In Nomine FAQ Copyright © by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. ============================================================ Check out these other pages for Errata at http://www.io.com/sjgames/in-nomine/errata/ or General Information at http://www.io.com/sjgames/in-nomine/ Rigidly Defined Areas of Doubt and Uncertainty at http://www.io.com/sjgames/in-nomine/faq/doubt.html A plaintext version of the faq can be found at http://www.io.com/sjgames/in-nomine/faq/faq.txt ============================================================ Index GENERAL o What is In Nomine? o Where can I get a copy? o What is this In Nomine hardback I keep hearing about? o Isn't In Nomine just a translation of the French game by Croc, In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas? o Will In Nomine follow the plotline of the original INS/MV? Will it add the same new Archangels and Demon Princes? o Will there be supplements? o What is the name of that cool headline typeface? Is it public domain? Where did you get it? o Is there a GURPS conversion? o Is there a mailing list? o There's this angel/demon mentioned in Blake/Milton/Dante/the Bible/this cool book about Angels I have. Why is he described differently in In Nomine? o Who's who in In Nomine? RULES o Angels # What happens to angels in Hell? # Does a Cherub lose their attachements when killed or in trauma or do they continue to take dissonance? What about Cherubim of Wind since they can't move around while in Trauma? # If a Cherub's attuned to an object, can they tell when it leaves the current plane? Returns? Is he still attuned? # Can Elohim show emotion? What about the Emote skill? # Elohim of Yves don't need to make a Resonance roll, so what's the check digit? # The choir Attunement for Elohim of Jean seems kinda useless. It only works for a few minutes! What gives? # How often can Elohim use their resonance as long as they are successful? # How much detail does the Elohim get when they get higher CDs on their resonance rolls? # Is the Elohite of Lightning Choir Attunement resonance-based, or can other angels get this attunement? # Are the Grigori Fallen? # What skill is used by a Malakite of Eli when they improvise a weapon? # So I know Malakim don't usually get trauma when their vessels are destroyed, seeing as how they're so used to it....but what about brand-new Malakim? # Is self-defense against a human dissonant? # Does the Ofanim resonance apply to Driving? How about other Agility skills like Throwing? # Does an Ofanite gain dissonance if they are held against their will? # Can a Seraph of Yves tell that a 'person' is a demon by using their servitor attunement? How about the Word of a Word-bound Celestial? Their choir/band? # Can a Seraph of Flowers ignore their own peace aura? # The Seraphim description seems to indicate that they don't need a roll at all to detect falsehood. Is this right? # Exactly how does a Seraph's truth resonance work? # Can a Seraph tell a story/fable or use sarcasm? # Kyriotates of Jean can inhabit objects, how many Forces does a non-living object have? # Can Kyriotates of Jean inhabit any object? # Does the object have any senses? # Can the object speak? # Can the object move? # Does possessing the object require a Will roll? # Can you continuously inhabit the same object? # Does damage to the object 'vessel' cause Disturbance if the Kyriotate of Jean deliberately damages it? Dissonance? # What is the true definition of 'abandoning a vessel' as in the descriptions for Kyriotates of Michael and Laurence? # What happens to a Kyriotate's other vessels when one is stunned? # How many actions does a Kyriotate in multiple vessels get? Can they possess more than one being in the same round? # Can Kyriotates have Roles? # Does a Kyriotate of Yves have access to the Host's Songs? # How much information does a Kyriotate of Yves have _after_ leaving a host? # How much maintenance does a host of a Kyriotate need? # Can Kyriotates, other than Servitors of Jordi, take non-insect 'bugs' as vessels (spiders, etc)? # How far apart can the hosts of a Kyriotate travel? # Can a Kyriotate possess a celestial? # Can a Kyriotate leave a host before the check digit expires without a Will roll? # How many forces does a Kyriotate of David use for his stone vessel? # How do you calculate a Kyriotate of Flowers' Body Hits, lifting strength, etc when in a plant host? # Does leaving a vessel cause any Disturbance? # How does a Kyriotate/Shedim show up on earth since they don't have vessels? # Where is the 'rest' of a Kyriotate that isn't controlling his full number of Forces in hosts? # What happens to a Kyriotate of Jean in an object if the object is destroyed? # If a Kyriotate goes celestial without giving up all its hosts, does it cost 2 Essence? # Is a Will roll required to assume celestial form when a Kyriotate gives up its last vessel? # Is there any difference between skills and abilities? (Specifically for the attunements for Kyrios of Yves and Zadkiel.) # Since a Kyrio of Eli can use Celestial Song of Form for free, does this mean they can make their host the size of Blue Whale or a dinosaur? # Exactly what kind of vessel does a Kyriotate of Laurence receive? # If a Kyrio of Yves is possessing two different bodies, can they use the skills from one with the other? o Archangels # Beleth's and Blandine's Servitors may not take celestial form while on earth. How do they every ascend w/o incurring dissonance (since they must first attain celestial form before ascending)? # Can you explain Heavenly Judgement in more detail? # The servitor attunement Smite says it has a +1 to accuracy. I thought Attunements didn't require a roll? # The servitor attunement Dance of Atoms is not very clear. What's the real story? # Do Servitors of Gabriel gain dissonance while in Heaven for not punishing their assigned class of sinners? # Do Servitors of Janus gain dissonance if they are held in one place against their will for more than three days? # Does cycling between a few select sites every three days count for avoiding dissonance? # Can a Celstial servant of Jordi use 'non-animalish' means of destruction while in animal form and still avoid Disturbance? o Artifacts # How much does a Corporeal Artifact cost? Why should I buy it at higher then Level/1? # Is the level of the artifact the chance it will 'turn up' at the right time? # Who can use a talisman? # Why does a Talisman cost 2 points when the matching skill would only cost 1? # How much is the cost of a relic/reliquary? # Can soldiers use relics/reliquaries? # What's the difference between Holy/Unholy Bullets? # Can a Un/Holy Pistol be a .44 or other weapon? # What are the effects of Holy/Unholy water? # When you use a Relic, you automatically use all the Essence in the Relic. Does all that Essence have to go towards 'powering' the Song (increasing its effect), or can it be used to increase the Target Number as well? o Attunements # Can you buy an Attunement from a Superior other than your own? # What about Sabrina, from p. 197? # What happens to your Attunements and Distinctions if your Superior dies or Falls/Redeems? # Does time pass for a 'swiped' object (servitor Attunement of Valefor and Janus)? o Celestials # What gender are Angels (or Fallen Angels for that matter)? # Can anyone recognize a Celestial in a vessel? Even with a Perception roll? # How can you tell an angel from a demon? # Do Celestials ever get tired? Feel extremes of temperature? Get sick? # Can the Celestial Tongue be spoken while in corporeal form? How about the Helltongue? o Celestial Forms # Can someone disguise while in their Celestial form? (e.g. looking like a Lilim when you are a Balseraph?) or change your shape temporarily or permanently? # Exactly how do the rules for perceiving Celestials in the Celestial Form work? o Character Creation # Can a starting character convert character points to characteristic points or Forces? If they buy a Force, does this mean their total character points go up? # Do the three levels of Discord that Outcasts and Renegades start with give extra character points? o Characteristics # Some of the characters in the supplements have characteristics above 12. Is this legal? o Combat and Damage # Hey! Strength gives almost no bonus to damage, but directly increases the chance to hit! What gives? # Those angels are using guns! # It seems that even an 'average' human can take a lot of hits. # What if someone switches vessels in the same combat round that they get hit? # Does physical damage cause pain/shock effects? # Can you use Essence to assist with Will rolls while stunned? # If an attack has a modified Power of less than zero, what is the final damage? # Is there any way for a human (or someone in Corporeal Form) to take Celestial damage? # What's the difference between the Fighting skill and the Corporeal Combat rules on p. 62? # What's the Power of hand-to-hand attacks in celestial combat? o D666 # Why is it that someone with a total skill of 10 and someone with a total skill of 4 have the same chance for a spectacular (6 on the check digit) result? # Do I have to use the check digit? What about situations where the check digit wouldn't apply? # Ummmm... isn't '666' supposed to be a satanic number of some sort? # Do I roll if I have an automatic success? o Demons # Where are those popular demons of legend, the Incubi and Succubi? # What's the minimum number of Forces to be a demon? # What happens exactly with the Balseraph of Kronos' Attunement? # Is the Djinn Resonance close enough to let a Balseraph of Fate take the Djinn of Fate Attunement? # Can any Servitor of Fate take the Balseraph of Fate Attunement? # Can a Balseraph using the Humanity attunement fool a Malakite with a 6 on their resonance roll CD? What if someone examined them with Aura Glasses? How about all the other tricky methods of detecting Celestials? # What does it look like to observers when one of the Calabim uses his resonance on an object? # When the Calabim attempt to use their entropy Resonance to cause damage to someone and that person resists successfully, they get a chance to lash out at some other target until they succesfully cause damage to avoid dissonance. Does this happen in the same combat round or would each lashing out be a separate attack on subsequent rounds? # What are the restrictions on this 'lashing out'? # Does a Calabim get points for their starting Discord? # If a calabite of Factions fails in their choir attunement, do they have to try to destroy a different relationship to avoid dissonance? # What counts as a 'single object' for the Calabim resonance? # Can you explain the Djinn dissonance rules? # Does a Djinn of Kronos know automatically if they have 'displaced' a Cherub's Attunment? # How do the Habblah use their Resonance? # How much of the Lilim of Haagenti Attunement can an Impudite of Haagenti get? All? None? # Can Krono's Impudite of Fate choir attunement be used on Celestials? # The check digit determines the "level" of the desire that someone has, right? # What is the plural of 'Geas'? # How does a Lilim handle two people calling in favors at once? # How does someone collect a Geas from a Lilim? How does a Lilim collect her own Geases from those who owe her? # Does a really free Lilim (one with no outstanding Geases, and not bound to a Prince) get to continue using Lilith's Rites? # Can you use just 'part' of a Geas? # Can a Lilim inflict a 'need' upon a person (for example with the Servitor Attunement, Dark Desire) and then offer to relieve it to get a geas? # Can Lilim 'trade' Geases away? # What happens to a Geas if the holder dies? # What is the 'charm' referred to in the attunements for Lilim of War and Fate? # Are Geases visible? What about geas-hooks? # Do Geases on humans vanish when the human dies? # Can a Shedite possess a celestial or an animal? # Do Shedim have the same 'force-limit' that Kyrioatates do when they possess someone? # When a Shedite of Saminga is possessing a corpse, does he have to 'corrupt' as per their dissonance? Do they get any info on their hosts? # Are Shedim of Death limited to only corpses? # If a Shedite inhabits someone for less than a full day without corrupting them, do they get dissonance? o Demon Princes # The French and German games of INS/MV had Demon Princes for Cold, Ocean and Illness/Plagues. Will they be introduced in forthcoming supplements? # Some Demon Princes give 'gifts' for free that are normally bought with character points (Nybbas gives out servants, Lilim of Nybbas get free levels of Role and Status). How are these bought to higher levels? # If a demon of the Game has multiple Band Attunements, does that let them sense bands other than their own? # To perform Dissonance Binding, must the victim have dissonance? # Can a demon avoid using Asmodeus' 2-Essence Basic Rite to avoid drawing his attention? # How do servitors of Asmodeus get back Essence when using the Humanity attunement? # Beleth's and Blandine's Servitors may not take celestial form while on earth. How do they every ascend w/o incurring dissonance (since they must first attain celestial form before ascending)? # Because, techically, she's still human, wouldn't this mean that Lilith only makes disturbance like a soldier (rather than like a celestial)? # How much Essence does Impudites of Vapula, using the gadget he gives them, detect from one vessel of a Kyriotate? # Can a Balseraph of Kronos duplicate a Bright (i.e. Redeemed) Lilim's resonance? # Can Fated Future be used on Celestials? o Discord # Can mortals have Discord? # What do angels detect if a bright Lilim has the Aura discord? # If a celestial has the Bound discord, what happens if the vessel or object is destroyed/slain? o Dissonance # Would a celestial gain dissonance from their vessel's actions while possessed? # How do celestials who have to travel work off dissonance at Tethers? o Distinctions # If an angel or demon has a level 2 Distinction, does he also get level 1? Does the same apply to level 3 for levels 2 and 1? # When do Distinctions take effect? Do they require a roll? o Disturbance # Does switching to a Celestial Form cause the same degree of Disturbance in the Symphony as the act of moving between the Celestial and Corporeal Realms? # Does the 2 Essence required to change into Celestial form add to the Disturbance? # So how much noise does swapping between Corporeal vessels make? # Does a Celestial going to the Celestial Realm cause double the Disturbance (once for changing form, and again for leaving)? # Does killing a Soldier create Disturbance for a Celestial? # Does damaging, but not killing, a human cause Disturbance? # Does hurting a Possessed human/being cause Disturbance? # Does an attack by a celestial on an undead creature cause disturbance? # If a celestial kills a busload of nuns by sabotaging the brakes, but he's far away when the deaths finally occur, where and when is any Disturbance produced? # How much noise is made when a celestial is killed and forced to return to their heart? # Is there a Disturbance when you damage the host of a celestial? # How much noise does a Kyriotate make if they use 3 of their Forces to manifest their Celestial vessel on the Corporeal plane? # Is there a disturbance from a normal human's instinctive use of essence? # Does a celestial eating a sandwich cause disturbance? How about exploding a grenade that damages nothing other than