Old Gus' Daft Drafts
Old Gus' Daft DraftsYou connect a physical portal—a door, pocket, flap, cubby, or other opening no larger than 1.5 feet (46 cm) in diameter—to an object—usually a pocket on a piece of your clothing, a pouch, or bag. The opening leads to a space that is out of phase and moves with the object. The space can hold up to 3 cubic feet (1 cubic m) and up to 20 pounds (9 kg). For each 2 additional Intellect points you spend when you use this ability, the pocket's size adds an additional 3 cubic feet (1 cubic m) and 20 pounds (9 kg) to its capacity.
Anyone can reach into the space, although it is likely that only you are practiced in locating and retrieving its contents. If you end this ability's effects as an action, create a new pocket with this ability, or the pocket's opening is compromised, all its contents spill forth harmlessly. Action to initiate, one minute to complete.
Your Packrat Pocket is technically a part of you, so you can't use it to carry more cyphers than your limit, a detonation cypher activated inside the pocket or near its opening harms you, and so on. Most packrats choose a secret location, or place on their person, and keep the pocket's exact location a secret to all but their most trusted allies.
Old Gus' Daft DraftsWhile your Packrat Pocket, and Handy Hold-All are within 1 mile (1.5 km) of each other, the contents of each can be retrieved through the other.
You target a foe's brain implants in an attempt to override their voluntary movement for one minute, freezing them solid with the strength of their own muscles. You must be able to see the target, and it must be within short range. Harming the foe, roughly moving them, or forcing their body to work against their own rigid muscles (such as bending their arms behind their back so you can handcuff them) ends the effect. You can't use this ability on a creature that doesn't have any brain implants.
You gather necromantic energy in your fingertip and touch a creature. A target of level 3 or lower is paralyzed and helpless for an hour.
Each level of Effort applied increases the level cap of the target by 1.
In settings where the use of destructive or combat magic is restricted or illegal, harmless self-defense spells like Paralyzing Touch are common.
You can deflect incoming attacks quickly. When you activate this ability, for the next ten rounds you ease all Speed defense rolls.
You are trained in tasks related to the repair and maintenance of a starcraft.
Path of the PlanebreakerWhen you are on the Path, you create a temporary strong current of the Path's undertow in an area an immediate distance wide and extending out to a short distance from you. Make an Intellect-based attack against each creature in the area. Affected creatures are caught up in the undertow, as if they stopped resisting the Path's natural current, and are pulled a short distance away from you on their next turn. On later turns they continue to move in this direction until they are swept away and flung into the Sea of Uncertainty.
A creature can break free of this current by moving in the opposite direction, reducing how far it moves them by how far they can move in a round.
You are trained in your choice of two of the following skills: blazing, navigation, perception, initiative, sensing danger, or tracking. You can choose this ability multiple times, but you must select different skills each time.
Editor's Notes — High Noon at Midnight indicates blazing skill is used to leave trail symbols. Each symbol is placed in a visible location up to a very long distance apart. Your skill with blazing makes your symbols easier for others to follow. Outside of encounters, leaving symbols doesn't hinder travel, but each takes a few rounds to create. PCs with the Blazes Paths focus can make other use of these symbols.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou have practiced using a Path token to go to and from Timeborne and have performed a magical ritual that subsumes a Path token into your body.
You can navigate the Path as if you were holding a Path token, and you gain a free level of Effort on your magical lore task to navigate the Path. Your travel on the Path takes only half as long.
You can concentrate on the Path, allowing you
(but not anyone with you) to join the Path even
without a Path token. You can do this one time,
although the ability is renewed each time you make
a ten-hour recovery roll.
Action to join the Path, enabler for all other effects.
You gain an extra ten-minute recovery roll each day.
You can pass on what you've learned. When you give another character a suggestion involving their next action that is not an attack, their action is eased for one minute.
Neon RainYou hack a foe's brain implant, triggering pain whenever they attempt to harm a creature you specify. The foe must be level 3 or lower and within short range. For the next minute, the foe's harmful actions against the designated creature are hindered by two steps, and the foe automatically take 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) every time they try to touch, strike, or harm the designated creature. The foe immediately recognizes (without needing to attack first) that acting against the creature will be harmful. The foe knows when the effect ends, remembers the earlier aversion, and can immediately act normally.
