As Joshua gets into combat, his body starts to slightly convulse, morph into a creature; his bones rearranging in order to proper shape the new look, his skin stretching to make new skin folds for the flightless wings, his horrifying physique standing taller than he originally was, and overall a creature designed for terror and death.
Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action.
You transform into a Vargheist for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a Vargheist, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 1. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see his body rip and morph, bones cracking in order to place properly to fit the new shape.
Whenever you enter Combat, roll Self-Control. If you fail, you cannot choose which targets to attack and cannot stop fighting until there are no targets remaining.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
Rather than aiming for brute force, each strike is executed with a controlled finesse that speaks to a deep understanding of the human anatomy. The blade seems to caress the air as it arcs through a mesmerizing series of loops, spins, and thrusts. With each movement, Machida's eyes remain fixed on his opponent's form, as if reading the very essence of their being.
"Itamae style: Usugiri" draws inspiration from the precision and finesse displayed in the traditional Usugiri cutting technique employed by Itamae. Just as the Itamae utilize their delicate knife skills to create thin, precise cuts in delicate ingredients, Machida applies a similar philosophy to his swordplay, but in a combat context.
The connection becomes evident in the way both techniques emphasize control, accuracy, and respect for the subject. In Usugiri, the goal is to cut ingredients so finely that their natural flavors are preserved, demonstrating the chef's skill in enhancing the essence of the food. Similarly, Machida's approach is not to inflict severe harm but to precisely incapacitate his opponent while minimizing undue suffering.
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.
You also gain the following effects:
Eyes turn black
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Device within 20 feet. Can be used 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.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is glowing black eyes. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
When targeting non-computer devices, you may operate switches, buttons, dials, levers, and latches.
Put on a new face and saunter off, a new man.
You gain the following benefits as long as you have regenerated fewer than 12 times.
If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state. While incapacitated, you can take one Action per minute, starting one minute after you were incapacitated. 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 + twice your Intellect, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than twice your rating in Intellect, 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.
After you recover from near death, you may roll Body at Difficulty 7. Success will stabilize any remaining Injuries.
His face and hands begin to pour blood and that same red leaks from all open wounds. Eyes to wide and bulge, blood vessels popping and eyes going red. Muscles bulge and tighten, and a growl thrums in the throat like vibrating tar.
Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action. This Effect cannot be used unless you have drawn blood or been attacked. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour.
You transform into a raging berserker for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a raging berserker, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Dexterity is increased by 2. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
Your body is adapted to running. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to running.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see your face and eyes steam with bloody mist, and all wounds on your body begin to pour blood from every orifice and wound.
Dolly has a powerful imagination and she is great at playing pretend. Sometimes she can even convince the world to play along with her. Eventually the world gets bored of playing with Dolly but that's okay! They can play again some other time.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend 1 minute.
Choose an Object which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You cannot create firearms.
Roll Charisma + Performance to fabricate your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. The created item lasts 2 hours.
The survivalist spends a moment setting up a makeshift booby trap. The tripwires and pressure plates are so expertly hidden, they can only be noticed by those who have fallen victim to them before.
The victim is hit with a tiny curare dart. Pain wracks their body as a potent neurotoxin spreads through their veins.
Exert your Mind and spend 30 seconds to trap a region of any shape that contains your current location and fits entirely within 300 feet. This trap lasts one day or until triggered or disarmed. You must use up a dart in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Survival Difficulty 6.
The trap looks like a tripwire, a pressure plate, or a hidden switch. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid, trigger, or destroy it.
Any Living target that enters the chosen region will trigger the trap. The target may contest by rolling Body, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 2. The target's Armor is completely ignored.
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.
Instead of dealing Damage all at once, the Injury caused by this Power starts at Severity 1 and worsens at the rate of one level per Round until it reaches the Severity it would have otherwise been.
When the Vampire's lust for blood is satiated, their injuries heal at a remarkably fast rate and new injuries are quickly stabilized. While healing, the Vampire's skin retains its deathly pale appearance, as any blood he consumes is being used to repair his wounds.
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.
Doc puts his hands on you and begins to mutter to himself in french. The effect is instant and horrible. You begin to remember all of the sins of your past, all the ways that you've wronged those who loved you. All of the terrible, evil things you've done on these contracts in order to survive. Doc seems to be in the grips of similar memories, tears running down his chin and dripping onto his hands that are pressed tightly against you. At the point where your mind feels like it's about to break, it's over. Just as quickly as it began. You feel your wounds begin to close.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Medicine at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.
This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.
The werewolf's gnashing teeth sheer through steel and bone alike. Those caught in their maw rarely make it out alive.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are in werewolf form, and you are engaged in unarmed combat.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).
You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.
You also gain the following effects:
The musician pours their heart and soul into their music, giving others some much needed perspective and solace and all around good vibes. This can be a temporary easing of the mind, but with prolonged music therapy it can even permanently cure psychic damage.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. This Effect cannot be used unless you continuously play music for your target during the activation. Over the course of one Downtime, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Once per day per target, you may choose to use this Effect to stabilize the Mind of a target within arm's reach. Treatment takes 30 seconds but will not remove any Traumas. If you are successful, restore 2 Mind damage.
You may choose to use this Effect to temporarily relieve any number of the patient's Traumas (including mental Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes an Action and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.