itself? # Does a host cause disturbance if they are possessed by a celestial and cause damage? # Do angels and demons cause disturbance when going to Heaven or Hell (like they do when arriving on Earth?) o Falling # An angel can become a demon just by rolling badly?! # When an Angel falls, I guess his/her celestial appearance changes, but what causes that change? Can it be somewhat controlled? # It says here that Malakim can't fall at all! Can this be right? o Forces # If a character has no Forces, how are the characteristics determined? # Can non-humans have more than 6 forces in an area? o Hearts # Can a Heart be moved from Heaven to Hell? (e.g. You WANT to fall so you take your Heart from Heaven before Dominic's pals get it and you move it to Hell... I don't say it has to be easy... just want to know if it's possible or completely impossible). # Can you have more than one Heart? (e.g. Oooops Dominic got my Heart and kept it locked somewhere to track me and now my Demon Prince made me a new one?) # What is the process for creating a Heart? Can an Angel/Demon with his/her own Word create a Heart for him/herself? for another? Or is that the exlusive realm of ArchAngel & Demon Princes? # Hearts can't leave the Celestial plane... where are the Hearts of Beleth/Blandine servitors? # How about a Lilim's heart? # Where do heartless celestials go when their corporeal vessel is killed? # Can heartless demons go to Earth? # Are Barons of Belial immune to the heat generated by picking up the Hearts of other demons? o Humans # Can a human become a celestial? # How many Forces can a human have? # Can a human have over five forces without being a soldier? # Does a human with zero celestial Forces have a soul? # Humans seem to have a lousy chance to do almost any skill (due to low characteristics). Is this right? # Can humans have Words? Distinctions? Choir/Band Attunements? # Can a normal human (i.e. a non-soldier) accept Essence from someone (either consciously or having it forced on them)? o Invocations # What does the check digit do when a character fails to invoke their superior? o The Marches # Do all humans end up in Blandine's or Beleth's realms when they sleep? # Can celestials who ascend to the Marches via sleeping communicate with those beings that are there 'physically'? # What do celestials look like in the Marches? o Outcasts # Why can't Outcasts go celestial while Renegades can? o Possession # What is the range for a Shedim/Kyriotate's Possession Resonance? How about for Song of Possession? # Does the 'rider' get the movement abilities of the vessel? What about special senses? # What is the Will of an 'empty' vessel? (For example, a body in a Body Bag.) # Does a Possessing being get the skills of an animal they possess? # What happens to a celestial when their vessel is possessed? # Is there any Disturbance when a Kyriotate/Shedite possess a host? # Does a Kyriotate or Shedim have to abandon a host to possess a new one? # What happens to the Discords of the possessor when they are in a host? o Remnants # Why doesn't someone fix all those Remnants? # Do remnants keep their Rites, attunements and resonances? # If a Demon Prince grafts a celestial force onto a angel remnant, is the resulting celestial a demon? o Resistance # Can I spend Essence when resisting with Will? o Resources # Can a resource that is 'lost' during roleplaying (e.g. a vessel dies) be gotten back for free? o Rites # Some Rites seem rather deadly to the performer. For example, how can angels of Jean perform the 'two hours plugged into the mains' ritual? How come Belial's servants have to already be immune to fire to perform his 250-degree ritual? o Roles # How do humans buy Roles? The rules on p. 72 seem to be wrong. # Can a Celestial in an animal vessel have a Role? # How do the undead buy Status? # What is the limit on Status? # How do Falling and Redemption affect Roles? o Skills # What's the maximum level for skills? # Should Large Weapons have specialties like Ranged Weapons and Small Weapons do? # When can I combine Acrobatics skill with Dodge? o Saints # When do Saints regenerate Essence? If a Celestial smacks one, is there a Disturbance? # Can a Shedite possess a Saint? # What happens to a Saint that succumbs to his Fate while on Earth? o Soldiers # Who do soldiers serve? And what powers do they gain thereby? Two different parts of the text (p. 32 and p. 190) seem to have conflicting ideas about this. # Does a soldier using a Song cause a Disturbance? # In some supplements, there are Soldiers that have less than 2 corporeal forces. Doesn't this break the rules? o Songs # Does Essence spent to improve the chances of a Song to succeed also improve other aspects of a Song? For example, Song of Charm's range is determined by the amount of Essence spent and it specifically mentions that "...like all skill rolls, each point of Essence spent (beyond the first) also adds +1 to succeed". # It says that the Singing skill helps with some Ethereal Songs. Which ones? # Is magic (magick/magik) just another name for Songs? # If a Song is known at level 5 or 6, can the character do the Song and still have time for other actions? # Can a Superior give a Song to a human? # Can a Song's effects reach across planes? # Is a person 'Stunned' as per the game mechanic (p. 62) when under the Song of Charm? # Is there any way to resist Song of Charm? # Why are higher levels of this Song less accurate than lower levels? # Can the Corporeal Song of Healing be used for any Corporeal object? # Numious Corpus: Is this one Song or many? Do I have to buy them all? # Does knowing more than one of these Songs give you a Check Digit bonus on the other Songs? # Numious Corpus: What is the degree of Disturbance for this Song? # If you switch vessels, can you still make the enhancements appear and disappear within the duration of the Song? # What is your speed when you use Numious Corpus:Wings? The speed on p. 82 seems very slow. # If you have a Kyriotate with Numious Corpus (Claws, for example) on, does it apply to one host or all of them? # With Numious Corpus:Acid, does the damage when you are in Celestial form affect beings not in Celestial form? # What happens when a Kyriotate or Shedite use Song of Possession on someone? # Does the Song of Shields work both ways? For example, can the protected person attack through it? o Sorcery # With Sorcery, you can only summon a spirit/demonling/demon with a vessel. So does the summoned critter have to own its own vessel, or can the Sorceror create the vessel for it? o Superiors # What are the rules for switching superiors? # What happens to the servitors of dead AA/DPs? o Tethers # What happens to a demon in Celestial form that is in a Divine tether? o Undead # How are Body Hits for undead calculated? o Vessels # What happens to a vessel when it's 'killed'? # Can you get a new vessel for free when an old one is killed? # Can you give a Limbo-formed vessel Charisma? # Can you improve the level of a vessel? o Word Bound # Can a Worded celestial grant Rites, attunements and distinctions? o Words # What kinds of Words are there? # Archangels and Princes seem to have much shorter names, is this because they are more powerful? # Do words get shorter (and more abstract) as the celestials influence increases? BACKGROUND o Are there more Angels or Demons? o If demons can't enter Heaven, but angels can go into Hell, why haven't all the angels gotten together and gone and kicked the demons' collective butts? o Good and Evil aren't really mentioned in the book, what is all the fuss about then? (i.e. Why are the Angels and Demons fighting?) o Do angels have free will? Do humans? o What is the true status of religions in the world? o What is In Nomine's stance on Original Sin? How about indulgences? o What are the Diabolical's ultimate goals? o Are there only Seraphim on the Seraphim council? o Are angels and demons the hidden masters of a helpless humanity? Is this another 'humans are helpless pawn of unknowable forces' game? ============================================================ General Questions _What is In Nomine? _ In Nomine is a game about the ultimate struggle: between the selfless and the selfish, between good and evil, between God and Lucifer. Ultimately, though, it comes down to angels and demons both trying their damnedest to sway humanity to their side. Annoyingly though, humanity and its precious free will keep spoiling plans of both the diabolical and the divine. In the game, you can play anything from a human just awakened to the Struggle, a Soldier who is a little more powerful and a _lot_ more in the line of fire, an undead creature or, as most do, an angel or demon. _Where can I get a copy? Isn't it still being worked on? _ Not at all! After a lengthy delay (no doubt the work of the Fallen Ones), it is out. The book was primarily delayed to make sure that it was the best possible book that could be produced. It went through _extensive_ playtesting and revision to try to keep the quality top-notch. _What is this In Nomine hardback I keep hearing about? _ The limited hardback version of IN NOMINE was shipped to distributors in mid to late March (1997). Suggested retail is $29.95. There are two versions: white pseudo-leather cover with angel cross, and black cover with demonic (inverted) cross -- both with red foil. Contents of both versions are identical to those of the softback. _Isn't In Nomine just a translation of the French game by Croc, In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas? _ More correctly, In Nomine (the SJG version) is an _adaptation_ of Croc's game. The basic concept is very similar, but if there were a true 'translation' of INS/MV into English, the differences would be obvious. There was a direct translation into German for those who are interested. _Will In Nomine follow the plotline of the original INS/MV? Will it add the same new Archangels and Demon Princes? Maybe sometimes. Certainly not all the time. Don't assume that anything in INS/MV has to carry over into In Nomine. It really is a different world. Will there be supplements? Seven supplements are planned for the year after In Nomine's initial release, several of which are already out. There is a LOT of material waiting to be published, fear not! Even with just the original book, though, you can run many, many adventures in a very complex, highly detailed world. Some of you know it as earth... ;) (Nearly any Bible can make an excellent source of adventuring ideas!) For the latest information, check out the main In Nomine webpage. What is the name of that cool headline typeface? Is it public domain? Where did you get it? SKREETCH CAPS. It is not public domain and was created by the [T-26] type foundry in Chicago. SJG bought it through Precision Type Inc., of Commack, NY. As far as we know Precision Type doesn't have a webpage, but their phone number is 1-800-248-3668 if you want to order something from them. As of April 10, it costs $49 from them. Is there a GURPS conversion? Yup. Look for it at http://www.io.com/sjgames/in-nomine/gurps/ or you can FTP it from http://www.io.com/~ftp/sjgames/in-nomine/ or you can FTP from ftp.io.com in pub/sjgames/in-nomine/. Is there a mailing list? Indeed there is, and it's quite active! Send a message to in_nomine-l-request@lists.io.com with subscribe in the body of the message. There's this angel/demon mentioned in Blake/Milton/Dante/the Bible/this cool book about Angels I have. Why is he described differently in In Nomine? We've taken bits and pieces from a lot of different myths, traditions and literary sources in putting together the In Nomine lineup of Archangels and Demon Princes. In many cases, these sources disagree. So, ultimately, we've gone with what feels right to us and helps us tell better stories and make a better game. We don't claim to be consistent with any specific source, though we hope the general feel of what we've done is consistent with the tone of the overall culture of celestial beings, as we imperfect humans perceive them. Who's who in In Nomine right now? o The original author of INS/MV is Croc o The publisher is Steve Jackson Games o The designer/author of the SJG version is Derek Pearcy o The line editor and mailing list coordinator is Elizabeth McCoy (Archangel Beth) She also has some cool stuff on her webpage o The main netrep is John Karakash o The GURPS conversion is by S. John Ross o Questions about GURPS In Nomine are the bailiwick of Kromm o The errata coordinator is Michael Bowman o Emily Dresner is the Assistant Lackey (errrr... Maintainer) for the In Nomine webpages o Some notable mentions are: # Jason Newquist who has a delightful In Nomine rules page. He credits many people on that page... check it out! # Max Fresen, freelance floccinaucinilihilipilificator. ============================================================ Rules Questions Angels General What happens to angels in Hell? Since they can't disguise their celestial form, they are in deep, deep trouble (though to an inexperienced observer, Shedim and Kyriotates look similar). They will probably be taken down pretty quickly unless they can escape. There's no innate reason when an angel can't be in Hell, though. (i.e. they don't pick up dissonance simply by being there... likewise Hell won't injure them for just hanging around.) Cherubim Does a Cherub lose their attachements when killed or in trauma or do they continue to take dissonance? What about Cherubim of Wind since they can't move around while in Trauma? They don't de-attune while in Trauma and can continue to acquire dissonance but only for the destruction/death of the attuned. Once out of Trauma, they get hit with the dissonance all at once and are allowed to convert it to discord before making a single roll to see if they Fall. An angel of Wind in Heaven don't have to worry about their moving-around dissonance conditions. On a similar note, demons in trauma (such as servitors of Kobal or Malphas) don't have to worry about dissonance while in trauma. If a Cherub's attuned to an object, can they tell when it leaves the current plane? Returns? Is he still attuned? There is no automatic information gained unless the Cherub attempts to use their resonance. On a successful CD of 1-3, they know the attuned has gone to another plane, on a 4-6, they know what plane it has gone to. The attunement remains no matter where the object goes (unless it is completely destroyed). Elohim Can Elohim show emotion? What about the Emote skill? Yes. The dissonance comes when the Elohite allows the emotions to affect their judgment or actions. Showing emotions (or even faking emotions with Emote) is not Dissonant. Elohim of Yves don't need to make a Resonance roll, so what's the check digit? Just roll the check digit to get the result The choir Attunement for Elohim of Jean seems kinda useless. It only works for a few minutes! What gives? The computer granted can perform tasks and process things at unheard-of speeds (at least among humans...). It takes about a tenth the time for this computer to perform normal computer tasks. This does not help it speed up delays from other computers, though! (i.e. your web-surfing won't be much faster.) Mind you, it's still somewhat useful for the 'can connect to any computer' and 'unlimited storage' aspects! The computer keeps all the information it garners between invocations. The perfect secret store of