Fae Gifts

This document provides a greater selection of Fae Gifts that any Kinain may purchase.

Animal Kinship (1-point Fae Gift)
Your faerie heritage gifts you with the ability to relate more easily to a certain kind of animal. Typically, the kinship is with a kind of animal appropriate to your faerie background. For example, Satyr Kinain often have an easier time with goats or deer. Trolls may prove handy with bulls or horses. The kind of animal can’t be too broad, but needn’t be very specific. For example, “house cats” is fine, while “Siamese cats” is too specific. But “cats” is too broad. If the character wants to affect lions or tigers, he must define them separately.

Ultimately, it has more to do with the character’s concept than heritage. As it is most common among Pooka Kinain, this Fae Gift often coincides with the animal type that the Kin’s fae heritage involves. In game terms, you gain a –2 difficulty on all rolls (especially Animal Ken rolls) dealing with that sort of animal. This Fae Gift can be purchased more than once.

Ballacroí (2-point Fae Gift)
Ballacroí, or “wall of the heart”, is a rare but potent Gift some Kinain possess. Changelings typically find it especially easy to Ravage a Kinain; they need only roll, and no relationship needs to be established. But Kinain with this Gift are resistant against such plundering. All attempts to Ravage are harder: +2 difficulty to the faerie’s roll. This generally assures no Kith will ever try more than once to Ravage you!

Defensive Glamour (4-point Fae Gift)
This potent Gift gives you a form of counterweaving available only to Kinain. When any spell (namely cantrips, but also including magickal Sphere Effects, hedge magic spells, Thaumaturgical effects, and so on) is cast upon you, you can resist it by sacrificing some of your precious Glamour. Your inherent magical energy forms a minor but useful barrier against unwanted spells, blunting if not negating their power. To use this Gift, you must expend 1 point of Glamour. Then roll your permanent Glamour rating (difficulty 8). Each success reduces the number of successes of any single spell cast at you on a one-for-one basis.

Gabha-draíocht
Gabha-draíocht (“forge of magic”) is the Fae Gift some rare Kinain demonstrate: the ability to craft bonified Glamour-run Treasures! The creation of such wonders is no easy task, however. It is taxing and demanding. Furthermore, a Kinain can only work in a limited field, determined on the onset of this Fae Gift.

To define what constitutes a Treasure that this Fae Gift can make, take any single cantrip (any Art focused through a particular Realm). A single Treasure can embody any single cantrip. So a Treasure that was built with the base of Sovereign 2 and Actor 1 only lets you issue Dictums to your close friends. You cannot cast Weaver Ward through it (Sovereign 4), or Dictum your enemies (Actor 5).

When this Fae Gift is acquired, you must decide from which Art you can create Treasures. Once selected, you cannot change. This is the only Art from which you can build Treasures. Ever. Luckily, you do not need to actually know the Art! The magical knowledge comes innately, and channeled through your faerie heritage. Mastery of Gabha-draíocht allows you to handle the more powerful cantrips. However, another limitation (possibly a greater one) is the Realm with which you may work. You are limited to one Realm alone. And that Realm is decided by your Heritage. The Realm that comes natural to your Kith is the only Realm with which you may work. For example, Satyrs (and Sidhe, according to CoLA House Rules) would be Fae. Eshu Kinain would be able to work with Scene. (If you’re a Kinain of mixed Heritage and choose this Fae Gift, you must choose which Kith Heritage your skill in this Gift favors and stick to it.) Fortunately, like the Art you choose, you do not need to actually have anything in that Realm. The Realm knowledge also comes innately through Gabha-draíocht. (Of course, all Art/Realm knowledge is strictly for the purpose of this Fae Gift, and cannot be used to actually cast cantrips.)

You are further limited by your rating in Gabha-draíocht in the levels of both your specialized Art and Realm. You are not required to create a Treasure equal to your score in Gabha-draíocht. For example, if you were a Nocker Kinain that had Gabha-draíocht 4 and specialized in Primal, and you and wanted to make a sword that caused its magic to explode inside an unlucky victim (Primal 4’s Holly Strike), you could do so (even though a sword only needs Prop 2, not Prop 4). You would not be forced to imbue only “Complex Machines”. Anything that falls under Prop up to Level 4 is fine.

Luckily, your rating in Gabha-draíocht is not limited by your Glamour or Faerie Blood scores. Within these many restrictions designed to prevent a Kinain from becoming the ultimate “toy maker” for his faerie comrades, and thus cheapening the value of Treasures, you still have a wide range of imaginative possibilities. Furthermore, any character with a Glamour rating, including Kinain, can make use of your Treasures (or any Treasures for that matter). Activating the built-in cantrip of a Treasure simply requires the expenditure of a point of a Glamour. If a roll is needed to enact the Treasure’s cantrip-like power, the user rolls the Treasure’s maker’s Gabha-draíocht score (the score at the time of the Treasure’s creation) plus the user’s appropriate Attribute (the Attribute tied to the Art in question). The difficulty is equal to the target’s (or user’s, whichever is higher) Banality score +4 (maximum difficulty 10).

The creation process is costly, however. You must expend one point of Glamour per level of the Treasure intended. These points can be spent over the course of the item’s creation, which always takes one month minimum per level. At the end of this period, you must make a roll of your permanent Glamour score (difficulty 4 + the level of the Treasure); failure ruins the item and you have to start from scratch. A botch costs it all plus you lose an additional point of Glamour. After that roll, presuming it succeeds, you lastly must sacrifice one permanent point of your Willpower to seal in the magic.

Level 1 * You can create a Level 1 Treasure, such as a bird’s feather that lets you jump higher (Wayfare 1, Actor 1).
Level 2 ** You can craft a Level 2 Treasure, like a stained glass decoration that brings good “feng shui” to your apartment (Soothsay 2, Scene 2).
Level 3 *** You can make a Level 3 Treasure, like a pistol that can fire a bullet doing aggravated damage (Discord 3, Prop 3).
Level 4 **** You can make a Level 4 Treasure, such as an ornate gate that prevents Gallain from passing (Sovereign 4, Fae 4).
Level 5 ***** You can create a Level 5 Treasure, like a cloak that lets you transform into a pillar of living, walking (and mostly) burning flame (Primal 5, Nature 5).

Goid-draíocht (5-point Fae Gift)
Goid-draíocht, or “theft of magic”, is a powerful and unusual Fae Gift that Kinain of a strongly Unseelie bent are most likely to exhibit. While most Kin are forced to acquire Glamour only through Rapture or Dross, a daring Kin with this power can actually steal Glamour directly from another Kinain or even a full-blooded faerie. Obviously, the consequences of such theft can be very hazardous for such a brazen Kinain’s health! So a wise mortal uses this Gift sparingly indeed.

To use Goid-draíocht, the character must roll his Glamour score (difficulty equal to the target’s Willpower). The subject rolls his Glamour in opposition (difficulty equal to your Willpower). The difference in successes is how many Glamour the Kinain steals, up to a maximum of his permanent Glamour rating (although he cannot steal more Glamour than the victim had in the first place). The victim will feel the immediate loss and will sense intuitively just who the perpetrator was. This Gift only works on Kithain and Kinain, not chimera or Dross.

Heritage of Prodigals (2-point Fae Gift)
Not only are you descended from faeries, but the blood of other Prodigals runs in your veins, too. Either you have werewolf (or other) blood in you or mage blood. This is not the same as being a shapeshifter’s Kinfolk (though a Kinain could also be such if the appropriate Traits are taken). Rather this Gift remarks upon an indelible mark in your ancestry that has imparted an innate talent to cooperate with living Prodigals. The undead are beyond the ken of this Gift; though they may also come from the same place, the undead’s “genetic lineage” is a different matter! This Gift grants you gain a –2 difficulty to all Social rolls dealing with mages and shapeshifters. Note that this imparts no special knowledge of those Prodigals!

Lagniappe
Lagniappe is a Creole word that means “a little extra gift”. For Kinain artists, that’s exactly what this Fae Gift is. It permits a Kinain to create a piece of artwork, whether it be a painting, sculpture, jewelry, artistic photography, or some other medium, and imbue that work with inherent Glamour – thereby creating Dross! A Kinain with this Gift is one of the Kithain’s most valuable assets, and can expect to be treated especially well. Of course, sometimes they’re imprisoned and enslaved more than any other human ever would be…

With Lagniappe, you can imbue a single piece of artwork with as many points of Dross as you have levels in this Gift. And it costs you nothing but the time and effort to work. You do not use any of your own Glamour. There are limitations to this Fae Gift, however. This Gift is purchased in increments of levels (1-5), but it isn’t limited by Faerie Blood. The character’s talent and skill limit its potential though. So even if you have Lagniappe 3 but your Artistic Expression is only 2, you can only paint (or whatever) a piece worth up to 2 points of Dross. If the same character had Crafts (Pottery) 3, however, he could charge such a piece with up to 3 points.

Regardless of your Lagniappe score, you can only add up to 1 point of Dross to a piece of artwork per month. And until the artwork is done, it doesn’t actually hold any Glamour. So a masterpiece worth 5 points will take at least 5 months to finish, even if you do nothing but eat, sleep, and paint (or whatever). There is also a downside to this Gift. If at any time during the creation of your artwork involving Lagniappe you botch your Ability roll, not only is the whole project scrapped but you also lose a point of your own temporary Glamour.

