Attention to detail “Gathering Evidence is how a lawyer works”

1
You possess supernaturally heightened senses.
Used by Harold Polk, Created by jwesley123.
(This Effect may or may not be obviously Alien.)

Harold’s Enhanced Perception interprets every scent and sight as though it were a silent “speech act” embedded in the world around him. Just as Speech Act Theory suggests that language conveys intent and action, Harold’s senses allow him to detect unspoken messages within scents and traces left by touch, movement, or presence. Each scent or invisible detail, like a fingerprint, becomes a form of communication—a kind of sensory language revealing clues about who or what was present, and what actions took place.

Through his heightened sense of smell, Harold treats scents as unique “signatures” left by individuals or objects, each telling its own story. To him, a scent is a lingering “utterance” of someone’s presence, as if their movements and actions left traces in the air. By differentiating between scents with precision, he can read this invisible narrative and connect it to people, places, and events he’s encountered before.

Harold’s vision allows him to see normally invisible details—fingerprints, bacteria, residual marks—as the “evidence” of actions, each trace a physical “speech act” left behind. Just as words convey hidden intentions, these traces serve as residual expressions of past interactions. When Harold views these otherwise invisible elements, it’s as if he’s reading silent statements from the world itself, each detail contributing to a deeper understanding of what has transpired.

In this way, Harold’s Enhanced Perception transforms sensory information into a conversation with his surroundings, where every trace, scent, and hidden detail is a part of a larger dialogue that only he can perceive. His mastery of Speech Act Theory enables him to interpret these sensory “statements” and unravel the story beneath the surface, making him an expert at uncovering truths in silence.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Smell: Your nose is highly sensitive and can differentiate between scents the way a dog can, as well as recognize things you have smelled before.
  • Sight: You can see things that are normally invisible to the naked eye, such as fingerprints and bacteria.

Any heightened senses require you to maintain Concentration to use, and do not apply to any passive Perception checks.

  • Your microscopic vision requires a close look at a very small, specific area to use. It does not grant increased distance vision, it simply provides a higher resolution, allowing you to see finer and finer detail.
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from running The Night The Storm hit spent on improving power: Attention to detail    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Crimes of Passion spent on new power: Attention to detail
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Community Passive Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

You have 3 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. Called Shots may circumvent your Armor, depending on its coverage.

  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You gain 2 additional limbs that function as standard human arms and hands.

Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Each additional appendage you have gives you +1 dice to make and resist Grapples (up to a maximum bonus of +4 dice).

Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.

You may dedicate your extra Quick Action to contest any attempt to escape your Grapples. If you do so, you roll your full dice pool to contest and retain your Action to do anything that does not target the subject of your Grapple.

Your Extra Appendage counts as an object and can be hacked or targeted by any Powers that affect objects or machines. Injuries to your Extra Appendage cannot be healed by Powers that affect living things but may be repaired during Downtime.

Your Extra Appendage is incapable of fine object manipulation.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Whenever you use your Movement, after all other calculations, the distance you may travel is increased by 25 feet.

  • 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.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have fed in the last 24 hours.

You get +2 dice to any Body resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:

  • Purge Toxins: You may take a Severity-1 Injury to cancel the effect of any non-Alien drug, poison, or toxin in your system, as long as you are aware of its existence.
  • Survivor: You are immune to all non-Alien diseases.

  • These bonuses apply only to Body rolls made to resist Effects and other supernatural phenomena. They do not apply to other contexts such as attacks made while under the Creature Transformation Effect.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You and any clothes or equipment you are wearing are partially obscured from sight. All attempts to detect you using sight are rolled at a -3 dice penalty.

You only remain obscured while you are standing still; moving or taking actions will suspend the Effect for a Round. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for 1 hour.

  • GMs should use their discretion when determining the exact impacts of this Effect, particularly in conjunction with environmental factors. Standing still against a complex background may render you impossible to detect, and footprints in snow may make it easy. A chance to detect you is not guaranteed.

Stock Passive Gifts

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.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Intellect rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Intellect (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brilliant Deduction: You may spend five minutes pondering an enigma, puzzle, or mystery, and roll Intellect at Difficulty 8. Success will reveal a clue or other tidbit that you have otherwise missed. Limit once per enigma.
  • Insufferable Know-It-All: Any social rolls you make are at +1 Difficulty, and if someone else can answer an informational question or solve a puzzle before you do, make a Trauma roll. The Difficulty of this Trauma roll cannot be reduced by any means.

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

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Dexterity rating is increased by 1. 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).

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

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You gain an additional limb that functions as a standard human arm and hand.

Each additional limb you posses can take one Quick Action per Round without incurring a -2 dice penalty to your main Action. Each additional appendage you have gives you +1 dice to make and resist Grapples (up to a maximum bonus of +4 dice).

Any Battle Scars that affect or remove your additional limb will heal in a single week.

You may dedicate your extra Quick Action to contest any attempt to escape your Grapples. If you do so, you roll your full dice pool to contest and retain your Action to do anything that does not target the subject of your Grapple.

Your Extra Appendage is incapable of fine object manipulation.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Sight: You can see things that are normally invisible to the naked eye, such as fingerprints and bacteria.

  • Your microscopic vision requires a close look at a very small, specific area to use. It does not grant increased distance vision, it simply provides a higher resolution, allowing you to see finer and finer detail.