Manifestations

Manifestations
Manifestations
New Arcanoi Arts

There are two types of arts listed here: alternate arts and tempered arts.
Alternate Arts: As stated on pgs. 133 and 134 of the Second Edition Wraith core rulebook, alternate arts are variations on the basic arts listed with each Arcanos. Characters can learn these alternate arts at the experience point costs listed in the book, if the character's knowledge of Arcanoi allows her to (i.e., the art in question cannot be of higher level than the character's appropriate Arcanos rating). Or, at the Storyteller's discretion, an alternate art may be learned in lieu of a standard power when the character increases the Arcanoi to the appropriate level. For instance, when a character increases Argos to ●●●●●, the Argos art: Soar may be substituted for Oubliette.
Tempered Arts: When a wraith wants to learn a Tempered Arcanos, he must meet the listed prerequisites, and spend the required experience points to learn it. For example, to learn Far Leap, the character must have Argos ●● and Outrage ●●●, and must spend 9 experience points. When the level of the art must be established, use the level of the highest prerequisite art. For example, Far Leap is considered a ●●● art.
Tempered arts must be learned from a character that knows them, and can't be self-taught; these arcane powers are the results of advanced understanding of the Arcanoi in question, and months or even years of occult research and practice. Storytellers may allow players to develop their own tempered arts, though the time and effort of doing so should be roleplayed.

Conceal Strand (Lifeweb ●●●●)
Wraiths are very vulnerable to other wraiths and Skinlands necromancers that would blackmail or compel a wraith through her Fetters. A Monitor who learns this art can protect a Fetter by hiding the psychic strands that connect it to him.
Systems: The wraith rolls Manipulation + Lifeweb (difficulty equals the Fetter's rating +3). For the duration of the power (equal to one week per success on the roll), any characters who use Lifeweb, Necromancy or any other powers to determine that Fetter is indeed a Fetter, and any subsequent attempts to trace to the Monitor, must subtract the number of successes made on the above roll from their own rolls. (Only if the roll to detect a Fetter is successful will the character suspect that the item's nature has been deliberately concealed; on a failed detection roll, she'll assume the item isn't a Fetter unless given a reason to think otherwise.) However, once a Fetter is established as such and is traced to the Monitor, this art offers no benefits.
Brian knows a Giovanni has been nosing around his haunt. To protect his antique jukebox (and himself), he uses Conceal Strand on it. Brian rolls against difficulty 6 (as it is a 3-point Fetter), and scores four successes. If the Giovanni uses the Ritual of the Unearthed Fetter, she must subtract four dice from her roll to perform the ritual. If the Necromancer nets zero successes, she'll detect nothing unusual about the jukebox.
This art costs one Willpower to use.

Consumption
Moliate ●●●●, Usury ●●●●, 12 experience points
This horrific Tempered Arcanos allows the wraith to tear the corpus from a foe and absorb it, increasing her mass and health exponentially -- as well as her Angst. A character glutted on corpus may look obese, or abnormally muscled like a caricature of an ugly weight lifter.
Systems: The wraith using Consumption must be in contact with the victim. The wraith's player spends 2 Pathos and rolls Strength + Moliate (difficulty of the victim's Stamina + 4); the successes attained equals the dice of aggravated damage the victim suffers, with every additional point of Pathos inflicting another die of damage. The assailant then rolls Stamina + Usury (difficulty 8) to absorb the ruined corpus (a reflexive action), with every success giving him a corpus level; however, the corpus gained cannot exceed the successes on the Strength + Moliate roll. The wraith can absorb corpus levels above her normal corpus maximum, to a number of extra corpus levels equal to her Moliate or Usury rating (whichever is lower), which last for one scene. Each extra corpus level increases the mass of the wraith by 20%, with each such increase giving her a one-die bonus to attempts to Grapple or Body Slam opponents (see pg. 260-261).
A wraith with Moliate ●●●● and Usury ●●●●● can absorb a maximum of four extra corpus levels. If she absorbs 3 corpus levels, her size increases by 60% and she gains a +3 bonus to Body Slams and Grapples.
Each use of this art costs 2 Pathos and inflicts 2 Angst.

