DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games OAHE: Once upon an All Hallows Eve Character Creation

Creating a cat in The Secrets of Cats is very similar to creating a character in the Fate Core System:
• Refresh: 3—up to two points can be spent on additional magic or normal stunts.
• Aspects: High Concept, Trouble, Burdens, True Name, Free Aspect.
• Skills: One Great (+4), two Good (+3), three Fair (+2), four Average (+1). The skill options are Athletics, Burglary, Deceive, Empathy, Fight, Investigate, Lore, Notice, Physique, Provoke, Rapport, Stealth, Territory, and Will, as well as the magic skills: Warding, Naming, Shaping, and Seeking.
• Magic Stunts: Pick 3. Exclusive stunts require the high concept to contain the relevant title (Warden, Namer, Shaper, Seeker).
• Normal Stunts: Pick 3.
• Stress: 2 mental boxes, 2 physical boxes. Will and Physique increase stress as normal.
• Consequences: 1 mild, 1 moderate, and 1 severe. Superb Will and Physique provide extra mild consequences as normal.

THE FULL SKILL LIST
Athletics
Burglary
Deceive
Empathy
Fight
Investigate
Lore
Naming*
Notice
Physique
Provoke
Rapport
Seeking*
Shaping*
Stealth
Territory
Warding*
Will
* Skills marked with an asterisk are magic

Stunts: - This is by no means a definitive list of stunts. Just examples.
General Stunts

Nine Lives: Cats have nine lives, or so the legends say. When you are taken out of a physical conflict, you can give your opponent a fate point to concede instead. You don’t get any of the fate points you’d get for conceding normally.

I’m Not… Dead… Yet: If you’re taken out of a continuing conflict—or have conceded—but are still physically present, you can spend a fate point to take a single action. You can use this stunt even if you died, taking a last gasp at life. You can only use this stunt once per conflict.

Athletics:
Leaper - You’re very good at jumping obstacles. +2 to Athletics when leaping onto or over things.

Death from Above - You can use Athletics instead of Fight when you jump to attack your foe from above.

Offensive Defense - Carefully positioning yourself, you make your opponents injure themselves as you dodge away. When you defend with Athletics and succeed with style, you can forgo your boost to deal two stress to your attacker.

Burglary:
Cat Burglar - +2 to Burglary to move by rooftops, chimneys, or other high places.

Getaway Cat - You can use Burglary instead of Athletics when you’re fleeing pursuit with ill-gotten gains.

Invisible Pockets - You can carry one or two small items, up to the size of a chicken egg, without holding them in your mouth. Nobody is quite sure where you hide them or how you get them back, and you can’t make them reappear if you know anyone is watching.

Deceive:

Ventriloquist - You’re good at throwing your voice. +2 to Deceive rolls to create advantages that make others think your voice is coming from a zone a adjacent to your actual location.

Method Actor - No matter how unlikable you usually are, when you adopt a guise you ooze charisma. You can use Deceive instead of Rapport when you interact with someone under a false identity in a friendly way.

Lying to Myself - Your psyche is armored in a sheath of lies. Use Deceit rather than Will to determine your extra mental stress boxes.

Empathy:

Psychopomp - You know when someone is ill or dying. +2 to Empathy when detecting an illness or injury, even if it’s hidden, and when determining whether a visible death, injury, or illness is feigned or real.

False Friend - You use your relationship with a target to deceive her. You can use Empathy instead of Deceive against someone when one of you has an aspect defining a positive relationship with the other.

I Feel Your Pain - Once per session, you can transfer someone’s mental consequence to yourself.

Fight -

Pounce: You’re an expert at pouncing from concealment. +2 to your Fight roll when you make your first attack of a conflict from ambush.

Dangerous Moves: Your every movement telegraphs your martial prowess. You can use Fight instead of Provoke to intimidate.

Scrapper: You’re used to punching above your weight. Once per scene, after a successful attack against something larger than you on the scale ladder (page 20), you can spend a fate point. If you do, your target must absorb your attack with a mild or moderate consequence, if it has any remaining.

Investigate -

Reconstruction: Unlike most cats, you’re great at working out what humans did
and why. If they’ve left behind clues, +2 on Investigate rolls.

I’ve Already Won: If you’ve watched an opponent for a few minutes, you can plan where to strike them most effectively. You can use Investigate instead of Fight to attack that target in your next conflict with them.

