Cassiopeia invites you to sit down with her favourite book and read together, with a video of a fireplace playing in the ambience. After reading a seemingly random sentence she stops and asks how you feel about it. Also, what was your childhood like?
On therapy:
Of all the things she's learned throughout her university days, it's that everyone needs therapy - she herself has gone to a session or two for reasons she won't disclose. Whether they've had a good childhood or not doesn't matter. Stress can get to anyone and it's much better if everyone willingly learns how to deal with it instead of shutting themselves away. She knows she realistically can't help every person on Earth but at least it'll save her the pain of watching yet another star blink out.
On books:
She's always loved books. She wants to share that love with everyone else too. Someone she once knew would always put on fireplace or rain ambience in the background, and she's been doing that ever since. It's a fond memory.
On the gift needing a trauma roll:
Baring your heart to someone else isn't easy. Or that's what Cassiopeia tells herself, though her approach to therapy is definitely more forceful and on-the-spot; imagine being pulled out of your headspace to answer exactly why you read a certain line with a certain tone. She'll dig into your head if it means she can potentially help you.
On psychology degrees:
People don't usually get jobs directly related to an undergraduate psych degree, and Cassiopeia wasn't dedicated enough to study any further. She's thought of being a therapist before, of course, but she wouldn't want to make that her entire life.
On the Witherheart Mask:
Cassiopeia originally intended for the gift to go on the Mask, but she realizes it's a bit disingenuous to let a magical item do all the work for you. This would've been the description had she used the Mask:
"You sit down in the fabled Cafe Cosmo, where all your worries shall fly away. The barista appears to be a masked figure who listens in silence, but it also feels like the problems you reveal are being... absorbed."
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. Your target must make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Over the course of one day, 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 + Influence 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.
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.
Joseph's voice has always been complimented for being so enchanting and impactful to his audiences, so why not make it literally enchanting? When he sings and makes eye contact with a target, the lyrics of the song he's chosen will spill out of his mouth in glowing golden letters in the air, and Joseph will be able to draw out and manipulate the target's emotions as he so pleases. Anyone who the target interacts with during this may also fall under the spell, as the effect of his voice is just that hard to ignore. However, as all performers know, it's incredibly taxing to maintain such a strong command over a crowd, so for now, Joseph limits his usage of this ability -- after all, it is wise to keep your best performances for the best opportunities possible.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet as well as a specific emotion. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6 -3 dice.
If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by the chosen emotion. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.
Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.
When your target interacts with any valid target, they must roll Self-Control or be swept up in the same emotion. New targets pass it on as well, and so on, with the remaining duration decreasing by half until the chain stops.
While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
I through dust on them and when activated it makes the target look visibly older for a second then affects appear
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a Living target within 25 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the dust must cover them a good amount. You must use up items made from downtime in order to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. Your target may resist by rolling Body at Difficulty 8.
If you succeed, the target is afflicted with a Condition that causes any number of the following symptoms:
The affliction is not treatable by modern medicine. It may be diagnosed by rolling Perception + Medicine at Difficulty 6, and can be cured by priest's prayer.
You may cure any target you’ve afflicted at any range as a Quick Action.
When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
The XO was a proud and power hungry man. His will to keep going was so much in fact that dying and going down with his ship didn't stop him from lingering as a violent spirit. At the owner of his ledger's behest he manifests near his target and swings with his blade, the spectral weapon cuts only what is living tissue of the target, an extension of his envy.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet. Roll Charisma + Occult 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 2.
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's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
A shimmering magic barrier forms around their target, a translucent crystalline effect over them.
The Caretaker uses the power harvested from their deal with their vessel to protect them. It then must abide by the rules of its own vessel contract in order to use their powers on anyone other than those directly involved in the bond, or those directly acting against their vessel.
Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless you actually have a high potential individual (Contractor) bound as a vessel. Roll Charisma + Influence 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 have up to 3 barriers active 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 Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Pure Fur - You are a strange little guy. (You appear innately unusual and noteworthy, being a little white squirrel/cat thing).
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Hive Brain - You feel no significant emotions and have trouble understanding those acting on them. (You lack any and all intense emotion and believe them to be akin to a disease. Make a Self-Control roll to ever believe or take an action that contradicts this belief).
Vergil is nice to a literal supernatural degree, and through a combination of nearly invisible spores in the air that glow a light blue, and a healthy helping of empathy and emotional intelligence Vergil can ensure that the people he's around are in better mental health than any mental hospital in the world. Though blissfully unaware of its assistance by the mushroom parasite inside him, hey. What you don't know won't kill you... right?
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you On a critical failure inflict them with Algernon's Flower.. 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 + Influence at Difficulty 6.
If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Your patient is required to assist at least one innocent in the next month in a meaningful way for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.
You may attempt to treat an unwilling patient. They may choose to resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7. The nature of their Trauma will still be revealed to you if you treat them successfully, though they may not tell you directly.
Once per day per target, you may choose to use this Effect to stabilize a target's Mind. 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 permanent Traumas which were recorded as Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes 30 seconds and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.
The creature's claws rip through the poor, defenseless doctor's coat, opening deep gashes in their gut. It bares its fangs to lunge for the killing blow, but the doctor looks up at the attacker. Their eyes filed not with utter terror at their imminent demise, only a look of disappointment and pity. Touched, the monster hesitates. . .
This Effect activates whenever you receive a Severity 2 or higher Injury from an attack. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by remorse for hurting such a pure soul. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.
Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.
The aquamancer channels a nearby source of water into a flexible whip, which can be used to attack or to defend.
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.
The Witch summons a crow, whispers a message to it, and sends it off to deliver her words. Half an hour later, the crow arrives at the recipient and repeats her message aloud in its croaking, animal voice.
Spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be as complex or as large as you like. It takes at least 30 minutes before it is received.
The message may be intercepted while in transit, and may be overheard, read, or otherwise understood by anyone near either you or the recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The Toon performs some sort of cartoonish act of violence. This may be handing someone a bomb, hitting someone with a cartoon mallet, burping a burp that is so noxious it melts flesh, or anything else as long as it is cartoonish.
The attack is more of a throwaway gag than a plot element, so any props or properties of the attack are incidental and disappear immediately. Animated mallets evaporate in a puff of smoke, fire does not spread, and electricity cannot power devices.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 45 feet. Roll Charisma + Performance 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. Armor is fully effective against this damage.
The mystic enters a meditation while focusing on a remote location. A glowing sigil of an eye appears on their forehead, and a ghostly image of themselves meditating appears at the location they are envisioning. For a brief period, they may see the area they are projecting to as though they were standing there.
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.