Legendary Artifact

Tranquility

Created and held by Vergil Arrior.
The heroes sword, and a blessing from Odessa.

A legendary technique passed down to the inheritor of the hero's sword. Giving them the ability to spin violently and create a current of spectral energy that banishes foes around them, though such violent spinning can often leave the hero rather dizzy.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. The area within 25 feet of you immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Charisma + Melee at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).

If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of you with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4. Armor is fully effective against this Damage. If you botched the activation roll, you will also take full Damage from the blast, otherwise it will not hurt you.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

The glittering blue fairy wing hilted blade of the champion of dreams. Vergil has finally earned enough skill to call this his own and has retrieved it from the mausoleum of heroes eternal rest. The blade glows lightly when swung, and on contact with an evil person will leave the wound glowing lightly blue to signify that the magics have done their work.

This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +6 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Bane: Injuries dealt to Evil Beings (Creatures that exist to kill, spread misery, etc, and people who murder, and commit other atrocities) are increased by 2 Severity levels.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.
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Community Artifacts

Zanpakuto

Created and held by Raga.
A zanpakutō is the primary tool and weapon of the Shinigami

Sword, Katana even.

This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Any Injury inflicted is considered unstabilized even if its Severity is less than 4. The equipment and roll required to Stabilize it is treated as though it is a minimum of Severity 6.
  • Blade Breaker: If you successfully Defend against a melee attack or if an opponent is unsuccessful at Defending against your melee attack, you may break your opponent's weapon.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Looks visually same.

This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal. Unless The gift requires me to say "Burn away: Jihibukai taiyō" (im mute), this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Any Injury inflicted is considered unstabilized even if its Severity is less than 4. The equipment and roll required to Stabilize it is treated as though it is a minimum of Severity 6.
  • Blade Breaker: If you successfully Defend against a melee attack or if an opponent is unsuccessful at Defending against your melee attack, you may break your opponent's weapon.
  • Shredder: If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Mammoth Killer

Created and held by Amaranth Barclay.
A massive axe hewn out of raw stone, far too heavy to be used by an ordinary person, but more than good enough for Amaranth.

The axe, easily as tall as most men flies through the air spinning like a top as it bisects even large vehicles in twain with ease, and on each impact it rebounds, seeking the blood of the next largest target, the insatiable axe an excellent tool for dealing with the hordes of smaller scavengers that tended to congregate around large predators as much as it deals with the massive beasts in question before returning unerringly to the hand of the wielder, as if it had never been lost in the first place.

This Artifact can be used as a throwing axe. It is roughly at least twice as large as a throwing axe and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Outcome + 6 Weapon Damage. The target's Armor is reduced to 1/2, rounded up against this damage. Attacks

You also gain the following effects:

  • Chain Lightning: You may Exert your Mind to perform a chain lightning attack. If your attack succeeds, All targets within 5 feet of your primary target take full Damage. The Damage can “jump” up to 5 times. Each target can be hit only once.
  • Return: When you throw this weapon, you may opt to have it return to your possession at the end of the attack. Whoever threw this artifact last may use an Action to recall it from up to 100 feet away, attacking one target in its return path as they do so.

  • This Artifact cannot be disguised or morphed with other Effects like Shape-Changing object.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Black Mamba

Created and held by Dimitry Romanov.

AKS-74U, fully blacked out and silenced.

Can full auto sweep and curve bullets around walls
Requires 2 Brawn for Handling to use without increased difficulty.

This Artifact can be used as a handgun. It is roughly the same size as a handgun and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Curve the Bullet: You suffer no penalties for attacking targets behind cover.
  • Silencer: Shots you fire can be made silent at will.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.
  • Rifles are +1 Difficulty to use in melee range. Sniper Rifles are +3 Difficulty to use without a tripod or in melee range. Setting up a tripod takes an Action.

Rod of Asclepius 1

Created and held by Vel.
A small rod about the size of a wand with a green snake wrapped around it. Its eyes are emerald.

The artifact can't be broken. There is a stylized "Heal the world for me- Vel" Inscribed on it.

The true owner can summon the artifact back to them as they need it, and it appears. No flash of light or noise, it is reached for, and it is where the owner wants.

The object wants to be used. But more than that, it wants healing magic to be used for the world. It will burn anyone who holds it who intends only to keep healing magic and effects to themselves without sharing (using any healing on this artifact at least once a week).

The true owner can tell when someone else is using it, and is aware of the user's appearance, direction, and distance.

This is an enhancement built on top of other artifacts to enhance how strong they are.

The true owner can change the identity of the person who is the true owner by wiping away their signature, and writing the name of the new owner.

The ritual for making it involves using
- a variety of hard materials (iron, titanium, etc)
- a history book
- a family tree diagram
- a bit of Vel, captured in a photo, then burned away, infusing the artifact with a bit of Vel

This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.

By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.

A being without Lifesaver cannot hold or use this Artifact. They take a Severity 1 Injury each Round they touch or possess of the Artifact. It cannot be prevented or healed by any means until one day after they relinquish possession.

If the true owner of this Artifact ever dies, it immediately disappears. At least one week later, it will appear to A potential hero. Someone willing to live a hard life to make the life of other's safer and easier and reveal its power to them. They become its new true owner.

If this Artifact is used by someone other than its true owner, its true owner is alerted and learns the user's appearance, direction, and distance at that moment. The true owner may use a single investigation Effect on them once at any range.

If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.

