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PUPPETRY

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Of all the 13 Greater Arcanoi, Puppetry is the one that Charon forbade most sternly. Only the Death lords and their Hierarchy were sanctioned to ride the mortals, to posses them and thus affect them directly.. Wraiths riding a subject are not truly a part of the Shadowlands, and as such are immune to the normal dangers of that place. However, they take damage as their hosts do. Also, the host’s Physical Attributes and Talents take precedence over the wraith’s unless the wraith is in direct control. The Puppeteer is a back-seat driver and usually nothing more. Most aspects of Puppetry require the wraith to attune himself to a Consort. Extensive use of Puppetry and thus Skinriding mortals, will cause a wraith to exhibit strange mannerisms and often accents picked up from assorted mortal hosts.

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Puppetry works only on living humans with no supernatural qualities(unless the Puppeteer knows Menagerie Mask)

 

While a wraith is Skinriding, she’s considered to be fully in the Skinlands.

She’s immune to any event in the Shadowlands(except Arcanoi that can reach across the Shroud).

However, she suffers the same Skinlands effects as her host. This extends to injury: Whenever the host receives damage, the Puppeteer suffers an equal amount of the same type.

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SHROUD THICKNESS RATING

RATING                       AREA                                           

    1                             Cearn                                                

    2                             Node/Graveyard                               

    3                             Deep Wilderness                                 

    4                             Rural Countryside                               

    5                             No mans land                                     

    6                             Most Urban Areas                             

    7                             Downtown alley

    8                             Downtown interior locations

    9                             Downtown Mainstreet.          

    10                           Technocratic Lab* 

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When a wraith attempts to use Puppetry on a Dominated individual, the Puppeteer and the vampire responsible for the mind control make a contested Composure + Resolve vs Composure + Resolve roll. This only matters for cases where the Puppeteer and the controlling vampire are at logger heads; otherwise the Discipline and the Arcanos can work together smoothly (as is the case with Presence).

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CONSORTS: If the wraith is attuned to the subject he may add + 2 to his rolls. (See Consorts) 

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PUPPETRY COMMON

◉ SKINRIDE (COMMON)
The foundation upon which all greater Puppetry arts build, Skinride enables the Puppeteer to slip into a mortal’s body, briefly inhabiting his flesh as a passenger. The wraith has no control over her vessel’s actions or thoughts. However, most other Puppetry arts require the wraith to be Skinriding her target. Only one wraith at a time may Skinride any given target.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND: 1 PATHOS

ROLL:  STRENGTH + PUPPETRY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING

SUCCESS:

With success, the wraith inhabits the host’s body for the rest of the scene. If another wraith is already Skinriding the host, the Puppeteer must beat his successes to eject him and usurp his place.

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◉◉ TWITCH (COMMON)
The wraith may take fleeting control of one of her host’s limbs. While complex manipulation is beyond her, she can grasp or release an object, cause or prevent a fall, or cause brief paralysis to forestall an attack or other action.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND: 1 PATHOS

GAIN:   1 ANGST if subject is unwilling 

ROLL:  STRENGTH + PUPPETRY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING
SUCCESS:
Success allows brief control (one turn) as described above. With three or more successes, the movement feels entirely natural and the host writes it off to a muscle spasm, momentary indecision, or other internal factor.

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◉◉◉ MASTER'S VOICE (COMMON)
The Puppeteer can briefly seize control of her host’s capacity for speech. The result is an eerie blend of the wraith’s and host’s voices.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND: 1 PATHOS

GAIN:   2 ANGST if subject is unwilling 

ROLL:  STAMINA  + PUPPETRY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING
SUCCESS:

The wraith may speak for one breath per success.

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◉◉◉◉ REIN IN THE MIND (COMMON)
With this art, the Puppeteer takes complete control of her host’s body. The host remains in a semiconscious dream state, aware of what’s happening but unable to act. When the wraith releases control, the host is subject to the Fog and reacts
appropriately.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND: 4 PATHOS

GAIN:   1 ANGST if subject is willing 4 ANGST if not.

ROLL:  STAMINA  + PUPPETRY RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING

SUCCESS:
The wraith gains total control for one scene.

