Cantrips

The following are changes to cantrips and cantrip casting from Changeling: The Dreaming Second Edition to make the game play better on a MUSH.

Cantrips In General

Cantrips are magical effects that Changelings gain access to by learning Arts. The method for casting cantrips is fairly straightforward but often confuses people. It is outlined below.

Determine if effect is Wyrd or Chimerical.

Does it effect a unenchanted person or a real object in front of such a person? Then it's Wyrd. Does it effect a real object but all of the witnesses are enchanted? Then consult the cantrip in the book under 'Type:' and follow that. Otherwise it's chimerical. Wyrd cantrips cost 1 temporary glamour to cast.

Determine Pool - Every Art has a relevant attribute. The nature of the target determines the realm. The pool is Linked Attribute + Lowest Applied Realm

e.g. Someone casting Oakenshield, which is from the Primal art, would use Stamina as their linked attribute. If they were casting this on two mortal friends of theirs would need Actor 1 (close friend), Scene 1 (assuming the friends stood close together) as minimum realms. If they had Actor 3, Scene 2 they would roll Stamina + Scene (as scene is the lower of the two relevant realms). To cast this same cantrip on one of the mortal friends they would roll Stamina + Actor, as the Scene realm is no longer necessary.

Determine Level of Bunk - Every cantrip needs a bunk. Bunks are rated from 0 to 4

• 0 - Barely a concession to the fact that they are doing magic.
• 1 - Reasonably outlandish so as to awaken Glamour, but very hasty and not very clever or potent.
• 2 - Either took some time, sacrificed something of minor value, or was quite clever.
• 3 - Took a lot of time, sacrificed something important, or was absolutely hilarious or jaw-droppingly clever.
• 4 - An exhausting effort, terrible sacrifice, or something lesser but was witty, clever, or entirely appropriate.

Determine Final Difficulty - The base formula is Banality + 4 - Bunk Level. The banality that applies is the higher of the caster's or the target's.

In our example from before, let us suppose the mortal has a Banality of 6 and the caster has a Banality of 4. The ST determines that the bunk was appropriate, involved a minor sacrifice, and was fairly clever, and assigns the bunk a level of 3. The target's banality is higher and so that is used. The difficulty would be 6 + 4 - 3 = 7.

• Applicable realms that are not rolled each reduce the difficulty by 1. (e.g. Using a cantrip to steal an item from someone with Actor 4, but also having sufficient Prop)
• Every point of temporary Glamour spent reduces the difficulty by 1.

Roll and determine result - Each cantrip has a description explaining the effects.

If the caster has Nightmare Dice, make two +rolls. One with the relevant pool - the number of nightmare dice, and then +roll the number of nightmare dice at the same difficulty. These are considered one roll, and the net successes are added together. If there were 1s rolled in the nightmare dice, reduce the number of nightmare dice the character has by the number of ones in that roll and the storyteller or judge will assign a nightmare effect.

If Wyrd - Determine Mists effects.

The Mists modify memories of Wyrd events into something more sensible. Chimerical cantrips and wyrd effects with no witnesses may ignore this step.

Modifications to Specific Arts

Certain arts have had changes made to them.

Chicanery

Fugue (Chicanery 3)

The subject of Fugue, when the cantrip ends, remembers that they forgot something and if they are successful on an Awareness or Kenning roll, they will understand that their memory has been magically tampered with. In the event of Tabula Rasa, an additional side effect is that The Mists will now conceal any actions taken while they couldn't remember themselves.

Chronos

Wyrd (Chronos 1)

Victims of Wyrd may roll Intelligence + Enigmas vs difficulty 8 to puzzle out any given question of order of events. 1 success is sufficient for the question at hand.

Dream Time (Chronos 3)

Victims of Dream Time may resist with Intelligence + Alertness or Wits + Enigmas (their choice) at a difficulty of 8. Successes on this roll reduce the successes of the cantrip's casting. They make this roll even if they are unaware of the casting. Dream time used to gain additional actions may be extended to multiple rounds, 1 round per success devoted to duration.

