Death Powers (FiD)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark fan page

Death and disease are powerful forces.

Action and motivation need not cease with death. Characters can use the powers of the dead, learn their secrets, and even reanimate them as undead.

Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease. Paradoxically this means that death attacks don't kill quickly, instead they take their time as disease and infection kills you, and this is extremely hard to cure. Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is slow.

Death creatures are spirits of the dead. Study can call apparition that can communicate but not act. Attune can call ghosts that scare and some poltergeist activities at and undead spirits can be called to inhabit corpses as zombies and skeletons. At mid to high tiers, spirits can be called to possess stronger things, such as an undead knight or a powerful mummy, or as incorporeal undead that can walk thru walls and are invulnerable to weapons that are not potent.

Death Power Effects Table

Action	Basic No minimum 3 Stress	Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress	Master Minimum 4 Dice 7 Stress	Apex Minimum 6 Dice 13 Stress
Attune	Soul Sense Detect undead and Death powers.	Defy Death Banish undead and dismiss Death powers.	Defiant Spirit Summon undead.	Soul's Crossing Create a portal to the plane of death.
Command	Wraith's Whisper Command undead even if you don't share a language.	Spectral Speech Communicate with undead and dead things over vast distances.	Wraith's Will Command undead as if you were their superior.	Enslave Permanently bind undead to service.
Consort	Death Mask Make clothes and accessories rotten but functional when used by you and undead creatures.	Grasp Undeath Assume the form of an undead.	Gift of Undeath Shapechange a willing or helpless creature into a undead.	Haunted Hunt Transform a number of willing creatures into undead, give a simple instruction.
Finesse	Harrowing Herse Ride undead or a vehicle of death as if they were trained.	Scythe Fine and potent close-range attack, similar to a fine potent weapon.	Dead Man's Hand Fine manipulation of corpses and undead.	Deluge of Death A wall of undead, suppressing scale.
Hunt	Scent of Death Track and pursue undead and corpses.	Shard of Death Attack similar to a fine and potent rifle.	Wraithly Warning Create signs of haunting.	Outbreak Attack like fine and potent grenade.
Prowl	Deathwatch Hide in graveyards, tombs, and haunted places.	Ghost Walk Move on and through tombs, corpses, and cadavers.	Dance Macabre Bring allies when you use Deathwatch and Ghost Walk.	Death March Crew teleport from one burial place to another.
Skirmish	Touch of Death A close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.	Hand of Death Fine and potent Touch of Death.	Ghost Dance Distractions and obstructions prevent scale.	Carnival of Carnage Attack all enemies in a wide area.
Study	Name of the Deceased Identify corpses, cadavers, and materials taken from the dead.	Obituary Learn the powers and abilities of Death.	Seance Summon an apparition of a dead person you have a link to and ask them questions.	Tale of Tragedy Obituary for every corpse in a large area.
Survey	Scent of Death Sense manifestations of death, including undead and Death powers.	Skull Eye Choose an skull or a representation of one; perceive as if you were at that spot.	Seeking Skull Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest skull.	Omnipresent Death You perceive from all skulls at once over a wide area.
Sway	Moody Dead Understand undead even if normally couldn't and sense their motivations.	Dead Men Talking You and allies can communicate with undead. You can make folk morose.	Elegy You can post suggestions in the mind of an undead.	Unity in Death Permanently change the personality and motivations of undead.
Tinker	Dead Style Work the remains of the dead. Make decrepit and broken items function normally.	Dead Craft Shape materials you can Dead Polish as if they were of clay.	Luxuries of the Dead Create Dead Polish objects out of nothing, Create fine and potent items.	Funerary Splendor Mass produce Dead Craft or make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
Wreck	Rot of Death Wreck remnants of the dead. Finish off damaged things. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.	Rot of Oblivion Rot of Death, but faster as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.	Dust to Dust Rot of Oblivion and destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.	Crypt Cataclysm Similar to Rot to Oblivion, but over a large area. Level a necropolis or anything weathered.

Expanded Death Powers

Attune

Harness the power of Attune to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena from other planes of existence.

The consequences usually depends on what happens around you when you do it. Having helpers and bodyguards reduces the consequences, and sometimes a creature wants to be dismissed and the consequence might be that it loses control of itself, or that other creatures appear to intervene.

Soul Sense Detect undead and Death powers.

This is usually done to spot a disguised summoned or animated creature. However, it can also help identify a creature's connection to powers, providing valuable insights into their nature. Limited effect suffices against a creature you can clearly see. You need greater effect against against a creature that is hidden (standard effect) or behind a wall (great effect).

