Character Creation

Humanity Trading

(Only possible if you have the descriptors Half-Breed, Immortal, Inhuman, or Brush with the Unknown)

At the time of character creation, a player may "trade down" starting Humanity to gain a corresponding number of points to be used for either Stamina, Will or Lore. Write "Inhumanly" next to the chosen descriptor.

Humanity Cap

(Only possible with Half-Breed, Inhuman, or Immortal.)

At the time of character creation, the character's starting Humanity is chosen as its all-time maximum. This confers one more point to be spent on Stamina, Will or Lore. The character gets a second Price, "The Chill," meaning that people get creeped out by him.

Naive Sorcerers

If you have the Naive description for Lore, you may begin play without a Bound demon at your option.

Sorcery

Pacts

A Pact is a specific type of Binding ritual. A Pact has a specific period of service and a specific task at hand. It usually requires more dice, because the sorcerer does not assume any obligation to meet the demon's Need. Pacts are good for when you want to give orders to a demon and be done with it, rather than enter into a long-term working relationship.

Some demons can enter a Pact but cannot be Bound.

Drugs and Poisons

These are special things that have the equivalent of demonic abilities when administered. The Voodoo and Yoga traditions use them more often than the Hermeticists.

The Astral Plane

To enter the Astral Plane, roll Lore vs. Humanity; if you win, you automatically lose one point of Humanity as your mind expands. You then make additional Humanity checks until you succeed; there's the possibility of losing quite a few points if you're not careful. Feel free to narrate this as very surreal, personal, and traumatizing.

Navigating the Astral Plane relies on associations; you would make Will checks against the implausbility of the association or chain of thought. You can use the Astral Plane to explore other peoples' dreams, or travel around in space (and possibly through time as well).

Hypnotism, Necromancy, and Gadgetry

These are optional rules presented in Sorcerer & Sword which I will not be using as standard options, in part because I find the rules confusing. There is a slim chance that an NPC might have such abilities, though; you've been warned.

General Rules

Boasting

Announcing your action with defiant bravado and asserting your ego--"Nobody dares to stop me, for I am Xeeglar, blood-soaked champion of the breakfast table!!!!! Raaagh!"--earns you +1 dice to an action. If this becomes repetitive or overused, you might not get it.

Increasing your Price

All sorcerers have a Price that starts at -1. If you make this Price worse for a particular phase or period, you gain a corresponding bonus during that time.