Abilities

Index of Abilities

Strength Abilities

• Power of the Bear
• Skin of the Armadillo
• Warrior's Fire

Agility Abilities

• Cougar's Grace
• Arrow's Wish
• Chameleon's Shine

Endurance Abilities

• Gecko's Hear
• River's Flower
• Winter's Rest

Intelligence Abilities

• Eagle's Insight
• Wasp's Sting
• Stone Thoughts

Perception Abilities

• Hawk's Eye
• Raven's Call
• Quiet Mind

Wisdom Abilities

• Read the Earth
• Mother's Voice
• Far Sight

Spirit Abilities

• Walk the Black
• Mender's Touch
• Ancestor's Storm

Charisma Abilities

• Mountain's Inspiration
• Coyote's Gaze
• Deer's Smile

Will Abilities

• Wolverine's Resolve
• Spirit's Covenant
• Owl's Watch

Strength Abilities

Power of the Bear

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 Point of Soul
Dice Check:: Will
Your Character can temporarily increase their Strength. To Activate, the Character spends a Secondary Action, 1 point of Soul, and makes a Will Check. For each Success, the Character’s Strength in creases by one. When the Character’s Strength goes up, all related Dice Pools (Skills, other Abilities) in crease as well. Derived Stats such as Body, do not.

The additional Strength lasts until the end of their next Encounter or they take their next Rest, whichever comes first. The maximum their Strength can be in creased is twice their normal Strength Stat. If a Character does not increase their Strength to the maximum amount during one Round, they may make a subsequent attempt the next round, adding further to their Strength until they reach their maximum.

Skin of the Armadillo

Activation: Primary and Secondary Action
Dice Check: Charisma
With this Ability your Character makes their skin tougher and thicker than normal, protecting them from Physical Damage. Your Character spends a Primary and Secondary action to Activate the ability and makes a Charisma Check. For each Success, the Character's Physical Defense is in creased by one for one hour or until the end of the next Encounter, whichever comes first. The Character may make subsequent Checks, and each Success adds to their Physical Defense to a maxi mum of twice the Character’s Charisma.

If your Character gets a Critical Failure when activating this ability, they lose all but one point of Soul and will be unable to attempt to use Skin of the Armadillo again until they have completed a Long Rest.

Warrior's Fire

Activation: Secondary Action, 2 Points of Mind
Dice Check: None
Once per day, your Character may choose to go into a fierce rage, al lowing them to upgrade damage from any Strength based attack. Activating the Ability is a Secondary Action and costs 2 points of Mind. When Activated, the Character adds one Critical Die to their Strength-based Dice Pools for the rest of that Encounter. Until deactivated, the Character must make Strength-based attacks as their Primary Action if possible.

The Character may Activate the Ability in subsequent Rounds, building their rage, adding an additional Critical Die each time. The Player can Activate the Ability a number of times per En counter equal to their Strength.

Your Character cannot hold back attacks or use Focus to lower dice results while Warrior’s Fire is active. If no opponents are available, they must continue to attack, targeting allies or bystanders if necessary. They can avoid attacking for one Round with a Will Check as a Secondary Action. If a Character can make three Successful Will Checks in a row, they may end their rage.

While they are raging, your Character cannot fall Unconscious.

Once the rage ends, if they have 0 or fewer Mind, they immediately fall Unconscious. At 1 or more Mind, they cannot make Dice Checks until they have taken a Short or Long Rest and they will be in a listless daze.

Agility Abilities

Cougar’s Grace

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: Wisdom
With this Ability, your Character can temporarily increase their Agility. To Activate, the Player spends 1 point of Mind, a Secondary Action, and then makes a Wisdom Check. For each Success, the Character’s Agility increases by 1. When the Character’s Agility goes up, all related Skill Pools and Abilities increase as well. How ever, Derived Stats, such as Body, do not.

The Agility boost lasts until the Character’s next Rest or the end of their next Encounter, which ever comes first. The maximum their Agility can be increased is two times their normal Agility Stat.

Arrow's Wish

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Soul, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: None
This Ability grants your Character extraordinary skill in striking targets at a distance. To Activate the Ability, they use a Secondary Action, and spend 1 Soul and 1 Mind. During the next Ranged Attack Check this Round, all dice showing values between 2 and 6 may be flipped to their opposing sides prior to spending Focus or using Legendary Ranks. Fails cannot be modified by this Ability. If you are not using physical dice, here are the values that the dice may be changed to:

• 2 becomes 11
• 3 becomes 10
• 4 becomes 9
• 5 becomes 8
• 6 becomes 7

Chameleon's Shine

Activation: Secondary Action, point of Soul
Dice Check: 2x Spirit
When this Ability is Activated, your Character becomes harder to see. They aren't truly invisible, but close. Rather than objectively making the Character harder to see, this Ability affects the minds of those around them so that the user of the Ability is less likely to be noticed, except perhaps out of the viewers peripheral vision.

