The Strange/Descriptor

Adroit
Thanks to your background and perhaps some natural talent, you’re adept at lots of things. Although you might have a specialty, you’re also quite good at picking up new skills on the fly, regardless of whether they are physical or mental tasks. Need to repair the exterior of a large vessel in less-than-inviting circumstances or a toxic environment? You can probably pull it off because you’re just that adroit. You have the following characteristics: Competence Pool: You have an additional Pool called Competence that begins with 3 points (and with a maximum value of 3 points). When spending points from any other Pool, you can take 1, some, or all the points from your Competence Pool first. When you make a recovery roll, your Competence Pool is one additional Pool in which you can place recovered points. When your Competence Pool is at 0 points, it does not count against your damage track. Enabler. Quick Learner: The first time you attempt and fail a roll, you can try again without having to use Effort (if you don’t want to). Additional retries require applying Effort as normal. Enabler. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You were asked to join because you’re competent. 2. You need money to get out of a bad situation. 3. In a stunning coincidence, a mechanical failure put the PCs in danger until you saved them. 4. Another PC asked you to join them.

Appealing
You’re attractive to others, but perhaps more important, you are likeable and charismatic. You’ve got that “special something” that draws others to you. You often know just the right thing to say to make someone laugh, put them at ease, or spur them to action. People like you, want to help you, and want to be your friend.You gain the following characteristics: Charismatic: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in pleasant social interactions. Resistant to Charms: You’re aware of how others can manipulate and charm people, and you notice when those tactics are used on you. Because of this awareness, you are trained in resisting any kind of persuasion or seduction if you wish it. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You met a total stranger (one of the other PCs) and charmed them so much that they invited you along. 2. The PCs were looking for someone else, but you convinced them that you were perfect instead. 3. Pure happenstance—because you just go along with the flow of things and everything usually works out. 4. Your charismatic ways helped get one of the PCs out of a difficult spot a long time ago, and they always ask you to join them on new adventures.

Ardeynic
Ardeyn, the Land of the Curse, is where you feel most at home. You are enthralled by the stories from the Age of Myth, you yearn for a return of the Maker and the Seven Incarnations, and you believe your coming to be foretold by prophecy as one who will be pivotal in vanquishing evil (or, perhaps, unleashing it). The more you can focus the attention of other creatures on yourself, the more you’re certain that fate itself will wake up, take note of you, and bend as you desire. You gain the following characteristics: Rhapsodic: +4 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are quick on the uptake. You are trained in initiative. Skill: You are cognizant of opportunities to draw positive attention to yourself. You are trained in all tasks in which ten or more onlookers are able to watch you, such as during competitions, speeches, and other actions you perform in front of crowds. Inability: You sometimes leap before you look. The difficulty of all tasks related to assessing danger is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a pendant of a glowing crystal fragment. You don’t know the significance of the item, but you suspect it to be great. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You found a map of an old qephilim ruin, and when you entered it to explore, you discovered the other PCs already there looking for ancient treasure. 2. You asked the PCs to help you bring a brigand to justice. 3. You got on the bad side of a dragon. To get away, you joined the other PCs. 4. You think that if you go along on the adventure, fate will reward you with a clue toward finding the lost Incarnations.

Beneficient
Helping others is your calling. It’s why you’re here. Others delight in your outgoing and charitable nature, and you delight in their happiness. You’re at your best when you’re aiding people, either by explaining how they can best overcome a challenge or by demonstrating how to do so yourself. You gain the following characteristics: Generous: Allies who have spent the last day with you add +1 to their recovery rolls. Altruistic: If you’re standing next to a creature that takes damage, you can intercede and take 1 point of that damage yourself (reducing the damage inflicted on the creature by 1 point). If you have Armor, it does not provide a benefit when you use this ability. Skill: You’re trained in all tasks related to pleasant social interaction, putting other people at ease, and gaining trust. Helpful: Whenever you help another character, that character gains the benefit as if you were trained even if you are not trained or specialized in the attempted task. Inability: While you are alone, all Intellect and Speed tasks are hindered. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. Even though you didn’t know most of the other PCs beforehand, you invited yourself along on their quest. 2. You saw the PCs struggling to overcome a problem and selflessly joined them to help. 3. You’re nearly certain the PCs will fail without you. 4. The choice was between your tattered life and helping others. You haven’t looked back since.

Brash
You’re a self-assertive sort, confident in your abilities, energetic, and perhaps a bit irreverent toward ideas that you don’t agree with. Some people call you bold and brave, but those you’ve put in their place might call you puffed up and arrogant. Whatever. It’s not in your nature to care what other people think about you, unless those people are your friends or family. Even someone as brash as you knows that friends sometimes have to come first. You gain the following characteristics: Energetic: +2 to your Speed Pool. Skill: You are trained in initiative. Bold: You are trained in all actions that involve overcoming or ignoring the effects of fear or intimidation. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You noticed something weird going on, and without much thought, you jumped in with both feet. 2. You showed up when and where you did on a dare because, hey, you don’t back down from dares. 3. Someone called you out, but instead of walking into a fight, you walked into your current situation. 4. You told your friend that nothing could scare you, and nothing you saw would change your mind. They brought you to your current point.

Calculating
You view every event experience through the lens of logic, keeping emotional responses out of the equation. Surprises rarely elicit reactions from you, because you’re already calculating—in your cold, efficient way—how to respond optimally. Likewise, you’re not one for overt shows of happiness, sorrow, anger, or fear. Doing so, by your lights, degrades your ability to wield logic against a universe replete with chaos. You have the following characteristics: Penetrating Intellect: +4 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in all knowledge tasks and Intellect defense rolls. Inability: You miss a lot of things thanks to your singular focus. Tasks related to empathy, reading underlying emotional context, and detecting lies are hindered. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. Another PC recruited you right after you graduated from the academy, before realizing how “emotionless” you were. 2. You have reason to believe that being with the other PCs will help you regain a bit of emotional closeness that you’ve lost touch with in your pursuit of logic. 3. Another PC gave you a treasured tome on some esoteric topic, and to thank them, you volunteered to help. 4. You calculated that it was in your best interest, and in that of your projects, to join the other PCs.

