Jessica summons a barrier of collapsing light crystals, their unnatural glow reflecting a mixture of eerie blues, purples, and unsettling hues that defy earthly color. As the crystals form, they twist and bend the light, creating a translucent, razor-thin wall. The effect is both mesmerizing and disturbing—the light distorts her image within, stretching her form to strange, twisted proportions. The diffraction of light warps everything behind the barrier, giving it an almost otherworldly, impossible geometry. The barrier feels like a beautiful anomaly, yet its very presence suggests something unnervingly wrong, as though reality itself is bending to Jessica's will.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must use up a handful of glass beads in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Science at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a Barrier extending out 15 feet from yourself, which absorbs 2 times the next (Outcome +4) Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier 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.
The clown holds up a red card as everybody in the room stops for a moment before he pulls out an invisible box, sets it on the ground (It's heavy!) and then begins to quickly set up some invisible bricks in front of his target. Afterwards, he goes back to where he was before and the fight continues!
How polite of everyone to stop fighting for him to do this!
Spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome + 2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Rain Cloud - You...you got a little somethin'...nevermind. (You always have a rain cloud hovering around you. You can barely outrun it's ethereal rain, but when you stand still, it's kinda annoying).
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Crybaby - You are incredibly sensitive. (Whenever someone makes a jab at you or tries to hurt your feelings, roll Self-Control or begin to sob uncontrollably, giving you a -2 penalty on all Physical Actions for the next round).
When active, the artifact seems to darken from the inside, even in the brightest daylight. When attacked, those shadows lash out and interrupt whatever was attempting to hurt the user.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome +4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.
When focusing, Tam can respond instinctively to incoming attacks, using her abilities to dampen the force. And to riposte, really - throwing a spike of force back at her attacker.
Focusing that hard is hard on her, though. Stressful.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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. Roll Intellect + Melee at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, 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. You may only have 1 active barrier 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 Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is twitching fingers. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Formal Duelist - You must roll self-control to turn down an offered fair fight. You may exert your mind and suffer a limit check failure to ignore the offer if you fail.
Sometimes, you feel the warm embrace of a loved one. You wish it were true that they've been watching over you, almost obsessively pulling you away from any sign of danger.
Yet, the world requires you to keep a level head. That rational part of you is compelled to pay attention to your surroundings and measure the trajectory of each attack, just keeping your actions calculated enough to dodge them all.
Occasionally you can't, and you watch as your muse jumps in front of an attack for you. Your eyes ever so briefly reflect the warm hues of their hair and their flames.
The only drawback is that you get distracted from time to time.
On missed opportunities:
Sometimes, Koriol swears he can hear a whisper from the west winds: "I'll provide for you what I could never hope to have." He doesn't really understand. What is this providing, besides more time that he'd just spend in tedium? Does he even deserve this more than ________?
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome +4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is Koriol's eyes turn orange. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Haphephobia: If someone touches you without your consent, roll Self-Control to avoid taking disproportional revenge on them, such as harming them physically or psychologically. Exert your mind to let someone touch you.
Tom after a specifically long ritual had his body improved to sense those around him
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
By focusing and whispering a prayer under their breath, the priest may invoke their god to protect those who have good works left to do.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a living human. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome +2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier 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.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is you whispering a prayer under your breath. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.