Legendary Artifact

Baubbles of Faith and Devotion

Created and held by Magdalene Wheeler.
Maggie’s Baubles of Faith and Devotion is a collection of small, eclectic items she’s gathered over the years. Coins, amulets, statuettes, and accessories from countless faiths and votive traditions, each one imbued with a specific, minor purpose. Some offer protection from misfortune, others bring luck in a gamble, and a few might ease physical ailments. This bundle of charms was accrued through her usual means—bartering in obscure bazaars, spelunking forgotten caves, tomb raiding, grave robbing, and, when necessary, a bit of thievery. While none of the items on their own are particularly powerful, together they create a fascinating patchwork of utilies and conveniences. Each charm has its place, and Maggie knows exactly when and where to use them, lending her a curious advantage in situations where the mystical and mundane blur. It’s not the kind of magic she normally practices, but these little baubles have saved her skin more than once.

The Pleading Jackal of Opening is a curious trinket from Maggie’s collection, a pendant strung on a simple leather braid necklace, fitted with copper wire. The jackal itself is carved from black stone, frozen in a pleading posture, like a desert dog begging for food. It’s not just for show, though—when knocked against a locked door or container, and with a shameless plea for it to please open, the jackal’s charm works its magic. Its reliable magic it can unlock nearly anything, for the price of good manners. A fitting companion for a grave robber who knows the art of coaxing secrets from stubborn doors.

Spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within 20 feet.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.

  • Operating some locking mechanisms through this Effect may have a secondary effect, such as a turn-key ignition on an older or cheaper car causing it to start or stop. Note that the locking mechanism itself must satisfy the standard targeting requirements (including line of sight), not just the vehicle.
  • Any mechanism that requires a key, keycard, key fob, or combination may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. This Effect may be used on doors and containers secured with control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems at large.
  • 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.

Indiscreet Maid's Talisman is an amulet that allows Maggie to understand all spoken and written languages, provided she takes a moment to concentrate on the pendant. The pendant, crafted from rose quartz and sculpted into the shape of a tongue, bears the image of a tower on between the tongue and upper lip. When activated, the amulet grants her the ability to decipher even the most obscure and forgotten tongues, unlocking secrets and hidden meanings. However, the power requires focus—without taking a moment to concentrate, the knowledge remains elusive, as if the languages are still shrouded in mystery.

Exert your Mind and spend one minute.

You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.

This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.

While active and speaking to a single individual, you may choose to use glib tongue. When you do, anything you say to them (even gibberish) will be exactly what they want to hear. You gain no understanding of what that might be.

  • Communing with creatures does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
  • The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
  • When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.

These delicate alloyed hoop earrings are adorned with shards of obsidian and dark garnet, glinting mysteriously before fading back into shadow. They grant Maggie a unique form of sense denial, subtly manipulating sight and sound to blur her presence, as if she drifts just beyond the edge of perception. In time, as Maggie’s bond with them deepens, they will allow her to vanish into the safety of oblivion. Maggie acquired these earrings in a forgotten mountain market, after trading a handful of charms and talismans with a wandering merchant. Rumor had it they were crafted by an old Romani sorceress who sought to escape the mortal gaze, leaving only a “murmuring invitation” for those brave enough to follow her into shadow. Now, they hold a treasured place in Maggie’s collection, from maybe an ancestor of times past.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. Lasts 30 minutes.

  • 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.
  • Smell and taste: You are completely obscured from smell and taste. You do not leave scent trails while this Effect is active. All attempts to detect you via smell or taste fail. Attempts via other senses where smell or taste would assist are rolled at -2 dice.

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.

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

  • You may only switch this Effect on or off once per Round on your initiative as a Free Action.
Print / PDF
Learn about Gen-Wyld - Hide fake ads

Community Artifacts

Body and Mind Stabilizing Band

Created by David Vance, given to Daisy Lag (Fiona Lepre).
Appears as a metal band bracelet with a human outline shaped hole in it, with a halo having been carved out around the head of the outline. Sometimes with a rabbit's foot charm, other times with a gun. A small maker’s mark on the inner rim reads “1”.
Crafted by Daisy Lag (Fiona Lepre)

The Buntech carrot has an orange barrel laser-engraved to look like a carrot. Its grips and hammer are green like foliage. This pistol can be concealed as an innocent rabbit's foot charm keychain and restored just as quickly. It never runs out of ammo and can be morphed into any other sort of gun, as desired.

This Artifact can be used as a handgun. It is roughly the same size as a handgun but can be collapsed into a rabbit's foot and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.

Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Infinite Ammo: This weapon never runs out of its standard ammunition.
  • You may spend a Quick Action to change this firearm's base stats into those of any other basic firearm.
  • Silencer: Shots you fire can be made silent at will.

