Adept power

Adept Healer

Forbidden Arcana, p. 31

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Empathic Healing adept power

An adept with this quality heals significantly more damage per hit when transferring damage from another person with the Empathic Healing power. Additionally, they suffer a slightly lower cost to their own health. When using the Empathic Healing power, each net hit removes 3 boxes of damage from the wounded character and inflicts 2 boxes of damage on the adept.

Animal Familiar

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 31–32

Cost

5 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Animal Handling 5

Using this quality can make a non-Awakened animal follow the same rules as an animal bonded via Attune Animal, though this bond cannot be broken except by death (type and cost of animal allowed is up to the gamemaster). If a familiar dies, the quality must be purchased again if the character wants a familiar. Characters may only have one familiar at a time. The character and animal share a limited Sense Link (Street Grimoire, p. 198). They are connected emotionally and the character can issue commands mentally to the animal, but no other senses are shared. If the familiar is within (character’s Magic × 50) meters of the character, the character knows where the familiar is. Adepts with a familiar can reduce the Karma cost of the Way of the Beast by 3.

Apt Pupil

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 31–32

Cost

5 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Arcana 6 and Knowledge: Magical Theory 4

All that studying has finally paid off. All of the magical training times for a character with this quality are reduced by 25 percent.

Astral Bouncer

Forbidden Arcana, p. 32

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Assensing skill 4 (with Aura Reading specialization)

A character with this quality has astral sight that is so keen that they’ve developed new ways of sizing up everyone they meet. Along with the normal results, every two net hits on an Assensing skill test can also be used to reveal one of the following about a living being: all positive qualities, all negative qualities, physical attribute ratings, mental attribute ratings, initiate grade, an initiate power, an adept power, or Edge rating.

Astral Infiltrator

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 32–33

Cost

15 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Astral Combat 5 (with Astral Barriers specialization), Initiate Grade 1

Any astral barrier that a character with this quality successfully passes through has its Force lowered by their Initiate Grade. If passing through the barrier lowers the Force to zero, the barrier is disrupted, and the mage who set it up is alerted. A character with this quality can instead choose to leave a barrier at Force 1 if they would normally disrupt the barrier by passing through it. A single character can only reduce the Force of a barrier once, but multiple characters with this quality can combine their efforts to weaken or remove an astral barrier.

Barehanded Adept

Forbidden Arcana, p. 33

Type

[Buddhism]

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Must be an Adept and have Unarmed Combat 6

This quality allows an adept to cast a number of touch spells equal to their (Magic attribute / 2); a new touch spell is granted as the character’s Magic attribute rises high enough after acquiring this quality. An adept with this quality does not actually have to use their hands to cast a spell, but their bare skin must make contact with the target of the spell (or the target’s clothing). A barehanded adept uses their Unarmed Combat skill in place of the Spellcasting skill and must still make the normal unarmed attack required to target a touch spell. Drain is double what it normally would be and is resisted with Body + Willpower. The maximum Force of any spell cast with this ability is (Magic / 3), rounded up.

Chakra Interrupter

Forbidden Arcana, p. 33

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Nerve Strike adept power and Assensing 4 (with Aura Reading specialization)

OR Unarmed Combat 6 (with Martial Art specialization), Dim Mak Technique, and Assensing 4 (with Aura Reading specialization)

When striking nerves, arteries, and pressure points, the character doesn’t just disable limbs; they block the ability to control and channel mana. The attacker must have previously assensed the target and gotten at least 2 net hits to use this ability. Along with the normal effects of Nerve Strike or called shots to an arm or leg, a character with this quality may temporarily reduce the Magic attribute of a target by 1 for every two net hits on her melee attack. The defending character’s Magic attribute is reduced for a number of Combat Turns equal to the melee skill rank of the attacking character. Using this ability without the Nerve Strike power requires a Called Shot (Specific Location) targeting either an arm or a leg.

