Guide to Tokens
Leave a coin too long in the Hedge and it becomes a gambler's best friend. Swear enough pledges on a witch-stone and it learns to see through lies. These are tokens: objects so saturated with Wyrd magic — through time spent in the Thorns, through oaths sworn upon them, through the hands of the Gentry — that they have become something more than what they were. They are the physical residue of fae existence in the world.
Tokens are among the most valuable things in changeling society. They grant access to powers the Lost might not otherwise have, hold pledges within their material, and occasionally offer something that feels like a heart's desire. Nothing about them is free. Every token has a price.
The Anatomy of a Token
Every token has four elements:
Mask and Mien. In its dormant state, a token appears mundane — often worn, broken, or overlooked. A compass that doesn't work. A cracked horn. A worn playing card. This is its Mask. When activated, the token reveals its true fae nature to anyone who can see through the Mask. A broken compass blooms into bright silver with a needle of wickedly sharp thorn. A cracked steer's horn becomes a massive ram's horn inlaid with gold. The Mask is always plausible; the mien is always strange.
The Effect. What the token does when active. Tokens stay active for the scene by default unless the effect specifies otherwise.
The Catch. An alternative to paying the Glamour activation cost. Anyone can use a token's catch — not just fae creatures. It always involves some personal sacrifice or specific condition. A mortal who stumbles across a token and happens to meet its catch can use it as readily as a changeling. This is deliberate. The Wyrd does not reserve its magic for the worthy.
The Drawback. An unavoidable consequence of using the token. No amount of magic or trickery circumvents the drawback. Using a token means agreeing to its terms. The Wyrd always exacts its price.
Activation
Spend 1 instant action + 1 Glamour to activate a token. The effect lasts for the scene unless specified otherwise.
Iron destroys tokens. Contact with cold iron destroys a token completely, no roll required.
Non-fae and tokens. Anyone can use a token if they can pay the cost. A mortal using a catch activates the token as readily as a changeling spending Glamour. However, a mortal trying to figure out how to deliberately operate a token without being told requires an extended Intelligence + Occult roll, accumulating successes equal to double the token's dot rating, with each roll representing an hour of research and experimentation. A dramatic failure at any point shatters the token. Accidental activation by mortals is common — fae magic has a strange pull, and a mortal might rub a lucky coin just right without knowing what they're doing.
Token Ratings
Tokens are rated from one to five dots, reflecting their power and rarity. The rating affects how they're created, how much they cost as a Merit, and how significant their effects are.
A token's dot rating is also its Merit cost — with one exception: tokens stolen from the Fae cost one Merit dot fewer than their rating (minimum one dot), reflecting the reduced expense of taking rather than making. However, using a stolen token carries its own ongoing price (see Stolen Tokens below).
Oath-forged tokens cost one Merit dot more than their rating, because the link they create between oathsworn participants makes them both more powerful and more dangerous to lose.
How Tokens Are Created
There are three ways to come by a token deliberately, each with different tradeoffs in time, control, and risk.
Hedge-Forging (Marinating)
The simplest method. Take something personally meaningful into the Thorns and leave it somewhere off the path. The object absorbs the ambient energies of the Hedge over time. The changeling's emotional associations with the object shape what the token becomes — but the Wyrd has the final say.
The object must matter. A lucky coin, a parent's keepsake, a lock of a lover's hair. A scrap of clothing that snagged on a thornbush during a flight from Arcadia might become a war-banner months later. The personal weight of the object determines the power of the result; a love letter from a childhood crush has less potential than a love letter from a spouse who died while you were gone.
System: The token's dot rating equals the number of full chapters the object spends in the Hedge. At the end of that time, the ST rolls a dice pool equal to that number of chapters. If the roll succeeds, the token was found or stolen while sitting unguarded. The player takes a Beat and must investigate to get it back. Add one die to the ST's pool if the changeling failed a concealment roll, or two dice on a dramatic failure.
Two risks attend this method: the token may be taken while it marinates (by goblins, privateers, Huntsmen, or other Lost), and the deeper into the Thorns the hiding spot, the greater the risk of losing yourself or the object entirely.
Oath-Forging (By This I Swear)
The more deliberate method. Changelings swear oaths upon an object until the accumulated Wyrd magic transforms it into a token. Unlike Hedge-forging, this lets participants actively shape the token's nature by choosing what kinds of oaths they swear upon it. Motley pacts create binding, unifying tokens. Hostile oaths suit weapons. Oaths of knowledge and cunning suit tools of investigation.
