Squamous Flesh Edgar cracks a femur in his jaws as if it was a matchstick, allowing his long, pebbled black tongue access to the marrow within.

2
Requires Seasoned
You possess superhuman unarmed combat ability.
Used by Edgar Stokes, Created by Strazhari.

Edgar's flesh is unusually dense, scabrous, & sinewy, particularly around his thick forearms & curving talons. His teeth are now fully formed, a muzzle exploding with fangs. Edgar can claw, dig, & gnaw his way through most materials, or opponents, with frightening ease.


You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.

Your unarmed attacks deal +0 Bonus Damage (instead of -2). The target's Armor is fully effective 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.
  • Fight Circle: Only one opponent may engage you at melee range each Round.
  • Transcendence: You may Exert your Mind to Defend against any number of incoming Attacks this Round as a Free Action. While active, you can only Defend against attacks directed at yourself. When Defending against a mob using the Mob Combat rules, their Attack does not gain the normal Outcome bonus.

  • If an enemy attacks you at melee range, you may only attack them that Round (unless they are defeated). Likewise, if you attack an enemy at Melee range, only they may attack you that Round (unless your attack defeated that enemy). Essentially, use standard kung-fu movie rules.
  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

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Community Power Gifts

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:

  • High Constitution: You gain +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls. Any failed or botched Body rolls will instead give an outcome of 1.

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

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Intellect + Influence at Difficulty 6.

Create a repulsion field which extends out 15 feet from you in every direction, and lasts for the next 3 Rounds. Any Animate targets within the field cannot move any closer towards you.

You must maintain Concentration during this Effect.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Consumes a mind effecting substance and says "Here piggy piggy". You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.

You automatically detect the closest of any Law Enforcement within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense their direction and distance.

If no Law Enforcement targets are within 300 feet of you, and then one enters range, you automatically detect it, even if this Effect is not active.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living or Sapient target within arm's reach. Roll Perception + Stealth at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you possess your target for the Contested Outcome in hours. The target has no control over their body or actions, though they retain consciousness and will remember anything that occurs during the possession. While the possession is active, the host body will Eyes change colour to a deep brown, making it very obvious to anyone who sees them that something is not right.

Your original body will be left behind, unconscious. You may perceive through your original body's senses by Concentrating. If your original body is touched, you may roll Perception + Alertness to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.

Stats: During the possession, you use the host body’s Body rating, but your own Mind rating. Any rolls you make use the host body’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception but your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities. You gain the effects of any physical Assets and Liabilities they have. You have access to the target’s mind, and are able to see their memories and learn any hidden knowledge or information they possess.

Gifts: You have access to and can use any of your own Powers which are not intrinsic to your biology or physical body. You may access and use any of the target’s Gifts or other supernatural effects while you are possessing them.

Death: Any Injuries sustained by the host body are also sustained by your original body. If the host body is killed or destroyed while you are still possessing it, you will die along with it. If the possession ends and your original body was killed, you may make a contested Mind roll against the host. The loser becomes a helpless observer as long as you both inhabit their body.

Eviction: If you attempt to force your host to take actions which would violate one of their Limits or their instinct for self-preservation, they may resist by rolling Mind. If their Outcome is higher than or equal to the contested Outcome, the possession ends and you are evicted from their body.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the target take in a mass of living cancer.

  • If you are a helpless observer, you cannot activate any Effects, including this one, with one exception: If a co-inhabited body is possessed, a helpless observer may cast Possession on the new inhabitant's original body.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Access to equipment-based Gifts such as Signature Items depends entirely on whether you are holding the relevant object, and is not impacted by whether or not you are possessing a target.
  • 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.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Choose an illusion to generate, which can be no larger than a person.

The chosen illusion is generated at your target, and it will remain in place for the next minute or you choose to end it. It can be perceived by people through their sight. The illusion cannot be used as an attack. You cannot make an exact replica of an existing Animate being or Object.

Anyone who touches the illusion (or who would be able to perceive it significantly through a sense it cannot fool) realizes it is an illusion, and the entire effect will be ended for all targets.

The illusion will remain fixed to its initial target, and can only change locations if the initial target is mobile in some way. It may have moving parts and engage in simple, predetermined movements but cannot perform anything complex or interactive unless you maintain Concentration and “puppeteer” it.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • while you can use an illusion to obscure something smaller, you cannot make anything directly invisible (you can’t make a tank look like a regular baseball, but you can hide it in an illusion of a giant baseball).
  • You may only puppeteer a single illusion at once.
  • 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.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use your instrument to activate this Effect. The area within 25 feet of you immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).

If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of you with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4. If you botched the activation roll, you will also take full Damage from the blast, otherwise it will not hurt you.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Science at Difficulty 7.

If you succeed, the target will suffer a dice penalty equal to the Outcome for the next 2 Rounds. Dice pools may be reduced all the way down to 0 by this penalty. This breaks Concentration.

You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking, reducing their Outcome by your own. Your command has no impact beyond disrupting their Action.

  • This Penalty is not removed if a character Exerts their Mind to ignore penalty.
  • If a character has a dice pool reduced to 0, they cannot attempt that action.
  • 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 at all times.

Your Perception rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Perception (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Constant Vigilance: You may React to surprise Attacks, and you do not automatically lose initiative if ambushed or caught-flat footed. +2 dice to Initiative.
  • Can't Unsee: Any Trauma rolls you make are rolled at +2 Difficulty.

  • You can still be ambushed if you are incapacitated, stunned, or being kept unconscious supernaturally.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

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 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.

You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 2. 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.

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:

  • You may suspend a targeted Offensive Power which will take effect when the oath is broken. The Power must be able to target all participants the oath indicates it could hit.
  • A Battle Scar up to Severe (deaf, missing limb)
  • The oath-breaker is physically marked as an oath-breaker, and any investigative effect will reveal the terms of the oath they broke.
  • A particular Trauma and a single Mind Damage
  • The oath-breaker goes unconscious for up to 24 hours
  • An Injury up to Severity-6 (cannot be reduced by any means)

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.

  • All Oaths must have at least two participants.
  • The target must be physically present to enter the oath.
  • The terms and penalties of the oath do not need to be equitable and do not need to affect all parties equally.
  • A single action cannot break multiple oaths. You cannot 'stack' oath penalties by having a target sign multiple identical oaths, or similar.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.