OCCULT RESEARCH

When it comes to the supernatural there are specific rules in place that prevents a "He said, She Said" mode of unravelling the meta of the supernatural. We have to put restrictions on how much is known about supernatural species /events/ abilities/ societies to prevent a cascading effect of the supernatural becoming common knowledge and unravelling the masquerade/veil.

YOU PURCHASE OCCULT RANK

OCCULT RANK DOES NOT -GRANT- YOU KNOWLEDGE, ONLY A GREATER CHANCE OF RESEARCHING AND LEARNING

STARTING OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

THE OCCULT RANK ZERO RANKING.

ZERO: Supernatural are aware of the existence of the supernatural and know their own species exists.
ZERO: Hunters know ONE supernatural species at this level. This is the one that caused them to become hunters.
ZERO: Support Species (Kinain, Kinfolk, Thralls, Blood Dolls, Consorts, Projectors) Know the main species they support.
ZERO: Regular Humans have no idea the supernatural is real, they might believe in them, but generally this info will come from television, internet ,movies, comic books and the like.

Without an occult rank you cannot identify or even name other species. A Lupine, Fairie, Garou, Fae, Werewolf, Changeling could all be the same thing as far as you are concerned. They may be supernatural or they maybe alien invaders or time traveling ghost monsters or even a rare government genetics experiment gone haywire. In short you have no way of knowing which way is up with the supernatural, er... Government experiments... Even if they tell you what they are.... why believe them? They might be crazy, they might be lying. In short without possessing a point in occult knowledge you have NO way of knowing what you are seeing. With zero occult ranking, you can try a roll... but its unlikely you'll gain much knowledge.

THE OCCULT RANK RANKINGS.

The following ranks grant a little more knowledge about supernatural creatures to discovered. However knowledge is only gleaned by directly observing a supernatural creature CLEARLY using supernatural powers and making a successful research roll. The ranks themselves do not give any insight into the supernatural creature, the ranks are just a measure of how your memory, research and resources marry up on the research roll.

GAINING OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

Do note: this section goes into lengthy detail of how researching and gaining knowledge of the supernaturals works. This may lead you to think its rather complex, its not, it's a simple three stage process and that process has stringent conditions that need to be met.

3 STEPS TO OCCULT KNOWLEDGE

RESEARCHING CONDITIONS =IC observation.
RESEARCH PROCESS =Contacting species storyteller with evidence of IC observation.
RESEARCH ROLL = Storyteller tells you what you find out.

RESEARCH CONDITIONS

Research can be conducted if the following conditions are met.

You witnessed CLEAR supernatural activity.
You interreacted with CLEARLY supernatural species in a MEANINGFUL way while they were displaying CLEAR supernatural power.
You have a time stamped log of the interaction with the clear supernatural activity displayed or there is a storyteller present during the scene.
Your memory is not wiped by delerium or the fog or some other supernatural effect after the scene.

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

If all four research conditions are met you may contact a storyteller to request they make a research roll for you.

You must provide the story teller

The time and date stamped log.
The cliff notes version of what happened. Example.,"My character saw a wraith walk through a wall, I chased after it and I'm curious to see what I find out"
Your intelligence rank and your occult rank.
It generally helps if you ask a story from the particular species to tell you what you learn, as they are best suited to this and it also helps them track potential breaches.
Logs older than 1 week are not acceptable. Your memory begins to get fuzzy after that.
All research happens IC after the scene, it can help to emote visiting a library, museum, occult book shop or going online to research.

THE RESEARCH ROLL: (Performed by the storyteller lead of the researched group using YOUR stats, the roll results are kept secret to allow misinformation)

The storyteller will make an Intelligence + Occult roll on your behalf,

DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULTY WITH ZERO OCCULT RANK (+10 Difficulty from standard, Max roll possible is 25)

Wraith 12+ 22+
Vampire 14+ 24+
Werewolf 14+ 24+
Mage 14+ 24+
Support Class* 16+ Impossible to know
Changeling 18+ Impossible to know
Demon 18+ Impossible to know
Kuei-Jin 18+ Impossible to know
Mummy 18+ Impossible to know

* Support class = Ghoul,Thrall,Kinfolk,Kinain, Revenant/consort/projector/sorcerer/Numina user etc.

SHIH would swap the difficulties for vampire and Kuei-jin, everything else though is identical in the east. Wan Kuei is the Chinese/Korean/Philippines version Gaki is the Japanese variant.

