Deus Ex Machina I am the system.

1
0 Rewards assigned
The power to issue commands to technological devices.
Used by Masumi Raika, Created by GamingPrincessLuna.
(Anyone who witnesses you activate this Effect is very likely to be disturbed to see eyes start to glow and cables of my finers split open and energy like cables snake from my fingertips and the base of my head and down my spine and plug into the target.. You must actively and obviously be using rings.)

Twisting my ring the ring glows and I send out electrical signals/ energy cables directly interface with systems modern, alien, or organic. and take control.

I am energy incarnate.


Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend 2 Actions. Select a Computer within 300 feet. Can be used on Alien technology. You must actively and obviously use rings to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology, with the Difficulty set by the GM depending on the security of the system you are hacking. Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you may issue a single command to the targeted system. This command must have a specific outcome or be a request for specific login credentials. The command you issue must be within the machine's current capabilities. For example, you cannot order a standard security camera to grow legs and walk around.

Your hack cannot be discovered by system administrators or firewall software for a number of hours equal to your Outcome on the initial roll.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see eyes start to glow and cables of my finers split open and energy like cables snake from my fingertips and the base of my head and down my spine and plug into the target..

After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.

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

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • 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 cannot hack things outside of your range over remote connections such as the internet. The system you are affecting must be physically within range.
  • 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

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: mismatched flesh, mechanical augments, freakish proportions. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living being when targeted..

You are immune to damage from cold. If cold is a substantial component of other damage you would take (e.g. falling from a great distance into a vat of liquid nitrogen), that damage is reduced by 2 (in addition to Armor)

No single organ in your body is critical for life. Called Shots do no additional Damage to you. You may perceive the world through separated body parts, take Actions with them, and reattach them by spending an Action and Exerting your Mind.

Your Injuries no longer degrade with time. You do not age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail.

Any Animate being that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every Round, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Fear of Fire.

You cannot be mistaken for a normal human. You cannot always use standard human clothes, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, and when you can, you suffer an increased Difficulty.

You are incapable of fine object manipulation and can only hold or grasp things in a crude, clumsy way.

  • Detached parts move at 5 feet per Round. You may activate awareness Effects through detached sensory organs. This does not grant extra Actions.
  • You must still perform some equivalent of eating, sleeping, and drinking unless other Effects allow you to ignore that requirement.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last month.

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 one hour 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 all their Abilities set to 0. 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.

On birds:
Zephyren has an almost abnormal fixation on bird metaphors. He thinks almost exclusively in them sometimes, but of course he wouldn't say it out loud. Sources are unclear on where he got it from, but it may have started from his Chinese given name. After Googling what it meant, he had gone into a deep rabbit hole looking at bird lore. He probably hasn't ever gotten out.

On perception:
He's always been perceptive, more so than others, much to his dismay. In the past he was the first to get bad vibes from a situation and walk away. Some part of him wonders if it's just a difference in opinion, but he knows that it usually isn't just that. The gap has only gotten bigger, and it really doesn't help quell his apathy for people.

On overstimulation:
It has always been a drawback; even having someone raise their voice at him was sometimes enough to send him into a spiral. (Not that the volume of one's voice had much effect, as opposed to the tone or expression.) He would immediately go into fight-or-flight, and every little thing would anger him to no end. He hates it. He knows this is why he doesn't like interacting with people, and he knows it's on him to control, but he would also like to be cut some slack. Every night he can hear the neighbours down the hall doing the devil's dance when no one else can. It's terrible.

On indifference:
Zephyren's solution is to shut himself into his little mindscape, behind layers and layers of disassociation. This is why he may appear quite unaware despite his sharp senses. It's the only way he can escape the noises in his head, as rude as it is to completely ignore people around him. Though, if you came close enough, he'll snap out of it immediately, albeit irritatedly.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Phonophobia: When you hear an unexpected loud noise (such as a police siren passing by) or enter a loud environment, roll Self-Control to avoid entering a fight-or-flight response.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Clear-Sighted: If you see an illusion, disguise, or other false reality, you recognize it as such but cannot immediately see through it.
  • Constant Vigilance: You may React to surprise Attacks, and you do not automatically lose initiative if ambushed or caught-flat footed. +2 dice to Initiative.
  • Saw it Coming: Any time you attempt to dodge an Attack from someone lower than your position in Initiative, you may Exert your Mind to automatically succeed without a roll. You may use Source to make a Desperate Defense. There is still a maximum of one Desperate Defense per Round.

