Touchstones for Supernaturals

Touchstones keep a Supernatural being grounded. They keep these creatures from going full Monster. Many different supernatural creatures use a Touchstone system. The rules are slightly different from game to game, but the base premise is the same, it is a "noun" to aid with Breaking Points. Whether the Touchstone itself is a physical object, a place, or a person it is something this creature needs in order to keep going.

Touchstones are a system in Changeling, Vampire, and Werewolf. As Mages are still very much grounded in the Mortal, their mundane lives outside of their Shadow Name act in much the same way as a Touchstone would for the more monstrous creatures. This article contains the details on the specific systems for each Supernatural Type that uses Touchstones. Merits and other character options offer further additions to these rules.

Changeling Touchstones

For a Changeling a Touchstone serves as a source of support and validation, helping maintain her Clarity, and something that helps reconnect her to life after her durance. The character’s Touchstone may be the very reason she escaped Arcadia, something important enough to her to cut through the Glamour that held her spellbound in her Keeper’s grasp. The Touchstone is something solid, a bastion of stability that helps her see the world’s beauty when others would call her “mad.”

Touchstones are almost always mortal in nature, or born of the mortal world. They’re usually people, although they can be places and sometimes deeply held ideologies — there is no place like home, after all. When threatened, a Touchstone gives your character motivation beyond her own Thread. Its presence in her life helps her regain a sense of normalcy and keeps her seeing clearly.

A Touchstone reflects an intrinsic conflict for the changeling. It is the firm reality of a true personal tie, and keeps her from losing track of her own truth. It is both the most important thing in her life, and the most vulnerable part of her. When deciding on a Touchstone, consider how your character may potentially lose it. Think of how she protects it. Think of how she reacts when it’s threatened.

System: Touchstones help a changeling maintain Clarity by subtracting dice from Clarity damage rolls: −1 if she has one attached Touchstone, or −2 instead with multiple attached Touchstones. When a changeling has no Touchstones attached, add two dice to Clarity damage rolls.

Write Touchstones alongside your character’s Clarity track. Count boxes from the left equal to your character’s Composure +1, and write your first Touchstone next to that box. For instance, if your character has Composure 3, write the Touchstone next to the fourth box from the left. If you purchase more Composure in play, push her Touchstones to the right so that her first one is always attached at Composure +1. Character sheets do account for this by only begining the Touchstone numbering at the second box, meaning that you do not have to add one to your Composure to determine where the Touchstone is attached.

As Clarity is a fluid thing in a changeling’s life, her attachment to her Touchstones is also fluid. Consider a Touchstone attached when its associated Clarity box is not filled with severe damage. If a Touchstone is attached, anytime the changeling defends her attachment to it, she regains a Willpower point. If this defense causes her serious harm, she regains all her spent Willpower points.

When she heals a point of severe Clarity damage, she reattaches any Touchstone associated with that box. If the changeling loses a Touchstone altogether — for example, if he dies — then she risks Clarity damage. If she loses her last Touchstone, she gains the Delusional Condition immediately. This applies whether or not the Touchstone was attached at the time. Regaining a lost or dead Touchstone requires resolving the Delusional Condition and forging a meaningful relationship with another valid subject.

Your character can gain additional Touchstones by taking the Touchstone Merit. Write the new Touchstone in beside the next available box to the right of the rightmost box that already has an associated Touchstone. A changeling character cannot have more Touchstones than she has Clarity boxes to the right of the first box with an associated Touchstone. If her maximum Clarity increases in play by purchasing more Wits or recovering an Icon, it opens a spot for a new Touchstone through the Merit.

Remember that additional Touchstones bought with the Touchstone Merit are subject to the Sanctity of Merits rule if lost.

Example Changeling Touchstones

The following list of examples is meant only to help you flesh out your character. Players should personalize their Touchstones, and feel free to come up with their own using these as samples. Storytellers should remember that Touchstones mark things important to their players’ characters, and should treat them thus in the story.

Best Friend

Your friend has never stopped supporting you through all the bad times. He’s been there with you through it all, even when you took that sudden vacation without telling him. And now, he knows something is wrong, that things have changed, and you have a secret he shouldn’t know. Now he’s asking dangerous questions.

Family

You came home. They missed you, they love you, and they can’t understand you. It isn’t the same anymore, no matter how much you all pretend. They moved on while you were gone, and you can’t ever really return to what you had before.

The Fetch

He has your life. He’s blind to his own hollowness, and so are the people you once called family. You want what he has, obsessed with watching him. Your family would never accept you as you are now, and they couldn’t stand to lose him. You should just live and let live. It isn’t his fault, is it?

The Fling

When you came back, you wanted to live life to the fullest. You met him in a bar, you had sex in the men’s room, and then you gave him your real number, on a whim. He texts every now and then, looking for the easy D, and you respond, because no one else makes you feel as wanted as he does.

Lost Love

She was the last thing you thought of when the Gentry abducted you, and the first thing on your mind when you returned. You clawed your way through the Thorns to return to her, but you’re afraid of what she might say. Things weren’t the best before, and what if she never even realized you were gone?

The Occultist

She pretends to know more than she does, but what she does know can be quite dangerous. Maybe it’s a ritual or two, maybe it’s enough knowledge to catch the attention of something from the Hedge. It’s your job to protect her from the entities she courts, but you find kinship in her curiosity about the magic that has become commonplace in your life.

Private Investigator

When you disappeared, your family hired her to find you. At first it was just a job, but then she followed the trails, which all led to something weird and inexplicable. Then you came back, and now she won’t leave you alone, constantly asking you to confirm one theory or another.

Therapist

She reminds you of home, your mother, baked cookies, and a warm hug. For her, it’s all professional; you are just another patient she lovingly cares for. You want it to be more, you want to tell her the things you claim are dreams are the reality you lived. But somehow you know that she can’t take the hit to her sanity, and maybe you can’t either.

True Love

You found it, true love. At least, that’s what you tell yourself. She understands you, and she has her own issues that you understand. She is there for you no matter what. She listens, she holds you when you cry, and she doesn’t ask questions when you come home battered and bruised. She’s perfect. So why are you so bored?

Your New Home

There’s really no place quite like it. This is the one place where you can feel safe, you can take off the mask (so to speak) and be yourself. It’s the place where you are in charge, and even the threat of the True Fae seems lesser inside these walls. Now you know its exits into the Hedge, and your magic sits upon its foundation.

Your Old Home

It’s been so long since they took you that no one you knew was alive when you got back. But that old house, the one you bought with your wife? It’s still there, right down to the ugly paisley curtains she picked out. What’s the harm of going in once in a while when no one else is home?

Vampire Touchstones

A Vampire's Touchstone is part of the mortal world, usually a living, breathing person. Rarely, it can be a place or thing. The Touchstone tests a vampire’s Requiem; and by her very existence, she asks challenging questions of the Kindred. She tests his values, his priorities, and his true nature. She touches his Requiem in a fundamentally positive way, even though her association might cause complications and tribulations for the vampire.

For young Kindred, the Touchstone is usually someone he knew in life. She may be a family member, confidante, lover, or even a rival. She’s someone who reminds him of what he was when he was alive.

For older Kindred, the Touchstone is usually tied to his less savory affairs. She may be the daughter of his prized ghoul, someone who looks like his long-dead wife, or the janitor he passes by every morning on his way to sleep. She’s someone who reminds him that once, he was alive.

Touchstones provide built-in conflict for every character. When thinking of a Touchstone, consider how your character might potentially lose it. Think of how he protects it. Think of how he reacts when it’s threatened.

In game terms, Touchstones help a vampire maintain his Humanity by adding dice to detachment rolls. If a character has a single attached Touchstone, it adds a +2 die bonus to detachment rolls. With multiple Touchstones, add a +3 die bonus. When a vampire has no Touchstones, detachment rolls are made at a –2 die penalty.