To Activate Chameleon’s Shine, Characters spend a Secondary Action, spend 1 point of Soul, and roll a Dice Pool equal to twice their Spirit. For others to see a Character who is using this Abilty, the Success Number is equal to the Character's number of Successes, plus their Ranks in Stealth. This applies to all forms of organic vision, even those with technological assistance like goggles or cybernetics, as the Ability directly affects the brain. However, electronic sensors that operate with out an organic component, such as an alarm with a heat sensor trigger or a motion detector, will be unaffected by Chameleon’s Shine.

Characters may make a Perception Check as a Secondary Action each Round to keep track of a Shined Character if they have been seen. If they don't Succeed, they do not know the Character’s position and cannot attack.

Successes gained through the activation of this Ability are also added to your Character’s Physical Defense while they are Shined. If the Shined Character actively interferes with or attacks another Character in any way, they pop back into full visibility and the Character must re-Activate the Ability on a subsequent Round in order to use it again. The new Successes replace the previous result.

If Shined outside of an Encounter, the Character must spend 1 additional point of Soul per hour past the first to stay hidden. If knocked Unconscious, this Ability ends. This Ability also ends at the end of an Encounter unless the Character spends an additional point of Soul.

Endurance Abilities

Gecko's Heart

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: None
This Ability allows your Character to increase their Endurance, enabling them to run farther, hold their breath longer, survive poi sons longer, and even survive life ending Physical Damage. There are two ways a Character can use this Ability, either out of an En counter or during an Encounter.

Out of an Encounter, your Character may spend Soul points to add to any Check involving En durance, adding one die for each Soul point spent. If the roll is a Skill Check Over Time, they must spend an additional Soul per hour.

During an Encounter, the Player may Activate this Ability as a Secondary Action by spending 1 point of Soul. When they do, their Spirit Rank is added to their Endurance until the end of the Encounter. This affects all related scores — Physical Defense, Body, Skills, etc.

Once Activated, each point of Soul used on Fortitude counts as 2 points for the duration of the Encounter.

When this Ability ends, your Character’s Spirit score is reduced by 1 until they've completed a Long Rest. Characters may Activate this Ability during multiple Encounters before a Long Rest, but each time the Encounter ends, they will lose another point of Spirit.

River’s Flow

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: None
With this Ability your Character may alter the way their own body behaves, down to the cellular level it can change everything from heart rate to organ function to musculature. Activating this Ability costs a Secondary Action and 1 point of Mind. It may be used in or out of an Encounter.

The Character may add one die to any roll involving a chosen Physical or Mental Stat for that Round(Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, Perception, Wisdom).This doesn't change their Stat nor does it affect Derived Stats, it simply adds one die to their Pool for that roll.

In addition, your Character can use this Ability to modify their physiology. There are a wide variety of uses for this but here are a few examples:

• Instantly fall asleep, even when circumstances might make it normally difficult.
• With a Primary Action, slow or stop blood flow in an area, canceling the Bleeding Effect.
• As a Primary Action, accelerate the body’s healing process. The Character may gain one point of Body this way per day. They may use this function even if they are at zero Body.
• As a Primary Action, slow pulse and breathing, allowing the Character to hold their breath for an extended time. Add Perception to Endurance Checks.
• Mimic death. Add Endurance to Performance checks for mimicking death.
• Control their involuntary muscles to manipulate their facial structure, making them harder to recognize. Add Will to Disguise Checks at Story Guide’s discretion.

Other effects as determined or approved by the Story Guide. Your Character can only use River’s Flow for one effect at a time. If a Character is unable to focus or is otherwise distracted as determined by the Story Guide, they must make a Will Check to Activate this Ability.

Winter’s Rest

Activation: Secondary Action
Dice Check: Will and Spirit
When your Character Activates Winter’s Rest as a Secondary Action, they fall into a deep slumber that could be mistaken for death. They cannot be roused, even by Physical Damage, until at least four hours have passed and are unaware of what is happening in the world around them.

After four hours, they get the benefit of a Long Rest. In addition, they make a Check based on a Dice Pool of their Will and Spirit. For each Success they achieve on their Check they recover additional points in Body, Mind, or Soul, spent in any way they choose. Any Critical Successes may instead be used to recover lost Stat points or remove Effects such as Disease or Poison.

Using this Ability does not count as taking a Long Rest and a Character who has used this Ability may take a Long Rest and gain the full benefits from it even after they have just awoken from using this Ability.

Intelligence Abilities

Eagle's Insight

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: None
This power allows sudden keen in sights into situations, things, and opponents. This Ability has two uses, depending on whether it is used in or out of an Encounter. If used out of an Encounter, your Character may spend a point of Mind to substitute their Intelligence for any other Stat when making a Skill Check.