Defy Death Banish undead and dismiss Death powers. Animate corpses.

Dismissing undead is hard and usually requires great effect. A creature that has been wounded or otherwise weakened only needs standard effect. A creature that wants to be dismissed requires only limited effect. Undead are either Death spirits or things possessed by Death spirits called corporeal undead.. When a spirit possessing a corpse is dismissed, the corpse loses its animating power and collapses.

Death can only dispel Death powers and powers affecting undead. Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers. This improves the position of the supported action. It can be used as a defense against others' use of power, or it can be used to break the continuing effects of powers. When used directly, the effect is usually limited.

When dramatically appropriate that a power is hard to dispel, often because it is the crux of the situation, this will not negate the power but instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.

Defiant Spirit Summon undead.

As outlined under Defy Death, undead are either incorporeal spirits or Death spirits possessing things, usually corpses but sometimes other things related to Death, like hearses, graves, tombs, or even entire graveyards. Summons can use simple effects of their power and maintain power effects you have created. They can also give advice and information related to their power.

You must know who you are to summon. In general, you can summon generic creatures one tier lower than yourself without having to do a flashback. This summons Death spirits to possess corpses to create basic undead like skeletons and zombies. These creatures are largely automatons and must receive instruction to even perform simple tasks. They have no connection or knowledge related to the corpse they animate.

To summon a particular creature, similar to a cohort, you need its unique identity, often called true name in the mystical power traditions. For a technomancer this would be a type id number, a blueprint, or a block of data. Learning about the right creature to summon is a task in its own right, often requiring a flashback or downtime activity to use Command, Consort, Study, or Sway to gain information.

It might be worth the extra effort to summon a creature of higher tier, but this is also much more demanding, using the usual rules for tiers.

The most versatile undead are the spirits of dead people summoned to possess their own body. These become intelligent undead along the lines of vampires and liches. You can only do this with the spirits of creatures willing to become undead.

Limited effect allows you to ask questions of an intelligent undead or demand a short period of physical labor from a simple undead. Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to the type of creature. An undead will spread death and continue what it did while alive.

Great effect allows actions outside the creature's comfort zone, but not things it directly opposes. An undead will do most things. Lengthy service also requires great effect, like summoning the creature to guard a treasure for as long as it can.

Typical consequences include: You lose some of your life energy The creature strikes out at you once. A tightwire struggle to keep the creature under control. Overly literal interpretations of your commands. Demanding not to be summoned again until some time or event has passed. General sulkiness. Demanding you sell your soul, become its agent in the world, that you come to its home plane to serve it there for a time (usually three scores).

Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature can improve position. This is essentially a devil's bargain, accepting a price in advance. Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos. If you are a priest of light and summon undead, or if the summon is three or more tiers above you the position will be desperate. Consequences include the spirit demanding you sell your soul, become its agent in the world, that you come to its home plane to serve it there for a time (usually three scores), that you defeat the creature in a duel or similar dramatic story events.

Soul's Crossing Create a portal to the plane of death.

Create a portal to the land of the dead. There are things that are possible to do on these planes that are not allowed in the regular world, most effects are reduced one step in difficulty, from advanced to basic, master to advanced, and apex to master. This opens the possibility of new super-apex powers that have to be negotiated with the game master. Such effects rarely reach outside the plane where you perform them, but if they affect creatures on that plane, the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.

Gating can allow access to creatures too powerful to summon and souls unwilling to become undead. In this case you can ask for an audience. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.

Using a gate is usually played out as a score, which means there is an engagement roll. Depending on how quickly the matter is resolved, the game master may require a separate use of the power to return home again. However if you do this in a scene that is dangerous, such as asking for help against an enemy too powerful for you to defeat, the position is usually much worse. Once you have established a connection to a certain place or audience with a certain creature, you can usually do so again from a controlled position.

Command

Command and intimidate the undead, projecting authority. Position and effect depend on the situation and your relationship with the listeners.

Wraith's Whisper Command undead even if you don't share a language.

This is useful for intimidating creatures under your power and commanding foreign or alien undead. Combined with the basic power of Sway, it allows two-way communication.

Spectral Speech Communicate with undead and dead things over vast distances.

You can communicate with undead over any distance as long as you know the target, and a line-of-sight even if you do not. You can communicate with the most powerful creature related to your power in a vehicle or installation as long as you can see the exterior. The communication is simple and direct, suitable for the Command skill.

You can also use a skull as a communication device. You say who you are trying to speak to, and if a skull is present, you can communicate.

Wraith's Will Command undead as if you were their superior.

