House Rules
General
A Note
The hsien are an excellent concept that White Wolf generated but failed to perfect. The first publication of Land of Eight Million Dreams left a great number of unanswered questions, particularly in regards to the complex system of Wu Tan (hsien magic). With the World of Darkness series canceled, it seems very unlikely that White Wolf will ever amend their mistakes. These webpages hope to clean up some of those gray areas. Players may assume that if it isn't on these pages, go by the book.
Legacies
When creating one's character, one must pick a Yin and Yang Legacy. Land of Eight Million Dreams lists the Legacies from the corebook under their respective furies. But it left out the Legacies from the Changeling Player's Guide. Here they are under their respective Yin and Yang furies:
Yin: Churl, Craven, Fiend, Fop, Gadfly, Humanist *, Humbug, Ragamuffin, Shade, Sophist, Stoic
Yang: Arcadian *, Aspirant, Bogle, Cerenaic, Comrade, Knight, Philanthropist, Pishogue, Prankster, Schismatic, Virtuoso
* These two Legacies may apply to the hsien. Humanists favor their humanistic sides and ties while Arcadians rarely leave their Wani form or Dragon Nests. In both cases, the hsien are in a constant of imbalance and may never find true enlightenment until the Legacy is changed.
Wani Clarifications
Some of the Wani form powers of the kamuii were a little vague in just what kind of benefits they provided. This should clear things up.
Chu-ih-yu: This power needs little clarification. However, it applies to all attacks from metal, including the chrome of a car (should someone try to run the hsien down). The impact from the crash would batter the hsien back, but he will take no damage equal to his levels of Stamina, just like bullets or knives.
Chu-Jung: This resistance to fire extends to lightning, electricity, and plasma, too. Chu-Jung can be blinded by light and other forms of radiance, however.
Hou-Chi: These kamuii are resistant to wooden weapons. Their Wani power as written is, however, fairly limited in utility (and has been for millennia, which means it's never been all that useful). So to give Hou-Chi a Wani power of actual use, they auto-soak levels of damage equal to their Stamina from purely wooden weapons. Weapons that are partially designed from wood, such as most axes and hammers and spears and arrows (and even rifles with a genuine wood finish!), give them partial resistance. They can auto-soak damage from these weapons with their Stamina score halved (rounded down).
Komuko: Komuko can soak fall damage equal to their Stamina, provided they fall on normal earth or concrete. If they fall onto a plastic or metal floor, they're out of luck. Komuko also soak damage equal to their Stamina against stone weapons. This includes thrown rocks and jade weapons -- even blessed jade. This is a unique benefit of this kwannon-jin.
Suijen: Suijen cannot drown in Wani. They also auto-soak damage equal to their Stamina from wind, water, and ice-based attacks. However, this does not make them able to survive in a vacuum or the Arctic for any longer than other hsien.
Taking Shape
Only a note to remind players that assuming Wani form (or back to Hotei, or to animal form) demands a full turn. The character may act but at a -2 dicepool penalty, and no splitting dicepools. Fae who are Wyrding to their true forms can split their dicepool. For both types of changelings, choosing this as an action inflicts a -2 Initiative penalty that turn.
