Hearth Contract

Hearth Contracts are a broad path of beneficial effects, boons that a changeling can grant to an individual or himself when he needs and extra edge or just a little bit of influence from something greater than himself. Folklore is rife with fairies using powers similar to these, and they fit the archetype of "the fairies bless you in some way."

Unlike other Contracts, Hearth Contracts don't have a catch. They always cost some amount of Glamour and/or Willpower to invoke. To the contrary, Contracts of Hearth have a ban. That is, the Faerie entities that grant the favors of Hearth can, if their ire is aroused, turn those boons right around and use them to blight the individual. The specific bans are described with each power, but the faerie host is notoriously ill-tempered when its goodwill is abused. Therefore, the Storyteller has a lot of leeway when to apply the punishment of broken bans. Such retribution always seems to come at the worst possible time.

Many changelings suspect that these bans came about because the Hearth entities with whom the Fair Folk made their original bargains somehow obtained for themselves the better part of the compact between themselves and the fae. It stands to reason, given the nature of these Contracts. (Note also that certain bans may be manipulated for the purposes of causing failure when success would normally be warranted. Granted, the changeling must know that his subject has already received the benefits of one of these Hearth Contracts, but such secrets are easy enough to discern. Indeed, using some of these Contracts in this reverse manner adds a bit of versatility to the Hearth powers. On the other hand, trying to force this ill fate on the same subject more than once alerts the powers of Fate to the fact that they're being manipulated. The punishment treatment then applies to the changeling attempting to invoke the anti-Contract, as opposed to the desired subject of the anti-Contract.)

Hearth Contracts don't involve dice rolls to invoke. They simply work, once their costs are paid.

Contracts of Hearth require the changeling invoking them to touch the person upon whom she wishes to place the blessing (or curse), unless the changeling wants to grant herself the boon.


[ 1 ] Fickle Fate ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 128 )

It's easier to curse than to bless. The individual affected by Fickle Fate seems to perform poorly in whatever task he sets himself to. It's almost unheard of to invoke Fickle Fate for oneself -- who wants to fail at what he attempts?

Cost: 1 Glamour

Effect: The subject of Fickle Fate makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant action, whatever it is, at a -2 dice penalty. Actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, not things that occur automatically or reflexively. For example, jumping from a moving car or performing an oratory before the duke would be an actively attempted action, while seeing if wounds force a character into unconsciousness or reflexively resisting some supernatural power would not be.

Action: Instant

Ban: The character invoking Fickle Fate may not use it to affect the same subject more than once an hour. If he does, the Fickle Fate visits him on his next attempted action instead of his intended victim.


[ 2 ] Favored Fate ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 128 )

As with Fickle Fate, this clause alters the flow of fortune when a subject attempts an action. Favored Fate, though, makes for more appealing results: Songs sound a little better, bullets find their mark and the acid-tongued critic thinks of just the right thing to say at the very moment he needs to say it. Favored Fate is a more lofty clause than Fickle Fate (that is, it's classified as a higher dot rating) because it's harder to create than destroy, and the results of this power are typically more positive.

Cost: 1 Glamour

Effect: The beneficiary of Favored Fate makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant action at a +4 dice bonus. Again, actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, as described above.

Action: Instant

Ban: If Favored Fate is used to augment the same specific type of action -- shooting at an enemy, climbing a balcony, chasing prey -- before the sun has risen or set since the last attempt it affected, the powers that be frown on the abuse of their attentions. Each time this occurs, one action, decided upon by the Storyteller for dramatic effect, automatically fails, with no dice roll involved. This is just a standard failure and will not yield a dramatic failure result, so it's best used on actions that would normally not depend upon a chance die.


[ 3 ] Beneficent Fate ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 128 )

By altering the attentions of fortune, the changeling guarantees success on his subject's next endeavor.

