You analyze the scene of a crime, the site of a mysterious incident, or a series of unexplained phenomena, and maybe learn a surprising amount of information about the perpetrators, the participants, or the force(s) responsible. To do so, you must collect samples from the scene. Samples are paint or wood scrapings, dirt, photographs of the area, hair, an entire corpse, and so on. With samples in hand, you can discover up to three pertinent pieces of information about the scene, possibly clearing up a lesser mystery and pointing the way to solving a greater one. The GM will decide what you learn and what level of difficulty is needed to learn it. (For comparison, discovering that a victim was killed not by a fall, as seems immediately obvious, but rather by electrocution, is a difficulty 3 task for you.) The task is eased if you take the time to transport the samples to a permanent lab (if you have access to one), as opposed to conducting the analysis with your field science kit.
Action to initiate, 2d20 minutes to complete.
You retry a task you failed within the past one minute, using the same difficulty and modifiers, except this time you have an asset on the task. If this retry fails, you can't use this ability to retry it again.
You select two batches of laundry within immediate range, each large enough for a typical washing machine or dryer. The laundry agitates and spins in midair for a minute, becoming clean and dry as it does so, after which it sorts and stacks itself into neat piles or, if you know where it belongs and that's within short range, putting itself away. Particularly dirty clothes automatically take a few extra minutes to finish cleaning and drying. The spell doesn't harm delicate items or clothing that needs special care (such as dry cleaning or low temperature). In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more batches of laundry; each level of Effort affects two additional batches.
Action to initiate; one minute to complete.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou weave lava into a 5.foot (1.5 m) radius sphere of stone around and above you and up to five creatures adjacent to you, forming a sort of boat that can float on the surface of lava.
This ability automatically fails if you try to include more than six creatures or a creature that is too large to fit within the sphere. The sphere is a level 5 object and is immune to fire. Anything inside the sphere is protected against fire damage from lava, as well as any other attacks from outside that fail to destroy the sphere. By moving inside the sphere, you and the other passengers can make it roll, moving it up to an immediate distance each round.
After one hour, the sphere cracks open at the top
and peels apart from top to bottom over the next
two or three rounds. This gives you and the other
passengers time to exit safely, even if the bottom of
the sphere is still resting in lava.
Although the lava boat is
sealed and air can't get in
or out, it holds more than
enough air to support
six creatures inside it for
an hour.
If you don't have a source
of lava, the GM may allow
you to use a different
molten substance for Lava
Crust, as long as it cools
into something hard and
solid, such as metal, but
not glass.
Action to initiate, one round to complete.
Path of the PlanebreakerWhen you have a source of lava, you can spend ten minutes carefully applying it to your skin, then allow it to cool into an armor.like shell. This shell counts as medium armor and grants you +2 to Armor. Removing the lava crust takes one minute (or half that, if you have help).
Applying the lava to your skin inflicts a total of 20 points of fire damage (in ten instances of 2 points each), so you should have Armor against fire (such as from the Shroud of Flame ability or the Helborn descriptor) to avoid harming yourself.
Action to initiate, ten minutes to complete.
You keep your allies on their toes with occasional questions, jokes, and even mock drills for those who care to join in. After spending 24 hours with you, your allies are treated as if trained in tasks related to perception. This benefit is ongoing while you remain in your allies' company. It ends if you leave, but it resumes if you return to the allies' company within 24 hours. If you leave the allies' company for more than 24 hours, you must spend another 24 hours together to reactivate the benefit.
You gain 3 new points to divide among your stat Pools however you wish.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou make a connection across the multiverse to a parallel version of yourself that knows what you don't. Choose one task (other than attacks or defense) to borrow from your parallel self. For the next minute, you're trained in that task. You can't use this ability with a skill in which you're already trained to become specialized.
You can use this ability one time, although it renews each time you make a one-hour or ten-hour recovery roll.
When using Learn From Yourself, you catch glimpses of alternate versions of yourself dressed differently, involved in completely different lives than your own.
You are trained in two areas of knowledge of your choice, or specialized in one area of knowledge of your choice.
You observe or study a creature, object, or location for at least one round. The next time you interact with it (possibly in the following round), a related task (such as persuading the creature, attacking it, or defending from its attack) is eased.
You gain a level 4 follower who is mostly interested in helping with your law-related tasks, but who might also help you in other areas.
You can perform small but seemingly impossible tricks. For example, you can make a small object in your hands disappear and move into a desired spot within reach (like your pocket). You can make someone believe that they have something in their possession that they do not have (or vice versa). You can switch similar objects right in front of someone’s eyes.
If an ally attempts a magical task and fails, they can try again without spending Effort if you help them. You provide this advantage to your friend even if you are not trained in the task that they're retrying.
You change into an animal, and one willing creature within immediate range also transforms into an animal of that type (bear, tiger, wolf, and so on) for ten minutes, as if they were using your Animal Shape ability. For each level of Effort applied, you can affect one additional creature. All creatures transforming with you must be your size or smaller. A creature can revert to its normal form as an action, but it cannot then change back into the animal form. One creature (whether you or someone else) changing form does not affect any other creature affected with this ability.
A creature that takes animal form with Lend Animal Shape counts as an animal for the use of Animal Scrying.
