Grow Shell

1
The power to create a protective barrier.
Used by River, Created by ShadyTradesman.
(This Effect is obviously Alien when used. The target and source of this Effect are obvious to bystanders.)

River's skin hardens into chitinous plates that protect him from harm. The plates are most obvious on his back, shoulders, and legs. The rest of his skin looks normal but is much tougher.

In beast mode, this may manifest in more dramatic ways. Growing armored plates, scales, etc.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Roll Brawn + Athletics at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome +4 Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

The barrier will fall after two hours, 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.

  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from running An Out of Body Experience spent on improving power: Grow Shell    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Venture Captalism I spent on new power: Grow Shell
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Community Activated Gifts

Being a writer sucks. Pushing deadlines, the vultures of media, the pressure of expectations. So, to make things easier, the writer pretends everyone around them is a character, that if forced/written enough, will help them.

Exert your Mind and spend one minute. You must use up a pen's worth of ink and paper in order to activate this Effect.

You may understand and communicate to humans and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.

This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.

While active, you may choose to use glib tongue. When you do, anything you say (even gibberish) will be exactly what the target wants to hear. You gain no understanding of what that might be.

  • The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
  • When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. This Effect cannot be used unless Atlas is active. You must actively and obviously use Rangers Cloak to activate this Effect.

You phase out of reality for up to 10 minutes. During this time, you cannot affect the outside world (other than non-combat Actions using your hands, at +2 Difficulty) or take any Actions. You may move as normal while phased out. You may pass through walls and "climb" up and down through solid material at normal climbing speeds. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you phase out, you may bring up to 2 additional target in arm's reach with you.

When you activate this Effect, you may limit its duration to a period of your choosing. If you are able, you may also end it as a Free Action on your initiative.

You leave a solid after image at your location.

  • If you phase in while intersecting with solid material, you take a severe, potentially-lethal Injury.
  • Any items and equipment on your person become intangible along with you. You cannot interact with them, as they are intangible.
  • Effects that do not require a physical target may still affect you.
  • If you use this Effect to dodge as a Reaction, it succeeds without the need for a roll. Cannot be used as a Desperate Defense.
  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

Spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless the target (if living) consents.

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 any targets in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside an SUV (4,000 liters), and you may store up to 3 things at a time.

Animate targets may Resist being stashed.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Scarred Left Eye - All Perception rolls that are reliant on having both eyes are at -2 dice. Any Perception roll that would be easier with both eyes is at -1 dice..

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Gun Nut - You have an unhealthy obsession with guns. (Whenever you would see a deadly firearm, you must roll Self Control or try to obtain it).

  • 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.

The user has been briefly transported into the World of Film Noir, the abode of Frank's benefactor. It appears as an almost endless greyscale city, its streets lined with collapsing buildings and tired denizens. Cigarette smoke forms an impenetrable smog around the city, accompanied by an ever-present smooth jazz soundtrack.

Over-exposure to this world can cause adverse various mental effects, often slowly morphing the user's mind into a flanderized mess of Film Noir tropes.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. 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 phase out of reality for 1 Round. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

  • If you use this Effect to dodge as a Reaction, it succeeds without the need for a roll. Cannot be used as a Desperate Defense.
  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

After the events of a previous Contract, Laz wanted to be anyone else. Eliza helped him work out how he can be. Now he finds himself doing business with another face

Exert your Mind and spend a minute.

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 cannot directly mimic an existing person. You may change the appearance of your outfit. 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.

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

  • While you may alter your outfit's appearance, this does not grant or store equipment.
  • ‘Appearance’ includes voice, bone structure, skin quality, hair length and color, eye color, muscle tone, flesh texture, and generally anything perceivable about your body.

Stock Activated Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action.

You transform into a werewolf for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a werewolf, 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 2 and your Dexterity is increased by 2. 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).

Your alternate form renders you unable to speak any human language and incapable of fine object manipulation. You can only hold or grasp objects in a crude, clumsy way.

After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.

While transformed, you automatically fail any Mind roll to resist an impulse and suffer -3 dice on all other Mind rolls.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Whenever you are struck by the light of a full or gibbous moon, you must roll Self-Control to resist transforming. Triggers a max of once per night.

  • Reminder: Weapon Damage from multiple sources does not stack. Instead, the highest value is used.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. You must actively and obviously use a watch to activate this Effect.

Lasts 1 minute. Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is doubled.

Outside of Combat, any non-Gift, non-movement Actions you attempt take drastically less time to complete, as long as your personal speed is a factor in the Action. Total time reduction is determined by the GM and capped at 90% (executing the Action takes no less than 1/10th the normal time).

  • The time reduction on non-Movement Actions applies only to the parts of actions when your personal speed is a factor,: pouring water or smoking a steak are not affected, but constructing a shelter or picking a lock would be. The GM will determine how much the total time is reduced based on how relevant personal speed is to the task.
  • Any Encumbrance penalty to your movement still applies, but you do not suffer from any sort of exhaustion.
  • Damage from a collision depends on your speed at the time, as well as what you hit. GM's discretion, but generally moving faster than a car on the freeway and hitting a dense, solid object like a wall or a tree should be lethal. Mundane armor will not apply, but any supernatural forms of protection will.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations. Lasts 2 hours.

  • Spider Climber: You are able to climb on and cling to any surface without regard for the ordinary rules of gravity. You climb at your normal movespeed.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You automatically detect all illegal materials within 50 feet of you for the next hour. You have a clear sense of both the distance and direction towards any detected items. You do not learn any details about the detected items.

  • This includes any objects that come into range during activation.
  • This Effect does not satisfy the line of sight targeting requirement for other Effects.

Spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use a scarf, sheet, or handkerchief to activate this Effect.

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 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. You may store or withdraw a maximum of 6 items in a given Round. Reminder: you may perform up to two Quick Actions for -2 dice each or 3 if you use up your Action, unless a different Effect grants you additional Quick Actions.
  • 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.