S&P Traits A-Z

A

Skills
Augur

Enhancements

Preternae
Alacrity of Steel (Duration-Instant): During a violent encounter, you may issue a followup challenge when you issue an attack challenge with Strike and are wielding a one-handed blade.

Spheres

B

Skills
Blast, Brawl

Enhancements
Bank Shot: Once per violent encounter, if terrain features conducive to ricocheting shots from are available (especially, in the case of blast rifles, a reflective material), reroll one die (second result) when you issue or answer challenges with Snipe.

Bark With Authority: Issue an interaction challenge to an opponent with Impose; if you succeed, they must carry out the next directive you utter with a few quick words, using move and action to do so if necessary (e.g. “drop your weapon”, “on your knees”).

Preternae
Blinding Glitter (Duration-Instant): You throw a handful of magical glittery powder into the eyes of an opponent. Issue a power challenge to an opponent; if you succeed, for the remainder of the encounter the opponent must first succeed an interaction challenge with Discern in order to be able to answer challenges that rely on sight.

Spheres

C

Skills
Channel, Conduct

Enhancements
Child of Strife: Whenever there is cover available, you may re-roll one(1) die (better result) whenever you answer attack challenges with Defend. As long as you’re behind cover, you may not be chosen as the target opponent of an attack challenge, nor will you suffer consequences that might open you up to exchanging injury with opponents you issue attack challenges to.

Close Quarters Battle: Re-roll one die (2nd result) whenever you issue attack challenges with either Blast or Strike when your opponent is within close range of you.

Commanding Presence: Issue a power challenge with Impose to a number of opponents, no more than your Potential Threshold; if you succeed, you can hold their attention, forcing them to spend their next action doing nothing but paying attention to you.

Cool Under Fire: A life as a grunt on the front lines of combat has made you unflappable in the line of fire. You unlock Launch and Slug for free. You suffer no detriments or penalties with respect to conditions that might shake your composure during a violent encounter, nor can any challenges be issued against you to impose such detriments or penalties.

Preternae

Spheres

D

Skills
Doctor

Enhancements

Preternae
Dream Travel (Duration-Special): You project your consciousness into the dreams of other characters in order to communicate with them. Distance is not a factor, but you must either know them or possess a focus object connected to them in some way, such as a lock of hair or a possession of theirs, in order to see their mind as a destination to travel to. If the character whose dreams you wish to enter is unwilling, you must treat them as an opponent and issue them a power challenge.

Spheres

E

Skills
Engage, Engineer

Enhancements
Esoteric Improvisation: You have one bonus preternae which is left undefined, meaning that at the beginning of a scene you decide its exact nature and effects as long as you, the chorus and group are in agreement. The preternae is defined as such for the remainder of the scene.

Everybody Knows Your Name: You always have the best balms, tinctures, draughts and salves, and everyone knows how to find you when they want one You carry with you at all times an assortment of chemicals and herbs—you always have on hand the necessary raw materials to use Concoct to issue power and attack challenges; You may mix a number of doses of a compound equal to your RES, which takes you once scene to create, meaning you cannot be active in that scene (you may, however, choose which of the doses is which compound) You can use the compound yourself, or grant its use to another identity, its effects lasting for the length of one scene, nonviolent or violent encounter; The dose does not last beyond the day it was created, not to exceed a single play session—at the beginning of the day or session you may choose from the following list of possible concoctions; - knockout drug: issue a power challenge w/Concoct (no extra action required); if you succeed, your opponent is rendered inoperative (deliver with successful attack challenge issued with Shoot, must inflict injury) - stimulant: improve one of recipient’s attributes by 1 (can bypass priorities); - trauma suppressant: recipient ignores effects of Shock 1.

Exploit Vulnerability: When you succeed a challenge with Slice to discover a security protocol’s weakness, you can expend a banked critical to impose a detriment either on the protocol itself or the identity that deployed it (you decide the fictional details), forcing them to yield by one (refer to the next-highest factor, or next lowest die roll result) on any challenges they either issue or answer until they use an action to mitigate the detriment.

Preternae
Esoteric Improvisation (Duration-Special): See the Esoteric Improvisation enhancement above.

