I have learnt enough to know how little I know.
Alice, while in the lab, realized she was the weakest link to finding a cure.
This is the final manifestation of the foolish augmentation she did to herself in that lab.
Days later, after the fighting ended, was when the headaches started. Trapped in bed, sweating, a fever dream. But mostly the fear. The fear her mind was going.
When it passed, Alice could feel the clarity of her thoughts. Whatever the scientists had done to her had been mere building blocks for this. Her mind was glorious.
And she remembered that her mind should have gone. Her mistake, in retrospect, was obvious. It a moment it jumped out at her. The transcription error should have killed her, or worse. But instead, she was still alive. She couldn't see why. Perhaps it was related to the abnormality in her genome and the sun. Or maybe a nudge from a greater power. In any case, she was sure that if she tried to reproduce the effect on someone else she'd turn their mind into tapioca.
But for now... her thoughts were instant, her memory perfect. She'd taken to writing a program to flash documents on her monitor as fast as it could, and with just that moment, she could know it, and index it while she slept.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Intellect rating is increased by 0. 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:
Black smoke bellows out from the ether, that swirls and combines into a lifelike illusion.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Choose an illusion to generate, which can be no larger than a briefcase.
The chosen illusion is generated at your target, and it will remain in place for the next minute or you choose to end it. It can be perceived by people through their sight. The illusion cannot be used as an attack. You cannot make an exact replica of an existing Animate being or Object.
Anyone who touches the illusion (or who would be able to perceive it significantly through a sense it cannot fool) realizes it is an illusion and can choose to perceive it or not at will.
The illusion will remain fixed to its initial target, and can only change locations if the initial target is mobile in some way. It may have moving parts and engage in simple, predetermined movements but cannot perform anything complex or interactive unless you maintain Concentration and “puppeteer” it.
Their eyes burn with a passion to fight, as do their fists ready to strike.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, Grappling, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +2 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:
Long-distance DNA sequencing just shouldn’t be possible…and yet….
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all mutants within 50 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
If no mutants targets are within 50 feet of you, and then one enters range, you automatically detect it, even if this Effect is not active.
Any mutants detected while this Effect is active are “marked”. You will continue to detect them until the Effect ends, no matter how far away they move. You will also continue to detect them after the Effect ends, so long as they remain within 50 feet of you.
Grace conjures her Stake Flames in her small palms and presses them slowly to to the scar. They cleanse as rubbing alcohol would; burning, hissing, but sterilizing. If Grace fails to keep herself calm over the bizarre nature of using her Stake Flames to heal (a confusion that "reopens the wounds"), she comes out of treatment a little worse for wear, and the flames are more painful and a bit less controlled.
Columbus, Ohio: Doctor Murphy and Grace work together to remove the S.I.N. chip from it’s place, wrapped around Guido’s brain stem. Fatal exsanguination and paralysis are major risks, and between Grace’s assistance, all she can think about is how she’ll fix it… she is tired, and worried beyond consolation, and she keeps thinking of the fact that she made a promise.
The surgery was successful, but the stress unlocked something new, and Grace was able to use it later on to fix a scar of her own. The fear of the flames has stopped bothering them in short bursts, but a long minute spent deep in the memory can still be too much for them sometimes.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Make a Trauma roll when you activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar will heal over the course of the next week.
Seraphine embraces the darkness of her curse, losing herself to the beast within in exchange for raw power as a creature of the night.
Exert your Mind and spend a Quick Action.
You transform into Werewolf for 3 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are 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. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see body cracks and breaks apart while turning into a werewolf.
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.
The hacker can overload any electronic device by fiddling with their smart watch for a moment. The targeted device shudders and gets white-hot before bursting into deadly shrapnel.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.
When a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.
The Toon performs some sort of cartoonish act of violence. This may be handing someone a bomb, hitting someone with a cartoon mallet, burping a burp that is so noxious it melts flesh, or anything else as long as it is cartoonish.
The attack is more of a throwaway gag than a plot element, so any props or properties of the attack are incidental and disappear immediately. Animated mallets evaporate in a puff of smoke, fire does not spread, and electricity cannot power devices.
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.
The influencer is 100% tuned-in to any sort of chatter about themselves. Any time someone nearby so much as whispers about them, they know who they were and what they said.
This Effect activates whenever someone talks about you. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a target Location within 75 feet. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.
You may perceive things through hearing as if you were standing at that Location for the next 30 minutes. You must maintain Concentration to keep up the effect. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.
The aquamancer channels a nearby source of water into a flexible whip, which can be used to attack or to defend.
Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use at least a gallon of water to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Athletics 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.
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.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
The Vampire is able to turn one of their victims into a lesser vampire, a pale shadow of a full creature of the night but useful nonetheless. Having drained and killed their target, the Vampire performs a brief ritualistic bloodletting, wherein they spill their own blood into the target's mouth, forcing them to drink, and bonding them together as child and sire.
Shortly afterwards, the fledgling vampire will rise from death, hungry for blood and eager to serve.
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.