If the host is a Consort, the wraith makes all rolls with the host’s Physical Attributes and Appearance. If the host is not a Consort, all Physical rolls use either the wraith’s attribute or the host’s, whichever is lower.

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◉◉◉◉◉ OBLITERATE THE SOUL (COMMON)
Obliterate the Soul takes the process of creating a Consort to its logical and horrifying extreme. The Puppeteer assumes ownership of the host’s body, feeding his Psyche to her Shadow. The result is an uninhabited mortal husk with no capacity to resist the wraith’s Puppetry arts. It’s a perfect vessel for extended occupancy — until the inevitable process of physical decay sets in.

Obliterate the Soul is usable only on a mortal Consort with no other supernatural qualities.

SYSTEM:

EXTENDED ACTION: Roll  Once Per Month. If you forget a month, lose all accumulated successes.

SPEND:  5 PATHOS Once per month

GAIN:    3 X hosts composure + resolve amount of Angst upon feeding the hosts soul to your shadow.

ROLL:     STRENGTH + PUPPETRY RANK  vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING

BOTCH:
If she botches a roll, the subject becomes immune to all further uses of Obliterate the Soul.

SUCCCESS:

When  accumulated successes equal to the host’s Composure + Resolve, she succeeds.

The Puppeteer may Skinride the uninhabited host body at will without spending Pathos. The body remains a Consort for all other purposes. When inhabiting the body, the wraith makes all rolls with the host’s Physical Attributes.

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While the body is uninhabited, it is catatonic. Oblivion takes its toll.

Every Day The body suffers one point of aggravated damage and loses one point from each social attributes to a minimum of  0.

This damage can’t be healed and additional damage continues to accrue at the same interval until the body dies.

NPC CONSORT 

At this level of  the Art it is permissible to have an NPC consort body, so long as the Angst cost and degradation of the body are played out. This is not being RISEN. Not even close to it. A puppeteer can still be removed from the body.

An NPC body is treated as follows

HEALTH: 8  (-1 per day and cannot be healed by any means)

Attack:/Defense/ Initiative: +15

Social/ Mental  Scores equal Wraiths (-1 from each social attribute per day)  

Speed: Up to 20 meters per turn  

DO NOTE: Death sight continues to be active, tactile interactions with the world still feel like you are wearing THICK rubber skin suit. Food cannot be enjoyed, sex even less so. 

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PUPPETRY INITIATE

RESTRICTED TO

◉ PUPPETEERS  ◉ MONITORS  ◉ SPOOKS ◉

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◉ MENAGERIE MASK (INITIATE)
Menagerie Mask expands the range of subjects that the Puppeteer can Skinride, allowing her to inhabit both animals and supernatural beings (So long as they have a physical body) 

SYSTEM:

PASSIVE:
Upon learning Menagerie Mask, the Puppeteer  can use Skinride on all primates, as well as supernatural . Further proficiency comes as the wraith increases her mastery of Puppetry.
PUPPETRY ◉◉ the character may Skinride all mammals.
PUPPETRY ◉◉◉ enables the wraith to Skinride birds.
PUPPETRY ◉◉◉◉ the Puppeteer can Skinride fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
A character must learn Skinride before acquiring Menagerie Mask. This is an exception to the usual rules governing the purchase of Initiate arts.

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◉◉ ADMIX HUMORS (INITIATE)
This art lets the Puppeteer influence her host’s involuntary muscles and other bodily functions. She can adjust respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, blood chemistry, peristalsis, adrenaline production, and various secretions, and can smooth or exacerbate micro expressions. Subtle applications of Admix Humors can affect polygraph results, sustained exertion, or social interactions. More vigorous adjustments can simulate
illness or trigger explosive voiding. (Explosive voiding involves matter from the stomach coming out one end or the other or even simultaneously)

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: The player chooses the change she wants to invoke

SPEND: 2  PATHOS

GAIN:   2 ANGST if host is unwilling.