Spheres

F

Skills

Enhancements
Field Medicine Kit: You carry with you at all times a veritable mobile hospital, which includes: scanning equipment (checking vitals, scanning for broken bones); medi-gel, bandages, splints, sanitizing solutions and instruments for basic surgical procedures such as stitches; a short-range comm transmission unit to reach ships in orbit; a fabricator to synthesize plasma and narcotics; * a stimulant compound you can deliver to yourself or an ally that will allow them to ignore the penalty associated with one level of shock (from 3 to 2, 2 to 1, or 1 to none). You get a number of uses of this drug equal to your RES; you must declare you’re devoting a scene to operating the kit to restore your supply of the compound. Allies who’ve unlocked either the Heal skill, or one similar to it, can also use this kit, in the event you’re rendered inoperative.

Focused Channeling: Re-roll one die (second result) whenever you issue or answer power or attack challenges with Channel.

Focused Performance: Reroll one(1) die (second result) whenever you issue or answer challenges with Conduct.

Fork: You have an extra action. You may only use this extra action to use your preternae, whether they involve issuing interaction, power or attack challenges.

Preternae
Frigid Blast (Duration-Instant): A blast of bitterly-cold air springs forth from your outstretched hand. Choose a target opponent; you inflict an injury upon them. Issue an attack challenge to the same opponent; if you succeed, you inflict one additional injury.

Spheres

G

Skills

Enhancements
Granite Fortitude: Your vitality is (2+STA) instead of (1+STA).

Glean Guilt: Issue an interaction challenge to an opponent with Discern; if you succeed, from observing them you can tell whether they’ve recently committed a criminal act, e.g. telltale injuries, discolored clothing, etc.

Gunslinger: You excel with pistols over any other type of blast weapon, especially when shooting with one in each hand. If you succeed an attack challenge with Blast, your opponent sustains an injury as usual, however you may issue a follow-up challenge—if it is also successful, your opponent sustains one additional injury in addition to the first. You may follow up in this fashion with a total number of dice equal to your potential, but you must succeed each challenge in succession; when you fail, the follow-up ends.

Preternae

Spheres

H

Skills
Heal, Heft

Enhancements
Hands that Mend, Whether Fences or Flesh: You may issue and answer recovery challenges with your Heal skill. Additionally, during violent encounters, if you devote an action adjacent to another character who has suffered injury but is yet to suffer shock 1, the character’s vitality is returned to full (all hits sustained to vitality removed). If the character has already suffered any degree of shock, then the character removes the hit that caused them to reach the highest shock level. You may do this a number of times per encounter equal to your RES.

Hardy Endurance: Naturally-occurring poisons or diseases have no effect on you. You may reroll all dice in a challenge (better result) whenever you answer challenges from the effects of enhancements or preternae that involve poison or disease.

Heavy Hitter: When you issue challenges with Heft, you may always expend criticals to claim an automatic success even after your opponent’s result is declared.

Preternae

Spheres

I

Skills
Invoke

Enhancements
Implicate: Issue an interaction challenge to an opponent with any skill that makes sense; if you succeed, you know whether the opponent is connected to a clue that you've found.

Improvised Munitions: By devoting a scene to the effort, you can establish that you’re assembling a more potent weapon than you typically employ: either one(1) energy weapon capable of inflicting 2 hits to a single opponent (issue challenges with Blast), or a number of individual explosive devices capable of inflicting 1 hit on all opponents within close range of each other, not to exceed your potential threshold (issue challenges with Engineer). Regardless of the option chosen, you gain a number of uses equal to your RES. You can have both options on hand at the same time, but can only “recharge”, or recover the uses of, each one after the current load-out is expended.

Preternae
Illusory Double (Duration-Maintain): You create the illusion of a duplicate of yourself that stands beside you, mirroring your appearance and behavior. When an opponent issues you an attack or power challenge, before that challenge is resolved, you get to issue a power challenge against the opponent. If you succeed the power challenge, then the opponent’s challenge automatically fails as the opponent attacks the illusory duplicate instead.

Impart Understanding (Duration-Instant): Touch a character and grant them a reroll of one die (second result). The benefit lasts until the end of the scene or encounter it was granted in.

Inspire (Duration-Maintain): During a violent encounter, you and your allies gain a re-roll of one die (2nd result) for any challenges they issue or answer.

Spheres

J

Skills

Enhancements
Jury-Rig: You’re able to assemble devices on the fly, with only the parts you have available to you, that will last for a short period of time: (a) the device can’t be any larger than char scale; (b) you have to have either raw materials or previously negated devices on hand (e.g. scrap, junk); (c) any operational devices you cannibalize for parts to turn into a different device are negated; and (d) it takes a minimum of one scene to create the device. You may have a number of devices in play equal to your RES. The devices you create only remain operational for one session; each counts as a single exceptional enhancement.

Preternae

Spheres

K

Skills

Enhancements

Keen Senses: Reroll one(1) die (second result) whenever you issue or answer challenges with Discern.

Preternae

Spheres

L

Skills
Launch

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

M

Skills
Misdirect

Enhancements
Methodical Investigation: You’ve developed your senses to excel as a living, breathing forensic laboratory. You unlock Pursue for free. You can tell whether an offense has been committed in a given location, and what sort of offense it is. You can, with certainty, determine the cause of death of a character (or an identity, depending on sense within the fiction) after a thorough examination, devoting at least a full scene, without having to succeed an interaction challenge; to perform the examination more hastily however would require the challenge, however.

Martial Arts: Diligence in grace, movement and deliberate action. You may issue and answer attack challenges with Vault.

Martial Upbringing: You unlock the Strike skill for free, in addition to all over unlocked skills (CNG is the relevant modifying attribute).

Preternae

Spheres

N

Skills

Enhancements
Nuanced Harmonies: You can have two preternae active at the same time; a separate action must still be used to bring each into effect.

Preternae

Spheres

O

Skills
Operate

Enhancements
Ordnance Specialist: You love the smell of plastic explosives in the morning. You unlock Engineer and Heft for free.

Preternae

Spheres

P

Skills
Pursue

Enhancements
Pugilist: You unlock the Brawl skill for free.

Preternae
Precognitive Interrupt (Duration-Special): As an encounter begins, declare an opponent as the target of this effect. Once you have seen an action performed by who you declared, issue them a power challenge with Augur (you have an extra action for use with this power only); if you succeed, you may immediately take your turn in that round before them.

Spheres

Q

Skills

Enhancements
Quick Exit: Once per encounter, you can take advantage of your environment to vanish. Issue an interaction challenge to the opponent with the highest Discern rating in the encounter who’s aware of you; if you succeed the challenge, none of your opponents saw where you went.

Preternae

Spheres

R

Skills

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

S

Skills

Shimmer, Skulk, Slug, Slice, Sneak, Snipe, Strike

Enhancements

Scout: Whether it’s from technology, altered genetics or otherwise, your senses are finely attuned to energy, both natural or artificial. You can innately issue and answer challenges with Discern that involve sources of EM radiation without requiring any technological devices or equipment. Re-roll one die (second result) when you issue or answer challenges with Discern.

Scrounge: You can dig into a pile of seemingly random objects, devices, supplies and other miscellany and make the best of whatever you find. Once per scene, when you have access to a source of unidentified items you can either find what you want, or make something you find work the way you want (e.g. rewiring it on the fly). This can translate to a one-time benefit, which expires after its use. Declare that you're spending the scene to scrounge to generate gear on a 1-to-1 basis: x gear for x RES. Once collected, you may expend one(1) gear when you wish to establish the details of the item you want at your disposal: the item is established, as is its benefit. The benefit established won't last for longer than the session during which you found it: the item might, but the opportune moment to benefit from it has passed.

Security Expert: There isn’t a locked door you can’t get through, key or no key, either physical, electronic or digital. You unlock the Slice skill for free. You may use Slice instead of Explore or Discern when identifying traps, hidden security measures or ambushes in computer or security systems. You can’t ever be put in a situation where you’re unable to issue or answer challenges with Slice (any challenges issued against you in such situations automatically fail).

Shape-changer: You are a member of a species that has no rigidly-defined form: You can adopt the generic, nonspecific shape of an average member of a bipedal species. You cannot appear to be identical to any specific character without taking enhancements or preternae that indicate otherwise. You must rest in your natural, unchanged state once per day; you are considered to have rested between sessions, provided that the last scene of a session finishes completely. If you begin a nonviolent or violent encounter in your natural state, shifting into a humanoid shape requires both your move and your action for one of your turns. In your natural, unchanged state you may perform actions, however you are unable to issue attack challenges. You have no internal organs. Any opponents benefiting from enhancements or preternae that involve precisely targeting vital organs have no effect on you.

