Page 41 - Chronicles of Darkness

Sample Specialties: Clubs, Duels, Improvised Weapons, common animal. He can make friends with any
Knives, Swords domesticated creature, and can establish a good
Sample contacts: Fencing Instructor, Gang Member, relationship with most nonaggressive wild animals.
Western Martial Arts Enthusiast
•• Professional: The character can work with animals
• Novice: At this level, a character knows how to professionally. She knows how to handle and train
hold and swing a weapon properly, and under- commonly domesticated animals like dogs and
stands the fundamentals of defense. She knows horses, and has some idea how to train many wild
how to handle herself in a fight, and can hold her species, even ones that are normally aggressive or
own when sparring.
difficult to work with.
•• Professional: A character with this rank in ••• Experienced: At this rank, the character can easily
Weaponry has excellent training or experience in train any domesticated animal, and seems to have a
a fight, and knows how to make sure an assailant sixth sense for how animals behave and what they
is taken out of the fight efficiently.
are feeling.
••• Experienced: A character with three dots in •••• Expert: The character can train animals to perform
Weaponry can make a weapon out of almost any ob- well beyond their normal behaviors. She can train
ject, and could reasonably compete in tournaments horses for combat or for movie tricks, or even train
or teach someone how to use their favored weapon.
wild animals like tigers.
•••• Expert: A character at this rank is extremely danger- ••••• Master: The character can all but speak to animals.
ous with just about any hand-to-hand weapon, and He is an absolute expert in the behaviors of even
can stand toe to toe with some of the best fighters wild animals, and can soothe or cow an angry bear
in the world. She knows how to read a fight and or a hunting cougar.
handle herself against single or multiple opponents.

••••• Master: A character at this rank can actually per- Empathy
form the sort of feats action movie stars pretend Empathy is a character’s ability to read and understand
to be capable of.
others’ feelings and motivations. It can represent careful
Social Skills observation of body language, tone, and other cues, or it
could be an instinctive sense that the character isn’t even
entirely aware of. It can help the character detect deception
Social Skills involve the application of a character’s charm, or uncertainty, as well as discern her target’s mood. It does
poise, and personality. They generally don’t represent formal not inherently mean she is agreeing with or even behaving
training so much as a combination of innate talent and ex- in a friendly fashion towards her target. The Empathy Skill is
perience interacting with others. Social Skills are sometimes simply the ability to understand and work with the emotions
paired with Physical or Mental Attributes, such as when you that someone is feeling.
roll Strength + Intimidation for a show of force. Sample actions: Determine intentions (Wits + Empathy),
Animal Ken Sense Deception (Wits + Empathy), Soothe nerves
(Manipulation + Empathy)
Animal Ken represents a character’s understanding of Sample Specialties: Buried Feelings, Calming, Emotions,
animal behavior. A character can use this Skill to train ani- Lies, Motives
mals, calm frightened or injured animals, or cow violent and Sample contacts: Shoulder to Cry On, Police Profiler,
aggressive creatures. Characters with Animal Ken understand Psych Student
how animals think and behave, whether through intuition Levels:
and respect for animals or analytical observation.
Sample actions: Animal training (Composure + Animal • Novice: A character at this rank in Empathy regu-
Ken), Cowing an animal (Presence + Animal Ken), Soothing larly gets a “vibe” from people, and is often the
an animal (Presence + Animal Ken) source of stability or advice for her friends.
Sample Specialties: Dogs, Exotic Pets, Horses, Training,
Wild Animals •• Professional: The character might actually be a thera-
pist or social worker. He can always tell when friends
Sample contacts: Crazy Cat Lady, Rodeo Horse Trainer,
Zoo Veterinarian are keeping secrets or when something is bothering
them, and excels at figuring out what it is.
Levels:
••• Experienced: With three dots in Empathy, a
• Novice: At this level, the character has a knack character can gain profound insights into another
with animals and is good with just about any
person’s feelings and behavior, even strangers.
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the face in the mirror-Characters