Marks caught a few villians in his day, and one thing they always seem to have in common is they never shut up.
He's learned how to conversationally 'push their buttons' and make them talk.
So far, the most reliable way has been to talk about himself, to instigate their inevitable sense of competition.
Think more.. skill of conversation than anything supernatural.
Exert your Mind (unless The target thinks they have the upper hand) and spend a minute to activate. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. You must continuously interact with the individual in question in order to gather any information. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you They may lie, and as absurd as it may be he will believe it. At the end of your investigation, roll Brawn + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome. For any information you learn about your target, the corresponding information about you is shared with them.
Any information you gather is A spoken conversation and made publicly available. This also includes any information the target learns about you.
Carpathia's body splits open, (usually one of her limbs but it isn't required) and her roots seem to take on a mind of their own. Moving wildly and contrasting the very human flesh they seem to sprout from.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself.
You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Carpathia's body opens up to reveal a writhing mass of roots that wraps around the target and burrows underneath their skin.
Zephyren stares intensely at the target, whether or not they share eye contact, as though they'd explode if he looked for long enough. They don't. Instead, they feel an overwhelming heat wash through them, sapping all their hydration before their body could filter it out. Supernatural steam rises from their body despite the fact that this wouldn't physically harm them. They eventually pass out as their body uses up all its energy.
On heat exhaustion:
Zephyren's experienced it before, but at first he didn't understand what it meant or what it was supposed to feel like. He felt foggy - nothing really made sense, he couldn't register what was being said or what he saw or even count numbers. Simple tasks were overwhelmingly difficult as everything looked far too clear and bright, yet he couldn't see at all. At times he was on the brink of passing out. He couldn't even stand upright. His brain was getting cooked from the inside out. This gift won't necessarily harm someone the way real heat exhaustion would. It's... the one form of kindness he can give.
On glares:
He feels a shiver down his back whenever someone glares at him too intensely. It never ends well, so Zephyren's body instinctively prepares him for the worst. Sometimes it even feels as if he's shutting down completely, and it scares him. Yet here he is, doing it to someone else.
On sleep:
When was the last time Zephyren's had a good night's sleep? He's inclined to use this on himself each night just so he could quell the thoughts of everything he could've done. But that would be giving him an easy way out - this is something he has to deal with on his own, without the help of magic gained from fulfilling heartless jobs.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. Roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Body 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 Contested Outcome x 3 minutes.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
A few sips of the wine bring you back from the brink of Hades. You will survive and you will breathe another day. Your body will start healing as you feel the warmth of the alcohol comforting you.
Spend 2 Actions and use up this A cup of wine. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless "You can only heal wounds of severity 4 or higher.". Roll 7 dice Difficulty 6, dice penalties do not apply.
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.
Mikey slips his pick into the lock and it clicks open without a struggle.
Spend an Action to activate. Select a door, lock, or locked target within 20 feet , which is no more complex than a personal safe door or a keycard reader. Cannot be used on Alien technology. You must actively and obviously use Lock-pick to activate this Effect.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The mutant has gained some control over their genetic instability, allowing them to trigger a mutation at will. When the need arises, their flesh warps and twists, and a new mutation manifests that is suited to whatever obstacle the mutant happens to be facing at the time.
Spend 30 minutes to activate. You may only target yourself. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you battle scar: acidic blood oozes trough my skin, burning it. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
You may cure any Battle Scars you have created with this Effect with a Free Action on your initiative. They are healed over the course of the next hour.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
All it takes is a flick of your hair and a bat of your eyelashes, and you’ve got their attention.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. All Sapient, Living targets within 50 feet who can perceive you through sight are affected. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the targets will keep their full attention focused on you for contested Outcome in Rounds. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than you. If they cannot perceive you through sight for three Rounds, the Effect is broken. The Effect ends early if the target is Injured or violence occurs nearby.
This does not affect the target’s opinion of you or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on you. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.
The Witch is a master herbalist and can cure any number of illnesses and diseases with her special potions. She goes into the wilderness to find the proper set of herbs. Once she has what she's looking for, she mixes them together and boils the concoction. Steam rises from the mixture, twisting into recognizable shapes such as animals and spirits. The whole process takes about fifteen minutes, after which the patient must drink the entire mixture. They are immediately cured.
The proper preparation varies from person to person, so a single batch cannot be used to treat multiple people.
Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you can forage for herbs. You must actively and obviously use water, a container, and heat to activate this Effect.
You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.
Whenever you cure a disease, poison, or toxin, if it had inflicted any Damage, your target is healed for half that Damage.
The mobster presents a reasoned, logical case to the target: there's a lot of dangerous folks out there, and only they can offer safety... for a price.
If they agree, they will pay the mobster a monthly fee for protection. If they stop making their payments... well, let's just say, the mobster can't be held responsible for any unsavory types that might pay them a visit.
This Effect cannot be used unless you are making a deal to exchange money for protection.
You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must shake hands to seal the deal.
Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.
When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:
The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.
Come one, come all! Stand in amazement and behold as the Fire Eater consumes a flame as if it were cotton candy! Gasp with fright as they breathe a plume of fire a great distance! And yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is quite dangerous.
Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: perform a fire-breathing trick. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you take a Severity-4 Injury as the fire burns your throat. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a fire in a residential fireplace at your target. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 3 Damage each Round on your turn, 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.
You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.
The psychic can glean various important details about a person simply by engaging in a short conversation with them.
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:
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's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.