Write Touchstones alongside your character’s Humanity track. Write the first Touchstone next to the sixth Humanity dot. Consider a Touchstone attached when there is a dot next to it. For example, with only four Humanity dots, your character’s initial Touchstone is no longer attached. Any time the vampire defends her attachment to her Touchstone, she regains a Willpower point. If this defense causes her serious harm, she regains all her spent Willpower points.

If a vampire loses her last Touchstone — for example, if he died — then she has two choices. She may immediately lose a dot of Humanity. If she takes that path, she has one month to find a new Touchstone to replace him. If she does not within that time, she gets the Languid Condition. Alternately, she may take the Languid Condition immediately. The vampire doesn’t consciously choose the Condition, but she resigns herself to the slowing of her blood. This applies whether or not the Touchstone was attached at the time.

Taking a new Touchstone requires the Touchstone Merit. Write the new Touchstone in next to the appropriate Humanity level. Replacing a lost or dead Touchstone requires gaining a dot of Humanity. Replace the Touchstone on her Humanity track.

Remember that additional Touchstones bought with the Touchstone Merit are subject to the Sanctity of Merits rule if lost.

Example Vampire Touchstones

Here are a number of example Touchstones. These are general, and most characters should be able to use at least some of them with little modification. We encourage you to customize Touchstones. After all, they’re what anchors Kindred to their Humanity. They should feel real and human.

The Ex

Before the Embrace, you and he were a thing. It ended a while ago, but early in your Requiem, you needed a quick and easy fix, so you keep coming back to him. The thing is, you just want a casual thing and some no-strings blood, but he’s looking for something serious. He swears it’ll be different this time.

Former Partner

When you and she started your business, your heads were in the clouds together. Now, you’ve moved on to bigger and better things; at least that’s what you tell her. It’s nice to reminisce about old times, but lately she’s been asking why you’re living in that shit hole on the south side, and why you don’t just come back to work with her.

Friend With Benefits

You and he have a ritual. The Sunday game comes around, you have a few cold ones, act like you’re still in college, he sucks you off, then you suck him off. It’s a great arrangement, but he’s been looking for outside entertainment. It’s not against the rules; hell, you don’t have rules. But he’s just canceled for next Sunday.

Gravesite

Since you’ve started the Danse, you stop by your gravesite every few nights on the way home. You’re in awe of your rival predators; they feign mortality so well. But deep down, you loathe the idea. You find the great lie abhorrent, and this little show of defiance helps you to keep perspective.

High School Sweetheart

You and she fumbled around as teens. You learned a lot from one another; most importantly, you learned that you weren’t really compatible. After your Embrace, you looked back to those moments that made you feel human. The awkward sex and failed communication did just that. Just hope her father was bluffing when he threatened to kill you.

House of Birth

That old place. It’s passed hands five times since you were born. Nobody loved that house for more than a couple of years at a time. Now, it reminds you of those moments when mom defended you from dad’s belt. You went to purchase it, but the city has it marked for demolition.

Intrepid Detective

When you disappeared, he just wouldn’t leave well enough alone. He took one look at your case file, and found it fishy. It’s been a few years, but it’s a pet project. It’s a white whale. Even though your family stopped looking, he hasn’t. He reminds you that sometimes, people really do care.

Murderer

You were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and she killed you. She didn’t plan to, it just happened that way. She now spends out her days in the penitentiary. You visit every now and again. You wear a disguise so she doesn’t know who you are. She keeps you grounded, since her life ended with yours. But the warden’s talking about moving her to solitary.

One That Got Away

You meant to feed from him. Let’s be honest; you were probably going to kill him. But that car went down the wrong alley at the right time, and he got away. In the moment, it pissed you off. But now, you see him as a reminder of what you are. His life would have never been in danger if you didn’t exist. So you follow him. But you feed first.

