astigate

Basic Abilities

Bulwark: The wraith can briefly guard herself and her companions from a Maelstrom. Her Castigate acts as a shield wall, deflecting the Maelstrom's storm winds and protecting her from the attention of any passing Spectres.

System: The player rolls Stamina + Castigate (difficulty of the Maelstrom's rating +3). The character must spend 1 Pathos for each level of the Maelstrom, but may extend the Bulwark over herself and anyone she touches.

Soulsight: Those with Castigate can examine another wraith and see her Shadow on her soul. With careful study, the wraith may measure a Shadow's rough power level, and how close it lies to the surface. The user cannot examine her own Shadow. Soulsight can also detect Spectres (such as Doppelgangers) by gauging the terrible strength of their Shadows.

System: The wraith rolls Perception + Castigate (difficulty 8). The number of successes determines how much insight she gains. The Storyteller will describe the Shadow's strength as weak, nominal, fairly strong, strong, or eminent (depending no the character's current Angst score), and may give more details if the player rolled well.

Coax

This art grants some power over the user's Shadow. A wraith using Coax may call on her Shadow's power with greatly lessened risk.

System: A Shadowguide may offer a player a fixed number of Shadow Dice to assist in any task. A wraith may use Coax to midify this number in either way. The player rolls Charisma + Castigate (difficulty 6); every two successes allow the player to ad or subtract one die from the offered amount.

The character pays no Pathos, but gains 1 Angst for each use of Coax.

Dark Secrets

This devious art allows the user to learn other wraith's dark secrets by studying her Shadow. Of course, the Shadow may feed the Pardoner false information - spreading lies can be in the Shadow's interest. Generally, the weaker the Shadow, the more honesty the Pardoner can force or manipulate out of it.

System: The wraith carefully examines the target's Shadow, and rolls Perception + Castigate (difficulty of the target's Willpower). Each success allows the Pardoner to ask one question of the target's player (Storyteller when appropriate). The target's player must answer fairly truthfully, but may indudge in cryptic responses or half-truths (a Shadow's favorite tricks). The target character may let his Shadow make an opposed Angst roll; nobody likes having his darkest secrects ferreted out.

This art costs 1 Pathos to use, and gives the user 1 Angst.

Purify

By focusing her will, the wraith may directly attack the power of another wraith's Shadow. The actual methods vary from Pardoner to Pardoner, and can entail sermons, song, esoteric chants or even flagellation. This is an extended, careful proccess, and cannot be rushed without grave risk.

System: The Storyteller rolls the character's Charisma + Castigate in secret. The diffifulty is the subject's peranent Angst score; the subject may also assist the roll by spending Willpower. Each success reduces the subject's temporary Angst by one, but also causes one Corpus Level of damage to the subject. The Castigator receives a temporary Angst point for each "one" on the Purify roll.

Housecleaning

By cloaking himself in purity, the wraith may drive away Spectres and keep them from entering his immediate area. This art can shield an entire structure from Spectres (within reason - only the greatest of Pardoners could guard and entire skyscraper). Any Spectres in the area, hidden or no, are driven away. Perculiarly, this art cannot keep Doppelgangers at bay.

System: Each success on a Charisma + Castigate roll (difficulty 7) will keep the ward up for one turn. Any Spectres already present must be defeated in a resisted roll (the player's Housecleaning roll against the Spectre's Angst) before being banished. A banished Spectre stays banished for the duration of the art, even if other Spectres in the vicinity are not affected.

Defiance

Those who know this art can fight against thier Shadow's bids for control. If the Shadow tries to take over a wraith with Defiance, the Pardoner may try to beat her dark side back into place. This art can be used to help other wraiths in their struggles as well at an additional cost of 1 Angst.

System: To resist her Shadow's attempts to gain control, the character rolls Charisma + Castigate (difficulty of her current Angst). Each success reduces her Angst by 1; the Shadow is powerless to prevent this. Defiance can be used against another wraith's Shadow, but the difficulty becomes the subject's current Angst +3.

Using Defiance costs 1 Pathos, plus another Pathos for every success. Failing this roll adds 1 point to the character's temporary Angst; a botch will add 1 permanent Angst.