House Rules

Tremere Starting Virtue:
The Tremere no longer receive the Minor Magical Focus (Certamen) virtue, instead they receive the Puissant (Certamen) Virtue, which grants a +3 bonus to both Attack and Defense during Certamen, other characters may similarly take this Virtue.

Actions during Combat
During any given turn, a character has a single can only take a single action, the type of action depends upon the whether the character is active or reactive (the active character is the one whose turn it is).

The only time the character may violate this rule is when responding to another character’s non-defense Reactive Action with one of his own, this counts as the second action for the purposes of penalties, the penalty does not carry over to Reactive Actions made during during another’s turn.

Active Actions
In addition to the standard actions a character can do on his turn, the character can do the following:

Charging
Charging allows the active character to move and attack in the same turn, by Exerting. A Charging character gains the standard bonuses from Exertion unless they move through difficult terrain. Running extended distances during a charge may incur additional Fatigue at the GM’s discretion.

Delaying
When a character chooses to delay an action, he can act normally on any later time, whenever the character wishes. However this does not permit the character to interrupt another character’s action. The delayed action expires on the character’s next turn, whereupon he may of course choose to delay again. If more than one character has chosen to delay and subsequently act at the same time, the character with the highest initiative total goes first.

Reactive Actions
When using any of the Reactive Actions except for Defense the Active and Reactive characters do a constested Ability + Quickness - Encumberance + Stress Die roll, should the Active character win, he proceeds with his action, if the Reactive character wins, the Active character may use a Reactive Action. Every non-Defense Reactive Action beyond the first incurs a cumultative -6 penalty until the start of the character’s next turn.

A Soak roll is not a Reactive Action.

During another character’s action, a character may choose to do only one of the following actions in response:

Activating a Magical Item
Unless specifically designed not to, activating a Magical Item is as time consuming as Spontaneously Casting a spell. No Ability is associated with the action, instead the item’s effects must be enchanted with the Fast Trigger effect as per page 33 of House of Hermes Societates.

Attack
The character may attack with a weapon which uses the following Abilities: Brawl and Single Weapon.

Defense
A character may make a standard Defense roll.

Fast Casting
As per the rules with the above exceptions.

Avoiding Death
As part of their special status, Companion and Magus characters may take a Minor or Major flaw when receiving an Incapacitating Wound or being killed to stay in the fight: Taking a Minor Flaw reduces an Incapacitating Wound to a Heavy Wound or Death to an Incapacitating. Taking a Major Flaw reduces Death to a Heavy Wound.

Morale
The rules regarding Morale as described in Lord of Men are in use.

Ranged Attacks
Abilities for ranged weapons cannot be used for Defense, Brawl, or Single Weapon where appropriate, must be used instead.

Study Penalties
Familiars may be taught by their master without any study penalties due to might being applied and any other study penalties due to might are reduced by 3 times the Silver Chord.

Might Strippers
Perdo Vim spells which reduce a creatures might, instead reduce the creatures might points by an equal amount, should the targeted creature have it’s might points reduced to 0, it starts loosing it’s might score as per normal.

Size Changing Spells
An increase in size gives the target of the spell a bonus to strength and penalty to quickness as per usual. Humans do not get these bonuses until they exceed size +2, they do however get a bonus +1 to strength at size +2.

Experience Virtues
Major Hermetic Virtues which grant a bonus to study totals, such as Elementalist, grant 50% of the experience spent during character creation, which comes under its purview, to spend as per the virtue. This bonus does not stack with itself.

Exempli Gratia:   Anicetus ex Mecere has the Major Hermetic Virtue Elementalist, and during character creation he spends 30 experience in Ignem, which grants him an additional 15 experience to spend evenly amongst Aquam, Auram and Terram.

Blood of the Nephilim
Replace the section on Aging Rolls with the following: You need make an aging roll only at the age of 150 and once every ten years thereafter, you do so as if only one year has passed, likewise you receive a -10 to Aging Rolls.

Vis Finding
The Ease factor for finding a vis source for a given area is dependent on the vis scarcity chosen at the start of the game:

High Vis is Ease Factor 9

Moderate Vis is Ease Factor 12

Low Vis is Ease Factor 15

The Ease Factor is further modified by the number of vis sources already in the covenant's possession.

The skill used is:

Area Lore + Intelligence + Bonuses

The following skills may be added as a bonus:

Dowsing

Magic Lore

Divination & Augury

Likewise, the magnitude of an appropriate Intelligo Vim spell may also be added.

Other Realm Lores may also be used, however Magical Vis will not be fund under such circumstances.