Aurora Borealis At This Time Of Year? At This Time Of Day? In This Part Of The Country? Localized Entirely Within Your Being?!

1
The power to grievously injure a target.
Used by Andromeda, Created by Beezleboppy.
(This Effect is obviously Alien when used. When activating this Effect, it is obvious you are attacking the target. )

The user points their finger, and a beautiful line of dancing lights, closely resembling the Northern Lights, pours out from it. The beam elegantly bends and shimmers as it flies through the air in a primarily straight line. If the beam connects with a target, the aurora circles around them, swiping past them as it deals damage slowly over a period time (As a result of Slow). If the beam should fail to connect with a target, the lights will rapidly dim before disappearing into nothingness (this disappearance also occurs once the damage over time brought about by Slow finishes). The beam's colouration is typically green or purple, though it can occasionally manifest itself in orange, red, blue, and any other colours that the actual Aurora Borealis can appear as.

Andromeda's signature ability. She discovered it shortly after taking up residence in her observatory. She has been absolutely obsessed with it after discovering that this was something she could do. She's spent many nights just shooting it into the distance, watching the lights flicker into the night sky before fading away. She personally chooses to believe that this gift means that she is destined to be a hero, akin to Percy Jackson and other similar protagonists from young adult novels.

Andromeda's acquisition of this gift increased her already rebellious tendencies. While she was never one for listening to authority, she now believes that her power places her in a position where other people don't have the right to boss her around. She's also anxious about having her powers stolen, taken advantage of, or otherwise used by others for their own personal gain. All of this (plus some past experiences) combines to make Andromeda a child who would rather do anything other than follow an order.


Spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. Roll Perception + Occult 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.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Rebellious - You have trouble with trusting authority figures. (Whenever anyone in an authority position, such as police, local leaders, etc. tries to assert their authority to tell you to do something, roll Self Control to prevent doing the opposite of what they tell you to do.).

Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.

Community Targeted Gifts

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

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You determine how many living beings the target has killed, what sorts of creatures they were, and how long it has been since they last killed.
  • 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.

Any information you gather is Spoken in a frustrating dialogue with user and made publicly available.

  • 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.

I am lightning, I am the storm, I am magnetism!

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Object or Animate target up to 100 feet away. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is partially made of metal.

Targets that weigh less than you are pushed back until they are 100 feet away or pulled towards you until they are right next to you. If you are lighter, you move instead. If you are roughly the same weight, you and the target both move.

This Effect cannot move anything heavier than 500 pounds.

Affected targets may use a Reaction and roll Dexterity or Brawn + Athletics to hold on to a nearby anchor, if available. A complete success increases their effective weight by whatever they hold onto. You may also roll to anchor yourself as you activate this Effect without spending a Reaction.

Pushing a target straight upward requires you to be directly beneath them and halves the range. GM’s may ask for a Dexterity + Athletics roll when repositioning yourself around a target to get a desired angle. They may React to reposition or anchor themselves as normal.

  • 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 to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. Over the course of one day, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.

Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.

Your patient is required to Follow the 10 Commandments for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.

Once per day per target, you may choose to use this Effect to stabilize the Mind of a target within arm's reach. Treatment takes 30 seconds but will not remove any Traumas. If you are successful, restore 2 Mind damage.

  • The patient is aware of the after-care requirement.
  • The treatment time may be broken up into multiple sessions if necessary.
  • 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 (unless while intangible) and spend an Action.

You may perceive things through sight within 15 feet of you with perfect clarity as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next 30 minutes. You must maintain Concentration to keep up the effect.

You may perceive through up to 15 feet of material. The Difficulty of all Perception rolls made through a wall are increased by 1 per wall.

  • 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.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Roll Dexterity + Melee 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.

If the target suffers an Injury from this Effect, they will receive at least a Minor Battle Scar regardless of its Severity. When this Effect causes a Battle Scar, you may select which one of the appropriate level.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Anything covering the hand I strike with melts away, leaving only a blackened skeletal hand. Upon contact with the target, the hand tears through them, ripping of chunks of flesh which fall to the ground and rot away to dust the area around the wound seems boil and rot, leaking a black, tar like substance that seems to eat away at any remaining flesh..

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.

Stock Targeted Gifts

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.

Thank you to the original creator of this Gift, Frakcherd https://www.thecontractrpg.com/profile/view/603/

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). You must actively and obviously use a laser pointer to activate this Effect.

You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a fire in a residential fireplace 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 3 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 fire in a residential fireplace 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 fire in a residential fireplace cannot cross.

  • Your fires may be extinguished with appropriate Actions and materials. Stop, drop, and rolling to extinguish requires spending an Action and making a Dexterity + Athletics roll, with an Outcome of 3 putting out the flames.
  • If the target is larger than your flame size, the Armor destruction creates a weak point instead of applying to the entire target.
  • 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 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”).

  • You do not gain mind-reading through this effect, so your ability to alter their memory is limited by your knowledge of what they might know.
  • The target's roll to realize their memories have been altered can be made a maximum of one time 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet as well as a specific emotion. This Effect cannot be used unless you are engaged in conversation with the target. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6 -3 dice.

If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by the chosen emotion. 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.

  • Common emotions and the actions they inspire
    • Anger (shouting, cruelty, denying requests, attacking)
    • Pity (stopping an attack, executing an injured target)
    • Happiness (generosity, dancing, joking, socializing)
    • Sadness (finding solitude, openly crying, demotivation)
    • Fear (running, attacking)
  • If you succeed, the target MUST take at least one Action they otherwise would not have. Hey, GM who is reading this, I'm talking to you. You have to enforce this. Remember: Gifts must feel powerful.
  • 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.

This Effect cannot be used unless you are making a deal to exchange money for protection.

You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must shake hands to seal the deal.

Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.

When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:

  • You may suspend a targeted Offensive Power which will take effect when the oath is broken. The Power must be able to target all participants the oath indicates it could hit.
  • A Battle Scar up to Severe (deaf, missing limb)
  • The oath-breaker is physically marked as an oath-breaker, and any investigative effect will reveal the terms of the oath they broke.
  • A particular Trauma and a single Mind Damage
  • The oath-breaker goes unconscious for up to 24 hours
  • An Injury up to Severity-6 (cannot be reduced by any means)

The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.

  • All Oaths must have at least two participants.
  • The target must be physically present to enter the oath.
  • The terms and penalties of the oath do not need to be equitable and do not need to affect all parties equally.
  • A single action cannot break multiple oaths. You cannot 'stack' oath penalties by having a target sign multiple identical oaths, or similar.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.