bear with a Brooklyn accent, or a talking moon cat.
●●Basic: You have a simple creature as a companion (10 points). For example, a patch of mold that bubbles obscenely on your shoulder, a speck of light that flitters around your head, or a sock puppet named Bob that curls up to sleep in your pocket.
●●● Useful: You have a companion that can speak and communicate quite well, and that has a mind of its own, often being more of a nuisance than a help. (20 points). Example: A talking spirit ferret that hoards shiny objects, or a small green alien that sniffs at everything it sees.
●●●● Significant: You have a highly intelligent companion that can be of significant help to you. (30 points). Example: A griffin that can fly, a unicorn that can appear to mortals, or an owl that quotes Shakespeare and knows the trods well enough to serve as a guide.
●●●●● Incredible: You have a companion with a sharp and quick mind and extensive magical abilities (50 points). Example: An ancient djinn that can affect both the Dreaming and the real world.
Rules for creating familiars can be found in Familiar/Spirit Build Guide
See the section Familiar/Spirit Character Creation for building the Companion.
● Your companion is a very minor spirit. You can only speak with it if you have a spell or the merit Psychic Speech, that allows you to do so, or if both you and it are near each other in the spirit plane. It can store two extra points of Medicine or Willpower (choose one) for you. It cannot see out of the Upper World (the spirit realm), so it rarely knows what is going on in the Middle World (the mortal realm).
●● Your companion is a minor, though significant, spirit. You can only speak to it if you have a spell that allows you to do so, or if it is within sight of you on the spirit plane. It can store four extra points of Medicine or Willpower (choose one) for you. It knows instinctively where you are, and can look in on you from time to time.
●●● Your companion is recognized by other spirits as having some importance and status. You can speak aloud to it easily through the bond you share, so long as it is nearby. It can store four extra points of Medicine or Willpower in any combination for you. It knows instinctively where you are, can see through your eyes, and often looks in on you from the spirit plane.
●●●● Your companion is an important spirit, even one honored by your mortal tribe as a totem messenger. You can speak mentally to it through the bond you share, so long as it is nearby. You always know where it is. You can see through its eyes, and it can borrow your sight as well. It can store six extra points of Medicine or Willpower in any combination for you. It knows instinctively where you are, can look in on you anytime it so desires, and can even assume material form in the mortal realm for short periods of time.
●●●●● Your companion is one of the major helpers of one of the great beings of the spirit plane, such as a herald of Thunderbird or a lesser manifestation of Blue Corn Woman. You can speak mentally to it no matter how far away it is. You and it always know each other's location. You both can share any of the five senses and share Arts with each other. It can store five points each of Medicine and Willpower for you. When you ask it to, it will assume material form in the mortal realm until you desire it to leave or until it is driven away or banished.
Allies
You have friends who can help you out when you are in need. Allies are not at your disposal, but they will do what they can to keep you out of trouble, and will even go out of their way to help if it is not dangerous for them to do so. Allies have some useful abilities, influence and contacts that can benefit you.
Allies are trustworthy friends who will not betray your interests. An Ally may also ask a favor of you at some point (you are supposed to be friends, after all), and you should do what you can for them or risk losing the Ally’s help next time you need it.
● One ally, of moderate influence and power.
●● Two allies, both of moderate power.
●●● Three allies, one of them quite influential.
●●●● Four allies, one of them very influential.
●●●●● Five allies, one of them extremely influential.
Arcane Encumbrance
You possess an arcane item, a physical object into which a has been bound a spirit. The spirits power can be drawn from the item and used by those who possess them, for a price. Such things are valuable, and others may covet them. ● You possess one Level One item.
●● You possess one Level Two fetish or two Level One items.
●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of three items.
●●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of four items.
●●●●● You possess one or more fetishes with a total of five items.
Contacts
Your character knows certain people in useful places to whom she can turn to for information and assistance. The contacts background defines how influential these people are and how helpful. Major contacts are friends on whom your character can rely to provide her with accurate information in their fields. When creating your character, you should describe her contacts as completely as possible, with profession and area of influence. This trait also gives your character several minor contacts. When your character wants to contact a minor contact, roll a Dice Pool equal to the number of dots you have in contacts (base difficulty 7). For each success, she can be in contact with one of her minor contacts. At that point, she can attempt to bribe or charm the contact into giving her what she needs. Listed below is the number of major contacts your character gets for each dot.
● Basic: You have one major contact.
●● Minor: You have two major contacts.
●●● Useful: You have three major contacts.
●●●● Significant: You have four major contacts.
●●●●● Incredible: You have five major contacts.
Mentor
The relationship between a student and his mentor is often close. A mentor can serve as an invaluable guide to society. Mentors may also protect a character from danger and inform him of opportunities. However, a mentor may expect some favors in return for the information or assistance she provides.● Basic: Your mentor knows little of import.
●● Minor: Your mentor has some noteworthy pieces of information to share.
