When targeted by an effect that would manipulate the mind, the sophisticated network of neural implants will assist in opposing impulses not aligned with it's real-time personality model. If the effect is successfully repulsed, it communicates both the source & the nature of the effect to the End User.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You get +1 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
With a quick strum, a beat, a lick, Julian Carlos fires out a grey hum from his instrument, visible vibrations of pure Música, they stop bullets in air, they stop blades in place, and they stop boredom from setting in.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. You must actively and obviously use an Instrument to activate this Effect. 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 2.
You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The mystic enters a meditation while focusing on a remote location. A glowing sigil of an eye appears on their forehead, and a ghostly image of themselves meditating appears at the location they are envisioning. For a brief period, they may see the area they are projecting to as though they were standing there.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target Location within 75 feet.
You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location for the next 30 minutes. You must maintain Concentration to keep up the effect. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is eyes slightly glow. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
You create a visible manifestation at the Location where your senses are projected which looks like a ghostly image of yourself meditating.
Mensk is obviously a cyborg. He has a mask that he wears that puts people off and filters his voice making him speak in a Gravely robotic tone. Everything about him besides certain key organs like most of his brain and lungs are completely replaced by synthetic look-alikes. Mensk has nanobots that replace a lot of his bodily functions that are normally carried out by living cells.
Mensk is a hallmark success in making a synthetic-organic hybrid. By his choice most of his body is synthetic though. He had lost most of his body to the fire when he was a child but took machinery over cloned parts in an attempt to become something new. Something more than human. Mensk hopes to give the world his vision of the next step.
To be human is to have the capacity to adapt, to evolve, and to embrace technology as an extension of ourselves. Mensk was rebuilt at a young age, he has come to see his transformation as the first step to a humanity were conflict and loneliness are outdated concepts.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: Cyborg. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living Computer when targeted. Your Brawn is increased by 1 and your Intellect is increased by 1.
Your body is adapted to Hacking. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to Hacking.
Your appendages have 30 feet of reach.
Your body provides you with the functionality of Network Penetrators/Scanners/Disrupters. If used to attack, these "tools" use the same stats as a small knife.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Mask of Mensk.
You cannot ignore or decrease the effects of Stress for any social rolls you make.
The Severity of any Injury caused by Extreme Cold or Electricity is increased by 2.
Bummer & Lazarus - a pair of mongrel stray dogs much beloved by the denizens of San Francisco who wandered the streets of that fair city at the same time as the illustrious Emperor Norton the First. With the long wait for a successor now over, the spirits of these noble canines may be summoned up once more by the current Emperor, arriving from any nearby dumpster, alleyway, or similar when called. While clearly ghostly, they still yet serve the Empire!
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Summon the one and only Sapient Ghost Dog at your location. They last for two hours or until they are destroyed. They are controlled by you. You may have at most one minion active at a time.
If killed, you cannot re-summon your minion until after your next Contract.
Mikula Selyaninovich, the legendary bogatyr, was known for his unparalleled strength, not just of body but of presence. His very being carried the weight of the earth itself, and those who stood before him felt as if they were being crushed under an invisible force. Harry Johnson, striving to embody this immense power, taps into the legacy of Mikula when he unleashes his “Crushing Gaze.”
When Harry activates this power, it’s as though he draws upon the ancient strength of Mikula, whose connection to the earth and its unyielding force was unmatched. The air around Harry becomes dense, heavy with a primal energy that can be felt even by those unaware of its source. It’s not something seen but something sensed—a deep, instinctual recognition that the man before them carries within him the spirit of an unstoppable force.
For those who meet Harry’s gaze, the experience is overwhelming. They are suddenly gripped by the same crushing pressure that Mikula’s enemies must have felt, as if the very ground beneath them is pulling them down, dragging them into the depths of the earth. Their mind buckles under this invisible weight, assaulted by the sheer power of Harry’s presence, which echoes the ancient bogatyr’s legendary might.
This is not just fear—it’s a confrontation with the raw, unrelenting power that Mikula embodied. The target feels their own insignificance in the face of such strength, a mental and spiritual blow that leaves them shaken to their core. Even after the moment passes, the lingering sense of dread remains, as if they have glimpsed the true depth of Harry’s potential to embody the legendary bogatyr.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Sapient or Creature target within 20 feet. Roll Brawn + Influence Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target loses that much Source. Once their Source is depleted, excess Outcome is applied as Mind Damage. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target gains a Trauma of the GM's choice.
This Trauma may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Affected targets are aware that they are being attacked and can generally tell who did it.
The magician reaches into their hat and focuses. Inside, light wells and flows like a viscous liquid. Then, they withdraws the item of their choosing.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. You must actively and obviously use a top hat to activate this Effect.
Choose an Object which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You may create firearms.
Roll Perception + Occult to fabricate your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.
The detective can learn a lot by watching someone for a minute. Each subtle detail, every unexplained stain, reveals something about where the target has been. Ocassionally, they'll drop a business card, or explain how to contact them. The detective is listening.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target does not know you're watching them. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, 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 survivalist spends a moment setting up a makeshift booby trap. The tripwires and pressure plates are so expertly hidden, they can only be noticed by those who have fallen victim to them before.
The victim is hit with a tiny curare dart. Pain wracks their body as a potent neurotoxin spreads through their veins.
Exert your Mind and spend 30 seconds to trap a region of any shape that contains your current location and fits entirely within 300 feet. This trap lasts one day or until triggered or disarmed. You must use up a dart in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Survival Difficulty 6.
The trap looks like a tripwire, a pressure plate, or a hidden switch. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid, trigger, or destroy it.
Any Living target that enters the chosen region will trigger the trap. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
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.
Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.
The Witch gazes at a calm and trusting animal and blinks, revealing eyes that have changed to match the creature's. Her body goes limp and collapses, and the witch proceeds to walk away, now temporarily borrowing the animal's body.
A borrowing Witch is a visitor in the animal's mind and cannot overstay her welcome or force the animal into danger.
Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Non-Alien Creature target within 20 feet. The target may Resist.
You possess your target and have control over their actions for the next hour. Your original body will be left behind, unconscious. You may perceive through your original body's senses by maintaining Concentration. If your original body is touched, you may roll Perception + Alertness to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.
Stats: Any Actions you take will use the possessed creature’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception, but use your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities.
Gifts: You do not have access to any Gifts while you are possessing your target.
Death: If the host suffers an Injury, or is destroyed or incapacitated, you are evicted back into your own body. If the possession ends and your original body was killed or destroyed, you will die.
Eviction: You cannot force your host to take Actions which would violate their instinct for self-preservation (which includes engaging in Combat for any purpose other than self-defense or natural hunting); any attempt to do so will sever the connection and send you back into your own body. If you are forced out of the target's body prematurely, you must make a Trauma roll.
Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
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.