Secret Histories Communicate with scars on the world's skin

1
The power to communicate with.
Used by Ryan Stiller, Created by niceping.
(It is clear that you are communicating with the target. )

There is countless amount of scars inflicted upon the world. Some of them are deep - major historical figures that wage wars of conquests and forge empires, events that change course of history. Some of them can hardly be called scars at all - animals, humans and products of their activity, such as languages, texts, machinery, as well as the dead.

Rite of Secret Histories is a ritual which allows the one performing the rite to "read" said scars for an hour, though scope of this specific version of a rite is limited purely to the writing and the dead. This rite received it's name for it's immense help in learning what otherwise would be left in the dark - ancient texts, written in long-dead languages. Research notes, written by scholars in ciphers known only be them. Knowledge about ferocious beasts and their weaknesses, learned in fatal battle by now dead hunters and warriors.


Exert your Mind and spend one minute to activate.

You may understand and communicate to as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.

This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.

  • When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.

Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend a minute.

You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.

The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You cannot alter your clothes. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.

You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

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 also gain the following effects:

  • Heavy Hitter: Successful attacks made with Brawn will either knock your target back Outcome x 5 feet, or knock them down to the ground. Choose which effect the attack will have prior to rolling for it.
  • High Constitution: You gain +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls. Any failed or botched Body rolls will instead give an outcome of 1.
  • Tough: You gain Armor equal to half your Brawn rating. This Armor cannot be penetrated and protects against falling Damage.
  • Ham-Fisted: You cannot limit yourself when handling delicate objects or physically interacting with people. You may need to roll Dexterity + Athletics to avoid breaking things or causing unintended injury.

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

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Disfigured (corpse stench).

While each actor is the lead of their own stage, to command the spotlight is to call attention to those not on your podium.

It is to be the center of attention, to receive an audience of those who otherwise would not look in your direction, preoccupied with their own scripts and narratives.

What would you do, I wonder, if such a power was lent to you?

Only time will tell.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Charisma rating is increased by 2. 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).

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

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat. You must actively and obviously be using Belt buckle to gain the benefits of this Effect.

Your unarmed attacks deal +2 Bonus Damage (instead of -2). The target's Armor is reduced to 1/2, rounded up against this damage. You may React to and Defend against firearms and other projectile attacks.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Armored Fist: You cannot take damage from attacking a dangerous material (such as steel armor, a spiked carapace, or an acidic blob). You may Clash with or Defend against any melee weapons or arrows.
  • One Inch Punch: Even if you are bound or grappled, you may make a standard unarmed attack without penalty if your finger can touch your target.

  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

Stock Power Gifts

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.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must use up a container of fine powder in order to activate this Effect.

You automatically detect all object that are designed to detect people, including tripwires, security cameras, detection lasers, heat sensors, etc within 50 feet of you for the next hour. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. When you detect objects, instead of learning nothing about them, you may observe each object with all of your senses.

  • This includes any objects that come into range during activation.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive from a source other than silver or fire. heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every day. 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 1. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.

Injuries you receive from silver or fire. are increased in Severity by 1.

  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Vulnerable drawback on Inhuman Physiology.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a donor body part matching the injured area in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition.

Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind a mismatched replacement on the target which cannot be healed.

  • 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 Must be driving a rugged vehicle such as an SUV truck or armored car. and you are piloting any vehicle.

You receive +2 dice to any rolls to pilot a vehicle.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Drive-By: You may drive or pilot your vehicle as a Free Action, without taking any penalty on other Actions.
  • Steady As She Goes: The motion of your vehicle never causes your passengers dice penalties, and you do not suffer dice penalties from the unsteadiness of any vehicle you are riding in.