Secret of the Addiction
Your character is addicted to a substance or behavior. You cannot refresh any pools if it has been longer than a day since your character took part in this addiction. In addition, your character can never refresh Vigor normally: instead, he only refreshes Vigor through taking part in this addiction. This refreshment can only happen once per day, but there is a boon. Your character can take part in the addiction, however, as often you like, and one point of Vigor is returned each time. You can break this addiction. The character must abstain from the substance or behavior. At the end of each day doing so, make a Stay Up roll. If the roll is successful for five straight days, the addiction is broken. If any roll is failed, start over. The secret is kept and if the character ever takes part in the addiction again, it returns.
Secret of Blessing
With a successful Pray ability check, your character may bless the actions of a group. You must state a specific goal for them to accomplish. Your success level with this ability check is a pool of bonus dice any member of this group can use in accomplishing this task. Cost: 1 Vigor.
Secret of the Bodhisavatta
You must have at least one ability ranked at Grand Master to take this Secret. When you roll a Transcendent success level, you do not have to have your character transcend. Your character can deny herself of perfection and will stay chained to this life. Roll a penalty die immediately. You can keep rolling penalty dice until you are no longer Transcendent. Cost: Take a level one harm associated with the ability per penalty die.
Secret of the Tree Witch
While in the wilderness, your character automatically receive a bonus die for any Healing Checks. Cost: none.
Secret of Contacts
Your character knows all sorts of people in all sorts of places. You can use this Secret for your character to automatically have a past relationship with any GM character in the adventure. You may describe the relationship in a short phrase, such as "old enemy," "wartime buddy," "ex-lover," but the GM gets to decide the history and current disposition of the relationship. Cost: 3 points from a pool determined by the GM. Vigor would fit for a wartime buddy, Instinct for an ex-lover, and Reason for a former colleague in your character's field of study.
Secret of Enhancement (Ability)
You must select an ability when you take this Secret. You may spend as many points out of the associated pool to give bonus dice to the ability as you like.
Secret of Fire and Brimstone
You are a preacher whether religious or not, spend 1 instinct to add a bonus die to your Orations.
Secret of the Hidden Pocket
This character is adept at hiding objects on her person. No matter how carefully searched the character has been, she may pull an inexpensive, small (hand-sized) item off her person with a successful Stealth ability check. There is no need for the player to have written this item on the character sheet previously. Cost: 1 Instinct.
Secret of Heart's Release
Your character can refresh his Instinct pool in a new way. Whenever your character spends a few semi-private hours in the company of someone of his preferred sex, talking, flirting, and what not - when your character's basically on a old-timey date - or whenever your character has consensual sex, his Instinct pool is refreshed.
Secret of the Indian Fighting
Your character gains a bonus die to Stealth and Battle when in thick forest or mountains. Cost: nothing.
Secret of the Indian Walking
Your character's footfalls leave little trace for others to follow. You can use your character's Woodscraft ability in resistance to anyone trying to track her. Cost: 1 Instinct.
Secret of Inner Meaning
Your character's art carries a meaning beyond the surface. Use any non-physical Instinct-based ability at a distance via a piece of your character's art. Cost: 2 Reason.
Secret of the Iron Mind
Your character can refresh Reason whenever he defeats someone else in a one-on-one personal contest of any type, as long as it has been established as a contest between the two.
Secret of the Iron Stomach
Your character has great ability to consume things that would otherwise harm him. Gain one bonus die to resist any poison or drug taken orally, or to resist the effects of spoiled, overly spiced, or otherwise harmful foods. Cost: nothing.
Secret of Knowledge
Choose one ability that is not currently rated at A. That ability is now rated at A for your character.
Secret of the Traveler
Your character is a polyglot and has been all over the world. He speaks half a dozen languages.
Secret of Living off the Land
Your character knows how to hunt, fish, trap, and collect berries. Also good at finding shelter in a pinch! Gain a bonus die per Instinct point spent to use for scrounging when in the wilderness.
Secret of the Mountaineer
Your character always has a bonus die on Woodscraft or other Ability Checks involving mountain flora and fauna, and can use his Woodscraft skill for navigation in the hills and peaks. He also receives a bonus die to Farming checks in the mountains.
Secret of Night Vision
Your character is gifted with excellent night vision. Gain a bonus die on any perception-based Ability Check at night. Cost: nothing.