  • You can still be ambushed if you are incapacitated, stunned, or being kept unconscious supernaturally.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

On toxicity:
Hezalea always used to carry around vials of liquid cancer: chromyl chloride. Koriol was the one who supplied her with it, no questions asked. It looks like blood, just a little more orange in smaller portions, and it fumes enough that people know right away that she means very much harm. The moment they lay eyes on it they usually back away. What does it mean, now that something quite similar flows through her veins? At least she's not planning to maintain any relationship that matters anytime soon.

On the white streak:
No matter what she's tried, she can't get rid of it in any meaningful way. Cutting it off only means it'd grow back with the same pale whiteness, and it's not even porous enough to be dyed before the colour slips away, staining everything else. Maybe it's from the incessant stress of all the situations she throws herself into, but she secretly knows this is just another superficial symptom of something quite sinister underneath.

On choice:
She didn't choose this gift. She was told she'd be getting magic from fulfilling Contracts, but all she got instead was a true manifestation of what was already there. The scientists back then were so intent on achieving this very feat, telling her it'd make her better and stronger and all-powerful. They had an unnatural fixation on replacing one's crimson vitality with something else. All they really wanted was self-satisfaction and bragging rights for attaining divine knowledge, at the cost of her liberty and her life.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: Streak of ghostly white hair and fuming, pitch-black blood. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living being when targeted..

Your Injuries no longer degrade with time. You do not age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail.

You can squeeze through any cracks and passageways a cat would be able to.

Any Animate being that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every Round, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.

  • You must still perform some equivalent of eating, sleeping, and drinking unless other Effects allow you to ignore that requirement.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life.

While Incapacitated, your only weakness is either fire or decapitation, and if you take damage from it, you will die. Damage from other sources will still be dealt and can cause Battle Scars, but will never kill you. If your weakness is not immediately intuitive or obvious, attackers may be able to make some sort of knowledge roll to discover it, at GMs discretion. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Cannot enter a home without being invited in.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Medicine 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.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet Can only be activated while you are in the wilderness. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.

You learn the following information about the area:

  • You can tell which entities lay claim to each part of the area and how these borders have shifted over time.
  • You learn where exactly creatures and people live within the area, and what sorts of creatures they are.
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.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology 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.

When a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.

  • 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 as long as engaged in combat with wooden longbows.

You receive +2 dice to all rolls using wooden longbows. Reloading is a Free Action, and drawing your weapon does not require a Quick Action as long as it is on your person.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Bullet Parry: You may use a Reaction to Defend against any Melee, thrown, or projectile Attack in range of your Attacks.
  • Bullseye: If you are not making an attack or activating an Effect, any projectile you fire will be considered a complete success without needing to make a roll.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

As long as you maintain Concentration, you can take Actions and interact with things that are within 75 feet without needing to physically touch them or be near them. Any rolls made for Actions taken in this way use a Mental Strength of 2 in place of your Brawn rating, a Mental Agility of 2 in place of your Dexterity, and otherwise use your own Attributes and Abilities.

Telekinetic actions have the following restrictions and behaviors:

  • Line of Sight: You must be able to visually observe anything you interact with, and any actions that you are taking will end if their target moves out of sight.
  • Unarmed Combat: You cannot deal damage through unarmed combat or thrown objects with this Effect, though you may still grapple with targets.
  • Weapons: You cannot wield weapons effectively in combat.
  • Fine Tools: You are otherwise limited to actions that a normal human could do with their bare hands.
  • Levitation: If you are strong enough to lift yourself, you may levitate up to 75 feet away from the ground. Movement is limited to 5 feet per Round.
  • Multiple Items: You can only interact with one thing or take one Action at a time.
  • Lifting and hauling: you may lift 90 pounds.

  • Any telekinetic actions which interact with Animate targets may require contested rolls at GMs discretion.