Beast is the seeming and is a character type, kith is a more in depth version and gives an extra blessing
A story tells of a man who, on the final leg of a long journey,
sheltered from a storm in an empty palace. As he leaves, he
takes a rose from a garden. The owner of the palace, a faerie in the
shape of a terrible Beast appears and catches him, and tells him
he must die. The man begs to live, for he has a daughter whom he
loves, and the beast demands that the daughter come and stay with
him. The man agrees, although he has no intention of sending his
daughter away. When he returns home, he finds that his daughter
has died. In truth, the Beast has taken her away and left a fake to
die in her place. The Beast treats the girl well, certainly, but she
cannot leave. One day, having lost all hope of escape, she
agrees to become the Beast’s wife. There is no ceremony,
only an agreement, a veil and a wedding
night. And on that wedding night, she lays
with him, and she becomes like him, a
Beast, forever, her memory and thought
washed away in the flood of sensation,
the tyranny of the now.
The fairy stories have it that
love’s first kiss redeems everything.
The Beast becomes a man. The
Frog becomes a handsome prince.
It’s a lie. The changelings who
think of themselves as Beasts know
it all too well. To kiss the Beast is to
surrender yourself to sensuality and
instinct. To love the Beast is to become
like the Beast, lost to memory, self-control
and ultimately consciousness. The animal is
amoral. The animal is incapable of true thought.
It’s a two-edged sword. The animal gives spontaneity,
the simple joy of living that is lost to far too many humans.
Colors are brighter, sounds are richer, smells and tastes are richer,
more vivid.
The Beasts consider themselves to have taken the most difficult
road back through the Hedge, for they have had to claw
back their minds as well as their souls. For a Beast to return, he
has to turn his back on the lush sensory life of the animal, and
he has to regain control. He has to think, if only long enough to
burrow, chew and wriggle through the thorny barrier and come
back to the human realm. In every Beast, thought and sensation
war for dominance. No matter what animal she holds an affinity
with, a Beast lives in a state of paradox, a conscious, moral person
infused with the unconscious, amoral power of the animal kingdom.
Unable to be fully objective or fully innocent, the Beast
straddles the divide between human and animal.
Of all the changelings, the Beasts are the most difficult to
categorize. They’re as varied in form and behavior as the animals
whose essence they share. All Beasts, however, exist as interstitial
figures, living on a threshold between human and animal, civilization
and wilderness. Some stand apart from human society. Some
throw themselves into the human world, revealing the wildness
and the world of sensation at the heart of human interaction.
Some express their connection to the world of sensation in other
ways. A Beast’s behavior and the place she creates in for herself in
the world depends a great deal on the kind of animal she reflects.
A Broadback who takes the form of a frank, goat-legged satyr
works as a DJ in a half-dozen parties a night, reveling in the joy
and lust he creates on the dance floor, his unnatural constitution
supporting his prodigious intake of alcohol and drugs.
A Swimmerskin mermaid lives on a windswept
northern coast, managing a Coast Guard
station. For her Court, she keeps watch
over the waves for what might rise. For
herself, she watches the land for that
human who might one day satisfy her
need for love. A Hunterheart with
the legs of a great elk and antlers
on his brow works as a ranger in
a great national park, lonely and
yet well liked by his colleagues for
his dedication and unassuming decency.
Another Hunterheart, a Bad
Wolf, works as a used-car salesman
by day. By night, he prowls two legged
through city night spots and pick-up
joints, looking for a Red Riding Hood to
devour in his bed that night, his big eyes the
better for seeing her, his bright sharp teeth the
better for biting. A Venombite falls into the role of a
Black Widow, her heart a swarming mass of spidery passions. She
runs a women’s refuge. Woe to anyone who would threaten one
of the Widow’s charges. More than once, a known wife-beater’s
corpse has been found, his face twisted in agony, his face black
and swollen. A Windwing swan-lady illustrates children’s books,
drawing detailed beautiful landscapes from memory and accepting
other, more esoteric commissions from her Court.
