5 | Powers

Free Rads are defined by their gift, gained after their exposure to gamma radiation, which grants them certain reality-bending Powers to manipulate the civilians, demons, and the environment around them at the cost of their Energy.

Each gift grants three Powers which are useful in different ways and have their own unique rules and restrictions. Powers always have a target: this could be a creature or group of creatures, an object, a geographical space or even a point or period in time. Each Power has a different effect.

Powers cost Energy to use. Each gift determines the cost differently. You cannot use a Power if you don’t have enough Energy to pay the cost without dropping into negative Energy.

Using a Power takes one minute, during which time you are in a state of intense focus, putting all your attention on the target of the Power and leaving you unable to do anything else challenging. If you are interrupted before a minute has passed, you lose 2 Energy and your effort is wasted. You can try again but you must start again from the beginning.

Ending effects

If a Power has an ongoing effect, you can end an effect you created at any time at the cost of 1 Energy.

If you are the subject of an effect created by another creature’s Power, you can attempt to resist the effect. Doing so costs 4 Energy. You make an approach test determined by the nature of the effect; if you fail, you can’t try again in the same scene. When you end a scene under the influence of an effect, you can attempt to overcome it for free without losing Energy.

An Extra can attempt to resist an effect you’ve created. The GR calculates the Extra’s resistance score by subtracting 1d6 from their score in the approach associated with your Power. You can spend Energy equal to the resistance score to break their resistance, preventing them from resisting you again. If you choose not to spend the Energy, or if you don’t have enough Energy to beat their resistance, they overcome the effect.

Compulsion

Compulsion warps the minds of living things, putting them at the mercy of another’s will. Where illusion touches the senses, intercepting the message between eye and brain, compulsion magic can affect personality, if only for a while. Compulsions affect beliefs, actions and intentions.

The rules of compulsion

To use a compulsion Power, you must speak to the target creature. Anyone else present hears an unnatural resonance to your voice and sees your hands moving gently past the target’s face in hypnotic patterns. The target is unaware of anything unusual happening, even if you are interrupted before the Power takes effect.

The cost of using a compulsion Power is the target’s score in the relevant approach.

At the moment you finish using a compulsion Power, you utter a single sentence which changes the target’s mind. A compulsion can make a target believe, feel or do almost anything, save injure themselves or their loved ones, but a target compelled to act against their nature becomes pale, glassy-eyed, clumsy, dim-witted and slow. The further the target strays from their nature, the more obvious the effects.

A target remains under the effect of the compulsion for 1 hour. When a compulsion would end, you can choose to extend the duration of the compulsion by another hour if you and the target can see one another, at a cost of 2 Energy for each hour the compulsion has already lasted. If a compulsion ends naturally, the target remembers nothing unless encouraged to recall and given ample insight into what happened.

A target cannot freely attempt to resist a compulsion, but will automatically resist when splashed with water. If a target successfully resists a compulsion, they remember everything.

Rads with the gift of compulsion are called mesmerists. They gain the following compulsion Powers:

Divination

Divination grants insight into things far away, things long gone or things still yet to transpire, if you have the insight to unpick the visions you receive.

The rules of divination

To use a divination Power, you need a reflective surface, such as a mirror or a pool of still water, which you gaze into as you contemplate the subject of your divination.

The cost of using a divination Power is set by fate: roll a d8 to determine the cost.

While you are using a divination Power, the air around you grows cold and the reflective surface into which you gaze appears darkened to all others. Other creatures who look at it for more than a few seconds experience a piercing headache.

Divination effects are instantaneous and cannot be resisted.

Rads with the gift of divination are called diviners. They gain the following divination Powers:

Illusion

An illusion twists the senses, casting doubt and sowing confusion. An illusion affects the mind of a select group of creatures, making a target disappear for them, making them see a target differently, or making them see a target that doesn’t truly exist. The target can be an object or a creature.

