User:Fwcain/PDQ/DI

These are Franklin's "house rules" and other notes specifically involving Dead Inside, including how to integrate it with PDQ Sharp.

Mundanes
A Mundane (aka Average Person in "DI") is one of the unenlightened, someone who is blissfully unaware of the spiritual cosmos.

A Mundane who has his veil of ignorance removed from his eyes and becomes truly aware of the existence of the spirit realms -- one who has actually experienced contact with the spiritual cosmos -- can become one of the Enlightened, if this enlightenment came in a relatively peaceful manner. Unfortunately, the means of enlightenment are all too often far from peaceful -- in fact, they are most often traumatic, resulting in grievous spiritual harm to the person, causing him to become Dead Inside.

In game terms, "Mundane" is a Pseudo-Gift, granted automatically by the campaign setting to all NPCs (and PCs, if any) who do not already have either "Dead Inside", "Sensitive", or "Magi". As this is not a "true" Gift, the player (if any) of this character can not use this "Gift" for any purpose whatsoever. The only use for this "Gift" is to give the GM a means of tracking the character's "veil of ignorance" (i.e.: their protection from and immunity to the soul-sucking dangers of the Spirit World).

Dead Inside
A Dead Inside (aka Soulless or Half-Souled) is someone who has become painfully aware of the spiritual cosmos, often times as the result of a traumatic encounter with one of the predatory horrors lurking the spirit realms.

Presuming the Dead Inside is able to heal his spiritual injuries, he can become one of the Enlightened. In game terms, "Dead Inside" is a Gift, and the improvement of this Gift tracks the character's spiritual restoration. Once the character has improved this Gift to Master [+6] Rank, the next such promotion will actually grant the new Gift "Sensitive" at Average [+0] Rank.

Sensitives
A Sensitive (aka Enlightened) is someone who is not only aware of the spiritual cosmos, but is also quite capable of interacting with the Spirit Realms. Some Sensitives came to their powers as part of healing from spiritual trauma; others came to their powers by inheritance or other aspects of their birth.

Through study, meditation, and good deeds, a Sensitive can eventually ascend to the next higher level of spiritual awakening. In game terms, once the character has improved this Gift to Master [+6] Rank, the next such promotion will actually grant the new Gift "Magi" at Average [+0] Rank.

Magi
"Paging Doctor Strange. Paging Doctor Stephen Strange, please..."

(Technically, the proper singular term for one of the Magi would be "Magus". However, we will be using "Mage" for the singular.)

Virtues and Vices
Every character in DI is supposed to have a personal Virtue as well as a personal Vice.

If a player wishes to "boost" his character's moral strength, he can choose to have his Virtue to also be one of his Fortes, allowing him to use that Forte's MOD as a bonus on all corresponding Virtue checks.

Here is a complete list of all pre-approved Virtues and Vices. (Paired opposites are listed in the format "Virtue vs. Vice"; a few will be listed in the format(s) "Virtue-1 and/or Virtue-2" or "Vice-1 and/or Vice-2".) Players wanting to use a Virtue or Vice not on this list will need to get approval from their GM.

(Note: The Viking Virtue/Vice pair of Luck/Misfortune is not approved, as neither component of that pair is a matter of player choice.)

Spend Style Dice (Not Soul Points)
Whenever the rules as written call for the player to expend Soul Points (when activating the PC's special abilities, for example), he will instead spend an equal number of Style Dice.

The exception to this is for character improvement. In these cases, the player will instead use Training Points.

Also, anytime the rules as written call for the character to gain Soul Points, he will instead receive an appropriate number of Style Dice.

Shadow Points
Any time the character is to suffer a loss of Soul Points (as per the rules as written in Dead Inside) as the result of a "soul-rotting" action, he instead receives an equal number of Shadow Points.

Once a character gets eight (8) Shadow Points, those points are immediately spent, granting the PC a Rank in "Corrupted Soul".

Corrupted Soul
This Pseudo-Gift tracks the character's spiritual digression. When the character earns (or re-earns; see below) his first Rank in this Pseudo-Gift, it starts off at Average [+0] Rank. Once the character has spiritually devolved completely (i.e.: once this Pseudo-Gift has been improved all the way to Master [+6] Rank and the character has enough Shadow Points to promote that Pseudo-Gift once more), he becomes one of the Qlippoth.

The player can, however, save his character from this doom, by repairing the damage to his soul. In game terms, any time the character improves the Gifts "Dead Inside", "Sensitive", or "Magi", he also gets a demotion in this Pseudo-Gift. And once he gets it down to Poor [-2] Rank, the next such demotion with remove this Pseudo-Gift entirely! (At least, until he earns it again...)

In case the character has already ascended as high as he can go. he can still repair his soul by means of the same efforts as he once did. In other words, once he has already promoted Magi to Master [+6] Rank, he can still "demote" this Pseudo-Gift by spending eight (8) Training Points.

This "Gift" is not available for damage absorption -- this "Gift" can not be used to soak Failure/Wound Ranks.

If the character attempts any "soul-rotting" actions, the MOD from this "Gift" is added to the character's chance of success, representing his continued descent into oblivion.

Non-Human Entities
There are several types of non-human entities common to this campaign setting. Usually, these beings try to stay within the Spirit World, as the Physical World is uncomfortable (at best) to them.

Any PC who becomes a Qlippoth or Zombi has become a non-player character (NPC) under the control of the Game Master.

Bound Spirit
A Bound Spirit (aka Tulpa in DI) is ...

Free Spirit
A Bound Spirit which becomes freed from its master's control is now a Free Spirit.

Ghost
xxx

Qlippoth
The Qlippoth are soul-sucking entities of the void.

Zombi
A person who is Dead Inside who subsequently dies becomes a Zombi.