A splitting headache, and Archie’s eyes and the veins under them glow like the lights of whatever location he’s viewing, usually fluorescent white (but sometimes neon bisexual).
Really, Archie can’t stand not knowing what’s going on. His interns and employees always suspected Archie could tell what was going on without him there, but now he doesn’t need to check security cameras…
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect.
You may perceive things within 75 feet of you as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next five minutes.
Any Perception rolls made through obstacles are rolled at +1 Difficulty.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a Living or Sapient target within your line of sight. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you possess your target for a number of minutes equal to the Contested Outcome. The target has no control over their body or actions, though they retain consciousness and will remember anything that occurs during the possession.
You do not leave your original body behind when you possess a target. When a possession ends, your original body will reappear at the host body’s same location. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.
Stats: During the possession, you use the host body’s Body rating, but your own Mind rating. Any rolls you make use the host body’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception but your own Charisma and Intellect. You may use either your own or the host’s Ability ratings, whichever is higher. You gain the effects of any physical Assets and Liabilities they have. You cannot read the target’s mind or memories.
Gifts: You have access to and can use any of your own Powers which are not intrinsic to your biology or physical body. You may access and use any of the target’s Gifts or other supernatural effects while you are possessing them.
Death: If the host body is killed or destroyed while you are still possessing it, you will die along with it.
Eviction: If you attempt to force your host to take actions which would violate one of their Limits or their instinct for self-preservation, they must make a Trauma roll. If they succeed, the possession ends and you are evicted from their body. If they fail, they will gain a new Trauma, but can still choose to Exert their Mind and evict you back into your original body.
As Ware proffers the tech to the potential borrower, a long EULA document displays in a hologram to the target. It has an accept button and a scroll bar, and accepts a vocal response as well. It also notes near the top that accepting the tech will also count as accepting the EULA. The (cliff notes of the) usual EULA is in the Extended Text, but may be modified for specific scenarios by Ware. It is written in Legalese, and thus will require a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll to decipher fully.
Things marked with an "*" are unclear to anyone failing the contested roll.
Terms that must be followed by the person accepting the technology, hereafter referred to as the "Borrower":
- The Borrower must not, directly or indirectly, knowingly act in a way that inconveniences or harms Ware without her permission.
- The Borrower must return the technology at the time (or condition) specified by Ware upon receipt of the technology. If they miss that deadline, the Borrower has 1 hour to rectify this before they are considered to not have adhered to this condition.
- The Borrower must not, without express permission from Ware, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to replicate her proprietary technology. *
Upon breaking the aforementioned Terms, the Borrower will have the following penalties applied to them if they have not removed or otherwise left behind the borrowed technology. If the Borrower breaks these terms while not using the technology, any attempt to use the technology moving forward will activate these penalties.
- The Borrower, hereafter referred to as the "Oath-breaker", will be branded as an Oath-Breaker via a sigil on their forehead.
- The Oath-breaker will have their dominant arm removed, and the wound cauterized.
- The Oath-Breaker will be rendered unconscious for 12 hours.*
- The Oath-breaker will be given a mental compulsion that renders it difficult to attempt to betray anyone else.*
This Effect cannot be used unless the target is accepting WareTech.
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 Exert your Mind and all participants must accept the offered technology 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 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.
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.
The ground cracks, the flames of hell flickering through.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within 25 feet. You must actively and obviously use A metal Coin necklace to activate this Effect. The area within 10 feet of the chosen Location immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. On the following Rounds, you may choose to detonate the Blast as a Free Action on your initiative. When you do so-- or when one minute elapses-- roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.
If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 10 feet of the chosen Location with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4.
Anyone hit by the blast may roll Body at Difficulty 7 as a Free Action, and reduce their Damage taken by the Outcome. Damage spreads to targets beyond the edge of the initial radius, decreasing by 2 Damage for every 5 feet traveled.
Any flammable Objects within the radius during the blast will catch fire, and any being who takes at least 4 Damage will catch fire. Starting the Round after they caught fire, flaming targets take 2 Damage per Round until the fire is extinguished.
If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see The souls of the dead erupt from hell, clawing at anything in their radius..
The target is met with an extremely practiced stare designed to evoke feelings of panic and guilt. As though they promised to do something and either forgot to do it or never went through with it.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Sapient or Creature target within 20 feet. Roll Intellect + Medicine 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, your target will take 2 points of Mind Damage and gains two new Traumas of your choice. The Trauma should be general and not specifically mention you. You should not have to be involved to trigger the Trauma.
these Traumas may be removed by Effects or mundane therapy, as normal. Targets that receive a new Trauma are aware that you are interacting with them but they do not view it as an attack or view the resulting Trauma as malicious. If their Trauma is treated, they will be able to see the reality of the situation.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Weak Stomach.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion to Heal the Injured.
Ghosts of their ancestors encircle their target as dim golden light starts to etch tribal markings that line up as wounds strewn across the person's body.
Spend 30 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach. 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:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see Ghosts of their ancestors encircle their target as dim golden light starts to burn.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
The mad scientist produces thorium cores that can be used to upgrade tools and other devices. The core supercharges the item, increasing its quality and rendering it indestructible for a period. However, once the core runs dry, the object is rendered less useful than it was before. The core crackles with blue electricity while active.
Spend 1 Action and use up this glowing blue disk. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target 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.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.
While addressing a crowd, the influencer may use coded language to send secret messages to a particular person in the crowd. These messages can't be noticed or understood by anyone but the intended target.
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. This Effect cannot be used unless you are speaking to multiple people and the target is listening.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is your left hand making a fist. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The mobster presents a reasoned, logical case to the target: there's a lot of dangerous folks out there, and only they can offer safety... for a price.
If they agree, they will pay the mobster a monthly fee for protection. If they stop making their payments... well, let's just say, the mobster can't be held responsible for any unsavory types that might pay them a visit.
This Effect cannot be used unless you are making a deal to exchange money for protection.
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 Exert your Mind and all participants must shake hands 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 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.
The hacker can overload any electronic device by fiddling with their smart watch for a moment. The targeted device shudders and gets white-hot before bursting into deadly shrapnel.
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 doctor is a master at surgical transplantation. As long as they have a donor part, they can replace any permanent, lingering battle scars on their patient. Of course, the transplanted part doesn't always match, and the patient must be careful to follow the doctor's aftercare orders, or the replacement will be rejected.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a donor body part matching the injured area in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.
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. Lasts until the end of their next Contract or 1 month for non-Contractors.
Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind a mismatched replacement on the target which cannot be healed.