Light Powers (FiD)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark fan page

Light is both physical and spiritual light, inspiring deeds of charity and benevolence. Light is opposed to darkness.

Light is the power of ethics, inspiration, and enlightenment. It involves physical light, insight, and meaning. It gives meaning to the blind forces of order and flux, and drives away the darkness. Light powers serve to inspire, awe, and enlighten.

Light attacks are beams of coherent light, like lasers, lights words, and holy light. They are usually good against Darkness but may have problems against purely physical creatures.

Light Power Effects Table

Action	Basic No minimum 3 Stress	Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress	Master Minimum 4 Dice 7 Stress	Apex Minimum 6 Dice 13 Stress
Attune	Light Lens You can detect effects and creatures linked to any power, not just light.	Light Lattice You can force a summoned creature to return to its plane of origin, or end the operation of an ability of any power.	Celestial Call You can call an angel from heaven. You never truly control angels, but they will do good deeds.	Glorious Gate You can create a physical connection to heaven.
Command	Celestial Command You can use Command on angels even if you normally couldn't.	Celestial Call You can communicate over long distances with angels or to send messages of hope.	Angelic Authority Command angels as if you were their superior.	Angelic Allegiance You can bind angels to permanent service.
Consort	Radiant Raiment Change your clothes and accessories by imbuing them with light.	Angelic Alteration You assume the form of an angel.	Celestial Conversion You can apply Radiant Raiment and Angelic Alteration to a willing creature of good nature.	Legion of Light You can transform a large number of good-natured creatures into a host of angels.
Finesse	Radiant Roam You can move and see regardless of the level of light or darkness.	Radiant Riposte Attack as a fine and potent weapon or give friends Radiant Roam.	Radiant Reach Manipulate light with precision.	Radiant Rain Attack with a rain of searing rays, overcoming scale.
Hunt	Ethereal Eye You can track creatures with strong good or bad intentions.	Radiant Ray You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent laser rifle.	Celestial Cascade You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent laser bomb. This allows you to fight many creatures in the same area very effectively, but there is a risk of collateral damage.	Celestial Cannonade You call down the equivalent of a fine potent artillery laser barrage, attacking everything and everyone in a wide area. This can raze buildings and create rubble. Usually enough to provide cover for any escape.
Prowl	Halo Haze You can become invisible in strong light.	Luminous Leap You can move in a flash. This allows you to teleport short distances to a spot you can see.	Celestial Conveyance You can bring allies along when you use Halo Haze and Luminous Leap.	Ethereal Express You and allies can teleport from one brightly illuminated to another. This is regional travel, you stay within the same city or region.
Skirmish	Radiant Rapier You can use the power as a close-range laser attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.	Luminous Lance Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.	Luminous Labyrinth Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevents the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.	Bright Blitz Your light strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
Study	Angelic Appraisal You can sense the use and result of powers.	Luminescent Lore You know the powers and abilities of something you use Angelic Appraisal on.	Radiant Recall You read the past events of something you analyze with Luminescent Lore. This includes previous owners and how the object has been moved around as well as significant scenes.	Divine Discovery You use Luminescent Lore on everything in a wide area. This is easy to do where you are, more difficult at range. You can then use Radiant Recall on some of these targets.
Survey	Angelic Awareness You can sense strong good and evil intentions as well as physical illumination. This works even when you can't see the target, but both range and information suffers.	Gleaming Gaze Choose a glowing object 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.	Radiant Revelation Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest glowing object, which is often close enough to perceive the target.	Illuminated Insight You perceive from all glowing objects at once over a wide area. As long as you concentrate you retain this perception and can report what you see to others.
Sway	Radiant Rapport You can communicate with angels even if normally couldn't, allowing you to use the sway action normally on them.	Luminous Lexicon You and allies can communicate with angels. You can communicate with normal folk to make them do good.	Cricket Voice You can post suggestions in the mind of a creature manifesting your power, which will be triggered under conditions you specify. These suggestions must be to make them do good or to break free of evil domination.	Seraphic Subjugation You change the personality and motivations of intelligent creatures. This power is permanent, but blatant. The target remember their past, but regard it as unimportant compared to their new motivations.
Tinker	Celestial Crafting You can handle light, lamps, lasers, and holiness as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.	Radiant Reshaping You can shape light, lasers, and holiness as if they were of clay, and they will retain their new shape for some time even if they would normally not, such as light and lasers.	Radiant Creation You can handle light, lasers, and holiness 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.	Radiant Replication 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.
Wreck	Gleaming Grasp Light cuts and welds like a laser and chases darkness away. You can wield this power like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.	Radiant Ravage Similar to Gleaming Grasp but with increased effect. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.	Ethereal Erasure Similar to Radiant Ravage, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.	Heavenly Holocaust Similar to Radiant Ravage, 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.

