There are few visual cues; however, the target gets a cold, uneasy feeling like they are being watched. The feeling is of something angry at them and themselves. Almost shameful. Meanwhile, the closest duelling pistol or smoothbore flintlock will unlatch or float from wherever it is and start moving toward the target at supernatural speed. Charging and holding the gun, a ghost-like figure will flicker in and out, looking like a slender, frail woman. She looks like a woman of solid noble heritage. She will rush forward until she gets right in front of you. She will put a traditional duelling pistol against the chest right in front of the target's heart before firing.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. You must actively and obviously use Model Dueling Pistol or other Smooth Bore Pistol to activate this Effect. Roll Charisma + Influence Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4. Armor is reduced to 1/2, rounded down against this Damage.
The target suffers a -3 dice penalty for the next hour or until the Injury is healed. This dice penalty does not stack multiple times on the same target.
When Sam is caught in an fire fight, he is quite adept at shooting, being able to reload at speed. When he drops something, it drops without a fuss nor a noise.
You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with firearms.
+2 dice to all firearms rolls.
You also gain the following effects:
Once the oath's final participant has kissed the cigarette, all present shall see you assume the aspect of the devil. All shall bear witness to the pact as it has been struck, shall scent the sulfur of its striking, and witness the chains binding the participants together. All shall hear the striking of a clock, and witness the vistas of Hell on whose rocks the oath has been written. The vision shall last for but a fraction of a moment, but it shall certainly be remembered far longer.
You must actively and obviously use a cigarette to activate this Effect.
You may make an oath with any number of physically-present, Sapient targets. Communicate the oath's terms to the targets, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must kiss a cigarette 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 targets 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 targets, 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.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see you momentarily take on the aspect of the devil.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion to offer an oath whenever met with a significant need an oath could satisfy.
Taking the Arm and the Eye did not just ease the pain. The socket stoped the bleeding, the eye let me see. The flesh of her forearm let me live, but the muscle let me fight back. Taxidermy more than surgery, but it works just as well.
Exert your Mind and spend ten minutes to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up The same type of body part as what is scarred/damaged, taken from a fresh corpse or surgically removed in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar will heal over the course of the next week.
Accumulated knowledge after traveling for 70+ years... has finally borne fruit. The user has way more knowledge than the average person, and can act on someone else's turn, if they deduce that that person might pose a threat.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
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).
You also gain the following effects:
Despite being over 700 years old, the user of this gift has not aged since consuming the "Holy grail" and still appears to be a fairly handsome 20 something whose hair cannot be cut and nor will it grow out.
Due to the consumption of what he thought was the holy grail, he was "killed" but his sheer hatred and bloodlust would not let him die so pitifully in that hole.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are permanently and visibly transformed: long knight-locks that grow back when their cut, eternally preserved skin. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Charisma is increased by 1.
You are immune to damage from heat and flames. If heat is a substantial component of other damage you would take (e.g. slashed with a flaming sword), that damage is reduced by 2 (in addition to Armor)
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Paranoia driven by the grailโs influence.
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 toon shouts a catchphrase, strikes a pose, and then zips away at a high speed, leaving a cloud of dust behind. While moving, they look like a blur.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.
Finally, the girls are fusing the way theyโve wanted to since they began Contracting, three and a half years ago. It took Graceโs left eye for them to try this, but the girls are now able to spend a week focusing their energy towards a Battle Scarred area and permanently replacing it with The Spiritโs ghostly flesh. The replaced chunks, eyes, arms, whatever may come, appear just as The Spiritโs: bluish and semi-transparent, but now function just as the respective physical flesh would.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.
All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.
The aquamancer shifts into their elemental form and melds into a nearby collection of water, only to reform shortly out of a different source of water within line of sight.
Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. Select a Location within your line of sight , and which is directly adjacent to water. You must be within arm's reach of water to activate this Effect.
You are transported directly to the chosen Location. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.
True to their namesake, the hacker can penetrate the security of any computer system, granting access to its informational stores, or, in a pinch, allowing them to issue commands. The hacked system will display a flickering image of a ghost until it is dismissed.
While hacking, The Technician's fingers move with supernatural speed, blurring like a ghost.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Computer within arm's reach. Does not work on Alien technology. 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.
If your command does not require bypassing the security of the target (for example, typing on a computer that is unlocked), you do not need to Exert your Mind to activate this Effect, and activation only takes a single Action.
Your Hack cannot be reversed through mundane means for a number of hours equal to your Outcome.
Every hack you make leaves behind a flickering image of a ghost in the system as a personal "calling card" that informs anyone who uses the system that the hack occurred.