Difference between revisions of "Time Powers (FiD)"

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{{FiD}}
 
 
{{FiD-Powers}}
 
{{FiD-Powers}}
Time is a mysterious and dangerous power. It allows looking into the past and possible futures, but can create deadly paradoxes.  
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Time is a dangerous and unstable Form.
 +
It allows perception of the past and possible futures, and limited interference with them.  
  
Time is the governing principle of all things, the regulator or the stream from Order to Flux.  
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Time is the governing principle of change.
Together with Space, Time governs position and movement.  
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Together with Space, it defines position, motion, causality, and sequence.  
The universe would be incomprehensible without orderly time.
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Without orderly time, the universe becomes incoherent.
Time is a favorite of disaster theorists.
 
Many claim that time manipulation is foolhardy and dangerous.
 
Some claim time is an artifact of our perception; that it is the ultimate prison.
 
Time travel is possible, but temporal inertia tend to restore events to what they were and minimize the effect of any changes to the past.
 
  
Time attacks stops time for an instant, then you set up weapons and events to cause harm when time resumes. They are hard to defend against, but likely to cause severe backlash if time is released too soon.
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Time manipulation is widely feared. 
 +
Disaster theorists, priests, and philosophers warn that meddling with time invites catastrophe.  
 +
Some argue time is merely a construct of perception, making it the ultimate prison rather than a force.  
  
=== Time Power Effects ===
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Time-based attacks do not strike immediately. 
 +
Instead, time is halted for a fraction of an instant.
 +
During this pause, you position forces, weapons, or effects that resolve only when time resumes.
 +
Releasing time too early or too late can cause severe backlash.
 +
Time attacks are difficult to anticipate or defend against, but dangerously unstable, often with Great initial Effect and Desperate Position.
 +
 
 +
'''Common Time Consequences'''
 +
* Déjà vu and looping thoughts.
 +
* Being slowed or unnaturally accelerated as time slips around you.
 +
* Horrifying glimpses of alternate timelines.
 +
* Chronically mistimed actions — always missing by fractions of a second.
 +
* A time stop collapsing early, catching you in your own effect.
 +
* Loss of temporal awareness.
 +
* Sudden, visible aging or de-aging.
 +
* Attracting a [[#Chrono Conjuration|chronovore]].
 +
* Permanent aging.
 +
 
 +
== Time Abilities ==
 
{| class="wikitable"  
 
{| class="wikitable"  
|align="center" | '''Action'''  
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|valign=bottom | '''Action'''  
|align="center" | '''Basic'''    <br> No minimum    <br>  3 Stress
+
|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Basic'''     
|align="center" | '''Advanced''' <br> Minimum 2 Dice <br>  5 Stress
+
|align="center" valign=bottom | '''Advanced'''  
|align="center" | '''Master'''  <br> Minimum 4 Dice <br>  7 Stress
+
|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      
 +
|-
 +
|valign=bottom | '''Stress'''
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Avoid fumble (2+).
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Succeed (4+).
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Full success (6).
 +
|align="center" valign=bottom | Critical (2 sixes).
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Attune'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Attune'''  
|valign="top"| '''Chrono Sense'''       <br> You can detect time creatures and powers.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Clarity|Chrono Clarity]]''' <br> Detect Time creatures and powers.
|valign="top"| '''Causality Collapse''' <br> You can force a time creature that is native to another plane of existence to return to that plane. You can end power effects by forcing their duration to run out.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Corruption|Chrono Corruption]]''' <br> End a Power’s duration.
|valign="top"| '''Chrono Conjuration''' <br> Summon time creatures or versions of yourself from alternate timelines. A common trick is the three ages of fate, that is yourself at two additional different ages.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Conjuration|Chrono Conjuration]]''' <br> Summon a Time creature.
|valign="top"| '''Wish'''               <br> You can break down causality, causing events to happen without cause. This is beyond dangerous but can allow wish fulfilment.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Connection|Chrono Connection]]''' <br> Time travel.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Command'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Command'''  
|valign="top"| '''Time Whisper''' <br> You can use the command action against creatures that normally wouldn't understand you.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Schedule_Sanction|Schedule Sanction]]''' <br> Intimidate with Time.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Tip''' <br> You can warn allies in the past of events in their future. This reduces the consequences of recent actions, as if the position had been one step better.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Schedule_Support|Schedule Support]]''' <br> Assist in a flashback.
|valign="top"| '''Time Tongues''' <br> You and allies can communicate with time creatures.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Schedule_Safeguard|Schedule Safeguard]]''' <br> Help yourself resist.
|valign="top"| '''Time Tyrant''' <br> You can give commands to time creatures as if you were their superior. This does not remove existing motivations, which can lead to conflicts.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Schedule_Sovereignty|Schedule Sovereignty]]''' <br> Command Time creatures.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Consort'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Consort'''  
|valign="top"| '''Alter Age'''           <br> You can change your age.  
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|valign="top"| '''[[#Age_Affectation|Age Affectation]]''' <br> Change apparent age.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Transition''' <br> You become yourself from various alternate timelines. Add 1d to one action and subtract 1d from all actions covered by an attribute except if you just raised one of them.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Age_Appropriation|Age Appropriation]]''' <br> Become an alternate self.
|valign="top"| '''Chrono Change'''       <br> Temporal Transition a willing or helpless creatures into themselves at another age or from alternate timelines. This is permanent, but you can easily break the effect.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Age_Assimilation|Age Assimilation]]''' <br> Transform Crew.
|valign="top"| '''Wild Hunt'''           <br> Transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures into future versions of themselves with +1d to all combat actions and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Age_Alignment|Age Alignment]]''' <br> Transform crowds.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Finesse'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Finesse'''  
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Turbo''' <br> You can increase the speed of a mount or vehicle giving it fine quality.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Second_Sprint|Second Sprint]]''' <br> Increase speed.
|valign="top"| '''Time Technique''' <br> You set up 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.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Second_Split|Second Split]]''' <br> Melee attack.
|valign="top"| '''Time Trim'''     <br> You can manipulate time precisely in small spots. This can slow down or hasten alarms, timers, and other mechanisms.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Second_Sync|Second Sync]]''' <br> Manipulate Time.
|valign="top"| '''Chrono Charge''' <br> Your set up and then release a storm of blades, suppressing the effect of multiple opponents and acting as a fine potent weapon.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Second_Stop|Second Stop]]''' <br> Freeze chase time.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Hunt'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Hunt'''  
|valign="top"| '''Time Trace'''       <br> You can track time-travellers and time warps.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Mistimed_Movement|Mistimed Movement]]''' <br> Track Time warps.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Target''' <br> You can set up a ranged attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Mistimed_Misfire|Mistimed Misfire]]''' <br> Cause friendly fire.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Torrent''' <br> You can set up an area 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.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Mistimed_Maneuver|Mistimed Maneuver]]''' <br> Jam sync.
|valign="top"| '''Chrono Cannon'''   <br> You set up the equivalent of a fine potent artillery barrage, attacking everything and everyone in a wide area. This can raze buildings and create rubble. Usually enough to provide cover for any escape.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Mistimed_Mayhem|Mistimed Mayhem]]''' <br> Battle goes wild.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Prowl'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Prowl'''  
|valign="top"| '''Time Tactician'''     <br> This gives you slight warning of future events, making you less likely to be spotted or surprised, improving your position.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Tethered_Time|Tethered Time]]''' <br> A warning of failure.
|valign="top"| '''Double Time'''       <br> You can halve or double speed, increasing the effect of movement maneuvers.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Double_Time|Double Time]]''' <br> Double your movement.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Transport''' <br> You can bring allies along when you use Time Tactician and Double Time.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Teamwork_Time|Teamwork Time]]''' <br> Crew Prowl.
|valign="top"| '''Time Travel'''       <br> You can time travel, which is extremely dangerous even when you know what you are doing.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Twist_Time|Twist Time]]''' <br> Only you can move.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Skirmish'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Skirmish'''  
|valign="top"| '''Stopwatch Strike''' <br> Set up a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Lasting_Levee|Lasting Levee]]'''         <br> Resist Time damage.
|valign="top"| '''Time Touch'''      <br> Same as Stopwatch Strike, except the weapon is fine and potent.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Lasting_Lesion|Lasting Lesion]]'''      <br> Set up a melee attack.
|valign="top"| '''Temporeal Tango''' <br> Create areas of slowed time, useful for distracting some enemies while you fight others.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Lasting_Lethality|Lasting Lethality]]''' <br> Gain Scale.
|valign="top"| '''Time Torrent'''     <br> Set up attacks in all directions, attacking all enemies in the area.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Lasting_League|Lasting League]]'''       <br> Group Action.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Study'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Study'''  
|valign="top"| '''Analyze'''     <br> You can identify objects and creatures linked to time, including clocks. You can see the use of time abilities.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Historical_Habit|Historical Habit]]''' <br> Identify Time.
|valign="top"| '''Research'''   <br> You know the powers and abilities of something you analyze.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Historical_Hindsight|Historical Hindsight]]''' <br> History of Time.
|valign="top"| '''Hindsight'''   <br> You can read the past events of any object or person. This includes how the target has been moving around as well as significant scenes.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Historical_Hypothesis|Historical Hypothesis]]''' <br> Observe other times.
|valign="top"| '''Hyped Havoc''' <br> 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.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Historical_Horizon|Historical Horizon]]''' <br> History in an area.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Survey'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Survey'''  
|valign="top"| '''Time Tingle'''         <br> You instinctively feel time effects in a wide area. This is always active and requires no rolls.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Composition|Chrono Composition]]''' <br> Notice Time effects.
|valign="top"| '''Time Twinkle'''       <br> You can can observe the past and possible futures at your location.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Continuum|Chrono Continuum]]''' <br> View through Time.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Temptation''' <br> You view a known creature, but this vision can be from the near past or a potential future.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Connection|Chrono Connection]]''' <br> Spy through Time.
|valign="top"| '''Transcend Time'''     <br> You perceive a large area in the past or a potential future, giving you an idea of strategic events.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Chrono_Cartography|Chrono Cartography]]''' <br> View area through Time.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Sway'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Sway'''  
|valign="top"| '''Tempo'''               <br> You can understand time creatures and gain a sense of their motivations.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Timely_Trust|Timely Trust]]''' <br> Understand Time.
|valign="top"| '''Translate Time'''     <br> You and allies can communicate with time creatures.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Timely_Translator|Timely Translator]]''' <br> Crew communication.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Temptation''' <br> You can plant suggestions in the mind of any creature, to be triggered under conditions you specify. This is a subtle power, but easier to spot once triggered.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Timely_Temptation|Timely Temptation]]''' <br> Future suggestions.
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Tyrant'''     <br> You change the personality and motivations of time creatures. This power is permanent, whatever that means for time creatures.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Timely_Tyrant|Timely Tyrant]]''' <br> Bind Time.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Tinker'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Tinker'''  
|valign="top"| '''Temporal Tools'''     <br> You can work with time measuring devices and timers as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Calibrated_Clockwork|Calibrated Clockwork]]''' <br> Time tools.
|valign="top"| '''Tailor Tempo'''       <br> You can delay or accelerate timed mechanisms such as traps and computers.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Calibrated_Cycle|Calibrated Cycle]]''' <br> Accelerate machine.
|valign="top"| '''Time Transformation''' <br> You can conjure objects from alternate timelines. This can create complex tools, such as fine and potent items appropriate to the power(s) used.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Calibrated_Catalyst|Calibrated Catalyst]]''' <br> Conjure objects.
|valign="top"| '''Conjurer's Clock'''       <br> This is similar to Time Transformation, but you mass produce objects, even a set of different objects. You can also make something large, such as a vehicle or building.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Calibrated_Cascade|Calibrated Cascade]]''' <br> Ahistorical items.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Wreck'''  
 
