Page 95 - World of Darkness

Of course, if your character’s life is diverse Failure: On a degeneration roll, your character loses
— he defeats some problems for good and the struggle to maintain his standards of behavior when
struggles with others that just won’t go away — faced with the reality of his sin. He loses one dot of Mo-
you can erase some derangements and keep but rality. On a failed Morality roll, he gains a derangement.
ignore others as his Morality rises and falls. Success: Your character emerges from his crisis of
conscience with his sense of right and wrong intact. His
Morality is unchanged and he remains as sane as before.
Exceptional Success: Your character re-dedicates
The Storyteller also has the option of awarding a himself to his convictions in the wake of his sin, learning
Morality point at the end of a story if your character per- or growing from the deeds he has committed. Not only
forms a particularly redeeming, generous or self-effacing does his Morality remain unchanged on a degeneration
act. The deed can’t have been performed with the intent roll, he gains a point of Willpower (which cannot exceed
to regain Morality, to alleviate a derangement or to gain his Willpower dots). No special bonuses are gained for an
any personal reward. In fact, the character probably suf- exceptional Morality roll when testing for a derangement.
fers repercussions for the deed, but gains some solace in
having done the right thing. A character who commits a
theft or murder might turn herself in, for example. Or
someone who steals may not keep the rewards, distribut- Derangement Immunity
ing them among the needy instead. The threat of manifesting derangements
Such a roleplaying-based award should be reserved for because of falling Morality looms for most ordi-
the end of a story, not the end of a scene or chapter. Only nary people. That is, it applies to people with
one Morality point should ever be gained by a character at a everyday standards of behavior. More charitable,
time. (If experience points are being spent to regain Moral- pious or peaceful individuals gain some protec-
ity, an extra play-based extra award should not be doled out tion against derangements. Their behavior is gen-
at the same time.) A free Morality award can eliminate a erally altruistic or compassionate such that
derangement if the sickness corresponds to your character’s they’re not as likely to suffer excessive guilt or
former rating. So, if your character suffers narcissism at 5 shame. When a character achieves a Morality of
Morality, he loses it upon rising to 6 Morality when a free 8 to 10, no derangements are incurred if he ever
point is gained. A free Morality award can also exceed any drops from that rating. His degeneration roll can
previous height that a character’s trait has reached. Thus, if fail and he can lose a dot of Morality, but no
he’s currently at 7 and has never gone any higher, an appro- Morality roll is made to see in he manifests a
priate act of charity or purity could take him to 8. derangement. Such Morality rolls and the threat
Roleplaying-inspired awards are increasingly hard to of mental ailments applies only when a charac-
come by. They not only become more demanding the ter falls from 7 or lower Morality.
higher one’s Morality — saintly acts are necessary at high The blank character sheet at the end of this
scores (8 and higher) — but new and different acts are book shows where derangements are assigned.
required. Donating everything one owns over and over You may write your character’s conditions on
again doesn’t keep netting free Morality dots. It does so the lines associated with Morality 1 to 6.
only once and then the character needs to top even that.
If a character ever loses any Morality points in the
course of a story, he probably invalidates himself from the
prospect of gaining a free point through sacrifice or bene- Size
diction. The exception might be if the character’s sacri- Base Value: 5 (adult human)
fice or penance far exceeds the weight of any sin that he A character’s Size is relative to his species (human)
performs. For example, he might have resorted to theft and age. The average adult human’s Size is 5. A child’s is
earlier, but before the story’s end he risks death by taking 3. Size is one of the two component values used to deter-
a bullet for an innocent bystander.
mine your character’s Health dots (see above), reflecting
Roll Results her overall capacity to withstand damage. Generally, your
character’s Size does not change unless she undergoes some
When making a degeneration roll, use only the dice strange supernatural transformation.
pool associated with the sin committed. Likewise, when Here are some sample Sizes for various creatures.
rolling Morality to check for a derangement, do not add Size Creature
other Attributes, traits or bonuses and do not apply any 1 Human infant (up to 1 year old)
penalties. You may not spend Willpower to gain a +3 modi-
fier on either kind of roll. 3 Human child (5 to 7 years old)
Dramatic Failure: Not possible on either kind of roll. 4 Wolf
At no point is a chance roll made (no penalties or bo- 5 Human
nuses are applied to degeneration or Morality rolls). 6 Gorilla
7 Grizzly bear
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Chapter 4- ADVANTAGES