Characters are supernatural beings awakening into their true nature. This opens up a a different method of advancement which is not (directly) linked to experience points.
Manifestations are how you get powers. Each Manifestation increases your Eldritch rank by 1, grants you one extra Power, and adds one to your Eldritch Pool. That’s a lot to take onboard, but don’t worry, we’ll cover them all.
The primary effect of a Manifestation, though, is:
Ending Conflicts
At any point you can declare you are using a Manifestation, and then narrate how that power comes over you and leads to the end of this conflict. The conflict for everyone must end, but no Eldritch character can be slain or defeated.
Marigold sees herself as becoming a Vampire-like creature. She is involved in a conflict with Count Bathory over who owns this castle (court intrigue gets involved!), and sees she is about to lose, but she doesn’t want to lose. So she declares a Manifestation. She suggests draining Bathory of blood and killing him, but the GM reveals he is an eldritch character, so that cannot be narrated. The GM describes how she dazzles everyone present, and wanders off with a spellbound Count Bathory.
The court-case is deferred, Marigold gets some immediate healing, and the Magistrate and other witnesses are left puzzled and irritated that the matter is not yet settled.
Some important things about Manifestations: You cannot use them to get what you want, only to defer that to later. You also save your entire group from suffering any further – you do not leave them in the lurch the way you do with a Concession.
Later, Count Bathory has gathered his minions and attacks Marigold. The rest of the PCs jump to her defence, and in the ensuing fight, they score some victories but are being beaten. One of the other PCs, Eustance, is becoming a Werewolf, and describes his transformation (a Manifestation), amnd in the ensuing battle he drives Count Bathory away and slays all his minions.
The battle is won, the players are safe, but Count Bathory is still out there, plotting his revenge.
Manifestations are extremely powerful at changing the course of an adventure, but they tend to prolong the situation rather than solve problems outright. They also have some other extremely potent effects.
Eldritch Rank
Eldritch Characters like PCs have an Eldritch Rank. It starts at Poor, and can increase to Fair, Good, Great, Superb, or Spectacular. That’s five possible increases.
You also have a Character Rank which is on the same scale. You can gain a Manifestation whenever your Character Rank is higher than your Eldritch Rank, and you haven’t already used a Manifestation this Chapter.
So Manifestations are how you advance your supernatural rating. If you weantto, you can increase relatively rapidly, but Manifestations are powerful. You might not want to use them as quickly as you can.
Final Manifestation
The Eldritch Rank section above tells you when you can take a Manifestation. You can always take an extra Manifestation, your Final Manifestation. When you take this Manifestation, it works exactly like any other Manifestation, but you also have to narrate how your character dies.
Eldritch Powers
Every time your Eldritch Rank increases, choose a new Power. You don’t have to take this power immediately – you can add it at the end of the session. In fact, this might be the norm. If the GM thinks you are taking a long time to decide on your Power, they’ll tell you to choose it at the end of the session, and continue play for everyone.
Powers are described in the next Carrington Event post, and are extremely powerful.
Eldritch Pool
Every time your Eldritch Rank increases, add one point to your Eldritch Pool. This means if your Rank if Fair, you have 1 point, and if it’s Superlative, you have five points.
Every time you use a Power, check that Power, and expend one power pool point. At the end of a Chapter, all of your Powers refresh (like Aspects), but you only gain 1 point of your pool back (and then, only if you gained an advance that Chapter).
So in any Chapter, you have a lot of flexibility over which powers to use but the total use of Powers might be limited. Once your last Power Pool is used, you cannot activate any Powers again. (You can still trigger a Manifestation though.)
The Healing Effects of a Manifestation
In the instant you take a Manifestation, your body is filled with a surge of power. You recover everything: Eldritch Pool, uncheck all Conditions, Stress, Aspects, Knacks, Sacrifice, Concessions, and Compel boxes.
A Manifestation is, among other things, a super-heal. One reason to hold off on spending all your Manifestations early, is to keep these super-heals for when you really need them.
