Charms

The following charms are available for Familiars, depending on their type. You cannot select a charm from a type of Familiar you do not possess, even with XP. Please also note that the Charms you choose should be appropriate to the Familiar's specific type. A Ferret familiar won't have the Fear Charm, most likely, for example.
The full descriptions of many of these Charms are available on pages 84-89 in Forged in Dragon's Fire. Brief summaries are below.
Any Charm marked with an asterisk (*) is a custom Charm made as a house rule for Dusk. Any Charm marked with a dagger (†) may be purchased multiple times to stack power with the effect - i.e. something which gives +1 dice can be purchased twice to give +2, 3 times to give +3, etc.
==Charms available to all Familiars==
*Aggravated Damage (5) - At the cost of 1 Essence per attack roll, this Familiar can deal aggravated damage with its weaponry (teeth, claws, etc).
*† Armor vs Bashing Damage (3/level) - Each level of this charm provides one additional die to soak versus Bashing damage.
*† Armor vs. Lethal Damage (4/level) - Each level of this charm provides one additional die to soak versus Bashing and Lethal damage.
*† Armor vs Aggravated Damage (5/level) - Each level of this charm provides one additional die to soak versus Bashing, Lethal and Aggravated damage.
*Bad Luck Curse (3) - By spending 1 Essence, the Familiar can cause a target to have bad luck. Roll the Familiar's Willpower. Every success on the roll converts one of the target's successes on any one roll to a 1.
*† Claws/Teeth (2 each) - The Familiar has claws or teeth that can do Str + 1 Lethal damage on a successful Dex + Brawl roll.
*† Countermagic (5/level) - The Familiar has 1 die of Countermagic per level, which he can lend to the Mage if they are touching.
*† Flight (2) - The Familiar can fly, either by the use of wings or levitation. Distance traveled is 3 + Dex yards per turn.
*† Healing (5) - One point of Essence allows the Familiar to heal a level of Bashing ot Lethal damage to the target. Two points of Essence allows it to heal one level of Aggravated damage.
*Hide (1) - When you can't run and you can't fight, sometimes the best move is to sit still and hide. With some natural cover a familiar can hie from whomever searches for it.. The familiar has to have some amount of cover, and needs to remain relatively silent and unmoving.. The difficulties for search rolls to spot or find the familiar are raised by 3.
*Illuminate (1) - The familiar can either give off an ambient glow or light its eyes like flashlights. The light is strong enough to read by, and lets the familiar act like a lamp for others in a small area.
*Invisibility (5) - The familiar can make itself invisible to normal sight. Sounds and touch impressions (footprints), however, still remain. If the familiar spends one Essence point, it remains invisible for a scene, but if interacts physically or socially with another being besides its mage, it becomes visible. If two Essence points are spent, the invisibility lasts for one scene and the familiar need not worry about bumping into other beings and losing this Charm's power.
*Large (2) The familiar is larger than a human, perhaps the size of a bear or a horse. The familiar receives one extra Bruised Health level.
*Luck (4) - By spending one Essence point, the familiar allows its mage to re-roll on any dice roll. This may result in better or worse results; the mage must accept the new roll over the old. This Charm can only be used once per task.
*Paradox Nullification (5/level) - This Charm may be bought only twice. Any more than 2 Paradox nullified in a scene will kill the Familiar and cause a massive backlash. Nullifying a point of Paradox takes a full turn.
*Quintessence Grazing (7) - The familiar still has the Quintessence grazing ability it had as a spirit. It can collect Quintessence for sustenance on its own, cutting down on the amount of weekly Quintessence its mage must provide. If the familiar is left at a Node it can draw one Quintessence point per day from that Node. Otherwise, if it spends a week scrounging the area, it can gather one Quintessence point per week.
*Read and Write (1) - The familiar knows how to read and write its mage's primary language. If it wants to read more, it needs to learn dots of linguistics. If it doesn't have opposable thumbs, it must use its mouth to hold a writing instrument, and its handwriting is sloppy. If it has no fingers, it cannot type.
*Resilience (3) - This familiar is tough. It gains one additional Bruised Health Level. This Charm can be taken multiple times, but a familiar cannot gain more than double it's original health levels.
*Speech (1) - The familiar can speak verbally. Unlike most familiars, who can only communicate empathically with their mage, this familiar has learned the ability to speak with its own voice. It must learn Linguistics to speak any language other than its mage's native tongue or spirit speech.
*Speed (2) - For each point of Essence spent, a familiar can double its speed. This power only lasts for one scene, at the end of which the strain weighs on the familiar. It must rest for one hour per Essence point it spent to double its speed.
*Spirit Gossip (3) - The familiar can seek through the Umbra or query other spirits for specific information and lore. He can roll Charisma or Manipulation + an appropriate Ability (Intimidate to scare up the information, Etiquette to politely request it, etc.). The difficulty varies with the complexity of the question. It takes at least one turn to gather the information, but might take up to an hour for obscure lore. The more successes gained, the better the information.
