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The Illumination
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Building Custom Gifts

"Gifts are why we sign The Contract"

Each session of The Contract, the Players' Contractors are invited to risk their lives in a deadly mission. Those who succeed are rewarded with a Gift Credit that can be spent here in exchange for extraordinary Artifacts or incredible Powers.

No two Contractors are alike. Each Contractor's Gifts are a unique expression of their concept, and any character concept can be realized by building custom Gifts.

Each Gift's system is automatically generated during creation. These systems are simple but specific. While such precise systems can be verbose, they focus gameplay on creatively using Gifts rather than interpreting them, and they ensure your Contractor plays the same no matter who is acting as GM.

Building Custom Gifts is Easy

Form an idea of what you want your Contractor to be able to do.
Describe your concept to this Gift-Building webpage. Select a Gift Type and Effect, then customize its modifiers until it matches your idea.
Apply flavor to your Gift by adding a description, name, and tagline.

You can also start by customizing a premade Stock Gift.

Watch the video tutorial

Further instructions are available at the bottom of this initial "Select Gift Type" page, and many elements can be tapped on hovered over for more information.

Gift Type: Powers

"Everything in life comes and goes. Everything but Powers."

Powers are a Contractor's bread and butter. They may be obvious or subtle, arcane or technological, actively called upon or passively empowering. Powers are the only Gift Type that doesn't always require equipment, making them the most reliable.

Powers include:

Any superpower
Magical spells and divine invocations
Cybernetic implants and other bodily augmentations
Supernaturally honed Abilities
Mythical Brawn, Dexterity, Intellect, Perception, or Charisma
Beneficial effects stemming from your Contractor's otherworldly nature

If your idea for a Gift isn't obviously one of the other Gift Types, it's probably a Power.

Gift Type: Legendary Artifacts

"I sure hope no one steals this."

Legendary Artifacts are high-risk and high-reward. These one-of-a-kind items are far more powerful than Powers or crafted items. However, they can be lost, destroyed, or even stolen by other Contractors. While there are ways to protect Legendary Artifacts, some risk always remains.

As your Contractor progresses, you may invest multiple Gifts and Improvements into a single Legendary Artifact, granting it multiple activated and passive Effects. Just remember, your Legendary Artifacts can be used by anyone, whether or not you're still alive.

Legendary Artifacts Include:

Unique alien technology
Mythical relics
Family heirlooms
One-of-a-kind creations

Any extraordinary equipment your Contractor did not create themselves is a Legendary Artifact.

Gift Type: Artifact Crafting

"Sure, I'll make you one. If you provide the proper incentive."

Artifact Crafting turns your Contractor into the golden goose. No Gift Type demands more sacrifice, nor a higher price. However, those Contractors who invest in Artifact Crafting create equipment that rivals the Gifts of the Harbingers. And make no mistake: most Contractors' loyalty can be bought.

Any Contractor who takes a crafting Gift can craft. When you craft with an Artifact Crafting Gift, you can either create a new Artifact with that Gift's Effect or add its Effect to another Artifact you've created.

Investing a Gift Credit or Improvement into an Artifact Crafting Gift lets you craft it once for free. After that, crafting with the Gift costs Experience equal to its Gift Cost + 1.

Crafted Artifacts Include:

Extraordinary weapons and armor
Skunkworks prototype devices
Spellbooks
Alien technology
Super-suits for your team

If you're looking to rival Hephaestus or Stark, you want Artifact Crafting.

Gift Type: Consumable Crafting

"Everybody take one. Use it if you get into trouble."

Consumables are single-use items that are easy to share and trade.

Any Contractor who takes a crafting Gift can craft. Each Downtime between Contracts, Contractors can craft one of each of their Consumables for free. Investing a Gift Credit or Improvement into a Consumable Gift grants an extra one for free. Additional Consumables may be crafted at a cost of 1 Exp each.

Crafted Consumables Include:

Potions
Specialty ammunition
Settable traps
Deployable super-tech
Magic makeup
Energy drinks that turn you into a mongoose

If it's supernatural, single-use items your Contractor makes, it's Consumable Crafting.

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Legendary Artifact

Textbook Projection

Cost: 2

This Artifact allows you to create modifications to terrain.