Two Hunterheart fox-women, sisters who came back through
the Hedge together, take separate paths. One works as a broker,
playing the Nikkei for all she can get. The other does quite well
as a confidence trickster, fleecing Shibuya hipsters for every penny
they have and leaving them with smiles on their faces. Both get by
on cunning, charm and nerve. A cheeky, cheery Steepscrambler
Monkey King with a love for kung-fu dons a backpack and goes
off to see the world. Trouble always seems to find him. He’s not
wholly sure where he’s going, but he’s well aware that the journey
is mostly the point. A good-natured elephant-man, a Broadback
Ganesha with a flair for good food, runs an Indian restaurant,
where changelings meet and set aside their differences over his incomparable Saag Aloo and soft, fragrant naan breads. A Runnerswift
antelope-girl, long-legged and silky-skinned, is the best cycle
courier in the city. She’s able to take her bike places her colleagues
wouldn’t dare to go, and goes faster than most of her friends can
believe. When there’s a message the Court would have delivered
quickly and without fuss, she’s the only real choice.
Whether scary, funny or nurturing, the Beasts have a primal
energy to them. They communicate an awareness of the senses,
of the body. People who meet Beasts become intensely aware for
a while of their senses, noticing smells, tastes and touch more
than they would normally.
Appearance: A Beast always has some feature belonging
to the animal she reflects. It’s important to note that the Beast
reflects the idea of the animal rather than the animal itself (so,
for example, a leonine Beast can be a mighty, regal hunter, rather
than the indolent scavenger that a lion really is). She might reflect
more than one animal. She might reflect (as the archetypal
Beast from the folktale) a category of animals that don’t even
exist. They’re always very physical and solid, whatever form they
take. Many Beasts have a strong odor of some kind.
The elephant chef is huge. He has small tusks, big ears and a
trunk, but he also has the bright pink skin and big heavy-lashed
eyes of the Hindu god. In his human form, he’s still got rough
skin, bright eyes and comically big ears, but no one’s going to
make fun of him, because he’s built like the proverbial elephant.
He smells of spices and earth. The satyr has goat-legs and small
horns. As a human, he has extremely persistent stubble. He’s really
hairy, and his smell promises heat and sensuality. The Fox-
Sisters both have fox-ears and huge bright eyes. The younger of
them has two fox-tails. The elder has three. In human form, both
have the same bright eyes and delicate pointed features. Both
move in small-swift movements. Each one cocks her head to one
side when she’s surprised. The antelope girl has small impalahorns
and the soft smooth hide of her animal covering her body.
Her face slopes forward slightly, and her eyes are round and almost
wholly black. As a human, she is graceful and long-necked.
Her black skin glows, and smells of heat and health.
The Bad Wolf has sloping yellow eyes and fangs in a snarling
maw. Darkly handsome in human form, he speaks in low, wheedling
tones to his potential victim-lovers. The Monkey King looks
just like the figure from the Chinese myth, all smiles and improbable
poses. As a human, his hair is thick and short, and his skin
is dusky. The Mermaid’s skin is iridescent and covered in places
with silvery scales. Her hair is green and woven with sea-shells
and brightly colored seaweed. Her fingers and toes are webbed. In
human form, she smells of the sea. Her skin is very pale and always
cold. In both forms, she has eyes as green and as deep as the sea.
Background: The oldest version of the story of Red Riding
Hood has the girl tempted into removing her clothes and getting
into the bed with the Bad Wolf, where she is “devoured.”
Red Riding Hood is very much the archetype of the Beast’s
victim. She was innocent, unknowing of where her actions would
lead her. She was prone to wandering in out-of-the-way places,
out of human view but well within the notice of a Fae Beast. And
for all her innocence, the wild tempted her, drew her into that
world of excitement and sensation that consumed her.
