Backgrounds for Angel/Demon: The Rapture

By Jack Rogers (rogersj@btlip10.bt.co.uk) for Angel/Demon: The Rapture

Author's Notes

I would like to give credit to some people who helped me with this: Ben (for his ideas for demonic artifacts and some of the backgrounds)

Justine (for reminding me that there were ways that this should not be done)

Next, the response.

It's good, very good indeed. The secondI read it I decided to include them in my Storyteller game and frankly I will be most disappointed if Guardian Angel and Witches do not appear soon. The only problem I have with it is the ridiculous amount of successes needed to enter a human with no effects. Please modify this in the 3rd edition.

As for the backgrounds for angels and demons: how can you say that you can not think of any? It took less than a minute for my friends and I to come up with ideas for backgrounds... Here:

Angel Backgrounds

A holy artifact is an item that for some reason is a part of the angel. It has been ordained by a greater force that this item shall be needed by the angel to perform the tasks that will confront it. These items can only be conjured up with the expenditure of a willpower point and last until banished by the user. They appear as glowing (or fiery) outlines of what they should look like. They should only be visible to particular supernatural creatures (Storyteller discretion) and those with true faith.

Examples:

• Sword of faith
• Shield of love
• Trumpet of Jericho
• A branch from the Burning Bush
• A basket from the shores of Galilee (feeding of the 5000)
• A lock of Samson's hair

I won't define what they are because that is the choice of the player and the Storyteller but if the ones above are chosen, I personally would think them to be 4-5 point artifacts if they do what I think they should do.

An angel should be able to call upon a certain amount of divine knowledge. This can take the form of answered questions and knowledge of Talents, Skills, and Knowledges. In effect, it is similar to Dream (see Mage: The Ascension).

Timeless as they are angels, should be able to see from the past and predict the future. This is not the laying of cards or gawking at teabags; they just know. It is closely linked to the Divine Knowledge background and should not be bought higher than Divine Knowledge.

A Following is a group of people who believe in and when shown, recognise the character. They know when he is on the earth and will try to help him/her (it?) and generally at least one of them will have True Faith. This is a combination of the Backgrounds Allies, Contacts, Retainers and Herd. When with his following the angel will regain Willpower at 1 per half an hour (Herd). If with them in a religious ceremony and giving worship the angel will be at -1 difficulty to any dice roll made (Retainers). They are not bound to him at all but they are the equivalent of good friends. They will have friend who have friends (Allies and Contacts). This background is purchased on a 2 points for 1 point scale for both freebies and starting points. For every dot you have in following you have 3 followers. Only 1 person in the following will have True fFaith for it is a rare thing in the World of Darkness.

This power is not flaunted by the angels and only becomes available to them at certain times. By simply looking at the person or persons, the angel will then call upon God to call judgement upon them. An evil man will see his evil and despair at what he has done: the misfortune hatred, pain, fear and loathing he has done to others is inflicted on him in one go. Few survive the ordeal and those who do are forever changed for they have been judged now and know where they will be going.

This power is not available unless it is asked for by the Storyteller and then only rarely. For an example of how it might be used, consider a tramp who has become an ally of the PCs gets caught in an explosion while saving a young child. He is close to death so the Storytellers says that Justice be done and the tramp be allowed to know his fate. A look of horror crosses the tramps face as he looks past the players, but slowly the horror fades and the peace of angels comes over his face; his last selfless act has saved his soul and he shall be with god at the appointed time. The flip side of the coin is calling Justice on a Hitler or a vampire; then you will see some of the worst effects of justice imaginable.

This is a strange power but useful nonetheless. By rolling Charisma + Sleep of Angels, an angel is able to enter into the sleeping mind of the person and give him peaceful dreams. With 5 successes, this can be done on an entire town. The difficulty in the World of Darkness is rarely less than 7 but in some places it may be lower. This cannot be done when the angel is entrance of someone.

For some reason, the angel is linked to the patrons and is able to call upon their talents when they are in entrance of someone. Example patrons include St. Nicholas, St. Patrick, St. George, etc. It requires a Patronage roll, difficulty 9 - the planet that you have risen to (Luna = 1, Venus = 2 and so on). The effects are decided upon by the Storyteller and depend on the saint you call. It does require a player do some research on some saints so that he knows "who he's gonna call."

Demon Backgrounds

Demons have powers similar to the angels but they use different names and have slightly different effects.

The Belial's answer to the Holy Artifact. For ideas, consult the Book of the Wyrm. Other artifacts are perverted versions of holy ones (e.g. Sword of Logic, Shield of Hate). Basically, anything that would inspire the Seven Deadly Sins would be appropriate. In general, these artifacts perform a set task and then return to the demon's hands.

This is identical to Divine Knowledge.

This is identical to the Angel power.

This is identical to Followers, except that the ceremonies performed are Satanic.

The opposite of Justice. It makes a person believe the opposite of the truth. For example, a good man would believe he is going to hell and would listen to the demon if he told him how he could go to Heaven. An evil man may believe he is going to Heaven and should carry on what he's doing.

This is the demonic equivalent to Sleep of Angels. It creates nightmares so real that people sometimes die in their sleep and often become too terrified to sleep. While awake, the people may not realize the differences between their dreams and the world as it is. The difficulty for this is usually only 6 and is hardly greater than 7, being that it is the World of Darkness.

As demons can't get Patronage, they instead call upon minor demons or imps who will prod, break, hurt, torture, taunt or do whatever is asked for by the demon. They want to be favored by the demon so they can rise in status themselves. Roll Minions (difficulty 6), with each success summoning five imps. Give the minions base stats of 2, with Skills in things like Torture, Culture, Empathy, Brawl and Dodge, all at 1 or 2.