During an Encounter the Character may spend a point of Mind and a Secondary Action to study an opponent. On the following Round, they gain an additional die to any Dice Check against that opponent. The Character may stack this Ability on a single opponent with a maximum number of additional dice equal to the Character's Perception. All bonuses for any target are lost after the Character takes a Long Rest.

Wasp’s Sting

Activation: Primary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: Intelligence and Spirit
The Character may make a purely mental attack on a target with a number of potential effects. This Ability is controversial among many people in Makasing. Making a direct mind to mind attack has opened up an ongoing discussion in scientific, philosophical, and religious communities. Players should be aware that the open use of this Ability may have social, and legal backlash against the Character (see the section on the Adanadi for more).

Your Character may target Humans, Spirits, or Creatures within Short or Medium Range with this Ability. To Activate this Ability, the Character spends a Primary Action and a point of Mind, and rolls a Dice Check equal to the Character’s Intelligence plus Spirit. The Success Number is the Mental Defense of the target. The number of Successes determines the effects.

• Critical Failure: Psychic backlash. Your Character loses 3 points of Mind and is Stunned.
• Failure: Your Character loses 1 point of Mind
• 1 Success: No effect.
• 2 Successes: The target loses 1 point of Mind
• 3 Successes: The target loses 2 points of Mind and is Stunned
• 4 Successes: The target loses 3 points of Mind and is Stunned
• 5 Successes: The target loses 4 points of Mind and is rendered Unconscious
• 6 Successes: The target loses 6 points of Mind and is rendered Unconscious
• 7 Successes: The target loses 8 points of Mind, is rendered Un conscious, and loses 1 Stat point from the Mental Attack chart
• 8 Successes: The target loses 10 points of Mind, is rendered Un conscious, and loses 2 Stat points from the Mental Attack chart (rolled separately)
• 9+ Successes: The target loses 12 points of Mind. If this reduces them below 0, they face Instant Death. Regardless, they are rendered Unconscious and lose 3 Stat points on the Mental Attack Chart.

After using this Ability, your Character cannot gain points of Mind through a Short Rest until they have taken a Long Rest. Other ways of regaining Mind (Skills and other Abilities) will work.

Stone Thoughts

Activation: Reaction Roll
Dice Check: Intelligence and Will
Stone Thoughts allows your Character to wall up their mind and thoughts to defend themselves from natural and supernatural effects. The Ability has a number of uses both in and out of Encounters. During Narrative Play, your Character can spend 1 point of Mind per hour to protect themselves passively. While Active, they are immune to the following Abilities: Far Sight, Chameleon's Shine, Raven's Call, Deer's Smile, and Coyote's Gaze. In the case of Far Sight, the Character can still be seen and heard remotely, but the Far Sight user cannot target the Stone Thoughts user as their point of sensory origin. Stone Thoughts cannot be used selectively. It's either on or off in Narrative play and the mental wall will not allow any of these Abilities through.

In addition, social Skills (Charm, Coercion, Deception) used against the Character have a +4 Success Number.

During an Encounter, your Character may Activate Stone Thoughts as a Reaction Roll when someone is using any of the above Abilities or Skills. Activating the Ability costs 1 point of Mind. Your Character rolls their Intelligence plus Will — each Success adds 1 to their Mental Defense for a full Round.

When this Ability is active, your Character becomes extremely good at performing tasks that re quire singular focus as the user becomes very difficult to distract. This may, at the Story Guide's dis cretion, lead to a reduction in Success Numbers for Skill Checks like Lock Picking or aiming a weapon when they might otherwise face penalties for distractions.

Perception Abilities

Hawk's Eye

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: None
Your Character can greatly increase their Perception to super natural levels. Outside of an Encounter, they may spend points of Soul to use Hawk’s Eye to in crease their Perception at a one for one rate. The maximum in crease a Character can receive is double their base Perception score. This lasts one hour or until the start of their next Encounter. During an Encounter, they may Activate the Ability once per Round, spending a point of Soul to increase their Perception by 1. They may repeat this over multiple Rounds until they have dou bled their initial Perception. The Ability deactivates and the Character's Perception returns to nor mal at the end of the Encounter. The use of this Ability improves Related Skill Checks. It does not affect Derived Stats, such as Mind.

If a Character's Perception is over 5 while using this Ability, more than five total Successes may grant them temporary access to senses beyond normal human range. At the Story Guide’s discretion, they may detect invisible Spirits, see into the infra-red, learn the owner of an object, detect a nearby Character in The Black, or gain other extraordinary insights beyond normal human capabilities. The Character does not choose these extra insights and they do not remain consistent be tween Ability Activations.

