Trauma Bond Feel the weight of my burden.

2
The power to inflict mental trauma on a target.
Used by Jacob Cruz, Created by Bigswordsman.
(This Effect is obviously Alien when used. When activating this Effect, it is obvious you are interacting with the target. )

The user ruminates on their past sins and focuses on the suffering they've caused. A crown of thorns manifests on both the user and the target's heads as the target receives haunting echoes of the user's ruminations.


Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action. Select a Sapient or Creature target within 20 feet. Roll Intellect + Investigation Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target loses that much Source. Once their Source is depleted, excess Outcome is applied as Mind Damage. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target 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.

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

  • Mundane animals have a Mind score of 1 or 2 at the GM’s discretion.
  • 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.
  • 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 are viewing an old version of this Gift.
To view the most recent version Click Here

Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing up Already Over It spent on improving power: Trauma Bond
Revision purchased with:

Community Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Brawn rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Brawn (cannot be used on combat rolls or Effect activations).

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

On birds:
Zephyren has an almost abnormal fixation on bird metaphors. He thinks almost exclusively in them sometimes, but of course he wouldn't say it out loud. Sources are unclear on where he got it from, but it may have started from his Chinese given name. After Googling what it meant, he had gone into a deep rabbit hole looking at bird lore. He probably hasn't ever gotten out.

On perception:
He's always been perceptive, more so than others, much to his dismay. In the past he was the first to get bad vibes from a situation and walk away. Some part of him wonders if it's just a difference in opinion, but he knows that it usually isn't just that. The gap has only gotten bigger, and it really doesn't help quell his apathy for people.

On overstimulation:
It has always been a drawback; even having someone raise their voice at him was sometimes enough to send him into a spiral. (Not that the volume of one's voice had much effect, as opposed to the tone or expression.) He would immediately go into fight-or-flight, and every little thing would anger him to no end. He hates it. He knows this is why he doesn't like interacting with people, and he knows it's on him to control, but he would also like to be cut some slack. Every night he can hear the neighbours down the hall doing the devil's dance when no one else can. It's terrible.

On indifference:
Zephyren's solution is to shut himself into his little mindscape, behind layers and layers of disassociation. This is why he may appear quite unaware despite his sharp senses. It's the only way he can escape the noises in his head, as rude as it is to completely ignore people around him. Though, if you came close enough, he'll snap out of it immediately, albeit irritatedly.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Perception rating is increased by 3. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Perception (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Phonophobia: When you hear an unexpected loud noise (such as a police siren passing by) or enter a loud environment, roll Self-Control to avoid entering a fight-or-flight response.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Constant Vigilance: You may React to surprise Attacks, and you do not automatically lose initiative if ambushed or caught-flat footed. +2 dice to Initiative.
  • Saw it Coming: Any time you attempt to dodge an Attack from someone lower than your position in Initiative, you may Exert your Mind to automatically succeed without a roll. You may use Source to make a Desperate Defense. There is still a maximum of one Desperate Defense per Round.

  • You can still be ambushed if you are incapacitated, stunned, or being kept unconscious supernaturally.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Exert your Mind (unless having less than 4 Body) and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use Overcoat/cloak to activate this Effect.

You transform into Bat for two hours.You are unable to revert to your original form at will and must wait for the duration to fully elapse before returning to normal. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your 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.

  • Creature Stats
    • Small (mouse up to regular house cat) Body 1. Brawn 0. Dexterity 4. Cannot injure others with attacks. Cannot die from falling damage. +3 dice to Stealth rolls.
    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 gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Brawn rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Brawn (cannot be used on combat rolls or Effect activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Immovable Object: As long as you are standing still on a solid surface, you may Exert your Mind and spend a Free Action to become immovable. As long as you maintain Concentration, you cannot be moved and are immune to Damage from collisions with larger objects.
  • Tough: You gain Armor equal to half your Brawn rating. This Armor cannot be penetrated or shredded and protects against falling Damage.
  • Ham-Fisted: You cannot limit yourself when handling delicate objects or physically interacting with people. You may need to roll Dexterity + Athletics to avoid breaking things or causing unintended injury.

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

The item is then deposited into a room in Ware's lab which was pulled into an extra-dimensional space during her testing - the chip in her mind still connects to it and is her only way to specify relative dimensions and locations of items for transporting. She is unable to access the actual room herself, but due to the chip has access to its software for further upgrades.

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.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you can forage for herbs. You must actively and obviously use water, a container, and heat to activate this Effect.

You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.

Whenever you cure a disease, poison, or toxin, if it had inflicted any Damage, your target is healed for half that Damage.

  • Without some sort of diagnostic Effect, “fully diagnosing” a disease or poison will always require a roll of some sort, frequently Intellect + Medicine, but the specific roll and difficulty is at GM’s discretion.
  • 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.

You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations. Lasts 2 hours.

  • Spider Climber: You are able to climb on and cling to any surface without regard for the ordinary rules of gravity. You climb at your normal movespeed.

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

You phase out of reality for 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 additional target in arm's reach with you.

  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with firearms made in your home country.

+2 dice to all firearms made in your home country rolls.

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.
  • Quick Fingers: Drawing your weapon is a Free Action as long as it is on your person. You may reload or swap ammo as a Free Action.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.

  • Communing with terrestrial animal does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.