The Cheesemaster

Cheesemasters learn how to handle cheese. This Discipline stresses moderation, patience, and mold. A mercantile Discipline, it also stresses interpersonal communication. Many Cheesemasters develop preternatural senses of smell and tactile taste to better enhance the flavor of their product.

Important Attributes:

Toughness, Willpower, and Charisma.

Racial Restrictions:

Obsidimen (Obsidimen don't "get" cheese).

Karma Ritual:

The Cheesemaster lays out a dinner setting on a cloth along the ground or on an appropriate table. A hunk of savory cheese is taken out, and the Cheesemaster engraves the cheese with various problems that are facing their life, things they shouldn't have said, and mistakes they want to learn from. They then melt the cheese in a special pot, meditating on the shapes of the cheese as it melts, and watching how the engraved carvings slip away. When the cheese is fully melted, the Cheesemaster pours the cheese into a new mold, now free of any carvings. The ritual is complete as soon as the cheese hardens.

Artisan Skills:

Cheese carving, painting, cheese sculpture

Quote:

"There is nothing, nothing like a good cheese. Stirring the pot, coaxing the froth from the top faster and faster until only the true cheese remains, that is when I am at peace.
I am as one with all cheese, a great, single, unstoppable force of processed dairy product. Wherever cheese is eaten, there, too, goes the power of the Cheesemaster. Here, have some cheddar."

Talents with a * are new Talents, described below. Talents with a % are Discipline Talents.

First Circle

Talents


Avoid Blow
Cheese Bond*%
Enliven Cheese*%
Karma Ritual
Melee Weapons
Cheese History*

Second Circle

Talents


Cheese Share*%
Durability (6/5)
Read and Write Languages%

Third Circle

Talents


Haggle
Speak Languages

Fourth Circle

Karma


The Cheesemaster can spend Karma on Charisma Tests.

Talents


Cheeseblood*%
Thread Weaving (Cheese Weaving)%

Fifth Circle

Spell Defense


Increase the Cheesemaster's Spell Defense by 1.

Talents


Cheese Speaking*%
Sense Poison%

Sixth Circle

Ability


Evaluate Cheese: The Cheesemaster makes a Cheese History Test against the Spell Defense of the cheese. A successful test reveals the type, flavor, and age of the cheese, as well as its market value. If the Cheesemaster cannot eat the cheese while doing so, each use of Evaluate Cheese will cost 1 Strain.

Talents


Conceal Cheese*
Heal Cheese*

Seventh Circle

Social Defense


Increase the Cheesemaster's Social Defense by 1.

Talents


Dominate Cheese*%
Durability (Cheese)*

Eighth Circle

Social Defense


Increase the Cheesemaster's Social Defense by 1.

Talents


Reshape Cheese*
Taunt

Ninth Circle

Initiative


Increase the Cheesemaster's Initiative Step by 1.

Talents


Cold Purify
Resist Taunt
Temperature

Tenth Circle

Special Ability


Detect Cheese: For the cost of 1 Strain, the Cheesemaster may attempt to find any cheese within 100 yards of their position. The Cheesemaster makes a Cheese Speaking Test against the Spell Defense of any cheese in range, or the Spell Defense of any protective cuppord the cheese may be in.

Talents


Poison Resistance%
Temper Cheese*%

Eleventh Circle

Physical Defense


Increase the Physical Defense of the Cheesemaster by 1. The Cheesemaster gets another Recovery Test each day.

Talents


Lip Reading
Missile Weapons (hey, all Disciplines have to have one really stupid high Circle Talent allocation)

Twelfth Circle

Special Ability


The Cheesemaster may spend a Karma point to increase the damage of any attack made with cheese.

Talents


Animate Cheese*
Cheese Frenzy*

Thirteenth Circle

Karma


The Cheesemaster may spend a Karma point on any action using Dexterity or Perception.

Talents


Shield Cheese*%
Life Check

Fourteenth Circle

Karma Pool


Increase the Cheesemaster's maximum Karma Pool by 25. Increase the Cheesemaster's Social Defense by 2.

Talents


Multi-Cheese*%
First Circle of Perfection

Fifteenth Circle

Special Ability


Cheeseface: By taking two points of permanent damage, the Cheesemaster may turn his head into a large round of cheese, permanently. The Cheesemaster gains a +2 Step bonus to all Cheese Speaking and Enliven Cheese Tests by doing this, but there better be something else to make up for the obvious disadvantages of being a cheesehead.