Secret of Plenty
Your character has a knack for planning ahead and stretching resources to make sure there is always enough to go around, whether it's food, money, ammunition or something else that's important. On a successful Scrounging check, the character can produce enough resources to meet the current need, but just barely. Cost: 1 Reason.
Secret of Quality Construction (Craft Ability)
You must choose a specific Craft Ability when you take this Secret. Your character can craft items of excellent quality. Any item your character creates using this Secret gives one bonus die to a particular ability when using the item, permanently. Cost: 5 Reason.
Secret of Book Learning
Your character can read and write well, research, and probably went to college.
Secret of Sibling Rivalry
You can refresh your character's Instinct pool whenever he gets in a knock-down, drag-out fight with a member of his family. In addition, you can immediately roll your Family Bond ability after the fight and add those bonus dice to your family member's Healing Check. Cost: nothing.
Secret of Small Stature
Your character is smaller than most people in the world, and can use that to his advantage in combat. Gain a bonus die any time your character is avoiding an attack from someone larger than him or any other situation in which his reduced size may help (i.e. an Athletics Ability Check to wriggle through a pipe.) Cost: nothing.
Secret of Specialty (Skill)
You must select an ability when you take this Secret. Choose a specialty your character has within that ability - for example, cooking pastries for the Complex Crafts skill. You always have a bonus die when your character attempts an action that falls within that specialty.
Secret of Throwing
Anything is a dangerous missile in your character's hands. She can throw anything fist-sized to greatsword-sized as an attack, using the Aim ability, and the object counts as a +1 weapon. Cost: 1 Vigor.
Secret of Shooting
Your character is a crack shot. He can hit any target, using the Firearms ability, and gains an additional +1 weapon bonus. Cost: 1 Instinct.
Secret of the Veteran
Your character's battle experience has given her the ability to read an opponent well. Evaluate your character's opponent not in descriptive terms, but in game mechanics, on a successful Battle ability check. You can ask for any of the following information, one bit per success level: Vigor score, Instinct score, best combat ability and score, specific ability score. Cost: 1 Reason.
Be prepared to explain why you'd have these...
Secret of the Signature Weapon
Your character has one weapon with which she is bonded. You gain a bonus die to any action taken with that weapon and any other character else attempting to use the weapon receives a penalty die. (Note: to change this weapon, this Secret must be taken again.)
Secret of Shattering
The weight of your weapon can be used to destroy other weapons and armor in combat. With a successful attack, your success level (not including any damage bonuses) is removed from the damage bonuses of weapons or damage reductions of armor. If reduced to 0, the item is destroyed. Cost: 2 Vigor. (Note: if used against player characters' weapons or armor bought with the Secret of Imbuement, they may repair the item or have it become something new after the scene.)
Secret of Mighty Blow
Your character can strike with extreme might. Spend as many dice of Vigor as you like to increase the harm of a successful blow in combat.
Secret of Knock-back
Your character's blows send people flying. Knock back a stricken character one yard per success level. This immediately ends Bringing Down the Pain if you're involved in that, with no resolution as to intentions. Cost: 2 Vigor.
Secret of Taking a Beating
You have innate toughness thanks to years of hard living. This Secret works like the Secret of Imbuement and may be taken multiple times in order to give your character more potent levels of natural "Armor".
Secret of Disarm
Your character can disarm an opponent, without changing intentions, with a successful ability check using a weapon in Bringing Down the Pain. Because weapons can be all sorts of things in this game, "disarm" just means that the weapon's been rendered ineffective for the duration of Bringing Down the Pain. Cost: 1 Vigor.
Secret of Flying Leap
Your character can make amazing leaps. Using this Secret, she can jump much further or higher than normal. For each Vigor point you spend, up to three, you can jump another multiple of normal human ability for one leap.
Secret of Imbuement
Turn an item into a weapon or armor, using the rules found in the Resolution chapter. You can add one weapon or armor rating to the item each time you take this Secret. In addition, you can use this Secret to imbue the item with the power of another Secret. That Secret will have its costs lowered by one pool point. The item can be taken away from you, but you must be given a chance to get it back, or you can roll your advances spent on this Secret into a new item. You can take away someone else's Imbued item, but you'll have to pay the original cost to keep it.