Dullahan, or the Headless Horsemen, are victims of a powerful curse. They are guided by divine power to do all sorts of things; mostly, they guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife, a role they share with many spirits. However, they also collect difficult-to-control spirits, and serve the whims of the dead god who binds them. They can be summoned by their title, but are banished by the presence of gold. Dullahan are well-known for their horsemanship and riding skills, though in the modern day the utilize a variety of mounts.
Chrom Cruach, a particularly powerful Fae, ruled in central Ireland for centuries in the early Medieval period, taking sacrifices to increase his magical power. He knew many secrets of the Glamour, including strong, lasting curses. His chosen warrior, Dubh of Macroom, was cursed with eternal life, and beheaded by St. Peter before his god. But, as he was an honorable man, his curse was lifted from him and his soul was escorted by angels. The curse, however, was a malignant Glamour, tied to the spirit of its overthrown god. Still vengeful, the Dullahan claims unbaptised children and molds them into warriors - eventually resulting in their head falling off. Many victims of this curse roam the world searching for their lost heads, while others keep them under close control.
The method of decapitation of a Dullahan is a personal thing - some with a flare for magic separate their own bodies, while others suffer a fatal injury that they miraculously survive. Some leave bloody wounds where others leave lightless voids. Determine with the GM how you lost your head the first time.
Race: Dullahan. [4]
The following will be added to your character sheet automatically when you select the template.
- When someone spends a point of Leverage to call out to you, you can choose to roll versus Bravery to instantly go to them. After rolling, but before results are determined, you can spend any number of Leverage that you have on them to improve your roll (+1 per Leverage). On a critical fail, you have a mishap determined by the GM. On a fail, you don't manage to go anywhere. On a success, you appear at their side. On a critical success, you arrive and then take up to two seconds to assess the situation, and then you can immediately take them back to where you were. Flavor Requirement: How are you traveling? [0]
- Your True Name hits you at +3. The severity of your True Name is determined by your race, this feature can only be purchased as part of a racial template. [-2]
- Failures with Dexterity or Agility-based rolls are treated as Critical Failures for you, but not for the purpose of xp. [-4]
- You have disturbing features that mark you as a demon, vampire, or other supernatural being. You can pass for a normal mortal to casual observers, but closer inspection reveals that you are not quite right. This might give away your secret to the trained eye. [-5]
- Choose a type of magic; you can now spend points on the skills associated with it, in order to use active abilities of that type. You can only choose one. If you have any Passive Magic, the types must match. Each magic skill gives your character one magical ability of that type (but see also the feature: Extra Magic Ability) Flavor Requirement: For any magical skill you learn, you must write a description of how your character's ability works and any limitations they have. [0]
- You have an incapacitating supernatural reaction to an ordinarily innocuous substance. If you are exposed to it, you must immediately make a Pain Tolerance roll every minute. On a failure, your attributes all have a -5 penalty. Contact with the substance might also sting or burn you, weapons made of it might hurt you more, etc. [-4]
- You get +2 to Vehicles. [4]
- You get +2 to Pain Tolerance. [4]
- You get +1 to Animal Control. [2]
- You get +2 to Intimidation. [4]
- You can see perfectly well in complete darkness, just not in color. [4]
- You can see ghosts and spirits that are normally invisible to the human eye [1]