|align="left" valign="top" | '''Wreck'''  
|valign="top"| '''Future Fault'''           <br> You can expose objects to potential future events, much like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Terminal_Tarnish|Terminal Tarnish]]''' <br> Accelerate wear.
|valign="top"| '''Age Erodes'''             <br> You can age objects. You can smash even hard objects as if they were wood. Works as a fine potent sledgehammer in combat.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Terminal_Twist|Terminal Twist]]''' <br> Cause future events.
|valign="top"| '''Date of Disintegration''' <br> Similar to smash, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Terminal_Touch|Terminal Touch]]''' <br> Erase by ageing.
|valign="top"| '''Tide of Time'''           <br> Similar to Age Erodes, 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.  
+
|valign="top"| '''[[#Terminal_Torrent|Terminal Torrent]]''' <br> Age everything.
 
|}
 
|}
  
== Expanded Water Powers ==
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<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
Expanded descriptions of effects that differ significantly from [[Powers (FiD)#Typical Powers and How to Use Them|Typical Powers]].
+
 
 +
== Expanded Time Abilities ==
  
 
=== 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.
+
Time does not grant access to any other plane but can access the past, future, and alternate timelines.
 +
There are two common interpretations of how time works.
  
'''Perceive:'''
+
In the first, infinite alternate timelines exist.
''You can detect creatures and power use tied to your power.  
+
Journeying into the past never changes the present; it creates a new timeline.
 +
Any future you visit is only one of many possible futures.
 +
This allows the existence of [[#Chrono Conjuration|time twins]].
  
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.
+
In the second interpretation, history has inertia and tends to reassert itself with only minor differences.
Naturally, effect is reduced as the creature is more heavily obscured.  
+
Time travel may affect events, but temporal inertia minimizes alterations and redirects outcomes toward familiar patterns.
The position usually starts controlled, with the usual consequence that you cannot try again.
+
If you go back in time and kill your father, you return to find another, very similar father in his place.
  
'''Dismiss:'''
+
The truth is likely somewhere between these extremes.
''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.
+
==== Chrono Clarity ====
The consequences of this depends entirely on what happens around you when you do it.
+
Detect Time creatures and powers.
If a powerful creature resists being dispelled, its obviously dangerous.
 
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.
 
  
Dispelling is usually easier, but not always.
+
{{ : Include Attune Basic Detect Powers (FiD) }}
Most powers only dispel effects of their own power.
 
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.
+
Time creatures rarely bother to disguise themselves, but Time manipulations can be very subtle and hard to detect without methods like this.
The position is controlled, possibly risky if there are a lot of other dangers around.
 
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.
+
==== Chrono Corruption ====
Against an opponent that uses power to fly or even breathe you can have a better effect.
+
End a Power’s duration.
  
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.
+
This differs from other dispel powers in that you accelerate time around an effect so its duration rapidly runs out.
 +
You can end the operation of any ability that has a duration, whether a summon or any other sustained effect.
 +
The Outcome needed depends on the remaining duration of the effect.
  
'''Summon:'''
+
* '''Limited Outcome''': End an effect with a duration of less than a full score.
''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.
+
* '''Standard Outcome''': End an effect that lasts a full score. This is the most common situation.
 +
* '''Great Outcome''': End an effect that lasts more than a score but less than a month.
  
What a "place of your power" means depends on the setting, but is always a different place that you normally cannot interact with.  
+
Ending effects of even longer duration requires a [[Downtime_(FiD)#Long-Term_Projects|Long-Term Project]].
This is usually a parallel world or plane of existence, dominated by your power.
+
This makes Time good at ending Powers used in a Score, poor at ending traps and other effects inherent to a location.
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.  
+
Chrono Corruption is often used as a Set Up action to help another character when the opposition is using Powers, improving the Position of the supported Action.
They can also give advice and information related to their power.
+
It can also be used to break the continuing results of powers.
In general, you can summon generic creatures one tier lower than yourself without having to do a flashback.  
+
When used directly, the initial Effect is usually Limited unless the opponent relies on Powers for survival.
Such a creature is similar to a gang member.
+
Against an opponent that uses a Power to fly or even breathe, you may have greater initial Effect.
  
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.
+
==== Chrono Conjuration ====
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.
+
Summon a Time creature.
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 summon creatures associated with Time or drawn from other times or timelines.
  
Spirits generally come in three types, elementals, spirits, and creatures with powers.  
+
Time creatures generally fall into three categories: people from other times, [[Spirit_(FiD)|spirits]], and [[Monster_(FiD)|chronovores]].
  
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.
+
The most distinctive summons are people from other times — the past, future, or alternate timelines.
An elemental is a simple creature totally dominated by its power.  
+
Summoning creatures from other times or timelines grants no control over the summoned being.
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.
+
You must bargain for their services.
 +
It is worth researching creatures that are likely to be cooperative.
  
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.
+
A common trick is to summon time twins: versions of yourself or someone you know from another timeline.
They can use sophisticated power effects and usually have an agenda of their own.
+
One approach is calling the three ages of fate — a person at two different ages in addition to the original — with either the energy of youth, the maturity of adulthood, or the wisdom of age.
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.  
+
Another variant summons versions of known creatures from alternate time streams.
A fire dragon is impossibly large, flies, and breathes fire.  
+
These are effectively identical twins with significant differences.
An air turtle hovers and can grow to massive size, to the point where a city can be built on top of them.
+
Based on their experiences and choices, they may possess different abilities and attitudes.
An undead creature is a corpse animated by the powers of Death.
+
Such timelines are often harsher than your own, leaving the inhabitants traumatized in distinct ways.
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.
+
You may summon named individuals from the past or a potential future to question them about their era, gaining unusually detailed historical knowledge.
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.
+
It is possible to summon someone linked through a grave, physical remnant, or artwork.
  
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.  
+
Time [[Spirit_(FiD)|spirits]] are immaterial and ephemeral.
This includes dangerous tasks such as combat if the creature has such abilities, which most of them do.
+
They possess various Time powers and can help direct and control Time effects you use.
 +
Their agenda usually involves maintaining the time stream, avoiding paradox, and enforcing fate.
 +
Some originate from alternate timelines and seek to reshape yours to match their own.
  
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.
+
[[Monster_(FiD)|Chronovores]] are predators that haunt the timelines, drawn to extensive use of Time powers.
 +
They resemble living creatures with biological bodies and metabolisms, but also possess Time abilities.
 +
They often appear like gleaming animals or monsters, reminiscent of old car hood ornaments.
 +
They can be summoned, but are extremely hostile to all Time users.
  
