atalism

Basic Abilities

Kismet: This is the ability to gauge a person, situation or thing's importance in the grand weave. A practiced Oracle can easily perceive the forces at play around those with great destinies.

System: The player rolls Perception + Fatalism (difficulty 6), thereby determining how vital something is to the "overall scheme of things." This ability is handy for discerning Storyteller characters and those of the other players in a given scene.

Fatal Vision

Those with Fatalism can read a person's deathmarks, the marks on wraiths and mortals fated to die soon. Deathmarks hint at the manner of a person's death, and appear on mortals shortly before they die. Some mortals, those doomed to die in particularly tragic fashion, manifest deathmarks months or even years before their deaths.

System: The player must roll Perception + Fatalism (difficulty of the subject's Willpower). Each success offers greater insight into the person's manner of death. If a wraith uses Fatal Vision just before and Interpretation (see below), each success on the Fatal Vision roll adds a die to the Interpretation. Fatal Vision also reveals if the subject has been previously targeted by Fatalism.

Foreshadow

The wraith's attunement to Fate's interweaving strands allows her to sense when danger approaches, much as a spider perceives vibrations along its web.

System: The Storyteller may secretly roll Perception + Fatalism (difficulty 6) when the character becomes endangered. The difficulty of the roll varies with the subtlety of the threat. The number of successes reflects how effectively forewarned the character is (generally one turn per success). This art costs no Pathos, but the uneasiness it inspires grants the character 1 Angst per successful use.

Interpretation

The wraith can interpret a person's fate or read into her past by means of this art. Interpretation is typically used with some form of divination paraphernalia (the Tarot or I Ching, runecasting, astrology or the like); attempting this art without such props is far more difficult and likely to backfire

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Fatalism (difficulty of the subject's Willpower). Both the interpreter and subject may spend Willpower to aid this roll. The player may then ask the Storyteller one short question about the subject for each success gained. The Storyteller need not answer openly; cryptic or incomplete answers are perfectly acceptable.

Attempting this art without any divinatory tools increase the difficulty by +2.

Interpretation costs 2 Pathos.

Guesswork

As a wraith masters Fatalism, she can learn to read the interplay of Fate's forces more quickly, even in stressful situations. Guesswork allows a wraith to "read into" someone else's actions, and intuitively respond even before the target acts.

System: In combat, a player may roll Wits + Fatalism (difficulty 8). Each success on this roll adds another success to the character's initiative roll (Wits + Alertness). If the player gets twice as many initiative successes as her opponent, the Storyteller may tell her something of her foe's intentions ("He is going to try to force you into the Nihil."), allowing her character to act appropriately.

This art costs 2 Pathos.

Luck

The secrets of the final level of Fatalism permit a wraith to make minor adjustments to Fate itself. By invoking Fate's blessing, a wraith can enjoy greater success in her efforts.

System: At the beginning of each story, the character may rolls Wits + Fatalism (difficulty 6). The number of successes equals the number of "ones" (potential botches) that the player may choose to ignore for the duration of the story. This art cannot affect Harrowing, however, and may only be activated once per story.

Activating Luck costs 2 Pathos and 1 Willpower.