Dead Languages "What, no Ingles? Uh...uno momento..." *crunch, crunch, gibber*

1
You possess the ability to communicate with humans.
Used by Edgar Stokes, Created by Strazhari.
(It is clear that you are communicating with the target. )

When consuming the flesh of the dead, Ghouls can sometimes gain fluency in languages known to those they have eaten. Unlike the scraps of memory they usually gain, maintaining such an intuitive block of information is fleeting at best, rarely lasting more than an day. A ghoul may attempt to facilitate this process by eating the tongue of the deceased, although any pound of flesh will do in a pinch.


You gain the following benefits as long as Limited to Languages known by the target and has eaten a portion of someone who knew the language within the last day.

You may understand and communicate to humans as if you are fluent in a relevant language.

This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.

  • The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
  • When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.

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Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing up Crimes of Passion spent on improving power: Dead Languages    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Forever Young spent on revising power: Dead Languages    (since refunded)

Community Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless you succeed on a Difficulty 8 Dexterity + Athletics roll and are running at maximum speed. Roll Dexterity + Athletics 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 12.

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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the target likely explodes into viscera.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • 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.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with blades.

Your attacks with blades deal +3 Bonus Damage. Armor is fully effective against this damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Bullet Parry: You may React to and Defend against firearms and other projectiles with blades.

  • Reminder: Bonus Damage stacks with Weapon Damage, but does not stack with any other Bonus Damage. Instead, the highest Bonus Damage is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have your heart.

Your Perception rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Perception (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

If you are witnessed actively using this Effect, whoever sees it can make a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty 6. A complete success reveals the source of your power.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Slow Time: You may substitute your Perception as the Attribute for any rolls made for Reactions.

  • If your heart is damaged, destroyed, or lost, you lose all benefits from this Effect for the next two months, or until you can recover any relevant missing items (which may involve a side-game and requires a GM to approve whatever process is used).

Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend one minute to activate. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last hour. This Effect cannot be used unless you drained the target's blood while they were still alive.

Your target rises as a Living 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 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. The raised creature must consume a gallon of human blood every day or it will die again.

Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Attributes are all the same as they were in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Benny drain the blood from their victim's neck, and then force the victim to in turn drink his own blood.

  • The creature will die at the end of any 24 hour period gone without consuming their specified diet, and it is important that this growing desperation is reflected in how they are roleplayed.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have your circlet of brassy metal around my skull.

Your Intellect rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Intellect (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

If you are witnessed actively using this Effect, whoever sees it can make a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty 6. A complete success reveals the source of your power.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Remarkably Self-Aware: You may roll Intellect at Difficulty 7 to “scan” yourself for abnormalities; any outside influences on your thoughts/mind will be detected, as well as Traumas, etc. If your Outcome is 3 or higher, you may Exert your Mind to cancel the effect.

  • If your circlet of brassy metal around my skull is damaged, destroyed, or lost, you lose all benefits from this Effect for the next two months, or until you can recover any relevant missing items (which may involve a side-game and requires a GM to approve whatever process is used).

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • You learn the object's highest material value and why it is worth so much.
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

  • 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 (unless you have been recently attacked by your target) and spend an Action. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is undead, demonic, or another evil creature. You must actively and obviously use a gilded cross to activate this Effect. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 8 with a -3 dice penalty. If they are incapacitated or unconscious, they fail automatically and their Outcome is 0.

If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes Mind damage equal to the Contested Outcome. If you deal at least 3 Mind damage, the target will gain a phobia of holy things 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.
  • 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 an Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters). You must actively and obviously use a pointed hat with stars and moons to activate this Effect.

Your target will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. You can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.

Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:

  • Awareness: Animated targets are capable of perceiving the world around them within reasonable limits. They cannot communicate in a clear or coherent way.
  • Movement: Animated targets can use an existing method of locomotion (wheels, etc); otherwise they can move across the ground at 15 feet per round, or hover up to a height of 7 feet in the air at 10 feet per round.
  • Combat: Animated objects cannot take offensive actions in combat.
  • Artifacts: Animating an Artifact does not grant the animated object access to any Effects built in to that Artifact.
  • Ability Use: If an action requires a roll, Animated objects have a dice pool of 7 when performing a task for which they were designed, and a dice pool of 4 for taking any other actions.
  • Toughness: Animated targets are as easy to destroy as they were prior to being animated. If destroyed, the effect ends.
  • Following Orders: Animated objects are controlled by the GM, and will follow any commands you give them, as long as they don't require problem-solving.

  • A task for which an object was designed might include a broom sweeping, a gun shooting things, a car driving, a towel rubbing up on stuff, etc.
  • Animated objects may be more or less susceptible to certain attacks at GMs discretion. A scarecrow golem would be easily destroyed by a sword (or fire). An animated suit of armor may not fear bullets but could be smashed to bits with a hammer. A full bronze statue is largely indestructible but might have difficulty standing up if toppled.
  • 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. All Sapient, Living targets within 50 feet who can perceive you through sight are affected. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the targets will keep their full attention focused on you for contested Outcome in Rounds. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than you. If they cannot perceive you through sight for three Rounds, the Effect is broken. The Effect ends early if the target is Injured or violence occurs nearby.

This does not affect the target’s opinion of you or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on you. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.

  • 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 two Actions performing the following ritual: place a mirror such that it reflects the subject of your illusion. Select a target within 45 feet. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.

a reflection of something else in the area, which can be no larger than a person is generated at your target, and it will remain in place for the next minute or you choose to end it. It can be perceived by people through their sight. The illusion cannot be used as an attack. You may create a replica of a specific being or Object, though it is still limited by what you do or do not know about the subject.

Anyone who touches the illusion (or who would be able to perceive it significantly through a sense it cannot fool) realizes it is an illusion, and the entire effect will be ended for all targets.

The illusion will remain fixed to its initial target, and can only change locations if the initial target is mobile in some way. It may have moving parts and engage in simple, predetermined movements but cannot perform anything complex or interactive unless you maintain Concentration and “puppeteer” it.

  • while you can use an illusion to obscure something smaller, you cannot make anything directly invisible (you can’t make a tank look like a regular baseball, but you can hide it in an illusion of a giant baseball).
  • You may only puppeteer a single illusion at once.
  • 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.