Leonard surges forward, as his back jerks upwards. In a flurry of mana particles and bloody red, crystalline shards begin to tear themselves free. Soon after, following the emergence of its extensions, the Guardian raises its primary body, in a gruesome display of warping its physical form outside of its host. Almost as if his spine were the entity itself, the Guardian would fully tear itself out his back, arching out its enormous crystalline 'limbs', as it stretches out several meters, taking careful guard behind its host.
The guardian is a mana symbiote long forgotten by history, almost all knowledge having been lost to the careful work of the Sabisians. The rare few scholars that still hold existing records of these beings believe them to long be extinct, lost to mana wars passed long since and the Sabisian incursion.
While in its docile state, the Guardian appears as a crystalline growth connected directly to its hosts nervous system through the spinal cord, easily being visible to the naked eye underneath the skin, alongside visible patches of mana-crystalline material left in patches above the skin containing it. While in its docile form, the guardian remains in a sort of dormant state, co-existing with its host and feeding off of its body.
During its active phase, the Guardian appears to burst out of body of its host. Despite this appearance, this process is all but a trick of the eyes, in reality being no more than an energy transference as the Guardian takes form, leaving behind no actual wounds on the host's body. The crystalline being seen during its active phase is not in reality the entity's true form, that being the crystaline growth located inside the host. Henceforth, destroying the active entity does little but return it back into its primary shell, where it can recover.
In appearance, during the active phase, the Guardian is a large, several meters tall crystalline biomechanical creature. It is composed of a long lanky crystalline 'spine' flanked by long sharpened shards that it uses to strike at the enemy or otherwise carry out its commands. When out of range, it uses a head-like appendage, which it can seemingly use to see, to fire a directed burst of energy.
The Guardian forms a bond with its host during the symbiotic period, carrying out their commands on its own free will, in exchange, the host provides it safety and nutrition.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate.
Summon a single Guardian at your location. They will last until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 1 minion active at a time.
Minions have 6 Body and can make ranged attacks at targets up to 30 feet away with 5 dice to attack and +1 Damage. Your minions can move 20 feet per Round as Free Movement, and double that when performing an all-out Sprint. They cannot dodge or Defend. They have dog-level intelligence, and cannot communicate back to you. Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 8 dice.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see The guardian 'tears' itself out of the hosts back.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Crystalline-mineral growth around the spine. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next month.
Summoning her mythical heritage, Morgan is engulfed in the Hero's Light, appearing armed & armored in the tradition of her ancestors.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into Warrior for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are Warrior, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Attributes are the same. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: Warrior Garb
If you are restricted, restrained, dazed, sleepy, or stunned, you may activate this Effect to break free or end the negative effect. You cannot free yourself by transforming more than once a minute.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Heavy Drinker: You must roll Self Control to refuse any drink, even if you know it is poisoned.
To hide his fae-blood appearance, he has learned to warp his form into a human. He looks relatively similar, only removing the moth wings, fur and otherwise sparkly and magical aspects.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions.
Your appearance changes to Nico Agosti (human). The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.
You are only able to shift into the one predefined appearance. This new appearance must have a similar sex, age, and race to your own. You cannot significantly change your height and weight. 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.
Whenever Jio is in a situation where he's injured mentally or physically, his eyes continue to display a weirdly unusual sense of calm.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0. Lasts three hours.
As the Gift takes effect, the clown's eyes appear to tear up with a dark, red fluid that trails down his face, slowly streaking his cheeks. A crimson line spreads at the corners of his mouth, curving into a wide, unnatural grin that seems to stretch and twist. His movements shift, becoming disturbingly fluid yet jerky while he breaks down in wild nearly screaming laughter, each motion carrying an unsettling, otherworldly presence. Observers feel a visceral sense of horror, a primal urge to look away, as though they're witnessing a waking nightmare brought to life.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma.
You transform into Nightmare (a more evil/scarry looking Mcnugget) for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are Nightmare (a more evil/scarry looking Mcnugget), and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2, your Dexterity is increased by 2, your Charisma is increased by 2, and your Intellect is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
Your body is adapted to Instilling fear. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to Instilling fear.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: Daggers and clown toys also his clothing/Make up changes to red and white
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see the clown covers himself with his own blood coming out of his eyes and his mouth.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Weak stomach.
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.
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.
While transformed, you automatically fail any Mind roll to resist an impulse and suffer -3 dice on all other Mind rolls.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Nightmare.
The user employs their Qi in a defensive way to prepare against any attack.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Perception + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome + 4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.
The Necromancer stands over a corpse and makes a series of grandiose lifting gestures. The corpse rises from the ground as though suspended by invisible strings, barks a pained groan, and lands on its feet, now a full-fledged member of the living dead.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action. You must use up corpse in order to activate this Effect.
Summon up to 3 Non-Sapient, Animate zombie at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 3 minions active at a time.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
The time-twister presses a button on one of their wristwatches, and, in a flash of orange light, disappears. They have skipped 12 seconds forward in time. To them, the travel is instantaneous, but everyone else must wait until they reappear.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a clock or watch to activate this Effect.
You phase out of reality for 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.
When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 additional target in arm's reach with you.
The time-twister spins a dial on one of her watches, slowing time for everyone but her and one other person.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect.
Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.
Outside of Combat, any non-Gift, non-movement Actions you attempt take drastically less time to complete, as long as your personal speed is a factor in the Action. Total time reduction is determined by the GM and capped at 90% (executing the Action takes no less than 1/10th the normal time).
While using this Effect, you may carry one other being without affecting your Encumbrance, so long as you maintain contact with them for the duration and they consent or are grappled.
The magician dons an unusual piece of clothing and immediately shifts their appearance to be completely different! However, they must reveal their true identity before they can cast any more spells.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. You must actively and obviously use a piece of clothing you wouldn't normally wear to activate this Effect.
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 may change the appearance of your outfit. 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.
This Effect ends if you take an Injury or are stunned or incapacitated.
While disguised, you cannot use any Activated or Targeted Powers.
The detective squints, drawing on years of police experience to find any hidden drugs, weapons, or other illegal objects, no matter how well-hidden.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all illegal materials within 50 feet of you for the next hour. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. You do not learn any details about the detected items.