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Awareness
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5
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Alert: a character with this ability is very difficult to surprise. In any
situation where they would normally be surprised due to being asleep or unaware
of a foe due to some circumstance, the character gets to make a special Perception
check to avoid being surprised even if their lack of awareness is caused by a previously
failed Perception check. This special Alert Perception check cannot be reduced to
less than a 10- roll regardless of penalties; however if it is failed the character
suffers the normal outcome of being surprised with no further chances to avoid it.
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Example: Sabrina has the Alertness
talent; going about her business one evening she is set upon by a Vampire using
supernatural abilities to blend into shadows. The GM secretly made a PER check for
Sabrina which was failed miserably due to the Vampire's extremely high Concealment
result. However, thanks to having the Alertness Talent Sabrina gets a special additional
Perception check to not be surprised by the Vampire's assault, and this roll can't
be less than 10- regardless of the steep penalties that are in effect.
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NOTE: Getting surprised can be lethal in the HERO System due to the doubling of
Stun taken if surprised. Once knocked out, a character might never be given the
opportunity to get up again. Further, many Supernaturals that survived the Age of
Reason have done so because they are extremely sneaky or deceptive. Thus getting
surprised by something that intends to eat you or worse is a not uncommon occurance
for a Hunter. Alertness is a cheap alternative to Danger Sense and offers considerable
protection against such an unseemly end.
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10
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Supernatural Awareness, Sight Based, Discriminatory. A character with this ability can
see "auras" or "energy fields" around Supernatural things. Generally the stronger or more
"active" a Supernatural effect, the brighter and more noticeable the aura.
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The Supernatural exists in the world of Here There Be Monsters, and some people
are preternaturally sensitive to this fact even if they are otherwise normal...or
perhaps have innate potential they are not tapping. Either way, such an ability
is a very useful thing for a Hunter to have.
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Almost all Supernaturals have some kind of Distinctive Feature detectable to Supernatural
Awareness, and define what information is provided. Further many Supernatural abilities
are Perceiveable by Supernatural Awareness, which means that an observer with Supernatural
Awareness can tell that some kind of ability is in use and descriptive adjectives
such as "strong", "tough", "threatening", "draining", "burning".
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A PER check made by 1 or more will also indicate the general type of Supernatural
effect to an observer who has seen that kind before. For instance, Faerie or Fey
magic is distinct from Daemonic magic, or Hermetic magic, or Psychic ability, or
Faith, and can be differentiated by a person with Supernatural Awareness.
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Characters that have further skills or abilities, such as a Lore skill or another
detect, can use those abilities to interpret or otherwise interact with what they
see with their Supernatural Awareness.
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Beware however, some Supernatural abilities only affect or even specifically target
those who have Supernatural Awareness; leaving mundanes unaffected.
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NOTE: Supernatural Awareness is expensive, but is also one of the most useful (and
thus more common) custom abilities available in Here There Be Monsters. Characters
that have Supernatural Awareness are at a real advantage.
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+5
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Superior Supernatural Awareness, Add Analyze to Supernatural Awareness.
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This improved version of Supernatural Awareness grants more detailed and specific
knowledge about the nature and capabilities of Supernatural phenomena. Depending
on degree of success on a PER check, this extra information can be anything ranging
from a hint as to the sort of Power effect and potency to specifc base Powers and
modifiers and even weaknesses or loopholes not covered by the effect.
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+5
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Pervasive Supernatural Awareness, Add Tracking to Supernatural Awareness.
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This improved version of Supernatural Awareness allows an observer to not only see
current Supernatural emanations in real time, but to also be able to see lingering
traces and spoor of Supernatural emanations that have occured relatively recently.
It is often possible to use these traces to track a Supernatural source to its current
destination, or back to its origin point.
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Deception
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1 per +1, min 3
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Masked Aura: for each point spent, a character with this ability imposes
a -1 penalty to the Perception checks of others perceiving their aura; most typically
in conjunction with the Supernatural Awareness Talent.
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A failed perception check causes the perceiver to perceive the character's aura
as being completely normal and unremarkable; exactly like whatever they would expect
to see in the current situation.
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This ability has a minimum cost of 3 points.
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NOTE: Masked Aura favors characters that have some kind of Distinctive Feature visible
to Supernatural Awareness (or more rarely, similar abilities). It allows a character
to potentially blend in with mundanes and hide their supernatural nature.
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1 per +1, min 3
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Occluded Mind: for each point spent, a character with this ability imposes
a -1 penalty to the OMCV of others attempting to find the character with the Mind
Scan power.
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This ability has a minimum cost of 3 points.
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NOTE: Occluded Mind favors elusive characters who want to be difficult to find even
by those using supernatural means to find their mind.