Targets will see you as a leader type outranking them. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts. Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid conflicting with their established loyalties. Ordering animated city guards to ignore a disturbance is harder (needs more effect) than telling them to deal with it and move on, because their task is to protect the now-dead city.

Limited effect might result in a creature not doing what it might not have done anyway, like not investigating a disturbance. This is usually enough to order skeletons and zombies to do anything. Standard effect makes the creature do what it should, but in a way you decide, like like taking the left instead of the right patrol route. Great effect means targets will ignore their normal routine and go out of their way to please you, like skeletons fighting for you, or enemies ignoring or fleeing from you.

The position depends on the creatures' actual relationship to you—ordering a creature that sees itself as your superior is a desperate position. A controlled position comes from a creature that agrees you are superior, usually just making retrying harder. A risky position is typical against a creature that sees itself as your equal and not your enemy, possibly leading to heat, misunderstood orders, or small rebellions.

Enslave Permanently bind undead to service.

This won’t work unless you are already in a position of power. The effect is similar to Authority but permanent. A creature can be freed by powers or strong passions.

Consort

Consort powers changes your form and later that of other creatures. These powers might also be used as a set-up action for a later Consort roll. This will often give a bonus to effect or improved position or even allow an action that a human could not do.

A common consequences is that you are mistaken for someone, or that your assumed form is somehow a hindrance. You might be obnoxiously rotten, cause panic, or have unexpected handicaps.

Death Mask Make clothes and accessories rotten but functional when used by you and undead creatures.

You do not physically change yourself, you change your accessorize and outfit.

Grasp Undeath Assume the form of an undead.

This is a true physical transmutation. You need not assume the form of an existing creature, as long as the gamemaster agrees your new form matches the power you use.

Shapechange can work as a set-up action for a number of other actions but may penalize other things, as appropriate to your new form. When appropriate, your new form can use Basic and Advanced Death powers inherently without risking stress.

With limited effect you can transform into yourself like you would have been, had you returned from death as the creature whose form you assume. Those familiar with you will recognize you. Standard effect can make you a generic creature, very hard to recognize as yourself. Great effect allows you to assume the shape and some of the personality of a specific creature you have studied.

Gift of Undeath Shapechange a willing or helpless creature into an undead.

This is Shapechange applied to another creature. The duration depends of the effect, limited effect is very temporary. Standard effect lasts for the duration of a score. Great effect lasts a long time and potentially become permanent, depending on the the story. If you also want to make the target unrecognizable, that requires additional effect, see Grasp Undeath.

This is sometimes used as a kind of poetic justice, transforming the target as a punishment, a curse that is very hard to break.

Haunted Hunt Transform a number of willing creatures into undead, give a simple instruction.

This is where Consort becomes a combination of Gift of Undeath and Defiant Spirit. You transform a number of existing creatures and give them a task that they will perform with morose monotony, turning them into single-minded minions. Targets must be willing, non-sentient like animals, or just very minor figures in the plot, many tiers below you.

This is usually used to create a host of goons that will fight and chase for you. Such goons are more interested in chasing and cornering targets than in actual combat. Or they can be given bit parts, like the undead in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Finesse

Exercise death with finesse, manipulating and attacking with precision

Harrowing Herse Ride undead or a vehicle of death as if they were trained.

This allows you to use Finesse with undead mounts and vehicles you are not familiar with. An undead vehicle is something like a ghost ship or a car possessed by an undead spirit. You can bypass simple locks on vehicles, but not more serious security. You can ride undead beasts even if they are not trained to carry a rider. They must still be physically able to carry you.

Scythe Fine and potent close-range attack, similar to a fine potent weapon.

Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, fine and potent finesse weapon is just as effective. In a fight, using this does not take any more time, activating your attack power is equivalent to drawing a weapon.

Dead Man's Hand Fine manipulation of corpses and undead.

You can control the limbs of undead, cadavers, and corpses. This is momentary, precise, and irresistible.

This allows you to push buttons and triggers, open doors, trigger or hinder mechanisms, or perform other minor manipulations, as long as Death is there to help you. This can substitute for simple Tinker actions, but nothing complicated.

Deluge of Death A wall of undead, suppressing scale.

As Scythe above, and you also create distractions. The effect is like having a number of trusty but entirely defensive allies in the fight. This negates any scale advantage an enemy gets for having allies of their own.

Hunt

Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power to Hunt Death. At short range, this can be dangerous to you and yours.

Scent of Death Track and pursue undead and corpses.

You can sense the progress of death. This works even if the quarry does not leave any mundane trail or clues. Consequences here are mainly to lose the trail, but depending on the environment and targets, it might lead you to get lost, into traps, or even into an ambush.

Shard of Death Attack similar to a fine and potent rifle.