We’re a Lot Alike: To put your foe off balance, you point out that the two of you are very similar. Roll Investigate opposed by their Will. If you succeed, each of you gains one of the other’s aspects until the end of the scene, and you get a free invoke on both. If you succeed with style, gain a second free invoke on one of those two aspects.

Lore -

Literate: Unlike most cats, you can read written text. +2 to Lore when reading could help.

I’ve Seen Your Moves Before: You’re a student of feline movement, considered a formal expert by other cats. You can use Lore instead of Athletics when defending by moving your body.

Many Lives: You’ve lived in the same area through successive reincarnations. Once per session, without spending a fate point you can declare a story detail related to your home area’s history. For example, “Oh, sure there’s a hidden shaft that leads into the old mine. It was blocked up some 85 years ago, but there’s enough of a gap for bats to get through…”

Naming* -

Harm: You’re proficient enough with Naming to directly harm an enemy within one zone of you. Speaking your foe’s True Name to a small animal in your paws, you wound the animal to inflict identical but larger injuries on your target. This is a Naming attack, defended with Will or Naming. Scale does not apply to this stunt (page 20). The small animal won’t die unless you inflict a consequence on your target, and you may limit attacks made with this power to one shift of stress. You can be disarmed if a compel or an advantage created makes you accidentally kill the animal or let it escape.

A Note on Control: DIRECT CONTROL
Animate and Control both let you assume direct control over a target—an object or being, respectively. Once you assume control of a target, you can control it from any distance, but you must take an action to enter or leave direct control. While directly controlling a target, you experience the world from its perspective and can use their body as if it were your own, using its skills for physical actions and your own for mental actions. This level of control requires complete concentration and prevents you from using your own body—including defending yourself or perceiving your surroundings. You will sense any physical interference, though, and can return to your body on your turn in the next exchange.

Animate (Exclusive): By sacrificing a small animal and whispering your True Name to an inanimate object—including corpses—you imbue it with life until the next sunrise or sunset. The opposition depends on the size of the object, starting at Average (+1) for insect-sized objects and increasing by two per rung on the scale ladder (page 20). Animated objects can only move as their construction allows: a rope can slither, an action figure can walk around, but an inflexible statue can only judder on its base. Things you animate will follow simple instructions, but won’t fight. You can also assume direct control of the object, letting you perform any actions you wish. An animated object has one Good (+3) skill and one Poor (–1) skill. Animated objects can see and hear, even if they don’t have eyes or ears. The animating magic is quite fragile; it can be destroyed by attacking the animating energy directly from the astral plane or by attacking the physical object. Animated objects have one stress box. If you succeeded with style while animating the object, it gains a mild consequence. You can only animate one object at a time, unless you have the Multitasking stunt.

Control (Exclusive): This terrifying power lets you enter a mental conflict with an opponent up to one zone away whose True Name you know. In this conflict, you roll Naming opposed by your opponent’s Will. Consequences inflicted during this conflict can be compelled to represent brief moments of control. If you take out your victim, you gain complete control over him until the next sunrise or sunset. When you aren’t in direct control, the victim behaves like a shambling zombie that follows simple instructions but won’t fight or act independently. You can only control one victim at a time, unless you have the Multitasking stunt.

Multitasking (Exclusive): This stunt lets you control up to two beings and two animated objects at the same time.


Notice -

Preternatural Awareness: Your sense of the other is particularly strong. +2 on rolls to notice invisible beings, astral travelers, and other subtle supernatural weirdness.

Look Before You Leap: You’re an expert at judging distances, gaps, and other leaping hazards. If you have an aspect related to having appraised an area, you can use Notice instead of Athletics when jumping.

Skittish: You’re so paranoid and nervous that you react very quickly to any perceived threat. Even if you’re ambushed, you always act first in a conflict.

Physique -

Iron Constitution: +2 on Physique rolls to resist poisons and diseases.

Not Skin and Bones: You’re better padded than your average mouser. You can use Physique to defend against Fight attacks.

Size Advantage: If you’re attacking something smaller than you on the scale ladder (page 20) and succeed with style, you can reduce your damage by one to create an advantage like Pinned rather than gaining a boost.

Provoke -

Night Terror: You’re a much scarier cat by night than by day. +2 to Provoke rolls to induce fear at night.

Bravo Cat: You have a reputation in the neighborhood for being a bully. You can use Provoke rather than Territory to obtain information or favors from other cats in the region. Any cat you bully this way gains a situation aspect to reflect resentment.