Excise
Castigate ●●●●●, Moliate ●●●, 12 experience points
The Pardoner can rid a character of permanent Angst, though it is a gruesome process that takes hours and costs the subject dearly. Excise is usually performed under desperate circumstances, such as preventing a wraith from being permanently dominated by her Shadow. The character's excess Angst is concentrated into a single part of the subject's body, creating a black, suppurating tumor the size of two fists. The Pardoner then amputates this chancre with a relic knife, and throws it into the Tempest (usually through a Nihil or portal created through the basic Argos ability: Tempest Threshold). The subject loses part of herself forever, but her Shadow is crippled in the process.
This procedure is dangerous to both the Pardoner and the subject. More than a few patients have been sent into Oblivion, consigning them to the same fate from which the surgeon-Pardoner attempted to save them, while surgeons who fail to rid themselves of the chancre quickly become tainted by the victim's Angst. Botches involving this art are potentially devastating, and are best left in the Storyteller's hands.
Systems: The Pardoner's player must make a series of extended rolls to perform Excise; assume every roll that must be made takes roughly fifteen minutes of time. First, Manipulation + Castigate is rolled (difficulty of the character's Angst +2, maximum difficulty 9) to concentrate a point of Angst into a tumor, and at least five successes must be accumulated. Once this is done, the Pardoner must cut away the contaminated corpus with a sharp relic blade; he must make enough Dexterity + Moliate rolls to accumulate seven successes (difficulty 8). This amputation inflicts a number of corpus levels of aggravated damage equal to the number of rolls that were made during surgery (this cannot be soaked); of this damage, one permanent corpus level is lost. However, the subject also loses one point of permanent Angst. Excise can only benefit those who are excessively tainted with Oblivion, and can't reduce a character's permanent Angst to a rating lower than four.
Once removed, the tumor must be thrown away (into the Tempest) within a number of turns equal to the Pardoner's Stamina. Failure to do so means the discarded corpus latches onto him, and he gains a point of permanent Angst (as well as an unsightly, dark lump wherever the corpus attached itself).
The Pardoner must spend four Pathos to use this art: two points when accumulating the Angst into a tumor, and two more when removing it. Such dark medicine also inflicts two temporary Angst upon the Pardoner.

Far Leap
Argos ●●, Outrage ●●●, 9 experience points
A basic Tempered Arcanos, the wraith can release psychokinetic force under her feet when she jumps and ride the spiritual currents while aloft, allowing her to cover impressive distances in the Shadowlands or Tempest.
Systems: The character rolls Strength + Outrage to jump, and the distance covered is multiplied by the character's Argos rating. For example, a character rolls Strength + Outrage while making a horizontal and scores three successes, which would normally allow her to cover twelve feet; however, as she has Argos ●●, she covers twenty-four feet.
This art costs 1 Pathos per use.

Horrific Visage
Embody ●●, Moliate ●●●●, 9 experience points
The wraith can appear in the Skinlands by means of higher-level Embody arts, complete with drastic moliations. This allows her to present a bizarre or horrific appearance to the Quick, or to manifest as an object or even an animal. The wraith can keep Moliated modifications such as armor or weapons, allowing wraiths to directly harm Skinland antagonists such as abusive Giovanni or threats to Fetters. However, use of Horrific Visage is the most blatant violation of Charon's Code imaginable, and being caught using the art is certain to get the offender hunted down and discorporated by the Hierarchy (and no few Renegades and Heretics would take exception to it, as well).
Systems: The character can ignore restriction under Life-in-Death (Embody ●●●●) that states she cannot use that art if Moliated into a non-humanoid form. If the character knows Materialize (Embody ●●●●●), she may also use that art to appear while Moliated. Characteristics created through the use of Martialry inflict appropriate damage to mortals, vampires and other Skinlands residents.

Soar (Argos ●●●●●)
The wraith gains the power of true flight, allowing her to travel through the skies of the Shadowlands effortlessly.
Systems: This art functions somewhat like Phantom Wings (Argos ●●), with a few important differences. First, flight may be maintained for one minute per success on the Stamina + Argos roll (difficulty 7), and the character may extend her flight time by spending more Pathos and making additional rolls. The Harbinger may fly through the Shadowlands while corporeal. Finally, her maximum flight speed is equal to her movement while running (20 + [3 x Dexterity] yards per turn).
This art costs 2 Pathos per use.

Temper (Moliate ●●●●)
The Masquer can make one small part of her body, or that of another wraith, invulnerable to damage. While Temper offers little protection in combat, as the part section affected by the art is too small to even be used as a shield (typically, no larger than the palm of one's hand) it does have useful applications: for example, forging a torch that can safely hold a soulfire crystal from another wraith.
Systems: As the Masquer touches the area to be Tempered, the wraith's player rolls Stamina + Moliate (difficulty 9). Success imbues that section of the subject's corpus with invulnerability. Note that only one area of a wraith may be Tempered at any one time; a character cannot gradually make himself invincible by Tempering his corpus in bits and pieces.
This art costs 1 Willpower and 2 Pathos per use, and if done maliciously or selfishly (for example, making a torch of a soulforged wraith) grants 1 Angst.


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