When pressed against themselves, the wielder feels a wave of despair and loss overtake them rather than actually piercing their flesh. Dragging the blade across their body fully invokes the transformation, twisting and changing their body into an agent of their own suffering.
The Arch-Vampire has an innate feeling of 'wrongness' to look at. Porcelain skin with veins of blackened blood, and an ambient aura of black-fire malice.
Broken Thorn is a manifestation of the one who brought it into being, the vampire Lorelei. The blade was formed after Lorelei was forced to experience warmth and acceptance again and again, even as her monstrous self. A home-cooked meal mixed with human blood without judgement, a vision of Melody's old friends around her on the hospital bed after having saved her, the loyal attentions of a feline servant, and seeing the carefree joy of a little girl so much like her.
The vampire tore the dreams she had in life from her heart, corrupted as they were from loneliness and suffering, and fused them with the power she received from the Contract.
No one would hurt her again. Never again.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless you have drunk at least a pint of blood from a sapient being in the last hour.
You transform into an Arch-Vampire for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are an Arch-Vampire, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2 and your Dexterity is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: A red cloak, red gloves, dark metal armor plates (3 armor obvious), heeled black boots, the Broken Thorn, and, if held when activating this effect, the Tenebrae Magnus Gladius. The inner cloak is filled with knives in sheathes numbering 30 in total. (+2 armor for sheer volume of metal)
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you draw your blade across your neck, splattering blackened blood across the floor, and transform with a swirl of black malice and a horrible noise into an even more monstrous form.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Broken Dreams - (Nightmares). If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
When Lucky Patch activates The Hex Ring, the air around him shimmers faintly, like a subtle heat haze rippling through the atmosphere. Thin, iridescent threads — resembling shimmering spider silk — ripple and pulse softly surrounding Lucky circle, visible only when they catch the light just right.
Enemies within the Hex Ring’s radius feel the invisible threads weighing down their actions. Guns sputter and jam mid-shot, grenades twitch and harmlessly fizzle, and spells crackle with unstable energy. To bystanders, the effect is mostly unseen, but they can clearly sense an unnatural heatwave radiating from Lucky Patch.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Brawn + Alertness 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.
At random, sporadic intervals, without either rhyme or reason, the gift user inevitably comes across yet more alternate versions of themselves from different, unknown timelines. Some of these alternate selves may be very similar to the gift user - they might wear similar clothes, and have similar mannerisms and beliefs - however some can instead be wildly different depending on the lives they have led, and the timelines they have came from. Likewise, their goals can differ too: even though most of the gift user's alternate selves are likely to be at least somewhat aligned with them, and thus willing to lend their assistance, there is also the rare chance for encountering alternate selves that are downright hostile, potentially even to a homicidal extent.
The actual process of an alternate self getting summoned through time often happens beyond the gift user's sight: in a different room, behind a corner, or somewhere else of that sort. Other times, the temporary guest's appearance may be noticed immediately, such as when they show up sitting in an unoccupied chair or standing right next to another person. No matter the level of conspicuousness, though, all of these summonings always have a single common element that remains unchanged - they begin with the trickling in of tiny grains of carmine sand. At first, there's barely any; then, the streams gradually grow, seemingly coming from nowhere; and, finally, with the rough shape of a person formed, the alternate self gets revealed while the sand is blown away into nothingness.
The weaponry of each alternate self that is summoned by this Effect is determined by the rules detailed in the Extended Description.
Each time an alternate self is summoned via this gift, a D20 is rolled to determine what class of weapons - if any - that alternate self comes equipped with.
Possible outcomes:
✦ 1 ⟶ Nothing
✦ 2 ⟶ Club
✦ 3 ⟶ Improvised Thrown Weapon
✦ 4 ⟶ Knife/Dagger
✦ 5 ⟶ Rope Dart
✦ 6 ⟶ Throwing Knife/Shuriken
✦ 7 ⟶ Rapier
✦ 8 ⟶ Throwing Axe/Javelin
✦ 9 ⟶ Handheld Stun Gun
✦ 10 ⇾ Bow
✦ 11 ⇾ Ranged Stun Gun
✦ 12 ⇾ Crossbow
✦ 13 ⇾ Small IED
✦ 14 ⇾ Handgun
✦ 15 ⇾ Grenade
✦ 16 ⇾ Shotgun
✦ 17 ⇾ Sword/Axe
✦ 18 ⇾ Rifle
✦ 19 ⇾ Greatsword/Giant Axe
✦ 20 ⇾ Heavy Sniper Rifle
This Effect activates whenever someone uses their Will to Survive. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you instead witness the appearance of an alternate self that is openly hostile to you, your allies and your goals. Unlike non-hostile alternate selves, hostile ones may refuse to follow any commands you give and cannot be ended prematurely at will.
