Mind Sleuth "That's what you don't get bub: you already confessed."

3
Requires Seasoned
The power to peek into another's memories.
Used by Frank Russo, Created by Ozz.
(The target is unaware their memories are being probed. Activating this Effect is not obvious. The only sign you are using an Effect is repeatedly looking the target up and down. )

Not every case is solvable by mundane means, that just means that it's time to bring out the big guns. After a minute or so of examining the target, Frank begins to reach into their mind, reading off their memories as if they were papers in a casefile. It's risky business though, you don't want to open the wrong file and bear witness to the unforgettable...


Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living, Animate target within 20 feet You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

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.

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

  • 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.

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Revision purchased with:
Improvement from running It's Cleanup Day! spent on improving power: Mind Sleuth    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in The new horizon spent on adjusting power: Mind Sleuth    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in The Winter Hunt spent on new power: Mind Sleuth    (since refunded)

Community Targeted Gifts

"Pazuzu, Tongue plucked raw from gaping maw. Blood from vein let fall like rain. Behold these eyes, your bloody prize. And now the fall from vaulted hall. These bones! This flesh! Consume it all! Pazuzu! Pazuzu! Pazuzu!"

king of the south wind demons. Adherents believed Pazuzu helped humans ward off other demons, and, thus, representations of his face served as popular apotropaic amulets in the 1st millennium bce.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4. Armor is fully effective against this Damage.

The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.

If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Blood and Shadow exsanguinating the victim..

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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.

The gift allows the user to coax a chosen person into quickly developing sexual feelings for them, and an immediate urge to act upon these feelings.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a number of Living targets equal to your Charisma within 45 feet as well as a specific emotion. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you Everyone becomes asexual for the next hour, hater behaviour ensues towards any flirting.. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, for the next hour, affected targets 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. Your own emotions are also shifted in the same 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.

When 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 lip biting. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

  • 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.

Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within arm's reach. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome +2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You 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.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Burden Of Usefulness - Any time someone directly asks you for help, you must succeed a Self-Control roll to deny their request. If you must ever reject such a plea for the safety of yourself or others, you must Exert your Mind; otherwise be useful.

  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.
  • 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.

Spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You may select a target at any range if you use up a Blood Sample (either fresh or dry) of the target. You must actively and obviously use a notebook and pen/pencil to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
  • You learn the target’s passwords, passcodes, secret phrases, pin numbers, etc.

The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

This Effect is obviously Alien and eye-catching across its range to those witnessing it, and you are obviously the source.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.

  • 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.

Spend a minute to activate. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn the target's name, nicknames, screen names, and aliases.
  • You learn How They Commited Their Last Crime.

The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

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

Any information you gather is They Speak it aloud and made publicly available.

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

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Stock Targeted Gifts

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 a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up $10,000 cash (or equivalent) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.

Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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 Living target within arm's reach. Roll Dexterity + Brawl Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.

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."

Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.

  • A given target can have a maximum of one Suspended Effect on them at a time. The selected triggering Action cannot be used to reveal information about the target (e.g. no "activate when they are a vampire"). It must be an Action they take, not a thought or something that happens to them.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target does not know you're watching them. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Investigation at Difficulty 6.

You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:

  • You learn how to reliably contact the 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.

You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.

  • Contact info Low Outcome: a means of communication (phone, email, a secretary). High Outcome: specific phone numbers, email addresses, protocols for getting access to the individual.
  • 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 Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a terrestrial animal.

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.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • If targeting a Sapient target that counts as a Creature due to an Effect, you must succeed a contested Mind roll. You roll at Difficulty 6, and the target rolls at Difficulty 8.
  • Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
  • 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.