Characters who raise their Perception above 5 with this Ability are vulnerable to being over whelmed. Anything particularly loud, bright, or otherwise causes an extreme sensation may be treated as an attack that can cause the Character to become Stunned.

Raven's Call

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Perception and Spirit
Using Raven's Call connects the Character’s mind to the minds of others, allowing them to communicate with people across long distances or plant subtle suggestions in their subconscious. Activating this ability costs 1 point of Soul and a Secondary action. Once Activated, Your Character Checks a Dice Pool of Perception plus Spirit. The Success Number of the Check can be modified by a few factors.

• User:
  • Is in an Encounter at the time of Activation: +2
• Target:
  • Friend: -3
  • Enemy: +3
  • Is in an Encounter at the time of Activation: -1
• Range:
  • Within sight: -1
  • Hundreds of miles away: +1

Your Character can connect to one person's mind with a single Success. Each additional Success allows them to connect to an additional person and to link those two people to each other. This connection can be kept as long as your Character takes no Primary actions. Your Character cannot benefit from Rests while using this Ability. The connection allows for verbal communication between connected parties as though they were in the same room, regardless of distance or whether they can communicate verbally outside of this Ability.

A Character cannot connect to strangers unless they can see them. Once a Character has connected to a mind, they can reconnect without them being in sight.

If your Character gets a Critical Success they may plant a suggestion into one target’s mind. The target must then make a Successful Will Check with a Success Number of 7+ the number of Critical Successes your Character achieved. If they don't Succeed, they must attempt to carry out your Character’s suggestion. Suggestions can be short term (“Push the red button”) or long term (“Seek me out”), but it must be simple, no more than a few words. The target will naturally incorporate this idea into their actions as long as it does not directly threaten their own safety. Once the target has completed the suggestion, they will feel confused or befuddled. The target does not become aware the suggestion was artificially planted. If your Character Critically Fails an attempt to plant a suggestion, the target will be aware that someone has at tempted to invade their mind, al though they will not be automatically aware of who it was.

Warning: The people of Makasing consider planting suggestions in others’ minds to be a violation of consent. It's considered rude at best and a severe violation of personal autonomy at worst. And even the communication function of this Ability has raised more than a few eyebrows. Players should consider carefully before planting suggestions in the minds of others and whether they want their minds linked. Players and Story Guides may opt for the suggestion aspect of the Ability to be unavailable in their Saga. For more on how this Ability is perceived in Makasing, see the section on the Adanadi.

Quiet Mind

Activation: None
Dice Check: None
By assuming a meditative state and taking no other actions, a Character may focus their mind and apply incredible potency to whatever Dice Checks they attempt later on. This meditative state can be a chant, a dance, a trance or any other focused repetitive state the Player would like, but must remain consistent across uses. When they enter the meditative state, they begin in creasing their Mind by 1 every ten minutes. The Character can stay in this state for as long as they would like; however, their total Mind can not go above an amount equal to their standard Mind total plus twice the Character’s Charisma.

The Character will keep the bonus Mind points until they are spent, until the end of the next En counter, or until they take their next Long Rest. Once a Character has left their meditative state, any attempts to enter another one will not yield any results until the Character has had a Long Rest.

Example: Aya has a normal pool of 10 Mind and a Charisma of 4. Her maxi mum benefit from this Ability would raise her Mind to 18 (10 + 2 x 4).

Wisdom Abilities

Read the Earth

Activation: 2 Mind
Dice Check: Wisdom and Endurance
This Ability can give the Character profound and valuable insights about the world around them, in formation they might be hard pressed to come by otherwise. This information is gleaned through a vision obtained while in a trance-like state. The information is often not literal and is given to the Player by the Story Guide through a description of the vision, which is often a series of cryptic images or a dreamlike experience.

Some people say that this is a supernatural Ability, while others claim that it is tapping into either the deep subconscious or even some form of collective consciousness. Either way, while the information described to third parties might seem highly subjective, users of the power claim that the information is detailed and ac curate if you know what to look for and how to interpret the images.

To Activate the Ability, the Character must be in a calm state, comfortable and sitting in a preferred position. The Player then spends 2 points of Mind and per forms a Check with a Pool equal to the Character's Wisdom plus Endurance. The Success Number can go up or down depending on the surrounding circumstances. For example, utter silence, a raging storm, a bleeding injury, or mind altering drugs might all affect the Success Number by a point or two at the Story Guide’s discretion.

Once Activated, the Character goes into a deep trance and can only be awakened before the end of the vision by causing the Character Damage or by physically dragging them out of their meditative stance. If removed from the trance early, the effect ends with no visions and the Character must start again.

Prior to making their Check, the Player should tell the Story Guide what they want to learn. It should always be phrased as a single question and not of the yes or no or otherwise binary variety. The Story Guide may respond with anything from a single word to a short story (more on this in the Chapter “Interpreting the Rules”). Their response will always have relevance and never be misinformation.

