A blue octahedron shield erects around the user in a 15 foot radius.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action or Reaction. Roll Brawn + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a Barrier extending out 15 feet from yourself, which absorbs 2 times the next Outcome + 2 Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. Any Damage absorbed by the barrier is reflected back to the attacker, up to a maximum of the Barrier Strength Parameter’s bonus. Their Armor applies in full. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact 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.
The next in Louis's foray into computer science is a little cartridge for his SEAL units. Simply retrieve one from your pack, and slam it into the machine and it'll perform an automated hack of the targeted device! Though fingers that are too fast may find themselves encountering a slight bug, as mashing the input as you input the cartridge has been known to cause the device to encounter a null error and hack itself, but, we promise we're working on that!
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute to activate. Select a Computer within arm's reach. Does not work on Alien technology. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you disable the artifact for a downtime as it hacks itself.. Roll Dexterity + 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.
You may issue a "self-destruct" command that leaves the hacked system's hardware inoperable, even if that machine had no such functionality previously.
Every hack you make leaves behind A gif of a seal clapping and arfing. in the system as a personal "calling card" that informs anyone who uses the system that the hack occurred.
The artifact holds at least one demon bound to obey the commands and will of the wielder and advance their interests. When used a demon crawl's its way out of the object, and leap out, looking for enemies.
The demon in this iteration looks like a small creature of shadow, about the proportions of a human 10-year-old, but stretched upwards to be thin and lanky with dark scales, blank white eyes, clawed fingers and thin leathery wings. When firing at range, they shoot dark blades that dissipate after impact.
The demon can speak, reporting on anything it sees, and apply a level of intelligence to understanding the world around it.
This artifact is made by summoning a demon, making a deal with it, and binding it to the object in a long ritual.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient Bound shadow Imp at your location. They last until they are destroyed They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most one active at a time.
Futuristic armor that shapes itself to the wearer, even showing previous scars.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action to activate.
You and any clothes or equipment you are wearing are partially obscured from sight for the next 10 minutes. 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.
Entering Combat or being Injured does not cause the Effect to end early. Anyone you attack will immediately notice you; anyone else may re-roll to notice you each time you take a Combat action, at -1 Difficulty per Combat action you have taken. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for 1 hour.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: has a directive that cannot be explained driving you mad. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.
What seemed to be a normal kitty bracelet, cat bell collar, or perhaps something to adorn ears, but soon turning into a large nightmareish looking scythe, an eyeball could be seen between the end of the blade, and the end of the hilt.
This Artifact can be used as a great sword / giant axe. It is roughly the same size as a great sword / giant axe but can be collapsed into A cat cosemetic and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal 3 Weapon Damage +3 Bonus Damage. The target's fully effective
This item is a living thing. It counts as a Creature when targeted. If destroyed or abandoned for more than two days, it dies and becomes unusable.
You also gain the following effects:
Whenever the Artifact's owner thoroughly defeats or kills an opponent, the Confluence of Glyphs may save the echo of any melee weapon used by the opponent if it deems it worthwhile, adding said echo to what is best described as an archive. This artifact is able to freely change its shape to resemble any of the weapons from within the archive. The contents of the archive are recorded in the Artifact owner's Equipment section.
A blur obscures the Artifact's features while it is shape is in the process of being changed, with a crimson glint signifying that the alteration has concluded. The coloration and perceived materials of all replicated weapons partially match the coloration and perceived materials of the Artifact's base form. Some features of these weapons are distinctly different from those of their real iterations, such as text and images being replaced by unknown glyphs. If the appearance of a weapon's real iteration had noticeable technological aspects, the replica has those aspects revised to be warped and eldritch instead.
The Artifact can only be miniaturized while it is in its base form. When it is ordered to shrink or enlarge, it bursts into a swarm of black, shifting glyphs which coalesce and reform into the Artifact of the requested size.
This Artifact can be used as a knife. It is roughly the same size as a knife but can be collapsed into a miniature version of itself and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling (Dexterity or Brawn) + (Melee or Brawl), Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Whenever the Artifact is used by someone other than its true owner, observers can see shifting impressions of unknown glyphs temporarily appear in random places on the Artifact's surface. If whoever is wielding it had hurt the Artifact's true owner before, the aforementioned glyph impressions exhibit a crimson sheen. The noticeability of the sheen scales in direct proportion to the magnitude of the current wielder's total negative impact on the Artifact's true owner.
Whenever the Artifact is ordered by its true owner to return to them, it folds in on itself in a non-Euclidean manner, becoming more and more blurry as it does so. Then, the middle of one of the true owner's palms darkens as a single black, ever-shifting glyph with a crimson sheen emerges from it. The true owner reflexively closes its hand around it, 'catching' the glyph, but when they open it again they are instead faced with the Artifact in its shrunken form. The palm's darkening is also no longer present, as if it never happened in the first place.
All bleeding Injuries of the Artifact's true owner emit streaks of blur reminiscent of solar prominence. The parts of this phenomena that are close to the scar owner's skin faintly glow an uneasy red instead of remaining colorless and clear.
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.
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.
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: an ornate, inky-black mark depicting the Artifact's base form - a misericorde dagger - pointing downwards from inbetween the person's shoulder blades to the small of their back. So long as this mark exists, the person in question's blood becomes black and blurry with a crimson sheen, and all Injuries that aren't Stabilized degrade every 10 minutes instead of every 30 minutes. If observed under a microscope, anyone can see that the blood's cells have been replaced by various black, ever-shifting glyphs of similar sizes - however, despite this, the blood functions exactly the same as a normal human's blood would. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
Whenever the Artifact's owner allows it to temporarily expand their perception, an aggressive red glint can be seen shining for a split second from within the center of the dagger's crossguard. Likewise, the Artifact's silhouette momentarily blurs as well.
To the Artifact owner, during their period of otherworldly awareness, all opaque materials become partially transparent. Crimson, glowing, ever-shifting glyphs start to frequently appear floating inside all of the aforementioned opaque-turned-transparent objects and terrain. Normally, the glyphs themselves aren't distracting, and tend to be somewhat faint, however some decide to trace the outlines, edges and corners of seen-through surfaces instead of simply floating without purpose - these ones are quite more noticeable, being a bit more numerous and bright. The Artifact owner is mentally aware of all such glyphs within this sense's range.
The difficulty of discerning the less obvious details within a given area dictates how colorful the glyphs in said area appear: for example, glyphs within the first and thus unobscured wall that the Artifact's owner could see are of a strong red hue, while glyphs in an object that's behind several usually-opaque surfaces or deep underground would be darker - both in color and in brightness.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You may perceive things within 75 feet of you with perfect clarity as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next 30 minutes.
You may perceive through up to 15 feet of material. The Difficulty of all Perception rolls made through a wall are increased by 1 per wall.
Whenever the Artifact owner attempts to enter or leave the pocket realm, space contorts and either folds in on itself or unravels in a non-Euclidean manner, either swallowing or revealing their existence as well as the existence of any selected nearby targets. Observing this effect is uncomfortable to spectators.
The void of the pocket realm is formed from unknown, barely-visible, ever-shifting black glyphs. Sparse crimson motes reminiscent of eldritch rubies float throughout this space, providing a bit of light if they are close to the space's theoretical center. Additionally, the Artifact owner's lover is manifested within the pocket realm as well.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You phase out of reality for up to 10 minutes. During this time, you cannot affect the outside world but may take mental and self-targeting Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.
When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 additional target in arm's reach with you. While phased out together, you may interact as if standing in an empty void that extends infinitely in all directions.
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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see nauseating, non-Euclidean space-warping which outlines horror-evoking phenomena beyond perception.
Whenever the Artifact owner requires concealment through subterfuge, a swarm of unknown, static, glowing crimson glyphs emerges from the Artifact. Each of these glyphs has at least one prolonged, pointy end. Immediately, the swarm disperses to fly over to the areas chosen to be disguised, and, after a miniscule pause, the glyphs begin to sequentially pierce the areas in question in a motion akin to sewing. Several seconds later, accompanied by a finalizing blur, the change is complete, and all glyphs fold out of existence.
When piercing flesh, all wounds caused by the glyphs heal in a manner of seconds, and any spilled blood is absorbed by blurry ripples; when piercing clothing, the glyphs instead temporarily merge with the pierced surface and emit a single red pulsating glint each. The total amount of glyphs present during this phenomenon scales in direct proportion to the cumulative surface area of the affected parts of the Artifact owner's body and apparel.
Spend 2 Actions.
You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.
The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.
You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see many pointy crimson glyphs sequentially piercing the areas that are being disguised in a motion akin to sewing, which is visibly painful when affecting flesh.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
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: Neuropathy. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
If the Selkie's seal skin is worn close to the body, any contact with salt water will cause them to transform into a seal. While transformed, they have full access to their normal suite of Powers.
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 Winter Fang's glittering string is drawn, an ice arrow crystalizes nocked and ready to fire. These ice arrows melt quickly after piercing their foes, leaving deadly wounds instead of evidence.
This Artifact can be used as a bow. It is roughly at least twice as large as a bow and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The Axe of Legend's blade has been imbued with the metal of the dark lord of rock and roll. It shreds chords and flesh. The rock god commanding it may recall it to their hand at will.
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:
The Scepter of Ang-Kapal is a gruesome device fashioned to look like a skeletal arm clutching a glass eye. When used, blood from the person holding is drawn into the eye where it swirls with dark energy. The eye turns to a nearby corpse and shudders, reviving the creature. The creature does not retain any of its memories or personality, but it is absolutely loyal to whoever is holding the scepter.
The Scepter of Ang Kepal has the unfortunate side effect of driving its owner mad.
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 airship of solitude is the mad scientist's lair and preferred mode of travel. Not only does it include a full science laboratory, it can be collapsed into an incredibly small canvas cube and easily transported. The mad scientist may pilot the ship alone or rely on its autopilot features for ultimate convenience.
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: