Artwork by Marrku Peltoniemi and copyrighted by him. Used with permission.
Artwork by Marrku Peltoniemi and copyrighted by him. Used with permission.
"What are you supposed to be a clown or somethin?"
"Sometimes..."
Sarah and Eric, The Crow
To use these rules you will need the Werewolf rulebook, the Werewolf players guide would be useful but is not required. These rules are all untested and made by someone with little practical experience of the Storyteller system. Remember the first rule of the Storyteller system is that there are no rules, so alter whatever you like, if you think the rules should be changed email me, and if I agree with you I will incorporate it into the next version. Hey, I'll even credit you with in the Acknowledgements.
Important: Harlequins are awakened beings, and they do not suffer from the Delirium.
First you must choose a concept for your Character. This is general idea of who your character is, and what is important to him. This will include how he prioritizes his duties of teaching and fighting the Wyrm. This should be unique, and the storyteller must agree to it.
You should also choose your Nature and Demeanour at this time, while Jesters, Gallants and Show-Offs are common, that doesn't mean you have to choose them. Some Harlequins have the same Nature and Demeanour because they see no reason to hide themselves, while others change Demeanours as easily as their costume.
Harlequins get the 7/5/3 points that most of the Supernaturals get; this is because the touch of the Great Harlequin makes them more than human.
Again the usual 13/9/5 allocation, at least 2 dots in both Athletics and Performance, but they get free specialities in Acrobatics and Dancing for them respectively.
Choose Backgrounds. Harlequins can choose from Resources, Fetish, Mentor,
Past Life, Totem, Rites, Familiar Spirit.
I have removed the earlier 'familar rules, because they weren't very good, and I'm making some new rules for them. Watch this space!!
Fetish: The Harlequins use Garou fetishes, and indeed any other fetishes which aren't particular about who uses them, they also have fetishes of their own. Remember that Harlequins have no rage and cant use rage-based fetishes. They also tend not to have Klaives, since many Garou will instantly rip apart any non-Garou with a Klaive. They also use both their own and other talens. Harlequin fetishes and Talens are included in the appendix.
Totem and Rites: The Great Harlequin has asked the spirits to aid his children, so Harlequins may choose totem and rites as a background. There are some Harlequin oriented totems and rites in the appendix.
Past Life: The touch of the Laughing God joins all Harlequins alive or dead, much like Garou, Harlequin souls reincarnate
The costume that Harlequins wear is more than just cloth. It is a spiritual entity that is bonded to them during their initiation, it learns through the Harlequins experience. Dathedi (‘between colours’) is advanced by experience. A new character has one dot in it (before freebies). Harlequins can choose Dathedi Gifts, treating their Dathedi rating as the equivalent to rank.
Harlequins gain bonuses based on their role form Dathedi; Avatars get their Dathedi rating as bonus dice to initiative and social rolls. Warlocks get it's rating as a counter magic dice pool to resist magic cast against them (Storytellers discretion as to what counts) and as bonus dice when attempting a magical effect. Mimes get them as bonus dice on stealth and intimidation rolls. Death Jesters get them as bonus soak dice and bonus dice when interacting with spirits. All these require that the Harlequin be actually wearing the costume at the time
The Costume will not fray like a normal set of clothes, it will sustain damage in extreme situations, e.g. being cut by a knife or being set on fire, but it can heal itself given time. Harlequins almost always have their costumes with them, if trying to be appear normal they may carry it or wear it under their regular clothes. There are gifts for putting on suit at speed or in difficult situations, and due to the empathic connection the Harlequin always knows the approximate direction and distance to his costume, and if in a room filled with boxes he could go directly to the one with it in.
The appearance of a Harlequin's costume changes as they go through life, especially as they change roles. Avatars often wear long coats to show their rank and they show a preference for face designs, especially the smile of the laughing god. Warlocks tend to like blank or abstract masks, with hooded costume. Mimes costumes are either very cloaked for hiding, or figure-hugging to have less to get in the way, their dace masks range from the purely functional to daemonic visages. Death Jesters usually have bulky armour-like, yet still unencumbering, costumes, with skeletal imagery being almost always there, and many having a skull mask. Troopers who have yet to take up a role tend to have simple costumes. As a Harlequin changes roles they often incorporate part of the old costume with the new role, e.g. an Avatar who becomes a Warlock may have an abstract face on his mask, or just a smile and nothing else. While the Harlquins costume may be based on ordinary clothes, they will still obviously not be normal; not only will it probably be in very unconventional colours, but the costumes _always_ include a mask.
To give you an idea of what the costumes might look like,this is an good example of what a Warlocks costume might look like; the staff and the cowled robe, combined with functional armour, however a Harlequin would probably be more colourfulk than this. This artwork is by Alexandre Abdoulaev, it is his character 'Tirael St. Paul' from his Ghost:2138 comic, this image is copyrighted by him, and I use it with permission. Alexandre's website URL is http://www.ghost2138.org , and his email address is alexghost@grimmware.com
Due to the empathic connection a Harlequin may change the colours of the suit at will, this can create limited light to see by, or when the Harlequin is trying to hide subtract one from the difficulty of the stealth roll. Imaginative players may come up with other uses for this, e.g. showing a plane where to land on a dark night, spelling out YMCA in neon pink. Given time and no distractions a Harlequin can change the general physical appearance of the suit, this is most often done when the harlequin changes role, but can be done at any quiet time.
Record 5 Willpower and 3 Gnosis. Choose Merits and Flaws, most of the Werewolf merits and flaws are suitable, though some obviously aren't. There are Harlequin based merits and flaws in the appendix. Spend Freebie points (base 15) as below:
| Trait | Cost |
|---|---|
| Attributes | 5 per dot |
| Abilities | 2 per dot |
| Backgrounds | 1 per dot |
| Gifts (level one only) | 7 per Gift |
| Dathedi | 10 per dot |
| Gnosis | 2 per dot |
| Willpower | 1 per dot |
NB Harlequins cannot enter the Umbra like the Garou unless the have the necessary gift, they're following someone who can, or they are at a Caern
The Harlequins sometimes use Caerns of the Garou or others, but they do have their own. Unlike most Garou Caerns they are almost exclusively in public areas, usually theatres, opera houses, etc. The Harlequins will defend them with their lives, and the fact that they are public places can be an advantage because it makes it harder for the Wyrm to act directly there. Harlequins do have moots to recharge their Caerns but they have them less often than the Garou because the Caern is recharged by the performances their any the joy of both actors and audience and they do have equivalents to most of the Garou posts within a Caern. The Caerns Harlequins have may be of any type, but a distinct preference is shown for Wisdom, Enigmas, Calm, Humour, and a new type: Teaching
These Caerns epitomize the Harlequins duty to teach. The can be in many places; a great school or college, the place where a great teacher lived, theatres and other places where the stories told teach those who hear
Effect: When opened the Caern will reduce all rolls for learning of any kind in the area by two. These Caerns also have a more subtle effect: people will generally learn more from their experiences there without even noticing it. For example if a Teaching Caern was in a Harlequin theatre those who watched the performances would learn the messages that are frequently behind Harlequin plays. This is one of the reasons that as well as performing plays based on various mythologies, Harlequins often do things like Aesops fables, and they will always allow people who they think have something to teach to use their performing space. Harlequins often become involved in youth programs to get youngsters off the street, and teach them things like theatre arts.