The number of Successes a Character achieves determines two things. First is the length of the trance. The more Successes, the longer the trance. This length of time is not directly correlated to the length of description provided by the Story Guide. One Success might be less than a minute while more than five might be a full day. The Story Guide will decide the actual length of time.

The second effect Successes have is the amount of information that the Player and their Character can interpret from the visions.

• Critical Failure: The Character misinterprets the images and comes to an incorrect conclusion. The Player and Story Guide should work together to come up with this false narrative that the Character will believe fully.
• Failure: The Character cannot make any sense of the images and they become indistinct and foggy when the Character leaves the trance,
• 1-2 Successes: The Character understands a singular piece of in formation about their question.
• 3-4 Successes: The Character gets the answer to their question
• 5+ Successes: The Character gets a detailed answer to their question and even some vague clues about the greater context around the question.

Questions should be specific, but again, not binary. They should be relevant and actually important to the Character. If the power is used as a party trick, false visions will appear. They shouldn't be too grandiose either. Asking about the meaning of life could lead to some really disturbing and indecipherable visions. Instead, keep questions on point but with room for the Story Guide to expand.

Example: Aya has Read the Earth and can't find Dezba. She's at tempted to track him but has lost his trail. Using Read the Earth, she might ask, "Where has Dezba gone?" The Story Guide might have a variety of answers depending on the number of Successes Aya rolls on her Check. "South." "South by Southwest, traveling by Sunwing, a day's lead on you." Maybe even "South by Southwest, traveling by Sunwing, a day's lead on you. You see a skyline that doesn't look familiar, but you're pretty sure you could draw it." Additionally, users of Read the Earth will sometimes get additional imagery as well, visions that have nothing to do with their asked question but may be relevant to the Character in other ways. This is discussed further in the Story Guide section.

The Mother's Voice

Activation: Primary Action, 2 Mind
Dice Check: Charisma and Spirit
Some see this Ability as tapping directly into a deep level of instinct while others claim it is surrendering your will to a higher power or being guided by your ancestors. Regardless, when Characters use this Ability, their conscious mind seems to take a back seat and something else takes over, helping them to accomplish a task or feat. Something that directs them in a way that often leads to unexpected or potent results.

This Ability can be used in or out of an Encounter. Activating this Ability costs a Primary Action and 2 Mind. When the Character chooses to Activate The Mother’s Voice, the Player describes to the Story Guide a Primary Action or general result they are attempting to achieve that involves a Dice Check of some sort. They then create a Pool from their Charisma plus Spirit and convert three of the dice to Critical Dice rather than building it from whatever Pool they normally would. The Dice Check then continues as normal. Once the number of Successes is determined, the Story Guide will interpret the actual actions the Character took, using the Successes gained from the Ability roll. For example, if the Player intended to use Investigation in a room to find clues, the Story Guide might have their Character walk out of the room and out into a field to provide answers, using the Successes from the Ability Pool rather than an Investigation Check.

If used outside of an Encounter, the Story Guide retains control of your Character until they decide to return it to the Player or when the basic intent the Player originally stated is concluded, whichever comes first. Once the Story Guide gives control back, the Character is Stunned but when they come out of it will gain 1 Mind.

If used during an Encounter, each Round after the first the Player may decide to turn it off. If they do, the Character is Stunned. Dur ing the following Round, they may act normally and will gain 1 point of Mind. While active, the Story Guide will determine the Character's Actions for each Round and the Player will repeat the Ability Check process. The Ability shuts off automatically at the end of an Encounter.

Far Sight

Activation: Primary Action, 2 points of Mind
Dice Check: Wisdom and Perception
Far Sight allows your Character to see, hear, and experience their natural senses from distant locations or through people they are familiar with. To Activate this Ability, your Character spends 2 points of Mind and a Primary Action(if done during an Encounter). They choose their target, either a place or a person, then make a Dice Check with a Pool equal to their Wisdom plus Perception. While using this Ability, the Character is considered Stunned and unable to take other normal Actions or receive any of their own sensory information. They appear to simply stand staring off into the distance. The base Success Number is modified by various factors:

• Places:
  • They are intimately familiar with the area. It's their home or a place they see almost daily. -4
  • They know the area very well. It is in the city they live or an area they've visited regularly. -2
  • They’ve Successfully used Far Sight at the location at least 3 days in a row. -1
  • They have only been to the lo cation once or twice or seen it from afar. +2
  • They have only seen it in video or pictures. +4

