Difference between revisions of "Death Powers (FiD)"

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{{FiD}}
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{{FiD-Powers}}Death and disease are powerful forces.  
[[Powers_(FiD)#Common_Power_Effects|Main Page is Powers]]
 
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.
 
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.
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Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease. Paradoxically this means that death attacks incapacitate, but don't immediately kill. Instead they take their time as disease and infection kills you, and such harm is extremely hard to cure. Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is slow.
  
Death creatures are spirits of the dead.
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=== Undead ===
Study can call apparition that can communicate but not act.
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{{ : Undead (FiD) }}
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 ==
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== Death Abilities ==
 
{| class="wikitable"  
 
{| class="wikitable"  
|align="center" | '''Action'''  
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|valign=bottom | '''Action'''  
|align="center" | '''Basic'''    <br> No minimum    <br>  3 Stress
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|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Basic'''     
|align="center" | '''Advanced''' <br> Minimum 2 Dice <br>  5 Stress
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|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Advanced'''  
|align="center" | '''Master'''  <br> Minimum 4 Dice <br>  7 Stress
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|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Master'''   
|align="center" | '''Apex'''    <br> Minimum 6 Dice <br> 13 Stress
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|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Apex'''    
 +
|- 
 +
|valign=bottom | '''Dice '''
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | —   
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Minimum 2d
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Minimum 4d 
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Minimum 6d      
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Attune'''
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|valign=bottom | '''Stress'''
|valign="top"| '''Perceive''' <br> You can detect undead in both physical and spirit form.  
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|align="center" valign=bottom | Avoid fumble (2+).
|valign="top"| '''Dismiss''' <br> You can banish an undead. Summoned undead are usually just gone, natural undead may reform later. You can end the operation of a death ability. You can summon undead spirits to animate corpses as simple corporeal undead. 
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|align="center" valign=bottom | Succeed (4+).
|valign="top"| '''Summon''' <br> You can summon an undead spirit. This is generally an unwilling servant. It will obey one command from you and this can be extended. Learning who to summon may require study or be a a score in itself.
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|align="center" valign=bottom | Full success (6).
|valign="top"| '''Gate''' <br> You can create a portal that allows travel to and from the plane of death.  
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|align="center" valign=bottom | Critical (2 sixes).
 
+
|-
 +
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Attune'''  
 +
|valign="top"| '''[[#Soul Sense|Soul Sense]]''' <br> Detect Death.
 +
|valign="top"| '''[[#Soul Shroud|Soul Shroud]]''' <br> Dismiss Death.
 +
|valign="top"| '''[[#Soul Summons|Soul Summons]]''' <br> Summon undead.
 +
|valign="top"| '''[[#Soul Sojourn|Soul Sojourn]]''' <br> Portal to Death.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Command'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Command'''  
|valign="top"| '''Rebuke''' <br> You can speak to undead even if normally couldn't, allowing you to use the command action normally on them.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Wraith's Whispers|Wraith's Whispers]]''' <br> Intimidate with Death.
|valign="top"| '''Translate''' <br> You and allies can communicate with undead. You can create fear in mortal creatures.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Wraith's Words|Wraith's Words]]''' <br> Messager undead.
|valign="top"| '''Authority''' <br> You can give commands to undead, as if you were their superior. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Wraith's Will|Wraith's Will]]''' <br> Command undead.
|valign="top"| '''Enslave ''' <br> You can permanently bind undead to service. Unless affected by other powers, they will stay in one location and act according to your instructions, like very loyal and literal-minded goons.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Wraith's Writ|Wraith's Writ]]''' <br> Bind undead.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Consort'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Consort'''  
|valign="top"| '''Mask''' <br> You add clothes and accessories that look rotten but are fully functional when used by you and undead creatures. You can make normal objects appear rotten. This can mask your identity or create very goth outfits.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Pallid Presence|Pallid Presence]]''' <br> Craft Death
|valign="top"| '''Gift of Undeath''' <br> You assume the form of an undead. Add 1d to one action and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute except if you just raised one of them.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Pallid Persona|Pallid Persona]]''' <br> Undead transmutation.
|valign="top"| '''Curse of Undeath''' <br> You can shapechange a willing or helpless creature into a corporeal undead. This can be a curse, it can be broken but it is not easy. You can easily break the effect.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Pallid Proxy|Pallid Proxy]]''' <br> Transmute Crew.
|valign="top"| '''Haunted Hunt''' <br> You can transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures into corporeal undead and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Pallid Procession|Pallid Procession]]''' <br> Transmute crowd.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Finesse'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Finesse'''  
|valign="top"| '''Ride''' <br> You can ride undead or a vehicle powered by undead as if they were trained to carry a rider.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Harrowing Hearse|Harrowing Hearse]]''' <br> Ride the dead.
|valign="top"| '''Scythe''' <br> You can use the power as a fine and potent close-range attack, similar in effect to a fine potent dueling sword or pistol, or you can give your friends the Ride ability for the duration of a score.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Harrowing Hack|Harrowing Hack]]'''     <br> Fine and Potent attack.
|valign="top"| '''Dead Man's Hand''' <br> You can do fine manipulation of corpses, allowing you to do small and exact manipulations at range. This allows you to open doors, trigger or hinder mechanisms, or perform other minor manipulations, as long as you have a corpse to work with.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Harrowing Hook|Harrowing Hook]]'''     <br> Precise control.
|valign="top"| '''Deluge of Death''' <br> Your power manifests like a storm of undead, suppressing the effect of multiple opponents and acting as a fine potent weapon.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Harrowing Horde|Harrowing Horde]]'''   <br> Create a crew of undead.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Hunt'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Hunt'''  
|valign="top"| '''Scent of Death''' <br> You can track and pursue undead and corpses, even if they do not leave any mundane trail or clues.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Arrow Approach|Arrow Approach]]''' <br> Track Death.
|valign="top"| '''Shard of Death''' <br> You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Arrow Aim|Arrow Aim]]''' <br> Fine and Potent snipe.
|valign="top"| '''Outbreak''' <br> You can use your power to attack similar to a fine  and potent grenade. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area very effectively, but there is a risk of collateral damage.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Arrow Ash|Arrow Ash]]''' <br> Create haunting.
|valign="top"| '''Plague''' <br> You call down the equivalent of a fine potent artillery barrage, attacking everything and everyone in a wide area. This will rot organic materials, but only slowly. Usually enough to provide cover for any escape.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Arrow Ague|Arrow Ague]]''' <br> Burst of Death.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Prowl'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Prowl'''  
|valign="top"| '''Deathwatch''' <br> You can hide in graveyards, tombs, and haunted places.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Haunt Hide|Haunt Hide]]''' <br> Hide among Death.
|valign="top"| '''Ghost Walk''' <br> You can move on and through corpses and cadavers, including barriers made of bone, leather, and silk.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Haunt Hop|Haunt Hop]]''' <br> Move through Death.
|valign="top"| '''Dance Macabre''' <br> You can bring allies along when you use Deathwatch and Ghost Walk.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Haunt Huddle|Haunt Huddle]]''' <br> Crew Haunt Hide and Hop.
|valign="top"| '''Death March''' <br> You and allies can teleport from one burial place to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to enter or escape just about any situation or location.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Haunt Hallow|Haunt Hallow]]''' <br> Escape from graves.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Skirmish'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Skirmish'''  
|valign="top"| '''Touch of Death''' <br> You can use the power as a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Dance of Deflection|Dance of Deflection]]''' <br> Block Death Harm.
|valign="top"| '''Hand of Death''' <br> Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Dance of Decay|Dance of Decay]]''' <br> Fine and Potent attack.
|valign="top"| '''Ghost Dance''' <br> You can animate corpses and cadavers to create distractions and obstructions that prevents the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Dance of Death|Dance of Death]]''' <br> Gain Scale.
|valign="top"| '''Carnival of Carnage''' <br> Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Dance of Deliberation|Dance of Deliberation]]''' <br> Group Action.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Study'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Study'''  
|valign="top"| '''Name of the Deceased''' <br> You can identify corpses and cadavers, including silk, leather, and undead, learning their use and abilities.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Obituary Outline|Obituary Outline]]''' <br> Identify death.
|valign="top"| '''Seance''' <br> You can summon an apparition of a a dead who you have a link to and ask them questions.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Obituary Oracle|Obituary Oracle]]''' <br> Analyze Death.
|valign="top"| '''History of the Deceased''' <br> You can read the past events of something you analyze. This includes previous owners and how the object has been moved around as well as significant scenes, even back when they were alive.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Obituary Orison|Obituary Orison]]''' <br> Necromantic seance.
|valign="top"| '''Tale of Tragedy''' <br> You research everything in a wide area. This is easy to do where you are, more difficult at range. You can then use History of the Deceased on some of these targets.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Obituary Omniscience|Obituary Omniscience]]''' <br> Wide-range seance.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Survey'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Survey'''  
|valign="top"| '''Scent of Death''' <br> You can sense manifestations of death at a distance and understand their general nature. This works even when you can't see the target, but both range and information suffers.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Grave Glimpse|Grave Glimpse]]''' <br> Sense Death.
|valign="top"| '''Skull's Eye''' <br> Choose an skull that you have detected, whether it be an actual skull or a representation of one; you can perceive as if you were at that spot. You cannot use your Survey action for anything else when doing so.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Grave Gaze|Grave Gaze]]''' <br> See through Death.
|valign="top"| '''Seeking Skull''' <br> Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest skull, which is sometimes close enough to perceive the target.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Grave Vigil|Grave Vigil]]''' <br> Spy through Death.
|valign="top"| '''Omnipresent Death''' <br> You perceive from all skulls at once over a wide area.  As long as you concentrate you retain this perception and can report what you see to others.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Grave Horizon|Grave Horizon]]''' <br> Synthesis of Death.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Sway'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Sway'''  
|valign="top"| '''Moody Dead''' <br> You understand undead even if normally couldn't, allowing you to see their motivations.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Inquiring Eulogy|Inquiring Eulogy]]''' <br> Death communication.
|valign="top"| '''Dead Men Talking''' <br> You and allies can communicate with undead. You can make folk morose.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Enticing Eulogy|Enticing Eulogy]]''' <br> Emote the dead.
|valign="top"| '''Elegy''' <br> You can post suggestions in the mind of an undead, which will be triggered under conditions you specify. Common suggestions are to steal something, attack someone, or ignore some event. This is a subtle power, but easier to spot once triggered.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Edict Eulogy|Edict Eulogy]]''' <br> Suggest the undead.
|valign="top"| '''Unity in Death'''   <br> You change the personality and motivations of undead. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remember their past, but regard it as unimportant compared to their new motivations. 
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Enshrine Eulogy|Enshrine Eulogy]]''' <br> Bind undead.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Tinker'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Tinker'''  
|valign="top"| '''Dead Polish''' <br> You can work the remains of dead creatures but also decrepit and broken items, making them function normally despite their condition but not improving their looks or make them look good despite being decrepit, but not both.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Funerary Fashioning|Funerary Fashioning]]''' <br> Craft Death.
|valign="top"| '''Dead Craft''' <br> You can shape materials you can Dead Polish as if they were of clay.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Funerary Forging|Funerary Forging]]''' <br> Shape Death.
|valign="top"| '''Luxuries of the Dead''' <br> You can create objects Dead Polish can handle out of nothing, or transform an object from one material to another as long as you know the power required for both the starting and final form. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items appropriate to the power(s) used.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Funerary Fusing|Funerary Fusing]]''' <br> Transmute Death.
|valign="top"| '''Funerary Splendor'''   <br> This is similar to create, above, but you mass produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Funerary Foundry|Funerary Foundry]]''' <br> Fabricate Death.
 