The Dream Engine's preliminary calibrations have begun. Fine detail is still a little tricky, but the hardlight projector can now reliably produce simple shapes at scale. If you can imagine it, you can build it, provided "it" is a smooth, mostly featureless polyhedron of translucent blue light.

Exert your Mind (unless you are Sculpting) and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of hard-light originating at the target:

Sculpt: Sculpt a surface made of hard-light up to 40 feet by 40 feet. You may make aesthetic changes or minor functional improvements like a ladder or stairs. You may sculpt windows, doors, and similar alterations into structures you created with this Effect.
Wall: Create a straight wall made of hard-light up to 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.

This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.

You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.

Extended System

Attempting to break any alterations with inappropriate tools may damage or destroy the tools at the GM's discretion.
Any structures you create leave precise gaps for obstacles in their path or push them out of the way. You cannot directly destroy objects or structures or damage beings by creating walls or domes.
Tool guidance for GMs:
- Difficulty 9: Brawn 5, no tools.
- Difficulty 7-8: One-handed tools or makeshift tools (like a sword). Mythic Brawn without tools.
- Difficulty 6: Appropriate manual tools. Crowbar, sledgehammer, armor-shredding attacks.
- Difficulty 4-5: Power tools, vehicles, explosives.
This Effect produces the substance you are controlling unless it is drawn from the environment via “Required Environment” Drawbacks.
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.

Gift Example

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Editing Gift
Textbook Projection

Legendary Artifact

Terrain Control

Customize

Cost: 2

Legendary Artifact

Textbook Projection

Cost: 2

This Artifact allows you to create modifications to terrain.

Exert your Mind (unless you are Sculpting) and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of hard-light originating at the target:

Sculpt: Sculpt a surface made of hard-light up to 40 feet by 40 feet. You may make aesthetic changes or minor functional improvements like a ladder or stairs. You may sculpt windows, doors, and similar alterations into structures you created with this Effect.
Wall: Create a straight wall made of hard-light up to 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.

You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.

Extended System

Attempting to break any alterations with inappropriate tools may damage or destroy the tools at the GM's discretion.
Any structures you create leave precise gaps for obstacles in their path or push them out of the way. You cannot directly destroy objects or structures or damage beings by creating walls or domes.
Tool guidance for GMs:
- Difficulty 9: Brawn 5, no tools.
- Difficulty 7-8: One-handed tools or makeshift tools (like a sword). Mythic Brawn without tools.
- Difficulty 6: Appropriate manual tools. Crowbar, sledgehammer, armor-shredding attacks.
- Difficulty 4-5: Power tools, vehicles, explosives.
This Effect produces the substance you are controlling unless it is drawn from the environment via “Required Environment” Drawbacks.
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.

Customize System

Customize your Gift's behavior.

When you're satisfied, scroll down to flavor and finish.

Tap this button any time to preview your Gift:

Cost: 2

Material

Select the material your constructions are made of. For example, shimmering energy, trees and foliage, ice, candy, man-made construction materials, etc. No valuable or rare materials allowed.

Duration

Gift Cost: -1

Potency

Gift Cost: +1

Range

Gift Cost: +1

Enhancements

Gift Cost: +3

Artisanal Work (You may sculpt without Exerting your Mind. You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.)

Battery-operated (Instead of Exerting Mind to activate this Power, it has its own 3-point Source pool. The Source regenerates at the rate of one point per day and cannot be raised with Experience.)

Control Type: Sculpt (Sculpt any surface made of your chosen material. You may make aesthetic changes or minor functional changes such as ladder rungs or stair steps.)

Control Type: Wall (Create a straight wall out of your chosen material. You can also use this wall as a bridge, ramp, or similar.)

Deadly Obstacle (You may choose to make any of your modifications obviously dangerous. If you do, anyone who tries to climb or move across them takes Damage each time they do so.)

Easy (When you activate this Effect, flip a coin. If you win, its Exertion cost is refunded.)

Slapdash (You may opt to have your alteration form immediately. If you do, it falls apart in exactly one Round.)

Willful End (You may end this Effect before its duration has elapsed as a Free Action.)