Caaaaaaaat!: You’re an expert at jumping out and inspiring terror. Once per session, during a tense scene in which your victim can’t see you, use Provoke as a Weapon:2 mental attack, opposed by Will.

Rapport -

Top Cat: +2 to Rapport when persuading cats who see you as a leader.

Totally Lovable: You’re so sweet and loveable that it’s almost impossible to lie to you. You can roll Rapport instead of Empathy to detect lies, except white lies.

Snazzy Cat: When you create an aspect related to your looks, like Well Groomed, you get an extra free invoke.

Seeking* -
The Time Ladder
For a full description of time increments, see Fate Core System (page 197). The relevant time increments for Psychometry (page 25) are as follows:
A month g a few months g half a year g a year g a few years g half a decade g a decade

Dreamwalking: You attune yourself to a sleeping being by inhaling some of his breath, letting you visit his dream when you fall asleep yourself. In the dream you can speak with the dreamer, even if he’s human, and you can use your magic to shape his dreams. You can use this power to transform a nightmare into a pleasant dream, but you can also nefariously implant a belief or instruction into the dreamer’s subconscious. Some cats use this power just to speak and bond
with their human companions and to enjoy the wondrous dreamscapes of their imagination.

Fighting a nightmare to calm the sleeper is mentally taxing. Resolve it as a mental conflict of Seeking, opposed by the nightmare’s intensity. A mild anxiety dream has Average (+1) intensity and no stress boxes, while a guilt-stricken nightmare of terror and loss has Superb (+5) intensity, three stress boxes, and three consequences. Losing this conflict can leave you feeling very drained when you wake; you may even suffer from a new phobia or other psychological problem. If you defeat the nightmare, you can apply a positive aspect to the dreamer or completely cure a mental consequence related to the root of the bad dream. You can converse with the dreamer with complete fluency. You can also use your access to the dreamer’s subconscious mind to begin a mental conflict. If you take him out in this conflict, you can dictate a belief that afflicts him until he’s convinced otherwise or you can implant a single instruction he must carry out during the next day. This is not something that should be trifled with, however— many a cat has been rendered permanently catatonic after a dream conflict gone wrong.

Because dreams are so malleable, everyone experiencing it can declare story details without spending fate points. You can shape the dream to create advantages by using Seeking, opposed by the dreamer’s Will. For example, you might create the aspect Nightmarish Chase to soften up the target for a Provoke attack. Be wary of lucid dreamers, however, who can turn the tables by creating their own advantages.

If you know True Name of a participant in the dream, create a situation aspect
related to the participant’s name. You can invoke this aspect on any roll made
against her, even if she isn’t the dreamer.

Multiple Dreamwalkers can visit the same dream, which may explain that time you woke under a pile of cats after a night of vivid dreams. Dreamwalkers can bring other cats with them, but strictly as invisible observers who can’t interact with the dreamer or the dream. GMs, if any players aren’t involved in the dream scene as Dreamwalkers or observers, ask if they want to play figments of the dreamer’s imagination.

Prognostication (Exclusive): You can delve into your own dreams and return with knowledge of what is yet to be. Once per session, after you’ve slept, make a Seeking roll against Average (+1) opposition.

If you fail, you get a single-word aspect hinting at a future event.
If you succeed, you get a single-word aspect hinting at a future event and a
timeframe of several days in which it will happen. You can spend shifts, one at a time, to reduce the timeframe by one increment (Fate Core System, page 197) or
to add a word to the prophetic aspect, not counting linking words.
If you still have at least three shifts once you stop refining the prophecy, you
succeed with style as normal.

To determine the nature of the prophecy, roll a separate/distinctly colored die:
Result The prophecy hints at...
- Something horrible (Betrayed, Killed).
+ Something beneficial (Answers, Ally).
0 A complication (Promise, Doubts).
GMs, if you wish to give players more control over the process, let them
choose the prophecy type before rolling.

You can’t seek a second prophecy until the first has come to pass or been
averted.

Astral Projection (Exclusive): While your body sleeps, you can send your soul
traveling and take an Astral Form. In this form, no ordinary door or wall can
stop you, you can see in complete darkness, and you can fly at great speeds.
However, you can’t pass through natural rock, earth, or living things. The astral realm is home to many anchor-less spirits that will take exception to you entering their domain, but just as many are useful sources of information. If you’re within a few yards of a cat or another psychically aware being, it can see your ghostly presence with Notice, opposed by your Stealth. You can invoke Astral Form to help you on this roll. Your spiritual form can be harmed by spirits, creatures in both the astral and physical realms, and other astral travelers.

