Talisman of Suppression 镇煞符

1
Requires Seasoned
The power to cure diseases and poisons.
Used by Nathan Hong, Created by Ltyinkwint.
(This Effect is obviously Alien when used. You are obviously treating your target for the entire cast time. You must actively and obviously be using up yellow paper.)

Observing the effects of the affliction up close, Nathan attaches a strip of yellow paper to the body of the afflicted as he incants a particular mantra in Mandarin.

As he does so, he builds the body of the talisman, drawing, preferably with cinnabar ink and a brush, from its head to its feet, before the malady is suppressed, the fu flaring to life momentarily, drying instantaneously.

The talisman is mainly composed of its head, gut and feet. Learning this particular effect from school under the Three Pure Ones, these fu begin with three hooks. The gut is the main soul and essence of the talisman, and that which determines its effectiveness and is formulated with several secret characters. The feet, lastly, are as varied as the stars in the sky, depending on the intention behind the talisman.


Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must use up yellow paper in order to activate this Effect.

You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target so long as you have fully diagnosed or understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects. Your patient is required to keep the talisman on them and unharmed (includes getting it wet) for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.

You may treat Alien maladies and curses. If there is some method to cure them, you learn what it is. If the malady does not provide its own means of curing it, it is cured.

  • The patient is aware of the after-care requirement.
  • Without some sort of diagnostic Effect, “fully diagnosing” a disease or poison will always require a roll of some sort, frequently Intellect + Medicine, but the specific roll and difficulty is at GM’s discretion.
  • 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.

Community Targeted Gifts

Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet. Roll Intellect + 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.

Any Injury inflicted is considered Unstabilized no matter its Severity. The roll required to Stabilize it is treated as though it is a minimum of Severity 6. These wounds do not heal naturally, though Effects may still be used to heal them.

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.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see A gaping maw of darkness explodes out from Tastu and hollow screams of death and despair escape its mouth before exploding on impact with the target.

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: missing finger.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Psychopathy: You inherently lack capacity for empathy and regard for others. Whenever you attempt to act with kindness, compassion, or empathy, or take any action that involves caring for others, you must make a Self-Control roll: If you fail the roll, you will disregard or dismiss the needs, feelings, or well-being of others in your actions. Your approach will be purely self-serving and indifferent to the impact on those around you.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
  • Your target must be within line of Effect. There must be no substantial obstructions between you and your target.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire).

You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a torch's flame at your target. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.

Lighting a target on fire deals 2 Damage per Round, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be depleted by any Damage dealt, destroying the Armor once it reaches 0.

  • Someone may attempt to extinguish a fire that you started by spending an Action and rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 8.
  • You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.

The zap effects metal or electronic objects much quicker than non-conductive ones.

Spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien door, container, knot, or lock within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use a magnet to activate this Effect.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.

  • Operating some locking mechanisms through this Effect may have a secondary effect, such as a turn-key ignition on an older or cheaper car causing it to start or stop. Note that the locking mechanism itself must satisfy the standard targeting requirements (including line of sight), not just the vehicle.
  • Any mechanism that requires a key, keycard, key fob, or combination may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. This Effect may be used on doors and containers secured with control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems at large.
  • 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. Select a door, lock, or locked target within 20 feet. Cannot be used on Alien technology.

You may lock, unlock, and/or open your target.

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

  • Any door or restraint that is fastened or shut with a mechanism may be considered locked, at the GM's discretion. Can be used on control panels or other electronic locks, but not computer security systems.
  • If you operate a locking mechanism through this Effect which has some other secondary effect (such as the ignition on a car causing the car to start) you may cause that effect as well.
  • 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. Select a Living target within 30 feet. You must use up Handful of Scandinavian Sand in order to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Athletics at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 3 Rounds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Contested Outcome x 3 hours.

Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.

An affected target's dreams while they are asleep will involve you in some way, and will reveal you as the source of their sleep as well as reveal secret information about yourself to them.

  • The target is aware than the secret information about you which was revealed in their dream is true, even if the rest of the dream may be written off as just a dream.
  • For targets where "sleep" does not make any sense in terms of flavor, they will power down, freeze, etc, whatever state they can be in which is analogous to sleep.
  • 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.

Stock Targeted Gifts

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.

  • 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 10 Rounds and use up this a bottle of metallic fluid. Select a Object within arm's reach that is no larger than an SUV. Cannot be used on Alien technology. More than half the target object must be present in order to begin repairs. Roll 7 dice Difficulty 6, dice penalties do not apply.

If you succeed, your target is repaired back to a functional state. If you fail, you spend the full time working before realizing you cannot repair the target.

  • This consumable is destroyed when used and cannot be used again.
  • 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. 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.

  • Depending on the length of your message, it may take a target some time and/or effort to understand it in its entirety.
  • 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.

Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach that has died within the last hour. This Effect cannot be used unless you drained the target's blood while they were still alive.

Your target rises as an Animate being. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They cannot communicate. They will follow any command you speak.

The creature lasts until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion. The raised creature must consume flesh every day or it will die again.

Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.

Your revived targets deal 2 Weapon Damage with their unarmed attacks.

If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.

  • The creature will die at the end of any 24 hour period gone without consuming their specified diet, and it is important that this growing desperation is reflected in how they are roleplayed.
  • The sacrificial Injury received from activating this Effect cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed. It is shared with all Effects that use sacrifice. This Injury does not requires Stabilization or cause Battle Scars when it becomes Severe.
  • 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 (unless you win a coin flip) and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.

If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:

  1. A Minor Battle Scar E.g. an aesthetic-only body modification (a disfigured face, a pig's tail), impacted hand or foot, or vocal changes that complicate communication
  2. A Major Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed hand or foot, an inability to speak, an impacted major sense, removal of a minor sense, impacted movement.
  3. A Severe Battle Scar E.g. a disabled/removed arm or leg, deafness, aesthetic changes that are nearly impossible to conceal.
  4. An Extreme Battle Scar E.g. removal/disabling both hands or both legs, blindness, a full-body deformation that leaves the target humanoid but makes it difficult to use clothes, vehicles, and equipment designed for humans.
Refer to the stock Battle Scars on the Character Sheet for specific systems.

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."

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Witchy Appearance. You have a long, warty nose and chin, wrinkled skin, and a hunch back. Social rolls are at +2 Difficulty, and your free movement is reduced by 10 feet.

Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion for payback. You must roll Self-Control to avoid using this Gift on anyone who wrongs you in a major way.

  • A given target can have a maximum of one Suspended Effect on them at a time. The selected triggering Action cannot be used to reveal information about the target (e.g. no "activate when they are a vampire"). It must be an Action they take, not a thought or something that happens to them.
  • Remember: A Contractor’s Body rating is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.
  • You may opt to inflict a Battle Scar that is less severe than what your Outcome allows.
  • 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.