Gaia, the Marionette Help me

4
Requires Seasoned
The power to temporarily transform into a 7'10; tall, red-haired woman.
Used by Gaia, The Ashen One, Created by PoisedIvyT_T.
(Anyone who witnesses you activate this Effect or for its duration is very likely to be disturbed to see Blood start to bleed from Ashen's orifices, as their back bursts in wings of blood and fiery blooming flowers. Blood and ichor and fall from the gaps of their armor before burning away into a brilliant bright light; the flesh slowly burning away into wings engulfed in unburning flames and flowers. )

There seems to be a short cutscene as Ashen falters before they call out to someone. Their body glitches and warps as there is a short groan of pain before Blood start to bleed from Ashen's orifices, as their back bursts in wings of blood and fiery blooming flowers. Blood and ichor and fall from the gaps of their armor before burning away into a brilliant bright light; the flesh slowly burning away into wings engulfed in unburning flames and flowers.

Ashen's binds arise from their limb, glowing green binds that extend into the unknown with a bright green hue. The Ashen One is no more; the Marionette is now.

This Effect activates whenever they take Severity 2 injury or more. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Whenever you fail or botch a Trauma or Self-Control roll, you must activate this Effect.

You transform into a 7'10; tall, red-haired woman for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a 7'10; tall, red-haired woman, and you can use your equipment. The Injuries and Battle Scars of your Alternate Form and your true form are tracked separately.

While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2 and your Dexterity is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Blood start to bleed from Ashen's orifices, as their back bursts in wings of blood and fiery blooming flowers. Blood and ichor and fall from the gaps of their armor before burning away into a brilliant bright light; the flesh slowly burning away into wings engulfed in unburning flames and flowers.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • When activating this Effect due to a failed Trauma or Self-Control roll, you must still pay the activation cost.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from running The Gustin Brewery spent on adjusting power: Gaia, the Marionette
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Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute to activate. Select a Living, Animate target within arm's reach This Effect cannot be used unless you are conversing with the target. Roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

You are able to view your target's memories. The target is aware that their thoughts are being probed but not of the source of the probe. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range.

You may ask specific questions about their memory - “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc - but you cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”

You may read memories that the target has forgotten.

On the name:
A term that Zephyren has learned in his Engineering classes, which is just a really roundabout way of saying something has blown up when it wasn't supposed to. A lot of things aren't supposed to explode, but does it stop Zeph from trying anyway? Not really.

On destruction:
He's the burnt aftermath of a blaze. He's the ashen trail left behind - always to be abandoned, always to be harmed and tossed away. He has to change that. He can't just let people get away with this. He'll take their place just so they can't do it to him willy-nilly anymore.

On anger:
Zephyren is a ball of anger. From the beginning he's got an intense anger for the world that he's just been keeping at the back of his mind, shelved for later use. It's melting down in the archives, it's overheating in the engines. He was never meant to hold it back. Now it's just a source for more anguish from the things he destroys out of spite. He tells himself that he feels horrible about it, but in the long run, he thinks he's better off taking out his anger on lifeless items. Unfortunately, it seems that channeling his anger in any way still has consequences...

On expletives:
Something is stopping Zephyren from saying something truly unforgivable. This power does it for him. It screams and wallows over all the stupid decisions people have made, all the ways they could've solved all their problems if they weren't [insert slurs here]. He's heard other people say these things all the time back home, so why couldn't he? He knows why. He only hopes that social convention isn't the only thing that's holding him back.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Sapient Object or piece of an Object or structure within 20 feet no larger than a purse (5 liters). Roll Perception + Occult Difficulty 6.

If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.

If you have access to the remains of an object you had previously damaged or destroyed, you may spend an Action to un-destroy it.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a firebird forcefully expanding from within and mutilating itself so it could escape the object.

  • The shape of the destroyed material must be simple, such as a box or sphere. Bringing down large buildings requires an Intellect + Crafts roll to analyze the structure and may also require multiple activations. Buildings that are destroyed usually fall slowly or in pieces, creating an environmental hazard for a few Rounds prior to collapsing.
  • The amount of remains necessary to un-destroy an object must be at least equivalent to half the size of the original object. The GM may make exceptions to this at their discretion in circumstances where the method of destruction has altered the size significantly, but the remains you possess are still clearly the majority of the original object.
  • 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 penalty from an object being damaged will stack with itself if a target is hit multiple times, but the object is destroyed when it reaches a total penalty of -4.
  • 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 at all times.

