House Rules
General
No more than 20 XP a month can be spent on powers. If a power costs more than 20 XP, it will be rolled over into the next month's alottment. This is not applied to starting Incentive XP.
Player characters under the age of 21 are a restricted concept. In most cases, we ask that players make their characters aged 21 or over. If it is important to you that your character be under 21 years of age, you can open a job (see help job) in the game to discuss the matter with staff.
Specialties While this is not an actual House Rule, due to having a variety of games within this setting we wanted to clarify what type of specialties ruling we are using. When a character is especially skilled in a particular Trait (meaning, one of their Attributes or Abilities is rated 4 or higher), the player can choose a Specialty for it. This is essentially an expertise they’ve developed that suits the overall character design. For example, a craftsman might build exquisite clockwork devices, a stunt driver might have an affinity for vintage muscle cars, or a performer might be gifted in traditional oral storytelling. More specifically, a character with Wits 4 might be adept at improvisation, while one with Performance 5 might play the violin the world over. Any time a player makes a roll involving her specializations, all dice that come up “10” count as two successes instead of one.
In cases where evidence (logs) can be provided of roleplay around acquiring or creating a piece mundane of equipment, a 1XP discount may be offered at ST discretion. This includes someone making the item for you. Please put in a request if you believe you are entitled to this discount. Please check your sphere's page for the ruling regarding their sphere-specific equipment.
Player is able to gift an item to another individual. Player is subtracted for the cost and a note placed on the player being gifted
All items that have a mechanical bonus, even created, are purchased through XP. Created items are eligible for the 1XP discount.
Merits
Kinfolk Merit on Supernaturals
Supernaturals (I.E. Changelings, Mage (Excluding Nephandi)) are restricted to take the Gaian Kinfolk merit. It requires your restricted concept to be filled out in a +pitch to be reviewed by both sphere leads. Please check in with Sphere Leads prior to filling out a pitch due to they may not be interested at this time in this concept.
Iron Will
Mortals Only. If an individual with this merit becomes no longer a plain mortal, they lose access to this merit. An individual gains +3 dice to their willpower as per above if they spend a willpower. Otherwise, it's a +1.
Self-Confident
This Merit may only be used in challenging situations, that is, when the difficulty of your roll is seven (House Rule) or higher.
Merit Limits
Supers are limited to 10 merit dots.
Mortal+ are limited to 15 merit dots.
Mortal are unlimited for merits.
Language, Blush of Health, Parlor Trick and Hideaway/Safehouse do not count against merit limits.
Language
Players are allowed to take one language for free to represent their Native Language if it is not English. This will need to be explained in the background of your PC. +language/native
If a sphere-specific version exists, it takes precedence over the general version for both Merits and Flaws.
Old Flame
The organization the old flame works at must be named. This can be as broad as Pentex or Technocratic Union. Or as specific as King Brewery or Starmart.
When attempting an influence action against named organization, your Old Flame catches word and tries to talk you out of it. Roll Manipulation + Power Brokering or Networking in a resisted contest against the NPC, rolled by staff.
Success means the influence action may be attempted without penalty. Failure means the influence action fails before it gets started, as your ties to your Old Flame prevent you from risking their career.
Flaws
Weak-Willed & Short fuse can not raise your willpower past its starting level if you receive this flaw.
Backgrounds
Freebies
5 Freebie Backgrounds with exception only for Mage.
Equipment: Equipment need only be purchased using XP if you intend for your character to use it to derive mechanical advantages. A character might own a collection of fast cars, a boat or a private plane, a gun with a range of accessories or even a collection of swords, but if they are not used for mechanical advantage, they do not need to be represented by equipment dots. If somehow a situation arises where your character needs to drive quickly or to use a sword, for example, but does not have the relevant equipment dots in their sheet, they cannot use whatever the equipment might be - narratively, it is simply for some reason unavailable.
New Backgrounds
Please read more about the details of these on the backgrounds page.
Armory: This is a completely house-ruled version.
Secrets: This is a completely house-ruled version.
Purchase
Backgrounds can be purchased with XP.
Freebies
Amount of Freebies
Supers gain 15 freebie points. Mortal/Mortal+ gain 21 freebie points.
Willpower costs 2 freebies per dot.
Stat Spread
7,5,3 for attributes.
13,9,5 for abilities.
Attributes
Raising an attribute from 1 to 2 after CG, including incentive xp, costs double.
Raising an attribute or ability to 5 in CG costs double.
Incentive XP can not be used to raise an attribute or ability to 5.