Many Beasts were innocent when they were taken in some
way, as naïve when it came to the ways of the animal world as they
were to the human world. Many were loners, with no human society
to protect them from the things that would take them away from the
world they knew. And many came to the world of the Fae, or at least
they thought they came, of their own free will. They might not have
understood what giving into to a world of sensation and instinct was
going to mean, but a good proportion of them wanted it enough to
willingly fall into the clutches of the Gentry.
Those few who escape are those whose innocence was not a
weakness. Some were simply ignorant, and when, within themselves
they realized what their time in the lands of faerie really
meant, they regained themselves and escaped. Others have an
innocence that simply refuses to be corrupted or destroyed, an
innocence that can be wielded like a weapon. This bright refusal
to be corrupted can give a changeling the strength to get out.
Escaping, some return to the wilds and return to living
alone, but just as many, if not more, throw themselves into human
society, as if to attempt to regain the benefits of civilization.
It works, if only to an extent: the Beast might gain a veneer of
civility, but spreads just as much wildness to the civilized world.
Durance: A Beast would have spent her time in Faerie with
the mind (and sometimes the form) of an animal. There is no
real consciousness of the past in this state, only the eternal vivid
present. Because of that, a Beast’s memories of his time with his
Keeper are fragmentary and blurred, snatches of vivid colors, a
vibrant swirl of hunger, pain, fear, violence and sex. Beasts who
escape sometimes have vivid dreams of their durances. A dream
disturbs and terrifies, and the Beast often wakes screaming as the
dreams fade almost instantly.
Character Creation: Most Beasts concentrate almost exclusively
on Physical Attributes and Skills. Which Skills and Attributes
they concentrate on depends on what sort of animal the
character has an affinity with. An antelope, wolf or mule Beast
could concentrate on Stamina; a rabbit, mouse or spider might
have a high Dexterity, and an ox or gorilla could just as easily focus
on Strength. Regardless of focus, the Beast who doesn’t have
any dots in Animal Ken is rare indeed.
Physical Merits are also common, particularly those that
represent innate physical qualities (for example: Natural Immunity,
Strong Back, Iron Stomach, Giant or Fresh Start). Some
physical Flaws might also be appropriate, depending on what
kind of animal the Beast has an affinity with.
Blessing: The wildness that infuses a Beast gives her a supernatural
affinity with animals. A Beast gains the benefit of the 8 again
rule when using the Animal Ken Skill, and receives a free Specialty
for the one animal that most reflects the Beast’s seeming.
That same wild nature gives a Beast a powerful personal
magnetism. A Beast’s player can spend points of Glamour to add
to dice pools involving Presence and Composure. Each point of
Glamour spent adds one die to one dice pool.
Curse: Although the Beasts regained their consciousness
when they came through the Hedge, their time as beings of
thoughtless instinct has taken its toll on each of them, and most
find it very hard to make use of academic or trained skills. A
Beast’s player suffers a –4 dice untrained penalty when trying to
use a Mental skill in which the character has no dots.
Further, although Beasts can be very clever indeed, they’re
out of practice making those leaps of ingenuity that so character ize human genius. A Beast’s player doesn’t re-roll 10s when using
a dice pool involving Intelligence.
Seeming Contracts: Fang and Talon
Concepts: Horse whisperer, cat burglar, animal rights activist,
ox-sized college jock, homeless sewer rat king, man-eating
loan shark, reptilian lawyer, grizzly man with a clue, hare-like
professional athlete, dog soldier, queen bee of the sorority, eagleeyed
detective, penniless frog prince.
Kiths
Broadback — Changelings who are attuned to animals that are
renowned for their endurance or stubbornness, such as camels, elephants,
horses, mules, goats and the like. Their blessing is Stoic Forbearance:
the changeling’s player can spend one point of Glamour to
add two to all dice pools involving Stamina, for the rest of the scene.
