Table of Contents

Hunter Backgrounds and their changes

In Shadows over the south, lots of home brewing has had to be done to make Hunters work. They lack a clean 20th edition, and they are a very background heavy faction. Which doesn't always work when the backgrounds are more for RP and don't have a clear mechanical goal that can't be fixed by simply asking the council for help. As such, many of the backgrounds have had to be changed or home-brewed to work better in this setting. Most however, have had to be banned due to a multitude of reason. Most of which should be listed on the side of the ban.

Main book backgrounds

Archives

Arsenal

Levels Anything above level 3 and without proper licensing (See Certificate background) is considered illegal. Level 5 is outright illegal and may result in raids on your home.

  1. Dot: Knives, bats and other homemade weapons
  2. Dot: Handguns, rifles, shotguns, legal to obtain in FL
  3. Dot: NFA Items (Supressors, SBRs/SBSs, etc. slightly harder to obtain+$300 tax stamp)
  4. Dot: Machine Guns (This requires even more paperwork and is a complete pain to obtain. Takes up to or over a year after paying for the gun which is already tens of thouands of dollars)
  5. Dot: Destructive Devices and AOWs (Good Luck obtaining these)

Bystanders

Destiny

Exposure

Exposure functions like the lore system, needing a roll of intelligence/wits + exposure dots. HOWEVER, with this system, you will get unreliable data and information based on your own experiences of the hunt and talks with other hunters. It will never be as good as lores, but allows players to properly reflect an experienced hunter in their knowledge and RP.

Patron

Creed Backgrounds

Zeal

Avengers

Berserk
Banned, too similar to the berserk merit, which is already banned. If you want to be an angry warrior of God take the Hatred flaw or the Vengeful flaw.
Cult
Banned, what the Cult can do background wise is the same as contacts and allies. It's just a re-flavoured Bystander, to be honest.
Pawn
Banned, if you want to have someone who benefits or support your hunt represent it in resources and contact dots. Really, it's also unworkable in this setting.

Defender

Fraternity
See Pawn

Iron willed
Replaced with Increased Pain Threshold (3pt. Merit) and Insensible to pain (5pt. Merit) and requires a lot of justification to take either.

Stronghold
Nothing changed, but you will need to justify dots in Safehouse going forward with dots in Craft, Fianance or allies who are craftsman. All hunters may take this background too.

Judge

Database
Allowed, but does not function the same as contacts. In fact, both maybe required to have the former be effective.

Grace under pressure
Banned, Incompatible with the current Init system, but maybe revisited in the future.

Soulmate
Banned, Replaced by the “True Love” merit

Mercy

Innocents

Continued Exposure

Everyman
While functionally similar to Arcane or anonymity; Everyman represents the ability to blend into your social environment. You're the Peter Parker among the school jocks and bullies. Able to slip by without being noticed. However, like Arcane certain backgrounds may require extra justification with this background active. These include:

Roots
Must be rolled when called for and your group must be specified in your sheet/backstory.

Visionary

Hermit

Animal Companion
Animals maybe played by PCs but to be played in scenes should show up on your sheet and have their own dedicated sheets.