DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/vampires.zip/HIGH-WOD.ZIP/HTG-3.TXT

Text File | 1994-06-29 | 15KB | 259 lines

       Chapter Three: The Quickening
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                "Hey, it's a kind of magic!"
                                                - Connor

        Quickening is the force that makes the immortals "special":
   that mystical energy within them, that makes them immortal and gives
   them their powers.  In this chapter, we will discuss what Quickening
   means in the rules, and how immortals increase in power.


   Quickening Dice:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

        Throughout the discussion of the various powers, mention will
   be made of rolling Quickening to perform some feat.  This behaves
   exactly as with Spheres of power in Mage: roll a number of dice equal
   to your Quickening, against a difficulty of six.  Count successes to
   find how much benefit has been gained.


   Quickening Powers:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

          "You can't drown, you fool!  You're immortal!"
                                                  - Ramirez

        The powers listed below are based off of various powers shown
   in the Highlander movie and TV series.  They are loosely based off of
   various powers listed in the Mage book, and occasionally make mention
   of the power they were most similar to.
        Next to each power is a mark of what level of Quickening is
   necessary to first exhibit this power.

   * Sense Quickening
        Some immortals gain this ability even before they suffer their
   first death, since they still are considered to have a Quickening of
   1.  This ability is similar to the level 1 Prime spell Sense
   Quintessence (see Mage): using this ability, an immortal will sense
   another immortal nearby.  No specific information on the immortal's
   identity is given, nor is the location of the immortal known, merely
   that the immortal is near.
        Sense Quickening also allows the immortal to sense a Node
   ("holy ground").  Likewise, an immortal can sometimes sense other
   beings with free quintessence in them (such as Mages and Kindred),
   although a perception roll may be necessary for this.  Usually, no
   roll is needed for sensing holy ground, and sensing other immortals is
   usually left to Storyteller's discretion (to pick a dramatic moment.)

   * Breathe Water
        With this ability, immortals may survive indefinitely
   underwater, drawing oxygen from the water.  This is not the same as
   not breathing: it has been shown that immortals do breathe, and that
   poison gas will affect them (although it cannot kill them). Total
   absence of air will reduce the immortal to incapacitated after a
   certain length of time, and he won' recover until he can, once more,
   breath.

   ** Empower Weapon
        Often in both movie and series, the clash of swords during a
   battle between two immortals is accompanied by electrical discharge.
   Using their Quickening, immortals can enfuse their weapon with raw
   power, causing them to do more damage, and also causing the discharges
   shown.  An immortal can empower any edged melee weapon in this way
   (axe, sword, knife).  One additional damage success is scored per
   success rolled (see Quickening Dice above for details).
        Note: The extra damage done by Empower Weapon is aggravated,
   although the normal damage done by the weapon is not.
        Example: Duncan swings his trusty katana (difficulty 6,
   Strength + 5 damage), and hits.  He rolls Str 3 + 5 = 8 dice for
   damage, difficulty 6 (using the Vampire 2nd edition rules), to
   determine damage.  Since his katana is empowered, however, he rolls an
   additional 5 dice for his 5 Quickening, also against difficulty 6.
   Any successes scored on this roll count as aggravated damage.  The
   defender gets one soak roll against both damages, and soaks aggravated
   first.

   ** Heal Self
        In Chapter Four, the "normal" healing chart for immortals is
   given.  Using their Quickening, however, an immortal may choose to
   heal even faster from wounds received. By taking a round and rolling
   Quickening, an immortal may heal a number of wound levels equal to the
   successes rolled.  Note that this is done once per wound only, the
   rest must heal normally.  Note also that if an immortal is taken to
   incapacitated (or beyond) before he has a chance to heal, he must
   first heal to crippled, then roll his dice in Heal Self. Also,
   aggravated wounds may not be healed in this manner, and must heal
   according to the chart.
        Example: Richie the new immortal gets in a fight with an
   unsuspecting group of gang toughs, and after finishing them off he
   begins to recover from his wounds. Three wounds (3/1/2 levels) for a
   total of six wound levels (crippled).  He rolls his Quickening of 2,
   healing 1 from the first, healing the second, and getting no successes
   on the third wound, over a period of three rounds.  The remaining four
   wound levels must heal normally (which means he'll be fully healed in
   little over a half hour).

