![changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vNlAmsFrMiQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
This is where game elements deemed too disruptive (either mechanically, or thematically) go, and if I'm honest, I can see why so many storytellers don't want to touch them. The Baali typically fall into that category of content in World/Chronicles of Darkness games that are reserved only for storyteller use. While there's plenty of folks who've pointed out this option wasn't always effective, the fact that it existed is still something I considered a positive aspect. And if STs were abusing their authority there was someone over their heads a player could reach out to in order to file a complaint. Even if the ST of a particular game didn't like that your character had access to a rare Discipline, or they possessed a merit that was usually restricted, if you put in the effort to get it approved, then you could use it in play. If a particular power or ability was considered rare or unusual then a player could file a request for it, and if the request was granted it would be attached to the character sheet and honored at every venue. This prevented different venues from running drastically different versions of merits or supernatural powers, or having one venue that completely barred certain abilities that were allowed in a neighboring game. Even old standbys like Might of The Terrible Brute (a 1-dot Contract used by any melee bruiser that let you boost your Strength for a round) has now been made into something that only works for grappling, and has a bunch of other caveats attached to it.įor example, they put forth a list of official organization modifications and house rules for players in all venues to follow, and storytellers had to adhere to these rules.
![changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1490064537124.png)
You'd be better off just getting a gun and shooting someone with it. it still lets you shoot lasers, but now they do bashing damage and aren't nearly as potent. The Lord's Dread Gaze (the Summer contract that let you shoot beams of solar fire that was usually only had by one or two people in the entire court) is a perfect example.
![changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J_wCMUTqBaA/hqdefault.jpg)
And it was a bizarre experience seeing Contracts that were once big deals sitting there as a ghost of their former selves, hollowed-out husks of their old glory. However, it meant that since Contracts can basically be purchased in any order a character wants (instead of having to buy a set from 1-5 dots to get to the really potent ones), that all of them had to be made roughly the same power level. Might just be me, but that feels like it's solidifying those lines pretty damn hard, and nailing down specifics of what you are and aren't in ways that were previously up to players. All darklings, of every variety, have this one power.
![changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity changeling the lost 2nd edition clarity](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XkdCtwayWo0/YIQk3vMusfI/AAAAAAAAMhE/Fs62acoyjCcOW1DLyHSgH9LvcR6QKQkVQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/books-1245690_1920.jpg)
Instead, every seeming gets one magic power. In the second edition that was done away with entirely, and from what I read there's now no abilities that increase your attributes and skills via glamour at all. This created a system where certain varieties of changeling had certain mechanical strengths, but it was still loose enough that the line of changelings coming in an infinite variety that's sometimes hard to codify felt true. And as folks know in the first edition they could spend glamour to increase pools involving certain attributes or skills associated with their Seeming (Strength for ogres, Stealth for darklings, etc.). The broad categories of changelings (Beasts, Darklings, Ogres, Fairest, etc.) are all still here. It's a perfect example of an idea that was deemed too simple, then overcomplicated till it just became a confusing morass.īut what about stuff that was open-ended that's been codified in ways that hurt the game, since I mentioned that, too? Well, another thing that's changed is the Seemings themselves. A nice idea in theory, but one which is so soft that it feels almost pointless because it leaves the players to do all the heavy lifting on their own with only a bit of guidance. Not only that, but it enfolded the Virtue and Vice system from the previous edition, allowing players to (at least in part) custom make their own Clarity, what they draw strength from, and what triggers affect them. The new edition treats Clarity checks as a mental attack, with a huge list of complications and modifiers that made my head spin just trying to figure out what it was trying to say. That said, Clarity has become an absolute mess. While a lot of folks hate that Clarity was just a list of Thou Shalt Nots in terms of actions that forced you to roll, I'd argue that if any game will accept an arbitrary system of rules that characters have to follow even if they disagree with them, it should be those bound to the fey.