At some point—somewhere between all the nights she spent curled next to Bapha's twitching tail and the mornings spent cleaning blood off her shoes—Vita started hearing the way monsters think. Not words, exactly, but wants. She doesn’t bark commands. She echoes them, speaks them in the secret tongue stitched into fur and scale. It was never a spell. It's just that the beasts listen now. And worse, they obey.
Bapha hasn’t noticed. Or maybe he has, and he’s pretending not to.
When Vita activates this effect, the creature’s body convulses—like it’s being yanked on invisible wires. Its limbs twitch violently. It tries to resist, but there’s no fight in its eyes anymore—just a blank glaze and eerie stillness. The world around her goes muffled, like someone turned down the volume of everything except the sound of wet breathing and bone creak. People watching know something unspeakable just happened. They can’t say what. But they know.
This isn’t training. It’s contamination. The longer Vita spends tethered to Bapha, the more the line between her and the creatures blurs. This Gift didn’t come from study or practice—it seeped in like mold in forgotten places. Now when she looks at a beast, it knows her. Not as prey, not as predator—something worse: kin.
And she doesn’t even realize it’s happening.
Every command is a breach. Every flick of her fingers etches new cracks in the divide between mortal will and feral instinct. One day, she might give a command she doesn’t mean to. And something ancient might answer back.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet.
For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.
Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the creatures, body spasms as if it’s fighting for its life before it ultimately loses, said fight and its eyes glaze over anyone who witnesses has a sense that I have done something horrible to said creature and Is immediately off put by me.
You whip out your cancer gun and shoot the guy to death. BAHBAAHAAH you are tgoo strong.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 25 feet. You must use up Pixie Stick in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 8.
If you succeed, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes any number of the following symptoms:
The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Intellect + Influence at Difficulty 6, and can be cured by Renouncing your sins to any roomba.
Any Scars, Traumas, or Injuries caused by your symptoms cannot be healed until the underlying Condition is cured.
You may cure any target you’ve afflicted at any range as a Quick Action.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Cancer bro. Instant.
You also receive any Conditions which you inflict on others, and cannot make a resistance roll to avoid them.
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: Hypochondriac, Paranoia, and Fear of Hospitals. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Mrs. Ross lifts her talisman up for her face, tongue and eyes beginning to spark as she calls forth a wandering spirit in the area. After making connection, the spirit will manifest in front of her briefly, awaiting her request. After a silent command, the shade will disappear to a location of Mrs. Ross's choosing.
By focusing on the connection made with the obedient ghost, Ripley is able to view distant locations as if she herself were standing there... giving her the opportunity to Appease the Dead with even more flexibility.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target Location within 75 feet. You must actively and obviously use Spirit Talisman to activate this Effect.
You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location for the next 30 minutes. You may move your senses back and forth between your projected location and your real location without prematurely ending the effect. You may only have one projected location active at a time.
I read an incantation from my tome, becoming enwreathed in a redish orange energy and expel dragonic fire from my mouth
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location no further than 40 feet from you and in your line of sight. The area within 25 feet of the chosen Location immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).
If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of the chosen Location with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4.
Any flammable Objects within the radius during the blast will catch fire, and any being who takes at least 4 Damage will catch fire. Starting the Round after they caught fire, flaming targets take 2 Damage per Round until the fire is extinguished.
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Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour.
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a torch's flame at your target. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 2 Damage per Round, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be depleted by any Damage dealt, destroying the Armor once it reaches 0.
You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.
You may Exert your Mind to light everything within 20 feet on fire OR to extinguish and/or prevent any fires you wish within range for the next two hours. This includes explosives.
N/A
Spend an Action. Select a Location which is at most 1000 feet away horizontally or 200 feet away vertically.
You jump to the chosen location. If the landing is precarious, the GM may call for a roll to land safely. You will never take fall damage from successfully landing a jump made with this Effect.
You may opt to trade your free movement for a Super Leap if you are jumping less than 50 feet or if you are closing a gap to an opponent and spend your Action on an attack.
You may activate this Effect while in free-fall, as long as your target Location is a surface on which you can land. You are immune to fall damage.
While addressing a crowd, the influencer may use coded language to send secret messages to a particular person in the crowd. These messages can't be noticed or understood by anyone but the intended target.
Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location. This Effect cannot be used unless you are speaking to multiple people and the target is listening.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is your left hand making a fist. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The spy is able to transform an ordinary ballpoint pen into a monitoring device that is inconspicuous enough to blend in to most settings, but advanced enough to allow 360 degree surveillance as well as audio capture, which is sent to their smartphone.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use a ballpoint pen to activate this Effect.
You place a ward, which is fixed to its initial location. You can hear and see through the ward as though you were standing at its location. Your wards last 3 hours. You may have at most 3 wards active at once.
The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. It can be detected with a roll and destroyed through mundane means.
The hacker can overload any electronic device by fiddling with their smart watch for a moment. The targeted device shudders and gets white-hot before bursting into deadly shrapnel.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.
When a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.
Come one, come all! Stand in amazement and behold as the Fire Eater consumes a flame as if it were cotton candy! Gasp with fright as they breathe a plume of fire a great distance! And yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is quite dangerous.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: perform a fire-breathing trick. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you take a Severity-4 Injury as the fire burns your throat. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a firepit's fire at your target. Extinguishing a fire does not cost Exertion. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 4 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.
You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.
This witch is a cruel and vengeful creature who works her vile arts against those she deems worthy of punishment. All she must do is point. A flash of green lightning strikes her victim and disappears. Immediately, or upon the completion of some condition, if the witch chooses, the victim's body warps and shifts into a gross mockery of its former self. Whether she's giving someone the head of a donkey or stealing their voice, the witch's enemies always get what is coming to them.
The sheer wickedness of this spell corrupts the witch, giving her a disgusting, witchy appearance.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult 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:
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."
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Witchy Appearance. You have a long, warty nose and chin, wrinkled skin, and a hunch back. Social rolls are at +2 Difficulty, and your free movement is reduced by 10 feet.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion for payback. You must roll Self-Control to avoid using this Gift on anyone who wrongs you in a major way.