The Orphan

She was barely a teen, hanging out in between, just a part of the scene. Her parents did every drug in the book, and rarely came home. She was set for a terrible life, until you stumbled upon her. Now, you help keep her warm. You put her up. You make sure she gets up for school right before you collapse for the day.

Spouse

You could have left him when you were Embraced. You should have. But you loved him so much, and you couldn’t imagine existence without him. That’s a problem. He’s getting a few years on him, and he’s starting to ask questions. You wouldn’t wish the Embrace on your enemies, let alone your soulmate.

Terminal Parent

Mom should have quit smoking thirty years ago. She knew that, but it never mattered. She kept it up, and now she breathes through a machine. Dad died of the same thing a few years back, now she’s your only remaining family. Her condition’s getting worse, the doctors give her a few months at most. You do have ways you could preserve her, though.

Therapist

He was there to listen, for a couple hundred an hour. Now, he’s there to listen because you confessed a little too much, and he’s utterly fascinated. He even keeps night hours, just for the case of a lifetime. You need someone to talk to. He needs you to sign this disclosure form.

Victim’s Lover

You killed her. You lost control, and you snapped her neck. You’re dealing with that. So was her wife. You’ve sworn to yourself that you’d keep her wife safe. You’ve even chatted with her a few times. She seems pleasant. She seems like a good meal. But you can’t bring yourself to touch her in that way, after the way you hurt her before.

Witness

He watched in horror as you took your first life. You murdered in cold blood, and he’ll never forget that moment. Of course, the Masquerade says he can’t go telling everyone what he saw. Unfortunately, that meant you had to intervene. But without mind control, your only chance meant leveling with him and answering his questions.

Werewolf Touchstones

Unlike Changelings and Vampires, Werewolves are creatures of two seperate worlds, the Flesh and the Spirit. They must constantly work to maintain a balance between the two, and so need seperate Touchstones to remind them of their place in each. For Werewolves, though, Touchstones are things they want but cannot have. An Uratha walks a fine line between flesh and spirit, and some things will remain forever outside her grasp, unless she falls off that line irrevocably. Her nature pulls her away from the material, and away from the spiritual simultaneously. This unending tug of war leaves the Forsaken feeling as if she can never truly belong anywhere.

A physical Touchstone keeps the Uratha from slipping too far away from humanity and civilization. It may be a person, place, thing, or even an idea. But to give that thing the attention the Uratha feels it deserves, he’d have to forsake his spiritual side.

On the other hand, a spiritual Touchstone is a spirit, a totem, a locus, or a philosophy that draws the Uratha to the Hisil. But the devotion required to truly dedicate himself would leave him a hermit, estranged from humanity.

Touchstones are not recognized formally in-character. A werewolf knows that he has important relationships that anchor his Harmony, but the associations remain abstract. Packmates will never discuss “their Touchstones.” They will discuss the people and things important to each other, though.

When choosing your Touchstones, consider how they bring conflict to your character. Consider her flesh side, and her spirit side, and think about the struggles she’ll face. Touchstones are the end of the spectrum; they’re the promise on either side of potential.

Example: Picture the dedicated police officer married to his job. He wants to propose to his boyfriend, but it’s just not fair. He’s never home. He’s always in danger. And it’s not like he can just give up the job; it’s who he is. The boyfriend is close enough to touch, but too far to hold.

Touchstones in Play

In game terms, a Touchstone helps bolster rolls to resist breaking points. As long as he has a physical Touchstone, a werewolf gains +2 to any rolls to resist Harmony loss. As long as he has a spiritual Touchstone, he gains +2 to any rolls to resist Harmony gain.

However, Uratha can go too far out one end of the spectrum to benefit from their Touchstones. With 8 or more dots of Harmony, Uratha lose access to their spiritual Touchstones, since they’re too human at that point to connect with their spiritual sides. With 2 or fewer dots of Harmony, Uratha cannot access their physical Touchstones, since they’re only tangentially creatures of flesh at that point.