●●● Useful: Your mentor has significant secrets to share.
●●●● Significant: Your mentor has extraordinary knowledge to pass along.
●●●●● Incredible: If your mentor does not know, no one does.
Retainers/Retinue
Your character has one or more enchanted people or retainers in his sway. This retinue answers to your character and is under his control, either through enchantment or by some more mundane method of control. They will tend to be loyal to him, although some may betray him if they are ill-treated. Members of a character's retinue are fallible. They will be defined by your storyteller with you input. Retinue are meant to be characters in and of themselves. They should not be abused.
● Basic: You have one member in your retinue.
●● Minor: You have two members.
●●● Useful: Four members.
●●●● Significant: Six members.
●●●●● Incredible: Ten members.
Fae/Shadow/Construct Companion
Players must consult their storyteller as to the type of companion they have. Players should also be aware that higher level companions have minds and personalities of their own, which may come into conflict with the character's goals. The number of dots a character has in spirit companion determines how many points he has to create a companion.● Minor: You have a semi-intelligent companion with language capabilities and its own personality (15 points). Example: A small jeweled dragon with a smoking problem, a giant teddy bear with a Brooklyn accent, or a talking moon cat.
●●Basic: You have a simple creature as a companion (10 points). For example, a patch of mold that bubbles obscenely on your shoulder, a speck of light that flitters around your head, or a sock puppet named Bob that curls up to sleep in your pocket.
●●● Useful: You have a companion that can speak and communicate quite well, and that has a mind of its own, often being more of a nuisance than a help. (20 points). Example: A talking spirit ferret that hoards shiny objects, or a small green alien that sniffs at everything it sees.
●●●● Significant: You have a highly intelligent companion that can be of significant help to you. (30 points). Example: A griffin that can fly, a unicorn that can appear to mortals, or an owl that quotes Shakespeare and knows the trods well enough to serve as a guide.
●●●●● Incredible: You have a companion with a sharp and quick mind and extensive magical abilities (50 points). Example: An ancient djinn that can affect both the Dreaming and the real world.
Familiar
A mage and Familiar hold a special bond. The mage gives physical form to some spirit, enabling that spirit to manifest and enjoy the fruits of the material, living world - but some powerful spirits or pre-existing creatures seek out mages on their own. In either case, the mage forges a potent spiritual bond with the Familiar. The two souls become intertwined; the mage benefits from the Familiar's special knowledge and capabilities, while the Familiar garners magical energies and vicarious experience through the mage. While many Familiars follow very archetypal forms - black cats, bats, hawks, ferrets, and other similar small animals- mages create or entice Familiars of all kinds, including golems or robots and even mythic beasts like tiny dragonets or djinn.Rules for creating familiars can be found in Familiar/Spirit Build Guide
Spirit Companion
You have a special relationship with a spirit creature, often an animal but sometimes an elemental spirit or some other being, who freely and without compulsion acts as your companion. The spirit follows you whenever you enter the spirit plane, acts as a guide and occasional scout (depending on its strength and abilities), and can store excess Medicine or Willpower for you until you need it. This Background can only be bought with Freebie or Experience Points, and is best acquired during play.See the section Familiar/Spirit Character Creation for building the Companion.
● Your companion is a very minor spirit. You can only speak with it if you have a spell or the merit Psychic Speech, that allows you to do so, or if both you and it are near each other in the spirit plane. It can store two extra points of Medicine or Willpower (choose one) for you. It cannot see out of the Upper World (the spirit realm), so it rarely knows what is going on in the Middle World (the mortal realm).
●● Your companion is a minor, though significant, spirit. You can only speak to it if you have a spell that allows you to do so, or if it is within sight of you on the spirit plane. It can store four extra points of Medicine or Willpower (choose one) for you. It knows instinctively where you are, and can look in on you from time to time.
●●● Your companion is recognized by other spirits as having some importance and status. You can speak aloud to it easily through the bond you share, so long as it is nearby. It can store four extra points of Medicine or Willpower in any combination for you. It knows instinctively where you are, can see through your eyes, and often looks in on you from the spirit plane.
●●●● Your companion is an important spirit, even one honored by your mortal tribe as a totem messenger. You can speak mentally to it through the bond you share, so long as it is nearby. You always know where it is. You can see through its eyes, and it can borrow your sight as well. It can store six extra points of Medicine or Willpower in any combination for you. It knows instinctively where you are, can look in on you anytime it so desires, and can even assume material form in the mortal realm for short periods of time.
●●●●● Your companion is one of the major helpers of one of the great beings of the spirit plane, such as a herald of Thunderbird or a lesser manifestation of Blue Corn Woman. You can speak mentally to it no matter how far away it is. You and it always know each other's location. You both can share any of the five senses and share Arts with each other. It can store five points each of Medicine and Willpower for you. When you ask it to, it will assume material form in the mortal realm until you desire it to leave or until it is driven away or banished.
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