Classes

Your Class is not a spell list; it is how you approach conflict, secrecy, and risk. Choose 2 Abilities at character creation.

The Heir

Theme: Legacy, obligation. Play Pattern: Use inherited power, risk reputation.

1. Inherited Formula: Begin play with one spell at RC-2 passed down through your bloodline. It costs 1 less Stress to cast (min 0); your family knows when you use it—describe the tell.
2. Ancestral Override: Once per session, when you fail a magical roll, invoke legacy to succeed; GM tells you which ancestor demands what in return.
3. Name Weight: Reveal your family name to someone who recognizes it; roll Cognetics + Interfacing to compel respect or suffer consequences.
4. Prepared from Birth: Start with +1 Aptitude (may exceed Cognetics cap by 1) but choose one Limit that starts at 0 until Level 3.
5. Burden of Expectation: Acting in-line with your Doctrine clears 1 Stress; acting against it can cost 2 Stress if family learns.
6. Legacy Debt: Once per session, call in a favor from an NPC connected to your bloodline; the GM assigns a cost other than money.
7. Inherited Rival: Name an opposed bloodline; you have +1 Dice Power vs them but they have the same vs you.
8. Blood Remembers: When touching a family object/location, roll Psysionics + Stability to gain ancestral memory—success gives info; consequence causes 1 Stress.

The Striver

Theme: Ambition, self-made power. Play Pattern: Push limits, accept fallout.

1. Overreach: Increase a spell's RC by 1 (even if locked). On less than clean success, take Stress equal to the new RC.
2. Refuse the Ceiling: Once per session, attempt an impossible task at +2 Dice Power; if you fail, you can't try that specific thing again until next session.
3. Burn the Candle: Convert Wounds to Stress at 1:2 or Stress to Wounds at 3:1—narrate the strain.
4. Improvised Formula: Attempt improvised magic at Cognetics + Aptitude -2; success works once and on clean success you may spend XP to learn it.
5. Obsessive Focus: Choose a session goal; when you advance it, reroll one die. If you fail to make progress, take 2 Stress.
6. Nothing to Lose: At Stress 6+, gain +1 Dice Power; at 9, gain +2.
7. Rivalry Engine: Name a rival; once per session acting to surpass them grants +2 Dice Power. If they later surpass you, take 1 Stress.
8. Self-Written Legacy: Earn marks for impossible accomplishments; end-of-campaign marks influence future legacies.

The Keeper

Theme: Secrecy, containment. Play Pattern: Prevent escalation, manage damage.

1. Containment Protocol: Roll Cognetics + Interfacing when concealing magic; success prevents Veil drop; critical restores 1 Veil.
2. Hidden in Plain Sight: When remaining still and plausible, mundanes can't notice you unless you act or are called out.
3. Controlled Exposure: Become the witness's focus to reduce Veil drop by 1 and choose what they believe; you take 1 Stress to maintain deception.
4. Redundant Wards: Once per session negate a magical Stress/Wound entirely; describe ward sign you'll have to explain later.
5. Archivist: When researching, declare a source; roll Cognetics + Analysis—success yields facts; clean success yields dangerous knowledge.
6. Silent Correction: Spend 1 Stress to intervene and suppress a magical mistake; caster owes you one.
7. Watchful: Ask one question when entering a location and get an honest answer about risk or exit strategies.
8. Last Resort: Once per Walpurgisnacht (or spend a Seal), negate a Veil drop; GM decides a cost beyond the Seal.

The Veilwalker

Theme: Double lives, infiltration. Play Pattern: Move between worlds unseen.

1. Perfect Cover: You have a full mundane identity usable once per session to access resources.
2. Split Identity: Maintain two separate selves; if someone knows both, roll Cognetics + Interfacing to keep them separate or take Veil drop on failure.
3. Walk Unnoticed: Roll Motorics + Adjustment to become effectively invisible in plausible contexts.
4. False Signal: Spend 1 Stress to redirect scrying/trackers to a false location in the same city.
5. Soft Revelation: When revealing magical truth to a mundane, roll Cognetics + Interfacing to control belief amount.
6. Under the Moon, Still Hidden: During Walpurgisnacht you may suppress signature and register as mundane until you cast.
7. Prepared Alias: Three emergency identities available once each for escape, cover, or alibi.
8. No One Knows the Whole Truth: Roll Psysionics + Stability to decide what truth you offer under compulsion; clean success convinces them they got everything.