data... only the Elohite can access it and any amount of it can be captured. Note that the computer doesn't have to 'boot up' or do any of that routine maintenance stuff. It always works perfectly and it's always ready. How often can Elohim use their resonance as long as they are successful? Once per round as long as they are successful. Unlike Seraph who resonate for the unalterable TRUTH, Elohim plumb the constantly changing emotionscape of a human psyche. GMs may feel this is abusive and limit it to the CD of the first roll, however. How much detail does the Elohim get when they get higher CDs on their resonance rolls? On a 3 or higher, the Elohite will get the motivating factor for the emotion. In general, this is a pretty vague description. "A boss", "his lover", "fear of failure" are about right. "Bill gates" is too specific! Is the Elohite of Lightning Choir Attunement resonance-based, or can other angels get this attunement? Other angels can get the attunement. Remember that Jean is an Elohite and might have higher standards than usual when giving this out! Grigori Are the Grigori Fallen? No. They were outcast as a choir and some individual members have Fallen. Malakim What skill is used by a Malakite of Eli when they improvise a weapon? Choose the closest weapon skill that applies and use that (GMs should be fairly lienient at this point). If the Malakite does not have a weapon skill close enough (for example, they have Small Weapon(sap) but their improvised weapon works more like a dagger), they can use the appropriate attribute at no default penalty. So I know Malakim don't usually get trauma when their vessels are destroyed, seeing as how they're so used to it....but what about brand-new Malakim? It doesn't say, specifically, in the book that the reason they are immune to trauma is because they suffered it so many times. It just says they are innured to death from having suffered it so often. So, the trauma avoidance is part of their resonance, even for new Malakim. Mercurians Is self-defense against a human dissonant? For Mercurians, yes. Ofanim Does the Ofanim resonance apply to Driving? How about other Agility skills like Throwing? The resonance mentions 'any roll against Agility itself or an associated skill'. It should specifically include Driving and specifically disallow Agility skills like Throwing. The skill has to involve the Ofanim moving himself around. Climbing, yes. Driving, yes. Throwing, no. Does an Ofanite gain dissonance if they are held against their will? No; only if they are free to act and choose not to. Seraphim Can a Seraph of Yves tell that a 'person' is a demon by using their servitor attunement? How about the Word of a Word-bound Celestial? Their choir/band? The name comes free (no roll needed), but let the player roll to see if they get additional information. Can a Seraph of Flowers ignore their own peace aura? I'd say it would be Dissonant for such an angel to even try to commit a violent action. Remember that the Resonance springs out of the Celestial's essential nature and that of their Superior. So, to answer your question, they can't ignore the field, it's a part of them. The Seraphim description seems to indicate that they don't need a roll at all to detect falsehood. Is this right? Not quite, that section was just misworded slightly. Roll against Perception for the Resonance. Obvious lies (GM's discretion) will probably make them uncomfortable, though. Exactly how does a Seraph's truth resonance work? The resonance continues for 10-CD minutes on any particular person the Seraph is talking to... not for anything heard in this time period. Can a Seraph tell a story/fable or use sarcasm? Yes, as long as they make it obviously clear that that is their intention. Most forms of sarcasm are so close to lying that most Seraphim avoid them anyways. In Heaven, the obviousness of these types of speech are automatic. Kyriotates Kyriotates of Jean can inhabit objects, how many Forces does a non-living object have? One Force per object. Can Kyriotates of Jean inhabit any object? Any non-living, made thing within reason. In other words, they can't possess a live tree, and probably not a fallen one -- but they could possess one that someone had carved into a bench. There is no difference between an item made by a human and one made by an ethereal/celestial. 'Within reason' depends on the GM, but an entire building or a battleship would probably be out of the question. Treat each 'system' on large things as one object (so a tank might have a movement system, a weapons system, a communication system, etc). Each one would require a separate roll and one force. (Some GM's might allow multiple systems to be inhabited with a single roll at a penalty of -1 per extra system.) Does the object have any senses? Each object gets sight, hearing and touch for free, plus any special senses the object might have (e.g. a radio can 'hear' radio waves). Can the object speak? Depends on the object, much like when a Kyriotate inhabits a living vessel. A rock won't have much chance of communicating, a lawn mower could rev its engine suggestively, but a radio or a TV could speak with no problems. Can the object move? Also depends on the object. Anything designed to bend or move will be able to do so. So a door could open and close, a car could drive around, a ball could roll, a puppet could walk around. But, for example, a candlestick couldn't move around on its own since it is inflexible. Also a hammer could not lift itself to hammer a nail (or whatever). Certain Songs can give movement abilities, however. For example, Numious Corpus: Wings and that toaster vessel . . . Does possessing the object require a Will roll? Yes. Normally Attunements don't require a roll, but this particular one is an extension of Kyriotate's Resonance which does require one. Can you continuously inhabit the same object? Yes, but remember that if a roll is failed, the possessor is ejected and cannot repossess that object until the proper time has passed. Also intervention will eventually catch up with any Kyriotate foolish enough to try this for an extended period of time! Does damage to the object 'vessel' cause Disturbance if the Kyriotate of Jean deliberately damages it? Dissonance? Yes to the Disturbance, no to the dissonance. When you harm a vessel, it sets up unpleasant discords between the Kyriotate's soul, the vessel, and the owner's soul. This wouldn't occur with non-living vessels. What is the true definition of 'abandoning a vessel' as in the descriptions for Kyriotates of Michael and Laurence. For Michael and Laurence it means that some of their forces are 'tied up' and can't be used for possessing other vessels. For example if a Kyriotate of Michael has a human vessel that takes up five of their forces, leaving four free for possessing other hosts. Note that these servants of Michael do not have to generate a human vessel or even use this Attunement at all. Once the vessel is generated, however, the Forces cannot be used for possessing any other vessel until the 'non-abandonable' vessel is destroyed. All human vessels are considered to 'tie up' five Forces for the Kyriotate. (Smaller vessels will 'tie up' fewer forces, ask the GM how many.) Except for these special rules, the vessels are treated like vessels for any other Celestial. They vanish into potentiality when the Kyriotate takes Celestial form (though the Forces for that vessel are still unusable) unless the Kyrio is making a seperate celestial form using the rules on p.103. What happens to a Kyriotate's other vessels when one is stunned? The Forces tied up in the stunned vessel are unavailable but the rest of the Kyriotate is free to act. How many actions does a Kyriotate in multiple vessels get? Can they possess more than one being in the same round? Each vessel of a Kyriotate gets a single action per round as given on the Combat Summary box (IN p.68). This includes possession (step 1). So if a Kyriotate currently had possession of two bodies at the beginning of a round, they could take over two different bodies that round (though no other actions except moving by the combat rules... the newly possessed bodies do not get actions til the next round). Can Kyriotates have Roles? Yes, but it's more difficult. Assuming that the Kyriotate doesn't have a 'regular' vessel by some method, they usually have to pick Roles that don't require face-to-face interaction. A Recluse or a Hacker are good Roles for this! Another way is to have a Servant and buy a Role for use in that body. Does a Kyriotate of Yves have access to the Host's Songs? The Attunement doesn't mention Songs, so no. How much information does a Kyriotate of Yves have _after_ leaving a host? They lose all skills and knowledge immediately upon leaving. The memory of what they did stays with them. So if they used their host's memories to call a phone number (or even just think of it), they have a chance to remember the number, otherwise, they are out of luck. How much maintenance does a host of a Kyriotate need? Other than breathing, none. The spirit of the Kyriotate sustains the body like other angel's do for their vessels. Can Kyriotates, other than Servitors of Jordi, take non-insect 'bugs' as vessels (spiders, etc)? Insects, 'bugs', arachnids, etc are all going to be lumped in the same category, so they are only available to Kyriotates of Jordi. How far apart can the hosts of a Kyriotate travel? Any distance. Really. And while I'm on the subject the angel will regenerate Essence about once every 24 hours no matter where the sun is. GM's call on this one, but I usually pick where the greatest number of the Kyriotate's force are. he Essence regeneration occurs at certain times of day for symbolic reasons, not physical ones. Can a Kyriotate possess a celestial? Yes (as long as they have enough forces). So if a 7 force celestial was in a cat vessel, the Kyriotate would need 7 forces free to take over. Can a Kyriotate leave a host before the check digit expires without a Will roll? Does this cause any Disturbance? Yes. This will cause no disturbance unless it is the _last_ host the Kyriotate is leaving and they have to assume celestial form. How many forces does a Kyriotate of David use for his stone vessel? Five for a human-sized stone vessel. At the GM's discretion, this cost can vary depending on the size of the vessel. When the vessel is not currently in use, the Kyriotate is free to use the forces elsewhere. How do you calculate a Kyriotate of Flowers' Body Hits, lifting strength, etc when in a plant host? Use the Kyriotate's Strength for calculating skill levels, Body Hits, etc. Use the approximate size of the plant for the 'strength' in lifting and grabbing. Grasses will have a zero, waist-high shrubs will have a 1 or 2, trees with an inch-thick trunk will have 3-4 and scale up from there. Large trees are likely to have a very high vessel level for calculating Body hits. Does leaving a vessel cause any Disturbance? No, unless it was the last host and the Kyriotate was forced to go to celestial form on earth. How does a Kyriotate/Shedim show up on earth since they don't have vessels? Some have vessels (Servitors of David and Laurence, for example). Those who aren't that lucky arrive in Celestial form unless they have some method of viewing the earth so they can use their Resonance at a distance. Where is the 'rest' of a Kyriotate that isn't controlling his full number of Forces in hosts? There is no 'rest' of him, that is merely the potential to control more vessels. What happens to a Kyriotate of Jean in an object if the object is destroyed? The kyriotate is ejected and cannot take over another object for a number of minutes equal to their original CD. (Optionally, GMs who are finding that Kyriotates of Jean are become a big problem might want to impose Mind Hits as well...) If a Kyriotate goes celestial without giving up all its hosts, does it cost 2 Essence? Yes. There is no Essence cost if they are forced to assume celestial form, however. Is a Will roll required to assume celestial form when a Kyriotate gives up its last vessel? Nope. Is there any difference between skills and abilities? (Specifically for the attunements for Kyrios of Yves and Zadkiel.) No. Also, the 'skill' of a Role goes along with the vessel, as well. Normally you don't roll against this freebie skill, so GMs are urged to fudge it, if necessary. Since a Kyrio of Eli can use Celestial Song of Form for free, does this mean they can make their host the size of Blue Whale or a dinosaur? Ack, no! They can use the Song as if they were full up of Essence (9 for a starting character), they just don't actually have to spend the Essence. If the Kyrio chooses to, they can actually spend some Essence to go beyond those limits. (So if a 10 Force Kyrio of Eli spends 5 Essence on Celestial Song of Form, it's as if they had performed the Song and gotten 15 Essence worth of changes.) Exactly what kind of vessel does a Kyriotate of Laurence receive? The body is a Vessel/1, but may be improved normally with points. The Status of the former occupant of the body is kept. The Role is free (and equal to the Ethereal Forces of the Kyriotate), but if Status would be greater than the Role, the GM may require the Role to be increased with points normally. If a Kyrio of Yves is possessing two different bodies, can they use the skills from one with the other? Yes. They can use all skills between appropriate bodies. The 'appropriate' means no kung-fu rabbits or turtles gaining a bloodhound's keen tracking ability. Archangels Blandine Beleth's and Blandine's Servitors may not take celestial form while on earth. How do they every ascend w/o incurring dissonance (since they must first attain celestial form before ascending)? They must use dreamsurfing and ethereal Tethers as pathways to the celestial realms to avoid dissonance. Kyriotates can find the dreamscape of a person in the Marches and ride that connection down to their body (if they make their roll, of course). At GM's discretion, celestials can go celestial in Tethers (or perhaps only in one of Blandine's Tethers) without receiving dissonance. Remember that Kyrios don't have to go celestial between hosts (Kyriotates have to be close and Shedim can 'slither' between hosts-- see the APG and IPG for details). Dominic Can you explain Heavenly Judgement in more detail? The sword will attack any being that has a soul that can be judged (including celestials). Armor (and dodging) will affect the damage done. The attack will affect both corporeal _and_ celestial forms and do the appropriate damage in either form. If the being switches forms, the sword will continue to attack for the appropriate damage type. Escape to another plane of existance will negate the attack (there's a certain amount of GM-moderated lag time here... so just popping up to the etheral and back again the next round won't work). The sword will pass harmlessly through any barrier to attack the judged being (this does not include armor... there has to be _room_ for the sword to materialize and swing!) Gabriel The servitor attunement Smite says it has a +1 to accuracy. I thought Attunements didn't require a roll? They don't and Smite does, indeed, hit automatically, but it can be dodged. The servitor attunement Dance of Atoms is not very clear. What's the real story? 