They usually don't give up without a fight. You are trained in Speed defense tasks. If your foe is someone you've successfully interacted with (as noted under Know Where It Hurts), your Speed defense tasks against them also gain an asset.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou focus the power of the Elemental Chaos in your own body and pass it to a creature you touch with a successful attack. If the target is level 2 or lower, they die, exploding in a burst of chaotic elemental energy. If the target is level 3 or higher, they sustain 6 points of damage (your choice of acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) and are stunned on their next action. If the target is a PC of any tier, they move down one step on the damage track. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to affect a more powerful target (one level of Effort means a target of up to level 3 explodes and a target of level 4 or higher takes damage and is stunned, and so on).
High Noon at MidnightChoose one of your existing attacks that inflicts points of damage (depending on your type and focus, this might be a particular pistol, a special ability such as a blast of fire, or your unarmed attacks). When you hit with that attack, you inflict an additional 5 points of damage.
Long experience has revealed to you that subterfuge is your friend in desperate situations. You push, attack, or distract the target in some seemingly inconsequential way that leads to the target's death. The target must be level 2 or lower. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target by 1. Thus, to kill a level 5 target (three levels above the normal limit), you must apply three levels of Effort.
You set up a lethal vibration in your own body and pass it to a creature you touch with a successful attack. If the target is level 2 or lower, it dies, exploding in a peal of thunder. If the target is level 3 or higher, it sustains 6 points of damage and is stunned on its nextAction. If the target is a PC of any tier, they move down one step on the damage track. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to affect a more powerful target (one level of Effort means a target of up to level 3 explodes and a target of level 4 or higher takes damage and is stunned, and so on).
Through wit, charm, humor, and grace, you are trained in all social interactions other than those involving coercion or intimidation. During rests, you put friends and comrades at ease so much that they gain +1 to their recovery rolls.
When a problem needs solving, you may not know the solution, but you know where to look. You are trained in research.
Choose any two noncombat skills. You are trained in those skills.
Lightning strikes within long range, filling an immediate area and inflicting 3 points of damage on all affected creatures. Effort applied to one attack counts for all attacks against targets in the area of the flash. Even on an unsuccessful attack, a creature in the area still takes 1 point of damage. Your attack is eased against targets wearing, carrying, or made of a significant amount of metal.
All tasks directly related to a starcraft that you own or have a direct connection with are eased. Tasks include repair, refueling, finding a breach in the hull, finding a stowaway, and so on. The same goes for any attack or defense rolls you make within the starcraft against enemy boarders, as well as any attack or defense rolls you make with the ship against enemy ships.
You activate camouflage software that alters your appearance to match an adjacent large object such as a wall, cabinet, or vehicle. Everyone who was observing you completely loses track of you. Although you're not invisible, you can't be seen until you reveal yourself again by making an attack or moving away from the object.
You touch a willing creature and link its senses to yours for one minute. At any time during that duration, you can concentrate to see, hear, and smell what that creature is experiencing, instead of using your own senses. If you or the creature move out of long range, the connection is broken
Action to initiate.
Your defense rolls against fear are eased. They are eased by two steps when you are one or more steps down the intoxication track.
If you're in a location where it's possible for your creatures from Influence Swarm to come, you call a swarm around you for one hour. They crawl over your body or fly around you in a cloud. During this time, your Speed defense tasks are eased, and you gain +1 to Armor
Action to initiate.
Your body dissolves into a cloud of photons that instantly travel to a location you choose and then reform. You can choose any open space big enough to contain you that you can see within very long range, or any place you have lit by Illuminating Touch that is still shining. You disappear and almost instantly reappear in the space you chose. It takes until the end of the round for your body to become fully solid, so until the start of the next round, you take a maximum of 1 point of damage from any given attack or source of damage. Each level of Effort you apply allows you to bring along one additional person besides yourself, as long as they are within immediate range when you depart.
Given an hour or so, you can always find edible food and potable water in the wilderness. You can even find enough for a small group of people, if need be. Further, since you're so hardy and have gained resistance over time, you are trained in resisting the effects of natural poisons (such as those from plants or living creatures). You're also immune to natural diseases.
sYou specify a confined area—such as an open doorway, a hallway, or a space between two trees—where you stand. For the next ten minutes, if anyone attempts to enter or pass through that area and you don't wish it, you make an automatic attack against them. If you hit, not only do you inflict damage, but they must also stop their movement.
A door, gate, chest, drawer, locket, or other object that can be closed within long range snaps shut and is magically locked (level 3 effect) for one hour. If an object or creature is physically holding the target object open, you must also succeed on an Intellect-based attack. For each level of Effort you apply, the quality of the magical lock increases by one level
Action to initiate.
When faced with several foes at once, you have developed tactics for using their numbers against them. When two or more foes attack you at once in melee, you play one off the other. Speed defense rolls or attack rolls (your choice) against them are eased.
Old Gus' Daft DraftsYou find a lucky object, which contains a Pool called Luck that begins with 3 points, and it has a maximum value of 3 points. When spending points from any other Pool, you—or anyone else you give the charm to—can take one, some, or all of the points from the item's Luck Pool first. When you make a recovery roll to recover points to any other Pool, the object's Luck Pool is also refreshed by the same number of points.
If you lose your lucky charm, the GM will arrange for you to find another one at the next available opportunity.
This ability requires you to extend yourself for a powerful stab or smash. The awkward lunge hinders the attack roll. If your attack is successful, it inflicts 4 additional points of damage.