This artifact opens up your mind to the background thoughts of the people around you, scanning for malevolent thoughts, broadcasting this information directly into your mind.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute.
You automatically detect all beings having thoughts with murderous intentions within 50 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.
Even while this Effect is not active, if any beings having thoughts with murderous intentions come within 50 feet of you, you may roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 7 to detect them.
While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.
When activated, the badge will glow lightly and the shield will not appear unless attacked, which then the shield will appear as if the attack hit a glass window, and either bounce off or shatter the window.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction to activate. This Effect cannot be used unless you are being attacked. Roll Dexterity + Firearms at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor, and is treated like Armor by any effects such as Armor Penetration. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, or if it absorbs the full amount of Damage. When a barrier falls, you cannot use this Effect again for a minimum of 2 Rounds.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: roll self-control to give someone this item. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.
The user becomes a perfect replica of the target. Copying his appearance, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless the syringe has been injected into the target.
You transform into A Perfect Replica for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are A Perfect Replica, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Attributes are the same. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
Your body is adapted to the abilities of the copied target. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to the abilities of the copied target.
Fibrous strands of metal stretch outward from the point of contact with the wielder. When not in use, the primary tendril forms a perfect physical replica of Felix Law's left arm. Additional resting tendrils wrap tightly around the first.
The tendrils display some instinctive independence, and can extend, recede, contort, sharpen and liquefy as needed.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You gain 3 additional limbs that function as standard human arms and hands.
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.
Vein grants the wielder borrowed knowledge of the their form and function, and masterfully repairs and replaces their living fibres instantaneously, effectively rendering themself indestructible.
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.
Virtuoso's Vessel: When using this Device for its primary purpose, you always roll a minimum of 8 dice. Excludes Effect activation rolls.
Vein's fibres flow idly through the wielder's cardiovascular system. This metal stitches together any wounds the wielder suffers instantaneously, and acts as a kind of re-bar for healing lingering injuries.
Due to an innate self-defence mechanism, Vein's fibres have an opposite effect on damage from pure, unalloyed metal. As Vein's main weapon is capped entirely with elemental tungsten, this ensures they hold a distinct physical advantage should cooperation cease between the symbiote and their host.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Any Injury you receive from a source other than unalloyed metal heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
As long as at least half your body remains intact, you cannot die and remain at Incapacitated, regardless of how many Injuries you take. It is clear to observers that you are still alive.
You may Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 4. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.
All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
Injuries you receive from unalloyed metal are increased in Severity by 1.
Vein's fibres wrap tightly around the wielder's skeleton. In response to physical trauma, the metal erupts instantly at the point of impact, absorbing a great deal of kinetic energy into Vein's physically indestructible form.
Due to an innate self-defence mechanism, Vein's fibres do not respond to damage from pure, unalloyed metal. As Vein's main weapon is capped entirely with elemental tungsten, this ensures they hold a distinct physical advantage should cooperation cease between the symbiote and their host.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6, which reduces incoming damage from all sources of physical attack except unalloyed metal. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
You may transfer your Armor to another target within 30 feet once per Round as a Free Action. You may transfer it back to yourself at any range.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.
The Hive Tendrils twist into boiling spikes of metal fibre. The metals are structured such that the spikes are hottest at the tip, capped with a narrow head of pure tungsten. They can be driven forward and finessed deep into a target, boring through nearly any material with a combination of liquefying heat and sheer percussive force.
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 +2 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:
Felix has surrendered his mortal future to the Arterial Hive in the pursuit of their shared goal. When Felix Law next dies, Vein's living metal fibres coil around his form as he is subsumed into the symbiote.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
The next time you die, you instead permanently transform into Vein.
All but one of Vein's Tendrils extend in opposite directions, fanning out and and forming membranes of fibre that surround the host. These webs act like mammalian wing tissue, allowing the host to soar through the air.
Any damaged fibres are replaced effortlessly, and the wings act as redundancies for one-another; so long as one Tendril is extended, the host cannot fall.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
As long as you are conscious, you are immune to falling Damage and may hover in place mid-air. Additionally, you may glide as you fall, traveling 35 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you fall. While gliding, you fall at a minimum speed of 10 feet per Round.
You may ascend into the air and fly using your fibrous tendrils. You require 10 feet of clear space on all sides to fly. You may add 50 feet to Movement you take while flying.
You are subject to the following effects while gliding or flying:
Vein's fibres intertwine delicately with the wielder's nervous system. The metal interferes with the synapses, regulating the host's physical and mental state at all times. In extreme circumstances, Vein will use this connection to force the host to act, even when incapacitated.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0.
While Incapacitated, you may Exert your Mind to take a single action.
The fibres at the end of Vein's primary Tendril fold into themselves, and a small aperture opens on the palm. Identical apertures open on the target's body. Words spoken into the aperture will be heard only in the minds of others under this effect. Every hole will close into itself and disappear if neither the user nor any target is maintaining concentration.
The aperture opens at a point chosen either consciously or subconsciously by each target, with the default being their left palm.
When sending a physical object with the message, Vein's Tendrils instead move to cover the desired object, swallowing it into the aperture. After about a minute, the object is expelled from the desired target's aperture, which can widen considerably to accommodate even a large payload.
This effect explicitly involves opening a series of minor portals to the Arterial Hive, the living pocket dimension that Vein originates from.
Spend an Action. Select a number of targets up to your Mind rating any distance away from you. You must have specific targets in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You open up a line of communication to your targets, and may converse with them as long as one of you maintains Concentration
The conversation will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
You may Exert your Mind to send any physical Object that would fit into a backpack with your message. Takes 1 minute to arrive. Any active traps on the objects are triggered when you attempt to send them, and wards and marks are likewise removed.
Vein's needle-thin fibres pierce the target's body, wrapping as close to the brain stem as possible. Once situated, the target's mind is laid bare, and Vein's host can probe the open memories until contact breaks.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select an Animate target within arm's reach You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Dexterity + Melee at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you are able to view your target's memories. If you fail, the target knows you're attempting to read their memories.
You may ask a number of specific questions about their memory equal to your Contested Outcome. For example, “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc. You cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
The mad scientist can craft steel helmets that protect their wearers from mental influence and attack.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +0 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
This device is a piece of chrome the size and shape of the back of a spoon. When placed against the skin, small hypodermic needles sprout from the device and attach it to the user's bloodstream. There, it filters and releases lifesaving drugs into the bloodstream, granting complete immunity from contracting new diseases and added resiliency in all other cases.
WARNING: The immunizing drugs have been shown to reduce inhibitions in test subjects.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects: