Thorium Core This design is too restrained! It can be improved.

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A consumable glowing blue disk that lets you enhance your tools beyond mundane limits.
Created by shady.
( )

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.


Use up this glowing blue disk and spend a minute to activate. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.

For the next hour, your target receives 1 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +1 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.

After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -1 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.

  • "Destroyed" in this context means "prevented from functioning for its primary purpose", so for instance, an upgraded land mine would still explode as normal if triggered, even though it cannot be "destroyed" and a car's windows may still be broken.
  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Community Upgrade Gifts

On alchemy:
Here comes the alchemist chef. Does Delphyrion need to specify that this is a transformation from one object to another? Not really. Do they really like the law of conservation of mass and matter? Nope. Do they know they don't have to do all this stuff to limit themselves? Debatable. They'll just insist that this is for the science, the discovery, the suspense, the funny shenanigans.

On the vials:
They appear to be generic vials of clear liquid when unused, though that's questionable enough in and of itself if Delphyrion ever needs to get it past TSA (not that it's much of an issue anymore, considering the availability of their little stash). Hopefully Delph has labeled these correctly, lest they try to chuck this at someone instead of their signature piranha solution. What is the liquid called, anyway? ...Schrodinger's solution. It either exists or it doesn't. Or maybe it's somewhere in between...

On the backpack:
This consumable used to be a backpack. It was easy enough to mistake for any backpack at all, and Delphyrion had not put a label on it. They have lost quite a few beakers and pens to it whenever they mused about their next experiment, as they often reach epiphanies by saying, "If only I had [food item]". Perhaps that's why the artifact works this way.

On food quality:
For some reason the output quality directly ties to the price of food in Orlando. So, use a 5-cent pencil, and you'll get a 5-cent quality potato fry*.
Also, yeah, make sure it's 1 minute exactly. This is a theoretical number; no one has tried to test its limits, hence its reference to Schrodinger.
*Food will vanish from your stomach after 2 hours.

Use up this pair of chemical vials and spend an Action. Roll 7 dice Difficulty 6, dice penalties do not apply.

Choose a specific type of Food, Drugs, and Administration which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic but can include rare materials (such as radium, gold, or drugs). Rare objects and their materials last no longer than 45 minutes.. You cannot create explosives. You cannot create firearms.

Roll Intellect + Science to fabricate up to 5 copies of your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.

  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • The Difficulty for the fabrication roll increases based on specificity. Something like a "shirt" would be Difficulty 5, whereas "Police uniform" would be Difficulty 9. The Outcome determines overall quality and how well the item fits the request.
  • You can fabricate a container of something so long as it contains a single type of thing (such as a tank of water) or it is designed to be packaged together (such as a first aid kit).
  • If you are able to activate this Effect as a Reaction, its roll contests the incoming Attack.

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.

  • "Destroyed" in this context means "prevented from functioning for its primary purpose", so for instance, an upgraded land mine would still explode as normal if triggered, even though it cannot be "destroyed" and a car's windows may still be broken.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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 a minute. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. 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. 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.

You may choose a second valid Device target while activating this Effect and splice both targets into a single new Device. The newly created item has the same size as the larger of the two initial targets, and can be used to perform the same actions as either of the original items. It receives 3 to those actions for the next day.

  • Upgrading Alien Devices does not add bonus dice to any rolls related to the Device’s passive or activated Effects.
  • After the effect ends, spliced items become un-spliced and return to being separate items.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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.

“It’s not disgusting, it’s called SCIENCE!”

Exert your Mind and spend an hour. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.

Lasts the next day. 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.

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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Nanomachines peel of the skin of Berndts arm. The skin engulfs the item and after the process is done crawls back on the arm in a disgusting fashion..

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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.

I awoke in a Victorian garden. Two mercury teacups sit on a table. The air smells like asbestos and something bitter. Sulphur? Across the table from me sits a skeleton, its eyes drilling holes into my soul. I know what it has come to tell me, even before wordless emotions tumble from its lipless mouth.
"Your time has come. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"
I choke back my fear, then trembling, speak.
"Another few years, I beg of you. Am I not your most devoted servant? Have I not feared and revered you at every moment? How many have I sent into your arms?"
The skeleton sits emotionless, its jaw moving, speaking soundlessly.
"I have given you so many chances, Harold. But I must admit a sense of curiosity. Do you plan to evade me forever"
"Until death do we meet," I retort, half joking.
But it is already over. I am waking. Emotions begin to return to my body. Neurons fire randomly, an intricate web creating a tapestry of sparks. And so I return.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life.

If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + Charisma, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in Charisma, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.

Stock Upgrade Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. 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.

Lasts the next two hours. 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.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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.