Spiraling runic shapes lift from the pages of History in Blood and surround the user's hands and arms. As soon as fingers are laid upon the flesh of a willing participant, it begins to roil and split. Runes are written across the target's skin, similar in nature to a particular cursed witch. The target can feel something crawling about their body, a coldness that rustles in the back of their mind, before their form is improved by the ritual.
Generally, these improvements are marked by a wound that never wants to close and must be bandaged. These wounds often take the form of runic symbols, strange and supernatural in origin, though their meanings are esoteric and unknown.
Lilith has spent a great amount of time researching various blood rituals of cultures all around the world. One book in particular has been a fantastic aid in developing her rituals. Fusing occult research and medical science, this copy of History in Blood holds a new appendix on Fleshcrafting, authored by the witch herself.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
By transplanting a body part from another creature, you can grant a Powers intrinsic to that body part to the subject.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Bloody Fleshcrafting.
An extra chapter has been sewn into this book that cannot be found in other copies of History in Blood. It’s handwritten pages detail the origins and capabilities of vampires from countless cultures around the world, from the Romanian Dracula, to the Chinese Jiangshi, to the Indian Pishacha.
By performing a short ritual detailed at the end of the extra chapter, an occultist can imbue themselves with a potent, albeit short-lived, expansion of their natural senses not unlike the capabilities of many nightwalkers. After being fed a measure of blood, the skin around the practitioner’s eyes will stain red, only to fade back to its normal coloration after a few moments.
Whenever these senses are being tapped into, the practitioner’s irises will turn blood red, and will eventually stain the space around their eyes with extended use. Their vision will be tinted with a deep blue whenever detecting electricity and heat, with creature’s circulatory and nervous systems lighting up with red and silver respectively.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must use up 1 Liter of Blood in order to activate this Effect.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way. Lasts for three hours.
Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.
The prosthetic arm's main body. Hundreds of fibrous machines with varying degrees of complexity make up a perfect physical replica of Felix Law's missing bones. Depending on the nature of its actions, the core vents bursts of steam, fires yellow sparks or vibrates like a motor.
Near-futuristic mechanical bonds link the shoulder to the body, while the bicep houses a series of motors that govern the movements of the forearm. Coolant is vented at the wrist in short bursts of steam, and the digits flex noiselessly, controlled by a second series of motors in the knuckles.
In addition to fully replicating the functions of a normal arm, a ring of dynamic pins in the wrist can launch the (detachable) hand at a moment's notice, and recoil the connecting cables just as quickly. Furthermore, each digit on the hand is equipped with a set of silver electrodes that can administer a powerful electric shock when triggered.
The outer casing of wood is fully pressure-treated and finished with fire-retardant wax for an extra degree of protection.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You gain an additional limb that functions as a standard human arm and hand.
Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.
Your extra appendage can be used to attack in exactly the same manner as a handheld stun gun.
Your extra appendage can stretch to reach an additional 30 feet.
Your extra appendage is not connected to your nervous or circulatory systems, and you will not take damage if it is hit by an attack or destroyed.
A dusting of purple glitter is spread across the artifact, enchanting and abjuring it in ways technology could never quite manage.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. 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.
Under the thumb's wooden shell rests a Firebird's hollow, jointed rib, still charred and productive. Should the holder take a minute to expose the bone and trace a line of new blood around the affected area, all manner of scar and damage will be set right, regenerated in a hot flash, much like the bird to whom this power is native.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living or Animate target within arm's reach. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition.
Under the shoulder, a row of miniature hammers is aimed at the arm's own core. Reserves of a liquid silver compound are connected to each hammer, and in response to physical trauma, flow towards the point of impact.
The liquid, later dubbed "mithril", can redirect a great deal of kinetic energy back into the hammers at any range. The hammers then strike the core, which, indestructible as it is, will absorb every blow.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
You may transfer your Armor to another target within 30 feet once per Round as a Free Action. You may transfer it back to yourself at any range.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
This spike of solid light, encased and strapped to the wrist and forearm, can be driven forward and finessed deep into your target. It precisely cuts through nearly any material with a combination of liquefying heat and sheer percussive force. When not in use, it takes on the form of an elegant silver wristwatch.
An arc of silver projectors are set in a narrow circle behind a series of mirrors and lenses, all encased in a thin fibreglass shell that rests on the forearm. When fully activated, the projectors ignite and a rolling skewer is generated where the beams cross. The hard-light can be refracted internally, driving the skewer directly forward and delivering a resounding percussive blow to a very precise area.
If the bearer wishes to conceal the Pile Bunker, the lenses can fold into themselves under the reoriented projectors. The case then telescopes into the wrist, forming a circular rim, within which a digital representation of the current local time is reflected.
This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword but can be collapsed into a digital wristwatch and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +2 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
An aura of mystical energy exudes out of the ring and envelopes the target, allowing the user to manipulate the set target within the space relative to the user's range.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You can interact with things that are within 75 feet without needing to physically touch them or be near them. Any rolls made for Actions taken in this way use a Mental Strength of 4 in place of your Brawn rating, a Mental Agility of 2 in place of your Dexterity, and otherwise use your own Attributes and Abilities.
