Ilya’s Vigil

2
Requires Seasoned
The power to learn new information about the area you are in.
Used by Harry Johnson, Created by jwesley123.
(This Effect is not obviously Alien when used. During Effect activation, you are obviously investigating the area. )

Harry channels the legendary vigilance of Ilya Muromets, relying on his connection to the land to “see” the world in ways no one else can. Exerting his mind, he expands his awareness outward, letting the physical world guide him. Over the course of a minute, he feels the area come alive, its secrets emerging not through sight, but through texture, sound, and sensation.

Concealed features reveal themselves as faint echoes underfoot or subtle shifts in airflow. A hollow resonance signals a hidden cache, while an unnatural stillness marks the presence of a trap. Every surface carries a history that Harry deciphers through touch and focus—the worn edges of a hidden mechanism or the smoothness of a concealed door.

When Harry focuses on a specific type of event, the land itself offers its memory to him. The vibrations of the past ripple through his awareness: the hurried footsteps of a fleeing figure, the sharp thud of a dropped object, or the tension in the air from a heated argument. These impressions play out vividly in his mind, giving him a precise understanding of what transpired.

Through Ilya’s Vigil, Harry transforms his blindness into a strength, perceiving the world as a rich network of sensations and impressions. In doing so, he embodies the vigilant legacy of Ilya Muromets, uncovering the hidden truths of any place he surveys.


Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6.

You learn the following information about the area:

  • You learn Hidden Features - Detects concealed doors, hidden traps, or secret caches. (Requires Seasoned)
  • You choose a specific type of event and receive a vision of the last time it occurred here.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

You cannot investigate the same area more than once 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.

Community Power Gifts

Spend a minute. You must actively and obviously use a reflective surface (Mirror) to activate this Effect.

You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will. Your disguise will not hold up to close scrutiny.

The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.

You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.

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

This Effect ends if you take an Injury or are stunned or incapacitated.

  • While you may alter your outfit's appearance, this does not grant or store equipment. This does not allow you to change the appearance of Artifacts or conceal their Alien appearance.
  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

Bill accidentally discovered this power while feeding his chickens the morning after the Graveyard Shift. Where this gift came from, Bill does not know. All he knows is that the first chicken he fed that day was consumed by overgrowth, and obeyed his every command in a zombie-like trance. Where a normal man would run away screaming, Bill smiled, content with the power that he had been gifted.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a Free Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within arm's reach. You must use up Seed Packets in order to activate this Effect.

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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a seed shoved down the creature's throat. Shortly after, the plant will bloom within the creature's stomach, which will see small crops/flowers/thorns/vines piercing through the skin. The physical change is permanent, even after the period of control has ended.

  • All commands can be issued as a Free Action, not just the initial activation.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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.

Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet. You must actively and obviously use a metal working tool to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Crafts 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 2.

The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

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 sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Spend an Action. 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 Battle Scar 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.

You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a horrible twitching overtakes the target as it opens its mouth in a silent scream. The affected area bloats until it bursts and cracks the shell or bone, the gore disintegrating and revealing the change.

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: Clubbed Claw: You are at a -1 die penalty for any roll utilizing your shield claw.

Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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 and spend an Action. Select a Human target within 20 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8 with a -3 dice penalty. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically and their Outcome is 0.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes Mind damage equal to the Contested Outcome. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target will gain a new Trauma selected by you (the GM can overrule you at their discretion). 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.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Frontal Lobe Full Of Worms: You make all Self-Control rolls at +2 difficulty.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Laugh In The Face Of Danger: Whenever a fellow contractor gains a Trauma or Battle Scar, roll Self-Control to suppress your uncontrollable case of the giggles.

  • 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 as long as as long as you have drank a half gallon (lethal) amount of blood in the past 24 hours.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level each hour. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.

Spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use a scarf, sheet, or handkerchief to activate this Effect.

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.

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.

Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend 15 minutes. This Effect cannot be used unless you are in a wilderness environment.

Choose a specific type of food, water, or survival supply which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You cannot create firearms.

Roll Perception + Survival to fabricate up to 5 copies of your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. Your created items no longer expire, and will last until they are destroyed.

  • You may cause a created item to expire at will as a Free Action, destroying the item.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action. Select a Living or Sapient target within arm's reach. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you possess your target for the Contested Outcome in minutes. The target has no control over their body or actions, and they are functionally unconscious through the entire possession, retaining no memory other than any Traumas they might obtain.

You do not leave your original body behind when you possess a target. When a possession ends, your original body will reappear at the host body’s same location. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.

Stats: During the possession, you use the host body’s Body rating, but your own Mind rating. Any rolls you make use the host body’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception but your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities. You gain the effects of any physical Assets and Liabilities they have. You cannot read the target’s mind or memories.

Gifts: You have access to and can use any of your own Powers which are intrinsic to your biology or physical body. You cannot access any Powers or other supernatural effects which the target has, unless they are intrinsic to the target’s biology or physical body.

Death: If the host body is killed or destroyed while you are still possessing it, you will die along with it.

Eviction: If you attempt to force your host to take actions which would violate one of their Limits or their instinct for self-preservation, they may resist by rolling Mind. If their Outcome is higher than or equal to the contested Outcome, the possession ends and you are evicted from their body.

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

  • 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.
  • Access to equipment-based Gifts such as Signature Items depends entirely on whether you are holding the relevant object, and is not impacted by whether or not you are possessing a 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.