Hunterheart — Often, but not always, those changelings
who have something of the predator about them: wolves, bears,
cats, crocodiles, snakes and birds of prey, but also those that embody
the hunter in a more conceptual sense. The Hunterheart’s
blessing is Tooth and Claw: the changeling can inflict lethal
damage instead of bashing damage when fighting unarmed.
Runnerswift — Changelings who move like the wind, reflecting
hares, rabbits, antelopes and the like. The Runnerswift’s blessing is
Runs Like the Wind: the changeling adds two points to Speed (cumulative
with the Fleet of Foot Merit, if
the changeling possesses it).
Skitterskulk — Changelings who have an affinity with flies,
spiders, beetles, centipedes and other creepy crawlies. The Skitterskulk
has the Impossible Counterpoise blessing: just as an insect,
her sense of timing and reactions are second to none. When Dodging,
the character triples her Defense Trait rather than doubling it.
Steepscrambler — Changelings who are at home in high places,
and who are attuned to animals such as monkeys, raccoons,
squirrels, some insects and some lizards. The Steepscrambler’s
blessing is Gifted Climber: she finds climbing easy, no matter
how sheer the ascent. The character gains a +3 dice pool bonus
when trying to climb any surface, and may attempt to climb even
surfaces as slick as wet glass if they will support her weight.
Swimmerskin — Changelings who draw affinities with
aquatic or amphibious creatures: seals, otters, ducks, salmon,
and the like; mermaids, too. The Swimmerskin’s blessing is Natural
Swimmer. He can hold his breath underwater for thirty
minutes, as if he had a Stamina of 7. He can’t, however, hold
his breath any longer than his Stamina score allows if he’s out
of water (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 49). He may
also swim at his full Speed, just as if he were running.
Venombite — Changelings who have an affinity with poisonous
creatures, such as poisonous
spiders and insects, or
poisonous reptiles. Every
Venombite has the
Poisonous Bite blessing.
Once per scene, the
changeling’s player may
spend a point of Glam-
A story tells of a man who, on the final leg of a long journey,
sheltered from a storm in an empty palace. As he leaves, he
takes a rose from a garden. The owner of the palace, a faerie in the
shape of a terrible Beast appears and catches him, and tells him
he must die. The man begs to live, for he has a daughter whom he
loves, and the beast demands that the daughter come and stay with
him. The man agrees, although he has no intention of sending his
daughter away. When he returns home, he finds that his daughter
has died. In truth, the Beast has taken her away and left a fake to
die in her place. The Beast treats the girl well, certainly, but she
cannot leave. One day, having lost all hope of escape, she
agrees to become the Beast’s wife. There is no ceremony,
only an agreement, a veil and a wedding
night. And on that wedding night, she lays
with him, and she becomes like him, a
Beast, forever, her memory and thought
washed away in the flood of sensation,
the tyranny of the now.
The fairy stories have it that
love’s first kiss redeems everything.
The Beast becomes a man. The
Frog becomes a handsome prince.
It’s a lie. The changelings who
think of themselves as Beasts know
it all too well. To kiss the Beast is to
surrender yourself to sensuality and
instinct. To love the Beast is to become
like the Beast, lost to memory, self-control
and ultimately consciousness. The animal is
amoral. The animal is incapable of true thought.
It’s a two-edged sword. The animal gives spontaneity,
the simple joy of living that is lost to far too many humans.
Colors are brighter, sounds are richer, smells and tastes are richer,
more vivid.
The Beasts consider themselves to have taken the most difficult
road back through the Hedge, for they have had to claw
back their minds as well as their souls. For a Beast to return, he
has to turn his back on the lush sensory life of the animal, and
he has to regain control. He has to think, if only long enough to
burrow, chew and wriggle through the thorny barrier and come
back to the human realm. In every Beast, thought and sensation
war for dominance. No matter what animal she holds an affinity
with, a Beast lives in a state of paradox, a conscious, moral person
infused with the unconscious, amoral power of the animal kingdom.
