Legendary Artifact

Calliope’s Hand

Created and held by Logan Maurodi.
A handheld tattoo gun with interchangeable ink deposits, said inks looking like they’re always moving on their own.

By applying the mystical ink used by the artifact, Logan is able to imbue the abilities of whatever is tattooed onto his client. Unlike the process of a regular tattoo, this takes far less time and is rather painless for the entire duration, and once inked onto the skin the tattoo appears to be living and breathing.

Expend a point of Battery and spend 30 minutes. 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 Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:

  • Specialized: You receive +2 dice to a particular non-combat 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.

Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.

  • 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.
  • 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

Soul Splinter

Created and held by Damian Wyatt.
A beautiful shortsword made of the amalgamation of magic and life, with a titanium carbide blade that has a silver sheen across the blade with many intricate designs that are constantly changing shape and moving around the blade, with a slim crossguard designed for the protection of the user's hand, a form fitting handle made of a leather with rubber in-lining to diminish the force that returns, and a small gemstone-like object within the sword's pommel. My name is written on it somewhere probably, the name keeps moving so I can never be too sure. it is also a very modular blade with...

The bracelet on my wrist transforms into the blade in a slithering, almost wet manner, denoting from the sword's gimmick of it being alive. Once it has rested on my hand, it relaxes into shape, the shape being of a short sword with a crossguard, a small crystal in the pommel of the blade and with a simple silver glint on the actual blade.

My first-ever attempt at artifice, it is a simple sword with nothing too special about it besides its ability to condense in size.... Except for a few things:
• The ever changing formless handle that changes size and shape depending on the way I need to grip it, sometimes the blade grows long or shorter depending on how many hands are holding it.
• the small crystal on the pommel. It is in fact not for decoration but it is a small exposed part of the sword's true form, one that can sense my life force and can draw itself back to me within a certain range.
• a side of the sword that is sharpening and serrated, purely designed with the intention of tearing through armour that can't be cut in one go.
• the blue essence inside the blade's fuller. It is actually more of my life force that has been conjoined with the blade permanently hence why it works best with me, though I don't deny the idea that if it were taken in my death that it'd be willing to accept anyone else as its master.
• and finally, in its bracelet form, it has a single magical crystal, I suppose it's for keeping the blade in that form unless needed.

This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe but can be collapsed into a bracelet and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage. The target's fully effective

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:

  • 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. This penalty lasts until the armor is repaired.

  • If there is not enough free space to expand the object, it cannot be expanded. You cannot expand this Object as an attack.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Elektros Wraps

Created and held by Xander Angelos.
The wraps around the hands are stark white and blue, symbols of lightning bolts, when wrapped properly, can be shown up and down them.

As you reach into the air around you, the static from the air starts to solidify and condense into your hand, forming a straight line of light, sparking in your hands.

This Artifact produces ephemeral projectiles that can be used as a javelin.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage.

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.
  • Magic Quiver: Instead of throwing this Artifact, it is an object that produces an endless supply of temporary throwable objects. For example, bracers that allow you to throw ethereal javelins, or a sack of throwing rocks that doesn’t shrink when you withdraw one.
  • Ricochet: You can make a thrown attack against a target behind cover so long as there is at least one exposed pathway to them.

  • Created projectiles last only until they strike their target and cannot be shared or stockpiled.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Phoenix's Embrace

Created and held by blake.
This cloak, imbued with the Phoenix's powers, shimmers with a warm, iridescent glow, resembling the majestic plumage of the legendary bird.

When Blake activates the healing power of his cloak, a radiant aura of fiery light envelops him or his ally. The cloak’s intricate patterns blaze with a golden and crimson glow, casting warm, soothing light. Flames, gentle yet intense, rise from the cloak and wrap around the injured area, weaving through wounds with a comforting heat that mends and restores. The air shimmers with energy, and a subtle hum resonates as the healing power of the Phoenix flows through, closing injuries and revitalizing the body. The sight is both awe-inspiring and serene, as the essence of the legendary Phoenix breathes life back into the wounded.

Expend a point of Battery and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Occult 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.

  • 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.

When Blake activates the blink power, flames rapidly engulf him, consuming him in an instant. The fire appears to devour him entirely, leaving only a faint wisp of smoke behind. Simultaneously, at his targeted location, a small fire ignites suddenly. The flames burst forth, and Blake emerges from the inferno, unscathed and ready.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action. Select a Location which is at most 125 feet away horizontally or 25 feet away vertically. This Effect cannot be used unless the destination have some fire fuel (grass, papper...) (that doesn't get consumed).

You jump to the chosen location. If the landing is precarious, the GM may call for a roll to land safely. You will never take fall damage from successfully landing a jump made with this Effect.

You may opt to trade your free movement for a Super Leap if you are jumping less than 50 feet or if you are closing a gap to an opponent and spend your Action on an attack.

Instead of physically passing through the air, you are teleported directly to your destination. Does not allow you to go through walls, cages, or grapples.

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: nightmare. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.

  • If you are Encumbered, the maximum range is cut in half. If Encumbrance has reduced your total movement to 0, you cannot activate this Effect.
  • vertical jump height measures to the bottom of your feet, so your total vertical reach is at least a body length greater.
  • Rolls to land safely will generally be Athletics, but GMs may call for a different roll at their discretion if it makes sense for the specific circumstances.
  • You must be on a surface of some kind in order to activate this Effect; it cannot be activated while in mid-air.
  • You may only use this Effect once per Round of combat, regardless of any Enhancements you have taken.
  • 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 cloak's fabric shimmers with a protective aura, providing armor-like defense. When an enemy strikes Blake from close range, flames ripple out from the point of contact, racing along the attacker's weapon or body, scorching them with the reflected power of their own strike. If an attack manages to penetrate the cloak's defense, the fire of the Phoenix's embrace activates, closing and stabilizing the injury with a warm, golden glow. The flames flicker softly over the wound, sealing it and preventing it from worsening.

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

You have 3 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.

You may spend an Action or Reaction and Exert your Mind to double your Armor rating for one Round.

Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

Any Injury received from Damage that was reduced by this Armor is considered makeshift stabilized and will not degrade further. Any Battle Scar received from such an Injury is reduced by 1 level to a minimum of a Minor Battle Scar.

When you take Damage from a source which is within 5 feet, deal back as much Damage as your Armor prevented.

Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.

You may activate or deactivate your armor as a Free Action on your Initiative. As long as your armor is active, your movement speed is halved and you suffer -2 dice to all Dexterity and Perception rolls. While deactivated, it offers no Armor.

  • Armor recharging happens automatically and does not require an Action.

Ye Ol' Reliable

Created and held by Tara Taylor.
a green and black extendable blowgun with some messily scribbled runes on the side; 10 - 40 inches

An extendable aluminum blowgun that, except for some magical ink found in an old hunter's stash, seems kinda ordinary. The runes are supposed to bring good fortune and a good shot at long range.
When preparing for a long range shot, the blow dart seems to creak and squeak and extend like living flesh for a few moments before returning to normal

Tara's hunter manual did provide some helpful info for where to find the magical ink used to make something supernatural out of something regular.

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

Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +2 Weapon Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Ultra-Shot: Spend one Action preparing an attack. This does not count as Aiming. Next Round you may make an attack as though the range of this weapon was 1200 feet
  • Virtuoso's Vessel: When using this Device for its primary purpose, you always roll a minimum of 8 dice. Excludes Effect activation rolls.

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

Stops Watch

Created and held by Richard Cummings.
Stainless steel watch

applies invisible field that doesn't allow bullets and shrapnel through

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

You have 6 Armor, which only reduces damage taken from bullets and shrapnel. Any armor piercing effects from bullets and shrapnel are ignored. 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 or shredded, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. Your Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

Any time your Armor prevents damage, your total Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 1. Whenever you go two Rounds without preventing any damage, it is restored back to its full value.

  • Armor recharging happens automatically and does not require an Action.

A bottomless looking hole appears on the entire face of the watch, allowing you to reach your arm into it and pulling things out presumably out of thin air.

Spend a Quick Action.

You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.

You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a rolling luggage bag (50 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.

  • "Equip" refers to drawing a gun, putting on a piece of armor, etc.
  • Containers which hold multiple things may count as a single item so long as the things within are generally packaged together. For instance, you may stash a clip full of bullets, a medical kit full of medical supplies, or a box of crackers, but you cannot stash a backpack full of miscellaneous equipment.
  • You may only attempt to store Objects which are free-standing and disconnected from other things. The use of this Effect will not allow you to sever any connections holding an Object in place.
  • The Maximum Object Size parameter is intended to roughly capture the weight / size restriction of items and isn’t intended to restrict shape. GM discretion is advised. A human being is level 4 in the Maximum Object Size parameter.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

Dazzle Glasses

This Effect activates whenever you are recorded. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Non-Sapient Object within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll Perception + Culture Difficulty 6.

If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • The penalty from an object being damaged will stack with itself if a target is hit multiple times, but the object is destroyed when it reaches a total penalty of -4.
  • 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.