As Abyssals grow in power, they grow further from their source in humanity. These charms are designed to be required (rather than the normal increase in appearance required in the Abyssals book) to be bought at the same time as raising Essence. They of course have no ability requirements, only Essence. They are always considered in caste for the purposes of xp cost.
Note that these are templates and general ideas. You can add effects to the charms or do different ideas, if ST and players want a more unique character concept.
Eyes of the Second World
Cost-> None
Type-> Permanent
Min. Essence-> 4
Prereqs-> None
The Abyssal's eyes take on an otherworldly aspect, while they may bear some resemblence to the eyes of mortals, they at least take on a strange color. They may become silver, a vivid blue, seem to lose almost all color, or perhaps reflect images in their sheen of things that can't be seen by others.
This results in one ability being granted to the Abyssal.
- Their eyes mirror the deaths of all others around them. Any (excepting Abyssals) who look into their eyes see for but a moment their own death (future or past). This results in -2 dice for all actions that scene as they are so disquieted, and the Abyssal is up two dice to cause fear or otherwise cow them.
- The stars of a world that should not exist shine from their orbs. The Abyssal is always seeing both the Underworld and Creation at the same time. The world that they are not currently in appears ghostly to them, and they have no other sense than sight.
- The Abyssal's eyes seem to be only partially there, as they exist beyond time. Any who look into the Abyssal's eyes for too long (say for a minute or two, blinking doesn't count as not looking) may see either their heart's greatest desire that they have lost, or their greatest sin. They lose track of all the world except for the scene they see and the Abyssal's voice. If attacked, they will awaken from it, but otherwise they must make an Essence roll to free themselves. Note: The Abyssal does not know what the target sees.
- Their orbs have pupils that speak of death, be they a skull or well known symbol linked to death. The Abyssal walks through a world where the shadows of death haunt them. They always see a repeating scene of the last death that happened in a place (the length being their Essence in turns).
Flesh from Beyond
Cost-> None
Type-> Permanent
Min. Essence-> 5
Prereqs-> Eyes of the Second World
The flesh (and often hair) of the Abyssal become weird to the touch, not like those of the mortals at all. Color and texture might change, becoming smooth and cold as stone, or any number of similar changes.
This results in one ability being granted to the Abyssal.
- The flesh of the Abyssal becomes as the dead stone of the earth they would have been buried in, granting them immunity to all natural forms of cold and heat (strangely including the anima flux of the Fire and Air Dragon Blooded). They might bathe in boiling water or even lava pools, or walk through the far North with insufficient clothing.
- It is as if their body has taken on a strange flexiblity and slickness. They gain two automatic successes to move through tight spaces, win in grapples, or squeeze from restraints. Others have a 1 success penalty to grapple the character.
- For some, their form takes on a more gross change, as they find themselves gaining more "limbs"... This may come in many forms, from amazingly strong and prehensile hair, secondary limbs that can be serve as either legs or arms, wings that have claws that allow for manipulation, to more unusual aspects. This allows the obvious bonuses (being able to grapple more people), but also removes up to -3 multiple action penalty from all actions (reducing the penalty to 0 at most).
- Mortals are born from and return to dust, but Abyssals may take on it's aspect. Their flesh often becomes dry (though in some cases they drip with liquid), and sometimes is actually nothing more than dust. They become immune to ordinary attempts at knocking them down, as the force passes through rather than striking them down. They also reduce any form of knockback by 4 yards and add 3 soak against all damage types.
- In the underworld there is little warmth, but much cold and so to has the Abyssal's flesh become. Upon being struck by a weapon or hand, it forms a layer of ice upon it that reduces dice pools to use said weapon or attacking limb by one. This effect is cumulative and persists until one action is taken to clean the ice away. Also attacking or touching the Abyssal with bare hands causes their Essence in dice of damage to the one who touched them.
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