Expanded Light Powers

Expanded descriptions of effects that differ significantly from Typical Powers.

Attune

The consequences depends entirely on what happens around you when you do it. If a powerful creature resists being dispelled or dismissed, its at least risky. In a general melee against strong opponents, the situation becomes desperate. Having helpers and bodyguards improves position, and sometimes the situation is calm or a creature wants to be dismissed and the position is controlled.

Light is a very high-utility version of attune. You can detect, dispel, and dismiss all powers and creatures tied to all powers.

Light Lens You can detect effects and creatures linked to any power, not just light.

Light Lens is usually used to spot a disguised creature, but it can also help identify a creature's connection to powers. Limited effect suffices against a creature you can clearly see. You need greater effect against against a creature that is hidden (standard effect) or behind a wall (great effect). The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you cannot try again or only try again at greater risk. If you have an additional level of effect, you can identify what power you are detecting, and gain some insight into what kind of creature it is. For more detailed informations, see Survey and Study.

Light Lattice You can force a summoned creature to return to its plane of origin, or end the operation of an ability of any power.

Dispelling powers is usually easier, but not always. Dispelling can be used as a defense against others' use of power, or it can be used to break the continuing effects of powers.

Dismissing a creature requires great effect, and if the creature is of a higher tier, as they often are, might require that the creature is weakened by combat, interactions, or by being set up. It is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers. 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.

You usually don't have to play around with effect when dispelling, but the final result of your action depends on how vulnerable the target is to losing its powers, even momentarily. The result usually starts out at limited effect unless the opponent is relying on powers for their safety. Against an opponent that uses power to fly or even breathe you can have a better effect. When a power is the crux of the situation, dispel wont end that power but instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.

Celestial Call You can call an angel from heaven. You never truly control angels, but they will do good deeds.

Angels come in all forms, some looking light elementals made of light, sometimes forming glowing glyphs or text. Others have animal, humanoid, or even mechanical forms. All are moral, and have intellect enough to judge morality, or perhaps a supernatural sense for what is good.

Depending on your degree of effect the creature is willing to do different things. 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 simply disappear.

Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to an angel. The creature will heal, bless, carry messages of peace or challenges against evil, and give just judgement. This includes dangerous tasks such as combat if the angel has such abilities, which most of them do.

Great effect allows lengthy service, like summoning the creature to guard against evil for as long as it can, but still does not allow morally questionable actions.

Different angels do different things and focus on different virtues. Study can find an angel that does what you want. In easy cases this can be done as a flashback, more specific angels are rarer and might require a long-term project.

The position is controlled unless the situation around you is dangerous. An angel may require you to promise future good deeds or to accept a quest or mission. It might pose moral questions that you need to answer.

Glorious Gate You can create a physical connection to heaven.

This is only useful under exceptional circumstances. Heaven may accept pilgrims or refugees for a time, but not permanently. There are also things that are possible to do on in heaven that are not allowed in the regular world. Light effects are reduced one step in difficulty, from advanced to basic, master to advanced, and apex to master, opening the possibility of new super-apex powers that have to be negotiated with the game master. Such effects rarely reach outside heaven, but if they affect creatures in heaven, some effect may remain when you return to the mundane world. This may also apply to some other effects, such as Life used to heal.

Glorious Gate can allow access to angels too powerful to summon, instead you ask for an audience. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.

Using Glorious Gate to adventure in heaven is played out as a score, which means there is an engagement roll.

Command

Celestial Command You can use command on angels even if you normally couldn't.

You can admonish creatures and suggest a better path to them across language and culture barriers, but you gain no additional authority. This allows the use of the Command action restricted only by your intent, you must genuinely wish them well.

Celestial Call You can communicate over long distances with angels or to send messages of hope.

You must know the name of the creature you communicate with, or to have met them in person. A message of hope is a message to lift spirits, morals, or encourage good deeds. This has no supernatural influence over receivers, they choose their own actions.

Angelic Authority Command angels as if you were their superior.

Angels won't do evil deeds. They might do neutral deeds if they seem a chance of redemption or other a positive result, which can be used to trick them. This does not remove existing loyalties, which can lead to conflicts if they already have a task or master.

Angelic Allegiance You can bind angels to permanent service.

They will generally stay in one location and act according to your instructions, like very loyal and literal-minded stooges.

This won’t work unless the task is one that aligns with the principles of light. The effect is similar to Angelic Authority but potentially permanent. An angel will not usually break free, but might disobey part of your instruction for the greater good.

Consort

Consort powers changes your form and later that of other creatures. Often Consort rolls are not actually made when you use the power to change your appearance or form, it is rolled when in the social situation and effect and position is decided at this critical point. This will often give a bonus to effect or improved position or even allow an action that an outsider could not do. These powers might also be used as a set-up action for a later Consort roll.

Consequences might reveal your disguise, but only if the position is risky or desperate.

Radiant Raiment Change your clothes and accessories by imbuing them with light.

This can mask your identity or create fabulous outfits. Allows the creation of effects like halos and mandorlas or even a mask of diffuse light bright enough to conceal your identity. You do not physically change yourself, you accessorize and change your outfit or add an aura.

Angelic Alteration You assume the form of an angel.

This is a true physical transmutation. You need not assume the form of an existing creature, as long as the table agrees your new form is appropriate for a creature of light. This can give you new abilities, but these are things you could already do using Light powers.

To represent what your new form is good at, you have the option to add 1d to one action appropriate to the assumed form and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute. If the buffed action is covered by the penalized attribute, only apply the bonus, you are specializing that attribute on this particular action.

Example Yadech uses Angelic Alteration to turn himself into a cherub, of the winged head Christmas card variety. He gains a +1 bonus to the Consort action, but suffers a -1 penalty to Attune, Command, and Sway actions. He does not suffer the penalty on Consort, as that is the action that was improved. If the penalty had instead been applied to Insight, the Attune, Command, Consort, and Sway actions would all have suffered the penalty.

With limited effect you can transform into yourself into how you would look as an angel. Those familiar with you will recognize you. Standard effect can make you a generic angel, very hard to recognize as yourself. Great effect allows you to assume the shape and some of the personality of a specific angel you have studied.

Celestial Conversion You can apply Radiant Raiment and Angelic Alteration to a willing creature of good nature.

Use the first two Consort Light powers on allies. A target can end the effect at any time.

Legion of Light You can transform a large number of good-natured creatures into a host of angels.

This power mimics the effects of Angelic Alteration and Angelic Authority. You can transform a group of willing or non-sentient creatures into an angelic host. Targets must be willing or non-sentient, and they cannot be evil or aligned with the Darkness power, nor several tiers below your own tier.

The transformed creatures will enthusiastically carry out tasks assigned by you. They primarily excel in pursuit and containment rather than direct combat. Alternatively, they can serve as obedient servants, akin to an angelic choir depicted in a nativity scene painting.

Finesse

Exact control of physical light to move, fight, and control your environment. Finesse has little relation to spiritual alight, but Light attacks might still work better against creatures of the Dark.

Radiant Roam You can move and see regardless of the level of light or darkness.

Enables you to ignore darkness or blinding light. However, your vision remains sensitive to contrasts between light and darkness, which may allow creatures to hide from you unless the environment is uniformly dark.

This avoid penalties to effect or position in dark or blinding conditions.

Radiant Riposte Attack as a fine and potent weapon or give friends Radiant Roam.

The attack is similar in effect to a fine potent dueling sword or pistol. Light attacks are usually good against Darkness but may have problems against purely physical creatures. You can instead grant your crew the Radiant Roam effect.

Radiant Reach Manipulate light with precision.

Create sunspots and atmospheric light effects to set the mood. Trigger light-sensitive devices such as photocells and laser sensors. Replicate the functionality of a laser communications device you are familiar with.

Usually used as a set-up. Consequences are likely partial results, really bad consequences might actually ruin the mood or create undesired an effect.

Radiant Rain Attack with a rain of searing rays, overcoming scale.

You create and use weapon like Radiant Riposte above, and also create distractions. The effect is like having a number of trusty defensive allies in the fight. This negates any scale advantage enemies might have.

Hunt

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Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power of Light. As you advance, the scope of your attacks becomes greater, allowing you to control significant areas and cause widespread destruction. At short range, this can be dangerous to you and yours.

Ethereal Eye You can track creatures with strong good or bad intentions.