The position is usually risky. The creature is being forced to serve and might lash out.
+
{{ : Include Attune Summon (FiD) }}
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.
+
==== Chrono Connection ====
 +
Time travel.
  
Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos.  
+
You and your crew can travel to the past, future, or alternate timelines.
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.
+
Check the introduction to [[#Attune|Attune Time]] to see how timelines work.
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.  
+
A useful and relatively safe application of Chrono Connection that works under either model is retrieving objects or information to bring back to the present.
  
'''Gate:'''
+
<div style="text-align:center;">
''You can create a portal that allows travel to and from the plane of your power for a limited time.
+
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
 +
</div>
  
This is rarely useful, but can be under exceptional circumstances.  
+
=== Command ===
As outlined under Summoning above most powers are linked to a different world where that power is dominant.
+
Command and intimidate Time creatures, projecting authority. Position and Effect depend on the situation and your relationship with the listeners.
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.
+
==== Schedule Sanction ====
The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.
+
Intimidate with Time.
  
Using a gate is usually played out as a score, which means there is an engagement roll.  
+
You create Time effects such as apparent shifts in age and the slowing or quickening of time to heighten your authority, similar to displaying a weapon.
Depending on how quickly the matter is resolved, the game master may require a separate game to return home again.
+
This provides the leverage needed to use Command to intimidate without an actual threat of violence.
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.
+
Time creatures may recognize you as a legitimate figure of authority.
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 ===
+
==== Schedule Support ====
Command creatures based on your power with communication and authority.
+
Assist in a flashback.
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.
 
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:'''
+
You advise someone about a situation they are about to face.
''You can make creatures understand you, but you do not understand them.
+
This is Assist teamwork based on your prediction of the future, performed in a flashback.
 +
You roll for this ability when the situation arises, but in the fiction you provided the guidance beforehand.
 +
The advantage is that you can Assist yourself or someone who you met earlier but out of communication right now.
 +
The Stress cost for using this ability does not stack with the Stress of Assisting; only the higher cost applies.
  
This is useful because it allows you to intimidate creatures of your power and to command foreign or alien subordinates.
+
==== Schedule Safeguard ====
Combined with the basic power of Sway allows two-way communication.
+
Help yourself resist.
  
'''Translate:'''
+
Your future self sends a warning back to you in the present.
You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power.
+
You may roll Command instead of Insight, Prowess, or Resolve to resist a Consequence.
This allows full conversation with creatures of the power.  
+
As a resistance roll, this is not subject to any modifiers; you always roll your raw Command rating.
It is still a Command ability, it is more forceful and less subtle than the Sway equivalent.
+
Because this is a Master ability, you must have at least 4d in Command to use it.
 +
The Stress cost for using this ability does not stack with the Stress of Resisting; only the higher cost applies.
  
'''Authority:'''
+
==== Schedule Sovereignty ====
''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.
+
Command Time creatures.
  
This is more powerful than a normal Command action, having about one additional level of effect, but it is not absolute.
+
Targets perceive you as an officer, professional superior, alpha, or other leader type who outranks them.
Creatures of the relevant type will understand your orders.
+
This does not remove existing loyalties, which may lead to conflict.
 +
Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid clashes with established hierarchies.
 +
Ordering a Time spirit to ignore a disturbance requires greater Outcome than ordering it to address the issue and move on, as its role is to protect the timeline.
  
Targets will see you as an officer, professional superior, alpha, or other leader type outranking them.
+
Position depends on the creature’s actual relationship to you.
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.
+
Ordering a creature that sees itself as your superior is Desperate.
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.
+
A Controlled Position comes from a creature that agrees you outrank it, usually making retries harder rather than provoking resistance.
Limited effect can lead to a creature not doing what it is supposed to, such as reporting you or giving you a speeding ticket.
+
A Risky Position is typical against a creature that sees itself as your equal and not an enemy, potentially leading to heat, misunderstood orders, or minor rebellions.
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.
+
<div style="text-align:center;">
A controlled position comes from a creature that agrees you are superior to it, and usually just means that trying again is harder.
+
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
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.
+
</div>
 +
=== Consort ===
 +
Consort Time alters your age or reshapes you to match a version of yourself from another timeline.
 +
At higher levels, you can apply these changes to others.
  
'''Enslave:'''
+
Common Consequences include being mistaken for a relative or finding that your assumed form is a hindrance.
''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.
+
You might be obnoxiously cute, trigger prejudice, or carry unexpected mental or physical scars.
 +
Outcome determines how precisely you control the change.
  
Obviously a broken ability, and one that will have a low effect unless you are already in a position of power.
+
Duration depends on Outcome.
The effect is similar to the authority, the difference is that this is a long-lasting and potentially permanent effect.
+
Limited Outcome lasts for a scene.
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.
+
Standard Outcome lasts for a score.
 +
Great Outcome lasts longer, usually through the next downtime period, though it may persist further depending on the needs of the story.
  
=== Consort ===
+
==== Age Affectation ====
Utilize the power of Consort to change forms and manipulate objects imbued with your power.
+
Change apparent age.
You not only understand how to behave to conform to social norms, you change your own (and alter others') physical form.
 
  
'''Mask:'''
+
This is primarily a change in appearance, but it may influence your demeanor.
''You can change your clothes and accessories by imbuing them with your power. This can mask your identity or create fabulous outfits.
+
You may become more playful and physical when younger, or calmer and more reserved as you age.
 +
You can significantly alter your appearance, but people who know you may still recognize you.
 +
You may also alter your attire, adding or removing wear and changing style to suit your assumed age.
  
You do not physically change yourself, you accessorize and change your outfit.
+
You can use this on your entire Crew as an Advanced ability.
The effect is usually limited and the position controlled, but some changes might be more extreme than this.
 
  
'''Shapechange:'''
+
==== Age Appropriation ====
''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.
+
Become an alternate self.
  
This is a true physical transmutation.
+
You become a time twin — a version of yourself from an alternate timeline.
You need not assume the form of an existing creature, as long as the gamemaster agrees your new form matches the power you use.  
+
This changes your appearance and you may exchange special abilities from your playbook, rearrange action dots, or mitigate trauma.
This can give you new abilities, but these are things you could already do using the same power.
 
You may get away without having to use each specific power, at the cost of losing some of the abilities of your original form.
 
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.
+
The number of changes depends on Outcome:
You rating in the improved action increases by one.
+
* '''Limited Outcome''': 0 changes.
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.
+
* '''Standard Outcome''': 1 change.
 +
* '''Great Outcome''': 3 changes.
  
''Example
+
==== Age Assimilation ====
''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 Crew.
  
'''Transform:'''
+
This is Age Attachment applied to your Crew or to a willing or helpless creature.
''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.
+
They transform into an alternate-timeline version of themselves, but you choose the changes.
  
This is the shapechange power applied to another creature.
+
The duration depends on Outcome.
The duration depends of the effect, limited effect is very temporary, more of a warning.  
+
* '''Limited Outcome''': Lasts for a single scene.
Standard effect lasts for the duration of a score.
+
* '''Standard Outcome''': Lasts for the duration of a score.
Great effect lasts a long time and potentially become permanent, depending on the development of the story.
+
* '''Great Outcome''': Lasts a long time and may become permanent, depending on the needs of the story. This is sometimes used as a curse.
Other abilities can be used to reverse such a transformation.
 
  
You cannot use this on a powerful opponent that cannot be defeated by a single successful action.
+
==== Age Alignment ====
You may have to confront them in several scenes to finally get them to the point where you can transform them.
+
Transform crowds.
  
'''Wild Hunt:'''
+
You alter a crowd of creatures into alternate versions of themselves that are more amenable to you.
''You can transform a large number of willing or non-sentient creatures and give them a simple instruction, typically someone for them to hunt.
+
{{ : Apex Consort }}
  
This is where Consort becomes a combination of the Shapechange and Summon power effects.
+
<div style="text-align:center;">
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.
+
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
Essentially you turn them into single-minded minions.
+
</div>
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 ===
 
=== Finesse ===
Exercise finesse with your power, manipulating and attacking with precision.
+
Exercise finesse with Time, manipulating and attacking with extreme precision.
 +
 
 +
==== Second Sprint ====
 +
Increase speed.
 +
 
 +
You double your running speed, or the speed of a mount or vehicle you are riding, granting it Fine quality.
 +
As an Advanced ability, you may also affect your entire Crew’s speed.
 +
 
 +
==== Second Split ====
 +
Melee attack.
  
'''Ride:'''
+
To attack, you step out of time and set up a hazardous situation.
''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.
+
When time resumes, the event you prepared becomes real.
 +
This requires extreme precision and access to weapons or devices, either carried by you or drawn from the environment.
 +
If you mistime the event, you may be caught in a vulnerable position.
  
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.
+
Second Split typically grants high Effect but places you in a dangerous Position.
  
'''Duel:'''
+
Aside from flexibility, this ability primarily substitutes for equipment.
''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.
+
A Fine and Potent finesse weapon remains just as effective.
  