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1 per +1, min 3
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Scrying Ward: for each point spent, a character with this ability imposes
a -1 penalty to the Perception checks of others attempting to perceive them using
Clairsentience with a supernatural SFX.
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A failed perception check causes the perceiver to not be able to make out the details
of the character or otherwise identify them. A perception check that fails by 2
or more causes the perceiver to not perceive the character at all; the character
is effectively invisible to the perceiver.
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If the character wishes, they can also cause a perception check that fails by 4
or more to cause everything in their vicinity (same room, 10m radius, etc) to be
blocked from the perceiver with an effect similar to the Darkness Power.
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This ability has a minimum cost of 3 points.
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NOTE: Scrying Ward favors characters that wish to protect themselves against supernatural
observation.
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Heroic Virtues
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2 / level
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Heroic Mayhem: a character with this ability can easily defeat lesser foes
nearly effortlessly. As an Extra Segment action a character with Heroic Mayhem may
immediately defeat any number of nameless "minion" level opponents within range
of whatever attacks the character can muster, up to the number of levels of Heroic
Mayhem the character has and wants to expend. Each level of Heroic Mayhem is only
usable once per day.
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When using this ability a character "uses" whatever weapons or attacks are handy
(including weapons of opportunity), and unleashes a cinematically impressive display
of efficient violence. This can take whatever form narratively fits a given scene;
but the end result is a bunch of wiped out minions.
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Note that Charges for ammunition, Endurance, and similar costs are not expended
as despite whatever form the narrative explanation takes the only ability actually
being used by the character is Heroic Mayhem.
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What constitutes a "minion" is left to the GM's discretion, but any NPC that lacks
a name is likely a minion, and run of the mill opponents such as anonymous cultists,
zombies, imps, and similar low-threat opponents are also likely minions.
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Example: Trey Halford
has Heroic Mayhem: 5. Using his Heroic Mayhem ability as an Extra Segment action
Trey may defeat up to five minions within range of whatever attacks Trey currently
has available. Even if Trey "uses his gun" to wreak Heroic Mayhem he doesn'thave
to track bullets; the gun usage is just SFX.
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NOTE: Heroic Mayhem favors characters that want to be able to remove "bullet sponge"
minions from the equation, or to have the cinematic ability often seen in movies
to neutralize packs of unimportant foes seemingly without effort.
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1 / level
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Heroic Parry: a character with this ability is able to briefly focus on protecting
themselves by parrying incoming melee attacks. Each level of Heroic Parry has a
Real Cost of 1 point.
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Each level of Heroic Parry grants +1 OCV to Block.
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Normally if a character misses an attack roll to Block, they can no longer continue
to make successive Block attempts. However, a character can expend a level of Heroic
Parry to allow themselves to reroll a failed Block attempt. A level of Heroic Parry
used in this way does not also grant +1 OCV to the rerolled Block attempt.
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The rerolled Block attempt granted by this use of Heroic Parry is subject to all
of the same modifiers as the original roll, including OCV bonuses from Heroic Parry
that were previously expended for the original attempt.
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Each level of Heroic Parry is only usable once per day.
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Example: Amanda Knox has
Heroic Parry: 5, and also Martial Block. She is in HtH combat with an opponent and
decides to Abort to Martial Block. Confident she can make the first OCV vs OCV check,
Amanda does not spend any levels of Heroic Parry; but surprisingly an 18 is rolled
and Amanda fails her Block. Amanda expends a level of Heroic Parry for a reroll,
and succeeds; she has 4 levels of Heroic Parry remaining for the day.
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Later in the Turn before her next Phase another opponent runs up and attempts to
kick Amanda, but she is still blocking and can make another Block attempt versus
the new opponent at a -2 OCV penalty. Amanda's player decides that she can't risk
being knocked down or staggered by the attack; Amanda expends 2 levels of Heroic
Parry to offset the OCV penalty, leaving her with 2 more levels of Heroic Parry
for the day.
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But Amanda is plagued by bad luck; another 18 is rolled and her Block attempt fails.
Amanda expends another level of Heroic Parry to gain a reroll, leaving her with
1 more level of Heroic Parry for the day. The rerolled attempt benefits from the
+2 OCV granted by the levels of Heroic Parry Amanda had expended for the attempt
that failed.
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NOTE: Heroic Parry favors characters with a higher OCV who occasionally use Block
or a martial equivalent. The bonus to OCV allows the selective application of bonuses
when needed and for some characters is a more point efficient alternative over buying
combat skill levels with Block directly. However the main advantage of Heroic Parry
is the ability to reroll a failed Block, which offers some insurance against losing
to a bad roll,
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4 / d6
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Heroic Recovery: a character with this ability can somehow make a heroic
comeback, springing back into action despite seemingly serious injuries or fatigue.
Conceptually the character wasn't as badly hurt as they appeared to be, or are made
of sterner stuff than less heroic individuals.
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Heroic Recovery dice work like Self-Only simplified Healing (the face value equals
Stun and the "body count" equals Body); the additional STUN and BODY can only take
a character up to their normal STUN and BODY, and is not subject to a Fade rate.
When using Heroic Recovery, a player can roll as few as one die or as many as all
their available dice, or any increment in between. However, each die of Heroic Recovery
is only usable once per day.
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A player can choose to use their character's Heroic Recovery at any time as a Non-Action,
even if their character is currently unconscious. If a character is staggered (CON
Stunned), they immediately recover from it when they use any number Heroic Recovery
dice. If a character is bleeding out, the usage of Heroic Recovery stabilizes the
character (though other later actions might cause them to start bleeding out again).
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Heroic Recovery is not visible per se, though a character benefitting from it will
generally appear revitalized.
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Example: Tyrone "Big T" Jackson
has 5d6 Heroic Recovery. At any time, Tyrone's player can opt roll 1d6 to 5d6, adding
the "face" total to Tyrone's current Stun, and the "body" total to Tyrone's current
Body (up to normal values).
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In a life and death battle with a monster, Big T takes a massive blow to the head
and is badly hurt; he is also CON Stunned. To avoid almost certain death, Big T's
player opts to use 3d6 of Big T's total of 5d6 dice of Heroic Recovery immediately,
saving 2d6 for later use. In addition to the Stun and Body healed, Big T also recovers
from being CON Stunned. Amazingly, Big T shakes off the blow and keeps on fighting
the good fight.
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NOTE: Heroic Recovery favors characters with lower Speed as it helps protect them
against losing actions due to being staggered (i.e. CON Stunned), but is useful
to almost all characters in general.
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1 / level
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Heroic Resilience: a character with this ability is harder to get rid of
than appearances might suggest. Each level of Heroic Resilience is equivalent to
a level of Physical Damage Negation, usable once per day.
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The character may chose to use levels of Heroic Resilience against an attack after
they have been hit and before damage is resolved. The SFX of each usage is left
to narrative resoltion as suits the situation.
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Example: Antony Scantanelli
has Heroic Resilience: 5. He is shot by an enemy with a pistol that does 2d6 killing
damage. Antony's player chooses to expend three levels of Heroic Resilience to reduce
the attack to a 1d6 killing attack. The player describes snatching up a nearby trash
can to absorb some of the bullet's force.
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NOTE: Heroic Resilience favors characters with a high DCV who rarely get hit, but
want a little insurance for when they do. It is also occasionally useful for protecting
oneself against penetrating 1 pip killing attacks.
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1 / level
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Heroic Shifting: a character with this ability is able to react incredibly
fast to reposition themselves immediately before impact. Each level allows the character
to move an attack that has hit them 1 position on the hit location chart.
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Each level is usable once per day as long as a character is conscious, not restrained,
and aware of the attack. A character can use as many levels as they wish against
an attack, from zero up to their current total.
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As an optional rule, a GM might allow a character to expend ten (10) levels of Heroic
Shifting to make an attack miss them entirely.
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Example: Amanda Knox has
Heroic Shifting: 5. An opponent shoots her, hitting location 5...the Face. Preferring
to not get shot in the face (and take the x2 Body multiplier), Amanda's player opts
to move the hit location one position from location 5 to location 6...the Hands
(and a much more advantageous 1/2 Body multiplier). Amanda Knox has four more levels
of Heroic Shifting to use for the duration of the day.
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NOTE: Heroic Shifting favors characters that wear sectional defenses, as well as
characters who'd like a little insurance against getting shot in the head or vitals.
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Luck
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5 / d6
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Luck: The standard form of Luck used in Here There Be Monsters uses the following
resolution. At the beginning of each session or when otherwise indicated by the
GM, a player rolls their character's Luck dice and totals the die roll. This total
serves as a pool of points which the player can later use throughout the session
to modify any standard 3d6 resolution roll made by their character up or down by
one point per point of luck spent; thus to modify a 3d6 skill roll of 12 to an 8
would cost 4 Luck points.
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A player cannot effect other characters directly with this form of Luck; thus a
player couldn't make it more difficult for an opponent to hit their character by
modifying that character's attack roll, but they could opt to block or dive for
cover and use their character's luck to modify their own 3d6 roll to successfully
block or dive out of the way.
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15 / d6
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Extreme Luck: This form of Luck works exactly the same as the default Luck
described previously, except that Luck points generated from Extreme Luck dice can
be used to modify other character's 3d6 resolution rolls positively or negatively
if the outcome of the modified resolution would benefit the character using Extreme Luck.
Range is Line of Sight.
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A character targeted by a harmful use of Extreme Luck can opt to respond by using
their own Luck to improve the roll, and this can go back and forth until no one
else wants to spend further Luck points to modify the roll.
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5 / d6
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Lucky Damage Die: This special form of Luck takes effect when a character
rolls for damage, either Normal or Killing. When rolling for damage a character
may roll a specially colored (or otherwise easily identified) die for each level
of Lucky Damage a character has in place of a die they would normally roll. When
a Lucky Damage die rolls a 6 the player can roll that die again and add the total
to their damage total, continuing until that die stops rolling 6's. No matter how
many Lucky Damage dice a character has, they do not roll more dice of damage than
the attack they are using actually does. This form of Luck has no other effect.
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Example: Clark Dugard
has 2d6 Lucky Damage; shooting a werewolf with one of his Desert Eagles that does
2d6+1 killing damage he rolls 2 Lucky Damage dice and adds 1 to the result. One
of the Lucky Damage dice is a 4, and the other is a 6. The sub-total is 11, but
the Lucky Damage die that rolled a 6 is rolled again, and comes up with another
6 bringing the subtotal to 17, and is then rolled again for a 3 which stops the
chain and leaves Clark with a final total of 20 Body inflicted.
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8 / use
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Lucky Clue: the player of a character with this ability can demand that the
GM provide them with one solid clue or lead per usage per session, sufficient to
allow the character to move on to the next scene. The proferred clue can take the
form of reminding the player out of character of various things that have already
been revealed but were not picked up on, or a little deus ex machina in game as
the current scene progresses, as the GM prefers.
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Meta
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5 / use
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Miraculous Survival: This ability allows a character to escape certain death...once.
If a character with this ability would be killed, the GM is obligated to orchestrate
some scenario or chain of events whereby the character instead escapes, scrapes
through, were playing possum, weren't as dead as they seemed, it all turns out to
be part of an elaborate sham, or something else even more unlikely. No matter how
disbelief-suspending the character's continued existence may seem, they somehow
manage to avoid doom for at least the duration of a scene.
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After this ability is used it is permanently gone, and the points for it are not
regained. A player can opt to purchase multiple levels of this ability at character creation
and after play starts, if they wish.
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Example: Michaila Bast's
player bought several levels of Miraculous Survival at character creation. During
play Michaila might somehow, against all odds, survive many challenges.
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Mitigation
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3 / point
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Supernatural Resistance: the character is more difficult to damage using
Supernatural forces. Each point of Supernatural Resistance negates a point of damage
or effect caused by any sort of ability with a Supernatural SFX. Supernatural Resistance
counts as Resistant Defense and can be applied against attacks that normally target
any standard or exotic defense, and can be stacked with any other relevant defense
a character might have.
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Supernatural Resistance is considered to have one level each of Hardened and Impenetrable.
This can be increased by applying Advantages to Supernatural Resistance.
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Example: Murgatroyd has
Supernatural Resistance: 5. Hunting down a rogue Warlock, Murgatroyd is attacked
by a mystic bolt, an attempted mind control spell, and a curse; 5 points of damage
and / or effect are subtracted from each attack.
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Supernatural Resistance is the most efficient way to gain comprehensive protection
against direct Supernatural effects, and though somewhat expensive, is generally
worth the investment.
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Status Immunity
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3
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Fugue Immunity: a character with this ability is immune to the effects of
mesmerism, toxins, pheremones, drugs, and similar mechanisms of willpower sapping
that use the Stun option for Change Environment described in the Advanced Players
Guide (APG; 6e) on page 83. For example, the Ecstasy of Blood ability contained
in the bite of a Vampire.
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3
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Lycanthropy Immunity: a character with this ability cannot be turned into
a lycanthrope of any kind (such as a werewolf); they are immune to the Infectious
Bite ability all true-born were-creatures possess (which is built as a Minor Transform
Xd6 (Person Into Lycanthropy Infected Person, Permanent)).
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3
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Necromantic Immunity: a character with this ability cannot be turned into
a Zombie or any other kind of non-sentient Undead; they are immune to the
Infectious Bite some unliving possess (which is usually built as a Transform Xd6
(Person Into [X Undead], Permanent)), and similar abilities.
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3
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Possession Immunity: a character with this ability cannot be Possessed; they
are immune to any use of the Possession Power against them. They are still able
to be affected by Mind Control directly; their immunity only protects against abilities
bought using the Possession Power described in the Advanced Players Guide (APG;
6e).
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3
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Vampirism Immunity: a character with this ability cannot be turned into a
Vampire; they are immune to the Infectious Bite ability all true Vampires possess
(which is built as a Minor Transform Xd6 (Person Into Vampirism Infected Person,
Permanent)).
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