Weaving their blade into a fluid tapestry of defense. The ritual commences with a swift, controlled draw of the katana from its scabbard, mirroring the precision of an Itamae's knife as it slices through ingredients. The blade emerges like a moonlit reflection on tranquil waters, its obsidian surface shimmering with unspoken mastery. With the katana held poised and ready, Machida executes a seamless arcโhis movements embodying the grace of an iaido master. The strike, a controlled yet devastating motion, finds its target with an elegance reminiscent of a perfectly crafted sushi roll. The blade's whisper cuts through the air, each movement speaking to years of honed technique. As the blade moves through the air, Machida's focus shifts from offense to the intricate art of defense. With a practiced maneuver, the blade is angled slightly downward, allowing any detrimentsโbe it blood or disruptionโto fall away like excess ingredients discarded from a dish.
The crescendo arrives as Machida deftly returns the blade to its ebony sheath, embodying the essence of iaido's swift resheathingโan art that transcends time and now encompasses defense. As the blade clicks home, a transformation transpires. Machida channels the katana's innate energy, erecting an imperceptible barrier borne from the same tranquility that imbues his culinary creations. This newfound barrier mirrors the unspoken prowess of a chef safeguarding the essence of a dish. It seamlessly repels oncoming assaults, combining Machida's finesse with the blades potency. The iaido-inspired stance encapsulates the harmony of defense and artistry, unveiling an embodiment of tranquility that stands as a testament to the dual mastery of blade and kitchen.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use Sword to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Melee (6 dice) at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome + 2 Damage. Half the damage absorbed is reflected back at the attacker, which they can Defend against as normal. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, 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.
German while looking at his target through his gold rimmed glasses sends fear into the target, like a prey facing a predator, they just freeze in their place
Spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use glasses to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Alertness (6 dice) at Difficulty 6. the target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by an intangible, ethereal binding. They can still move their arms and use Effects, but cannot move to a new location.
Restricted targets may attempt to break the binding and escape by spending an Action and rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. Breaking free requires a total cumulative Outcome of twice the original Contested Outcome.
Your bindings affect intangible beings like ghosts.
While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Using that ever so sparky spirit deep within, Joseph can use the power of pyrokinesis to light up anything in his way!
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).
You may start a new fire as large as a firepit's fire at your target. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 4 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 targetโs 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.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Sensitive Tingly Palms.
For everyone except the target, there is no visual component to this gift. For the target, however, they will watch as reality begins to crack, the fissures emanating from the user (or the user's method of communication). The cracks encompass everything that the target is able to see, before quickly shattering, revealing a lively cosmos underneath the world. Looking around, the target will be able to identify that they are in an altered version of our familiar solar system. The planets are closer together, bridges that span miles of empty space connect distant celestial bodies, lights line every planet in the system, spaceships navigate through the depths, unfathomably large superstructures dot the horizon, and the stars shine brighter than they ever have before. In this sight, humanity's indomitable will and the true beauty of the cosmos are revealed to the target. The target spends hours here, watching an idealized version of the world revolve as the user's disembodied voice talks to them about their traumas. As the session comes to a close and the user makes the roll to determine the outcome of this therapy, the paths diverge.
If the roll succeeds:
The sun starts to grow, before combusting and bathing everything that the target can see in a white light. The target feels a comfortable warmth on their skin as they are briefly blinded. When their vision returns, the target will find themselves returned to where they were before the therapy began, feeling lighter. The warmth sticks with them for a while afterwards.
If the roll fails:
The sun runs cold, and the universe follows suit. Where once there was a bustling universe, there now sits a lifeless corpse. The target stays there for a moment, before the darkness becomes too overbearing to remain. The target opens their eyes, and finds themselves where they were, their traumas still plaguing them.
This gift was manifested through a combination of Andromeda's dream of a cosmos that's at her fingertips, and her desire to help the people around her. She imagines a world where everyone has achieved her dreams, hoping that her realized passion will have a positive impact on her friends.
Andromeda is aware of the vision that she gives the target, though she has not actually seen it herself.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target at any distance, provided you are able to communicate. You cannot target yourself. Over the course of one day, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Occult (1 dice) at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Sandra takes the ingredients, either already prepared or boiled together on the spot, and mixes it with her own venom, before slathering the mixture on any open wounds, gluing and sealing them with a luminous blue glow. After the poultice dries, it is able to be peeled off like a reptileโs skin.
Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a poultice made up of a natural adhesive, medicinal herbs, and distilled spirits in order to activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Medicine (4 dice) at Difficulty 6.
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.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations.
The Ninja's incredible dedication to their discipline grants them supernatural dexterity and agility.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Dexterity rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Dexterity (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).
By slowing the hands of one of their watches, the time-traveler may interrupt and slow a target's movement through time. The target appears to be moving in slow motion for the duration.
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 (3 dice) 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.
The creature's claws rip through the poor, defenseless doctor's coat, opening deep gashes in their gut. It bares its fangs to lunge for the killing blow, but the doctor looks up at the attacker. Their eyes filed not with utter terror at their imminent demise, only a look of disappointment and pity. Touched, the monster hesitates. . .
This Effect activates whenever you receive a Severity 2 or higher Injury from an attack. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Influence (1 dice) at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldnโt have done, inspired by remorse for hurting such a pure soul. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.
Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.
Finally, the girls are fusing the way theyโve wanted to since they began Contracting, three and a half years ago. It took Graceโs left eye for them to try this, but the girls are now able to spend a week focusing their energy towards a Battle Scarred area and permanently replacing it with The Spiritโs ghostly flesh. The replaced chunks, eyes, arms, whatever may come, appear just as The Spiritโs: bluish and semi-transparent, but now function just as the respective physical flesh would.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every day. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active automatically count as a successful Proper Stabilization and do not deteriorate further. Any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will heal with the Injury.
You may choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that is not caused by an Injury. Recovery takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.
As long as the Ninja is dressed in an appropriate uniform, their movement is almost silent.
You gain the following benefits as long as as long as you are visibly dressed head to toe in black with hardly any skin showing.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you from other, additional senses fails automatically. If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. Activating a targeted or obvious Effect, attacking, or being Injured ends the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for one minute.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: compulsion to test the awareness of allies by sneaking up on them with a weapon.