The aristocrat knows a ritual that allows them to rent the best version of any item. They set $10,000 worth of cash on fire and place the item to be upgraded in the fire as well. While in the flame, the item morphs into a high-end version of itself. After a while, it reverts.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. You must use up $10,000 cash (or equivalent) in order to activate this Effect. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice.
Leon has decided that it is time to stop merely playing at divinity and begin embodying it. The first step in doing so is to honor one of the most ancient traditions of Kami. Naorai, the end of the period of fasting and moderation wherein the gods pay the believer back for their devotion. In doing so Leon enjoys a meal in a blessed location as the kami responsible for the people in his land at a sanctified location, during which time he accumulates the energy of faith shared in the meal into a bottle of sake that he keeps beside him throughout the meal. Then, at the end once the bottle has filled with the energy and the sake has been enriched with the spiritual power of both Kami and believer, Leon then takes a drink of sake and bites his tongue before he spits the mixture onto the object in question and in doing so blesses it granting it the power of the kami that aid him in his day to day life and cleansing it of impurities with his own life essence. In this communion as well, two items may be brought into union as god and believer are and in doing so elevate both to something beyond either.
Exert your Mind and spend an hour. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. This Effect cannot be used unless Can only be used during a meal with another consenting sapient being. You must use up Blessed Sake in order to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
You may choose a second valid Device target while activating this Effect and splice both targets into a single new Device. The newly created item has the same size as the larger of the two initial targets, and can be used to perform the same actions as either of the original items. It receives 3 to those actions for the next day.
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.
In the clandestine world of espionage, where shadows whisper secrets and the line between ally and adversary blurs, there exists a lawyer turned spy, a master of subterfuge with a power as unique as their dual life. This individual, known only to a select few, possesses an extraordinary ability to infuse mundane spy equipment with unparalleled capabilities, transforming them into artifacts of immense tactical value.
On a night draped in secrecy, our spy enters a nondescript room, the air thick with anticipation. Around them, an array of common espionage tools lay scattered across a workbench—each item a silent witness to missions past and yet to unfold. With a practiced eye, the spy selects a compact surveillance device, its appearance unremarkable, its potential untapped.
As their hands envelop the device, a faint glow emanates from their fingertips, casting an ethereal light in the dimly lit room. The air hums with unseen energy as the spy focuses their will, channeling their unique power into the heart of the gadget. Under their touch, the device begins to transform, its form becoming sleeker, its essence imbued with a power that defies conventional understanding.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact 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.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: I plead The Fifth -Roll a mind to speak to the police. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
A dusting of purple glitter is spread across the artifact, enchanting and abjuring it in ways technology could never quite manage.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact 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. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
Setting down the item to be upgraded along with a rod of carbon on top of it to serve as resources, a set of phased arrays in the cuff of his wrist begin to scan over the object, slowly disintegrating the carbon and integrating it into the object, upgrading it as they go. Carbon isn't quite the right material to use - even transforming it into other elements to use - but it tends to break down within the day.
Expend a point of Battery and spend a minute. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. You must use up a rod of pure carbon in order to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
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.
Gustav calls forth his dark passengers to Seize the thoughts of his target, as the connection is made Gustave soul is ripped asunder and shot forth into their mind. He opens a journal and begins to write, the pen secretly drawing blood as it writes in dark red ink. Gustav experiences the visions of the stolen memories as he starts to write in Hebrew in his journal, his eyes slightly glazed over in concentration.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend 1 minute. Select an Animate target within 300 feet You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Intellect + Occult 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 unaware their memories are being probed. 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.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is Writing in a journal, eyes unfocused. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Cocaine is my god!: It's white hot ecstasy suffuses every atom of your being. Roll self control to not administer cocaine to yourself or others in stressful situations..
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.