Eternal Winter Contract (Winter)

These Contracts are derived from the pacts the Court founders made with their respective seasons. Each Court has two associated Contracts, the Fleeting Season Contract (associated with emotions) and the Eternal Season Contract (associated with more physical aspects of that season).

Court Contracts also have prerequisites that a character have the right Court's Mantle at a rating equal to one less than the rating of the clause. When a clause has a required Mantle rating, characters from other Courts may substitute the appropriate Court Goodwill rating at two dots higher. Anyone may learn a Court Contract's one-dot clauses -- they are teasers, and they occasionally draw new members to a Court.

If a character's Mantle or Court Goodwill ratings change (most likely because the character has changed Courts), the character will find it harder to use his Contracts due to something similar to a no-compete clause. If a character's Mantle or Court Goodwill rating ever falls below the amount required for a particular clause, he must pay the difference in extra Glamour points every time he uses it. This extra cost cannot be circumvented in any way, even if the character is somehow able to use a catch or otherwise reduce the cost of the clause. In addition, the clause can no longer generate an exceptional success result even if the player rolls exceptionally well, the extra successes are still counted but the result is treated as equivalent to a regular success and receives no additional benefits.

Repeated use of a clause without meeting the Mantle or Court Goodwill prerequisites nettles the appropriate Court. If a character uses a clause that he is no longer "entitled to" within the sight of a member of the appropriate Court, the Court becomes wroth with him. He can no longer gain any bonus Social dice from appropriate Merits when dealing with members of that Court, until he has somehow regained their favor (usually by accomplishing some difficult task for the Court's benefit).

Changelings who wield the Eternal Winter Contracts control the cold strength of the season itself.


[ 1 ] Jack's Breath ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 162 )

The character cools a room considerably, or an area roughly the size of a room.

Prerequisite: None

Cost: 1 Glamour

Dice Pool: Wyrd + Survival

Action: Instant

Catch: The character hears someone shiver or tastes someone's sweat.

Dramatic Failure: The room grows warmer instead of colder.

Failure: The character fails to cool the room.

Success: The room cools by a degree decided by the character before the dice roll. See the list of suggested modifiers below for guidelines on how far a character can reduce the temperature, and in how large a room. The cooling lasts for one scene before the room gradually returns to normal temperature.

Exceptional Success: The cooling lasts as long as the character desires before returning to normal.

Suggested Modifiers: Every 20 degrees Fahrenheit of cooling (-1); The room is Size 20 (-1); The room is Size 40 (-2).


[ 2 ] Touch Of Winter ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 162 )

Liquid freezes with just a caress of the changeling's fingertips.

Prerequisite: Mantle (Winter) 1 or Court Goodwill (Winter) 3

Cost: 1 Glamour

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Science + Mantle (Winter)

Action: Instant

Catch: The character first spells out a name or idea he hates with the liquid on a dry surface.

Dramatic Failure: The character's hand grows very cold, and the character suffers a point of bashing damage from early frostbite.

Failure: The character fails to freeze the liquid.

Success: The liquid freezes over. The liquid has an effective Strength (for purposes of supporting people on a frozen pond, for example) equal to the number of successes rolled. This Strength is effective over a few square feet, not the entire surface, so a group can walk across the frozen pond as long as they give each other distance. A character may distribute his weight (cutting it approximately in half) by lying down on the frozen surface. See the list of suggested modifiers for guidelines on the area this Contract freezes. The liquid's surface remains frozen until it melts naturally.

Exceptional Success: The character may instantly return the frozen liquid to its original liquid form, as long as he chooses to do so within the same scene.

Suggested Modifiers: Liquid is already near its freezing point (+1); The area of a driveway (-1); The area of a swimming pool (-2); The area of a parking lot (-3).


[ 3 ] Riding The Devil's Jawbone ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page 163 )

The character surrounds himself with an aura so cold that it can disable his enemies.

Prerequisite: Mantle (Winter) 3 or Court Goodwill (Winter) 4

Cost: 2 Glamour

Dice Pool: Dexterity + Stealth + Mantle (Winter)

Action: Instant

Catch: There is a bell ringing within 20 feet of the character.

Dramatic Failure: The character grows instantaneously cold himself, suffering two points of bashing damage.

Failure: The character fails to activate the clause.

Success: The character blankets everything within 20 feet under a cloak of intense cold. Anyone other than the character within that field, which moves with him, suffers a -1 die penalty to all actions while in the freezing aura. Multiple changelings invoking this clause do not increase the level of cold, but the penalty may increase with further exposure. For every five turns someone spends inside the aura (cumulative), that penalty increases by one. Penalties immediately disappear when the aura fades or when a person steps outside the aura, but return at full current strength if the person is again caught inside it. The field lasts for a number of minutes equal to successes on the roll, or until the changeling falls unconscious or dies.

Exceptional Success: The field lasts the entire scene, or until the changeling falls unconscious or dies.

Suggested Modifiers: Already quite cold (+2); Already chilly (+1); Warm day (-1); Heat wave (-2).


[ 4 ] Fallen From The Timbers ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page xxx )

The character calls a great shaft of cold air and partially frozen particles to materialize above an enemy and fall upon her.

Prerequisite: Mantle (Winter) 3 or Court Goodwill (Winter) 5

Cost: 3 Glamour

Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics + Mantle (Winter) - subject's Defense

Action: Instant

Catch: The Contract's target wears silver jewelry that has religious meaning for her.

Dramatic Failure: A small wind of sharp ice particles cuts the character and causes one point of lethal damage.

Failure: The character fails to materialize his attack.

Success: The blast of cold and ice inflicts points of lethal damage equal to the successes on the roll. The target of the attack also suffers a -1 die penalty to all actions for the rest of the scene due to the extreme chill.

Exceptional Success: The attack inflicts a great deal of damage. The penalty from cold escalates to -2.


[ 5 ] Witch's Paradise ( Changeling: The Lost -- Page xxx )

The changeling summons a lasting snowstorm over an extended area.

Prerequisite: Mantle (Winter) 4

Cost: 3 Glamour + 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Presence + Occult + Mantle (Winter)

Action: Extended (5+ successes; each roll represents five minutes of exhorting the sky)

Catch: The moon is in the sky, and the character can hear a wolf howling.

Dramatic Failure: The attempt fails. The weather lightens and gets a little warmer.

Failure: The character makes no headway.

Success: The character makes some headway. If he accumulates the required number of successes, the snowstorm begins. Five required successes summons light flurries over a one-mile radius for one hour. Each additional five successes drops the temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit, increases the wind strength by five miles per hour, doubles the storm's radius or increases the duration by one hour.

Exceptional Success: The character makes great headway.

Suggested Modifiers: Already lightly snowing (+2); Already cloudy (+1); Warm out (-1); Completely unseasonal (-2).