Okay, this is a big subject, so let's break it down to the basics: if you can do magic, you're paranormal. So that's settled, right?
Yeah, yeah, most people have some problem with that idea. I know folks who get their fur in a knot when I tell them they're paranormal. They are damn certain they're skinwalkers who aren't para-anything and they're willing to skin me and demonstrate.
And frankly, we can call ourselves any damn things we like. I'm a guy with some tricks and a long-ter deal with spirit of the wandering hero, not a Channel, shaman, adept or medium. Good friend of mine, he's happy to be known as a mage, but he's not so happy with being called a wizard or a spellweaver.
The reason we're not collectively called "supernatural," or at least we shouldn't be, is that there's a difference between being supernatural and being human. Supernaturals have made the kind of bargains that mean you're no longer really what you were. The magic has changed you into something else. You might still look human -- you probably do -- and you might even be human enough to have kids with other humans. But deep down, you're something else.
Vampires are supernatural; they might act alive, but they're dead where it counts and it will become a big deal for them as time goes on. Shifters also seem human, but now they've got the animal in them and that will never go away.
Don't take that the wrong way -- we're all still just folks. But when you talk about these things, it helps to get the terminology straight.
Humans can still do the magic stuff, but that's mostly due to talent or a specific kind of arrangement that doesn't change us at the fundamental level. We still get called all kinds of things depending on how we do the magic, but we're just people who can do this stuff better than most.
I mean, most everyone can pick up a basketball and play hoops with friends. Not everyone is good enough to do it to the tune of millions of dollars a year. Everyone does magic; that's the Law (the Second one, I think. Sometimes I get them out of order), but not everyone does magic that's worth noticing.
Anyway, we're paranormal and we do magic. What makes us different, as you might have noticed, is how we do the magic. Some of us make a deal with a specific entity -- god, spirit, Old One, whatever -- some of us find a source of power and a style that really works for us, others will only handle magic at a distance with metaphorical iron tongs.
Not all paranormals are magicians. That's confusing on the face of it, but a magician is someone who knows the big impressive tricks. They're consciously using their mana to cast Spells, and they have to learn the right Spells. A wizard, for example, is one type of magician, and so am I. But sometimes I do stuff that isn't really a spell.
The other paranormals are "imbued." We have powers that are just part of us. These powers are always the result of some bargain, even if we weren't aware that we were making bargains at the time. Or what they would cost.
By the way, not a lot of us go around saying we're imbued. That's just the technical term that's in vogue with the people who study this stuff.
You can be an imbued who is also a magician. If you're a supernatural, you're always an imbued, and sometimes you cast Spells, too. If you're human, you're sometimes imbued but usually a magician.
Oh, right, some people make a distinction between living and undead supernaturals, too. I'm not sure that's necessary -- I mean, who's going to think a ghost is living? -- but I'll mention it just because.
All confused now? Well, it's not that big a deal. It's useful to know the generic terms, but most folks just worry about their own setups. That's what I'll cover with you here. There are a lot of subtypes and variations in each group, but if you really want to know, then I encourage you to find one of the several paranormal wikis out there and do some research on your own.
Rules Talk: The templates will cost points at character creation. It is not necessary to buy a template for your character, but if you spend your points to closely resemble a template, the GM may just decide you are that template.
Templates have specific Advantages and Disadvantages, which determine their final cost. A character with a template must take all of these Advantages and Disadvantages, although they may choose to modify one or two with the GM's permission. These modifications should not lower the original cost of the template, and the ending character should still closely resemble the legendary type of creature emulated by the template.
These are the guys who build stuff. Ever magician who wants can learn how to make an enchanted item or two, but these guys really mean it. They spend most of their time perfecting the arts of creation and enchantment. They tend not to be good with the gosh-wow Spells, although they have to know a few for their work.
An artificier is actually pretty popular in the paranormal set. He can make really useful stuff like healing powders, bullets that can hurt nightmares, and clothing that keeps claws from ripping your guts out. You always can tell when the artificier is the real deal, because he tends to wear his own goods.
The downside is that most artificier have a tendency to be obsessive about what they do. It's hard for them to break stuff even if it's necessary. They also can be a little greedy, always hoarding money or strange ingredients in order to make the next cool thing. I've known an artificier or two who got so bad that they wanted to take other people's gear away because they didn't know how to use it properly.