Calm
You’ve spent most of your life in sedentary pursuits—books, movies, hobbies, and so on—rather than active ones. You’re well versed in all manner of academia or other intellectual pursuits, but nothing physical. You’re not weak or feeble, necessarily (although this is a good descriptor for characters who are elderly), but you have no experience in more physical activities. You gain the following characteristics: Bookish: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skills: You are trained in four nonphysical skills of your choice. Trivia: You can come up with a random fact pertinent to the current situation when you wish it. This is always a matter of fact, not conjecture or supposition, and must be something you could have logically read or seen in the past. You can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time you make a recovery roll. Inability: You’re just not a fighter. All physical attacks are hindered. Inability: You’re not the outdoorsy type. All climbing, running, jumping, and swimming tasks are hindered. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You read about the current situation somewhere and decided to check it out for yourself. 2. You were in the right (wrong?) place at the right (wrong?) time. 3. While avoiding an entirely different situation, you walked into your current situation. 4. One of the other PCs dragged you into it.

Chaotic
Danger doesn’t mean much to you, mainly because you don’t think much about repercussions. In fact, you enjoy sowing surprises, just to see what will happen. The more unexpected the result, the happier you are. Sometimes you are particularly manic, and for the sake of your companions, you restrain yourself from taking actions that you know will lead to disaster. You have the following characteristics: Tumultuous: +4 to your Speed Pool. Skill: You are trained in Intellect defense actions. Chaotic: Once after each ten-hour recovery roll, if you don’t like the first result, you can reroll a die roll of your choice. Regardless of the outcome, if you do, the GM presents you with a GM intrusion. Inability: Your body is a bit worn from occasional excesses. The difficulty of Might defense tasks is increased by one step. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. Another PC recruited you while you were on your best behavior, before realizing how chaotic you were. 2. You have reason to believe that being with the other PCs will help you gain control over your erratic behavior. 3. Another PC released you from captivity, and to thank them, you volunteered to help. 4. You have no idea how you joined the PCs. You’re just going along with it for now until answers present themselves.

Charming
You’re a smooth talker and a charmer. Whether through seemingly supernatural means or just a way with words, you can convince others to do as you wish. Most likely, you’re physically attractive or at least highly charismatic, and others enjoy listening to your voice. You probably pay attention to your appearance, keeping yourself well groomed. You make friends easily. You play up the personality facet of your Intellect stat; intelligence is not your strong suit. You’re personable, but not necessarily studious or strong-willed.You gain the following characteristics:Personable: +2 to your Intellect Pool.Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving positive or pleasant social interaction.Skill: You’re trained when using special abilities that influence the minds of others.Contact: You have an important contact who is in an influential position, such as a minor noble, the captain of the town guard/police, or the head of a large gang of thieves. You and the GM should work out the details together.Inability: You were never good at studying or retaining facts. Any task involving lore, knowledge, or understanding is hindered.Inability: Your willpower is not one of your strong points. Defense actions to resist mental attacks are hindered.Additional Equipment: You’ve managed to talk your way into some decent discounts and bonuses in recent weeks. As a result, you have enough cash jangling in your pocket to purchase a moderately priced item.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You convinced one of the other PCs to tell you what they were doing.2. You instigated the whole thing and convinced the others to join you.3. One of the other PCs did a favor for you, and now you’re repaying that obligation by helping them with the task at hand.4. There is a reward involved, and you need the money.

Clever
You’re quick-witted, thinking well on your feet. You understand people, so you can fool them but are rarely fooled. Because you easily see things for what they are, you get the lay of the land swiftly, size up threats and allies, and assess situations with accuracy. Perhaps you’re physically attractive, or maybe you use your wit to overcome any physical or mental imperfections.You gain the following characteristics:Smart: +2 to your Intellect Pool.Skill: You’re trained in all interactions involving lies or trickery.Skill: You’re trained in defense rolls to resist mental effects.Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving identifying or assessing danger, lies, quality, importance, function, or power.Inability: You were never good at studying or retaining trivial knowledge. Any task involving lore, knowledge, or understanding is hindered.Additional Equipment: You see through the schemes of others and occasionally convince them to believe you—even when, perhaps, they should not. Thanks to your clever behavior, you have an additional expensive item.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You convinced one of the other PCs to tell you what they were doing.2. From afar, you observed that something interesting was going on.3. You talked your way into the situation because you thought it might earn some money.4. You suspect that the other PCs won’t succeed without you.

Clumsy
Graceless and awkward, you were told that you’d grow out of it, but you never did. You often drop things, trip over your own feet, or knock things (or people) over. Some people get frustrated by this quality, but most find it funny and even a little charming.You gain the following characteristics:Butterfingers: −2 to your Speed Pool.Thick-Muscled: +2 to your Might Pool.Inelegant: You have a certain lovable charm. You are trained in all pleasant social interactions when you express a lighthearted, self-deprecating manner.Dumb Luck: The GM can introduce a GM intrusion on you, based on your clumsiness, without awarding you any XP (as if you had rolled a 1 on a d20 roll). However, if this happens, 50% of the time, your clumsiness works to your advantage. Rather than hurting you (much), it helps you, or it hurts your enemies. You slip, but it’s just in time to duck an attack. You fall down, but you trip your enemies as you crash into their legs. You turn around too quickly, but you end up knocking the weapon from your foe’s hand. You and the GM should work together to determine the details. If the GM wishes, they can use GM intrusions based on your clumsiness normally (awarding XP).Skill: You’ve got a certain bull-like quality. You are trained in tasks involving breaking things.Inability: Any task that involves balance, grace, or hand-to-eye coordination is hindered.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You were in the right place at the right time.2. You had a piece of information that the other PCs needed to make their plans.3. A sibling recommended you to the other PCs.4. You stumbled into the PCs as they were discussing their mission, and they took a liking to you.

Craven
Courage fails you at every turn. You lack the willpower and resolve to stand fast in the face of danger. Fear gnaws at your heart, chewing away at your mind, driving you to distraction until you cannot bear it. Most times, you back down from confrontations. You flee from threats and vacillate when faced with difficult decisions.Yet for all that fear dogs you and possibly shames you, your cowardly nature proves to be a useful ally from time to time. Listening to your fears has helped you escape danger and avoid taking unnecessary risks. Others may have suffered in your place, and you might be the first to admit this fact, but secretly you feel intense relief from having avoided an unthinkable and terrible fate.You gain the following characteristics:Furtive: +2 to your Speed Pool.Skill: You’re trained in stealth-based tasks.Skill: You’re trained in running actions.Skill: You’re trained in any action taken to escape danger, flee from a dangerous situation, or wheedle your way out of trouble.Inability: You do not willingly enter dangerous situations. Any initiative actions (to determine who goes first in combat) are hindered.Inability: You fall to pieces when you have to undertake a potentially dangerous task alone. Any such task (such as attacking a creature by yourself ) is hindered.Additional Equipment: You have a good luck charm or protective device to keep you out of harm’s way.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You believe that you’re being hunted, and you have hired one of the other PCs as your protector.2. You seek to escape your shame and take up with capable individuals in the hopes of repairing your reputation. 3. One of the other PCs bullied you into coming along.4. The group answered your cries for help when you were in trouble.

Creative
Maybe you have a notebook where you write down ideas so you can develop them later. Perhaps you email yourself ideas that strike you out of the blue so you can sort them in an electronic document. Or maybe you just sit down, stare at your screen and, by indomitable force of will, produce something from nothing. However your gift works, you’re creative—you code, write, compose, sculpt, design, direct, or otherwise create narratives that enthrall other people with your vision.You gain the following characteristics:Inventive: +2 to your Intellect Pool.Original: You’re always coming up with something new. You’re trained in any task related to creating a narrative (such as a story, play, or scenario). This includes deception, if the deception involves a narrative you’re able to tell.Skill: You are naturally inventive. You are trained in one specific creative skill of your choice: writing, computer coding, composing music, painting, drawing, and so on.Skill: You love solving riddles and the like. You are trained in puzzle-solving tasks.Skill: To be creative requires that you always be learning. You are trained in any task that involves finding out something new, such as when you’re digging through a library, data bank, news archive, or similar collection of knowledge.Inability: You’re inventive but not charming. All tasks related to pleasant social interaction are hindered.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You were doing research for a project and convinced the PCs to bring you along.2. You’re looking for new markets for the results of your creative output.3. You fell in with the wrong crowd, but they grew on you.4. A creative life is often one beset with financial hurdles. You joined the PCs because you hoped it would be profitable.

Crowan
The music of the Crow Hollow market sings in your blood. Merchants hawking their wares, the smell of exotic perfumes and spices from strange recursions, the thrill of finding something unexpected, and the satisfaction of selling something for a comfortable profit—these are your favorite things. And all of it adds up to one of your favorite metaphors: the invisible hand of the market. You’re confident that each merchant, working individually for profit, benefits all the associated recursions, even if some of those merchants aren’t particularly benevolent. You gain the following characteristics: Calculating: +4 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You never let a good deal slip past. You are trained in all tasks involving haggling, appraising value, and accounting. Skill: You have become sensitized to those trying to sell shoddy goods. You are trained in detecting falsehoods. Inability: You have a weakness for games of chance. Unfortunately, that weakness doesn’t translate into success at the same. The difficulty of all tasks involving gambling and other games of chance is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a chest containing 200 crow coin. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You sold a PC a particularly hard-to-find item, and she asked you to join the group. 2. The potential reward might net you enough profit to expand your operations. 3. You didn’t pay protection money, and, feeling the heat, you decided that joining the PCs was a good way to make yourself scarce for a while. 4. There’s no better market research than traveling into unfamiliar recursions. You never know when you’ll stumble onto a new trade opportunity.

Cruel
Misfortune and suffering do not move you. When another endures hardship, you find it hard to care, and you may even enjoy the pain and difficulty the person experiences if they’ve done you wrong in the past. Your cruel streak may derive from bitterness brought about by your own struggles and disappointments. You might be a hard pragmatist, doing what you feel you must even if others are worse for it. Or you could be a sadist, delighting in the pain you inflict.Being cruel does not necessarily make you a villain. Your cruelty may be reserved for those who cross you or other people useful to you. You might have become cruel as the result of an intensely awful experience. Abuse and torture, for example, can strip away compassion for other living beings.As well, you need not be cruel in every situation. In fact, others might see you as personable, friendly, and even helpful. But when angered or frustrated, your dual nature reveals itself, and those who have earned your scorn are likely to suffer for it.You gain the following characteristics:Cunning: +2 to your Intellect Pool.Cruelty: When you use force, you can choose to maim or deliver painful injuries to draw out your foe’s suffering. Whenever you inflict damage, you can choose to inflict 2 fewer points of damage to ease your next attack against that foe.Skill: You’re trained in tasks related to deception, intimidation, and persuasion when you interact with characters experiencing physical or emotional pain.Inability: You have a hard time connecting with others, understanding their motives, or sharing their feelings. Any task to ascertain another character’s motives, feelings, or disposition is hindered.Additional Equipment: You have a valuable memento from the last person you destroyed. The memento is moderately priced, and you can sell it or trade it for an item of equal or lesser value.Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. You suspect that you might gain a long-term advantage from helping the other PCs and may be able to use that advantage against your enemies.2. By joining the PCs, you see an opportunity to grow your personal power and status at the expense of others.3. You hope to make another PC’s life more difficult by joining the group.4. Joining the PCs gives you an opportunity to escape justice for a crime you committed.

Daring
Sure, there’s probably a well-worn path somewhere, but who cares? You’d rather go your own way, break the rules, and not just push the boundaries, but pretend they don’t even exist. You might be the mad scientist, the trailblazer, the daredevil, or the wild storyteller. Whatever you do, you go your own way—and it’s everyone else’s loss if they don’t appreciate the heights of your ingenuity. You gain the following characteristics: Innovative: +4 to your Intellect Pool. Try Anything Once: Any time you attempt something that you’ve never done before and that you aren’t trained or specialized in, you gain an asset on that task. Skill: You are trained in one of the following: scientific discovery, pathfinding, or storytelling. Inability: There is nothing worse than following the rules. So boring. You have an inability in all tasks related to laws, rules, and social norms. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. Your latest scientific experiment went horribly wrong. You need to collect the equipment to begin again and heard that this might be a way to get it. 2. You’ve been growing bored and this seemed like just the wild adventure you needed. 3. One of the other PCs heard you telling a fantastical story, but didn’t hear the end. They convinced you to come along so you could finish it. 4. One of the other PCs is really intriguing to you, but you’re not sure why. You’re coming along to find out more about them.