'Ambient' refers, in general, to the 'air temperature' of an area. You can only change it by up to the 10 degrees times CorpForces maximum. Things in the area heat up or cool down depending on the difference between their current temperature and the ambient temperature. (e.g. You have a pitcher of water in an area and the ambient temperature is raised 40 degrees. Eventually the water will heat up to the 'room temperature'. If the Attunment is released, the ambient temperature will revert immediately, but the heated up stuff in the area will still have to cool off.) If the angel stops concentrating, the ambient temperature reverts immediately. Even casual concentration is probably good enough as long as the angel doesn't get distracted (combat is a distraction!) too badly. Very hot or very cold ambient temperatures will eventually kill someone... just very slowly! Do Servitors of Gabriel gain dissonance while in Heaven for not punishing their assigned class of sinners? Gabriel's servitors are required to punish anyone currently on their 'hit list'. After that one is done, they must punish the next one that they meet. Between those two times, they are free to do as they will. If someone is currently on the 'hit list', going up to Heaven will _not_ protect them from dissonance! Janus Do Servitors of Janus gain dissonance if they are held in one place against their will for more than three days? Yes, but not for every three days. They get hit once for the lack of movement. If, on the other hand, they voluntarily stay in place for multiple blocks of time, they can rack up dissonance multiple times. Does cycling between a few select sites every three days count for avoiding dissonance? Yes. Jordi Can a Celstial servant of Jordi use 'non-animalish' means of destruction while in animal form and still avoid Disturbance? Yup. Remember two things, though. Servants of Jordi are unlikely to use technological means to do anything. Perhaps a wolf might grab a flaming branch from a fire and deposit on top of a box of dynamite, but a chimp of Jordi would avoid grabbing an uzi and blasting away with it. Any player that stoops to such 'game-weaseling' should not be surprised if the GM decides to impose dissonance or other penalties based on the level of Jordi's displeasure. Artifacts Corporeal Artifacts How much does a Corporeal Artifact cost? Why should I buy it at higher then Level/1? The cost is 1 point per level and the only reason to get it at a higher level is to make it easier to find. If using the new rules in Liber Reliquarum, corporeal artifacts also produce less Disturbance depending on their level. Is the level of the artifact the chance it will 'turn up' at the right time? No. It means that your chance to find your Porsche in a crowded parking lot is easier, not that your Porsche will happen to be in any random parking lot you are in. Ethereal Artifacts: Talismans Who can use a talisman? Anyone. Why does a Talisman cost 2 points when the matching skill would only cost 1? One point per level is for the skill, and the other is for the attunement to the object. Keep in mind that Talismans can boost skill above 6 and provide an object with which to use certain skills! (Try to use your Large Weapons skill without a large weapon handy...) Celestial Artifacts: Relics and Reliquaries How much is the cost of a relic/reliquary? The rules were a bit scattered (between p. 42 and p. 71), but here they are. o A Relic costs 3 character points per level o A Reliquary costs 3 character points per level o A Celestial Artifact that is both but the Essence can only be used for Song in the Relic costs 5 character points per level. o A celestial artifact that is both but the Essence can be used for other purposes costs 6 character points per level. Can soldiers use relics/reliquaries? Soldiers can use Corporeal Songs in a relic, any normal reliquaries, and reliquaries that power a relic for the use of Corporeal Songs. If a Soldier has the capability of using Ethereal Songs (such as Dream Soldiers) they can also use the Ethereal Songs in a relic. What's the difference between Holy/Unholy Bullets? The only difference is the type of Pistol that is required to shoot them. So a Holy Bullet will do as much damage to an Angel as a Demon! Can a Un/Holy Pistol be a .44 or other weapon? Yes. One thing to keep in mind, though, is the damage from the bullet comes from the mystical nature of the weapon, not from the increased size/weight of the bullet or from better gunpowder so it would do exactly the same amount of damage as the ones listed in the book. The reason a .44 bullet does more damage is for purely mundane reasons (more gunpowder, more damaging material). An Un/holy bullet is constructed from materials for mystic potency not improved impact ratios! You would still get the large Power when using regular bullets, however. An M-16 Holy 'Pistol' would still only be able to fire one Holy bullet during a round! No autofire here! On the other hand, the Accuracy is determined by the shape/fineness of the weapon. On another note, the damage listed for Un/Holy Bullets is wrong. The correct value is given under Un/Holy Pistol (Power=check digit times level). What are the effects of Holy/Unholy water? Water used at your local church (or black coven) has no effect on Celestials of either stripe. On the other hand, certain Relics/Reliquaries have the ability to make more potent brews. For example, a particularly nice combination might make Holy water that has the same properties as the Holy Bullets on p. 71. When you use a Relic, you automatically use all the Essence in the Relic. Does all that Essence have to go towards 'powering' the Song (increasing its effect), or can it be used to increase the Target Number as well? The Essence is only usable for powering the Song. Any excess is lost. Attunements Can you buy an Attunement from a Superior other than your own? Here's the lowdown on Attunements. Keep in mind that an Attunement can only be granted by a Superior and you need their assistance. Just because you have the points doesn't mean they have to give it! o Every celestial character gets a free attunement upon character creation depending on their band/choir and Superior. o Additional band/choir attunments can be bought from that Superior (unless they require a specific resonance) for 5 points each at character creation or afterwards with the Superior's permission. o Servitor attunements can be bought from that Superior at 10 points apiece at character creation or afterwards. o Servitor attunements of other Superiors are not available at character creation. Afterwards it is possible, but either the original Superior's permission must be gotten or it must be done in secret. There are severe reprecussions if your original Superior finds out! In addition, most Superiors are reluctant to give out Attunements to the servants of another Superior. Standard costs apply, but the GM may choose to boost the amount of effort (i.e. roleplaying) required. o Note that the GM (in the guise of any particular Superior) may choose to change or ignore any of these guidelines. Superiors can grant their Attunements to anybody they want to... they usually don't, however. So if the GM pulls out a Soldier with some bizarre attunement, don't assume that the rules have been broken, they haven't. It's just that some Superior, somewhere, decided that this was a good idea. What about Sabrina, from p. 197? Lilim are a special case in that they can end up serving several Superiors over time. Talk to the GM. What happens to your Attunements and Distinctions if your Superior dies or Falls/Redeems? You keep your Attunements and Distinctions unless 'higher powers' (either your Superior, the Seraphim Council, Lucifer, etc) decide to take them away. In the case of Falling/Redemption, it's very likely that they will be stripped because of possible tainting by the 'other side'. The gifts of missing Superiors (like the Archangel of Purity) also are kept. Does time pass for a 'swiped' object (servitor Attunement of Valefor and Janus)? Nope. The clock is stopped until the object returns. Celestials What gender are Angels (or Fallen Angels for that matter)? Celestials don't have an innate gender. They do take on a physical gender while using a vessel, but the essential nature of an Angel or Demon is Celestial. Everything else is just window dressing. Can anyone recognize a Celestial in a vessel? Even with a Perception roll? No. Celestials have to 'tip their hand' by disturbing the Symphony or exercising powers; but then again, Soldiers do that, too, when they disturb the Symphony... so, in other words, not by sight or Perception. How can you tell an angel from a demon? In Celestial form it's easy and obvious. In a corporeal vessel it gets much trickier. In general you can't but there are various ways scattered throughout the book. Elizabeth McCoy has assembled a list of possible methods for doing just that. Do Celestials ever get tired? Feel extremes of temperature? Get sick? Nope. (I'm sure a certain unstoppable rabbit-vessel is a demon in disguise, for example.) As a rule-of-thumb, Celestials are unaffected by temperature down to freezing and up to 100F or thereabouts. Beyond that range they have reduced sensitivity when compared to humans. Celestials are unaffected by Corporeal diseases (but can contract certain diseases designed just for them). This also means that Celestials cannot be 'carriers' in the classic sense of the word, but if one were doused in a bubonic plague culture, someone could be infected from the germs on the outside of the Celestial's skin or clothing. They are, however, affected by drugs but typically have higher stats and withstand the effects better. Can the Celestial Tongue be spoken while in corporeal form? How about the Helltongue? The celestial tongue cannot be spoken in a corporeal body except by Vassals of War (and possibly as a specific gift from other Superiors). 'Humming' (In Nomine, p. 77 under Singing) is possible, though. The Helltongue can be spoken on earth, however, since it has been corrupted for the pure celestial language. Angels, in general, do not know the Helltongue but even those that do can take dissonance for using it! Demons can understand the celestial language but are loathe to use it, themselves. Celestial Forms Can someone disguise while in their Celestial form? (e.g. looking like a Lilim when you are a Balseraph?) or change your shape temporarily or permanently? In Heaven, no. In Hell, perhaps . . . this will be addressed in HEAVEN AND HELL. Exactly how do the rules for perceiving Celestials in the Celestial Form work? The relevant rules (p. 54) require a bit of clarification. A Celestial in Celestial Form can speak to anyone that sees/perceives them. The Song of Tongues (Ethereal and Celestial versions only) 'forces' someone who hasn't seen/perceived the Celestial to hear them. This, in turn, gives the person a new chance to see/perceive the Celestial. Character Creation Can a starting character convert character points to characteristic points or Forces? If they buy a Force, does this mean their total character points go up? Officially, the purchase of characteristics and Forces is not a part of character creation. As always, GMs can make their own ruling on that. And, no, you don't get more points when you raise your Forces! Do the three levels of Discord that Outcasts and Renegades start with give extra character points? They do get the points. This is a change from a previous FAQ! Characteristics Some of the characters in the supplements have characteristics above 12. Is this legal? Nope. (Note that this IS a change from before). Twelve is that max for celestials and 10 for humans. Combat and Damage Hey! Strength gives almost no bonus to damage, but directly increases the chance to hit! What gives? Strength is used for dukin' it out and for large weapons. In the latter case, it's pretty obvious why this statistic was chose. As for the former, in the long run we are talking about a game that is much more superheroic than realistic. In a world like that, it matters little if the strong guy hits a few times with a lot of damage and the quick weak guy hits lots of times with almost no damage, the end result is the same: The strong guy does more damage. It's possible that a new skill (Judo perhaps) based on agility will be included for those martial artist types. Those angels are using guns! They certainly are. While Celestials have access to powerful Songs, when they are fighting on the Corporeal plane (i.e. Earth), it makes less Disturbance and is frequently more effective to eliminate their opponent's vessel using Corporeal means. They'd probably use hand-grenades and rocket-launchers more often if it didn't generate so much noise (in several senses of the word). It seems that even an 'average' human can take a lot of hits. The rules for calculating a mortal's hits has been changed. The new formula is [Corporeal Forces + Toughness] times Strength. Toughness is a new attribute (only purchaseable by mortals) that costs four points per level up to two levels. (Night Music, p. 31) Because a human no longer has a 'level' for determining when they die (In Nomine, p. 62), treat their level as one for that formula (i.e. a human dies when they take enough Body Hits to bring them to negative Strength). Toughness adds to this 'death point' so a human with 5 Strength and 2 Toughness needs to lose all their Body Hits, plus 7 more in order to die. What if someone switches vessels in the same combat round that they get hit? All things are simultaneous in a round in basic combat. So, both happen, the celestial gets hit and switches vessel (in other words, the original vessel is the one damaged). Whenever that celestial switches back, that celestial will find their vessel in the condition as if the hit took place. This might mean that the vessel is unconscious or even dead. In advanced combat, follow the order given on p. 68 or on the GM's screen. In this case, switching vessels is a supernatural power which happens before getting hit. Remember that each vessel has their own supply of Body hits, making an alternate vessel much more attractive a choice! Does physical damage cause pain/shock effects? Yes. Stunning (p. 62) occurs when you take hits of more than 25% of your Body in one round." Can you use Essence to assist with Will rolls while stunned? Yes. Resisting something with Will is not an 'action', per se and the use of Essence is near instinctive. If an attack has a modified Power of less than zero, what is the final damage? Zero (see p. 38). Is there any way for a human (or someone in Corporeal Form) to take Celestial damage? In general, any being with a Corporeal form (including humans) is immune to Celestial damage. There are specific cases where this is possible, though, and they are noted when it happens. What's the difference between the Fighting skill and the Corporeal Combat rules on p. 62? From the errata: Hand-to-hand combat is either [Strength + Corporeal Forces + Fighting] or [Strength + Corporeal Forces + Weapon skill]. What's the Power of hand-to-hand attacks in celestial combat? Zero. D666 Why is it that someone with a total skill of 10 and someone with a total skill of 4 have the same chance for a spectacular (6 on the check digit) result? Actually, they don't. The person with a 10 is much more likely to succeed, then get the six on the check digit, while the person with the 4 skill has a hard time succeeding at all! So in this example the first person has a 11 chances out of 72 to get the spectacular result while his unskilled counterpart only has a 2 in 72 chance for the same result. Do I have to use the check digit? What about situations where the check digit wouldn't apply? Except where the rules specifically mention it (and not even then for you gung-ho GMs), the check digit need never be consulted. In most other cases it can just be used for color at the whim of the GM. Also remember that a '6' success for an olympic athlete might be different than that of a couch potato! (Until we get to the channel surfing event...) 