Unable to be fully objective or fully innocent, the Beast
straddles the divide between human and animal.
Of all the changelings, the Beasts are the most difficult to
categorize. They’re as varied in form and behavior as the animals
whose essence they share. All Beasts, however, exist as interstitial
figures, living on a threshold between human and animal, civilization
and wilderness. Some stand apart from human society. Some
throw themselves into the human world, revealing the wildness
and the world of sensation at the heart of human interaction.
Some express their connection to the world of sensation in other
ways. A Beast’s behavior and the place she creates in for herself in
the world depends a great deal on the kind of animal she reflects.
A Broadback who takes the form of a frank, goat-legged satyr
works as a DJ in a half-dozen parties a night, reveling in the joy
and lust he creates on the dance floor, his unnatural constitution
supporting his prodigious intake of alcohol and drugs.
A Swimmerskin mermaid lives on a windswept
northern coast, managing a Coast Guard
station. For her Court, she keeps watch
over the waves for what might rise. For
herself, she watches the land for that
human who might one day satisfy her
need for love. A Hunterheart with
the legs of a great elk and antlers
on his brow works as a ranger in
a great national park, lonely and
yet well liked by his colleagues for
his dedication and unassuming decency.
Another Hunterheart, a Bad
Wolf, works as a used-car salesman
by day. By night, he prowls two legged
through city night spots and pick-up
joints, looking for a Red Riding Hood to
devour in his bed that night, his big eyes the
better for seeing her, his bright sharp teeth the
better for biting. A Venombite falls into the role of a
Black Widow, her heart a swarming mass of spidery passions. She
runs a women’s refuge. Woe to anyone who would threaten one
of the Widow’s charges. More than once, a known wife-beater’s
corpse has been found, his face twisted in agony, his face black
and swollen. A Windwing swan-lady illustrates children’s books,
drawing detailed beautiful landscapes from memory and accepting
other, more esoteric commissions from her Court.
Two Hunterheart fox-women, sisters who came back through
the Hedge together, take separate paths. One works as a broker,
playing the Nikkei for all she can get. The other does quite well
as a confidence trickster, fleecing Shibuya hipsters for every penny
they have and leaving them with smiles on their faces. Both get by
on cunning, charm and nerve. A cheeky, cheery Steepscrambler
Monkey King with a love for kung-fu dons a backpack and goes
off to see the world. Trouble always seems to find him. He’s not
wholly sure where he’s going, but he’s well aware that the journey
is mostly the point. A good-natured elephant-man, a Broadback
Ganesha with a flair for good food, runs an Indian restaurant,
where changelings meet and set aside their differences over his incomparable Saag Aloo and soft, fragrant naan breads. A Runnerswift
antelope-girl, long-legged and silky-skinned, is the best cycle
courier in the city. She’s able to take her bike places her colleagues
wouldn’t dare to go, and goes faster than most of her friends can
believe. When there’s a message the Court would have delivered
quickly and without fuss, she’s the only real choice.
Whether scary, funny or nurturing, the Beasts have a primal
energy to them. They communicate an awareness of the senses,
of the body. People who meet Beasts become intensely aware for
a while of their senses, noticing smells, tastes and touch more
than they would normally.
Appearance: A Beast always has some feature belonging
to the animal she reflects. It’s important to note that the Beast
reflects the idea of the animal rather than the animal itself (so,
for example, a leonine Beast can be a mighty, regal hunter, rather
than the indolent scavenger that a lion really is). She might reflect
more than one animal. She might reflect (as the archetypal
Beast from the folktale) a category of animals that don’t even
exist. They’re always very physical and solid, whatever form they
take. Many Beasts have a strong odor of some kind.