• People:
  • The are emotionally close to the target - lovers, friends, comrades, close family, etc. -4
  • The target is an acquaintance. -2
  • The Character has a significant possession of the target. -2
  • The Character has Successfully used Far Sight on the target for at least 3 days in a row. -1
  • The Character has met the tar get only once or seen them in multiple videos. +2
  • The Character has only seen a single video or picture. +4
  • The Character has never seen the target. +6

Each Success allows your Character to choose one basic sense. They can then remotely receive sensory information from their target. If they have chosen a location, then the information comes from a single invisible floating point with a good view of the space. If the Player chose a per son, they are limited to the sensory information that the person has (eg. you can't choose to see through someone who is blind). Once the senses have been chosen they cannot be changed with out starting the process over. Your Character may keep the connection going as long as they choose. The Character cannot receive any personal sensory information from their own body or move while using this Ability. They may however make a Will check, with a Success Number of 9 as a Secondary Action. If Successful, they may verbalize up to a few sentences about what they are sensing to others. One Success might just be a word, while four or five could be complete sentences.

Spirit Abilities

Walk The Black

Activation: 1 point of Mind, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Will
Walk the Black allows a person to leave their body and move around in a spirit or astral form, staying either in the physical world or traversing over to The Black. Do ing this takes focus and concentration and can only be done out side of an Encounter. While the user is out of their body, their physical form is motionless and considered Unconscious.

To Activate the Ability, the Character sits or lies down, and spends a point of Mind and a point of Soul. They then make a Will Check. A Success indicates they have successfully Activated the Ability. When the consciousness leaves the body, the Player decides whether they stay in reality or traverse to The Black. If they choose to keep their essence in reality, the Character makes a Charisma check. Every Success allows the Character ac cess to one sense of the Player’s Choice. If the Character gets six or more Successes, they may receive supernatural sensory input (see Hawk's Eye). Staying in real ity in this form requires total focus and every hour the Character must make another Charisma Check, choose their senses again, and spend a further point of Soul and Mind.

While in this form, they can travel unseen or heard and are entirely incorporeal. However, they can still be detected with five or more Successes on a Perception Check from another person. The Character cannot interact with the real world except to receive sensory input. They can move at no more than a slow walking speed and can pass through walls, floors, or any physical substance. Their essence can not take Body Damage, but may take Mind or Spiritual Damage. Alternatively, the Character may choose to travel to The Black. In this scenario, their essence leaves this plane and travels to a differentrealm of reality. For more on The Black, see the Chapter “Playing Coyote & Crow.” While using Walk the Black, Characters may not use Fortitude and can take no action that would affect their physical body. It is essentially an empty vessel. How ever, if either their essence or body dies, they both do. No matter how far they are from their physical form, Characters may return to their body in a single Round by making a Successful Charisma Check as a Primary Action. Once they have returned to their body, the Character wakes up the following Round Stunned. For every full hour they are out of their body, they temporarily lose 1 point of Endurance. They automatically regain 1 point back lost in this fashion per Long Rest. If reduced to zero Endurance while using Walk the Black, the person perishes as their body becomes untethered from their spirit.

Mender’s Touch

Activation: Primary Action, 1 point of Mind, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Spirit and Will
Mender’s Touch allows your Character to heal the Physical Damage of one or more Characters. To Activate, the Character must spend a Primary Action, 1 point of Mind, and 1 point of Soul. The Mender must be either sitting or lying down and be totally focused. They may not perform any Secondary Actions while using this Ability.

Once Activated, the Character may spend any amount of Soul. For each point spent, they can heal 1 point of Body Damage done to another Character that they are touching or connected to. Once they've spent all they have chosen to, the Player rolls a Pool based on their Character's Spirit and Will. For every Success, they may heal an other point of Body Damage. Critical Successes allow the Player to choose to heal 2 points or to heal a point of Stat Damage. One point of Damage is healed per minute, during which time the Character may take no other Actions. The Player decides how to disseminate the points of healing they have generated in any fashion they choose, but they cannot heal themselves.

Once all points have been distributed, each Fail rolled during the Pool Check costs the Character 1 point of Soul. This means a Player should be careful about how many points they give out at the beginning of the activation through Soul, as it is possible for a Mender to literally die healing others.

Ancestor's Storm

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Spirit and Charisma
This Ability allows the Character to summon an inner strength — many believe directly from their ancestors — and pass it on to their allies. This Ability can only be used during an Encounter. Activating it costs a Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind, and 1 point of Soul. Players Activating this Ability often trill, shout, chant, dance, or have other ways of displaying the Activation — the Character must be able to engage in their preferred method as a Secondary Action for the Ability to work. The Player then rolls a Check based on Spirit and Charisma. For each Success they receive, they disperse 1 point to a Character of their choice within sight. They cannot take these points for themselves. The recipients then add that point to their Mind or their Soul, whichever the receiving Character chooses. If the Player using the Ability rolled any Critical Successes on their Check, they give themselves 1 point of Soul for each Critical Success.