Dwarf
You’re a squat, broad, and bearded native of the Sword Realms. You’re also as stubborn as the stone in which the dwarves carve their homes under the mountains. Tradition, honor, pride in smithcraft and warcraft, and a keen appreciation of the wealth buried under the roots of the world are all part of your heritage. Thieves and others who wish you ill should be wary of your temper. When a dwarf is wronged, he never forgets. You gain the following characteristics: Stalwart: +2 to your Might Pool. Skill: You are trained in Might defense rolls. Skill: You are trained in tasks related to stone, including sensing stonework traps, knowing the history of a particular piece of stonecraft, and knowing your distance beneath the surface. Skill: You are practiced in using one axe variety of your choice. Skill: You are trained in using the tools required to shape and mine stone. Inability: You’re a little headstrong and overconfident. The difficulty of Intellect defense rolls is one step higher for you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain an axe of the kind you are practiced with. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You found the PCs wandering a maze of tunnels and led them to safety. 2. The PCs hired you to dig out the entrance to a buried ruin. 3. You tracked down the thieves of your ancestor’s tomb and found they were the PCs. Instead of killing them, you joined them. 4. Before a dwarf settles down, he needs to see the world.

Earnest
You always speak from the heart, rarely remembering that dissembling isn’t always a negative trait but sometimes useful for smoothing over awkward interpersonal situations. That’s because you’re sincere and feel things deeply. You like to get to the meat of whatever problem prevents you from succeeding, whether that’s a person, a physical obstacle, or a puzzle of some kind. You have the following characteristics: Purposeful: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You’re trained in persuasion. Skill: You have a passion. You are trained in an area of lore or knowledge of your choice. Skill: You’re trained in defense rolls to resist disease and poison. Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving providing consolation and emotional support to others. Inability: You could never detect falsehood. The difficulty of any task that involves seeing through lies or trickery is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: You make deep and abiding friendships. Thanks to your earnest nature, a friend has given you an additional expensive item. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. A PC confided in you as to what they were up to, and you joined them. 2. Hard times overwhelmed you, and having no funds, you joined the PCs. 3. It was either join the PCs or be kidnapped into a far worse situation. 4. You suspect that the other PCs won’t succeed without you.

Elf
You haunt the canopy of the Ravenwing Wood in the Sword Realms (or a similar recursion). You are the arrow in the night, the shadow in the glade, and the laughter on the wind. As an elf, you are slender, quick, graceful, and long lived. You manage the sorrows of living well past many mortal lifetimes with song, wine, and an appreciation for the deep beauties of growing things, especially trees, which can live even longer than you do.You gain the following characteristics: Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool. Long Lived: Your natural lifespan (unless tragically cut short) is thousands of years in length. Skill: You are specialized in tasks related to perception. Skill: You are practiced in using one bow variety of your choice. Skill: You are trained in stealth tasks. In areas of natural woodland, you are specialized in stealth tasks. Inability: You’re quick but not especially tough. The difficulty of all Might defense rolls is one step higher for you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a bow of the kind you are practiced with and a quiver of arrows or bolts to go with it. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. Before putting an arrow in the forest intruders, you confronted them and met the PCs, who were on an important quest. 2. Your heart yearned for farther shores, and the PCs offered to take you along to new places. 3. Your home was burned by strangers from another place, and you gathered the PCs along the way as you tracked down the villains. 4. An adventure was in the offing, and you didn’t want to be left behind.

Empirical
You trust only what you can see with your own eyes—and sometimes not even that. You’re most comfortable when you’ve had time to complete your research, find all the facts, and figure out the truth. You gain the following characteristics: Observer: +4 to your Intellect Pool. Quick Study: When you take a round to study whatever’s in front of you and gain the facts, you feel more confident that you’re about to do the right thing. You gain an asset on your next non-combat action. Skill: You are trained in all actions involved with conducting experiments or tests to discover proof, discern the truth, or glean information. Inability: If you haven’t had time to study something, you have a hard time taking action and moving forward. Whenever you receive an intrusion (either by rolling a 1 or by getting one from the GM), any action you take in response is one step more difficult. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You’ve been studying a topic for a long time, and you think one of the other PCs has some knowledge about said topic. 2. You need to gather some additional materials for your research, and this seemed like a good way to get some. 3. Someone told you an impossible story about this area and you absolutely need to see for yourself to prove them wrong (or begrudgingly let them know they’re right). 4. You recently read something that suggested there was more knowledge in the world than that found only in a lab. You’d like to find out if that is true.
 * Extroverted
 * Fast

Fearless
Whether you hail from Innsmouth, Gloaming, R639, or a recursion like Ardeyn or the Sword Realms where Magic breeds terrible threats, you survived predators of supernatural power and hunger. Predators with the ability to magically or psychically unravel someone’s composure and leave him a trembling victim. But not you. You’re hardened to all such assaults and have become fearless. You gain the following characteristics: Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool. Fearless: You do not suffer negative consequences from effects caused by fear. If you are already immune to fear thanks to some other ability, you gain +1 to Armor instead. Night Holds No Terrors: You can see a long distance in complete darkness as if it were dim light. If you already have an ability to see in the dark, you are trained in initiative instead. Inability: You often take bravery too far and fail to appreciate something truly life threatening. The difficulty of tasks related to assessing danger is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a polished wooden stake whose business end has been fitted with a silver spike. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. Long ago, your parents were killed by a lone creature of the night. Now, the PCs apparently hold a clue that might finally lead you to the perpetrator. 2. The PCs fell into a trap you laid by accident. When you let them loose, you were intrigued by their purpose and joined them. 3. You and the PCs formed a group to explore the basement of a particularly ominous structure. 4. You may be fearless, but you’re not tireless. You joined the PCs because you needed a break from the trials of your home recursion.

Grey
You are native to or have “immigrated” to New York Grey (or a similarly themed recursion). You are a grey—a creature from an alien world. At least, an alien world as imagined by human fiction. Regardless, for reasons you may not even grasp, you’re an outsider among other greys. Perhaps you suffered memory loss, were a human who was genetically converted to look like a grey in an experiment, or are a recursor who chose this temporary racial option. Regardless, your heritage is visible for all to see. You gain the following characteristics: Alien Cunning: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in three noncombat tasks of lore or knowledge of your choice. Skill: You often find it advantageous to pass as human. You are trained in disguise tasks to look like a normal (if slightly short) human. Skill: Your nervous system runs quick. You are trained in Speed defense tasks. Inability: You’re off-putting to others not of your race. The difficulty of all tasks related to pleasant social interaction and persuasion involving humans and similar creatures is one step higher for you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain one of the following items (your choice): Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You joined the PCs to get away from a situation that was about to reveal your true nature. 2. You want to improve the reputation of greys, and you saw the PCs’ mission as a way to do so. 3. You hoped that the PCs’ mission would eventually help to reveal more about your lost memory or history. 4. You need more data, and the PCs seem like good biological samples to examine while facing various challenges and novel situations.
 * a small, handheld ray emitter pistol that inflicts 6 points of damage at long range.
 * a wristwatch that can project a personal bubble of force that grants +3 to Armor but prevents you from making attacks against other creatures while it is active.

