Drakes House Rules

## Drakes

Dracoforms (Howling Shadows, 158-165) are now playable, however, all characters with either the Latent Dracomorphosis or Dracoform (Any) qualities must be reviewed by at least 2 chargen volunteers before use.

That being said, drakes are not recommended for use by anyone, least of all newer players, due to their tendency to be wanted by every megacorp and dragon under the sun. Please do not make the choice to play a drake lightly, as you may find your character's story on the Market ending before you are ready to say goodbye.

Please note that neither quality makes a character awakened (just magic) and thus a character cannot pick up either after character generation (excepting the transfer from Latent to Dracoform) even with a vote in #community-votes. See the Altered Quality section to see how Drakes have been changed.

Optional Drake Powers may not be bought at chargen. You may buy your first optional power immediately following your first run. Subsequent optional powers may be bought after either one or three months real time (depending on power cost) or the same number of runs times four (as each run is assumed to be a week for rent).

## Mechanics

### **Latent Dracomorphosis** (Howling Shadows, 164)

* If the drake has not undergone its first dracomorphosis, the threshold for determining they are a drake solely based off of assensing their signature is 5.
* Metasapients, shifters, and other sapient critters cannot become drakes. Only metahumans can.

### **Dracoform** (Any) (Howling Shadows, 163-164)

* Drakes have a distinct astral signature that can be determined with a threshold 3 assensing test.
* Drakes are both immune to and cannot carry HMHVV. Individuals born with HMHVV can never become drakes, even if they express the correct genes.
* A drake's aura always reflects their other form (in humanoid form you'd see a small dragon in the astral and vice versa). Any methods of concealing or disguising the aura and signature function as normal.
* Adept powers function as normal for drakes in dracoform or human form.
* Samples taken from a drake's humanoid or dracoform yield the same DNA and can be used as a material link for both forms.
* Drakes in dracoform cannot speak and have difficulty performing tasks that require manual dexterity. Drakes in dracoform also cannot use certain equipment designed for metahumans (unmodified armor and trode sets being notable examples). Drakes may modify clothes and armor to conform to both forms without breaking (through the use of belts, straps, and flexible materials) for 50% of the base armor price.
* Metasapients, shifters, and other sapient critters cannot become drakes. Only metahumans can.
* Drake powers are tracked along the same timer (meaning purchasing of 1 month powers will prevent the purchase of 3 month powers and vice versa until the cooldown is complete).
* The threshold for determining 1 month vs 3 month optional power timers has been raised to 15 karma. All powers purchased with a value of 15 karma or greater shall trigger a 3 month cooldown before the next power can be bought. All powers purchased with a value of 14 or lower shall trigger a 1 month cooldown before the next power can be bought.
* Dracoform Attribute Adjustments are counted as modifications to the minimum and maximum values of an attribute, not augmentations. This raises the current, unaugmented attribute as with Metagenic Attribute Improvement. Note that these attribute adjustments are still only active while the character is in dracoform.
* Sea Drakes may now purchase the following power for 14 karma:
	+ **Underwater Propulsion** The drake gains the ability to propel themselves magically through the water without suffering from the consequences of pressure differentials. This additional swimming speed and protection is as much magical as it is physical. Because of this, extremely high background counts, mana storms, and other such phenomena may disrupt their ability to swim safely at this speed. Swimming now has a movement of x3/x6/+5. This power can only be purchased by Sea Drakes.
* Drakes may purchase the following powers as if they were optional powers exclusive to their dracoform type:

\*Sonic elemental attacks deal half damage and have no armor penetration, but bypass all standard armor. Use Willpower instead of body when calculating the dicepool for damage resistance. A Damper increases the damage resistance dicepool by 2. A Hush or Silence spell decreases the damage of the attack by 1 per hit on the spellcasting test. Targets who take damage suffer disorientation and nausea.

\*\*May purchase up to 2 levels total and may purchase multiple levels at one time. Treat as chimeric modification. Extra heads do not confer extra physical actions (such as head-based attacks) unlike the extra heads possessed by a hydra. Extra heads do not confer extra essence, nor do they benefit from implanted headware or eyeware, unless multiple copies are purchased.

\*\*\*When purchasing Regeneration, add Vulnerability (Fire) to your character sheet.