Chapter 3 - Quickening

Hey, it's a kind of magic!
-Connor

Quickening is the force that makes the immortals "special": that
mystical energy within them, that makes them immortal and gives them
their powers.  In this chapter, we will discuss what Quickening means
in the rules, and how immortals increase in power.

Quickening Dice

Throughout the discussion of the various powers, mention will be made
of rolling Quickening to perform some feat.  This behaves exactly as
with Spheres of power in Mage: roll a number of dice equal to your
Quickening, against a difficulty of six.  Count successes to find how
much benefit has been gained.

Quickening Powers

You can't drown, you fool!  You're immortal!
-Ramirez

The powers listed below are based off of various powers shown in the
Highlander movie and TV series.  They are loosely based off of various
powers listed in the Mage book, and occasionally make mention of the
power they were most similar to.

Next to each power is a mark of what level of Quickening is necessary
to first exhibit this power.

*	Sense Quickening - Some immortals gain this ability even
before they suffer their first death, since they still are considered
to have a Quickening of 1.  This ability is similar to the level 1
Prime spell Sense Quintessence (see Mage): using this ability, an
immortal will sense another immortal nearby.  No specific information
on the immortal's identity is given, nor is the location of the
immortal known, merely that the immortal is near.

Sense Quickening also allows the immortal to sense a Node ("holy
ground").  Likewise, an immortal can sometimes sense other beings with
free quintessence in them (such as Magi and Kindred), although a
perception roll may be necessary for this.  Usually, no roll is needed
for sensing holy ground, and sensing other immortals is usually left
to Storyteller's discretion to pick a dramatic moment.

*	Breathe Water - With this ability, immortals may survive
indefinitely underwater, drawing oxygen from the water.  This is not
the same as not breathing: it has been shown that immortals do
breathe, and that poison gas will affect them (although it cannot kill
them).

**	Empower Weapon - Often in both movie and series, the clash of
swords during a battle between to immortals is accompanied by
electrical discharge.  Using their Quickening, immortals can enfuse
their weapon with power, causing them to do more damage, and also
causing the discharges shown.  An immortal can empower any edged melee
weapon in this way (axe, sword, knife).  One additional damage success
is scored per success rolled (see Quickening Dice above for details).
Note: the extra damage done by Empower Weapon is aggravated, although
the normal damage done by the weapon is not.

Example: Duncan swings his trusty katana (difficulty 6, Strength + 5
damage), and hits.  He rolls Str 3 + 5 = 8 dice for damage, difficulty
6 (using the Vampire 2nd edition rules), to determine damage.  Since
his katana is empowered, however, he rolls an additional 5 dice for
his 5 Quickening, also against difficulty 6.  Any successes scored on
this roll count as aggravated damage.  The defended gets one soak roll
against both damages, and soaks aggravated first.

**	Heal Self - In Chapter Four, the "normal" healing chart for
immortals is given.  Using their Quickening, however, an immortal may
choose to heal even faster from wounds received.  By taking a round
and rolling Quickening, an immortal may heal a number of wound levels
equal to the successes rolled.  Note that this is done once per wound
only, the rest must heal normally.  Note also that if an immortal is
taken to incapacitated (or beyond) before he has a chance to heal, he
must first heal to crippled, then roll his dice in Heal Self.  Also,
aggravated wounds may not be healed in this manner, and must heal
according to the chart.

Example: Richie the new immortal gets in a fight with an unsuspecting
group of gang toughs, and after finishing them off he begins to
recover from his wounds. Three wounds (3/1/2 levels) for a total of
six wound levels (crippled).  He rolls his Quickening of 1, healing 1
from the first, healing the second, and getting no successes on the
third wound, over a period of three rounds.  The remaining four wound
levels must heal normally (which means he'll be fully healed in little
over a half hour). 

***	Empower Self - Using his Quickening, an immortal may increase
his physical attributes, by one for every success rolled.  The effect
lasts for an entire scene, and is usually done only during challenges.
After using Empower Self, an immortal will feel weak (-1 to dice pool)
for an hour or more.

Example: Connor squares off with Fasil, and the battle begins.  Connor
rolls his Quickening of 7, gaining four successes, and puts two points
into Stamina and two in Dexterity.  Fasil is in trouble.

****	Speed of the Stag - Like Empower Self, an immortal may use his
Quickening to increase his actions in a turn (much like the vampiric
discipline of Celerity).  One extra action may be gained per success
rolled, and the extra actions last for an entire scene.  As with
Empower Self, the immortal will feel weak for some time after using
this power. 

*****	Ignore Wounds - At this level, the immortal's recuperative
powers have become so potent that they no longer need spend time to
heal.  One wound level is healed each round, with no roll required
(although an immortal may still take a round to heal more, using the
level 2 power Heal Self).  Also at this level, an immortal may heal
aggravated wounds as if they were normal wounds, using Heal Self
above.  Aggravated wounds will often leave scars, however.

Example: The Kurgan, after ending the pitiful Ramirez's life and
taking his Quickening, stops to rest.  Ramirez had one lucky swing
that nearly took the Kurgan's head, doing four normal wounds and one
aggravated.  The four normal wound levels healed over the next four
rounds, and the Kurgan takes a round to heal the aggravated wound
after the battle is over.  A scar is left on his throat, however, to
remind him of how close Ramirez's blade came...

Gaining (and Losing) Quickening 

Immortals can only increase Quickening by taking another immortal's
head.  When they have successfully finished their opponent, they gain
the opponent's level in Quickening x 2 in "Quickening Experience".
Like study points in Mage, these are spent equally with experience to
increase an immortal's Quickening.  As outlined in the Experience
Chart (Chapter Four), it costs Current Level x 6 to increase
Quickening.  This is the only way to increase Quickening.  The victor
also gains one point in an ability, for each point of Quickening the
loser had.  These ability points come from the knowledge of the loser,
and must be placed in abilities that the loser had at a higher level
than the victor.  If the victor has higher scores in every ability of
the loser, the victor gains nothing.

Example: Frank Colt beheads Butra the assassin, and takes his
Quickening.  Frank has a Quickening of 2, and Butra had a Quickening
of 3.  Frank gets 3x2 = 6 Quickening Experience, which he uses with 6
"normal" experience to raise his Quickening to 3 (which costs 12
points).  He also gains three points in abilities, one each in three
areas where Butra had more skill than him.

There are two conditions under which an immortal may lose Quickening:
two on one, and holy ground, as discussed in Chapter One.  These are
handled in a very similar manner to the normal transfer of Quickening,
but will result in more than one "loser".

If two immortals fight a third and take his head, then one of the
immortals who has emerged victorious will absorb all of the Quickening
from the experience: all of the loser's and ONE of his partner's.
Thus, he gains (loser+1)x2 in Quickening Experience, and his partner
loses one point in Quickening (if he only has one, he dies from the
experience).  The partner also loses one point in an ability, which
also goes to the victor (the storyteller picks which ability, but it
has to be one that the victor is inferior to his partner in).  This
loss of power and knowledge keeps even the friendliest of immortals
from agreeing to be a partner...

Holy ground is a similar situation, and in fact counts as the "victor"
in any contest.  The Node gains (loser+1)x2 in Quickening Experience
toward increasing the power of the Node, and the winner of the battle
loses one point of Quickening, and also loses one point in an ability
(again, the ability lost is chosen by the storyteller).  Since there
is never a victor in a battle on holy ground, no immortal will fight
there.

Example: If Frank had beheaded Butra the assassin on holy ground (in
this instance, a Node with strength 2) the Node would gain (3+1)x2 = 8
Quickening experience (almost enough to turn it into a Node of 3), and
Frank would lose 1 Quickening (taking him to 1) and 1 point in some
ability.  Bad move for Frank.

The Side Effects of Quickening

Quickening is the lifeforce of an immortal, and can only be taken by
removing his head.  In the World of Darkness, there are many other
ways to remove someone's power, none of which will easily succeed against
an immortal.  Some examples include:

*	Vampires gain no sustenance from drinking the blood of an
immortal, and cannot kill him by doing so (although they can drive the
immortal to incapacitated).  The blood is worthless to them.

*	Magi cannot use Prime effects to remove Quintessence from an
immortal, or to destroy it (a la Flames of Purification, Prime 4).  An
immortal's pattern is immutable.  The immortal gains his Quickening in
automatic countermagick sucesses to resist any Prim effect directed against
him.  The one exception is when an immortal loses his head: if a Mage with
talent in Prime is present, he can in fact automatically become the "victor"
(see above), stealing the loser's Quickening as Quintessence, and gaining a
point of the winner's as well.  The Mage gains no ability from the experience,
but the 'winner' still loses one point in some ability (again, see above).

*	Likewise, Immortals are practically immune to any effects of the
Life sphere, or the healing discipline of Obeah (see Mage and the Vampire
Player's Guide, respectively), whether the effect is beneficial or not.
Assume their Quickening in automatic successes, to resist any effect or
counter any successes rolled against them.

*	An immortal's mind, spirit, and body are tightly held by their
Quickening.  Although mind effects (the Mind sphere, Dominate, or
Presence) may affect the immortal, his mind cannot be pulled from his
body, nor may his spirit be removed without his head being removed
first.  This is not a contested roll, this is automatic.
