Enhanced Synapses The crown jewel of a custom nervous system

3
You possess superhuman wits and insight.
Used by Oleg Maynard, Created by donniecesar.
( )

Oleg has applied his deep understanding of physiology and source magic to develop the Enhanced Synapses power. By creating a tailored mutagen and custom reagents, Oleg forces his brain to undergo targeted evolution, accelerating his cognitive functions. This power sharpens his ability to process vast amounts of information at incredible speeds, allowing him to analyze, synthesize, and understand complex concepts far faster than a normal human. Currently, his focus is on information processing, but as the evolution progresses, he expects significant improvements in memory retention, deductive reasoning, and other critical cognitive abilities. This is the crown jewel of his nervous system modifications—an augmentation that not only enhances his mind but sets the stage for further intellectual advancements.


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).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Quick Thinking: Any Intellect rolls other than Power activations are made as Free Actions. You get +2 dice to all Initiative rolls.
  • Wait For Your Moment: You may take your Action on the turn of anyone who has a lower Initiative than you. If you do, you receive +2 dice to that roll.

  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Community Power Gifts

On stashing:
Delphyrion's had access to obscure and illicit chemicals for a long time, but they hadn't expected to make such great use of them on the contracts. He loves his bags and long coats and big pockets, but he could always use a better way to store things that he doesn't want people seeing. There's a limit to how many liquids he could bring on a plane, and how many times someone could mistake him for a perv who brings... a "certain kind of liquid" to deadly missions.

On technique:
He's itching to go up to someone and lift his lab coat while saying, "Want some goods?" at some point. It's definitely more practical to pull it out from under their hair though.

On hypercubes:
There were so many. Too many. 8. Eight. Huit. Ocho. 여덟. Not a good memory. Still a cool concept. He hates it. He's enamoured. So much left to learn. He's falling.

Spend a Quick Action.

You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.

You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.

  • "Equip" refers to drawing a gun, putting on a piece of armor, etc. You may store or withdraw a maximum of 6 items in a given Round. Reminder: you may perform up to two Quick Actions for -2 dice each or 3 if you use up your Action, unless a different Effect grants you additional Quick Actions.
  • Containers which hold multiple things may count as a single item so long as the things within are generally packaged together. For instance, you may stash a clip full of bullets, a medical kit full of medical supplies, or a box of crackers, but you cannot stash a backpack full of miscellaneous equipment.
  • You may only attempt to store Objects which are free-standing and disconnected from other things. The use of this Effect will not allow you to sever any connections holding an Object in place.
  • The Maximum Object Size parameter is intended to roughly capture the weight / size restriction of items and isn’t intended to restrict shape. GM discretion is advised. A human being is level 4 in the Maximum Object Size parameter.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 7.

If you succeed, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes one of the following symptoms:

  • Poisoned: The target gains a Severity-1 Injury which ignores Armor and doesn’t heal naturally. For every hour that passes, they receive a new identical Injury. If this new Injury would kill them, they roll 1d10 at Difficulty 6. Success cures the condition; otherwise, they will die.
Symptoms begin to appear immediately, and will remain and continue to worsen until the affliction is cured. The affliction is not contagious and will not spread to others.

The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6, and can be cured by ingesting a snake's venom sack.

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."

  • 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.
  • Successfully diagnosing an affliction also includes information about the treatment method.
  • The chosen method of treatment must be something that you could obtain in a small town given an afternoon.
  • Curing an affliction removes the Condition, but does not automatically heal any Injuries, Battle Scars, or Traumas which may have been caused by that condition.
  • This Effect’s symptoms do not stack with themselves on multiple applications.
  • 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 gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with Spears.

+2 dice to all rolls utilizing Spears.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Finesse: You may limit the Severity of any Injury you inflict or determine a maximum Wound Level to inflict on the target, including Incapacitated. You may also choose to make this Injury properly or improperly stabilized, or to keep it unstabilized.
  • Juggler: You may juggle a number of throwable objects equal to your Dexterity as a Free Action. When you make a thrown weapon attack, you may choose to roll or re-use the last thrown attack's Outcome. Resets at the start of Initiative.
  • Yeet!: You can throw things up to 100 extra feet per point of Brawn with no penalty. Anything thrown further than 100 feet will not land at its target until the next Round on your initiative.

Exert your Mind (only for extinguishing a fire, no cost for starting one) and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).

You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a fire in a residential fireplace at your target. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.

Lighting a target on fire deals 3 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.

You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.

  • Your fires may be extinguished with appropriate Actions and materials. Stop, drop, and rolling to extinguish requires spending an Action and making a Dexterity + Athletics roll, with an Outcome of 3 putting out the flames.
  • If the target is larger than your flame size, the Armor destruction creates a weak point instead of applying to the entire target.
  • 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.