Sharpshooter: Your patience, keenness of vision, and judgment of terrain is unmatched by your peers. You unlock Snipe for free. In a violent encounter, if you use your first turn to do nothing else except take aim at and follow an opponent with your sniper rifle, on your next turn reroll one die (second result) when you issue challenges with Snipe. You may answer attack challenges with Snipe against ranged physical weapons (e.g. projectiles, munitions, thrown weapons) as long as the attack started from no less than near range (adds conditional use of Snipe to react with).

Shockwave: As long as you have a large enough object available, you can answer attack challenges with Heft and all allies within close range of you can use your result as their own for answering attack challenges as well (adds conditional use of Heft to react with).

SITREP: When you or one of your allies declares they’re spending time gathering information about your current situation (typically a successful challenge with Study, Deduce or Discern; requires an action if performed during an encounter), not only do they grant a bonus die but a re-roll of one die as well (second result) if that ally declares they’re assisting another in a challenge.

Squad Leader: When you issue or answer challenges with Argue or Counter, re-roll one die (better result). Once per encounter, when you devote your whole turn—action and move—delivering a stirring speech to your allies, you give each of them a die for assisting. It can be applied in any type of challenge, and counts for any skill for the purposes of determining whether assisting is appropriate.

Still Standing: You can choose to ignore the penalty that comes with Shock level 1 or 2 for the duration of a violent encounter. At the end of that encounter, however, if this hasn’t been reduced (2 to 1, or 1 to none), then you immediately suffer the next highest shock level (1 to 2, or 2 to 3). Suppressive Fire: You can issue an attack challenge to an opponent that inflicts no hits to vitality—if you succeed, the opponent is unable to take any action unless they first use an action to avoid your volley.

Surgi-glue that Binds, The: You unlock the Heal skill for free, and you can use it on yourself or others in place of the recovery challenge you or they would normally roll. This allows you to attempt recovery on shock levels 1 and 2 during violent encounters as well.

Surprise Attack: You unlock the Skulk skill for free. When you attack an opponent (issue an attack challenge to an opponent) with a small one-handed weapon, and the opponent is unaware of your attack, you automatically succeed the challenge and inflict an injury. If your opponent has enhancements or preternae that involve forcing you to yield 1 or more when you issue the challenge, your surprise attack has no effect.

Systems Assessment: When you issue interaction challenges with Slice to perform an initial scan of a computer or security system, reroll one die (second result).

Systems Mindset: You have a mind like a computer, always calculating and always storing information—particularly the technical kind. You unlock Engineer and Operate for free. You may answer challenges with Engineer. Re-roll one die (better result) with Engineer during stressful circumstances, e.g. violent encounters, time restrictions.

Preternae

Slumber (Duration-Special): Issue a power challenge to an opponent within close range with Shimmer. If you succeed, find the difference between yours and your opponent’s results; your opponent falls asleep—immediately rendered inoperative for a number of rounds equal to the difference. Your opponent remains asleep until another character uses an action to wake them up. If you target another opponent with this preternae, the effect on the previous target immediately ends. If the target is in any way distracted or otherwise unable to meet your gaze, you yield 1.

T

Skills

Enhancements
Temperance: You never suffer any ill effects from extremes of temperature.

Preternae
Tongue of the Realm (Duration-Special): Understand a language being spoken after a few moments of hearing it. This understanding lasts for the length of one scene, provided it does not escalate to a nonviolent or violent encounter.

Spheres

U

Skills

Enhancements

Understated Charm: Re-roll one(1) die (second result) whenever you either issue or answer interaction challenges where the modifying attribute is Competence.

Urban Upbringing: Growing up in the big city, the sights, sounds and smells of urban life are second-nature to you. Re-roll one(1) die (better result) whenever you issue or answer challenges with Discern.

Preternae

Spheres

V

Skills
Vault, Shoot

Enhancements

Vital Shot: If you succeed an attack challenge against an opponent, you can expend a critical to place a detriment on them (you decide the fictional details), forcing them to ignore the highest die roll result on any challenges they either issue or answer until they use an action to mitigate the detriment, is in addition to any injuries you inflict.

Preternae

Spheres

W

Skills

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

X

Skills

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

Y

Skills

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

Z

Skills

Enhancements

Preternae

Spheres

Personae SRD Text, Shadowlight RPG Text by Craig Hatler Games; under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). Permission granted to reproduce this document freely for use with Personae SRD and Shadowlight RPGs.