Strike an opponent with plague from a distance. Essentially, this serves as a replacement for traditional equipment; a fine and potent ranged weapon would be equally effective in combat. While some targets may exhibit more or less vulnerability to specific types of attacks, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Wraithly Warning Create signs of haunting.

You can create signs of haunting, such as faintly glowing images, rattling noises, and banging doors. You can cover a single room indoors or a city block outdoors. This is usually used as a setup, but may also change how people act in reaction to the environment—hauntings are likely to make people want to stay indoors or run out as the case may be. This does not inflict any direct damage.

Outbreak Attack like a fine and potent grenade.

An escalation of Shard of Death. Less precise, this affects all creatures at a location, with a risk of collateral damage. Targets in trenches, behind walls, or otherwise shielded are not in direct danger, but tend to keep their heads down, which gives your side the initiative.

Prowl

Sneak and move with stealth and agility.

Deathwatch Hide in graveyards, tombs, and haunted places.

This allows you to hide in impossible places as long as the environment manifests Death. It otherwise works just like any other attempt to use Prowl to avoid notice. Note that only you can use this ability, your friends and allies cannot unless you use Dance Macabre, below.

Ghost Walk Move on and through tombs, corpses, and cadavers.

This allows you to safely climb and walk through the walls of tombs, ossuaries, graveyards and similar places of Death as well as piles of corpses or skeletons.

Dance Macabre Bring allies when you use Deathwatch and Ghost Walk.

Now you and your allies can Prowl in places where your power is at home. They still use their own Prowl action.

Death March Crew teleport from one burial place to another.

You and allies can teleport from one graveyard or tomb to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to escape just about any situation or location.

This takes you to places you are familiar with. Both effect and position is worse unless you know where you are going, which means it is great for escapes but less so for intrusion into an enemy's territory that you are likely to be much less familiar with.

Skirmish

Touch of Death A close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.

Hand of Death Fine and potent Touch of Death.

Ghost Dance Distractions and obstructions prevent scale.

Carnival of Carnage Attack all enemies in a wide area.

Study

Study and analyze objects and creatures imbued with Death to gain insight and knowledge. This works on bone and skin used as materials, on corpses, cadavers, and undead.

Name of the Deceased Identify corpses, cadavers, and materials taken from the dead.

Identify corpses, cadavers, including silk, leather, and undead. This gives the name and very basic information in narrative terms, but not details or actual rules.

Obituary Learn the powers and abilities of Death.

You learn of any powers or special abilities the creature or object has. This includes actual rules and game effects.

Seance Summon an apparition of a dead person you have a link to and ask them questions.

This requires a link to the dead. Part of the corpse, grave, cenotaph, and place of death all qualify. A personal object can also do, as well as a close friend or relative of the deceased.

You summon a powerless apparition of the dead person. This can be a ghostly image or voice, or a manifestation on something like a Ouija board or tarot reading. The spirit of the dead can tell you about things that happened in its lifetime. Most apparitions are vain and eager to speak about their lives and the wrongs they suffered, especially to people close to them. They retain some of their habits from life, particularly negative ones like suspicion, greed, and vengefulness.

Depending on the setting, an apparition is usually unable to speak of its continued existence after death.

Tale of Tragedy Obituary for every corpse in a large area.

Provides an Obituary for everything as far as you can see, pinpointing locations of interest like tombs and sites of murder. You can then use Seance to learn the history of up to three dead people from this area.

Survey

Perceive and locate manifestations of Death. The effect you need depends on the target's concealment. Limited effect finds targets in concealment. Standard effect finds those hiding behind cover and in far places you can only barely see. Great effect can look behind walls and into hard cover.

Scent of Death Sense manifestations of death, including undead and Death powers.

This is a basic spotting power, selectively sensing things related to your power. You can limit what you are looking for down to a particular corpse or grave if you have a link or sufficient information to focus on this.

Skull Eye Choose a skull or a representation of one; perceive as if you were at that spot.

You move your perception to a skull, real or manufactured, and sense as if you were at that spot. If using an actual buried human skull, you can perceive from the entire grave. You still sense things at your actual location, but only very dimly.

Seeking Skull Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest skull.

Similar to Skull Eye but allows you to focus on a specific creature or position. Automatically directs towards the best vantage point provided by a suitable skull, hopefully close enough to observe the target. Fails if no suitable viewpoint is available.

Omnipresent Death You perceive from all skulls at once over a wide area.

Skull Eye on everything in a wide area. Enhances your senses impossibly, akin to being multiple individuals spread across the scene. Creates a comprehensive mental image of the area, revealing numerous details simultaneously. It's challenging for targets to hide unless they are aware of how this power works.