The elephant chef is huge. He has small tusks, big ears and a
trunk, but he also has the bright pink skin and big heavy-lashed
eyes of the Hindu god. In his human form, he’s still got rough
skin, bright eyes and comically big ears, but no one’s going to
make fun of him, because he’s built like the proverbial elephant.
He smells of spices and earth. The satyr has goat-legs and small
horns. As a human, he has extremely persistent stubble. He’s really
hairy, and his smell promises heat and sensuality. The Fox-
Sisters both have fox-ears and huge bright eyes. The younger of
them has two fox-tails. The elder has three. In human form, both
have the same bright eyes and delicate pointed features. Both
move in small-swift movements. Each one cocks her head to one
side when she’s surprised. The antelope girl has small impalahorns
and the soft smooth hide of her animal covering her body.
Her face slopes forward slightly, and her eyes are round and almost
wholly black. As a human, she is graceful and long-necked.
Her black skin glows, and smells of heat and health.
The Bad Wolf has sloping yellow eyes and fangs in a snarling
maw. Darkly handsome in human form, he speaks in low, wheedling
tones to his potential victim-lovers. The Monkey King looks
just like the figure from the Chinese myth, all smiles and improbable
poses. As a human, his hair is thick and short, and his skin
is dusky. The Mermaid’s skin is iridescent and covered in places
with silvery scales. Her hair is green and woven with sea-shells
and brightly colored seaweed. Her fingers and toes are webbed. In
human form, she smells of the sea. Her skin is very pale and always
cold. In both forms, she has eyes as green and as deep as the sea.
Background: The oldest version of the story of Red Riding
Hood has the girl tempted into removing her clothes and getting
into the bed with the Bad Wolf, where she is “devoured.”
Red Riding Hood is very much the archetype of the Beast’s
victim. She was innocent, unknowing of where her actions would
lead her. She was prone to wandering in out-of-the-way places,
out of human view but well within the notice of a Fae Beast. And
for all her innocence, the wild tempted her, drew her into that
world of excitement and sensation that consumed her.
Many Beasts were innocent when they were taken in some
way, as naïve when it came to the ways of the animal world as they
were to the human world. Many were loners, with no human society
to protect them from the things that would take them away from the
world they knew. And many came to the world of the Fae, or at least
they thought they came, of their own free will. They might not have
understood what giving into to a world of sensation and instinct was
going to mean, but a good proportion of them wanted it enough to
willingly fall into the clutches of the Gentry.
Those few who escape are those whose innocence was not a
weakness. Some were simply ignorant, and when, within themselves
they realized what their time in the lands of faerie really
meant, they regained themselves and escaped. Others have an
innocence that simply refuses to be corrupted or destroyed, an
innocence that can be wielded like a weapon. This bright refusal
to be corrupted can give a changeling the strength to get out.
Escaping, some return to the wilds and return to living
alone, but just as many, if not more, throw themselves into human
society, as if to attempt to regain the benefits of civilization.
It works, if only to an extent: the Beast might gain a veneer of
civility, but spreads just as much wildness to the civilized world.
Durance: A Beast would have spent her time in Faerie with
the mind (and sometimes the form) of an animal. There is no
real consciousness of the past in this state, only the eternal vivid
present. Because of that, a Beast’s memories of his time with his
Keeper are fragmentary and blurred, snatches of vivid colors, a
vibrant swirl of hunger, pain, fear, violence and sex. Beasts who
escape sometimes have vivid dreams of their durances. A dream
disturbs and terrifies, and the Beast often wakes screaming as the
dreams fade almost instantly.
Character Creation: Most Beasts concentrate almost exclusively
on Physical Attributes and Skills. Which Skills and Attributes
they concentrate on depends on what sort of animal the
character has an affinity with. An antelope, wolf or mule Beast
could concentrate on Stamina; a rabbit, mouse or spider might
have a high Dexterity, and an ox or gorilla could just as easily focus
on Strength. Regardless of focus, the Beast who doesn’t have
any dots in Animal Ken is rare indeed.