What this actually does depends on the power used.
+
==== Second Sync ====
Fire burns, wind slices, ice pieces or freezes, and so on.
+
Manipulate Time.
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 precisely hasten or delay the triggering of traps, timers, and other fine mechanisms.
''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.
+
In split-second situations, such as bypassing fans or automated defenses, this can be decisive. {{ Include Finesse Master }}
  
This allows you to manipulate small amounts of matter governed by your power.
+
==== Second Stop ====
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.
+
Freeze chase time.
  
'''Surge:'''
+
Time freezes for everyone except you, your Crew, and your rides, allowing you to reposition anywhere you could reach within a few seconds.
''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.
+
Everything other than your Crew and their rides is frozen in time, unchangeable and invulnerable.
  
You create ans use weapon like Duel above, and also create distractions.
+
Second Stop almost always guarantees an escape, though not an automatic victory in a chase.
The effect is like having a number of trusty but entirely defensive allies in the fight.  
+
It can also prevent an imminent crash.
This negates the advantage an enemy gets for having allies of their own, but is otherwise the same as Duel.
+
 
 +
<div style="text-align:center;">
 +
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
 +
</div>
  
 
=== Hunt ===
 
=== Hunt ===
Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with the power of Hunt.
+
Track, attack, and unleash devastating barrages with Hunt Time.
As you advance in power, 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.
At short range, this is dangerous to you and yours.
+
 
 +
==== Mistimed Movement ====
 +
Track Time warps.
 +
 
 +
This does not aid mundane tracking.
 +
Instead, it tracks time travel and movement facilitated by Time manipulation.
 +
It provides the information needed to pursue a time traveler or Time creature, but does not allow time travel itself.
  
'''Track:'''
+
==== Mistimed Misfire ====
''You can track and pursue based on your power, even if the target does not leave any mundane trail or clues.
+
Cause friendly fire.
  
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.
+
You manipulate Time at a specific spot at range.
 +
Events there fall slightly out of sync, leading to misfires, accidental discharges, and friendly fire.
 +
This ranged attack is most effective against targets in hazardous situations, especially those using weapons.
 +
In such cases, it has the Effect of a Fine and Potent ranged weapon.
  
'''Potent Snipe:'''
+
If there are is dangerous situation to exploit, the result is limited to minor accidents, stubbed toes, and general mistiming.
''You can use your power to attack, similar in effect to a fine and potent rifle.
 
  
The effect of this action varies depending on the nature of your power.
+
==== Mistimed Maneuver ====
For instance, fire will burn, wind can slice, ice might pierce or freeze, and so forth.
+
Jam sync.
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.
 
  
'''Environmental Control
+
You subtly disrupt timing across a large area, causing missteps, loss of orientation, missed appointments, delayed relief, and similar annoyances.
''You can alter environments by controlling or introducing the element of your power. You can change the environment of a single room indoors or a city block outdoors.
+
This creates friction, ruins coordination, and leaves people stranded, but does not cause direct Harm.
 +
It is usually a Set Up Action, but may also alter reactions to unfolding events — targets may lose heart, begin to quarrel, or become frustrated and unproductive.
  
This is usually used as a setup, but may also change how people act in reaction to the environment—rain, smoke, or snow and the like are likely to make people want to stay indoors or run out as the case may be.
+
==== Mistimed Mayhem ====
Environmental Control does not inflict any direct damage.
+
Battle goes wild.
  
'''Area Attack:'''
+
An escalation of Mistimed Misfire, this requires explosives or combatants using area weapons such as automatic weapons, grenades, or flamethrowers and affects an entire Area (p. 221).
''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.
+
Less precise than Mistimed Misfire, this affects all creatures at a location and carries a significant risk of collateral damage.
  
An escalation of Potent Snipe, this affects all enemies in a single location.
+
<div style="text-align:center;">
The effect is more powerful but less precise.
+
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
This means it does more collateral damage, but no more effect on enemies.
+
</div>
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.
 
  
 
=== Prowl ===
 
=== Prowl ===
Sneak, move, and perhaps even fly or teleport with the stealth and agility granted by Prowl.
+
Sneak and move with stealth and agility.
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.
+
 
 +
==== Tethered Time ====
 +
A warning of failure.
 +
 
 +
You receive a warning when you are about to be spotted or lose control of your movement.
 +
You decide to use this when you make the initial Prowl roll, and this roll determines the Stress cost.
 +
When your Prowl roll suffers a Consequence, you may use this ability to abort the attempt.
 +
You turn the roll into a failure, but the Consequences are reduced to those of a Controlled Position, typically forcing you to wait, lie low, or find another route.
  
'''Reconnaissance:'''
+
==== Double Time ====
''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.
+
Double your movement.
  
This provides you cover to hide in places you ordinarily could not.  
+
This does not grant new forms of movement, but allows you to move using Prowl at twice your normal speed.
Where you can use this is explained in each specific power.
+
This applies to climbing, swimming, sneaking, acrobatics, and similar stunts.
It otherwise works just like any other attempt to use Prowl to avoid notice.
+
You can exploit short windows of opportunity or momentary weaknesses, often resulting in improved Position.
Note that only you can use this ability, your friends and allies cannot unless you use Travel, below.
 
  
'''Maneuver:'''
+
==== Teamwork Time ====
''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.
+
Crew Prowl.
  
Again, each power will explain how it can use this mobility.
+
You and your allies may now use Tethered Time and Double Time.
Your friends and allies cannot use this unless you employ Travel, which is described later
+
Each character still rolls their own Prowl action.
 +
This often resolves as a Group Action.
  
'''Travel:'''
+
==== Twist Time ====
''You can bring allies along when you use Reconnaissance and Maneuver.
+
Only you can move.
  
Now you and your allies can Prowl in places where your power is at home.  
+
You step out of time and act while everything else remains perfectly still, unless you move it.
They still use their own Prowl action.
+
You may use this to attack in a manner similar to [[#Second_Split|Second Split]], but doing so is excessive and ends the effect immediately.
  
'''Transport:'''
+
More commonly, you move freely and manipulate unattended objects for roughly thirty seconds.
''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.
+
Creatures and the things they carry cannot be moved.
 +
Objects that were already in motion can be stopped, but not redirected.
  
How and where you use this is explained in each power.
+
To observers, it appears that you and everything you manipulated suddenly teleported to new positions.
This takes you to places you are familiar with.
+
 
Both effect and position is worse unless you know where you are going, which means it is great for escapes but less so for intrusion into an enemy's territory that you are likely to be much less familiar with.
+
<div style="text-align:center;">
 +
— [[#top|Back to top]] —
 +
</div>
  
 
=== Skirmish ===
 
=== Skirmish ===
Engage in close combat and create chaos with the power to Skirmish.
+
Prosper in the chaos of battle.
  
'''Skirmish Attack:'''
+
==== Lasting Levee ====
''You can use the power as a close-range attack, similar in effect to a melee weapon or pistol.
+
Resist Time damage.
  
What this actually does depends on the power used. Fire burns, wind slices, ice pieces or freezes, and so on.  
+
You can resist Harm from Time attacks and from random accidents such as weapon fumbles, stumbles, and misfires.
Certain targets may be more or less vulnerable to certain attacks, but this is the exception.  
+
This allows you to ignore most Harm caused by a danger in nature.
Besides variety, this only substitutes for equipment, mundane weapons are just as effective.
+
{{ : Damage Resistance Template (FiD) }}
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:'''
+
==== Lasting Lesion ====
''Same as Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.
+
Set up a melee attack.
  
'''Obstruction:'''
+
You stop time to set up a dangerous situation.
''Your power creates distractions and obstructions that prevent the enemy from benefiting from numbers and otherwise works as a fine potent weapon.
+
Enemies carrying lethal devices such as explosives or poison are especially vulnerable, making this attack both Fine and Potent.
 +
If the enemy carries no dangerous devices, you must rely on your own equipment.
  
This creates some kind of hindrance, perhaps spectral allies, perhaps a maze or concealing mist.
+
This ability substitutes for equipment; ordinary Fine and Potent weapons are just as effective.
The effect is to deny your enemies the advantage of numbers.
 
You also gain the benefit of the Fine Skirmish Attack, giving you a fine, potent weapon.
 
  
'''Flurry:'''
+
==== Lasting Lethality ====
''Your power strikes out in all directions, attacking all enemies in a wide area.
+
Gain Scale.
  
