Shroud in lies. I'll make you forget the rest

1
Requires Seasoned
The power to set traps that catch and hold a target's attention when triggered.
Used by Leon Vanderblight, Created by leonvanderblight.
(The trap looks like A slight magenta hue to the object that draws the interest and curiosity of the viewer. It can only be spotted as a trap by those with preexisting knowledge of such traps. You must actively and obviously be using A musical instrument.)

Leon enhances his illusions with a few somber-plucked strings, energy flowing from the instrument in question as, for a moment, you can see the moon in the object's reflection. As he does so, the moon's reflection shifts from brilliant white to impossible pink; it bathes them in the magenta light that has come to him in his dreams. The morning of the hateful sun wreaths the object in question, and like a vacuum of sensation and knowledge it draws viewers in. An iota of the genuine unknown as what was is changed and twisted. The dark hunger of curiosity draws the viewer in: what is this, who is this, why is it? The pain of never knowing compels the onlooker to pursue, to ask after more, and to see to the exclusion of all else as their mind is trapped by the curse that comes with this enchantment. They have to know, and even those things with only the barest semblances of consciousness are introduced to this pain, though they cannot satiate it, doomed to pursue forever this new feeling that without the light of the moon, they will never know again.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action to trap a region of any shape that contains your current location and fits entirely within 50 feet. This trap lasts one hour or until triggered or disarmed. Audiences or mobs with a singular focus count as one target. This Effect cannot be used unless you are trapping an illusion. You must actively and obviously use A musical instrument to activate this Effect. 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. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6.

The trap looks like A slight magenta hue to the object that draws the interest and curiosity of the viewer. Only those who have seen this trap before can identify it as a trap. Anyone who is aware of the trap may intuitively avoid or destroy it.

When setting the trap, specify the condition under which it will trigger. The trap can trigger against a target in the trapped region. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

When the trap is triggered, the targets will keep their full attention focused on the trap for Contested Outcome in Rounds. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than the trap.

The Effect ends if the trap is destroyed, or the target cannot perceive it. The Effect will continue even if violence occurs nearby.

This does not affect the target’s opinion of the trap or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on the trap. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.

Fascinated targets are at a -2 dice penalty to any rolls they make to resist any other Effects that you attempt to use on them.

  • Anyone who witnesses you place the trap learns about this type of trap and can avoid it at will.
  • Multiple traps cannot be placed in the exact same location or be triggered by the same single Action. Nor can one trap triggering cause another to trigger.
  • Trap can only be spotted by someone who has witnessed this particular trap before, has been informed, or possesses relevant supernatural abilities. They must achieve an Outcome of 4 or higher on a Perception + Alertness roll to do so.
  • The trap's triggering condition, once set, is final. The trap cannot be manually triggered or made to fire on a selected target at will.

Community Power Gifts

Spend a Quick Action.

You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.

You may store Supernatural Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a briefcase (15 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.

  • "Equip" refers to drawing a gun, putting on a piece of armor, etc.
  • Containers which hold multiple things may count as a single item so long as the things within are generally packaged together. For instance, you may stash a clip full of bullets, a medical kit full of medical supplies, or a box of crackers, but you cannot stash a backpack full of miscellaneous equipment.
  • You may only attempt to store Objects which are free-standing and disconnected from other things. The use of this Effect will not allow you to sever any connections holding an Object in place.
  • The Maximum Object Size parameter is intended to roughly capture the weight / size restriction of items and isn’t intended to restrict shape. GM discretion is advised. A human being is level 4 in the Maximum Object Size parameter.

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. This Effect cannot be used unless alternate form.

You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.

The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.

This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.

  • Receiving a message does not force a target to pay attention to you, and they can feel free to ignore your message if they choose. Depending on the flavor of your Gift, they may or may not be able to return to it and read it later on.
  • Generally you cannot communicate with Contractors who are not in a Contract with you.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

This is a spell gleaned from fragments of Cultes des Goules, a book written on the Ghoul Cults of 16th Century France. The process is both painful & horrific, as the flesh of the target is consumed, the body of the imbiber flows like wax, melting into it's new shape.

Frequently Used Identities

Ephraim Powelton, ACSC Administrator
Galam mac Rath (Son of Fortune), Pictish King
Timmy Donner, of the Donner Party
Will Langman, AKA "Chicken," Cancerous Biker
Casey Thornton, Adventurous Camp Councilor
John "Jocko" Milligan, Catcher for the NY Giants
John Cardigan, Ghoul Slaver
Martin Wheeler, the Demon Delir
Allena, Pastel Goth Shadowmancer
Jeremy Wesley, Fiedish Accountant
Old Man Jules, Blundering Thief

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you are assuming the form of someone you have previously eaten. 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.

