Legendary Artifact

The Passenger

Created and held by Lilith (Lily) Weider.
The Passenger is the physical manifestation of the curse on the Fleicher family, cultivated through imbument inside of Amaryllis's body. While not in use, it lives inside a host's circulatory system, usually finding its home resting along the spine. The creature adds about 1 liter of thick, dark-red blood to its hosts body, and the ichor must remain contiguous to remain in good working condition.

The Passenger rips forward out of the host's flesh, spraying the ground and anyone near with warm blood. It surges forward, carrying all of its malice and anger to pierce straight through any who stand before it. Though The Passenger itself is about a liter of crimson, the activation of this ability releases a torrent of blood that can be easily controlled and manipulated by its host. The dark red stays close to the host, not usually moving beyond five feet from the host, but the extra manifested blood can be controlled up to 30 feet away.

While the host remains competent and capable, The Passenger will behave, being as vicious or soft as its controller requires. It does not, however, tolerate failures, and when its host cannot meet its demands, it attempt to find another, more suitable host to augment.

The Passenger can be destroyed or stolen in a number of ways:

* Injecting the host with anticoagulants.
* Sucking it out of the part of the body that it inhabits.
* Severing the limb that it inhabits.
* Something able to grapple incorporeal creatures should be able to pull The Passenger out of its host.
* Once dead, The Passenger will burst out of the host's body to find a new host.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must use up 1 Liter of Blood in order to activate this Effect.

You gain an additional limb that functions as a standard human arm and hand. Lasts two hours.

Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Each additional appendage you have gives you +1 dice to make and resist Grapples (up to a maximum bonus of +4 dice).

Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.

Your extra appendage can be used to attack in exactly the same manner as a Thrusting Sword.

Your appendage is capable of bending and squishing in normally-impossible ways. It may fit through any gap that is not water-tight and retain its functionality.

Your extra appendage can stretch to reach an additional 30 feet.

You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.

Your extra appendage is not connected to your nervous or circulatory systems, and you will not take damage if it is hit by an attack or destroyed.

Your appendage has its own agenda (to Find a Better Host), which it will attempt to follow. You must roll Self-Control to reassert control when this occurs. If this occurs during Combat, it gets its own dice pool, and stopping it costs your entire Action.

  • You may stretch, retract, or move your limbs 30 feet once per Round.
  • You may only switch this Effect on or off once per Round on your initiative as a Free Action.

As The Passenger rips from its host, the torrent of blood pouring from the individual's wounds begins to pool and swirl around their hands and arms. With a quick flick of the wrists, the blood surges forward towards a target, puncturing them in multiple places. Even a glancing blow will rend the target's internals to bits as The Passenger has an intuitive sense on what will lead to the quickest death.

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 +8 Weapon Damage.

This item is a living thing. When targeted, it counts as a Living Creature in addition to its other target types. If destroyed or abandoned for more than two days, it dies and becomes unusable.

You also gain the following effects:

  • 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.

The bullets rip through Lilith’s body, soaking her clothes with crimson. Shallow breaths, rippling skin. She hits the ground in a heap, and the creature below her skin roils and expands to puppet her arms and legs. Eyes bloodshot and glassy, Lilith is clearly no longer in control of her body. Perhaps she never was.

The would-be corpse lifts its arm, a stream of near-black blood pouring from its wounds. Hundreds of bloody needles fire from its wrist, rending its quarry into little more than a pile of guts.

The source of her power is clear. Her blood. Drain her to fulfill the terms of her family’s death curse.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. While incapacitated, you can take one Action per minute. Stress applies in full and cannot be reduced for any rolls demanded by the Action. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life. Unstabilized Injuries do not degrade while you are Incapacitated

While Incapacitated, your only weakness is fully draining the body of blood, and if you take Damage from it, you will die. Damage from other sources will still be dealt and can cause Battle Scars, but will only kill you if your body is destroyed completely. If your weakness is not immediately obvious, attackers may roll to discover it. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.

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Community Artifacts

Macaron's Guitar

Created and held by Will Johnson.
Macaron may be a EDM producer, but every musician carries a guitar...

A basic Gibson guitar bought by Will after his first big hit

This Artifact has been upgraded.

This Artifact receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.

Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.

  • "Destroyed" in this context means "prevented from functioning for its primary purpose", so for instance, an upgraded land mine would still explode as normal if triggered, even though it cannot be "destroyed" and a car's windows may still be broken.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.

The Phone of Business

Created and held by Icy Hotman.
It's a Nokia

The phone vibrates and Icy Hotman calls for reinforcements. They don't like the poor.

This Effect activates whenever you take a sev-2 injury. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.

Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate Corpo-Rat Cops at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. They will attack any The Poors targets they encounter immediately and will ignore your commands to do otherwise. This Artifact may have at most 3 minions active at a time.

  • Initiative: Minions act directly after you in Combat starting the Round after they are summoned.
  • Combat: Minions roll 4 dice to dodge, Grapple, or make unarmed Attacks. Their Attacks have 50 feet of range and deal +3 Damage.
  • Body/Mind: Minions have 7 Body. They automatically fail all Mind resistance rolls.
  • Armor: Minions have 3 Armor.
  • Movement: Minions can move 15 feet per Round as Free Movement and double that when performing an all-out Sprint.
  • Intelligence: Minions have dog-level intelligence and cannot communicate back to you. They cannot actively use Equipment.
  • Actions: Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 3 dice. They can lift and haul as though they have 4 Brawn.
  • Unusual: Minions are obviously Alien to any observer.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • Minions will only attack The Poors targets that are larger than a mouse.
  • Your minions may count as additional targeting types based on their flavor. For example: Living, Computer, Creature, etc.

Ew don't touch my stuff.

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.

The poor (anyone who doesn't have Rich Finances 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 The next Warren Buffet 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.

This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.

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: Compulsion to Hate the Poor and Fear of Poors. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.

  • 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.

Womp womp business calls woot.

Spend an Action.

You may send a single message to all targets which are within a specified range. It can be as complex or as large as you like.

You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.

  • Depending on the length of your message, it may take a target some time and/or effort to understand it in its entirety.
  • Receiving a message does not force a target to pay attention to you, and they can feel free to ignore your message if they choose. Depending on the flavor of your Gift, they may or may not be able to return to it and read it later on.
  • Generally you cannot communicate with Contractors who are not in a Contract with you.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Parasitic Leather Shoulder Bag

Created and held by Bruno Pegul.
A leather shoulder bag, when opened by its owner a large tongue flops out happily. It's difficult not to get nicked by the small teeth lining the opening, but a quick satisfied slurp from the tongue cleans any blood away.

Bruno creates a bag by coating the inside of the bag with his blood. After a day, the bag absorbs the blood and comes to life. It requires raw meat to live. A new owner can bond to the bag by feeding it some of their blood over two days. The bag can't see, but it can purr, growl, and whine based on its mood.

This Artifact holds 3 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.

This item is a living thing. When targeted, it counts as a Living Creature in addition to its other target types. If destroyed or abandoned for more than two days, it dies and becomes unusable.

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

Portable Sun

Created by Andromeda, given to Jacob Cruz.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

"Please think carefully before you use this."

The Portable Sun appears to be a small sphere (slightly larger than a tennis ball) that resembles a miniature sun. The artifact emits a faint light and is warm to the touch. The Portable Sun's texture is weirdly fuzzy and glass-like, feeling similar to how one would expect television static to feel.

When activated, the artifact will glow brighter for a moment, before quickly launching a fiery solar flare at the target. The flames dance through the open air, fizzling out into nothing if they fail to find a suitable target. Upon colliding with a target, the solar flare sets it ablaze.

Having learned about the possibility of crafting magical items during the events of Don't Look Up, Andromeda sought to craft something of her own. By channelling her mind, magic, and passion, she was able to create the first Portable Sun.

Spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).

You may start a new fire as large as a torch's flame at your target. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.

Lighting a target on fire deals 2 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.

You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • Your fires may be extinguished with appropriate Actions and materials. Stop, drop, and rolling to extinguish requires spending an Action and making a Dexterity + Athletics roll, with an Outcome of 2 putting out the flames.
  • If the target is larger than your flame size, the Armor destruction creates a weak point instead of applying to the entire target.
  • 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.

Automatic Defense Turret Kit

Created and held by Bob Hope.
A small drawstring bag containing the materials for a Automatic Defense Turret

This Advanced Remote Drone Artificial Kit can provide the materials and know-how to create a very advanced, shoulder-mounted turret.

Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Assemble a turret from parts. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.

Summon a single Tiny Shoulder-Mounted Turret at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most 1 minion active at a time.

  • Attacking: Minions can make ranged attacks at targets up to 30 feet away with 5 dice to attack and +1 Damage.
  • Body: Minions have 4 Body.
  • Movement: Minions cannot move.
  • Intelligence: Minions have dog-level intelligence, and cannot communicate back to you. They cannot actively use Equipment.
  • Actions: Minions cannot dodge or Defend. Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 3 dice.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

Selkie Skin

This Effect activates whenever you are submerged in salt water. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.

You transform into small for two hours or until you choose to end the Effect. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you cannot use your Active, Targeted, or Trap Powers. However, you can use your Passive Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.

Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • Creature Stats
    • Medium (large house cat up to human) Body 3. Brawn 1. Dexterity 3. Fall damage reduced by 1.
    All creatures get +3 dice to any non-combat Action that they are naturally adapted for. All creatures Medium and larger may attack by rolling Body, dealing +0 Damage (+1 for “predators”). Gms and Playgroup leaders can apply other bonuses and effects to specific animals.
  • Animals that are quicker than humans (like dogs) have 50 feet of Free Movement. Animals that are very slow (like turtles) have 0 feet of Free Movement.
  • You cannot transform if there is not enough room to do so.
  • The form you take must have the same stats and abilities as a single, extant animal of the relevant size.

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 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.

Cloak

You gain the following benefits as long as you are not at all wet and you are wearing this Artifact.

You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.

  • Hearing: You are completely obscured from hearing. You produce no sounds while this Effect is active. All attempts to detect you via hearing fail. Attempts via other senses where hearing would assist are rolled at -2 dice.
  • Sight:You are partially obscured from being noticed by sight. All attempts to detect you using sight are rolled at a -3 dice penalty, and all attempts to detect you where sight would assist are rolled at -1 penalty. Anyone who detects you cannot determine any visual details about you beyond your general shape.

While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.

If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.

  • GMs should use their discretion when determining the exact impacts of this Effect, particularly in conjunction with environmental factors. Standing still against a complex background may render you impossible to detect, and footprints in snow may make it easy. A chance to detect you is not guaranteed.

The Airship of Solitude

The airship of solitude is an imposing black blimp. While flying through the air, it is regularly struck by lightning, terrifying those below.

This Artifact can be used as a blimp. It is roughly the same size as a blimp but can be collapsed into a phone-sized canvas cube and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.

This blimp has full science laboratory, bullet-proof envelope, and ample parachutes. Any roll to pilot this vehicle receives +2 dice.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Crew of One: You alone may stand in for an entire crew if the vehicle would normally be piloted by more than one.
  • Mind of its Own: This vehicle can move and take Actions without you driving it. It has seven dice for all Drive rolls.
  • No Muffler: Any stealth rolls made to hide your vehicle automatically fail, and any rolls made to notice your vehicle automatically succeed.

  • If there is not enough free space to expand the object, it cannot be expanded. You cannot expand this Object as an attack.