  • If there is not enough free space to expand the object, it cannot be expanded. You cannot expand this Object as an attack.
  • Changing this weapon's base type affects its range, Weapon Damage, concealability, and roll. Other mechanics of the chosen base firearm (such as the tripod requirement for sniper rifles) apply.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.
  • Rifles are +1 Difficulty to use in melee range. Sniper Rifles are +3 Difficulty to use without a tripod or in melee range. Setting up a tripod takes an Action.
Crafted by David Vance

When the band made by the above ritual is worn, it occasionally (every 4 hours or so) briefly flashes a translucent outline of its wielder’s body at peak condition (this is their “elemental”, the shell or outline of their soul), and the wielder is able to focus as if they themselves were at peak condition.

The band captures a person’s elemental, the shell of a person’s soul that is left behind in its movement, according to some of the occultist Helena Blavatsky’s teachings. By briefly redisplaying this shell over the user’s form, the user can synchronize their body with their soul at a healthier time. A necromantic ritual for “soul finding” has recently allowed David to find a more complete version of a person’s elemental, allowing this technique to synchronize a previous healthier mind as well.

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

Your Body and Mind Penalties are reduced to 0.

Pewter Armband

Created and held by Xanax Exkelseir.
A fuzzy leather armband with many metal stripes.

It's a peculiar armband worn under the clothes, against skin. It glows when used.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Roll Brawn + Brawl Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.

You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.

If the target receives an Injury, they are knocked back 5 * Severity feet.

The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.

  • 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 Bag "Poke"

Created and held by Reuben Sturgill.

The bag is a writhing swelling creature of dark obsidian flesh. It is about the size of a 60 liter camping bag and it clings to it's owners back, but can be covered with a large tarp.

The bag has can hold a number of items against itself with grubby little tendrils that protrude from the bag.

Items within the creature can be accessed only by the owner who then lifts the flesh flap at the top of the bag and digs around for the item of their choice.

The creature will not eat items without its owners permission, but it will request food.

The bag must be fed one large meal (~1000kcals) daily or it becomes sullen and inaccessible. When it is in a bad mood it needs either an item of monetary value of at least $100 or an item of reasonable personal value to someone (GM discretion). If the bag is not fed after three days of being in a bad mood it will begin to eat the items inside.

This Artifact can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a A "back pack" and just as difficult to conceal.

Your A "back pack" holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.

Living things can be stored in your A "back pack". They will have access to anything else inside but cannot break free.

If your A "back pack" is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.

Only you may open and close the container. 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.

  • There is no cost to use your container.

Poke has headed the call of the traveler and taken on a more active role.

As long as Reuben has the bag, Poke will extend an appendage down to grant Reuben the ability to walk "normally" once more. The appendage only operates if poke is nearby.

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

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

Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. 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 appendage has a grip that is hard to shake. While grappling a target, when contesting their physical actions, you may roll your full dice pool, but it only counts as a Quick Action.

You cannot be mistaken for a normal human. You cannot always use standard human clothes, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, and when you can, you suffer an increased Difficulty.

  • You may stretch or retract your limbs once per Round on your Initiative.

When the traveler loses an eye the companion provides another. The sight provided far surpasses that which the traveler first had.

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

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Sight: You can see perfectly in dark and even pitch-black environments. You suffer no dice penalty due to darkness.
  • Thermal: You are able to "see" heat signatures within your line of sight.

Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.

  • Your thermal vision allows you to judge temperatures of surfaces fairly accurately as long as they are within livable temperatures.
  • Examples of overloading a sense include: an explosion causing temporary deafness, a bright light causing blindness, a sedative causing numbness, etc.

Collar of the Primordial

Created by Rose Marantha, given to Faira Lenora McDougall.

...

This Artifact cannot be broken.

This Artifact's creator 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.

...

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless can only be performed in the dark..

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 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.

  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

..

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a Barrier extending out 15 feet from yourself, which absorbs 2 times the next Outcome + 4 Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. You may choose to create a bubble barrier. If you do, no physical objects or entities can pass into your bubble until the barrier is broken, but you and the barrier cannot move. 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.

  • If you use this Effect as a Reaction to dodge, you still need to make a roll to dodge. The Effect will occur regardless of the Outcome of this roll, but if you fail you will be hit by the relevant attack prior to the Effect occurring.

...

Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet. Roll Charisma + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

  • 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.

As the essence of a being that has been around longer than communication itself, there's a instinctual understanding of language bound up in the energy of the collar.

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

You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language.

This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.

  • Communing with creatures does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
  • The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
  • When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.

The fear of the dark has been around as long as there have been things that were not one with it. It is in the blood, the instinct, the very fabric of existence to fear or at least respect the dark. Rose simply heightens that instinct and makes it overwhelming.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. Select a Sapient or Creature target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless target must be in the dark. Roll Charisma+Occult at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8 with a -3 dice penalty. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically and their Outcome is 0.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes Mind damage equal to the Contested Outcome. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target will gain fear of the dark as a Trauma. This Trauma may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.

  • Mundane animals have a Mind score of 1 or 2 at the GM’s discretion.
  • 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.

