Harold Polk’s Linguistic Espionage Mastery is a unique fusion of his perfect memory and deep understanding of Speech Act Theory, allowing him to communicate in any language with native fluency and cultural precision. Through his flawless recall, Harold has accumulated vast stores of linguistic patterns, dialects, and subtleties, giving him an intuitive grasp of each language’s nuances. He doesn’t merely translate words; he understands their intent, context, and hidden meaning, slipping into conversations as though he were born to each language he speaks.
With Speech Act Theory, Harold imbues his words with layers of meaning and influence, embedding subtle cues to guide others’ perceptions or actions. Every word he speaks carries intent, carefully crafted to either blend into the conversation or gently steer it, as if he were weaving an invisible thread through every interaction. This mastery makes him a linguistic ghost, an agent who can infiltrate through language alone, understanding and subtly shaping discussions to achieve his aims without ever raising suspicion.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to humans as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
Allowing himself to directly mindlink with the server in his home allows him to think on a level beyond normal people, parallel thought processing independent of anything and everything related to his physical body. Though it does require him to squint with the cybernetic eye in question resulting in a visible telescoping of the iris but hey. Nothing's free.
You gain the following benefits as long as you have your cybernetic eye.
Your Intellect rating is increased by 2. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Intellect (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).
If you are witnessed actively using this Effect, whoever sees it can make a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty 6. A complete success reveals the source of your power.
You also gain the following effects:
The user extends a tendril of bundled veins that seek other creatures.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You gain 4 additional limbs that function as standard human arms and hands.
Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Each additional appendage you have gives you +1 dice to make and resist Grapples (up to a maximum bonus of +4 dice).
Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.
You may dedicate your extra Quick Action to contest any attempt to escape your Grapples. If you do so, you roll your full dice pool to contest and retain your Action to do anything that does not target the subject of your Grapple.
Your Extra Appendage is incapable of fine object manipulation.
Vel has a tattoo on their neck. It can move and shift, like their other tattoos. Enchanted into their body with the same power.
This one is a paw print.
Vel's flesh knits itself together, recovering quicker. The tattoo moves, spreading small tattoos of fur over the area that is recovering, until it is healed.
This gift is like Vel's other gifts, the using of some symbol, or story to shape power which they imbue.
In this case, Vel is using the idea of Emily Miller, a very strong contractor who can regenerate.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
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.
Clusters of crimson-tinged scales begin appearing throughout your body, your teeth becoming sharper, that splitting headache giving way to horns growing out the side of your head, and upon looking at your visage with a mirror: Your eyes resemble those of Dragons.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: red scales appear across your body, your teeth become sharper, horns begin growing out of the side of your head, your eyes resembling those of a dragon. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Brawn is increased by 1, your Perception is increased by 1, and your Intellect is increased by 1.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Vengeful and Kleptomania.
Observers find that they get a headache when looking directly at the user. They have trouble focusing on them, and just see the book itself clearly when doing so.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
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.
The influencer is welcome at any event or social gathering, but they're easy to recognize, even when they'd rather not be.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Charisma rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Charisma (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).
You also gain the following effects:
The mobster's been through tougher scrapes than this. A few cuts and bruises won't stop them.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Stress from Injuries is reduced to 0. Does not reduce Stress from Mind Damage.
The Android's skin is extremely pale, their eyes are yellow, and their body stays at room temperature. They do not bleed, and traditional medicine is ineffective at treating them. Furthermore, they may be hacked by any supernatural effect that could hack a computer.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: you are an android, with pale skin and yellow eyes. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living Computer when targeted..
You are immune to damage from cold. If cold is a substantial component of other damage you would take (e.g. falling from a great distance into a vat of liquid nitrogen), that damage is reduced by 2 (in addition to Armor)
No single organ in your body is critical for life. Called Shots do no additional Damage to you. You may perceive the world through separated body parts, take Actions with them, and reattach them by spending an Action and Exerting your Mind.
Your Injuries no longer degrade with time. You do not age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail.
You cannot ignore or decrease the effects of Stress for any social rolls you make.
The Severity of any Injury caused by electricity is increased by 2.
The survivalist has depended on the Bug-out Bag for so long, they've formed a powerful bond with the pack. This bond renders the pack unbreakable, and grants the survivalist an understanding of what direction it's in at all times.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
Years of scouting in dangerous areas has left the survivalist hyper-vigilant. They are impossible to catch in a trap.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Perception rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Perception (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).
You also gain the following effects: