The character snaps up an ethereal quill, and chaos erupts. Glowing script slashes through the air, whipping around like a storm of words. As they "write," the battlefield shudders—pages tear from the ground, sky splitting into fragments of text. Enemies are caught mid-action, their fates scrawled out in real-time, locked into a story they can’t escape.
Some drop instantly, their endings abrupt and brutal, while others are erased, as if written out of existence. The battlefield is left in shambles, the final stroke a violent "The End" scrawled in the chaos.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. Roll Perception + Alertness 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.
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.
If the target suffers an Injury from this Effect, they will receive at least a Minor Battle Scar regardless of its Severity. When this Effect causes a Battle Scar, you may select which one of the appropriate level.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Oct. 21, 2024, 8:23 p.m. - Revision Cost: 4. Removed Enhancement: Easy, Removed Drawback: Exhausting
Mansquito's body bulges, increasing in size as his exoskeleton goes from dark brown to a deep black, and deep red muscle visibly bulges beneath. +6 inches per success
Exert your Mind and Spend an Action to activate. Roll Brawn + Brawl at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a Barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome Damage. The Damage reduction from the Barrier is applied before Armor, and is treated like Armor by any effects such as Armor Penetration. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The Barrier will fall after an hour, 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.
A lot of animal communication is soundless, and most of that is through movement and posture. I've learned to understand that and make the appropriate motions in return. That much is obvious to anyone's eyes, though they may not realize that I intuitively understand the sounds animals make as well (which are easier to hear clearly, now that my hearing range is extended). When communicating to them I make as many of the right sounds in their speech as I can: whistling to a bird, meowing to a cat, chittering to a squirrel, and so on. They also seem to pick up on human language, at least when I say it, but it's like someone speaking with an accent. I prefer to only use human speech if I can't make the right sound, both for clarity and also to avoid humans overhearing and understanding my side of the conversation.
Anyhow, they get me and I get them, but if I take the form of a similar enough animal (or the same kind) then they understand me flawlessly. We can talk easier then, and also not be understood by humans when we do.
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.
As the gift is activated Aiden's eyes turn a bright red as his augments begin to take a visual scan of the target as well as identifiying their species, medical issues and any medical problems.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Alertness at Difficulty 6. The target resists by rolling Body at Difficulty 7.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
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.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Physical injuries, be it a scratch, laceration, or a bruise, shine weakly with eerie pale glow for a few seconds, before fading away.
Some wounds never quite heal. Even when they are gone, they leave scars behind. Chronic pains, stiff limbs. All those things which remind us of what happened to us, of what we managed to push through.
Ryan was surprised when the wound, which would surely take a while to heal naturally, healed over the course of following two weeks. Unnaturally fast. Quick test with a knife confirmed it - the shallow cut on a finger was shining weakly, with eerie pale glow, before fading away, as if it was just his imagination.
The cut was gone by the end of the day.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every day, starting once it becomes stabilized. You may also Exert your Mind and spend an Action to reduce the Severity of a single stabilized Injury by 1. Does not affect Injuries suffered as an activation cost for Effects.
Battle Scars caused by your Injuries will remain.
Fel has eyes that are entirely black, and all of his bodily fluids are pitch black.
He moves and shifts like a he doesn't have bones and can stretch his limbs very far.
Fel was part of a ritual that his parents did to commune with greater beings. They put voices his head. The voices tell him things. They changed him. They keep changing him.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: Eyes of black, and all bodily fluids are black. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Dexterity is increased by 1 and your Perception is increased by 1.
Your appendages have 30 feet of reach.
You can squeeze through any cracks and passageways a cat would be able to.
Any Animate being that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every Round, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Too many things: Details in your senses overwhelm you, and you cannot process them. Whenever you face an extreme or overpowering smell, you must succeed a Body roll, Difficulty 9 not to throw up. and Pure black eyes and black veins: All social rolls are made at +1 Difficulty. The Beautiful Asset is suppressed as long as you have this Battle Scar.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Phobia of Fire..
The Severity of any Injury caused by Fire is increased by 2.
The Vampire may channel their inner beast and take the form of an animal. It is said they may transform into either a wolf or a bat. If used too often, the Vampire risks losing themselves to their beast forever.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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.
You transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.
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. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. 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.
Through years of practice, the mobster is able to shatter someone's kneecap without much effort.
Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a melee weapon to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
All alterations you make must damage the target's knees.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Nature is the beastmaster's domain. While in the wilds, they can climb trees and cliffs with ease and dash through dense underbrush that anyone else would need a machete to navigate.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations.
You only gain the benefits of this effect if you are in an area without a human building within 300 feet.
The musician assumes a powerful stance and strums a mighty power chord on their guitar. A blast of sound waves radiate outwards, destroying all who dare face the power chord directly.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use your instrument to activate this Effect. The area within 25 feet of you immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).
If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of you with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4. If you botched the activation roll, you will also take full Damage from the blast, otherwise it will not hurt you.
You may only use this Effect once per day.