|-
 
|-
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Wreck'''
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|align="left" valign="top" | '''Wreck'''  
|valign="top"| '''Rot to Death''' <br> You can slowly wreck remnants of the dead, but also objects that already suffer from some damage, corrosion, or corruption. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place. Works as a sledgehammer in melee.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Rot Rend|Rot Rend]]''' <br> Rot attack.
|valign="top"| '''Rot to Oblivion''' <br> Similar to Rot to Death, but faster.  When smashing objects from your power, such as corroded metal, you to affect hard objects as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Rot Ruin|Rot Ruin]]''' <br> Stronger rot.
|valign="top"| '''Dust to Dust''' <br> Similar to Rot to Oblivion, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Rot Raze|Rot Raze]]''' <br> Silent Rot.
|valign="top"| '''The Bustling City Deserted''' <br> Similar to Rot to Oblivion, but over a large area. This can level a city block, empty a canal system of water, raze a city wall, and similar massive destruction.
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Rot Reaping|Rot Reaping]]''' <br> Area Rot.
 
|}
 
|}
  
== Expanded Death Powers ==
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== Expanded Abilities ==
Expanded descriptions of effects that differ significantly from [[Powers (FiD)#Typical Powers and How to Use Them|Typical Powers]].
 
  
 
=== Attune ===
 
=== 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.
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Harness the power of Attune to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena of Death or from the land of the dead.
 +
 
 +
==== Soul Sense ====
 +
Detect Death.
 +
 
 +
{{ : Include Attune Basic Detect Powers (FiD) }}
  
'''Perceive:'''
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==== Soul Shroud ====
''You can detect creatures and power use tied to your power.  
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Dismiss Death.
  
This is usually done to spot a disguised summoned creature. However, it can also help identify a creature's connection to powers, providing valuable insights into their nature.
+
You can banish [[#Undead|undead]] and dismiss Death powers.  
Naturally, effect is reduced as the creature is more heavily obscured.
+
Death is unusual in that Advanced Attune Death can animate corpses to create simple undead.
The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you cannot try again.
 
  
'''Dismiss:'''
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When dismissing you can only affect Death, you can make Death [[Spirit (FiD)|Spirits]] materialize and dispel Death powers and powers affecting undead, corpses, and tombs. {{ : Include Attune Dispel Materialize Spirits (FiD) }}
''You can force a creature based on this power that is native to another plane of existence to return to that plane, or to end the operation of an ability of the power you use.
 
  
Dismissing a creature is hard, and might require the creature to be weakened, either by previous attempts to dismiss it, or by other attacks, interactions, or by being set up.  
+
You can animate the dead.
The consequences of this depends entirely on what happens around you when you do it.  
+
This simplest kind of [[#Undead|undead]] are corpses or body parts animated by a simple animus.
If a powerful creature resists being dispelled, its obviously dangerous.  
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They can follow your orders as long as they are simple and direct, but are easily distracted by their drive to kill the living.
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.
+
They function as '''gang cohorts''' (p. 96).  
 +
This means that at higher Tiers you need to find many corpses to animate for them to be effective (p. 221).
 +
Corpses in properly maintained graveyards can't be animated, but old disused graveyards and unconsecrated battlefields and mass graves have no such protection.
  
Dispelling is usually easier, but not always.
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==== Soul Summons ====
Most powers only dispel effects of their own power.
+
Summon undead.
Read this generously.
 
As an example, the fire power can dispel any fire power, but also powers that affect flames and heat sources, as well as powers that affect fire creatures.
 
It can be used as a defense against others' use of power, or it can be used to break the continuing effects of powers.  
 
  
Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers.
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[[#Undead|Undead]] are either incorporeal [[Spirit (FiD)|Spirits]] or an animus of Death possessing things, usually corpses but sometimes other things related to Death, like hearses, graves, tombs, or even entire graveyards or battlefields.
The position is controlled, possibly risky if there are a lot of other dangers around.
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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 own past lives.
Limited effect creates an opening that makes the supported action potent.
 
Normal effect improves the position of the supported action.
 
Great effect improves both position and effect of the supported power.
 
  
When used directly, the effect is usually limited unless the opponent is relying on powers for their safety.
+
{{ : Include Attune Summon (FiD) }}
Against an opponent that uses power to fly or even breathe you can have a better effect.
 
  
When dramatically appropriate that a power is hard to dispel, often because it is the crux of the situation, this will simply not work, but will instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.
+
==== Soul Sojourn ====
 +
Portal to Death.
  
'''Summon:'''
+
Create a portal to the Land of the dead.
''You can call a creature from a place of your power. This is generally an unwilling servant. It will obey one command from you and this can be extended. Learning who to summon may require study or be a score in itself.
+
{{ : Include Attune Gate (FiD) }}
  
What a "place of your power" means depends on the setting, but is always a different place that you normally cannot interact with.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
This is usually a parallel world or plane of existence, dominated by your power.
 
So fire summons creatures from a very fiery place, air summons from a very airy place and so on.
 
These places can be unique to each power, or one big place where different places are dominated by different powers.
 
It might also be from other places in your own world, exotic regions of your own world or distant planets like Pluto or starts like Aldebaran.
 
This is the usual explanation in the cosmic horror genre.
 
In a science-fiction setting with powers this is usually related to faster-than-light travel, so if ships travel through hyperspace, this is also where summons come from.
 
If travel is by gate, the medium the gate stretches through is where summons come from, and so on.
 
The Gate power of Attune is the usual way to get to these places.
 
  
Summoning can bring you allies to fight, but more commonly you summon a spirit to do some specific task related to your power. Summons can use most power effects and maintain power effects you have created.
+
=== Command ===
They can also give advice and information related to their power.
+
Command and intimidate the undead, projecting authority. Position and effect depend on the situation and your relationship with the listeners.
In general, you can summon generic creatures one tier lower than yourself without having to do a flashback.
 
Such a creature is similar to a gang member.
 
  
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.
+
==== Wraith's Whispers ====
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.
+
Intimidate with Death.
Doin this kind of preparation also counts as a set-up action for your summoning, even if you are doing it in a flashback.
 
  
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.
+
You can create Death effects such as a skull face, skeletal hands, and etheric whispers, gaining leverage similar to what could be a achieved with threat such as displaying a weapon.
 +
This can provide the leverage needed to use Command to intimidate without actual threat of violence.
 +
Creatures of Death might recognize you as one of them.
  
Spirits generally come in three types, elementals, spirits, and creatures with powers.  
+
==== Wraith's Words ====
 +
Messager undead.
  
Elementals only exist for powers that have a direct physical manifestation, like the four classic elements of air, earth, fire, and water, but also the other forms that have a physical manifestation, electricity, ice, metal, and plant.
+
You can communicate with [[#Undead|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 [[#Undead|undead]] creature in a vehicle or installation as long as you can see the exterior. The communication is simple and direct, suitable for the Command skill.
An elemental is a simple creature totally dominated by its power.
 
