The aristocrat knows a ritual that allows them to rent the best version of any item. They set $10,000 worth of cash on fire and place the item to be upgraded in the fire as well. While in the flame, the item morphs into a high-end version of itself. After a while, it reverts.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute to activate. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up $10,000 cash (or equivalent) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
For the next hour, your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Bonus Damage instead of additional dice.
This capacity allows Jessica to enhance, fortify, and continually refine her second most vital creation: the Chromatic Nexus. Before powers ever entered the equation, she was already a world-class scientist, fabricator and systems architect. Now, with her intellect amplified and tools upgraded beyond modern comprehension, the Nexus has become a masterwork of adaptable engineering—nearly indestructible, fully modular, and capable of evolving alongside her needs. With nanoforged alloys, quantum-linked circuits, and dynamically shifting subsystems, it’s not just gear—it’s a living extension of her design genius. Her most critical tool will always be her mind… but the Nexus is a close second.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Kitty can use zir inverted soul to transfer some Antimana into an object, rendering it resistant to magical attacks, or extra powerful when used against magical beings
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless the bonuses are only granted against attacks by magical weapons, or magical entities. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you destroys the object. You must actively and obviously use prism to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
You may upgrade any number of Objects within a 10 foot radius of your target.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
A small sphere resembling the full moon. The artifact emits a faint light and is cold to the touch. It feels like a bumpy stone with a few craters here and there.
When activated, the Portable Moon will grow brighter, bathing the targeted device in ghostly moonlight. The object will start to grow fur and claws, slightly increasing in size and displaying symptoms of lycanthropy. Upon being fully transformed, the object will snarl, growl, or howl whenever being used for its intended purpose.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see the object gain the attributes of a werewolf (Monsters).
A two-handed sledgehammer usable not only for combat, but primarily its functionality on smithing and item-crafting/upgrading. Approximately 1.5m long, the hammer looks like a modern industrial dwarven contramption powered by steam.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Weapon within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
The process takes quite a bit of time, as Luci must properly bind this object to its ideal image by bathing it in The Well. A process that, if witnessed by a normal person, would likely result in some minor traumatic occurrences. Luci watches over the item the entire time to make sure it is not swallowed up into the inky mess. A lengthy sweat-inducing endeavor, but by its end, when Luci pulls the item from the reservoir, it is all worth it.
The items in question will sport a dark tint on the paint job and if Luci desires it, she can make its primary or secondary colors as dark as she wants. The symbol of The Well, a fragmented snowflake that closely resembles broken glass, will appear embossed somewhere visibly on the item, marking it as improved.
The Well is oblivion and vice versa. There is no being or creature exempt from the prices that it exacts upon those that meet it uncordially. And like a hook, when it sinks its fangs into you, it will rip you root and all at even the slightest weakness.
The Well is also eternal. As long as the universe turns and toils, and unless someone has the power to circumvent or mimic the powers of Oblivion, upgrades items will persist ad infinitum.
Idealism was always thought to exist solely in concept, to associate reality with mental ideals as opposed to material objects. That somewhere in the cosmic lands above, a perfect image of this "thing" exists, and only its material imitations are founded in "reality". But what if a material object could be elevated closer to the status of its ideal perfect image? A question Luci had asked herself for a period, and while it took some time, she managed to find a way.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
The mad scientist produces thorium cores that can be used to upgrade tools and other devices. The core supercharges the item, increasing its quality and rendering it indestructible for a period. However, once the core runs dry, the object is rendered less useful than it was before. The core crackles with blue electricity while active.
Spend 1 Action and use up this glowing blue disk. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.