Soul Cell Connection

1
This Artifact allows you to communicate with corpses.
Used by David Vance, Created by Metal.
On Legendary Artifact Thomas Edison’s Spirit Cellphone.
(It is clear that you are communicating with the target. You must use this Artifact obviously when activating this Effect.)

David pulls a what looks to be a BlackBerry cellphone out of his pocket, but it has an eerie design on the back of it….a skull, inside a lightbulb, whose vacant sockets seem to stare into yours. The phone puts out only static on one end, but then quietly through its speaker comes the voice of someone you know to be deceased. David speaks as if this is just a normal work conversation, hangs up the call, and puts the phone away in his bag.

(From user manual that was shipped with the phone) “Here at Spectrum S our researchers have combined the research of Thomas Edison’s spirit phone with the reliability and the durability of a modern cellphone! Putting the power to speak to the dead right in our user’s hands, Spectrum S has built you the best NecroTech spectral engineering can devise! Thomas Edison would be proud! But don’t take our word for it, call him up and take his!”
*Spectrum S is not liable for harms, damages, or unintended consequences of speech with the deceased. Thomas Edison’s Spirit Cell Phone(TM) is not warranty secured.*


Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action to activate. Select a Dead target of which you have Full true name and date of birth OR phone number.

The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.

  • 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.

Community Targeted Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a human or Dead target within 50 feet. For dead targets, you must possess their presence of someone who loved or cared for them.

The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.

  • The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human 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 2 Actions. Select a Computer within arm's reach. Does not work on Alien technology. You must actively and obviously use a device-compatible cable to activate this Effect. 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.

Your hack cannot be discovered by system administrators or firewall software for a number of hours equal to your Outcome on the initial roll.

  • 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.

On painting:
It's therapeutic! It's calming! Art can be so many things at once yet nothing at all. It's what you make of it. It's what I say it is. You are what I say you are. You're such a perfect little piece of art... but my prof would always say, "Kill your darlings. 'Ruin' your art and learn to let go." We're letting go of you. Are you happy now?

On technique:
Luciole can never forget the contours. She can never forget the contours of everyone she's ever loved, and that's... E V E R Y O N E . It's only natural that it's the first thing she traces of you, and it's the first thing she'll try to sabotage. She has an image of you in her mind that she traces and cuts at, chipping you away like her painstaking sculpture. Hey, at least you're not getting an unstabilized injury with this. If you're suddenly missing a limb, it just means you have a stump where your hand was supposed to be. Luciole isn't going to waste time drawing all the gorey details.

On abstract art:
She likes unsettling things - was it not clear before? It's not that she dreams of repainting real humans on the daily, but the thought has crossed her mind before. Now she's free to reinterpret bodies as she pleases - no more nonsense about anatomy and drawing style, this is just real life with a cherry on top.

On the horrible things she could do:
Are you curious enough to peek this far? Well, here's a little secret. Luciole isn't perfect at drawing. No one can be, especially not in three seconds.
Chances are,
- You've been disfigured because she tried to redraw your face and failed miserably. Why is your eye where your mouth is supposed to be?
- You're getting chronic ankle instability because she redrew your legs too thin to support the rest of you.
- You're getting missing fingers because she can't draw fingers.
- You're getting tongueless because she erased it and forgot to put it back.
- You're getting wheezing because she's drawn your neck too thin and there's no space for your airways.
- You're missing a limb because she erased it thinking you wouldn't need it.
- You've got a traumatic brain injury because she sneezed and accidentally drew a dent in your head.
- You've got narcolepsy because she drew Z's everywhere.
- You've been skinned because she erased your outer layer. She's a media artist, she draws with multiple layers.

On range:
Luciole has to be able to see you, including the part of you that she is trying to redraw. If you have your head turned away from her, she can't scribble on your face. Hey, why don't you come closer? :)

On healing:
Art is a very transient thing to Luciole. It'll fade over time, but it's okay. She'll make something even better next time, just you wait.

Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Dexterity + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.

If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:

  1. A Minor Battle Scar E.g. an aesthetic-only body modification (a disfigured face, a pig's tail), impacted hand or foot, or vocal changes that complicate communication
  2. A Major Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed hand or foot, an inability to speak, an impacted major sense, removal of a minor sense, impacted movement.
  3. A Severe Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed arm or leg, deafness, aesthetic changes that are nearly impossible to conceal.
  4. An Extreme Battle Scar E.g. removal/disabling both hands or both legs, blindness, a full-body deformation that leaves the target humanoid but makes it difficult to use clothes, vehicles, and equipment designed for humans.
Refer to the stock Battle Scars on the Character Sheet for specific systems.

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.

  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may opt to inflict a Battle Scar that is less severe than what your Outcome allows.
  • 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 or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a living human. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around your target, which absorbs the next Outcome +2 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, or if it absorbs the full amount of Damage. When a barrier falls, you cannot use this Effect again for a minimum of 2 Rounds.

This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is you whispering a prayer under your breath. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

  • If this Effect fails due to the Unreliable check, you must still pay any associated activation costs.
  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.
  • 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 Creature within 20 feet.

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

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.

  • 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.

Stock Targeted Gifts

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.

  • "Destroyed" in this context means "prevented from functioning for its primary purpose", so for instance, an upgraded land mine would still explode as normal if triggered, even though it cannot be "destroyed" and a car's windows may still be broken.
  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • 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 50 feet. You must be in an area abundant with man-made structures and materials.

Select one of the following alterations to create out of standard building materials originating at the target:

  • Wall: Create a straight wall made of standard building materials up to 40 feet long, 10 feet high, and 12 inches thick. This wall can also be used to create a bridge, ramp, or similar. It must be free-standing.

The alteration begins to form when you activate this Effect and finishes forming on your initiative in the next Round. Until it finishes forming, it is not guaranteed to function.

This alteration lasts one minute but may be prematurely destroyed or altered. Your alterations may be broken through with appropriate tools. Anyone attempting to break through must roll Brawn + a relevant Ability. A cumulative Outcome of 6 across all attempts breaks a hole large enough to move through. See the extended system text for GM guidance on various tools.

  • Attempting to break any alterations with inappropriate tools may damage or destroy the tools at the GM's discretion.
  • Any structures you create leave precise gaps for obstacles in their path or push them out of the way. You cannot directly destroy objects or structures or damage beings by creating walls or domes.
  • Tool guidance for GMs:
    • Difficulty 9: Brawn 5, no tools.
    • Difficulty 7-8: One-handed tools or makeshift tools (like a sword). Mythic Brawn without tools.
    • Difficulty 6: Appropriate manual tools. Crowbar, sledgehammer, armor-shredding attacks.
    • Difficulty 4-5: Power tools, vehicles, explosives.
  • This Effect produces the substance you are controlling unless it is drawn from the environment via “Required Environment” Drawbacks.
  • 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 target Location within 75 feet.

You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location. The effect lasts indefinitely but you must maintain Concentration to keep it up. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.

You create a visible manifestation at the Location where your senses are projected which looks like a ghostly image of yourself meditating.

  • This does not satisfy the Line of Sight requirement for targeted Effects.

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.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use at least a gallon of water to activate this Effect. 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 4.

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 cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.