Most elementals have animal intelligence, and often take the shape of animals as well, tough animated chunks of matter and humanoid forms are also common.
 
  
Spirits are similar to elementals in that they are made out of the stuff of their power, but the powers that create spirits are less material. This makes spirits ephemeral, less physically oriented, and usually more intelligent than elementals.
+
You can also use a skull as a communication device.  
They can use sophisticated power effects and usually have an agenda of their own.
+
You say who you are trying to speak to, and if a skull is present near the target, you can communicate.
Darkness, Death, Flux, Illusion, Order, and Space can summon spirits.
 
  
Creatures with powers resemble normal creatures, most having a biological body, metabolism, and functioning as ordinary living creatures but also some exceptional abilities related to their power.
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==== Wraith's Will ====
A fire dragon is impossibly large, flies, and breathes fire.
+
Command undead.
An air turtle hovers and can grow to massive size, to the point where a city can be built on top of them.
 
An undead creature is a corpse animated by the powers of Death.
 
And so on.
 
Not all creatures with powers are summonable or dismissible, many are native to this world and have no special vulnerability to Attune power effects.
 
  
Depending on your degree of effect the creature is willing to do different things.
+
Targets will see you as a leader type outranking them.  
Limited effect allows you to ask questions of an intelligent creature or demand a short period of physical labor from a simple creature. The creature will not fight for you. If forced into a fight due to circumstances, it will resent it afterwards.
+
This allows you to order strangers around and improves Effect, but not Position; targets comply without accepting your authority.
 +
This does not remove existing loyalties, which may lead to conflict.
 +
Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid clashes with established hierarchies.
  
Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to the type of creature. A devil will do evil, a fire elemental will burn stuff, and so on.
+
==== Wraith's Writ  ====
This includes dangerous tasks such as combat if the creature has such abilities, which most of them do.
+
Bind undead.
  
Great effect allows actions outside the creature's comfort zone, but not things it directly opposes. A devil will do most things except those associated with Light, a fire elemental will heat your forge or power your steam engine. Lengthy service also requires great effect, like summoning the creature to guard a treasure for as long as it can.
+
This won’t work unless you are already in a position of power. The effect is similar to Wraith's Will but permanent. A creature can be freed by Powers or strong passions.
  
The position is usually risky. The creature is being forced to serve and might lash out.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
Typical consequences are:
 
The creature strikes out at you once.
 
A tightwire struggle to keep the creature under control
 
The creature breaks things around you, demands concessions from you.
 
Overly literal interpretations of your commands.
 
The creature deliberately does its tasks poorly.
 
  
Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature can make the position controlled, with consequences like half-heated efforts, demanding not to be summoned again until some time or event has passed, or just general sulkiness.
+
=== Consort ===
 +
Consort powers change your form and later that of other creatures. This can be used as a set-up action for later or you use the Consort roll for the power directly.
 +
This will often give a bonus to effect or improved position or even allow an action that a human could not do.
  
Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos.
+
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.
If you are a priest of light and summon a demon, 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.  
 
  
'''Gate:'''
+
==== Pallid Presence ====
''You can create a portal that allows travel to and from the plane of your power for a limited time.
+
Craft Death
  
This is rarely useful, but can be under exceptional circumstances.
+
Make clothes and accessories rotten but functional when used by you and [[#Undead|undead]] creatures.
As outlined under Summoning above most powers are linked to a different world where that power is dominant.
 
There are also 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, so you instead ask for an audience.  
+
You do not physically change yourself, you change your accessorize and outfit.
The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.
+
This can make regular items and clothes look decrepit while staying functional.
 +
When the power ends, items return to their original status.
  
Using a gate is usually played out as a score, which means there is an engagement roll.
+
You can use this on your entire Crew as an Advanced ability.
Depending on how quickly the matter is resolved, the game master may require a separate game 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 and without doing it as a score.
 
  
=== Command ===
+
==== Pallid Persona ====
Command creatures based on your power with communication and authority.
+
Undead transmutation.
Position and effect is determined normally, depending ion the situation and your relation to listeners.
+
 
If you know several powers and use a Command power but don't know what type of creature you are facing, it works as long as you have the appropriate power. You need not select a specific type of creature in advance.
+
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 makes a reasonable undead.
If you try to Command a type of creature and don't the appropriate power, effect is at best limited—the game master may judge that Command skill can be used non-verbally, but often you will have no effect at all. 
 
This still has the normal stress cost.
 
  
'''Communicate:'''
+
Pallid Persona can work as a set-up action for a number of other actions but may penalize other things, as appropriate to your new form.
''You can make creatures understand you, but you do not understand them.
+
When appropriate, your new form can use Basic and Advanced Death powers inherently without risking stress.
  
This is useful because it allows you to intimidate creatures of your power and to command foreign or alien subordinates.
+
* '''Limited Effect''' — You resemble how you might look as an [[#Undead|undead]] creature; those familiar with you may still recognize you.
Combined with the basic power of Sway allows two-way communication.
+
* '''Standard Effect''' — You become a generic undead, very difficult to recognize as yourself ''or'' you can opt to change very little, making it hard to see that you now have n [[#Undead|undead]] form. Many necromancers are naturally pallid, if you are there may be no apparent change at all.
 +
* '''Great Effect''' — You assume the form and some of the mannerisms or presence of a specific devil you have studied.
  
'''Translate:'''
+
==== Pallid Proxy ====
You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power.
+
Transmute Crew.
This allows full conversation with creatures of the power.
 
It is still a Command ability, it is more forceful and less subtle than the Sway equivalent.
 
  
'''Authority:'''
+
This is Pallid Persona applied to another creature. The duration depends of the effect.
''You can give commands to creatures based on your power, as if you were their superior. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts.
+
* '''Limited Effect''' — One scene.
 +
* '''Standard Effect''' — Lasts for the duration of a score.
 +
* '''Great Effect''' — Lasts weeks. It can be used as poetic justice, transforming the target as a punishment as a permanent curse.
  
This is more powerful than a normal Command action, having about one additional level of effect, but it is not absolute.
+
If you also want to make the target unrecognizable or to look much the same, that requires additional effect, see Pallid Persona.
Creatures of the relevant type will understand your orders.
 
  
Targets will see you as an officer, professional superior, alpha, or other leader type outranking them.
+
==== Pallid Procession ====
It is very helpful to have a grasp of the social order of your targets, as this allows you to avoid conflicting with their established loyalties.
+
Transmute crowd.
Ordering city guards to return to barracks and ignore a disturbance is much harder (lower effect) than to tell them to scatter the disturbance and move on, because their task is to protect the city.
 
Limited effect can lead to a creature not doing what it is supposed to, such as reporting you or giving you a speeding ticket.
 
Standard effect makes the creature do what it is supposed to in a way you decide, such as a police escorting you to a safe location or do you a favor that is quick, such as letting you past a checkpoint even if they ought not to.
 
Great effect means targets will go out of their way to please you, such as warriors from a neutral faction fighting for you, enemies ignoring you or even fleeing.  
 
  
The position depends on the creatures' actual relationship to you—a creature that perceives itself as your superior will use a stronger rebuke.
+
Often known as the Danse Macabre, this transforms a number of willing creatures into undead, give a simple instruction.
A controlled position comes from a creature that agrees you are superior to it, and usually just means that trying again is harder.
+
Those affected will think of it as a nightmare once it is over.
A risky position is typical against a creature that perceives itself an equal to you, and not your enemy. This might lead to heat, misunderstood orders, or that targets rebel in small ways.
+
{{ : Apex Consort }}
  
'''Enslave:'''
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
''You can permanently bind creatures to service. Unless affected by other powers, they will stay in one location and act according to your instructions, like very loyal and literal-minded goons.
 
  
Obviously a broken ability, and one that will have a low effect unless you are already in a position of power.
+
=== Finesse ===
The effect is similar to the authority, the difference is that this is a long-lasting and potentially permanent effect.
+
Deal death with finesse, manipulating and attacking with precision.
A creature that is under the care of your enemies will likely break the effect after some time, and a creature confronted with something it used to feel very strongly about might break your control, but it otherwise lasts until removed by other effects.
 
  
=== Consort ===
+
==== Harrowing Hearse ====
Utilize the power of Consort to change forms and manipulate objects imbued with your power.
+
Ride the dead.
You not only understand how to behave to conform to social norms, you change your own (and alter others') physical form.
 
  
'''Mask:'''
+
Ride [[#Undead|undead]] or a vehicle of death as if they were trained.
''You can change your clothes and accessories by imbuing them with your power. This can mask your identity or create fabulous outfits.
+
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 animus or used mostly to transport the dead such as a hearse .  
 +
You can ride undead beasts even if they are not trained to carry a rider.
 +
They must still be physically able to carry you.
  
You do not physically change yourself, you accessorize and change your outfit.
+
You can give this ability to your crew as an Advances ability.
The effect is usually limited and the position controlled, but some changes might be more extreme than this.
 
  
'''Shapechange:'''
+
==== Harrowing Hack ====
''You assume the form of another creature that manifests your power. Add 1d to one action and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute except if you just raised one of them.
+
Fine and Potent attack.
  
