Dr. Freeman makes a circular incision around his patient's head and removes the top of their skull. He closes his eyes, places his fingertips directly on the patient's brain, and starts to massage the grey matter. He may then sift through the patient's memories at will. As he does so, little electric arcs crackle between his fingertips and the exposed brain. This procedure is incredibly invasive and thorough but may cause the death of the patient.
Exert your Mind (unless the target has an Intellect of 2 or less) and spend 2 Actions. Select a Living, Animate target within arm's reach This Effect cannot be used unless you are touching the target's naked brain. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you destroy the target's brain, killing them. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You are able to view your target's memories. The target is unaware their memories are being probed. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range or your Concentration is interrupted.
You may ask specific questions about their memory - “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc - but you cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see you touching the target's naked brain.
It appears as if Will's arm seemingly grows infinitesimally small while reaching into the lock and opening it, sometimes distorting the observer's perception of Will as they struggle to reason the sight.
Will's perception of his gift is different to that of observers, once he wants to open a lock he simply reaches his arm in and opens it. The keyhole appears to expand to fit his arm, and he believes that this is completely normal. This is done instinctually, as if it were as natural as turning a doorknob.
Spend an Action to activate. Select a door, lock, or locked target within arm's reach , which is no more complex than a personal safe door or a keycard reader. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Since his reform Cleatus has had some trouble getting in touch with the more sensible side of things, but with some help from a good friend and a healthy dose of therapy Cleatus has gotten in touch with the part of him that really understands how people around him feel, and with a little elbow grease and a hearty conversation the two of them can reveal all sorts of hidden things, and with a little brow beating Cleatus can extract things that the target in question would never have wanted exposed.
Exert your Mind (unless The target is restrained) and 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 Brawn + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Any information you gather is A series of verbal questions and made publicly available.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Arthur Annuler is capable of projecting his voice through the Gap between Realities, letting him speak to people at great distances.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 10 miles of you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
I prepare my tools methodically, right to left in the order im going to use them. I do this slowly and caring and then I manipulate the lock as if i were going to save its life with fine surgery
The result of self taught skills is this. Could it be done faster? Yes. But be sure it can't be done better
Spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use Lock picking tools to activate this Effect.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.
The user writes in the journal using a writing implement that has been fully doused in a bottle of ink, manifesting a connection between their dreams and a target. As they do so, wisps of otherworldly color momentarily surround the target, beckoning them to fall into the dream. When they do so, they are enveloped into a dream world of the user's choosing, where a version of themselves exists as a guide for the target.
Exert your Mind (unless the target is already drowsy) and spend an Action. Select a single Living or Animate target or a Location within 300 feet. If you select a Location, all Living or Animate targets within 20 feet of the chosen Location, besides yourself, are affected. You must use up a bottle of ink in order to activate this Effect. Roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, affected targets becomes drowsy for the next 30 minutes, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Contested Outcome x 3 hours.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, and can only be awoken by taking Damage or nearing death from hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
You may determine the content of an affected target's dreams while they are asleep, but they must involve you in some way, and will reveal you as the source of their sleep as well as reveal secret information about yourself to them. By maintaining Concentration, you may enter their dreams and converse with them directly.
When activating this Effect you may attempt a knockout. If you do and your Contested Outcome exceeds 4, the target falls asleep immediately. Otherwise, they suffer the drowsy penalty for 2 Rounds.
The target can be compelled to take physical actions and use their senses by other Effects, and they will still remain asleep throughout. If this occurs, they will be obviously sleepwalking to anyone who observes them.
When an affected target wakes up, they remain drowsy for the next minute, and suffer a -3 dice penalty. If an affected target successfully resists being put to sleep, they will still become drowsy for the next minute, and will suffer the same penalty.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Tortured Poet: Your vitality is sapped by the journal, amplifying any pain you feel. Any Stress from your Body score is multiplied by 2. Hurt becomes -2, Wounded becomes -4, Maimed becomes -8, etc., Hand Of The Author: Writing in the dream journal has taken its toll over time. Called shots against your left hand do +2 damage. If an attack hits you which could conceivably hit your stomach, roll 1d10 at Difficulty 6. If you fail, the attack hits your soft spot and does +2 damage., and Day Dreamer: (You suffer a form of minor narcolepsy, as the dream journal beckons. Every hour, if you do not rest for at least thirty minutes, roll Mind at Difficulty 7. On a failure, you become drowsy and suffer a -2 dice penalty until you rest. If you fail this check again without resting or botch, you fall asleep. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
Dazzle Glasses are advanced "black-tech" espionage gear. They can be styled as any sort sunglasses. When the wearer is recorded, they will quickly flash a non-visible laser into the recording device, destroying it after only a moment of footage is taken.
This Effect activates whenever you are recorded. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Non-Sapient Object within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll Perception + Culture Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.
The mystic channels and communes directly with another person's spirit, allowing the two of them to freely exchange both physical and mental wounds between each other.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. Your target may Resist to cancel the transfer.
You may choose a single instance of one of the following to transfer from your target to yourself, or from yourself to them:
Whenever you transfer an Injury, it's Severity increases by 1. Whenever you transfer Mind damage or Traumas, the recipient takes an additional Mind damage.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
While addressing a crowd, the influencer may use coded language to send secret messages to a particular person in the crowd. These messages can't be noticed or understood by anyone but the intended target.
Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location. This Effect cannot be used unless you are speaking to multiple people and the target is listening.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is your left hand making a fist. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
This witch is a cruel and vengeful creature who works her vile arts against those she deems worthy of punishment. All she must do is point. A flash of green lightning strikes her victim and disappears. Immediately, or upon the completion of some condition, if the witch chooses, the victim's body warps and shifts into a gross mockery of its former self. Whether she's giving someone the head of a donkey or stealing their voice, the witch's enemies always get what is coming to them.
The sheer wickedness of this spell corrupts the witch, giving her a disgusting, witchy appearance.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Witchy Appearance. You have a long, warty nose and chin, wrinkled skin, and a hunch back. Social rolls are at +2 Difficulty, and your free movement is reduced by 10 feet.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion for payback. You must roll Self-Control to avoid using this Gift on anyone who wrongs you in a major way.
The spy can twist the urban environment to their whims, erecting fences, walls, and barriers as needed. They whistle and gesture to where the wall should be, and the surrounding materials fly into place.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.
Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:
The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.
This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.