Expert Swordsman

2
You possess a mastery of melee weapons.
Used by Woebhiro Rokuhira, Created by woeb.

Having been trained in the art of swordsmanship by his father, Woebhiro possesses expertise in handling katanas while in combat to deadly effect.


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

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

You also gain the following effects:

  • 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.
  • Quick Draw: You may draw and equip yourself with any melee weapon on your person or within arm’s reach as a Free Action, as long as it is not being wielded by someone else.


Community Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you have your kukulcan tattoo.

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).

If you are witnessed actively using this Effect, whoever sees it can make a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty 6. A complete success reveals the source of your power.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Multithreaded: Instead of being unable to take Actions while maintaining Concentration, you may now take Actions at a -2 dice penalty. You may maintain Concentration from two different Effects, but you are unable to take Actions when doing so.

  • Being Injured or interrupted in some way can still break your Concentration.
  • If your kukulcan tattoo is damaged, destroyed, or lost, you lose all benefits from this Effect for the next two months.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. The target can easily Resist.

You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a half of a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:

  • Specialized: You receive +3 dice to a particular non-combat Action.
  • Environmental Adaptation: You do not suffer harm from heat, cold, pressure, or lack of oxygen in a particular environment, provided that challenge normally exists in that environment.
  • Implanted Tool: You have access to the functionality of some common Device at all times. The selected Device can be no larger than a backpack.
  • Armor: You have 3 Armor at all times. As always, Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
  • Pouch: Part of your body functions as a hidden pocket. It can hold no more than a backpack.
  • Zippy: Your Free Movement is increased by 15 feet.
  • Maws and Claws: Your unarmed attacks do +3 Weapon Damage instead of -1.

By transplanting a body part from another creature, you can grant a Powers intrinsic to that body part to the subject.

The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.

Your Augments count as half a Battle Scar when calculating the reduced Body penalty from having too many Battle Scars.

  • The systems for any Powers or Effects granted by splicing from other creatures are subject to Playgroup Leader approval and may be adjusted from their NPC counterparts.
  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may not augment targets with pouches or implanted devices that are larger than they are.
  • Targets without Body ratings may have a maximum of 4 augmentations.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

Summon the one and only Sapient Hellhound at your location. They last until they are destroyed They are controlled by you. They will attack any Forest Monster targets they encounter immediately and will ignore your commands to do otherwise. You may have at most one minion active at a time.

  • Initiative: Minions act directly after you in Combat.
  • Combat: Minions roll 5 dice to dodge, Grapple, or make Mauling Attacks. Their unarmed Attacks are melee range and deal +2 Damage.
  • Body: Minions have 5 Body. Your companion is roughly the size of a wolf.
  • Armor: Minions have 2 Armor.
  • Movement: Minions can move 40 feet per Round as Free Movement and double that when performing an all-out Sprint.
  • Intelligence: Minions have human-level intelligence and can speak your language. They lack manual dexterity and cannot use equipment, Artifacts, or Consumables designed for humans.
  • Actions: Any Perception checks they make are rolled with 4 dice. Any other roll is made with 4 dice. They can lift and haul as though they have 2 Brawn.
  • Powers: Your companion can Exert their Mind using your Mind and spend your Source.
  • Unusual: Minions are obviously Alien to any observer.

If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.

  • Your companion heals fully during each Downtime, but is not healed fully when you re-summon them.
  • Your companion does not instantly die if targeted with Energy Transfer.
  • Minions will only attack Forest Monster targets that are larger than a mouse.
  • Your minions may count as additional targeting types based on their flavor. For example: Living, Computer, Creature, etc.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: Frog-like humanoid. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living Creature when targeted. Your Dexterity is increased by 1.

Your body is adapted to swimming. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to swimming.

You are immune to damage from cold. If cold is a substantial component of other damage you would take (e.g. falling from a great distance into a vat of liquid nitrogen), that damage is reduced by 2 (in addition to Armor)

While in forest, heat, cold, pressure, and other atmospheric hazards do not affect you, and dangerous local flora and fauna will not bother you unless you give them a reason.

You can squeeze through any cracks and passageways a cat would be able to.

Any creature that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every minute, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.

Whenever you enter Combat, roll Self-Control. If you fail, you cannot choose which targets to attack and cannot stop fighting until there are no targets remaining.

You cannot be mistaken for a normal human. You cannot always use standard human clothes, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, and when you can, you suffer an increased Difficulty.

The Severity of any Injury caused by Harsh chemicals is increased by 2.

  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Silver Bullets drawback on Regeneration.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Some legends talk about humans learning the languages of animals, often from a mystical source like tasting dragon blood, but also as simple as being taught bird tongue by a bird. How did this ability spontaneously manifest? Honestly, it's through an inherent connection with animals that comes about from latent and innate shapeshifting abilities. It's in the blood, metaphorically anyway.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.

  • Communing with terrestrial animal does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.

Stock Power Gifts

Spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless the targeted lock or door is being used to restrain or imprison you.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.

  • Operating some locking mechanisms through this Effect may have a secondary effect, such as a turn-key ignition on an older or cheaper car causing it to start or stop. Note that the locking mechanism itself must satisfy the standard targeting requirements (including line of sight), not just the vehicle.
  • Any mechanism that requires a key, keycard, key fob, or combination may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. This Effect may be used on doors and containers secured with control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems at large.
  • 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.

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:

  • A single Trauma
  • Up to two points of Mind damage
  • A single Injury and any Battle Scars it caused
This Effect cannot be used again for the next hour.

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.

  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • Does not apply to transfers made through the Forced Exchange enhancement.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and Spend an Action.

You transform into your own corpse for one minute. While transformed, you may control the functioning of the object you have transformed into. You can perceive your surroundings as normal. You can be targeted as a Non-Living, Sapient Object.

If you are damaged while transformed, the damage is realized when you return to normal. If you are damaged before you transform, your inanimate form will appear partially damaged.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

  • If a character is inside of you when you revert to your original form, you take a Severity-5 Injury when they burst from your innards as you shrink.
  • You cannot move in any way the object wouldn't normally be able to move. If you are a feather duster, you cannot float around, etc.

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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Dead target within 50 feet. Dead targets must have died within the past week, and you must have their remains in your possession.

The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.

  • 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.