The Indomitable Human Spirit “I’ve got too much on the line to just die here”

2
Requires Seasoned
You possess the ability to come back to life.
Used by David Vance, Created by Metal.
(While "dead," you in an Incapacitated state, though you appear dead to any means of detecting life. )

David appears to die. He crumples and his body collapses to the ground. His spirit rises away from the corpse and is dragged below the earth. Then his spirit claws its way out of the Beyond an hour later, dragging itself by its fingertips back to his corpse, where it enters and life is returned to him.

While David may have acquired many of his other abilities through research, this one he acquired through willpower. When he died, Vance decided he had too much on the line to pass away, and he clawed his way back from the Beyond itself to keep up the fight.


You gain the following benefits at all times.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state, though you appear dead to any means of detecting life. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life.

If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + Brawn, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in Brawn, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.


Community Passive Gifts

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

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +2 Bonus Damage Weapon Damage (instead of -1). The target's Armor is fully effective against this damage.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Ghost Wrangler: You may grapple incorporeal, liquid, or gaseous entities.

  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

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

+2 dice to all rolls with melee weapons. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using melee weapons.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Disfigured.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Quick Draw: You may draw and equip yourself with any melee weapon on your person or within arm’s reach as a Free Action, as long as it is not being wielded by someone else.
  • Two Swords are better than One: If you are wielding more than one melee weapon, you may Attack with all using the highest Weapon Damage, plus 1 for each additional weapon. If you reserve a weapon, any Clash or Defend roll you make is -1 Difficulty, and mob penalties are ingored.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.

  • Hearing: You are completely obscured from hearing. You produce no sounds while this Effect is active. All attempts to detect you via hearing fail. Attempts via other senses where hearing would assist are rolled at -2 dice.
  • Sight:You are partially obscured from being noticed by sight. All attempts to detect you using sight are rolled at a -3 dice penalty, and all attempts to detect you where sight would assist are rolled at -1 penalty. Anyone who detects you cannot determine any visual details about you beyond your general shape.

While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you from other, additional senses fails automatically. If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.

Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: a scar across the face. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.

  • GMs should use their discretion when determining the exact impacts of this Effect, particularly in conjunction with environmental factors. Standing still against a complex background may render you impossible to detect, and footprints in snow may make it easy. A chance to detect you is not guaranteed.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0.

While Incapacitated, you may Exert your Mind to take a single action.

Humans in general need to interact with nature at least a little bit for their mental well being, without it their mental health takes a substantial hit. Carpathia's power taps into that innate connection to nature to help her connect with others better.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Worth a shot: whenever combat breaks out, you must roll self control in order to not spend your first action attempting to talk down your opponents from further violence.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Anime: You may have a 30 second conversation with another character on your initiative each Round in Combat, and using any Communication Effect takes a Free Action instead of a full Action.
  • Honest Eyes: Your word is accepted as honest so long as you are speaking the truth as you understand it. You can always tell if someone telling a lie without making a roll, though you may not know what they are concealing
  • Me, an Empath: You have an intuitive understanding of the emotional state of any Animate being within 30 feet. Once per person per day you may roll Charisma + Influence to learn what things they respect or disrespect in others.
  • Unflappable: Any attempts to control or influence your thoughts or emotions are rolled at +1 Difficulty.

  • On its own, your empath abilities do not allow you to detect lies.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Stock Passive Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you have fed on fresh human blood in the past 24 hours and you are not in direct sunlight.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: a seductive and powerful humanoid, with pale skin and wicked fangs. You are considered to be a Sapient, Non-Living being when targeted. Your Brawn is increased by 1, your Dexterity is increased by 1, and your Charisma is increased by 1.

Your Injuries no longer degrade with time. You do not age naturally, and supernatural attempts to age you fail.

The Severity of any Injury caused by fire and heat is increased by 2.

  • You must still perform some equivalent of eating, sleeping, and drinking unless other Effects allow you to ignore that requirement.
  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Silver Bullets drawback on Regeneration.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as as long as you have drank a half gallon (lethal) amount of blood in the past 24 hours.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level each hour. 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.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: you have blue, bioluminescent blood and a hunched posture adapted to running on all fours. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living Creature when targeted. Your Dexterity is increased by 1.

Your body is adapted to sprinting. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to sprinting.

Any Animate being that consumes or is injected with your bodily fluids receives a Severity-1 Injury. Every Round, they must roll Body Difficulty 9. If they fail, the Injury worsens by 1 Severity. If they succeed, the Injury stops worsening.

You cannot be mistaken for a normal human. You cannot always use standard human clothes, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, and when you can, you suffer an increased Difficulty.

You cannot ignore or decrease the effects of Stress for any Self-Control rolls you make.

  • Even though you're targetable as a Creature, you still are also targetable as a Sapient being.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with firearms made in your home country.

+2 dice to all firearms made in your home country rolls.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Point Control: Called Shots that you attempt only require a Contested Outcome of 2 for small targets and 4 for tiny targets.
  • Quick Fingers: Drawing your weapon is a Free Action as long as it is on your person. You may reload or swap ammo as a Free Action.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Constant Vigilance: You may React to surprise Attacks, and you do not automatically lose initiative if ambushed or caught-flat footed. +2 dice to Initiative.
  • Can't Unsee: Any Trauma rolls you make are rolled at +2 Difficulty.

  • You can still be ambushed if you are incapacitated, stunned, or being kept unconscious supernaturally.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.