This is a true physical transmutation.
+
Fine and Potent close-range attack, similar to a fine potent weapon.
You need not assume the form of an existing creature, as long as the gamemaster agrees your new form matches the power you use.  
+
Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease. Death attacks incapacitate but take their time actually killing. Disease and infection kills slowly, a Death disease is extremely hard to cure.  
This can give you new abilities, but these are things you could already do using the same power.
+
Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is also slow.
You may get away without having to use each specific power, at the cost of losing some of the abilities of your original form.
+
Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, a 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.
So if you turn into a fish you don't have to use powers to swim and breathe water, but you are close to helpless on land.
 
  
If desired your transmutation might benefit an action relevant to your new form, at the cost of lowering all the actions covered by a specific attribute.
+
==== Harrowing Hook ====
You rating in the improved action increases by one.
+
Precise control.
The actions covered by your weakened attribute are all reduced by one, except that if you chose the attribute that governs your improved action, this action gains the benefit and does not suffer the penalty.
 
  
''Example
+
You can move a small part of a corpse, cadaver, or funerary artifact, including anything an undead creature is using. {{ Include Finesse Master }}
''Jillyan uses the Animal power to turn herself into a monkey. She gains a +1 bonus to the Prowl action, but suffers a -1 penalty to Finesse Skirmish and Wreck. She does not suffer the penalty on Prowl, as that is the action that was improved. If the penalty had instead been applied to Insight, Hunt, Study, Survey and Tinker would all have suffered the penalty.
 
  
'''Transform:'''
+
==== Harrowing Horde ====
''You can shapechange a willing or helpless creature into a form imbued by your power. This can be a curse, it can be broken but it is not easy. You can easily break the effect.
+
Create a crew of undead.
  
This is the shapechange power applied to another creature.  
+
Animuses (lesser spirits) of the dead rise to assist you with a task.
The duration depends of the effect, limited effect is very temporary, more of a warning.
+
If you have corpses for the animuses to animate they become more substantial and able to use their entire bodies, otherwise they can only work like a pair of disembodied hands.
Standard effect lasts for the duration of a score.
+
The horde can only provide Scale and Assist, it cannot act on its own.
Great effect lasts a long time and potentially become permanent, depending on the development of the story.
+
The most obvious use is to give you Scale for a task or fight against an opposing crew, but Harrowing Host can also act as a crew on a ship, a parade, laborers, or in other tasks that require a large but unskilled crew.
Other abilities can be used to reverse such a transformation.
+
The crew remains until the task is finished, until sunrise, or until attacked, whichever comes first.
  
You cannot use this on a powerful opponent that cannot be defeated by a single successful action.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
You may have to confront them in several scenes to finally get them to the point where you can transform them.
 
  
'''Wild Hunt:'''
+
=== Hunt ===
''You can transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
+
Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power to Hunt Death.
 +
Shooting into melee can be dangerous to you and yours.
  
This is where Consort becomes a combination of the Shapechange and Summon power effects.
+
==== Arrow Approach ====
Instead of summoning a host of allies, you transform a number of existing creatures and give them a task that they will perform with gusto.
+
Track Death.
Essentially you turn them into single-minded minions.
 
Targets must be willing, non-sentient like animals, or just very minor figures in the plot, likely several 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 turned into lesser servants, like the scene with the fairy godmother from Disney's Cinderella.
 
  
=== Finesse ===
+
You can sense the progress of Death.
Exercise finesse with your power, manipulating and attacking with precision.
+
This allows you to track the dying, dead (corpses) and undead.
 +
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, this might get you lost, into traps, or even into an ambush.
  
'''Ride:'''
+
It also allows you to track the progress of a disease in a patient or community and identify disease vectors.
''If there is a mount or vehicle of the appropriate power, you can ride it as if it was domesticated and you have the keys. You can move and breathe in conditions manifesting your power without damage or hindrance.
 
  
This allows you to use Finesse with mounts and vehicles you are not familiar with, allowing Finesse to substitute for Command and Tinker actions that could do the same thing.
+
==== Arrow Aim ====
 +
Fine and Potent snipe.
  
'''Duel:'''
+
Death attack similar to a fine and potent rifle.
''You can use the power as a fine and potent close-range attack, similar in effect to a fine potent dueling sword or pistol, or you can give your friends the Ride ability for the duration of a score.
+
Strike an opponent with plague from a distance.
 +
Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease.
 +
Death attacks incapacitate but take their time actually killing.
 +
Disease and infection kills slowly, a Death disease is extremely hard to cure.
 +
Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is also slow.
 +
Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, a Fine and Potent Finesse weapon is just as effective.  
  
What this actually does depends on the power used.
+
==== Arrow Ash ====
Fire burns, wind slices, ice pieces or freezes, and so on.
+
Create haunting.
Certain targets may be more or less vulnerable to certain attacks, but this is the exception.
 
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, no more, no less.
 
  
'''Manipulate:'''
+
You can create signs of haunting, such as faintly glowing images, rattling noises, and banging doors.
''You can do fine manipulation of the power, allowing you to do small and exact manipulations at range. This allows you to open doors, trigger or hinder mechanisms, or perform other minor manipulations, as long as the target is appropriate to your power.
+
The haunting is within Range (p. 221) outdoors and within an Area indoors.  
 +
This is usually used as a Set Up, but may also change how people act in reaction to the environment — hauntings are likely to make people be careful and defensive.
 +
Does not inflict any direct damage.
  
This allows you to manipulate small amounts of matter governed by your power.
+
==== Arrow Ague ====
This is similar to what you could do by hand, but you can do so at a distance of ten meters or so, allowing you to push buttons, trigger devices, and perform legerdemain at short range. This can substitute for simple Tinker actions, but nothing complicated.
+
Burst of Death.
  
'''Surge:'''
+
An escalation of Arrow Aim. 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.
''Your power manifests like a storm of blades, suppressing the effect of multiple opponents and acting as a fine potent weapon. You can choose to affect multiple targets.
 
  
You create ans use weapon like Duel above, and also create distractions.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
The effect is like having a number of trusty but entirely defensive allies in the fight.
 
This negates the advantage an enemy gets for having allies of their own, but is otherwise the same as Duel.
 
  
=== Hunt ===
+
=== Prowl ===
Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power of Hunt.
+
Sneak and move with stealth and agility.
As you advance in power, the scope of your attacks becomes greater, allowing you to control significant areas and cause widespread destruction.
+
Works in environments that manifest Death: ossuaries, graveyards, necropolises, tombs, and battlefields.
At short range, this is dangerous to you and yours.
 
  
'''Track:'''
+
==== Haunt Hide ====
''You can track and pursue based on your power, even if the target does not leave any mundane trail or clues.
+
Hide among Death.
  
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.
+
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 Haunt Hallow, below.
  
'''Potent Snipe:'''
+
==== Haunt Hop ====
''You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.
+
Move through Death.
  
The effect of this action varies depending on the nature of your power.
+
Move on and through tombs, corpses, and cadavers.
For instance, fire will burn, wind can slice, ice might pierce or freeze, and so forth.  
+
This allows you to safely climb and pass through the walls of tombs, ossuaries, graveyards, and similar places of Death, as well as piles of corpses, bones, and even among gangs of undead.
While some targets may exhibit more or less vulnerability to specific types of attacks, this is the exception rather than the rule.
 
Essentially, this ability serves as a versatile replacement for traditional equipment; a fine and potent finesse weapon would be equally effective in combat.
 
Moreover, using this action in a fight doesn't consume any additional time; activating your attack power is akin to drawing a weapon—neither faster nor slower.
 
  
'''Area Attack:'''
+
==== Haunt Huddle ====
''You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent grenade. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area very effectively, but there is a risk of collateral damage.
+
Crew Haunt Hide and Hop.
  
An escalation of Potent Snipe, this affects all enemies in a single location.  
+
Share Haunt Hide and Haunt Hop with your allies.
The effect is more powerful but less precise.
+
Now you and your crew can Prowl in places where Death holds sway.
This means it does more collateral damage, but no more effect on enemies.
+
They still use their own Prowl action rating.
Targets in trenches, behind walls, or otherwise shielded are not in direct damage, but tend to keep their heads down, which gives your side the initiative.
 
  
'''Barrage:'''
+
==== Haunt Hallow ====
''You call down the equivalent of a fine potent artillery barrage, attacking everything and everyone in a wide area. Depending on your power, this can raze buildings and create rubble. Usually enough to provide cover for any escape.
+
Escape from graves.
  
Continued escalation, this can create a crater or raze buildings, but creatures are no more or less likely to survive.  
+
You and your allies can teleport from one graveyard or tomb to another.
It is no more likely to harm creatures than Potent Snipe or Area Attack, but does so over a wide area.
+
This is regional travel; you remain within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to escape almost any situation or location.
Enemies in bunkers and other cover are discomforted, but not damaged.
 
Creatures in this area need to keep their heads down, which is usually enough of a distraction that your side can do something else unopposed, such as prowling about or running away.
 
  
=== Prowl ===
+
This takes you to places you are familiar with.
Sneak, move, and perhaps even fly or teleport with the stealth and agility granted by Prowl.
+
Both Effect and Position are worse unless you know where you are going, making this ideal for escapes but unreliable for intrusion into unfamiliar or hostile territory.
Most powers use Prowl in ways that vary from the norm, so this is a more rough sketch than the power abilities of many other actions.
 
  
'''Reconnaissance:'''
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
''You can hide in environments linked to your power. This allows you to hide in impossible places as long as the environment manifests your power. You gain advantage when sneaking on creatures linked to your power.
 
  
This provides you cover to hide in places you ordinarily could not.
+
=== Skirmish ===
Where you can use this is explained in each specific power.
+
==== Dance of Deflection ====
It otherwise works just like any other attempt to use Prowl to avoid notice.
+
Block Death Harm.
Note that only you can use this ability, your friends and allies cannot unless you use Travel, below.
 
  
'''Maneuver:'''
+
Absorb Harm from Death powers, infection, and disease.
''You can move on and through environments composed of your environment. This allows you to climb on air, swim unhindered, walk through walls of the appropriate material and so on, depending on your exact power.
+
This allows you to survive most infectious environments unless they cause actual Harm you need to roll to absorb.
 +
{{ : Damage Resistance Template (FiD)}}
  
Again, each power will explain how it can use this mobility.
+
==== Dance of Decay ====
Your friends and allies cannot use this unless you employ Travel, which is described later
+
Fine and Potent attack.
  
'''Travel:'''
+
Strike down melee opponents with death and disease.
''You can bring allies along when you use Reconnaissance and Maneuver.
+
Death attacks incapacitate, but don't kill quickly, they take their time as disease but such Harm is extremely hard to cure.
  
Now you and your allies can Prowl in places where your power is at home.
+
==== Dance of Death ====
They still use their own Prowl action.
+
Gain Scale.
  
'''Transport:'''
+
Ghosts and animated corpses fight with you.
''You and allies can teleport from one location where your power is present to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region, but it is generally sufficient to enter or escape just about any situation or location.
+
Gain Scale (p. 221) in combat.
  
How and where you use this is explained in each power.
+
==== Dance of Deliberation ====
This takes you to places you are familiar with.
+
Group Action.
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 ===
+
This allows you and allies to initiate a Group Action when allies are injured, dying, or weakened, even if they would normally be unable to meaningfully contribute. {{ : Apex Skirmish Include (FiD) }}
Engage in close combat and create chaos with the power to Skirmish.
 
  
'''Skirmish Attack:'''
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
''You can use the power as a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.
 
  
What this actually does depends on the power used. Fire burns, wind slices, ice pieces or freezes, and so on.
+
=== Study ===
Certain targets may be more or less vulnerable to certain attacks, but this is the exception.
+
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 on undead.
Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, mundane weapons are just as effective.
 
In a fight, using this does not take any more time, activating your attack power is equivalent to drawing a weapon, no more, no less.
 
  
'''Fine Skirmish Attack:'''
+
==== Obituary Outline ====
''Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.
+
Identify death.
  
'''Obstruction:'''
+
Identify corpses, cadavers, and materials taken from the dead, including silk, leather, and undead.
''Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevent the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.
+
This gives the name and very basic information in narrative terms, but not details or actual rules.
  
This creates some kind of hindrance, perhaps spectral allies, perhaps a maze or concealing mist.
+
==== Obituary Oracle ====
The effect is to deny your enemies the advantage of numbers.
+
Analyze Death.
You also gain the benefit of the Fine Skirmish Attack, giving you a fine, potent weapon.
 
  
'''Flurry:'''
+
Learn the powers and abilities of Death.
''Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
+
You learn of any powers or special abilities the creature or object has. This includes actual rules and game effects.
  
This turns you into a one-man army. Not only do you negate the advantage your enemy may get from numbers, you also spread your effect to hurt all your enemies in the current skirmish, within 10 meters or so.
+
==== Obituary Orison ====
 +
Necromantic seance.
  
=== Study ===
+
Summon an apparition of a dead person you have a link to and ask them questions.
Study and analyze objects and creatures imbued with your power to gain insight and knowledge.
+
This requires a link to the dead creature.
 +
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.
  
'''Analyze:'''
+
You summon a powerless apparition of a dead person. This can be a ghostly image or voice, or a manifestation on something like a Ouija board or tarot reading. The lesser spirits 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 habits from life, particularly negative ones like suspicion, greed, and lust for vengeance.
''You can identify objects and creatures that manifest your power and see the use of the abilities of your power.
+
An apparition is unable to speak of its continued existence after death.
  
'''Research:'''
+
==== Obituary Omniscience ====
''You know the powers and abilities of something you analyze.
+
Wide-range seance.
  
'''Hindsight:'''
+
Allows you to see a image of every [[#Undead|undead]] and every creature killed or buried in an Area (p. 221), pinpointing locations of interest like tombs and sites of murder. You can then use Obituary Orison to learn the history of up to three dead people from this area.
''You can read the past events of something you analyze. This includes previous owners and how the object has been moved around as well as significant scenes.
 
  
'''Omniscience:'''
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
''You research everything in a wide area. This is easy to do where you are, more difficult at range. You can then use hindsight on some of these targets.
 
  
 
=== Survey ===
 
=== Survey ===
Survey and perceive manifestations of your power to gain valuable information and insight.
+
Perceive and locate manifestations of Death.
 +
The outcome you need depends on the target's concealment.
 +
Limited outcome finds those hiding behind cover and in far places you can only barely see.
 +
Standard outcome can look behind walls and into hard cover.
 +
Great outcome can look into far-away places and spots you had no idea existed.
 +
 
 +
==== Grave Glimpse ====
 +
Sense Death.
 +
 
 +
Sense manifestations of Death, including [[#Undead|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 eliminate false positives.
  
'''Detect:'''
+
==== Grave Gaze====
''You can sense manifestations of your power at a distance and understand their general nature. This works even when you can't see the target, but both range and information suffer.
+
See through Death.
  
'''Sensor:'''
+
Choose a skull or a representation of one; perceive as if you were at that spot.
''Choose an object manifesting your power that you have detected; you can perceive as if you were at that spot. You cannot use your Survey action for anything else when doing so.
+
You move your perception to a skull, real or manufactured, and sense as if you were at that spot.  
 +
If using an actual buried skull, you can perceive from any point of the grave it is buried in.
 +
You still sense things at your actual location, but very dimly.
  
'''Scry:'''
+
==== Grave Vigil====
''Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest suitable object, which is often close enough to perceive the target.
+
Spy through Death.
  
'''Omnipresence:'''
+
Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest skull.
''You perceive from all objects manifesting your power at once over a wide area. As long as you concentrate you retain this perception and can report what you see to others.
+
Similar to Grave Glimpse 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.
 +
 
 +
==== Grave Horizon ====
 +
Synthesis of Death.
 +
 
 +
You perceive like Grave Glimpse from all corpses and places where [[Mind_Powers_(FiD)#Sapient|Sapient]] are buried within Range (p. 221) at once.
 +
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.
 +
 
 +
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
  
 
=== Sway ===
 
=== Sway ===
Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate creatures imbued with your power to achieve your goals.
+
Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate undead.  
Sway creatures based on your power with persuasion and cajoling.
+
Position and effect are determined normally, depending on the situation and your relation to listeners.  
Position and effect is determined normally, depending ion the situation and your relation to listeners.
 
If you know several powers and use a Sway effect but don't know what type of creature you are facing, it works as long as you have the appropriate power.
 
You need not select a specific type of creature in advance.
 
If you try to Sway a type of creature and don't the appropriate power, effect is at best limited—the game master may judge that the Sway action can be used non-verbally, but often you will have no effect at all. 
 
This still has the normal stress cost.
 
  
'''Communicate:'''
+
==== Inquiring Eulogy ====
''You can understand creatures linked to your power even if normally couldn't, and gauge their mood and motivations.
+
Death communication.
  
This does not allow you to be understood by those whose intentions you read. Used together with the basic Command power, this allows full communication.
+
Understand [[#Undead|undead]] even if normally couldn't and sense their motivations.
 +
You can gauge the mood and motivations of undead and talk to them.
 +
You can also sense when any kind of creature is morose or in mourning.  
  
'''Translate:'''
+
==== Enticing Eulogy ====
''You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power.
+
Emote the dead.
  
This allows you to use the Sway power to its full effect.  
+
You and allies can communicate with undead. You can make folk morose.
You are still wheedling unless you also use Command the advanced Command effect.
+
This allows you to use the Sway action with full effect, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers.
 +
[[#Undead|undead]] are often cold and emotionless, this allows you to appeal to them in a way they care about.
 +
You are persuading, not speaking with authority.  
  
In addition, many powers will have the power to inspire a mood or emotion specific to that power.
+
You can make any type of creature morose, not just undead.
  
'''Mesmerize:'''
+
==== Edict Eulogy ====
''You can post suggestions in the mind of a creature manifesting your power, which will be triggered under conditions you specify. Common suggestions are to steal something, attack someone, or ignore some event. This is a subtle power, but easier to spot once triggered.
+
Suggest the undead.
  
Essentially this is an attempt to Sway with two advantages.
+
You can post suggestions in the mind of an undead.
The target will not remember that you swayed them, and if you succeed, you can give them instructions that will activate later, in a situation you specify.
+
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.
A typical use of this would be to sway a servant to leave a window open in a hallway or a guard to forget to load their weapon.
 
Besides the normal challenges of persuasion, suggestions fade depending on your effect. Limited effect lasts in the immediate situation.
 
Normal effect lasts for the duration of the score, and great effect can last past the end of the score, as makes sense in the story.
 
  
'''Inculcate:'''
+
==== Enshrine Eulogy ====
''You change the personality and motivations of creatures that manifest your power. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remembers their past but regards it as unimportant compared to their new motivations.
+
Bind undead.
  
