Control Vermin Stay out of the woods!

1
Requires Seasoned
This Artifact allows you to command creatures.
Used by Walter Prescott, Created by Redchigh.

With miscroscopic vision or successful examination with science or occult, it becomes obvious that this is
not a naturally occurring stone but some kind of petrified resin unlike anything currently in use. You notice that the surface of the face is lined with minute geometric patterns (similar to modern computer circuit boards) With at least 4 successes on Occult, they recognize this as alien technology, perhaps carved after creation by someone else.

Upon touching any sapient entity's exposed flesh, it triggers a mind roll at 8. Failure or Botch means you are possessed by the artifact, and immediately are inflicted with a absolute hatred of humans, and overwhelming desire to flee to the nearest wilderness area and defend it from human incursion by force. On a failure, they may reroll to break free in 2 hours, on Botch it is 24 hours. Two botches in the same lunar cycle possesses them until the new moon. A possessed target will relentlessly hunt down the artifact if it is taken, though if it is not in their possession on the new moon they begin to recover over the next week or so. The artifact can possess multiple people, though only the person in posession of the artifact can use its powers. In the case of multiple possessed targets, they will work together to drive off the humans, before likely fighting over the artifact.
A single success will prevent this possession, as long as they maintain the artifact in their possession.

While asleep, you may tap into the creatures under your command and receive visions of sights and sounds the commanded creatures experience. You may also communicate with the commanded creature.

If the commanded creatures travel over 5 miles from the artifact, the effect ends for those individuals.

Commands are limited to
Sit (go to a described area the creature is familiar with and remain. If you set a specific condition that the creature is capable of noticing, you will be notified when it occurs. A single creature isn't particularly perceptive, though a horde certainly is)

Pester (They will follow a target they can see, and hop, jump, or fly as close to it as possible without touching it.)

Attack (Small numbers of the creature will attempt to attack the target(s) identified. Due to size, the damage is capped at 2, this is dodgable, and a small number might not be able to efficiently do damage at all.

Swarm (There must be a large number of individuals, such as 60+crows or thousands of bugs- and they will all attack at once, moving at the creatures normal speed. These masses are usually fairly large (20+ ft wide for the minimum size), and anyone caught in the swarm will take damage, capped at 4. larger numbers simply make the horde larger, and harder to get out of. Vision and sound is obscured when inside a swarm and disorientation is likely. You must be able to move entirely out of the swarm with a free action to be able to effectively dodge, but the most effective approach is shelter or fleeing.)


Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Creature within 300 feet.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow. All other Creatures which are the same species as your target will also be compelled to follow commands that you issue if they are within 300 feet when the command is given.

Your commands must be relatively simple and within the target’s intellectual grasp. You can make them endanger themselves or otherwise go against their self-preservation instincts. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: Territorial: If humans infringe on what you consider a private space, you must make a self control roll to not drive them out by force.. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

Revision purchased with:
Gift from House Games of yore spent on new power: Control Vermin

Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use Medical Suplies 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

  • Without some sort of diagnostic Effect, “fully diagnosing” a disease or poison will always require a roll of some sort, frequently Intellect + Medicine, but the specific roll and difficulty is at GM’s discretion.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living, Animate target within 20 feet Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

You are able to view your target's memories. The target is aware that their thoughts are being probed but not of the source of the probe. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range or your Concentration is interrupted.

You may ask specific questions about their memory - “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc - but you cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”

Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 10 feet.

You place a ward, which is fixed to a target Object that can be moved and repositioned. You can perceive with all your senses or activate investigative Effects through the ward as though you were standing at its location. You may have at most 3 wards running at once.

The ward requires Concentration to monitor, though it will remain active until you deactivate it. It can be detected with a roll and destroyed through mundane means.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see The eyes on the tails on the back of the jacket open and weep blood that ignites once on the floor and takes the shape of the fox.

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.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
  • Any targets visible via your ward satisfy the line of sight requirement for targeted Effects.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Sapient target at any range. Activation requires possession of the target's one drop of blood, which is used up during the process. This Effect cannot be used unless a successful tracking roll. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8 with a -3 dice penalty. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically.

If they fail, your target will take 1 point of Mind damage and gain paranoia as a Trauma. 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.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

You must use up cocaine in order to activate this Effect.

You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must take a Severity-1 Injury and all participants must Snorting cocaine to seal the deal.

Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.

When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:

  • The terms of your oath may involve the transfer of objects. When the terms of the oath are fulfilled or broken, the object is transported directly to the proper participant. The object must be present at the sealing of the deal.
  • The oath-breaker dies (if alive)
  • A Battle Scar up to Severe (deaf, missing limb)
  • The oath-breaker is physically marked as an oath-breaker, and any investigative effect will reveal the terms of the oath they broke.
  • A particular Trauma and a single Mind Damage
  • The oath-breaker goes unconscious for up to 24 hours
  • An Injury up to Severity-6 (cannot be reduced by any means)

The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.

You may revert a penalty for breaking one of your oaths on any participant other than yourself.

When crafting your oath, you may opt to enforce compliance. If you do, any participant that wishes to break the deal must take 3 Mind damage and succeed a Self-Control roll. They may attempt once per day.

Whenever a participant breaks the oath, you are immediately made aware and may even witness the act as if standing nearby.

It is obvious to your target that the oath you are proposing will be supernaturally enforced.

  • Reverting a penalty covers only the direct penalty for breaking the oath, eliminating the relevant Injury, Battle Scar, etc.
  • All Oaths must have at least two participants.
  • The target must be physically present to enter the oath.
  • The terms and penalties of the oath do not need to be equitable and do not need to affect all parties equally.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Stock Targeted Gifts

Spend 10 Rounds and use up this a bottle of metallic fluid. Select a Object within arm's reach that is no larger than an SUV. Cannot be used on Alien technology. More than half the target object must be present in order to begin repairs. Roll 7 dice Difficulty 6, dice penalties do not apply.

If you succeed, your target is repaired back to a functional state. If you fail, you spend the full time working before realizing you cannot repair the target.

  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology Difficulty 6.

If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.

When a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.

  • The penalty from an object being damaged will stack with itself if a target is hit multiple times, but the object is destroyed when it reaches a total penalty of -4.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Influence at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn a hidden desire of the target. Roll Outcome determines the relevancy / secret-ness of the desire.
  • You learn their relationship to a specific individual (chosen prior to the effect activation).

The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

Any information you gather is spoken aloud in conversation and made publicly available.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Creature within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a terrestrial animal.

For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.

Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.

Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

  • Your commands must be directly communicated to your target in some way, though this does not require a shared language.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

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”).

  • You do not gain mind-reading through this effect, so your ability to alter their memory is limited by your knowledge of what they might know.
  • The target's roll to realize their memories have been altered can be made a maximum of one time per day.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.