'Color' judgments should take the performer's skill into account. Ummmm... isn't '666' supposed to be a satanic number of some sort? Yes and no. It was mentioned in the revelation according to Saint John the Divine as the Number of the Beast. If anything, it was a warning as a way to recognize 'the Beast', whomever or whatever it might be. But for this game, it's just a fun way of representing a different dice convention. We couldn't just call it 3d6, and 2d6/d6 doesn't quite the same ring to it. Do I roll if I have an automatic success? Yes. This determines the check digit and the possibility of intervention. Demons General Where are those popular demons of legend, the Incubi and Succubi? You can make servants of Andrealphus or Beleth serve this role (or some of the Lilim, of course). At the moment, there are no plans for these to appear in the game as distinct Bands. What's the minimum number of Forces to be a demon? Seven. Balseraphs What happens exactly with the Balseraph of Kronos' Attunement? The Balseraph is bound by everything in the Resonance/Dissonance sections of the Choir description plus any relevant text in the Mechanics section. For example, Bob the Balseraph can emulate a Kyriotate. So Bob is bound by all the restrictions of a Kyriotate (harming the host, etc). Note that since the Manner and Appearance is not included in the Balseraph of Kronos' Attunement, the 'stunning' affect of Kyriotates in Celestial Form is not available. One note is that with the Kyriotate Resonance, they can still buy vessels normally, but can only use 'em when not possessing someone (IPG, p.29). Is the Djinn Resonance close enough to let a Balseraph of Fate take the Djinn of Fate Attunement? No. While the Cherubic and Djinn Resonances are very similar, they are not identical. Kronos has an attunement for Djinn, not for Cherubs. Can any Servitor of Fate take the Balseraph of Fate Attunement? Nope. The Balseraph of Fate Attunement is not available to any other band. The description only says 'at character creation'; that means that at the moment the Balseraph chooses to serve Kronos, the attunement takes affect. Only a Balseraph's ability to 'lie' to the Symphony allows it to emulate an angel's Attunement! They can't take this Attunement again, either. Can a Balseraph using the Humanity attunement fool a Malakite with a 6 on their resonance roll CD? What if someone examined them with Aura Glasses? How about all the other tricky methods of detecting Celestials? Yes. The Malakite's resonance is fuzzed enough that he can only sense this is a very selfish being. As to the other options, it's a GM's fiat... this attunement is powerful and _subtle_. Calabim What does it look like to observers when one of the Calabim uses his resonance on an object? It depends on who the fallen angel is working for. The resonance of Belial's demons burns its targets, or appears to -- neither flame nor heat is actually created, that's just the closest that the Symphony can come to representing the effect. Saminga's Calabim cause materials to rust, rot, shrink away into nothingness. Some other suggestions have been posted on Joel Cardella's page. When the Calabim attempt to use their entropy Resonance to cause damage to someone and that person resists successfully, they get a chance to lash out at some other target until they succesfully cause damage to avoid dissonance. Does this happen in the same combat round or would each lashing out be a separate attack on subsequent rounds? Seperate attacks, subsequent rounds. The idea is, you can either take the dissonance or waste your time blowing up your surroundings while other people get to take shots at you. If they stop, voluntarily or not, they eat the dissonance. They can still do whatever else is allowed in a combat round (such as dodging, but not ACTIVE dodging) as long as it doesn't interfere with their use of the resonance. In extremis the Calabite can always target themselves and choose to fail the resistance roll. What are the restrictions on this 'lashing out'? Each round thereafter, the calabite must attempt to damage something around him until successful or he stops (voluntarily or involuntarily). If he stops, he gets dissonance. Note that the calabite can always target himself and voluntarily choose to fail the resistance roll. Anything that doesn't preclude the use of the resonance (such as dodging, but not full dodge attempts) is allowed. If another being resists when the calabite is attempting to avoid dissonance, the demon still only has to succeed once. If the initial resonance attempt had a penalty (IPG, p.39 Subtle Use), the calabite is not required to keep that penalty to avoid dissonance. Does a Calabim get points for their starting Discord? Yes. This is a change from a previous FAQ! If a calabite of Factions fails in their choir attunement, do they have to try to destroy a different relationship to avoid dissonance? No. They can attack to destroy the relationship of someone else in the vicinity or they can lash out physically. What counts as a 'single object' for the Calabim resonance? Single objects: Any creature, a small collection of objects that are touching (a bag of marbles), a door, the wheel of a car (plus probably a part of the steering column). Size is important here! Calabim have a general field of entropy that can be focused to do specific damage, but even then they can't get it precisely narrowed down. Generally the range is between a foot in diameter up to about the size of a human body. For a much larger creature (a giraffe, fer instance), the GM can rule that it was just the legs that took the damage. They have a hard time with big things since they can't focus their field enough to do the damage. The problem with small things is that--as creatures of chaos and entropy-- Calabim aren't very good at focusing and constraints. They can do it, but it takes an act of will to bring it about. For an appropriate penalty on the Resonance roll, I would allow the Calabim to do more detailed or trickier damage. To injure just part of something, use the Subtle Use (IPG p.29) chart. Spend a full round concentrating, and take a -4 on the resonance roll. This would let you get just ONE of the marbles, just the handle of the door (rather than a hole you can stick your head through), or someone's elbow (rather than general-body damage). This is how a Calabite would be 'artistic' as well! Cutting things with their Resonance, blasting their name into the side of buildings, carving a big swastika or pentagram on some jerk that gets in their way, etc. Djinn Can you explain the Djinn dissonance rules? Yes. Oh, you want an answer! Ahem. The Djinn cannot directly harm the object of his attunement. If said object asks the Djinn to do something, the object might be injured or killed as a result of carrying out that request. The request does not force the Djinn to do anything, though! So if Bob (the attuned object) is on a bus, Gralmur the Djinn cannot blow up the bus. But if Bob asks Gralmur to kill Betty, the Djinn is free to maneuver Betty onto a bus that just happens to have a bomb (and Bob) on it! Does a Djinn of Kronos know automatically if they have 'displaced' a Cherub's Attunment? With a successful Perception roll, yes. Habblah How do the Habblah use their Resonance? They sense an emotion with a simple Perception roll and they do the 'active' part of their Resonance with a Will roll. They do not, however, get the 'predicative' abilities that Elohim get with their Resonance. Impudites How much of the Lilim of Haagenti Attunement can an Impudite of Haagenti get? All? None? The Geas is part of the Lilim Resonance so the Impudite would not get it. Otherwise, they get everything else. Can Krono's Impudite of Fate choir attunement be used on Celestials? It's the past -- so yes. Lilim The check digit determines the "level" of the desire that someone has, right? Nope. The level of difficulty that the victim would have in granting their own desire. The Lilim doesn't get a selection to choose from, just a desire of the appropriate level. The check digit also reduces the victims Will roll to resist the Lilim's Resonance. What is the plural of 'Geas'? Geases. How does a Lilim handle two people calling in favors at once? Heh. A very, very clever Lilim would try to work it out, somehow, that both are satisfied. More likely she will experience dissonance and possibly discord from the conflicting favors. Other avenues might include trying to re-negotiate the favor so they don't conflict or asking someone else to help resolve the situation (which might involve yet another favor being issued). How does someone collect a Geas from a Lilim? How does a Lilim collect her own Geases from those who owe her? The holder of the Geas must track down the person to redeem it. Either a Hook (a potential Geas) or a Geas itself is a connection between the Lilim and the victim, so you can use the Celestial Song of Affinity (Liber Reliquarum, p. 29 and in the upcoming Liber Canticorum). Does a really free Lilim (one with no outstanding Geases, and not bound to a Prince) get to continue using Lilith's Rites? Yup. Don't forget that if you get her Rites, you're subject to dissonance through her as well. Can you use just 'part' of a Geas? Yes. So if you have a Geas/4 on someone, you can redeem a Geas/1 from them and still have a Geas/3 left. Can a Lilim inflict a 'need' upon a person (for example with the Servitor Attunement, Dark Desire) and then offer to relieve it to get a geas? Yes. In fact, you can push someone off of a rooftop and offer to help them up to fullfil a 'need'. The level of the need can either be adjudicated by the GM or simply assigned by the check digit of the Lilim's resonance roll. Can Lilim 'trade' Geases away? Usually, no. Lilith, on the other hand, can both give away and accept geases. A Lilim can geas herself with a Geas/1 to get the same effect as a trade. (e.g. "Okay, I'll only use this Geas when you tell me to. And I'll even geas myself to seal the bargain.") What this means is the original Lilim still holds the geas, but she has promised not to use it except as the person requests. (Note: if you want to allow geas-trading in your campaign, that's always the GM's perogative.) What happens to a Geas if the holder dies? The holder of the Geas retains it unless their soul is utterly destroyed. What is the 'charm' referred to in the attunements for Lilim of War and Fate? Without going into the gory details, the 'charm' refered to in the descriptions is pretty close to the english definition... not a game mechanic! If, in the GM's opinion, the Lilim character has acted 'charming' enough to the victim, she should get the bonus. This probably also requires appropriate circumstances. If you are in combat or being tortured, it's easy to miss the wiles of even a Lilim! o Lilim of the War Any attempt to 'charm' someone (i.e. get them to like you, be attracted to you, etc) has a bonus equal to Corporeal Forces to the target number. Under the right circumstances this can be a bonus to a Seduction roll, the reaction roll or other appropriate skills. GM's discretion about how long this takes and whether the bonus is appropriate. o Lilim of Fate Any 'charmed' person (i.e. someone who has a favorable reaction toward the Lilim due to her efforts) is much easier to find a Need in. Add the Lilim's Celestial Forces to her Perception when looking for a Need. The amount of time required to charm the person depends on the GM (it should require a certain amount of effort and roleplaying!) Are Geases visible? What about geas-hooks? Geases are visible celestially like any other similar discord. Geas-hooks are only visible by Superiors... and then only if they are looking. The 'hooked' entity cannot feel them, either, though geases themselves are quite noticeable. This means that a Free Lilim will have 27 levels of very visible Discord on their celestial form. So, until that Lilim asks for a favor, it's mostly invisible, but after she asks (or the character promises an unspecified favor for the future), the Geas shows up and hangs around until the task has been completed. Do Geases on humans vanish when the human dies? Nope. As long as the soul exists, the Geas exists. It's possible that some force in the higher Heavens removes such things, but how to prove such a conjecture? Or, perhaps, Geases are simply ineffective on beings in the higher Heavens. Shedim Can a Shedite possess a celestial or an animal? Shedim can only possess humans (In Nomine, p. 151). Do Shedim have the same 'force-limit' that Kyrioatates do when they possess someone? Yes, Shedim cannot possess a being that has more forces than they do. When a Shedite of Saminga is possessing a corpse, does he have to 'corrupt' as per their dissonance? The corpse has no nature to corrupt, so the Shedite is not bound by the usual restriction. To get information on a missing soul is a bit trickier. Use the chart in the Angelic Player's Guide, p. 55 but you only get information up to the time of death. Are Shedim of Death limited to only corpses? No, they can still possess humans. If a Shedite inhabits someone for less than a full day without corrupting them, do they get dissonance? On any 24 hour period where a Shedite has possessed a host, they have to corrupt someone. So if a Shedite spend a few months in Hell, they don't get dissonance (no hosts, no need for corruption). They then pop up to Earth, inhabit someone for a few minutes. That's when the clock starts ticking. (As a non-canon GM's option, you can require them to corrupt every host they inhabit even for a moment. This works well for Shedim that are getting on the GMs nerves!) Demon Princes General The French and German games of INS/MV had Demon Princes for Cold, Ocean and Illness/Plagues. Will they be introduced in forthcoming supplements? The French game-world includes, by now, more than 100 Superiors. Not all will make it into our version. We will be introducing some new ones in supplements, and explaining why some of the others are no longer part of the Symphony . . . Some Demon Princes give 'gifts' for free that are normally bought with character points (Nybbas gives out servants, Lilim of Nybbas get free levels of Role and Status). How are these bought to higher levels? Pay the difference between the 'free' level and what the higher level would normally cost. Asmodeus If a demon of the Game has multiple band attunements, does that let them sense bands other than their own? Yes, and the dissonance they contain as well (on a successful Perception roll, of course). Remember that _each_ Band Attunement allows one to detect a different sort of demon. To perform Dissonance Binding, must the victim have dissonance? Yes. Can