Lineage Mechanics

AX.GHW.06.06.01

Health Modifier: +2

(Applied at character creation and each time Fortitude is increased through XP advancement.)

Cultural Talent: Notice 1D

This die is free; it does not come from the Talent generation budget. Skinchangers learn to read a room before they learn to read a book. The awareness isn't supernatural at this level; it's the practiced attentiveness of someone who grew up knowing that their body could handle most threats, but that the smartest move is to see the threat before it sees you.

Inherited Perks

Acute Scent | Sensory Enhancement

The Skinchanger's sense of smell operates at a register that human language doesn't fully accommodate. They don't just smell what's in the room; they smell what was in the room, what is afraid in the room, what is lying in the room. Scent is information and Skinchangers read it the way other people read body language.

Effect: The Skinchanger gains +2D to all Notice rolls that involve scent. They
        can track a creature or person by scent trail up to 24 hours old (standard
        conditions; rain, heavy traffic, and chemical interference may raise
        Threshold at GM discretion). In enclosed spaces, they can identify the
        general emotional state of anyone who has been in the space within the
        past hour (afraid, agitated, calm) without a roll.
Activation: Passive
Scope: Self
Genre Note: In sci-fi settings, describe as chemoreceptor enhancement. The
            24-hour trail window assumes organic quarry; synthetic or heavily
            masked targets may require a Notice roll at Threshold 3+.

Claws | Natural Weapons

The Skinchanger's hands, in moments of intent, produce something useful. Not a full transformation, just the ends of the fingers, the suggestion of what the pact carries. It happens without ceremony and requires no particular effort to sustain.

Effect: The Skinchanger can produce claws as a Free Action. Claws add +1D to
        melee attack rolls. Damage type: Slashing. Claws can be retracted as a
        Free Action. While extended, fine manipulation (lockpicking, typing,
        surgery) is at −1D.
Activation: Free Action
Scope: Self
Recovery: N/A
Genre Note: The fine manipulation penalty is a texture detail, not a significant
            mechanical burden. GMs should apply it when it's interesting, not
            punitively. In settings where Skinchangers have animal-specific forms
            (wolf, bear, etc.), the Claw type may be reskinned to match, Bite
            for serpentine forms, for example, but the mechanics remain identical.

Regeneration/Minor | Biological Advantage

The body the pact lives in does not want to stay broken. Cuts close. Bruises fade. Bones that should take weeks to knit take days. This isn't dramatic; a Skinchanger doesn't visibly heal in real time in front of witnesses. But over the course of a rest, the degree of recovery is unmistakable.

Effect: The Skinchanger recovers an additional 1D6 Health per Short Rest (10–15
        minutes, no active threat), stacking with standard Short Rest recovery
        (Body Value in Health). This bonus does not apply to damage dealt by
        silver, cold iron, or equivalent setting-defined bane material, the Genre
        Catalog must specify what the Skinchanger's pact-blood is vulnerable to.
Activation: Passive (triggers automatically during Short Rest)
Scope: Self
Recovery: Per Short Rest
Genre Note: AX.GM declaration: Silver is this catalog's Skinchanger bane
            material. Silver-inflicted damage does not benefit from either this
            perk's +1D6 bonus or the standard Short Rest recovery (Body Value
            in Health), both are suspended for silver wounds, which persist
            until Long Rest or medical treatment. Cold iron has no special
            effect on Skinchangers; it is the fae bane in this catalog.
            Wolfsbane causes discomfort and suppresses shifted form at
            sustained exposure but does not bypass regeneration; it is a
            deterrent, not a bane.

Power Access

The pact is physical. It lives in the body, not in any separate relationship to energy or probability. The Lineage Perks above are the pact's side of the compact: what it gives simply by being present in the blood.

A Skinchanger who gains access to a Form tradition through a Profession or Progression Track Stage is using the pact as raw material for something more deliberate. This is rare and tends to produce Skinchangers who are visibly different from their kin, and aware of that difference.

Attribute and Talent Caps

Skinchangers use standard maximums with one exception:

Context	Maximum Value
Attribute (standard)	5D
Body Attribute (Skinchanger)	6D
Talents	5D
Foci	3D

Body cap increase: A Skinchanger may raise their Body Attribute to a maximum of 6D through XP advancement. This cap increase reflects the Pact's physical expression reaching its full potential. The cost remains Current Value × 3 XP for the 5D → 6D raise.