Charlatans

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You transform into a swarm of scarab beetles for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.

While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight. You may fly at your standard movement speed.

Damage from standard attacks is halved, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1. You may spend an Action to reduce one of your Injuries’ Severity by 2, as long as you obtained the Injury while transformed and the separated pieces could reasonably be rejoined. If you would die from Injuries sustained while transformed, you instead live, but the only action you can take is Reforming.

You cannot communicate, use equipment, or use Gifts while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Her body eats away at itself from the inside, slowly revealing a swarm of beetles.

While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.

Exert your Mind (unless you are Sculpting) and spend one minute. Select a Location within arm's reach. You must be in an area abundant with water.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of Digested, hardened Resin originating at the target:

• Sculpt: Sculpt a surface made of Digested, hardened Resin up to 20 feet by 20 feet. You may make aesthetic changes or minor functional improvements like a ladder or stairs. You may sculpt windows, doors, and similar alterations into structures you created with this Effect.
• Wall: Create a straight wall made of Digested, hardened Resin up to 20 feet long, 5 feet high, and 6 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

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 indefinitely 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 3 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.

You may sculpt your walls, domes, or tunnels as you create them, without any additional activation time or cost.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Vaelith releases saliva from their gaping maw, and their dorsal tube separate and slip, leaking out their own mucal discharge. The process, a disgusting mess of steaming hot viscous liquid and acidic discharge surrounding them, molded by the movement of their body in this fluid as it slowly hardens to it's desired shape.

Spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 200 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless target was marked by “Gaze”, target must be in range, target is a Animate being, and :. Roll Dexterity + Alertness ( dice) at Difficulty 6. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 8.

If you succeed, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes any number of the following symptoms:

• Brain Fog: The target’s thoughts are muddled and incoherent. They must succeed a Mind roll to remember details of things, at Difficulty 7 for old details and Difficulty 9 for things which occurred while afflicted. They also take a -2 penalty to all mental actions, which grows by -1 every day until it reaches your Outcome.
• Disabled: The target suffers from an affliction that leaves them unable to act at full strength, such as physical pain, severe fever, intense fatigue, etc. They take a -2 penalty to all physical actions, which grows by -1 every day until it reaches your Outcome.
• Magical Miasma: The target’s connection to the world’s mystical energies is weakened. Any time they try to activate an Effect or any kind of supernatural ability, they must roll 1d10 at Difficulty 5, and if they fail, the Effect or ability fails. The Difficulty increases by 1 with every day that passes.

The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Intellect + Survival ( dice) at Difficulty 9, and can be cured by killing the wielder of this gift. Gifts or supernatural Effects and Powers which would cure or prevent this affliction do not cure or prevent it, but instead offer a clear diagnosis and provide information regarding the method of treatment without requiring a diagnosis roll.

You may cure any target you’ve afflicted at any range as a Quick Action.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see an intense gaze filled with contempt.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Ouch.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Horrible and Inconceivable Madness.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You get +2 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

• Instant Karma: If you successfully resist an Effect with your Mind, you may reflect it back to another target as though you had cast it.
• Lightning Rod: You may spend a Reaction to make yourself the target of any Mental or Influence Effect you are aware of, so long as it is directed at a target within 30 feet of you.
• Reveal Yourself To Me: If you succeed on a Mind resistance roll, you understand who was targeting you and what the intended effect was.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with Kali Sticks.

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

You also gain the following effects:

• Heavy Strikes: If you are attacking with a blunt weapon, if your attack causes an Injury you may choose to knock the target down and back 15 feet. Standing up is typically a Quick Action.
• Riposte: If you successfully Defend against an attack within range of your melee weapon, you deal Damage equal to your excess Outcome plus Weapon Damage back to your attacker.
• Two Swords are better than One: If you are wielding more than one melee weapon, you may Attack with all using the highest Weapon Damage, plus 1 for each additional weapon. If you reserve a weapon, any Clash or Defend roll you make is -1 Difficulty, and mob penalties are ignored. Maximum +5 Damage from bonus weapons.

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 must actively and obviously use a laser pointer to activate this Effect.

You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a fire in a residential fireplace 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 3 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.

You may spend a Free Action on your initiative move a fire as large as a fire in a residential fireplace that is within 20 feet to another location within 20 feet. You may Exert your Mind to draw a line which a fire up to twice as large as a fire in a residential fireplace cannot cross.

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.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.

All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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.

You transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.

Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Charisma rating is increased by 1. 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).

You also gain the following effects:

• Party Animal: You are welcome at, and will be granted entrance to, any social gathering or party, at least as an observer.
• The Price Of Fame: Any sightings or recordings of your activity can easily be traced back to you. Even when disguised or using an alias, people always get a Perception check to recognize you.