   *** Empower Self
        Using his Quickening, an immortal may increase his physical
   attributes, by one for every success rolled. The effect lasts for an
   entire scene, and is usually done only during challenges. After using
   Empower Self, an immortal will feel weak (-1 to dice pool) for an hour
   or more.
        Example: Connor squares off with Fasil, and the battle begins.
   Connor rolls his Quickening of 7, gaining four successes, and puts two
   points into Stamina and two in Dexterity.  Fasil is in trouble.

   **** Speed of the Stag
        Like Empower Self, an immortal may use his Quickening to
   increase his actions in a turn (much like the vampiric discipline of
   Celerity).  One extra action may be gained per success rolled, and the
   extra actions last for an entire scene.  As with Empower Self, the
   immortal will feel weak for some time after using this power.

   ***** Ignore Wounds
        At this level, the immortal's recuperative powers have become
   so potent that they no longer need spend time to heal.  One wound
   level is healed each round, with no roll required (although an
   immortal may still take a round to heal more, using the level 2 power
   Heal Self).  Also at this level, an immortal may heal aggravated
   wounds as if they were normal wounds, using Heal Self above.
        Example: The Kurgan, after ending the pitiful Ramirez's life
   and taking his Quickening, stops to rest.  Ramirez had one lucky swing
   that nearly took the Kurgan's head, doing four normal wounds and one
   aggravated.  The four normal wound levels healed over the next four
   rounds, and the Kurgan takes a round to heal the aggravated wound
   after the battle is over.  A scar is left on his throat, however, to
   remind him of how close Ramirez's blade came...


   The Last
   ^^^^^^^^
        The "Sense Quickening" power is related to another power,
   which has been dubbed the "Last". The massive amount of Quickening
   present in an immortal means that they are able to "tune in" to their
   surroundings, and to the life forces around them, effectively giving
   them a sixth sense, similar to the "Danger Sense" gift from
   Vampire. This manifests itself in many ways. In the film, the examples
   we saw included MacLeod and Ramirez "tuning in" to the stag's life
   force on the sea shore, Kurgan's ability to guess Connor's name, even
   though he had never seen him before, Connor's knowledge that someone
   (Brenda) was following him, and the way in which he knew of the gun
   and the tape recorder in Brenda's apartment. This power is one that
   should be administrated at the Storyteller's discretion. At
   appropriate times - ie. when the Storyteller decides, not the player -
   the ST should do a Quickening roll, and, depending on the amount of
   successes the player gets, he should reveal a certain amount of
   information. Also, the player can decide that his character is going
   to tune in to a particular animal, and, in this way, he can feel what
   the animal feels, and, at higher levels of Quickening ( 5+ ), he may
   be able to catch glimpses of what the animal is actually seeing and
   hearing. However, the animal must be nearby.
        This power is an unreliable one, and manifests itself
   irregularly and in strange ways. This power is designed to help negate
   the advantage that Garou and Kindred have, through possessing Gifts
   and Disciplines, and is aimed at providing the immortal character with
   a useful, yet erratic source of information. The Storyteller should
   use her discretion in the dispensing of such information.


   Gaining and Losing Quickening:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