Uratha can lose Touchstones. Buildings burn. People die. Whenever a character loses his Touchstone, he falls one level of Harmony away. If a physical Touchstone dies, he slips toward his spirit side. If a spiritual Touchstone fades, he slips toward the flesh. He can replace the lost Touchstone, but establishing a new relationship is a breaking point in the other direction, since the effort necessary taxes the balance further.

As well, any time your character reinforces his bond to a Touchstone, he regains a point of Willpower. This should be a meaningful interaction, but err on the side of allowance. If your character puts his life or pack on the line in defense of that relationship, he can regain all spent Willpower.

Example Werewolf Touchstones

Here are twelve example Touchstones, six physical, six spiritual. Each features a built-in conflict to complicate your character’s life. Feel free to use these, or let them inspire your own creations.

The Abuser (Physical Touchstone)

She hurt your character. Deeply. Regularly. Your character knew it was wrong, but didn’t know how to walk away. When your character Changed, he tried his best to avoid his abuser. After all, that kind of damage could certainly trigger Kuruth. From a practical standpoint, murder is complicated. From an emotional standpoint, murder is murder. However, she won’t take “no” for an answer. She insists on forcing her way back in, to take advantage of what she sees as a weakness in your character. She has a need, and that need could turn your character into a murderer.

The Ambitious Totem (Spiritual Touchstone)

Your character has a personal totem, a wild spirit that follows him around everywhere. The spirit is a primal one; it encourages reckless, chaotic abandon. It wants him to lose himself in the wolf. More importantly, it wants to grow. It wants to prey on smaller spirits with his help, and become something fearsome. Little does your character know, but his totem is slowly attempting to bring him into the folds of the Pure; the spirit believes it’ll become a great pack’s totem if it can seduce one of the Forsaken into the Pure tribes. Alternatively, the pack totem tests and tries your character further than the others; it thinks he has pent up potential to be something greater, something unfettered from his flesh entirely.

The Buddy Spirit (Spiritual Touchstone)

She’s a wolf spirit; she’s a minor member of your character’s tribal totem’s umia. Most importantly, she’s a friend. She’s a confidante. She’s a companion. She’s like a drinking buddy, in wolf form. She’s the perfect listener. Any time your character has problems, she hears them out. She never judges. She just asks your character to run with her through the woods, to feel the warm wind against his fur, and to hunt for the sake of the hunt. She tells him to sell his house, to burn his possessions, and to just be happy. How can he say no to that?

The Ex (Physical Touchstone)

He was always there. This was supposed to be one of those ‘for life’ things. All signs said it would be. That was, until you Changed. You had to withdraw. Every time you were with him, you risked losing control and destroying the only person you ever truly loved. So you pushed him away. But he wouldn’t stay away, and you couldn’t let him stay away. Every month or so, when the moon’s not pulling your strings, you end up sweaty in a bed next to him. Now, he thinks something’s up. When you see him, he finds excuses to poke through your text messages and read emails over your shoulder.

The Future Self (Spiritual Touchtone)

Your character is followed by a spirit that represents her future. It shows her an idealized, perfect form of herself as Uratha. It shows her what she could be, if she just lets herself be the legend. She could fill the role of her glorious ancestors, standing proud as the very image of Father Wolf’s power and grace. When she takes steps toward advancing her human existence, the spirit, this epic statue, weeps, crumbles, and fades. When she steps into her “destiny,” the statue becomes golden, pure, perfect. How does she look upon herself as she sees failure in her future?

The Locus (Spiritual Touchstone)

The locus represents everything your character loves about the Hisil. It creates. It stands strong. It needs her. Unfortunately, the wellspring of the locus has a physical side, and it needs tending just as much as the spiritual. The locus favors her. If your character spends more than an hour a day there, it will only offer up its Essence to her; it denies her entire pack and anyone else. While she can curb this with a bit of avoidance, this causes local spirits to see the locus as a challenge to be overcome.