Halfling
The bumbling people of the Sword Realms think you’re small, but that ain’t how you see it. Humans and others their size are large, clumsy, and loud. This makes it easy for you to disappear quickly and quietly when they come over the hills with all the subtlety of tumbling boulders. It also makes it easy for you to play practical jokes on them, if you’re of that mind. And like most halflings, you appreciate a good meal as much as (or more than) a good laugh. You can put down several helpings a day and still have room for more. You’re good natured as a rule, but when times are tough, you tighten your belt and persist, hoping for better times (and fuller larders) to come. You gain the following characteristics: Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool. Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to preparing and cooking a good meal, and brewing a proper ale. Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to stealth. Skill: You are practiced in throwing stones, using a sling, or throwing knives (light weapons). Skill: You are specialized in Speed defense tasks. Inability: You’re dexterous but not fast. The difficulty of all movement-related tasks is one step higher for you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a traveling cooking kit, complete with dinnerware for two. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You were hired to help sneak into someplace dangerous and steal something the PCs wanted. 2. One of your friends (a PC) was going on the adventure, and you didn’t want to be left behind. 3. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got swept up against your better judgment. 4. The safety of your family depended on you helping the PCs deal with a threat.

Heroic
You are courageous, daring, and altruistic in equal measures. You’re not afraid to face horrors that make others quaver, especially if it means helping someone else who couldn’t succeed (or survive) without you. Some say you’re made of the stuff of legends and that your exploits will one day become the stories that inspire a new generation. You have the following characteristics: Mighty: +2 to your Might Pool. Heroic Guise: You hold yourself in a way that inspires others. You are trained in all social interactions. Hero’s Complication: Although the GM can use GM intrusions on you normally (awarding XP), they can also introduce a GM intrusion on you without awarding XP (as if you had rolled a 1 on a d20 roll) based on how your heroic nature tends to attract danger. However, if this happens, 50% of the time, your heroic nature works to your advantage. Your weapon breaks, but that allows you to notice something everyone else missed. A trap catches you, but it also catches your enemies. A new foe enters the fray, but your current foe mistakes it for your ally and attacks it instead of you. You and the GM should work together to determine the details. Skill: Things tend to go your way. You are trained in tasks involving perception and finding hidden things. Inability: You tend to take others at their word. The difficulty of any task that involves detecting falsehoods is increased by one step. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You were hunting a great foe and hired the other PCs to accompany you. 2. The PCs were looking for someone like you to round out their number. 3. A mentor recommended you to the other PCs. 4. You killed a mighty foe, and the other PCs were aided (or rescued from captivity) by that act.

Hominid
As someone from a recursion where early hominids rule the world, you’re human. . . ish. However, a paleoanthropologist would recognize you as having more in common with various extinct species of primitive hominid. Your forehead slopes, you’re covered more in fur than in hair, and you might even have a tail. Depending on the kind of hominid you are, you’re either quick and agile, or strong and hardy. In either case, your primitive instincts are much closer to the surface, and sometimes they get the better of you. You gain the following characteristics: Hominid Physiology: Add +1 to your Might Edge or +1 to your Speed Edge, and add +2 to your Might Pool or +2 to your Speed Pool. Skill: You are trained in tasks related to living rough, including making shelter, foraging for food, and assessing danger. You’re also trained in crafting primitive weapons from natural materials. Inability: Thinking is harder for you. The difficulty of Intellect defense rolls, as well as tasks related to puzzle solving, reasoning, and memory, is one step higher for you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a necklace of shells and pearls that serves as an asset whenever you attempt interaction checks with other hominids. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You’ve always been smarter than your kin, and you joined the PCs to make a better life for yourself. 2. The PCs were about to be eaten by a tyrannosaurus rex, but you showed them a secret redoubt. After that, they asked you to join them. 3. You want to find the secret of the serpent people, and you asked the PCs to join you on your quest. 4. With your entire tribe wiped out by deinonychus, you were looking for purpose.

Insolent
Why should you have to put up with others’ shortcomings? In your opinion, most people are idiots (friends excluded, of course). If you’re completely honest, compared to your obvious superiority, most people are misguided, thick-headed, and a waste of space. If someone wants your attention, you usually make them prove themselves. That doesn’t win you many new friends. But it’s funny to see them fume. You have the following characteristics: Flip: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Goad: If a creature within short range has not yet attacked you, you can use your action to goad it so that it does. It becomes so angry at your impertinence that the difficulty of its first attack is increased by one step. Skill: You’re not afraid of anything, nor do you put up with others’ mental games. You are trained in Intellect defense tasks.Inability: The difficulty of all tasks relating to social interaction is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: Thanks to your insolent behavior, you have an additional oddity, given to you by someone who, having reached the breaking point over your impudence, offered it to you if you would just go away. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You browbeat one of the other PCs until they told you their plans. 2. From afar, you observed that something interesting was going on and invited yourself along. 3. Someone took violent exception to your insolence, but the PCs saved you. 4. You told your friend that nothing could impress you because you’d seen it all. They brought you to the PCs to prove you wrong.
 * Intelligent
 * Introverted
 * Jovial
 * Kind
 * Know-It-All

Lawful
You live by a code. It might be your own set of rules or rules handed down to you by a religious, military, or other organization steeped in dogma to which you once belonged. The important thing is that you’re not governed by passions, but by your steadfast confidence that to follow the law is to live in grace. You have the following characteristics: Justified: You are an enthusiastic upholder of the law. You are trained in any noncombat task when you are directly upholding the law. Skill: You are trained in tasks related to knowing, understanding, and interpreting the laws of the land. Inability: You can’t abide law-breaking, especially when you’re the culprit, however unjust those laws might be. While engaged in any activity that breaks the law, the difficulty of all Intellect-based tasks is increased by one step. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You heard what the other PCs were up to and knew they could use your expertise. 2. You gathered a group of PCs to accomplish a lawful task. 3. You agreed to provide money for the upkeep of an organization you were previously affiliated with and find yourself in need of new funds, so you joined the PCs. 4. You think the PCs will help you bring law to areas that suffer lawlessness, once you get them on board with your way of thinking.
 * Lucky
 * Materialistic