In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target or increase the duration by one minute. Thus, to peaceblock a level 6 target (three levels above the normal limit) or block them for four minutes (three minutes above the normal duration), you must apply three levels of Effort.
Action to initiate.
You no longer need to make a roll to use Beast Form or change into your normal form. You can change back and forth as yourAction. When you return to your normal form, you no longer take a penalty to your rolls.
While in cyberspace, you can instantly return to any frame you've previously visited, bypassing any conduits or obstacles. You can transport willing creatures with you, with each creature requiring 1 additional Intellect point.
Old Gus' Daft DraftsYour Handy Hold-All's level increases by 1. Additionally, choose one of the following modifications:
If your Handy Hold-All has only been recently made and does not contain a wealth of items and junk, the GM might reduce the efficacy of clamoring conveyance or scrap monstrosity modifications.
You can send your car into a pocket dimension that moves with you and is just large enough to hold it. Nobody other than you can perceive or access this space unless they have the ability to interact with transdimensional areas. The space is a part of you, so you can't use it to store the car if you and the car have more cyphers than your limit, a detonation cypher activated inside the car while it's in the space harms you, and so on. Storing or retrieving the car happens over one minute as it slowly (and visibly) vanishes or reappears; you can reduce this time to just one round if you succeed at a level 4 Intellect task.
Action to initiate.
Old Gus' Daft DraftsYour Psychometric Bond with your object deepens even further. Depending on the object's function, you gain the following benefits:
Path of the PlanebreakerYou call upon a special ability from an alternative reality version of yourself, potentially exactly what you need to overcome a specific situation. Choose one of the following effects.
You can use this ability one time, although it renews each time you make a one-hour or ten-hour recovery roll.
You can take two separate actions this round.
You alter your posture and way of speaking and make a small but real alteration to an outfit (such as putting on or taking off a hat, reversing a cloak, and so on). For the next hour (or as long as you keep up the alteration), even creatures that know you well don't recognize you. All tasks related to hiding your true identity during this period gain one free level of Effort.
Action to initiate.
You are adept at claiming the rewards that fame can generate. When you are recognized, you can be seated at any restaurant, be let into any government building, be invited to any show or sports event (even if they're sold out), get a seat at a private function of any sort, or get into any club, no matter how exclusive. When dealing with someone who can't or won't immediately give in to your desire, you gain an asset on all tasks related to persuasion if that person recognizes you or is convinced that you're a celebrity even if they don't recognize you.
An illusion (or portion of an illusion) that you create using Minor Illusion or related ability that fits within a 10-foot (3 m) cube becomes permanent.You can permanently end the illusion as an action, but others must expend exceptional ingenuity to prevent the illusion from regenerating even if it has apparently been dispersed.
You slowly transform a creature within short range into lifeless stone. The target must be level 2 or lower. If your attack succeeds, the creature takes 6 points of damage and moves one step down the damage track as their flesh begins to mineralize. If the transformation is not interrupted by the end of your next turn, the creature fully becomes a harmless stone statue. You can cast this spell to restore a petrified target back into their living self. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to petrify a level 6 target (four levels above the normal limit), you must apply four levels of Effort.
When you use Phase Sprint or Walk Through Walls, you can choose to significantly damage normal matter around you with a blast of transdimensional energy when you first go into or come out of phase (your choice). This detonation inflicts 4 points of damage that ignores Armor to all creatures and objects within immediate range. If you apply Effort to increase the damage rather than ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); targets in the area take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll.
You can phase into a solid object's surface and then phase out of any other solid object within long range of the first, even if the two objects are not connected. There must be no intervening barriers between the two objects, and you must be aware of or able to see the destination object.
You gather disrupting energy in your fingertip and touch a creature. If the target is an NPC or a creature of level 3 or lower, it becomes phased as if it had used the Ghost ability. However, unless it can figure out how to control its movement while being phased, which most creatures have no experience with, it begins to sink through solid matter. If it can't control itself or end the effect, it might be gone for good because when it becomes solid again after ten minutes, it's probably deep in the earth. For each additional level of Effort you apply, you can attempt to affect a target of one level higher.
You can run up to a long distance as long as you take no other actions. During your action and until the beginning of your next turn, you are partially phased, and some attacks pass through you harmlessly. While phased, you gain an asset to your Speed defense tasks, but you lose any benefit from armor you wear.
Note that some of your other special abilities may enable specific actions that you can take while using Phase Sprint. For instance, when using Disrupting Touch, you can make one touch attack while moving (though this ends your movement).
You don't have to run in one long, straight line when using Phase Sprint, but can instead zig and zag, curve, or even return to where you started.
Other abilities can be used with Phase Sprint to unlock additional effects, including Disrupting Touch, Scratch Existence, Invisible Phasing, and Phase Detonation. These abilities are additive enablers, requiring the user to spend points for both abilities, and sometimes from two different Pools.
The attack you make on this turn ignores your foe's armor. The ability works for whatever kind of attack you use (melee, ranged, energy, and so on).
You connect yourself for one hour to a small space that is out of phase and moves with you. You can access this space as if it were a convenient pocket or bag, but nobody else can perceive or access the space unless they have the ability to interact with transdimensional areas. The space can hold up to 1 cubic foot. The space is a part of you, so you can't use it to carry more cyphers than your limit, a detonation cypher activated inside the space harms you, and so on. When the connection ends, anything in the space falls out. For each 2 additional Intellect points you spend, the pocket lasts an additional hour.
You are trained in two skills in which you are not already trained. Choose two of the following: balancing, climbing, jumping, running, or swimming. You can select this ability multiple times. Each time you select it, you must choose two different skills.
Any time you spend points from your Might Pool or Speed Pool on an action for any reason, if you roll a 1 on the associated die, you reroll, always taking the second result (even if it's another 1)
This is a well-aimed, penetrating ranged attack. You make an attack and inflict 1 additional point of damage if your weapon has a sharp point.
You are trained in all tasks related to piloting a starcraft. Generally speaking, piloting tasks are Speed-based tasks, though using sensors and communication instruments are Intellect-based tasks.
You give a speech that is both rousing and terrifying. Those within short range who can hear and understand you have their next action either eased (an asset) or hindered—you choose, and it can be different for each individual.
A few rounds to complete.
You are trained in all social interactions, including persuasion, deception, and intimidation. You also know two additional languages.
You are trained in crafting, sensing, identifying, and resisting poisons. Your poison crafting has given you some immunity to poisons; you have +5 Armor that applies specifically to poison damage.
Thanks to an injection of biological agents, a quaff of a magical elixir, a ring from a dying alien, or something just as extreme, you are now immune to poisons, toxins, or any kind of particulate threat. You are not immune to viruses, bacteria, or radiation.
You touch a creature and lines of poison crawl through their skin. They take 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and are hindered on their next turn.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou reroute the destination for a permanent portal or gate within a short distance so that it connects to a random dimension for the next 24 hours. Make your roll against the level of the portal or gate (if the level of the portal is unknown, it is a difficulty 5 task).
Instead of affecting a portal or gate, you can attempt to redirect a creature who is trying to travel to another dimension. Make a hindered roll against the creature's level. If you succeed, the creature arrives in a random dimension instead of their intended destination.
You are trained in stealth and Might defense tasks.
You strike your enchanted weapon against the ground (or a similar large surface), creating an explosion of energy that affects an area up to immediate range from that point. (If your enchanted weapon is a ranged weapon, you can instead target a point within close range to be the center of the explosion.) The blast inflicts 2 points of damage to all creatures or objects within the area (except for you). Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single-target attacks. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage for each target, and even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage.
When you use Copy Power, you only need to have seen the ability used within the past day (instead of the past hour), and using Effort extends how long ago your copying can reach to one day per level of Effort (instead of one hour per level).
If you successfully attack a target, you knock it prone in addition to inflicting damage. The target must be your size or smaller. You can knock down a target larger than you if you apply a level of Effort to do so (rather than to ease the attack).
You have a suit of powered armor. It is effectively medium armor (+2 to Armor); however, you suffer no Speed penalties for wearing it. Also, your suit grants other benefits: it provides breathable air for up to eight hours and a comfortable environment even in bitter heat, cold, vacuum, or underwater to a depth of 4 miles (6 km); and it allows you to see in the dark up to a short distance. Getting into the suit requires an action (and, of course, access to your suit).
Powered Armor is an ability commonly associated with Wears Power Armor.
After engaging a creature in conversation for at least a minute, you can attempt to influence how that creature is perceived, promoting it as a friend, dismissing it as a fool, or denouncing it as an enemy. Your words are so well chosen that even you and it are affected, because your conviction and its doubt are paramount. The accuracy of your assessment isn't important as long as you keep up the rhetoric. From then on (or until you change your rhetoric or the creature offers a convincing defense to those who've heard your label), the friend's social interactions gain an asset, the fool's social interactions are hindered, or the enemy's defenses are hindered.
Action to initiate, one minute to complete.
You can wear armor for long periods of time without tiring and can compensate for slowed reactions from wearing armor. You reduce the Speed cost for wearing armor by 1. You start the game with a type of armor of your choice.
You can wear light armor for long periods of time without tiring and can compensate for slowed reactions from wearing light armor. You reduce the Speed cost for wearing light armor by 1. You start the game with a type of light armor available in the area, such as a leather jacket.
You become practiced with light, medium, and heavy weapons and suffer no penalty when using any kind of weapon.
You are practiced with guns and suffer no penalty when using one.
You can use light and medium weapons without penalty. If you wield a heavy weapon, attacks with it are hindered.
You are practiced with swords and can use them without penalty.
You inflict 1 additional point of damage with light weapons.
You deal 2 additional points of damage with attacks using weapons that you throw.
You dimly sense the future for the next ten minutes. This has the following effects until the duration expires
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.
If you've used Predictive Equation on a creature, object, or location within the last few days, you can learn one random fact about the subject that is pertinent to a topic you designate. If you also have the magic flavor ability Premonition, one use of either ability grants you two random but related facts about the subject. In addition, you can use Predictive Model on the same subject multiple times (even if you've learned a creature's level), but each time you do, you must apply one additional level of Effort than on your previous use. s
Neon RainYour primary drone's level increases to 4. If you have a secondary drone from the Expert Drone ability, its level increases to 3; otherwise, your primary drone gains +1 to Armor.
You learn one random fact about a creature or location that is pertinent to a topic you designate. Alternatively, you can choose to learn a creature's level; however, if you do so, you cannot learn anything else about it later with this ability.
You have a prepped secret hideout with shelter and basic supplies capable of seeing you through a year or more, or up to six people through about three months. In addition, you have knowledge of three different secret supply caches you put together and hid before everything fell apart, chosen from the following. The caches are located no closer than about 5 miles (8 km) from each other.
While you are conscious and able to use an action, you cannot be surprised. In addition, you are trained in initiative actions.
You are adept at claiming the rewards that a noble background can generate. When recognized, you can be seated at any eating establishment no matter how full, get a room in an inn even if that means others are turned out, be let into any court or other structure where laws are decided or nobility rules, be invited to any gala, and get a seat at a private function of any sort. In addition, you are trained in persuasion.
You project an image of yourself to any location you have seen or previously visited. Distance does not matter as long as the location is on the same world as you. The projection copies your appearance, movements, and any sounds you make for the next ten minutes. Anyone present at the location can see and hear you as if you were there. However, you do not perceive through your projection.
Action to initiate.
Path of the PlanebreakerYou draw upon the Elemental Chaos to create a swirling ribbon of unstable light and substance. Until the start of your next turn, this eases your Speed defense tasks and grants you +1 to Armor against acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic damage. If you apply Effort to this ability, each level of Effort increases the duration by one minute.
When engaging in combat to defend your coven or home, you can attack up to five different foes with a single action as long as they are within immediate range of each other. All the attacks must be the same sort of attack (melee, ranged, or spell), and the point cost of this ability is deducted from whichever Pool the attack uses. Pay the costs (if any) separately for each attack, and make a separate attack roll for each foe. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to all attacks. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply to one action. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the number of foes you can attack, with one additional foe per level of Effort.
When engaging in combat that directly relates to defending a community you are associated with, you can attack up to five different foes as a single action as long as they are all within immediate range. If you hit an attacker, they are pushed back an immediate distance. All of the attacks have to be the same sort of attack (melee or ranged). Make a separate attack roll for each foe. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply on oneAction. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to all of these attacks. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the number of foes you can attack with this ability, one additional foe per level of Effort.
You designate a single character to be your charge. You can change this freely every round, but you can have only one charge at a time. As long as that charge is within immediate range, they gain an asset for Speed defense tasks because you have their back.
You tear apart the defenses of a creature within long range. Any energy-based defenses it has (such as a force field or a Ward ability) are negated for 1d6+1 rounds. If the creature has no energy defenses, its Armor is reduced by 2 for one minute. If it has no energy-based defenses or Armor, attacks against it are eased for one minute.
You blast waves of mental force into the minds of up to three targets within short range (make an Intellect roll against each target). This burst inflicts 3 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). For each 2 additional Intellect points you spend, you can make an Intellect attack roll against an additional target.
You place your mind into the body of a willing creature you choose within short range and remain in that body for up to one hour. Your own body falls down and becomes insensate until this ability ends.
You see, hear, smell, touch, and taste using the senses of the creature whose body you inhabit. When you speak, the words come from your defenseless body, and the creature you inhabit hears those words in their mind. The creature you inhabit can use your Intellect Edge in place of their own. In addition, you and the creature have an asset on any task that involves perception.
When you take an action, you use the creature's body to perform that action if they allow it.
A character should using Psychic Passenger should consider secreting their actual body someplace away from prying eyes and wild beasts, or they may return to an unfortunate situation.
Action to initiate.
You attempt to make the target take the action you indicate on its next turn. If the action you wish the target to take would cause direct harm to itself or its allies, your mental attack is hindered.
You can use this attack in one of two ways. The first is to pick up a heavy object and hurl it at someone within short range. This attack is an Intellect action, and if successful, it deals 6 points of damage to the target and to the hurled object (which could be another foe, although that would require two rolls—one roll to grab the first foe and another roll to hit the second foe with the first). The second way is to unleash a shattering burst of power that works only against an inanimate object no larger than half your size. Make an Intellect roll to instantly destroy the object; the task is eased by three steps compared to breaking it with brute strength.
Action
Old Gus' Daft DraftsYou are trained in identifying objects of historical significance, and have the ability to sense the presence of strong memories from ages past from objects you touch.
You can form a psychometric bond with certain objects that have a strong connection to an powerful story. The item might be a weapon, armor, or tool (including musical instruments, gaming sets, or other objects approved by the GM). Once the bond is formed, you gain some knowledge of an individual associated with the tale, and their history with the object (determined by the GM). If you form a psychometric bond with second object, the first bond breaks.
While holding an object with a psychometric bond, you gain the following benefits:
The GM and player should work together—including by spending XP—to fill in the historical memories, locations, and associated persons related to object of a Psychometric Bond.
Action to initiate bond, one hour to complete.
Your words inflict a destructive psychosis in the mind of a target within long range that can understand you, dealing 6 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) per round. The psychosis can be dispersed if a target uses an action doing nothing but calming and centering itself.
Action to initiate.
When you're running a con, picking a pocket, fooling or tricking a dupe, sneaking something by a guard, and so on, you gain an asset on the task.
You can attack up to five foes within immediate range that you have designated as guilty with your Designation ability, all as part of the same action in one round. Make separate attack rolls for each foe, but all attacks count as a single action in a single round. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply on oneAction. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to all attacks. If you also have the Spin Attack ability, you inflict 1 additional point of damage when you use Punish All the Guilty.
For the next ten minutes, if you attack someone you have designated as guilty with your Designation ability, you inflict 2 additional points of damage.
Action to initiate.
You telekinetically push a creature or object an immediate distance in any direction you wish. You must be able to see the target, which must be your size or smaller, must not be affixed to anything, and must be within short range. The push is quick, and the force is too crude to be manipulated. For example, you can't use this ability to pull a lever or close a door.
You can make precise, point-to-point jumps in microgravity, which means you can move up to a long distance and make a melee attack or attempt to grab a foe of your size or smaller. If you successfully grab your foe, you move your foe up to a short distance from its original position.
Alternatively, while you come to a standstill (or move off in an immediate distance per round in any direction you choose) you can launch your foe in a chosen direction through space at a rate of a short distance per round.
You ignore the effects of terrain while moving for one hour.