MetalFatigue/Appearance
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MetalFatigue's House Rules for Appearance
(Based on Blaque/Appearance, and stuff.)
The Appearance Attribute measures, not how attractive you are, but how memorable you are upon first meeting.
• Poor: Forgettable.
•• Average: You can usually be identified in a line-up.
••• Good: You leave a definite impression on those you meet.
•••• Exceptional: Heads turn and conversations falter when you enter a room.
••••• Superb: A dream—or nightmare—given flesh.
Characters with an Appearance greater than 1 must declare whether their visage is generally aesthetically pleasing or distasteful ("Pretty" or "Ugly," for the sake of terseness); to be Ugly is a 3-point Social Flaw (superseding the "Disfigured" Flaw on EPG p. 32) for Creation-dwellers or those who interact with them regularly. In a Fair Folk game set mostly or entirely within the raksha courts, Ugliness is neither a Merit nor a Flaw, as raksha have different aesthetic standards than humans. Appearance 1 is neither Pretty nor Ugly: it is the midpoint of the scale, and characters with Appearance 1 (Pretty) are treated identically to those with Appearance 1 (Ugly) except for the consequences of raising Appearance.
While the description of Appearance 1 implies that such beings are hard to remember or describe, to gain any mechanical benefit from this quality requires that the character have the 2-point version of the "Innocuous" Merit (EPG p. 22). Conversely, that Merit requires the character to have an Appearance of exactly 1, rather than 2 as printed.
No Creation-born character can ever have an Appearance of 0; such an entity would not be readily distinguishable from its surroundings. Appearance 1 is therefore added to the list of Attributes that common raksha must buy (E:tFF p. 94): a commoner with Appearance 0, like one with Stamina 0, cannot exist in Creation. For common raksha in Creation, Ugly is only a 1-point Flaw, but grants two free dots of Appearance. Even with this Flaw, commoners cannot exceed Appearance 4 without mutations—the most hideous nightmares are hardly common.
Under the published rules, certain magical disguises cannot raise Appearance from below 2 to above 2. Under this set of house rules, that limitation is replaced by an inability to change mode from Ugly to Pretty (but not vice versa). Thus, the best such a limited transformation can achieve is to lower the Appearance of an Ugly character to 1.
Players may, at their discretion, substitute their characters' Appearance for Charisma or Manipulation in Social rolls related to seduction (if Pretty) or intimidation (if Ugly). Among Creation-dwellers, Ugly characters add their Appearance minus 1 to the difficulty of any Social rolls for seduction; Pretty characters may face similar penalties when attempting to be taken seriously, depending on gender and local cultural mores. No such penalties are applied in the raksha courts. Regardless of milieu, Appearance also sets the base difficulty for attempts to blend into a crowd, and is used for mundane (i.e., non-shaping) Social rolls that are primarily dependent on first impressions.
Abyssals and Appearance
Abyssal Exalted cannot have an Essence more than one point higher than their Appearance. Abyssals (and only Abyssals) may freely choose to switch from Pretty to Ugly after character creation, gaining 6 XP which may only be spent to raise Appearance or Essence; other characters who go from Pretty to Ugly in play receive no compensation. Switching from Ugly to Pretty requires Storyteller approval and the expenditure of 6 XP, just like buying off any other 3-point Flaw; under most circumstances, lowering Appearance to 1 is a necessary precondition for approval. Abyssals with Essence above 2, therefore, cannot generally go from Ugly to Pretty.
Lunars and Appearance
The following Lunar Charms use Appearance as their requisite Attribute, rather than Charisma or Manipulation:
- Hide of the Cunning Hunter
- Masking the Brilliant Form
- Shaping the Ideal Form
- Prey's Skin Disguise
- Chameleon Skin Disguise
