Ground Control Houston, We Hear Your Problems

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The power to heal the mind after traumatic experiences.
Used by Andromeda, Created by Beezleboppy.
(This Effect may or may not be obviously Alien when used. )

For everyone except the target, there is no visual component to this gift. For the target, however, they will watch as reality begins to crack, the fissures emanating from the user (or the user's method of communication). The cracks encompass everything that the target is able to see, before quickly shattering, revealing a lively cosmos underneath the world. Looking around, the target will be able to identify that they are in an altered version of our familiar solar system. The planets are closer together, bridges that span miles of empty space connect distant celestial bodies, lights line every planet in the system, spaceships navigate through the depths, unfathomably large superstructures dot the horizon, and the stars shine brighter than they ever have before. In this sight, humanity's indomitable will and the true beauty of the cosmos are revealed to the target. The target spends hours here, watching an idealized version of the world revolve as the user's disembodied voice talks to them about their traumas. As the session comes to a close and the user makes the roll to determine the outcome of this therapy, the paths diverge.

If the roll succeeds:
The sun grows, becoming brighter, and brighter, and brighter, until it bursts. The sun goes supernova. Light begins to consume everything around the target, burning up the world that they just spent hours observing. Humanity screams as the supernova erases them, and the target is powerless to make it stop. The light blinds the target, engulfing them. When their vision returns, they will find themselves where they were when the cracks first emerged, feeling lighter.

If the roll fails:
The sun runs cold, and the universe follows suit. Where once there was a bustling universe, there now sits a lifeless corpse. The target stays there for a moment, before the darkness becomes too overbearing to remain. The target opens their eyes, and finds themselves where they were, their traumas still plaguing them.

This gift was manifested through a combination of Andromeda's dream of a cosmos that's at her fingertips, and her desire to help the people around her. She imagines a world where everyone has achieved her dreams, hoping that her realized passion will have a positive impact on her friends.

Andromeda is aware of the vision that she gives the target, though she is not aware of the supernova, nor the heat death that accompanies the session's success or failure. She has only caught brief glimpses of the world, having subconsciously designed it through occasional dreams.

Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target at any distance, provided you are able to communicate. 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 + Occult 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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the end of humanity as the sun either goes supernova, or runs cold.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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.

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Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Creature within arm's reach.

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.

Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • 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.

Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action to activate. Select a Dead target of which you have a Fetter that was important to them.

The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

“We are gonna be the best circus in town”.

Exert your Mind and spend eight hours. Select a Living target within arm's reach. The target can easily Resist.

You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Trauma and can have exactly one of the following Effects:

  • Specialized: You receive +2 dice to a particular non-combat, non-Effect Action.
  • Environmental Adaptation: You do not suffer harm from heat, cold, pressure, or lack of oxygen in a particular environment, provided that challenge normally exists in that environment.
  • Implanted Tool: You have access to the functionality of some common Device at all times. The selected Device can be no larger than a motorcycle helmet.
  • Armor: You have 2 Armor at all times. As always, Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
  • Pouch: Part of your body functions as a hidden pocket. It can hold no more than a briefcase (15 liters).
  • Zippy: Your Free Movement is increased by 10 feet.
  • Maws and Claws: Your unarmed attacks do +2 Weapon Damage instead of -1.

The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may not augment targets with pouches or implanted devices that are larger than they are.
  • Targets without Body ratings may have a maximum of 4 augmentations.
  • Example environments for adaptation: space, all saltwater, all fresh water, all water under 50 feet deep, all water deeper than 50 feet, the jungle, radioactive areas, a specific alien world, etc.
  • 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. Over the course of one Downtime, 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 + Occult at Difficulty 6.

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

You may attempt to treat an unwilling patient. They may choose to resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

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

  • 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.

The Caretaker uses the power harvested from their deal with their vessel to protect them. It then must abide by the rules of its own vessel contract in order to use their powers on anyone other than those directly involved in the bond, or those directly acting against their vessel.

Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless you actually have a high potential individual (Contractor) bound as a vessel. Roll Charisma + Influence 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 have up to 3 barriers active 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 Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Pure Fur - You are a strange little guy. (You appear innately unusual and noteworthy, being a little white squirrel/cat thing).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Hive Brain - You feel no significant emotions and have trouble understanding those acting on them. (You lack any and all intense emotion and believe them to be akin to a disease. Make a Self-Control roll to ever believe or take an action that contradicts this belief).

  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.
  • 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.

Stock Targeted Gifts

This Effect activates whenever someone talks about you. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a target Location within 75 feet. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.

You may perceive things through hearing as if you were standing at that Location for the next 30 minutes. You must maintain Concentration to keep up the effect. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • This does not satisfy the Line of Sight requirement for targeted Effects.

Exert your Mind and 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 can see your target.

You open up a line of communication to your target, and may converse with them as long as one of you maintains Concentration

The conversation will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.

  • Receiving a message does not force a target to pay attention to you, and they can feel free to ignore your message if they choose. Depending on the flavor of your Gift, they may or may not be able to return to it and read it later on.
  • Generally you cannot communicate with Contractors who are not in a Contract with you.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

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 (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:

  • You learn how to reliably contact the target.
  • The target’s trail for the past 24 hours is revealed to you and anyone you teach to follow it. This trail shows how long ago the target was there and is followable even when they are in a vehicle.

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

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

  • Contact info Low Outcome: a means of communication (phone, email, a secretary). High Outcome: specific phone numbers, email addresses, protocols for getting access to the individual.
  • Tracker You are not made instantly aware of where they have been in the past 24 hours; you must follow their trail. You may "happen upon" any trail they have made in the past 24 hours.
  • 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.