Advantages (8 points)
Disadvantages (-2 points)
The channels of the world are the ones who do magic instinctively. By some quirk, we're able to direct mana without thinking about it. This means we might have powers because we've given them to ourselves or because we've made bargains without knowing it.
For most of us, we try to use this quality to give us some measure of control over what we do. If you find yourself getting big and strong every time your adrenaline rises, you might want to know how to stop doing that so that you're not ripping your pants when stuck in traffic or at a horror movie.
We can also learn to cast Spells like anyone else, and some of us are pretty good at it. But there's always a tradeoff for that sort of thing; we've got to be careful how we're using magic. Since it's unconscious for us to do something, we are always pushing against the world and so we've got backlash already and might be running lower on mana than we thought.
Advantages (11 points)
Disadvantages (-4 points)
These folks have a natural affinity for the natural world. By that I mean, they are in tune with the entities we refer to as elementals. Or maybe they're able to manipulate the spirits that live in and around plants. Or maybe they've got the ability to talk to animals.
Primalists often pick a few things to focus on, like shifting winds around or doing the Tarzan thing in the jungles. They sometimes get called shamans, too, because they're talking to the spirits of the world. They don't do things instinctively, the way a Channel does, but they find it very easy to learn the kinds of magic that deal with the natural world.
A primalist can do other kinds of magic if they want, but they tend not to bother. They also tend to take on some of the characteristics of their closest primal connections; a fire elementalist often becomes overly passionate, while a plant-o-mancer starts to worry more about the fate of trees than human beings.
Advantages (8 points)
Disadvantages (-4 points)
Some people aren't that interested in working Spells quickly in the face of danger or whatever. They would prefer to take their time, research the proper formulas, and work their magic with style. If they can do it in front of a dozen of their closest friends, so much the better.
Really, you've got to admire these guys. Most ritualists don't have the instinct for magic the way I do, they don't have any special ability to draw in or manipulate magic like wizards, and they aren't natural craftsmen like artificiers. But they knew magic was there and they learned how to do it the hard way. They studied arcane scripts and calls to the least-dangerous spirits and can rattle off twelve uses for a white candle and a bag of salt.
A few ritualists have picked up the basics of spellcasting, but that's really not where their talents lie. They also tend to be very helpful to artificiers, who do the crafting and then get a ritualist's help putting in the magic.
The main downside to being a ritualist is that they are not well-suited to dealing with things that happen more quickly than it would take to close the circle and draw down the moon. Also, while they don't necessarily sling Spells around, when they do make the magic happen, it tends to be on a big enough scale to bring a double helping of backlash.
Advantages (7 points)
Disadvantages (-6 points)
These are the guys who get books written about them. They're the flashy ones, who can flip off eldritch horrors with one hand while conjuring Athena's Aegis with the other. Granted, most wizards who survive their first year tend to be more cautious than that. But they still tend to get into trouble.
What makes a wizard different than the rest of us is that they are naturally good at absorbing and using mana. I don't mean it's unconscious for them like it is for me -- I do the magic, but the juice come from me. They're able to charge us just by standing around, which is a damn useful trick, trust me. They learn so many Spells because they've got the mana to use them more than a lot of us do.
Not only that, but they've got the knack for adapting their Spells on the fly. It's not easy for most magicians to change what they're doing unless they've practiced that change regularly. A wizard, though, can sometimes seem like they're pulling the spell out of thin air.
That extra strength and versatility comes with a price, of course. Most wizards are magnets for backlash. One guy I know has had so much backlash trouble that he barely seems human any more.
One thing about wizards: they tend to be really reluctant to make bargains for more power. Whether they already feel like they've got as much as they need, or because their natural strength makes them really stubborn, I don't know.
Advantages (12 points)
Disadvantages (-3 points)
The Dreamlands are real. I've only been there once, and this isn't the right place to go into all the cosmology involved, but the thing to remember is that when you sleep, your mind connects to another dimension and shapes it into dreams. Everyone does this whenever they reach the right mental state. Most of these dreams last for a short period and then fade again, but they can leave traces behind.
There are entities which live in the Dreamlands, which can pick and choose the echoes of dreams to forge into bodies, domains, and entire realms. Some of these have affinity for dreams along certain themes, creating gardens of erotic longings or labyrinths of nightmare images.