This changes the target on a deep level, changing their loyalties and priorities.
+
Change the personality and motivations of [[#Undead|undead]] creature in your power..
There are limit to this, particularly for creatures linked to a power - you cannot make a fire creature love the sea or an angel of light do deeds of darkness.
+
This power is permanent but blatant. It changes the target on a deep level, altering their loves and loyalties. The target remembers 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 exceptional circumstances can break this change.
+
The effect fades over the next few days, but depending on the response from others long-term attitudes may change.
This depends more on role-playing than die rolls.
+
 
 +
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
  
 
=== Tinker ===
 
=== Tinker ===
Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with your power to suit your needs.
+
Manipulate, shape, and create objects of Death to suit your needs.
When used with long-term projects, powers can often substitute for missing resources such as tools or raw materials, but that is all it does until you can start using Fabricate.
+
Objects of Death include parts of corpses, fossils, grave goods, and seriously corroded or aged items of all kinds.
 +
You can restore such an item to functionality without changing its appearance.
 +
{{ : Include Tinker (FiD) }}
 +
You use coal as a power source, creating a pall of smoke around your workshop.
  
'''Handle:'''
+
==== Funerary Fashioning====
''You can handle materials that manifest your power as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.
+
Craft Death.
  
This mainly substitutes for tools, up to a small workshop.  
+
Work the remains of the dead. Make decrepit and broken items function normally.
You are also protected from any dangerous effects of working with the elements of your power.
+
You can craft bone, skin, sinew, and other materials from corpses and cadavers.
 +
You can take a decrepit item and make it function as new while you or an [[#Undead|undead]] use it.  
 +
It still looks decrepit.
  
'''Shape:'''
+
==== Funerary Forging====
''You can shape materials that manifest your power as if they were of clay, and they will retain their new shape for some time even if they would normally not, such as water, sand, or smoke.
+
Shape Death.
  
You can now do more than normal craft could do.  
+
Shape Death materials as if they were of clay.
You can work elements of your power that  normally cannot be shaped, and it will remain in the shape you set it in.  
+
This surpasses normal crafting, letting you manipulate unstable Death materials.  
This has the effect of pipes and containers suited to the materials at hand, without any material containers or conduits.
+
You can shape bone, blood, and similar substances as if they were elastic, and they retain their new shape.
This may allow you to set up traps or devices that would normally require extensive equipment.
+
This can substitute for pipes and containers and facilitate the construction of traps or devices, avoiding the need for extensive equipment.
  
The position depends on how quiet your workplace is and how much time you have to work with.
+
You can restore grave goods of any kind in both appearance and function.
The effect determines the effectiveness of your construction, but also how long it will last.
 
Devices that are more powerful are harder to contain, and thus wont last as long.
 
Most shaping will only be good for a single scene, but if your effect surpasses that required for the effect you want, you can stretch the effect until the end of the score.
 
  
'''Create:'''
+
==== Funerary Fusing ====
''You can create objects manifesting your power out of nothing or transform an object from one material to another as long as you know the power required for both the starting and final form. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items appropriate to the power(s) used.
+
Transmute Death.
  
This is two distinct effects. The first allows you to create matter related to your power out of nothing. This is raw matter (or energy, depending on the power used) and needs to be shaped and refined to be of much use.
+
Shape Death out of nothing, create Fine and Potent items.
 +
You don't need tools to build complex fine and potent items appropriate to Death or to restore grave goods to their former splendor.
  
The second can only be used if you know multiple powers. You transmute material connected to one of your powers into material connected to another power.  
+
You can create stuff related to Death from nothing. This is like Funerary Forging, above, but needs no raw materials.
The result will maintain its form as if affected by the Shape ability.
 
The advantage of this is that you can transform a complex object and it will retain its form and function as far as its new material allows.
 
This can transform something like a sword from metal to fire, and it would still be a functional sword.
 
A door could be changed from wood to air, you then pass through and the door reverts to wood.
 
  
'''Fabricate:'''
+
If you know multiple Forms you can transform material linked to Death into material linked to another Form. This allows intricate transformations where a metal sword can be transmuted into blood and still work as a sword, or a the lock of a sarcophagus can be changed to air so you can reach right through and then revert back to how it was.
''This is similar to Create, above, but you mass-produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
 
  
Pretty self-explanatory, this is Create on a larger scale.
+
==== Funerary Foundry ====
This is useful for equipping a large band or building something large out of nothing.
+
Fabricate Death.
When doing long-term projects that involve building or crafting, you can use Fabricate to gain great effect, even under what normally be poor conditions, but this has the usual stress cost.
+
 
 +
Mass produce dead things or make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
 +
This expands Funerary Forging to a massive scale, without removing their underlying constraints.
 +
You can mass produce objects or create large structures, such as entire tomb complexes, that would normally require a workforce and facilities.
 +
 
 +
In long-term projects involving construction or crafting, Funerary Splendor produces many dozens of items with the same effort as one item, but risking a stress cost.
 +
 
 +
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
  
 
=== Wreck ===
 
=== Wreck ===
Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects made of stuff related to your power.  
+
Wreck remnants of the dead. Finish off damaged things. Noisy, and leaves a twisted object in place.
 +
 
 +
The Outcome required depends on the size and structural strength of the target. 
 +
Creating a smaller breach still requires the same Outcome.
 +
 
 +
* '''Standard Outcome''' is sufficient to create a car-sized breach in a brick or mortar wall.
 +
* '''Limited Outcome''' suffices for construction significantly weaker than this.
 +
* '''Greater Outcome''' is required for larger breaches or stronger structures.
 +
 
 +
As usual, Wreck may be at an advantage or disadvantage compared to Hunt, Finesse, or Skirmish, depending on the situation.
 +
 
 +
==== Rot Rend ====
 +
Rot attack.
 +
 
 +
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 sufficient to hinder its function. 
 +
You can also make a rough melee attack.
 +
 
 +
Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease and rot. 
 +
These attacks incapacitate rather than kill quickly; death comes slowly through disease, infection, and degradation, which is extremely difficult to cure. 
 +
Death attacks can also weaken and corrupt objects, but this process is likewise slow.
  
'''Jimmy:'''
+
==== Rot Ruin ====
''You can jimmy objects manifesting your power much like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.
+
Stronger rot.
  
Just as crude as it sounds.  
+
As Rot of Death, but faster. You rot most materials as if they were wood.
You destroy things related to your power, and strike with the force of a sledgehammer in combat.
+
Works as a '''Fine''' and '''Potent''' sledgehammer in combat.
As usual, Wreck may be at an advantage or disadvantage compared to Finesse and Skirmish, depending on the situation.
 
  
'''Smash:'''
+
This bypasses the strength of materials, allowing you to break anything that comes from a dead body or that has suffered significant damage.
''Similar to jimmy. When smashing objects from your power, such as metallic objects for the metal power, you to affect hard objects as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.
+
You can also use this power to smash other objects outright, treating it as a Fine, Potent sledgehammer.
  
This reduces the strength of strong materials, allowing you to break even the strongest barrier, as long as it of the proper material and not too thick.
+
==== Rot Raze ====
You can also use this as a sledgehammer to smash other things, and ads a fine, potent sledgehammer in combat.
+
Silent Rot.
  
'''Disintegrate:'''
+
Rot Ruin , but destroyed targets silently vanish or are reduced to grave dust
''Similar to smash, but destroyed targets silently disappear 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 can eradicate most physical evidence of destruction.
  
The real difference here is that wrecking things is now silent when you have the right power.
+
==== Rot Reaping ====
You also leave less traces, as what you wreck disappears.
+
Area Rot.
This can also be used to get rid of evidence, as long as that evidence matches your power.
 
  
'''Obliterate:'''
+
As Rot of Oblivion, but applied over an Area (p. 221).
''Similar to smash, but over a large area. This can level a city block, empty a canal system of water, raze a city wall, and similar massive destruction.
+
You can level a necropolis or reduce anything heavily weathered to ruin. 
 +
This power is straightforward, scaling destruction up in scope rather than changing its nature.
  
Rather straightforward, this just scales things up.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>

Latest revision as of 16:10, 13 February 2026

Fox in the DarkFox in the Dark logo
Starfox's Blades in the Dark Powers

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 incapacitate, but don't immediately kill. Instead they take their time as disease and infection kills you, and such harm is extremely hard to cure. Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is slow.

Undead

Death creatures are undead of all sorts. 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 mundane weapons.