Dell Series U-23x

Created and held by Delphyrion Arcanis.
A phone-shaped brick of uranium glass. There's a sticker on it, mimicking the appearance of a phone's screen and typing interface.

You start typing on your phone. Upon closer inspection it's just a brick of uranium glass with a sticker on it. Besides hearing a weird voice, the target sees the message in the corner of their vision. It's suspiciously like Twitch's Text-to-Speech. May or may not be rereadable.

On Delphyrion's career:
As much as Delphyrion makes a joke out of it, he still relies on making chemistry videos to make a living. Contracts aren't enough to maintain a good budget for his experiments so he has to dabble in all sorts of different platforms and content. Livestreams, short-form videos, and podcasts are all on the table here, it's just that he doesn't want to be recognized for anything but his actual alchemy. Few friends know what his channels are.

On Twitch Chat:
Some find it endlessly entertaining to watch an hour-long video of a chair sitting in a hot tub. Delphyrion knows of a bell pepper guy in Los Angeles who has done pretty well for himself by doing that, much to the streamer's chagrin. In Delphyrion's case, Chat has been asking him to blow things up for the longest time. It's an enticing idea but he's still trying to figure out the legality of broadcasting the creation of chemical weapons in front of thousands of people online. With this ability, Delphyrion can finally become Chat too.

On brainrot:
After a long day of brain usage, Delphyrion sits down at his computer and doomscrolls. However, the sheer power of an entire Chat shutting down their brains at once can be devastating. They either become a hivemind or an apocalypse. They drive him insane all the time. Who knows if that's really the reason why Delphyrion's a mad scientist?

On uranium glass:
It was incredibly hard to obtain uranium, and he's probably ended up on another watchlist for this. To make the most of this, Delphyrion has made it into a piece of uranium glass shaped just like his phone, complete with some black dye in one part of it to simulate a screen. This is to confuse people whenever they try to steal Delphyrion's phone, because most would stay far away from radioactive materials of any sort. He himself is much safer than he was during the process of making it but he still feels a bit odd about putting it to his ear every time he mistakes it for his own phone. Maybe that's how this gift came about.

On the brand placement:
Delphyrion's mom has always been adamant that Dell products aren't good (their old home computer was very beaten up after a year or two of use, one of the hinges was about to pop open if not for the bull clip Delphyrion had forced onto it) but it's not like he's trying to endorse or renounce the brand. It was just very convenient. See, Dell, Delphyrion, Dell-phyrion, get it?

On the sticker:
One would assume that after so many years of using devices, Delphyrion could type with his eyes closed. He could, it'd just end up in a jumbled heap of random letters. He's trying to convince himself that this isn't like writing the name of each note onto individual piano keys. It's for the cosmetic. It's for the bit.

On TTS:
Text-to-speech sometimes acts as a hindrance to the stream-viewing experience, but some may argue that it's an integral part of it. Delphyrion doesn't have much opinion on it, he doesn't usually notice the text anyway so it's just a disembodied voice to him. This gift is also similar in that it's really hard to notice, much less read, the text in your peripheral vision because your peripheries don't have the cones to distinguish the shape of each letter. It's incredibly elusive because you can try to look at it but it'll just forever be a step too far to the right. This part is purely to annoy people, but if the target tries hard enough they might just be able to reread the message.

Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target 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 target, 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.

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

  • 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.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

Lightning Bracers

A pair of bronze bracelets that glow with golden energy.

This Artifact produces ephemeral projectiles that can be used as a javelin. It is roughly the same size as a javelin but can be collapsed into a pair of bronze bracers and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage. The target's Armor is fully effective against this Damage. Attacks

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.

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

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 can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a 80 liter backpacking pack and just as difficult to conceal.

Your 80 liter backpacking pack holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.

Living things can be stored in your 80 liter backpacking pack. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the 80 liter backpacking pack in the process.

If your 80 liter backpacking pack is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.

Only you may open and close the container. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents

  • There is no cost to use your container.

This Artifact cannot be broken.

This Artifact's creator 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.

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). 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.

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 can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a 80 liter backpacking pack and just as difficult to conceal.

Your 80 liter backpacking pack holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.

Living things can be stored in your 80 liter backpacking pack. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the 80 liter backpacking pack in the process.

If your 80 liter backpacking pack is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.

Only you may open and close the container. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents

  • There is no cost to use your container.

This Artifact cannot be broken.

This Artifact's creator 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 Coffin

"The Coffin" is a black, alligator-skin briefcase made to look like its namesake. The interior is coated in red, quilted leather. It is quite a bit larger on the inside, appearing to stretch backwards like a dark passageway.

This Artifact can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a alligator-skin briefcase and just as difficult to conceal. Unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins, this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart.

Your alligator-skin briefcase holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.

Living things can be stored in your alligator-skin briefcase. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the alligator-skin briefcase in the process.

If your alligator-skin briefcase is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.

You may change the type of your container between Contracts.

Only you may open and close the container. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents

  • You cannot change the container's type if you are not in possession of it.
  • There is no cost to use your container.