Stats at 1 or 5 in chargen (or: min/maxing rules)
As staff, we want to see your characters grow and change, become stronger or more focused on their abilities, and work to become exceptional. It's also in the game's best interest to see more characters who are well-rounded and able to handle multiple challenges instead of being pigeonholed into a particular area. Based on our explanation of stats on https://diesiraemu.com/wiki/stats/ (see the pages for Attributes and Abilities), level 4 is roughly the point where characters start becoming masterclasses in their field. Multiple 4-dot attributes is discouraged, as that starts to become less believable, and 4-dot attributes and abilities accompanied by 5-dot abilities and attributes are even less so, and will require redistribution of points.
Think of a novel or a film; even the most bad ass character goes through a series of transformations and gains in skills, expertise, and knowledge throughout their journey in the story. We understand that a lot of times World of Darkness games can seem like an arms-race, especially given how previous games were run. Given Dies Irae's focus on plot over PVP (or how we say 'PvEvP'), there is no need to try to be harder, better, faster, stronger than your peers. Additionally, sometimes spreading those points around can open up interesting avenues for your character's development. There may be occasions where we would allow multiple 4-dot attributes or abilities, but these will usually be characters who would be considered 'veterans' in the field (the equivalent of an older Ancillae or younger Elder in Vampire terms). Dies Irae characters are at a competent-but-young power level (equivalent of a released Neonate or very young Ancillae in Vampire terms). Please keep this in mind as you write your application.
On the other side of the spectrum, a 1 in an attribute represents an incredible hardship that the character has dealt with. This may be due to a flaw, and might be linked to a flaw on your sheet, or just a quirk of your character's development. Manipulation 1 indicates a significant lack of understanding about guile and subterfuge both in noticing it, as well as performing it. Even people who may declare that they "never lie" and live up to the claim likely know how to spot when other people are lying to them.
Consider the description of certain physical stats: a strength of 1 means you can barely lift 40 pounds (18 kg). Why do you have such a limitation and how has this affected your character's life? Intelligence and Wits 1 indicates someone with learning disabilities: an inability to retain information and an inability to think quickly (and likely issues with working and long-term memory).
Also keep in mind the trajectory of these life challenges with regards to your abilities. Is it possible for someone with Int 1, Wits 1 to finish high school and have Academics 1/2? Of course. Is it likely they have a doctorate? Probably not. It's important to make sure that, like your notes and actual background, your stats tell the story of your character.
The Place of Player Characters in the World
While Dies Irae is based on a tabletop game and setting, it cannot exactly match that game in all respects. One of these is the place that an individual player character holds in the world. A tabletop group might comprise five or six people and their characters might perform great deeds which the entire World of Darkness hinges upon, and perhaps they might change the entire world. We think those stories driven by just a few characters have the potential to be really cool, but they unfortunately do not often work in a large-scale multiplayer setting; we have many players and many plots to consider.
This means that there are a few restrictions on player characters in Dies Irae. They will not be able to achieve the almost unfathomable heights of power of the most powerful characters possible in the tabletop game, because those by themselves can be world-defining, and that much power concentrated in the hands of one character is unlikely to prove very engaging for everybody else playing the game. Player characters cannot hold senior ranks in supernatural organisations. Player characters are also restricted from having close ties to especially powerful non-player characters or to those which are detailed in the various books describing the background of the World of Darkness, which is another concept that could be great for tabletop but poses too many difficulties for a large-scale game to be workable. Player characters may not have any ties to real world figures, whether historical or contemporary.
Inclusion of Setting Material in Dies Irae
There are many publications full of material for World of Darkness. Some publications contradict other publications. Some of this material applies to our game and some does not.
If something is explicitly laid out in Dies Irae's wiki, then it is part of the setting for the game. However, it is simply not feasible to include everything about the setting on the wiki without transposing entire books, which we won't do. This means that sometimes staff have to determine whether information in a book is part of the game's setting or not, particularly when it comes from more niche books. Unfortunately, the setting material is so expansive that a complete list of what is or is not part of the setting is is unlikely to be helpful, and is more likely to be bloated and confusing. If in doubt about an aspect of the setting, ask staff. We may decide not to facilitate certain ideas, not necessarily because we dislike them, but because they don't fit into the fabric of our setting.
Keep in mind that Dies Irae is focused on San Diego and its environs. While it is not isolated from the outside world, and the outside world may affect it, it is simply not the focus of the game. We may decide not to approve supernatural character concepts which are part of groups with no presence in San Diego.