As River runs a finger over their ring and suggests a course of action, the person they’re talking to finds that it sounds like one of the best ideas they’ve ever heard. They might even find themselves wanting to please River, wanting to impress them. Something in River’s brain squirms, happily, wriggling its way in just a little bit farther.
The parasite that’s worked into River’s brain has psychic potential that they’re only barely beginning to understand, but it loves their natural charisma. Tips at the coffee shop have never been better.
Exert your Mind and spend at least one Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use a shiny ring to activate this Effect. Your target may be actively engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to their best understanding of the letter and spirit of the command until they have completed it or for your Outcome in minutes. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.
The target is unaware that they are under supernatural influence and feel they are acting of their own free will. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.
Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.
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.
A grayish mist is emitted from the necklace. The cloud then coalesces into cloaked, wraith-like beings that surround your target.
The wraiths use the voices of the innocents that have been harmed by the users actions.
What they’re saying is nearly incomprehensible due to the sheer quantity of voices attempting to whisper over each other, but the target gets the sense that the user must have done something terribly wrong.
If used on self, the wraiths taunt and mock the user. Unlike the others, the user recognizes each and every voice and how they are related to the user.
They're translucent and wouldn't inhibit vision.
When attacked, the wraiths let out a bloodcurdling wail and lunge for the attacker before bursting into ethereal flames.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. Roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome +4 Damage. Any Damage absorbed by the barrier is reflected back to the attacker, up to a maximum of 4. Their Armor applies in full. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact 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.
The user touches their target and concentrates on the injuries/scars they want to transfer from/to them. The ring starts to glow with white light and like being liquified the injuries/scars travel towards the ring, make a round through it and end up in the other side's body.
The Greek goddess of curing sickness and healing wounds Aceso was said to have given this ring to a noble follower who wanted to take on warriors' afflictions and heal them while they went back to fight. In later generations, of course, this item would be used for much more selfish goals.
This artifact was loaned to one Jacob Sterns by the British Museum.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. If a target does not consent to the transfer, you must roll Brawn + Occult at Difficulty 6 to use the effect on them. They can resist by rolling either Body or Mind at Difficulty 6, depending on what you are attempting to transfer to them.
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.
Mike marks the glasses with runes representing knowledge and revelation. He then looks through the lenses at the surrounding area, as they absorb trace energies from nearby sources of power or the traces left behind by beings who have passed through. At the end of a minute, the rune markings fade and "drain" backward from the lenses into Mike's eyes, imparting the knowledge of what they have absorbed and leaving behind an unmarked surface
After facing the storms, Mike was forced to confront his weakness in information gathering, and delved into studying ways to reveal hidden information. the quality of what he gleans is tied to how well the runes are drawn, as a crisp, superlative rune provides detailed information, so does a crude, deformed rune give a murkier view.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 500 feet You must actively and obviously use some type of eyeglasses to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Dexterity + Crafts at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
By gripping the Medallion, the sharper section of it injects into the user's hand, immediately coagulating closed to allow the user to issue commands to an animal of their choice. Sometimes, the Medallion does not require blood, but it can be fickle due to its own sentience.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet.
For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.
Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.
The user has been smoking weed for so long that it's very strong. By blowing smoke on a target it stuns then for sometime however also doing the same to the user.
This Effect activates whenever Being Attacked. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the target will suffer a dice penalty equal to the Outcome for the next 3 Rounds. Dice pools may be reduced all the way down to 0 by this penalty. This breaks Concentration.
You may Exert your Mind and spend a Reaction to contest an Action someone is taking. Roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 7. Subtract your Outcome from theirs, and they use the Contested Outcome to determine if their Action succeeds.
The mutant now occasionally lays large, orange-speckled eggs. These Eggs do not hatch nor spoil. If cracked and applied to a chronic injury such as a missing limb, the scar heals completely within the hour. However, any area healed by the egg will forever carry an inhuman appearance as testament to the bizarre method of treatment.
Spend a minute and use up this unusually large egg (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7). Select a Living target within arm's reach. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect.
Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind an inhuman attribute such as fur, scales, or feathers on the target which cannot be healed.
Doc puts his hands on you and begins to mutter to himself in french. The effect is instant and horrible. You begin to remember all of the sins of your past, all the ways that you've wronged those who loved you. All of the terrible, evil things you've done on these contracts in order to survive. Doc seems to be in the grips of similar memories, tears running down his chin and dripping onto his hands that are pressed tightly against you. At the point where your mind feels like it's about to break, it's over. Just as quickly as it began. You feel your wounds begin to close.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. Your target must make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Medicine 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.
Who wouldn't want one of the mad scientist's famous implants? All it takes is a little time and a few terrifying experiments, and you too could be a better you!
Warning: not fully tested on humans. Risk of dry mouth, upset stomach, or lost limbs. Do not consult your doctor before signing the liability release.
Exert your Mind and spend eight hours. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you cause a major Battle Scar instead of an augmentation. Your target must make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
The Future Soldier learned to create foam grenades in their own time period, and they still can, kinda. They look like glowing orange capsules with a rugged rubberized grip. When thrown, they burst into a splash of expanding neon orange foam. The foam hardens in seconds, severely hampering the movement of anyone unlucky enough to have been splashed. Those affected may use their hands or weapons to hack away at the foam and free themselves.
Occasionally, the fuses on these bootleg grenades fails, and they go off immediately.
Spend an Action and use up this small metallic grenade with pin (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7). Make a thrown attack at a Location within normal attack range. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you are hit as it activates immediately at your present location. The target may roll to dodge or defend, as normal for thrown attacks. The attack does not deal Damage, but the Effect does.
If you succeed, all affected targets will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They can still move their arms and use Effects, but are reduced to ¼ of their movement speed.
The binding around a target must be destroyed in order for them to break free. Breaking the binding requires a total amount of Damage equal to twice the original Contested Outcome. Damage from multiple attacks is cumulative and stacks linearly.
The mutant has gained some control over their genetic instability, allowing them to trigger a mutation at will. When the need arises, their flesh warps and twists, and a new mutation manifests that is suited to whatever obstacle the mutant happens to be facing at the time.
Spend 30 minutes. You may only target yourself. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.