The rules of Illusion

Illusions have no physical presence and are purely visual manifestations, having no affect on sound, smell, nor do they affect temperature or airflow in a space. To create an illusion, you must be touching the target of the illusion or the target space where the illusion will appear. They can be of any size.

When you attempt to use an illusion Power, you choose specific individuals who you wish to affect, or specify a group, for example “the next three people to walk past this doorway”. You can exclude creatures as well, such as your fellow Free Rads.

The cost of using an illusion Power is twice the number of creatures to be affected.

While you are using an illusion Power, the target is faintly lit up with shifting colours and patterns. If the target of your illusion is an unwilling creature who is aware that an illusion is being placed on them, they may attempt to resist it using Quick.

An illusion placed on a static object, or a static illusion on a fixed location, lasts for 1 hour. Moving illusions last for 5 minutes. When you create an illusion, you can spend 1 Energy to double the length of the illusion. You can do this multiple times, up to a maximum of length of 24 hours.

If any creature affected by an illusion is presented with evidence that the effect they perceive is fake, they can attempt to resist it. If they succeed, they no longer see the effect. If they fail, they do not suspect the truth and continue to believe that the effect is real until the illusion is out of sight or ends. Illusions affect creatures independently; one creature could overcome an illusion and cease to perceive the effect while another continues to be affected by it.

Rads with the gift of illusion are called illusionists. They gain the following illusion Powers:

Warding

Warding divides the world into inside and outside, reinforcing material barriers and creating powerful spaces. Wards are invisible magical barriers at the perimeter of a clearly defined target space. Wards separate outside from inside and affect creatures who enter, occupy or leave the space.

The rules of warding

You can ward any single target space, regardless of size, as long as its perimeter is clearly defined by solid barriers such as walls and a ceiling. The space must be one single area within; a room is an acceptable target, a building with multiple rooms within is not. A gap in the perimeter larger than 2 metres in any dimension makes a space impossible to ward. To ward a space, you must be touching its perimeter.

The cost of using a warding Power is equal to the number of openings in the perimeter of the target space through which a human being could comfortably pass with ease. Include unlocked doors, windows or passageways out of a room.

While you are creating a ward, the target space feels physically warm and emits a faint glow. Once created, alarm and sanctify wards are imperceptible to any Extra without some supernatural sense for Power effects; anyone affected by repel wards will be aware something unnatural is happening.

A ward persists for 24 hours. A space cannot be warded with multiple wards.

If an Extra successfully resists your ward, the ward ceases to affect them permanently, but continues to exist for other creatures. Wards affect creatures independently; one creature could overcome a ward, while another still feels its effects.

Rads with the gift of warding are called wardens. They gain the following warding Powers:

Wildspeech

Wildspeech is the ability to communicate with animals. Both greater and lesser than language, it allows for a mutual respect and understanding beyond words, but not the translation of complex concepts.

The rules of wildspeech

When you attempt to use a wildspeech Power, you draw an animal to you from the surrounding area (within a minute’s travel for the animal), choosing to call either a beast of the sky, the land or the water to be the target of the miracle. You always have to provide an offering of food to the animal.

The cost of using a wildspeech Power is determined by how far you are from true wilderness. In complete wilderness, the cost is 2. If you can see a human-made structure, the cost is 4. If you are stood on human-made ground, the cost is 6. If you cannot see the sky because of a human-made covering, the cost is 8.

While you are using a wildspeech Power, your eyes glow faintly green, the air around you moves with a gentle breeze, and a faint smell of fresh pine permeates the vicinity.

Wildspeech temporarily imbues animals with a sense of trust, respect and cooperation toward the wildspeaker, but not improved mental or physical abilities. Wildspeech cannot cause an animal to fight or risk its own life.

Animals cannot attempt to resist the effects of wildspeech.

Rads with the gift of wildspeech are called wildspeakers. They gain the following wildspeech Powers: