Lewis Halifax

Baseline Vitality

Get someone’s attention in a busy room.

Heartening: Clear up a bruise.

+ Vitality

Nonverbally hold someone’s interest.

Heartening: Restore a Mid Cost’s worth of Stamina or Essence.

++ Vitality

Draw focus of a crowd away from a scuffle.

Heartening: Close up a deep cut.

+++ Vitality

Keep someone talking even as they try to kill you.

Heartening: Knit a broken bone.

++++ Vitality

Tempt a bloodthirsty monster away from helpless prey.

Heartening: Restore a full Threshold of Stamina or Essence.

+++++ Vitality

Distract a regiment of trained soldiers from a battle at hand.

Heartening: Reattach a severed limb (with imperfect recovery of function).

Baseline Might

Lift your own bodyweight.

+ Might

Crush an apple one-handed.

++ Might

Rip a college textbook in half.

+++ Might

Lift one end of a car.

++++ Might

Overhead press an entire car.

+++++ Might

Throw a car a dozen yards.

Baseline Resilience

Survive several minutes of severe bleeding.

+ Resilience

Pop a dislocated shoulder back in without flinching.

++ Resilience

Endure full-body immolation for over a minute.

+++ Resilience

Take a baseball bat straight to the chest with barely a bruise.

++++ Resilience

Survive a pistol shot to the skull without losing consciousness.

+++++ Resilience

Grab a swinging sword without it even breaking skin.

Baseline Spirit

See through a clumsy lie.

Intuition: Confirm that someone is being sarcastic.

+ Spirit

See fear in someone’s eyes.

Intuition: Confirm that a mysterious stranger is a friend.

++ Spirit

Pick out unspoken tension between two people in a group.

Intuition: Confirm that great danger is imminent.

+++ Spirit

See past a carefully crafted facade.

Intuition: Confirm the nature of an unknown magic.

++++ Spirit

Determine the sentimental value of an object.

Intuition: Confirm a condemned man’s innocence despite all evidence to the contrary.

+++++ Spirit

Get a sense of what recently happened in a room you enter.

Intuition: Confirm a secret that not a single other soul knows.

Baseline Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Light a cigarette with a snap of the fingers.

+ Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Glow brightly.

++ Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Dictate to a pen while it autonomously transcribes your words.

+++ Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Hurl a head-sized fireball.

++++ Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Animate a suit of armor to briefly fight at your side.

+++++ Arcane (Without Sacrifice)

Manifestation: Drain a target’s life through prolonged touch.

Baseline Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after two Mid Costs.

Defiance: Skydive despite being scared to do so.

+ Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after seven Low Costs.

Defiance: Become fully lucid for a few moments during Red Essence Exhaustion.

++ Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after three Mid Costs.

Defiance: Briefly ignore the pain of a broken limb.

+++ Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after two High Costs.

Defiance: Remain conscious even after several minutes without air.

++++ Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after five Mid Costs.

Defiance: Lock eyes with a gorgon without turning to stone.

+++++ Will

Essence: Drop a Threshold after three High Costs.

Defiance: Safely handle a cursed artifact known to kill anyone who touches it.

Baseline Sensory

20/20 vision.

+ Sensory

Detect a subtle change in wind speed/direction.

++ Sensory

Smell poison in a drink.

+++ Sensory

Hear someone’s breathing through a solid wall.

++++ Sensory

Count the number of people in a small crowd at a glance.

+++++ Sensory

Pick out the heartbeat of someone buried alive.

Baseline Reflex

Climb a rope.

+ Reflex

Slowly cross a tightrope.

++ Reflex

Backflip on a tightrope.

+++ Reflex

Quickly cram yourself into a square box a third your height.

++++ Reflex

Comfortably land a 3-story drop unscathed.

+++++ Reflex

Walk in someone’s shadow, matching every movement, without being noticed.

Baseline Vigor

Run up a three story staircase in under 20 seconds.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after a pilates session.

+ Vigor

Keep pace with a casual cyclist.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after sprinting a mile.

++ Vigor

Throw 60 full-power punches in a minute.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after jogging a marathon.

+++ Vigor

Keep pace with a horse.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after 10 minutes of max-intensity combat.

++++ Vigor

With a running start, leap clean across a four-lane street.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after sprinting a marathon.

+++++ Vigor

Keep pace with a car on the highway.

Stamina: Drop a Threshold after summiting a mountain at top speed.

Baseline Skill

Catch a thrown object one-handed.

Expertise — Piano: Play a simple, two-handed piece.

+ Skill

Safely toss a knife to yourself without looking.

Expertise — Wrestling: Armbar an untrained person who’s larger than you.

++ Skill

Balance a pyramid of filled wine glasses at a brisk walk.

Expertise — Driving: Powerslide into a perfect parallel park.

+++ Skill

Effortlessly hit a bullseye.

Expertise — Painting: Produce a photorealistic portrait in minutes.

++++ Skill

Catch a fly between two fingers without killing it.

Expertise — Surgery: Perform an open-heart operation solo.

+++++ Skill

Cut a bullet mid-flight.

Expertise — Lockpicking: Open a tumbler lock in seconds without any tools.

Baseline Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm that a clean knife was recently used.

Expertise — A Local Language: Know the name of that language and a basic greeting.

+ Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm that a fleeing suspect has doubled back when the trail goes cold.

Expertise — Cartography: Decipher a strange map.

++ Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm a secret passage’s presence based on an untraceable breeze.

Expertise — Computers: Hack a mainframe first try.

+++ Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm that someone is a dentist by the way they hold a pen.

Expertise — Entomology: Recite any fact about any local species of ant.

++++ Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm a villain’s master plan based on the password to his computer.

Expertise — Chemistry: Create a potent explosive out of pantry ingredients.

+++++ Intelligence

Deduction: Confirm the precise time and cause of a death from a single drop of blood.

Expertise — Stock Trading: Quadruple an investment in minutes.

Baseline Luck

Happenstance: Find an inconsequential object.

+ Luck

Happenstance: A harmful strike becomes a glancing blow.

++ Luck

Happenstance: Find a useful object convenient to hand.

+++ Luck

Happenstance: An enemy improbably misses an easy killing blow.

++++ Luck

Happenstance: A critical item happens to be left unattended in your presence.

+++++ Luck

Happenstance: Clean out a poker table without once needing to bluff.