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Looking Back It's a good time for some self-reflection.
As the large man in front of Nathan rambles on, his duplicate in Nathan's eye slowly begins to morph. Thick wads of cash bubble from his skull as his eyes melt away to reveal smooth golden coins. His uncontrollable desire for wealth, enough to announce to the world falsehoods of himself, is exposed.
Spend a minute. Select a Sapient target or a Creature within arm's reach. You cannot investigate the same target more than once per hour. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
- You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
- You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is the target's reflection in Nathan's eye morphs into a monstrous form corresponding to their lie. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
- 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.
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Charlatans
“Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert.”
― Criss Jami
Nowadays you can't go a day without some phony prophet trying to peddle their wares to you.
Driven by the increased interest in the supernatural, charlatans from palm readers to televangelists are everywhere. And while the vast majority of witches, psychics, magicians, hypnotists, cures, potions, faith healers, and clairvoyants are complete fakes, they do make a living.
As the saying goes, "it's easier for an actor to make it in alternative medicine than Hollywood."
Most people scoff at these clearly-phony supernatural services, yet those same people often buy into at least one scam.
The most dangerous charlatans are the self-styled monster hunters who carry a mall-ninja arsenal and guns with silver bullets. Most have never encountered anything supernatural and do absolutely nothing besides burn some sage and patrol the area for a night or two. Even so, those who are superstitious, fearful, or desperate enough will hire them to solve the problems they simply don't understand. In some cases with disastrous results.
For Contractors, charlatans are red herrings and obstacles. Clumsy fakes that conjure a smokescreen of misinformation and escalate the situations they're in.
Community
Investigate Individual Gifts
Pulling the Strings
"Every story has a pattern. I just need to find the threads."
John’s gaze lingers a little too long, as if reading invisible text in the air. His questions land with unsettling precision, peeling back layers of deception like a scene unfolding exactly as expected. There’s no magic, just the creeping feeling that he’s following a script only he can see.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Sapient target or a Creature within 20 feet. 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. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- Determine if this target is Alien in origin or whether it has any Alien energy or outside influences. You receive information about the type of energy, including the name of the relevant Source pool or equivalent.
- You learn what the target values most and where to find it, provided they know. This includes any hidden or concealed treasures.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A weird Fellow (Disfigured).
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Scripted Responses You have an overwhelming fear of being controlled by an unseen force. Whenever you are given a direct command, forced into a predetermined course of action, or encounter something that feels too perfectly scripted, you must roll Self-Control to avoid hesitation, paranoia, or a reckless attempt to break free..
You cannot investigate the same target more than 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.
Diagnose
"Stick out your tongue. . ."
The Doctor examines their patient and gives a standard medical checkup, asking them questions, nodding to themselves, and muttering arcane medical jargon. The examination reveals an extraordinary amount of detail about any medical issues suffered by the patient.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
- You learn the target’s Traumas, Limits, and whether or not their thoughts, emotions, or memories are being influenced by any Alien forces.
- You determine any major weaknesses that the target might have.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
- Weakness Must be things that are systemed around. For example, silver for a werewolf. Not general like "she's bad at fighting".
- 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.
Cold Reading
Ripley sits at a high-top in corner of bustling restaurant, sipping at a mixed drink that she barely tolerates. She eyes a thin man drinking alone at the bar, reaching down to pull her talisman from her wrist and begin to thumb at it. Ripley opens her mouth to call out to the spirits clinging to the man. She shivers as the condensation on her glass frosts over, her Voice bringing the whispering spirits close...
After a minute, Ripley has finished writing a list of victims, and some of the man's darkest secrets in a small booklet...
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use Spirit Talisman to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- You determine how many living beings the target has killed, what sorts of creatures they were, and how long it has been since they last killed.
- You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than 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.
The Foretelling
Disaster looms. You hear the songs in every heart, and know their inevitable, bitter ends.
You hum a familiar, dreadful tune, known only to you and your target. Droplets of cold river water condense on your hands. They get the disconcerting feeling of a thread unspooling in their brain.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Sapient target or a Creature within arm's reach. You may select a target at any range if you use up a scrap of fabric stained with the blood of the target. You cannot investigate the same target more than once per hour. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
- You learn if the target is Doomed in some way; there is an active plot to kill them, they are affected by a debilitating disease or curse, they are in the path of an unknown danger, have the Dark Fate liability, an unresolved and potentially lethal Loose End, etc.
- You determine any major weaknesses that the target might have.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
- Weakness Must be things that are systemed around. For example, silver for a werewolf. Not general like "she's bad at fighting".
- 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.
Differential
Working on that heart murmur?
Lex approaches a stranger and draws them into a conversation about the weather. A few one-word answers aren't enough to ward them off, their questions becoming less socially acceptable as their eyes dart between a patch of skin on the stranger's wrist, their bloodshot eyes, and their gait before abruptly wandering away a minute later.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
- You determine any major weaknesses that the target might have.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
- Weakness Must be things that are systemed around. For example, silver for a werewolf. Not general like "she's bad at fighting".
- 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.
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Investigate Individual Gifts
Cold Reading
You may be a real-deal psychic, but the time-honored trick of cold readings still proves very useful.
The psychic can glean various important details about a person simply by engaging in a short conversation with them.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
- You learn their relationship to a specific individual (chosen prior to the effect activation).
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation and made publicly available.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
You cannot investigate the same target more than 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.
Snoop
"Gotcha."
The detective can learn a lot by watching someone for a minute. Each subtle detail, every unexplained stain, reveals something about where the target has been. Ocassionally, they'll drop a business card, or explain how to contact them. The detective is listening.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target does not know you're watching them. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
- You learn how to reliably contact the target.
- The target’s trail for the past 24 hours is revealed to you and anyone you teach to follow it. This trail shows how long ago the target was there and is followable even when they are in a vehicle.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
- Contact info Low Outcome: a means of communication (phone, email, a secretary). High Outcome: specific phone numbers, email addresses, protocols for getting access to the individual.
- Tracker You are not made instantly aware of where they have been in the past 24 hours; you must follow their trail. You may "happen upon" any trail they have made in the past 24 hours.
- 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.
Diagnose
"Stick out your tongue. . ."
The Doctor examines their patient and gives a standard medical checkup, asking them questions, nodding to themselves, and muttering arcane medical jargon. The examination reveals an extraordinary amount of detail about any medical issues suffered by the patient.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target or a Creature within arm's reach. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
- You learn a full medical history, including past injuries and illnesses as well as the healing process involved.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
You cannot investigate the same target more than 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.
Trail Sign
She could track a fish in the ocean.
The survivalist is adept at following an animal through any terrain. Once they find a recent track, they may focus their will to illuminate the trail of their target. Any part of the target's trail within eyeshot glows a bright, misty green. Even the trails made by vehicles the target was riding in are illuminated.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You may select a target at any range if you use up fresh tracks of the target. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
- The target’s trail for the past 24 hours is revealed to you and anyone you teach to follow it. This trail shows how long ago the target was there and is followable even when they are in a vehicle.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Any information you gather is revealed by illuminating the trail in a glowing light and made publicly available.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
- Tracker You are not made instantly aware of where they have been in the past 24 hours; you must follow their trail. You may "happen upon" any trail they have made in the past 24 hours.
- 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.