A simple ritual that Pen learned which causes angry spirits of the target's ancestors to immediately begin to haunt and affect the target. Her blood ties her to all of her ancestors by her DNA, and upon consumption by a target mingles with theirs to cause anyone in their family tree that might be angry with them to make that anger known. Most of the time, this is a spurned relative who died relatively recently - however the curse goes as far back as it needs to find an angry spirit. If you go far back enough, everyone has a connection to someone that died bitter and alone.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend 30 seconds to turn food into a trap. This trap lasts one day or until triggered or disarmed. This Effect cannot be used unless Pen prepared the food herself. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. Choose any number of the following symptoms:

  • Brain Fog: The target’s thoughts are muddled and incoherent. They must succeed a Mind roll to remember details of things, at Difficulty 7 for old details and Difficulty 9 for things which occurred while afflicted. They also take a -2 penalty to all mental actions, which grows by -1 every hour until it reaches your Outcome.
  • Disabled: The target suffers from an affliction that leaves them unable to act at full strength, such as physical pain, severe fever, intense fatigue, etc. They take a -2 penalty to all physical actions, which grows by -1 every hour until it reaches your Outcome.
  • Poisoned: The target gains a Severity-1 Injury which ignores Armor and doesn’t heal naturally. For every hour that passes, they receive a new identical Injury. If this new Injury would kill them, they roll 1d10 at Difficulty 6. Success cures the condition; otherwise, they will die.
  • Wasting Away: The target’s body is being eaten away by the affliction. Immediately on being afflicted, and again for every hour that passes, they will obtain a new Major or Minor Battle Scar.

The trap looks like food. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid, trigger, or destroy it.

Any Living target within within arm's reach that uses the trap as food will trigger it. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 8.

When the trap is triggered, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes the chosen symptoms. Symptoms begin to appear immediately, and will remain and continue to worsen until the affliction is cured. The affliction is not contagious and will not spread to others.

The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6, and can be cured by bloodletting into a ritual circle while a priest performs an exorcism.

Any Scars, Traumas, or Injuries caused by your symptoms cannot be healed until the underlying Condition is cured.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.

  • Triggering the trap requires an Action from the target, not merely an incidental glance.
  • The sacrificial Injury received from activating this Effect cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed. It is shared with all Effects that use sacrifice. This Injury does not requires Stabilization or cause Battle Scars when it becomes Severe.
  • Successfully diagnosing an affliction also includes information about the treatment method.
  • The chosen method of treatment must be something that you could obtain in a small town given an afternoon.
  • Curing an affliction removes the Condition, but does not automatically heal any Injuries, Battle Scars, or Traumas which may have been caused by that condition.
  • This Effect’s symptoms do not stack with themselves on multiple applications.
  • Multiple traps cannot be placed in the exact same location or be triggered by the same single Action. Nor can one trap triggering cause another to trigger.
  • Trap can only be spotted by someone who has witnessed this particular trap before, has been informed, or possesses relevant supernatural abilities. They must achieve an Outcome of 4 or higher on a Perception + Alertness roll to do so.

Stock Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations.

  • Amphibious: You are able to move about in liquids using standard Movement rules rather than any special swimming rules.

You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with wooden longbows.

You receive +2 dice to all rolls using wooden longbows. Reloading is considered a Free Action.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Bullet Parry: You may Defend against any attack in range of your attacks. Defending this way still costs a Reaction.
  • Bullseye: If you are not making an attack, any projectile you fire will be considered a complete success without needing to make a roll.

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 Intellect + 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 aware that their thoughts are being probed but not of the source of the probe. 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 takes as long as it takes to answer to read. When replaying a full memory, it is replayed in double time.

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

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

  • 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 gain the following benefits as long as the attacker isn't important enough to have a name.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You transform into a brown bear for two hours or until you choose to end the Effect. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you cannot use your Active, Direct, or Trap Powers. However, you can use your Passive 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 Trauma at all times: Intolerance for society. When you are in a situation with strict social protocols (like a trial or a formal dinner) roll Self-Control not to enter a flight or fight response.

  • Creature Stats
    • Large (larger than human, smaller than elephant) Body: 8. Brawn 6. Dexterity 2. Fall damage increased by 2. Armor: 1
    All creatures get +3 dice to any non-combat Action that they are naturally adapted for. All creatures Medium and larger may attack by rolling Body, dealing +0 Damage (+1 for “predators”). Gms and Playgroup leaders can apply other bonuses and effects to specific animals.
  • Animals that are quicker than humans (like dogs) have 50 feet of Free Movement. Animals that are very slow (like turtles) have 0 feet of Free Movement.
  • You cannot transform if there is not enough room to do so.