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

4
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 reading over a manila folder. )

After briefly examining a target, a thin manila folder forms somewhere on Frank’s person. It could be tucked into his trench coat, hidden in a bag, hell, it could even manifest in his hand if he so chooses. It’s filled with a variety of papers documenting the target’s life, their memories, their experiences and desires. Images dance along the file whenever a specific memory is chosen, illuminating the truth about the target’s past.

To observers, the folder appears to be filled with nothing but blank sheets of printer paper. Those with the Clear-Sighted enhancement should be easily able to gleam that there’s something off with the folder, that some illusion prevents it’s contents from being shared.

Once the power ends, the folder dissipates.


Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living, Animate target within 20 feet 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 reading over a manila folder. 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.

Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet.

Your target is marked with black dot on the skin. The mark can only be discovered with a deep medical inspection or Effect. Removal inflicts a Severity 1 Injury on the target.

You are aware of the marked target's vital status, injuries, direction and distance from you. This lasts for the next month, or until either the mark is removed, or you choose to end the Effect. You can have up to 3 marks active.

You may activate another Effect through your Mark as though you were standing at its location. This destroys the Mark.

You receive +2 dice to any rolls made against a marked target.

  • Marked individuals satisfy the line of sight requirement for targeted Effects.
  • 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.

On the firebird:
It's said that the firebird brings bad luck to its captor, though Zephyren's luck is horrible enough that he wouldn't notice a little more of it. Besides, he's chucking it at someone else, so if anything the bad luck with transfer to them first. It's not an actual firebird that appears, just the energy of it, gathered from the air.

On energy:
In his childhood, people would always talk about 'qi' and how it flows together to create a unified being. Apparently, deities also have 'qi', as if it is one of the foundations of the universe. He's had some practice trying to manipulate it through tai chi, though he was never really good at it. Zephyren's enhanced senses, combined with this gift's affinity with the firebird, have allowed him to pinpoint and gather the scattered energy of perished firebirds. Bringing them together, he can nearly mimic their rebirth for just long enough to enact their wrath on those who threaten him.

On voices:
Zephyren hates to admit it, but he doesn't bode well with people raising his voice at him. The noise grates at his ears, and he starts to get flighty. It's because being yelled at usually entails worse consequences in an Asian household. Words are never enough and Zephyren can only start to expect the worst. Now it's even worse because he's found that the emotion behind someone raising their voice spikes the surrounding qi.

Spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. You must actively and obviously use any two objects with a wing drawn on each one to activate this Effect. Roll Perception + 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.

You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.

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.

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: Qi spike: When someone raises their voice at you, roll Self-Control to avoid entering fight-or-flight mode.

  • 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 an Action to activate. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last month.

Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.

The creature lasts for the next day or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.

Raised creatures have all their Abilities set to 0. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the transparent, screaming soul of the deceased entering the corpse.

This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Penalty ever exceeds 5.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a target Object within arm's reach. 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. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Culture at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You may learn how much sentimental value an object has and to whom.
  • You learn the object's intended function and how to use it for its intended purpose, though not necessarily the ability to do so.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

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.

Exert your Mind (unless few feet of the ground) and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 45 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless Ethereal wing Active. You must actively and obviously use Necklace to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + 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 7. Armor is fully effective against this damage.

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

Stock Targeted Gifts

Spend an Action and use up this smoke bomb.

You create a hemispherical dome of smoke originating at your Location, with a radius of 20 feet. and lasting for 5 minutes. The area inside your zone is affected in the following ways:

  • Suppressed Vision: The zone is fully blocked from view. Nothing within the zone may see anything or be seen from the outside. Any rolls that rely on sight fail automatically, and any rolls that benefit from sight are made at -3 dice.
The zone expands immediately to its full size from the chosen Location, but will be stopped from spreading in a particular direction by any barriers or cover, and can only fit through openings large enough to fit a grown adult. If a new opening appears while the Effect is still active, it will finish spreading in that direction.

  • The Effect does not follow you after you activate it.
  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • If you select a location at the edge of your range, you will be just outside the zone once the Effect is activated
  • 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 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:

  • Specialized: You receive +2 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 motorcycle helmet.
  • Armor: You have 2 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 briefcase (15 liters).
  • Zippy: Your Free Movement is increased by 10 feet.
  • Maws and Claws: Your unarmed attacks do +2 Weapon Damage instead of -1.

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.

  • 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. Select a non-Sapient, Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is undead.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands must be relatively simple and within the target’s intellectual grasp. 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.

Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • 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 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you can forage for herbs. You must actively and obviously use water, a container, and heat to activate this Effect.

You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.

Whenever you cure a disease, poison, or toxin, if it had inflicted any Damage, your target is healed for half that Damage.

  • Without some sort of diagnostic Effect, “fully diagnosing” a disease or poison will always require a roll of some sort, frequently Intellect + Medicine, but the specific roll and difficulty is at GM’s discretion.
  • 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.