Physical Merits are also common, particularly those that
represent innate physical qualities (for example: Natural Immunity,
Strong Back, Iron Stomach, Giant or Fresh Start). Some
physical Flaws might also be appropriate, depending on what
kind of animal the Beast has an affinity with.
Blessing: The wildness that infuses a Beast gives her a supernatural
affinity with animals. A Beast gains the benefit of the 8 again
rule when using the Animal Ken Skill, and receives a free Specialty
for the one animal that most reflects the Beast’s seeming.
That same wild nature gives a Beast a powerful personal
magnetism. A Beast’s player can spend points of Glamour to add
to dice pools involving Presence and Composure. Each point of
Glamour spent adds one die to one dice pool.
Curse: Although the Beasts regained their consciousness
when they came through the Hedge, their time as beings of
thoughtless instinct has taken its toll on each of them, and most
find it very hard to make use of academic or trained skills. A
Beast’s player suffers a –4 dice untrained penalty when trying to
use a Mental skill in which the character has no dots.
Further, although Beasts can be very clever indeed, they’re
out of practice making those leaps of ingenuity that so character ize human genius. A Beast’s player doesn’t re-roll 10s when using
a dice pool involving Intelligence.
Seeming Contracts: Fang and Talon
Concepts: Horse whisperer, cat burglar, animal rights activist,
ox-sized college jock, homeless sewer rat king, man-eating
loan shark, reptilian lawyer, grizzly man with a clue, hare-like
professional athlete, dog soldier, queen bee of the sorority, eagleeyed
detective, penniless frog prince.
Kiths
Broadback — Changelings who are attuned to animals that are
renowned for their endurance or stubbornness, such as camels, elephants,
horses, mules, goats and the like. Their blessing is Stoic Forbearance:
the changeling’s player can spend one point of Glamour to
add two to all dice pools involving Stamina, for the rest of the scene.
Hunterheart — Often, but not always, those changelings
who have something of the predator about them: wolves, bears,
cats, crocodiles, snakes and birds of prey, but also those that embody
the hunter in a more conceptual sense. The Hunterheart’s
blessing is Tooth and Claw: the changeling can inflict lethal
damage instead of bashing damage when fighting unarmed.
Runnerswift — Changelings who move like the wind, reflecting
hares, rabbits, antelopes and the like. The Runnerswift’s blessing is
Runs Like the Wind: the changeling adds two points to Speed (cumulative
with the Fleet of Foot Merit, if
the changeling possesses it).
Skitterskulk — Changelings who have an affinity with flies,
spiders, beetles, centipedes and other creepy crawlies. The Skitterskulk
has the Impossible Counterpoise blessing: just as an insect,
her sense of timing and reactions are second to none. When Dodging,
the character triples her Defense Trait rather than doubling it.
Steepscrambler — Changelings who are at home in high places,
and who are attuned to animals such as monkeys, raccoons,
squirrels, some insects and some lizards. The Steepscrambler’s
blessing is Gifted Climber: she finds climbing easy, no matter
how sheer the ascent. The character gains a +3 dice pool bonus
when trying to climb any surface, and may attempt to climb even
surfaces as slick as wet glass if they will support her weight.
Swimmerskin — Changelings who draw affinities with
aquatic or amphibious creatures: seals, otters, ducks, salmon,
and the like; mermaids, too. The Swimmerskin’s blessing is Natural
Swimmer. He can hold his breath underwater for thirty
minutes, as if he had a Stamina of 7. He can’t, however, hold
his breath any longer than his Stamina score allows if he’s out
of water (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 49). He may
also swim at his full Speed, just as if he were running.
Venombite — Changelings who have an affinity with poisonous
creatures, such as poisonous
spiders and insects, or
poisonous reptiles. Every
Venombite has the
Poisonous Bite blessing.
Once per scene, the
changeling’s player may
spend a point of Glam-