        Immortals can only increase Quickening by taking another
   immortal's head.  When they have successfully finished their opponent,
   they gain the opponent's level in Quickening x 2 in "Quickening
   Experience". Like study points in Mage, these are spent equally with
   experience to increase an immortal's Quickening.  As outlined in the
   Experience Chart (Chapter Four), it costs Current Level x 6 to
   increase Quickening.  This is the only way to increase Quickening.
   The victor also gains one point in an ability, for each point of
   Quickening the loser had.  These ability points come from the
   knowledge of the loser, and must be placed in abilities that the loser
   had at a higher level than the victor.  If the victor has higher
   scores in every ability of the loser, the victor gains nothing.
        Example: Frank Colt beheads Butra the assassin, and takes his
   Quickening.  Frank has a Quickening of 2, and Butra had a Quickening
   of 3.  Frank gets 3x2 = 6 Quickening Experience, which he uses with 6
   "normal" experience to raise his Quickening to 3 (which costs 12
   points).  He also gains three points in abilities, one each in three
   areas where Butra had more skill than him.
        There are two conditions under which an immortal may lose
   Quickening: two on one, and holy ground, as discussed in Chapter One.
   These are handled in a very similar manner to the normal transfer of
   Quickening, but will result in more than one "loser".
        If two immortals fight a third and take his head, then one of
   the immortals who has emerged victorious will absorb all of the
   Quickening from the experience: all of the loser's and one of his
   partner's. Thus, he gains (loser+1)x2 in Quickening Experience, and
   his partner loses one point in Quickening (if he only has one, he dies
   from the experience).  The partner also loses one point in an ability,
   which also goes to the victor (the storyteller picks which ability,
   but it has to be one that the victor is inferior to his partner in).
   This loss of power and knowledge keeps even the friendliest of
   immortals from agreeing to be a partner...
        Holy ground is a similar situation, and in fact counts as the
   "victor" in any contest.  The Node gains (loser+1)x2 in Quickening
   Experience toward increasing the power of the Node, and the winner of
   the battle loses one point of Quickening, and also loses one point in
   an ability (again, the ability lost is chosen by the storyteller).
   Since there is never a victor in a battle on holy ground, no immortal
   will fight there.
        Example: If Frank had beheaded Butra the assassin on holy
   ground (in this instance, a Node with strength 2) the Node would gain
   (3+1)x2 = 8 Quickening experience (almost enough to turn it into a
   Node of 3), and Frank would lose 1 Quickening (taking him to 1) and 1
   point in some ability.  Bad move for Frank.


   The Side Effects of Quickening:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

        Quickening is the lifeforce of an immortal, and can only be
   taken by removing his head.  In the World of Darkness, there are many
   other ways to remove someone's power, none of which will easily
   succeed against an immortal.  Some examples include:

   * Vampires gain no sustenance from drinking the blood of an
     immortal, and cannot kill him by doing so (although they can drive
     the immortal to incapacitated).  The blood is worthless to them.
     Nor can an immortal be Embraced and become a Vampire.

   * Mages cannot use Prime effects to remove Quintessence from an
     immortal, or to destroy it (a la Flames of Purification, Prime 4). An
     immortal's pattern is immutable.  The immortal gains his Quickening in
     automatic countermagick successes to resist any Prime effect directed
     against him.  The one exception is when an immortal loses his head: if
     a Mage with talent in Prime is present, he can in fact potentially
     become the "victor", stealing the loser's Quickening as Quintessence
     (one point of Quintessence per point of Quickening), and gaining a
     point of the winner's as well.  The Mage rolls his Prime versus the
     winner's Quickening in a contested roll.  The Mage gains no ability
     from the experience, but the 'winner' still loses one point in some
     ability.
        Example: If Frank had beheaded Butra the assassin in the
     presence of a Mage with a score of 3 in his Prime sphere, Frank and
     she would contest to see who actually absorbed Butra's Quickening.  If
     Frank lost, the Mage would gain four points of Quintessence (three for
     Butra and one from Frank), while Frank would lose 1 Quickening (taking
     him to 1) and 1 point in some ability.

   * Likewise, Immortals are practically immune to any effects of the
     Life sphere, or the healing discipline of Obeah (see Mage and the
     Vampire Player's Guide, respectively), whether the effect is
     beneficial or not. Assume their Quickening in automatic successes, to
     resist any effect or counter any successes rolled against them.

   * An immortal's mind, spirit, and body are tightly held by their
     Quickening.  Although mind effects (the Mind sphere, Dominate, or
     Presence) may affect the immortal, his mind cannot be pulled from his
     body, nor may his spirit be removed without his head being removed
     first.  This is not a contested roll, this is automatic.


                             -----===*===-----