Surgical Awakening - Nervous System The flesh never evolves, the nerves never obey, unless when coerced to do so

1
The power to augment others' bodies.
Used by Oleg Maynard, Created by donniecesar.
(While you are augmenting your target, it is obvious you are treating them. The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious. This Effect is obviously Alien when used.)

Surgical Awakening is a gruesome spectacle that blurs the lines between science and bio-horror. In a quiet lab, Oleg meticulously performs the painful open procedure, using chemicals, surgical tools, and a touch of source magic to awaken dormant potential within the target's nervous systems. The subject’s body thrashes and protests as the flesh is reformed, reshaped, and augmented—an eerie blend of organic tissue and the unnatural. The results are profound, granting the subject new abilities like unnatural strength, hidden compartments within their body, or adaptations to extreme environments. The process is raw and visceral, with the flesh itself rebelling against its forced transformation, leaving an no marks upon the skin, but psychological scars that can take a while to fade.


Exert your Mind and spend 30 minutes. Select a Living or Animate 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. The target can easily Resist.

You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Trauma and can have exactly one of the following Effects:

  • Specialized: You receive +2 dice to a particular non-combat, non-Effect 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.

The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a delicate open surgery where the flesh and nerves visible deform and struggle against the procedure.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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.
  • Example environments for adaptation: space, all saltwater, all fresh water, all water under 50 feet deep, all water deeper than 50 feet, the jungle, radioactive areas, a specific alien world, etc.
  • 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 Power Gifts

- {Chitari is talking} (Chitari is thinking) /Sara is thinking/ :Narrator is narrating: -

: Sara sat in her Goddess's mindscape, anxiously thinking through what actions she could take next, how she could get a grip on herself, a way to keep on going....... :

{....You've been like that for 3 hours now, Viper}

"I know, it's just....... I have no home, no one to go to within 10.... even 100 miles..... and then I have to watch my back for shapeshifting aliens, keep low so that the police don't lock me up, and complete contracts without..... the forest thing happening again...and- "

: Sara ranted to Chitari about any problem she could think of, venting out enough issues and trauma to keep a therapist busy for years on end :

(She really has gone through a lot, especially with the eye demon...... one of my best followers, and she's breaking down from all this......change...)

: at the thought of the word, Chitari remembered her previous follower, worshipping her and her ideals of cleverness, quick thinking, and the ability to adapt to change.
she gave her most loyal followers the name of Prophet and blessed them with a sliver of her essence. :

{Sara, do you think things are changing too quickly for you to keep up?}

"YES, I.... the moment things seem to have calmed down, some supernatural phenomenon or Contractor does something or vanishes into the Aether, missing for weeks or months, and trying to keep a home for even 4 months isn't possible, I've had to do so much in order to keep myself fed, healthy, and SAFE, and it seems to only get wo-"

{Do you want to be the one changing things instead?}

/Sara's downward spiral of a rant was paused by her Goddess's out of nowhere question. being able to make a change for once sounded amazing, but...../
"is that even possible? No Offense Chitari, but even with your help, It- I...... what can fix me"

{I can't fix you, but I can help you adapt}

Spend an hour to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. 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.

You may cure any Battle Scars you have created with this Effect with a Free Action on your initiative. They are healed over the course of the next hour.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see grotesque venomous creatures like snakes and scorpions swirling around Sara with exposed organs and bones, melting and molding Sara's body.

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

Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.

You may only target yourself.

  • Even with Willful End, Full Polymorphs take a day to revert.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You no longer require any food, water, or air in order to survive.

Inside of all of us lies that perfect spark, that shape that belies Us more than our bodies do. For some, the gap between outside and inside is small. For others, the inside seeks to tear itself out and be born into this world. Consider this gift a free trial :).

This Effect activates whenever you look into a mirror. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. “Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Alertness at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn their ideal form.

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

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

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • 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.

Hunahpu & Xbalanque lend their mosquito trick to indentify those around you.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour.

You automatically detect all humans within 50 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.

  • If this Effect fails due to the Unreliable check, you must still pay any associated activation costs.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with melee weapons.

+2 dice to all rolls with melee weapons. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using melee weapons.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Dismember: If one of your attacks causes a Battle Scar, you may choose for it to be some form of dismemberment, depending on the Severity of the Injury you caused.
  • Sheathing the Sword: When you would Clash with an opponent, before the dice are rolled, you may opt to have both sides deal full damage. If you do, your attack roll is at -2 Difficulty.

Stock Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: you are an android, with pale skin and yellow eyes. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living Computer when targeted..

You are immune to damage from cold. If cold is a substantial component of other damage you would take (e.g. falling from a great distance into a vat of liquid nitrogen), that damage is reduced by 2 (in addition to Armor)

You no longer age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail.

Your Injuries no longer degrade with time.

The Severity of any Injury caused by electricity is increased by 2.

  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Silver Bullets drawback on Regeneration.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with playing cards.

+2 dice to all rolls utilizing playing cards.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Point Control: Called Shots that you attempt only require a Contested Outcome of 2 for small targets and 4 for tiny targets.
  • Ricochet: You can make a thrown attack against a target behind cover so long as there is at least one exposed pathway to them.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Smell: Your nose is highly sensitive and can differentiate between scents the way a dog can, as well as recognize things you have smelled before.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a watch to activate this Effect.

Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.

Outside of Combat, any non-Gift, non-movement Actions you attempt take drastically less time to complete, as long as your personal speed is a factor in the Action. Total time reduction is determined by the GM and capped at 90% (executing the Action takes no less than 1/10th the normal time).

  • The time reduction on non-Movement Actions applies only to the parts of actions when your personal speed is a factor,: pouring water or smoking a steak are not affected, but constructing a shelter or picking a lock would be. The GM will determine how much the total time is reduced based on how relevant personal speed is to the task.
  • Any Encumbrance penalty to your movement still applies, but you do not suffer from any sort of exhaustion.
  • Damage from a collision depends on your speed at the time, as well as what you hit. GM's discretion, but generally moving faster than a car on the freeway and hitting a dense, solid object like a wall or a tree should be lethal. Mundane armor will not apply, but any supernatural forms of protection will.

Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
  • You learn their relationship to a specific individual (chosen prior to the effect activation).

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

Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation 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.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.