a demon avoid using Asmodeus' 2-Essence Basic Rite to avoid drawing his attention? Yes, they can choose only to regenerate one. Anyone trying to avoid the gaze of the Game needs all the help they can get! How do servitors of Asmodeus get back Essence when using the Humanity attunement? He cannot by using the 'standard' method of getting one (or two) at sundown. A common tactic is to allow the attunement to lapse at sundown, garner Essence, and then put it back up immediately. Beleth Beleth's and Blandine's Servitors may not take celestial form while on earth. How do they every ascend w/o incurring dissonance (since they must first attain celestial form before ascending)? They must use dreamsurfing and ethereal Tethers as pathways to the celestial realms to avoid dissonance. Lilith Because, techically, she's still human, wouldn't this mean that Lilith only makes disturbance like a soldier (rather than like a celestial)? Yup. The other time she's makes a noise different from a regular human is when she manifests from the ethereal or celestial planes. This does use the standard Superior Manifesting Disturbance. Vapula How much Essence does Impudites of Vapula, using the gadget he gives them, detect from one vessel of a Kyriotate? The entire amount the Kyriotate has (e.g. 9 for a starting character). Kronos Can a Balseraph of Kronos duplicate a Bright (i.e. Redeemed) Lilim's resonance? Even Kronos still hasn't figured out the trick behind the Lilim Resonance. Several Balseraphs have tried, I'm sure, but no one ever talks about what happened there. ;) [Simple canon answer: no, but certainly modifiable from campaign to campaign.] Can Fated Future be used on Celestials? This is a hazy area that we leave to the GMs judgement. In some campaign this (and Yves' Divine Destiny), work out that the Fate is to Fall/become a Demon Prince/etc. (or to Redeem, get a Word, etc.) Discord Can mortals have Discord? No. It is a purely celestial problem. Mortals can certainly suffer some of the ills which, in a celestial, are outward symptoms of Discord, and the character point effect is the same (Night Music, p. 33). But it is *not* really Discord. For instance: in a celestial, being Crippled is a sign of a stained soul, but in a mortal, it is a sign of a broken leg. Likewise, a human who has a mental problem is not touched by the Pit. (In Nomine, p. 63, states that Ethereal Discord can be gained in ethereal combat. If this happens to a human, he does indeed take the indicated form of mental trauma, but it is not really Discord.) What do angels detect if a bright Lilim has the Aura discord? Since the Lilim no longer belong to a 'Band', all the angel can detect is that she is a Lilim. If a celestial has the Bound discord, what happens if the vessel or object is destroyed/slain? Trouble, that's what happens. If the celestial is bound into a vessel, the traumatized soul hangs around the dead body for the entire time of the Trauma... vulnerable and insensate for that entire time. Afterwards, the picture is just as bleak in that the soul has to remain within a certain distance (6 yards minus the level of the Bound discord) from the body. The situation is much the same if bound into an artifact except that destruction of the item causes the celestial to go into trauma even if they are using another vessel at the time! The currently-used vessel vanishes and the soul is sucked over to the broken object. In either case, if another vessel is available, that one can be manifested near the destroyed vessel after the trauma ends. Several options follow (this can be expanded upon by creative GMs!) o Repair the broken item/vessel somehow and this will take you back to the status quo. (This is a rough one for vessels, but with help or certain artifacts/songs it could be managed.... good luck!) o Bind self to another vessel/item. The old one can be trashed at this point. Increase the level of the discord by at least one to take this option. If the being does not have another vessel to do this with, then binding into an object is the only other option here. If the Discord was already at 6, then a new level of some other discord (GM's option) is added on. Probably something suitable to the means used to destroy the old vessel/item. Dissonance Would a celestial gain dissonance from their vessel's actions while possessed? No. How do celestials who have to travel work off dissonance at Tethers? The best methods are moving Tethers and swapping back and forth between Tethers (for example going up to a celestial realm along the tether and back down another tether). Although the travel time between Tethers doesn't count as service, as long as it isn't TOO long the celestial can break up their service in order to get their full week in. Distinctions If an angel or demon has a level 2 Distinction, does he also get level 1? Does the same apply to level 3 for levels 2 and 1? Yes, but keep in mind that a being has to earn the lower-level Distinctions to get the higher ones, so the point is moot. The only use in not listing the lower-level ones is to save room on the character sheet. When do Distinctions take effect? Do they require a roll? The Distinctions work differently on a case-by-case basis. Unless specified, none require a roll. Any _active_ Distinction (e.g. Vassals of Fire's ability to raise or lower the temperature of a fire) require a round to perform. Passive ones (e.g. Vassals of Stone's ability to not be hurt by earth or stone) are automatic and continuous. Some that seem active are really passive (e.g. Masters of the Granite Hand get to multiply their check digit by the angel's Corporeal Forces. The _active_ part is making the attack. The Distinction is _passive_ and merely multiplies the amount of damage.) Disturbance Does switching to a Celestial Form cause the same degree of Disturbance in the Symphony as the act of moving between the Celestial and Corporeal Realms? Yes, but see the next question. Remember, that the Essence is paid (and the Disturbance created), only when a successful Will roll is made to change to a Celestial Form. (p. 55) Does the 2 Essence required to change into Celestial form add to the Disturbance? Yes. (pp. 54-55) So how much noise does swapping between Corporeal vessels make? Going from one Corporeal vessel to another costs one Essence, requires no roll, and makes the same amount of noise as going Celestial. Does a Celestial going to the Celestial Realm cause double the Disturbance (once for changing form, and again for leaving)? Yes, although entering doesn't cause double since one enters the Corporeal Realm directly into a vessel. As a general guideline, GMs should always make the Disturbance rules side with celestial powers being as noisy as possible. Celestial powers make celestials hot stuff on earth, but there is always risk involved -- being noticed. The 2 Essence is added since there are times when a celestial doesn't have to spend that Essence, e.g., transforming in a Tether (although, compared to the noise a Tether makes, who would notice?). Does killing a Soldier create Disturbance for a Celestial? Yup. Killing a soldier is the same as killing an average human. They belong there (which is why they themselves do not generate Disturbance when they damage things) so a Celestial will make quite a bit of noise if they kill one. Does damaging, but not killing, a human cause Disturbance? Damage to anything non-Celestial does disturbance. One point of Disturbance for every four points of damage. Does hurting a Possessed human/being cause Disturbance? Yes. They may be under control, but that's still a part of the Symphony being damaged. Does an attack by a celestial on an undead creature cause disturbance? Yes. Just like attacking any human or soldier, no matter how twisted they are. If a celestial kills a busload of nuns by sabotaging the brakes, but he's far away when the deaths finally occur, where and when is any Disturbance produced? Generally at the sight of the crash, but see (In Nomine, p. 55) "At the GM's discretion, the tracker may be led to the physical site of the disturbance, or the celestial who caused it, or to both in succession." How much noise is made when a celestial is killed and forced to return to their heart? None. Their Forces are blasted and don't leave the corporeal plane in any organized fashion (the fact that the vessel left behind may be a factor in masking any Disturbance). This is one reason that being killed is so Traumatic! Is there a Disturbance when you damage the host of a celestial? Yes. You are still damaging the body of something that belongs in the Symphony. If the host body belongs to a celestial, on the other hand, there would be no noise. How much noise does a Kyriotate make if they use 3 of their Forces to manifest their Celestial vessel on the Corporeal plane? The same as usual (i.e. Their total Forces). Is there a disturbance from a normal human's instinctive use of essence? Nope. The disturbance is only cause from conscious, deliberate use of Essence (e.g. powering a Song, improving a roll with conscious Essence control, etc.) Does a celestial eating a sandwich cause disturbance? How about exploding a grenade that damages nothing other than itself? In Nomine, p.55, "Everything that Celestials do on Earth creates foreign notes in the Symphony. Most are small and easily overlooked. But certain actions, if taken by a celestial, will create dramatic reverberations which can draw attention." So, basically, minor things are lost in the background noise of the Symphony. Things that are designed to be broken up (like a grenade) do not cause a disturbance when they blow as long as nothing else is damaged. Does a host cause disturbance if they are possessed by a celestial and cause damage? Yup. Because the possessor is celestial. Note, this even applies to Shedim who are 'convincing' their hosts who are still present. Do angels and demons cause disturbance when going to Heaven or Hell (like they do when arriving on Earth?) Not if they are going to their own realms. Angels in Hell and demons in Heaven will cause disturbance. Falling An angel can become a demon just by rolling badly?! Not at all. If you never generate dissonance, you cannot fall. Also angels have a 'safety net' of sorts. The first time they 'fall', they become outcasts and can try to regain their former divine status. It's the second time that takes them on that long plunge hellward. Also the odds are astoundingly skewed against falling as long as you have fewer than 5 points of dissonance. Three points or less can always be converted to Discord, staving off the reckoning for some time. When an Angel falls, I guess his/her celestial appearance changes, but what causes that change? Can it be somewhat controlled? Metaphysics. Angel are creatures whose nature is attuned to some part of the Symphony - their Choir, their Superior, their own Word. By rejecting that nature, their Resonances change... they strike a new chord. Their outward appearance reflects the Resonance of a Dark Angel. It says here that Malakim can't fall at all! Can this be right? Yup. Malakim don't Fall. However, they do gain dissonance everytime they act dishonorably, especially by breaking one of their oaths. If they succeed on their dissonance roll, they just get one more note of dissonance. If they fail a dissonance roll the first time, they become Outcast (and gain another note of dissonance). Yes, they can be Outcast. For each time an Outcast Malakite fails a dissonance roll, they gain another note of dissonance and a level of Discord. Forces If a character has no Forces, how are the characteristics determined? He has 4 times his Forces in the area, which is zero. So his total characteristics are zero in both stats. Hell of a life isn't it? In the case of Remnants, the only reason a stiff Celestial breeze won't just blow such a wretch away is that they are protected by their Corporeal vessel. Can non-humans have more than 6 forces in an area? Yes, but it's the province of Archangels, Demon Princes and very, very powerful Ethereal beings. The limit PCs is 6 per area and 18 total. Hearts Can a Heart be moved from Heaven to Hell? (e.g. You WANT to fall so you take your Heart from Heaven before Dominic's pals get it and you move it to Hell... I don't say it has to be easy... just want to know if it's possible or completely impossible). Hearts are something your Superior provides so that you have a celestial home. When you Fall/Repent your heart self-destructs since you have broken a metaphysical contact with your Superior, and your Superior no longer supports your heart. You can swipe (or be given) your heart from your Superior and put it anywhere you want, except for the Celestial Realm of the Other Side -- as long as your Superior supports it. Eli gave all his servants their hearts to do with as they please. Beleth and Blandine keep their servants' hearts in their respective towers. When the rules give restrictions about hearts not leaving the Celestial Realms, that's only because the Superior will stop supporting your heart if you go that far (as with the Archangels). BTW, If you swipe your heart, your Superior will be swiping the floor with your downy butt, plus you'll get a note of dissonance. Also, keep in mind, there is no advantage to having a heart on earth, except for becoming very hard to locate by your Superior (yes, with some Superiors, that's a blessing). Can you have more than one Heart? (e.g. Oooops Dominic got my Heart and kept it locked somewhere to track me and now my Demon Prince made me a new one?) If you can convince more than one Superior that your are their faithful Servitor, sure. Good luck. The Symphony will be happy to accept your disbanded Forces once one of your Superiors find out. Don't forget that a fallen angel's heart shatters... What is the process for creating a Heart? Can an Angel/Demon with his/her own Word create a Heart for him/herself? for another? Or is that the exlusive realm of ArchAngel & Demon Princes? The Latter. There are no rules, the GM makes the call since the mechanics of being a Superior are outside the scope of the PCs. Hearts can't leave the Celestial plane . . . where are the Hearts of Beleth/Blandine servitors? See above. The hearts of their servants were created in the Marches, and thus, never have the opportunity to leave the Celestial Realm. Obviously, B/B might stop supporting your heart if you try to remove it from their Towers. How about a Lilim's heart? Lilim serving a Superior would have a Superior-forged heart in some Principality of Hell. Lilim who are 'free' don't have a heart (grin). They could, if a Superior or Lilith were willing, trade a favor in order to have that Superior create and keep a heart for her. Creating hearts is a heavy Essence expense on the part of a Superior, and they don't do it lightly. This would be 6 levels of Geas for sure. And another 6 levels of Geas in payment to have the Superior 'liberate' her heart and let her put it where she wants. Where do heartless celestials go when their corporeal vessel is killed? They go into a realm known as Limbo. Limbo will be detailed in an upcoming supplement, but you can treat it as a nerve-rackingly boring place that a celestial being is trapped in until they can form a new vessel. Can heartless demons go to Earth? A heartless demon, having never been to Earth before, can only go there via a Tether (or if summoned by a sorcerer). If he doesn't have a vessel or other "anchor" to hold him there, he will soon take damage or get sucked back to Hell. Demonic Seneschals and Princes frown severely on such unauthorized jaunts. Are Barons of Belial immune to the heat generated by picking up the Hearts of other demons? It's not a real fire-like heat, but simply something that's feels like heat. It probably has something to do with the clashing symphonies of the demons involved. So they are most definitely _not_ immune! Humans Can a human become a celestial? Humans and other Corporeal beings are essentially different from celestial beings. A human can never become an angel or demon (or vice-versa). There are several mentions of humans 'becoming' demons in some rulebooks. These references are to the process where a human soul is stripped of Forces and then are grafted onto a demon (including some memories). To outward appearances, they may look the same, but the human is dead. How many Forces can a human have? Most typical humans have five forces. Less than this indicates someone who is very young, very old or deficient in some way. Very special people (including Soldiers by definition) can have more than this. The practical maximum is 15 forces (five in each area). Any more than this would put a human over the maximum characteristic limit (10). Can a human have over five forces without being a soldier? Yes, but it requires a very dedicated and motivated person who is actively striving for something more than the average, or for something outside of themselves. (For other ways, see Night Music p. 30) Just having six forces does not give the advantages of being a Soldier, however. It does make one prime recruitment material by either side! Does a human with zero celestial Forces have a soul? Yes, but this is a very rare situation. Normally, a human has one force in each area. Due to advanced age or other damage, a human might lose their last celestial force. Such misfortunates are usually very close to dying, but they still have their souls and will go to the appropriate place when they die. Note that some souls will disband upon the death of the entity or through celestial combat. A living human with zero celestial forces will resemble a remnant. Humans seem to have a lousy chance to do almost any skill (due to low characteristics). Is this right? Not exactly. Under most circumstances, for normal actions, the GM shouldn't require a die roll at all. If you are just driving down the street, you don't need a driving roll! It's when a character tries something different, unusually difficult, or in a stressful situation that the die rolls become necessary. Can humans have Words? Distinctions? Choir/Band Attunements? In general, no to all three. One caveat is that sometimes Superiors will do things that are outside the normal rules. So while a human will never have a Word, you might come across some with an 'illegal' attunement because some Superior thought it was a good idea. Can a normal human (i.e. a non-soldier) accept Essence from someone (either consciously or having it forced on them)? Nope. Invocations What does the check digit do when a character fails to invoke their superior? If you are at a Tether, that is the number of days it takes before your Superior responds to the message. Outside of a Tether, it's the number of days before you can try again. The Marches Do all humans end up in Blandine's or Beleth's realms when they sleep? Blandine and Beleth have the power to draw dreamers into their specific areas of the Marches. Some human dreamers do get to the Far Marches, either through power or talent, or just by accident sometimes. Can celestials who ascend to the Marches via sleeping communicate with those beings that are there 'physically'? Yes. Celestials who are 'dreaming' don't have a dreamscape, per se, nor do they dream in the way mortals do. They just are using an alternate method of getting their consciousness to the Marches. What do celestials look like in the Marches? They usually look like whatever their last form was (celestial form, last vessel, etc) as a default. With a successful Will roll, the celestial can make themselves look like anything. Talismans and relics keep their natural shape, however. You can't just be 'invisible', though; the Marches reacts to the presence of everything on the realm and an iconic image is assigned unless overruled. Outcasts Why can't Outcasts go celestial while Renegades can? This is an error. Outcasts can, in fact, take their celestial form. Possession What is the range for a Shedim/Kyriotate's Possession Resonance? How about for Song of Possession? Use the Resonance modifiers on p. 57 with the limitation that is common to most Demonic resonances (i.e. you can't use a recording of any sort, but live transmissions are alright). Note that Shedim cause disturbance when they go between hosts unless they are touching the new host with the old one (since they would otherwise have to go celestial). Does the 'rider' get the movement abilities of the vessel? What about special senses? Standard movement and abilities are included in the 'owner's manual' that comes with the vessel. The possessors' tie with the symphony provides this for free. Learned skills, like maybe that pigeon had been taught to do loop-de-loops when it wants birdseed, are unavailable. Senses are included with the vessel unless, for some reason, they depend on a learned skill. So, in a cat body, for example, the rider would get a bonus to sneak (due to the small size and padded paws) and a bonus to climb trees (claws), but a GM might rule that when walking across a narrow ledge, no roll was necessary since that was included as part of their 'natural movement' abilities. What is the Will of an 'empty' vessel? (For example, a body in a Body Bag.) The body has no Will and therefore doesn't get a roll to resist Possession. Does a Possessing being get the skills of an animal they possess? The 'skills' of an animal are mostly hardwired reflexes and the advantages of having a body well-suited to practicing them (claws on cats for climbing). Use normal skill rolls, but give a bonus based on body shape and size.... or a penalty! Elephants aren't very stealthy, for example, while mice are. What happens to a celestial when their vessel is possessed? The Celestial's mind is tossed into the Marches. If they have another vessel they can use, they can get back to earth with that one. A Kyriotate who has no other vessel assumes his Celestial form (p. 102). Shedim are evicted and must find a new host quickly (p. 152). When the duration of Possession is over, the mind of the Celestial is drawn back to their vessel as long as they are still in the Marches (or they can choose to let the vessel vanish). If they are elsewhere, the vessel vanishes. Is there any Disturbance when a Kyriotate/Shedite possess a host? No. Does a Kyriotate or Shedite have to abandon a host to possess a new one? The old host is relinquished when the new one is successfully taken over. What happens to the Discords of the possessor when they are in a host? Most discords show up immediately but the ones that have large physical changes (like most Corporeal discords) can take a certain amount of time. For example, with Damaged Sense or Cripple, the possessor would lose use of the sense or extremity immediately (thought it wouldn't actually cease to work permanently for the host). On the other hand it might take a day or two to 'bulk up' to the level Obese requires. (This is why some Kyriotates or Shedim might prefer a host that has the same limitations as they do... it's much less obvious when they are possessed.) Remnants Why doesn't someone fix all those Remnants? This is a very complex question with a variety of reasons. Depending on who you ask in Heaven or Hell, you will get a different answer. o Not worth the time and effort (this one is popular with demons). It takes an enormous amount of Essence and time to restore such a creature since the most elevated part of the Remnant, the Celestial, has been destroyed. Most of the time the such a creature might be looked upon as a failure, making the expenditure even less likely. o That angel/demon no longer exists. The being that used to exist has been destroyed. If you managed to give a Celestial Force to a Remnant, what you would have is a new creature that might have some twisted and fragmentary memories of a previous existance. It would not be the same Celestial, however. o They are 'lost'. With no heart and no Celestial Forces, it's very easy for a Remnant to just wander off with no way of finding them. As far as anyone knows, they are just dead. o The attempt simply fails. It happens. They are just broken beyond all repair. Do remnants keep their Rites, attunements and resonances? Yes to Rites and attunements (including anything they got for being Word-bound!) and no to resonances. Resonances are part of a celestials' innate nature... something that is blasted out of remnants. Rites and attunements, on the other hand, can be granted to anyone and so are retained. Few remnants have the coherent force of Will to make use of what they still have left, however. If a Demon Prince grafts a celestial force onto a angel remnant, is the resulting celestial a demon? If the repairs can be done relatively easily, then the remnant regains their former band or choir. If difficult though (i.e. the celestial had to be stripped down to their basic Forces and rebuilt thereby losing all most or most of the connect to their former existence), he new creation has the same alignment as the Superior doing the work. It's much simpler just to make a new celestial however. Resistance Can I spend Essence when resisting with Will? Unless the GM specifically overrules it, any roll for Resistance can be improved with Essence. Resources Can a resource that is 'lost' during roleplaying (e.g. a vessel dies) be gotten back for free? Nope. Anything lost or destroyed (Artifacts, vessels, Roles, Forces, etc) is generally just lost. This grim fate can be modified via good role-playing. If you are doing well, in your Superior's eyes, they may give you an immediate gift and send you back (such as a new vessel to get you back into the game). If you are doing an average job, a replacement may be more grudging, or of lesser quality, or delayed several game sessions. If you are doing poorly, a replacement is very unlikely. Most time, the replacement will be given as a Reward (In Nomine, p. 202) at the end of the adventure unless the character is truly doing a great job by their Superior's standards. Mind you, it's not in most Superior's best interests to have a vessel-less minion wandering around their demense. They should be down on Earth, doing bad/good! In this case if a character doesn't have the points to buy a new vessel, one might be 'loaned' to them with the expectation that it would be paid off in experience points at the end of the adventure. Rites General Some rites seem rather deadly to the performer. For example, how can angels of Jean perform the 'two hours plugged into the mains' ritual? How come Belial's servants have to already be immune to fire to perform his 250-degree ritual? The performance of the Rite itself grants immunity during the duration of the Rite unless the Rite specifies otherwise. Roles How do humans buy Roles? The rules on p. 72 seem to be wrong. They are indeed inconsistent; please use the following (some repeated from p. 43): Humans don't buy a Role. They can buy levels of Status/x at the cost of [(Status - 1) * 2] with the first level of Status being automatically added for free. In other words, each level of Status beyond the free one costs two points. The cost of a Role for Celestials is the [(Role's Status * Role's Level) / 2], rounded up if necessary. Can a Celestial in an animal vessel have a Role? Officially, no (p.43). But if you want to do something weird in your campaign, go for it. The cost is the same for human Roles. It is very hard to justify a Role above Status/1 however! Remember that Roles are based on how much reality and influence you have in human society. How do the undead buy Status? The same way humans do (p. 43). The problem is that people who are known or believed to be dead lose their Status. ("You ain't Elvis... Elvis is dead!") Undead creatures should keep their deceased nature from being known as best they can. What is the limit on Status? Status can go no higher than the Role level. How do Falling and Redemption affect Roles? There is no effect. Some Roles may become unusable or unpalateable after this change in status, but it will still be available! Saints When do Saints regenerate Essence? If a Celestial smacks one, is there a Disturbance? Except for their special abilities and knowledge, Saints and Bodhisattvas should be treated just like humans or Soldiers. So they regenerate at dawn and a disturbance will occur if a celestial injures or kills one. Can a Shedite possess a Saint? Yup. But Saints are generally more aware of their spiritual and mental space than most humans, so give them a lot more chances (Will rolls) to push the demon out. What happens to a Saint that succumbs to his Fate while on Earth? He 'falls', so to speak. Unless he can get back in the good graces of Heaven (for example, achieving his Destinty) before the next time he dies, he ends up in Hell with the rest of the damned. Skills What's the maximum level for skills? Normally six, but animals can go higher to represent natural abilities such as a keen sense of smell for Tracking. Should Large Weapons have specialties like Ranged Weapons and Small Weapons do? Yes. When can I combine Acrobatics skill with Dodge? "May sometimes be combined" means that it can be used when appropriate for the situation... moving your whole body out of the way of a relatively slow-moving attack. Avoiding the telephone pole that is swinging toward your character. Getting out of the way of that rampaging elephant. Ducking behind cover when the grenade goes off. Additionally, you must use a Full Dodge (i.e. blow your whole action) to do this. If the situation is appropriate, add your Acrobatics Level to your Dodge target number. Soldiers Who do soldiers serve? And what powers do they gain thereby? Two different parts of the text (p. 32 and p. 190) seem to have conflicting ideas about this. Soldiers serve a side -- Heaven or Hell. They are directly supervised by a Superior's Servitor. It is possible for a Soldier to receive the Servitor Attunements of the Superior they are serving under (directly or indirectly). So they could directly serve Joe the Angel, but get Joe's Superior's attunements. Laurence is charged with coordinating the Soldiers of God on earth. He makes his Servitor Attunements available to them (regardless of who else they may serve or whatever religion they may be). Does this give the soldiers of God and edge? Well, yes, but they need it since they are rather outnumbered. Soldiers do not get Distinctions or Choir/Band Attunements. Does a soldier using a Song cause a Disturbance? All focused Essence expenditures cause Disturbance, though the source is unrecognizeable as angelic, demonic or human. The default use of Essence by untrained humans does not cause a Disturbance. In some supplements, there are Soldiers that have less than 2 corporeal forces. Doesn't this break the rules? In rare