Page 331 - Hunter - The Vigil

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A APPENDIX ONE:MORALITY AND THE VIGIL
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Internal Costs no logical explanation on fraud, hoax or misunderstanding.
Each shift also brings with it a crack in the hunter’s own While the average human exists quite happily in this stage, it
psyche — regardless of drive, a hunter is, at heart, human himself. can be dangerous, or even deadly, for someone who has previ-
ously dedicated himself to hunting the same creatures he now
Thus, the same obsession that drives him away from the rest of cannot bring himself to believe exist.
humanity also warps him internally. This damage is represented Minor Denial Tells affect the hunter’s belief in or accep-
by the accumulation of hunt-related derangements. Each time a tance of a single supernatural aspect — magic from mages, say,
tenet of the hunter’s Morality Code shifts away from the human or the existence of vampires. During times of extreme stress,
norm, he automatically gains a derangement specifi cally suited the player must make a Resolve + Composure roll. If he fails,
to the shift in ethics that has occurred. These derangements, as his character is struck with a moment of “clarity” — he sudden-
detailed below, differ from standard derangements in that they ly believes that his former acceptance of the particular super-
manifest only in relation to the hunter’s Vigil.
natural aspect was a delusion, one that has now been revealed
Tells as false. While the Tell is active, it is “obvious” to him that the
Tells are derangements that relate directly to the hunt. killer he is stalking has merely used stage magic to fool him
While they may, in their more severe forms, intrude upon the into believing that she was capable of casting magical spells or
hunter’s non-Vigil activities, situations and thought process- shapeshifting into an animal form. Logic simply dictates there
es, they are always a direct result of a change in the hunter’s is no other possible explanation. This newfound “logic” can be
Code and tie into her Vigil in some way. Psychologically, Tells debilitating or even deadly, both to the hunter and to his cell.
represent the damage that breaking from mainstream human- A hunter who no longer believes his prey is a vampire (or that
ity’s Morality causes in an individual. As such, they begin as vampires even exist) will not apply the knowledge, caution or
minor derangements, but as the hunter’s Code grows progres- Tactics he normally would to apprehending such a creature —
sively different from that of “normal” humans, her Tells grow it makes no sense to avoid being caught in your killer’s gaze,
(either deeper or greater in number, or both) until the hunter to use “sunlight” grenades or apply the Dentistry Tactic when

is as morally different from normal humanity as the creatures she is “obviously” just a deluded human with a flair for Gothic
she hunts. fashion. This may very well make him a major handicap to his

Unless otherwise specified, Tells potentially manifest cell — a hunter who, at any given stressful point, loses his abil-
during stressful moments on the Vigil. At which point, the ity to accept the true nature and capability of their foe is likely
character must succeed on a Resolve + Composure roll or to put the entire group at risk. Minor Denial Tells only affect
otherwise manifest the Tell as described. a particular subset of the supernatural. However illogical, the
Tell-affected hunter may be completely comfortable with the
Example Tells existence of elves, demons and ghosts, but adamantly deny the
Calling Card: Stealth and secrecy are invaluable tools existence of vampires.
to the hunter. Those with the Calling Card Tell, however, Major Denial Tells erode the hunter’s belief in all super-
must roll a successful Resolve + Compose in order to keep natural creatures and phenomenon while the Tell is active.
from leaving some significant mark of their presence on the When a character with the Major Denial Tell fails his Re-

scene of a successful hunt. It may be an item (a certain play- solve + Composure roll in situations of stress, he will create
ing card, a red rose or a linen handkerchief), or a symbol (an “logical” explanations to argue away any evidence of the su-
initial inscribed somewhere on their victim, a sigil drawn on pernatural he encounters. The mage’s spell was an illusion,
the wall, or a progressively larger number of “tick marks” that carefully orchestrated trick or simply coincidence. The vam-
quantify the hunter’s ever-growing tally of successful hunts). pire’s blood drinking is a symptom of porphyria. Evidence of a
Some hunters even use situational Calling Cards; their vic- half-man/half-wolf is merely a portfolio of creatively doctored
tims may be arranged in a particular pose (kneeling as if in photographs and video. Things he personally witnesses with
prayer, arms crossed over their chest or face down) or location no explanation may be shrugged off as his eyes deceiving him,
(placed behind the wheel of a car, tied to a chair or hung from hallucinations from lack of sleep, or simply “Well, I don’t
a noose, even if they were not killed there). know what it could have been, but it wasn’t a monster. Mon-
Minor Calling Card Tells involve a single mark or symbol sters don’t exist.” If confronted with absolutely undeniable
and are limited only to major successes on the Vigil (which evidence that cannot be ignored or explained away, a hunter
might include executions, captures, computer system hacks, with the Denial Tell may actually enter a catatonic state, hid-
even a tomb raid). ing himself from that which he simply cannot accept. For all
Major Calling Card Tells: the hunter begins leaving that it may manifest as a pre-Vigil state of ignorance, the De-
his mark more often. While on stakeouts, he might find nial Tell is actually an active coping technique, and cannot
himself absentmindedly carving it into a windowsill, doo- simply be brushed aside by providing evidence to contradict
dling it on scratch paper while researching or otherwise it. While the Major Denial Tell is active, the affected hunt-
incorporating it into his non-hunt activities. er’s psyche simply can no longer accept the existence of the
Denial: When a hunter cracks, his mind reverts to a pre- supernatural, and will go to any length, including shutting
Vigil stage, adamantly refuting the existence of the supernatu- down completely, to avoid it. He suffers a -3 penalty to any
ral. Like normal humans, he blames all phenomena that have Tactic or Endowment roll that relies on the acceptance of the
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