GIFTS

Gifts are special abilities. They are not universal like attributes, and cannot be learned like skills. A gift is either an inborn quality or something bestowed by the gods.

Gifts do not have levels like attributes and skills. A gift is either all or nothing. It requires a flat number of points.

Below is a list of gifts that players might wish to add to their characters. The list is not exhaustive. Players may feel free to invent their own gifts, which the Master may then feel free to deny. The Master may add or drop gifts from the list to make it fit his game world.

Some of the listed gifts are useful for players who wish for their characters to be from other worlds. The Master has the final say about whether he will allow particular gifts into his game. The list is a suggestion, not a promise.

Gifts should not usually give bonuses to skills or combat values except under particular circumstances determined by The Master. They can help to negate penalties in their domain of function, however.

Sorcery

To use sorcery, a character must be "touched" by a god. To be touched with sorcery requires 10 points per dicipline. This does not include whatever points the player chooses to put into the skill associated with the discipline.

The six disciplines are:

Amelatu
Mahasu
Nekelmu
Sabatu
Seheru
Talamu

Senses

The following gifts allow a character's senses to operate in an unusual way. This does not add anything to the character's Perception or Observation skills, but may cancel penalties caused by certain circumstances.

Improved Hearing

This gift allows a character to hear sounds whose pitch is above or below the range of normal human hearing. Ultrasonic noises include sounds like dog whistles and the screeches used by bats for navigation. Subsonic sounds include subtle vibrations that humans might feel, but can't hear. Some large animals, such as elephants, communicate using subsonic frequencies. More exotic creatures, like monsters or horrors, might also communicate this way.

Improved hearing requires 20 points.

Improved Sense of Smell

This gift allows a character to detect scents with fine detail. This can be used to tell individuals apart (which can be useful for seeing through a disguise) or to track someone like a bloodhound. The Master may require Perception rolls in either case.

Improved Sense of Smell requires 20 points.

Starvision

Starvision allows a character to see at night as if it were broad daylight. This ability works even if the night is overcast. Starvision does not allow a character to see in pitch blackness, however. Deep caves and sealed rooms will be as dark to a character with Starvision as they are to anyone else.

Starvision requires 20 points.

Immunity

A character with this gift is immune to sickness, disease, and biological poisons. The character is still vulnerable to dangerous inorganic chemicals such as molecular poisons and acids.

Immunity requires 30 points.

Longevity

A character with longevity ages at a slower rate than normal human beings. How much slower is at the discretion of the player and The Master. A character could even be virtually immortal.

Longevity requires 10 points.

Alien Biology

The following gifts are meant for non-human characters from other worlds. Players should recognize that all of these come with a price beyond their cost in points - if a character looks strange and alien, he will be hated or feared by most humans he encounters. He can not enter civilization without an excellent disguise, so must often rely on others to acquire simple needs like food and gear.

On the other hand, strange-looking characters are more likely to instill fear in their human opponents than normal human characters are.

Amphibious

A character with this gift is equally at home in water or on land. The character does not have penalties to movement, skill, or initiative in water as other characters might.

Depending on the wishes of the player and the discretion of The Master, the amphibious character can either breath in water like a fish or hold his breath for hours like an aquatic mammal.

To be amphibious requires 20 points.

Extra Limbs

This gift lets a character have additional arms, legs, tentacles, tails, etc. Different limbs give different advantages. Extra legs can provide better balance and stability, while extra arms allow the character to grasp more objects at once than a normal person.

Each extra limb requires ten points.

Improved Running

This gift allows the character to run faster than normal humans due to alien biology (longer stride, four legs, or whatever). Players who want their normal human characters to run faster should up their Quickness skill rather than get this gift.

Human characters can run ten yards per round. Each 10 points put into this gift gives the character an additional two yards. It also gives the character a +2 to Quickness rolls when determining the outcome of a race or chase.

Improved Swimming

This gift allows the character to swim faster than normal humans due to alien biology (scaly skin, fins, flippers, or whatever). Players who want their normal human characters to swim faster should up their Quickness skill rather than get this gift.

Human characters can swim six yards per round. Each 10 points put into this gift gives the character an additional yard. It also gives the character a +2 to Quickness rolls when determining the outcome of a race or chase in water.

Phosphorescence

This gift allows a character's body to emit a soft glow like that of a firefly. This glow can only be used to see a few feet. It can be used for reading with difficulty.

The player may choose whether the character's whole body emits this glow, or only certain parts.

The glow can be turned on and off at will.

Phosphorescence requires 10 points.