Conflicts in the astral realm look like ordinary battles, but one’s fighting
ability is irrelevant compared to sheer force of personality. Astral conflicts are resolved by rolling Provoke opposed by Will, and all stress suffered is mental.

While you travel in the astral realm, your physical body is completely vulnerable, but you will sense any physical interference and can return to your body on your turn in the next exchange.

For details on spirits and anchors, see page 46.
Psychometry (Exclusive): All events of emotional significance leave a psychic
residue on the place and objects involved. By whispering your True Name to
the place or object, you create a temporary resonance between your spirit and
the subject of the event. Through this connection, you experience fragmentary
memories of an emotional event in the subject’s history. Use this ability with
caution—some events can take a toll on the mind.

An object or place can hold only one psychic impression; it takes an equally
significant event to overwrite the existing one. A knife used to murder will carry that residue until it’s used to kill again.

To read the subject, use Seeking opposed by the time passed since the event,
starting at Fair (+2) for a month or less and increasing by one per rung on
the time ladder. If the object is imprinted with a particularly intense residue—
for example, feelings of terror or homicidal rage—then it has an aspect like
Murder Weapon. GMs, when a player begins to use this power on such an
object, tell them that they sense a strong emotion but don’t reveal the aspect.
This allows them to invoke the aspect for a fate point to gain an advantage on
their Psychometry roll. If they wish to investigate the object in advance, they can create an advantage.

On a success, you see a fractured vision of the event from the perspective of
the object or place. If you succeed with style, you can also ask one question,
which will be answered clearly. If you succeed at a cost, then you still receive
the vision, but you also take a mental consequence from the psychic feedback.

Viewing an event with very strong emotions inflicts a Great (+4) mental attack
against you, which you can defend against with your Will.

Shaping* -

A Knack for Change: You’re more experienced at changing your physical form. Each time you purchase this stunt, you can maintain another simultaneous Shaping aspect.

Change Size (Exclusive): You can use Shaping to radically change your size for the rest of the scene, letting you move along the scale ladder. The opposition increases by two per rung along the scale ladder you want to transform.

Disguise (Exclusive): This stunt lets you change your physical appearance to exactly match that of any other cat, including coat pattern, scars, and deformities. To adopt a disguise, create an advantage using Shaping with passive opposition based on how well you know the other cat:
Familiarity Opposition
You’re working from a description Legendary (+8)
You saw them once at a distance Epic (+7)
You met them once Fantastic (+6)
You’ve met them a few times Superb (+5)
You see them around all the time Great (+4)
You meet with them regularly Good (+3)
You’re good friends Fair (+2)
They’re right in front of you Average (+1)

If you know the target’s True Name, then you automatically succeed with style.
If you succeed at a cost, the details of the disguise are somehow imperfect—
modify the disguise aspect to reflect this—but the disguise is otherwise perfect. To fool anyone who knows the target, you’ll still need to roll Deceive.
You can also use this power to create a disguise based on an imaginary cat. In
this case, the opposition is based on how much the disguise looks different from
you, starting at Average (+1) and increasing by one per difference in appearance.

Shadow Form (Exclusive): Whispering your name to the darkness, you transform yourself into a shadow, gaining Shadow Form for the rest of the scene. To attempt to transform, use Shaping with Fair (+2) opposition. If you fail the roll, you still become a shadow, but the transformation warps your mind; you gain a negative aspect—like Cruel Streak—for the rest of the scene. In this form you can see in total darkness, you’re completely invulnerable to physical sources of harm, and you can attack spirits (with Fight). Because you exist in two dimensions, you can slip through the narrowest crack and travel almost anywhere. However, you can’t travel outside of shadows or darkness, can’t attack or interact with anything physical, and can be hurt by spirits and light. Though you’re a shadow in a shadow, you aren’t invisible; you’re darker than your surroundings, and your eyes still shine with reflected light. You may, however, invoke Shadow Form to aid your Stealth rolls.

Stealth -

Prowl: Your ability to move silently is legendary. +2 to Stealth when hearing is the most likely sense to give you away.