Death Abilities

Action Basic Advanced Master Apex
Dice Minimum 2d Minimum 4d Minimum 6d
Stress Avoid fumble (2+). Succeed (4+). Full success (6). Critical (2 sixes).
Attune Soul Sense
Detect Death.
Soul Shroud
Dismiss Death.
Soul Summons
Summon undead.
Soul Sojourn
Portal to Death.
Command Wraith's Whispers
Intimidate with Death.
Wraith's Words
Messager undead.
Wraith's Will
Command undead.
Wraith's Writ
Bind undead.
Consort Pallid Presence
Craft Death
Pallid Persona
Undead transmutation.
Pallid Proxy
Transmute Crew.
Pallid Procession
Transmute crowd.
Finesse Harrowing Hearse
Ride the dead.
Harrowing Hack
Fine and Potent attack.
Harrowing Hook
Precise control.
Harrowing Horde
Create a crew of undead.
Hunt Arrow Approach
Track Death.
Arrow Aim
Fine and Potent snipe.
Arrow Ash
Create haunting.
Arrow Ague
Burst of Death.
Prowl Haunt Hide
Hide among Death.
Haunt Hop
Move through Death.
Haunt Huddle
Crew Haunt Hide and Hop.
Haunt Hallow
Escape from graves.
Skirmish Dance of Deflection
Block Death Harm.
Dance of Decay
Fine and Potent attack.
Dance of Death
Gain Scale.
Dance of Deliberation
Group Action.
Study Obituary Outline
Identify death.
Obituary Oracle
Analyze Death.
Obituary Orison
Necromantic seance.
Obituary Omniscience
Wide-range seance.
Survey Grave Glimpse
Sense Death.
Grave Gaze
See through Death.
Grave Vigil
Spy through Death.
Grave Horizon
Synthesis of Death.
Sway Inquiring Eulogy
Death communication.
Enticing Eulogy
Emote the dead.
Edict Eulogy
Suggest the undead.
Enshrine Eulogy
Bind undead.
Tinker Funerary Fashioning
Craft Death.
Funerary Forging
Shape Death.
Funerary Fusing
Transmute Death.
Funerary Foundry
Fabricate Death.
Wreck Rot Rend
Rot attack.
Rot Ruin
Stronger rot.
Rot Raze
Silent Rot.
Rot Reaping
Area Rot.

Expanded Abilities

Attune

Harness the power of Attune to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena of Death or from the land of the dead.

Soul Sense

Detect Death.

This is usually done to spot a spirit or a disguised creature. It can also help identify a creature's connection to powers, providing valuable insights into their nature. If you know several different powers, you can scan for all of them at the same time. Limited outcome suffices against a nearby creature you can clearly see. You need greater outcome against against a creature that is hidden or far away (standard outcome) or behind a wall (great outcome). The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you missed the opportunity and cannot try again until the situation changes.

Soul Shroud

Dismiss Death.

You can banish undead and dismiss Death powers. Death is unusual in that Advanced Attune Death can animate corpses to create simple undead.

When dismissing you can only affect Death, you can make Death Spirits materialize and dispel Death powers and powers affecting undead, corpses, and tombs. Dispelling can be used as a defense against others' use of powers, or it can be used to break continuing effects. Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers. This usually improves the position of the supported action and can work in addition to other setup actions. When used directly, the effect is usually limited unless the opponent is relying on powers for their safety. Against an opponent that uses Animal wings to fly or turned into a fish to breathe underwater you have a better base effect. 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.

Forcing a spirit to materialize or de-materialize is easy, but limited in range. The spirit cannot return under its own power for a while, usually after the score.

  • Limited Outcome only works on spirits within reach.
  • Standard Outcome covers an area based on your tier (p 220).
  • Great Outcome reaches out to a range covered by tier (p 220).

Dismissing a creature back to its home plane and usually requires a high Outcome.

  • Limited Outcome: Dismissing a creature that wants to return.
  • Standard Outcome: Dismissing a weakened or damaged creature.
  • Great Outcome: This is the norm, most dismissing requires this Outcome.

You can animate the dead. This simplest kind of undead are corpses or body parts animated by a simple animus. They can follow your orders as long as they are simple and direct, but are easily distracted by their drive to kill the living. They function as gang cohorts (p. 96). This means that at higher Tiers you need to find many corpses to animate for them to be effective (p. 221). Corpses in properly maintained graveyards can't be animated, but old disused graveyards and unconsecrated battlefields and mass graves have no such protection.

Soul Summons

Summon undead.

Undead are either incorporeal Spirits or an animus of Death possessing things, usually corpses but sometimes other things related to Death, like hearses, graves, tombs, or even entire graveyards or battlefields. 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 own past lives.

Summons are Cohorts: Creatures you summon function as temporary cohorts (p. 96) — either an Expert or a Gang — with added Powers from their Form. An Expert is a skilled individual who can offer advice, Assist, or act independently. A Gang is a group (numbers based on your Tier, p. 221) that primarily provides Scale in combat and labor.

You can always summon a Gang of creatures one Tier below yours. Summoning a specific Gang or Expert requires knowing its unique identity — called a true name in mystical traditions. For a technomancer, this might be a type ID, blueprint, or genetic code. Learning a creature’s true name may require a flashback, or in complex cases, the research downtime activity or a reward from a score.

Summoning a Creature

The summoning itself is quick but dangerous. When you have time and resources, it is wise to use wards and Barriers, but in action this is usually impossible and you must face the risks. Having allies present for safety is advisable. Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature and power can be a literal Devil’s Bargain — accepting an additional consequence to gain an advantage.

Depending on your degree of outcome, a creature is willing to do different things:

  • Limited Outcome allows you to ask questions of an Expert or demand a short period of physical labor from a Gang. They will not fight for you.
  • Standard Outcome allows any service appropriate to the creature’s type, having it act in its typical role. Most creatures don’t mind fighting, but may have preferences about how they do it and what they do outside a fight.
  • Great Outcome allows service outside the creature’s comfort zone, though not against its nature. Lengthy service — even within its comfort zone — also requires a Great Outcome, such as guarding treasure until it is stolen.

The position usually starts at Risky — the creature is compelled and may resist. Typical consequences, in ascending order of severity:

  • Half-hearted efforts
  • Demanding not to be summoned again
  • Breaking things or demanding concessions
  • A short fight to assert dominance
  • Deliberate sabotage
  • A constant struggle to maintain control

Soul Sojourn

Portal to Death.

Create a portal to the Land of the dead. There are things that are possible to do here that are not allowed in the regular world. Appropriate 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 of origin, but if they affect creatures there the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.

This can also be used to contact creatures too powerful to summon. This allows you to ignore tier when creating the gate, but gives you no power over the target. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, send minions, or communicate with you at a distance.

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Command

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

Wraith's Whispers

Intimidate with Death.

You can create Death effects such as a skull face, skeletal hands, and etheric whispers, gaining leverage similar to what could be a achieved with threat such as displaying a weapon. This can provide the leverage needed to use Command to intimidate without actual threat of violence. Creatures of Death might recognize you as one of them.

Wraith's Words

Messager undead.

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 undead creature 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 near the target, you can communicate.

Wraith's Will

Command undead.

Targets will see you as a leader type outranking them. This allows you to order strangers around and improves Effect, but not Position; targets comply without accepting your authority. This does not remove existing loyalties, which may lead to conflict. Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid clashes with established hierarchies.

Wraith's Writ

Bind undead.

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

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Consort

Consort powers change your form and later that of other creatures. This can be used as a set-up action for later or you use the Consort roll for the power directly. 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.

Pallid Presence

Craft Death

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. This can make regular items and clothes look decrepit while staying functional. When the power ends, items return to their original status.

You can use this on your entire Crew as an Advanced ability.

Pallid Persona

Undead transmutation.

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 makes a reasonable undead.

Pallid Persona 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.

  • Limited Effect — You resemble how you might look as an undead creature; those familiar with you may still recognize you.
  • Standard Effect — You become a generic undead, very difficult to recognize as yourself or you can opt to change very little, making it hard to see that you now have n undead form. Many necromancers are naturally pallid, if you are there may be no apparent change at all.
  • Great Effect — You assume the form and some of the mannerisms or presence of a specific devil you have studied.

Pallid Proxy

Transmute Crew.

This is Pallid Persona applied to another creature. The duration depends of the effect.

  • Limited Effect — One scene.
  • Standard Effect — Lasts for the duration of a score.
  • Great Effect — Lasts weeks. It can be used as poetic justice, transforming the target as a punishment as a permanent curse.

If you also want to make the target unrecognizable or to look much the same, that requires additional effect, see Pallid Persona.

Pallid Procession

Transmute crowd.

Often known as the Danse Macabre, this transforms a number of willing creatures into undead, give a simple instruction. Those affected will think of it as a nightmare once it is over. This is where Consort becomes similar to an Attune ability to summon. You transform a number of existing creatures and give them a task that they will perform with gusto, 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 creates a gang cohort (p 96) that they can be given bit parts as servants or laborers or fight and chase for you. Such goons are more useful for chasing and cornering targets than in actual combat.

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Finesse

Deal death with finesse, manipulating and attacking with precision.

Harrowing Hearse

Ride the dead.

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 animus or used mostly to transport the dead such as a hearse . You can ride undead beasts even if they are not trained to carry a rider. They must still be physically able to carry you.

You can give this ability to your crew as an Advances ability.

Harrowing Hack

Fine and Potent attack.

Fine and Potent close-range attack, similar to a fine potent weapon. Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease. Death attacks incapacitate but take their time actually killing. Disease and infection kills slowly, a Death disease is extremely hard to cure. Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is also slow. Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, a 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.

Harrowing Hook

Precise control.

You can move a small part of a corpse, cadaver, or funerary artifact, including anything an undead creature is using. The effect is small, precise, and momentary. When it is able to create leverage, you may roll Finesse to Set Up yourself. Resolve this as a normal Set Up, then immediately roll the Action you are Setting Up.

Harrowing Horde

Create a crew of undead.

Animuses (lesser spirits) of the dead rise to assist you with a task. If you have corpses for the animuses to animate they become more substantial and able to use their entire bodies, otherwise they can only work like a pair of disembodied hands. The horde can only provide Scale and Assist, it cannot act on its own. The most obvious use is to give you Scale for a task or fight against an opposing crew, but Harrowing Host can also act as a crew on a ship, a parade, laborers, or in other tasks that require a large but unskilled crew. The crew remains until the task is finished, until sunrise, or until attacked, whichever comes first.

