CoD Les Mysteres
Status
Status •
You've felt the touch of something from beyond this world, and understand that you will spend your life on the outside. You have been initiated into Les Mystères.
- Benefit: You may gain the Rites du Cheval Endowment Merits.
Status ••
Your time immersed in Les Mystères has heightened your sensitivity to the presence and doings of spirits around you.
- Benefit: Gain the Medium Merit, save that it applies to animistic spirits rather than ghosts.
Status •••
You know well the feeling of a spirit infusing your body, and you've seen first-hand the damage werewolves can do. You've spent time on one path or another that leads from the Crossroads.
- Benefit: You gain a benefit based on the Crossroads to which you have devoted your time as a Mystery. See The Crossroads below.
Status ••••
Long experience with the Rites has taught you how to commingle and blend the spirits who Ride you into a harmonious chorus, rather than the fractious conflict that is the norm with those who attempt such an undertaking.
- Benefit: You may now have a number of Rites active on yourself equal to no more than your total Status in dots. Thus, at Status ••••, you could have four Rites • active, two Rites ••, a Rite ••• and a Rite • or any similar combination.
Status •••••
You know well what dangers threaten people who aren't careful. You've also felt the touch of powerful spirits, and you know what it is to have a duty that burns with the force of a spirit's ban. You've helped people, you've hurt people, but you know that everything is part of the great cycle of the world. Other Mystères value your input, and often send promising students to you.
- Benefit: At any given time, you have a student in Les Mystères with you, providing the equivalent of the Retainer Merit at •••.
The Crossroads
There are four Paths which radiate outward from the Crossroads. Each Path is understood to be both calling and vocation, both philosophy for Les Mystères and the ways that they will apply their unique abilities.
Path of Fellowship
The Forward/Northern Path
You use your hold over the spirit world to make life a little better for the people around you. People remember the help you give them, and do their best to aid you in return.
- Benefit: You gain two dots in the Allies Merit. You may divide this into two different Allies • or take it as a single Allies •• Merit.
Path of Spirit
The Left-Hand/Western Path
You have offered yourself to the spirits, seeking to know them better and delve into their Mysteries (of which you comprehend yourself to be but one).
- Benefit: You gain a +1 modifier on all Occult rolls regarding spirits. This explicitly stacks with other benefits and Specialties.
Path of Beasts
The Right-Hand/Eastern Path
You have taken as your purview the pursuit and fight against supernatural beasts – particularly werewolves. This has led you to many who know about such creatures.
- Benefit: You gain two dots of the Contacts Merit, each of whom is an expert in one kind of supernatural creature.
Path of the Soul
The Backfacing/Southern Path
You have turned your gaze inward, focused on a higher calling and what the possession of these gifts means for you and those around you. Your pursuit of your understanding of your spiritual duty is foremost in your concerns.
- Benefit: You may add a +1 to your Resolve when resisting supernatural powers that control or otherwise affect your mind or emotions.
Rites du Cheval
Each Rite is considered a Merit in and of itself, and must be purchased as such. A Mystère may not purchase a Rite of higher rank than their rating in Les Mystères Status.
- Appeasements: Each Rite includes suggested Appeasements, which are the sacrifices and acknowledgements rendered to the spirits who provide those powers to the Ridden.
- Dice Roll: Generally speaking, the roll to activate a Rite is Presence + Expression. The following modifiers apply:
- Appeasements: Rare or valued appeasements used (+3), rite is performed in a place sympathetic to the nature of the spirit (+2), inappropriate appeasements (-2), no appeasements (-3).
- Spirit Relations: True name of the spirit known and used (+2), hunter demands rather than asks/treats spirit with disdain or arrogance (-2)
Rites •
- Skin of the Loa: The spirit grants Armor against close combat attacks. Spirit Slayers p155
- Ephemeral Disguise: The spirit conceals the presence of the hunter in an area. Spirit Slayers p155
Rites ••
- Elemental Rebuke: The spirit unleashes elemental fury against the hunter's foes. Spirit Slayers p155
- Light as a Feather: The spirit grants weightlessness and the ability to jump and fall great distances. Spirit Slayers p156
Rites •••
- The Hands of Raphael: The spirit grants its powers of healing and succor to the hunter. Spirit Slayers p156
- Spiritual Guidance: The spirit of a specific field of knowledge or ability grants its blessings to the hunter in that field. Spirit Slayers p157
Rites ••••
- Clinging Leech: The spirit invests the hunter with its hunger, granting him healing when he feeds. Spirit Slayers p157
- Voodoo Doll: The spirit grants the power to cause benefit or ill to a target through a sympathetic connection. Spirit Slayers p158
Rites •••••
- Deny the Moon: The spirit grants the hunter the power to strip the lunar powers from werewolves. Spirit Slayers p159
- Wearing the Baron's Hat: The spirit grants terrible combat prowess to the hunter. Spirit Slayers p160