Talents


Second Chance
Soul Shatter% (Heh.)

NEW TALENTS

Animate Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

2

Discipline:

None
Animate Cheese allows the character to control and move cheese. The character may make cheese-shaped people, dragons, boats, or what have you. The result of the Animate Cheese Test is the number of pounds of cheese that may be successfully animated with one use of the talent. The gamemaster must use their discretion in deciding the statistics of an animated cheese golem, but such creatures are certainly going to at least be very tasty.

Cheese Bond

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

2

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Cheese Bond creates a bond of trust between the character and a piece of cheese. The character must keep the cheese and work with it for a week previous to each use of the Cheese Bond talent, treating the cheese well during this time. The character then makes a Cheese Bond Test against the cheese's Spell Defense. Success means the character has successfully bonded with the cheese, and the cheese may now be used in important rituals, for santified means, and so forth. Characters may track any cheese they've bonded with by making a Perception Test against the Spell Defense of the cheese; success indicates what direction the cheese lies, but not how far away it is. There is no practical limit to the range of Cheese Bond.

Cheese Frenzy

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

1

Discipline:

None
Cheese Frenzy allows the character to create cheese out of thin air. Each round the character may create a number of pounds of cheese equal to the result of the Cheese Frenzy Test. This cheese may be anything the character so desires and has tasted before. The cheese created is always fresh, if a bit wet. The character must sacrifice a Recovery Test to use Cheese Frenzy. The created cheese cannot appear inside an enemy's body, for instance, but otherwise can appear anywhere close to the character -- for each yard away from the character the cheese appears, one pound less of cheese appears. Use the Cheese Frenzy Test as the Attack Test if the character desires to suddenly have twenty pounds of hard cheese appear above someone's head.

Cheese History

Step Number:

Rank + Perception

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

None

Discipline:

None
The Cheese History Talent allows a character to learn the history of a piece of cheese, either enchanted or mundane. The character must carry the cheese on their person for at least a week, studying it carefully for one hour each day. At the end of seven nights of study, the character makes a Cheese History Test against the Spell Defense of the cheese. The success level determines the amount of knowledge gained, just as per the Item History or Weapon History Talents.

Cheese Share

Step Number:

Rank + Cheese's Toughness

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

1

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Cheese Share allows a character to heal one piece of cheese by transferring damage it has taken to another piece of cheese. The character must touch each of the two cheeses to be so affected, and the Cheese Share Test must beet the Spell Defense of both cheeses. Success indicates a number of damage points are taken from one cheese and applied to the other, but never more than the actual damage taken by the first cheese. Characters may also use this Talent to blend exciting, new tastes in experimental cheese, since it requires an Excellent Success level to not mix in the flavor of the "healing" cheese being used to the wounded cheese.

Cheese Speaking

Step Number:

Rank + Perception

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

1

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Cheese Speaking allows the character to speak in the universal language of cheese. A character may use this in two ways. One is to communicate to cheese itself. This is a slow but rewarding process. Another option is to use Cheese Speaking along with the Cheese Bond Talent: the character may talk to anyone touching any cheese they've Cheese Bonded with. In either case, a successful Cheese Speaking Test must be made against the Spell Defense of the person the character is trying to talk to.

Cheeseblood

Step Number:

Rank + Toughness

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

None

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Cheeseblood turns the character's blood into hot, yummy cheese. The character must use a Recovery Test to use Cheeseblood. Each use of Cheeseblood will heal a number of damage points equal to the result of the Cheeseblood Test, as the clingy, spicy cheese pulls wounds shut and protects fragile bones. After the healing is done, the character's blood returns to normal, although a faint taste of mozzerella remains in the mouth.

Conceal Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Dexterity

Action:

Yes

Skill:

Yes

Karma:

No

Strain:

1

Discipline:

None
Conceal Cheese uses illusion, slight-of-hand trickery, and outride elemental cheese manipulation to hide cheese on the character's possession from unwanted attention. The character may hide a pound of cheese for each rank of Conceal Cheese that they have. The Conceal Cheese Test is made against the Spell Defense of any interested parties who may be searching the character for cheese; a success means the villains find nothing.