  • If there is no available Next of Kin, it will wait two months and then appear to a random person. If multiple next of kin are appropriate, the GM will decide randomly.
  • "Cannot be broken" means that damage cannot render the Artifact's Effects unusable, nor can it cease to be used for its primary mundane purpose, if it has one.

The rod glows with green light, and the participant being targeted glows the same color. The energy has some kick back, causing a shadow of the harm of the poison on the wielder of the rod.

The rod is burns with purifying energy that drives the malady from the target. It draws from the symbol of the Asclepius.

This rod was made by a ritual focused on the symbol of the Asclepius, and experimenting with it. Vaccines, anti-virals, stories of miracle cures were all part of the creation process.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend 1 Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach.

You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.

After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.

If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.

  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • The sacrificial Injury received from activating this Effect cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed. It is shared with all Effects that use sacrifice. This Injury does not requires Stabilization or cause Battle Scars when it becomes Severe.
  • Without some sort of diagnostic Effect, “fully diagnosing” a disease or poison will always require a roll of some sort, frequently Intellect + Medicine, but the specific roll and difficulty is at GM’s discretion.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

The rod glows with red light, and the injury being targeted glows the same color.

The one who wields it feels the power of the symbol of Asclepius compel them to move towards the compulsions of the Hippocratic oath.

If the target is dead, and the wound is treated by this, the wound is restored.

The rod is focused on the wound in question. The participant gets a deep sense of the wound, and can stitch together flesh, and restore lost blood.

This rod was made by drawing on the symbolic power of the Asclepius, and the promises and powers inherent in that symbol.

The ritual making it involves
- The symbol of the Asclepius
- The Hippocratic oath
- Several references to healing miracles
- Images of people whose lives have been saved by the wielder

The ritual leans heavily on the power, and obligations associated with the Hippocratic oath. It forces the wielder to adopt the tenants and behaviors associated with healers and doctors in the shared cultural understanding.

Do no harm.

Help all who come.

The power of this rod draws on the individual, and when reversing the pain forces the user to experience it.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Living or Dead target within arm's reach. When you Activate this Effect, roll a single d10. If the result is 5 or lower, your target receives a Minor Battle Scar. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.

This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.

If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on the same patient.

If you begin healing an Injury on a target that has been dead for less than a minute, and your healing reduces their Wound Level to a non-lethal level, their life is restored.

Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: Weak Stomach: The rod draws on the vitality of the one wielding it, causing them to have strong reactions to smells.. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.

After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.

Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Passivist: You must make a self control roll to directly attack anyone in a way which will cause harm and Committed to life: Whenever you see someone die, who you could bring back to life, you must make a self control roll to not immediately attempt to save them using this rod. This is rolled every someone dies near you. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.

  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

One-sided Iron Axe

Created by Quinn Dyer, looted by Douglas Edwards.
A standard lumberjack axe that seems to glow ever so slightly. The handle is made from a dark wood and has a leather strip wrapped around its base for grip.

When Quinn uses their axe, it shoots out with mechanical whirring. The handle now has obvious sections where the axe can collapse back into its original state. When extended, the axe is fairly bendy, looking almost comical when used. When Quinn pins with their axe, the yellow glow surrounding the axe increases in strength.

This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • This melee weapon may extend for a single attack up to 50 feet away. Retracting back into its usable size is a Quick Action.
  • Pin: If you Injure a target with an Attack, you may choose to leave your weapon. If you do, the target is “pinned” to that location until the weapon is removed. Removing the weapon increases the Severity of that Injury by 2.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

Assault Helmet

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.

You automatically detect all people wielding weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.

  • This Effect does not satisfy the line of sight targeting requirement for other Effects.

The Scepter of Ang-Kapal

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma.

Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.

The creature lasts for eight hours or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.

Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

Destroying one of your zombies requires a called shot to the head or heart. All other Injuries zombies suffer result in Battle Scars only, limiting their mobility and effectiveness in other ways.

Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.

If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.

  • The called shot requires 4 Outcome dealing 4+ Damage or 6 Outcome dealing 2+ Damage.
  • The sacrificial Injury received from activating this Effect cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed. It is shared with all Effects that use sacrifice. This Injury does not requires Stabilization or cause Battle Scars when it becomes Severe.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

The Axe of Legend

This electric guitar has one edge sharpened into a deadly blade. It can be used as either sort of axe.

This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Mjolnir: You may call your weapon back to your hand as a Quick Action if it is within 50 feet of you. Can only be used on melee weapon that you have wielded in the past hour.
  • Shredder: If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Personal Shield Generator

The device itself is a metal hexagon that is worn on the belt and glows when active.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction.

You phase out of reality for up to 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you activate this Effect, you may limit its duration to a period of your choosing. If you are able, you may also end it as a Free Action on your initiative.

You leave a golden glow shaped like yourself at your location.

  • If you use this Effect to dodge as a Reaction, it succeeds without the need for a roll. Cannot be used as a Desperate Defense.
  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

The Bug-out Bag

No hiker would bat an eye if they saw someone wearing this 80 liter backpacking pack in the backcountry. Those who look closer find it's made of a curious mix of modern materials and what appears to be rawhide stitching.

This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless.

Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.

If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.

When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.

If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.

  • A container of holding cannot be placed inside another created by the same Gift.
  • There is no cost to use this container.

This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.

By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.

This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.

  • "Cannot be broken" means that damage cannot render the Artifact's Effects unusable, nor can it cease to be used for its primary mundane purpose, if it has one.