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.
+
You become a one-person army.
 +
As Lasting Lesion, and you manipulate time around you, gaining Scale (p. 221).
 +
 
 +
==== Lasting League ====
 +
Group Action
 +
 
 +
This allows you and allies to initiate a Group Action when the problem to overcome is lack of time or when you need precise timing. {{ : Apex Skirmish Include (FiD) }}
 +
 
 +
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
  
 
=== Study ===
 
=== Study ===
Study and analyze objects and creatures imbued with your power to gain insight and knowledge.
+
Study and analyze objects and creatures imbued with Time to gain insight and knowledge.
 +
 
 +
The Outcome required depends on range.
 +
* '''Limited Outcome''': Touch.
 +
* '''Standard Outcome''': Line of sight.
 +
* '''Great Outcome''': A target you know of or have some link to, but which is out of line of sight.
 +
 
 +
Position depends on the situation.
 +
When you are safely in your base, the Position is Controlled.
 +
In the middle of a fight, or while pinned down, the Position is Desperate.
 +
Sometimes the subject you are researching is dangerous in itself, worsening Position.
 +
Consequences may grant knowledge that lacks crucial details or context.
 +
 
 +
==== Historical Habit ====
 +
Identify Time.
 +
 
 +
Identify objects and creatures of Time.
 +
You learn the name of the object or creature and very basic information in narrative terms.
 +
This does not include detailed analysis or actual rules.
 +
 
 +
==== Historical Hindsight ====
 +
History of Time.
 +
 
 +
You learn an item’s or creature’s general history and any Time abilities it possesses or has recently been affected by.
 +
This includes actual rules and mechanical effects.
 +
 
 +
==== Historical Hypothesis ====
 +
Observe other times.
 +
 
 +
You learn the past and possible futures of the item, place, or creature you study.
 +
The power focuses on events of interest to you.
  
'''Analyze:'''
+
This ability is not limited to Time effects; it can be used on any kind of item, place, or creature.
''You can identify objects and creatures that manifest your power and see the use of the abilities of your power.
+
You perceive significant scenes from its history and likely futures, which often reveal abilities that were used.
 +
Actions taken with knowledge gained from this ability can easily alter any observed future.
  
'''Research:'''
+
==== Historical Horizon ====
''You know the powers and abilities of something you analyze.
+
History in an area.
  
'''Hindsight:'''
+
You gain a Historical Hindsight reading of everything within an Area (p. 221), such as an entire city district.
''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.
+
You may then apply Historical Hypothesis to up to three locations or creatures within that area.
  
'''Omniscience:'''
+
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''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 Time.
 +
 
 +
The Outcome required depends on the target’s concealment.
 +
* '''Limited Outcome''': Locate things within line of sight, or within a few minutes through time.
 +
* '''Standard Outcome''': Perceive behind walls, into hard cover, and a few hours through time.
 +
* '''Great Outcome''': Perceive far-away places and locations you had no prior awareness of, and far into the past or future, though accuracy of images or information degrades over long spans.
  
'''Detect:'''
+
==== Chrono Composition ====
''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.
+
Notice Time effects.
  
'''Sensor:'''
+
This is a basic spotting ability that selectively senses things related to Time, particularly Time abilities and Time creatures.
''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 may ignore known phenomena to detect only what is new to you.
  
'''Scry:'''
+
==== Chrono Continuum ====
''Choose a location or creature. You gain a sensor at the nearest suitable object, which is often close enough to perceive the target.
+
View through Time.
  
'''Omnipresence:'''
+
You perceive significant scenes from the history and likely futures of your current location.
''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.
+
Actions taken by anyone informed by this power can easily alter any observed future.
 +
The power focuses on events of interest to you.
 +
 
 +
==== Chrono Connection ====
 +
Spy through Time.
 +
 
 +
Choose a creature or object known to you, or one you have a meaningful link to.
 +
You perceive significant scenes from its history and likely futures.
 +
Actions taken by anyone informed by this power can easily alter any observed future.
 +
The power focuses on events of interest to you.
 +
 
 +
==== Chrono Cartography ====
 +
View area through Time.
 +
 
 +
You perceive everything within Range (p. 221) as it existed in the past or in a potential future, gaining insight into major strategic developments.
 +
This provides only high-level information about significant events.
 +
Unlike other temporal perceptions, these visions are less easily altered by subsequent actions.
 +
 
 +
<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 Time creatures, and instill Time virtues in others.
Sway creatures based on your power with persuasion and cajoling.
+
 
Position and effect is determined normally, depending ion the situation and your relation to listeners.
+
==== Timely Trust ====
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.  
+
Understand Time.
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. 
+
You can speak with Time creatures and gauge their mood and motivations.
This still has the normal stress cost.
+
You may also sense whether any creature is inclined toward curiosity, precision, or decisiveness.
 +
 
 +
==== Timely Translator ====
 +
Crew communication.
  
'''Communicate:'''
+
You and your Crew may use the Sway action at full Effect against Time creatures, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers.
''You can understand creatures linked to your power even if normally couldn't, and gauge their mood and motivations.
+
You are persuading, not asserting authority.
  
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.
+
In addition, you may influence any creature to become curious, precise, or decisive.
 +
This may be sufficient on its own to get the reaction you want, but is often used as a Set Up for another interaction aligned with those moods.
  
'''Translate:'''
+
==== Timely Temptation ====
''You and allies can communicate with creatures based on your power.
+
Future suggestions.
  
This allows you to use the Sway power to its full effect.  
+
This functions as a Sway attempt whose result manifests in the future.
You are still wheedling unless you also use Command the advanced Command effect.
+
You implant a suggestion that triggers under conditions you specify.
 +
The target must understand your words.
  
In addition, many powers will have the power to inspire a mood or emotion specific to that power.
+
The influence remains subtle until activated.
 +
The target does not remember being swayed.
  
'''Mesmerize:'''
+
==== Timely Tyrant ====
''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.
+
Bind Time.
  
Essentially this is an attempt to Sway with two advantages.
+
This effect is permanent, overt, and works only on a Time creature under your control.
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.
+
It alters the target’s priorities and loyalties at a fundamental level.
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:'''
+
This power has limits.
''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.
+
You cannot compel a Time creature to dawdle or abandon its essential nature.
 +
Exceptional creatures or circumstances may eventually break this change.
  
This changes the target on a deep level, changing their loyalties and priorities.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
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.
 
Exceptional creatures and exceptional circumstances can break this change.
 
This depends more on role-playing than die rolls.
 
  
 
=== Tinker ===
 
=== Tinker ===
Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with your power to suit your needs.
+
Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with Time 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.
+
This includes items with Time abilities, as well as devices connected to time, such as clocks, computers, punch-card-controlled machine, or anything else with an internal schedule.
 +
You can also undo the effects of Time, repairing wear and restoring ruined things.
 +
Finally, you can slow or speed up an item’s operation.
 +
{{ : Include Tinker (FiD) }}
 +
 
 +
==== Calibrated Clockwork ====
 +
Time tools.
 +
 
 +
This ability substitutes for the tools and protective devices typical of a small workshop.
 +
 
 +
==== Calibrated Cycle ====
 +
Accelerate machine.
 +
 
 +
You can change how fast an item operates.
 +
This can speed up clockwork and computers, or slow down a trap enough to let you escape.
 +
This does not increase power; even if the machine operates faster or slower, it doesn't generate more or less output in the form of velocity, capacity, or force.
  
'''Handle:'''
+
==== Calibrated Catalyst ====
''You can handle materials that manifest your power as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.
+
Conjure objects.
  
This mainly substitutes for tools, up to a small workshop.  
+
You pull items from other timelines into your own, effectively creating it out of thin air.
You are also protected from any dangerous effects of working with the elements of your power.
+
Such an item must exist in a timeline similar to yours, meaning it must be possible to create in your timeline.
  
'''Shape:'''
+
A possible Consequence is that a Time user in another timeline exploits the connection you created, using it to steal something from you or your timeline.
''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.
 
  
You can now do more than normal craft could do.
+
==== Calibrated Cascade ====
You can work elements of your power that  normally cannot be shaped, and it will remain in the shape you set it in.
+
Ahistorical items.
This has the effect of pipes and containers suited to the materials at hand, without any material containers or conduits.
 
This may allow you to set up traps or devices that would normally require extensive equipment.
 
  
The position depends on how quiet your workplace is and how much time you have to work with.
+
You break down causality, allowing the creation of items that could not normally exist in your timeline.
The effect determines the effectiveness of your construction, but also how long it will last.
+
This can produce anachronistic objects, such as a high-tech weapon in a medieval setting or a magical item in a mundane world, but these always have a limited duration.
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:'''
+
You create also create large structures possible in your timeline, such as an automated palace, castle, or ship.
''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.
 
  
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.
+
You can also re-create a ruined Area (p. 221), restoring it to a past state.
 +
This includes items, [[Death_Powers_(FiD)#Undead|Undead]] creatures, and non-living guardians such as constructs and elementals.
 +
This allows you to explore sites from the past in their former glory and often makes it much easier to locate items and information.
  
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.
+
When the duration of Calibrated Cascade ends, the Area and anything taken from it revert to their former condition, but not to their former location.
The result will maintain its form as if affected by the Shape ability.
+
Anything that was whole before you used Calibrated Cascade remains whole when the effect ends.
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:'''
+
Finally, you can make the result of Calibrated Cycle permanent. This is rare and may attract the attention of a [[Time_Powers_(FiD)#Chrono_Conjuration|chronovore]].
''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.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>
This is useful for equipping a large band or building something large out of nothing.
 
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.
 