Dominate Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower + 3

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

2

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Dominate Cheese allows the character to control the actions of cheese with their very willpower alone! Dominate Cheese can be used on any cheese within the character's sight. A successful Dominate Cheese Test, made against the Spell Defense of the target cheese, will put the cheese under the complete control of the character. Note that the character cannot make a cheese do anything that it could not already do in its current form with this power; doing such requires the Animate Cheese Talent.

Durability (Cheese)

Step Number:

Rank

Action:

NA

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

None

Discipline:

None
Durability (Cheese) is a Talent that grants additional toughness to a piece of cheese. Each rank of Durability (Cheese) increases the cheese's Death Rating by 4 and its Unconsciousness by 3. A character may only use Durability (Cheese) on those cheeses they have already successfully Cheese Bonded with, and the character must be touching the cheese for the extra Durability to work.

Enliven Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Charisma

Action:

Yes

Skill:

Yes

Karma:

No

Strain:

None

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Enliven Cheese makes any cheese into a lively and sprighty addition to a meal. A successful Enliven Cheese Test will turn any sort of cheese into just the right supplemental course to any meal. The character makes the Enliven Cheese Test against the Social Defense of those who will be eating the cheese, or the Spell Defense of the cheese, whichever is greater. Success means the cheese really tastes great, and those eating the cheese have their friendship ranking raised one degree towards the character. Enliven Cheese takes a half-hour to do.

Heal Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Toughness

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

None

Discipline:

None
Heal Cheese allows the character to give up one of their Recovery Tests to heal a piece of cheese. The character must be touching the piece of cheese that has been wounded, and the result of the Heal Cheese Test is the amount of damage the wounded cheese recovers. In no case can the cheese receive back more damage points than it lost.

Multi-Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Dexterity

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

1

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Multi-Cheese allows the character to as many things with a piece of cheese as they have Ranks of Multi-Cheese. A character with Rank 6 Multi-Cheese could, for instance, make six cheese sandwiches at the same time, watch over six vats of processing cheese at once, or keep the distinct and unique taste of six different cheeses each being eaten at the same time. Use the Multi-Cheese Step Number to resolve any possible Tests that might come up in the use of this power.

Reshape Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No

Strain:

None

Discipline:

None
The Talent Reshape Cheese allows the character to change the shape of any cheese they can see. A simple Reshape Cheese Test against the Spell Defense of the cheese in question will turn the cheese into any number of useful shapes, messages, or what have you. Note that this Talent does not create extra cheese; to do that requires the Cheeze Frenzy Talent.

Shield Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Perception

Action:

No

Skill:

No

Karma:

Yes

Strain:

1

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
Shield Cheese allows the character to tap into the protective power of cheese to save their own bacon. A specialized form of the Cheese Frenzy Talent, Shield Cheese creates a nice hard circle of cheese between the character and an attacker. The cheese is quite absorbant and very tasty. If the Shield Cheese Test is equal to the Attack Test, the Shield Cheese absorbs the blow entirely, often resulting in a horrible mess.

Temper Cheese

Step Number:

Rank + Willpower

Action:

Yes

Skill:

No

Karma:

No Strain: None

Discipline:

Cheesemaster
The Talent Temper Cheese allows the character to toughen cheese to make it more resistant to physical attacks. The character draws icy ether from astral space and rolls the chilling substance over the cheese. This ritual requires one half-hour of intense meditation by both the character and the target cheese. The character makes a Temper Cheese Test against the Toughness step of the cheese. Success means the cheese's Death Rating, Wound Threshold, and Unconsciousness Ratings all increase by the rank of the character's Temper Cheese Talent. These increases last for 24 hours from the end of the ritual. If the Temper Cheese Test fails, the target cheese automatically takes a number of Damage Points equal to its Wound Threshold, most likely shattering the cheese and making it only useful for salad toppings and grater use. Note that Temper Cheese does make the cheese rather hard and unpalatable to eat, and only the most foolish of characters would use Temper Cheese in a Tainted or Corrupted Zone, lest they risk Horror Cheese.

This new Discipline was graciously contributed by David R. Henry, (dhenry@plains.nodak.edu). HTML conversion by Janne Jalkanen, unfortunately lost; reformatted 2020-2 by Lars Gottlieb.