These entities look for dreamers with talent and imagination. They want a more solid link to the physical world, and are happy to trade power in order to increase their influence both over the waking and dreaming worlds. They aren't even doing this for malicious reasons, usually -- they are fascinated by the humans who create the building blocks of their world and want to spend more time with us.
The people who have made bargains with the Dreamlands are the Dreamwalkers. They are changed in subtle ways at first, given power over illusions and dreams, and in time may become quite strange to human eyes.
A Dreamwalker pays for this by having a certain dreamlike quality to their logic, as well as being affected by legends of the Fair Folk.
Advantages (21 points)
Disadvantages (-10 points)
There are certain entities who do not have to watch invisibly from other planes of existence. They have the power to enter a human body and have physical presence in the world. In many cases, this possession does not work out so well for their chosen vessel; most entities will consume a soul to fill its place. It can access all the memories stored in the brain and even play-act like the person they once were, but they are not the same person where it counts.
Of course, not every possession works like this. Possessors may choose to go lightly; this is especially true when a bargain is made between the entity and the vessel. In these cases, the possessed is a full partner in whatever the entity gets up to.
However the possession works, a replacement or a co-op, if it lasts longer than a few days or a week, the entity will make changes to the vessel. This is required for many reasons -- to protect it from damage at channelling the entity's mana, to better serve its needs physically, or just because the entity's self-image overrides that of the vessel. Except in the most cosmetic cases, these changes will usually make you more powerful than a normal human -- although you might not look like one.
The possessed are creepy to most people. You could be the instrument of vengeance being ridden by your father's wrongfully-killed ghost or a great guy who was by an archangel who wants to protect the innocent, but there's something about you that makes even the most clueless person uncomfortable. Not only that, but there are plenty of legendary ways to weaken or incapacitate possessed people, and a lot of them will work on you.
Disadvantages (-8 points)
If you tilt your head and squint, a shifter is just another kind of possessed. However, a shifter did not reach out to a human-like entity. Instead, he bonds with a primal animal spirit. This spirit takes residence in the body of the shifter, and if everything goes right, they share space equally.
In many cases, the shifter did not exactly know what he was doing when he made the bargain with the primal spirit. It was a moment of desperation, a powerful need, a natural affinity that went way beyond feeling at home around animals and became a melding of souls. Because the shifter probably didn't structure the bargain carefully -- and most primal spirits aren't amenable to subclauses and codicils anyway -- there can be some problems with who's in charge all the time.
The main benefit to a shifter is that he can take on the form of his animal spirit. These are usually some kind of predator -- wolves are a well-known option, of course -- but can be anything with enough strength and ability to reason to make the bargain. Because these spirits are more powerful than your average animal-echo, the shifter's animal form is pretty awesome for its species. Over time, the shifter can also learn to modify this change into a hybrid beast, and eventually to channel some of his animal abilities even in a human form.
It's important to remember that the first time the bargain is made and the shifter changes, he is no longer fully human. There will always be something of the beast left in him, and something of the human in the animal. These traces will make a shifter stand out in most crowds. It's not like your average person can look at a shifter and denounce him as a monster, but he can tell something's different. Animals will be the same way, although in many cases that can mean they'll be cowed by the shifter rather than trying to turn on him.
It's worth noting that shifters have been around as long as humanity. There are a lot of legends about shifters, and the methods described in these stories are pretty good at detecting and harming shifters who have enough backlash.
Advantages (22 points)
Disadvantages (-11 points)
Okay, we all know the deal with these guys, right? Dead person leaves behind echoes of his mind. If there's enough mana, either in the formely-living person or in the area, then those echoes might create a new existence as a shade. While many ghosts are little more than the shattered remnants of their living selves, those who had strong wills while living will be remain capable of sapient thought even in death.
The energies of death are attuned to the Grey Lands, which is where most ghosts are found. The Grey Lands are very close to our physical plane, and ghosts and peer into our world fairly easily, especially when light is not overwhelming their senses. Most ghosts will try to reach into the physical world, even if they no longer remember why. But the strongest ghosts will have specific goals and will find it much easier to manipulate the mana both in the Grey Lands and the physical world to fulfill their purposes.
Ghosts need to be tied to the physical world in some way -- a metaphoric anchor that gives them a place to rest and regain mana. This anchor is often an important place, sometimes some kind of item, and is occasionally a person or people that are linked in some way. Without the anchor, the ghost will soon drift deeper into the Grey Lands and lose touch with the physical world. While the ghost's existence probably doesn't end there, I sure don't have any idea what happens next.
Of course, a ghost is scary as hell to most people and it's almost impossible to pretend to be something else. Some ghosts will find a person who is willing to act as a vessel, but then that makes them a possessed. There are a lot of stories about ghosts, and it doesn't take much backlash at all to make these stories apply to a specific ghost.
Advantages (21 points)
Disadvantages (-14 points)
A revenant is a ghost that has managed to return to its body -- or maybe I should say, any convenient dead body -- and gotten back up after death. Which is pretty damn spooky, I admit, but at least they're not possessing the living. So there's that.
The classic kind of revenant is the zombie, which we all know and love from the movies. They tend not to be too articulate about their origins, but I have it on good authority that most zombies are the shattered souls I mentioned before, the ones who can't really remember who they were and what it meant to be human. Getting into the body does even more damage to those poor souls and soon there's nothing left but bloody revenge and eating brains.
But the more powerful ghosts who have held it together can take it a step further. They're in a dead body, but if they're smart and clever, they will use mana to make repairs and keep the thing in tip-top shape. They'll walk -- or lurch with dignity -- around as long as it takes to achieve their purpose. And then, sometimes they lay back down and die happily, and sometimes they stick around and find more things to do.
The very strongest revenants can be very old, in fact. I've heard about one of these guys who has gone through two bodies and is on his third, but is still reaching out from beyond the grave. His example notwithstanding, what makes a revenant different from a ghost who's taking a short ride is that the revenant's soul is bound into the body, mystically speaking.
Without the use of magic to repair damage, a revenant's flesh will eventually turn ruddy and then decay, as will his eyes and other soft tissues. Most revenants who can will spend time making it so they appear alive, but sooner or later they will stop caring about such things.
Like ghosts, revenants needs some kind of anchor, a focus for their soul to remain linked to the physical world. This anchor cannot be the revenant's body -- this mystic link is too mixed in with the revenant's binding. Instead, it has to be some object or place that keeps the ghost from fading away even when exposed to the harsh light of reality. The revenant cannot travel more than a few miles from this focus.
There are a lot of ways to take a revenant out of this world, and thanks to the stigma associated with them, a lot of people -- even paranormals who might know better -- would be willing to try them out.
Advantages (23 points)
Disadvantages (-14 points)
Perhaps the largest group of supernaturals around. They can make each other, you see, by waiting around at the point of death and offering a bit of their blood. Not every human who is given the choice survives; there needs to be enough magical talent to let the power take root. I've heard a theory that this offering is actually a ritual that links the dying soul to something else, which offers the bargain of life after death in return for being humanity's most dangerous predator.
Whatever you believe, the facts are that some of the people who are offered the blood come back. Their minds are harrowed from death and they are all basically insane when they first return. While they're in this state they're called ferals, or sometimes ghouls. They feed by eating big hunks of still-living flesh. With help, they stop being beasts and remember who they were. They might still have some lingering traces of their earlier insanity, but in general they wipe their chins and act like people again.
Sexy, hunh? Yeah, let me tell you, these are the guys who've done the best in managing their public images.
Anyway, once they're back to normal, they learn how to drain mana from the lifeforce carried in blood. That lets them remain living, for a certain value of "life." If they recall humanity well enough, apparently they can mimic living people in all ways; don't expect to spot a vampire by looking to see if he is breathing, whether he can eat food, or whether he tans or bursts into flame in sunlight. As I understand it, the less they pretend to be human, the more the traditional vampire weaknesses affect them. At the same time, the less they pretend to be human, the more dangerous they are, because usually they're too powerful to pass as normal folks by that point.
Or they just don't care any more and that's a different set of problems.
You might have gathered that I'm not a big fan of vampires. But let's be honest, some of them have been good guys. I mean, spit-in-the-face-of-pure-evil types who use their abilities to kick ass for the sake of everyone. It's not an exaggeration to say that the world is still here because a few vampires saved the day.
But every single vampire was a human who has learned to prey on other humans. They got to survive their own deaths because something in them appealed to some pretty dangerous entities in the darkness. That worries me.
On the other hand, vampires also are written about more than almost any other paranormal. Most of their major weaknesses are known to some degree. So friendly advice to any vampires reading this little essay: play nice.
Advantages (25 points)
Disadvantages (-17 points)