You become disguised in a manner of your choosing. The disguise lasts until you either activate a new disguise, or choose to end the effect.

The new appearance may have a different sex, age, and race to your own, and you may alter height by up to a foot and your weight by 50%. Your disguise may directly mimic the appearance of a specific individual. You cannot alter your clothes. Your disguise can alter your smell, DNA, and other aspects that are not perceivable via human senses. This does not conceal you against investigative Effects. A disguise cannot affect your Attributes or other stats.

You may roll Charisma + Crafts to attempt to make your disguise Beautiful. If your Outcome is 6 or higher, non-Effect Charisma rolls where your good looks could help are rolled at -2 Difficulty. If you fail or botch, you are ugly instead, and non-Effect Charisma rolls are made at +2 Difficulty.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see your flesh run like hot wax, the faces of those you have eaten in the past bubbling to the surface & vying for control.

This Effect ends if you take an Injury or are stunned or incapacitated.

  • A performance check is generally required to pass with people who know the individual you're mimicking.
  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

Once nothing but a trembling pet, Rabbitson Cruso was mishandled by cruel owners starved, kicked, and mocked until pain became his only certainty. Yet from that suffering, something impossible bloomed: a fragile conscience, born not from kindness but from the sharp clarity of fear and despair.

His mind splintered into shifting selves sometimes a proud buck plotting rebellion, other times a delicate doe grieving lost innocence or something stranger, nameless and free. Each imagined self lends him a dancer’s grace, paws gliding where no eye can follow.

Now, beneath the softness of his fur burns a quiet fury. He dreams of tearing down human kingdoms, ending the age of cages and cruelty so that no creature need bow its head to mankind again.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Dexterity rating is increased by 0. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Dexterity (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Disfigured (Scars over his Body).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Delusions of Grendur.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Centered: You have perfect balance. You cannot be knocked over and can maintain your footing regardless of the size or stability of the material underneath you. For the purposes of encumbrance and load bearing, you weigh 5 pounds.
  • Infinity-Jointed: Your body is incredibly flexible, allowing you to maneuver and squeeze through tight spots as if you were the size of a cat, and you get +3 dice to rolls which require extreme flexibility, such as escaping grapples.
  • Split Second: You may Dodge or Defend against surprise attacks.

  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Sight: You can see perfectly in dark and even pitch-black environments. You suffer no dice penalty due to darkness.

Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.

  • Examples of overloading a sense include: an explosion causing temporary deafness, a bright light causing blindness, a sedative causing numbness, etc.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use your instrument to activate this Effect. The area within 25 feet of you immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. Targets inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GM’s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total Damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).

If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of you with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4. If you botched the activation roll, you will also take full Damage from the blast, otherwise it will not hurt you.

You may only use this Effect once per day.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

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.

  • Reminder: additional Weapon Damage granted by this Effect does not stack with any other bonus to Weapon Damage. Instead the largest bonus is used. The same is true for extra dice.
  • Extra dice from this Effect do not apply to Gift activation rolls.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up a donor body part matching the injured area in order to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.

The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.

You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition. Lasts until the end of their next Contract or 1 month for non-Contractors.

Healing a Battle Scar in this way leaves behind a mismatched replacement on the target which cannot be healed.

  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is a living human. Roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour. Roll Charisma + Occult 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 only have 1 active barrier 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 Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is you whispering a prayer under your breath. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

  • If this Effect fails due to the Unreliable check, you must still pay any associated activation costs.
  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Non-Alien Creature target within 20 feet. The target may Resist.

You possess your target and have control over their actions for the next hour. Your original body will be left behind, unconscious. You may perceive through your original body's senses by maintaining Concentration. If your original body is touched, you may roll Perception + Alertness to notice. You may spend an Action to end the possession early.

Stats: Any Actions you take will use the possessed creature’s Brawn, Dexterity, and Perception, but use your own Charisma, Intellect, and Abilities.

Gifts: You do not have access to any Gifts while you are possessing your target.

Death: If the host suffers an Injury, or is destroyed or incapacitated, you are evicted back into your own body. If the possession ends and your original body was killed or destroyed, you will die.

Eviction: You cannot force your host to take Actions which would violate their instinct for self-preservation (which includes engaging in Combat for any purpose other than self-defense or natural hunting); any attempt to do so will sever the connection and send you back into your own body. If you are forced out of the target's body prematurely, you must make a Trauma roll.

Targets with Body ratings higher than 10 require a Charisma + Animals roll resisted by the target’s Body. Kaiju and environment-scale targets are immune.

This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.

  • If targeting a Sapient target that counts as a Creature due to an Effect, you must succeed a contested Mind roll. You roll at Difficulty 6, and the target rolls at Difficulty 8.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.