Ablation "I don't believe you exist."

2
Requires Seasoned
The power to grievously injure a target.
Used by Minerva McAlaster, Created by Polymorph.
(When activating this Effect, it is obvious you are attacking the target. You must actively and obviously be using silver fox pendant.)

Minerva's power over the world deepens to the point where even actions that aren't conscious thought can influence it deeply. A pique of anger gives way to a desire that something doesn't exist. The subject of her focus has a split second to truly believe it does in fact exist - should it fail to make that argument, it doesn't.

"To understand a thing is to know the manner by which it might be destroyed. A fundamental understanding of the basic building-blocks of the Universe is essential, then, to the total destruction of everything."


Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. You must actively and obviously use silver fox pendant to activate this Effect. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. Roll Charisma + Influence Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Mind, Difficulty 6.

If the contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 8. Armor is fully effective against this Damage.

You may use this Effect to Defend or Clash in Combat, including against ranged attacks such as firearms.

This effect is applied to the target and all targets within 5 feet. It can “jump” up to 5 times.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Staying Clean: Make a self-control roll to not prioritize getting clean if you ever get dirty.

  • 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.

Community Power Gifts

Andromeda's signature ability. She discovered it shortly after taking up residence in her observatory. The Northern Lights descended upon her observatory, unusual for the skies of Saskatchewan. Always obsessed with the stars, Andromeda ascended to the tippy top of her observatory and reached out her hand, as though begging the lights to take her to the sky. Instead, she took the lights. They crawled into her hand, nestling themselves within her very soul.

She has been absolutely obsessed with the lights after discovering the power that was gifted to her. She's spent many nights just shooting it into the distance, watching the aurora flicker into the night sky before fading away. She personally chooses to believe that this gift means that she is destined to be a hero, akin to Percy Jackson and other similar protagonists from young adult novels.

Andromeda's acquisition of this gift increased her already rebellious tendencies. While she was never one for listening to authority, she now believes that her power places her in a position where other people don't have the right to boss her around. She's also anxious about having her powers stolen, taken advantage of, or otherwise used by others for their own personal gain. All of this (plus some past experiences) combines to make Andromeda a child who would rather do anything other than follow an order from someone demanding her respect.

One night, months into Andromeda's employment as a contractor, the lights returned. Once again, she climbed her observatory, reached out, and once more it seeped into her. The lights are brighter now, stronger now, deadlier now. Gone are the days of destined death, now the child delivers it herself. Maybe this will be easier to stomach, at least she won't have to watch her enemies suffer anymore.

Spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. Roll Perception + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.

You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.

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

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Rebellious - You have trouble with trusting authority figures. (Whenever anyone in an authority position, such as police, local leaders, etc. tries to assert their authority to tell you to do something, roll Self Control to prevent doing the opposite of what they tell you to do.).

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Select up to four Battle Scars on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scars heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see painful and slow growth of fungi that takes over whatever function was supposed to be done by the injured area. They do what their host wishes them to, but the connection isn't a direct one.

Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind fungal growths on the target which cannot be healed.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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 Charisma rating is increased by 3. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Charisma (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Vengeful.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Anime: You may have a 30 second conversation with another character on your initiative each Round in Combat, and using any Communication Effect takes a Free Action instead of a full Action.
  • Honest Eyes: Your word is accepted as honest so long as you are speaking the truth as you understand it. You can always tell if someone telling a lie without making a roll, though you may not know what they are concealing

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

This Effect activates whenever attacked by something supernatural or completely alien to laurence. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Sapient or Creature target within 20 feet. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Roll Brawn + Alertness Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target loses that much Source. Once their Source is depleted, excess Outcome is applied as Mind Damage. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target gains a new Trauma of your choice. The Trauma should be general and not specifically mention you. You should not have to be involved to trigger the Trauma.

This Trauma may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.

  • Mundane animals have a Mind score of 1 or 2 at the GM’s discretion.
  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • 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 as long as you are engaged in combat with Swords.

+2 dice to all rolls with Swords. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using Swords.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Fancy Footwork: You may move your full Dash distance and attack in the same Round without penalty. You may also split your movement before and after your attack.
  • Sheathing the Sword: When you would Clash with an opponent, before the dice are rolled, you may opt to have both sides deal full damage. If you do, your attack roll is at -2 Difficulty.

  • Reminder: Bonus Damage stacks with Weapon Damage, but does not stack with any other Bonus Damage. Instead, the highest Bonus Damage is used.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You automatically detect all illegal materials within 50 feet of you for the next hour. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. You do not learn any details about the detected items.

  • This includes any objects that come into range during activation.
  • This Effect does not satisfy the line of sight targeting requirement for other Effects.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brilliant Deduction: You may spend five minutes pondering an enigma, puzzle, or mystery, and roll Intellect at Difficulty 8. Success will reveal a clue or other tidbit that you have otherwise missed. Limit once per enigma.
  • Insufferable Know-It-All: Any social rolls you make are at +1 Difficulty, and if someone else can answer an informational question or solve a puzzle before you do, make a Trauma roll. The Difficulty of this Trauma roll cannot be reduced by any means.

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

You gain the following benefits as long as the target object has a cutting edge.

As long as you maintain Concentration, you can take Actions and interact with things that are within 75 feet without needing to physically touch them or be near them. Any rolls made for Actions taken in this way use a Mental Strength of 2 in place of your Brawn rating, a Mental Agility of 2 in place of your Dexterity, and otherwise use your own Attributes and Abilities.

Telekinetic actions have the following restrictions and behaviors:

  • Line of Sight: You must be able to visually observe anything you interact with, and any actions that you are taking will end if their target moves out of sight.
  • Unarmed Combat: You cannot deal damage through unarmed combat or thrown objects with this Effect, though you may still grapple with targets.
  • Weapons: You are able to effectively wield weapons to Attack, Defend, and Clash with this Effect.
  • Fine Tools: You are otherwise limited to actions that a normal human could do with their bare hands.
  • Levitation: If you are strong enough to lift yourself, you may levitate up to 75 feet away from the ground. Movement is limited to 5 feet per Round.
  • Multiple Items: You can only interact with one thing or take one Action at a time.
  • Lifting and hauling: you may lift 90 pounds.

  • Any telekinetic actions which interact with Animate targets may require contested rolls at GMs discretion.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with melee ninja weapons.

+2 dice to all rolls with melee ninja weapons. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using melee ninja weapons.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Assassin: If your attack Injures your target, they cannot make a sound, even incidentally, for a single Round. Even the sound of their body and equipment dropping to the ground is silenced.
  • Falling Crane Strike: If you move and then make a successful attack against a target closer than the full distance you could have moved, you may choose to travel the excess movement in a straight line beyond the target.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) 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 firepit's fire at your target. Extinguishing a fire does not cost Exertion. 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 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 target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.

You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.

  • Your fires may be extinguished with appropriate Actions and materials. Stop, drop, and rolling to extinguish requires spending an Action and making a Dexterity + Athletics roll, with an Outcome of 4 putting out the flames.
  • If the target is larger than your flame size, the Armor destruction creates a weak point instead of applying to the entire 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.