Let's Talk Maybe you shouldn't have done that "for the plot".

1
The power to heal the mind after traumatic experiences.
Used by Cassiopeia Sonelios, Created by Cryst0lline.
(This Effect may or may not be obviously Alien when used. )

Cassiopeia invites you to sit down with her favourite book and read together, with a video of a fireplace playing in the ambience. After reading a seemingly random sentence she stops and asks how you feel about it. Also, what was your childhood like?

On therapy:
Of all the things she's learned throughout her university days, it's that everyone needs therapy - she herself has gone to a session or two for reasons she won't disclose. Whether they've had a good childhood or not doesn't matter. Stress can get to anyone and it's much better if everyone willingly learns how to deal with it instead of shutting themselves away. She knows she realistically can't help every person on Earth but at least it'll save her the pain of watching yet another star blink out.

On books:
She's always loved books. She wants to share that love with everyone else too. Someone she once knew would always put on fireplace or rain ambience in the background, and she's been doing that ever since. It's a fond memory.

On psychology degrees:
People don't usually get jobs directly related to an undergraduate psych degree, and Cassiopeia wasn't dedicated enough to study any further. She's thought of being a therapist before, of course, but she wouldn't want to make that her entire life.

On the Witherheart Mask:
Cassiopeia originally intended for the gift to go on the Mask, but she realizes it's a bit disingenuous to let a magical item do all the work for you. This would've been the description had she used the Mask:
"You sit down in the fabled Cafe Cosmo, where all your worries shall fly away. The barista appears to be a masked figure who listens in silence, but it also feels like the problems you reveal are being... absorbed."


Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. Over the course of one Downtime, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6.

Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.

You may choose to use this Effect to temporarily relieve any number of the patient's Traumas (including mental Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes an Action and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.

  • The treatment time may be broken up into multiple sessions if necessary.
  • 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 Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

If you would take an Injury that would kill you, you don’t die. Instead, you survive in an Incapacitated state, though you appear dead to any means of detecting life. This state lasts for the next hour, at which point you fully return to life. Unstabilized Injuries do not degrade while you are Incapacitated

If, while you are unconscious, your wound level rises above your rating in Body + intellect, or if you take an Injury with Severity greater than your rating in intellect, you die. After you return, the Injury that would have killed you, as well as any Injuries sustained while Incapacitated, are healed. Battle scars obtained during this time remain.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action or Reaction. Select a Location which is at most 60 feet away horizontally or 15 feet away vertically. If you are using this Effect as a Reaction, you must travel at least 10 feet. You must actively and obviously use A Scythe Firearm (Firearm with Scythe enhancement) to activate this Effect.

You jump to the chosen location. If jumping blind or landing precariously, must roll Dexterity + Athletics to land safely. You will never take fall Damage from successfully landing a jump made with this Effect.

You may activate this Effect while in free-fall, as long as your target Location is a surface on which you can land. You are immune to fall damage.

Instead of physically passing through the air, you are teleported directly to your destination. Does not allow you to go through walls, cages, or grapples.

When you use this Effect as a Reaction to dodge, if you Exert your Mind to activate the Effect, you do not need to roll; your dodge is automatically successful.

  • If you are Encumbered, the maximum range is cut in half. If Encumbrance has reduced your total movement to 0, you cannot activate this Effect.
  • vertical jump height measures to the bottom of your feet, so your total vertical reach is at least a body length greater.
  • Rolls to land safely will generally be Athletics, but GMs may call for a different roll at their discretion if it makes sense for the specific circumstances.
  • You may only use this Effect once per Round of combat, regardless of any Enhancements you have taken.
  • 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. You must actively and obviously use Occult Notebook to activate this Effect.

You transform into Swarm of Maggots for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.

While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight.

Damage from standard attacks is halved, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1. You may spend an Action to reduce one of your Injuries’ Severity by 2, as long as you obtained the Injury while transformed and the separated pieces could reasonably be rejoined.

You cannot communicate, use equipment, or use Gifts while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. Carrying capacity is unaffected.

While transformed, you can make an unarmed attack using Body as your attack roll. The target may contest by dodging or Defending. This attack deals +2 damage.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Black and Green Maggots.