* Spirit Sight (1) - Your familiar can see spirit-natured beings and items (fetishes, other familiars, Spirit-Awakened animals or objects, fae, chimera, shapeshifters, any entity with a spirit nature) as such in the mundane world.
* Symbiotic Knowledge (5) - Your familiar can share your Knowledge abilities through the bond you share. While the familiar uses its own appropriate attribute, your Ability dots can be shared through the link. This Charm requires the Telepathy charm to use.
*† Telekinesis (3) - The familiar has the ability to levitate objects with its mind. It must concentrate while doing so and can take no other action. This costs one Essence point per thirty pounds of lifted weight.
*Telepathy (3) - The familiar can communicate telepathically with anyone in sensory range, regardless of language, although it cannot perform telepathic attacks or distractions.
*Umbral Sight (1) * - Your familiar can peek into the local Penumbra.
*Venom (1/3/5) - The familiar can administer poison through a touch, bite, claw, or stinger. It must first make a successful attack roll with the weapon before it can administer the poison (a reflexive acttion once the attack succeeds). Only one poison dose can be administered per hour, unless one Essence point is spent per each extra dose.
**For one freebie point the poison causes two points of unsoakable bashing damage to any target that fails a Stamina roll (Diff 7). This wound cannot be healed for one day unless the victim gets medical care or magic that removes the poison.
**For three freebie points, the poison causes three points of unsoakable bashing damage to any target that fails a Stamina roll, (Diff 8). This wound cannot be healed for three days unless the victim gets medical care or magic that removes the poison.
**For five freebie points, the poison causes three points of unsoakable bashing damage per turn to any target that fails a Stamina roll (Diff 7); the Stamina can be rolled each turn until it succeeds, preventing further damage, or the victim dies, whichever comes first. This wound cannot be healed for three days unless the victim gets medical care or magic that removes the poison.
==Animal Familiar Charms==
*Darksight (2) - The familiar can "see" in total darkness. This can either be actual vision, heightened smell, a sonar-like sense, or even a mystical ESP. The familiar suffers no penalties for acting in complete darkness.
*Entrancement (3) - The familiar can stare a person or creature in the eye and completely captivate it, holding it in a hypnotic gaze. The target can and will still react if attacked or deliberately distracted, but if left alone, he will continue to keep eye contact with the familiar. This requires the familiar to spend one point of Essence and maintain constant eye contact with the enraptured target, who can resist with a Willpower roll at a difficulty equal to the familiar's Willpower.
*Fear (4) The familiar radiates an aura of palpable fear to creatures around it. It might bring back memories of childhood and being chased by the neighborhood dog, or it might remind a creature of what it's like to be chased by a predator. Whatever the case, this Charm leaves the affected creature unable to act for one turn and scared for the next 10 turns. The target suffers a +1 difficulty penalty to all actions during this time. Targets resist by rolling Willpower, with a difficulty equal to the familiar's Willpower.
*Night Vision (1) - The familiar suffers no penalty when in low-light conditions, although complete darkness will blind it normally.
*Sharp Sense (1) - The familiar has one particular sense sharpened well beyond human capability, such as a dog's sense of smell and hearing. This allows it to make rolls impossible for humans (such as tracking by smell)
*Tracking (1) - The familiar can track any being, provided it first has a sample of the target's Resonance. Successfully reproducing a mage's Resonance requires Prime •• and Mind ••, but it is best if the familiar can "sniff" at something the target has actually touched or altered magically. When tracking, roll Perception + Alertness, difficulty 6 (This can be adjusted higher or lower, depending on conditions and the age of the scent).
==Bygone Familiar Charms==
*Firebreath (5) - By spending one Essence point, the familiar can spit a gout of flame from it's mouth. This is actual fire, not an illusion. The flame can shoot a distance of 10 feet from the familiar, in a cone three feet wide at its farthest reach. The familaiar rolls Dexterity + Melee to hit its target, and inflicts two levels of aggravated damage. Flammable objects the flame touches might ignite. Firebreath can also be used to heat objects, akin to a Bunsen burner.
*Illusions (7) - The familiar can create an illusory object that others might mistake as real. Onlookers roll Intelligence + Enigmas to realize that the object is not real. The object is insubstantial and is revealed as false once touched. This costs a varying degree of Essence, depending on the size and complexity of the illusion. A large rock costs only one point, while a giant prancing dragon might cost three points.
*Insubstantial (7) - The familiar can become incorporeal, and may pass through wall or other obstacles and cannot be physically affected in any way (but neither may it physically effect anything while insubstantial). This costs one Essence pont per scene.
