Martyrs are compelled to destroy the unknown and the monstrous, but they can't escape the knowledge that their quarry has (or had) human feelings just as they do. Avengers have a definite us/ them mind-set. Martyrs don't have that luxury. They understand all too well the emotions and motivations of the intolerable. Yet, for all their empathy, followers of this primary path hunt with an almost self-destructive fury.
Martyrs can understand the misery of a compulsive predator, because they are the same. They know that these hideous beings, whose very appearance fills a Martyr with repulsion and disgust, might have once been fully human. Martyrs are therefore miserable with their role, but know that if they pursue it, fewer others will have to share their fate.
Every Martyr longs for the day when hunters are obsolete.

 

O      DEMAND
Martyrs, by definition, are willing to hurt themselves to save another's life or to hurt an enemy. This willingness to chase even Pyrrhic victory is reflected in Demand. Your character is willing to exhaust himself in a desperate bid to accomplish amazing deeds; he puts his all into an action and receives might born from purity of purpose. Martyrs' willingness to sacrifice themselves simply invigorates them with energy and power.

System: Your character can perform an amazing feat of strength at the cost of his own health. Mark a level of bashing damage on your character's Health chart. The damage cannot be soaked. You can now add Mercy to Strength for any roll or action performed that turn, whether it be a roll to inflict brawl or melee damage, an effort to lift an object, or a Strength + Athletics roll to perform a stunt. Willpower cannot be used to further bolster this roll, although Conviction points can be risked in any Strength-related roll made.
If Demand is used to increase the damage inflicted with an attack, your character must suffer a bashing health level before the attack is made. If it fails, the health level is still lost, even though no damage roll is made. The punch or swing is still potentially devastating, but doesn't find its mark.
Demand cannot be combined with other attack or physical-action-based edges in the same turn.

 

O O      WITNESS
Witness allows your character to recognize the nature of supernatural creatures in her presence. It also gives her a glimpse of specified creatures' relationships with mankind.

System: This edge expands upon the capabilities of second sight. A creature that seems wrong with second sight, but not in any perceptible way - a warlock, a shapechanger in human form, a bloodsucker imitating life signs - is revealed to your character. The monster's horrific side is clear on a successful Perception + Mercy roll, difficulty 6. To your character's eyes, the creature's most horrific aspect flashes across its face. This sight persists for 10 minutes for each success rolled; any creature observed in that time is revealed for what it really is. Witness can therefore be used in conjunction with or can replace the need for second sight while this edge is in effect. Duration can be extended for another 10 minutes for each Conviction point spent. The power can be deactivated at will. Witness provides no mind- or body-control protection.
Additionally, for each success scored after the first in the edge roll, your character can momentarily witness one previous contact had between a human and a monster in your character's presence. The first contact viewed is usually the most recent, and each viewed thereafter occurred further back in time. If multiple monsters are present, your character may choose which is "studied," or recent flashes may be taken from a variety of creatures.
Visions might reveal attacks, such as feeding, or could reveal a passionate or poignant meeting, depending on who was contacted. The Storyteller creates the vision, which can be clear or distorted; participants may be obvious or confused. The image is visual only and is virtually instantaneous. Sometimes such visions suggest regret or even mercy in creatures' attacks, a hint at their true nature.
Witness seems to conjure no images of humans' or hunters' acts, but it does for those people who possess powers or gifts bestowed by unnatural creatures.

 

O O O      RAVAGE
No one's quite sure what the hell happens when a hunter cuts loose with this edge. It seems to produce a roiling heat-haze. This gas (for lack of a better term) pours out of or from your character and travels where he gestures. Physical matter seems unaffected, but supernatural creatures react violently. It seems to corrupt and decay their very bodies. Not even intangible creatures are safe.
Ravage has no physical effect on human targets, but it causes deep emotional trauma: headaches, depression, terrified fugues and uncontrolled weeping. As for wielders of Ravage themselves, the power makes them sick. Stomach pains, coughing, blurred vision and vomiting are all associated with the edge.
Martyrs describe the power as, "Tearing something open - like injuring the world. It hurts us, it hurts them but it hurts them worse."

System: Roll Manipulation + Mercy, difficulty 7. Range is your character's Mercy in yards. If the target is human, the number of successes rolled indicates the number of turns that person is stunned with horror. He suffers no physical damage, and can still dodge or flee, but cannot attack your character or anyone else. (Particularly tough individuals might be allowed a Willpower roll, difficulty 8, to attempt to perform a particular action.) Another hunter targeted by Ravage goes unaffected if his Conviction defence is active. If not, he is treated like a normal human victim.
If the target is a supernatural creature, it suffers a level of lethal damage for each success rolled. Even intangible opponents are affected, including ones that possess physical hosts.
Every time this edge is used, your character suffers one level of bashing damage that cannot be soaked.

