lux

Basic Abilities

Grave Mold: The wraith may cause spontaneous growth of lichen and mildew in small areas. By repeated use of this ability, the wriaith can spread decay throughout a house. The mold does not have any effect on living matter.

System: The character must roll Strength + Flux (difficulty of the local Shroud), in order to use this art.

Sense Fluxion: The wraith may, after careful examination, sense when others are using Flux upon an object in the Skinlands.

System: The character must roll Perception + Flux (difficulty 6). Only one success is needed to sense whether or not an object is affected by an Alchemist, but more successes can give extra hints as to the nature or even the identity of the Alchemist in question.

Rot

By use of this art, the character may age a small, non-living item. Fabric and paper will yellow and begin to crumble when touched by the wraith, but other, heavier objects are unaffected. The weight and density of objects altered by Rot must be small for this art to have any significant effect. Rot is sometimes used in place of Inhabit to bring small, fragile objects across the Shroud as relics.

System: The character must roll Strength + Flux (difficulty of the local Shroud). The number of successes indicates the volume of material that can be ruined. Larger quantities of fabric or paper require more successes. One success could cause decay in only a few pages of paper, but five successes would be enough to destroy a volume of a large city's Yellow Pages. Only one object may be effected at a time.

This art costs one point of Pathos for every use.

Stregthen

This art allows the wraith to manipulate the object in such a way that it becomes more resistant to decay and damage. By doing so, the Alchemist alters the structure of the object so that any attempt to damage or break the object will be significantly more difficult.

System: The character rolls Dexterity + Flux (difficulty 7). Each success allows the wraith to increase the difficulty to destroy the object by one, up to the wraith's Stamina. For example, Sarah wishes to Strengthen the jewelry box in which her Fetter, a valentine, is locked. Her ex-boyfriend, a mortal named Stanley, is trying to pry the locked box open with a letter opener. She gets three successes, which increases the difficulty to destory the box from a 5 to an 8. If Sarah's Stamina was only 2, she would have only been able to raise the difficulty to 7. As it is, now Stanley may need more than just a letter opener.

Decay

This Art allows a wraith to promote significant decay in manmade objects. With a significant number of successes, wood crumbles at the slightest touch and iron rusts to the point where it loses all structural integrity. The Alchemist' Guild found this ability very useful in convincing the Quick to avoid areas where they were not wanted. Later modifications - such as using this Art on moving vehicles - assured Alchemists that they had found a certain method of keeping the living at bay. The effects caused by Decay can be impressive, despite the fact that the actual area covered is often only that of a single link of a chain or similarly small component.

Like Rot, this art is often used in place of Inhabit to bring small objects across the Shroud as relics.

System: The character must make a Stamina + Flux roll (difficulty of the local Shroud. + any modifiers for the strength of the object). Each success increases the volume of matter affected. While only one success is needed to cause an already rusted section of a pipe to crumble, at least five successes would be needed to damage a cable supporting the Golden Gate bridge.

This art costs two Pathos.

Puppet Theatre

This art allows the waith to animate several small objects at one time, typically several objects of like nature. A wraith might animate an entire collection of dolls from a dollhouse, and the dollhouse as well, or animate a bowl full of marbles, or a jar of pencils. The collection as a whole has the same Physical Attributes as the wraith, but only a fraction of those Attributes individually, and all objects are limited by their nature. A collection of stuffed animals could move about on all fours and even grapple a target, but a collection of pencils could only be used to stab, write, or erase. Wraiths are still able to use their senses through the objects they animate, though a Wits + Perception roll is required to notice anything but the largest objects.

System: The character must make a successful Wits + Flux roll (against a difficulty of 4 + 1 for each additional item in the collection above the total of their Wits rating). The wraith can conceivably take control of an entire house using this art, but could only manipulate certain objects at any given time. The wraith could only move every window simultaneously, but would have to roll again to affect the doors or light switches. With one success the character may initially control a number of items equal to their Wits rating; each additional success adds one more item that can be controlled and animated. The difficulty is never higher than 9. The character may spend Willpower points to lower the difficulty of their roll.

This art costs 1 Pathos for each item in the collection that is animated, plus any Willpower the character decides to spend.

Automation

This art allows a wraith to to literally build a body from objects in their vicinity. The body can be made from debris in a junk yard, or from sheaves of paper, or from virtually any object created by humans. The body has the same Physical Attributes as the wraith, but is still limited by the laws of physics. A body comprised entirely of tissue papaer does not stand up against torrential rainfalls very well, and is likely to be thrown about about by strong breezes. The automation created by use of this art is capable of sight, and even speech.

This art also allows the wraith to create a cyclone of manmade objects capable of doing damage equivalent to the wraith's Strength. The cyclone created by this method is fully under the control of the wraith, and can gather in additional objects to replace those that are lost in its mad rampage.

System: The Character must roll Stamina + Flux (difficulty equal to the local Shroud). Only one success is needed, but additional successes allow for increased Physical Attributes, +1 per success. The character may decide where he wishes to add the bonuses, but the bonuses should reflect the items used in the generation of a body or a cyclone. Steel bars could reflect the increase in Stamina or Strength, while plastic and aluminium cans might reflect the added bonus in Dexterity. The Storyteller has the final say in what objects are available, and has the right to decide where the additional bonuses can be spent. The assembled body lasts for a scene, or until the Alchemist decides to release his hold.

This art costs 3 Pathos and 2 Willpower to use, and the character receives 2 additional Angst from the use.