Meddlesome
Some say you’re nosy and ask too many questions. It’s true, you constantly ask “why?” because the world is a big place full of both wonderful and terrifying things. If you don’t investigate when strange things happen, how will you ever know what’s going on? You relish knowing the full story, and the only way to get that in difficult situations is to meddle. You have the following characteristics: Analytical: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You see things other people miss. You are trained in perception and detecting falsehoods. Skill: Sometimes you find things that you wish you hadn’t. You are trained in stealth tasks. Skill: You get a thrill from knowing the right answer. You’re trained in tasks related to calling up a pertinent detail on a topic you once read about in a book, heard discussed in class, or saw on a documentary. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You noticed that strange noises were coming from an abandoned area, so you gathered the other PCs to check it out. 2. One of your mutual friends has gone missing, and you and the other PCs are determined to find them. 3. You believed that the PCs’ task might lead to important and maybe even amazing discoveries. 4. Frightened by something, you ran away, but you came back with the other PCs to watch your back.
 * Meticulous

Metaphysical
In Atom Nocturne, people shine with amazing psionic abilities. As a native (or as someone who has found a place there), your abilities never fully leave you, even when you travel into recursions where the law of Psionics isn’t operant. You’re able to call up at least a glimmer of mindful energy anywhere and everywhere, and in that way, you are never far from Atom Nocturne. You gain the following characteristics: Metaphysical: Add +2 to your Intellect Pool or +2 to your Speed Pool. Telepathic: You can telepathically communicate with creatures within short range that you are aware of. If you already have the ability to telepathically communicate through an active focus or type ability, the range at which you can communicate increases to 5 miles (8 km). Psychic Warrior: Choose one type of psionic, mental, or similar mind-directed attack in which you are not already trained, such as Exception, Shatter, Telepathic Brain Axe, Telekinetic Mind Grip, or a similar ability provided by your type or active focus. You are trained in attacks using that ability. Inability: You’re so open to psychic ability that you’re vulnerable when such forces are used against you. The difficulty of Intellect defense rolls to resist psionic, mental, or similar mind-directed attacks is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a piece of jewelry: a silver circlet that rests on your head or, at your mental command, becomes a halo of electric blue light around your head. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You got a psychic premonition that your abilities would be useful on the adventure, so you approached the PCs. 2. The cosmos aligned in a once-in-a-lifetime conformation, and you couldn’t do anything else. 3. The PCs mistook you for a villain and kidnapped you. When they discovered their mistake, you joined them. 4. Atom Nocturne faced a threat, and you joined the PCs to help quell it.

Mutant
The recursion of Cataclyst has a beauty that many visitors (and natives) fail to appreciate. For you, it’s a magnificent ruin, a spectacular warning, and a wonderland of twisted forests, blasted cityscapes, gelatinous seas, and mutants. And, of course, residual radioactivity. In fact, you’ve become a bit radioactive yourself, though not enough to endanger your friends (usually). You gain the following characteristics: Thick-Skinned: +2 to your Might Pool. Mutation: You gain a random mutation from the Powerful Mutations table. If you drag this descriptor to a recursion that doesn’t operate under the laws of Magic or Mad Science (or to Earth), the difficulty of attacks and defenses provided by your mutation is increased by one step. Secondary Mutation: You are afflicted with a random mutation from the Harmful Mutations table. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a piece of fused glasslike substance set into a ring. Sometimes the ring flashes when you are within short range of intelligent machines, but not always. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. The PCs asked for your help in locating something in the blasted city of Newk in Cataclyst. 2. You had a twin who is lost somewhere in another recursion. By joining the adventure, you hope to eventually learn enough to find out what happened to your sibling. 3. The PCs came looking for your ring after being told of its amazing abilities, before realizing it wasn’t the one they wanted. Out of curiosity, you joined them. 4. Someone said “adventure” and you said “when?”

Obsessive
Few things are as wonderful as getting lost in doing what you love. Time slips past, hour after hour, while you’re in the flow. Whether you are obsessed with studying secrets, insects, mutants, or killing bandits, your ability to sink into what most interests you is what allows you to succeed. Everything else somehow seems less important, and this allows you to focus. You have the following characteristics: Your Obsession: At the beginning of each day, choose one concept on which you will concentrate. For the rest of that day, you’re obsessed with that choice. This doesn’t mean you ignore anything not related to your obsession—it just means you are at your best when performing tasks related to the obsession, and slightly inattentive when performing tasks that are not. Enthralled: When you attempt a task that is directly related to your current obsession, the difficulty is one step lower. The player and GM can decide whether a particular situation warrants the step reduction. Preoccupied: When you attempt a task that is not related to your current obsession, the difficulty is one step higher. The player and GM can decide whether a particular situation warrants the step increase. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You wouldn’t take no for an answer when you asked the PCs if you could join their mission. 2. You were preoccupied with something else and didn’t realize what you’d agreed to until it was too late. 3. You believed that you could learn a lot by joining the other PCs. 4. One of the PCs asked you to come along, believing that your obsessive nature would be invaluable to the mission.
 * Paranoid
 * Patient
 * Poker-Faced

Rebel
In the recursion of Rebel Galaxy, a fight rages, and you’ve been part of it. Those in power are corrupt beyond words, and even if there is no hope, you’ve pledged to bring them down. You might have become a rebel because you lost everything else and were forced by circumstance to take up arms against the authorities. On the other hand, maybe it’s just in your nature to rebel, and you’ve always liked the role of the underdog. Either way, you’ve declared your opposition to the status quo, and you won’t rest until it’s overthrown. You gain the following characteristics: Vigilant: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in Speed defense tasks. Skill: You are trained in one of the following tasks: piloting spacecraft, statecraft (which includes persuasion and detecting falsehoods), or infiltrating computer networks. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain your choice of a medium or heavy blaster. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You lost your family in an attack by an oppressive force, and joining the PCs was your only option. 2. You witnessed the PCs take up arms against an oppressive force you detest, so you joined in the conflict. 3. One of your parents was an important political figure in the government who was assassinated by opposing factions. You asked the PCs to help you gain revenge. 4. You won your fight, and afterward you joined the PCs to look for more corrupt power structures to overthrow.