Death Dealer

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 35–36

Cost

15 Karma per Level (Maximum 3)

Minimum Requirements

Critical Strike adept power

OR Spellcasting 4 (with Combat Spells specialization)

All Combat spells cast by a character with this quality have their DV increased by 1 per level of this quality. However, channeling even more destructive forces wreaks havoc on the character’s system. The drain code for any affected Combat spells is increased by +1 per level. Adepts with this quality add an additional +1 DV to any attacks made with active skills affected by the Critical Strike power, but they may only purchase the first level of this quality.

Empathic Healing

Street Grimoire, p. 171

Missile Deflector

Forbidden Arcana, p. 38

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Missile Parry (1) and Counterstrike adept powers

Adepts with this quality may use the Counterstrike adept power as an interrupt action to immediately throw an object that they have successfully caught using the Missile Parry power. The adept can target anyone or any area within their normal throwing range.

Pacifist Adept

Forbidden Arcana, p. 39

Cost

5 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Pacifist quality (10/15 Karma), Cool Resolve adept power, Notoriety less than 2

Adepts with this quality have dedicated years of training to using the powers granted by their qi to further their pursuit of peaceful conflict resolution. This quality offers special benefits for each level of the Pacifist quality that the adept possesses, but also requires a deeper dedication to their vow of non-violence.

• 10 Karma: Any attacks that would cause Physical damage made by anyone, or at anyone, within a number of meters equal the adept’s Magic Rating has its associated limit reduced by 2. This includes attacks made by anything that lacks an Essence attribute, but not attacks against them. After all, you can’t really kill something if it’s not (debatably) alive. The character also receives an additional +1 to their dice pool and limit for any opposed social skill checks or Knowledge skill checks they make to avoid using violence. Any attacks against the Pacifist Adept or made by the Pacifist reduce the number of 1s needed to glitch by one.
• 15 Karma: Any attempts to cause harm (Physical or Stun damage) performed by anyone, or at any living being, within a number of meters equal the adept’s (Magic Rating × 2) have their limit reduced by 4. This includes attacks made by anything that lacks an Essence attribute, but not attacks against them. The character also receives an additional +3 to their dice pool and limit for any opposed social skill checks or Knowledge skill checks they make to avoid using violence. Any attacks against the Pacifist Adept or made by the Pacifist reduce the number of 1s needed to glitch by three.

Revenant Adept

Forbidden Arcana, p. 40

Cost

5 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Rapid Healing adept power

An adept with this quality may use the Regeneration power up to four times a year. When activated, the power functions until all injuries are healed. The adept must then wait until the next equinox/solstice event (or thirty days, whichever is longer) before they may use the Regeneration power again.

Spirit Hunter

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 40–41

Cost

20 Karma per Level (Maximum 3)

Minimum Requirements

Killing Hands adept power

OR Banishing 4

OR Astral Combat 4 (Spirits); see description

A character with this quality has the ability to prevent spirits from using their powers for a short period of time. Any time a character with this quality successfully uses the Banishing skill to remove a favor that a spirit owes, damages a spirit in astral combat, or damages a spirit with the Killing Hands power, that spirit cannot use any of its powers for two Combat Turns per level of the quality. Characters may purchase another level of this quality at skill rank 8 and skill rank 12. Adepts with the Killing Hands power may receive the higher levels of this quality if they raise their Astral Combat skill to skill rank 6 and then skill rank 8.

Sprawl Tamer

Forbidden Arcana, pp. 41–42

Cost

10 Karma

Minimum Requirements

Animal Handling 6

The Sprawl Tamer is a magical beast master of the urban jungle. The number of tricks (Howling Shadows, p. 184) a critter is capable of learning is increased to twice the critter’s Logic. Domesticated critters (Howling Shadows, p. 186) that a Sprawl Tamer trains have the number of tricks they can learn increased to triple their Logic. Additionally, the Sprawl Tamer is always opposed by the critter’s Willpower × 2 when asserting dominance, regardless of the type of critter. Lastly, the threshold for training any type of critter is reduced by 1.