Sergeres saw the story unfold in his mind's eye. It was different. Altered than what was playing out before him. In that moment, reality shifted to match the story and the two became one.
Physical augmentation is just another aspect of the usage of Causal Diction. With enough conviction in the user's mind to make their imagination become reality, the effects can manifest in real time. It is the absolute will of the storyteller to dictate the events to come and their outcomes.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Trauma and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
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: Nightmares.
Blood is often referred to as the liquid of Life. Well, in this case, it is... Sort of.
Utilizing the blood of a currently living creature, you may resurrect a corpse back to life, filling it with a horrid mockery of what it once was. By drawing a pentagram in blood beneath the corpse and either humming or verbally expressing an unholy prayer, the corpse begins to rise once again under your control...
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. You must use up Blood from a currently living creature in order to activate this Effect.
Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.
The creature lasts for eight hours or 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 Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
Beneath the patient’s skin, the nanobots swarm like a legion of ravenous insects, their mandibles gnashing and grinding as they devour wounded tissue. Each tiny machine emits a high-pitched, metallic shriek that reverberates through the patient's bones. These microscopic invaders burrow deeper, their needle-like appendages injecting searing disinfectant chemicals into the bloodstream, igniting a fiery agony that pulses through every vein. The nanobots communicate in a cacophony of alien squeals and clicks, a nightmarish symphony that plays relentlessly inside the patient's skull. As their grotesque work nears completion, the nanobots begin to dissolve, their exoskeletons melting into a viscous, oily sludge. This foul liquid seeps from every pore, coating the patient in a greasy, nauseating film that reeks of decay. The patient left shivering and drenched, haunted by the invasive, mechanical horrors that had violated their body in the name of healing.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Perception + Technology 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see lots of nano bugs.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
Tubby hugs another to heal them. The hug is warm and fills the target with a sense of love.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Influence 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. Your patient is required to show compassion and mercy to everyone they interact with. for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 20 feet.
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a torch's flame at your target. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. When you create a fire, you may choose to maintain Concentration for up to 4 Rounds. As long as you maintain Concentration, the fire you created cannot be extinguished. Afterwards, they require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning, and can be extinguished as normal.
Lighting a target on fire deals 2 Damage per Round, 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see blood leaking from your body and boiling upon contact with the air.
Phil consumes pieces his target, reading their memories.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Living, Animate target within arm's reach You must use up target’s flesh in order to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
You are able to view your target's memories. The target is aware that their thoughts are being probed but not of the source of the probe. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range or your Concentration is interrupted.
You may ask specific questions about their memory - “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc - but you cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Phil is taking pieces of his target and eating them slowly to access their memories.
Through years of practice, the mobster is able to shatter someone's kneecap without much effort.
Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a melee weapon to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee 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:
All alterations you make must damage the target's knees.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The Witch gazes at a calm and trusting animal and blinks, revealing eyes that have changed to match the creature's. Her body goes limp and collapses, and the witch proceeds to walk away, now temporarily borrowing the animal's body.
A borrowing Witch is a visitor in the animal's mind and cannot overstay her welcome or force the animal into danger.
Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Non-Alien Creature target within 20 feet. The target may Resist.
You possess your target and have control over their actions for the next hour. Your original body will be left behind, unconscious. You may perceive through your original body's senses by maintaining Concentration. If your original body is touched, you may roll Perception + Alertness to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.
Stats: Any Actions you take will use the possessed creature’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception, but use your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities.
Gifts: You do not have access to any Gifts while you are possessing your target.
Death: If the host suffers an Injury, or is destroyed or incapacitated, you are evicted back into your own body. If the possession ends and your original body was killed or destroyed, you will die.
Eviction: You cannot force your host to take Actions which would violate their instinct for self-preservation (which includes engaging in Combat for any purpose other than self-defense or natural hunting); any attempt to do so will sever the connection and send you back into your own body. If you are forced out of the target's body prematurely, you must make a Trauma roll.
Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The magician dons their wizard hat, raises their arms, wiggles their fingers, and a rain of sparks fly woosh around an object. It shudders to life and follows the magicians commands, including to do things it was not designed to do.
Exert your Mind and an Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters). You must actively and obviously use a pointed hat with stars and moons to activate this Effect.
Your target will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. You can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
The beastmaster puts their nose to the ground and sniffs about the area. Their feral nostrils tell them what sorts of creatures live in the area, and who lays claim to each region.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet Can only be activated while you are in the wilderness. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
The Necromancer spits into the mouth of a recently deceased corpse. For the few minutes, the corpse's head comes back to life and speaks to the Necromancer.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Dead target within 50 feet. Dead targets must have died within the past week, and you must have their remains in your possession.
The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.