In subsequent Rounds, the Player may continue to use the Ability, spending another Secondary Action and another point of Soul, rolling their Pool again and dispersing points again. Mind and Soul Points gained from this Ability may exceed the target's normal maximum, but all excess points are lost at the end of the Encounter.

At the end of an Encounter where this Ability was used, the Character is Stunned. If this Ability is used in a second Encounter before the Character has had the chance to take a Long Rest, it will cost the Character 2 Mind and 2 Soul for each Activation. A third Encounter would cost 3 each, and so forth.

Charisma Abilities

Mountain’s Inspiration

Activation: Primary Action, Sec
ondary Action, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Charisma
With this Ability, your Character can make other people better just by being around them. Similar to the effect of well-loved leaders or performers, this Ability can bring out the best aspects in others. In effect, they can give Successes on Dice Checks to others by inspiring them.

To do this, the Player spends a point of Soul, as well as a Primary and Secondary Action if used during an Encounter. The Character then chooses a target Character and a specific Stat, Ability, or Skill that the target possesses. The Player then rolls a Charisma Check. Each Success gained is then applied to the next Dice Check the target makes that utilizes that Stat, Ability, or Skill. While this is happening, the Character is praising and empowering the target verbally or through other direct communication.

A Character can’t be targeted by more than one use of Mountain’s Inspiration at a time. If targeted again, the previous bonus is lost. If the target rolls a Critical Failure on any Check before using the Successes granted by the Ability, they lose them.

Example Holata Activates her Ability, praising Dezba's Ability with his war club, specifying his Melee Weapon Specialized Skill, War Clubs, just before an En counter. Making a Charisma Check, she gets 3 Successes. The next time Dezba makes a Dice Check with that Skill, he will add 3 Successes to anything he rolls.

Coyote's Gaze

Activation: Secondary Action, 2 points of Mind
Dice Check: Perception and Charisma
Coyote's Gaze creates an extreme level of connection and empathy between the Character and an other Character they can communicate with. This ability is an in credibly dangerous power and Players and Storytellers should be cautious in how they apply it to their gameplay. Your Character has control over this connection in a way that allows them to easily manipulate the target. It can sway an argument, make a stranger your friend, or create interest in the Character where there was none before. It is important to note that this Ability does violate the target’s consent and goes beyond the Charm Skill. The Ability only works on human beings and does not affect animals or spirits. It may or may not work on Creatures.

Coyote’s Gaze is frowned upon in most social circles, is often against the law for public use, and is for bidden in official negotiations. It can also lead to additional criminal charges under Cahokia laws if used in a way that causes harm to someone through its use.

To Activate this Ability, the Character chooses a target they can see directly and spends a Secondary Action and 2 points of Mind. The target performs a Check with their Will and adds Successes to their Mental Defense. The result is the base Success Number for the Character using Coyote's Gaze. Then add in any of the following modifiers.

• If the Character using the Ability:
  • Is injured: +1

• Is an enemy or perceived as an enemy by the Target: +2

• If the Target:
  • Is already angry at the Character: +2

* Attacked your Character during the current Encounter: +1

• Was attacked by your Character in current Encounter: +3

• The Character then makes a Check based on a Pool of Charisma and Perception. The number of Successes determines the effect of the Ability.

The duration of this Ability is left to the sole discretion of the Story Guide as a way to curb abuse. When the duration is up, there will be a gradual lessening of the effect. Once completely free, the Target will either be anywhere from bewildered to horrified depending on how they behaved while under this influence.

Warning: This Ability should be used sparingly, if at all, against Player's Characters without prior discussion and agreement from all parties, as having agency taken from a Player can result in a less enjoyable gaming experience.

If a Player’s Character is subjected to this Ability (with prior agreement between Players and Story Guide), use it as an opportunity to roleplay that control. The Player under the control of Coyote's Gaze still has decision making power, they should just use it in a way that supports the mechanics of the Ability and creates an interesting story.

Deer's Smile

Activation: Primary Action, 1 point of Mind, 1 point of Soul
Dice Check: Charisma and Will
Your Character can project a soothing feeling, calming all within the sound of their voice range. Others will feel relaxed and peaceful and find it difficult to engage in any kind of violent conflict. How this presents varies. Some users sing or chant, others use a very specific tone and cadence of their speaking voice. Deer's Smile affects everyone within clear verbal range or every one participating in an Encounter. It affects all beings, human, animal, creature, and spirit, unless otherwise noted.

To Activate this Ability, your Character spends a Primary Action(if in an Encounter) and 1 point of both Mind and Soul, and then performs a Dice Check based on a Pool of Charisma plus Will. The Success Number may be modified based on the relationship between the opponents at the Story Guide’s discretion. The Character may not use Secondary Actions in the same Round they Activate the Ability. Deer’s Smile lasts for a number of minutes equal to ten minutes for each Success achieved.

To take violent actions, targets of Deer’s Smile must achieve more Successes on a Will check than your Character did to Activate this Ability. This check is a Secondary Action. A violent action would be any action that costs others points of Body, Mind, or Soul, or could result in such. They must continue to make this Check each Round that they wish to take violent actions.

For the duration, Coercion, Charm, and Deception checks targeting those affected by Deer’s Smile have their Success Number reduced by two.

Once the effect has worn off, if other people are aware that they had this Ability used on them against their will, they may get angry. Increase the Success Number of Coercion, Charm, and Deception attempts made by the Character against the targets by two.

Since this Ability doesn’t fully block agency, but only encourages calm and peacefulness, it has not generated as much social backlash as something like Coyote's Gaze. It’s looked upon as a helpful Ability within society for the most part. Nevertheless, its implications regarding consent cannot be dis missed out of hand. You may wish to discuss appropriate applications of this Ability prior to game play.

Will Abilities

Wolverine’s Resolve

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: Spirit and Endurance
Like the animal it is named after, this Ability makes your Character extremely tenacious during com bat. Wolverine’s Resolve can only be used during an Encounter. Your character can Activate this Ability with a Secondary action and a point of Mind. While active, the Character cannot be Stunned or rendered Unconscious. Once active, the Ability lasts until the end of the Encounter.

Any time the Character uses Fortitude during that Encounter, they may make a Reaction Roll from a Pool of Spirit and Endurance. The number of Successes gained is the amount of Soul they immediately regain. The maximum amount they may regain in this fashion is the amount they just spent, minus 1. For example, if they just spent 5 Soul on Fortitude, the maximum they could regain from the Reaction Roll would be 4.

At the end of the Encounter, the Character must reduce their Spirit by 1 until their next Long Rest. Keep in mind that means that if the Character ends the Encounter with only 1 Soul left, they’ll end up with zero at the end of the En counter, due to the Spirit loss, and wind up unconscious.

Spirit’s Covenant

Activation: None
Dice Check: None
The Character is considered lucky, blessed, or cursed, depending on who you ask. How it is viewed, even by the Character themselves, varies — not everyone who has it enjoys this Ability. There’s debate over how Spirit’s Covenant works, which is hinted at by the name it has been given by the people of Cahokia. Some feel that it is a subtly aggressive psychic Ability similar to Wasp’s Sting. Others feel this Ability is an indirect connection with a spirit, the spirit world, or The Black. The reason for that impression lies in its effect and how it is employed.

This Ability is always active and is applied to all rolls involving the Character, even when allies are trying to provide a benefit to them. There is no known way to turn off or deactivate it. There are two game effects. The Character may ignore their first Fail during a Check, removing the one die from the Dice Pool.

Second, any time a Check is directed specifically at the Character with this Ability, whether by an ally or an enemy, any 2s that are rolled count as a Fail. This does not occur if they are part of a group effect or Check. These Fails may be modified by Focus.

There are people in Cahokia and abroad, among the more superstitious or less modern crowd, that feel the person with this Ability is tainted, dirty, or cursed. Some may feel strongly enough that they will avoid them or even actively despise them. Some people have even been ostracized by their family, clan, or tribe because of it. The situation is made worse by the fact that the owner of this Ability may not even realize they have it for quite some time and it's often others who begin to pick up on the Character's pattern of strange fortunes.

Owl’s Watch

Activation: Secondary Action, 1 point of Mind
Dice Check: None
Owl’s Watch is a preternatural power to respond reflexively to dangers and threats in a way that is beyond normal human ability. Unlike most other Abilities, it improves the Character's ability to react, rather than giving them new actions. It goes beyond just physical or observable dangers — your Character may not even always be aware of their defensive reactions.

During Narrative Play, the Player may Activate this Ability by spending 1 point of Mind. The Ability will last for one hour and may be maintained with another point of Mind each hour after that. While active, your Character cannot be Surprised. Instead in situations where they would have been Surprised, the effect is canceled and your Character gains a +2 bonus on their Initiative Score for the first Round. If the Character is required to make a Reaction Roll of any kind, they gain a -3 to their Success Number.

During an Encounter, your Character may spend 1 point of Mind and a Secondary Action to Activate Owl’s Watch. From there, it is active until deactivated by your Character or the Encounter comes to an end. While active, your Character may add their Perception and Endurance to any Re action Roll Dice Pools, in addition to whatever those Dice Pools originally call for.

While this Ability is active, the Character may not spend Mind on Focus without canceling the effect of Owl's Watch. If they do, the Ability is deactivated and must be reactivated with another Secondary Action and another point of Mind on the following Round.