Relentless
Life has thrown a lot of trouble your way. Disasters large and small have tried to stamp you out. But you’ve emerged from each alive and moving forward. Stronger, too, but also scarred by what you had to do to survive. People less unyielding than you are gone now. That’s not going to happen to you because you never give up. You have the following characteristics: Survivor: +2 to your Might Pool. Skills: You are trained in tasks related to healing and finding food and water. Survivor’s Intuition: You can come up with a random fact pertinent to the current situation when you wish. It is always a matter of fact and must be something you could have logically read or seen in the past. You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a recovery roll. Inability: You’re not a people person. The difficulty of your deception and persuasion tasks is increased by one step. Inability: You have an aversion to studying. The difficulty of all Intellect-based tasks is increased by one step. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. You found the PCs in trouble and decided to help. 2. Uncharacteristically, you were caught in a bind. The PCs helped to free you. 3. It was either do what needed doing or die. Now, here you are along with the PCs. 4. To protect a loved one, you agreed to join the PCs because their quest was related to your own.
 * Resilient
 * Resolute

Rukian
Analysis, thoughtful deduction, and the ability to easily handle the rapidly advancing pace of technological innovation are your gifts. As an inhabitant of Ruk, you feel the truth, at a cellular level, that technology is the answer to almost any ill or inconvenience. To that end, you delight with others of similar mind in technology’s use, its continuing promise, and its many amazing results. You have a hard time understanding the mindset of those who shy away from the wonders of bioenhancement, but you’re (mostly) respectful of their poor decisions. You gain the following characteristics: Technical: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Contact: You are close friends with a high-ranking member of the Zal faction, and this sometimes nets you early access to prototype technologies and promising leads. Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving connecting to the All Song. Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving the use of grafts, machines, and similar technology. Inability: You’re an expert at reading data streams, but you tend to overlook the possibility of purposeful distortion. The difficulty of all tasks related to detecting falsehoods is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a tattoo graft. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You agreed to help a PC track down an enemy through your expert use of the All Song. 2. The All Song told you to join the PCs (though not in so many words). 3. A PC, impressed with your mastery of Rukian science, asked you along for your expertise. 4. The PCs are clearly not up to accomplishing their goal, so you joined them to assure their success.

Savage
You are all id and no super-ego. Everything you do is a combination of rage, instinct, and some impulsive, uncontrollable drive to hurt, maim, and kill. Some are afraid of you, and rightly so—once you start down a bloodthirsty path, you find it hard to stop. Others are more willing to embrace your savage nature, having learned how to stay out of your way and use your brutality to their advantage. You gain the following characteristics: Brutal: +2 to your Might Pool. Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving intimidation and scare tactics. Skill: You are trained in smashing and breaking things. Skill: Always ready for a fight, you are trained in initiative. Inability: Most of the time, people just get in your way. You have an inability in all pleasant social interactions. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. In a recent battle, you attacked one of the other PCs by accident. After you calmed down, you promised to protect them in their next fight. 2. You heard there was fighting to be had, and you wanted in. 3. One of the other PCs saw you fight off a group of raptors by yourself and asked you to come along. 4. You told everyone you were going to join, and no one said no to you, so here you are.

Serene
You are as still as untroubled water and as smooth as glass. Even when difficulties arise, you maintain your cool, your self-control, and your serene demeanor. Part of it comes to you naturally, but serenity also requires discipline and conscious control of your emotions. Rising to the bait offered by an ally, a foe, or a chance-met lout in the street is only something you do if it advances your own agenda, not because you’ve lost control. You have the following characteristics: Self-Possessed: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in Intellect defense tasks. Keep Your Cool: You are trained in all actions that involve overcoming or ignoring the effects of fear, intimidation, or panic. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. By staying calm in a difficult situation, you gained the trust of the PCs. 2. No one else would take up the task, but you weren’t afraid to try. 3. You were investigating a series of strange occurrences, which led you to the PCs and your current situation. 4. Sometimes you need to blow off a little steam and helping the PCs seemed like a way to do that.
 * Sharp-Eyed
 * Skeptical
 * Slacker

Slick
You talk fast, you think fast, and you move fast. You’re not the toughest, but in most situations, you don’t need to be. And you’re not one of those people who hides in the shadows like vermin or skulks around waiting to jump out and attack passersby. Not you. For you, it’s all about saying, “Here I am!” and then fooling people anyway. You probably don’t care all that much about the nautils you can snag from pockets or the equipment you “win” in a game of pitfall. For you, it’s all about that moment when you close the deal, pull the wool, or con the conner. You gain the following characteristics: Grey Matter: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Skill: You are trained in all tasks dealing with persuasion, bluffing, misdirection, and deception. Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving manual dexterity, such as stealing, performing sleight-of-hand, and lockpicking. Sleight-of-Hand: Choose one non-combat trick, foil, or feint to be your specialty. When you use it successfully, you have an asset on your next non-combat action. For example, you might choose a distracting card trick as your specialty. If you successfully distract your foe with the trick, you gain an asset on your next action, whether it be persuasion, pickpocketing, or something else. All Brain, No Brawn: When you apply Effort when making a Might roll, you must spend 1 extra point from your Speed Pool. Additional Equipment: You begin the game with 2 extra nautils and one additional inexpensive object Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.1. An old friend bet you that you couldn’t bluff your way into a SATI compound. You lost that bet. Being here is part of your payment. 2. One of the PCs helped you pull off a con recently. You’re not sure if they did it accidentally or on purpose, but you feel like you want to learn more about them. 3. You beat one of the other PCs badly in a game of pitfall. They asked you to come along and teach them some of your tricks. 4. Sometimes you can just smell opportunity. And this bunch? They reek of it.
 * Spiritual
 * Stealthy
 * Strange
 * Strong
 * Tough
 * Unforgiving

