Page 63 - World of Darkness

injuries and his right-most Health box is emptied (see knows the theories, myths and legends of the occult, but
“Healing,” p. 175). Before any more time is lost, however, can generally discern “fact” from rumor. Characters may
a staggering Emir escapes from the hospital to avoid explana- come by this Skill in a variety of ways, from oddball col-
tions, to hole up and to plot his revenge. lege courses to learning legends and myths from the lips
of superstitious family members.
Roll Results Possessed by: Anthropologists, authors, neo-pagans,
Dramatic Failure: Your character’s efforts make the occult scholars, parapsychologists
patient’s condition worse instead of better. The subject is Specialties: Cultural Beliefs, Ghosts, Magic, Mon-
moved prematurely or incorrectly, or the wrong medica- sters, Superstitions, Witchcraft
tion is administered. The patient loses one Health point
to bashing damage and all your character’s accumulated Roll Results
successes are lost. He must start from scratch if he’s to Dramatic Failure: Your character mistakenly identi-
help the patient. If the subject is bleeding to death, an fies an example of occult phenomena or remembers in-
extra wound turns from lethal to aggravated, in addition correct information that impacts his decisions for the
to that lost for the minute that’s wasted. worse. Depending on the situation, this flawed informa-
Failure: Your character makes no progress in allevi- tion could be deadly.
ating the patient’s injuries. If the subject is bleeding to Failure: Your character is unable to identify or re-
death, a wound turns from lethal to aggravated over the member any useful facts about the situation at hand.
course of the wasted minute. Success: Your character properly identifies or remem-
Success: Your character makes progress in alleviat- bers facts about an example of occult phenomena.
ing the patient’s injuries. Until you acquire the total num- Exceptional Success: Your character is able to iden-
ber of successes required to stop a patient from bleeding tify or answer questions about a particular example of oc-
to death, one more of his wounds turns from lethal to ag- cult phenomena in great detail, possibly recalling extra
gravated per minute. details that enhance his understanding of the broader situ-
Exceptional Success: Your character makes signifi- ation. Not only does he successfully identify the ancient
cant progress toward alleviating the patient’s injuries. grimoire, he recalls that only one known copy was be-
Suggested Equipment: Set of surgeon’s tools (scal- lieved to exist, and it belonged to a famous occult scholar
pels, retractors, clamps) (+1), field surgical kit (+1), mili- who reportedly committed suicide.
tary surgical kit (+2), access to surgical facilities (+3)
Possible Penalties: Lack of tools (-1 to -4), bad Politics
weather (-2), distraction from noise (-1) to imminent dan-
ger (-4) Edgar Young spread his pasty, perfectly manicured
hands and gave Wilson one of his trademark grins. “Mr.
Occult Wilson, I’m the governor’s political advisor, not a member of
the Public Health Service. I don’t have the authority to do
Samantha flicked on the light in the pantry and scanned what you’re asking.”
the shelves. “C’mon, I know mom keeps a box of the stuff “No, but the Public Health Commissioner is a political
around here somewhere.” Absently, she gestured at Lisa. appointee, and if memory serves, he’s one of the governor’s
“Get me the cookie jar on the counter. If there’s anything in golf buddies,” Wilson replied. “I’m sure if you made a
it, empty it out.” suggestion to the governor — and pointed out to him the
risks of being implicated in a criminal cover-up — he’d
Lisa opened the jar and spilled its contents — a
scattering of stale crumbs and a small plastic bag with a spare persuade the commissioner to close the orphanage. Then we
key — and carried the ceramic jar to the kitchen table. “Are can relocate the kids until we finish investigating the
you sure this is going to work?” disappearances.”
The condescending smirk melted from Young’ s face.
“Ah! There you are!” Samantha pulled the box of sea
salt from one of the top shelves. Back at the table, she “Let me make a few calls,” he said coldly.
poured half the salt into the cookie jar. “Sea salt drains Characters possessing this Skill are not only familiar
spiritual energy from objects,” she said, fishing Mr. with the way the political process works, they’re experi-
Chamber’s pocket watch from her jacket. “Or, at least, enced with bureaucracies and know exactly who to call in
that’s what the book says.” a given situation to get something done. Your character
keeps track of who’s in power and how she got there, along
She dropped the watch into the jar and poured the rest
of the salt over it. “I guess we’ll know for sure by midnight,” with her potential rivals. He has a grasp of the issues of
Samantha said grimly, sealing the jar. the moment and how they affect the political process, and
knows whose palms to grease. It’s possible that your char-
The Occult Skill reflects a character’s knowledge and acter acquired this Skill by running for political office at
experience with the world’s various legends and lore about some point, or by working on a campaign or as a public
the supernatural. A character with this Skill not only

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Chapter 3- SKILLS