  
 
=== Wreck ===
 
=== Wreck ===
Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects made of stuff related to your power.  
+
Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects using Time.
 +
 
 +
Most Wreck Time effects act through accelerated ageing rather than instantaneous force.
 +
Damage unfolds over time unless otherwise stated.
 +
 
 +
The Outcome required depends on the size and structural strength of your target.
 +
* '''Limited Outcome''': An item up to the size of a car or small hut that is built to be temporary or requires constant maintenance, such as shantytown buildings and complex machinery. You can also wreck things created by Tinker, Timeline Tinkering, or Wish.
 +
* '''Standard Outcome''': Standard consumer items up to the size of a car, including cheap structures and vehicles.
 +
* '''Great Outcome''': Crafted or durable objects up to the size of a car.
 +
 
 +
Larger or more durable items require higher Outcome; smaller items do not make things easier.
 +
You can never affect objects made to endure eons, such as cultural artifacts, pyramids, or stone foundations. Diamonds really are forever.
 +
 
 +
Position depends on circumstance.
 +
A quiet workspace is Controlled.
 +
The chaos of adventure is Risky.
 +
Active combat, massive crowds, or dangerous construction sites are Desperate.
 +
 
 +
Creatures take Harm as normal, but unless otherwise stated this Harm manifests over minutes or hours rather than instantly, giving targets a chance to flee, negotiate, or retaliate.
 +
 
 +
==== Terminal Tarnish ====
 +
Accelerate wear.
 +
 
 +
You expose a target to roughly a decade of heavy use over a short period.
 +
This rarely destroys an object outright, but weakens it, reduces quality, and makes it unreliable or inoperable.
 +
Living creatures visibly age and lose vitality, but usually have time to escape or respond before suffering full Harm.
 +
 
 +
In personal combat, this functions as a slow-acting but powerful weapon.
 +
 
 +
==== Terminal Twist ====
 +
Cause future events.
 +
 
 +
Your target suffers a specific event drawn from a future timeline.
 +
Unlike other Wreck Time effects, this resolves almost immediately.
 +
 
 +
Common events include accidents, mechanical failures, human error, power outages, vehicle crashes, animal attacks, fires, flooding, or localized weather phenomena such as lightning strikes.
 +
Observers experience a temporal echo of the event, but only the target suffers real Harm.
  
'''Jimmy:'''
+
In personal combat, this functions as a Fine and Potent Wreck weapon.
''You can jimmy objects manifesting your power much like a sledgehammer. Noisy and leaves a twisted object in place.
 
  
Just as crude as it sounds.
+
==== Terminal Touch ====
You destroy things related to your power, and strike with the force of a sledgehammer in combat.
+
Erase by ageing.
As usual, Wreck may be at an advantage or disadvantage compared to Finesse and Skirmish, depending on the situation.
 
  
'''Smash:'''
+
You apply accelerated ageing without a visible process or aftermath.
''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.
+
The target silently fails as if it aged and broke when no one was watching.
 +
No obvious debris, marks, or evidence remain beyond the final absence.
  
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.
+
Terminal Touch cannot undo known history, but it can destroy objects or evidence, subject to normal Outcome limits.
You can also use this as a sledgehammer to smash other things, and ads a fine, potent sledgehammer in combat.
 
  
'''Disintegrate:'''
+
==== Terminal Torrent ====
''Similar to smash, but destroyed targets silently disappear or are reduced to a fine dust.
+
Age everything.
  
The real difference here is that wrecking things is now silent when you have the right power.  
+
You unleash the time stream across an Area (p. 221), exposing everything within it to Terminal Twist.
You also leave less traces, as what you wreck disappears.  
+
Structures, objects, and creatures rapidly age as time surges forward.
This can also be used to get rid of evidence, as long as that evidence matches your power.
 
  
'''Obliterate:'''
+
With Great Outcome, buildings collapse and materials crumble into dust over hours.
''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.
+
This is not instant, but retreat is difficult; warped time distorts coordination and escape.
 +
Those caught within cannot retreat normally — escape becomes a rout.
  
Rather straightforward, this just scales things up.
+
<div style="text-align:center;"> — [[#top|Back to top]] — </div>

Latest revision as of 16:51, 13 February 2026

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

Time is a dangerous and unstable Form. It allows perception of the past and possible futures, and limited interference with them.

Time is the governing principle of change. Together with Space, it defines position, motion, causality, and sequence. Without orderly time, the universe becomes incoherent.

Time manipulation is widely feared. Disaster theorists, priests, and philosophers warn that meddling with time invites catastrophe. Some argue time is merely a construct of perception, making it the ultimate prison rather than a force.

Time-based attacks do not strike immediately. Instead, time is halted for a fraction of an instant. During this pause, you position forces, weapons, or effects that resolve only when time resumes. Releasing time too early or too late can cause severe backlash. Time attacks are difficult to anticipate or defend against, but dangerously unstable, often with Great initial Effect and Desperate Position.

Common Time Consequences

  • Déjà vu and looping thoughts.
  • Being slowed or unnaturally accelerated as time slips around you.
  • Horrifying glimpses of alternate timelines.
  • Chronically mistimed actions — always missing by fractions of a second.
  • A time stop collapsing early, catching you in your own effect.
  • Loss of temporal awareness.
  • Sudden, visible aging or de-aging.
  • Attracting a chronovore.
  • Permanent aging.

Time 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 Chrono Clarity
Detect Time creatures and powers.
Chrono Corruption
End a Power’s duration.
Chrono Conjuration
Summon a Time creature.
Chrono Connection
Time travel.
Command Schedule Sanction
Intimidate with Time.
Schedule Support
Assist in a flashback.
Schedule Safeguard
Help yourself resist.
Schedule Sovereignty
Command Time creatures.
Consort Age Affectation
Change apparent age.
Age Appropriation
Become an alternate self.
Age Assimilation
Transform Crew.
Age Alignment
Transform crowds.
Finesse Second Sprint
Increase speed.
Second Split
Melee attack.
Second Sync
Manipulate Time.
Second Stop
Freeze chase time.
Hunt Mistimed Movement
Track Time warps.
Mistimed Misfire
Cause friendly fire.
Mistimed Maneuver
Jam sync.
Mistimed Mayhem
Battle goes wild.
Prowl Tethered Time
A warning of failure.
Double Time
Double your movement.
Teamwork Time
Crew Prowl.
Twist Time
Only you can move.
Skirmish Lasting Levee
Resist Time damage.
Lasting Lesion
Set up a melee attack.
Lasting Lethality
Gain Scale.
Lasting League
Group Action.
Study Historical Habit
Identify Time.
Historical Hindsight
History of Time.
Historical Hypothesis
Observe other times.
Historical Horizon
History in an area.
Survey Chrono Composition
Notice Time effects.
Chrono Continuum
View through Time.
Chrono Connection
Spy through Time.
Chrono Cartography
View area through Time.
Sway Timely Trust
Understand Time.
Timely Translator
Crew communication.
Timely Temptation
Future suggestions.
Timely Tyrant
Bind Time.
Tinker Calibrated Clockwork
Time tools.
Calibrated Cycle
Accelerate machine.
Calibrated Catalyst
Conjure objects.
Calibrated Cascade
Ahistorical items.
Wreck Terminal Tarnish
Accelerate wear.
Terminal Twist
Cause future events.
Terminal Touch
Erase by ageing.
Terminal Torrent
Age everything.
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Expanded Time Abilities

Attune

Time does not grant access to any other plane but can access the past, future, and alternate timelines. There are two common interpretations of how time works.

In the first, infinite alternate timelines exist. Journeying into the past never changes the present; it creates a new timeline. Any future you visit is only one of many possible futures. This allows the existence of time twins.

In the second interpretation, history has inertia and tends to reassert itself with only minor differences. Time travel may affect events, but temporal inertia minimizes alterations and redirects outcomes toward familiar patterns. If you go back in time and kill your father, you return to find another, very similar father in his place.

The truth is likely somewhere between these extremes.

Chrono Clarity

Detect Time creatures and powers.

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.

Time creatures rarely bother to disguise themselves, but Time manipulations can be very subtle and hard to detect without methods like this.

Chrono Corruption

End a Power’s duration.

This differs from other dispel powers in that you accelerate time around an effect so its duration rapidly runs out. You can end the operation of any ability that has a duration, whether a summon or any other sustained effect. The Outcome needed depends on the remaining duration of the effect.

  • Limited Outcome: End an effect with a duration of less than a full score.
  • Standard Outcome: End an effect that lasts a full score. This is the most common situation.
  • Great Outcome: End an effect that lasts more than a score but less than a month.

Ending effects of even longer duration requires a Long-Term Project. This makes Time good at ending Powers used in a Score, poor at ending traps and other effects inherent to a location.

Chrono Corruption is often used as a Set Up action to help another character when the opposition is using Powers, improving the Position of the supported Action. It can also be used to break the continuing results of powers. When used directly, the initial Effect is usually Limited unless the opponent relies on Powers for survival. Against an opponent that uses a Power to fly or even breathe, you may have greater initial Effect.

Chrono Conjuration

Summon a Time creature.

You summon creatures associated with Time or drawn from other times or timelines.

Time creatures generally fall into three categories: people from other times, spirits, and chronovores.