SUCCESSES: (Storyteller makes the roll and tells you what you find out.)

1: you learn the COMMON name for the species type. Werewolf, Vampire, Ghost, Fariy, Wizard/witch, Zombie, Demon, Kuei-Jin,Mummy
2: you learn the ACTUAL name for the species type. Garou, Kindred, Wraith, Changeling, Mage ,Risen, Elohim, Wan-Kuei /Gaki, Amenti.
3 :you may identify species type with detection powers. (auspex, Scent of true form etc)
4 :you may determine basic physiology of species and learn their specific weaknesses (Silver, Fire,Stakes,wood & Metal, Cold iron, Gold etc)
5: You may glean a single piece of information about the species powers and how to avoid them (I.E Dominate depends on eye contact, and other such specifics, you only learn one piece of information)

FAILURE: You find nothing during your research that you can comfortably depend on as accurate information.

BOTCH: Misinformation. The storyteller will tell you a piece of information that is incorrect this false information is added to your character sheet.

RECORDING THE INFORMATION:

You must note on your character sheet the following.

SPECIES
KNOWLEDGE LEARNED
DATE AND TIME STORYTELLER MADE THE ROLL.
NAME OF STORYTELER.
NOTE I : The storyteller will never tell you the results of the roll.
NOTE II: You may not submit a scene to more than storyteller, Storytellers DO communicate with one another. Attempts to ask multiple storytellers will result in punative measures OOC.
NOTE III: You will never learn the inner workings of a species, you will never learn of the organizations or their history or their legendary figures, you will never be more knowledgeable than a species about their own species. You will see no distinction between Camarilla & Anarchs, you will -maybe- know there are some rotten eggs, but not know of their political/social/overall goals unless that information comes tied directly with your own species legends...(I.E House Fiona and their links with the Fianna)

FYI: CLEAR & MEANINGFUL

CLEAR: means an act that cannot possibly be anything else other than magic/supernatural. Examples of CLEAR are. A vampire using celerity to run away at inhuman speed, a vampire using potence to toss an SUV. A mage shooting lightning from their finger tips. A wraith walking through a wall a garou transforming into a non human form. A crinos werewolf.

NOT CLEAR: Mind or emotional manipulatiion powers. Effects without an apparent source. While the effect may CLEARLY be supernatural, if it is NOT CLEAR who made it happen, it is no good for occult research purposes.

MEANINGFUL: A meaningful interaction denotes a two way exchange between your character and the character you wish to research. It is not enough to simply stand around and watch, this is -cheating- If you want knowledge you need to earn it. A meaningful two way interaction needs the clear supernatural ability to be on display and there needs to be a minimum of three emotes exchanged between your characters.

WORD OF MOUTH: Second hand accounts of supernatural abilities or knowledge told you by other characters do NOT give you any reliable knowledge, even if the knowledge imparted is 100% accurate, you can't really trust the source, they may be lying, they may be confused, they maybe wrong... Look, it's too easy for some random character to give you 100% info on supernatural, it just does NOT work that way. We don't allow it as an accurate measure PERIOD!. The world of darkness is meant to be deeply secret and deeply concealed....Just because a player whose character you interact with does NOT understand or respect the setting, we INSIST you do.

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KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR OWN SPECIES

Storyteller characters within your own species group are able to tell you anything about your own species. Generally this information is restricted to level 3 secrets. Species leads have final say about what knowledge they would like you to learn and if it is relevant for your character.

You will never learn a secret that is tiered above your occult rank.

OCCULT RANK (Your Own Species)

0: You know only of the "native " societies within your species and know your species support species (Blood Doll, Ghoul, Kinfolk, Kinain)

You also know the "Law" of your species. "Masquerade, Veil, Escheat etc. You also know of the subgroups within your species (clans, Kith, Traditions, Breeds, Auspices, Tribes)

1: You know all the basics about your species but no historical facts.
2: You are familiar with the more political elements of your species.
3: You are familiar with the more mystical or spiritual aspects of your species. You know a vague history of your species.
4: You have heard about "Shadow" organizations within your species and some of the more "out there beliefs"
5: You are able to study in great detail all the ancient information about your species that not even the leaders may know. Some of this information maybe staggering or subversive in the eyes of the established hierarchy. You even understand the power behind the shadow organizations, for example you know the sabbat are unknowing servants of the true black hand.

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