You get +2 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

  • Force of Will: You may Exert your Mind to increase the Outcome of a Mind resistance roll by 2.
  • Lightning Rod: You may spend a Reaction to make yourself the target of any Mental or Influence Effect you are aware of, so long as it is directed at a target within 30 feet of you.
  • Naturally Resistant: Any time you make a Mind resistance roll, the individual who you are resisting must Exert their Mind, or your resistance succeeds automatically.
  • Clash Of Wills: If you fail to fully resist an Effect, your Outcome is considered to be 0.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Rust-Colored eyes: If your eyes are uncovered, all social rolls are at -2 and you are obviously supernatural.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Not alone in here: Roll Self Control to allow any effect to target you. You may exert to allow it, if you fail.

  • These bonuses apply only to Mind rolls made to resist Effects and other supernatural phenomena. They do not apply to Trauma rolls or self-control rolls.

Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach.

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. Your patient is required to eat and drink nothing but plain bread and water for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.

  • The patient is aware of this requirement.
  • 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 30 seconds to trap a region of any shape that contains your current location and fits entirely within 60 feet of you. This trap lasts one hour or until triggered or disarmed. Choose a type of being that could trigger the trap.

The trap looks like an Afterimage of himself, seemingly waiting on something and looking very vulnerable.. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid, trigger, or destroy it.

Any being of the chosen type that enters the chosen region will trigger the trap.

You create a hemispherical dome of lengthening, ominous shadows. originating at the trap, with a radius of 60 feet, and lasting for 5 minutes. The area inside your zone is affected in the following ways:

  • Disorienting: Any time someone moves within or through the zone, they must roll Mind at Difficulty 8. If they fail or botch, they move a similar distance in a different direction of the GM’s choice.
  • Overwhelming: Anyone inside the zone cannot Exert their Mind, and Mind rolls made within the zone are at -2 dice.
The zone expands immediately to its full size from the trap, but will be stopped from spreading in a particular direction by any barriers or cover, and can only fit through openings large enough to fit a grown adult. If a new opening appears while the Effect is still active, it will finish spreading in that direction.

  • Affected targets may still spend Source.
  • If you select a location at the edge of your range, you will be just outside the zone once the Effect is activated
  • Multiple traps cannot be placed in the exact same location or be triggered by the same single Action. Nor can one trap triggering cause another to trigger.
  • Trap can only be spotted by someone who has witnessed this particular trap before, has been informed, or possesses relevant supernatural abilities. They must achieve an Outcome of 4 or higher on a Perception + Alertness roll to do so.
  • The area you choose where the trap can be triggered may be just a single location, similar to a tripwire or a pressure plate, or it can be a proximity trigger which hits anyone who comes within the specified range of the trap. This is defined by you when you place the trap and cannot be changed once the trap is placed.

Stock Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may go five times longer than a normal human without food, water, sleep, and air. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement is made at -1 Difficulty.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Location within your line of sight , and which is directly adjacent to water. You must be within arm's reach of water to activate this Effect.

You are transported directly to the chosen Location. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.

  • 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.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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

You also gain the following effects:

  • Party Animal: You are welcome at, and will be granted entrance to, any social gathering or party, at least as an observer.
  • The Price Of Fame: Any sightings or recordings of your activity can easily be traced back to you. Even when disguised or using an alias, people always get a Perception check to recognize you.

  • A "social gathering" might include a birthday party, after-work drinks, a ski trip, or yoga in the park, among other things. It likely would not include a cult gathering to summon a demon, Congressional negotiations over a contentious bill, etc.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Spend an Action. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a melee weapon to activate this Effect. Roll Brawn + Melee 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:

  1. A Minor Battle Scar E.g. an aesthetic-only body modification (a disfigured face, a pig's tail), impacted hand or foot, or vocal changes that complicate communication
  2. A Major Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed hand or foot, an inability to speak, an impacted major sense, removal of a minor sense, impacted movement.
  3. A Severe Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed arm or leg, deafness, aesthetic changes that are nearly impossible to conceal.
  4. An Extreme Battle Scar E.g. removal/disabling both hands or both legs, blindness, a full-body deformation that leaves the target humanoid but makes it difficult to use clothes, vehicles, and equipment designed for humans.
Refer to the stock Battle Scars on the Character Sheet for specific systems.

All alterations you make must damage the target's knees.

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

  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may opt to inflict a Battle Scar that is less severe than what your Outcome allows.
  • 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.