The most distinctive summons are people from other times — the past, future, or alternate timelines. Summoning creatures from other times or timelines grants no control over the summoned being. You must bargain for their services. It is worth researching creatures that are likely to be cooperative.

A common trick is to summon time twins: versions of yourself or someone you know from another timeline. One approach is calling the three ages of fate — a person at two different ages in addition to the original — with either the energy of youth, the maturity of adulthood, or the wisdom of age.

Another variant summons versions of known creatures from alternate time streams. These are effectively identical twins with significant differences. Based on their experiences and choices, they may possess different abilities and attitudes. Such timelines are often harsher than your own, leaving the inhabitants traumatized in distinct ways.

You may summon named individuals from the past or a potential future to question them about their era, gaining unusually detailed historical knowledge. It is possible to summon someone linked through a grave, physical remnant, or artwork.

Time spirits are immaterial and ephemeral. They possess various Time powers and can help direct and control Time effects you use. Their agenda usually involves maintaining the time stream, avoiding paradox, and enforcing fate. Some originate from alternate timelines and seek to reshape yours to match their own.

Chronovores are predators that haunt the timelines, drawn to extensive use of Time powers. They resemble living creatures with biological bodies and metabolisms, but also possess Time abilities. They often appear like gleaming animals or monsters, reminiscent of old car hood ornaments. They can be summoned, but are extremely hostile to all Time users.

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

Chrono Connection

Time travel.

You and your crew can travel to the past, future, or alternate timelines. Check the introduction to Attune Time to see how timelines work. A useful and relatively safe application of Chrono Connection that works under either model is retrieving objects or information to bring back to the present.

Back to top

Command

Command and intimidate Time creatures, projecting authority. Position and Effect depend on the situation and your relationship with the listeners.

Schedule Sanction

Intimidate with Time.

You create Time effects such as apparent shifts in age and the slowing or quickening of time to heighten your authority, similar to displaying a weapon. This provides the leverage needed to use Command to intimidate without an actual threat of violence. Time creatures may recognize you as a legitimate figure of authority.

Schedule Support

Assist in a flashback.

You advise someone about a situation they are about to face. This is Assist teamwork based on your prediction of the future, performed in a flashback. You roll for this ability when the situation arises, but in the fiction you provided the guidance beforehand. The advantage is that you can Assist yourself or someone who you met earlier but out of communication right now. The Stress cost for using this ability does not stack with the Stress of Assisting; only the higher cost applies.

Schedule Safeguard

Help yourself resist.

Your future self sends a warning back to you in the present. You may roll Command instead of Insight, Prowess, or Resolve to resist a Consequence. As a resistance roll, this is not subject to any modifiers; you always roll your raw Command rating. Because this is a Master ability, you must have at least 4d in Command to use it. The Stress cost for using this ability does not stack with the Stress of Resisting; only the higher cost applies.

Schedule Sovereignty

Command Time creatures.

Targets perceive you as an officer, professional superior, alpha, or other leader type who outranks them. This does not remove existing loyalties, which may lead to conflict. Understanding the social order of your targets helps avoid clashes with established hierarchies. Ordering a Time spirit to ignore a disturbance requires greater Outcome than ordering it to address the issue and move on, as its role is to protect the timeline.

Position depends on the creature’s actual relationship to you. Ordering a creature that sees itself as your superior is Desperate. A Controlled Position comes from a creature that agrees you outrank it, usually making retries harder rather than provoking resistance. A Risky Position is typical against a creature that sees itself as your equal and not an enemy, potentially leading to heat, misunderstood orders, or minor rebellions.

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Consort

Consort Time alters your age or reshapes you to match a version of yourself from another timeline. At higher levels, you can apply these changes to others.

Common Consequences include being mistaken for a relative or finding that your assumed form is a hindrance. You might be obnoxiously cute, trigger prejudice, or carry unexpected mental or physical scars. Outcome determines how precisely you control the change.

Duration depends on Outcome. Limited Outcome lasts for a scene. Standard Outcome lasts for a score. Great Outcome lasts longer, usually through the next downtime period, though it may persist further depending on the needs of the story.

Age Affectation

Change apparent age.

This is primarily a change in appearance, but it may influence your demeanor. You may become more playful and physical when younger, or calmer and more reserved as you age. You can significantly alter your appearance, but people who know you may still recognize you. You may also alter your attire, adding or removing wear and changing style to suit your assumed age.

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

Age Appropriation

Become an alternate self.

You become a time twin — a version of yourself from an alternate timeline. This changes your appearance and you may exchange special abilities from your playbook, rearrange action dots, or mitigate trauma.

The number of changes depends on Outcome:

  • Limited Outcome: 0 changes.
  • Standard Outcome: 1 change.
  • Great Outcome: 3 changes.

Age Assimilation

Transform Crew.

This is Age Attachment applied to your Crew or to a willing or helpless creature. They transform into an alternate-timeline version of themselves, but you choose the changes.

The duration depends on Outcome.

  • Limited Outcome: Lasts for a single scene.
  • Standard Outcome: Lasts for the duration of a score.
  • Great Outcome: Lasts a long time and may become permanent, depending on the needs of the story. This is sometimes used as a curse.

Age Alignment

Transform crowds.

You alter a crowd of creatures into alternate versions of themselves that are more amenable to you. 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

Exercise finesse with Time, manipulating and attacking with extreme precision.

Second Sprint

Increase speed.

You double your running speed, or the speed of a mount or vehicle you are riding, granting it Fine quality. As an Advanced ability, you may also affect your entire Crew’s speed.

Second Split

Melee attack.

To attack, you step out of time and set up a hazardous situation. When time resumes, the event you prepared becomes real. This requires extreme precision and access to weapons or devices, either carried by you or drawn from the environment. If you mistime the event, you may be caught in a vulnerable position.

Second Split typically grants high Effect but places you in a dangerous Position.

Aside from flexibility, this ability primarily substitutes for equipment. A Fine and Potent finesse weapon remains just as effective.

Second Sync

Manipulate Time.

You precisely hasten or delay the triggering of traps, timers, and other fine mechanisms. In split-second situations, such as bypassing fans or automated defenses, this can be decisive. The effect is small, precise, and momentary. When it makes sense in the story that this creates leverage, you may roll Finesse without expending any time. Resolve this as a normal Set Up, then immediately roll the Action you are Setting Up.

Second Stop

Freeze chase time.

Time freezes for everyone except you, your Crew, and your rides, allowing you to reposition anywhere you could reach within a few seconds. Everything other than your Crew and their rides is frozen in time, unchangeable and invulnerable.

Second Stop almost always guarantees an escape, though not an automatic victory in a chase. It can also prevent an imminent crash.

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Hunt

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

Mistimed Movement

Track Time warps.

This does not aid mundane tracking. Instead, it tracks time travel and movement facilitated by Time manipulation. It provides the information needed to pursue a time traveler or Time creature, but does not allow time travel itself.

Mistimed Misfire

Cause friendly fire.

You manipulate Time at a specific spot at range. Events there fall slightly out of sync, leading to misfires, accidental discharges, and friendly fire. This ranged attack is most effective against targets in hazardous situations, especially those using weapons. In such cases, it has the Effect of a Fine and Potent ranged weapon.

If there are is dangerous situation to exploit, the result is limited to minor accidents, stubbed toes, and general mistiming.

Mistimed Maneuver

Jam sync.

You subtly disrupt timing across a large area, causing missteps, loss of orientation, missed appointments, delayed relief, and similar annoyances. This creates friction, ruins coordination, and leaves people stranded, but does not cause direct Harm. It is usually a Set Up Action, but may also alter reactions to unfolding events — targets may lose heart, begin to quarrel, or become frustrated and unproductive.

Mistimed Mayhem

Battle goes wild.

An escalation of Mistimed Misfire, this requires explosives or combatants using area weapons such as automatic weapons, grenades, or flamethrowers and affects an entire Area (p. 221). Less precise than Mistimed Misfire, this affects all creatures at a location and carries a significant risk of collateral damage.

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Prowl

Sneak and move with stealth and agility.

Tethered Time

A warning of failure.

You receive a warning when you are about to be spotted or lose control of your movement. You decide to use this when you make the initial Prowl roll, and this roll determines the Stress cost. When your Prowl roll suffers a Consequence, you may use this ability to abort the attempt. You turn the roll into a failure, but the Consequences are reduced to those of a Controlled Position, typically forcing you to wait, lie low, or find another route.

Double Time

Double your movement.

This does not grant new forms of movement, but allows you to move using Prowl at twice your normal speed. This applies to climbing, swimming, sneaking, acrobatics, and similar stunts. You can exploit short windows of opportunity or momentary weaknesses, often resulting in improved Position.

Teamwork Time

Crew Prowl.

You and your allies may now use Tethered Time and Double Time. Each character still rolls their own Prowl action. This often resolves as a Group Action.

Twist Time

Only you can move.

You step out of time and act while everything else remains perfectly still, unless you move it. You may use this to attack in a manner similar to Second Split, but doing so is excessive and ends the effect immediately.

More commonly, you move freely and manipulate unattended objects for roughly thirty seconds. Creatures and the things they carry cannot be moved. Objects that were already in motion can be stopped, but not redirected.

