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 300 feet. You must use up Bottle of Ink in order to activate this Effect. 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 300 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.
Dr. Freeman makes a circular incision around his patient's head and removes the top of their skull. He closes his eyes, places his fingertips directly on the patient's brain, and starts to massage the grey matter. He may then sift through the patient's memories at will. As he does so, little electric arcs crackle between his fingertips and the exposed brain. This procedure is incredibly invasive and thorough but may cause the death of the patient.
Exert your Mind (unless the target has an Intellect of 2 or less) and spend 2 Actions. Select a Living, Animate target within arm's reach This Effect cannot be used unless you are touching the target's naked brain. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you destroy the target's brain, killing them. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You are able to view your target's memories. The target is unaware their memories are being probed. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range or your Concentration is interrupted.
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?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see you touching the target's naked brain.
With Bull's handiness he is able to upgrade mundane objects for a short amount of time. These upgrades allow the item to more potent for that time.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
When activated, Xander's eyes roll whites & a vibration can be felt in the teeth of anyone nearby. Transmitting injuries or insanity through the principle of Contagion, where like calls to like. This biofeedback process can transmit traumas & even wounds through psychosomatic transmission - this process is a gross example of the more horrific aspect of volatile psychic powers, as the life force is visibly drained.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. If a target does not consent to the transfer, you must roll Cha + Influence at Difficulty 6 to use the effect on them. They can resist by rolling either Body or Mind at Difficulty 6, depending on what you are attempting to transfer to them.
You may choose one each of as many things as you like from the following to transfer from your target to yourself, or from yourself to them:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see bio-electric lightning explodes from Xander's remaining eye & mouth, accompanied by swirling auras around both himself & the target, visibly withering the recipient.
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.
She sings one of the songs she uses during her 'goodnight asmr streams' while batting her little eyes at the target. They began to feel calmed down, peaceful, and then, sleepy.
These songs are hard and tiring to sing, so ofc she pre-records them for the streams.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 3 Rounds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Contested Outcome x 3 minutes.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
You may determine the dreams of any sleeping being within within 30 feet. By maintaining Concentration, you may enter their dreams and converse with them directly.
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.
As Ware proffers the tech to the potential borrower, a long EULA document displays in a hologram to the target. It has an accept button and a scroll bar, and accepts a vocal response as well. It also notes near the top that accepting the tech will also count as accepting the EULA. The (cliff notes of the) usual EULA is in the Extended Text, but may be modified for specific scenarios by Ware. It is written in Legalese, and thus will require a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll to decipher fully.
Things marked with an "*" are unclear to anyone failing the contested roll.
Terms that must be followed by the person accepting the technology, hereafter referred to as the "Borrower":
- The Borrower must not, directly or indirectly, knowingly act in a way that inconveniences or harms Ware without her permission.
- The Borrower must return the technology at the time (or condition) specified by Ware upon receipt of the technology. If they miss that deadline, the Borrower has 1 hour to rectify this before they are considered to not have adhered to this condition.
- The Borrower must not, without express permission from Ware, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to replicate her proprietary technology. *
Upon breaking the aforementioned Terms, the Borrower will have the following penalties applied to them if they have not removed or otherwise left behind the borrowed technology. If the Borrower breaks these terms while not using the technology, any attempt to use the technology moving forward will activate these penalties.
- The Borrower, hereafter referred to as the "Oath-breaker", will be branded as an Oath-Breaker via a sigil on their forehead.
- The Oath-breaker will have their dominant arm removed, and the wound cauterized.
- The Oath-Breaker will be rendered unconscious for 12 hours.*
- The Oath-breaker will be given a mental compulsion that renders it difficult to attempt to betray anyone else.*
This Effect cannot be used unless the target is accepting WareTech.
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 accept the offered technology 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:
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.
When crafting your oath, you may opt to enforce compliance. If you do, any participant that wishes to break the deal must take 3 Mind damage and succeed a Self-Control roll. They may attempt once per day.
Whenever a participant breaks the oath, you are immediately made aware and may even witness the act as if standing nearby.
It is obvious to your target that the oath you are proposing will be supernaturally enforced.
Perform the Five Point Technique via a series of quick pressure point hits on the target’s chest. As you do, channel your chi and speak a condition involving the number five. If the target cannot stop you from performing the technique, their heart will take a direct hit when they fulfill the chosen condition.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Roll Dexterity + Brawl Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."
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.
The Witch gazes at a calm and trusting animal and blinks, revealing eyes that have changed to match the creature's. Her body goes limp and collapses, and the witch proceeds to walk away, now temporarily borrowing the animal's body.
A borrowing Witch is a visitor in the animal's mind and cannot overstay her welcome or force the animal into danger.
Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Non-Alien Creature target within 20 feet. The target may Resist.
You possess your target and have control over their actions for the next hour. Your original body will be left behind, unconscious. You may perceive through your original body's senses by maintaining Concentration. If your original body is touched, you may roll Perception + Alertness to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.
Stats: Any Actions you take will use the possessed creature’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception, but use your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities.
Gifts: You do not have access to any Gifts while you are possessing your target.
Death: If the host suffers an Injury, or is destroyed or incapacitated, you are evicted back into your own body. If the possession ends and your original body was killed or destroyed, you will die.
Eviction: You cannot force your host to take Actions which would violate their instinct for self-preservation (which includes engaging in Combat for any purpose other than self-defense or natural hunting); any attempt to do so will sever the connection and send you back into your own body. If you are forced out of the target's body prematurely, you must make a Trauma roll.
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.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The psychic can glean various important details about a person simply by engaging in a short conversation with them.
Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation and made publicly available.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Through their faith, the priest is able to stretch bread or fish to extreme lengths, feeding a seemingly endless number of people from meager supplies.
Spend an Action. Select a Animate target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use bread or a fish to activate this Effect.
For the next 24 hours, your target does not require any food, water, or sleep. Any attempts to age your target fail. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement is made at -1 Difficulty.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Through years of practice, the mobster is able to shatter someone's kneecap without much effort.
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:
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.