System: The item must have (desired dot rating × 3) oaths sworn upon it. A five-dot token requires fifteen oaths. A four-dot token requires twelve. The oaths do not all need to involve the same participants.
What oath-forged tokens do additionally:
- Oaths sworn upon the token reward those who honor them: once per chapter, when a participant takes a dangerous or risky action in service to fulfilling the spirit of the oath, she recovers Glamour equal to the token's dot rating
- The token's dot rating adds to its Structure, making it harder to destroy
- Anyone holding the token can spend Glamour to learn the terms and participants of the last oath sworn upon it that they didn't already know
- A fae creature holding the token can spend Glamour to add dice equal to its dot rating when rolling to track, find, or affect any of the oathsworn with Contracts or other magic
This last point is the danger. An oath-forged token is a link — not just to its power, but to every person who swore upon it. Motleys and courts guard these tokens jealously. Allowing someone new to use one is a matter of significant trust. A missing oath-forged token can send a freehold into crisis, with every changeling suspecting every other of conspiracy.
Stolen from the Fae
The most powerful source, and the most dangerous. True Fae tokens are objects of incredible rarity — the Gentry swear strange, byzantine oaths upon things they may not even remember they own, and these objects carry that power. A token stolen from a Keeper might be an empty photo frame gathering dust in an attic, or the manacle a changeling broke from her own wrist on the way out.
System: Stolen tokens cost one Merit dot fewer than their rating (minimum one). However, every time the character uses the token, she gains the Paranoid Condition. If she already has it, it upgrades to the Hunted Condition.
The Gentry will come for it. A True Fae will stop at nothing to recover stolen property, even if it didn't know the item was gone before it was taken. Whole freeholds have endured a Wild Hunt over a hairbrush. A token given as a gift by a Keeper is an even more poisoned apple — it plans to get it back, one way or another.
Hedgespun Items
Hedgespun items are a special category. They are a kind of token, but they work differently from all others.
- No activation required. They are always active.
- No Glamour cost. No catch.
- Always on. The effect is constant, not scene-based.
Hedgespun items always have a beautiful or impressive Mask — a cape of starlight looks like a fine black coat with a shiny lining; a dress of dancing flames appears as a bold sequined evening gown; Glamour armor always resembles some form of protective gear.
For each dot of its rating, a Hedgespun item gains one of the following benefits (any benefit may stack up to three times):
- +1 equipment bonus, armor rating, Defense Rating, or weapon damage modifier (Extraordinary Equipment)
- +2 to the user's Initiative and Speed (Improved Alacrity)
- +1 Durability (Increased Durability)
Drawback (universal to all Hedgespun items): They are flashy. Any roll to go unnoticed in plain sight or deflect attention while using one automatically fails, granting a Beat to the player. Additionally, Hedgespun items become uncooperative with non-fae users — chafing, operating erratically, or imposing a −1 penalty on tasks requiring concentration or social interaction.
A Note on Goblins and Lost Tokens
Tokens circulate. They get stolen, traded, lost, inherited, and stolen again. The Hedge is full of goblins who collect dream trinkets and sell them from carts of obsidian and ivory. Privateers steal tokens to fuel Contracts. An escaping changeling might snatch a blossoming token from a thornbush, mistaking it for something left for her by allies.
Players and STs should work together to decide how each token a character carries fits into their story. The origin of a token matters: a Hedge-forged token made from a beloved object carries different weight than one stolen from a monster, and both differ from one forged through years of sworn promises. The mechanics are the same. The meaning isn't.
Quick Reference
| Creation Method | Rating = | Control Over Effect | Key Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hedge-forged | Chapters left in Thorns | Low (object choice only) | Theft during marination |
| Oath-forged | (dots × 3) oaths required | High (oath type shapes token) | Link to oathsworn; costs +1 Merit dot |
| Stolen from Fae | As found; costs −1 Merit dot | None | Paranoid/Hunted Condition on use; Gentry pursuit |
| Hedgespun | 1–5 dots | Designed deliberately | Always visible; non-fae penalty |
Activation: Instant action + 1 Glamour; or meet the catch (anyone can do this)
Duration: One scene, unless specified
Iron: Destroys any token instantly
Non-fae learning to use a token: Extended Intelligence + Occult; (dot rating × 2) total successes; one hour per roll; dramatic failure = token shatters
Stolen token use: Paranoid Condition each use; upgrades to Hunted if already Paranoid