ROLL: STAMINA + PUPPETRY  vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE + SHROUD RATING
SUCCESSS:
• Add or subtract one dot  per 2 successes to all Strength and Stamina attributes  for the rest of the scene.
• Add or subtract one dot  per 2 successes to all social attributes  for the rest of the scene.
• Simulate the symptoms of one particular illness. (Observers with Academics ◉◉◉ Medical will not be fooled, but will be confused.) 
• Trigger sneezing, coughing, vomiting, diarrhoea, or similar involuntary effects. (OOC Consent should be sought for Scat based play)
• Inflict 1 point of bashing damage per success.
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◉◉◉ SHARED BLOOD, SHARED BREATH (INITIATE)
If a wraith’s host suffers damage while she’s Skinriding him, she shares his injuries. This art enables her to heal her host’s body along with her own Corpus.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: When healing damage the wraith incurred as a result of her host receiving damage.

SPEND:  2 x Pathos required to heal the wraith.  

The wraith’s host is healed of the same amount of damage that the wraith herself heals.
Shared Blood, Shared Breath can’t heal aggravated damage.

In addition, this art is effective only for a Consort.

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◉◉◉◉ REVIVIFY A.K.A Zombify  (INITIATE)
This art’s name is misleading. The Puppeteer can’t return the dead to life. She can, however, inhabit and control a freshly dead corpse for a brief time — long enough to terrify witnesses or wreak horrifying damage. Again, this is -not- risen status, its inhabiting a dead body.
Although Skinride normally works only on living hosts, learning Revivify allows the wraith to use it on a relatively intact human body that has been dead no longer than a number of hours equal to her Stamina.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: A body that has been dead no longer than the wraiths (STAMINA rating) hours (Hospital morgue is better than graveyard)

SPEND:  3 PATHOS

ROLL:     STRENGTH + PUPPETRY RANK

GAIN:    2 ANGST + 1 ANGST per Success.

DIFFICULTY 7+ SHROUD RATING
SUCCESS:

For one scene , the wraith gains total control of the corpse.

• If the corpse belongs to a player character use the physical attributes the corpse possessed in life. Health  is  the same as for John/Jane doe.

• If the corpse is a John /Jane Doe use Intelligence for attack rolls. Wits for defence rolls and Composure for Health  and Resolve for Stamina. 

While the host body is animate, it remains dead. Its heart does not beat, it does not respire unless the wraith consciously draws breath to speak, and the structural effects of all previously received wounds remain in effect.

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It suffers damage only from sources that affect its structural integrity. For example, poison is ineffective, but a shotgun blows off meaty chunks as usual. The wraith shares damage the body suffers, as per normal uses of Puppetry. The corpse is IMMUNE to bashing damage.

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◉◉◉◉◉ LEGION (INITIATE)
Repeated use of Puppetry leaves trace spiritual connections between the Puppeteer and her hosts. With Legion, she can exploit that network, asserting limited control over multiple Consorts at once. This is a profoundly dangerous art as each use feeds the wraith’s Shadow, and loss of control can give it free rein over several mortal bodies.

SYSTEM:
NORMAL ACTION: While the wraith is Skinriding one Consort

SPEND: 3 PATHOS + 1 PATHOS per Consort Present in the scene.

ROLL:    STAMINA + PUPPETRY RANK

DIFFICULTY: 7 + SHROUD RATING

Each consort wishing to resist must roll COMPOSURE + RESOLVE :DIFFICULTY: 10 + SHROUD RATING

SUCCESS

If the wraith succeeds, she may direct the actions of all affected Consorts for one turn per success, plus one turn per dot of Charisma.

This direction is considered her action for each turn.

Each Consort follows her directives to the best of his ability, using his normal attributes, with a two dot penalty if he’s resisting.
While commanding her Legion, the wraith may speak with their voices. Her words emanate from all affected Consorts simultaneously.

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In addition, The wraith may jump bodies with a successful skinride roll. Making targeting the correct body very difficult indeed. This is a free action,  If she fails, she remains in the body she’s currently Skinriding.

Killing the host body (The one with the wraith in it) , knocking it unconscious, or driving the Puppeteer out of it immediately ends Legion’s effects.

NOTE: This power does not effect NPC's only characters that are the wraiths human consorts.

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