  • 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 gain the following benefits as long as you have your glowing green eyes.

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).

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Ultimate Bravery, Hero's Pride, and idk.

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:

  • Centered: You have perfect balance. You cannot be knocked over and can maintain your footing regardless of the size or stability of the material underneath you. For the purposes of encumbrance and load bearing, you weigh 5 pounds.
  • Perfect Reflexes: You receive +5 dice to all initiative rolls.
  • Split Second: You may Dodge or Defend against surprise attacks.
  • Track Star: You may always move at your full Dash speed without any penalty.

  • Reminder: to calculate the distance you can dash in one Round of combat, add together Dexterity + Brawn + 1, and multiply that by 5 feet.
  • If your glowing green eyes 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.

After his last job, he snagged some pages and got some glimpses of notes and documents to add to his research. With this knowledge, he crafted a serum of sorts, made from the ash, that he injected into himself with a needle he stole from work. Whatever it was made his body feel, nothing, or well almost nothing, it was a familiar feeling.

While having this power, some of his veins and arteries appear much darker than normal.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0.

Stock Power Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as the target object has a cutting edge.

As long as you maintain Concentration, you can take Actions and interact with things that are within 75 feet without needing to physically touch them or be near them. Any rolls made for Actions taken in this way use a Mental Strength of 2 in place of your Brawn rating, a Mental Agility of 2 in place of your Dexterity, and otherwise use your own Attributes and Abilities.

Telekinetic actions have the following restrictions and behaviors:

  • Line of Sight: You must be able to visually observe anything you interact with, and any actions that you are taking will end if their target moves out of sight.
  • Unarmed Combat: You cannot deal damage through unarmed combat or thrown objects with this Effect, though you may still grapple with targets.
  • Weapons: You are able to effectively wield weapons to Attack, Defend, and Clash with this Effect.
  • Fine Tools: You are otherwise limited to actions that a normal human could do with their bare hands.
  • Levitation: If you are strong enough to lift yourself, you may levitate up to 75 feet away from the ground. Movement is limited to 5 feet per Round.
  • Multiple Items: You can only interact with one thing or take one Action at a time.
  • Lifting and hauling: you may lift 90 pounds.

  • Any telekinetic actions which interact with Animate targets may require contested rolls at GMs discretion.

Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. You must use up at least a gallon of water in order to activate this Effect. Choose a specific Injury on yourself that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Brawn + Survival 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.

  • Unstabilized wounds do not degenerate during treatment.

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.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • This does not satisfy the Line of Sight requirement for targeted Effects.

Exert your Mind and spend an Action. A number of Sapient, Living targets within 50 feet who can perceive you through no greater than your Charisma rating are affected. Audiences or mobs with a singular focus count as one target. Roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.

If you succeed, the targets will keep their full attention focused on you for Contested Outcome in Rounds. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than you.

If you pass from their perception and they are unable to pursue you, the Effect ends. If they can follow you, they must do so for 2 Rounds or the Effect will end. The Effect ends early if the target is Injured or violence occurs nearby.

This does not affect the target’s opinion of you or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on you. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.

  • 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.

This Effect activates whenever you receive a Severity 2 or higher Injury from an attack. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. Affected targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.

If you succeed, for the next minute, your target will do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done, inspired by remorse for hurting such a pure soul. They will not necessarily display their emotions in an obvious way.

Actions they take will be in keeping with their character and the way they tend to deal with strong emotions. They will be unlikely to change their mind about any actions taken or decisions made until after the Effect ends.

  • When triggered, the Effect activation resolves immediately after the triggering Action. It is not Reaction speed.
  • Common emotions and the actions they inspire
    • Anger (shouting, cruelty, denying requests, attacking)
    • Pity (stopping an attack, executing an injured target)
    • Happiness (generosity, dancing, joking, socializing)
    • Sadness (finding solitude, openly crying, demotivation)
    • Fear (running, attacking)
  • If you succeed, the target MUST take at least one Action they otherwise would not have. Hey, GM who is reading this, I'm talking to you. You have to enforce this. Remember: Gifts must feel powerful.
  • 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.