 

O O O O      DONATE
A hunter far along the Martyrdom path can blur the lines between herself and others. Her sense of self becomes so diffused that it's possible to lend that "self" to others for their use. The most obvious loan is physical potency or speed, but less tangible capacities can be donated as well. One Martyr has likened the experience to another person walking a mile in her shoes – while she's still in them.
Your character can make this "loan" to any willing person whom she can touch. The exchange is immediate, though not always complete.
If physical qualities are lent, your character is weakened commensurably. Lending mental acuity is a bit more complex: The donor's intellect and attention are literally split between herself and the recipient. This "split attention" can function almost like a two-way radio, with no known limit to the distance separating the two parties. The biggest restriction is time: Your character can share of herself for a limited period.

System: Spend two Conviction points and roll Mercy + the Attribute you want to lend. The difficulty is 7. Your character loses a number of points from that Attribute equal to the number of successes you roll, up to a limit that you stipulate or up to your character's full Attribute score. The recipient gains the same number of points in the same Trait. Any Attribute can be donated, except Appearance. No other Traits - Abilities, Backgrounds - can be conferred with this edge, and no more than one Attribute can be shared at one time.
Donating Physical Attributes is fairly straightforward: Your character's rating is reduced while the subject's is increased. If a Mental Attribute is shared, the two characters can speak to each other telepathically for the duration of the donation; the recipient can use your character's mind as a sort of "parallel processor." If a Social Attribute is donated, telepathic communication is not possible, but both people have a vague sense of how the other feels emotionally.
If your character donates all of one Attribute, she passes out and remains unconscious until the edge wears off. You as a player may continue to advise the recipient in terms of the Trait shared, and as far the as the Storyteller allows. You can contribute solutions to problems if Wits is shared, or suggest emotions to play upon in social situations if Manipulation is lent, but you probably can't advise another player how to do research in either case, because Intelligence hasn't been shared.
The duration of a donation is determined with the following chart:

Successes               Rolled Duration
1-2                                  Two turns
3-4                                  The rest of the scene
5-6                                  Five hours
7-8                                 One day
9-10                              Three days

 

If your character is conscious, he can cancel donation at any time. However, the recipient cannot choose to "give back" a borrowed Trait at any time; the lender must take it willingly.
If your character becomes Incapacitated while sharing, a donation continues until she regain consciousness. If your character is killed with dots lent out, the recipient loses them immediately. If the receiver dies, your character loses all donated dots, permanently. If you botch the donation roll, your character could lose one point of the Trait in question, permanently, or the Storyteller can devise another mishap. Hunters are already disturbed people. Would the identity of one trapped in the body of another really be acknowledged as anything more than schizophrenia?

 

O O O O O      PAYBACK
Your character can impose human, mortal limitations and vulnerabilities upon inhuman opponents. He can also rob such beings of their powers. All your hunter has to do is lock his gaze with a supernatural enemy's and concentrate on the specific way he wants to cut that being down to size. The Martyr imposes a righteous moral punishment upon the creature.

System: To inflict a human limitation upon a super- natural being (say, to make a dead thing need to breathe to survive, or a ghost to assume physical form), spend five Conviction points and roll Manipulation + Mercy, difficulty of the target's Stamina +4. If you get even one success, the creature suffers that vulnerability until it leaves your character's presence. (In the case of truly powerful opponents, the Storyteller may impose a higher difficulty to your roll, and may grant a resisted roll, say Willpower, to the creature.) Only one human "failing" can be imposed on a single creature at one time. The circumstances and the Storyteller often determine the immediate results of making a supernatural "mortal" again. Food, not blood, might be required for sustenance. Human form might become the only one a creature can assume. A spirit might become as physical and fragile as he was in life.
Now, an ages-old creature does not turn to dust because it's suddenly mortal, but it could perhaps be destroyed forever by conventional means. Also, beware granting monsters the strengths of being human. What bloodsucker would not relish withstanding the sun again? She might even ensure your character's constant presence by capturing him.
This power can also be used to deny a creature use of a certain supernatural power. To do this, you have to specify what the beast is prevented from doing: "I want it to stop moving so fast." "I don't want it fading away again!" "I don't want it to be able to turn invisible." Assuming the Storyteller knows what power you refer to, she sets the difficulty - usually the creature's Willpower rating or Stamina +3. If you get even a single success, the creature cannot use that capability until it leaves your character's presence. Only one power can be denied a creature at one time, and a monstrosity cannot be assigned a human weakness and be stripped of a capability simultaneously.
If your character is conscious, she may revoke human weaknesses or reinstate supernatural powers at will, even if she is still in the presence of the victim. If your character is Incapacitated, the effects of Payback fail immediately. And, of course, if a creature manages to leave your character's presence and return, all bets are off. Payback must be used
again to impose a human frailty or to strip a monster of the same power previously removed.