Vampire
You were infected with something red and vital, and it made you into something new, something dangerous, and something most people would fear if they knew the truth. Your canines are more like fangs than normal teeth, your skin has a strange pallor, and you have a hard time seeing yourself in a mirror (though other people can see you just fine). Most vexing of all, you’ve developed a hunger for something that all the delicacies of normal cuisine fail to extinguish: you want blood. It’s up to you how well you control that urge. You gain the following characteristics: Supernatural Strength: +4 to your Might Pool. Bite Attack: You are practiced in making bite attacks that deal damage as a medium weapon. In a recursion that operates under the law of Magic, you regain Might points equal to half the amount of damage you inflict on a foe (after Armor is accounted for; round down for the total). Supernatural Charm: You are strangely persuasive. You have an asset on tasks related to persuading and deceiving. Light Sensitive: You have an issue with bright light, especially sunlight. When exposed to sunlight or strong UV light, the difficulty of all tasks is increased by one step. In a recursion that operates under the law of Magic, you also descend one step on the damage track and take 5 points of damage per round (this damage ignores Armor, unless that Armor completely covers you). Blood Driven: You’re always hungry for blood, especially when you force yourself not to act on that yearning. Whenever you descend one step on the damage track, you must succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect defense roll or you are compelled to try to bite the closest living creature and drink its blood. You continue attacking until you move one step up the damage track or until you succeed on a subsequent difficulty 3 Intellect defense roll. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a small chest filled with a handful of moist soil. If you scatter this soil where you rest for a ten-hour recovery roll, you regain 1 additional point. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You’re not like others of your kind, and you joined the PCs to see what else was out there. 2. You became a vampire by accident, and the PCs helped you out of a bad situation. 3. You need a distraction from your blood hunger. 4. One of the PCs said she would put you out of your misery if you ever “totally vamped out,” and you appreciate that failsafe.
 * Virtuous

Volcanic
Most of the time, people would describe you as quiet and calm, a strong and steady presence that draws no attention to itself. But in truth, you’re just biding your time, conserving your energies, waiting for the perfect moment to take action. When you act, you act big, exploding into motion with power and grace. You gain the following characteristics: Explosive: +2 to your Speed Pool. Calm Before the Storm: Once per day, if you take an action to meditate and clear your mind, you can make a recovery roll on your next action. This doesn’t count against your existing recovery rolls. Sleeping Giant: When you forgo your action once in combat, you deal 5 additional points of damage on your next attack (if it’s successful). If you forgo your action twice in a row in combat, you deal 8 additional points of damage on your next attack (if it’s successful). Sleeping Giant can be used only once per combat encounter. Inability: You’re not always the quickest on your feet, but that’s only because you’re taking in all the possible angles. You have an inability in all initiative actions. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. One of the other PCs invited you to come along, and you were so slow to answer that they were already introducing you to everyone before you could say no. 2. You’d been sitting still for too long and were craving a bit of adventure. 3. You wanted to see more of the world, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do so. 4. You’re intrigued by the skills of one of the other PCs and would like to learn more about them.

Wandering
You’re never really comfortable unless you’re wandering the wide prairies of Ohunkakan, whose nights are lit by brilliant starscapes unparalleled by the skies of any other recursion you’ve ever visited. There, you keep a keen eye out for the beauty inherent in untouched landscapes, but also for dangerous wild creatures, inimical spirits, and rival wanderers eager for a chance to prove themselves. You gain the following characteristics: Hearty: +4 to your Might Pool. Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to tracking. Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to perception. Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to creating rough clothing and other crude equipment from natural materials, such as using cured animal hides for garments and tents. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a bone flutelike instrument. When you play it at night, sometimes fireflies come to the sound. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. After much meditation, you were directed to join the PCs on their adventure by what seemed like the land itself. 2. You left Ohunkakan specifically looking for adventure. 3. You almost died from a wound but were saved by passing PCs. You decided to join them. 4. Recursion miners from someplace else stole an object precious to you. You’re not sure where to start tracking them down, but joining the PCs seems like a good first step.

Werewolf
The night is your lover. You howl with extravagant abandon when engulfed in her cool embrace. Running free and wild defines you, and if you can’t do so while in your lupine form at least once a month, you grow frustrated and angry. People don’t like you when you’re angry and you don’t like it much either, because you tend to lose control, black out, and wake up the next morning with lots of questions and no memory of what happened. You gain the following characteristics: Supernatural Speed: +4 to your Speed Pool. Wereform: If you are in a recursion that operates under the law of Magic, each night you can transform into a werewolf for a number of minutes equal to your tier. While in wereform, you have a bite attack with which you are practiced that deals damage as a heavy weapon, and when damaged, you regain 1 point each round, except for damage inflicted by a silver weapon. Skill: Your senses are acute. You are specialized in tasks related to perception. In a recursion that operates under the law of Magic, this benefit also grants you the ability to see in the dark as if it were bright light. Susceptible to Silver: Each time you are damaged by silver—a silvered blade, liquefied or gasified silver, silver fulminate explosives, and so on—you take 2 additional points of damage and lose your ability to remain in wereform (and to regain points when damaged), assuming you were in a recursion that allows you to transform. Moon Mad: On and around nights with a full moon, you risk losing control of your ability to transform (whether you can see the moon or not). When such conditions apply in a recursion that operates under the law of Magic, you transform into a werewolf and take actions that you do not remember until you wake up the next day. The GM determines those actions, and you might never learn what they were, save by the evidence around you. Additional Equipment: When you begin play with this descriptor, you gain a tooth pendant. You believe the tooth comes from your werewolf progenitor. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this is your starting descriptor, choose how you became involved in the first adventure from the following list of options. 1. You were out running wild one night and came upon the PCs doing something interesting. 2. The PCs found you in a recursion other than your own one morning after one of your transformative blackouts. 3. A werewolf hunter in your home recursion was hot on your heels, so you joined the PCs hoping to find protection in numbers. 4. You helped the PCs out of a nasty situation they’d gotten themselves into in Gloaming or Halloween. After that, they asked you to join them.

Young
Small and inexperienced, you’re somewhere between nine and thirteen years old. But you don’t let that stop you because you’re not afraid of anything. Adults say that you’re bold only because you’re too young to know better, and that one day you’ll grow out of it. You don’t believe them because come on, what do they know? They’re old.You have the following characteristics. Resilient: +2 to your Speed Pool.Curious: +2 to your Intellect Pool. Vulnerable: Adults look out for you. You are trained in all pleasant social interactions with adults. Skill: Your curiosity often leads to destruction. You are trained in tasks involving breaking things. Inability: The difficulty of any Might-based task is increased by one step. Inability: The difficulty of any task involving knowledge is increased by one step. Additional Equipment: You have a sling (or a similar light ranged weapon with a short range). Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 1. A friend of yours and the other PCs is in trouble (or missing) and needs your help. 2. You got lost, and the PCs helped you. 3. You and the PCs are all the same age. 4. You ran away from home and found the PCs.