Maximum Strain

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You possess superhuman strength and toughness.
Used by Rodger "The Perpetual Man" Riddle, Created by geniebottle.
( )

Rodger's complete lack of fatigue toxins and the ability to always push his muscles to the max has its benefits.


You gain the following benefits as long as your barrier is up.

Your Brawn rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Brawn (cannot be used on combat rolls or Effect activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Beast of Burden: You may now carry up to your lifting and hauling capacity without suffering an encumbrance penalty or needing to Concentrate. You do not tire from extended physical activity.

  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use a pair of glasses to activate this Effect. You must remain within 1000 feet of your ward to access its senses.

You place a ward,. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. You may have at most 3 wards active at once.

The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. The ward can be discovered if someone knows what they are looking for, but is otherwise inconspicuous and cannot be identified as a ward.

Your Ward records all activity it observes, regardless of whether or not you are actively monitoring it. This recording can be played back and referenced later.

  • Your ward's recording is maintained even if your Ward is destroyed.
  • Your ward cannot be used to satisfy the line of sight requirement for targeted Effects.
  • 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 gain the following benefits at all times.

The next time you die, you instead permanently transform into A tungsten bobber with fishing line cord.

  • If a character is inside of you when you revert to your original form, you take a Severity-5 Injury when they burst from your innards as you shrink.
  • You cannot move in any way the object wouldn't normally be able to move. If you are a feather duster, you cannot float around, etc.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with katanas.

+2 dice to all rolls with katanas. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using katanas.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Falling Crane Strike: If you move and then make a successful attack against a target closer than the full distance you could have moved, you may choose to travel the excess movement in a straight line beyond the target.
  • Quick Draw: You may draw and equip yourself with any melee weapon on your person or within arm’s reach as a Free Action, as long as it is not being wielded by someone else.
  • Sheathing the Sword: When you would Clash with an opponent, before the dice are rolled, you may opt to have both sides deal full damage. If you do, your attack roll is at -2 Difficulty.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use a ballpoint pen to activate this Effect.

You place a ward, which is fixed to a target Object that can be moved and repositioned. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. You may have at most 3 wards running at once.

The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. The ward can be discovered if someone knows what they are looking for, but is otherwise inconspicuous and cannot be identified as a ward.

Your Ward records all activity it observes, regardless of whether or not you are actively monitoring it. This recording can be played back and referenced later.

  • Your ward's recording is maintained even if your Ward is destroyed.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. You must actively and obviously use Animal skull to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Athletics at Difficulty 6. The target may contest by Defending or Dodging.

If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They cannot move to a new location, and, if your Contested Outcome was greater than their Brawn, they are encased and cannot take any physical Actions other than attempting to escape until they break free.

The target may spend an Action and roll Brawn or Dexterity + Athletics to attempt to break free. They must accumulate a total Outcome equal to or greater than the original Contested Outcome to escape. Damage to the binding from outside sources also contributes.

If your target does not escape within 3 Rounds, they cannot ever free themselves and must be rescued.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see The spirit gains flesh and consumes the target.

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

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • For entities whose movement could be considered an attack (e.g. a kaiju), the GM may rule that they are merely slowed instead of fully restricted.
  • 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 Power Gifts

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:

  • Party Animal: You are welcome at, and will be granted entrance to, any social gathering or party, at least as an observer.
  • The Price Of Fame: Any sightings or recordings of your activity can easily be traced back to you. Even when disguised or using an alias, people always get a Perception check to recognize you.

  • A "social gathering" might include a birthday party, after-work drinks, a ski trip, or yoga in the park, among other things. It likely would not include a cult gathering to summon a demon, Congressional negotiations over a contentious bill, etc.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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.

You transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your 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.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.

  • Creature Stats
    • Large (larger than human, smaller than elephant) Body: 8. Brawn 6. Dexterity 2. Fall damage increased by 2. Armor: 1
    • Small (mouse up to regular house cat) Body 1. Brawn 0. Dexterity 4. Cannot injure others with attacks. Cannot die from falling damage. +3 dice to Stealth rolls.
    All creatures get +3 dice to any non-combat Action that they are naturally adapted for. All creatures Medium and larger may attack by rolling Body, dealing +0 Damage (+1 for “predators”). Gms and Playgroup leaders can apply other bonuses and effects to specific animals.
  • Animals that are quicker than humans (like dogs) have 50 feet of Free Movement. Animals that are very slow (like turtles) have 0 feet of Free Movement.
  • You cannot transform if there is not enough room to do so.
  • The form you take must have the same stats and abilities as a single, extant animal of the relevant size.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life. Unstabilized Injuries do not degrade while you are Incapacitated

If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + Charisma, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in Charisma, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are submerged in water.

You no longer require any food, water, or air in order to survive. You no longer age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement automatically succeeds.

You may spend one minute entering a state of hibernation, during which you are inanimate and unaffected by any requirements for life. You may still perceive the outside world and may spend 3 Rounds "waking up" to end it.

  • In lieu of sleeping, once per day you may spend one hour meditating to recover a Mind Damage.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.

If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:

  1. A Minor Battle Scar E.g. an aesthetic-only body modification (a disfigured face, a pig's tail), impacted hand or foot, or vocal changes that complicate communication
  2. A Major Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed hand or foot, an inability to speak, an impacted major sense, removal of a minor sense, impacted movement.
  3. A Severe Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed arm or leg, deafness, aesthetic changes that are nearly impossible to conceal.
  4. An Extreme Battle Scar E.g. removal/disabling both hands or both legs, blindness, a full-body deformation that leaves the target humanoid but makes it difficult to use clothes, vehicles, and equipment designed for humans.
Refer to the stock Battle Scars on the Character Sheet for specific systems.

When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Witchy Appearance. You have a long, warty nose and chin, wrinkled skin, and a hunch back. Social rolls are at +2 Difficulty, and your free movement is reduced by 10 feet.

Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion for payback. You must roll Self-Control to avoid using this Gift on anyone who wrongs you in a major way.

  • A given target can have a maximum of one Suspended Effect on them at a time. The selected triggering Action cannot be used to reveal information about the target (e.g. no "activate when they are a vampire"). It must be an Action they take, not a thought or something that happens to them.
  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may opt to inflict a Battle Scar that is less severe than what your Outcome allows.
  • 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.