circumstance, a human can have six forces before they are recruited as a soldier (see Night Music, p. 30). In this case, the restriction doesn't apply. If a human with five forces is recruited as a soldier, then the sixth force they gain will be on corporeal if they only have corporeal/1. Songs General Does Essence spent to improve the chances of a Song to succeed also improve other aspects of a Song? For example, Song of Charm's range is determined by the amount of Essence spent and it specifically mentions that "...like all skill rolls, each point of Essence spent (beyond the first) also adds +1 to succeed". Each extra Essence spent either improves a Song's effects (if the Song allows that) or increases the chance of success, not both. It says that the Singing skill helps with some Ethereal Songs. Which ones? None... in the main rulebook. There will be some in upcoming supplements! Is magic (magick/magik) just another name for Songs? Yes. If a Song is known at level 5 or 6, can the character do the Song and still have time for other actions? Nope. It just means that they are very quick with the song and don't have to worry about being tied up, gagged, etc. Simple actions (i.e. ones that don't require skill rolls) such as running or driving down a road (no dangerous conditions or combat allowed!) are possible when one knows the song so that gestures are not necessary. Maintaining a normal conversation is possible, if you don't have to speak to activate the Song, as well. Can a Superior give a Song to a human? Yes, but that's not very efficient. Usually, the Superior would grant an Ethereal Attunement (this is what dream soldiers get) or a Celestial Attunement to grant the ability to use the appropriate songs. Can a Song's effects reach across planes? Unless the description says so, no. Charm Is a person 'Stunned' as per the game mechanic (p. 62) when under the Song of Charm? No. Is there any way to resist Song of Charm? No resistance. Awful, ain't it? =) Claws Why are higher levels of this Song less accurate than lower levels? It has to do with the length. The longer claws do much more damage, but are unwieldy, hence the lower accuracy. You can always use the smaller claws if you want a better chance to hit and are willing to have reduced damage. Healing Can the Corporeal Song of Healing be used for any Corporeal object? Yes, it can be used to heal any sort of Corporeal damage. Numious Corpus Numious Corpus: Is this one Song or many? Do I have to buy them all? Each feature under Numious Corpus is a seperate Song and must be paid for individually. Does knowing more than one of these Songs give you a Check Digit bonus on the other Songs? No. Numious Corpus: What is the degree of Disturbance for this Song? Beyond the Essence required, none. If you switch vessels, can you still make the enhancements appear and disappear within the duration of the Song? Yes. What is your speed when you use Numious Corpus:Wings? The speed on p. 82 seems very slow. Use the rules on p. 65, so the speed for Winged movement is [Agility X 10] yards per round. This makes top speed around 50 mph and average speed at 25 mph. If you have a Kyriotate with Numious Corpus (Claws, for example) on, does it apply to one host or all of them? I would rule that it only applies to one, but you can switch which one it applies to by making it vanish from one host and then add it to another. With Numious Corpus:Acid, does the damage when you are in Celestial form affect beings not in Celestial form? Nope. The target must be in Celestial form as well. Possession What happens when a Kyriotate or Shedite uses Song of Possession on someone? They get the benefits of both their Resonance and the Song for the duration of the Song. After that, treat it as a normal Resonance-based possession. (This means that a kyriotate/shedim could have two chances to possess the same host. Note that it allows Shedim to possess non-human hosts...) Shields Does the Song of Shields work both ways? For example, can the protected person attack through it? All three shields work both ways . . . a good defense, but hampering at times. Sorcery With Sorcery, you can only summon a spirit/demonling/demon with a vessel. So does the summoned critter have to own its own vessel, or can the Sorceror create the vessel for it? Any vessel involved will be one that the spirit/whatever has, not created by the summoner. (Note: future canon may have rules for Sorcerers creating flawed pseudo-vessels.) 'Random' summonings are assumed to call a being that already has a vessel (and some creatures don't need vessels on earth like demonlings). If a named being without a vessel is called on Earth, the summoning will fail. As always, the GM can allow these to work if special preparations are made! Superiors What are the rules for switching superiors? If you're on "extended loan" (in service to) a different Superior, you keep your old Choir/Band attunements and dissonance conditions. You may earn Servitor attunements or Rites from your new Superior, but not his Band/Choir attunements. Exception: Servitors of Creation in service to other Superiors can (with GM permission) pay 5 points to get their Choir's attunement from that Superior. They cannot buy other Choir/Band attunements from any Superior but Eli. If you're actually changing Superiors, you lose all Choir/Band attunements from the old Superior, but gain your Choir/Band attunement from the new one. Dissonance conditions also swap (out with the old, in with the new) as your nature is retuned to that Word. If the parting was amicable, you may retain Servitor attunements and/or Distinctions from the previous Superior. If not, then you'll probably lose them (and the points you paid for them, unless the GM is being kind and says your new Superior will eventually give you equivalent bennies). If you had bought Band/Choir attunements for other Bands/Choirs from your old Superior, tough. You lose them as your connection with that Word is severed. If the GM wants to be kind, your new Superior may offer similar bennies (otherwise, the points paid are lost). [GMs may place the points from lost attunements into a "pool," and draw any cost for subsequent "replacement" attunements from that pool, if they want to. Or not, if they don't.] Free Lilim can acquire Lilim attunements from anyone they want (with the GM's permission, at 5 points per attunement), but not attunements for other Bands/Choirs. They can acquire Servitor attunements. They may even acquire Distinctions, but that's very rare. Bound Lilim can acquire other Band/Choir attunements of their Superior. (A Bound who was once Free might have several Lilim attunements and a few other Band attunements, if the GM doesn't think this will give him a headache. GMs with headaches are encouraged to forbid this as a backstory.) What happens to the servitors of dead AA/DPs? They go to serve other Superiors or become Outcast/Renegades. They keep special abilities but lose any Rites (which depend on a connection with the Superior). Tethers What happens to a demon in Celestial form that is in a Divine tether? The light of Heaven washes upon the demon and they start getting ripped apart by the exposure to such pure and powerful strains of the Symphony. Undead How are Body Hits for undead calculated? They are calculated the same as for Celestials, but the undead creature doesn't have to 'buy' their initial vessel. Vessels What happens to a vessel when it's 'killed'? The vessel remains after 'death'. While no longer usable as a vessel, it can still be used to track down the original owner (using the proper Songs or other abilities). If it is recovered or destroyed in time, any Role associated with that vessel can be salvaged by making a new vessel identical to the first. Otherwise the Role is lost because the person is 'dead'. Can you get a new vessel for free when an old one is killed? This depends entirely on the GM. In some campaigns replacement is free and others it will cost full character points to get another vessel. One method depends on the character's relationship with their Superior. If the Superior is pleased with the character's performance then a new vessel is free (this could be in addition to or in place of the reward for that adventure. See Rewards and Punishments, IN p202). If the character is performing competently, but not spectacularly, they can be granted a replacement vessel, but one not as good as the old one. Depending on the Superior, this could be one that is very close to the original or something very minimal. If, on the other hand, the character is doing poorly, they will have to pay for the new vessel out of saved character points or go into hock with their Superior for a new one. Remember that most Celestial PCs are the favored servitors of their respective Superiors and are usually going to waste if they are moping around Heaven/Hell. Also remember that making a vessel takes quite a bit of effort and any Superior forced to do so will take a hard look to see if the recipient is really worth the time and Essence. In addition, the personality of the Superior (and the circumstances of death) make a big difference here! Can you give a Limbo-formed vessel Charisma? Remaking an old vessel (that had Charisma) is allowed. If it didn't have it, the GM can impose whatever conditions they think reasonable or disallow it altogether. Can you improve the level of a vessel? It requires the intervention of a Superior (or, possibly, an ethereal god). Word Bound Can a Worded celestial grant Rites, attunements and distinctions? Yes to Rites and Servitor Attunments. No to distinctions and Choir Attunements. Words What kinds of Words are there? Vices, virtues, ideas, ideologies, causes, things of the world. There will be in an upcoming supplement, an outline of Words that have been compiled based on Scholastic/Aristotelian theo/philosophy. Archangels and Princes seem to have much shorter names, is this because they are more powerful? No, cooler. They got the world to call their abstract causes by one Word. Sort of like Cher. Do words get shorter (and more abstract) as the celestials influence increases? Possibly, but not necessarily. Celestials don't lightly change Words. They're more likely to be stripped of a Word than to change it. The Word you first get is you. You are uniquely tuned to it. To try to change it on your own goes against nature. You must promote the Word which is yours, not shop around for cooler one. ============================================================ Background Questions Are there more Angels or Demons? Lucifer's Forces were originally outnumberd 2 to 1 in the War and, one must presume, he lost more of his host than God did. Afterwards, though, he started creating new demons as fast as he could, as described on p. 155. The current situation seems to be that there are more demons than angels, but demons are generally weaker. Notice how scared the demon was in A Dark Dream when he heard an angel was in town? This is how a vast number of the infernal hordes feel about the average angel. If demons can't enter Heaven, but angels can go into Hell, why haven't all the angels gotten together and gone and kicked the demons' collective butts? Good question. And one that is asked at the highest levels of the angelic hierarchy (and the middle levels and probably all the way down to the bottom)! One answer is that fighting someone on their home territory, especially masters of deception and lies, is probably a bad idea tactically. Another answer is that they might lose the very thing they were fighting over: the souls of all those humans. Some Celestials (on either side) don't give a hoot about humanity, but a whole lot do. And The Boss seems to care a great deal. Undoubtably, such a fight would have major consequences for those that inhabit the earth. Good and Evil aren't really mentioned in the book, what is all the fuss about then? (i.e. Why are the Angels and Demons fighting?) Angels are trying to follow God's plan to the best of their flawed perceptions. Demons are trying to chart their own course of selfishness which means, nearly by default, they have to work for Hell (the rebel's rebels are quickly hunted down and, at best, killed). Do angels have free will? Do humans? This is purposely left as a question mark in IN. Let the players figure it out. :) What is the true status of religions in the world? You'll have to ask God, and God isn't talking. No one, neither human nor celestial knows the exact Truth of whether God spoke directly to Moses, whether an Aspect of God became enfleshed in the person of Jesus, and whether God OK'd Yves' command to Gabriel to recite the Koran to Mohammed. OK, Yves knows the last one, but he isn't talking, either. This means that celestials, who almost all believe in the existence of -- or have even met -- the One God, are free to choose what they believe in with regard to God's inteventions in human history. In this regard, they're in the same boat with all of humanity... they have to trust in the reports of those humans who've claimed that they've had an encounter with God. And some of those celestials do espouse a belief in one of the monotheistic religions. And religious differences among celestials can be just as touchy as among humans. As far as the Pagan gods go, in the mind of most celestials, they are egomaniacal Ethereal Spirits who've abused humanity so that they can leech Essence from gullible worshippers. The 'gods' have a different opinion, of course. What is In Nomine's stance on Original Sin? How about indulgences? Original sin is a theological construct of certain Christian denominations to explain the broken state of the world. In In Nomine, we know this is because of Demons and human cussedness. Sorry, no indulgences, either. Let's just say that the heavenly network knows if you deserve to go there. What are the Diabolical's ultimate goals? That would be telling! But, seriously, each Demon has their own unique -- selfish -- agenda. They work for Demon Princes because the alternative is to be hunted down and destroyed (a risk some Demons choose to take). Each Demon Prince has their own set of goals and serve Lucifer for the same reason their underlings serve them (fear and the opportunities available if you suck up to the right people). No one is quite sure what Lucifer wants . . . and that's the way he likes it. But Ultimate Power is usually a safe guess... Are there only Seraphim on the Seraphim council? The Council is MOSTLY Seraphim. It also includes the Archangels, of course, But in addition, there are other, very ancient, angels of other Choirs. Number not specified, but there is always at least one non-Archangel representative present from each of the other six major Choirs, that the Council should never make a decision without the wisdom contained in the other facets of divinity. Are angels and demons the hidden masters of a helpless humanity? Is this another 'humans are helpless pawn of unknowable forces' game? Hardly! The celestials (on either side), are doing their best to influence humanity toward their way of thinking, but most of their efforts are spent combating each other. Humanity with its wonderful free will can choose their own Destiny... or Fate. ============================================================ Steve Jackson Games * In Nomine ============================================================