Skeleton Key Any lock. One key.

1
This Artifact grants you the power to lock, unlock, or open things.
Used by Luz, Created by mobius.
( When activating this Effect, it is obvious you are interacting with the target. You must obviously use this Artifact to activate this Effect. When activating this Effect, this Artifact is obviously Alien and cannot be concealed under your clothes or similar.)

A soft golden glow surrounds the artifact and the hand of the user, then spreads to the target. The sound of a lock's tumblers clicking into place echoes in the ears of those that are aware of the effect.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach that is no more complex than a standard commercial door, personal safe or a keycard reader.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.

  • Operating some locking mechanisms through this Effect may have a secondary effect, such as a turn-key ignition on an older or cheaper car causing it to start or stop. Note that the locking mechanism itself must satisfy the standard targeting requirements (including line of sight), not just the vehicle.
  • Any mechanism that requires a key, keycard, key fob, or combination may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. This Effect may be used on doors and containers secured with control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems at large.
  • 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 Artifact Crafting Gifts

On the red string:
Koriol, ever the artist, weaves in crimson strings. They wrap around and through the artifact, pinned down in the same manner that one would install 10 locks on a door. He's slipping. He needs a safety net. This will have to do. Soon enough the strings appear to vanish, but deep down we all know... it was meant to be.

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.

If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.

  • "Cannot be broken" means that damage cannot render the Artifact's Effects unusable, nor can it cease to be used for its primary mundane purpose, if it has one.

This Artifact has been upgraded.

This Artifact 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.

  • 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.

This Artifact can be used as a club / improvised weapon. It is roughly the same size as a club / improvised weapon and just as difficult to conceal.

Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Dark Harvest: Whenever you inflict an Injury with Severity 4 or greater on a Living target, you may reduce an Injury on yourself by 1 Severity. If the Injury kills the target, you may instead reduce an Injury on yourself by 3 Severity.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you are disguising an object. Choose an illusion to generate, which can be no larger than a briefcase.

The chosen illusion is generated at your target, and it will remain in place for the next 3 Rounds or you choose to end it. It can be perceived by people through their sight. The illusion cannot be used as an attack. You cannot make an exact replica of an existing Animate being or Object.

Anyone who touches the illusion (or who would be able to perceive it significantly through a sense it cannot fool) realizes it is an illusion, and the entire effect will be ended for all targets.

The illusion will remain fixed to its initial target, and can only change locations if the initial target is mobile in some way. It may have moving parts and engage in simple, predetermined movements but cannot perform anything complex or interactive unless you maintain Concentration and “puppeteer” it.

Any illusion made to disguise an Object as a different Object with a similar size and shape last a minimum of one day and can only be broken by a scientific analysis, investigative Effects, or witnessing the object being used in an inconsistent way.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • while you can use an illusion to obscure something smaller, you cannot make anything directly invisible (you can’t make a tank look like a regular baseball, but you can hide it in an illusion of a giant baseball).
  • You may only puppeteer a single illusion at once.
  • 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.

A small disc plugs into the brain stem of the user, similar in appearance (when plugged in) to a "data-jack" type device. It allows anything with the correct kind of plug (Anything Ware has created, or modified to work with it after the fact) to monitor brain activity, and upon removal seals up the area with anesthetic and surgical glue.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

You get +2 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

  • Compartmentalizing: You can take a maximum of 1 Mind Damage per Round.

  • If you have an Effect that allows you to Exert your Mind more than once per Round, each Exertion still causes one Mind Damage.
  • These bonuses apply only to Mind rolls made to resist Effects and other supernatural phenomena. They do not apply to Trauma rolls or self-control rolls.

Stock Artifact Crafting Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

You get +0 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

  • Naturally Resistant: Any time you make a Mind resistance roll, the individual who you are resisting must Exert their Mind, or your resistance succeeds automatically.
  • Clash Of Wills: If you fail to fully resist an Effect, your Outcome is considered to be 0.

  • These bonuses apply only to Mind rolls made to resist Effects and other supernatural phenomena. They do not apply to Trauma rolls or self-control rolls.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

You get +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

  • Survivor: You are immune to all non-Alien diseases.
  • All Brawn No Brain: You suffer a -2 dice penalty on Mind resistance rolls.

  • These bonuses apply only to Body rolls made to resist Effects and other supernatural phenomena. They do not apply to other contexts such as attacks made while under the Creature Transformation Effect.