Telekinetic actions have the following restrictions and behaviors:
A small silver ring with linked blue boxes engraved into it.
The user extends their hand towards the target. When they do thin tendrils extend from the ring and search for purchase on the wearer. The tendrils attach and start sucking small amounts of power from the user as they continue to crawl along their body before retreating after the hack is done.
The user's packaged will and commands are transmitted through the ring and then antenna tendrils towards the target.
Expend a point of Battery and spend 1 Action. Select a Device within 300 feet. Does not work on Alien technology. Roll Intellect + Technology, with the Difficulty set by the GM depending on the security of the system you are hacking. Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you may issue a single command to the targeted system. This command must have a specific outcome or be a request for specific login credentials. The command you issue must be within the machine's current capabilities. For example, you cannot order a standard security camera to grow legs and walk around.
When targeting non-computer devices, you may operate switches, buttons, dials, levers, and latches.
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: Disfigured. Permanent stains on hand from where tendrils have previously latched on.. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
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: Irrational anger and disrespect of people who have truly shoddy security setups.. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
Tiny nano machines swarm out of the ring and cover the users body in a thin sheet. The tiny bug like bots arrange themselves into a latticework over the user and once all are in place thin little cuts are made along the users skin in square patterns. Tiny rivers of blood well up at all locations of the nanites and are quickly sucked into the nanomachines, they then start cutting the small squares of the skin and prying them up the tiny bits of dermis sticking to the muscle and sinew underneath but being pulled anyways until they eventually come free. Unable to patchwork skin on the eyeball the bots flood into the occular cavity and surround the eye forming a kind of sheen over the cornea and feeding it visual info while the effect is activated. Each bug holds the square of skin over itself like a kind of card. When activated they flip the skin cards around to the underside where a hazy reflection of the surrounding area is put forward on the other side of the skin card.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. Lasts 30 minutes.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Tiny stadium bugs flipping skin cards.
Putting forth a beacon in the storm, Widow calls to the dead through the bonds of love it had in life.
The soul Widow calls sees the beacon in the dark, a call from a reaper. It takes time to bring the soul through the veils of the underworld, but the respect of the station demands answers. The station itself requires one to prove they should be respected. If the called dead has a desperate request, Widow must make a Self-control roll to resist the request as a potential loose end.
(This must be a desperate, whole hearted, selfless need. "Tell my daughter I am passed so she can move on." "Stop my killer from killing my family.")
Spend one minute. Select a Dead target within 50 feet. For dead targets, you must possess their a piece of the body.
The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.
Communicating with a being cannot directly damage your Mind or cause Injury. All rolls to resist Effects that rely on communicating with you are made at -1 Difficulty.
It has long been the job of the Ferryman to guide souls to their final rest. Through tempests of chaos that is the afterlife, the shining beacon of the Ferryman's lanter has long been a symbol of hope to lost souls, because a ferryman can get you to where you need to go.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Location within your line of sight.
You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.
If you traverse any Graveyard for one minute, you may activate this Effect and travel to the edge of any other Graveyard that you’re aware of, regardless of range.
When you Travel, you leave Black feathers blowing in the breeze as a distinct trail between your starting and end points.
Using the beacon of the Ferryman's Lantern, Widow learns the life of the fallen to that they may be remembered. As the Mexicans remember their dead, and as the great angels of death of the past once sang the lives of the souls they reaped, Widow holds the memories of the dead.
This will use Deathly Occult, instead of Occult
Spend a minute. Select a dead/undead body within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The spy can do up their passport to appear as any valid form of identification.
This Artifact can change its appearance. When not transformed, it is roughly the same size as a passport and just as difficult to conceal.
Whenever you show this Artifact to someone, you may give a general description of an Object within the category of forms of identification, and anyone who hears the description and sees the Artifact will have their mind fill in the details to complete the illusion.
The way the Artifact is seen can mimic specific items (such as a particular painting, a certain person’s ID, etc), but must be of a similar size and weight to this Artifact.
The new appearance is illusory; it will hold up to scrutiny, but its composition is not altered and it gains no new functionality. Any attempt to use it for a function which it cannot perform (for instance, making bread look like a knife and then trying to stab someone) will cause the illusion to fail or allow a Perception check to see through the illusion, at the GM's discretion.
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, locks, or locked targets 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 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.
"The Coffin" can only be used to store things commonly found in coffins, such as bodies, clothes, jewelry, photos, weapons, coins, and similar.
This Artifact can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a alligator-skin briefcase and just as difficult to conceal. Unless you are storing something commonly found in coffins, this Artifact behaves as its mundane counterpart.
Your alligator-skin briefcase holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.
Living things can be stored in your alligator-skin briefcase. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the alligator-skin briefcase in the process.
If your alligator-skin briefcase is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
You may change the type of your container between Contracts.
Only you may open and close the container. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents
The Predatory Raiment has a cloak feature that allows its owner to hide themselves and their equipment with active camouflage. When viewed, they look like a slightly shifted and shimmering version of the surrounding environment.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are not at all wet and you are wearing this Artifact.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you 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.