Crystalline Barrier Cosmic light bent into a sacrificial shell

1
Requires Seasoned
The power to create a protective barrier.
Used by Jessica Laolu, Created by donniecesar.
(This Effect is obviously Alien when used. The target and source of this Effect are obvious to bystanders.You must actively and obviously be using up a handful of glass beads.)

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 +2) Damage. Only applies to attacks which originated outside the 15 foot radius, and protects anyone who is within that radius. You may choose to create a bubble barrier. If you do, no physical objects or entities can pass into your bubble until the barrier is broken, but you and the barrier cannot move. 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.

Any target that is or was under the protection of your Barrier in a given Round cannot take an Injury greater than Severity 6 that Round.

  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.

Community Power Gifts

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.

Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use basic medical supplies to activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 8.

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. You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition.

  • 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 an Action to activate. Roll Brawn + Brawl at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, 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.

Exert your Mind and spend ten minutes to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a piece of freshly cooked meat in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scar will heal over the course of the next week.

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

You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using ring to gain the benefits of this Effect.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

You may spend an Action or Reaction and Exert your Mind to double your Armor rating for one Round.

Any Injury received from Damage that was reduced by this Armor is considered Makeshift Stabilized and will not degrade further, and any Battle Scar caused by them is reduced by 1 level. You may attempt a single Proper Stabilization on such Injuries.

Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Silver fox fur.

  • Armor recharging happens automatically and does not require an Action.
  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.
  • When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:

  • Wall: Create a straight wall made of standard building materials up to 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.

This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.

  • Attempting to break any alterations with inappropriate tools may damage or destroy the tools at the GM's discretion.
  • Any structures you create leave precise gaps for obstacles in their path or push them out of the way. You cannot directly destroy objects or structures or damage beings by creating walls or domes.
  • Tool guidance for GMs:
    • Difficulty 9: Brawn 5, no tools.
    • Difficulty 7-8: One-handed tools or makeshift tools (like a sword). Mythic Brawn without tools.
    • Difficulty 6: Appropriate manual tools. Crowbar, sledgehammer, armor-shredding attacks.
    • Difficulty 4-5: Power tools, vehicles, explosives.
  • This Effect produces the substance you are controlling unless it is drawn from the environment via “Required Environment” Drawbacks.
  • 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. You must actively and obviously use a clock or watch to activate this Effect.

You phase out of reality for 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 additional target in arm's reach with you.

  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

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.

You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using clothes or a uniform that displays the flag of your country to gain the benefits of this Effect.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.
  • When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations.

  • Amphibious: You are able to move about in liquids using standard Movement rules rather than any special swimming rules.