Stalk: You can use Stealth instead of Fight to launch your first attack during a conflict, if you’ve been stalking your prey from concealment.

Surprise!: Once per session, you can reveal your hidden presence in a scene you weren’t in. You immediately gain a boost called Surprise!, which only lasts for one exchange.

Territory -

Mysterious: No matter when the crime took place, you weren’t there! +2 on Territory rolls to convince other animals to offer false alibis for you.

It’s Not What You Know: You never bothered to learn much—you’ve got others for that. You can use Territory instead of Lore to know stuff you heard from others.

Iron Grip: You’re good at holding on to your turf. You can never have more than two negative Territory situation aspects, regardless of your Territory rating (page 12).

Warding* -

Invisibility: You whisper your True Name backward to create an inverted ward around you, making you Invisible until the end of the scene. Roll Warding against passive opposition from the environment: it might be Superb (+5) if you’re a dark grey cat trying to hide in a bright white corridor, but Average (+1) if you’re in a dark alleyway. If you’re a Warden, you can make multiple targets invisible by hiding everyone in a zone (+2 opposition) or by splitting your shifts among the targets chosen. Success with style grants an extra free invoke as normal.

Shadow Armor (Exclusive): You gather the surrounding shadows to armor your body, turning your fur black and your eyes into empty holes touched with faint glimmers of starlight. Gain Armor equal to your Warding for the rest of the scene and fill your lowest mental consequence. You can only use this power after nightfall or in dark places. This power can reduce the physical stress transferred to you from an active ward or by Absorb, but doesn’t protect against attacks based on fire or light. While in this unnatural form, you can use Fight to attack spirits and vice versa.

Absorb (Exclusive): You whisper your and an ally’s True Names to a pebble, linking you until the next sunrise or sunset. While you touch the pebble, any stress your ally would take is halved (rounded down), and the remainder you take as your choice of mental or physical stress. You can drop the pebble at any time, except when dice are being rolled against your ally. Anyone else who touches the pebble while this stunt is active shares a Strong Link with you and your ally (see Seeking on page 22). You can only protect one ally with this stunt at a time.

Cat Walk (Exclusive): By whispering your True Name to the air, you create wards set against yourself that are shaped in cunning ways. You can manifest temporary bridges, gantries, or ramps of pure force that let you climb to otherwise inaccessible places. You can use this power to overcome relevant obstacles or to create advantages related to being in a weird or unexpected position. The First Rule of the Parliament of Cats means this power mustn’t be used in sight of humans; it has led to some embarrassing incidents for cats seen atop trees with no way down.

Will -

Insatiable Curiosity: +2 on Will rolls when opposing attempts to persuade or bully you out of satisfying your curiosity.

Stubborn: Once you’ve set your mind on something, you won’t be swayed. You can use Will to defend against Rapport.

Iron Will: You gain another mild mental consequence.

Aspects
Cats have the following aspects:
High Concept
As for humans, this aspect describes who you are and what you do. Specializing in one of the schools of magic means that you must add the relevant title— Warden, Namer, Shaper, or Seeker (page 13).

Trouble
Your trouble causes drama in your life. You might be curious to a fault, badtempered, or a sucker for flattery. Perhaps your Burdens won’t let you leave the house, you’re haunted by an old enemy, or you live with a mean dog. Or maybe
there’s a fear or habit that you struggle to overcome.

Burdens
This aspect details the Burdens in your life. In less cat-centric terms, Burdens are the people your cat is dedicated to protecting, whether an entire neighborhood or a single homeless person. If you’re a stray, pick a person or people whom you sometimes visit and think are worthy of protection. Describe them in an interesting way that suggests invokes or compels—cats call people Burdens for a reason! While you might accumulate more Burdens throughout your life, you begin with a Burden of one person or group of people.

True Name
You learned your True Name in a dream soon after you became an adult. You earned your True Name from your actions—it might be Brave Warrior or Silent Hunter—and it’s part of your core identity. To share your True Name is a sign of great trust and respect, because someone who knows it has enormous power over you.

Your True Name might relate to an adventure shared with another PC during early adulthood. If you’re struggling to come up with a True Name, discuss your character’s history and coming of age with the other players.

Free Aspect
This aspect can be anything you’d like. For example, you could establish a relationship with another PC and invent some shared backstory, but you don’t have to if nothing comes to mind. Write this aspect in the “Other Aspects” category of your character sheet.