The Duelist

Theme: Ritual conflict, mastery. Play Pattern: Seek confrontation and control terms.

1. Formal Challenge: Issue challenges that force opponents to accept, decline publicly, or meet terms; refusing gives you +1 Dice Power until Walpurgisnacht.
2. Measured Opening: Act last in first round to gain +2 Dice Power on first action.
3. Read the Opponent: Roll Cognetics + Analysis to learn a high/low Limit or ability; clean success gives two facts.
4. Escalation Clause: When conflict RC increases, take an immediate free action at the new RC or higher.
5. Clean Resolution: Winning a formal duel prevents Veil drop if both agreed to terms beforehand.
6. Honor Bound: Breaking given word costs 3 Stress and loss of ability until atonement; when someone breaks a word to you, get +3 Dice Power on next action versus them.
7. Signature Technique: Name a signature maneuver—reroll up to 2 dice when using it; others may recognize you by it.
8. Crowd Memory: Duel witnesses remember you across Walpurgisnacht; fame and infamy follow.

The Oracle

Theme: Foresight, inevitability. Play Pattern: Act early, shape outcomes.

1. Predictive Read: At session start, roll Cognetics + Analysis for an image/phrase about the session; clean success grants one yes/no question.
2. Seen This Before: Once per session, when a vision matches a situation, act first with +2 Dice Power on first action.
3. Probability Bias: When assisting, your Analysis replaces the normal +1 bonus for the assisted character.
4. Deferred Action: Declare earlier preparation is relevant now; GM specifies cost/time used.
5. Warning Signs: GM must give one non-specific warning when danger approaches you or someone in your presence.
6. Unwelcome Truth: Telling a refused prediction and having it come true grants +2 Dice Power vs that person for the session; incorrect predictions cost 1 Stress.
7. Avoid the Worst Case: Once per Walpurgisnacht (or spend a Seal) avoid death/permanent magical consequences at a cost determined by the GM.
8. Burden of Foresight: You may be told an unwanted truth about someone present and take 1 Stress; sharing it costs additional Stress.

The Mediator

Theme: Influence, leverage. Play Pattern: Resolve conflict socially.

1. Read the Room: Roll Cognetics + Interfacing on entering a social scene to learn the most significant tension; clean success adds who has most to lose.
2. Careful Wording: Specify exact wording for promises; roll Cognetics + Analysis to argue technical correctness later.
3. Binding Agreement: When you witness a deal, all parties take 2 Stress if they break it.
4. Pressure Point: Bank a secret about someone; when used, gain +3 Dice Power on social rolls vs them once.
5. Escalation Control: Spend 1 Stress to delay violence by an exchange while you mediate.
6. Leverage Web: Once per session, declare a relevant contact; roll Cognetics + Interfacing to determine reliability.
7. Words Carry Weight: Vouching for someone gives them +2 Dice Power with those you vouch to; betrayal removes this ability until you publicly denounce them.
8. Nobody Leaves Happy: When both parties accept a mediation, clear 2 Stress; resolution must cost both parties something.

The Transgressor

Theme: Taboo, forbidden magic. Play Pattern: Break rules and survive consequences.

1. Forbidden Formula: You know one outlawed spell; it functions at +1 RC for effect but costs full Stress for the higher tier—name and describe it.
2. Accept the Cost: When you cast, take 1 Wound instead of paying Stress.
3. Cross the Line: Once per session attempt an impossible effect at -3 Dice Power; on any success it works and GM defines the broken rule and who noticed.
4. Unstable Insight: Touch a magical phenomenon and roll Psysionics + Stability to learn something unusual; consequence lets it understand you.
5. It Works Once: Cast any spell you witnessed exactly once without learning it; it costs double Stress and can't be learned afterward.
6. Scars of Power: A visible sign of forbidden work grants intimidation once per session among practitioners who recognize it.
7. No Going Back: Convert a Wound into a permanent minor change (GM discretion); limited by Resilience.
8. Survive the Impossible: Once per campaign, avoid death from magical causes; something else happens instead and the GM decides what returned with you.