Sustains Themselves on the Living
Your survival has been restructured around consuming something only living beings carry. Whether that is blood, emotional charge, memory, warmth, or something that resists easy naming, the hunger is structural — not metaphorical. You are perceptive about desire and vulnerability in ways others find unsettling, and you can take what you need in ways that leave the donor confused rather than harmed. As your nature deepens, your consumption becomes more precise, more powerful, and more intentional.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
- Pick one other PC. They have given to you willingly in the past, and you have not taken more than was offered. So far.
- Pick one other PC. They once witnessed you feeding without your knowledge. What they made of it is up to them.
- Pick one other PC. Something in their particular quality draws you in a way you have not fully acted on. Not yet.
- Pick one other PC. You once returned something you had taken from them — a memory, a year’s worth of warmth. They may or may not know it.
Additional Equipment: One piece of fine clothing or jewellery that helps you move through social situations unnoticed.
GM Intrusion: The hunger asserts itself at the worst possible moment. The donor is more affected than expected. Others of your kind take an unsolicited interest.
Geas: You cannot refuse a sincere invitation. The same structural openness that enables you to receive what you need from others makes you answerable when you are genuinely called. If someone who has willingly given to you before calls on you in earnest need, you must respond — or the cost compounds. You have an inability on tasks involving resisting or ignoring a sincere appeal from someone who has been a donor.
Minor Effect Suggestion: The target is briefly overwhelmed and loses their next action as they struggle to understand what they are feeling.
Major Effect Suggestion: You restore an additional 3 points to any Pool in addition to the normal effect of your feeding.
Tier 1
Read the Living (2 Intellect points): You perceive the surface emotional state and primary desire of a creature you can see within short range. You don’t read thoughts — you read the shape of what they want and what they fear. Action to initiate; lasts one minute.
Practiced Perception: You are trained in persuasion, deception, and detecting falsehoods as they relate to emotional vulnerability and personal desire. Enabler.
Passing: You are trained in tasks involving concealing your nature, appearing unremarkable to casual scrutiny, and moving through social situations without drawing attention to what you are. You can also sense the presence of others who share your particular hunger within short range, even if they are concealed; the GM confirms whether any are present without specifying their location. Enabler.
Tier 2
Feed (2+ Intellect points): You drain vitality from a living creature you touch, dealing 3 points of damage (ignores Armour) and restoring 3 points to your Might or Speed Pool. If you apply a level of Effort, you instead inflict 5 points and restore 5 points. The target does not necessarily understand what happened — they may feel drained, confused, or briefly disoriented. Action.
Tier 3
Ability Choice. Choose either Mind Reading or Share the Taken as your tier 3 ability.
Mind Reading (2 Intellect points): You read the surface thoughts of a creature within short range, even if it doesn’t want you to. You must be able to see your target. Once you have established contact, you can read the target’s thoughts for up to one minute. Action to initiate.
Share the Taken: For one hour after feeding, you can pass a portion of what you consumed to another creature you touch: restored vitality, borrowed calm, a fragment of memory. The recipient gains 3 points to any Pool of their choice. Enabler.
Tier 4
Distant Feed (3+ Intellect points): You can feed from a living creature within short range without physical contact, dealing 3 points of damage (ignores Armour) and restoring 3 points to your Might or Speed Pool. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to extend range to long distance. Action.
Tier 5
Precise Consumption (4 Intellect points): You take something specific from a living creature you can touch or see within short range — a particular memory, a strong emotion, a trained skill, or a sustained year of vitality. The target loses access to the taken thing for up to 24 hours, and you gain it for the same duration. With one level of Effort, the duration extends to one week. The target may not know what was taken. Action.
Tier 6
Ability Choice. Choose either Sever or Presence of the Hungry as your tier 6 ability.
Sever (6 Intellect points): You strip something fundamental from a target within short range — a core memory, an emotional anchor, or the will to resist. The target takes 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armour) and loses access to one trained or specialised skill of your choosing for one month. Consult with the GM on what constitutes an appropriate skill. Action.
Presence of the Hungry (6 Intellect points): Your hunger radiates outward, washing over all creatures within short range. Each creature must succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect defence roll or be compelled to stand still for one round, unable to act unless attacked. While they are held, you may feed from up to two of them simultaneously using your Feed ability at no additional cost. Action.