To observers, it appears that you and everything you manipulated suddenly teleported to new positions.

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Skirmish

Prosper in the chaos of battle.

Lasting Levee

Resist Time damage.

You can resist Harm from Time attacks and from random accidents such as weapon fumbles, stumbles, and misfires. This allows you to ignore most Harm caused by a danger in nature. 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.

Lasting Lesion

Set up a melee attack.

You stop time to set up a dangerous situation. Enemies carrying lethal devices such as explosives or poison are especially vulnerable, making this attack both Fine and Potent. If the enemy carries no dangerous devices, you must rely on your own equipment.

This ability substitutes for equipment; ordinary Fine and Potent weapons are just as effective.

Lasting Lethality

Gain Scale.

You become a one-person army. As Lasting Lesion, and you manipulate time around you, gaining Scale (p. 221).

Lasting League

Group Action

This allows you and allies to initiate a Group Action when the problem to overcome is lack of time or when you need precise timing. 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 Time to gain insight and knowledge.

The Outcome required depends on range.

  • Limited Outcome: Touch.
  • Standard Outcome: Line of sight.
  • Great Outcome: A target you know of or have some link to, but which is out of line of sight.

Position depends on the situation. When you are safely in your base, the Position is Controlled. In the middle of a fight, or while pinned down, the Position is Desperate. Sometimes the subject you are researching is dangerous in itself, worsening Position. Consequences may grant knowledge that lacks crucial details or context.

Historical Habit

Identify Time.

Identify objects and creatures of Time. You learn the name of the object or creature and very basic information in narrative terms. This does not include detailed analysis or actual rules.

Historical Hindsight

History of Time.

You learn an item’s or creature’s general history and any Time abilities it possesses or has recently been affected by. This includes actual rules and mechanical effects.

Historical Hypothesis

Observe other times.

You learn the past and possible futures of the item, place, or creature you study. The power focuses on events of interest to you.

This ability is not limited to Time effects; it can be used on any kind of item, place, or creature. You perceive significant scenes from its history and likely futures, which often reveal abilities that were used. Actions taken with knowledge gained from this ability can easily alter any observed future.

Historical Horizon

History in an area.

You gain a Historical Hindsight reading of everything within an Area (p. 221), such as an entire city district. You may then apply Historical Hypothesis to up to three locations or creatures within that area.

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Survey

Perceive and locate manifestations of Time.

The Outcome required depends on the target’s concealment.

  • Limited Outcome: Locate things within line of sight, or within a few minutes through time.
  • Standard Outcome: Perceive behind walls, into hard cover, and a few hours through time.
  • Great Outcome: Perceive far-away places and locations you had no prior awareness of, and far into the past or future, though accuracy of images or information degrades over long spans.

Chrono Composition

Notice Time effects.

This is a basic spotting ability that selectively senses things related to Time, particularly Time abilities and Time creatures. You may ignore known phenomena to detect only what is new to you.

Chrono Continuum

View through Time.

You perceive significant scenes from the history and likely futures of your current location. Actions taken by anyone informed by this power can easily alter any observed future. The power focuses on events of interest to you.

Chrono Connection

Spy through Time.

Choose a creature or object known to you, or one you have a meaningful link to. You perceive significant scenes from its history and likely futures. Actions taken by anyone informed by this power can easily alter any observed future. The power focuses on events of interest to you.

Chrono Cartography

View area through Time.

You perceive everything within Range (p. 221) as it existed in the past or in a potential future, gaining insight into major strategic developments. This provides only high-level information about significant events. Unlike other temporal perceptions, these visions are less easily altered by subsequent actions.

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Sway

Communicate, mesmerize, and manipulate Time creatures, and instill Time virtues in others.

Timely Trust

Understand Time.

You can speak with Time creatures and gauge their mood and motivations. You may also sense whether any creature is inclined toward curiosity, precision, or decisiveness.

Timely Translator

Crew communication.

You and your Crew may use the Sway action at full Effect against Time creatures, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers. You are persuading, not asserting authority.

In addition, you may influence any creature to become curious, precise, or decisive. This may be sufficient on its own to get the reaction you want, but is often used as a Set Up for another interaction aligned with those moods.

Timely Temptation

Future suggestions.

This functions as a Sway attempt whose result manifests in the future. You implant a suggestion that triggers under conditions you specify. The target must understand your words.

The influence remains subtle until activated. The target does not remember being swayed.

Timely Tyrant

Bind Time.

This effect is permanent, overt, and works only on a Time creature under your control. It alters the target’s priorities and loyalties at a fundamental level.

This power has limits. You cannot compel a Time creature to dawdle or abandon its essential nature. Exceptional creatures or circumstances may eventually break this change.

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Tinker

Manipulate, shape, and create objects imbued with Time to suit your needs. This includes items with Time abilities, as well as devices connected to time, such as clocks, computers, punch-card-controlled machine, or anything else with an internal schedule. You can also undo the effects of Time, repairing wear and restoring ruined things. Finally, you can slow or speed up an item’s operation.

  • 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.

Calibrated Clockwork

Time tools.

This ability substitutes for the tools and protective devices typical of a small workshop.

Calibrated Cycle

Accelerate machine.

You can change how fast an item operates. This can speed up clockwork and computers, or slow down a trap enough to let you escape. This does not increase power; even if the machine operates faster or slower, it doesn't generate more or less output in the form of velocity, capacity, or force.

Calibrated Catalyst

Conjure objects.

You pull items from other timelines into your own, effectively creating it out of thin air. Such an item must exist in a timeline similar to yours, meaning it must be possible to create in your timeline.

A possible Consequence is that a Time user in another timeline exploits the connection you created, using it to steal something from you or your timeline.

Calibrated Cascade

Ahistorical items.

You break down causality, allowing the creation of items that could not normally exist in your timeline. This can produce anachronistic objects, such as a high-tech weapon in a medieval setting or a magical item in a mundane world, but these always have a limited duration.

You create also create large structures possible in your timeline, such as an automated palace, castle, or ship.

You can also re-create a ruined Area (p. 221), restoring it to a past state. This includes items, Undead creatures, and non-living guardians such as constructs and elementals. This allows you to explore sites from the past in their former glory and often makes it much easier to locate items and information.

When the duration of Calibrated Cascade ends, the Area and anything taken from it revert to their former condition, but not to their former location. Anything that was whole before you used Calibrated Cascade remains whole when the effect ends.

Finally, you can make the result of Calibrated Cycle permanent. This is rare and may attract the attention of a chronovore.

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Wreck

Destroy, dismantle, and obliterate objects using Time.

Most Wreck Time effects act through accelerated ageing rather than instantaneous force. Damage unfolds over time unless otherwise stated.

The Outcome required depends on the size and structural strength of your target.

  • Limited Outcome: An item up to the size of a car or small hut that is built to be temporary or requires constant maintenance, such as shantytown buildings and complex machinery. You can also wreck things created by Tinker, Timeline Tinkering, or Wish.
  • Standard Outcome: Standard consumer items up to the size of a car, including cheap structures and vehicles.
  • Great Outcome: Crafted or durable objects up to the size of a car.

Larger or more durable items require higher Outcome; smaller items do not make things easier. You can never affect objects made to endure eons, such as cultural artifacts, pyramids, or stone foundations. Diamonds really are forever.

Position depends on circumstance. A quiet workspace is Controlled. The chaos of adventure is Risky. Active combat, massive crowds, or dangerous construction sites are Desperate.

Creatures take Harm as normal, but unless otherwise stated this Harm manifests over minutes or hours rather than instantly, giving targets a chance to flee, negotiate, or retaliate.

Terminal Tarnish

Accelerate wear.

You expose a target to roughly a decade of heavy use over a short period. This rarely destroys an object outright, but weakens it, reduces quality, and makes it unreliable or inoperable. Living creatures visibly age and lose vitality, but usually have time to escape or respond before suffering full Harm.

In personal combat, this functions as a slow-acting but powerful weapon.

Terminal Twist

Cause future events.

Your target suffers a specific event drawn from a future timeline. Unlike other Wreck Time effects, this resolves almost immediately.

Common events include accidents, mechanical failures, human error, power outages, vehicle crashes, animal attacks, fires, flooding, or localized weather phenomena such as lightning strikes. Observers experience a temporal echo of the event, but only the target suffers real Harm.

In personal combat, this functions as a Fine and Potent Wreck weapon.

Terminal Touch

Erase by ageing.

You apply accelerated ageing without a visible process or aftermath. The target silently fails as if it aged and broke when no one was watching. No obvious debris, marks, or evidence remain beyond the final absence.

Terminal Touch cannot undo known history, but it can destroy objects or evidence, subject to normal Outcome limits.

Terminal Torrent

Age everything.

You unleash the time stream across an Area (p. 221), exposing everything within it to Terminal Twist. Structures, objects, and creatures rapidly age as time surges forward.

With Great Outcome, buildings collapse and materials crumble into dust over hours. This is not instant, but retreat is difficult; warped time distorts coordination and escape. Those caught within cannot retreat normally — escape becomes a rout.

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