The Contractor's face shifts. A black ooze drips from their eyes and mouth, which is mirrored on the target.
The Church of the Cleansing Soul brought to life a child, meant to be bear the weight of the world's pain to offer purifying of the mind and soul for any who stepped into the cleansing fire the child emerged from. As it turns out, a child's mind cannot hold the horror of eternity without venting that horror like a pressure pot waiting to explode.
They did not provide a big enough pressure valve. And they suffered for it.
Now, the Weeping Soul shares this agony with others, trying to find catharsis in seeing others burdened with their pain - not out of malice, but necessity and tantrum rage. It simply isn't FAIR.
Injustices that Trigger this Gift:
-seeing a Good Person injured purposefully or being injured accidentally and not receiving an apology
-a Good Person being lied to or lying
-something of value being taken away or withheld from a Good Person
-a Good Person being stolen from or stealing
-verbal abuse (cursing at people, name-calling, general cruelty)
-anything that would make you a Big Meanie
This Effect activates whenever When a valid target within range is witnessed doing something that would prompt an injustice roll from this individual if left not addressed or resolved. 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. Roll Charisma + Occult Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.
If your Contested Outcome is positive, your target takes 1 point of Mind Damage and gains a new Trauma of your choice. The Trauma should be general and not specifically mention you. You should not have to be involved to trigger the Trauma.
This Trauma may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Seeing a small child bleed black blood from their eyes and mouth makes it very clear that this is not a normal child - something is VERY wrong here.
Reality twists like a demented circus act. Colors brighten unnaturally, shadows stretch into grinning shapes, and the air hums with distant carnival tunes. Objects tremble with anticipation, their surfaces warping as if sketched by an unseen hand. When they come to life, they lurch and bounce with exaggerated, slapstick energy, moving as if caught in a never-ending joke.
Spend two Actions performing the following ritual: Boogers jokes with an object until it laughs to life.. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a rolling luggage bag (50 liters). You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted. 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 will become Animated for three hours. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. You can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Face of Horror (You despise being seen as "just a man in makeup" rather than a true nightmare. Whenever someone mocks your appearance, calls you fake, or insists that you’re not scary, you must succeed a Trauma roll..
Green lightning crackles from Maddox's fingertips, deforming her helpless victim into a mixture of human and beast. Sometimes the changes do not happen immediately, instead waiting for the proper moment to destroy her victim's pride.
Exert your Mind and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. You may select a target at any range if you use up a possession of the target of the target. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
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."
All alterations you make must add animal features.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
With a gesture, motion, or just a glance, wisps of shadowsmoke or grains of matte black sand appear to strike their target, block an attack, etc. After, this substance fades like dissipating smoke. Whether an impact, slash, or stab, all that remains on a target is the damage caused to it.
When using this ability, offensively or defensively, Sage's eyes appear completely matte black for a moment.
While Sage tends to make hand or arm motions for this, they aren't important or necessary. What's necessary is the shadowsmoke accompanying much of her dream based 'telekinesis' ability. The word telekinesis really just means movement at a distance, she may as well start using it. It's psychokinesis that's based in psionic pseudoscience.
The eye change does not impair vision, Sage often forgets that it happens at all.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2.
You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.
The magician dons their wizard hat, raises their arms, wiggles their fingers, and a rain of sparks fly woosh around an object. It shudders to life and follows the magicians commands, including to do things it was not designed to do.
An Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters). You must actively and obviously use a pointed hat with stars and moons to activate this Effect. 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 will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. You can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The smug brat brandishes her blade and swings it about all willy-nilly while yelling super fast to whomever she is commanding. The target, if compelled, will become dazed and turn their brain off to the yapping of the smug brat, as their bodies seem to move to her commands. No one else knows what she's saying, they just see her whining at the guy and that's about it.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend at least one Action. Select a Human target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use Rapier to activate this Effect. Your target may be actively 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 the letter-- but not necessarily the 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.
They will be unaware that they are under any sort of compulsion until the effect wears off, but they will appear obviously mind-controlled the entire time to anyone observing them. 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 and a conditional request. 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. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.
You must have some means of communicating this command to your target, but no one other than you and them will understand or perceive it.
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
While addressing a crowd, the influencer may use coded language to send secret messages to a particular person in the crowd. These messages can't be noticed or understood by anyone but the intended target.
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. This Effect cannot be used unless you are speaking to multiple people and the target is listening.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is your left hand making a fist. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The detective can learn a lot by watching someone for a minute. Each subtle detail, every unexplained stain, reveals something about where the target has been. Ocassionally, they'll drop a business card, or explain how to contact them. The detective is listening.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target does not know you're watching them. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The beastmaster puts their nose to the ground and sniffs about the area. Their feral nostrils tell them what sorts of creatures live in the area, and who lays claim to each region.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet Can only be activated while you are in the wilderness. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
The aquamancer channels a nearby source of water into a flexible whip, which can be used to attack or to defend.
Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use at least a gallon of water to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Athletics Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.
You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The mutant now occasionally lays large, orange-speckled eggs. These Eggs do not hatch nor spoil. If cracked and applied to a chronic injury such as a missing limb, the scar heals completely within the hour. However, any area healed by the egg will forever carry an inhuman appearance as testament to the bizarre method of treatment.
Spend a minute and use up this unusually large egg (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7). Select a Living target within arm's reach. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.
Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind an inhuman attribute such as fur, scales, or feathers on the target which cannot be healed.