Injecting the serum into the neck of someone, their body mutates as they swell up black biomass and blood expelling itself out of the user's pores that drains their intellect in exchange for unbridled power. Converting the poor user into an armored berserker, hellbent on destruction.
Lewis’s experiments have achieved a new breaking point as he has discovered ways to tap into the potential of human evolution and create soldiers who know only how to fight.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1, use up this syringe filled with red liquid (unless you succeed on 1d10, Difficulty 7), and spend a Quick Action. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you gain traumatic brain injury.
You transform into A hulking mindless berserker clad in black organic knight armor for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are A hulking mindless berserker clad in black organic knight armor, and you can use your equipment. The Injuries and Battle Scars of your Alternate Form and your true form are tracked separately.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 2, your Dexterity is increased by 2, and your Perception 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).
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: Organic black plate mail (Armor 4)
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user's body swelling up and becoming a monstrous berserker leaking blood and biomass.
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.
Whenever you enter Combat, roll Self-Control. If you fail, you cannot choose which targets to attack and cannot stop fighting until there are no targets remaining.
While transformed, you automatically fail any Mind roll to resist an impulse and suffer -3 dice on all other Mind rolls.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Your performance creates a safe haven - an oasis in the turmoil of combat. The barrier ensures safety, not only through obstruction, but by deflecting harm back to its source.
After all, today *is* gonna be the day that you're gonna throw it back to them.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Roll Charisma + Performance 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. Any Damage absorbed by the barrier is reflected back to the attacker, up to a maximum of 4. Their Armor applies in full. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. This Artifact 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.
The Corn-Infested Stevewalker appears first as a skinwalker coiled in corn stalks, with cobs bursting out of his body. His skin rots, his identity fades, yet still he rises, revived by the Necornomicon's forbidden knowledge.
After being summoned, the Stevewalker can freely shift his form into a normal human named Steve, the corn and rot vanishing, only returning when he reverts back.
The first page of the Necornomicon tells of a dark, soul-binding ritual that tethers a lost life to a still living one. A simple curse, the first trick in every necornmancer's arsenal, and yet the consequences of such a spell can be... disastrous, to say the least. The texts advise any potential users to prioritize finding lesser beings to become their soul-bound familiars, as life restored in this way is fickle and disturbing, even taxing to the caster's very being. Loved ones never return in a form that's entirely correct, and some things are better left resting in peace.
Perhaps a grief-stricken farmboy who just discovered where his heart lies was not the best person to bestow the Necornomicon unto. But whatever, close enough, welcome back Stevewalker from 7-Eleven.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient Corn-Infested Stevewalker at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. You may have at most one active at a time.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see a brief blood sacrifice, followed by a long-dead skinwalker emerging from the ground, with corn stalks entwining its decaying limbs.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Delphyrion reaches a hand into their hair and pulls out what seems to be a hypercube. One can't really perceive what's inside it, but as it intersects with our world, a more recognizable object emerges.
On stashing:
Delphyrion's had access to obscure and illicit chemicals for a long time, but they hadn't expected to make such great use of them on the contracts. He loves his bags and long coats and big pockets, but he could always use a better way to store things that he doesn't want people seeing. There's a limit to how many liquids he could bring on a plane, and how many times someone could mistake him for a perv who brings... a "certain kind of liquid" to deadly missions.
On technique:
He's itching to go up to someone and lift his lab coat while saying, "Want some goods?" at some point. It's definitely more practical to pull it out from under their hair though.
On hypercubes:
There were so many. Too many. 8. Eight. Huit. Ocho. 여덟. Not a good memory. Still a cool concept. He hates it. He's enamoured. So much left to learn. He's falling.
Spend a Quick Action.
You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.
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.
You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see a non-euclidean shape containing an ancient eldritch monster that threatens to rip itself apart to escape into this dimension. The mere weight of its truth causes anyone who looks at it to feel an intense headache (anguish).
Mr. Tummy Transforms into a giant cat.
Or a cat-human.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend an Action. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you Transform or detransform into the worst form for the situation.
You transform into Huma-Tummy or Big Tummy 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), but you can use your Powers. The equipment you are wearing does not transform 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.
While transformed, you are obviously unusual, unnatural, or alien, and the average person will take a special interest in you.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all Someone wanting to harm you within 1 mile of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
Even while this Effect is not active, if any Someone wanting to harm you come within 1 mile of you, you may roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 7 to detect them.
The time-twister spins a dial on one of her watches, slowing time for everyone but her and one other person.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect.
Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.
Outside of Combat, any non-Gift, non-movement Actions you attempt take drastically less time to complete, as long as your personal speed is a factor in the Action. Total time reduction is determined by the GM and capped at 90% (executing the Action takes no less than 1/10th the normal time).
While using this Effect, you may carry one other being without affecting your Encumbrance, so long as you maintain contact with them for the duration and they consent or are grappled.
The magician dons an unusual piece of clothing and immediately shifts their appearance to be completely different! However, they must reveal their true identity before they can cast any more spells.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. You must actively and obviously use a piece of clothing you wouldn't normally wear 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.
This Effect ends if you take an Injury or are stunned or incapacitated.
While disguised, you cannot use any Activated or Targeted Powers.
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 aquamancer dissolves into a flowing pool of semi-solid water. Anything they were carrying is left behind in a damp pile. While transformed, they may squeeze through tiny gaps, and are extremely resilient against most standard attacks.
Resolidifying is exhausting.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into a flowing pool of water for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.
While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight.
Injuries from standard attacks are reduced to Severity 1, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.
You cannot communicate or use equipment while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.
You have access to your Powers while transformed.
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.
If the Selkie's seal skin is worn close to the body, any contact with salt water will cause them to transform into a seal. While transformed, they have full access to their normal suite of Powers.
This Effect activates whenever you are submerged in salt water. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.
You transform into small 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.