Miscellaneous Gear

=Miscellaneous Gear= In this section are a number of items that don’t quite fit into the other categories. Such items may help a character in a fight or may instead work outside of combat situations.

Camouflage

 * Durability variable
 * Size variable
 * Structure variable

Camouflage allows a character to blend in with his environment. To conceal himself, a character may wear camouflaged clothing or paint his skin with the appropriately colored paint. To disguise his gun or other objects (Size 4 or below), he can wrap them using a roll of camo-tape. He can hide larger objects beneath tarps disguised to blend in with the environment.

Characters can either purchase camouflage or make it themselves. Store-bought camo is easily found at sporting good, department or Army/Navy stores. This camouflage features mottled patterns of green for wilderness, brown for desert and gray for urban environments, and adds +1 to a character’s Wits + Stealth roll when moving, and +2 when remaining still. This roll is contested against any Wits + Composure rolls made by potential witnesses to see the character.

Making camouflage requires a Wits + Survival roll, and involves a character decorating himself or an object with actual pieces of the environment. This roll is easier in a dense forest (+1 to the roll), but difficult in desert or urban environs (–2 to the roll). A character may cover himself in leaves, sticks, dirt, sand, even ash. If the roll is successful, he can add +2 to the contested Wits + Stealth roll when moving, and +3 when staying still. An exceptional success on crafting the camouflage grants an additional +1 bonus to both moving and still characters.

One other exception is worth noting: camouflage is of exceptional value against night vision. Night vision cloaks everything in green, distinguishing no colors at all. Because of this, camouflage blends in seamlessly with most environments. Any character using night vision to attempt to spot a camouflaged individual is hampered by a –1 penalty on the Perception-based roll.

Ghost-Hunting Equipment

 * Durability 03
 * Size 03
 * Structure 06

Some ghost-hunters are New Age spiritualists, concerned with the emotional and psychic resonance of the departed. These ghost-hunters’ arsenal is a pastiche of pagan and occult objects: Ouija boards, crystals, dowsing rods, wind chimes (to “capture” the ghost’s soul or attention). Other ghost-hunters, however, lean toward the more scientific end of the spectrum. These paranormal investigators are generally hobbyists, though some ply their trade professionally. Most professional ghost-hunters make the bulk of their money from the attention of local radio stations and other promotional gigs at Halloween time than they do through actual spirit detection. Some investigators manage to make a living from it, but such investigators are rare.

While the scientific community considers the methodology behind such ghost-hunting dubious, ghost-hunters maintain that what they do has genuine scientific merit. Therefore, they have their own arsenal of equipment. Most ghost-hunting gear comprises various meters and detection devices. Thermal scanners detect drastic temperature drops (ghostly “cold spots”). EMF detectors seek to reveal electromagnetic disruptions. Other sensory equipment helps to detect ion spikes or unseen motion. Ghost hunters often bring digital voice recorders to capture EVP (“electronic voice phenomenon”) and digital cameras to find “ghost orbs.” Since many ghost-hunters choose to work in the dark, they also buy night vision goggles or lenses for their cameras.

When the pieces are purchased together, ghosthunting equipment is costly. For this reason, some ghost-hunting groups purchase sub-par equipment or are forced to seek out sponsors to pursue their hobby/career. Most ghost-hunters find few are willing to support this pseudo-science. A few groups exist that will help to bankroll a group of budding ghost-hunters, such as the faceless Eurydice Group.

The big question is, does this stuff really work? Can ghost-hunting equipment really detect a ghostly presence? Generally, no. Such equipment provides too many false positives. Old wiring in the walls will stump EMF detectors, dust motes look like “ghost orbs” when caught on most cameras and radio frequencies are so omnipresent that they provide a worthless watermark. Ghost-hunters may abide by some science, but such scientific endeavor is poor, at best.

That’s not to say their equipment fails to pick up supernatural activity; it just means it doesn’t reliably do so. A ghost disrupting electronic equipment can wreak havoc on a ghost-hunter’s EMF reader. Restless spirits can imprint messages on forms of media, thus affecting voice or video recorders. Ghosts can create a number of illusory (and contradictory) effects, and ghost-hunting equipment may very well capture this, but, in the end, is it proof of anything? A whisper on an audio tape, a weird reading on the motion detector or a glowing light on digital video add up to nothing more than speculation and skepticism.

However, ghost-hunting equipment can inadvertently detect other supernatural beings. Vampires caught on camera will show up as blurry distortions. Unless well fed, vampires have a lower body temperature than most humans, and a thermal scanner that can reliably take a subject’s temperature from up to 100 yards away will reveal this disparity. Some non-ghostly spirits can also affect an environment with their Numina, and may create bizarre readings on an investigator’s equipment.

Handcuffs

 * Durability 03
 * Size 01
 * Structure 04

Police-grade handcuffs, made of stainless steel and connected by a small but stalwart chain, are difficult to break, especially when a character finds herself in their metal grip.

Breaking a pair of cuffs requires an extended Strength + Stamina roll (made with a –4 penalty). Each roll takes one turn. A total of four successes must be achieved to break the chain; each success diminishes the chain’s Structure by one. Failure means the handcuffs take no damage. Dramatic failure at any point means that the character suffers a muscle cramp or bruised wrist, and may not try to break the cuffs for the rest of the scene. The character takes one point of bashing damage upon a dramatic failure. Note that many supernatural creatures can enhance their Physical Attributes in a number of ways that may help them break handcuffs more easily. Breaking the chain still means that the character has unconnected cuffs adorning her wrists.

Characters may also try to slip out of the cuffs in a feat of escapology but to do so, they must succeed on a Dexterity + Athletics roll, made at a –4 penalty. One success allows the character to escape, but she takes one point of bashing damage to her hands. An exceptional success allows her to avoid this damage.

Picking the lock on a pair of cuffs requires four successes on an extended Lock-picking roll, with each roll being equal to one turn’s worth of work.

A character wearing handcuffs behind her back may be subject to a number of other penalties. Any rolls involving manual dexterity (firing a weapon, climbing, throwing an object, picking the lock on a pair of handcuffs) are done with a –4 penalty. At the Storyteller’s discretion, some actions may not even be possible. Hands cuffed together in front inflict only a –2 penalty. Unless a character can conceal the fact that she is handcuffed (with a Wits + Stealth roll), she will likely invoke a –3 Social penalty at the Storyteller’s discretion for looking like a convict.

Some police (or serial killers) prefer to bind their targets with zip ties instead of handcuffs. Zip ties are reinforced plastic bands that tighten and lock in place, and are in some ways harder to break than handcuffs, because the tightness allows for zero movement of the hands. Mechanically, handcuffs and zip ties function similarly, except the latter are Durability 2, Size 1 and Structure 3, and, where handcuff penalties are –4 and –2, zip tie penalties are –5 and –3. Unlike handcuffs, zip ties have no lock to pick, but are vulnerable to a quick knife cut or other sudden friction.

Lie Detector (Polygraph Machine)

 * Durability 02
 * Size 04
 * Structure 06

Polygraph machines are designed to measure a world of physiological responses in a subject, all geared toward catching liars in the act. A modern polygraph machine measures a subject’s blood pressure, his respiratory rate and his electro-dermal activity (checking for sweat upon fingertips). Many machines also record a “twitch” rate, detecting anxious movements in legs, arms, hands, even eyes. The trick is that a polygraph examiner has to be well versed in the ways of lying. The machine details biological read-outs only. It’s up to the examiner to determine if the information points to fact or fiction. Lying is a contested roll of the liar’s Manipulation + Subterfuge versus the examiner’s Wits + Subterfuge. Using a polygraph grants the examiner a +5 bonus to his roll to detect Deception, and also allows the examiner to swap out Wits for Intelligence on the roll if he so desires.

