Orbital Shield "Infinite Defense, Adaptive Power"

1
The power to create a protective barrier.
Used by Dr. George Elliot, Created by Cake.
(Activating this Effect is not obvious. The only sign you are using an Effect is its presence is subtly betrayed by the faint heat it gives off of. The closer you get to the user the hotter it gets.)

Orbital Shield is a cutting-edge defensive technology that surrounds the user with an invisible, adaptive energy field. Unlike traditional shielding systems, the Orbital Shield operates silently and seamlessly, remaining undetectable to the naked eye. It is designed to reflect any form of attackโ€”whether physical, energy-based, or otherwiseโ€”back to its source with precision.

This advanced system is fine-tuned to protect only the user, ensuring that its effects do not extend to the surrounding environment or unintended targets. As the shield requires no visible components, it offers unparalleled stealth and versatility, making it ideal for scenarios where both defense and discretion are paramount. The Orbital Shield provides a perfect balance of impenetrable protection and minimal environmental impact, embodying the pinnacle of personal shielding technology.


Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. This Effect cannot be used unless When falling below or taking 5 body severity damage, or 8 mind severity damage. Roll Intellect + Technology at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome +2 Damage. Any Damage absorbed by the barrier is reflected back to the attacker, up to a maximum of 2. Their Armor applies in full. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.

You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, 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.

This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is its presence is subtly betrayed by the faint heat it gives off of. The closer you get to the user the hotter it gets. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.

  • Effects which circumvent Armor completely also circumvent your barrier.

Community Power Gifts

This is Selmaโ€™s art at its purest: weaponized despair. Over the course of her grim work, she has become a repository for countless final moments, confessions of the dying, and the silent horrors no therapy could erase. Now, she pulls from that endless well of agony, solidifying it into a brutal force of obliteration.
This blast is not simply destructive โ€” it is deeply personal. Every bit of pain she once tried to soothe now detonates outward, a fitting requiem for all who thought their sins, their hurts, could remain buried.

(Selmaโ€™s hands tremble โ€” not with fear, but anticipation. A low hum grows in the air, the static feeling of countless deaths, regrets, and unspoken agony twisting into something tangible. Around her, the very weight of trauma compresses reality until it buckles, releasing a shattering blast that leaves flesh and bone crumbling in its wake.)

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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. The area within 25 feet of you immediately and obviously becomes imminently dangerous. Anyone in the area has 1 Round to attempt to escape. During the next Round, on your Initiative, roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6. Targets remaining inside the radius may attempt an appropriate Reaction at GMโ€™s discretion. Finding a physical barrier to use as cover will cut total damage taken in half (applies after Reaction roll but before Armor).

If the Outcome is positive, your blast hits everything within 25 feet of you with Damage equal to your Outcome + 4. If you botched the activation roll, you will also take full Damage from the blast, otherwise it will not hurt you.

Damage spreads to targets beyond the edge of the initial radius, decreasing by 2 Damage for every 5 feet traveled.

If you successfully hit your target, the value of any Armor they are wearing is reduced by 2. For material armor, this penalty lasts until it is repaired. For intrinsic armor, it lasts until the end of Combat and any relevant wound is healed.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see A sphere, woven from the traumatic events of my patients, takes physical form around me.

  • 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 sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

You phase out of reality for up to 10 minutes. During this time, you cannot affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.

When you phase out, you may bring up to 1 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.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: black scar twisting up the arm.

  • You may use your Free Movement on the Round you phase back in, but you cannot take an Action.

Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. Roll Perception + Alertness 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.

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.

  • 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.

You gain the following benefits as long as you have your Immaculate smile with white pearly teeth.

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

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:

  • Hey, Listen!: You cannot be ignored or unheard when directly addressing an entity.
  • Liar Liar Pants on Fire: You have an intuitive understanding of whether or not someone believes what they are saying. You can always tell if someone is lying to you without making a roll, though you do not necessarily know what they are lying about.
  • Poker Face: You never give any outward indication of dishonesty. It is impossible to tell that you are lying, and you are able to fool any method of lie detection without making a roll.

  • In rare cases, GMs may require you to make a roll to detect a lie from particularly powerful beings (trickster gods, etc).
  • In rare cases, GMs may require you to make a roll to lie to particularly powerful beings.
  • If your Immaculate smile with white pearly teeth is damaged, destroyed, or lost, you lose all benefits from this Effect for the next two months, or until you can recover any relevant missing items (which may involve a side-game and requires a GM to approve whatever process is used).

Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet of 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 no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.

The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.

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

  • 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.
  • Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Stock Power Gifts

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. This Effect cannot be used unless you drink blood directly from a human until it injures them. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Occult at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.

This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.

If your Outcome is greater than the Severity of the Injury you were attempting to treat, you may apply any excess Outcome to other Injuries on yourself.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see you drink blood directly from the vein.

  • When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.

Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You may select a target at any range if you use up fresh tracks of the target. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.

You learn all the following information about your target:

  • The targetโ€™s trail for the past 24 hours is revealed to you and anyone you teach to follow it. This trail shows how long ago the target was there and is followable even when they are in a vehicle.

The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome.

Any information you gather is revealed by illuminating the trail in a glowing light and made publicly available.

You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.

  • Tracker You are not made instantly aware of where they have been in the past 24 hours; you must follow their trail. You may "happen upon" any trail they have made in the past 24 hours.
  • 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.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. 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.

All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way. Lasts for three hours.

  • 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.

  • Your thermal vision allows you to judge temperatures of surfaces fairly accurately as long as they are within livable temperatures.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. 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 transform into a vampire bat or a wolf until you transform into something else or choose to return to your original form. See the Extended System text for stats.

While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you do not have access to any of your Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.

Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: A disfigured face with bat-like ears.

  • Creature Stats
    • Large (larger than human, smaller than elephant) Body: 8. Brawn 6. Dexterity 2. Fall damage increased by 2. Armor: 1
    • Small (mouse up to regular house cat) Body 1. Brawn 0. Dexterity 4. Cannot injure others with attacks. Cannot die from falling damage. +3 dice to Stealth rolls.
    All creatures get +3 dice to any non-combat Action that they are naturally adapted for. All creatures Medium and larger may attack by rolling Body, dealing +0 Damage (+1 for โ€œpredatorsโ€). Gms and Playgroup leaders can apply other bonuses and effects to specific animals.
  • Animals that are quicker than humans (like dogs) have 50 feet of Free Movement. Animals that are very slow (like turtles) have 0 feet of Free Movement.
  • You cannot transform if there is not enough room to do so.
  • The form you take must have the same stats and abilities as a single, extant animal of the relevant size.