Delphyrion crushes a stopwatch in their hand and watches as the debris tears holes into the space-time continuum. They peer into the bounds between the living and the dead, the seams that separate parallel timelines, and the space from one dimension to the next.
Contractors draw their power from their parallel selves, so naturally upon death, said power disperses once again to take a new form. Something about the Law of Conservation of Matter.
Finally, they snatch it back. Like the tessaract scene from Interstellar, they reach into everywhere and nowhere and pluck the bits of potential and ambition that the Harbingers once saw for the dead Contractor.
And they breathe it upon the corpse, for better or worse.
The act of living is quite... fickle.
What constitutes living, if not just existing? Am I not living, now that I barely exist in this realm? How cruel. In order to be remembered in this world, you HAVE to leave something behind. Something notable enough for someone alive to acknowledge. Your life and death will always rest in another's hand.
So let's conduct a little experiment. From here on out, you're... not quite alive, but you exist. Go and figure out your place in this cruel world, see how valuable you are now that people realize they've taken you for granted. Be seen.
And realize that once again, you're trapped in a mortal shell, with more shackles than before. You'll understand what it's like to be fundamentally different. Even more so, you're another one of my endless projects now.
Exert your Mind, spend one minute, and select a specific place, person, or item within arm’s reach. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. This Effect cannot be used unless Delphyrion is not in direct sunlight. You must use up a human bone in order to activate this Effect.
Your target rises as an Animate being. They remember their past life and retain their same personality. They can communicate as they would have been able to in life. They may roll Mind, Difficulty 8, to resist any commands you give them.
The creature lasts until it strays at least 80 feet from the chosen place, person, or item 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 all their Abilities set to 0. Their Attributes are all the same as they were in life, except Dexterity, which is fixed at 1. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Exert your Mind (only for extinguishing a fire, no cost for starting one) and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a Christmas tree fire at your target. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 5 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.
You may spend a Free Action on your initiative move a fire as large as a Christmas tree fire that is within 20 feet to another location within 20 feet. You may Exert your Mind to draw a line which a fire up to twice as large as a Christmas tree fire cannot cross.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Of Flame and Carbonized Fingers.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Don't Play with Fire and Of Light.
A forceful blow, kicking the target’s middle abdomen.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Dexterity + Brawl Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 6. Armor is fully effective against this damage.
Injuries caused by this Effect can be Stabilized but do not heal naturally. Any Effect that would heal them has its effectiveness reduced by 2 Severity Levels, to a minimum of 1 Severity level of healing.
If the target receives an Injury, they are knocked back 5 * Severity feet.
The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.
When Anthony shakes someone's hand, there is a momentary connection. The Lord unfolds their life in his mind - it takes but an instant, in the span of which he undergoes all their experiences overlaid upon each other in fractal patterns like lichen growing upon itself. From this kaleidoscopic mass of neural impulse, he is able to pull threads of connection, of consistency, and learn where his target's allegiances lie.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you shake the target's hand. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The user of the card holds it up and speaks the name of the card, "Paladin's Shield!" The person that the card is facing, whether it be themselves or another within 20 feet, will have a glowing shield of light appear around them-- or wherever the attack is coming from if used as a reaction. The card turns gray. After the shield falls, it disappears with sputtering sparks. The card remains gray until 2 rounds/6 seconds later, where it regains its 'light' and can be used once again for protection.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction to activate. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. Roll Perception + Legerdemain at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a Barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome + 2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the Barrier is applied before Armor, and is treated like Armor by any effects such as Armor Penetration. 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. As long as it does not fall, the barrier regenerates back to full strength at the end of each Round of combat.
The book of runes opens to the correct page automatically the caster traces the rune and speaks Iwaz (ᛇ). An aura forms of ᛇ around the caster and flows to the target like a viscous fluid filling their wounds before being replace by what was lost
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + 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.
The Toon performs some sort of cartoonish act of violence. This may be handing someone a bomb, hitting someone with a cartoon mallet, burping a burp that is so noxious it melts flesh, or anything else as long as it is cartoonish.
The attack is more of a throwaway gag than a plot element, so any props or properties of the attack are incidental and disappear immediately. Animated mallets evaporate in a puff of smoke, fire does not spread, and electricity cannot power devices.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4. Armor is fully effective against this damage.
The spy can twist the urban environment to their whims, erecting fences, walls, and barriers as needed. They whistle and gesture to where the wall should be, and the surrounding materials fly into place.
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:
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.
The priest's miracles expand into the treatment and curing of poisons and diseases. To do so, they require a ceremonial dedication (or often re-dedication) to the service of their god, during which the priest and the patient pray together and perform ritualistic bloodletting. These wounds burn with holy, golden fire, attacking the sinful malady and expelling it from the body.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. Your target takes a Severity 1 Injury. You must actively and obviously use a ceremonial dagger blessed with holy water to activate this Effect.
You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects.
You may use this effect to sanitize a 15-foot radius, destroying all poisons, toxins, diseases such that they are inert and cannot affect any new targets
The Witch summons a crow, whispers a message to it, and sends it off to deliver her words. Half an hour later, the crow arrives at the recipient and repeats her message aloud in its croaking, animal voice.
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.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be as complex or as large as you like. It takes at least 30 minutes before it is received.
The message may be intercepted while in transit, and may be overheard, read, or otherwise understood by anyone near either you or the recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The De-Neuralizer is a small silver device that can emanate a bright flash of light. Any being that looks into it with uncovered eyes has their most recent period of the their memory set into a highly over-writable state for a moment. While in this state, their memories may be overwritten at will.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within within arm's reach. All Sapient targets within 20 feet are affected. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is looking directly into the device with uncovered eyes. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the most recent 1 hour from your target’s memory is either replaced with new memories or forgotten entirely. This is recorded as a Condition. The level of detail and completeness of the alteration depends on your Outcome. If you fail, the target realizes that you are attempting to alter their memories.
The period is chosen either by time (i.e. “last Friday night”) or by reference to a specific event (i.e. “when the murder occurred”).