Well, in new world of darkness, the Changlings are people that got kidnapped by the fae, tormented endlessly, and then... they escaped.
...or did they? Maybe they were let out. Maybe this is all just an elaborate trick!
You don't know. But, when you get out, you find that there's a ...created THING... that has taken over your life, to keep people from missing you.
Basically, changelings get very few and very weak combat abilities, in a system that involves an awful lot of combat. WoD, pretty much by design, has a very combat-heavy setup. Most types of characters (mages, werewolves, and vampires being the other three most played ones) have a lot of power they can draw on to nuke/maul/eat people, in addition to whatever utility stuff they have (things to pick locks, walk into the spirit world, talk to ghosts, drive vans and solve mysteries, etc.) Changelings, unless they take a very specific set of powers, really have no magical ability to hurt anything. Their best power is typically "I has gun".
All three other character types have a way of using their power energies (mages use mana, vampires use blood, and werewolves use essence) to heal themselves. Some of them are more efficient than others, and most can get some sort of magic ability that lets them heal themselves more efficiently, as well. Changelings have almost no healing abilites available to them, and the few that they can get are very gimped or very expensive to use (for example, one ability can cost 8 *XP* to use, in a game system where you typically get 2 or 3 XP per game session)
Similarly, defense-wise, most changelings have no defensive abilities. all mages have some variant of 'mage armor', werewolves get extra health and increased defenses, and vampires simply absorb firearm damage as if it were bashing (basically, shooting the dead guy with your .45 is about as helpful as punching him like a girl). If you're a changeling, you're vulnerable to everything just like a normal person. As a supernatural character, it's ever so slightly harder to cast magic on a changeling than it is to cast on a regular joe, but that's basically it. A very few types of changeling may get some defenses, but it's typically only by sacrificing some great amount of utility.
Plus, there's the concept that as an escapee from fairyland, if you are ever found or enter fairyland again, well.... the fae will get you. There's actually no stats or rules for the fae, in their world. The assumption is that they are to be treated as if they were a god- they can do anything they want (there are rules for what happens if the fae FOLLOW you into the real world, but it's nothing good). So... better to stay out of fairyland. Except that changlings draw many of their powers from it. So they are more or less required to flit in and about the hedges that border the lands of the fae. (and the hedges can kill you. Or drink your blood. Or drive you mad, then kill you. etc.)
And finally, there's the insanity. Changelings have a stat called 'Clarity' that goes from 1 to 10, that is basically their grasp on what is real. The higher the number, the better able they are to tell if they're looking at a real thing, or if it's all just a big hoax and they're still trapped in fairyland. The lower the number, the more likely they are to go crazy. If you lose Clarity, you may gain derangements. If you hit zero, you're totally bug-fuck nuts and it's time to hand in your character sheet.
"Minor unexpected life changes" are enough to make the character roll to try to avoid losing Clarity, if you're at Clarity 10. These would be things like... the neighbor changed their curtains, one day. "Serious unexpected life changes" can knock you down from a seven- and this would be something like 'discovering that mages are real'. Or, 'My neighbors moved out and now the new neighbors play loud music.' Or, "there's a box of kittens on your doorstep".
The more you play, the more likely you are to keep losing clarity, or get caught by the fae, or just plain get killed off. Changelings are constantly paranoid that they're going to be caught again, and so they're always looking over their shoulder. And every little trip up sends them just a little closer to the edge.
The one time I played WoD, I played a mundane human. Specifically-- I played Dana Scully, X-Files. Talk about short life expectancy! I did manage to beat the odds though. Despite a few times I was nearly killed, I used my wits effectively and survived to the end. I would say a bit of luck played a part in my survival though. Brains beat brawn only when the brawn isn't thinking to hard. XD
But I'm just the crazy kind of gamer who likes to play low powered weirdos.
...or did they? Maybe they were let out. Maybe this is all just an elaborate trick!
You don't know. But, when you get out, you find that there's a ...created THING... that has taken over your life, to keep people from missing you.
Basically, changelings get very few and very weak combat abilities, in a system that involves an awful lot of combat. WoD, pretty much by design, has a very combat-heavy setup. Most types of characters (mages, werewolves, and vampires being the other three most played ones) have a lot of power they can draw on to nuke/maul/eat people, in addition to whatever utility stuff they have (things to pick locks, walk into the spirit world, talk to ghosts, drive vans and solve mysteries, etc.) Changelings, unless they take a very specific set of powers, really have no magical ability to hurt anything. Their best power is typically "I has gun".
All three other character types have a way of using their power energies (mages use mana, vampires use blood, and werewolves use essence) to heal themselves. Some of them are more efficient than others, and most can get some sort of magic ability that lets them heal themselves more efficiently, as well. Changelings have almost no healing abilites available to them, and the few that they can get are very gimped or very expensive to use (for example, one ability can cost 8 *XP* to use, in a game system where you typically get 2 or 3 XP per game session)
Similarly, defense-wise, most changelings have no defensive abilities. all mages have some variant of 'mage armor', werewolves get extra health and increased defenses, and vampires simply absorb firearm damage as if it were bashing (basically, shooting the dead guy with your .45 is about as helpful as punching him like a girl). If you're a changeling, you're vulnerable to everything just like a normal person. As a supernatural character, it's ever so slightly harder to cast magic on a changeling than it is to cast on a regular joe, but that's basically it. A very few types of changeling may get some defenses, but it's typically only by sacrificing some great amount of utility.
Plus, there's the concept that as an escapee from fairyland, if you are ever found or enter fairyland again, well.... the fae will get you. There's actually no stats or rules for the fae, in their world. The assumption is that they are to be treated as if they were a god- they can do anything they want (there are rules for what happens if the fae FOLLOW you into the real world, but it's nothing good). So... better to stay out of fairyland. Except that changlings draw many of their powers from it. So they are more or less required to flit in and about the hedges that border the lands of the fae. (and the hedges can kill you. Or drink your blood. Or drive you mad, then kill you. etc.)
And finally, there's the insanity. Changelings have a stat called 'Clarity' that goes from 1 to 10, that is basically their grasp on what is real. The higher the number, the better able they are to tell if they're looking at a real thing, or if it's all just a big hoax and they're still trapped in fairyland. The lower the number, the more likely they are to go crazy. If you lose Clarity, you may gain derangements. If you hit zero, you're totally bug-fuck nuts and it's time to hand in your character sheet.
"Minor unexpected life changes" are enough to make the character roll to try to avoid losing Clarity, if you're at Clarity 10. These would be things like... the neighbor changed their curtains, one day.
"Serious unexpected life changes" can knock you down from a seven- and this would be something like 'discovering that mages are real'. Or, 'My neighbors moved out and now the new neighbors play loud music.' Or, "there's a box of kittens on your doorstep".
The more you play, the more likely you are to keep losing clarity, or get caught by the fae, or just plain get killed off. Changelings are constantly paranoid that they're going to be caught again, and so they're always looking over their shoulder. And every little trip up sends them just a little closer to the edge.
All in all, it's pretty fun to watch Jenny play.
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I did manage to beat the odds though. Despite a few times I was nearly killed, I used my wits effectively and survived to the end. I would say a bit of luck played a part in my survival though. Brains beat brawn only when the brawn isn't thinking to hard. XD
But I'm just the crazy kind of gamer who likes to play low powered weirdos.
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