Mealladh (3-point Fae Gift)
Folklore speaks of faeries luring travelers and sailors to their doom. Mealladh, which means “allure”, involves a similar talent that a Kinain has inherited. By expending a point of Glamour, this power is activated for a scene. You may command the attention of any one subject merely by speaking or gesturing to him or her. This doesn’t give you any special sway over the subject (though the person is a bit distracted and easier to be blindsided). However, once the person’s attention is ensnared, you can easily lure him away with Social rolls. While Mealladh is in effect, you gain a –2 difficulty on all Social rolls such as Expression and Subterfuge, though only upon the target whose attention you currently hold. And once you change your compelling presence’s focus to another subject, the previous subject is released. All social efforts are negated (though the victim won’t necessarily feel any hostility toward you). A subject won’t even realize faerie magic is being used on them without a Perception+Kenning roll (difficulty 7).

Siógasnáth
Siógasnáth, or “faerie threads”, is a unique and creative Fae Gift that is rarely the same for any two Kinain. Similar to what Romani of the Urmen family can learn (c.f., World of Darkness: Gypsies), this Gift embodies a single ability a Kinain may manifest and can use without Glamour. Your Siógasnáth usually resembles a low-level cantrip, but not necessarily. Your Siógasnáth should also be something in line with your character concept and faerie Heritage. Whatever your Siógasnáth, it is not a true cantrip at all. Indeed, the concepts of “wyrd” or “chimerical” are irrelevant to one’s Siógasnáth: you can simply do it, courtesy of your Faerie Blood.

To design your Siógasnáth, choose a single Art and Realm. The Art cannot be higher than Level 1. However, something “quasi-Level 2” would be acceptable. For example, Quicksilver (Wayfare 2) is out of the question, but the ability to double your running speed for five minutes wouldn’t be. The Realm is far more open to choice, as it simply determines the focus of the Art you choose. Whatever power you decide to make your Siógasnáth, the Storyteller must give final approval. And if the power you want isn’t found among the Arts, you can still create it, but will definitely need to work with your Storyteller to make sure it’s fair and on par with the spirit of this Fae Gift.

Once the ability is decided, a roll is usually required even though no Glamour is spent. This roll should usually be your score in the equivalent Art’s appropriate Attribute + your Siógasnáth score. If the power is unique and has no equivalent to the changeling’s Arts, the Storyteller will determine which Attribute you use. The difficulty of the roll is always equal to your own Banality +3. The Storyteller will determine any rolls that need to be made in opposition.

Examples of Siógasnáth include the ability to hold conversations with any and all plant life, summon your light saber (or whatever) to your hand from across the room, eliminate all visible trace of your tracks for the past mile, call to order a class of screaming Kindergarten kids, create a puffball of light that burns all night long without batteries, or cause your skin to change shades (to better blend into the local culture). The duration of one’s Siógasnáth is also dependent on the Storyteller’s decision. He may rule some last a few turns, others a few minutes, and others a few hours. However long one’s Gift lingers, one it’s used up, it’s used up for the next 24 hours…unless you purchase additional levels of Siógasnáth. In fact, additional levels of Siógasnáth confer other abilities, as noted below. However, while you only get one main cantrip-like power with your purchase of Siógasnáth, you can actually purchase Siógasnáth more than once (up to your limit of Faerie Blood, of course). But the abilities that come with Siógasnáth are not cumulative in any way for multiple purchases of this Fae Gift!

Level 1 * You can use your Siógasnáth once per day.
Level 2 ** You gain +1 die to all Kenning rolls and can recognize when another Kinain is using Siógasnáth (Perception+Siógasnáth, difficulty 8).
Level 3 *** You can use your Siógasnáth twice per day.
Level 4 **** You can use your Siógasnáth thrice a day; you can now spend a point of your own Glamour for an automatic success on your Siógasnáth roll if you choose.
Level 5 ***** You can use your Siógasnáth four times a day; the difficulty of any rolls you make for your Siógasnáth are reduced by 1 henceforth (i.e., the difficulty becomes your Banality +2).

Su-da-spiora (1-point Fae Gift)
Su-da-spiora, or “sight of the spirits”, is a rare Fae Gift more common to the Kin of Nunnehi and Menehune than Kithain. It enables a Kiathin to view the spirits of the spirit world (not the Dreaming) – the sort of spirits with whom werewolves and magi have truck, the sort with which Gallain often make pacts. These spirits dwell in the Umbra. With this Gift, you can see them, but cannot speak to them or hear them without other special abilities. However, you can view them as clearly as anyone else. The Storyteller may require a Perception roll (difficulty equals the local Gauntlet; see Werewolf: The Apocalypse or Mage: The Ascension for more details) to see a spirit. Often this Gift can prove to be a double-edged sword, since you often see things no one else can. While most spirits resemble plants and animals of this world, some are far more bizarre. Worse, Banes – evil spirits of corruption – might realize you sense them, and will home in on you…