House Boons & Flaws

By default, only titled sidhe in good standing gain the benefit of their house boon and suffer the consequences of the house flaw. Commoners who are adopted into a house by being granted the Title background have the option to take (or buy with XP) the 3pt (9xp) 'Honored Boon' merit. Tradtionally this is only obtained by commoners who've given exemplary service and is a mark of some higher level of noble grace than the average commoner. This may be offset by the Flaw 'Acknowledged Flaw' (2pts or a 6xp discount) which subjects the same commoner to the flaw. The flaw may be picked up without the boon, as a flaw, at character creation, especially for Squires.

House Dougal

Boon: Once per IC day, a Dougal may convert temporary glamour into temp willpower, but may not overfill their willpower. This requires a period of physical exertion (working at a forge, doing a Rocky-style training montage, etc).

Flaw: Members of House Dougal suffer a physical handicap as a result of Dougal's sacrifice to tame iron. They receive this handicap at their Chrysalis (if they haven't already been maimed in some fashion before then) and it is customary to receive it from a workplace accident. This flaw is compensated for by a mechanical adaptation and does not impair the Dougal unless they take appropriate flaws to represent it. Their mortal seemings suffer the same fate, but the mechanical compensation is present there as well and, regardless of how advanced or primitive the compensation they have adapted to it.

House Eiluned

Boon: All cantrips cast by Eiluned enjoy +1 success.

Flaw: Eiluned must spend a willpower upon encountering a plot or conspiracy in order to avoid becoming involved in some way, they may not take the 'Curiosity' flaw - they already have it. They additionally suffer +1 to all social difficulties when interacting with non-Eiluned Kithain.

House Fiona

Boon: Fiona are immune to fear. All attempts to create fear or intimidate them automatically fail. The only exception is Mind Sphere magick, and this requires additional successes equal to the Fiona's Title Background + their Glamour Rating. Contrary to book stats, threatening a lover does not scare a Fiona - but it does enrage them.

Flaw: As much as the Eiluned are unable to resist mysteries and conspiracies, Fiona are unable to resist temptation. A Fiona must spend a point of willpower to resist pursuing any avenue that will likely lead them to a vice of theirs. Once the willpower is spent, the Fiona is inured to temptation for a scene. Legends hold that the Fiona are particularly susceptible to crushes, but in truth anything pleasurable that they might normally partake in will present a problem.

House Gwydion

Boon: Gwydions may roll Perception + Kenning with a difficulty of the speaker's willpower or their banality (whichever is higher) to determine if someone is lying. House Eiluned is immune to this.

Flaw: Whenever a Gwydion is at or below the 'Wounded' threshold, or if their honor is ever insulted, they must roll willpower vs. a difficulty of their Glamour Rating plus their Title Background, minus their Banality Rating. Failure means they fly into a berserk rage, attacking anyone near them - friend or foe. They ignore all wound penalties while berserk.

House Liam

Boon: The difficulty to use Glamour (cantrips, enchanting, whatever) on anyone who is not Kithain, not Kinain, and not Chimera is reduced by 1.

Flaw: +1 Permanent Banality, and House Liam are considered Oathbreakers by all other Fae and Chimera.

House Ailil

Boon: All rolls involving Manipulation are at -1 difficulty. In addition, Ailil cannot botch Subterfuge or Politics rolls. This is handled the same as birthrights.

Flaw: Out of life-or-death stakes, an Ailil must roll their Willpower Rating at a difficulty of 8 to admit that they are wrong or to act accordingly. If they are forced to back down or retreat, either because the stakes got high enough or they succeeded at this willpower roll, all social difficulties are +1 until they attain some face-saving victory.

House Balor

Boon: House Balor may handle Cold Iron without penalty. They do not lose Glamour when struck with the stuff. If killed by it, their souls are still destroyed, however. In addition to this, Balor may pursue an Unseelie agenda even while within their Seelie legacies. They benefit from their Seelie legacies while wearing the sheep's clothing, too.

Flaw: Balor may not have a Willpower Rating higher than 6. In addition, they have a physical, mental, or emotional deformity. If it impairs them it may be partially compensated for - enough so that in the case of a physical flaw, they may masquerade as an unfortunate Dougal.

House Leanhaun

Boon: +1 Charisma. As with birthrights, the extra Charisma dot is real and this can take Charisma to 6. In addition they enjoy -1 difficulty on all rolls involved in a seduction attempt, note that this doesn't require the use of anything called 'seduction' or even 'manipulation.' As long as success would advance their seduction attempt, the difficulty is -1.