Many modern lie detectors are digital. The examiner hooks all the equipment up to a laptop, desktop or handheld device. Some machines are archaic, however,still printing out data on scrolls of paper. Archaic polygraph devices cost the same, but yield only a +3 bonus to the examiner’s roll.

Vampires offer no heart beat, blood pressure or sweat for a polygraph machine to read. A vampire may still offer clues when lying (body twitch, looking up and to the left, stuttering), but a polygraph machine is only so useful in detailing these minor tells. For this reason, polygraph machines offer only a +1 bonus to the examiner. Of course, the bigger concern is what happens when the examiner notices that his subject is missing a number of important biological functions.

Sat Phone

 * Durability 02
 * Size 01
 * Structure 03

A sat phone bypasses major carriers and receives its signal directly from orbiting satellites. The advantages of this are that a character can use such a phone in extreme locations (mountaintops, distant forests, deserts). Plus, these phones feature little of the interference that normal cell/digital phones receive. Most sat phones are a little bigger than the average cell phone, and are also ruggedized in hard rubber to take a beating. Sat phones do not use satellite service when indoors, as they require usage under a clear sky. Indoors, they default to cellular coverage.

Sat phones are used frequently by government employees (anybody from FBI agents to senators) as well as high-end construction contractors (who might not be able to receive a normal signal when working atop a skyscraper or some other piece of distant architecture).

Scent Eliminator

 * Durability 01
 * Size 01
 * Structure 02

Scent eliminators come in a number of forms. Game hunters use animal urine or blood to mask the scent of their trail. Others use small portable fans that direct scent away from prey or predator. Another form is a kind of “neutralizing” odor, meant to be used like perfume or a bar of soap. This scent counterbalances the normal smells emitted by the human body, rendering them less perceptible. Generally, a scent eliminator inflicts a –2 penalty to any Wits + Composure roll used to try to detect the user by scent, or any Wits + Survival roll used to track by scent. Some creatures have the ability to sniff past such odorous masquerade. Vampires using an ability like Heightened Senses negate the penalties associated with a scent eliminator, while werewolves cancel the penalties with the bonuses to Perceptions rolls provided by their various forms.

Characters may attempt to make their own scent eliminator. Doing so requires an extended Wits + Science roll. Five successes must be achieved, and each roll is equal to 30 minutes. Homemade scent eliminators work the same as the store-bought kind. The only notable difference is that, should the character achieve an exceptional success beyond the required successes, the odor eliminator confers a –4 penalty to any scent-based detection rolls.

Voice Disguiser

 * Durability 01
 * Size 02
 * Structure 03

Sometimes an individual may desire to change his voice. Perhaps a boss wishes to act like a secretary, or maybe a teenager plans to make prank phone calls. Other, darker reasons persist as well. A pedophile may hope to sound like another child, or a Spirit-Ridden mortal may no longer feel comfortable with his own voice. A voice changer doesn’t allow the user to sound like a specific person, but it likely affords him the chance to sound like a type of person. The device may modulate his voice to make it sound deeper, more womanly, even pre-pubescent.

Voice changers offer a +2 bonus to a user’s Subterfuge rolls when attempting to disguise his voice. A listener may attempt a Wits + Composure roll to recognize that the voice is being modulated. Success on the roll allows the listener to know that the voice was changed, and an exceptional success allows her to identify the person behind the modulation. If the listener fails the Wits + Composure roll, she fails to identify the speaker or the masquerade.

Various types of voice changer are available on the market. A child’s toy voice changer (making his voice vaguely like Darth Vader’s or SpongeBob’s), but offers only a +1 bonus to the Subterfuge roll.

Alternately, high-end software voice modulators are available, which offer a +3 to the roll. These software packages require a Wits + Computer roll to set up properly.

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