Legendary Artifact

The Scribe's Favor

Created and held by Mike Carson.
A silver-flecked feather Quill imbued with magic by the Sleeping Scribe. Its nib is marked with runes carved by Mike (ᛐᛒ)

The user touches the quill to a target and a drop of ink deposits, spreads, and draws a rune the user is holding a picture of in their mind related to the desired effect on a corresponding part of the target's body. At the end it absorbs into their skin and disappears, imbuing them with an appropriate power. The rune appears in their mind and strains it somewhat, as with a traumatic experience.

The quill has slumbered like its creator, and learned from its master. Now it awakens to aid him in rapidly boosting his and others' abilities.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. The target can easily Resist.

You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Trauma and can have exactly one of the following Effects:

  • Specialized: You receive +2 dice to a particular non-combat, non-Effect Action.
  • Environmental Adaptation: You do not suffer harm from heat, cold, pressure, or lack of oxygen in a particular environment, provided that challenge normally exists in that environment.
  • Implanted Tool: You have access to the functionality of some common Device at all times. The selected Device can be no larger than a motorcycle helmet.
  • Armor: You have 2 Armor at all times. As always, Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
  • Pouch: Part of your body functions as a hidden pocket. It can hold no more than a briefcase (15 liters).
  • Zippy: Your Free Movement is increased by 10 feet.
  • Maws and Claws: Your unarmed attacks do +2 Weapon Damage instead of -1.

The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may not augment targets with pouches or implanted devices that are larger than they are.
  • Targets without Body ratings may have a maximum of 4 augmentations.
  • Example environments for adaptation: space, all saltwater, all fresh water, all water under 50 feet deep, all water deeper than 50 feet, the jungle, radioactive areas, a specific alien world, etc.
  • 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 Scribe's Favor, when dipped in a bottle of metallic silver ink, will draw in the full bottle, turning its feather silver colored. Mike can then scribe a rune onto a device that becomes an integral part of its fit and finish, clearly visible but looking as though it belongs, and remaining for 24 hours before fading. While so marked, items are immensely stronger, as well as simply being better at their intended uses. Cars drive smoother and never run out of gas, pots or utensils are easier to cook with and seem to make better food. Tools work smoother and make repairs easier. Even Mike's "Attitude-Adjusting Wrench" seems to hit harder, especially on beasties with some special weakness.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up a 15g bottle of conductive silver ink in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.

Lasts the next day. Your target 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.
  • 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.
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Community Artifacts

Mage Bolt Launcher

Created and held by M.
Currently Destroyed.
A large arm covering gauntlet with orbs of mana and wiring connected to the inner circuitry covered by 7 layers of riveted steel and leather

Spear Launching Modus V.1

1

Trifold Frame

Created and held by Bryan Bosch.
A marvel of artistic ingenuity, providing the function of an impossibly flexible, additional arm. It can be quickly equipped and removed through a series of clasps that attach themselves to the user's torso. The exterior is crafted from a reinforced, tensile layer of carbon fiber resistant to wear and damage. Golden circuitry runs along the surface of the arm, branching into intricate fractal patterns. Its internals consist of a complex suspension system supported by wiring and origami folds in the three primary joints, as well as a series of advanced, technological components. On the back of the hand is a signature written in cursive gold, reading "bb."

After attaching the frame to their torso, the user must activate and sync the arm's internal operative systems with the neurological activity responsible for their own limbs-- requiring extensive input from the mind, voice, and body. The golden circuitry running across the chassis ripple with energy during this process. While in use, its origami folds are able to stretch, bend, and morph to fit the user's desired movements.
The calibration sequence to connect the arm requires the user to move around their joints (shoulders, elbows, and wrists) and read aloud a pangram (ex: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog").

The systems powering and controlling the arm are an intricate mix of various power sources all synchronizing together. Specifically, they are the culmination of its creator taking influence from his peers, a spatial mage and technomancer, to achieve the final result of a fully functional additional limb.
These include arm's handcrafted, moving folds (of which three are responsible for the core joint movement of a shoulder/elbow/wrist), the golden circuits that connect to the user's mind (branching into a sprawling, fractal pattern across the arm and acting as a signal booster/receiver for all the energy), and the internal technological programming (which are carefully integrated to run with the rest of the arm's systems).
The use of a pangram enables the internal systems to more easily find specific parts of the brain to connect to and the movement of the joints calibrate the arm's motions as well.
The arm's three primary folds, alongside the three sources of power (magic, technology, and clockwork-level crafting), serve as a double entendre inspiring the gift's final name.

Expend a point of Battery and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: activating and calibrating the arms with the user. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.

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 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.

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 Extra Appendage counts as an object and can be hacked or targeted by any Powers that affect objects or machines. Injuries to your Extra Appendage cannot be healed by Powers that affect living things but may be repaired during Downtime.

  • You may stretch, retract, or move your limbs 30 feet once per Round.

Bulwark's Blade

Created and held by Temperance.
A glowing greenish blue blade that seems to hum with energy.

The blade seems to glow brighter as its powers are used

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

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • 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.
  • Lasersaber: Given time, you may demolish any object or wall. To destroy 1 cubic foot of material: spend 1 Action for material demolishable with a crowbar or sledgehammer, and 2 Actions for other materials (like steel).
  • 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.

huli jing

Created and held by Shiro Komesu.
a ring with a nine tailed fox on it

A single tail on the fox is colored orange

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact and you are engaged in unarmed combat.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +2 Weapon Damage (instead of -1). The target's Armor is fully effective against this damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Armored Fist: You cannot take Damage from attacking a dangerous material (such as steel armor, a spiked carapace, or an acidic blob). You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your attacks.
  • Precision Strikes: You may use Dexterity instead of Brawn on your attack rolls.

  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

Spider 1.1

Created by Jason Valent, given to Egas Freeman.
Come along little spiders

Jason always had an interest in technology and making it better. Now he makes small spiders that can attach to technology and do his bidding. The technology is draining and takes to to complete. The small spiders will attach to the piece of technology and integrate into the tech by moving it or forming together to plug into it.

What makes the spiders creepy is that it is a small swarm of spider bots they have dark red eyes and brown and black fur.

(NSFW) https://www.latestly.com/socially/social-viral/spiders-swarm-australian-homes-to-escape-nsw-floods-viral-videos-will-give-you-nightmare-2387658.html (NSFW)

The spiders are small and integrate into the technology. Jason keeps the spiders in a small black box that he uses to operate.

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute to activate. Select a Device within 20 feet. Does not work on Alien technology. Roll Intellect + Technology, with the Difficulty set by the GM depending on the security of the system you are hacking. Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6. The hacking roll and their defensive roll are both Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you may issue a single command to the targeted system. This command must have a specific outcome or be a request for specific login credentials. The command you issue must be within the machine's current capabilities. For example, you cannot order a standard security camera to grow legs and walk around.

When targeting non-computer devices, you may operate switches, buttons, dials, levers, and latches.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Creepy spider.

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.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

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 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.

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.