Summon up to 3 Sapient alternate selves - but only a single one per activation of this Effect - at your location. They last for two hours or until they move more than 150 feet from you or are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most 3 minions active at a time.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Temporal Commitment.
Upon use, layers of Isaac fade away, stripping him of his corporeal form till only a semi transparent nervous system remains, yet his other layers still there but not seen.
His research has led him into more forbidden knowledge, throwing his mind through the ethereal plane. As a side effect, his soul absorbed an essence of the realm, allowing him to somewhat cross over. Using this, he slips slightly into the unseen plane of the spirit world, feeling cold and rattled while there.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. Lasts 30 minutes.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.
If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see your skin fade away, then muscles, then skeleton, till all that’s left is a semi transparent nervous system.
Harriet looks into a mirror, then to the object she wishes to store, then back to the mirror. The mirror's surface appears to reflect a tree (but Harriet is the only one who can see it), and the object is gone, grabbed by a mess of tree branches into nothingness.
Harriet uses a mirror to briefly open a physical path into the Mansus (the same place she summons all of her creatures from), there, in the Woods, is a lone tree. It's branches are a wild, tangled mess, rife with lost items. Harriet knows the secret you must tell it to be allowed what you have lost back into your possession.
Spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use Mirror to activate this Effect.
You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within 30 feet of you to your stash. You may only stash targets which are not possessed by someone else, and are freestanding and unattached.
You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.
A small energy drink, suitable for ages 18+. DO NOT GIVE TO INFANTS
Use up this energy drink and spend an Action.
You transform into Hot blooded, sweaty, bulky man for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are Hot blooded, sweaty, bulky man, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
The vampire sucks a copious amount of blood from a human and replenishes their own cursed flesh.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you drink blood directly from a human until it injures them. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Occult 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.
If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on yourself.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you drink blood directly from the vein.
The beastmaster shouts, and their human voice cracks into a deep, bestial roar. Their body swells with muscle, clothes melting into a thick pelt of fur. Seconds later the beastmaster is gone. Standing in their place is a massive grizzly bear.
However, even in human form the beast within remains close to the surface, and the beastmaster finds highly civilized social situations unbearable.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into a brown bear for two hours or until you choose to end the Effect. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you cannot use your Active, Targeted, or Trap Powers. However, you can use your Passive Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Intolerance for society. When you are in a situation with strict social protocols (like a trial or a formal dinner) roll Self-Control not to enter a flight or fight response.
The Witch wiggles her fingers at her broomstick, and it leaps from the ground with a whoosh of wind. She may then hop on and fly around. It’s so fun, she often finds herself cackling uncontrollably.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a broom to activate this Effect. This Effect remains active for two hours.
As long as you are conscious, you are immune to falling Damage and may hover in place mid-air. Additionally, you may glide as you fall, traveling 35 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you fall. While gliding, you fall at a minimum speed of 10 feet per Round.
You may ascend into the air and fly using your mind. Your Free Movement is Mind x5 feet/Round, including vertically. You cannot Dash. When sprinting, roll Mind and add your rating in Mind plus 1 to the outcome, multiply by 5 to find your sprint speed. Your encumbrance limit is 10 lbs per point of Mind.
You are subject to the following effects while gliding or flying:
The werewolf unleashes their inner beast, transforming into an imposing hybrid of human and wolf. Their head reforms into that of a wolf, robbing them of speech but bestowing a maw of deadly fangs. Grey fur sprouts from their body as it swells with muscle, ripping any tight-fitting clothes. While transformed, the werewolf is impulsive and driven more by instinct than logic.
If The Werewolf is struck my moonlight, they are compelled to transform.
Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action.
You transform into a werewolf for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a werewolf, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2 and your Dexterity is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
Your alternate form renders you unable to speak any human language and incapable of fine object manipulation. You can only hold or grasp objects in a crude, clumsy way.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
While transformed, you automatically fail any Mind roll to resist an impulse and suffer -3 dice on all other Mind rolls.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Whenever you are struck by the light of a full or gibbous moon, you must roll Self-Control to resist transforming. Triggers a max of once per night.
The Vampire may channel their inner beast and take the form of an animal. It is said they may transform into either a wolf or a bat. If used too often, the Vampire risks losing themselves to their beast forever.
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.
You transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.