Minor Defeat: All unchecked abilities in the category of the contest (Physical, Mental or Social) are checked.
Major Defeat: All abilities in the category of the contests are downgraded. Abilities in that category that are normally Fully Relevant become Marginally Relevant in any contest, Marginally Relevant abilities become Irrelevant. Lasts until the end of the session, or until the damage is undone.
Complete Defeat: The character is a social outcast, financially ruined, banished, outlawed forever or dead as may be appropriate. The character is effectively out of the game (for now).
Coup de Grace
If a contest ends in one side suffering a Major Defeat, the victorious
character can attempt a Coup de Grace to change this to a Complete
Defeat.
Each side tosses a coin and may use one directly relevant ability, marginally appropriate abilities cannot be used. Ability boxes are checked or HPs expended as usual. If the character attempting the CdG wins then the defeated character suffers a Complete Defeat. If the contest is a draw the character attempting the CdG suffers a Minor Defeat. If the character attempting the CdG loses the contest than that character suffers a Major Defeat.
The results of the CdG exchange are final.
You can see that a CdG exchange is stacked against the character attempting it. This is deliberate, you should only attempt a CdG if you are sure you will overwhelm your opponent, or if you're feeling a little suicidal.
Conversion Notes
Existing characters may well be fully usable as they are in most cases. The character generation rules already mean that characters are likely to have several abilities in their key areas of competence. However for advanced characters, you could try beefing up their ability numbers by converting masteries into new related abilities.
One approach might be to add extra check boxes to abilities. I would prefer to add new similar or related abilities though, as this increases narrative flexibility without any real penalty.
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