Short, but sharp claws grow from the widow's fingertips. Her martial arts are an original product of the Widow's relentless martial arts training and her fastly mutating body: the Iron Serpent is a physically demanding style focused on grappling, immobilization, and powerful, precise and disabling strikes. Inspired by the movements of constrictor snakes, this style emphasizes controlled, heavy actions that apply constant pressure, overwhelming opponents with both physical dominance and precision attacks to vulnerable areas. Unlike lighter, quicker martial arts, Iron Serpent relies on wearing down the opponent through relentless holds, chokes, and joint locks, while leveraging surprise strikes to blind spots when the enemy is immobilized.
Key Principles:
Constriction and Immobilization: Practitioners of Iron Serpent should excel in grappling techniques that focus on tightly controlling the opponent's body. Chokes, locks, and body-weight pins are designed to restrict the enemy’s movement and breathing, gradually sapping their energy.
Heavy, Controlled Movements: Every movement in Iron Serpent is deliberate, focusing on using body weight and leverage to apply maximum pressure with minimal energy loss. It relies on solid stances and grounded techniques, designed to prevent easy escapes and maintain constant pressure.
Opportunistic Strikes: Aim to exploit opponents that are restrained, controlled or surprised. Practitioners strike with precision and these strikes, whether punches, elbows, or kicks, target weak points such as joints, ribs, neck, or behind the head, using the enemy’s weakness to avoid retaliation and maximize damage.
Endure, Disable, Overpower: The Iron Serpent style requires great endurance, both physical and mental. It focuses on wearing down the opponent over time, applying slow, constant pressure or chiping but disabling strikes until they can no longer fight back. Practitioners must remain patient, waiting for the right moment to strike with overwhelming force.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +2 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Overtrained Left Hand.
You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.
You also gain the following effects:
The Mothman's humanoid eyes reflect bright red whenever a light hits them directly.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Mind your own business: Roll Mind to attack anyone who is not a direct threat, or to get involved with anything not directly related to him..
[name] has endured training for her knife-throwing club granting her some unique capabilities and tricks she likes showing off to her schoolmates.
This generally is not well received, however she doesn't truly care for their opinion anymore.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with Knives.
+2 dice to all rolls utilizing Knives.
You also gain the following effects:
The immortal victim appears to have succumbed to her wounds, lying in a gory mess, but somehow also breathing shallowly in a state of arousal.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life.
If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + Charisma, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in Charisma, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.
Hundreds of hours of intense shooting drills have enabled Amarjeet's lethal speed & accuracy. When on Contract, this skill is further enhanced by her determination not to fail again.
You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with firearms.
+2 dice to all firearms rolls.
You also gain the following effects:
When activated, Waldemar’s slumped posture straightens just enough to suggest confidence, his bleary eyes glint with roguish wit, and his stained undershirt suddenly looks like a deliberate fashion statement.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Charisma rating is increased by 0. 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).
You also gain the following effects:
While submerged, the aquamancer can fully sustain themselves from the waters around them, entirely forgoing food, drink, and even air. They may also enter a state of hibernation, remaining underwater and incapacitated for up to two months.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are submerged in water.
You no longer require any food, water, or air in order to survive. You no longer age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement automatically succeeds.
You may spend one minute entering a state of hibernation, during which you are inanimate and unaffected by any requirements for life. You may still perceive the outside world and may spend 3 Rounds "waking up" to end it.
Finally, the girls are fusing the way they’ve wanted to since they began Contracting, three and a half years ago. It took Grace’s left eye for them to try this, but the girls are now able to spend a week focusing their energy towards a Battle Scarred area and permanently replacing it with The Spirit’s ghostly flesh. The replaced chunks, eyes, arms, whatever may come, appear just as The Spirit’s: bluish and semi-transparent, but now function just as the respective physical flesh would.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive 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.
All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.
The Ninja is so attuned to the sounds of their surroundings, they may focus their mind to "see" using the subtle acoustic vibrations.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
The mobster's been through tougher scrapes than this. A few cuts and bruises won't stop them.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Stress from Injuries is reduced to 0. Does not reduce Stress from Mind Damage.
Most severe injuries occur far from a facility that could treat them, and in the fetid muck of the battlefield even minor wounds may be a death sentence. Luckily the soldier is well-trained in the use of their standard-issue medical kit. They may stabilize even the most severe injuries with a little gauze and some no-anesthetic stitching. Furthermore, the treated wounds of their comrades never get infected.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using a standard issue military medical kit to gain the benefits of this Effect.
All Stabilizations you attempt are considered Proper Stabilizations.
You also gain the following effects: