Rebecca Shirley

Focus (Conducts Weird Science)

Lab Analysis (3 Intellect points) Action+

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.

Knowledge Skills Skill

You are trained in two skills in which you are not already trained. Choose two areas of knowledge such as history, geography, archeology, and so on. You can select this ability multiple times. Each time you select it, you must choose two different skills

Modify Device (4 Intellect pointsAction+)

You jury-rig a piece of mechanical or electrical equipment to make it function above its rated specs for a very limited time. To do so, you must use spare parts equal to an expensive item, have a field science kit (or a permanent lab, if you have access to one), and succeed at a difficulty 3 Intellect-based task. When complete, using the device eases all tasks performed in conjunction with the device, until the device inevitably breaks. For example, you could overclock a computer so research tasks using it are easier, modify an espresso maker so that each cup of coffee made with it is better, modify a car's engine so that it goes faster (or modify its steering so it handles better), and so on. Each use of the modified device requires a depletion roll of 1–5 on a d20.

Action to initiate, one hour to complete.

Type (Paradox)

Premonition (2 Intellect points) Action

Despite appearances, reality is quantum and noncausal, which means a careful observer can discover information leaks. You learn one random fact from a person 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 revision.

Shatter (2 Intellect points Action

You interrupt the fundamental force holding normal matter together for a moment, creating the detonation of an object you choose within long range. The object must be a small, mundane item composed of homogeneous matter (such as a clay cup, an iron ingot, a stone, and so on). The object explodes in an immediate radius, attacking all creatures and objects in the area for 1 point of damage. Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single-target attacks: for each level of Effort applied to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage to each target. If you increase the damage through Effort, even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage.

Strange Training Skill

You are trained in general topics regarding the Strange, which allows you to attempt to understand and identify related phenomena, including the effect of a particular cypher. Strange training is also sometimes called Strange knowledge or Strange lore.

Translation Action

You can participate in the process of traveling to another recursion. Each time you do, you can choose to initiate, hasten, or ease a translation. If you choose to hasten or ease the process, someone else in the group must initiate the translation. As a paradox, you are most effective at initiating a translation. This initiation advantage provides you with additional opportunities during the process of translating. In order to translate, you must know that the recursion you are translating to exists. The GM will decide if you have enough information to confirm its existence and determine what level of difficulty is needed to reach the destination.

Action to initiate.

Reach Beyond (3 Intellect points) Enabler

When you use Reach Beyond, you can access training in a skill provided by a focus you have in another recursion. You must have used the skill in its proper recursion at least once before. You can use the skill once. To use it again, you must use Reach Beyond again. Choose one more Paradox revision