Trauma Bond Feel the weight of my burden.

2
Requires Seasoned
The power to inflict mental trauma on a target.
Used by Jacob Cruz, Created by Bigswordsman.
(Anyone who witnesses you activate this Effect is very likely to be disturbed to see the crown of thorns on the target wraps around their head, growing and snaking its way towards the target's brain through their nose, ears, and mouth (Atrocities). )

Jacob ruminates on their past sins and focuses on the suffering they've caused. A crown of thorns manifests on both the user and the target's heads, a manifestation of his festering doubts and anxiety. The worries just exacerbate and worsen, causing the crowns to grow violently and invade their brain through whatever path they can find...
The target's thorns also snake out to those nearby, hurting them as well.
Once they make their way to the brain, they "connect" and cause both Jacob and the target to experience the sum of their guilt and regret and jumble of emotions in a positive feedback loop that could leave both permanently scarred mentally. One could only guess what results from such an invasion of the mind.
At least Jacob is accustomed to coping with these sorts of... attacks. He has the mind(s) for it. The target, however...

Jacob's able to withstand the potential trauma thanks to the demon that feeds off his feelings of guilt and regret. The demon gets a feast, so it 'blesses' Jacob with the ability to survive this attack relatively unscarred.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a single Sapient target or a Location within 300 feet. If you select a Location, all Sapient targets within 300 feet within 20 feet of it, besides yourself, are affected. Roll Intellect + Investigation Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the affected targets loses that much Source. Once their Source is depleted, excess Outcome is applied as Mind Damage. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the affected targets gains a Trauma of the GM's choice.

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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the crown of thorns on the target wraps around their head, growing and snaking its way towards the target's brain through their nose, ears, and mouth (Atrocities).

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

Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing up Already Over It spent on improving power: Trauma Bond
Revision purchased with:

Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Brawn + Athletics at Difficulty 6. The target may contest by Defending or Dodging.

If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They cannot move to a new location, and, if your Contested Outcome was greater than their Brawn, they are encased and cannot take any physical Actions other than attempting to escape until they break free.

Restricted targets may escape their binding by spending an Action and taking a Severity-1 Injury. Their movement is reduced by 10 feet until the Injury heals.

  • For entities whose movement could be considered an attack (e.g. a kaiju), the GM may rule that they are merely slowed instead of fully restricted.
  • 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 two Actions performing the following ritual: focusing energy through the electrum and incantations to cast the spell. Select a Animate target within arm's reach. You must use up asdf in order to activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome +6 Damage. Any Damage absorbed by the barrier is reflected back to the attacker, up to a maximum of 6. Their Armor applies in full. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact 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. As long as it does not fall, the barrier regenerates back to full strength at the end of each Round of combat.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.

Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: asdf. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.

  • 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.

While it may seem as if this psyart completely negates need of eating, drinking, or breathing, it is more that metabolism is slowed down, but not completely stopped. You still need to eat once in a while, or one might suffer drastic consequences.

Spend an Action to activate. Select a target within arm's reach.

For the next 24 hours, your target does not require any food, water, or air.

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

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

Exert your Mind and spend at least one Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. Your target may be actively engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to their best understanding of the letter and spirit of the command until they have completed it or for your Contested Outcome in hours. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.

The target is unaware that they are under supernatural influence and feel they are acting of their own free will. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.

Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.

  • You cannot order your target to endanger themselves, but you may order them to flee, attack a certain target, take a defensive or offensive stance, or similar.
  • The target must be able to understand you and must receive your communication for the suggestion to work.
  • Allowed Commands
    • Direct Order: The target must take an immediate action (e.g. “Sit down,” "run away," or "tell me your password.")
  • In the case of a failed activation, GMs should consider how bystanders would realistically react to a potentially-outlandish accusation of mind-reading.
  • 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 2 Actions. Select a Location within your line of sight.

You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see The user ignites and burns to dust over the cast time.

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

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up $10,000 cash (or equivalent) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.

Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last hour. This Effect cannot be used unless you drained the target's blood while they were still alive.

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 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. The raised creature must consume flesh every day or it will die again.

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.

Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.

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

  • The creature will die at the end of any 24 hour period gone without consuming their specified diet, and it is important that this growing desperation is reflected in how they are roleplayed.
  • 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.
  • 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. You cannot target yourself. This Effect cannot be used unless you continuously play music for your target during the activation. 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 + Performance 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.

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

You may choose to use this Effect to temporarily relieve any number of the patient's Traumas (including mental Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes an Action and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.

  • 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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target Location within 75 feet.

You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location. The effect lasts indefinitely but you must maintain Concentration to keep it up. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.

You create a visible manifestation at the Location where your senses are projected which looks like a ghostly image of yourself meditating.

  • This does not satisfy the Line of Sight requirement for targeted Effects.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet You must actively and obviously use a magnifying glass to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6.

You learn the following information about the area:

  • You can tell the age of any structure or natural formation in the area. This includes trees and plants growing in the area.
  • You learn how heavily trafficked the area is, what sorts of Animate beings have moved through the area and when.
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.