Track based on the moral disposition and emotional state of your target. Creatures displaying strong goodness or malevolence are easier to track, as are those in violent or vengeful moods. Casual strollers cannot be tracked this way.

Consequences mainly involve losing the trail, serious consequences potentially leading to getting lost, falling into traps, or walking into an ambush.

Radiant Ray You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent laser rifle.

Perform precise, long-range attacks using light. Effective against creatures of Darkness but may have limitations against purely physical beings.

Dazzling Daybreak Create light that is still as bright as a sunny day.

Dispel all forms of darkness, including those created by Darkness powers. Does not affect other Darkness effects. Control the light to diffuse it, preventing blinding and minimizing shadows for better visibility, or intensify it like sunlight, potentially causing temporary blindness.

Celestial Cascade You can use your power to attack similar to a fine and potent laser bomb. This allows you to attack many creatures, but there is a risk of collateral damage.

Similar to Radiant Ray, but massive, can both overcome scale and hurt many enemies at once. be careful with collateral damage.

Prowl

Sneak, move, and even teleport with stealth and agility. Consequences in a controlled position are often the loss of time because you have to lie low. More serious consequences might give opponents some information, possibly making them more alert or giving them clues to what you are doing, or you might stumble and take some minor injury or end up in a tricky spot.

Halo Haze You can become invisible in bright light.

Allows you to hide in places you ordinarily couldn't. Functions similarly to other attempts to use Prowl to avoid notice.

Luminous Leap In a flash you can move to teleport to a spot you can see.

Momentarily transform into a ray of light to teleport to a visible location. Works best in bright light; in darkness, it's quite visible. The required effect varies based on visibility: distant or murky locations require greater effect, while limited effect suffices for close and well-lit areas.

Celestial Conveyance You can bring allies along when you use Halo Haze and Luminous Leap.

You can allow allies you can clearly to use Halo Haze and Luminous Leap. This uses your stress, but each ally uses their own Prowl action.

Ethereal Express You and allies can teleport from one brightly illuminated area to another.

Regional travel within the same city or region. Can be used to escape nearly any situation, though finding a suitable location in unfamiliar or hostile territory is unlikely. A fumble might leave you in a similar but different location, potentially placing you in danger.

Skirmish

Engage in close combat and create opportunities with the power of Light.

Radiant Rapier You can use the power as a close-range laser attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.

Light attacks are good against Darkness but may have problems against purely physical creatures.

Luminous Lance Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.

Luminous Labyrinth Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevent the enemy from benefiting from numbers.

Prevents penalties from using scale. Otherwise as Luminous Lance.

Bright Blitz Your light strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.

Prevents opponents from using scale and allows you to strike multiple targets.

Study

Study and analyze objects and creatures of Light to gain insight and knowledge. The effect required depends on range, limited effect for touch, standard effect for line-of-sight, and great effect to reach a target you know of or have some link to, but cannot see.

Position varies depending on the situation. In a safe or secret location, the position is controlled. In the midst of conflict or when under pressure, the position becomes desperate.

Angelic Appraisal You can analyze angels and powers of Light and Darkness.

This gives precise mundane information, but not supernatural or exceptional abilities like those of powers.

Luminescent Lore You know the powers and abilities of something you use Angelic Appraisal on.

This gives you information on powers and other obscure or occult information.

Radiant Recall View past events of something analyzed with Luminescent Lore.

Reveals previous owners or encounters of the target and significant scenes from its history, focusing on events of interest to you.

Divine Discovery You use Luminescent Lore on everything in a wide area. You then use Radiant Recall on some of these targets.

Provides a detailed view of events involving Light and Darkness in the area, pinpointing locations of interest like bases and power nodes.

Survey

Perceive and locate angels, devils, and power effects of Light and Darkness. The effect you need depends on the targets concealment. Limited effect finds targets the open. Standard effect finds those hiding behind corners, cover, and far places you can only barely see. Great effect can look behind walls and into hard cover.

Angelic Awareness You can sense strong good and evil intentions as well as physical light.

This is a basic spotting power, selectively sensing things related to your power. You can choose to detect all such intentions, those directed towards you, or those directed at a specific creature or group you know well.

Gleaming Gaze Choose a glowing object you know of; you can perceive as if you were at that spot.

Shift your perception to a brightly shining object and sense as if you were physically there, while still maintaining awareness of your actual location, though dimly.

Radiant Revelation Choose a location or creature. Gain sensory perception from the nearest glowing object, typically close enough to observe the target.

Similar to Gleaming Gaze but allows you to focus on a specific creature or position. Automatically directs towards the best vantage point provided by a glowing object. Fails if no suitable viewpoint is available.

Illuminated Insight You perceive from all glowing objects at once over a wide area.

Enhances your senses impossibly, akin to being multiple individuals spread across the scene. Creates a comprehensive mental image of the area, revealing numerous details simultaneously. It's challenging for targets to hide unless they are aware of the need to conceal themselves.

Sway

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

Radiant Rapport You can understand angels.

You can and gauge the mood and motivations of angels and understand what they are saying. This does not allow you to be understood. Used together with Celestial Command, this allows full communication.

Luminous Lexicon You and allies can communicate with angels. You can Sway normal folk to make them do good.

This allows you to use the Sway action with full effect, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers as long as you are speaking to angels or trying to convince people to do good. Unless you also use Angelic Authority you are persuading, not speaking with authority.

Seraphic Suggestion Implant suggestions in the minds of creatures to make them do good.

This is 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, and if you succeed, you can give them instructions that will activate later in a specified situation.

Suggestions cannot be absurd to the target and must have beneficial effects. Typical suggestions include avoiding harm or performing minor sacrifices for the benefit of others.

Cricket Voice You imbue a creature with an active conscience that will alert them when they are about to do evil.

The morality aligns with a mix of yours and their own, leaning towards goodness without being entirely alien to them. If they follow the Cricket Voice's advice, they will gradually improve their behavior. To commit a decidedly evil action, the target must resist, which silences the Cricket Voice for the rest of the score. Repeated resistance weakens and eventually dissipates the Cricket Voice.

Tinker

Manipulate, shape, and create light. The effectiveness and durability of your constructions depend on the effect. More powerful devices are harder to sustain and will not last as long. Most creations will endure until the end of a score. Long-lasting and permanent effects require downtime projects.

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

Celestial Crafting Work materials imbued with Light

You can craft light, lamps, lasers, and holiness as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices. This level of tinkering has little utility if your setting doesn't have these things. "Holiness" items have Light powers and possibly other powers made to fight evil and planar invaders. A common type of light items are light crystals that glow without fire or fuel.

Radiant Reshaping Work Light as if it was clay.

You can shape light, lasers, and holiness as if they were of clay, and they will retain their new shape for some time even if they would normally not, such as light and lasers. This surpasses normal crafting, letting you manipulate light as if it were solid or a liquid. This can substitute for mirrors and prisms and facilitate the construction of traps or devices, avoiding extensive equipment.

Radiant Creation You can conjure light from nothing or transmute materials from one form to another.

You don't need tools to build complex fine and potent items from light. You can create light from nothing. This is like Shaping, above, but needs no raw materials. This lets you make fine and potent items from light.

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

Radiant Creation Similar to Radiant Reshaping, but on a larger scale.

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

Wreck

This is more about using light to wreck than about wrecking light. Use Light to destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects and effects of the Barrier and Darkness powers.

Wrecking Barrier, Darkness, and Light works against physical manifestations of those powers. This is only a small part of all effects, but Barrier in particular has many physical effects that Light can destroy. In most cases, wrecking a power effect destroys it in its entirety.

The reason Barriers are vulnerable to Light is that they are made to be transparent. It is possible to create a barrier impervious to light, but that would be a black shell impenetrable to light, thus making those inside blind.

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

Gleaming Grasp Light cuts like a laser and chases darkness away. You can wield this power like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.

This has no particular effect against powers and basically is just that sledgehammer.

Radiant Ravage Similar to Gleaming Grasp and can smash certain power effects. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.

This is where you can start to wreck physical manifestations of the powers of Barriers are vulnerable to Light. Such effects can be smashed as if they were wood. To do this, you must be able to visualize the effect as a material object. This works for visible effects like walls, glowing points, or spheres of darkness.

Ethereal Erasure Similar to Radiant Ravage, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.

Power effects destroyed this way simply fade and leave no trace at all, and don't even alert their creators that they failed.

Heavenly Holocaust Similar to Radiant Ravage, but over a large area.

Light can cause some destruction, and Heavenly Holocaust does this over a large area, but the material destruction is limited to common vandalism, like smashing stuff with a hammer all over the area. Against physical manifestations of Barrier, Darkness, and Light this has more dramatic effects.