Tribal War Gear

Introduction

These are three Fetishes used by a legendary african Dreamspeaker warrior. They are associated with war and strong emotions and are dangerous to use without the necessary willpower. Some of these items have been reproduced separately and in other forms by other cultures.

The Tribal Lance

This is a short Lance with a broad wooden head as used by African warriors (works as a stake for practical purpose). It is a level 4 fetish with an Arete of 5 which does aggravated damage. When it is activated, the head of the Lance will transmute to the matter, force or spirit pattern most harmful to the target (usually a hard sharp metal doing +2 damage for sleepers, fire or wood for vampires, silver for Garou, Spirit material for creatures in the umbra, Soul metal for Wraiths, cold iron for Faeries, electricity for computers...). The lance will adapt to the allergies or weaknesses of particular individuals. This effect is generally vulgar.

A potent war spirit is powering the Lance and to get its help, the Dreamspeaker has usually made a pact. Failure to adhere to the terms of the pact will piss off the spirit and result in battle frenzies and malfunctions. The pact usually involves killing ennemies in duel in the name of the spirit at least each time the Lance is activated. Many such Lances are also tied to some African tribes and will only work properly when wielded by a member of this tribe. The quintessence in the Lance resonnates with Violence and Killing.

System: there are two magickal effects and a quintessence point must be used to activate either one. Note that if an extra quintessence point is spent to lower the difficulty, the difficulty of the following effects is lowered by 2 because of the resonance of the quintessence.

Find weakness: The material most harmful to the target is determined by a find weakness effect (may be resisted by the target). Weaknesses common to someone's race can be discovered with 1 success only; weaknesses common to a subgroup necessitates 2 successes and the weakness of a single individual 3 successes. Note that several results are possible.

Harmful weapon: The head of the Lance can be transmutated to any harmful material found with the Find Weakness effect (and no other). This is then a Force 3, Matter 4, Prime 2, Spirit 4 effect with a threshold of 2 successes.

The Tribal Shield

This is a wooden shield and a third level talisman with Arete 4. When the shield is activated, it will deflect any attack relying on a lesser Force (fire, cold, electricity, cinetic...) without any recoil. In many cases this effect can be coincidental. Multi-tasking is generally used to enable attacking while parrying with the shield.

System: make a Force 2 effect to deflect the incoming attack, calculate the damage normally and subtract it from the damage of the attack before soaking.

The Tribal Mask

A tribal warrior spirit has been imbued in the mask and will fill the wearer with a rage protecting him from mental influence and helping him in his battles. Obviously, all quintessence stored in the mask quickly becomes resonant with rage. There are records of fits of rage or hatred activating the mask subconsciously and of some people surrendering too much to the spirit and slipping in an endless frenzy from which only death can rescue them. This is a Level 2 fetish with Arete 3.

System: the wearer must first define a target of his rage (one person, a family, racists, English, computers...). Then, the mask is activated (Mind 2 effect) with a -1 difficulty if the wearer feels a real rage or hatred. Note also that a strong fit of rage or hatred (even induced by magic) especially if frustrated can activate the mask subconsciously. Any action against the subject of the rage gets a -1 difficulty (destroying, tracking, dodging, taunting...), actions neutral with respect to the rage (dodging, interaction with people not concerned with the rage) get a +1 difficulty and all attempts to lessen, quench or divert the rage (by magick or subterfuge), can not be attempted by the mage himself while others, automatically substract the number of successes on the effect. Also, all wound penalties are lowered by half (round down), limited to the number of successes to the effect. The rage stops when the magickal effect stops, when the source of the rage has disappeared or when someone succeeds in overcoming it, so be sure of your target. This is a coincidental effect.