Setting down the item to be upgraded along with a rod of carbon on top of it to serve as resources, a set of phased arrays in the cuff of his wrist begin to scan over the object, slowly disintegrating the carbon and integrating it into the object, upgrading it as they go. Carbon isn't quite the right material to use - even transforming it into other elements to use - but it tends to break down within the day.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
The wielder of Esperachius will find that their injuries rapidly heal themselves, flesh knitting back together as if stitched with bright golden threads.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 10 minutes. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
Whenever the Artifact is used by someone other than its true owner, observers can see shifting impressions of unknown glyphs temporarily appear in random places on the Artifact's surface. If whoever is wielding it had hurt the Artifact's true owner before, the aforementioned glyph impressions exhibit a crimson sheen. The noticeability of the sheen scales in direct proportion to the magnitude of the current wielder's total negative impact on the Artifact's true owner.
Whenever the Artifact is ordered by its true owner to return to them, it folds in on itself in a non-Euclidean manner, becoming more and more blurry as it does so. Then, the middle of one of the true owner's palms darkens as a single black, ever-shifting glyph with a crimson sheen emerges from it. The true owner reflexively closes its hand around it, 'catching' the glyph, but when they open it again they are instead faced with the Artifact in its shrunken form. The palm's darkening is also no longer present, as if it never happened in the first place.
All bleeding Injuries of the Artifact's true owner emit streaks of blur reminiscent of solar prominence. The parts of this phenomena that are close to the scar owner's skin faintly glow an uneasy red instead of remaining colorless and clear.
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 used by someone other than its true owner, its true owner is alerted and learns the user's appearance, direction, and distance at that moment. The true owner may use a single investigation Effect on them once at any range.
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.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: an ornate, inky-black mark depicting the Artifact's base form - a misericorde dagger - pointing downwards from inbetween the person's shoulder blades to the small of their back. So long as this mark exists, the person in question's blood becomes black and blurry with a crimson sheen, and all Injuries that aren't Stabilized degrade every 10 minutes instead of every 30 minutes. If observed under a microscope, anyone can see that the blood's cells have been replaced by various black, ever-shifting glyphs of similar sizes - however, despite this, the blood functions exactly the same as a normal human's blood would. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
Closing a handful of glitter over the curved tail of the dragon knife, causes the powers of obscurity to activate, giving Aria the ability to transform her appearance in a multitude of ways.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. You must use up glitter in order to activate this Effect.
You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts until you either activate a new disguise, or choose to end the effect.
The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. Your disguise can alter your smell, DNA, and other aspects that are not perceivable via human senses. This does not conceal you against investigative Effects. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.
You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.
The mask seems to weep as Black tears rapidly falls and cover over the entire body before condensing and changing the body.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. You must use up 1k in cash in order to activate this Effect.
You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts for two hours, or you may end it early at will.
The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.
You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.
Loosing a translucent arrow of inky blackness from your technical marvel of a weapon, you resist the urge to smile as you hit your mark dead-on. And dead really is the operating word, as your former obstacle crumples soundlessly to the floor. The satisfaction of a job well done almost overrides the stinging marks on your face. The shadows need more from you than just competence.
[Disfiguring]: Possession of this artefact causes the wielder to manifest inky-purplish-black pockmarks across their face. While summoning the arrows for this bow, the marks will sting ever so slightly, as the user's skin decays to fuel the weapon. It is slight enough to be barely noticed, even over long periods of time, but this bow does indeed use the archer as its ammunition.
This Artifact can be used as a bow. It is roughly the same size as a bow but can be collapsed into a keychain sports motorcycle and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +1 Weapon Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Disfigured - Shadow Decay. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
You also gain the following effects:
The Future Soldier's PSG is capable of briefly supercharging its effectiveness with a jolt of Omega Cell energy. While active, the future soldier glows with an extremely bright golden light.
While the shield is supercharged, the Future Soldier cannot move or see the outside world, but they are completely isolated from anything that occurs outside the shield.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction.
You phase out of reality for up to 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 activate this Effect, you may limit its duration to a period of your choosing. If you are able, you may also end it as a Free Action on your initiative.
You leave a golden glow shaped like yourself at your location.
Companions gawk at the sheer size and quantity of the equipment the survivalist stores in the Bug-out Bag, but when they open it, they find only a standard set of survival gear. Only when the survivalist opens it is its true capacity revealed.
This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless.
Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.
If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.
If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
The Scepter of Ang-Kapal is a gruesome device fashioned to look like a skeletal arm clutching a glass eye. When used, blood from the person holding is drawn into the eye where it swirls with dark energy. The eye turns to a nearby corpse and shudders, reviving the creature. The creature does not retain any of its memories or personality, but it is absolutely loyal to whoever is holding the scepter.
The Scepter of Ang Kepal has the unfortunate side effect of driving its owner mad.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. 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 rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.
The creature lasts for eight hours or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.
Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
Destroying one of your zombies requires a called shot to the head or heart. All other Injuries zombies suffer result in Battle Scars only, limiting their mobility and effectiveness in other ways.
Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
The Axe of Legend's blade has been imbued with the metal of the dark lord of rock and roll. It shreds chords and flesh. The rock god commanding it may recall it to their hand at will.
This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects: