Shadowtorn

Requirements:

• Slayer with the Oath of the Destructor.  
• May not have the Torn Soul Challenge.

Costs: 3 Character Points or 18 Service Points.

Bonus Skills: None

Long ago, it became clear that the thing that made mortals such easy prey for the Living Dead was their mortality.  They suffered from cold, and fear, and empathy, and love.  All of these things slowed them down, split their focus, and made them weaker than the Living Dead that they hunted.  There were some few Destructor Slayers who were determined to fix these weaknesses.

So were made the Shadowtorn.  Through hard work, research, and a number of ill-fated bargains with greater powers of understanding and magic, they developed a rite to rid them of weakness.  The Shadowtorn Monastery, called Ubrasa Kol, located in the mountains west of Bretain, is exclusive, often requiring a Sponsor from within the group, or direct heritage from a member or previous member.  Those who wish to join are tested for suitability, mental and emotional fortitude, and skill.  Those who fail are returned to their monasteries to be normal Destructor Slayers.  Those who pass are torn.

A Slayer who is torn is put through a rite so painful and so remarkably personal that one in ten simply cannot handle the mental strain and are lost, either to madness or occasionally, to self-destruction.  The mad are tended by the Monastery and are treated with extreme reverence and fondness.  Those who succeed, gain the ability to detach their souls, their shadows, and place them in a specifically prepared object.  While their shadow is detached, they gain significant strength and a number of potent resistances, while losing their ability to feel, to care, to love, and to empathize with others.  While detached, they are truly cold; for obvious reasons, close relationships can sometimes be difficult for these Slayers.  When their soul is attached, however, they can be caring, funny, loving, and empathetic, sometimes even more so than others, since they do not take such things for granted.

The Shadowtorn seem to like black armors and even blackened weapons, feeling it is an apt reaction of their internal state.

2nd level Shadowtorn Powers

Shadow [Utility] - Automatic

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: None

The Shadowtorn will have an item, called a Vessel or a Shadowhome, which is special to her.  The item must be large enough to comfortably house the soul, larger than two fists pressed together.  After a few moments of meditation, which must be done out of combat, the character can either store her soul in the Vessel, or release it, reattaching it to herself.  Detaching her shadow will take the character to one Life Point, and re-attaching the Shadow will heal her to full Life Points.  She must be at full Life Points to detach her shadow.  While her soul is in the Shadowhome, the character’s emotions are subdued or even non-existent.  She has difficulty empathizing with others and is motivated by principle, mission, and reason, rather than feeling.  Because of this, she cannot gain benefits from any of the “Soul” Advantages, or the Heartbond or Boon Bond advantages.  Similarly, she will be unaffected by any “Soul” Challenges and is immune to Truename Powers.  Normally, those with torn souls are difficult to Heal, but Shadowtorn have trained and undergone the Rite to make sure this is avoided, although the Shadowtorn’s maximum Life Points are reduced by one (to a minimum of one) while detached from her soul.

        The character must be able to touch the Vessel in order to use it.  If it is destroyed, it will be unusable, and if it is destroyed with the soul inside it, the soul itself will go to the Spirit Well and wait.  Until the character visits the Spirit Well as a Spirit, she will not have access to it.  

3rd level Shadowtorn Powers

Cold Precision - 2 CP

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: None

While her soul is detached, the Shadowtorn can do one additional point of damage with all Slayer Powers that do extra-damaging weapon attacks.  This will also increase the amount of Wounding or Piercing done by Slayer Powers.  Note that Cold Precision will not affect Powers that just Grant Plus Spike Damage.

Dispassion  - Automatic

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: None

While her soul is detached, the Shadowtorn cannot be affected by a number of emotion-based attacks.  She has immunity to all Fear and Terror Accented Effects, Berserk, and any Effect with an emotional Accent (Love, Rage, Happiness, etc.).

4th level Shadowtorn Powers

Easy Revival - 0 CP

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: None

While her soul is detached, the Shadowtorn is considered 2nd level for the purposes of Powers that affect characters of a specific level.

Icy Veins - 2 CP

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: Resistance

While her soul is detached, the Shadowtorn has resistance to Cold/Ice Accented Effects.

Soul Strike - 3 CP

Incantation: None

Call: “Piercing [X] to Living by Shadow”

Target: Individual                Duration: Instantaneous        

Delivery: Weapon                Refresh: Short Rest

Accent: Shadow                Effect: Piercing

The Shadowtorn Slayer can push her weapon out of the purely physical and strike directly at the soul of another by expending a Spike.  This attack will do Piercing damage equal to her base (unadjusted by anything) Spike damage.

5th level Shadowtorn Powers

Icechannel - 3 CP

Incantation: None

Call: “[Name or Description] Wounding 4 by Cold”

Target: Individual                Duration: Instantaneous        

Delivery: Verbal                Refresh: Short Rest

Accent: Cold                        Effect: Wounding

This Power is only available while the Shadowntorn’s soul is detached.  She can summon the cold void of her empty heart and turn it into a physical spear of ice.  To use it, she must stretch out an empty hand towards the target and Call the Effect.  If the Icechannel is Prevented, she can grant herself two points of Shielding.

Shadowstrike - 1 CP

Incantation: None

Call: “to insubstantial”

Target: Self                        Duration: Instantaneous        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: Short Rest

Accent: None                        Effect: None

The Slayer can make an attack on an insubstantial creature.  She can add “to insubstantial” to any Slayer or Shadowtorn Weapon-delivered Power that does damage or the Wounding or Piercing Effects.

6th level Shadowtorn Powers

Snap Back - 2 CP

Incantation: None

Call: None

Target: Self                        Duration: Passive        

Delivery: None                        Refresh: None

Accent: None                        Effect: None

While her soul is detached, the Shadowtorn’s life cannot be snuffed out by Death Effects.  Any time she would normally die from a Death Effect, instead she may choose to go into Spirit form (with the Spirit Type) and, insubstantial, return to her Shadowhome, reconnecting with it as normal (i.e. meditate out of combat).  When she reconnects her soul she will lose her insubstantial Condition and Spirit Type and have one Life Point remaining.  At any time, the character may choose not to go to her Shadowhome and may instead go to the Spirit Well and return to life as normal, with all the normal consequences.  This can happen if the character’s Vessel has been lost, for example.