Higher Processing

1
You possess superhuman wits and insight.
Used by Aira (Ashley Scott), Created by August.
( Your Heterochromatic processor eye must be used or obviously visible while you are actively benefitting from this effect.)

Aira's blue eye glows as she engages in anything requiring her intelligence, however, that has left her anti-social and genuinely insufferable when she decides to be social.


You gain the following benefits as long as you have your Heterochromatic processor eye.

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).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: anti-social.

If you are witnessed actively using this Effect, whoever sees it can make a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty 6. A complete success reveals the source of your power.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Never Forget: You have a perfect photographic memory, and can recall or recreate even complex and detailed things. If you forget something you had previously seen or noticed, you may ask the GM and they will remind you.
  • Quick Thinking: Any Intellect rolls other than Power activations are made as Free Actions. You get +2 dice to all Initiative rolls.
  • Wait For Your Moment: You may take your Action on the turn of anyone who has a lower Initiative than you. If you do, you receive +2 dice to that roll.
  • 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.

  • If your Heterochromatic processor eye is damaged, destroyed, or lost, you lose all benefits from this Effect for the next two months.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Community Passive Gifts

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

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.
  • Touch: You can identify any material with a touch and immediately find what you are looking for when rummaging, assuming it is actually present. You may withdraw items from your bags with a Quick Action instead of an Action.

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

Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: Crackling Veins - Electricity surges through your arms to enhance the senses, producing a blue glow and the crackle of static under the skin. You take a -2 dice penalty to all Stealth rolls, and direct skin contact with metal surfaces produces an electric spark. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.

  • “Rummaging" means digging through trash, finding a needle in a haystack, etc.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

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

You also gain the following effects:

  • Tough: You gain Armor equal to half your Brawn rating. This Armor cannot be penetrated and protects against falling Damage.

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

As his vision faded, his other senses sharpened in ways he could hardly bear. It was as if the spirit of Sukhman Odikhmantievich, a mystic bogatyr from his lineage, had awakened within him, refusing to let him turn away. Sukhman was known for his uncanny ability to see beyond sight, a gift for perceiving the world’s hidden layers. Now, that power had passed to Harry, manifesting as a twisted gift that denied him the relief he had sought in blindness.

At first, Harry didn’t understand what was happening to him. His sense of smell became overwhelming, every scent pulling memories to the surface as if they were embedded in the air. He could smell the faintest traces of sweat, metal, and fear lingering around him, scents that brought back battles he thought he’d left behind. Each breath became a reminder of those he had lost, each scent carrying the echoes of faces and voices he could not forget. It was as if the world around him refused to let him go, holding onto him with the smells of sorrow, blood, and regret.

Soon, he discovered that his hearing had intensified, too. Every sound reached him with brutal clarity, each noise carrying a sense of purpose he couldn’t ignore. He could pick up the faintest whisper from across a room, distinguish the intentions behind movements, and feel the emotions in people’s voices. The softest sigh, the quietest scrape of a blade—everything spoke to him, telling him more than he wanted to know. Silence brought no peace, only a tense anticipation that something would break it, each sound pulling him back to the present, refusing him the respite he had hoped to find.

But the most unsettling discovery came when he began experimenting with music, trying to find solace in the familiar tones of an instrument. It was only then that he realized the full scope of his curse. When he played a note on a flute, a string instrument, or even a drum, he found that the sound reached out into the world, bouncing back with a picture of his surroundings. Each note provided him with a map—a way to “see” without sight, an echolocation that formed a mental image of the space around him. Yet, every time the sound returned, it carried something extra—a ghostly whisper, a faint echo of voices from his past, like the world was forcing him to confront the memories he’d tried to bury.

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.
  • Hearing: You are capable of perceiving physical shapes via sound. You must produce a play a sound on a musical instrument to “ping” with your echolocation each Round you wish to use it.
  • Electroreception: You may detect electromagnetic fields, electric currents, and even neurological activity in a 50 foot radius from yourself at all times. When detecting neurological activity, you learn nothing but the creature's rough size.
  • Thermal: You are able to "see" heat signatures within your line of sight.
  • Hearing: You automatically know the origin location of any sound you hear, and you can tell which Action caused the sound.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Complete Blindness.

  • When you are within 50 feet of range, your electroreception sense is sufficient for aiming.
  • Your thermal vision allows you to judge temperatures of surfaces fairly accurately as long as they are within livable temperatures.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.

  • Sight:You are partially obscured from being noticed by sight. All attempts to detect you using sight are rolled at a -3 dice penalty, and all attempts to detect you where sight would assist are rolled at -1 penalty. Anyone who detects you cannot determine any visual details about you beyond your general shape.

While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.

If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. You only remain obscured while you are standing still; moving or taking actions will suspend the Effect for a Round.

  • 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.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with katana.

+2 dice to all rolls with katana. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using katana.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Finesse: You may limit the Severity of any Injury you inflict or determine a maximum Wound Level to inflict on the target, including Incapacitated. You may also choose to make this Injury properly or improperly stabilized, or to keep it unstabilized.
  • Sheathing the Sword: When you would Clash with an opponent, before the dice are rolled, you may opt to have both sides deal full damage. If you do, your attack roll is at -2 Difficulty.

Stock Passive Gifts

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

You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.

Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor shredding or penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots. When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.

Any time your Armor prevents Damage, your Armor rating is temporarily decreased by 2. Whenever it goes five Rounds without preventing any Damage, it is restored back to its full value.

  • Armor recharging happens automatically and does not require an Action.
  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.

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 must actively and obviously be using clothes or a uniform that displays the flag of your country to gain the benefits of this Effect.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.
  • When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.

  • Communing with terrestrial animal does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are in werewolf form, and you are engaged in unarmed combat.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brutal Strikes: If your attack inflicts a Battle Scar, you may choose which of the appropriate-severity Battle Scars the target suffers. If it causes a less severe Injury, you may inflict a Minor Battle Scar of your choosing.
  • Jiu-Jitsu:When you successfully grapple an opponent, you may choose to also deal damage to them equal to the Contested Outcome on the grapple roll.

  • The total damage of a ju-jitsu grapple-attack is equal to your Outcome minus their Outcome. Bonus Damage from the Bonus Damage Parameter does not apply to damage dealt through this Enhancement.
  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.