Sway

Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate undead. Position and effect are determined normally, depending on the situation and your relation to listeners. Limited effect works if it follows the target's existing impulses, just overcoming fragile self-restraint. Standard effect can convince a target with no particular stake in the matter. Great effect will convince a reluctant target, but not a passionate one

Moody Dead Understand undead even if normally couldn't and sense their motivations.

You can gauge the mood and motivations of undead and understand what they are saying. This does not allow you to be understood. Used together with Command: Wraith's Whisper, this allows full communication.

Dead Men Talking You and allies can communicate with undead. You can make folk morose.

This allows you to use the Sway action with full effect, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers. Unless you also use the advanced Command effect, you are persuading, not speaking with authority.

You can make any type of creature morose, not just undead.

Elegy You can post suggestions in the mind of an undead.

This is essentially an enhanced Sway attempt, allowing you to implant suggestions that will trigger under conditions you set. The power remains subtle until the suggestion is activated. The target will not remember being swayed.

Suggestions cannot be absurd to the target. A typical use would be to sway an undead custodian to leave a window open or an undead guard to forget to load their weapon. Suggestions fade over time depending on the level of effect achieved: limited effect lasts for the immediate situation, normal effect lasts for the duration of the score, and great effect can extend beyond the score if it fits the story.

Unity in Death Permanently change the personality and motivations of undead.

This power is permanent but blatant. It changes the target on a deep level, altering their priorities and loyalties. Target remember their past but considers it unimportant compared to their new motivations. There are limits to this power, especially for creatures linked to a power—you cannot make an undead cherish Life. Exceptional creatures and circumstances can break this change.

Tinker

Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with your power to suit your needs. The effectiveness and durability of your constructions depend on the effect. More powerful devices are harder to sustain and will not last as long. Most creations will endure until the end of a score.

Position depends on the tranquility of your workspace and if you are working on something dangerous in itself.

For long-term projects, Tinker powers can substitute for missing tools, but that is all they do until you can use Funerary Splendor.

Dead Style Work the remains of the dead. Make decrepit and broken items function normally.

You can craft bone, skin, sinew, and other materials from dead bodies. You can take a decrepit item and make it function as new while you or an undead use it. It still looks decrepit.

Dead Craft Shape Death materials as if they were of clay.

This surpasses normal crafting, letting you manipulate elements that are not stable, shaping bone and blood as if they were elastic and make them stay in the new shape. This can substitute for pipes and containers and facilitate the construction of traps or devices, avoiding the need for extensive equipment.

You can restore decrepit items in both appearance and function.

Luxuries of the Dead Create Dead Polish objects out of nothing, create fine and potent items.

You don't need tools to build complex fine and potent items appropriate to your powers or to restore grave goods to their former splendor.

You can create stuff related to Death from nothing. This is like Dead Craft, above, but needs no raw materials.

With multiple powers you can transform material linked to Death into material linked to another. This allows intricate transformations where a metal sword can be transmuted into blood and still work as a sword, or a bone door can be changed to air so you can walk through and the door then returns to normal.

Funerary Splendor Mass produce Dead Craft or make something large, such as a vehicle or building.

You can mass produce objects or create large structures like ships or buildings that normally require a work force and facilities. In long-term projects involving construction or crafting, Funerary Splendor makes many dozens of items with the same effort as one item, but with a stress cost.

Wreck

Wreck remnants of the dead. Finish off damaged things. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.

Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects related to Death. The effect required depends on the size and structural strength of your target. Standard effect is a car-sized hole in a brick or mortar wall. Construction significantly weaker than this only demands limited effect. A smaller hole stil need the same effect. Something larger and/or stronger requires great effect.

The position depends on the situation. A quiet workspace is controlled, the general hustle of adventure risky, dealing with a fight, massive crowds, or dangerous construction is desperate.

Rot of Death Wreck remnants of the dead. Finish off damaged things. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.

You can affect anything that comes from a dead body or that has suffered damage enough to stop its function.

Rot of Oblivion Rot of Death, but faster as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.

This bypasses the strength of materials, allowing you to break anything that comes from a dead body or that has suffered any significant damage. You can also use this to smash other things or as a fine, potent sledgehammer.

Dust to Dust Rot of Oblivion and destroyed targets silently vanish or are reduced to a fine dust. The key difference is that the destruction is silent and leaves minimal traces. Because this power is tied to Death, it ensures that all evidence of murder is eradicated.

Crypt Cataclysm Similar to Rot to Oblivion, but over a large area. Level a necropolis or anything weathered.

Rather straightforward, this just scales things up.