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Hunt

Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power to Hunt Death. Shooting into melee can be dangerous to you and yours.

Arrow Approach

Track Death.

You can sense the progress of Death. This allows you to track the dying, dead (corpses) and undead. 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, this might get you lost, into traps, or even into an ambush.

It also allows you to track the progress of a disease in a patient or community and identify disease vectors.

Arrow Aim

Fine and Potent snipe.

Death attack similar to a fine and potent rifle. Strike an opponent with plague from a distance. Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease. Death attacks incapacitate but take their time actually killing. Disease and infection kills slowly, a Death disease is extremely hard to cure. Death attacks can weaken and corrupt objects, but again this is also slow. Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, a Fine and Potent Finesse weapon is just as effective.

Arrow Ash

Create haunting.

You can create signs of haunting, such as faintly glowing images, rattling noises, and banging doors. The haunting is within Range (p. 221) outdoors and within an Area indoors. This is usually used as a Set Up, but may also change how people act in reaction to the environment — hauntings are likely to make people be careful and defensive. Does not inflict any direct damage.

Arrow Ague

Burst of Death.

An escalation of Arrow Aim. 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.

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Prowl

Sneak and move with stealth and agility. Works in environments that manifest Death: ossuaries, graveyards, necropolises, tombs, and battlefields.

Haunt Hide

Hide among Death.

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 Haunt Hallow, below.

Haunt Hop

Move through Death.

Move on and through tombs, corpses, and cadavers. This allows you to safely climb and pass through the walls of tombs, ossuaries, graveyards, and similar places of Death, as well as piles of corpses, bones, and even among gangs of undead.

Haunt Huddle

Crew Haunt Hide and Hop.

Share Haunt Hide and Haunt Hop with your allies. Now you and your crew can Prowl in places where Death holds sway. They still use their own Prowl action rating.

Haunt Hallow

Escape from graves.

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

This takes you to places you are familiar with. Both Effect and Position are worse unless you know where you are going, making this ideal for escapes but unreliable for intrusion into unfamiliar or hostile territory.

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Skirmish

Dance of Deflection

Block Death Harm.

Absorb Harm from Death powers, infection, and disease. This allows you to survive most infectious environments unless they cause actual Harm you need to roll to absorb. You increase the effect of Skirmish rolls for endurance in such environments. Roll Skirmish to resist such Harm. 1-3: No reduction. 4-6: Reduce Harm by 1 level. Critical: Reduce Harm by 2 levels.

As a Master power, you can protect an ally for a score; as an Apex Power, you can protect your crew. Allies roll their own Skirmish dice.

Dance of Decay

Fine and Potent attack.

Strike down melee opponents with death and disease. Death attacks incapacitate, but don't kill quickly, they take their time as disease but such Harm is extremely hard to cure.

Dance of Death

Gain Scale.

Ghosts and animated corpses fight with you. Gain Scale (p. 221) in combat.

Dance of Deliberation

Group Action.

This allows you and allies to initiate a Group Action when allies are injured, dying, or weakened, even if they would normally be unable to meaningfully contribute. You may do this even when some participants would not normally be able to contribute meaningfully due to physical limitation, Scale, or environmental constraint.

You lead the Group Action and roll Skirmish. Choose the Action most appropriate to the shared physical task. Each participant other than you rolls that Action. Stress to the leader is resolved as normal for a Group Action.

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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 on undead.

Obituary Outline

Identify death.

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

Obituary Oracle

Analyze Death.

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.

Obituary Orison

Necromantic seance.

Summon an apparition of a dead person you have a link to and ask them questions. This requires a link to the dead creature. 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 a dead person. This can be a ghostly image or voice, or a manifestation on something like a Ouija board or tarot reading. The lesser spirits 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 habits from life, particularly negative ones like suspicion, greed, and lust for vengeance. An apparition is unable to speak of its continued existence after death.

Obituary Omniscience

Wide-range seance.

Allows you to see a image of every undead and every creature killed or buried in an Area (p. 221), pinpointing locations of interest like tombs and sites of murder. You can then use Obituary Orison to learn the history of up to three dead people from this area.

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Survey

Perceive and locate manifestations of Death. The outcome you need depends on the target's concealment. Limited outcome finds those hiding behind cover and in far places you can only barely see. Standard outcome can look behind walls and into hard cover. Great outcome can look into far-away places and spots you had no idea existed.

Grave Glimpse

Sense 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 eliminate false positives.

Grave Gaze

See through Death.

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 skull, you can perceive from any point of the grave it is buried in. You still sense things at your actual location, but very dimly.

Grave Vigil

Spy through Death.

Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest skull. Similar to Grave Glimpse 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.

Grave Horizon

Synthesis of Death.

You perceive like Grave Glimpse from all corpses and places where Sapient are buried within Range (p. 221) at once. 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.

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Sway

Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate undead. Position and effect are determined normally, depending on the situation and your relation to listeners.

Inquiring Eulogy

Death communication.

Understand undead even if normally couldn't and sense their motivations. You can gauge the mood and motivations of undead and talk to them. You can also sense when any kind of creature is morose or in mourning.

Enticing Eulogy

Emote the dead.

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. undead are often cold and emotionless, this allows you to appeal to them in a way they care about. You are persuading, not speaking with authority.

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

Edict Eulogy

Suggest the undead.

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.

Enshrine Eulogy

Bind undead.

Change the personality and motivations of undead creature in your power.. This power is permanent but blatant. It changes the target on a deep level, altering their loves and loyalties. The target remembers 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. The effect fades over the next few days, but depending on the response from others long-term attitudes may change.

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Tinker

Manipulate, shape, and create objects of Death to suit your needs. Objects of Death include parts of corpses, fossils, grave goods, and seriously corroded or aged items of all kinds. You can restore such an item to functionality without changing its appearance.

  • Limited Outcome solves an immediate problem, then ends. Any effect achieved will last, such as a repair made with temporary tools.
  • Standard Outcome construction, repair, or item lasts for the duration of a score.
  • Great Outcome is semi-permanent. This does not make permanent kit, but it can make permanent effects to the setting, such as repairing a large construction like a bridge or wall.

Something larger than you are, very complex, or of higher Quality Level than your Tier increases the needed Outcome.

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

For long-term projects, Tinker powers can substitute for missing tools, but that is all they do until you use the Apex ability. You use coal as a power source, creating a pall of smoke around your workshop.

Funerary Fashioning

Craft Death.

Work the remains of the dead. Make decrepit and broken items function normally. You can craft bone, skin, sinew, and other materials from corpses and cadavers. You can take a decrepit item and make it function as new while you or an undead use it. It still looks decrepit.

Funerary Forging

Shape Death.

Shape Death materials as if they were of clay. This surpasses normal crafting, letting you manipulate unstable Death materials. You can shape bone, blood, and similar substances as if they were elastic, and they retain their 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 grave goods of any kind in both appearance and function.

Funerary Fusing

Transmute Death.

Shape Death out of nothing, create Fine and Potent items. You don't need tools to build complex fine and potent items appropriate to Death or to restore grave goods to their former splendor.

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

If you know multiple Forms you can transform material linked to Death into material linked to another Form. This allows intricate transformations where a metal sword can be transmuted into blood and still work as a sword, or a the lock of a sarcophagus can be changed to air so you can reach right through and then revert back to how it was.

Funerary Foundry

Fabricate Death.

Mass produce dead things or make something large, such as a vehicle or building. This expands Funerary Forging to a massive scale, without removing their underlying constraints. You can mass produce objects or create large structures, such as entire tomb complexes, that would normally require a workforce and facilities.

In long-term projects involving construction or crafting, Funerary Splendor produces many dozens of items with the same effort as one item, but risking a stress cost.

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Wreck

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

The Outcome required depends on the size and structural strength of the target. Creating a smaller breach still requires the same Outcome.

  • Standard Outcome is sufficient to create a car-sized breach in a brick or mortar wall.
  • Limited Outcome suffices for construction significantly weaker than this.
  • Greater Outcome is required for larger breaches or stronger structures.

As usual, Wreck may be at an advantage or disadvantage compared to Hunt, Finesse, or Skirmish, depending on the situation.

Rot Rend

Rot attack.

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 sufficient to hinder its function. You can also make a rough melee attack.

Death attacks are made with phlegm and ectoplasm that inflict disease and rot. These attacks incapacitate rather than kill quickly; death comes slowly through disease, infection, and degradation, which is extremely difficult to cure. Death attacks can also weaken and corrupt objects, but this process is likewise slow.

Rot Ruin

Stronger rot.

As Rot of Death, but faster. You rot most materials as if they were wood. Works as a Fine and 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 significant damage. You can also use this power to smash other objects outright, treating it as a Fine, Potent sledgehammer.

Rot Raze

Silent Rot.

Rot Ruin , but destroyed targets silently vanish or are reduced to grave dust. The key difference is that the destruction is silent and leaves minimal traces. Because this power is tied to Death, it can eradicate most physical evidence of destruction.

Rot Reaping

Area Rot.

As Rot of Oblivion, but applied over an Area (p. 221). You can level a necropolis or reduce anything heavily weathered to ruin. This power is straightforward, scaling destruction up in scope rather than changing its nature.

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