**Description:** The "Body of the Ancient Cryptic" passively alters the user’s body, giving them a primal, beast-like appearance combined with ancient, mystical energies. These physical changes not only enhance their combat abilities but also make them appear more formidable and inhuman to those around them.
Visible Changes:
- Beastly Claws: The user's hands and fingers elongate slightly, ending in sharp, retractable claws. These claws appear to be made of a dark, obsidian-like material and can tear through most materials with ease.
- Feral Eyes: Their eyes take on a bestial quality, with slit-like pupils and a glowing, predatory hue—often amber, red, or another unnatural color. These eyes grant heightened vision, especially in darkness.
- Rugged, Enhanced Physique: The user’s muscles are denser, their bones more robust, and their posture slightly hunched, resembling a primal predator. This gives them enhanced strength and agility beyond normal human limits.
- **Roughened Skin:** Their skin takes on a tougher, almost hide-like texture, with patches of scales or hardened ridges in certain areas, providing natural armor.
- Elongated Teeth: The user’s teeth sharpen into fangs, giving them a fearsome grin and enabling them to bite with great force when necessary.
- Beastial Presence: A low growl or snarl might be heard from the user when they are angered or in danger. Their overall demeanor is predatory, making others instinctively sense danger in their presence.
These beastly transformations, combined with ancient, arcane markings and energies, make the user a terrifying force, blending primal strength with cryptic wisdom.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: perfect bodys. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living Creature when targeted. Your Brawn is increased by 1, your Dexterity is increased by 1, your Perception is increased by 1, and your Charisma is increased by 1.
Your appendages have 30 feet of reach.
Whenever you enter Combat, roll Self-Control. If you fail, you cannot choose which targets to attack and cannot stop fighting until there are no targets remaining.
You cannot speak any coherent verbal language and must resort to other means of communication.
You cannot ignore or decrease the effects of Stress for any Self-Control rolls you make.
The Severity of any Injury caused by Sliver is increased by 2.
Using the same tools on the living and the dead seems to be a good way to die from infection. But Penny knows better. Before this her medical skills were limited to putting on Band-Aids and kissing scraped knees. Now she can weave stitches like the nornir weave fate and transplant organs with her eyes closed, her deathly touch cleaning all infection from wounds and tools alike.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
All Stabilizations you attempt are considered Proper Stabilizations.
You also gain the following effects:
Anyone who has met Clyde in the past, now sees that he is quite a bigger man than he was. Whenever someone would try to stab him, shoot him, or otherwise shove him off the 3rd story, he seems to be able to shrug off some of the lighter stuff. And if it does annoy him enough, he'll just toss you.
Due to a few rare medical conditions, specifically Gigantism and High Bone Mineral Density, Clyde was always on the heavier side, on top of his lifting, and natural physique.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
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 weigh at least 2500 pounds. All rolls to swim, jump, climb, or fly are made at +2 Difficulty. Many vehicles, structures, and similar have trouble supporting your weight and might break or not operate properly.
You also gain the following effects:
The Gae Bulga only serves the heroic, the Champion - anyone who has told a lie (ever) or broken a deal burns at it's touch. Likewise, it will return to the worthy warrior - however, such a one would be loathe to lose it.
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.
Liars/Oathbreakers cannot hold or use this Artifact. They take a Severity 1 Injury each Round they touch or possess of the Artifact. It cannot be prevented or healed by any means until one day after they relinquish possession.
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.
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.
German Sparrow stands poised, his eyes locked on the incoming threat. With a fluid motion, he draws his handgun in a blur of speed. As the enemy strikes, he fires a shot with pinpoint accuracy, the bullet intercepting the attack mid-air, deflecting it harmlessly away. Without missing a beat, he spins the revolver, the cylinder clicking as it reloads effortlessly. In a heartbeat, he’s ready to fire again.
You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with handguns.
+2 dice to all handguns rolls.
You also gain the following effects:
The surgeon's aptitude for evaiding death manifests into physical reality; his flesh sews itself together without failure, grotesque to watch though it may be...
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive from a source other than Toxic Gas heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active automatically count as a successful Proper Stabilization and do not deteriorate further. Any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will heal with the Injury.
You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 2. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.
Injuries you receive from Toxic Gas are increased in Severity by 1.
Standard issue in the Future Soldier's home time, the Personal Shield Generator (PSG) projects a protective energy barrier around the body. It absorbs damage far better than traditional armor, but its battery is quickly drained. When depleted, the PSG must spend a few seconds recharging.
When struck, the normally-invisible field of the PSG flashes, revealing a bright yellow honey-comb pattern encasing the body.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.
Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.
This device is a piece of chrome the size and shape of the back of a spoon. When placed against the skin, small hypodermic needles sprout from the device and attach it to the user's bloodstream. There, it filters and releases lifesaving drugs into the bloodstream, granting complete immunity from contracting new diseases and added resiliency in all other cases.
WARNING: The immunizing drugs have been shown to reduce inhibitions in test subjects.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You get +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
While submerged, the aquamancer can fully sustain themselves from the waters around them, entirely forgoing food, drink, and even air. They may also enter a state of hibernation, remaining underwater and incapacitated for up to two months.
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.
Most severe injuries occur far from a facility that could treat them, and in the fetid muck of the battlefield even minor wounds may be a death sentence. Luckily the soldier is well-trained in the use of their standard-issue medical kit. They may stabilize even the most severe injuries with a little gauze and some no-anesthetic stitching. Furthermore, the treated wounds of their comrades never get infected.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using a standard issue military medical kit to gain the benefits of this Effect.
All Stabilizations you attempt are considered Proper Stabilizations.
You also gain the following effects:
There's a certain strength that comes from displaying the flag of one's country. As long as the Soldier holding their country's flag or wearing something emblazoned with it, they are less likely to be injured in battle.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using clothes or a uniform that displays the flag of your country to gain the benefits of this Effect.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.