Story lines appear in a circular pattern around the target and attempt to prevent them from escaping. If read, the story lines will dictate the events that would have happened had the target been allowed to continue as normal.
Words are power. That much is certain. Causal Diction utilizes this power to effect reality and bend it towards the user's will. This includes the prevention of action by others. If the user believes they are not meant to be there or take useful action, they simply will not be permitted to.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may contest by Defending or Dodging.
If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They cannot move to a new location, and, if your Contested Outcome was greater than their Brawn, they are encased and cannot take any physical Actions other than attempting to escape until they break free.
The target may spend an Action and roll Brawn or Dexterity + Athletics to attempt to break free. They must accumulate a total Outcome equal to or greater than the original Contested Outcome to escape. Damage to the binding from outside sources also contributes.
If your target does not escape within 3 Rounds, they cannot ever free themselves and must be rescued.
David walks between the tombstones, and as he does, the air gets darker, heavier. He walks in a realm of sand and bone as the sights of the modern world fade away, only graves and the souls of the dead wandering the sands. Following a voice only he can hear (‘find me’), David seeks out one particular tomb among the sprawling sands. When he finds it, he enters inside, and depending on how the voice he can hear reacts, appears either above or below the tomb, either unharmed or buried alive. This was how it worked before David learned the terrain. Having wandered through the realms of death for some time now, David has started to learn which tombs to avoid, and when the voice is calling him into cursed ground. He no longer is misread by its occasional attempts to lead him astray.
To outside observers, this effect appears as a sand crusted bony limb reaching out of the grave or tomb to pull David within it in a whirling rush of sand. At the other targeted grave (or other targeted point if not using Spirit Paths), if all goes well, Vance appears rising from the grave, covered in a light dusting of sand and bone dust.
As David walks a Realm of the Dead, their voices cry out to him. “Find us.” “Find us.” “Gorgonsire, find us”. On the whisper of the wind he can almost hear a Medusa’s dying words, locked in time and sand and wreathed in bone as its head topples from its shoulders.
“Find me”
And yet for now, the echoed voice goes unanswered.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Location within your line of sight.
You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait 1 full Round before activating this Effect again.
If you traverse any Grave/Tomb for one minute, you may activate this Effect and travel to the edge of any other Grave/Tomb that you’re aware of, regardless of range.
The user will give out the command while smoking a cigar and a flash of infernal energy will ignite in their eyes.
Exert your Mind and spend at least one Action. Select a Human target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use Cigar to activate this Effect. Your target cannot be engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to their best understanding of the letter and spirit of the command until they have completed it or for your Contested Outcome in hours. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.
The target is unaware that they are under supernatural influence and feel they are acting of their own free will. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.
Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action, a conditional request, and an abstract goal. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. Commands may force a target to violate one of their Limits, and they will need to make a Trauma roll once the suggestion wears off.
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
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.
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 firepit's fire at your target. Extinguishing a fire does not cost Exertion. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 4 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.
You may spend a Free Action on your initiative move a fire as large as a firepit's fire that is within 20 feet to another location within 20 feet. You may Exert your Mind to draw a line which a fire up to twice as large as a firepit's fire cannot cross.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Heartburn (+2 Called Shot Heart) and On Fire (Semi Wheezing).
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Soul Aflame (Nightmares).
The user deeply inserts the lens of the gadget directly into their eyeballs as if attempting to scrape them out, before extracting a string of its nerve endings out to create the ward. The senses of the ward may then be accessed remotely through a companion lens connected to their nervous systems.
Spend an Action. Select a Location within 10 feet.
You place a ward, which is fixed to its initial location. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. This Artifact may have at most 1 wards active at once.
The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. It can be detected with a roll and destroyed through mundane means.
Your Ward records all activity it observes, regardless of whether or not you are actively monitoring it. This recording can be played back and referenced later.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user poke and prod into their eyeballs to pull out a string of nerve endings.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
James looks those he wishes to affect in the eye, and speaks in a calm, serene tone. They will then be overcome with a feeling of calm, as Inner Peace spreads throughout their being.
Uses Spiritual Enlightenment
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8.
If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by Serenity. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.
Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.
The Witch summons a crow, whispers a message to it, and sends it off to deliver her words. Half an hour later, the crow arrives at the recipient and repeats her message aloud in its croaking, animal voice.
Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be as complex or as large as you like. It takes at least 30 minutes before it is received.
The message may be intercepted while in transit, and may be overheard, read, or otherwise understood by anyone near either you or the recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The Witch gazes at a calm and trusting animal and blinks, revealing eyes that have changed to match the creature's. Her body goes limp and collapses, and the witch proceeds to walk away, now temporarily borrowing the animal's body.
A borrowing Witch is a visitor in the animal's mind and cannot overstay her welcome or force the animal into danger.
Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Creature target within 20 feet. The target may Resist.
You possess your target and have control over their actions for the next hour. Your original body will be left behind, unconscious, in its same location. You may perceive through your original body's senses, at a -2 penalty to all Actions while doing so. If your original body is touched, you get a Perception check to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.
Stats: Any Actions you take will use the possessed creature’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception, but use your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities.
Gifts: You do not have access to any Gifts while you are possessing your target.
Death: If the host suffers an Injury, or is destroyed or incapacitated, you are evicted back into your own body. If the possession ends and your original body was killed or destroyed, you will die.
Eviction: You cannot force your host to take Actions which would violate their instinct for self-preservation (which includes engaging in Combat for any purpose other than self-defense or natural hunting); any attempt to do so will sever the connection and send you back into your own body. If you are forced out of the target's body prematurely, you must make a Trauma roll.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The De-Neuralizer is a small silver device that can emanate a bright flash of light. Any being that looks into it with uncovered eyes has their most recent period of the their memory set into a highly over-writable state for a moment. While in this state, their memories may be overwritten at will.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within within arm's reach. All Sapient targets within 20 feet are affected. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is looking directly into the device with uncovered eyes. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the most recent 1 hour from your target’s memory is either replaced with new memories or forgotten entirely. This is recorded as a Condition. The level of detail and completeness of the alteration depends on your Outcome. If you fail, the target realizes that you are attempting to alter their memories.
The period is chosen either by time (i.e. “last Friday night”) or by reference to a specific event (i.e. “when the murder occurred”).
By focusing and whispering a prayer under their breath, the priest may invoke their god to protect those who have good works left to do.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a living human. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome + 2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, 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.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is you whispering a prayer under your breath. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
The Necromancer spits into the mouth of a recently deceased corpse. For the few minutes, the corpse's head comes back to life and speaks to the Necromancer.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Dead target within arm's reach. Dead targets must have died within the past week, and you must have their remains in your possession.
The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.