Story lines appear in a circular pattern around the target and attempt to prevent them from escaping. If read, the story lines will dictate the events that would have happened had the target been allowed to continue as normal.
Words are power. That much is certain. Causal Diction utilizes this power to effect reality and bend it towards the user's will. This includes the prevention of action by others. If the user believes they are not meant to be there or take useful action, they simply will not be permitted to.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. the target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, your target will be pushed or pulled towards a surface within 45 feet and is restricted at that location by an intangible, ethereal binding. They can still move their arms and use Effects, but are reduced to ¼ of their movement speed.
Restricted targets may attempt to break the binding and escape by spending an Action and rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. Breaking free requires a total cumulative Outcome of twice the original Contested Outcome.
Your bindings affect intangible beings like ghosts.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
This Artifact can be used as a handgun. It is roughly the same size as a handgun and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +2 Weapon Damage.
"The sharp sawtooth of the grinder makes a clean cut through its enemy. Its operation is simple and straightforward, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy to wield.
As machines have no morals of their own, there was no clear boundary between good and evil. This disregard for value is precisely reflected by the weapon’s reliable dicing force.
People used to be afraid of machines in the beginning, but a mechanical rebellion soon became a myth of the past in our world."
This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +6 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The wielder may perform great miracles by treating and curing poisons and diseases. To do so, however, they require a ceremonial dedication (or often re-dedication) to the service of God. This takes fifteen minutes, during which the wielder and the patient pray together while performing some ritualistic bloodletting with Esperachius. The bloodletting wounds burn with holy, golden fire, attacking the sinful disease or poison and expelling it from the body.
Spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Your target takes a Severity 1 Injury.
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.
You may treat Alien maladies and curses. If there is some method to cure them, you learn what it is. If the malady does not provide its own means of curing it, it is cured.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
Swing a punch at the side of this prick's head.
Oof. It's solid. And... your hand feels wet. Take a look.
6 Nails crucifying your mangled hand. Huh. Then it hits the side of your head.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed or shredded, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. Your Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
When you take Damage from a source which is within 5 feet, deal back as much Damage as your Armor prevented.
Any time your Armor prevents damage, your total Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 1. Whenever you go two Rounds without preventing any damage, it is restored back to its full value.
The user sprays the target with the victim and they become infatuated with the user for an hour.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless Target must have favorable feelings towards the user.. Roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8.
If you succeed, for the next hour, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by Infatuation. They will outwardly display their emotions in an obvious and visible way.
Actions they take may be extreme and out of character for them. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.
When your target interacts with any valid target, they must roll Self-Control or be swept up in the same emotion. New targets pass it on as well, and so on, with the remaining duration decreasing by half until the chain stops.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Standard issue in the Future Soldier's home time, the Personal Shield Generator (PSG) projects a protective energy barrier around the body. It absorbs damage far better than traditional armor, but its battery is quickly drained. When depleted, the PSG must spend a few seconds recharging.
When struck, the normally-invisible field of the PSG flashes, revealing a bright yellow honey-comb pattern encasing the body.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.
Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.
The Axe of Legend's blade has been imbued with the metal of the dark lord of rock and roll. It shreds chords and flesh. The rock god commanding it may recall it to their hand at will.
This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
Companions gawk at the sheer size and quantity of the equipment the survivalist stores in the Bug-out Bag, but when they open it, they find only a standard set of survival gear. Only when the survivalist opens it is its true capacity revealed.
This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless.
Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.
If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.
If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.
The "Reaper" Assault Helmet is the signature piece of the Future Soldier's arsenal. It has a sleek, design and is made of a mysterious matte-metallic alloy. The wearer's face is exposed normally, but when activated, a blue holographic visor flickers to life in front of the eyes. This HUD contains information about the soldier's ammunition and shield status, but more significantly can detect enemy combatants. Anyone nearby who is holding a weapon is painted with a red dot that follows them in real time. This allows the Future Soldier to fire at painted targets in the dark, detect ambushes lurking around corners, and grants an overall tactical advantage.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all people wielding weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
The survivalist has depended on the Bug-out Bag for so long, they've formed a powerful bond with the pack. This bond renders the pack unbreakable, and grants the survivalist an understanding of what direction it's in at all times.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.