Survivor of Troy Blocked, blocked, blocked, all of you!

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This Artifact allows you to create a protective barrier.
Used by Jacob Sterns, Created by Protean.
On Legendary Artifact Shield of Aeneas.
(The target and source of this Effect are obvious to bystanders.You must use this Artifact obviously when activating this Effect.)

When channelling energy into it, the shield splits into millions of metal filings which soak into the skin and clothes of the target, leaving a grey gemstone and granting a first line of defense. If hit, it will sound and feel like hitting/breaking through a sheet of metal.
When the barrier is broken or runs out, the shield transforms back.

This shield is said to have been forged by the god Vulcan and gifted to the hero Aeneas, the mythical progenitor of Rome.
Even with modern equipment it is not fully understood whether the power of the shield is magical or technological or a combination of the two.

This artifact was loaned to one Jacob Sterns by the British Museum.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. Roll Dexterity + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome + 4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.

  • 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.

Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a rolling luggage bag (50 liters).

Your target will become Animated for three hours. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. You can only maintain one animated object at a time.

Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:

  • Awareness: Animated targets are capable of perceiving the world around them within reasonable limits. Animated objects can communicate information back to you by vibrating.
  • Movement: Animated targets can use an existing method of locomotion (wheels, etc); otherwise they can move across the ground at 15 feet per round, or hover up to a height of 7 feet in the air at 10 feet per round.
  • Combat: Animated objects cannot take offensive actions in combat.
  • Artifacts: Animating an Artifact does not grant the animated object access to any Effects built in to that Artifact.
  • Ability Use: If an action requires a roll, Animated objects have a dice pool of 7 when performing a task for which they were designed, and a dice pool of 4 for taking any other actions.
  • Toughness: Animated targets are as easy to destroy as they were prior to being animated. If destroyed, the effect ends.
  • Following Orders: Animated objects are controlled by the GM, and will follow any commands you give them, as long as they don't require problem-solving.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Wheezing.

  • Animated objects must communicate verbally, and they must be near enough for you to hear them in order to communicate.
  • A task for which an object was designed might include a broom sweeping, a gun shooting things, a car driving, a towel rubbing up on stuff, etc.
  • Animated objects may be more or less susceptible to certain attacks at GMs discretion. A scarecrow golem would be easily destroyed by a sword (or fire). An animated suit of armor may not fear bullets but could be smashed to bits with a hammer. A full bronze statue is largely indestructible but might have difficulty standing up if toppled.
  • If an indestructible object is animated, the animation ends in any event where the base object would have been destroyed.
  • 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.

Spend one minute. Select a Living target within 45 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless you are actively conversing with the target. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6 -3 dice.

If you succeed, for the next hour, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by trust. They will outwardly display their emotions in an obvious and visible way.

Actions they take may be extreme and out of character for them. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.

This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is tounge glistens sliver. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

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

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Nightmares of the Antichrist: Your sleep is plagued with horrible nightmares of the Antichrist rising. At the start of each Contract and each time you fall asleep, make a Self-Control roll. If you fail, you take one Mind Damage and Delusion that other Faiths are Invalid: You must succeed a Self-Control roll in order to not believe your delusion, even when confronted with compelling evidence, or in order to act in a way that is contrary to your delusion.

  • Common emotions and the actions they inspire
    • Anger (shouting, cruelty, denying requests, attacking)
    • Pity (stopping an attack, executing an injured target)
    • Happiness (generosity, dancing, joking, socializing)
    • Sadness (finding solitude, openly crying, demotivation)
    • Fear (running, attacking)
  • If you succeed, the target MUST take at least one Action they otherwise would not have. Hey, GM who is reading this, I'm talking to you. You have to enforce this. Remember: Gifts must feel powerful.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining.

Your target rises as an Animate being. They remember their past life and retain their same personality. They can communicate as they would have been able to in life. They may roll Mind, Difficulty 8, to resist any commands you give them.

The creature lasts one hour 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 Attributes are all the same as they were in life, except Dexterity, which is fixed at 1. Raised creatures have access to any Effects they had in life.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

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

  • 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.

You must actively and obviously use a bible to activate this Effect.

You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must swear on the bible to seal the deal.

Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.

When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:

  • You may suspend a targeted Offensive Power which will take effect when the oath is broken. The Power must be able to target all participants the oath indicates it could hit.
  • A Battle Scar up to Severe (deaf, missing limb)
  • The oath-breaker is physically marked as an oath-breaker, and any investigative effect will reveal the terms of the oath they broke.
  • A particular Trauma and a single Mind Damage
  • The oath-breaker goes unconscious for up to 24 hours
  • An Injury up to Severity-6 (cannot be reduced by any means)

The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.

  • All Oaths must have at least two participants.
  • The target must be physically present to enter the oath.
  • The terms and penalties of the oath do not need to be equitable and do not need to affect all parties equally.
  • A single action cannot break multiple oaths. You cannot 'stack' oath penalties by having a target sign multiple identical oaths, or similar.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). You must use up a Lump of Coal in order to activate this Effect.

You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a firepit's fire at your target. Extinguishing a fire does not cost Exertion. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.

Lighting a target on fire deals 4 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be depleted by any Damage dealt, destroying the Armor once it reaches 0.

You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

  • Someone may attempt to extinguish a fire that you started by spending an Action and rolling Dexterity + Athletics. An Outcome of 4 puts out the fire
  • 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.

Stock Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. Your target must make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Medicine 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.

Spend 30 minutes. You may only target yourself. 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.

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

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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology 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 a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance 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. Armor is fully effective against this damage.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a non-Sapient, Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is undead.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands must be relatively simple and within the target’s intellectual grasp. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • 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.