Legendary Artifact

Sanguine Broche

Created and held by Beatrice Von Sterling.

The broche glimmers a soft red as it afflicts the mind of their target, their minds altered and warped, allowing for orders to be followed, yet their eyes glow red and their faces blank the entire time.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend at least one Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. Your target may be actively engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to the letter-- but not necessarily the spirit-- of the command until they have completed it or for your Contested Outcome in minutes. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.

They will be unaware that they are under any sort of compulsion until the effect wears off, but they will appear obviously mind-controlled the entire time to anyone observing them. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.

Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action and a conditional request. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.

You must have some means of communicating this command to your target, but no one other than you and them will understand or perceive it.

You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking, reducing their Outcome by your own. Your command has no impact beyond disrupting their Action. This interrupts Concentration.

This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.

  • You cannot order your target to endanger themselves, but you may order them to flee, attack a certain target, take a defensive or offensive stance, or similar.
  • The target must be able to understand you and must receive your communication for the suggestion to work.
  • Allowed Commands
    • Conditional Request: implants a triggered response or latent order. (e.g. "when you see your mom, give her a kiss" or "when I give the signal, strip naked and pretend you're possessed by the devil.")
    • Direct Order: The target must take an immediate action (e.g. “Sit down,” "run away," or "tell me your password.")
  • In the case of a failed activation, GMs should consider how bystanders would realistically react to a potentially-outlandish accusation of mind-reading.
  • 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.

A mirror shatters and breaks as dozens of red lights fly off to surround the area, giving information back onto the user.

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

Any Injury you receive 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.

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.

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Community Artifacts

Crafter's Appraisal

Created and held by Ninety-Nine.

one of the tools on the multi tool is a simple rod that, while tapping against the object to be analyzed, can give the user a better understanding of the object.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions to activate. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Crafts at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You receive information about sand or smells or other indications of location, allowing you to discern where this object has recently been.
  • You learn the object's intended function and how to use it for its intended purpose, though not necessarily the ability to do so.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Thaumostatic Harness with Dermal Plating

Created and held by Diamond Jasper.
A series of plates of armor that attach to the gel-sections of Diamond's body, creating a hard, flexible shell to ward away damage.

These plates come together to form a protective surface that appears like welding gear - thick gloves, Kevlar sleeves, a heavy apron, and of course, an OSHA-compliant helmet and mask. The heavy workboots and thick workpants are meant to emulate Diamond as they were, allowing Diamond to pass more easily at their job.

The plates hook into Diamond's frame to distribute their weight, hence why you need to be an android or cyborg to wear them - you need hardpoints to mount the plates to. They also require some form of power so as to activate Defense Curl, Vanguard, and Thorns, as the Thorns is narratively an electro-thaumic discharge from Diamond's onboard reactor, Vanguard is from energized sensor-circuits just under the skin, and Defense Curl is overcharging the whole system to magnetize it to the body.

Deactivating the Armor will allow Diamond to cause it to explode off them and reassemble on the floor, dealing no damage, but it's flashy and showy, and I want heavy armor plates to embed themselves in soft earth as a show of just how heavy "Bulky" really is.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have sufficient power and hardpoints to mount it and you are wearing this Artifact.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. Called Shots may circumvent your Armor, depending on its coverage.

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

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

Whenever your Armor reduces incoming Damage, you are immediately made aware of the source of the Damage. You may pinpoint their location for 30 seconds.

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.

  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.

Photon Blaster

Created and held by Braf Johnson.

You have a photon blaster that looks something like a toy, but when fired produces a bright beam of light and a classic laser sound effect.

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

Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage. The target's Armor is fully effective against this 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.

  • 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.

Braf can shoot any lock open with his photon blaster!

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. Select a door, lock, or locked target within 20 feet that is no more complex than a personal safe door or a keycard reader. Cannot be used on Alien technology.

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

If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.

  • Any door or restraint that is fastened or shut with a mechanism may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. Can be used on control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems.
  • If you operate a locking mechanism through this Effect which has some other secondary effect (such as the ignition on a car causing the car to start) you may cause that effect as well.
  • 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.

Accession of the Fall

Created and held by Juvia Felsa.
A misericorde dagger with eldritch features that appears to be formed from black metal with an iridiscent, mostly-crimson sheen. An illusory cord sprouts from the dagger's pommel whenever it is shrunken, and said cord twines its ends together if the resultant item is attempted to be worn as a necklace.

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.

  • "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.

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:

  • Bastard: You may spend a Free Action to change this melee weapon’s base stats into those of any other basic melee weapon. Changing this weapon's base type affects its size, range, Weapon Damage, and roll.
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • 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.

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.

  • This does not satisfy the Line of Sight requirement for targeted Effects.

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.

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

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

  • While you may alter your outfit's appearance, this does not grant or store equipment. This does not allow you to change the appearance of Artifacts or conceal their Alien appearance.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

Malacosha Kodak

Created and held by Madeline Vera.
Grimoire that chose her as a child and it is covered in bloody vines with thorns

When she uses this magic, her eyes glow red with energy, unlike anyone in her family as she flushes out these red blood curling vines

Spend an Action. Select a Object or Animate target up to 100 feet away.

Targets that weigh less than you are pushed back until they are 100 feet away or pulled towards you until they are right next to you. If you are lighter, you move instead. If you are roughly the same weight, you and the target both move.

This Effect cannot move anything heavier than 500 pounds.

Affected targets may use a Reaction and roll Dexterity or Brawn + Athletics to hold on to a nearby anchor, if available. A complete success increases their effective weight by whatever they hold onto. You may also roll to anchor yourself as you activate this Effect without spending a Reaction.

Pushing a target straight upward requires you to be directly beneath them and halves the range. GM’s may ask for a Dexterity + Athletics roll when repositioning yourself around a target to get a desired angle. They may React to reposition or anchor themselves as normal.

Targets that move and collide with a solid surface take 5 Damage.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see their eyes glow, red and black with dangerous power.

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

  • 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.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

The book begins to glow red as red vines begin to unravel themselves from the book and automatically go back to where they came from

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 in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.

Whenever this Artifact is unattended and within 300 feet of its true owner, it will fly back to them. When not held or stowed, it floats beside its true owner, moving with them. While within 10 feet, the true owner does not need to touch it to use it.

This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.

  • The Artifact can fly at a maximum speed of 100 feet per Round and only towards its true owner. This does not grant the Artifact its own Action or Reaction, and it moves at the same time as its true owner’s Movement.
  • "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.

Stock Legendary Artifacts

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.

Lightning Bracers

A pair of bronze bracelets that glow with golden energy.

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.

  • 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.

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.

The Skeleton Key

At first glance, this appears to be a standard, modern house key made of ivory. A close observer might compliment its skull-shaped head or usual material. No one would suspect it to be one of the Thief's most prized possessions: The Skeleton Key.

Spend an Action.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.

If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.

  • 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.

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 holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless. Unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins, this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart. This Effect cannot be used unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins.

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.

On a Downtime, you may change this Artifact from one type of container to another. Maximum once per Downtime.

If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. 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.
  • A container of holding cannot be placed inside another created by the same Gift.
  • There is no cost to use this container.