Cost: 1 Glamour

Effect: The subject of the Beneficent Fate makes no roll for his next actively attempted instant action. As always, actively attempted actions are defined as actions the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing, as described above. The character automatically achieves a single success on the attempt, as if she had made whatever roll was necessary and factored in all the modifiers before casting the dice. Obviously, Beneficent Fate may not help much in a contested action, as the one success it provides can be readily outstripped by the character's opponent. Attacks also inflict only one point of damage; a called shot to the head grazes the temple rather than inflicting an instant kill, for instance.

Action: Instant

Ban: A subject may benefit from the favors of Beneficent Fate only once per day. If the Contract is invoked on a single character more than once in a single day, the subject's next actively attempted instant action is instead resolved with a chance die, regardless of what dice pool or modifiers actually apply to the roll.


[ 4 ] Fortuna's Cornucopia ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 129 )

This clause provides a curious, open-ended blend of luck and the competence of the individual favored by it. It's often said that you get out of your efforts what you put into them, and nowhere is this more true than under the benediction of Fortuna's Cornucopia.

Cost: 1 Glamour

Effect: The beneficiary of Fortuna's Cornucopia makes the roll for his next actively attempted instant under the benefit of the 8 again rule. Actively attempted actions are those things the character consciously undergoes the effort of doing.

Action: Instant

Ban: If Fortuna's Cornucopia is visited upon an individual more than once in a single day, the Contract fails to grace the subject in its standard manner. If this blessing is invoked more frequently for the character, one action, decided upon by the Storyteller for dramatic effect, automatically results in a dramatic failure, with no dice roll involved. The fates treat these as general dramatic failures, not to be automatically construed as catastrophic failures or fatal failures. For example, a character may accidentally reveal his identity when he's trying to masquerade as someone else (as opposed to simply failing to convince his mark that he's another person).


[ 5 ] Triumphal Fate ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 129 )

The blessings of Triumphal Fate are significant, as suggested by the name of the clause. Simply put, any effort made under the auspices of Triumphal Fate is bound for roaring success.

Cost: 1 Glamour + 1 Willpower

Effect: The recipient of the Triumphal Fate doesn't make a roll at all for the action designated by the changeling invoking the power. Instead, he achieves an exceptional success on that action. Note, however, that Triumphal Fate works only on extended actions. As well, it doesn't work on extended, resisted actions. Only a singular effort on the part of the individual may gain the benefits of the Triumphal Fate, such as writing a symphony, researching a lost secret or building a device. The Triumphal effort also occurs in as short a time as possible: whatever the normal die roll time measurement is, the effort takes only one increment to perform. Note also that this Contract generates the minimum number of successes necessary to create an exceptional success. Although the product of a Triumphal Fate is indeed superior, Storytellers are encouraged to sow a seed of doubt into those results. Such flaws shouldn't be obvious, as the Triumphal Fate certainly earns its name, but because the masterpiece came as a result of supernatural blessing and not the true innovation of the creator, some degree of that artifice should be evident to a fellow master who inspects the work. For example, the symphony might have a single hollow note, the lost secret may omit a tiny danger or drawback (while exposing all others), or the device might require more electrical power than it seemingly should. In all cases, these flaws should be evidence of the imperfect powers that generated them, and not massive design failures that would make an opus a laughingstock.

Action: Instant

Ban: Triumphal Fates come only rarely, and those who would supplant the Muses with whatever inscrutable powers that inspire this Contract's successes are in for an ugly surprise. If any character is set to be the beneficiary of a Triumphal Fate more than once within a period of a year and a day, the action designated for the Triumphal Fate is doomed to be a dramatic failure instead of an exceptional success. The architects of Fate aren't stupid, though, and a changeling who attempts to deliberately set up a failure in this method is going to find himself the recipient of disaster, instead. In fact, trying to wrangle this Contract in that manner probably generates a result beyond what mere rules can suggest. But believe us, if there were such a thing as a "horrendous failure, and malignant aftermath" on a die roll, changelings who try to contrive a situation like this would earn it.