Alien Thoughts An intellect vast and cool and unsympathetic regards you with envious eyes, and slowly and surely draws her plans against you.

4
Requires Seasoned
You possess superhuman wits and insight.
Used by Tam Starling, Created by Polymorph.
( )

Tam has never felt - or thought - like other people. Performing the contracts has only amplified that. She does her best to hold onto what she believes she has in common with other people - for no one wants to feel truly alien - but her success is.. mixed.

How much does she really have in common with the average person?

A mind that is to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish.

Her mind continues to expand. She's able to concentrate on two things at once, now, a feat that gave her a migraine before...


You gain the following benefits at all times.

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).

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Sensitive Internals - You take +2 damage from called shots to the head.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Prompt Critical: When you are threatened, you must roll Self-Control to avoid entering an immedate and extreme fight-or-flight response. If you fail, you may Exert your Mind to control it.

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.
  • Never Forget: You have a perfect photographic memory, and can recall or recreate even complex and detailed things. If you forget something you had previously seen or noticed, you may ask the GM and they will remind you.
  • Quick Thinking: Any Intellect rolls other than Power activations are made as Free Actions. You get +2 dice to all Initiative rolls.
  • Re-Think: You may wait until after all relevant rolls have been made to decide whether to Exert your Mind and get +1 to the Outcome. If Exerting would have caused you to ignore your Stress and roll more dice, you may roll that many additional dice as well.
  • You may Exert your Mind any number of times per Round, including multiple times for each roll

  • Being Injured or interrupted in some way can still break your Concentration.
  • When you exert multiple times, if you have the Enhancement Push Through It, the lingering Outcome bonus is limited to +1.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach as well as a specific emotion. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by the chosen emotion. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.

Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.

If you choose to use Chain of Screaming, your target interacts with any valid target, they must roll Self-Control or be swept up in the same emotion. New targets pass it on as well, and so on, with the remaining duration decreasing by half until the chain stops.

This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is heavy breathing. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

If any affected target takes or deals Damage, this Effect ends.

  • Chain of Screaming: About 30% of average people will fail a Self-Control roll. A target that successfully resists is immune to this activation of the Effect. Cannot spread back to you.
  • Common emotions and the actions they inspire
    • Anger (shouting, cruelty, denying requests, attacking)
    • Pity (stopping an attack, executing an injured target)
    • Happiness (generosity, dancing, joking, socializing)
    • Sadness (finding solitude, openly crying, demotivation)
    • Fear (running, attacking)
  • If you succeed, the target MUST take at least one Action they otherwise would not have. Hey, GM who is reading this, I'm talking to you. You have to enforce this. Remember: Gifts must feel powerful.
  • 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.

You must actively and obviously use The Orb of Swirling Darkness to activate this Effect.

You may make an oath with any number of physically-present, Sapient targets. Communicate the oath's terms to the targets, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must say "by the old ones" to seal the deal.

Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.

When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:

  • A Battle Scar up to Severe (deaf, missing limb)
  • The oath-breaker is physically marked as an oath-breaker, and any investigative effect will reveal the terms of the oath they broke.
  • A particular Trauma and a single Mind Damage
  • The oath-breaker goes unconscious for up to 24 hours
  • An Injury up to Severity-6 (cannot be reduced by any means)

The targets cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the targets, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.

Whenever a participant breaks the oath, you are immediately made aware and may even witness the act as if standing nearby.

It is obvious to your targets that the oath you are proposing will be supernaturally enforced.

  • All Oaths must have at least two participants.
  • The target must be physically present to enter the oath.
  • The terms and penalties of the oath do not need to be equitable and do not need to affect all parties equally.
  • A single action cannot break multiple oaths. You cannot 'stack' oath penalties by having a target sign multiple identical oaths, or similar.
  • 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 a minute. You must use up Candles in order to activate this Effect.

You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.

The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You cannot alter your clothes. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.

You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.

  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have your Hard Nipples.

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).

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

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:

  • Call me Senpai: You may ask to be called My Glorious, Magnificent, Infallible Senpai Kawaii Anime King Supreme, Lobren Jams the Radiant Overlord of All 2D Realms and Protector of Waifus. Sapient beings will use this title when addressing you, unless they Exert their Mind to resist for the day. You may use an Influence Effect on anyone who uses your title without Exerting your Mind. One free activation per individual per day.
  • Honest Eyes: Your word is accepted as honest so long as you are speaking the truth as you understand it. You can always tell if someone telling a lie without making a roll, though you may not know what they are concealing

  • If your Hard Nipples 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.

You automatically detect all Weapons that aren’t hidden and Hidden Weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. When you detect objects, instead of learning nothing about them, you may observe each object with all of your senses.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Self Reliant - Roll self control to put your life in someone else’s hands.

  • This includes any objects that come into range during activation.
  • This Effect does not satisfy the line of sight targeting requirement for other Effects.

Stock Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as Must be driving a rugged vehicle such as an SUV truck or armored car. and you are piloting any vehicle.

You receive +2 dice to any rolls to pilot a vehicle.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Drive-By: You may drive or pilot your vehicle as a Free Action, without taking any penalty on other Actions.
  • Steady As She Goes: The motion of your vehicle never causes your passengers dice penalties, and you do not suffer dice penalties from the unsteadiness of any vehicle you are riding in.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive from a source other than silver or fire. 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.

You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of one of your Injuries by 2. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.

Injuries you receive from silver or fire. are increased in Severity by 1.

  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Vulnerable drawback on Inhuman Physiology.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a donor body part matching the injured area in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.

You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition. Lasts until the end of their next Contract or 1 month for non-Contractors.

Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind a mismatched replacement on the target which cannot be healed.

  • 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 may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations. Lasts 2 hours.

  • Spider Climber: You are able to climb on and cling to any surface without regard for the ordinary rules of gravity. You climb at your normal movespeed.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Stress from Injuries is reduced to 0. Does not reduce Stress from Mind Damage.