The Philospher’s Stone “The beast Unleashed”

2
Requires Seasoned
You possess the ability to come back to life.
Used by Harry Johnson, Created by jwesley123.
(While "dead," you appear to be hanging onto life when investigated. )

When Harry died, his body became the site of a grotesque alchemical transformation. The foreign rituals performed on him activated the Philosopher’s Stone embedded within his chest, altering it in ways no one could predict. The red, waxy substance of the Stone, seemingly alive, reacts violently to Harry’s death, weaving itself through his body like threads of molten steel.

An hour after his death, the Stone begins to reconstruct his shattered form. Muscles knit themselves together, bones snap back into place, and veins reconnect with a sickening precision as the waxy material courses through his system. Slowly, his heart begins to pump once more, its rhythmic beat reigniting his body with unnatural vitality.

While Harry is incapacitated, his body lies in a fragile limbo, resisting further decay or failure. Yet, the Philosopher’s Stone anchors him to life with a single fatal flaw—his heart remains his sole vulnerability. If crushed or damaged during this liminal state, the alchemical magic will fail, leaving him beyond salvation.

When Harry rises, the injuries that killed him are gone, replaced by scars that bear the marks of his unnatural revival. The Philosopher’s Stone continues its silent work within him, a constant reminder that his survival is as much a curse as it is a miracle. Harry is no longer simply alive—he is alchemy incarnate, defying death itself, but tethered to a fragile and dangerous balance.


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

While Incapacitated, your only weakness is Crushing my heart, and if you take Damage from it, you will die. Damage from other sources will still be dealt and can cause Battle Scars, but will only kill you if your body is destroyed completely. If your weakness is not immediately obvious, attackers may roll to discover it. 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.


Community Power Gifts

Reading through Eisley’s old journal, Murian discovered an old hex passed down through her family for generations.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. You must actively and obviously use a wooden wand to activate this Effect. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 30 seconds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Outcome x 3 minutes.

Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, and can only be awoken by taking Damage or nearing death from hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.

If an affected target was already sleeping when you used this Effect, they are put into a deep coma that lasts indefinitely, but they will be awoken from it if True Love’s Kiss.

  • For targets where "sleep" does not make any sense in terms of flavor, they will power down, freeze, etc, whatever state they can be in which is analogous to sleep.
  • 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.

Columbus, Ohio: Doctor Murphy and Grace work together to remove the S.I.N. chip from it’s place, wrapped around Guido’s brain stem. Fatal exsanguination and paralysis are major risks, and between Grace’s assistance, all she can think about is how she’ll fix it… she is tired, and worried beyond consolation, and she keeps thinking of the fact that she made a promise.

The surgery was successful, but the stress unlocked something new, and Grace was able to use it later on to fix a scar of her own. The fear of the flames has stopped bothering them in short bursts, but a long minute spent deep in the memory can still be too much for them sometimes.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scar will heal over the course of the next week.

  • 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.

Issac Neuman was quite the proponent of Tai-Chi & Aikido in his former life, both as a method of staying fit & as an opening to sell certain clients on his "woke" spirituality. As Emperor Norton II, Issac has discovered the truth behind the techniques - that the open hand is stronger than the clenched fist - the pen is mightier than the sword.

Incidentally, the Emperor leads daily Tai-Chi sessions in Golden Gate park for any who wish to attend.

You gain the following benefits as long as you take Defensive Actions only and you are engaged in unarmed combat. You must actively and obviously be using Imperial Raiment to gain the benefits of this Effect.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Finesse: When Attacking a single target, you may limit the Severity of any Injury you inflict or determine a maximum Wound Level, including Incapacitated. You may also choose to make this Injury properly or improperly stabilized, or to keep it unstabilized.
  • Flow Like Water: If you win a Clash, you may redirect the incoming Attack to another target within its original range using your Clash Outcome as its own. You may Clash against an Attack as long as the attacker, target, or line of fire is within arm’s reach.
  • Precision Strikes: You may use Dexterity instead of Brawn to Attack and Defend. If you would successfully incapacitate a target using Finesse, you may opt to knock them out for one hour instead of having them suffer an Injury.

  • If you fail a Clash on behalf of another target, the target may choose to React as normal to the original Attack.
  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. You must actively and obviously use Diamond pendant to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Brawl at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a Barrier extending out 15 feet from yourself, which absorbs 2 times the next Outcome + 2 Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. Half the damage absorbed is reflected back at the attacker, which they can Defend against as normal. The Damage reduction from the Barrier is applied before Armor, and is treated like Armor by any effects such as Armor Penetration. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The Barrier will fall if you are interrupted, 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. As long as it does not fall, the barrier regenerates back to full strength at the end of each Round of combat.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Two Giant wing like scars and my back almost like they were ripped off.

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location which is at most 75 feet away horizontally or 15 feet away vertically. You must actively and obviously use knife knuckle to activate this Effect.

You jump to the chosen location. If the landing is precarious, the GM may call for a roll to land safely. You will never take fall damage from successfully landing a jump made with this Effect.

You may opt to trade your free movement for a Super Leap if you are jumping less than 50 feet or if you are closing a gap to an opponent and spend your Action on an attack.

Instead of physically passing through the air, you are teleported directly to your destination. Does not allow you to go through walls, cages, or grapples.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Shaky hands: -2 dice to all rolls involving keeping your hands steady, and fine dexterity.

  • If you are Encumbered, the maximum range is cut in half. If Encumbrance has reduced your total movement to 0, you cannot activate this Effect.
  • vertical jump height measures to the bottom of your feet, so your total vertical reach is at least a body length greater.
  • Rolls to land safely will generally be Athletics, but GMs may call for a different roll at their discretion if it makes sense for the specific circumstances.
  • You must be on a surface of some kind in order to activate this Effect; it cannot be activated while in mid-air.
  • You may only use this Effect once per Round of combat, regardless of any Enhancements you have taken.
  • 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

Spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use a burlap sack to activate this Effect.

You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.

You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.

  • "Equip" refers to drawing a gun, putting on a piece of armor, etc. You may store or withdraw a maximum of 6 items in a given Round. Reminder: you may perform up to two Quick Actions for -2 dice each or 3 if you use up your Action, unless a different Effect grants you additional Quick Actions.
  • Containers which hold multiple things may count as a single item so long as the things within are generally packaged together. For instance, you may stash a clip full of bullets, a medical kit full of medical supplies, or a box of crackers, but you cannot stash a backpack full of miscellaneous equipment.
  • You may only attempt to store Objects which are free-standing and disconnected from other things. The use of this Effect will not allow you to sever any connections holding an Object in place.
  • The Maximum Object Size parameter is intended to roughly capture the weight / size restriction of items and isn’t intended to restrict shape. GM discretion is advised. A human being is level 4 in the Maximum Object Size parameter.

Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
  • You learn their relationship to a specific individual (chosen prior to the effect activation).

The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation and made publicly available.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.

  • 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 as long as as long as you are visibly dressed head to toe in black with hardly any skin showing.

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.

  • Hearing: You are completely obscured from hearing. You produce no sounds while this Effect is active. All attempts to detect you via hearing fail. Attempts via other senses where hearing would assist are rolled at -2 dice.

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. Activating a targeted or obvious Effect, attacking, or being Injured ends the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for one minute.

You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: compulsion to test the awareness of allies by sneaking up on them with a weapon.

  • You may only switch this Effect on or off once per Round on your initiative as a Free Action.

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

+2 dice to all rolls utilizing playing cards.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Point Control: Called Shots that you attempt only require a Contested Outcome of 2 for small targets and 4 for tiny targets.
  • Ricochet: You can make a thrown attack against a target behind cover so long as there is at least one exposed pathway to them.

Spend a Quick Action.

You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.

You may store units of water in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.

  • "Equip" refers to drawing a gun, putting on a piece of armor, etc. You may store or withdraw a maximum of 6 items in a given Round. Reminder: you may perform up to two Quick Actions for -2 dice each or 3 if you use up your Action, unless a different Effect grants you additional Quick Actions.
  • Containers which hold multiple things may count as a single item so long as the things within are generally packaged together. For instance, you may stash a clip full of bullets, a medical kit full of medical supplies, or a box of crackers, but you cannot stash a backpack full of miscellaneous equipment.
  • You may only attempt to store Objects which are free-standing and disconnected from other things. The use of this Effect will not allow you to sever any connections holding an Object in place.
  • The Maximum Object Size parameter is intended to roughly capture the weight / size restriction of items and isn’t intended to restrict shape. GM discretion is advised. A human being is level 4 in the Maximum Object Size parameter.