Permanence (Chronos 4)

This cantrip may be used on true magick, gifts, rites, and sorcery in addition to cantrips. Using Permanence on a cantrip you cast requires the Time Realm to delay the cantrip long enough to get the Permanence casting done, Or it requires a Wits+Gremayre roll vs. 8 to attain 3 successes. Glamour may be spent on this roll to lower the difficulty.

Reversal of Fortune (Chronos 5)

Chronos 5 will not be available for player purchase, ever. While cool, this power is a timestop judge's worst nightmare.

Dream-Craft

Link Attribute

Dream-Craft uses Intelligence, not Wits.

Dream Riding (Dream-Craft 4)

Dream riding is particularly dangerous if one is entering the mind of a lucid dreamer, or someone with similar abilities. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Primal

Holly Strike (Primal 4)

Holly Strike deals aggravated wounds. The cantrip is wyrd when damaging a real body, chimerical when inflicting chimerical wounds.

Heather Balm (Primal 4)

Heather Balm heals bashing or lethal. It heals agg at 1/2 effectiveness. The cantrip is wyrd if the damage inflicted is real. Chimerical if the damage healed is chimerical.

Elder Form (Primal 5)

The subject of this cantrip retains awareness of self, their surroundings, and any supernatural abilities that do not require their physical body to take action.

Skycraft

Link Attribute

Skycraft uses Strength, not Stamina.

Thunderclap (Skycraft 1)

Anyone at ground zero when Thunderclap is cast (except the caster) must roll Stamina at a difficulty of 5+Successes. Characters with the Acute Hearing merit, or anyone (such as Sluagh and Lupus-form Garou) who enjoys negative difficulty modifiers for Perception rolls based on hearing adds their usual reduction to this difficulty instead. Failure means the character is deafened for one minute per successes on the casting. Being deafened in this manner is disorienting and all subsequent rolls are at -1 die, cumulative with wound and other penalties. Deaf characters are, of course, immune.

Soothsay

Link Attribute

Soothsay uses Perception, not Intelligence.

Sovereign

Link Attribute

Sovereign uses Appearance, not Charisma. (Yes, this makes Sidhe with Sovereign very, very powerful. It's kind of their shtick.)

General

In general you may not use Sovereign on those of higher station, and those of your own station may resist with Willpower at a difficulty of 6. Different courts have different structures, however. The Dreaming will translate accordingly. The Dreaming is very accommodating of foreign customs as well, and Mortals who hold positions of authority, as well as Prodigals who hold positions within their own societies, are considered to be lesser nobles. Sovereign interacts with such individuals in peculiar and often unpredictable ways. You have been warned.

Protocol (Sovereign 1)

For Protocol to work, the rules of the proceedings must be commonly known. Deviations from those rules must be made known before the casting or they are not binding. Before taking an action when the character does not know if the action is permissible or not, the character must roll Perception + Etiquette (the difficulty is determined by the ST, 6 to 8). Success means the character is able to figure out if the action is permitted - if it is, they may take the action. If it is not, they may not. Failure means they take the action. If it is not permitted and they are (gently) reprimanded, the rule becomes binding upon them via Protocol.

Talecraft

Sticks and Stones (Talecraft 4)

Sticks and Stones does not induce a penalty to actions taken while telling the story as long as those actions are to preserve oneself or continue fighting. You must, however, either pose the telling of the story or roll wits+performance versus a difficulty of 5 + the number of potential threats to continue the effect.

Wayfare

Quicksilver (Wayfare 2)

Quicksilver is capped at +2 actions per round. Successes beyond this extend into subsequent rounds. So 5 successes means +2 in the first round, +2 in the second round, +1 in the third. Quicksilver castings are not cumulative, the stronger effect holds - even if it's almost done.