*Swallow (4) - Somehow the familar is able to swallow an incredible amount of stuff and be none the worse for wear. it does not matter what the stuff is made of -- organic, inorganic, toxic -- none of it harms the familiar. The familiar can swallow items equal to twice its body weight per day, but each item must be able to fit through its mouth. Once swallowed, the object is shunted off into the Umbra somewhere.
==Chimerical Familiar Charms==
*All applicable redes available to chimera are available to chimerical familiars. 
**Use the Shapeshifting and Illusion redes in place of the Charms for this familiar type.
**Chimerical familiars can take on Glamour and apply it as Quintessencence toward the weekly demands for same.
**Where a rede demands a Glamour point to be spent, use Essence.
**Where a rede demands a Glamour roll, use the Familiar rating as your dice pool.
*Convert Essence to Glamour (1) * - The familiar can convert his Essence to Glamour and vice versa, and this can be used freely as Glamour to fuel his Redes or Essence to fuel the Spirit powers of a familiar.
==Construct Familiar Charms==
*† Chill Object (1) - The familiar can cool an object to freezing temperature. It must concentrate on the object it is chilling. Each point of Essence spent drops the temprature 20 degrees Farenheit. An object can only be cooled 20 degrees per turn via this method.
*Control Electrical Systems (5) - The familiar can manipulate electrical systems. It might use this to shut down the security in a building, fry the circutry or electrocute someone. The familiar rolls its Wits + Technology against a difficulty determined by the Storyteller. Each object that the familiar tries to manipulate requires the expenditure of one Essence point.
*Cyberpresence (3) - The familiar retains some of its presence in the Umbra - very specifically, it can manifest in the Digital Web. Unlike most familiars, it can accompany its mage when he jacks in, although it always manifests in its physical shape in the Umbra; a laptop computer is still a laptop computer. It can use all of its abilities while in the Digital Web.
*Encryption Software (2) - When physically connected to a computer or a piece of technology the familair can act like a watchdog over that pieces of technology to ward off attempts to ward off attempts to hack into it. This is a matter of defense and cannot be used to make it easier for his mage to jack into another's system. For each point of Essence spent the familiar gets two dots of Computer Ability to use in defense of his mage's system (this cannot be more than double the familiar's ranking), and also raises by one the difficulty of anyone attempting to break in.
*† Heat Object (2) - The familiar can heat an object. It must concentrate on the object it is heating. Each poing of Essence spent raises the temprature 20 degrees Farenheit. An object can only be heated 20 degrees per turn via this method.
*Jack In (2) - The familiar can get online anywhere there is a cell phone signal strong enough to carry on a phone conversation. This power won't work in places far from civilization or in areas where the signal may be disrupted, such as gullies or valleys.
*Shock (5) -The familiar can send out an electric shock to a target. The shock and reach roughly 10 feet from the familiar, but only in a straight line. Roll the familiar's Dexterity + Melee to hit. Each electric shock causes two levels of aggravated damage and costs one Essence point.
==Elemental Familiar Charms==
*† Create Element (3) - The familiar can create a quantity of its basic element; fire, water, air, or earth. For each point of Essence spent, an amount equal to five square feet is created from nothing. The substance is natual and endures only so long as conditions allow: fire without fuel to burn disappears within two turns, water without a container trickles away, and air without a windbreak will disperse.
*Elemental Immunity (3) - The familiar is immune to any damage caused by its element. Salamanders with this Charm take no damage from fire; sylphs take no damage from falling through air; undines can breathe in water; gnomes suffer no wounds from weapons of the earth (metal or stone). A familiar can buy this Charm only once.
*Engulf (4) - Acts just like the Bygone Charm Swallow.
*Insubstantial (7) - As the Bygone Charm.
*Shapeshift (7) - By spending one Essence point the familiar can assume a different shape of equal size. For two points it can shapeshift to something larger (from a cat to a human). For three points it can shift into something much larger (from a cat to a rhinoceros.) The new shape lasts for one scene. Elementals cannot assume forms antithetical to thier elemement; a salamander cannot turn into a pool of water, and a sylph cannot become a rock.
==Undead Familiar Charms:==
*Ancient Knowledge (3) - The familiar can call upon ancient and forgotten lore by speaking with the spirits of the dead. This acts like the Spirit Gossip Charm, except that information unknown to anyone living can still be gained.
*Fear (4) - As the Animal Charm.
*Insubtantial (7) - As the Bygone Charm.
*† Invigorate (5) - The familar can spend Essence to make itself temporarliy stronger, faster, smarter, or more attractive. For every Essence point spent, one dot can be added to an Attribute for the rest of the scene.
*† Wither (4) - the familiar can suck the life out of someone by touching him. For every point of Essence spent it can deal one point of unsoakable bashing damage to an individual. It must first succeed in a Dexterity + Brawl attack.
Category:Setting/Mage
Category:Setting/Umbra