Brilliant Litigator “I seem to remember a case”

3
Requires Seasoned
You possess superhuman wits and insight.
Used by Harold Polk, Created by jwesley123.
( )

Harold Polk embodies the pinnacle of spycraft, blending classic espionage skills with a self-hypnosis regimen grounded in Speech Act Theory. Through carefully crafted hypnotic phrases, he has reprogrammed his mind into a weapon of perception and influence. His mental conditioning allows him to follow multiple streams of awareness, effortlessly tracking conversations and hidden details in his surroundings. Each observation is absorbed like a new language, allowing him to mimic skills and knowledge with uncanny ease, as though he’s slipping into a role. In critical moments, a single, self-planted word—“clarity”—sharpens his mind to a fine edge, guiding his thoughts with the precision of a spy and the insight of a linguist. Through this unique form of self-hypnosis, Harold’s mind has become his greatest tool, a finely tuned instrument that lets him move through any scene with flawless subtlety and control, embodying the true essence of espionage.


You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Intellect rating is increased by 0. 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:

  • Multithreaded: Instead of being unable to take Actions while maintaining Concentration, you may now take Actions at a -2 dice penalty. You may maintain Concentration from two different Effects, but you are unable to take Actions when doing so.
  • Never Forget: You have a perfect photographic memory, and can recall or recreate even complex and detailed things. If you forget something you had previously seen or noticed, you may ask the GM and they will remind you.
  • Prodigy: Whenever you witness someone get an Outcome of 6 or higher, or someone demonstrates an Ability with the intent of teaching you, you may Exert your Mind. If you do, rolls using that Ability use their rating instead of your own for the next day.

  • Being Injured or interrupted in some way can still break your Concentration.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Revision purchased with:
Improvement from running The Hourglass spent on improving power: Brilliant Litigator    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Revision purchased with:
Revision purchased with:
Revision purchased with:
Gift from the Asset Gifted spent on new power: Brilliant Litigator

Community Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level each Round. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active automatically count as a successful Proper Stabilization and do not deteriorate further. Any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will heal with the Injury.

As long as at least half your body remains intact, you cannot die and remain at Incapacitated, regardless of how many Injuries you take. It is clear to observers that you are still alive.

If you do die, as long as a piece the size of a finger remains, you may fully regrow back to life from it. This takes a full month and you must be in a habitable environment.

You may choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that is not caused by an Injury. Recovery takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.

Since the eyes are connected to the nervous system they evolved to adapt to this new body.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: your eyes have red cat like pupils. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Intellect is increased by 1.

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

Selma’s whispers are not simply words — they are connections to the delicate boundary between life and death. This Gift allows her to see people not as they appear, but as the sum of every flaw, every strain, every ticking clock inside them. It is not magic, nor science — it is a natural evolution of her vow to understand and one day perfect death itself.
Every sickness, every scar, every inevitable breakdown of flesh: now a familiar hymn sung directly into her mind.

(In the space between heartbeats, Selma leans closer — no words spoken aloud. Instead, something unseen hums in the air around her, drawing out the fragile, hidden truths tucked beneath skin and bone. Every illness, every weakness, every slow-brewing death — whispered into her mind like a prayer.)

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You determine any medical or physiological issues they have, as well as their species and a general overview of their biology.
  • You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.

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

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

  • 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 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.
  • Sight: You can see things that are normally invisible to the naked eye, such as fingerprints and bacteria.
  • Hearing: You automatically know the origin location of any sound you hear, and you can tell which Action caused the sound.

Any heightened senses require you to maintain Concentration to use, and do not apply to any passive Perception checks.

  • Your microscopic vision requires a close look at a very small, specific area to use. It does not grant increased distance vision, it simply provides a higher resolution, allowing you to see finer and finer detail.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: ________. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Brawn is increased by 1 and your Dexterity is increased by 1.

Your body is adapted to Trapping (This counts as a secondary) and Survival. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to Trapping (This counts as a secondary) and Survival.

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

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living, Animate target within 25 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 6.

If you succeed, you are able to view your target's memories. If you fail, the target knows you're attempting to read their memories.

You may ask a number of specific questions about their memory equal to your Contested Outcome. For example, “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc. You cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”

Each memory takes as long to read as it takes to answer the question. 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.

  • In the case of a failed activation, GMs should consider how bystanders would realistically react to a potentially-outlandish accusation of mind-reading.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a terrestrial animal.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • If targeting a Sapient target that counts as a Creature due to an Effect, you must succeed a contested Mind roll. You roll at Difficulty 6, and the target rolls at Difficulty 8.
  • Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:

  • Wall: Create a straight wall made of standard building materials up to 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.

This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.

  • Attempting to break any alterations with inappropriate tools may damage or destroy the tools at the GM's discretion.
  • Any structures you create leave precise gaps for obstacles in their path or push them out of the way. You cannot directly destroy objects or structures or damage beings by creating walls or domes.
  • Tool guidance for GMs:
    • Difficulty 9: Brawn 5, no tools.
    • Difficulty 7-8: One-handed tools or makeshift tools (like a sword). Mythic Brawn without tools.
    • Difficulty 6: Appropriate manual tools. Crowbar, sledgehammer, armor-shredding attacks.
    • Difficulty 4-5: Power tools, vehicles, explosives.
  • This Effect produces the substance you are controlling unless it is drawn from the environment via “Required Environment” Drawbacks.
  • 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 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.

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:

  • Brilliant Deduction: You may spend five minutes pondering an enigma, puzzle, or mystery, and roll Intellect at Difficulty 8. Success will reveal a clue or other tidbit that you have otherwise missed. Limit once per enigma.
  • Insufferable Know-It-All: Any social rolls you make are at +1 Difficulty, and if someone else can answer an informational question or solve a puzzle before you do, make a Trauma roll. The Difficulty of this Trauma roll cannot be reduced by any means.

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