Sukhman’s Lament

2
Requires Seasoned
You possess supernaturally heightened senses.
Used by Harry Johnson, Created by jwesley123.
(This Effect may or may not be obviously Alien.)

Harry Johnson was haunted by the faces of those he had failed, each one etched into his mind like a scar that wouldn’t fade. Driven to the edge, he chose to blind himself, hoping that darkness would bring him the peace he so desperately sought. But in the depths of his self-imposed blindness, he found no escape—only a curse that bound him even more tightly to the world he longed to leave behind.

As his vision faded, his other senses sharpened in ways he could hardly bear. It was as if the spirit of Sukhman Odikhmantievich, a mystic bogatyr from his lineage, had awakened within him, refusing to let him turn away. Sukhman was known for his uncanny ability to see beyond sight, a gift for perceiving the world’s hidden layers. Now, that power had passed to Harry, manifesting as a twisted gift that denied him the relief he had sought in blindness.

At first, Harry didn’t understand what was happening to him. His sense of smell became overwhelming, every scent pulling memories to the surface as if they were embedded in the air. He could smell the faintest traces of sweat, metal, and fear lingering around him, scents that brought back battles he thought he’d left behind. Each breath became a reminder of those he had lost, each scent carrying the echoes of faces and voices he could not forget. It was as if the world around him refused to let him go, holding onto him with the smells of sorrow, blood, and regret.

Soon, he discovered that his hearing had intensified, too. Every sound reached him with brutal clarity, each noise carrying a sense of purpose he couldn’t ignore. He could pick up the faintest whisper from across a room, distinguish the intentions behind movements, and feel the emotions in people’s voices. The softest sigh, the quietest scrape of a blade—everything spoke to him, telling him more than he wanted to know. Silence brought no peace, only a tense anticipation that something would break it, each sound pulling him back to the present, refusing him the respite he had hoped to find.

But the most unsettling discovery came when he began experimenting with music, trying to find solace in the familiar tones of an instrument. It was only then that he realized the full scope of his curse. When he played a note on a flute, a string instrument, or even a drum, he found that the sound reached out into the world, bouncing back with a picture of his surroundings. Each note provided him with a map—a way to “see” without sight, an echolocation that formed a mental image of the space around him. Yet, every time the sound returned, it carried something extra—a ghostly whisper, a faint echo of voices from his past, like the world was forcing him to confront the memories he’d tried to bury.

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.
  • Hearing: You are capable of perceiving physical shapes via sound. You must produce a play a sound on a musical instrument to “ping” with your echolocation each Round you wish to use it.
  • Thermal: You are able to "see" heat signatures within your line of sight.
  • Hearing: You automatically know the origin location of any sound you hear, and you can tell which Action caused the sound.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Complete Blindness.

  • Your thermal vision allows you to judge temperatures of surfaces fairly accurately as long as they are within livable temperatures.
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing a Journal for The Tomb of Cagliostro spent on improving power: Sukhman’s Lament    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Ring True spent on improving power: Sukhman’s Lament    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Safe House spent on improving power: Sukhman’s Lament
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Danse Macabre spent on adjusting power: Sukhman’s Lament
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Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action.

Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0. Lasts three hours.

If you are Stunned, asleep, drugged, or otherwise made unconscious for any reason other than being Incapacitated, you may Exert your Mind to wake up. Any penalty which was caused by this condition is removed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Masochism.

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

Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. You must use up Blood from a currently living creature in order to activate this Effect.

Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.

The creature lasts for eight hours or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.

Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

  • 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 as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat. You must actively and obviously be using A Sheathed Katana to gain the benefits of this Effect.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Disarm: If you successfully Defend or Clash with a melee attack, you may take possession your opponent’s weapon or launch if up to 35 feet away.
  • One Inch Punch: You may make a full attack against any target you can touch, even if you are restrained. To an observer, you hardly move. In a crowded area, determining that you were the source of an attack requires a Perception + Alertness roll with an Outcome of 4.

  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

You gain the following benefits as long as the damage is from a character the GM hasn’t named.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you Cause a traumatic brain injurybattle scar on the target. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.

This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.

  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.
  • 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 Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using a standard issue military medical kit to gain the benefits of this Effect.

All Stabilizations you attempt are considered Proper Stabilizations.

You also gain the following effects:

  • In-Network Coverage: Any rolls to provide medical treatment to you are performing treatment near the site of a battle, including Effect activations, receive +2 dice.
  • Sterile: Sanitary conditions no longer matter during medical care. Your patients will never suffer an infection or toxic shock during treatment, even if you are performing surgery in a sewer. You may preserve harvested body parts indefinitely.

  • All stabilizations being proper stabilizations applies to stabilizations from other Effects such as Heal Wound.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are submerged in water.

You no longer require any food, water, or air in order to survive. You no longer age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement automatically succeeds.

You may spend one minute entering a state of hibernation, during which you are inanimate and unaffected by any requirements for life. You may still perceive the outside world and may spend 3 Rounds "waking up" to end it.

  • In lieu of sleeping, once per day you may spend one hour meditating to recover a Mind Damage.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a living human. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Charisma + Occult 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 only have 1 active barrier 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 Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is you whispering a prayer under your breath. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

  • If this Effect fails due to the Unreliable check, you must still pay any associated activation costs.
  • 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.

You gain the following benefits as long as as long as you are visibly dressed head to toe in black with hardly any skin showing.

You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.

  • Hearing: You are completely obscured from hearing. You produce no sounds while this Effect is active. All attempts to detect you via hearing fail. Attempts via other senses where hearing would assist are rolled at -2 dice.

While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.

If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. Activating a targeted or obvious Effect, attacking, or being Injured ends the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for one minute.

You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: compulsion to test the awareness of allies by sneaking up on them with a weapon.

  • You may only switch this Effect on or off once per Round on your initiative as a Free Action.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Hearing: You are capable of perceiving physical shapes via sound. You must produce a cricket chirp to “ping” with your echolocation each Round you wish to use it.