The Lune (Spiritual Touchstone)

Your character has a dangerous affinity for Lunes, representatives of Luna herself. Forsaken warn every young Uratha to never take a Lune for a totem, because down that path lies madness. However, early on, your character met a Lune, and the two clicked like fast friends. Her pack might not know, but even if they do, they don’t know the depth of it. If they find out just how close the two are, they’ll stage an intervention. They’ll offer ultimatums, threats, or straight-up violence.

The Old Gang (Physical Touchstone)

Your character used to run with a tight-knit clique of friends. Sounds great, doesn’t it? It’s a group of people who have your back, who will lie for you, who will give you a place to crash in times of need, and who will put up with your drunken ramblings. The truth of the matter is, their love is their biggest drawback. They will never just accept “I’m going away for a week” without an explanation and text messages. If her Facebook relationship status changes and they didn’t know first, she’ll never live it down. They’re up in her business, because they care. And that new crew she’s running with? Her friends know they’re dangerous, and are looking for the lead to prove it.

The Parents (Physical Touchstone)

Your character’s parents loved him very much. But like most everything in the world, that love was not unconditional. It had its limits. Like for example the time your character had his First Change, and left two of his high school friends dead. He didn’t tell his parents everything, but he told them enough that they couldn’t handle the truth, and disowned him. Over the past couple of years, he’s connected with them a few times, and is starting reconciliation. But if he wants them back, they’re going to need to see progress. They’re going to need him to move back in to his own room, so they can monitor his drug use. He can’t even tell them he’s not on drugs, let alone move in.

The Prey (Spiritual Touchstone)

Your character takes her tribal prey seriously, more seriously than most other Uratha. She obsesses over them. She hunts them in all her spare time. She studies them whenever she finds the opportunity. It becomes an obsession; it becomes the core of her identity. She views everything through the lens of that prey. Even when she deals with humans in mundane interactions, she relates to that experience through the hunt, and through her ancestral enemy. She can see the enemy’s claws in everything, and enemy action will always be her first assumption when the fires ignite. She will not stop until her tribe has no prey left to hunt.

The Religion (Physical Touchstone)

Your character was — and is — deeply religious. The reason this Touchstone is physical, though, is that it flies in the face of everything he’s learned about the Hisil, about Father Wolf, and about the world beneath the surface. It’s a human establishment of religion, and it keeps him from delving too deeply into his new identity. Not only that, but he’s beginning to see hints of his old beliefs confirming themselves in contrast to the animist reality of his existence as Forsaken. Last week, he saw an angel who told him that the world of spirits is a lie; that to find grace, he must eschew heathen practices. An Ithaeur told him he had the taint of a Maeljin on him after the encounter. But the angel told him to expect such heresy.

The Sponsor (Physical Touchstone)

Your character was in recovery for cocaine addiction. The First Change curbed the addiction, and that was wonderful. She finally shook that problem. Unfortunately, her sponsor doesn’t know any better. He sees the rage inside her. He sees the late night meetings. He sees her sneaking out, lying to her employers, and threatening that asshole next door. To him, it looks like she’s fallen off the wagon, and is hitting the coke again. He cares. To him, helping her is the next step in his personal recovery. He’s considering staging an intervention. She’ll be surprised when she comes in with blood on her hands after a hunt, only to see her closest friends and family ready to help her kick the blow.

The Wilds (Spiritual Touchstone)

The wilderness calls to your character. Those places where humans fear to tread, where the Gauntlet runs thin, where the only rule is the rule of nature, those places resonate as home for her in a way no city can hope to. However, she has a life in that civilization. She has a pack, friends, family, and an entire context she can’t just abandon and hope to maintain Harmony. Worse, the wilds demand her attention. Any time she spends a full day in the city, some awful coincidence occurs with the nature around her. Yesterday, a tree fell and nearly crashed her car. Today, flooding caused her to be late and lose her job.