Flaw: Members of House Leanhaun must engage in Rhapsody once every 3 RL months. Every 2 RL weeks beyond this that a Leanhaun fails to destroy a dreamer, they age one year. Rhapsody is considered an unspeakable crime and members of House Leanhaun who are discovered engaging in it are swiftly hunted and killed.

House Aesin

Boon: Aesin may speak with the animals. The difficulty to understand animals is equal to the local average banality. For many places in Detroit this is 8, right now. (See also, The Mystery of Chariot County.) In the deep wilds it gets as low as 4 and tends to track with the local Gauntlet. The roll is Intelligence + Empathy.

Flaw: Aesin suffer from social difficulty penalties when dealing with non nobles. +3 for commoners and non-faeries. Local bureaucrats (police officers, etc) can count as minor nobility and are only +2 difficulty. Municipal high office (Mayor, Clerk, Sheriff, Fire Chief, etc) is +1 difficulty. State office or higher is sufficient to count as nobility. The difficulty penalty to interact with fera is equal to (5 - Rank) capped at 3. For Vampires it's +3 for all generations higher than 12th. +2 for 11th and 12th, +1 for 9th and 10th, no penalty for older kindred. Local princes, bishops, and other officers of kindred society are considered nobility. For Mages, those with Chantry office or higher count as nobility and is otherwise (10-Arete)/3 rounding off.

House Beaumayn

Boon: +1 dot in the Remembrance Background, but it may not exceed the normal cap of 5. Beaumayn receive prophetic visions regularly, and may roll Intelligence + Gremayre difficulty 8 to make any sense of them at all. These dreams only reflect possible futures, not certainties, and so often must be contextualized. a Beaumayn may occasionally force a vision to come forth. This costs a willpower and requires a Glamour roll at difficulty 11 - Remembrance. (Difficulties higher than 9 use the threshold system.)

Flaw: Beaumayn must hide their lineage or suffer +2 on all social rolls with Kithain. In addition, Thallain can sniff out a Beaumayn. They know a Beaumayn is in their general area when succeeding a Perception + Kenning roll vs 7. The range is many miles, so it takes repeated exposure to the Beaumayn to get a precise fix on their identity, but it will come out sooner or later.

House Daireann

Boon: -1 difficulty to call the Dragon's Ire. They also will not abandon their post or flee a fight unless ordered to by their superior, no matter their state of mind. Even if ordered, they are the last off the field. If a member of House Daireann the supreme authority in any given situation, fear will force them to order a retreat, but again - they'll be the last out, themselves.

Flaw: Daireanns can't keep their mouths shut. They brag insufferably, and when they do, they must roll their Willpower Rating vs 8 or spill some secret that they are privy to. The Right of Ignorance will never be broken by this flaw, nor do they open up to complete strangers. (A couple drinks in, however, and you're probably not a stranger anymore.)

House Varich

Boon: Given three rounds to observe someone at some task (swordfighting, dancing, chess) their difficulty on rolls to oppose that person are reduced by 2. If engaged in combat, they may only use this ability against an individual they are directly engaged with. If they perform this ability on the same person, for the same activity, on three separate occasions (different scenes) they may permanently roll an additional die against that individual, in that task.

Flaw: Members of House Varich may not swear a vow of love. They may not marry, they may not oath as heartsworn, they may not make promises about a relationship. In addition, they must accept any legitimate and properly delivered challenge. As a matter of habit, they tend to accept even illegitimate ones.

House Scathach

House Scathach are the sidhe that never left. When the other sidhe fled Earth, these hunters of the Prodigals stayed behind and learned the Changeling Way.

Boon: House Scathach Sidhe do not suffer the Sidhe's Curse Frailty. They also do not lose track of time. Scathach Sidhe have an affinity with the Nature Realm. In addition, members of House Scathach in combat receive -1 difficulty on stealth rolls and +1 die to all Brawl and Melee pools.

Flaw: House Scathach Sidhe only enjoy +1 Appearance, and are not protected from being made to look foolish by magickal means. Sidhe of this house also suffer from the Blood Madness, from the moment a first wound is struck, Sidhe of this house may not withdraw from battle unless they accumulate six successes on an extended Willpower Test with a difficulty of their Glamour rating. A botch resets the test. They may make one roll every combat round. Members of this house additionally are unable to speak above a whisper during combat, this makes being heard very problematic as most fights are plenty noisy. They may, in any given round, roll Willpower difficulty 7 and utter one short phrase per success during the round, at a level barely audible to their intended recipient (capped by their own maximum volume).