Fortune

Roll: Manipulation+Intimidation (Manipulation+Mathematics for Technomancers) Cost: One Willpower Modifiers: -1 Difficulty if the Sorcerer has some item closely linked with the target Fortune is an Aspected path- successes must be spent on each separate aspect. Each aspect must have at least one dot, which means all uses of Fortune must have at least three successes for minimal effect. Aspects Target In general, the target must be some specific individual or group of individuals, but does not need to be specifically named. So, for example, the target might be 'Jimmy Smith, who stole my essay' or 'that son of a bitch who just cut me off,' but not 'everyone who hates me'. The more dots in this aspect of the curse, the more people it can affect, and the less specific the targetting needs to be. oOne specific, named, target. ooTwo targets, or one poorly defined one. oooA small group (no more than four) of closely-linked individuals (a clique or family) ooooA midsize group of people with some kind of relationship (an extended family, a football team, etc.) oooooA large group of people (no more than 100): all of the patrons of a particular bar, a small company, etc. ooooo oAn entire town or corporation or military unit (like a battalion). Duration This is how long the effect will last; whether it coils, strikes, and disappears; or hangs about to discomfit the recipient for months or even years. At their most powerful, effects can last for generations, striking at a specific target in each generation (first born son, for example). oOne shot. The effect waits for an opportune moment, wreaks its vengeance (or benefits) and then dissipates. ooThe effect lasts a day, inconveniencing the target whenever possible. oooThe effect lasts for a week or more (up to three), helping the target when appropriate. ooooThe blessing (or curse) lasts for several months. oooooThe curse affects the target for years, blighting his very existence. ooooo o'...And unto the seventh generation shall the family of Hedley-Smythe be cursed with madness, and terror shall follow them all their days!' Severity The severity of a Fortune effect depends in large part on what the sorcerer wants to do, but the specifics of the effect are never completely under the control of the sorcerer; the caster can suggest, but in the end, every curse of blessing takes its own way. oA brief inconvenience, or a minor weal; dropping something, saying something utterly stupid (or perfectly brilliant), smashing your shin into the table, catching a bus at just the right moment. ooSomething that results ina lasting inconvenience or injury or some minor advantage. Sprains, bad cases of the flu (or other annoying, but not life threatning, diseases), breaking something difficult to replace and committing some major faux pas are all possible curses, while blessings might convey some minor advantage in battle, render the target immune to some sickness or misfortune or prevent some difficulty that might hinder her path. oooA serious, but not normally life-threatening injury or illness, or some permanent social setback. This kind of curse should be a major setback for the short-term goals of the target. As a blessing, this level conveys some major advantage. An additional die in combat dice pols, continuing minor luck with dice (or women) or the good fortune to always get the person at the DMV who actually wants to help (and always getting there when there aren't many people in line) are all possible effects. ooooA permanent, debilitating injury or illness, or a major turn of events socially or financially. Bankeruptcy, spinal injuries, psychosis, blindness, an accountant taking off for Barbados with all of your savings and indictment for tax evasion are all possibilities. Blessings of this magnitude include things like winning the lottery, excellence in battle in some critical fight, or overcoming incredible odds against some major social endeavors. oooooNormally, a death curse (and usually not a pleasant death; decapitation, wasting disease, mangling car accidents, and worse), although some incredible turn of events might fulfill a curse of this magnitude. Blessings at this level of power involve cheating some inescapable death or misfortune; a last-minute reprieve from the governor, landing in the only pond deep enough to cushion your fall after a parachute failure or being saved by the Queen's Gurkha Rifles just as the cultists start to lower you into the boiling lava are all possibilities. ooooo oIf there is a fate worse than death or a way to cheat death forever, it would take a curse or blessing of this power to do it. The Path of Fortune benefits from teamwork in a fashion unlike any other path; each assistant who is successful in a skill check not only reduces the difficulty for the lead sorcerer by 1, but also adds a single success to the total pool for paying for aspects. In addition, every three assistants increases the effective knowledge of the Path by one, allowing the group to cast more powerful curses or blessings. A sorcerer can use the Path of Fortune upon herself if she wishes but runs a terrible risk. Any Botched roll means that the sorcerer will suffer the full effects of the worst kinds of backfire that she might accidentally inflict upon others. Worst, while the sorcerer can try and Unweave even a botched curse or blessing upon another, she is totally incapable of lifting or unweaving an effect that she casts upon herself. Since a sorcerer may not know the full impact of her casting for some time, the Storyteller should roll the dice for any use of this Path she works upon herself. Price of Failure Messing with destiny and the future is never something to be undertaken lightly. A failure on the dice roll results in nothing happening (of course, if the target is unlucky enough, the caster may not be able to tell if the curse took effect or not!). A botched curse might boomerang back onto the caster, as the hatred-fueled power feeds back into the source of the bile, rather than the target. Alternatively, it may twist itself into a perverse sort of blessing, something that at first appears to be a curse but is, instead, beneficial to the target in a strange sort of way. (This is especially appropriate if the caster's hatred of the target is not pure and savage enough- half-hearted curses are better left alone, especially powerful ones.) Botched blessings can be just as bad, if not worse. A botched blessing might twist itself into a curse (especially with very powerful blessings), targeted either on the caster or on the targetr (once again, blessings where the motives of the caster are not pure are most likely to do this). More commonly, however, the blessing takes effect but in such a way that it might as well be a curse. This kind of monkey's paw can be particularly devastating. A blessing for life might twist itself into immortality itself... but immortality without vitality is a prison suitable only for the most evil.